moderns tend not to question the wisdom of Athena’s instructions to Telemachus in Book 1 of the Odyssey. Most readers have taken it for granted that his voyages to Pylos and Sparta will somehow be, in and of themselves, educational—that (like going away to college, say, or taking a junior year abroad) the mere fact of leaving home and being on his own will play a crucial part in Telemachus’ maturation.
