<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410326" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Odyssey: Book 20</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Ulysses slept in the cloister upon an undressed bullock's hide, on<br>the top of which he threw several skins of the sheep the suitors had<br>eaten, and Eurynome threw a cloak over him after he had laid himself<br>down. There, then, Ulysses lay wakefully brooding upon the way in<br>which he should kill the suitors; and by and by, the women who had<br>been in the habit of misconducting themselves with them, left the<br>house giggling and laughing with one another. This made Ulysses very<br>angry, and he doubted whether to get up and kill every single one of<br>them then and there, or to let them sleep one more and last time<br>with the suitors. His heart growled within him, and as a bitch with<br>puppies growls and shows her teeth when she sees a stranger, so did<br>his heart growl with anger at the evil deeds that were being done: but<br>he beat his breast and said, "Heart, be still, you had worse than this<br>to bear on the day when the terrible Cyclops ate your brave<br>companions; yet you bore it in silence till your cunning got you<br>safe out of the cave, though you made sure of being killed."<br>Thus he chided with his heart, and checked it into endurance, but he<br>tossed about as one who turns a paunch full of blood and fat in<br>front of a hot fire, doing it first on one side and then on the other,<br>that he may get it cooked as soon as possible, even so did he turn<br>himself about from side to side, thinking all the time how, single<br>handed as he was, he should contrive to kill so large a body of men as<br>the wicked suitors. But by and by Minerva came down from heaven in the<br>likeness of a woman, and hovered over his head saying, "My poor<br>unhappy man, why do you lie awake in this way? This is your house:<br>your wife is safe inside it, and so is your son who is just such a<br>young man as any father may be proud of."<br>"Goddess," answered Ulysses, "all that you have said is true, but<br>I am in some doubt as to how I shall be able to kill these wicked<br>suitors single handed, seeing what a number of them there always<br>are. And there is this further difficulty, which is still more<br>considerable. Supposing that with Jove's and your assistance I succeed<br>in killing them, I must ask you to consider where I am to escape to<br>from their avengers when it is all over."<br>"For shame," replied Minerva, "why, any one else would trust a worse<br>ally than myself, even though that ally were only a mortal and less<br>wise than I am. Am I not a goddess, and have I not protected you<br>throughout in all your troubles? I tell you plainly that even though<br>there were fifty bands of men surrounding us and eager to kill us, you<br>should take all their sheep and cattle, and drive them away with<br>you. But go to sleep; it is a very bad thing to lie awake all night,<br>and you shall be out of your troubles before long."<br>As she spoke she shed sleep over his eyes, and then went back to<br>Olympus.<br>While Ulysses was thus yielding himself to a very deep slumber<br>that eased the burden of his sorrows, his admirable wife awoke, and<br>sitting up in her bed began to cry. When she had relieved herself by<br>weeping she prayed to Diana saying, "Great Goddess Diana, daughter<br>of Jove, drive an arrow into my heart and slay me; or let some<br>whirlwind snatch me up and bear me through paths of darkness till it<br>drop me into the mouths of overflowing Oceanus, as it did the<br>daughters of Pandareus. The daughters of Pandareus lost their father<br>and mother, for the gods killed them, so they were left orphans. But<br>Venus took care of them, and fed them on cheese, honey, and sweet<br>wine. Juno taught them to excel all women in beauty of form and<br>understanding; Diana gave them an imposing presence, and Minerva<br>endowed them with every kind of accomplishment; but one day when Venus<br>had gone up to Olympus to see Jove about getting them married (for<br>well does he know both what shall happen and what not happen to<br>every one) the storm winds came and spirited them away to become<br>handmaids to the dread Erinyes. Even so I wish that the gods who<br>live in heaven would hide me from mortal sight, or that fair Diana<br>might strike me, for I would fain go even beneath the sad earth if I<br>might do so still looking towards Ulysses only, and without having<br>to yield myself to a worse man than he was. Besides, no matter how<br>much people may grieve by day, they can put up with it so long as they<br>can sleep at night, for when the eyes are closed in slumber people<br>forget good and ill alike; whereas my misery haunts me even in my<br>dreams. This very night methought there was one lying by my side who<br>was like Ulysses as he was when he went away with his host, and I<br>rejoiced, for I believed that it was no dream, but the very truth<br>itself."<br>On this the day broke, but Ulysses heard the sound of her weeping,<br>and it puzzled him, for it seemed as though she already knew him and<br>was by his side. Then he gathered up the cloak and the fleeces on<br>which he had lain, and set them on a seat in the cloister, but he took<br>the bullock's hide out into the open. He lifted up his hands to<br>heaven, and prayed, saying "Father Jove, since you have seen fit to<br>bring me over land and sea to my own home after all the afflictions<br>you have laid upon me, give me a sign out of the mouth of some one<br>or other of those who are now waking within the house, and let me have<br>another sign of some kind from outside."<br>Thus did he pray. Jove heard his prayer and forthwith thundered high<br>up among the from the splendour of Olympus, and Ulysses was glad<br>when he heard it. At the same time within the house, a miller-woman<br>from hard by in the mill room lifted up her voice and gave him another<br>sign. There were twelve miller-women whose business it was to grind<br>wheat and barley which are the staff of life. The others had ground<br>their task and had gone to take their rest, but this one had not yet<br>finished, for she was not so strong as they were, and when she heard<br>the thunder she stopped grinding and gave the sign to her master.<br>"Father Jove," said she, "you who rule over heaven and earth, you have<br>thundered from a clear sky without so much as a cloud in it, and<br>this means something for somebody; grant the prayer, then, of me<br>your poor servant who calls upon you, and let this be the very last<br>day that the suitors dine in the house of Ulysses. They have worn me<br>out with the labour of grinding meal for them, and I hope they may<br>never have another dinner anywhere at all."<br>Ulysses was glad when he heard the omens conveyed to him by the<br>woman's speech, and by the thunder, for he knew they meant that he<br>should avenge himself on the suitors.<br>Then the other maids in the house rose and lit the fire on the<br>hearth; Telemachus also rose and put on his clothes. He girded his<br>sword about his shoulder, bound his sandals on his comely feet, and<br>took a doughty spear with a point of sharpened bronze; then he went to<br>the threshold of the cloister and said to Euryclea, "Nurse, did you<br>make the stranger comfortable both as regards bed and board, or did<br>you let him shift for himself?- for my mother, good woman though she<br>is, has a way of paying great attention to second-rate people, and<br>of neglecting others who are in reality much better men."<br>"Do not find fault child," said Euryclea, "when there is no one to<br>find fault with. The stranger sat and drank his wine as long as he<br>liked: your mother did ask him if he would take any more bread and<br>he said he would not. When he wanted to go to bed she told the<br>servants to make one for him, but he said he was re such wretched<br>outcast that he would not sleep on a bed and under blankets; he<br>insisted on having an undressed bullock's hide and some sheepskins put<br>for him in the cloister and I threw a cloak over him myself."<br>Then Telemachus went out of the court to the place where the<br>Achaeans were meeting in assembly; he had his spear in his hand, and<br>he was not alone, for his two dogs went with him. But Euryclea<br>called the maids and said, "Come, wake up; set about sweeping the<br>cloisters and sprinkling them with water to lay the dust; put the<br>covers on the seats; wipe down the tables, some of you, with a wet<br>sponge; clean out the mixing-jugs and the cups, and for water from the<br>fountain at once; the suitors will be here directly; they will be here<br>early, for it is a feast day."<br>Thus did she speak, and they did even as she had said: twenty of<br>them went to the fountain for water, and the others set themselves<br>busily to work about the house. The men who were in attendance on<br>the suitors also came up and began chopping firewood. By and by the<br>women returned from the fountain, and the swineherd came after them<br>with the three best pigs he could pick out. These he let feed about<br>the premises, and then he said good-humouredly to Ulysses,<br>"Stranger, are the suitors treating you any better now, or are they as<br>insolent as ever?"<br>"May heaven," answered Ulysses, "requite to them the wickedness with<br>which they deal high-handedly in another man's house without any sense<br>of shame."<br>Thus did they converse; meanwhile Melanthius the goatherd came up,<br>for he too was bringing in his best goats for the suitors' dinner; and<br>he had two shepherds with him. They tied the goats up under the<br>gatehouse, and then Melanthius began gibing at Ulysses. "Are you still<br>here, stranger," said he, "to pester people by begging about the<br>house? Why can you not go elsewhere? You and I shall not come to an<br>understanding before we have given each other a taste of our fists.<br>You beg without any sense of decency: are there not feasts elsewhere<br>among the Achaeans, as well as here?"<br>Ulysses made no answer, but bowed his head and brooded. Then a third<br>man, Philoetius, joined them, who was bringing in a barren heifer<br>and some goats. These were brought over by the boatmen who are there<br>to take people over when any one comes to them. So Philoetius made his<br>heifer and his goats secure under the gatehouse, and then went up to<br>the swineherd. "Who, Swineherd," said he, "is this stranger that is<br>lately come here? Is he one of your men? What is his family? Where<br>does he come from? Poor fellow, he looks as if he had been some<br>great man, but the gods give sorrow to whom they will- even to kings<br>if it so pleases them<br>As he spoke he went up to Ulysses and saluted him with his right<br>hand; "Good day to you, father stranger," said he, "you seem to be<br>very poorly off now, but I hope you will have better times by and<br>by. Father Jove, of all gods you are the most malicious. We are your<br>own children, yet you show us no mercy in all our misery and<br>afflictions. A sweat came over me when I saw this man, and my eyes<br>filled with tears, for he reminds me of Ulysses, who I fear is going<br>about in just such rags as this man's are, if indeed he is still among<br>the living. If he is already dead and in the house of Hades, then,<br>alas! for my good master, who made me his stockman when I was quite<br>young among the Cephallenians, and now his cattle are countless; no<br>one could have done better with them than I have, for they have bred<br>like ears of corn; nevertheless I have to keep bringing them in for<br>others to eat, who take no heed of his son though he is in the<br>house, and fear not the wrath of heaven, but are already eager to<br>divide Ulysses' property among them because he has been away so<br>long. I have often thought- only it would not be right while his son<br>is living- of going off with the cattle to some foreign country; bad<br>as this would be, it is still harder to stay here and be ill-treated<br>about other people's herds. My position is intolerable, and I should<br>long since have run away and put myself under the protection of some<br>other chief, only that I believe my poor master will yet return, and<br>send all these suitors flying out of the house."<br>"Stockman," answered Ulysses, "you seem to be a very well-disposed<br>person, and I can see that you are a man of sense. Therefore I will<br>tell you, and will confirm my words with an oath: by Jove, the chief<br>of all gods, and by that hearth of Ulysses to which I am now come,<br>Ulysses shall return before you leave this place, and if you are so<br>minded you shall see him killing the suitors who are now masters<br>here."<br>"If Jove were to bring this to pass," replied the stockman, "you<br>should see how I would do my very utmost to help him."<br>And in like manner Eumaeus prayed that Ulysses might return home.<br>Thus did they converse. Meanwhile the suitors were hatching a plot<br>to murder Telemachus: but a bird flew near them on their left hand- an<br>eagle with a dove in its talons. On this Amphinomus said, "My friends,<br>this plot of ours to murder Telemachus will not succeed; let us go<br>to dinner instead."<br>The others assented, so they went inside and laid their cloaks on<br>the benches and seats. They sacrificed the sheep, goats, pigs, and the<br>heifer, and when the inward meats were cooked they served them<br>round. They mixed the wine in the mixing-bowls, and the swineherd gave<br>every man his cup, while Philoetius handed round the bread in the<br>breadbaskets, and Melanthius poured them out their wine. Then they<br>laid their hands upon the good things that were before them.<br>Telemachus purposely made Ulysses sit in the part of the cloister<br>that was paved with stone; he gave him a shabby-looking seat at a<br>little table to himself, and had his portion of the inward meats<br>brought to him, with his wine in a gold cup. "Sit there," said he,<br>"and drink your wine among the great people. I will put a stop to<br>the gibes and blows of the suitors, for this is no public house, but<br>belongs to Ulysses, and has passed from him to me. Therefore, suitors,<br>keep your hands and your tongues to yourselves, or there will be<br>mischief."<br>The suitors bit their lips, and marvelled at the boldness of his<br>speech; then Antinous said, "We do not like such language but we<br>will put up with it, for Telemachus is threatening us in good earnest.<br>If Jove had let us we should have put a stop to his brave talk ere<br>now."<br>Thus spoke Antinous, but Telemachus heeded him not. Meanwhile the<br>heralds were bringing the holy hecatomb through the city, and the<br>Achaeans gathered under the shady grove of Apollo.<br>Then they roasted the outer meat, drew it off the spits, gave<br>every man his portion, and feasted to their hearts' content; those who<br>waited at table gave Ulysses exactly the same portion as the others<br>had, for Telemachus had told them to do so.<br>But Minerva would not let the suitors for one moment drop their<br>insolence, for she wanted Ulysses to become still more bitter<br>against them. Now there happened to be among them a ribald fellow,<br>whose name was Ctesippus, and who came from Same. This man,<br>confident in his great wealth, was paying court to the wife of<br>Ulysses, and said to the suitors, "Hear what I have to say. The<br>stranger has already had as large a portion as any one else; this is<br>well, for it is not right nor reasonable to ill-treat any guest of<br>Telemachus who comes here. I will, however, make him a present on my<br>own account, that he may have something to give to the bath-woman,<br>or to some other of Ulysses' servants."<br>As he spoke he picked up a heifer's foot from the meat-basket in<br>which it lay, and threw it at Ulysses, but Ulysses turned his head a<br>little aside, and avoided it, smiling grimly Sardinian fashion as he<br>did so, and it hit the wall, not him. On this Telemachus spoke<br>fiercely to Ctesippus, "It is a good thing for you," said he, "that<br>the stranger turned his head so that you missed him. If you had hit<br>him I should have run you through with my spear, and your father would<br>have had to see about getting you buried rather than married in this<br>house. So let me have no more unseemly behaviour from any of you,<br>for I am grown up now to the knowledge of good and evil and understand<br>what is going on, instead of being the child that I have been<br>heretofore. I have long seen you killing my sheep and making free with<br>my corn and wine: I have put up with this, for one man is no match for<br>many, but do me no further violence. Still, if you wish to kill me,<br>kill me; I would far rather die than see such disgraceful scenes day<br>after day- guests insulted, and men dragging the women servants<br>about the house in an unseemly way."<br>They all held their peace till at last Agelaus son of Damastor said,<br>"No one should take offence at what has just been said, nor gainsay<br>it, for it is quite reasonable. Leave off, therefore, ill-treating the<br>stranger, or any one else of the servants who are about the house; I<br>would say, however, a friendly word to Telemachus and his mother,<br>which I trust may commend itself to both. 'As long,' I would say,<br>'as you had ground for hoping that Ulysses would one day come home, no<br>one could complain of your waiting and suffering the suitors to be<br>in your house. It would have been better that he should have returned,<br>but it is now sufficiently clear that he will never do so; therefore<br>talk all this quietly over with your mother, and tell her to marry the<br>best man, and the one who makes her the most advantageous offer.<br>Thus you will yourself be able to manage your own inheritance, and<br>to eat and drink in peace, while your mother will look after some<br>other man's house, not yours."'<br>To this Telemachus answered, "By Jove, Agelaus, and by the sorrows<br>of my unhappy father, who has either perished far from Ithaca, or is<br>wandering in some distant land, I throw no obstacles in the way of<br>my mother's marriage; on the contrary I urge her to choose<br>whomsoever she will, and I will give her numberless gifts into the<br>bargain, but I dare not insist point blank that she shall leave the<br>house against her own wishes. Heaven forbid that I should do this."<br>Minerva now made the suitors fall to laughing immoderately, and<br>set their wits wandering; but they were laughing with a forced<br>laughter. Their meat became smeared with blood; their eyes filled with<br>tears, and their hearts were heavy with forebodings. Theoclymenus<br>saw this and said, "Unhappy men, what is it that ails you? There is<br>a shroud of darkness drawn over you from head to foot, your cheeks are<br>wet with tears; the air is alive with wailing voices; the walls and<br>roof-beams drip blood; the gate of the cloisters and the court<br>beyond them are full of ghosts trooping down into the night of hell;<br>the sun is blotted out of heaven, and a blighting gloom is over all<br>the land."<br>Thus did he speak, and they all of them laughed heartily. Eurymachus<br>then said, "This stranger who has lately come here has lost his<br>senses. Servants, turn him out into the streets, since he finds it<br>so dark here."<br>But Theoclymenus said, "Eurymachus, you need not send any one with<br>me. I have eyes, ears, and a pair of feet of my own, to say nothing of<br>an understanding mind. I will take these out of the house with me, for<br>I see mischief overhanging you, from which not one of you men who<br>are insulting people and plotting ill deeds in the house of Ulysses<br>will be able to escape."<br>He left the house as he spoke, and went back to Piraeus who gave him<br>welcome, but the suitors kept looking at one another and provoking<br>Telemachus fly laughing at the strangers. One insolent fellow said<br>to him, "Telemachus, you are not happy in your guests; first you<br>have this importunate tramp, who comes begging bread and wine and<br>has no skill for work or for hard fighting, but is perfectly<br>useless, and now here is another fellow who is setting himself up as a<br>prophet. Let me persuade you, for it will be much better, to put<br>them on board ship and send them off to the Sicels to sell for what<br>they will bring."<br>Telemachus gave him no heed, but sat silently watching his father,<br>expecting every moment that he would begin his attack upon the<br>suitors.<br>Meanwhile the daughter of Icarius, wise Penelope, had had had a rich<br>seat placed for her facing the court and cloisters, so that she<br>could hear what every one was saying. The dinner indeed had been<br>prepared amid merriment; it had been both good and abundant, for<br>they had sacrificed many victims; but the supper was yet to come,<br>and nothing can be conceived more gruesome than the meal which a<br>goddess and a brave man were soon to lay before them- for they had<br>brought their doom upon themselves.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Homer">Homer</a>, translated by Samuel Butler<div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410326" data-title="The Odyssey: Book 20 de Homer" data-description="Ulysses slept in the cloister upon an undressed bullock's hide, on/the top of which he threw several skins of the sheep the suitors had/eaten, and Eurynome threw a cloak over him after he had laid himself/down. There, then, Ulysses lay wakefully b..."></div> </div> </div>

solid border dashed border dotted border double border groove border ridge border inset border outset border no border blue green red purple cyan gold silver black