Chapter XXIV: Book XIX

_Ulysses converses with Penelope, and is recognised by
Euryclea_.

Ulysses and Telemachus were left alone in the cloister,
and Ulysses said, "We must take the armour down from the
walls; if the suitors are surprised, say what I told you
when we were in Eumæus's hut."

Telemachus called Euryclea, and bade her shut the women 15
up in their room, for he was going to take the armour
down into the store room. "Who," asked Euryclea, "will
show you a light if the women are all shut up?" "The
stranger," answered Telemachus; "I will not have people
doing nothing about my premises."

He and Ulysses then began removing the armour, and 31
Minerva went before them, shedding a strange lambent
light that played on walls and rafters. Telemachus was
lost in wonder, but Ulysses said, "Hush, this is the
manner of the gods. Get you to bed, and leave me to talk
with your mother and the maids." So Telemachus crossed
the court and went to the room in which he always slept,
leaving Ulysses in the cloister.

Penelope now came down, and they set a seat for her by 53
the fire; the maids also were let out, and came to take
away the meats on which the suitors had been feasting,
and to heap fresh wood upon the braziers after they had
emptied the ashes on to the ground.[34] Melantho again
began scolding at Ulysses for stopping in the house to
spy on the women. Penelope heard her and said, "Bold
hussey, I hear you, and you shall smart for it; I have
already told you that I wish to see the stranger and
enquire from him about my husband. Eurynome, bring a seat
for him, and spread a fleece on it."

Eurynome did as she was told, and when Ulysses had sat 100
down Penelope wanted to know who he was. Ulysses implored
her not to ask this, for it would make him weep, and she
or the servants might then think he had been drinking.

"Stranger," answered Penelope, "heaven robbed me of all 123
my beauty when the Argives set out for Troy and Ulysses
with them." She then told about the suitors, and her
web, and said that she was now at the very end of her
resources. Her parents were urging her to marry again,
and so also was her son, who chafed under the heavy
burden of expense which her long courtship had caused
him. "In spite of all this, however," she continued, "I
want to know who you are; for you cannot be the son of a
rock or of an oak."

Thus pressed, Ulysses said that his name was Æthon and 164
that he came from Crete, where he had entertained Ulysses
and his men for many days when they were on their way to
Troy. Penelope wept bitterly as she listened, and it was
all Ulysses could do to restrain his own tears--but he
succeeded. "I will now prove you," said she; "tell me how
my husband was dressed. Tell me also what manner of man
he was, and about the men who were with him."

"I will tell you," replied Ulysses, "as nearly as I can 220
remember after so long a time. He 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 shewed a dog holding a spotted fawn
between its fore paws, and watching it as it lay panting
on the ground. Every one marvelled 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 231
convulsively to escape. As for his shirt, it fitted him
like the skin of an onion, and glistened in the sunlight
to the admiration of all the women who beheld it. He had
a servant with him, a little older than himself, whose 246
shoulders were hunched; he was dark, and had thick curly
hair. His name was Eurybates."

Penelope was deeply moved. "You shall want for nothing," 249
said she, "It was I who gave him the clothes and the
brooch you speak of, but I shall never see him again."

"Be not too dejected, Madam," answered Ulysses; "when I 261
was with the Thespotians I heard for certain that he was
alive and well. Indeed he would have been here ere now,
had he not deemed it better to amass great wealth before
returning. Before this month is out I swear most solemnly
that he will be here."

"If you say truly," replied Penelope, "you shall indeed 308
be rewarded richly, but he will not come. Still, you
women, take the stranger and wash him; make him a
comfortable bed, and in the morning wash him again and
anoint him, that he may sit at the same table with
Telemachus; if any of the suitors molests him, he shall 322
rue it, for fume as he may, he shall have no more to do
in this house. How indeed, Sir, can you know how much I
surpass all other women in goodness and discretion unless
I see that you are well clothed and fed?"

"Make me no bed, Madam, said Ulysses, "I will lie on the 336
bare ground as I am wont to do. Nor do I like having my
feet washed. I will not allow any of your serving women
to touch my feet; but if you have any respectable old
woman who has gone through as much as I have, I will let
her wash them."

"Stranger," answered Penelope, "your sense of propriety 349
exceeds that of any foreigner who has ever come here. I
have exactly the kind of person you describe; she was
Ulysses' nurse from the day of his birth, and is now very
old and feeble, but she shall wash your feet. Euryclea,
come and wash the stranger's feet. He is about the same
age as your master would be."

Euryclea spoke compassionately to Ulysses, and ended by 361
saying that he was very like her master. To which Ulysses
replied that many other people had observed the likeness.

Then the old woman got a large foot bath and put some 386
cold water into it, adding hot water until it was the
right heat. As soon, however, as she got Ulysses' leg
in her hands, she recognised a scar on it as one which
her master had got from being ripped by a boar when he
was hunting on Mt. Parnassus with his mother's father 394
Autolycus, whom Mercury had endowed with the gift of
being the most accomplished thief and perjurer in the
whole world, for he was very fond of him. She immediately
dropped the leg, which made a loud noise against the side 468
of the bath and upset all the water. Her eyes filled with
tears, and she caught Ulysses by the beard and told him
that she knew him.

She looked towards Penelope to tell her; but Minerva had 476
directed Penelope's attention elsewhere, so that she
had observed nothing of what had been going on. Ulysses
gripped Euryclea's throat, and swore he would kill her,
nurse to him though she had been, unless she kept his
return secret--which she promised to do. She also said
that if heaven delivered the suitors into his hands, she
would give him a list of all the women in the house who
had misconducted themselves.

"You have no need," said Ulysses, "I shall find that out 499
for myself. See that you keep my counsel and leave the
rest to heaven."

Euryclea now went to fetch some more water, for the 503
first had been all spilt. When she had brought it, and
had washed Ulysses, he turned his seat round to the fire
to dry himself, and drew his rags over the scar that
Penelope might not see it.

Then Penelope detailed her sorrows to Ulysses. Others, 508
she said, could sleep, but she could not do so, neither
night nor day. She could not rest for thinking what her
duty might be. Ought she to stay where she was and stand
guard over her son's estate, or ought she to marry one
of the suitors and go elsewhere? Her son, while he was 530
a boy, would not hear of her doing this, but now that
he was grown up and realised the havoc that the suitors
were making of his property, he was continually urging
her to go. Besides, she had had a strange dream about 538
an eagle that had come from a mountain and swooped down
on her favourite geese as they were eating mash out of
a tub,[35] and had killed them all. Then the eagle came
back and told her he was Ulysses, while the geese were
the suitors; but when she woke the geese were still
feeding at the mash tub. Now, what did all this mean?

Ulysses said it could only mean the immediate return of 554
her husband, and his revenge upon the suitors.

But Penelope would not believe him. "Dreams," she said, 559
"are very curious things. They come through two gates,
one of horn, and the other of ivory. Those that come
through the gate of ivory have no significance. It is the
others that alone are true, and my dream came through the
gate of ivory. Tomorrow, therefore, I shall set Ulysses'
bow before the suitors, and I will leave this house with
him who can draw it most easily and send an arrow through
the twelve holes whereby twelve axeheads are fitted into
their handles."

"You need not defer this competition," said Ulysses, "for 582
your husband will be here before any one of them can draw
the bow and shoot through the axes."

"Stranger," replied Penelope, "I could stay talking with 588
you the whole night through, but there is a time for
everything, and I will now go to lie down upon that
couch which I have never ceased to water with my tears
from the day my husband set out for the city with an
ill-omened name. You can sleep within the house, either
on the ground or on a bedstead, whichever you may prefer."

Then she went upstairs and mourned her dear husband till 600
Minerva shed sweet sleep over her eyes.