Of hospitality, and he in turn

May give it to the keeper of the bath,

Or any other of the menial train

That serve the household of Ulysses here."

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So speaking, with his strong right hand he flung

A bullock's foot, which from a canister

Hard by he plucked. Ulysses gently bowed

His head, and shunned the blow, and grimly smiled. The missile struck the solid wall, and then

Telemachus rebuked the suitor thus:

Ctesippus, well hast thou escaped with life, Not having hit the stranger, who himself

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Shrank from the blow; else had I pinned thee

through

With my sharp spear.

Instead of wedding feast,

Thy father would have celebrated here

Thy funeral rites. Let no man in these halls
Bear himself insolently in my sight

Hereafter, for my reason now is ripe

To know the right from wrong. I was of late

A child, and now it is enough to bear

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That ye should slay our sheep, and drink our wine, And eat our bread, - for what can one man do Against so many? Cease this petty war

Of wrong and hatred; but if ye desire

To take my life, 't is well; 't were better so.
And rather would I die by violence
Than live to see these most unmanly deeds,
Guests driven away, and women-servants hauled

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Through these fair rooms by brutal wassailers."
He ended, and the assembly all sat mute
Till Agelaüs spake, Damastor's son :-

"O friends! let no man here with carping words Gainsay what is so rightly said, nor yet

Insult the stranger more, nor one of those

Who serve the household of the godlike chief
Ulysses in his palace. I would say

This word in kindness to Telemachus

And to his mother; may it please them both! While yet the hope was cherished in your hearts That wise Ulysses would return, no blame

Could fasten on the queen that she remained

Unwedded, and resisted those who came

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To woo her in the palace.

Better so,

Had he come home again. Yet now, 't is clear,
He comes no more. Go then, Telemachus,

And, sitting by thy mother, bid her wed

The noblest of her wooers, and the one

Who brings the richest gifts; and thou possess
Thy father's wealth in peace, and eat and drink
At will, while she shall find another home."
And thus discreet Telemachus replied:
"Nay, Agelaüs, for I swear by Jove,
And by my father's sufferings, who has died,
Or yet is wandering, far from Ithaca,
That I do nothing to delay the choice

And marriage of my mother. I consent
That she become the wife of whom she list,

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And him who offers most. But I should feel
Great shame to thrust her forth against her will,
And with unfilial speeches; God forbid!"

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He ended here, and Pallas, as he spake, To inextinguishable laughter moved The suitors. There they sat with wandering minds; They swallowed morsels foul with blood; their eyes Were filled with tears; their hearts foreboded woe. Then spake the godlike Theoclymenus :

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Unhappy men! what may this evil be

That overtakes you? Every brow and face

And each one's lower limbs are wrapped in night,
And moans arise, and tears are on your cheeks.
The walls and all the graceful cornices
Between the pillars are bedropped with blood,
The portico is full, these halls are full

Of shadows, hastening down to Erebus

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Amid the gloom. The sun is blotted out
From heaven, and fearful darkness covers all."
He spake, and loud they laughed. Eurymachus,
The son of Polybus, in answer said :—

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"The stranger prattles idly; he is come
From some far land. Conduct him through the door,
Young men, and send him to the market-place,
Since all things here are darkened to his eyes."

Then spake the godlike Theoclymenus :
"Eurymachus, from thee I ask no guide,
For I have eyes and ears, and two good feet,
And in my breast a mind as sound as they,

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And by the aid of these I mean to make
My way without; for clearly I perceive

A coming evil, which no suitor here

Will yet escape,

-

no one who, in these halls

Of the great chief, Ulysses, treats with scorn

:

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His fellow-man, and broods o'er guilty plans."
He spake, and, hastening from that noble pile, 455
Came to Piræus, in whose house he found
A welcome. All the suitors, as he went,
Looked at each other, and, the more to vex
Telemachus, kept laughing at his guests.
And thus an insolent youth among them said
"No man had ever a worse set of guests
Than thou, Telemachus. For what a wretch
That wandering beggar is, who always wants
His bread and wine, and is unfit for work,
And has no strength; in truth, a useless load
Upon the earth he treads. The other guest
Rises to play the prophet. If thou take
My counsel, which I give thee for thy good,
Let them at once be put on board a bark
Of many oars, and we will send them hence

To the Sicilians; they will bring a price."

So talked the suitors, but he heeded not Their words, and, looking toward his father, held His peace, expecting when he would lay hands Upon that insolent crew. Penelope,

Sage daughter of Icarius, took her place

Right opposite upon a sumptuous seat,

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And heard the words of every man who spake
Within the hall. They held that midday feast
With laughter, - a luxurious feast it was,
And mirthful; many victims had been slain
To furnish forth the tables; but no feast
Could be more bitter than the later one,
To which the goddess and that valiant man
Would bid the guilty crew of plotters soon.

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PALLAS

BOOK XXI.

ALLAS, the goddess of the azure eyes,
Woke in the mind of sage Penelope,
The daughter of Icarius, this design,-
To put into the suitors' hands the bow
And gray steel rings, and to propose a game
That in the palace was to usher in

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The slaughter. So she climbed the lofty stair,
Up from the hall, and took in her plump hand
The fair carved key; its wards were wrought of brass,
And ivory was the handle. Soon she reached
The furthest room with her attendant maids.
There lay the treasures of Ulysses, - brass
And gold, and steel divinely wrought. There lay
His bow unstrung; there lay his quiver charged
With arrows; many were the deadly shafts
It held, a stranger's gift, who met him once