This book starts day thirty-nine, which will end in 20.90, and thus takes up 1,728 lines; cf. Appendix A. Whereas in the Iliad the rhythm of narration decreases in the middle of the story, with the two long battle-days featuring the death of Patroclus and Hector, the Odyssey slows down towards the end, with the long day of Odysseus' return to the palace and incognito meetings with the Suitors and Penelope (17.1–20.90) and that of his revenge on the Suitors and reunion with Penelope (20.90–23.341). This first day is punctuated not only by the regular sunrise (17.1) and nightfall (18.306) but also by indications of the progression of time: ‘the beggar’ fears the early morning chill (25), Eumaeus warns that the greater part of the day has passed and hence the cold will return (190–1), and the narrator notes that the third part of the day, just before sunset, has arrived (606); cf. Il. 8.66–9 and 11.84–91.