Latest / Thrilling Adventures - Daily / 21 - The Odyssey - Homer

Transcript

21 - The Odyssey - Homer · Thrilling Adventures - Daily

0:00
Speaker 1: Book twenty one. Minerva now put it in Penelope's mind
0:06
Speaker 1: to make the suitors try their skill with the bow
0:08
Speaker 1: and with the iron axes in contest among themselves, as
0:13
Speaker 1: a means of bringing about their destruction. She went upstairs
0:17
Speaker 1: and got the store room key, which was made of
0:19
Speaker 1: bronze and had a handle of ivory. She then went
0:22
Speaker 1: with her maidens into the store room at the end
0:24
Speaker 1: of the house, where her husband's treasures of gold, bronze
0:29
Speaker 1: and wrought iron were kept, and where was also his
0:32
Speaker 1: bow and the quiver full of deadly arrows that had
0:35
Speaker 1: been given him by a friend whom he had met
0:38
Speaker 1: in Lazi Damon Iphithus, the son of Eurytus. The two
0:43
Speaker 1: fell in with one another in Messine at the house
0:46
Speaker 1: of Orticholus, where Ulysses was staying, in order to recover
0:50
Speaker 1: a debt that was owing from the whole people, for
0:54
Speaker 1: the Messenians had carried off three hundred sheep from Ithaca
0:58
Speaker 1: and had sailed away with them and with their shepherds
1:01
Speaker 1: in quest of these. Ulysses took a long journey while
1:04
Speaker 1: still quite young, for his father and the other chieftains
1:08
Speaker 1: sent him on a mission to recover them. Ephythus had
1:11
Speaker 1: gone there also to try to get back twelve brute
1:14
Speaker 1: mares that he had lost, and the mule folds that
1:17
Speaker 1: were running with them. These mares were the death of
1:20
Speaker 1: him in the end, for when he went to the
1:22
Speaker 1: house of Jove's son Mighty Hercules, who performed such prodigies
1:27
Speaker 1: of valor, Hercules, to his shame, killed him, though he
1:31
Speaker 1: was his guest, for he feared not Heaven's vengeance, nor
1:34
Speaker 1: yet respected his own table, which he had set before Iphythus,
1:39
Speaker 1: but killed him in spite of everything, and kept the
1:42
Speaker 1: mares himself. It was when claiming these that Yoppethus met
1:46
Speaker 1: Ulysses and gave him the bow which Mighty Eurytus had
1:51
Speaker 1: been used to carry, and which on his death had
1:54
Speaker 1: been left by him to his son. Ulysses gave him
1:58
Speaker 1: in return a sword and as, and this was the
2:01
Speaker 1: beginning of a fast friendship, although they never visited at
2:06
Speaker 1: one another's houses, for Jove's son Hercules killed Iphythus ere
2:11
Speaker 1: they could do so. This bow, then given him by Iphythus,
2:16
Speaker 1: had not been taken with him by Ulysses when he
2:19
Speaker 1: sailed for Troy. He had used it so long as
2:22
Speaker 1: he had been at home, but had left it behind
2:25
Speaker 1: as having been a keepsake from a valued friend. Penelope
2:30
Speaker 1: presently reached the oaked threshold of the storeroom. The carpenter
2:35
Speaker 1: had planned this, Julie, and had drawn a line on
2:38
Speaker 1: it so as to get it quite straight. He had
2:41
Speaker 1: then set the doorposts into it and hung the doors.
2:45
Speaker 1: She loosed the strap from the handle of the door,
2:48
Speaker 1: put in the key, and drove it straight home to
2:51
Speaker 1: shoot back the bolts that held the doors. These flew
2:55
Speaker 1: open with a noise like a bull bellowing in a meadow.
2:59
Speaker 1: Andy stepped upon the raised platform where the chests stood,
3:03
Speaker 1: in which the fair linen and clothes were laid by,
3:06
Speaker 1: along with fragrant herbs. Reaching thence, she took down the
3:11
Speaker 1: bow with its bowcase from the peg on which it hung.
3:15
Speaker 1: She sat down with it on her knees, weeping bitterly
3:18
Speaker 1: as she took the bow out of its case, and
3:21
Speaker 1: when her tears had relieved her, she went to the
3:24
Speaker 1: cloister where the suitors were carrying the bow and a
3:28
Speaker 1: quiver with the many deadly arrows that were inside it.
3:33
Speaker 1: Along with her came her maidens, bearing a chest that
3:37
Speaker 1: contained much iron and bronze, which her husband had won
3:41
Speaker 1: as prizes. When she reached the suitors, she stood by
3:45
Speaker 1: one of the bearing posts supporting the roof of the cloister,
3:49
Speaker 1: holding a whale before her face, and with a mate
3:52
Speaker 1: on either side of her. Then she said, listen to me,
3:57
Speaker 1: you suitors, who persist in a using the hospitality of
4:01
Speaker 1: this house because its owner has been long absent, and
4:05
Speaker 1: without other pretext than that you want to marry me. This, then,
4:10
Speaker 1: being the prize that you are contending for, I will
4:14
Speaker 1: bring out the mighty bow of Ulysses, and whomsoever of
4:18
Speaker 1: you shall string it most easily and send his arrow
4:22
Speaker 1: through each one of twelve axes him will I follow
4:26
Speaker 1: and quit this house of my lawful husband, so goodly
4:30
Speaker 1: and so abounding in wealth. But even so I doubt
4:34
Speaker 1: not that I shall remember it in my dreams. As
4:38
Speaker 1: she spoke, she told Eumanus to set the bow and
4:41
Speaker 1: the pieces of iron before the suitors, and Eumenus wept
4:45
Speaker 1: as he took them to do as she had bidden him.
4:48
Speaker 1: Hard By the stockman wept also when he saw his
4:52
Speaker 1: master's bow. But Antinuous scolded them, you country a lots,
4:58
Speaker 1: said he, silly importance, Why should you add to the
5:02
Speaker 1: sorrows of your mistress by crying. In this way, she
5:06
Speaker 1: has enough to grieve her in the loss of her husband.
5:09
Speaker 1: Sit still, therefore, and eat your dinners in silence, or
5:13
Speaker 1: go outside if you want to cry, and leave the
5:16
Speaker 1: bow behind you. We suitors shall have to contend for
5:20
Speaker 1: it with might and main, for we shall find it
5:22
Speaker 1: no light matter to string such a bow as this his.
5:26
Speaker 1: There is not a man of us all who is
5:28
Speaker 1: such another as Ulysses, for I have seen him and
5:32
Speaker 1: remember him, though I was then only a child. This
5:36
Speaker 1: was all he said. But all the time he was
5:39
Speaker 1: expecting to be able to string the bow and shoot
5:43
Speaker 1: through the iron, whereas in fact he was to be
5:46
Speaker 1: the first that should taste of the arrows from the
5:49
Speaker 1: hands of Ulysses, whom he was dishonoring in his own house,
5:54
Speaker 1: aching the others on to do so also. Then Telemachus
5:59
Speaker 1: spoke great heavens. He exclaimed, Jove must have robbed me
6:04
Speaker 1: of my senses. Here is my dear and excellent mother,
6:08
Speaker 1: saying she will quit this house and marry again. Yet
6:11
Speaker 1: I am laughing and enjoying myself, as though there were
6:14
Speaker 1: nothing happening, but suitors as the contest has been agreed upon,
6:20
Speaker 1: let it go forward. It is for a woman whose
6:23
Speaker 1: peer is not to be found in pylas Argos or
6:26
Speaker 1: my scene, nor yet in Ithaca, nor on mainland. You
6:31
Speaker 1: know this as well as I do. What need have
6:34
Speaker 1: I to speak in praise of my mother? Come on, then,
6:38
Speaker 1: make no excuses for delay, But let us see whether
6:42
Speaker 1: you can string the bow or no, I too will
6:45
Speaker 1: make trial of it. For if I can string it
6:47
Speaker 1: and shoot through the iron, I shall not suffer my
6:50
Speaker 1: mother to quit this house with a stranger, not if
6:53
Speaker 1: I can win the prizes which my father won before me.
6:57
Speaker 1: As he spoke, he sprang from his seat, threw his
7:00
Speaker 1: crimson cloak from him, and took his sword from his shoulder.
7:04
Speaker 1: First he set the axis in a row in a
7:08
Speaker 1: long groove, which he had dug for them and had
7:10
Speaker 1: weighed straight by line. Then he stamped the earth tight
7:15
Speaker 1: round them, and everyone was surprised when he saw him
7:18
Speaker 1: set up so orderly, though he had never seen anything
7:22
Speaker 1: of the kind Before this done, he went on to
7:25
Speaker 1: the pavement to make trial of the bow. Thrice did
7:29
Speaker 1: he tug at it, trying with all his might to
7:32
Speaker 1: draw the string and thrice he had to leave off,
7:35
Speaker 1: though he had hoped to string the bow and shoot
7:38
Speaker 1: through the iron. He was trying for the fourth time
7:41
Speaker 1: and would have strung it had not Ulysses made a
7:44
Speaker 1: sign to check him in spite of all his eagerness,
7:48
Speaker 1: So he said, alas, I shall either be always feeble
7:53
Speaker 1: and of no prowess, or I am too young and
7:56
Speaker 1: have not yet reached my full strength so as to
7:58
Speaker 1: be able to hold my if any one attacks me.
8:02
Speaker 1: You others, therefore, who are stronger than I, make trial
8:06
Speaker 1: of the bow and get this contest settled. On this,
8:10
Speaker 1: he put the bow down, letting it lean against the
8:13
Speaker 1: door that led into the house, with the arrow standing
8:17
Speaker 1: against the top of the bow. Then he sat down
8:20
Speaker 1: on a seat from which he had risen, and Antinouis said,
8:24
Speaker 1: come on, each of you, in his turn, going to words,
8:28
Speaker 1: to ride from the place at which the cup bearer
8:30
Speaker 1: when he is handing round the wine. The rest agreed,
8:35
Speaker 1: and Laodes, son of Oenop's, was the first to rise.
8:40
Speaker 1: He was sacrificial priest to the suitors and sat in
8:43
Speaker 1: a corner near the mixing bowl. He was the only
8:46
Speaker 1: man who hated their evil deeds and was indignant with
8:50
Speaker 1: the others, he was now the first to take the
8:53
Speaker 1: bow and arrow. So he went on to the payment
8:56
Speaker 1: to make his trial. But he could not string the bow,
9:00
Speaker 1: for his hands were weak and unused to hard work.
9:03
Speaker 1: They therefore soon grew tired, and he said to the suitors,
9:07
Speaker 1: my friends, I cannot string it. Let another have it.
9:11
Speaker 1: This bow shall take the life and soul out of
9:14
Speaker 1: many a chief among us, for it is better to
9:16
Speaker 1: die than to live, after having missed the prize that
9:19
Speaker 1: we have so long striven for, and which has brought
9:23
Speaker 1: us so long together. Some one of us is even
9:27
Speaker 1: now hoping and praying that he may marry Penelope. But
9:31
Speaker 1: when he has seen this bow and tried it, let
9:33
Speaker 1: him woo and make bridal offerings to some other woman,
9:37
Speaker 1: and let Penelope marry who ever makes her the best offer,
9:41
Speaker 1: and whose lut it is to win her. On this
9:45
Speaker 1: he put the bow down, letting it lean against the door,
9:49
Speaker 1: with the arrow standing against the tip of the bow.
9:53
Speaker 1: Then he took his seat again on the seat from
9:55
Speaker 1: which he had risen, and Antinous rebuked him, saying, lay odies,
10:01
Speaker 1: what are you talking about. Your words are monstrous and intolerable.
10:06
Speaker 1: It makes me angry to listen to you, shall then
10:10
Speaker 1: this bow take the life of many a chief among us,
10:13
Speaker 1: merely because you cannot bend it yourself. True, you were
10:18
Speaker 1: not born to be an archer. But there are others
10:21
Speaker 1: who will soon string it. Then he said to Melanthius,
10:26
Speaker 1: the goatherd, look sharp, Light a fire in the court,
10:31
Speaker 1: and set a seat hard by with a sheepskin on it.
10:35
Speaker 1: Bring us also a large ball of lard from what
10:38
Speaker 1: they have in a house. Let us warm the bow
10:41
Speaker 1: and grease it. We will then make trial of it
10:44
Speaker 1: again and bring the contest to an end. Melanthius lit
10:49
Speaker 1: the fire and set a seat covered with sheepskins beside it.
10:53
Speaker 1: He also brought a great ball of lard from what
10:57
Speaker 1: they had in the house, and the suitors warmed the
11:00
Speaker 1: bow and again made trial of it. But they were
11:03
Speaker 1: none of them nearly strong enough to string it. Nevertheless,
11:07
Speaker 1: there still remained Antinuous and Eurymachus, who were the ringleaders
11:12
Speaker 1: among the suitors, and much the foremost among them all. Then,
11:17
Speaker 1: the swineherd and the stockman left the cloisters together, and
11:21
Speaker 1: Ulysses followed them. When they had got outside the gates,
11:25
Speaker 1: and youter yard Ulysses said to them quietly, Stockman, and
11:31
Speaker 1: you swineherd, I have something in my mind which I
11:35
Speaker 1: am in doubt whether to say or no, But I
11:38
Speaker 1: think I will say it. What manner of men would
11:42
Speaker 1: you be to stand by Ulysses if some God should
11:45
Speaker 1: bring him back here? All of a sudden, Say which
11:48
Speaker 1: you are disposed to do, to side with the suitors
11:52
Speaker 1: or with Ulysses. Father Jove answered the stockman would indeed
11:58
Speaker 1: that you might so obtain it. If some God were
12:02
Speaker 1: but to bring Ulysses back, you should see with what
12:06
Speaker 1: might and main I would fight for him. In like words,
12:10
Speaker 1: Eumaeus prayed to all the gods that Ulysses might return.
12:15
Speaker 1: When therefore he saw for certain what mind they were
12:19
Speaker 1: of Ulysses said, it is I Ulysses who am here.
12:25
Speaker 1: I have suffered much, but at last, in the twentieth year,
12:29
Speaker 1: I am come back to my own country. I find
12:33
Speaker 1: that you two, alone, of all my servants, are glad
12:36
Speaker 1: that I should do so, for I have not heard
12:39
Speaker 1: any of the others praying for my return to you two.
12:43
Speaker 1: Therefore will I unfold the truth as it shall be,
12:48
Speaker 1: if Heaven shall deliver the suitors into my hands. I
12:51
Speaker 1: will find wives for both of you, will give you
12:54
Speaker 1: house and holding close to my own, and you shall
12:58
Speaker 1: be to me as though you were brothers and friends
13:00
Speaker 1: of Telemachus. I will now give you convincing proofs that
13:05
Speaker 1: you may know me and be assured. See here is
13:08
Speaker 1: the scar from the boar's tooth that ripped me when
13:12
Speaker 1: I was out hunting on Mount Parnassus with the sons
13:16
Speaker 1: of Autolysis. As he spoke, he drew his rags aside
13:21
Speaker 1: from the great scar. And when they had examined it thoroughly,
13:25
Speaker 1: they both of them wept about. Ulysses threw their arms
13:29
Speaker 1: around him and kissed his head and shoulders, while Ulysses
13:33
Speaker 1: kissed their hands and faces in return. The sun would
13:36
Speaker 1: have gone down upon their mourning if Ulysses had not
13:40
Speaker 1: checked them and said, cease your weeping, lest someone should
13:44
Speaker 1: come outside and see us, and tell those who are within.
13:49
Speaker 1: When you go in, do so separately, not both together.
13:53
Speaker 1: I will go first, and do you follow afterwards. Let
13:57
Speaker 1: this moreover be the token between us the suitors. Will
14:02
Speaker 1: all of them try to prevent me from getting hold
14:04
Speaker 1: of the bow and quiver. Do you, therefore, Eumaneus, place
14:09
Speaker 1: it in my hands when you are carrying it about,
14:12
Speaker 1: and tell the women to close the doors of their apartment.
14:15
Speaker 1: If they hear any groaning or uproar as of men
14:18
Speaker 1: fighting about the house, they must not come out. They
14:22
Speaker 1: must keep quiet and stay where they are at their work.
14:25
Speaker 1: And I charge you, Philouetius, to make fast the doors
14:29
Speaker 1: of the outer court and to bind them securely at once.
14:34
Speaker 1: When he had thus spoken, he went back to the
14:36
Speaker 1: house and took the seat that he had left presently.
14:40
Speaker 1: His two servants followed him inside. At this moment, the
14:45
Speaker 1: bow was in the hands of Eurymachus, who was warming
14:49
Speaker 1: it by the fire. But even so he could not
14:51
Speaker 1: string it, and he was greatly grieved. He heaved a
14:55
Speaker 1: deep sigh and said, I grieve for myself and for us.
15:01
Speaker 1: I grieve that I shall have to forego the marriage.
15:03
Speaker 1: But I do not care nearly so much about this,
15:07
Speaker 1: for there are plenty of other women in Ithaca and elsewhere.
15:10
Speaker 1: What I feel most is the fact of our being
15:13
Speaker 1: so inferior to Ulysses in strength that we cannot string
15:17
Speaker 1: his bow. This will disgrace us in the eyes of
15:21
Speaker 1: those who are yet unborn. It shall not be so
15:26
Speaker 1: Eurymachus said, Antinous, and you know it yourself. To day
15:31
Speaker 1: is the feast of Apollo throughout all the land. Who
15:35
Speaker 1: can string a bow on such a day as this
15:37
Speaker 1: put it on one side. As for the axes, they
15:40
Speaker 1: can stay where they are, for no one is likely
15:43
Speaker 1: to come to the house and take them away. Let
15:46
Speaker 1: the cup bearer go round with his cups, that we
15:49
Speaker 1: may make our drink offerings, and drop this matter of
15:52
Speaker 1: the bow. We will tell Melanthius to bring us some
15:57
Speaker 1: goats to morrow, the best he has. We can then
16:00
Speaker 1: offer thigh bones to Apollo, the mighty archer, and again
16:04
Speaker 1: make trial of the bow, as to bring the contest
16:07
Speaker 1: to an end. The rest approved his words, and thereon
16:12
Speaker 1: men servants poured water over the hands of the guests,
16:15
Speaker 1: while pages filled the mixing poles with wine and water
16:19
Speaker 1: and handed it round, after giving every man his drink offering. Then,
16:24
Speaker 1: when they had made their offerings and had drunk each
16:27
Speaker 1: as much as he desired, Ulysses craftily said, suitors of
16:33
Speaker 1: the illustrious queen, listen that I may speak, even as
16:38
Speaker 1: I am minded. I appeal more especially to Eurymachus and
16:43
Speaker 1: to Antonius, who has just spoken with so much reason,
16:49
Speaker 1: cease shooting for the present, and leave the matter to
16:52
Speaker 1: the gods. But in the morning, let Heaven give victory
16:55
Speaker 1: to whom it will. For the moment, however, give me
16:59
Speaker 1: the bow, that I may prove the power of my
17:02
Speaker 1: hands among you all, and see whether I still have
17:05
Speaker 1: as much strength as I used to have, or whether
17:08
Speaker 1: travel and neglect have made an end of it. This
17:12
Speaker 1: made them all very angry, for they feared he might
17:15
Speaker 1: string the bow. Antinous therefore rebuked him fiercely, saying, wretched creature,
17:22
Speaker 1: you have not so much as a grain of sense
17:24
Speaker 1: in your whole body. You ought to think yourself lucky
17:28
Speaker 1: in being allowed to dine unharmed among your betters, without
17:32
Speaker 1: having any smaller portion served you than we others have had,
17:37
Speaker 1: and in being allowed to hear our conversation. No other
17:41
Speaker 1: beggar or stranger has been allowed to hear what we
17:44
Speaker 1: have said among ourselves. The wine must have been doing
17:48
Speaker 1: you a mischief, as it does with all those drinking immoderately.
17:52
Speaker 1: It was wine that inflamed the centure Eurythian when he
17:56
Speaker 1: was staying with Pirithus among the lappy things. When the
18:01
Speaker 1: wine had got into his head he went mad and
18:04
Speaker 1: did ill deeds about the house of Pirithius. This angered
18:09
Speaker 1: the heroes who were there assembled, so they rushed at
18:13
Speaker 1: him and cut off his ears and nostrils. Then they
18:16
Speaker 1: dragged him through the doorway out of the house. So
18:19
Speaker 1: he went away grazed and bore the burden of his crime,
18:23
Speaker 1: bereft of understanding. Henceforth, therefore there was war between mankind
18:30
Speaker 1: and the centaurs. But he brought it upon himself through
18:34
Speaker 1: his own drunkenness. In like manner. I can tell you
18:38
Speaker 1: that it will go hardly with you. If you string
18:40
Speaker 1: the bow, you will find no mercy from anyone here,
18:45
Speaker 1: for we shall at once ship you off to King Achithus,
18:49
Speaker 1: who kills every one that comes near him. You will
18:53
Speaker 1: never get away alive. So drink and keep quiet without
18:58
Speaker 1: getting into a quarrel with men younger than yourself. Penelope
19:03
Speaker 1: then spoke to him. Antinous said, she, it is not
19:08
Speaker 1: right that you should ill treat any guests of Telemachus
19:12
Speaker 1: who comes to this house. If the stranger should prove
19:15
Speaker 1: strong enough to string the mighty bow of Ulysses, can
19:19
Speaker 1: you suppose that he would take me home with him
19:22
Speaker 1: and make him his wife even the man himself can
19:26
Speaker 1: have no such idea in his mind. None of you
19:29
Speaker 1: need let that disturb his feasting. It would be out
19:33
Speaker 1: of all reason. Queen Penelope answered, Eurymachus, we do not
19:39
Speaker 1: suppose that this man will take you away with him.
19:42
Speaker 1: It is impossible. But we are afraid lest some of
19:45
Speaker 1: the baser sort men or women among their achaeans, should
19:50
Speaker 1: go gossiping about and say these suitors are a feeble folk.
19:55
Speaker 1: They are paying court to the wife of a brave
19:57
Speaker 1: man whose bow. Not one of them was a to string,
20:01
Speaker 1: and yet a beggarly tramp who came to the house
20:04
Speaker 1: strung it at once and sent an arrow through the iron.
20:08
Speaker 1: This is what will be said, and it will be
20:12
Speaker 1: a scandal against us. Eurymachus Penelope answered, people who persist
20:19
Speaker 1: in eating up the estate of a great chieftain and
20:22
Speaker 1: dishonoring his house must not expect others to think well
20:26
Speaker 1: of them. Why then, should you mind if men talk
20:30
Speaker 1: as you think they will. This stranger is strong and
20:34
Speaker 1: well built. He says, moreover that he is of noble birth.
20:39
Speaker 1: Give him the bow, and let us see whether he
20:41
Speaker 1: can string it or no, I say, and it shall
20:45
Speaker 1: surely be that if Apollo vouchsafes him the glory of
20:50
Speaker 1: stringing it, I will give him a cloak and a
20:53
Speaker 1: shirt of good wear, with the javelin to keep off
20:56
Speaker 1: dogs and robbers, and a sharp sword. I will also
21:00
Speaker 1: give him sandals, and will see him send safely wherever
21:04
Speaker 1: he wants to go. Then, Telemachus said mother, I am
21:09
Speaker 1: the only man, either in Ithaca or in the islands
21:13
Speaker 1: that are over against Elis, who has the right to
21:16
Speaker 1: let any one have the bow or to refuse it.
21:20
Speaker 1: No one shall force me one way or the other,
21:23
Speaker 1: not even though I choose to make the stranger a
21:26
Speaker 1: present of the bow outright and let him take it
21:29
Speaker 1: away with him. Go then within the house, and busy
21:32
Speaker 1: yourself with your daily duties, your loom, your distaff, and
21:36
Speaker 1: the ordering of your servants. This bow is a man's matter,
21:40
Speaker 1: and mine above all others, for it is I who
21:43
Speaker 1: am master. Here. She went, wandering back into the house
21:48
Speaker 1: and laid her sons, saying in her heart. Then going
21:52
Speaker 1: upstairs with her handmaids into her room, she mourned her
21:56
Speaker 1: dear husband till Minerva sent sweet sleep over her. The
22:01
Speaker 1: Swinehertz now took up the bow and was for taking
22:05
Speaker 1: it to Ulysses. But the suitors clamored at him from
22:08
Speaker 1: all parts of the cloisters, and one of them said,
22:12
Speaker 1: you idiot, where are you taking the bow to? Are
22:15
Speaker 1: you out of your wits? If Apollo and the other
22:18
Speaker 1: gods will grant our prayer, your own boarhounds shall get
22:24
Speaker 1: you into some quiet little place and worry you to death.
22:28
Speaker 1: Eumaeus was frightened at the outcry they all raised, so
22:32
Speaker 1: he put the bow down then and there. But Telemachus
22:37
Speaker 1: shouted out at him from the other side of the
22:39
Speaker 1: cloisters and threatened him, saying, father, Eumaeus, bring the bow
22:44
Speaker 1: on in spite of them, or young as I am,
22:47
Speaker 1: I will pelt you with stones back to the country.
22:50
Speaker 1: For I am the better man of the two. I
22:53
Speaker 1: wish I was as much stronger than all the other
22:56
Speaker 1: suitors in a house as I am than you. I
23:00
Speaker 1: would soon send some of them off, sick and sorry
23:03
Speaker 1: for their mean mischief. Thus did he speak, and they
23:08
Speaker 1: all of them laughed heartily, which put them in a
23:11
Speaker 1: better humor with Telemachus. So Eumaeus brought the bow on
23:15
Speaker 1: and placed it in the hands of Ulysses. When he
23:18
Speaker 1: had done this, he called Eurycleia apart, and said to her, Eurycleia,
23:25
Speaker 1: Telemachus says, you are to close the doors of the
23:28
Speaker 1: women's apartments. If they hear any groaning or uproar as
23:33
Speaker 1: of men fighting about the house, they are not to
23:35
Speaker 1: come out, but are to keep quiet and stay where
23:38
Speaker 1: they are at their work. Euryclea did as she was
23:42
Speaker 1: told and closed the doors of the women's apartments. Meanwhile,
23:47
Speaker 1: Philoetius slipped quietly on and made fast the gates of
23:50
Speaker 1: the outer court. There was a ship's cable of biblus
23:54
Speaker 1: fiber lying in the gatehouse, so he made the gates
23:57
Speaker 1: fast with it, and then came in again, resuming the
24:01
Speaker 1: seat that he had left, and keeping an eye on Ulysses,
24:05
Speaker 1: who had now got the bow in his hands and
24:07
Speaker 1: was turning it every way about and proving it all
24:11
Speaker 1: over to see whether the worms had been eating into
24:14
Speaker 1: its two horns during his absence. Then would one turn
24:18
Speaker 1: towards his neighbor, saying, this is some tricky old bow fancier.
24:25
Speaker 1: Either he has got one leged at home, or he
24:28
Speaker 1: wants to make one in such workman light style. Does
24:31
Speaker 1: the old vagabond handle it? Another said, I hope he
24:37
Speaker 1: may be no more successful in other things than he
24:40
Speaker 1: is likely to be in stringing this bow. But Ulysses,
24:45
Speaker 1: when he had taken it up and examined it all over,
24:48
Speaker 1: strung it as easily as a skilled bart strings a
24:52
Speaker 1: new peg of his lyre and makes the twisted gut
24:55
Speaker 1: fast at both ends. Then he took it in his
24:58
Speaker 1: right hand to prove the string, and it sang sweetly
25:02
Speaker 1: under his touch, like the twittering of a swallow. The
25:06
Speaker 1: suitors were dismayed and turned color as they heard it
25:10
Speaker 1: at that moment. Moreover, Jove thundered loudly as a sign,
25:15
Speaker 1: and the heart of Ulysses rejoiced as he heard the
25:18
Speaker 1: omen that the son of scheming Saturn had sent him.
25:23
Speaker 1: He took an arrow that was lying upon the table,
25:26
Speaker 1: for those which the Achaeans were so shortly about to
25:29
Speaker 1: taste were all inside the quiver. He laid it on
25:33
Speaker 1: the centerpiece of the bow, and drew the notch of
25:36
Speaker 1: the arrow and a string toward him, still seated on
25:40
Speaker 1: his seat. When he had taken aim, he let fly,
25:44
Speaker 1: and his arrow pierced every one of the handle holes
25:48
Speaker 1: of the axes, from the first onwards. Till it had
25:51
Speaker 1: gone right through them and into the outer courtyard. Then
25:55
Speaker 1: he said to Telemachus, your guest has not disgraced you. Lemachus,
26:01
Speaker 1: I did not miss what I aimed at, and I
26:03
Speaker 1: was not long in stringing my bow. I am still strong,
26:07
Speaker 1: and not as the suitors twit me with being. Now, however,
26:12
Speaker 1: it is time for the Achaeans to prepare supper while
26:15
Speaker 1: there is still daylight, and then otherwise to disport themselves
26:20
Speaker 1: with song and dance, which are the crowning ornaments of
26:23
Speaker 1: a banquet. As he spoke, he made a sign with
26:27
Speaker 1: his eyebrows, and Telemachus girded on his sword, grasped his spear,
26:31
Speaker 1: and stood on beside his father's seat. End of Book
26:37
Speaker 1: twenty one