Certain lines of Book XXIII of the Odyssey are regarded by the 'higher criticism', beginning with Aristarchus, as being interpolations which do not belong in the text. The opinion is here presented that Homer included these lines because they have a very pointed psychological significance for understanding Penelope's behavior on the return of Odysseus. The questioning of these lines leads one to wonder to what extent other classical texts may have been mutilated for equally spurious reasons by philologists.