1 00:00:00,880 --> 00:00:08,160 Book twenty three of the Odyssey by Homer. The Odyssey, Book twenty three, 2 00:00:08,759 --> 00:00:14,480 Penelope eventually recognizes her husband. Early in the morning, Ulysses, Telemachus, 3 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:20,519 Eumaeus, and Felicius leave the town. Eurycleia now went upstairs, laughing 4 00:00:20,559 --> 00:00:24,679 to tell her mistress that her dear husband had come home. Her aged niece 5 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:28,480 became young again, and her feet were nimble for joy as she went up 6 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:32,320 to her mistress and bent over her head to speak to her. Wake up, 7 00:00:32,359 --> 00:00:36,439 Penelope, my dear child, she exclaimed, and see with your own 8 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:41,039 eyes something that you have been wanting this long time past. Ulysses has at 9 00:00:41,119 --> 00:00:45,359 last indeed come home again and has killed the suitors who were giving so much 10 00:00:45,399 --> 00:00:49,439 trouble in his house, eating up his estate, and ill treating his son. 11 00:00:51,119 --> 00:00:56,479 My good nurse answered Penelope, you must be mad. The gods sometimes 12 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:00,679 sends some very sensible people out of their minds and make foolish people become sensible. 13 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:04,599 This is what they must have been doing to you, for you always 14 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:08,680 used to be a reasonable person. Why should you thus mock me when I 15 00:01:08,719 --> 00:01:14,439 have troubled enough already, talking such nonsense and waking me up out of a 16 00:01:14,519 --> 00:01:18,879 sweet sleep that had taken possession of my eyes and closed them. I have 17 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:22,760 never slept so soundly from the day my poor husband went to that city with 18 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:26,680 the ill omen name go back again into the women's room. If it had 19 00:01:26,719 --> 00:01:30,040 been anyone else who had woke me up to bring me such absurd news, 20 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:34,480 I should have sent her away with a severe scolding. As it is your 21 00:01:34,519 --> 00:01:41,480 age shall protect you, my dear child, answered Eurycleia, I am not 22 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,599 mocking you. It is quite true as I tell you, that Ulysses has 23 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:49,760 come home again. He was the stranger whom they all kept on treating so 24 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,719 badly in the cloister Telemachus knew all the time that he was come back, 25 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:59,239 but kept his father's secret that he might have his revenge and all these wicked 26 00:01:59,239 --> 00:02:05,040 people. Then Penelope sprang up from her couch, threw her arms round Eurycleia, 27 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:09,479 and wept for joy. But my dear nurse said, she explain this 28 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:14,800 to me. If he has really come home as you say, how did 29 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:19,159 he manage to overcome the wicked suitors single handed? Seeing what a number of 30 00:02:19,199 --> 00:02:23,439 them there always were. I was not there, answered Euyclia, And do 31 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:29,120 not know. I only heard them groaning while they were being killed. We 32 00:02:29,199 --> 00:02:31,560 sat crouching and huddled up in a corner of the women's room, with the 33 00:02:31,599 --> 00:02:36,800 doors closed, till your son came to fetch me because his father sent him. 34 00:02:37,759 --> 00:02:40,800 Then I found Ulysses standing over the corpses that were lying on the ground 35 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:46,319 all round him, one on top of the other. You would have enjoyed 36 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,960 it if you could have seen him standing there, all bespattered with blood and 37 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:53,560 filth, and looking just like a lion. But the corpses are now all 38 00:02:53,599 --> 00:02:57,439 piled up in the gate house, that is in the outer court, and 39 00:02:57,599 --> 00:03:01,240 Ulysses has led a great fire to purify the house with sulfur. He has 40 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:05,719 set me to call you, so come with me, that you may both 41 00:03:05,759 --> 00:03:09,080 be happy together after all. For now, at last, the desire of 42 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:14,639 your heart has been fulfilled. Your husband is come home to find both wife 43 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:17,960 and son alive and well, and to take his revenge in his own house 44 00:03:19,319 --> 00:03:23,800 on the suitors who behaved so badly to him. My dear nurse said, 45 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:30,000 Penelope, do not exult too confidently over all this. You know how delighted 46 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:35,360 everyone would be to see Ulysses come home, more particularly myself and the son 47 00:03:35,439 --> 00:03:39,039 who has been born to both of us. But what you tell me cannot 48 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:44,319 be really true. It is some God who is angry with the suitors for 49 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,759 their great wickedness, and has made an end of them. For they respected 50 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:53,120 no man in the whole world, neither rich nor poor, who came near 51 00:03:53,199 --> 00:03:57,240 them, and they have come to a bad end in consequence of their iniquity. 52 00:03:58,039 --> 00:04:00,840 Ulysses is dead, far away from me, a key in land. 53 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:06,280 He will never return home again. Then, Nurse Heraclia said, my child, 54 00:04:06,639 --> 00:04:11,360 what are you talking about? But you are all hard of belief and 55 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:15,240 have made up your mind that your husband is never coming, although he is 56 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,839 in the house and by his own fireside at this very moment. Besides, 57 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:24,399 I can give you another proof. When I was washing him, I perceived 58 00:04:24,399 --> 00:04:28,120 the scar which the wild boar gave him, and I wanted to tell you 59 00:04:28,199 --> 00:04:31,199 about it, But in his wisdom, he would not let me and clapped 60 00:04:31,199 --> 00:04:35,000 his hands over my mouth. So come with me, and I will make 61 00:04:35,079 --> 00:04:39,839 this bargain with you. If I am deceiving you, you may have me 62 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:44,879 killed by the most cruel death you can think of. My dear nurse, 63 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:49,120 said Penelope. However wise you may be, you can hardly fathom the counsels 64 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:54,360 of the gods. Nevertheless, we will go in search of my son, 65 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:58,480 that I may see the corpses of the suitors and the man who has killed 66 00:04:58,519 --> 00:05:02,399 them. This she came down from her upper room, and while doing so, 67 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,199 she considered whether she should keep at a distance from her husband and question 68 00:05:06,319 --> 00:05:11,519 him, or whether she should at once go up to him and embrace him. 69 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:14,800 When, however, she had crossed the stone floor of the cloister, 70 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,839 she sat down opposite Ulysses by the fire, against the wall at right angles 71 00:05:18,879 --> 00:05:23,560 to that which she had entered, while Ulysses sat near one of the bearing 72 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,879 posts, looking upon the ground and waiting to see what his brave wife would 73 00:05:27,879 --> 00:05:30,399 say to him. When she saw him. For a long time, she 74 00:05:30,519 --> 00:05:35,279 sat silent and as one lost in amazement. At one moment she looked him 75 00:05:35,319 --> 00:05:40,959 full in the face, but then again directly she was misled by his shabby 76 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:45,360 clothes and failed to recognize him, till Telemachus began to reproach her, and 77 00:05:45,399 --> 00:05:48,879 said, mother, but you are so hard that I cannot call you by 78 00:05:48,879 --> 00:05:53,199 such a name. Why do you keep away from my father in this way? 79 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:56,519 Why do you not sit by his side? And begin talking to him 80 00:05:56,519 --> 00:06:00,920 and asking him questions. No other woman could bear to keep away from her 81 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,879 husband when he had come back to her after twenty years of absence, and 82 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:09,360 after having gone through so much. But your heart always was as hard as 83 00:06:09,399 --> 00:06:15,800 a stone, Penelope answered, my son, I am so lost in astonishment 84 00:06:15,079 --> 00:06:18,839 that I can find no words in which either to ask questions or to answer 85 00:06:18,879 --> 00:06:24,439 them. I cannot even look him straight in the face. Still, if 86 00:06:24,439 --> 00:06:27,959 he really is Ulysses, come back to his own home again, we shall 87 00:06:27,959 --> 00:06:30,920 get to understand one another better by and by, For there are tokens with 88 00:06:30,959 --> 00:06:35,079 which we two are alone acquainted, and which are hidden from all others. 89 00:06:36,759 --> 00:06:42,319 Ulysses smiled at this, and said to Telemachus, let your mother put me 90 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:45,839 to any proof she likes. She will make up her mind about it. 91 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:50,279 Presently she rejects me for the moment, and believes me to be somebody else 92 00:06:50,639 --> 00:06:56,360 because I am covered with dirt and have such bad clothes on. Let us, 93 00:06:56,399 --> 00:07:00,839 however, consider what we had better do next. When man has killed 94 00:07:00,879 --> 00:07:03,519 another, even though he was not one who would leave many friends to take 95 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:08,560 up his quarrel, the man who has killed him must still say goodbye to 96 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:13,040 his friends and fly the country, whereas we have been killing the stay of 97 00:07:13,079 --> 00:07:16,360 a whole town and all the picked youth of Ithaca. I would have you 98 00:07:16,399 --> 00:07:23,040 consider this matter. Look to it yourself, father, answered Telemachus, For 99 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:27,079 they say you are the wisest counselor in the world, and that there is 100 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,279 no other mortal man who can compare with you. We will follow you with 101 00:07:30,399 --> 00:07:33,839 right good will, nor shall you find us fail you in so far as 102 00:07:33,839 --> 00:07:39,240 our strength holds out. I will say what I think will be best, 103 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:43,959 answered, Ulysses. First, wash and put your shirts on. Tell the 104 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,439 maids also to go to their own room and dress. Theemius shall then strike 105 00:07:47,519 --> 00:07:50,920 up a dance tune on his lyre, so that if people outside here, 106 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:56,000 or any of the neighbors, or someone going along the street happens to notice 107 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,959 it, they may think there is a wedding in the house, and no 108 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:03,040 rumors about the of the suitors will get about in the town before we can 109 00:08:03,199 --> 00:08:07,879 escape to the woods upon my own land. Once there we will settle which 110 00:08:07,879 --> 00:08:13,160 of the courses Heaven vouchsafed us shall seem wisest. Thus he did speak, 111 00:08:13,439 --> 00:08:16,360 and they did even as he had said. First they washed and put their 112 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:20,800 shirts on, while the women got ready. Then Femius took his lyre and 113 00:08:20,839 --> 00:08:26,800 set them all longing for sweet song and stately dance. The house re echoed 114 00:08:26,839 --> 00:08:31,399 with the sound of men and women dancing at The people outside said, I 115 00:08:31,519 --> 00:08:35,519 suppose the queen has been getting married at last. She ought to be ashamed 116 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:39,559 of herself for not continuing to protect her husband's property until he comes home. 117 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:43,200 This was what they said, but they did not know what it was that 118 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:48,919 had been happening. The upper servant Urynymy washed and anointed Ulysses in his own 119 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:54,320 house and gave him a shirt and cloak, while Minerva made him look taller 120 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:58,480 and stronger than before. She also made the hair grow thick on the top 121 00:08:58,519 --> 00:09:03,679 of his head and flowed down and curls like hyacinth blossoms. She glorified him 122 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:07,919 about the head and shoulders, just as a skillful workman who has studied art 123 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:11,799 of all kinds under Vulcan or Minerva, and his work is full of beauty, 124 00:09:13,279 --> 00:09:16,200 enriches a piece of silver plate by gilding it. He came from the 125 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:20,200 bath looking like one of the immortals, and sat down opposite his wife on 126 00:09:20,279 --> 00:09:26,639 the seat he had left My dear said he Heaven has endowed you with a 127 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:31,279 heart more unyielding than woman ever yet had no other woman could bear to keep 128 00:09:31,279 --> 00:09:35,639 away from her husband when he had come back to her after twenty years of 129 00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:39,879 absence, and after having gone through so much. But cum nurse, get 130 00:09:39,879 --> 00:09:43,879 a bed ready for me. I will sleep alone, for this woman has 131 00:09:43,879 --> 00:09:50,679 a heart as hard as iron. My dear answered Penelope. I have no 132 00:09:50,759 --> 00:09:54,360 wish to set myself up, nor to depreciate you, but I am not 133 00:09:54,519 --> 00:09:58,480 struck by your appearance, for I very well remember what kind of a man 134 00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:05,039 you were when you set sail from Ithaca. Nevertheless, Eurycleia take his bed 135 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:09,639 outside the bedchamber that he himself built. Bring the bed outside this room, 136 00:10:09,759 --> 00:10:13,679 and put bedding upon it, with fleeces, good coverlets, and blankets. 137 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:18,639 She said this to try him, But Ulysses was very angry and said, 138 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,840 wife, I am much displeased at what you have just been saying. Who 139 00:10:22,919 --> 00:10:26,399 has been taking my bed from the place in which I left it? He 140 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:31,240 must have found it a hard task, no matter how skilled a workman he 141 00:10:31,399 --> 00:10:35,440 was, unless some God came and helped him to shift it. There is 142 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:39,639 no man living, however strong and in his prime, who could move it 143 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:43,840 from its place? For it is a marvelous curiosity which I made with my 144 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:48,600 very own hands. There is a young olive growing within the precincts of the 145 00:10:48,639 --> 00:10:52,759 house, in full vigor and about as thick as a bearing post. I 146 00:10:52,919 --> 00:10:56,799 built my room round this with strong walls of stone and a roof to cover 147 00:10:56,879 --> 00:11:00,919 them, and I made the door strong and well fitting. Then I cut 148 00:11:00,919 --> 00:11:05,039 off the top boughs of the olive tree and left the stump standing. This 149 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:09,759 I dressed roughly from the root upwards, and then worked with carpenter's tools well 150 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:13,200 and skillfully, straightening my work by drawing a line on the wood and making 151 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,919 it into a bed prop. I then bored a hole down the middle and 152 00:11:18,039 --> 00:11:20,759 made it the centerpost of my bed, at which I worked till I had 153 00:11:20,759 --> 00:11:26,519 finished it in laying it with gold and silver. After this I stretched a 154 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:30,720 hide of crimson leather from one side of it to the other. So you 155 00:11:30,799 --> 00:11:33,440 see, I know all about it, and I desire to learn whether it 156 00:11:33,519 --> 00:11:37,480 is still there, or whether any one has been removing it by cutting down 157 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:43,639 the olive tree at its roots. When she heard the sure proofs Ulysses now 158 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:46,799 gave her she fairly broke down. She flew, weeping to his side, 159 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:52,039 flung her arms about his neck, and kissed him. Do not be angry 160 00:11:52,039 --> 00:11:54,720 with me, Ulysses, she cried, you, who are the wisest of 161 00:11:54,799 --> 00:12:01,039 mankind, We have suffered both of us. Heaven has been IDAs the happiness 162 00:12:01,039 --> 00:12:05,480 of spending our youth and of growing old together. Do not then be aggrieved 163 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:07,480 or take it amiss that I did not embrace you. Thus as soon as 164 00:12:07,519 --> 00:12:13,080 I saw you, I have been shuddering all the time through fear that someone 165 00:12:13,159 --> 00:12:16,960 might come here and deceive me with a lying story. For there are many 166 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:22,440 very wicked people going about. Jove's daughter Helen would never have yielded herself to 167 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:26,600 a man from a foreign country if she had known that the sons of Achaeans 168 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:30,440 would come after her and bring her back, having put it in her heart 169 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:33,240 to do wrong, and she gave no thought to that sin, which has 170 00:12:33,279 --> 00:12:37,799 been the source of all our sorrows. Now, however, that you have 171 00:12:37,879 --> 00:12:41,840 convinced me by showing that you know all about our bed, which no human 172 00:12:41,879 --> 00:12:46,840 being has ever seen but you and I and a single maid servant, the 173 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,559 daughter of actor, who has given me by my father on my marriage, 174 00:12:50,759 --> 00:12:54,480 and who keeps the doors of our room hard of belief. Though I have 175 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:58,720 been, I can mistrust no longer. Then, Ulysses, in his turn, 176 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:03,360 melted and wept as he clasped his dear and faithful wife to his bosom. 177 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:07,519 As the sight of land is welcomed to men who are swimming towards the 178 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:11,240 shore. When Neptune has wrecked their ship with the fury of his winds and 179 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:16,399 waves. A few alone reached the land, and these covered with brine are 180 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:22,159 thankful when they find themselves on firm ground and out of danger. Even so 181 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:26,240 was her husband welcome to her as she looked upon him, and she could 182 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:30,879 not tear her two fair arms from about his neck. Indeed, they would 183 00:13:30,879 --> 00:13:35,519 have gone on indulging their sorrow till rosy fingered morn appeared. Had not Minerva 184 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:39,080 determined otherwise, and held night back in the far west, while she would 185 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:43,559 not suffer dawn to leave oceanus, nor to yoke the two steeds, Lampus 186 00:13:43,639 --> 00:13:48,240 and Fithan, that bear her onward, to break the day upon mankind. 187 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:54,360 At last, however, Ulysses said, wife, we have not yet reached 188 00:13:54,399 --> 00:13:58,120 the end of our troubles. I have an unknown amount of toil still to 189 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:01,360 undergo. It is long and difficult, but I must go through with it. 190 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:07,000 For thus the shade of Tyreseus prophecy concerning me on the day when I 191 00:14:07,039 --> 00:14:11,360 went down into Hades to ask about my return and that of my companions. 192 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:15,159 But now let us go to bed, that we may lie down and enjoy 193 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:20,000 the blessed boon of sleep. You shall go to bed as soon as you 194 00:14:20,039 --> 00:14:24,279 please, replied Penelope, now that the gods have sent you home to your 195 00:14:24,279 --> 00:14:28,320 own good house and to your country. But as Heaven has put it in 196 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:31,960 your mind to speak of it, tell me about the task that lies before 197 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:35,879 you. I shall have to hear about it later, So it is better 198 00:14:35,919 --> 00:14:41,360 that I should be told at once, my dear, answered Ulysses. Why 199 00:14:41,399 --> 00:14:45,279 should you press me to tell you? Still? I will not conceal it 200 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:48,320 from you. Though you will not like it, I do not like it 201 00:14:48,399 --> 00:14:54,159 myself. For Tyreseus bade me travel far and wide, carrying an oar till 202 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:58,679 I came to a country where the people have never heard of the sea, 203 00:14:58,799 --> 00:15:03,039 and do not even mix halt with their food. They know nothing about ships 204 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:05,440 nor oars that are as the wings of a ship. He gave me this 205 00:15:05,519 --> 00:15:09,759 certain token, which I will not hide from you. He said that a 206 00:15:09,759 --> 00:15:15,399 wayfarer should meet me and ask me whether it was a winnowing shovel that I 207 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,159 had on my shoulder. On this I was to fix my oar in the 208 00:15:18,159 --> 00:15:22,799 ground and sacrifice a ram, a bull, and a boar to Neptune, 209 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:26,080 after which I was to go home and offer hecatombs to all the gods in 210 00:15:26,159 --> 00:15:31,759 heaven, one after the other. As for myself, he said that death 211 00:15:31,799 --> 00:15:35,399 should come to me from the sea, and that my life should ebb away 212 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:39,279 very gently when I was full of years and peace of mind, and my 213 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:43,440 people should bless me. All this, he said, should surely come to 214 00:15:43,519 --> 00:15:48,159 pass. And Penelope said, if the gods are going to vouchsafe you a 215 00:15:48,159 --> 00:15:52,200 happier time in your old age, you may hope then to have some respite 216 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:58,200 from misfortune. Thus did they converse. Meanwhile, your enemy and the nurse 217 00:15:58,279 --> 00:16:03,639 took torches and made them bed ready with soft coverlets. As soon as they 218 00:16:03,679 --> 00:16:06,600 had laid them, the nurse went back into the house to go to her 219 00:16:06,679 --> 00:16:11,120 rest, leaving the bed chamber woman your enemy to show Ulysses and Penelope to 220 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:15,759 bed by torchlight. When she had conducted them back to their room, she 221 00:16:15,879 --> 00:16:18,960 went back, and they then came joyfully to the rights of their own old 222 00:16:19,039 --> 00:16:25,360 bed. Telemachus, Felicius and the swineherd now left off dancing, and made 223 00:16:25,399 --> 00:16:29,679 the women leave off also. They then laid themselves down to sleep in the 224 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:34,600 cloisters. When Ulysses and Penelope had had their fill of love, they fell 225 00:16:34,639 --> 00:16:38,399 talking with one another. She told him how much she had had to bear 226 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:42,039 in seeing the house filled with a crowd of wicked suitors, who had killed 227 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:47,080 so many sheep and oxen on her account, and had drunk so many casks 228 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:51,600 of wine. Ulysses, in his turn, told her what he had suffered 229 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:56,200 and how much trouble he had himself given to other people. He told her 230 00:16:56,200 --> 00:17:00,440 everything, and she was so delighted to listen that she never went to till 231 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:04,480 he had ended his whole story. He began with his victory over the sycons, 232 00:17:04,759 --> 00:17:10,039 and how he thence reached the fertile land of the lotus eats. He 233 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:12,920 told her all about the Cyclops and how he had punished him for having so 234 00:17:14,079 --> 00:17:18,480 ruthlessly eaten his brave comrades. How he then went on to Elis, who 235 00:17:18,519 --> 00:17:23,039 received him hospitably and furthered him on his way. But even so he was 236 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:26,759 not to reach home, for to his great grief, a hurricane carried him 237 00:17:26,799 --> 00:17:33,200 out to sea again. How he went on to the Lestragonian city Tellipolis, 238 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:37,359 where the people destroyed all his ships with their crews, save himself and his 239 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:41,359 own ship. Only then he told of cunning Circe and her craft, And 240 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:45,359 how he sailed to the chill house of Hades to consult the ghost of a 241 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:51,359 theban prophet Tyresius, And how he saw his old comrades in arms, and 242 00:17:51,519 --> 00:17:53,599 his mother, who bore him and brought him up when he was a child. 243 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:59,039 How he then heard the wondrous singing of the sirens, and went on 244 00:17:59,079 --> 00:18:03,160 to the wandering rock and terrible Charybdus, and to Scylla, whom to no 245 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:07,720 man had ever yet passed in safety. How his men then ate the cattle 246 00:18:07,759 --> 00:18:11,359 of the sun God, And how Jove therefore struck the ship with his thunderbolts, 247 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:15,599 so that all his men perished together, himself alone being left alive. 248 00:18:17,759 --> 00:18:22,400 How at last he reached the Ogygian island and the nymph Calypso, who kept 249 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:25,960 him there in a cave and fed him, and wanted him to marry her, 250 00:18:26,319 --> 00:18:30,119 in which case she intended making him immortal, so that he should never 251 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:33,160 grow old. But she could not persuade him to let her do so. 252 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:37,720 And how after much suffering, he had found his way to the Phiatians, 253 00:18:37,759 --> 00:18:41,160 who had treated him as though he had been a god, and sent him 254 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:45,559 back in a ship to his own country, after having given him gold, 255 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:49,519 bronze, and raiment in great abundance. This was the last thing about which 256 00:18:49,519 --> 00:18:53,480 he told her, for here a deep sleep took hold upon him and eased 257 00:18:53,480 --> 00:19:00,000 the burden of his sorrows. Then Minerva bethought her of another matter. When 258 00:19:00,039 --> 00:19:04,000 she deemed that Ulysses had had both of his wife and of repose, she 259 00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:08,200 bade gold and throwne dawn rise out of oceanus, that she might shed light 260 00:19:08,319 --> 00:19:15,359 upon mankind. On this Ulysses rose from his comfortable bed and said to Penelope, 261 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:18,720 wife, we have both of us had our full share of troubles, 262 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:23,759 you here in lamenting my absence, and I in being prevented from getting home, 263 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:27,640 though I was longing all the time to do so. Now, however, 264 00:19:29,039 --> 00:19:32,400 that we have at last come together, take care of the property that 265 00:19:32,559 --> 00:19:36,839 is in the house. As for the sheep and goats which the wicked suitors 266 00:19:36,839 --> 00:19:40,920 have eaten, I will take many myself by force from other people, and 267 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,799 will compel the Achaeans to make good the rest, till they shall have filled 268 00:19:44,839 --> 00:19:48,400 all my yards. I am now going to the wooded lands out in the 269 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:52,319 country to see my father, who has so long been grieved on my account. 270 00:19:52,799 --> 00:19:56,680 And to yourself, I will give these instructions, though you have little 271 00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:00,599 need of them. At sunrise, it will once get abroad that I have 272 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,799 been killing the suitors. Go upstairs, therefore, and stay there with your 273 00:20:04,839 --> 00:20:11,119 women. See nobody, and ask no questions. As he spoke, he 274 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:17,400 girded on his armor. Then he roused Telemachus, Felicius, and Eumaeus, 275 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:21,440 and told them all to put on their armor. Also. This they did, 276 00:20:21,559 --> 00:20:25,799 and armed themselves. When they had done so, they opened the gates 277 00:20:25,799 --> 00:20:30,559 and sallied forth Ulysses leading the way. It was now daylight, but Minerva 278 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:37,599 nevertheless concealed them in darkness and led them quickly out of the town. End 279 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:38,960 of Book twenty three.