At dawn Telemachus binds on his sandals, takes a spear, and tells Eumaeus to bring the beggar into town. A beggar does better in town than country. He himself goes to the palace alone. Penelope weeps over him. He tells her about Nestor and Menelaus, but he will not claim certain news of Odysseus. Theoclymenus, sitting by, says a prophecy: Odysseus is already in Ithaca, going about the country, preparing a day of reckoning. Penelope says if that is true, the seer will have such gifts that everyone who sees him will congratulate him.
Meanwhile Odysseus and Eumaeus take the mountain track. At the fountain Melanthius son of Dolius overtakes them, driving the best goats for the suitors' dinner. He calls them a pair of birds of a feather, kicks Odysseus on the hip out of wantonness, and says the stools in that house will break the beggar's head. Odysseus stands firm. For a moment he thinks of beating the goatherd's brains out with the staff. He does not. Near the palace Argos, the hound Odysseus bred before Troy, lies on a heap of mule and cow dung, full of fleas. He drops his ears and wags his tail. He cannot get up. Odysseus dashes a tear away without Eumaeus seeing it. Argos dies as soon as he has recognised his master.
Inside, Odysseus sits on the ash-wood threshold against a cypress bearing-post. Telemachus sends him a whole loaf and as much meat as two hands can hold, and tells him a beggar must not be shamefaced. He eats while the bard sings. Then Athena sends him round from left to right so he can tell the good from the bad. She is not going to save a single suitor. Most put bread in the wallet. Antinous will not. He draws the stool from under his feet and throws it. It hits the right shoulder blade. Odysseus stands firm as a rock, does not even stagger, shakes his head in silence, and goes back to the threshold. If the poor have gods, he says, let Antinous come to a bad end before his marriage. Penelope hears it. She hates Antinous like the darkness of death itself. She sends for the stranger and promises a shirt and cloak if she is satisfied he is telling the truth. Odysseus tells Eumaeus to ask her to wait until evening, when the crowd will thin. Telemachus sneezes so loudly the house resounds. Penelope takes it as a sign that not one suitor will escape. Eumaeus goes back to his pigs. The suitors sing and dance toward evening in Odysseus's hall.
Coming Up in Chapter 18
Another beggar will challenge Odysseus for territory at his own doorway, and the suitors will turn it into sport. By nightfall Penelope will step into the hall with a strategy of her own, and the balance of money, desire, and danger will tilt again.
