If only I had known about his journey,
he would have stayed—no matter how he wanted
to leave—or else have left me dead right here.
Now call old Dolius, my gardener,
the slave who cares for all my trees. My father
gave him to me when I came here. Tell him
to hurry off and sit beside Laertes,
and tell him everything; he may decide
to go in tears to plead with those who want
to kill godlike Odysseus’ son,740
his grandson.”
Then the loyal Eurycleia
said, “Lady, sweetheart, even if you take
a sword and kill me, I will tell the truth.
I knew all this. I gave him what he asked for,
bread and sweet wine. He made me swear an oath
not to inform you, till twelve days had passed,
or till you heard about it, and you missed him,
so that you would not cry and spoil your beauty.
Now have a bath, get changed into clean clothes,
go with your slave girls upstairs to your room.750
Pray to Athena, child of Zeus the King.
She may save him from death. And do not bother
poor old Laertes; he has pain enough.
I do not think the blessed gods despise
this family; I trust that there will always
be one to rule this house and rich estate.”
This soothed Penelope. She dried her tears,
and took her bath and got dressed in clean clothes,
then went up to her bedroom with her girls.
She put some barley on a tray and prayed.760
“Hear me, Athena, tireless child of Zeus,
if my quick-minded husband ever gave you
fat thighs of beef or lamb here in our halls,
remember now and save the son I love.
Protect him from the abuses of those suitors!”
She wailed aloud; the goddess heard her prayer.
The suitors made a racket that resounded
all through the palace shadows. They were boasting,
“This queen whom all of us have come here courting
is ready now to marry one of us,770
and does not even know her son will die!”
They spoke not knowing how things really stood.
Antinous declared to them,
“My lords,
you have to stop this bragging! Quiet down,
or those inside will hear it. Now get up
in silence. We must go and follow through
the plan we all agreed on in our hearts.”
With that, he picked the twenty strongest men.
They went down to the seashore; first of all
they launched the swift black ship in deep saltwater,780
set up the mast and raised the sails and fit
the oars in proper order in the straps
of leather, then spread out the bright white sails.
With confidence their slaves dealt out the weapons.
They moored high up the stream and disembarked.
They ate there, while they waited for the evening.
Penelope lay upstairs in her bedroom,
refusing food and drink, consuming nothing.
She wondered if her fine son would escape
from death, or be brought down by those proud suitors.790
Her mind was like a lion, caught by humans,
when they are clustering round him in a circle,
trying to trap him; so sweet drowsiness
subdued her and she slept, her limbs relaxed.
Athena, bright-eyed goddess, had a plan.
She made a phantom looking like a woman,
Iphthime, child of great Icarius,
the wife of Eumelus who lived in Pherae.
She sent it to Odysseus’ house,
to make Penelope feel less distressed 800
and stop her tears of grief. It traveled through
the latch’s thong, and in her bedroom stood
above her head, and asked,
“Penelope,
Are you asleep? And are you still upset?
The gods who live at ease have no desire
for you to weep or worry. Know, your son
is coming home. He has not wronged the gods.”
Intelligent Penelope, still sleeping
sweetly inside the gates of dreams, replied,
“Sister, why have you come? Your house is far, 810
and you have never visited before.
You tell me to stop grieving and not feel
the many pains that prickle at my heart.
But long ago I lost my lionhearted
husband, a man more talented than any,
famous throughout all Greece. Now my dear son
has sailed off in a ship, though he knows nothing
of hardship and the world; he is a child.
I worry for him more than for his father.
I shudder, I am scared of what may happen,820
at sea, or in the country that he went to.
He has so many enemies; they plan
to murder him before he reaches home.”
The misty phantom answered her, “Have courage.
Let not your heart be troubled or afraid.
He has a goddess as his guide—Athena,
a helper many men have prayed to have.
She has great power. Pitying your grief,
she sent me here to tell you all of this.”
Careful Penelope replied, “If you830
are actually a god, with news from gods,
tell me about my husband too, poor man!
Tell if he is alive and sees the sun,
or dead already in the house of Hades!”
The spirit said, “I cannot tell you whether
he is alive or dead. It is not good
to speak of things intangible as wind.”
With that, the phantom floated through the air
into the breeze. And then Penelope
woke up from sleep, and she was glad at heart,840
because she dreamed so clearly in the night.
The suitors got on board and sailed across
the water, set on murdering the boy.
There is a rocky island out at sea,
in between Ithaca and craggy Same,
called Asteris—quite small but with a harbor
to shelter ships, and there they lurked in ambush.
BOOK 5
From the Goddess to the Storm
Then Dawn rose up from bed with Lord Tithonus,
to bring the light to deathless gods and mortals.
The gods sat down for council, with the great
Thunderlord Zeus. Athena was concerned
about Odysseus’ many troubles,
trapped by the nymph Calypso in her house.
“Father, and all immortal gods,” she said,
“No longer let a sceptered king be kind,
or gentle, or pay heed to right and wrong.
Let every king be cruel, his acts unjust!10
Odysseus ruled gently, like a father,
but no one even thinks about him now.
The wretched man is stranded on an island;
Calypso forces him to stay with her.
He cannot make his way back to his country.
He has no ships, no oars, and no companions
to help him sail across the wide-backed sea.
His son has gone for news of his lost father,
in sandy Pylos and in splendid Sparta;
they plot to kill the boy when he returns!”20
Smiling at her, Lord Zeus who heaps the clouds
replied, “Ah, daughter! What a thing to say!
Did you not plan all this yourself, so that
Odysseus could come and take revenge
upon those suitors? Now use all your skilclass="underline"
ensure Telemachus comes safely home,
and that the suitors fail and sail away.”
Then turning to his son he said, “Dear Hermes,
you are my messenger. Go tell the goddess
our fixed intention: that Odysseus30
must go back home—he has endured enough.
Without a god or human as his guide,
he will drift miserably for twenty days
upon a makeshift raft, and then arrive
at fertile Scheria. The magical
Phaeacians will respect him like a god,
and send him in a ship to his dear homeland,
with gifts of bronze and heaps of gold and clothing,
more than he would have brought with him from Troy
if he had come directly, with his share40
of plunder. It is granted him to see
the ones he loves, beneath his own high roof,
in his own country.”
Hermes heard these words.
At once he fastened on his feet the sandals
of everlasting gold with which he flies
on breath of air across the sea and land;
he seized the wand he uses to enchant