Iros vs Odysseus

Get away from the doorway old man, if you don't want to be dragged out by the foot!

After Eumaios had left to his pig farm, another beggar enters the hall. The people called him Iros (like Iris, the divine messenger in the Iliad) because he ran messages when someone summoned him. Iros says to Odysseus:

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By Marie-Louis-François Jacquesson de la Chevreuse

Odysseus replied looking from beneath his brows:

Are you mad, man! I've done you no harm, or even spoke at you. I don't envy anything that man gives you, not even if he gives you a great deal.

But it doesn't help, Iros challenged Odysseus with his fists and the suitors liked to see this happen. But before the fight begins a deal is made. The one who wins the fight is offered food...

And he will always dine with us, and we will not allow any other beggar to mix with us and beg.

Odysseus won the fight by a subtile blow beneath Iros' ear, not revealing his strength to the suitors.

He stood out for his greedy belly, always eating and drinking. He had no strength or force, but he was bulky to look at.

Iros must have been pretty desperate to start a fight like this.

It is strange why Iros started the fight. Homer described Iros as:

Immediately the red blood ran from his mouth, and he fell stretched out in the dust with a moan. He gnashed his teeth and kicked the ground with his feet. The noble suitors raised up their hands, keeling over with laughter. The Odysseus took Iros by the foot and dragged him out the door until he came into the court and the gates of the portico.