Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Book

← Previous Next →

THEN fierce the hero o'er the threshold strode;

Stripp'd of his rags, he blaz'd out like a god.¹

Full in their face the lifted bow he bore,

And quiver'd deaths, a formidable store;

Before his feet the rattling shower he threw,

And thus, terrific, to the suitor-crew:

"One venturous game this hand hath won to-day,

Another, princes! yet remains to play;

Another mark our arrow must attain.

Phœbus, assist! nor be the labour vain."

Swift as the word the parting arrow sings,

And bears thy fate, Antinoüs, on its wings:

Wretch that he was, of unprophetic soul!

High in his hands he rear'd the golden bowl!

Even then to drain it lengthen'd out his breath;

Changed to the deep, the bitter draught of death:

For fate who fear'd amidst a feastful band?

And fate to numbers, by a single hand?

Full through his throat Ulysses' weapon pass'd,

And pierced his neck. He falls, and breathes his last.

The tumbling goblet the wide floor o'erflows,

A stream of gore burst spouting from his nose;

Grim in convulsive agonies he sprawls:

Before him spurn'd the loaded table falls,

And spreads the pavement with a mingled flood

Of floating meats, and wine, and human blood.

Amaz'd, confounded, as they saw him fall,

Up rose the throngs tumultuous round the hall:

O'er all the dome they cast a haggard eye,

Each look'd for arms: in vain; no arms were nigh:

"Aim'st thou at princes?" (all amaz'd they said ;)

"Thy last of games unhappy hast thou play'd;

Thy erring shaft has made our bravest bleed,

And death, unlucky guest, attends thy deed.

Vultures shall tear thee." Thus incens'd they spoke,

While each to chance ascrib'd the wondrous stroke,

Blind as they were; for death even now invades

His destin'd prey, and wraps them all in shades.

Then, grimly frowning, with a dreadful look,

That wither'd all their hearts, Ulysses spoke:

"Dogs, ye have had your day! ye fear'd no more

Ulysses vengeful from the Trojan shore;

While, to your lust and spoil a guardless prey,

Our house, our wealth, our helpless handmaids lay:

Not so content, with bolder frenzy fir'd,

Even to our bed presumptuous you aspir'd:

Laws or divine or human fail'd to move,

Or shame of men, or dread of gods above;

Heedless alike of infamy or praise,

Or Fame's eternal voice in future days,

The hour of vengeance, wretches, now is come;

Impending fate is yours, and instant doom."

Odyssey. Homer. London. 1858.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Current edition Experimental

English (Alexander Pope, 1726, ed. Watson, 1858) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Alexander Pope, 1726, ed. Watson, 1858))

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.) — 22.1 focus

αὐτὰρ ὁ γυμνώθη ῥακέων πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς,

ἆλτο δʼ ἐπὶ μέγαν οὐδόν, ἔχων βιὸν ἠδὲ φαρέτρην

ἰῶν ἐμπλείην, ταχέας δʼ ἐκχεύατʼ ὀϊστοὺς

αὐτοῦ πρόσθε ποδῶν, μετὰ δὲ μνηστῆρσιν ἔειπεν·

οὗτος μὲν δὴ ἄεθλος ἀάατος ἐκτετέλεσται·

νῦν αὖτε σκοπὸν ἄλλον, ὃν οὔ πώ τις βάλεν ἀνήρ,

εἴσομαι, αἴ κε τύχωμι, πόρῃ δέ μοι εὖχος Ἀπόλλων.

ἦ καὶ ἐπʼ Ἀντινόῳ ἰθύνετο πικρὸν ὀϊστόν.

ἦ τοι ὁ καλὸν ἄλεισον ἀναιρήσεσθαι ἔμελλε,

χρύσεον ἄμφωτον, καὶ δὴ μετὰ χερσὶν ἐνώμα,

ὄφρα πίοι οἴνοιο· φόνος δέ οἱ οὐκ ἐνὶ θυμῷ

μέμβλετο· τίς κʼ οἴοιτο μετʼ ἀνδράσι δαιτυμόνεσσι

μοῦνον ἐνὶ πλεόνεσσι, καὶ εἰ μάλα καρτερὸς εἴη,

οἷ τεύξειν θάνατόν τε κακὸν καὶ κῆρα μέλαιναν;

τὸν δʼ Ὀδυσεὺς κατὰ λαιμὸν ἐπισχόμενος βάλεν ἰῷ,

ἀντικρὺ δʼ ἁπαλοῖο διʼ αὐχένος ἤλυθʼ ἀκωκή.

ἐκλίνθη δʼ ἑτέρωσε, δέπας δέ οἱ ἔκπεσε χειρὸς

βλημένου, αὐτίκα δʼ αὐλὸς ἀνὰ ῥῖνας παχὺς ἦλθεν

αἵματος ἀνδρομέοιο· θοῶς δʼ ἀπὸ εἷο τράπεζαν

ὦσε ποδὶ πλήξας, ἀπὸ δʼ εἴδατα χεῦεν ἔραζε·

σῖτός τε κρέα τʼ ὀπτὰ φορύνετο. τοὶ δʼ ὁμάδησαν

μνηστῆρες κατὰ δώμαθʼ, ὅπως ἴδον ἄνδρα πεσόντα,

ἐκ δὲ θρόνων ἀνόρουσαν ὀρινθέντες κατὰ δῶμα,

πάντοσε παπταίνοντες ἐϋδμήτους ποτὶ τοίχους·

οὐδέ πη ἀσπὶς ἔην οὐδʼ ἄλκιμον ἔγχος ἑλέσθαι.

νείκειον δʼ Ὀδυσῆα χολωτοῖσιν ἐπέεσσι·

ξεῖνε, κακῶς ἀνδρῶν τοξάζεαι· οὐκέτʼ ἀέθλων

ἄλλων ἀντιάσεις· νῦν τοι σῶς αἰπὺς ὄλεθρος.

καὶ γὰρ δὴ νῦν φῶτα κατέκτανες ὃς μέγʼ ἄριστος

κούρων εἰν Ἰθάκῃ· τῷ σʼ ἐνθάδε γῦπες ἔδονται.

ἴσκεν ἕκαστος ἀνήρ, ἐπεὶ ἦ φάσαν οὐκ ἐθέλοντα

ἄνδρα κατακτεῖναι· τὸ δὲ νήπιοι οὐκ ἐνόησαν,

ὡς δή σφιν καὶ πᾶσιν ὀλέθρου πείρατʼ ἐφῆπτο.

τοὺς δʼ ἄρʼ ὑπόδρα ἰδὼν προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·

ὦ κύνες, οὔ μʼ ἔτʼ ἐφάσκεθʼ ὑπότροπον οἴκαδʼ ἱκέσθαι

δήμου ἄπο Τρώων, ὅτι μοι κατεκείρετε οἶκον,

δμῳῇσιν δὲ γυναιξὶ παρευνάζεσθε βιαίως,

αὐτοῦ τε ζώοντος ὑπεμνάασθε γυναῖκα,

οὔτε θεοὺς δείσαντες, οἳ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἔχουσιν,

οὔτε τινʼ ἀνθρώπων νέμεσιν κατόπισθεν ἔσεσθαι·

νῦν ὑμῖν καὶ πᾶσιν ὀλέθρου πείρατʼ ἐφῆπται.

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.) — 22.1 focus

1 But Odysseus of many wiles stripped off his rags and sprang to the great threshold with the bow and the quiver full of arrows, and poured forth the swift arrows right there before his feet, and spoke among the wooers: 5 “Lo, now at last is this decisive contest ended; and now as for another mark, which till now no man has ever smitten, I will know¹ if haply I may strike it, and Apollo grant me glory.” He spoke, and aimed a bitter arrow at Antinous. Now he was on the point of raising to his lips a fair goblet, 10 a two-eared cup of gold, and was even now handling it, that he might drink of the wine, and death was not in his thoughts. For who among men that sat at meat could think that one man among many, how strong soever he were, would bring upon himself evil death and black fate? 15 But Odysseus took aim, and smote him with an arrow in the throat, and clean out through the tender neck passed the point; he sank to one side, and the cup fell from his hand as he was smitten, and straightway up through his nostrils there came a thick jet of the blood of man; and quickly 20 he thrust the table from him with a kick of his foot, and spilled all the food on the floor, and the bread and roast flesh were befouled. Then into uproar broke the wooers through the halls, as they saw the man fallen, and from their high seats they sprang, driven in fear through the hall, gazing everywhere along the well-built walls; 25 but nowhere was there a shield or mighty spear to seize. But they railed at Odysseus with angry words: “Stranger, to thy cost dost thou shoot at men; never again shalt thou take part in other contests; now is thy utter destruction sure. Aye, for thou hast now slain a man who was far the best 30 of the youths in Ithaca ; therefore shall vultures devour thee here.” So spoke² each man, for verily they thought that he had not slain the man willfully; and in their folly they knew not this, that over themselves one and all the cords of destruction had been made fast. Then with an angry glance from beneath his brows Odysseus of many wiles answered them: 35 “Ye dogs, ye thought that I should never more come home from the land of the Trojans, seeing that ye wasted my house, and lay with the maidservants by force, and while yet I lived covertly wooed my wife, having no fear of the gods, who hold broad heaven, 40 nor of the indignation of men, that is to be hereafter. Now over you one and all have the cords of destruction been made fast.”

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.) — 22.1 focus

1 Then Odysseus tore off his rags, and sprang on to the broad pavement with his bow and his quiver full of arrows. He shed the arrows on to the ground at his feet and said, "The mighty contest [ athlos] is at an end. I will now see whether Apollo will grant it to me to hit another mark which no man has yet hit."

8 On this he aimed a deadly arrow at Antinoos, who was about to take up a two-handled gold cup to drink his wine and already had it in his hands. He had no thought of death - who amongst all the revelers would think that one man, however brave, would stand alone among so many and kill him? The arrow struck Antinoos in the throat, and the point went clean through his neck, so that he fell over and the cup dropped from his hand, while a thick stream of blood gushed from his nostrils. He kicked the table from him and upset the things on it, so that the bread and roasted meats were all soiled as they fell over on to the ground. The suitors were in an uproar when they saw that a man had been hit; they sprang in dismay one and all of them from their seats and looked everywhere towards the walls, but there was neither shield nor spear, and they rebuked Odysseus very angrily. "Stranger," said they, "you shall pay for shooting people in this way: you shall see no other contest [ athlos]; you are a doomed man; he whom you have slain was the foremost youth in Ithaca , and the vultures shall devour you for having killed him."

31 Thus they spoke, for they thought that he had killed Antinoos by mistake, and did not perceive that death was hanging over the head of every one of them. But Odysseus glared at them and said:

35 "Dogs, did you think that I should not come back from the dêmos of the Trojans? You have wasted my substance, have forced my women servants to lie with you, and have wooed my wife while I was still living. You have feared neither the gods nor that there would be future nemesis from men, and now you shall die."

English (Butler, rev. Nagy et al., 2020) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Butler, rev. Nagy et al., 2020)) — 22.1 focus

Then resourceful Odysseus tore off his rags, and sprang on to the broad pavement with his bow and his quiver full of arrows. He shed the arrows on to the ground at his feet and said, [5] “The mighty contest [ āthlos] is at an end. I will now see whether Apollo will grant it to me to hit another mark which no man has yet hit.”

Then he aimed a deadly arrow at Antinoos, who was about to take up a two-handled [10] gold cup to drink his wine and already had it in his hands. He had no thought of death—who amongst all the revelers would think that one man, however brave, would stand alone among so many and kill him? [15] The arrow struck Antinoos in the throat, and the point went clean through his neck, so that he fell over and the cup dropped from his hand, while a thick stream of blood gushed from his nostrils. He kicked [20] the table from him and upset the things on it, so that the bread and roasted meats were all soiled as they fell over on to the ground. The suitors were in an uproar when they saw that a man had been hit; they sprang in dismay one and all of them from their seats and looked everywhere towards the walls, [25] but there was neither shield nor spear, and they rebuked Odysseus very angrily. “Stranger,” said they, “you shall pay for shooting people in this way: you shall see no other contest [ āthlos]; you are a doomed man; he whom you have slain was the foremost [30] youth in Ithaca, and the vultures shall devour you for having killed him.”

Thus they spoke, for they thought that he had killed Antinoos by mistake, and did not perceive that death was hanging over the head of every one of them. But resourceful Odysseus glared at them and said:

[35] “Dogs, did you think that I should not come back from the district [ dēmos] of the Trojans? You have wasted my substance, have forced my women servants to lie with you, and have wooed my wife while I was still living. You have feared neither the gods [40] nor that there would be future nemesis from men, and now you shall die.”

English (William Cullen Bryant, 1873) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (William Cullen Bryant, 1873)) — 22.1 focus

THEN did Ulysses cast his rags aside,

And, leaping to the threshold, took his stand

On its broad space, with bow and quiver filled

With arrows. At his feet the hero poured

The winged shafts, and to the suitors called :

"That difficult strife is ended. Now I take

Another mark, which no man yet has hit.

Now shall I see if I attain my aim,

And, by the aid of Phœbus, win renown."

He spake; and, turning, at Antinoüs aimed

The bitter shaft, - Antinoüs, who just then

Had grasped a beautiful two-eared cup of gold,

About to drink the wine. He little thought

Of wounds and death; for who, when banqueting

Among his fellows, could suspect that one

Alone against so many men would dare,

However bold, to plan his death, and bring

On him the doom of fate? Ulysses struck

The suitor with the arrow at the throat.

The point came through the tender neck behind,

Sideways he sank to earth; his hand let fall

The cup; the dark blood in a thick warm stream

Gushed from the nostrils of the smitten man.

He spurned the table with his feet, and spilled

The viands; bread and roasted meats were flung

To lie polluted on the floor. Then rose

The suitors in a tumult, when they saw

The fallen man; from all their seats they rose

Throughout the hall, and to the massive walls

Looked eagerly; there hung no buckler there,

No sturdy lance for them to wield. They called

Thus to Ulysses with indignant words:

"Stranger! in evil hour hast thou presumed

To aim at men; and thou shalt henceforth bear

Part in no other contest. Even now

Is thy destruction close to thee. Thy hand

Hath slain the noblest youth in Ithaca.

The vultures shall devour thy flesh for this."

So each one said; they deemed he had not slain

The suitor wittingly; nor did they see,

Blind that they were, the doom which in that hour

Was closing round them all. Then with a frown

The wise Ulysses looked on them, and said : -

"Dogs! ye had thought I never would come back

From Ilium's coast, and therefore ye devoured

My substance here, and offered violence

To my maid-servants, and pursued my wife

As lovers, while I lived. Ye dreaded not

The gods who dwell in the great heaven, nor feared

Vengeance hereafter from the hands of men ;

And now destruction overhangs you all."

English (Thomas Hobbes, 1667, ed. Molesworth 1843) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Hobbes, 1667, ed. Molesworth 1843)) — 22.1 focus

ULYSSES then himself delivereth

Of his foul rags, and leaps up to the sill,

With bow in hand and arrows tipt with death,

And spake to th' wooers boasting of his skill.

Suitors, said he, this match is at an end;

Jove speed me now. Another mark have at,

Which none ere shot at yet. Apollo send

Me luck to hit. As he was saying that,

T' Antinous the shaft he did address,

Who had the cup in's hand about to drink;

Than of his death he thought of nothing less.

For one amongst so many who would think,

How strong soever, durst do such a thing?

The arrow pierc'd his neck from throat to poll.

The wound received, he turns round staggering;

The blood stream'd out; away he threw the bowl;

And overturned the table with his feet;

Both bread and meat lay scatter'd in the hall.

The suitors bustle and in clusters meet,

Of this great man amazed at the fall.

Then one of them unto Ulysses said:

Stranger, this was ill shot; thou killed hast

The greatest man in Ithaca. Thou'st plaid

Thy last prize. To the crows thou shalt be cast.

But yet they held their hands; for why, they thought

'Twas done by misadventure, not contriv'd;

For, proud and foolish, they perceived not

The fatal hour was to them all arriv'd.

Then said Ulysses, with a sullen eye,

Dogs, dead you thought me, and spent my estate;

With you my woman you compell’d to lie;

And would have wedded, whilst I liv'd, my mate.

No fear you had neither of Gods on high,

Nor of revenge from any mortal man;

But now a vengeance to you all is nigh.

English (George Chapman, 1667, ed. Hooper 1857) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (George Chapman, 1667, ed. Hooper 1857)) — 22.1 focus

THE upper rags that wise Ulysses wore

Cast off, he rusheth to the great hall door

With bow and quiver full of shafts, which down

He pour'd before his feet, and thus made known

His true state to the Wooers: "This strife thus

Hath harmless been decided; now for us

There rests another mark, more hard to hit,

And such as never man before hath smit;

Whose full point likewise my hands shall assay,

And try if Phœbus will give me his day."

He said, and off his bitter arrow thrust

Right at Antinous, that struck him just

As he was lifting up the bowl, to show

That 'twixt the cup and lip much ill may grow.

Death touch'd not at his thoughts at feast; for who

Would think that he alone could perish so

Amongst so many, and he best of all?

The arrow in his throat took full his fall,

And thrust his head far through the other side.

Down fell his cup, down he, down all his pride;

Straight from his nostrils gush'd the human gore;

And, as he fell, his feet far overbore

The feastful table; all the roast and bread

About the house strew'd. When his high-born head

The rest beheld so low, up rush'd they all,

And ransack'd every corner of the hall

For shields and darts; but all fled far their reach.

Then fell they foul on him with terrible speech,

And told him it should prove the dearest shaft

That ever pass'd him; and that now was saft

No shift for him, but sure and sudden death;

For he had slain a man, whose like did breathe

In no part of the kingdom; and that now

He should no more for games strive with his bow,

But vultures eat him there. These threats they spent,

Yet every man believed that stern event

Chanced 'gainst the author's will. O fools, to think

That all their rest had any cup to drink

But what their great Antinous began!"

He, frowning, said: "Dogs, see in me the man

Ye all held dead at Troy. My house it is

That thus ye spoil, and thus your luxuries

File with my womens' rapes; in which ye woo

The wife of one that lives, and no thought show

Of man's fit fear, or God's, your present fame,

Or any fair sense of your future name;

And, therefore, present and eternal death

Shall end your base life."

English (William Cowper, 1791, ed. Southey) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (William Cowper, 1791, ed. Southey)) — 22.1 focus

THEN, girding up his rags, Ulysses sprang

With bow and full-charged quiver to the door;

Loose on the broad stone at his feet he pour'd

His arrows, and the suitors thus bespake.

This prize, though difficult, hath been atchieved.

Now for another mark which never man

Struck yet, but I will strike it if I may,

And if Apollo make that glory mine.

He said, and at Antinoüs aimed direct

A bitter shaft; he, purposing to drink,

Both hands advanced toward the golden cup

Twin-ear'd, nor aught suspected death so nigh.

For who, at the full banquet, could suspect

That any single guest, however brave,

Should plan his death, and execute the blow?

Yet him Ulysses with an arrow pierced

Full in the throat, and through his neck behind

Started the glittering point. Aslant he droop'd;

Down fell the goblet, through his nostrils flew

The spouted blood, and spurning with his foot

The board, he spread his viands in the dust.

Confusion, when they saw Antinoüs fall'n,

Seized all the suitors; from the thrones they sprang,

Flew every way, and on all sides explored

The palace-walls, but neither sturdy lance

As erst, nor buckler could they there discern.

Then, furious, to Ulysses thus they spake.

Thy arrow, stranger, was ill-aim'd; a man

Is no just mark. Thou never shalt dispute

Prize more. Inevitable death is thine.

For thou hast slain a Prince noblest of all

In Ithaca, and shalt be vultures' food.

Various their judgments were, but none believed

That he had slain him wittingly, nor saw

The infatuate men fate hovering o'er them all.

Then thus Ulysses, louring dark, replied.

O dogs! not fearing aught my safe return

From Ilium, ye have shorn my substance close,

Lain with my women forcibly, and sought,

While yet I lived, to make my consort yours,

Heedless of the inhabitants of heaven

Alike, and of the just revenge of man.

But death is on the wing; death for you all.

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.

Notes on the current edition

Odyssey

1. We are now come to the great event or catastrophe of the Odyssey, which is the destruction of the suitors. The manner in which the poet conducts it, has been censured by some as incredible: it has been asked, "Why did not the suitors rush upon Ulysses in a body?" To do so was impossible, because Ulysses shot from the threshold, as Cocles on a narrow bridge stood against the whole army of Porsena. Homer might easily have raised an army, and placed Ulysses at the head of it; but the more difficult way being most conducive to his honour, he rejects all easy methods, shows him struggling with infinite hazards, out of which he extricates himself personally by his wisdom and courage. By these means he completes the character of his hero, leaves a noble image of his worth upon the minds of the spectators, and makes him go off the stage with the utmost applause. Pope.

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.

source

Gregory Nagy

Here at O.22.001–007 is the moment when Odysseus finally strips off the rags of a beggar and stands tall at the threshold as he scatters at his feet the arrows from his quiver. He will now pick up the arrows, one by one, and shoot them at the suitors. And he starts by taking aim at Antinoos. In Plato’s Ion, this moment is treated as the greatest of all scenes pictured in Homeric poetry. In a conversation with the rhapsode Ion, who specializes in the performance of Homeric poetry, Plato’s Socrates is making a mental list of what he considers to be the greatest Homeric scenes. First place in the list goes to the moment that we see here at the beginning of Rhapsody 22, where Odysseus stands at the threshold and pours the arrows from his quiver. This moment in the Odyssey, as we see in the order of mention by Plato’s Socrates, outranks even the greatest moment in the Iliad, which gets only second place. The Iliadic moment is where Achilles lunges at Hector, evidently for the last time. And third place goes to any one of those moments in the Iliad where Andromache or Hecuba or Priam, in that order, are shown lamenting. In this mental list of Plato’s Socrates, we see two examples of fear or terror and one combined example of pity—two emotions that are considered to be primary in tragedy as analyzed by Aristotle in his Poetics. I quote here the relevant wording, where Plato’s Socrates is speaking directly to the Homeric rhapsode Ion (Plato Ion 535b–c):

ΣΩ. Ἔχε δή μοι τόδε εἰπέ, ὦ Ἴων, καὶ μὴ ἀποκρύψῃ ὅτι ἄν σε ἔρωμαι· ὅταν εὖ εἴπῃς ἔπη καὶ ἐκπλήξῃς μάλιστα τοὺς θεωμένους, ἢ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα ὅταν ἐπὶ τὸν οὐδὸν ἐφαλλόμενον ᾄδῃς, ἐκφανῆ γιγνόμενον τοῖς μνηστῆρσι καὶ ἐκχέοντα τοὺς ὀιστοὺς πρὸ τῶν ποδῶν, ἢ Ἀχιλλέα ἐπὶ τὸν Ἕκτορα ὁρμῶντα, ἢ καὶ τῶν περὶ Ἀνδρομάχην ἐλεινῶν τι ἢ περὶ Ἑκάβην ἢ περὶ Πρίαμον, τότε πότερον ἔμφρων εἶ ἢ ἔξω {c} σαυτοῦ γίγνῃ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς πράγμασιν οἴεταί σου εἶναι ἡ ψυχὴ οἷς λέγεις ἐνθουσιάζουσα, ἢ ἐν Ἰθάκῃ οὖσιν ἢ ἐν Τροίᾳ ἢ ὅπως ἂν καὶ τὰ ἔπη ἔχῃ;

SOCRATES: Hold it right there. Tell me this, Ion—respond to what I ask without concealment. When you recite well the epic verses [epos plural] and induce a feeling of bedazzlement [ekplēxis] for the spectators [theōmenoi]—when you sing [as the subject of your singing] Odysseus leaping onto the threshold and revealing himself to the suitors and pouring out the arrows at his feet, or [as another subject of your singing] Achilles rushing at Hector, or [as still another subject of your singing] something connected to the pitiful things about Andromache or Hecuba or Priam— are you then in your right mind, or outside yourself? Does your spirit [psukhē], possessed by the god [enthousiazein], suppose that you are in the midst of the actions you describe in Ithaca or Troy, or wherever the epic verses [epos plural] have it?

This description captures the high drama of Homeric performance, as here at the beginning of Rhapsody 22.

source

The rapid succession of actions at the end of Rhapsody 21, where the stringing of the bow had been followed immediately by the shooting of the first arrow, is now matched at the beginning of Rhapsody 22 by a similarly rapid succession of actions taken by Odysseus. The king shows no hesitation as he proceeds to kill Antinoos, O.22.008–021. And he will thereafter keep on killing the suitors, one after the other. Correspondingly, the transition from Rhapsody 21 to Rhapsody 22 shows no hesitation: the shooting of the first arrow, which wins the contest in archery at the end of one rhapsody, is followed immediately by the shooting of the next arrow that kills Antinoos here in the next rhapsody—to be followed in turn by the successive killings that will ultimately eliminate all the other would-be husbands of Penelope.

source

Now, at the beginning of Rhapsody 22, a third test awaits Odysseus: he must kill the suitors. The king shows no hesitation. Having just won the contest in archery with the very first arrow that he shoots after stringing his mighty bow, he now goes on to aim his next arrow at Antinoos, who has been by far the worst of those leftover Achaeans of Ithaca. Odysseus shoots the arrow, and it hits the mark: Antinoos is instantly killed, O.22.008–021. The successive arrows, each one of them, will also hit the mark, and he keeps on shooting until there are no arrows left, O.22.116–119. Then, after Odysseus has run out of arrows to shoot, he arms himself with his armor for hand-to-hand combat, O.22.120–125. The slaughter of the suitors will continue until in the end all are killed.

source

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.

source

As noted in the comment at O.22.001-125, Odysseus passes three tests in proving that he is the lawful husband of Penelope and the genuine king of Ithaca: (1) the stringing of the bow, (2) the contest in archery, and (3) the killing of the suitors. Here at O.22.005, we see that the Greek word referring to the second test, the contest in archery, is aethlos (āthlos) ‘ordeal’. Now that he has performed his winning shot, Odysseus is saying that the contest has ‘reached an outcome’, as expressed by the verb ek-teleîn, O.22.005. On the use of this word aethlos (āthlos) ‘ordeal’ with reference to the heroic Labors of Hēraklēs, see the comment at O.11.620–624. On the use of this same word with reference to the ‘ordeals’ of warfare, see the comments at I.03.125–128; also at O.03.262 and O.04.170. On its use with reference to contests in athletics, see the comment at O.08.096–103. The masculine noun aethlos (āthlos), in referring to the ritualized ‘ordeal’ of āthlētai ‘athletes’, is correlated with the neuter noun aethlon (āthlon), which refers to a ‘prize’ that is won in competition among athletes.

source

Seeing that Odysseus has just now shot an arrow that has killed the suitor Antinoos, the rest of the suitors are feeling outraged, assuming as they do that this killing was accidental, O.22.031–032. They revile Odysseus, whom they still fail to recognize, exclaiming that he has accidentally shot the very best of all the young men in Ithaca, O.22.029–030. In effect, they are delusionally assuming that Odysseus has killed the best of the Achaeans in Ithaca. They exclaim further that they will kill the would-be beggar and feed his corpse to vultures, O.22.030, adding derisively: so, don’t expect to win some prize for this shot of the arrow, O.22.027–028. And the word that is used here at O.22.027 for ‘prize’ is aethlon (āthlon), O.22.027. Whereas the masculine noun aethlos (āthlos) refers to the ritualized ‘ordeal’ of competition, as noted in the comment at O.22.005, the neuter noun aethlon (āthlon) ordinarily refers to a ‘prize’ that is won in the competition—as also noted in the comment at O.22.005.

source

Reacting to the death of Antinoos, the remaining suitors were now ‘making likenesses’, as expressed by the verb eïskein ‘make likenesses, liken’, O.22.031. That is, each one of them was ‘making likenesses’ in his own mind. They made things up in their own minds, and these things were not just illusions: they were delusions. They were still imagining that Odysseus was a mere beggar, since he had up to now looked like a beggar. The likeness of Odysseus to a beggar made the suitors imagine something different than what was really happening. They imagined that the shooting of Antinoos must have been a grotesque accident. After all, how would a mere beggar dare to shoot the best of the Achaeans in Ithaca? The suitors’ mistaken way of thinking shows a lack of the mental qualities it would take to recognize Odysseus as the true king, as the best of the Achaeans. By the time Odysseus reveals himself as his true self, it is too late for the suitors. Possession of the mental qualities that they would have needed to have—but did not have—for a timely recognition of Odysseus is expressed here by way of the verb noeîn ‘take note (of), notice’, O.22.032. This verb, derived from nóos, which means basically ‘mind, way of thinking’, signals the capacity to recognize what is true. Such a capacity is characteristic of Alkinoos, who ‘notices’ things about the disguised Odysseus, as expressed by way of the verb noeîn ‘take note (of), notice’ at O.08.094 and at O.08.533, where the power of this king to ‘notice’ is what leads ultimately to the self-revelation of Odysseus to the Phaeacians in Odyssey 8. See the comments at O.08.094 and at O.08.533; see also the anchor comment at I.05.669 on noeîn ‘take note (of), notice’. Relevant also is the note at I.13.726–735 about a generalizing statement that is made in those lines: it is said there that a person’s nóos ‘mind’, I.13.732, is what enables him or her to ‘recognize’, gignōskein, I.13.734; see also the comment at O.17.292. In the case of Alkinoos, his mental power to ‘notice’ is the motivation for his “speaking name” (nomen loquens), alkí-noos, ‘he who has the power [alk- as in alkē ‘power’] of mind [nóos]’. By contrast with Alkinoos, whose “speaking name” is positive, Antinoos as the worst of the suitors has a “speaking name” that is negative: antí-noos ‘he who has a mind [nóos] that is opposed [anti]’. The opposition between the meanings of these two names may also go deeper, involving the root *nes- in the older sense of ‘return to life and life’: Alkinoos had the mental power to promote such a return, whereas Antinoos was in the end powerless to prevent it (on this point, see also H24H 10§10).

source

On the infusion of strength as by way of divinely breathing it into the hero and thus reminding him of his own menos in the sense of his ‘power’, see the comments at I.10.482, I.11.508, I.15.059–060, I.15.262. Here at O.22.203, the menos ‘power’ that is breathed-out had been presumably breathed-in by divine agency.

source

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.

source

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.

source

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.

source

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

source

Leonard Muellner

analysis of the attestations of eukhesthai + aorist infinitive (and the series to which this verse belongs)

source

analysis of the meaning and uses of piphauskesthai, here in the sense of ‘reveal through speech’ (in the context of analyzing the semantic and formal confusion of piphaskein and piphauskesthai)

source

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

source

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)

source

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

source

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

source

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

source

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

source

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

source

in a list of eukhesthai einai + social relationship

source

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

source

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

source

Homer Odyssey 22.1

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Experimental

ODYSSEY BOOK XXII

BATTEN WILSON
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE SUITORS

Notes on the current edition

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

Notes on the current edition

New Alexandria Commentaries

Stable identifiers

BATTEN WILSON
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE SUITORS