In the meantime I will go to Ithaca, to put heart into Ulysses ' son Telemachus; I will embolden him to call the Achaeans in assembly, and speak out to the suitors of his mother Penelope, who persist in eating up any number of his sheep and oxen; I will also conduct him to Sparta and to Pylos, to see if he can hear anything about the return of his dear father— for this will make people speak well of him."
And Minerva said," There is no fear of your race dying out yet, while Penelope has such a fine son as you are.
Penelope, daughter of Icarius, heard his song from her room upstairs, and came down by the great staircase, not alone, but attended by two of her handmaids.
If, then, you take after him, your voyage will not be fruitless, but unless you have the blood of Ulysses and of Penelope in your veins I see no likelihood of your succeeding.
His old father, his longsuffering wife Penelope, and his son Telemachus, whom he left behind him an infant in arms, are plunged in grief on his account."
It was not long ere Penelope came to know what the suitors were plotting; for a man servant, Medon, overheard them from outside the outer court as they were laying their schemes within, and went to tell his mistress.
As he crossed the threshold of her room Penelope said:" Medon, what have the suitors sent you here for?
Then Penelope 's heart sank within her, and for a long time she was speechless; her eyes filled with tears, and she could find no utterance.
Then he went downstairs again, leaving Penelope in an agony of grief.
Penelope washed her face, changed her dress, and went upstairs with her maids.
But Penelope lay in her own room upstairs unable to eat or drink, and wondering whether her brave son would escape, or be overpowered by the wicked suitors.
Then Minerva bethought her of another matter, and made a vision in the likeness of Penelope 's sister Iphthime daughter of Icarius who had married Eumelus and lived in Pherae.
She told the vision to go to the house of Ulysses, and to make Penelope leave off crying, so it came into her room by the hole through which the thong went for pulling the door to, and hovered over her head saying, "You are asleep, Penelope: the gods who live at ease will not suffer you to weep and be so sad.
Penelope, who was sleeping sweetly at the gates of dreamland, answered," Sister, why have you come here?
"Then," said Penelope," if you are a god or have been sent here by divine commission, tell me also about that other unhappy one— is he still alive, or is he already dead and in the house of Hades?"
Then it vanished through the thonghole of the door and was dissipated into thin air; but Penelope rose from her sleep refreshed and comforted, so vivid had been her dream.
I am quite aware that my wife Penelope is nothing like so tall or so beautiful as yourself.
Not that your wife, Ulysses, is likely to murder you, for Penelope is a very admirable woman, and has an excellent nature.
Then go at once to the swineherd who is in charge of your pigs; he has been always well affected towards you, and is devoted to Penelope and your son; you will find him feeding his pigs near the rock that is called Raven by the fountain Arethusa, where they are fattening on beechmast and spring water after their manner.
He had made them spacious and fair to see, with a free run for the pigs all round them; he had built them during his master 's absence, of stones which he had gathered out of the ground, without saying anything to Penelope or Laertes, and he had fenced them on top with thorn bushes.
As for your oath we will let it alone, but I only wish he may come, as do Penelope, his old father Laertes, and his son Telemachus.
"As for me I live out of the way here with the pigs, and never go to the town unless when Penelope sends for me on the arrival of some news about Ulysses.
As soon as you get to Ithaca send your ship and men on to the town, but yourself go straight to the swineherd who has charge of your pigs; he is well disposed towards you, stay with him, therefore, for the night, and then send him to Penelope to tell her that you have got back safe from Pylos."
I should like also to go to the house of Ulysses and bring news of her husband to Queen Penelope.
But do you, old friend Eumaeus, go at once and tell Penelope that I am safe and have returned from Pylos.
There is also another matter; if you are indeed my son and my blood runs in your veins, let no one know that Ulysses is within the house— neither Laertes, nor yet the swineherd, nor any of the servants, nor even Penelope herself.
Then they sent a servant to tell Penelope that Telemachus had gone into the country, but had sent the ship to the town to prevent her from being alarmed and made unhappy.
This servant and Eumaeus happened to meet when they were both on the same errand of going to tell Penelope.
When they reached the House, the servant stood up and said to the queen in the presence of the waiting women," Your son, Madam, is now returned from Pylos"; but Eumaeus went close up to Penelope, and said privately all that her son had bidden him tell her.
If this does not please you, and you wish Telemachus to live on and hold his father 's property, then we must not gather here and eat up his goods in this way, but must make our offers to Penelope each from his own house, and she can marry the man who will give the most for her, and whose lot it is to win her."
He was the son of Nisus, who was son to king Aretias, and he was foremost among all the suitors from the wheatgrowing and well grassed island of Dulichium; his conversation, moreover, was more agreeable to Penelope than that of any of the other suitors, for he was a man of good natural disposition. "
Then Penelope resolved that she would show herself to the suitors.
To this Eurymachus son of Polybus answered," Take heart, Queen Penelope daughter of Icarius, and do not trouble yourself about these matters.
Then Penelope went upstairs again and mourned her husband till Minerva shed sleep over her eyes.
In the evening Eumaeus got back to Ulysses and his son, who had just sacrificed a young pig of a year old and were helping one another to get supper ready; Minerva therefore came up to Ulysses, turned him into an old man with a stroke of her wand, and clad him in his old clothes again, for fear that the swineherd might recognise him and not keep the secret, but go and tell Penelope.
Penelope came out of her room looking like Diana or Venus, and wept as she flung her arms about her son.
Opposite them sat Penelope, reclining on a couch by one of the bearingposts of the cloister, and spinning.
Then they laid their hands on the good things that were before them, and as soon as they had had enough to eat and drink Penelope said: "Telemachus, I shall go upstairs and lie down on that sad couch, which I have not ceased to water with my tears, from the day Ulysses set out for Troy with the sons of Atreus.
With these words he moved the heart of Penelope.
"May it be even so," answered Penelope;" if your words come true, you shall have such gifts and such good will from me that all who see you shall congratulate you."
You are always harder on Ulysses ' servants than any of the other suitors are, and above all on me, but I do not care so long as Telemachus and Penelope are alive and here."
"Listen to me," he cried," you suitors of Queen Penelope, that I may speak even as I am minded.
Now when Penelope heard that the beggar had been struck in the banquetingcloister, she said before her maids," Would that Apollo would so strike you, Antinous," and her waiting woman Eurynome answered," If our prayers were answered not one of the suitors would ever again see the sun rise."
Then Penelope said," Nurse I hate every single one of them, for they mean nothing but mischief, but I hate Antinous like the darkness of death itself.
"Call him here, then," said Penelope," that I too may hear his story.
Penelope laughed when she heard this, and said to Eumaeus," Go and call the stranger; did you not hear how my son sneezed just as I was speaking?
When Eumaeus heard this he went straight to Ulysses and said," Father stranger, my mistress Penelope, mother of Telemachus, has sent for you; she is in great grief, but she wishes to hear anything you can tell her about her husband, and if she is satisfied that you are speaking the truth, she will give you a shirt and cloak, which are the very things that you are most in want of.
"I will tell Penelope," answered Ulysses," nothing but what is strictly true.
Tell Penelope, therefore, to be patient and wait till sundown.
The swineherd went back when he heard this, and Penelope said as she saw him cross the threshold," Why do you not bring him here, Eumaeus?
"The man is no fool," answered Penelope," it would very likely be as he says, for there are no such abominable people in the whole world as these men are."
Then Minerva put it into the mind of Penelope to show herself to the suitors, that she might make them still more enamoured of her, and win still further honour from her son and husband.
"I know, Eurynome," replied Penelope," that you mean well, but do not try and persuade me to wash and to anoint myself, for heaven robbed me of all my beauty on the day my husband sailed; nevertheless, tell Autonoe and Hippodamia that I want them.
In the meantime Minerva bethought her of another matter, and sent Penelope off into a sweet slumber; so she lay down on her couch and her limbs became heavy with sleep.
When Minerva had done all this she went away, whereon the maids came in from the women 's room and woke Penelope with the sound of their talking.
Eurymachus then came up and said," Queen Penelope, daughter of Icarius, if all the Achaeans in Iasian Argos could see you at this moment, you would have still more suitors in your house by tomorrow morning, for you are the most admirable woman in the whole world both as regards personal beauty and strength of understanding."
To this Penelope replied," Eurymachus, heaven robbed me of all my beauty whether of face or figure when the Argives set sail for Troy and my dear husband with them.
Then Antinous said," Queen Penelope, daughter of Icarius, take as many presents as you please from any one who will give them to you; it is not well to refuse a present; but we will not go about our business nor stir from where we are, till you have married the best man among us whoever he may be."
She was daughter to Dolius, but had been brought up by Penelope, who used to give her toys to play with, and looked after her when she was a child; but in spite of all this she showed no consideration for the sorrows of her mistress, and used to misconduct herself with Eurymachus, with whom she was in love.
Listen to me," said he," you suitors of Queen Penelope, that I may speak even as I am minded.
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.
Penelope heard what he was saying and scolded the maid," Impudent baggage," said she," I see how abominably you are behaving, and you shall smart for it.
Eurynome 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 are you?
Then Penelope answered," Stranger, heaven robbed me of all beauty, whether of face or figure, when the Argives set sail for Troy and my dear husband with them.
Many a plausible tale did Ulysses further tell her, and Penelope wept as she listened, for her heart was melted.
Penelope was moved still more deeply as she heard the indisputable proofs that Ulysses laid before her; 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 honoured and made welcome in my house.
"May it be even so," answered Penelope;" if 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.
To this Penelope said," My dear sir, of all the guests who ever yet came to my house there never was one who spoke in all things with such admirable propriety as you do.
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 myself gladly enough, as Penelope has said that I am to do so; I will 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 in figure, voice, and feet as you are."
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 Euryclea 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 who nursed me at your own breast, now that after twenty years of wandering I am at last come to my own home again?
Then Penelope began talking to him and said: "Stranger, I should like to speak with you briefly about another matter.
And Penelope answered," Stranger, dreams are very curious and unaccountable things, and they do not by any means invariably come true.
To this Penelope said," As long, sir, as you will sit here and talk to me, I can have no desire to go to bed.
Meanwhile the daughter of Icarius, wise Penelope, had had a rich seat placed for her facing the court and cloisters, so that she could hear what every one was saying.
THE TRIAL OF THE AXES, DURING WHICH ULYSSES REVEALS HIMSELF TO EUMAEUS AND PHILOETIUS Minerva now put it in Penelope 's mind to make the suitors try their skill with the bow and with the iron axes, in contest among themselves, as a means of bringing about their destruction.
Penelope presently reached the oak threshold of the storeroom; the carpenter had planed this duly, and had drawn a line on it so as to get it quite straight; he had then set the door posts into it and hung the doors.
She loosed the strap from the handle of the door, put in the key, and drove it straight home to shoot back the bolts that held the doors; these flew open with a noise like a bull bellowing in a meadow, and Penelope stepped upon the raised platform, where the chests stood in which the fair linen and clothes were laid by along with fragrant herbs: reaching thence, she took down the bow with its bow case from the peg on which it hung.
Some one of us is even now hoping and praying that he may marry Penelope, but when he has seen this bow and tried it, let him woo and make bridal offerings to some other woman, and let Penelope marry whoever makes her the best offer and whose lot it is to win her."
Penelope then spoke to him. "
"Queen Penelope," answered Eurymachus," we do not suppose that this man will take you away with him; it is impossible; but we are afraid lest some of the baser sort, men or women among the Achaeans, should go gossiping about and say,' These suitors are a feeble folk; they are paying court to the wife of a brave man whose bow not one of them was able to string, and yet a beggarly tramp who came to the house strung it at once and sent an arrow through the iron.'
"Eurymachus," Penelope answered," people who persist in eating up the estate of a great chieftain and dishonouring his house must not expect others to think well of them.
It was not that he wanted to marry Penelope; he did not so much care about that; what he wanted was something quite different, and Jove has not vouchsafed it to him; he wanted to kill your son and to be chief man in Ithaca.
Of these, twelve in all have misbehaved, and have been wanting in respect to me, and also to Penelope.
Go, moreover, and tell Penelope to come here with her attendants, and also all the maidservants that are in the house."
Wake up Penelope, my dear child," she exclaimed," and see with your own eyes something that you have been wanting this long time past.
"My good nurse," answered Penelope," you must be mad.
Then Penelope sprang up from her couch, threw her arms round Euryclea, and wept for joy.
"My dear nurse," said Penelope," do not exult too confidently over all this.
"My dear nurse," said Penelope," however wise you may be you can hardly fathom the counsels of the gods.
Penelope answered," My son, I am so lost in astonishment that I can find no words in which either to ask questions or to answer them.
"My dear," answered Penelope," I have no wish to set myself up, nor to depreciate you; but I am not struck by your appearance, for I very well remember what kind of a man you were when you set sail from Ithaca.
"You shall go to bed as soon as you please," replied Penelope," now that the gods have sent you home to your own good house and to your country.
And Penelope said," If the gods are going to vouchsafe you a happier time in your old age, you may hope then to have some respite from misfortune."
Meanwhile Eurynome and the nurse took torches and made the bed ready with soft coverlets; as soon as they had laid them, the nurse went back into the house to go to her rest, leaving the bed chamber woman Eurynome to show Ulysses and Penelope to bed by torch light.
When Ulysses and Penelope had had their fill of love they fell talking with one another.
On this, Ulysses rose from his comfortable bed and said to Penelope," Wife, we have both of us had our full share of troubles, you, here, in lamenting my absence, and I in being prevented from getting home though I was longing all the time to do so.
"Happy Ulysses, son of Laertes," replied the ghost of Agamemnon," you are indeed blessed in the possession of a wife endowed with such rare excellence of understanding, and so faithful to her wedded lord as Penelope the daughter of Icarius.
The fame, therefore, of her virtue shall never die, and the immortals shall compose a song that shall be welcome to all mankind in honour of the constancy of Penelope.
Neither his mother, nor I his father, who were his parents, could throw our arms about him and wrap him in his shroud, nor could his excellent and richly dowered wife Penelope bewail her husband as was natural upon his death bed, and close his eyes according to the offices due to the departed.
But tell me, does Penelope already know of your return, or shall we send some one to tell her?"