The Final Day Is Coming - Book 20 of "The Odyssey" by Homer

Stephen Alexander Beach 

"Ah, once the gods weave trouble into our lives they drive us across the earth, they drown us all in pain, even kings of the realm."

Hubris of the Maids

Book 20 picks up with the night time where Odysseus finally lays down to sleep. He then sees many of his maids sneaking out at night to go sleep with the suitors. "...awake, alert, as the women slipped from the house, the maids who whored in the suitor's beds each night, tittering, linking arms and frisking as before." 

More On Sleep

He cannot sleep and so Athena visits him and tells him to trust in her that they will be delivered into his trap. Finally Athena blesses Odysseus with sleep and as soon as he falls asleep Penelope wakes up. She asks Artemis to kill her. "Just so may the gods who rule Olympus blot me out! Artemis with your glossy braids, come shoot me dead - so I can plunge beneath this loathsome earth with the image of Odysseus vivid in my mind. Never let me warm the heart of a weaker man! Even grief is bearable, true, when someone weeps through the days, sobbing, heart convulsed with pain yet embraced by sleep all night - sweet oblivion, sleep dissolving all, the good and the bad, once it seals our eyes - but even my dreams torment me, sent by wicked spirits. Again-just this night- someone lay beside me ... like Odysseus to the life, when he embarked with his men-at-arms. My heart raced with joy. No dream, I thought, the waking truth at last!" 

The Final Day 
As the final day begins, Odysseus then asks Zeus for a sign that everything he is doing is right, for which he receives two signs. A thunder clap out of a clear sky and a maid assigning the omen with the death of the suitors. It is a public feast of Apollo and the the maids are cleaning the palace and making preparation. Odysseus runs into Eumaeus again, but as they are talking Melanthius returns and taunts him again. 

Then Odysseus loyal cowherder Philoetius arrives and greets Odysseus the beggar. He expresses his love and loyalty for his old master and his desire for his return. The feasting begins and there is a bad omen of an eagle clutching a dove in its talons, but they continue feasting. 

Hubris of Ctesippus and the Oozing Meat 

Odysseus is then taunted by a man named Ctesippus, who throws an ox hoof at him and hits the wall. Telemachus confronts the man. The Suitors agree to leave the beggar alone but they ask Telemachus why he does not aid them in getting his mother to marry. He says he is not holding her back, but will not drive her from his home. They laugh, but a bad omen is given. "So he vowed and Athena set off uncontrollable laughter in the suitors, crazed them out of their minds - mad, hysterical laughter seemed to break from the jaws of strangers, not their own, and the meat they were eating oozed red with blood - tears flooded their eyes, hearts possessed by grief." 

This is when Theoclymenus calls out a prophecy of their doom. "The inspired seer Theoclymenus wailed out in their midst, ‘Poor men, what terror is this that overwhelms you so? Night shrouds your heads, your faces, down to your knees – cries of mourning are bursting into fire – cheeks rivering tears – the walls and the handsome crossbeams dripping dank with blood! Ghosts, look, thronging the entrance, throning the court, go trooping down to the world of death and darkness! The sun is blotted out of the sky – look there – a lethal mist spread all across the earth!’

At that they all broke into peals of laughter aimed at the seer- Polybus' son Eurymachus braying first and foremost, 'Our guest just in from abroad, the man is raving! Quick, my boys, hustle him out of the house, into the meeting grounds, the light of day - everything here he thinks is dark as night!' ...

Oh I can see it now - the disaster closing on you all! There's no escaping it, no way out - not for a single one of you suitors, wild reckless fools, plotting outrage here, the halls of Odysseus, great and strong as a god!'" 

Darkness

There is certainly a theme of darkness that is present in the midst of the suitors. They are living an inversion of how the gods have ordained things should work between humans. "But there's something else that mortifies me now. Your way is a far cry from the time-honored way of suitors locked in rivalry, striving to win some noble woman, a wealthy man's daughter. They bring int heir own calves and lambs to feast the friends of the bride-to-be, yes, and shower her with gleaming gifts as well. They don't devour the woman's goods scot-free." (Bk 18 305- 315) 

Penelope also calls Antinous "black death". Likewise, Melanthius and Melantho, two of the main servants who taunt Odysseus, their names both mean "black." And so there is a darkness of perversion and disregard for the gods and guests, and a plotting of death for their host that all is represented by this spiritual darkness. There are omens upon omens but they do not see it. Soon they will sleep, but they will sleep in Hades for their crimes. The gods punishment is about to fall upon them.