Within, and brought the red blood from his mouth.
He fell amid the dust, and shrieked and gnashed 125
His teeth, and beat with jerking feet the ground.
The suitor-train threw up their hands and laughed
Till breathless, while Ulysses seized his feet

And drew him o'er the threshold to the court
And the porch doors, and there, beside the wall, 130
Set him to lean against it, gave a staff

Into his hands, and said in winged words :

"Sit there, and scare away the dogs and swine, But think not, wretched creature, to bear rule Over the stranger and the beggar tribe, Or worse than this may happen to thee yet."

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He spake, and o'er his shoulders threw the scrip That yawned with chinks, and by a twisted thong Was fastened; then he turned to take his seat Upon the threshold, while the suitor-train Went back into the palace with gay shouts Of laughter, and bespake him blandly thus:"Stranger, may Jove and all the other gods Grant thee what thou desirest, and whate'er Is pleasant to thee! Thou hast put an end To this importunate beggar's rounds among The people. We shall send him off at once Into Epirus, and to Echetus,

Its king, the foe of every living man."

So talked the suitors, and the omen made Ulysses glad. Meantime Antinoüs placed The mighty paunch before the victor, filled

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With blood and fat, and from the canister
Amphinomus brought forth two loaves, and raised
A golden cup and drank to him, and said :-
"Hail, guest and father! happy be thy days
Henceforth, though dark with many sorrows now!"
Ulysses, the sagacious, answered thus:
"Amphinomus, thou seemest most discreet,
And such thy father is, of whom I hear
A worshipful report, the good and rich
Dulichian Nisus. Thou, as I am told,
Art son to him, and thou art seemingly

For while

A man of pertinent speech. I therefore say
To thee, and bid thee hear and mark me well,
No being whom earth nourishes to breathe
Her air and move upon her face is more
The sport of circumstance than man.
The gods give health, and he is strong of limb,
He thinks no evil in the coming days
Will overtake him. When the blessed gods
Visit him with afflictions, these he bears
Impatiently and with a fretful mind.

Such is the mood of man, while yet he dwells
On earth; it changes as the All-Father gives
The sunshine or withholds it. I was once
Deemed fortunate among my fellow-men,
And many things that were unjust I did;
For in my strength and in my father's power,
And valor of my brothers, I had put

My trust.

Let no man, therefore, dare to be

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Unjust in aught, but tranquilly enjoy
Whatever good the gods vouchsafe to give.
Yet are these suitors guilty of foul wrong,
Wasting the substance and dishonoring
The wife of one who will not, as I deem,
Remain long distant from his friends and home,
But is already near. O, may some god

Remove thee from this danger to thy home!
Nor mayst thou meet him when he shall return
To his own land. For when he comes once more
Beneath this roof, and finds the suitors here,
Not without bloodshed will their parting be."

He spake, and, pouring out a part, he drank
The wine, and gave the goblet to the prince,
Who crossed the hall, and sorrowfully shook
His head, for now already did his heart

Forebode the coming evil.
Did he escape his death.

Not by this
Minerva laid

A snare for him, that he might fall beneath,
The strong arm of Telemachus. He went
And took the seat from which he lately rose.

Then blue-eyed Pallas moved Penelope,

Sage daughter of Icarius, to appear

Before the suitors, that their base intent
Might be more fully seen, and she might win
More honor from her husband and her son.
Wherefore she forced a laugh, and thus began :

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Eurynomè, I would at length appear, Though not till now, before the suitor-train,

:

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Detested as they are. I there would speak
A word of timely warning to my son,

And give him counsel not to trust himself
Too much among the suitors, who are fair

In speech, but mean him foully in their hearts." 215
Eurynomè, the household matron, said:

"Assuredly, my child, thou speakest well.

Go now, and warn thy son, and keep back naught.
First bathe, and, ere thou go, anoint thy cheeks,
Nor show them stained with tears. It is not well 220
To sorrow without end. For now thy son
Is grown, and thou beholdest him at length
What thou didst pray the gods, when he was born,
That he might yet become, a bearded man.”

And then the sage Penelope rejoined:

"Though anxious for my sake, persuade me not,
Eurynome, to bathe, nor to anoint

My cheeks with oil. The gods inhabiting
Olympus took away their comeliness

When in his roomy ships my husband sailed;
But bid Antinoe come, and call with her
Hippodameïa, that they both may stand
Beside me in the hall. I will not go

Alone among the men, for very shame."

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She spake, the aged dame went forth to bear 235 The message, and to bring the women back. While blue-eyed Pallas had yet other cares,

She brought a balmy sleep, and shed it o'er

The daughter of Icarius, as she lay

Reclined upon her couch, her limbs relaxed

In rest.

The glorious goddess gave a dower
Of heavenly graces, that the Achaian chiefs
Might look on her amazed.
She lighted up

Her fair face with a beauty all divine,

Such as the queenly Cytherea wears

When in the mazes of the dance she joins
Then she made her to the sight

The Graces.

Of loftier stature and of statelier size,

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This having done, the gracious power withdrew, 250 While from the palace came the white-armed maids, And prattled as they came. The balmy sleep Forsook their mistress at the sound. She passed Her hands across her cheeks, and thus she spake:

"'T was a sweet sleep that, in my wretchedness, 255 Wrapped me just now. Would that, this very hour, The chaste Diana by so soft a death

Might end me, that my days might be no more
Consumed in sorrow for a husband lost,

Of peerless worth, the noblest of the Greeks."

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She spake, and from the royal bower went down, Yet not alone; two maidens went with her. And when that most august of womankind Drew near the suitors, at the door she stopped Of that magnificent hall, and o'er her cheeks Let fall the lustrous veil, while on each side A modest maiden stood. The suitors all Felt their knees tremble, and were sick with love,

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