s: come here with her attendants, and also all the maidservants


s: "All that you have said is true," answered Euryclea, "but let me


s: bring you some clean clothes--a shirt and cloak. Do not keep


s: these rags on your back any longer. It is not right."


s: "First light me a fire," replied Ulysses.


s: She brought the fire and sulphur, as he had bidden her, and


s: Ulysses thoroughly purified the cloisters and both the inner and


s: outer courts. Then she went inside to call the women and tell


s: them what had happened; whereon they came from their apartment


s: with torches in their hands, and pressed round Ulysses to


s: embrace him, kissing his head and shoulders and taking hold of


s: his hands. It made him feel as if he should like to weep, for he


s: Euryclea now went upstairs laughing to tell her mistress that


s: her dear husband had come home. Her aged knees became young


s: again and her feet were nimble for joy as she went up to her


s: mistress and bent over her head to speak to her.  "Wake up


s: Penelope, my dear child," she exclaimed, "and see with your own


s: eyes something that you have been wanting this long time past.


s: Ulysses has at last indeed come home again, and has killed the


s: suitors who were giving so much trouble in his house, eating up


s: "My good nurse," answered Penelope, "you must be mad. The gods


s: sometimes send some very sensible people out of their minds, and


s: make foolish people become sensible. This is what they must have


s: been doing to you; for you always used to be a reasonable


s: person. Why should you thus mock me when I have trouble enough


s: already--talking such nonsense, and waking me up out of a sweet


s: sleep that had taken possession of my eyes and closed them? I


s: have never slept so soundly from the day my poor husband went to


s: that city with the ill-omened name. Go back again into the


s: women's room; if it had been any one else who had woke me up to


s: bring me such absurd news I should have sent her away with a


s: severe scolding. As it is your age shall protect you."


s: "My dear child," answered Euryclea, "I am not mocking you.  It


s: is quite true as I tell you that Ulysses is come home again. He


s: was the stranger whom they all kept on treating so badly in the


s: cloister. Telemachus knew all the time that he was come back,


s: but kept his father's secret that he might have his revenge on


s: Then Penelope sprang up from her couch, threw her arms round


s: Euryclea, and wept for joy. "But my dear nurse," said she,


s: "explain this to me; if he has really come home as you say, how


s: did he manage to overcome the wicked suitors single handed,


s: seeing what a number of them there always were?"


s: "I was not there," answered Euryclea, "and do not know; I only


s: heard them groaning while they were being killed. We sat


s: crouching and huddled up in a corner of the women's room with


s: the doors closed, till your son came to fetch me because his


s: father sent him. Then I found Ulysses standing over the corpses


s: that were lying on the ground all round him, one on top of the


s: other. You would have enjoyed it if you could have seen him


s: standing there all bespattered with blood and filth, and looking


s: just like a lion. But the corpses are now all piled up in the


s: gatehouse that is in the outer court, and Ulysses has lit a


s: great fire to purify the house with sulphur. He has sent me to


s: call you, so come with me that you may both be happy together


s: after all; for now at last the desire of your heart has been


s: fulfilled; your husband is come home to find both wife and son


s: alive and well, and to take his revenge in his own house on the


s: "My dear nurse," said Penelope, "do not exult too confidently


s: over all this. You know how delighted every one would be to see


s: Ulysses come home--more particularly myself, and the son who has


s: been born to both of us; but what you tell me cannot be really


s: true. It is some god who is angry with the suitors for their


s: great wickedness, and has made an end of them; for they


s: respected no man in the whole world, neither rich nor poor, who


s: came near them, and they have come to a bad end in consequence


s: of their iniquity; Ulysses is dead far away from the Achaean


s: Then nurse Euryclea said, "My child, what are you talking about?


s: but you were all hard of belief and have made up your mind that


s: your husband is never coming, although he is in the house and by


s: his own fire side at this very moment. Besides I can give you


s: another proof; when I was washing him I perceived the scar which


s: the wild boar gave him, and I wanted to tell you about it, but


s: in his wisdom he would not let me, and clapped his hands over my


s: mouth; so come with me and I will make this bargain with you--if


s: I am deceiving you, you may have me killed by the most cruel


s: "My dear nurse," said Penelope, "however wise you may be you can


s: hardly fathom the counsels of the gods.  Nevertheless, we will


s: go in search of my son, that I may see the corpses of the


s: suitors, and the man who has killed them."


s: On this she came down from her upper room, and while doing so


s: she considered whether she should keep at a distance from her


s: husband and question him, or whether she should at once go up to


s: him and embrace him. When, however, she had crossed the stone


s: floor of the cloister, she sat down opposite Ulysses by the


s: fire, against the wall at right angles {180} [to that by which


s: she had entered], while Ulysses sat near one of the


s: bearing-posts, looking upon the ground, and waiting to see what


s: his brave wife would say to him when she saw him. For a long


s: time she sat silent and as one lost in amazement. At one moment


s: she looked him full in the face, but then again directly, she


s: was misled by his shabby clothes and failed to recognise him,


s: {181} till Telemachus began to reproach her and said:


s: "Mother--but you are so hard that I cannot call you by such a


s: name--why do you keep away from my father in this way?  Why do


s: you not sit by his side and begin talking to him and asking him


s: questions? No other woman could bear to keep away from her


s: husband when he had come back to her after twenty years of


s: absence, and after having gone through so much; but your heart


s: Penelope answered, "My son, I am so lost in astonishment that I


s: can find no words in which either to ask questions or to answer


s: them. I cannot even look him straight in the face. Still, if he


s: really is Ulysses come back to his own home again, we shall get


s: to understand one another better by and by, for there are tokens


s: with which we two are alone acquainted, and which are hidden


s: Ulysses smiled at this, and said to Telemachus, "Let your mother


s: put me to any proof she likes; she will make up her mind about


s: it presently. She rejects me for the moment and believes me to


s: be somebody else, because I am covered with dirt and have such


s: bad clothes on; let us, however, consider what we had better do


s: next. When one man has killed another--even though he was not


s: one who would leave many friends to take up his quarrel--the man


s: who has killed him must still say good bye to his friends and


s: fly the country; whereas we have been killing the stay of a


s: whole town, and all the picked youth of Ithaca. I would have you


s: "Look to it yourself, father," answered Telemachus, "for they


s: say you are the wisest counsellor in the world, and that there


s: is no other mortal man who can compare with you. We will follow


s: you with right good will, nor shall you find us fail you in so


s: "I will say what I think will be best," answered Ulysses.


s: "First wash and put your shirts on; tell the maids also to go to


s: their own room and dress; Phemius shall then strike up a dance


s: tune on his lyre, so that if people outside hear, or any of the


s: neighbours, or some one going along the street happens to notice


s: it, they may think there is a wedding in the house, and no


s: rumours about the death of the suitors will get about in the


s: town, before we can escape to the woods upon my own land. Once


s: there, we will settle which of the courses heaven vouchsafes us


s: Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. First they


s: washed and put their shirts on, while the women got ready. Then


s: Phemius took his lyre and set them all longing for sweet song


s: and stately dance. The house re-echoed with the sound of men and


s: women dancing, and the people outside said, "I suppose the queen


s: has been getting married at last. She ought to be ashamed of


s: herself for not continuing to protect her husband's property


s: This was what they said, but they did not know what it was that


s: had been happening. The upper servant Eurynome washed and


s: anointed Ulysses in his own house and gave him a shirt and


s: cloak, while Minerva made him look taller and stronger than


s: before; she also made the hair grow thick on the top of his


s: head, and flow down in curls like hyacinth blossoms; she


s: glorified him about the head and shoulders just as a skilful


s: workman who has studied art of all kinds under Vulcan or


s: Minerva--and his work is full of beauty--enriches a piece of


s: silver plate by gilding it. He came from the bath looking like


s: one of the immortals, and sat down opposite his wife on the seat


s: he had left. "My dear," said he, "heaven has endowed you with a


s: heart more unyielding than woman ever yet had. No other woman


s: could bear to keep away from her husband when he had come back


s: to her after twenty years of absence, and after having gone


s: through so much. But come, nurse, get a bed ready for me; I will


s: sleep alone, for this woman has a heart as hard as iron."


s: "My dear," answered Penelope, "I have no wish to set myself up,


s: nor to depreciate you; but I am not struck by your appearance,


s: for I very well remember what kind of a man you were when you


s: set sail from Ithaca. Nevertheless, Euryclea, take his bed


s: outside the bed chamber that he himself built. Bring the bed


s: outside this room, and put bedding upon it with fleeces, good


s: She said this to try him, but Ulysses was very angry and said,


s: "Wife, I am much displeased at what you have just been saying.


s: Who has been taking my bed from the place in which I left it? He


s: must have found it a hard task, no matter how skilled a workman


s: he was, unless some god came and helped him to shift it. There


s: is no man living, however strong and in his prime, who could


s: move it from its place, for it is a marvellous curiosity which I


s: made with my very own hands. There was a young olive growing


s: within the precincts of the house, in full vigour, and about as


s: thick as a bearing-post. I built my room round this with strong


s: walls of stone and a roof to cover them, and I made the doors


s: strong and well-fitting. Then I cut off the top boughs of the


s: olive tree and left the stump standing. This I dressed roughly


s: from the root upwards and then worked with carpenter's tools


s: well and skilfully, straightening my work by drawing a line on


s: the wood, and making it into a bed-prop. I then bored a hole


s: down the middle, and made it the centre-post of my bed, at which


s: I worked till I had finished it, inlaying it with gold and


s: silver; after this I stretched a hide of crimson leather from


s: one side of it to the other. So you see I know all about it, and


s: I desire to learn whether it is still there, or whether any one


s: has been removing it by cutting down the olive tree at its


s: When she heard the sure proofs Ulysses now gave her, she fairly


s: broke down. She flew weeping to his side, flung her arms about


s: his neck, and kissed him. "Do not be angry with me Ulysses," she


s: cried, "you, who are the wisest of mankind. We have suffered,


s: both of us. Heaven has denied us the happiness of spending our


s: youth, and of growing old, together; do not then be aggrieved or


s: take it amiss that I did not embrace you thus as soon as I saw


s: you. I have been shuddering all the time through fear that


s: someone might come here and deceive me with a lying story; for


s: there are many very wicked people going about. Jove's daughter


s: Helen would never have yielded herself to a man from a foreign


s: country, if she had known that the sons of Achaeans would come


s: after her and bring her back. Heaven put it in her heart to do


s: wrong, and she gave no thought to that sin, which has been the


s: source of all our sorrows.  Now, however, that you have


s: convinced me by showing that you know all about our bed (which


s: no human being has ever seen but you and I and a single


s: maidservant, the daughter of Actor, who was given me by my


s: father on my marriage, and who keeps the doors of our room) hard


s: of belief though I have been I can mistrust no longer."


s: Then Ulysses in his turn melted, and wept as he clasped his dear


s: and faithful wife to his bosom. As the sight of land is welcome


s: to men who are swimming towards the shore, when Neptune has


s: wrecked their ship with the fury of his winds and waves; a few


s: alone reach the land, and these, covered with brine, are


s: thankful when they find themselves on firm ground and out of


s: danger--even so was her husband welcome to her as she looked


s: upon him, and she could not tear her two fair arms from about


s: his neck. Indeed they would have gone on indulging their sorrow


s: till rosy-fingered morn appeared, had not Minerva determined


s: otherwise, and held night back in the far west, while she would


s: not suffer Dawn to leave Oceanus, nor to yoke the two steeds


s: Lampus and Phaethon that bear her onward to break the day upon


s: At last, however, Ulysses said, "Wife, we have not yet reached


s: the end of our troubles. I have an unknown amount of toil still


s: to undergo. It is long and difficult, but I must go through with


s: it, for thus the shade of Teiresias prophesied concerning me, on


s: the day when I went down into Hades to ask about my return and


s: that of my companions.  But now let us go to bed, that we may


s: lie down and enjoy the blessed boon of sleep."


s: "You shall go to bed as soon as you please," replied Penelope,


s: "now that the gods have sent you home to your own good house and


s: to your country. But as heaven has put it in your mind to speak


s: of it, tell me about the task that lies before you. I shall have


s: to hear about it later, so it is better that I should be told at


s: "My dear," answered Ulysses, "why should you press me to tell


s: you? Still, I will not conceal it from you, though you will not


s: like it. I do not like it myself, for Teiresias bade me travel


s: far and wide, carrying an oar, till I came to a country where


s: the people have never heard of the sea, and do not even mix salt


s: with their food. They know nothing about ships, nor oars that


s: are as the wings of a ship. He gave me this certain token which


s: I will not hide from you. He said that a wayfarer should meet me


s: and ask me whether it was a winnowing shovel that I had on my


s: shoulder. On this, I was to fix my oar in the ground and


s: sacrifice a ram, a bull, and a boar to Neptune; after which I


s: was to go home and offer hecatombs to all the gods in heaven,


s: one after the other. As for myself, he said that death should


s: come to me from the sea, and that my life should ebb away very


s: gently when I was full of years and peace of mind, and my people


s: should bless me. All this, he said, should surely come to pass."


s: And Penelope said, "If the gods are going to vouchsafe you a


s: happier time in your old age, you may hope then to have some


s: Thus did they converse. Meanwhile Eurynome and the nurse took


s: torches and made the bed ready with soft coverlets; as soon as


s: they had laid them, the nurse went back into the house to go to


s: her rest, leaving the bed chamber woman Eurynome {183} to show


s: Ulysses and Penelope to bed by torch light. When she had


s: conducted them to their room she went back, and they then came


s: joyfully to the rites of their own old bed. Telemachus,


s: Philoetius, and the swineherd now left off dancing, and made the


s: women leave off also. They then laid themselves down to sleep in


s: When Ulysses and Penelope had had their fill of love they fell


s: talking with one another. She told him how much she had had to


s: bear in seeing the house filled with a crowd of wicked suitors


s: who had killed so many sheep and oxen on her account, and had


s: drunk so many casks of wine. Ulysses in his turn told her what


s: he had suffered, and how much trouble he had himself given to


s: other people. He told her everything, and she was so delighted


s: to listen that she never went to sleep till he had ended his


s: He began with his victory over the Cicons, and how he thence


s: reached the fertile land of the Lotus-eaters. He told her all


s: about the Cyclops and how he had punished him for having so


s: ruthlessly eaten his brave comrades; how he then went on to


s: Aeolus, who received him hospitably and furthered him on his


s: way, but even so he was not to reach home, for to his great


s: grief a hurricane carried him out to sea again; how he went on


s: to the Laestrygonian city Telepylos, where the people destroyed


s: all his ships with their crews, save himself and his own ship


s: only. Then he told of cunning Circe and her craft, and how he


s: sailed to the chill house of Hades, to consult the ghost of the


s: Theban prophet Teiresias, and how he saw his old comrades in


s: arms, and his mother who bore him and brought him up when he was


s: a child; how he then heard the wondrous singing of the Sirens,


s: and went on to the wandering rocks and terrible Charybdis and to


s: Scylla, whom no man had ever yet passed in safety; how his men


s: then ate the cattle of the sun-god, and how Jove therefore


s: struck the ship with his thunderbolts, so that all his men


s: perished together, himself alone being left alive; how at last


s: he reached the Ogygian island and the nymph Calypso, who kept


s: him there in a cave, and fed him, and wanted him to marry her,


s: in which case she intended making him immortal so that he should


s: never grow old, but she could not persuade him to let her do so;


s: and how after much suffering he had found his way to the


s: Phaeacians, who had treated him as though he had been a god, and


s: sent him back in a ship to his own country after having given


s: him gold, bronze, and raiment in great abundance. This was the


s: last thing about which he told her, for here a deep sleep took


s: hold upon him and eased the burden of his sorrows.


s: Then Minerva bethought her of another matter. When she deemed


s: that Ulysses had had both of his wife and of repose, she bade


s: gold-enthroned Dawn rise out of Oceanus that she might shed


s: light upon mankind. On this, Ulysses rose from his comfortable


s: bed and said to Penelope, "Wife, we have both of us had our full


s: share of troubles, you, here, in lamenting my absence, and I in


s: being prevented from getting home though I was longing all the


s: time to do so. Now, however, that we have at last come together,


s: take care of the property that is in the house. As for the sheep


s: and goats which the wicked suitors have eaten, I will take many


s: myself by force from other people, and will compel the Achaeans


s: to make good the rest till they shall have filled all my yards.


s: I am now going to the wooded lands out in the country to see my


s: father who has so long been grieved on my account, and to


s: yourself I will give these instructions, though you have little


s: need of them.  At sunrise it will at once get abroad that I have


s: been killing the suitors; go upstairs, therefore, {184} and stay


s: there with your women. See nobody and ask no questions." {185}


s: As he spoke he girded on his armour. Then he roused Telemachus,


s: Philoetius, and Eumaeus, and told them all to put on their


s: armour also. This they did, and armed themselves. When they had


s: done so, they opened the gates and sallied forth, Ulysses


s: leading the way. It was now daylight, but Minerva nevertheless


s: concealed them in darkness and led them quickly out of the town.


s: Then Mercury of Cyllene summoned the ghosts of the suitors, and


s: in his hand he held the fair golden wand with which he seals


s: men's eyes in sleep or wakes them just as he pleases; with this


s: he roused the ghosts and led them, while they followed whining


s: and gibbering behind him. As bats fly squealing in the hollow of


s: some great cave, when one of them has fallen out of the cluster


s: in which they hang, even so did the ghosts whine and squeal as


s: Mercury the healer of sorrow led them down into the dark abode


s: of death. When they had passed the waters of Oceanus and the


s: rock Leucas, they came to the gates of the sun and the land of


s: dreams, whereon they reached the meadow of asphodel where dwell


s: the souls and shadows of them that can labour no more.


s: Here they found the ghost of Achilles son of Peleus, with those


s: of Patroclus, Antilochus, and Ajax, who was the finest and


s: handsomest man of all the Danaans after the son of Peleus


s: They gathered round the ghost of the son of Peleus, and the


s: ghost of Agamemnon joined them, sorrowing bitterly. Round him


s: were gathered also the ghosts of those who had perished with him


s: in the house of Aegisthus; and the ghost of Achilles spoke


s: "Son of Atreus," it said, "we used to say that Jove had loved


s: you better from first to last than any other hero, for you were


s: captain over many and brave men, when we were all fighting


s: together before Troy; yet the hand of death, which no mortal can


s: escape, was laid upon you all too early. Better for you had you


s: fallen at Troy in the hey-day of your renown, for the Achaeans


s: would have built a mound over your ashes, and your son would


s: have been heir to your good name, whereas it has now been your


s: "Happy son of Peleus," answered the ghost of Agamemnon, "for


s: having died at Troy far from Argos, while the bravest of the


s: Trojans and the Achaeans fell round you fighting for your body.


s: There you lay in the whirling clouds of dust, all huge and


s: hugely, heedless now of your chivalry.  We fought the whole of


s: the livelong day, nor should we ever have left off if Jove had


s: not sent a hurricane to stay us. Then, when we had borne you to


s: the ships out of the fray, we laid you on your bed and cleansed


s: your fair skin with warm water and with ointments. The Danaans


s: tore their hair and wept bitterly round about you. Your mother,


s: when she heard, came with her immortal nymphs from out of the


s: sea, and the sound of a great wailing went forth over the waters


s: so that the Achaeans quaked for fear. They would have fled


s: panic-stricken to their ships had not wise old Nestor whose


s: counsel was ever truest checked them saying, 'Hold, Argives, fly


s: not sons of the Achaeans, this is his mother coming from the sea


s: with her immortal nymphs to view the body of her son.'


s: "Thus he spoke, and the Achaeans feared no more. The daughters


s: of the old man of the sea stood round you weeping bitterly, and


s: clothed you in immortal raiment. The nine muses also came and


s: lifted up their sweet voices in lament--calling and answering


s: one another; there was not an Argive but wept for pity of the


s: dirge they chaunted.  Days and nights seven and ten we mourned


s: you, mortals and immortals, but on the eighteenth day we gave


s: you to the flames, and many a fat sheep with many an ox did we


s: slay in sacrifice around you. You were burnt in raiment of the


s: gods, with rich resins and with honey, while heroes, horse and


s: foot, clashed their armour round the pile as you were burning,


s: with the tramp as of a great multitude. But when the flames of


s: heaven had done their work, we gathered your white bones at


s: daybreak and laid them in ointments and in pure wine. Your


s: mother brought us a golden vase to hold them--gift of Bacchus,


s: and work of Vulcan himself; in this we mingled your bleached


s: bones with those of Patroclus who had gone before you, and


s: separate we enclosed also those of Antilochus, who had been


s: closer to you than any other of your comrades now that Patroclus


s: "Over these the host of the Argives built a noble tomb, on a


s: point jutting out over the open Hellespont, that it might be


s: seen from far out upon the sea by those now living and by them


s: that shall be born hereafter. Your mother begged prizes from the


s: gods, and offered them to be contended for by the noblest of the


s: Achaeans. You must have been present at the funeral of many a


s: hero, when the young men gird themselves and make ready to


s: contend for prizes on the death of some great chieftain, but you


s: never saw such prizes as silver-footed Thetis offered in your


s: honour; for the gods loved you well. Thus even in death your


s: fame, Achilles, has not been lost, and your name lives evermore


s: among all mankind. But as for me, what solace had I when the


s: days of my fighting were done? For Jove willed my destruction on


s: my return, by the hands of Aegisthus and those of my wicked


s: Thus did they converse, and presently Mercury came up to them


s: with the ghosts of the suitors who had been killed by Ulysses.


s: The ghosts of Agamemnon and Achilles were astonished at seeing


s: them, and went up to them at once.  The ghost of Agamemnon


s: recognised Amphimedon son of Melaneus, who lived in Ithaca and


s: had been his host, so it began to talk to him.


s: "Amphimedon," it said, "what has happened to all you fine young


s: men--all of an age too--that you are come down here under the


s: ground? One could pick no finer body of men from any city. Did


s: Neptune raise his winds and waves against you when you were at


s: sea, or did your enemies make an end of you on the mainland when


s: you were cattle-lifting or sheep-stealing, or while fighting in


s: defence of their wives and city? Answer my question, for I have


s: been your guest.  Do you not remember how I came to your house


s: with Menelaus, to persuade Ulysses to join us with his ships


s: against Troy? It was a whole month ere we could resume our


s: voyage, for we had hard work to persuade Ulysses to come with


s: And the ghost of Amphimedon answered, "Agamemnon, son of Atreus,


s: king of men, I remember everything that you have said, and will


s: tell you fully and accurately about the way in which our end was


s: brought about. Ulysses had been long gone, and we were courting


s: his wife, who did not say point blank that she would not marry,


s: nor yet bring matters to an end, for she meant to compass our


s: destruction: this, then, was the trick she played us. She set up


s: a great tambour frame in her room and began to work on an


s: enormous piece of fine needlework. 'Sweethearts,' said she,


s: 'Ulysses is indeed dead, still, do not press me to marry again


s: immediately; wait--for I would not have my skill in needlework


s: perish unrecorded--till I have completed a pall for the hero


s: Laertes, against the time when death shall take him. He is very


s: rich, and the women of the place will talk if he is laid out


s: without a pall.' This is what she said, and we assented;


s: whereupon we could see her working upon her great web all day


s: long, but at night she would unpick the stitches again by


s: torchlight. She fooled us in this way for three years without


s: our finding it out, but as time wore on and she was now in her


s: fourth year, in the waning of moons and many days had been


s: accomplished, one of her maids who knew what she was doing told


s: us, and we caught her in the act of undoing her work, so she had


s: to finish it whether she would or no; and when she showed us the


s: robe she had made, after she had had it washed, {186} its


s: splendour was as that of the sun or moon.


s: "Then some malicious god conveyed Ulysses to the upland farm


s: where his swineherd lives. Thither presently came also his son,


s: returning from a voyage to Pylos, and the two came to the town


s: when they had hatched their plot for our destruction. Telemachus


s: came first, and then after him, accompanied by the swineherd,


s: came Ulysses, clad in rags and leaning on a staff as though he


s: were some miserable old beggar. He came so unexpectedly that


s: none of us knew him, not even the older ones among us, and we


s: reviled him and threw things at him. He endured both being


s: struck and insulted without a word, though he was in his own


s: house; but when the will of Aegis-bearing Jove inspired him, he


s: and Telemachus took the armour and hid it in an inner chamber,


s: bolting the doors behind them. Then he cunningly made his wife


s: offer his bow and a quantity of iron to be contended for by us


s: ill-fated suitors; and this was the beginning of our end, for


s: not one of us could string the bow--nor nearly do so. When it


s: was about to reach the hands of Ulysses, we all of us shouted


s: out that it should not be given him, no matter what he might


s: say, but Telemachus insisted on his having it. When he had got


s: it in his hands he strung it with ease and sent his arrow


s: through the iron. Then he stood on the floor of the cloister and


s: poured his arrows on the ground, glaring fiercely about him.


s: First he killed Antinous, and then, aiming straight before him,


s: he let fly his deadly darts and they fell thick on one another.


s: It was plain that some one of the gods was helping them, for


s: they fell upon us with might and main throughout the cloisters,


s: and there was a hideous sound of groaning as our brains were


s: being battered in, and the ground seethed with our blood. This,


s: Agamemnon, is how we came by our end, and our bodies are lying


s: still uncared for in the house of Ulysses, for our friends at


s: home do not yet know what has happened, so that they cannot lay


s: us out and wash the black blood from our wounds, making moan


s: over us according to the offices due to the departed."


s: "Happy Ulysses, son of Laertes," replied the ghost of Agamemnon,


s: "you are indeed blessed in the possession of a wife endowed with


s: such rare excellence of understanding, and so faithful to her


s: wedded lord as Penelope the daughter of Icarius. The fame,


s: therefore, of her virtue shall never die, and the immortals


s: shall compose a song that shall be welcome to all mankind in


s: honour of the constancy of Penelope. How far otherwise was the


s: wickedness of the daughter of Tyndareus who killed her lawful


s: husband; her song shall be hateful among men, for she has


s: brought disgrace on all womankind even on the good ones."


s: Thus did they converse in the house of Hades deep down within


s: the bowels of the earth. Meanwhile Ulysses and the others passed


s: out of the town and soon reached the fair and well-tilled farm


s: of Laertes, which he had reclaimed with infinite labour. Here


s: was his house, with a lean-to running all round it, where the


s: slaves who worked for him slept and sat and ate, while inside


s: the house there was an old Sicel woman, who looked after him in


s: this his country-farm. When Ulysses got there, he said to his


s: "Go to the house, and kill the best pig that you can find for


s: dinner. Meanwhile I want to see whether my father will know me,


s: or fail to recognise me after so long an absence."


s: He then took off his armour and gave it to Eumaeus and


s: Philoetius, who went straight on to the house, while he turned


s: off into the vineyard to make trial of his father.  As he went


s: down into the great orchard, he did not see Dolius, nor any of


s: his sons nor of the other bondsmen, for they were all gathering


s: thorns to make a fence for the vineyard, at the place where the


s: old man had told them; he therefore found his father alone,


s: hoeing a vine. He had on a dirty old shirt, patched and very


s: shabby; his legs were bound round with thongs of oxhide to save


s: him from the brambles, and he also wore sleeves of leather; he


s: had a goat skin cap on his head, and was looking very


s: woe-begone. When Ulysses saw him so worn, so old and full of


s: sorrow, he stood still under a tall pear tree and began to weep.


s: He doubted whether to embrace him, kiss him, and tell him all


s: about his having come home, or whether he should first question


s: him and see what he would say. In the end he deemed it best to


s: be crafty with him, so in this mind he went up to his father,


s: who was bending down and digging about a plant.


s: "I see, sir," said Ulysses, "that you are an excellent


s: gardener--what pains you take with it, to be sure. There is not


s: a single plant, not a fig tree, vine, olive, pear, nor flower


s: bed, but bears the trace of your attention. I trust, however,


s: that you will not be offended if I say that you take better care


s: of your garden than of yourself.  You are old, unsavoury, and


s: very meanly clad. It cannot be because you are idle that your


s: master takes such poor care of you, indeed your face and figure


s: have nothing of the slave about them, and proclaim you of noble


s: birth. I should have said that you were one of those who should


s: wash well, eat well, and lie soft at night as old men have a


s: right to do; but tell me, and tell me true, whose bondman are


s: you, and in whose garden are you working? Tell me also about


s: another matter. Is this place that I have come to really Ithaca?


s: I met a man just now who said so, but he was a dull fellow, and


s: had not the patience to hear my story out when I was asking him


s: about an old friend of mine, whether he was still living, or was


s: already dead and in the house of Hades. Believe me when I tell


s: you that this man came to my house once when I was in my own


s: country and never yet did any stranger come to me whom I liked


s: better. He said that his family came from Ithaca and that his


s: father was Laertes, son of Arceisius. I received him hospitably,


s: making him welcome to all the abundance of my house, and when he


s: went away I gave him all customary presents. I gave him seven


s: talents of fine gold, and a cup of solid silver with flowers


s: chased upon it. I gave him twelve light cloaks, and as many


s: pieces of tapestry; I also gave him twelve cloaks of single


s: fold, twelve rugs, twelve fair mantles, and an equal number of


s: shirts. To all this I added four good looking women skilled in


s: all useful arts, and I let him take his choice."


s: His father shed tears and answered, "Sir, you have indeed come


s: to the country that you have named, but it is fallen into the


s: hands of wicked people. All this wealth of presents has been


s: given to no purpose. If you could have found your friend here


s: alive in Ithaca, he would have entertained you hospitably and


s: would have requited your presents amply when you left him--as


s: would have been only right considering what you had already


s: given him. But tell me, and tell me true, how many years is it


s: since you entertained this guest--my unhappy son, as ever was?


s: Alas!  He has perished far from his own country; the fishes of


s: the sea have eaten him, or he has fallen a prey to the birds and


s: wild beasts of some continent. Neither his mother, nor I his


s: father, who were his parents, could throw our arms about him and


s: wrap him in his shroud, nor could his excellent and richly


s: dowered wife Penelope bewail her husband as was natural upon his


s: death bed, and close his eyes according to the offices due to


s: the departed. But now, tell me truly for I want to know. Who and


s: whence are you--tell me of your town and parents?  Where is the


s: ship lying that has brought you and your men to Ithaca? Or were


s: you a passenger on some other man's ship, and those who brought


s: you here have gone on their way and left you?"


s: "I will tell you everything," answered Ulysses, "quite truly. I


s: come from Alybas, where I have a fine house. I am son of king


s: Apheidas, who is the son of Polypemon. My own name is Eperitus;


s: heaven drove me off my course as I was leaving Sicania, and I


s: have been carried here against my will. As for my ship it is


s: lying over yonder, off the open country outside the town, and


s: this is the fifth year since Ulysses left my country. Poor


s: fellow, yet the omens were good for him when he left me. The


s: birds all flew on our right hands, and both he and I rejoiced to


s: see them as we parted, for we had every hope that we should have


s: another friendly meeting and exchange presents."


s: A dark cloud of sorrow fell upon Laertes as he listened. He


s: filled both hands with the dust from off the ground and poured


s: it over his grey head, groaning heavily as he did so. The heart


s: of Ulysses was touched, and his nostrils quivered as he looked


s: upon his father; then he sprang towards him, flung his arms


s: about him and kissed him, saying, "I am he, father, about whom


s: you are asking--I have returned after having been away for


s: twenty years. But cease your sighing and lamentation--we have no


s: time to lose, for I should tell you that I have been killing the


s: suitors in my house, to punish them for their insolence and


s: "If you really are my son Ulysses," replied Laertes, "and have


s: come back again, you must give me such manifest proof of your


s: "First observe this scar," answered Ulysses, "which I got from a


s: boar's tusk when I was hunting on Mt. Parnassus.  You and my


s: mother had sent me to Autolycus, my mother's father, to receive


s: the presents which when he was over here he had promised to give


s: me. Furthermore I will point out to you the trees in the


s: vineyard which you gave me, and I asked you all about them as I


s: followed you round the garden. We went over them all, and you


s: told me their names and what they all were. You gave me thirteen


s: pear trees, ten apple trees, and forty fig trees; you also said


s: you would give me fifty rows of vines; there was corn planted


s: between each row, and they yield grapes of every kind when the


s: heat of heaven has been laid heavy upon them."


s: Laertes' strength failed him when he heard the convincing proofs


s: which his son had given him. He threw his arms about him, and


s: Ulysses had to support him, or he would have gone off into a


s: swoon; but as soon as he came to, and was beginning to recover


s: his senses, he said, "O father Jove, then you gods are still in


s: Olympus after all, if the suitors have really been punished for


s: their insolence and folly. Nevertheless, I am much afraid that I


s: shall have all the townspeople of Ithaca up here directly, and


s: they will be sending messengers everywhere throughout the cities


s: Ulysses answered, "Take heart and do not trouble yourself about


s: that, but let us go into the house hard by your garden. I have


s: already told Telemachus, Philoetius, and Eumaeus to go on there


s: and get dinner ready as soon as possible."


s: Thus conversing the two made their way towards the house.  When


s: they got there they found Telemachus with the stockman and the


s: swineherd cutting up meat and mixing wine with water. Then the


s: old Sicel woman took Laertes inside and washed him and anointed


s: him with oil. She put him on a good cloak, and Minerva came up


s: to him and gave him a more imposing presence, making him taller


s: and stouter than before. When he came back his son was surprised


s: to see him looking so like an immortal, and said to him, "My


s: dear father, some one of the gods has been making you much


s: Laertes answered, "Would, by Father Jove, Minerva, and Apollo,


s: that I were the man I was when I ruled among the Cephallenians,


s: and took Nericum, that strong fortress on the foreland. If I


s: were still what I then was and had been in our house yesterday


s: with my armour on, I should have been able to stand by you and


s: help you against the suitors. I should have killed a great many


s: of them, and you would have rejoiced to see it."


s: Thus did they converse; but the others, when they had finished


s: their work and the feast was ready, left off working, and took


s: each his proper place on the benches and seats. Then they began


s: eating; by and by old Dolius and his sons left their work and


s: came up, for their mother, the Sicel woman who looked after


s: Laertes now that he was growing old, had been to fetch them.


s: When they saw Ulysses and were certain it was he, they stood


s: there lost in astonishment; but Ulysses scolded them good


s: naturedly and said, "Sit down to your dinner, old man, and never


s: mind about your surprise; we have been wanting to begin for some


s: Then Dolius put out both his hands and went up to Ulysses.


s: "Sir," said he, seizing his master's hand and kissing it at the


s: wrist, "we have long been wishing you home: and now heaven has


s: restored you to us after we had given up hoping. All hail,


s: therefore, and may the gods prosper you. {187}  But tell me, does


s: "Old man," answered Ulysses, "she knows already, so you need not


s: trouble about that." On this he took his seat, and the sons of


s: Dolius gathered round Ulysses to give him greeting and embrace


s: him one after the other; then they took their seats in due order


s: While they were thus busy getting their dinner ready, Rumour


s: went round the town, and noised abroad the terrible fate that


s: had befallen the suitors; as soon, therefore, as the people


s: heard of it they gathered from every quarter, groaning and


s: hooting before the house of Ulysses. They took the dead away,


s: buried every man his own, and put the bodies of those who came


s: from elsewhere on board the fishing vessels, for the fishermen


s: to take each of them to his own place. They then met angrily in


s: the place of assembly, and when they were got together Eupeithes


s: rose to speak. He was overwhelmed with grief for the death of


s: his son Antinous, who had been the first man killed by Ulysses,


s: so he said, weeping bitterly, "My friends, this man has done the


s: Achaeans great wrong. He took many of our best men away with him


s: in his fleet, and he has lost both ships and men; now, moreover,


s: on his return he has been killing all the foremost men among the


s: Cephallenians. Let us be up and doing before he can get away to


s: Pylos or to Elis where the Epeans rule, or we shall be ashamed


s: of ourselves for ever afterwards. It will be an everlasting


s: disgrace to us if we do not avenge the murder of our sons and


s: brothers. For my own part I should have no more pleasure in


s: life, but had rather die at once. Let us be up, then, and after


s: them, before they can cross over to the main land."


s: He wept as he spoke and every one pitied him. But Medon and the


s: bard Phemius had now woke up, and came to them from the house of


s: Ulysses. Every one was astonished at seeing them, but they stood


s: in the middle of the assembly, and Medon said, "Hear me, men of


s: Ithaca. Ulysses did not do these things against the will of


s: heaven. I myself saw an immortal god take the form of Mentor and


s: stand beside him.  This god appeared, now in front of him


s: encouraging him, and now going furiously about the court and


s: attacking the suitors whereon they fell thick on one another."


s: On this pale fear laid hold of them, and old Halitherses, son of


s: Mastor, rose to speak, for he was the only man among them who


s: knew both past and future; so he spoke to them plainly and in


s: "Men of Ithaca, it is all your own fault that things have turned


s: out as they have; you would not listen to me, nor yet to Mentor,


s: when we bade you check the folly of your sons who were doing


s: much wrong in the wantonness of their hearts--wasting the


s: substance and dishonouring the wife of a chieftain who they


s: thought would not return. Now, however, let it be as I say, and


s: do as I tell you. Do not go out against Ulysses, or you may find


s: that you have been drawing down evil on your own heads."


s: This was what he said, and more than half raised a loud shout,


s: and at once left the assembly. But the rest stayed where they


s: were, for the speech of Halitherses displeased them, and they


s: sided with Eupeithes; they therefore hurried off for their


s: armour, and when they had armed themselves, they met together in


s: front of the city, and Eupeithes led them on in their folly. He


s: thought he was going to avenge the murder of his son, whereas in


s: truth he was never to return, but was himself to perish in his


s: Then Minerva said to Jove, "Father, son of Saturn, king of


s: kings, answer me this question--What do you propose to do?  Will


s: you set them fighting still further, or will you make peace


s: And Jove answered, "My child, why should you ask me? Was it not


s: by your own arrangement that Ulysses came home and took his


s: revenge upon the suitors? Do whatever you like, but I will tell


s: you what I think will be most reasonable arrangement. Now that


s: Ulysses is revenged, let them swear to a solemn covenant, in


s: virtue of which he shall continue to rule, while we cause the


s: others to forgive and forget the massacre of their sons and


s: brothers. Let them then all become friends as heretofore, and


s: This was what Minerva was already eager to bring about, so down


s: she darted from off the topmost summits of Olympus.


s: Now when Laertes and the others had done dinner, Ulysses began


s: by saying, "Some of you go out and see if they are not getting


s: close up to us." So one of Dolius's sons went as he was bid.


s: Standing on the threshold he could see them all quite near, and


s: said to Ulysses, "Here they are, let us put on our armour at


s: They put on their armour as fast as they could--that is to say


s: Ulysses, his three men, and the six sons of Dolius.  Laertes


s: also and Dolius did the same--warriors by necessity in spite of


s: their grey hair. When they had all put on their armour, they


s: opened the gate and sallied forth, Ulysses leading the way.


s: Then Jove's daughter Minerva came up to them, having assumed the


s: form and voice of Mentor. Ulysses was glad when he saw her, and


s: said to his son Telemachus, "Telemachus, now that you are about


s: to fight in an engagement, which will show every man's mettle,


s: be sure not to disgrace your ancestors, who were eminent for


s: their strength and courage all the world over."


s: "You say truly, my dear father," answered Telemachus, "and you


s: shall see, if you will, that I am in no mind to disgrace your


s: Laertes was delighted when he heard this. "Good heavens," he


s: exclaimed, "what a day I am enjoying: I do indeed rejoice at it.


s: My son and grandson are vying with one another in the matter of


s: On this Minerva came close up to him and said, "Son of


s: Arceisius---best friend I have in the world--pray to the


s: blue-eyed damsel, and to Jove her father; then poise your spear


s: As she spoke she infused fresh vigour into him, and when he had


s: prayed to her he poised his spear and hurled it. He hit


s: Eupeithes' helmet, and the spear went right through it, for the


s: helmet stayed it not, and his armour rang rattling round him as


s: he fell heavily to the ground.  Meantime Ulysses and his son


s: fell upon the front line of the foe and smote them with their


s: swords and spears; indeed, they would have killed every one of


s: them, and prevented them from ever getting home again, only


s: Minerva raised her voice aloud, and made every one pause. "Men


s: of Ithaca," she cried, "cease this dreadful war, and settle the


s: matter at once without further bloodshed."


s: On this pale fear seized every one; they were so frightened that


s: their arms dropped from their hands and fell upon the ground at


s: the sound of the goddess' voice, and they fled back to the city


s: for their lives. But Ulysses gave a great cry, and gathering


s: himself together swooped down like a soaring eagle. Then the son


s: of Saturn sent a thunderbolt of fire that fell just in front of


s: Minerva, so she said to Ulysses, "Ulysses, noble son of Laertes,


s: stop this warful strife, or Jove will be angry with you."


s: Thus spoke Minerva, and Ulysses obeyed her gladly. Then Minerva


s: assumed the form and voice of Mentor, and presently made a


s: covenant of peace between the two contending parties.


s: {1} Black races are evidently known to the writer as stretching


s: all across Africa, one half looking West on to the Atlantic, and


s: {2} The original use of the footstool was probably less to rest


s: the feet than to keep them (especially when bare) from a floor


s: {3} The [Greek] or seat, is occasionally called "high," as being


s: higher than the [Greek] or low footstool. It was probably no


s: higher than an ordinary chair is now, and seems to have had no


s: {4} Temesa was on the West Coast of the toe of Italy, in what is


s: now the gulf of Sta Eufemia. It was famous in remote times for


s: its copper mines, which, however, were worked out when Strabo


s: {5} i.e. "with a current in it"--see illustrations and map near


s: the end of bks. v. and vi. respectively.


s: same mistake is made, and xiii. 351 where the mountain is called


s: Neritum, the same place being intended both here and in book


s: {7} It is never plausibly explained why Penelope cannot do this,


s: and from bk. ii. it is clear that she kept on deliberately


s: encouraging the suitors, though we are asked to believe that she


s: {9} Middle Argos means the Peleponnese which, however, is never


s: so called in the "Iliad". I presume "middle" means "middle


s: between the two Greek-speaking countries of Asia Minor and


s: Sicily, with South Italy"; for that parts of Sicily and also


s: large parts, though not the whole of South Italy, were inhabited


s: by Greek-speaking races centuries before the Dorian


s: colonisations can hardly be doubted. The Sicians, and also the


s: Sicels, both of them probably spoke Greek.


s: "speech," that is a man's matter. It argues a certain hardness,


s: or at any rate dislike of the "Iliad" on the part of the writer


s: of the "Odyssey," that she should have adopted Hector's farewell


s: to Andromache here, as elsewhere in the poem, for a scene of


s: {11} [Greek] The whole open court with the covered cloister


s: running round it was called [Greek], or [Greek], but the covered


s: part was distinguished by being called "shady" or


s: "shadow-giving".  It was in this part that the tables for the


s: suitors were laid. The Fountain Court at Hampton Court may serve


s: as an illustration (save as regards the use of arches instead of


s: wooden supports and rafters) and the arrangement is still common


s: in Sicily. The usual translation "shadowy" or "dusky" halls,


s: {12} The reader will note the extreme care which the writer takes


s: {13} See Appendix; g, in plan of Ulysses' house.


s: {14} I imagine this passage to be a rejoinder to "Il." xxiii.


s: useful maid of all work at only four. The scrupulous regard of


s: Laertes for his wife's feelings is of a piece with the extreme


s: jealousy for the honour of woman, which is manifest throughout


s: {15} [Greek] "The [Greek], or tunica, was a shirt or shift, and


s: served as the chief under garment of the Greeks and Romans,


s: whether men or women." Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman


s: {16} Doors fastened to all intents and purposes as here described


s: the outer side of the door by means of which a person who has


s: left the room can shoot the bolt. My bedroom at the Albergo


s: {17} [Greek] So we vulgarly say "had cooked his goose," or "had


s: Antiphus had met with, for there had as yet been no news of or


s: {18} "Il." xxii. 416. [Greek] The authoress has bungled by


s: borrowing these words verbatim from the "Iliad", without


s: prefixing the necessary "do not," which I have supplied.


s: {19} i.e. you have money, and could pay when I got judgment,


s: {21} i.e. in the outer court, and in the uncovered part of the


s: {22} This would be fair from Sicily, which was doing duty for


s: Ithaca in the mind of the writer, but a North wind would have


s: been preferable for a voyage from the real Ithaca to Pylos.


s: {23} [Greek] The wind does not whistle over waves. It only


s: whistles through rigging or some other obstacle that cuts it.


s: can be no doubt that the Odyssean line was suggested by the


s: Iliadic, but nothing can explain why Idaeus jumping from his


s: chariot should suggest to the writer of the "Odyssey" the sun


s: jumping from the sea.  The probability is that she never gave


s: the matter a thought, but took the line in question as an effect


s: of saturation with the "Iliad," and of unconscious cerebration.


s: The "Odyssey" contains many such examples.


s: {25} The heart, liver, lights, kidneys, etc. were taken out from


s: the inside and eaten first as being more readily cooked; the


s: parts were being eaten. I imagine that the thigh bones made a


s: kind of gridiron, while at the same time the marrow inside them


s: {26} i.e. skewers, either single, double, or even five pronged.


s: The meat would be pierced with the skewer, and laid over the


s: ashes to grill--the two ends of the skewer being supported in


s: whatever way convenient. Meat so cooking may be seen in any


s: eating house in Smyrna, or any Eastern town. When I rode across


s: the Troad from the Dardanelles to Hissarlik and Mount Ida, I


s: noticed that my dragoman and his men did all our outdoor cooking


s: exactly in the Odyssean and Iliadic fashion.


s: {29} The geography of the Aegean as above described is correct,


s: but is probably taken from the lost poem, the Nosti, the


s: A glance at the map will show that heaven advised its


s: {30} The writer--ever jealous for the honour of


s: women--extenuates Clytemnestra's guilt as far as possible, and


s: explains it as due to her having been left unprotected, and


s: "Iliad." No other reason suggests itself for the making Menelaus


s: return on the very day of the feast given by Orestes. The fact


s: that in the "Iliad" Menelaus came to a banquet without waiting


s: for an invitation, determines the writer of the "Odyssey" to


s: make him come to a banquet, also uninvited, but as circumstances


s: did not permit of his having been invited, his coming uninvited


s: is shown to have been due to chance. I do not think the


s: authoress thought all this out, but attribute the strangeness of


s: the coincidence to unconscious cerebration and saturation.


s: Iliadic passage (to which she returns immediately) for the


s: double purpose of dwelling upon the slaughter of the heifer, and


s: of letting Nestor's wife and daughter enjoy it also. A male


s: writer, if he was borrowing from the "Iliad," would have stuck


s: {33} cf. "Il." xxiv. 587,588 where the lines refer to the washing


s: {34} See illustration on opposite page. The yard is typical of


s: many that may be seen in Sicily. The existing ground-plan is


s: probably unmodified from Odyssean, and indeed long pre-Odyssean


s: times, but the earlier buildings would have no arches, and


s: would, one would suppose, be mainly timber. The Odyssean [Greek]


s: were the sheds that ran round the yard as the arches do now. The


s: which was hence "noisy," or reverberating. It had an upper story


s: {35} This journey is an impossible one. Telemachus and


s: Pisistratus would have been obliged to drive over the Taygetus


s: range, over which there has never yet been a road for wheeled


s: vehicles. It is plain therefore that the audience for whom the


s: "Odyssey" was written was one that would be unlikely to know


s: anything about the topography of the Peloponnese, so that the


s: writer might take what liberties she chose.


s: {36} The lines which I have enclosed in brackets are evidently


s: an afterthought--added probably by the writer herself--for they


s: evince the same instinctively greater interest in anything that


s: may concern a woman, which is so noticeable throughout the poem.


s: There is no further sign of any special festivities nor of any


s: other guests than Telemachus and Pisistratus, until lines


s: introduced, probably with a view of trying to carry off the


s: introduction of the lines now in question.


s: The addition was, I imagine, suggested by a desire to excuse and


s: explain the non-appearance of Hermione in bk. xv., as also of


s: both Hermione and Megapenthes in the rest of bk. iv. Megapenthes


s: in bk.  xv. seems to be still a bachelor: the presumption


s: therefore is that bk. xv. was written before the story of his


s: marriage here given. I take it he is only married here because


s: his sister is being married.  She having been properly attended


s: to, Megapenthes might as well be married at the same time.


s: Hermione could not now be less than thirty.


s: I have dealt with this passage somewhat more fully in my


s: {37} Sparta and Lacedaemon are here treated as two different


s: places, though in other parts of the poem it is clear that the


s: writer understands them as one. The catalogue in the "Iliad,"


s: which the writer is here presumably following, makes the same


s: {38} These last three lines are identical with "Il." vxiii.


s: {39} From the Greek [Greek] it is plain that Menelaus took up


s: {40} Amber is never mentioned in the "Iliad." Sicily, where I


s: suppose the "Odyssey" to have been written, has always been, and


s: still is, one of the principal amber producing countries. It was


s: probably the only one known in the Odyssean age. See "The


s: {41} This no doubt refers to the story told in the last poem of


s: the Cypria about Paris and Helen robbing Menelaus of the greater


s: part of his treasures, when they sailed together for Troy.


s: {42} It is inconceivable that Helen should enter thus, in the


s: middle of supper, intending to work with her distaff, if great


s: festivities were going on. Telemachus and Pisistratus are


s: {43} In the Italian insurrection of 1848, eight young men who


s: were being hotly pursued by the Austrian police hid themselves


s: inside Donatello's colossal wooden horse in the Salone at Padua,


s: and remained there for a week being fed by their confederates.


s: In 1898 the last survivor was carried round Padua in triumph.


s: {44} The Greek is [Greek]. Is it unfair to argue that the writer


s: is a person of somewhat delicate sensibility, to whom a strong


s: {45} The Greek is [Greek]. I believe this to be a hit at the


s: writer's own countrymen who were of Phocaean descent, and the


s: next following line to be a rejoinder to complaints made against


s: her in bk. vi.  273-288, to the effect that she gave herself


s: airs and would marry none of her own people. For that the writer


s: of the "Odyssey" was the person who has been introduced into the


s: poem under the name of Nausicaa, I cannot bring myself to


s: question. I may remind English readers that [Greek] (i.e. phoca)


s: means "seal." Seals almost always appear on Phocaean coins.


s: {46} Surely here again we are in the hands of a writer of


s: delicate sensibility. It is not as though the seals were stale;


s: they had only just been killed. The writer, however is obviously


s: laughing at her own countrymen, and insulting them as openly as


s: {47} We were told above (lines 357,357) that it was only one


s: {48} I give the usual translation, but I do not believe the


s: Greek will warrant it. The Greek reads [Greek].


s: This is usually held to mean that Ithaca is an island fit for


s: breeding goats, and on that account more delectable to the


s: speaker than it would have been if it were fit for breeding


s: horses. I find little authority for such a translation; the most


s: equitable translation of the text as it stands is, "Ithaca is an


s: island fit for breeding goats, and delectable rather than fit


s: for breeding horses; for not one of the islands is good driving


s: ground, nor well meadowed." Surely the writer does not mean that


s: a pleasant or delectable island would not be fit for breeding


s: horses? The most equitable translation, therefore, of the


s: present text being thus halt and impotent, we may suspect


s: corruption, and I hazard the following emendation, though I have


s: not adopted it in my translation, as fearing that it would be


s: deemed too fanciful. I would read:--[Greek].


s: As far as scanning goes the [Greek] is not necessary; [Greek] iv.


s: of the same book, give sufficient authority for [Greek], but the


s: of the contrast, and I should prefer to have it, though it is


s: not very important either way. This reading of course should be


s: translated "Ithaca is an island fit for breeding goats, and (by


s: your leave) itself a horseman rather than fit for breeding


s: horses--for not one of the islands is good and well meadowed


s: This would be sure to baffle the Alexandrian editors. "How,"


s: they would ask themselves, "could an island be a horseman?" and


s: they would cast about for an emendation. A visit to the top of


s: Mt. Eryx might perhaps make the meaning intelligible, and


s: suggest my proposed restoration of the text to the reader as


s: I have elsewhere stated my conviction that the writer of the


s: "Odyssey" was familiar with the old Sican city at the top of Mt.


s: Eryx, and that the Aegadean islands which are so striking when


s: seen thence did duty with her for the Ionian islands--Marettimo,


s: the highest and most westerly of the group, standing for Ithaca.


s: When seen from the top of Mt. Eryx Marettimo shows as it should


s: do according to "Od." ix. 25,26, "on the horizon, all highest up


s: in the sea towards the West," while the other islands lie "some


s: way off it to the East." As we descend to Trapani, Marettimo


s: appears to sink on to the top of the island of Levanzo, behind


s: which it disappears. My friend, the late Signor E. Biaggini,


s: pointed to it once as it was just standing on the top of


s: Levanzo, and said to me "Come cavalca bene" ("How well it


s: rides"), and this immediately suggested my emendation to me.


s: Later on I found in the hymn to the Pythian Apollo (which


s: abounds with tags taken from the "Odyssey") a line ending


s: original ending of the second of the two lines above under


s: {49} See note on line 3 of this book. The reader will observe


s: that the writer has been unable to keep the women out of an


s: interpolation consisting only of four lines.


s: {50} Scheria means a piece of land jutting out into the sea. In


s: my "Authoress of the Odyssey" I thought "Jutland" would be a


s: suitable translation, but it has been pointed out to me that


s: "Jutland" only means the land of the Jutes.


s: {51} Irrigation as here described is common in gardens near


s: Trapani.  The water that supplies the ducts is drawn from wells


s: by a mule who turns a wheel with buckets on it.


s: {52} There is not a word here about the cattle of the sun-god.


s: {53} The writer evidently thought that green, growing wood might


s: {54} The reader will note that the river was flowing with salt


s: {55} Then the Ogygian island was not so far off, but that


s: Nausicaa might be assumed to know where it was.


s: {57} I suspect a family joke, or sly allusion to some thing of


s: which we know nothing, in this story of Eurymedusa's having been


s: brought from Apeira. The Greek word "apeiros" means


s: "inexperienced," "ignorant." Is it possible that Eurymedusa was


s: he was therefore half brother to Nausithous, half uncle to King


s: Alcinous, and half great uncle to Nausicaa.


s: {59} It would seem as though the writer thought that Marathon


s: {60} Here the writer, knowing that she is drawing (with


s: embellishments) from things actually existing, becomes impatient


s: of past tenses and slides into the present.


s: {61} This is hidden malice, implying that the Phaeacian magnates


s: were no better than they should be. The final drink-offering


s: should have been made to Jove or Neptune, not to the god of


s: thievishness and rascality of all kinds. In line 164 we do


s: indeed find Echeneus proposing that a drink-offering should be


s: made to Jove, but Mercury is evidently, according to our


s: authoress, the god who was most likely to be of use to them.


s: {62} The fact of Alcinous knowing anything about the Cyclopes


s: suggests that in the writer's mind Scheria and the country of


s: the Cyclopes were not very far from one another. I take the


s: Cyclopes and the giants to be one and the same people.


s: {63} "My property, etc." The authoress is here adopting an


s: Iliadic line (xix. 333), and this must account for the absence


s: of all reference to Penelope. If she had happened to remember


s: "Il." v.213, she would doubtless have appropriated it by


s: preference, for that line reads "my country, my wife, and all


s: {64} The at first inexplicable sleep of Ulysses (bk. xiii. 79,


s: etc.) is here, as also in viii. 445, being obviously prepared.


s: The writer evidently attached the utmost importance to it. Those


s: who know that the harbour which did duty with the writer of the


s: "Odyssey" for the one in which Ulysses landed in Ithaca, was


s: only about 2 miles from the place in which Ulysses is now


s: talking with Alcinous, will understand why the sleep was so


s: {65} There were two classes--the lower who were found in


s: provisions which they had to cook for themselves in the yards


s: and outer precincts, where they would also eat--and the upper


s: who would eat in the cloisters of the inner court, and have


s: {66} Translation very dubious. I suppose the [Greek] here to be


s: the covered sheds that ran round the outer courtyard. See


s: {67} The writer apparently deems that the words "as compared


s: with what oxen can plough in the same time" go without saying.


s: Not so the writer of the "Iliad" from which the Odyssean passage


s: is probably taken. He explains that mules can plough quicker


s: {68} It was very fortunate that such a disc happened to be


s: there, seeing that none like it were in common use.


s: {69} "Il." xiii. 37. Here, as so often elsewhere in the


s: "Odyssey," the appropriation of an Iliadic line which is not


s: quite appropriate puzzles the reader. The "they" is not the


s: chains, nor yet Mars and Venus. It is an overflow from the


s: Iliadic passage in which Neptune hobbles his horses in bonds


s: "which none could either unloose or break so that they might


s: stay there in that place." If the line would have scanned


s: without the addition of the words "so that they might stay there


s: in that place," they would have been omitted in the "Odyssey."


s: {70} The reader will note that Alcinous never goes beyond saying


s: that he is going to give the goblet; he never gives it.


s: Elsewhere in both "Iliad" and "Odyssey" the offer of a present


s: is immediately followed by the statement that it was given and


s: received gladly--Alcinous actually does give a chest and a cloak


s: and shirt--probably also some of the corn and wine for the long


s: two-mile voyage was provided by him--but it is quite plain that


s: the preparation for washing the body of Patroclus, and I am not


s: pleased that the writer of the "Odyssey" should have adopted


s: {74} The reader will find this threat fulfilled in bk. xiii


s: {75} If the other islands lay some distance away from Ithaca


s: (which the word [Greek] suggests), what becomes of the [Greek]


s: or gut between Ithaca and Samos which we hear of in Bks. iv. and


s: xv.? I suspect that the authoress in her mind makes Telemachus


s: come back from Pylos to the Lilybaean promontory and thence to


s: Trapani through the strait between the Isola Grande and the


s: mainland--the island of Asteria being the one on which Motya


s: {76} "Il." xviii. 533-534. The sudden lapse into the third person


s: Iliadic lines taken are in the third person.


s: are [Greek]. In the "Iliad" they are used of the horses of


s: Achilles' followers as they stood idle, "champing lotus."


s: {78} I take all this passage about the Cyclopes having no ships


s: to be sarcastic--meaning, "You people of Drepanum have no excuse


s: for not colonising the island of Favognana, which you could


s: easily do, for you have plenty of ships, and the island is a


s: very good one." For that the island so fully described here is


s: the Aegadean or "goat" island of Favognana, and that the


s: Cyclopes are the old Sican inhabitants of Mt. Eryx should not be


s: {79} For the reasons why it was necessary that the night should


s: be so exceptionally dark see "The Authoress of the Odyssey" pp.


s: {80} None but such lambs as would suck if they were with their


s: mothers would be left in the yard. The older lambs should have


s: been out feeding. The authoress has got it all wrong, but it


s: does not matter. See "The Authoress of the Odyssey" p.148.


s: {81} This line is enclosed in brackets in the received text, and


s: is omitted (with note) by Messrs. Butcher & Lang. But lines


s: enclosed in brackets are almost always genuine; all that


s: brackets mean is that the bracketed passage puzzled some early


s: editor, who nevertheless found it too well established in the


s: text to venture on omitting it.  In the present case the line


s: bracketed is the very last which a full-grown male editor would


s: be likely to interpolate. It is safer to infer that the writer,


s: a young woman, not knowing or caring at which end of the ship


s: the rudder should be, determined to make sure by placing it at


s: both ends, which we shall find she presently does by repeating


s: it (line 340) at the stern of the ship. As for the two rocks


s: thrown, the first I take to be the Asinelli, see map facing


s: p.80. The second I see as the two contiguous islands of the


s: Formiche, which are treated as one, see map facing p.108. The


s: Asinelli is an island shaped like a boat, and pointing to the


s: island of Favognana. I think the authoress's compatriots, who


s: probably did not like her much better that she did them, jeered


s: at the absurdity of Ulysses' conduct, and saw the Asinelli or


s: "donkeys," not as the rock thrown by Polyphemus, but as the boat


s: {82} This line exists in the text here but not in the


s: corresponding passage xii. 141. I am inclined to think it is


s: interpolated (probably by the poetess herself) from the first of


s: lines xi. 115-137, which I can hardly doubt were added by the


s: writer when the scheme of the work was enlarged and altered. See


s: {83} "Floating" ([Greek]) is not to be taken literally. The


s: island itself, as apart from its inhabitants, was quite normal.


s: There is no indication of its moving during the month that


s: Ulysses stayed with Aeolus, and on his return from his


s: unfortunate voyage, he seems to have found it in the same place.


s: The [Greek] in fact should no more be pressed than [Greek] as


s: applied to islands, "Odyssey" xv. 299--where they are called


s: "flying" because the ship would fly past them.  So also the


s: "Wanderers," as explained by Buttmann; see note on "Odyssey"


s: {84} Literally "for the ways of the night and of the day are


s: near." I have seen what Mr. Andrew Lang says ("Homer and the


s: about the "amber route" and the "Sacred Way" in this connection;


s: but until he gives his grounds for holding that the


s: Mediterranean peoples in the Odyssean age used to go far North


s: for their amber instead of getting it in Sicily, where it is


s: still found in considerable quantities, I do not know what


s: weight I ought to attach to his opinion. I have been unable to


s: find grounds for asserting that B.C. 1000 there was any commerce


s: between the Mediterranean and the "Far North," but I shall be


s: very ready to learn if Mr. Lang will enlighten me. See "The


s: {85} One would have thought that when the sun was driving the


s: stag down to the water, Ulysses might have observed its


s: {86} See Hobbes of Malmesbury's translation.


s: {87} "Il." vxiii. 349. Again the writer draws from the washing


s: {88} This visit is wholly without topographical significance.


s: {89} Brides presented themselves instinctively to the imagination


s: {90} Ulysses was, in fact, to become a missionary and preach


s: Neptune to people who knew not his name. I was fortunate enough


s: to meet in Sicily a woman carrying one of these winnowing


s: shovels; it was not much shorter than an oar, and I was able at


s: once to see what the writer of the "Odyssey" intended.


s: {91} I suppose the lines I have enclosed in brackets to have


s: been added by the author when she enlarged her original scheme


s: by the addition of books i.-iv. and xiii. (from line 187)-xxiv.


s: The reader will observe that in the corresponding passage (xii.


s: comrades," and that there is no allusion to the suitors. For


s: fuller explanation see "The Authoress of the Odyssey" pp.


s: {92} The reader will remember that we are in the first year of


s: Ulysses' wanderings, Telemachus therefore was only eleven years


s: old.  The same anachronism is made later on in this book. See


s: {93} Tradition says that she had hanged herself. Cf. "Odyssey"


s: {94} Not to be confounded with Aeolus king of the winds.


s: {96} I have already said in a note on bk. xi. 186 that at this


s: point of Ulysses' voyage Telemachus could only be between eleven


s: was probably suggested by that of the Ileadic rather than by a


s: desire to accommodate sound to sense. At any rate the double


s: coincidence of a dactylic line, and an ending [Greek], seems


s: conclusive as to the familiarity of the writer of the "Odyssey"


s: {99} Off the coast of Sicily and South Italy, in the month of


s: May, I have seen men fastened half way up a boat's mast with


s: their feet resting on a crosspiece, just large enough to support


s: them. From this point of vantage they spear sword-fish. When I


s: saw men thus employed I could hardly doubt that the writer of


s: the "Odyssey" had seen others like them, and had them in her


s: mind when describing the binding of Ulysses.  I have therefore


s: with some diffidence ventured to depart from the received


s: translation of [Greek] (cf. Alcaeus frag. 18, where, however, it


s: is very hard to say what [Greek] means). In Sophocles' Lexicon I


s: find a reference to Chrysostom (l, 242, A. Ed.  Benedictine Paris


s: {100} The writer is at fault here and tries to put it off on


s: Circe. When Ulysses comes to take the route prescribed by Circe,


s: he ought to pass either the Wanderers or some other difficulty


s: of which we are not told, but he does not do so. The Planctae,


s: or Wanderers, merge into Scylla and Charybdis, and the


s: alternative between them and something untold merges into the


s: alternative whether Ulysses had better choose Scylla or


s: Charybdis. Yet from line 260, it seems we are to consider the


s: Wanderers as having been passed by Ulysses; this appears even


s: more plainly from xxiii. 327, in which Ulysses expressly mentions


s: and Charybdis. The writer, however, is evidently unaware that


s: she does not quite understand her own story; her difficulty was


s: perhaps due to the fact that though Trapanese sailors had given


s: her a fair idea as to where all her other localities really


s: were, no one in those days more than in our own could localise


s: the Planctae, which in fact, as Buttmann has argued, were


s: derived not from any particular spot, but from sailors' tales


s: about the difficulties of navigating the group of the Aeolian


s: islands as a whole (see note on  "Od." x. 3). Still the matter


s: of the poor doves caught her fancy, so she would not forgo them.


s: The whirlwinds of fire and the smoke that hangs on Scylla


s: suggests allusion to Stromboli and perhaps even Etna. Scylla is


s: on the Italian side, and therefore may be said to look West. It


s: is about 8 miles thence to the Sicilian coast, so Ulysses may be


s: perfectly well told that after passing Scylla he will come to


s: the Thrinacian island or Sicily.  Charybdis is transposed to a


s: site some few miles to the north of its actual position.


s: {101} I suppose this line to have been intercalated by the author


s: {102} For the reasons which enable us to identify the island of


s: the two Sirens with the Lipari island now Salinas--the ancient


s: Didyme, or "twin" island--see The Authoress of the Odyssey, pp.


s: the whistling gusts, or avalanches of air that at times descend


s: without a moment's warning from the two lofty mountains of


s: Salinas--as also from all high points in the neighbourhood.


s: {103} See Admiral Smyth on the currents in the Straits of


s: Messina, quoted in "The Authoress of the Odyssey," p. 197.


s: {104} In the islands of Favognana and Marettimo off Trapani I


s: have seen men fish exactly as here described. They chew bread


s: into a paste and throw it into the sea to attract the fish,


s: which they then spear.  No line is used.


s: {105} The writer evidently regards Ulysses as on a coast that


s: looked East at no great distance south of the Straits of Messina


s: somewhere, say, near Tauromenium, now Taormina.


s: {106} Surely there must be a line missing here to tell us that


s: the keel and mast were carried down into Charybdis. Besides, the


s: aorist [Greek] in its present surrounding is perplexing. I have


s: translated it as though it were an imperfect; I see Messrs.


s: Butcher and Lang translate it as a pluperfect, but surely


s: Charybdis was in the act of sucking down the water when Ulysses


s: {107} I suppose the passage within brackets to have been an


s: afterthought but to have been written by the same hand as the


s: rest of the poem. I suppose xii. 103 to have been also added by


s: the writer when she decided on sending Ulysses back to


s: Charybdis. The simile suggests the hand of the wife or daughter


s: of a magistrate who had often seen her father come in cross and


s: {108} Gr. [Greek]. This puts coined money out of the question,


s: but nevertheless implies that the gold had been worked into


s: {109} I suppose Teiresias' prophecy of bk. xi. 114-120 had made


s: no impression on Ulysses. More probably the prophecy was an


s: afterthought, intercalated, as I have already said, by the


s: {110} A male writer would have made Ulysses say, not "may you


s: give satisfaction to your wives," but "may your wives give


s: {112} The land was in reality the shallow inlet, now the salt


s: works of S. Cusumano--the neighbourhood of Trapani and Mt. Eryx


s: being made to do double duty, both as Scheria and Ithaca. Hence


s: the necessity for making Ulysses set out after dark, fall


s: instantly into a profound sleep, and wake up on a morning so


s: foggy that he could not see anything till the interviews between


s: Neptune and Jove and between Ulysses and Minerva should have


s: given the audience time to accept the situation. See


s: illustrations and map near the end of bks. v. and vi.


s: {113} This cave, which is identifiable with singular


s: completeness, is now called the "grotta del toro," probably a


s: corruption of "tesoro," for it is held to contain a treasure.


s: {115} Then it had a shallow shelving bottom.


s: {116} Doubtless the road would pass the harbour in Odyssean times


s: road at all there is no other level ground which it could take.


s: {117} The rock at the end of the Northern harbour of Trapani, to


s: which I suppose the writer of the "Odyssey" to be here


s: referring, still bears the name Malconsiglio--"the rock of evil


s: counsel." There is a legend that it was a ship of Turkish


s: pirates who were intending to attack Trapani, but the "Madonna


s: di Trapani" crushed them under this rock just as they were


s: coming into port. My friend Cavaliere Giannitrapani of Trapani


s: told me that his father used to tell him when he was a boy that


s: if he would drop exactly three drops of oil on to the water near


s: the rock, he would see the ship still at the bottom. The legend


s: is evidently a Christianised version of the Odyssean story,


s: while the name supplies the additional detail that the disaster


s: happened in consequence of an evil counsel.


s: {118} It would seem then that the ship had got all the way back


s: from Ithaca in about a quarter of an hour.


s: {119} And may we not add "and also to prevent his recognising


s: that he was only in the place where he had met Nausicaa two days


s: {120} All this is to excuse the entire absence of Minerva from


s: books ix.-xii., which I suppose had been written already, before


s: the authoress had determined on making Minerva so prominent a


s: {121} We have met with this somewhat lame attempt to cover the


s: writer's change of scheme at the end of bk. vi.


s: {122} I take the following from The Authoress of the Odyssey, p.


s: one, but some one has enclosed in brackets the two lines in


s: which the second cave is mentioned, I presume because he found


s: himself puzzled by having a second cave sprung upon him when up


s: to this point he had only been told of one.


s: "I venture to think that if he had known the ground he would not


s: have been puzzled, for there are two caves, distant about 80 or


s: treasure is, as I have already said, identifiable with singular


s: completeness. The other cave presents no special features,


s: {123} There is no attempt to disguise the fact that Penelope had


s: long given encouragement to the suitors. The only defence set up


s: is that she did not really mean to encourage them. Would it not


s: have been wiser to have tried a little discouragement?


s: {124} See map near the end of bk. vi. Ruccazzu dei corvi of


s: course means "the rock of the ravens." Both name and ravens


s: {125} See The Authoress of the Odyssey, pp. 140, 141. The real


s: reason for sending Telemachus to Pylos and Lacedaemon was that


s: the authoress might get Helen of Troy into her poem. He was sent


s: at the only point in the story at which he could be sent, so he


s: {126} The site I assign to Eumaeus's hut, close to the Ruccazzu


s: dei Corvi, is about 2,000 feet above the sea, and commands an


s: {127} Sandals such as Eumaeus was making are still worn in the


s: Abruzzi and elsewhere. An oblong piece of leather forms the


s: sole: holes are cut at the four corners, and through these holes


s: leathern straps are passed, which are bound round the foot and


s: {129} Telemachus like many another good young man seems to


s: expect every one to fetch and carry for him.


s: {130} "Il." vi. 288. The store room was fragrant because it was


s: made of cedar wood. See "Il." xxiv. 192.


s: bottom of the chest as one that would only be wanted on the


s: greatest occasions; but surely the marriage of Hermione and of


s: Megapenthes (bk, iv. ad init.) might have induced Helen to wear


s: it on the preceding evening, in which case it could hardly have


s: got back.  We find no hint here of Megapenthes' recent marriage.


s: {134} The names Syra and Ortygia, on which island a great part of


s: Odyssean times there was a prehistoric Syracuse, the existence


s: of which was known to the writer of the poem.


s: {135} Literally "where are the turnings of the sun." Assuming, as


s: refer to Syracuse, it is the fact that not far to the South of


s: these places the land turns sharply round, so that mariners


s: following the coast would find the sun upon the other side of


s: their ship to that on which they'd had it hitherto.


s: Mr. A. S. Griffith has kindly called my attention to Herod iv.


s: Phoenician mariners under Necos, he writes:


s: "On their return they declared--I for my part do not believe


s: them, but perhaps others may--that in sailing round Libya [i.e.


s: Africa] they had the sun upon their right hand. In this way was


s: I take it that Eumaeus was made to have come from Syracuse


s: because the writer thought she rather ought to have made


s: something happen at Syracuse during her account of the voyages


s: of Ulysses. She could not, however, break his long drift from


s: Charybdis to the island of Pantellaria; she therefore resolved


s: to make it up to Syracuse in another way.


s: {135} Modern excavations establish the existence of two and only


s: two pre-Dorian communities at Syracuse; they were, so Dr. Orsi


s: informed me, at Plemmirio and Cozzo Pantano. See The Authoress


s: {136} This harbour is again evidently the harbour in which


s: Ulysses had landed, i.e. the harbour that is now the salt works


s: for some eight or nine days' service. I suppose the crew were to


s: consider the pleasure of having had a trip to Pylos as a set


s: off. There is no trace of the dinner as having been actually


s: given, either on the following or any other morning.


s: {138} No hawk can tear its prey while it is on the wing.


s: {139} The text is here apparently corrupt, and will not make


s: sense as it stands. I follow Messrs. Butcher and Lang in


s: {140} i.e. to be milked, as in South Italian and Sicilian towns


s: {141} The butchering and making ready the carcases took place


s: partly in the outer yard and partly in the open part of the


s: {142} These words cannot mean that it would be afternoon soon


s: after they were spoken. Ulysses and Eumaeus reached the town


s: which was "some way off" (xvii. 25) in time for the suitor's


s: early meal (xvii.  170 and 176) say at ten or eleven o' clock.


s: The context of the rest of the book shows this. Eumaeus and


s: Ulysses, therefore, cannot have started later than eight or


s: nine, and Eumaeus's words must be taken as an exaggeration for


s: the purpose of making Ulysses bestir himself.


s: {143} I imagine the fountain to have been somewhere about where


s: the church of the Madonna di Trapani now stands, and to have


s: been fed with water from what is now called the Fontana Diffali


s: {144} From this and other passages in the "Odyssey" it appears


s: that we are in an age anterior to the use of coined money--an


s: age when cauldrons, tripods, swords, cattle, chattels of all


s: kinds, measures of corn, wine, or oil, etc. etc., not to say


s: pieces of gold, silver, bronze, or even iron, wrought more or


s: less, but unstamped, were the nearest approach to a currency


s: {146} I correct these proofs abroad and am not within reach of


s: Hesiod, but surely this passage suggests acquaintance with the


s: Works and Ways, though it by no means compels it.


s: {147} It would seem as though Eurynome and Euryclea were the


s: {148} It is plain, therefore, that Iris was commonly accepted as


s: the messenger of the gods, though our authoress will never


s: permit her to fetch or carry for any one.


s: {149} i.e. the doorway leading from the inner to the outer court.


s: {150} Surely in this scene, again, Eurynome is in reality


s: {151} These, I imagine, must have been in the open part of the


s: inner courtyard, where the maids also stood, and threw the light


s: of their torches into the covered cloister that ran all round


s: it. The smoke would otherwise have been intolerable.


s: {152} Translation very uncertain; vide Liddell and Scott, under


s: well-marked feature being wanted to convince Penelope, the


s: writer has taken the hunched shoulders of Thersites (who is


s: mentioned immediately after Eurybates in the "Iliad") and put


s: {155} This is how geese are now fed in Sicily, at any rate in


s: summer, when the grass is all burnt up. I have never seen them


s: {156} Lower down (line 143) Euryclea says it was herself that


s: had thrown the cloak over Ulysses--for the plural should not be


s: taken as implying more than one person. The writer is evidently


s: still fluctuating between Euryclea and Eurynome as the name for


s: the old nurse. She probably originally meant to call her


s: Euryclea, but finding it not immediately easy to make Euryclea


s: scan in xvii. 495, she hastily called her Eurynome, intending


s: either to alter this name later or to change the earlier


s: Euryclea's into Eurynome. She then drifted in to Eurynome as


s: convenience further directed, still nevertheless hankering after


s: Euryclea, till at last she found that the path of least


s: resistance would lie in the direction of making Eurynome and


s: Euryclea two persons. Therefore in xxiii. 289-292 both Eurynome


s: and "the nurse" (who can be none other than Euryclea) come on


s: together. I do not say that this is feminine, but it is not


s: {158} This, I take it, was immediately in front of the main


s: entrance of the inner courtyard into the body of the house.


s: {159} This is the only allusion to Sardinia in either "Iliad" or


s: {160} The normal translation of the Greek word would be "holding


s: back," "curbing," "restraining," but I cannot think that the


s: writer meant this--she must have been using the word in its


s: other sense of "having," "holding," "keeping," "maintaining."


s: {161} I have vainly tried to realise the construction of the


s: {162} See plan of Ulysses' house in the appendix. It is evident


s: that the open part of the court had no flooring but the natural


s: {164} i.e. the door that led into the body of the house.


s: {165} This was, no doubt, the little table that was set for


s: Surely the difficulty of this passage has been overrated. I


s: suppose the iron part of the axe to have been wedged into the


s: handle, or bound securely to it--the handle being half buried in


s: the ground. The axe would be placed edgeways towards the archer,


s: and he would have to shoot his arrow through the hole into which


s: the handle was fitted when the axe was in use. Twelve axes were


s: placed in a row all at the same height, all exactly in front of


s: one another, all edgeways to Ulysses whose arrow passed through


s: all the holes from the first onward. I cannot see how the Greek


s: can bear any other interpretation, the words being, [Greek]


s: "He did not miss a single hole from the first onwards." [Greek]


s: according to Liddell and Scott being "the hole for the handle of


s: same authorities, the handle itself. The feat is absurdly


s: impossible, but our authoress sometimes has a soul above


s: {166} The reader will note how the spoiling of good food


s: distresses the writer even in such a supreme moment as this.


s: {167} Here we have it again. Waste of substance comes first.


s: {168} cf. "Il." iii. 337 and three other places. It is strange


s: that the author of the "Iliad" should find a little horse-hair


s: so alarming. Possibly enough she was merely borrowing a common


s: form line from some earlier poet--or poetess--for this is a


s: {169} Or perhaps simply "window." See plan in the appendix.


s: {170} i.e. the pavement on which Ulysses was standing.


s: {171} The interpretation of lines 126-143 is most dubious, and


s: at best we are in a region of melodrama: cf., however, i.425,


s: etc. from which it appears that there was a tower in the outer


s: court, and that Telemachus used to sleep in it. The [Greek] I


s: take to be a door, or trap door, leading on to the roof above


s: Telemachus's bed room, which we are told was in a place that


s: could be seen from all round--or it might be simply a window in


s: Telemachus's room looking out into the street. From the top of


s: the tower the outer world was to be told what was going on, but


s: people could not get in by the [Greek]: they would have to come


s: in by the main entrance, and Melanthius explains that the mouth


s: of the narrow passage (which was in the lands of Ulysses and his


s: friends) commanded the only entrance by which help could come,


s: so that there would be nothing gained by raising an alarm. As


s: for the [Greek] of line 143, no commentator ancient or modern


s: has been able to say what was intended--but whatever they were,


s: Melanthius could never carry twelve shields, twelve helmets, and


s: twelve spears. Moreover, where he could go the others could go


s: also.  If a dozen suitors had followed Melanthius into the house


s: they could have attacked Ulysses in the rear, in which case,


s: unless Minerva had intervened promptly, the "Odyssey" would have


s: had a different ending.  But throughout the scene we are in a


s: region of extravagance rather than of true fiction--it cannot be


s: taken seriously by any but the very serious, until we come to


s: the episode of Phemius and Medon, where the writer begins to be


s: {172} I presume it was intended that there should be a hook


s: of bk. xxi we can locate the approach to the [Greek] with some


s: {176} But in xix. 500-502 Ulysses scolded Euryclea for offering


s: information on this very point, and declared himself quite able


s: {177} There were a hundred and eight Suitors.


s: {178} Lord Grimthorpe, whose understanding does not lend itself


s: to easy imposition, has been good enough to write to me about my


s: conviction that the "Odyssey" was written by a woman, and to send


s: recorded. It is plain that all the authoress cared about was


s: that the women should be hanged: as for attempting to realise,


s: or to make her readers realise, how the hanging was done, this


s: was of no consequence. The reader must take her word for it and


s: ask no questions. Lord Grimthorpe wrote:


s: "I had better send you my ideas about Nausicaa's hanging of the


s: maids (not 'maidens,' of whom Froude wrote so well in his


s: 'Science of History') before I forget it all. Luckily for me


s: Liddell & Scott have specially translated most of the doubtful


s: "A ship's cable. I don't know how big a ship she meant, but it


s: must have been a very small one indeed if its 'cable' could be


s: used to tie tightly round a woman's neck, and still more round a


s: dozen of them 'in a row,' besides being strong enough to hold


s: "A dozen average women would need the weight and strength of


s: more than a dozen strong heavy men even over the best pulley


s: hung to the roof over them; and the idea of pulling them up by a


s: rope hung anyhow round a pillar [Greek] is absurdly impossible;


s: and how a dozen of them could be hung dangling round one post is


s: a problem which a senior wrangler would be puzzled to answer...


s: She had better have let Telemachus use his sword as he had


s: intended till she changed his mind for him."


s: {179} Then they had all been in Ulysses' service over twenty


s: years; perhaps the twelve guilty ones had been engaged more


s: {181} But why could she not at once ask to see the scar, of


s: which Euryclea had told her, or why could not Ulysses have shown


s: {182} The people of Ithaca seem to have been as fond of carping


s: {183} See note {156}. Ulysses's bed room does not appear to have


s: been upstairs, nor yet quite within the house. Is it possible


s: that it was "the domed room" round the outside of which the


s: erring maids were, for aught we have heard to the contrary,


s: {184} Ulysses bedroom in the mind of the writer is here too


s: {185} Penelope having been now sufficiently whitewashed,


s: {186} So practised a washerwoman as our authoress doubtless knew


s: that by this time the web must have become such a wreck that it


s: A lady points out to me, just as these sheets are leaving my


s: hands, that no really good needlewoman--no one, indeed, whose


s: work or character was worth consideration--could have endured,


s: no matter for what reason, the unpicking of her day's work, day


s: after day for between three and four years.


s: {187} We must suppose Dolius not yet to know that his son


s: Melanthius had been tortured, mutilated, and left to die by


s: Ulysses' orders on the preceding day, and that his daughter


s: Melantho had been hanged.  Dolius was probably exceptionally


s: simple-minded, and his name was ironical. So on Mt. Eryx I was


s: shown a man who was always called Sonza Malizia or


s: "Guileless"--he being held exceptionally cunning.


s: There would have been less controversy about the proper


s: method of Homeric translation, if critics bad recognised


s: that the question is a purely relative one, that of Homer


s: there can be no final translation. The taste and the


s: literary habits of each age demand different qualities in


s: poetry, and therefore a different sort of rendering of


s: Homer. To the men of the time of Elizabeth, Homer would


s: have appeared bald, it seems, and lacking in ingenuity, if


s: he had been presented in his antique simplicity. For the


s: Elizabethan age, Chapman supplied what was then necessary,


s: and the mannerisms that were then deemed of the essence of


s: poetry, namely, daring and luxurious conceits. Thus in


s: Chapman's verse Troy must 'shed her towers for tears of


s: overthrow,' and when the winds toss Odysseus about, their


s: sport must be called 'the horrid tennis.'


s: In the age of Anne, 'dignity' and 'correctness' had to be


s: given to Homer, and Pope gave them by aid of his dazzling


s: rhetoric, his antitheses, his nettete, his command of every


s: conventional and favourite artifice. Without Chapman's


s: conceits, Homer's poems would hardly have been what the


s: Elizabethans took for poetry; without Pope's smoothness,


s: and Pope's points, the Iliad and Odyssey would have seemed


s: rude, and harsh in the age of Anne. These great


s: translations must always live as English poems. As


s: transcripts of Homer they are like pictures drawn from a


s: lost point of view. Chaque siecle depuis le xvi a ue de ce


s: cote son belveder different. Again, when Europe woke to a