THE GODS IN COUNCIL—MINERVA’S VISIT TO ITHACA—THE CHALLENGE FROM TELEMACHUS TO THE SUITORS.
Tell me, O Muse, of that hero who and wide after he had the famous town of Troy. Many did he visit, and many were the nations with manners and he was acquainted; he much by sea while trying to save his own life and his men safely home; but do what he might he not save his men, for they through their own in the of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god them from home. Tell me, too, about all these things, oh of Jove, from you may know them.
So now all who death in or by had got safely home Ulysses, and he, though he was to return to his wife and country, was by the Calypso, who had got him into a large and wanted to him. But as years by, there came a time when the gods settled that he should go to Ithaca; then, however, when he was among his own people, his were not yet over; all the gods had now to him Neptune, who still him without and would not let him home.
Now Neptune had gone off to the Ethiopians, who are at the world’s end, and in two halves, the one looking West and the other East.1 He had gone there to accept a of sheep and oxen, and was himself at his festival; but the other gods met in the house of Olympian Jove, and the of gods and men spoke first. At that moment he was of Aegisthus, who had been killed by Agamemnon’s son Orestes; so he said to the other gods:
“See now, how men upon us gods for what is after all nothing but their own folly. Look at Aegisthus; he must needs make love to Agamemnon’s wife and then kill Agamemnon, though he it would be the death of him; for I sent Mercury to him not to do either of these things, as Orestes would be sure to take his when he up and wanted to return home. Mercury told him this in all good will but he would not listen, and now he has paid for in full.”
Then Minerva said, “Father, son of Saturn, King of kings, it Aegisthus right, and so it would any one else who as he did; but Aegisthus is neither here there; it is for Ulysses that my bleeds, when I think of his in that sea-girt island, away, man, from all his friends. It is an with forest, in the very middle of the sea, and a there, of the Atlas, who looks after the of the ocean, and the great that keep and earth asunder. This of Atlas has got of Ulysses, and trying by every of to make him his home, so that he is of life, and thinks of nothing but how he may once more see the of his own chimneys. You, sir, take no of this, and yet when Ulysses was Troy did he not you with many a sacrifice? Why then should you keep on being so angry with him?”
And Jove said, “My child, what are you talking about? How can I Ulysses than there is no more man on earth, more in his to the gods that live in heaven? Bear in mind, however, that Neptune is still with Ulysses for having an of Polyphemus king of the Cyclopes. Polyphemus is son to Neptune by the Thoosa, to the sea-king Phorcys; therefore though he will not kill Ulysses outright, he him by him from home. Still, let us our together and see how we can help him to return; Neptune will then be pacified, for if we are all of a mind he can out against us.”
And Minerva said, “Father, son of Saturn, King of kings, if, then, the gods now that Ulysses should home, we should send Mercury to the Ogygian to tell Calypso that we have up our minds and that he is to return. In the meantime I will go to Ithaca, to put into Ulysses’ son Telemachus; I will him to call the Achaeans in assembly, and speak out to the of his mother Penelope, who in up any number of his sheep and oxen; I will also him to Sparta and to Pylos, to see if he can anything about the return of his dear father—for this will make people speak well of him.”
So saying she on her sandals, imperishable, with which she can like the wind over land or sea; she the bronze-shod spear, so and and strong, she the ranks of who have her, and she from the of Olympus, she was in Ithaca, at the of Ulysses’ house, as a visitor, Mentes, of the Taphians, and she a in her hand. There she the seated on of the which they had killed and eaten, and playing in of the house. Men-servants and pages were about to wait upon them, some mixing with water in the mixing-bowls, some the tables with wet and them out again, and some up great of meat.
Telemachus saw her long any one else did. He was among the about his father, and how he would send them out of the house, if he were to come to his own again and be as in days gone by. Thus as he sat among them, he of Minerva and to the gate, for he was that a should be waiting for admittance. He took her right hand in his own, and her give him her spear. “Welcome,” said he, “to our house, and when you have of food you shall tell us what you have come for.”
He the way as he spoke, and Minerva him. When they were he took her and set it in the spear-stand against a bearing-post along with the many other of his father, and he her to a seat under which he a cloth of damask. There was a also for her feet,2 and he set another seat near her for himself, away from the suitors, that she might not be while by their noise and insolence, and that he might ask her more about his father.
A then them water in a and it into a for them to wash their hands, and she a clean table them. An upper them bread, and offered them many good of what there was in the house, the them plates of all manner of meats and set cups of gold by their side, and a them and it out for them.
Then the came in and took their places on the benches and seats.3 Forthwith men water over their hands, with the bread-baskets, pages the mixing-bowls with and water, and they their hands upon the good that were them. As soon as they had had to eat and drink they wanted music and dancing, which are the of a banquet, so a a to Phemius, they to sing to them. As soon as he touched his and to sing Telemachus spoke low to Minerva, with his close to hers that no man might hear.
“I hope, sir,” said he, “that you will not be with what I am going to say. Singing comes to those who do not pay for it, and all this is done at the cost of one in some or to in the surf. If these men were to see my father come to Ithaca they would pray for longer than a longer purse, for money would not them; but he, alas, has on an fate, and when people do sometimes say that he is coming, we no longer them; we shall see him again. And now, sir, tell me and tell me true, who you are and where you come from. Tell me of your town and parents, what manner of ship you came in, how your you to Ithaca, and of what nation they themselves to be—for you cannot have come by land. Tell me also truly, for I want to know, are you a to this house, or have you been here in my father’s time? In the old days we had many visitors for my father about much himself.”
And Minerva answered, “I will tell you and particularly all about it. I am Mentes, son of Anchialus, and I am King of the Taphians. I have come here with my ship and crew, on a to men of a being for Temesa4 with a of iron, and I shall copper. As for my ship, it over off the open country away from the town, in the Rheithron5 under the Neritum.6 Our fathers were friends us, as old Laertes will tell you, if you will go and ask him. They say, however, that he comes to town now, and by himself in the country, hardly, with an old woman to look after him and his dinner for him, when he comes in from about his vineyard. They told me your father was at home again, and that was why I came, but it the gods are still him back, for he is not yet not on the mainland. It is more likely he is on some sea-girt in ocean, or a among who are him against his will. I am no prophet, and know very little about omens, but I speak as it is in upon me from heaven, and you that he will not be away much longer; for he is a man of such that though he were in of iron he would some means of home again. But tell me, and tell me true, can Ulysses have such a looking for a son? You are like him about the and eyes, for we were close friends he set sail for Troy where the flower of all the Argives also. Since that time we have either of us the other.”
“My mother,” answered Telemachus, “tells me I am son to Ulysses, but it is a wise child that his own father. Would that I were son to one who had old upon his own estates, for, since you ask me, there is no more ill-starred man under than he who they tell me is my father.”
And Minerva said, “There is no of your out yet, while Penelope has such a son as you are. But tell me, and tell me true, what is the meaning of all this feasting, and who are these people? What is it all about? Have you some banquet, or is there a wedding in the family—for no one to be any of his own? And the guests—how they are behaving; what they make over the whole house; it is to any person who comes near them.”
“Sir,” said Telemachus, “as your question, so long as my father was here it was well with us and with the house, but the gods in their have it otherwise, and have him away more closely than man was yet hidden. I have it though he were dead, if he had with his men Troy, or had died with friends around him when the days of his were done; for then the Achaeans would have a over his ashes, and I should myself have been to his renown; but now the storm-winds have him away we know not whither; he is gone without so much as a him, and I nothing but dismay. Nor the end with for the of my father; has upon me of yet another kind; for the from all our islands, Dulichium, Same, and the of Zacynthus, as also all the men of Ithaca itself, are up my house under the of paying their to my mother, who will neither point blank say that she will not marry,7 yet to an end; so they are making of my estate, and long will do so also with myself.”
“Is that so?” Minerva, “then you do want Ulysses home again. Give him his helmet, shield, and a of lances, and if he is the man he was when I him in our house, and making merry, he would soon his hands about these suitors, were he to once more upon his own threshold. He was then from Ephyra, where he had been to for his from Ilus, son of Mermerus. Ilus the ever-living gods and would not give him any, but my father let him have some, for he was very of him. If Ulysses is the man he then was these will have a and a sorry wedding.
“But there! It rests with to he is to return, and take his in his own house or no; I would, however, you to set about trying to of these at once. Take my advice, call the Achaean in to-morrow morning—lay your case them, and call to you witness. Bid the take themselves off, each to his own place, and if your mother’s mind is set on marrying again, let her go to her father, who will her a husband and provide her with all the marriage gifts that so dear a may expect. As for yourself, let me upon you to take the best ship you can get, with a of twenty men, and go in of your father who has so long been missing. Some one may tell you something, or (and people often in this way) some heaven-sent message may direct you. First go to Pylos and ask Nestor; go on to Sparta and visit Menelaus, for he got home last of all the Achaeans; if you that your father is alive and on his way home, you can put up with the waste these will make for yet another twelve months. If on the other hand you of his death, come home at once, his with all pomp, a to his memory, and make your mother again. Then, having done all this, think it well over in your mind how, by means or foul, you may kill these in your own house. You are too old to any longer; have you not how people are Orestes’ for having killed his father’s Aegisthus? You are a fine, looking fellow; your mettle, then, and make a name in story. Now, however, I must go to my ship and to my crew, who will be if I keep them waiting longer; think the over for yourself, and what I have said to you.”
“Sir,” answered Telemachus, “it has been very of you to talk to me in this way, as though I were your own son, and I will do all you tell me; I know you want to be on with your voyage, but a little longer till you have taken a and yourself. I will then give you a present, and you shall go on your way rejoicing; I will give you one of great and value—a such as only dear friends give to one another.”
Minerva answered, “Do not try to keep me, for I would be on my way at once. As for any present you may be to make me, keep it till I come again, and I will take it home with me. You shall give me a very good one, and I will give you one of no less value in return.”
With these she away like a bird into the air, but she had Telemachus courage, and had him think more than about his father. He the change, at it, and that the had been a god, so he to where the were sitting.
Phemius was still singing, and his sat in as he told the sad of the return from Troy, and the Minerva had upon the Achaeans. Penelope, of Icarius, his song from her room upstairs, and came by the great staircase, not alone, but by two of her handmaids. When she the she by one of the that supported the of the cloisters8 with a on either of her. She a veil, moreover, her face, and was bitterly.
“Phemius,” she cried, “you know many another of gods and heroes, such as love to celebrate. Sing the some one of these, and let them drink their in silence, but this sad tale, for it my heart, and me of my husband I without ceasing, and name was great over all Hellas and middle Argos.”9
“Mother,” answered Telemachus, “let the sing what he has a mind to; do not make the they sing of; it is Jove, not they, who makes them, and who sends or upon according to his own good pleasure. This means no by the ill-fated return of the Danaans, for people always the latest most warmly. Make up your mind to it and it; Ulysses is not the only man who came from Troy, but many another as well as he. Go, then, the house and with your daily duties, your loom, your distaff, and the ordering of your servants; for speech is man’s matter, and mine above all others 10—for it is I who am master here.”
She into the house, and her son’s saying in her heart. Then, going with her into her room, she her dear husband till Minerva sweet sleep over her eyes. But the were the cloisters11, and prayed each one that he might be her fellow.
Then Telemachus spoke, “Shameless,” he cried, “and suitors, let us at our now, and let there be no brawling, for it is a thing to a man with such a voice as Phemius has; but in the meet me in full that I may give you notice to depart, and at one another’s houses, turn and turn about, at your own cost. If on the other hand you choose to in upon one man, help me, but Jove shall with you in full, and when you in my father’s house there shall be no man to you.”
The their as they him, and at the of his speech. Then, Antinous, son of Eupeithes, said, “The gods to have you lessons in and tall talking; may Jove you to be in Ithaca as your father was you.”
Telemachus answered, “Antinous, do not with me, but, god willing, I will be too if I can. Is this the you can think of for me? It is no thing to be a chief, for it and honour. Still, now that Ulysses is there are many great men in Ithaca old and young, and some other may take the lead among them; I will be in my own house, and will those Ulysses has for me.”
Then Eurymachus, son of Polybus, answered, “It rests with to decide who shall be among us, but you shall be master in your own house and over your own possessions; no one while there is a man in Ithaca shall do you you. And now, my good fellow, I want to know about this stranger. What country he come from? Of what family is he, and where is his estate? Has he you news about the return of your father, or was he on of his own? He a well to do man, but he off so that he was gone in a moment we to know him.”
“My father is and gone,” answered Telemachus, “and if some me I put no more in it now. My mother sometimes send for a and question him, but I give his prophecyings no heed. As for the stranger, he was Mentes, son of Anchialus, of the Taphians, an old friend of my father’s.” But in his he that it had been the goddess.
The then returned to their and dancing until the evening; but when night upon their pleasuring they home to each in his own abode.12 Telemachus’s room was high up in a tower13 that looked on to the court; hither, then, he hied, and full of thought. A good old woman, Euryclea, of Ops, the son of Pisenor, him with a of torches. Laertes had her with his own money when she was young; he gave the of twenty for her, and as much respect to her in his as he did to his own wife, but he did not take her to his for he his wife’s resentment.14 She it was who now Telemachus to his room, and she loved him than any of the other in the house did, for she had nursed him when he was a baby. He opened the door of his room and sat upon the bed; as he took off his shirt15 he gave it to the good old woman, who it up, and it for him over a by his side, after which she out, the door to by a catch, and the home by means of the strap.16 But Telemachus as he with a all night through of his and of the that Minerva had him.
