Ulysses Recognized by Eurycleia
Removal of the weapons from the hall by Ulysses and his son—Interview of Penelope and Ulysses, who tells her that he has seen her husband in Crete, describes his person and dress, and affirms that within a month he will be in Ithaca—The bath administered to Ulysses by Eurycleia, who recognizes him by a scar on his leg—Narrative of the manner in which the scar was caused.
Now was the godlike chief Ulysses left In his own palace, planning, with the aid Of Pallas, to destroy the suitor-train, And thus bespake his son with winged words:—
“Now is the time, Telemachus, to take The weapons that are here, and store them up In the inner rooms. Then, if the suitors ask The reason, answer them with specious words: Say, ‘I have put them where there comes no smoke. Since even now they do not seem the arms Left by Ulysses when he sailed for Troy, So tarnished are they by the breath of fire; And yet another reason sways my mind, The prompting of some god, that ye, when flushed With wine and in the heat of a dispute, May smite and wound each other, and disgrace The banquet and your wooing; for the sight Of steel doth draw men on to violence.’ ”
He ended, and Telemachus obeyed His father’s words, and calling forth his nurse, The aged Eurycleia, said to her:—
“Go, nurse, and see the women all shut up In their own place, while in our inner room I lay away my father’s beautiful arms, Neglected long, and sullied by the smoke, While he was absent. I was then a child, But now would keep them from the breath of fire.”