And this saying pleased them all; but Ulysses said, “Let me try this bow, for I would fain know whether I have such strength as I had in former days.” At this all the suitors were wroth, and chiefly Antinoüs, but Penelope said that it should be so, and promised the man great gifts if he could draw his bow. But Telemachus spake thus, “Mother, the bow is mine to give or to refuse. And no man shall say me nay, if I will that this stranger make trial of it. But do thou go to thy chamber with thy maidens, and let men take thought for these things.” This he said, for he would have her depart from the hall, knowing what would happen therein. She marvelled to hear him speak with such authority, and answered not, but departed. And when Eumæus would have carried the bow to Ulysses, the suitors spake roughly to him, but Telemachus constrained him to go. Therefore he took the bow and gave it to his master. Then went he to Euryclea, and bade her shut the door of the women’s chambers and keep them within, whatsoever they might hear. Philætius shut the doors of the hall, and fastened with a rope. Then Ulysses handled the great bow, trying it. When he found it to be without flaw, just as a minstrel fastens a string upon his harp and strains it to the pitch, so he strung the bow without toil; and holding the string in his right hand, he tried its tone, and the tone was sweet as the voice of a swallow. Then he took an arrow from the quiver, and laid the notch upon the string and drew it, sitting as he was, and the arrow passed through every ring, and stood in the wall beyond. Then he said to Telemachus— “There is yet a feast to be held before the sun go down.” And he nodded the sign to Telemachus. And forthwith the young man stood by him, armed with spear and helmet and shield. THE VENGEANCE OF ULYSSES By Alfred J. Church Then spake he to the suitors, “This labor has been accomplished. Let me try at yet another mark.” And he aimed his arrow at Antinoüs. The man was just raising a cup to his lips, thinking not of death, for who thought that any man, though mightiest of mortals, would venture on such a deed, being one among many? Right through the neck passed the arrow-head, and he dropped the cup and fell from the table. The suitors, when they saw him fall, leapt from their seats; but when they looked, there was neither spear nor shield upon the wall. And they knew not whether it was by chance or of set purpose that the stranger had smitten him. Ulysses then declared who he was, saying— “Dogs, ye thought that I would never come back. Therefore have ye devoured my house, and made suit to my wife while I yet lived, and feared not the gods nor regarded men. Therefore a sudden destruction is come upon you all.”