Didst leave within thy palace. Then at first
Repair thou to the herdsman, him who keeps
Thy swine; for he is loyal, and he loves
Thy son and the discreet Penelope.

There wilt thou find him as he tends his swine,
That find their pasturage beside the rock
Of Corax, and by Arethusa's fount.

On nourishing acorns they are fed, and drink
The dark clear water, whence the flesh of swine
Is fattened. There remain, and carefully
Inquire of all that thou wouldst know, while I,
Taking my way to Sparta, the abode
Of lovely women, call Telemachus,
Thy son, Ulysses, who hath visited
King Menelaus in his broad domain,
To learn if haply thou art living yet."

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Ulysses, the sagacious, answered her : "Why didst not thou, to whom all things are known, Tell him concerning me? Must he too roam And suffer on the barren deep, and leave To others his estates, to be their spoil?"

And then the blue-eyed goddess spake again : "Let not that thought distress thee. It was I Who sent him thither, that he might deserve The praise of men. No evil meets him there ; But in the halls of Atreus' son he sits, Safe mid the abounding luxuries. 'T is true That even now the suitors lie in wait,

In their black ship, to slay him ere he reach

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53G

His native land; but that will hardly be

Before the earth shall cover many a one

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Of the proud suitors who consume thy wealth."
So Pallas spake, and touched him with her wand,
And caused the blooming skin to shrivel up
On his slow limbs, and the fair hair to fall,
And with an old man's wrinkles covered all
His frame, and dimmed his lately glorious eyes.
Another garb she gave, a squalid vest;
A ragged, dirty cloak, all stained with smoke;
And over all the huge hide of a stag,
From which the hair was worn. A staff, beside,
She gave, and shabby scrip with many a rent,
Tied with a twisted thong. This said and done,
They parted; and the goddess flew to seek
Telemachus in Sparta's sacred town.

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550

BOOK XIV.

HEN from the haven up the rugged path

ΤΗ

Ulysses went among the woody heights.

He sought the spot where Pallas bade him meet The noble swineherd, who of all that served

The great Ulysses chiefly had in charge

To bring the day's supplies. He found him there Seated beneath the portico, before

His airy lodge, that might be seen from far,

5

Well built and spacious, standing by itself.
Eumæus, while his lord was far away,
Had built it, though not bidden by the queen
Nor old Laertes, with the stones he drew
From quarries thither. Round it he had set
A hedge of thorns, encircling these with stakes
Close set and many, cloven from the heart
Of oak. Within that circuit he had made
Twelve sties, beside each other, for the swine
To lie in. Fifty wallowed in each sty,

All females; there they littered. But the males
Were fewer, and were kept without; and these
The suitor train made fewer every day,
Feeding upon them, for Eumæus sent

Always the best of all his fatling herd.

ΤΟ

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20

These numbered twice nine score. Beside them slept Four mastiffs, which the master swineherd fed, 25 Savage as wolves. Eumæus to his feet

Was fitting sandals, which he carved and shaped From a stained ox-hide, while the other hinds

Were gone on different errands, - three to drive
The herds of swine, a fourth was sent to take
A fatling to the city, that the crew
Of arrogant suitors, having offered him

In sacrifice, might feast upon his flesh.

30

The loud-mouthed dogs that saw Ulysses come Ran toward him, fiercely baying. He sat down 35 At once, through caution, letting fall his staff Upon the ground, and would have suffered there

Unseemly harm, within his own domain,

But then the swineherd, following with quick steps,
Rushed through the vestibule, and dropped the hide.
He chid the dogs and, pelting them with stones, 41
Drave them asunder, and addressed the king:-
"O aged man, the mastiffs of the lodge

Had almost torn thee, and thou wouldst have cast
Bitter reproach upon me.
Other griefs

And miseries the gods have made my lot.

Here sorrowfully sitting I lament

A godlike master, and for others tend
His fatling swine; while, haply hungering
For bread, he wanders among alien men
In other kingdoms, if indeed he lives
And looks upon the sun. But follow me,

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And come into the house, that there, refreshed With food and wine, old man, thou mayst declare Whence thou dost come and what thou hast en

dured."

So the good swineherd spake, and led the way Into the lodge, and bade his guest sit down, And laid thick rushes for his seat, and spread On these a wild goat's shaggy hide to make A soft and ample couch. Rejoiced to meet So kind a welcome, thus Ulysses spake :"May Jupiter and all the deathless gods Bestow on thee, my host, in recompense Of this kind welcome, all thy heart's desire!" And then, Eumæus, thou didst answer thus:

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"My guest, it were not right to treat with scorn
A stranger, though he were of humbler sort
Than thou, for strangers and the poor are sent
By Jove; our gifts are small, though gladly given,
As it must ever be with those who serve

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Young masters, whom they fear. The gods themselves

Prevent, no doubt, the safe return of him

Who loved me much, and would ere this have given
What a kind lord is wont to give his hind, —
A house, a croft, the wife whom he has wooed,
Rewarding faithful services which God

Hath prospered, as he here hath prospered mine.
Thus would my master, had he here grown old,
Have recompensed my toils; but he is dead.
O that the house of Helen, for whose sake

So many fell, had perished utterly!
For he went forth at Agamemnon's call,
Honoring the summons, and on Ilium's coast,
Famed for its coursers, fought the sons of Troy."

He spake, and girt his tunic round his loins,
And hastened to the sties in which the herds

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85

Of swine were lying. Thence he took out two
And slaughtered them, and singed them, sliced the

flesh,

And fixed it upon spits, and, when the whole

Was roasted, brought and placed it reeking hot, 90 Still on the spits and sprinkled with white meal, Before Ulysses. Then he mingled wine