Melantho’s Taunt

11The sage Penelope now left her bower;
Like Artemis or like golden Aphrodite came
The queen. Beside the hearth they placed for her
The throne where she was wont to sit, inlaid
With ivory and silver, which of yore
The artisan Icmalius wrought. They laid
Close to the throne a footstool, over which
Was spread an ample fleece. On this sat down
The sage Penelope. Her white-armed train
Of handmaids came with her; they cleared away
The abundant feast, and bore the tables off,
And cups from which those insolent men had drunk;
They laid upon the ground the lighted brands,
And heaped fresh fuel round them, both for light
And warmth. And now Melantho once again
Bespoke Odysseus with unmannerly words: —

12“Stranger, will you forever be a pest,
Ranging the house at night to play the spy
Upon the women? Leave the hall, you wretch!
And gorge yourself without, else will you go
Suddenly, driven by blows and flaming brands.”

13The sage Odysseus frowned on her, and said:
“Pert creature! why so fiercely rail at me?
Is it that I am squalid and ill-clad,
And forced by want to beg from hand to hand?
Such is the fate of poor and wandering men.
I too was opulent once, inhabiting
A plenteous home among my fellow-men,
And often gave the wanderer alms, whoever
He might be and in whatsoever need;
And I had many servants, and large store
Of things by which men lead a life of ease
And are called rich. But Zeus, the son
Of Cronus, put an end to this, for so
It pleased the god. Now, therefore, woman, think
That you may lose the beauty which is now
Your pride among the serving-women here;
Your mistress may be wroth, and make your life
A hard one; or Odysseus may come back —
And there is hope of that. Or if it be
That he has perished, and returns no more,
There still remains his son Telemachus,
Who by Apollo’s grace is now a man,
And no one of the women in these halls
May think to misbehave, and yet escape
His eye, for he no longer is a boy.”