Book XVI

As it fell, in the booth Odysseus, and the swineherd, the goodly of men,
Were dighting their breakfast at dawning, and kindling the fire as
And with the swine wold-pasturing had sent the herds away;
But round Telemachus fawned they, the ban-dogs wont to bay, then,
Nor howled as he came forward; and Odysseus noted that,
Both the fawning dogs, and the trampling of coming feet thereat,
So straight unto Eumæus a winged word he said:

"Eumæus, one of thy fellows now cometh unto the stead,
Or some one else that thou knowest; for the dogs howl at him nought,
But are whining round about him; and the sound of feet have I caught."
But scarce the word had he spoken ere lo in the door of the close
Stood his own son well-beloved; and amazed Eumæus arose,
And down from his hands fell the vessels wherewith he was labouring
In blending the dark-red wine, and he went up unto the king,

And on the head he kissed him, and both his eyes so fair,
And both his hands moreover, and he shed a mighty tear;
And e'en as a loving father makes much of his dear son,
Who hath come from an alien country when the tenth long year is done
His only son and darling for whom he hath travailed sore,
E'en so the goodly swineherd now kisseth him o'er and o'er,
Telemachus the godlike, as one escaped from death,
And amidst of moans and greeting such winged words he saith: said
"Thou art come, sweet light of mine eyes, Telemachus! Yea, though I
I should see thee no more, when to Pylos in the fleeting ship ye sped.
Come in, dear child, I bid thee, that mine heart may be glad of thy face,
When at last I look upon thee new come from an alien place.
For not oft hast thou come to thine herdsmen, or the countryside hast seen,
But a city-abider art thou, and thy will hereto hath it been
To behold the throng of the Wooers, the ravening company."

Then Telemachus the heedful in this wise answered he:
"Yea, even so, my father! and for this cause am I come,
To set mine eyes upon thee and to hearken thy word of my home.
If yet in our halls my mother abideth, or is wed
To another man at this moment; the while Odysseus' bed
Lies lacking gear to sleep in, and cobwebs foul doth breed."
Then answered him the swineherd that folk afield did lead:
"Yea, surely she abideth, and a steadfast heart she bears
Within the halls of thine homestead, but in grief the night-tide wears
All nights that are, and weepeth through all the days that pass."
So saying from the youngling he took his spear of brass,
Who over the stony threshold now stepped with entering feet;
And unto him would his father Odysseus yield his seat,
But Telemachus withheld him on his part, and thus he said:
"Nay, sit thee down, O stranger! for sure in this our stead
Another seat shall we get us; and the man is at hand therefor."
So he spake, and back went Odysseus, and sat him down as afore;
But green twigs was the swineherd strewing, and fleeces thereupon,
And on the same thereafter sat Odysseus' loved son.

Then platters of roasted flesh-meat did the swineherd by them lay,
Which was of the meat left over from the feast of yesterday,
And bread in the maunds of wicker he hasted to heap up,

And the wine heart-soothing he mingled within the ivy cup,
And sat down over against him, Odysseus wondrous of might.
So they reached out their hands to the victual that lay before them dight.
And when of meat and of drink they had done the longing away,
Then to the goodly swineherd 'gan Telemachus to say:
"Father, and whence is the stranger, and whatwise over the sea
Did the shipmen to Ithaca bring him, and what did they boast them to be?
For hitherward meseemeth afoot he might not fare."
Then thou, O swineherd Eumæus, didst answer then and there:
"Yea, son, and to thee full surely a true tale will I tell:
For he saith of the folk he cometh in Crete the wide that dwell,

And that he hath been cast in his strayings to men's cities full many an one.
Since e'en such is the thread of the doom that the Gods for him have spun.
But as now from a ship of Thesprotians hath he fled away aland,

And come to this mine homestead: so I give him into thine hand,
And do thou to him as thou willest: but he boasts him thy bedesman to be."
But Telemachus the heedful in this wise answered he:

"Eumæus, this word spoken is a grievous word of thine;
For how may I take this stranger to the house and the hall that is mine?
For myself, I am but a youngling; nor trust in my hands have I

To ward me from him who against me would stir up enmity;
And my mother, the mood within her hangs doubtfully indeed,
Whether she with me abiding the house and home shall heed,

And honour the bed of my father, and the fame of the folk and its word;
Or shall follow him of Achæans whom she deemeth the worthiest lord
That in her halls is wooing, and gives gifts most plenteous.

But now for this same stranger, since he hath come to thine house,
I shall give him a cloak and a kirtle that be raiment fair and meet,
And a two-edged sword moreover, and sandals to his feet,
And will speed him whithersoever his soul will have him fare.
Or keep him if thou willest in the stead and make him cheer;
And the raiment will I send him, and meat withal from the town,
That thee and these thy fellows, he may not wear thee down.
But I will not have him wending where the Wooers' band abide,
For with folly of heart do they fare, and most unmeasured pride,
Lest they fall to and maltreat him, and so bring me sorrow sore;
Since hard it is to be dealing, one man with many and more,
In despite of all his valiance; for the stronger side have they."
Then unto him did the goodly toil-stout Odysseus say: gon
"O friend, since for me it is lawful to answer yet a word,
My heart hast thou cleft asunder with this tale that I have heard;
Whereas ye say that the Wooers such prideful folly plan
Within thine halls despite thee, and thou such a worshipful man!
But say! art thou cowed of thy freewill, or the people everywhere,
Do they hate thee through the city because God's voice they hear?
Or castest thou blame on thy brethren; on whose help in the warfaring
A man may well be trusting for as great as the strife may upspring?
Ah, were I yet in my youth-days, and of such an heart indeed,
Or were I the son of Odysseus, or himself come back at need
From all his many wanderings; since the hope is yet alive;
Yea then might the stroke of another the head from my body drive,
But I went to the house of Odysseus, and into Laertes' hall,
And made myself the banesman of those Wooers one and all!
Yea, and even if, one amid many, I there were overcome,
Yet so to fall were better, and to die in the halls of my home,
Than such foul deeds for ever to look on with mine eyes.
The very guests mishandled, and in unseemly wise
The women-thralls haled roughly about the lovely stead;
The wine-casks ever running, and wantons eating bread
In waste—and all for nothing; for a deed that shall not be."
Then Telemachus the heedful in this wise answered he:
"Yea the tale hereof, O stranger, to thee will I clearly show;
For the whole folk nowise hates me nor counteth me its foe;

Nor cast I blame on my brethren, on whose help in the warfaring
A man may well be trusting, for as great as the strife may upspring.
For look you, the Son of Cronos gives our race but a single son.
Arcesius begat Laertes, and had but him alone,

And his father begat Odysseus, one only son, and he
Left me in his halls one only—and had no joy of me.
And therefore in mine homestead is the foes' folk manifold:
Yea all the best of the islands, who rule thereover hold,
As Dulichium, or Same, or Zacynthus' woody lands,
Or in Ithaca the craggy have folk beneath their hands,
All these are wooing my mother, and eating mine house away:
And she the loathsome wedding doth not utterly gainsay,
Nor may make an ending of it, while they eat up house and all,
And no long time shall pass over ere on me shall their havoc fall.
But on God's knees it lieth, all this that is and shall be.
Now hasten, thou, O father, to the wise Penelope,
And say that back am I gotten from Pylos safe and well:
But here will I bide; and the tidings to her alone shalt thou tell,
And come thy ways back hither, lest thereof some man should know.
For my bane are a many devising, and manifold is the foe."
But his word, O swineherd Eumæus, thuswise didst thou answer it:
"I wot and I heed; for thou biddest a man not lacking for wit.
But I prithee tell me of one thing, and speak out straight and clear;
To that unhappy Laertes shall I go by the way to bear

These tidings? for up to this while, for Odysseus grieving withal,
He would oversee his acres, and eat and drink in his hall
With his house-carles, whenso desire should move his mind thereto.
But from the time when to. Pylos thou needs must ship and go,
Men say that thus it fareth, that he eateth and drinketh no more,
Nor hath an eye to his acres, but sitteth in sorrow sore,

In weeping and in wailing, and the flesh from his bones doth wane."
But 'Telemachus the heedful thus answered him again:
"Woe worth! but though it be grievous, alone must we leave him still.
For if all things by mortals might be chosen after their will,
Then would I choose my father and his returning day.

So get back after thy message, nor through the tillage stray
Seeking the man: but natheless thou may'st tell my mother to speed
Her housewife with all swiftness, yet privily indeed,
That she the tale may be telling to the elder of the land."

He spake, and uproused the swineherd, who took his shoes in his hand
And unto his feet he bound them and took the townward road.
But Athene failed not to note him as he went from that abode,
And drew near, like to a woman both tall and fair to see,
And deft in goodly working of the weaver's mystery.
So manifest unto Odysseus she stood 'gainst the door of the place,
But Telemachus saw her nowise though she stood before his face;
For not unto all are the Gods clear-seen in the light of the day.
But the dogs and Odysseus beheld her, yet her they did not bay,
But toward the far side of the booth they shrank away with a whine.

Then she bent her brows and nodded, and Odysseus noted the sign,
And forth he went from the chamber to the garth's high-builded wall,
And there he stood before her, and to him she spake withal:

"O Zeus-bred son of Laertes, Odysseus of many a rede,
Now speak out the word to thy son, nor hide thou the day and the deed,
That death and doom for the Wooers ye two at last may frame,
When ye come your ways to the city and the dwelling great of fame.
Nor long shall I be lacking; for I weary for the fight."
At the word with her rod all golden Odysseus did she smite,
And a kirtle and cloak well-washen she did about his breast,

And fulfilled the might of his body, and his manhood at the best;
And his cheeks filled out, and the colour grew deep o'er all his skin,
And deep the beard was waxing and dark about his chin.

So she wrought, and her ways she wended, and aback to the booth went

And sore his dear son marvelled, and feared that sight to see,
And in dread his eyes drew from him lest a very God it were; he,
Yet his voice withal he uttered and winged a word to hear:

"O guest, now art thou another than thou wert before mine eyes,

And other raiment hast thou, and thy skin wrought otherwise,
Yea, thou art a God of the God-folk who the wide-spread heavens do hold.
Be kind, that we may give thee well-fashioned gifts of gold'
With the holy rites thou lovest: and spare us now we pray!"

But the toil-stout goodly Odysseus in this wise fell to say:
"Iam no God; why then a God of me wilt thou make?
And yet am I thy father, whom for thy sorrow's sake
So often thou bewailedst, borne down by the wrong of man."

So he spake, and his son he kissed, and to earth the tear-drops ran
From his cheeks, though up to this while he refrained them steadfastly:
But Telemachus, for in nowise he trowed him his father to be,

Again with words made answer, and thuswise fell to say:
"Thou art not my father Odysseus; rather some God today
Befooleth me, that the worser may be my weeping and woe.
For this thing a man that dieth could nowise fashion so,
Or in his mind contrive it; unless some God forsooth
Encompass him, and give him by his will or eld or youth.
For an old man clad but foully thou satest here beside,
Who now to the Gods art likest that hold the heavens the wide." too

But Odysseus of many a rede he answered thus and said:
"Telemachus, for that thou seest thy father here in the stead
Not overmuch shouldst thou wonder, or stand in all amaze.
For never another Odysseus shall come unto his place;

But such as I am, toil-worn, wide-wandering, hither I come
In the twentieth year of my travail to my fatherland and my home.
But all this is the work of Athene, the Driver of the Prey,

Who maketh me e'en as she willeth, for of might she is, and she may,
One while like a very beggar, and another while indeed
Like a fresh young man, whose body is clad in lovely weed;
For unto the Gods 'tis easy, who hold the heavens the wide,
To exalt a man of mortals, or abase him on a tide."

So he spake and adown he sat him, and Telemachus withal
Clung round his valiant father, and let the tear-drops fall;
And so sorely for the weeping did the soul of either yearn
That each fell a-wailing shrilly; and as ceaseless as the erne,

Or the crook-clawed gar-fowl crieth, when the country-folk by sleight
Have carried off their fledgelings ere they be fit for flight,
So piteously the tear-rain down from their brows did pour:
And forsooth the sun had sunken upon their weeping sore
If Telemachus had not spoken to his father presently:

"In what ship, beloved father, did the shipmen o'er the sea
Unto Ithaca bring thee? Who were they,and whence did they say they were come?
Since afoot and aland meseemeth thou cam'st not hither home?"

But the toil-stout valiant Odysseus made answer thereunto:
"Forsooth, my child, the story will I tell thee straight and true:
Twas the ship-renowned Phæacians who brought me here to hand,
Who ever ferry all men who come unto their land.

And they brought me amidst of my slumber in a swift ship over the sea,
And in Ithaca set me adown, and great gifts they gave unto me,
Both of gold and of brass abundance, and of goodly woven weed,
Which lie in the hollow rock-dens by the Godfolk's grace and speed;
And hither I come thrust onward by the lore that Athene knows
That we may now take counsel, and compass the bane of our foes.
Now therefore number the Wooers, and tell out their tale to me,
That I may behold how many and what manner of men they be;

And then in my mind unblemished I will ponder the deed to be done,
And consider if we be able to prevail against them alone,
We twain without another; or if we must seek us aid."

But Telemachus the heedful thereto made answer and said:
"I have heard of thy fame, O father, and the glory of thy deeds,
Of thine hands a mighty warrior, and wise of wit and redes;
But huge is thy word, and amazement hath seized me. Nay, but nought
May many men and valiant by two alone be fought.
For not ten alone are the Wooers; nor are they but twice ten,
But a many more: thou shalt know it, the number of those men.
There cometh up out of Dulichium a band of fifty and two,
Of chosen swains, and with them six house-carles ever go;
And next of the men of Same are twenty youths and four;
And there cometh from Zacynthus of Achæans another score;
And twelve are from Ithaca hereby, and they forsooth of the best:
And with them is the herald Medon, and the godlike singer blest;
And therewith two swains of service full deft the victual to dight.
And if within thine homestead all these we meet in fight
Thy coming to wreak thee of wrong for us shall be bitter bane.
Say then if thou mayest bethink thee of a helper good for our gain,
E'en one who with heart and with soul will bear us warding and aid."
Therewith the valiant Odysseus, the toil-stout, answered and said:
"Yea, of such an one will I tell thee, and hearken thou, and heed,
If Athene with Zeus the Father be anywise good for our need,
Or whether I yet shall bethink me of another warder of bane."

Then Telemachus the heedful he spake, and answered again:
"Yea, these are valiant helpers of whom thou tellest the tale,
And aloft in the clouds are they sitting, and their might is of all avail,

Both over all men of menfolk and the Gods that never die."
Then the toil-stout goodly Odysseus he answered presently:
"Not long shall these be lacking from the mighty battle-din
When we and the band of the Wooers shall meet my halls within,
And the play of the might of Ares shall be tried between us there.
But do thou thyself wend homeward when the daydawn shineth clear,
And there do thou mix and, mingle with the Wooers overproud;
And me to the town thereafter shall the swineherd bring on the road,
Most like to a beggar, wretched and aged by many a year;
But if me in the house they mishandle, yet in thine heart forbear,
And refrain the soul within thee, whatso of ill I meet.
Yea, if e'en through the house and outdoors they hale me by the feet,
Or cast at me to smite me; yet forbear as thou lookest on these,
And with smooth words rather bid them that they from their folly cease.
Yet not for all thy speaking shall they hearken thee or heed,

Since on their heads full swiftly their day of doom doth speed.
Yet another word; and do thou to thine heart's root lay the thing:
When Athene rich in counsel the thought to my mind shall bring

I shall nod with my head, and straightway, when thou hast heeded me,
Whatsoever gear of Ares within the hall may be,
Take all, and lay it together in the nook of the chamber aloft,
And then unto those the Wooers give gentle words and soft,

When at last they come to miss them, and thereof they ask thee close:
'From out of the smoke have I laid them; for now nought are they like
Which erst, to Troy-town faring, Odysseus left behind,
But are marred where the reek of the fire the face of them might find. unto those
And another matter and greater hath Zeus set in my mind withal,

That ye, when ye are drunken to strife and wounds may fall
And befoul the feast and the wooing; for this is said aright,
That e'en of himself the iron draws on a man to smite.'
But two swords and two spears for us twain alone shalt thou leave in the hall,
And two oxhide shields moreover for our hands to wield withal,
That we may rush on and take them, and Pallas Athene then,
And Zeus the allwise of counsel, to their doom shall draw those men.
And another thing yet will I tell thee, and anigh to thine heart let it be:
If thou art verily mine, and come of the blood of me,
Then let not any one hear it that Odysseus is within:
Let not Laertes know it, or the swineherd word of it win,
Nor any one of the house-thralls, nor e'en Penelope;
For the mind of the women, we only shall know what it may be;
And some indeed of the men-thralls we yet may try apart,
Which one of them giveth us worship and honoureth us in his heart,
And which heeds thee nought and mocks thee; yea, and thou e'en such an one!"
Then spake again and answered Odysseus' glorious son:
"Father, methinks hereafter thou shalt come to know my mind,
And no light headlong folly there holding me shalt find;
But unto us meseemeth this thing shall scarce be good,
And I bid thee turn it over in thy mind and in thy mood.
Long while shalt thou weary for little in trying each of these,
Through the country-side a-wandering, while in thine hall at ease
Those men thy goods devour, and spare them not a whit.
Indeed, for the ways of the women, I would have thee look to it
Which do thine house dishonour, and which be guiltless still,
But from stead to stead I would not be wending by my will
To try the men; though hereafter with this may we deal also,
If a sign of Zeus the Shielded thou verily dost know."

So unto one another such matters did they say;
But meanwhile to the Ithacan haven was the good ship come her way
Which had ferried Telemachus over from Pylos with his men,

But when to the deep of the haven they were gotten, there and then
They shoved the swift black ship all high and dry on the shore,
And the high-heart swains of service aland their weapons bore;
But to Clytius' house they carried the gifts full glorious,
And therewith sent on a henchman unto Odysseus' house,
To Penelope the wiseheart, to tell out all the tale,

How Telemachus had landed in the field and had bidden them sail
The ship unto the city; lest, soul-possessed by dread,
The goodly queen in sorrow soft flowing tears should shed.

So the henchman and the swineherd they met upon the way,
The twain on one errand wending, the tale to a woman to say;
But when at last they were gotten to the house of the holy king,
The henchman amidst of the handmaids his message straight did bring:
"O Queen, thy son beloved is now come home to thee."
And therewithal the swineherd stood anigh Penelope,
And told her all the tidings as her son beloved bade;
And so when he had spoken, and an end of his errand had made,
He turned him aback to his swine, and left the garths and the hall.

But sore troubled were the Wooers, and downcast of heart withal,
And out of the house they wended by the garth-wall high and great,
And thereby adown they sat them and over against the gate,

And amidst them fell to speaking Eurymachus Polybus' son,
"O friends, a deed that is mighty full boldly hath been done;
—Telemachus and his wayfare; and we said it should not be.
So come! a black ship of the goodliest, let us shove adown to the sea,
And gather sea-wont oarsmen, that their swiftest they may wend.
With the message unto our fellows to come home and make an end."
But lo, ere his word was over, the ship Amphinomus saw,
As in his place he turned him, to the deep of the haven draw,
And the folk her sails a-furling and the oars a-handling there;
So laughing very sweetly he spake to his fellows fair:

"Now ye shall not speed the message; for lo they are coming in:
Either some God hath told them, or they a sight did win
Of his ship a-slipping by them, and no meeting might there be."

So he spake; and they rose up and wended adown to the shore of the sea,
And the black ship straight did they beach all high and dry on the shore,
And the high-souled swains of service aland their armour bore,
And they unto the high-place went thronging, and none there

Would they have beside them sitting, whether old or young he were.
But Antinoüs son of Eupeithes amidst them speech began:
"Out on it! how have the godfolk from his evils freed this man!
Daylong on the windy nesses sat the watchers, ever one
Still following on the other; and at setting of the sun
On the land we never rested a night, but sailed the sea,
In our swift ship ever abiding, till the Holy Dawn should be,
Telemachus waylaying, till him we might take and slay:

But some God in meantime took him and led him home away.
But for him a woeful ending henceforth let us compass and speed,
Nor yet let the man escape us; because I deem of our deed

That while this man is living we shall not accomplish it,
Since forsooth he hath understanding of counsel and of wit;
And the people, they no longer be kind to us and sweet.,
Come then, before this youngling shall call on the folk to meet
In the high-place! for I deem not that he shall let it fall,
But will presently rise up in wrath, and tell out his tale before all,
How his utter bane we plotted, though we happed not on his ways;
And when our ill deed they have hearkened, see ye if they deal us praise!

Or rather do us a mischief, and drive us away from our home
And our lands, and unto the people of an alien folk shall we come.
So let us forego him and slay him in the field aloof from the town,
Or on the way: and his chattels and goods shall be our own,
Dealt out by lot amongst us; the while the house and stead

We shall give unto his mother to hold with the man she shall wed.
But if this word nothing like you, and it rather be your will
That he yet shall live and be holding the wealth of his father still,
Then no longer here assembled let us eat as hitherto

His happy wealth, but each man from his own hall let him woo,
And press on with the gifts of wooing; and thereafter let her wed
The man that most gifts giveth and thereto by fate is led."

So he spake; but all they in silence that word of his did take,
Till Amphinomus amidst them took up the word and spake,
The noble son of Nisus, Aretias' son the King,

Who from the isle Dulichium, wheat-rich, grass-flourishing,
Led on the Wooers, and ever most pleased Penelope
With happy words; for gifted of goodly redes was he;
- He then, no goodwill lacking, spake there, and fell to say:
; "Friends, nowise am I willing Telemachus to slay,
For this is a thing most fearful in a kingly house to kill:
So first let us seek to the Gods, and ask of their counsel and will;
And if indeed it pleaseth the doom of Zeus in his might,
L Then forsooth will I hearten you others; yea, and I myself will smite;
But if the Gods turn from it, then you I bid refrain!"

So Amphinomus spake, and the others of the word he spake were fain
And they rose and unto the house of Odysseus did they fare,
And entering, sat them adown on the polished high-seats there.

But Penelope the wise-heart she thought another thought,
To show herself to the Wooers mid their pride unstayed by nought:
For she knew of her own child's slaying that was to be in the stead,
For Medon the henchman had told her, who had heard their counsel said.
And so with her women beside her to the feast-hall did she fare,

Then came that glory of Women amidst the feast-hall there,
And stood up by the door-post of the fair-built high-roofed hall,
And the gleaming coif was she holding before her cheeks withal.
So Antinoüs she chided and spake and named his name:

"Antinoüs, forger of bale, pride-holden, of thee is the fame
That amidst of the Ithacan people thy peers dost thou out-go

In speech-words and in counsel; but nowise is it so.
Fool! why art thou patching up bale and bane for Telemachus then?
And the suppliants nought thou heedest, of whom Zeus bears witness to
And to patch up ill for each other is a thing to men accurst.
Yea, knowest thou not that thy father fled hither a suppliant erst men.

In fear of the folk? since forsooth exceeding wroth they were,
Because with the Taphian sea-thieves the bale of war he bare
Against the folk Thesprotian, with whom as friends we live;
So his slaughter they desired and his heart to rend and rive,
And withal his goods to devour, a rich enduring store;

But as then Odysseus refrained them, for all that they longed for it sore.
And now his house thou eatest in shame, and wooest his wife,
And slayest his son, and bringest great bale upon my life.
Withhold thine hand, I charge thee, and these other men refrain!"

Then Eurymachus Polybus' son to her made answer again:
"O Daughter of Icarius, all-wise Penelope,

Hold up thine heart, and these things, let them not trouble thee!
For the man is not, nor shall be, nor yet may be born in the land,
Who on thy son Telemachus shall ever lay a hand,

At least while I am living and on earth beholding the sun;

And this straight out I tell thee, and verily shall it be done,
That his black blood soon should be running adown my battle-spear,
For the city-waster Odysseus full oft in the days that were

On his knees would set me, and give me into these hands of mine
The roasted flesh, and hold to me the cup of the dark-red wine.
Therefore to me of all men is Telemachus most dear,

And nowise do I bid him of his death to have a fear;
At least from these the Wooers; but God's doom is nought to shun."
- Thuswise her heart was he cheering while he plotted death for her son.

But her ways therewith she wended to her gleaming bower aloft,
And her lord beloved, Odysseus, she wept, till slumber soft
And sweet upon her eyelids Grey-eyed Athene shed.

But a-night unto Odysseus and his son the swineherd sped,
And came thither; and their supper were they deftly dighting there,
Having slain a yearling porker: but Athene drew anear
And stood beside Odysseus, Laertes' very son,
And with her staff did she smite him and his eld withal did on,

And foul raiment she did on his body, lest his face the swineherd should
And should know him for what he was, and unto Penelope
Should hasten to bring the tidings, nor hold it hid in his heart. see,

But Telemachus unto him first spake a word for his part:

"Thou art come, O good Eumæus; what news in the town is told?
Are they yet come in from the ambush, the Wooers over-bold?
Or lie they yet a lurking my goings to waylay?"

Then thou, O swineherd Eumæus, thuswise didst answer and say:
"No matter of mine I deemed it of such things to seek and ask
As I went up toward the city, for my mind had set me the task
In haste to give my message and my way back hither to get:
But thy fellows' swift-foot herald, a speeder of errands, I met,
Who the word unto thy mother before me there did bring.
And another matter I wot of; for mine eyes beheld the thing.
I saw as I was a-wending whereas above the town
The ridge Hermæan lieth, a swift ship coming down
Our haven; and a many the men aboard her were,
And of bucklers was her burden, and good store of the two-tyned spear.
And that will be they, I bethought me.—Yet nought I know at all."
So he spake; and the holy might of Telemachus smiled withal,
And he cast his eyes on his father; but the swineherd's eyes did he shun.
So their meat they dighted, and feasted now all their toil was done,
And nought their souls were lacking of the equal feast and fain;
But when the longing for meat and for drink at last they have slain
Then they of the bed bethink them, and the gift of sleep they gain.