bed, though you all of you very well knew when he was starting. If Ihad known he meant taking this voyage, he would have had to give itup, no matter how much he was bent upon it, or leave me a corpsebehind him- one or other. Now, however, go some of you and call oldDolius, who was given me by my father on my marriage, and who is mygardener. Bid him go at once and tell everything to Laertes, who maybe able to hit on some plan for enlisting public sympathy on our side,as against those who are trying to exterminate his own race and thatof Ulysses."Then the dear old nurse Euryclea said, "You may kill me, Madam, orlet me live on in your house, whichever you please, but I will tellyou the real truth. I knew all about it, and gave him everything hewanted in the way of bread and wine, but he made me take my solemnoath that I would not tell you anything for some ten or twelve days,unless you asked or happened to hear of his having gone, for he didnot want you to spoil your beauty by crying. And now, Madam, wash yourface, change your dress, and go upstairs with your maids to offerprayers to Minerva, daughter of Aegis-bearing Jove, for she can savehim even though he be in the jaws of death. Do not trouble Laertes: hehas trouble enough already. Besides, I cannot think that the gods hatedie race of the race of the son of Arceisius so much, but there willbe a son left to come up after him, and inherit both the house and thefair fields that lie far all round it."With these words she made her mistress leave off crying, and driedthe tears from her eyes. Penelope washed her face, changed herdress, and went upstairs with her maids. She then put some bruisedbarley into a basket and began praying to Minerva."Hear me," she cried, "Daughter of Aegis-bearing Jove,unweariable. If ever Ulysses while he was here burned you fat thighbones of sheep or heifer, bear it in mind now as in my favour, andsave my darling son from the villainy of the suitors."She cried aloud as she spoke, and the goddess heard her prayer;meanwhile the suitors were clamorous throughout the coveredcloister, and one of them said:"The queen is preparing for her marriage with one or other of us.Little does she dream that her son has now been doomed to die."This was what they said, but they did not know what was going tohappen. Then Antinous said, "Comrades, let there be no loud talking,lest some of it get carried inside. Let us be up and do that insilence, about which we are all of a mind."He then chose twenty men, and they went down to their. ship and tothe sea side; they drew the vessel into the water and got her mast andsails inside her; they bound the oars to the thole-pins with twistedthongs of leather, all in due course, and spread the white sailsaloft, while their fine servants brought them their armour. Thenthey made the ship fast a little way out, came on shore again, gottheir suppers, and waited till night should fall.But Penelope lay in her own room upstairs unable to eat or drink,and wondering whether her brave son would escape, or be overpowered bythe wicked suitors. Like a lioness caught in the toils with huntsmenhemming her in on every side she thought and thought till she sankinto a slumber, and lay on her bed bereft of thought and motion.Then Minerva bethought her of another matter, and made a vision inthe likeness of Penelope's sister Iphthime daughter of Icarius who hadmarried Eumelus and lived in Pherae. She told the vision to go tothe house of Ulysses, and to make Penelope leave off crying, so itcame into her room by the hole through which the thong went forpulling the door to, and hovered over her head, saying,"You are asleep, Penelope: the gods who live at ease will not sufferyou to weep and be so sad. Your son has done them no wrong, so he willyet come back to you."Penelope, who was sleeping sweetly at the gates of dreamland,answered, "Sister, why have you come here? You do not come very often,but I suppose that is because you live such a long way off. Am I,then, to leave off crying and refrain from all the sad thoughts thattorture me? I, who have lost my brave and lion-hearted husband, whohad every good quality under heaven, and whose name was great over allHellas and middle Argos; and now my darling son has gone off onboard of a ship- a foolish fellow who has never been used toroughing it, nor to going about among gatherings of men. I am evenmore anxious about him than about my husband; I am all in a tremblewhen I think of him, lest something should happen to him, eitherfrom the people among whom he has gone, or by sea, for he has manyenemies who are plotting against him, and are bent on killing himbefore he can return home."Then the vision said, "Take heart, and be not so much dismayed.There is one gone with him whom many a man would be glad enough tohave stand by his side, I mean Minerva; it is she who has compassionupon you, and who has sent me to bear you this message.""Then," said Penelope, "if you are a god or have been sent here bydivine commission, tell me also about that other unhappy one- is hestill alive, or is he already dead and in the house of Hades?"And the vision said, "I shall not tell you for certain whether he isalive or dead, and there is no use in idle conversation."Then it vanished through the thong-hole of the door and wasdissipated into thin air; but Penelope rose from her sleep refreshedand comforted, so vivid had been her dream.Meantime the suitors went on board and sailed their ways over thesea, intent on murdering Telemachus. Now there is a rocky islet calledAsteris, of no great size, in mid channel between Ithaca and Samos,and there is a harbour on either side of it where a ship can lie. Herethen the Achaeans placed themselves in ambush.BOOK V.AND NOW, as Dawn rose from her couch beside Tithonus- harbinger oflight alike to mortals and immortals- the gods met in council and withthem, Jove the lord of thunder, who is their king. Thereon Minervabegan to tell them of the many sufferings of Ulysses, for she pitiedhim away there in the house of the nymph Calypso."Father Jove," said she, "and all you other gods that live ineverlasting bliss, I hope there may never be such a thing as a kindand well-disposed ruler any more, nor one who will govern equitably. Ihope they will be all henceforth cruel and unjust, for there is notone of his subjects but has forgotten Ulysses, who ruled them asthough he were their father. There he is, lying in great pain in anisland where dwells the nymph Calypso, who will not let him go; and hecannot get back to his own country, for he can find neither shipsnor sailors to take him over the sea. Furthermore, wicked people arenow trying to murder his only son Telemachus, who is coming homefrom Pylos and Lacedaemon, where he has been to see if he can get newsof his father.""What, my dear, are you talking about?" replied her father, "did younot send him there yourself, because you thought it would help Ulyssesto get home and punish the suitors? Besides, you are perfectly able toprotect Telemachus, and to see him safely home again, while thesuitors have to come hurry-skurrying back without having killed him."When he had thus spoken, he said to his son Mercury, "Mercury, youare our messenger, go therefore and tell Calypso we have decreedthat poor Ulysses is to return home. He is to be convoyed neither bygods nor men, but after a perilous voyage of twenty days upon a rafthe is to reach fertile Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians, who arenear of kin to the gods, and will honour him as though he were oneof ourselves. They will send him in a ship to his own country, andwill give him more bronze and gold and raiment than he would havebrought back from Troy, if he had had had all his prize money andhad got home without disaster. This is how we have settled that heshall return to his country and his friends."Thus he spoke, and Mercury, guide and guardian, slayer of Argus, didas he was told. Forthwith he bound on his glittering golden sandalswith which he could fly like the wind over land and sea. He took thewand with which he seals men's eyes in sleep or wakes them just ashe pleases, and flew holding it in his hand over Pieria; then heswooped down through the firmament till he reached the level of thesea, whose waves he skimmed like a cormorant that flies fishingevery hole and corner of the ocean, and drenching its thick plumage inthe spray. He flew and flew over many a weary wave, but when at lasthe got to the island which was his journey's end, he left the seaand went on by land till he came to the cave where the nymph Calypsolived.He found her at home. There was a large fire burning on thehearth, and one could smell from far the fragrant reek of burningcedar and sandal wood. As for herself, she was busy at her loom,shooting her golden shuttle through the warp and singingbeautifully. Round her cave there was a thick wood of alder, poplar,and sweet smelling cypress trees, wherein all kinds of great birds hadbuilt their nests- owls, hawks, and chattering sea-crows that occupytheir business in the waters. A vine loaded with grapes was trainedand grew luxuriantly about the mouth of the cave; there were also fourrunning rills of water in channels cut pretty close together, andturned hither and thither so as to irrigate the beds of violets andluscious herbage over which they flowed. Even a god could not helpbeing charmed with such a lovely spot, so Mercury stood still andlooked at it; but when he had admired it sufficiently he went insidethe cave.Calypso knew him at once- for the gods all know each other, nomatter how far they live from one another- but Ulysses was not within;he was on the sea-shore as usual, looking out upon the barren oceanwith tears in his eyes, groaning and breaking his heart for sorrow.Calypso gave Mercury a seat and said: "Why have you come to see me,Mercury- honoured, and ever welcome- for you do not visit me often?Say what you want; I will do it for be you at once if I can, and if itcan be done at all; but come inside, and let me set refreshment beforeyou.As she spoke she drew a table loaded with ambrosia beside him andmixed him some red nectar, so Mercury ate and drank till he had hadenough, and then said:"We are speaking god and goddess to one another, one another, andyou ask me why I have come here, and I will tell you truly as youwould have me do. Jove sent me; it was no doing of mine; who couldpossibly want to come all this way over the sea where there are nocities full of people to offer me sacrifices or choice hecatombs?Nevertheless I had to come, for none of us other gods can crossJove, nor transgress his orders. He says that you have here the mostill-starred of alf those who fought nine years before the city of KingPriam and sailed home in the tenth year after having sacked it. Ontheir way home they sinned against Minerva, who raised both wind andwaves against them, so that all his brave companions perished, andhe alone was carried hither by wind and tide. Jove says that you areto let this by man go at once, for it is decreed that he shall notperish here, far from his own people, but shall return to his houseand country and see his friends again."Calypso trembled with rage when she heard this, "You gods," sheexclaimed, to be ashamed of yourselves. You are always jealous andhate seeing a goddess take a fancy to a mortal man, and live withhim in open matrimony. So when rosy-fingered Dawn made love toOrion, you precious gods were all of you furious till Diana went andkilled him in Ortygia. So again when Ceres fell in love with Iasion,and yielded to him in a thrice ploughed fallow field, Jove came to