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and stept forth from his chamber in presence like a god.
And straightway he bade the clear-voiced heralds to call
the long-haired Achaeans to the assembly. And the heralds
called the gathering, and the Achaeans were assembled
quickly. Now when they were gathered and come together, he
went on his way to the assembly holding in his hand a spear
of bronze,--not alone he went, for two swift hounds bare
him company. Then Athene shed on him a wondrous grace, and
all the people marvelled at him as he came. And he sat him
in his father's seat and the elders gave place to him.

Then the lord Aegyptus spake among them first; bowed was he
with age, and skilled in things past number. Now for this
reason he spake that his dear son, the warrior Antiphus,
had gone in the hollow ships to Ilios of the goodly steeds;
but the savage Cyclops slew him in his hollow cave, and
made of him then his latest meal. Three other sons Aegyptus
had, and one consorted with the wooers, namely Eurynomus,
but two continued in their father's fields; yet even so
forgat he not that son, still mourning and sorrowing. So
weeping for his sake he made harangue and spake among them:

'Hearken now to me, ye men of Ithaca, to the word that I
shall say. Never hath our assembly or session been since
the day that goodly Odysseus departed in the hollow ships.
And now who was minded thus to assemble us? On what man
hath such sore need come, of the young men or of the elder
born? Hath he heard some tidings of the host now returning,
which he might plainly declare to us, for that he first
learned thereof, or doth he show forth and tell some other
matter of the common weal? Methinks he is a true man--good
luck be with him! Zeus vouchsafe him some good thing in his
turn, even all his heart's desire!'

So spake he, and the dear son of Odysseus was glad at the
omen of the word; nor sat he now much longer, but he burned
to speak, and he stood in mid assembly; and the herald
Peisenor, skilled in sage counsels, placed the staff in his
hands. Then he spake, accosting the old man first:

'Old man, he is not far off, and soon shalt thou know it
for thyself, he who called the folk together, even I: for
sorrow hath come to me in chief. Neither have I heard any
tidings of the host now returning, which I may plainly
declare to you, for that I first learned thereof; neither
do I show forth or tell any other matter of the common
weal, but mine own need, for that evil hath befallen my
house, a double woe. First, I have lost my noble sire, who
sometime was king among you here, and was gentle as a
father; and now is there an evil yet greater far, which
surely shall soon make grievous havoc of my whole house and
ruin all my livelihood. My mother did certain wooers beset
sore against her will, even the sons of those men that here
are the noblest. They are too craven to go to the house of
her father Icarius, that he may himself set the bride-price
for his daughter, and bestow her on whom he will, even on
him who finds favour in his sight. But they resorting to
our house day by day sacrifice oxen and sheep and fat
goats, and keep revel, and drink the dark wine recklessly,
and lo, our great wealth is wasted, for there is no man now
alive such as Odysseus was, to keep ruin from the house. As
for me I am nowise strong like him to ward mine own; verily
to the end of my days {*} shall I be a weakling and all
unskilled in prowess. Truly I would defend me if but
strength were mine; for deeds past sufferance have now been
wrought, and now my house is wasted utterly beyond pretence
of right. Resent it in your own hearts, and have regard to
your neighbours who dwell around, and tremble ye at the
anger of the gods, lest haply they turn upon you in wrath
at your evil deeds. {Or, lest they bring your evil deeds in
wrath on your own heads.} I pray you by Olympian Zeus and
by Themis, who looseth and gathereth the meetings of men,
let be, my friends, and leave me alone to waste in bitter
grief;-- unless it so be that my father, the good Odysseus,
out of evil heart wrought harm to the goodly-greaved
Achaeans, in quittance whereof ye now work me harm out of
evil hearts, and spur on these men. Better for me that ye
yourselves should eat up my treasures and my flocks. Were
YE so to devour them, ere long would some recompense be
made, for we would urge our plea throughout the town,
begging back our substance, until all should be restored.
But now without remedy are the pains that ye lay up in my
heart.'

{* Cf. B. xxi. 131. For the use of the 1st pers. pl. like
our ROYAL plural, cf. B. xvi.44, Il. vii. 190.}

So spake he in wrath, and dashed the staff to the ground,
and brake forth in tears; and pity fell on all the people.
Then all the others held their peace, and none had the
heart to answer Telemachus with hard words, but Antinous
alone made answer, saying:

'Telemachus, proud of speech and unrestrained in fury, what
is this thou hast said to put us to shame, and wouldest
fasten on us reproach? Behold the fault is not in the
Achaean wooers, but in thine own mother, for she is the
craftiest of women. For it is now the third year, and the
fourth is fast going by, since she began to deceive the
minds of the Achaeans in their breasts. She gives hope to
all, and makes promises to every man, and sends them
messages, but her mind is set on other things. And she hath
devised in her heart this wile besides; she set up in her
halls a mighty web, fine of woof and very wide, whereat she
would weave, and anon she spake among us:

'"Ye princely youths, my wooers, now that the goodly
Odysseus is dead, do ye abide patiently, how eager soever
to speed on this marriage of mine, till I finish the robe.
I would not that the threads perish to no avail, even this
shroud for the hero Laertes, against the day when the
ruinous doom shall bring him low, of death that lays men at
their length. So shall none of the Achaean women in the
land count it blame in me, as well might be, were he to lie
without a winding-sheet, a man that had gotten great
possessions."

'So spake she, and our high hearts consented thereto. So
then in the day time she would weave the mighty web, and in
the night unravel the same, when she had let place the
torches by her. Thus for the space of three years she hid
the thing by craft and beguiled the minds of the Achaeans;
but when the fourth year arrived and the seasons came
round, then at the last one of her women who knew all
declared it, and we found her unravelling the splendid web.
Thus she finished it perforce and sore against her will.
But as for thee, the wooers make thee answer thus, that
thou mayest know it in thine own heart, thou and all the
Achaeans! Send away thy mother, and bid her be married to
whomsoever her father commands, and whoso is well pleasing
unto her. But if she will continue for long to vex the sons
of the Achaeans, pondering in her heart those things that
Athene hath given her beyond women, knowledge of all fair
handiwork, yea, and cunning wit, and wiles--so be it! Such
wiles as hers we have never yet heard that any even of the
women of old did know, of those that aforetime were
fair-tressed Achaean ladies, Tyro, and Alcmene, and Mycene
with the bright crown. Not one of these in the imaginations
of their hearts was like unto Penelope, yet herein at least
her imagining was not good. For in despite of her the
wooers will devour thy living and thy substance, so long as
she is steadfast in such purpose as the gods now put within
her breast: great renown for herself she winneth, but for
thee regret for thy much livelihood. But we will neither go
to our own lands, nor otherwhere, till she marry that man
whom she will of the Achaeans.'

Then wise Telemachus answered him, saying: 'Antinous, I may
in no wise thrust forth from the house, against her will,
the woman that bare me, that reared me: while as for my
father he is abroad on the earth, whether he be alive or
dead. Moreover it is hard for me to make heavy restitution
to Icarius, as needs I must, if of mine own will I send my
mother away. For I shall have evil at his hand, at the hand
of her father, and some god will give me more besides, for
my mother will call down the dire Avengers as she departs
from the house, and I shall have blame of men; surely then
I will never speak this word. Nay, if your own heart, even
yours, is indignant, quit ye my halls, and busy yourselves
with other feasts, eating your own substance, and going in
turn from house to house. But if ye deem this a likelier
and a better thing, that one man's goods should perish
without atonement, then waste ye as ye will: and I will
call upon the everlasting gods, if haply Zeus may grant
that acts of recompense be made: so should ye hereafter
perish in the halls without atonement.'

So spake Telemachus, and in answer to his prayer did Zeus,
of the far borne voice, send forth two eagles in flight,
from on high, from the mountain-crest. Awhile they flew as
fleet as the blasts of the wind, side by side, with
straining of their pinions. But when they had now reached
the mid assembly, the place of many voices, there they
wheeled about and flapped their strong wings, and looked
down upon the heads of all, and destruction was in their
gaze. Then tore they with their talons each the other's
cheeks and neck on every side, and so sped to the right
across the dwellings and the city of the people. And the
men marvelled at the birds when they had sight of them, and
pondered in their hearts the things that should come to
pass. Yea and the old man, the lord Halitherses son of
Mastor spake among them, for he excelled his peers in
knowledge of birds, and in uttering words of fate. With
good will he made harangue and spake among them:

'Hearken to me now, ye men of Ithaca, to the word that I
shall say: and mainly to the wooers do I show forth and
tell these things, seeing that a mighty woe is rolling upon
them. For Odysseus shall not long be away from his friends,
nay, even now, it may be, he is near, and sowing the seeds
of death and fate for these men, every one; and he will be
a bane to many another likewise of us who dwell in
clear-seen Ithaca. But long ere that falls out let us
advise us how we may make an end of their mischief; yea,
let them of their own selves make an end, for this is the
better way for them, as will soon be seen. For I prophesy
not as one unproved, but with sure knowledge; verily, I
say, that for him all things now are come to pass, even as
I told him, what time the Argives embarked for Ilios, and
with them went the wise Odysseus. I said that after sore
affliction, with the loss of all his company, unknown to
all, in the twentieth year he should come home. And behold,
all these things now have an end.'

And Eurymachus, son of Polybus, answered him, saying: 'Go
now, old man, get thee home and prophesy to thine own
children, lest haply they suffer harm hereafter: but herein
am I a far better prophet than thou. Howbeit there be many
birds that fly to and fro under the sun's rays, but all are
not birds of fate. Now as for Odysseus, he hath perished
far away, as would that thou too with him hadst been cut