Book XXIII · Episode 4 of 4
Reunion and Departure
Odysseus reveals task, departs for farm
Scenes
- Tiresias’s Final Task — Odysseus foretells inland journey, peace
- One more labor awaits, foretold by Tiresias
- Tiresias spoke to him in Hades’ realm
- He must wander inland bearing an oar
- People ignorant of the sea, he seeks
- He will sacrifice to Poseidon, then rest
- Night of Shared Tales — Penelope, Odysseus share their tales
- Eurynomè, Eurycleia dress their bed
- Dancing finally comes to an end
- Penelope recounts the suitors’ abuses
- He retells his trials, from Cicones onward
- Only then does sleep overcome him
- Departure for the Farm — Odysseus arms at dawn, departs with herdsmen
- Athena summons Eos once he is rested
- Penelope must manage the household alone
- He warns the maids to stay upstairs
- Telemachus and herdsmen arm alongside him
- Athena shrouds their passage in darkness