{"id":129,"date":"2021-05-26T09:19:26","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T13:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/book-xxiii\/"},"modified":"2022-02-01T10:55:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T15:55:00","slug":"23","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/23\/","title":{"raw":"Book XXIII","rendered":"Book XXIII"},"content":{"raw":"

Argument<\/b><\/h2>\r\nUlysses with some difficulty, convinces Penelope of his identity, who at length, overcome by force of evidence, receives him to her arms with transport. He entertains her with a recital of his adventures, and in his narration the principal events of the poem are recapitulated. In the morning, Ulysses, Telemachus, the herdsman and the swine-herd depart into the country.\r\n\r\nAnd now, with exultation loud the nurse\r\nAgain ascended, eager to apprize\r\nThe Queen of her Ulysses\u2019 safe return;\r\nJoy braced her knees, with nimbleness of youth\r\nShe stepp\u2019d, and at her ear, her thus bespake.\r\nArise, Penelope! dear daughter, see\r\nWith thy own eyes thy daily wish fulfill\u2019d.\r\nUlysses is arrived; hath reach\u2019d at last\r\nHis native home, and all those suitors proud\r\nHath slaughter\u2019d, who his family distress\u2019d,\r\nHis substance wasted, and controul\u2019d his son.\r\nTo whom Penelope discrete replied.\r\nDear nurse! the Gods have surely ta\u2019en away\r\nThy judgment; they transform the wise to fools,\r\nAnd fools conduct to wisdom, and have marr\u2019d\r\nThy intellect, who wast discrete before.\r\nWhy wilt thou mock me, wretched as I am,\r\nWith tales extravagant? and why disturb\r\nThose slumbers sweet that seal\u2019d so fast mine eyes?\r\nFor such sweet slumbers have I never known\r\nSince my Ulysses on his voyage sail\u2019d\r\nTo that bad city never to be named.\r\nDown instant to thy place again\u2014begone\u2014\r\nFor had another of my maidens dared\r\nDisturb my sleep with tidings wild as these,\r\nI had dismiss\u2019d her down into the house\r\nMore roughly; but thine age excuses thee<\/i>.\r\nTo whom the venerable matron thus.\r\nI mock thee not, my child; no\u2014he is come\u2014\r\nHimself, Ulysses, even as I say,\r\nThat stranger, object of the scorn of all.\r\nTelemachus well knew his sire arrived,\r\nBut prudently conceal\u2019d the tidings, so\r\nTo insure the more the suitors\u2019 punishment.\r\nSo Euryclea she transported heard,\r\nAnd springing from the bed, wrapp\u2019d in her arms\r\nThe ancient woman shedding tears of joy,\r\nAnd in wing\u2019d accents ardent thus replied.\r\nAh then, dear nurse inform me! tell me true!\r\nHath he indeed arriv\u2019d as thou declar\u2019st?\r\nHow dared he to assail alone that band\r\nOf shameless ones, for ever swarming here?\r\nThen Euryclea, thus, matron belov\u2019d.\r\nI nothing saw or knew; but only heard\r\nGroans of the wounded; in th\u2019 interior house\r\nWe trembling sat, and ev\u2019ry door was fast.\r\nThus all remain\u2019d till by his father sent,\r\nThy own son call\u2019d me forth. Going, I found\r\nUlysses compass\u2019d by the slaughter\u2019d dead.\r\nThey cover\u2019d wide the pavement, heaps on heaps.\r\nIt would have cheer\u2019d thy heart to have beheld\r\nThy husband lion-like with crimson stains\r\nOf slaughter and of dust all dappled o\u2019er;\r\nHeap\u2019d in the portal, at this moment, lie\r\nTheir bodies, and he fumigates, meantime,\r\nThe house with sulphur and with flames of fire,\r\nAnd hath, himself, sent me to bid thee down.\r\nFollow me, then, that ye may give your hearts\r\nTo gladness, both, for ye have much endured;\r\nBut the event, so long your soul\u2019s desire,\r\nIs come; himself hath to his household Gods\r\nAlive return\u2019d, thee and his son he finds\r\nUnharm\u2019d and at your home, nor hath he left\r\nUnpunish\u2019d one of all his enemies.\r\nHer answer\u2019d, then, Penelope discrete.\r\nAh dearest nurse! indulge not to excess\r\nThis dang\u2019rous triumph. Thou art well apprized\r\nHow welcome his appearance here would prove\r\nTo all, but chief, to me, and to his son,\r\nFruit of our love. But these things are not so;\r\nSome God, resentful of their evil deeds,\r\nAnd of their biting contumely severe,\r\nHath slain those proud; for whether noble guest\r\nArrived or base, alike they scoff\u2019d at all,\r\nAnd for their wickedness have therefore died.\r\nBut my Ulysses distant far, I know,\r\nFrom Greece hath perish\u2019d, and returns no more.\r\nTo whom thus Euryclea, nurse belov\u2019d.\r\nWhat word my daughter had escaped thy lips,\r\nWho thus affirm\u2019st thy husband, now within\r\nAnd at his own hearth-side, for ever lost?\r\nCanst thou be thus incredulous? Hear again\u2014\r\nI give thee yet proof past dispute, his scar\r\nImprinted by a wild-boar\u2019s iv\u2019ry tusk.\r\nLaving him I remark\u2019d it, and desired,\r\nMyself, to tell thee, but he, ever-wise,\r\nCompressing with both hands my lips, forbad.\r\nCome, follow me. My life shall be the pledge.\r\nIf I deceive thee, kill me as thou wilt.\r\nTo whom Penelope, discrete, replied.\r\nAh, dearest nurse, sagacious as thou art,\r\nThou little know\u2019st to scan the counsels wise\r\nOf the eternal Gods. But let us seek\r\nMy son, however, that I may behold\r\nThe suitors dead, and him by whom they died.\r\nSo saying, she left her chamber, musing much\r\nIn her descent, whether to interrogate\r\nHer Lord apart, or whether to imprint,\r\nAt once, his hands with kisses and his brows.\r\nO\u2019erpassing light the portal-step of stone\r\nShe enter\u2019d. He sat opposite, illumed\r\nBy the hearth\u2019s sprightly blaze, and close before\r\nA pillar of the dome, waiting with eyes\r\nDowncast, till viewing him, his noble spouse\r\nShould speak to him; but she sat silent long,\r\nHer faculties in mute amazement held.\r\nBy turns she riveted her eyes on his,\r\nAnd, seeing him so foul attired, by turns\r\nShe recognized him not; then spake her son\r\nTelemachus, and her silence thus reprov\u2019d.\r\nMy mother! ah my hapless and my most\r\nObdurate mother! wherefore thus aloof\r\nShunn\u2019st thou my father, neither at his side\r\nSitting affectionate, nor utt\u2019ring word?\r\nAnother wife lives not who could endure\r\nSuch distance from her husband new-return\u2019d\r\nTo his own country in the twentieth year,\r\nAfter much hardship; but thy heart is still\r\nAs ever, less impressible than stone,\r\nTo whom Penelope, discrete, replied.\r\nI am all wonder, O my son; my soul\r\nIs stunn\u2019d within me; pow\u2019r to speak to him\r\nOr to interrogate him have I none,\r\nOr ev\u2019n to look on him; but if indeed\r\nHe be Ulysses, and have reach\u2019d his home,\r\nI shall believe it soon, by proof convinced\r\nOf signs known only to himself and me.\r\nShe said; then smiled the Hero toil-inured,\r\nAnd in wing\u2019d accents thus spake to his son.\r\nLeave thou, Telemachus, thy mother here\r\nTo sift and prove me; she will know me soon\r\nMore certainly; she sees me ill-attired\r\nAnd squalid now; therefore she shews me scorn,\r\nAnd no belief hath yet that I am he.\r\nBut we have need, thou and myself, of deep\r\nDeliberation. If a man have slain\r\nOne only citizen, who leaves behind\r\nFew interested to avenge his death,\r\nYet, flying, he forsakes both friends and home;\r\nBut we have slain the noblest Princes far\r\nOf Ithaca, on whom our city most\r\nDepended; therefore, I advise thee, think!\r\nHim, prudent, then answer\u2019d Telemachus.\r\nBe that thy care, my father! for report\r\nProclaims thee<\/i> shrewdest of mankind, with whom\r\nIn ingenuity may none compare.\r\nLead thou; to follow thee shall be our part\r\nWith prompt alacrity; nor shall, I judge,\r\nCourage be wanting to our utmost force.\r\nThus then replied Ulysses, ever-wise.\r\nTo me the safest counsel and the best\r\nSeems this. First wash yourselves, and put ye on\r\nYour tunics; bid ye, next, the maidens take\r\nTheir best attire, and let the bard divine\r\nHarping melodious play a sportive dance,\r\nThat, whether passenger or neighbour near,\r\nAll may imagine nuptials held within.\r\nSo shall not loud report that we have slain\r\nAll those, alarm the city, till we gain\r\nOur woods and fields, where, once arriv\u2019d, such plans\r\nWe will devise, as Jove shall deign to inspire.\r\nHe spake, and all, obedient, in the bath\r\nFirst laved themselves, then put their tunics on;\r\nThe damsels also dress\u2019d, and the sweet bard,\r\nHarping melodious, kindled strong desire\r\nIn all, of jocund song and graceful dance.\r\nThe palace under all its vaulted roof\r\nRemurmur\u2019d to the feet of sportive youths\r\nAnd cinctured maidens, while no few abroad,\r\nHearing such revelry within, remark\u2019d\u2014\r\nThe Queen with many wooers, weds at last.\r\nAh fickle and unworthy fair! too frail\r\nAlways to keep inviolate the house\r\nOf her first Lord, and wait for his return.\r\nSo spake the people; but they little knew\r\nWhat had befall\u2019n. Eurynome, meantime,\r\nWith bath and unction serv\u2019d the illustrious Chief\r\nUlysses, and he saw himself attired\r\nRoyally once again in his own house.\r\nThen, Pallas over all his features shed\r\nSuperior beauty, dignified his form\r\nWith added amplitude, and pour\u2019d his curls\r\nLike hyacinthine flow\u2019rs down from his brows.\r\nAs when some artist by Minerva made\r\nAnd Vulcan, wise to execute all tasks\r\nIngenious, borders silver with a wreath\r\nOf gold, accomplishing a graceful work,\r\nSuch grace the Goddess o\u2019er his ample chest\r\nCopious diffused, and o\u2019er his manly brows.\r\nHe, godlike, stepping from the bath, resumed\r\nHis former seat magnificent, and sat\r\nOpposite to the Queen, to whom he said.\r\nPenelope! the Gods to thee have giv\u2019n\r\nOf all thy sex, the most obdurate heart.\r\nAnother wife lives not who could endure\r\nSuch distance from her husband new-return\u2019d\r\nTo his own country in the twentieth year,\r\nAfter such hardship. But prepare me, nurse,\r\nA bed, for solitary I must sleep,\r\nSince she is iron, and feels not for me.\r\nHim answer\u2019d then prudent Penelope.\r\nI neither magnify thee, sir! nor yet\r\nDepreciate thee, nor is my wonder such\r\nAs hurries me at once into thy arms,\r\nThough my remembrance perfectly retains,\r\nSuch as he was, Ulysses, when he sail\u2019d\r\nOn board his bark from Ithaca\u2014Go, nurse,\r\nPrepare his bed, but not within the walls\r\nOf his own chamber built with his own bands<\/span>.\r\nSpread it without, and spread it well with warm\r\nMantles, with fleeces, and with richest rugs.\r\nSo spake she, proving him,[footnote]The proof consisted in this\u2014that the bed being attached to the stump of an olive tree still rooted, was immovable, and Ulysses having made it himself, no person present, he must needs be apprized of the impossibility of her orders, if he were indeed Ulysses; accordingly, this demonstration of his identity satisfies all her scruples.[\/footnote]<\/sup> and not untouch\u2019d\r\nWith anger at that word, thus he replied.\r\nPenelope, that order grates my ear.\r\nWho hath displaced my bed? The task were hard\r\nE\u2019en to an artist; other than a God\r\nNone might with ease remove it; as for man,\r\nIt might defy the stoutest in his prime\r\nOf youth, to heave it to a different spot.\r\nFor in that bed elaborate, a sign,\r\nA special sign consists; I was myself\r\nThe artificer; I fashion\u2019d it alone.\r\nWithin the court a leafy olive grew\r\nLofty, luxuriant, pillar-like in girth.\r\nAround this tree I built, with massy stones\r\nCemented close, my chamber, roof\u2019d it o\u2019er,\r\nAnd hung the glutinated portals on.\r\nI lopp\u2019d the ample foliage and the boughs,\r\nAnd sev\u2019ring near the root its solid bole,\r\nSmooth\u2019d all the rugged stump with skilful hand,\r\nAnd wrought it to a pedestal well squared\r\nAnd modell\u2019d by the line. I wimbled, next,\r\nThe frame throughout, and from the olive-stump\r\nBeginning, fashion\u2019d the whole bed above\r\nTill all was finish\u2019d, plated o\u2019er with gold,\r\nWith silver, and with ivory, and beneath\r\nClose interlaced with purple cordage strong.\r\nSuch sign I give thee. But if still it stand\r\nUnmoved, or if some other, sev\u2019ring sheer\r\nThe olive from its bottom, have displaced\r\nMy bed\u2014that matter is best known to thee.\r\nHe ceas\u2019d; she, conscious of the sign so plain\r\nGiv\u2019n by Ulysses, heard with flutt\u2019ring heart\r\nAnd fault\u2019ring knees that proof. Weeping she ran\r\nDirect toward him, threw her arms around\r\nThe Hero, kiss\u2019d his forehead, and replied.\r\nAh my Ulysses! pardon me\u2014frown not\u2014\r\nThou, who at other times hast ever shewn\r\nSuperior wisdom! all our griefs have flow\u2019d\r\nFrom the Gods\u2019 will; they envied us the bliss\r\nOf undivided union sweet enjoy\u2019d\r\nThrough life, from early youth to latest age.\r\nNo. Be not angry now; pardon the fault\r\nThat I embraced thee not as soon as seen,\r\nFor horror hath not ceased to overwhelm\r\nMy soul, lest some false alien should, perchance,\r\nBeguile me, for our house draws num\u2019rous such.\r\nJove\u2019s daughter, Argive Helen, ne\u2019er had given\r\nFree entertainment to a stranger\u2019s love,\r\nHad she foreknown that the heroic sons\r\nOf Greece would bring her to her home again.\r\nBut heav\u2019n incited her to that offence,\r\nWho never, else, had even in her thought\r\nHarbour\u2019d the foul enormity, from which\r\nOriginated even our distress.\r\nBut now, since evident thou hast described\r\nOur bed, which never mortal yet beheld,\r\nOurselves except and Actoris my own\r\nAttendant, giv\u2019n me when I left my home\r\nBy good Icarius, and who kept the door,\r\nThough hard to be convinced, at last I yield.\r\nSo saying, she awaken\u2019d in his soul\r\nPity and grief; and folding in his arms\r\nHis blameless consort beautiful, he wept.\r\nWelcome as land appears to those who swim,\r\nWhose gallant bark Neptune with rolling waves\r\nAnd stormy winds hath sunk in the wide sea,\r\nA mariner or two, perchance, escape\r\nThe foamy flood, and, swimming, reach the land,\r\nWeary indeed, and with incrusted brine\r\nAll rough, but oh, how glad to climb the coast!\r\nSo welcome in her eyes Ulysses seem\u2019d,\r\nAround whose neck winding her snowy arms,\r\nShe clung as she would loose him never more.\r\nThus had they wept till rosy-finger\u2019d morn\r\nHad found them weeping, but Minerva check\u2019d\r\nNight\u2019s almost finish\u2019d course, and held, meantime,\r\nThe golden dawn close pris\u2019ner in the Deep,\r\nForbidding her to lead her coursers forth,\r\nLampus and Pha\u00ebton that furnish light\r\nTo all the earth, and join them to the yoke.\r\nThen thus, Ulysses to Penelope.\r\nMy love; we have not yet attain\u2019d the close\r\nOf all our sufferings, but unmeasured toil\r\nArduous remains, which I must still atchieve.\r\nFor so the spirit of the Theban seer\r\nInform\u2019d me, on that day, when to enquire\r\nOf mine and of my people\u2019s safe return\r\nI journey\u2019d down to Pluto\u2019s drear abode.\r\nBut let us hence to bed, there to enjoy\r\nTranquil repose. My love, make no delay.\r\nHim answer\u2019d then prudent Penelope.\r\nThou shalt to bed at whatsoever time\r\nThy soul desires, since the immortal Gods\r\nGive thee to me and to thy home again.\r\nBut, thou hast spoken from the seer of Thebes\r\nOf arduous toils yet unperform\u2019d; declare\r\nWhat toils? Thou wilt disclose them, as I judge,\r\nHereafter, and why not disclose them now?\r\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.\r\nAh conversant with woe! why would\u2019st thou learn\r\nThat tale? but I will tell it thee at large.\r\nThou wilt not hear with joy, nor shall myself\r\nWith joy rehearse it; for he bade me seek\r\nCity after city, bearing, as I go,\r\nA shapely oar, till I shall find, at length,\r\nA people who the sea know not, nor eat\r\nFood salted; they trim galley crimson-prow\u2019d\r\nHave ne\u2019er beheld, nor yet smooth-shaven oar\r\nWith which the vessel wing\u2019d scuds o\u2019er the waves.\r\nHe gave me also this authentic sign,\r\nWhich I will tell thee. In what place soe\u2019er\r\nI chance to meet a trav\u2019ler who shall name\r\nThe oar on my broad shoulder borne, a van;[footnote]See the note<\/a> on the same passage, Book XI.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nHe bade me, planting it on the same spot,\r\nWorship the King of Ocean with a bull,\r\nA ram, and a lascivious boar, then seek\r\nMy home again, and sacrifice at home\r\nAn hecatomb to the immortal Gods\r\nInhabitants of the expanse above.\r\nSo shall I die, at length, the gentlest death\r\nRemote from Ocean; it shall find me late,\r\nIn soft serenity of age, the Chief\r\nOf a blest people.\u2014Thus he prophesied.\r\nHim answer\u2019d then Penelope discrete.\r\nIf heav\u2019n appoint thee in old age a lot\r\nMore tranquil, hope thence springs of thy escape\r\nSome future day from all thy threaten\u2019d woes.\r\nSuch was their mutual conf\u2019rence sweet; meantime\r\nEurynome and Euryclea dress\u2019d\r\nTheir bed by light of the clear torch, and when\r\nDispatchful they had spread it broad and deep,\r\nThe ancient nurse to her own bed retired.\r\nThen came Eurynome, to whom in trust\r\nThe chambers appertain\u2019d, and with a torch\r\nConducted them to rest; she introduced\r\nThe happy pair, and went; transported they\r\nTo rites connubial intermitted long,\r\nAnd now recover\u2019d, gave themselves again.[footnote]Aristophanes the grammarian and Aristarchus chose that the Odyssey should end here; but the story is not properly concluded till the tumult occasioned by the slaughter of so many Princes being composed, Ulysses finds himself once more in peaceful possession of his country.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nMeantime, the Prince, the herdsman, and the good\r\nEum\u00e6us, giving rest each to his feet,\r\nCeased from the dance; they made the women cease\r\nAlso, and to their sev\u2019ral chambers all\r\nWithin the twilight edifice repair\u2019d.\r\nAt length, with conjugal endearment both\r\nSatiate, Ulysses tasted and his spouse\r\nThe sweets of mutual converse. She rehearsed,\r\nNoblest of women, all her num\u2019rous woes\r\nBeneath that roof sustain\u2019d, while she beheld\r\nThe profligacy of the suitor-throng,\r\nWho in their wooing had consumed his herds\r\nAnd fatted flocks, and drawn his vessels dry;\r\nWhile brave Ulysses, in his turn, to her\r\nRelated his successes and escapes,\r\nAnd his afflictions also; he told her all;\r\nShe listen\u2019d charm\u2019d, nor slumber on his eyes\r\nFell once, or ere he had rehearsed the whole.\r\nBeginning, he discoursed, how, at the first\r\nHe conquer\u2019d in Ciconia, and thence reach\u2019d\r\nThe fruitful shores of the Lotophagi;\r\nThe Cyclops\u2019 deeds he told her next, and how\r\nHe well avenged on him his slaughter\u2019d friends\r\nWhom, pitiless, the monster had devour\u2019d.\r\nHow to the isle of \u00c6olus he came,\r\nWho welcom\u2019d him and safe dismiss\u2019d him thence,\r\nAlthough not destin\u2019d to regain so soon\r\nHis native land; for o\u2019er the fishy deep\r\nLoud tempests snatch\u2019d him sighing back again.\r\nHow, also at Telepylus he arrived,\r\nTown of the L\u00e6strygonians, who destroyed\r\nHis ships with all their mariners, his own\r\nExcept, who in his sable bark escaped.\r\nOf guileful Circe too he spake, deep-skill\u2019d\r\nIn various artifice, and how he reach\u2019d\r\nWith sails and oars the squalid realms of death,\r\nDesirous to consult the prophet there\r\nTheban Tiresias, and how there he view\u2019d\r\nAll his companions, and the mother bland\r\nWho bare him, nourisher of his infant years.\r\nHow, next he heard the Sirens in one strain\r\nAll chiming sweet, and how he reach\u2019d the rocks\r\nErratic, Scylla and Charybdis dire,\r\nWhich none secure from injury may pass.\r\nThen, how the partners of his voyage slew\r\nThe Sun\u2019s own beeves, and how the Thund\u2019rer Jove\r\nHurl\u2019d down his smoky bolts into his bark,\r\nDepriving him at once of all his crew,\r\nWhose dreadful fate he yet, himself, escaped.\r\nHow to Ogygia\u2019s isle he came, where dwelt\r\nThe nymph Calypso, who, enamour\u2019d, wish\u2019d\r\nTo espouse him, and within her spacious grot\r\nDetain\u2019d, and fed, and promis\u2019d him a life\r\nExempt for ever from the sap of age,\r\nBut him moved not. How, also, he arrived\r\nAfter much toil, on the Ph\u00e6acian coast,\r\nWhere ev\u2019ry heart revered him as a God,\r\nAnd whence, enriching him with brass and gold,\r\nAnd costly raiment first, they sent him home.\r\nAt this last word, oblivious slumber sweet\r\nFell on him, dissipating all his cares.\r\nMeantime, Minerva, Goddess azure-eyed,\r\nOn other thoughts intent, soon as she deem\u2019d\r\nUlysses with connubial joys sufficed,\r\nAnd with sweet sleep, at once from Ocean rous\u2019d\r\nThe golden-axled chariot of the morn\r\nTo illumine earth. Then from his fleecy couch\r\nThe Hero sprang, and thus his spouse enjoined.\r\nOh consort dear! already we have striv\u2019n\r\nAgainst our lot, till wearied with the toil,\r\nMy painful absence, thou with ceaseless tears\r\nDeploring, and myself in deep distress\r\nWithheld reluctant from my native shores\r\nBy Jove and by the other pow\u2019rs of heav\u2019n.\r\nBut since we have in this delightful bed\r\nMet once again, watch thou and keep secure\r\nAll my domestic treasures, and ere long\r\nI will replace my num\u2019rous sheep destroy\u2019d\r\nBy those imperious suitors, and the Greeks\r\nShall add yet others till my folds be fill\u2019d.\r\nBut to the woodlands go I now\u2014to see\r\nMy noble father, who for my sake mourns\r\nContinual; as for thee, my love, although\r\nI know thee wise, I give thee thus in charge.\r\nThe sun no sooner shall ascend, than fame\r\nShall wide divulge the deed that I have done,\r\nSlaying the suitors under my own roof.\r\nThou, therefore, with thy maidens, sit retired\r\nIn thy own chamber at the palace-top,\r\nNor question ask, nor, curious, look abroad.\r\nHe said, and cov\u2019ring with his radiant arms\r\nHis shoulders, called Telemachus; he roused\r\nEum\u00e6us and the herdsman too, and bade\r\nAll take their martial weapons in their hand.\r\nNot disobedient they, as he enjoin\u2019d,\r\nPut armour on, and issued from the gates\r\nUlysses at their head. The earth was now\r\nEnlighten\u2019d, but Minerva them in haste\r\nLed forth into the fields, unseen by all.","rendered":"

Argument<\/b><\/h2>\n

Ulysses with some difficulty, convinces Penelope of his identity, who at length, overcome by force of evidence, receives him to her arms with transport. He entertains her with a recital of his adventures, and in his narration the principal events of the poem are recapitulated. In the morning, Ulysses, Telemachus, the herdsman and the swine-herd depart into the country.<\/p>\n

And now, with exultation loud the nurse
\nAgain ascended, eager to apprize
\nThe Queen of her Ulysses\u2019 safe return;
\nJoy braced her knees, with nimbleness of youth
\nShe stepp\u2019d, and at her ear, her thus bespake.
\nArise, Penelope! dear daughter, see
\nWith thy own eyes thy daily wish fulfill\u2019d.
\nUlysses is arrived; hath reach\u2019d at last
\nHis native home, and all those suitors proud
\nHath slaughter\u2019d, who his family distress\u2019d,
\nHis substance wasted, and controul\u2019d his son.
\nTo whom Penelope discrete replied.
\nDear nurse! the Gods have surely ta\u2019en away
\nThy judgment; they transform the wise to fools,
\nAnd fools conduct to wisdom, and have marr\u2019d
\nThy intellect, who wast discrete before.
\nWhy wilt thou mock me, wretched as I am,
\nWith tales extravagant? and why disturb
\nThose slumbers sweet that seal\u2019d so fast mine eyes?
\nFor such sweet slumbers have I never known
\nSince my Ulysses on his voyage sail\u2019d
\nTo that bad city never to be named.
\nDown instant to thy place again\u2014begone\u2014
\nFor had another of my maidens dared
\nDisturb my sleep with tidings wild as these,
\nI had dismiss\u2019d her down into the house
\nMore roughly; but thine age excuses thee<\/i>.
\nTo whom the venerable matron thus.
\nI mock thee not, my child; no\u2014he is come\u2014
\nHimself, Ulysses, even as I say,
\nThat stranger, object of the scorn of all.
\nTelemachus well knew his sire arrived,
\nBut prudently conceal\u2019d the tidings, so
\nTo insure the more the suitors\u2019 punishment.
\nSo Euryclea she transported heard,
\nAnd springing from the bed, wrapp\u2019d in her arms
\nThe ancient woman shedding tears of joy,
\nAnd in wing\u2019d accents ardent thus replied.
\nAh then, dear nurse inform me! tell me true!
\nHath he indeed arriv\u2019d as thou declar\u2019st?
\nHow dared he to assail alone that band
\nOf shameless ones, for ever swarming here?
\nThen Euryclea, thus, matron belov\u2019d.
\nI nothing saw or knew; but only heard
\nGroans of the wounded; in th\u2019 interior house
\nWe trembling sat, and ev\u2019ry door was fast.
\nThus all remain\u2019d till by his father sent,
\nThy own son call\u2019d me forth. Going, I found
\nUlysses compass\u2019d by the slaughter\u2019d dead.
\nThey cover\u2019d wide the pavement, heaps on heaps.
\nIt would have cheer\u2019d thy heart to have beheld
\nThy husband lion-like with crimson stains
\nOf slaughter and of dust all dappled o\u2019er;
\nHeap\u2019d in the portal, at this moment, lie
\nTheir bodies, and he fumigates, meantime,
\nThe house with sulphur and with flames of fire,
\nAnd hath, himself, sent me to bid thee down.
\nFollow me, then, that ye may give your hearts
\nTo gladness, both, for ye have much endured;
\nBut the event, so long your soul\u2019s desire,
\nIs come; himself hath to his household Gods
\nAlive return\u2019d, thee and his son he finds
\nUnharm\u2019d and at your home, nor hath he left
\nUnpunish\u2019d one of all his enemies.
\nHer answer\u2019d, then, Penelope discrete.
\nAh dearest nurse! indulge not to excess
\nThis dang\u2019rous triumph. Thou art well apprized
\nHow welcome his appearance here would prove
\nTo all, but chief, to me, and to his son,
\nFruit of our love. But these things are not so;
\nSome God, resentful of their evil deeds,
\nAnd of their biting contumely severe,
\nHath slain those proud; for whether noble guest
\nArrived or base, alike they scoff\u2019d at all,
\nAnd for their wickedness have therefore died.
\nBut my Ulysses distant far, I know,
\nFrom Greece hath perish\u2019d, and returns no more.
\nTo whom thus Euryclea, nurse belov\u2019d.
\nWhat word my daughter had escaped thy lips,
\nWho thus affirm\u2019st thy husband, now within
\nAnd at his own hearth-side, for ever lost?
\nCanst thou be thus incredulous? Hear again\u2014
\nI give thee yet proof past dispute, his scar
\nImprinted by a wild-boar\u2019s iv\u2019ry tusk.
\nLaving him I remark\u2019d it, and desired,
\nMyself, to tell thee, but he, ever-wise,
\nCompressing with both hands my lips, forbad.
\nCome, follow me. My life shall be the pledge.
\nIf I deceive thee, kill me as thou wilt.
\nTo whom Penelope, discrete, replied.
\nAh, dearest nurse, sagacious as thou art,
\nThou little know\u2019st to scan the counsels wise
\nOf the eternal Gods. But let us seek
\nMy son, however, that I may behold
\nThe suitors dead, and him by whom they died.
\nSo saying, she left her chamber, musing much
\nIn her descent, whether to interrogate
\nHer Lord apart, or whether to imprint,
\nAt once, his hands with kisses and his brows.
\nO\u2019erpassing light the portal-step of stone
\nShe enter\u2019d. He sat opposite, illumed
\nBy the hearth\u2019s sprightly blaze, and close before
\nA pillar of the dome, waiting with eyes
\nDowncast, till viewing him, his noble spouse
\nShould speak to him; but she sat silent long,
\nHer faculties in mute amazement held.
\nBy turns she riveted her eyes on his,
\nAnd, seeing him so foul attired, by turns
\nShe recognized him not; then spake her son
\nTelemachus, and her silence thus reprov\u2019d.
\nMy mother! ah my hapless and my most
\nObdurate mother! wherefore thus aloof
\nShunn\u2019st thou my father, neither at his side
\nSitting affectionate, nor utt\u2019ring word?
\nAnother wife lives not who could endure
\nSuch distance from her husband new-return\u2019d
\nTo his own country in the twentieth year,
\nAfter much hardship; but thy heart is still
\nAs ever, less impressible than stone,
\nTo whom Penelope, discrete, replied.
\nI am all wonder, O my son; my soul
\nIs stunn\u2019d within me; pow\u2019r to speak to him
\nOr to interrogate him have I none,
\nOr ev\u2019n to look on him; but if indeed
\nHe be Ulysses, and have reach\u2019d his home,
\nI shall believe it soon, by proof convinced
\nOf signs known only to himself and me.
\nShe said; then smiled the Hero toil-inured,
\nAnd in wing\u2019d accents thus spake to his son.
\nLeave thou, Telemachus, thy mother here
\nTo sift and prove me; she will know me soon
\nMore certainly; she sees me ill-attired
\nAnd squalid now; therefore she shews me scorn,
\nAnd no belief hath yet that I am he.
\nBut we have need, thou and myself, of deep
\nDeliberation. If a man have slain
\nOne only citizen, who leaves behind
\nFew interested to avenge his death,
\nYet, flying, he forsakes both friends and home;
\nBut we have slain the noblest Princes far
\nOf Ithaca, on whom our city most
\nDepended; therefore, I advise thee, think!
\nHim, prudent, then answer\u2019d Telemachus.
\nBe that thy care, my father! for report
\nProclaims thee<\/i> shrewdest of mankind, with whom
\nIn ingenuity may none compare.
\nLead thou; to follow thee shall be our part
\nWith prompt alacrity; nor shall, I judge,
\nCourage be wanting to our utmost force.
\nThus then replied Ulysses, ever-wise.
\nTo me the safest counsel and the best
\nSeems this. First wash yourselves, and put ye on
\nYour tunics; bid ye, next, the maidens take
\nTheir best attire, and let the bard divine
\nHarping melodious play a sportive dance,
\nThat, whether passenger or neighbour near,
\nAll may imagine nuptials held within.
\nSo shall not loud report that we have slain
\nAll those, alarm the city, till we gain
\nOur woods and fields, where, once arriv\u2019d, such plans
\nWe will devise, as Jove shall deign to inspire.
\nHe spake, and all, obedient, in the bath
\nFirst laved themselves, then put their tunics on;
\nThe damsels also dress\u2019d, and the sweet bard,
\nHarping melodious, kindled strong desire
\nIn all, of jocund song and graceful dance.
\nThe palace under all its vaulted roof
\nRemurmur\u2019d to the feet of sportive youths
\nAnd cinctured maidens, while no few abroad,
\nHearing such revelry within, remark\u2019d\u2014
\nThe Queen with many wooers, weds at last.
\nAh fickle and unworthy fair! too frail
\nAlways to keep inviolate the house
\nOf her first Lord, and wait for his return.
\nSo spake the people; but they little knew
\nWhat had befall\u2019n. Eurynome, meantime,
\nWith bath and unction serv\u2019d the illustrious Chief
\nUlysses, and he saw himself attired
\nRoyally once again in his own house.
\nThen, Pallas over all his features shed
\nSuperior beauty, dignified his form
\nWith added amplitude, and pour\u2019d his curls
\nLike hyacinthine flow\u2019rs down from his brows.
\nAs when some artist by Minerva made
\nAnd Vulcan, wise to execute all tasks
\nIngenious, borders silver with a wreath
\nOf gold, accomplishing a graceful work,
\nSuch grace the Goddess o\u2019er his ample chest
\nCopious diffused, and o\u2019er his manly brows.
\nHe, godlike, stepping from the bath, resumed
\nHis former seat magnificent, and sat
\nOpposite to the Queen, to whom he said.
\nPenelope! the Gods to thee have giv\u2019n
\nOf all thy sex, the most obdurate heart.
\nAnother wife lives not who could endure
\nSuch distance from her husband new-return\u2019d
\nTo his own country in the twentieth year,
\nAfter such hardship. But prepare me, nurse,
\nA bed, for solitary I must sleep,
\nSince she is iron, and feels not for me.
\nHim answer\u2019d then prudent Penelope.
\nI neither magnify thee, sir! nor yet
\nDepreciate thee, nor is my wonder such
\nAs hurries me at once into thy arms,
\nThough my remembrance perfectly retains,
\nSuch as he was, Ulysses, when he sail\u2019d
\nOn board his bark from Ithaca\u2014Go, nurse,
\nPrepare his bed, but not within the walls
\nOf his own chamber built with his own bands<\/span>.
\nSpread it without, and spread it well with warm
\nMantles, with fleeces, and with richest rugs.
\nSo spake she, proving him,[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup> and not untouch\u2019d
\nWith anger at that word, thus he replied.
\nPenelope, that order grates my ear.
\nWho hath displaced my bed? The task were hard
\nE\u2019en to an artist; other than a God
\nNone might with ease remove it; as for man,
\nIt might defy the stoutest in his prime
\nOf youth, to heave it to a different spot.
\nFor in that bed elaborate, a sign,
\nA special sign consists; I was myself
\nThe artificer; I fashion\u2019d it alone.
\nWithin the court a leafy olive grew
\nLofty, luxuriant, pillar-like in girth.
\nAround this tree I built, with massy stones
\nCemented close, my chamber, roof\u2019d it o\u2019er,
\nAnd hung the glutinated portals on.
\nI lopp\u2019d the ample foliage and the boughs,
\nAnd sev\u2019ring near the root its solid bole,
\nSmooth\u2019d all the rugged stump with skilful hand,
\nAnd wrought it to a pedestal well squared
\nAnd modell\u2019d by the line. I wimbled, next,
\nThe frame throughout, and from the olive-stump
\nBeginning, fashion\u2019d the whole bed above
\nTill all was finish\u2019d, plated o\u2019er with gold,
\nWith silver, and with ivory, and beneath
\nClose interlaced with purple cordage strong.
\nSuch sign I give thee. But if still it stand
\nUnmoved, or if some other, sev\u2019ring sheer
\nThe olive from its bottom, have displaced
\nMy bed\u2014that matter is best known to thee.
\nHe ceas\u2019d; she, conscious of the sign so plain
\nGiv\u2019n by Ulysses, heard with flutt\u2019ring heart
\nAnd fault\u2019ring knees that proof. Weeping she ran
\nDirect toward him, threw her arms around
\nThe Hero, kiss\u2019d his forehead, and replied.
\nAh my Ulysses! pardon me\u2014frown not\u2014
\nThou, who at other times hast ever shewn
\nSuperior wisdom! all our griefs have flow\u2019d
\nFrom the Gods\u2019 will; they envied us the bliss
\nOf undivided union sweet enjoy\u2019d
\nThrough life, from early youth to latest age.
\nNo. Be not angry now; pardon the fault
\nThat I embraced thee not as soon as seen,
\nFor horror hath not ceased to overwhelm
\nMy soul, lest some false alien should, perchance,
\nBeguile me, for our house draws num\u2019rous such.
\nJove\u2019s daughter, Argive Helen, ne\u2019er had given
\nFree entertainment to a stranger\u2019s love,
\nHad she foreknown that the heroic sons
\nOf Greece would bring her to her home again.
\nBut heav\u2019n incited her to that offence,
\nWho never, else, had even in her thought
\nHarbour\u2019d the foul enormity, from which
\nOriginated even our distress.
\nBut now, since evident thou hast described
\nOur bed, which never mortal yet beheld,
\nOurselves except and Actoris my own
\nAttendant, giv\u2019n me when I left my home
\nBy good Icarius, and who kept the door,
\nThough hard to be convinced, at last I yield.
\nSo saying, she awaken\u2019d in his soul
\nPity and grief; and folding in his arms
\nHis blameless consort beautiful, he wept.
\nWelcome as land appears to those who swim,
\nWhose gallant bark Neptune with rolling waves
\nAnd stormy winds hath sunk in the wide sea,
\nA mariner or two, perchance, escape
\nThe foamy flood, and, swimming, reach the land,
\nWeary indeed, and with incrusted brine
\nAll rough, but oh, how glad to climb the coast!
\nSo welcome in her eyes Ulysses seem\u2019d,
\nAround whose neck winding her snowy arms,
\nShe clung as she would loose him never more.
\nThus had they wept till rosy-finger\u2019d morn
\nHad found them weeping, but Minerva check\u2019d
\nNight\u2019s almost finish\u2019d course, and held, meantime,
\nThe golden dawn close pris\u2019ner in the Deep,
\nForbidding her to lead her coursers forth,
\nLampus and Pha\u00ebton that furnish light
\nTo all the earth, and join them to the yoke.
\nThen thus, Ulysses to Penelope.
\nMy love; we have not yet attain\u2019d the close
\nOf all our sufferings, but unmeasured toil
\nArduous remains, which I must still atchieve.
\nFor so the spirit of the Theban seer
\nInform\u2019d me, on that day, when to enquire
\nOf mine and of my people\u2019s safe return
\nI journey\u2019d down to Pluto\u2019s drear abode.
\nBut let us hence to bed, there to enjoy
\nTranquil repose. My love, make no delay.
\nHim answer\u2019d then prudent Penelope.
\nThou shalt to bed at whatsoever time
\nThy soul desires, since the immortal Gods
\nGive thee to me and to thy home again.
\nBut, thou hast spoken from the seer of Thebes
\nOf arduous toils yet unperform\u2019d; declare
\nWhat toils? Thou wilt disclose them, as I judge,
\nHereafter, and why not disclose them now?
\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.
\nAh conversant with woe! why would\u2019st thou learn
\nThat tale? but I will tell it thee at large.
\nThou wilt not hear with joy, nor shall myself
\nWith joy rehearse it; for he bade me seek
\nCity after city, bearing, as I go,
\nA shapely oar, till I shall find, at length,
\nA people who the sea know not, nor eat
\nFood salted; they trim galley crimson-prow\u2019d
\nHave ne\u2019er beheld, nor yet smooth-shaven oar
\nWith which the vessel wing\u2019d scuds o\u2019er the waves.
\nHe gave me also this authentic sign,
\nWhich I will tell thee. In what place soe\u2019er
\nI chance to meet a trav\u2019ler who shall name
\nThe oar on my broad shoulder borne, a van;[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nHe bade me, planting it on the same spot,
\nWorship the King of Ocean with a bull,
\nA ram, and a lascivious boar, then seek
\nMy home again, and sacrifice at home
\nAn hecatomb to the immortal Gods
\nInhabitants of the expanse above.
\nSo shall I die, at length, the gentlest death
\nRemote from Ocean; it shall find me late,
\nIn soft serenity of age, the Chief
\nOf a blest people.\u2014Thus he prophesied.
\nHim answer\u2019d then Penelope discrete.
\nIf heav\u2019n appoint thee in old age a lot
\nMore tranquil, hope thence springs of thy escape
\nSome future day from all thy threaten\u2019d woes.
\nSuch was their mutual conf\u2019rence sweet; meantime
\nEurynome and Euryclea dress\u2019d
\nTheir bed by light of the clear torch, and when
\nDispatchful they had spread it broad and deep,
\nThe ancient nurse to her own bed retired.
\nThen came Eurynome, to whom in trust
\nThe chambers appertain\u2019d, and with a torch
\nConducted them to rest; she introduced
\nThe happy pair, and went; transported they
\nTo rites connubial intermitted long,
\nAnd now recover\u2019d, gave themselves again.[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nMeantime, the Prince, the herdsman, and the good
\nEum\u00e6us, giving rest each to his feet,
\nCeased from the dance; they made the women cease
\nAlso, and to their sev\u2019ral chambers all
\nWithin the twilight edifice repair\u2019d.
\nAt length, with conjugal endearment both
\nSatiate, Ulysses tasted and his spouse
\nThe sweets of mutual converse. She rehearsed,
\nNoblest of women, all her num\u2019rous woes
\nBeneath that roof sustain\u2019d, while she beheld
\nThe profligacy of the suitor-throng,
\nWho in their wooing had consumed his herds
\nAnd fatted flocks, and drawn his vessels dry;
\nWhile brave Ulysses, in his turn, to her
\nRelated his successes and escapes,
\nAnd his afflictions also; he told her all;
\nShe listen\u2019d charm\u2019d, nor slumber on his eyes
\nFell once, or ere he had rehearsed the whole.
\nBeginning, he discoursed, how, at the first
\nHe conquer\u2019d in Ciconia, and thence reach\u2019d
\nThe fruitful shores of the Lotophagi;
\nThe Cyclops\u2019 deeds he told her next, and how
\nHe well avenged on him his slaughter\u2019d friends
\nWhom, pitiless, the monster had devour\u2019d.
\nHow to the isle of \u00c6olus he came,
\nWho welcom\u2019d him and safe dismiss\u2019d him thence,
\nAlthough not destin\u2019d to regain so soon
\nHis native land; for o\u2019er the fishy deep
\nLoud tempests snatch\u2019d him sighing back again.
\nHow, also at Telepylus he arrived,
\nTown of the L\u00e6strygonians, who destroyed
\nHis ships with all their mariners, his own
\nExcept, who in his sable bark escaped.
\nOf guileful Circe too he spake, deep-skill\u2019d
\nIn various artifice, and how he reach\u2019d
\nWith sails and oars the squalid realms of death,
\nDesirous to consult the prophet there
\nTheban Tiresias, and how there he view\u2019d
\nAll his companions, and the mother bland
\nWho bare him, nourisher of his infant years.
\nHow, next he heard the Sirens in one strain
\nAll chiming sweet, and how he reach\u2019d the rocks
\nErratic, Scylla and Charybdis dire,
\nWhich none secure from injury may pass.
\nThen, how the partners of his voyage slew
\nThe Sun\u2019s own beeves, and how the Thund\u2019rer Jove
\nHurl\u2019d down his smoky bolts into his bark,
\nDepriving him at once of all his crew,
\nWhose dreadful fate he yet, himself, escaped.
\nHow to Ogygia\u2019s isle he came, where dwelt
\nThe nymph Calypso, who, enamour\u2019d, wish\u2019d
\nTo espouse him, and within her spacious grot
\nDetain\u2019d, and fed, and promis\u2019d him a life
\nExempt for ever from the sap of age,
\nBut him moved not. How, also, he arrived
\nAfter much toil, on the Ph\u00e6acian coast,
\nWhere ev\u2019ry heart revered him as a God,
\nAnd whence, enriching him with brass and gold,
\nAnd costly raiment first, they sent him home.
\nAt this last word, oblivious slumber sweet
\nFell on him, dissipating all his cares.
\nMeantime, Minerva, Goddess azure-eyed,
\nOn other thoughts intent, soon as she deem\u2019d
\nUlysses with connubial joys sufficed,
\nAnd with sweet sleep, at once from Ocean rous\u2019d
\nThe golden-axled chariot of the morn
\nTo illumine earth. Then from his fleecy couch
\nThe Hero sprang, and thus his spouse enjoined.
\nOh consort dear! already we have striv\u2019n
\nAgainst our lot, till wearied with the toil,
\nMy painful absence, thou with ceaseless tears
\nDeploring, and myself in deep distress
\nWithheld reluctant from my native shores
\nBy Jove and by the other pow\u2019rs of heav\u2019n.
\nBut since we have in this delightful bed
\nMet once again, watch thou and keep secure
\nAll my domestic treasures, and ere long
\nI will replace my num\u2019rous sheep destroy\u2019d
\nBy those imperious suitors, and the Greeks
\nShall add yet others till my folds be fill\u2019d.
\nBut to the woodlands go I now\u2014to see
\nMy noble father, who for my sake mourns
\nContinual; as for thee, my love, although
\nI know thee wise, I give thee thus in charge.
\nThe sun no sooner shall ascend, than fame
\nShall wide divulge the deed that I have done,
\nSlaying the suitors under my own roof.
\nThou, therefore, with thy maidens, sit retired
\nIn thy own chamber at the palace-top,
\nNor question ask, nor, curious, look abroad.
\nHe said, and cov\u2019ring with his radiant arms
\nHis shoulders, called Telemachus; he roused
\nEum\u00e6us and the herdsman too, and bade
\nAll take their martial weapons in their hand.
\nNot disobedient they, as he enjoin\u2019d,
\nPut armour on, and issued from the gates
\nUlysses at their head. The earth was now
\nEnlighten\u2019d, but Minerva them in haste
\nLed forth into the fields, unseen by all.<\/p>\n

  1. The proof consisted in this\u2014that the bed being attached to the stump of an olive tree still rooted, was immovable, and Ulysses having made it himself, no person present, he must needs be apprized of the impossibility of her orders, if he were indeed Ulysses; accordingly, this demonstration of his identity satisfies all her scruples. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. See the note<\/a> on the same passage, Book XI. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  3. Aristophanes the grammarian and Aristarchus chose that the Odyssey should end here; but the story is not properly concluded till the tumult occasioned by the slaughter of so many Princes being composed, Ulysses finds himself once more in peaceful possession of his country. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":23,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-129","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/129\/revisions\/263"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/129\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=129"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=129"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}