Suitors’ Taunts

23He spoke, and quickly from the suitor’s hand
Withdrew his own. The others who prepared
Their banquet in the palace scoffed at him,
And flung at him their bitter taunts, and one
Among the insolent youths reviled him thus: —

24“Telemachus is certainly resolved
To butcher us. He goes to bring allies
From sandy Pylos or the Spartan coast,
He is so bent on slaughter. Or perhaps
He visits the rich land of Ephyre
In search of deadly poisons to be thrown
Into a cup and end us all at once.”

25Then said another of the haughty youths: —
“Who knows but, wandering in his hollow barque,
He too may perish, far from all his friends,
Just as Odysseus perished? This would bring
Increase of labor; it would cast on us
The trouble to divide his goods, and give
His palace to his mother, and to him
Who takes the woman as his wedded wife.”