nature of the son of Thetis. Odysseus is patient endurance, common sense,
self-restraint, coolness, resource and strength; he is indeed a manifold
personality, far more complex than anything attempted previously in Greek
literature and therefore far more modern in his appeal. It is only after
reading the _Odyssey_ that we begin to understand why Diomedes chose
Odysseus as his companion in the famous Dolon adventure in Noman's land.
Achilles would have been the wrong man for this or any other situation
which demanded first and last a cool head.

The romantic elements which are so necessary a part of all Epic are
much more convincing in the _Odyssey_; the actions and adventures are
indeed beyond experience, but they are treated in such a masterly
style that they are made inevitable; it would be difficult to improve
on any of the little details which force us to believe the whole
story. Added to them is another genuine romantic feature, the sense of
wandering in strange new lands untrodden before of man's foot; the
beings who move in these lands are gracious, barbarous, magical,
monstrous, superhuman, dreamy, or prophetic by turns; they are all
different and all fascinating. The reader is further introduced to the
life of the dead as well as of the living and the memory of his visit
is one which he will retain for ever. Not many stories of adventure
can impress themselves indelibly as does the _Odyssey_.

To English readers the poem has a special value, for it deals with the
sea and its wonders. The native land of its hero is not very unlike
our own, "full of mist and rain", yet able to make us love it far more
than a Calypso's isle with an offer of immortality to any who will
exchange his real love of home for an unnatural haven of peace. A
splendid hero, a good love-story, admirable narrative, romance and
excitement, together with a breath of the sea which gives plenty of