The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1906-06-07


come near using such refinement and
courteous behavior without flattery,
nor honesty and sincerity in inter
course, as Homer describes so superb
ly in the scenes which occurred at
Phaeacia-more than twenty-six CEN
turies ago.
The last scenes in the interesting
drama, shall be told in a few words.
Odysseus went in the disguise of a
beggar to his castle, and found that it
had been taken possession of by host
of suitors, who importuned his faith
ful wife Penelope to marry one Of
their number, as nothing had been
heard of Odysseus in ten years. In
fact, the suitors refused to leave the
castle, and Penelope and her son
Telemachus, who bad been born Just
before his father went to the Trojan
war, were powerless to rid themselves
of the intruders. To ward them off,
Penelope had promised to marry one of
them, as soon as she had finished a
web. and the faithful wife sat up
every night, unraveling what she had
woven during the day, so that the web
was never finished. But just when
Odysseus, unrecognized, had entered
his home, the suitors had discovered
Penelope's trick, and now demanded
that she should make her choice at
once. Penelope pretended to agree
She had her husbands crossbow
brought into the banquet hall, and an
nounced that she would marry the
man who could draw the bow ALI the
sultors tried their strength, but none
could draw it. Then the beggar
(Odysseus) stepped forward, and
asked if the contest was open to all.
A defisive- shout of laughter, and q
demand for the Immedlate expulsion
of the beggar, came from the lips of
the suitors; but Penelope insisted that
the beggar be allowed to try. Odysseus
took the bow, drew it with ease, and.
placing an arrow on it, shot it thru the
heart of the most arrogant of the
suitors, and then killed all the others,
assisted by his son Telemachus. It is
needless to say, that Homer has pic
tured this grand finale with the same
consummate skill which pervades his
entire work.
From Homer till now, during the
entire twenty-six centuries, almost
everyone of the great poets, and many
authors also, have dealt largely in
supernaturalism. Virgil in the
"Aeneid," Ovid in his "Metamor-
phoses," Shakespeare in "Hamlet," {"
Macbeth" "King Lear" etc., Goethe,
in "Faust," Dante in Inferno"
Milton in Paradise Lost" Byron in
almost everything, have invested their
masterpieces with thoughts and
themes which, tho highly signifi-
can't and symbolic, are devoid Of
actual existence, and clearly belong
to the realm of mysticism. All the
poets named, and hundred of others
not named, no matter whether they
used it as an allegory, or for the pur-
pose of making their work more inter-
esting, were perfectly aware of the
illusions they wrote about. With that
nobody can find fault--it is the pre-
rogative of poets to take such liberties.
But when one reads good, serious
Homer, one becomes invoIuntarily i'm
pressed with the belief, that this poet
actually believed his own tales. And
this will not appear to us in an absurd
light, if we bear in mind the times at
which Homer lived; that belief in
supernatural matters was part of the
Greek religion; and, above all, that
Homer was blind.
It was not without considerable ap-
prehension, that the writer selected
Homer as his theme. Tho quite sure
of his ground, he yet knew the diff
Guilty Of making the great poetic mas
terpiece comprehensive to readers who
did not have the good fortune of read
ing the original. But, by citing short
extracts from Homer's theme, and by
pointing out the manner in which
this theme was treated by the poet, the
writer hoped of being able to. convey
to the average reader fairly accu-
rate idea Of the great work. If he