Leiodes Denied

43“I come, Odysseus, to your knees. Respect
And spare me. Never have I said or done,
Among the women of your household, aught
That could be blamed, and I essayed to check
The wrongs of other suitors. Little heed
They gave my counsels, nor withheld their hands
From evil deeds, and therefore have they drawn
Upon themselves an evil fate. But I,
Who have done nothing —I their soothsayer —
Must I too die? Then is there no reward
Among the sons of men for worthy deeds.”

44Odysseus, the sagacious, frowned and said:
“If then, in truth, you were as you do boast,
A soothsayer among these men, your prayer
Within these palace-walls must oft have been
That far from me might be the blessed day
Of my return, and that my wife might take
With you her lot, and bring forth sons to you,
And therefore shall you not escape from death.”

45He spoke, and seizing with his powerful hand
A falchion lying near, which from the grasp
Of Agelaus fell when he was slain,
Just at the middle of the neck he smote
Leiodes, while the words were on his lips,
And the head fell, and lay amid the dust.