_ATHENA._ _ULYSSES._ _PENELOPE._ _TELEMACHUS._ _EUMÆUS_ _swineherd to Ulysses._ _EURTMACHUS_ } _AMPHINOMUS_ } _ANTINOUS_ } _wooers of Penelope._ _CTESIPPUS_ } _PHEMIUS_ _a bard._ _LEIODES_ _a soothsayer._ _CHORUS of WOOERS._ _Neatherd and other servants to Telemachus and Eumæus._ _Retainers of Wooers; and Maids of Penelope._ _The scene is laid in Ithaca. The first Act on the sea-shore. The second at Eumæus’ hut. The last three in the hall of Ulysses’ house._ ULYSSES ACT · I _Ithaca: the seashore. Thick mist thro’ which Ulysses can scarcely be discerned asleep under a tree. In the foreground, Athena._ _ATHENA._ This day, the last of twenty fateful years, Fulfils the toil and wanderings of the Greeks, Who sailed with Agamemnon against Troy To win back Argive Helen; for to-day Ulysses, last and most despaired of all, Is safe again in Ithaca: and in truth Have I, Athena, though the wisest power And mightiest in Olympus, striven long In heaven and earth to save him from the wrath Of great Poseidon; but at length my will 10 Nears its accomplishment, for on this isle Of Ithaca was he at break of morn Landed by good Phæacian mariners, Who ply the convoys of the dangerous sea; Even as they promised him, their king and queen, Alcinous and Aretè, honouring him With loving gifts, tripods of bronze and iron, Raiment and bowls of gold: thro’ blackest night, And the confusion of the baffling waters, With sail and oar urging their keel they bore him, 20 Who all the while wrapt in sound slumber lay Deep likest death; and in that trance they laid him Beneath yon olive tree, and, by his feet, The gifts they brought: there may ye see him lying, And there the gifts: and yet ye scarce may see, With so thick darkness have I drenched the air, Lest when he wake, the sight and sweet desire Of home supplant his cunning, and he rise Forthwith, and entering suddenly his house Fall by the treachery of the infatuate lords, 30 Who prey there on his substance unrestrained, Sitting in idle suit to woo his wife, Who weeps his fate unknown; and thus my will At last were crossed. So hither am I come Myself to break the sleep I sent, and warn him Against his foes. And now must I awake him; But first will doff my helmet, and appear In mortal semblance, as a delicate youth, Some prince of the isle: so shall my javelin, Long robe and shining sandals not betray 40 My godhead. He to me, disguised and strange, Will answer nothing truly, nor believe What truth I tell: ’tis thus I love to prove him, And catch his ready mind at unawares.