Before the slaughter of Penelope’s Suitors (Book XX)

 

Odysseus (Ulysses) did not sleep, trying to calm the anger that rose in him at the sight of the cheerful maids who went to sleep with the suitors.

Then Athena appeared to him as a woman, but he immediately recognized the goddess and told her of his helplessness in the face of the group of suitors. Athena confirmed her future help and told him that even fifty battalions of mortals cannot defeat them when she stands by his side. Odysseus (Ulysses) then fell asleep.

In the night Penelope awoke and wept, wishing to suffer the same fate as the daughters of Pandareus. These had been taken care of by the goddesses after the death of their parents struck by the gods: Aphrodite had fed them honey and sweet wine, Hera had given them beauty and wisdom, Artemis had increased the size of their bodies and Athena had taught them to do superb work.

But when Aphrodite asked Zeus a husband for each of them, the Harpyes sent them as servants to the Erinyes.

Penelope also asked to be taken to the kingdom of Hades so that she could find Odysseus (Ulysses) and that she would never unite with less noble hero. As dawn came, each of the spouses had the strong impression of the presence of the other at his side.

Then Odysseus (Ulysses) asked Zeus for a double sign: that an awakening man utters a prophetic word for him and that a sign of the god appears outside. Immediately, the thunder rumbled over Olympus and Odysseus (Ulysses) rejoiced, and then a woman spoke. She was one of the twelve milling women, the only one who did not sleep because she was the weakest and had not completed her task. Having seen lightning in a cloudless sky, she was emboldened to ask that this day the last meal be served to the suitors. And Odysseus (Ulysses) rejoices again, realizing that the time of his vengeance had come.

When Telemachus woke up, he asked Euryclia if she had taken care of the beggar, suggesting that sometimes his mother lacked discernment. The nanny reassured him and then she put the maids to work to prepare the house for the feast. Twenty of them went to draw water from the fountain pouring Black Waters.

Then Eumaeus arrived, pushing three pigs in front of him.

Then Melantheus arrived with his most beautiful goats, taunting Odysseus (Ulysses) and promised him a beating.

Then the head of the cattlemen came, Philoetius, arriving from the ferry. He came from the Cephalonean fields on the mainland and brought with him a sterile cow and fat goats. He first asked Eumaeus about this beggar who looked like a king, then the beggar himself. He mourned Odysseus (Ulysses), who had taken him at a young age at his service and whose flocks he had increased considerably. Although against his will, he had to give his animals for the suitors’ meals. The beggar promised him that he would soon see his master again and witness the death of the suitors. In turn, he assured him that he would fight alongside Odysseus (Ulysses).

As the suitors plotted Telemachus’ death, an eagle appeared to their left, holding a dove in its claws. Then Amphinomos predicted the failure of their plot and encouraged them to stop dealing with it. 

When the preparations for the meal were completed, the pig farmer Eumaeus distributed the cups, the cowherd Philoetius distributed the bread and Melantheus served the wine.

Telemachus warned the suitors not to mistreat the beggar and all were amazed at his aplomb.

Antinoos then understood that Zeus was protecting the son of Odysseus (Ulysses). 

Athena increased the resentment in Odysseus (Ulysses)’ soul by refraining from preventing the suitors from insulting him. The brute Ctesippus who lived in Same and was immensely rich, threw a cow hoof at the beggar which the latter avoided with a bitter smile. Telemachus rebuked Ctesippus forcefully, signalling to the suitors that he was running out of patience.

Damastor’s son, Agelaos, asked Telemachus to press his mother to choose the noblest of the suitors, but he refused.

Then Athena sent a sign: the suitors laughed without cause and without stopping although they wanted to cry, and the meat they ate began to bleed.

Then the soothsayer Theoclymenos saw the suitors wrapped in darkness, blood pouring from the walls, the awning filled with ghosts, the sun dying out and death covering everything. And as all the others laughed at him and Eurymachos wanted to drive him out, he announced their end and went to Piraeus.

The beginning of this Book opposes the revolted sadness of what works for transparency to the confident certainty of ancient realisations (Odysseus (Ulysses) expresses anger and sadness, while on the side of the suitors and maids a joyful relaxation reigns). But the master of yoga promises the seeker his unwavering help and assures him of victory, thus allowing him to recover inner peace.

In his “vision of more total freedom” refined by divine help, the seeker aspires to find the path of future yoga for transformation (Penelope wishes to suffer the same fate as the daughters of Pandareus who, although led to their perfection by the goddesses, had been deprived of husbands).

The daughters of Pandareus “the one who gives everything to the righteous movement towards union” had indeed been led to a certain perfection and their abduction led them more towards consecration to a divine task than to a true punishment: the forces that work for balance (or break) at the level of the true vital had indeed directed them towards the service of those wh