Book XVIII

1And there came a public beggar, who used to beg¹

through the town of Ithaca, notorious for his ravening belly,

eating and drinking without end; no strength was in him

and no force, but in bulk he was very big to look at.

5Arnaeus was his name — his honored mother gave it him

at birth; but Irus all the young men called him,

because he would run messages whenever anyone bade him.

He came now to drive Odysseus from his own house,²

and abusing him he spoke winged words:

10"Off the porch, old man — or be dragged off quick by the foot.

Don't you see how they're all winking at me,

telling me to drag you? I am ashamed to, even so.

Up, then — before our quarrel comes to fists."

Then, glaring from under his brows, Odysseus of the many designs replied:

15"Man possessed — I do you no harm, I say you none;

I grudge no one giving to you, however much he takes up.

This threshold will hold the two of us. You have no need³

to grudge what is other men's. You seem to me a wanderer

just as I am — and prosperity is the gods' to give.

20Only do not challenge me too far with your fists, or you will anger me,

and old as I am I will spatter your chest and lips

with blood. And I would have the more peace for it

tomorrow: for I do not think you would come back

a second time to the hall of Laertes' son Odysseus."

25Then Irus the vagrant answered him in anger:

"Listen to the glutton — how he rattles on,

like an old woman at her oven! I'll plan him a nasty turn:⁴

hit him with both hands and knock every tooth

from his jaws to the ground, like a crop-raiding sow's.

30Belt up now, so all these men may know us

as we fight. But how would you fight a younger man?"

So, before the high doors, on the polished

threshold, the two of them bristled at each other with whole hearts.

And the sacred strength of Antinous took note of them,⁵

35and breaking into easy laughter he called to the suitors:

"Friends — nothing like this has ever happened yet:

what sport the god has brought into this house!

The stranger and Irus are wrangling with each other

to fight it out with fists. Quick — let us match them!"

40So he spoke; and they all sprang up laughing

and crowded round the ill-dressed beggars.

And Antinous spoke among them, Eupeithes' son:

"Hear me, lordly suitors, while I say a word.

There are goats' paunches lying at the fire, which we set by⁶

45for supper, filled with fat and blood.

Whichever of the two wins and proves the better man,

let him stand up and take his pick of them;

and ever after he shall feast with us, and no other

beggar will we let inside to beg among us."

50So spoke Antinous, and his word pleased them well.

Then Odysseus of the many designs, with craft in mind, spoke among them:

"Friends, there is no way an old man can fight

a younger one — a man worn down by misery. But the belly,

that worker of evil, eggs me on, to go down under his blows.

55Come then, all of you swear me a strong oath:⁷

that no one, doing Irus a favor, will strike me

a foul blow with a heavy hand, and force me under for him."

So he spoke; and they all swore the oath as he demanded.

And when they had sworn and sealed the oath entire,

60the sacred strength of Telemachus spoke among them:

"Stranger — if your heart and your proud spirit move you

to beat this man off, fear none of the other

Achaeans: whoever strikes you will have more than one to fight.

Your host is myself; and the kings second it,

65Antinous and Eurymachus, sound-thinking men both."⁸

So he spoke, and they all approved. And Odysseus

girded his rags about his loins, and bared his thighs —

beautiful, massive — and his broad shoulders came to light,

his chest, his heavy arms. And Athena

70came close and filled out the limbs of the shepherd of the people.⁹

And the suitors, every one, were amazed beyond all measure,

and a man would say, with a glance at his neighbor:

"Irus un-Irused soon — a self-invited beating!¹⁰

Look what a thigh the old man shows from under those rags."

75So they spoke; and Irus' heart was stirred — for the worse.

Even so the serving-men girded him and led him out

by force, in terror, the flesh trembling on his limbs.

And Antinous rebuked him, and spoke a word, and named him:

"Better you were not alive, you ox of a braggart, nor ever born,

80if you shiver and fear so terribly before this man —

an old man, worn out with the misery that has found him.

But I will tell you this, and it will be accomplished:

if this man beats you and proves the better man,

I will throw you in a black ship and send you to the mainland,

85to King Echetus, the maimer of all mankind,¹¹

who will slice away your nose and ears with the pitiless bronze

and tear off your parts and give them raw to the dogs to share."

So he spoke; and a still greater trembling seized Irus' limbs.

But they led him into the middle; and both men put up their hands.

90Then much-enduring noble Odysseus debated¹²

whether to hit him so the life would leave him where he fell,

or to hit him gently and just stretch him on the ground.

And as he weighed it, this seemed to him the better way:

to strike gently, so the Achaeans would not take note of him.

95Then both put up their guard; Irus drove at the right shoulder,

but he struck the neck under the ear, and crushed the bones

inward: at once the red blood came up in his mouth,

and he went down bleating in the dust, teeth clenched together,¹³

heels drumming the ground. And the lordly suitors

100threw up their hands and died laughing. Then Odysseus¹⁴

took him by the foot and dragged him out through the porch

to the courtyard and the colonnade gates; and there he propped him

against the courtyard fence, sitting up, and pushed his stick into his hand,

and lifting his voice he spoke winged words to him:

105"Sit there now, and keep off the pigs and dogs,¹⁵

and stop lording it over strangers and beggars,

wretch that you are, or a worse evil yet may find you."

He spoke, and slung about his shoulders his beggar's pouch,

full of holes, hanging by a twisted cord,

110and went back to the threshold and sat down. And they went inside

laughing sweetly, and saluted him with words:

"May Zeus give you, stranger, and the other deathless gods,¹⁶

whatever you most desire, whatever is dear to your heart —

you who stopped that insatiable one from begging

115through the land! For soon we will haul him to the mainland,

to King Echetus, the maimer of all mankind."

So they spoke; and noble Odysseus rejoiced at the omen of the words.

And Antinous set beside him the great paunch,

filled with fat and blood; and Amphinomus

120took up two loaves from the basket and set them by him,

and pledged him with a golden cup, and said:

"Your health, father stranger! May happiness be yours

in time to come — though now you are held fast in many evils."

Then Odysseus of the many designs answered him:

125"Amphinomus — you seem to me a man of good sense,

and such was the father you come from: I have heard his good name —

Nisus of Dulichium, a brave man and a rich one.

They say you are his son; and you seem a civil man.¹⁷

So I will tell you something. Mark it; hear me out.

130The earth breeds nothing feebler than a man —¹⁸

of all things that breathe and move on the face of it.

He tells himself he will never suffer evil in time to come,

as long as the gods lend him prowess and his knees are quick;

but when the blessed gods bring hard days too to pass,

135these too he bears — unwilling, on an enduring heart.

For such is the mind of men who live on earth:

it is weather — whatever day the father of gods and men brings on.¹⁹

I too was once set fair to be fortunate among men,

and I did many reckless things, giving way to my force and power,

140trusting in my father and my brothers.

So let no man ever be lawless in anything,

but keep in silence whatever gifts the gods may give.

Such recklessness I see the suitors devising here —

shearing away the goods, dishonoring the wife

145of a man who, I tell you, will not long be far

from his friends and his fathers' land. He is very close. But you —²⁰

may your own fate steal you home instead; may you not meet him

the day he comes back to his own dear country.

For not without blood, I think, will they be parted,

150the suitors and that man, once he comes in under his roof."

So he spoke, and poured, and drank the honey-sweet wine,

then gave the cup back into the hands of the marshal of the people.

And that man went off down the hall with an aching heart,

head sinking down: for his spirit foresaw the evil.

155But even so he did not escape his fate: Athena bound him too,²¹

to be broken under the hands and spear of Telemachus.

Back he went, and sat down on the chair from which he had risen.

And now the goddess, gray-eyed Athena, put it in the mind²²

of Icarius' daughter, watchful-minded Penelope,

160to show herself to the suitors: so she might open

their hearts wide as sails, and come to stand more precious

in her husband's eyes, and her son's, than she had been before.

She laughed — an empty laugh — and spoke a word, and named her:²³

"Eurynome, my heart longs — as it never has before —

165to show myself to the suitors, hateful as they are.

And I would say a word to my son — the better for him:

not to keep such company with the overweening suitors,

who speak him fair and mean him evil behind."

And Eurynome the housekeeper answered her:

170"Yes, child — all this you have said as it should be.

Go then, and speak your word to your son; hide nothing.

But first wash your skin, and put a shine on your cheeks:

do not go with your face all stained like this

with tears. Grief without respite makes everything worse.

175And your son is now the age you prayed the deathless ones²⁴

so long to let you see: a bearded man."

Then watchful-minded Penelope answered her:

"Eurynome, do not coax me so — out of love, I know —

to wash my skin and put a gloss upon it.

180Whatever bloom I had, the gods who hold Olympus²⁵

destroyed it the day that man went off in the hollow ships.

But tell Autonoe and Hippodamia to come

and stand beside me in the hall:

alone I will not go among men. I would be ashamed."

185So she spoke; and the old woman went off through the hall

to carry word to the women and hurry them along.

Then the goddess, gray-eyed Athena, thought of one thing more:

over Icarius' daughter she poured sweet sleep,

and she slept, leaning back, and all her joints went loose

190right there on the couch. And meanwhile the shining goddess

was giving her immortal gifts, to make the Achaeans stare.²⁶

First, for her beauty, she cleansed her lovely face

with the ambrosial balm that crowned Cytherea

anoints herself with, when she goes to the Graces' lovely dance;

195and she made her taller and fuller to the eye,

and made her whiter than sawn ivory.²⁷

That done, the shining goddess went away,

and the white-armed handmaids came in from the hall,

talking as they came; and the sweet sleep let her go.

200She rubbed her cheeks with her hands and said:

"Soft — the softest of trances wrapped me round, for all my anguish.

If only pure Artemis would give me a death as soft,²⁸

this very instant — so that I need no longer mourn at heart,

wasting my life away, longing for my dear husband

205and his every excellence: for he stood out among the Achaeans."

So speaking she came down from her shining upper room —

not alone: two handmaids followed with her.

And when she reached the suitors, shining among women,

she stood beside the pillar of the close-built roof,

210holding her glistening veil before her cheeks,

a trusted handmaid standing on either side.²⁹

And their knees went slack on the spot, their hearts spellbound with desire,³⁰

and every man prayed to lie in bed beside her.

But she spoke to Telemachus, her dear son:

215"Telemachus, your mind is no longer steady, nor your thought.

While you were still a boy, you turned shrewder plans than this;

but now that you are grown, come to the measure of manhood,³¹

so that a stranger, looking at your height and beauty,

would say you must be some rich man's son —

220your mind and thought are no longer as they should be.

What a thing has been done here in the halls:

you let the stranger be manhandled so!

What now — if a stranger, sitting in our house,

should come to harm from such ugly hauling-about?

225On you the shame and the disgrace would fall, among all men."

Then clear-headed Telemachus answered her:

"Mother mine, I cannot resent your anger at this.

But I do take note in my heart, I do know each thing,

the good and the worse alike. Before, I was still a child.

230Yet I cannot manage to think out everything wisely:

these men unhinge me — crowding me this side and that,

plotting their mischief; and I have no helpers.

Still, the bout of the stranger and Irus did not go

as the suitors intended: the stranger was the stronger.

235If only — father Zeus, Athena, Apollo! —³²

the suitors in our house would nod their heads

like that, beaten and broken, some in the courtyard,

some inside the house, and the limbs of each gone slack,

the way that Irus over there at the courtyard gates

240sits lolling his head like a man dead drunk,

and cannot stand upright on his feet, or go

home, wherever home is — since his own limbs are slack."

So they spoke to one another of such things.

And Eurymachus addressed Penelope with words:

245"Daughter of Icarius, watchful-minded Penelope,

if all the Achaeans through Iasian Argos could see you,

more suitors yet would be feasting in your house

from tomorrow morning: for you surpass all women

in form and stature, and in the balanced mind within."

250Then watchful-minded Penelope answered him:

"Eurymachus, my excellence — my face, my figure —³³

the deathless ones destroyed the day the Argives

boarded ship for Ilium, and my husband Odysseus with them.

If he came back — if he watched over this life of mine —

255my fame would be greater so, and lovelier.

Now I only grieve: so many evils the god has driven at me.

Truly, when he went, leaving his fathers' land,

he took me by the right hand at the wrist and said:³⁴

'Wife — I do not think the strong-greaved Achaeans

260will all come home from Troy unharmed and whole:

the Trojans too, they say, are men of war,

spear-throwers, drawers of the bow,

mounters of swift-footed horses — such as decide

soonest the great strife of leveling war.

265So I cannot know whether the god will bring me back,

or I go down there in Troy. Let everything here be your care.

Remember my father and my mother in these halls

as now, or even more, while I am far away.

But when you see our son a bearded man,³⁵

270marry whom you will, and leave your house behind.'

So he spoke it, that man. And now it is all being accomplished:

the night will come when the marriage I loathe will meet me —

my cursed self, whose happiness Zeus has torn away.

But this bitter shame comes over my heart and spirit:

275this is not what suitors' custom used to be.³⁶

Men who would woo a good woman, a rich man's

daughter, and contend with one another for her —

they drive up cattle of their own, and fat sheep,

a feast for the bride's people, and they give her shining gifts.

280They do not devour another man's living, scot-free."

So she spoke; and much-enduring noble Odysseus was glad³⁷

that she drew gifts out of them, charming their hearts

with honeyed words, while her mind was bent on other things.

Then Antinous answered her, Eupeithes' son:

285"Daughter of Icarius, watchful-minded Penelope,

the gifts — whatever any Achaean wishes to bring here,

accept them: it is not good manners to refuse a gift.

But we are not going to our lands, nor anywhere else,

until you marry whichever of the Achaeans is best."

290So spoke Antinous, and his word pleased them well,

and each man sent a herald off to bring his gifts.

For Antinous he brought a great embroidered robe,³⁸

beautiful, and in it were brooches, twelve in all,

of gold, fitted with well-bent clasps.

295For Eurymachus one brought a necklace, richly worked

in gold, strung with pieces of amber, bright as the sun.

For Eurydamas two henchmen brought a pair of earrings,

triple-dropped like mulberries; and much grace glinted from them.

And out of the house of lord Peisander, Polyctor's son,

300a henchman brought a neck-band, a jewel of great beauty.

And so one Achaean after another brought his lovely gift.

Then she went up to her upper room, shining among women,

and her handmaids carried the beautiful gifts beside her.

But the men turned to the dance and to lovely song

305and took their pleasure there, and waited for evening to come.

And as they took their pleasure, the black evening came upon them.

At once they set up three braziers in the halls

to give them light, and heaped dry kindling round —

long-seasoned, bone-dry, new-split with the bronze —

310and mixed in pine-brands. And turn by turn the slave-women

of enduring-hearted Odysseus kept the flame alive. And to them

he himself spoke, Zeus-born Odysseus of the many designs:

"Slave-women of Odysseus, of your master so long gone:

go through to the rooms where the honored queen is;

315turn the spindle at her side, and cheer her heart,

sitting there in her chamber, or card the wool with your hands.

I will keep up the light for all these men myself.³⁹

Even if they choose to wait for fair-throned Dawn,

they will not outlast me. I am a very patient man."⁴⁰

320So he spoke; and they burst out laughing, glancing at one another.

And fair-cheeked Melantho jeered at him shamefully —⁴¹

Dolius fathered her, but Penelope brought her up

and cherished her like her own child, and gave her toys to her heart's desire;

yet even so no grief for Penelope touched her mind,

325but she slept with Eurymachus, and loved him.

She now jeered at Odysseus with words of abuse:

"You sorry stranger — you must be some kind of half-wit:

you will not go and sleep at the smithy's house,⁴²

or some public shed — no, you stand here running your mouth,

330bold as brass among all these men, and your heart feels

no fear. Either the wine has hold of your wits, or your mind

is always of this sort — that is why you babble so idly.

Or are you giddy because you beat that vagrant Irus?

Watch out that no better man than Irus stands up soon,

335who will box both sides of your skull with his heavy hands

and send you out of the house all fouled with blood."

Then, glaring from under his brows, Odysseus of the many designs replied:

"One word to Telemachus, you bitch, and I go straight to him now,⁴³

for what you are saying — and he will cut you limb from limb on the spot."

340So speaking, he set the women scattering in terror:

off they went through the house, and the knees of every one

went slack with fear; they thought he spoke the truth.

But he took his stand by the burning braziers, tending

the light, and watched them all; and other things his heart

345was pondering deep within — things not destined to fall short.⁴⁴

And Athena would not let the lordly suitors

hold back from heart-stinging outrage — so that pain might sink⁴⁵

still deeper into Laertes' son Odysseus.

So Eurymachus, Polybus' son, began to speak among them,

350baiting Odysseus; and he raised a laugh among his companions:

"Hear me, you suitors of the far-famed queen,

while I say what the heart in my breast commands.

Not without god's guidance has this man come to Odysseus' house —

at any rate the blaze of the torches seems to me to come

355straight off his head: for there is not one hair on it, not a wisp."⁴⁶

He spoke, and turned to Odysseus, sacker of cities:

"Stranger — would you take a hire, if I took you on,

out at the end of my lands — your pay will not fail you —

picking stones for walls and planting tall trees?

360There I would furnish you bread the year round,

and put clothes on your body, and give you sandals for your feet.

But no: you have learned bad ways, and you will not⁴⁷

set yourself to work; you would rather cringe through the town

begging, to feed that bottomless belly of yours."

365Then Odysseus of the many designs answered him:

"Eurymachus — if only the two of us could have a match at work,⁴⁸

in the spring season, when the days grow long:

at mowing — I with a well-curved scythe in hand,

and you with one like it — a trial of work,

370fasting right up to dark, and the grass still standing thick.

Or oxen to drive — the very best oxen,

tawny and big, both of them fat with grass,

matched in age and pull, their strength no trifle,

and a four-acre field, the soil giving under the plow:

375then you would see whether I could cut a furrow straight and long.

Or if the son of Cronos stirred up war — from anywhere —

this very day, and I had a shield and two spears

and a helmet all of bronze, fitted to my temples:

then you would see me mixed into the front fighters,

380and you would not talk and talk, jeering at this belly of mine.

But no — you are full of insolence, and your mind is hard,

and no doubt you fancy yourself a big man and a mighty,

because you keep company with few — and none of them good.⁴⁹

But if Odysseus came — if he reached his own country —

385those doors, wide as they are, would all at once

be too narrow for you, flying through the porch for the street."⁵⁰

So he spoke; and Eurymachus grew the angrier at heart,

and glaring from under his brows he spoke winged words:

"Wretch — I will finish you off for good, for the way you talk,

390bold as brass among all these men, and your heart feels⁵¹

no fear. Either the wine has hold of your wits, or your mind

is always of this sort — that is why you babble so idly.

Or are you giddy because you beat that vagrant Irus?"

With that he seized a footstool. But Odysseus

395sank down at the knees of Amphinomus of Dulichium,

in fear of Eurymachus; and the stool struck the cupbearer⁵²

on the right hand: his wine-jug rang on the floor where it fell,

and the man groaned and went over backward in the dust.

And the suitors raised a din through the shadowy halls,

400and a man would say, with a glance at his neighbor:

"If only the stranger had died on his wanderings somewhere else

before he ever came! He would not have brought all this uproar.

Now here we are brawling over beggars; there will be no joy

even in the good feast, now the worse is winning out."⁵³

405And the sacred strength of Telemachus spoke among them:

"You are possessed — you have gone mad. You can no longer hide

what you have eaten and drunk. Some god is goading you on.⁵⁴

No — you have feasted well: now go home and lie down,

whenever the spirit moves you. Not that I am driving anyone out."

410So he spoke; and they all bit their lips and stared

in wonder at Telemachus, that he spoke so boldly.

Then Amphinomus rose and spoke among them —

the shining son of Nisus, of the lord Aretias' line:

"Friends — no man should take offense at a just word spoken,

415and answer it with wrangling and hard speech.

Do not knock the stranger about, nor any other

of the slaves in the house of godlike Odysseus.

Come — let the cupbearer pour first-drops in the cups,

so we can make libation and go home to bed;

420and the stranger — let us leave him in the halls of Odysseus

for Telemachus to see to: it is his dear house the man has come to."⁵⁵

So he spoke, and the word he spoke pleased all of them.

And the hero Moulius mixed the bowl for them,

the herald from Dulichium, Amphinomus' henchman;

425he served it round to all in turn; and they poured

to the blessed gods, and drank the honey-sweet wine.

And when they had poured, and drunk as much as their hearts would have,

they went their ways to bed, each man to his own house.⁵⁶