Antinous
gave a splendid embroidered robe, with twelve golden clasps,
Eurymachus a necklace of amber and gold, and Eurydamas a pair of
jewelled earrings. These and other costly offerings were brought to
Penelope in her chamber.
II
When evening came on, the wooers ordered three braziers to be set up
in the hall, to give them light as they sat at their pastimes. The
braziers were fed with dry chips of pine-wood, and the maid-servants
relieved each other from time to time in the duty of keeping up the
fires. Presently Odysseus drew near to the handmaids, and said: "Go ye
and attend the queen in her chamber, I will serve the fires, and give
light to the company. Yea, though they sit here all night they shall
not tire me out, for I am a much-enduring man."
The women laughed, and glanced at one another; and one of them, whose
name was Melantho, spoke bitterly to Odysseus, and reviled him,
saying: "Thou wretched old man, why goest thou not to find a bed in
the smithy, or wherever else thou canst, instead of loitering here,
and vexing us with thy prate? Either thou hast drunk a cup too much,
or else thou art stricken in thy wits. Get thee gone, lest a stronger
than Irus lay his hand upon thee and break thy bones."
"Now will I go straightway to Telemachus," answered Odysseus fiercely,
"yonder where he sits, and tell him what thou sayest, thou vixen, that
he may hew thee in pieces on the spot.
Pages:
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213