To her Ulysses made answer: "It is hard for a mortal man to know thee, O goddess, however wise he may be, for thou takest many shapes. While I was making war against Troy with the other Greeks, thou wast ever kindly to me. But from the time that we took the city of Priam, and set sail for our homes, I saw thee not, until thou didst meet me in the land of the Phaeacians, comforting me, and guiding me thyself into the city. And now I beseech thee, by thy Father Zeus, to tell me truly: is this Ithaca that I see, for it seems to me that I have come to some other country, and that thou dost mock me. Tell me, therefore, whether in very deed I am come to mine own country."

Then Athene answered him: "Never will I leave thee, for indeed thou art wise and prudent above all others. For any other man, so coming back after many wanderings, would have hastened to see his wife and his children; but thou will first make trial of thy wife. Come now, I wilt show thee this land of Ithaca, that thou mayest be assured in thy heart. Lo! here is the harbour of Phorcys; here at the harbour's head is the olive tree; here also is the pleasant cave that is sacred to the nymphs, and there, behold, is the wooded hill."

Then the goddess scattered the mist, so that he saw the land. Then, indeed, he knew it for Ithaca, and he kneeled down and kissed the ground, and prayed to the nymphs, saying: "Never did I think to see you again; but now I greet you lovingly. Many gifts also will I give you, if Athene be minded, of her grace, to bring me to my own again." Then said Athene: "Take heart, and be not troubled. But first let us put away thy goods safely in the secret place of the cave."

Then Ulysses brought up the brass, and the gold, and the raiment that the Phaeacians had given him, and they two stored it in the cave, and Athene laid a great stone upon the mouth.

And Athene said: "Think, man of many devices, how thou wilt lay hands on these men, suitors of thy wife, who for three years have sat in thy house devouring thy substance. And she hath answered them craftily, making many promises, but still waiting for thy coming."

Then Ulysses said: "Truly I should have perished but for thee. But do thou help me, as of old in Troy, for with thee at my side I would fight with three hundred men."

Then said Athene: "Lo! I will cause that no man shall know thee, for I will wither the fair flesh on thy limbs, and take the bright hair from thy head, and make thine eyes dull. And the suitors shall take no account of thee, neither shall thy wife nor thy son know thee. But go to the swineherd Eumaeus [Footnote: Eu-mae'- us.], where he dwells by the fountain of Arethusa [Footnote: A-re- thu'-sa.], for he is faithful to thee and to thy house. And I will hasten to Sparta, to the house of Menelaus, to fetch Telemachus, for he went thither, seeking news of thee."

But Ulysses said to the goddess: "Why didst thou not tell him, seeing that thou knewest all? Was it that he too might wander over the seas in great affliction, and that others meanwhile might consume his goods?"

Then Athene made reply: "Trouble not thyself concerning him. I guided him myself that he might earn a good report, as a son searching for his father. Now he sitteth in peace in the hall of Menelaus. And though there are some that lie in wait for him to slay him, yet shall they not have their will. Rather shall they perish themselves and others with them that have devoured thy goods."

Then she touched him with her rod. She caused his skin to wither, and wasted the hair upon his head, and made his skin as the skin of an old man, and dimmed his eyes. His garments she changed so that they became torn and filthy and defiled with smoke. Over all she cast the skin of a great stag from which the hair was worn. A staff also she gave him, and a tattered pouch, and a rope wherewith to fasten it.