So he sat down again on the threshold, and the scrip that had gotten its fill

  He took and spake to the Wooers, as there he set it down:

  “Hearken to me, O Wooers of the Queen of great renown,

  While I speak what the heart in my bosom is bidding me now tell out:

  Nothing there is of anguish, and nought is the trouble no doubt

  When a man is smitten a-warring, and about his goods is the fight,

  Whether it be o’er the oxen, or the sheep-flock woolly white.

  But me hath Antinous smitten for my miserable maw,

  The ravening thing that such evil on the folk of men doth draw.

  But if there be Gods and Wreakers of them that beg their bread,

  Then may Antinous hap on death’s ending ere he wed.”

  But to him then spake Antinous, the lord Eupeithes’ son:

  “Eat thou and be quiet, O stranger, or otherwhere begone,

  Lest hand and foot through the homestead the young men thee shall hale,

  And strip the skin from off thee, for thy tongue that telleth of bale.”

  So he spake; but great wrath gathered about them at his words,

  And thus would one be saying of those high-hearted lords:

  “Antinous, ill thou diddest, the wretched guest to smite,

  And if God yet dwelleth in heaven, then doomed art thou outright

  Yea, too, the Gods in the likeness of guests from far away,

  Since all-wise are they shapen, through men’s cities oft will stray,

  And look on the wrong and well-doing that midst of men are wrought.”

  In thuswise spake the Wooers, but their words he heeded nought.

  But Telemachus, great in his heart grew the grief for the smitten man, And therewith from under his eyelids adown the teardrops ran,

  And he shook his head in silence, and bale in his heart did brood

  But hereof moreover hearkened Penelope wise of mood, [forthright: How the man in her halls had been smitten, and she spake to her maids “ May Apollo, the glory of bowmen, thee too Antinous smitel”

  Eut Eurynome the goodwife a word thereto she said:

  “Yea, if our prayers’ fulfilment might anywise be sped,

  Not one of these should come to the fair-throned Dawn of Day.”

  Then Penelope the prudent thuswise thereto did say:

  “Yea, nurse, all these are hateful, since they devise but ill,

  But Antinous, he seemeth to the Black Doom likest still.

  Lo you, a hapless stranger, a-begging at men’s hands,

  Strays through the house, since suchwise his utter lack commands,

  And his scrip were the others filling, and giving to the wight,

  While he his back and shoulder with the footstool needs must smite.”

  So, sitting in her chamber to her women thus she spake,

  While Odysseus the most goodly in the hall his meal did make.

  But she called to the goodly swineherd, and him she spake unto:

  “Hither now, O good Eumaeus! to the guest with the bidding go

  To come hither, that I may hail him, and ask of him a word,

  If he perchance of Odysseus toil-laden may have heard,

  Or seen him with eyes, for meseemeth he hath wandered by many a way.”

  Then thou, O swineherd Eumaeus, didst answer her and say:

  “Ah, Queen, and if those Achaeans would hold their peace awhile,

  And he might speak, full surely thine heart should he beguile;

  For three nights at my booth I held him, and three days I kept him at home,

  And first from a ship a-fleeing unto meward did he come.

  But the tale of all his sorrows not yet to an end hath he brought

  — Lo, as a man looks on a minstrel, and a man whom the Gods have taught,

  And sweet are the words of his singing, and therefor mortals long,

  And ceaseless him would they hearken whenever he wakeneth the song;

  E’en so did this man soothe me as he sat in the stead with me;

  And the house-friend of Odysseus he tells himself to be,

  In Crete erewhile a dweller, whence cometh Minos’ race,

  Who now with woe beladen, drifting from place to place,

  Is come here; and he saith he hath tidings of Odysseus alive and anigh

  In the fat land of Thesprotians, and stands by it steadfastly;

  And how that abundant treasure he hath for his home and his stead.”

  But Penelope the heart-wise to him made answer and said:

  “Go call him, that he may tell it to me e’en face to face:

  But for these let them sit merry about the doors of the place,

  Or up and down through the chambers, since with their hearts ’tis well!

  For untouched the gear is lying in the halls where they should dwell,

  Sweet wine and bread, and their homemen they live upon all this,

  While they our house are haunting all days, and no day there is

  But they slaughter the sheep and the oxen, and the fatted goats of the

  And there they hold the revel, and drink the wine dark-red [stead,

  In wanton wise: wealth waneth, and no man now we have,

  E’en such as was Odysseus, the bane from the house to stave.

  Ah, were but Odysseus come, to his fatherland would he haste!

  Soon then with his son would he wreak him on these men and their wrong

  [and their waste.”

  As she spake did Telemachus sneeze a great sneeze, and through the hall

  It rang with a terrible sound, and Penelope laughed withal,

  And straightway unto Eunueus she set a word on the wing:

  “Go, speed thee, Eumaeus, and call him, and the guest before me bring.

  What! heedest thou not how my son hath sneezed to all words that I said?

  So the death of all these Wooers shall not be a thing unsped,

  Nor shall any thereof escape it, his death and his doomful day.

  But one thing now do I tell thee, and the same to thy heart do thou lay,

  Whenas I shall wot of this man that he speaketh all truth indeed

  I will do on him cloak and kirtle and fair shall be that weed.”

  So she spake, and the swineherd hearkened and on his errand went,

  And standing anigh to Odysseus a winged word he sent:

  “O thou, my guest and father, the wise Penelope,

  Telemachus’ mother, calleth; for her heart will have it to be

  That she ask some tale of her husband despite the weight of her woe;

  And if of thy soothfast telling she come hereafter to know

  She shall do on thee cloak and kirtle, whereof thou art most in need.

  So begging thy bread midst the people thy belly shalt thou feed,

  And they shall give unto thee whose hearts thereof be fain.”

  Then the toil-stout goodly Odysseus thuswise he answered again:

  “Eumaeus, e’en now straightway to the wise Penelope,

  The Daughter of Icarius, would I tell all things as they be,

  For true tale of him am I wotting, and we twain have borne one toil:

  But this fierce folk of the Wooers, full sore I fear their broil,

  For the pride of them and their riot to the iron heaven doth fare.

  And look you, when he smote me and gave me grief to bear,

  As about the house I wended and doing hurt to none,

  Telemachus did not save me, nor he, nor any one.

  So Penelope go bid ye in the hall to tarry as yet,

  For all that she may be eager, until that the sun be set,

  And then let her ask of the day of her husband’s coming aback,

  When she by the fire hath set me; for my raiment’s woeful lack

  Thereof full well thou wottest, since thee did I first beseech.

  [his speech:

  So he spake, and departed the swineherd, having hearkened the word or

  But as he went over the threshold unto him Penelope spake; [make?

  “Thou bringest him not? What matter doth the mind of this beggar-man

  Doth he fear some man out of measure, or is he shamefast still,

  About the house as he wendeth? Shame fitteth a beggar but ill.”

  Then thou, O swineherd Eumaeus, didst answer even so:

  “He speaketh according to reason, as many a man might do,

  Because the pride and the riot of masterful men doth he shun.

  But he biddeth thee abide him till the going down of the sun.

  And this, O Queen, meseemeth, shall be meeter for thee forsooth,

  That alone thou speak with the stranger and hearken the word of his mouth.”

  But unto him then answered all-wise Penelope:

  “Nought witless is the stranger whatsoever man he be,

  For no men are there certes ‘mid all men born to die

  So masterful as these men to work so wickedly.”

  In suchwise was she speaking: but the swineherd thereupon

  To the Wooers’ throng betook him now his errand was all done,

  And unto Telemachus straightway a winged word he spake,

  Head laid unto head, that the others thereof might nothing make:

  “Dear lord, my ways am I wending to guard my swine and the gear,

  Thy living, and mine also: but do thou heed all things here.

  And first thyself do thou safe-guard, and look thou to it still

  Lest thou take a hurt; for a many of Achaeans wish thee ill,

  Whom may Zeus undo for ever ere they become our bane!”

  But Telemachus the heedful he spake and answered again:

  “E’en so shall it be, O father. Go, after thine evening cheer,

  But come betimes on the morrow, and bring slaughter-beasts full fair.

  But the rest, e’en I and the Deathless all that will heed and meet”

  So he spake, but the other straightway on the smooth bench took his seat;

  But when to his mind both of meat and of drink he was filled withal

  He went on his way to the swine-droves, and left the garth and the hall

  Fulfilled with folk a-feasting, and merry now were they

  With the song and the dance, for at hand was the eventide of the day.

  BOOK XVIII.

  ARGUMENT.

  ODYSSEUS BEING MOCKED BY THE BEGGAR IRUS, AND THREATENED BY

  HIM, OVERCOMES HIM IN BUFFETS. THE WOOERS GIVE GIFTS TO

  PENELOPE. THE HANDMAID MELANTHO AND EURYMACHUS MOCK

  ODYSSEUS.

  NOW there came a common beggar, who was wont to beg his way,

  Through the Ithacan folk; whose belly still ravening without stay

  Passed all in eating and drinking: nor had he any might

  Or strength of limb and body, though a big carle to the sight:

  Amarus his name; his mother beworshipped called him so

  From his birth; but all the younglings as Irus him did know,

  Because he went on errands at men’s bidding up and down.

  So he came, and would drive Odysseus from the house that was his own,

  And chid him and bespake him in winged words and fleet

  “Out from the garth, old gangrel! lest they drag thee forth by the feet.

  See’st not how all are winking on me, as bidding me

  To drag thee forth? Yet, nathless, I grudge to handle thee.

  So up! lest soon betwixt us be strife of handy blows.”

  Then bespake him the wise Odysseus, as he frowned from knitted brows:

  “What, carle? I do thee no evil, and no words with thee I make,

  And begrudge thee no man’s giving, how much soever ye take.

  The threshold shall hold us both, nor hast thou any need

  To begrudge me the goods of another. A gangrel thou seemest indeed

  As I be; and ’tis for the Gods goodhap on us both to bestow:

  But egg me not to the handstrife, lest the wrath upon me grow,

  Lest, old as I be, I befoul and bebloody thy lips and thy breast;

  And then forsooth to-morrow shall I have increase of rest;

  For nowise twice meseemeth shalt thou turn thee about to come

  To the hall of the son of Laertes and to see Odysseus’ home.”

  Therewith the gangrel Irus unto him in his anger spake:

  “Out! how this greedy glutton a tripping speech doth make!

  E’en as a chimney carline; and to him might I meet out ill

  With a double stroke, and earthward every tooth in his head would I spill,

  As though they were teeth of a swine that wasteth the standing wheat.

  Now gird thee! that all may behold us how we in the battle may meet,

  For to nought shall come thy fighting with a younger man, I ween.”

  So there by the lofty doorway, on the threshold smooth and clean,

  With all their hearts set to it they roused the wrath of fight;

  But unto the twain now hearkened Antinoiis’ holy might,

  And therewith amidst pleasant laughter he bespake the Wooers thus:

  “Friends, never such a goodhap hath yet befallen us,

  Such joyance as God bringeth unto our house and home,

  For the stranger here and Irus to fighting-pitch are come:

  So swift let us set them to it, that they to work may fall.”

  So he spake; and there a-laughing they rose up one and all,

  And round those foul-clad beggars all men were gathered there.

  Then Antinous bespake them, Eupeithes’ son the fair:

  “Now all ye noble Wooers hearken the word I say:

  Two goat paunches cook by the fire, that there we laid away,

  Stuffed full of fat and of blood, for supper to be dight;

  Now whichso of these shall vanquish and be better in the fight

  He shall rise up then and take him whichso of these he will,

  And thenceforth with us shall he feast, and him and none other still

  Will we suffer with us to mingle, and here to make his bede.”

  So Antinoiis spake, and the others all fain his word they heed.

  But to them spake Odysseus the wise, from the wit in his heart that was

  “O friends, ’tis no work for an elder with toil and trouble outworn [born:

  To fight with a man that is younger; but my belly, the worker of ill,

  To my bale and my quelling with stripes must needs be egging me still.

  So come; do all ye swear me with an oath that is stark and strong,

  No man for the pleasure of Irus against me to upbear the wrong,

  And with heavy hand to smite me, and for him to quell me with might”

  So he spake; and as he prayed them, so all they swore aright;

  And when the oath was accomplished, and all had sworn amain,

  Then Telemachus’ holy might made answer, and spake again:

  “O guest, if thine hardy heart and thine high mood bid thee to chase

  This man, then fear no other Achaean here in the place.

  For whosoever smites thee with a many shall have to do.

  Lo, I am the host, and moreover these kings say yea thereto,

  E’en Antinoiis and Eurymachus, and both these are prudent men.”

  So he spake, and all yeasaid it; and Odysseus fell to then

  And girt his rags round his middle, and showed fair-shapen thighs,

  And mighty, and broad shoulders, and breast fashioned in likewise,

  And stark stout arms: and Athene drew nigh and stood by him,

  And for the People’s Shepherd made greater every limb,

  And all the Wooers were smitten with wonder and amaze,

  And thus would one be speaking to his neighbour next in place:

  “Now winneth Irus un-Irused a self-made bale no doubt,

  Such a thigh from amidst of his rag-gear as the old man thrusteth out.”

  So they spake; and the heart of Irus quaked at the coming bale;

  But e’en so the homemen girt him, and forward him did hale,

  While with fear his flesh was creeping upon his every limb:

  But Antinous bespake him, and with words fell chiding him:

  “Foul fall thy life, big braggart! best wert thou not to be

  If so sore hereat thou tremblest, and blenchest so fearfully

  Before this old carle, wearied with the trouble and toil he hath won.

  But now a thing do I tell thee, and forsooth shall it be done:

  If this man overcome thee, and be the best of the twain,

  On a black ship shall I thrust thee, and send thee on to the main

  To King Echetus, the maimer of every mortal anear;

  And the ears and the nose from off thee with the ruthless brass shall he

  And tear off thy manly members for the dogs to devour raw.” [shear,

  But so much the more for that word did the trembling over him draw,

  And they haled him into the ring, and both held up their hands for the fray.

  But the toil-stout goodly Odysseus he pondered either way,

  If he so should smite that the soul from the man as he fell should fly,

  Or should lightly smite him and lay him along on the earth to lie.

  And better him-seemed as he pondered to lay on the lighter stroke,

  Lest some deeming of him they might gather, those lords of Achaean folk.

  So they held up their hands, and Irus to his shoulder right did win,

  But his neck ‘neath the ear smote Odysseus, and crushed the bones within,

  And up through his mouth came gushing the purple blood straightway,

  As he fell in the dust a-moaning, and gnashed his teeth as he lay,

  The earth with his feet a-spurning. But the Wooers haughty and high

  Held up their hands, and for laughter were hard at hand to die.

  By his feet then Odysseus dragged him through the porch to the garth of the

  And the very gate of the cloister, and there by the in-garth’s wall [hall,

  He leaned him up, and thrust on him his staff for his hand to take,

  And therewith his voice he uttered, and a winged word he spake:

  “Sit there now, and be warding the swine and dogs from the door,

  But of bedesmen and of strangers be thou chieftain never more,

  Thou sorry wretch! lest thou win thee some worser bale at last”

  He spake, and over his shoulders his loathly scrip he cast,

 

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