twelve Books of the Odyssey, inasmuch as a name is needed for this
portion corresponding to the Telemachiad and the Ulyssiad. The scene is
laid wholly in Ithaca, the characters of the poem are all brought
together, and the main conflict takes place. It is the country which is
to be cleansed of violence and guilt; that Divine Order which father
and son have learned about, each in his own way, they must now make
real in the world, especially in their own land. Manifestly Ithaca
represents the realm of wrong, of hostility to the social system of
man; the Suitors defy Law, Family, State, Gods.

But Ulysses, before he can reform his country, has had to reform
himself. When he attacked the Ciconians, he was as negative to
institutional order as the Suitors themselves; he was not the man to
destroy them at that time, he was too like them to undo their work.
Hence the long discipline in Fableland, which has been fully explained
in the preceding comments; hence too he had to see Phaeacia, the ideal
institutional life realized in Family and State, as well as in Industry
and the Fine Arts. Let the reader note that he passes, not from
Fableland, but from Phaeacia, to Ithaca; having that Phaeacian Idea in
his soul, he can transform his own country. Thus he will truly save his
companions, namely, the people, whom before he lost in Fableland.

Telemachus also in his training has seen much and brought back an ideal
with him. He has heard the wise man Nestor and witnessed the religious
life of Hellas in its highest manifestation. Pylos, Nestor's kingdom,
is almost a Greek theocracy; the Gods appear visible at the feasts and
hold communion with the people. Likewise at Sparta Telemachus saw a
realm of peace and concord, in striking contrast with his own Ithaca;
but chiefly he heard the Marvelous Tale of Proteus, after which he was
eager to return home at once. Thus he too has had his experience of a
social order, as well as his ideal instruction. Previous to his journey
he had shown a tendency to despair, and to a denial of the Gods on
account of the disorders of the Suitors in his house. Unquestionably he
comes back to Ithaca with renewed courage and aspiration, and with an
ideal in his soul, which makes him a meet companion for his father.

The third character is the swineherd Eumaeus who is the great addition
in this portion of the Odyssey. He too has had his discipline, which is
to be recounted here; he has been stolen as a child an