by Homer
a foreigner’s country. Yet it’s worse to remain here,
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bearing the pain and caring for bulls for these strangers.
Long ago, it’s true, I’d like to have run off
and joined some powerful lord—I could stand it no longer.
But then I think of that wretch and how, if he came home
now from somewhere, he’d scatter suitors through all of the palace.”
Another Prophecy of Doom
An answer came from Odysseus, full of the best plans:
“Herder, you don’t look like a harmful or foolish
man and I know myself your heart is empathic.
So now I’ll tell you the truth, I’ll swear you a strong oath.
Zeus be my witness, first of the Gods, this table for strangers
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and faultless Odysseus’s hearth, the fire I have come to:
while you remain in the house Odysseus comes home!
You’ll see with your own eyes if that’s what you’ve wanted—
all the suitors will die who’ve acted like masters.”
Pledges of Strength
The man who herded his cattle gave him an answer:
“Stranger, if only the son of Kronos would make good
all your words! You’d know my strength, how ready my hands are.”
Eumaios also prayed to all of the great Gods
that mind-full Odysseus now would return to his own house.
A Wrong Sign
All the while they spoke that way to each other
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suitors were plotting doom—Telemakhos’s murder.
But now an eagle clasping a terrified pigeon
came from the heights and approached them all on the wrong side,
their left. Amphinomos promptly stood up to tell them,
“My friends, clearly our plans for Telemakhos’s killing
will not go well. For now let’s think about dining.”
The Feast Begins
Amphinomos spoke that way and his word was their pleasure.
Walking back to the house of godlike Odysseus,
they laid their mantles on seats and chairs that were thronelike.
Slaves were slaughtering sheep and goats, fatted and full-grown.
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They cut down huge hogs and a bull from the best herd.
They roasted organs and shared them. Using the large bowls
they mixed wine and the hog-tender handed out goblets.
Philoitios brought them bread—a lord of his own men—
in pretty baskets. The goatherd Melantheus poured wine.
Their hands went out to the good things lying before them.
A Warning about Strife
Telemakhos told Odysseus, showing his cunning,
to sit in the strongly founded hall close to the threshold
of stone by a lowly stool. A small table was put there.
He poured him wine in a golden goblet and set out
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portions of innards. Then he spoke to the beggar:
“Sit down, drink your wine with all of the men here.
I’ll fend off taunts myself from all of the suitors—
fists if I must—because my house is no lowbrow
place but the hall of Odysseus, gained for my own gain.
“All you suitors! Hold back striking and taunting
now from your hearts. No quarrel or strife should be rising.”
He stopped and every suitor was biting his lips hard,
struck by Telemakhos, how he’d spoken so bravely.
The son of Eupeithes, Antinoos, called to the others:
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“It’s hard, Akhaians, but bear with Telemakhos’s big talk,
however the man scolds us or threatens us harshly.
Zeus, the son of Kronos, stopped us, or now in the great hall
we’d surely have stopped him, for all of his clear-toned haranguing.”
He spoke that way but Telemakhos shrugged off his comments.
Grand Dining Again
Now the heralds were guiding a hecatomb sacred
to Gods through the city. Long-haired Akhaians gathered
under a shady grove of far-shooting Apollo.
Soon as the outer flesh was cooked and unspitted
they all shared portions, enjoying a wonderful banquet.
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Servers placed a portion too by Odysseus
matching their own portions. Telemakhos told them
to do so, the well-loved son of godlike Odysseus.
Another Throw at the Stranger
Still Athene would hardly stop the disdainful suitors
from stinging his heart with insult: heavier sorrow
must sink in the heart of Odysseus, son of Laertes.
One of the suitors, a man known as a scofflaw,
was named Ktesippos. He ruled his household on Same
and came trusting his wealth—said to be wondrous—
to court Odysseus’s wife, whose husband was long gone.
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He turned to the overbearing suitors and told them,
“Listen, you lordly suitors! I’ll tell you my thoughts here.
The stranger’s held his portion now for a long time,
rightly matched with the rest. It’s wrong and ungraceful
to steal from Telemakhos’s guests who came to his own house,
so now I’ll give like a host. Maybe he’ll offer
this prize himself to a bath-girl, or maybe another
slave who works in the house of godlike Odysseus.”
He stopped and picked up an ox-hoof that lay in a basket
and let it fly with a powerful hand. Odysseus dodged it,
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moving his head aside and heartily smiling
a bitter smile. The ox-hoof slammed at the hard wall.
A Death Threat
♦ Promptly upbraiding Ktesippos, Telemakhos told him,
“Good for your heart, Ktesippos, the way it has turned out.
You failed to hit our guest when he dodged what you threw him
or I would have struck you for sure with a spear in your belly.
Your father, instead of a marriage feast, would have managed
your death-rites.
Command, Reproach, Plead, and Reproach
“So now let no one appear so disgraceful
here in this house! I’m watching, following each thing,
the best and the worst. Before this I was a youngster.
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Ah, but I watch it all and continue to bear it—
our sheep slaughtered, wine tossed off and our bread-loaves
bolted. It’s hard for a man to hold back a whole crowd.
Come on then: don’t be enemies doing me harm here.
Still if you’re bent on killing me now with your sharp bronze,
I’d want to be killed myself: far better to die here
than go on watching disgraceful acts without let-up,
mocking and smacking strangers, dragging the women
around in shame throughout my beautiful household.”
Help the Lady to Choose
They all were dumb when he stopped. No one could answer.
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At length Agelaos spoke up, the son of Damastor.
“My friends, to answer a man who speaks to us rightly
no one should fume or rant like an enemy harshly.
Stop mistreating the stranger now and the other
slaves who work in the house of godlike Odysseus.
“I have a word for Telemakhos too and his mother,
gently hoping to please both of their good hearts.
So long as you deeply hoped in your breasts for that hour
mind-full Odysseus finally would enter his own house,
no one blamed you for waiting or holding the suitors
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off in this hall. That course plainly was better
if only Odysseus came back home to his own land.
But truly now the man will never return home.
Come on then, take a seat by your mother and tell her
to marry the man who’s best, who offers the most gifts.
You’ll gladly take on all the wealth of your fathers,
dining and drinking; she’ll care for the house of another.”
Forcing One’s Mother
But now Telemakhos gave him a sensible answer.
“I swear by Zeus, Agelaos, and all the pain of my Father,
dying far from Ithaka somewhere or roaming:
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I don’t delay my Mother’s wedding. I’ve told her
to choose and marry, I offer uncountable presents.
It shames me though to force her out of the great hall
against her will. May Gods not end it in that way.”
Strange and Sudden Omens
Telemakhos stopped: Pallas Athene had goaded
♦ the suitors to laugh wildly, perplexing their whole minds—
they laughed as though their mouths belonged to some others.
Then their meat was a bloody mess and their eyesight
blurred with tears. In their hearts they seemed to be mourning.
Blood and Death Foretold
Promptly the godlike man Theoklumenos asked them,
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“You wretched men, what ravage now do you suffer?
Night’s shrouding your heads and faces, yes and your low knees.
Your wails are a kindled fire, your cheeks are all teary.
These beautiful walls and panels are spattered with bloodstains,
ghosts crowd the doorway and crowd the courtyard,
rushing to Erebos under the gloom. The sunlight’s
dead in the sky and a baleful darkness has closed in.”
He spoke that way but they all laughed at him lightly.
Eurumakhos, Polubos’s son, started to tell them,
“The stranger’s crazy, newly arriving from far off.
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Take him outdoors, young men, hurry and go to
the assembly place, since night is all he can find here!”
But then the godlike man Theoklumenos answered,
“Eurumakhos, I don’t ask you to send me or guide me.
I have eyes and ears and both of my own feet.
The ideas in my breast have not been crafted so poorly.
I’ll go outside because I know that some evil
draws close to you now. No suitor can run to avoid it,
none of you men in the house of godlike Odysseus,
insulting people and making plans that are reckless.”
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He stopped and left the house where people had lived well.
He went to Peiraios, the man who’d welcomed him gladly.
Harsh Teasing
All the suitors, exchanging looks with each other,
harassed Telemakhos now by mocking his guests there.
One overbearing younger suitor was saying,
“Telemakhos, nobody takes in sorrier strangers
than you do, holding on to a slovenly beggar
craving food and wine but lacking the know-how
for farmwork or fighting—a dead weight in your own fields.
The other one stood up now and made like a prophet!
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My way is better by far if you follow it closely:
throw these ‘guests’ on a ship with plenty of oar-locks
and send them to Sicily. There they’ll get you a good price.”
Suitors talked that way; he shrugged off their chatter.
Telemakhos watched his father and quietly waited.
In time he’d get his hands on the insolent suitors.
The Last Joyless Dinner
Ikarios’s daughter, mind-full Penelopeia,
had placed her beautiful chair facing the doorway.
She’d heard the speeches of all these men in the great hall,
people laughing aloud while making a sweet meal
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that suited their spirits, their helpers killing so many
choice beasts. No other dining though would be joyless
more than this one: a powerful man and a Goddess
would set that meal, for the first disgrace was the suitors’.
BOOK 21 The Stringing of the Bow
An Old Treasure Room
Now the glow-eyed Goddess Athene prompted
Ikarios’s daughter, mind-full Penelopeia,
to place the bow and dark iron in front of the suitors—
a test in Odysseus’s hall, and the start of their own deaths.
Shortly the lady walked upstairs to her high room
and took in her strong hand the beautifully rounded
key of stunning bronze attached to its ivory handle.
With several women, her maids, she went to the inmost
room where much of her lord’s treasure was lying:
bronze and gold and iron wrought with a struggle.
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The arching bow was lying there with its quiver
