The Odyssey
Book XXI
Minerva now put it in Penelope′s mind to make the suitors try their skill
with the bow and with the iron axes, in contest among themselves, as a
means of bringing about their destruction. She went upstairs and got the
store room key, which was made of bronze and had a handle of ivory; she
then went with her maidens into the store room at the end of the house,
where her husband′s treasures of gold, bronze, and wrought iron were kept,
and where was also his bow, and the quiver full of deadly arrows that had
been given him by a friend whom he had met in Lacedaemon- Iphitus the son
of Eurytus. The two fell in with one another in Messene at the house of
Ortilochus, where Ulysses was staying in order to recover a debt that was
owing from the whole people; for the Messenians had carried off three hundred
sheep from Ithaca, and had sailed away with them and with their shepherds.
In quest of these Ulysses took a long journey while still quite young,
for his father and the other chieftains sent him on a mission to recover
them. Iphitus had gone there also to try and get back twelve brood mares
that he had lost, and the mule foals that were running with them. These
mares were the death of him in the end, for when he went to the house of
Jove′s son, mighty Hercules, who performed such prodigies of valour, Hercules
to his shame killed him, though he was his guest, for he feared not heaven′s
vengeance, nor yet respected his own table which he had set before Iphitus,
but killed him in spite of everything, and kept the mares himself. It was
when claiming these that Iphitus met Ulysses, and gave him the bow which
mighty Eurytus had been used to carry, and which on his death had been
left by him to his son. Ulysses gave him in return a sword and a spear,
and this was the beginning of a fast friendship, although they never visited
at one another′s houses, for Jove′s son Hercules killed Iphitus ere they
could do so. This bow, then, given him by Iphitus, had not been taken with
him by Ulysses when he sailed for Troy; he had used it so long as he had
been at home, but had left it behind as having been a keepsake from a valued
friend.
Penelope presently reached the oak threshold of the store room;
the carpenter had planed this duly, and had drawn a line on it so as to
get it quite straight; he had then set the door posts into it and hung
the doors. She loosed the strap from the handle of the door, put in the
key, and drove it straight home to shoot back the bolts that held the doors;
these flew open with a noise like a bull bellowing in a meadow, and Penelope
stepped upon the raised platform, where the chests stood in which the fair
linen and clothes were laid by along with fragrant herbs: reaching thence,
she took down the bow with its bow case from the peg on which it hung.
She sat down with it on her knees, weeping bitterly as she took the bow
out of its case, and when her tears had relieved her, she went to the cloister
where the suitors were, carrying the bow and the quiver, with the many
deadly arrows that were inside it. Along with her came her maidens, bearing
a chest that contained much iron and bronze which her husband had won as
prizes. When she reached the suitors, she stood by one of the bearing-posts
supporting the roof of the cloister, holding a veil before her face, and
with a maid on either side of her. Then she said:
"Listen to me you suitors, who persist in abusing the hospitality
of this house because its owner has been long absent, and without other
pretext than that you want to marry me; this, then, being the prize that
you are contending for, I will bring out the mighty bow of Ulysses, and
whomsoever of you shall string it most easily and send his arrow through
each one of twelve axes, him will I follow and quit this house of my lawful
husband, so goodly, and so abounding in wealth. But even so I doubt not
that I shall remember it in my dreams."
As she spoke, she told Eumaeus to set the bow and the pieces of
iron before the suitors, and Eumaeus wept as he took them to do as she
had bidden him. Hard by, the stockman wept also when he saw his master′s
bow, but Antinous scolded them. "You country louts," said he, "silly simpletons;
why should you add to the sorrows of your mistress by crying in this way?
She has enough to grieve her in the loss of her husband; sit still, therefore,
and eat your dinners in silence, or go outside if you want to cry, and
leave the bow behind you. We suitors shall have to contend for it with
might and main, for we shall find it no light matter to string such a bow
as this is. There is not a man of us all who is such another as Ulysses;
for I have seen him and remember him, though I was then only a
child."
This was what he said, but all the time he was expecting to be
able to string the bow and shoot through the iron, whereas in fact he was
to be the first that should taste of the arrows from the hands of Ulysses,
whom he was dishonouring in his own house- egging the others on to do so
also.
Then Telemachus spoke. "Great heavens!" he exclaimed, "Jove must
have robbed me of my senses. Here is my dear and excellent mother saying
she will quit this house and marry again, yet I am laughing and enjoying
myself as though there were nothing happening. But, suitors, as the contest
has been agreed upon, let it go forward. It is for a woman whose peer is
not to be found in Pylos, Argos, or Mycene, nor yet in Ithaca nor on the
mainland. You know this as well as I do; what need have I to speak in praise
of my mother? Come on, then, make no excuses for delay, but let us see
whether you can string the bow or no. I too will make trial of it, for
if I can string it and shoot through the iron, I shall not suffer my mother
to quit this house with a stranger, not if I can win the prizes which my
father won before me."
As he spoke he sprang from his seat, threw his crimson cloak from
him, and took his sword from his shoulder. First he set the axes in a row,
in a long groove which he had dug for them, and had Wade straight by line.
Then he stamped the earth tight round them, and everyone was surprised
when they saw him set up so orderly, though he had never seen anything
of the kind before. This done, he went on to the pavement to make trial
of the bow; thrice did he tug at it, trying with all his might to draw
the string, and thrice he had to leave off, though he had hoped to string
the bow and shoot through the iron. He was trying for the fourth time,
and would have strung it had not Ulysses made a sign to check him in spite
of all his eagerness. So he said:
"Alas! I shall either be always feeble and of no prowess, or I
am too young, and have not yet reached my full strength so as to be able
to hold my own if any one attacks me. You others, therefore, who are stronger
than I, make trial of the bow and get this contest settled."
On this he put the bow down, letting it lean against the door [that
led into the house] with the arrow standing against the top of the bow.
Then he sat down on the seat from which he had risen, and Antinous
said:
"Come on each of you in his turn, going towards the right from
the place at which the. cupbearer begins when he is handing round the
wine."
The rest agreed, and Leiodes son of OEnops was the first to rise.
He was sacrificial priest to the suitors, and sat in the corner near the
mixing-bowl. He was the only man who hated their evil deeds and was indignant
with the others. He was now the first to take the bow and arrow, so he
went on to the pavement to make his trial, but he could not string the
bow, for his hands were weak and unused to hard work, they therefore soon
grew tired, and he said to the suitors, "My friends, I cannot string it;
let another have it; this bow shall take the life and soul out of many
a chief among us, for it is better to die than to live after having missed
the prize that we have so long striven for, and which has brought us so
long together. Some one of us is even now hoping and praying that he may
marry Penelope, but when he has seen this bow and tried it, let him woo
and make bridal offerings to some other woman, and let Penelope marry whoever
makes her the best offer and whose lot it is to win
her."
On this he put the bow down, letting it lean against the door,
with the arrow standing against the tip of the bow. Then he took his seat
again on the seat from which he had risen; and Antinous rebuked him
saying:
"Leiodes, what are you talking about? Your words are monstrous
and intolerable; it makes me angry to listen to you. Shall, then, this
bow take the life of many a chief among us, merely because you cannot bend
it yourself? True, you were not born to be an archer, but there are others
who will soon string it."
Then he said to Melanthius the goatherd, "Look sharp, light a fire
in the court, and set a seat hard by with a sheep skin on it; bring us
also a large ball of lard, from what they have in the house. Let us warm
the bow and grease it we will then make trial of it again, and bring the
contest to an end."
Melanthius lit the fire, and set a seat covered with sheep skins
beside it. He also brought a great ball of lard from what they had in the
house, and the suitors warmed the bow and again made trial of it, but they
were none of them nearly strong enough to string it. Nevertheless there
still remained Antinous and Eurymachus, who were the ringleaders among
the suitors and much the foremost among them all.
Then the swineherd and the stockman left the cloisters together,
and Ulysses followed them. When they had got outside the gates and the
outer yard, Ulysses said to them quietly:
"Stockman, and you swineherd, I have something in my mind which
I am in doubt whether to say or no; but I think I will say it. What manner
of men would you be to stand by Ulysses, if some god should bring him back
here all of a sudden? Say which you are disposed to do- to side with the
suitors, or with Ulysses?"
"Father Jove," answered the stockman, "would indeed that you might
so ordain it. If some god were but to bring Ulysses back, you should see
with what might and main I would fight for him."
In like words Eumaeus prayed to all the gods that Ulysses might
return; when, therefore, he saw for certain what mind they were of, Ulysses
said, "It is I, Ulysses, who am here. I have suffered much, but at last,
in the twentieth year, I am come back to my own country. I find that you
two alone of all my servants are glad that I should do so, for I have not
heard any of the others praying for my return. To you two, therefore, will
I unfold the truth as it shall be. If heaven shall deliver the suitors
into my hands, I will find wives for both of you, will give you house and
holding close to my own, and you shall be to me as though you were brothers
and friends of Telemachus. I will now give you convincing proofs that you
may know me and be assured. See, here is the scar from the boar′s tooth
that ripped me when I was out hunting on Mount Parnassus with the sons
of Autolycus."
As he spoke he drew his rags aside from the great scar, and when
they had examined it thoroughly, they both of them wept about Ulysses,
threw their arms round him and kissed his head and shoulders, while Ulysses
kissed their hands and faces in return. The sun would have gone down upon
their mourning if Ulysses had not checked them and said:
"Cease your weeping, lest some one should come outside and see
us, and tell those who a are within. When you go in, do so separately,
not both together; I will go first, and do you follow afterwards; Let this
moreover be the token between us; the suitors will all of them try to prevent
me from getting hold of the bow and quiver; do you, therefore, Eumaeus,
place it in my hands when you are carrying it about, and tell the women
to close the doors of their apartment. If they hear any groaning or uproar
as of men fighting about the house, they must not come out; they must keep
quiet, and stay where they are at their work. And I charge you, Philoetius,
to make fast the doors of the outer court, and to bind them securely at
once."
When he had thus spoken, he went back to the house and took the
seat that he had left. Presently, his two servants followed him
inside.
At this moment the bow was in the hands of Eurymachus, who was
warming it by the fire, but even so he could not string it, and he was
greatly grieved. He heaved a deep sigh and said, "I grieve for myself and
for us all; I grieve that I shall have to forgo the marriage, but I do
not care nearly so much about this, for there are plenty of other women
in Ithaca and elsewhere; what I feel most is the fact of our being so inferior
to Ulysses in strength that we cannot string his bow. This will disgrace
us in the eyes of those who are yet unborn."
"It shall not be so, Eurymachus," said Antinous, "and you know
it yourself. To-day is the feast of Apollo throughout all the land; who
can string a bow on such a day as this? Put it on one side- as for the
axes they can stay where they are, for no one is likely to come to the
house and take them away: let the cupbearer go round with his cups, that
we may make our drink-offerings and drop this matter of the bow; we will
tell Melanthius to bring us in some goats to-morrow- the best he has; we
can then offer thigh bones to Apollo the mighty archer, and again make
trial of the bow, so as to bring the contest to an end."
The rest approved his words, and thereon men servants poured water
over the hands of the guests, while pages filled the mixing-bowls with
wine and water and handed it round after giving every man his drink-offering.
Then, when they had made their offerings and had drunk each as much as
he desired, Ulysses craftily said:
"Suitors of the illustrious queen, listen that I may speak even
as I am minded. I appeal more especially to Eurymachus, and to Antinous
who has just spoken with so much reason. Cease shooting for the present
and leave the matter to the gods, but in the morning let heaven give victory
to whom it will. For the moment, however, give me the bow that I may prove
the power of my hands among you all, and see whether I still have as much
strength as I used to have, or whether travel and neglect have made an
end of it."
This made them all very angry, for they feared he might string
the bow; Antinous therefore rebuked him fiercely saying, "Wretched creature,
you have not so much as a grain of sense in your whole body; you ought
to think yourself lucky in being allowed to dine unharmed among your betters,
without having any smaller portion served you than we others have had,
and in being allowed to hear our conversation. No other beggar or stranger
has been allowed to hear what we say among ourselves; the wine must have
been doing you a mischief, as it does with all those drink immoderately.
It was wine that inflamed the Centaur Eurytion when he was staying with
Peirithous among the Lapithae. When the wine had got into his head he went
mad and did ill deeds about the house of Peirithous; this angered the heroes
who were there assembled, so they rushed at him and cut off his ears and
nostrils; then they dragged him through the doorway out of the house, so
he went away crazed, and bore the burden of his crime, bereft of understanding.
Henceforth, therefore, there was war between mankind and the centaurs,
but he brought it upon himself through his own drunkenness. In like manner
I can tell you that it will go hardly with you if you string the bow: you
will find no mercy from any one here, for we shall at once ship you off
to king Echetus, who kills every one that comes near him: you will never
get away alive, so drink and keep quiet without getting into a quarrel
with men younger than yourself."
Penelope then spoke to him. "Antinous," said she, "it is not right
that you should ill-treat any guest of Telemachus who comes to this house.
If the stranger should prove strong enough to string the mighty bow of
Ulysses, can you suppose that he would take me home with him and make me
his wife? Even the man himself can have no such idea in his mind: none
of you need let that disturb his feasting; it would be out of all
reason."
"Queen Penelope," answered Eurymachus, "we do not suppose that
this man will take you away with him; it is impossible; but we are afraid
lest some of the baser sort, men or women among the Achaeans, should go
gossiping about and say, ′These suitors are a feeble folk; they are paying
court to the wife of a brave man whose bow not one of them was able to
string, and yet a beggarly tramp who came to the house strung it at once
and sent an arrow through the iron.′ This is what will be said, and it
will be a scandal against us."
"Eurymachus," Penelope answered, "people who persist in eating
up the estate of a great chieftain and dishonouring his house must not
expect others to think well of them. Why then should you mind if men talk
as you think they will? This stranger is strong and well-built, he says
moreover that he is of noble birth. Give him the bow, and let us see whether
he can string it or no. I say- and it shall surely be- that if Apollo vouchsafes
him the glory of stringing it, I will give him a cloak and shirt of good
wear, with a javelin to keep off dogs and robbers, and a sharp sword. I
will also give him sandals, and will see him sent safely whereever he wants
to go."
Then Telemachus said, "Mother, I am the only man either in Ithaca
or in the islands that are over against Elis who has the right to let any
one have the bow or to refuse it. No one shall force me one way or the
other, not even though I choose to make the stranger a present of the bow
outright, and let him take it away with him. Go, then, within the house
and busy yourself with your daily duties, your loom, your distaff, and
the ordering of your servants. This bow is a man′s matter, and mine above
all others, for it is I who am master here."
She went wondering back into the house, and laid her son′s saying
in her heart. Then going upstairs with her handmaids into her room, she
mourned her dear husband till Minerva sent sweet sleep over her
eyelids.
The swineherd now took up the bow and was for taking it to Ulysses,
but the suitors clamoured at him from all parts of the cloisters, and one
of them said, "You idiot, where are you taking the bow to? Are you out
of your wits? If Apollo and the other gods will grant our prayer, your
own boarhounds shall get you into some quiet little place, and worry you
to death."
Eumaeus was frightened at the outcry they all raised, so he put
the bow down then and there, but Telemachus shouted out at him from the
other side of the cloisters, and threatened him saying, "Father Eumaeus,
bring the bow on in spite of them, or young as I am I will pelt you with
stones back to the country, for I am the better man of the two. I wish
I was as much stronger than all the other suitors in the house as I am
than you, I would soon send some of them off sick and sorry, for they mean
mischief."
Thus did he speak, and they all of them laughed heartily, which
put them in a better humour with Telemachus; so Eumaeus brought the bow
on and placed it in the hands of Ulysses. When he had done this, he called
Euryclea apart and said to her, "Euryclea, Telemachus says you are to close
the doors of the women′s apartments. If they hear any groaning or uproar
as of men fighting about the house, they are not to come out, but are to
keep quiet and stay where they are at their work."
Euryclea did as she was told and closed the doors of the women′s
apartments.
Meanwhile Philoetius slipped quietly out and made fast the gates
of the outer court. There was a ship′s cable of byblus fibre lying in the
gatehouse, so he made the gates fast with it and then came in again, resuming
the seat that he had left, and keeping an eye on Ulysses, who had now got
the bow in his hands, and was turning it every way about, and proving it
all over to see whether the worms had been eating into its two horns during
his absence. Then would one turn towards his neighbour saying, "This is
some tricky old bow-fancier; either he has got one like it at home, or
he wants to make one, in such workmanlike style does the old vagabond handle
it."
Another said, "I hope he may be no more successful in other things
than he is likely to be in stringing this bow."
But Ulysses, when he had taken it up and examined it all over,
strung it as easily as a skilled bard strings a new peg of his lyre and
makes the twisted gut fast at both ends. Then he took it in his right hand
to prove the string, and it sang sweetly under his touch like the twittering
of a swallow. The suitors were dismayed, and turned colour as they heard
it; at that moment, moreover, Jove thundered loudly as a sign, and the
heart of Ulysses rejoiced as he heard the omen that the son of scheming
Saturn had sent him.
He took an arrow that was lying upon the table- for those which
the Achaeans were so shortly about to taste were all inside the quiver-
he laid it on the centre-piece of the bow, and drew the notch of the arrow
and the string toward him, still seated on his seat. When he had taken
aim he let fly, and his arrow pierced every one of the handle-holes of
the axes from the first onwards till it had gone right through them, and
into the outer courtyard. Then he said to Telemachus:
"Your guest has not disgraced you, Telemachus. I did not miss what
I aimed at, and I was not long in stringing my bow. I am still strong,
and not as the suitors twit me with being. Now, however, it is time for
the Achaeans to prepare supper while there is still daylight, and then
otherwise to disport themselves with song and dance which are the crowning
ornaments of a banquet."
As he spoke he made a sign with his eyebrows, and Telemachus girded
on his sword, grasped his spear, and stood armed beside his father′s
seat.
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