Homer · tr. Bryant, 1871

Book XV of twenty-four · Homecoming in Disguise

Return of Telemachus

Telemachus sails as Odysseus hears Eumaeus

Athena warns Telemachus of a suitor ambush and sends him home from Sparta with gifts from Menelaus and Helen; good omens mark the road, and at Pylos he takes aboard the fugitive seer Theoclymenus. Meanwhile Odysseus tests Eumaeus’s loyalty and hears his tale of a princely birth and Phoenician kidnapping. Telemachus lands in Ithaca and walks alone to find Eumaeus.

Argument, 1871 Appearance of Athena in a dream to Telemachus, warning him to return to Ithaca —His departure from Lacedaemon, and arrival at Pylos —Theoclymenus, an augur, taken on board by him at Pylos —The story of Eumaeus related by him to Odysseus —Arrival of Telemachus at the coast of Ithaca —The ship sent forward to the city, while Telemachus, having committed Theoclymenus to the care of his friend Piraeus, goes to the lodge of Eumaeus.

Episodes of Book XV

  1. Departure from Sparta — Telemachus leaves Sparta laden with gifts
  2. Omens on the Road — Omens and a seer mark the journey
  3. Eumaeus’s Own Story — Odysseus tests Eumaeus, hears his past
  4. Landing in Ithaca — Telemachus reaches Ithaca, walks to Eumaeus