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04 - The Odyssey - Homer · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Book four. They reached the low lying city of Lacedaemon, then,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: where they strove draight to the abode of Menelaeus, and
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: found him in his own house, feasting with his many
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  Speaker 1: clansmen in honor of the wedding of his son, and
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: also of his daughter, whom he was marrying to the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: son of that valiant warrior Achilles. He had given his
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  Speaker 1: consent and promised her to him while he was still
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  Speaker 1: at Troy, and now the gods were bringing the marriage about.
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  Speaker 1: So he was sending her with chariots and horses to
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  Speaker 1: the city of the Myrmidons, over whom Achilles son was reigning.
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  Speaker 1: For his only son, he had found a bride from Sparta,
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  Speaker 1: daughter of Elector. This son, Megapenthes, was born to him
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  Speaker 1: of a bondwoman, for Heaven vouchsafed Helen no more children
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  Speaker 1: after she had borne Hermione, who as fair as golden
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Venus herself. So the neighbors and kinsmen of Menelaeus were
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: feasting and making merry in his house. There was a
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  Speaker 1: bard also to sing to them and play his lyre,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: while two tumblers went about performing in the midst of them.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: When the man struck up with his tune. Telemachus and
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: the son of Nestor stayed their horses at the gate
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: whereon eteoneus, servant to Menilaeus, came out, and as soon
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: as he saw them, ran hurrying back into the house
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  Speaker 1: to tell his master. He went close up to him
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: and said, Menilaus, there are some strangers. Come here, two
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: men who look like sons of Jove. What are we
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  Speaker 1: to do? Shall we take their horses out? Or tell
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: them to find friends elsewhere as they best can. Menilaus
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: was very angry, and said Eteonius, son of Boethius, You
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: never used to be a fool, but now you talk
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  Speaker 1: like a simpleton. Take their horses out, of course, and
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: show the strangers in that they may have supper. You
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: and I have stayed often enough at other people's houses
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: before we got back here where Heaven grant that we
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: may rest in peace. Henceforward, So Eteonius bustled back and
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: bade other servants come with him. They took their sweating
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: hands from under the oak, made them fast to the mangers,
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  Speaker 1: and gave them a feed of oats and barley mixed.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Then they leaned the chariot against the end wall of
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  Speaker 1: the courtyard and led the way into the house. Telemachus
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: and Pisistratus were astonished when they saw it, for its
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: splendor was as that of the sun and moon. Then,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: when they had admired everything to their heart's content, they
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  Speaker 1: went into the bathroom and washed themselves. When the servants
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: had washed them and anointed them with oil, they brought
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: them woolen cloaks and shirts, and the two took their
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: seats by the side of Menelaeus. A maid servant brought
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: them water in a beautiful golden ewer and poured it
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: into a silver basin for them to wash their hands,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: and she drew a clean table beside them. An upper
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: servant brought them bread and offered them many good things
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: of what there was in the house, while the carver
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: fetched them plates of all manner of meats, and set
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: cups of gold by their side. Menelaeus then greeted them, saying,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: fall to and welcome. When you have done supper, I
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: shall ask you who you are. For the lineage of
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: such men as you cannot have been lost. You must
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: be descended from a line of scepter bearing kings. For
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: poor people do not have such sons as you are
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  Speaker 1: on this. He handed them a piece of fat roast loin,
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  Speaker 1: which had been set near him, as being a prime part,
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  Speaker 1: and they laid their hands on the good things that
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: were before them. As soon as they had had enough
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: to eat and drink, Telemachus said to the son of Nestor,
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  Speaker 1: with his head so close that no one might hear, look, pisistratus,
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  Speaker 1: man after my own heart. See the gleam of bronze,
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  Speaker 1: and gold, of amber, ivory and silver. Everything is so
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  Speaker 1: splendid that it is like seeing the palace of Olympian Jove.
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  Speaker 1: I am lost in admiration. Menelaeus overheard him and said,
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  Speaker 1: no one my sons can hold his own with Jove,
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  Speaker 1: for his house and everything about him is immortal. But
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: among mortal men, well, there may be another who has
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  Speaker 1: as much wealth as I have, or there may not.
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  Speaker 1: But at all events, I have traveled much and undergone
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: much hardship, for it was nearly eight years before I
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  Speaker 1: could get home with my fleet. I went to Cyprus, Phoenicia,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: and the Egyptians. I went also to the Ethiopians, the Sidonians,
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  Speaker 1: and the Arambians, and to Libya, where the lambs have horns.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as they are born, and the sheep lammed
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  Speaker 1: down three times a year. Every One in that country,
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  Speaker 1: whether master or man, has plenty of cheese, meat, and
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  Speaker 1: good milk for the ewes yield all the year round.
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  Speaker 1: But while I was traveling and getting great riches among
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  Speaker 1: these people, my brother was secretly and shockingly murdered through
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: the perfidy of his wicked wife. So that I have
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: no pleasure in being lord of all this wealth. Whoever
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: your parents may be, they must have told you about
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: all this, and of my heavy loss in the ruin
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  Speaker 1: of a stately mansion, fully and magnificently furnished. Would that
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I had only a third of what I now have,
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  Speaker 1: so that I had stayed at home, and all those
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: were living who perished on the plain of Troy far
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: from Argos. I grieve as I sit in my house
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  Speaker 1: for one and all of them. At times I cry
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  Speaker 1: aloud for sorrow, but presently I leave off again, for
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: crying is cold comfort, and one soon tires of it.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Yet grieve for these as I may. I do so
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  Speaker 1: for one man more than for them all. I cannot
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  Speaker 1: even think of him without loathing both food and sleep.
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  Speaker 1: So miserable does he make me, for no one of
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  Speaker 1: all the Achaeans worked so hard or risked so much
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  Speaker 1: as he did. He took nothing by it, and has
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  Speaker 1: left a legacy of sorrow to myself. For he has
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: been gone a long time, and we know not whether
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  Speaker 1: he is alive or dead. His old father, his long
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  Speaker 1: suffering wife Penelope, and his son Telemachus, whom he left
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  Speaker 1: behind him an infant in arms, are plunged in grief
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: on his account. Thus spoke Menelaus, and the heart of
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  Speaker 1: Telemachus yearned as he bethought him of his father. Tears
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  Speaker 1: fell from his eyes as he heard him thus mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: so that he held his cloak before his face with
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  Speaker 1: both hands. When Menelaeus saw this, he doubted whether to
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: let him choose his own time for speaking, or to
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  Speaker 1: ask him at once and find what it was all about.
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  Speaker 1: While he was thus in two mines, Helen came down
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  Speaker 1: from her high vaulted and perfumed room, looking as lovely
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  Speaker 1: as Diana herself. Adrasi brought her a seat alcippia soft
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  Speaker 1: woolen rug, while Philo fetched her the silver work box
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  Speaker 1: which Alcandra, wife of Polybus, had given her. Polybus lived
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  Speaker 1: in Egyptian Thebes, which is the richest city in the
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  Speaker 1: whole world. He gave Menelaeus two baths, both of pure silver,
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  Speaker 1: two tripods, and ten talents of gold. Besides all this,
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  Speaker 1: his wife gave Helen some beautiful presents to it, a
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  Speaker 1: golden distaff and a silver work box that ran on wheels,
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  Speaker 1: with a gold band round the top of it. Philo
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  Speaker 1: now placed this by her side, full of fine spun yarn,
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  Speaker 1: and a distaff charged with violet colored wool was laid
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  Speaker 1: upon the top of it. Then hell And took her seat,
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  Speaker 1: put her feet upon the footstool, and began to question
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  Speaker 1: her husband. Do we know Menelaus, said she the names
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  Speaker 1: of these strangers who have come to visit us. Shall
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  Speaker 1: I guess right or wrong? But I cannot help saying
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  Speaker 1: what I think. Never yet have I seen either man
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  Speaker 1: or woman so like somebody else. Indeed, when I look
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  Speaker 1: at him, I hardly know what to think, as this
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  Speaker 1: young man is like to Lemachus, whom Eulysses left as
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  Speaker 1: a baby behind him, when you Achaeans went to Troy
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  Speaker 1: with battle in your hearts. On account of my most
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  Speaker 1: shameless self, my dear wife replied Memilaus, I see the likeness,
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  Speaker 1: just as you do. His hands and feet are just
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  Speaker 1: like Eulysses, so is his hair, with the shape of
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  Speaker 1: his head and the expression of his eyes. Moreover, when
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: I was talking about Eulysses and saying how much he
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  Speaker 1: had suffered on my account, tears fell from his eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and he hid his face in his mantle. Then Pisistratus said, Menelaeus,
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  Speaker 1: son of Atreus, you who are right in thinking that
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  Speaker 1: this young man is to Lemachus. But he is very
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  Speaker 1: modest and is ashamed to come here and begin opening
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  Speaker 1: up discourse with one whose conversation is so divinely interesting
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  Speaker 1: as your own. My father Nestor sent me to escort
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  Speaker 1: him hither, for he wanted to know whether you could
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  Speaker 1: give him any counsel or suggestion. A son has always
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  Speaker 1: trouble at home when his father has gone away, leaving
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  Speaker 1: him without supporters. And this is how Telemachus is now placed,
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  Speaker 1: for his father is absent, and there is no one
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  Speaker 1: among his own people to stand by him. Bless my heart,
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  Speaker 1: replied Menelaus. Then I am receiving a visit from the
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  Speaker 1: son of a very dear friend who suffered much hardship
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  Speaker 1: for my sake. I had always hoped to entertain him
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  Speaker 1: with most marked distinction. When Heaven had granted us a
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  Speaker 1: safe return from beyond the seas, I should have founded
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  Speaker 1: a city for him in Argos and built him a house.
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  Speaker 1: It should have made him leave Ithaca with his goods,
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  Speaker 1: his son, and all his people, and should have sacked
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  Speaker 1: for them some one of the neighboring cities that are
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  Speaker 1: subject to me. We should thus have seen one another continually,
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  Speaker 1: and nothing but death could have interrupted so close and
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  Speaker 1: happy an intercourse. I suppose, however, that Heaven grudged us
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  Speaker 1: such great good fortune, for it has prevented the poor
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  Speaker 1: fellow from ever getting home at all. Thus did he speak,
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  Speaker 1: and his words set them all a weeping Helen wept,
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  Speaker 1: Telemachus wept, and so did Menelaus. Nor could Pisistratus keep
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  Speaker 1: his eyes from filling when he remembered his dear brother Antilochus,
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  Speaker 1: whom the son of Bright Dawn had killed. Thereon, he
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  Speaker 1: said to Menelaus, Sir, my father Nestor, when we used
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  Speaker 1: to talk about you at home, told me you were
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  Speaker 1: a person of rare and excellent understanding. If then it
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  Speaker 1: be possible, do as I would urge you I am
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  Speaker 1: not fond of crying while I am getting my supper.
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  Speaker 1: Morning will come in due course, and in the forenoon.
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  Speaker 1: I care not how much I cry for those that
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  Speaker 1: are dead and gone. This is all we can do
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  Speaker 1: for the things. We can only shave our heads for them,
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  Speaker 1: and wring the tears from our cheeks. I had a
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  Speaker 1: brother who died at Troy. He was, by no means
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: the worst man there. You are sure to have known him.
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  Speaker 1: His name was Antilochus. I never set eyes upon him myself,
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  Speaker 1: but they say that he was singularly fleet of foot
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  Speaker 1: and in fight valiant. Your discretion, my friend, answered Menelaus,
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  Speaker 1: is beyond your years. It is plain you take after
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  Speaker 1: your father. One can soon see when a man is
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  Speaker 1: a son to one whom Heaven has blessed both as
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: regards wife and offspring. And it has blessed Nestor from
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  Speaker 1: first to last all his days, giving him a green
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: old age in his own house, with sons about him
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  Speaker 1: who are both well disposed and valiant. We will put
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  Speaker 1: an end therefore to all this weeping, and attend to
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  Speaker 1: our supper again. Let water be poured over our hands.
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  Speaker 1: Telemachus and I can talk with one another fully in
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: the morning. On this as Phalian, one of the servants
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: poured water over their hands. They laid their hands on
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: the good things that were before them. Then Jove's daughter,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Helen bethought her of another matter. She drugged the wine
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: with an herb that banishes all care, sorrow, and ill humor.
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  Speaker 1: Whoever drinks wine thus drugged cannot shed a single tear
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  Speaker 1: all the rest of the day, not even though his
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: father and mother, both of them, drop down dead, or
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: he sees a brother or a son hewn in pieces
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: before his very eyes. This drug of such a sovereign
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: power and virtue had been given to Helen by Polydamna,
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  Speaker 1: wife of Thon, a woman of Egypt, where there grow
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  Speaker 1: all sorts of herbs, some good to put into the
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: mixing bowl, and others poisonous. Moreover, every one in the
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: whole country is a skilled physician, for they are of
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: the race of Paeon. When Helen had put this drug
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: in the bowl and had told the servants to serve
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  Speaker 1: the wine round, she said, Menelaeus, son of Atreus, and you,
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  Speaker 1: my good friends, son of honorable men, which is as
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  Speaker 1: Jove wills, for he is the giver both of good
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: and evil, and can do what he chooses. Feast here
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: as you will, and listen while I tell you a
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: tale in season. I cannot indeed name every single one
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: of the exploits of Ulysses, but I can say what
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: he did when he was before Troy and you Occave
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: were in all sorts of difficulties. He covered himself with
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: wounds and bruises, dressed himself all in rags, and entered
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  Speaker 1: the enemy's city, looking like a menial or a beggar,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: and quite different from what he did when he was
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: among his own people. In this disguise, he entered the
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: city of Troy, and no one said anything to him.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: I alone recognized him and began to question him, but
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: he was too cunning for me. When however, I had
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: washed and anointed him, and had given him clothes, and
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: after I had sworn a solemn oath not to betray
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: him to the Trojans till he had got safely back
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: to his own camp and to the ships. He told
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: me all that the Achaeans meant to do. He killed
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: many Trojans and got much information before he reached the
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Argive camp. For all which things the Trojan women made lamentation.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: But for my own part, I was glad, for my
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: heart was beginning to moan after my home, and I
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: was unhappy about wrong that Venus had done me in
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: taking me over there, away from my country, my girl,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: and my lawful wedded husband, who is indeed by no
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: means deficient either in person or understanding. Then Menelaeus said,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: all that you have been saying, my dear wife, is true.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: I've traveled much and have had much to do with heroes,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: but I have never seen such another man as Ulysses.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: What endurance too, and what courage he displayed within the
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: wooden horse, wherein all the bravest of the archives were
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: lying in wait to bring death and destruction upon the Trojans.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: At that moment you came up to us. Some god
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: who wished well to the Trojans must have set you
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: on to it, and you had Daphobis with you. Three
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: times did you go all round our hiding place and
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: pat it? You called our chiefs, each by his own name,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: and mimicked all our wives, diomeded Ulysses, and I, from
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: our seats inside, heard what a noise you made, Diomede,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: and I could not make up our minds whether to
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: spring out then and there, or to answer you from inside.
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  Speaker 1: But Ulysses held us all in check, so we sat
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: quite still, all except Anticlus, who was beginning to answer you,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: when Ulysses clapped his two brawny hands over his mouth
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: and kept them there. It was this that saved us all,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: for he muzzled Anticlus till Minerva took you away again.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: How sad exclaimed Telemachus that all this was of no
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: avail to save him, nor yet his own iron courage.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: But now Sir be pleased to send us all to bed,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: that we may lie down and enjoy the blessed boon
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: of sleep. On this, Helen told the maid servants to
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: set up beds in the room that was in the gatehouse,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: and to make them with good red rugs, and spread
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: coverlets on the top of them with woolen cloaks for
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: the guests to wear. So the maids went out, carrying
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: a torch and made the be to which a man
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: servant presently conducted the strangers. Thus then did Telemachus and
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Pisistratus sleep there in the forecourt, while the son of
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Atreus lay in an inner room with lovely Helen by
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: his side. When the child of morning, rosy fingered dawn, appeared,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Menelaeus rose and dressed himself. He bound his sandals on
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: to his comely feet, girded his sword about his shoulders,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: and left his room, looking like an immortal god. Then,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: taking a seat near Telemachus, he said, and what Telemachus
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: has led you to take this long sea voyage to Lacedaemon?
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Are you on public or private business? Tell me all
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: about it. I have come, sir, replied Telemachus, to see
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: if you can tell me anything about my father. I
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: am being eaten out of house and home. My fair
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: estate is being wasted, and my house is full of
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: miscreants who keep killing great numbers of my sheep and
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: oxen on the pretense of paying their addresses to my mother.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: There for I am suppliant at your knees. If haply
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: you may tell me about my father's melancholy end, whether
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: you saw it with your own eyes or heard it
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: from some other traveler, For he was a man born
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: to trouble. Do not soften things out of any pity
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: for myself, but tell me, in all plainness, exactly what
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: you saw. If my brave father Ulysses, ever, did you
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: loyal service, either by word or deed, when you Achaeans
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: were harassed by the Trojans. Bear it in mine now
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: as in my favor, and tell me truly all Menelaeus,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: on hearing this, was very much shocked, so he exclaimed,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: those cowards would usurp a brave man's bed. A hind
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: might as well lay her new born young in the
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: lair of a lion, and then go off to feed
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: in the forest or some grassy dell. The lion, when
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: he comes back to his lair, will make short work
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: with the pair of them, and so will Ulysses with
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: these suitors. By Father, Jove, Minerva and Apollo. If Ulysses
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: is still the man that he was when he rested
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: with Phillow Melodies in Lesbos, and throw him so heavily
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: that all the Achaeans cheered him. If he is still
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: such and were to come near these suitors, they would
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: have a short shrift and a sorry wedding. As regards
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: your questions, however, I will not prevaricate or deceive you,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: but will tell you without concealment, all that the old
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Man of the Sea told me. I was trying to
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: come on here. But the gods detained me in Egypt,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: for my hecatombs had not given them full satisfaction, and
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: the gods are very strict about having their dues. Now
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: off Egypt, about as far as a ship can sail
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: in a day with a good stiff breeze behind her,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: there is an island called Pharos. It has a good
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: harbor from which vessels can get out into open sea
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: when they have taken in water. And the gods becalmed
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: me twenty days without so much as a breath of
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: fair wind to help me forward. We should have run
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: clean out of provisions, and my men would have starved
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: if a goddess had not taken pity upon me and
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: saved me, in the person of Idithea, daughter to Proteus,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: the old man of the sea, for she had taken
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: a great fancy to me. She came to me one
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: day when I was by myself, as I often was,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: for the men used to go with their barbed hooks
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: all over the island in the hope of catching a
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: fish or two to save them from the pangs of hunger.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Stranger said she, it seems to me that you like
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: starving in this way. At any rate, it does not
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: greatly trouble you, for you stick here day after day
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: without even trying to get away, though your men are
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: dying by inches. Let me tell you, said I, whichever
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: of the goddesses you may happen to be that, I
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: am not staying here of my own accord, but must
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: have offended the gods that live in heaven. Tell me therefore,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: for the gods know everything, which of the immortals it
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: is that is hindering me in this way, And tell
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: me also how I may sail the sea so as
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: to reach my home. Stranger replied she, I will make
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: it all quite clear to you. There is an old
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: immortal who lives under the sea hereabouts, and whose name
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: is Proteus. He is an egyp, and people say he
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: is my father. He is Neptune's head man and knows
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: every inch of ground all over the bottom of the sea.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: If you can snare him and hold him tight, he
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: will tell you about your voyage, what courses you are
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: to take, and how you are to sail the sea
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: so as to reach your home. He will also tell you,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: if you so will, all that has been going on
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: at your house. Both good and bad while you have
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: been away on your long and dangerous journey. Can you
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: show me, said I, some stratagem by means of which
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I may catch this old God without his suspecting it
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: and finding me out. For a god is not easily caught,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: not by a mortal man, stranger, said she. I will
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: make it all quite clear to you about the time
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: when the sun shall have reached mid heaven. The old
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Man of the Sea comes up from under the waves,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: heralded by the west wind that furs the water over
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: his head. As soon as he has come up, he
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: lies down and goes to sleep in a great sea cave,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: where the seals hello Sidney's chickens as they call them,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: come up also from the gray sea, and go to
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: sleep in shoals all around him. And a very strong
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: and fish like smell do they bring with them. Early
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: tomorrow morning, I will take you to this place and
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: will lay you in ambush. Pick out therefore, the three
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: best men you have in your fleet, and I will
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: tell you all the tricks that the old Man will
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: play you. First, he will look over all his seals
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: and count them. Then, when he has seen them and
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: tallied them on his five fingers. He will go to
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: sleep among them, as a shepherd among his sheep. The
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: moment you see that he is asleep, seize him, put
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: forth all your strength and hold him fast, for he
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: will do his very utmost to get away from you.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: He will turn himself into every kind of creature that
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: goes upon the earth, and will become also both fire
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: and water. But you must hold him fast and grip
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: him tighter and tighter till he begins to talk to
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: you and comes back to what he was when you
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: saw him go to sleep. Then you may slacken your
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: hold and let him go, and you can ask him
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: which of the gods it is that is angry with you,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: and what you must do to reach your home over
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: the seas. Having said so, she dived under the waves,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: whereon I turned back to the place where my ships
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: were ranged upon the shore, and my heart was clouded
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: with care as I went along. When I reached my ship,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: we got supper ready, for night was falling, and camped
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: down upon the beach. When the child of morning, rosy
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: fingered dawn, appeared. I took the three men on whose
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: prowess of all kinds I could most rely, and went
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: along by the sea side, praying heartily to heaven. Meanwhile,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: the goddess fetched me up four seal skins from the
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: bottom of the sea, all of them just skinned, for
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: she meant playing a trick upon her father. Then she
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: dug four pits for us to lie in, and sat
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: down to wait till we should come up. When we
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: were close to her, she made lie down in the
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: pits one after the other, and threw a seal skin
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: over each of us. Our ambuscade would have been intolerable,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: for the stench of the fishy seals was most distressing.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Who would go to bed with a sea monster if
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: he could help it? But here too the goddess helped
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: us and thought of something that gave us great relief.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: For she put some ambrosia under each man's nostrils, which
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: was so fragrant that it killed the smell of the seals.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: We waited the whole morning and made the best of it,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: watching the seals come up in hundreds to bask upon
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: the sea shore. Till at noon. The old man of
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: the sea came up too, and when he had found
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: his fat seals, he went over them and counted them.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: We were among the first he counted, and he never
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: suspected any guile, but laid himself down to sleep as
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: soon as he had done counting. Then we rushed upon
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: him with a shout and seized him, on which he
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: began at once with his old tricks, and changed himself
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: first into a lion with a great mane. Then all
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: of a sudden he became a dragon, a leopard, a
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: wild boar. The next moment he was running water, and
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: then again directly he was a tree. But we stuck
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: to him and never lost hold till at last the
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: cunning of the old creature became distressed and said, which
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: of the gods was it, son of Atreus, that hatched
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: this plot with you? For snaring me and seizing me
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: against my will? What do you want? You know that yourself,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: old man? I answered, you will gain nothing by trying
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: to put me off. It is because I have been
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: kept so long in this island, and see no sign
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: of my being able to get away. I'm losing all heart.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Tell me, then, for you gods know everything, which of
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: the immortals it is that is hindering me? And tell
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: me also how I may sail the sea so as
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: to reach my home. Then he said, if you would
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: finish your voyage and get home quickly, you must offer
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: sacrifices to Jove and to the rest of the gods
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: before embarking. For it is decreed that you shall not
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: get back to your friends and to your own house
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: till you have returned to the heaven fed stream of
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Eas Egypt and offered holy hecatombs to the immortal gods
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: that reign in heaven. When you have done this, they
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: will let you finish your voyage. I was broken hearted
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: when I heard that I must go back all that
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: long and terrible voyage to Egypt. Nevertheless, I answered, I
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: will do all, old man, that you have laid upon me.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: But now tell me, and tell me true, whether all
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the Achayans whom Nestor and I left behind us when
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: we set sail from Troy, have got home safely, or
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: whether any one of them came to a bad end,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: either on board his own ship or among his friends
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: when the days of his fighting were done. Son of Atrias,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: he answered, why ask me? You had better not know
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: what I can tell you, for your eyes will surely
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: fill when you have heard my story. Many of those
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: about whom you ask are dead and gone, but many
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: still remain, and only two of the chief men among
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: the Achaeans perished during their return home. As for what
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: happened on the field of battle, you were there yourself
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: a third Acayan leader, still at sea, alive, but hindered
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: from returning. Ajax was wrecked, for Neptune drove him on
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: to the great rocks of Gyrae. Nevertheless, he let him
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: get safely out of the water, and in spite of
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: all Minerva's hatred, he would have escaped death if he
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: had not ruined himself by boasting. He said, the gods
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: could not drown him, even though they had tried to
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: do so. And when Neptune heard this large talk, he
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: seized his trident in his two brawny hands and split
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: the rock of Guyray in two pieces. The base remained
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: where it was, but the part on which Ajax was
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: sitting fell headlong into the sea and carried Ajax with it.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: So he drank salt water and was drowned. Your brother
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: and his ships escaped, for Juno protected him, But when
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: he was just about to reach the high promontory of Malaya,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: he was caught by a heavy gale which carried him
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: out to sea again sorely against his will, and drove
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: him to the foreland where Thyistes used to dwell, but
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: where Igisthus was then living by and by. However, it
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: seemed as though he was to return safely after all,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: for the gods backed the wind into its old quarter,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: and they reached home, whereon Agamemnon kissed his native soil
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: and shed tears of joy at finding himself in his
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: own country. Now there was a watchman whom Igisthus kept
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: always on the watch, and to whom he had promised
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: two talents of gold. This man had been looking out
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: for a whole year to make sure that Agamemnon did
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: not give him the slip and prepare war. When therefore
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: this man saw Agamemnon go by, he went and told Agisthus,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: who at once began to lay a plot for him.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: He picked twenty of his bravest warriors and placed them
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: in ambuscade on one side of the cloister, while on
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: the opposite side he prepared a banquet. Then he sent
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: his chariots and horsemen to Agamemnon and invited him to
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: the feast, But he met foul play. He got him there,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: all unsuspicious of the doom that was awaiting him, and
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: killed him when the banquet was over, as though he
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: were butchering an ox. In the shambles, not one of
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Agamemnon's followers was left alive, nor yet one of Aegysus,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: but they were all killed there in the cloisters. Thus
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: spoke Proteus, and I was broken hearted as I heard him.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: I sat down upon the sands and wept. I felt
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: as though I could no longer bear to live nor
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: look upon the light of the sun. Presently, when I
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: had had my fill of weeping and writhing upon the ground,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: the old man of the sea said, son of Atreus,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: do not waste any more time in crying so bitterly
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: it can do no manner of good. Find your way
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: home as fast as ever you can. For Aegisthus be
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: still alive. And even though Erestes has beforehand with you
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: in killing him, you may yet come in for his funeral.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: On this I took comfort in spite of all my sorrow,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: and said, I know then about these two. Tell me
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: therefore about the third man of whom you spoke, Is
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: he still alive? But at sea? And unable to get home,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: or is he dead? Tell me, no matter how much
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: it may grieve me. The third man, he answered, is Ulysses,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: who dwells in Ithaca. I can see him in an island,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: sorrowing bitterly in the house of the nymph Calypso, who
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: is keeping him prisoner. And he cannot reach his home,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: for he has no ships nor sailors to take him
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: over the sea. As for your own end, Menelaeus, you
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: shall not die in Argos, but the gods will take
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: you to the Alycian Plain, which is at the end
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: of the world. There, fair haired rhadamanthus reigns, and men
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: lead an easier life than anywhere else in the world.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: For in Elysium there falls not rain, nor hail nor snow,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: but Oceanus breathes ever with a west wind that sings
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: softly from the sea and gives fresh life to all men.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: This will happen to you because you have married Helen
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: and are Jove's son in law. As he spoke, he
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: dived under the waves, whereon I turned back to the
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: ships with my companions, and my heart was clouded with
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: care as I went along. When we reached the ships,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: we got supper ready for night was falling, and camped
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: down upon the beach. When the child of morning, rosy
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: fingered dawn, appeared, we drew our ships into the water
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: and put our masts and sails within them. Then we
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: went on board ourselves, took our seats on the benches,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: and smote the gray sea with our oars. I again
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: stationed my ships in the heaven fed stream of Egypt
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: and offered hecatombs that were full and sufficient. When I
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: had thus appeased Heaven's anger, I raised a barrow to
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: the memory of Agamemnon, that his name might live forever,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: after which I had a quick passage home, for the
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: gods sent me a fair wind. And now for yourself.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Stay here some ten or twelve days longer, and I
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: will then speed you on your way. I will make
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: you a noble present of a chariot and three horses.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: I will also give you you a beautiful chalice, that
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: so long as you live, you may think of me
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: whenever you make a drink offering to the immortal gods.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Son of Atreus, replied Telemachus, do not press me to
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: stay longer. I should be contented to remain with you
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: for another twelve months. I find your conversation so delightful
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: that I should never once wish myself at home with
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: my parents. But my crew, whom I have left at Pylos,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: are already impatient, and you are detaining me from them.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: As for any present you may be disposed to make me,
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: I had rather that it should be a piece of plate.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: I will take no horses back with me to Ithaca,
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: but will leave them to adorn your own stables. For
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: you have much flat ground in your kingdom, where lotus thrives,
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: as also meadow, sweet and wheat, and barley, and oats
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: with their white and spreading ears. Whereas in Ithaca we
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: have neither open fields nor race courses, and the country
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: is more fit for goats than horses. And I like
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: it the better for that none of our islands have
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: much level ground suitable for horses, and Ithaca least of
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: all Menolaus smiled and took Telemachus's hand within his own.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: What you say said, he chows that you come of
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: good family. I both can and will make this exchange
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: for you by giving you the finest and most precious
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: piece of plate in all my house. It is a
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: mixing bowl by Vulcan's own hand, of pure silver, except
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: the rim, which is inlaid with gold. Patomus, king of
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: the Sidonians, gave it me in the course of a
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: visit which I paid him. When I returned thither on
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: my homeward journey, I will make you a present of it.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: Thus did they converse, and guests kept coming to the
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: king's house. They brought sheep and wine, while their wives
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: had put up bread for them to take with them.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: So they were busy cooking their dinners in the courts. Meanwhile,
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: the suitors were throwing discs or aiming with spears at
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: a mark on the leveled ground in front of Ulysses house,
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: and were behaving with all their old insolence. Antonius and Eurymachus,
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: who were their ringleaders and much the foremost among them,
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: all were sitting together when Naman, son of Phronius, came
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: up and said to Antonius, have we any idea Antonius,
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: on what day Telemachus returns from Pylos. He has a
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: ship of mine, and I want it to cross over
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: to Elies. I have twelve brood mares there with yielding
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: mule foes by their side. Not yet broken in, and
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: I want to bring one of them over here and
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: break him. They were astounded when they heard this, for
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: they had made sure that Telemachus had not gone to
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: the city of Nelius. They thought he was only away
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: somewhere on the farms, and was with the sheep or
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: the swineherd. So Antonius said, when did he go? Tell me, truly,
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: and what young men did he take with him? Were
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: they freemen or his own bondsmen? For he might manage
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: that too. Tell me, also, did you let him have
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: the ship of your own free will because he asked you?
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: Or did he take it without your leave? I lent
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: it him, said Nauman. What else could I do when
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: a man of his position said he was in a
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: difficulty and asked me to oblige him, I could not
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: possibly refuse. As for those who went with him, they
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: were the best young men we have. And I saw
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: Mentor go on board as captain, or some god who
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: is exactly like him. I cannot understand it, for I
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: saw Mentor hear myself yesterday morning, and yet he was
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: then setting out for Pylos. Naman then went back to
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: his father's house. But Antonius and Eurymachus were very angry.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: They told the others to leave off playing and to
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: come and sit down along with themselves. When they came, Antonius,
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: son of Eupathe's, spoke in anger. His heart was black
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: with rage, and his eyes flashed fire as he said,
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: good Heavens, this voyage of Telemachus is a very serious matter.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: We had made sure that it would come to nothing.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: But the young fellow has got away in spite of us,
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: and with a picked crew too, he will be giving
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: us trouble. Presently, made jove take him before he is
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: full grown. Find me a ship therefore, with a crew
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: of twenty men, and I will lie in wait for
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: him in the straits between Ithaca and Samos. He will
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: then rue the day that he set out to try
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: and get news of his father. Thus did he speak,
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: and the others applauded his saying they then all of
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: them went inside the buildings. It was not long ere
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: Penelope came to know what the suitors were plotting. For
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: a man servant, Meadan overheard them from outside the outer
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: court as they were laying their schemes within, and went
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: to tell his mistress. As he crossed the threshold, of
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: her room. Penelope said, Meadan, what have the suitors sent
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: you here for? Is it to tell the maids to
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: leave their master's business and cook dinner for them? I
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: wish they may neither woo nor dine henceforward, neither here
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: nor anywhere else. But let this be the very last
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: time for the waste you all make of my son's estate.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: Did not your fathers tell you when you were children
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: how good Ulysses had been to them, never doing anything
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: high handed, nor speaking harshly to anybody. Kings may say
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: things sometimes, and they may take a fancy to one
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: man and dislike another. But Ulysses never did an unjust
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: thing by anybody, which shows what bad hearts you have,
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: and that there is no such thing as gratitude left
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: in this world. Then Meadon said, I wish, Madam, that
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: this were all. But they are plotting something much more dreadful. Now,
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: may Heaven frustrate their design. They are going to try
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: and murder Telemachus as he is coming home from Pylos
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: and Lacedaemon, where he has been to get news of
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: his father. Then Penelope's heart sank within her, and for
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: a long time she was speechless. Her eyes filled with tears,
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: and she could find no utterance. At last, however, she said,
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: why did my son leave me? What business had he
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: to go sailing off in ships that may c long
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: voyages over the ocean like sea horses? Does he want
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: to die without leaving any one behind him to keep
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: up his name? I do not know, answered Medan, whether
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: some god sent him on to it, or whether he
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: went on his own impulse to see if he could
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: find out if his father was dead or alive, And
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: on his way home, then he went downstairs again, leaving
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: Penelope in an agony of grief. There were plenty of
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: seats in the house, but she had no heart for
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: sitting on any one of them. She could only fling
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: herself on the floor of her own room and cry.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: Whereon all the maids in the house, both old and young,
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: gathered round her and began to cry too, till at last,
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: in a transport of sorrow, she exclaimed, My DearS, Heaven
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: has been pleased to try me with more affliction than
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: any other woman of my age and country. First, I
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: lost my brave and lion hearted husband, who had every
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: good quality under heaven, and whose name was great over
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: all Hellas and Middle Argos, And now my darling son
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: is at the mercy of the winds and waves, without
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: my having heard one word about his lee home. You Hussies,
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: there was not one of you who would so much
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: as think of giving me a call out of my bed,
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: though you, all of you very well knew when he
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: was starting. If I had known he meant taking this voyage,
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: he would have had to give it up, no matter
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: how much he was bent upon it, or leave me
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: a corpse behind him one or other. Now, however, go
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: some of you and call old Dolius, who was given
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: me by my father on my marriage, and who is
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: my gardener. Bid him go at once and tell everything
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: to Laertes, who may be able to hit on some
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: plan for enlisting public sympathy on our side as against
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: those who are trying to exterminate his own race and
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: that of Ulysses. Then the dear old nurse Eueryclias said,
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: you may kill me, madam, or let me live on
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: in your house, whichever you please, But I will tell
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: you the real truth. I knew all about it, and
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: gave him everything he wanted in the way of bread
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: and wine. But he made me take my solemn oath
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: that I would not tell you anything for some ten
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: or twelve days unless you asked or happened to hear
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: of his having gone, For he did not want you
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: to spoil your beauty by crying. And now, Madam, wash
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: your face, change your dress, and go upstairs with your
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: maids to offer prayers to Minerva, daughter of Agis bearing Jove,
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: for she can save him, even though he be in
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: the jaws of death. Do not trouble lairties. He has
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: trouble enough already. Besides, I cannot think that the gods
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: hate the race of the son of Eresisius so much.
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: But there will be a son left to come up
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: after him, and inherit both the house and the fair
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: fields that lie far all around it. With these words,
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: she made her mistress leave off crying and dried the
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: tears from her eyes. Penelope washed her face, changed her dress,
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: and went upstairs with her maids. She then put some
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: bruised barley into a basket and began praying to Minerva.
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: Hear me, she cried, daughter of Aegis bearing Jove, unweariable,
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: if ever ulysses while he was here, burned you fat
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: thigh bones of sheep or heifer. Bear it in mind
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: now as in my favor, and save my darling son
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: from the villainy of the suitors. She cried aloud as
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: she spoke, and the goddess heard her prayer. Meanwhile, the
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: suitors were clamorous throughout the covered cloister, and one of
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: them said, the queen is preparing for her marriage with
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: one or other of us. Little does she dream that
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: her son has now been doomed to die. This was
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: what they said, but they did not know what was
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: going to happen. Then Antonius said, comrades, let there be
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: no loud talking, lest some of it get carried inside.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: Let us be up and do that in silence about
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: which we are all of a mind. He then chose
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: twenty men, and they went down to their ship and
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: to the sea side. They drew the vessel into the
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: water and got her mast and sails inside her. They
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: bound the oars to the thole pins with twisted thongs
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: of leather, all in due course, and spread the white
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: sails aloft, while their fine servants brought them their armor.
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: Then they made the ship fast a little way out,
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: came on shore again, got their suppers and waited till
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: night should fall. But Penelope lay in her own room upstairs,
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: unable to eat or drink, and wondering whether her brave
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: son would escape or be overpowered by the wicked suitors,
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: like a lioness caught in the toils with huntsmen hemming
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: her in on every side. She thought and thought till
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: she sank into a slumber and lay on her bed,
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: bereft of thought and motion. Then Minerva bethought her of
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: another matter and made a vision in the likeness of
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: Penelope's sister, Iphthemee, daughter of Vicarius, who had married Eumelius
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: and lived in Fairay. She told the vision to go
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: to the house of Ulysses and to make Penelope leave
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: off crying. So it came into her room by the
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: hole through which the thong went for pulling the door
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: to and hovered over her head, saying, you are asleep, Penelope.
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: The gods who live at ease will not suffer you
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: to weep and be so sad. Your son has done
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: them no wrong, so he will yet come back to you. Penelope,
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: who was sleeping sweetly at the gates of dreamland, answered sister,
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: why have you come here you do not come very often.
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: But I suppose that is because you live such a
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: long way off. Am I then to leave off crying
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: and refrain from all the sad thoughts that torture me.
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: I who have lost my brave and lion hearted husband,
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: who had every good quality under heaven, and whose name
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: was great over all hellas in middle Argos. And now
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: my darling son has gone off on board of a ship,
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: a foolish fellow who has never been used to roughing it,
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: nor to going about among gatherings of men. I am
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: even more anxious about him than about my husband. I
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: am all in a tremble when I think of him,
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: lest something should happen to him, either from the people
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: among whom he has gone, or by sea. For he
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: has many enemies who are plotting against him and are
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: bent on killing him before he can return home. Then
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: the vision said, take heart, and be not so much dismayed.
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: There is one gone with him whom many a man
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: would be glad enough to have stand by his side.
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: I mean, Minerva. It is she who has compassion upon you,
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: and who has sent me to bear you this message.
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: Then said Penelope, if you are a god or have
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: been sent here by divine commission. Tell me also about
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: that other unhappy one. Is he still alive? For is
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: he already dead? And in the house of Hades, And
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: the vision said, I shall not tell you for certain
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: whether he is alive or dead, And there is no
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: use in idle conversation. Then it vanished through the thong
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: hole of the door and was dissipated into thin air.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: But Penelope rose from her sleep, refreshed and comforted. So
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: vivid had been her dream. Meantime, the suitors went on
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: board and sailed their ways over the sea, intent on
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: murdering Telemachus. Now there is a rocky islet called Astoris,
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: of no great size in mid channel between Ithaca and Sama,
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: and there is a harbor on either side of it
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: where a ship can lie. Here. Then the Achaeans place
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: themselves in ambush. End of Book four.