{"id":124,"date":"2021-05-26T09:19:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T13:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/book-xviii\/"},"modified":"2022-02-01T10:54:04","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T15:54:04","slug":"18","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/18\/","title":{"raw":"Book XVIII","rendered":"Book XVIII"},"content":{"raw":"

Argument<\/b><\/h2>\r\nThe beggar Irus arrives at the palace; a combat takes place between him and Ulysses, in which Irus is by one blow vanquished. Penelope appears to the suitors, and having reminded them of the presents which she had a right to expect from them, receives a gift from each. Eurymachus, provoked by a speech of Ulysses, flings a foot-stool at him, which knocks down the cup-bearer; a general tumult is the consequence, which continues, till by the advice of Telemachus, seconded by Amphinomus, the suitors retire to their respective homes.\r\n\r\nNow came a public mendicant, a man\r\nAccustom\u2019d, seeking alms, to roam the streets\r\nOf Ithaca; one never sated yet\r\nWith food or drink; yet muscle had he none,\r\nOr strength of limb, though giant-built in show.\r\nArn\u00e6us was the name which at his birth\r\nHis mother gave him, but the youthful band\r\nOf suitors, whom as messenger he served,\r\nAll named him Irus. He, arriving, sought\r\nTo drive Ulysses forth from his own home,\r\nAnd in rough accents rude him thus rebuked.\r\nForth from the porch, old man! lest by the foot\r\nI drag thee quickly forth. Seest not how all\r\nWink on me, and by signs give me command\r\nTo drag thee hence? nor is it aught but shame\r\nThat checks me. Yet arise, lest soon with fists\r\nThou force me to adjust our diff\u2019rence.\r\nTo whom Ulysses, low\u2019ring dark, replied.\r\nPeace, fellow! neither word nor deed of mine\r\nWrongs thee, nor feel I envy at the boon,\r\nHowever plentiful, which thou receiv\u2019st.\r\nThe sill may hold us both; thou dost not well\r\nTo envy others; thou appear\u2019st like me\r\nA vagrant; plenty is the gift of heav\u2019n.\r\nBut urge me not to trial of our fists,\r\nLest thou provoke me, and I stain with blood\r\nThy bosom and thy lips, old as I am.\r\nSo, my attendance should to-morrow prove\r\nMore tranquil here; for thou should\u2019st leave, I judge,\r\nUlysses\u2019 mansion, never to return.\r\nThen answer\u2019d Irus, kindling with disdain.\r\nGods! with what volubility of speech\r\nThe table-hunter prates, like an old hag\r\nCollied with chimney-smutch! but ah beware!\r\nFor I intend thee mischief, and to dash\r\nWith both hands ev\u2019ry grinder from thy gums,\r\nAs men untooth a pig pilf\u2019ring the corn.\r\nCome\u2014gird thee, that all here may view the strife\u2014\r\nBut how wilt thou oppose one young as I?\r\nThus on the threshold of the lofty gate\r\nThey, wrangling, chafed each other, whose dispute\r\nThe high-born youth Antino\u00fcs mark\u2019d; he laugh\u2019d\r\nDelighted, and the suitors thus address\u2019d.\r\nOh friends! no pastime ever yet occurr\u2019d\r\nPleasant as this which, now, the Gods themselves\r\nAfford us. Irus and the stranger brawl\r\nAs they would box. Haste\u2014let us urge them on.\r\nHe said; at once loud-laughing all arose;\r\nThe ill-clad disputants they round about\r\nEncompass\u2019d, and Antino\u00fcs thus began.\r\nAttend ye noble suitors to my voice.\r\nTwo paunches lie of goats here on the fire,\r\nWhich fill\u2019d with fat and blood we set apart\r\nFor supper; he who conquers, and in force\r\nSuperior proves, shall freely take the paunch\r\nWhich he prefers, and shall with us thenceforth\r\nFeast always; neither will we here admit\r\nPoor man beside to beg at our repasts.\r\nHe spake, whom all approved; next, artful Chief\r\nUlysses thus, dissembling, them address\u2019d.\r\nPrinces! unequal is the strife between\r\nA young man and an old with mis\u2019ry worn;\r\nBut hunger, always counsellor of ill,\r\nMe moves to fight, that many a bruise received,\r\nI may be foil\u2019d at last. Now swear ye all\r\nA solemn oath, that none, for Irus\u2019 sake\r\nShall, interposing, smite me with his fist\r\nClandestine, forcing me to yield the prize.\r\nHe ceas\u2019d, and, as he bade, all present swore\r\nA solemn oath; then thus, amid them all\r\nStanding, Telemachus majestic spake.\r\nGuest! if thy courage and thy manly mind\r\nPrompt thee to banish this man hence, no force\r\nFear thou beside, for who smites thee, shall find\r\nYet other foes to cope with; I am here\r\nIn the host\u2019s office, and the royal Chiefs\r\nEurymachus and Antino\u00fcs, alike\r\nDiscrete, accord unanimous with me.\r\nHe ceas\u2019d, whom all approved. Then, with his rags\r\nUlysses braced for decency his loins\r\nAround, but gave to view his brawny thighs\r\nProportion\u2019d fair, and stripp\u2019d his shoulders broad,\r\nHis chest and arms robust; while, at his side,\r\nDilating more the Hero\u2019s limbs and more\r\nMinerva stood; the assembly with fixt eyes\r\nAstonish\u2019d gazed on him, and, looking full\r\nOn his next friend, a suitor thus remark\u2019d.\r\nIrus shall be in Irus found no more.\r\nHe hath pull\u2019d evil on himself. What thewes\r\nAnd what a haunch the senior\u2019s tatters hid!\r\nSo he\u2014meantime in Irus\u2019 heart arose\r\nHorrible tumult; yet, his loins by force\r\nGirding, the servants dragg\u2019d him to the fight\r\nPale, and his flesh all quiv\u2019ring as he came;\r\nWhose terrors thus Antino\u00fcs sharp rebuked.\r\nNow, wherefore liv\u2019st, and why wast ever born\r\nThou mountain-mass of earth! if such dismay\r\nShake thee at thought of combat with a man\r\nAncient as he, and worn with many woes?\r\nBut mark, I threaten not in vain; should he\r\nO\u2019ercome thee, and in force superior prove,\r\nTo Echetus thou go\u2019st; my sable bark\r\nShall waft thee to Epirus, where he reigns\r\nEnemy of mankind; of nose and ears\r\nHe shall despoil thee with his ruthless steel,\r\nAnd tearing by the roots the parts away[footnote]Tradition says that Echetus, for a love-affair, condemned his daughter to lose her eyes, and to grind iron barley-grains, while her lover was doomed to suffer what Antino\u00fcs threatens to Irus. F.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nThat mark thy sex, shall cast them to the dogs.\r\nHe said; His<\/i> limbs new terrors at that sound\r\nShook under him; into the middle space\r\nThey led him, and each raised his hands on high.\r\nThen doubtful stood Ulysses toil-inured,\r\nWhether to strike him lifeless to the earth\r\nAt once, or fell him with a managed blow.\r\nTo smite with managed force at length he chose\r\nAs wisest, lest, betray\u2019d by his own strength,\r\nHe should be known. With elevated fists\r\nBoth stood; him Irus on the shoulder struck,\r\nBut he his adversary on the neck\r\nPash\u2019d close beneath his ear; he split the bones,\r\nAnd blood in sable streams ran from his mouth.\r\nWith many an hideous yell he dropp\u2019d, his teeth\r\nChatter\u2019d, and with his heels he drumm\u2019d the ground.\r\nThe wooers, at that sight, lifting their hands\r\nIn glad surprize, laugh\u2019d all their breath away.\r\nThen, through the vestibule, and right across\r\nThe court, Ulysses dragg\u2019d him by the foot\r\nInto the portico, where propping him\r\nAgainst the wall, and giving him his staff,\r\nIn accents wing\u2019d he bade him thus farewell.\r\nThere seated now, dogs drive and swine away,\r\nNor claim (thyself so base) supreme controul\r\nO\u2019er other guests and mendicants, lest harm\r\nReach thee, hereafter, heavier still than this.\r\nSo saying, his tatter\u2019d wallet o\u2019er his back\r\nHe threw suspended by its leathern twist,\r\nAnd tow\u2019rd the threshold turning, sat again,\r\nThey laughing ceaseless still, the palace-door\r\nRe-enter\u2019d, and him, courteous, thus bespake.\r\nJove, and all Jove\u2019s assessors in the skies\r\nVouchsafe thee, stranger, whatsoe\u2019er it be,\r\nThy heart\u2019s desire! who hast our ears reliev\u2019d\r\nFrom that insatiate beggar\u2019s irksome tone.\r\nSoon to Epirus he shall go dispatch\u2019d\r\nTo Echetus the King, pest of mankind.\r\nSo they, to whose propitious words the Chief\r\nListen\u2019d delighted. Then Antino\u00fcs placed\r\nThe paunch before him, and Amphinomus\r\nTwo loaves, selected from the rest; he fill\u2019d\r\nA goblet also, drank to him, and said,\r\nMy father, hail! O stranger, be thy lot\r\nHereafter blest, though adverse now and hard!\r\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.\r\nTo me, Amphinomus, endued thou seem\u2019st\r\nWith much discretion, who art also son\r\nOf such a sire, whose fair report I know,\r\nDulichian Nysus, opulent and good.\r\nFame speaks thee his, and thou appear\u2019st a man\r\nJudicious; hear me, therefore; mark me well.\r\nEarth nourishes, of all that breathe or creep,\r\nNo creature weak as man; for while the Gods\r\nGrant him prosperity and health, no fear\r\nHath he, or thought, that he shall ever mourn;\r\nBut when the Gods with evils unforeseen\r\nSmite him, he bears them with a grudging mind;\r\nFor such as the complexion of his lot\r\nBy the appointment of the Sire of all,\r\nSuch is the colour of the mind of man.\r\nI, too, have been familiar in my day\r\nWith wealth and ease, but I was then self-will\u2019d,\r\nAnd many wrong\u2019d, embolden\u2019d by the thought\r\nOf my own father\u2019s and my brethren\u2019s pow\u2019r.\r\nLet no man, therefore, be unjust, but each\r\nUse modestly what gift soe\u2019er of heav\u2019n.\r\nSo do not these. These ever bent I see\r\nOn deeds injurious, the possessions large\r\nConsuming, and dishonouring the wife\r\nOf one, who will not, as I judge, remain\r\nLong absent from his home, but is, perchance,\r\nEv\u2019n at the door. Thee, therefore, may the Gods\r\nSteal hence in time! ah, meet not his return\r\nTo his own country! for they will not part,\r\n(He and the suitors) without blood, I think,\r\nIf once he enter at these gates again!\r\nHe ended, and, libation pouring, quaff\u2019d\r\nThe generous juice, then in the prince\u2019s hand\r\nReplaced the cup; he, pensive, and his head\r\nInclining low, pass\u2019d from him; for his heart\r\nForboded ill; yet \u2019scaped not even he,\r\nBut in the snare of Pallas caught, his life\r\nTo the heroic arm and spear resign\u2019d\r\nOf brave Telemachus. Reaching, at length,\r\nThe seat whence he had ris\u2019n, he sat again.\r\nMinerva then, Goddess, c\u00e6rulean-eyed,\r\nPrompted Icarius\u2019 daughter to appear\r\nBefore the suitors; so to expose the more\r\nTheir drift iniquitous, and that herself\r\nMore bright than ever in her husband\u2019s eyes\r\nMight shine, and in her son\u2019s. Much mirth she feign\u2019d,[footnote]This seems the sort of laughter intended by the word \u0391\u03c7\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nAnd, bursting into laughter, thus began.\r\nI wish, Eurynome! (who never felt\r\nThat wish till now) though I detest them all,\r\nTo appear before the suitors, in whose ears\r\nI will admonish, for his good, my son,\r\nNot to associate with that lawless crew\r\nToo much, who speak him fair, but foul intend.\r\nThen answer thus Eurynome return\u2019d.\r\nMy daughter! wisely hast thou said and well.\r\nGo! bathe thee and anoint thy face, then give\r\nTo thy dear son such counsel as thou wilt\r\nWithout reserve; but shew not there thy cheeks\r\nSullied with tears, for profit none accrues\r\nFrom grief like thine, that never knows a change.\r\nAnd he is now bearded, and hath attained\r\nThat age which thou wast wont with warmest pray\u2019r\r\nTo implore the Gods that he might live to see.\r\nHer answer\u2019d then Penelope discrete.\r\nPersuade not me, though studious of my good,\r\nTo bathe, Eurynome! or to anoint\r\nMy face with oil; for all my charms the Gods\r\nInhabitants of Olympus then destroy\u2019d,\r\nWhen he, embarking, left me. Go, command\r\nHippodamia and Auton\u00f6e\r\nThat they attend me to the hall, and wait\r\nBeside me there; for decency forbids\r\nThat I should enter to the men, alone.\r\nShe ceas\u2019d, and through the house the ancient dame\r\nHasted to summon whom she had enjoin\u2019d.\r\nBut Pallas, Goddess of the azure eyes,\r\nDiffused, meantime, the kindly dew of sleep\r\nAround Icarius\u2019 daughter; on her couch\r\nReclining, soon as she reclin\u2019d, she dozed,\r\nAnd yielded to soft slumber all her frame.\r\nThen, that the suitors might admire her more,\r\nThe glorious Goddess cloath\u2019d her, as she lay,\r\nWith beauty of the skies; her lovely face\r\nShe with ambrosia purified, with such\r\nAs Cytherea chaplet-crown\u2019d employs\r\nHerself, when in the eye-ensnaring dance\r\nShe joins the Graces; to a statelier height\r\nBeneath her touch, and ampler size she grew,\r\nAnd fairer than the elephantine bone\r\nFresh from the carver\u2019s hand. These gifts conferr\u2019d\r\nDivine, the awful Deity retired.\r\nAnd now, loud-prattling as they came, arrived\r\nHer handmaids; sleep forsook her at the sound,\r\nShe wiped away a tear, and thus she said.\r\nMe gentle sleep, sad mourner as I am,\r\nHath here involved. O would that by a death\r\nAs gentle chaste Diana would herself\r\nThis moment set me free, that I might waste\r\nMy life no longer in heart-felt regret\r\nOf a lamented husband\u2019s various worth\r\nAnd virtue, for in Greece no Peer had he!\r\nShe said, and through her chambers\u2019 stately door\r\nIssuing, descended; neither went she sole,\r\nBut with those two fair menials of her train.\r\nArriving, most majestic of her sex,\r\nIn presence of the num\u2019rous guests, beneath\r\nThe portal of the stately dome she stood\r\nBetween her maidens, with her lucid veil\r\nMantling her lovely cheeks. Then, ev\u2019ry knee\r\nTrembled, and ev\u2019ry heart with am\u2019rous heat\r\nDissolv\u2019d, her charms all coveting alike,\r\nWhile to Telemachus her son she spake.\r\nTelemachus! thou art no longer wise\r\nAs once thou wast, and even when a child.\r\nFor thriven as thou art, and at full size\r\nArrived of man, so fair proportion\u2019d, too,\r\nThat ev\u2019n a stranger, looking on thy growth\r\nAnd beauty, would pronounce thee nobly born,\r\nYet is thy intellect still immature.\r\nFor what is this? why suffer\u2019st thou a guest\r\nTo be abused in thy own palace? how?\r\nKnow\u2019st not that if the stranger seated here\r\nEndure vexation, the disgrace is thine?\r\nHer answer\u2019d, then, Telemachus discrete.\r\nI blame thee not, my mother, that thou feel\u2019st\r\nThine anger moved; yet want I not a mind\r\nAble to mark and to discern between\r\nEvil and good, child as I lately was,\r\nAlthough I find not promptitude of thought\r\nSufficient always, overaw\u2019d and check\u2019d\r\nBy such a multitude, all bent alike\r\nOn mischief, of whom none takes part with me.\r\nBut Irus and the stranger have not fought,\r\nUrged by the suitors, and the stranger prov\u2019d\r\nVictorious; yes\u2014heav\u2019n knows how much I wish\r\nThat, (in the palace some, some in the court)\r\nThe suitors all sat vanquish\u2019d, with their heads\r\nDepending low, and with enfeebled limbs,\r\nEven as that same Irus, while I speak,\r\nWith chin on bosom propp\u2019d at the hall-gate\r\nSits drunkard-like, incapable to stand\r\nErect, or to regain his proper home.\r\nSo they; and now addressing to the Queen\r\nHis speech, Eurymachus thus interposed.\r\nO daughter of Icarius! could all eyes\r\nThroughout I\u00e4sian Argos\u00a0From[footnote]I\u00e4sus, once King of Peloponnesus.[\/footnote]<\/sup> view thy charms,\r\nDiscrete Penelope! more suitors still\r\nAssembling in thy courts would banquet here\r\nFrom morn to eve; for thou surpassest far\r\nIn beauty, stature, worth, all womankind.\r\nTo whom replied Penelope discrete.\r\nThe Gods, Eurymachus! reduced to nought\r\nMy virtue, beauty, stature, when the Greeks,\r\nWhom my Ulysses follow\u2019d, sail\u2019d to Troy.\r\nCould he, returning, my domestic charge\r\nHimself intend, far better would my fame\r\nBe so secured, and wider far diffused.\r\nBut I am wretched now, such storms the Gods\r\nOf woe have sent me. When he left his home,\r\nClasping my wrist with his right hand, he said.\r\nMy love! for I imagine not that all\r\nThe warrior Greeks shall safe from Troy return,\r\nSince fame reports the Trojans brave in fight,\r\nSkill\u2019d in the spear, mighty to draw the bow,\r\nAnd nimble vaulters to the backs of steeds\r\nHigh-mettled, which to speediest issue bring\r\nThe dreadful struggle of all-wasting war\u2014\r\nI know not, therefore, whether heav\u2019n intend\r\nMy safe return, or I must perish there.\r\nBut manage thou at home. Cherish, as now,\r\nWhile I am absent, or more dearly still\r\nMy parents, and what time our son thou seest\r\nMature, then wed; wed even whom thou wilt,\r\nAnd hence to a new home.\u2014Such were his words,\r\nAll which shall full accomplishment ere long\r\nReceive. The day is near, when hapless I,\r\nLost to all comfort by the will of Jove,\r\nMust meet the nuptials that my soul abhors.\r\nBut this thought now afflicts me, and my mind\r\nContinual haunts. Such was not heretofore\r\nThe suitors\u2019 custom\u2019d practice; all who chose\r\nTo engage in competition for a wife\r\nWell-qualitied and well-endow\u2019d, produced\r\nFrom their own herds and fatted flocks a feast\r\nFor the bride\u2019s friends, and splendid presents made,\r\nBut never ate as ye, at others\u2019 cost.\r\nShe ceased; then brave Ulysses toil-inured\r\nRejoiced that, soothing them, she sought to draw\r\nFrom each some gift, although on other views,\r\nAnd more important far, himself intent.\r\nThen thus Antino\u00fcs, Eupithes\u2019 son.\r\nIcarius\u2019 daughter wise! only accept\r\nSuch gifts as we shall bring, for gifts demand\r\nThat grace, nor can be decently refused;\r\nBut to our rural labours, or elsewhere\r\nDepart not we, till first thy choice be made\r\nOf the Achaian, chief in thy esteem.\r\nAntino\u00fcs spake, whose answer all approved.\r\nThen each dispatch\u2019d his herald who should bring\r\nHis master\u2019s gift. Antino\u00fcs\u2019 herald, first\r\nA mantle of surpassing beauty brought,\r\nWide, various, with no fewer clasps adorn\u2019d\r\nThan twelve, all golden, and to ev\u2019ry clasp\r\nWas fitted opposite its eye exact.\r\nNext, to Eurymachus his herald bore\r\nA necklace of wrought gold, with amber rich\r\nBestudded, ev\u2019ry bead bright as a sun.\r\nTwo servants for Eurydamas produced\r\nEar-pendants fashion\u2019d with laborious art,\r\nBroad, triple-gemm\u2019d, of brilliant light profuse.\r\nThe herald of Polyctor\u2019s son, the prince\r\nPisander, brought a collar to his Lord,\r\nA sumptuous ornament. Each Greecian gave,\r\nAnd each a gift dissimilar from all.\r\nThen, loveliest of her sex, turning away,\r\nShe sought her chamber, whom her maidens fair\r\nAttended, charged with those illustrious gifts.\r\nThen turn\u2019d, they all to dance and pleasant song\r\nJoyous, expecting the approach of ev\u2019n.\r\nEre long the dusky evening came, and them\r\nFound sporting still. Then, placing in the hall\r\nThree hearths that should illumine wide the house,\r\nThey compass\u2019d them around with fuel-wood\r\nLong-season\u2019d and new-split, mingling the sticks\r\nWith torches. The attendant women watch\u2019d\r\nAnd fed those fires by turns, to whom, himself,\r\nTheir unknown Sov\u2019reign thus his speech address\u2019d.\r\nYe maidens of the long-regretted Chief\r\nUlysses! to the inner-courts retire,\r\nAnd to your virtuous Queen, that following there\r\nYour sev\u2019ral tasks, spinning and combing wool,\r\nYe may amuse her; I, meantime, for these\r\nWill furnish light, and should they chuse to stay\r\nTill golden morn appear, they shall not tire\r\nMy patience aught, for I can much endure.\r\nHe said; they, titt\u2019ring, on each other gazed.\r\nBut one, Melantho with the blooming cheeks,\r\nRebuked him rudely. Dolius was her sire,\r\nBut by Penelope she had been reared\r\nWith care maternal, and in infant years\r\nSupplied with many a toy; yet even she\r\nFelt not her mistress\u2019 sorrows in her heart,\r\nBut, of Eurymachus enamour\u2019d, oft\r\nHis lewd embraces met; she, with sharp speech\r\nReproachful, to Ulysses thus replied.\r\nWhy\u2014what a brainsick vagabond art thou!\r\nWho neither wilt to the smith\u2019s forge retire\r\nFor sleep, nor to the public portico,\r\nBut here remaining, with audacious prate\r\nDisturb\u2019st this num\u2019rous company, restrain\u2019d\r\nBy no respect or fear; either thou art\r\nWith wine intoxicated, or, perchance,\r\nArt always fool, and therefore babblest now.\r\nSay, art thou drunk with joy that thou hast foiled\r\nThe beggar Irus? Tremble, lest a man\r\nStronger than Irus suddenly arise,\r\nWho on thy temples pelting thee with blows\r\nFar heavier than his, shall drive thee hence\r\nWith many a bruise, and foul with thy own blood.\r\nTo whom Ulysses, frowning stern, replied.\r\nSnarler! Telemachus shall be inform\u2019d\r\nThis moment of thy eloquent harangue,\r\nThat he may hew thee for it, limb from limb.\r\nSo saying, he scared the women; back they flew\r\nInto the house, but each with falt\u2019ring knees\r\nThrough dread, for they believ\u2019d his threats sincere.\r\nHe, then illumin\u2019d by the triple blaze,\r\nWatch\u2019d close the lights, busy from hearth to hearth,\r\nBut in his soul, meantime, far other thoughts\r\nRevolved, tremendous, not conceived in vain.\r\nNor Pallas (that they might exasp\u2019rate more\r\nLaertes\u2019 son) permitted to abstain\r\nFrom heart-corroding bitterness of speech\r\nThose suitors proud, of whom Eurymachus,\r\nOffspring of Polybus, while thus he jeer\u2019d\r\nUlysses, set the others in a roar.\r\nHear me, ye suitors of the illustrious Queen!\r\nI shall promulge my thought. This man, methinks,\r\nNot unconducted by the Gods, hath reach\u2019d\r\nUlysses\u2019 mansion, for to me the light\r\nOf yonder torches altogether seems\r\nHis own, an emanation from his head,\r\nWhich not the smallest growth of hair obscures.\r\nHe ended; and the city-waster Chief\r\nHimself accosted next. Art thou disposed\r\nTo serve me, friend! would I afford thee hire,\r\nA labourer at my farm? thou shalt not want\r\nSufficient wages; thou may\u2019st there collect\r\nStones for my fences, and may\u2019st plant my oaks,\r\nFor which I would supply thee all the year\r\nWith food, and cloaths, and sandals for thy feet.\r\nBut thou hast learn\u2019d less creditable arts,\r\nNor hast a will to work, preferring much\r\nBy beggary from others to extort\r\nWherewith to feed thy never-sated maw.\r\nThen answer, thus, Ulysses wise return\u2019d.\r\nForbear, Eurymachus; for were we match\u2019d\r\nIn work against each other, thou and I,\r\nMowing in spring-time, when the days are long,\r\nI with my well-bent sickle in my hand,\r\nThou arm\u2019d with one as keen, for trial sake\r\nOf our ability to toil unfed\r\nTill night, grass still sufficing for the proof.\u2014\r\nOr if, again, it were our task to drive\r\nYoked oxen of the noblest breed, sleek-hair\u2019d,\r\nBig-limb\u2019d, both batten\u2019d to the full with grass,\r\nTheir age and aptitude for work the same\r\nNot soon to be fatigued, and were the field\r\nIn size four acres, with a glebe through which\r\nThe share might smoothly slide, then should\u2019st thou see\r\nHow strait my furrow should be cut and true.\u2014\r\nOr should Saturnian Jove this day excite\r\nHere, battle, or elsewhere, and were I arm\u2019d\r\nWith two bright spears and with a shield, and bore\r\nA brazen casque well-fitted to my brows,\r\nMe, then, thou should\u2019st perceive mingling in fight\r\nAmid the foremost Chiefs, nor with the crime\r\nOf idle beggary should\u2019st upbraid me more.\r\nBut thou art much a railer, one whose heart\r\nPity moves not, and seem\u2019st a mighty man\r\nAnd valiant to thyself, only because\r\nThou herd\u2019st with few, and those of little worth.\r\nBut should Ulysses come, at his own isle\r\nAgain arrived, wide as these portals are,\r\nTo thee, at once, too narrow they should seem\r\nTo shoot thee forth with speed enough abroad.\r\nHe ceased\u2014then tenfold indignation fired\r\nEurymachus; he furrow\u2019d deep his brow\r\nWith frowns, and in wing\u2019d accents thus replied.\r\nWretch, I shall roughly handle thee anon,\r\nWho thus with fluent prate presumptuous dar\u2019st\r\nDisturb this num\u2019rous company, restrain\u2019d\r\nBy no respect or fear. Either thou art\r\nWith wine intoxicated, or, perchance,\r\nArt always fool, and therefore babblest now;\r\nOr thou art frantic haply with delight\r\nThat thou hast foil\u2019d yon vagabond obscure.\r\nSo saying, he seized a stool; but to the knees\r\nUlysses flew of the Dulichian Prince\r\nAmphinomus, and sat, fearing incensed\r\nEurymachus; he on his better hand\r\nSmote full the cup-bearer; on the hall-floor\r\nLoud rang the fallen beaker, and himself\r\nLay on his back clamouring in the dust.\r\nStrait through the dusky hall tumult ensued\r\nAmong the suitors, of whom thus, a youth,\r\nWith eyes directed to the next, exclaim\u2019d.\r\nWould that this rambling stranger had elsewhere\r\nPerish\u2019d, or ever he had here arrived,\r\nThen no such uproar had he caused as this!\r\nThis doth the beggar; he it is for whom\r\nWe wrangle thus, and may despair of peace\r\nOr pleasure more; now look for strife alone.\r\nThen in the midst Telemachus upstood\r\nMajestic, and the suitors thus bespake.\r\nSirs! ye are mad, and can no longer eat\r\nOr drink in peace; some d\u00e6mon troubles you.\r\nBut since ye all have feasted, to your homes\r\nGo now, and, at your pleasure, to your beds;\r\nSoonest were best, but I thrust no man hence.\r\nHe ceased; they gnawing stood their lips, aghast\r\nWith wonder that Telemachus in his speech\r\nSuch boldness used. Then rose Amphinomus,\r\nBrave son of Nisus offspring of the King\r\nAretus, and the assembly thus address\u2019d.\r\nMy friends! let none with contradiction thwart\r\nAnd rude reply words rational and just;\r\nAssault no more the stranger, nor of all\r\nThe servants of renown\u2019d Ulysses here\r\nHarm any. Come. Let the cup-bearer fill\r\nTo all, that due libation made, to rest\r\nWe may repair at home, leaving the Prince\r\nTo accommodate beneath his father\u2019s roof\r\nThe stranger, for he is the Prince\u2019s guest.\r\nHe ended, whose advice none disapproved.\r\nThe Hero Mulius then, Dulichian-born,\r\nAnd herald of Amphinomus, the cup\r\nFilling, dispensed it, as he stood, to all;\r\nThey, pouring forth to the Immortals, quaff\u2019d\r\nThe luscious bev\u2019rage, and when each had made\r\nLibation, and such measure as he would\r\nOf wine had drunk, then all to rest retired.","rendered":"

Argument<\/b><\/h2>\n

The beggar Irus arrives at the palace; a combat takes place between him and Ulysses, in which Irus is by one blow vanquished. Penelope appears to the suitors, and having reminded them of the presents which she had a right to expect from them, receives a gift from each. Eurymachus, provoked by a speech of Ulysses, flings a foot-stool at him, which knocks down the cup-bearer; a general tumult is the consequence, which continues, till by the advice of Telemachus, seconded by Amphinomus, the suitors retire to their respective homes.<\/p>\n

Now came a public mendicant, a man
\nAccustom\u2019d, seeking alms, to roam the streets
\nOf Ithaca; one never sated yet
\nWith food or drink; yet muscle had he none,
\nOr strength of limb, though giant-built in show.
\nArn\u00e6us was the name which at his birth
\nHis mother gave him, but the youthful band
\nOf suitors, whom as messenger he served,
\nAll named him Irus. He, arriving, sought
\nTo drive Ulysses forth from his own home,
\nAnd in rough accents rude him thus rebuked.
\nForth from the porch, old man! lest by the foot
\nI drag thee quickly forth. Seest not how all
\nWink on me, and by signs give me command
\nTo drag thee hence? nor is it aught but shame
\nThat checks me. Yet arise, lest soon with fists
\nThou force me to adjust our diff\u2019rence.
\nTo whom Ulysses, low\u2019ring dark, replied.
\nPeace, fellow! neither word nor deed of mine
\nWrongs thee, nor feel I envy at the boon,
\nHowever plentiful, which thou receiv\u2019st.
\nThe sill may hold us both; thou dost not well
\nTo envy others; thou appear\u2019st like me
\nA vagrant; plenty is the gift of heav\u2019n.
\nBut urge me not to trial of our fists,
\nLest thou provoke me, and I stain with blood
\nThy bosom and thy lips, old as I am.
\nSo, my attendance should to-morrow prove
\nMore tranquil here; for thou should\u2019st leave, I judge,
\nUlysses\u2019 mansion, never to return.
\nThen answer\u2019d Irus, kindling with disdain.
\nGods! with what volubility of speech
\nThe table-hunter prates, like an old hag
\nCollied with chimney-smutch! but ah beware!
\nFor I intend thee mischief, and to dash
\nWith both hands ev\u2019ry grinder from thy gums,
\nAs men untooth a pig pilf\u2019ring the corn.
\nCome\u2014gird thee, that all here may view the strife\u2014
\nBut how wilt thou oppose one young as I?
\nThus on the threshold of the lofty gate
\nThey, wrangling, chafed each other, whose dispute
\nThe high-born youth Antino\u00fcs mark\u2019d; he laugh\u2019d
\nDelighted, and the suitors thus address\u2019d.
\nOh friends! no pastime ever yet occurr\u2019d
\nPleasant as this which, now, the Gods themselves
\nAfford us. Irus and the stranger brawl
\nAs they would box. Haste\u2014let us urge them on.
\nHe said; at once loud-laughing all arose;
\nThe ill-clad disputants they round about
\nEncompass\u2019d, and Antino\u00fcs thus began.
\nAttend ye noble suitors to my voice.
\nTwo paunches lie of goats here on the fire,
\nWhich fill\u2019d with fat and blood we set apart
\nFor supper; he who conquers, and in force
\nSuperior proves, shall freely take the paunch
\nWhich he prefers, and shall with us thenceforth
\nFeast always; neither will we here admit
\nPoor man beside to beg at our repasts.
\nHe spake, whom all approved; next, artful Chief
\nUlysses thus, dissembling, them address\u2019d.
\nPrinces! unequal is the strife between
\nA young man and an old with mis\u2019ry worn;
\nBut hunger, always counsellor of ill,
\nMe moves to fight, that many a bruise received,
\nI may be foil\u2019d at last. Now swear ye all
\nA solemn oath, that none, for Irus\u2019 sake
\nShall, interposing, smite me with his fist
\nClandestine, forcing me to yield the prize.
\nHe ceas\u2019d, and, as he bade, all present swore
\nA solemn oath; then thus, amid them all
\nStanding, Telemachus majestic spake.
\nGuest! if thy courage and thy manly mind
\nPrompt thee to banish this man hence, no force
\nFear thou beside, for who smites thee, shall find
\nYet other foes to cope with; I am here
\nIn the host\u2019s office, and the royal Chiefs
\nEurymachus and Antino\u00fcs, alike
\nDiscrete, accord unanimous with me.
\nHe ceas\u2019d, whom all approved. Then, with his rags
\nUlysses braced for decency his loins
\nAround, but gave to view his brawny thighs
\nProportion\u2019d fair, and stripp\u2019d his shoulders broad,
\nHis chest and arms robust; while, at his side,
\nDilating more the Hero\u2019s limbs and more
\nMinerva stood; the assembly with fixt eyes
\nAstonish\u2019d gazed on him, and, looking full
\nOn his next friend, a suitor thus remark\u2019d.
\nIrus shall be in Irus found no more.
\nHe hath pull\u2019d evil on himself. What thewes
\nAnd what a haunch the senior\u2019s tatters hid!
\nSo he\u2014meantime in Irus\u2019 heart arose
\nHorrible tumult; yet, his loins by force
\nGirding, the servants dragg\u2019d him to the fight
\nPale, and his flesh all quiv\u2019ring as he came;
\nWhose terrors thus Antino\u00fcs sharp rebuked.
\nNow, wherefore liv\u2019st, and why wast ever born
\nThou mountain-mass of earth! if such dismay
\nShake thee at thought of combat with a man
\nAncient as he, and worn with many woes?
\nBut mark, I threaten not in vain; should he
\nO\u2019ercome thee, and in force superior prove,
\nTo Echetus thou go\u2019st; my sable bark
\nShall waft thee to Epirus, where he reigns
\nEnemy of mankind; of nose and ears
\nHe shall despoil thee with his ruthless steel,
\nAnd tearing by the roots the parts away[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nThat mark thy sex, shall cast them to the dogs.
\nHe said; His<\/i> limbs new terrors at that sound
\nShook under him; into the middle space
\nThey led him, and each raised his hands on high.
\nThen doubtful stood Ulysses toil-inured,
\nWhether to strike him lifeless to the earth
\nAt once, or fell him with a managed blow.
\nTo smite with managed force at length he chose
\nAs wisest, lest, betray\u2019d by his own strength,
\nHe should be known. With elevated fists
\nBoth stood; him Irus on the shoulder struck,
\nBut he his adversary on the neck
\nPash\u2019d close beneath his ear; he split the bones,
\nAnd blood in sable streams ran from his mouth.
\nWith many an hideous yell he dropp\u2019d, his teeth
\nChatter\u2019d, and with his heels he drumm\u2019d the ground.
\nThe wooers, at that sight, lifting their hands
\nIn glad surprize, laugh\u2019d all their breath away.
\nThen, through the vestibule, and right across
\nThe court, Ulysses dragg\u2019d him by the foot
\nInto the portico, where propping him
\nAgainst the wall, and giving him his staff,
\nIn accents wing\u2019d he bade him thus farewell.
\nThere seated now, dogs drive and swine away,
\nNor claim (thyself so base) supreme controul
\nO\u2019er other guests and mendicants, lest harm
\nReach thee, hereafter, heavier still than this.
\nSo saying, his tatter\u2019d wallet o\u2019er his back
\nHe threw suspended by its leathern twist,
\nAnd tow\u2019rd the threshold turning, sat again,
\nThey laughing ceaseless still, the palace-door
\nRe-enter\u2019d, and him, courteous, thus bespake.
\nJove, and all Jove\u2019s assessors in the skies
\nVouchsafe thee, stranger, whatsoe\u2019er it be,
\nThy heart\u2019s desire! who hast our ears reliev\u2019d
\nFrom that insatiate beggar\u2019s irksome tone.
\nSoon to Epirus he shall go dispatch\u2019d
\nTo Echetus the King, pest of mankind.
\nSo they, to whose propitious words the Chief
\nListen\u2019d delighted. Then Antino\u00fcs placed
\nThe paunch before him, and Amphinomus
\nTwo loaves, selected from the rest; he fill\u2019d
\nA goblet also, drank to him, and said,
\nMy father, hail! O stranger, be thy lot
\nHereafter blest, though adverse now and hard!
\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.
\nTo me, Amphinomus, endued thou seem\u2019st
\nWith much discretion, who art also son
\nOf such a sire, whose fair report I know,
\nDulichian Nysus, opulent and good.
\nFame speaks thee his, and thou appear\u2019st a man
\nJudicious; hear me, therefore; mark me well.
\nEarth nourishes, of all that breathe or creep,
\nNo creature weak as man; for while the Gods
\nGrant him prosperity and health, no fear
\nHath he, or thought, that he shall ever mourn;
\nBut when the Gods with evils unforeseen
\nSmite him, he bears them with a grudging mind;
\nFor such as the complexion of his lot
\nBy the appointment of the Sire of all,
\nSuch is the colour of the mind of man.
\nI, too, have been familiar in my day
\nWith wealth and ease, but I was then self-will\u2019d,
\nAnd many wrong\u2019d, embolden\u2019d by the thought
\nOf my own father\u2019s and my brethren\u2019s pow\u2019r.
\nLet no man, therefore, be unjust, but each
\nUse modestly what gift soe\u2019er of heav\u2019n.
\nSo do not these. These ever bent I see
\nOn deeds injurious, the possessions large
\nConsuming, and dishonouring the wife
\nOf one, who will not, as I judge, remain
\nLong absent from his home, but is, perchance,
\nEv\u2019n at the door. Thee, therefore, may the Gods
\nSteal hence in time! ah, meet not his return
\nTo his own country! for they will not part,
\n(He and the suitors) without blood, I think,
\nIf once he enter at these gates again!
\nHe ended, and, libation pouring, quaff\u2019d
\nThe generous juice, then in the prince\u2019s hand
\nReplaced the cup; he, pensive, and his head
\nInclining low, pass\u2019d from him; for his heart
\nForboded ill; yet \u2019scaped not even he,
\nBut in the snare of Pallas caught, his life
\nTo the heroic arm and spear resign\u2019d
\nOf brave Telemachus. Reaching, at length,
\nThe seat whence he had ris\u2019n, he sat again.
\nMinerva then, Goddess, c\u00e6rulean-eyed,
\nPrompted Icarius\u2019 daughter to appear
\nBefore the suitors; so to expose the more
\nTheir drift iniquitous, and that herself
\nMore bright than ever in her husband\u2019s eyes
\nMight shine, and in her son\u2019s. Much mirth she feign\u2019d,[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nAnd, bursting into laughter, thus began.
\nI wish, Eurynome! (who never felt
\nThat wish till now) though I detest them all,
\nTo appear before the suitors, in whose ears
\nI will admonish, for his good, my son,
\nNot to associate with that lawless crew
\nToo much, who speak him fair, but foul intend.
\nThen answer thus Eurynome return\u2019d.
\nMy daughter! wisely hast thou said and well.
\nGo! bathe thee and anoint thy face, then give
\nTo thy dear son such counsel as thou wilt
\nWithout reserve; but shew not there thy cheeks
\nSullied with tears, for profit none accrues
\nFrom grief like thine, that never knows a change.
\nAnd he is now bearded, and hath attained
\nThat age which thou wast wont with warmest pray\u2019r
\nTo implore the Gods that he might live to see.
\nHer answer\u2019d then Penelope discrete.
\nPersuade not me, though studious of my good,
\nTo bathe, Eurynome! or to anoint
\nMy face with oil; for all my charms the Gods
\nInhabitants of Olympus then destroy\u2019d,
\nWhen he, embarking, left me. Go, command
\nHippodamia and Auton\u00f6e
\nThat they attend me to the hall, and wait
\nBeside me there; for decency forbids
\nThat I should enter to the men, alone.
\nShe ceas\u2019d, and through the house the ancient dame
\nHasted to summon whom she had enjoin\u2019d.
\nBut Pallas, Goddess of the azure eyes,
\nDiffused, meantime, the kindly dew of sleep
\nAround Icarius\u2019 daughter; on her couch
\nReclining, soon as she reclin\u2019d, she dozed,
\nAnd yielded to soft slumber all her frame.
\nThen, that the suitors might admire her more,
\nThe glorious Goddess cloath\u2019d her, as she lay,
\nWith beauty of the skies; her lovely face
\nShe with ambrosia purified, with such
\nAs Cytherea chaplet-crown\u2019d employs
\nHerself, when in the eye-ensnaring dance
\nShe joins the Graces; to a statelier height
\nBeneath her touch, and ampler size she grew,
\nAnd fairer than the elephantine bone
\nFresh from the carver\u2019s hand. These gifts conferr\u2019d
\nDivine, the awful Deity retired.
\nAnd now, loud-prattling as they came, arrived
\nHer handmaids; sleep forsook her at the sound,
\nShe wiped away a tear, and thus she said.
\nMe gentle sleep, sad mourner as I am,
\nHath here involved. O would that by a death
\nAs gentle chaste Diana would herself
\nThis moment set me free, that I might waste
\nMy life no longer in heart-felt regret
\nOf a lamented husband\u2019s various worth
\nAnd virtue, for in Greece no Peer had he!
\nShe said, and through her chambers\u2019 stately door
\nIssuing, descended; neither went she sole,
\nBut with those two fair menials of her train.
\nArriving, most majestic of her sex,
\nIn presence of the num\u2019rous guests, beneath
\nThe portal of the stately dome she stood
\nBetween her maidens, with her lucid veil
\nMantling her lovely cheeks. Then, ev\u2019ry knee
\nTrembled, and ev\u2019ry heart with am\u2019rous heat
\nDissolv\u2019d, her charms all coveting alike,
\nWhile to Telemachus her son she spake.
\nTelemachus! thou art no longer wise
\nAs once thou wast, and even when a child.
\nFor thriven as thou art, and at full size
\nArrived of man, so fair proportion\u2019d, too,
\nThat ev\u2019n a stranger, looking on thy growth
\nAnd beauty, would pronounce thee nobly born,
\nYet is thy intellect still immature.
\nFor what is this? why suffer\u2019st thou a guest
\nTo be abused in thy own palace? how?
\nKnow\u2019st not that if the stranger seated here
\nEndure vexation, the disgrace is thine?
\nHer answer\u2019d, then, Telemachus discrete.
\nI blame thee not, my mother, that thou feel\u2019st
\nThine anger moved; yet want I not a mind
\nAble to mark and to discern between
\nEvil and good, child as I lately was,
\nAlthough I find not promptitude of thought
\nSufficient always, overaw\u2019d and check\u2019d
\nBy such a multitude, all bent alike
\nOn mischief, of whom none takes part with me.
\nBut Irus and the stranger have not fought,
\nUrged by the suitors, and the stranger prov\u2019d
\nVictorious; yes\u2014heav\u2019n knows how much I wish
\nThat, (in the palace some, some in the court)
\nThe suitors all sat vanquish\u2019d, with their heads
\nDepending low, and with enfeebled limbs,
\nEven as that same Irus, while I speak,
\nWith chin on bosom propp\u2019d at the hall-gate
\nSits drunkard-like, incapable to stand
\nErect, or to regain his proper home.
\nSo they; and now addressing to the Queen
\nHis speech, Eurymachus thus interposed.
\nO daughter of Icarius! could all eyes
\nThroughout I\u00e4sian Argos\u00a0From[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup> view thy charms,
\nDiscrete Penelope! more suitors still
\nAssembling in thy courts would banquet here
\nFrom morn to eve; for thou surpassest far
\nIn beauty, stature, worth, all womankind.
\nTo whom replied Penelope discrete.
\nThe Gods, Eurymachus! reduced to nought
\nMy virtue, beauty, stature, when the Greeks,
\nWhom my Ulysses follow\u2019d, sail\u2019d to Troy.
\nCould he, returning, my domestic charge
\nHimself intend, far better would my fame
\nBe so secured, and wider far diffused.
\nBut I am wretched now, such storms the Gods
\nOf woe have sent me. When he left his home,
\nClasping my wrist with his right hand, he said.
\nMy love! for I imagine not that all
\nThe warrior Greeks shall safe from Troy return,
\nSince fame reports the Trojans brave in fight,
\nSkill\u2019d in the spear, mighty to draw the bow,
\nAnd nimble vaulters to the backs of steeds
\nHigh-mettled, which to speediest issue bring
\nThe dreadful struggle of all-wasting war\u2014
\nI know not, therefore, whether heav\u2019n intend
\nMy safe return, or I must perish there.
\nBut manage thou at home. Cherish, as now,
\nWhile I am absent, or more dearly still
\nMy parents, and what time our son thou seest
\nMature, then wed; wed even whom thou wilt,
\nAnd hence to a new home.\u2014Such were his words,
\nAll which shall full accomplishment ere long
\nReceive. The day is near, when hapless I,
\nLost to all comfort by the will of Jove,
\nMust meet the nuptials that my soul abhors.
\nBut this thought now afflicts me, and my mind
\nContinual haunts. Such was not heretofore
\nThe suitors\u2019 custom\u2019d practice; all who chose
\nTo engage in competition for a wife
\nWell-qualitied and well-endow\u2019d, produced
\nFrom their own herds and fatted flocks a feast
\nFor the bride\u2019s friends, and splendid presents made,
\nBut never ate as ye, at others\u2019 cost.
\nShe ceased; then brave Ulysses toil-inured
\nRejoiced that, soothing them, she sought to draw
\nFrom each some gift, although on other views,
\nAnd more important far, himself intent.
\nThen thus Antino\u00fcs, Eupithes\u2019 son.
\nIcarius\u2019 daughter wise! only accept
\nSuch gifts as we shall bring, for gifts demand
\nThat grace, nor can be decently refused;
\nBut to our rural labours, or elsewhere
\nDepart not we, till first thy choice be made
\nOf the Achaian, chief in thy esteem.
\nAntino\u00fcs spake, whose answer all approved.
\nThen each dispatch\u2019d his herald who should bring
\nHis master\u2019s gift. Antino\u00fcs\u2019 herald, first
\nA mantle of surpassing beauty brought,
\nWide, various, with no fewer clasps adorn\u2019d
\nThan twelve, all golden, and to ev\u2019ry clasp
\nWas fitted opposite its eye exact.
\nNext, to Eurymachus his herald bore
\nA necklace of wrought gold, with amber rich
\nBestudded, ev\u2019ry bead bright as a sun.
\nTwo servants for Eurydamas produced
\nEar-pendants fashion\u2019d with laborious art,
\nBroad, triple-gemm\u2019d, of brilliant light profuse.
\nThe herald of Polyctor\u2019s son, the prince
\nPisander, brought a collar to his Lord,
\nA sumptuous ornament. Each Greecian gave,
\nAnd each a gift dissimilar from all.
\nThen, loveliest of her sex, turning away,
\nShe sought her chamber, whom her maidens fair
\nAttended, charged with those illustrious gifts.
\nThen turn\u2019d, they all to dance and pleasant song
\nJoyous, expecting the approach of ev\u2019n.
\nEre long the dusky evening came, and them
\nFound sporting still. Then, placing in the hall
\nThree hearths that should illumine wide the house,
\nThey compass\u2019d them around with fuel-wood
\nLong-season\u2019d and new-split, mingling the sticks
\nWith torches. The attendant women watch\u2019d
\nAnd fed those fires by turns, to whom, himself,
\nTheir unknown Sov\u2019reign thus his speech address\u2019d.
\nYe maidens of the long-regretted Chief
\nUlysses! to the inner-courts retire,
\nAnd to your virtuous Queen, that following there
\nYour sev\u2019ral tasks, spinning and combing wool,
\nYe may amuse her; I, meantime, for these
\nWill furnish light, and should they chuse to stay
\nTill golden morn appear, they shall not tire
\nMy patience aught, for I can much endure.
\nHe said; they, titt\u2019ring, on each other gazed.
\nBut one, Melantho with the blooming cheeks,
\nRebuked him rudely. Dolius was her sire,
\nBut by Penelope she had been reared
\nWith care maternal, and in infant years
\nSupplied with many a toy; yet even she
\nFelt not her mistress\u2019 sorrows in her heart,
\nBut, of Eurymachus enamour\u2019d, oft
\nHis lewd embraces met; she, with sharp speech
\nReproachful, to Ulysses thus replied.
\nWhy\u2014what a brainsick vagabond art thou!
\nWho neither wilt to the smith\u2019s forge retire
\nFor sleep, nor to the public portico,
\nBut here remaining, with audacious prate
\nDisturb\u2019st this num\u2019rous company, restrain\u2019d
\nBy no respect or fear; either thou art
\nWith wine intoxicated, or, perchance,
\nArt always fool, and therefore babblest now.
\nSay, art thou drunk with joy that thou hast foiled
\nThe beggar Irus? Tremble, lest a man
\nStronger than Irus suddenly arise,
\nWho on thy temples pelting thee with blows
\nFar heavier than his, shall drive thee hence
\nWith many a bruise, and foul with thy own blood.
\nTo whom Ulysses, frowning stern, replied.
\nSnarler! Telemachus shall be inform\u2019d
\nThis moment of thy eloquent harangue,
\nThat he may hew thee for it, limb from limb.
\nSo saying, he scared the women; back they flew
\nInto the house, but each with falt\u2019ring knees
\nThrough dread, for they believ\u2019d his threats sincere.
\nHe, then illumin\u2019d by the triple blaze,
\nWatch\u2019d close the lights, busy from hearth to hearth,
\nBut in his soul, meantime, far other thoughts
\nRevolved, tremendous, not conceived in vain.
\nNor Pallas (that they might exasp\u2019rate more
\nLaertes\u2019 son) permitted to abstain
\nFrom heart-corroding bitterness of speech
\nThose suitors proud, of whom Eurymachus,
\nOffspring of Polybus, while thus he jeer\u2019d
\nUlysses, set the others in a roar.
\nHear me, ye suitors of the illustrious Queen!
\nI shall promulge my thought. This man, methinks,
\nNot unconducted by the Gods, hath reach\u2019d
\nUlysses\u2019 mansion, for to me the light
\nOf yonder torches altogether seems
\nHis own, an emanation from his head,
\nWhich not the smallest growth of hair obscures.
\nHe ended; and the city-waster Chief
\nHimself accosted next. Art thou disposed
\nTo serve me, friend! would I afford thee hire,
\nA labourer at my farm? thou shalt not want
\nSufficient wages; thou may\u2019st there collect
\nStones for my fences, and may\u2019st plant my oaks,
\nFor which I would supply thee all the year
\nWith food, and cloaths, and sandals for thy feet.
\nBut thou hast learn\u2019d less creditable arts,
\nNor hast a will to work, preferring much
\nBy beggary from others to extort
\nWherewith to feed thy never-sated maw.
\nThen answer, thus, Ulysses wise return\u2019d.
\nForbear, Eurymachus; for were we match\u2019d
\nIn work against each other, thou and I,
\nMowing in spring-time, when the days are long,
\nI with my well-bent sickle in my hand,
\nThou arm\u2019d with one as keen, for trial sake
\nOf our ability to toil unfed
\nTill night, grass still sufficing for the proof.\u2014
\nOr if, again, it were our task to drive
\nYoked oxen of the noblest breed, sleek-hair\u2019d,
\nBig-limb\u2019d, both batten\u2019d to the full with grass,
\nTheir age and aptitude for work the same
\nNot soon to be fatigued, and were the field
\nIn size four acres, with a glebe through which
\nThe share might smoothly slide, then should\u2019st thou see
\nHow strait my furrow should be cut and true.\u2014
\nOr should Saturnian Jove this day excite
\nHere, battle, or elsewhere, and were I arm\u2019d
\nWith two bright spears and with a shield, and bore
\nA brazen casque well-fitted to my brows,
\nMe, then, thou should\u2019st perceive mingling in fight
\nAmid the foremost Chiefs, nor with the crime
\nOf idle beggary should\u2019st upbraid me more.
\nBut thou art much a railer, one whose heart
\nPity moves not, and seem\u2019st a mighty man
\nAnd valiant to thyself, only because
\nThou herd\u2019st with few, and those of little worth.
\nBut should Ulysses come, at his own isle
\nAgain arrived, wide as these portals are,
\nTo thee, at once, too narrow they should seem
\nTo shoot thee forth with speed enough abroad.
\nHe ceased\u2014then tenfold indignation fired
\nEurymachus; he furrow\u2019d deep his brow
\nWith frowns, and in wing\u2019d accents thus replied.
\nWretch, I shall roughly handle thee anon,
\nWho thus with fluent prate presumptuous dar\u2019st
\nDisturb this num\u2019rous company, restrain\u2019d
\nBy no respect or fear. Either thou art
\nWith wine intoxicated, or, perchance,
\nArt always fool, and therefore babblest now;
\nOr thou art frantic haply with delight
\nThat thou hast foil\u2019d yon vagabond obscure.
\nSo saying, he seized a stool; but to the knees
\nUlysses flew of the Dulichian Prince
\nAmphinomus, and sat, fearing incensed
\nEurymachus; he on his better hand
\nSmote full the cup-bearer; on the hall-floor
\nLoud rang the fallen beaker, and himself
\nLay on his back clamouring in the dust.
\nStrait through the dusky hall tumult ensued
\nAmong the suitors, of whom thus, a youth,
\nWith eyes directed to the next, exclaim\u2019d.
\nWould that this rambling stranger had elsewhere
\nPerish\u2019d, or ever he had here arrived,
\nThen no such uproar had he caused as this!
\nThis doth the beggar; he it is for whom
\nWe wrangle thus, and may despair of peace
\nOr pleasure more; now look for strife alone.
\nThen in the midst Telemachus upstood
\nMajestic, and the suitors thus bespake.
\nSirs! ye are mad, and can no longer eat
\nOr drink in peace; some d\u00e6mon troubles you.
\nBut since ye all have feasted, to your homes
\nGo now, and, at your pleasure, to your beds;
\nSoonest were best, but I thrust no man hence.
\nHe ceased; they gnawing stood their lips, aghast
\nWith wonder that Telemachus in his speech
\nSuch boldness used. Then rose Amphinomus,
\nBrave son of Nisus offspring of the King
\nAretus, and the assembly thus address\u2019d.
\nMy friends! let none with contradiction thwart
\nAnd rude reply words rational and just;
\nAssault no more the stranger, nor of all
\nThe servants of renown\u2019d Ulysses here
\nHarm any. Come. Let the cup-bearer fill
\nTo all, that due libation made, to rest
\nWe may repair at home, leaving the Prince
\nTo accommodate beneath his father\u2019s roof
\nThe stranger, for he is the Prince\u2019s guest.
\nHe ended, whose advice none disapproved.
\nThe Hero Mulius then, Dulichian-born,
\nAnd herald of Amphinomus, the cup
\nFilling, dispensed it, as he stood, to all;
\nThey, pouring forth to the Immortals, quaff\u2019d
\nThe luscious bev\u2019rage, and when each had made
\nLibation, and such measure as he would
\nOf wine had drunk, then all to rest retired.<\/p>\n

  1. Tradition says that Echetus, for a love-affair, condemned his daughter to lose her eyes, and to grind iron barley-grains, while her lover was doomed to suffer what Antino\u00fcs threatens to Irus. F. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. This seems the sort of laughter intended by the word \u0391\u03c7\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  3. I\u00e4sus, once King of Peloponnesus. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":18,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-124","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/124\/revisions\/258"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/124\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=124"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=124"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}