dinner; and when the strenuous day was over, he could tune the harp,
discourse sweet music, and sing of the deeds of heroes and gods.

Such was the versatility, and such the many-sided energy, of the Greek
as he appears in the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_. And as these two poems
contain the elements of all subsequent thought and progress in the
Greek nation, so in the typical character of Odysseus are concentrated
all the qualities which distinguish the individual Greek--his
insatiable curiosity, which left no field of thought unexplored--his
spirit of daring enterprise, which carried the banner of civilisation
to the borders of India and the Straits of Gibraltar--and his subtlety
and craft, which in a later age made him a byword to the grave
moralists of Rome.

In the _Iliad_ Odysseus is constantly exhibited as a contrast to the
youthful Achilles. Wherever prudence, experience, and policy, are
required, Odysseus comes to the front. In Achilles, with his furious
passions and ill-regulated impulses, there is always something of the
barbarian; while Odysseus in all his actions obeys the voice of
reason. It will readily be seen that such a character, essentially
intellectual, always moving within due measure, never breaking out
into eccentricity or excess, would appeal less to the popular
imagination than the fiery nature of Pelides, "strenuous, passionate,
implacable, and fierce." And on this ground we may partly explain the
unamiable light in which Odysseus appears in later Greek literature.
Already in Pindar we find him singled out for disapproval. In
Sophocles he has sunk still lower; and in Euripides his degradation is
completed.

VI