The Traitorous Servant: By Clarence Hung

[clarence hung]

The Traitorous Servant
Here they came across Melanthius son of Dolius, who with two drovers
to help him was driving down some goats for the Suitors’ table, the
pick of all his herds. This man no sooner set his eyes on them than
he
burst into a torrent of vulgar abuse, which roused Odysseus to anger.
‘Ha!’ the fellow cried. ‘One villain leading another—a case of birds
of a feather! Tell me, you miserable swineherd, where are you taking
this dirty pig of yours, this nauseating beggar and plate-licker at
the feast? Just the sort of stand scratching his back against the
door
posts, begging for scraps, but never asking for swords and cauldrons.
Give him to me, to look after the folds, to muck out the pens and
carry fodder to the kids, and he might thrive on whey and put some
muscles on his thighs. But the fellow has got into bad ways, and work
on the farm is the last thing he’s looking for. He’d much rather fill
his gluttonous belly by groveling and begging round the town. You
mark
my words, and time will prove me right. If he goes to noble Odysseus’
palace, a shower of footstools shied at his head y men there will
break in pieces on his ribs.’(The Odyssey, p 228- lines 212-231)

The archetype of the traitorous servant refers to the Melanthius’s
lack
of loyalty to his old master, Odysseus, in the Odyssey. Melanthius
angers him by treating him like an animal; using animal
imagery as well as sarcasm to further humiliate him. Due to the
absence of Odysseus, Melanthius had become a strong supporter of the
Suitors. This is an example of a traitorous servant, which
demonstrates the
imperfections of man and how over time, one forgets what the
importance of
trust and loyalty.

[clarence hung]