Book 20

But he laid him down to sleep in the forecourt, the noble Odysseus,and beneath him he spread a hardened oxhide, and over itmany fleeces of sheep, which the Achaeans were wont to slaughter;and Eurynome cast a cloak over him as he lay.There Odysseus, devising evil in his heart against the suitors,lay wakeful; and the women out of the great hallcame forth, they who aforetime had lain with the suitors,giving laughter and mirth to one another.And his spirit was stirred within his own dear breast,and much he pondered in mind and in heart,whether he should rush upon them and deal death to each,or suffer them yet once to lie with the proud suitorsfor the last and utmost time; and his heart within him bayed.And as a bitch standing about her tender pups,when she knows not the man, bays and is eager for the fight,so his heart within him bayed, as he raged at their evil deeds;and smiting his breast he rebuked his heart with a word:Endure now, my heart; a thing more dog-like once you endured.On the day when the Cyclops, whose fury none might check, devouredmy stalwart comrades; yet you endured, till your cunningbrought you forth from the cave, when you deemed you should die.So he spoke, chiding his own dear heart within his breast;and his heart abode in obedience, enduring patientlywithout ceasing; but he himself kept turning hither and thither.And as when a man turns a paunch full of fat and bloodover a great blazing fire, this way and that,and is very eager that it be swiftly roasted,so he turned him this way and that, ponderinghow he should lay hands upon the shameless suitors,being but one against many. And near to him came Athenadescending from heaven; and her form she likened to a woman's;and she stood above his head and spoke a word to him:Why now are you awake, most wretched of all mortals?This is your house, and here within the house is your wifeand your son, such a one as any man might long a son to be.Then much-devising Odysseus answered her and said:Yes, goddess, all this you have spoken in due measure;but this my heart within my breast ponders,how I shall lay hands upon the shameless suitors,being but one; and they abide within, ever in a throng.And moreover this yet greater thing I ponder in my heart:if I slay them by the will of Zeus and of you,whither shall I flee away? I bid you consider this.Then the goddess, bright-eyed Athena, answered him:Stubborn one, even one man trusts a weaker comrade,who is but mortal and knows no such counsels as these;but I am a god, who keep you safe continuallyin all your toils. And I will tell you plainly:though fifty companies of mortal menshould compass us two about, eager to slay us in war,even their cattle would you drive off and their sturdy sheep.But let sleep take you also; it is a grief to keep watchthe whole night through awake, and you shall soon slip out of your troubles.So she spoke, and poured sleep upon his eyelids,and she herself went back to Olympus, the shining among goddesses.But when sleep seized him, loosing the cares of his spirit,limb-loosing sleep, his wife awoke, knowing wise things in her heart;and she wept, sitting up amid the soft bedding.But when she was sated with weeping in her own heart,first of all she prayed to Artemis, the shining among women:Artemis, lady goddess, daughter of Zeus, would that nowyou would smite my breast with an arrow and take away my lifestraightway, or that a storm-wind snatching me upmight bear me off along the misty pathways,and cast me into the outpourings of the backward-flowing Ocean.As when the storm-winds snatched away the daughters of Pandareus;their parents the gods destroyed, and they were leftorphaned in the halls, and shining Aphrodite tended themwith cheese and sweet honey and pleasant wine;and Hera gave them beauty beyond all womenand understanding, and holy Artemis gave them stature,and Athena taught them to fashion glorious handiwork.When shining Aphrodite went up to tall Olympusto ask for the maidens the fulfilment of blossoming marriage—to Zeus who delights in thunder, for he knows all things well,both the portion and the no-portion of earth-dwelling men—meanwhile the Harpies snatched away the maidensand gave them to the hateful Erinyes to serve;so may the holders of Olympian homes make me vanish,or may fair-tressed Artemis smite me, that seeing Odysseuseven so I might come beneath the hateful earth,and never gladden the mind of a lesser man.But that evil at least is bearable, when oneweeps by day, deeply grieving in heart,and sleep holds him by night—for it makes him forget all things,the good alike and the evil, once it veils the eyelids—but upon me a god has sent evil dreams also.For this night there slept beside me one like unto him,such as he was when he went with the host; and my heartrejoiced, for I deemed it no dream, but waking truth.So she spoke, and straightway golden-throned Dawn came.And the noble Odysseus heard the voice of her weeping;and he pondered thereafter, and it seemed to him in his heartthat she already knew him and stood at his head.And the cloak he gathered up, and the fleeces wherein he had slept,and laid them in the hall upon a chair, and the oxhidehe carried forth and set outside, and to Zeus he prayed with hands upraised:Father Zeus, if willingly over the dry land and the wetyou gods have led me to my own land, though you afflicted me sorely,let someone of the waking people utter a word for mewithin, and outside let another sign of Zeus appear.So he spoke in prayer; and wise Zeus heard him,and straightway he thundered from gleaming Olympus,from on high out of the clouds; and the noble Odysseus rejoiced.And a word a woman sent forth from the house, a grinder,hard by, where the mills of the shepherd of the people stood,and at them twelve women in all were toiling,preparing barley and meal, the marrow of men.The others slept, since they had ground their wheat,but one alone had not yet ceased, and she was the feeblest of them all;she set her mill in place and uttered a word, a sign for the master:Father Zeus, who are lord over gods and men,loudly indeed you thundered from the starry sky,and nowhere is there a cloud; you show this as a sign to someone.Fulfil now for me also, wretched as I am, the word that I shall speak:may the suitors on this day, their last and utmost one,in the halls of Odysseus take their lovely dinner,who with heart-grieving toil have loosened my kneesas I prepared their barley; now let them dine for the last time.So she spoke, and noble Odysseus rejoiced in the omenand in the thunder of Zeus; for he deemed that he would punish the sinners.And the other handmaids throughout the fair halls of Odysseusgathered and kindled on the hearth the tireless fire.And Telemachus arose from his bed, a man like unto a god,and put on his garments, and across his shoulder slung a sharp sword;and beneath his shining feet he bound fair sandals,and took a stout spear, pointed with sharp bronze;and he stood, coming to the threshold, and to Eurycleia he said:Dear nurse, did you honour the stranger in the housewith bed and with food, or does he lie there unheeded?For such is my mother, understanding though she be:at random she honours one man of mortal men,a worse one, and sends a better away dishonoured.Then thoughtful Eurycleia answered him:You would not now, child, blame him who is blameless.For he drank wine as he sat, as long as his own heart wished,and said he was no longer hungry for food; for I questioned him.But when he bethought him of bed and of sleep,I bade the handmaids spread bedding beneath him,but he, as one utterly wretched and luckless,would not consent to sleep in a bed and under rugs,but upon a hardened oxhide and the fleeces of sheephe slept in the forecourt; and we threw a cloak over him.So she spoke, and Telemachus had passed through the hallholding his spear, and with him followed two swift dogs.He went to the assembly place among the well-greaved Achaeans.And she in turn called to her handmaids, the shining among women,Eurycleia, daughter of Ops, son of Peisenor:Bestir yourselves; do some of you sweep the house with bustling haste,and sprinkle it, and on the well-wrought chairs spreadpurple rugs; and others with sponges wipeall the tables, and cleanse the mixing bowlsand the well-fashioned two-handled cups; and others goto the spring for water, and bring it back with speed.For not for long will the suitors be away from the hall,but very early will they come, since there is a feast for all.So she spoke, and they heard her and obeyed.Twenty of them went to the dark-watered spring,and the others worked with skill about the house.And the labourers of the Achaeans came in. Then theysplit wood well and with skill, and the womencame back from the spring; and upon them came the swineherddriving three fat hogs, which were the best among all.And he let them feed throughout the fair pens,and he himself in turn addressed Odysseus with gentle words:Stranger, do the Achaeans now look upon you with more respect,or do they dishonour you in the hall, as heretofore?Then much-devising Odysseus answered him and said:Eumaeus, would that the gods would avenge the outragewhich these men in their insolence recklessly contrivein another's house, and have no share in shame.So they spoke such words to one another,and close at hand came Melanthius, the goatherd of goats,bringing goats that were pre-eminent among all the herds,as a dinner for the suitors. And two herdsmen followed with him.And he tied them beneath the echoing portico,and he himself in turn addressed Odysseus with mocking words:Stranger, will you still now vex us here throughout the house,begging from men, and will you not go forth outside?In any case I think the two of us shall no more be partedbefore we taste each other's hands, since you begnot according to order; and there are other feasts of the Achaeans too.So he spoke, and him much-devising Odysseus did not address at all,but in silence shook his head, brooding evils deep within.And third after them came Philoetius, leader of men,bringing for the suitors a barren cow and fat goats.And ferrymen had brought them over, the very men who also sendother people across, whoever comes to them.And these he tied well beneath the echoing portico,and he himself in turn questioned the swineherd, standing close beside him:Who is this stranger who has newly come, swineherd,to our house? And from what men does he claimto be sprung? And where are his birth and his native land?Wretched man, yet in body he is like a king, a lord;but the gods plunge into misery men of much wandering,whensoever they spin out sorrow even for kings.He spoke, and with his right hand he greeted him as he stood beside him,and he addressed him and spoke winged words:Hail, father stranger; may there be for you hereafterprosperity; but now at least you are held by many troubles.Father Zeus, no other of the gods is more ruinous than you:you do not pity men, once you yourself have begotten them,to be mingled with wickedness and wretched griefs.I broke into sweat, as I marked it, and my two eyes were filled with tearsas I remembered Odysseus, for I deem that even hewanders among men wearing such rags as these,if anywhere he still lives and beholds the light of the sun.But if he is already dead and in the halls of Hades,ah me, then, for blameless Odysseus, who set me over the cattlewhile I was still a little one, in the land of the Cephallenians.But now they grow past telling, and no man otherwisecould get such increase of the race of broad-browed cattle;but others bid me bring them in for themselvesto eat; and they care nothing in the halls for the son,nor do they tremble at the vengeance of the gods; for already they are eagerto divide the possessions of the long-departed lord.But my own heart in my dear breastturns this over many times: it is a great evil, while a son lives,to come to the land of others, going with the cattle themselves,to men of alien speech; but it is more chilling still, remaining hereand sitting over the cattle of others to suffer griefs.And long since I would have come to some other of the over-mighty kings,fleeing from here, since these things are no longer bearable;but still I think of that wretched man, if from somewhere he might comeand make a scattering of the suitors throughout the halls.Then much-devising Odysseus answered him and said:Cowherd, since you seem neither a base man nor a foolish one,and I myself perceive that understanding has come to your mind,therefore I will tell you, and I will swear a great oath upon it:let Zeus first of the gods be witness, and the table of hospitalityand the hearth of blameless Odysseus, which I have reached:truly Odysseus will come home while you are here;and with your own eyes you shall behold, if you are willing,the suitors being slain, who here hold lordship.Then the cowherd of the cattle answered him:Would that, stranger, the son of Cronos would fulfil this word!Then you would know what my strength is and what my hands can do.So likewise Eumaeus prayed to all the godsthat wise-hearted Odysseus might return to this house.So they spoke such words to one another,but the suitors were preparing death and doom for Telemachus;yet an omen bird came to them on the left,an eagle flying on high, and it held a trembling dove.And among them Amphinomus spoke and addressed them:Friends, this counsel at least shall not be brought to pass for us,the slaughter of Telemachus; but let us bethink us of the feast.So spoke Amphinomus, and his word pleased them.And they came into the halls of godlike Odysseusand laid down their cloaks along the benches and the chairs,and they slaughtered great sheep and fat goats,and slaughtered fat hogs and a cow of the herd;and the innards they roasted and distributed, and winethey mixed in the mixing bowls; and the cups the swineherd dealt out.And bread Philoetius served out to them, leader of men,in fair baskets, and Melanthius poured the wine.And they flung their hands upon the ready food that lay before them.And Telemachus seated Odysseus, handling shrewd counsels,within the well-founded hall, beside the stone threshold,setting down a mean stool and a little table;and beside him he set portions of the innards, and poured wineinto a golden cup, and spoke a word to him:Sit here now among the men and drink your wine;and from taunts, I myself will keep you, and from their hands,from all the suitors, since it is no public man'shouse, this, but Odysseus', and he won it for me.But you, suitors, restrain your hearts from abuseand from your hands, lest some strife and quarrel arise.So he spoke, and all of them, biting their lips with their teeth,marvelled at Telemachus, that he spoke so boldly.And among them Antinous spoke, son of Eupeithes:Harsh though it be, let us accept the word, you Achaeans,from Telemachus; for with great threats he speaks before us.For Zeus the son of Cronos did not suffer it; else we would by nowhave stopped him in the halls, clear-voiced speaker though he be.So spoke Antinous; but he paid no heed to their words.And heralds through the town were leading the holy hecatomb of the gods;and the long-haired Achaeans gatheredbeneath the shady grove of far-shooting Apollo.And when they had roasted the upper flesh and drawn it off,dividing the portions they feasted on a glorious feast;and beside Odysseus those who served set a portionequal, as their own lot had given them; for so had orderedTelemachus, the dear son of godlike Odysseus.But the haughty suitors Athena did not suffer at allto refrain from heart-grieving outrage, so that yet the moregrief might enter the heart of Odysseus, son of Laertes.Now there was a man among the suitors who knew lawless things,Ctesippus was his name, and in Same he dwelt in a house;who, trusting in his possessions, marvellous beyond words,was wooing the wife of Odysseus long absent from home.He then addressed the overweening suitors:Hear me, haughty suitors, that I may say a word:a portion the stranger has long had, as is seemly,an equal one; for it is not fair to stint, nor just,the guests of Telemachus, whoever comes to this house.But come, let me also give him a guest-gift, so that he himselfmay give it as a gift of honour to the bath-pourer or to some otherof the slaves who are throughout the halls of godlike Odysseus.So he spoke and hurled an ox's foot with his stout hand,taking it from the basket where it lay; but Odysseus dodged it,leaning his head gently aside, and he smiled in his hearta very sardonic smile; and it struck the well-built wall.And Ctesippus Telemachus rebuked with a word:Ctesippus, truly this thing has turned out better for your heart—you did not strike the stranger; for he dodged the missile himself.For I would have struck you in the middle with my sharp spear,and instead of a wedding your father would have busied himself with a gravehere. Therefore let no one show me unseemly deeds in the house;for already I mark and know each thing,the good alike and the worse; but before I was still a child.Yet even so we have endured these things, looking on,while sheep are slain and wine is drunkand bread; for it is hard for one man to hold back many.But come, no longer work me evil in your hostility;and if you are now eager to slay me myself with bronze,even that would I wish, and it would be far betterto be dead than ever to behold these unseemly deeds,strangers being roughly handled and slave womendragged shamefully throughout the fair halls.So he spoke, and all of them became hushed in silence;and at last Agelaus, son of Damastor, addressed them:Friends, no one, surely, would be angry at a word justly spoken,finding fault with it in words of opposition;neither roughly handle the stranger, nor any otherof the slaves who are throughout the halls of godlike Odysseus.And to Telemachus and to his mother I would speaka gentle word, if it should please the heart of them both.As long as your heart in your breasts hopedthat wise-hearted Odysseus would return to this house,so long was there no blame in awaiting and in restrainingthe suitors throughout the halls, since this was the better course,in case Odysseus returned and came back to the house;but now this is clear, that he is no longer one to return.But come, sit beside your mother and tell her this,to wed whoever is the best man and offers the most gifts,so that you may rejoicing enjoy all your father's possessions,eating and drinking, and she may keep the house of another.And prudent Telemachus answered him in turn:No, by Zeus, Agelaus, and by the griefs of my father,who somewhere far from Ithaca has perished or is wandering,I do not delay my mother's marriage, but I bid herwed whomever she may wish, and beside that I give countless gifts.But I am ashamed to drive her from the hall against her willwith a compelling word; may a god not bring that to pass.So spoke Telemachus; but among the suitors Pallas Athenaroused unquenchable laughter, and bewildered their minds.And they were already laughing with jaws that were not their own,and they were eating flesh gory with blood; and their eyeswere filled with tears, and their heart divined lamentation.And among them godlike Theoclymenus addressed them:Ah, wretches, what evil is this that you suffer? Night has wrappedyour heads and your faces and your knees beneath.Lamentation blazes, and your cheeks are wet with tears,and with blood are besprinkled the walls and the fair cross-beams;the porch is full of phantoms, and full too is the courtyard,as they rush down to Erebos beneath the darkness; and the sunhas perished out of the sky, and an evil mist has stolen over it.So he spoke, and all of them laughed sweetly at him.And among them Eurymachus, the son of Polybus, began to speak:The stranger who has newly come from elsewhere is raving.But quickly, you young men, send him out of the house to the door,to go to the assembly place, since this resembles night.Then godlike Theoclymenus answered him:Eurymachus, I do not bid you to furnish escorts for me;I have eyes and ears and both my feetand a mind in my breast fashioned with nothing unseemly.With these I will go forth outside, since I see an evil for youcoming, which no one of the suitors could escape or avoid,who throughout the house of godlike Odysseusin your insolence contrive reckless things against men.So he spoke and went forth from the well-inhabited house,and came to Peiraeus, who gladly received him.And all the suitors, looking at one another,kept provoking Telemachus, laughing over the strangers;and thus would one of the overweening young men speak:Telemachus, no one else is a worse host to guests than you;what a sort of fellow is this you keep, a vagabond to be sought in vain,in want of bread and wine, and with no skill in worksnor in strength, but merely a burden of the ploughland.And here is another who has risen up to prophesy.But if you would listen to me in something, it would be far better:casting these strangers into a many-benched ship,let us send them to the Sicels, from where something worth its price might come to you.So spoke the suitors; but he paid no heed to their words,but in silence kept gazing at his father, ever awaitingthe moment when he would lay hands upon the shameless suitors.And she, having set a very beautiful chair facing them,the daughter of Icarius, thoughtful Penelope,heard the word of each of the men in the halls.For their dinner, at least, they had made with laughter,sweet and satisfying, since they had sacrificed many beasts;but no supper could ever have come to be more thanklessthan that which the goddess and the mighty man were soon to set before them;for they had been the first to contrive unseemly things.

But noble Odysseus lay down to sleep in the entrance hall,and he spread out an untanned oxhide beneath him, and on topmany sheepskins, which the Achaeans used to slaughter;and Eurynome threw a cloak over him as he lay.There Odysseus, plotting evil in his heart against the suitors,lay awake; and the women came out of the hall,the ones who had been used to sleeping with the suitors before,giving each other laughter and merriment.And his spirit was stirred in his own chest,and he debated much in mind and heart,whether he should rush on each one and kill her,or let them lie one last time with the arrogant suitors,for the last and final time; and his heart growled within him.As a dog stands over her weak puppiesand barks at a man she does not know, eager to fight,so his heart growled within him as he raged at their evil deeds;and striking his chest he rebuked his heart with words:Endure, heart; you have endured something even more dog-like once.On the day when the Cyclops, raging beyond control, devouredmy sturdy comrades; you held out until your cunningled you out of the cave, when you thought you would die.So he said, scolding his own heart in his chest;and his heart obeyed and held firmwithout giving way; but he himself tossed back and forth.As when a man turns a paunch full of fat and bloodover a great blazing fire, this way and that,and is very eager for it to be roasted,so he turned this way and that, ponderinghow he would lay hands on the shameless suitors,being alone against many. And Athena came near to him,descending from the sky; and she made her form like a woman's;and she stood above his head and spoke a word to him:Why are you awake now, most wretched of all men?This is your house, and here in the house is your wifeand your son, such as anyone might wish a son to be.Then much-devising Odysseus answered her and said:Yes, goddess, all this you have spoken rightly;but my heart ponders this in my breast,how I shall lay hands on the shameless suitors,being alone; and they are always gathered in the house.And besides I ponder this still greater thing in my heart:for if I kill them by the will of Zeus and of you,how could I escape? I bid you consider this.Then the goddess, bright-eyed Athena, answered him:Stubborn man, even one man trusts a weaker comrade,who is mortal and knows no such counsels;but I am a god, who keeps you safe continuallyin all your toils. And I will tell you plainly:even if fifty companies of mortal menshould surround us two, eager to kill us in war,you would drive off their cattle and their sturdy sheep.But let sleep take you too; it is a grief to keep watchawake all night, and you will soon slip out of your troubles.So she spoke, and poured sleep upon his eyelids,and she herself went back to Olympus, shining among goddesses.When sleep seized him, loosening the cares of his heart,limb-loosing sleep, his wife woke, knowing wise things;and she wept, sitting up in her soft bed.But when she had had her fill of weeping in her heart,the shining one among women first prayed to Artemis:Artemis, lady goddess, daughter of Zeus, if only nowyou would strike my breast with an arrow and take my liferight now, or else a storm-wind snatch me upand carry me off along the misty paths,and cast me into the outflows of back-flowing Ocean.As when the storms snatched away the daughters of Pandareus;the gods destroyed their parents, and they were leftorphans in the halls, and shining Aphrodite cared for themwith cheese and sweet honey and pleasant wine;and Hera gave them beauty beyond all womenand understanding, and holy Artemis gave them stature,and Athena taught them to work glorious handiwork.When shining Aphrodite went to tall Olympusto ask for the girls the fulfilment of flourishing marriage—to Zeus who delights in thunder, for he knows all things well,both the portion and the no-portion of mortal men—meanwhile the Harpies snatched the girls awayand gave them to the hateful Furies to serve;so may the gods who hold Olympus make me vanish,or may fair-tressed Artemis strike me, so that seeing Odysseuseven so I might come beneath the hateful earth,and never gladden the mind of a lesser man.But that evil is at least bearable, when someoneweeps by day, deeply grieved at heart,and sleep holds him by night—for it makes him forget all things,both good and bad, once it covers the eyelids—but for me a god has sent evil dreams as well.For this night there lay beside me one like him,such as he was when he went with the army; and my heartrejoiced, for I did not think it was a dream, but waking truth.So she spoke, and straightway golden-throned Dawn came.And noble Odysseus heard the voice of her weeping;and he pondered then, and it seemed to him in his heartthat she already knew him and stood at his head.And he gathered up the cloak and the fleeces he had slept in,and laid them in the hall upon a chair, and the oxhidehe carried out and set outside, and prayed to Zeus with hands upraised:Father Zeus, if you gods have willingly brought me over dry land and seato my own land, though you afflicted me sorely,let someone among the waking people speak a word for mewithin, and outside let another sign from Zeus appear.So he spoke praying; and wise Zeus heard him,and straightway thundered from bright Olympus,from on high out of the clouds; and noble Odysseus rejoiced.And a woman, a grinder, sent a word from the housenearby, where the mills of the shepherd of the people stood,and twelve women in all toiled at themmaking barley and flour, the marrow of men.The others slept, since they had finished grinding their wheat,but one had not yet stopped, and she was the weakest;she set the mill in place and spoke a word, a sign for the master:Father Zeus, who rules over gods and men,loudly indeed you thundered from the starry sky,and there is no cloud anywhere; you are showing this as a sign to someone.Fulfil now for me too, miserable as I am, the word I speak:may the suitors on this day, their last and final one,in Odysseus' halls take their lovely dinner,who have loosened my knees with heart-grieving toilas I make their barley; now let them dine for the last time.So she spoke, and noble Odysseus rejoiced in the omenand the thunder of Zeus; for he thought to punish the sinners.And the other maids throughout the fair halls of Odysseusgathered and kindled the tireless fire on the hearth.And Telemachus rose from his bed, a man like a god,put on his clothes, and slung a sharp sword over his shoulder;and under his shining feet he bound fair sandals,and took a stout spear, tipped with sharp bronze;and he stood as he came to the threshold, and said to Eurycleia:Dear nurse, did you honour the stranger in the housewith bed and food, or does he lie there uncared for?For such is my mother, wise though she is:at random she honours one man of mortalswho is worse, and sends a better one away dishonoured.Then thoughtful Eurycleia answered him:You would not now, child, blame him without cause.For he drank wine as he sat, as long as he wished,and said he was no longer hungry for food; for I asked him.But when he thought of bed and sleep,I bade the maids spread bedding for him,but he, like a man utterly wretched and luckless,was not willing to sleep in a bed and rugs,but on an untanned oxhide and sheepskinshe slept in the forecourt; and we threw a cloak over him.So she spoke, and Telemachus had gone through the hallholding his spear, and two swift dogs followed with him.He went to the assembly place among the well-greaved Achaeans.And she, shining among women, called to her maids,Eurycleia, daughter of Ops, son of Peisenor:Bestir yourselves, some of you sweep the house busily,and sprinkle it, and on the well-made chairs spreadpurple rugs; and others with sponges wipeall the tables, and clean the mixing bowlsand the well-made two-handled cups; and others goto the spring for water, and bring it back quickly.For the suitors will not be long away from the hall,but will come very early, since it is a feast day for all.So she spoke, and they listened to her and obeyed.Twenty of them went to the dark-watered spring,and the others worked skilfully about the house.And the Achaeans' labourers came in. Then theysplit wood well and skilfully, and the womencame back from the spring; and the swineherd came up to themdriving three fat hogs, the best among all.And he let them feed in the fair pens,and he himself spoke to Odysseus with gentle words:Stranger, do the Achaeans treat you with more respect,or do they dishonour you in the hall, as before?Then much-devising Odysseus answered him and said:Eumaeus, if only the gods would avenge the outragethat these men, in their insolence, recklessly contrivein another's house, and have no share of shame.So they spoke such words to one another,and close by them came Melanthius, the goatherd,bringing goats that were outstanding among all the herds,as dinner for the suitors. And two herdsmen followed with him.And he tied them under the echoing portico,and he himself spoke to Odysseus with mocking words:Stranger, will you still now vex us here in the housebegging from men, and will you not go outside?In any case I think the two of us will not be partedbefore we taste each other's fists, since you begnot in order; there are other feasts of the Achaeans too.So he spoke, but much-devising Odysseus did not answer him,but silently shook his head, brooding evil deep within.And third came Philoetius, leader of men,bringing a barren cow and fat goats for the suitors.And ferrymen had brought them across, the men who also sendother people over, whoever comes to them.And he tied them up well under the echoing portico,and he himself questioned the swineherd, standing close by:Who is this stranger who has newly come, swineherd,to our house? And from what men does he claimto be? And where is his birth and his native land?Wretched man, yet in body he looks like a king, a lord;but the gods plunge much-wandering men into misery,when they spin out sorrow even for kings.He spoke, and greeting him with his right hand as he stood by,and he addressed him and spoke winged words:Hail, father stranger; may there be for you hereafterprosperity; but now you are gripped by many troubles.Father Zeus, no other of the gods is more ruinous than you:you do not pity men, once you have begotten them yourself,but involve them in wickedness and wretched pains.I broke into sweat, as I marked it, and my eyes were filled with tearsas I remembered Odysseus, for I think that even hewanders among men wearing such rags as these,if he still lives anywhere and sees the light of the sun.But if he is already dead and in the house of Hades,alas then for blameless Odysseus, who set me over the cattlewhen I was still small, in the land of the Cephallenians.But now they have become past counting, and no other mancould get such a yield of broad-browed cattle;and others bid me bring them in for themselvesto eat; and they care nothing in the halls for the son,nor do they tremble at the gods' vengeance; for they are eager alreadyto divide the possessions of the long-absent lord.But my heart in my own dear breastturns this over much: it is very bad, while a son lives,to go to another people's land with the cattle themselves,to foreign men; but it is more chilling, staying hereand sitting over others' cattle to suffer griefs.And long ago I would have gone to some other of the over-mighty kings,fleeing to him, since these things are no longer bearable;but I still think of that wretched man, if from somewhere he might comeand make a scattering of the suitors through the halls.Then much-devising Odysseus answered him and said:Cowherd, since you seem neither a coward nor a fool,and I myself see that understanding has come to your mind,therefore I will tell you and swear a great oath:Let Zeus first of the gods be my witness, and the table of hospitalityand the hearth of blameless Odysseus, which I have reached:truly Odysseus will come home while you are here;and with your own eyes you will see, if you wish,the suitors being killed, who lord it here.Then the cowherd of the cattle answered him:If only, stranger, the son of Cronos would fulfil that word!You would know what my strength is and what my hands can do.So likewise Eumaeus prayed to all the godsthat wise Odysseus might return to this house.So they spoke such words to one another,and the suitors were preparing death and doom for Telemachus;but an omen bird came to them from the left,an eagle flying high, and it held a trembling dove.Then Amphinomus spoke among them and said:Friends, this plan will not be accomplished for us,the murder of Telemachus; but let us think of the feast.So spoke Amphinomus, and the word pleased them.And they came into the halls of godlike Odysseusand laid down their cloaks on the benches and chairs,and they slaughtered great sheep and fat goats,and slaughtered fat hogs and a herd cow;and they roasted the innards and handed them out, and mixed winein the mixing bowls; and the swineherd handed out the cups.And Philoetius, leader of men, served out bread to themin fine baskets, and Melanthius poured the wine.And they threw their hands upon the ready food set before them.And Telemachus seated Odysseus, devising shrewdly,inside the well-built hall, beside the stone threshold,setting down a mean stool and a little table;and he set beside him portions of the innards, and poured wineinto a golden cup, and spoke a word to him:Stay here now among the men and drink your wine;and I myself will keep off taunts and blowsfrom all the suitors, since this house is nota public house, but Odysseus', and he won it for me.But you, suitors, hold back your hearts from abuseand blows, so that no strife and quarrel arises.So he spoke, and all of them bit their lips with their teeth,marvelling at Telemachus, that he spoke so boldly.Then Antinous spoke among them, son of Eupeithes:Though it is harsh, let us accept the word, Achaeans,from Telemachus; for he speaks to us with great threats.Zeus the son of Cronos did not allow it; else we would havestopped him in the halls, clear-voiced speaker though he is.So spoke Antinous; but he paid no heed to their words.And heralds were leading the holy hecatomb of the godsthrough the town; and the long-haired Achaeans gatheredbeneath the shady grove of far-shooting Apollo.And when they had roasted the upper cuts of meat and drawn them off,they divided the portions and shared a glorious feast;and those who served set beside Odysseus a portionequal to what they themselves got; for so had orderedTelemachus, the dear son of godlike Odysseus.But Athena did not at all allow the haughty suitorsto refrain from heart-grieving outrage, so that grief might comestill more upon the heart of Odysseus, son of Laertes.There was a man among the suitors who knew lawless things,Ctesippus was his name, and he lived in a house on Same;who, trusting in his marvellous possessions,was wooing the wife of the long-absent Odysseus.He then spoke among the overweening suitors:Hear me, haughty suitors, that I may say something:The stranger has long had his portion, as is proper,an equal one; for it is not fine or just to stintthe guests of Telemachus, whoever comes to this house.But come, let me too give him a guest-gift, so that he himselfmay give it as a gift to the bath-pourer or to some otherof the slaves who are about the halls of godlike Odysseus.So saying, he hurled with his stout hand an ox's hoof,taking it from the basket where it lay; and Odysseus dodged itleaning his head slightly aside, and he smiled in his hearta very sardonic smile; and it hit the well-built wall.Then Telemachus rebuked Ctesippus with a word:Ctesippus, truly this turned out better for your heart—you did not hit the stranger; for he dodged the missile himself.For I would have struck you in the middle with a sharp spear,and instead of a wedding your father would have been busied with a gravehere. Therefore let no one show me unseemly behaviour in the house;for now I notice and know each thing,both good and worse; before I was still a child.But even so we have endured seeing these things,the sheep being slaughtered and the wine being drunkand the bread; for it is hard for one man to hold back many.But come, no longer do me harm in your hostility;but if you are now eager to kill me myself with bronze,then I would wish it, and it would be far betterto be dead than always to look on these unseemly deeds,strangers being manhandled and slave womendragged about shamefully through the fair halls.So he spoke, and all of them fell silent in stillness;and at last Agelaus, son of Damastor, spoke among them:Friends, no one could find fault with a word justly spokenand be angry, attacking it with words of opposition;neither manhandle the stranger nor any otherof the slaves who are about the halls of godlike Odysseus.And to Telemachus and his mother I would speaka gentle word, if it pleased the heart of them both.As long as your heart in your breasts hopedthat wise Odysseus would return to this house,so long there was no blame in waiting and holding backthe suitors in the halls, since this was better,in case Odysseus returned and came back home;but now this is clear, that he will never return.But come, sit beside your mother and tell her this,to marry whichever man is best and offers the most dowry,so that you may joyfully enjoy all your father's wealth,eating and drinking, and she may keep another man's house.Then prudent Telemachus answered him:No, by Zeus, Agelaus, and by my father's sorrows,who somewhere far from Ithaca has perished or wanders,I do not delay my mother's marriage, but I bid hermarry whomever she wishes, and I give countless gifts besides.But I am ashamed to drive her from the hall against her willwith a compelling word; may god not bring that about.So spoke Telemachus; and Pallas Athena rousedunstoppable laughter in the suitors, and warped their minds.And they were already laughing with jaws that were not their own,and they were eating meat bloody with gore; and their eyeswere filled with tears, and their heart foresaw lamentation.Then godlike Theoclymenus spoke among them:Ah, wretched men, what evil is this you suffer? Night coversyour heads and faces and your knees below.Lamentation blazes, your cheeks are wet with tears,the walls and the fair roof-beams are spattered with blood;the porch is full of ghosts, and the courtyard is full too,hurrying down to Erebos beneath the darkness; and the sunhas perished from the sky, and an evil mist has spread over it.So he spoke, and all of them laughed sweetly at him.Then Eurymachus, son of Polybus, began to speak among them:The stranger who has newly come from elsewhere is raving.But quickly, young men, send him out of the house to the doorto go to the assembly place, since this seems like night.Then godlike Theoclymenus answered him:Eurymachus, I do not bid you give me escorts;I have eyes and ears and both my feetand a mind in my breast furnished with nothing unseemly.With these I will go outside, since I see an evil coming upon youthat no one of the suitors could escape or avoid,who in the house of godlike Odysseuscontrive reckless outrages against men in your insolence.So saying he went out of the well-built house,and came to Peiraeus, who gladly received him.And all the suitors, looking at one another,kept provoking Telemachus, laughing at the strangers;and thus one of the overweening young men would say:Telemachus, no one is worse than you at hosting guests;what a beggarly vagabond you keep, this one,in need of food and wine, and with no skill in workor strength, but just a burden on the earth.And here is another who stood up to prophesy.But if you would listen to me in something, it would be far better:let us throw these strangers into a many-benched shipand send them to the Sicels, from where a price worth having would come to you.So spoke the suitors; but he paid no heed to their words,but in silence kept looking at his father, ever waitingfor the moment when he would lay hands on the shameless suitors.And she, having set a very beautiful chair facing them,the daughter of Icarius, thoughtful Penelope,heard the words of each of the men in the halls.For they had made their dinner, laughing as they did,sweet and satisfying, since they had sacrificed many beasts;but no supper could ever have been more thankless,such as the goddess and the mighty man were soon to set before them;for they had been the first to contrive unseemly deeds.