August 19, 2025 • 30 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Book nineteen. Telemachus and Ulysses remove the armor. Ulysses interviews Penelope. Eurycleia,
washes his feet and recognizes the scar on his leg.
Penelope tells her dream to Ulysses. Ulysses was left in
the cloister, pondering on the means whereby, with Minerva's help,
(00:20):
he might be able to kill the suitors. Presently, he
said to Telemachus. Telemachus, we must get the armor together
and take it down inside. Make some excuse when the
suitors ask you why you have removed it, Say that
you have taken it to be out of the way
of the smoke, inasmuch as it is no longer what
it was when Ulysses went away, but has become soiled
(00:40):
and begrimed with soot. Add to this more particularly, that
you are afraid Jove may set them on to quarrel
over their wine, and that they may do each other
some harm, which may disgrace both the banquet and the wooing,
for the sight of arms sometimes tempts people to use them.
Telemachus approved of what his father had said, so he
called his nurse Yurraclia, and said, nurse, shut the women
(01:03):
up in their room. Will I take the armor that
my father left behind him down into the store room?
No one looks after it now my father is gone,
and it has got all smirched with soot during my
own boyhood. I want to take it down where the
smoke cannot reach it. I wish child, answered Euryclia that
you would take the management of the house into your
(01:24):
own hands altogether and look after all the property yourself.
But who is to go with you and let you
to the store room. The maids would have done so,
but you would not let them. The stranger, said Telemachus,
shall show me a light. When people eat my bread,
they must earn it, no matter where they come from.
Euryclia did as she was told and bolted the women
(01:45):
inside their room. Then Ulysses and his son made all
haste to take the helmets, shields, and spears inside, and
Minerva went before them with a golden lamp in her
hand that shed a soft and brilliant radiance. Whereon Telemachus said, father,
my eyes behold a great marvel. The walls, with the rafters,
cross beams and supports on which they rest, are all
glowing as with a flaming fire. Surely there is some
(02:08):
god here who has come down from heaven. Hush, answered Ulysses.
Hold your peace and ask no questions, for this is
the manner of the gods. Get you to your bed
and leave me here to talk with your mother and
the maids. Your mother and her grief will ask me
all sorts of questions. On this Telemachus went by torchlight
to the other side of the inner court, to the
room in which he always slept. There he lay in
(02:30):
his bed till morning, while Ulysses was left in the cloister,
pondering on the means whereby, with Minerva's help, he might
be able to kill the suitors. Then Penelope came down
from her room, looking like Venus or Diana, and they
set her a seat inlaid with scrolls of silver and ivory,
near the fire in her accustomed place. It had been
made by Ecmaleius, and had a footstool all in one
(02:52):
piece with the seat itself, and it was covered with
a thick fleece. On this she now sat, and the
maids came from the women's room to join. They set
about removing the tables at which the wicked suitors had
been dining, and took away the bread that was left
with the cups from which they had drunk. They emptied
the ambers, entered the braziers, and heaped much wood upon
(03:13):
them to give them both light and heat. But Milantho
began to rail at Ulysses a second time, and said, stranger,
do you mean to plague us by hanging about the
house all night and spying upon the women? Be off,
you wretch outside and eat your supper there, or you
shall be driven out with a firebrand. Ulysses scowled at
her and answered, my good woman, why should you be
(03:36):
so angry with me? Is it because I am not
clean and my clothes are all in rags? And because
I am obliged to go begging about after the manner
of tramps and beggars. Generally, I too was a rich
man once, and had a fine house of my own.
In those days, I gave to many a tramp such
as I am now, no matter who he might be,
nor what he wanted. I had any number of servants
(04:00):
and all the other things which people have who live well,
and our accounted wealthy. But it pleased Jove to take
all away from me. Therefore, woman, beware lest you too
come to lose that pride and place in which you
now wanton. Above your fellows, have a care lest you
get out of favor with your mistress, and lest Ulysses
should come home, for there is still a chance that
(04:20):
he may do so. Moreover, though he be as dead
as you think he is, yet by Apollo's will, he
has left a son behind him. Tell Himachus, who will
note anything done amiss by the maids in the house,
for he is now no longer in his boyhood. Penelope
heard what he was saying and scolded the maid impudent baggage.
She said, I see how obominably you are behaving, and
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you shall smart for it. You know perfectly well, for
I told you myself that I was going to see
the stranger and ask him about my husband, for whose
sake I am in such continual sorrow. Then she said
to her head, waiting woman, urinome, bring a seat with
fleece upon it, for the stranger to sit upon while
he tells his story and listens to what I have
to say. I wish to ask him some questions. Your
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nomay brought the seat at once and set a fleece
upon it, And as soon as Ulysses had sat down,
Penelope began by saying, stranger, I shall first ask you
who and whence you are? Tell me of your town
and parents. Madam answered, ulysses, who in the face of
the whole earth can dare to chide with you? Your
fame reaches the firmament of heaven itself. You are like
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some blameless king who upholds righteousness, as the monarch over
a great and valiant nation. The earth yielded to beaten barley,
the trees are loaded with fruit, the ewes bring forth lamb,
and the sea abounds with fish. By reason of his virtues,
and his people do good deeds under him. Nevertheless, as
I sit here in your house, ask me some other question,
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and do not seek to know my race and family,
or you will recall memories that will yet more increase
my sorrow. I am full of heaviness. But I ought
not to sit weeping and wailing in another person's house.
Nor is it well to be the thus grieving continually.
I shall have one of your servants or even yourself,
complaining of me, and saying that my eyes swim with
tears because I am heavy with wine. Then Penelope answered
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the stranger heaven robbed me of all my beauty, whether
of face or figure. When the argued set sail for Troy,
and my dear husband with them. If you were to
return and look after my affairs, I should be both
more respected and I should show a better presence to
the world. As it is, I am oppressed with care
and with the afflictions which Heaven has seen fit to
heap upon me. The chiefs from all our islands, Ntilychium, Samee,
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and xacythus, as also from Ithaca itself, are wooing me
against my will, and are wasting my estate. I can
therefore show no attention to strangers, nor suppliants, nor to
the people who say that they are skilled artisans, but
am all the time broken hearted over Ulysses. They want
me to marry again at once, and I have invented
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stratagems in order to deceive them. In the first place,
Heaven put it in to my mind to set up
a great tambour frame in my room and to begin
working upon an enormous piece of fine needlework. Then I
said to them, sweethearts, Ulysses is indeed dead. Still, do
not press me to marry again. Immediately, wait for I
would not have my skill and needlework perish unrecorded till
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I have finished making a pall for the hero Laerties
to be ready against the time when death shall take him.
He is very rich, and the women of the palace
will talk if he is laid out without a pall.
This was what I said, and they assented. Whereon I
used to keep working at my great web all day long,
but at night I would unpick the stitches again by torchlight.
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I fooled them in this way for three years without
their finding out. But as time wore on, and I
was now in my fourth year in the waning of
the moons, and many days had been accomplished, those good
for nothing hussies my maids betrayed me to the suitors,
who broke in upon me and caught me. They were
very angry with me, so I was forced to finish
my work, whether I would or no. And now I
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do not see how I can find any further shift
for getting out of this marriage. My parents are putting
great pressure upon me, and my son chafes at the
ravages the suitors are making upon his estate, for he
is now old enough to understand all about it, and
is perfectly able to look after his own affairs, for
Heaven has blessed him with an excellent disposition. Still, notwithstanding
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all this, tell me who you are and where you
come from, For you must have had a father and
mother of some sort. You cannot be the son of
an oak or of a rock, then, Ulysses answered, Madam,
wife of Ulysses. Since you persist in asking me about
my family, I will answer, no matter what it costs me.
People must expect to be pained when they have been
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exiles as long as I have, and suffered as much
among as many peoples. Nevertheless, as regards your question, I
will tell you all you ask. There is a fair
and fruitful island in mid ocean called Crete. It is
thickly peopled, and there are ninety cities in it. The
people speak many different languages which overlap one another. For
there are Achaeans, brave Etocretans, Dorians of threefold race, and
(09:10):
noble Pelaski. There is a great town there, Nassus, where
Minos reigned, who every nine years had a conference with
Jove himself. Minos was father to Deucalion, whose son I am.
For Deucalion had two sons Idomeneus and myself. Idomeneus sailed
for Troy, and I, who am the younger, am called Athon.
(09:31):
My brother, however, was at once the older and the
more valiant of the two. Hence it was in Crete
that I saw Ulysses and showed him hospitality, for the
winds took him there as he was on his way
to Troy, carrying him out of his course from Cape Mali,
and leaving him in an Omnissus, off the cave of Althua,
where the harbors are difficult to enter, and he could
hardly find shelter from the winds that were then raging.
(09:54):
As soon as he got there, he went into town
and asked for Adaminius, claiming to be his old and
valued friend. But Idomeneus had already set sail for Troy,
some ten or twelve days earlier. So I took him
to my own house and showed him every kind of hospitality,
for I had an abundance of everything. Moreover, I fed
the men who were with him with barleymeal from the
(10:15):
public's store, and got subscriptions of wine and oxen for
them to sacrifice to their heart's content. They stayed with
me twelve days, for there was a gale blowing from
the north, so strong that one could hardly keep one's
feet on land. I suppose some unfriendly God had raised
it for them. But on the thirteenth day the wind
dropped and they got away. Many plausible tales did Ulysses
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further tell her, And Penelope wept as she listened, for
her heart was melted as the snow wastes upon the
mountain tops when the winds from the southeast and west
have breathed upon it, and thought it till the rivers
run bank full with water. Even so did her cheeks
overflow with tears. For the husband, who was all the
time sitting by her side. Ulysses felt for her and
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was sorry for her. But he kept his eyes as
hard as horn or iron, without letting them so much
as quiver. So cunningly did he restrain his tears. Then,
when she had relieved herself by weeping, she turned to
him and said, now, stranger, I shall put you to
the test and see whether or no you really did
entertain my husband and his men as you say. You did.
(11:20):
Tell me then how he was dressed, what kind of
man he was to look at, and so also with
his companions. Madam answered Ulysses, it is such a long
time ago that I can hardly say twenty years are
come and gone since he left my home and went elsewhither.
But I will tell you as well as I can recollect.
Ulysses wore a mantle of purple wool, double lined, and
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it was fastened by a gold brooch with two catches
for the pin. On the face of this there was
a device that showed a dog holding a spotted fawn
between his fore paws, and watching as it lay panting
upon the ground. Everyone marveled at the way in which
these things had been done in gold, the dog looking
at the fawn and strangling it, while the fawn was
struggling convulsively to escape. As for the shirt that he
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wore next to his skin, it was so soft that
it fitted him like the skin of an onion, and
glistened in the sunlight, to the admiration of all the
women who beheld it. Furthermore, I say, and lay my
saying to your heart, that I do not know whether
Ulysses wore these clothes when he left home, or whether
one of his companions had given them to him while
he was on his voyage, or possibly some one at
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whose house he was staying, made him a present of them,
for he was a man of many friends, and had
few equals among the Achaeans. I myself gave him a
sword of bronze and a beautiful purple mantle, double lined,
with a shirt that went down to his feet, and
I sent him on board his ship with every mark
of honor. He had a servant with him, a little
older than himself, and I can tell you what he
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was like. His shoulders were hunched, he was dark, and
he had thick, curly hair. His name was Eurybites. And
Ulysses treated him with greater familiarity than he did with
any of the others, as being the most like minded
with himself. Penelope was moved still more deeply as she
heard the indisputable proofs that Ulysses had laid before her,
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And when she had again found relief in tears, she
said to him, stranger, I was already disposed to pity you,
but henceforth you shall be honored and made welcome in
my house. It was I who gave Ulysses these clothes
you speak of. I took them out of the storeroom
and folded them up myself, and I gave him also
the gold brooch to wear his noornment alas I shall
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never welcome him home again. It was by an ill
fate that he ever set out for that detested city
whose very name I cannot bring myself to mansion. Then
Ulysses answered, Madam, wife of Ulysses, do not disfigure yourself
further by grieving thus bitterly for your loss, though I
can hardly blame you for doing so. A woman who
has loved her husband and borne him children would naturally
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be grieved at losing him, even though he were a
worse man than Ulysses, who they say is like a god.
Still see your tears and listen to what I can
tell you. I will hide nothing from you, and can
say with perfect truth that I have lately heard of
Ulysses as being alive and on his way home. He
is among the Thesperteians, and is bringing back much valuable
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treasure that he has begged from one and another of them.
But his ship and all his crew were lost as
they were leaving the Threnacian Island. For Jove and the
Sun God were angry with him because his men had
slaughtered the sun God's cattle, and they were all drowned
to a man. But Ulysses stuck to the keel of
his ship and was drifted on to the lands of
the Phaeacians, who are nearer of kin to the immortals,
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and who treated him as though he had been a god,
giving him many presents and wishing to escort him home
safe and sound. In fact, Ulysses would have been here
long ago had he not thought better to go from
land to land gathering wealth. For there is no man
living who is so wily as he is. There is
no one who can compare with him. Fiedon, and king
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of the Thesproteans, told me all this, and he swore
to me, making drink offerings in his house as he
did so that the ship was by the water side,
and the crew found who would take Ulysses to his
own country. He sent me off first, for there happened
to be a Thespertian ship sailing for the wheat growing
island of Dolychium. But he showed me all the treasure.
Ulysses had got together, and he had enough lying in
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the house of King Phadon to keep his family for
ten generations. But the King said Ulysses had gone to Dodona,
that he might learn Jove's mind from the high oak
tree and know whether, after so long an absence, he
should return to Ithaca openly or in secret. So you
may know that he is safe and will be here shortly.
He is close at hand and cannot remain away from
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home much longer. Nevertheless, I will confirm my words with
an oath, and call Jove, who is the first and
mightiest of the gods, to witness, as also that hearth
of Ulysses, to which I have now come, that all
I have spoken shall surely come to pass. Ulysses will
return in this self same year, with the end of
this moon, in the beginning of the next, he will
be here. May it be even so, answered Penelope, if
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your words come true, you shall have such gifts and
such good will from me that all who see you
shall congratulate you. But I know very well how it
will be. Ulysses will not return, neither will you get
your escort Hens. For so surely as that Ulysses ever was,
there are no longer any such masters in this house
as he was to receive honorable strangers, or to further
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them on their way home. And now you maids wash
his feet for him, and make him bed on a
couch with rugs and blankets, that he may be warm
and quiet till morning. Then at daybreak wash him and
anoint him again, that he may sit in the cloister
and take his meals with Telemachus. It shall be the
worse for any one of these hateful people who is
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uncivil to him, Like it or not, he shall have
no more to do in this house. For how sir,
shall you be able to learn whether or not I
am superior to all others of my sex, both in
goodness of heart and understanding, if I let you dine
in my cloisters. Squalid and ill clad men live but
for a little season. If they are hard and deal hardly,
(17:07):
people wish them ill so long as they are alive,
and speak contemptuously of them when they are dead. But
he that is righteous and deals righteously, the people tell
of his praises among all the lands, and many shall
call him blessed. Ulysses answered, Madam, I have forced worn
rugs and blankets from the day I left the snowy
ranges of crete to go on shipboard I will lie
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as I have lain on many a sleepless night hitherto
night after night have I passed in any rough sleeping
place and waited for morning? Nor again do I like
having my feet washed. I shall not let any of
the young hussies about your house touch my feet. But
if you have an old and respectable woman who has
gone through as much trouble as I have, I will
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allow her to wash them. To this Penelope, said my
dear sir. Of all the guests whoever yet came to
my house, there never was one who spoke in all
things with such admirable propriety as you do. There happens
to be in the house a most respectable woman, the
same who received my poor dear husband in her arms
the knight he was born, and nursed him in infancy.
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She is very feeble now, but she shall wash your feet.
Come here, said she, Euyclia, and wash your master's age. Mate.
I suppose Ulysses hands and feet are very much the
same now as his are. For trouble ages, all of
us dreadfully fast on these words. The old woman covered
her face with her hands. She began to weep and
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made lamentations. Saying, my dear child, I cannot think whatever
I am to do with you. I am certain no
one was ever more god fearing than yourself, And yet
Jove hates you. No one in the whole world ever
burned him more thigh bones, nor gave him finer hecatomes.
When you prayed you might come to a green old
age yourself and see your son grow up to take
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after you. Yet see how you has prevented you alone
from ever getting back to your own home. I have
no doubt the woman in some foreign place which ulysses
have got to are giving at him, as all these
slots here have been giving at you. I do not
wonder at your not choosing to let them wash you
after the manner in which they have insulted you. I
will wash your feet gladly enough, as Penelope has said
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I am to do so. I shall wash them both
for Penelope's sake and for your own. For you have
raised the most lively feelings of compassion in my mind.
And let me say this moreover, which pray attend to.
We have had all kinds of strangers in distress come
here before now. But I make bold to say that
no one ever yet came, who was so like Ulysses
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in figure, voice and feet as you are. Those who
have seen us both answered, Ulysses have always said that
we were wonderfully like each other, and now you have
noticed it too. Then the old woman took the cauldron
in which she was going to wash his feet, and
poured plenty of cold water into it, adding hot till
the bath was warm enough. Ulysses sat by the fire,
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but ere long he turned away from the light, for
it occurred to him that when the old woman had
hold of it leg, she would recognize a certain scar
which it bore, whereon the whole truth would come out.
And indeed, as soon as she began washing her master,
she at once knew the scar as one that had
been given him by a wild boar when he was
hunting on Mount Parnassus with his excellent grandfather Attolychus, who
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was the most accomplished thief and perjurer in the whole world,
and with the sons of Autolychus. Mercury himself had endowed
him with this gift, for he used to burn the
thigh bones of goats and kids to him. So he
took pleasure in his companionship. It happened once that Autolycus
had gone to Ithaca and had found the child of
his daughter just born. As soon as he had done
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his supper, Euryclia had set the infant upon his knee
and said, Autolycus, you must find a name for your grandson.
You greatly wished that you might have one son in
law and daughter, replied Attolychus, call the child. Thus, I
am highly displeased with a large number of people in
one place and another, both men and women. So named
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the child Ulysses, or the ch child of Anger. When
he grows up and comes to visit his mother's family
on Mount Parnassus, where my possessions lie, I will make
him a present and will send him on his way. Rejoicing,
Ulysses therefore went to Parnassus to get the presents from Autolychus,
who with his sons, shook hands with him and gave
him welcome. His grandmother Amphithea threw her arms around him
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and kissed his head and both his beautiful eyes. While
Autolychus desired his sons to get dinner ready, and they
did as he told them. They brought in a five
year old bull flayed it and made it ready to
divide into joints. These they cut carefully into smaller pieces
and spitted them. They roasted them sufficiently and served the
portions round. Thus, through the livelong day to the going
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down of the sun they feasted, and every man had
his full share. So they were all satisfied. But when
the sunset and it came on dark, they went to
bed and enjoyed the boon of sleep. When the child
of morning, rosy fingered dawn appeared, the sons of Autolychus
went out with their hounds hunting, and Ulysses went too.
They kind the wooded slopes of Pharnassus and soon reached
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its breezy upland valleys. But as the sun was beginning
to beat upon the fields, fresh risen from the slow
still currents of Oceanus, they came to a mountain dell.
The dogs were in front, searching for the tracks of
the beast they were chasing, and after them came the
sons of Autolachis, among whom was Ulysses close behind the
dogs and had a long spear in his hand. Here
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was the layer of a huge boar among some thick
brushwood so dense that the wind and rain could not
get through it, nor could the sun's rays pierce it,
and the ground underneath lay thick with fallen leaves. The
boar heard the noise of the men's feet and the
hounds baying on every side as the huntsmen came up
to him, so he rushed from his lair, raised the
bristles on his neck, and stood at bay with fire
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flashing from his eyes. Ulysses was the first to raise
his spear and tried to drive it into the brute,
but the boar was too quick for him and charged
him sideways, ripping him above the knee with a gash
that tore deep, though it did not reach the bone.
As for the boar, Ulysses hid him in the right shoulder,
and the point of the spear went right through him,
so that he fell groaning in the dust until the
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life went out of him. The sons of Autolychus busied
themselves with the carcass of the boar and bound Ulysses wound. Then,
after saying a spell to stop the bleeding, they went
home as fast as they could. But when Autolycus and
his sons had thoroughly healed Ulysses. They made him some
splendid presents and sent him back to Ithaca with much
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mutual good will. When he got back, his father and
mother were rejoiced to see him and asked him all
about it and how he had hurt himself to get
the scar So he told them how the boar had
ripped him when he was out hunting with Autolychus and
his sons on Mount Parnassus. As soon as Euryclia had
got the scarred limb in her hands and had well
hold of it, she recognized it and dropped the foot
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at once. The leg fell into the bath, which rang
out and was overturned, so that all the water spilt
on the ground. Eurycleia's eyes, between her joy and her grief,
filled with tears. She could not speak, but she caught
Ulysses by the beard and said, my dear child, I
am sure you must be Ulysses himself. Only I did
not know you till I had actually touched and handled you.
(24:10):
As she spoke, she looked towards Penelope, as though wanting
to tell her that her dear husband was in the house.
But Penelope was unable to look in that direction and
observe what was going on, for Minerva had diverted her attention.
So Ulysses caught Euryclia by the throat with his right hand,
and with his left drew her close to him and said, nurse,
do you wish to be the ruin of me? You
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who nursed me at your breast? Now that after twenty
years of wandering, I am at last come to my
own house again, since it has been borne in upon
you by Heaven to recognize me. Hold dear tongue, and
do not say a word about it to any one
else in the house, for if you do, I tell you,
and it shall surely be true, that if Heaven grants
me to take the lives of these suitors, I shall
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not spare you, though you are my own nurse, when
I am killing the other women. My child answered, Euaclia,
what are you talking about? You know very well that
nothing can either bend or break me. I will hold
my tongue like a stone or a piece of iron. Furthermore,
let me say and lay my saying to your heart.
When Heaven has delivered the suitors into your hand, I
(25:13):
will give you a list of women in the house
who have been ill behaved and of those who are guiltless,
and Ulysses answered, nurse, you ought not to speak in
that way. I am well able to form my own
opinion about one and all of them. Hold your tongue
and leave everything to heaven. As he said this, Euryclia
left the cloister to fetch the more water, for the
(25:33):
first had been all spilt. And when she had washed
his feet and anointed him with oil, Ulysses drew his
seat nearer to the fire to warm himself, and hid
his scar under his rags. Then Penelope began talking to
him and said, stranger, I should like to speak with
you briefly about another matter. It is indeed nearly bedtime
for those at least who can sleep in spite of sorrow.
(25:54):
As for myself, Heaven has given me a life of
such unmeasurable woe that even by day, when I am
attending to my duties and looking after the servants, I
am still weeping and lamenting during the whole time. Then
when night comes and we all of us go to bed,
I lie awake thinking, and my heart becomes prey to
the most incessant and cruel tortures. As the dune Nightingale,
(26:17):
daughter of Pandarius, sings in the early spring from her
seat in the shadiest covered head, and with many a
pointive trill, pours out the tale of how by mishap
she killed her own child to Tylus, son of King Zethus.
Even so does my mind toss and turn in its uncertainty,
whether I ought to stay with my son here and
safeguard my substance, my bondsmen, and the greatness of my
(26:38):
house out of regard for public opinion and the memory
of my late husband, or whether it is now time
for me to go with the best of these suitors
who are wooing me and making me such magnificent presents.
As long as my son was still young and unable
to understand, he would not hear of my leaving my
husband's house. But now that he is full grown, he
begs and prays me to do so, being incense at
(27:00):
the way in which the suitors are eating up his property.
Listen then to a dream I have had, and interpret
it for me, if you can. I have twenty geese
about the house that eat mash out of a trough,
and which I am exceedingly fond of. I dreamed that
a great eagle came swooping down from a mountain and
dug his curved beak into the neck of each of them,
till he had killed them all. Presently, he soared off
(27:21):
into the sky and left them dead about the yard,
whereon I wept in my dream, till all my maids
gathered round me. So piteously was I grieving because the
eagle had killed my geese. Then he came back to
me again, and, perching on a projecting rafter, spoke to
me with a human voice and told me to leave
off crying. Be of good courage. She said, Daughter of Vicarius,
(27:43):
this is no dream, but a vision of good omen
that shall surely come to pass. The geese are the suitors,
and I am no longer an eagle, but your own husband,
who am come back to you, and who will bring
these suitors to a disgraceful end. On this I awoke,
and when I looked out, I saw my geese at
the trout, eating their mash as usual this dream, Madam replied,
(28:04):
Ulysses can admit but one interpretation, for had not Ulysses
himself told you how it should be fulfilled. The death
of the suitors is portended, and not one single one
of them will escape. And Penelope answered, stranger dreams are
very curious and unaccountable things, and they do not, by
any means invariably come true. There are two gaits through
(28:26):
which these unsubstantial fancies proceed. The one is of Horn,
the other Ivory. Those that come through the gate of
Ivory are fatuous, but those from the gate of Horn
mean something to those who see them. I do not think, however,
that my own dreams come through the gate of Horn,
though I and my son should be most thankful if
it proves to have done so. Furthermore, I say, and
(28:47):
lay my saying to your heart, the coming dawn will
usher in the ill omened day, that is to sever
me from the house of Ulysses. For I am about
to hold a tournament of axes. My husband used to
set up twelve axes in the court, one in front
of the other, that like the stays upon which a
ship is built. He would then go back from them
and shoot an arrow through the whole twelve. I shall
make the suitors try to do the same thing, and
(29:09):
whichever of them can string the bow the most easily
and send his arrow through all twelve axes him, will
I follow and quit the house of my lawful husband,
so goodly and so abounding in wealth. But even so
I doubt not that I shall remember it in my dreams.
Then Ulysses answered, Madam, wife of Ulysses, you need not
defer your tournament, for Ulysses will return ere ever they
(29:31):
can string the bow, handle it how they will, and
send their arrows through the iron. To this, Penelope said,
as long sir, as you sit here and talk to me,
I can have no desire to go to bed. Still,
people cannot do permanently without sleep, and Heaven has appointed
us dwellers on earth a time for all things. I
will therefore go upstairs and recline upon that couch which
(29:52):
I have never ceased to flood with my tears from
the day Ulysses set out for the city with a
hateful name. She then went upstairs to her own way,
not alone, but attended by her maids, And when there
she lamented her dear husband till Minerva shed sweet sleep
over her eyelids. End of book nineteen
Book nineteen. Telemachus and Ulysses remove the armor. Ulysses interviews Penelope. Eurycleia,
washes his feet and recognizes the scar on his leg.
Penelope tells her dream to Ulysses. Ulysses was left in
the cloister, pondering on the means whereby, with Minerva's help,
(00:20):
he might be able to kill the suitors. Presently, he
said to Telemachus. Telemachus, we must get the armor together
and take it down inside. Make some excuse when the
suitors ask you why you have removed it, Say that
you have taken it to be out of the way
of the smoke, inasmuch as it is no longer what
it was when Ulysses went away, but has become soiled
(00:40):
and begrimed with soot. Add to this more particularly, that
you are afraid Jove may set them on to quarrel
over their wine, and that they may do each other
some harm, which may disgrace both the banquet and the wooing,
for the sight of arms sometimes tempts people to use them.
Telemachus approved of what his father had said, so he
called his nurse Yurraclia, and said, nurse, shut the women
(01:03):
up in their room. Will I take the armor that
my father left behind him down into the store room?
No one looks after it now my father is gone,
and it has got all smirched with soot during my
own boyhood. I want to take it down where the
smoke cannot reach it. I wish child, answered Euryclia that
you would take the management of the house into your
(01:24):
own hands altogether and look after all the property yourself.
But who is to go with you and let you
to the store room. The maids would have done so,
but you would not let them. The stranger, said Telemachus,
shall show me a light. When people eat my bread,
they must earn it, no matter where they come from.
Euryclia did as she was told and bolted the women
(01:45):
inside their room. Then Ulysses and his son made all
haste to take the helmets, shields, and spears inside, and
Minerva went before them with a golden lamp in her
hand that shed a soft and brilliant radiance. Whereon Telemachus said, father,
my eyes behold a great marvel. The walls, with the rafters,
cross beams and supports on which they rest, are all
glowing as with a flaming fire. Surely there is some
(02:08):
god here who has come down from heaven. Hush, answered Ulysses.
Hold your peace and ask no questions, for this is
the manner of the gods. Get you to your bed
and leave me here to talk with your mother and
the maids. Your mother and her grief will ask me
all sorts of questions. On this Telemachus went by torchlight
to the other side of the inner court, to the
room in which he always slept. There he lay in
(02:30):
his bed till morning, while Ulysses was left in the cloister,
pondering on the means whereby, with Minerva's help, he might
be able to kill the suitors. Then Penelope came down
from her room, looking like Venus or Diana, and they
set her a seat inlaid with scrolls of silver and ivory,
near the fire in her accustomed place. It had been
made by Ecmaleius, and had a footstool all in one
(02:52):
piece with the seat itself, and it was covered with
a thick fleece. On this she now sat, and the
maids came from the women's room to join. They set
about removing the tables at which the wicked suitors had
been dining, and took away the bread that was left
with the cups from which they had drunk. They emptied
the ambers, entered the braziers, and heaped much wood upon
(03:13):
them to give them both light and heat. But Milantho
began to rail at Ulysses a second time, and said, stranger,
do you mean to plague us by hanging about the
house all night and spying upon the women? Be off,
you wretch outside and eat your supper there, or you
shall be driven out with a firebrand. Ulysses scowled at
her and answered, my good woman, why should you be
(03:36):
so angry with me? Is it because I am not
clean and my clothes are all in rags? And because
I am obliged to go begging about after the manner
of tramps and beggars. Generally, I too was a rich
man once, and had a fine house of my own.
In those days, I gave to many a tramp such
as I am now, no matter who he might be,
nor what he wanted. I had any number of servants
(04:00):
and all the other things which people have who live well,
and our accounted wealthy. But it pleased Jove to take
all away from me. Therefore, woman, beware lest you too
come to lose that pride and place in which you
now wanton. Above your fellows, have a care lest you
get out of favor with your mistress, and lest Ulysses
should come home, for there is still a chance that
(04:20):
he may do so. Moreover, though he be as dead
as you think he is, yet by Apollo's will, he
has left a son behind him. Tell Himachus, who will
note anything done amiss by the maids in the house,
for he is now no longer in his boyhood. Penelope
heard what he was saying and scolded the maid impudent baggage.
She said, I see how obominably you are behaving, and
(04:42):
you shall smart for it. You know perfectly well, for
I told you myself that I was going to see
the stranger and ask him about my husband, for whose
sake I am in such continual sorrow. Then she said
to her head, waiting woman, urinome, bring a seat with
fleece upon it, for the stranger to sit upon while
he tells his story and listens to what I have
to say. I wish to ask him some questions. Your
(05:05):
nomay brought the seat at once and set a fleece
upon it, And as soon as Ulysses had sat down,
Penelope began by saying, stranger, I shall first ask you
who and whence you are? Tell me of your town
and parents. Madam answered, ulysses, who in the face of
the whole earth can dare to chide with you? Your
fame reaches the firmament of heaven itself. You are like
(05:27):
some blameless king who upholds righteousness, as the monarch over
a great and valiant nation. The earth yielded to beaten barley,
the trees are loaded with fruit, the ewes bring forth lamb,
and the sea abounds with fish. By reason of his virtues,
and his people do good deeds under him. Nevertheless, as
I sit here in your house, ask me some other question,
(05:47):
and do not seek to know my race and family,
or you will recall memories that will yet more increase
my sorrow. I am full of heaviness. But I ought
not to sit weeping and wailing in another person's house.
Nor is it well to be the thus grieving continually.
I shall have one of your servants or even yourself,
complaining of me, and saying that my eyes swim with
tears because I am heavy with wine. Then Penelope answered
(06:11):
the stranger heaven robbed me of all my beauty, whether
of face or figure. When the argued set sail for Troy,
and my dear husband with them. If you were to
return and look after my affairs, I should be both
more respected and I should show a better presence to
the world. As it is, I am oppressed with care
and with the afflictions which Heaven has seen fit to
heap upon me. The chiefs from all our islands, Ntilychium, Samee,
(06:35):
and xacythus, as also from Ithaca itself, are wooing me
against my will, and are wasting my estate. I can
therefore show no attention to strangers, nor suppliants, nor to
the people who say that they are skilled artisans, but
am all the time broken hearted over Ulysses. They want
me to marry again at once, and I have invented
(06:56):
stratagems in order to deceive them. In the first place,
Heaven put it in to my mind to set up
a great tambour frame in my room and to begin
working upon an enormous piece of fine needlework. Then I
said to them, sweethearts, Ulysses is indeed dead. Still, do
not press me to marry again. Immediately, wait for I
would not have my skill and needlework perish unrecorded till
(07:19):
I have finished making a pall for the hero Laerties
to be ready against the time when death shall take him.
He is very rich, and the women of the palace
will talk if he is laid out without a pall.
This was what I said, and they assented. Whereon I
used to keep working at my great web all day long,
but at night I would unpick the stitches again by torchlight.
(07:40):
I fooled them in this way for three years without
their finding out. But as time wore on, and I
was now in my fourth year in the waning of
the moons, and many days had been accomplished, those good
for nothing hussies my maids betrayed me to the suitors,
who broke in upon me and caught me. They were
very angry with me, so I was forced to finish
my work, whether I would or no. And now I
(08:02):
do not see how I can find any further shift
for getting out of this marriage. My parents are putting
great pressure upon me, and my son chafes at the
ravages the suitors are making upon his estate, for he
is now old enough to understand all about it, and
is perfectly able to look after his own affairs, for
Heaven has blessed him with an excellent disposition. Still, notwithstanding
(08:24):
all this, tell me who you are and where you
come from, For you must have had a father and
mother of some sort. You cannot be the son of
an oak or of a rock, then, Ulysses answered, Madam,
wife of Ulysses. Since you persist in asking me about
my family, I will answer, no matter what it costs me.
People must expect to be pained when they have been
(08:46):
exiles as long as I have, and suffered as much
among as many peoples. Nevertheless, as regards your question, I
will tell you all you ask. There is a fair
and fruitful island in mid ocean called Crete. It is
thickly peopled, and there are ninety cities in it. The
people speak many different languages which overlap one another. For
there are Achaeans, brave Etocretans, Dorians of threefold race, and
(09:10):
noble Pelaski. There is a great town there, Nassus, where
Minos reigned, who every nine years had a conference with
Jove himself. Minos was father to Deucalion, whose son I am.
For Deucalion had two sons Idomeneus and myself. Idomeneus sailed
for Troy, and I, who am the younger, am called Athon.
(09:31):
My brother, however, was at once the older and the
more valiant of the two. Hence it was in Crete
that I saw Ulysses and showed him hospitality, for the
winds took him there as he was on his way
to Troy, carrying him out of his course from Cape Mali,
and leaving him in an Omnissus, off the cave of Althua,
where the harbors are difficult to enter, and he could
hardly find shelter from the winds that were then raging.
(09:54):
As soon as he got there, he went into town
and asked for Adaminius, claiming to be his old and
valued friend. But Idomeneus had already set sail for Troy,
some ten or twelve days earlier. So I took him
to my own house and showed him every kind of hospitality,
for I had an abundance of everything. Moreover, I fed
the men who were with him with barleymeal from the
(10:15):
public's store, and got subscriptions of wine and oxen for
them to sacrifice to their heart's content. They stayed with
me twelve days, for there was a gale blowing from
the north, so strong that one could hardly keep one's
feet on land. I suppose some unfriendly God had raised
it for them. But on the thirteenth day the wind
dropped and they got away. Many plausible tales did Ulysses
(10:37):
further tell her, And Penelope wept as she listened, for
her heart was melted as the snow wastes upon the
mountain tops when the winds from the southeast and west
have breathed upon it, and thought it till the rivers
run bank full with water. Even so did her cheeks
overflow with tears. For the husband, who was all the
time sitting by her side. Ulysses felt for her and
(10:59):
was sorry for her. But he kept his eyes as
hard as horn or iron, without letting them so much
as quiver. So cunningly did he restrain his tears. Then,
when she had relieved herself by weeping, she turned to
him and said, now, stranger, I shall put you to
the test and see whether or no you really did
entertain my husband and his men as you say. You did.
(11:20):
Tell me then how he was dressed, what kind of
man he was to look at, and so also with
his companions. Madam answered Ulysses, it is such a long
time ago that I can hardly say twenty years are
come and gone since he left my home and went elsewhither.
But I will tell you as well as I can recollect.
Ulysses wore a mantle of purple wool, double lined, and
(11:41):
it was fastened by a gold brooch with two catches
for the pin. On the face of this there was
a device that showed a dog holding a spotted fawn
between his fore paws, and watching as it lay panting
upon the ground. Everyone marveled at the way in which
these things had been done in gold, the dog looking
at the fawn and strangling it, while the fawn was
struggling convulsively to escape. As for the shirt that he
(12:05):
wore next to his skin, it was so soft that
it fitted him like the skin of an onion, and
glistened in the sunlight, to the admiration of all the
women who beheld it. Furthermore, I say, and lay my
saying to your heart, that I do not know whether
Ulysses wore these clothes when he left home, or whether
one of his companions had given them to him while
he was on his voyage, or possibly some one at
(12:26):
whose house he was staying, made him a present of them,
for he was a man of many friends, and had
few equals among the Achaeans. I myself gave him a
sword of bronze and a beautiful purple mantle, double lined,
with a shirt that went down to his feet, and
I sent him on board his ship with every mark
of honor. He had a servant with him, a little
older than himself, and I can tell you what he
(12:47):
was like. His shoulders were hunched, he was dark, and
he had thick, curly hair. His name was Eurybites. And
Ulysses treated him with greater familiarity than he did with
any of the others, as being the most like minded
with himself. Penelope was moved still more deeply as she
heard the indisputable proofs that Ulysses had laid before her,
(13:08):
And when she had again found relief in tears, she
said to him, stranger, I was already disposed to pity you,
but henceforth you shall be honored and made welcome in
my house. It was I who gave Ulysses these clothes
you speak of. I took them out of the storeroom
and folded them up myself, and I gave him also
the gold brooch to wear his noornment alas I shall
(13:30):
never welcome him home again. It was by an ill
fate that he ever set out for that detested city
whose very name I cannot bring myself to mansion. Then
Ulysses answered, Madam, wife of Ulysses, do not disfigure yourself
further by grieving thus bitterly for your loss, though I
can hardly blame you for doing so. A woman who
has loved her husband and borne him children would naturally
(13:53):
be grieved at losing him, even though he were a
worse man than Ulysses, who they say is like a god.
Still see your tears and listen to what I can
tell you. I will hide nothing from you, and can
say with perfect truth that I have lately heard of
Ulysses as being alive and on his way home. He
is among the Thesperteians, and is bringing back much valuable
(14:14):
treasure that he has begged from one and another of them.
But his ship and all his crew were lost as
they were leaving the Threnacian Island. For Jove and the
Sun God were angry with him because his men had
slaughtered the sun God's cattle, and they were all drowned
to a man. But Ulysses stuck to the keel of
his ship and was drifted on to the lands of
the Phaeacians, who are nearer of kin to the immortals,
(14:35):
and who treated him as though he had been a god,
giving him many presents and wishing to escort him home
safe and sound. In fact, Ulysses would have been here
long ago had he not thought better to go from
land to land gathering wealth. For there is no man
living who is so wily as he is. There is
no one who can compare with him. Fiedon, and king
(14:56):
of the Thesproteans, told me all this, and he swore
to me, making drink offerings in his house as he
did so that the ship was by the water side,
and the crew found who would take Ulysses to his
own country. He sent me off first, for there happened
to be a Thespertian ship sailing for the wheat growing
island of Dolychium. But he showed me all the treasure.
Ulysses had got together, and he had enough lying in
(15:18):
the house of King Phadon to keep his family for
ten generations. But the King said Ulysses had gone to Dodona,
that he might learn Jove's mind from the high oak
tree and know whether, after so long an absence, he
should return to Ithaca openly or in secret. So you
may know that he is safe and will be here shortly.
He is close at hand and cannot remain away from
(15:39):
home much longer. Nevertheless, I will confirm my words with
an oath, and call Jove, who is the first and
mightiest of the gods, to witness, as also that hearth
of Ulysses, to which I have now come, that all
I have spoken shall surely come to pass. Ulysses will
return in this self same year, with the end of
this moon, in the beginning of the next, he will
be here. May it be even so, answered Penelope, if
(16:03):
your words come true, you shall have such gifts and
such good will from me that all who see you
shall congratulate you. But I know very well how it
will be. Ulysses will not return, neither will you get
your escort Hens. For so surely as that Ulysses ever was,
there are no longer any such masters in this house
as he was to receive honorable strangers, or to further
(16:25):
them on their way home. And now you maids wash
his feet for him, and make him bed on a
couch with rugs and blankets, that he may be warm
and quiet till morning. Then at daybreak wash him and
anoint him again, that he may sit in the cloister
and take his meals with Telemachus. It shall be the
worse for any one of these hateful people who is
(16:45):
uncivil to him, Like it or not, he shall have
no more to do in this house. For how sir,
shall you be able to learn whether or not I
am superior to all others of my sex, both in
goodness of heart and understanding, if I let you dine
in my cloisters. Squalid and ill clad men live but
for a little season. If they are hard and deal hardly,
(17:07):
people wish them ill so long as they are alive,
and speak contemptuously of them when they are dead. But
he that is righteous and deals righteously, the people tell
of his praises among all the lands, and many shall
call him blessed. Ulysses answered, Madam, I have forced worn
rugs and blankets from the day I left the snowy
ranges of crete to go on shipboard I will lie
(17:28):
as I have lain on many a sleepless night hitherto
night after night have I passed in any rough sleeping
place and waited for morning? Nor again do I like
having my feet washed. I shall not let any of
the young hussies about your house touch my feet. But
if you have an old and respectable woman who has
gone through as much trouble as I have, I will
(17:49):
allow her to wash them. To this Penelope, said my
dear sir. Of all the guests whoever yet came to
my house, there never was one who spoke in all
things with such admirable propriety as you do. There happens
to be in the house a most respectable woman, the
same who received my poor dear husband in her arms
the knight he was born, and nursed him in infancy.
(18:12):
She is very feeble now, but she shall wash your feet.
Come here, said she, Euyclia, and wash your master's age. Mate.
I suppose Ulysses hands and feet are very much the
same now as his are. For trouble ages, all of
us dreadfully fast on these words. The old woman covered
her face with her hands. She began to weep and
(18:32):
made lamentations. Saying, my dear child, I cannot think whatever
I am to do with you. I am certain no
one was ever more god fearing than yourself, And yet
Jove hates you. No one in the whole world ever
burned him more thigh bones, nor gave him finer hecatomes.
When you prayed you might come to a green old
age yourself and see your son grow up to take
(18:52):
after you. Yet see how you has prevented you alone
from ever getting back to your own home. I have
no doubt the woman in some foreign place which ulysses
have got to are giving at him, as all these
slots here have been giving at you. I do not
wonder at your not choosing to let them wash you
after the manner in which they have insulted you. I
will wash your feet gladly enough, as Penelope has said
(19:15):
I am to do so. I shall wash them both
for Penelope's sake and for your own. For you have
raised the most lively feelings of compassion in my mind.
And let me say this moreover, which pray attend to.
We have had all kinds of strangers in distress come
here before now. But I make bold to say that
no one ever yet came, who was so like Ulysses
(19:35):
in figure, voice and feet as you are. Those who
have seen us both answered, Ulysses have always said that
we were wonderfully like each other, and now you have
noticed it too. Then the old woman took the cauldron
in which she was going to wash his feet, and
poured plenty of cold water into it, adding hot till
the bath was warm enough. Ulysses sat by the fire,
(19:55):
but ere long he turned away from the light, for
it occurred to him that when the old woman had
hold of it leg, she would recognize a certain scar
which it bore, whereon the whole truth would come out.
And indeed, as soon as she began washing her master,
she at once knew the scar as one that had
been given him by a wild boar when he was
hunting on Mount Parnassus with his excellent grandfather Attolychus, who
(20:17):
was the most accomplished thief and perjurer in the whole world,
and with the sons of Autolychus. Mercury himself had endowed
him with this gift, for he used to burn the
thigh bones of goats and kids to him. So he
took pleasure in his companionship. It happened once that Autolycus
had gone to Ithaca and had found the child of
his daughter just born. As soon as he had done
(20:37):
his supper, Euryclia had set the infant upon his knee
and said, Autolycus, you must find a name for your grandson.
You greatly wished that you might have one son in
law and daughter, replied Attolychus, call the child. Thus, I
am highly displeased with a large number of people in
one place and another, both men and women. So named
(20:58):
the child Ulysses, or the ch child of Anger. When
he grows up and comes to visit his mother's family
on Mount Parnassus, where my possessions lie, I will make
him a present and will send him on his way. Rejoicing,
Ulysses therefore went to Parnassus to get the presents from Autolychus,
who with his sons, shook hands with him and gave
him welcome. His grandmother Amphithea threw her arms around him
(21:20):
and kissed his head and both his beautiful eyes. While
Autolychus desired his sons to get dinner ready, and they
did as he told them. They brought in a five
year old bull flayed it and made it ready to
divide into joints. These they cut carefully into smaller pieces
and spitted them. They roasted them sufficiently and served the
portions round. Thus, through the livelong day to the going
(21:42):
down of the sun they feasted, and every man had
his full share. So they were all satisfied. But when
the sunset and it came on dark, they went to
bed and enjoyed the boon of sleep. When the child
of morning, rosy fingered dawn appeared, the sons of Autolychus
went out with their hounds hunting, and Ulysses went too.
They kind the wooded slopes of Pharnassus and soon reached
(22:04):
its breezy upland valleys. But as the sun was beginning
to beat upon the fields, fresh risen from the slow
still currents of Oceanus, they came to a mountain dell.
The dogs were in front, searching for the tracks of
the beast they were chasing, and after them came the
sons of Autolachis, among whom was Ulysses close behind the
dogs and had a long spear in his hand. Here
(22:25):
was the layer of a huge boar among some thick
brushwood so dense that the wind and rain could not
get through it, nor could the sun's rays pierce it,
and the ground underneath lay thick with fallen leaves. The
boar heard the noise of the men's feet and the
hounds baying on every side as the huntsmen came up
to him, so he rushed from his lair, raised the
bristles on his neck, and stood at bay with fire
(22:46):
flashing from his eyes. Ulysses was the first to raise
his spear and tried to drive it into the brute,
but the boar was too quick for him and charged
him sideways, ripping him above the knee with a gash
that tore deep, though it did not reach the bone.
As for the boar, Ulysses hid him in the right shoulder,
and the point of the spear went right through him,
so that he fell groaning in the dust until the
(23:06):
life went out of him. The sons of Autolychus busied
themselves with the carcass of the boar and bound Ulysses wound. Then,
after saying a spell to stop the bleeding, they went
home as fast as they could. But when Autolycus and
his sons had thoroughly healed Ulysses. They made him some
splendid presents and sent him back to Ithaca with much
(23:26):
mutual good will. When he got back, his father and
mother were rejoiced to see him and asked him all
about it and how he had hurt himself to get
the scar So he told them how the boar had
ripped him when he was out hunting with Autolychus and
his sons on Mount Parnassus. As soon as Euryclia had
got the scarred limb in her hands and had well
hold of it, she recognized it and dropped the foot
(23:47):
at once. The leg fell into the bath, which rang
out and was overturned, so that all the water spilt
on the ground. Eurycleia's eyes, between her joy and her grief,
filled with tears. She could not speak, but she caught
Ulysses by the beard and said, my dear child, I
am sure you must be Ulysses himself. Only I did
not know you till I had actually touched and handled you.
(24:10):
As she spoke, she looked towards Penelope, as though wanting
to tell her that her dear husband was in the house.
But Penelope was unable to look in that direction and
observe what was going on, for Minerva had diverted her attention.
So Ulysses caught Euryclia by the throat with his right hand,
and with his left drew her close to him and said, nurse,
do you wish to be the ruin of me? You
(24:31):
who nursed me at your breast? Now that after twenty
years of wandering, I am at last come to my
own house again, since it has been borne in upon
you by Heaven to recognize me. Hold dear tongue, and
do not say a word about it to any one
else in the house, for if you do, I tell you,
and it shall surely be true, that if Heaven grants
me to take the lives of these suitors, I shall
(24:51):
not spare you, though you are my own nurse, when
I am killing the other women. My child answered, Euaclia,
what are you talking about? You know very well that
nothing can either bend or break me. I will hold
my tongue like a stone or a piece of iron. Furthermore,
let me say and lay my saying to your heart.
When Heaven has delivered the suitors into your hand, I
(25:13):
will give you a list of women in the house
who have been ill behaved and of those who are guiltless,
and Ulysses answered, nurse, you ought not to speak in
that way. I am well able to form my own
opinion about one and all of them. Hold your tongue
and leave everything to heaven. As he said this, Euryclia
left the cloister to fetch the more water, for the
(25:33):
first had been all spilt. And when she had washed
his feet and anointed him with oil, Ulysses drew his
seat nearer to the fire to warm himself, and hid
his scar under his rags. Then Penelope began talking to
him and said, stranger, I should like to speak with
you briefly about another matter. It is indeed nearly bedtime
for those at least who can sleep in spite of sorrow.
(25:54):
As for myself, Heaven has given me a life of
such unmeasurable woe that even by day, when I am
attending to my duties and looking after the servants, I
am still weeping and lamenting during the whole time. Then
when night comes and we all of us go to bed,
I lie awake thinking, and my heart becomes prey to
the most incessant and cruel tortures. As the dune Nightingale,
(26:17):
daughter of Pandarius, sings in the early spring from her
seat in the shadiest covered head, and with many a
pointive trill, pours out the tale of how by mishap
she killed her own child to Tylus, son of King Zethus.
Even so does my mind toss and turn in its uncertainty,
whether I ought to stay with my son here and
safeguard my substance, my bondsmen, and the greatness of my
(26:38):
house out of regard for public opinion and the memory
of my late husband, or whether it is now time
for me to go with the best of these suitors
who are wooing me and making me such magnificent presents.
As long as my son was still young and unable
to understand, he would not hear of my leaving my
husband's house. But now that he is full grown, he
begs and prays me to do so, being incense at
(27:00):
the way in which the suitors are eating up his property.
Listen then to a dream I have had, and interpret
it for me, if you can. I have twenty geese
about the house that eat mash out of a trough,
and which I am exceedingly fond of. I dreamed that
a great eagle came swooping down from a mountain and
dug his curved beak into the neck of each of them,
till he had killed them all. Presently, he soared off
(27:21):
into the sky and left them dead about the yard,
whereon I wept in my dream, till all my maids
gathered round me. So piteously was I grieving because the
eagle had killed my geese. Then he came back to
me again, and, perching on a projecting rafter, spoke to
me with a human voice and told me to leave
off crying. Be of good courage. She said, Daughter of Vicarius,
(27:43):
this is no dream, but a vision of good omen
that shall surely come to pass. The geese are the suitors,
and I am no longer an eagle, but your own husband,
who am come back to you, and who will bring
these suitors to a disgraceful end. On this I awoke,
and when I looked out, I saw my geese at
the trout, eating their mash as usual this dream, Madam replied,
(28:04):
Ulysses can admit but one interpretation, for had not Ulysses
himself told you how it should be fulfilled. The death
of the suitors is portended, and not one single one
of them will escape. And Penelope answered, stranger dreams are
very curious and unaccountable things, and they do not, by
any means invariably come true. There are two gaits through
(28:26):
which these unsubstantial fancies proceed. The one is of Horn,
the other Ivory. Those that come through the gate of
Ivory are fatuous, but those from the gate of Horn
mean something to those who see them. I do not think, however,
that my own dreams come through the gate of Horn,
though I and my son should be most thankful if
it proves to have done so. Furthermore, I say, and
(28:47):
lay my saying to your heart, the coming dawn will
usher in the ill omened day, that is to sever
me from the house of Ulysses. For I am about
to hold a tournament of axes. My husband used to
set up twelve axes in the court, one in front
of the other, that like the stays upon which a
ship is built. He would then go back from them
and shoot an arrow through the whole twelve. I shall
make the suitors try to do the same thing, and
(29:09):
whichever of them can string the bow the most easily
and send his arrow through all twelve axes him, will
I follow and quit the house of my lawful husband,
so goodly and so abounding in wealth. But even so
I doubt not that I shall remember it in my dreams.
Then Ulysses answered, Madam, wife of Ulysses, you need not
defer your tournament, for Ulysses will return ere ever they
(29:31):
can string the bow, handle it how they will, and
send their arrows through the iron. To this, Penelope said,
as long sir, as you sit here and talk to me,
I can have no desire to go to bed. Still,
people cannot do permanently without sleep, and Heaven has appointed
us dwellers on earth a time for all things. I
will therefore go upstairs and recline upon that couch which
(29:52):
I have never ceased to flood with my tears from
the day Ulysses set out for the city with a
hateful name. She then went upstairs to her own way,
not alone, but attended by her maids, And when there
she lamented her dear husband till Minerva shed sweet sleep
over her eyelids. End of book nineteen
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