A Guide to the Odyssey: A Commentary on the English Translation of Robert Fitzgerald by Ralph J. Hexter, Robert Fitzgerald Page A
Authors: Ralph J. Hexter, Robert Fitzgerald
Tags: Literary Criticism, Language Arts & Disciplines, Poetry, Ancient & Classical, History and Criticism, Epic poetry; Greek, Translating & Interpreting, Homer, Greek Language - Translating Into English, Greek Language, Fitzgerald; Robert - Knowledge - Language and Languages, Epic Poetry; Greek - History and Criticism, Odysseus (Greek Mythology) in Literature, Translating Into English
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nobles in line by persuasion but can also threaten the use of force. All the gods at onetime or another appeal to “justice” or what they perceive as justice (often a very self-serving view). But although he has his “private” favorites and interests, as ruler of the gods Zeus is expected to be held to, and in a certain sense to embody, justice. Hence, in
The Iliad
, no matter how many diversions he permits the other gods to introduce and how many delays their mortal subordinates may effect, Hektor must die and Akhilleus must surrender his body to Priam just as, ultimately (i.e., beyond the limits of
The Iliad
), Troy must fall and Helen return to Meneláos. In
The Odyssey
, while for offenses both old and new 14 Odysseus may be tested, detained, and stripped of his ships and comrades, Zeus wills that he return to Ithaka and recover wife, house, and status. Athena, Zeus’ daughter and Odysseus’ special champion, knows this, and when her doing everything she can is not enough, she reminds Zeus and has him renew his promise. Poseidon may interfere, but only within limits.
Zeus does embody justice, but at times this seems less like “Zeus wills only what is just” and more like “whatever Zeus wills is just.” This is as handy a narrative device as it is a theological one. The whole logic of
The Odyssey
is based on the premise that the suitors are so evil that to a man they deserve death at the hands of Odysseus and his allies. But there is nothing in the procedures of Ithakan justice that would compel the kin of the slain suitors to admit this, nothing that would put a stop to a never-ending series of acts of vengeance. Homer’s solution is simply that Zeus wills the quick and virtually bloodless final settlement between the suitors’ kinfolk and the house of Odysseus. That this is Zeus’—and Homer’s—will makes it just.
All the gods, Zeus included, are subject to fate. Like justice, which has a name (
dikê
) separate from Zeus’, fate is
moira
. It is often close to the will of Zeus, but palpably separate. Homer at times personifies fate with the plural “Fates” (
Moirai
). Fate is not, however, to be conceived along the lines of Christian foreknowledge, much less predestination: there is no eternal mind of God which knows before the creation of time everything that will happen in time, even if theOlympians, and Zeus in particular, are often presented as regarding some events (e.g., the fall of Troy, the homecoming of Odysseus) as certain. Mortals have an even more limited insight into fate, via oracles, prophecies, prophetic dreams, and omens. Since these are open to misinterpretation (even outright manipulation), only the most credulous or benighted characters would rely on them for knowledge of the future. Significantly, neither fate nor divine intervention is assumed to relieve mortals from the responsibility of doing all they can to achieve their ends. The Homeric pantheon helps those who help themselves. In a sense, fate functions not unlike justice: fate is in the end what happens. Something is only finally known to have been fated after it has occurred.
Only fairly recently has European tradition become aware of the global distribution of epic poems and myths describing the internecine struggles of divinities and their activities as opponents and allies of heroes. The recovery of tablets and the deciphering of dead scripts and languages have brought to light the mythological literature of “old world” cultures and have allowed Europeans to explore the cosmography of “new world” civilizations. Previously, European tradition had regarded Homer’s as
the
gods of poetry (as both Pope and Goethe put it). The epic machinery of an Olympian pantheon was adapted by the Roman poets, and via Vergil and his successors it was imitated in some fashion by every European epic poet. Leaving aside for the moment the essences they would have had for those who took part in their cults (“belief” is a
The Iliad
, no matter how many diversions he permits the other gods to introduce and how many delays their mortal subordinates may effect, Hektor must die and Akhilleus must surrender his body to Priam just as, ultimately (i.e., beyond the limits of
The Iliad
), Troy must fall and Helen return to Meneláos. In
The Odyssey
, while for offenses both old and new 14 Odysseus may be tested, detained, and stripped of his ships and comrades, Zeus wills that he return to Ithaka and recover wife, house, and status. Athena, Zeus’ daughter and Odysseus’ special champion, knows this, and when her doing everything she can is not enough, she reminds Zeus and has him renew his promise. Poseidon may interfere, but only within limits.
Zeus does embody justice, but at times this seems less like “Zeus wills only what is just” and more like “whatever Zeus wills is just.” This is as handy a narrative device as it is a theological one. The whole logic of
The Odyssey
is based on the premise that the suitors are so evil that to a man they deserve death at the hands of Odysseus and his allies. But there is nothing in the procedures of Ithakan justice that would compel the kin of the slain suitors to admit this, nothing that would put a stop to a never-ending series of acts of vengeance. Homer’s solution is simply that Zeus wills the quick and virtually bloodless final settlement between the suitors’ kinfolk and the house of Odysseus. That this is Zeus’—and Homer’s—will makes it just.
All the gods, Zeus included, are subject to fate. Like justice, which has a name (
dikê
) separate from Zeus’, fate is
moira
. It is often close to the will of Zeus, but palpably separate. Homer at times personifies fate with the plural “Fates” (
Moirai
). Fate is not, however, to be conceived along the lines of Christian foreknowledge, much less predestination: there is no eternal mind of God which knows before the creation of time everything that will happen in time, even if theOlympians, and Zeus in particular, are often presented as regarding some events (e.g., the fall of Troy, the homecoming of Odysseus) as certain. Mortals have an even more limited insight into fate, via oracles, prophecies, prophetic dreams, and omens. Since these are open to misinterpretation (even outright manipulation), only the most credulous or benighted characters would rely on them for knowledge of the future. Significantly, neither fate nor divine intervention is assumed to relieve mortals from the responsibility of doing all they can to achieve their ends. The Homeric pantheon helps those who help themselves. In a sense, fate functions not unlike justice: fate is in the end what happens. Something is only finally known to have been fated after it has occurred.
Only fairly recently has European tradition become aware of the global distribution of epic poems and myths describing the internecine struggles of divinities and their activities as opponents and allies of heroes. The recovery of tablets and the deciphering of dead scripts and languages have brought to light the mythological literature of “old world” cultures and have allowed Europeans to explore the cosmography of “new world” civilizations. Previously, European tradition had regarded Homer’s as
the
gods of poetry (as both Pope and Goethe put it). The epic machinery of an Olympian pantheon was adapted by the Roman poets, and via Vergil and his successors it was imitated in some fashion by every European epic poet. Leaving aside for the moment the essences they would have had for those who took part in their cults (“belief” is a
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