Book XVIII · Episode 2 of 4
Feast and Penelope’s Descent
Athena graces Penelope, bloodshed looms
Scenes
- Feast and a Warning — Antinoüs feasts Odysseus, who warns of blood
- Amphinomus toasts him with a golden cup
- Odysseus praises Amphinomus’ good sense
- Fortune’s smile makes man forget sorrow
- They wrong Penelope, waste another’s wealth
- Athena marks Amphinomus to die by Telemachus
- Athena Prompts Penelope — Athena moves Penelope to confront suitors
- Penelope forces a laugh before her nurse
- She means to warn Telemachus of danger
- Eurynomè urges her to bathe and anoint
- Her beauty left when her husband sailed
- She asks for Antinoe and Hippodameia
- Penelope’s Divine Beauty — Divine Athena beautifies sleeping Penelope
- She grows fairer than carved ivory
- Like Aphrodite dancing among the Graces
- Waking, she marvels at the sweet sleep
- She wishes Artemis would grant gentle death
- Suitors’ knees go weak with longing