The Odyssey - Book 2 Summary

    When the morning came, Telemachus rose and got dressed.  He then went to call an assembly of the men in Ithaca.  Aegyptus started off the assembly, saying that a meeting had not been called, so it must have been a big crisis that drove someone to bring everyone together.  Telemachus steps forward, saying that he called the meeting because he has heard first-hand that his father is alive and not for off.  Also, two things have been bothering Telemachus.  First, Telemachus believed that his father had died on his return from the Trojan War, and now suitors won't leave Penelope alone.  The suitors are so cowardly that they would rather die than ask Penelope's father for her hand in marriage, so they hang around Odysseus's house, eating all of his good food and drinking all of his wine.  Telemachus said that the suitors should be ashamed of themselves and that they should fear the gods' wrath.  Telemachus begs the suitors to leave him alone to mourn his father, unless they think that Odysseus wronged his country wrong, and in return are setting the suitors on Telemachus to get revenge.  Telemachus was so angry, that he started crying, which brought the pity of most in the assembly.  

    Everyone was silent, as no one had the heart to say anything, except for Antinous.  Antinous claimed that the suitors were not to blame for Telemachus's grief at all, but his own mother, because she has led all of them on.  One example of her trickery was when she said three years ago that she would choose a man to marry after she finished weaving a funeral shroud for her father.  Every day she would work on the shroud, and then she would come back at night and unwind all of her work.  Finally, one of Penelope's woman told the suitors of her secret.  The suitors then made Penelope finish the shroud for her father.  Antinous turned to Telemachus and said that the suitors will stay at the palace and eat Odysseus's food and slaughter his livestock until Penelope chooses someone to marry.  

    Telemachus replied to Antinous, saying that it is cruel to suggest that he drive his own mother from their house against her will.  The price that Telemachus would have to pay from his father if he return's alive and Penelope's father would be tremendous.  He declared that he would never make his mother leave her house if she did not want to.  To the suitors, Telemachus said that they must leave his house, but if they enjoy feeding off of others and then, by all means do it, but not before Telemachus calls out to the gods to revenge him.  

    At this point in the conversation  Zeus sent two eagles flying down from a mountain to back up what Telemachus had said.  The eagles flew wing to wing until they were overhead the assembly.  When they were, they stopped and started to destroy each other, tearing at the other's throat and cheeks.  After a few moments, they flew away towards the houses of the town.  Everyone watched the eagles disappear quietly, thinking about what might happen in the future.  

    Suddenly, an old warrior named Halithersis broke the silence and said that a great disaster was headed towards all of the suitors and that things were working in Odysseus's favor now.  Halithersis recalls a prophecy that he made the day that Odysseus and his men departed for Troy.  The prophecy said that "the mastermind of the battle" would lose all of his shipmates and after twenty years would finally return home.  

   Another man, Eurymachus, shot down Halithersis's predictions saying that the prophecy is bogus and meaningless.  He said that Odysseus is dead in some foreign land, and that by saying his prophecy he has made Telemachus angrier and that Halithersis is only hoping for a gift of gratitude from Telemachus.  Eurymachus then puts out his own prophecy.  If Halithersis talks Telemachus into rioting, then Telemachus will be the first to feel the pain with Halithersis not far behind.  To Telemachus, Eurymachus suggests that he send his mother to her father's house, where a marriage will be arranged.  He says that the suitors have nothing to fear from Telemachus's empty threats and an old fool's prophecy.  

    Despite all of this, however, Telemachus remains firm in his decree that the suitors should leave the house by morning.  Telemachus brings up his next point of duty, being that he wants a fast ship and a crew of twenty men so that he can set off to Sparta and Pylos to catch word of his father's return.  After this, Mentor took the floor and warned that they should never let a king be kind and gentle, but they should let him be cruel and allow him to practice courage.  Mentor said that he did not blame the suitors, but the other people in the town who sit back and watch, doing nothing to stop the savage men.  

Leocritis turned to him and shouted that turning the townspeople against the suitors was uphill work.  He also said that even if Odysseus did return and get rid of the suitors, Penelope would not be happy about it.  Leocritis then disbanded the assembly, saying that Odysseus's doddering friends could supply Telemachus with a boat so that he could go on a journey that he would never survive.  

    After the assembly, Telemachus walked to the beach and prated to Athena to help him.  Athena appeared, in the form of Mentor and said to him that he would never lack sense or courage from that point on because his father's spirit is in his blood.  Athena said that so rarely are sons equal to their fathers, and even rarer still is when a son surpasses their father.  Athena told Telemachus to put the words of the suitor out of his mind, as they are madmen and can't see the doom that hangs above them.  Athena told Telemachus to go home and prepare the rations for his journey, while she went to go procure a ship and crew.  

    At home, Telemachus found the suitors eating his goats and pigs, and drinking his wine.  Antinous approached Telemachus and offered for Telemachus to come join him and the suitors while they ate.  Telemachus refused, saying that he couldn't eat in peace and be happy at the same time.  As Telemachus headed away, the taunts of the other suitors followed him.  Ignoring them, Telemachus headed down to the storeroom where the food was kept, and ordered for rations of wine, barley, and oil be packed and placed by the door.  When Telemachus's nurse (the person who he had asked to pack the food) heard of his plans, she begged him not to go.  She said that while he was gone, the suitors would plan to kill Telemachus and split up his inheritance.  Telemachus reassured her that the plan was made by a god, not himself.  He also tells the nurse not to tell his mother for at least a few weeks so that she won't worry about him.  

   Athena gathered the crew and told them to meet at a ship, which she had procured and to wait for Telemachus's arrival.  Then, the goddess stopped by Odysseus's house, where she made the suitors drunk and sleepy so that they quickly went off to bed.  Athena, in the form of Mentor, then led Telemachus to the ship where his crew waited.  As the boat sailed away, Athena sent a gust of wind that pushed the ship in the direction of their destination.