111) Homer Odyssey 16.207

   Then Ulysses of many wiles answered him, and said: 
   -Telemachus, it beseems you not to wonder overmuch that your father is in the house, or to be amazed. 
   For you may be sure no other Ulysses will ever come towards this place; [205] but I here, I, even such as you see me, after sufferings and many wanderings, am come in the twentieth year to my native land. 
   But this, you must know, is the work of Athena, driver of the spoil, who makes me such as she will -- for she has the power -- now like a beggar, and now again [210] like a young man, and one wearing fair clothing about his body. 
   Easy it is for the Gods, who hold broad heaven, both to glorify a mortal man and to abase him. 

   [225] And the much-enduring, goodly Ulysses answered him: 
   -Then truly, my child, I will tell you all the truth. 
   The Phaeacians brought me, men famed for their ships, who send other men too on their way, whosoever comes to them. 
   And they brought me as I slept in a swift ship over the sea, [230] and set me down in Ithaca, and gave me glorious gifts, stores of bronze and gold and woven clothing. 
   These treasures, by the favor of the Gods, are lying in caves. 
   And now I am come towards this place at the request of Athena, that we may take counsel about the slaying of our enemies. 
   [235] Come now, count me the suitors, and tell their tale, that I may know how many they are and what manner of men, and that I may ponder in my noble heart and decide whether we two shall be able to maintain our cause against them alone without others, or whether we shall also seek out others. 

   Then the much-enduring, goodly Ulysses  answered him: 
   -Well, then, I will tell you, and do you give careful attention and listen to my words, [260] and consider whether for us two Athena, with father Zeus, will be enough, or whether I shall think in some other helper. 
   Then wise Telemachus answered him: 
   -Good, you may be sure, are these two helpers whom you do mention, though high in the clouds do they remain, and they [265] rule over all men alike and the immortal Gods. 

   Then the much-enduring, goodly Ulysses answered: 
   -Not long of a surety will those two hold aloof from the mighty fray, when between the suitors and us in my living rooms the might of Ares is put to the test. 
   [270] But for the present, do you go at daybreak to your house and join the company of the haughty suitors. 
   As for me, the swineherd will lead me later on to the city in the likeness of a sorrowful and aged beggar. 
   And if they shall put despite on me in the house, [275] let the heart in your breast endure while I am evil entreated, even if they drag me by the feet through the house to the door, or hurl at me and smite me; still do you endure to behold it. 
   You shall indeed ask them cease their folly, seeking to dissuade them with gentle words; yet in no wise [280] will they listen to you, for really their day of doom is at hand. 
   And another thing will I tell you, and do you lay it to heart. 
   When Athena, rich in counsel, shall put it in my mind, I will nod to you with my head; and do you immediately after that, when you note it, take all the weapons of war that lie in your living rooms, [285] and lay them away one and all in the secret place of the lofty store-room.

   -But for us two alone do you leave behind two swords and two spears, and two ox-hide shields for us to grasp, that we may rush upon them and seize them; while as for the suitors, Pallas Athena and Zeus, the counselor, will delude them. 
   And another thing will I tell you, and do you lay it to heart. [300] If in truth you are my son and of our blood, then let no one hear that Ulysses is at home; neither let Laertes know it, nor the swineherd, nor any of the household, nor Penelope herself; but by ourselves you and I will learn the temper of the women. 
   [305] Aye, and we will likewise make trial of many a one of the serving men, and see where any of them honors us two and fears us at heart, and who cares not of us and scorns you, a man so goodly. 

   Then Eurymachus, son of Polybus, answered her: 
   [435] -Daughter of Icarius, wise Penelope, be of good cheer, and let not things distress your heart. 
   That man lives not, nor shall live, nor shall ever be born, who shall lay hands upon your son Telemachus while I live and behold the light upon the earth. 
   [440] For thus will I speak out to you, and truly it shall be brought to pass. 
   Quickly shall that man's black blood flow forth about my spear; for of a truth me, too, did Ulysses the sacker of cities often set upon his knees, and put roast meat in my hands, and hold to my lips red wine. 
   [445] Therefore Telemachus is far the dearest of all men to me, and I ask him have no fear of death, at least from the suitors; but from the Gods can no man avoid it. 
   Thus he spoke to cheer her, but against that son he was himself plotting death. 
   So she went up to her bright upper chamber [450] and then bewailed Ulysses, her dear husband, until bright-eyed Athena cast sweet sleep upon her eyelids. 

   But at evening the goodly swineherd came back to Ulysses and his son, and they were busily making ready their supper, and had slain a boar of a year old. 
   Then Athena [455] came close to Ulysses, son of Laertes, and smote him with her wand, and again made him an old man; and mean clothing she put about his body, that the swineherd might look upon him and know him, and might go to bear news to constant Penelope, and not hold the secret fast in his heart. 

   But Telemachus thereafter went forth through the living room with his spear in his hand, and with him went two swift dogs. 
   And wonderful was the grace that Athena shed upon him, and all the people marveled at him as he came. 
   [65] Round about him the proud suitors thronged, speaking him fair, but pondering evil in the deep of their hearts. 

   [120] And straightway Menelaus, good at the war-cry, asked me in quest of what I had come to goodly Lacedaemon; and I told him all the truth. 
   Then he made answer to me, and said: 
   -Out upon them! for really in the bed of a man of valiant heart [125] were they fain to lie, who are themselves cravens. 
   Even as when in the thicket-lair of a mighty lion a hind has laid to sleep her new-born suckling fawns, and roams over the mountain slopes and grassy vales seeking pasture, and then the lion comes to his lair [130] and upon the two lets loose a cruel doom, so will Ulysses let loose a cruel doom upon these men. 
   I would, O father Zeus, and Athena, and Apollo, that in such strength, as when once in fair-stablished Lesbos he rose up and wrestled a match with Philomeleides [135] and threw him mightily, and all the Achaeans rejoiced, even in such strength Ulysses might come among the suitors; then should they all find swift destruction and bitterness in their wooing. 
   But in this matter of which you do ask and entreat me, truly I will not swerve aside to speak of other things, nor will I deceive you; [140] but of all that the unerring old man of the sea told me, not one thing will I hide from you or conceal. 
   He said that he had seen Ulysses in an island in grievous distress, in the living rooms of the nymph Calypso, who keeps him there perforce. 
   And he cannot come to his own native land, for he has at hand no ships with oars, and no comrades, [145] to send him on his way over the broad back of the sea. 

   Then Ulysses of many wiles answered him, and said:
   -King Zeus, grant, I pray you, that Telemachus may be blessed among men, [355] and may have all that his heart desires. 
   He spoke, and took the mess in both his hands and set it down there before his feet on his miserable wallet. 
   Then he ate so long as the minstrel sang in the living rooms. 
   But when he had dined and the divine minstrel was ceasing to sing, [360] the suitors broke into uproar throughout the living rooms; but Athena  drew close to the side of Ulysses, son of Laertes, and roused him to go among the suitors and gather bits of bread, and learn which of them were righteous and which lawless. 
   Yet even so she was not minded to save one of them from ruin. 
   [365] So he set out to beg of every man, beginning on the right, stretching out his hand on every side, as though he had been long a beggar. 
   And they pitied him and gave, and marveled at him, asking one another who he was and from what place he came.