The pent-up fury of revenge (with a guest appearance by Athena) produces gore matching any battle in The Iliad.
Even the punishment of the women is gruesome – first, forcing them to clear the bodies and scrub the floors; then,
as doves or thrushes beating their spread wings
against some snare rigged up in thickets – flying in
for a cozy nest but a grisly bed receives them –
so the women's heads were trapped in a line,
nooses yanking their necks up, one by one,
so all might die a pitiful, ghastly death . . .
they kicked up their heels for a little – not for long. (494–99)