view release on metacpan or  search on metacpan

t/data/book20  view on Meta::CPAN

her quern and spake a word, a sign to her lord:

'Father Zeus, who rulest over gods and men, loudly hast
thou thundered from the starry sky, yet nowhere is there a
cloud to be seen: this surely is a portent thou art showing
to some mortal. Fulfil now, I pray thee, even to miserable
me, the word that I shall speak. May the wooers, on this
day, for the last and latest time make their sweet feasting
in the halls of Odysseus! They that have loosened my knees
with cruel toil to grind their barley meal, may they now
sup their last!'

Thus she spake, and goodly Odysseus was glad in the omen of
the voice and in the thunder of Zeus; for he thought that
he had gotten his vengeance on the guilty.

Now the other maidens in the fair halls of Odysseus had
gathered, and were kindling on the hearth the never-resting
fire. And Telemachus rose from his bed, a godlike man, and
put on his raiment, and slung a sharp sword about his
shoulders, and beneath his shining feet he bound his goodly
sandals. And he caught up his mighty spear shod with sharp
bronze, and went and stood by the threshold, and spake to
Eurycleia:

'Dear nurse, have ye honoured our guest in the house with
food and couch, or does he lie uncared for, as he may? For
this is my mother's way, wise as she is: blindly she
honours one of mortal men, even the worse, but the better
she sends without honour away.'

Then the prudent Eurycleia answered: 'Nay, my child, thou
shouldst not now blame her where no blame is. For the
stranger sat and drank wine, so long as he would, and of
food he said he was no longer fain, for thy mother asked
him. Moreover, against the hour when he should bethink him
of rest and sleep, she bade the maidens strew for him a
bed. But he, as one utterly wretched and ill-fated, refused
to lie on a couch and under blankets, but on an undressed
hide and on the fleeces of sheep he slept in the vestibule,
and we cast a mantle over him.'

So she spake, and Telemachus passed out through the hall
with his lance in his hand, and two fleet dogs bare him
company. He went on his way to the assembly-place to join
the goodly-greaved Achaeans. But the good lady Eurycleia,
daughter of Ops son of Peisenor, called aloud to her
maidens:

'Come hither, let some of you go busily and sweep the hall,
and sprinkle it, and on the fair-fashioned seats throw
purple coverlets, and others with sponges wipe all the
tables clean, and cleanse the mixing bowls and well-wrought
double beakers, and others again go for water to the well,
and return with it right speedily. For the wooers will not
long be out of the hall but will return very early, for it
is a feast day, yea for all the people.'

So she spake, and they all gave ready ear and hearkened.
Twenty of them went to the well of dark water, and the
others there in the halls were busy with skilful hands.

Then in came the serving-men of the Achaeans. Thereon they
cleft the faggots well and cunningly, while, behold, the
women came back from the well. Then the swineherd joined
them leading three fatted boars, the best in all the flock.
These he left to feed at large in the fair courts, but as
for him he spake to Odysseus gently, saying:

'Tell me, stranger, do the Achaeans at all look on thee
with more regard, or do they dishonour thee in the halls,
as heretofore?'

Then Odysseus of many counsels answered him saying:

'Oh, that the gods, Eumaeus, may avenge the scorn wherewith
these men deal insolently, and devise infatuate deeds in
another's house, and have no place for shame!'

On such wise they spake one to another. And Melanthius drew
near them, the goatherd, leading the goats that were most
excellent in all the herds to be a dinner for the wooers,
and two shepherds bare him company. So he tethered the
goats beneath the echoing gallery, and himself spake to
Odysseus and taunted him, saying:

'Stranger, wilt thou still be a plague to us here in the
hall, with thy begging of men, and wilt not get thee gone?
In no wise do I think we twain will be sundered, till we
taste each the other's fists, for thy begging is out of all
order. Also there are elsewhere other feasts of the
Achaeans.'

So he spake, but Odysseus of many counsels answered him not
a word, but in silence he shook his head, brooding evil in
the deep of his heart.

Moreover a third man came up, Philoetius, a master of men,
leading a barren heifer for the wooers and fatted goats.
Now ferrymen had brought them over from the mainland,
boatmen who send even other folks on their way, whosoever
comes to them. The cattle he tethered carefully beneath the
echoing gallery, and himself drew close to the swineherd,
and began to question him:

'Swineherd, who is this stranger but newly come to our
house? From what men does he claim his birth? Where are his
kin and his native fields? Hapless is he, yet in fashion he
is like a royal lord; but the gods mar the goodliness of
wandering men, when even for kings they have woven the web
of trouble.'

So he spake, and came close to him offering his right hand
in welcome, and uttering his voice spake to him winged
words:

'Father and stranger, hail! may happiness be thine in the
time to come; but as now, thou art fast holden in many
sorrows! Father Zeus, none other god is more baneful than
thou; thou hast no compassion on men, that are of thine own
begetting, but makest them to have fellowship with evil and

t/data/book20  view on Meta::CPAN

golden cup and spake to him, saying:

'There, sit thee down, drinking thy wine among the lords,
and the taunts and buffets of all the wooers I myself will
ward off from thee, for this is no house of public resort,
but the very house of Odysseus, and for me he won it. But,
ye wooers, refrain your minds from rebukes and your hands
from buffets, that no strife and feud may arise.'

So he said, and they all bit their lips and marvelled at
Telemachus, in that he spake boldly. Then Antinous, son of
Eupeithes, spake among them, saying:

'Hard though the word be, let us accept it, Achaeans, even
the word of Telemachus, though mightily he threatens us in
his speech. For Zeus Cronion hath hindered us of our
purpose, else would we have silenced him in our halls,
shrill orator as he is.'

So spake Antinous, but Telemachus took no heed of his
words. Now the henchmen were leading through the town the
holy hecatomb of the gods, and lo, the long-haired Achaeans
were gathered beneath the shady grove of Apollo, the prince
of archery.

Now when they had roasted the outer flesh and drawn it off
the spits, they divided the messes and shared the glorious
feast. And beside Odysseus they that waited set an equal
share, the same as that which fell to themselves, for so
Telemachus commanded, the dear son of divine Odysseus.

Now Athene would in nowise suffer the lordly wooers to
abstain from biting scorn, that the pain might sink yet the
deeper into the heart of Odysseus, son of Laertes. There
was among the wooers a man of a lawless heart, Ctesippus
was his name, and in Same was his home, who trusting,
forsooth, to his vast possessions, was wooing the wife of
Odysseus the lord long afar. And now he spake among the
proud wooers:

'Hear me, ye lordly wooers, and I will say somewhat. The
stranger verily has long had his due portion, as is meet,
an equal share; for it is not fair nor just to rob the
guests of Telemachus of their right, whosoever they may be
that come to this house. Go to then, I also will bestow on
him a stranger's gift, that he in turn may give a present
either to the bath-woman, or to any other of the thralls
within the house of godlike Odysseus.'

Therewith he caught up an ox's foot from the dish, where it
lay, and hurled it with strong hand. But Odysseus lightly
avoided it with a turn of his head, and smiled right grimly
in his heart, and the ox's foot smote the well-builded
wall. Then Telemachus rebuked Ctesippus, saying:

'Verily, Ctesippus, it has turned out happier for thy
heart's pleasure as it is! Thou didst not smite the
stranger, for he himself avoided that which was cast at
him, else surely would I have struck thee through the midst
with the sharp spear, and in place of wedding banquet thy
father would have had to busy him about a funeral feast in
this place. Wherefore let no man make show of unseemly
deeds in this my house, for now I have understanding to
discern both good and evil, but in time past I was yet a
child. But as needs we must, we still endure to see these
deeds, while sheep are slaughtered and wine drunken and
bread devoured, for hard it is for one man to restrain
many. But come, no longer work me harm out of an evil
heart; but if ye be set on slaying me, even me, with the
sword, even that would I rather endure, and far better
would it be to die than to witness for ever these unseemly
deeds--strangers shamefully entreated, and men haling the
handmaidens in foul wise through the fair house.'

So he spake, and they were all hushed in silence. And late
and at last spake among them Agelaus, son of Damastor:

'Friends, when a righteous word has been spoken, none
surely would rebuke another with hard speech and be angry.
Misuse ye not this stranger, nor any of the thralls that
are in the house of godlike Odysseus. But to Telemachus
himself I would speak a soft word and to his mother, if
perchance it may find favour with the mind of those twain.
So long as your hearts within you had hope of the wise
Odysseus returning to his own house, so long none could be
wroth that ye waited and held back the wooers in the halls,
for so had it been better, if Odysseus had returned and
come back to his own home. But now the event is plain, that
he will return no more. Go then, sit by thy mother and tell
her all, namely, that she must wed the best man that wooes
her, and whose gives most gifts; so shalt thou with
gladness live on the heritage of thy father, eating and
drinking, while she cares for another's house.'

Then wise Telemachus answered, and said: 'Nay by Zeus,
Agelaus, and by the griefs of my father, who far away
methinks from Ithaca has perished or goes wandering, in
nowise do I delay my mother's marriage; nay, I bid her be
married to what man she will, and withal I offer gifts
without number. But I do indeed feel shame to drive her
forth from the hall, despite her will, by a word of
compulsion; God forbid that ever this should be.'

So spake Telemachus, but among the wooers Pallas Athene
roused laughter unquenchable, and drave their wits
wandering. And now they were laughing with alien lips, and
blood-bedabbled was the flesh they ate, and their eyes were
filled with tears and their soul was fain of lamentation.
Then the godlike Theoclymenus spake among them:

'Ah, wretched men, what woe is this ye suffer? Shrouded in
night are your heads and your faces and your knees, and
kindled is the voice of wailing, and all cheeks are wet
with tears, and the walls and the fair main-beams of the
roof are sprinkled with blood. And the porch is full, and
full is the court, of ghosts that hasten hellwards beneath
the gloom, and the sun has perished out of heaven, and an
evil mist has overspread the world.'

So spake he, and they all laughed sweetly at him. Then
Eurymachus, son of Polybus, began to speak to them, saying: