{"collection":"Classics","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/cla/homer/aoo/aoo34.htm","path":"cla/homer/aoo/aoo34.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/cla/homer/aoo/aoo34.htm","text":"THERE was in Ithaka a common beggar; he was a most greedy fellow, and he was nicknamed Irus because he used to run errands for the servants of Odysseus\u2019 house. He came in the evening, and seeing a seeming beggar seated on the threshold, he flew into a rage and shouted at him:\n\u2018Get away from here, old fellow, lest you be dragged away by the hand or foot. Look you! The lords within the house are giving me the wink to turn you out. But I can\u2019t demean myself by touching the like of you. Get up now and go while I\u2019m easy with you.\u2019\nOdysseus looked at the fellow and said, \u2018I have not harmed you in deed or word, and I do not grudge you anything of what you may get in this house. The threshold I sit on is wide enough for two of us.\u2019\n\u2018What words this fellow has!\u2019 said Irus the beggar. \u2018He talks like an old sit-by-the-fire. I\u2019ll not waste more words on him. Get up now, heavy paunch, and strip for the fight, for I\u2019m going to show all the lords that I can keep the door for them.\u2019\n\u2018Do not provoke me,\u2019 said Odysseus. \u2018Old as I seem, I may be able to draw your blood.\u2019\nBut Irus kept on shouting, \u2018I\u2019ll knock the teeth out of your jaws.\u2019 \u2018I\u2019ll trounce you.\u2019 Antinous, the most insolent of the wooers, saw the squabble, and he laughed to see the pair defying each other. \u2018Friends,\u2019 said he, \u2018the gods are good to us, and don\u2019t fail to send us amusement. The strange beggar and our own Irus are threatening each other. Let us see that they don\u2019t draw back from the fight. Let us match one against the other.\u2019\nALL the wooers trooped to the threshold and stood round the ragged men. Antinous thought of something to make the game more merry. \u2018There are two great puddings in the larder,\u2019 he said. \u2018Let us offer them for a prize to these pugilists. Come, Irus. Come, stranger. A choice of puddings for whichever of you wins the match. Aye, and more than that. Whoever wins shall have leave to eat every day in this hall, and no other beggar shall be let come near the house. Go to it now, ye mighty men.\u2019 All the wooers crowded round and clapped the men on to the fight.\nOdysseus said, \u2018Friends, an old man like me cannot fight one who is younger and abler.\u2019\nBut they cried to him, \u2018Go on, go on. Get into the fight or else take stripes upon your body.\u2019\nThen said Odysseus, \u2018Swear to me, all of you, that none of you will show favour to Irus nor deal me a foul blow.\u2019\nAll the wooers cried out that none would favour Irus or deal his opponent a foul blow. And Telemachus, who was there, said, \u2018The man who strikes thee, stranger, will have to take reckoning from me.\u2019\nStraightway Odysseus girt up his rags. When his great arms and shoulders and thighs were seen, the wooers were amazed and Irus was frightened. He would have slipped away if Antinous had not caught him and said to him, \u2018You lubber, you! If you do not stand up before this man I will have you flung on my ship and sent over to King Echetus, who will cut off your nose and ears and give your flesh to his dogs to eat.\u2019 He took hold of Irus and dragged him into the ring.\nThe fighters faced each other. But Odysseus with his hands upraised stood for long without striking, for he was pondering whethering he should strike Irus a hard or a light blow. It seemed to him better to strike him lightly, so that his strength should not be made a matter for the wooers to note and wonder at. Irus struck first. He struck Odysseus on the shoulder. Then Odysseus aimed a blow at his neck, just below the ear, and the beggar fell to the ground, with the blood gushing from his mouth and nose.\nThe wooers were not sorry for Irus. They laughed until they were ready to fall backwards. Then Odysseus seized Irus by the feet, and dragged him out of the house, and to the gate of the courtyard. He lifted him up and put him standing against the wall. Placing the staff in the beggar\u2019s hands, he said, \u2018Sit there, and scarce off the dogs and swine, and do not let such a one as you lord it over strangers. A worse thing might have befallen you.\u2019\nThen back he went to the hall, with his beggar\u2019s bag on his shoulder and his clothes more ragged than ever. Back he went, and when the wooers saw him they burst into peals of laughter and shouted out:\n\u2018May Zeus, O stranger, give thee thy dearest wish and thy heart\u2019s desire. Thou only shalt be beggar in Ithaka.\u2019 They laughed and laughed again when Antinous brought out the great pudding that was the prize. Odysseus took it from him. And another of the wooers pledged him in a golden cup, saying, \u2018May you come to your own, O beggar, and may happiness be yours in time to come.\u2019\nWhile these things were happening, the wife of Odysseus, the lady Penelope, called to Eurycleia, and said, \u2018This evening I will go into the hall of our house and speak to my son, Telemachus. Bid my two handmaidens make ready to come with me, for I shrink from going amongst the wooers alone.\u2019\nEurycleia went to tell the handmaidens and Penelope washed off her cheeks the traces of the tears that she had wept that day. Then she sat down to wait for the handmaidens to come to her. As she waited she fell into a deep sleep. And as she slept, the goddess Pallas Athene bathed her face in the Water of Beauty and took all weariness away from her body, and restored all her youthfulness to her. The sound of the handmaidens\u2019 voices as they came in awakened her, and Penelope rose up to go into the hall.\nNow when she came amongst them with her two handmaidens, one standing each side of her, the wooers were amazed, for they had never seen one so beautiful. The hearts of all were enchanted with love for her, and each prayed that he might have her for his wife.\nPenelope did not look on any of the wooers, but she went to her son, Telemachus, and spoke to him.\n\u2018Telemachus,\u2019 she said, \u2018I have heard that a stranger has been ill-treated in this house. How, my child, didst thou permit such a thing to happen?\u2019\nTelemachus said, \u2018My lady mother, thou hast no right to be angered at what took place in this hall.\u2019\nSo they spoke to one another, mother and son. Now one of the wooers, Eurymachus by name, spoke to Penelope, saying:\n\u2018Lady, if any more than we beheld thee in the beauty thou hast now, by so many more wouldst thou have wooers to-morrow.\u2019\n\u2018Speak not so to me, lord Eurymachus,\u2019 said Penelope, \u2018speak not of my beauty, which departed in the grief I felt when my lord went to the wars of Troy.\u2019\nOdysseus stood up, and gazed upon his wife who was standing amongst her wooers. Eurymachus noted him and going to him, said, \u2018Stranger, wouldst thou be my hireling? If thou wouldst work on my upland farm, I should give thee food and clothes. But I think thou art practised only in shifts and dodges, and that\nOdysseus, standing there, said to that proud wooer, \u2018Lord Eurymachus, if there might be a trial of labour between us two, I know which of us would come out the better man. I would that we two stood together, a scythe in the hands of each, and a good swath of meadow to be mown--then would I match with thee, fasting from dawn until evening\u2019s dark. Or would that we were set ploughing together. Then thou shouldst see who would plough the longest and the best furrow! Or would that we two were in the ways of war! Then shouldst thou see who would be in the front rank of battle. Thou dost think thyself a great man. But if Odysseus should return, that door, wide as it is, would be too narrow for thy flight.\u2019\nSo angry was Eurymachus at this speech that he would have struck Odysseus if Telemachus had not come amongst the wooers, saying, \u2018That man must not be struck again in this hall. Sirs, if you have finished feasting, and if the time has come for you, go to your own homes, go in peace I pray you.\u2019\nAll were astonished that Telemachus should speak so boldly. No one answered him back, for one said to the other, \u2018What he has said is proper. We have nothing to say against it. To misuse a stranger in the house of Odysseus is a shame. Now let us pour out a libation of wine to the gods, and then let each man go to his home.\u2019\nThe wine was poured out and the wooers departed. Then Penelope and her handmaidens went to her own chamber and Telemachus was left with his father, Odysseus.","title":"Adventures of Odysseus: Part II: The Odyssey: Chapter XI","type":"page"}