The Odyssey(Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Page 40
These suitors are not just ten or twenty, they’re far more —
you count them up for yourself now, take a moment . . .
From Dulichion, fifty-two of them, picked young men,
six servants in their troop; from Same, twenty-four,
280 from Zacynthus, twenty Achaeans, nobles all,
and the twelve best lords from Ithaca itself.
Medon the herald’s with them, a gifted bard,
and two henchmen, skilled to carve their meat.
If we pit ourselves against all these in the house,
I fear the revenge you come back home to take
will recoil on our heads —a bitter, deadly blow.
Think: can you come up with a friend-in-arms?
Some man to fight beside us, some brave heart?”
“Let me tell you,” the old soldier said,
290 “bear it in mind now, listen to me closely.
Think: will Athena flanked by Father Zeus
do for the two of us?
Or shall I rack my brains for another champion?”
Telemachus answered shrewdly, full of poise,
“Two great champions, those you name, it’s true.
Off in the clouds they sit
and they lord it over gods and mortal men.”
“Trust me,” his seasoned father reassured him,
“they won’t hold off long from the cries and clash of battle,
300 not when we and the suitors put our fighting strength
to proof in my own halls! But now, with daybreak,
home you go and mix with that overbearing crowd.
The swineherd will lead me into the city later,
looking old and broken, a beggar once again.
If they abuse me in the palace, steel yourself,
no matter what outrage I must suffer, even
if they drag me through our house by the heels
and throw me out or pelt me with things they hurl —
you just look on, endure it. Prompt them to quit
310 their wild reckless ways, try to win them over
with friendly words. Those men will never listen,
now the day of doom is hovering at their heads.
One more thing. Take it to heart, I urge you.
When Athena, Queen of Tactics, tells me it is time,
I’ll give you a nod, and when you catch that signal
round up all the deadly weapons kept in the hall,
stow them away upstairs in a storeroom’s deep recess —
all the arms and armor —and when the suitors miss them
and ask you questions, put them off with a winning story:
320 ‘I stowed them away, clear of the smoke. A far cry
from the arms Odysseus left when he went to Troy,
fire-damaged equipment, black with reeking fumes.
And a god reminded me of something darker too.
When you’re in your cups a quarrel might break out,
you’d wound each other, shame your feasting here
and cast a pall on your courting.
327 Iron has powers to draw a man to ruin.’
Just you leave
a pair of swords for the two of us, a pair of spears
and a pair of oxhide bucklers right at hand so we
330 can break for the weapons, seize them! Then Athena,
Zeus in his wisdom —they will daze the suitors’ wits.
Now one last thing. Bear it in mind. You must.
If you are my own true son, born of my blood,
let no one hear that Odysseus has come home.
Don’t let Laertes know, not Eumaeus either,
none in the household, not Penelope herself.
You and I alone will assess the women’s mood
and we might test a few of the serving-men as well:
where are the ones who still respect us both,
340 who hold us in awe? And who shirk their duties? —
slighting you because you are so young.”
“Soon enough, father,” his gallant son replied,
“you’ll sense the courage inside me, that I know —
I’m hardly a flighty, weak-willed boy these days.
But I think your last plan would gain us nothing.
Reconsider, I urge you.
You’ll waste time, roaming around our holdings,
probing the fieldhands man by man, while the suitors
sit at ease in our house, devouring all our goods —
350 those brazen rascals never spare a scrap!
But I do advise you to sound the women out:
who are disloyal to you, who are guiltless?
The men —I say no to testing them farm by farm.
That’s work for later, if you have really seen
a sign from Zeus whose shield is storm and thunder.”
Now as father and son conspired, shaping plans,
the ship that brought the prince and shipmates back
from Pylos was just approaching Ithaca, home port.
As soon as they put in to the harbor’s deep bay
360 they hauled the black vessel up onto dry land
and eager deckhands bore away their gear
and rushed the priceless gifts to Clytius’ house.
But they sent a herald on to Odysseus’ halls at once
to give the news to thoughtful, cautious Penelope
that Telemachus was home —just up-country now
but he’d told his mates to sail across to port —
so the noble queen would not be seized with fright
and break down in tears. And now those two men met,
herald and swineherd, both out on the same errand,
370 to give the queen the news. But once they reached
the house of the royal king the herald strode up,
into the serving-women’s midst, and burst out,
“Your beloved son, my queen, is home at last!”
Eumaeus though, bending close to Penelope,
whispered every word that her dear son
entrusted him to say. Message told in full,
he left the halls and precincts, heading for his pigs.
But the news shook the suitors, dashed their spirits.
Out of the halls they crowded, past the high-walled court
380 and there before the gates they sat in council.
Polybus’ son Eurymachus opened up among them:
“Friends, what a fine piece of work he’s carried off!
Telemachus —what insolence —and we thought his little jaunt
would come to grief! Up now, launch a black ship,
the best we can find —muster a crew of oarsmen,
row the news to our friends in ambush, fast,
bring them back at once.”
And just then —
388 he’d not quite finished when Amphinomus,
wheeling round in his seat,
390 saw their vessel moored in the deep harbor,
their comrades striking sail and hoisting oars.
He broke into heady laughter, called his friends:
“No need for a message now. They’re home, look there!
Some god gave them the news, or they saw the prince’s ship
go sailing past and failed to overtake her.”
Rising, all trooped down to the water’s edge
as the crew hauled the vessel up onto dry land
and the hot-blooded hands bore off their gear.
Then in a pack they went to the meeting grounds,
400 suffering no one else, young or old, to sit among them.
Eupithes’ son Antinous rose and harangued them all:
“What a blow! See how the gods have saved this boy
from bloody death? And our lookouts all day long,
stationed atop the windy heights, kept watch,
shift on shift; and once the sun went down
we’d never sleep the nig
ht ashore, never,
always aboard our swift ship, cruising till dawn,
patrolling to catch Telemachus, kill him on the spot,
and all the while some spirit whisked him home!
410 So here at home we’ll plot his certain death:
he must never slip through our hands again,
that boy —while he still lives,
I swear we’ll never bring our venture off.
The clever little schemer, he does have his skills,
and the crowds no longer show us favor, not at all.
So act! before he can gather his people in assembly.
He’ll never give in an inch, I know, he’ll rise
and rage away, shouting out to them all how we,
we schemed his sudden death but never caught him.
420 Hearing of our foul play, they’ll hardly sing our praises.
Why, they might do us damage, run us off our lands,
drive us abroad to hunt for strangers’ shores.
Strike first, I say, and kill him! —
clear of town, in the fields or on the road.
Then we’ll seize his estates and worldly goods,
carve them up between us, share and share alike.
But as for his palace, let his mother keep it,
she and the man she weds.
There’s my plan.
If you find it offensive, if you want him
430 living on —in full command of his patrimony —
gather here no more then, living the life of kings,
consuming all his wealth. Each from his own house
must try to win her, showering her with gifts.
Then she can marry the one who offers most,
the man marked out by fate to be her husband.”
That brought them all to a hushed, stunned silence
till Amphinomus rose to have his say among them —
438 the noted son of Nisus, King Aretias’ grandson,
the chief who led the suitors from Dulichion,
440 land of grass and grains,
441 and the man who pleased Penelope the most,
thanks to his timely words and good clear sense.
Concerned for their welfare now, he stood and argued:
“Friends, I’ve no desire to kill Telemachus, not I —
it’s a terrible thing to shed the blood of kings.
Wait, sound out the will of the gods —that first.
If the decrees of mighty Zeus commend the work,
I’ll kill the prince myself and spur on all the rest.
If the gods are against it, then I say hold back!”
450 So Amphinomus urged, and won them over.
They rose at once, returned to Odysseus’ palace,
entered and took their seats on burnished chairs.
But now an inspiration took the discreet Penelope
to face her suitors, brutal, reckless men.
The queen had heard it all . . .
how they plotted inside the house to kill her son.
The herald Medon told her —he’d overheard their schemes.
And so, flanked by her ladies, she descended to the hall.
That luster of women, once she reached her suitors,
460 drawing her glistening veil across her cheeks,
paused now where a column propped the sturdy roof
and rounding on Antinous, cried out against him:
“You, Antinous! Violent, vicious, scheming —
you, they say, are the best man your age in Ithaca,
best for eloquence, counsel. You’re nothing of the sort!
Madman, why do you weave destruction for Telemachus? —
show no pity to those who need it? —those over whom
almighty Zeus stands guard. It’s wrong, unholy, yes,
weaving death for those who deserve your mercy!
470 Don’t you know how your father fled here once?
A fugitive, terrified of the people, up in arms
against him because he’d joined some Taphian pirates
473 out to attack Thesprotians, sworn allies of ours.
The mobs were set to destroy him, rip his life out,
devour his vast wealth to their heart’s content,
but Odysseus held them back, he kept their fury down.
And this is the man whose house you waste, scot-free,
whose wife you court, whose son you mean to kill —
you make my life an agony! Stop, I tell you,
480 stop all this, and make the rest stop too!”
But Polybus’ son Eurymachus tried to calm her:
“Wise Penelope, daughter of Icarius, courage!
Disabuse yourself of all these worries now.
That man is not alive —
he never will be, he never can be born —
who’ll lift a hand against Telemachus, your son,
not while I walk the land and I can see the light.
I tell you this —so help me, it will all come true —
in an instant that man’s blood will spurt around my spear!
490 My spear, since time and again Odysseus dandled me
on his knees, the great raider of cities fed me
roasted meat and held the red wine to my lips.
So to me your son is the dearest man alive,
and I urge the boy to have no fear of death,
not from the suitors at least.
What comes from the gods —there’s no escaping that.”
Encouraging, all the way, but all the while
plotting the prince’s murder in his mind . . .
The queen, going up to her lofty well-lit room,
500 fell to weeping for Odysseus, her beloved husband,
till watchful Athena sealed her eyes with welcome sleep.
Returning just at dusk to Odysseus and his son,
the loyal swineherd found they’d killed a yearling pig
and standing over it now were busy cooking supper.
But Athena had approached Laertes’ son Odysseus,
tapped him with her wand and made him old again.
She dressed him in filthy rags too, for fear Eumaeus,
recognizing his master face-to-face, might hurry
back to shrewd Penelope, blurting out the news
510 and never hide the secret in his heart.
Telemachus was the first to greet the swineherd:
“Welcome home, my friend! What’s the talk in town?
Are the swaggering suitors back from ambush yet —
or still waiting to catch me coming home?”
You answered the prince, Eumaeus, loyal swineherd,
“I had no time to go roaming all through town,
digging round for that. My heart raced me on
to get my message told and rush back here.
But I met up with a fast runner there,
520 sent by your crew, a herald,
first to tell your mother all the news.
And this I know, I saw with my own eyes —
I was just above the city, heading home,
clambering over Hermes’ Ridge, when I caught sight
of a trim ship pulling into the harbor, loaded down
with a crowd aboard her, shields and two-edged spears.
I think they’re the men you’re after —I’m not sure.”
At that the young prince Telemachus smiled,
glancing toward his father, avoiding Eumaeus’ eyes.
And now,
530 with the roasting done, the meal set out, they ate well
and no one’s hunger lacked a proper share of supper.
When they’d put aside desire for food and drink,
they remembered bed and took the gift of sleep.
BOOK SEVENTEEN
Stranger at the Gates
When young Dawn with her rose-red fingers shone once more
Telemachus strapped his rawhide sandals to his feet
&n
bsp; and the young prince, the son of King Odysseus,
picked up the rugged spear that fit his grip
and striking out for the city, told his swineherd,
“I’m off to town, old friend, to present myself to mother.
She’ll never stop her bitter tears and mourning,
well I know, till she sees me face-to-face.
And for you I have some orders —
10 take this luckless stranger to town, so he can beg
his supper there, and whoever wants can give the man
some crumbs and a cup to drink. How can I put up with
every passerby? My mind’s weighed down with troubles.
If the stranger resents it, all the worse for him.
I like to tell the truth and tell it plainly.”
“My friend,
subtle Odysseus broke in, “I’ve no desire, myself,
to linger here. Better that beggars cadge their meals
in town than in the fields. Some willing soul
will see to my needs. I’m hardly fit, at my age,
20 to keep to a farm and jump to a foreman’s every order.
Go on then. This man will take me, as you’ve told him,
once I’m warm from the fire and the sun’s good and strong.
Look at the clothing on my back —all rags and tatters.
I’m afraid the frost at dawn could do me in,
and town, you say, is a long hard way from here.”
At that Telemachus strode down through the farm
in quick, firm strides, brooding death for the suitors.
And once he reached his well-constructed palace,
propping his spear against a sturdy pillar
30 and crossing the stone threshold, in he went.
His old nurse was the first to see him, Eurycleia,
just spreading fleeces over the carved, inlaid chairs.
Tears sprang to her eyes, she rushed straight to the prince
as the other maids of great Odysseus flocked around him,
hugged him warmly, kissed his head and shoulders.
Now down from her chamber came discreet Penelope,
looking for all the world like Artemis or golden Aphrodite —
bursting into tears as she flung her arms around her darling son
and kissed his face and kissed his shining eyes and sobbed,
40 “You’re home, Telemachus!” —words flew from her heart —
“sweet light of my eyes! I never thought I’d see you again,