《奥德修记》-39

earrings fashioned into three brilliant pendants which glistenedmost beautifully; while king Pisander son of Polyctor gave her anecklace of the rarest workmanship, and every one else brought her abeautiful present of some kind.Then the queen went back to her room upstairs, and her maids broughtthe presents after her. Meanwhile the suitors took to singing anddancing, and stayed till evening came. They danced and sang till itgrew dark; they then brought in three braziers to give light, andpiled them up with chopped firewood very and dry, and they lit torchesfrom them, which the maids held up turn and turn about. Then Ulyssessaid:"Maids, servants of Ulysses who has so long been absent, go to thequeen inside the house; sit with her and amuse her, or spin, andpick wool. I will hold the light for all these people. They may staytill morning, but shall not beat me, for I can stand a great deal."The maids looked at one another and laughed, while pretty Melanthobegan to gibe at him contemptuously. She was daughter to Dolius, buthad been brought up by Penelope, who used to give her toys to playwith, and looked after her when she was a child; but in spite of allthis she showed no consideration for the sorrows of her mistress,and used to misconduct herself with Eurymachus, with whom she was inlove."Poor wretch," said she, "are you gone clean out of your mind? Goand sleep in some smithy, or place of public gossips, instead ofchattering here. Are you not ashamed of opening your mouth before yourbetters- so many of them too? Has the wine been getting into yourhead, or do you always babble in this way? You seem to have lostyour wits because you beat the tramp Irus; take care that a better manthan he does not come and cudgel you about the head till he pack youbleeding out of the house.""Vixen," replied Ulysses, scowling at her, "I will go and tellTelemachus what you have been saying, and he will have you torn limbfrom limb."With these words he scared the women, and they went off into thebody of the house. They trembled all aver, for they thought he woulddo as he said. But Ulysses took his stand near the burning braziers,holding up torches and looking at the people- brooding the while onthings that should surely come to pass.But Minerva would not let the suitors for one moment cease theirinsolence, for she wanted Ulysses to become even more bitter againstthem; she therefore set Eurymachus son of Polybus on to gibe at him,which made the others laugh. "Listen to me," said he, "you suitorsof Queen Penelope, that I may speak even as I am minded. It is not fornothing that this man has come to the house of Ulysses; I believethe light has not been coming from the torches, but from his own head-for his hair is all gone, every bit of it."Then turning to Ulysses he said, "Stranger, will you work as aservant, if I send you to the wolds and see that you are well paid?Can you build a stone fence, or plant trees? I will have you fed allthe year round, and will find you in shoes and clothing. Will yougo, then? Not you; for you have got into bad ways, and do not wantto work; you had rather fill your belly by going round the countrybegging.""Eurymachus," answered Ulysses, "if you and I were to work oneagainst the other in early summer when the days are at theirlongest- give me a good scythe, and take another yourself, and letus see which will fast the longer or mow the stronger, from dawntill dark when the mowing grass is about. Or if you will ploughagainst me, let us each take a yoke of tawny oxen, well-mated and ofgreat strength and endurance: turn me into a four acre field, andsee whether you or I can drive the straighter furrow. If, again, warwere to break out this day, give me a shield, a couple of spears and ahelmet fitting well upon my temples- you would find me foremost in thefray, and would cease your gibes about my belly. You are insolentand cruel, and think yourself a great man because you live in a littleworld, ind that a bad one. If Ulysses comes to his own again, thedoors of his house are wide, but you will find them narrow when youtry to fly through them."Eurymachus was furious at all this. He scowled at him and cried,"You wretch, I will soon pay you out for daring to say such thingsto me, and in public too. Has the wine been getting into your heador do you always babble in this way? You seem to have lost your witsbecause you beat the tramp Irus. With this he caught hold of afootstool, but Ulysses sought protection at the knees of Amphinomus ofDulichium, for he was afraid. The stool hit the cupbearer on his righthand and knocked him down: the man fell with a cry flat on his back,and his wine-jug fell ringing to the ground. The suitors in thecovered cloister were now in an uproar, and one would turn towards hisneighbour, saying, "I wish the stranger had gone somewhere else, badluck to hide, for all the trouble he gives us. We cannot permit suchdisturbance about a beggar; if such ill counsels are to prevail weshall have no more pleasure at our banquet."On this Telemachus came forward and said, "Sirs, are you mad? Canyou not carry your meat and your liquor decently? Some evil spirit haspossessed you. I do not wish to drive any of you away, but you havehad your suppers, and the sooner you all go home to bed the better."The suitors bit their lips and marvelled at the boldness of hisspeech; but Amphinomus the son of Nisus, who was son to Aretias, said,"Do not let us take offence; it is reasonable, so let us make noanswer. Neither let us do violence to the stranger nor to any ofUlysses' servants. Let the cupbearer go round with thedrink-offerings, that we may make them and go home to our rest. As forthe stranger, let us leave Telemachus to deal with him, for it is tohis house that he has come."Thus did he speak, and his saying pleased them well, so Mulius ofDulichium, servant to Amphinomus, mixed them a bowl of wine andwater and handed it round to each of them man by man, whereon theymade their drink-offerings to the blessed gods: Then, when they hadmade their drink-offerings and had drunk each one as he was minded,they took their several ways each of them to his own abode.BOOK XIX.ULYSSES was left in the cloister, pondering on the means wherebywith Minerva's help he might be able to kill the suitors. Presently hesaid to Telemachus, "Telemachus, we must get the armour together andtake it down inside. Make some excuse when the suitors ask you why youhave removed it. Say that you have taken it to be out of the way ofthe smoke, inasmuch as it is no longer what it was when Ulysses wentaway, but has become soiled and begrimed with soot. Add to this moreparticularly that you are afraid Jove may set them on to quarrelover their wine, and that they may do each other some harm which maydisgrace both banquet and wooing, for the sight of arms sometimestempts people to use them."Telemachus approved of what his father had said, so he callednurse Euryclea and said, "Nurse, shut the women up in their room,while I take the armour that my father left behind him down into thestore room. No one looks after it now my father is gone, and it hasgot all smirched with soot during my own boyhood. I want to take itdown where the smoke cannot reach it.""I wish, child," answered Euryclea, "that you would take themanagement of the house into your own hands altogether, and look afterall the property yourself. But who is to go with you and light youto the store room? The maids would have so, but you would not letthem."The stranger," said Telemachus, "shall show me a light; when peopleeat my bread they must earn it, no matter where they come from."Euryclea did as she was told, and bolted the women inside theirroom. Then Ulysses and his son made all haste to take the helmets,shields, and spears inside; and Minerva went before them with a goldlamp in her hand that shed a soft and brilliant radiance, whereonTelemachus said, "Father, my eyes behold a great marvel: the walls,with the rafters, crossbeams, and the supports on which they restare all aglow as with a flaming fire. Surely there is some god herewho has come down from heaven.""Hush," answered Ulysses, "hold your peace and ask no questions, forthis is the manner of the gods. Get you to your bed, and leave me hereto talk with your mother and the maids. Your mother in her griefwill ask me all sorts of questions."On this Telemachus went by torch-light to the other side of theinner court, to the room in which he always slept. There he lay in hisbed till morning, while Ulysses was left in the cloister ponderingon the means whereby with Minerva's help he might be able to killthe suitors.Then Penelope came down from her room looking like Venus or Diana,and they set her a seat inlaid with scrolls of silver and ivory nearthe fire in her accustomed place. It had been made by Icmalius and hada footstool all in one piece with the seat itself; and it wascovered with a thick fleece: on this she now sat, and the maids camefrom the women's room to join her. They set about removing thetables at which the wicked suitors had been dining, and took awaythe bread that was left, with the cups from which they had drunk. Theyemptied the embers out of the braziers, and heaped much wood upon themto give both light and heat; but Melantho began to rail at Ulysses asecond time and said, "Stranger, do you mean to plague us by hangingabout the house all night and spying upon the women? Be off, youwretch, outside, and eat your supper there, or you shall be driven outwith a firebrand."Ulysses scowled at her and answered, "My good woman, why shouldyou be so angry with me? Is it because I am not clean, and myclothes are all in rags, and because I am obliged to go beggingabout after the manner of tramps and beggars generall? I too was arich man once, and had a fine house of my own; in those days I gave tomany a tramp such as I now am, no matter who he might be nor what hewanted. I had any number of servants, and all the other things whichpeople have who live well and are accounted wealthy, but it pleasedJove to take all away from me; therefore, woman, beware lest you toocome to lose that pride and place in which you now wanton above yourfellows; have a care lest you get out of favour with your mistress,and lest Ulysses should come home, for there is still a chance that hemay do so. Moreover, though he be dead as you think he is, yet byApollo's will he has left a son behind him, Telemachus, who willnote anything done amiss by the maids in the house, for he is now nolonger in his boyhood."Penelope heard what he was saying and scolded the maid, "Impudentbaggage, said she, "I see how abominably you are behaving, and youshall smart for it. You knew perfectly well, for I told you myself,that I was going to see the stranger and ask him about my husband, forwhose sake I am in such continual sorrow."Then she said to her head waiting woman Eurynome, "Bring a seat witha fleece upon it, for the stranger to sit upon while he tells hisstory, and listens to what I have to say. I wish to ask him somequestions."Eurynome brought the seat at once and set a fleece upon it, and assoon as Ulysses had sat down Penelope began by saying, "Stranger, Ishall first ask you who and whence are you? Tell me of your town andparents.""Madam;" answered Ulysses, "who on the face of the whole earth candare to chide with you? Your fame reaches the firmament of heavenitself; you are like some blameless king, who upholds righteousness,as the monarch over a great and valiant nation: the earth yields its