Book twenty three of the Odyssey by Homer. The Odyssey, Book twenty three,
Penelope eventually recognizes her husband. Early in the morning, Ulysses, Telemachus,
Eumaeus, and Felicius leave the town. Eurycleia now went upstairs, laughing
to tell her mistress that her dear husband had come home. Her aged niece
became young again, and her feet were nimble for joy as she went up
to her mistress and bent over her head to speak to her. Wake up,
Penelope, my dear child, she exclaimed, and see with your own
eyes something that you have been wanting this long time past. Ulysses has at
last indeed come home again and has killed the suitors who were giving so much
trouble in his house, eating up his estate, and ill treating his son.
My good nurse answered Penelope, you must be mad. The gods sometimes
sends some very sensible people out of their minds and make foolish people become sensible.
This is what they must have been doing to you, for you always
used to be a reasonable person. Why should you thus mock me when I
have troubled enough already, talking such nonsense and waking me up out of a
sweet sleep that had taken possession of my eyes and closed them. I have
never slept so soundly from the day my poor husband went to that city with
the ill omen name go back again into the women's room. If it had
been anyone else who had woke me up to bring me such absurd news,
I should have sent her away with a severe scolding. As it is your
age shall protect you, my dear child, answered Eurycleia, I am not
mocking you. It is quite true as I tell you, that Ulysses has
come home again. He was the stranger whom they all kept on treating so
badly in the cloister Telemachus knew all the time that he was come back,
but kept his father's secret that he might have his revenge and all these wicked
people. Then Penelope sprang up from her couch, threw her arms round Eurycleia,
and wept for joy. But my dear nurse said, she explain this
to me. If he has really come home as you say, how did
he manage to overcome the wicked suitors single handed? Seeing what a number of
them there always were. I was not there, answered Euyclia, And do
not know. I only heard them groaning while they were being killed. We
sat crouching and huddled up in a corner of the women's room, with the
doors closed, till your son came to fetch me because his father sent him.
Then I found Ulysses standing over the corpses that were lying on the ground
all round him, one on top of the other. You would have enjoyed
it if you could have seen him standing there, all bespattered with blood and
filth, and looking just like a lion. But the corpses are now all
piled up in the gate house, that is in the outer court, and
Ulysses has led a great fire to purify the house with sulfur. He has
set me to call you, so come with me, that you may both
be happy together after all. For now, at last, the desire of
your heart has been fulfilled. Your husband is come home to find both wife
and son alive and well, and to take his revenge in his own house
on the suitors who behaved so badly to him. My dear nurse said,
Penelope, do not exult too confidently over all this. You know how delighted
everyone would be to see Ulysses come home, more particularly myself and the son
who has been born to both of us. But what you tell me cannot
be really true. It is some God who is angry with the suitors for
their great wickedness, and has made an end of them. For they respected
no man in the whole world, neither rich nor poor, who came near
them, and they have come to a bad end in consequence of their iniquity.
Ulysses is dead, far away from me, a key in land.
He will never return home again. Then, Nurse Heraclia said, my child,
what are you talking about? But you are all hard of belief and
have made up your mind that your husband is never coming, although he is
in the house and by his own fireside at this very moment. Besides,
I can give you another proof. When I was washing him, I perceived
the scar which the wild boar gave him, and I wanted to tell you
about it, But in his wisdom, he would not let me and clapped
his hands over my mouth. So come with me, and I will make
this bargain with you. If I am deceiving you, you may have me
killed by the most cruel death you can think of. My dear nurse,
said Penelope. However wise you may be, you can hardly fathom the counsels
of the gods. Nevertheless, we will go in search of my son,
that I may see the corpses of the suitors and the man who has killed
them. This she came down from her upper room, and while doing so,
she considered whether she should keep at a distance from her husband and question
him, or whether she should at once go up to him and embrace him.
When, however, she had crossed the stone floor of the cloister,
she sat down opposite Ulysses by the fire, against the wall at right angles
to that which she had entered, while Ulysses sat near one of the bearing
posts, looking upon the ground and waiting to see what his brave wife would
say to him. When she saw him. For a long time, she
sat silent and as one lost in amazement. At one moment she looked him
full in the face, but then again directly she was misled by his shabby
clothes and failed to recognize him, till Telemachus began to reproach her, and
said, mother, but you are so hard that I cannot call you by
such a name. Why do you keep away from my father in this way?
Why do you not sit by his side? And begin talking to him
and asking him questions. No other woman could bear to keep away from her
husband when he had come back to her after twenty years of absence, and
after having gone through so much. But your heart always was as hard as
a stone, 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. I cannot even look him straight in the face. Still, if
he really is Ulysses, come back to his own home again, we shall
get to understand one another better by and by, For there are tokens with
which we two are alone acquainted, and which are hidden from all others.
Ulysses smiled at this, and said to Telemachus, let your mother put me
to any proof she likes. She will make up her mind about it.
Presently she rejects me for the moment, and believes me to be somebody else
because I am covered with dirt and have such bad clothes on. Let us,
however, consider what we had better do next. When man has killed
another, even though he was not one who would leave many friends to take
up his quarrel, the man who has killed him must still say goodbye to
his friends and fly the country, whereas we have been killing the stay of
a whole town and all the picked youth of Ithaca. I would have you
consider this matter. Look to it yourself, father, answered Telemachus, For
they say you are the wisest counselor in the world, and that there is
no other mortal man who can compare with you. We will follow you with
right good will, nor shall you find us fail you in so far as
our strength holds out. I will say what I think will be best,
answered, Ulysses. First, wash and put your shirts on. Tell the
maids also to go to their own room and dress. Theemius shall then strike
up a dance tune on his lyre, so that if people outside here,
or any of the neighbors, or someone going along the street happens to notice
it, they may think there is a wedding in the house, and no
rumors about the of the suitors will get about in the town before we can
escape to the woods upon my own land. Once there we will settle which
of the courses Heaven vouchsafed us shall seem wisest. Thus he did speak,
and they did even as he had said. First they washed and put their
shirts on, while the women got ready. Then Femius took his lyre and
set them all longing for sweet song and stately dance. The house re echoed
with the sound of men and women dancing at The people outside said, I
suppose the queen has been getting married at last. She ought to be ashamed
of herself for not continuing to protect her husband's property until he comes home.
This was what they said, but they did not know what it was that
had been happening. The upper servant Urynymy washed and anointed Ulysses in his own
house and gave him a shirt and cloak, while Minerva made him look taller
and stronger than before. She also made the hair grow thick on the top
of his head and flowed down and curls like hyacinth blossoms. She glorified him
about the head and shoulders, just as a skillful workman who has studied art
of all kinds under Vulcan or Minerva, and his work is full of beauty,
enriches a piece of silver plate by gilding it. He came from the
bath looking like one of the immortals, and sat down opposite his wife on
the seat he had left My dear said he Heaven has endowed you with a
heart more unyielding than woman ever yet had no other woman could bear to keep
away from her husband when he had come back to her after twenty years of
absence, and after having gone through so much. But cum nurse, get
a bed ready for me. I will sleep alone, for this woman has
a heart as hard as iron. 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. Nevertheless, Eurycleia take his bed
outside the bedchamber that he himself built. Bring the bed outside this room,
and put bedding upon it, with fleeces, good coverlets, and blankets.
She said this to try him, But Ulysses was very angry and said,
wife, I am much displeased at what you have just been saying. Who
has been taking my bed from the place in which I left it? He
must have found it a hard task, no matter how skilled a workman he
was, unless some God came and helped him to shift it. There is
no man living, however strong and in his prime, who could move it
from its place? For it is a marvelous curiosity which I made with my
very own hands. There is a young olive growing within the precincts of the
house, in full vigor and about as thick as a bearing post. I
built my room round this with strong walls of stone and a roof to cover
them, and I made the door strong and well fitting. Then I cut
off the top boughs of the olive tree and left the stump standing. This
I dressed roughly from the root upwards, and then worked with carpenter's tools well
and skillfully, straightening my work by drawing a line on the wood and making
it into a bed prop. I then bored a hole down the middle and
made it the centerpost of my bed, at which I worked till I had
finished it in laying it with gold and silver. After this I stretched a
hide of crimson leather from one side of it to the other. So you
see, I know all about it, and I desire to learn whether it
is still there, or whether any one has been removing it by cutting down
the olive tree at its roots. When she heard the sure proofs Ulysses now
gave her she fairly broke down. She flew, weeping to his side,
flung her arms about his neck, and kissed him. Do not be angry
with me, Ulysses, she cried, you, who are the wisest of
mankind, We have suffered both of us. Heaven has been IDAs the happiness
of spending our youth and of growing old together. Do not then be aggrieved
or take it amiss that I did not embrace you. Thus as soon as
I saw you, I have been shuddering all the time through fear that someone
might come here and deceive me with a lying story. For there are many
very wicked people going about. Jove's daughter Helen would never have yielded herself to
a man from a foreign country if she had known that the sons of Achaeans
would come after her and bring her back, having put it in her heart
to do wrong, and she gave no thought to that sin, which has
been the source of all our sorrows. Now, however, that you have
convinced me by showing that you know all about our bed, which no human
being has ever seen but you and I and a single maid servant, the
daughter of actor, who has given me by my father on my marriage,
and who keeps the doors of our room hard of belief. Though I have
been, I can mistrust no longer. Then, Ulysses, in his turn,
melted and wept as he clasped his dear and faithful wife to his bosom.
As the sight of land is welcomed to men who are swimming towards the
shore. When Neptune has wrecked their ship with the fury of his winds and
waves. A few alone reached the land, and these covered with brine are
thankful when they find themselves on firm ground and out of danger. Even so
was her husband welcome to her as she looked upon him, and she could
not tear her two fair arms from about his neck. Indeed, they would
have gone on indulging their sorrow till rosy fingered morn appeared. Had not Minerva
determined otherwise, and held night back in the far west, while she would
not suffer dawn to leave oceanus, nor to yoke the two steeds, Lampus
and Fithan, that bear her onward, to break the day upon mankind.
At last, however, Ulysses said, wife, we have not yet reached
the end of our troubles. I have an unknown amount of toil still to
undergo. It is long and difficult, but I must go through with it.
For thus the shade of Tyreseus prophecy concerning me on the day when I
went down into Hades to ask about my return and that of my companions.
But now let us go to bed, that we may lie down and enjoy
the blessed boon of sleep. 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. But as Heaven has put it in
your mind to speak of it, tell me about the task that lies before
you. I shall have to hear about it later, So it is better
that I should be told at once, my dear, answered Ulysses. Why
should you press me to tell you? Still? I will not conceal it
from you. Though you will not like it, I do not like it
myself. For Tyreseus bade me travel far and wide, carrying an oar till
I came to a country where the people have never heard of the sea,
and do not even mix halt with their food. They know nothing about ships
nor oars that are as the wings of a ship. He gave me this
certain token, which I will not hide from you. He said that a
wayfarer should meet me and ask me whether it was a winnowing shovel that I
had on my shoulder. On this I was to fix my oar in the
ground and sacrifice a ram, a bull, and a boar to Neptune,
after which I was to go home and offer hecatombs to all the gods in
heaven, one after the other. As for myself, he said that death
should come to me from the sea, and that my life should ebb away
very gently when I was full of years and peace of mind, and my
people should bless me. All this, he said, should surely come to
pass. 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. Thus did they converse. Meanwhile, your enemy and the nurse
took torches and made them 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 your enemy to show Ulysses and Penelope to
bed by torchlight. When she had conducted them back to their room, she
went back, and they then came joyfully to the rights of their own old
bed. Telemachus, Felicius and the swineherd now left off dancing, and made
the women leave off also. They then laid themselves down to sleep in the
cloisters. When Ulysses and Penelope had had their fill of love, they fell
talking with one another. She told him how much she had had to bear
in seeing the house filled with a crowd of wicked suitors, who had killed
so many sheep and oxen on her account, and had drunk so many casks
of wine. Ulysses, in his turn, told her what he had suffered
and how much trouble he had himself given to other people. He told her
everything, and she was so delighted to listen that she never went to till
he had ended his whole story. He began with his victory over the sycons,
and how he thence reached the fertile land of the lotus eats. He
told her all about the Cyclops and how he had punished him for having so
ruthlessly eaten his brave comrades. How he then went on to Elis, who
received him hospitably and furthered him on his way. But even so he was
not to reach home, for to his great grief, a hurricane carried him
out to sea again. How he went on to the Lestragonian city Tellipolis,
where the people destroyed all his ships with their crews, save himself and his
own ship. Only then he told of cunning Circe and her craft, And
how he sailed to the chill house of Hades to consult the ghost of a
theban prophet Tyresius, And how he saw his old comrades in arms, and
his mother, who bore him and brought him up when he was a child.
How he then heard the wondrous singing of the sirens, and went on
to the wandering rock and terrible Charybdus, and to Scylla, whom to no
man had ever yet passed in safety. How his men then ate the cattle
of the sun God, And how Jove therefore struck the ship with his thunderbolts,
so that all his men perished together, himself alone being left alive.
How at last he reached the Ogygian island and the nymph Calypso, who kept
him there in a cave and fed him, and wanted him to marry her,
in which case she intended making him immortal, so that he should never
grow old. But she could not persuade him to let her do so.
And how after much suffering, he had found his way to the Phiatians,
who had treated him as though he had been a god, and sent him
back in a ship to his own country, after having given him gold,
bronze, and raiment in great abundance. This was the last thing about which
he told her, for here a deep sleep took hold upon him and eased
the burden of his sorrows. Then Minerva bethought her of another matter. When
she deemed that Ulysses had had both of his wife and of repose, she
bade gold and throwne dawn rise out of oceanus, that she might shed light
upon mankind. 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. Now, however,
that we have at last come together, take care of the property that
is in the house. As for the sheep and goats which the wicked suitors
have eaten, I will take many myself by force from other people, and
will compel the Achaeans to make good the rest, till they shall have filled
all my yards. I am now going to the wooded lands out in the
country to see my father, who has so long been grieved on my account.
And to yourself, I will give these instructions, though you have little
need of them. At sunrise, it will once get abroad that I have
been killing the suitors. Go upstairs, therefore, and stay there with your
women. See nobody, and ask no questions. As he spoke, he
girded on his armor. Then he roused Telemachus, Felicius, and Eumaeus,
and told them all to put on their armor. Also. This they did,
and armed themselves. When they had done so, they opened the gates
and sallied forth Ulysses leading the way. It was now daylight, but Minerva
nevertheless concealed them in darkness and led them quickly out of the town. End
of Book twenty three.