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[151] It appears that Ulysses and Telemachus could not see Melanthius go for the arms: they could only see the Suitors putting them on. We may suppose of course that Melanthius did not come back himself to the “μέγαρον”, but passed in the arms through the “ὀρσοθύρη”.

A further difficulty lies in the doubt whether it was Melanthius or one of the women who was bringing arms. How could it be one of the women, who were shut up with Eurycleia (21. 387)? The most obvious answer is that the women were only shut off from the “μέγαρον”, and consequently perhaps from the “αὐλή” and its gate. They may still have been able to go to the buildings behind the “μέγαρον”.

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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