ear-drawn
classic pictures, lies between the House of Ulysses on the one hand and
the Suitors of Penelope on the other. He who is the head of the Family
and the ruler of State, Ulysses, has been absent for twenty years;
godless men have taken advantage of the youth of his son, and are
consuming his substance wantonly; they also are wooing his wife who has
only her cunning wherewith to help herself. The son and wife are now to
be brought before us in their struggle with their bitter lot. Thus we
note the two main divisions in the structure of the present Book: The
House of Ulysses and the Suitors.

I.

The Goddess Pallas has already come down to Ithaca and stands among the
suitors. She has taken the form of Mentes, the King of a neighboring
tribe; she is in disguise as she usually is when she appears on earth.
Who will recognize her? Not the suitors; they can see no God in their
condition, least of all, the Goddess of Wisdom. "Telemachus was much
the first to observe her;" why just he? The fact is he was ready to see
her, and not only to see her, but to hear what she had to say. "For he
sat among the suitors grieved in heart, seeing his father in his mind's
eye," like Hamlet just before the latter saw the ghost. So careful is
the poet to prepare both sides--the divine epiphany, and the mortal who
is to behold it.

Furthermore, the young man saw his father "scattering the suitors and
himself obtaining honor and ruling his own house." This is just what
the Goddess is going to tell with a new sanction, and it is just what
is going to happen in the course of the poem. Truly Telemachus is
prepared internally; he has already everything within him which is to
come out of him. Throughout the whole interview the two main facts are
the example of the parent and the final revenge, both of which are
urged by the Goddess without and by the man within.

Still there is a difference. Telemachus is despondent; we might almost
say, he is getting to disbelieve in any divine order of the world. "The
Gods plot evil things" against the House of Ulysses, whose fate "they
make unknown above that of all men." Then they have sent upon me these
suitors who consume my heritage. The poor boy has had a hard time; he
has come to question providence in his misery, and discredits the
goodness of the Gods.

Here, now, is the special function of Pallas. She instills courage into
his heart. She gives strong hope of the return of his father, who "wi