Then she spoke to her with winged words: ‘Dear Nurse, come now, tell me truly, if it really is him come home as you say: how could he tackle the shameless Suitors single-handedly, with them always crowding in the house in a pack?’ Telemachus knew long ago he was here, but he managed to keep his father’s plans hidden, till he could revenge himself on those violent and arrogant men.’Īt this, Penelope leapt from her bed in joy, and threw her arms about the old woman, with tears springing from her eyes. He’s the stranger they all insulted in the hall. ‘Dear child, I wouldn’t mock you,’ faithful Eurycleia replied, ‘it is true, Odysseus is here, he is home, just as I said. Go downstairs again, back to the servant’s hall! If any other of my women had woken me to tell me this, I’d have sent her back there with a flea in her ear, but your old age spares you.’ Never have I slept so sound, since Odysseus sailed to Ilium the Evil that it would be better not to name.
Why do you mock me, whose heart is full of tears, with this mad tale? You woke me from sleep, sweet sleep that closed my eyelids and wrapped me round. Then wise Penelope woke and answered: ‘My dear nurse, the gods who can make fools of the wisest, and give insight to the simple-minded, have crazed you and led your wits astray, you who were always so sensible. He has killed all the proud Suitors who plagued the house, wasted his stores, and bullied his son.’ Odysseus is here, he is home after so many years. She stood at the head of the bed and spoke to her lady, saying: ‘ Penelope, dear child, wake and see with your own eyes what you’ve longed for all this time. Her knees were working away, though she tottered as she went. The old woman clambered upstairs, chuckling aloud as she went, to tell her mistress her beloved husband was home. Bk XXIII:300-372 Odysseus tells Penelope his taleīk XXIII:1-84 Eurycleia tells Penelope the news.Bk XXIII:247-299 Odysseus recounts Teiresias’ prophecy.Bk XXIII:1-84 Eurycleia tells Penelope the news.This work may be freely reproduced, stored and transmitted, electronically or otherwise, for any non-commercial purpose. Kline © Copyright 2004 All Rights Reserved Penelope and Telegonus would perhaps, thereafter, be found upon the Island of the Blessed.Translated by A. This relationship was said to have born a son, Italus, the eponym of Italy. Those writers who told of the death of Odysseus also told of the remarriage of Penelope, for when Telegonus killed his father Odysseus, he sought out Penelope and made her his wife. Some writers would tell of Penelope being later seduced by the god Hermes, a relationship that brought forth a man called Pan.
When Odysseus discovered the unfaithfulness of his wife, some say that Odysseus killed Penelope, whilst others say that Penelope was sent back to the home of her father Icarius.
This separation is perhaps because Penelope was not the faithful wife normally referred to, with the belief being that Penelope had slept with Antinous, or Amphinomus. In some tales, Odysseus is exiled from his kingdom for the slaughter of the Suitors of Penelope, but in most versions of the exile of Odysseus, Penelope is not in the Greek hero’s company. Some writers thought it was a story too good to be true, and in keeping with many other tales, these writers ensured that there was no happy ending for Penelope and Odysseus. The faithful Penelope is the most enduring version of the Greek myth, and is the version Homer wrote down, and the one the Romans retold.