Metablogicon: The Loyal Swineherd

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The Loyal Swineherd

... which makes me think of The Sound of Music.

Basically, Odysseus lies to his most faithful servant, and everyone from the swineherd to the swine to me believes it. It's full of exile and death, which is true to his real life, but full of falsehoods and fallacies that made me go, "wow, bummer," even though I KNEW IT WASN'T REAL. ODYSSEUS. CRIPES.

I know lying saved him from the Cyclops, and some other stuff, but I don't see why that's something to be lauded otherwise.

Eumaeus, the swineherd, is narrated in the second person. Homer probably sang about him like this so that it would work metrically--it happens more than once, so it must be one of the lines he reused frequently to fit in--but it's irregular and interesting. It's the only place in the entire book (that I've noticed, and that wasn't while someone was speaking) where the second person is used. As an example, 14. 502: You replied in kind, Eumaeus...

Anyway, then Odysseus tells a long lie just for a cloak. Eumaeus is pretty boss and probably would have just given it to him if he had asked. Again, I don't understand why that's necessary.

14.477: porker

1 comment:

teacon7December 15, 2011 at 10:41 AM
Is lying ever necessary? What if it would save your life? What if it was to save Odysseus' life?
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We are, however humbly, parochially, and hampered by other pursuits, attempting to converse about ideas. We have in mind the enduring ideas from the “great conversation" of the heritage given to us by thinkers from the West. It is incomplete, imperfect, and poor. If you were looking for wisdom, I suggest turning to the authors themselves. The artifice here merely attempts to discipline ourselves into reading consistently, and thinking logically, and expressing any insights gained in a clear arrangement.

What remains posted here comes from many sources. A group of us read through Homer's Odyssey and commented on it. We also set up a discussion group over the Heritage 101 video course from Hillsdale College. Each has been suspended in favor of more pressing concerns from daily vocation, but the tools remain for another discussion in the future.