ABSTRACT
Ulysses/Odysseus may seem a remote ancestor of Jean Monet or Jacques Delors, yet the heroic leader of the Greeks against the Trojans has some characteristics in common with politicians in contemporary Europe. Cynicism about leaders is captured in the chapter title, as it is in the proverb from Agnone (Douglass, 1984:192): ‘He who engages in politics, engages in dirt’ (Chi fa politica, fa schifo).
