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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: friends) commanded the only entrance by which help could come,
so that there would be nothing gained by raising an alarm. As
for the [Greek] of line 143, no commentator ancient or modern
has been able to say what was intended--but whatever they were,
Melanthius could never carry twelve shields, twelve helmets, and
twelve spears. Moreover, where he could go the others could go
also. If a dozen suitors had followed Melanthius into the house
they could have attacked Ulysses in the rear, in which case,
unless Minerva had intervened promptly, the "Odyssey" would have
had a different ending. But throughout the scene we are in a
region of extravagance rather than of true fiction--it cannot be
The Odyssey |
