For not to me was giv'n to clasp the hand extended from thy
dying bed,
Nor words of wisdom catch, which night and day,
With tears, I might have treasur'd in my heart.
Penelope recalls the commands of Odysseus when he set forth (O. xviii. 265):—
Wherefore I know not if the gods will suffer me to return, or
whether I shall be cut off there in Troy; so do thou have a
care for all these things. Be mindful of my father and my
mother in the halls, even as thou art or yet more than now,
while I am far away. But when thou see'st thy son a bearded
man, marry whom thou wilt and leave thine own house.
He knew also the custom of having stewards (O. ii. 226):—
He it was to whom Odysseus, as he departed in the fleet, had
given the charge over all his house that it should obey the
old man, and that he should keep all things safe.
Grief at the death in one's household he thinks should not be unmeasured; for this is unworthy, nor does he allow it altogether to be repressed; for apathy is impossible for mankind, whence he says the following (I. xxiv. 48):—
He mourns and weeps, but time his grief allays,
For fate to man a patient mind hath given.
Other places he says (I. xix. 228):—
Behooves us bury out of sight our dead
Steeling our hearts and weeping but a day.
He also knew the customs used now at funerals, in other passages and in the following (I. xvi. 456):—