ODYSSEY 21
Owl-eyed Athena now prompted Penelope
To set before the suitors Odysseus' bow
And the grey iron, implements of the contest
And of their death.
Penelope climbed
| The steep stairs to her bedroom and picked up | 5 |
And went with her maids to a remote storeroom
Where her husband's treasures lay—bronze, gold,
And wrought iron. And there lay the curved bow
| And the quiver, still loaded with arrows, | 10 |
When they met in Lacedaemon long ago.
This was Iphitus, Eurytus' son, a godlike man.
They had met in Messene, in the house of Ortilochus.
| Odysseus had come to collect a debt | 15 |
They had taken from Ithaca in a sea raid,
And the shepherds with them. Odysseus
Had come to get them back, a long journey
| For a young man, sent by his father and elders. | 20 |
He had lost, along with the mules they were nursing.
These mares turned out to be the death of Iphitus
When he came to the house of Heracles,
| Zeus' tough-hearted son, who killed him, | 25 |
For the gods' wrath or the table they had shared—
Killed the man and kept the strong-hoofed mares.
-322-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: Odyssey.
Contributors: Homer - Author, Stanley Lombardo - Translator.
Publisher: Hackett Publishing.
Place of publication: Indianapolis.
Publication year: 2000.
Page number: 322.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
One moment ...
- Georgia
- Arial
- Times New Roman
- Verdana
- Courier/monospaced
Reset