Homer (Greek Text) Translated by Samuel Butler - The Odyssey, Book 22 lyrics

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