“Rise up in order all, from left to right, beginning where the cupbearer begins to pour the wine.”

So said Antinous, and his saying pleased them.  Then first arose Leiodes, son of Oenops, who was their soothsayer and had his place beside the goodly mixer, farthest along the hall.  To him alone their lawlessness was hateful; he abhorred the suitor crowd.  He it was now who first took up the bow and the swift shaft; and going to the threshold, he stood and tried the bow.  He could not bend it.  Tugging the string wearied his hands,—­his soft, unhorny hands,—­and to the suitors thus he spoke:—­

“No, friends, I cannot bend it.  Let some other take the bow.  Ah, many chiefs this bow shall rob of life and breath!  Yet better far to die than live and still to fail in that for which we constantly are gathered, waiting expectantly from day to day!  Now each man hopes and purposes at heart to win Penelope, Ulysses’ wife.  But when he shall have tried the bow and seen his failure, then to some other fair-robed woman of Achaia let each go, and offer her his suit and woo her with his gifts.  So may Penelope marry the man who gives her most and comes with fate to favor!”

When he had spoken, he laid by the bow, leaning it on the firm-set polished door.  The swift shaft, too, he likewise leaned against the bow’s fair knob, and once more took the seat from which he first arose.  But Antinous rebuked him, and spoke to him, and said,—­

“Leiodes, what words have passed the barrier of your teeth?  Strange words and harsh!  Vexatious words to hear!  As if this bow must rob our chiefs of life and breath because you cannot bend it!  Why, your good mother did not bear you for a brandisher of bows and arrows.  But others among the lordly suitors will bend it by and by.”

So saying, he gave an order to Melanthius, the goatherd:  “Hasten, Melanthius, and light a fire in the hall and set a long bench near, with fleeces on it; then bring me the large cake of fat which lies inside the door, that after we have warmed the bow and greased it well, we young men may try the bow and end the contest.”

He spoke, and straightway Melanthius kindled a steady fire, and set a bench beside it with a fleece thereon, and brought out the large cake of fat which lay inside the door, and so the young men warmed the bow and made their trial.  But yet they could not bend it; they fell far short of power.  Antinous, however, still held back, and prince Eurymachus, who were the suitors’ leaders; for they in manly excellence were quite the best of all.

Meanwhile out of the house at the same moment came two men, princely Ulysses’ herdsmen of the oxen and the swine; and after them came royal Ulysses also from the house.  And when they were outside the gate, beyond the yard, speaking in gentle words Ulysses said,—­

“Neatherd, and you too, swineherd, may I tell a certain tale, or shall I hide it still?  My heart bids me speak.  How ready would you be to aid Ulysses if he should come from somewhere, thus, on a sudden, and a god should bring him home?  Would you support the suitors or Ulysses?  Speak freely, as your heart and spirit bid you speak.”