Page 228 - the-odyssey

sending encouraging messages {123} to every one of them,
but meaning the very opposite of all she says.’
And Ulysses answered, ‘In good truth, goddess, it seems
I should have come to much the same bad end in my own
house as Agamemnon did, if you had not given me such
timely information. Advise me how I shall best avenge my-
self. Stand by my side and put your courage into my heart
as on the day when we loosed Troy’s fair diadem from her
brow. Help me now as you did then, and I will fight three
hundred men, if you, goddess, will be with me.’
‘Trust me for that,’ said she, ‘I will not lose sight of you
when once we set about it, and I imagine that some of those
who are devouring your substance will then bespatter the
pavement with their blood and brains. I will begin by dis-
guising you so that no human being shall know you; I will
cover your body with wrinkles; you shall lose all your yel-
low hair; I will clothe you in a garment that shall fill all who
see it with loathing; I will blear your fine eyes for you, and
make you an unseemly object in the sight of the suitors, of
your wife, and of the son whom you left behind you. Then
go at once to the swineherd who is in charge of your pigs; he
has been always well affected towards you, and is devoted to
Penelope and your son; you will find him feeding his pigs
near the rock that is called Raven {124} by the fountain Are-
thusa, where they are fattening on beechmast and spring
water after their manner. Stay with him and find out how
things are going, while I proceed to Sparta and see your son,
who is with Menelaus at Lacedaemon, where he has gone to
try and find out whether you are still alive.’ {125}