The Odyssey | Page 7

is on some sea-girt island in
mid ocean, or a prisoner among savages who are detaining him against
his will. I am no prophet, and know very little about omens, but I speak
as it is borne in upon me from heaven, and assure you that he will not
be away much longer; for he is a man of such resource that even though
he were in chains of iron he would find some means of getting home
again. But tell me, and tell me true, can Ulysses really have such a fine
looking fellow for a son? You are indeed wonderfully like him about
the head and eyes, for we were close friends before he set sail for Troy
where the flower of all the Argives went also. Since that time we have
never either of us seen the other."
"My mother," answered Telemachus, "tells me I am son to Ulysses, but
it is a wise child that knows his own father. Would that I were son to
one who had grown old upon his own estates, for, since you ask me,
there is no more ill-starred man under heaven than he who they tell me
is my father."
And Minerva said, "There is no fear of your race dying out yet, while
Penelope has such a fine son as you are. But tell me, and tell me true,
what is the meaning of all this feasting, and who are these people?
What is it all about? Have you some banquet, or is there a wedding in
the family--for no one seems to be bringing any provisions of his own?
And the guests--how atrociously they are behaving; what riot they
make over the whole house; it is enough to disgust any respectable
person who comes near them."
"Sir," said Telemachus, "as regards your question, so long as my father
was here it was well with us and with the house, but the gods in their
displeasure have willed it otherwise, and have hidden him away more
closely than mortal man was ever yet hidden. I could have borne it

better even though he were dead, if he had fallen with his men before
Troy, or had died with friends around him when the days of his fighting
were done; for then the Achaeans would have built a mound over his
ashes, and I should myself have been heir to his renown; but now the
storm-winds have spirited him away we know not whither; he is gone
without leaving so much as a trace behind him, and I inherit nothing
but dismay. Nor does the matter end simply with grief for the loss of
my father; heaven has laid sorrows upon me of yet another kind; for the
chiefs from all our islands, Dulichium, Same, and the woodland island
of Zacynthus, as also all the principal men of Ithaca itself, are eating up
my house under the pretext of paying their court to my mother, who
will neither point blank say that she will not marry, {7} nor yet bring
matters to an end; so they are making havoc of my estate, and before
long will do so also with myself."
"Is that so?" exclaimed Minerva, "then you do indeed want Ulysses
home again. Give him his helmet, shield, and a couple of lances, and if
he is the man he was when I first knew him in our house, drinking and
making merry, he would soon lay his hands about these rascally suitors,
were he to stand once more upon his own threshold. He was then
coming from Ephyra, where he had been to beg poison for his arrows
from Ilus, son of Mermerus. Ilus feared the ever-living gods and would
not give him any, but my father let him have some, for he was very
fond of him. If Ulysses is the man he then was these suitors will have a
short shrift and a sorry wedding.
"But there! It rests with heaven to determine whether he is to return,
and take his revenge in his own house or no; I would, however, urge
you to set about trying to get rid of these suitors at once. Take my
advice, call the Achaean heroes in assembly to-morrow morning--lay
your case before them, and call heaven to bear you witness. Bid the
suitors take themselves off, each to his own place, and if your mother's
mind is set on marrying again, let her go back to her father, who will
find her a husband and provide her with all the marriage gifts that so
dear a daughter may expect. As for yourself, let me prevail upon you to
take the best ship you can get, with a crew of twenty men, and go in
quest of your father who has