Odyssey, Book 19: The Scar and the Dream
Homer · Greek original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 19 turns recognition into a controlled sequence of near-disclosures, tests, and blocked disclosures. Odysseus and Telemachus first remove the hall’s weapons under a cover story whose borrowed language comes from their Book 16 plan; Athena supplies light while remaining unseen. Penelope then governs the longest conversation with her disguised husband: she rebukes Melantho, questions the stranger, recounts the loom stratagem, tests the Cretan identity through clothing and Eurybates, and hears a return report whose truth is mixed with strategic fiction. The narrator repeatedly gives the audience what Penelope lacks—Odysseus’ pity, hidden tears, and the explicit status of his lies. Foot-washing transfers inquiry from speech to touch. Eurycleia recognizes the scar through bodily memory, but Athena diverts Penelope and Odysseus enforces silence through physical restraint and a threat that exposes coercion within the household he intends to restore. The scar narrative links name, kinship, gifts, hunt, wound, healing speech, and homeward report without making a single sign sufficient for every recognizer. Penelope resumes the interview with divided thumos, the self-interpreting geese dream, the gates of horn and ivory, and the bow contest. Her uncertainty survives even a dream that names its own meaning. The book ends with her departure and Athena-given sleep: husband and wife have exchanged signs, stories, grief, and plans while recognition remains asymmetrically distributed.
Narrative arc
- Odysseus scripts the weapons cover story and Telemachus confines the household women
- Athena illuminates the removal while father and son preserve secrecy
- Penelope enters, rebukes Melantho, and establishes a formal interview
- Penelope’s king simile and loom account join household loss to political and tactical intelligence
- Odysseus invents Aethon and the narrator identifies truth-like falsehood
- Penelope tests the fiction through clothing, brooch, and Eurybates
- the disguised speaker reports return, Thesprotia, Dodona, and a turning-year oath
- hospitality narrows toward foot-washing by Eurycleia
- the scar narrative moves from naming and family welcome to hunt, wound, healing, and return
- Eurycleia recognizes by touch, Athena blocks Penelope, and Odysseus compels silence
- Penelope’s divided night speech leads into the geese dream and the two dream gates
- the bow contest is announced before Penelope withdraws into Athena-given sleep
Central themes
- recognition as test, sign, touch, divine obstruction, and controlled disclosure
- Penelope’s and Odysseus’ distinct forms of tactical intelligence
- narrator knowledge, embedded fiction, report, oath, dream, and inference
- nostos as physical presence without restored household recognition
- oikos as marriage house, property, labor hierarchy, memory, and contested authority
- xenia as welcome, questioning, care, escort, reputation, and strategic performance
- naming, likeness, scar, clothing, voice, and bodily memory
- enslaved household status, agency, abuse, judgment, and coercion
- contextual thumos, noos, phrenes, memory, grief, and departing life-force
- formulaic recurrence with changed speaker, truth status, scene, and function
Odysseus gives Telemachus the cover story for removing the weapons 19.1–13
1αὐτὰρ ὁ ἐν μεγάρῳ ὑπελείπετο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
μνηστήρεσσι φόνον σὺν Ἀθήνῃ μερμηρίζων·
αἶψα δὲ Τηλέμαχον ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα·
Τηλέμαχε, χρὴ τεύχεʼ ἀρήϊα κατθέμεν εἴσω
5πάντα μάλʼ· αὐτὰρ μνηστῆρας μαλακοῖς ἐπέεσσι
παρφάσθαι, ὅτε κέν σε μεταλλῶσιν ποθέοντες·
ἐκ καπνοῦ κατέθηκʼ, ἐπεὶ οὐκέτι τοῖσιν ἐῴκει
οἷά ποτε Τροίηνδε κιὼν κατέλειπεν Ὀδυσσεύς,
ἀλλὰ κατῄκισται, ὅσσον πυρὸς ἵκετʼ ἀϋτμή.
10πρὸς δʼ ἔτι καὶ τόδε μεῖζον ἐνὶ φρεσὶν ἔβαλε δαίμων
μή πως οἰνωθέντες, ἔριν στήσαντες ἐν ὑμῖν,
ἀλλήλους τρώσητε καταισχύνητέ τε δαῖτα
καὶ μνηστύν· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐφέλκεται ἄνδρα σίδηρος.
1But noble Odysseus remained behind in the hall,
planning with Athena the suitors’ death.
At once he addressed Telemachus with winged words:
‘Telemachus, we must put every weapon of war away
5inside. If the suitors miss them and question you,
turn them aside with gentle words:
“I took them down out of the smoke, since they no longer looked
as they did when Odysseus left them on his way to Troy.
They have been marred by all the breath of fire that reached them.
10And a god put this still graver thought into my mind:
that you might become drunk, start a quarrel among yourselves,
wound one another, and disgrace both feast
and courtship. Iron itself draws a man to it.”’
Commentary
Odysseus converts the Book 16 weapons plan into a plausible explanation Telemachus can give the suitors. Smoke damage and drunken quarrel are strategic speech, while the claim that a daimōn planted the thought belongs inside the cover story; the iron aphorism sharpens the risk without becoming a narrator-level cause.
19.1–3 The opening names the suitors’ death plot before Odysseus turns from planning to speech. Line 19.1 is byte-identical to 7.230 and recurs internally at 19.51; 19.2 differs from 19.52 only in punctuation. The repeated couplet places Odysseus in the hall planning with Athena, while 19.3 pivots from that concealed purpose to his address to Telemachus.
19.4–10 Odysseus begins the cover story with smoke-damaged weapons and a supposedly divinely prompted precaution. Lines 19.5-9 are byte-exact with 16.286-290: the suitors are to be turned aside gently with the claim that smoke has marred the arms since Odysseus left. Line 19.10 adds the daimōn who planted a still graver thought, extending the prepared explanation without moving yet to the drunken-quarrel details.
19.11–13 The cover story culminates in drunken quarrel, dishonored courtship, and the aphorism that iron draws a man. Lines 19.11-13 repeat 16.292-294 byte for byte. Wine leads to strife, mutual wounding, and disgrace to both feast and courtship before the compact iron maxim makes weapon availability itself an incitement; the fiction gives disarmament a socially intelligible danger.
Telemachus confines the household women and enlists the stranger 19.14–30
14ὣς φάτο, Τηλέμαχος δὲ φίλῳ ἐπεπείθετο πατρί,
15ἐκ δὲ καλεσσάμενος προσέφη τροφὸν Εὐρύκλειαν·
μαῖʼ, ἄγε δή μοι ἔρυξον ἐνὶ μεγάροισι γυναῖκας,
ὄφρα κεν ἐς θάλαμον καταθείομαι ἔντεα πατρὸς
καλά, τά μοι κατὰ οἶκον ἀκηδέα καπνὸς ἀμέρδει
πατρὸς ἀποιχομένοιο· ἐγὼ δʼ ἔτι νήπιος ἦα.
20νῦν δʼ ἐθέλω καταθέσθαι, ἵνʼ οὐ πυρὸς ἵξετʼ ἀϋτμή.
τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε φίλη τροφὸς Εὐρύκλεια·
αἲ γὰρ δή ποτε, τέκνον, ἐπιφροσύνας ἀνέλοιο
οἴκου κήδεσθαι καὶ κτήματα πάντα φυλάσσειν.
ἀλλʼ ἄγε, τίς τοι ἔπειτα μετοιχομένη φάος οἴσει;
25δμῳὰς δʼ οὐκ εἴας προβλωσκέμεν, αἵ κεν ἔφαινον.
τὴν δʼ αὖ Τηλέμαχος πεπνυμένος ἀντίον ηὔδα·
ξεῖνος ὅδʼ· οὐ γὰρ ἀεργὸν ἀνέξομαι ὅς κεν ἐμῆς γε
χοίνικος ἅπτηται, καὶ τηλόθεν εἰληλουθώς.
ὣς ἄρʼ ἐφώνησεν, τῇ δʼ ἄπτερος ἔπλετο μῦθος.
30κλήϊσεν δὲ θύρας μεγάρων εὖ ναιεταόντων.
14So he spoke, and Telemachus obeyed his dear father.
15He called out to Eurycleia, his nurse, and said:
‘Nurse, come now, keep the women back inside the hall
while I lay away in the storeroom my father’s fine armor,
which the smoke has been spoiling through the house, uncared for
since my father left. I was still a child then.
20Now I mean to store it where no breath of fire can reach it.’
His dear nurse Eurycleia answered him:
‘If only, child, you would at last take up the good sense
to care for the house and guard all its possessions.
But come—who will go with you and carry a light?
25You would not let the enslaved women come forward, who could light your way.’
Discerning Telemachus answered her face to face:
‘This stranger will. I will not tolerate an idle man who touches
my ration of grain, even if he has come from far away.’
So he spoke, and no answering word took wing from her.
30and she locked the doors of the well-built hall.
Commentary
Telemachus repeats the smoke explanation to Eurycleia, orders the women kept back, and assigns the disguised stranger the labor of carrying light. Eurycleia’s question names the barred women as enslaved workers before she obeys by locking the hall; secrecy depends on household authority and controlled movement.
19.14–20 Telemachus enacts the secrecy plan through a conventional summons that gives Eurycleia a novel policing role. The calling and reply frames are inherited, but the command makes the nurse confine the women while weapons are moved. Formulaic household coordination is repurposed for a secret operation whose participants receive unequal knowledge.
19.21–25 Eurycleia welcomes Telemachus’ apparent stewardship but exposes the practical problem created by excluding the women. She hopes he will at last care for the oikos and guard its possessions, then asks who will carry the light if the enslaved women are forbidden to come forward. Her answer accepts the stated household purpose while testing how the concealed work can actually be done.
19.26–30 Telemachus assigns the stranger the light-bearing role, and Eurycleia answers with silence before locking the doors. The line at 19.26 is byte-identical at eleven earlier locators (1.213, 1.230, 1.306, 1.345, 2.371, 3.21, 3.239, 15.179, 17.45, 17.107, 18.226), while 19.29 repeats 17.57. Within those familiar frames Telemachus invokes the stranger’s grain ration to justify his labor, and Eurycleia’s wingless reply yields directly to the securing of the hall.
Athena lights the removal, and Telemachus withdraws 19.31–52
31τὼ δʼ ἄρʼ ἀναΐξαντʼ Ὀδυσεὺς καὶ φαίδιμος υἱὸς
ἐσφόρεον κόρυθάς τε καὶ ἀσπίδας ὀμφαλοέσσας
ἔγχεά τʼ ὀξυόεντα· πάροιθε δὲ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη,
χρύσεον λύχνον ἔχουσα, φάος περικαλλὲς ἐποίει.
35δὴ τότε Τηλέμαχος προσεφώνεεν ὃν πατέρʼ αἶψα·
ὦ πάτερ, ἦ μέγα θαῦμα τόδʼ ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ὁρῶμαι.
ἔμπης μοι τοῖχοι μεγάρων καλαί τε μεσόδμαι,
εἰλάτιναί τε δοκοί, καὶ κίονες ὑψόσʼ ἔχοντες
φαίνοντʼ ὀφθαλμοῖς ὡς εἰ πυρὸς αἰθομένοιο.
40ἦ μάλα τις θεὸς ἔνδον, οἳ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἔχουσι.
τὸν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
σίγα καὶ κατὰ σὸν νόον ἴσχανε μηδʼ ἐρέεινε·
αὕτη τοι δίκη ἐστὶ θεῶν, οἳ Ὄλυμπον ἔχουσιν.
ἀλλὰ σὺ μὲν κατάλεξαι, ἐγὼ δʼ ὑπολείψομαι αὐτοῦ,
45ὄφρα κʼ ἔτι δμῳὰς καὶ μητέρα σὴν ἐρεθίζω·
ἡ δέ μʼ ὀδυρομένη εἰρήσεται ἀμφὶς ἕκαστα.
ὣς φάτο, Τηλέμαχος δὲ διὲκ μεγάροιο βεβήκει
κείων ἐς θάλαμον, δαΐδων ὕπο λαμπομενάων,
ἔνθα πάρος κοιμᾶθʼ, ὅτε μιν γλυκὺς ὕπνος ἱκάνοι·
50ἔνθʼ ἄρα καὶ τότʼ ἔλεκτο καὶ Ἠῶ δῖαν ἔμιμνεν.
αὐτὰρ ὁ ἐν μεγάρῳ ὑπελείπετο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
μνηστήρεσσι φόνον σὺν Ἀθήνῃ μερμηρίζων.
31Then Odysseus and his splendid son sprang up
and carried helmets, bossed shields,
and sharp spears inside. Pallas Athena went before them
holding a golden lamp and cast a lovely light around them.
35Telemachus quickly spoke to his father:
‘Father, what a great wonder I see with my own eyes!
The hall’s walls, its beautiful crossbeams,
fir rafters, and towering pillars
shine in my sight as if a fire were blazing.
40Surely one of the gods who hold broad heaven is inside.’
Resourceful Odysseus answered him:
‘Be silent. Hold the thought within your mind and ask no questions.
This is the way of the gods who hold Olympus.
Go now and lie down. I will remain here
45to provoke the enslaved women and your mother a little longer.
Grieving, she will question me closely about every point.’
So he spoke. Telemachus went through the hall
to lie down in his chamber by the light of burning torches,
where he always slept when sweet sleep came upon him.
50There too he lay that night and waited for radiant Dawn.
But noble Odysseus remained behind in the hall,
planning with Athena the suitors’ death.
Commentary
Father and son carry helmets, shields, and spears while Athena precedes them with a golden lamp. Telemachus perceives divine wonder but does not identify its agent; Odysseus orders silence, keeps the thought within noos, and remains to test the women and Penelope before the opening planning couplet returns.
19.31–34 Athena supplies the light by which father and son carry the hall’s weapons inside. Odysseus and Telemachus move helmets, bossed shields, and sharp spears while Pallas Athena precedes them holding a golden lamp and making beautiful light. The narrator identifies the divine agent before either man comments on the illumination.
19.35–40 Telemachus reads the illuminated architecture as evidence that a god is present in the hall. He calls the sight a great wonder, enumerates walls, crossbeams, fir rafters, and high pillars, and compares their brightness to blazing fire. His conclusion remains indefinite—some god who holds broad heaven is within—so perception reaches divine presence without identifying Athena.
19.41–46 Odysseus commands cognitive restraint, dismisses Telemachus to bed, and keeps the hall for further testing. His imperatives join silence with holding the event inside noos and asking no questions. He calls such manifestations the way of the Olympian gods, then sends Telemachus to lie down while he remains to provoke the enslaved women and Penelope, whose grief will drive close questioning.
19.47–52 Telemachus’ withdrawal closes by repeating the book’s opening plan for Odysseus in the hall. Telemachus passes through the hall to his customary chamber, lies down, and waits for Dawn. Line 19.51 is byte-identical to 19.1 and 7.230, while 19.52 is the punctuation-normalized counterpart of 19.2; the returning couplet leaves Odysseus where the book began, still planning the suitors’ death with Athena.
Penelope enters as Melantho again abuses the stranger 19.53–69
53ἡ δʼ ἴεν ἐκ θαλάμοιο περίφρων Πηνελόπεια,
Ἀρτέμιδι ἰκέλη ἠὲ χρυσέῃ Ἀφροδίτῃ.
55τῇ παρὰ μὲν κλισίην πυρὶ κάτθεσαν, ἔνθʼ ἄρʼ ἐφῖζε,
δινωτὴν ἐλέφαντι καὶ ἀργύρῳ· ἥν ποτε τέκτων
ποίησʼ Ἰκμάλιος, καὶ ὑπὸ θρῆνυν ποσὶν ἧκε
προσφυέʼ ἐξ αὐτῆς, ὅθʼ ἐπὶ μέγα βάλλετο κῶας.
ἔνθα καθέζετʼ ἔπειτα περίφρων Πηνελόπεια.
60ἦλθον δὲ δμῳαὶ λευκώλενοι ἐκ μεγάροιο.
αἱ δʼ ἀπὸ μὲν σῖτον πολὺν ᾕρεον ἠδὲ τραπέζας
καὶ δέπα, ἔνθεν ἄρʼ ἄνδρες ὑπερμενέοντες ἔπινον·
πῦρ δʼ ἀπὸ λαμπτήρων χαμάδις βάλον, ἄλλα δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτῶν
νήησαν ξύλα πολλά, φόως ἔμεν ἠδὲ θέρεσθαι.
65ἡ δʼ Ὀδυσῆʼ ἐνένιπε Μελανθὼ δεύτερον αὖτις·
ξεῖνʼ, ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐνθάδʼ ἀνιήσεις διὰ νύκτα
δινεύων κατὰ οἶκον, ὀπιπεύσεις δὲ γυναῖκας;
ἀλλʼ ἔξελθε θύραζε, τάλαν, καὶ δαιτὸς ὄνησο·
ἢ τάχα καὶ δαλῷ βεβλημένος εἶσθα θύραζε.
53Then discerning Penelope came from her chamber,
like Artemis or golden Aphrodite.
55Beside the fire they set the chair in which she sat,
turned and inlaid with ivory and silver. Long ago the craftsman
Icmalius had made it, fitting beneath it a footstool
joined to the chair itself, with a great fleece spread over it.
There discerning Penelope took her seat.
60The white-armed enslaved women came from the hall.
They cleared away the abundant bread, the tables,
and the cups from which the overbearing men had drunk.
They cast the fire from the braziers onto the floor, then piled
plenty of wood on them for light and warmth.
65Melantho again rebuked Odysseus, a second time:
‘Stranger, will you still plague us here through the night,
roaming the house and spying on the women?
Go outside, wretch, and be content with your meal,
or you will soon be driven out by a flaming brand.’
Commentary
Penelope’s entrance combines divine comparison with a precisely described chair, fleece, and fire-side position. Enslaved women clear the suitors’ meal and tend the braziers before Melantho again attacks the stranger as a roaming spy and threatens to drive him out with fire.
19.53–59 Penelope’s entrance repeats its Book 17 frame and expands into a detailed image of household dignity. Line 19.53 repeats 17.36 and 19.54 is its punctuation-normalized companion to 17.37. Here the Artemis-or-Aphrodite comparison leads into Icmalius’ ivory-and-silver chair, attached footstool, fleece, fire, and Penelope’s seated position, making recurrent entrance diction the threshold to a newly formal interview.
19.60–64 The enslaved women convert the suitors’ abandoned feast-space into light and warmth for the night interview. They remove bread, tables, and drinking cups, cast fire from the braziers onto the floor, and heap on wood. The sequence makes household labor visible between Penelope’s seating and Melantho’s speech: the same workers clear elite consumption and prepare the room’s next social use.
19.65–69 Melantho renews her attack by construing the stranger as a night-roaming spy on the household women. She asks whether he will plague the house through the night, roam among its rooms, and watch the women. Her alternatives are immediate departure after his meal or expulsion by a flaming brand, making continued shelter contingent on submission to her command.
Odysseus warns Melantho, and Penelope rebukes her 19.70–95
70τὴν δʼ ἄρʼ ὑπόδρα ἰδὼν προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
δαιμονίη, τί μοι ὧδʼ ἐπέχεις κεκοτηότι θυμῷ;
ἦ ὅτι δὴ ῥυπόω, κακὰ δὲ χροῒ εἵματα εἷμαι,
πτωχεύω δʼ ἀνὰ δῆμον; ἀναγκαίη γὰρ ἐπείγει.
τοιοῦτοι πτωχοὶ καὶ ἀλήμονες ἄνδρες ἔασι
75καὶ γὰρ ἐγώ ποτε οἶκον ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ἔναιον
ὄλβιος ἀφνειὸν καὶ πολλάκι δόσκον ἀλήτῃ,
τοίῳ ὁποῖος ἔοι καὶ ὅτευ κεχρημένος ἔλθοι·
ἦσαν δὲ δμῶες μάλα μυρίοι, ἄλλα τε πολλὰ
οἷσίν τʼ εὖ ζώουσι καὶ ἀφνειοὶ καλέονται.
80ἀλλὰ Ζεὺς ἀλάπαξε Κρονίων· ἤθελε γάρ που·
τῷ νῦν μήποτε καὶ σύ, γύναι, ἀπὸ πᾶσαν ὀλέσσῃς
ἀγλαΐην, τῇ νῦν γε μετὰ δμῳῇσι κέκασσαι·
μή πώς τοι δέσποινα κοτεσσαμένη χαλεπήνῃ,
ἢ Ὀδυσεὺς ἔλθῃ· ἔτι γὰρ καὶ ἐλπίδος αἶσα.
85εἰ δʼ ὁ μὲν ὣς ἀπόλωλε καὶ οὐκέτι νόστιμός ἐστιν,
ἀλλʼ ἤδη παῖς τοῖος Ἀπόλλωνός γε ἕκητι,
Τηλέμαχος· τὸν δʼ οὔ τις ἐνὶ μεγάροισι γυναικῶν
λήθει ἀτασθάλλουσʼ, ἐπεὶ οὐκέτι τηλίκος ἐστίν.
ὣς φάτο, τοῦ δʼ ἤκουσε περίφρων Πηνελόπεια,
90ἀμφίπολον δʼ ἐνένιπεν ἔπος τʼ ἔφατʼ ἔκ τʼ ὀνόμαζε·
πάντως, θαρσαλέη, κύον ἀδεές, οὔ τί με λήθεις
ἔρδουσα μέγα ἔργον, ὃ σῇ κεφαλῇ ἀναμάξεις·
πάντα γὰρ εὖ ᾔδησθʼ, ἐπεὶ ἐξ ἐμεῦ ἔκλυες αὐτῆς
ὡς τὸν ξεῖνον ἔμελλον ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ἐμοῖσιν
95ἀμφὶ πόσει εἴρεσθαι, ἐπεὶ πυκινῶς ἀκάχημαι.
70Resourceful Odysseus glared from under his brows and answered:
‘Reckless woman, why do you attack me so with an angry heart?
Is it because I am filthy and wear poor clothing on my body
and beg through the town? Necessity compels me.
Such are beggars and wandering men.
75For I too once lived among men in a household,
prosperous and wealthy, and often gave to a wanderer,
whoever he might be and whatever need brought him.
I had countless enslaved servants and all the other things
through which men live well and are called wealthy.
80But Zeus son of Cronus laid it waste—so, I suppose, he chose.
Take care, woman, that you too do not lose all
the distinction in which you now surpass the other enslaved women.
Your mistress may grow angry and deal harshly with you,
or Odysseus may return—for there is still a share of hope.
85Even if he has perished as they say and will never come home,
through Apollo’s favor his son is already such a man—
Telemachus. No woman in the hall escapes his notice
when she behaves recklessly, for he is no longer so young.’
So he spoke, and discerning Penelope heard him.
90She rebuked her attendant, spoke, and named her:
‘Bold, shameless dog, you do not escape my notice
as you commit this great offense—you will pay for it with your head.
You knew everything well, since you heard it from me myself:
I intended to question the stranger here in my hall
95about my husband, because grief presses close upon me.’
Commentary
Odysseus answers Melantho by recalling former wealth, giving to wanderers, and an attributed destruction by Zeus, then threatens loss of standing through Penelope or Telemachus. Penelope has heard the exchange, names Melantho’s act an offense, and grounds her rebuke in the prior instruction that the stranger be questioned about Odysseus.
19.70–80 Odysseus answers Melantho through a recurrent glare-and-reversal sequence that contrasts apparent poverty with former prosperity. Line 19.70 repeats 18.337; 19.75-77 repeat 17.419-421, 19.78 is the punctuation-normalized counterpart of 17.422, 19.79 repeats 17.423, and 19.80 normalizes to 17.424. He explains dirt, poor clothing, and begging through necessity, then recalls a wealthy house, generosity to wanderers, many servants, and destruction attributed to Zeus.
19.81–88 Odysseus warns that Melantho’s present distinction among the women can be lost under several forms of household scrutiny. He names her standing among the enslaved women, possible punishment from her mistress, hope of Odysseus’ return, and Telemachus’ adult vigilance. The warning threatens consequences through existing or returning authorities without specifying death or bodily mutilation.
19.89–95 Penelope hears Odysseus’ warning and rebukes Melantho for obstructing an announced inquiry about her husband. She names the attendant, calls her offense known and answerable by her head, and stresses that Melantho had heard the plan directly from her. The rebuke protects the interview because Penelope’s compact grief has made questioning the stranger necessary.
Penelope seats the stranger and asks his identity 19.96–122
96ἦ ῥα καὶ Εὐρυνόμην ταμίην πρὸς μῦθον ἔειπεν·
Εὐρυνόμη, φέρε δὴ δίφρον καὶ κῶας ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ,
ὄφρα καθεζόμενος εἴπῃ ἔπος ἠδʼ ἐπακούσῃ
ὁ ξεῖνος ἐμέθεν· ἐθέλω δέ μιν ἐξερέεσθαι.
100ὣς ἔφαθʼ, ἡ δὲ μάλʼ ὀτραλέως κατέθηκε φέρουσα
δίφρον ἐΰξεστον καὶ ἐπʼ αὐτῷ κῶας ἔβαλλεν·
ἔνθα καθέζετʼ ἔπειτα πολύτλας δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς.
τοῖσι δὲ μύθων ἦρχε περίφρων Πηνελόπεια·
ξεῖνε, τὸ μέν σε πρῶτον ἐγὼν εἰρήσομαι αὐτή·
105τίς πόθεν εἶς ἀνδρῶν; πόθι τοι πόλις ἠδὲ τοκῆες;
τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
ὦ γύναι, οὐκ ἄν τίς σε βροτῶν ἐπʼ ἀπείρονα γαῖαν
νεικέοι· ἦ γάρ σευ κλέος οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἱκάνει,
ὥς τέ τευ ἢ βασιλῆος ἀμύμονος, ὅς τε θεουδὴς
110ἀνδράσιν ἐν πολλοῖσι καὶ ἰφθίμοισιν ἀνάσσων
εὐδικίας ἀνέχῃσι, φέρῃσι δὲ γαῖα μέλαινα
πυροὺς καὶ κριθάς, βρίθῃσι δὲ δένδρεα καρπῷ,
τίκτῃ δʼ ἔμπεδα μῆλα, θάλασσα δὲ παρέχῃ ἰχθῦς
ἐξ εὐηγεσίης, ἀρετῶσι δὲ λαοὶ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ.
115τῷ ἐμὲ νῦν τὰ μὲν ἄλλα μετάλλα σῷ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ,
μηδʼ ἐμὸν ἐξερέεινε γένος καὶ πατρίδα γαῖαν,
μή μοι μᾶλλον θυμὸν ἐνιπλήσῃς ὀδυνάων
μνησαμένῳ μάλα δʼ εἰμὶ πολύστονος· οὐδέ τί με χρὴ
οἴκῳ ἐν ἀλλοτρίῳ γοόωντά τε μυρόμενόν τε
120ἧσθαι, ἐπεὶ κάκιον πενθήμεναι ἄκριτον αἰεί·
μή τίς μοι δμῳῶν νεμεσήσεται, ἠὲ σύ γʼ αὐτή,
φῇ δὲ δακρυπλώειν βεβαρηότα με φρένας οἴνῳ.
96Then she spoke to Eurynome, the housekeeper:
‘Eurynome, bring a stool and lay a fleece upon it,
so that the stranger may sit, speak with me, and listen.
I want to question him.’
100So she said. Eurynome quickly brought and set down
a well-polished stool and laid a fleece upon it.
Then long-enduring noble Odysseus took his seat.
Discerning Penelope began their conversation:
‘Stranger, this is the first question I will ask you myself:
105who are you, and from where? Where are your city and your parents?’
Resourceful Odysseus answered her:
‘Lady, no mortal anywhere on the boundless earth
could find fault with you, for your fame reaches broad heaven,
like the fame of a faultless king who reveres the gods
110and rules over many strong men,
upholding justice. The dark earth bears
wheat and barley, the trees hang heavy with fruit,
the flocks bear young without fail, and the sea supplies fish
through his good leadership, while the people prosper under him.
115So now question me in your house about everything else,
but do not ask about my family or native land,
or you will fill my heart still more with pain
when memory returns. I have much cause to grieve, yet I must not
sit weeping and wailing in another person’s house.
120It is worse to mourn without limit forever.
One of the enslaved women—or you yourself—might resent me
and say that wine has weighed my wits down and made my tears flow.’
Commentary
Eurynome prepares a stool and fleece, and the long-enduring guest takes the offered seat. Penelope’s direct identity question meets a refusal framed by grief, memory, another person’s house, enslaved observers, and feared suspicion of drunkenness; the just-king simile praises her through prosperous rule before he withholds his lineage.
19.96–103 Furniture, listening, and a repeated speech-opening formula establish the interview’s controlled setting. Penelope orders Eurynome to bring a polished stool with fleece so the stranger may sit, speak, and listen; Odysseus then takes that seat. Line 19.103 repeats 17.100 and recurs internally at 19.508, framing both the initial questioning and its late-night resumption.
19.104–114 Odysseus answers Penelope’s identity question first by comparing her kleos to that of a just, god-fearing king. After the repeated question and answer frames, he says no mortal could fault her and that her fame reaches heaven. The simile’s ruler upholds justice among many people, and good leadership is correlated with grain, fruit, flocks, fish, and communal prosperity.
19.115–122 Odysseus refuses lineage inquiry by presenting memory as pain and prolonged lament as improper in another person’s house. He asks Penelope to question him about anything except family and homeland, since recollection would fill thumos with grief. Endless mourning risks resentment from Penelope or the enslaved women and could be misread as tears produced by wine-heavy phrenes.
Penelope recounts her grief and the unravelled weaving scheme 19.123–163
123τὸν δʼ ἠμείβετʼ ἔπειτα περίφρων Πηνελόπεια·
ξεῖνʼ, ἦ τοι μὲν ἐμὴν ἀρετὴν εἶδός τε δέμας τε
125ὤλεσαν ἀθάνατοι, ὅτε Ἴλιον εἰσανέβαινον
Ἀργεῖοι, μετὰ τοῖσι δʼ ἐμὸς πόσις ᾖεν Ὀδυσσεύς
εἰ κεῖνός γʼ ἐλθὼν τὸν ἐμὸν βίον ἀμφιπολεύοι,
μεῖζον κε κλέος εἴη ἐμὸν καὶ κάλλιον οὕτως.
νῦν δʼ ἄχομαι· τόσα γάρ μοι ἐπέσσευεν κακὰ δαίμων.
130ὅσσοι γὰρ νήσοισιν ἐπικρατέουσιν ἄριστοι,
Δουλιχίῳ τε Σάμῃ τε καὶ ὑλήεντι Ζακύνθῳ,
οἵ τʼ αὐτὴν Ἰθάκην εὐδείελον ἀμφινέμονται,
οἵ μʼ ἀεκαζομένην μνῶνται, τρύχουσι δὲ οἶκον.
τῷ οὔτε ξείνων ἐμπάξομαι οὔθʼ ἱκετάων
135οὔτε τι κηρύκων, οἳ δημιοεργοὶ ἔασιν·
ἀλλʼ Ὀδυσῆ ποθέουσα φίλον κατατήκομαι ἦτορ.
οἱ δὲ γάμον σπεύδουσιν· ἐγὼ δὲ δόλους τολυπεύω.
φᾶρος μέν μοι πρῶτον ἐνέπνευσε φρεσὶ δαίμων,
στησαμένῃ μέγαν ἱστόν, ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ὑφαίνειν,
140λεπτὸν καὶ περίμετρον· ἄφαρ δʼ αὐτοῖς μετέειπον·
κοῦροι, ἐμοὶ μνηστῆρες, ἐπεὶ θάνε δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
μίμνετʼ ἐπειγόμενοι τὸν ἐμὸν γάμον, εἰς ὅ κε φᾶρος
ἐκτελέσω—μή μοι μεταμώνια νήματʼ ὄληται—
Λαέρτῃ ἥρωϊ ταφήϊον, εἰς ὅτε κέν μιν
145μοῖρʼ ὀλοὴ καθέλῃσι τανηλεγέος θανάτοιο·
μή τίς μοι κατὰ δῆμον Ἀχαιϊάδων νεμεσήσῃ,
αἴ κεν ἄτερ σπείρου κεῖται πολλὰ κτεατίσσας.
ὣς ἐφάμην, τοῖσιν δʼ ἐπεπείθετο θυμὸς ἀγήνωρ.
ἔνθα καὶ ἠματίη μὲν ὑφαίνεσκον μέγαν ἱστόν,
150νύκτας δʼ ἀλλύεσκον, ἐπεὶ δαΐδας παραθείμην.
ὣς τρίετες μὲν ἔληθον ἐγὼ καὶ ἔπειθον Ἀχαιούς·
ἀλλʼ ὅτε τέτρατον ἦλθεν ἔτος καὶ ἐπήλυθον ὧραι,
μηνῶν φθινόντων, περὶ δʼ ἤματα πόλλʼ ἐτελέσθη,
καὶ τότε δή με διὰ δμῳάς, κύνας οὐκ ἀλεγούσας,
155εἷλον ἐπελθόντες καὶ ὁμόκλησαν ἐπέεσσιν.
ὣς τὸ μὲν ἐξετέλεσσα, καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλουσʼ, ὑπʼ ἀνάγκης·
νῦν δʼ οὔτʼ ἐκφυγέειν δύναμαι γάμον οὔτε τινʼ ἄλλην
μῆτιν ἔθʼ εὑρίσκω· μάλα δʼ ὀτρύνουσι τοκῆες
γήμασθʼ, ἀσχαλάᾳ δὲ πάϊς βίοτον κατεδόντων,
160γιγνώσκων· ἤδη γὰρ ἀνὴρ οἶός τε μάλιστα
οἴκου κήδεσθαι, τῷ τε Ζεὺς κῦδος ὀπάζει.
ἀλλὰ καὶ ὥς μοι εἰπὲ τεὸν γένος, ὁππόθεν ἐσσί.
οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ δρυός ἐσσι παλαιφάτου οὐδʼ ἀπὸ πέτρης.
123Discerning Penelope then answered him:
‘Stranger, the immortals destroyed my excellence,
125my form and figure, when the Argives embarked for Ilium
and my husband Odysseus went with them.
If he returned and watched over my life,
my fame would be greater and finer then.
Now I grieve, for a divine power has driven so many troubles upon me.
130Every nobleman who holds power in the islands—
Dulichium, Same, and wooded Zacynthus—
and those who live round clear-seen Ithaca itself
court me against my will and wear my house away.
So I pay no attention to strangers or suppliants,
135or even to heralds who serve the community.
Longing for Odysseus, I waste my dear heart away.
They press the marriage, but I wind schemes against them.
First a god breathed this plan into my mind:
to set up a great loom and weave here in the hall
140a cloth fine and broad, and then I told them:
“Young men, my suitors, since noble Odysseus is dead,
wait, though you press my marriage, until I finish
this shroud—so that its threads will not be wasted—
for the hero Laertes, against the day
145when the deadly fate of grievous death brings him down.
No Achaean woman in the district should reproach me
if a man who acquired so much should lie without a winding-sheet.”
So I spoke, and their proud hearts were persuaded.
Then by day I would weave at the great loom,
150but at night I would unravel it when I set torches beside me.
For three years I escaped their notice and persuaded the Achaeans.
But when the fourth year came and the seasons returned,
as the months waned and many days were completed,
then they caught me through the enslaved women—bitches who cared nothing—
155coming upon me and shouting their rebukes.
So I finished it, unwilling, under compulsion.
Now I can neither escape the marriage nor devise
another stratagem. My parents urgently press me
to marry, and my son is indignant that they consume his livelihood,
160for he understands. He is now fully a man, best able
to care for a house, and Zeus grants him honor.
But even so, tell me your family and where you come from.
You did not spring from some legendary oak or stone.’
Commentary
Penelope answers from her own loss of aretē, form, figure, fame, and household protection. She repeats the Laertes-shroud strategy in her own voice: divine prompting, day weaving, night unweaving, exposure through enslaved women, and unwilling completion under necessity. Telemachus’ maturity and property loss now narrow her options, but she again presses the stranger’s lineage.
19.123–129 Penelope’s fame formula is inherited from Book 18 but redirected from praise by a suitor to self-accounting before a stranger. Lines 19.123 and 19.125 repeat 18.250 and 18.252; 19.126 normalizes to 18.253, 19.127 repeats 18.254, and 19.129 repeats 18.256. The recurrence shifts agency: Penelope herself explains how the absent husband’s departure destroyed aretē, appearance, and bodily presence while diminishing the kleos his return could enlarge.
19.130–137 Penelope locates coerced courtship across the islands and links it to the neglect of public-facing household obligations. Powerful suitors from Dulichium, Same, Zacynthus, and Ithaca court her against her will and consume the house. Their pressure leaves her inattentive to strangers, suppliants, and community-serving heralds; longing for Odysseus wastes her heart while she winds counter-schemes against the marriage.
19.138–147 The loom story repeats its earlier telling while the audience now knows the disguised listener is the husband it delays. The shroud sequence at 19.141-47 maps to 2.96-102 through exact or punctuation-normalized lines, and 19.145 also normalizes to 3.238. Recurrence makes Penelope’s dolos stable testimony, but the new scene invites Odysseus to hear a household strategy structurally akin to his own concealment.
19.148–156 Penelope’s three-year weaving delay ends through servant disclosure and collective surveillance. Daytime weaving and nightly unweaving turn domestic labor into temporal control. The women’s report and the suitors’ capture of her at the loom show that the scheme fails through household information flow, not through an intellectual defeat in direct debate.
19.157–163 Penelope’s renewed identity question makes speech lineage the price of further lament. She again asks for family and origin while rejecting descent from a legendary oak or stone. The proverbial contrast refuses a socially unplaced speaker: narrative credibility must be anchored in human generation even when the requested answer will be false.
Odysseus answers with the Cretan identity of Aethon 19.164–203
164τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
165ὦ γύναι αἰδοίη Λαερτιάδεω Ὀδυσῆος,
οὐκέτʼ ἀπολλήξεις τὸν ἐμὸν γόνον ἐξερέουσα;
ἀλλʼ ἔκ τοι ἐρέω· ἦ μέν μʼ ἀχέεσσί γε δώσεις
πλείοσιν ἢ ἔχομαι· ἡ γὰρ δίκη, ὁππότε πάτρης
ἧς ἀπέῃσιν ἀνὴρ τόσσον χρόνον ὅσσον ἐγὼ νῦν,
170πολλὰ βροτῶν ἐπὶ ἄστεʼ ἀλώμενος, ἄλγεα πάσχων·
ἀλλὰ καὶ ὣς ἐρέω ὅ μʼ ἀνείρεαι ἠδὲ μεταλλᾷς.
Κρήτη τις γαῖʼ ἔστι, μέσῳ ἐνὶ οἴνοπι πόντῳ,
καλὴ καὶ πίειρα, περίρρυτος· ἐν δʼ ἄνθρωποι
πολλοί, ἀπειρέσιοι, καὶ ἐννήκοντα πόληες.
175ἄλλη δʼ ἄλλων γλῶσσα μεμιγμένη· ἐν μὲν Ἀχαιοί,
ἐν δʼ Ἐτεόκρητες μεγαλήτορες, ἐν δὲ Κύδωνες,
Δωριέες τε τριχάϊκες δῖοί τε Πελασγοί.
τῇσι δʼ ἐνὶ Κνωσός, μεγάλη πόλις, ἔνθα τε Μίνως
ἐννέωρος βασίλευε Διὸς μεγάλου ὀαριστής,
180πατρὸς ἐμοῖο πατήρ, μεγαθύμου Δευκαλίωνος
Δευκαλίων δʼ ἐμὲ τίκτε καὶ Ἰδομενῆα ἄνακτα·
ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν ἐν νήεσσι κορωνίσιν Ἴλιον ἴσω
ᾤχεθʼ ἅμʼ Ἀτρείδῃσιν, ἐμοὶ δʼ ὄνομα κλυτὸν Αἴθων,
ὁπλότερος γενεῇ· ὁ δʼ ἄρα πρότερος καὶ ἀρείων.
185ἔνθʼ Ὀδυσῆα ἐγὼν ἰδόμην καὶ ξείνια δῶκα.
καὶ γὰρ τὸν Κρήτηνδε κατήγαγεν ἲς ἀνέμοιο,
ἱέμενον Τροίηνδε παραπλάγξασα Μαλειῶν·
στῆσε δʼ ἐν Ἀμνισῷ, ὅθι τε σπέος Εἰλειθυίης,
ἐν λιμέσιν χαλεποῖσι, μόγις δʼ ὑπάλυξεν ἀέλλας.
190αὐτίκα δʼ Ἰδομενῆα μετάλλα ἄστυδʼ ἀνελθών·
ξεῖνον γάρ οἱ ἔφασκε φίλον τʼ ἔμεν αἰδοῖόν τε.
τῷ δʼ ἤδη δεκάτη ἢ ἑνδεκάτη πέλεν ἠὼς
οἰχομένῳ σὺν νηυσὶ κορωνίσιν Ἴλιον εἴσω.
τὸν μὲν ἐγὼ πρὸς δώματʼ ἄγων ἐῢ ἐξείνισσα,
195ἐνδυκέως φιλέων, πολλῶν κατὰ οἶκον ἐόντων·
καί οἱ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἑτάροις, οἳ ἅμʼ αὐτῷ ἕποντο,
δημόθεν ἄλφιτα δῶκα καὶ αἴθοπα οἶνον ἀγείρας
καὶ βοῦς ἱρεύσασθαι, ἵνα πλησαίατο θυμόν.
ἔνθα δυώδεκα μὲν μένον ἤματα δῖοι Ἀχαιοί·
200εἴλει γὰρ Βορέης ἄνεμος μέγας οὐδʼ ἐπὶ γαίῃ
εἴα ἵστασθαι, χαλεπὸς δέ τις ὤρορε δαίμων.
τῇ τρισκαιδεκάτῃ δʼ ἄνεμος πέσε, τοὶ δʼ ἀνάγοντο.
ἴσκε ψεύδεα πολλὰ λέγων ἐτύμοισιν ὁμοῖα·
164Resourceful Odysseus answered her:
165‘Respected wife of Laertes’ son Odysseus,
will you never stop questioning me about my birth?
Then I will tell you, though you will fill me with sorrows
greater than those I bear. That is the usual fate when a man
has been away from his homeland as long as I now have,
170wandering through many mortal cities and suffering pain.
Yet even so I will answer what you ask and seek to know.
There is a land called Crete in the middle of the wine-dark sea,
fine and fertile, washed by the sea. Its people
are countless, and it has ninety cities.
175Language is mixed with language there: Achaeans,
great-hearted native Cretans, Cydonians,
Dorians in their three divisions, and noble Pelasgians.
Among their cities is Cnossus, a great city, where Minos
ruled in nine-year periods, intimate with great Zeus.
180He was the father of my father, great-hearted Deucalion.
Deucalion fathered me and lord Idomeneus.
Idomeneus sailed in the curved ships toward Ilium
with the sons of Atreus. My renowned name is Aethon.
I was the younger by birth; he was older and the better man.
185There I saw Odysseus and gave him guest-gifts.
For the force of the wind had driven him down to Crete
as he sailed for Troy, sweeping him off course past Malea.
He brought his ship to Amnisus, where Eileithyia has her cave,
in a difficult harbor, and barely escaped the storm.
190He went up to the city at once and asked for Idomeneus,
whom he said was his dear and honored guest-friend.
But it was already the tenth or eleventh dawn
since Idomeneus had sailed in the curved ships toward Ilium.
I led Odysseus to the house and gave him generous hospitality,
195caring for him closely from the plentiful stores within.
For the other companions who followed with him,
I gathered barley meal and fiery wine from public stores,
and cattle for sacrifice, so that they might satisfy their hunger.
For twelve days the noble Achaeans remained there.
200A great north wind penned them in and would not let a man
stand even on land, for some hostile power had roused it.
On the thirteenth day the wind fell, and they put out to sea.’
He made many lies sound like the truth.
Commentary
Odysseus accepts the demand and constructs Aethon as Deucalion’s younger son and Idomeneus’ brother within a multilingual, ninety-city Crete. Wind, Amnisus, Idomeneus’ absence, public provisioning, cattle intended for sacrifice, and twelve days of delay give the story social and chronological density. The narrator then explicitly classifies the performance as truth-like falsehood.
19.164–171 Odysseus begins the Aethon fiction in the poem’s most heavily repeated reply frame. Line 19.164 belongs to the feminine byte-exact internal response series at 19.106, 164, 220, 261, 335, 382, and 554 and matches five lines in Books 5, 7, and 13. Line 19.41 is an adapted masculine τὸν variant, not a byte-exact member. The routine frame lowers the seam between true identity and invented genealogy, while the polite address preserves Penelope’s control of the interview.
19.172–179 The Cretan catalogue gives the fiction breadth through mixed peoples and ninety cities before narrowing to Knossos and Minos. Crete is characterized as fertile, sea-surrounded, populous, and linguistically diverse. Knossos then focuses the island catalogue on Minos, whose nine-year or nine-years relation to rule and conversation with Zeus supplies the invented speaker’s next genealogical foothold.
19.180–185 Aethon’s genealogy is calibrated to be adjacent to famous power without claiming its highest place. He is made Idomeneus’ younger brother and explains that the elder left for Troy while he remained. The arrangement inserts the stranger into an epic network yet leaves room for an otherwise unattested encounter with Odysseus.
19.186–193 The fiction sends Odysseus off course past Malea to Amnisus, where he narrowly escapes a storm and finds Idomeneus already gone. Wind drives the Troy-bound ship to Crete and a difficult harbor near Eileithyia’s cave. Odysseus asks for Idomeneus as an honored guest-friend, but the Cretan leader has been sailing toward Ilium for ten or eleven dawns; that absence opens space for Aethon to host him.
19.194–202 Aethon’s hospitality claim is quantified through stores gathered for Odysseus’ companions during a twelve-day weather delay. He says he brought Odysseus home and cared for him from plentiful household stores, then gathered public barley meal and wine plus cattle intended for sacrifice so the companions could eat. The north wind holds them until the thirteenth day, when it falls and they sail.
19.203 The narrator explicitly separates false content from truth-like form. The compact comment identifies many falsehoods while stressing their resemblance to truth. Audience certainty therefore comes from narrator classification, not from detecting a single linguistic flaw in Aethon’s performance.
Penelope melts in grief and tests the stranger’s account 19.204–219
204τῆς δʼ ἄρʼ ἀκουούσης ῥέε δάκρυα, τήκετο δὲ χρώς·
205ὡς δὲ χιὼν κατατήκετʼ ἐν ἀκροπόλοισιν ὄρεσσιν,
ἥν τʼ Εὖρος κατέτηξεν, ἐπὴν Ζέφυρος καταχεύῃ·
τηκομένης δʼ ἄρα τῆς ποταμοὶ πλήθουσι ῥέοντες·
ὣς τῆς τήκετο καλὰ παρήϊα δάκρυ χεούσης,
κλαιούσης ἑὸν ἄνδρα παρήμενον. αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς
210θυμῷ μὲν γοόωσαν ἑὴν ἐλέαιρε γυναῖκα,
ὀφθαλμοὶ δʼ ὡς εἰ κέρα ἕστασαν ἠὲ σίδηρος
ἀτρέμας ἐν βλεφάροισι· δόλῳ δʼ ὅ γε δάκρυα κεῦθεν.
ἡ δʼ ἐπεὶ οὖν τάρφθη πολυδακρύτοιο γόοιο,
ἐξαῦτίς μιν ἔπεσσιν ἀμειβομένη προσέειπε·
215νῦν μὲν δή σευ, ξεῖνέ γʼ, ὀΐω πειρήσεσθαι,
εἰ ἐτεὸν δὴ κεῖθι σὺν ἀντιθέοις ἑτάροισι
ξείνισας ἐν μεγάροισιν ἐμὸν πόσιν, ὡς ἀγορεύεις.
εἰπέ μοι ὁπποῖʼ ἄσσα περὶ χροῒ εἵματα ἕστο,
αὐτός θʼ οἷος ἔην, καὶ ἑταίρους, οἵ οἱ ἕποντο.
204As she listened, her tears flowed and her flesh seemed to melt.
205As snow melts high upon the mountain peaks
when the east wind thaws what the west has poured down,
and the rivers swell and run beneath its melting,
so her lovely cheeks melted as she shed tears,
weeping for the husband seated beside her. Odysseus
210pitied his grieving wife within his heart,
but his eyes stood motionless beneath their lids
as if made of horn or iron; by cunning he concealed his tears.
When she had taken her fill of tearful lament,
she answered him again and said:
215‘Stranger, now I think I will put you to the test,
to learn whether you truly received my husband there
with his godlike companions in your halls, as you say.
Tell me what clothing he wore upon his body,
what he himself looked like, and what companions followed him.’
Commentary
Penelope’s tears are expanded through snowmelt and swelling rivers while Odysseus pities her yet fixes his eyes like horn or iron and hides his tears by dolos. Once lament has run its course, she turns emotion into an evidentiary test: clothing, bodily appearance, and companions must substantiate the claimed reception.
19.204–212 Penelope’s melting is measured against snow thawed by the East Wind after the West Wind has poured it down. The simile moves from high mountain snow through the two winds to swelling rivers, then returns to Penelope’s cheeks and tears for the husband seated beside her. Its clause-by-clause unfolding delays the human identification without requiring a claim of repeated metrical enjambment.
19.213–219 After lament, Penelope converts the stranger’s reception story into a test of clothing, body, and companions. She says she will now test whether he truly hosted her husband with his godlike companions. The requested particulars are concrete and relational—what Odysseus wore, what he looked like, and who followed him—so grief yields to controlled verification.
Aethon describes Odysseus’ clothing, brooch, and herald 19.220–250
220τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
ὦ γύναι, ἀργαλέον τόσσον χρόνον ἀμφὶς ἐόντα
εἰπέμεν· ἤδη γάρ οἱ ἐεικοστὸν ἔτος ἐστὶν
ἐξ οὗ κεῖθεν ἔβη καὶ ἐμῆς ἀπελήλυθε πάτρης·
αὐτάρ τοι ἐρέω ὥς μοι ἰνδάλλεται ἦτορ.
225χλαῖναν πορφυρέην οὔλην ἔχε δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
διπλῆν· αὐτάρ οἱ περόνη χρυσοῖο τέτυκτο
αὐλοῖσιν διδύμοισι· πάροιθε δὲ δαίδαλον ἦεν·
ἐν προτέροισι πόδεσσι κύων ἔχε ποικίλον ἐλλόν,
ἀσπαίροντα λάων· τὸ δὲ θαυμάζεσκον ἅπαντες,
230ὡς οἱ χρύσεοι ἐόντες ὁ μὲν λάε νεβρὸν ἀπάγχων,
αὐτὰρ ὁ ἐκφυγέειν μεμαὼς ἤσπαιρε πόδεσσι.
τὸν δὲ χιτῶνʼ ἐνόησα περὶ χροῒ σιγαλόεντα,
οἷόν τε κρομύοιο λοπὸν κάτα ἰσχαλέοιο·
τὼς μὲν ἔην μαλακός, λαμπρὸς δʼ ἦν ἠέλιος ὥς·
235ἦ μὲν πολλαί γʼ αὐτὸν ἐθηήσαντο γυναῖκες.
ἄλλο δέ τοι ἐρέω, σὺ δʼ ἐνὶ φρεσὶ βάλλεο σῇσιν·
οὐκ οἶδʼ ἢ τάδε ἕστο περὶ χροῒ οἴκοθʼ Ὀδυσσεύς,
ἦ τις ἑταίρων δῶκε θοῆς ἐπὶ νηὸς ἰόντι,
ἤ τίς που καὶ ξεῖνος, ἐπεὶ πολλοῖσιν Ὀδυσσεὺς
240ἔσκε φίλος· παῦροι γὰρ Ἀχαιῶν ἦσαν ὁμοῖοι.
καί οἱ ἐγὼ χάλκειον ἄορ καὶ δίπλακα δῶκα
καλὴν πορφυρέην καὶ τερμιόεντα χιτῶνα,
αἰδοίως δʼ ἀπέπεμπον ἐϋσσέλμου ἐπὶ νηός.
καὶ μέν οἱ κῆρυξ ὀλίγον προγενέστερος αὐτοῦ
245εἵπετο· καὶ τόν τοι μυθήσομαι, οἷος ἔην περ.
γυρὸς ἐν ὤμοισιν, μελανόχροος, οὐλοκάρηνος,
Εὐρυβάτης δʼ ὄνομʼ ἔσκε· τίεν δέ μιν ἔξοχον ἄλλων
ὧν ἑτάρων Ὀδυσεύς, ὅτι οἱ φρεσὶν ἄρτια ᾔδη.
ὣς φάτο, τῇ δʼ ἔτι μᾶλλον ὑφʼ ἵμερον ὦρσε γόοιο,
250σήματʼ ἀναγνούσῃ τά οἱ ἔμπεδα πέφραδʼ Ὀδυσσεύς.
220Resourceful Odysseus answered her:
‘Lady, it is hard to tell after being apart so long.
This is already the twentieth year
since he departed from there and left my homeland.
Still, I will tell you as my heart pictures him.
225Noble Odysseus wore a fleecy purple cloak,
folded double, with a gold brooch fashioned
with twin tubes. On its face was intricate work:
a hound held a spotted fawn between its forepaws,
pinning it as it struggled. Everyone marveled
230that though both were gold, the hound throttled the fawn
while the fawn strained with its feet to escape.
I noticed the gleaming tunic around his body too,
fine as the skin over a dried onion.
So soft it was, yet it shone like the sun.
235Indeed, many women gazed at him in wonder.
I will tell you something else; keep it in your mind.
I do not know whether Odysseus had worn these clothes at home,
or one of his companions gave them as he boarded the swift ship,
or perhaps some guest-friend, since Odysseus
240was dear to many—few Achaeans were his equal.
I myself gave him a bronze sword, a fine purple cloak
folded double, and a fringed tunic,
and sent him with honor to his well-benched ship.
A herald a little older than he was followed him.
245I will tell you what that man looked like:
round-shouldered, dark-skinned, with curling hair.
Eurybates was his name, and Odysseus honored him above
his other companions because his thoughts matched his own.’
So he spoke and stirred in her an even stronger longing to mourn,
250for she recognized the unfailing signs Odysseus had given.
Commentary
Aethon claims imperfect memory before describing a fleecy double cloak, twin-tubed gold brooch, moving hound-and-fawn image, onion-skin tunic, and Eurybates. He distinguishes remembered appearance from uncertain provenance and says Odysseus valued the herald because their phrenes agreed. Penelope recognizes these details as stable signs.
19.220–224 The standard Odysseus reply formula introduces a memory disclaimer calibrated to the twenty-year separation. Line 19.220 belongs to the feminine byte-exact response class at 19.106, 164, 220, 261, 335, 382, and 554 and at five earlier-book locators. Line 19.41 is an adapted masculine τὸν variant, not a byte-exact member. He calls exact recollection difficult after almost twenty years, then promises to report how his heart pictures Odysseus, limiting certainty before the detailed description begins.
19.225–235 The garment sign is made visually exact through color, fastening, animal action, texture, and shine. The purple fleecy cloak is doubled and secured by a gold brooch with twin tubes. Its hound pins and throttles a struggling spotted fawn; the gleaming tunic is as fine as dried onion skin and bright as the sun, details precise enough for Penelope to test.
19.236–243 A recurrent keep-this-in-mind line turns from garment appearance to uncertain provenance and Aethon’s claimed gifts. Line 19.236 repeats 11.454, 16.281, 16.299, and 17.548 and recurs internally at 19.495 and 19.570. Here it introduces uncertainty about whether the clothes came from home, a companion, or a guest-friend before Aethon claims to have supplied a sword, cloak, and fringed tunic and sent Odysseus honorably to his ship.
19.244–248 Eurybates is described through body, status, and inward compatibility with Odysseus. Odysseus names dark skin, rounded shoulders, and curly hair, then calls the herald dear because their phrenes knew compatible thoughts. Physical description makes him testable; shared inward understanding makes him more than an inventory item.
19.249–250 Penelope confirms the signs before the narrator releases her second wave of grief. Her recognition applies to clothing and Eurybates, not yet to the disguised husband. The scene carefully distinguishes verification of an embedded encounter from recognition of the speaker’s identity.
Penelope recognizes the clothing signs and mourns her husband 19.251–260
251ἡ δʼ ἐπεὶ οὖν τάρφθη πολυδακρύτοιο γόοιο.
καὶ τότε μιν μύθοισιν ἀμειβομένη προσέειπε·
νῦν μὲν δή μοι, ξεῖνε, πάρος περ ἐὼν ἐλεεινός,
ἐν μεγάροισιν ἐμοῖσι φίλος τʼ ἔσῃ αἰδοῖός τε·
255αὐτὴ γὰρ τάδε εἵματʼ ἐγὼ πόρον, οἷʼ ἀγορεύεις,
πτύξασʼ ἐκ θαλάμου, περόνην τʼ ἐπέθηκα φαεινὴν
κείνῳ ἄγαλμʼ ἔμεναι· τὸν δʼ οὐχ ὑποδέξομαι αὖτις
οἴκαδε νοστήσαντα φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν.
τῷ ῥα κακῇ αἴσῃ κοίλης ἐπὶ νηὸς Ὀδυσσεὺς
260ᾤχετʼ ἐποψόμενος Κακοΐλιον οὐκ ὀνομαστήν.
251When she had taken her fill of tearful lament,
she answered him in turn and said:
‘Stranger, though you were pitiable to me before,
now you will be dear and honored in my halls.
255For I myself provided the clothes you describe,
folding them in the chamber, and fastened the shining brooch
to be an adornment for him. But I will never welcome him again
returning home to his own dear native land.
By an evil fate Odysseus boarded the hollow ship
260to see accursed Ilios, whose name should not be spoken.’
Commentary
After renewed lament, Penelope explains that she herself provided, folded, and fastened the garments. The stranger’s status in her hall changes from pitiable to dear and honored, yet the recognition is of signs and past access, not of the man before her. Her bitter Ilios wordplay closes the response in speaker-bound grief.
19.251–258 Penelope’s ownership of the garments changes the stranger’s standing while deepening her despair of return. She says she herself supplied and folded the clothes and fastened the shining brooch. That confirmation makes the previously pitiable stranger dear and honored in her halls, yet she concludes that she will never welcome Odysseus home; verified signs produce trust in the guest without recognition of the man.
19.259–260 Penelope compresses departure, evil fate, and revulsion at Troy into the compound Kakoilion. Odysseus boarded the hollow ship by a bad destiny to look upon Kakoilion, an accursed or evil Ilios whose name Penelope says should not be spoken. Line 19.260 recurs internally at 19.597, carrying the same bitter destination from the tested clothing signs to her final chamber lament.
Odysseus reports a near homecoming and swears to its timing 19.261–307
261τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
ὦ γύναι αἰδοίη Λαερτιάδεω Ὀδυσῆος,
μηκέτι νῦν χρόα καλὸν ἐναίρεο, μηδέ τι θυμὸν
τῆκε, πόσιν γοόωσα. νεμεσσῶμαί γε μὲν οὐδέν·
265καὶ γάρ τίς τʼ ἀλλοῖον ὀδύρεται ἄνδρʼ ὀλέσασα
κουρίδιον, τῷ τέκνα τέκῃ φιλότητι μιγεῖσα,
ἢ Ὀδυσῆʼ, ὅν φασι θεοῖς ἐναλίγκιον εἶναι.
ἀλλὰ γόου μὲν παῦσαι, ἐμεῖο δὲ σύνθεο μῦθον·
νημερτέως γάρ τοι μυθήσομαι οὐδʼ ἐπικεύσω
270ὡς ἤδη Ὀδυσῆος ἐγὼ περὶ νόστου ἄκουσα
ἀγχοῦ, Θεσπρωτῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐν πίονι δήμῳ,
ζωοῦ· αὐτὰρ ἄγει κειμήλια πολλὰ καὶ ἐσθλὰ
αἰτίζων ἀνὰ δῆμον. ἀτὰρ ἐρίηρας ἑταίρους
ὤλεσε καὶ νῆα γλαφυρὴν ἐνὶ οἴνοπι πόντῳ,
275Θρινακίης ἄπο νήσου ἰών· ὀδύσαντο γὰρ αὐτῷ
Ζεύς τε καὶ Ἠέλιος· τοῦ γὰρ βόας ἔκταν ἑταῖροι.
οἱ μὲν πάντες ὄλοντο πολυκλύστῳ ἐνὶ πόντῳ·
τὸν δʼ ἄρʼ ἐπὶ τρόπιος νεὸς ἔκβαλε κῦμʼ ἐπὶ χέρσου,
Φαιήκων ἐς γαῖαν, οἳ ἀγχίθεοι γεγάασιν,
280οἳ δή μιν περὶ κῆρι θεὸν ὣς τιμήσαντο
καί οἱ πολλὰ δόσαν πέμπειν τέ μιν ἤθελον αὐτοὶ
οἴκαδʼ ἀπήμαντον. καί κεν πάλαι ἐνθάδʼ Ὀδυσσεὺς
ἤην· ἀλλʼ ἄρα οἱ τό γε κέρδιον εἴσατο θυμῷ,
χρήματʼ ἀγυρτάζειν πολλὴν ἐπὶ γαῖαν ἰόντι·
285ὣς περὶ κέρδεα πολλὰ καταθνητῶν ἀνθρώπων
οἶδʼ Ὀδυσεύς, οὐδʼ ἄν τις ἐρίσσειε βροτὸς ἄλλος.
ὥς μοι Θεσπρωτῶν βασιλεὺς μυθήσατο Φείδων·
ὤμνυε δὲ πρὸς ἔμʼ αὐτόν, ἀποσπένδων ἐνὶ οἴκῳ,
νῆα κατειρύσθαι καὶ ἐπαρτέας ἔμμεν ἑταίρους,
290οἳ δή μιν πέμψουσι φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν.
ἀλλʼ ἐμὲ πρὶν ἀπέπεμψε· τύχησε γὰρ ἐρχομένη νηῦς
ἀνδρῶν Θεσπρωτῶν ἐς Δουλίχιον πολύπυρον.
καί μοι κτήματʼ ἔδειξεν, ὅσα ξυναγείρατʼ Ὀδυσσεύς·
καί νύ κεν ἐς δεκάτην γενεὴν ἕτερόν γʼ ἔτι βόσκοι,
295ὅσσα οἱ ἐν μεγάροις κειμήλια κεῖτο ἄνακτος.
τὸν δʼ ἐς Δωδώνην φάτο βήμεναι, ὄφρα θεοῖο
ἐκ δρυὸς ὑψικόμοιο Διὸς βουλὴν ἐπακούσαι,
ὅππως νοστήσειε φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν
ἤδη δὴν ἀπεών, ἤ ἀμφαδὸν ἦε κρυφηδόν.
300ὣς ὁ μὲν οὕτως ἐστὶ σόος καὶ ἐλεύσεται ἤδη
ἄγχι μάλʼ, οὐδʼ ἔτι τῆλε φίλων καὶ πατρίδος αἴης
δηρὸν ἀπεσσεῖται· ἔμπης δέ τοι ὅρκια δώσω.
ἴστω νῦν Ζεὺς πρῶτα, θεῶν ὕπατος καὶ ἄριστος,
ἱστίη τʼ Ὀδυσῆος ἀμύμονος, ἣν ἀφικάνω·
305ἦ μέν τοι τάδε πάντα τελείεται ὡς ἀγορεύω.
τοῦδʼ αὐτοῦ λυκάβαντος ἐλεύσεται ἐνθάδʼ Ὀδυσσεύς,
τοῦ μὲν φθίνοντος μηνός, τοῦ δʼ ἱσταμένοιο.
261Resourceful Odysseus answered her:
‘Respected wife of Laertes’ son Odysseus,
do not keep wasting the beauty of your skin or melt
your heart away in mourning for your husband. I do not blame you.
265Any woman grieves when she has lost the husband
of her youth, to whom she bore children after joining in love,
even a man other than Odysseus, whom they say was like the gods.
But cease from lament and attend closely to my words.
I will speak truthfully and conceal nothing
270about the report I have already heard of Odysseus’ homecoming:
he is alive and close by in the rich land
of the Thesprotians, bringing many fine treasures
as he begs through the district. But his faithful companions
and hollow ship he lost on the wine-dark sea
275when he sailed from Thrinacia’s island; the gods were angry with him—
Zeus and Helios—because his companions killed Helios’ cattle.
They all perished in the surging sea,
but a wave cast him ashore on the keel of his ship
in the land of the Phaeacians, who are near in kin to the gods.
280They honored him from the heart as if he were a god,
gave him many gifts, and wished themselves to escort him
home unharmed. Odysseus could have been here long ago,
but to his mind it seemed more profitable
to travel widely over the earth and gather wealth.
285So much more than all mortal men does Odysseus know
about gaining advantage; no other mortal could rival him.
Pheidon, king of the Thesprotians, told me this.
He swore to me himself as he poured a libation in his house
that the ship was hauled down and the companions ready
290who would escort him to his dear native land.
But he sent me away first, for a Thesprotian ship happened
to be departing for grain-rich Dulichium.
He showed me all the possessions Odysseus had gathered.
They would feed another man even to the tenth generation,
295so many treasures of the lord lay stored in the halls.
But he said Odysseus had gone to Dodona to hear
from the high-crowned oak the counsel of Zeus:
how he should return to his dear native land
after so long away—openly or in secret.
300Thus he is safe and will soon arrive,
very near now. He will not remain far from his friends
and native land much longer. Yet I will give you an oath.
Let Zeus be witness first, highest and best of gods,
and the hearth of blameless Odysseus, to which I have come:
305everything will be fulfilled exactly as I say.
Within this very turning year Odysseus will come here,
as this month wanes and the next begins.’
Commentary
Odysseus asks Penelope to stop mourning, then presents a layered report of survival: Thrinacia, Phaeacian honor, supposed wealth gathering, Pheidon’s stores and ship, and Dodona’s oak. Much reuses earlier Cretan-story diction. An oath by Zeus and Odysseus’ hearth culminates in the turning-year prediction bounded by the waning and rising months.
19.261–268 Odysseus’ repeated response frame introduces a qualified prohibition on Penelope’s bodily wasting in grief. Line 19.261 returns to the dominant answer formula and 19.262 to the repeated respectful address. He asks Penelope not to waste her skin or melt her thumos, explicitly says he does not blame a wife for mourning, and closes by telling her to stop lament and attend to his coming speech.
19.269–276 The claim that Odysseus lives is insulated by report chains and selective loss. The stranger says he heard of him near the Thesprotians, wealthy from gifts but separated from companions. The tale mixes a comforting present-tense assertion with familiar nostos damage, making hope plausible without offering direct access.
19.277–286 The false report reuses Phaeacian return material and then converts delayed nostos into a claim about Odysseus’ pursuit of kerdos. Line 19.279 repeats 5.35. The account moves from the companions’ destruction and Odysseus’ landfall on the ship’s keel to Phaeacian honor, gifts, and offered escort, then says he preferred to gather wealth because no mortal rivals his knowledge of advantage.
19.287–295 The Pheidon-Thesprotia report reuses a Book 14 block with small framing changes. Lines 19.289-292 repeat 14.332-335; 19.293 normalizes to 14.323. The recycled report makes the stranger’s story consistent across audiences, but Penelope receives it as evidence about a husband whereas Eumaeus heard it within another Cretan performance.
19.296–299 Dodona extends the report through a reported consultation of Zeus’ oak. The speaker offers two possible modes of return—open or concealed—as if both depend on divine counsel. The alternatives neatly cover Odysseus’ actual disguised presence, but they remain embedded prediction rather than a transparent confession.
19.300–307 The oath sequence turns a broad return promise into a narrowly timed claim at the turning of the year. Lines 19.304-305 repeat 14.159-160; 19.304 also normalizes to 17.156, and 19.306-307 normalize to 14.161-162. Hearth, Zeus, and host-house formalize the assertion, while the lykabas interval supplies precision whose calendrical nuance remains disputed.
Penelope offers care while doubting return and escort 19.308–334
308τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε περίφρων Πηνελόπεια·
αἲ γὰρ τοῦτο, ξεῖνε, ἔπος τετελεσμένον εἴη·
310τῷ κε τάχα γνοίης φιλότητά τε πολλά τε δῶρα
ἐξ ἐμεῦ, ὡς ἄν τίς σε συναντόμενος μακαρίζοι.
ἀλλά μοι ὧδʼ ἀνὰ θυμὸν ὀΐεται, ὡς ἔσεταί περ·
οὔτʼ Ὀδυσεὺς ἔτι οἶκον ἐλεύσεται, οὔτε σὺ πομπῆς
τεύξῃ, ἐπεὶ οὐ τοῖοι σημάντορές εἰσʼ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ
315οἷος Ὀδυσσεὺς ἔσκε μετʼ ἀνδράσιν, εἴ ποτʼ ἔην γε,
ξείνους αἰδοίους ἀποπεμπέμεν ἠδὲ δέχεσθαι.
ἀλλά μιν, ἀμφίπολοι, ἀπονίψατε, κάτθετε δʼ εὐνήν,
δέμνια καὶ χλαίνας καὶ ῥήγεα σιγαλόεντα,
ὥς κʼ εὖ θαλπιόων χρυσόθρονον Ἠῶ ἵκηται.
320ἠῶθεν δὲ μάλʼ ἦρι λοέσσαι τε χρῖσαί τε,
ὥς κʼ ἔνδον παρὰ Τηλεμάχῳ δείπνοιο μέδηται
ἥμενος ἐν μεγάρῳ· τῷ δʼ ἄλγιον ὅς κεν ἐκείνων
τοῦτον ἀνιάζῃ θυμοφθόρος· οὐδέ τι ἔργον
ἐνθάδʼ ἔτι πρήξει, μάλα περ κεχολωμένος αἰνῶς.
325πῶς γὰρ ἐμεῦ σύ, ξεῖνε, δαήσεαι εἴ τι γυναικῶν
ἀλλάων περίειμι νόον καὶ ἐπίφρονα μῆτιν,
εἴ κεν ἀϋσταλέος, κακὰ εἱμένος ἐν μεγάροισιν
δαινύῃ; ἄνθρωποι δὲ μινυνθάδιοι τελέθουσιν.
ὃς μὲν ἀπηνὴς αὐτὸς ἔῃ καὶ ἀπηνέα εἰδῇ,
330τῷ δὲ καταρῶνται πάντες βροτοὶ ἄλγεʼ ὀπίσσω
ζωῷ, ἀτὰρ τεθνεῶτί γʼ ἐφεψιόωνται ἅπαντες·
ὃς δʼ ἂν ἀμύμων αὐτὸς ἔῃ καὶ ἀμύμονα εἰδῇ,
τοῦ μέν τε κλέος εὐρὺ δὶα ξεῖνοι φορέουσι
πάντας ἐπʼ ἀνθρώπους, πολλοί τέ μιν ἐσθλὸν ἔειπον.
308Discerning Penelope answered him:
‘If only this word of yours were fulfilled, stranger.
310Then you would soon know such friendship and so many gifts
from me that anyone who met you would call you blessed.
But my heart tells me how it will be:
Odysseus will not return to his house, nor will you obtain
an escort, since there are no such leaders here
315as Odysseus was among men—if ever he truly lived—
to welcome honored strangers and send them on their way.
But, attendants, wash him and set down a bed,
mattress, cloaks, and shining blankets,
so that warm and comfortable he may greet gold-throned Dawn.
320Early tomorrow wash and anoint him,
so that seated beside Telemachus in the hall he may attend the meal.
It will be worse for any man among them who torments
this stranger, pain that eats at the heart. However fiercely angry,
he will accomplish nothing more here.
325For how will you learn, stranger, whether I surpass
other women in understanding and thoughtful strategy
if you dine in my hall unwashed and poorly clothed?
Human lives are brief.
When a man is harsh and his deeds are harsh,
330all mortals pray down suffering on him while he lives,
and when he is dead they all make mock of him.
But when a man is faultless and his deeds are faultless,
his guests carry his broad fame
among all peoples, and many call him a good man.’
Commentary
Penelope conditionally promises gifts if the report is fulfilled but predicts neither Odysseus’ return nor proper escort for the guest. She nevertheless orders washing, bedding, anointing, seating by Telemachus, and protection from abuse. Her closing contrast between harsh and faultless conduct makes guest-carried kleos the afterlife of a host’s behavior.
19.308–316 Penelope’s recurrent answer line receives the oath without surrendering skepticism. Line 19.308 repeats 17.162, 17.528, and 17.585 and recurs internally at 19.349, 559, and 588; lines 19.309-311 repeat both 15.536-538 and 17.163-165. Repeated polite response diction lets her hold hope, reward, and disbelief together without a tonal rupture.
19.317–324 Penelope orders a full sequence of present and morning care while warning that further abuse will fail. The attendants are to wash the guest and prepare mattress, cloaks, and blankets so he can remain warm until Dawn. In the morning they are to wash and anoint him before he dines beside Telemachus; any suitor who torments him will suffer without accomplishing anything in the house.
19.325–334 Penelope makes treatment of the unwashed guest a test of her noos and mētis and of the host’s posthumous reputation. Human life is brief: harsh people and harsh deeds draw curses while alive and mockery after death, whereas faultless conduct is carried among peoples as broad kleos by guests. Her moral contrast makes hospitality observable in deeds rather than self-description.
Odysseus accepts foot-washing only from an aged woman 19.335–360
335τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
ὦ γύναι αἰδοίη Λαερτιάδεω Ὀδυσῆος,
ἦ τοι ἐμοὶ χλαῖναι καὶ ῥήγεα σιγαλόεντα
ἤχθεθʼ, ὅτε πρῶτον Κρήτης ὄρεα νιφόεντα
νοσφισάμην ἐπὶ νηὸς ἰὼν δολιχηρέτμοιο,
340κείω δʼ ὡς τὸ πάρος περ ἀΰπνους νύκτας ἴαυον·
πολλὰς γὰρ δὴ νύκτας ἀεικελίῳ ἐνὶ κοίτῃ
ἄεσα καί τʼ ἀνέμεινα ἐΰθρονον Ἠῶ δῖαν.
οὐδέ τί μοι ποδάνιπτρα ποδῶν ἐπιήρανα θυμῷ
γίγνεται· οὐδὲ γυνὴ ποδὸς ἅψεται ἡμετέροιο
345τάων αἵ τοι δῶμα κάτα δρήστειραι ἔασιν,
εἰ μή τις γρηῦς ἔστι παλαιή, κεδνὰ ἰδυῖα,
ἥ τις δὴ τέτληκε τόσα φρεσὶν ὅσσα τʼ ἐγώ περ·
τῇ δʼ οὐκ ἂν φθονέοιμι ποδῶν ἅψασθαι ἐμεῖο.
τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε περίφρων Πηνελόπεια·
350ξεῖνε φίλʼ· οὐ γάρ πώ τις ἀνὴρ πεπνυμένος ὧδε
ξείνων τηλεδαπῶν φιλίων ἐμὸν ἵκετο δῶμα,
ὡς σὺ μάλʼ εὐφραδέως πεπνυμένα πάντʼ ἀγορεύεις·
ἔστι δέ μοι γρηῢς πυκινὰ φρεσὶ μήδεʼ ἔχουσα
ἣ κεῖνον δύστηνον ἐῢ τρέφεν ἠδʼ ἀτίταλλε,
355δεξαμένη χείρεσσʼ, ὅτε μιν πρῶτον τέκε μήτηρ,
ἥ σε πόδας νίψει, ὀλιγηπελέουσά περ ἔμπης.
ἀλλʼ ἄγε νῦν ἀνστᾶσα, περίφρων Εὐρύκλεια,
νίψον σοῖο ἄνακτος ὁμήλικα· καί που Ὀδυσσεὺς
ἤδη τοιόσδʼ ἐστὶ πόδας τοιόσδε τε χεῖρας·
360αἶψα γὰρ ἐν κακότητι βροτοὶ καταγηράσκουσιν.
335Resourceful Odysseus answered her:
‘Respected wife of Laertes’ son Odysseus,
cloaks and shining blankets have been hateful to me
since I left the snow-capped mountains of Crete
and went aboard a long-oared ship.
340I will lie down as I did before through sleepless nights.
For many nights I passed in a wretched bed
and held out until radiant Dawn on her lovely throne.
Nor does washing my feet bring pleasure to my heart.
No woman among those who serve within your house
345will touch my foot,
unless there is some aged woman, faithful and experienced,
who has endured in her heart as much as I.
I would not begrudge such a woman touching my feet.’
Discerning Penelope answered him:
350‘Dear stranger, no thoughtful man from a distant land
as welcome as you has ever come to my house,
so thoughtfully and sensibly do you say everything.
I have an old woman here whose mind holds shrewd counsels.
She carefully nursed and tended that unfortunate man,
355taking him in her arms when his mother first gave him birth.
She will wash your feet, though age has left her weak.
Come now, rise, discerning Eurycleia,
and wash a man the same age as your master. Odysseus’
feet and hands are perhaps already like this stranger’s:
360mortals age quickly in adversity.’
Commentary
The stranger refuses cloaks, blankets, and foot-washing by the serving women generally, but permits touch by an aged, faithful, experienced sufferer. Penelope recognizes the fit with Eurycleia, recalls the nurse’s care from birth, and notes that adversity can age a body rapidly while arranging the contact that will defeat the disguise.
19.335–342 The repeated reply formula introduces Odysseus’ refusal of cloaks and blankets through the hardship history of his disguise. Line 19.335 belongs to the book’s main answer series, and 19.336 repeats 17.152 as well as 19.165, 262, and 583. He says fine bedding has been hateful since he left snowy Crete and describes sleepless nights on a wretched bed endured until Dawn.
19.343–348 Odysseus limits foot-touch to an aged, faithful woman whose suffering resembles the history he claims. He refuses touch from the serving women generally but permits an old woman, experienced in faithful conduct, who has endured as much as he claims to have endured. The comparative identifies likeness through biography before Eurycleia identifies him through the scar; reciprocal suffering masks an unequal encounter.
19.349–360 Penelope presents Eurycleia as a uniquely trusted household elder whose service began with Odysseus’ infancy. Her answer formula recurs with other Penelope replies, but the content narrows from any old servant to the nurse who received the newborn and tended him. Penelope unknowingly selects the person whose tactile memory poses the greatest danger to the disguise.
Eurycleia mourns and sees Odysseus’ likeness in the stranger 19.361–385
361ὣς ἄρʼ ἔφη, γρηῢς δὲ κατέσχετο χερσὶ πρόσωπα,
δάκρυα δʼ ἔκβαλε θερμά, ἔπος δʼ ὀλοφυδνὸν ἔειπεν·
ὤ μοι ἐγὼ σέο, τέκνον, ἀμήχανος· ἦ σε περὶ Ζεὺς
ἀνθρώπων ἤχθηρε θεουδέα θυμὸν ἔχοντα.
365οὐ γάρ πώ τις τόσσα βροτῶν Διὶ τερπικεραύνῳ
πίονα μηρίʼ ἔκηʼ οὐδʼ ἐξαίτους ἑκατόμβας,
ὅσσα σὺ τῷ ἐδίδους, ἀρώμενος ἧος ἵκοιο
γῆράς τε λιπαρὸν θρέψαιό τε φαίδιμον υἱόν·
νῦν δέ τοι οἴῳ πάμπαν ἀφείλετο νόστιμον ἦμαρ.
370οὕτω που καὶ κείνῳ ἐφεψιόωντο γυναῖκες
ξείνων τηλεδαπῶν, ὅτε τευ κλυτὰ δώμαθʼ ἵκοιτο,
ὡς σέθεν αἱ κύνες αἵδε καθεψιόωνται ἅπασαι,
τάων νῦν λώβην τε καὶ αἴσχεα πόλλʼ ἀλεείνων
οὐκ ἐάας νίζειν· ἐμὲ δʼ οὐκ ἀέκουσαν ἄνωγε
375κούρη Ἰκαρίοιο, περίφρων Πηνελόπεια.
τῷ σε πόδας νίψω ἅμα τʼ αὐτῆς Πηνελοπείης
καὶ σέθεν εἵνεκʼ, ἐπεί μοι ὀρώρεται ἔνδοθι θυμὸς
κήδεσιν. ἀλλʼ ἄγε νῦν ξυνίει ἔπος, ὅττι κεν εἴπω·
πολλοὶ δὴ ξεῖνοι ταλαπείριοι ἐνθάδʼ ἵκοντο,
380ἀλλʼ οὔ πώ τινά φημι ἐοικότα ὧδε ἰδέσθαι
ὡς σὺ δέμας φωνήν τε πόδας τʼ Ὀδυσῆϊ ἔοικας.
τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
ὦ γρηῦ, οὕτω φασὶν ὅσοι ἴδον ὀφθαλμοῖσιν
ἡμέας ἀμφοτέρους, μάλα εἰκέλω ἀλλήλοιϊν
385ἔμμεναι, ὡς σύ περ αὐτὴ ἐπιφρονέουσʼ ἀγορεύεις.
361So she spoke. The old woman covered her face with her hands,
shed warm tears, and spoke a word of sorrow:
‘Ah, child, I am powerless to help you! Zeus must have hated you
beyond all men, though you had a heart that revered the gods.
365No mortal ever burned for Zeus who delights in thunder
so many rich thigh-pieces or choice hecatombs
as you gave him, praying to reach
a comfortable old age and raise your splendid son.
Yet from you alone he has wholly taken the day of homecoming.
370Perhaps women mocked him just so
when he came to the famous house of some distant host,
as these bitches here all mock you.
To avoid their abuse and many outrages
you refuse to let them wash you. But the daughter of Icarius,
375discerning Penelope, has ordered me, and I do not resist.
So I will wash your feet for Penelope’s sake
and for your own, because the heart within me is stirred
with sorrow. But now attend to what I say:
many weather-beaten strangers have come here,
380but I have never seen a man so like Odysseus
in body, voice, and feet as you are.’
Resourceful Odysseus answered her:
‘Old woman, everyone who has seen us both with his own eyes
says we are very much alike,
385just as you have thoughtfully said yourself.’
Commentary
Eurycleia’s lament interprets Odysseus’ absence through Zeus’ hostility despite sacrifice and piety. She compares distant women’s possible mockery with the household women’s abuse, accepts Penelope’s command, and identifies likeness in body, voice, and feet. Odysseus agrees that observers find the two men alike without disclosing identity.
19.361–369 Eurycleia’s lament frames Odysseus’ suffering as an especially perplexing object of divine hostility. She addresses the absent master, recalls his sacrifices to Zeus, and says the god has hated him beyond other mortals and removed his day of return. Piety and suffering are placed in tension rather than resolved by a doctrine of reward; the disguised hearer receives grief spoken to his own absent name.
19.370–378 The nurse’s memory of hostile mockery links Odysseus’ vulnerability abroad to the stranger’s abuse at home. Eurycleia imagines women in distant hosts’ houses mocking Odysseus as the women here mock the stranger. She interprets his refusal of other washers as avoidance of abuse, then accepts Penelope’s order because her own thumos is stirred by sorrow.
19.379–385 Eurycleia identifies an unmatched resemblance, and Odysseus neutralizes it by treating the likeness as common observation. Among many weather-beaten strangers she has seen none so like Odysseus in body, voice, and feet. He neither warns nor authorizes her; he replies that everyone who has seen both men says they are very much alike, converting her insight into an apparently familiar comparison.
The washing reveals the scar and recalls Odysseus’ naming 19.386–412
386ὣς ἄρʼ ἔφη, γρηῢς δὲ λέβηθʼ ἕλε παμφανόωντα
τοῦ πόδας ἐξαπένιζεν, ὕδωρ δʼ ἐνεχεύατο πουλὺ
ψυχρόν, ἔπειτα δὲ θερμὸν ἐπήφυσεν. αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς
ἷζεν ἐπʼ ἐσχαρόφιν, ποτὶ δὲ σκότον ἐτράπετʼ αἶψα·
390αὐτίκα γὰρ κατὰ θυμὸν ὀΐσατο, μή ἑ λαβοῦσα
οὐλὴν ἀμφράσσαιτο καὶ ἀμφαδὰ ἔργα γένοιτο.
νίζε δʼ ἄρʼ ἆσσον ἰοῦσα ἄναχθʼ ἑόν· αὐτίκα δʼ ἔγνω
οὐλήν, τήν ποτέ μιν σῦς ἤλασε λευκῷ ὀδόντι
Παρνησόνδʼ ἐλθόντα μετʼ Αὐτόλυκόν τε καὶ υἷας,
395μητρὸς ἑῆς πάτερʼ ἐσθλόν, ὃς ἀνθρώπους ἐκέκαστο
κλεπτοσύνῃ θʼ ὅρκῳ τε· θεὸς δέ οἱ αὐτὸς ἔδωκεν
Ἑρμείας· τῷ γὰρ κεχαρισμένα μηρία καῖεν
ἀρνῶν ἠδʼ ἐρίφων· ὁ δέ οἱ πρόφρων ἅμʼ ὀπήδει.
Αὐτόλυκος δʼ ἐλθὼν Ἰθάκης ἐς πίονα δῆμον
400παῖδα νέον γεγαῶτα κιχήσατο θυγατέρος ἧς·
τόν ῥά οἱ Εὐρύκλεια φίλοις ἐπὶ γούνασι θῆκε
παυομένῳ δόρποιο, ἔπος τʼ ἔφατʼ ἔκ τʼ ὀνόμαζεν·
Αὐτόλυκʼ, αὐτὸς νῦν ὄνομʼ εὕρεο ὅττι κε θῆαι
παιδὸς παιδὶ φίλῳ· πολυάρητος δέ τοί ἐστιν.
405τὴν δʼ αὖτʼ Αὐτόλυκος ἀπαμείβετο φώνησέν τε·
γαμβρὸς ἐμὸς θυγάτηρ τε, τίθεσθʼ ὄνομʼ ὅττι κεν εἴπω·
πολλοῖσιν γὰρ ἐγώ γε ὀδυσσάμενος τόδʼ ἱκάνω,
ἀνδράσιν ἠδὲ γυναιξὶν ἀνὰ χθόνα πουλυβότειραν·
τῷ δʼ Ὀδυσεὺς ὄνομʼ ἔστω ἐπώνυμον· αὐτὰρ ἐγώ γε,
410ὁππότʼ ἂν ἡβήσας μητρώϊον ἐς μέγα δῶμα
ἔλθῃ Παρνησόνδʼ, ὅθι πού μοι κτήματʼ ἔασι,
τῶν οἱ ἐγὼ δώσω καί μιν χαίροντʼ ἀποπέμψω.
386So he spoke. The old woman took the shining basin
in which she washed his feet and poured in plenty of cold water,
then added hot. Odysseus sat by the hearth
and quickly turned toward the darkness,
390for it came at once to his mind that when she took hold of him
she might notice the scar and the truth become plain.
She came near and washed her master; at once she recognized
the scar that long ago a boar had struck with its white tusk
when he went to Parnassus to visit Autolycus and his sons.
395Autolycus, his mother’s noble father, surpassed all men
in theft and oath-taking, a gift the god himself had granted him—
Hermes, for whom he burned thigh-pieces pleasing to the god
from lambs and kids, and Hermes gladly went beside him.
When Autolycus came to the rich land of Ithaca,
400he found his daughter’s newborn son.
Eurycleia set the child upon his knees
as he finished supper, and spoke to him by name:
‘Autolycus, find for yourself the name you will give
your daughter’s dear child, for he has been much prayed for.’
405Autolycus answered her and said:
‘My son-in-law and daughter, give him the name I tell you.
I come here angered at many people,
men and women across the broad, sustaining earth.
So let Odysseus be his name, named from that anger. And I,
410when he has grown and comes to his mother’s great house
at Parnassus, where my possessions lie,
will give him some of them and send him home rejoicing.’
Commentary
Odysseus turns toward darkness because he anticipates the scar’s danger. As Eurycleia approaches, the narrative opens the scar’s genealogy: Autolycus, Hermes, theft, oath-taking, sacrifice, Eurycleia’s placement of the infant on his grandfather’s knees, and a name explicitly linked to Autolycus’ anger at many. Naming joins hostility and promised gifts without exhausting Odysseus’ epic identity.
19.386–391 The basin scene is paced through deliberate posture, sudden recollection, and anticipated exposure. Eurycleia mixes water while Odysseus turns from the hearth and sits into darkness. Only then does he remember the scar and fear recognition, so audience anticipation arrives just before her hand reaches the sign.
19.392–398 Recognition of the scar opens the account of Autolycus as a thief and oath-master favored by Hermes. Eurycleia recognizes her master while washing near the scar left by a boar on Parnassus. The narrative identifies Autolycus as Odysseus’ maternal grandfather, preeminent in theft and oath, and explains Hermes’ favor through pleasing thigh-pieces from lambs and kids.
19.399–412 Autolycus explains Odysseus’ name through his own anger against many, creating an inherited field of hostility. The verb odyssamenos motivates the name because Autolycus has incurred or enacted anger among men and women; the grammar links the child’s naming to the grandfather’s social history. The later condition—visit Parnassus and receive gifts—binds name to future movement, but the etymology does not reduce the whole hero to one fixed essence.
Autolycus’ household welcomes Odysseus with gifts and a feast 19.413–427
413τῶν ἕνεκʼ ἦλθʼ Ὀδυσεύς, ἵνα οἱ πόροι ἀγλαὰ δῶρα.
τὸν μὲν ἄρʼ Αὐτόλυκός τε καὶ υἱέες Αὐτολύκοιο
415χερσίν τʼ ἠσπάζοντο ἔπεσσί τε μειλιχίοισι·
μήτηρ δʼ Ἀμφιθέη μητρὸς περιφῦσʼ Ὀδυσῆϊ
κύσσʼ ἄρα μιν κεφαλήν τε καὶ ἄμφω φάεα καλά.
Αὐτόλυκος δʼ υἱοῖσιν ἐκέκλετο κυδαλίμοισι
δεῖπνον ἐφοπλίσσαι· τοὶ δʼ ὀτρύνοντος ἄκουσαν,
420αὐτίκα δʼ εἰσάγαγον βοῦν ἄρσενα πενταέτηρον·
τὸν δέρον ἀμφί θʼ ἕπον, καί μιν διέχευαν ἅπαντα,
μίστυλλόν τʼ ἄρʼ ἐπισταμένως πεῖράν τʼ ὀβελοῖσιν,
ὤπτησάν τε περιφραδέως, δάσσαντό τε μοίρας.
ὣς τότε μὲν πρόπαν ἦμαρ ἐς ἠέλιον καταδύντα
425δαίνυντʼ, οὐδέ τι θυμὸς ἐδεύετο δαιτὸς ἐΐσης·
ἦμος δʼ ἠέλιος κατέδυ καὶ ἐπὶ κνέφας ἦλθεν,
δὴ τότε κοιμήσαντο καὶ ὕπνου δῶρον ἕλοντο.
413For those gifts Odysseus came, so that Autolycus might give them.
Autolycus and Autolycus’ sons
415greeted him with clasping hands and gentle words.
Amphithea, his mother’s mother, threw her arms around Odysseus,
kissed his head and both his lovely eyes.
Autolycus ordered his glorious sons
to prepare the meal, and they heard his urging.
420At once they brought in a five-year-old bull.
They flayed and dressed it, divided the whole carcass,
skillfully cut the meat, threaded it on spits,
roasted it with care, and apportioned the servings.
So all that day until the sun went down
425they feasted, and no heart lacked its equal share.
When the sun sank and darkness came on,
they lay down and took the gift of sleep.
Commentary
The young Odysseus comes to Parnassus for promised gifts and receives clasping hands, gentle speech, an embrace, kisses, and a carefully prepared bull feast. Equal shares and the gift of sleep make this a compact reception before the hunt, linking kinship welcome to the scar story’s next stage.
19.413–417 Autolycus’ household welcomes the arriving Odysseus through clasping hands, gentle words, embrace, and kisses. Autolycus and his sons greet him with hands and conciliatory speech, while Amphithea, his maternal grandmother, embraces him and kisses his head and both eyes. The open kin reception contrasts with the secrecy surrounding the remembered episode’s return to the present.
19.418–423 Autolycus’ sons answer his order by preparing and portioning a bull for the household meal. They bring in a five-year-old bull, flay and dress it, divide the carcass, cut the meat skillfully, thread it on spits, roast it, and apportion servings. The procedural sequence displays coordinated hospitality before the actual feasting begins in the next range.
19.424–427 Inherited banquet-close lines carry the visit from an all-day equal feast through sunset into sleep. Line 19.424 repeats 9.161, 9.556, 10.183, 10.476, and 12.29; 19.425 normalizes to 16.479; 19.426 repeats 10.478 and 12.31. The recurrent sequence marks duration, sufficiency of each person’s share, sunset, darkness, and the gift of sleep before the hunt begins in the following range.
The Parnassus boar hunt gives Odysseus his scar 19.428–466
428ἦμος δʼ ἠριγένεια φάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς,
βάν ῥʼ ἴμεν ἐς θήρην, ἠμὲν κύνες ἠδὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ
430υἱέες Αὐτολύκου· μετὰ τοῖσι δὲ δῖος Ὀδυσσεὺς
ἤϊεν· αἰπὺ δʼ ὄρος προσέβαν καταειμένον ὕλῃ
Παρνησοῦ, τάχα δʼ ἵκανον πτύχας ἠνεμοέσσας.
Ἠέλιος μὲν ἔπειτα νέον προσέβαλλεν ἀρούρας
ἐξ ἀκαλαρρείταο βαθυρρόου Ὠκεανοῖο,
435οἱ δʼ ἐς βῆσσαν ἵκανον ἐπακτῆρες· πρὸ δʼ ἄρʼ αὐτῶν
ἴχνιʼ ἐρευνῶντες κύνες ἤϊσαν, αὐτὰρ ὄπισθεν
υἱέες Αὐτολύκου· μετὰ τοῖσι δὲ δῖος Ὀδυσσεὺς
ἤϊεν ἄγχι κυνῶν, κραδάων δολιχόσκιον ἔγχος.
ἔνθα δʼ ἄρʼ ἐν λόχμῃ πυκινῇ κατέκειτο μέγας σῦς·
440τὴν μὲν ἄρʼ οὔτʼ ἀνέμων διάει μένος ὑγρὸν ἀέντων,
οὔτε μιν Ἠέλιος φαέθων ἀκτῖσιν ἔβαλλεν,
οὔτʼ ὄμβρος περάασκε διαμπερές· ὣς ἄρα πυκνὴ
ἦεν, ἀτὰρ φύλλων ἐνέην χύσις ἤλιθα πολλή.
τὸν δʼ ἀνδρῶν τε κυνῶν τε περὶ κτύπος ἦλθε ποδοῖϊν,
445ὡς ἐπάγοντες ἐπῇσαν· ὁ δʼ ἀντίος ἐκ ξυλόχοιο
φρίξας εὖ λοφιήν, πῦρ δʼ ὀφθαλμοῖσι δεδορκώς,
στῆ ῥʼ αὐτῶν σχεδόθεν· ὁ δʼ ἄρα πρώτιστος Ὀδυσσεὺς
ἔσσυτʼ ἀνασχόμενος δολιχὸν δόρυ χειρὶ παχείῃ,
οὐτάμεναι μεμαώς· ὁ δέ μιν φθάμενος ἔλασεν σῦς
450γουνὸς ὕπερ, πολλὸν δὲ διήφυσε σαρκὸς ὀδόντι
λικριφὶς ἀΐξας, οὐδʼ ὀστέον ἵκετο φωτός.
τὸν δʼ Ὀδυσεὺς οὔτησε τυχὼν κατὰ δεξιὸν ὦμον,
ἀντικρὺ δὲ διῆλθε φαεινοῦ δουρὸς ἀκωκή·
κὰδ δʼ ἔπεσʼ ἐν κονίῃσι μακών, ἀπὸ δʼ ἔπτατο θυμός.
455τὸν μὲν ἄρʼ Αὐτολύκου παῖδες φίλοι ἀμφεπένοντο,
ὠτειλὴν δʼ Ὀδυσῆος ἀμύμονος ἀντιθέοιο
δῆσαν ἐπισταμένως, ἐπαοιδῇ δʼ αἷμα κελαινὸν
ἔσχεθον, αἶψα δʼ ἵκοντο φίλου πρὸς δώματα πατρός.
τὸν μὲν ἄρʼ Αὐτόλυκός τε καὶ υἱέες Αὐτολύκοιο
460εὖ ἰησάμενοι ἠδʼ ἀγλαὰ δῶρα πορόντες
καρπαλίμως χαίροντα φίλην ἐς πατρίδʼ ἔπεμπον
εἰς Ἰθάκην. τῷ μέν ῥα πατὴρ καὶ πότνια μήτηρ
χαῖρον νοστήσαντι καὶ ἐξερέεινον ἕκαστα,
οὐλὴν ὅττι πάθοι· ὁ δʼ ἄρα σφίσιν εὖ κατέλεξεν
465ὥς μιν θηρεύοντʼ ἔλασεν σῦς λευκῷ ὀδόντι,
Παρνησόνδʼ ἐλθόντα σὺν υἱάσιν Αὐτολύκοιο.
428When early-born Dawn appeared, her fingers rosy,
they set out for the hunt—the dogs and
430the sons of Autolycus. Noble Odysseus went among them.
They climbed the steep, wooded mountain
of Parnassus and soon reached its windswept folds.
The sun had just begun to strike the fields
as it rose from the quiet-flowing, deep-running Ocean.
435The hunters reached a valley. Ahead of them
the dogs ran, tracking the trail; behind came
the sons of Autolycus. Noble Odysseus moved among them
close behind the dogs, shaking his long-shadowed spear.
There a great boar lay in a dense thicket.
440The wet force of blowing winds could not pass through it,
nor could the shining sun strike it with his rays,
nor could rain pierce it through. So dense
it was, and a deep fall of leaves lay within.
The thud of men’s and dogs’ feet closed round the boar
445as they drove in upon him. He came out of the wood against them,
his crest bristling, fire glaring from his eyes,
and stood close before them. Odysseus was first
to rush in, raising the long spear in his strong hand,
eager to strike. But the boar was quicker and hit him
450above the knee, ripping a long gash in the flesh with its tusk
as it darted sideways, but did not reach the man’s bone.
Odysseus struck it squarely on the right shoulder,
and the bright spearpoint passed straight through.
It fell bellowing in the dust, and its life-force flew away.
455The dear sons of Autolycus tended Odysseus,
skillfully bound the wound of the faultless, godlike man,
and with an incantation staunched the dark blood.
Then they quickly reached their dear father’s house.
Autolycus and Autolycus’ sons
460healed him well, gave him splendid gifts,
and swiftly sent him rejoicing to his dear homeland,
to Ithaca. His father and honored mother
rejoiced at his return and asked him about each detail,
how he had received the scar. He carefully told them
465how a boar struck him with its white tusk while he hunted
after he went to Parnassus with Autolycus’ sons.
Commentary
Rosy-fingered Dawn opens the hunt. Dogs, Autolycus’ sons, and Odysseus enter a wind-, sun-, and rain-proof thicket where the boar meets the hunters. The animal wounds Odysseus above the knee without reaching bone; Odysseus kills it through the right shoulder. Binding and incantation stop the blood, and the healed young man returns with gifts and a complete account of the scar.
19.428–438 The great dawn formula opens a hunt whose lasting result will be a private bodily sign. Line 19.428 is byte-identical at nineteen earlier locators (2.1, 3.404, 3.491, 4.306, 4.431, 4.576, 5.228, 8.1, 9.152, 9.170, 9.307, 9.437, 9.560, 10.187, 12.8, 12.316, 13.18, 15.189, 17.1). Here the recurrent cosmic reset releases dogs, hunters, and guest into the singular event that marks Odysseus’ body.
19.439–447 The hunt pauses over an impermeable thicket before compressing pursuit into a close standoff with the boar. Wet winds, sunlight, and rain cannot penetrate the dense cover, whose interior holds a deep fall of leaves. The hunters’ and dogs’ feet close around it; the boar emerges bristling and fire-eyed, stands near them, and Odysseus is named first just as the attack is about to begin.
19.448–454 The wound and kill occur in paired motions that establish both vulnerability and prowess. The boar tears above the knee but does not reach bone; Odysseus’ spear then passes through the shoulder and drops the animal. The scar is thus neither a passive birthmark nor an unearned token: it records danger survived and lethal competence exercised.
19.455–458 Treatment combines binding, healing speech, and blood-stanching before any return report. Autolycus’ sons tend Odysseus, bind the wound skillfully, use an epaoidē, and stop the dark blood before returning to their father’s house. The term marks efficacious spoken healing within practical care; translating it too narrowly as either mere song or modernized magic would flatten the coordination.
19.459–466 Healing, gifts, and homecoming turn the scar from injury into a narrated sign with witnesses. Odysseus recovers at Parnassus, receives gifts, returns to Ithaca, and tells his parents how the wound occurred. The mark’s evidentiary force comes from this social chain of cause and report as well as from its visibility on the body.
Eurycleia recognizes her master, and Odysseus enforces silence 19.467–490
467τὴν γρηῢς χείρεσσι καταπρηνέσσι λαβοῦσα
γνῶ ῥʼ ἐπιμασσαμένη, πόδα δὲ προέηκε φέρεσθαι·
ἐν δὲ λέβητι πέσε κνήμη, κανάχησε δὲ χαλκός,
470ἂψ δʼ ἑτέρωσʼ ἐκλίθη· τὸ δʼ ἐπὶ χθονὸς ἐξέχυθʼ ὕδωρ.
τὴν δʼ ἅμα χάρμα καὶ ἄλγος ἕλε φρένα, τὼ δέ οἱ ὄσσε
δακρυόφι πλῆσθεν, θαλερὴ δέ οἱ ἔσχετο φωνή.
ἁψαμένη δὲ γενείου Ὀδυσσῆα προσέειπεν·
ἦ μάλʼ Ὀδυσσεύς ἐσσι, φίλον τέκος· οὐδέ σʼ ἐγώ γε
475πρὶν ἔγνων, πρὶν πάντα ἄνακτʼ ἐμὸν ἀμφαφάασθαι.
ἦ καὶ Πηνελόπειαν ἐσέδρακεν ὀφθαλμοῖσι,
πεφραδέειν ἐθέλουσα φίλον πόσιν ἔνδον ἐόντα.
ἡ δʼ οὔτʼ ἀθρῆσαι δύνατʼ ἀντίη οὔτε νοῆσαι·
τῇ γὰρ Ἀθηναίη νόον ἔτραπεν· αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς
480χεῖρʼ ἐπιμασσάμενος φάρυγος λάβε δεξιτερῆφι,
τῇ δʼ ἑτέρῃ ἕθεν ἆσσον ἐρύσσατο φώνησέν τε.
μαῖα, τίη μʼ ἐθέλεις ὀλέσαι; σὺ δέ μʼ ἔτρεφες αὐτὴ
τῷ σῷ ἐπὶ μαζῷ· νῦν δʼ ἄλγεα πολλὰ μογήσας
ἤλυθον εἰκοστῷ ἔτεϊ ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν.
485ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ ἐφράσθης καί τοι θεὸς ἔμβαλε θυμῷ,
σίγα, μή τίς τʼ ἄλλος ἐνὶ μεγάροισι πύθηται.
ὧδε γὰρ ἐξερέω, καὶ μὴν τετελεσμένον ἔσται·
εἴ χʼ ὑπʼ ἐμοί γε θεὸς δαμάσῃ μνηστῆρας ἀγαυούς,
οὐδὲ τροφοῦ οὔσης σεῦ ἀφέξομαι, ὁππότʼ ἂν ἄλλας
490δμῳὰς ἐν μεγάροισιν ἐμοῖς κτείνωμι γυναῖκας.
467The old woman held that scar between her downward-turned hands,
felt it, and knew it. She let the foot fall.
His shin dropped into the basin; the bronze rang
470and tipped to one side, spilling the water on the floor.
Joy and pain seized her mind together; her two eyes
filled with tears, and her full voice was checked.
Touching Odysseus’ chin, she said:
‘You truly are Odysseus, dear child! I did not know you
475until I had felt all over my master’s body.’
She glanced toward Penelope with her eyes,
wanting to reveal that her dear husband was inside.
But Penelope could neither look straight at them nor understand,
for Athena had turned her mind away. Odysseus
480reached out and gripped Eurycleia’s throat with his right hand,
and with the other pulled her nearer and spoke:
‘Nurse, why do you want to destroy me? You yourself nursed me
at your breast. Now, after suffering many pains,
I have reached my native land in the twentieth year.
485But since you have recognized me and a god put it in your heart,
be silent, so that no one else in the hall may learn.
For I tell you this, and it will surely be fulfilled:
if a god brings the proud suitors down beneath my hand,
I will not spare even you because you were my nurse, when
490I kill the other enslaved women within my halls.’
Commentary
Recognition is tactile and sequential: hands feel the scar, the foot falls, bronze rings, water spills, joy and pain seize Eurycleia, and her voice fails before she names Odysseus. She looks toward Penelope, but Athena turns Penelope’s noos away. Odysseus grips Eurycleia’s throat, invokes their nursing bond, commands silence, and threatens not to spare her during the killing of enslaved women.
19.467–472 Recognition moves from tactile certainty through the basin’s fall to joy, pain, tears, and a checked voice. In 19.467-470 Eurycleia feels the scar, knows it, releases the foot, and the shin strikes the basin so that bronze rings and water spills. Lines 19.471-472 turn the physical sequence inward: joy and pain seize her phrenes, her eyes fill with tears, and her full voice is checked before she can name him.
19.473–479 Eurycleia names Odysseus from tactile certainty and immediately turns toward Penelope to disclose him. Touching his chin, she calls him her dear child and says she knew him only after feeling over her master’s body. She then looks toward Penelope, intending to indicate that the husband is inside, but Athena turns Penelope’s noos so she can neither look directly nor understand.
19.480–486 Odysseus answers recognition with a throat-grip, identity disclosure, appeal to the nursing bond, and command for silence. He grips Eurycleia’s throat with his right hand, pulls her close with the other, and asks why the nurse who fed him at her breast would destroy him. He confirms that he has reached home in the twentieth year and attributes her recognition to divine prompting before ordering silence.
19.487–490 Odysseus makes Eurycleia’s safety conditional on divine victory and threatens not to spare his nurse during the killing of enslaved women. He marks the declaration as something that will be fulfilled if a god subdues the proud suitors beneath his hand. Under that condition, nursing status will not exempt Eurycleia when he kills other enslaved women in his halls, extending secrecy through a lethal threat.
Eurycleia promises secrecy, and the washing is completed 19.491–507
491τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε περίφρων Εὐρύκλεια·
τέκνον ἐμόν, ποῖόν σε ἔπος φύγεν ἕρκος ὀδόντων.
οἶσθα μὲν οἷον ἐμὸν μένος ἔμπεδον οὐδʼ ἐπιεικτόν,
ἕξω δʼ ὡς ὅτε τις στερεὴ λίθος ἠὲ σίδηρος.
495ἄλλο δέ τοι ἐρέω, σὺ δʼ ἐνὶ φρεσὶ βάλλεο σῇσιν·
εἴ χʼ ὑπό σοι γε θεὸς δαμάσῃ μνηστῆρας ἀγαυούς,
δὴ τότε τοι καταλέξω ἐνὶ μεγάροισι γυναῖκας,
αἵ τέ σʼ ἀτιμάζουσι καὶ αἳ νηλείτιδές εἰσι.
τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς
500μαῖα, τίη δὲ σὺ τὰς μυθήσεαι; οὐδέ τί σε χρή.
εὖ νυ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐγὼ φράσομαι καὶ εἴσομʼ ἑκάστην·
ἀλλʼ ἔχε σιγῇ μῦθον, ἐπίτρεψον δὲ θεοῖσιν.
ὣς ἄρʼ ἔφη, γρηῢς δὲ διὲκ μεγάροιο βεβήκει
οἰσομένη ποδάνιπτρα· τὰ γὰρ πρότερʼ ἔκχυτο πάντα.
505αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ νίψεν τε καὶ ἤλειψεν λίπʼ ἐλαίῳ,
αὖτις ἄρʼ ἀσσοτέρω πυρὸς ἕλκετο δίφρον Ὀδυσσεὺς
θερσόμενος, οὐλὴν δὲ κατὰ ῥακέεσσι κάλυψε.
491Discerning Eurycleia answered him:
‘My child, what a word has escaped the barrier of your teeth!
You know how steadfast and unyielding my strength is.
I will hold firm as rock or iron.
495I will tell you something else; keep it in your mind.
If a god brings the proud suitors down beneath you,
then I will name the women of the hall for you:
those who dishonor you and those who are free of blame.’
Resourceful Odysseus answered her:
500‘Nurse, why should you name them? There is no need.
I myself will watch closely and know each one.
Keep the matter silent and entrust it to the gods.’
So he spoke. The old woman went through the hall
to bring fresh water for his feet, since all the first had spilled.
505When she had washed him and richly anointed him with oil,
Odysseus drew his stool closer to the fire again
to warm himself and covered the scar beneath his rags.
Commentary
Eurycleia answers the threat with an image of rock or iron and offers a future list separating dishonoring women from the blameless. Odysseus rejects advance naming, claims he will observe each himself, and entrusts the outcome to the gods. Fresh water, washing, oil, warmth, and covered scar restore the room’s outward normality.
19.491–498 Eurycleia answers the threat with a promise of rock-or-iron firmness and an offer to distinguish culpable women from the blameless. She protests his harsh words, asserts that her strength is steadfast, and says she will hold like solid stone or iron. If a god subdues the suitors, she offers to name the women who dishonor Odysseus and those who are without blame.
19.499–502 A punctuation-variant response formula frames Odysseus’ refusal of Eurycleia’s proposed guilt list. Line 19.499 is punctuation-normalized to the feminine 19.106/164/220/261/335/382/554 reply class and byte-identical to 19.582. Line 19.41 is an adapted masculine τὸν variant, not a punctuation-normalized member of that feminine class. Odysseus says he will observe and know each woman himself, orders the matter kept silent, and entrusts the outcome to the gods.
19.503–507 Fresh water, washing, oil, warmth, and rags restore the recognized body to outward concealment. Eurycleia crosses the hall for replacement foot-water because the first basin spilled, then washes and richly anoints Odysseus. He draws his stool nearer the fire to warm himself and covers the scar beneath his rags.
Penelope describes her night grief and divided course 19.508–534
508τοῖσι δὲ μύθων ἦρχε περίφρων Πηνελόπεια·
ξεῖνε, τὸ μέν σʼ ἔτι τυτθὸν ἐγὼν εἰρήσομαι αὐτή·
510καὶ γὰρ δὴ κοίτοιο τάχʼ ἔσσεται ἡδέος ὥρη,
ὅν τινά γʼ ὕπνος ἕλοι γλυκερός, καὶ κηδόμενόν περ.
αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ καὶ πένθος ἀμέτρητον πόρε δαίμων·
ἤματα μὲν γὰρ τέρπομʼ ὀδυρομένη, γοόωσα,
ἔς τʼ ἐμὰ ἔργʼ ὁρόωσα καὶ ἀμφιπόλων ἐνὶ οἴκῳ·
515αὐτὰρ ἐπὴν νὺξ ἔλθῃ, ἕλῃσί τε κοῖτος ἅπαντας,
κεῖμαι ἐνὶ λέκτρῳ, πυκιναὶ δέ μοι ἀμφʼ ἀδινὸν κῆρ
ὀξεῖαι μελεδῶνες ὀδυρομένην ἐρέθουσιν.
ὡς δʼ ὅτε Πανδαρέου κούρη, χλωρηῒς ἀηδών,
καλὸν ἀείδῃσιν ἔαρος νέον ἱσταμένοιο,
520δενδρέων ἐν πετάλοισι καθεζομένη πυκινοῖσιν,
ἥ τε θαμὰ τρωπῶσα χέει πολυηχέα φωνήν,
παῖδʼ ὀλοφυρομένη Ἴτυλον φίλον, ὅν ποτε χαλκῷ
κτεῖνε διʼ ἀφραδίας, κοῦρον Ζήθοιο ἄνακτος,
ὣς καὶ ἐμοὶ δίχα θυμὸς ὀρώρεται ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα,
525ἠὲ μένω παρὰ παιδὶ καὶ ἔμπεδα πάντα φυλάσσω,
κτῆσιν ἐμήν, δμῶάς τε καὶ ὑψερεφὲς μέγα δῶμα,
εὐνήν τʼ αἰδομένη πόσιος δήμοιό τε φῆμιν,
ἦ ἤδη ἅμʼ ἕπωμαι Ἀχαιῶν ὅς τις ἄριστος
μνᾶται ἐνὶ μεγάροισι, πορὼν ἀπερείσια ἕδνα.
530παῖς δʼ ἐμὸς ἧος ἔην ἔτι νήπιος ἠδὲ χαλίφρων,
γήμασθʼ οὔ μʼ εἴα πόσιος κατὰ δῶμα λιποῦσαν·
νῦν δʼ ὅτε δὴ μέγας ἐστὶ καὶ ἥβης μέτρον ἱκάνει,
καὶ δή μʼ ἀρᾶται πάλιν ἐλθέμεν ἐκ μεγάροιο,
κτήσιος ἀσχαλόων, τήν οἱ κατέδουσιν Ἀχαιοί.
508Discerning Penelope began their conversation:
‘Stranger, I myself will ask you just a little more,
510for soon it will be time for welcome rest,
for anyone sweet sleep may seize, even amid sorrow.
But a god has given me grief beyond measure.
By day I find some release as I mourn and lament,
looking to my own work and my attendants’ work in the house.
515But when night comes and sleep takes everyone,
I lie in bed, and crowding round my throbbing heart
sharp anxieties stir me as I grieve.
As when Pandareus’ daughter, the pale-green nightingale,
sings beautifully at the new beginning of spring,
520perched among the dense leaves of the trees,
and turning often pours out her many-toned voice,
mourning her dear child Itylus, lord Zethus’ son,
whom once in her folly she killed with bronze—
so my spirit too is divided, driven this way and that:
525whether to remain beside my son and guard everything secure—
my property, enslaved servants, and high-roofed great house—
respecting my husband’s bed and the people’s voice;
or now to follow whichever Achaean is best
among those who court me here, if he offers countless bride-gifts.
530While my son was still young and thoughtless,
he would not let me marry and leave his father’s house.
But now that he is grown and has reached the measure of youth,
he even prays that I leave the hall,
distressed over the property the Achaeans consume.
Commentary
Penelope resumes the conversation by contrasting daytime work with night anxiety around her heart. The nightingale and Itylus comparison leads to divided thumos: remaining with Telemachus to guard property, enslaved people, house, and marriage bed, or leaving with a gift-bearing suitor. She reports that Telemachus’ maturity and anger over consumed property now press departure.
19.508–517 Penelope’s renewed speech frame moves from impending sleep to the day-and-night structure of her grief. Line 19.508 repeats 17.100 and 19.103. Penelope asks only a little more because the hour of sweet sleep approaches, then distinguishes daytime release through lament and household work from nighttime bed, when sharp cares crowd around her heart.
19.518–524 The nightingale’s many-toned mourning of Itylus gives Penelope’s divided thumos a model of grief that changes direction. Pandareus’ daughter sings from dense spring leaves, turning often as she laments the son she killed through folly. Penelope compares that shifting voice to a thumos driven in two directions, preparing the alternatives she will state next.
19.525–529 Penelope frames her indecision as a contest between protecting the existing household and forming another marriage. She asks whether to remain with her son and guard possessions, servants, and the great house or follow the best suitor who offers abundant bride-gifts. Oikos, motherhood, property, status, and remarriage are inseparable components of the choice.
19.530–534 Telemachus’ adulthood changes Penelope’s deliberation without resolving it. The son now urges departure because he resents the suitors’ consumption. Penelope’s report locates agency in a shifting household: the child she once protected has become a speaker whose wishes add pressure toward remarriage.
Penelope narrates the dream of the geese and eagle 19.535–553
535ἀλλʼ ἄγε μοι τὸν ὄνειρον ὑπόκριναι καὶ ἄκουσον.
χῆνές μοι κατὰ οἶκον ἐείκοσι πυρὸν ἔδουσιν
ἐξ ὕδατος, καί τέ σφιν ἰαίνομαι εἰσορόωσα·
ἐλθὼν δʼ ἐξ ὄρεος μέγας αἰετὸς ἀγκυλοχείλης
πᾶσι κατʼ αὐχένας ἦξε καὶ ἔκτανεν· οἱ δʼ ἐκέχυντο
540ἀθρόοι ἐν μεγάροις, ὁ δʼ ἐς αἰθέρα δῖαν ἀέρθη.
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ κλαῖον καὶ ἐκώκυον ἔν περ ὀνείρῳ,
ἀμφὶ δʼ ἔμʼ ἠγερέθοντο ἐϋπλοκαμῖδες Ἀχαιαί,
οἴκτρʼ ὀλοφυρομένην ὅ μοι αἰετὸς ἔκτανε χῆνας.
ἂψ δʼ ἐλθὼν κατʼ ἄρʼ ἕζετʼ ἐπὶ προὔχοντι μελάθρῳ,
545φωνῇ δὲ βροτέῃ κατερήτυε φώνησέν τε·
θάρσει, Ἰκαρίου κούρη τηλεκλειτοῖο·
οὐκ ὄναρ, ἀλλʼ ὕπαρ ἐσθλόν, ὅ τοι τετελεσμένον ἔσται.
χῆνες μὲν μνηστῆρες, ἐγὼ δέ τοι αἰετὸς ὄρνις
ἦα πάρος, νῦν αὖτε τεὸς πόσις εἰλήλουθα,
550ὃς πᾶσι μνηστῆρσιν ἀεικέα πότμον ἐφήσω.
ὣς ἔφατʼ, αὐτὰρ ἐμὲ μελιηδὴς ὕπνος ἀνῆκε·
παπτήνασα δὲ χῆνας ἐνὶ μεγάροισι νόησα
πυρὸν ἐρεπτομένους παρὰ πύελον, ἧχι πάρος περ.
535But come, hear this dream and interpret it for me.
Twenty geese in my house eat wheat
beside their watering trough, and I delight in watching them.
Then from the mountain came a great eagle with a hooked beak.
He broke every neck and killed them; they lay
540piled together in the hall, while he rose into the bright sky.
I wept and wailed, even in my dream,
and the fine-haired Achaean women gathered around me
as I lamented pitifully that the eagle had killed my geese.
But he came back and perched on the projecting roof-beam,
545checked my grief with a mortal voice, and spoke:
“Take heart, daughter of far-famed Icarius.
This is no dream but a true waking vision, and it will be fulfilled.
The geese are the suitors. I was the eagle before;
now I have come as your husband
550to lay a shameful doom upon every suitor.”
So he spoke, and honey-sweet sleep released me.
I looked around and saw the geese in the hall
pecking wheat beside the trough, just where they had before.’
Commentary
Twenty household geese feed on wheat ex hydatos until a mountain eagle kills them and rises away; the phrase’s exact spatial relation to water is left open. Penelope grieves inside the dream, but the eagle returns with a mortal voice, identifies geese as suitors and itself as the returned husband, and predicts shameful doom. On waking she sees the geese feeding as before, preserving ordinary perception beside explicit dream interpretation.
19.535–543 The dream’s first movement sets Penelope’s delight in twenty geese against their sudden destruction and her own lament. The geese eat wheat ex hydatos in the house, a phrase whose exact spatial relation to water is compressed, and Penelope delights in watching them. A hooked-beak eagle descends from the mountain, breaks every neck, leaves the birds heaped in the hall, and rises away while Penelope weeps among gathered Achaean women.
19.544–553 The eagle identifies itself as Odysseus and the geese as suitors, collapsing sign and gloss inside the dream. Returning to the roof-beam in a mortal voice, the eagle calls the event a fulfilled waking vision, equates the geese with suitors and itself with Penelope’s husband, and promises their doom. When sleep releases her, Penelope sees the geese pecking wheat beside the trough as before, restoring ordinary waking perception without erasing the dream’s explicit gloss.
Odysseus interprets the dream, and Penelope names its two gates 19.554–569
554τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
555ὦ γύναι, οὔ πως ἔστιν ὑποκρίνασθαι ὄνειρον
ἄλλῃ ἀποκλίναντʼ, ἐπεὶ ἦ ῥά τοι αὐτὸς Ὀδυσσεὺς
πέφραδʼ ὅπως τελέει· μνηστῆρσι δὲ φαίνετʼ ὄλεθρος
πᾶσι μάλʼ, οὐδέ κέ τις θάνατον καὶ κῆρας ἀλύξει.
τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε περίφρων Πηνελόπεια·
560ξεῖνʼ, ἦ τοι μὲν ὄνειροι ἀμήχανοι ἀκριτόμυθοι
γίγνοντʼ, οὐδέ τι πάντα τελείεται ἀνθρώποισι.
δοιαὶ γάρ τε πύλαι ἀμενηνῶν εἰσὶν ὀνείρων·
αἱ μὲν γὰρ κεράεσσι τετεύχαται, αἱ δʼ ἐλέφαντι·
τῶν οἳ μέν κʼ ἔλθωσι διὰ πριστοῦ ἐλέφαντος,
565οἵ ῥʼ ἐλεφαίρονται, ἔπεʼ ἀκράαντα φέροντες·
οἱ δὲ διὰ ξεστῶν κεράων ἔλθωσι θύραζε,
οἵ ῥʼ ἔτυμα κραίνουσι, βροτῶν ὅτε κέν τις ἴδηται.
ἀλλʼ ἐμοὶ οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν ὀΐομαι αἰνὸν ὄνειρον
ἐλθέμεν· ἦ κʼ ἀσπαστὸν ἐμοὶ καὶ παιδὶ γένοιτο.
554Resourceful Odysseus answered her:
555‘Lady, there is no way to turn the dream aside
and interpret it otherwise, since Odysseus himself
has shown you how he will fulfill it. Destruction is plain
for every suitor; not one will escape death and fate.’
Discerning Penelope answered him:
560‘Stranger, dreams are baffling, their speech impossible to judge,
and not all of them come true for mortals.
For there are two gates of insubstantial dreams.
One is fashioned of horn, the other of ivory.
Those that pass through sawn ivory
565deceive, carrying words that never find fulfillment.
But those that come outside through polished horn
fulfill the truth whenever a mortal sees them.
Yet I do not think my terrible dream came
from there. How welcome it would be to me and my son!
Commentary
The disguised husband insists that the dream cannot be bent aside because Odysseus himself has declared its fulfillment. Penelope counters with the two gates of insubstantial dreams: ivory deception and horn truth. Even a dream that interprets itself remains uncertain to her, though she names fulfillment as desirable for herself and her son.
19.554–558 Odysseus’ standard reply formula endorses the dream’s own interpretation rather than inventing a competing gloss. Line 19.554 belongs to the dominant internal and cross-book response class; 19.558 repeats 17.547. He emphasizes that Odysseus himself has disclosed how the suitors’ end will occur, making the disguised interpreter cite his dream-double.
19.559–567 Penelope’s gates distinguish fulfilled dreams from deceptive ones by a sound-and-material wordplay. Her answer line recurs at 19.308, 349, and 588. Ivory is linked with dreams that deceive, horn with those that accomplish reality; the paired etymological play supplies a taxonomy, not an objective test available to the dreamer before fulfillment.
19.568–569 Penelope classifies the self-interpreting dream as deceptive despite its welcome meaning. Her skepticism is not ignorance of the proposed interpretation; it is refusal to treat internal clarity as sufficient proof. This keeps her testing intelligence active beside desire for Odysseus’ return.
Penelope announces the bow contest, and Odysseus urges no delay 19.570–587
570ἄλλο δέ τοι ἐρέω, σὺ δʼ ἐνὶ φρεσὶ βάλλεο σῇσιν·
ἥδε δὴ ἠὼς εἶσι δυσώνυμος, ἥ μʼ Ὀδυσῆος
οἴκου ἀποσχήσει· νῦν γὰρ καταθήσω ἄεθλον,
τοὺς πελέκεας, τοὺς κεῖνος ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ἑοῖσιν
ἵστασχʼ ἑξείης, δρυόχους ὥς, δώδεκα πάντας·
575στὰς δʼ ὅ γε πολλὸν ἄνευθε διαρρίπτασκεν ὀϊστόν.
νῦν δὲ μνηστήρεσσιν ἄεθλον τοῦτον ἐφήσω·
ὃς δέ κε ῥηΐτατʼ ἐντανύσῃ βιὸν ἐν παλάμῃσι
καὶ διοϊστεύσῃ πελέκεων δυοκαίδεκα πάντων,
τῷ κεν ἅμʼ ἑσποίμην, νοσφισσαμένη τόδε δῶμα
580κουρίδιον, μάλα καλόν, ἐνίπλειον βιότοιο·
τοῦ ποτὲ μεμνήσεσθαι ὀΐομαι ἔν περ ὀνείρῳ.
τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς
ὦ γύναι αἰδοίη Λαερτιάδεω Ὀδυσῆος,
μηκέτι νῦν ἀνάβαλλε δόμοις ἔνι τοῦτον ἄεθλον·
585πρὶν γάρ τοι πολύμητις ἐλεύσεται ἐνθάδʼ Ὀδυσσεύς,
πρὶν τούτους τόδε τόξον ἐΰξοον ἀμφαφόωντας
νευρήν τʼ ἐντανύσαι διοϊστεῦσαί τε σιδήρου.
570I will tell you something else; keep it in your mind.
Here comes the ill-named dawn that will separate me
from Odysseus’ house. I will now set a contest:
the axes he used to stand in a row within his halls,
all twelve of them, like a ship’s keel-blocks.
575From far off he would stand and send an arrow through them.
Now I will set this contest before the suitors.
Whoever most easily strings the bow in his hands
and shoots an arrow through all twelve axes,
with him I will go, leaving this house
580of my marriage, so beautiful and full of all that sustains life.
I think I will remember it even in my dreams.’
Resourceful Odysseus answered her:
‘Respected wife of Laertes’ son Odysseus,
do not delay this contest within the house.
585Resourceful Odysseus will return here
before these men, handling this polished bow,
can string it and send an arrow through the iron.’
Commentary
Penelope moves from dream uncertainty to a concrete contest using Odysseus’ bow and twelve axes compared to keel-blocks. The successful archer would take her from the marriage house she expects to remember even in dreams. Odysseus urges immediate action and predicts his own arrival before any suitor can string and shoot through the iron.
19.570–581 The bow contest turns Penelope’s impending separation into a trial using Odysseus’ remembered sequence of twelve axes. She says Odysseus used to stand the axes in succession like dryochous, supports or blocks associated with a ship’s keel, and shoot through them from far away. The suitor who most easily strings the bow and shoots through all twelve will take her from the marriage house she expects to remember even in dreams.
19.582–587 A punctuation-variant response formula lets Odysseus urge haste while speaking in the third person about his own arrival. Line 19.582 is byte-identical to 19.499 and punctuation-normalized to the feminine 19.106/164/220/261/335/382/554 response class; 19.41 is an adapted masculine τὸν variant, not a member of that normalized class. Line 19.583 repeats 17.152 and 19.165, 262, and 336. He predicts that Odysseus will arrive before any suitor completes the feat, using inherited address diction to conceal first-person certainty.
Penelope ends the interview and Athena brings her sleep 19.588–604
588τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε περίφρων Πηνελόπεια·
εἴ κʼ ἐθέλοις μοι, ξεῖνε, παρήμενος ἐν μεγάροισι
590τέρπειν, οὔ κέ μοι ὕπνος ἐπὶ βλεφάροισι χυθείη.
ἀλλʼ οὐ γάρ πως ἔστιν ἀΰπνους ἔμμεναι αἰεὶ
ἀνθρώπους· ἐπὶ γάρ τοι ἑκάστῳ μοῖραν ἔθηκαν
ἀθάνατοι θνητοῖσιν ἐπὶ ζείδωρον ἄρουραν.
ἀλλʼ ἦ τοι μὲν ἐγὼν ὑπερώϊον εἰσαναβᾶσα
595λέξομαι εἰς εὐνήν, ἥ μοι στονόεσσα τέτυκται,
αἰεὶ δάκρυσʼ ἐμοῖσι πεφυρμένη, ἐξ οὗ Ὀδυσσεὺς
ᾤχετʼ ἐποψόμενος Κακοΐλιον οὐκ ὀνομαστήν.
ἔνθα κε λεξαίμην· σὺ δὲ λέξεο τῷδʼ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ,
ἢ χαμάδις στορέσας ἤ τοι κατὰ δέμνια θέντων.
600ὣς εἰποῦσʼ ἀνέβαινʼ ὑπερώϊα σιγαλόεντα,
οὐκ οἴη, ἅμα τῇ γε καὶ ἀμφίπολοι κίον ἄλλαι.
ἐς δʼ ὑπερῷʼ ἀναβᾶσα σὺν ἀμφιπόλοισι γυναιξὶ
κλαῖεν ἔπειτʼ Ὀδυσῆα, φίλον πόσιν, ὄφρα οἱ ὕπνον
ἡδὺν ἐπὶ βλεφάροισι βάλε γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη.
588Discerning Penelope answered him:
‘If you were willing, stranger, to sit here in my halls
590and delight me, no sleep would be poured upon my eyelids.
But human beings cannot somehow remain sleepless
forever. For the immortals have set each mortal
an allotted share upon the grain-giving earth.
So I will go up to the upper room
595and lie down in the bed that has become a place of sorrow for me,
always soaked in my tears since Odysseus
left to see accursed Ilios, whose name should not be spoken.
There I will lie down. You may lie here in the house,
either spreading your bed on the floor or letting them set out bedding.’
600So saying, she went up to the shining upper room,
not alone, for other attendants went with her.
After she climbed upstairs with the attendant women,
she wept for Odysseus, her dear husband, until
bright-eyed Athena cast sweet sleep upon her eyelids.
Commentary
Penelope says continued conversation could keep sleep away, then submits mortal wakefulness to allotted limit and returns to the tear-soaked bed. Her closing Ilios lament repeats an earlier line. She goes upstairs with attendants and weeps until bright-eyed Athena casts sweet sleep upon her, ending the book with divine relief rather than recognition.
19.588–593 Penelope says the stranger’s conversation could hold sleep off, then invokes the mortal impossibility of perpetual wakefulness. Her recurrent answer formula at 19.588 introduces a conditional: if he were willing to sit and delight her, sleep would not fall on her eyelids. She immediately limits that pleasure by saying humans cannot remain sleepless forever because the immortals allot each mortal a share on the life-giving earth.
19.594–599 Penelope’s return to the upper chamber repeats an established withdrawal pattern after a radically changed interview. Line 19.595 repeats 17.102 and 19.596 repeats 17.103; 19.597 repeats 19.260. The familiar departure formula carries her from dialogue into lament, showing that verified signs and dream interpretation have not ended the old grief routine.
19.600–604 Athena-given sleep closes the book by suspending grief rather than resolving recognition. Line 19.602 repeats 1.362; 19.603 repeats 16.450 and normalizes to 1.363; 19.604 repeats 1.364 and 16.451. The inherited sequence carries Penelope upstairs with attendants, through renewed weeping for her husband, until bright-eyed Athena puts sweet sleep upon her eyelids.