Phemius' Last Stand: The Impact of Occasion on Tradition in the Odyssey
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When Odysseus and Telemachus finally take their stand against the suitors in Book XXII of the Odyssey, Phemius, the poet who has been entertaining the suitors in Ithaca during Odysseus' absence, makes a single attempt to save his own life. He begs Odysseus not to kill him because he is a poet (344-49): I beg you, Odysseus, respect me and have pity on me. For you will have trouble in the future if you slay a poet, I who sing for both the gods and men. I am self-taught and the god has inspired me with all kinds of songs. It is fitting for me to sing for you as for a god. For these reasons, do not be eager to kill me.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.