The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-09-27
ETOMER'S ODYSSEY

1t is the tenth year since Troy has
fallen. Though the Had did not go
beyond the death Of Hector at Achilles
hands, other stories carried on the tale
Through the death of Achilles, the cap
ture of Troy by the Greeks by means
OF the stratagem of the wooden horse,
the sacking and burning of the city,
the death Of Priam and his queen, the
! slavery of Andromache which Hector
lad foreseen, the slaughter of the
little son he loved so dearly, the es-
cape of Aeneas, with his aged father
After the booty had been divided,
the Greek chiefs took leisurely courses
to their homes. The great King Again
emnon sent his dramatic night letter,
announcing to his queen at home by
the light of flames leaping from hilltop
across the sea that Troy had fallen;
for his pains he met the dramatic
death at the hand of Queen klytaim-
nestra which Aeschylus has made for
ever famous in his great play, Aga
memnon"; the latter has in it the
beginning o. the story of Orestes, the
| close Greek counterpart of Hamlet
The Kings brother Menelaus had bet
ter fortune; he had journeyed home
ward with his erstWhile queen Helen
as If the great Troan episode had never
been, and was reigning again in peace
and quiet with The Worlds Desire by
his side at Sparta, with no dread of a
marauding Paris sent on the quest OF
beauty by Aphrodite. And so, too, the
other princes had returned with vary
ing fortunes.
| But not so the Great Adventurer
Troy had taken ten years to capture
/ ten years more still found the willy
Odysseus detained in the Isle OF
Ogygia b the fair Calypso. Mean
while the patient Penelope bides al
home, beset by the riotous suitors who
make Liberty Hall of the absent Kings
ralace and would force the queen to
wed one Of them. She, ever as alert
and resourceful as her wandering lord
uts off her promise till she has wover
a web-Of which she each night IN
rayels what she has done during the
day.
This first great story Of wandering
adventure has a much more perfec
unity than the Iliad. 1t centres close
ly about the person of Odysseus, anC
divides itself into three parts, the ad
ventures Of Telemachus in quest o
ICdysseus, the wanderings of the hero
and his return home, where with The
few still faithful to him he makes him
self his own detective. lays the scene
for the destruction of the villains, ant
finally brings about the happy endins
which has so constantly distressed
critics of the novel and the theatre
since man began to write and ordinar.
folk to listen or to read.
In the first chapter, which comprise:
the first four books" of the Odyssey
young Telemachus, amidst the mock
cry of the suitors, starts in quest o
his father, and makes the rounds 0
the courts of our old friend Nestor
king OF Pylos, and of Menelaus ant
Helen at Sparta, where he learns TIL
whereabouts of his father, and thel
starts homeward.
At this moment it is at last mad
possible for Odysseus TO start on hi
, way home. But the sea, ever hi
enemy, again plays him false, and h
is wrecked once more, though he i
: cast ashore on the land of Phaeacians
There begins in the land of this fabOu
Gus folk one Of the most marvelou
adventures of the man of marvels
: Probably the scene that remains in til
, minds of the great majority Of reaC
crS Of Greek literature as the flares
bit Of idealized beauty in it all is tn
picture Of the young Princess Naus
: caa. She had gone down to the rive
mouth with her handmaidens to was
linen; their work done, they fell t
playing ball upon the shore. wher
Odysseus, beneath the shade of tn
bushes, was sleeping off the wear
travail Of his long swim. Then havin
bathed and Amounted themselve
2 ell ri tlov took thoj
meal by the banks of the river an
: waited for the clothes to dry in tn
bringht rays Of the sun. And whe
l they had cheered themselves wit
food, maids and mistress alike, the
began to play at ball, casting asid
their wells. And for them fair-arme
, Nausicaa began the song. AS Artemi
=, the archer-goddess goeth down from
mountain, either lofty Taygetus Q
> Erymanthus, taking her sport wit
I boars and swift deer, and with he
a the wood-nymphs sport, daughters {
. aegis-bearing Zeus, ard Leto rejoicet
in heart, and over all she holdeth hea
> and brows, and easy to mary is sh'
! though all be fair-so was the unwe
maid conspicuous among her atten(
. ants
The days work and the sport wer
t over; they were ABOUT TO depart an
9 leave the weary sleeper under tn
bushes-when one last throw sent tn
ball spinning into the water. Instar
q and unanimous scream from princes
: and from maids!
, So Odysseus was introduced t
Phaeacia, and the introduction prove
: well that the hero knew not only tn
:, ways of men, but of maids as we'll. {
g the many pleasing things he said
the princess to win her favor, or
! stands out conspicuous-his compar
t son of her perfect youth to the youn
r shoot of palm-tree he had seen
4 Delos. Whoever has a gardeners ey
knows instantly the perfect tribute.
Then followed the presentation