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Salient. The Newspaper of Victoria University College. Vol. 19, No. 8. July 1, 1955

Sir John Sheppard on Homer

Sir John Sheppard on Homer

"When Telemachus said to his companion Mentor, before a talk with Nestor that he was 'so shy' and 'didn't know what to say.' Mentor replied, 'Do your best. You will think of some things for yourself, some things will be put into your head by a goddess,' When you go into your exam, room, don't worry—go in feeling happy, and Telemachus' experience will be yours."

Sir John Sheppard, classical scholar, sometime Provost of King's College Cambridge, was speaking to a lunch-time gathering in room A1, The subject—Homer.

A report of what he said would not do justice to the [unclear: zest] and vitality with which he spoke. A small old man, almost insignificant, perched precariously on the table, legs swinging, created anew for a delighted audience the stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

"The tone of the Odyssey is lighter, not comic . . . not 'Sing, Goddess' but Tell me, Muse,'—'Tell me Muse of that ingenious man who learnt the minds of men, while he in his own heart suffered many griefs, his companions died being fools.'—This is not tragedy.

The Iliad on the other hand tells of tragedy, of the tragic error of a young man and how by the mercy of Zeus and the influence of his friend and his mother he was brought back to sanity and healed."

Achilles—"that very gallant passionate young man, who very nearly threw away his honour, but saved it in the end to become a man again, who set his heart on glory and found instead something even greater—loyalty and friendship"; Hector—"in splendid contrast, the noblest soldier of all"; Athena—"Dear Athena—rather mischievous . . . ":—these characters for a short time lived again there, by the magic of Sir John Sheppard.