Reading Penelope

Penelope Preface: Odysseus has arrived on his home island of Ithaca, which has been overrun by the princes and noblemen of other nations, all clamoring to marry Odysseus’s wife, Penelope—because they all assume Odysseus must be dead. Ithaca was a wealthy kingdom, and Penelope ran it well, which is why they are all interested in marrying her. These suitors—people who want to marry Penelope—have been living in her castle for a long time, making themselves at home, eating all of the stores and taking all of the treasures of Ithaca. They have tried to drive away Odysseus’s son, Telemachus, who is now a young man, since he is in line for Ithaca’s throne. Seeing this dangerous situation, Odysseus arrives in disguise. Athena helps dress him up like a beggar, to test the hearts of the suitors—and Penelope. When Odysseus arrives, he is mistreated by the suitors [this will be shown in a later passage]. Taking pity on him, Penelope asks that the beggar be brought to her. She hopes that he might have some news of her husband. Odysseus does not take off his disguise as he does not know Penelope’s feelings for him. ‘Friend, let me ask you first of all: who are you, where do you come from, of what nation and parents were you born?’ And he [Odysseus] replied: ‘My lady, never a man in the wide world should have a fault to find with you. Your name has gone out under heaven like the sweet honor of some god-fearing king, who rules in equity over the strong: his black lands bear 10 both wheat and barley, fruit trees laden bright, new lambs at lambing time—and the deep sea gives great hauls of fish by his good strategy, so that his folk fare well. O my dear lady, 15 this being so, let it suffice to ask me of other matters—not my blood, my homeland. Do not enforce me to recall my pain. My heart is sore; but I must not be found sitting in tears here, in another’s house: 20 it is not well forever to be grieving. One of the maids might say—or you might think— I had got maudlin [foolish] over cups of wine.’ 5 And Penelope replied: ‘Stranger, my looks, my face, my carriage [posture], were soon lost or faded when the Achaeans [Greeks] crossed the sea to Troy, Odysseus my lord among the rest. If he returned, if he were to care for me, I might be happily renowned! 30 But grief instead heaven sent me—years of pain. Sons of the noblest families on the islands, Dulichium, Same, wooded Zacynthus, 25 against my wish; and they consume this house. 35 Can I give proper heed to guest or suppliant or herald on the realm’s affairs? How could I? wasted with longing for Odysseus, while here they press for marriage. 40 Ruses served my turn to draw the time out—first a close-grained web I had the happy thought to set up weaving on my big loom in the hall. I said, that day” ‘Young men—my suitors, now my lord is dead, 45 let me finish my weaving before I marry, or else my thread will have been spun in vain. It is a shroud I weave for Lord Laertes when cold Death comes to lay him on his bier. The country wives would hold me in dishonor 50 if he, with all his fortune, lay unshrouded.’ I reached their hearts that way, and they agreed. So every day I wove on the great loom, but every night by torchlight I unwove it; and so for three years I deceived the Achaeans. 55 But when the seasons brought a fourth year on, as long months waned, and the long days were spent, through impudent folly in the slinking maids they caught me—clamored up to me at night; I had no choice then but to finish it. 60 And now, as matters stand at last, I have no strength left to evade a marriage, cannot find any further way; my parents urge it upon me, and my son will not stand by while they eat up his property. 65 He comprehends it, being a man full-grown, able to oversee the kind of house Zeus would endow with honor. with native Ithacans, are here to court me, But you too confide in me, tell me your ancestry. 70 You were not born of mythic oak or stone.’ Summary: Odysseus makes up a tale about himself [the beggar], in which Odysseus is mentioned. The beggar claims to have been a sailor who met Odysseus, and says how much Odysseus misses his wife and son. Penelope begins to cry, and the beggar declares that Penelope’s husband will soon be home. ‘You see, then, he is alive and well, and headed homeward now, no more to be abroad far from his island, his dear wife and son. Here is my sworn word for it. Witness this, 75 god of the zenith, noblest of the gods [Zeus], and Lord Odysseus’s hearthfire, now before me: I swear these things shall turn out as I say, Between this present dark and one day’s ebb, after the wane, before the crescent moon, 80 Odysseus will come.” Aftermath: Since the suitors have discovered Penelope’s trick of unweaving the burial shroud during the night, they are demanding that she choose one of them to marry tomorrow. Penelope and the disguised Odysseus devise a contest for the suitors. Whoever manages to accomplish the feat will win Penelope’s hand and Ithaca’s throne.