{"id":123,"date":"2021-05-26T09:19:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T13:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/book-xvii\/"},"modified":"2022-02-01T10:53:52","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T15:53:52","slug":"17","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/17\/","title":{"raw":"Book XVII","rendered":"Book XVII"},"content":{"raw":"

Argument<\/b><\/h2>\r\nTelemachus returns to the city, and relates to his mother the principal passages of his voyage; Ulysses, conducted by Eum\u00e6us, arrives there also, and enters among the suitors, having been known only by his old dog Argus, who dies at his feet. The curiosity of Penelope being excited by the account which Eum\u00e6us gives her of Ulysses, she orders him immediately into her presence, but Ulysses postpones the interview till evening, when the suitors having left the palace, there shall be no danger of interruption. Eum\u00e6us returns to his cottage.\r\n\r\nNow look\u2019d Aurora from the East abroad,\r\nWhen the illustrious offspring of divine\r\nUlysses bound his sandals to his feet;\r\nHe seiz\u2019d his sturdy spear match\u2019d to his gripe,\r\nAnd to the city meditating quick\r\nDeparture now, the swine-herd thus bespake.\r\nFather! I seek the city, to convince\r\nMy mother of my safe return, whose tears,\r\nI judge, and lamentation shall not cease\r\nTill her own eyes behold me. But I lay\r\nOn thee this charge. Into the city lead,\r\nThyself, this hapless guest, that he may beg\r\nProvision there, a morsel and a drop\r\nFrom such as may, perchance, vouchsafe the boon.\r\nI cannot, vext and harass\u2019d as I am,\r\nFeed all, and should the stranger take offence,\r\nThe worse for him. Plain truth is my delight.\r\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.\r\nNor is it my desire to be detained.\r\nBetter the mendicant in cities seeks\r\nHis dole, vouchsafe it whosoever may,\r\nThan in the villages. I am not young,\r\nNor longer of an age that well accords\r\nWith rural tasks, nor could I all perform\r\nThat it might please a master to command.\r\nGo then, and when I shall have warm\u2019d my limbs\r\nBefore the hearth, and when the risen sun\r\nShall somewhat chase the cold, thy servant\u2019s task\r\nShall be to guide me thither, as thou bidd\u2019st,\r\nFor this is a vile garb; the frosty air\r\nOf morning would benumb me thus attired,\r\nAnd, as ye say, the city is remote.\r\nHe ended, and Telemachus in haste\r\nSet forth, his thoughts all teeming as he went\r\nWith dire revenge. Soon in the palace-courts\r\nArriving, he reclined his spear against\r\nA column, and proceeded to the hall.\r\nHim Euryclea, first, his nurse, perceived,\r\nWhile on the variegated seats she spread\r\nTheir fleecy cov\u2019ring; swift with tearful eyes\r\nShe flew to him, and the whole female train\r\nOf brave Ulysses swarm\u2019d around his son,\r\nClasping him, and his forehead and his neck\r\nKissing affectionate; then came, herself,\r\nAs golden Venus or Diana fair,\r\nForth from her chamber to her son\u2019s embrace,\r\nThe chaste Penelope; with tears she threw\r\nHer arms around him, his bright-beaming eyes\r\nAnd forehead kiss\u2019d, and with a murmur\u2019d plaint\r\nMaternal, in wing\u2019d accents thus began.\r\nThou hast return\u2019d, light of my eyes! my son!\r\nMy lov\u2019d Telemachus! I had no hope\r\nTo see thee more when once thou hadst embark\u2019d\r\nFor Pylus, privily, and with no consent\r\nFrom me obtain\u2019d, news seeking of thy sire.\r\nBut haste; unfold. Declare what thou hast seen.\r\nTo whom Telemachus, discrete, replied.\r\nAh mother! let my sorrows rest, nor me\r\nFrom death so lately \u2019scaped afflict anew,\r\nBut, bathed and habited in fresh attire,\r\nWith all the maidens of thy train ascend\r\nTo thy superior chamber, there to vow\r\nA perfect hecatomb to all the Gods,\r\nWhen Jove shall have avenged our num\u2019rous wrongs.\r\nI seek the forum, there to introduce\r\nA guest, my follower from the Pylian shore,\r\nWhom sending forward with my noble band,\r\nI bade Pir\u00e6us to his own abode\r\nLead him, and with all kindness entertain\r\nThe stranger, till I should myself arrive.\r\nHe spake, nor flew his words useless away.\r\nShe, bathed and habited in fresh attire,\r\nVow\u2019d a full hecatomb to all the Gods,\r\nWould Jove but recompense her num\u2019rous wrongs.\r\nThen, spear in hand, went forth her son, two dogs\r\nFleet-footed following him. O\u2019er all his form\r\nPallas diffused a dignity divine,\r\nAnd ev\u2019ry eye gazed on him as he pass\u2019d.\r\nThe suitors throng\u2019d him round, joy on their lips\r\nAnd welcome, but deep mischief in their hearts.\r\nHe, shunning all that crowd, chose to himself\r\nA seat, where Mentor sat, and Antiphus,\r\nAnd Halytherses, long his father\u2019s friends\r\nSincere, who of his voyage much enquired.\r\nThen drew Pir\u00e6us nigh, leading his guest\r\nToward the forum; nor Telemachus\r\nStood long aloof, but greeted his approach,\r\nAnd was accosted by Pir\u00e6us thus.\r\nSir! send thy menial women to bring home\r\nThe precious charge committed to my care,\r\nThy gifts at Menelaus\u2019 hands received.\r\nTo whom Telemachus, discrete, replied.\r\nPir\u00e6us! wait; for I not yet foresee\r\nThe upshot. Should these haughty ones effect\r\nMy death, clandestine, under my own roof,\r\nAnd parcel my inheritance by lot,\r\nI rather wish those treasures thine, than theirs.\r\nBut should I with success plan for them all\r\nA bloody death, then, wing\u2019d with joy, thyself\r\nBring home those presents to thy joyful friend.\r\nSo saying, he led the anxious stranger thence\r\nInto the royal mansion, where arrived,\r\nEach cast his mantle on a couch or throne,\r\nAnd plung\u2019d his feet into a polish\u2019d bath.\r\nThere wash\u2019d and lubricated with smooth oils,\r\nFrom the attendant maidens each received\r\nTunic and shaggy mantle. Thus attired,\r\nForth from the baths they stepp\u2019d, and sat again.\r\nA maiden, next, with golden ewer charged,\r\nAnd silver bowl, pour\u2019d water on their hands,\r\nAnd spread the polish\u2019d table, which with food\r\nOf all kinds, remnants of the last regale,\r\nThe mistress of the household charge supplied.\r\nMeantime, beside a column of the dome\r\nHis mother, on a couch reclining, twirl\u2019d\r\nHer slender threads. They to the furnish\u2019d board\r\nStretch\u2019d forth their hands, and, hunger now and thirst\r\nBoth satisfied, Penelope began.\r\nTelemachus! I will ascend again,\r\nAnd will repose me on my woeful bed;\r\nFor such it hath been, and with tears of mine\r\nCeaseless bedew\u2019d, e\u2019er since Ulysses went\r\nWith Atreus\u2019 sons to Troy. For not a word\r\nThou would\u2019st vouchsafe me till our haughty guests\r\nHad occupied the house again, of all\r\nThat thou hast heard (if aught indeed thou hast)\r\nOf thy long-absent father\u2019s wish\u2019d return.\r\nHer answer\u2019d then Telemachus discrete.\r\nMother, at thy request I will with truth\r\nRelate the whole. At Pylus shore arrived\r\nWe Nestor found, Chief of the Pylian race.\r\nReceiving me in his august abode,\r\nHe entertain\u2019d me with such welcome kind\r\nAs a glad father shews to his own son\r\nLong-lost and newly found; so Nestor me,\r\nAnd his illustrious offspring, entertain\u2019d,\r\nBut yet assured me that he nought had heard\r\nFrom mortal lips of my magnanimous sire,\r\nWhether alive or dead; with his own steeds\r\nHe sent me, and with splendid chariot thence\r\nTo spear-famed Menelaus, Atreus\u2019 son.\r\nThere saw I Helen, by the Gods\u2019 decree\r\nAuth\u2019ress of trouble both to Greece and Troy.\r\nThe Hero Menelaus then enquired\r\nWhat cause had urged me to the pleasant vale\r\nOf Laced\u00e6mon; plainly I rehearsed\r\nThe occasion, and the Hero thus replied.\r\nYe Gods! they are ambitious of the bed\r\nOf a brave man, however base themselves.\r\nBut, as it chances when the hart hath laid\r\nHer fawns new-yean\u2019d and sucklings yet, to rest\r\nIn some resistless lion\u2019s den, she roams,\r\nMeantime, the hills, and in the grassy vales\r\nFeeds heedless, but the lion to his lair\r\nReturning soon, both her and hers destroys,\r\nSo shall thy father, brave Ulysses, them.\r\nJove! Pallas! and Apollo! oh that such\r\nAs erst in well-built Lesbos, where he strove\r\nWith Philomelides, whom wrestling, flat\r\nHe threw, when all Achaia\u2019s sons rejoiced,\r\nUlysses, now, might mingle with his foes!\r\nShort life and bitter nuptials should be theirs,\r\nBut thy enquiries neither indirect\r\nWill I evade, nor give thee false reply,\r\nBut all that from the Ancient of the Deep[footnote]Proteus.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nI have received will utter, hiding nought.\r\nThe God declared that he had seen thy sire\r\nIn a lone island, sorrowing, and detain\u2019d\r\nAn inmate in the grotto of the nymph\r\nCalypso, wanting also means by which\r\nTo reach the country of his birth again,\r\nFor neither gallant barks nor friends had he\r\nTo speed his passage o\u2019er the boundless waves.\r\nSo Menelaus spake, the spear-renown\u2019d.\r\nMy errand thus accomplish\u2019d, I return\u2019d\u2014\r\nAnd by the Gods with gales propitious blest,\r\nWas wafted swiftly to my native shore.\r\nHe spake, and tumult in his mother\u2019s heart\r\nSo speaking, raised. Consolatory, next,\r\nThe godlike Theoclymenus began.\r\nConsort revered of Laertiades!\r\nLittle the Spartan knew, but list to me,\r\nFor I will plainly prophesy and sure.\r\nBe Jove of all in heav\u2019n my witness first,\r\nThen this thy hospitable board, and, last,\r\nThe household Gods of the illustrious Chief\r\nUlysses, at whose hearth I have arrived,[footnote]The hearth was the altar on which the lares or household-gods were worshipped.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nThat, even now, within his native isle\r\nUlysses somewhere sits, or creeps obscure,\r\nWitness of these enormities, and seeds\r\nSowing of dire destruction for his foes;\r\nSo sure an augury, while on the deck\r\nReclining of the gallant bark, I saw,\r\nAnd with loud voice proclaim\u2019d it to thy son.\r\nHim answer\u2019d then Penelope discrete.\r\nGrant heav\u2019n, my guest, that this good word of thine\r\nFail not! then shalt thou soon such bounty share\r\nAnd friendship at my hands, that at first sight\r\nWhoe\u2019er shall meet thee shall pronounce thee blest.\r\nThus they conferr\u2019d. Meantime the suitors hurl\u2019d\r\nThe quoit and lance on the smooth area spread\r\nBefore Ulysses\u2019 gate, the custom\u2019d scene\r\nOf their contentions, sports, and clamours rude.\r\nBut when the hour of supper now approach\u2019d,\r\nAnd from the pastures on all sides the sheep\r\nCame with their wonted drivers, Medon then\r\n(For he of all the heralds pleas\u2019d them most,\r\nAnd waited at the board) them thus address\u2019d.\r\nEnough of play, young princes! ent\u2019ring now\r\nThe house, prepare we sedulous our feast,\r\nSince in well-timed refreshment harm is none.\r\nHe spake, whose admonition pleas\u2019d. At once\r\nAll, rising, sought the palace; there arrived,\r\nEach cast his mantle off, which on his throne\r\nOr couch he spread, then, brisk, to slaughter fell\r\nOf many a victim; sheep and goats and brawns\r\nThey slew, all fatted, and a pastur\u2019d ox,\r\nHast\u2019ning the banquet; nor with less dispatch\r\nUlysses and Eum\u00e6us now prepared\r\nTo seek the town, when thus the swain began.\r\nMy guest! since thy fixt purpose is to seek\r\nThis day the city as my master bade,\r\nThough I, in truth, much rather wish thee here\r\nA keeper of our herds, yet, through respect\r\nAnd rev\u2019rence of his orders, whose reproof\r\nI dread, for masters seldom gently chide,\r\nI would be gone. Arise, let us depart,\r\nFor day already is far-spent, and soon\r\nThe air of even-tide will chill thee more.\r\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.\r\nIt is enough. I understand. Thou speak\u2019st\r\nTo one intelligent. Let us depart,\r\nAnd lead, thyself, the way; but give me, first,\r\n(If thou have one already hewn) a staff\r\nTo lean on, for ye have described the road\r\nRugged, and ofttimes dang\u2019rous to the foot.\r\nSo saying, his tatter\u2019d wallet o\u2019er his back\r\nHe cast, suspended by a leathern twist,\r\nEum\u00e6us gratified him with a staff,\r\nAnd forth they went, leaving the cottage kept\r\nBy dogs and swains. He city-ward his King\r\nLed on, in form a squalid beggar old,\r\nHalting, and in unseemly garb attired.\r\nBut when, slow-travelling the craggy way,\r\nThey now approach\u2019d the town, and had attain\u2019d\r\nThe marble fountain deep, which with its streams\r\nPellucid all the citizens supplied,\r\n(Ithacus had that fountain framed of old\r\nWith Neritus and Polyctor, over which\r\nA grove of water-nourish\u2019d alders hung\r\nCircular on all sides, while cold the rill\r\nRan from the rock, on whose tall summit stood\r\nThe altar of the nymphs, by all who pass\u2019d\r\nWith sacrifice frequented, still, and pray\u2019r)\r\nMelantheus, son of Dolius, at that fount\r\nMet them; the chosen goats of ev\u2019ry flock,\r\nWith two assistants, from the field he drove,\r\nThe suitors\u2019 supper. He, seeing them both,\r\nIn surly accent boorish, such as fired\r\nUlysses with resentment, thus began.\r\nAy\u2014this is well\u2014The villain leads the vile\u2014\r\nThus evermore the Gods join like to like.\r\nThou clumsy swine-herd, whither would\u2019st conduct\r\nThis morsel-hunting mendicant obscene,\r\nDefiler base of banquets? many a post\r\nShall he rub smooth that props him while he begs\r\nLean alms, sole object of his low pursuit,\r\nWho ne\u2019er to sword or tripod yet aspired.\r\nWould\u2019st thou afford him to me for a guard\r\nOr sweeper of my stalls, or to supply\r\nMy kids with leaves, he should on bulkier thewes\r\nSupported stand, though nourish\u2019d but with whey.\r\nBut no such useful arts hath he acquired,\r\nNor likes he work, but rather much to extort\r\nFrom others food for his unsated maw.\r\nBut mark my prophecy, for it is true,\r\nAt famed Ulysses\u2019 house should he arrive,\r\nHis sides shall shatter many a footstool hurl\u2019d\r\nAgainst them by the offended princes there.\r\nHe spake, and drawing nigh, with his rais\u2019d foot,\r\nInsolent as he was and brutish, smote\r\nUlysses\u2019 haunch, yet shook not from his path\r\nThe firm-set Chief, who, doubtful, mused awhile\r\nWhether to rush on him, and with his staff\r\nTo slay him, or uplifting him on high,\r\nDownward to dash him headlong; but his wrath\r\nRestraining, calm he suffer\u2019d the affront.\r\nHim then Eum\u00e6us with indignant look\r\nRebuking, rais\u2019d his hands, and fervent pray\u2019d.\r\nNymphs of the fountains, progeny of Jove!\r\nIf e\u2019er Ulysses on your altar burn\u2019d\r\nThe thighs of fatted lambs or kidlings, grant\r\nThis my request. O let the Hero soon,\r\nConducted by some Deity, return!\r\nSo shall he quell that arrogance which safe\r\nThou now indulgest, roaming day by day\r\nThe city, while bad shepherds mar the flocks.\r\nTo whom the goat-herd answer thus return\u2019d\r\nMelantheus. Marvellous! how rare a speech\r\nThe subtle cur hath framed! whom I will send\r\nFar hence at a convenient time on board\r\nMy bark, and sell him at no little gain.\r\nI would, that he who bears the silver bow\r\nAs sure might pierce Telemachus this day\r\nIn his own house, or that the suitors might,\r\nAs that same wand\u2019rer shall return no more!\r\nHe said, and them left pacing slow along,\r\nBut soon, himself, at his Lord\u2019s house arrived;\r\nThere ent\u2019ring bold, he with the suitors sat\r\nOpposite to Eurymachus, for him\r\nHe valued most. The sewers his portion placed\r\nOf meat before him, and the maiden, chief\r\nDirectress of the household gave him bread.\r\nAnd now, Ulysses, with the swain his friend\r\nApproach\u2019d, when, hearing the harmonious lyre,\r\nBoth stood, for Phemius had begun his song.\r\nHe grasp\u2019d the swine-herd\u2019s hand, and thus he said.\r\nThis house, Eum\u00e6us! of Ulysses seems\r\nPassing magnificent, and to be known\r\nWith ease for his among a thousand more.\r\nOne pile supports another, and a wall\r\nCrested with battlements surrounds the court;\r\nFirm, too, the folding doors all force of man\r\nDefy; but num\u2019rous guests, as I perceive,\r\nNow feast within; witness the sav\u2019ry steam\r\nFast-fuming upward, and the sounding harp,\r\nDivine associate of the festive board.\r\nTo whom, Eum\u00e6us, thou didst thus reply.\r\nThou hast well-guess\u2019d; no wonder, thou art quick\r\nOn ev\u2019ry theme; but let us well forecast\r\nThis business. Wilt thou, ent\u2019ring first, thyself,\r\nThe splendid mansion, with the suitors mix,\r\nMe leaving here? or shall I lead the way\r\nWhile thou remain\u2019st behind? yet linger not,\r\nLest, seeing thee without, some servant strike\r\nOr drive thee hence. Consider which were best.\r\nHim answer\u2019d, then, the patient Hero bold.\r\nIt is enough. I understand. Thou speak\u2019st\r\nTo one intelligent. Lead thou the way\r\nMe leaving here, for neither stripes nor blows\r\nTo me are strange. Much exercised with pain\r\nIn fight and on the Deep, I have long since\r\nLearn\u2019d patience. Follow, next, what follow may!\r\nBut, to suppress the appetite, I deem\r\nImpossible; the stomach is a source\r\nOf ills to man, an avaricious gulph\r\nDestructive, which to satiate, ships are rigg\u2019d,\r\nSeas travers\u2019d, and fierce battles waged remote.\r\nThus they discoursing stood; Argus the while,\r\nUlysses\u2019 dog, uplifted where he lay\r\nHis head and ears erect. Ulysses him\r\nHad bred long since, himself, but rarely used,\r\nDeparting, first, to Ilium. Him the youths\r\nIn other days led frequent to the chace\r\nOf wild goat, hart and hare; but now he lodg\u2019d\r\nA poor old cast-off, of his Lord forlorn,\r\nWhere mules and oxen had before the gate\r\nMuch ordure left, with which Ulysses\u2019 hinds\r\nShould, in due time, manure his spacious fields.\r\nThere lay, with dog-devouring vermin foul\r\nAll over, Argus; soon as he perceived\r\nLong-lost Ulysses nigh, down fell his ears\r\nClapp\u2019d close, and with his tail glad sign he gave\r\nOf gratulation, impotent to rise\r\nAnd to approach his master as of old.\r\nUlysses, noting him, wiped off a tear\r\nUnmark\u2019d, and of Eum\u00e6us quick enquired.\r\nI can but wonder seeing such a dog\r\nThus lodg\u2019d, Eum\u00e6us! beautiful in form\r\nHe is, past doubt, but whether he hath been\r\nAs fleet as fair I know not; rather such\r\nPerchance as masters sometimes keep to grace\r\nTheir tables, nourish\u2019d more for shew than use.\r\nTo whom, Eum\u00e6us, thou didst thus reply.\r\nHe is the dog of one dead far remote.\r\nBut had he now such feat-performing strength\r\nAs when Ulysses left him, going hence\r\nTo Ilium, in one moment thou shouldst mark,\r\nAstonish\u2019d, his agility and force.\r\nHe never in the sylvan deep recess\r\nThe wild beast saw that \u2019scaped him, and he track\u2019d\r\nTheir steps infallible; but he hath now\r\nNo comfort, for (the master dead afar)\r\nThe heedless servants care not for his dog.\r\nDomestics, missing once their Lord\u2019s controul,\r\nGrow wilful, and refuse their proper tasks;\r\nFor whom Jove dooms to servitude, he takes\r\nAt once the half of that man\u2019s worth away.\r\nHe said, and, ent\u2019ring at the portal, join\u2019d\r\nThe suitors. Then his destiny released\r\nOld Argus, soon as he had lived to see\r\nUlysses in the twentieth year restored.\r\nGodlike Telemachus, long ere the rest,\r\nMarking the swine-herd\u2019s entrance, with a nod\r\nSummon\u2019d him to approach. Eum\u00e6us cast\r\nHis eye around, and seeing vacant there\r\nThe seat which the dispenser of the feast\r\nWas wont to occupy while he supplied\r\nThe num\u2019rous guests, planted it right before\r\nTelemachus, and at his table sat,\r\nOn which the herald placed for him his share\r\nOf meat, and from the baskets gave him bread.\r\nSoon after him<\/i>, Ulysses enter\u2019d slow\r\nThe palace, like a squalid beggar old,\r\nStaff-propp\u2019d, and in loose tatters foul attired.\r\nWithin the portal on the ashen sill\r\nHe sat, and, seeming languid, lean\u2019d against\r\nA cypress pillar by the builder\u2019s art\r\nPolish\u2019d long since, and planted at the door.\r\nThen took Telemachus a loaf entire\r\nForth from the elegant basket, and of flesh\r\nA portion large as his two hands contained,\r\nAnd, beck\u2019ning close the swine-herd, charged him thus.\r\nThese to the stranger; whom advise to ask\r\nSome dole from ev\u2019ry suitor; bashful fear\r\nIll suits the mendicant by want oppress\u2019d.\r\nHe spake; Eum\u00e6us went, and where he sat\r\nArriving, in wing\u2019d accents thus began.\r\nTelemachus, oh stranger, sends thee these,\r\nAnd counsels thee to importune for more\r\nThe suitors, one by one; for bashful fear\r\nIll suits the mendicant by want oppress\u2019d.\r\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.\r\nJove, King of all, grant ev\u2019ry good on earth\r\nTo kind Telemachus, and the complete\r\nAccomplishment of all that he desires!\r\nHe said, and with both hands outspread, the mess\r\nReceiving as he sat, on his worn bag\r\nDisposed it at his feet. Long as the bard\r\nChaunted, he ate, and when he ceas\u2019d to eat,\r\nThen also ceas\u2019d the bard divine to sing.\r\nAnd now ensued loud clamour in the hall\r\nAnd tumult, when Minerva, drawing nigh\r\nTo Laertiades, impell\u2019d the Chief\r\nCrusts to collect, or any pittance small\r\nAt ev\u2019ry suitor\u2019s hand, for trial\u2019s sake\r\nOf just and unjust; yet deliv\u2019rance none\r\nFrom evil she design\u2019d for any there.\r\nFrom left to right[footnote]That he might begin auspiciously. Wine was served in the same direction. F.[\/footnote]<\/sup> his progress he began\r\nPetitioning, with outstretch\u2019d hands, the throng,\r\nAs one familiar with the beggar\u2019s art.\r\nThey, pitying, gave to him, but view\u2019d him still\r\nWith wonder, and enquiries mutual made\r\nWho, and whence was he? Then the goat-herd rose\r\nMelanthius, and th\u2019 assembly thus address\u2019d.\r\nHear me, ye suitors of th\u2019 illustrious Queen!\r\nThis guest, of whom ye ask, I have beheld\r\nElsewhere; the swine-herd brought him; but himself\r\nI know not, neither who nor whence he is.\r\nSo he; then thus Antino\u00fcs stern rebuked\r\nThe swine-herd. Ah, notorious as thou art,\r\nWhy hast thou shewn this vagabond the way\r\nInto the city? are we not enough\r\nInfested with these troublers of our feasts?\r\nDeem\u2019st it a trifle that such numbers eat\r\nAt thy Lord\u2019s cost, and hast thou, therefore, led\r\nThis fellow hither, found we know not where?\r\nTo whom, Eum\u00e6us, thou didst thus reply.\r\nAntino\u00fcs! though of high degree, thou speak\u2019st\r\nNot wisely. What man to another\u2019s house\r\nRepairs to invite him to a feast, unless\r\nHe be of those who by profession serve\r\nThe public, prophet, healer of disease,\r\nIngenious artist, or some bard divine\r\nWhose music may exhilarate the guests?\r\nThese, and such only, are in ev\u2019ry land\r\nCall\u2019d to the banquet; none invites the poor,\r\nWho much consume, and no requital yield.\r\nBut thou of all the suitors roughly treat\u2019st\r\nUlysses\u2019 servants most, and chiefly me;\r\nYet thee I heed not, while the virtuous Queen\r\nDwells in this palace, and her godlike son.\r\nTo whom Telemachus, discrete, replied.\r\nPeace! answer not verbose a man like him.\r\nAntino\u00fcs hath a tongue accustom\u2019d much\r\nTo tauntings, and promotes them in the rest.\r\nThen, turning to Antino\u00fcs, quick he said\u2014\r\nAntino\u00fcs! as a father for his son\r\nTakes thought, so thou for me, who bidd\u2019st me chase\r\nThe stranger harshly hence; but God forbid![footnote]Here again \u0398\u03b5\u1f78\u03c2 occurs in the abstract.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nImpart to him. I grudge not, but myself\r\nExhort thee to it; neither, in this cause,\r\nFear thou the Queen, or in the least regard\r\nWhatever menial throughout all the house\r\nOf famed Ulysses. Ah! within thy breast\r\nDwells no such thought; thou lov\u2019st not to impart\r\nTo others, but to gratify thyself.\r\nTo whom Antino\u00fcs answer thus return\u2019d.\r\nHigh-soaring and intemp\u2019rate in thy speech\r\nHow hast thou said, Telemachus? Would all\r\nAs much bestow on him, he should not seek\r\nAdmittance here again three months to come.\r\nSo saying, he seized the stool which, banqueting,\r\nHe press\u2019d with his nice feet, and from beneath\r\nThe table forth advanced it into view.\r\nThe rest all gave to him, with bread and flesh\r\nFilling his wallet, and Ulysses, now,\r\nReturning to his threshold, there to taste\r\nThe bounty of the Greeks, paused in his way\r\nBeside Antino\u00fcs, whom he thus address\u2019d.\r\nKind sir! vouchsafe to me! for thou appear\u2019st\r\nNot least, but greatest of the Achaians here,\r\nAnd hast a kingly look. It might become\r\nThee therefore above others to bestow,\r\nSo should I praise thee wheresoe\u2019er I roam.\r\nI also lived the happy owner once\r\nOf such a stately mansion, and have giv\u2019n\r\nTo num\u2019rous wand\u2019rers (whencesoe\u2019er they came<\/span>\r\nAll that they needed; I was also served\r\nBy many, and enjoy\u2019d all that denotes\r\nThe envied owner opulent and blest.\r\nBut Jove (for so it pleas\u2019d him) hath reduced\r\nMy all to nothing, prompting me, in league\r\nWith rovers of the Deep, to sail afar\r\nTo \u00c6gypt, for my sure destruction there.\r\nWithin th\u2019 \u00c6gyptian stream my barks well-oar\u2019d\r\nI station\u2019d, and, enjoining strict my friends\r\nTo watch them close-attendant at their side,\r\nCommanded spies into the hill-tops; but they,\r\nUnder the impulse of a spirit rash\r\nAnd hot for quarrel, the well-cultur\u2019d fields\r\nPillaged of the \u00c6gyptians, captive led\r\nTheir wives and little-ones, and slew the men.\r\nEre long, the loud alarm their city reach\u2019d.\r\nDown came the citizens, by dawn of day,\r\nWith horse and foot and with the gleam of arms\r\nFilling the plain. Then Jove with panic dread\r\nStruck all my people; none found courage more\r\nTo stand, for mischiefs swarm\u2019d on ev\u2019ry side.\r\nThere, num\u2019rous by the glitt\u2019ring spear we fell\r\nSlaughter\u2019d, while others they conducted thence\r\nAlive to servitude; but me they gave\r\nTo Dmetor, King in Cyprus, Jasus\u2019 son;\r\nHe entertained me liberally, and thence\r\nThis land I reach\u2019d, but poor and woe-begone.\r\nThen answer thus Antino\u00fcs harsh return\u2019d.\r\nWhat d\u00e6mon introduced this nuisance here,\r\nThis troubler of our feast? stand yonder, keep\r\nDue distance from my table, or expect\r\nTo see an \u00c6gypt and a Cyprus worse\r\nThan those, bold mendicant and void of shame!\r\nThou hauntest each, and, inconsid\u2019rate, each\r\nGives to thee, because gifts at other\u2019s cost\r\nAre cheap, and, plentifully serv\u2019d themselves,\r\nThey squander, heedless, viands not their own.\r\nTo whom Ulysses while he slow retired.\r\nGods! how illib\u2019ral with that specious form!\r\nThou wouldst not grant the poor a grain of salt\r\nFrom thy own board, who at another\u2019s fed\r\nSo nobly, canst thou not spare a crust to me.\r\nHe spake; then raged Antino\u00fcs still the more,\r\nAnd in wing\u2019d accents, louring, thus replied.\r\nTake such dismission now as thou deserv\u2019st,\r\nOpprobrious! hast thou dared to scoff at me?\r\nSo saying, he seized his stool, and on the joint\r\nOf his right shoulder smote him; firm as rock\r\nHe stood, by no such force to be displaced,\r\nBut silent shook his brows, and dreadful deeds\r\nOf vengeance ruminating, sought again\r\nHis seat the threshold, where his bag full-charged\r\nHe grounded, and the suitors thus address\u2019d.\r\nHear now, ye suitors of the matchless Queen,\r\nMy bosom\u2019s dictates. Trivial is the harm,\r\nScarce felt, if, fighting for his own, his sheep\r\nPerchance, or beeves, a man receive a blow.\r\nBut me Antino\u00fcs struck for that I ask\u2019d\r\nFood from him merely to appease the pangs\r\nOf hunger, source of num\u2019rous ills to man.\r\nIf then the poor man have a God t\u2019 avenge\r\nHis wrongs, I pray to him that death may seize\r\nAntino\u00fcs, ere his nuptial hour arrive!\r\nTo whom Antino\u00fcs answer thus return\u2019d,\r\nSon of Eupithes. Either seated there\r\nOr going hence, eat, stranger, and be still;\r\nLest for thy insolence, by hand or foot\r\nWe drag thee forth, and thou be flay\u2019d alive.\r\nHe ceased, whom all indignant heard, and thus\r\nEv\u2019n his own proud companions censured him.\r\nAntino\u00fcs! thou didst not well to smite\r\nThe wretched vagabond. O thou art doom\u2019d\r\nFor ever, if there be a God in heav\u2019n;[footnote]\r\n
\u0395\u03b9 \u03b4\u03b7 \u03c0\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c4\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b5\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b5\u03c3\u03b9<\/span><\/div>\r\nEustathius, and Clarke after him, understand an aposiopesis here, as if the speaker meant to say\u2014what if there should be? or\u2014suppose there should be? But the sentence seems to fall in better with what follows interpreted as above, and it is a sense of the passage not unwarranted by the opinion of other commentators. See Schaufelbergerus.[\/footnote]\r\nFor, in similitude of strangers oft,\r\nThe Gods, who can with ease all shapes assume,\r\nRepair to populous cities, where they mark\r\nThe outrageous and the righteous deeds of men.\r\nSo they, for whose reproof he little cared.\r\nBut in his heart Telemachus that blow\r\nResented, anguish-torn, yet not a tear\r\nHe shed, but silent shook his brows, and mused\r\nTerrible things. Penelope, meantime,\r\nTold of the wand\u2019rer so abused beneath\r\nHer roof, among her maidens thus exclaim\u2019d.\r\nSo may Apollo, glorious archer, smite\r\nThee also. Then Eurynome replied,\r\nOh might our pray\u2019rs prevail, none of them all\r\nShould see bright-charioted Aurora more.\r\nHer answer\u2019d then Penelope discrete.\r\nNurse! they are odious all, for that alike\r\nAll teem with mischief; but Antino\u00fcs\u2019 looks\r\nRemind me ever of the gloom of death.\r\nA stranger hath arrived who, begging, roams\r\nThe house, (for so his penury enjoins)\r\nThe rest have giv\u2019n him, and have fill\u2019d his bag\r\nWith viands, but Antino\u00fcs hath bruised\r\nHis shoulder with a foot-stool hurl\u2019d at him.\r\nWhile thus the Queen conversing with her train\r\nIn her own chamber sat, Ulysses made\r\nPlenteous repast. Then, calling to her side\r\nEum\u00e6us, thus she signified her will.\r\nEum\u00e6us, noble friend! bid now approach\r\nYon stranger. I would speak with him, and ask\r\nIf he has seen Ulysses, or have heard\r\nTidings, perchance, of the afflicted Chief,\r\nFor much a wand\u2019rer by his garb he seems.\r\nTo whom, Eum\u00e6us, thou didst thus reply.\r\nWere those Achaians silent, thou shouldst hear,\r\nO Queen! a tale that would console thy heart.\r\nThree nights I housed him, and within my cot\r\nThree days detain\u2019d him, (for his ship he left\r\nA fugitive, and came direct to me)\r\nBut half untold his hist\u2019ry still remains.\r\nAs when his eye one fixes on a bard\r\nFrom heav\u2019n instructed in such themes as charm\r\nThe ear of mortals, ever as he sings\r\nThe people press, insatiable, to hear,\r\nSo, in my cottage, seated at my side,\r\nThat stranger with his tale enchanted me.\r\nLaertes, he affirms, hath been his guest\r\nErewhile in Crete, where Minos\u2019 race resides,\r\nAnd thence he hath arrived, after great loss,\r\nA suppliant to the very earth abased;\r\nHe adds, that in Thesprotia\u2019s neighbour realm\r\nHe of Ulysses heard, both that he lives,\r\nAnd that he comes laden with riches home.\r\nTo whom Penelope, discrete, replied.\r\nHaste; call him. I would hear, myself, his tale.\r\nMeantime, let these, or in the palace gate\r\nSport jocular, or here; their hearts are light,\r\nFor their possessions are secure; their<\/i> wine\r\nNone drinks, or eats their<\/i> viands, save their own,\r\nWhile my abode, day after day, themselves\r\nHaunting, my beeves and sheep and fatted goats\r\nSlay for the banquet, and my casks exhaust\r\nExtravagant, whence endless waste ensues;\r\nFor no such friend as was Ulysses once\r\nHave I to expel the mischief. But might he\r\nRevisit once his native shores again,\r\nThen, aided by his son, he should avenge,\r\nIncontinent, the wrongs which now I mourn.\r\nThen sneezed Telemachus with sudden force,\r\nThat all the palace rang; his mother laugh\u2019d,\r\nAnd in wing\u2019d accents thus the swain bespake.\r\nHaste\u2014bid him hither\u2014hear\u2019st thou not the sneeze\r\nPropitious of my son? oh might it prove\r\nA presage of inevitable death\r\nTo all these revellers! may none escape!\r\nNow mark me well. Should the event his tale\r\nConfirm, at my own hands he shall receive\r\nMantle and tunic both for his reward.\r\nShe spake; he went, and where Ulysses sat\r\nArriving, in wing\u2019d accents thus began.\r\nPenelope, my venerable friend!\r\nCalls thee, the mother of Telemachus.\r\nOppress\u2019d by num\u2019rous troubles, she desires\r\nTo ask thee tidings of her absent Lord.\r\nAnd should the event verify thy report,\r\nThy meed shall be (a boon which much thou need\u2019st)\r\nTunic and mantle; but she gives no more;\r\nThy sustenance thou must, as now, obtain,[footnote]This seems added by Eum\u00e6us to cut off from Ulysses the hope that might otherwise tempt him to use fiction.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nBegging it at their hands who chuse to give.\r\nThen thus Ulysses, Hero toil-inured.\r\nEum\u00e6us! readily I can relate\r\nTruth, and truth only, to the prudent Queen\r\nIcarius\u2019 daughter; for of him I know\r\nMuch, and have suff\u2019red sorrows like his own.\r\nBut dread I feel of this imperious throng\r\nPerverse, whose riot and outrageous acts\r\nOf violence echo through the vault of heav\u2019n.\r\nAnd, even now, when for no fault of mine\r\nYon suitor struck me as I pass\u2019d, and fill\u2019d\r\nMy flesh with pain, neither Telemachus\r\nNor any interposed to stay his arm.\r\nNow, therefore, let Penelope, although\r\nImpatient, till the sun descend postpone\r\nHer questions; then she may enquire secure\r\nWhen comes her husband, and may nearer place\r\nMy seat to the hearth-side, for thinly clad\r\nThou know\u2019st I am, whose aid I first implored.\r\nHe ceas\u2019d; at whose reply Eum\u00e6us sought\r\nAgain the Queen, but ere he yet had pass\u2019d\r\nThe threshold, thus she greeted his return.\r\nCom\u2019st thou alone, Eum\u00e6us? why delays\r\nThe invited wand\u2019rer? dreads he other harm?\r\nOr sees he aught that with a bashful awe\r\nFills him? the bashful poor are poor indeed.\r\nTo whom, Eum\u00e6us, thou didst thus reply.\r\nHe hath well spoken; none who would decline\r\nThe rudeness of this contumelious throng\r\nCould answer otherwise; thee he entreats\r\nTo wait till sun-set, and that course, O Queen,\r\nThou shalt thyself far more commodious find,\r\nTo hold thy conf\u2019rence with the guest, alone.\r\nThen answer thus Penelope return\u2019d.\r\nThe stranger, I perceive, is not unwise,\r\nWhoe\u2019er he be, for on the earth are none\r\nProud, insolent, and profligate as these.\r\nSo spake the Queen. Then (all his message told)\r\nThe good Eum\u00e6us to the suitors went\r\nAgain, and with his head inclined toward\r\nTelemachus, lest others should his words\r\nWitness, in accents wing\u2019d him thus address\u2019d.\r\nFriend and kind master! I return to keep\r\nMy herds, and to attend my rural charge,\r\nWhence we are both sustain\u2019d. Keep thou, meantime,\r\nAll here with vigilance, but chiefly watch\r\nFor thy own good, and save thyself<\/i> from harm;\r\nFor num\u2019rous here brood mischief, whom the Gods\r\nExterminate, ere yet their plots prevail!\r\nTo whom Telemachus, discrete, replied.\r\nSo be it, father! and (thy evening-mess\r\nEaten) depart; to-morrow come again,\r\nBringing fair victims hither; I will keep,\r\nI and the Gods, meantime, all here secure.\r\nHe ended; then resumed once more the swain\r\nHis polish\u2019d seat, and, both with wine and food\r\nNow satiate, to his charge return\u2019d, the court\r\nLeaving and all the palace throng\u2019d with guests;\r\nThey (for it now was evening) all alike\r\nTurn\u2019d jovial to the song and to the dance.","rendered":"

Argument<\/b><\/h2>\n

Telemachus returns to the city, and relates to his mother the principal passages of his voyage; Ulysses, conducted by Eum\u00e6us, arrives there also, and enters among the suitors, having been known only by his old dog Argus, who dies at his feet. The curiosity of Penelope being excited by the account which Eum\u00e6us gives her of Ulysses, she orders him immediately into her presence, but Ulysses postpones the interview till evening, when the suitors having left the palace, there shall be no danger of interruption. Eum\u00e6us returns to his cottage.<\/p>\n

Now look\u2019d Aurora from the East abroad,
\nWhen the illustrious offspring of divine
\nUlysses bound his sandals to his feet;
\nHe seiz\u2019d his sturdy spear match\u2019d to his gripe,
\nAnd to the city meditating quick
\nDeparture now, the swine-herd thus bespake.
\nFather! I seek the city, to convince
\nMy mother of my safe return, whose tears,
\nI judge, and lamentation shall not cease
\nTill her own eyes behold me. But I lay
\nOn thee this charge. Into the city lead,
\nThyself, this hapless guest, that he may beg
\nProvision there, a morsel and a drop
\nFrom such as may, perchance, vouchsafe the boon.
\nI cannot, vext and harass\u2019d as I am,
\nFeed all, and should the stranger take offence,
\nThe worse for him. Plain truth is my delight.
\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.
\nNor is it my desire to be detained.
\nBetter the mendicant in cities seeks
\nHis dole, vouchsafe it whosoever may,
\nThan in the villages. I am not young,
\nNor longer of an age that well accords
\nWith rural tasks, nor could I all perform
\nThat it might please a master to command.
\nGo then, and when I shall have warm\u2019d my limbs
\nBefore the hearth, and when the risen sun
\nShall somewhat chase the cold, thy servant\u2019s task
\nShall be to guide me thither, as thou bidd\u2019st,
\nFor this is a vile garb; the frosty air
\nOf morning would benumb me thus attired,
\nAnd, as ye say, the city is remote.
\nHe ended, and Telemachus in haste
\nSet forth, his thoughts all teeming as he went
\nWith dire revenge. Soon in the palace-courts
\nArriving, he reclined his spear against
\nA column, and proceeded to the hall.
\nHim Euryclea, first, his nurse, perceived,
\nWhile on the variegated seats she spread
\nTheir fleecy cov\u2019ring; swift with tearful eyes
\nShe flew to him, and the whole female train
\nOf brave Ulysses swarm\u2019d around his son,
\nClasping him, and his forehead and his neck
\nKissing affectionate; then came, herself,
\nAs golden Venus or Diana fair,
\nForth from her chamber to her son\u2019s embrace,
\nThe chaste Penelope; with tears she threw
\nHer arms around him, his bright-beaming eyes
\nAnd forehead kiss\u2019d, and with a murmur\u2019d plaint
\nMaternal, in wing\u2019d accents thus began.
\nThou hast return\u2019d, light of my eyes! my son!
\nMy lov\u2019d Telemachus! I had no hope
\nTo see thee more when once thou hadst embark\u2019d
\nFor Pylus, privily, and with no consent
\nFrom me obtain\u2019d, news seeking of thy sire.
\nBut haste; unfold. Declare what thou hast seen.
\nTo whom Telemachus, discrete, replied.
\nAh mother! let my sorrows rest, nor me
\nFrom death so lately \u2019scaped afflict anew,
\nBut, bathed and habited in fresh attire,
\nWith all the maidens of thy train ascend
\nTo thy superior chamber, there to vow
\nA perfect hecatomb to all the Gods,
\nWhen Jove shall have avenged our num\u2019rous wrongs.
\nI seek the forum, there to introduce
\nA guest, my follower from the Pylian shore,
\nWhom sending forward with my noble band,
\nI bade Pir\u00e6us to his own abode
\nLead him, and with all kindness entertain
\nThe stranger, till I should myself arrive.
\nHe spake, nor flew his words useless away.
\nShe, bathed and habited in fresh attire,
\nVow\u2019d a full hecatomb to all the Gods,
\nWould Jove but recompense her num\u2019rous wrongs.
\nThen, spear in hand, went forth her son, two dogs
\nFleet-footed following him. O\u2019er all his form
\nPallas diffused a dignity divine,
\nAnd ev\u2019ry eye gazed on him as he pass\u2019d.
\nThe suitors throng\u2019d him round, joy on their lips
\nAnd welcome, but deep mischief in their hearts.
\nHe, shunning all that crowd, chose to himself
\nA seat, where Mentor sat, and Antiphus,
\nAnd Halytherses, long his father\u2019s friends
\nSincere, who of his voyage much enquired.
\nThen drew Pir\u00e6us nigh, leading his guest
\nToward the forum; nor Telemachus
\nStood long aloof, but greeted his approach,
\nAnd was accosted by Pir\u00e6us thus.
\nSir! send thy menial women to bring home
\nThe precious charge committed to my care,
\nThy gifts at Menelaus\u2019 hands received.
\nTo whom Telemachus, discrete, replied.
\nPir\u00e6us! wait; for I not yet foresee
\nThe upshot. Should these haughty ones effect
\nMy death, clandestine, under my own roof,
\nAnd parcel my inheritance by lot,
\nI rather wish those treasures thine, than theirs.
\nBut should I with success plan for them all
\nA bloody death, then, wing\u2019d with joy, thyself
\nBring home those presents to thy joyful friend.
\nSo saying, he led the anxious stranger thence
\nInto the royal mansion, where arrived,
\nEach cast his mantle on a couch or throne,
\nAnd plung\u2019d his feet into a polish\u2019d bath.
\nThere wash\u2019d and lubricated with smooth oils,
\nFrom the attendant maidens each received
\nTunic and shaggy mantle. Thus attired,
\nForth from the baths they stepp\u2019d, and sat again.
\nA maiden, next, with golden ewer charged,
\nAnd silver bowl, pour\u2019d water on their hands,
\nAnd spread the polish\u2019d table, which with food
\nOf all kinds, remnants of the last regale,
\nThe mistress of the household charge supplied.
\nMeantime, beside a column of the dome
\nHis mother, on a couch reclining, twirl\u2019d
\nHer slender threads. They to the furnish\u2019d board
\nStretch\u2019d forth their hands, and, hunger now and thirst
\nBoth satisfied, Penelope began.
\nTelemachus! I will ascend again,
\nAnd will repose me on my woeful bed;
\nFor such it hath been, and with tears of mine
\nCeaseless bedew\u2019d, e\u2019er since Ulysses went
\nWith Atreus\u2019 sons to Troy. For not a word
\nThou would\u2019st vouchsafe me till our haughty guests
\nHad occupied the house again, of all
\nThat thou hast heard (if aught indeed thou hast)
\nOf thy long-absent father\u2019s wish\u2019d return.
\nHer answer\u2019d then Telemachus discrete.
\nMother, at thy request I will with truth
\nRelate the whole. At Pylus shore arrived
\nWe Nestor found, Chief of the Pylian race.
\nReceiving me in his august abode,
\nHe entertain\u2019d me with such welcome kind
\nAs a glad father shews to his own son
\nLong-lost and newly found; so Nestor me,
\nAnd his illustrious offspring, entertain\u2019d,
\nBut yet assured me that he nought had heard
\nFrom mortal lips of my magnanimous sire,
\nWhether alive or dead; with his own steeds
\nHe sent me, and with splendid chariot thence
\nTo spear-famed Menelaus, Atreus\u2019 son.
\nThere saw I Helen, by the Gods\u2019 decree
\nAuth\u2019ress of trouble both to Greece and Troy.
\nThe Hero Menelaus then enquired
\nWhat cause had urged me to the pleasant vale
\nOf Laced\u00e6mon; plainly I rehearsed
\nThe occasion, and the Hero thus replied.
\nYe Gods! they are ambitious of the bed
\nOf a brave man, however base themselves.
\nBut, as it chances when the hart hath laid
\nHer fawns new-yean\u2019d and sucklings yet, to rest
\nIn some resistless lion\u2019s den, she roams,
\nMeantime, the hills, and in the grassy vales
\nFeeds heedless, but the lion to his lair
\nReturning soon, both her and hers destroys,
\nSo shall thy father, brave Ulysses, them.
\nJove! Pallas! and Apollo! oh that such
\nAs erst in well-built Lesbos, where he strove
\nWith Philomelides, whom wrestling, flat
\nHe threw, when all Achaia\u2019s sons rejoiced,
\nUlysses, now, might mingle with his foes!
\nShort life and bitter nuptials should be theirs,
\nBut thy enquiries neither indirect
\nWill I evade, nor give thee false reply,
\nBut all that from the Ancient of the Deep[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nI have received will utter, hiding nought.
\nThe God declared that he had seen thy sire
\nIn a lone island, sorrowing, and detain\u2019d
\nAn inmate in the grotto of the nymph
\nCalypso, wanting also means by which
\nTo reach the country of his birth again,
\nFor neither gallant barks nor friends had he
\nTo speed his passage o\u2019er the boundless waves.
\nSo Menelaus spake, the spear-renown\u2019d.
\nMy errand thus accomplish\u2019d, I return\u2019d\u2014
\nAnd by the Gods with gales propitious blest,
\nWas wafted swiftly to my native shore.
\nHe spake, and tumult in his mother\u2019s heart
\nSo speaking, raised. Consolatory, next,
\nThe godlike Theoclymenus began.
\nConsort revered of Laertiades!
\nLittle the Spartan knew, but list to me,
\nFor I will plainly prophesy and sure.
\nBe Jove of all in heav\u2019n my witness first,
\nThen this thy hospitable board, and, last,
\nThe household Gods of the illustrious Chief
\nUlysses, at whose hearth I have arrived,[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nThat, even now, within his native isle
\nUlysses somewhere sits, or creeps obscure,
\nWitness of these enormities, and seeds
\nSowing of dire destruction for his foes;
\nSo sure an augury, while on the deck
\nReclining of the gallant bark, I saw,
\nAnd with loud voice proclaim\u2019d it to thy son.
\nHim answer\u2019d then Penelope discrete.
\nGrant heav\u2019n, my guest, that this good word of thine
\nFail not! then shalt thou soon such bounty share
\nAnd friendship at my hands, that at first sight
\nWhoe\u2019er shall meet thee shall pronounce thee blest.
\nThus they conferr\u2019d. Meantime the suitors hurl\u2019d
\nThe quoit and lance on the smooth area spread
\nBefore Ulysses\u2019 gate, the custom\u2019d scene
\nOf their contentions, sports, and clamours rude.
\nBut when the hour of supper now approach\u2019d,
\nAnd from the pastures on all sides the sheep
\nCame with their wonted drivers, Medon then
\n(For he of all the heralds pleas\u2019d them most,
\nAnd waited at the board) them thus address\u2019d.
\nEnough of play, young princes! ent\u2019ring now
\nThe house, prepare we sedulous our feast,
\nSince in well-timed refreshment harm is none.
\nHe spake, whose admonition pleas\u2019d. At once
\nAll, rising, sought the palace; there arrived,
\nEach cast his mantle off, which on his throne
\nOr couch he spread, then, brisk, to slaughter fell
\nOf many a victim; sheep and goats and brawns
\nThey slew, all fatted, and a pastur\u2019d ox,
\nHast\u2019ning the banquet; nor with less dispatch
\nUlysses and Eum\u00e6us now prepared
\nTo seek the town, when thus the swain began.
\nMy guest! since thy fixt purpose is to seek
\nThis day the city as my master bade,
\nThough I, in truth, much rather wish thee here
\nA keeper of our herds, yet, through respect
\nAnd rev\u2019rence of his orders, whose reproof
\nI dread, for masters seldom gently chide,
\nI would be gone. Arise, let us depart,
\nFor day already is far-spent, and soon
\nThe air of even-tide will chill thee more.
\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.
\nIt is enough. I understand. Thou speak\u2019st
\nTo one intelligent. Let us depart,
\nAnd lead, thyself, the way; but give me, first,
\n(If thou have one already hewn) a staff
\nTo lean on, for ye have described the road
\nRugged, and ofttimes dang\u2019rous to the foot.
\nSo saying, his tatter\u2019d wallet o\u2019er his back
\nHe cast, suspended by a leathern twist,
\nEum\u00e6us gratified him with a staff,
\nAnd forth they went, leaving the cottage kept
\nBy dogs and swains. He city-ward his King
\nLed on, in form a squalid beggar old,
\nHalting, and in unseemly garb attired.
\nBut when, slow-travelling the craggy way,
\nThey now approach\u2019d the town, and had attain\u2019d
\nThe marble fountain deep, which with its streams
\nPellucid all the citizens supplied,
\n(Ithacus had that fountain framed of old
\nWith Neritus and Polyctor, over which
\nA grove of water-nourish\u2019d alders hung
\nCircular on all sides, while cold the rill
\nRan from the rock, on whose tall summit stood
\nThe altar of the nymphs, by all who pass\u2019d
\nWith sacrifice frequented, still, and pray\u2019r)
\nMelantheus, son of Dolius, at that fount
\nMet them; the chosen goats of ev\u2019ry flock,
\nWith two assistants, from the field he drove,
\nThe suitors\u2019 supper. He, seeing them both,
\nIn surly accent boorish, such as fired
\nUlysses with resentment, thus began.
\nAy\u2014this is well\u2014The villain leads the vile\u2014
\nThus evermore the Gods join like to like.
\nThou clumsy swine-herd, whither would\u2019st conduct
\nThis morsel-hunting mendicant obscene,
\nDefiler base of banquets? many a post
\nShall he rub smooth that props him while he begs
\nLean alms, sole object of his low pursuit,
\nWho ne\u2019er to sword or tripod yet aspired.
\nWould\u2019st thou afford him to me for a guard
\nOr sweeper of my stalls, or to supply
\nMy kids with leaves, he should on bulkier thewes
\nSupported stand, though nourish\u2019d but with whey.
\nBut no such useful arts hath he acquired,
\nNor likes he work, but rather much to extort
\nFrom others food for his unsated maw.
\nBut mark my prophecy, for it is true,
\nAt famed Ulysses\u2019 house should he arrive,
\nHis sides shall shatter many a footstool hurl\u2019d
\nAgainst them by the offended princes there.
\nHe spake, and drawing nigh, with his rais\u2019d foot,
\nInsolent as he was and brutish, smote
\nUlysses\u2019 haunch, yet shook not from his path
\nThe firm-set Chief, who, doubtful, mused awhile
\nWhether to rush on him, and with his staff
\nTo slay him, or uplifting him on high,
\nDownward to dash him headlong; but his wrath
\nRestraining, calm he suffer\u2019d the affront.
\nHim then Eum\u00e6us with indignant look
\nRebuking, rais\u2019d his hands, and fervent pray\u2019d.
\nNymphs of the fountains, progeny of Jove!
\nIf e\u2019er Ulysses on your altar burn\u2019d
\nThe thighs of fatted lambs or kidlings, grant
\nThis my request. O let the Hero soon,
\nConducted by some Deity, return!
\nSo shall he quell that arrogance which safe
\nThou now indulgest, roaming day by day
\nThe city, while bad shepherds mar the flocks.
\nTo whom the goat-herd answer thus return\u2019d
\nMelantheus. Marvellous! how rare a speech
\nThe subtle cur hath framed! whom I will send
\nFar hence at a convenient time on board
\nMy bark, and sell him at no little gain.
\nI would, that he who bears the silver bow
\nAs sure might pierce Telemachus this day
\nIn his own house, or that the suitors might,
\nAs that same wand\u2019rer shall return no more!
\nHe said, and them left pacing slow along,
\nBut soon, himself, at his Lord\u2019s house arrived;
\nThere ent\u2019ring bold, he with the suitors sat
\nOpposite to Eurymachus, for him
\nHe valued most. The sewers his portion placed
\nOf meat before him, and the maiden, chief
\nDirectress of the household gave him bread.
\nAnd now, Ulysses, with the swain his friend
\nApproach\u2019d, when, hearing the harmonious lyre,
\nBoth stood, for Phemius had begun his song.
\nHe grasp\u2019d the swine-herd\u2019s hand, and thus he said.
\nThis house, Eum\u00e6us! of Ulysses seems
\nPassing magnificent, and to be known
\nWith ease for his among a thousand more.
\nOne pile supports another, and a wall
\nCrested with battlements surrounds the court;
\nFirm, too, the folding doors all force of man
\nDefy; but num\u2019rous guests, as I perceive,
\nNow feast within; witness the sav\u2019ry steam
\nFast-fuming upward, and the sounding harp,
\nDivine associate of the festive board.
\nTo whom, Eum\u00e6us, thou didst thus reply.
\nThou hast well-guess\u2019d; no wonder, thou art quick
\nOn ev\u2019ry theme; but let us well forecast
\nThis business. Wilt thou, ent\u2019ring first, thyself,
\nThe splendid mansion, with the suitors mix,
\nMe leaving here? or shall I lead the way
\nWhile thou remain\u2019st behind? yet linger not,
\nLest, seeing thee without, some servant strike
\nOr drive thee hence. Consider which were best.
\nHim answer\u2019d, then, the patient Hero bold.
\nIt is enough. I understand. Thou speak\u2019st
\nTo one intelligent. Lead thou the way
\nMe leaving here, for neither stripes nor blows
\nTo me are strange. Much exercised with pain
\nIn fight and on the Deep, I have long since
\nLearn\u2019d patience. Follow, next, what follow may!
\nBut, to suppress the appetite, I deem
\nImpossible; the stomach is a source
\nOf ills to man, an avaricious gulph
\nDestructive, which to satiate, ships are rigg\u2019d,
\nSeas travers\u2019d, and fierce battles waged remote.
\nThus they discoursing stood; Argus the while,
\nUlysses\u2019 dog, uplifted where he lay
\nHis head and ears erect. Ulysses him
\nHad bred long since, himself, but rarely used,
\nDeparting, first, to Ilium. Him the youths
\nIn other days led frequent to the chace
\nOf wild goat, hart and hare; but now he lodg\u2019d
\nA poor old cast-off, of his Lord forlorn,
\nWhere mules and oxen had before the gate
\nMuch ordure left, with which Ulysses\u2019 hinds
\nShould, in due time, manure his spacious fields.
\nThere lay, with dog-devouring vermin foul
\nAll over, Argus; soon as he perceived
\nLong-lost Ulysses nigh, down fell his ears
\nClapp\u2019d close, and with his tail glad sign he gave
\nOf gratulation, impotent to rise
\nAnd to approach his master as of old.
\nUlysses, noting him, wiped off a tear
\nUnmark\u2019d, and of Eum\u00e6us quick enquired.
\nI can but wonder seeing such a dog
\nThus lodg\u2019d, Eum\u00e6us! beautiful in form
\nHe is, past doubt, but whether he hath been
\nAs fleet as fair I know not; rather such
\nPerchance as masters sometimes keep to grace
\nTheir tables, nourish\u2019d more for shew than use.
\nTo whom, Eum\u00e6us, thou didst thus reply.
\nHe is the dog of one dead far remote.
\nBut had he now such feat-performing strength
\nAs when Ulysses left him, going hence
\nTo Ilium, in one moment thou shouldst mark,
\nAstonish\u2019d, his agility and force.
\nHe never in the sylvan deep recess
\nThe wild beast saw that \u2019scaped him, and he track\u2019d
\nTheir steps infallible; but he hath now
\nNo comfort, for (the master dead afar)
\nThe heedless servants care not for his dog.
\nDomestics, missing once their Lord\u2019s controul,
\nGrow wilful, and refuse their proper tasks;
\nFor whom Jove dooms to servitude, he takes
\nAt once the half of that man\u2019s worth away.
\nHe said, and, ent\u2019ring at the portal, join\u2019d
\nThe suitors. Then his destiny released
\nOld Argus, soon as he had lived to see
\nUlysses in the twentieth year restored.
\nGodlike Telemachus, long ere the rest,
\nMarking the swine-herd\u2019s entrance, with a nod
\nSummon\u2019d him to approach. Eum\u00e6us cast
\nHis eye around, and seeing vacant there
\nThe seat which the dispenser of the feast
\nWas wont to occupy while he supplied
\nThe num\u2019rous guests, planted it right before
\nTelemachus, and at his table sat,
\nOn which the herald placed for him his share
\nOf meat, and from the baskets gave him bread.
\nSoon after him<\/i>, Ulysses enter\u2019d slow
\nThe palace, like a squalid beggar old,
\nStaff-propp\u2019d, and in loose tatters foul attired.
\nWithin the portal on the ashen sill
\nHe sat, and, seeming languid, lean\u2019d against
\nA cypress pillar by the builder\u2019s art
\nPolish\u2019d long since, and planted at the door.
\nThen took Telemachus a loaf entire
\nForth from the elegant basket, and of flesh
\nA portion large as his two hands contained,
\nAnd, beck\u2019ning close the swine-herd, charged him thus.
\nThese to the stranger; whom advise to ask
\nSome dole from ev\u2019ry suitor; bashful fear
\nIll suits the mendicant by want oppress\u2019d.
\nHe spake; Eum\u00e6us went, and where he sat
\nArriving, in wing\u2019d accents thus began.
\nTelemachus, oh stranger, sends thee these,
\nAnd counsels thee to importune for more
\nThe suitors, one by one; for bashful fear
\nIll suits the mendicant by want oppress\u2019d.
\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.
\nJove, King of all, grant ev\u2019ry good on earth
\nTo kind Telemachus, and the complete
\nAccomplishment of all that he desires!
\nHe said, and with both hands outspread, the mess
\nReceiving as he sat, on his worn bag
\nDisposed it at his feet. Long as the bard
\nChaunted, he ate, and when he ceas\u2019d to eat,
\nThen also ceas\u2019d the bard divine to sing.
\nAnd now ensued loud clamour in the hall
\nAnd tumult, when Minerva, drawing nigh
\nTo Laertiades, impell\u2019d the Chief
\nCrusts to collect, or any pittance small
\nAt ev\u2019ry suitor\u2019s hand, for trial\u2019s sake
\nOf just and unjust; yet deliv\u2019rance none
\nFrom evil she design\u2019d for any there.
\nFrom left to right[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup> his progress he began
\nPetitioning, with outstretch\u2019d hands, the throng,
\nAs one familiar with the beggar\u2019s art.
\nThey, pitying, gave to him, but view\u2019d him still
\nWith wonder, and enquiries mutual made
\nWho, and whence was he? Then the goat-herd rose
\nMelanthius, and th\u2019 assembly thus address\u2019d.
\nHear me, ye suitors of th\u2019 illustrious Queen!
\nThis guest, of whom ye ask, I have beheld
\nElsewhere; the swine-herd brought him; but himself
\nI know not, neither who nor whence he is.
\nSo he; then thus Antino\u00fcs stern rebuked
\nThe swine-herd. Ah, notorious as thou art,
\nWhy hast thou shewn this vagabond the way
\nInto the city? are we not enough
\nInfested with these troublers of our feasts?
\nDeem\u2019st it a trifle that such numbers eat
\nAt thy Lord\u2019s cost, and hast thou, therefore, led
\nThis fellow hither, found we know not where?
\nTo whom, Eum\u00e6us, thou didst thus reply.
\nAntino\u00fcs! though of high degree, thou speak\u2019st
\nNot wisely. What man to another\u2019s house
\nRepairs to invite him to a feast, unless
\nHe be of those who by profession serve
\nThe public, prophet, healer of disease,
\nIngenious artist, or some bard divine
\nWhose music may exhilarate the guests?
\nThese, and such only, are in ev\u2019ry land
\nCall\u2019d to the banquet; none invites the poor,
\nWho much consume, and no requital yield.
\nBut thou of all the suitors roughly treat\u2019st
\nUlysses\u2019 servants most, and chiefly me;
\nYet thee I heed not, while the virtuous Queen
\nDwells in this palace, and her godlike son.
\nTo whom Telemachus, discrete, replied.
\nPeace! answer not verbose a man like him.
\nAntino\u00fcs hath a tongue accustom\u2019d much
\nTo tauntings, and promotes them in the rest.
\nThen, turning to Antino\u00fcs, quick he said\u2014
\nAntino\u00fcs! as a father for his son
\nTakes thought, so thou for me, who bidd\u2019st me chase
\nThe stranger harshly hence; but God forbid![4]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nImpart to him. I grudge not, but myself
\nExhort thee to it; neither, in this cause,
\nFear thou the Queen, or in the least regard
\nWhatever menial throughout all the house
\nOf famed Ulysses. Ah! within thy breast
\nDwells no such thought; thou lov\u2019st not to impart
\nTo others, but to gratify thyself.
\nTo whom Antino\u00fcs answer thus return\u2019d.
\nHigh-soaring and intemp\u2019rate in thy speech
\nHow hast thou said, Telemachus? Would all
\nAs much bestow on him, he should not seek
\nAdmittance here again three months to come.
\nSo saying, he seized the stool which, banqueting,
\nHe press\u2019d with his nice feet, and from beneath
\nThe table forth advanced it into view.
\nThe rest all gave to him, with bread and flesh
\nFilling his wallet, and Ulysses, now,
\nReturning to his threshold, there to taste
\nThe bounty of the Greeks, paused in his way
\nBeside Antino\u00fcs, whom he thus address\u2019d.
\nKind sir! vouchsafe to me! for thou appear\u2019st
\nNot least, but greatest of the Achaians here,
\nAnd hast a kingly look. It might become
\nThee therefore above others to bestow,
\nSo should I praise thee wheresoe\u2019er I roam.
\nI also lived the happy owner once
\nOf such a stately mansion, and have giv\u2019n
\nTo num\u2019rous wand\u2019rers (whencesoe\u2019er they came<\/span>
\nAll that they needed; I was also served
\nBy many, and enjoy\u2019d all that denotes
\nThe envied owner opulent and blest.
\nBut Jove (for so it pleas\u2019d him) hath reduced
\nMy all to nothing, prompting me, in league
\nWith rovers of the Deep, to sail afar
\nTo \u00c6gypt, for my sure destruction there.
\nWithin th\u2019 \u00c6gyptian stream my barks well-oar\u2019d
\nI station\u2019d, and, enjoining strict my friends
\nTo watch them close-attendant at their side,
\nCommanded spies into the hill-tops; but they,
\nUnder the impulse of a spirit rash
\nAnd hot for quarrel, the well-cultur\u2019d fields
\nPillaged of the \u00c6gyptians, captive led
\nTheir wives and little-ones, and slew the men.
\nEre long, the loud alarm their city reach\u2019d.
\nDown came the citizens, by dawn of day,
\nWith horse and foot and with the gleam of arms
\nFilling the plain. Then Jove with panic dread
\nStruck all my people; none found courage more
\nTo stand, for mischiefs swarm\u2019d on ev\u2019ry side.
\nThere, num\u2019rous by the glitt\u2019ring spear we fell
\nSlaughter\u2019d, while others they conducted thence
\nAlive to servitude; but me they gave
\nTo Dmetor, King in Cyprus, Jasus\u2019 son;
\nHe entertained me liberally, and thence
\nThis land I reach\u2019d, but poor and woe-begone.
\nThen answer thus Antino\u00fcs harsh return\u2019d.
\nWhat d\u00e6mon introduced this nuisance here,
\nThis troubler of our feast? stand yonder, keep
\nDue distance from my table, or expect
\nTo see an \u00c6gypt and a Cyprus worse
\nThan those, bold mendicant and void of shame!
\nThou hauntest each, and, inconsid\u2019rate, each
\nGives to thee, because gifts at other\u2019s cost
\nAre cheap, and, plentifully serv\u2019d themselves,
\nThey squander, heedless, viands not their own.
\nTo whom Ulysses while he slow retired.
\nGods! how illib\u2019ral with that specious form!
\nThou wouldst not grant the poor a grain of salt
\nFrom thy own board, who at another\u2019s fed
\nSo nobly, canst thou not spare a crust to me.
\nHe spake; then raged Antino\u00fcs still the more,
\nAnd in wing\u2019d accents, louring, thus replied.
\nTake such dismission now as thou deserv\u2019st,
\nOpprobrious! hast thou dared to scoff at me?
\nSo saying, he seized his stool, and on the joint
\nOf his right shoulder smote him; firm as rock
\nHe stood, by no such force to be displaced,
\nBut silent shook his brows, and dreadful deeds
\nOf vengeance ruminating, sought again
\nHis seat the threshold, where his bag full-charged
\nHe grounded, and the suitors thus address\u2019d.
\nHear now, ye suitors of the matchless Queen,
\nMy bosom\u2019s dictates. Trivial is the harm,
\nScarce felt, if, fighting for his own, his sheep
\nPerchance, or beeves, a man receive a blow.
\nBut me Antino\u00fcs struck for that I ask\u2019d
\nFood from him merely to appease the pangs
\nOf hunger, source of num\u2019rous ills to man.
\nIf then the poor man have a God t\u2019 avenge
\nHis wrongs, I pray to him that death may seize
\nAntino\u00fcs, ere his nuptial hour arrive!
\nTo whom Antino\u00fcs answer thus return\u2019d,
\nSon of Eupithes. Either seated there
\nOr going hence, eat, stranger, and be still;
\nLest for thy insolence, by hand or foot
\nWe drag thee forth, and thou be flay\u2019d alive.
\nHe ceased, whom all indignant heard, and thus
\nEv\u2019n his own proud companions censured him.
\nAntino\u00fcs! thou didst not well to smite
\nThe wretched vagabond. O thou art doom\u2019d
\nFor ever, if there be a God in heav\u2019n;[5]<\/sup><\/a>
\nFor, in similitude of strangers oft,
\nThe Gods, who can with ease all shapes assume,
\nRepair to populous cities, where they mark
\nThe outrageous and the righteous deeds of men.
\nSo they, for whose reproof he little cared.
\nBut in his heart Telemachus that blow
\nResented, anguish-torn, yet not a tear
\nHe shed, but silent shook his brows, and mused
\nTerrible things. Penelope, meantime,
\nTold of the wand\u2019rer so abused beneath
\nHer roof, among her maidens thus exclaim\u2019d.
\nSo may Apollo, glorious archer, smite
\nThee also. Then Eurynome replied,
\nOh might our pray\u2019rs prevail, none of them all
\nShould see bright-charioted Aurora more.
\nHer answer\u2019d then Penelope discrete.
\nNurse! they are odious all, for that alike
\nAll teem with mischief; but Antino\u00fcs\u2019 looks
\nRemind me ever of the gloom of death.
\nA stranger hath arrived who, begging, roams
\nThe house, (for so his penury enjoins)
\nThe rest have giv\u2019n him, and have fill\u2019d his bag
\nWith viands, but Antino\u00fcs hath bruised
\nHis shoulder with a foot-stool hurl\u2019d at him.
\nWhile thus the Queen conversing with her train
\nIn her own chamber sat, Ulysses made
\nPlenteous repast. Then, calling to her side
\nEum\u00e6us, thus she signified her will.
\nEum\u00e6us, noble friend! bid now approach
\nYon stranger. I would speak with him, and ask
\nIf he has seen Ulysses, or have heard
\nTidings, perchance, of the afflicted Chief,
\nFor much a wand\u2019rer by his garb he seems.
\nTo whom, Eum\u00e6us, thou didst thus reply.
\nWere those Achaians silent, thou shouldst hear,
\nO Queen! a tale that would console thy heart.
\nThree nights I housed him, and within my cot
\nThree days detain\u2019d him, (for his ship he left
\nA fugitive, and came direct to me)
\nBut half untold his hist\u2019ry still remains.
\nAs when his eye one fixes on a bard
\nFrom heav\u2019n instructed in such themes as charm
\nThe ear of mortals, ever as he sings
\nThe people press, insatiable, to hear,
\nSo, in my cottage, seated at my side,
\nThat stranger with his tale enchanted me.
\nLaertes, he affirms, hath been his guest
\nErewhile in Crete, where Minos\u2019 race resides,
\nAnd thence he hath arrived, after great loss,
\nA suppliant to the very earth abased;
\nHe adds, that in Thesprotia\u2019s neighbour realm
\nHe of Ulysses heard, both that he lives,
\nAnd that he comes laden with riches home.
\nTo whom Penelope, discrete, replied.
\nHaste; call him. I would hear, myself, his tale.
\nMeantime, let these, or in the palace gate
\nSport jocular, or here; their hearts are light,
\nFor their possessions are secure; their<\/i> wine
\nNone drinks, or eats their<\/i> viands, save their own,
\nWhile my abode, day after day, themselves
\nHaunting, my beeves and sheep and fatted goats
\nSlay for the banquet, and my casks exhaust
\nExtravagant, whence endless waste ensues;
\nFor no such friend as was Ulysses once
\nHave I to expel the mischief. But might he
\nRevisit once his native shores again,
\nThen, aided by his son, he should avenge,
\nIncontinent, the wrongs which now I mourn.
\nThen sneezed Telemachus with sudden force,
\nThat all the palace rang; his mother laugh\u2019d,
\nAnd in wing\u2019d accents thus the swain bespake.
\nHaste\u2014bid him hither\u2014hear\u2019st thou not the sneeze
\nPropitious of my son? oh might it prove
\nA presage of inevitable death
\nTo all these revellers! may none escape!
\nNow mark me well. Should the event his tale
\nConfirm, at my own hands he shall receive
\nMantle and tunic both for his reward.
\nShe spake; he went, and where Ulysses sat
\nArriving, in wing\u2019d accents thus began.
\nPenelope, my venerable friend!
\nCalls thee, the mother of Telemachus.
\nOppress\u2019d by num\u2019rous troubles, she desires
\nTo ask thee tidings of her absent Lord.
\nAnd should the event verify thy report,
\nThy meed shall be (a boon which much thou need\u2019st)
\nTunic and mantle; but she gives no more;
\nThy sustenance thou must, as now, obtain,[6]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nBegging it at their hands who chuse to give.
\nThen thus Ulysses, Hero toil-inured.
\nEum\u00e6us! readily I can relate
\nTruth, and truth only, to the prudent Queen
\nIcarius\u2019 daughter; for of him I know
\nMuch, and have suff\u2019red sorrows like his own.
\nBut dread I feel of this imperious throng
\nPerverse, whose riot and outrageous acts
\nOf violence echo through the vault of heav\u2019n.
\nAnd, even now, when for no fault of mine
\nYon suitor struck me as I pass\u2019d, and fill\u2019d
\nMy flesh with pain, neither Telemachus
\nNor any interposed to stay his arm.
\nNow, therefore, let Penelope, although
\nImpatient, till the sun descend postpone
\nHer questions; then she may enquire secure
\nWhen comes her husband, and may nearer place
\nMy seat to the hearth-side, for thinly clad
\nThou know\u2019st I am, whose aid I first implored.
\nHe ceas\u2019d; at whose reply Eum\u00e6us sought
\nAgain the Queen, but ere he yet had pass\u2019d
\nThe threshold, thus she greeted his return.
\nCom\u2019st thou alone, Eum\u00e6us? why delays
\nThe invited wand\u2019rer? dreads he other harm?
\nOr sees he aught that with a bashful awe
\nFills him? the bashful poor are poor indeed.
\nTo whom, Eum\u00e6us, thou didst thus reply.
\nHe hath well spoken; none who would decline
\nThe rudeness of this contumelious throng
\nCould answer otherwise; thee he entreats
\nTo wait till sun-set, and that course, O Queen,
\nThou shalt thyself far more commodious find,
\nTo hold thy conf\u2019rence with the guest, alone.
\nThen answer thus Penelope return\u2019d.
\nThe stranger, I perceive, is not unwise,
\nWhoe\u2019er he be, for on the earth are none
\nProud, insolent, and profligate as these.
\nSo spake the Queen. Then (all his message told)
\nThe good Eum\u00e6us to the suitors went
\nAgain, and with his head inclined toward
\nTelemachus, lest others should his words
\nWitness, in accents wing\u2019d him thus address\u2019d.
\nFriend and kind master! I return to keep
\nMy herds, and to attend my rural charge,
\nWhence we are both sustain\u2019d. Keep thou, meantime,
\nAll here with vigilance, but chiefly watch
\nFor thy own good, and save thyself<\/i> from harm;
\nFor num\u2019rous here brood mischief, whom the Gods
\nExterminate, ere yet their plots prevail!
\nTo whom Telemachus, discrete, replied.
\nSo be it, father! and (thy evening-mess
\nEaten) depart; to-morrow come again,
\nBringing fair victims hither; I will keep,
\nI and the Gods, meantime, all here secure.
\nHe ended; then resumed once more the swain
\nHis polish\u2019d seat, and, both with wine and food
\nNow satiate, to his charge return\u2019d, the court
\nLeaving and all the palace throng\u2019d with guests;
\nThey (for it now was evening) all alike
\nTurn\u2019d jovial to the song and to the dance.<\/p>\n

  1. Proteus. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. The hearth was the altar on which the lares or household-gods were worshipped. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  3. That he might begin auspiciously. Wine was served in the same direction. F. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  4. Here again \u0398\u03b5\u1f78\u03c2 occurs in the abstract. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  5. \r\n
  6. This seems added by Eum\u00e6us to cut off from Ulysses the hope that might otherwise tempt him to use fiction. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":17,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-123","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":257,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/123\/revisions\/257"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/123\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=123"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=123"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}