The Odyssey Page 0,98

lands and towns of men of alien speech,—if he still lives and sees the sunshine. But follow me, old man, into the lodge; so that you too, when satisfied with food and drink, may tell where you are come from and what troubles you have borne.”

So saying, to the lodge the noble swineherd led the way, and bringing Odysseus in made him a seat. Beneath, he laid thick brushwood, and on the top he spread a shaggy wild goat’s great soft skin, his usual bed. Odysseus was pleased that he received him so, and spoke and thus addressed him:

“Stranger, may Zeus and the other deathless gods grant all you most desire for treating me so kindly!”

And, swineherd Eumaeus, you answered him and said: “Stranger, it is not right for me to slight a stranger, not even one in poorer plight than you; for in the charge of Zeus all strangers and beggars stand, and our small gift is welcome. But so it is with servants, continually afraid when new men are their masters! Surely the gods kept him from coming who would have loved me well and given me for my own the things a generous master always allows his man—a house, a plot of ground, and a fair wife—at least when one has labored long, and God has made his work to prosper, as he makes prosper all the work I undertake. So would my master have well rewarded me, had he but grown old here. But he is gone! Would all the tribe of Helen had gone too, down on their knees! for she has made the knees of many men grow weak. Yes, he too went for Agamemnon’s honor to Ilios, famed for horses, to fight the Trojans there.”

So saying, he hurriedly girt his tunic with his belt, and went to the sties where droves of pigs were penned. Selecting two, he brought them in and killed them both, singed them and sliced them and stuck them upon spits, and roasting all the meat offered it to Odysseus, hot on the spits themselves. He sprinkled it with white barley. Then in an ivy bowl he mixed some honeyed wine, and taking a seat over against Odysseus thus cheerily began:

“Now, stranger, eat what servants have, this young pig’s flesh. The fatted hogs are eaten by the suitors, who have no reverence in their hearts nor any pity. Yet reckless deeds the blessed gods love not; they honor justice and men’s upright deeds. Why, evil-minded cruel men who land on a foreign shore, and Zeus allows them plunder so that they sail back home with well-filled ships,—even on the hearts of such falls a great fear of heavenly wrath. But these men know of something, having heard the utterance of some god about his mournful end, and therefore they are minded to court his wife so lawlessly, never departing to their homes, but at their ease wasting this wealth with recklessness and sparing nothing. For every day and night sent us by Zeus, they slay their victims, no mere one or two; and wine they also waste with reckless draughts. My master’s means were vast. No noble has so much on the dark mainland or in Ithaca itself. No twenty men together have such revenues as he. I will reckon up the sum. Twelve herds upon the mainland; as many flocks of sheep; as many droves of swine; as many roving bands of goats; all shepherded by foreigners and herdsmen of his own. Then here in Ithaca graze roving bands of goats, eleven in all, along the farther shore, and trusty herdsmen watch them. Of these the herdsman every day drives up the fatted goat that seems the best. My task it is to guard and keep these swine, and picking carefully the best to send it to the suitors.”

So spoke the swineherd, while his companion hungrily ate his meat and drank with eagerness his wine in silence, sowing seeds of evil for the suitors. But after he had dined and stayed his heart with food, Eumaeus, filling for his guest the cup from which he drank, gave it brimful of wine. Odysseus took it and was glad at heart, and speaking in winged words he said:

“My friend, who was the man that bought you with his wealth and was so very rich and powerful as you say? You said he died for Agamemnon’s honor. Tell me. I may have known some such as he. Zeus and the other