Stories from the Odyssey

ppears in the Iliad and Odyssey. And as these two poems contain the elements of all subsequent thought and progress in the Greek nation, so in the typical character of Odysseus are concentrated all the qualities which distinguish the individual Greek--his insatiable curiosity, which left no field of thought unexplored--his spirit of daring enterprise, which carried the banner of civilisation to the borders of India and the Straits of Gibraltar--and his subtlety and craft, which in a later age made him a byword to the grave moralists of Rome.

In the Iliad Odysseus is constantly exhibited as a contrast to the youthful Achilles. Wherever prudence, experience, and policy, are required, Odysseus comes to the front. In Achilles, with his furious passions and ill-regulated impulses, there is always something of the barbarian; while Odysseus in all his actions obeys the voice of reason. It will readily be seen that such a character, essentially intellectual, always moving within due meas