ANCHOR TEXT | EPIC POEM

from the
Odyssey
Homer
translated by Robert Fitzgerald

Part 2
The Return
of Odysseus

BACKGROUND
The Greek concept of hospitality, xenia, was very important in Greek SCAN FOR
culture and plays a role in Odysseus’ tale. Some scholars believe that MULTIMEDIA
this value is based on Greek religious belief. Since the Greek gods
could take multiple earthly forms, there was always the possibility that
the stranger at the door was a god in disguise. Thus, Greeks opened
their homes to strangers. In Part 2, as Odysseus returns home, it is
clear that this cultural practice has created some problems.

“Twenty years gone, and I am back again . . .”

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NOTES

Odysseus has finished telling his story to the Phaeacians. The

next day, young Phaeacian noblemen conduct him home by
reserved.

ship. He arrives in Ithaca after an absence of twenty years.

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The goddess Athena appears and informs him of the situation

at home. Numerous suitors, believing Odysseus to be dead,
have been continually seeking the hand of his wife, Penelope,
in marriage, while overrunning Odysseus’ palace and enjoying
themselves at Penelope’s expense. Moreover, they are plotting to

from the Odyssey, Part 2 595

 murder Odysseus’ son, Telemachus, before he can inherit his father’s
NOTES lands. Telemachus, who, like Penelope, still hopes for his father’s
return, has journeyed to Pylos and Sparta to learn what he can about
1. Eumaeus (yoo MEE uhs) his father’s fate. Athena disguises Odysseus as a beggar and directs
him to the hut of Eumaeus,1 his old and faithful swineherd. While
Odysseus and Eumaeus are eating breakfast, Telemachus arrives.
Athena then appears to Odysseus.

. . . From the air

she walked, taking the form of a tall woman,
handsome and clever at her craft, and stood
craft (kraft) n. activity that 1000 beyond the gate in plain sight of Odysseus,
requires skill unseen, though, by Telemachus, unguessed,
for not to everyone will gods appear.
Odysseus noticed her; so did the dogs,
who cowered whimpering away from her. She only
1005 nodded, signing to him with her brows,
a sign he recognized. Crossing the yard,
he passed out through the gate in the stockade
to face the goddess. There she said to him:
“Son of Laertes and the gods of old,
1010 Odysseus, master of landways and seaways,
dissemble (dih SEHM buhl) dissemble to your son no longer now.
v. put on an appearance or The time has come: tell him how you together
disguise
will bring doom on the suitors in the town.
CLOSE READ I shall not be far distant then, for I
ANNOTATE: Mark the 1015 myself desire battle.”
indications of a direct
quotation in lines  Saying no more,
1004–1015.
she tipped her golden wand upon the man,
QUESTION: Why does making his cloak pure white, and the knit tunic
Homer choose to provide fresh around him. Lithe and young she made him,
Athena’s direct words in ruddy with sun, his jawline clean, the beard
this passage rather than
1020 no longer gray upon his chin. And she
summarize her speech to
Odysseus? withdrew when she had done.

CONCLUDE: What does this

 Then Lord Odysseus
speech suggest about the
reappeared—and his son was thunderstruck.
relationship between gods
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and mortals, especially Fear in his eyes, he looked down and away
Odysseus? As though it were a god, and whispered:
reserved.

“Stranger,
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you are no longer what you were just now!

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1025
Your cloak is new; even your skin! You are
2. oblation (ob LAY shuhn) one of the gods who rule the sweep of heaven!
n. offering to a god. Be kind to us, we’ll make you fair oblation2
and gifts of hammered gold. Have mercy on us!”

596 UNIT 5 • JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

 1030 The noble and enduring man replied:
NOTES

“No god. Why take me for a god? No, no.

I am that father whom your boyhood lacked
and suffered pain for lack of. I am he.”

Held back too long, the tears ran down his cheeks
1035 as he embraced his son.
 Only Telemachus,
uncomprehending, wild
with incredulity cried out: incredulity (ihn kruh DYOO
 “You cannot luh tee) n. doubt
be my father Odysseus! Meddling spirits
conceived this trick to twist the knife in me!
1040 No man of woman born could work these wonders
by his own craft, unless a god came into it
with ease to turn him young or old at will.
I swear you were in rags and old,
and here you stand like one of the immortals!”

1045 Odysseus brought his ranging mind to bear

and said:
 “This is not princely, to be swept
away by wonder at your father’s presence.
CLOSE READ
No other Odysseus will ever come,
ANNOTATE: In lines 1048–
for he and I are one, the same; his bitter 1050, mark words relating
1050 fortune and his wanderings are mine. to the concept of identity.
Twenty years gone, and I am back again
QUESTION: Why do you
on my own island.
think Homer places such
 As for my change of skin, emphasis on the idea of
that is a charm Athena, Hope of Soldiers, identity?
uses as she will; she has the knack
CONCLUDE: How do
1055 to make me seem a beggar man sometimes
these words emphasize
and sometimes young, with finer clothes about me. Odysseus’ message to his
It is no hard things for the gods of heaven son?
to glorify a man or bring him low.”

When he had spoken, down he sat.

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 Then, throwing
1060 his arms around this marvel of a father
Telemachus began to weep. Salt tears
reserved.

rose from the wells of longing in both men,

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and cries burst from both as keen and fluttering

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as those of the great taloned hawk,

1065 whose nestlings farmers take before they fly.
So helplessly they cried, pouring out tears,
and might have gone on weeping so till sundown,
had not Telemachus said:

from the Odyssey, Part 2 597

  “Dear father! Tell me
NOTES what kind of vessel put you here ashore
1070 on Ithaca? Your sailors, who were they?
I doubt you made it, walking on the sea!”
Then said Odysseus, who had borne the barren sea:

“Only plain truth shall I tell you, child.

Great seafarers, the Phaeacians, gave me passage
1075 as they give other wanderers. By night
over the open ocean, while I slept,
3. cutter n. small, swift they brought me in their cutter,3 set me down
ship or boat carried on Ithaca, with gifts of bronze and gold
aboard a large ship to
transport personnel or
and stores of woven things. By the gods’ will
supplies. 1080 these lie all hidden in a cave. I came
to this wild place, directed by Athena,
so that we might lay plans to kill our enemies.
Count up the suitors for me, let me know
what men at arms are there, how many men.
1085 I must put all my mind to it, to see
if we two by ourselves can take them on
or if we should look round for help.”

Telemachus
replied:
“O father, all my life your fame
as a fighting man has echoed in my ears—
1090 your skill with weapons and the tricks of war—
but what you speak of is a staggering thing,
beyond imagining, for me. How can two men
4. in their prime in the do battle with a houseful in their prime?4
best or most vigorous For I must tell you this is no affair
stage of their lives.
1095 of ten or even twice ten men, but scores,
throngs of them. You shall see, here and now.
The number from Dulichium alone
is fifty-two picked men, with armorers,
a half dozen; twenty-four came from Same,
1100 twenty from Zacynthus; our own island
accounts for twelve, high-ranked, and their retainers,
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Medon the crier, and the Master Harper,

besides a pair of handymen at feasts.
If we go in against all these
reserved.

1105 I fear we pay in salt blood for your vengeance.

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You must think hard if you would conjure up

the fighting strength to take us through.”
Odysseus
who had endured the long war and the sea
answered:

598 UNIT 5 • JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

  “I’ll tell you now.
1110 Suppose Athena’s arm is over us, and Zeus NOTES

her father’s, must I rack my brains for more?”

Clearheaded Telemachus looked hard and said:

“Those two are great defenders, no one doubts it,

but throned in the serene clouds overhead;
1115 other affairs of men and gods they have
to rule over.”

 And the hero answered:

“Before long they will stand to right and left of us
in combat, in the shouting, when the test comes—
our nerve against the suitors’ in my hall.
1120 Here is your part: at break of day tomorrow CLOSE READ
home with you, go mingle with our princes. ANNOTATE: In lines
The swineherd later on will take me down 1120–1132, mark the
the port-side trail—a beggar, by my looks, words Odysseus uses to
tell his son what he should
hangdog and old. If they make fun of me
do if the suitors abuse
1125 in my own courtyard, let your ribs cage up
Odysseus.
your springing heart, no matter what I suffer,
no matter if they pull me by the heels QUESTION: What do these
words suggest about
or practice shots at me, to drive me out.
Telemachus’ emotions?
Look on, hold down your anger. You may even
1130 plead with them, by heaven! in gentle terms CONCLUDE: How do
to quit their horseplay—not that they will heed you, these words express
Odysseus’ sense of his
rash as they are, facing their day of wrath.
son’s love for him?
Now fix the next step in your mind.

Athena,
counseling me, will give me word, and I
1135 shall signal to you, nodding: at that point
round up all armor, lances, gear of war
left in our hall, and stow the lot away
back in the vaulted storeroom. When the suitors
miss those arms and question you, be soft
1140 in what you say: answer:
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‘I thought I’d move them

out of the smoke. They seemed no longer those
reserved.

bright arms Odysseus left us years ago

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when he went off to Troy. Here where the fire’s

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hot breath came, they had grown black and drear.

1145 One better reason, too, I had from Zeus:
suppose a brawl starts up when you are drunk,

from the Odyssey, Part 2 599

 you might be crazed and bloody one another,
NOTES and that would stain your feast, your courtship.
Tempered
iron can magnetize a man.’
 Say that.
1150 But put aside two broadswords and two spears
for our own use, two oxhide shields nearby
when we go into action. Pallas Athena
and Zeus All-Provident will see you through,
bemusing (bih MYOOZ ihng) bemusing our young friends.
adj. confusing;  Now one thing more.
bewildering
1155 If son of mine you are and blood of mine,
let no one hear Odysseus is about.
Neither Laertes, nor the swineherd here,
nor any slave, nor even Penelope.

But you and I alone must learn how far

1160 the women are corrupted; we should know
how to locate good men among our hands
5. shirkers (SHURK uhrz) n. the loyal and respectful, and the shirkers5
people who get out of who take you lightly, as alone and young.”
doing what needs to
be done.

Argus

Odysseus heads for town with Eumaeus. Outside the palace,

Odysseus’s old dog, Argus, is lying at rest as his long-absent master
approaches.

 While he spoke
an old hound, lying near, pricked up his ears
1165 and lifted up his muzzle. This was Argus,
trained as a puppy by Odysseus,
but never taken on a hunt before
his master sailed for Troy. The young men, afterward,
hunted wild goats with him, and hare, and deer,
1170 but he had grown old in his master’s absence.
Treated as rubbish now, he lay at last
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upon a mass of dung before the gates—

manure of mules and cows, piled there until
fieldhands could spread it on the king’s estate.
reserved.

1175 Abandoned there, and half destroyed with flies,

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old Argus lay.

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 But when he knew he heard

Odysseus’s voice nearby, he did his best

600 UNIT 5 • JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

 to wag his tail, nose down, with flattened ears,
having no strength to move nearer his master. NOTES

1180 And the man looked away,

wiping a salt tear from his cheek; but he
hid this from Eumaeus. Then he said:

“I marvel that they leave this hound to lie

here on the dung pile;
1185 he would have been a fine dog, from the look of him,
though I can’t say as to his power and speed
when he was young. You find the same good build
in house dogs, table dogs landowners keep
all for style.”
 And you replied, Eumaeus:
CLOSE READ
ANNOTATE: In lines
1190 “A hunter owned him—but the man is dead
1185–1196, mark
in some far place. If this old hound could show adjectives and nouns
the form he had when Lord Odysseus left him, Odysseus and Eumaeus use
going to Troy, you’d see him swift and strong. to describe the dog as he
He never shrank from any savage thing once was.
1195 he’d brought to bay in the deep woods; on the scent QUESTION: What do these
no other dog kept up with him. Now misery words have in common?
has him in leash. His owner died abroad,
CONCLUDE: How do they
and here the women slaves will take no care of him.
emphasize the sadness of
You know how servants are: without a master the dog now?
1200 they have no will to labor, or excel.
For Zeus who views the wide world takes away
half the manhood of a man, that day
he goes into captivity and slavery.”

Eumaeus crossed the court and went straight forward

1205 into the megaron6 among the suitors: 6. megaron (MEHG uh
but death and darkness in that instant closed ron) n. great, central hall
of the house, usually
the eyes of Argus, who had seen his master, containing a center
Odysseus, after twenty years. hearth.
Savvas
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reserved.

from the Odyssey, Part 2 601

 The Suitors
NOTES

Still disguised as a beggar, Odysseus enters his home. He is

confronted by the haughty7 suitor Antinous.8 7. haughty (HAWT ee) adj.
arrogant.

But here Antinous broke in, shouting: 8. Antinous (an TIHN

oh uhs)

“God!
1210 What evil wind blew in this pest?
 Get over,
stand in the passage! Nudge my table, will you?
Egyptian whips are sweet
to what you’ll come to here, you nosing rat,
making your pitch to everyone!
1215 These men have bread to throw away on you
because it is not theirs. Who cares? Who spares
another’s food, when he has more than plenty?”

With guile Odysseus drew away, then said:

“A pity that you have more looks than heart.

1220 You’d grudge a pinch of salt from your own larder
to your own handyman. You sit here, fat
on others’ meat, and cannot bring yourself
to rummage out a crust of bread for me!”

Then anger made Antinous’ heart beat hard,

1225 and, glowering under his brows, he answered:
“Now!
You think you’ll shuffle off and get away
after that impudence?9 Oh, no you don’t!” 9. impudence (IHM pyoo
duhns) n. quality of
being shamelessly bold;
The stool he let fly hit the man’s right shoulder disrespectfulness
on the packed muscle under the shoulder blade—
1230 like solid rock, for all the effect one saw.
Odysseus only shook his head, containing
thoughts of bloody work, as he walked on,
then sat, and dropped his loaded bag again
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upon the door sill. Facing the whole crowd

1235 he said, and eyed them all:
reserved.

 “One word only,

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my lords, and suitors of the famous queen.

One thing I have to say.
There is no pain, no burden for the heart
when blows come to a man, and he defending
1240 his own cattle—his own cows and lambs.

from the Odyssey, Part 2 603

 Here it was otherwise. Antinous
NOTES hit me for being driven on by hunger—
how many bitter seas men cross for hunger!
10. Furies (FYUR eez) n. If beggars interest the gods, if there are Furies10
three terrible female 1245 pent in the dark to avenge a poor man’s wrong, then may
spirits who punish the
doers of unavenged
Antinous meet his death before his wedding day!”
crimes. Then said Eupeithes’s son, Antinous:
“Enough.
Eat and be quiet where you are, or shamble elsewhere,
unless you want these lads to stop your mouth
1250 pulling you by the heels, or hands and feet,
over the whole floor, till your back is peeled!”

But now the rest were mortified, and someone

spoke from the crowd of young bucks to rebuke him:

“A poor show, that—hitting this famished tramp—

1255 bad business, if he happened to be a god.
guise (gyz) n. outward You know they go in foreign guise, the gods do,
appearance looking like strangers, turning up
in towns and settlements to keep an eye
on manners, good or bad.”
 But at this notion
1260 Antinous only shrugged.
CLOSE READ Telemachus,
ANNOTATE: In lines
after the blow his father bore, sat still
1261–1270, mark the
noun that appears three
without a tear, though his heart felt the blow.
times. Then, mark its Slowly he shook his head from side to side,
synonym, which appears containing murderous thoughts.
twice. Penelope
QUESTION: What does this
1265 on the higher level of her room had heard
repetition emphasize? the blow, and knew who gave it. Now she murmured:

CONCLUDE: How does

“Would god you could be hit yourself, Antinous—
deliberate use of repetition
help reveal the feelings of
hit by Apollo’s bowshot!”
Odysseus’ son and wife?
 And Eurynome11
11. Eurynome (yoo RIHN her housekeeper, put in:
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uhm ee)
 “He and no other?
If all we pray for came to pass, not one
reserved.

1270

would live till dawn!”

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 Her gentle mistress said:

“Oh, Nan, they are a bad lot; they intend
ruin for all of us; but Antinous

604 UNIT 5 • JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

 appears a blacker-hearted hound than any.
1275 Here is a poor man come, a wanderer, NOTES

driven by want to beg his bread, and everyone

in hall gave bits, to cram his bag—only
Antinous threw a stool, and banged his shoulder!”

So she described it, sitting in her chamber

1280 among her maids—while her true lord was eating.
Then she called in the forester and said:

“Go to that man on my behalf, Eumaeus,

and send him here, so I can greet and question him.
Abroad in the great world, he may have heard
1285 rumors about Odysseus—may have known him!”

Penelope

In the evening, Penelope interrogates the old beggar.

“Friend, let me ask you first of all:

who are you, where do you come from, of what nation
and parents were you born?”
 And he replied:
“My lady, never a man in the wide world
1290 should have a fault to find with you. Your name
has gone out under heaven like the sweet
honor of some god-fearing king, who rules
in equity over the strong: his black lands bear
both wheat and barley, fruit trees laden bright,
1295 new lambs at lambing time—and the deep sea
gives great hauls of fish by his good strategy,
so that his folk fare well.

 O my dear lady,
this being so, let it suffice to ask me
of other matters—not my blood, my homeland.
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1300 Do not enforce me to recall my pain.

My heart is sore; but I must not be found
sitting in tears here, in another’s house:
reserved.

it is not well forever to be grieving.

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One of the maids might say—or you might think—

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1305 I had got maudlin over cups of wine.”

from the Odyssey, Part 2 605

 And Penelope replied:
NOTES

 “Stranger, my looks,
12. carriage n. posture. my face, my carriage, were soon lost or faded
12

when the Achaeans crossed the sea to Troy,

Odysseus my lord among the rest.
1310 If he returned, if he were here to care for me,
I might be happily renowned!
But grief instead heaven sent me—years of pain.
Sons of the noblest families on the islands,
13. Zacynthus (za SIHN Dulichium, Same, wooded Zacynthus,13
thuhs) 1315 with native Ithacans, are here to court me,
against my wish; and they consume this house.
Can I give proper heed to guest or suppliant
or herald on the realm’s affairs?
 How could I?
wasted with longing for Odysseus, while here
1320 they press for marriage.
14. Ruses (ROOZ ihz) n. Ruses14 served my turn
tricks. to draw the time out—first a close-grained web
I had the happy thought to set up weaving
on my big loom in hall. I said, that day:
‘Young men—my suitors, now my lord is dead,
1325 let me finish my weaving before I marry,
or else my thread will have been spun in vain.
It is a shroud I weave for Lord Laertes
When cold Death comes to lay him on his bier.
The country wives would hold me in dishonor
1330 if he, with all his fortune, lay unshrouded.’
I reached their hearts that way, and they agreed.
So every day I wove on the great loom,
but every night by torchlight I unwove it;
deceived (dih SEEVD) v. lied and so for three years I deceived the Achaeans.
to; tricked

CLOSE READ
1335 But when the seasons brought a fourth year on,
ANNOTATE: In the stanza as long months waned, and the long days were spent,
beginning on line 1335, through impudent folly in the slinking maids
mark the words having to they caught me—clamored up to me at night;
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do with time and duration. I had no choice then but to finish it.
QUESTION: What do 1340 And now, as matters stand at last,
these words emphasize in I have no strength left to evade a marriage,
reserved.

Penelope’s story? cannot find any further way; my parents

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urge it upon me, and my son

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CONCLUDE: How do they

confirm her fidelity to will not stand by while they eat up his property.
Odysseus? 1345 He comprehends it, being a man full-grown,
able to oversee the kind of house
Zeus would endow with honor.

606 UNIT 5 • JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

  But you too
confide in me, tell me your ancestry. NOTES

You were not born of mythic oak or stone.”

Penelope again asks the beggar to tell about himself. He makes up a

tale in which Odysseus is mentioned and declares that Penelope’s
husband will soon be home.

1350 “You see, then, he is alive and well, and headed

homeward now, no more to be abroad
far from his island, his dear wife and son.
Here is my sworn word for it. Witness this,
god of the zenith, noblest of the gods,15 15. god of the zenith,
1355 and Lord Odysseus’s hearthfire, now before me: noblest of the
gods Zeus.
I swear these things shall turn out as I say.
Between this present dark and one day’s ebb,
after the wane, before the crescent moon,
Odysseus will come.”

The Challenge

Pressed by the suitors to choose a husband from among them,

Penelope says she will marry the man who can string Odysseus’s bow
and shoot an arrow through twelve ax handle sockets. The suitors try
and fail. Still in disguise, Odysseus asks for a turn and gets it.

 And Odysseus took his time,

1360 turning the bow, tapping it, every inch,
for borings that termites might have made
while the master of the weapon was abroad.
The suitors were now watching him, and some
jested among themselves:

 “A bow lover!”
1365 “Dealer in old bows!”
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 “Maybe he has one like it

at home!”
reserved.

 “Or has an itch to make one for himself.”

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“See how he handles it, the sly old buzzard!”

And one disdainful suitor added this:

“May his fortune grow an inch for every inch he bends it!”

from the Odyssey, Part 2 607

 1370 But the man skilled in all ways of contending,
NOTES satisfied by the great bow’s look and heft,
like a musician, like a harper, when
with quiet hand upon his instrument
he draws between his thumb and forefinger
1375 a sweet new string upon a peg: so effortlessly
CLOSE READ
ANNOTATE: In lines
Odysseus in one motion strung the bow.
1378–1383, mark Then slid his right hand down the cord and plucked it,
words that indicate or so the taut gut vibrating hummed and sang
describe sounds. a swallow’s note.
QUESTION: Why do
 In the hushed hall it smote the suitors
you think the poet uses 1380 and all their faces changed. Then Zeus thundered
these words? overhead, one loud crack for a sign.
And Odysseus laughed within him that the son
CONCLUDE: How do
these words intensify the
of crooked-minded Cronus had flung that omen down.
description of the action? He picked one ready arrow from his table
1385 where it lay bare: the rest were waiting still
in the quiver for young men’s turn to come.
16. nocked set an arrow He nocked16 it, let it rest across the handgrip,
into the bowstring. And drew the string and grooved butt of the arrow,
Aiming from where he sat upon the stool.

 Now flashed
1390 arrow from twanging bow clean as a whistle
through every socket ring, and grazed not one,
to thud with heavy brazen head beyond.
 Then quietly
Odysseus said:

 “Telemachus, the stranger

you welcomed in your hall has not disgraced you.
1395 I did not miss, neither did I take all day
stringing the bow. My hand and eye are sound,
not so contemptible as the young men say.
The hour has come to cook their lordships’ mutton—
supper by daylight. Other amusements later,
1400 with song and harping that adorn a feast.”
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He dropped his eyes and nodded, and the prince

Telemachus, true son of King Odysseus,
belted his sword on, clapped hand to his spear,
reserved.

and with a clink and glitter of keen bronze

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1405 stood by his chair, in the forefront near his father.

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608 UNIT 5 • JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

 NOTES

Odysseus begins to take his revenge

on Penelope’s suitors.

Odysseus’ Revenge
Now shrugging off his rags the wiliest17 fighter of the islands 17. wiliest (WYL ee uhst)
leapt and stood on the broad doorsill, his own bow in his adj. craftiest; slyest.
hand.
He poured out at his feet a rain of arrows from the quiver
and spoke to the crowd: CLOSE READ
ANNOTATE: In lines
1412–1414, mark
 “So much for that. Your clean-cut game is over. adjectives that describe the
1410 Now watch me hit a target that no man has hit before, drinking cup.
if I can make this shot. Help me, Apollo.”
QUESTION: Why do you
think the poet describes
He drew to his fist the cruel head of an arrow for Antinous the cup in such detail and
just as the young man leaned to lift his beautiful drinking with these words?
cup,
CONCLUDE: How does the
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embossed, two-handled, golden: the cup was in his fingers:

description heighten the
1415 the wine was even at his lips: and did he dream of death? effect of Odysseus’ action?
How could he? In that revelry18 amid his throng of friends
reserved.

who would imagine a single foe—though a strong foe 18. revelry (REHV uhl ree) n.
noisy partying.
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indeed—
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could dare to bring death’s pain on him and darkness on his

eyes?
Odysseus’s arrow hit him under the chin
1420 and punched up to the feathers through his throat.

from the Odyssey, Part 2 609

 Backward and down he went, letting the winecup fall
NOTES from his shocked hand. Like pipes his nostrils jetted
crimson runnels, a river of mortal red,
and one last kick upset his table
1425 knocking the bread and meat to soak in dusty blood.
Now as they craned to see their champion where he lay
the suitors jostled in uproar down the hall,
everyone on his feet. Wildly they turned and scanned
the walls in the long room for arms; but not a shield,
1430 not a good ashen spear was there for a man to take and
throw.
All they could do was yell in outrage at Odysseus:

“Foul! to shoot at a man! That was your last shot!”

“Your own throat will be slit for this!”
 “Our finest lad is down!
You killed the best on Ithaca.”
 “Buzzards will tear your eyes out!”

1435 For they imagined as they wished—that it was a wild shot,

an unintended killing—fools, not to comprehend
they were already in the grip of death.
But glaring under his brows Odysseus answered:

“You yellow dogs, you thought I’d never make it

1440 home from the land of Troy. You took my house to
plunder . . .
You dared bid for my wife while I was still alive.
Contempt was all you had for the gods who rule wide
heaven,
contempt for what men say of you hereafter.
Your last hour has come. You die in blood.”

1445 As they all took this in, sickly green fear

pulled at their entrails, and their eyes flickered
looking for some hatch or hideaway from death.
19. Eurymachus (yoo RIH Eurymachus19 alone could speak. He said:
muh kuhs)
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“If you are Odysseus of Ithaca come back,

1450 all that you say these men have done is true.
Rash actions, many here, more in the countryside.
reserved.

But here he lies, the man who cause them all.

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Antinous was the ringleader, he whipped us on

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to do these things. He cared less for a marriage

1455 than for the power Cronion has denied him
As king of Ithaca. For that
he tried to trap your son and would have killed him.
He is dead now and has his portion. Spare

610 UNIT 5 • JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

 your own people. As for ourselves, we’ll make
1460 restitution of wine and meat consumed, NOTES

and add, each one, a tithe of twenty oxen

with gifts of bronze and gold to warm your heart.
Meanwhile we cannot blame you for your anger.”

Odysseus glowered under his black brows

1465 and said:
“Not for the whole treasure of your fathers,
all you enjoy, lands, flocks, or any gold
put up by others, would I hold my hand.
There will be killing till the score is paid.
You forced yourselves upon this house. Fight your way out,
1470 or run it, if you think you’ll escape death.
I doubt one man of you skins by.”

They felt their knees fail, and their hearts—but heard

Eurymachus for the last time rallying them.
“Friends,” he said, “the man is implacable.
1475 Now that he’s got his hands on bow and quiver
he’ll shoot from the big doorstone there
until he kills us to the last man.
Fight, I say,
let’s remember the joy of it. Swords out!
Hold up your tables to deflect his arrows.
1480 After me, everyone: rush him where he stands.
If we can budge him from the door, if we can pass
into the town, we’ll call out men to chase hm.
This fellow with his bow will shoot no more.”

He drew his own sword as he spoke, a broadsword of fine CLOSE READ

bronze, ANNOTATE: Mark the
1485 honed like a razor on either edge. Then crying hoarse and first two sentences of the
loud stanza that begins on
line 1484.
he hurled himself at Odysseus. But the kingly man let fly
an arrow at that instant, and the quivering feathered butt QUESTION: How are these
sprang to the nipple of his breast as the barb stuck in his lines different from those
liver. that go before them?
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The bright broadsword clanged down. He lurched and fell CONCLUSION: Why do you
aside, think the poet made this
1490 pitching across his table. His cup, his bread and meat, change when beginning a
reserved.

were spilt and scattered far and wide, and his head slammed description of the battle?
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on the ground.
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Revulsion, anguish in his heart, with both feet kicking out,

he downed his chair, while the shrouding wave of mist closed
on his eyes.
Amphinomus now came running at Odysseus,
1495 broadsword naked in his hand. He thought to make

from the Odyssey, Part 2 611

 the great soldier give way at the door.
NOTES But with a spear throw from behind Telemachus hit him
between the shoulders, and the lancehead drove
clear through his chest. He left his feet and fell
1500 forward, thudding, forehead against the ground.
Telemachus swerved around him, leaving the long dark
spear
planted in Amphinomus. If he paused to yank it out
someone might jump him from behind or cut him down with
a sword
at the moment he bent over. So he ran—ran from the tables
1505 to his father’s side and halted, panting, saying:

“Father let me bring you a shield and spear,

a pair of spears, a helmet.
I can arm on the run myself: I’ll give
outfits to Eumaeus and this cowherd.
1510 Better to have equipment.”

 Said Odysseus:
“Run then, while I hold them off with arrows
as long as the arrows last. When all are gone
if I’m alone they can dislodge me.”
Quick
upon his father’s word Telemachus
1515 ran to the room where spears and armor lay.
He caught up four light shields, four pairs of spears,
four helms of war high-plumed with flowing manes,
and ran back, loaded down to his father’s side.
He was the first to pull a helmet on
1520 and slide his bare arm in a buckler strap.
The servants armed themselves, and all three took their
stand
beside the master of battle.
 While he had arrows
he aimed and shot, and every shot brought down
one of his huddling enemies.
1525 But when all barbs had flown from the bowman’s fist,
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he leaned his bow in the bright entryway

beside the door, and armed: a four-ply shield
hard on his shoulder, and a crested helm,
reserved.

horsetailed, nodding stormy upon his head,

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1530 then took his tough and bronze-shod spears. . . .

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Aided by Athena, Odysseus, Telemachus, Eumaeus, and other faithful

herdsmen kill all the suitors.

612 UNIT 5 • JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

 And Odysseus looked around him, narrow-eyed,
for any others who had lain hidden NOTES

while death’s black fury passed.

 In blood and dust

he saw that crowd all fallen, many and many slain.

1535 Think of a catch that fishermen haul in to a half-moon bay

in a fine-meshed net from the whitecaps of the sea:
how all are poured out on the sand, in throes for the salt sea,
twitching their cold lives away in Helios’ fiery air:
so lay the suitors heaped on one another.

Penelope’s Test

Penelope tests Odysseus to prove he really is her husband.

1540 Greathearted Odysseus, home at last,

was being bathed now by Eurynome
and rubbed with golden oil, and clothed again
in a fresh tunic and a cloak. Athena
lent him beauty, head to foot. She made him
1545 taller, and massive, too, with crisping hair
in curls like petals of wild hyacinth
but all red-golden. Think of gold infused
on silver by a craftsman, whose fine art
Hephaestus20 taught him, or Athena: one 20. Hephaestus (hee FEHS
1550 whose work moves to delight: just so she lavished tuhs) god of fire and
metalworking.
beauty over Odysseus’ head and shoulders.
He sat then in the same chair by the pillar,
facing his silent wife, and said:

 “Strange woman,
the immortals of Olympus made you hard,
1555 harder than any. Who else in the world
would keep aloof as you do from her husband
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if he returned to her from years of trouble,

cast on his own land in the twentieth year?
reserved.

Nurse, make up a bed for me to sleep on.

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Her heart is iron in her breast.”

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1560
Penelope
spoke to Odysseus now. She said:

from the Odyssey, Part 2 613

NOTES

This illustration shows Odysseus’

return to Penelope after an absence
of twenty years.

“Strange man,
if man you are . . . This is no pride on my part
nor scorn for you—not even wonder, merely.
I know so well how you—how he—appeared
1565 boarding the ship for Troy. But all the same . . .

Make up his bed for him, Eurycleia.

Place it outside the bedchamber my lord
built with his own hands. Pile the big bed
with fleeces, rugs, and sheets of purest linen.”

1570 With this she tried him to the breaking point,

and he turned on her in a flash raging:
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“Woman, by heaven you’ve stung me now!

Who dared to move my bed?
reserved.

No builder had the skill for that—unless

a god came down to turn the trick. No mortal
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1575
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in his best days could budge it with a crowbar.

There is our pact and pledge, our secret sign,
built into that bed—my handiwork
and no one else’s!

614 UNIT 5 • JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

 NOTES

 An old trunk of olive

1580 grew like a pillar on the building plot,
and I laid out our bedroom round that tree,
lined up the stone walls, built the walls and roof,
gave it a doorway and smooth-fitting doors.
Then I lopped off the silvery leaves and branches,
1585 hewed and shaped that stump from the roots up
into a bedpost, drilled it, let it serve
as model for the rest. I planed them all,
inlaid them all with silver, gold, and ivory,
and stretched a bed between—a pliant web
1590 of oxhide thongs dyed crimson.
 There’s our sign!
I know no more. Could someone else’s hand
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have sawn that trunk and dragged the frame away?”

reserved.

Their secret! as she heard it told, her knees

grew tremulous and weak, her heart failed her.
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1595 With eyes brimming tears she ran to him,

throwing her arms around his neck, and kissed him,
murmuring:

from the Odyssey, Part 2 615

 “Do not rage at me, Odysseus!
NOTES No one ever matched your caution! Think
what difficulty the gods gave: they denied us
1600 life together in our prime and flowering years,
kept us from crossing into age together.
Forgive me, don’t be angry. I could not
welcome you with love on sight! I armed myself
long ago against the frauds of men,
1605 impostors who might come—and all those many
whose underhanded ways bring evil on! . . .
But here and now, what sign could be so clear
as this of our own bed?
No other man has ever laid eyes on it—
1610 only my own slave, Actoris, that my father
sent with me as a gift—she kept our door.
You make my stiff heart know that I am yours.”

Now from his breast into his eyes the ache

of longing mounted, and he wept at last,
1615 his dear wife, clear and faithful, in his arms,
longed for as the sunwarmed earth is longed for by a
swimmer
spent in rough water where his ship went down
under Poseidon’s blows, gale winds and tons of sea.
Few men can keep alive through a big surf
1620 to crawl, clotted with brine, on kindly beaches
21. abyss (uh BIHS) n. in joy, in joy, knowing the abyss21 behind:
ocean depths. and so she too rejoiced, her gaze upon her husband,
her white arms round him pressed as though forever.

The Ending

Odysseus is reunited with his father. Athena commands that peace

prevail between Odysseus and the relatives of the slain suitors.
Odysseus has regained his family and his kingdom.
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Excerpts from the Odyssey by Homer, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Copyright © 1961, 1963 by Robert Fitzgerald. Copyright
reserved.

renewed 1989 by Benedict R.C. Fitzgerald, on behalf of the Fitzgerald children. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
LLC. CAUTION: Users are warned that this work is protected under copyright laws and downloading is strictly prohibited. The right to
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reproduce or transfer the work via any medium must be secured with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.

616 UNIT 5 • JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION