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