DICKEY. — ON DELAYS BEFORE RECOGNITIONS. 461 



In Book XIX, SSff.*^ we find Odysseus, in response to her request, 

 before Penelope ready for the interview in which he hears her story 

 of her trials with the suitors, and in which he, upon request, discloses 

 his fictitious lineage, adding a charming account of himself as host 

 of Odysseus in Crete, and closing with the utterance of his belief that 

 Odysseus will return. However much Odysseus might naturally have 

 desired a recognition at this point, the poet would not allow it. The 

 ' primary' delay in this case was to continue to Book XXIII, about which 

 I shall have something to say later. To continue with Book XIX, we 

 see that Odysseus so endeared himself to Penelope by his specious 

 stories that she gave an order that he be well entertained. Then fol- 

 lows the bath scene and the recognition of Odysseus by his old nurse, 

 Eurycleia. It will be observed that this recognition is preceded by 

 a ' primary ' delay, and so managed that the scar on the foot of 

 Odysseus is to be recognized by Eurycleia only, who is made to keep 

 the secret and become an aid to her master in executing his plans. 

 The general order of Penelope to her maids to wash the feet of Odys- 

 seus and prepare his bed is met by his objection and his suggestion 

 that some aged,^ sober-minded woman, who had borne as many sor- 

 rows as himself, might touch his feet, etc. The ' primary ' delay in this 

 case extends from 317 (where Penelope says to her maids, a\Xd /jllv, 

 dfjicjiLTroXoL, diroviij/aTe, kixtO^tc S' tvvrjv) to 376, where Euryclcia, after a 

 touching reminiscence of her master, says : tw o-e TroSa? vti/'w, a/xa t' 



avTr]<i U.-qveXoTreLT]'; | Koi cridev etve/c', Itru fxoL opuyperaL evSoOl ^d/xos j ki^Sco-iv, 

 aXX' aye vvv ^vvUl CTros, ottl k€v etTro) * | ttoXKoX hrj ^elvoi TaXaireLpiOL ivOdB' 

 iKovTo, I dAA' ov TTw Tiva (jirj/xt ioLKora oioe ISecrdai, \ <x><i crv hifxas 

 <f>u)V7jv re TToha^ t' 'OSucr^i eot/cas^ — almost a case of recognition 



€K ayXXoyicrfiov — to which OdySSCUS replies, w yprjv, ovtw <^ao-iv oaoL 

 lSov 6(fi6aX/j.ota-LV | T//>ieas dfi(j>OTipov?, fxdXa eiKeXo) aXXrjXoui' | ififxevan^ w? 

 (TV irep avT-q i'n-Lcfipoveovcr' dyopeveiS'^^ Following close upon this in- 

 tuition of Eurycleia occurs the statement in 392-393, avrtVa 8' cyvw ] 

 ouA-T^v, ktX. To be sure, the old nurse recognized the scar and im- 

 mediately gave utterance to fj /xaA' '08va-(rev<; ia-a-t, (fiiXov Te/cos,ll ktX., 

 but, in effect, the poet's zeal for accounting for the scar really delays 

 for the reader the completion of the recognition until 474 — a rather 

 remarkable continuation of the ' secondary ' delay, which was possible 

 for the epic, but impossible, I take it, in a similar case, for tragedy. 

 A third case of recognition in the Odyssey that deserves notice is 



' 0(1. XIX, 53 : ?/ 5' Uv iK 6a\diJ.oio inp'Kppwv IlTji'eA.iJireio kt\. 

 8 Vid. XIX, 346-348. » Od. XIX, 376-381. 



10 Ibid. XIX, 383-385. " Ibid. XIX, 474. 



