Chapter XXVII: Book XXII: The killing of the suitors

Ulysses tore off his rags, and sprang on the broad
pavement,[38] with his bow and his quiver full of arrows.
He shed the arrows on to the ground at his feet and said,
"The contest is at an end. I will now see whether Apollo
will vouchsafe me to hit another mark which no man has
yet aimed at."

He took aim at Antinous as he spoke. The arrow struck 8
him in the throat, so that he fell over and a thick
stream of blood gushed from his nostrils. He kicked his
table from him and upset the things on it, whereby the
bread and meats were all soiled as they fell over on
to the ground. The suitors were instantly in an uproar,
and looked towards the walls for armour, but there was
none. "Stranger," they cried, "you shall pay dearly for
shooting people down in this way. You are a doomed man."
But they did not yet understand that Ulysses had killed
Antinous on purpose.

Ulysses glared at them and said, "Dogs, did you think 34
that I should not return from Troy? You have wasted my
substance, you have violated the women of my house, you
have wooed my wife while I was still alive, you have
feared neither god nor man, and now you shall die."

Eurymachus alone answered. "If you are Ulysses," said 44
he, "we have done you great wrong. It was all Antinous's
doing. He never really wanted to marry Penelope: he
wanted to kill your son and to be chief man in Ithaca. He
is no more; then spare the lives of your people and we
will pay you all."

Ulysses again glared at him and said, "I will not stay 60
my hand till I have slain one and all of you. You must
fight, or fly as you can, or die--and fly you neither can
nor shall."

Eurymachus then said, "My friends, this man will give us 68
no quarter. Let us show fight. Draw your swords and hold
the tables up in front of you as shields. Have at him
with a rush, and drive him from the pavement and from the
door. We could then get through into the town and call
for help."

While he spoke and was springing forward, Ulysses sent 79
an arrow into his heart and he fell doubled up over his
table. The cup and all the meats went over on to the
ground as he smote the earth with his forehead in the
agonies of death.

Amphinomus then made for Ulysses to try and dislodge 89
him from the door, but Telemachus got behind him, and
struck him through. He left his spear in the body and
flew back to his father's side; "Father," said he, "let
me bring armour for you and me, as well as for Eumæus and
Philœtius." "Run and fetch it," answered Ulysses, "while
my arrows hold out; be quick, or they may get me away
from the door when I am single-handed."

Telemachus went to the store-room and brought four 108
shields, eight spears, and four helmets. He armed
himself, as did also Eumæus and Philœtius, who then
placed themselves beside Ulysses. As long as his arrows
held out Ulysses shot the suitors down thick and
threefold, but when they failed him he stood the bow
against the end wall of the house hard by the door way,
and armed himself.

Now there was a trap-door (see plan, and _f_ on p. 17) 126
on the wall, while at one end of the pavement there was an
exit, closed by a good strong door and leading out into a
narrow passage; Ulysses told Philœtius to stand by this
door and keep it, for only one person could attack it at
a time. Then Agelaus shouted out, "Go up, somebody, to
the trap-door and tell the people what is going on; they
would come in and help us."

"This may not be," answered Melanthius, "the mouth of the 135
narrow passage is dangerously near the entrance from the
street into the outer court. One brave man could prevent
any number from getting in, but I will bring you arms
from the store-room, for I am sure it is there that they
have put them." As he spoke he went by back passages to 143
the store-room, and brought the suitors twelve shields
and the same number of helmets; when Ulysses saw the
suitors arming his heart began to fail him, and he said
to Telemachus, "Some of the women inside are helping the
suitors--or else it is Melanthius."

Telemachus said that it was his fault, for he had left 153
the store-room door open. "Go, Eumæus," he added,
"and close it; see whether it is one of the women, or
Melanthius, son of Dolius."

Melanthius was now going back for more armour when Eumæus 160
saw him and told Ulysses, who said, "Follow him, you
and Philœtius; bind his hands and feet behind him, and
throw him into the store-room; then string him up to a
bearing-post till he is close to the rafters, that he may
linger on in agony."

The men went to the store-room and caught Melanthius. 178
They bound him in a painful bond and strung him up as
Ulysses had told them. Eumæus wished him a good night
and the two men returned to the side of Ulysses. Minerva
also joined them, having assumed the form of Mentor; but 205
Ulysses felt sure it was Minerva. The suitors were very
angry when they saw her; "Mentor," they cried, "you shall
pay for this with your life, and we will confiscate all
you have in the world."

This made Minerva furious, and she rated Ulysses roundly. 224
"Your prowess," said she, "is no longer what it was at
Troy. How comes it that you are less valiant now that you
are on your own ground? Come on, my good fellow, and see
how Mentor will fight for you and requite you for your
many kindnesses." But she did not mean to give him the
victory just yet, so she flew up to one of the rafters
and sat there in the form of a swallow.[39]

The struggle still continued. "My friends," said Agelaus, 241
"he will soon have to leave off. See how Mentor has left
him after doing nothing for him except brag. Do not aim
at him all at once, but six of you throw your spears
first."

They did so, but Minerva made all their spears take no 265
effect. Ulysses and the other three then threw, and
each killed his man. The suitors drew back in fear into
a corner, whereon the four sprang forward and regained
their weapons. The suitors again threw, and this time
Amphimedon really did take a piece of the top skin from
Telemachus's wrist, and Ctesippus just grazed Eumæus's
shoulder above his shield. It was now the turn of Ulysses
and his men, and each of their spears killed a man.

Then Minerva from high on the roof held up her deadly 297
ægis, and struck the suitors with panic, whereon Ulysses
and his men fell upon them and smote them on every side.
They made a horrible groaning as their brains were being
battered in, and the ground seethed with their blood.
Leiodes implored Ulysses to spare his life, but Ulysses
would give him no quarter.

The minstrel Phemius now begged for mercy. He was 380
standing near towards the trap-door, and resolving to
embrace Ulysses' knees, he laid his lyre on the ground
between the mixing-bowl and the high silver-studded
seat. "Spare me," he cried, "you will be sorry for it
afterwards if you kill such a bard as I am. I am an
original composer, and heaven visits me with every kind
of inspiration. Do not be in such a hurry to cut my head
off. Telemachus will tell you that I only sang to the
suitors because they forced me."

"Hold," cried Telemachus to his father, "do him no hurt, 354
he is guiltless; and we will spare Medon, too, who was
always good to me when I was a boy, unless Eumæus or
Philœtius has already killed him, or you happened to fall
in with him yourself."

"Here I am, my dear Sir," said Medon, coming out from 361
under a freshly flayed heifer's hide[40] which had
concealed him; "tell your father, or he will kill me
in his rage against the suitors for having wasted his
substance and been so disrespectful to yourself." Ulysses
smiled, and told them to go outside into the outer court
till the killing should be over. So they went, but they
were still very much frightened. Ulysses then went all
over the court to see if there were any who had concealed
themselves, or were not yet killed, but there was no one;
they were all as dead as fish lying in a hot sun upon the
beach.

Then he told Telemachus to call Euryclea, who came at 390
once, and found him all covered with blood. When she
saw the corpses she was beginning to raise a shout of
triumph, but Ulysses checked her: "Old woman," said he, 411
"rejoice in silence; it is an unholy thing to vaunt over
dead men. And now tell me which of the women of the house
are innocent and which guilty."

"There are fifty women in the house," said Euryclea; 419
"twelve of these have misbehaved, and have been wanting
in respect to me and to Penelope. They showed no
disrespect to Telemachus, for he has only lately grown
up, and his mother never permitted him to give orders to
the female servants. And now let me go upstairs and tell
your wife."

"Do not wake her yet," answered Ulysses, "but send the 430
guilty women to me."

Then he called Telemachus, Eumæus, and Philœtius. 435
"Begin," he said, "to remove the dead bodies, and make
the women help you. Also get sponges and clean water
to swill down the tables and the seats. When you have
thoroughly cleansed the cloisters take the women outside
and run them through with your swords."

The women came down weeping and wailing bitterly. 446
First they carried the dead bodies out, and propped them
against one another in the gatehouse of the outer court.
Ulysses ordered them about and saw that they lost no
time. When they had carried the bodies out they cleaned
all the tables and seats with sponges and water, while
Telemachus and the two others shovelled up the blood
and dirt from the ground and the women carried it all
outside. When they had thus thoroughly cleaned the whole
court, they took the women out and hemmed them up in the
narrow space between the vaulted room and the wall of the
outer yard. Here Telemachus determined to hang them, as
a more dishonourable death than stabbing. He therefore 462
made a ship's rope fast to a strong bearing-post
supporting the roof of the vaulted room, and threw it
round, making the women put their heads in the nooses one
after another. He then drew the rope high up, so that
none of their feet might touch the ground. They kicked
convulsively for a while, but not for very long.

As for Melanthius they took him through the cloisters 474
into the outer court. There they cut off his nose and
ears; they drew out his vitals and gave them to the dogs,
raw; then they cut off his hands and feet. When they had
done this they washed their hands and feet, and went
back into the house. "Go," said Ulysses, to Euryclea,
"and bring me sulphur that I may burn it and purify the
cloisters. Go, moreover, and bid Penelope come here with
her gentlewomen and the women of the house."

"Let me first bring you a clean shirt and cloak," said 485
Euryclea, "do not keep those rags on any longer, it is
not right."

"Light me a fire," answered Ulysses, and she obeyed and 490
brought him sulphur, wherewith he thoroughly purified
both the inner and outer court, as well as the cloisters.
Then Euryclea brought the women from their apartment,
and they pressed round Ulysses, kissing his head and
shoulders, and taking hold of his hands. It made him feel
as if he should like to weep, for he remembered every one
of them.