τὴν δʼ ἄχος ἀμφεχύθη θυμοφθόρον, οὐδʼ ἄρʼ ἔτʼ ἔτλη
δίφρῳ ἐφέζεσθαι πολλῶν κατὰ οἶκον ἐόντων,
ἀλλʼ ἄρʼ ἐπʼ οὐδοῦ ἷζε πολυκμήτου θαλάμοιο
οἴκτρʼ ὀλοφυρομένη· περὶ δὲ δμῳαὶ μινύριζον
πᾶσαι, ὅσαι κατὰ δώματʼ ἔσαν νέαι ἠδὲ παλαιαί.720
τῇς δʼ ἁδινὸν γοόωσα μετηύδα Πηνελόπεια·
κλῦτε, φίλαι· πέρι γάρ μοι Ὀλύμπιος ἄλγεʼ ἔδωκεν
ἐκ πασέων, ὅσσαι μοι ὁμοῦ τράφεν ἠδʼ ἐγένοντο·
ἣ πρὶν μὲν πόσιν ἐσθλὸν ἀπώλεσα θυμολέοντα,
παντοίῃς ἀρετῇσι κεκασμένον ἐν Δαναοῖσιν,725
ἐσθλόν, τοῦ κλέος εὐρὺ καθʼ Ἑλλάδα καὶ μέσον Ἄργος.
νῦν αὖ παῖδʼ ἀγαπητὸν ἀνηρείψαντο θύελλαι
ἀκλέα ἐκ μεγάρων, οὐδʼ ὁρμηθέντος ἄκουσα.
σχέτλιαι, οὐδʼ ὑμεῖς περ ἐνὶ φρεσὶ θέσθε ἑκάστη
ἐκ λεχέων μʼ ἀνεγεῖραι, ἐπιστάμεναι σάφα θυμῷ,730
ὁππότʼ ἐκεῖνος ἔβη κοίλην ἐπὶ νῆα μέλαιναν.
εἰ γὰρ ἐγὼ πυθόμην ταύτην ὁδὸν ὁρμαίνοντα,
τῷ κε μάλʼ ἤ κεν ἔμεινε καὶ ἐσσύμενός περ ὁδοῖο,
ἤ κέ με τεθνηκυῖαν ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ἔλειπεν.
ἀλλά τις ὀτρηρῶς Δολίον καλέσειε γέροντα,735
δμῶʼ ἐμόν, ὅν μοι δῶκε πατὴρ ἔτι δεῦρο κιούσῃ,
καί μοι κῆπον ἔχει πολυδένδρεον, ὄφρα τάχιστα
Λαέρτῃ τάδε πάντα παρεζόμενος καταλέξῃ,
εἰ δή πού τινα κεῖνος ἐνὶ φρεσὶ μῆτιν ὑφήνας
ἐξελθὼν λαοῖσιν ὀδύρεται, οἳ μεμάασιν740
ὃν καὶ Ὀδυσσῆος φθῖσαι γόνον ἀντιθέοιο.
τὴν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε φίλη τροφὸς Εὐρύκλεια·
νύμφα φίλη, σὺ μὲν ἄρ με κατάκτανε νηλέι χαλκῷ
ἢ ἔα ἐν μεγάρῳ· μῦθον δέ τοι οὐκ ἐπικεύσω.
ᾔδεʼ ἐγὼ τάδε πάντα, πόρον δέ οἱ ὅσσʼ ἐκέλευε,745
σῖτον καὶ μέθυ ἡδύ· ἐμεῦ δʼ ἕλετο μέγαν ὅρκον
μὴ πρὶν σοὶ ἐρέειν, πρὶν δωδεκάτην γε γενέσθαι
ἢ σʼ αὐτὴν ποθέσαι καὶ ἀφορμηθέντος ἀκοῦσαι,
ὡς ἂν μὴ κλαίουσα κατὰ χρόα καλὸν ἰάπτῃς.
ἀλλʼ ὑδρηναμένη, καθαρὰ χροῒ εἵμαθʼ ἑλοῦσα,750
εἰς ὑπερῷʼ ἀναβᾶσα σὺν ἀμφιπόλοισι γυναιξὶν
εὔχεʼ Ἀθηναίῃ κούρῃ Διὸς αἰγιόχοιο·
ἡ γάρ κέν μιν ἔπειτα καὶ ἐκ θανάτοιο σαώσαι.
μηδὲ γέροντα κάκου κεκακωμένον· οὐ γὰρ ὀίω
πάγχυ θεοῖς μακάρεσσι γονὴν Ἀρκεισιάδαο755
ἔχθεσθʼ, ἀλλʼ ἔτι πού τις ἐπέσσεται ὅς κεν ἔχῃσι
δώματά θʼ ὑψερεφέα καὶ ἀπόπροθι πίονας ἀγρούς.
notes
Penelope’s anguish drives her to the ground
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τὴν δ᾽ ἄχος ἀμφεχύθη θυμοφθόρον, οὐδ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἔτλη
δίφρῳ ἐφέζεσθα πολλῶν κατὰ οἶκον ἐόντων,
ἀλλ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἐπ᾽ οὐδοῦ ἷζε πολυκμήτου θαλάμοιο
οἴκτρ᾽ ὀλοφυρομένη: περὶ δὲ δμῳαὶ μινύριζον
πᾶσαι, ὅσαι κατὰ δώματ᾽ ἔσαν νέαι ἠδὲ παλαιαί.
Soul-wasting pain poured over her, nor could she
even sit on a chair, though there were many in the house,
but she sank to the floor of her well-wrought bedroom,
weeping pitifully. And all around her maids were wailing,
all of them, young and old, who were in the house.
Odyssey 4.716–20
The Iliad again provides a telling parallel, when Achilles first hears the news of Hector killing Patroclus in battle:
ὣς φάτο, τὸν δ᾽ ἄχεος νεφέλη ἐκάλυψε μέλαινα:
ἀμφοτέρῃσι δὲ χερσὶν ἑλὼν κόνιν αἰθαλόεσσαν
χεύατο κὰκ κεφαλῆς, χαρίεν δ᾽ ᾔσχυνε πρόσωπον:
νεκταρέῳ δὲ χιτῶνι μέλαιν᾽ ἀμφίζανε τέφρη.
αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἐν κονίῃσι μέγας μεγαλωστὶ τανυσθεὶς
κεῖτο, φίλῃσι δὲ χερσὶ κόμην ᾔσχυνε δαΐζων.
So [Antilochus] spoke, and a black cloud of pain covered him [Achilles],
and grabbing filthy dust with both hands
he poured it over his head and fouled his handsome face,
and black ashes were settling on his godlike tunic.
And he lay stretched out mightily in his might
and disfigured himself, tearing his hair with both hands.
Iliad 18.22-27
As in the earlier two parallel passages, the Iliad presses the same imagery further. Patroclus is Achilles’s soulmate, and with his loss something in Achilles dies. By falling to the ground and pouring ashes over himself, he mimics the death of his friend in a way typical of grieving figures in early Greek literature. Penelope’s reaction to Telemachus’s absence as if it were a death portrays her as grieving her husband and son, and she will remain in that condition, withdrawn and weeping, until they return to Ithaka. Her reemergence from that numbed state is a crucial part of the eventual triumph of Odysseus over the suitors. It begins when Athena prompts Penelope to show herself to the suitors in Book 18 (158–303), part of a process that moves the queen toward a decision to remarry. The next phase occurs when Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, pretends in a private meeting with the queen to describe meeting “Odysseus” in Crete, releasing a flood of feelings in Penelope, expressed in one of Homer’s most lyrical similes (19.203–9). (see above, p.10) Penelope, too, is beginning to thaw from her frozen grief.
The subtle portrayal of Penelope’s inner life and her gradual movement from grief into action is one of the chief glories of the Odyssey. That the poet builds his portrait of this process on the queen’s earlier response to hearing of Telemachus’s clandestine journey is confirmed soon after the exchange that prompted the snow simile. Penelope, moved by the beggar’s story, orders her servants to clean up the man and give him fresh clothes. When the time comes for his feet to be washed, Odysseus insists that Eurykleia, his own childhood nurse, be the one to do it. The old nurse recognizes an old scar on the beggars’s leg and guesses his true identity. Odysseus convinces her to keep his identity a secret, while Athena distracts Penelope from hearing the exchange (19.466–90).
Eurykleia keeps an important secret from Penelope twice, both times to support a heroic mission that eventually leads to Odysseus’s triumph over the suitors. The first time marks the virtual disappearance of Penelope from the story. The second coincides with her reappearance as an agent in the return of her husband to his true identity as king, husband, father, and son.
717 πολλῶν κατὰ οἶκον ἐόντων: “though there were many (chairs) in the house,” genitive absolute.
721 τῇς: fem. dat. pl., demonstrative.
722 πέρι ... ἐκ πασέων: “more than anyone,” “beyond all others” (LSJ περί E.II.1) and ἐκ πασέων intensifies this.
723 μοι ὁμοῦ: anastrophe.
723 τράφεν: unaugmented 3rd pl. aor. pass. indic. > τρέπω.
725 κεκασμένον: “excelling in,” masc. acc. sing. pres. ptc. > καίνυμαι; with dative.
728 ἀκλέα: “without a word.”
729 σχέτλιαι: voc. fem. plu. "cruel ones/wicked girls."
729 ὑμεῖς περ … ἑκάστη: “even you, any one (of you) …”
733 τῷ: “then.”
733 κε μάλ᾽ ἤ κεν … / ἤ κέ: a unique pile-up of κε. The first κε marks the entire apodosis (as past contrary-to-fact), then each element of the apodosis is marked by its own κε.
735 καλέσειε: imperat. opt. (Smyth 1820).
736 ἔχει: "he keeps" as in to take care of, watch over.
739 εἰ … πού: “on the chance that …” Penelope worries about Laertes speaking to the suitors.
740 ὀδύρεται: Stanford and Merry-Riddell-Monro identify this as a short-vowel subjunctive, in which case εἰπού must be read as equivalent to ἐάν. Smyth says that following a primary tense, “on the chance that” can be expressed by εἰ and the indicative (Smyth 2354 and Cunliffe που 4), in which case this should be read as present indicative.
741 ὃν: “him,” Telemachus.
744 ἔα: “leave me alone,” imperat. > ἐάω.
745 ᾔδε(α): 1st sing. plupf. act. indic. > οἶδα.
746 ἐμεῦ … ἕλετο: “he obtained from me,” aor. > αἱρέω (LSJ αἱρέω B.I). The genitive ἐμεῦ is a genitive of source (Smyth 1410).
747–49 echoing 2.374–76.
747 πρὶν: the first πρὶν is untranslated.
747 δωδεκάτην: understand ἡμέρην.
749 κατὰ: “completely,” “thoroughly,” adverbial.
752 εὔχε(ο): “pray,” 2nd sing. imperat. > εὔχομαι.
753 σαώσαι: potential (aor.) opt. > σώζω (σαόω).
754 κάκου 2nd sing. pres. imperat. > κακόω.
755 θεοῖς μακάρεσσι: with ἔχθεσθ(αι), either dative of agent (“hated by the blessed gods”) or interest (“hateful to the blessed gods”).
755 Ἀρκεισιάδαο: “of the son of Arkeisios,” that is Laertes, the father of Odysseus.
vocabulary
ἄχος –ους τό: pain, distress
ἀμφιχέω ἀμφιχέω ἀμφέχεα ἀμφικέχυκα ἀμφικέχυμαι ἀμφεχύθην: to pour around, spread over
θυμοφθόρος –ον: destroying the soul, life-destroying
ἄρα: particle: 'so'
τλάω τλήσομαι ἔτλην τέτληκα –––– ––––: to bear, suffer
δίφρος –ου ὁ: seat, chair
ἐφέζομαι ––– ––– ––– ––– –––: to sit upon
οὐδός –οῦ ὁ: a threshold
ἵζω εἵσομαι εἷσα/ἵζησα ἵζηκα: to take a seat, make to sit
πολύκμητος –ον: elaborate
θάλαμος or θάλᾶμος –ου ὁ: an bedroom
οἰκτρός –ά –όν: pitiable, in piteous plight
ὀλοφύρομαι ὀλοφυροῦμαι ὠλοφυράμην – – ὠλοφύρθην: to lament, wail, moan, weep
δμῳή –ής ἡ: an enslaved person, especially one taken in war
μινυρίζω – – – – –: to whimper, whine
δῶμα –ατος τό: a house720
ἠδέ: and
ἀδινός –ή –όν: loud, crowded
γοάω γοήσω ἐγόησα/γόον ––– ––– ἐγοήθην: to wail, groan, weep
μεταυδάω μεταυδήσω μετηύδησα μετηύδηκα μετηύδημαι μετηυδήθην: to speak among
Πηνελόπεια –ας ἡ: Penelope, the daughter of Icarius, and wife of Odysseus
κλύω ––– κέκλυκα ––– ––– –––: to hear, listen
φίλος –η –ον: friend; loved, beloved, dear
Ὀλύμπιος –ον: Olympian, Zeus
ἄλγος –ους τό: pain
ὁμοῦ: at the same place, together
πόσις –ιος/–εως ὁ: a husband, spouse, mate
ἑσθλός –ή –όν: good
θυμολέων –οντος: lion-hearted
παντοῖος –α –ον: of all sorts725
καίνυμαι – κέκασμαι: to surpass, excel
Δαναοί –ῶν οἱ: the Danaans
κλέος –ους τό: fame, glory
εὐρύς –εῖα –ύ: wide, broad
Ἕλλας –αδος ἡ: Greece
Ἄργος –ους τό or –ου ὁ: Argos, kingdom of Agamemnon
ἀγαπητός –ή –όν: beloved
ἀνερείπομαι ἀνερείψομαι ἀνερείψομαι – ἀνερήριμμαι ἀνηρείφθην: to snatch up and carry off
θύελλα –ης ἡ: a storm
ἀκλεής –ές: without fame, inglorious, unsung
μέγαρον –ου τό: a large room
σχέτλιος –α –ον: cruel, wicked
φρήν φρενός ἡ: the heart, mind
λέχος –ους τό: a couch, bed730
ἀνεγείρω ἀνεγερῶ ἀνήγειρα ἀνεγήγερκα ἀνεγήγερμαι ἀνηγέρθην: to wake up, rouse
ἐπίσταμαι ἐπιστήσομαι ––– ––– ––– ἠπιστήθην: to know
ὁπότε: when
κοῖλος –η –ον: hollow, hollowed
μέλας μέλαινα μέλαν: black, dark
ὁρμαίνω ὁρμανῶ ὥρμηνα: to debate, ponder
τῷ: therefore, then
σεύω σεύσω ἔσσευα – ἔσσυμαι ἐσσύθην/ἐσύθην: to drive, be eager
ὀτρηρός –ά –όν: quick, ready735
Δολίος –ου ὁ: Dolius, a slave of Penelope
γέρων –οντος ὁ: an old man (in apposition as adj., old)
δμώς –ωός ὁ: an enslaved person, especially one taken in war
δεῦρο: here
κίω – – – – –: to go
κῆπος –ου ὁ: a garden, orchard
πολύδενδρος –ον: with many trees, abounding in trees
ὄφρα: in order that; as long as, until
Λαέρτης or Λάρτιος –ου ὁ: Laertes, son of Arcīsius, and father of Odysseus, king in Ithaca
παρέζομαι παρέσομαι παρεζόμην: to sit beside
καταλέγω καταλέξω κατέλεξα κατείλοχα κατείλεγμαι κατελέχθην: recount, tell at length and in order
μῆτις –ιος/–ιδος ἡ: wisdom, counsel, plan
ὑφαίνω ὑφανῶ ὕφανα/ὕφηνα ὕφαγκα ὕφασμαι ὑφάνθην: to weave
ἐξέρχομαι ἐξελεύσομαι ἐξῆλθον ἐξελήλυθα ––– –––: to go out, come out740
ὀδύρομαι ὀδυροῦμαι ὠδυράμην ––– ––– κατωδύρθην/ὠδύρθην: to lament, bewail, mourn for
μάω – – – – –: to wish eagerly, strive, yearn, desire
ἑός ἑή ἑόν: his, her own
Ὀδυσσεύς –έως ὁ: Odysseus, king of Ithaca, hero of the Odyssey
φθίω φθίσω έφθίκα ––– έφθιμαι έφθίμην: to decay, destroy
γόνος –ου ὁ: offspring, child
ἀντίθεος –η –ον: godlike, equal to the gods
αὖτε: again, in turn
προσεῖπον (aor. 2 of προσαγορεύω and προσφωνέω); Εp. προσέειπον: to speak, address
τροφός –ου ὁ/ἡ: a nurse
Εὐρύκλεια –ας ἡ: Euryclea, the nurse of Odysseus, and faithful housekeeper in his palace
νύμφη –ης ἡ: a young wife, bride
κατακτείνω κατακτενῶ κατέκτεινα καταπέκτονα ––– –––: to kill, slay, murder
νηλής –ές: pitiless, ruthless
χαλκός –οῦ ὁ: bronze
μῦθος –ου ὁ: word, speech
ἐπικεύθω ἐπικεύσω ἐπέκευσα: to conceal, hide
πόρω ––– ἔπορον ––– ––– –––: to furnish, offer745
οὗ, οἷ, ἕ and encl. οὑ, οἱ, ἑ: him, her, it; himself, herself, itself
σῖτος –ου ὁ: bread, food
μέθυ –υος τό: wine, mead
ὅρκος –ου ὁ: oath
ἐρῶ εἴρηκα ἐρρήθην: say, tell, speak
δωδέκατος –η –ον: twelfth
ποθέω ποθήσω ἐπόθησα πεπὀθηκα πεπόθημαι ἐποθήθην: to long for, miss
ἀφορμάω ἀφορμήσω ἀφώρμησα ἀφώρμηκα ἀφώρμημαι ἀφωρμήθην: to depart, start
κλαίω/κλάω κλαύσομαι/κλαήσω ἔκλαυσα ––– κέκλαυμαι/κέκλαυσμαι ἐκλαύσθην: to weep, lament, wail
χρώς χρωτός ὁ: the skin
ἰάπτω ἰάψω ἴαψα ––– ––– ἰάφθην: hurt, spoil
ὑδραίνω ὑδρανοῦμαι ὑδρηνάμην: to bathe750
καθαρός –ά –όν: clean
εἷμα –ατος τό: a garment
ὑπερῷον: the upper part of the house, the upper story
ἀναβαίνω ἀναβήσομαι ἀνέβην ἀναβέβηκα ––– –––: to go up
ἀμφίπολος –ον: servant, slave
εὔχομαι εὔξομαι ηὐξάμην ηὖγμαι: to pray
Ἀθηνᾶ –ᾶς ἡ: Athena
κόρη –ης ἡ: a maiden, maid
Ζεύς Διός ὁ: Zeus
αἰγίοχος –ον: aegis-bearing
μιν: him, her, it
κακόω κακώσω ἐκάκωσα ἐκακώθην: to bother, afflict
πάγχυ: quite, wholly, entirely, altogether755
μάκαρ μάκαρος: blessed, happy
γονή –ῆς ἡ: offspring
Ἀρκεισιάδης –ου ὁ: son of Arcisius, Laertes
ἔχθω ––– ––– ––– ––– –––: to hate
ἐπειμί ἐπέσομαι ––– ––– ––– –––: to remain, be here
ὑψερεφής –ές: high-roofed, high-vaulted
ἀπόπροθι: far away, far and wide
πίων –ονος ὁ/ἡ: fat, plump
ἀγρός –οῦ ὁ: fields, lands