In Section Twenty-four, of Homer's epic, The
Odyssey, which follows Ulysses' and Telemachus' killing of the unethical and
immoral suitors who overran Ulysses' home and showed such disrespect toward Penelope
(his wife) and his servants, there is a description of how the souls of these dead are
transported to Hades by Mercury of Cyllene, and how these souls act. There is nothing
noble of these men in life, and in death, the simile that describes them pay them no
compliments either.
The souls of the men are described as
"whining and gibbering," and are compared to bats hanging from the roof of a large cave.
With bats, when one falls from the roof, the other bats squeal. The speaker notes that
as the dead suitor's souls are prepared for the afterlife, they "whine and squeal" and
then are led down into Hades. The quote is as
follows:
Then
Mercury of Cyllene summoned the ghosts of the suitors, and in his hand he held the fair
golden wand with which he seals men's eyes in sleep or wakes them just as he pleases;
with this he roused the ghosts and led them, while they followed whining and gibbering
behind him. As bats fly squealing in the hollow of some great cave, when one of them has
fallen out of the cluster in which they hang, even so did the ghosts whine and squeal as
Mercury the healer of sorrow led them down into the dark abode of
death.
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