He spake, and setting down the bow to lean Against the firm smooth panels of the wall, And the swift shaft against the bow’s fair curve, He took again his seat upon the throne From which he rose. Antinoüs then took up The word and answered, and reproached him thus:—
“What words are these, Leiodes, that have passed Thy lips? harsh words and fearful—that this bow Shall take from many princes here the breath Of life, and all because thou hast no power To bend it? Thy good mother bore thee not To draw the bow and send the arrow forth, But others of the noble suitor-train Are here, by whom this bow shall yet be bent.”
Then to Melanthius, keeper of the goats, Antinoüs gave this bidding.
“Light a fire With speed, Melanthius, in the palace here, And place a seat before it. Lay a fleece Upon the seat, and bring us from within An ample roll of fat, that we young men By warming and anointing may make soft The bow, and draw the cord, and end the strife.”
He spake; Melanthius kindled instantly A glowing fire, and near it placed a seat, And on the seat a fleece, and from within Brought forth an ample roll of fat, with which The young men, having warmed it, smeared the bow And tried, but bent it not, too weak by far For such a feat.
Antinoüs kept aloof, He and the godlike youth Eurymachus Two princes who in might excelled the rest.
The herdsman of Ulysses meantime left The palace, and with him the swineherd went, And after them Ulysses. When they all Were now without the gate and palace court, Ulysses spake to them, and blandly said:—