of a woman- fair, stately, and wise. She stood against the side of theentry, and revealed herself to Ulysses, but Telemachus could not seeher, and knew not that she was there, for the gods do not letthemselves be seen by everybody. Ulysses saw her, and so did the dogs,for they did not bark, but went scared and whining off to the otherside of the yards. She nodded her head and motioned to Ulysses withher eyebrows; whereon he left the hut and stood before her outside themain wall of the yards. Then she said to him:"Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, it is now time for you to tellyour son: do not keep him in the dark any longer, but lay your plansfor the destruction of the suitors, and then make for the town. I willnot be long in joining you, for I too am eager for the fray."As she spoke she touched him with her golden wand. First she threw afair clean shirt and cloak about his shoulders; then she made himyounger and of more imposing presence; she gave him back his colour,filled out his cheeks, and let his beard become dark again. Then shewent away and Ulysses came back inside the hut. His son wasastounded when he saw him, and turned his eyes away for fear hemight be looking upon a god."Stranger," said he, "how suddenly you have changed from what youwere a moment or two ago. You are dressed differently and yourcolour is not the same. Are you some one or other of the gods thatlive in heaven? If so, be propitious to me till I can make you duesacrifice and offerings of wrought gold. Have mercy upon me."And Ulysses said, "I am no god, why should you take me for one? I amyour father, on whose account you grieve and suffer so much at thehands of lawless men."As he spoke he kissed his son, and a tear fell from his cheek onto the ground, for he had restrained all tears till now. butTelemachus could not yet believe that it was his father, and said:"You are not my father, but some god is flattering me with vainhopes that I may grieve the more hereafter; no mortal man could ofhimself contrive to do as you have been doing, and make yourself oldand young at a moment's notice, unless a god were with him. A secondago you were old and all in rags, and now you are like some god comedown from heaven."Ulysses answered, "Telemachus, you ought not to be so immeasurablyastonished at my being really here. There is no other Ulysses who willcome hereafter. Such as I am, it is I, who after long wandering andmuch hardship have got home in the twentieth year to my own country.What you wonder at is the work of the redoubtable goddess Minerva, whodoes with me whatever she will, for she can do what she pleases. Atone moment she makes me like a beggar, and the next I am a young manwith good clothes on my back; it is an easy matter for the gods wholive in heaven to make any man look either rich or poor."As he spoke he sat down, and Telemachus threw his arms about hisfather and wept. They were both so much moved that they cried aloudlike eagles or vultures with crooked talons that have been robbed oftheir half fledged young by peasants. Thus piteously did they weep,and the sun would have gone down upon their mourning if Telemachus hadnot suddenly said, "In what ship, my dear father, did your crewbring you to Ithaca? Of what nation did they declare themselves to be-for you cannot have come by land?""I will tell you the truth, my son," replied Ulysses. "It was thePhaeacians who brought me here. They are great sailors, and are in thehabit of giving escorts to any one who reaches their coasts. They tookme over the sea while I was fast asleep, and landed me in Ithaca,after giving me many presents in bronze, gold, and raiment. Thesethings by heaven's mercy are lying concealed in a cave, and I am nowcome here on the suggestion of Minerva that we may consult aboutkilling our enemies. First, therefore, give me a list of thesuitors, with their number, that I may learn who, and how many, theyare. I can then turn the matter over in my mind, and see whether wetwo can fight the whole body of them ourselves, or whether we mustfind others to help us."To this Telemachus answered, "Father, I have always heard of yourrenown both in the field and in council, but the task you talk of is avery great one: I am awed at the mere thought of it; two men cannotstand against many and brave ones. There are not ten suitors only, nortwice ten, but ten many times over; you shall learn their number atonce. There are fifty-two chosen youths from Dulichium, and theyhave six servants; from Same there are twenty-four; twenty youngAchaeans from Zacynthus, and twelve from Ithaca itself, all of themwell born. They have with them a servant Medon, a bard, and two menwho can carve at table. If we face such numbers as this, you mayhave bitter cause to rue your coming, and your revenge. See whetheryou cannot think of some one who would be willing to come and helpus.""Listen to me," replied Ulysses, "and think whether Minerva andher father Jove may seem sufficient, or whether I am to try and findsome one else as well.""Those whom you have named," answered Telemachus, "are a couple ofgood allies, for though they dwell high up among the clouds theyhave power over both gods and men.""These two," continued Ulysses, "will not keep long out of the fray,when the suitors and we join fight in my house. Now, therefore, returnhome early to-morrow morning, and go about among the suitors asbefore. Later on the swineherd will bring me to the city disguisedas a miserable old beggar. If you see them ill-treating me, steel yourheart against my sufferings; even though they drag me feet foremostout of the house, or throw things at me, look on and do nothing beyondgently trying to make them behave more reasonably; but they will notlisten to you, for the day of their reckoning is at hand.Furthermore I say, and lay my saying to your heart, when Minerva shallput it in my mind, I will nod my head to you, and on seeing me do thisyou must collect all the armour that is in the house and hide it inthe strong store room. Make some excuse when the suitors ask you whyyou are removing it; say that you have taken it to be out of the wayof the smoke, inasmuch as it is no longer what it was when Ulysseswent away, but has become soiled and begrimed with soot. Add to thismore particularly that you are afraid Jove may set them on toquarrel over their wine, and that they may do each other some harmwhich may disgrace both banquet and wooing, for the sight of armssometimes tempts people to use them. But leave a sword and a spearapiece for yourself and me, and a couple oxhide shields so that we cansnatch them up at any moment; Jove and Minerva will then soon quietthese people. There is also another matter; if you are indeed my sonand my blood runs in your veins, let no one know that Ulysses iswithin the house- neither Laertes, nor yet the swineherd, nor any ofthe servants, nor even Penelope herself. Let you and me exploit thewomen alone, and let us also make trial of some other of the menservants, to see who is on our side and whose hand is against us.""Father," replied Telemachus, "you will come to know me by and by,and when you do you will find that I can keep your counsel. I do notthink, however, the plan you propose will turn out well for eitherof us. Think it over. It will take us a long time to go the round ofthe farms and exploit the men, and all the time the suitors will bewasting your estate with impunity and without compunction. Prove thewomen by all means, to see who are disloyal and who guiltless, but Iam not in favour of going round and trying the men. We can attend tothat later on, if you really have some sign from Jove that he willsupport you."Thus did they converse, and meanwhile the ship which had broughtTelemachus and his crew from Pylos had reached the town of Ithaca.When they had come inside the harbour they drew the ship on to theland; their servants came and took their armour from them, and theyleft all the presents at the house of Clytius. Then they sent aservant to tell Penelope that Telemachus had gone into the country,but had sent the ship to the town to prevent her from being alarmedand made unhappy. This servant and Eumaeus happened to meet whenthey were both on the same errand of going to tell Penelope. When theyreached the House, the servant stood up and said to the queen in thepresence of the waiting women, "Your son, Madam, is now returnedfrom Pylos"; but Eumaeus went close up to Penelope, and said privatelythat her son had given bidden him tell her. When he had given hismessage he left the house with its outbuildings and went back to hispigs again.The suitors were surprised and angry at what had happened, so theywent outside the great wall that ran round the outer court, and held acouncil near the main entrance. Eurymachus, son of Polybus, was thefirst to speak."My friends," said he, "this voyage of Telemachus's is a veryserious matter; we had made sure that it would come to nothing. Now,however, let us draw a ship into the water, and get a crew together tosend after the others and tell them to come back as fast as they can."He had hardly done speaking when Amphinomus turned in his placeand saw the ship inside the harbour, with the crew lowering her sails,and putting by their oars; so he laughed, and said to the others,"We need not send them any message, for they are here. Some god musthave told them, or else they saw the ship go by, and could notovertake her.On this they rose and went to the water side. The crew then drew theship on shore; their servants took their armour from them, and theywent up in a body to the place of assembly, but they would not let anyone old or young sit along with them, and Antinous, son ofEupeithes, spoke first."Good heavens," said he, "see how the gods have saved this manfrom destruction. We kept a succession of scouts upon the headlandsall day long, and when the sun was down we never went on shore tosleep, but waited in the ship all night till morning in the hope ofcapturing and killing him; but some god has conveyed him home in spiteof us. Let us consider how we can make an end of him. He must notescape us; our affair is never likely to come off while is alive,for he is very shrewd, and public feeling is by no means all on ourside. We must make haste before he can call the Achaeans inassembly; he will lose no time in doing so, for he will be furiouswith us, and will tell all the world how we plotted to kill him, butfailed to take him. The people will not like this when they come toknow of it; we must see that they do us no hurt, nor drive us from ourown country into exile. Let us try and lay hold of him either on hisfarm away from the town, or on the road hither. Then we can divideup his property amongst us, and let his mother and the man who marriesher have the house. If this does not please you, and you wishTelemachus to live on and hold his father's property, then we must notgather here and eat up his goods in this way, but must make our offersto Penelope each from his own house, and she can marry the man whowill give the most for her, and whose lot it is to win her."They all held their peace until Amphinomus rose to speak. He was theson of Nisus, who was son to king Aretias, and he was foremost amongall the suitors from the wheat-growing and well grassed island ofDulichium; his conversation, moreover, was more agreeable toPenelope than that of any of the other for he was a man of goodnatural disposition. "My friends," said he, speaking to them plainlyand in all honestly, "I am not in favour of killing Telemachus. Itis a heinous thing to kill one who is of noble blood. Let us firsttake counsel of the gods, and if the oracles of Jove advise it, I willboth help to kill him myself, and will urge everyone else to do so;but if they dissuade us, I would have you hold your hands."Thus did he speak, and his words pleased them well, so they roseforthwith and went to the house of Ulysses where they took theiraccustomed seats.Then Penelope resolved that she would show herself to the suitors.She knew of the plot against Telemachus, for the servant Medon hadoverheard their counsels and had told her; she went down therefore