The Tempered Odyssey (04.25.2001)
Being a work of importance in the western tradition of philosophy, The Odyssey is much more than some play written by Homer ages ago. Though The Odyssey certainly is a dramatic work and partially intended for entertainment, it also provides insight into the ways of thinking of the time it has been written in. Aside from illustrating the perspective of early Greek philosophy The Odyssey also raises certain questions pertaining to virtues and the morality of actions undertaken therein. Such questions and the pursuit of their answers may also lead to a better understanding of the actions taken in present-day society and the human condition in general. One of the virtues that is present throughout The Odyssey is temperance, or the lack thereof. In the course of Odysseus' journey, numerous events take place which are determined by the actions of Odysseus' himself, as well as those of his shipmates. In fact, the endeavor here is to portray how the delays and troubles encountered by Odysseus and his crew are due to their inability to exhibit proper self-restraint in conduct, expression, and indulgence of the appetites. This is undertaken in the proceeding text by an examination of two specific episodes from Homer's The Odyssey. The first episode being Book X of The Odyssey, entitled "The Grace of the Witch", containing Odysseus' encounter with the goddess Kirke. The second being Book V under the title of "Sweet Nymph and Open Sea," of how Odysseus departs the island of the nymph Kalypso. Both episodes are intended to demonstrate the importance of temperance in the journeys of Odysseus.
Prior to a discussion of how temperance affects The Odyssey, it is good to discuss the concept of temperance in order to avoid a potential misunderstanding of the term and its application. As stated earlier, Odysseus and his crew tend to lack self-restraint in conduct, expression, and indulgence of the appetites. Thus, the mention of temperance is to henceforth refer to that precise self-restraint in conduct, expression, and indulgence of the appetites. However, it is also to draw upon Aristotle's notion of the mean. When it comes to moral virtues, Aristotle provides the concept of a mean in order to determine how much or how little of a specific attribute is to be exhibited by a character so that the proper dosage may become a moral virtue. The deficiency or excess of the attribute in question thus determines the resulting character of the individual. In the instance of fear, a deficiency produces recklessness (Baird). This can be related to The Odyssey well by taking the encounter with the Kyklopes and the blinding of Polyphemos by Odysseus companions. If Odysseus were satisfied with the amount of food attained prior to Polyphemos' return, and not be so greedy as to go and take the stores of the Kyklops too, he may have returned to Ithaka years before his actual homecoming. Such is the course of action taken by "the man skilled in all ways of contending," as to bring upon him the anger of Poseidon throughout The Odyssey.
On the other hand, the excess of fear yields cowardice, which is certainly not a characteristic of any skilled man in The Odyssey. The strive thus, is to find the mean between deficiency and excess. To temper the attribute of fear into its correct parameters is to find courage, and it is this moderation of quality which Odysseus must find ere he is able to come home both in the literal and figurative manner (Baird). Verily, it is temperance of his character's qualities that he must attain lest he blunder to anger all the gods and drive their wrath to smite him.
To examine the first of two episodes, Book X of The Odyssey under the title of "The Grace of the Witch," shows its first most notable instance where self-restraint plays a key role when the first scouting party under the lead of Eurylokhos comes upon the house of Kirke.
In the entrance way the stayed
to listen there: inside her quiet house
they heard the goddess Kirke.
Low she sang
in her beguiling voice, while on her loom
she wove ambrosial fabric sheer and bright,
by that craft known to the goddesses of heaven.
No one would speak, until Polites – most
faithful and likable of my officers, said:
'Dear friends, no need for stealth: here's a young weaver
singing a pretty song to set the air
a-tingle on these lawns and paven courts.
Goddess she is, or lady. Shall we greet her?' (10.240-252)
And so it turns out that these foolish men cannot contain their want for a beautiful woman that then does offer them wine, though only to work a wicked magic that turns them into swine. Granted that Odysseus comes to their rescue and subdues the goddess Kirke, but it is not without a price. It appears that even the clear-headed Odysseus cannot control his manhood in the presence of "the loveliest of goddesses" as he ultimately "entered Kirke's flawless bed of love," (10.390). In fact, not only does he stay as her lover, but he stays for one entire year, having forgotten his voyage to Ithaka as he feasts on "roast meats and wine" with his companions in the halls of Kirke. This brings up the question of where have the determination, perseverance, and temperance of this master mariner gone. Well, it does return at the end of that one year. Though it still takes this bunch of hardy soldiers a year to get their wits back; which signifies that they do lose a great deal of self-restraint in pursuit of their appetites. Thus, once again, their home of Ithaka may have been visible on the horizon sooner, had these men remained more temperate.
So, after prying themselves from "the loveliest of goddesses" and their "roast meats and wine," Odysseus and his crew make their way past several more perils. Eventually, due to a foolish raid upon the cattle of Helios by the crew of Odysseus, Zeus strikes their ship with a white-hot lightning bolt. This sends all the crew to their deaths save Odysseus. He, being the master mariner that he is, manages to float up on the shores of Kalypso's island. Now, this severe encounter with Zeus' fury is most certainly due to the lack of temperance in the shipmates of Odysseus. Their greed for prime cattle of the gods caused their own demise. Fortunate for Odysseus that he is the protagonist of the poem, for his life may not have been spared otherwise.
Nevertheless, he finds himself on the island of Ogygia, where the sweet nymph Kalypso dwells. Again a beautiful goddess crosses Odysseus' path, and a nymph at that. It follows naturally that "the man skilled in all ways of contending" needs not contend very hard for the affection of the nymph, and becomes her lover as well. It seems that Odysseus is but a young and foolish man who cannot keep his testosterone in check. If only Penelope knew of the unruly husband she waits for, lost at sea perhaps, she may consider the suitors' offers more seriously.
In any case, when the reader first meets Kalypso and Odysseus on the island that is a paradise, it is learned quickly that Odysseus weeps day and night in yearning for his beloved Ithaka. "The sweet days of his life time / were running out in anguish over his exile, / for long ago the nymph had ceased to please," (5.159-161). Yes, the nymph had ceased to please, and it may have been long ago; yet perhaps it was not so long ago as Odysseus has been on this island for seven years or so now. The point is that, whether the nymph ceased to please long ago or just the previous day, she pleased at one point. Thus, once more, Odysseus is not exhibiting the greatest moderation of his lusty self. And even without being pleased he lays with her every night for seven years. Perhaps this is not the same Odysseus who "fought only to save his life, to bring his shipmates home," (1.9-10).
In the end, before Odysseus can make his homecoming, it is necessary for him to learn the virtue of temperance. If he is not able to moderate his impulses towards revenge, feasting, and lovely goddesses, then he shall always be doomed to roam upon the wine dark seas. Obviously he does learn this, since he does return to Ithaka without being smitten down by the gods, but he returns a different Odysseus. The new Odysseus realizes that there is more to living than a feast of roast meats and wine each night before the flawless bed of love of a lovely goddess. The new Odysseus wipes a salt tear from his cheek at the sight of an old hound that lays neglected (17.394).
Works Cited
Baird, Forrest E., and Walter Kaufman. "Aristotle." Ancient Philosophy. 3rd ed. Philosophic Classics, vols. 1. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2000. 304 - 444.
Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1998.
