So spake Telemachus. The Thunderer, Jove, Sent flying from a lofty mountaintop Two eagles. First they floated on the wind Close to each other, and with wings outspread; But as they came to where the murmuring crowd Was gathered just beneath their flight, they turned And clapped their heavy pinions, looking down With deadly omen on the heads below, And with their talons tore each other’s cheeks And necks, and then they darted to the right Away through Ithaca among its roofs. All who beheld the eagles were amazed, And wondered what event was near at hand. Among the rest an aged hero spake, Named Halitherses, Mastor’s son. He knew More truly than the others of his age, To augur from the flight of birds, and read The will of fate—and wisely thus he spake:—
“Hear, men of Ithaca, what I shall say. I speak of what most narrowly concerns The suitors, over whom already hangs Great peril, for Ulysses will not be Long at a distance from his home and friends. Even now he is not far, and meditates Slaughter and death to all the suitor train; And evil will ensue to many more Of us, who dwell in sunny Ithaca. Now let us think what measures may restrain These men—or let them of their own accord Desist—the soonest were for them the best. For not as one untaught do I foretell Events to come, but speak of what I know. All things that I predicted to our chief, What time the Argive troops embarked for Troy, And sage Ulysses with them, are fulfilled; I said that after many hardships borne, And all his comrades lost, the twentieth year Would bring him back, a stranger to us all— And all that then I spake of comes to pass.”
Eurymachus, the son of Polybus, Answered the seer: “Go to thy house, old man, And to thy boys, and prophesy to them, Lest evil come upon them. I can act, In matters such as these, a prophet’s part Better than thou. True, there are many birds That fly about in sunshine, but not all Are ominous. Ulysses far away Has perished; well it would have been if thou Hadst perished with him; then thou wouldst not prate Idly of