Odyssey, Book 20: Omens Before the Contest
Homer · Greek original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 20 compresses the last night and feast before the killing into a study of restraint, signs, labor, and misread knowledge. Odysseus’ heart strains toward immediate violence, yet self-address, remembered escape, tactical calculation, Athena’s reassurance, and divine sleep hold action back. Penelope wakes as he sleeps; her prayer, Pandareus exemplum, and dream remain her own speech, while Odysseus mistakes her cry for recognition. His request for paired confirmation receives Zeus’ thunder and the exhausted mill worker’s wish that the suitors consume their last meal. Dawn then exposes the household as a system of unequal work and contested allegiance: Eurycleia directs enslaved women, Eumaeus offers humane regard, Melanthius renews abuse, and Philoetius balances loyalty against the unbearable cost of serving men who consume another household. The feast joins ritual vocabulary and measured portions to inverted hospitality. Telemachus protects the guest and asserts maturity, Athena sharpens the suitors’ offense, and Ctesippus turns a guest-gift into an ox-foot assault. Agelaus’ marriage pressure and Telemachus’ refusal of compulsory expulsion lead into bodily derangement and Theoclymenus’ vision of blood, darkness, and rushing phantoms. The seer leaves for Peiraeus; the suitors answer prophecy with mockery and a sale threat. Across the hall Penelope hears, Telemachus watches, and the narrator closes by assigning future action to goddess and man without erasing the suitors’ prior choices.
Narrative arc
- Odysseus restrains immediate violence through self-address and remembered endurance
- Athena answers his practical fears and imposes restorative sleep
- Penelope prays, tells the Pandareus story, and reports a dream
- Odysseus misreads her cry and requests paired signs
- Zeus’ thunder and the mill worker’s utterance converge on the last feast
- morning labor reveals hierarchy, skill, exhaustion, and divided loyalty
- Eumaeus, Melanthius, and Philoetius greet the disguised master differently
- Odysseus binds a return promise to Zeus, the guest-table, and the hearth
- an eagle halts the Telemachus plot as the feast begins
- Telemachus protects the stranger while Athena lets abuse intensify
- Ctesippus’ ox-foot assault produces Telemachus’ public counter-threat
- marriage pressure gives way to deranged laughter and prophetic darkness
- Theoclymenus leaves, the suitors mock both guests, and Penelope listens
Central themes
- bodily restraint, endurance, and delayed violence
- dream, prayer, sign, omen, prophecy, and inference as distinct knowledge forms
- divine agency beside mortal planning, responsibility, and consequence
- oikos as household, property, labor system, authority, and restored place
- guest-host reciprocity, feast shares, guest-gifts, abuse, and sale
- loyalty and disloyalty within unequal household status
- Telemachus’ maturity, protection, threat, and refusal of compulsion
- contextual thumos, phrenes, kradiē, noos, and noēma
- formulaic recurrence with changed speaker, scene, and ethical pressure
- ritual and meat vocabulary at the threshold of killing
Odysseus restrains his heart and recalls the Cyclops 20.1–24
1αὐτὰρ ὁ ἐν προδόμῳ εὐνάζετο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς·
κὰμ μὲν ἀδέψητον βοέην στόρεσʼ, αὐτὰρ ὕπερθε
κώεα πόλλʼ ὀΐων, τοὺς ἱρεύεσκον Ἀχαιοί·
Εὐρυνόμη δʼ ἄρʼ ἐπὶ χλαῖναν βάλε κοιμηθέντι.
5ἔνθʼ Ὀδυσεὺς μνηστῆρσι κακὰ φρονέων ἐνὶ θυμῷ
κεῖτʼ ἐγρηγορόων· ταὶ δʼ ἐκ μεγάροιο γυναῖκες
ἤϊσαν, αἳ μνηστῆρσιν ἐμισγέσκοντο πάρος περ,
ἀλλήλῃσι γέλω τε καὶ εὐφροσύνην παρέχουσαι.
τοῦ δʼ ὠρίνετο θυμὸς ἐνὶ στήθεσσι φίλοισι·
10πολλὰ δὲ μερμήριζε κατὰ φρένα καὶ κατὰ θυμόν,
ἠὲ μεταΐξας θάνατον τεύξειεν ἑκάστῃ,
ἦ ἔτʼ ἐῷ μνηστῆρσιν ὑπερφιάλοισι μιγῆναι
ὕστατα καὶ πύματα, κραδίη δέ οἱ ἔνδον ὑλάκτει.
ὡς δὲ κύων ἀμαλῇσι περὶ σκυλάκεσσι βεβῶσα
15ἄνδρʼ ἀγνοιήσασʼ ὑλάει μέμονέν τε μάχεσθαι,
ὥς ῥα τοῦ ἔνδον ὑλάκτει ἀγαιομένου κακὰ ἔργα·
στῆθος δὲ πλήξας κραδίην ἠνίπαπε μύθῳ·
τέτλαθι δή, κραδίη· καὶ κύντερον ἄλλο ποτʼ ἔτλης.
ἤματι τῷ ὅτε μοι μένος ἄσχετος ἤσθιε Κύκλωψ
20ἰφθίμους ἑτάρους· σὺ δʼ ἐτόλμας, ὄφρα σε μῆτις
ἐξάγαγʼ ἐξ ἄντροιο ὀϊόμενον θανέεσθαι.
ὣς ἔφατʼ, ἐν στήθεσσι καθαπτόμενος φίλον ἦτορ·
τῷ δὲ μάλʼ ἐν πείσῃ κραδίη μένε τετληυῖα
νωλεμέως· ἀτὰρ αὐτὸς ἑλίσσετο ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα.
1But godlike Odysseus lay down in the forecourt.
He spread an untanned oxhide beneath him, and above it
many fleeces from sheep the Achaeans used to slaughter.
Eurynome threw a cloak over him when he lay down.
5There Odysseus lay awake, planning evil for the suitors
within his heart. Out of the hall came the women
who had long been sleeping with the suitors,
bringing one another laughter and delight.
The spirit stirred within his breast,
10and he debated much in mind and heart:
whether to rush after them and deal death to each,
or let them join the overbearing suitors
one last, final time. His heart barked within him.
As a bitch standing over her tender puppies
15barks at a stranger and strains to fight,
so his heart barked within him, outraged by their foul acts.
He struck his breast and rebuked his heart:
‘Endure, my heart. You once endured a fouler thing—
that day the Cyclops, whose fury knew no bounds, devoured
20my strong companions. Still you endured until strategy
led you from the cave when you expected death.’
So he spoke, checking the dear heart in his breast.
His heart stayed firmly obedient, enduring
without cease; but he himself kept turning side to side.
Commentary
The disguised Odysseus lies on one untanned oxhide and fleeces from sheep the Achaeans slaughtered while women leave the hall. Anger at their conduct makes his heart bark like a mother dog, but he rebukes it with the memory of surviving the Cyclops until strategy opened escape.
20.1–4 The last night begins by placing the disguised master in the forecourt on one hide and multiple fleeces. Odysseus lies in the forecourt on one untanned oxhide and fleeces from sheep the Achaeans have slaughtered. Eurynome covers him after he settles, so concealment is sustained through a household woman’s practical care before the narrator turns inward.
20.5–10 Odysseus’ response to the women is distributed across thumos, breast, phrenes, and deliberation rather than one stable modern faculty. The narrator first places his destructive planning in thumos, then describes the same faculty stirring inside the breast and pairs phrenes with thumos as he considers alternatives. The women’s laughter and relations with the suitors occasion this movement, but the syntax does not supply one condition or motive for every woman.
20.11–16 The guarding-bitch comparison converts an unexecuted killing impulse into repeated inward barking. The alternatives of immediate death or one final encounter lead to the first bark of the heart. The simile then expands through a mother dog standing over tender puppies, facing an unknown man, and straining to fight before returning to Odysseus’ inward outrage; repetition delays action while keeping it violent.
20.17–24 Odysseus restrains his heart by making remembered endurance serve present strategy. He strikes his breast, addresses the heart directly, and recalls the Cyclops consuming his companions. In that memory endurance lasted until mētis brought escape; now the heart obeys while the body continues to turn, so control is achieved but not bodily ease.
Athena answers Odysseus’ night fears and sends sleep 20.25–55
25ὡς δʼ ὅτε γαστέρʼ ἀνὴρ πολέος πυρὸς αἰθομένοιο,
ἐμπλείην κνίσης τε καὶ αἵματος, ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα
αἰόλλῃ, μάλα δʼ ὦκα λιλαίεται ὀπτηθῆναι,
ὣς ἄρʼ ὅ γʼ ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα ἑλίσσετο, μερμηρίζων
ὅππως δὴ μνηστῆρσιν ἀναιδέσι χεῖρας ἐφήσει
30μοῦνος ἐὼν πολέσι. σχεδόθεν δέ οἱ ἦλθεν Ἀθήνη
οὐρανόθεν καταβᾶσα· δέμας δʼ ἤϊκτο γυναικί·
στῆ δʼ ἄρʼ ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς καί μιν πρὸς μῦθον ἔειπε·
τίπτʼ αὖτʼ ἐγρήσσεις, πάντων περὶ κάμμορε φωτῶν;
οἶκος μέν τοι ὅδʼ ἐστί, γυνὴ δέ τοι ἥδʼ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ
35καὶ, πάϊς, οἷόν πού τις ἐέλδεται ἔμμεναι υἷα.
τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
ναὶ δὴ ταῦτά γε πάντα, θεά, κατὰ μοῖραν ἔειπες·
ἀλλά τί μοι τόδε θυμὸς ἐνὶ φρεσὶ μερμηρίζει,
ὅππως δὴ μνηστῆρσιν ἀναιδέσι χεῖρας ἐφήσω,
40μοῦνος ἐών· οἱ δʼ αἰὲν ἀολλέες ἔνδον ἔασι.
πρὸς δʼ ἔτι καὶ τόδε μεῖζον ἐνὶ φρεσὶ μερμηρίζω·
εἴ περ γὰρ κτείναιμι Διός τε σέθεν τε ἕκητι,
πῆ κεν ὑπεκπροφύγοιμι; τά σε φράζεσθαι ἄνωγα.
τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη·
45σχέτλιε, καὶ μέν τίς τε χερείονι πείθεθʼ ἑταίρῳ,
ὅς περ θνητός τʼ ἐστὶ καὶ οὐ τόσα μήδεα οἶδεν·
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ θεός εἰμι, διαμπερὲς ἥ σε φυλάσσω
ἐν πάντεσσι πόνοις. ἐρέω δέ τοι ἐξαναφανδόν·
εἴ περ πεντήκοντα λόχοι μερόπων ἀνθρώπων
50νῶϊ περισταῖεν, κτεῖναι μεμαῶτες Ἄρηϊ,
καί κεν τῶν ἐλάσαιο βόας καὶ ἴφια μῆλα.
ἀλλʼ ἑλέτω σε καὶ ὕπνος· ἀνίη καὶ τὸ φυλάσσειν
πάννυχον ἐγρήσσοντα, κακῶν δʼ ὑποδύσεαι ἤδη.
ὣς φάτο, καί ῥά οἱ ὕπνον ἐπὶ βλεφάροισιν ἔχευεν,
55αὐτὴ δʼ ἂψ ἐς Ὄλυμπον ἀφίκετο δῖα θεάων.
25As when a man beside a blazing fire rolls
a paunch stuffed full of fat and blood from side to side,
longing to have it roasted very soon,
so Odysseus rolled this way and that, pondering
how he might lay his hands upon the shameless suitors,
30one man against so many. Athena came near him,
descending from heaven in the likeness of a woman.
She stood above his head and spoke to him:
‘Why are you still awake, most wretched of all men?
Here is your house, here is your wife within it,
35and your son is all anyone could wish a son to be.’
Resourceful Odysseus answered her:
‘Yes, goddess, all that you have said is right.
But this is what my heart keeps pondering within me:
how I shall lay my hands upon the shameless suitors,
40one man alone, while they are always packed inside.
And this still greater matter occupies my mind:
even if I kill them through the will of Zeus and you,
how can I escape afterward? I urge you to consider that.’
The goddess, bright-eyed Athena, answered him:
45‘Obstinate man, one trusts even a weaker companion,
a mortal who knows far fewer counsels than I.
But I am a god, and I guard you continually
through every trial. I will tell you plainly:
even if fifty companies of mortal men
50surrounded us, eager to kill us in battle,
you could still drive off their cattle and sturdy sheep.
But let sleep take you too. Keeping watch
and waking all night is weary work; soon you will slip free of trouble.’
So she spoke and poured sleep over his eyelids;
55then the noble goddess returned to Olympus.
Commentary
A roasting-paunch comparison makes Odysseus’ sleepless calculation bodily before Athena approaches in female form. He asks both how one man can kill many and how he can survive the aftermath; she answers with divine protection, then imposes sleep.
20.25–31 A roasting-paunch simile makes tactical impatience visceral before Athena appears. The comparison turns from fire to a casing filled with blood and fat, repeated rolling, and eagerness for rapid roasting. Its return to Odysseus transfers the side-to-side motion and urgent anticipation to one man calculating how to attack many; Athena’s descent interrupts that suspended action.
20.32–36 A recurrent Odyssean answer formula follows Athena’s compressed inventory of restored household relations. Athena stands above Odysseus and names house, wife, and son before the answer line identifies him through polymētis. Line 20.36 is byte-exact with twelve prior response lines and punctuation-normalized with three more; here the inherited turn-taking formula moves from divine reassurance into a practical objection.
20.37–43 Odysseus separates authorization for killing from the problem of surviving its aftermath. He accepts Athena’s account, then poses two questions: how one man can reach the gathered suitors and how he can escape even if Zeus and Athena enable their deaths. The second problem enlarges revenge beyond the hall and makes mortal planning persist inside divine support.
20.44–51 Athena’s answer formula carries an established epithet into a deliberately extravagant assurance of protection. Line 20.44 is byte-identical with Athena’s reply at 13.236 and 13.361. The local speech contrasts trust in a weaker mortal companion with her continuous divine guardianship, then imagines fifty hostile companies and the seizure of their herds; recurrence frames the response, while scale belongs to this reassurance.
20.52–55 Athena ends deliberation by making sleep an explicit divine action. She calls all-night watchfulness wearisome, says trouble is nearing its end, and pours sleep over Odysseus’ eyelids before returning to Olympus. The passage grants bodily recovery through intervention rather than through the completion of his strategic questions.
Penelope prays for death and recalls Pandareus’ daughters 20.56–82
56εὖτε τὸν ὕπνος ἔμαρπτε, λύων μελεδήματα θυμοῦ,
λυσιμελής, ἄλοχος δʼ ἄρʼ ἐπέγρετο κεδνὰ ἰδυῖα·
κλαῖε δʼ ἄρʼ ἐν λέκτροισι καθεζομένη μαλακοῖσιν.
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ κλαίουσα κορέσσατο ὃν κατὰ θυμόν,
60Ἀρτέμιδι πρώτιστον ἐπεύξατο δῖα γυναικῶν·
Ἄρτεμι, πότνα θεά, θύγατερ Διός, αἴθε μοι ἤδη
ἰὸν ἐνὶ στήθεσσι βαλοῦσʼ ἐκ θυμὸν ἕλοιο
αὐτίκα νῦν, ἢ ἔπειτα μʼ ἀναρπάξασα θύελλα
οἴχοιτο προφέρουσα κατʼ ἠερόεντα κέλευθα,
65ἐν προχοῇς δὲ βάλοι ἀψορρόου Ὠκεανοῖο.
ὡς δʼ ὅτε Πανδαρέου κούρας ἀνέλοντο θύελλαι·
τῇσι τοκῆας μὲν φθῖσαν θεοί, αἱ δʼ ἐλίποντο
ὀρφαναὶ ἐν μεγάροισι, κόμισσε δὲ δῖʼ Ἀφροδίτη
τυρῷ καὶ μέλιτι γλυκερῷ καὶ ἡδέϊ οἴνῳ·
70Ἥρη δʼ αὐτῇσιν περὶ πασέων δῶκε γυναικῶν
εἶδος καὶ πινυτήν, μῆκος δʼ ἔπορʼ Ἄρτεμις ἁγνή,
ἔργα δʼ Ἀθηναίη δέδαε κλυτὰ ἐργάζεσθαι.
εὖτʼ Ἀφροδίτη δῖα προσέστιχε μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον,
κούρῃς αἰτήσουσα τέλος θαλεροῖο γάμοιο—
75ἐς Δία τερπικέραυνον, ὁ γάρ τʼ εὖ οἶδεν ἅπαντα,
μοῖράν τʼ ἀμμορίην τε καταθνητῶν ἀνθρώπων—
τόφρα δὲ τὰς κούρας ἅρπυιαι ἀνηρείψαντο
καί ῥʼ ἔδοσαν στυγερῇσιν ἐρινύσιν ἀμφιπολεύειν·
ὣς ἔμʼ ἀϊστώσειαν Ὀλύμπια δώματʼ ἔχοντες,
80ἠέ μʼ ἐϋπλόκαμος βάλοι Ἄρτεμις, ὄφρʼ Ὀδυσῆα
ὀσσομένη καὶ γαῖαν ὕπο στυγερὴν ἀφικοίμην,
μηδέ τι χείρονος ἀνδρὸς ἐϋφραίνοιμι νόημα.
56While sleep seized him, easing the cares of his heart,
loosening his limbs, his loyal wife awoke.
She sat upon her soft bed and wept.
When her weeping had satisfied her heart,
60the noble woman first prayed to Artemis:
‘Artemis, sovereign goddess, daughter of Zeus—if only now
you would strike an arrow into my breast and take my life
this very instant, or else a storm wind might snatch me up
and bear me along the misty pathways,
65then cast me where Ocean’s backward-flowing waters pour.
So the storm winds once carried off Pandareus’ daughters.
The gods had killed their parents, leaving the girls
orphans in their halls, but noble Aphrodite nurtured them
with cheese, sweet honey, and pleasant wine.
70Hera gave them beauty and wisdom beyond all women;
pure Artemis gave them stature,
and Athena taught them to make splendid works.
But while noble Aphrodite went to high Olympus
to ask for the girls the fulfillment of flourishing marriage—
75appealing to Zeus who delights in thunder, for he knows all things,
the allotted and unallotted fate of mortal people—
the Harpies meanwhile swept the girls away
and gave them to the hateful Furies as servants.
So may the gods who hold Olympus make me vanish,
80or may fair-haired Artemis strike me, so that with Odysseus
before my eyes I may pass beneath the hateful earth,
and never gladden the heart of some lesser man.
Commentary
As Odysseus sleeps, Penelope wakes and asks Artemis or a storm to remove her before remarriage to a lesser man. Her exemplum of Pandareus’ orphaned daughters joins divine nurture and gifts to interrupted marriage and service under the Furies.
20.56–60 The spouses’ vigils cross without meeting: divine sleep takes Odysseus as Penelope wakes to grief. Sleep loosens Odysseus’ limbs and eases the cares of thumos at the exact transition to his loyal wife’s waking. Penelope sits on her bed, weeps until emotionally sated, and turns first to Artemis; proximity and parallel embodiment heighten separation rather than recognition.
20.61–65 Penelope’s prayer seeks death through two different divine-natural routes rather than consent to remarriage. She asks Artemis for an immediate arrow to the breast or a storm to carry her along misty paths and deposit her at Ocean’s backward-flowing outlet. The alternatives join direct divine killing to removal from the human marriage field without asserting that either occurs.
20.66–78 Penelope’s Pandareus exemplum moves from orphan care and divine gifts to an interrupted marriage settlement and compulsory service. The gods kill the parents; Aphrodite nourishes the daughters, Hera grants beauty and practical intelligence, Artemis stature, and Athena skilled work. While Aphrodite seeks fulfilled marriages from Zeus, Harpies seize the women and assign them to serve the Furies, making divine benefaction no guarantee of a desired human completion.
20.79–82 Penelope closes the exemplum by preferring disappearance or death to delighting a lesser husband. She asks the Olympians to erase her or Artemis to send her below while her inward vision remains fixed on Odysseus. The final comparison between husbands belongs to her grief and evaluative speech; it expresses resistance to the available remarriage rather than knowledge of Odysseus nearby.
Penelope recounts her dream, and Odysseus asks for signs 20.83–101
83ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν καὶ ἀνεκτὸν ἔχει κακόν, ὁππότε κέν τις
ἤματα μὲν κλαίῃ, πυκινῶς ἀκαχήμενος ἦτορ,
85νύκτας δʼ ὕπνος ἔχῃσιν—ὁ γάρ τʼ ἐπέλησεν ἁπάντων,
ἐσθλῶν ἠδὲ κακῶν, ἐπεὶ ἄρ βλέφαρʼ ἀμφικαλύψῃ—
αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ καὶ ὀνείρατʼ ἐπέσσευεν κακὰ δαίμων.
τῇδε γὰρ αὖ μοι νυκτὶ παρέδραθεν εἴκελος αὐτῷ,
τοῖος ἐὼν οἷος ᾖεν ἅμα στρατῷ· αὐτὰρ ἐμὸν κῆρ
90χαῖρʼ, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἐφάμην ὄναρ ἔμμεναι, ἀλλʼ ὕπαρ ἤδη.
ὣς ἔφατʼ, αὐτίκα δὲ χρυσόθρονος ἤλυθεν Ἠώς.
τῆς δʼ ἄρα κλαιούσης ὄπα σύνθετο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς·
μερμήριζε δʼ ἔπειτα, δόκησε δέ οἱ κατὰ θυμὸν
ἤδη γιγνώσκουσα παρεστάμεναι κεφαλῆφι.
95χλαῖναν μὲν συνελὼν καὶ κώεα, τοῖσιν ἐνεῦδεν,
ἐς μέγαρον κατέθηκεν ἐπὶ θρόνου, ἐκ δὲ βοείην
θῆκε θύραζε φέρων, Διὶ δʼ εὔξατο χεῖρας ἀνασχών·
Ζεῦ πάτερ, εἴ μʼ ἐθέλοντες ἐπὶ τραφερήν τε καὶ ὑγρὴν
ἤγετʼ ἐμὴν ἐς γαῖαν, ἐπεί μʼ ἐκακώσατε λίην,
100φήμην τίς μοι φάσθω ἐγειρομένων ἀνθρώπων
ἔνδοθεν, ἔκτοσθεν δὲ Διὸς τέρας ἄλλο φανήτω.
83Yet this is an evil one can bear: when someone
weeps by day with the heart crushed by sorrow,
85but sleep holds them at night—for sleep makes one forget everything,
good and evil alike, once it closes round the eyelids.
But some god has sent me cruel dreams as well.
Tonight a man like him again slept beside me,
looking as he did when he left with the army; and my heart
90rejoiced, for I thought it no dream but waking truth.’
So she spoke, and at once Dawn came, enthroned in gold.
Godlike Odysseus heard the sound of her weeping.
Then he pondered, and it seemed to him in his heart
that she had already recognized him and stood beside his head.
95He gathered the cloak and fleeces on which he had slept
and set them on a chair inside the hall; he carried
the oxhide outside, then raised his hands and prayed to Zeus:
‘Father Zeus, if by your will you brought me over dry land and sea
to my own country after afflicting me so sorely,
100let someone among the people waking inside speak an omen for me,
and let another sign from Zeus appear outside.’
Commentary
Penelope contrasts daytime grief with sleep’s relief, then reports a dream whose likeness felt wakingly real. Odysseus hears her crying, infers too much about recognition, clears his bedding, and asks Zeus for one utterance inside and one sign outside.
20.83–90 Penelope’s dream offers emotional wakingness without stable knowledge. She first calls daytime grief bearable when night sleep erases both good and evil, then says a daimōn has sent painful dreams. The latest figure resembles Odysseus as he left for war and sleeps beside her; her heart rejoices because the experience seems waking, but she reports it afterward as a dream.
20.91–97 A recurrent dawn line frames Odysseus’ hopeful but mistaken enlargement of what Penelope knows. Line 20.91 is byte-exact with 10.541, 12.142, and 15.56, placing the familiar dawn formula at the turn from Penelope’s speech to Odysseus’ hearing. He infers recognition and imagined bodily nearness, while his actual next acts are to gather the bedding, move the hide, and pray.
20.98–101 Odysseus asks Zeus for a deliberately paired confirmation, one human utterance within and one divine sign without. The prayer conditionally credits divine will for bringing him across land and sea while also naming excessive affliction. Its requested evidence is architected across the household boundary: speech from a waking person indoors and a separate sign of Zeus outdoors.
Zeus thunders, and the mill woman speaks an omen 20.102–121
102ὣς ἔφατʼ εὐχόμενος· τοῦ δʼ ἔκλυε μητίετα Ζεύς,
αὐτίκα δʼ ἐβρόντησεν ἀπʼ αἰγλήεντος Ὀλύμπου,
ὑψόθεν ἐκ νεφέων· γήθησε δὲ δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς.
105φήμην δʼ ἐξ οἴκοιο γυνὴ προέηκεν ἀλετρὶς
πλησίον, ἔνθʼ ἄρα οἱ μύλαι ἥατο ποιμένι λαῶν,
τῇσιν δώδεκα πᾶσαι ἐπερρώοντο γυναῖκες
ἄλφιτα τεύχουσαι καὶ ἀλείατα, μυελὸν ἀνδρῶν.
αἱ μὲν ἄρʼ ἄλλαι εὗδον, ἐπεὶ κατὰ πυρὸν ἄλεσσαν,
110ἡ δὲ μίʼ οὔπω παύετʼ, ἀφαυροτάτη δʼ ἐτέτυκτο·
ἥ ῥα μύλην στήσασα ἔπος φάτο, σῆμα ἄνακτι·
Ζεῦ πάτερ, ὅς τε θεοῖσι καὶ ἀνθρώποισιν ἀνάσσεις,
ἦ μεγάλʼ ἐβρόντησας ἀπʼ οὐρανοῦ ἀστερόεντος,
οὐδέ ποθι νέφος ἐστί· τέρας νύ τεῳ τόδε φαίνεις.
115κρῆνον νῦν καὶ ἐμοὶ δειλῇ ἔπος, ὅττι κεν εἴπω·
μνηστῆρες πύματόν τε καὶ ὕστατον ἤματι τῷδε
ἐν μεγάροις Ὀδυσῆος ἑλοίατο δαῖτʼ ἐρατεινήν,
οἳ δή μοι καμάτῳ θυμαλγέι· γούνατʼ ἔλυσαν
ἄλφιτα τευχούσῃ· νῦν ὕστατα δειπνήσειαν.
120ὣς ἄρʼ ἔφη, χαῖρεν δὲ κλεηδόνι δῖος Ὀδυσσεὺς
Ζηνός τε βροντῇ· φάτο γὰρ τίσασθαι ἀλείτας.
102So he prayed, and Zeus the counselor heard him.
At once he thundered from shining Olympus,
high out of the clouds, and godlike Odysseus rejoiced.
105A woman grinding nearby sent a spoken omen from the house,
where the mills belonging to the shepherd of the people stood.
At them twelve women in all were busily working,
making barley meal and flour, the marrow of men.
The others were asleep, for they had ground their measure of grain;
110but one had not yet stopped—she was the weakest.
She halted her mill and spoke a word, a sign for her king:
‘Father Zeus, who rule over gods and human beings,
how mightily you thundered from the starry sky,
though nowhere is there a cloud! You are showing someone a sign.
115Now fulfill for wretched me as well the word I speak:
on this day may the suitors take their last
and final pleasant feast in Odysseus’ halls—
they who with heart-rending labor have loosened my knees
as I make their meal. May this be their last dinner.’
120So she spoke. Godlike Odysseus rejoiced in the omen
and the thunder of Zeus, believing he would punish the guilty.
Commentary
Zeus answers with thunder, and a mill worker supplies the requested indoor word. Exhausted after the other women have completed their measure, she asks that the meal produced by her labor become the suitors’ last; Odysseus treats both signs as favorable.
20.102–104 The narrator presents Zeus’ thunder as an immediate answer before any human interpretation is added. Counseling Zeus hears the prayer and thunders from Olympus; only then does Odysseus rejoice. The clear-sky anomaly is supplied by the mill worker in the next range, so the divine act, its human perception, and its verbal interpretation remain sequential.
20.105–110 The indoor sign rises from unequal exhaustion in the household’s grain labor. Twelve women work at the royal mills producing barley meal and flour, called human marrow. The others sleep after completing their assigned measure, but the weakest remains at work, so her interpretive speech emerges from a body pressed beyond the rest rather than from elite leisure.
20.111–121 The mill worker becomes the requested sign by translating thunder through her own labor grievance. She stops the mill, recognizes cloudless thunder as a sign for someone, and asks Zeus to fulfill her word: the suitors’ final feast should be the food whose grinding has broken her strength. The narrator calls the utterance a sign for the king, while Odysseus combines it with Zeus’ thunder and anticipates punishment.
Telemachus questions Eurycleia about the stranger’s care 20.122–146
122αἱ δʼ ἄλλαι δμῳαὶ κατὰ δώματα κάλʼ Ὀδυσῆος
ἀγρόμεναι ἀνέκαιον ἐπʼ ἐσχάρῃ ἀκάματον πῦρ.
Τηλέμαχος δʼ εὐνῆθεν ἀνίστατο, ἰσόθεος φώς,
125εἵματα ἑσσάμενος· περὶ δὲ ξίφος ὀξὺ θέτʼ ὤμῳ·
ποσσὶ δʼ ὑπὸ λιπαροῖσιν ἐδήσατο καλὰ πέδιλα,
εἵλετο δʼ ἄλκιμον ἔγχος, ἀκαχμένον ὀξέι· χαλκῷ·
στῆ δʼ ἄρʼ ἐπʼ οὐδὸν ἰών, πρὸς δʼ Εὐρύκλειαν ἔειπε·
μαῖα φίλη, τὸν ξεῖνον ἐτιμήσασθʼ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ
130εὐνῇ καὶ σίτῳ, ἦ αὔτως κεῖται ἀκηδής;
τοιαύτη γὰρ ἐμὴ μήτηρ, πινυτή περ ἐοῦσα·
ἐμπλήγδην ἕτερόν γε τίει μερόπων ἀνθρώπων
χείρονα, τὸν δέ τʼ ἀρείονʼ ἀτιμήσασʼ ἀποπέμπει.
τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε περίφρων Εὐρύκλεια·
135οὐκ ἄν μιν νῦν, τέκνον, ἀναίτιον αἰτιόῳο.
οἶνον μὲν γὰρ πῖνε καθήμενος, ὄφρʼ ἔθελʼ αὐτός,
σίτου δʼ οὐκέτʼ ἔφη πεινήμεναι· εἴρετο γάρ μιν.
ἀλλʼ ὅτε δὴ κοίτοιο καὶ ὕπνου μιμνήσκοιτο,
ἡ μὲν δέμνιʼ ἄνωγεν ὑποστορέσαι δμῳῇσιν,
140αὐτὰρ ὅ γʼ, ὥς τις πάμπαν ὀϊζυρὸς καὶ ἄποτμος,
οὐκ ἔθελʼ ἐν λέκτροισι καὶ ἐν ῥήγεσσι καθεύδειν,
ἀλλʼ ἐν ἀδεψήτῳ βοέῃ καὶ κώεσιν οἰῶν
ἔδραθʼ ἐνὶ προδόμῳ· χλαῖναν δʼ ἐπιέσσαμεν ἡμεῖς.
ὣς φάτο, Τηλέμαχος δὲ διὲκ μεγάροιο βεβήκει
145ἔγχος ἔχων, ἅμα τῷ γε δύω κύνες ἀργοὶ ἕποντο.
βῆ δʼ ἴμεν εἰς ἀγορὴν μετʼ ἐϋκνήμιδας Ἀχαιούς.
122The other enslaved women gathered through Odysseus’ fine house
and rekindled the tireless fire upon the hearth.
Telemachus, a man like a god, rose from his bed
125and put on his clothes. He slung a sharp sword round his shoulder,
Under his shining feet he bound his fine sandals,
and took his stout spear, sharpened with bronze.
He went and stood upon the threshold, then addressed Eurycleia:
‘Dear nurse, did you honor the stranger in the house
130with a bed and food, or is he lying there neglected?
My mother can be like that, for all her wisdom:
without thinking, she may honor one mortal man
who is worse, then send the better man away dishonored.’
Discerning Eurycleia answered him:
135‘Child, do not blame her now when she is guiltless.
He sat and drank wine for as long as he wished,
but said he was no longer hungry for food when she asked him.
When he began to think of bed and sleep,
she ordered the enslaved women to spread bedding for him;
140but he, like a man utterly wretched and ill-fated,
would not sleep upon a bed under coverlets.
On an untanned oxhide and the fleeces of sheep
he slept in the forecourt, and we laid a cloak over him.’
So she spoke. Telemachus went out through the hall
145with spear in hand, and two swift dogs followed him.
He went to the assembly of the well-greaved Achaeans.
Commentary
Enslaved women rekindle the hearth as Telemachus arms himself and questions Eurycleia about the guest. His concern is mixed with a reckless charge against Penelope; Eurycleia corrects him and recounts the offered food, bedding, and the stranger’s refusal of a proper bed.
20.122–128 Telemachus’ morning arming combines established equipment formulas with an explicitly enslaved household awakening. Enslaved women rekindle the hearth before Telemachus dresses, takes sword, sandals, and bronze-pointed spear, then stands at the threshold. Line 20.126 is byte-exact with 2.4 and 4.309; the clothing and spear lines have punctuation-normalized comparanda, placing familiar heroic preparation inside domestic labor.
20.129–135 Telemachus’ concern for the guest is undercut by a hasty accusation that Eurycleia immediately corrects. He asks whether the stranger received food and bed, then claims that even a wise mother may honor a worse man and dismiss a better one. Eurycleia answers with her own discerning epithet and tells him not to blame Penelope when she is without fault.
20.136–143 Eurycleia’s report separates offered care from the disguised guest’s deliberate refusal of comfort. She says he chose how long to drink, declined more food, and was offered bedding through Penelope’s command to enslaved women. His decision to sleep on hide and fleeces in the forecourt produces the collective household act of covering him without revealing his motive.
20.144–146 A compact departure formula moves Telemachus from domestic inquiry to the Achaean assembly. Line 20.144 is byte-exact with 19.47, while 20.145 is punctuation-normalized with 17.62. The repeated movement through the hall now carries spear and two swift dogs toward the assembly, linking prior household action to a public destination.
Eurycleia directs the household preparations 20.147–164
147ἡ δʼ αὖτε δμῳῇσιν ἐκέκλετο δῖα γυναικῶν,
Εὐρύκλειʼ, Ὦπος θυγάτηρ Πεισηνορίδαο·
ἀγρεῖθʼ, αἱ μὲν δῶμα κορήσατε ποιπνύσασαι,
150ῥάσσατέ τʼ, ἔν τε θρόνοις εὐποιήτοισι τάπητας
βάλλετε πορφυρέους· αἱ δὲ σπόγγοισι τραπέζας
πάσας ἀμφιμάσασθε, καθήρατε δὲ κρητῆρας
καὶ δέπα ἀμφικύπελλα τετυγμένα· ταὶ δὲ μεθʼ ὕδωρ
ἔρχεσθε κρήνηνδε, καὶ οἴσετε θᾶσσον ἰοῦσαι.
155οὐ γὰρ δὴν μνηστῆρες ἀπέσσονται μεγάροιο,
ἀλλὰ μάλʼ ἦρι νέονται, ἐπεὶ καὶ πᾶσιν ἑορτή.
ὣς ἔφαθʼ, αἱ δʼ ἄρα τῆς μάλα μὲν κλύον ἠδʼ ἐπίθοντο.
αἱ μὲν ἐείκοσι βῆσαν ἐπὶ κρήνην μελάνυδρον,
αἱ δʼ αὐτοῦ κατὰ δώματʼ ἐπισταμένως πονέοντο.
160ἐς δʼ ἦλθον δρηστῆρες Ἀχαιῶν. οἱ μὲν ἔπειτα
εὖ καὶ ἐπισταμένως κέασαν ξύλα, ταὶ δὲ γυναῖκες
ἦλθον ἀπὸ κρήνης· ἐπὶ δέ σφισιν ἦλθε συβώτης
τρεῖς σιάλους κατάγων, οἳ ἔσαν μετὰ πᾶσιν ἄριστοι.
καὶ τοὺς μέν ῥʼ εἴασε καθʼ ἕρκεα καλὰ νέμεσθαι,
147Then the noble woman called again to the enslaved women—
Eurycleia, daughter of Ops, Peisenor’s son:
‘Come, some of you hurry to sweep and sprinkle the house
150and spread purple rugs across the well-made chairs.
Others, wipe every table with sponges, clean the mixing bowls
and the fashioned cups with handles on both sides.
The rest, go to the spring for water
and come back quickly with it.
155The suitors will not be away from the hall for long;
they will return very early, since this is a festival for everyone.’
So she spoke, and they listened closely and obeyed.
Twenty of them went to the dark-watered spring;
the others worked skillfully there throughout the house.
160The Achaeans’ serving men came in. Some of them
split wood well and skillfully; then the women
returned from the spring. The swineherd came behind them,
driving three pigs, the finest in all his herd.
He let them graze within the handsome enclosure,
Commentary
Eurycleia coordinates sweeping, sprinkling, textiles, tables, vessels, and water for the festival day. The work is divided among enslaved women and Achaean serving men before Eumaeus arrives with three selected pigs.
20.147–156 Eurycleia exercises real supervisory authority inside a hierarchy of enslaved household work. Named through father and grandfather, she issues differentiated commands for sweeping, sprinkling, textiles, furniture, mixing vessels, cups, and water. The festival and the suitors’ early return create urgency, while the plural imperatives show her authority over workers whose unequal status remains explicit.
20.157–164 Preparations unfold through parallel groups before Eumaeus enters with selected livestock. The women hear and obey; twenty travel to the dark-watered spring while others work skillfully inside. Achaean serving men split wood, the water carriers return, and Eumaeus arrives behind them with the best three pigs, briefly lets the animals graze, and approaches the guest.
Eumaeus greets Odysseus, and Melanthius taunts him 20.165–184
165αὐτὸς δʼ αὖτʼ Ὀδυσῆα προσηύδα μειλιχίοισι·
ξεῖνʼ, ἦ ἄρ τί σε μᾶλλον Ἀχαιοὶ εἰσορόωσιν,
ἦέ σʼ ἀτιμάζουσι κατὰ μέγαρʼ, ὡς τὸ πάρος περ;
τὸν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολυμήτις Ὀδυσσεύς·
αἲ γὰρ δή, Εὔμαιε, θεοὶ τισαίατο λώβην,
170ἣν οἵδʼ ὑβρίζοντες ἀτάσθαλα μηχανόωνται
οἴκῳ ἐν ἀλλοτρίῳ, οὐδʼ αἰδοῦς μοῖραν ἔχουσιν.
ὣς οἱ μὲν τοιαῦτα πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἀγόρευον,
ἀγχίμολον δέ σφʼ ἦλθε Μελάνθιος, αἰπόλος αἰγῶν.
αἶγας ἄγων αἳ πᾶσι μετέρεπον αἰπολίοισι,
175δεῖπνον μνηστήρεσσι. δύω δʼ ἅμʼ ἕποντο νομῆες.
καὶ τὰς μὲν κατέδησεν ὑπʼ αἰθούσῃ ἐριδούπῳ,
αὐτὸς δʼ αὖτʼ Ὀδυσῆα προσηύδα κερτομίοισι·
ξεῖνʼ, ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐνθάδʼ ἀνιήσεις κατὰ δῶμα
ἀνέρας αἰτίζων, ἀτὰρ οὐκ ἔξεισθα θύραζε;
180πάντως οὐκέτι νῶϊ διακρινέεσθαι ὀΐω
πρὶν χειρῶν γεύσασθαι, ἐπεὶ σύ περ οὐ κατὰ κόσμον
αἰτίζεις· εἰσὶν δὲ καὶ ἄλλαι δαῖτες Ἀχαιῶν.
ὣς φάτο, τὸν δʼ οὔ τι προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς,
ἀλλʼ ἀκέων κίνησε κάρη, κακὰ βυσσοδομεύων.
165then addressed Odysseus in friendly words:
‘Stranger, do the Achaeans treat you with more regard now,
or do they still dishonor you throughout the hall as before?’
Resourceful Odysseus answered him:
‘Eumaeus, if only the gods would avenge the outrage
170these men devise in their reckless violence
inside another man’s house, with no share of shame.’
So the two of them spoke together.
Melanthius, the goatherd, came close to them,
driving goats that surpassed all others in the herds
175to make the suitors’ dinner. Two herdsmen followed him.
He tied them beneath the echoing portico,
then addressed Odysseus with taunting words:
‘Stranger, will you still keep troubling the men in this house,
begging from them, and never make your way outside?
180I think we two will surely not part from each other
until we test our hands, since you beg beyond all measure.
There are other feasts among the Achaeans too.’
So he spoke. Resourceful Odysseus gave him no answer,
He silently shook his head, plotting ruin deep within.
Commentary
Eumaeus asks whether the guest is treated with greater regard, prompting Odysseus to condemn outrage inside another man’s house. Melanthius then brings prized goats, threatens a fight, and receives only Odysseus’ silent head movement and concealed planning.
20.165–172 Eumaeus’ humane inquiry leads into a recurrent dialogue close sharpened by the vocabulary of household outrage. He asks whether the Achaeans now show the stranger greater regard; Odysseus answers with a wish that the gods punish lōbē, hybris, and atasthala in another man’s oikos, where the offenders lack a share of aidōs. Line 20.172 is byte-exact with five prior lines and normalized with four more, closing an exchange whose local force is ethical condemnation.
20.173–184 Melanthius’ renewed abuse is answered by the silent-plotting line used for two responses to Antinous’ single assault in Book 17. Melanthius supplies superior goats to the suitors, threatens a physical test, and claims the stranger begs beyond order. Odysseus gives no answer. Line 20.184 is byte-exact with 17.465 and 17.491: the first marks Odysseus’ silence immediately after Antinous strikes him with the footstool, and the second marks Telemachus’ restrained response to that same assault after the suitors react.
Philoetius greets the stranger and laments Odysseus’ absence 20.185–225
185τοῖσι δʼ ἐπὶ τρίτος ἦλθε Φιλοίτιος, ὄρχαμος ἀνδρῶν,
βοῦν στεῖραν μνηστῆρσιν ἄγων καὶ πίονας αἶγας.
πορθμῆες δʼ ἄρα τούς γε διήγαγον, οἵ τε καὶ ἄλλους
ἀνθρώπους πέμπουσιν, ὅτις σφέας εἰσαφίκηται.
καὶ τὰ μὲν εὖ κατέδησεν ὑπʼ αἰθούσῃ ἐριδούπῳ,
190αὐτὸς δʼ αὖτʼ ἐρέεινε συβώτην ἄγχι παραστάς·
τίς δὴ ὅδε ξεῖνος νέον εἰλήλουθε, συβῶτα,
ἡμέτερον πρὸς δῶμα; τέων δʼ ἐξ εὔχεται εἶναι
ἀνδρῶν; ποῦ δέ νύ οἱ γενεὴ καὶ πατρὶς ἄρουρα;
δύσμορος, ἦ τε ἔοικε δέμας βασιλῆϊ ἄνακτι·
195ἀλλὰ θεοὶ δυόωσι πολυπλάγκτους ἀνθρώπους,
ὁππότε καὶ βασιλεῦσιν ἐπικλώσωνται ὀϊζύν.
ἦ καὶ δεξιτερῇ δειδίσκετο χειρὶ παραστάς,
καί μιν φωνήσας ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα·
χαῖρε, πάτερ ὦ ξεῖνε· γένοιτό τοι ἔς περ ὀπίσσω
200ὄλβος· ἀτὰρ μὲν νῦν γε κακοῖς ἔχεαι πολέεσσι.
Ζεῦ πάτερ, οὔ τις σεῖο θεῶν ὀλοώτερος ἄλλος·
οὐκ ἐλεαίρεις ἄνδρας, ἐπὴν δὴ γείνεαι αὐτός,
μισγέμεναι κακότητι καὶ ἄλγεσι λευγαλέοισιν.
ἴδιον, ὡς ἐνόησα, δεδάκρυνται δέ μοι ὄσσε
205μνησαμένῳ Ὀδυσῆος, ἐπεὶ καὶ κεῖνον ὀΐω
τοιάδε λαίφεʼ ἔχοντα κατʼ ἀνθρώπους ἀλάλησθαι,
εἴ που ἔτι ζώει καὶ ὁρᾷ φάος ἠελίοιο.
εἰ δʼ ἤδη τέθνηκε καὶ εἰν Ἀΐδαο δόμοισιν,
ὤ μοι ἔπειτʼ Ὀδυσῆος ἀμύμονος, ὅς μʼ ἐπὶ βουσὶν
210εἷσʼ ἔτι τυτθὸν ἐόντα Κεφαλλήνων ἐνὶ δήμῳ.
νῦν δʼ αἱ μὲν γίγνονται ἀθέσφατοι, οὐδέ κεν ἄλλως
ἀνδρί γʼ ὑποσταχύοιτο βοῶν γένος εὐρυμετώπων·
τὰς δʼ ἄλλοι με κέλονται ἀγινέμεναί σφισιν αὐτοῖς
ἔδμεναι· οὐδέ τι παιδὸς ἐνὶ μεγάροις ἀλέγουσιν,
215οὐδʼ ὄπιδα τρομέουσι θεῶν· μεμάασι γὰρ ἤδη
κτήματα δάσσασθαι δὴν οἰχομένοιο ἄνακτος.
αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ τόδε θυμὸς ἐνὶ στήθεσσι φίλοισι
πόλλʼ ἐπιδινεῖται· μάλα μὲν κακὸν υἷος ἐόντος
ἄλλων δῆμον ἱκέσθαι ἰόντʼ αὐτῇσι βόεσσιν,
220ἄνδρας ἐς ἀλλοδαπούς· τὸ δὲ ῥίγιον, αὖθι μένοντα
βουσὶν ἐπʼ ἀλλοτρίῃσι καθήμενον ἄλγεα πάσχειν.
καί κεν δὴ πάλαι ἄλλον ὑπερμενέων βασιλήων
ἐξικόμην φεύγων, ἐπεὶ οὐκέτʼ ἀνεκτὰ πέλονται·
ἀλλʼ ἔτι τὸν δύστηνον ὀΐομαι, εἴ ποθεν ἐλθὼν
225ἀνδρῶν μνηστήρων σκέδασιν κατὰ δώματα θείῃ.
185A third man came to join them, Philoetius, a leader of men,
bringing the suitors a barren cow and fat goats.
Ferrymen had carried them across, the men who convey
any other person who comes to them as well.
He tied the animals securely beneath the echoing portico,
190then stood close beside the swineherd and questioned him:
‘Swineherd, who is this stranger lately come
to our house? From what people does he claim descent?
Where are his lineage and his native fields?
Unhappy man! In build he resembles a ruling king.
195But the gods bring wandering men down low
when they spin out misery even for kings.’
So he spoke, stood beside Odysseus, and greeted him with his right hand
in greeting, and addressed him with winged words:
‘Greetings, father, my guest. May prosperity come to you
200hereafter, though now you are held fast by many troubles.
Father Zeus, no other god is more destructive than you.
You have no pity for men once you yourself have fathered them,
but make them mingle with misery and grievous pain.
I broke into a sweat when I saw you; my eyes filled with tears
205when I remembered Odysseus, for I think that he too
wanders among people wearing rags like these,
if he is still alive and sees the light of the sun.
But if he is already dead and in the house of Hades,
then grief for faultless Odysseus! He placed me over his cattle
210in the land of the Cephallenians when I was still a child.
Now their numbers have grown beyond telling; no other man
could ever have such a breed of broad-browed cattle increase.
Yet other men command me to keep bringing beasts
for them to eat. They care nothing for the son in the house
215and do not tremble at the gods’ regard, for already they are eager
to divide the possessions of the king so long away.
But the heart within my breast keeps circling round this thought:
it is a dreadful thing, while the son still lives, to go
to a foreign people, driving the cattle themselves
220among alien men; yet worse to stay here
and suffer pain while tending cattle now claimed by others.
Long ago I would have fled and reached the court
of some other mighty king, for things are no longer bearable.
But still I expect that unhappy man to return from somewhere
225and scatter the suitors through his house.’
Commentary
Philoetius brings cattle and goats, notices kingly bodily resemblance beneath rags, and greets the stranger. He protests to Zeus, then says the sight of his addressee made him sweat and that remembering Odysseus brings tears. He describes growing herds consumed by men who disregard Telemachus, weighs flight against continued service, and remains because he expects Odysseus.
20.185–196 Philoetius’ entrance joins feast provisioning to a first reading of royal form beneath degraded appearance. He brings a barren cow and fat goats across the ferry, secures them, and asks Eumaeus who the newcomer is. His questions seek people, lineage, and native land before he judges the stranger’s build kingly and generalizes that gods can spin misery even for kings.
20.197–207 Philoetius’ greeting and protest to Zeus precede sweat on seeing the addressee and tears on remembering Odysseus. He greets with his right hand, addresses the stranger as father and guest, and wishes future prosperity. He next protests that Zeus exposes mortals to destructive suffering. At 20.204 idion, the imperfect of idiō, marks sweat when he sees the addressee; his eyes have filled with tears as memory of Odysseus leads him to imagine the absent king in similar rags.
20.208–216 Philoetius measures household dispossession through the cattle entrusted to him as a child. He imagines Odysseus dead, recalls being placed over Cephallenian cattle while young, and notes the herd’s extraordinary increase. Other men now command him to feed them from that labor while disregarding Telemachus and divine regard and preparing to divide the absent king’s property.
20.217–225 Philoetius’ loyalty emerges from a deliberation in which every available course remains subordinate. His thumos circles between abandoning Telemachus and driving the cattle to foreign people, remaining to suffer over property treated as others’, and fleeing to another powerful king. He stays because he still expects Odysseus to return and scatter the suitors, so fidelity coexists with unbearable service and limited alternatives.
Odysseus swears that Philoetius will see his master’s return 20.226–239
226τὸν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
βουκόλʼ, ἐπεὶ οὔτε κακῷ οὔτʼ ἄφρονι φωτὶ ἔοικας,
γιγνώσκω δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὅ τοι πινυτὴ φρένας ἵκει,
τοὔνεκά τοι ἐρέω καὶ ἐπὶ μέγαν ὅρκον ὀμοῦμαι·
230ἴστω νῦν Ζεὺς πρῶτα θεῶν ξενίη τε τράπεζα
ἱστίη τʼ Ὀδυσῆος ἀμύμονος, ἣν ἀφικάνω,
ἦ σέθεν ἐνθάδʼ ἐόντος ἐλεύσεται οἴκαδʼ Ὀδυσσεύς·
σοῖσιν δʼ ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ἐπόψεαι, αἴ κʼ ἐθέλῃσθα,
κτεινομένους μνηστῆρας, οἳ ἐνθάδε κοιρανέουσιν.
235τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε βοῶν ἐπιβουκόλος ἀνήρ·
αἲ γὰρ τοῦτο, ξεῖνε, ἔπος τελέσειε Κρονίων·
γνοίης χʼ οἵη ἐμὴ δύναμις καὶ χεῖρες ἕπονται.
ὣς δʼ αὔτως Εὔμαιος ἐπεύξατο πᾶσι θεοῖσι
νοστῆσαι Ὀδυσῆα πολύφρονα ὅνδε δόμονδε.
226Resourceful Odysseus answered him:
‘Cowherd, since you seem neither bad nor foolish,
and I can see for myself that wisdom has reached your mind,
I will tell you this and swear a mighty oath upon it.
230Now let Zeus, first of the gods, the table of hospitality,
and faultless Odysseus’ hearth, to which I have come, bear witness:
while you are here, Odysseus will come home.
With your own eyes you will watch, if you wish,
the suitors who lord it here being killed.’
235The man who tended the cattle answered him:
‘Stranger, if only Cronus’ son would bring that word to pass!
Then you would learn what strength and hands are mine.’
In the same way Eumaeus prayed to all the gods
that Odysseus of many counsels might return to this house.
Commentary
Judging Philoetius neither bad nor foolish, Odysseus binds his return prediction to Zeus, the guest-table, and his own hearth. Philoetius answers with promised strength, and Eumaeus joins him in prayer for the absent master’s return.
20.226–234 Odysseus binds his concealed promise to divine and domestic witnesses of hospitality. After judging Philoetius intelligent, he announces a great oath and names Zeus first, the guest-table, and Odysseus’ own hearth. These witnesses join the god, reciprocal meal institution, and household center before the prediction of return and the suitors’ deaths.
20.235–239 Philoetius’ promised hands are joined by Eumaeus’ household prayer, whose wording recalls both an earlier sacrificial prayer and Athena’s divine-council initiative. Philoetius asks Zeus to fulfill the stranger’s word and promises that his strength will then be known. At 20.238-239 Eumaeus prays to all the gods in the household feast setting. Line 20.239 is byte-exact with 14.424, where Eumaeus prays during the boar sacrifice, but punctuation-normalized with 1.83, where Athena in divine council initiates Odysseus’ return. Shared return wording does not erase differences in speaker, setting, or action.
A leftward eagle checks the murder plot as the feast begins 20.240–256
240ὣς οἱ μὲν τοιαῦτα πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἀγόρευον,
μνηστῆρες δʼ ἄρα Τηλεμάχῳ θάνατόν τε μόρον τε
ἤρτυον· αὐτὰρ ὁ τοῖσιν ἀριστερὸς ἤλυθεν ὄρνις,
αἰετὸς ὑψιπέτης, ἔχε δὲ τρήρωνα πέλειαν.
τοῖσιν δʼ Ἀμφίνομος ἀγορήσατο καὶ μετέειπεν·
245ὦ φίλοι, οὐχ ἡμῖν συνθεύσεται ἥδε γε βουλή,
Τηλεμάχοιο φόνος· ἀλλὰ μνησώμεθα δαιτός.
ὣς ἔφατʼ Ἀμφίνομος, τοῖσιν δʼ ἐπιήνδανε μῦθος.
ἐλθόντες δʼ ἐς δώματʼ Ὀδυσσῆος θείοιο
χλαίνας μὲν κατέθεντο κατὰ κλισμούς τε θρόνους τε,
250οἱ δʼ ἱέρευον ὄϊς μεγάλους καὶ πίονας αἶγας,
ἵρευον δὲ σύας σιάλους καὶ βοῦν ἀγελαίην·
σπλάγχνα δʼ ἄρʼ ὀπτήσαντες ἐνώμων, ἐν δέ τε οἶνον
κρητῆρσιν κερόωντο· κύπελλα δὲ νεῖμε συβώτης.
σῖτον δέ σφʼ ἐπένειμε Φιλοίτιος, ὄρχαμος ἀνδρῶν,
255καλοῖς ἐν κανέοισιν, ἐῳνοχόει δὲ Μελανθεύς.
οἱ δʼ ἐπʼ ὀνείαθʼ ἑτοῖμα προκείμενα χεῖρας ἴαλλον.
240So the three of them spoke together,
while the suitors were arranging death and doom
for Telemachus. But a bird came to them on the left:
a high-flying eagle clutching a trembling dove.
Amphinomus addressed them and said:
245‘Friends, this plan of ours—the murder
of Telemachus—will not succeed. Let us think of the feast.’
So Amphinomus spoke, and his proposal pleased them.
They entered the house of godlike Odysseus.
They laid their cloaks down upon chairs and seats.
250They slaughtered large sheep and fat goats;
they slaughtered well-fed pigs and a cow from the herd.
They roasted the entrails and handed them round; inside the bowls
they mixed the wine, and the swineherd passed out cups.
Philoetius, a leader of men, served them bread
255in handsome baskets, while Melanthius poured the wine.
They reached their hands toward the food prepared before them.
Commentary
While the suitors arrange Telemachus’ death, an eagle carrying a dove approaches on their left. Amphinomus reads the sign as failure and redirects them to the feast, where slaughter, entrails, wine, bread, and service distribute work among the three herdsmen.
20.240–247 A repeated dialogue close yields at once to a murder plot checked by a bird and a recurrent assent line. Line 20.240 repeats 20.172 internally and matches the same prior transition cluster. The suitors’ plan for Telemachus is interrupted by a leftward eagle with a dove; Amphinomus predicts failure, and 20.247 exactly repeats 16.406 as the group accepts his proposal to turn toward the feast.
20.248–256 The feast sequence distinguishes slaughter, entrails, wine mixing, bread, and service without narrating one complete sacrifice. The suitors lay aside cloaks, slaughter sheep, goats, pigs, and a herd cow, roast and distribute splanchna, and mix wine. Eumaeus hands out cups, Philoetius bread, and Melanthius wine, so loyal and hostile household men perform parallel roles before the shared reach toward food.
Telemachus protects the stranger while Athena sharpens the test 20.257–286
257Τηλέμαχος δʼ Ὀδυσῆα καθίδρυε, κέρδεα νωμῶν,
ἐντὸς ἐϋσταθέος μεγάρου, παρὰ λάϊνον οὐδόν,
δίφρον ἀεικέλιον καταθεὶς ὀλίγην τε τράπεζαν·
260πὰρ δʼ ἐτίθει σπλάγχνων μοίρας, ἐν δʼ οἶνον ἔχευεν
ἐν δέπαϊ χρυσέῳ, καί μιν πρὸς μῦθον ἔειπεν·
ἐνταυθοῖ νῦν ἧσο μετʼ ἀνδράσιν οἰνοποτάζων·
κερτομίας δέ τοι αὐτὸς ἐγὼ καὶ χεῖρας ἀφέξω
πάντων μνηστήρων, ἐπεὶ οὔ τοι δήμιός ἐστιν
265οἶκος ὅδʼ, ἀλλʼ Ὀδυσῆος, ἐμοὶ δʼ ἐκτήσατο κεῖνος.
ὑμεῖς δέ, μνηστῆρες, ἐπίσχετε θυμὸν ἐνιπῆς
καὶ χειρῶν, ἵνα μή τις ἔρις καὶ νεῖκος ὄρηται.
ὣς ἔφαθʼ, οἱ δʼ ἄρα πάντες ὀδὰξ ἐν χείλεσι φύντες
Τηλέμαχον θαύμαζον, ὃ θαρσαλέως ἀγόρευε.
270τοῖσιν δʼ Ἀντίνοος μετέφη, Εὐπείθεος υἱός·
καὶ χαλεπόν περ ἐόντα δεχώμεθα μῦθον, Ἀχαιοί,
Τηλεμάχου· μάλα δʼ ἧμιν ἀπειλήσας ἀγορεύει.
οὐ γὰρ Ζεὺς εἴασε Κρονίων· τῷ κέ μιν ἤδη
παύσαμεν ἐν μεγάροισι, λιγύν περ ἐόντʼ ἀγορητήν.
275ὣς ἔφατʼ Ἀντίνοος· ὁ δʼ ἄρʼ οὐκ ἐμπάζετο μύθων.
κήρυκες δʼ ἀνὰ ἄστυ θεῶν ἱερὴν ἑκατόμβην
ἦγον· τοὶ δʼ ἀγέροντο κάρη κομόωντες Ἀχαιοὶ
ἄλσος ὕπο σκιερὸν ἑκατηβόλου Ἀπόλλωνος.
οἱ δʼ ἐπεὶ ὤπτησαν κρέʼ ὑπέρτερα καὶ ἐρύσαντο,
280μοίρας δασσάμενοι δαίνυντʼ ἐρικυδέα δαῖτα·
πὰρ δʼ ἄρʼ Ὀδυσσῆϊ μοῖραν θέσαν οἳ πονέοντο
ἴσην, ὡς αὐτοί περ ἐλάγχανον· ὣς γὰρ ἀνώγει
Τηλέμαχος, φίλος υἱὸς Ὀδυσσῆος θείοιο.
μνηστῆρας δʼ οὐ πάμπαν ἀγήνορας εἴα Ἀθήνη
285λώβης ἴσχεσθαι θυμαλγέος, ὄφρʼ ἔτι μᾶλλον
δύη ἄχος κραδίην Λαερτιάδην Ὀδυσῆα.
257Telemachus, with shrewd intent, seated Odysseus
inside the well-built hall beside the stone threshold.
He set down a shabby stool and a small table,
260placed portions of entrails beside him, and poured wine
into a golden cup. Then he addressed him:
‘Sit here now among the men and drink your wine.
I myself will ward off the taunts and hands
of all the suitors. This house is no public possession:
265it belongs to Odysseus, who acquired it for me.
And you suitors, restrain your appetite for abuse
and violence, so that no strife or quarrel rises.’
So he spoke. They all bit their lips
and marveled at Telemachus for speaking so boldly.
270Antinous, Eupeithes’ son, addressed them:
‘Achaeans, let us accept Telemachus’ words, hard as they are;
he has spoken with fierce threats against us.
Cronus’ son Zeus did not permit it; otherwise we would already
have stopped him here in the hall, ringing speaker though he is.’
275So Antinous spoke, but Telemachus paid no heed to his words.
Through the town the heralds led the holy hecatomb for the gods,
and the long-haired Achaeans gathered
beneath the shady grove of Apollo who strikes from afar.
When they had roasted the outer meat and drawn it from the spits,
280they divided the portions and enjoyed the glorious feast.
The men at work placed beside Odysseus a portion
equal to what they themselves received, as Telemachus,
the dear son of godlike Odysseus, had ordered.
Athena would not let the arrogant suitors
285altogether refrain from heart-stinging outrage, so that grief
might sink still deeper into the heart of Laertes’ son Odysseus.
Commentary
Telemachus seats the guest near the threshold, grants him food and a golden cup, and distinguishes his inherited house from public possession. After the suitors marvel at his boldness, a public sacrifice and the hall’s equal portioning frame Athena’s decision to let outrage continue.
20.257–265 Telemachus protects the guest by asserting that the oikos is inherited property rather than a public possession. He places Odysseus inside near the stone threshold on a poor stool and small table, yet grants entrails and wine in a golden cup. His warning turns on dēmios: the house is not common or public, but Odysseus’ acquisition for him, so hospitality is enforced through a contested claim of household prerogative.
20.266–275 Recurrent audience-reaction lines mark Telemachus’ bold speech, while Antinous converts divine restraint into a murder claim. Telemachus orders the suitors to restrain abuse and hands; lines 20.268-269 exactly repeat 18.410-411 as they bite their lips and marvel, and 20.270 recurs in prior speaker introductions. Antinous says Zeus alone prevented them from stopping the ringing speaker, keeping the threat inside his own counter-speech.
20.276–283 The public hecatomb and the hall’s portioning remain adjacent but distinct feast settings. Heralds lead a sacred hecatomb through town and the Achaeans gather in Apollo’s shaded grove. The narrative then returns to roasted meat, divided shares, and an equal portion placed beside Odysseus by workers under Telemachus’ order, joining civic festival to household distribution without merging their locations.
20.284–286 Athena’s exact Book 18 abuse formula makes divine intensification explicit without transferring the suitors’ acts to her. Lines 20.284-285 are byte-identical to 18.346-347: Athena refuses to let the arrogant suitors stop heart-stinging outrage. Here the purpose clause drives grief deeper into Laertes’ son, distinguishing her choice to prolong the test from the mortals who perform the coming assault.
Ctesippus gives the stranger a violent guest-gift 20.287–303
287ἦν δέ τις ἐν μνηστῆρσιν ἀνὴρ ἀθεμίστια εἰδώς,
Κτήσιππος δʼ ὄνομʼ ἔσκε, Σάμῃ δʼ ἐνὶ οἰκία ναῖεν·
ὃς δή τοι κτεάτεσσι πεποιθὼς θεσπεσίοισι
290μνάσκετʼ Ὀδυσσῆος δὴν οἰχομένοιο δάμαρτα.
ὅς ῥα τότε μνηστῆρσιν ὑπερφιάλοισι μετηύδα·
κέκλυτέ μευ, μνηστῆρες ἀγήνορες, ὄφρα τι εἴπω·
μοῖραν μὲν δὴ ξεῖνος ἔχει πάλαι, ὡς ἐπέοικεν,
ἴσην· οὐ γὰρ καλὸν ἀτέμβειν οὐδὲ δίκαιον
295ξείνους Τηλεμάχου, ὅς κεν τάδε δώμαθʼ ἵκηται.
ἀλλʼ ἄγε οἱ καὶ ἐγὼ δῶ ξείνιον, ὄφρα καὶ αὐτὸς
ἠὲ λοετροχόῳ δώῃ γέρας ἠέ τῳ ἄλλῳ
δμώων, οἳ κατὰ δώματʼ Ὀδυσσῆος θείοιο.
ὣς εἰπὼν ἔρριψε βοὸς πόδα χειρὶ παχείῃ.
300κείμενον ἐκ κανέοιο λαβών· ὁ δʼ ἀλεύατʼ Ὀδυσσεὺς
ἦκα παρακλίνας κεφαλήν, μείδησε δὲ θυμῷ
σαρδάνιον μάλα τοῖον· ὁ δʼ εὔδμητον βάλε τοῖχον.
Κτήσιππον δʼ ἄρα Τηλέμαχος ἠνίπαπε μύθῳ·
287Among the suitors was a man versed in lawless acts;
his name was Ctesippus, and his home was on Same.
Relying on his fabulous wealth,
290he courted the wife of Odysseus, so long away.
Now he addressed the overbearing suitors:
‘Listen to me, proud suitors, while I say something.
The stranger has long had an equal share, as is fitting;
it is neither good nor just to deprive
295Telemachus’ guests, whoever comes to this house.
Come then, let me give him a guest-gift as well, so that he in turn
may present it as an honor to the bath attendant or some other
enslaved worker in godlike Odysseus’ house.’
So saying, he threw the hoof of an ox with his heavy hand,
300taking it from the basket where it lay; but Odysseus dodged,
inclining his head slightly, and smiled within himself
a grim, sardonic smile. The hoof struck the solid wall.
Then Telemachus rebuked Ctesippus:
Commentary
The narrator introduces Ctesippus through lawlessness and wealth before his speech imitates the language of equal treatment and guest-gifts. He turns that vocabulary into assault by throwing an ox hoof; Odysseus evades it and preserves the disguise behind an inward smile.
20.287–298 Ctesippus weaponizes the language of justice, equal shares, guest-gifts, and household honor. The narrator first marks him as knowing lawless acts and relying on immense wealth. Ctesippus then praises the guest’s equal portion and calls deprivation unjust before proposing a xeiniōn that the recipient might pass as geras to a bath attendant or another enslaved worker; the pious distributive surface prepares violence.
20.299–303 The ox-foot assault is compressed into object, throw, evasion, inward smile, wall impact, and rebuke. Ctesippus takes the hoof from its basket and throws with a heavy hand. Odysseus’ slight head movement defeats the missile, his marked smile remains internal, the hoof strikes the built wall, and Telemachus’ speech begins immediately; the rapid ordering keeps restraint active rather than passive.
Telemachus rebukes the suitors and names the household abuses 20.304–320
304Κτήσιππʼ, ἦ μάλα τοι τόδε κέρδιον ἔπλετο θυμῷ·
305οὐκ ἔβαλες τὸν ξεῖνον· ἀλεύατο γὰρ βέλος αὐτός.
ἦ γάρ κέν σε μέσον βάλον ἔγχεϊ ὀξυόεντι,
καί κέ τοι ἀντὶ γάμοιο πατὴρ τάφον ἀμφεπονεῖτο
ἐνθάδε. τῷ μή τίς μοι ἀεικείας ἐνὶ οἴκῳ
φαινέτω· ἤδη γὰρ νοέω καὶ οἶδα ἕκαστα,
310ἐσθλά τε καὶ τὰ χέρηα· πάρος δʼ ἔτι νήπιος ἦα.
ἀλλʼ ἔμπης τάδε μὲν καὶ τέτλαμεν εἰσορόωντες,
μήλων σφαζομένων οἴνοιό τε πινομένοιο
καὶ σίτου· χαλεπὸν γὰρ ἐρυκακέειν ἕνα πολλούς.
ἀλλʼ ἄγε μηκέτι μοι κακὰ ῥέζετε δυσμενέοντες·
315εἰ δʼ ἤδη μʼ αὐτὸν κτεῖναι μενεαίνετε χαλκῷ,
καί κε τὸ βουλοίμην, καί κεν πολὺ κέρδιον εἴη
τεθνάμεν ἢ τάδε γʼ αἰὲν ἀεικέα ἔργʼ ὁράασθαι,
ξείνους τε στυφελιζομένους δμῳάς τε γυναῖκας
ῥυστάζοντας ἀεικελίως κατὰ δώματα καλά.
320ὣς ἔφαθʼ, οἱ δʼ ἄρα πάντες ἀκὴν ἐγένοντο σιωπῇ·
304‘Ctesippus, this turned out far better for you:
305you did not hit the stranger, for he dodged the missile.
Otherwise I would have struck you through the middle with my sharp spear,
and here your father would have tended your grave
instead of your wedding. So let no one display shameful conduct
inside my house. I now perceive and understand everything,
310both good and worse; before this I was still a child.
Even so, we have endured while watching all this:
sheep slaughtered, wine drunk down,
and food consumed. It is hard for one man to hold back many.
Come, stop doing me harm out of hostility.
315But if you are already intent on killing me with bronze,
I would prefer even that; it would be far better
to die than always to watch such shameful deeds—
guests being struck and enslaved women dragged
disgracefully through the handsome house.’
320So he spoke, and they all fell silent.
Commentary
Telemachus answers the missed blow with a lethal counterfactual and says childhood ignorance has ended. He names consumed livestock, wine, food, assaulted guests, and dragged enslaved women as abuses one man cannot restrain against many; the suitors fall silent.
20.304–310 Telemachus defines maturity as perception of better and worse, then demonstrates it through a lethal counter-threat. He says Ctesippus benefited from missing because a successful blow would have brought a spear through his middle and a grave instead of marriage. He then claims to perceive and know each thing, good and worse, in contrast to being nēpios before; ethical discrimination and capacity for violence arrive together.
20.311–320 Telemachus reuses his Book 16 endurance complaint and enlarges it into a public account of abused guests and enslaved women. Lines 20.317-318 are byte-exact with 16.107-108 and 20.319 is punctuation-normalized with 16.109. The repeated close follows renewed sheep, wine, and food consumption, but here Telemachus openly says death is preferable to watching guests struck and dmōai dragged through the house; a recurrent silence line then ends the rebuke.
Agelaus urges marriage, and Telemachus refuses compulsion 20.321–344
321ὀψὲ δὲ δὴ μετέειπε Δαμαστορίδης Ἀγέλαος·
ὦ φίλοι, οὐκ ἂν δή τις ἐπὶ ῥηθέντι δικαίῳ
ἀντιβίοις ἐπέεσσι καθαπτόμενος χαλεπαίνοι·
μήτε τι τὸν ξεῖνον στυφελίζετε μήτε τινʼ ἄλλον
325δμώων, οἳ κατὰ δώματʼ Ὀδυσσῆος θείοιο.
Τηλεμάχῳ δέ κε μῦθον ἐγὼ καὶ μητέρι φαίην
ἤπιον, εἴ σφωϊν κραδίῃ ἅδοι ἀμφοτέροιϊν.
ὄφρα μὲν ὑμῖν θυμὸς ἐνὶ στήθεσσιν ἐώλπει
νοστήσειν Ὀδυσῆα πολύφρονα ὅνδε δόμονδε,
330τόφρʼ οὔ τις νέμεσις μενέμεν τʼ ἦν ἰσχέμεναί τε
μνηστῆρας κατὰ δώματʼ, ἐπεὶ τόδε κέρδιον ἦεν,
εἰ νόστησʼ Ὀδυσεὺς καὶ ὑπότροπος ἵκετο δῶμα·
νῦν δʼ ἤδη τόδε δῆλον, ὅ τʼ οὐκέτι νόστιμός ἐστιν.
ἀλλʼ ἄγε, σῇ τάδε μητρὶ παρεζόμενος κατάλεξον,
335γήμασθʼ ὅς τις ἄριστος ἀνὴρ καὶ πλεῖστα πόρῃσιν,
ὄφρα σὺ μὲν χαίρων πατρώϊα πάντα νέμηαι,
ἔσθων καὶ πίνων, ἡ δʼ ἄλλου δῶμα κομίζῃ.
τὸν δʼ αὖ Τηλέμαχος πεπνυμένος ἀντίον ηὔδα·
οὐ μὰ Ζῆνʼ, Ἀγέλαε, καὶ ἄλγεα πατρὸς ἐμοῖο,
340ὅς που τῆλʼ Ἰθάκης ἢ ἔφθιται ἢ ἀλάληται,
οὔ τι διατρίβω μητρὸς γάμον, ἀλλὰ κελεύω
γήμασθʼ ᾧ κʼ ἐθέλῃ, ποτὶ δʼ ἄσπετα δῶρα δίδωμι.
αἰδέομαι δʼ ἀέκουσαν ἀπὸ μεγάροιο δίεσθαι
μύθῳ ἀναγκαίῳ· μὴ τοῦτο θεὸς τελέσειεν.
321At last Agelaus, Damastor’s son, addressed them:
‘Friends, no one should grow angry and attack with opposing words
when a just statement has been made.
Do not roughly handle the stranger, or any other
325enslaved person in godlike Odysseus’ house.
I would offer Telemachus and his mother
a gentle word, if it pleased the hearts of both.
As long as your hearts within you still expected
shrewd Odysseus to return to this house,
330there was no cause for blame in waiting and holding back
the suitors through the house, since this was the better course
if Odysseus came home and returned to his house.
But now it is clear that he is no longer destined to return.
Come, sit beside your mother and tell her
335to marry the best man, the one who offers the most,
so that you may gladly enjoy all your father’s estate,
eating and drinking, while she tends another man’s house.’
Discerning Telemachus answered him face to face:
‘No, Agelaus—by Zeus and by my father’s sufferings,
340wherever he has died or wanders far from Ithaca—
I do not delay my mother’s marriage. I urge her
to marry whomever she wishes, and I offer countless gifts.
But I am ashamed to drive her unwilling from the hall
with a word of compulsion. May no god bring that to pass.’
Commentary
Agelaus first endorses restraint, then recasts the suitors’ occupation as reasonable while Odysseus’ return remained imaginable and presses Penelope to marry the best man who offers the most. Telemachus says he permits her choice and offers gifts, but refuses to drive her unwillingly from the house by compulsion.
20.321–327 Agelaus repeats Amphinomus’ Book 18 restraint formula before redirecting it toward marriage pressure. Lines 20.322-324 exactly repeat 18.414-416, and 20.325 is exact with 18.417 as well as 17.402. The recurrent sequence rejects counter-attack against a just statement and rough handling of the guest or enslaved workers; Agelaus then claims a gentle word for Telemachus and Penelope, preparing coercive counsel.
20.328–337 Agelaus rewrites prolonged occupation as reasonable waiting and declares nostos impossible in order to move Penelope. He says there was no blame in holding the suitors within the house while Telemachus and Penelope expected Odysseus. He now calls non-return clear, recommends the best man who offers the most, and imagines Telemachus consuming his inheritance while Penelope tends another house; the argument reallocates household benefit without admitting the suitors’ consumption.
20.338–344 Telemachus distinguishes permission and gifts from an unwilling expulsion enforced by compulsory speech. After a widely recurrent answer formula, he swears by Zeus and his father’s sufferings, denies delaying the marriage, and says Penelope may choose whom she wishes with abundant gifts. The verb aideomai governs his refusal to drive her aekousan from the hall by a muthos anankaios, joining shame, unwillingness, and compulsion in one boundary.
Athena twists the feast, and Theoclymenus sees its doom 20.345–358
345ὣς φάτο Τηλέμαχος· μνηστῆρσι δὲ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη
ἄσβεστον γέλω ὦρσε, παρέπλαγξεν δὲ νόημα.
οἱ δʼ ἤδη γναθμοῖσι γελοίων ἀλλοτρίοισιν,
αἱμοφόρυκτα δὲ δὴ κρέα ἤσθιον· ὄσσε δʼ ἄρα σφέων
δακρυόφιν πίμπλαντο, γόον δʼ ὠΐετο θυμός.
350τοῖσι δὲ καὶ μετέειπε Θεοκλύμενος θεοειδής·
ἆ δειλοί, τί κακὸν τόδε πάσχετε; νυκτὶ μὲν ὑμέων
εἰλύαται κεφαλαί τε πρόσωπά τε νέρθε τε γοῦνα.
οἰμωγὴ δὲ δέδηε, δεδάκρυνται δὲ παρειαί,
αἵματι δʼ ἐρράδαται τοῖχοι καλαί τε μεσόδμαι·
355εἰδώλων δὲ πλέον πρόθυρον, πλείη δὲ καὶ αὐλή,
ἱεμένων Ἔρεβόσδε ὑπὸ ζόφον· ἠέλιος δὲ
οὐρανοῦ ἐξαπόλωλε, κακὴ δʼ ἐπιδέδρομεν ἀχλύς.
ὣς ἔφαθʼ, οἱ δʼ ἄρα πάντες ἐπʼ αὐτῷ ἡδὺ γέλασσαν.
345So Telemachus spoke. Then Pallas Athena roused
unquenchable laughter in the suitors and deranged their minds.
They were laughing now with jaws that seemed not their own;
the meat they ate was stained with blood,
their eyes filled up with tears, and their hearts foresaw lamentation.
350Godlike Theoclymenus also spoke among them:
‘Wretched men, what evil is this that you suffer? Night wraps
your heads and faces, and your knees beneath.
Wailing is kindled; your cheeks run with tears;
the walls and handsome crossbeams are spattered with blood.
355The forecourt is full of phantoms, and the courtyard too,
rushing down to Erebus beneath the gloom. The sun
has vanished from the sky, and an evil mist has spread.’
So he spoke, and they all laughed sweetly at him.
Commentary
Athena deranges the suitors’ laughter and perception as the narrator describes alien jaws, bloodied meat, tears, and anticipated lament. Theoclymenus then voices a wider vision in which darkness, blood, phantoms, Erebus, a vanished sun, and mist overtake the household.
20.345–349 Athena’s derangement becomes visible through alienated bodies before Theoclymenus speaks. The narrator names Pallas Athena as the agent who raises unquenchable laughter and turns aside noēma. Jaws seem alien, meat appears blood-stained, eyes fill with tears, and thumos anticipates lament; these signs are narrated phenomena rather than yet the seer’s verbal vision.
20.350–358 Theoclymenus’ vision gathers bodily darkness, architectural blood, and eidōla rushing toward Erebus inside direct speech. He asks what evil the suitors suffer, then covers heads, faces, and knees with night, kindles wailing, wets cheeks, stains walls and crossbeams, fills forecourt and yard with eidōla, removes the sun, and spreads mist. In this deathward movement eidōla can be read as shades or phantoms without becoming a fixed gloss for every epic occurrence.
Theoclymenus answers Eurymachus and leaves the hall 20.359–372
359τοῖσιν δʼ Εὐρύμαχος, Πολύβου πάϊς, ἦρχʼ ἀγορεύειν·
360ἀφραίνει ξεῖνος νέον ἄλλοθεν εἰληλουθώς.
ἀλλά μιν αἶψα, νέοι, δόμου ἐκπέμψασθε θύραζε
εἰς ἀγορὴν ἔρχεσθαι, ἐπεὶ τάδε νυκτὶ ἐΐσκει.
τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε Θεοκλύμενος θεοειδής·
Εὐρύμαχʼ, οὔ τί σʼ ἄνωγα ἐμοὶ πομπῆας ὀπάζειν·
365εἰσί μοι ὀφθαλμοί τε καὶ οὔατα καὶ πόδες ἄμφω
καὶ νόος ἐν στήθεσσι τετυγμένος οὐδὲν ἀεικής.
τοῖς ἔξειμι θύραζε, ἐπεὶ νοέω κακὸν ὔμμιν
ἐρχόμενον, τό κεν οὔ τις ὑπεκφύγοι οὐδʼ ἀλέαιτο
μνηστήρων, οἳ δῶμα κάτʼ ἀντιθέου Ὀδυσῆος
370ἀνέρας ὑβρίζοντες ἀτάσθαλα μηχανάασθε.
ὣς εἰπὼν ἐξῆλθε δόμων εὖ ναιεταόντων,
ἵκετο δʼ ἐς Πείραιον, ὅ μιν πρόφρων ὑπέδεκτο.
359Eurymachus son of Polybus began to address them:
360‘The stranger newly arrived from abroad has lost his mind.
Quickly, young men, send him out of the house
and off to the assembly, since he thinks it is night in here.’
Godlike Theoclymenus answered him:
‘Eurymachus, I do not ask you to provide escorts for me.
365I have eyes and ears, two feet,
and a mind well fashioned inside my breast.
With these I shall go outside, for I perceive an evil
coming upon you that no one will escape or avoid—
not one of the suitors who here in the house of godlike Odysseus
370abuse men and devise reckless acts.’
So saying, he left the well-inhabited house
and went to Peiraeus, who received him gladly.
Commentary
Eurymachus dismisses the foreign seer as mad and orders him escorted away. Theoclymenus answers by inventorying his own faculties, predicts inescapable evil for the abusive suitors, and leaves without their escort for Peiraeus’ welcome.
20.359–363 Eurymachus answers prophecy with recurrent speaker and reply formulas that recast vision as foreign madness. Line 20.359 is byte-exact with 16.345 and punctuation-normalized with 18.349; line 20.363 exactly matches Theoclymenus’ prior reply openings at 15.271 and 15.508. Between these formulas Eurymachus calls the newcomer senseless and orders young men to remove him because he mistakes the hall for night.
20.364–372 Theoclymenus answers expulsion by asserting functional faculties and choosing his own hospitable destination. He refuses Eurymachus’ escorts and inventories eyes, ears, two feet, and a well-fashioned noos. These enable his exit and ground his claim to perceive an evil no abusive suitor can avoid; he then leaves for Peiraeus, whose ready reception contrasts with the hall’s dismissal.
The suitors mock Telemachus’ guests as Penelope hears the doomed feast 20.373–394
373μνηστῆρες δʼ ἄρα πάντες ἐς ἀλλήλους ὁρόωντες
Τηλέμαχον ἐρέθιζον, ἐπὶ ξείνοις γελόωντες·
375ὧδε δέ τις εἴπεσκε νέων ὑπερηνορεόντων·
Τηλέμαχʼ, οὔ τις σεῖο κακοξεινώτερος ἄλλος·
οἷον μέν τινα τοῦτον ἔχεις ἐπίμαστον ἀλήτην,
σίτου καὶ οἴνου κεχρημένον, οὐδέ τι ἔργων
ἔμπαιον οὐδὲ βίης, ἀλλʼ αὔτως ἄχθος ἀρούρης.
380ἄλλος δʼ αὖτέ τις οὗτος ἀνέστη μαντεύεσθαι.
ἀλλʼ εἴ μοί τι πίθοιο, τό κεν πολὺ κέρδιον εἴη·
τοὺς ξείνους ἐν νηῒ πολυκληῗδι βαλόντες
ἐς Σικελοὺς πέμψωμεν, ὅθεν κέ τοι ἄξιον ἄλφοι.
ὣς ἔφασαν μνηστῆρες· ὁ δʼ οὐκ ἐμπάζετο μύθων,
385ἀλλʼ ἀκέων πατέρα προσεδέρκετο, δέγμενος αἰεί,
ὁππότε δὴ μνηστῆρσιν ἀναιδέσι χεῖρας ἐφήσει.
ἡ δὲ κατʼ ἄντηστιν θεμένη περικαλλέα δίφρον
κούρη Ἰκαρίοιο, περίφρων Πηνελόπεια,
ἀνδρῶν ἐν μεγάροισιν ἑκάστου μῦθον ἄκουεν.
390δεῖπνον μὲν γάρ τοί γε γελοίωντες τετύκοντο
ἡδὺ τε καὶ μενοεικές, ἐπεὶ μάλα πόλλʼ ἱέρευσαν·
δόρπου δʼ οὐκ ἄν πως ἀχαρίστερον ἄλλο γένοιτο,
οἷον δὴ τάχʼ ἔμελλε θεὰ καὶ καρτερὸς ἀνὴρ
θησέμεναι· πρότεροι γὰρ ἀεικέα μηχανόωντο.
373All the suitors looked at one another
and taunted Telemachus, laughing at his guests.
375One of the overbearing young men would say:
‘Telemachus, no one is a worse host than you.
Look at this ravenous wandering beggar you keep,
needy for food and wine, with no knowledge
of work or strength, a mere burden on the earth.
380And then this other man stood up to prophesy!
But if you took my advice, it would be far more profitable:
let us throw these guests into a many-benched ship
and send them to the Sicels, where we can sell them for a proper price.’
So the suitors spoke, but Telemachus paid no heed to their words.
385In silence he kept watching his father, always waiting
for the moment he would lay his hands upon the shameless suitors.
Across from them the discerning Penelope,
daughter of Icarius, had placed her beautiful chair
and heard the words of every man in the hall.
390For they had made their dinner amid laughter,
pleasant and satisfying, since they had slaughtered many beasts.
But no supper could ever prove more bitter
than the one a goddess and a mighty man would soon
set before them—for they had devised shameful acts first.
Commentary
The suitors attack Telemachus’ hospitality by reducing one guest to appetite and the other to failed prophecy, then propose selling both abroad. Telemachus silently watches his father, Penelope hears every speaker from across the hall, and the narrator turns the present feast toward a bitter supper prepared by goddess and man in response to prior abuse.
20.373–383 The suitors redefine Telemachus as a bad host and answer unwanted guests with a proposal to sell them abroad. Anonymous speakers reduce Odysseus to appetite, incapacity, and burden, and Theoclymenus to intrusive prophecy. They then propose placing both guests in a many-benched ship and sending them to the Sicels for a profitable sale, converting hospitality into threatened commodification.
20.384–389 Telemachus and Penelope attend to the hall from different positions without disclosing what they do not know. Telemachus ignores the suitors and silently watches his father, waiting for the attack already shared in their plan. Penelope sits opposite or across the hall and hears every man’s speech; the narrator grants her broad auditory access but does not say she recognizes the disguised husband she faces.
20.390–394 The book’s final turn converts a pleasant, abundant dinner into the prospect of an unmatched bitter supper. Laughter, sweetness, appetite, and much slaughter fill the present meal before the syntax pivots to no supper more acharistos than the one soon to be set by a goddess and a mighty man. The closing causal clause returns priority to the suitors’ shameful devising, holding future divine-human violence beside prior mortal choice.