{"id":126,"date":"2021-05-26T09:19:26","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T13:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/book-xx\/"},"modified":"2022-02-01T10:54:26","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T15:54:26","slug":"20","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/20\/","title":{"raw":"Book XX","rendered":"Book XX"},"content":{"raw":"

Argument<\/b><\/h2>\r\nUlysses, doubting whether he shall destroy or not the women servants who commit lewdness with the suitors, resolves at length to spare them for the present. He asks an omen from Jupiter, and that he would grant him also to hear some propitious words from the lips of one in the family. His petitions are both answered. Preparation is made for the feast. Whilst the suitors sit at table, Pallas smites them with a horrid frenzy. Theoclymenus, observing the strange effects of it, prophesies their destruction, and they deride his prophecy.\r\n\r\nBut in the vestibule the Hero lay\r\nOn a bull\u2019s-hide undress\u2019d, o\u2019er which he spread\r\nThe fleece of many a sheep slain by the Greeks,\r\nAnd, cover\u2019d by the household\u2019s governess\r\nWith a wide cloak, composed himself to rest.\r\nYet slept he not, but meditating lay\r\nWoe to his enemies. Meantime, the train\r\nOf women, wonted to the suitors\u2019 arms,\r\nIssuing all mirth and laughter, in his soul\r\nA tempest raised of doubts, whether at once\r\nTo slay, or to permit them yet to give\r\nTheir lusty paramours one last embrace.\r\nAs growls the mastiff standing on the start\r\nFor battle, if a stranger\u2019s foot approach\r\nHer cubs new-whelp\u2019d\u2014so growl\u2019d Ulysses\u2019 heart,\r\nWhile wonder fill\u2019d him at their impious deeds.\r\nBut, smiting on his breast, thus he reproved\r\nThe mutinous inhabitant within.\r\nHeart! bear it. Worse than this thou didst endure\r\nWhen, uncontroulable by force of man,\r\nThe Cyclops thy illustrious friends devour\u2019d.\r\nThy patience then fail\u2019d not, till prudence found\r\nDeliv\u2019rance for thee on the brink of fate.\r\nSo disciplined the Hero his own heart,\r\nWhich, tractable, endured the rigorous curb,\r\nAnd patient; yet he turn\u2019d from side to side.\r\nAs when some hungry swain turns oft a maw\r\nUnctuous and sav\u2019ry on the burning coals,\r\nQuick expediting his desired repast,\r\nSo he from side to side roll\u2019d, pond\u2019ring deep\r\nHow likeliest with success he might assail\r\nThose shameless suitors; one to many opposed.\r\nThen, sudden from the skies descending, came\r\nMinerva in a female form; her stand\r\nAbove his head she took, and thus she spake.\r\nWhy sleep\u2019st thou not, unhappiest of mankind?\r\nThou art at home; here dwells thy wife, and here\r\nThy son; a son, whom all might wish their own.\r\nThen her Ulysses answer\u2019d, ever-wise.\r\nO Goddess! true is all that thou hast said,\r\nBut, not without anxiety, I muse\r\nHow, single as I am, I shall assail\r\nThose shameless suitors who frequent my courts\r\nDaily; and always their whole multitude.\r\nThis weightier theme I meditate beside;\r\nShould I, with Jove\u2019s concurrence and with thine\r\nPrevail to slay them, how shall I escape,\r\nMyself, at last?[footnote]That is, how shall I escape the vengeance of their kindred?[\/footnote]<\/sup> oh Goddess, weigh it well.\r\nHim answer\u2019d then Pallas c\u00e6rulean-eyed.\r\nOh faithless man! a man will in his friend\r\nConfide, though mortal, and in valour less\r\nAnd wisdom than himself; but I who keep\r\nThee in all difficulties, am divine.\r\nI tell thee plainly. Were we hemm\u2019d around\r\nBy fifty troops of shouting warriors bent\r\nTo slay thee, thou should\u2019st yet securely drive\r\nThe flocks away and cattle of them all.\r\nBut yield to sleep\u2019s soft influence; for to lie\r\nAll night thus watchful, is, itself, distress.\r\nFear not. Deliv\u2019rance waits, not far remote.\r\nSo saying, she o\u2019er Ulysses\u2019 eyes diffused\r\nSoft slumbers, and when sleep that sooths the mind\r\nAnd nerves the limbs afresh had seized him once,\r\nTo the Olympian summit swift return\u2019d.\r\nBut his chaste spouse awoke; she weeping sat\r\nOn her soft couch, and, noblest of her sex,\r\nSatiate at length with tears, her pray\u2019r address\u2019d\r\nFirst to Diana of the Pow\u2019rs above.\r\nDiana, awful progeny of Jove!\r\nI would that with a shaft this moment sped\r\nInto my bosom, thou would\u2019st here conclude\r\nMy mournful life! or, oh that, as it flies,\r\nSnatching me through the pathless air, a storm\r\nWould whelm me deep in Ocean\u2019s restless tide!\r\nSo, when the Gods their parents had destroy\u2019d,\r\nStorms suddenly the beauteous daughters snatch\u2019d[footnote]A\u0115don, Cleothera, Merope.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nOf Pandarus away; them left forlorn\r\nVenus with curds, with honey and with wine\r\nFed duly; Juno gave them to surpass\r\nAll women in the charms of face and mind,\r\nWith graceful stature eminent the chaste\r\nDiana bless\u2019d them, and in works of art\r\nIllustrious, Pallas taught them to excel.\r\nBut when the foam-sprung Goddess to the skies\r\nA suitress went on their behalf, to obtain\r\nBlest nuptials for them from the Thund\u2019rer Jove,\r\n(For Jove the happiness, himself, appoints,\r\nAnd the unhappiness of all below)\r\nMeantime, the Harpies ravishing away\r\nThose virgins, gave them to the Furies Three,\r\nThat they might serve them. O that me the Gods\r\nInhabiting Olympus so would hide\r\nFrom human eyes for ever, or bright-hair\u2019d\r\nDiana pierce me with a shaft, that while\r\nUlysses yet engages all my thoughts,\r\nMy days concluded, I might \u2019scape the pain\r\nOf gratifying some inferior Chief!\r\nThis is supportable, when (all the day\r\nTo sorrow giv\u2019n) the mourner sleeps at night;\r\nFor sleep, when it hath once the eyelids veil\u2019d,\r\nAll reminiscence blots of all alike,\r\nBoth good and ill; but me the Gods afflict\r\nNot seldom ev\u2019n in dreams, and at my side,\r\nThis night again, one lay resembling him;\r\nSuch as my own Ulysses when he join\u2019d\r\nAchaia\u2019s warriors; my exulting heart\r\nNo airy dream believed it, but a truth.\r\nWhile thus she spake, in orient gold enthroned\r\nCame forth the morn; Ulysses, as she wept,\r\nHeard plain her lamentation; him that sound\r\nAlarm\u2019d; he thought her present, and himself\r\nKnown to her. Gath\u2019ring hastily the cloak\r\nHis cov\u2019ring, and the fleeces, them he placed\r\nTogether on a throne within the hall,\r\nBut bore the bull\u2019s-hide forth into the air.\r\nThen, lifting high his hands to Jove, he pray\u2019d.\r\nEternal Sire! if over moist and dry\r\nYe have with good-will sped me to my home\r\nAfter much suff\u2019ring, grant me from the lips\r\nOf some domestic now awake, to hear\r\nWords of propitious omen, and thyself\r\nVouchsafe me still some other sign abroad.\r\nSuch pray\u2019r he made, and Jove omniscient heard.\r\nSudden he thunder\u2019d from the radiant heights\r\nOlympian; glad, Ulysses heard the sound.\r\nA woman, next, a labourer at the mill\r\nHard by, where all the palace-mills were wrought,\r\nGave him the omen of propitious sound.\r\nTwelve maidens, day by day, toil\u2019d at the mills,\r\nMeal grinding, some, of barley, some, of wheat,\r\nMarrow of man.[footnote]\u03bc\u03c5\u03b5\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd \u03b1\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03c9\u03bd.[\/footnote]<\/sup> The rest (their portion ground)\r\nAll slept; she only from her task as yet\r\nCeas\u2019d not, for she was feeblest of them all;\r\nShe rested on her mill, and thus pronounced\r\nThe happy omen by her Lord desired.\r\nJove, Father, Governor of heav\u2019n and earth!\r\nLoud thou hast thunder\u2019d from the starry skies\r\nBy no cloud veil\u2019d; a sign propitious, giv\u2019n\r\nTo whom I know not; but oh grant the pray\u2019r\r\nOf a poor bond-woman! appoint their feast\r\nThis day, the last that in Ulysses\u2019 house\r\nThe suitors shall enjoy, for whom I drudge,\r\nWith aching heart and trembling knees their meal\r\nGrinding continual. Feast they here no more!\r\nShe ended, and the list\u2019ning Chief received\r\nWith equal joy both signs; for well he hoped\r\nThat he should punish soon those guilty men.\r\nAnd now the other maidens in the hall\r\nAssembling, kindled on the hearth again\r\nTh\u2019 unwearied blaze; then, godlike from his couch\r\nArose Telemachus, and, fresh-attired,\r\nAthwart his shoulders his bright faulchion slung,\r\nBound his fair sandals to his feet, and took\r\nHis sturdy spear pointed with glitt\u2019ring brass;\r\nAdvancing to the portal, there he stood,\r\nAnd Euryclea thus, his nurse, bespake.\r\nNurse! have ye with respectful notice serv\u2019d\r\nOur guest? or hath he found a sordid couch\r\nE\u2019en where he might? for, prudent though she be,\r\nMy mother, inattentive oft, the worse\r\nTreats kindly, and the better sends away.\r\nWhom Euryclea answer\u2019d, thus, discrete.\r\nBlame not, my son! who merits not thy blame.\r\nThe guest sat drinking till he would no more,\r\nAnd ate, till, question\u2019d, he replied\u2014Enough.\r\nBut when the hour of sleep call\u2019d him to rest,\r\nShe gave commandment to her female train\r\nTo spread his couch. Yet he, like one forlorn,\r\nAnd, through despair, indiff\u2019rent to himself,\r\nBoth bed and rugs refused, and in the porch\r\nOn skins of sheep and on an undress\u2019d hide\r\nReposed, where we threw cov\u2019ring over him.\r\nShe ceas\u2019d, and, grasping his bright-headed spear,\r\nForth went the Prince attended, as he went,\r\nBy his fleet hounds; to the assembled Greeks\r\nIn council with majestic gait he moved,\r\nAnd Euryclea, daughter wise of Ops,\r\nPisenor\u2019s son, call\u2019d to the serving-maids.\r\nHaste ye! be diligent! sweep the palace-floor\r\nAnd sprinkle it; then give the sumptuous seats\r\nTheir purple coverings. Let others cleanse\r\nWith sponges all the tables, wash and rince\r\nThe beakers well, and goblets rich-emboss\u2019d;\r\nRun others to the fountain, and bring thence\r\nWater with speed. The suitors will not long\r\nBe absent, but will early come to-day,\r\nFor this day is a public festival.[footnote]The new moon.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nSo she; whom all, obedient, heard; forth went\r\nTogether, twenty to the crystal fount,\r\nWhile in their sev\u2019ral provinces the rest\r\nBestirr\u2019d them brisk at home. Then enter\u2019d all\r\nThe suitors, and began cleaving the wood.\r\nMeantime, the women from the fountain came,\r\nWhom soon the swine-herd follow\u2019d, driving three\r\nHis fattest brawns; them in the spacious court\r\nHe feeding left, and to Ulysses\u2019 side\r\nApproaching, courteously bespake the Chief.\r\nGuest! look the Greecians on thee with respect\r\nAt length, or still disdainful as before?\r\nThen, answer thus Ulysses wise return\u2019d.\r\nYes\u2014and I would that vengeance from the Gods\r\nMight pay their insolence, who in a house\r\nNot theirs, dominion exercise, and plan\r\nUnseemly projects, shameless as they are!\r\nThus they conferr\u2019d; and now Melanthius came\r\nThe goat-herd, driving, with the aid of two\r\nHis fellow-swains, the fattest of his goats\r\nTo feast the suitors. In the sounding porch\r\nThe goats he tied, then, drawing near, in terms\r\nReproachful thus assail\u2019d Ulysses\u2019 ear.\r\nHow, stranger? persever\u2019st thou, begging, still\r\nTo vex the suitors? wilt thou not depart?\r\nScarce shall we settle this dispute, I judge,\r\nTill we have tasted each the other\u2019s fist;\r\nThou art unreasonable thus to beg\r\nHere always\u2014have the Greeks no feasts beside?\r\nHe spake, to whom Ulysses answer none\r\nReturn\u2019d, but shook his brows, and, silent, framed\r\nTerrible purposes. Then, third, approach\u2019d\r\nChief o\u2019er the herds, Phil\u0153tius; fatted goats\r\nHe for the suitors brought, with which he drove\r\nAn heifer; (ferry-men had pass\u2019d them o\u2019er,\r\nCarriers of all who on their coast arrive)\r\nHe tied them in the sounding porch, then stood\r\nBeside the swine-herd, to whom thus he said.\r\nWho is this guest, Eum\u00e6us, here arrived\r\nSo lately? from what nation hath he come?\r\nWhat parentage and country boasts the man?\r\nI pity him, whose figure seems to speak\r\nRoyalty in him. Heav\u2019n will surely plunge\r\nThe race of common wand\u2019rers deep in woe,\r\nIf thus it destine even Kings to mourn.\r\nHe ceas\u2019d; and, with his right hand, drawing nigh,\r\nWelcom\u2019d Ulysses, whom he thus bespake.\r\nHail venerable guest! and be thy lot\r\nProsp\u2019rous at least hereafter, who art held\r\nAt present in the bonds of num\u2019rous ills.\r\nThou, Jupiter, of all the Gods, art most\r\nSevere, and spar\u2019st not to inflict distress\r\nEven on creatures from thyself derived.[footnote]He is often called\u2014\u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1 \u03b1\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03c9\u03bd \u03c4\u03b5 \u03b8\u03b5\u03c9\u03bd \u03c4\u03b5.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nI had no sooner mark\u2019d thee, than my eyes\r\nSwam, and the sweat gush\u2019d from me at the thought\r\nOf dear Ulysses; for if yet he live\r\nAnd see the sun, such tatters, I suppose,\r\nHe wears, a wand\u2019rer among human-kind.\r\nBut if already with the dead he dwell\r\nIn Pluto\u2019s drear abode, oh then, alas\r\nFor kind Ulysses! who consign\u2019d to me,\r\nWhile yet a boy, his Cephalenian herds,\r\nAnd they have now encreas\u2019d to such a store\r\nInnumerable of broad-fronted beeves,\r\nAs only care like mine could have produced.\r\nThese, by command of others, I transport\r\nFor their regale, who neither heed his son,\r\nNor tremble at the anger of the Gods,\r\nBut long have wish\u2019d ardently to divide\r\nAnd share the substance of our absent Lord.\r\nMe, therefore, this thought occupies, and haunts\r\nMy mind not seldom; while the heir survives\r\nIt were no small offence to drive his herds\r\nAfar, and migrate to a foreign land;\r\nYet here to dwell, suff\u2019ring oppressive wrongs\r\nWhile I attend another\u2019s beeves, appears\r\nStill less supportable; and I had fled,\r\nAnd I had served some other mighty Chief\r\nLong since, (for patience fails me to endure\r\nMy present lot) but that I cherish still\r\nSome hope of my ill-fated Lord\u2019s return,\r\nTo rid his palace of those lawless guests.\r\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.\r\nHerdsman! since neither void of sense thou seem\u2019st,\r\nNor yet dishonest, but myself am sure\r\nThat thou art owner of a mind discrete,\r\nHear therefore, for I swear! bold I attest\r\nJove and this hospitable board, and these\r\nThe Lares[footnote]Household Gods who presided over the hearth.[\/footnote]<\/sup> of the noble Chief, whose hearth\r\nProtects me now, that, ere thy going hence,\r\nUlysses surely shall have reach\u2019d his home,\r\nAnd thou shalt see him, if thou wilt, thyself,\r\nSlaying the suitors who now lord it here.\r\nHim answer\u2019d then the keeper of his beeves.\r\nOh stranger! would but the Saturnian King\r\nPerform that word, thou should\u2019st be taught (thyself\r\nEye-witness of it) what an arm is mine.\r\nEum\u00e6us also ev\u2019ry power of heav\u2019n\r\nEntreated, that Ulysses might possess\r\nHis home again. Thus mutual they conferr\u2019d.\r\nMeantime, in conf\u2019rence close the suitors plann\u2019d\r\nDeath for Telemachus; but while they sat\r\nConsulting, on their left the bird of Jove\r\nAn eagle soar\u2019d, grasping a tim\u2019rous dove.\r\nThen, thus, Amphinomus the rest bespake.\r\nOh friends! our consultation how to slay\r\nTelemachus, will never smoothly run\r\nTo its effect; but let us to the feast.\r\nSo spake Amphinomus, whose counsel pleased.\r\nThen, all into the royal house repaired,\r\nAnd on the thrones and couches throwing off\r\nTheir mantles, slew the fatted goats, the brawns,\r\nThe sheep full-sized, and heifer of the herd.\r\nThe roasted entrails first they shared, then fill\u2019d\r\nThe beakers, and the swine-herd placed the cups,\r\nPhil\u0153tius, chief intendant of the beeves,\r\nServed all with baskets elegant of bread,\r\nWhile all their cups Melanthius charged with wine,\r\nAnd they assail\u2019d at once the ready feast.\r\nMeantime Telemachus, with forecast shrewd,\r\nFast by the marble threshold, but within\r\nThe spacious hall his father placed, to whom\r\nA sordid seat he gave and scanty board.\r\nA portion of the entrails, next, he set\r\nBefore him, fill\u2019d a golden goblet high,\r\nAnd thus, in presence of them all, began.\r\nThere seated now, drink as the suitors drink.\r\nI will, myself, their biting taunts forbid,\r\nAnd violence. This edifice is mine,\r\nNot public property; my father first\r\nPossess\u2019d it, and my right from him descends.\r\nSuitors! controul your tongues, nor with your hands\r\nOffend, lest contest fierce and war ensue.\r\nHe ceas\u2019d: they gnawing, sat, their lips, aghast\r\nWith wonder that Telemachus in his speech\r\nSuch boldness used. Then spake Eupithes\u2019 son,\r\nAntino\u00fcs, and the assembly thus address\u2019d.\r\nLet pass, ye Greeks! the language of the Prince,\r\nHarsh as it is, and big with threats to us.\r\nHad Jove permitted, his orations here,\r\nAlthough thus eloquent, ere now had ceased.\r\nSo spake Antino\u00fcs, whom Ulysses\u2019 son\r\nHeard unconcern\u2019d. And now the heralds came\r\nIn solemn pomp, conducting through the streets\r\nA sacred hecatomb, when in the grove\r\nUmbrageous of Apollo, King shaft-arm\u2019d,\r\nThe assembled Greecians met. The sav\u2019ry roast\r\nFinish\u2019d, and from the spits withdrawn, each shared\r\nHis portion of the noble feast, and such\r\nAs they enjoy\u2019d themselves the attendants placed\r\nBefore Ulysses, for the Hero\u2019s son\r\nHimself, Telemachus, had so enjoined.\r\nBut Pallas (that they might exasp\u2019rate more\r\nUlysses) suffer\u2019d not the suitor Chiefs\r\nTo banquet, guiltless of heart-piercing scoffs\r\nMalign. There was a certain suitor named\r\nCtesippus, born in Samos; base of mind\r\nWas he and profligate, but, in the wealth\r\nConfiding of his father, woo\u2019d the wife\r\nOf long-exiled Ulysses. From his seat\r\nThe haughty suitors thus that man address\u2019d.\r\nYe noble suitors, I would speak; attend!\r\nThe guest is served; he hath already shared\r\nEqual with us; nor less the laws demand\r\nOf hospitality; for neither just\r\nIt were nor decent, that a guest, received\r\nHere by Telemachus, should be denied\r\nHis portion of the feast. Come then\u2014myself\r\nWill give to him, that he may also give\r\nTo her who laved him in the bath, or else\r\nTo whatsoever menial here he will.\r\nSo saying, he from a basket near at hand\r\nHeav\u2019d an ox-foot, and with a vig\u2019rous arm\r\nHurl\u2019d it. Ulysses gently bow\u2019d his head,\r\nShunning the blow, but gratified his just\r\nResentment with a broad sardonic smile[footnote]A smile of displeasure.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nOf dread significance. He smote the wall.\r\nThen thus Telemachus rebuked the deed.\r\nCtesippus, thou art fortunate; the bone\r\nStruck not the stranger, for he shunn\u2019d the blow;\r\nElse, I had surely thrust my glitt\u2019ring lance\r\nRight through thee; then, no hymen\u00e6al rites\r\nOf thine should have employ\u2019d thy father here,\r\nBut thy funereal. No man therefore treat\r\nMe with indignity within these walls,\r\nFor though of late a child, I can discern\r\nNow, and distinguish between good and ill.\r\nSuffice it that we patiently endure\r\nTo be spectators daily of our sheep\r\nSlaughter\u2019d, our bread consumed, our stores of wine\r\nWasted; for what can one to all opposed?\r\nCome then\u2014persist no longer in offence\r\nAnd hostile hate of me; or if ye wish\r\nTo slay me, pause not. It were better far\r\nTo die, and I had rather much be slain,\r\nThan thus to witness your atrocious deeds\r\nDay after day; to see our guests abused,\r\nWith blows insulted, and the women dragg\u2019d\r\nWith a licentious violence obscene\r\nFrom side to side of all this fair abode.\r\nHe said, and all sat silent, till at length\r\nThus Agela\u00fcs spake, Diastor\u2019s son.\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. My advice, both to the Queen\r\nAnd to Telemachus, shall gentle be,\r\nMay it but please them. While the hope survived\r\nWithin your bosoms of the safe return\r\nOf wise Ulysses to his native isle,\r\nSo long good reason was that she should use\r\nDelay, and hold our wooing in suspence;\r\nFor had Ulysses come, that course had proved\r\nWisest and best; but that he comes no more\r\nAppears, now, manifest. Thou, therefore, Prince!\r\nSeeking thy mother, counsel her to wed\r\nThe noblest, and who offers richest dow\u2019r,\r\nThat thou, for thy peculiar, may\u2019st enjoy\r\nThy own inheritance in peace and ease,\r\nAnd she, departing, find another home.\r\nTo whom Telemachus, discrete, replied.\r\nI swear by Jove, and by my father\u2019s woes,\r\nWho either hath deceased far from his home,\r\nOr lives a wand\u2019rer, that I interpose\r\nNo hindrance to her nuptials. Let her wed\r\nWho offers most, and even whom she will.\r\nBut to dismiss her rudely were a deed\r\nUnfilial\u2014That I dare not\u2014God forbid!\r\nSo spake Telemachus. Then Pallas struck\r\nThe suitors with delirium; wide they stretch\u2019d\r\nTheir jaws with unspontaneous laughter loud;\r\nTheir meat dripp\u2019d blood; tears fill\u2019d their eyes, and dire\r\nPresages of approaching woe, their hearts.\r\nThen thus the prophet Theoclymenus.[footnote]Who had sought refuge in the ship of Telemachus when he left Sparta, and came with him to Ithaca.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nAh miserable men! what curse is this\r\nThat takes you now? night wraps itself around\r\nYour faces, bodies, limbs; the palace shakes\r\nWith peals of groans\u2014and oh, what floods ye weep!\r\nI see the walls and arches dappled thick\r\nWith gore; the vestibule is throng\u2019d, the court\r\nOn all sides throng\u2019d with apparitions grim\r\nOf slaughter\u2019d men sinking into the gloom\r\nOf Erebus; the sun is blotted out\r\nFrom heav\u2019n, and midnight whelms you premature.\r\nHe said, they, hearing, laugh\u2019d; and thus the son\r\nOf Polybus, Eurymachus replied.\r\nThis wand\u2019rer from a distant shore hath left\r\nHis wits behind. Hoa there! conduct him hence\r\nInto the forum; since he dreams it night\r\nAlready, teach him there that it is day.\r\nThen answer\u2019d godlike Theoclymenus.\r\nI have no need, Eurymachus, of guides\r\nTo lead me hence, for I have eyes and ears,\r\nThe use of both my feet, and of a mind\r\nIn no respect irrational or wild.\r\nThese shall conduct me forth, for well I know\r\nThat evil threatens you, such, too, as none\r\nShall \u2019scape of all the suitors, whose delight\r\nIs to insult the unoffending guest\r\nReceived beneath this hospitable roof.\r\nHe said, and, issuing from the palace, sought\r\nPir\u00e6us\u2019 house, who gladly welcom\u2019d him.\r\nThen all the suitors on each other cast\r\nA look significant, and, to provoke\r\nTelemachus the more, fleer\u2019d at his guests.\r\nOf whom a youth thus, insolent began.\r\nNo living wight, Telemachus, had e\u2019er\r\nGuests such as thine. Witness, we know not who,\r\nThis hungry vagabond, whose means of life\r\nAre none, and who hath neither skill nor force\r\nTo earn them, a mere burthen on the ground.\r\nWitness the other also, who upstarts\r\nA prophet suddenly. Take my advice;\r\nI counsel wisely; send them both on board\r\nSome gallant bark to Sicily for sale;\r\nThus shall they somewhat profit thee at last.\r\nSo spake the suitors, whom Telemachus\r\nHeard unconcern\u2019d, and, silent, look\u2019d and look\u2019d\r\nToward his father, watching still the time\r\nWhen he should punish that licentious throng.\r\nMeantime, Icarius\u2019 daughter, who had placed\r\nHer splendid seat opposite, heard distinct\r\nTheir taunting speeches. They, with noisy mirth,\r\nFeasted deliciously, for they had slain\r\nMany a fat victim; but a sadder feast\r\nThan, soon, the Goddess and the warrior Chief\r\nShould furnish for them, none shall ever share.\r\nOf which their crimes had furnish\u2019d first the cause.","rendered":"

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

Ulysses, doubting whether he shall destroy or not the women servants who commit lewdness with the suitors, resolves at length to spare them for the present. He asks an omen from Jupiter, and that he would grant him also to hear some propitious words from the lips of one in the family. His petitions are both answered. Preparation is made for the feast. Whilst the suitors sit at table, Pallas smites them with a horrid frenzy. Theoclymenus, observing the strange effects of it, prophesies their destruction, and they deride his prophecy.<\/p>\n

But in the vestibule the Hero lay
\nOn a bull\u2019s-hide undress\u2019d, o\u2019er which he spread
\nThe fleece of many a sheep slain by the Greeks,
\nAnd, cover\u2019d by the household\u2019s governess
\nWith a wide cloak, composed himself to rest.
\nYet slept he not, but meditating lay
\nWoe to his enemies. Meantime, the train
\nOf women, wonted to the suitors\u2019 arms,
\nIssuing all mirth and laughter, in his soul
\nA tempest raised of doubts, whether at once
\nTo slay, or to permit them yet to give
\nTheir lusty paramours one last embrace.
\nAs growls the mastiff standing on the start
\nFor battle, if a stranger\u2019s foot approach
\nHer cubs new-whelp\u2019d\u2014so growl\u2019d Ulysses\u2019 heart,
\nWhile wonder fill\u2019d him at their impious deeds.
\nBut, smiting on his breast, thus he reproved
\nThe mutinous inhabitant within.
\nHeart! bear it. Worse than this thou didst endure
\nWhen, uncontroulable by force of man,
\nThe Cyclops thy illustrious friends devour\u2019d.
\nThy patience then fail\u2019d not, till prudence found
\nDeliv\u2019rance for thee on the brink of fate.
\nSo disciplined the Hero his own heart,
\nWhich, tractable, endured the rigorous curb,
\nAnd patient; yet he turn\u2019d from side to side.
\nAs when some hungry swain turns oft a maw
\nUnctuous and sav\u2019ry on the burning coals,
\nQuick expediting his desired repast,
\nSo he from side to side roll\u2019d, pond\u2019ring deep
\nHow likeliest with success he might assail
\nThose shameless suitors; one to many opposed.
\nThen, sudden from the skies descending, came
\nMinerva in a female form; her stand
\nAbove his head she took, and thus she spake.
\nWhy sleep\u2019st thou not, unhappiest of mankind?
\nThou art at home; here dwells thy wife, and here
\nThy son; a son, whom all might wish their own.
\nThen her Ulysses answer\u2019d, ever-wise.
\nO Goddess! true is all that thou hast said,
\nBut, not without anxiety, I muse
\nHow, single as I am, I shall assail
\nThose shameless suitors who frequent my courts
\nDaily; and always their whole multitude.
\nThis weightier theme I meditate beside;
\nShould I, with Jove\u2019s concurrence and with thine
\nPrevail to slay them, how shall I escape,
\nMyself, at last?[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup> oh Goddess, weigh it well.
\nHim answer\u2019d then Pallas c\u00e6rulean-eyed.
\nOh faithless man! a man will in his friend
\nConfide, though mortal, and in valour less
\nAnd wisdom than himself; but I who keep
\nThee in all difficulties, am divine.
\nI tell thee plainly. Were we hemm\u2019d around
\nBy fifty troops of shouting warriors bent
\nTo slay thee, thou should\u2019st yet securely drive
\nThe flocks away and cattle of them all.
\nBut yield to sleep\u2019s soft influence; for to lie
\nAll night thus watchful, is, itself, distress.
\nFear not. Deliv\u2019rance waits, not far remote.
\nSo saying, she o\u2019er Ulysses\u2019 eyes diffused
\nSoft slumbers, and when sleep that sooths the mind
\nAnd nerves the limbs afresh had seized him once,
\nTo the Olympian summit swift return\u2019d.
\nBut his chaste spouse awoke; she weeping sat
\nOn her soft couch, and, noblest of her sex,
\nSatiate at length with tears, her pray\u2019r address\u2019d
\nFirst to Diana of the Pow\u2019rs above.
\nDiana, awful progeny of Jove!
\nI would that with a shaft this moment sped
\nInto my bosom, thou would\u2019st here conclude
\nMy mournful life! or, oh that, as it flies,
\nSnatching me through the pathless air, a storm
\nWould whelm me deep in Ocean\u2019s restless tide!
\nSo, when the Gods their parents had destroy\u2019d,
\nStorms suddenly the beauteous daughters snatch\u2019d[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nOf Pandarus away; them left forlorn
\nVenus with curds, with honey and with wine
\nFed duly; Juno gave them to surpass
\nAll women in the charms of face and mind,
\nWith graceful stature eminent the chaste
\nDiana bless\u2019d them, and in works of art
\nIllustrious, Pallas taught them to excel.
\nBut when the foam-sprung Goddess to the skies
\nA suitress went on their behalf, to obtain
\nBlest nuptials for them from the Thund\u2019rer Jove,
\n(For Jove the happiness, himself, appoints,
\nAnd the unhappiness of all below)
\nMeantime, the Harpies ravishing away
\nThose virgins, gave them to the Furies Three,
\nThat they might serve them. O that me the Gods
\nInhabiting Olympus so would hide
\nFrom human eyes for ever, or bright-hair\u2019d
\nDiana pierce me with a shaft, that while
\nUlysses yet engages all my thoughts,
\nMy days concluded, I might \u2019scape the pain
\nOf gratifying some inferior Chief!
\nThis is supportable, when (all the day
\nTo sorrow giv\u2019n) the mourner sleeps at night;
\nFor sleep, when it hath once the eyelids veil\u2019d,
\nAll reminiscence blots of all alike,
\nBoth good and ill; but me the Gods afflict
\nNot seldom ev\u2019n in dreams, and at my side,
\nThis night again, one lay resembling him;
\nSuch as my own Ulysses when he join\u2019d
\nAchaia\u2019s warriors; my exulting heart
\nNo airy dream believed it, but a truth.
\nWhile thus she spake, in orient gold enthroned
\nCame forth the morn; Ulysses, as she wept,
\nHeard plain her lamentation; him that sound
\nAlarm\u2019d; he thought her present, and himself
\nKnown to her. Gath\u2019ring hastily the cloak
\nHis cov\u2019ring, and the fleeces, them he placed
\nTogether on a throne within the hall,
\nBut bore the bull\u2019s-hide forth into the air.
\nThen, lifting high his hands to Jove, he pray\u2019d.
\nEternal Sire! if over moist and dry
\nYe have with good-will sped me to my home
\nAfter much suff\u2019ring, grant me from the lips
\nOf some domestic now awake, to hear
\nWords of propitious omen, and thyself
\nVouchsafe me still some other sign abroad.
\nSuch pray\u2019r he made, and Jove omniscient heard.
\nSudden he thunder\u2019d from the radiant heights
\nOlympian; glad, Ulysses heard the sound.
\nA woman, next, a labourer at the mill
\nHard by, where all the palace-mills were wrought,
\nGave him the omen of propitious sound.
\nTwelve maidens, day by day, toil\u2019d at the mills,
\nMeal grinding, some, of barley, some, of wheat,
\nMarrow of man.[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup> The rest (their portion ground)
\nAll slept; she only from her task as yet
\nCeas\u2019d not, for she was feeblest of them all;
\nShe rested on her mill, and thus pronounced
\nThe happy omen by her Lord desired.
\nJove, Father, Governor of heav\u2019n and earth!
\nLoud thou hast thunder\u2019d from the starry skies
\nBy no cloud veil\u2019d; a sign propitious, giv\u2019n
\nTo whom I know not; but oh grant the pray\u2019r
\nOf a poor bond-woman! appoint their feast
\nThis day, the last that in Ulysses\u2019 house
\nThe suitors shall enjoy, for whom I drudge,
\nWith aching heart and trembling knees their meal
\nGrinding continual. Feast they here no more!
\nShe ended, and the list\u2019ning Chief received
\nWith equal joy both signs; for well he hoped
\nThat he should punish soon those guilty men.
\nAnd now the other maidens in the hall
\nAssembling, kindled on the hearth again
\nTh\u2019 unwearied blaze; then, godlike from his couch
\nArose Telemachus, and, fresh-attired,
\nAthwart his shoulders his bright faulchion slung,
\nBound his fair sandals to his feet, and took
\nHis sturdy spear pointed with glitt\u2019ring brass;
\nAdvancing to the portal, there he stood,
\nAnd Euryclea thus, his nurse, bespake.
\nNurse! have ye with respectful notice serv\u2019d
\nOur guest? or hath he found a sordid couch
\nE\u2019en where he might? for, prudent though she be,
\nMy mother, inattentive oft, the worse
\nTreats kindly, and the better sends away.
\nWhom Euryclea answer\u2019d, thus, discrete.
\nBlame not, my son! who merits not thy blame.
\nThe guest sat drinking till he would no more,
\nAnd ate, till, question\u2019d, he replied\u2014Enough.
\nBut when the hour of sleep call\u2019d him to rest,
\nShe gave commandment to her female train
\nTo spread his couch. Yet he, like one forlorn,
\nAnd, through despair, indiff\u2019rent to himself,
\nBoth bed and rugs refused, and in the porch
\nOn skins of sheep and on an undress\u2019d hide
\nReposed, where we threw cov\u2019ring over him.
\nShe ceas\u2019d, and, grasping his bright-headed spear,
\nForth went the Prince attended, as he went,
\nBy his fleet hounds; to the assembled Greeks
\nIn council with majestic gait he moved,
\nAnd Euryclea, daughter wise of Ops,
\nPisenor\u2019s son, call\u2019d to the serving-maids.
\nHaste ye! be diligent! sweep the palace-floor
\nAnd sprinkle it; then give the sumptuous seats
\nTheir purple coverings. Let others cleanse
\nWith sponges all the tables, wash and rince
\nThe beakers well, and goblets rich-emboss\u2019d;
\nRun others to the fountain, and bring thence
\nWater with speed. The suitors will not long
\nBe absent, but will early come to-day,
\nFor this day is a public festival.[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nSo she; whom all, obedient, heard; forth went
\nTogether, twenty to the crystal fount,
\nWhile in their sev\u2019ral provinces the rest
\nBestirr\u2019d them brisk at home. Then enter\u2019d all
\nThe suitors, and began cleaving the wood.
\nMeantime, the women from the fountain came,
\nWhom soon the swine-herd follow\u2019d, driving three
\nHis fattest brawns; them in the spacious court
\nHe feeding left, and to Ulysses\u2019 side
\nApproaching, courteously bespake the Chief.
\nGuest! look the Greecians on thee with respect
\nAt length, or still disdainful as before?
\nThen, answer thus Ulysses wise return\u2019d.
\nYes\u2014and I would that vengeance from the Gods
\nMight pay their insolence, who in a house
\nNot theirs, dominion exercise, and plan
\nUnseemly projects, shameless as they are!
\nThus they conferr\u2019d; and now Melanthius came
\nThe goat-herd, driving, with the aid of two
\nHis fellow-swains, the fattest of his goats
\nTo feast the suitors. In the sounding porch
\nThe goats he tied, then, drawing near, in terms
\nReproachful thus assail\u2019d Ulysses\u2019 ear.
\nHow, stranger? persever\u2019st thou, begging, still
\nTo vex the suitors? wilt thou not depart?
\nScarce shall we settle this dispute, I judge,
\nTill we have tasted each the other\u2019s fist;
\nThou art unreasonable thus to beg
\nHere always\u2014have the Greeks no feasts beside?
\nHe spake, to whom Ulysses answer none
\nReturn\u2019d, but shook his brows, and, silent, framed
\nTerrible purposes. Then, third, approach\u2019d
\nChief o\u2019er the herds, Phil\u0153tius; fatted goats
\nHe for the suitors brought, with which he drove
\nAn heifer; (ferry-men had pass\u2019d them o\u2019er,
\nCarriers of all who on their coast arrive)
\nHe tied them in the sounding porch, then stood
\nBeside the swine-herd, to whom thus he said.
\nWho is this guest, Eum\u00e6us, here arrived
\nSo lately? from what nation hath he come?
\nWhat parentage and country boasts the man?
\nI pity him, whose figure seems to speak
\nRoyalty in him. Heav\u2019n will surely plunge
\nThe race of common wand\u2019rers deep in woe,
\nIf thus it destine even Kings to mourn.
\nHe ceas\u2019d; and, with his right hand, drawing nigh,
\nWelcom\u2019d Ulysses, whom he thus bespake.
\nHail venerable guest! and be thy lot
\nProsp\u2019rous at least hereafter, who art held
\nAt present in the bonds of num\u2019rous ills.
\nThou, Jupiter, of all the Gods, art most
\nSevere, and spar\u2019st not to inflict distress
\nEven on creatures from thyself derived.[5]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nI had no sooner mark\u2019d thee, than my eyes
\nSwam, and the sweat gush\u2019d from me at the thought
\nOf dear Ulysses; for if yet he live
\nAnd see the sun, such tatters, I suppose,
\nHe wears, a wand\u2019rer among human-kind.
\nBut if already with the dead he dwell
\nIn Pluto\u2019s drear abode, oh then, alas
\nFor kind Ulysses! who consign\u2019d to me,
\nWhile yet a boy, his Cephalenian herds,
\nAnd they have now encreas\u2019d to such a store
\nInnumerable of broad-fronted beeves,
\nAs only care like mine could have produced.
\nThese, by command of others, I transport
\nFor their regale, who neither heed his son,
\nNor tremble at the anger of the Gods,
\nBut long have wish\u2019d ardently to divide
\nAnd share the substance of our absent Lord.
\nMe, therefore, this thought occupies, and haunts
\nMy mind not seldom; while the heir survives
\nIt were no small offence to drive his herds
\nAfar, and migrate to a foreign land;
\nYet here to dwell, suff\u2019ring oppressive wrongs
\nWhile I attend another\u2019s beeves, appears
\nStill less supportable; and I had fled,
\nAnd I had served some other mighty Chief
\nLong since, (for patience fails me to endure
\nMy present lot) but that I cherish still
\nSome hope of my ill-fated Lord\u2019s return,
\nTo rid his palace of those lawless guests.
\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.
\nHerdsman! since neither void of sense thou seem\u2019st,
\nNor yet dishonest, but myself am sure
\nThat thou art owner of a mind discrete,
\nHear therefore, for I swear! bold I attest
\nJove and this hospitable board, and these
\nThe Lares[6]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup> of the noble Chief, whose hearth
\nProtects me now, that, ere thy going hence,
\nUlysses surely shall have reach\u2019d his home,
\nAnd thou shalt see him, if thou wilt, thyself,
\nSlaying the suitors who now lord it here.
\nHim answer\u2019d then the keeper of his beeves.
\nOh stranger! would but the Saturnian King
\nPerform that word, thou should\u2019st be taught (thyself
\nEye-witness of it) what an arm is mine.
\nEum\u00e6us also ev\u2019ry power of heav\u2019n
\nEntreated, that Ulysses might possess
\nHis home again. Thus mutual they conferr\u2019d.
\nMeantime, in conf\u2019rence close the suitors plann\u2019d
\nDeath for Telemachus; but while they sat
\nConsulting, on their left the bird of Jove
\nAn eagle soar\u2019d, grasping a tim\u2019rous dove.
\nThen, thus, Amphinomus the rest bespake.
\nOh friends! our consultation how to slay
\nTelemachus, will never smoothly run
\nTo its effect; but let us to the feast.
\nSo spake Amphinomus, whose counsel pleased.
\nThen, all into the royal house repaired,
\nAnd on the thrones and couches throwing off
\nTheir mantles, slew the fatted goats, the brawns,
\nThe sheep full-sized, and heifer of the herd.
\nThe roasted entrails first they shared, then fill\u2019d
\nThe beakers, and the swine-herd placed the cups,
\nPhil\u0153tius, chief intendant of the beeves,
\nServed all with baskets elegant of bread,
\nWhile all their cups Melanthius charged with wine,
\nAnd they assail\u2019d at once the ready feast.
\nMeantime Telemachus, with forecast shrewd,
\nFast by the marble threshold, but within
\nThe spacious hall his father placed, to whom
\nA sordid seat he gave and scanty board.
\nA portion of the entrails, next, he set
\nBefore him, fill\u2019d a golden goblet high,
\nAnd thus, in presence of them all, began.
\nThere seated now, drink as the suitors drink.
\nI will, myself, their biting taunts forbid,
\nAnd violence. This edifice is mine,
\nNot public property; my father first
\nPossess\u2019d it, and my right from him descends.
\nSuitors! controul your tongues, nor with your hands
\nOffend, lest contest fierce and war ensue.
\nHe ceas\u2019d: they gnawing, sat, their lips, aghast
\nWith wonder that Telemachus in his speech
\nSuch boldness used. Then spake Eupithes\u2019 son,
\nAntino\u00fcs, and the assembly thus address\u2019d.
\nLet pass, ye Greeks! the language of the Prince,
\nHarsh as it is, and big with threats to us.
\nHad Jove permitted, his orations here,
\nAlthough thus eloquent, ere now had ceased.
\nSo spake Antino\u00fcs, whom Ulysses\u2019 son
\nHeard unconcern\u2019d. And now the heralds came
\nIn solemn pomp, conducting through the streets
\nA sacred hecatomb, when in the grove
\nUmbrageous of Apollo, King shaft-arm\u2019d,
\nThe assembled Greecians met. The sav\u2019ry roast
\nFinish\u2019d, and from the spits withdrawn, each shared
\nHis portion of the noble feast, and such
\nAs they enjoy\u2019d themselves the attendants placed
\nBefore Ulysses, for the Hero\u2019s son
\nHimself, Telemachus, had so enjoined.
\nBut Pallas (that they might exasp\u2019rate more
\nUlysses) suffer\u2019d not the suitor Chiefs
\nTo banquet, guiltless of heart-piercing scoffs
\nMalign. There was a certain suitor named
\nCtesippus, born in Samos; base of mind
\nWas he and profligate, but, in the wealth
\nConfiding of his father, woo\u2019d the wife
\nOf long-exiled Ulysses. From his seat
\nThe haughty suitors thus that man address\u2019d.
\nYe noble suitors, I would speak; attend!
\nThe guest is served; he hath already shared
\nEqual with us; nor less the laws demand
\nOf hospitality; for neither just
\nIt were nor decent, that a guest, received
\nHere by Telemachus, should be denied
\nHis portion of the feast. Come then\u2014myself
\nWill give to him, that he may also give
\nTo her who laved him in the bath, or else
\nTo whatsoever menial here he will.
\nSo saying, he from a basket near at hand
\nHeav\u2019d an ox-foot, and with a vig\u2019rous arm
\nHurl\u2019d it. Ulysses gently bow\u2019d his head,
\nShunning the blow, but gratified his just
\nResentment with a broad sardonic smile[7]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nOf dread significance. He smote the wall.
\nThen thus Telemachus rebuked the deed.
\nCtesippus, thou art fortunate; the bone
\nStruck not the stranger, for he shunn\u2019d the blow;
\nElse, I had surely thrust my glitt\u2019ring lance
\nRight through thee; then, no hymen\u00e6al rites
\nOf thine should have employ\u2019d thy father here,
\nBut thy funereal. No man therefore treat
\nMe with indignity within these walls,
\nFor though of late a child, I can discern
\nNow, and distinguish between good and ill.
\nSuffice it that we patiently endure
\nTo be spectators daily of our sheep
\nSlaughter\u2019d, our bread consumed, our stores of wine
\nWasted; for what can one to all opposed?
\nCome then\u2014persist no longer in offence
\nAnd hostile hate of me; or if ye wish
\nTo slay me, pause not. It were better far
\nTo die, and I had rather much be slain,
\nThan thus to witness your atrocious deeds
\nDay after day; to see our guests abused,
\nWith blows insulted, and the women dragg\u2019d
\nWith a licentious violence obscene
\nFrom side to side of all this fair abode.
\nHe said, and all sat silent, till at length
\nThus Agela\u00fcs spake, Diastor\u2019s son.
\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. My advice, both to the Queen
\nAnd to Telemachus, shall gentle be,
\nMay it but please them. While the hope survived
\nWithin your bosoms of the safe return
\nOf wise Ulysses to his native isle,
\nSo long good reason was that she should use
\nDelay, and hold our wooing in suspence;
\nFor had Ulysses come, that course had proved
\nWisest and best; but that he comes no more
\nAppears, now, manifest. Thou, therefore, Prince!
\nSeeking thy mother, counsel her to wed
\nThe noblest, and who offers richest dow\u2019r,
\nThat thou, for thy peculiar, may\u2019st enjoy
\nThy own inheritance in peace and ease,
\nAnd she, departing, find another home.
\nTo whom Telemachus, discrete, replied.
\nI swear by Jove, and by my father\u2019s woes,
\nWho either hath deceased far from his home,
\nOr lives a wand\u2019rer, that I interpose
\nNo hindrance to her nuptials. Let her wed
\nWho offers most, and even whom she will.
\nBut to dismiss her rudely were a deed
\nUnfilial\u2014That I dare not\u2014God forbid!
\nSo spake Telemachus. Then Pallas struck
\nThe suitors with delirium; wide they stretch\u2019d
\nTheir jaws with unspontaneous laughter loud;
\nTheir meat dripp\u2019d blood; tears fill\u2019d their eyes, and dire
\nPresages of approaching woe, their hearts.
\nThen thus the prophet Theoclymenus.[8]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nAh miserable men! what curse is this
\nThat takes you now? night wraps itself around
\nYour faces, bodies, limbs; the palace shakes
\nWith peals of groans\u2014and oh, what floods ye weep!
\nI see the walls and arches dappled thick
\nWith gore; the vestibule is throng\u2019d, the court
\nOn all sides throng\u2019d with apparitions grim
\nOf slaughter\u2019d men sinking into the gloom
\nOf Erebus; the sun is blotted out
\nFrom heav\u2019n, and midnight whelms you premature.
\nHe said, they, hearing, laugh\u2019d; and thus the son
\nOf Polybus, Eurymachus replied.
\nThis wand\u2019rer from a distant shore hath left
\nHis wits behind. Hoa there! conduct him hence
\nInto the forum; since he dreams it night
\nAlready, teach him there that it is day.
\nThen answer\u2019d godlike Theoclymenus.
\nI have no need, Eurymachus, of guides
\nTo lead me hence, for I have eyes and ears,
\nThe use of both my feet, and of a mind
\nIn no respect irrational or wild.
\nThese shall conduct me forth, for well I know
\nThat evil threatens you, such, too, as none
\nShall \u2019scape of all the suitors, whose delight
\nIs to insult the unoffending guest
\nReceived beneath this hospitable roof.
\nHe said, and, issuing from the palace, sought
\nPir\u00e6us\u2019 house, who gladly welcom\u2019d him.
\nThen all the suitors on each other cast
\nA look significant, and, to provoke
\nTelemachus the more, fleer\u2019d at his guests.
\nOf whom a youth thus, insolent began.
\nNo living wight, Telemachus, had e\u2019er
\nGuests such as thine. Witness, we know not who,
\nThis hungry vagabond, whose means of life
\nAre none, and who hath neither skill nor force
\nTo earn them, a mere burthen on the ground.
\nWitness the other also, who upstarts
\nA prophet suddenly. Take my advice;
\nI counsel wisely; send them both on board
\nSome gallant bark to Sicily for sale;
\nThus shall they somewhat profit thee at last.
\nSo spake the suitors, whom Telemachus
\nHeard unconcern\u2019d, and, silent, look\u2019d and look\u2019d
\nToward his father, watching still the time
\nWhen he should punish that licentious throng.
\nMeantime, Icarius\u2019 daughter, who had placed
\nHer splendid seat opposite, heard distinct
\nTheir taunting speeches. They, with noisy mirth,
\nFeasted deliciously, for they had slain
\nMany a fat victim; but a sadder feast
\nThan, soon, the Goddess and the warrior Chief
\nShould furnish for them, none shall ever share.
\nOf which their crimes had furnish\u2019d first the cause.<\/p>\n

  1. That is, how shall I escape the vengeance of their kindred? ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. A\u0115don, Cleothera, Merope. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  3. \u03bc\u03c5\u03b5\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd \u03b1\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03c9\u03bd. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  4. The new moon. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  5. He is often called\u2014\u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1 \u03b1\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03c9\u03bd \u03c4\u03b5 \u03b8\u03b5\u03c9\u03bd \u03c4\u03b5. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  6. Household Gods who presided over the hearth. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  7. A smile of displeasure. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  8. Who had sought refuge in the ship of Telemachus when he left Sparta, and came with him to Ithaca. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":20,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-126","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\/126","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\/126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/126\/revisions\/260"}],"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\/126\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=126"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=126"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}