| Book Eighteen
Now a real beggar shows up at the palace and warns Odysseus off his turf.
This man, Irus, is always running errands for the suitors. Odysseus says
that there are pickings enough for the two of them, but Irus threatens
fisticuffs and the suitors egg him on. Odysseus rises to the challenge and
rolls up his tunic into a boxer's belt. The suitors goggle at the muscles
revealed. Not wishing to kill Irus with a single blow, Odysseus breaks his
jaw instead. Another suitor, Eurymachus, marks himself for revenge by trying
to hit Odysseus with a footstool as Antinoos had done |
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