Page:The City-State of the Greeks and Romans.djvu/113

IV to young Telemachus, "Never may Cronion make thee king in sea-girt Ithaca, which thing is of inheritance thy right!" And Eurymachus, in kinder tone, tells him that though it is unjust for the lords to devour the substance of Odysseus, yet "it lies on the knees of the gods what man is to be king over the Achæans in sea-girt Ithaca." And in the assembly which follows in book ii., where Telemachus seems to appeal to the "folk" for help against the lords who are living on his substance and wooing his mother, he shows weakness himself, and can get no support from the people. Ithaca is in confusion; there seems to be no hope for the house of Odysseus; the heir can hardly procure the ship to carry him to Pylos to seek for news of his father.

The Odyssey is in great part ancient myth and folk-tale; but these first two books contain no such element. They are clearly a picture, — a fancy picture it may be, — of such confusion as might have arisen in any monarchy about the time when the Odyssey took its present shape. War might strengthen a king's hands if he returned successful, but it might also shake his house to its foundations if he never returned at all. The plot of the Odyssey brings the king home at last to wreak vengeance on the traitor lords, and we can imagine his power thereby greatly increased and handed down intact to his son. But in many a case the king may never