Seba.Health

The Odyssey 21.16–30

The Odyssey 21.16–30
It was on an embassy in quest of these that Odysseus had come a far journey, while he was but a youth; for his father and the other elders had sent him forth. And Iphitus, on his part, had come in search of twelve brood mares, which he had lost, with sturdy mules at the teat; but to him thereafter did they bring death and doom, when he came to the stout-hearted son of Zeus, the man Heracles, who well knew1 deeds of daring; for Heracles slew him, his guest though he was, in his own house, ruthlessly, and had regard neither for the wrath of the gods nor for the table which he had set before him, but slew the man thereafter, and himself kept the stout-hoofed mares in his halls. It was while asking for these that Iphitus met Odysseus, and gave him the bow, which of old great Eurytus had been wont to bear, and had left at his death to his son in his lofty house. And to Iphitus Odysseus gave a sharp sword and a mighty spear,
οἴκῳ ἐν Ὀρτιλόχοιο δαΐφρονος. τοι Ὀδυσσεὺς ἦλθε μετὰ χρεῖος, τό ῥά οἱ πᾶς δῆμος ὄφελλε· μῆλα γὰρ ἐξ Ἰθάκης Μεσσήνιοι ἄνδρες ἄειραν νηυσὶ πολυκλήϊσι τριηκόσιʼ ἠδὲ νομῆας. τῶν ἕνεκʼ ἐξεσίην πολλὴν ὁδὸν ἦλθεν Ὀδυσσεὺς παιδνὸς ἐών· πρὸ γὰρ ἧκε πατὴρ ἄλλοι τε γέροντες. Ἴφιτος αὖθʼ ἵππους διζήμενος, αἵ οἱ ὄλοντο δώδεκα θήλειαι, ὑπὸ δʼ ἡμίονοι ταλαεργοί· αἳ δή οἱ καὶ ἔπειτα φόνος καὶ μοῖρα γένοντο, ἐπεὶ δὴ Διὸς υἱὸν ἀφίκετο καρτερόθυμον, φῶθʼ Ἡρακλῆα, μεγάλων ἐπιίστορα ἔργων, ὅς μιν ξεῖνον ἐόντα κατέκτανεν ἐνὶ οἴκῳ, σχέτλιος, οὐδὲ θεῶν ὄπιν ᾐδέσατʼ οὐδὲ τράπεζαν, τὴν ἥν οἱ παρέθηκεν· ἔπειτα δὲ πέφνε καὶ αὐτόν, ἵππους δʼ αὐτὸς ἔχε κρατερώνυχας ἐν μεγάροισι.
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