Odysseus hailed this as of good
omen, and Antinoos set a great goat's paunch before him filled
with blood and fat. Amphinomos took two loaves out of the
bread-basket and brought them to him, pledging him as he did so in a
golden goblet of wine. "Good luck to you," he said, "father stranger,
you are very badly off at present, but I hope you will have better
times [olbos] by and by."
To this Odysseus answered,
"Amphinomos, you seem to be a man of good understanding, as indeed
you may well be, seeing whose son you are. I have heard your father
well spoken of [kleos]; he is Nisus of Dulichium, a
man both brave and wealthy. They tell me you are his son, and you
appear to be a considerable person; listen, therefore, and take heed
to what I am saying. Man is the vainest of all creatures that have
their being upon earth. As long as the gods grant him aretê
and his knees are steady, he thinks that he shall come to no harm
hereafter, and even when the blessed gods bring sorrow upon him, he
bears it as he needs must, and makes the best of it; for the father
of gods and men gives men their daily minds [noos] day
by day. I know all about it, for I was a rich [olbios]
man once, and did much wrong in the stubbornness
[biâ] of my pride, and in the confidence that my
father and my brothers would support me; therefore let a man be pious
in all things always, and take the good that the gods may see fit to
send him without vainglory. Consider the infamy of what these suitors
are doing; see how they are wasting the estate, and doing dishonor to
the wife, of one who is certain to return some day, and that, too,
not long hence. Nay, he will be here soon; may a daimôn
send you home quietly first that you may not meet with him in the day
of his coming, for once he is here the suitors and he will not part
bloodlessly."
With these words he made a
drink-offering, and when he had drunk he put the gold cup again into
the hands of Amphinomos, who walked away serious and bowing his head,
for he foreboded evil. But even so he did not escape destruction, for
Athena had doomed him fall by the hand of Telemakhos. So he took his
seat again at the place from which he had come.
Then Athena put it into the mind
of Penelope to show herself to the suitors, that she might make them
still more enamored of her, and win still further honor from her son
and husband. So she feigned a mocking laugh and said, "Eurynome, I
have changed my and have a fancy to show myself to the suitors
although I detest them. I should like also to give my son a hint that
he had better not have anything more to do with them. They speak
fairly enough but they mean mischief."
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