Homer, Odyssey

§ 19.190 He went up at once to the city and asked for Idomeneus, for he said he was his dear and venerable friend, but it was already the tenth or eleventh dawn for him since he'd gone with his curved ships to Ilium. I brought him to our home and entertained him well,

§ 19.195 welcoming him kindly from the plenty there was throughout our house. For his comrades, too, the ones who came with him, I collected from the public and gave them barley, and sparkling wine, and cattle for sacrifice, to satisfy their appetite. For twelve days the divine Achaeans waited there,

§ 19.200 for North Wind shut them in, and didn't even let them stand upon the land. Some hard divinity had stirred it up. The wind fell on the thirteenth, and they headed out to sea.” He made the many lies he told seem the same as true things. Tears flowed from her as she listened and her skin melted.

§ 19.205 As snow thaws on lofty mountains, that East Wind's thawed after West Wind pours it down, and, when it melts, flowing rivers are filled with it, so her fair cheeks melted as she shed tears and cried for her husband, sitting at her side. Then Odysseus

§ 19.210 felt pity in his heart for his groaning wife, but his eyes, as if they were horn or iron, stood without a tremor in his eyelids, and he hid his tears with guile. When she'd had enough of tearful groaning, she spoke again to him in answer:

§ 19.215 “Now, stranger, I think I'll put you to the test. If it's true you welcomed my husband, with his godlike comrades, as a guest in your palace, as you say, tell me what kind of things were those he wore around his body, and what sort he himself was, and his comrades who went with him.”

§ 19.220 Adroit Odysseus said to her in reply: “My lady, it's difficult for me, away for such a long time, to tell you, since it's the twentieth year for him, from when he went from there and left my fatherland, but I'll tell you as my heart depicts it to me.

§ 19.225 Divine Odysseus had a purple cloak of wool, a double-folded one, and its brooch was made of gold, with double clasps, and the front was ornamented. On it, a dog held a dappled fawn with his forepaws, gripping it in its jaws as it gasped and struggled. All marveled at it,

§ 19.230 how, though they were golden, he gripped the fawn and strangled it, but it gasped and struggled with its feet, eager to escape. Around his flesh I noticed that tunic, shiny as the skin over a dried onion, it was so soft, and it was bright as the sun.

§ 19.235 Yes, many were the women who gazed at him in wonder. I'll tell you something else, and you put it in your mind. I don't know whether Odysseus wore these things around his body at home, or some comrade gave it to him on his swift ship on the way, or perhaps even a guest-friend did it, since Odysseus

§ 19.240 was dear to many, for few of the Achaeans were like him. And I gave him a bronze sword, and a double-folded cloak, a beautiful, purple one, and a fringed tunic, then sent him off respectfully on his well-benched ship. And a herald, a little older than he, went with him.

§ 19.245 I'll tell you what he was like, too. Round in the shoulders, dark-skinned, wooly-haired, his name was Eurybates, and Odysseus valued him beyond his other comrades, in that he knew things in accord with his own mind.” So said he, and in her the desire to weep rose even more,

§ 19.250 as she recognized the signs that Odysseus steadily showed her. When she'd had enough of tearful groaning, right then she said to him in answer: “Stranger, though you were pitied before, you'll now be both dear to me and respected in my palace,

§ 19.255 for I myself gave him these clothes, the kind you speak of, from my chamber, and I folded them, and put the shiny brooch on it, to be a thing of glory for him, but I won't welcome him again on his return home to his beloved fatherland. Then, by evil destiny, on a hollow ship Odysseus

§ 19.260 went to look on Evil Ilium, a name not to be spoken.” Adroit Odysseus said to her in reply: “Venerable wife of Laertiades Odysseus, no longer mar your beautiful skin now, and don't melt your heart at all in weeping for your husband. I hold nothing against you.

§ 19.265 For even one who's lost another kind of man, mourns the wedded one for whom she's born children and mixed in love, another than Odysseus, who they say is like the gods. But cease your weeping and heed my words, for I'll speak to you infallibly and not conceal it,

§ 19.270 how I've now heard about Odysseus' return, that he's near, in the rich kingdom of the Thesprotians, alive, and he brings treasures, good and many, he's begged throughout the kingdom. But he lost his trusty comrades and hollow ship upon the wine-dark sea,

§ 19.275 on his way from Thrinacia, for Zeus and Helios hated him, sice his comrades killed his cattle. All of them perished on the great-surging sea, but a wave threw him, on his ship's keel, onto land, to the land of the Phaeacians, who are close to the gods,

§ 19.280 who honored him exceedingly in their heart like a god, and they gave him much and wished to convoy him themselves to his home unharmed. And Odysseus would have been here long ago, but this seemed better to his heart, to collect property as he traversed the great earth.

§ 19.285 So many advantageous things, beyond the rest of mortal men, Odysseus knows, no other mortal could compete with him. So king Pheidon of the Thesprotians told me, and swore an oath in my own presence and made libation in his house that a ship had been hauled down and comrades were ready

§ 19.290 to convoy Odysseus to his beloved fatherland. But he sent me off before that, since it happened that a ship of Thesprotian men was on its way to rich-in-wheat Doulichion. And he showed me all the possessions Odysseus had collected. Surely, to the tenth generation, it would still feed another,

§ 19.295 so much of the lord's treasure lay in Pheidon's palace. He said Odysseus had gone to Dodona, to hear from the divine oak, lofty and leafy, the will of Zeus, how he should return to his beloved fatherland, whether openly or in secret, since he'd now been gone so long.

§ 19.300 So, in this way he's safe and, very near already, he will come, and he won't be far away much longer from his loved ones and his fatherland. I'll give you an oath nonetheless. Let Zeus now witness it first, supreme and best of gods, and the hearth of noble Odysseus, to which I've come.

§ 19.305 Yes, indeed, all this is being done as I say. Odysseus will come here within this very year, as some month ends and another one begins.” Prudent Penelope said back to him: “If only this word, stranger, would be brought to pass,

§ 19.310 you'd quickly know, because of it, many gifts and friendship from me, so that anyone who met you would call you blessed. But there's this suspicion in my heart, of how it really will be. Neither will Odysseus ever come home nor will you get an escort, since there are no such directors in the house,

§ 19.315 as Odysseus was among men, if ever there was one, to receive venerable strangers and send them on their way. But, handmaids, wash him off and put a bed down, bedding, and cloaks, and shiny blankets, so he can reach golden-throned Dawn in comfortable warmth.

§ 19.320 In the morning, very early, bathe and anoint him, so inside, beside Telemachus, he can set his mind on breakfast, sitting in our hall. Then it will be the worse for any of them who aggrieves this one in a heart-breaking way. He'll never get anything done here, however terribly angry he may be.

§ 19.325 For how, stranger, would you learn of me, whether I in any way surpass other women in thought and thoughtful counsel, if you dined in my palace as a squalid one, wearing foul things? Human beings come into being short-lived. One might be cruel himself and have cruel things in his mind,

§ 19.330 then for him, all mortals would call down future sorrows while he's alive, then all would mock him when he's dead. Another might be noble himself and have noble things in his mind, and strangers would carry his fame widely, to all mankind, and many would say he's good.”

§ 19.335 Adroit Odysseus said to her in reply: “Venerable wife of Odysseus Laertiades, Yes indeed, cloaks and bright blankets became hateful to me when I first left behind Crete's snowy mountains and went upon my long-oared ship,

§ 19.340 and I'll lie, as I've spent sleepless nights before, for I've spent many nights in a shabby bed and awaited golden-throned divine Dawn. Neither is water for foot washing at all pleasing to my heart nor will any woman touch our foot,

§ 19.345 of those who are female servants in your home, unless there is some old woman, an ancient one, expertly devoted, one who's suffered in her mind as much as I have. I wouldn't begrudge her touching my feet” Prudent Penelope said back to him:

§ 19.350 “Dear stranger, never has any man so astute, of strangers from far away, come to my home more welcome. You say all these astute things so very clearly. I have an old woman, who holds counsels closely in her mind, who reared and brought up well that wretched one

§ 19.355 and received him with her hands when his mother first bore him, who'll wash your feet, though, as it is, she has little strength. But come now, prudent Eurycleia, stand up and wash the feet of one the same age as your master. And, I suppose, Odysseus is by now such as this one in hands and such as this one in feet,

§ 19.360 for in misfortune mortals grow old suddenly.” So said she, and the old woman covered her face with her hands, shed hot tears, and said a word of lamentation: “Oh my, my child, I'm unable to help you. Zeus surely hated you beyond all men though you have a god-fearing heart.

§ 19.365 For no mortal ever burned so many fat thighs or choice hecatombs to Zeus, the Lightning-hurler, as you gave him, in prayer that you'd reach sleek old age and raise your brilliant son. Now only you has he deprived completely of homecoming day.

§ 19.370 It's this way for that one also, I suppose. The women scoff, when he reaches the splendid home of some stranger from far away, as these bitches here scoff at you, each and every one of them, Now you avoid their abuse and many shameful deeds and won't let them wash your feet, but she's bid me, not unwilling, do it,

§ 19.375 Icarius' daughter, prudent Penelope. So, I'll wash your feet, for your sake and for the sake of Penelope herself, since the heart inside me is stirred with sorrows. Bur come now, heed whatever word I say. Many strangers who've suffered trials have reached here,

§ 19.380 but I say I've never seen anyone who was so like him as you are like Odysseus in form and voice and feet.” Adroit Odysseus said to her in reply: “Old woman, so say all of those who've seen us both with their eyes, that the two of us are very like each other,

§ 19.385 as even you yourself perceptively say.” So said he, and the old woman grabbed the gleaming basin she washed feet with, poured a lot of water in it, cold water, then poured the hot on top. Then Odysseus sat at the hearth, but suddenly turned toward darkness,

§ 19.390 at once, for in his heart he was suspicious, lest in taking hold of him she'd take notice of his scar and his deeds would be discovered. She came near and washed her lord. She knew at once the scar, that a pig inflicted on him with its white tooth when he'd gone to Parnassus to Autolycus and his sons,

§ 19.395 the good father of his mother, who surpassed all men in thievishness and in oaths. The god Hermes himself had given them to him, for he'd burned the thighs of kids and lambs to him, and Hermes graciously favored him. Autolycus had come to the rich kingdom of Ithaca

§ 19.400 and met his daughter's new-born son. Eurycleia laid him on his dear knees, when he was finishing supper, spoke his name, and said: “ Autolycus, you yourself now find a name that you can give to the child of your child. He's surely long prayed for.”

§ 19.405 Autolycus in turn replied to her and said: “My son-in-law and daughter, give him whatever name I say. Since I come to this as one who's been angry with many men and women throughout the earth that feeds many, therefore let Odysseus be the name he's named by, then I,

§ 19.410 whenever he reaches manhood and comes to his great maternal home, to Parnassus, where my possessions are, I'll give to him of them and send him off rejoicing!” Odysseus had come because of this, so he'd give him splendid gifts. Autolycus and Autolycus' sons welcomed him

§ 19.415 with their hands and with words meant to win him, and his mother's mother, Amphithea, hugged Odysseus and kissed him on his head and both his beautiful eyes. Autolycus bid his gloried sons to get a meal ready. They listened to his urging

§ 19.420 and immediately brought in an ox, a male, five years old. They skinned it and dressed it, and carved up everything, then expertly cut it into pieces, and pierced them with spits, and roasted them very carefully and distributed portions. So then all day until the sun went down,

§ 19.425 they dined, and no heart at all went without an equal meal. When the sun went down and dusk came on, by then they'd lain down to rest and seized the gift of sleep. When early-born rose-fingered Dawn appeared, they made their way to the hunt, both the dogs and the sons

§ 19.430 of Autolycus as well, and divine Odysseus went with them. They came to the steep mountain, Parnassus, clothed in forest, and soon reached its windy folds. The sun was just then just casting its light upon the fields, from gently flowing, deeply flowing Ocean,

§ 19.435 as the hunters came into a glen. The dogs went ahead of them, searching for tracks, with the sons of Autolycus behind them, and divine Odysseus went with them, near the dogs, brandishing a long spear. A big pig was lying down there, in a thick lair,

§ 19.440 through which the fury of the winds, blowing wetly, did not blow, nor did the shining sun strike it with his rays, nor did the rain pierce through it, through and through, it was so thick, but there was a pile of leaves, a really big one, in it. The crash of men's and dogs' feet came about him

§ 19.445 as they came on him in the chase. Out of the thicket, to face them, bristling the hair on his back and glaring fire with his eyes, he made his stand close by them. Odysseus was the very first to rush him, and held a long spear high with his thick hand, eager to wound him, but the pig was quicker, and struck him

§ 19.450 above the knee, tearing far through his flesh with a tooth, jerking sideways, but he didn't reach the man's bone. Odysseus wounded him, striking down on his right shoulder, and the shiny spear's point went straight on through him. He fell down squealing in the dust, and his spirit flew away.

§ 19.455 As some of the dear sons of Autolycus worked about the pig, others expertly bound the wound of godlike noble Odysseus, and checked the black blood with an incantation, then they went immediately to their dear father's home. Autolycus and the sons of Autolycus

§ 19.460 healed him fully, handed him splendid gifts, and quickly sent him, happy, to his beloved fatherland, to Ithaca. His father and lady mother rejoiced at his return and asked him all about it, about the wound he'd suffered. He recounted it fully for them,

§ 19.465 how a pig had struck him with his white tooth as he hunted, when he went to Parnassus with Autolycus' sons. The old woman took the scar in her downturned hands, and knew it as she touched it, and let go of her hold on his foot. His shin fell in the basin, then the bronze rang and tilted

§ 19.470 immediately to one side, and water spilled upon the ground. Pain and joy took seized her mind at the same time. Her two eyes were filled with tears, and her rich voice was held in check. She grabbed Odysseus by the beard and said to him: “Yes, dear child, you really are Odysseus! I didn't recognize you

§ 19.475 before, not until I touched all of my master.” She spoke, and looked at Penelope with her eyes, wanting to show her that her dear husband was home, but she could neither notice nor perceive her, for Athena had turned her mind away. Then Odysseus

§ 19.480 groped for Eurycleia, grabbed her throat with his right hand, pulled her close with the other, and said: “Lady, why do you want to destroy me? You nursed me yourself at this breast of yours, and now, after suffering sorrows, I've come, in the twentieth year, to my fatherland.

§ 19.485 But since you've discerned this and a god put it in your heart, be quiet, lest someone else in the palace find out. For I will so declare it, and it will surely come to pass. If a god should tame the illustrious suitors under me, I wouldn't spare even you, nurse though you are,

§ 19.490 when I kill the other slave women in my palace.” Prudent Eurycleia said back to him: “My child, what kind of talk is this that's fled your wall of teeth? You know how my spirit is steady and unyielding, and I'll hold as solid as any stone or iron.

§ 19.495 I'll tell you something else, and you put it in your mind. If a should god tame the lusty suitors under you, I'll then recount to you the women in your palace, which ones dishonor you and which are innocent.” Adroit Odysseus said to her in reply:

§ 19.500 “Lady, why would you speak of them? You don't need to at all. I'll see each one myself and carefully observe her. So, keep your story in silence, and entrust it to the gods.” So said he, and the old woman went through and out the hall, to get water for foot washing, for all the earlier had spilled.

§ 19.505 Then after she washed him and anointed him richly with olive oil, Odysseus drew his chair back closer to the fire, to get warm, and he hid his scar down in his rags. Prudent Penelope was the first of them to speak: “Stranger, I'll ask you this myself, for yet a little while,

§ 19.510 for, of course, it will soon be the hour of sweet sleep, for whomever sweet sleep takes hold of, even one who's troubled. But a divinity gave even me immeasurable sadness. For my days I indulge in mourning and lamenting, as I see to my works and my handmaids' in my house.

§ 19.515 Then after night comes, and sleep takes hold of all, I lie in bed, and thick about my throbbing heart sharp anxieties disturb me in my mourning. As when Pandareus' daughter, the greenwood nightingale, sings beautifully when spring has just begun,

§ 19.520 sitting in the thick leaves of the trees, who, often varying her voice of many tones, pours out in mourning for her beloved son Itylus, the son of lord Zethus, whom she killed on account of folly once upon a time, so my heart, too, stirs two ways, to and fro,

§ 19.525 whether to stay by my son and watch steadily over all, my property, my slaves, and my great high-roofed house, out of respect for my husband's bed and the kingdom's opinion, or go now with whatever Achaean best woos me in my palace and gives me bride gifts uncountable,

§ 19.530 but my son, while he was still a child and simple-minded, didn't let me marry a husband and leave our home behind, but now, when he's big and he's reached the measure of manhood, he, too, prays that I'll go back out of our hall, and is vexed about our property, that the Achaeans are devouring.

§ 19.535 But come, hear and interpret this dream of mine. Twenty geese, out the of water, are eating wheat throughout the house, and I warm in looking at them. Then a big eagle, with a hooked beak, came from a mountain, broke all their necks, and killed them. They'd been piled

§ 19.540 in a heap in my palace, but he was raised to the divine sky. Then I cried and wailed, in my dream, that is, and the fair-haired Achaean women gathered about me, as I pitiably lamented that an eagle killed my geese. The eagle came back and sat down on a jutting roof-beam,

§ 19.545 then in a mortal voice he restrained me and said:'Take heart, far-famed Icarius' daughter! It's not a dream, but a vision, a good one, that will come to pass for you. The geese are the suitors, and I, your eagle, who was a bird before, am now your husband who's come back,

§ 19.550 who'll let loose shameful doom on all the suitors.' So said he, then honey-sweet sleep released me and I looked about and saw the geese in my palace, feeding on wheat from a trough, just where they did before.” Adroit Odysseus said to her in reply:

§ 19.555 “My lady, it's no way possible to interpret your dream by bending it another way, since, yes, Odysseus himself showed you how he'll fulfill it, and the suitors' destruction is apparent, for every single one of them, and none will avoid death and its agents.” Prudent Penelope said back to him:

§ 19.560 Yes indeed, stranger, dreams are wayward things, hard to understand, and don't at all completely come to pass for men. For there are two gates of evanescent dreams. One is made of horn; the other, of ivory. The dreams that come through the sawn ivory,

§ 19.565 are ones that deceive and bear words not to be fulfilled. The ones that come outside through the polished horn, are ones that make true things come true, when some mortal sees them. But I don't suppose my grim dream came from there. Ah, it would have been a welcome one for me and for my son.

§ 19.570 I'll tell you something else, and you put it in your mind. This morning, evil omened, comes at last, that will make me leave Odysseus's home, for I'll set up a contest now, those axes, that that one used to stand up in his palace, in a row, like props for a ship, twelve of them in all.

§ 19.575 Then he'd stand a long way off and shoot an arrow through them. Now I'll set this as a contest for the suitors. He who can most easily string the bow in his palms and shoot an arrow through the axes, all twelve of them, that one I'll go with, forsaking this home,

§ 19.580 my wedded one, a very fine one, full of substance, that I think I'll remember forever, even in my dreams.” Adroit Odysseus said to her in reply: “Venerable wife of Laertiades Odysseus, No longer now delay this contest in your home,

§ 19.585 for adroit Odysseus will surely be here before then, before they touch this finely-crafted bow, and both string the bowstring and shoot an arrow through the iron.” Prudent Penelope said back to him: If you'd be willing, for me, stranger, to sit by me in my palace

§ 19.590 and entertain me, sleep wouldn't be shed on my eyelids. But, it's no way possible that human beings be sleepless forever, for the immortals have placed on each his portion, on all mortals on the grain-giving earth. But, yes indeed, I'm going up into my upper chamber

§ 19.595 to lie down in the bed that's been made one that causes groans for me, always wet with my tears, from the moment Odysseus went to look on Evil Ilium, a name not to be spoken. I would lie there, and, you, lie here in the house, either bedding on the ground or let them lay down bedding for you.”

§ 19.600 So saying, she went up to the shining upper floor, not alone; handmaids also went with her as well. When she'd gone up to the upper floor with her handmaid women, she wept then for Odysseus, her beloved husband, until bright-eyed Athena cast sweet sleep upon her eyelids.

§ 20.1 BOOK 20 Then on the porch divine Odysseus went to bed. He spread an untanned oxhide down, then on it many fleeces of the sheep the Achaeans slaughtered; then Eurynome threw a cloak on him after he lay down.

§ 20.5 Odysseus, intending evils in his heart for the suitors, lay awake there, as those women were coming from their hall, the ones who mixed with the suitors before, providing merriment and laughter for each other. His heart stirred in his dear chest,

§ 20.10 and he pondered hard, in his mind and in his heart, whether to rush after them and make death for each of them or let them mix with the haughty suitors a last and final time, and his heart growled inside him. As a dog stands over her tender puppies

§ 20.15 and growls at a man she doesn't recognize, eager to do battle, so he growled inside him in indignation at their evil actions, then pounded his chest and scolded his heart: “Endure for now, my heart. You once endured another even worse thing, on that day when the Cyclops, irresistible in fury,

§ 20.20 ate my mighty comrades. You endured it, until cunning led you from the cave, though you thought you'd die.” So said he, accosting the dear heart in his chest, and, in strict obedience, his heart remained constantly enduring, but he himself tossed to and fro.

§ 20.25 As when a man at a blazing fire tosses to and fro a belly, quite full of fat and blood, and is eager that it to be roasted very quickly, so he tossed to and fro, pondering how he could lay his hands upon the shameless suitors,

§ 20.30 alone as he was among many. Athena came down from heaven and came near him. She was disguised as a woman in form. She stood over his head and said to him: “Why are you awake again, ill-fated beyond all men? Your house is this one, and your wife is this one in your house,

§ 20.35 your son too, the kind, I suppose, any man wishes were his son.” Adroit Odysseus said to her in reply: “Truly, goddess, you've said all these things duly, but I have something, this thing that the spirit in my heart ponders, how I can lay my hands upon the shameless suitors,

§ 20.40 alone as I am. They're always all together inside. Further, I still ponder in my mind this even greater thing, if I really were to kill them by your grace and that of Zeus, to where would I escape? I urge you to consider this.” Bright-eyed goddess Athena said back to him:

§ 20.45 “Reckless one, anyone would trust even a lesser comrade, who's a mortal and doesn't know as many schemes, but I'm a god, the one who watches over you throughout, in all your labors, and I'll tell you openly, even if fifty troops of mortal men

§ 20.50 stood around us eagerly to kill for Ares, even then you'd drive off their fat sheep and cattle. But, let sleep seize you. It's an annoyance, staying awake all night keeping watch, and you'll emerge from evils soon.” So said she, and she shed sleep upon his eyelids,

§ 20.55 then the goddess divine herself went back to Olympus. When sleep took hold of him, a sleep that loosens limbs, and loosened his heart's cares, his caring wife awoke and sat in her soft bed, crying. Then after she'd satisfied her heart with crying,

§ 20.60 the woman divine prayed first of all to Artemis: “Lady goddess, Zeus's daughter, Artemis, I wish by now you'd shoot an arrow in my chest and take away my life right now, or a windstorm would come and snatch me up hereafter, carry me down murky ways,

§ 20.65 and cast me in the outlets of backward-flowing Ocean, as when windstorms lifted up Pandareus' daughters. The gods had killed their parents, and they were left orphans in their palace, but divine Aphrodite took care of them, with cheese, sweet honey, and sweet wine.

§ 20.70 Hera gave them looks and sense beyond all women, chaste Artemis gave them stature, and Athena taught them to work splendid works. While divine Aphrodite was on her way to tall Olympus, to ask for a decision on a prosperous marriage for the girls,

§ 20.75 to Zeus, the Lightning-hurler, for he knows all well, both the fortunes and misfortunes of mortal men, the Snatchers [ Harpies ] snatched the girls and carried them off, and gave them to the hateful Erinyes, to be their handmaids. So may those with homes on Olympus make me disappear,

§ 20.80 or may fair-haired Artemis shoot me, so I could also go below the loathesome earth and see Odysseus and wouldn't cheer in any way the mind of a lesser man. But, it keeps evil quite tolerable, when one cries the days and sorrows constantly at heart,