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Penelope with Odysseus' bow and the dog Argus | print010: Penelope. From a drawing supplied by the Sculptor. Engraved by W. H. Mote. From the statue by R. J. Wyatt.
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Short outline of the story
(to read afterwards)
During the prolonged absence of Odysseus, the SUITORS OF PENELOPE began courting his wife. Penelope disliked the SUITORS' attentions, and in order to win time fooled them with the help of The Shroud of Laertes, which she wove by day and unravelled by night. When the SUITORS discovered Penelope's trick, they refused to leave Odysseus' palace unless she married one of them, and in the meantime they consumed Odysseus' estate in great parties and banquets. One day Odysseus landed in Ithaca, and while he stayed at Eumaeus 1's hut, he met his son Telemachus, who had just arrived from Pylos and Sparta, where he had expected to gather news about his father. They then put their heads together, and planned the downfall and death of the SUITORS. Odysseus came to the palace disguised as a beggar, and when Penelope declared that she would marry the man who could bend Odysseus bow and shoot an arrow a contest was arranged. And when no one could string the bow, Odysseus took it and shot the SUITORS.
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"So the cowards want to creep into the brave man's bed? It is just as if a deer had put her little unweaned fawns to sleep in a mighty lion's den and gone to range the high ridges and the grassy dales for pasture. Back comes the lion to his lair, and hideous carnage falls upon them all." (Menelaus to Telemachus. Homer, Odyssey 17.124).
"I would rather die by the sword in my own house than witness the perpetual repetition of these outrages, the brutal treatment of visitors, men hauling the maids about for their foul purposes … wine running like water, and those rascals gorging themselves, just for the sport of the thing, with no excuse, no rational end in sight." (Odysseus to Telemachus. Homer, Odyssey 16.106).
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SUITORS OF PENELOPE are called those who wished
to marry Penelope and
living in the palace of Odysseus consumed his
wealth at their feasts during his absence. But Odysseus returned and
no one of them escaped the palace alive. Penelope says that
no one was dealt, because of the Trojan War, a heavier
blow than her. For during the time her husband was
away, she, not knowing whether he was dead or
alive, passed her days in continuous mourning,
founding relief only in tears or sleep. Some could
reasonably tell her that Odysseus was not the
only man who never returned from Troy, and she could find
the argument perfectly wise. And yet, when she
retired upstairs to her room, she would weep again
for her beloved husband.
How Odysseus won and
lost Penelope
Odysseus joined the
alliance against Troy reluctantly, for this man did not dream of war and
adventures, but instead of a quiet life at home.
Some would say that the gods planned it all, and
that mortals have no choice against their will. And
they may be right: for if Odysseus had not
conceived The Oath of Tyndareus, he would never
have lost Penelope, and
yet without the invention of the oath he would not
have married her at all. In any case, Odysseus and Penelope had lived in
Ithaca several years and Telemachus was just a
babe, when King Agamemnon's agent Palamedes came to the
island and destroyed their family life by
outwitting Odysseus,
and forcing him to comply with the oath he himself
had invented and join the alliance that was being
formed in order to sail to Troy and demand, by
persuasion or by force, the restoration of Helen and the property
stolen by the seducer Paris when he, guided by Aphrodite, visited Sparta. Palamedes did his
duty, and Odysseus was
bound to comply. Nevertheless, Odysseus held him
responsible for having to leave country, wife, and
child, and for that reason he plotted against Palamedes, and had him
stoned to death by the army as a traitor when they
were fighting at Troy. This
war, which was not a minor one but instead a huge
catastrophe which provoked the ruin, not only of
the Trojan house, but also of many states in
Hellas, lasted ten years.
The Achaeans difficult Returns
After the war, the ACHAEAN LEADERS,
on account of the crime committed by Ajax 2 against Cassandra in the
shrine of Athena, were
fated to have difficult returns or even no return
at all, as the goddess herself declared:
"I will impose
on them a return that is no return." (Athena to Poseidon. Euripides, Daughters
of Troy 75).
But Odysseus, who
was Athena's
protégé, was instead pursued by Poseidon, for having
blinded, during his journey homeward, the god's
darling son, the Cyclops Polyphemus 2, a wild
cannibal who devoured several of his comrades.
After having lost the rest of his crew between Scylla 1 and Charybdis, he came to
the island of Calypso 3, who loved him with possessiveness and kept
him with her for seven years, doing her best to
banish Ithaca from his memory. And she even offered
him immortality to tempt him to stay, but Odysseus, longing to
see the day of his return home, refused the life of
a god. Such was the love of this man for his wife.
But one day Athena, whose
heart was wrung because of Odysseus' grief,
interceded with Zeus for
him, and Hermes was sent
to force Calypso 3 to
give him up, which she did, lamenting and
reproaching:
"…You jealous gods cannot bear to let a goddess sleep with a man." (Calypso 3 to Hermes. Homer, Odyssey 5.120).
As time went by, however, and all the survivors
of the war except Odysseus had reached their homes while minstrels were already singing about the war as belonging to the past, some started to believe that he would never return. And so, SUITORS came from Ithaca and the neighboring islands, wishing to marry the queen.
The SUITORS OF PENELOPE
These youths, who are known as the SUITORS OF
PENELOPE, were the crème de la
crème of Ithacan society, the flower and
tops of this insular state. And when they thought
that Queen Penelope had
been left a widow, which was not an extraordinary
thought, considering that so many years had passed
and neither Odysseus nor his army had returned, they presented
themselves at the palace, asking her to choose the
one whom she considered the best suited to be her
new husband. However, they did not wait for her answer in
their own houses, but instead they gradually turned
into an arrogant and insolent mob, imposing
themselves and consuming Odysseus' estate for
their own sustenance. In this manner, they spent
their time slaughtering the sheep and fatted cattle
belonging to the palace in order to provide their
great parties with food. And when they were not
eating and drinking—for their squires and
pages, nice dressed young fellows with clean pretty
faces and greased hair, were often busy carving
meat in lavish portions, blending wine and water, and setting the tables ready—they were practising sports, or playing draughts. And their feasts and banquets were completed with music and dance, for they had brought the minstrel Phemius 2, whom they had pressed into their service. This was the life they led at Odysseus' home, and
with such a crowd filling the palace, there was
always an uproar at those times, and since they had
a remarkable appetite for banquets and feasts,
complete ruin could be feared. That is why Telemachus said:
"… they are eating me out of house and home." (Telemachus.
Homer, Odyssey 1.250).
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Location of Odysseus' home and the islands where the SUITORS came from
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The SUITORS were like a disease
Now, the reasonable way was for the SUITORS to
be off, each to his own place, and conduct the suit
from their own homes. And that is why Telemachus proposed
them to feast themselves elsewhere, giving them
formal notice to quit his palace in front of the
Ithacan assembly. For Telemachus saw these
young men who pestered his mother with unwanted
attentions and wasted his wealth as a disease and
an outrage to decency. But the SUITORS, who were the pride of Ithacan
nobility, could not see any wrong in courting the
widow of a dead king. And it was her, they argued,
who had forced them to act as they did. For she had
fooled them during three years with The Shroud of
Laertes, saying that she would marry once she had
finished this piece of work. But she, deceiving
everybody, unravelled by night what she wove by
day, and so, they reasoned, in order to avoid to be
fooled again, they would have to stay and undermine
the palace's finances until she decided to abandon
her reluctant attitude. These were the means by which the SUITORS
expected to force Penelope to make a
choice, and by letting Telemachus suffer and
see his wealth consumed, they hoped that he would
persuade his mother to marry one of them. But not
always those who act unjustly are aware of the
consequences that come with their deeds, in
particular when they are guided by the enthusiasm
and the ambition of youth. For there are many who
risk their own skins in situations which they deem
to be quite innocent, but that unexpectedly become
their ruin.
Mentor 4
And that is why Odysseus' old friend Mentor 4 did not pick a
quarrel at the Ithacan assembly with these
unexperienced youths, but instead he admonished the
citizens of Ithaca and the SUITORS' relatives for
their acquiescent attitude. For later, when Odysseus returned, and
unleashing his wrath provoked a blood bath not
leaving one single suitor alive, they protested and
even revolted, but now, while their darling
children abused Odysseus' household,
they sat in abject silence, not daring to condemn
the outrage. And since nobody among those who
counted for the SUITORS, condemned or admonished
them, they dared to push their luck even further,
declaring that if Odysseus would suddenly
appear he would meet an ugly end, which means that
from thoughtless SUITORS they were turning into
rebels and instigators of rebellion. This is how things which are relatively small,
looking as if they were childish pranks, fall, step
by step, out of proportion. But then it has been
said of Discord that she
has in the beginning an insignificant appearance,
reaching soon heaven with her head while having her
feet still on the ground. For one thing is to be
the suitor of a widow, another to be an unwanted
suitor, and yet another to think about making the
woman a widow in case her husband proved to be
alive after all. And once the SUITORS started
thinking this last thought, it was not difficult
for them to go even further and plot, although in
vain, against the life of Telemachus, fearing
that he would return from his trip to Pylos and Sparta with for them
unwelcome news about his father.
Great scoundrels
So by the time Odysseus landed in
Ithaca—where Athena,
meeting him in the beach, disguised him as a
stranger and a beggar, withering his limbs, robbing
his head of hair, and covering his body with the
wrinkles of Old
Age—the ambitious young men who called
themselves the SUITORS OF PENELOPE had turned into
the worst scoundrels ever seen in that island
realm. For being persuaded that Odysseus was dead, they
did not pay court to the widow in the regular way,
but instead sat in his palace eating up his
livelihood by consuming large amounts of meat and wine. Odysseus learned all
about them and the state of affairs in his home in
the hut of his servant and swineherd Eumaeus 1, who without
recognizing him, received him with hospitality, for
as he said:
"… strangers and beggars all come in Zeus' name." (Eumaeus 1 to the
disguised Odysseus.
Homer, Odyssey 14.56).
While Odysseus was
staying in his servant's hut, Telemachus returned
from his trip to Pylos and Sparta, and coming to the
house of Eumaeus 1, he
met his father. And there, having recognized each
other, they jointly plot the downfall and death of
the SUITORS.
Planning more crimes
These, in turn, became more and more bold, and one of them, Antinous 2, reasoned that while Telemachus lived it
would be difficult or impossible for them to bring
the business of their suit to a satisfactory end.
And as they tried to murder him in the open sea
during Telemachus' homeward trip but failed, Antinous 2 now believed that it would be best for them to murder Odysseus' son in some road of Ithaca, before he denounced them in front of the assembly. After that, said Antinous 2, they could divide Odysseus'
property among them all, letting Penelope and his new
husband keep the house. However, some among them
did not feel ready to carry on this murderous plan,
and they adjourned their decision in this matter.
Penelope rebukes Antinous 2
But the herald Medon 5 overheard the SUITORS' debate, and warned Penelope, who called Antinous 2 to account saying:
"How dare you
plot against Telemachus' life and dishonour the
obligations that a past act of mercy
imposes—bonds that are ratified by Zeus himself and make all enmity
between you two a sacrilege?" (Penelope to Antinous 2. Homer, Odyssey 16.420).
And Penelope reminded Antinous 2 that his father once had sought refuge in Odysseus'
palace from a mob that would have killed him, for
political reasons, had not Odysseus intervened.
And yet now, Penelope pointed out, Antinous 2 not only was courting Odysseus' wife, but he
was also plotting against the life of Odysseus' son,
disregarding the grief that the death of her son
could cause to Penelope herself.
Eurymachus 2's false words
Antinous 2 kept silent, but this treacherous behavior was so flagrant that the suitor Eurymachus 2, whom Odysseus long ago had
taken on his knees, feeding him with meat and
letting him taste the wine,
felt compelled to soothe Penelope's fears,
although he himself had murder in his heart:
"Penelope … Dismiss these terrors from your mind. The man is not born and never will be, who shall lay violent hands on Telemachus your son, so long as I live …" (Eurymachus 2 to Penelope. Homer, Odyssey 16.435).
Distinguishing good from bad for the sake of it
Odysseus came at
last to his palace disguised as a stranger and in
the company of Eumaeus 1, when the SUITORS were enjoying one of their
banquets. And while the servant took a place near Telemachus, Odysseus, limping along
with the aid of a staff and looking like a
distressful beggar, went round collecting scraps
from the SUITORS. They say that it was the goddess Athena who inspired him
to go round the table, so that he would learn to
distinguish the good from the bad among the
SUITORS. And yet, they say, this did not mean that
any of them would be saved from destruction and
death. Odysseus' inspection and begging tour was not appreciated by the suitor Antinous 2, who disliked tramps coming to pester him and the other SUITORS with their wants at their magnificent dinners. So instead of giving him food, as the other SUITORS had done, he threw a stool at Odysseus, and struck him on the back. And the scene was so embarrassing that some of the SUITORS, fearing that this vagabond could be a god in disguise, condemned the arrogance of Antinous 2, who himself took no notice of their opinion. But later when the real beggar Arnaeus arrived,
and having provoked a fight with Odysseus (for beggar fights beggar) was defeated by him, both Antinous 2 and Amphinomus 2 presented Odysseus with food and
drink, congratulating him for having stopped the
glutton Arnaeus.
Odysseus warns Amphinomus 2
It was then that Odysseus warned Amphinomus 2, who seemed to him to be a decent fellow, telling him that lawless violence, as the SUITORS wasting the man's property and insulting his wife, was bound to end in disaster. For it was a delusion to think, he explained, that father and brothers would stand by them, and he added:
"I only hope
that some power may swaft you away to the safety of
your own home and that you may not have to face him
when he comes to his native land. For not without
bloodshed, will the wooers and he part one from the
other once he is under his own roof." (Odysseus the beggar to Amphinomus 2. Homer, Odyssey 18.150).
This filled Amphinomus 2 with a foreboding of disaster, but nevertheless he stayed with his comrades, for as they say, the goddess Athena had already
decided that Telemachus would take
his life.
The SUITORS' gifts
In the midst of their outrages, the SUITORS had
also time and opportunity for gallant words, and
they could call Penelope, who could be
the mother of many of them, for wise, beautiful,
and graceful, which nevertheless sounded false,
coming from those, who inviting themselves, enjoyed
free meals at her estate's expense. But they also
gave her gifts, for after all they hoped to win her
hand, and with her all of King Odysseus' rights. And so, for example, the scoundrel Antinous 2 presented her with an embroidered robe with dozen golden brooches, and gentle Eurymachus 2 gave her a golden chain with amber beads, and Eurydamas 4 brought a pair of ear-rings, and Pisander 2 gave her a necklace. This was also a pleasure for the SUITORS, for it
is delightful for those who enjoy power and wealth,
to have the opportunity to exhibit both one and the
other, showing that not only insolence, but also
grace, glory, and generosity may emanate from their
presence. And when that is done, then insolence and
arrogance may be resumed with a clearer conscience,
for in fact even Odysseus' baldness
raised laughter among these merry fellows, and that
is why they often had to be exhorted by Telemachus to refrain
from provocation and violence.
The trial of the bow
The day came when Penelope, deeming that
she could not allow the SUITORS to consume all the
wealth, decided to confront them with Odysseus' bow,
proposing a trial of strength, and declaring that
she was prepared to marry whichever among them
proved the best at stringing the bow and shooting
an arrow. The SUITORS then took their turn with the bow in
the same way as the wine went round. Liodes, who was the first to try the
bow, said as he failed to bend it:
"Believe me,
this bow will break the heart and be the death of
many a champion here." (Liodes to the SUITORS. Homer, Odyssey 21.154).
The rest of the SUITORS decided to grease and thaw the bow before they tried it, and when also Eurymachus 2 failed, Antinous 2 proposed to postpone the test. For this day, being the holiday of the archer god Apollo,
was no time, he argued, to bend bows. In the
meantime, Odysseus had
gone apart with Eumaeus 1 and his cowman Philoetius, and after
revealing himself to them, gave them instructions
for the coming fight against the SUITORS. And when
he returned, he begged a favor of them all: that
they should let him have the bow and test it. The SUITORS found this request preposterous, not
because they feared that Penelope would marry
the beggar if he bent the bow, but because if he
did, the people would say that they could not bend
it, but in came some casual tramp and bent the bow
with great ease. And this kind of black spot in
their immaculate reputation they could not suffer.
However, as Penelope and Telemachus intervened in his favor, the bow was finally
handed over to Odysseus, who strung
the bow without effort, and shooting an arrow hit
all the marks.
Death is
unbelievable
As he finished the test, Odysseus nodded, and Telemachus took place
full armed at his father's side. Odysseus then shot an arrow at Antinous 2 and killed him. Now, there are many who cannot acknowledge Death, specially if
this terrible god stands beside them, and that is
why the SUITORS believed or wished to believe that Odysseus had killed Antinous 2 by accident. For if this was no accident, then there was but little hope and they were in great danger, for there was not a shield or a spear in the room to lay their hands on. But those about to be slaughtered seldom believe that slaughter awaits them, and that is why the SUITORS thought that they could still reproach Odysseus for what they
deemed to be a blunder, and threatened him with
heavy consequences for having slain the greatest
nobleman in Ithaca. So to wake them up Odysseus said:
"You never
thought to see me back from Troy. So you ate me out of house and
home; you raped my maids; you wooed my wife on the
sly though I was alive, with no more fear of the
gods in heaven than of the human vengeance that
might come. I tell you, one and all, your doom is
sealed." (Odysseus to the
SUITORS. Homer, Odyssey 22.35).
The SUITORS beg for mercy
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Phemius asks for his life | od435gen: Phemius: “By your knees I beseech you, Odysseus, and do respect me and have pity; on your own self shall sorrow come hereafter, if you slay the minstrel, who sings to gods and men. Self-taught am I, and the god has planted in my heart all manner of lays, and worthy am I to sing to you as to a god; wherefore be not eager to cut my throat." (Hom.Od.22.344). Bonaventura Genelli (1798 – 1868).
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This is the kind of thing that no young man wishes to hear, for sudden death takes away far more than the colour from the cheeks. That is why Eurymachus 2, talking to Odysseus, tried to make Antinous 2, who was already dead anyway, responsible for all what happened, saying that he had been the prime mover of all misdeeds and the one who had plotted against the life of Telemachus, wishing to make himself king of Ithaca. This is how Eurymachus 2 suddenly found in his dead comrade all kinds of faults that he could not see shortly before. And after saying that Antinous 2 had indeed deserved to be killed, Eurymachus 2 begged Odysseus to spare him
and the rest of the SUITORS, promising to make
amends, and pay in oxen, bronze, and gold, for all
the food and drink they had consumed, until Odysseus was satisfied. However, for reasons that only those who
retaliate fully know, Odysseus refused any
agreement, and exhorted them to fight or run for
their lives. This is how the SUITORS' season of
insolence and pleasure came to an abrupt end, and
they would have wished that some familiar voice had
woken them up from this nightmare so that they
could have dinner again. Instead they were forced
to fight for their lives, but Odysseus, assisted by
his swineherd Eumaeus 1, his cowman Philoetius, and his son Telemachus, killed
them all, who were the nicest young men of the
island realm, meant to become the elite of Ithaca,
Cephallenia, Dulichium, and Zacynthos, the sons of
the best families of the kingdom. The wrath of Odysseus knew no mercy,
and when Liodes begged for his life, arguing that
he only had been the SUITORS' priest, Odysseus, answered
before killing him:
"How often, then, you must have prayed in this hall that the happy day of my return might be put off …" (Odysseus to
Liodes. Homer, Odyssey 22.321).
But he spared the minstrel Phemius 2, who had been forced by the SUITORS to sing for them at their banquets. This is how the SUITORS' dreams of kingship
ended in death when Odysseus, having
wandered for many years, returned home to resume
his life. But after the extraordinary victory over
more than one hundred men, Odysseus did not wish
to have any jubilation, for he found it an impious
thing to exult over the slain who were victims of
their own infamy.
Disloyal servants punished
Instead he asked Euryclia which among the fifty
women-servants in the palace had been disloyal. And
the twelve that had disgraced themselves were
ordered to clean the battlefield, removing the
bodies of the slain and washing tables and chairs.
And when the whole house was again in order, Telemachus and the two herdsmen took the women who had slept with the SUITORS to the courtyard, and hanged them. And they also killed the disloyal servant and goatherd Melanthius 2, who sided with the SUITORS, after slicing his nose and ears off and ripping away his privy parts as raw meat for the dogs. And they were so angry at him and his lack of loyalty that they also lopped off his hands and feet.
Consequences
The massacre was not without consequences. For
when the news of the SUITORS' death spread, many
mourners gathered at Odysseus' gate, and soon Antinous 2's father Eupeithes, commanding a force formed by the SUITORS' relatives, rose in arms, attacking Odysseus' palace. Eupeithes was killed by Laertes, and the attack
failed. But some say that this feud did not end
here, and that both parties sent for Achilles' son Neoptolemus, who was
king in Epirus, to act as arbiter. Neoptolemus then
condemned Odysseus to
be exiled, and in accordance with the sentence he
retired to Italy. At the same time, Neoptolemus sentenced the relatives of the SUITORS to
compensate Odysseus each year for the waste of his wealth. And they
paid the compensation to Telemachus in barley, wine, olive-oil,
honeycombs, salt, and animals for sacrifice. Neoptolemus, some
believe, judged in this way because he hoped to get
possession of the island of Cephallenia, once Odysseus was put out of
the way.
Even Agamemnon learned about the SUITORS
And also Agamemnon,
who died years before Odysseus killed the
SUITORS, learned what happened in Ithaca, for the
soul of the suitor Amphimedon told him everything
when he descended to Hades. |
