n dissimulation, and even
an ambiguous oath, should they be necessary to save him from a villain.
Thus in Book XX. Telemachus swears by Zeus, that he does not hinder his
mother from marrying whom she pleases of the wooers, though at the same
time he is plotting their destruction with his father. F.

[84] In the Greek +ODYSSEUS+ from the verb +odysso+--Irascor, _I am
angry_.

[85] She intended to slay the son of her husband's brother Amphion,
incited to it by the envy of his wife, who had six children, while
herself had only two, but through mistake she slew her own son Itylus,
and for her punishment was transformed by Jupiter into a nightingale.

[86] The difference of the two substances may perhaps serve to account
for the preference given in this case to the gate of horn; horn being
transparent, and as such emblematical of truth, while ivory, from its
whiteness, promises light, but is, in fact, opaque. F.

[87] The translation here is somewhat pleonastic for the sake of
perspicuity; the original is clear in itself, but not to us who have no
such practice. Twelve stakes were fixt in the earth, each having a ring
at the top; the order in which they stood was so exact, that an arrow
sent with an even hand through the first ring, would pass them all.

BOOK XX

ARGUMENT

Ulysses, doubting whether he shall destroy or not the women servants who
commit lewdness with the suitors, resolves at length to spare them for
the present. He asks an omen from Jupiter, and that he would grant him
also to hear some propitious words from the lips of one in the family.
His petitions are both answered. Preparation is made for the feast.
Whilst the suitors sit at table, Pallas smites them with a horrid frenzy.
Theoclymenus, observing the strange effects of it, prophesies their
destruction, and they deride his prophecy.

But in the vestibule the Hero lay
On a bull's-hide undress'd, o'er which he spread
The fleece of many a sheep slain by the Greeks,
And, cover'd by the household's governess
With a wide cloak, composed himself to rest.
Yet slept he not, but meditating lay
Woe to his enemies. Meantime, the train
Of women, wonted to the suitors' arms,
Issuing all mirth and laughter, in his soul
A tempest raised of doubts, whether at once 10
To slay, or to permit them yet to give
Their lusty paramours one last embrace.
As growls the mastiff standing on t