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Book XXII

The killing of the wooers.

Then Odysseus of many counsels stripped him of his rags and
leaped on to the great threshold with his bow and quiver
full of arrows, and poured forth all the swift shafts there
before his feet, and spake among the wooers:

'Lo, now is this terrible trial ended at last; and now will
I know of another mark, which never yet man has smitten, if
perchance I may hit it and Apollo grant me renown.'

With that he pointed the bitter arrow at Antinous. Now he
was about raising to his lips a fair twy-eared chalice of
gold, and behold, he was handling it to drink of the wine,
and death was far from his thoughts. For who among men at
feast would deem that one man amongst so many, how hardy
soever he were, would bring on him foul death and black
fate? But Odysseus aimed and smote him with the arrow in
the throat, and the point passed clean out through his
delicate neck, and he fell sidelong and the cup dropped
from his hand as he was smitten, and at once through his
nostrils there came up a thick jet of slain man's blood,
and quickly he spurned the table from him with his foot,
and spilt the food on the ground, and the bread and the
roast flesh were defiled. Then the wooers raised a clamour
through the halls when they saw the man fallen, and they
leaped from their high seats, as men stirred by fear, all
through the hall, peering everywhere along the well-builded
walls, and nowhere was there a shield or mighty spear to
lay hold on. Then they reviled Odysseus with angry words:

'Stranger, thou shootest at men to thy hurt. Never again
shalt thou enter other lists, now is utter doom assured
thee. Yea, for now hast thou slain the man that was far the
best of all the noble youths in Ithaca; wherefore vultures
shall devour thee here.'

So each one spake, for indeed they thought that Odysseus
had not slain him wilfully; but they knew not in their
folly that on their own heads, each and all of them, the
bands of death had been made fast. Then Odysseus of many
counsels looked fiercely on them, and spake:

'Ye dogs, ye said in your hearts that I should never more
come home from the land of the Trojans, in that ye wasted
my house, and lay with the maidservants by force, and
traitorously wooed my wife while I was yet alive, and ye
had no fear of the gods, that hold the wide heaven, nor of
the indignation of men hereafter. But now the bands of
death have been made fast upon you one and all.'

Even so he spake, and pale fear gat hold on the limbs of
all, and each man looked about, where he might shun utter
doom. And Eurymachus alone answered him, and spake: 'If
thou art indeed Odysseus of Ithaca, come home again, with
right thou speakest thus, of all that the Achaeans have
wrought, many infatuate deeds in thy halls and many in the
field. Howbeit, he now lies dead that is to blame for all,
Antinous; for he brought all these things upon us, not as
longing very greatly for the marriage nor needing it sore,
but with another purpose, that Cronion has not fulfilled
for him, namely, that he might himself be king over all the
land of stablished Ithaca, and he was to have lain in wait
for thy son and killed him. But now he is slain after his
deserving, and do thou spare thy people, even thine own;
and we will hereafter go about the township and yield thee
amends for all that has been eaten and drunken in thy
halls, each for himself bringing atonement of twenty oxen
worth, and requiting thee in gold and bronze till thy heart
is softened, but till then none may blame thee that thou
art angry.'

Then Odysseus of many counsels looked fiercely on him, and
said: 'Eurymachus, not even if ye gave me all your
heritage, all that ye now have, and whatsoever else ye
might in any wise add thereto, not even so would I
henceforth hold my hands from slaying, ere the wooers had
paid for all their transgressions. And now the choice lies
before you, whether to fight in fair battle or to fly, if
any may avoid death and the fates. But there be some,
methinks, that shall not escape from utter doom.'

He spake, and their knees were straightway loosened and
their hearts melted within them. And Eurymachus spake among
them yet again:

'Friends, it is plain that this man will not hold his
unconquerable hands, but now that he has caught up the
polished bow and quiver, he will shoot from the smooth
threshold, till he has slain us all; wherefore let us take
thought for the delight of battle. Draw your blades, and
hold up the tables to ward off the arrows of swift death,
and let us all have at him with one accord, and drive him,
if it may be, from the threshold and the doorway and then
go through the city, and quickly would the cry be raised.
Thereby should this man soon have shot his latest bolt.'

Therewith he drew his sharp two-edged sword of bronze, and
leapt on Odysseus with a terrible cry, but in the same
moment goodly Odysseus shot the arrow forth and struck him
on the breast by the pap, and drave the swift shaft into
his liver. So he let the sword fall from his hand, and
grovelling over the table he bowed and fell, and spilt the
food and the two-handled cup on the floor. And in his agony
he smote the ground with his brow, and spurning with both
his feet he overthrew the high seat, and the mist of death
was shed upon his eyes.

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But the son of Terpes, the minstrel, still sought how he
might shun black fate, Phemius, who sang among the wooers
of necessity. He stood with the loud lyre in his hand hard
by the postern gate, and his heart was divided within him,
whether he should slip forth from the hall and sit down by
the well-wrought altar of great Zeus of the household
court, whereon Laertes and Odysseus had burnt many pieces
of the thighs of oxen, or should spring forward and beseech
Odysseus by his knees. And as he thought thereupon this
seemed to him the better way, to embrace the knees of
Odysseus, son of Laertes. So he laid the hollow lyre on the
ground between the mixing-bowl and the high seat inlaid
with silver, and himself sprang forward and seized Odysseus
by the knees, and besought him and spake winged words:

'I entreat thee by thy knees, Odysseus, and do thou show
mercy on me and have pity. It will be a sorrow to thyself
in the aftertime if thou slayest me who am a minstrel, and
sing before gods and men. Yea none has taught me but
myself, and the god has put into my heart all manner of
lays, and methinks I sing to thee as to a god, wherefore be
not eager to cut off my head. And Telemachus will testify
of this, thine own dear son, that not by mine own will or
desire did I resort to thy house to sing to the wooers at
their feasts; but being so many and stronger than I they
led me by constraint.'

So he spake, and the mighty prince Telemachus heard him and
quickly spake to his father at his side: 'Hold thy hand,
and wound not this blameless man with the sword; and let us
save also the henchman Medon, that ever had charge of me in
our house when I was a child, unless perchance Philoetius
or the swineherd have already slain him, or he hath met
thee in thy raging through the house.'

So he spake, and Medon, wise of heart, heard him. For he
lay crouching beneath a high seat, clad about in the
new-flayed hide of an ox and shunned black fate. So he rose
up quickly from under the seat, and cast off the ox-hide,
and sprang forth and caught Telemachus by the knees, and
besought him and spake winged words:

'Friend, here am I; prithee stay thy hand and speak to thy
father, lest he harm me with the sharp sword in the
greatness of his strength, out of his anger for the wooers
that wasted his possessions in the halls, and in their
folly held thee in no honour.'

And Odysseus of many counsels smiled on him and said: 'Take
courage, for lo, he has saved thee and delivered thee, that
thou mayst know in thy heart, and tell it even to another,
how far more excellent are good deeds than evil. But go
forth from the halls and sit down in the court apart from
the slaughter, thou and the full-voiced minstrel, till I
have accomplished all that I must needs do in the house.'

Therewith the two went forth and gat them from the hall. So
they sat down by the altar of great Zeus, peering about on
every side, still expecting death. And Odysseus peered all
through the house, to see if any man was yet alive and
hiding away to shun black fate. But he found all the sort
of them fallen in their blood in the dust, like fishes that
the fishermen have drawn forth in the meshes of the net
into a hollow of the beach from out the grey sea, and all
the fish, sore longing for the salt sea waves, are heaped
upon the sand, and the sun shines forth and takes their
life away; so now the wooers lay heaped upon each other.
Then Odysseus of many counsels spake to Telemachus:

'Telemachus, go, call me the nurse Eurycleia, that I may
tell her a word that is on my mind.'

So he spake, and Telemachus obeyed his dear father, and
smote at the door, and spake to the nurse Eurycleia: 'Up
now, aged wife, that overlookest all the women servants in
our halls, come hither, my father calls thee and has
somewhat to say to thee.'

Even so he spake, and wingless her speech remained, and she
opened the doors of the fair-lying halls, and came forth,
and Telemachus led the way before her. So she found
Odysseus among the bodies of the dead, stained with blood
and soil of battle, like a lion that has eaten of an ox of
the homestead and goes on his way, and all his breast and
his cheeks on either side are flecked with blood, and he is
terrible to behold; even so was Odysseus stained, both
hands and feet. Now the nurse, when she saw the bodies of
the dead and the great gore of blood, made ready to cry
aloud for joy, beholding so great an adventure. But
Odysseus checked and held her in her eagerness, and
uttering his voice spake to her winged words:

'Within thine own heart rejoice, old nurse, and be still,
and cry not aloud; for it is an unholy thing to boast over
slain men. Now these hath the destiny of the gods overcome,
and their own cruel deeds, for they honoured none of
earthly men, neither the bad nor yet the good, that came
among them. Wherefore they have met a shameful death
through their own infatuate deeds. But come, tell me the
tale of the women in my halls, which of them dishonour me,
and which be guiltless.'

Then the good nurse Eurycleia answered him: 'Yea now, my
child, I will tell thee all the truth. Thou hast fifty
women-servants in thy halls, that we have taught the ways
of housewifery, how to card wool and to bear bondage. Of
these twelve in all have gone the way of shame, and honour
not me, nor their lady Penelope. And Telemachus hath but
newly come to his strength, and his mother suffered him not
to take command over the women in this house. But now, let
me go aloft to the shining upper chamber, and tell all to
thy wife, on whom some god hath sent a sleep.'

And Odysseus of many counsels answered her saying: 'Wake
her not yet, but bid the women come hither, who in time
past behaved themselves unseemly.'

So he spake, and the old wife passed through the hall, to
tell the women and to hasten their coming. Then Odysseus
called to him Telemachus, and the neatherd, and the