“Hear now my words, ye men of Ithaca. Through your own wrong all this has come to pass. To me ye would not hearken, nor obey When Mentor, shepherd of the people, spake. On the mad doings of your sons ye put No curb, nor checked the guilty insolence That dared to waste the substance and insult The consort of a man of eminent worth, Who, so they thought, would nevermore return. Now be it as I counsel; let us not Go forth to draw down evil on our heads.”
He spake; but more than half the assembly rushed Abroad with shouts; the others kept their place Together. Ill the augur’s speech had pleased The most. Eupeithes had persuaded them. They flew to arms, and when they had put on The glittering brass, they mustered in close ranks Before the spacious city. At their head Eupeithes led them on, who madly deemed Himself the avenger of his slaughtered son. Yet he from that encounter nevermore Was to return; his fate o’ertook him there.
Then Pallas thus addressed Saturnian Jove: “Our Father, son of Saturn, king of kings, Tell me, I pray, the purpose of thy heart Yet unrevealed. Shall there be cruel war And deadly combats, or wilt thou ordain That these shall henceforth dwell in amity?”
And cloud-compelling Jove made answer thus: “My child, why ask me? Was it not with thee A cherished purpose, that, returning home, Ulysses amply should avenge himself Upon the suitors? Do, then, as thou wilt. Yet this, as the most fitting, I advise. Now that the great Ulysses has avenged His wrongs, let there be made a faithful league With oaths, and let Ulysses ever reign; And we will cause the living to forget Their sons and brothers slain, and all shall dwell In friendship as they heretofore have dwelt, And there shall be prosperity and peace.”
He spake, and eager as she was before, Encouraged by his words, the goddess plunged Down from the summits of the Olympian mount. Now when they all had feasted to the full, The much-enduring chief, Ulysses, said: “Go, one of you, and see if they are near.”