Wrath Declared

5So each one said; they deemed he had not slain
The suitor wittingly; nor did they see,
Blind that they were, the doom which in that hour
Was closing round them all. Then with a frown
The wise Odysseus looked on them, and said: —

6“Dogs! you had thought I never would come back
From Ilium’s coast, and therefore you devoured
My substance here, and offered violence
To my maidservants, and pursued my wife
As lovers, while I lived. You dreaded not
The gods who dwell in the great heaven, nor feared
Vengeance hereafter from the hands of men;
And now destruction overhangs you all.”

7He spoke, and all were pale with fear, and each
Looked round for some escape from death. Alone
Eurymachus found voice, and answered thus: —

8“If you indeed be he, the Ithacan
Odysseus, now returned to your old home,
Well have you spoken of the many wrongs
Done to you by the Achaians in your house
And in your fields. But there the man lies slain
Who was the cause of all. Antinous first
Began this course of wrong. Nor were his thoughts
So much of marriage as another aim —
Which Cronus’ son denied him —to bear rule
Himself over those who till the pleasant fields
Of Ithaca, first having slain your son
In ambush. But he now has met his fate.
Spare, then, your people. We will afterward
Make due amends in public for the waste
Here in your palace of the food and wine.
For each of us shall bring you twenty beeves,
And brass and gold, until your heart shall be
Content. Till then we cannot blame your wrath.”

9Sternly the wise Odysseus frowned, and said:
“Eurymachus, if you should offer me
All that you have, your father’s wealth entire,
And add yet other gifts, not even then
Would I refrain from bloodshed, ere my hand
Avenged my wrongs upon the suitor-crew.
Choose then to fight or flee, whoever hopes
Escape from death and fate; yet none of you
Will now, I think, avoid that bitter doom.”