by Homer
"Madam, no way is it possible, by twisting its clear meaning,
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to interpret this dream any other way, since Odysseus himself
has shown you how he'll fulfill it! The doom of all the suitors
is clear! Not one of them will escape death and the fates!"
Then prudent Penelope responded to him, saying:
"Stranger, dreams are hard to make sense of or interpret,
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and not all of them reach fulfillment for us mortals.
For there are two gateways set up for fleeting dreams,
of which one is constructed from horn, the other from ivory.
Those dreams that come through the gate of sawn ivory
are deceptive, bringing words that remain unfulfilled;
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but those that emerge from the gate of polished horn
presage the truth for anyone who beholds them.19 But for me
it was not, I think, from there that my own strange dream
came--welcome though that would have been to me and my son!
And another thing I will tell you, and you take it to heart:
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The ill-starred day is approaching that's to remove me
from the house of Odysseus: for now I shall order a contest--
those axes that he used to set up here in his halls
in a straight line, like ships' props, twelve of them all told--
he'd stand at a distance, and shoot an arrow through them.
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So now I shall order this contest for the suitors:20
whoever, handling his bow, shall string it most easily
and then shoot an arrow clear through all twelve axes,
with him I'd depart, leaving this house to which I came
as a wedded wife--a fine home, and full of rich possessions!
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I think I shall always remember it, even in my dreams."
To her resourceful Odysseus then responded, saying:
"Respected wife of Odysseus, son of Laertes,
do not any longer delay this contest in your house,
for resourceful Odysseus will arrive here before that--
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before these fellows can get to handle the polished bow,
or string it, or shoot an arrow clean through the iron."
Then
to him prudent Penelope responded, saying: "If you
were only willing, stranger, to sit on here in my halls
and amuse me, sleep would never be shed upon my eyelids!
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But no way can people possibly go without sleep forever;
and so to each one of us mortals on this grain-giving earth
the immortals have allotted a proper time for repose.
So I shall go on back to my upper chamber and lie
on my bed, though it's become a place of mourning for me,
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always made damp by my tears, since the day when Odysseus
left to set eyes on ill Ilion--that unspeakable name!
That's where I shall lie; but you sleep here in the hall--
spread your own bedding, or have them make you up a bed."
So saying, she went off back to her bright upper chamber,
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not alone, for her handmaids accompanied her. And after
she'd retired to her upper chamber with her handmaids, then
she wept for Odysseus, her dear husband, until
grey-eyed Athene cast sweet sleep upon her eyelids.
Book 20
But noble Odysseus bedded down for sleep in the forecourt.
On the ground he spread out an undressed oxhide, above it
putting many fleeces from sheep the Achaians had sacrificed;
and when he settled, Eurynome threw a cloak over him.
So Odysseus, brooding on evil for the suitors in his heart
5
lay there, still wakeful. And then from their hall the women
emerged--those who had taken to sleeping with the suitors--
laughing and chattering cheerfully one to another; and rage
erupted now in his breast, and much he debated,
emotion and reason competing for his decision, whether
10
to get up and rush them now, deal death to each one of them,
or leave them to couple one last and final time
with these arrogant suitors. And his inner heart was growling
as a bitch standing over her helpless puppies will growl
at some unfamiliar man, more than ready to fight him: so
15
his heart growled within him, enraged at their bad behavior.
But he beat his breast, and upbraided his heart, declaring:
"Endure, my heart! Worse than this you once endured
that day when the Kyklops, unmatchable in his strength,
was eating my valiant comrades; but you held on, till my plan
20
brought you safe out of that cave where you thought you'd die."
So he spoke, addressing the dear spirit in his breast.
In full obedience to him, his heart now endured
without pause; but he himself kept tossing and turning.
As a man cooking a paunch chockful of fat and blood
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on a fierce blazing fire will turn it to and fro,
determined to get it cooked through as fast as he can,
so Odysseus tossed this way and that, trying to work out
how he was going to lay hands on the shameless suitors,
one man against so many. Then Athene approached him,
30
down from the sky, in appearance like a woman,
and stood above his head, and addressed him, saying:
"Wakeful again, you most illfated of all mortals?
This is your own house, and in this house are your wife
and son--such a son indeed as anybody might pray for!"
35
To her then resourceful Odysseus responded, saying:
"Yes indeed, goddess, all you've said is right and proper.
But here is what the heart in my breast is debating:
how I'm going to lay hands on these shameless suitors,
alone, while they're always in a body when they're here.
40
What's more, there's this greater problem that I'm facing:
even if--both Zeus and you willing--I do kill them,
how then would I make my escape? Please consider that!"
Then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, responded to him, saying:
"Stubborn man! There are many who'd trust a weaker comrade--
45
a mortal, without any knowledge of such wisdom as mine!
But I am a god, one who guards you through to the end
in all your endeavors! And I'll tell you this openly:
if there were fifty troops of mortal men in ambush
all round us, firmly determined to kill us, nevertheless
50
even then you'd drive off with their cattle and fattened sheep!
But for now let sleep overtake you. To stay awake on watch
all night is a bad thing too. Soon you'll be free of troubles."
So she spoke, and shed sleep on his eyelids, but herself,
bright among goddesses, made her way back to Olympos.
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While sleep, the limb-loosener, still had hold of him,
relaxing the cares of his heart, his affectionate wife
awoke and wept, sitting up there, still in her soft bed.
But when her spirit had had its fill of weeping, then she,
bright among women, first prayed to Artemis, saying:
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"Artemis, lady goddess, daughter of Zeus, how I wish
you'd shoot a shaft into my breast and take away my life
now, at this instant, or a
storm wind would snatch me up,
whirl me away along those dark murky pathways,
cast me forth at the mouth of refluent Ocean, as once
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storm winds carried away Pandareus' daughters! The gods
had killed their parents, and they were left abandoned
as orphans there in the halls, and were cared for by Aphrodite
with cheese and sweet honey and pleasant-tasting wine;
and Here bestowed on them, above all other women,
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beauty and wisdom, while chaste Artemis gave them stature,
and Athene made them accomplished in elegant handiwork.
But while bright Aphrodite was making for high Olympos--
to Zeus, with his joy in the thunderbolt, for well he knows all,
both the good fortune and the misfortunes of transient mortals--
75
to ask for these girls the fulfillment of a healthy marriage,
the storm winds' spirits meanwhile snatched them away
and surrendered them to the mercy of the loathsome Furies.1
So, I wish, might those powers whose homes are on Olympos
annihilate me, or fair-tressed Artemis strike me--Odysseus
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would be in my mind's eye as I went under this hated earth,
and I'd never pleasure the thoughts of any lesser husband!
Yet the burden's endurable for anyone who weeps
in the daytime, constantly moved by deep distress at heart,
but is mastered by sleep at night, for sleep brings forgetfulness
85
of all things, both good and bad, once it's shrouded the eyelids.
Yet on me some god laid the burden of evil dreams as well,
for this night there lay in my arms one exactly like him,
as he was when he left with his troops, and so my spirit
rejoiced, for I thought it no dream, but rather a waking vision."
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So she spoke, and straightway Dawn, the golden-throned, came up.
The sound of her voice, weeping, got through to noble Odysseus:
he tried to think, and it seemed to his half-asleep mind
that she'd recognized him and was standing there at his head.
Then he picked up the cloak, and the fleeces that he'd slept on,
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put them down on a chair in the hall, and carried the oxhide
outside, and left it. Hands raised, he then made his prayer to Zeus:
"Zeus, Father, if willingly you gods have now brought me back
over dry and wet to my country, after troubling me so much,
let one of those waking inside speak a word of omen for me,
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and out here a sign from Zeus be made manifest as well."
So he spoke in prayer, and Zeus the Counselor heard him.
At once he delivered thunder from gleaming Olympos
on high out of the clouds, and noble Odysseus rejoiced.
And a woman, a grinder of grain, sent forth a word of omen
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from the house nearby where the mills of the people's shepherd
were set. At these twelve women all told were workers,
grinding barley and wheat, men's marrow. By now the others
were all asleep, having ground their quota of wheat, and she
was the only one who'd not finished, for she was the weakest.
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She stopped her quern now and uttered an omen for her lord:
"Zeus, Father, lord over gods and men, how loudly
you thundered out of the starry sky, yet nowhere is there
any trace of cloud: this must be a portent you're granting someone!
Then fulfill for poor me too the wish I shall now pronounce:
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May this be the final and latest day on which these suitors
enjoy their delectable feast in the halls of Odysseus, they
who've weakened my knees with so much agonizing labor
grinding their grain: may this dinner be their last!"
So she spoke: noble Odysseus rejoiced at the words of omen
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and the thunder of Zeus, as he planned revenge upon the guilty.
The other serving women in Odysseus' splendid house
were up now. They rekindled unwearying fire on the hearth,
and Telemachos rose from his bed, a godlike mortal,
put on his clothes, slung a sharp sword from his shoulder,
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bound on a pair of fine sandals under his sleek feet,
picked out a sturdy spear, tipped with keen bronze, and went
and stood at the threshold, and then addressed Eurykleia, saying:
"Dear nurse, have you honored the stranger in our house
with a bed and food, or does he lie as he is, uncared-for?
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Clever my mother may be, but that's her way: on impulse
she'll do the honors for some person who's entirely
unimportant, yet dismiss his better with no respect."
To him then prudent Eurykleia responded, saying: "Child,
in this case you shouldn't blame her, when she's blameless.
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He sat there drinking wine as long as he'd a mind to,
but for food he said he'd no more appetite: she asked him.
Then later, when his thoughts turned to lying down and sleep,
she told her serving women to make up a bed for him;
but he--like some totally wretched and illfated person--
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didn't want to sleep in a bed or under blankets, but chose
to doss down on an undressed oxhide and fleeces of sheep
in the forecourt: we had to throw a cloak over him."
So she spoke. Telemachos made his way out through the hall,
spear in hand, two hunting dogs at his heels, and went
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to the place of assembly to join the well-greaved Achaians.
Now Eurykleia, bright among women--daughter of Ops,
Peisenor's son--addressed the handmaids, saying: "To work!
Some of you busy yourselves with sweeping the house out,
sprinkling the floors, and dressing the well-made chairs
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with their purple coverlets; others wipe off all the tables
with sponges, wash clean the mixing-bowls and the crafted
two-handled drinking cups; others go fetch water
from the spring--and move smartly, get it back here soon!
For the suitors won't be long absent from the hall: they'll return
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good and early: this is a public feast day."
So she spoke,
and each one listened with care and did what she ordered:
twenty set off to the spring of dark water, while the rest
went knowledgeably about their various tasks in the house.
Then in came the spirited menservants and began
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to split logs well and skillfully, while the women
returned from the spring; and after them came the swineherd
driving three hogs, the best ones of all that he had;
these he let out to graze in the lush enclosures,
and himself put a friendly query to Odysseus, saying:
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"Stranger, do the Achaians show you more regard now?
Or are they still insulting you here in the hall, as before?"
To him resourceful Odysseus responded, saying: "Eumaios,
would that the gods might exact requital for the outrage
of these men, who in their arrogance behave so recklessly
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in another man's house, and have no sense of shame."
Such was the conversation they had with one another.
Then up to them came Melanthios, the goatherd
, driving
those she-goats that were the finest of all in his flocks
to make a meal for the suitors. Two herdsmen accompanied him.
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