Page:The Odyssey of Homer, with the Hymns, Epigrams, and Battle of the Frogs and Mice (Buckley 1853).djvu/194

158 answer; 'Now therefore do not thou ever be mild to thy wife, nor inform her of every thing with which thou art well acquainted: but tell one thing, and let another be concealed. But for thee indeed there will not be murder at the hands of thy wife, O Ulysses: for prudent Penelope, the daughter of Icarus, is very wise, and is well acquainted with counsels in her mind. We left indeed her, when we came to the war, a young bride; and she had an infant boy at her breast, who now probably sits amongst the number of men, happy one; for his dear father will surely behold him, when returning, and he will embrace his sire, as is right; but she my wife did not suffer me to be satiated in mine eyes with my son, for she first slew even me myself. But I will tell thee something else, and do thou lay it up in thy mind; hold thy ship towards thy dear paternal land secretly, not openly; since confidence is no longer to be placed upon women. But come, tell me this and relate it truly; if thou hearest of my son any where yet alive, either some where in Orchomenus, or in sandy Pylos, or some where near Menelaus in wide Sparta? for divine Orestes has not yet died upon the earth.'

"Thus he spoke; but I addressed him in answer: 'O son of Atreus, why dost thou inquire these things of me? I do not know at all, whether he is alive or dead; and it is wrong to utter vain words.'

"We twain stood thus mourning, answering one another with sad words, shedding the warm tear. And the soul of Achilles, son of Peleus, came on, and of Patroclus, and spotless Antilochus, and Ajax, who was the most excellent as to his form and person of all the Danaans after the blameless son of Peleus. And the soul of the swift-footed descendant of Æacus knew me, and lamenting addressed me [in] winged words:

O Jove-born son of Laertes, much-contriving Ulysses, wretched one, why dost thou meditate a still greater work in thy mind? how didst thou dare to descend to Orcus, where dwell the witless dead, the images of deceased mortals?'

"Thus he spoke; but I addressed him in answer: 'Achilles, son of Peleus, by far the most excellent of the Grecians, I came for the advice of Tiresias, if he could tell me how by any plan I may come to craggy Ithaca. For I have not yet come any where near Greece, nor have I ever gone on my