460 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



chapter xvi. Such portions of this chapter as serve my purpose will 

 be mentioned later. 



My study of the above-mentioned passages of Aristotle has natur- 

 a,lly referred me to recognition scenes in the Odyssey, from which 

 it appears that such scenes are as old as Greek literature. It is in- 

 teresting to note that the Homeric recognition scenes are compara- 

 tively simple,* but none the less effective and in keeping with the 

 general character of the epic. A brief examination of these scenes 

 follows. At the beginning of the fourteenth book of the Odyssey 

 Odysseus returns to Ithaca, and, in the guise of a beggar, presents 

 himself at the hut of Eumaeus, the swineherd, where he receives a 

 warm reception. One might expect that Odysseus, overjoyed by his 

 safe return, would disclose his identity at once, but not so ; even an 

 epic poet could show ingenuity in delaying recognition scenes so as 

 to make them occur where they suited his purpose best. In this par- 

 ticular case it was necessary to interpose a delay until Telemachus 

 could return from Sparta, and incidentally the poet had an opportunity 

 to pit Eumaeus and Odysseus against each other as story-tellers, 

 whereby the latter became acquainted with the general situation of his 

 household affairs. Finally Telemachus appears at the hut of Eu- 

 maeus at the beginning of Book XVI, yet there is no spontaneous 

 recognition between father and son ; but after Eumaeus has gone to 

 the palace to inform Penelope of the arrival of Telemachus, Athena 

 (172^) transforms Odysseus, the beggar, into Odysseus, the prince, 

 who (188) declares to his startled son dAXa Trarrjp reds ct/xi. In spite 

 of this divine manifestation, Telemachus doubts, and delays his final 

 acquiescence until 214,^ after Odysseus has explained the transforma- 

 tion. Therefore, since we cannot regard this recognition as complete 

 until 214, and inasmuch as the evidence is all in at 188, and what 

 follows to 213 is a mere explanation, or resumi^, of the real evidence, 

 I must consider the intervening verses a conscious delay which I shall 

 designate as secondari/, as distinguished from that more general and 

 longer delay (in this case from the beginning of Book XVI to verse 

 172), which may properly be called ■primary. Let us take another 

 case and see if we can detect a similar delay. 



* I am inclined to believe, however, that the recognition scenes show some 

 development, though it is not my purpose now to discuss the relative chronology 

 of books of the Odyssey on the basis of recognition scenes. Throughout this 

 paper my references to ' Homer ' are in the generic sense. 



6 ^, Kol xpuo"*'!? H^^V iTrefJ-acrcrar 'Aerjvr]. (I quote Cauer's text of the Odyssey.) 



* Od. XVI, 213-214: TTjXe'juaxos 5e' | dfxcptxvOfU irartp' ia0\hy oSvptTO SaKpva 



