Book XX · Episode 1 of 5
Night vigil, divine comfort
Odysseus plots revenge, Athena calms him
Scenes
- Odysseus’ restless night — Odysseus seethes at laughter, checks rage
- Hears maids slip off to suitors’ beds
- Weighs killing the suitors that night
- Heart growls like a guarding bitch
- Recalls enduring the Cyclops’ cave
- Athena descends in a woman’s shape
- Athena reassures him — Athena vows to guard him, lulls him asleep
- Athena asks why he lies awake
- Odysseus fears the suitors’ numbers
- Goddess calls him faint of spirit
- Vows to shield him against fifty bands
- Penelope lies awake nearby weeping
- Penelope’s prayer to Artemis — Penelope begs Artemis for death after dream
- Invokes the daughters of Pandarus
- Dreads settling for a lesser husband
- Says sleep alone could ease grief
- A god sends tormenting dreams nightly
- Believes a phantom Odysseus returned
- Dawn prayer for a sign — Odysseus prays to Zeus for a homecoming sign
- Hears Penelope’s voice of lament
- Half believes she senses his presence
- Carries the bull’s hide outdoors
- Recalls suffering over land and sea
- Wants a favorable word spoken within