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