Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ODYSSEY: BOOK 2. THE WEB, by HOMER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ODYSSEY: BOOK 2. THE WEB, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Indignantly he spoke, and dashed to earth
Last Line: High flying from the mountain top.
Subject(s): Mythology - Classical


INDIGNANTLY he spoke, and dashed to earth
The staff, and burst out crying. Pity took
The whole assembly; then the rest kept silence,
And no man had the heart to answer him
With angry words: alone Antinous answered:
'Telemachus, ungovernable spirit,
Thou boaster! what is this that thou hast said
To shame us, and wouldst hang reproach on us?
I tell thee, not with the Achaean suitors
But with thy mother lies the fault, for she
Is cunning above women. Why, 'tis now
The third year, and the fourth is passing swiftly,
Since she began to cheat the Achaeans' hearts
Within them. Hope she gives to all, and makes
Each man a promise, and sends messages,
Although her mind is set on other things.
And in her heart she planned this trick besides:
She set up in her halls a mighty web,
And fell a-weaving; fine of thread it was
And very wide; whereon she said to us:
'"My princely suitors, now that good Odysseus
Is dead, though ye would speed my marriage on,
Have patience yet, till I complete my robe;
I would not that my spinning should be wasted;
'Tis prince Laertes' shroud, against the day
When the fell doom of death that lays men low
Shall strike him down, that of Achaean women
Throughout the land no one may count it blame
In me, that he should sleep without a shroud,
Who in his life had gotten great possessions."
'So said she, and our haughty hearts assented.
So then by day she wove at that great web,
And in the night she bade them set beside her
The torches, and unpicked it; thus by craft
She fooled the Achaeans, and eluded them
A three years' space: but when the fourth year came
With the returning seasons, then it was
One of her women who knew all told us,
And her we caught undoing the fine web.
And so perforce and sore against her will
She finished it. To thee therefore the suitors
Return this answer, that thyself mayst know it,
And all the Achaeans know it. Send away
Thy mother, and enjoin her that she marry
Whomso her father bids and she approves.
But if she still persistently affronts
The sons of Achaeans, counting on
The gifts Athene gave her beyond women --
Skill in fine handiwork, and clever wit
And craft -- whereof we never heard the like,
Not even in fair-haired Achaean women,
Lost ladies of old years, Alcmene, Tyro,
Or comely-crowned Mycene; none of these
Was like Penelope in shrewdness; yet
In this one thing her scheming is not sound,
For men shall eat thy substance and possessions
So long as she continues in this mind
Which now the gods suggest to her. She wins
Herself great glory, but for thee regret
For thy much substance. We will neither go
To our own lands, nor otherwhere, until
She marries of the Achaeans whom she will.'
Then wise Telemachus replied to him:
'Turn out of doors against her will the one
Who bore and nursed me? No, Antinous,
I cannot do it! And, alive or dead,
My father is abroad. It would come hard
On me to pay lcarius a big sum
As needs I must, if of mine own free will
I send her back; for I shall suffer evil
From him, her father, and the gods will send
Still more; for as she leaves the house, my mother
Will call the dread Avengers down, and men
Will blame me. I will never speak this word!
But if your heart mislikes it, quit my halls;
Make ready other feasts; eat up your own
Possessions, gadding round from house to house;
Or, if ye think it likelier and better
That one man's goods be spoiled without atonement,
Well, waste ye them! but I will call upon
The everlasting gods, if haply Zeus
May grant that deeds of recompense be wrought.
Then in this hall should ye die unavenged.'
So spoke Telemachus; and Zeus, whose voice
Is heard afar, in answer sent two eagles
High flying from the mountain top.





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