Far-seeing Zeus sent two eagles from a mountain peak. They flew with the wind, side by side; over the middle of the assembly they wheeled, beat their wings, glared death, tore each other’s cheeks and necks, and darted right across the town. The people wondered. Old Halitherses son of Mastor, best among them at reading birds, spoke with good intent:
“Men of Ithaca — and you suitors especially — hear me. A great wave of trouble is rolling for them. Odysseus will not be away long now. Even now he is near, sowing death for these men and pain for many others in Ithaca. Let us make an end before that — or let them make an end themselves. I do not prophesy untried. When the Argives boarded for Troy I said Odysseus would suffer many pains, lose all his companions, and come home in the twentieth year unknown. Now all this is coming to pass.”
Eurymachus son of Polybus answered: “Old man, go prophesy to your children. I read these omens better than you. Birds fly everywhere under the sun, and not all mean something. Odysseus has died far away — I wish you had died with him, instead of stirring Telemachus, who is angry enough. If you provoke a younger man with words, it will be worse for him — and we will lay a fine on you that hurts. Tell Telemachus to send his mother to her father for marriage gifts. Until then we will not cease. We fear no man — not Telemachus with his speeches, nor your prophecies. His goods will be eaten with no recompense while she puts us off day after day.”