Editing Odysseus (section)

==== "Cruel, deceitful Ulixes" of the Romans ====
Homer's ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' portray Odysseus as a [[culture hero]], but the Romans, who believed themselves the heirs of Prince [[Aeneas]] of Troy, considered him a villainous falsifier. In [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', written between 29 and 19 BC, he is constantly referred to as "cruel Odysseus" ([[Latin]] ''dirus Ulixes'') or "deceitful Odysseus" (''pellacis'', ''fandi fictor''). Turnus, in ''Aeneid'', book 9, reproaches the Trojan Ascanius with images of rugged, forthright Latin virtues, declaring (in [[John Dryden]]'s translation), "You shall not find the sons of Atreus here, nor need the frauds of sly Ulysses fear." While the Greeks admired his cunning and deceit, these qualities did not recommend themselves to the Romans, who possessed a rigid sense of honour. In Euripides's tragedy ''[[Iphigenia at Aulis]]'', having convinced Agamemnon to consent to the sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia, to appease the goddess [[Artemis]], Odysseus facilitates the immolation by telling Iphigenia's mother, [[Clytemnestra]], that the girl is to be wed to [[Achilles]]. Odysseus's attempts to avoid his sacred oath to defend [[Menelaus]] and [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] offended Roman notions of duty, and the many stratagems and tricks that he employed to get his way offended Roman notions of honour.