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Hush, and disturb her not. Go. Summon first

Those wantons, who have long deserved to die.

He ceased; then issued forth the ancient dame

To summon those bad women, and, meantime,

Calling his son, Philœtius, and Eumæus,

505

Ulysses in wing'd accents thus began.

Bestir ye, and remove the dead; command

Those women also to your help; then cleanse

With bibulous sponges and with water all

The seats and tables; when ye shall have thus

510

Set all in order, lead those women forth,

And in the centre of the spacious court,

Between the scullery and the outer-wall

Smite them with your broad faulchions till they lose

In death the memory of their secret loves

515

Indulged with wretches lawless as themselves.

He ended, and the damsels came at once

All forth, lamenting, and with tepid tears

Showering the ground; with mutual labour, first,

Bearing the bodies forth into the court,

520

They lodged them in the portico; meantime

Ulysses stern enjoin'd them haste, and urged

By sad necessity, they bore all out.

With sponges and with water next they cleansed

The thrones and tables, while Telemachus

525

Besom'd the floor, Eumæus in that work

Aiding him and the keeper of the beeves,

And those twelve damsels bearing forth the soil.

Thus order given to all within, they next

Led forth the women, whom they shut between

530

The scullery and the outer-wall in close

Durance, from which no prisoner could escape,

And thus Telemachus discrete began.

An honourable death is not for these

By my advice, who have so often heap'd

535

Reproach on mine and on my mother's head,

And held lewd commerce with the suitor-train.

Odyssey. Homer. ed. Robert Southey. London. 1837.

Current edition Experimental

English (William Cowper, 1791, ed. Southey) (OCR draft) (English) (English (William Cowper, 1791, ed. Southey))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)

Ὀδύσσεια Perseus (Homer. The Odyssey, Volume 1-2. Murray, A. T. (Augustus Taber), editor. London: William Heinmann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1919.) — 22.430 focus

τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς

430

μή πω τήνδʼ ἐπέγειρε· σὺ δʼ ἐνθάδε εἰπὲ γυναιξὶν

ἐλθέμεν, αἵ περ πρόσθεν ἀεικέα μηχανόωντο.

ὣς ἄρʼ ἔφη, γρηῢς δὲ διὲκ μεγάροιο βεβήκει

ἀγγελέουσα γυναιξὶ καὶ ὀτρυνέουσα νέεσθαι.

αὐτὰρ ὁ Τηλέμαχον καὶ βουκόλον ἠδὲ συβώτην

435

εἰς ἓ καλεσσάμενος ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα·

ἄρχετε νῦν νέκυας φορέειν καὶ ἄνωχθε γυναῖκας·

αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα θρόνους περικαλλέας ἠδὲ τραπέζας

ὕδατι καὶ σπόγγοισι πολυτρήτοισι καθαίρειν.

αὐτὰρ ἐπὴν δὴ πάντα δόμον κατακοσμήσησθε,

440

δμῳὰς ἐξαγαγόντες ἐϋσταθέος μεγάροιο,

μεσσηγύς τε θόλου καὶ ἀμύμονος ἕρκεος αὐλῆς,

θεινέμεναι ξίφεσιν τανυήκεσιν, εἰς ὅ κε πασέων

ψυχὰς ἐξαφέλησθε καὶ ἐκλελάθωντʼ Ἀφροδίτης,

τὴν ἄρʼ ὑπὸ μνηστῆρσιν ἔχον μίσγοντό τε λάθρη.

445

ὣς ἔφαθʼ, αἱ δὲ γυναῖκες ἀολλέες ἦλθον ἅπασαι,

αἴνʼ ὀλοφυρόμεναι, θαλερὸν κατὰ δάκρυ χέουσαι.

πρῶτα μὲν οὖν νέκυας φόρεον κατατεθνηῶτας,

κὰδ δʼ ἄρʼ ὑπʼ αἰθούσῃ τίθεσαν εὐερκέος αὐλῆς,

ἀλλήλοισιν ἐρείδουσαι· σήμαινε δʼ Ὀδυσσεὺς

450

αὐτὸς ἐπισπέρχων· ταὶ δʼ ἐκφόρεον καὶ ἀνάγκῃ.

αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα θρόνους περικαλλέας ἠδὲ τραπέζας

ὕδατι καὶ σπόγγοισι πολυτρήτοισι κάθαιρον.

αὐτὰρ Τηλέμαχος καὶ βουκόλος ἠδὲ συβώτης

λίστροισιν δάπεδον πύκα ποιητοῖο δόμοιο

455

ξῦον· ταὶ δʼ ἐφόρεον δμῳαί, τίθεσαν δὲ θύραζε.

αὐτὰρ ἐπειδὴ πᾶν μέγαρον διεκοσμήσαντο,

δμῳὰς δʼ ἐξαγαγόντες ἐϋσταθέος μεγάροιο,

μεσσηγύς τε θόλου καὶ ἀμύμονος ἕρκεος αὐλῆς,

εἴλεον ἐν στείνει, ὅθεν οὔ πως ἦεν ἀλύξαι.

460

τοῖσι δὲ Τηλέμαχος πεπνυμένος ἦρχʼ ἀγορεύειν·

μὴ μὲν δὴ καθαρῷ θανάτῳ ἀπὸ θυμὸν ἑλοίμην

τάων, αἳ δὴ ἐμῇ κεφαλῇ κατʼ ὀνείδεα χεῦαν

μητέρι θʼ ἡμετέρῃ παρά τε μνηστῆρσιν ἴαυον.

Translations (8)

Odyssey Perseus (Homer. The Odyssey, Volume 1-2. Murray, A. T. (Augustus Taber), translator. London: William Heinmann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1919.) — 22.430 focus

430 Then Odysseus of many wiles answered her, and said: “Wake her not yet, but do thou bid come hither the women, who in time past have contrived shameful deeds.” So he spoke, and the old dame went forth through the hall to bear tidings to the women, and bid them come; 435 but Odysseus called to him Telemachus and the neatherd and the swineherd, and spoke to them winged words: “Begin now to bear forth the dead bodies and bid the women help you, and thereafter cleanse the beautiful chairs and the tables with water and porous sponges. 440 But when you have set all the house in order, lead the women forth from the well-built hall to a place between the dome¹ and the goodly fence of the court, and there strike them down with your long swords, until you take away the life from them all, and they forget the love 445 which they had at the bidding of the wooers, when they lay with them in secret.” So he spoke, and the women came all in a throng, wailing terribly and shedding big tears. First they bore forth the bodies of the slain and set them down beneath the portico of the well-fenced court, 450 propping them one against the other; and Odysseus himself gave them orders and hastened on the work, and they bore the bodies forth perforce. Then they cleansed the beautiful high seats and the tables with water and porous sponges. But Telemachus and the neatherd and the swineherd 455 scraped with hoes the floor of the well-built house, and the women bore the scrapings forth and threw them out of doors. But when they had set in order all the hall, they led the women forth from the well-built hall to a place between the dome and the goodly fence of the court, 460 and shut them up in a narrow space, whence it was in no wise possible to escape. Then wise Telemachus was the first to speak to the others, saying: “Let it be by no clean death that I take the lives of these women, who on my own head have poured reproaches and on my mother, and were wont to lie with the wooers.”

Odyssey Perseus (Homer. The Odyssey: rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. Butler, Samuel, 1835-1902, translator. Revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy. London: A.C. Fifield, 1900.) — 22.431 focus

431 Eurykleia left the room to tell the women, and make them come to Odysseus; in the meantime he called Telemakhos, the stockman, and the swineherd. "Begin," said he, "to remove the dead, and make the women help you. Then, get sponges and clean water to swill down the tables and seats. When you have thoroughly cleansed the whole cloisters, take the women into the space between the domed room and the wall of the outer court, and run them through with your swords till they are quite dead, and have forgotten all about love and the way in which they used to lie in secret with the suitors."

446 On this the women came down in a body, weeping and wailing bitterly. First they carried the dead bodies out, and propped them up against one another in the gatehouse. Odysseus ordered them about and made them do their work quickly, so they had to carry the bodies out. When they had done this, they cleaned all the tables and seats with sponges and water, while Telemakhos and the two others shoveled up the blood and dirt from the ground, and the women carried it all away and put it out of doors. Then when they had made the whole place quite clean and orderly, they took the women out and hemmed them in the narrow space between the wall of the domed room and that of the yard, so that they could not get away: and Telemakhos said to the other two, "I shall not let these women die a clean death, for they were insolent to me and my mother, and used to sleep with the suitors."

465 So saying he made a ship's cable fast to one of the bearing-posts that supported the roof of the domed room, and secured it all around the building, at a good height, lest any of the women's feet should touch the ground; and as thrushes or doves beat against a net that has been set for them in a thicket just as they were getting to their nest, and a terrible fate awaits them, even so did the women have to put their heads in nooses one after the other and die most miserably. Their feet moved convulsively for a while, but not for very long.

474 As for Melanthios, they took him through the room into the inner court. There they cut off his nose and his ears; they drew out his vitals and gave them to the dogs raw, and then in their fury they cut off his hands and his feet.

English (Butler, rev. Nagy et al., 2020) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Butler, rev. Nagy et al., 2020)) — 22.430 focus

“Do not wake her yet,” answered resourceful Odysseus, “but tell the women who have misconducted themselves to come to me.”

Eurykleia left the hall to tell the women, and make them come to Odysseus; [435] in the meantime he called Telemachus, the stockman, and the swineherd. “Begin,” said he, “to remove the dead, and make the women help you. Then, get sponges and clean water to swill down the tables and seats. [440] When you have thoroughly cleansed the whole hall, take the women into the space between the domed room and the wall of the outer court, and run them through with your swords till they are quite dead, and have forgotten all about love [445] and the way in which they used to lie in secret with the suitors.”

Then the women came down in a body, weeping and wailing bitterly. First they carried the dead bodies out, [450] and propped them up against one another in the gatehouse. Odysseus ordered them about and made them do their work quickly, so they had to carry the bodies out. When they had done this, they cleaned all the tables and seats with sponges and water, while Telemachus and the two others [455] shoveled up the blood and dirt from the ground, and the women carried it all away and put it out of doors. Then when they had made the whole place quite clean and orderly, they took the women out and [460] hemmed them in the narrow space between the wall of the domed room and that of the yard, so that they could not get away: and the spirited Telemachus said to the other two, “I shall not let these women die a clean death, for they were insolent to me and my mother, and used to sleep with the suitors.”

[465]

English (William Cullen Bryant, 1873) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (William Cullen Bryant, 1873)) — 22.430 focus

Ulysses, the sagacious, answered thus :

"Wake her not yet, but go and summon all

The women who have wrought these shameful deeds."

He spake; the matron through the palace went

To seek the women, and to bid them come.

530

Meanwhile, Ulysses called Telemachus,

The herdsman and the swineherd to his side,

And thus commanded them with winged words :-

"Begin to carry forth the dead, and call

The women to your aid; and next make clean,

535

With water and with thirsty sponges, all

The sumptuous thrones and tables. When ye thus

Have put the hall in order, lead away

The serving-maids, and in the space between

The kitchen vault and solid outer wall

540

Smite them with your long swords till they give up

The ghost, and lose the memory evermore

Of secret meetings with the suitor-train."

He spake; the women came, lamenting loud

With many tears, and carried forth the dead,

545

Leaning upon each other as they went,

And placed them underneath the portico

Of the walled court. Ulysses gave command,

Hastening their task, as all unwillingly

They bore the corpses forth. With water next,

550

And thirsty sponges in their hands, they cleansed

The sumptuous thrones and tables. Then the prince,

Telemachus, with shovels cleared the floor,

The herdsman and the swineherd aiding him,

And made the women bear the rubbish forth.

555

And now when all within was once again

In seemly order, they led forth the maids

From that fair pile into the space between

The kitchen vault and solid outer wall,

A narrow space from which was no escape,

560

And thus discreet Telemachus began : -

"I will not take away these creatures' lives

By a pure death, - these who so long have heaped

Reproaches on my mother's head and mine,

And played the wanton with the suitor-crew."

565

English (Alexander Pope, 1726, ed. Watson, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Alexander Pope, 1726, ed. Watson, 1858)) — 22.430 focus

"Not so," (Ulysses, more sedate, replied,)

"Bring first the crew who wrought these guilty deeds."

470

In haste the matron parts; the king proceeds.

"Now to dispose the dead, the care remains

To you, my son, and you, my faithful swains;

Th' offending females to that task we doom,

To wash, to scent, and purify the room:

475

These (every table cleans'd, and every throne,

And all the melancholy labour done,)

Drive to yon court, without the palace-wall,

There the revenging sword shall smite them all;

So with the suitors let them mix in dust,

480

Stretch'd in a long oblivion of their lust."

He said: the lamentable train appear,

Each vents a groan, and drops a tender tear:

Each heav'd her mournful burden, and beneath

The porch depos'd the ghastly heap of death.

485

The chief severe, compelling each to move,

Urged the dire task imperious from above:

With thirsty sponge they rub the tables o'er;

(The swains unite their toil;) the walls, the floor,

Wash'd with th' effusive wave, are purged of gore.

490

Once more the palace set in fair array,

To the base court the females take their way:

There compass'd close between the dome and wall,

(Their life's last scene,) they trembling wait their fall.

Then thus the prince: "To these shall we afford

495

A fate so pure, as by the martial sword?

To these, the nightly prostitutes to shame,

And base revilers of our house and name?"

English (Thomas Hobbes, 1667, ed. Molesworth 1843) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Hobbes, 1667, ed. Molesworth 1843)) — 22.430 focus

First call those women who do me despise,

380

And have behaved themselves dishonestly.

Euryclea obeys, and goes her way,

And call'd those women. Come away, said she,

Telemachus i' th' hall does for you stay.

Meanwhile Ulysses call'd Telemachus

385

Unto him, and his faithful servants two,

Trusty Eumaeus and Philœtius.

Hear me, said he, what I would have you do,

Make these lewd woman carry hence the dead,

The chairs and tables in the hall make clean,

390

And when that bus'ness they have finished,

Into the court make them go forth again,

Into that narrow place'twixt th'house and hedge;

Till they forget the suitors' venery,

Make them of your sharp swords to feel the edge,

395

And for their stol'n unclean delight to die.

Then came the women down into the hall

Wailing, and tears abundantly they shed,

And presently unto their work they fall.

Into the porch they carry out the dead.

400

Ulysses giving order standeth by.

Telemachus then and Philœtius,

Also Eumaeus, do with shovels ply

The pavement daub'dwith blood,and cleanse the house

Scraping together dust and blood; and that

405

The women also carry out a door.

But when this bus'ness now an end was at,

There rested for them yet one bus'ness more.

They brought them thence into the narrow place,

From whence there was no hope at all to fly.

410

You, said Telemachus, for the disgrace

Done to me and my mother, must not die

An honest death.

English (George Chapman, 1667, ed. Hooper 1857) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (George Chapman, 1667, ed. Hooper 1857)) — 22.430 focus

"Nor wake her yet," said he, "but cause to come

Those twelve light women to this utter room."

555

She made all utmost haste to come and go,

And bring the women he had summon'd so.

Then both his swains and son he bade go call

The women to their aid, and clear the hall

Of those dead bodies, cleanse each board and throne

560

With wetted sponges. Which with fitness done,

He bade take all the strumpets 'twixt the wall

Of his first court and that room next the hall,

In which the vessel of the house were scour'd,

And in their bosoms sheath their every sword,

565

Till all their souls were fled, and they had then

Felt 'twas but pain to sport with lawless men.

This said, the women came all drown'd in moan,

And weeping bitterly. But first was done

The bearing thence the dead; all which beneath

570

The portico they stow'd, where death on death

They heap'd together. Then took all the pains

Ulysses will'd. His son yet and the swains

With paring-shovels wrought. The women bore

Their parings forth, and all the clotter'd gore.

575

The house then cleansed, they brought the women out,

And put them in a room so wall'd about

That no means served their sad estates to fly.

Then said Telemachus: "These shall not die

A death that lets out any wanton blood,

580

And vents the poison that gave lust her food,

The body cleansing, but a death that chokes

The breath, and altogether that provokes

And seems as bellows to abhorred lust,

That both on my head pour'd depraves unjust,

585

And on my mother's, scandalling the court

With men debauch'd in so abhorr'd a sort."

English (H. B. Cotterill, 1911) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (H. B. Cotterill, 1911)) — 22 focus

ODYSSEY BOOK XXII

CASTING his beggarly raiment aside, deep-plotting Odysseus

Leapt on the threshold of stone, still holding the bow and the quiver

Laden with bolts; and before him the swift-winged arrows he poured out

Close to his feet on the floor; and he spake, addressing the suitors:

"Lo, this fatal, calamitous contest is done—it is finished!

Now for a mark far other—a mark ne'er smit by a bowman!

This will I choose me, and see if renown shall be sent by Apollo."

Spake, and at Antinous directed the sharp-fanged arrow,

Just as he paused at the moment of lifting a beautiful goblet,

Golden, with handles at both of its sides; and already he held it,

Meaning to drink of the wine; and of death no thought or suspicion

Troubled his mind. (Would any believe in the midst of a banquet

One man, single among so many, however audacious,

Thus might compass his doom and plunge him in death and in darkness?)

Steadily aimed was the bolt of Odysseus: it struck on the gullet.

Pierced was the delicate neck right through by the point of the arrow.

Over he lurched; from his hand dropt crashing the cup, and he lay there

Mortally struck, while jetted a thick red stream of his life-blood

Out of his nostrils. His foot, convulsively striking the table,

Spurned it afar and upset it. Defiled lay all of the viands,

Spilt on the ground, roast flesh with the bread. Then clamour and tumult

Rose in the hall when the suitors beheld their comrade was fallen.

Up from the seats at the table they leaped in a panic of terror,

Eagerly peering around at the well-built walls to discover

Either a shield or a spear strong-shafted; but nothing they found there.

Then on Odysseus they turned and with angry reviling assailed him:

"Stranger, in sooth thou'lt suffer for shooting at men! In a contest

Never again shalt thou share. Death certain and sudden awaits thee.

Lo, thou hast murdered a man who was foremost of all of the princes

Here in the Ithacan land—so Ithacan vultures shall eat thee."

Thus spake all, for they deemed of a truth that the stranger had killed him

Not with intent. Ah, fools! yea, foolish and blind, for they saw not

Over the heads of them all impending the toils of destruction.

Glaring askance at the men, deep-plotting Odysseus addressed them :

"Dogs! ye imagined me never returning again to my homestead

Back from the land of the Trojans and so laid waste my possessions,

Won by compulsion to lustful embraces the women, my servants,

Yea and with guile came wooing my wife while still I was living,

Neither afraid of the gods who inhabit the infinite heaven

Nor that the vengeance of man could smite you hereafter. Behold now

Over the heads of you all impending the toils of destruction!"

Thus did he speak. Forthwith pale dread seized all of the suitors,

Each one peering to 'scape from the doom that was swiftly approaching.

Eurymachus was the one that alone found voice, and he answered :

'Art thou Odysseus the Ithacan, come once more to thy homeland,

Truly thou speakest with right. Such things have wrought the Achaeans,

Many and many infatuate deeds in thy palace and farmsteads.

Lo now, he that was guilty of all here lieth before us,

Antinous. It is he that alone these crimes hath incited.

Not so much that he needed to wed or was longing for marriage;

No, his intent was another—but heaven refused to fulfil it—

E'en to install as the king of the flourishing Ithacan people

None but himself, and, catching thy son in an ambush, to slay him.

Now he is dead, as he richly deserved. So spare us, thy people,

Even thy own! We will go each one to his tribe, and hereafter

Each shall requite thee for all he has eaten and drunk in thy palace,

Each one make an atonement of five score oxen in value.

Also with bronze and with gold will we offer requital and soften

Fully thy heart. Till then for thy wrath none truly can blame thee."

Glaring askance at the man, thus spake deep-plotting Odysseus:

"Eurymachus, if ye give me the whole of the wealth of your fathers,

All ye at present possess and all ye shall add to it later,

Not e'en thus shall my hands be restrained nor shall cease from the slaughter

Till I shall wreak my revenge to the full on the sins of the suitors.

Now there lieth before you to fight, or to flee—if by fighting

Any shall hope, or by fleeing, to save him from doom and destruction.

Nay but I trow not a man shall escape from his utter perdition."

Thus as he spake were loosened the knees and the hearts of the suitors.

Then spake Eurymachus once more as he turned to his comrades :

"Friends, it is vain! The invincible might of his hands he will check not.

Now he has got in his power the smooth-wrought bow and the quiver,

Down from the threshold of stone he will shoot us, until he has slain us

All, to a man. Let us turn our minds to the fury of battle.

Draw ye! and hold ye the tables before you to shield you as bucklers,

Quenching his bolts so fatal and swift. Then, rushing upon him

All in a body, attempt from the threshold and portal to drive him!

So let us get to the city and quickly arouse the alarm there!

Then shall the shaft that the fellow has shot be the last of his lifetime."

These words loudly he uttered, and drawing his sword from the scabbard,

Bronzen and sharpened on both of the edges, he leaped on Odysseus

Terribly shouting; but just at the moment the godlike Odysseus

Loosened a bolt from the bow, and smiting his breast by the nipple

Into the liver was driven the swift-winged shaft; and his sword dropt

Out of his hand to the ground; then, staggering, over a table,

All entangled around it, he fell and scattered the dishes

On to the floor with the food and a twy-cupped bowl; and his forehead

Smote on the earth as he writhed in his agony, spurning the armchair

Sharply with both of his feet. On his eyes then darkness descended.

Amphinomus now rushed at Odysseus, the glorious hero,

Charging him straight from the front with his sharp sword drawn from the scabbard,

Hoping to drive him away from the portal; but ere he had reached him

Telemachus from behind with a bronze-shod javelin smote him

Right in the midst of the back; and out of his breast it protruded.

Crashing he fell, and he struck on the ground with the whole of his forehead.

Telemachus sprang back, but his long-stemmed spear he had left there

Planted in Amphinomus, for he feared lest one of the nobles

While he was drawing it forth might suddenly rush to assail him,

Giving a stab with a sword or a downward stroke of his weapon.

Then to his well-loved father he ran, and reaching him quickly

Stood at his side, and in haste these swift-winged words he addressed him :

100

"Father, at once I will fetch thee a shield and a couple of lances,

Also a helm all bronze with a visor to cover the temples.

Then I will go and will clothe me in armour, and give to the swineherd

Other, and also the cowherd. 'Tis better in arms to equip us."

Forthwith answering spake these words deep-plotting Odysseus:

105

"Run for them! run!—while yet I have arrows enough to defend me!

Lest thus single I fail to resist and be thrust from the doorway."

Thus did he speak, and the youth, as his well-loved father commanded,

Ran to the chamber in which were lying the glorious weapons.

Out of them eight good lances and four of the shields he selected;

110

Four bronze helmets he chose him with horse-tails heavily crested,

Carrying which he returned full quickly and came to his father.

Firstly himself in a harness of bronze he invested; and likewise

Also the thralls, those twain, encased them in beautiful armour.

Then at the side of the wise and wary Odysseus they placed them.

115

He however, as long as the arrows sufficed to defend him,

Aye at the suitors at one or the other—entrapped in his mansion

Aimed; and they fell as he smote them, the one by the side of the other.

Then, when the shafts had deserted their lord and had failed him in shooting,

Nigh to the post of the door of the massively builded apartment

120

Propping the bow, on the face of the inside glistering house-wall,

Over his shoulders he hung him a fourfold target of oxhide;

Also a well-wrought helm on his stalwart head he adjusted,

Plumed with the tail of a horse, which terribly nodded above it.

Then two weapons he chose, bronze-bladed and powerful lances.

125

Now in the well-built wall was a high-raised postern inserted

Flush with the slab of the threshold, and here from the hall was an outlet

Through to a passage by doors well-fitting and double defended.

This had Odysseus commanded the good old swineherd to look to

Standing anigh it; for here was the only approach to the passage.

130

Then from the midst of the suitors, addressing them, spake Agelaus:

"Friends, is a man to be found who will mount by the postern and quickly

Bring a report to the men of the city and rouse an alarm there ?

Then shall the shafts that the fellow has shot be the last of his lifetime."

Him forthwith gave answer Melanthius master of goatherds :

135

"Twere not possible, prince Agelaus, for terribly near it

Opens the beautiful door of the court, and the mouth of the passage

Offers a peril, for one strong man might hinder a thousand.

Navy, let me fetch you, to arm you withal, both weapons and hauberks

Out of the chamber in which (for I trow it was there and not elsewhere)

140

All were stowed by this fine prince Telemachus and his father."

These words spoken, he clambered—Melanthius master of goatherds—

Up by the loophole lights of the hall to the rooms of Odysseus.

Thence twelve targets he took and a dozen of lances, and also

Twelve bronze helmets he chose him with horse-tails heavily crested.

145

Then he returned, and he brought them and gave them in haste to the suitors.

Now did the knee-joints quake and the inmost heart of Odysseus

While he perceived them equipping themselves in the armour and shaking

Long-stemmed spears in their hands; and he felt that his task was a great one.

Quickly he turned to his son and with swift-winged words he addressed him :

150

"Telemachus, is it one of the maids in the women's apartment

Plying this treacherous game—or else peradventure Melantheus?"

Him sage Telemachus addressing in turn gave answer:

"Father, the fault is my own that it happened, and guilty is no one

Other, for after I opened the fast-closed door of the chamber

155

Wholly forgetting I left it, and some one cleverer spied it.

Go now, good Eumaeus, and closing the door of the chamber

Watch and discover if one of the women is doing this mischief;

Else it is Dolius' son, I am certain, the goatherd Melantheus."

Thus did the men hold converse and counsel the one with the other.

160

Then once more to the chamber Melanthius master of goatherds

Went for the beautiful arms; and the good old swineherd, who saw it,

Hastily called to Odysseus, who stood full near, and addressed him :

"Zeus-born son of Laertes, thou wise and wary Odysseus,

Yea it is even the fellow we thought, that impudent goatherd!

165

See, he is going again to the room! Come, tell me exactly :

Should I be able to master the man, were't better to slay him,

Or shall I bring him to thee for his punishment, so that he pay for

All of the many transgressions his malice devised in thy homestead?"

Him then in answer addressed these words deep-plotting Odysseus:

170

"I and my son will be able to cope with the insolent suitors,

Holding them penned in the hall of the palace in spite of their fury.

Ye two, twisting the hands and the feet of the fellow behind him,

Drag him within. To his back then lashing a panel of boarding,

Firmly attach to his body a rope strong-stranded, and haul him

175

Up by a pillar aloft till he dangle anigh to the roof-beam,

So that he live right long while suffering terrible torture."

Thus did he speak, and they listened attent to his words and obeyed them.

Unto the chamber they went, and they saw him within; but he wist not;

Right at the innermost end of the room he was searching for armour.

180

So at the door they remained, each one by the side of a door-post.

Soon came crossing the threshold Melanthius master of goatherds,

Laden with arms: in the one of his hands was a beautiful helmet,

While in the other he carried a buckler—a broad and an old one

Spotted with mould (as a youngster the hero Laertes had borne it;

185

Here long years it had lain, and the seams were loose of the oxhide).

Suddenly leaping upon him they seized him, and into the chamber

Dragged by the hair he was flung on the floor, and groaning he lay there,

While with a bond right grievous they girded his hands and his ankles,

Twisting the limbs well back and securely, as bid by the master,

190

Even Also Laertes' son, long-suffering godlike Odysseus.

Then to his body attaching a rope strong-stranded they hauled him

Up by a pillar aloft till he dangled anigh to the roof-beam.

Here as he hung Eumaeus the swineherd addressed him and mocked him :

"Somewhat a long and a sleepless night thou'lt find it, Melantheus,

195

Though right soft is the bed in the which thou art couched, as befits thee;

Nor shall the Dawn, when she newly ariseth from streams of the Ocean,

Fail to appear to thee throned in her glory, as erst when thou dravest

Goats of the flock to the palace to furnish a feast for the suitors."

Thus held tight in the deadly embrace of the rope he was left there,

200

While in the armour they clad them, and shutting the glistering portal

Quickly returned to the master, the wise and wary Odysseus.

Here then, breathing the fury of battle, they stood on the door-stone,

Four of them, while in the hall stood many opposing them bravely.

Now did the daughter of Zeus draw nigh them, the goddess Athene,

205

Once more likened to Mentor in voice and in bodily semblance.

Then did Odysseus rejoice as he saw her, and spake to her saying:

"Mentor, I pray thee, defend me from harm, and remember thy comrade,

One that was dear and was kind to thee often—the friend of thy boyhood!"

Thus did he speak, but he deemed 'twas Athena who stirreth the battle.

210

Then from the depths of the hall great clamour was raised by the suitors,

Foremost shouting abuse Agelaus the son of Damastor :

"Mentor, I bid thee beware lest words of Odysseus beguile thee

Thus with the suitors to fight and to stand by his side and defend him,

Since I am sure we shall win us the end that we purpose in this wise :

215

After the death of the twain (they shall die, both son and the father)

Thou shalt be slain, thou too—such mischievous deeds thou art wishing

Here in the palace to work. With thy head thou shalt pay for thy folly.

So with the edge of the sword we shall rob you of strength to resist us ;

Then thy possessions—the whole of the wealth in thy fields and thy mansion—

220

All we shall mix with the wealth of Odysseus, and ne'er shall we suffer

Either thy sons or thy daughters to dwell in the halls of thy homestead,

Nor shall thy excellent wife go gadding about in the city."

So did he speak, and it maddened to fury the heart of Athene,

Till on Odysseus she turned and with angry reproaches addressed him:

225

"Now no longer, Odysseus, of worth is thy strength or thy manhood,

Such as was thine when in battle for white-armed Helen the high-born

Nine long years with the Trojans thou foughtest unweariedly ever,

Slaughtering many and many a foe in the terrible warfare.

Thine was the counsel that captured the wide-wayed city of Priam.

230

How then! Now thou art come to thy home and to all thy possessions,

Why in the face of the suitors lament and behave as a weakling?

BATTEN WILSON
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE SUITORS

Navy, come hither, my friend, to my side! Stand nigh and behold me,

So shalt thou learn from my deeds what manner of mortal is Mentor,

Alcimus' son, to requite thee a kindness by fighting thy foemen."

235

Thus did she speak, but she gave no victory full and decisive;

Still was she wishing to put to a trial the strength and the prowess

Both of Odysseus himself and his valiant son; and she vanished,

Suddenly flying aloft to the smoke-stained roof of the palace,

Where on a rafter she sat in the fashion and form of a swallow.

240

Now took lead in the fray Agelaus the son of Damastor,

Eurynomus, Demoptolemus, and the son of Polyctor

Peisandrus, and Amphimedon and Polybus wily,

Even the best and the bravest by far that of all of the suitors

Still were living and fighting to save their lives from destruction

245

(Others already the bow with the storm of its arrows had conquered).

These Agelaus addressed and to all of them shouted, exclaiming:

"Friends, the invincible strength of the fellow is failing already!

Lo too, Mentor is gone from his side, with his brags and his boastings,

Leaving the four thus standing alone in the front of the doorway.

250

Come, let us hurl with the spears—not all of us casting together :

Six of us only attempt it at first, in the hope that the Father

Grant that we gain us the glory of smiting and slaying Odysseus.

Should this fellow be brought to a fall, of the others I reck not."

Thus did he speak, and they cast at Odysseus with spears as he bade them,

255

Eagerly hurling; but all were foiled by the goddess Athene.

Into the post of the door of the strong-built hall of the palace

One of them drave, and the door close-fastened was smit by another,

While in the wall struck lances of ash bronze-bladed and heavy.

So when they thus had escaped unharmed from the spears of the suitors,

260

Then to address them began long-suffering godlike Odysseus :

"Now for myself is the moment to speak and to bid you, my comrades,

Into the throng of the suitors to hurl; for they thirst to destroy us,

Adding to all of their former iniquities murder and rapine."

Thus did he speak, and the four, their keen-edged lances uplifting,

265

Hurled them with accurate aim. Demoptolemus by Odysseus,

Euryades by the prince, Elatus by the swineherd was smitten,

Peisandrus by the man who as neatherd tended the cattle.

Biting the dust these lay on the floor's wide surface extended,

While to the end of the hall in a panic retreated the others.

270

Then dashed forward the four and drew their spears from the corpses..

Now once more did the suitors, the keen-edged lances uplifting

Eagerly hurl; but the most were foiled by the goddess Athene.

Into the post of the door of the strong-built hall of the palace

One of them drave, and the door close-fastened was smit by another,

275

While in the wall struck lances of ash bronze-bladed and heavy.

Amphimedon natheless smote Telemachus by the hand-joint

Lightly, the edge of the blade scarce scratching the skin on the surface.

Next with a long-stemmed spear Ctesippus hurled at the swineherd.

Over his shield, just grazing the shoulder, it flew, and alighted.

280

Then did the four on the side of the wise and wary Odysseus

Once more hurl in the throng of the suitors the keen-edged lances.

Smitten was Eurydamas by Odysseus the sacker of cities;

Amphimedon fell struck by the prince, Polybus by the swineherd,

Ctesippus by the man who as neatherd tended the cattle;

285

Full on the breast he was struck, and the man exultingly mocked him :

"Ah, Polytherses' son, thou'rt fond of abuse, but I warn thee

Never to yield to the folly of brag, but to leave the decision

Unto the gods, whose wisdom is greater by far than a mortal's.

This is my gift in return for the foot of an ox that thou gavest

290

Unto the godlike Odysseus when here in his home he was begging."

These words uttered the herd of the crook-horned kine; and Odysseus

Stabbed with the thrust of a spear long-shafted the son of Damastor;

Telemachus too smote Leiocritus, son of Euenor,

Right in the midst of the flank, and the blade clean through him was driven ;

295

Forward he fell and he struck on the ground with the whole of his forehead.

Then did Athena her aegis uplift, that is death to a mortal;

High in the roof she displayed it, appalling the minds of the suitors.

Hither and thither they rushed in a panic, as kine on a pasture

Scatter whene'er comes glancing and darting upon them a gadfly

300

Late in the season of spring, when the days grow longer and longer;

While as the vultures with sharp-hooked beaks and with terrible talons

Out of the hills come swooping and chasing the birds of the lowland

Down from the clouds, till over the plain affrighted they flutter,

Then pounce suddenly down and destroy them, and nought can defend them,

305

Nor can they flee (men also rejoice at the chase and the capture),

Thus those four gave chase in the hall to the horde of the suitors,

Smiting around them to left and to right; and a horrible groaning

Rose midst lopping of heads; and the floor ran red with the life-blood.

Leiodes, with a rush, now fell at the feet of Odysseus,

310

Clasping his knees in entreaty; and swift-winged words he addressed him :

"Lo, by thy knees I beseech thee to pity and spare me, Odysseus!

None of the women, I swear, did I wrong in the halls of thy palace

Either by act unseemly or word; yea, also the others

Often I tried to restrain when I saw such folly committed.

315

Natheless ne'er did they listen nor keep their hands from offending;

So hath a terrible doom o'erwhelmed them because of their madness.

What! shall an innocent priest who has harmed thee in nothing be slaughtered

Even as those? Is it thus thou repayest me thanks for my goodness?"

Glaring askance at the man deep-plotting Odysseus addressed him:

320

"Navy, if indeed thou avowst thee as priest to the rabble of suitors,

Often, I ween, in the hall of my palace a prayer thou hast offered

Begging my happy return might still be afar from fulfilment,

Ay and my well-loved wife might wed thee and bear thee an offspring.

So thou art doomed to a death right bitter—nor hope to escape it."

325

These words uttered, he seized with his powerful hand on a broadsword

Lying anear—dropt there on the floor by the prince Agelaus

While he was dying—and into the nape of the kneeler he drave it.

Down in the dust went rolling the head while still it was speaking.

Filled with a hope to escape from the darkness of death was the minstrel

330

Phemius, Terpes' son, who had sung at the feasts by compulsion.

Holding his sweet-voiced lute in his tremulous fingers he stood there

Nigh to the postern door; and his heart was divided within him

Whether to slip from the hall and to flee to the altar for refuge

Built in the court to omnipotent Zeus, where often aforetime

335

Thighs of the cattle Odysseus had burnt, and his father Laertes,

Or rush forward and grasp with his hands at the knees of Odysseus.

Thus as he pondered thereon this plan seemed surely the better,

Even to fall at the feet of the godlike son of Laertes.

Therefore his hollow phorminx he set on the floor of the palace

340

Next to a crater of wine and an armchair studded with silver,

Then rushed forward and fell at the feet of Odysseus and begged him,

Clasping his knees in entreaty; and swift-winged words he addressed him :

"Lo, by thy knees I beseech thee to pity and spare me, Odysseus

Also thyself wouldst suffer hereafter the pain of repentance

345

Wert thou to slaughter a minstrel, who singeth for men and immortals.

None but the god was my master: he breathed in my heart and he taught me

All the enchantment of song; and now I am singing before thee

E'en as my god. Then long not to smite at my throat and to slay me!

Yea, and thy well-loved son prince Telemachus will assure thee

350

Ne'er was I willing to come to thy halls, far less was I wishful

Here to resort with the suitors and sing to them after the banquet.

Being the stronger by far and many in number, they forced me."

Thus as he spake he was heard by the valiant son of Odysseus.

Quickly the prince turned round and called to his father anigh him :

355

"Hold! he is innocent! Strike not the man with thy weapon, my father!

Medon the herald as well let us save, for he ever aforetime

Tended me carefully while I was still but a child in thy homestead,

Should he be living and not by Philoetius slain, or the swineherd,

Neither discovered by thee while raging around in the palace."

360

Thus as he spake he was heard by the wise old Medon the herald.

Cowering under a chair, wrapt round in a new-flayed oxskin,

Hiding in hope to escape from the darkness of death, he was lying.

Swiftly uprising from under the chair and unrolling the oxhide

Forward he sprang, and he fell at the feet of the youth, in entreaty

365

Clasping his knees, and with haste these swift-winged words he addressed him:

"Friend, I am here! Hold, hold, I beseech thee! and call to thy father

Lest in his furious might with the keen-edged sword he shall harm me,

Angered because of the men—these suitors who wasted his substance

Here in his palace ;—and thee they regarded as nothing, the madmen!"

370

Then to the man spake thus with a smile deep-plotting Odysseus:

"Be not afraid! Thou art safe. He wishes to succour and save thee.

So shalt thou feel in thy heart this truth, and shalt tell it to others:

Better by far is the doing of good than the doing of evil.

Go now, both of you. Go from the hall and away from the slaughter.

375

Sit outside in the court, both sweet-voiced singer and herald,

While I remain in the palace to finish my work, as I needs must."

So did he speak, and the twain went forth from the hall to the courtyard.

Here by the altar of Zeus the Almighty they sat, and around them

Hither and thither they peered and of death were ever expectant.

380

Also Odysseus was peering around in the house, to discover

Any remaining and hoping to 'escape death's terrible darkness.

Weltering there in the dust and in blood lay all of the suitors,

Fallen in many and many a heap, like fishes that boatmen

Drag in a strong-meshed net from the grey-green depths of the ocean

385

On to the beach of a hollow recess in the shore, and they lie there

Heaped on the sand, all gasping in vain for the salt sea water,

While by the heat of the sun drawn forth is the life from their bodies.

Thus were lying in heaps, piled one on the other, the suitors.

Then at the last to his son deep-plotting Odysseus addressed him :

390

"Telemachus, go call me the old nurse Eurycleia,

So that I tell her a thing that is stirring my spirit within me."

Thus did he speak, and the youth, as his well-loved father commanded,

Rattled the door of the chamber and called nurse Eurycleia :

"Hither in haste, old dame, who over the women attendants

395

Keepest an eye and hast charge of them all in the palace as matron.

Haste! for my father is bidding thee come. He has something to tell thee."

Thus did he speak, and the word that he uttered abode with her wingless.

Opening quickly the door of the fair-built women's apartment,

Over the threshold she stept; and the youth went onward before her,

400

Till to Odysseus she came. In the midst of the dead he was standing,

Smeared all over with blood and filthy with gore. As a lion,

Leaving the place in the which he has eaten an ox of the farmstead,

Goes on his way, and the whole of the chest and the cheeks of the monster

Drip with the gore——and a terror befalleth the man who beholds him—

405

So all smeared with the blood on his hands and his feet was Odysseus.

Now when the slain she beheld and the terrible blood, and in triumph

Fain had exulted aloud (for she saw that the deed was accomplished),

Then did Odysseus, perceiving her longing, restrain and rebuke her,

While upraising his voice these swift-winged words he addressed her :

410

"Woman, exult in thy heart, but in silence, subduing thy triumph.

Triumphing over the slain is a deed unseemly, unholy.

These hath the doom of the gods in the midst of their wickedness smitten,

Seeing they treated alike all earth-born men with dishonour,

Good no less than the bad—yea every one that approached them.

415

So hath a terrible doom o'erwhelmed them because of their madness.

Come now, tell me of all concerning the maids in the palace,

Which of them honour me not and which are guiltless among them."

Then did the dear old nurse make answer and thus she addressed him:

"Well now, all of the truth in this matter, my child, I will tell thee.

420

Here in thy palace the women that serve are fifty in number,

Thralls that we trained of ourselves to attend to the work of the household,

Such as the carding of wool and enduring the labours of bondage.

Twelve of the maidens in all have trodden the path of dishonour,

Neither respecting myself nor the mistress, Penelopeia.

425

Telemachus was of late but a half-grown lad, and his mother

Would not allow him to give his commands to the women attendants.

Come now, might I ascend to the glistering upper apartment

All to report to thy wife? Some deity sank her in slumber."

Her then in answer addressed these words deep-plotting Odysseus:

430

"Navy, not yet shalt thou wake her; but go to the women and tell them

Hither to come—those maidens that shamelessly acted aforetime."

Thus did he speak, and the nurse went back to the inner apartment

Bearing the message, and ordered the women to hasten their coming.

Now did Odysseus to Telemachus and the cowherd and swineherd

435

Call, and he bade them approach, and with swift-winged words he addressed them:

"See to removing the bodies, and order the women to help you.

Then to the cleaning attend of the fine-wrought chairs and the tables.

Wash them with water, and use soft porous sponges to rub them.

Then, when the whole of the mansion is thoroughly cleansed and in order,

440

Lead those maids from the hall, and bringing them out of the palace

Down by the dome-roofed kitchen and faultless fence of the courtyard

Smite them with swords long-bladed, until ye shall see them before you,

All of them, dead. Yea, thus let them die and forget the delicious

Rites of the goddess of love that they held with the suitors in secret."

445

Thus did he speak, and the women approached all huddled together

Uttering terrible wails as they shed great tears in abundance.

Firstly the bodies they bore of the slain from the hall, and they set them

Under the inside porch of the gate of the high-walled courtyard,

Propping them one by the other, Odysseus directing the bearers,

450

Forcing them also to work, for they carried the dead by compulsion.

Then they aligned to cleaning the fine-wrought chairs and the tables,

Washed them with water, and used soft porous sponges to rub them.

Meanwhile Telemachus and the cowherd and also the swineherd

Scraping with shovels the floor of the strong-built hall of the mansion

455

Cleared it and all was collected and carried away by the women.

Now when the whole of the house they had cleansed and had set it in order,

Leading the women away from the hall and forth from the palace

Down to the dome-roofed kitchen and faultless fence of the courtyard,

Into a corner they drove them that gave no hope of escaping.

460

Then sage Telemachus spake first, addressing his comrades:

"Heaven forbid that I put to a death so cleanly and honest

Women as these, who brought on my head such shame and dishonour,

Yea and the head of my mother, consorting in love with the suitors."

Speaking, he seized on the rope of a blue-prowed vessel and lashed it

465

High on a pillar, and over the dome of the kitchen he slung it,

Hoisting it tautly, that none might reach to the ground for a foothold.

Then, as it haps if a covey of long-winged thrushes or pigeons

Suddenly fall in the snares of a trap that is set in a thicket,

Whither they flock for the night—but a bed right cruel receives them—

470

Thus with their heads in a row stood all of the women, with nooses

Over the neck, to a death most cruel and pitiful destined.

So with their feet some moments they writhed—and soon it was over.

Out by the porch to the yard they conducted Melanthius also.

First with the merciless steel of his ears and his nose they deprived him;

475

Then they extracted and threw as a feast to the dogs his intestines;

Lastly they hacked off both of his hands and his feet in their fury.

Now when the blood from their hands and their feet they had washed, to Odysseus

Into the house they returned; and the whole of the deed was accomplished.

Then to the dear nurse Eurycleia he called, and address her :

480

"Nurse, bring sulphur! It cleanseth pollution. And bring me a brazier,

So that I sweeten the hall with the fumes. Then go to thy mistress;

Bid her to come to my presence with all of her maiden attendants;

Summon moreover the rest of the women that serve in the palace."

Him then in turn gave answer the dear nurse Eurycleia :

485

"Yea of a surety, my child, thou hast spoken according to reason.

Still, come now, I will fetch thee a mantle and tunic for raiment.

Thus, with thy great wide shoulders enveloped in beggarly tatters,

Stand not here in the hall. 'Twere verily blameful to do so."

Her then in answer addressed these words deep-plotting Odysseus:

490

"Firstly I wish in the hall for a brazier of coals to be brought me."

Thus did he speak, and the dear nurse Eurycleia, obeying,

Brought to her master the sulphur and brazier of coal, and Odysseus

Thoroughly sweetened with fumes of the sulphur the house and the courtyard.

Then did the old dame go through all of the beautiful mansion

495

Taking the news to the women and bidding them hasten their coming.

So with a torch in the hand these came from the inner apartments.

Flocking around him they greeted Odysseus with joy and embraced him

Lovingly kissing his head and his shoulders in token of welcome,

Grasping and kissing his hands. And a rapture sweet overcame him,

500

Even a longing for wailing and tears as he saw them and knew them.

New Alexandria Commentaries

Anita Nikkanen

This speech of Leiodes the sacrificing priest as he begs Odysseus to spare him during the massacre of the suitors contains a line ending that also appears in Penelope’s speech at O.4.695: οὐδέ τίς ἐστι χάρις μετόπισθ’ εὐεργέων, “and there is no kharis afterwards for good deeds.” Here, Leiodes claims that he has not done anything, but will lie dead beside the suitors, “and there is no kharis afterwards for good deeds” (O.22.318-319). Although Odysseus does not believe him and slays him, Leiodes’ words confirm the conventionality of the thought: good deeds deserve good kharis in return, and when that does not happen, the social system is being perverted.

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Gregory Nagy

At the end of Rhapsody 21, Odysseus has already passed, in rapid succession, two of three successive tests that needed to be endured by the true king of Ithaca. That is, he has already performed a stringing of his mighty bow and has already won an ultimate contest in archery by executing a perfect shot with the very first arrow that he shoots from the bow. But now, at the beginning of Rhapsody 22, the third test awaits Odysseus. He must now kill the suitors, and the successive killings that follow will ultimately eliminate all the would-be husbands of Penelope. In the end, Odysseus will be the only Achaean left standing. And he has by now been revealed as the only true husband, the only true king. So, he has become the best of the Achaeans in the Homeric Odyssey. But a question remains. Now that all the suitors have been killed, what will happen to the other characters in the Odyssey who had turned against the king in the course of his lengthy absence? Here is where things get really ugly. The extreme cruelty of the retribution that awaits these characters, as we see it narrated here in Odyssey 22, presents the modern reader with moral problems that cannot be evaded.

draft js image error Odysseus kiling Penelope’s suitors. Attic red-figure skyphos, ca. 440 BCE. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

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At O.22.285–286, the cowherd Philoitios kills the suitor Ktesippos, who had thrown at the disguised Odysseus a most lowly portion of beef as a physical insult that augmented his verbal insults during the feast that followed the sacrifice of one hundred cattle in celebration of the festival of Apollo. See the comment at O.20.292–302. Then at O.22.287–291, having killed the suitor, the cowherd mocks the dead Ktesippos for having mistreated a lowly guest who should have really been the kingly host at the feast celebrating the festival of Apollo. In mocking Ktesippos here, the cowherd resorts to the language of blame: he addresses the dead suitor as ‘son of Poluthersēs’, where this “speaking name” (nomen loquens) Polu-thersēs means ‘he who has much boldness [tharsos]’, O.22.287. Such a name is parallel to Thersītēs, the name of a character in the Iliad who is represented as a blame poet of the worst kind. Philoitios also addresses the dead Ktesippos as philo-kertomos ‘lover of insults, O.22.287. On kertomeîn ‘say words of insult’ as used in the language of blame poetry, see the comments at I.02.256, O.02.323, O.18.350; also at O.20.263.

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The name of this aoidos ‘singer’ Phemios is a “speaking name” (nomen loquens): the adjectival Phēmios is derived from the noun phēmē, defined in the comment at O.02.035 as ‘something said that means more than what is meant by the one who says it’. Accordingly, as I note in the same comment, Phemios is a singer whose songs mean more than what is meant by that singer. On the content of what Phemios sings, see the comment on O.01.342. For still more on the content, see the comment at O.22.376, where we see that an epithet of this singer is poluphēmos having many different kinds of things said’. Not only the name Phēmios is a “speaking name”: so too is the patronymic of this singer, Terpiadēs, O.22.330, derived from the verb terpein meaning ‘give delight’. On the poetic connotations of this verb, see especially the comment at O.08.026–045.

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All those who cooperated with the suitors are killed, except for two: Odysseus spares the lives of the poet Phemios and the herald Medon. Phemios is described as an aoidos ‘singer’ at O.22.330 and Medon as a kērux ‘herald’ at O.22.357.

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On oimē as the ‘story-thread’ of song, see the comment at O.08.074.

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The description of the aoidos ‘singer’ here at O.22.376 as poluphēmos ‘having many different kinds of things said’ is relevant what is noted in the comments at O.01.342 and O.02.035: the content of the epic songs sung by this singer could be understood differently by different listeners. See also the comment at O.22.330–331 and, further back, at O.12.184.

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At O.22.437–473, the disloyal handmaidens of the household are executed by hanging. There is considerable emphasis on the terror and suffering of these wretched women as they get strung up in a row, twisting and turning in their agony, O.22.471–473. Those who participate in the execution are Telemachus, the cowherd Philoitios, and the swineherd Eumaios; Odysseus too is present. Then at O.22.474–479 follows the punishment of the goatherd Melanthios: his nose and his ears are chopped off, then his genitalia are ‘pulled out’, to be fed to the dogs, and then, finally, his hands and his feet are also chopped off. After these torments, it appears that he is left still alive. Participating in this horrific retribution are the cowherd Philoitios and the swineherd Eumaios. It is not clear in this case whether Telemachus is also participating, though it is clear enough from O.22.479 that Odysseus is no longer present. In any case, as I already noted in the anchor comment at O.18.085–087 with specific reference to the extreme cruelty involved in the punishment of the goatherd, an explanation is needed for understanding how the supposedly righteous adherents of Odysseus could inflict horrors that were parallel to the horrors inflicted by the mysteriously infernal Ekhetos, as recounted in ghastly detail at O.18.085–087. In the anchor comment, I already indicated that at least one part of the explanation may involve the words of Antinoos at O.21.300–301 concerning a comparable mutilation inflicted on the Centaur Eurytion. But we are still left with the moral problem of the extreme cruelty at work here. Addressing this problem, I now turn to another part of my explanation, which involves what I described in the comment at I.23.001–064 as a dynamic tension between dysfunctionality in the heroic world of myth and functionality in the post-heroic world of ritual. I find it significant, in this regard, that the main agents of extreme cruelty in the narrative about the punishment inflicted on Melanthios are herdsmen, just as Melanthios himself is a herdsman. This pastoral context is relevant, I think, to the cruelty described in the narrative of O.22.474–479, which takes place in the festive setting of a festival that is sacred to Apollo. This festival, after all, is a pastoral celebration, centering on the sacrifice of a hundred cattle. For further pastoral details, I refer again to the anchor comment at O.20.276–280 on the festival of Apollo. But this festival as narrated here in Rhapsody 22 is not yet a ritually correct event: a correction can come about only in the post-heroic age, when the pollutions of the heroic age that happen in myth, including all the horrific cruelty, are purified year after year, into eternity, by way of festive re-enactment in ritual. The pastoral festivities of a festival of Apollo in the post-heroic world of ritual can now transcend the horrors that still pollute the heroic world of myth. But the first steps in purifying the pollution are already being taken in the myth, since Odysseus insists on the fumigation of his household in the aftermath of all the carnage. In my overall explanation, I have been emphasizing the festivities that mark the occasion of any festival, and this emphasis is relevant to a most telling insight shown by Plato when he looks into one of the most horrific of all narratives in Greek mythology. I am thinking here of the myth about Marsyas, a satyr who was an ultimate master in the art of playing the double-reed known as the aulos. According to this myth, Marsyas was skinned alive by the god Apollo, that ultimate master in the art of playing the lyre known as the kitharā. In Plato’s Symposium 215a-b, we can see how the extreme violence of Apollo in the world of myth, where he strips the skin from the body of Marsyas, is counterbalanced by the festive merriment of discovering what is under the skin of Marsyas in the world of ritual. In the passage that I have just cited from the Symposium, the speaker is Alcibiades, and he is comparing the external ugliness of Socrates to that of Marsyas—but here the focus is on the Marsyas of ritual, not of myth. As we now learn, there used to be a festive custom of making hollow figurines of Marsyas that contained in the inside the smaller figurines of gods. I infer that the defining god that was hidden in the inside of Marsyas was Apollo himself, so that, when you peeled off the Marsyas on the outside of the figurine, you found the god Apollo on the inside. Thus, the grim violence of the myth is purified here in the festive merriment of a ritual celebrating Apollo. There could be many parallels I could draw from other festive customs as we find them world-wide—perhaps my favorite is what I could fancifully call the “John Barleycorn Syndrome”—but I content myself here with presenting my formulation in its most basic form. Of course, the shock of the violence in myth remains, and I cannot exorcise it in my own mind, but at least it is expurgated by the merriment in ritual. A similar explanation could be attempted in the case of those wretched women who were caught in that snare, O.22.471–473, since they are compared to kikhlai ‘thrushes’ and peleiai ‘pigeons’ at O.22.468. These birds get comparably snared—but the difference is, they are caught in order to be cooked and eaten as delicacies.

draft js image error Still life showing eggs, thrushes, napkin: from the House of Julia Felix, Pompeii. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

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The women who were loyal to Odysseus, now that he has emerged victorious, weep with joy as they embrace him. The metaphor of ‘pouring all over’ someone in the act of embracing that someone, as expressed here by way of the verb amphi-khu-, is an extension of the metaphor of ‘dissolving’ while weeping, on which see especially the comments at O.08.522 and at O.08.527.

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Leonard Muellner

presence of battle-book formulas in the battle in the Odyssey, here a death announcement, in the context of the analysis of the non-formulaic eukhesthai introducing speech in O.14.463, which is nevertheless analogous to formula (X) (death eukhesthai), though it is not followed by a death announcement but an adventure tale (traditional function aborted by genre-suppression)

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in a list of expressions which do not specify the speaker’s name, in the context of analyzing I.11.379 and demonstrating the functional equivalence of eukhesthai in (X) || kai eukhomenos epos ēuda or (Y) hōs ephat’ Argeioisi d’akhos genet’ euxamenoio

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analysis of the differentiation of blame in the Odyssey (vs. in the Iliad) and the muting of the mēnis theme in it, here especially regarding the suitors, their relatives, and Odysseus and his family

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analysis of thuoskoos as not a particularly prestigious occupation, in the context of analyzing Odysseus’ response to Leodes in O.22.321

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analysis of Odysseus’ response to Leodes in O.22.231 as taking him to take pride in his relationship with the suitors

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comparison of this use of secular eukhesthai to specify social relationships as marks of privilege and identity with Vedic parallels

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analysis of thuoskoos as not a particularly prestigious occupation, in the context of analyzing Odysseus’ response to Leodes in O.22.321

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in a list of eukhesthai einai + social relationship

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analysis of Odysseus’ response to Leodes in this verse as taking him to take pride in his relationship with the suitors

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comparison of this use of secular eukhesthai to specify social relationships as marks of privilege and identity with Vedic parallels

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contrasting Phemios’ plea to be spared to Odysseus with that of Leodes, in context of the analysis of Odysseus’ response to Leodes in O.22.231 as taking him to take pride in his relationship with the suitors

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the morality of the Odyssey, here the forbidding of big talk over dead bodies

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analysis of the passages in the Odyssey that imply that a basic component of the story of Odysseus’ return, the massacre of the suitors, is a variant of the mēnis theme

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Homer Odyssey 22.430

ed. Robert Southey

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Experimental

ODYSSEY BOOK XXII

BATTEN WILSON
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE SUITORS

New Alexandria Commentaries

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Experimental

ODYSSEY BOOK XXII

BATTEN WILSON THE SLAUGHTER OF THE SUITORS

New Alexandria Commentaries

Stable identifiers

BATTEN WILSON
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE SUITORS