They turned pale with fear as he
spoke, and every man looked round about to see whither he might flee
for safety, but Eurymakhos alone spoke.
"If you are Odysseus," said he,
"then what you have said is just. We have done much wrong on your
lands and in your house. But Antinoos, who was the head and front of
the offending [aitios], lies low already. It was all
his doing. It was not that he wanted to marry Penelope; he did not so
much care about that; what he wanted was something quite different,
and Zeus has not granted it to him; he wanted to kill your son and to
be chief man in Ithaca. Now, therefore, that he has met the death
which was his due, spare the lives of your people. We will make
everything good among ourselves in this district
[dêmos], and pay you in full for all that we
have eaten and drunk. Each one of us shall pay you a fine worth
twenty oxen, and we will keep on giving you gold and bronze till your
heart is softened. Until we have done this no one can complain of
your being enraged against us."
Odysseus again glared at him and
said, "Though you should give me all that you have in the world both
now and all that you ever shall have, I will not stay my hand till I
have paid all of you in full. You must fight, or flee for your lives;
and flee, not a man of you shall."
Their hearts sank as they heard
him, but Eurymakhos again spoke saying:
Homer. The Odyssey. Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. Samuel Butler. Based on public domain edition, revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy. A. C. Fifield, London. 1900 (?).
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