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In this book, Odysseus progresses his plans to slaughter the suitors and is recognised by his old nurse.
After the suitors have left to go to bed Odysseus tells Telemachus that they must store their weapons where they can’t access them. He instructs Telemachus that if he is asked, he must say this was done to protect their weapons from damage from their fires, as well as to prevent them hurting each other when they are drunk. Telemachus instructs the old nurse, Eurycleia, to lock the women in their quarters while he does this. She asks who will carry his torch. Telemachus responds that the beggar – Odysseus – will. Odysseus and Telemachus, with Athena walking before them, collect the weapons, and Telemachus senses a god’s presence. Once the weapons are stowed Odysseus orders Telemachus to go to bed. Meanwhile, he will test the women, including Penelope. Telemachus goes to his bedroom to sleep.
Penelope emerges from her bedroom. She sits before the fire in her favourite chair. Meanwhile, Melantho lashes out at Odysseus once more. She questions why he is in the house and says he should go. Odysseus warns her that he once lived in a good house too, and that his fortunes changed. He suggests hers may, too: that Odysseus may return or Telemachus may take up his cause. Penelope hears this exchange and she turns on Melantho to support Odysseus. She threatens Melantho’s life.
Penelope then orders a comfortable chair be brought for Odysseus so that they can talk together. She asks him who he is and where he is from. Odysseus responds with hyperbolic praise of Penelope, but asks not to have to reveal his identity or his past. He says he has suffered many sorrows and does not wish to be scolded by a maid for speaking long about them.
Penelope says that whatever beauty she once had was gone after Odysseus left. She says her life is a torment. She describes how she is courted against her will and the trick she played on the suitors for three years: that she promised to choose a suitor to marry once she had weaved her father’s death shroud. She would weave throughout the day and each night she would unravel her work so it was never finished, and this went on until her maids betrayed her to the suitors. This story is first told in book 2 of The Odyssey. Now she is trapped, unwilling to remarry yet unable to escape that fate. Penelope again asks where Odysseus comes from.
Odysseus replies with a story that is partly true, with details changed to hide his identity. He says he is from Cnossos, that his father was Deucalion and that his own name is Aethon. He claims to have met Odysseus in Cnossos, whom, he says, was searching for Idomeneus (who would be Odysseus’ fictional brother, both being sons of Deucalion). In this tale the Odysseus ‘Aethon’ meets lies, claiming to be Idomeneus’ brother. ‘Aethon’ informs Odysseus that Idomeneus sailed for Troy ten or eleven days before. He says he took Odysseus back to his own house where he stayed for twelve days before sailing for Troy on the thirteenth day.
Penelope is moved to tears by this story. Even so, when she gains her composure, she decides to test the veracity of the story. She asks him to describe Odysseus’ clothing and the kind of man he was. Odysseus describes a purple cape and a golden brooch that depicted a hound killing a fawn. He says he also gave Odysseus a cloak and sword to take with him. He adds that Odysseus also had a herald, Eurybates. Penelope recognises from this description the clothes and brooch she gave her husband before he departed for Troy. She now trusts Odysseus/beggar, and says he will be her honoured guest. She says she rues the day Odysseus left for “that cursed city” which she calls ‘Destroy’ – a play on Troy’s name. In the Emily Wilson translation, it is “Evilium”, a play on Troy’s Greek name ‘Ilium’, from which The Iliad gets its name. In the E.V. Rieu translation it is merely referred to as ‘evil Ilium’.
Penelope is distraught and in tears. To calm her Odysseus promises to tell the whole truth. He claims that Odysseus is on his way home to set things right, along with a hoard of treasure, though he has lost his crew. He then refers to incidents in his own story to fill out the narrative. He tells of the loss of his crew after they ate the cattle of the sun god, Helios, and how he was saved by the Phaeacians. He says Odysseus has been delayed only to recoup treasure that was lost to him. He says the treasure is so vast it would last ten generations. He says Odysseus is now seeking advice from Zeus on how to return home. He assures Penelope that Odysseus is close at hand and all will be well. But Penelope has difficulty believing these assurances. She has lost hope.
Penelope orders her maids to bathe Odysseus the beggar, so that he can sit next to Telemachus in the hall to eat breakfast the following morning. She says that he could not consider her a wise and prudent woman if she allowed him to appear in the hall looking like a beggar. She says that men’s reputations are served by their actions in life. Odysseus rejects the idea of a comfortable bed, saying he is used to sleeping rough, and refuses a foot bath from any of her women, unless it is a trusted old retainer.
Penelope offers him the services of Eurycleia, the old nurse. Eurycleia is moved to be given this duty. She is mindful that Odysseus the beggar has rejected the services of the other women who have mocked him, and she is upset to think that Odysseus might be treated as badly by women in some foreign hall. She also notes how much he looks like her old master, Odysseus. Odysseus tries to deflect this observation by saying that others had noted the similarity, but as soon as Eurycleia starts washing his feet she knows he is Odysseus. She recognises an old scar on his leg.
The narrative digresses to tell the story of how Odysseus received the scar. It begins with Odysseus’ grandfather, Autolycus, who travels from Parnassus to Ithaca after Odysseus’ birth and is asked to name him. He promises to give Odysseus great gifts when he comes of age. When Odysseus is old enough, he travels to Parnassus to receive his gifts. Autolycus prepares a feast to celebrate Odysseus’ visit. The next day they head out to go hunting. A boar charges from a dense thicket. Odysseus attacks it first but the boar gashes his leg above the knee. Even so, Odysseus manages to kill the boar. Autolycus heals Odysseus by binding his wound and chanting a spell. Odysseus then returns to Ithaca where he tells the tale of his exploits to his parents.
Eurycleia accidentally drops Odysseus’ foot in the basin of water when she recognises him. She insists to him that he is Odysseus. Odysseus grabs her by the throat and pulls her to him. He says if she reveals what she knows it will endanger him. He threatens to kill her if she does, along with the rest of the women in the house. Eurycleia assures him she will say nothing. Instead, she offers to tell him which women are still loyal to him and which are not. Odysseus says he will observe them himself. Eurycleia fetches more water and finishes bathing Odysseus.
Odysseus returns to Penelope after he has been bathed. He makes sure that he hides his scar. Penelope tells him of her misery and the difficulty she has sleeping. She is kept awake by her dilemma, whether to remarry or not: whether to maintain her husband’s estate and servants, or to move on and marry the best of the suitors. She believes Telemachus wants her to leave so as to preserve his own inheritance which is daily diminished by the suitors’ presence.
Penelope says that she has had a dream. In the dream there are twenty geese in the house, but an eagle swoops down and snaps all their necks. She cries in the dream but the eagle returns and tells her that the dream is “a happy waking vision”. The eagle explains that the geese represent the suitors and that he represents her husband, returned. Upon hearing this dream Odysseus agrees that the suitors’ destruction is near at hand. But Penelope is not sure. She says there are two types of dreams, each passing through a different gate. Those that pass through the ivory gate mean nothing. Those that pass through gates of polished horn are truthful portents. Penelope lacks hope and does not believe her dream. For this reason, she has devised a contest to select a suitor to marry. Odysseus used to shoot an arrow through twelve axes set in a line. She intends to make this the contest for the suitors. The man who can perform the task will be her new husband. Odysseus is enthusiastic about this idea. He urges her not to delay. He says that before the contest is over Odysseus will reappear. Penelope is still doubtful. She intends to return to bed to get some sleep and says Odysseus can sleep in the hall. Penelope returns to bed and falls asleep, weeping.
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