The Odyssey | Page 8

so long been missing. Some one may tell

you something, or (and people often hear things in this way) some
heaven-sent message may direct you. First go to Pylos and ask Nestor;
thence go on to Sparta and visit Menelaus, for he got home last of all
the Achaeans; if you hear that your father is alive and on his way home,
you can put up with the waste these suitors will make for yet another
twelve months. If on the other hand you hear of his death, come home
at once, celebrate his funeral rites with all due pomp, build a barrow to
his memory, and make your mother marry again. Then, having done all
this, think it well over in your mind how, by fair means or foul, you
may kill these suitors in your own house. You are too old to plead
infancy any longer; have you not heard how people are singing Orestes'
praises for having killed his father's murderer Aegisthus? You are a
fine, smart looking fellow; show your mettle, then, and make yourself a
name in story. Now, however, I must go back to my ship and to my
crew, who will be impatient if I keep them waiting longer; think the
matter over for yourself, and remember what I have said to you."
"Sir," answered Telemachus, "it has been very kind of you to talk to me
in this way, as though I were your own son, and I will do all you tell
me; I know you want to be getting on with your voyage, but stay a little
longer till you have taken a bath and refreshed yourself. I will then give
you a present, and you shall go on your way rejoicing; I will give you
one of great beauty and value--a keepsake such as only dear friends
give to one another."
Minerva answered, "Do not try to keep me, for I would be on my way
at once. As for any present you may be disposed to make me, keep it
till I come again, and I will take it home with me. You shall give me a
very good one, and I will give you one of no less value in return."
With these words she flew away like a bird into the air, but she had
given Telemachus courage, and had made him think more than ever
about his father. He felt the change, wondered at it, and knew that the
stranger had been a god, so he went straight to where the suitors were
sitting.
Phemius was still singing, and his hearers sat rapt in silence as he told
the sad tale of the return from Troy, and the ills Minerva had laid upon

the Achaeans. Penelope, daughter of Icarius, heard his song from her
room upstairs, and came down by the great staircase, not alone, but
attended by two of her handmaids. When she reached the suitors she
stood by one of the bearing posts that supported the roof of the cloisters
{8} with a staid maiden on either side of her. She held a veil, moreover,
before her face, and was weeping bitterly.
"Phemius," she cried, "you know many another feat of gods and heroes,
such as poets love to celebrate. Sing the suitors some one of these, and
let them drink their wine in silence, but cease this sad tale, for it breaks
my sorrowful heart, and reminds me of my lost husband whom I mourn
ever without ceasing, and whose name was great over all Hellas and
middle Argos." {9}
"Mother," answered Telemachus, "let the bard sing what he has a mind
to; bards do not make the ills they sing of; it is Jove, not they, who
makes them, and who sends weal or woe upon mankind according to
his own good pleasure. This fellow means no harm by singing the
ill-fated return of the Danaans, for people always applaud the latest
songs most warmly. Make up your mind to it and bear it; Ulysses is not
the only man who never came back from Troy, but many another went
down as well as he. Go, then, within the house and busy yourself with
your daily duties, your loom, your distaff, and the ordering of your
servants; for speech is man's matter, and mine above all others
{10}--for it is I who am master here."
She went wondering back into the house, and laid her son's saying in
her heart. Then, going upstairs with her handmaids into her room, she
mourned her dear husband till Minerva shed sweet sleep over her eyes.
But the suitors were clamorous throughout the covered cloisters {11},
and prayed each one that he might be her bed fellow.
Then Telemachus spoke, "Shameless," he cried, "and insolent suitors,
let