One hundred and fourteen suitors, princes
from Dulichium, Samos, Zacynthus, and Ithaca, determined to wed Penelope
that they might obtain the rich possessions of Ulysses, spent their time
in revelling in his halls and wasting his wealth, thinking in this way to
force Penelope to wed some one of them.
Penelope, as rich in resources as was her crafty husband, announced to
them that she would wed when she had woven a funeral garment for Laertes,
the father of Ulysses. During the day she wove industriously, but at night
she unravelled what she had done that day, so that to the expectant
suitors the task seemed interminable. After four years her artifice was
revealed to the suitors by one of her maids, and she was forced to find
other excuses to postpone her marriage. In the mean time, her son
Telemachus, now grown to manhood, disregarded by the suitors on account of
his youth, and treated as a child by his mother, was forced to sit
helpless in his halls, hearing the insults of the suitors and seeing his
rich possessions wasted.
Having induced Jove to end the sufferings of Ulysses, Pallas caused Hermes
to be dispatched to Calypso's isle to release the hero, while she herself
descended to Ithaca in the guise of Mentes. There she was received
courteously by the youth, who sat unhappy among the revellers.
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