TELEMACHUS AND HIS MOTHER MEET—ULYSSES AND EUMAEUS COME DOWN TO THE TOWN, AND ULYSSES IS INSULTED BY MELANTHIUS—HE IS RECOGNISED BY THE DOG ARGOS—HE IS INSULTED AND PRESENTLY STRUCK BY ANTINOUS WITH A STOOL—PENELOPE DESIRES THAT HE SHALL BE SENT TO HER.
When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Telemachus on his sandals and took a that his hands, for he wanted to go into the city. “Old friend,” said he to the swineherd, “I will now go to the town and myself to my mother, for she will off till she has me. As for this stranger, take him to the town and let him there of any one who will give him a drink and a piece of bread. I have trouble of my own, and cannot be with other people. If this makes him angry so much the for him, but I like to say what I mean.”
Then Ulysses said, “Sir, I do not want to here; a can always do in town than country, for any one who can give him something. I am too old to about here at the and call of a master. Therefore let this man do as you have just told him, and take me to the town as soon as I have had a warm by the fire, and the day has got a little in it. My are thin, and this I shall be with cold, for you say the city is some way off.”
On this Telemachus off through the yards, his upon the suitors. When he home he his against a bearing-post of the cloister, the of the itself, and inside.
Nurse Euryclea saw him long any one else did. She was the on to the seats, and she out as she ran up to him; all the other came up too, and his and with their kisses. Penelope came out of her room looking like Diana or Venus, and as she her arms about her son. She his and his eyes, “Light of my eyes,” she as she spoke to him, “so you are come home again; I sure I was going to see you any more. To think of your having gone off to Pylos without saying anything about it or my consent. But come, tell me what you saw.”
“Do not me, mother,” answered Telemachus, “nor me, what a narrow I have had, but wash your face, your dress, go with your maids, and promise full and to all the gods if Jove will only us our upon the suitors. I must now go to the place of to a who has come with me from Pylos. I sent him on with my crew, and told Piraeus to take him home and look after him till I come for him myself.”
She her son’s words, her face, her dress, and full and to all the gods if they would only her upon the suitors.
Telemachus through, and out of, the in hand—not alone, for his two dogs with him. Minerva him with a presence of such that all at him as he by, and the him with in their mouths and in their hearts; but he them, and to with Mentor, Antiphus, and Halitherses, old friends of his father’s house, and they him tell them all that had to him. Then Piraeus came up with Theoclymenus, he had through the town to the place of assembly, Telemachus at once joined them. Piraeus was to speak: “Telemachus,” said he, “I wish you would send some of your to my house to take away the presents Menelaus gave you.”
“We do not know, Piraeus,” answered Telemachus, “what may happen. If the kill me in my own house and my property among them, I would you had the presents than that any of those people should of them. If on the other hand I managed to kill them, I shall be much if you will me my presents.”
With these he took Theoclymenus to his own house. When they got there they their on the benches and seats, into the baths, and themselves. When the had and them, and had them and shirts, they took their seats at table. A then them water in a ewer, and it into a for them to wash their hands; and she a clean table them. An upper them and offered them many good of what there was in the house. Opposite them sat Penelope, on a by one of the bearing-posts of the cloister, and spinning. Then they their hands on the good that were them, and as soon as they had had to eat and drink Penelope said:
“Telemachus, I shall go and on that sad couch, which I have not to water with my tears, from the day Ulysses set out for Troy with the sons of Atreus. You failed, however, to make it clear to me the came to the house, or no you had been able to anything about the return of your father.”
“I will tell you then truth,” her son. “We to Pylos and saw Nestor, who took me to his house and me as as though I were a son of his own who had just returned after a long absence; so also did his sons; but he said he had not a word from any being about Ulysses, he was alive or dead. He sent me, therefore, with a and to Menelaus. There I saw Helen, for so many, Argives and Trojans, were in heaven’s to suffer. Menelaus asked me what it was that had me to Lacedaemon, and I told him the whole truth, he said, ‘So, then, these would a man’s bed? A might as well her new-born in the of a lion, and then go off to in the or in some dell. The lion, when he comes to his lair, will make work with the pair of them, and so will Ulysses with these suitors. By father Jove, Minerva, and Apollo, if Ulysses is still the man that he was when he with Philomeleides in Lesbos, and him so that all the Greeks him—if he is still such, and were to come near these suitors, they would have a and a sorry wedding. As your question, however, I will not you, but what the old man of the sea told me, so much will I tell you in full. He said he see Ulysses on an in the house of the Calypso, who was him prisoner, and he not his home, for he had no ships to take him over the sea.’ This was what Menelaus told me, and when I had his I came away; the gods then gave me a wind and soon me safe home again.”
With these he moved the of Penelope. Then Theoclymenus said to her:
“Madam, wife of Ulysses, Telemachus not these things; therefore to me, for I can them surely, and will nothing from you. May Jove the king of be my witness, and the of hospitality, with that of Ulysses to which I now come, that Ulysses himself is now in Ithaca, and, either going about the country or in one place, is into all these and preparing a day of for the suitors. I saw an when I was on the ship which meant this, and I told Telemachus about it.”
“May it be so,” answered Penelope; “if your come true, you shall have such gifts and such good will from me that all who see you shall you.”
Thus did they converse. Meanwhile the were discs, or with at a mark on the ground in of the house, and with all their old insolence. But when it was now time for dinner, and the of sheep and had come into the town from all the country round, 140 with their as usual, then Medon, who was their servant, and who waited upon them at table, said, “Now then, my masters, you have had sport, so come that we may dinner ready. Dinner is not a thing, at dinner time.”
They left their as he told them, and when they were the house, they their on the benches and seats inside, and then some sheep, goats, pigs, and a heifer, all of them and well grown.141 Thus they for their meal. In the meantime Ulysses and the were about starting for the town, and the said, “Stranger, I you still want to go to town to-day, as my master said you were to do; for my own part I should have liked you to here as a station hand, but I must do as my master tells me, or he will me later on, and a from one’s master is a very thing. Let us then be off, for it is now day; it will be night again directly and then you will it colder.”142
“I know, and you,” Ulysses; “you need say no more. Let us be going, but if you have a cut, let me have it to walk with, for you say the road is a very one.”
As he spoke he his old over his shoulders, by the from which it hung, and Eumaeus gave him a to his liking. The two then started, the station in of the dogs and who behind; the the way and his master after, looking like some old as he upon his staff, and his were all in rags. When they had got over the ground and were the city, they the from which the citizens their water. This had been by Ithacus, Neritus, and Polyctor. There was a of water-loving planted in a circle all it, and the clear cold water came to it from a high up,143 while above the there was an to the nymphs, at which all used to sacrifice. Here Melanthius son of Dolius them as he was some goats, the best in his flock, for the suitors’ dinner, and there were two with him. When he saw Eumaeus and Ulysses he them with and language, which Ulysses very angry.
“There you go,” he, “and a pair you are. See how of the same to one another. Where, pray, master swineherd, are you taking this object? It would make any one to see such a at table. A like this a prize for anything in his life, but will go about his against every man’s door post, and begging, not for and cauldrons144 like a man, but only for a not for. If you would give him to me for a hand on my station, he might do to clean out the folds, or a of sweet to the kids, and he his as much as he pleased on whey; but he has taken to and will not go about any of work; he will do nothing but all the town over, to his belly. I say, therefore—and it shall surely be—if he goes near Ulysses’ house he will his by the they will at him, till they turn him out.”
On this, as he passed, he gave Ulysses a on the out of pure wantonness, but Ulysses firm, and did not from the path. For a moment he or no to at Melanthius and kill him with his staff, or him to the ground and his out; he resolved, however, to it and keep himself in check, but the looked at Melanthius and him, up his hands and praying to as he did so.
“Fountain nymphs,” he cried, “children of Jove, if Ulysses you with of or kids, my prayer that may send him home. He would soon put an end to the with which such men as you go about people—gadding all over the town while your are going to through shepherding.”
Then Melanthius the answered, “You cur, what are you talking about? Some day or other I will put you on ship and take you to a country, where I can sell you and pocket the money you will fetch. I wish I were as sure that Apollo would Telemachus this very day, or that the would kill him, as I am that Ulysses will come home again.”
With this he left them to come on at their leisure, while he and soon the house of his master. When he got there he in and took his seat among the opposite Eurymachus, who liked him than any of the others. The him a of meat, and an upper woman set him that he might eat. Presently Ulysses and the came up to the house and by it, a of music, for Phemius was just to sing to the suitors. Then Ulysses took of the swineherd’s hand, and said:
“Eumaeus, this house of Ulysses is a very place. No how you go, you will like it. One on after another. The has a with all it; the doors are folding, and of good workmanship; it would be a hard to take it by of arms. I perceive, too, that there are many people it, for there is a of meat, and I a of music, which the gods have to go along with feasting.”
Then Eumaeus said, “You have aright, as you do; but let us think what will be our best course. Will you go and join the suitors, me here you, or will you wait here and let me go in first? But do not wait long, or some one may see you about outside, and something at you. Consider this I pray you.”
And Ulysses answered, “I and heed. Go in and me here where I am. I am used to being and having at me. I have been so much about in and by sea that I am case-hardened, and this too may go with the rest. But a man cannot away the of a belly; this is an enemy which much trouble to all men; it is of this that ships are out to sail the seas, and to make upon other people.”
As they were thus talking, a dog that had been asleep his and up his ears. This was Argos, Ulysses had setting out for Troy, but he had had any work out of him. In the old days he used to be taken out by the men when they wild goats, or deer, or hares, but now that his master was gone he was neglected on the of and cow that in of the doors till the men should come and it away to the great close; and he was full of fleas. As soon as he saw Ulysses there, he his ears and his tail, but he not close up to his master. When Ulysses saw the dog on the other of the yard, he a tear from his without Eumaeus it, and said:
“Eumaeus, what a that is over on the heap: his is splendid; is he as a as he looks, or is he only one of those dogs that come about a table, and are for show?”
“This hound,” answered Eumaeus, “belonged to him who has died in a country. If he were what he was when Ulysses left for Troy, he would soon you what he do. There was not a wild in the that away from him when he was once on its tracks. But now he has on times, for his master is and gone, and the take no of him. Servants do their work when their master’s hand is no longer over them, for Jove takes the out of a man when he makes a of him.”
As he spoke he the to the where the were, but Argos died as soon as he had his master.
Telemachus saw Eumaeus long any one else did, and him to come and him; so he looked about and saw a seat near where the sat out their to the suitors; he it up, it to Telemachus’s table, and sat opposite him. Then the him his portion, and gave him from the bread-basket.
Immediately Ulysses came inside, looking like a old beggar, on his staff and with his all in rags. He sat upon the of ash-wood just the doors leading from the to the court, and against a bearing-post of cypress-wood which the had planed, and had to join with and line. Telemachus took a whole from the bread-basket, with as much meat as he in his two hands, and said to Eumaeus, “Take this to the stranger, and tell him to go the of the suitors, and from them; a must not be shamefaced.”
So Eumaeus up to him and said, “Stranger, Telemachus sends you this, and says you are to go the of the begging, for must not be shamefaced.”
Ulysses answered, “May King Jove all to Telemachus, and the of his heart.”
Then with hands he took what Telemachus had sent him, and it on the dirty old at his feet. He on it while the was singing, and had just his dinner as he left off. The the bard, Minerva up to Ulysses and him to pieces of from each one of the suitors, that he might see what of people they were, and tell the good from the bad; but come what might she was not going to save a single one of them. Ulysses, therefore, on his round, going from left to right, and out his hands to as though he were a beggar. Some of them him, and were about him, one another who he was and where he came from; the Melanthius said, “Suitors of my mistress, I can tell you something about him, for I have him before. The him here, but I know nothing about the man himself, where he comes from.”
On this Antinous to the swineherd. “You idiot,” he cried, “what have you this man to town for? Have we not and already to us as we at meat? Do you think it a small thing that such people here to waste your master’s property—and must you needs this man as well?”
And Eumaeus answered, “Antinous, your birth is good but your evil. It was no doing of mine that he came here. Who is likely to a from a country, unless it be one of those who can do public service as a seer, a of hurts, a carpenter, or a who can us with his singing? Such men are welcome all the world over, but no one is likely to ask a who will only worry him. You are always on Ulysses’ than any of the other are, and above all on me, but I do not so long as Telemachus and Penelope are alive and here.”
But Telemachus said, “Hush, do not answer him; Antinous has the of all the suitors, and he makes the others worse.”
Then to Antinous he said, “Antinous, you take as much of my as though I were your son. Why should you want to see this out of the house? Heaven forbid; take something and give it him yourself; I do not it; I you take it. Never mind my mother, any of the other in the house; but I know you will not do what I say, for you are more of than of them to other people.”
“What do you mean, Telemachus,” Antinous, “by this talk? If all the were to give him as much as I will, he would not come here again for another three months.”
As he spoke he the on which he rested his from under the table, and as though he would it at Ulysses, but the other all gave him something, and his with and meat; he was about, therefore, to go to the and eat what the had him, but he up to Antinous and said:
“Sir, give me something; you are not, surely, the man here; you to be a chief, among them all; therefore you should be the giver, and I will tell and wide of your bounty. I too was a rich man once, and had a house of my own; in those days I gave to many a such as I now am, no who he might be what he wanted. I had any number of servants, and all the other which people have who live well and are wealthy, but it pleased Jove to take all away from me. He sent me with a of to Egypt; it was a long and I was by it. I my ships in the river Aegyptus, and my men by them and keep over them, while I sent out to from every point of vantage.
“But the men my orders, took to their own devices, and the land of the Egyptians, killing the men, and taking their and children captives. The was soon to the city, and when they the war-cry, the people came out at till the plain was with soldiers and foot, and with the of armour. Then Jove spread panic among my men, and they would no longer the enemy, for they themselves surrounded. The Egyptians killed many of us, and took the alive to do for them; as for myself, they gave me to a friend who met them, to take to Cyprus, Dmetor by name, son of Iasus, who was a great man in Cyprus. Thence I am come in a of great misery.”
Then Antinous said, “What god can have sent such a to us our dinner? Get out, into the open part of the court,145 or I will give you Egypt and Cyprus over again for your and importunity; you have of all the others, and they have you lavishly, for they have them, and it is easy to be free with other people’s property when there is of it.”
On this Ulysses to move off, and said, “Your looks, my sir, are than your breeding; if you were in your own house you would not a man so much as a pinch of salt, for though you are in another man’s, and with abundance, you cannot it in you to give him a piece of bread.”
This Antinous very angry, and he at him saying, “You shall pay for this you clear of the court.” With these he a at him, and him on the right near the top of his back. Ulysses as a and the did not him, but he his in as he on his revenge. Then he to the and sat there, his well at his feet.
“Listen to me,” he cried, “you of Queen Penelope, that I may speak as I am minded. A man neither pain if he while for his money, or for his sheep or his cattle; and so Antinous has me while in the service of my belly, which is always people into trouble. Still, if the have gods and at all, I pray them that Antinous may come to a end his marriage.”
“Sit where you are, and eat your in silence, or be off elsewhere,” Antinous. “If you say more I will have you hand and through the courts, and the shall you alive.”
The other were much at this, and one of the men said, “Antinous, you did in that of a tramp: it will be for you if he should turn out to be some god—and we know the gods go about in all of as people from countries, and travel about the world to see who do and who righteously.”146
Thus said the suitors, but Antinous paid them no heed. Meanwhile Telemachus was about the that had been to his father, and though no tear from him, he his in and on his revenge.
Now when Penelope that the had been in the banqueting-cloister, she said her maids, “Would that Apollo would so you, Antinous,” and her waiting woman Eurynome answered, “If our prayers were answered not one of the would again see the sun rise.” Then Penelope said, “Nurse,147 I every single one of them, for they nothing but mischief, but I Antinous like the of death itself. A has come about the house for want. Every one else has him something to put in his wallet, but Antinous has him on the right shoulder-blade with a footstool.”
Thus did she talk with her as she sat in her own room, and in the meantime Ulysses was his dinner. Then she called for the and said, “Eumaeus, go and tell the to come here, I want to see him and ask him some questions. He to have much, and he may have or something of my husband.”
To this you answered, O Eumaeus, “If these Achaeans, Madam, would only keep quiet, you would be with the history of his adventures. I had him three days and three nights with me in my hut, which was the place he after away from his ship, and he has not yet the of his misfortunes. If he had been the most heaven-taught in the whole world, on all entranced, I not have been more as I sat in my and to him. He says there is an old his house and that of Ulysses, and that he comes from Crete where the of Minos live, after having been and by every of misfortune; he also that he has of Ulysses as being alive and near at hand among the Thesprotians, and that he is great home with him.”
“Call him here, then,” said Penelope, “that I too may his story. As for the suitors, let them take their or out as they will, for they have nothing to about. Their and in their houses with none but to them, while they keep about our house day after day our oxen, sheep, and for their banquets, and so much as a to the quantity of they drink. No can such recklessness, for we have now no Ulysses to protect us. If he were to come again, he and his son would soon have their revenge.”
As she spoke Telemachus so that the whole house with it. Penelope laughed when she this, and said to Eumaeus, “Go and call the stranger; did you not how my son just as I was speaking? This can only that all the are going to be killed, and that not one of them shall escape. Furthermore I say, and my saying to your heart: if I am satisfied that the is speaking the truth I shall give him a shirt and of good wear.”
When Eumaeus this he to Ulysses and said, “Father stranger, my Penelope, mother of Telemachus, has sent for you; she is in great grief, but she to anything you can tell her about her husband, and if she is satisfied that you are speaking the truth, she will give you a shirt and cloak, which are the very that you are most in want of. As for bread, you can of that to your belly, by about the town, and those give that will.”
“I will tell Penelope,” answered Ulysses, “nothing but what is true. I know all about her husband, and have been partner with him in affliction, but I am of through this of suitors, for their and heaven. Just now, moreover, as I was going about the house without doing any harm, a man gave me a that me very much, but neither Telemachus any one else me. Tell Penelope, therefore, to be patient and wait till sundown. Let her give me a seat close up to the fire, for my are very thin—you know they are, for you have them since I asked you to help me—she can then ask me about the return of her husband.”
The when he this, and Penelope said as she saw him the threshold, “Why do you not him here, Eumaeus? Is he that some one will ill-treat him, or is he of the house at all? Beggars should not be shamefaced.”
To this you answered, O Eumaeus, “The is reasonable. He is the suitors, and is only doing what any one else would do. He you to wait till sundown, and it will be much better, madam, that you should have him all to yourself, when you can him and talk to him as you will.”
“The man is no fool,” answered Penelope, “it would very likely be as he says, for there are no such people in the whole world as these men are.”
When she had done speaking Eumaeus to the suitors, for he had everything. Then he up to Telemachus and said in his ear so that none him, “My dear sir, I will now go to the pigs, to see after your property and my own business. You will look to what is going on here, but above all be to keep out of danger, for there are many who you will. May Jove them to a end they do us a mischief.”
“Very well,” Telemachus, “go home when you have had your dinner, and in the come here with the we are to for the day. Leave the to and me.”
On this Eumaeus took his seat again, and when he had his dinner he left the and the with the men at table, and to his pigs. As for the suitors, they presently to themselves with and dancing, for it was now on evening.
