perfumed garments. Reaching forth her hand, The queen took down the bow, that hung within Its shining case, and sat her down, and laid The case upon her knees, and, drawing forth The monarch’s bow, she wept aloud. As soon As that new gush of tears had ceased to fall, Back to the hall she went, and that proud throng Of suitors, bearing in her hand the bow Unstrung, and quiver, where the arrows lay Many and deadly. Her attendant maids Brought also down a coffer, where were laid Much brass and steel, provided by the king For games like these. The glorious lady then, In presence of the suitors, stood beside The columns that upheld the stately roof. She held a lustrous veil before her cheeks, And, while on either side of her a maid Stood modestly, bespake the suitors thus:—
“Hear, noble suitors! ye who throng these halls, And eat and drink from day to day, while long My husband has been gone; your sole excuse For all this lawlessness the claim ye make That I become a bride. Come then, for now A contest is proposed. I bring to you The mighty bow that great Ulysses bore. Whoe’er among you he may be whose hand Shall bend this bow, and send through these twelve rings An arrow, him I follow hence, and leave This beautiful abode of my young years, With all its plenty—though its memory, I think, will haunt me even in my dreams.”
She spake, and bade the master of the swine, The good Eumaeus, place the bow and rings Of hoary steel before the suitor-train.
In tears he bore the bow and laid it down. The herdsman also wept to see again His master’s bow. Antinoüs called to both With a loud voice, and chid them angrily:—
“Ye silly rustics, who can never see Beyond the hour, why trouble with your tears The lady who had grief enough besides For her lost husband? Sit and share the feast In silence, or go forth and leave the bow; A difficult contest it will be for us, Nor, as I think, will this fair bow be bent With ease, since surely there is no man here Such as Ulysses was. I saw him once, While but a child, and still remember him.”