Book XVII

Ulysses, much-enduring man, replied: “Eumaeus, faithfully will I declare All that I know to sage Penelope, The daughter of Icarius. Well I knew Her husband, and with like calamities We both have suffered. But I greatly dread This reckless suitor-crew, whose riotous acts And violence reach to the iron heavens. Even now, when that man dealt me, as I passed, A painful blow, though I had done no harm, None interposed, not even Telemachus, In my defence. Now, therefore, ask, I pray, Penelope that she will deign to wait Till sunset in her rooms, though strong her wish To hear my history. Of her husband then, And his return, she may inquire, while I Sit by the blazing hearth; for scant have been My garments, as thou knowest, since the day When first