_Hall in house of Ulysses: [as described, in note]. EURYMACHUS,
AMPHINOMUS, CTESIPPUS, PHEMIUS, and many suitors. Noise and brawling.
Remains of feast._
_EURYMACHUS._
PEACE! Will none hear? Silence! O peace, I say.
Will ye not hearken? (_Some abatement._)
_AMPHINOMUS._
Friends, give ear awhile,
And hearken to Eurymachus.
_CTESIPPUS._
For one,
I am not of his party.
_A SUITOR._
Nay, nor I, 880
Let him command his own.
_Eur._ Princes and lords!
Have ye not chosen me to rule your feasts?
I claim no more precedence; I would urge
Nought but your honour, which ye go to shame
By such disordered brawling.
_Ctes._ O, we know thee.
’Tis nought Penelope should deem we lie
Under thy thumb!
_A suitor._ Ay, or what matters else
How these old beams may shake?
_Ctes._ What hast thou done?
_Amph._ My lords, ye do forget yourselves.
_Ctes._ O, nay.
Why went not Lord Eurymachus himself 890
To seize Telemachus? Doth he not bide
For the main chance? Will he not watch the play,
The while Antinous is furthered forth?
And—O, we know—when Lord Antinous
Returns, and saith _The thing ye wish is done;
Telemachus is dead, and he who now
Winneth the widow winneth house and lands
And kingship_; then the rich Eurymachus
Will raise his hands and weep, _The very thing
I would have stayed. Alas! the neediness_ 900
_And avarice of some!_
_Amph._ Why, good Ctesippus,
Seek not a quarrel.
_Ctes._ Nay, but is’t not so?
_Amph._ ’Twill never be. The just and equal gods
Have yet respect unto Ulysses’ house.
And were’t their will Telemachus should die,
He that went forth to slay him is the man
Whose heart they turned to do it. For me, I say,
I willed it not, and think ’twill never be.
_Ctes._ Thou’rt but a craven!
_Eur._ Get ye to your seats:
Pass we the bowl in peace, and while we drink 910
Let Phemius soothe our rivalries with song.
But one can win the prize, and whose ’twill be
Lies in the lap of Zeus. Fair play and peace!
_Amph._ And shame not this good house. Lack we a lord,
This courtesy is due unto ourselves.
_Ctes._ When brave Antinous returns, I say,
We shall grow warm again.
_Eur._ Peace for the bard!
_PHEMIUS._
1.
Follow my song that leads,
Ye wooers all, and come
To praise the flock, that feeds 920
Upon the grassy meads
Of fair Dulichium:
Where Acheloüs laves with rippling sweet
The low fields red with wheat.
2.
For thee, I praise, Amphinomus, thou prince,
Shepherd of sunset pastures; and I tell
Again what once befell
Nisus, thy sire, long since:
To fruitful Lacedæmon when he came,
With lords that made resort 930
From Calydon’s high court,
And western isles, at call of Helen’s fame,
Wooing the hand of Leda’s heavenly daughter:
But soon such jealousy and deadly gall
Inflamed the suitors all,
That then and there the fated slaughter
Of Danaans had begun,
Had not grave Tyndareus, her mortal sire,
To quench the kindling fire,
Called on Laertes’ son. 940
3.
“Wisest of men, Ulysses, tell me true,
If skill or grace to keep the peace may be
Among the lawless princes, here that sue
For Helen’s hand; if ever as of old
My house from curse of bloodshed may go free,
Do thou the rede unfold.”
Straight answered him the wise Ulysses then,
“O son of Thestius, ’tis in my mind,
That thou these lawless men
By firmest oath shouldst bind 950
To honour him, and give him all their aid,
Whose suit shall favour find,
And honour from the maid;