1 00:00:04,086 --> 00:00:07,090 Odysseus has made his reunion with his son. 2 00:00:07,090 --> 00:00:12,015 Made a connection with the swine herd, in Eumaeus' hut. 3 00:00:12,015 --> 00:00:15,061 And now he's ready to, to start, reconnoitering. 4 00:00:15,061 --> 00:00:21,028 Moving his way into the next step which is going to be getting himself into the 5 00:00:21,028 --> 00:00:25,046 center of this town. And eventually into Odysseus' house. 6 00:00:25,046 --> 00:00:28,092 And from there, make his connection with Penelope. 7 00:00:29,010 --> 00:00:33,065 Telemachus, it shows at the beginning of seventeen, has learned the stuff that he 8 00:00:33,065 --> 00:00:38,003 was supposed to learn during that journey as he went around to see the great 9 00:00:38,003 --> 00:00:42,053 aristocratic friends of his father. He learns what it is to be a purposeful, 10 00:00:42,053 --> 00:00:47,014 now slightly angry man, who's in charge of a house that other people are abusing. 11 00:00:47,031 --> 00:00:49,079 He starts to move around more purposefully. 12 00:00:49,096 --> 00:00:54,005 He lays down markers to the suitors telling them that, that things that 13 00:00:54,005 --> 00:00:58,060 they're doing are not quite right. He guarantees statements that some people 14 00:00:58,060 --> 00:01:02,092 make in his own house, so he starts to take responsibility for other things. 15 00:01:02,092 --> 00:01:08,230 And we're going to watch this growing up of Telemachus on display in book 16 00:01:08,230 --> 00:01:11,738 seventeen. He, at the very beginning of the book lies 17 00:01:11,738 --> 00:01:17,168 to Eumaeus about Odysseus, doesn't he? So he is now in Odysseus's inner circle of 18 00:01:17,168 --> 00:01:22,617 lies, and he himself becomes a liar just like his father chosen as growing up to 19 00:01:22,617 --> 00:01:27,278 take a different role in his group. He says to Eumaeus, take this stranger. 20 00:01:27,278 --> 00:01:30,060 He knows that it's Odysseus, Eumaeus doesn't. 21 00:01:30,060 --> 00:01:35,054 Eumaeus, take this stranger to Odysseus' house so he can get some food begging 22 00:01:35,054 --> 00:01:38,066 there. I can't feed everyone that comes up to me 23 00:01:38,066 --> 00:01:41,732 so he's going to have to beg some scraps from the suitors. 24 00:01:41,732 --> 00:01:46,464 Now, in doing that on page 354, what Telemachus is doing is positioning his 25 00:01:46,464 --> 00:01:50,096 father, disguised as the beggar. And positioning his father in such a place 26 00:01:50,096 --> 00:01:55,577 that he can now get to know what the lay of the land is hanging around with the 27 00:01:55,577 --> 00:01:58,014 suitors. And then, Telemachus shows his 28 00:01:58,014 --> 00:02:01,021 responsibility, kind of stepping up a little bit more. 29 00:02:01,021 --> 00:02:05,062 His first conversation with Penelope, he says I need to go meet my friend, 30 00:02:05,062 --> 00:02:09,050 Theoclymenus, whom I brought with me and I need to take care of him. 31 00:02:09,067 --> 00:02:12,080 He says on page 356. So he's starting to, sort of, step up. 32 00:02:12,097 --> 00:02:16,062 He's been educated. Let's see here in this picture of the 33 00:02:16,062 --> 00:02:20,579 young Telemachus getting schooled. He's been educated and he's now ready to 34 00:02:20,579 --> 00:02:24,398 start taking responsibility for some of the things in this house. 35 00:02:24,398 --> 00:02:27,881 Closing off, book seventeen, there's a different statement that comes out 36 00:02:27,881 --> 00:02:31,120 Telemachus' mouth than the one that we're used to seeing him. 37 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:35,126 Remember in those early books, he's constantly talking about how the gods are 38 00:02:35,126 --> 00:02:39,670 not on my side, if only the gods were on my side, the gods are giving awful things 39 00:02:39,670 --> 00:02:42,270 to me. He now says what heroes say at the close 40 00:02:42,270 --> 00:02:45,242 of seventeen, page 374. I'll tend to all things here, I and the 41 00:02:45,242 --> 00:02:47,778 deathless gods. Now this is what a hero does. 42 00:02:47,778 --> 00:02:51,046 Yeah, sure, it's up to the gods, but it's also up to me. 43 00:02:51,046 --> 00:02:56,724 There's an understood double determination in the events that go on for a hero in the 44 00:02:56,724 --> 00:03:02,121 events that a hero is responsible for. Yeah, sure, the gods steers all things but 45 00:03:02,121 --> 00:03:07,484 that doesn't mean that the hero is not, therefore, also responsible for what 46 00:03:07,484 --> 00:03:11,699 happens in, in the, the, the purview of the hero, what's going on in their 47 00:03:11,699 --> 00:03:15,231 terrain. The theme carries on in book eighteen. 48 00:03:15,232 --> 00:03:19,998 Telemachus is still hovering around the center of the city, and when he sees 49 00:03:19,998 --> 00:03:23,025 Odysseus as this beggar, and Iris, the other lowly beggar. 50 00:03:23,025 --> 00:03:27,909 The two of them are about to get into a fight and there's nasty words back and 51 00:03:27,909 --> 00:03:32,541 forth and they take oaths at the beginning So if I win, this happens. 52 00:03:32,541 --> 00:03:35,708 If you win, that happens. This all unfolds on page 377. 53 00:03:35,708 --> 00:03:40,700 Odysseus, Telemachus at that point steps up and says okay, you all can, can count 54 00:03:40,700 --> 00:03:44,000 on me to guarantee the oaths that you've just taken. 55 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,771 I am going to be the guarantor of the oaths that you all just taken so go ahead 56 00:03:48,771 --> 00:03:53,067 and have your fight but under the understanding that I'm going to make sure 57 00:03:53,067 --> 00:03:57,050 that what you all agree to is going to get executed in the end. 58 00:03:57,050 --> 00:04:02,011 That kind of authority to execute on someone else's promises is the kind of 59 00:04:02,011 --> 00:04:05,051 thing that someone who's in charge of a situation takes. 60 00:04:05,051 --> 00:04:08,043 So Telemachus is showing himself to be that way. 61 00:04:08,043 --> 00:04:13,053 After Penelope in Book eighteen points out how this stranger Odysseus was abused by 62 00:04:13,053 --> 00:04:18,020 the suitors, he jumps in and starts to take responsibility for that situation 63 00:04:18,020 --> 00:04:20,452 too. And so at this point on, page 383, that 64 00:04:20,452 --> 00:04:26,057 Telemachus basically undoes any doubt that we had about whether he's grown up. 65 00:04:26,057 --> 00:04:31,459 Remember at the very beginning of the, of the epic, Athena comes up to Telemachus 66 00:04:31,459 --> 00:04:36,018 and says basically, just come on, grow up. It's time for you to get going, take 67 00:04:36,018 --> 00:04:39,045 responsibility. On book eighteen he says, I used to think 68 00:04:39,045 --> 00:04:43,036 as a child, but not anymore. My heart takes note of everything, feels 69 00:04:43,036 --> 00:04:46,075 it too, both the good and the bad. The boy you knew is gone. 70 00:04:46,075 --> 00:04:50,032 So Telemachus is now stepping into a different stage of life. 71 00:04:50,049 --> 00:04:55,034 And he is ready to take on responsibility for, not just his own messes, but other 72 00:04:55,034 --> 00:04:58,079 people's messes. That's probably a pretty strong part of 73 00:04:58,079 --> 00:05:02,012 what it is to grow up, is taking on other people's messes. 74 00:05:02,012 --> 00:05:05,509 Who knows, maybe there should be a universal law built into this one. 75 00:05:05,509 --> 00:05:08,508 To grow up means to take on other people's messes. 76 00:05:08,508 --> 00:05:13,087 But Telemachus is stepping up to do that and ready to, ready to do it. 77 00:05:13,087 --> 00:05:16,275 Others seem to notice that this is going on. 78 00:05:16,275 --> 00:05:21,353 At the close of eighteen, he makes threats on page 389 that the suitors take 79 00:05:21,353 --> 00:05:24,837 seriously. People are recognizing that he's talking 80 00:05:24,837 --> 00:05:28,574 more stringently. Page 419, we see another example of this. 81 00:05:28,574 --> 00:05:33,934 The suitors bite their lips, amazed at Telemachus stepping up and getting his, 82 00:05:33,934 --> 00:05:39,771 getting his more grown up person to take responsibility for what's happening around 83 00:05:39,771 --> 00:05:42,499 him. Then we also see some close-up with what 84 00:05:42,499 --> 00:05:46,043 the suitors are all about. We see this through Odysseus's eyes. 85 00:05:46,043 --> 00:05:50,310 We've heard from them, we've seen the misery and threats to Telemachus. 86 00:05:50,310 --> 00:05:54,484 We've seen Penelope have some very small interactions with them. 87 00:05:54,484 --> 00:05:59,040 But we really get to see them at work. See them, see the suitors being the 88 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:03,569 suitors through Odysseus' eyes. And this starts opening up to us in this 89 00:06:03,569 --> 00:06:06,887 section of the, of the text through book seventeen and eighteen. 90 00:06:06,897 --> 00:06:12,660 Odysseus makes his way in and makes contact and we get to see what they're 91 00:06:12,660 --> 00:06:15,016 like. So these suitors, who are eating Odysseus 92 00:06:15,016 --> 00:06:20,399 out of house and home and helping themself to whatever they feel like that belongs to 93 00:06:20,399 --> 00:06:23,526 someone else. When a beggar comes in and ask them for 94 00:06:23,526 --> 00:06:26,088 their scraps, they turn him away similarly. 95 00:06:27,006 --> 00:06:31,703 The suitor's not only abused the xenia that they expect is going to be offered 96 00:06:31,703 --> 00:06:35,833 them as sort of guests who horribly overstay their welcome in Odysseus' house. 97 00:06:35,833 --> 00:06:41,261 But, they've not only pervert that xenia but they also refuse to offer the xenia 98 00:06:41,261 --> 00:06:46,084 they should offer to the stranger that washes up into their, into their region in 99 00:06:46,084 --> 00:06:50,028 this courtyard of Odysseus' house. They treated him with abuse. 100 00:06:50,028 --> 00:06:54,004 They don't give him any food. They surely don't wash his feet. 101 00:06:54,022 --> 00:06:59,044 None of the things that a great aristocrat is supposed to do when a stranger comes up 102 00:06:59,044 --> 00:07:02,067 on their shores. Even lowly ones should receive this 103 00:07:02,067 --> 00:07:05,067 treatment. Remember what Nausicaa said when she saw 104 00:07:05,067 --> 00:07:08,866 Odysseus at the beginning of book six. He was basically dead. 105 00:07:08,866 --> 00:07:11,399 He had no clothes on. He was totally bedraggled. 106 00:07:11,399 --> 00:07:15,343 He was in that beggar situation. Even worse off than he is right now. 107 00:07:15,343 --> 00:07:19,077 At least he has rags on when he approaches his own house. 108 00:07:19,077 --> 00:07:23,778 When Nausicaa saw that uh-huh, naked and destitute Odysseus, she said even this 109 00:07:23,778 --> 00:07:27,947 person deserves our respect because all guest friends come from Zeus. 110 00:07:27,947 --> 00:07:32,852 So she said in book six you got to be nice even to those lowly people, rode down to 111 00:07:32,852 --> 00:07:36,066 the totem pole. But the Suitors don't have any of the 112 00:07:36,066 --> 00:07:39,093 graciousness of this. They don't give him hospitality. 113 00:07:40,011 --> 00:07:45,024 They're busy you know, hoarding and taking Odysseus' goods without sharing anymore 114 00:07:45,024 --> 00:07:47,028 themselves. Page 366, that comes out. 115 00:07:47,045 --> 00:07:51,597 Then Odysseus, as he, as he works his way into this group has a chance to tell his 116 00:07:51,597 --> 00:07:53,732 story. We've seen him do this in the context of 117 00:07:53,732 --> 00:07:56,626 Eumaeus. When he offers a story, Eumaeus listens to 118 00:07:56,626 --> 00:07:59,318 all the details and makes a connection with them. 119 00:07:59,318 --> 00:08:02,244 Not so, with the suitors. Odysseus goes on, talks about being a 120 00:08:02,244 --> 00:08:04,933 Cretan sailor. They don't understand the meaning. 121 00:08:04,933 --> 00:08:08,927 They don't understand that, yeah, maybe there's a stranger here we should be nice 122 00:08:08,927 --> 00:08:10,650 to. They have no fellow feeling. 123 00:08:10,650 --> 00:08:12,250 No linkage with Odysseus. 368. 124 00:08:12,250 --> 00:08:14,548 That comes off, they treated him very rudely. 125 00:08:14,548 --> 00:08:18,413 Contrast this with what Eumaeus does. Eumaeus is doing the right thing. 126 00:08:18,413 --> 00:08:22,012 The suitors are doing all the wrong things when it comes to xenia. 127 00:08:22,031 --> 00:08:27,052 When they cross this threshold and act so ugly, in such an ugly way to Odysseus. 128 00:08:27,052 --> 00:08:32,041 Yeah, they're, they're treating a beggar poorly, and they should have treated a 129 00:08:32,041 --> 00:08:35,334 beggar better. But they're also running afoul of this 130 00:08:35,334 --> 00:08:38,878 critical code that is built into what it is to be Greek. 131 00:08:38,878 --> 00:08:43,310 You ought to treat strangers well. So, it's not just that you're doing 132 00:08:43,310 --> 00:08:48,785 something that's a little bit rude to this one person, you're violating a core social 133 00:08:48,785 --> 00:08:54,000 custom of what it is to be a Greek. So these suitors are violating something 134 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,854 quite strong here and being quite so rude to Odysseus. 135 00:08:57,854 --> 00:09:03,063 Also, they are violating a code that is a strong, strongly knitted into the Greek 136 00:09:03,063 --> 00:09:07,000 cultural fabric. But it also comes from Zeus himself. 137 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:12,012 So they are committing a kind of offense against Zeus by not treating a stranger 138 00:09:12,012 --> 00:09:14,006 well. And this comes out. 139 00:09:14,006 --> 00:09:18,027 Gods arrive and disguised in every way. We hear again at page 370. 140 00:09:18,027 --> 00:09:23,026 Gods arrive disguised in every way. That person who you don't who it is could 141 00:09:23,026 --> 00:09:25,075 be god. You should treat them well. 142 00:09:25,075 --> 00:09:30,303 And if you don't, you are violating even the great authority of Zeus. 143 00:09:30,303 --> 00:09:35,537 Looking forward to book twenty, one of the suitors comes up and says, you want a 144 00:09:35,537 --> 00:09:38,734 guest gift, you beggar? Fine, I'll give you guest gift. 145 00:09:38,734 --> 00:09:42,039 And takes an ox hoof and he hurls it, hurls it at Odysseus. 146 00:09:42,057 --> 00:09:45,029 Further perversion of the custom of the xenia. 147 00:09:45,029 --> 00:09:50,000 What you are supposed to do is not take the hoof which can be used as a weapon, 148 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:54,077 but take the meat which is nourishing. Give it to somebody who comes to your 149 00:09:54,077 --> 00:09:57,072 house, take care of them but they're not doing that. 150 00:09:57,090 --> 00:10:01,992 As this book, you know, carries forward book seventeen. 151 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:06,050 We see further Eumaeus develop in his role as messenger. 152 00:10:06,073 --> 00:10:11,052 He brings a message from the stranger to Penelope at 371. 153 00:10:11,075 --> 00:10:18,015 Then comes back and, and talks to Odysseus and Odysseus asks then Eumaeus to bring a 154 00:10:18,015 --> 00:10:22,747 message back to Penelope. That message of Penelope, hey, stranger 155 00:10:22,747 --> 00:10:27,078 who has just washed into my house. I'm so far away from my husband. 156 00:10:27,078 --> 00:10:31,011 Maybe you'd like to have a private audience with me? 157 00:10:31,030 --> 00:10:35,007 And invites him to go ahead and come on in and talk to her. 158 00:10:35,026 --> 00:10:38,046 Already a little bit forward, that maneuver. 159 00:10:38,065 --> 00:10:42,080 Odysseus sends back the message, not yet. Let's wait until nighttime. 160 00:10:42,095 --> 00:10:45,029 Very interesting exchange of messages there. 161 00:10:45,044 --> 00:10:48,878 They're, they're easy enough to take on the plain surface level and may well be 162 00:10:48,878 --> 00:10:53,161 that all that's happened is Penelope has said, yeah, sure I'd like to talk to this 163 00:10:53,161 --> 00:10:55,362 stranger. I could find out about my husband. 164 00:10:55,362 --> 00:10:57,486 And this stranger says, well let's do it later on. 165 00:10:57,486 --> 00:11:00,706 It's more convenient for me. But, there's something also, the, the, the 166 00:11:00,706 --> 00:11:04,904 forwardness of Penelope may, asking to make an audience with this stranger whose 167 00:11:04,904 --> 00:11:08,080 nothing but a beggar. And then the stranger coming back and 168 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:12,093 saying, rather than just sort of dropping everything and saying, oh my gosh the lady 169 00:11:12,093 --> 00:11:16,055 of the house is willing to speak with me. But rather, saying, hold off, wait. 170 00:11:16,055 --> 00:11:21,031 Let's do it at nighttime, when we can do it in a different kind of setting. 171 00:11:21,050 --> 00:11:26,045 Both those things I think are, it's possible that there's a subterranean back 172 00:11:26,045 --> 00:11:31,040 message being sent in the message. So, kind of like, metadata built into the 173 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:36,093 message that's being sent that says "I want to pay some attention to you" on both 174 00:11:36,093 --> 00:11:39,090 sides. We'll see what that attention's going to 175 00:11:39,090 --> 00:11:43,066 be in the coming books. So, things start to unfold rapidly and 176 00:11:43,066 --> 00:11:48,414 quickly in seventeen through twenty. Lots of the good stuff starts to, unpack 177 00:11:48,414 --> 00:11:49,053 itself here.