Introduction:
In this pa**age of chapter 22, Odysseus final reveals that he has indeed returned home.This is the whole climax of the epic, for Odysseus spent years trying to get back home. On his home return he , as told by his mother and Theban Teiresias, his home was filled with suitors who have made themselves home and wish to marry his wife. Odysseus did not reveal himself to no one but his son as first then who he found to still be loyal to him. He thought every hard and could only come to see he must defend himself and his family and k** the suitors and all those servants who turned their loyalty to them. This pa**age is only the first couples of lines to the chapter, where Odysseus reveals himself to the suitors and k**s Antinous, one of the suitors. Soon after he tell all the rest how he will k** them and none will survive. The suitors will fight back but none will actually survive.This pa**age has much importance because this is the end, our hero has returned home to his wife and son just as he has been wanting and we have been waiting, an end to a long journey.
XXII:
Then Ulysses tore off his rags, and sprang on to the broad pavement
with his bow and his quiver full of arrows. He shed the arrows on
to the ground at his feet and said, "The mighty contest is at an end.
I will now see whether Apollo will vouchsafe it to me to hit another
mark which no man has yet hit."
On this he aimed a deadly arrow at Antinous, who was about to take
up a two-handled gold cup to drink his wine and already had it in
his hands. He had no thought of d**h- who amongst all the
revellers
would think that one man, however brave, would stand alone among so
many and k** him? The arrow struck Antinous in the throat, and the
point went clean through his neck, so that he fell over and the cup
dropped from his hand, while a thick stream of blood gushed from his
nostrils. He kicked the table from him and upset the things on it,
so that the bread and roasted meats were all soiled as they fell over
on to the ground. The suitors were in an uproar when they saw that
a man had been hit; they sprang in dismay one and all of them from
their seats and looked everywhere towards the walls, but there was
neither shield nor spear, and they rebuked Ulysses very angrily. "Stranger,"
said they, "you shall pay for shooting people in this way: om yi you
shall see no other contest; you are a doomed man; he whom you have
slain was the foremost youth in Ithaca, and the vultures shall devour
you for having k**ed him."
Thus they spoke, for they thought that he had k**ed Antinous by mistake,
and did not perceive that d**h was hanging over the head of every
one of them. But Ulysses glared at them and said:
"Dogs, did you think that I should not come back from Troy? You have
wasted my substance, have forced my women servants to lie with you,
and have wooed my wife while I was still living. You have feared neither
Cod nor man, and now you shall die."
They turned pale with fear as he spoke, and every man looked round
about to see whither he might fly for safety, but Eurymachus alone
spoke.
"If you are Ulysses," said he, "then what you have said is just. We
have done much wrong on your lands and in your house. But Antinous
who was the head and front of the offending lies low already. It was
all his doing. It was not that he wanted to marry Penelope; he did
not so much care about that; what he wanted was something quite different,
and Jove has not vouchsafed it to him; he wanted to k** your son
and to be chief man in Ithaca. Now, therefore, that he has met the
d**h which was his due, spare the lives of your people. We will make
everything good among ourselves, and pay you in full for all that 40
we have eaten and drunk. Each one of us shall pay you a fine worth
twenty oxen, and we will keep on giving you gold and bronze till your
heart is softened. Until we have done this no one can complain of
your being enraged against us."
Ulysses again glared at him and said, "Though you should give me all
45
that you have in the world both now and all that you ever shall have,
I will not stay my hand till I have paid all of you in full. You must
fight, or fly for your lives; and fly, not a man of you shall.”
Their hearts sank as they heard him, but Eurymachus again spoke saying:
"My friends, this man will give us no quarter. He will stand where 50
he is and shoot us down till he has k**ed every man among us. Let
us then show fight; draw your swords, and hold up the tables to shield
you from his arrows. Let us have at him with a rush, to drive him
from the pavement and doorway: we can then get through into the town,
and raise such an alarm as shall soon stay his shooting.” 55
As he spoke he drew his keen blade of bronze, sharpened on both sides,
and with a loud cry sprang towards Ulysses, but Ulysses instantly
shot an arrow into his breast that caught him by the nipple and fixed
itself in his liver. He dropped his sword and fell doubled up over
his table. The cup and all the meats went over on to the ground as 60
he smote the earth with his forehead in the agonies of d**h, and
he kicked the stool with his feet until his eyes were closed in darkness.
Then Amphinomus drew his sword and made straight at Ulysses to try
and get him away from the door; but Telemachus was too quick for him,
and struck him from behind; the spear caught him between the shoulders
65
and went right through his chest, so that he fell heavily to the ground
and struck the earth with his forehead. Then Telemachus sprang away
from him, leaving his spear still in the body, for he feared that
if he stayed to draw it out, some one of the Achaeans might come up
and hack at him with his sword, or knock him down, so he set off at 70
a run, and immediately was at his father's side. Then he said:
"Father, let me bring you a shield, two spears, and a bra** helmet
for your temples. I will arm myself as well, and will bring other
armour for the swineherd and the stockman, for we had better be armed."
"Run and fetch them," answered Ulysses, "while my arrows hold out,
75
or when I am alone they may get me away from the door."
Telemachus did as his father said, and went off to the store room
where the armour was kept. He chose four shields, eight spears, and
four bra** helmets with horse-hair plumes. He brought them with all
speed to his father, and armed himself first, while the stockman and
80
the swineherd also put on their armour, and took their places near
Ulysses. Meanwhile Ulysses, as long as his arrows lasted, had been
shooting the suitors one by one, and they fell thick on one another:
when his arrows gave out, he set the bow to stand against the end
wall of the house by the door post, and hung a shield four hides thick
85
about his shoulders; on his comely head he set his helmet, well wrought
with a crest of horse-hair that nodded menacingly above it, and he
grasped two redoubtable bronze-shod spears.
Now there was a trap door on the wall, while at one end of the pavement
there was an exit leading to a narrow pa**age, and this exit was closed
90
by a well-made door. Ulysses told Philoetius to stand by this door
and guard it, for only one person could attack it at a time. But Agelaus
shouted out, "Cannot some one go up to the trap door and tell the
people what is going on? Help would come at once, and we should soon
make an end of this man and his shooting." 95
"This may not be, Agelaus," answered Melanthius, "the mouth of the
narrow pa**age is dangerously near the entrance to the outer court.
One brave man could prevent any number from getting in. But I know
what I will do, I will bring you arms from the store room, for I am
sure it is there that Ulysses and his son have put them.” 100
On this the goatherd Melanthius went by back pa**ages to the store
room of Ulysses, house. There he chose twelve shields, with as many
helmets and spears, and brought them back as fast as he could to give
them to the suitors. Ulysses' heart began to fail him when he saw
the suitors putting on their armour and brandishing their spears. 105
He saw the greatness of the danger, and said to Telemachus, "Some
one of the women inside is helping the suitors against us, or it may
be Melanthius."
Telemachus answered, "The fault, father, is mine, and mine only; I
left the store room door open, and they have kept a sharper look out 110
than I have. Go, Eumaeus, put the door to, and see whether it is one
of the women who is doing this, or whether, as I suspect, it is Melanthius
the son of Dolius."
Work Cited
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Odyssey.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 2 Sept. 2014.
"Odysseus." Http://www.britannica.com/. Http://www.britannica.com/. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.
"Telemachus." Http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Telemachus.html. Web. 23 Sept. 2014
"Antinous Son of Eupeithes." Http://en.wikipedia.org. Wikipedia, 1 Jan. 2000. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.
Who Is Eurymachus?" Http://www.answers.com/. Unknown. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.
Butler, Samuel. "The Odyssey." Http://cla**ics.mit.edu/. 1 Jan. 2000. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.
Helpful to introduce everyone in the epic:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/odyssey/characters.html