It is often noted in literature that wisdom can only be gained through suffering. As Siddhartha denied himself pleasure and Morrie slowly died, Odysseus, too, suffered to attain wisdom. Homer expertly demonstrated this throughout his epic novel.

A primary indicator of the great tactician's wisdom is how he commanded his troops. By leading all his troops into a single cave, he allowed many of them to be devoured by the Cyclops. The moral of this story was not lost on him, however. He uses this knowledge to make better decisions later on. When they land on the land of the Laistrygones, rather than parading everyone out to observe the area, Odysseus wisely decided to send "out two picked men and a herald to learn what race of men this land sustained" (Homer 168).

Odysseus also becomes a shrewd deceiver because of his suffering. Before some of his negative experiences...