Blog Post #3 – Question 3
I believe that it is Odysseus’s fault that his men eat the cattle. Odysseus is repeatedly shown to be a weak leader; for instance, the only reason he lands on the island in the first place is that his men nearly rebel when he asks them to not stop. After stopping he abandons them to go pray during a time of crisis when they are on the verge of starvation rather than staying with his men in order to ensure that his wishes are carried out. He himself is a strong man, but he does not understand that other men are not like him and need more guidance in order to not stray. By not staying with them he could have countered the argument of starvation being the worst death with the promise of the gods that his men would survive or sharing his foreknowledge, he caused their deaths.