[1] Od. ii. 127-128 and 203-207.
[2] Od. x. 40, this passage is not given in my abridgement.
[CHAPTER VI.]
FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE CHARACTER OF PENELOPE—THE JOURNEY OF TELEMACHUS TO LACEDÆMON.
The question whether or no the writer of the Odyssey is putting her own construction on grosser versions of Penelope's conduct current among her countrymen, has such an important bearing on that of the writer's sex, that I shall bring further evidence to show how impossible she finds it to conceal the fact that those who knew Penelope best had no confidence in her.
Minerva with quick womanly instinct took in the situation at a glance, and went straight to the point. On learning from Telemachus that Penelope did not at once say she would not marry again, she wastes no words, but says promptly, "If your mother's mind is set on marrying again" (and surely this implies that the speaker had no doubt that it was so set) "let her go back to her father" (i. 276). From this we may infer that Minerva had not only formed her own opinion about Penelope's intentions, but saw also that she meant taking her time about the courtship, and was not likely to be brought to the point by any measures less decisive than sending her back to her father's house.