[119] What is the meaning of the concluding part of Teiresias' speech? Eustath. says, “λοξότητα χρησμοῦ μιμεῖται ὁ τοιοῦτος λόγος διὰ τὸ ἀσαφὲς καὶ δυσεξήγητον”, but still we seem to see what is, or, at least, what ought to be its meaning.
The commands laid upon Odysseus are evidently serious; they cannot be neglected. When in Od.23. 248 foll. he shows that he must tear himself away from Penelope again, he explains to her that ‘a necessity is laid upon him;’ he has a last ordeal to undergo and a last journey to make. As the wrath of Poseidon was the prime cause of his dangers and trials, so a final reconciliation with him must be the prelude to the peaceful close of his life. He must make his way to some spot far inland, perhaps in the heart of the great continent that lay over against Ithaca; and when he finds by the prophet's test that he has reached a people to whom the very existence of the sea, and, still more, the name of Poseidon is unknown—there, in that most unlikely place, he shall publish the name of the ruler of the ocean, and offer sacrifices in his honour, leaving his oar planted there as a standing memorial. Then,—that last labour performed,—he must return home again and make oblations to all the gods in heaven. After that the terrible sea shall work him no more mischief, but far away from the sight and sound of it, he shall spend a happy and an honoured old age, and then shall come the ‘Passing of Odysseus’ by a calm and painless death. Penelope, when this prophecy is recounted to her, evidently understands something like this as its meaning, saying ( Od.23. 286) “εἰ μὲν δὴ γῆράς γε θεοὶ τελέουσιν ἄρειον”, “ἐλπωρή τοι ἔπειτα κακῶν ὑπάλυξιν ἔσεσθαι”.The difficulty that disturbs this interpretation is the description given of the circumstances of the death which awaits him, 134 foll., where see notes.
