(no subject)

[timelets]

Eupeithes stood up and addressed them, since unforgettable
sorrow was stored away in his heart for the sake of Antinoös,
his son, who was the first to be killed by noble Odysseus.


‘Friends, this man's will worked great evil upon the Achaians.

First he took many excellent men away in the vessels

with him, and lost the hollow ships, and lost all the people,

and then returning killed the best men of the Kephallenians.

...
Then Medon, full of prudent thoughts, spoke forth and addressed them:
‘Hear me now, you men of Ithaka; for Odysseus
devised what he did, not without the consent of immortal
gods. I myself saw an immortal god who was standing
beside Odysseus. In every way it resembled Mentor.
An immortal god was seen, at one time in front of Odysseus
urging him on, and then next time he would rout the suitors,
and dash about the hall, while they fell one after another.’


-- Richmond Lattimore (translator). The Odyssey of Homer, Book XXIV.

Eupeithes was right: the Trojan war was a disaster for the Greeks and Odysseus himself was a disaster for the people of Ithaca. In essence, he was an instrument in the hands of powerful, reckless gods who instigated a bloody meaningless war to amuse themselves.

Remarkably, I read and re-read the Odyssey many times but that thought never entered my mind until yesterday, when my audio player got stuck on a track with Eupeithes' speech.