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Book 17
But the moment he sensed Odysseus standing by
he thumped his tail, nuzzling low, and his ears dropped,
though he had no strength to drag himself an inch
toward his master.
This quote from Book 17 captures the moment Odysseus’s dog, Argos, recognizes his master despite having not seen him in twenty years. Odysseus is still in disguise, however, and cannot go to him; Argos, having glimpsed his beloved master one more time, dies.
Book 18
Of all that breathes and crawls across the earth,
our mother earth breeds nothing feebler than a man.
So long as the gods grant him power, spring in his knees,
he thinks he will never suffer affliction down the years.
But then, when the happy gods bring on the long hard times,
bear them he must, against his will, and steel his heart.
Our lives, our mood and mind as we pass across the earth,
turn as the days turn . . .
In Book 18, the disguised Odysseus describes his loss of fortune in life. Though he is weaving a tale to maintain his cover, his words also ring true, as he is a king now being treated as a beggar. Read more about this quote in Famous Quotes Explained.
So I cannot tell if the gods will sail me home again
or I’ll go down out there, on the fields of Troy,
but all things here must rest in your control.
Watch over my father and mother in the palace,
just as now, or perhaps a little more,
when I am far from home.
But once you see the beard on the boy’s cheek,
you wed the man you like, and leave your house behind.
In Book 18, Penelope denies the compliments given to her by Eurymachus, one of her suitors, and says whatever “form and feature” she possessed was destroyed by the gods the day Odysseus left for the Trojan War. She then tells him what Odysseus told her right before he left—that he may die in Troy, and to watch over the palace and his parents. If he hasn’t returned home by the time Telemachus has grown from a boy to a man, Odysseus told her to remarry. In sharing this story, she gives the suitors hope that she is perhaps finally ready to choose a husband.
