οἱ δ᾽ εἰς ὀρχηστύν τε καὶ ἱμερόεσσαν ἀοιδὴν
τρεψάμενοι τέρποντο, μένον δ᾽ ἐπὶ ἕσπερον ἐλθεῖν.
τοῖσι δὲ τερπομένοισι μέλας ἐπὶ ἕσπερος ἦλθε:
δὴ τότε κακκείοντες ἔβαν οἶκόνδε ἕκαστος.
425
Τηλέμαχος δ᾽, ὅθι οἱ θάλαμος περικαλλέος αὐλῆς
ὑψηλὸς δέδμητο περισκέπτῳ ἐνὶ χώρῳ,
ἔνθ᾽ ἔβη εἰς εὐνὴν πολλὰ φρεσὶ μερμηρίζων.
τῷ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἅμ᾽ αἰθομένας δαΐδας φέρε κεδνὰ ἰδυῖα
Εὐρύκλει᾽, Ὦπος θυγάτηρ Πεισηνορίδαο,
430
τήν ποτε Λαέρτης πρίατο κτεάτεσσιν ἑοῖσιν
πρωθήβην ἔτ᾽ ἐοῦσαν, ἐεικοσάβοια δ᾽ ἔδωκεν,
ἶσα δέ μιν κεδνῇ ἀλόχῳ τίεν ἐν μεγάροισιν,
εὐνῇ δ᾽ οὔ ποτ᾽ ἔμικτο, χόλον δ᾽ ἀλέεινε γυναικός:
οἱ ἅμ᾽ αἰθομένας δαΐδας φέρε, καί μάλιστα
435
δμῳάων φιλέεσκε, καὶ ἔτρεφε τυτθὸν ἐόντα.
ὤιξεν δὲ θύρας θαλάμου πύκα ποιητοῖο,
ἕζετο δ᾽ ἐν λέκτρῳ, μαλακὸν δ᾽ ἔκδυνε χιτῶνα:
καὶ τὸν μὲν γραίης πυκιμηδέος ἔμβαλε χερσίν.
μὲν τὸν πτύξασα καὶ ἀσκήσασα χιτῶνα,
440
πασσάλῳ ἀγκρεμάσασα παρὰ τρητοῖσι λέχεσσι
βῆ ῥ᾽ ἴμεν ἐκ θαλάμοιο, θύρην δ᾽ ἐπέρυσσε κορώνῃ
ἀργυρέῃ, ἐπὶ δὲ κληῖδ᾽ ἐτάνυσσεν ἱμάντι.
ἔνθ᾽ γε παννύχιος, κεκαλυμμένος οἰὸς ἀώτῳ,
βούλευε φρεσὶν ᾗσιν ὁδὸν τὴν πέφραδ᾽ Ἀθήνη.

Now the wooers turned to the dance and to gladsome song, and made them merry, and waited till evening should come; and as they made merry dark evening came upon them. Then they went, each man to his house, to take their rest.

But Telemachus, where his chamber was built in the beautiful court, high, in a place of wide outlook, thither went to his bed, pondering many things in mind; and with him, bearing blazing torches, went true-hearted Eurycleia, daughter of Ops, son of Peisenor.
Her long ago Laertes had bought with his wealth, when she was in her first youth, and gave for her the price of twenty oxen; and he honored her even as he honored his faithful wife in his halls, but he never lay with her in love, for he shunned the wrath of his wife. She it was who bore for Telemachus the blazing torches;
for she of all the handmaids loved him most, and had nursed him when he was a child. He opened the doors of the well-built chamber, sat down on the bed, and took off his soft tunic and laid it in the wise old woman's hands. And she folded and smoothed the tunic
and hung it on a peg beside the corded bedstead, and then went forth from the chamber, drawing the door to by its silver handle, and driving the bolt home with the thong. So there, the night through, wrapped in a fleece of wool, he pondered in his mind upon the journey which Athena had shewn him.