Before beginning my revenge I had my son, Telemachus, take all the armor, shields, and swords and hide them in a room so that the suitors could not fight against us. I spoke to the suitors:
“So much for that. Your clean-cut game is over. Now watch me hit a target that no man has hit before, if I can make this shot. Help me, Apollo.” I planned to get my revenge and I turned to Antinous first. He was ridiculing me and was the cruelest of all the suitors. When Antinous went to sip his wine, I shot an arrow at his throat. Backward and down he went, letting the wine cup fall from his shocked hand. The suitors' anger flared and they yelled cursing words at me. So I replied:
“You yellow dogs, you thought I’d never make it home from the land of Troy. You took my house to plunder….You dared bid for my wife while I was still alive. Contempt was all you had for the gods who rule wide heaven. Your last hour has come. You die in blood.”
The other suitors began to fear me once I told them what I had in store for them. The suitors pleaded with me. They told me that Antinous made them do it all, but I did not believe them, nor did I care. I fought the suitors with Telemachus by my side. My faithful swine herder and the cow herder also assisted us. Athena sent down a thundercloud to shield me. The suitors ran madly, trying to get free. But it was hopeless, none made it out alive.
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