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Thus spoke Antinoos, but
Telemakhos heeded him not. Meanwhile the heralds were bringing the
holy hecatomb through the city, and the Achaeans gathered under the
shady grove of Apollo.
Then they roasted the outer meat,
drew it off the spits, gave every man his portion, and feasted to
their hearts’ content; those who waited at table gave Odysseus
exactly the same portion as the others had, for Telemakhos had told
them to do so.
But Athena would not let the
suitors for one moment drop their insolence, for she wanted Odysseus
to become still more bitter [akhos] against them. Now
there happened to be among them a ribald fellow, whose name was
Ktesippos, and who came from Same. This man, confident in his great
wealth, was paying court to the wife of Odysseus, and said to the
suitors, "Hear what I have to say. The stranger has already had as
large a portion as any one else; this is well, for it is not right
nor reasonable [dikaios] to ill-treat any guest of
Telemakhos who comes here. I will, however, make him a present on my
own account, that he may have something to give to the bath-woman, or
to some other of Odysseus’ servants."
As he spoke he picked up a
heifer's foot from the meat-basket in which it lay, and threw it
at Odysseus, but Odysseus turned his head a little aside, and avoided
it, smiling sardonically as he did so, and it hit the wall, not him.
On this Telemakhos spoke fiercely to Ktesippos, "It is a good thing
for you," said he, "that the stranger turned his head so that you
missed him. If you had hit him I should have run you through with my
spear, and your father would have had to see about getting you buried
rather than married in this house. So let me have no more unseemly
behavior from any of you, for I am grown up now to the knowledge of
good and evil and understand what is going on, instead of being the
child that I have been heretofore. I have long seen you killing my
sheep and making free with my grain and wine: I have put up with
this, for one man is no match for many, but do me no further
violence. Still, if you wish to kill me, kill me; I would far rather
die than see such disgraceful scenes day after day - guests insulted,
and men dragging the women servants about the house in an unseemly
way."
Homer. The Odyssey. Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. Samuel Butler. Based on public domain edition, revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy. A. C. Fifield, London. 1900 (?).
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