Compare and Contrast the Divine Machinery of Odyssey and...

Compare and Contrast the Divine Machinery of the Odyssey and the Aeneid The Aeneid is a poem of Fate, which acts as an ever-present determinant, and as such Aeneas is entirely in the hands of destiny. The unerring and inexorable passage of fate, assisted by the Gods intervention, is impossible to prevent and its path does create many victims along the way, who are expendable for Rome to be created. In the Aeneid, mortals suffer, no matter what they do or how good a life they lead and they are unable to rely on the Gods for assistance. However, the Odyssey is a poem of morality, where the good are exulted and the bad are punished (The blessed gods dont like wicked acts. Justice and fair play are what they respect O.14.84). It†¦show more content†¦In the Odyssey, interventions by Jupiter is due to his role as arbiter of justice. He sets Odysseus free from Ogygia due to Athenes reminder of his past piety (sacrifices he made you by the Argives ships O.1.63) and of his righteousness as a king (that admirable King!...ruled like a loving father O.5.11) . She declares that if Odysseus is not set free then the gods are not just. The theme of justice is emphasised at the very start of the poem, with the Proems reference to the transgressions of Odysseus crew bringing them doom. It is reiterated in the final book as the suitors are killed by the divine agent Odysseus (victims to the will of the gods and their own infamy O.22.414). Though it is Jupiter that supervises the course of destiny in both books, in one he is the arbiter of justice and the other of Fate. Fate in the Aeneid is assured from the start and it is an inexorable path, but in the Odyssey men decide their fate. Odysseus men did not have to eat the cattle of Hyperion but after they had, then they were destined to die (if you leave them untouched...there is some chance...but if you hurt them, then I predict destruction O.12.137). Odysseus is allowed to leave Ogygia in Book 5 but it is his choice to leave, despite the nymph Calypsos appeals (take on immortality O.5.207, Ne vertheless I long to reach my