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father, king, and husband.24 But if there is one thing which this instance of unspoken thought (and the ensuing lying tale) makes clear, it is that secrecy, dissimulation, and restraint are innate, not to say incorrigible, traits of Odysseus' character. I will come back to this point in my conclusion. |
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And finally, in the case of Odysseus and Telemachus the period of secrecy is much shorter. In 16.11 Odysseus sees his son for the first time, and in 16.167ff. Athena allows him to make himself known. Having done so Odysseus freely lets his tears flow:  (1901). Only now does the narrator tell us that previously Odysseus has had to restrain his feelings. Nowhere, however, did the text record such a moment as when Odysseus faces the suitors, Penelope, and his father. There is one passage, however, which contains perhaps a hint of Odysseus' unexpressed feelings. I am referring to the passage at the beginning of book 16, in which Eumaeus greets Telemachus after his safe return from his trip to Pylos and Sparta: |
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and the swelling tear fell from him.
And as a father, with heart full of love, welcomes his only
and grown son, for whose sake he has undergone many hardships
when he comes back in the tenth year from a distant country,
so now the noble swineherd, clinging fast to godlike
Telemachus, kissed him even as he had escaped dying.
(Od. 16.1621) |
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Scholars have noted that the simile in this passage contains several role-reversals: Eumaeus plays the role of a father; and the son, Telemachus, has made a journey similar to that of Odysseus.25 One of the effects of these reversals is that Eumaeus' emotional and affective reaction at the sight of Telemachus can be read as the reflection of Odysseus' inward feelings at seeing his son for the first time after twenty years.26 |
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Odysseus' early self-identification in the case of Telemachus makes the latter an accomplice to his revenge scheme against the suitors. Now |
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24 For defenses of the passage, see Clarke (1967) 25, Wender (1978) 5662, and Falkner (1989) 418. |
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25 See Podlecki (1971) 89, Moulton (1977) 1323, and Foley (1978) 7. |
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26 Rutherford (1986) 157 has also connected 16.1621 and 1901, but analyses the first passage somewhat differently: "the spontaneous joy and openness of the swineherd's greeting to his young master . . . provide a perfect foil to the silent presence of the disguised Odysseus in the background." |
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