"Lady," answered Odysseus, "it is
such a long time ago that I can hardly say. Twenty years are come and
gone since he left my home, and went elsewhere; but I will tell you
as well as I can recollect. Odysseus wore a mantle of purple wool,
double lined, and it was fastened by a gold brooch with two catches
for the pin. On the face of this there was a device that showed a dog
holding a spotted fawn between his fore paws, and watching it as it
lay panting upon the ground. Every one marveled at the way in which
these things had been done in gold, the dog looking at the fawn, and
strangling it, while the fawn was struggling convulsively to escape.
As for the shirt that he wore next his skin, it was so soft that it
fitted him like the skin of an onion, and glistened in the sunlight
to the admiration of all the women who beheld it. Furthermore I say,
and lay my saying to your heart, that I do not know whether Odysseus
wore these clothes when he left home, or whether one of his
companions had given them to him while he was on his voyage; or
possibly some one at whose house he was staying made him a present of
them, for he was a man of many friends and had few equals among the
Achaeans. I myself gave him a sword of bronze and a beautiful purple
mantle, double lined, with a shirt that went down to his feet, and I
sent him on board his ship with every mark of honor. He had a servant
with him, a little older than himself, and I can tell you what he was
like; his shoulders were hunched, he was dark, and he had thick curly
hair. His name was Eurybates, and Odysseus treated him with greater
familiarity than he did any of the others, as being the most
like-minded with himself."
Penelope was moved still more
deeply as she heard the indisputable proofs
[sêmata] that Odysseus laid before her; and when
she had again found relief in tears she said to him, "Stranger, I was
already disposed to pity you, but henceforth you shall be honored and
made welcome in my house. It was I who gave Odysseus the clothes you
speak of. I took them out of the store room and folded them up
myself, and I gave him also the gold brooch to wear as an ornament.
Alas! I shall never welcome him home again. It was by an ill fate
that he ever set out for that detested city whose very name I cannot
bring myself even to mention."
Then Odysseus answered, "Lady,
wife of Odysseus, do not disfigure yourself further by grieving thus
bitterly for your loss, though I can hardly blame you for doing so. A
woman who has loved her husband and borne him children, would
naturally be grieved at losing him, even though he were a worse man
than Odysseus, who they say was like a god. Still, cease your tears
and listen to what I can tell. I will hide nothing from you, and can
say with perfect truth that I have lately heard of Odysseus as being
alive and on his way home [nostos]; he is in the
district [dêmos] of the Thesprotians, and is
bringing back much valuable treasure that he has begged from one and
another of them; but his ship and all his crew were lost as they were
leaving the Thrinacian island, for Zeus and the sun-god were angry
with him because his men had slaughtered the sun-god's cattle,
and they were all drowned to a man. But Odysseus stuck to the keel of
the ship and was drifted on to the land of the Phaeacians, who are
near of kin to the immortals, and who treated him as though he had
been a god, giving him many presents, and wishing to escort him home
safe and sound. In fact Odysseus would have been here long ago, had
he not thought better to go from land to land gathering wealth; for
there is no man living who is so wily [kerdos] as he
is; there is no one can compare with him. Pheidon king of the
Thesprotians told me all this, and he swore to me - making
drink-offerings in his house as he did so - that the ship was by the
water side and the crew found who would take Odysseus to his own
country. He sent me off first, for there happened to be a Thesprotian
ship sailing for the wheat-growing island of Dulichium, but he showed
me all the treasure Odysseus had got together, and he had enough
lying in the house of king Pheidon to keep his family for ten
generations; but the king said Odysseus had gone to Dodona that he
might learn Zeus’ mind from the high oak tree, and know whether
after so long an absence he should return to Ithaca openly or in
secret. So you may know he is safe and will be here shortly; he is
close at hand and cannot remain away from home much longer;
nevertheless I will confirm my words with an oath, and call Zeus who
is the first and mightiest of all gods to witness, as also that
hearth of Odysseus to which I have now come, that all I have spoken
shall surely come to pass. Odysseus will return in this self same
year; with the end of this moon and the beginning of the next he will
be here."
"May it be even so," answered
Penelope; "if your words come true you shall have such gifts and such
good will from me that all who see you shall congratulate you; but I
know very well how it will be. Odysseus will not return, neither will
you get your escort hence, for so surely as that Odysseus ever was,
there are now no longer any such masters in the house as he was, to
receive honorable strangers or to further them on their way home. And
now, you maids, wash his feet for him, and make him a bed on a couch
with rugs and blankets, that he may be warm and quiet till morning.
Then, at day break wash him and anoint him again, that he may sit in
the room and take his meals with Telemakhos. It shall be the worse
for any one of these hateful people who is uncivil to him; like it or
not, he shall have no more to do in this house. For how, sir, shall
you be able to learn whether or no I am superior to others of my sex
both in goodness of heart and understanding [noos], if
I let you dine in my cloisters squalid and ill clad? Men live but for
a little season; if they are hard, and deal hardly, people wish them
ill so long as they are alive, and speak contemptuously of them when
they are dead, but he that is righteous and deals righteously, the
people tell of his praise [kleos] among all lands, and
many shall call him blessed."
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