Shall add yet others till my folds be fill'd. But to the woodlands go I now--to see 430 My noble father, who for my sake mourns Continual; as for thee, my love, although I know thee wise, I give thee thus in charge. The sun no sooner shall ascend, than fame Shall wide divulge the deed that I have done, Slaying the suitors under my own roof. Thou, therefore, with thy maidens, sit retired In thy own chamber at the palace-top, Nor question ask, nor, curious, look abroad. He said, and cov'ring with his radiant arms 440 His shoulders, called Telemachus; he roused Eumæus and the herdsman too, and bade All take their martial weapons in their hand. Not disobedient they, as he enjoin'd, Put armour on, and issued from the gates Ulysses at their head. The earth was now Enlighten'd, but Minerva them in haste Led forth into the fields, unseen by all. FOOTNOTES: [108] The proof consisted in this--that the bed being attached to the stump of an olive tree still rooted, was immovable, and Ulysses having made it himself, no person present, he must needs be apprized of the impossibility of her orders, if he were indeed Ulysses; accordingly, this demonstration of his identity satisfies all her scruples. [109] See the note on the same passage, Book XI. [110] Aristophanes the grammarian and Aristarchus chose that the Odyssey should end here; but the story is not properly concluded till the tumult occasioned by the slaughter of so many Princes being composed, Ulysses finds himself once more in peaceful possession of his country. BOOK XXIV ARGUMENT Mercury conducts the souls of the suitors down to Ades. Ulysses discovers himself to Laertes, and quells, by the aid of Minerva, an insurrection of the people resenting the death of the suitors.