ASSEMBLY OF THE PEOPLE OF ITHACA—SPEECHES OF TELEMACHUS AND OF THE SUITORS—TELEMACHUS MAKES HIS PREPARATIONS AND STARTS FOR PYLOS WITH MINERVA DISGUISED AS MENTOR.
Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared Telemachus rose and himself. He his sandals on to his feet, his about his shoulder, and left his room looking like an god. He at once sent the to call the people in assembly, so they called them and the people thereon; then, when they were got together, he to the place of in hand—not alone, for his two with him. Minerva him with a presence of such that all at him as he by, and when he took his place in his father’s seat the way for him.
Aegyptius, a man with age, and of experience, was the to speak. His son Antiphus had gone with Ulysses to Ilius, land of steeds, but the Cyclops had killed him when they were all up in the cave, and had his last dinner for him.17 He had three sons left, of two still on their father’s land, while the third, Eurynomus, was one of the suitors; their father not over the of Antiphus, and was still for him when he his speech.
“Men of Ithaca,” he said, “hear my words. From the day Ulysses left us there has been no meeting of our until now; who then can it be, old or young, that it so necessary to us? Has he got wind of some approaching, and he wish to us, or would he speak upon some other of public moment? I am sure he is an excellent person, and I Jove will him his heart’s desire.”
Telemachus took this speech as of good and rose at once, for he was with what he had to say. He in the middle of the and the good Pisenor him his staff. Then, to Aegyptius, “Sir,” said he, “it is I, as you will learn, who have you, for it is I who am the most aggrieved. I have not got wind of any about which I would you, is there any of public moment on which I would speak. My is purely personal, and on two great which have upon my house. The of these is the of my excellent father, who was among all you here present, and was like a father to every one of you; the second is much more serious, and long will be the of my estate. The sons of all the men among you are pestering my mother to them against her will. They are to go to her father Icarius, him to choose the one he best, and to provide marriage gifts for his daughter, but day by day they keep about my father’s house, our oxen, sheep, and for their banquets, and so much as a to the quantity of they drink. No can such recklessness; we have now no Ulysses to off from our doors, and I cannot my own against them. I shall all my days be as good a man as he was, still I would myself if I had power to do so, for I cannot such any longer; my house is being and ruined. Have respect, therefore, to your own and to public opinion. Fear, too, the of heaven, the gods should be and turn upon you. I pray you by Jove and Themis, who is the and the end of councils, [do not] back, my friends, and me singlehanded18—unless it be that my father Ulysses did some to the Achaeans which you would now on me, by and these suitors. Moreover, if I am to be out of house and home at all, I had you did the yourselves, for I then take action against you to some purpose, and you with from house to house till I got paid in full, now I have no remedy.”19
With this Telemachus his staff to the ground and into tears. Every one was very sorry for him, but they all sat still and no one to make him an angry answer, save only Antinous, who spoke thus:
“Telemachus, that you are, how you try to the upon us suitors? It is your mother’s fault not ours, for she is a very woman. This three years past, and close on four, she had been us out of our minds, by each one of us, and sending him without meaning one word of what she says. And then there was that other she played us. She set up a great in her room, and to work on an piece of needlework. ‘Sweet hearts,’ said she, ‘Ulysses is dead, still do not press me to again immediately, wait—for I would not have skill in unrecorded—till I have a for the hero Laertes, to be in against the time when death shall take him. He is very rich, and the of the place will talk if he is out without a pall.’
“This was what she said, and we assented; we see her on her great all day long, but at night she would the again by torchlight. She us in this way for three years and we her out, but as time on and she was now in her fourth year, one of her who what she was doing told us, and we her in the act of her work, so she had to it she would or no. The suitors, therefore, make you this answer, that you and the Achaeans may understand—‘Send your mother away, and her the man of her own and of her father’s choice’; for I do not know what will if she goes on us much longer with the she herself on the score of the Minerva has her, and she is so clever. We yet of such a woman; we know all about Tyro, Alcmena, Mycene, and the famous of old, but they were nothing to your mother any one of them. It was not of her to us in that way, and as long as she in the mind with which has now her, so long shall we go on up your estate; and I do not see why she should change, for she all the and glory, and it is you who pay for it, not she. Understand, then, that we will not go to our lands, neither here elsewhere, till she has her choice and married some one or other of us.”
Telemachus answered, “Antinous, how can I drive the mother who me from my father’s house? My father is and we do not know he is alive or dead. It will be hard on me if I have to pay Icarius the large which I must give him if I on sending his to him. Not only will he with me, but will also me; for my mother when she the house will call on the Erinyes to her; besides, it would not be a thing to do, and I will have nothing to say to it. If you choose to take at this, the house and at one another’s houses at your own cost turn and turn about. If, on the other hand, you elect 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.”
As he spoke Jove sent two from the top of the mountain, and they on and on with the wind, by in their own flight. When they were right over the middle of the they and about, the air with their and death into the of them that were below; then, and at one another, they off the right over the town. The people as they saw them, and asked each other what all this might be; Halitherses, who was the best and reader of among them, spoke to them and in all honesty, saying:
“Hear me, men of Ithaca, and I speak more particularly to the suitors, for I see for them. Ulysses is not going to be away much longer; he is close at hand to out death and destruction, not on them alone, but on many another of us who live in Ithaca. Let us then be wise in time, and put a stop to this he comes. Let the do so of their own accord; it will be for them, for I am not without knowledge; has to Ulysses as I when the Argives set out for Troy, and he with them. I said that after going through much and all his men he should come home again in the year and that no one would know him; and now all this is true.”
Eurymachus son of Polybus then said, “Go home, old man, and to your own children, or it may be for them. I can read these myself much than you can; are always about in the or other, but they anything. Ulysses has died in a country, and it is a you are not along with him, of prating here about and adding fuel to the anger of Telemachus which is as it is. I you think he will give you something for your family, but I tell you—and it shall surely be—when an old man like you, who should know better, talks a one over till he troublesome, in the place his friend will only so much the worse—he will take nothing by it, for the will prevent this—and in the next, we will a fine, sir, upon than you will at all like paying, for it will upon you. As for Telemachus, I him in the presence of you all to send his mother to her father, who will her a husband and provide her with all the marriage gifts so dear a may expect. Till then we shall go on him with our suit; for we no man, and neither for him, with all his speeches, for any fortune-telling of yours. You may as much as you please, but we shall only you the more. We shall go and continue to eat up Telemachus’s without paying him, till such time as his mother off us by us day after day on the of expectation, each with the other in his for a prize of such perfection. Besides we cannot go after the other we should in course, but for the way in which she us.”
Then Telemachus said, “Eurymachus, and you other suitors, I shall say no more, and you no further, for the gods and the people of Ithaca now know my story. Give me, then, a ship and a of twenty men to take me and thither, and I will go to Sparta and to Pylos in of my father who has so long been missing. Some one may tell me something, or (and people often in this way) some heaven-sent message may direct me. If I can of him as alive and on his way home I will put up with the waste you will make for yet another twelve months. If on the other hand I of his death, I will return at once, his with all pomp, a to his memory, and make my mother again.”
With these he sat down, and Mentor20 who had been a friend of Ulysses, and had been left in of with full authority over the servants, rose to speak. He, then, and in all them thus:
“Hear me, men of Ithaca, I that you may have a and well-disposed ruler any more, one who will you equitably; I that all your may be and unjust, for there is not one of you but has Ulysses, who you as though he were your father. I am not so angry with the suitors, for if they choose to do in the of their hearts, and their that Ulysses will not return, they can take the high hand and eat up his estate, but as for you others I am at the way in which you all still without trying to stop such on—which you do if you chose, for you are many and they are few.”
Leiocritus, son of Evenor, answered him saying, “Mentor, what is all this, that you should set the people to us? It is a hard thing for one man to with many about his victuals. Even though Ulysses himself were to set upon us while we are in his house, and do his best to us, his wife, who wants him so very badly, would have small for rejoicing, and his blood would be upon his own if he against such great odds. There is no in what you have been saying. Now, therefore, do you people go about your business, and let his father’s old friends, Mentor and Halitherses, speed this boy on his journey, if he goes at all—which I do not think he will, for he is more likely to where he is till some one comes and tells him something.”
On this he up the assembly, and every man to his own abode, while the returned to the house of Ulysses.
Then Telemachus all alone by the sea side, his hands in the waves, and prayed to Minerva.
“Hear me,” he cried, “you god who visited me yesterday, and me sail the in search of my father who has so long been missing. I would you, but the Achaeans, and more particularly the suitors, are me that I cannot do so.”
As he thus prayed, Minerva came close up to him in the and with the voice of Mentor. “Telemachus,” said she, “if you are of the same as your father you will be neither henceforward, for Ulysses his word left his work done. If, then, you take after him, your will not be fruitless, but unless you have the blood of Ulysses and of Penelope in your I see no of your succeeding. Sons are as good men as their fathers; they are worse, not better; still, as you are not going to be either or henceforward, and are not without some of your father’s wise discernment, I look with upon your undertaking. But mind you make common with any of those suitors, for they have neither virtue, and give no to death and to the that will on one and all of them, so that they shall on the same day. As for your voyage, it shall not be long delayed; your father was such an old friend of mine that I will you a ship, and will come with you myself. Now, however, return home, and go about among the suitors; for your voyage; see well stowed, the in jars, and the meal, which is the staff of life, in bags, while I go the town and up at once. There are many ships in Ithaca old and new; I will my over them for you and will choose the best; we will her and will put out to sea without delay.”
Thus spoke Minerva of Jove, and Telemachus no time in doing as the told him. He home, and the and pigs in the court. Antinous came up to him at once and laughed as he took his hand in his own, saying, “Telemachus, my fire-eater, no more blood neither in word deed, but eat and drink with us as you used to do. The Achaeans will you in everything—a ship and a to boot—so that you can set sail for Pylos at once and news of your father.”
“Antinous,” answered Telemachus, “I cannot eat in peace, take of any with such men as you are. Was it not that you should waste so much good property of mine while I was yet a boy? Now that I am older and know more about it, I am also stronger, and here among this people, or by going to Pylos, I will do you all the I can. I shall go, and my going will not be in vain—though, thanks to you suitors, I have neither ship of my own, and must be not captain.”
As he spoke he his hand from that of Antinous. Meanwhile the others on dinner about the buildings,21 at him as they did so.
“Telemachus,” said one youngster, “means to be the death of us; I he thinks he can friends to help him from Pylos, or again from Sparta, where he on going. Or will he go to Ephyra as well, for to put in our and kill us?”
Another said, “Perhaps if Telemachus goes on ship, he will be like his father and from his friends. In this case we should have to do, for we then up his property us: as for the house we can let his mother and the man who marries her have that.”
This was how they talked. But Telemachus into the and store-room where his father’s of gold and up upon the floor, and where the and were in open chests. Here, too, there was a store of oil, while of old, well-ripened wine, and fit for a god to drink, were against the in case Ulysses should come home again after all. The room was closed with well-made doors opening in the middle; the old house-keeper Euryclea, of Ops the son of Pisenor, was in of night and day. Telemachus called her to the store-room and said:
“Nurse, me off some of the best you have, after what you are for my father’s own drinking, in case, man, he should death, and his way home again after all. Let me have twelve jars, and see that they all have lids; also me some well-sewn with meal—about twenty in all. Get these put together at once, and say nothing about it. I will take away this as soon as my mother has gone for the night. I am going to Sparta and to Pylos to see if I can anything about the return of my dear father.”
When Euryclea this she to cry, and spoke to him, saying, “My dear child, what can have put such as that into your head? Where in the world do you want to go to—you, who are the one of the house? Your father is and gone in some country nobody where, and as soon as your is these ones here will be to you put out of the way, and will all your among themselves; where you are among your own people, and do not go and your life out on the ocean.”
“Fear not, nurse,” answered Telemachus, “my is not without heaven’s sanction; but that you will say nothing about all this to my mother, till I have been away some ten or twelve days, unless she of my having gone, and you; for I do not want her to her by crying.”
The old woman most that she would not, and when she had her oath, she off the into jars, and the into the bags, while Telemachus to the suitors.
Then Minerva her of another matter. She took his shape, and the town to each one of the crew, telling them to meet at the ship by sundown. She also to Noemon son of Phronius, and asked him to let her have a ship—which he was very to do. When the sun had set and was over all the land, she got the ship into the water, put all the on her that ships carry, and her at the end of the harbour. Presently the came up, and the spoke to each of them.
Furthermore she to the house of Ulysses, and the into a slumber. She their drink to them, and them their cups from their hands, so that of over their wine, they into the town to sleep, with their and full of drowsiness. Then she took the and voice of Mentor, and called Telemachus to come outside.
“Telemachus,” said she, “the men are on and at their oars, waiting for you to give your orders, so make and let us be off.”
On this she the way, while Telemachus in her steps. When they got to the ship they the waiting by the water side, and Telemachus said, “Now my men, help me to the stores on board; they are all put together in the cloister, and my mother not know anything about it, any of the one.”
With these he the way and the others after. When they had the as he told them, Telemachus on board, Minerva going him and taking her seat in the of the vessel, while Telemachus sat her. Then the men the and took their places on the benches. Minerva sent them a wind from the West,22 that over the waves23 Telemachus told them to catch of the and sail, and they did as he told them. They set the in its in the plank, it, and it fast with the forestays; then they their white with of ox hide. As the sail out with the wind, the ship through the water, and the against her as she onward. Then they all fast the ship, the mixing to the brim, and drink to the gods that are from everlasting, but more particularly to the grey-eyed of Jove.
Thus, then, the ship on her way through the of the night from dark till dawn,
