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the secret place of the wondrous cave, that there they may
abide for thee safe. And let us for ourselves advise us how
all may be for the very best.'

Therewith the goddess plunged into the shadowy cave,
searching out the chambers of the cavern. Meanwhile
Odysseus brought up his treasure, the gold and the
unyielding bronze and fair woven raiment, which the
Phaeacians gave him. And these things he laid by with care,
and Pallas Athene, daughter of Zeus, lord of the aegis, set
a stone against the door of the cave. Then they twain sat
down by the trunk of the sacred olive tree, and devised
death for the froward wooers. And the goddess, grey-eyed
Athene, spake first, saying:

'Son of Laertes, of the seed of Zeus, Odysseus of many
devices, advise thee how thou mayest stretch forth thine
hands upon the shameless wooers, who now these three years
lord it through thy halls, as they woo thy godlike wife and
proffer the gifts of wooing. And she, that is ever
bewailing her for thy return, gives hope to all and makes
promises to every man and sends them messages, but her mind
is set on other things.'

And Odysseus of many counsels answered her, saying:

'Lo now, in very truth I was like to have perished in my
halls by the evil doom of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, hadst
not thou, goddess, declared me each thing aright. Come
then, weave some counsel whereby I may requite them; and
thyself stand by me, and put great boldness of spirit
within me, even as in the day when we loosed the shining
coronal of Troy. If but thou wouldest stand by me with such
eagerness, thou grey-eyed goddess, I would war even with
three hundred men, with thee my lady and goddess, if thou
of thy grace didst succour me the while.'

Then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, answered him: 'Yea,
verily I will be near thee nor will I forget thee,
whensoever we come to this toil: and methinks that certain
of the wooers that devour thy livelihood shall bespatter
the boundless earth with blood and brains. But come, I will
make thee such-like that no man shall know thee. Thy fair
skin I will wither on thy supple limbs, and make waste thy
yellow hair from off thy head, and wrap thee in a foul
garment, such that one would shudder to see a man therein.
And I will dim thy two eyes, erewhile so fair, in such wise
that thou mayest be unseemly in the sight of all the wooers
and of thy wife and son, whom thou didst leave in thy
halls. And do thou thyself first of all go unto the
swineherd, who tends thy swine, loyal and at one with thee,
and loves thy son and constant Penelope. Him shalt thou
find sitting by the swine, as they are feeding near the
rock of Corax and the spring Arethusa, and there they eat
abundance of acorns and drink the black water, things
whereby swine grow fat and well-liking. There do thou abide
and sit by the swine, and find out all, till I have gone to
Sparta, the land of fair women, to call Telemachus thy dear
son, Odysseus, who hath betaken himself to spacious
Lacedaemon, to the house of Menelaus to seek tidings of
thee, whether haply thou are yet alive.'

And Odysseus of many counsels answered her saying: 'Nay,
wherefore then didst thou not tell him, seeing thou hast
knowledge of all? Was it, perchance, that he too may wander
in sorrow over the unharvested seas, and that others may
consume his livelihood?'

Then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, answered him: 'Nay, let
him not be heavy on thy heart. I myself was his guide, that
by going thither he might win a good report. Lo, he knows
no toil, but he sits in peace in the palace of the son of
Atreus, and has boundless store about him. Truly the young
men with their black ship they lie in wait, and are eager
to slay him ere he come to his own country. But this,
methinks, shall never be. Yea, sooner shall the earth close
over certain of the wooers that devour thy livelihood.'

Therewith Athene touched him with her wand. His fair flesh
she withered on his supple limbs, and made waste his yellow
hair from off his head, and over all his limbs she cast the
skin of an old man, and dimmed his two eyes, erewhile so
fair. And she changed his raiment to a vile wrap and a
doublet, torn garments and filthy, stained with foul smoke.
And over all she clad him with the great bald hide of a
swift stag, and she gave him a staff and a mean tattered
scrip, and a cord therewith to hang it.

And after they twain had taken this counsel together, they
parted; and she now went to goodly Lacedaemon to fetch the
son of Odysseus.