Behold, the traytor, whom ourselves supposed,
Seeks yet again the chamber! Tell me plain,
Shall I, should I superior prove in force,
Slay him, or shall I drag him thence to thee,
That he may suffer at thy hands the doom
Due to his treasons perpetrated oft
Against thee, here, even in thy own house?
I, with Telemachus, will here immew
The lordly suitors close, rage as they may.
Ye two, the while, bind fast Melanthius’ hands
And feet behind his back, then cast him bound
Into the chamber, and (the door secured)
Pass underneath his arms a double chain,
And by a pillar’s top weigh him aloft
Till he approach the rafters, there to endure,
Living long time, the mis’ries he hath earned.
They sought the chamber, whom the wretch within
Heard not, exploring ev’ry nook for arms.
They watching stood the door, from which, at length,
Forth came Melanthius, bearing in one hand
A casque, and in the other a broad shield
Time-worn and chapp’d with drought, which in his youth
Warlike Laertes had been wont to bear.
Long time neglected it had lain, till age
Had loosed the sutures of its bands. At once
Both, springing on him, seized and drew him in
Forcibly by his locks, then cast him down
Prone on the pavement, trembling at his fate.
With painful stricture of the cord his hands
They bound and feet together at his back,
As their illustrious master had enjoined,
Then weigh’d him with a double chain aloft
By a tall pillar to the palace-roof,
And thus, deriding him, Eumæus spake.
Reclined, as well befits thee, thou wilt watch
All night, nor when the golden dawn forsakes
The ocean stream, will she escape thine eye,
But thou wilt duly to the palace drive
The fattest goats, a banquet for thy friends.
Then, arming both, and barring fast the door,
They sought brave Laertiades again.
And now, courageous at the portal stood
Those four, by numbers in the interior house
Opposed of adversaries fierce in arms,
When Pallas, in the form and with the voice
Approach’d of Mentor, whom Laertes’ son
Beheld, and joyful at the sight, exclaim’d.
And benefactor, born when thou wast born.
Pallas, the heroine of heav’n. Meantime
The suitors fill’d with menaces the dome,
And Agelaüs, first, Damastor’s son,
In accents harsh rebuked the Goddess thus.
To oppose the suitors and to aid himself,
For thus will we. Ulysses and his son
Both slain, in vengeance of thy purpos’d deeds
Against us, we will slay thee next, and thou
With thy own head shalt satisfy the wrong.
Your force thus quell’d in battle, all thy wealth
Whether in house or field, mingled with his,
We will confiscate, neither will we leave
Or son of thine, or daughter in thy house
Alive, nor shall thy virtuous consort more
Within the walls of Ithaca be seen.
Minerva’s heart the more; incensed, she turn’d
Towards Ulysses, whom she thus reproved.
Ulysses, now, which nine whole years thou showd’st
At Ilium, waging battle obstinate
For high-born Helen, and in horrid fight
Destroying multitudes, till thy advice
At last lay’d Priam’s bulwark’d city low.
Why, in possession of thy proper home
And substance, mourn’st thou want of pow’r t’oppose
The suitors? Stand beside me, mark my deeds,
And thou shalt own Mentor Alcimides
A valiant friend, and mindful of thy love.
Entire his own, proving the valour, first,
Both of the sire and of his glorious son,
But, springing in a swallow’s form aloft,
Perch’d on a rafter of the splendid roof.
Then, Agelaüs animated loud
The suitors, whom Eurynomus also roused,
Amphimedon, and Demoptolemus,
And Polyctorides, Pisander named,
And Polybus the brave; for noblest far
Of all the suitor-chiefs who now survived
And fought for life were these. The bow had quell’d
And shafts, in quick succession sent, the rest.
Then Agelaüs, thus, harangued them all.
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