WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.090 [Sounds of the sea] 00:00:15.090 --> 00:00:20.160 Episode 12: Home 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:28.100 [Sounds of the sea] 00:00:28.100 --> 00:00:32.590 The old beggar, sitting among the shadows by the door, 00:00:32.590 --> 00:00:36.500 caught the nursemaid’s eye and he winked and he nodded. 00:00:36.500 --> 00:00:41.390 And the old nursemaid Eurycleia smiled and she hobbled up the stairs, 00:00:41.390 --> 00:00:47.060 but as soon as she was out of sight she made her way out of the hall and down and round. 00:00:47.060 --> 00:00:53.680 And she locked all the doors to the feasting hall from the outside. 00:00:53.680 --> 00:00:57.630 And inside the hall there was silence, 00:00:57.630 --> 00:01:00.440 broken at last by Antinous, 00:01:00.440 --> 00:01:02.260 who spat on the ground. 00:01:02.260 --> 00:01:05.160 He said, “It’s not so much losing the woman I mind. 00:01:05.160 --> 00:01:07.370 She’s pretty enough, I grant you, 00:01:07.370 --> 00:01:10.180 but there are plenty of other fish in the sea. 00:01:10.180 --> 00:01:13.900 It’s more making ourselves seem such weaklings, 00:01:13.900 --> 00:01:17.840 beside the memory of that cursed Odysseus!” 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:22.990 And the other suitors nodded and they spat on the ground. 00:01:22.990 --> 00:01:26.750 And then a voice came echoing from the shadows by the door. 00:01:26.750 --> 00:01:29.090 “I was an archer once, 00:01:29.090 --> 00:01:31.580 in the days of my youth.” 00:01:31.580 --> 00:01:39.360 And Antinous turned and he looked at the old beggar and he lifted his lip in a sneering smile 00:01:39.360 --> 00:01:45.450 and he said, “You might have been an archer once but now you are nobody!” 00:01:45.450 --> 00:01:48.840 “I was an archer once in the days of my youth, 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:56.010 and I wonder if there is still strength enough in these old arms to draw a string across that bow.” 00:01:56.010 --> 00:02:00.270 And all the suitors threw back their heads and they laughed. 00:02:00.270 --> 00:02:06.580 And a hail of bones and broken crockery flew across the feasting hall at the old beggar. 00:02:06.580 --> 00:02:08.600 But then Telemachus got up to his feet. 00:02:08.600 --> 00:02:09.520 He said, “Enough! 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:10.900 Enough! 00:02:10.900 --> 00:02:14.920 Antinous, are you afraid that this old beggar will put you to shame? 00:02:14.920 --> 00:02:18.640 Old man, show us what you can do!” 00:02:18.640 --> 00:02:22.870 And Telemachus gave the old beggar the bow. 00:02:22.870 --> 00:02:28.850 And Odysseus felt the smooth familiar wood of his bow in his hands. 00:02:28.850 --> 00:02:32.860 For the first time in nineteen years, 00:02:32.860 --> 00:02:36.900 he set the foot of the bow to the floor at his own feet, 00:02:36.900 --> 00:02:42.920 and he began, slowly taking his time, to bend it. 00:02:42.920 --> 00:02:49.440 And he bent it, and he bent it and he drew the string across. 00:02:49.440 --> 00:02:51.400 And then with one finger, 00:02:51.400 --> 00:02:53.790 as though he was plucking the string of a lyre, 00:02:53.790 --> 00:02:59.640 he plucked the bow string and it gave a beautiful clear note, 00:02:59.640 --> 00:03:02.230 like a swallow’s song. 00:03:02.230 --> 00:03:10.050 And from high above the roof of the feasting hall there was an answering rumble of thunder. 00:03:10.050 --> 00:03:14.290 And the suitors stood and they stared. 00:03:14.290 --> 00:03:19.450 And the old beggar took an arrow and he fitted the arrow to the bow string, 00:03:19.450 --> 00:03:25.480 and he drew the bow string back and he loosed the arrow. 00:03:25.480 --> 00:03:32.920 Clean through the rings of the twelve ceremonial axe handles and it lodged quivering in the wall beyond. 00:03:32.920 --> 00:03:35.020 And the suitors were amazed. 00:03:35.020 --> 00:03:36.180 And the old beggar said, 00:03:36.180 --> 00:03:38.680 “That match is played and won! 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:40.480 Now for the second.” 00:03:40.480 --> 00:03:41.520 He took another arrow, 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:42.920 he fitted it to the bow string, 00:03:42.920 --> 00:03:44.270 he drew the bow string back. 00:03:44.270 --> 00:03:48.480 Straight through the throat of Antinous. 00:03:48.480 --> 00:03:51.470 The blood was pouring from his nose. 00:03:51.470 --> 00:03:53.140 He fell face down on the ground, 00:03:53.140 --> 00:03:54.850 his legs were kicking. 00:03:54.850 --> 00:03:56.800 And then he was dead. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:03:59.570 The old beggar leapt up onto a table, 00:03:59.570 --> 00:04:01.430 Telemachus leapt up beside him. 00:04:01.430 --> 00:04:03.770 Athene, invisible, reached into the hall. 00:04:03.770 --> 00:04:09.750 She touched the old beggar’s shoulder and straightaway the auburn curls returned, 00:04:09.750 --> 00:04:12.330 the hawk-like light came back to the eyes, 00:04:12.330 --> 00:04:14.680 the broad shoulders, the thick arms, 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:16.110 the beautiful cloak. 00:04:16.110 --> 00:04:19.060 The suitors ran to the walls to grab weapons, 00:04:19.060 --> 00:04:21.390 but all the weapons were gone. 00:04:21.390 --> 00:04:27.860 And Odysseus and Telemachus were loosing arrow after arrow after arrow after arrow. 00:04:27.860 --> 00:04:29.400 The suitors ran to the doors. 00:04:29.400 --> 00:04:33.220 They rattled at the doors but the doors were locked from the outside. 00:04:33.220 --> 00:04:39.540 And Odysseus and Telemachus were loosing arrow after arrow after arrow and when all the arrows were spent, 00:04:39.540 --> 00:04:42.110 with a sword in one hand and a spear in the other, 00:04:42.110 --> 00:04:44.030 they made their way across the hall, 00:04:44.030 --> 00:04:47.540 cutting and slicing the living flesh, 00:04:47.540 --> 00:04:51.760 reaping a grim harvest of death. 00:04:51.760 --> 00:04:55.490 And when every last suitor was dead, 00:04:55.490 --> 00:05:01.620 when the floor of the hall was ankle-deep in steaming red blood, 00:05:01.620 --> 00:05:03.710 Odysseus turned to his son. 00:05:03.710 --> 00:05:05.330 He said, “Telemachus, 00:05:05.330 --> 00:05:06.990 call the old woman, 00:05:06.990 --> 00:05:09.370 tell her to open the doors!” 00:05:09.370 --> 00:05:14.010 And Telemachus called to old Eurycleia and the woman came, 00:05:14.010 --> 00:05:16.260 and she pulled back the bolts, 00:05:16.260 --> 00:05:19.610 and she opened the doors to the feasting hall. 00:05:19.610 --> 00:05:24.760 And there she saw her king standing like a mountain lion, 00:05:24.760 --> 00:05:27.330 splattered with blood, 00:05:27.330 --> 00:05:33.230 and she let out a thin, shrill, cackling cry of triumph. 00:05:33.230 --> 00:05:40.040 And she lifted up her skirts and she came dancing and splashing and plashing through the blood into the hall. 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:42.440 And Odysseus lifted his hand, 00:05:42.440 --> 00:05:47.970 “Old woman, don’t dance and celebrate over the dead. 00:05:47.970 --> 00:05:51.610 It is wrong to exult over the slain. 00:05:51.610 --> 00:05:55.210 Gloat in silence! 00:05:55.210 --> 00:06:04.400 Fetch servants and maidservants with buckets and sponges and water and clean every speck of blood from this feasting hall. 00:06:04.400 --> 00:06:06.000 And Telemachus, 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:10.700 you and I will burn the bodies of the dead.” 00:06:10.700 --> 00:06:15.060 And so it was that Odysseus and Telemachus dragged the bodies of the suitors, 00:06:15.060 --> 00:06:18.690 slithering through the blood across the hall and down the hill, 00:06:18.690 --> 00:06:23.320 and they built a great pyre, a great funeral fire. 00:06:23.320 --> 00:06:30.800 And all that day the heat of the fire’s heart consumed the houses of bone. 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:38.750 And when all was reduced to smouldering white ash Odysseus and Telemachus climbed up the hill, 00:06:38.750 --> 00:06:42.070 they entered the hall and it was spotless. 00:06:42.070 --> 00:06:46.200 There was no trace or fleck or speck of blood. 00:06:46.200 --> 00:06:48.320 Odysseus called old Eurycleia. 00:06:48.320 --> 00:06:48.980 He said, “Old woman, 00:06:48.980 --> 00:06:54.730 go upstairs and tell my wife Penelope that her husband is home and he is waiting for her!” 00:06:54.730 --> 00:07:00.450 And the old woman nodded and she twinkled up the stairs and into the bedchamber. 00:07:00.450 --> 00:07:04.780 And there was Penelope lying fast asleep on her bed. 00:07:04.780 --> 00:07:09.720 All day she had been sleeping, her heart heavy with sorrow. 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:10.710 And the old woman said, 00:07:10.710 --> 00:07:11.530 “Madam, madam! 00:07:11.530 --> 00:07:13.690 Wake up, wake up, wake up!” 00:07:13.690 --> 00:07:16.820 Penelope rubbed her eyes and old Eurycleia said, 00:07:16.820 --> 00:07:17.510 “Madam, wake up. 00:07:17.510 --> 00:07:18.730 Your husband is home! 00:07:18.730 --> 00:07:21.320 He’s downstairs, he’s waiting for you!” 00:07:21.320 --> 00:07:22.220 And Penelope said, 00:07:22.220 --> 00:07:24.050 “Old woman, what are you talking about? 00:07:24.050 --> 00:07:26.970 Have the mighty gods and goddesses addled your wits?” 00:07:26.970 --> 00:07:30.410 “For pity’s sake, madam, come downstairs!” 00:07:30.410 --> 00:07:32.820 And Penelope climbed out of bed, 00:07:32.820 --> 00:07:35.860 and she followed the old woman down the stairs, 00:07:35.860 --> 00:07:39.590 and she saw in the hall there was a man, standing. 00:07:39.590 --> 00:07:44.640 And she stood and she looked at him and she said nothing. 00:07:44.640 --> 00:07:46.650 And Telemachus said, “Mother, 00:07:46.650 --> 00:07:48.900 strange, cold-hearted mother, 00:07:48.900 --> 00:07:54.130 your husband is home after nineteen years and you stand there and you say nothing.” 00:07:54.130 --> 00:07:56.470 And Odysseus turned to Telemachus. 00:07:56.470 --> 00:07:58.030 He said, “Leave us alone.” 00:07:58.030 --> 00:08:01.810 He turned to his servants and his maidservants who were lined up along the walls watching. 00:08:01.810 --> 00:08:03.880 He said, “Leave us alone now”. 00:08:03.880 --> 00:08:12.160 And as soon as the last one had left the room Penelope came across and she looked into his face and she said, 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:13.780 “Is it you? 00:08:13.780 --> 00:08:16.190 You’re so changed.” 00:08:16.190 --> 00:08:19.940 And she reached and touched his cheek with her fingertips. 00:08:19.940 --> 00:08:22.590 She said, “I do not know you any longer. 00:08:22.590 --> 00:08:25.630 I do not even know that it is you. 00:08:25.630 --> 00:08:33.660 You’re not the young man I remember sailing off to fight in distant Troy and me with a baby in my arms. 00:08:33.660 --> 00:08:35.690 I cannot sleep with you. 00:08:35.690 --> 00:08:38.440 I will not share a bed with you. 00:08:38.440 --> 00:08:41.080 I will tell the servants to move the bed. 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:44.240 You can sleep the other side of a closed door.” 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:45.480 And Odysseus said, 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:48.750 “Penelope, you know that cannot be. 00:08:48.750 --> 00:08:53.660 You know I built this hall around an ancient olive tree. 00:08:53.660 --> 00:08:56.680 You know I carved our bed with my own hands, 00:08:56.680 --> 00:08:59.090 from one of the branches of that tree. 00:08:59.090 --> 00:09:04.090 There is no-one who can lift it and set it the other side of a closed door.” 00:09:04.090 --> 00:09:08.220 And Penelope threw back her head and she laughed and she said, 00:09:08.220 --> 00:09:09.470 “Then it is you! 00:09:09.470 --> 00:09:11.370 Then it is you! 00:09:11.370 --> 00:09:14.380 Nobody knows the secret of our bed. 00:09:14.380 --> 00:09:18.340 You and I alone.” 00:09:18.340 --> 00:09:23.390 And Odysseus looked at her and he seized her hands and he said, 00:09:23.390 --> 00:09:27.950 “Penelope, my wife, my queen – 00:09:27.950 --> 00:09:34.690 only now am I truly home.” 00:09:34.690 --> 00:09:44.020 And that night Odysseus and Penelope and Telemachus sat down together and they told their stories. 00:09:44.020 --> 00:09:47.020 Telemachus told of his journey to Sparta. 00:09:47.020 --> 00:09:51.620 Penelope told of her long wait and her trickery with the loom. 00:09:51.620 --> 00:10:00.640 And Odysseus told of his adventures on the fields of Troy and his great journey across the broad face of the world. 00:10:00.640 --> 00:10:04.610 And then he told of the one adventure still left to make – 00:10:04.610 --> 00:10:13.280 that journey far inland with the oar over his shoulder to the place where he would be stopped and someone would ask him what it was. 00:10:13.280 --> 00:10:18.130 But Penelope silenced his mouth with her kisses and she said, 00:10:18.130 --> 00:10:19.770 “Sweet Odysseus, 00:10:19.770 --> 00:10:24.160 that will be as it may be and as the gods decree. 00:10:24.160 --> 00:10:28.470 But now you are here, in this place, 00:10:28.470 --> 00:10:35.830 where all past and all future melt into present joy.” 00:10:35.830 --> 00:10:53.230 [Sounds of the sea] 00:10:53.230 --> 00:10:57.290 Dreams and visions come through two gates: 00:10:57.290 --> 00:11:01.850 either through a gate of ivory or through a gate of horn. 00:11:01.850 --> 00:11:09.730 If the dream, the vision comes through the ivory gate it is mere fancy, fantasy. 00:11:09.730 --> 00:11:15.320 If it comes through the gate of horn it carries truth. 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:19.770 This dream, this vision is over. 00:11:19.770 --> 00:11:26.000 You must decide through which gate it has come. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:12:08.830 [Sounds of the sea]