Book XV

But to wide-field Lacedæmon did Pallas Athene speed,
Unto the noble youngling, great-souled Odysseus' seed,

To mind him of his homefare, and urge him to be gone.
And there Telemachus found she and Nestor's noble son
Both lying in the forecourt of Menelaus the great.
Forsooth the Son of Nestor lay bound by slumber's weight,
But sweet sleep held not the other, for his heart as there he lay
Was stirred by care and trouble for his father far away:

So to him spake the Grey-eyed Athene as nigh to him she stood:

"Telemachus, thy straying from thine house is nothing good,
And thy leaving aloof thy havings and those men within the hall
So masterful past measure, lest of thee they eat up all,

And share out all thy living, and nought be the end of thy way.
Up! urge on Menelaus, loud-voiced in the battle-play,
To speed thee off; that thy mother at home ye yet may find—
—For now her father and mother, they bid her heed their mind
And with Eurymachus wed her; for he outgoes all of these,
The Wooers, in his giving, and the gifts doth he still increase

Lest against thy will she be flitting from thine house some deal of thy gear.
Since indeed thou wottest of women what minds in their bodies they bear,
She is fain to be good to the household of the man that her hath wed;
But of her offspring aforetime and of her husband dead
She nothing now remembers, and seeketh of him not.

So do thou thyself go thither, and give all that thou hast got
To be kept by one of the handmaids who seemeth the best to be,
Till a noble wife and a fitting the Gods shall show to thee.
Now another word will I tell thee, and lay it well to heart;
Men wilfully waylay thee, the best of the Wooers' part,
Where the Ithacan firth hath Same the craggy on one hand,
Desiring there to slay thee ere thou come to thy fatherland.
Yet I deem it shall not happen ere the earth hold some of those,
The Wooers, that devour thy livelihood so close.
But hold aloof from the islands thy ship well-wrought for the sea,
And sail by night as by day time, and fair wind abaft shall there be,
Sent from that one of the Deathless who keeps thee evermore.
But when to the ness thou comest, the first ness of the Ithacan shore,
Then thy ship and all the shipmen to the city do thou send,
But thyself the first of all things unto the swineherd wend,
Who wardeth thy swine, and all kindness as erst for thee doth show.
There night-long be thou abiding, but let him to the city go,
To Penelope the prudent, a tiding word to tell,
How thou art come from Pylos and at home alive and well."

So she spake, and thus departed for Olympus high aloft:
But he roused the son of Nestor from his slumber sweet and soft;
For with his heel he stirred him and thuswise there he spoke:

"Awake, thou Son of Nestor! arise, that we may yoke
To the car the whole-hoofed horses, and wear the way amain."
But Pisistratus, son of Nestor, to him made answer again:
"Telemachus, now in nowise, as sore as we long for the way,

May we drive through the dusky night-tide; but soon will come the day:
Abide till the hero Atrides, the glory of the spear,
Shall come, and in our twi-car shall lay the gifts and the gear,

And with kindly word shall bespeak us, and speed us on our ways,
Since forsooth the guest remembereth that man for all his days
Who giveth him good guesting in friendly wise and dear."
And even with his speaking was the Gold-throned Dawning there,
And anear drew Menelaus, loud-voiced in the battle-play,
E'en now from the bed arisen where the fair-haired Helen lay;
But when the loved son of Odysseus of Atreus' son had sight,
He hasted and did on his body a kirtle gleaming bright;
Yea, Telemachus the hero, godlike Odysseus' son,
Over his sturdy shoulders a great cloak then did on,
And therewith went without doors, and stood nigh and spake the word:

"Menelaus, Son of Atreus, thou Zeus-bred people's lord,
Now speed me forth, I prithee, to my fatherland and home;
For now my soul desireth that thither I should come."

Then answered Menelaus, loud-voiced in the battle-play:
"Telemachus, no long season would I hold thee aback from the way,
Desiring so thine homefare; yea, wroth were I with such
As who, when men he guesteth, shall cherish his guest o'ermuch,
Or loath him out of measure: for in all things measure is best.
And good is neither fashion, to thrust out the willing guest

Who is fain to abide, or to stay him who longeth to be on the road;
But to cherish the guest that abideth and to speed the departer is good.
But abide till I bring to thy twi-car the gifts that are lovely and fair,
That thou with thine eyes may'st behold them, and speak with the women here,
And bid them dight thee the dinner from the plentiful store of the hall.
For a worshipful thing it is, and befitting and gainful withal,

For you to depart full-feasted o'er the wide land having no end;

But would ye turn up through Hellas, or through Mid-Argos wend,
So far with you would I wend me, and the steeds for you would yoke;
And would lead you through men's cities; nor would any one of the folk
Send us empty away, but would give us some thing that were good to bear,
Some bowl maybe, or a caldron three-footed, brazen and fair,

Or else a golden beaker, or a yoke of mules maybe."
But Telemachus the heedful made answer, and thus spake he:
"Menelaus, lord of the people, thou Atreus son Zeus-bred,
To mine own would I now be wending, for when we left our stead
No guard I left behind me to heed my wealth and gear;
Nor would I die in my seeking my father lief and dear,
Or lose some one of the heirlooms within mine house that lie."
So when Menelaus heard him, the good at the battle-cry,
He bade his wife and the women the work at once to win,
And to dight in the hall a dinner from the plenteous store within,
And Boethus' son Eteoneus, he drew anigh them withal,
Having risen from bed; for his dwelling was no great way from the hall.
So Menelaus the war-loud straight bade him kindle the fire,
And roast the flesh, and he hearkened nor gainsaid his desire.
Then wended the King adown to his chamber sweet of scent,
And not alone, for with him Megapenthes and Helen went;
And when they came where the treasure was lying garnered up,
Then took the son of Atreus a twofold-fashioned cup,
And he bade his son Megapenthes a silver bowl to bear.
But for Helen, she stood by the coffers that hid away the gear,
The many-coloured kirtles which she herself had made.
One then took that Glory of Women from the store together laid,
The fairest of its broidery and the biggest and the best,
And it shone aloof as a star shines, and lay under all the rest.
Then forth through the house they wended till they came to Telemachus,
And the yellow Menelaus he spake unto him thus:
"Telemachus, thine homefare, as thou wouldst have it be,
May Zeus the Lord of Here, Loud-Thunderer, give it thee!
But of gifts whatso of treasure within mine house there lies
I will give thee now the goodliest and the very most of price.
Lo, I give thee' a bowl fair-fashioned withinward and without
Of silver; but his wine-lip with gold is done about.
It was fashioned by Hephæstus, and Phædimus the King
Of Sidonians gave it unto me, whom his house was covering,
When I was about departing; and this for thee have I brought."
Then the hero, the Seed of Atreus, the beaker double-wrought
Gave into his hands, and the wine-bowl of silver glorious fair
Brought the mighty Megapenthes and gave it to him there.
And withal the fair-cheeked Helen before him there did stand,
And spake the word unto him with the garment in her hand.
"And I withal will give thee a gift, O youngling dear,
Of Helen's hands a memory, this weed for thy wife to wear
In the hour of thy longed-for wedding: but meanwhile until that day
Let it lie in the house by thy mother. Hail now upon thy way
To thine house the goodly-builded, and the land that thy fathers had!"
So in his hands she laid it, and he took it and was glad;
And Pisistratus the hero stowed all away with care
In the coffer of the twi-car, and well noted what they were.
But yellow-haired Menelaus to the house led one and all,
And they sat them adown on the benches and the high-seats of the hall,
The water for washing the hands o'er a silver bowl to pour,
And therewithal beside them the polished bowl she spread,
And thereto the reverend goodwife bore in and laid the bread,

And rejoiced their hearts with the dainties a many that happened there:
And there the son of Boethus dight the flesh and dealt the share.
But the pourer of wine was the son of Menelaus renowned,
So they reached out their hands to the meat that ready before them they found.
But when the longing for meat and for drink they had quite foredone,
Then Telemachus the heedful and Nestor's noble son

Fell to yoking of their horses, and went up on the painted car,

And they drave from out of the forecourt and the cloister echoing far,
And with them went fair Menelaus, son of Atreus, holding up
Heart-soothing wine in his right hand in a goodly golden cup,

That those on their way might wend them with due drink-offering poured,
And he stood before the horses, and hailed them with the word:

"Hail, younglings! and to Nestor the folk-herd let it pass
My greeting, for e'en as a father full kind to me he was,
While under Troy we battled, we sons of Achæan men."

But Telemachus the heedful thus spake and answered again:
"Yea surely, O Zeus-nourished, of all these things will we tell,
And thy tale to the man when we meet him: and would that I as well
Unto Ithaca returning might meet Odysseus yet,
And in his house might tell him what love.from thee I met
When hither I came; and my going with so many gifts and fair."
But amidst his words came flying on his right a fowl of the air,
An erne, that bore in his talons a great goose white and tame
From out the garth, and behind him shouting aloud there came
A crowd of men and women; but anigh them to the right
He swept athwart the horses; and all they that saw the sight
Were glad, and in their bosoms their hearts waxed warm withal.
But Pisistratus, son of Nestor, first unto speech did fall:
"Say now, Zeus-bred Menelaus, folk-leader, how it may be,
Hath Zeus shown forth this token for us, or rather for thee?"

So he spake, but Menelaus the loved of Ares weighed
His thought, how best and rightly his answer might be made,
But him long-kirtled Helen forewent, and thus spake she:

"Hearken while I foretell it how in the soul of me

The Deathless set foreseeing; and I think it shall come to pass,
As this fowl hath come from the mountain where his folk and his father was,
And hath ravished the goose that was cherished in the house in tender wise:
So Odysseus, though wide wandering through many miseries,

Shall come back to his house and avenge him—yea, is he home by now,
And bale for all those Wooers is nourishing to grow."

Then Telemachus the heedful spake out the answering word:
"So grant it Zeus, the Holy, Here's Loud-thundering Lord!
Then forsooth as a very God e'en there would I worship thee."

So he cast the whip on the horses, and as swiftly as may be
Afield they sped through the city, and eager way they made,
And all day long were they swaying the yoke about them laid.
And so the sun sank under and dark grew every road,
And therewith they came to Phere and Diocles' abode,
Of Orsilochus begotten, Alpheus' offspring dear.

And there nightlong they abided, and he gave them guesting-cheer.
But when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Day-dawn, shone,
They yoked their steeds and their places in the painted chariot won,
And drave forth out of the forecourt, and the echoing pillared stead,
And smote the steeds to be going, and nothing loth they sped,

And soon to the burg of Pylos well-built the way was done.
Then Telemachus the heedful thus spake to Nestor's son:
"What thing, O Son of Nestor, wouldst thou promise and do for me
According unto mine asking? Since friends we boast us to be
From the kindness of our fathers, and we of one age withal,
And unto our better liking this our journey shall befal.
Now lead me not past my ship, but leave me here on the way,
Lest me unwilling the elder in his house and hall should stay
All eager to befriend me; and need is that I haste to begone."
So he spake, but rede and counsel of his mind took Nestor's son,
What wise he might promise and duly accomplish his behest;
And unto him so thinking this seemed to be the best.
To the swift ship and the sea-shore he turned the steeds away,
And the goodly gifts bore out in the ship's stern-part to lay,
E'en the gold and the raiment given by Menelaus the King;
And then with speech he urged him and set these words on the wing:
"Now haste thee up a-shipboard, and bid all thy fellows as well
Before I get me homeward the tale to the elder to tell:
For well in my heart and my mind of the mood of my father I know

How masterful is he of spirit: he will not let thee go,
But himself will come hither to bid thee, and I deem indeed by my troth
That he will not go back empty, he shall be so exceeding wroth."

So he spake, and fell to driving the steeds of the fair-tressed mane
Back again to the burg of Pylos; and the house did they speedily gain;
But Telemachus egged on his fellows, and fell to bidding there:

"To the black ship, O my fellows, and order well the gear!
And go ye up a-shipboard that we our way may speed."

So spake he forth, and lightly they hearkened and gave heed,
And straight they went a-shipboard, and sat down on the thwarts alow.
But while he was toiling and praying, and unto Athene as now

Hard by the stern made offering, a certain man drew nigh,
An outland man, and from Argos for manslaying did he fly.
A seer, and by blood and getting of old Melampus' stock,
Who dwelt erewhile in Pylos, the mother of many a flock.
Now wealthy amid the Pylians a full rich house had he,
Till he went to another people, since his land he needs must flee,
And Neleus the mighty of mood, the proudest living on earth,
Who held for a full year's circle perforce his wealth and worth,
While he himself, Melampus, in bitter bonds and sore
In Phylacus' halls lay bounden, and stark were the griefs he bore
Because of Neleus daughter, and the sin that on him weighed,
Which she, the fearful Goddess, the Wreaker, on him laid.
Yet he 'scaped his bane, and the oxen loud-lowing did he lead
From Phylace unto Pylos, and of the evil deed
On the godlike Neleus wreaked him; and then for his brother's hand
To the house he led a woman, and so went to another land,
To Argos, feeder of horses; for there was he doomed to abide,
And there should he lord it over the Argives far and wide.
There a high-roofed house he builded, and a wife he wedded then,
And Antiphates and Mantius begat, both mighty men.
But Antiphates after him gat Oicles, mighty of mood,
And Oicles Amphiaraus the folk's upraiser good:
Beloved of Zeus the Shielded, beloved of Apollo he was
With manifold love; yet never the threshold of eld did he pass:
Because of the gifts of a woman in Thebes he had his bane,
But Amphilochus and Alcmæon were the sons that his getting did gain.
Then Mantius gat Polypheides and Cleitus; him on a day
Did the Gold-enthroned Dawning wrap from the earth away
To dwell amid the Deathless because of his fairness' sake.
But the high-souled Polypheides a seer did Apollo make,
By far the best of menfolk since Amphiaraus was dead;
Who departed, wroth with his father, to Hyperesia's stead,
And dwelling there, unto all men foretold what surely came.
Now his son was this new-comer, Theoclymenus by name,
Who anigh Telemachus standing where he found him midst his prayer
And pouring of drink-offerings, by the black ship swift to fare,
Sent winged words towards him, and bespake him face to face:
"O friend, since now I find thee with thine offerings in this place,
By the gifts and the God I beseech thee, and furthermore indeed
By thy very head and the shipmen that follow as ye lead,
Tell truth to me the seeker, nor the hidden story win:
What art thou, whence of menfolk, and thy city and thy kin?"

Then Telemachus the heedful to him made answer and said:
"Yea, plain to thee, O Stranger, shall all the tale be made;
Of Ithaca is my kindred, and I am Odysseus' son

If ever he were; for in these days he is evilly dead and gone;
Wherefore I took these fellows and the black ship that ye see
To seek some tidings of him so long aloof from me."

-But the godlike Theoclymenus thus answered him again:
Like thee I am put from my country because a man I have slain;
A man of my folk; and a many do his brethren and his kin
In horse-rich Argos ruling mid the Achæans worship win;
And the death from them am I shunning, and their black doom do I flee,
Since now is my fate amid menfolk a wandering man to be.
So take me up a-shipboard, since I flee and make my prayer,
Lest they hew me down in slaughter; for yet following me they fare."

Then Telemachus the heedful thuswise he answered and said:
"T will not thrust thee craving from the ship the shapely-made;
Come on then, and of such things as we have shall we make thee cheer."

Thus spake he, and took from him his brazen-headed spear,
And laid it along on the deck of the swelling ship of the sea,
Then on to that sea-farer, and up aboard went he,
And sat him down in the stern, and there beside him close
This Theoclymenus set he; then men cast the hawsers loose.
Then Telemachus egged on his fellows, and a word upon them laid
To dight the tackling duly, and full yarely they obeyed.

They raised the mast of pine-tree, they stepped it well and fair
Within the mid-thwart's hollow, and with forestays stayed it there,
And with ox-hide ropes well-twisted hauled up the sails milk-white.
But Grey-eyed Athene sent them a wind that blew aright

Through the lift on-rushing fiercely, that as swiftly as might be
The fleeting ship might win her through the salt wave of the sea.
And by Crouni was she running, and the well-brooked Chalcis' shore;
But now the sun sank under, and all ways were darkened o'er;
And she made the land of Pheæ by the wind of Zeus sped on,
And way by the holy Elis, where Epeians rule, she won.
Thence on to the Tapering Islands his ship the youngling drave,
Still pondering should he be taken, or his soul from the death-day save.
Meanwhile in the booth Odysseus and the goodly swineherd sat
At supper, and beside them the other herdsmen ate;
But when the longing for meat and drink they had done away
Odysseus spake; for a trial on the swineherd would he lay,
Whether yet he would cherish him closely, and bid him abide in the place,
Or would egg him on to be wending and townward turn his face:
"Now hearken to me, Eumæus, and ye other fellows here,
Tomorn would I to the city that begging I may fare,
That thee and these thy fellows I may not quite undo;
Give me good rede, I prithee, and a good guide thereunto.
For townward must I wander, and thither need doth drive,
If perchance a cup and a morsel some man to me may give.
So to the house Odysseus the glorious may I come,
To Penelope the wiseheart to bear my message home;
And with those masterful Wooers would I mingle furthermore,

That a meal's meat they might give me from out their endless store.
And lightly as they willed me, for them would I play my part;
'For this I tell thee, and hearken and lay it well to heart,

By the grace of Hermes the Flitter, who unto all doth give
The glory and worship of doing the works whereby they live,
No mortal man in serving like to me is deft and good,

In feeding of the fire, or in cleaving the dry wood,
Or in pouring the wine, or in carving, or dighting the roast and the broil—
The tasks wherein for the rich ones the poor are wont to toil."

Then thou spak'st, O swineherd Eumæus, whereas thine heart did grieve:
"O me, my guest, what a counsel thy mind doth now conceive!
For certes thou desirest to meet thy death in the town,
Tf unto the throng of the Wooers thou willest now go down,
Whose pride and high-hand outrage goeth up to the iron sky.
Forsooth none such as thou art they have to serve thereby;
But young men well apparelled in cloaks and kirtles fair,
And lovely are their faces and gleaming-soft their hair.
E'en such are they that serve them, and the polished tables shine,
For ever heavy-laden with bread and meat and wine.
Bide here; for of thy biding no man here grudgeth thee,
Neither I nor these my fellows, nor whoso here may be.
But when the dear son of Odysseus here cometh, he indeed
Shall give thee a cloak and a kirtle, a gift of goodly weed,
And shall flit thee whithersoever thy soul would have thee go."
Then the toil-stout goodly Odysseus made answer even so:
"Unto Father Zeus, Eumæus, may'st thou be e'en as lief
As thou art to me! since thou endest my wandering and fierce grief.
For nought is worse than wandering of every mortal ill.
But because of the baleful belly must men bear sorrow still,
And straying them befalleth, and pain and misery.
But since thou wouldst have me abide him, and biddest me here to be,
Of the mother of godlike Odysseus now somewhat do thou say,
And his father left on the threshold of eld when he went on his way,
If yet they abide with the living beneath the beams of the sun
Or unto the House of Hades have departed dead, undone?"

But him the swineherd answered, the leader of the men:
"Yea, the thing whereof thou seekest I will tell thee clearly then;
For as yet Laertes liveth, yet beseeching Zeus withal

That the soul may waste out of his body e'en there in his very hall;
So sore his child he lamenteth who far away doth abide,
And his kindly wiseheart helpmate, who indeed whenas she died
Drew eld untimely on him, and drew that sorrow on;
Since she died through the grief she suffered because of her glorious son.
A woeful death! may no one thus die of those that dwell
In the land and to me are kindly, and have done by me right well!
For so long as she was living, although sore sorrowing,
To ask and to seek about her to me was a happy thing.
For by her indeed was I fostered with her noble daughter fair,
E'en Ctimene the long-robed, the latest child she bare;
With her I say was I fostered, and had honour little less.
But when we both were gotten to our youth of happiness,
Her then they wedded in Same, and great wedding-gifts they had.
But in raiment very goodly the Queen my body clad,
A cloak and a kirtle she gave me and shoes for my feet to wear,
And into the fields she sent me, and yet ever held me dear.
Of these things now am I lacking, yet the happy Gods indeed
Of the work wherein I hold me have given me good speed;
And withal have I meat and drink, and for hapless folk some cheer.
But as now of my mistress that is there is nothing happy to hear,
By word or by deed: since surely a plague on the house doth fall
Of masterful men. Yet greatly it rejoiceth the heart of a thrall
To speak in the face of the mistress, and to ask of everything,
And to eat and to drink, and thereafter have somewhat afield to bring
Of such things as the hearts of thrallfolk for evermore are fain."

But the many-wiled Odysseus he answered thus again:
"Woe worth, O swineherd Eumæus! how far hast thou wandered on,
From thy kindred and thy country when thou wert but a little one!

But come now, bespeak me of one thing, and clearly tell it all.
For, wasted by the warriors, did the wide-wayed city fall
Where thy father and mother beworshipped were dwelling a while agone?
Or thee, as thou wert abiding by the sheep and the oxen alone,
Did the foemen take to their ship, and carry thee away
Unto the house of that man, who for thee great price did pay?"
Spake the swineherd, the leader of men, and in this wise spake he:
"O guest, since of these matters thou askest and seekest of me,
Sit on and drink and be merry, and hush thy voice, and heed:
For measureless long is the night-tide, and time is for sleep indeed,
And time too for the merry hearkening; nor before the hour is come
Is need to wend us bedward; and much sleep is wearisome.
Of the others, whomso to sleep his heart and his soul shall sway,
Let him go his ways and slumber, but with dawning of the day
He shall break his fast, and follow the swine-droves of the king.
But here in the booth we twain at the drink and the banqueting
Shall be merry with the memory of each other's weary woe.
For very grief shall gladden the man that to and fro
Hath wandered wide in the world, and suffered sorrow sore.
So whereof thou askest and seekest, the tale shall I now tell o'er.
"There is an isle called Syria, if thereof thou hast heard and known,
Up over Ortygia is it, where turneth the sun to go down.
It is not right full of people, but a goodly land and sweet,
Well pastured, well be-herded, wine-plenteous, rich in wheat;
On that folk no famine falleth, and no sickness cometh anigh,
E'en such as oft so loathly smites hapless men that die.
But when eld amid that city creeps o'er the race of men
Cometh silver-bowed Apollo, and Artemis cometh then,
And they with their kindly arrows fall on and give the bane.
"Now therein are two cities and all things are shared atwain,
But over either people king was my father there,

E'en Ctesius, Ormenus' offspring, and the very godhead's peer.
Now thither came the Phcenicians, the ship-famed; hucksters these,
Who bore ten thousand trinkets in their black ship over the seas.
And withal a Phoenician woman dwelt in my father's house,

Tall, fair, and very cunning in work most glorious.
Her then the wily Phcenicians befooled upon a day:
For first as she was washing by the hollow ship, one lay
With her in love and dalliance, that oft and evermore
Befooleth minds of women, though deft they be of lore.
Next who she was he asked her, and whence of lands was come;
And straightway then she told him of her father's lofty home:
'I call myself of Sidon, abounding much in brass,
And I am the very daughter of the o'er-rich Arybas;
But Taphian men and sea-thieves they took me on a day
As I came from afield, and thither they flitted me away,
Unto the house of this man, and a noble price he paid.'

"Then he, the man who by stealth had lain beside her, said:
"And if thou wouldst follow us back and homeward, how would it be,
That the high-roofed house of thy father and mother thou may'st see
Yea, they themselves; for as yet they live and are wealthy, 'tis said?'

"Then spake to him the woman and a word thereto she laid;
'Yea, this might be, if ye shipmen were willing now and here
To be sworn by an oath that scathless me homeward ye shall bear.'

"So she spake, and all they straightly took oath een as she bade.
But now when they had sworn them, and an end of the oath had made,
Then once more spake the woman, and thuswise answered she:

'Keep silence now; nor let any of you shipmen speak to me
Whenso ye happen upon me, if it be beside the well
Or out in the street, lest some one thereof to the old man tell
In the house, and he misdoubt him and take and bind me then
In bitter bonds, and devise him the death of all you men.

So the word in your hearts refrain you, and the sale of your wares push on.
But when the ship is laden with the stuff ye have trucked for and won,
Then unto the house let a message be quickly speeded home;

And such gold will I bring unto you as under my hand may come.
And yet more of a faring-penny were I fain to be giving withal.

A child there is of the goodman, that I tend in his house and hall,
Which same is a cunning youngling, that with me runs out and in;
And him would I bring to your ship, and huge price for him should ye win,
Whenso ye flit him to market amongst the alien men.'

"So saying she departed to the fair-built house as then;
But they abided by us for the wearing of a year,
And into their hollow ship their trucking drew much gear.
But when the hollow ship was burdened for the way,

Then they sent to the house one bearing a word to the woman to say.
So a man in craft exceeding came into my father's hall,
'In his hand a golden collar with amber strung withal.
In the hall then the maids and my mother beworshipped were bidding a price
For this thing and handling it over, and beholding it still with their eyes,
And meanwhile unto the woman a silent sign he sent

By wagging his head, and thereafter to the hollow ship he went.
So then by the hand she took me, and forth from the house she led;
And in the porch she happed on the cups and the tables spread,
Of the men who had been feasting, that my father did wait upon,
But unto the folk-assembly and the speech-stead forth had they gone.
So she caught up three cups and hid them away in her girdlestead,
And carried them off, and I followed, a simple fool, as she led.
"And so the sun sank under and all ways were darkened o'er,
And we hastened and came to the haven renowned on the shore,
Where lay the swift seafarer of those Phoenician men.
And therewith we went a shipboard, o'er the wet ways sailed we then,
And Zeus for us was speeding a wind that blew aright;
So six days were we sailing alike by day and night.
But when Zeus, the Son of Cronos, had wrought the seventh day,
Then Artemis the shaft-fain did the woman smite and slay,

And she fell, and plunged down to the hold as diveth the mew of the sea;
And straight they cast her outboard, the meat and the prey tobe
Of the sea-calves and the fishes, and left in my grief was I.

But the wind and water driving to Ithaca brought them anigh,
And there Laertes bought me with the wealth he had in hand,
And thus indeed mine eyen first looked upon the land."

But Odysseus, the Zeus-nourished, thus answering spake the word:
"Eumæus, very sorely this tale of thy telling hath stirred
The mood in my mind for thy sorrows, that oft thine heart hath had:
Yet Zeus for thee meseemeth hath set the good by the bad,
Whereas in thy toil thou hast gotten to the house of a man that is kind,
Who carefully for thy living both meat and drink doth find,
So that plentifully thou livest. While as for me—Yea, then,
Hither I come wide-wandering through the many cities of men."
Thus then they told to each other, and no long while did abide
In sleep and slumber lying, but e'en for the littlest tide,
For at hand was the Gold-throned Day-dawn.
But on the shore at last

Telemachus' shipmen briskly struck sail and unshipped mast,
And then with rowing speeded the ship to the beaching-ground,
And cast the anchors outboard, and fast the hawsers bound.
Then outboard on the seashore themselves withal they wend,
And therewith their meat are dighting and the dark-red wine they blend.
But when the desire for meat and for drink they had done away,
Then Telemachus the heedful thus fell to speak and say:
"Do ye now drive on straightly the black ship toward the town,
While I unto the acres and fields will get me down,
But to-night will go up to the city when my lands I have looked upon,
And to-morrow will set before you the faring-wage ye have won,
To wit, a noble banquet of flesh and sweetest wine."
But therewith spake unto him Theoclymenus divine:

"Dear child, and whither wend I? To what man's house of the men,
Who in Ithaca the craggy are lords, shall I get me then?
Shall I go straight unto thy mother, and the very house of thy stead?"

But Telemachus the heedful to him thus answered and said:
"Yea, otherwise would I bid thee unto my house to speed,
For none there faileth of guest-cheer; but for thee 'twill be worser indeed,
For I shall lack; and neither will my mother see thee at all,
For not oft before the Wooers is she seen amidst the hall,
But aloof in the upper chamber her weaving doth she speed.
But I of a man will tell thee to whom thou may'st come at need,
E'en Eurymachus the glorious, the wiseheart Polybus' son,
Whom e'en as the peer of Godhead do the Ithacans look upon;
For he is their best and greatest, and longeth eagerly
For the wedding of my mother and Odysseus' sov'reignty:
But Zeus of Olympus knoweth who dwells in the lofty home,
If yet before the wedding their evil day may come."

As he spake, from the right came flying a fowl, a falcon fleet,
Swift flitter of Apollo, who held betwixt his feet
A dove, and with talons tore her, and to earth the feathers poured,

- Midway 'twixt where the ship was and Telemachus the lord.
Him then did Theoclymenus aloof from his fellows call,
And clasped his hand and bespake him, and said the word withal:

"Telemachus, nowise godless flew the fowl forth on the right;
Yea, I knew him for a token so soon as he came in sight.
Among the Ithacan people there is none so kingly a race

As thine is: ye are the stronger, and for ever first in place."
But Telemachus the heedful he answered him again:
"And were thy word accomplished, then O but I were fain!
Then shouldst thou know of my kindness and the gifts that I should give,
That whosoever met thee should call thee blest to live."
Therewith unto Piræus his trusty friend did he call:
"Piræus, son of Clytius, of my fellow-farers all
That followed me to Pylos thou hearkenest most to me;
So do thou take this stranger, and have him home with thee,
To cherish in all honour till back again I fare."

Then answered him Piræus, the famous with the spear:
"Telemachus, e'en if thou bidest longwhile ere thou come back,
I will cherish the man, and nowise of guest-cheer shall he lack."

So saying he went a-shipboard, and to all those gave the word
To cast aloose the hawsers and themselves to come aboard;
And aboard went all men lightly, and a-down on the benches they sat.
But underneath his footsoles fair sandals Telemachus gat,
And from off the deck of the ship he took a mighty spear,
Headed with brass, sharp-whetted. Then they cast the hawsers clear,
And thrust out, and made for the city according to the word
Of Telemachus, son beloved of Odysseus the good lord.

But for him, his feet sped onward till he came to the garth and the wall,
Where dwelt his swine unnumbered, and where slept his swineherd withal,
The goodman knowing the kindness that unto his lords should fall.