Book 15 - How They Came to Ithaca

We last left off when I fell asleep in Eumaeus' hut. Meanwhile, I was told by Hermes, that Athen travelled to Sparta, where she founds my son and Pisistratus, Nestor’s son, asleep in Menelaus' palace. She appeared to Telemachus in a dream and told him that he must hurry home to Ithaca before the suitors succeed in winning his mother’s hand. She also warned him of the ambush that they have set and explains how to avoid it. Finally, she instructed him to head first for the home of the swineherd Eumaeus, who will convey the news of his safe return to Penelope. Am I supposed to reveal my true identity to him? What I don't understand, is why doesn't Athena jsut tell him that I am with Eumaeus, so that I may go with my son and kill all of those damn suitors. Anyways, the next day, Telemachus announced his departure and accepted gifts from Menelaus and Helen. If it weren't for those two, I swear, nothing would've happened at all, and I would still be at home, and everything would be perfectly fine. As Telemachus pulled away from the palace in his chariot, an eagle carrying a goose stolen from a pen swoopped down beside him. Helen interpreted the incident as an omen that I was about to swoop down on his home and exact revenge on the suitors. Damn right, I am! Once at Pylos, Telemachus had Pisistratus drop him off at his ship, insisting that he had no time to spare to visit Nestor again. The ship was about to set off when Theoclymenus, a famous prophet’s descendant who was fleeing prosecution for a crime of manslaughter that he committed in Argos, approached Telemachus and asks to come aboard. Telemachus welcomed him and offerred him hospitality when they got to Ithaca. I trained my son well, right? This is still the word of Hermes, just to let you know. In the hut of Eumaeus, meanwhile, I tested the limit of his hospitality by offering to leave in the morning, a false gesture that I hoped would prompt Eumaeus to offer to let me stay longer. I urged the old man not to go out of his way and said that I would earn his keep working for the suitors, but Eumaeus would have none of it. To get mixed up with those suitors, I was warned, would be suicide. The swineherd and I then swapped stories. Eumaeus explains how he first came to Ithaca: the son of a king, he was stolen from his house by Phoenician pirates with the help of a maid that his father employed. The pirates took him all over the seas until Laertes, my father, bought him in Ithaca. There, mother brought him up alongside her own daughter, the youngest born. Back to the story of Telly through Hermes, meanwhile, the next morning, Telemachus reached the shores of Ithaca. He disembarked while the crew headed to the city by ship. He entrusted Theoclymenus to a loyal crewman, Piraeus. As they parted, they saw a hawk fly by carrying a dove in its talons, which Theoclymenus interpreted as a favorable sign of the strength of my house and line. We will end now, for I must tend to those suitors. See you all later!