as is appropriate. It would, of course,
be wrong to disrespect a guest who comes
to visit our Telemachus. Let me
give him a welcome gift, so he can give
gifts to the bath attendant or some other
house slave here in the palace.”
Then he grabbed
an ox-foot from the basket, and he hurled it300
towards Odysseus, who smoothly ducked,
bowing his head, and smiled in scornful rage.
The ox-foot struck the wall. Telemachus
scolded Ctesippus.
“You were very lucky
you failed to hit the stranger; he avoided
the blow himself. I would have thrust my sword
right through your belly, and your father would
have held your funeral, and not your wedding.
So from now on, you all should stay in check,
here in my house. I used to be a child,310
but now I understand things, good and bad.
I have to watch and put up with all this:
the slaughtered sheep, the food, the wine. It is
hard for a single man to put a stop
to such a multitude. But please back down
from your hostility to me. Or if
you do still want to kill me with bronze swords,
go on; I want you to. It would be better
to die, than have to watch you suitors acting
so horribly—abusing strangers, dragging320
the house girls through my home, molesting them.”
They all fell silent. Agelaus spoke.
“My friends, his words are fair. Do not get angry
or argue back with him. Do not abuse
the stranger, or Odysseus’ slaves.
Telemachus, I offer some advice
to you and to your mother, with respect.
I hope you can accept it. While you thought
your many-minded father would come home,
there was no harm in holding us at bay,330
and waiting, in case he came back again.
Now it is obvious he will not come.
So boy, sit by your mother, and advise her
to choose the best, most generous of us
to marry; then you can enjoy the wealth
left by your father, eat and drink, and she
can go take care of someone else’s house.”
Telemachus inhaled, then answered, “Yes!
By Zeus and by my father’s sufferings—
lost far from Ithaca, or maybe dead—340
I will cause no delay, and I will tell her
to pick a husband, and I will provide
a lavish dowry. But I am reluctant
to force her if she does not want to go.
May no god make that happen!” So he spoke.
Athena turned the suitors’ minds; they laughed
unstoppably. They cackled, and they lost
control of their own faces. Plates of meat
began to drip with blood. Their eyes were full
of tears, and they began to wail in grief.350
The prophet Theoclymenus addressed them.
“What awful thing is happening to you?
Your faces, heads, and bodies are wrapped up
in night; your screams are blazing out like fire.
The ornate palace ceilings and the walls
are spattered with your blood. The porch is full
of ghosts, as is the courtyard—ghosts descending
into the dark of Erebus. The sun
has vanished from the sky, and gloomy mist
is all around.”
At these words, they all laughed.360
Eurymachus spoke up.
“This new arrival
has lost his mind! Quick, fellows, throw him out!
Make him go to the marketplace—he thinks
it is like night in here!”
The prophet answered,
“Eurymachus, I will not ask for guides.
I have good eyes and ears and feet; my mind
is working perfectly, and I am leaving.
I sense some evil coming for you all,
who sit here in Odysseus’ house
tormenting and oppressing other people.370
Not one of you will get away.”
With that,
he left the palace and went down to meet
Piraeus, and was welcomed there.
The suitors,
with glances at each other, tried to tease
Telemachus by laughing at his guests.
“What awful luck you have with visitors!
Here is this dirty beggar, always wanting
more food and wine, who is unskilled in farmwork
or fighting—a mere burden on the earth!
That other one just stood there prophesying!380
Now listen—I propose a better plan.
Pack up your strangers on a boat as slaves;
send them to Sicily, and make a profit!”
Telemachus ignored the suitors’ words,
and watched his father quietly, still waiting
for when they should attack the shameless suitors.
The beautiful Penelope had wisely
set up her chair to face them, and she listened
to what each man was saying. They had killed
numerous animals, and made their banquet390
with laughter. But no dinnertime could be
less welcome than the one the mighty man
and goddess would soon bring them, in revenge,
because they started it and wronged him first.
BOOK 21
An Archery Contest
With glinting eyes, Athena put a thought
into the mind of wise Penelope,
the daughter of Icarius: to place
the bow and iron axes in the hall
of great Odysseus, and set the contest
which would begin the slaughter. She went up
to her own room. Her muscular, firm hand
picked up the ivory handle of the key—
a hook of bronze. Then with her slaves she walked
down to the storeroom where the master kept10
his treasure: gold and bronze and well-wrought iron.
The curving bow and deadly arrows lay there,
given by Iphitus, Eurytus’ son,
the godlike man he happened to befriend
at wise Ortilochus’ house, far off
in Lacedaemon, in Messenia.
Odysseus had gone to claim a debt—
some people of Messenia had come
in rowing boats and poached three hundred sheep
from Ithaca; they took their shepherds too.20
Laertes and the other older men
had sent Odysseus to fetch them back
when he was still a boy. And Iphitus
had come there for his horses, twelve fine mares,
each suckling a sturdy mule. These horses
would later cause his death, when he had gone
to visit Heracles, who welcomed him,
but killed him, so that he could take the horses—
betraying hospitality, and heedless
about the watchful gods. Before all that,30
when Iphitus first met Odysseus,
he gave this bow to him, inherited
from his own father. And Odysseus
gave Iphitus a sword and spear, to mark
their bond. But Iphitus was dead before
the friends could visit one another’s houses.
So when Odysseus’ black fleet sailed
to war, he did not take the bow, but stored it
in his own house, to use in Ithaca
in memory of his friend.
The queen had reached40
the storeroom, and she stepped across the threshold
of polished oak; a skillful carpenter
had set it level, fixed the frame, and built
the dazzling double doors. She quickly loosed
the door-thong from its hook, pushed in the key
and with true aim, thrust back the fastenings.
The fine doors, as the key struck home, began
to bellow as a bull at pasture bellows.
At once, they flew apart. She stepped inside,
onto the pallet where the scented clothes50
were stored in chests, and reached to lift the bow
down from its hook, still in its shining case.
She sat down on the floor to take it out,
resting it on her lap, and started sobbing
and wailing as she saw her husband’s bow.
At last, she dried her eyes, and in her arms
picked up the curving bow and quiver, packed
with many deadly arrows, and she went
to meet her arrogant suitors. Slaves lugged out
a hamper with their master’s many axes60
of bronze and iron, for the competition.
The queen came near the suitors, and she stopped
beside a pillar with a filmy veil