The Odyssey Food and Feasting Quotes

"Our friends can sit at the gates or down the halls
and play their games, debauched to their hearts’ content.
Why not? Their own stores, their bread and seasoned wine,
lie intact at home; food for their serving-men alone.
But they, they infest our palace day and night,
they butcher our cattle, our sheep, our fat goats,
feasting themselves sick, swilling our glowing wine
as if there’s no tomorrow – all of it, squandered."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 17, lines 590-597. Penelope complains about the plague of greedy suitors eating and drinking her out of house and home. Her son Telemachus says the same thing in Book 4.

"Fair enough, my friends; when a man speaks well
we have no grounds for wrangling, no cause for abuse.
Hands off the stranger! And any other servant
in King Odysseus’ palace. Come, steward,
pour first drops for the god in every cup;
let’s make libations, then go home to bed.
The stranger? Leave him here in Odysseus’ halls
and have his host, Telemachus, tend him well –
it’s the prince’s royal house the man has reached."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 467-475. Amphinomus makes this speech after Telemachus angrily criticizes the suitors and orders them to leave. Amphinomus is considered to be the best-behaved of the suitors. He says that they should heed Telemachus’ orders not to abuse the "stranger" (Odysseus in disguise) and to go home to bed. But first they should enjoy one last drink, he suggests.

That left the great Odysseus waiting in his hall
as Athena helped him plot the slaughter of the suitors.
He turned at once to Telemachus, brisk with orders:
"Now we must stow the weapons out of reach, my boy,
all the arms and armor – and when the suitors miss them
and ask you questions, put them off with a winning story:
‘I stowed them away, clear of the smoke. A far cry
from the arms Odysseus left when he went to Troy,
fire-damaged equipment, black with reeking fumes.
And a god reminded me of something darker too.
When you’re in your cups a quarrel might break out,
you’d wound each other, shame your feasting here
and cast a pall on your courting.
Iron has powers to draw a man to ruin.’"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 19, lines 1-14. With some help from Athena, Odysseus draws up his battle plan to fight the suitors. He instructs Telemachus to hide the weapons so that they will be out of the suitors’ reach the next day. Should the suitors question this, his son will say he is worried about a fight breaking out during the guests’ drinking and feasting. In reality Odysseus and Telemachus are the ones who will be starting there fight. This is another example of dramatic irony. It also illustrates Odysseus’ cunning and skills in deception.

And yet again
Melantho lashed out at Odysseus: "You still here? –
you pest, slinking around the house all night,
leering up at the women?
Get out, you tramp – be glad of the food you got –
or we’ll sling a torch at you, rout you out at once!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 19, lines 70-75. The disloyal and disrespectful palace servant Melantho is furious to find Odysseus-the-beggar still in the palace. She once again abuses him, ordering Penelope’s guest to get out and telling him he ought to be happy with the food he gets. The food does actually belong to Odysseus!

"no man on the face of the earth could find fault with you.
Your fame, believe me, has reached the vaulting skies.
Fame like a flawless king’s who dreads the gods,
who governs a kingdom vast, proud and strong –
who upholds justice, true, and the black earth
bears wheat and barley, trees bow down with fruit
and the sheep drop lambs and never fail and the sea
teems with fish – thanks to his decent, upright rule,
and under his sovereign sway the people flourish."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 19, lines 117-125. Odysseus, still in disguise as a beggar, praises his wife Penelope for the fame she has achieved as the Queen of Ithaca. Using an extended simile, he compares her to a just and flawless king who rules over a flourishing country that is thriving because of his good government.

Third to arrive was Philoetius, that good cowherd,
prodding in for the crowd a heifer and fat goats.
Boatmen had brought them over from the mainland,
crews who ferry across all travelers too,
whoever comes for passage.
Under the echoing porch he tethered all heads well
and then approached the swineherd, full of questions:
"Who’s this stranger, Eumaeus, just come to the house?
What roots does the man claim – who are his people?
Where are his blood kin? his father’s fields?
Poor beggar. But what a build – a royal king’s!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 20, lines 203-213. Philoetius arrives in the palace with a heifer and goats for the suitors’ feast. The kindly cowherd shows concern for the "poor beggar" Odysseus – this serves to highlight the unkindness of goatherd Melanthius just moments before. When Philoetius remarks that the beggar looks like a king, little does he know how right he is. This is foreshadowing of Odysseus’ restoration as king of Ithaca.

Now as they spoke and urged each other on,
and once more the suitors were plotting certain doom
for the young prince – suddenly, banking high on the left
an omen flew past, an eagle clutching a trembling dove.
And Amphinomus rose in haste to warn them all,
"My friends, we’ll never carry off this plot
to kill the prince. Let’s concentrate on feasting."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 20, lines 267-273. As the suitors discuss the killing of Telemachus, their murderous plot is stopped in its tracks by an omen forecasting death and destruction. An eagle flies by with a dove in its jaws. Amphinomus at once recognizes the warning and urges them to abandon their plot and just carry on feasting. But it is too late, as their own doom is foreshadowed here.

The suitors ambled into Odysseus’ royal house
and flinging down their cloaks on a chair or bench,
they butchered hulking sheep and fatted goats,
full-grown hogs and a young cow from the herd.
They roasted all the innards, served them round
and filled the bowls with wine and mixed it well.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 20, lines 275-280. After a bird omen forecasting death and destruction, the suitors are persuaded by Amphinomus to cut short their plotting to kill Telemachus. Instead they indulge their greed and obey Amphinomus’ instruction to "concentrate on feasting" – on Odysseus’ food and wine!

He gave him a share of innards, poured his wine
in a golden cup and added a bracing invitation:
"Now sit right there. Drink your wine with the crowd.
I’ll defend you from all their taunts and blows,
these young bucks. This is no public place,
this is Odysseus’ house –
my father won it for me, so it’s mine.
You suitors, control yourselves. No insults now,
no brawling, no, or it’s war between us all."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 20, lines 288-296. Telemachus has harsh words for the suitors as he couragely stands up to them. Offering Odysseus-the-beggar meat and wine and seating him in the hall, Telemachus vows to defend him from the suitors’ insults and blows. He reminds the suitors that this is his father’s house and he is in control there.

"Don’t let me see more offenses in my house,
not from anyone! I’m alive to it all, now,
the good and the bad – the boy you knew is gone.
But I still must bear with this, this lovely sight…
sheepflocks butchered, wine swilled, food squandered –
how can a man fight off so many single-handed?
But no more of your crimes against me, please!
Unless you’re bent on cutting me down, now,
and I’d rather die, yes, better that by far
than have to look on at your outrage day by day:
guests treated to blows, men dragging the serving-women
through our noble house, exploiting them all, no shame!"
Dead quiet. The suitors all fell silent, hushed.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 20, lines 345-357. Telemachus shows his maturity and courage as takes charge of his household and shuts the suitors up. They all fall silent when he tells them that the boy they knew is gone and he will not stand for any more of their crimes. Listing their outrages, he says they have butchered the household sheep, swilled the family wine, squandered food, struck guests and exploited the women servants. In Book 20 we see the prince for the first time stand up for his estate and challenge the suitors head-on. He shows his willingness to follow in his father’s footsteps so that one day he, like Odysseus, can be a great leader and king.

"Not a shred of sense in your head, you filthy drifter!
Not content to feast at your ease with us, the island’s pride?
Never denied your full share of the banquet, never,
you can listen in on our secrets. No one else
can eavesdrop on our talk, no tramp, no beggar.
The wine has overpowered you, heady wine –
the ruin of many another man, whoever
gulps it down and drinks beyond his limit."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 21, lines 322-329. When Odysseus proposes to use his own bow and take part in the games to win the hand of his wife Penelope, the suitors fly into a rage. Antinous leads the attack on him, saying that Odysseus is getting too big for his boots after feasting with the "pride" of Ithaca. He ironically suggests that the suitors are being kind to allow Odysseus to share in the palace banquet and effectively eat his own food!

With that he trained a stabbing arrow on Antinous…
just lifting a gorgeous golden loving-cup in his hands,
just tilting the two-handled goblet back to his lips,
about to drain the wine – and slaughter the last thing
on the suitor’s mind: who could dream that one foe
in that crowd of feasters, however great his power,
would bring down death on himself, and black doom?
But Odysseus aimed and shot Antinous square in the throat
and the point went stabbing clean through the soft neck and out –
and off to the side he pitched, the cup dropped from his grasp
as the shaft sank home, and the man’s life-blood came spurting
from his nostrils.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 22, lines 8-19. Antinous becomes the first of the suitors to die, as Odysseus shoots him in the throat with an arrow from his great bow. For Odysseus this is justice, Antinous being one of the most arrogant and disrespectful of the suitors, who riled up the others against Odysseus and Telemachus. This passage with its vivid imagery communicates the intensity of Odysseus’ battle with the suitors and the level of violence involved with no holds barred. It seems appropriate that Antinous dies as he drinks Odysseus’ wine and feasts on his food.

"You want no skill, old man, at tending a garden.
All’s well-kept here; not one thing in the plot,
no plant, no fig, no pear, no olive, no vine,
not a vegetable, lacks your tender, loving care.
But I must say – and don’t be offended now –
your plants are doing better than yourself.
Enough to be stooped with age
but look how squalid you are, those shabby rags."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 24, lines 270-277. Odysseus compliments his father Laertes on the garden, admiring how well kept all of the fruits and vegetables are. However, he remarks on Laertes’ delapidated appearance and says that he is not doing as well as his plants.
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