But Odysseus himself left the harbor and ascended a rugged
path, through wooded country along the heights, where Athene
had indicated the noble swineherd, who beyond others
cared for the house properties acquired by noble Odysseus.
5 He found him sitting in front, on the porch, where the lofty enclosure had been built, in a place with a view on all sides, both large and handsome, cleared all about, and it was the swineherd
himself who had built it, to hold the pigs of his absent master,
far from his mistress and from aged Laertes. He made it
10 with stones from the field, and topped it off with shrubbery. Outside he had driven posts in a full circle, to close it on all sides, set close together and thick, the dark of the oak, split out
from the logs. Inside the enclosure he made twelve pig pens
next to each other, for his sows to sleep in, and in each of them
15 fifty pigs who sleep on the ground were confined. These were the breeding females, but the males lay outside, and these were fewer by far, for the godlike suitors kept diminishing
their numbers by eating them, since the swineherd kept having
to send them in the best of all the well-fattened porkers
20 at any time. Now, they numbered three hundred and sixty, and four dogs, who were like wild beasts, forever were lying by them. These the swineherd, leader of men, had raised up
himself. Now he was fitting sandals to his feet, cutting
out a well-colored piece of oxhide. Meanwhile, the other
Odysseus finds Eumaios the swineherd
25 swineherds were out with the herded pigs one place or another, three of them, but the fourth he had sent off to the city to take a pig to the insolent suitors, since they so forced him,
so they could sacrifice it and glut their appetites on it.
Suddenly the wild-baying dogs caught sight of Odysseus.
30 They ran at him with a great outcry, and Odysseus prudently sat down on the ground, and the staff fell out of his hand. But there, beside his own steading, he might have endured a shameful mauling,
but the swineherd, quick and light on his feet, came hurrying to him
across the porch, and let fall from his hand the shoe he was holding.
35 He shouted at the dogs and scared them in every direction with volleyed showers of stones, and spoke then to his own master: ‘Old sir, the dogs were suddenly on you and would have savaged you
badly; so you would have covered me with shame, but already
there are other pains and sorrows the gods have bestowed upon me.
40 For here I sit, mourning and grieving away for a godlike master, and carefully raise his fattened pigs for others to eat, while he, in need of finding some sustenance, wanders
some city or countryside of alien-speaking people;
if he still is alive somewhere and looks on the sunlight.
45 Come, old sir, along to my shelter, so that you also first may be filled to contentment with food and wine, then tell me where you come from, and about the sorrows you have been suffering.’
So spoke the noble swineherd and led the way to the shelter,
and brought him in, and seated him on brushwood piled up
50 beneath, and spread over this the hide of a hairy wild goat from his own bed. This was great and thick, and Odysseus was happy at how he received him, and spoke a word and named him, saying:
‘May Zeus, stranger, and the other gods everlasting grant you
all you desire the most, for you have received me heartily.’
55 Then, O swineherd Eumaios, you said to him in answer: ‘Stranger, I have no right to deny the stranger, not even if one came to me who was meaner than you. All vagabonds
and strangers are under Zeus, and the gift is a light and a dear one
that comes from us, for that is the way of us who are servants
60 and forever filled with fear when they come under power of masters who are new. The gods have stopped the homeward voyage of that one who cared greatly for me, and granted me such possessions
as a good-natured lord grants to the thrall of his house; a home
Hospitality of Eumaios
of his own, and a plot of land, and a wife much sought after,
65 when the man accomplishes much work and god speeds the labor as he has sped for me this labor to which I am given. So my lord would have done much for me if he had grown old here,
but he perished, as I wish Helen's seed could all have perished,
pitched away, for she has unstrung the knees of so many
70 men; for in Agamemnon's cause my master went also to Ilion, land of good horses, there to fight with the Trojans.’
He spoke, and pulled his tunic to with his belt, and went out swiftly to his pig pens where his herds of swine were penned in,
and picked out a pair and brought them in and sacrificed them,
75 and singed them, and cut them into little pieces, and spitted them, then roasted all and brought and set it before Odysseus hot on the spits as it was, and sprinkled white barley over it,
and mixed the wine, as sweet as honey, in a bowl of ivy,
and himself sat down facing him, and urged him on, saying:
80 ‘Eat now, stranger, what we serving men are permitted to eat: young pigs, but the fattened swine are devoured by the suitors, who have no regard for anyone in their minds, no pity.
The blessed gods have no love for a pitiless action,
but rather they reward justice and what men do that is lawful;
85 and though those are hateful and lawless men who land on an alien shore, and Zeus grants them spoil and plunder, when they have loaded their ships with it they set sail away for home, for even
in the minds of these there is stored some fear, which is stronger than
on these there falls strong fear of how they may be regarded.
But the suitors, you see, have heard some god-sent rumor, and they know
90 about the dismal death of our man, and they will not decently make their suit, nor go home to their own houses, but at their ease they forcibly eat up his property, and spare nothing.
For as many as are the nights and the days from Zeus, on not one
of these do they dedicate only a single victim, nor only
95 two, and they violently draw the wine and waste it. See now, he had an endlessly abundant livelihood. Not one of the heroes over on the black mainland had so much, no one
here on Ithaka, no twenty men together had such
quantity of substance as he. I will count it for you.
100 Twelve herds of cattle on the mainland. As many sheepflocks. As many troops of pigs and again as many wide goatflocks,
and his loyalty to Odysseus
and friends over there, and his own herdsmen, pasture them for him.
And here again, at the end of the island, eleven wide flocks
of goats in all are pastured, good men have these in their keeping.
105 And day by day each of these people brings in for the suitors a sheep, and each brings in the fatted goat that seems finest,
and I myself keep watch on these pigs and guard them, and I too
choose with care the best of the pigs, and send it off to them.’
He spoke, and the other ate his meat and drank his wine, quietly,
110 greedily and without speaking, and devised evils for the suitors; but when he had dined, and filled his desire with food, the other
filled the cup in which he was drinking and handed it to him,
all filled with wine, and he received it, and his heart was cheered
and he spoke to him then and addressed him in winged words, saying:
115 ‘Dear friend, who is the man who bought you with his possessions and is so rich and powerful as you tell me? You say
he was one who perished in Agamemnon's cause. Then tell me,
and perhaps I might know him if he was such a man, for Zeus knows
as do the other immortal gods, if I might have seen him
120 and have some report to give you. I have wandered to many places.’
Then the swineherd, leader of men, said to him in answer: ‘Old sir, there is none who could come here, bringing a report
of him, and persuade his wife and his dear son; and yet
there are vain and vagabond men in need of sustenance
125 who tell lies, and are unwilling to give a true story; and any vagrant who makes his way to the land of Ithaka
goes to my mistress and babbles his lies to her, and she then
receives him well and entertains him and asks him everything,
and as she mourns him the tears run down from her eyes, since this is
130 the right way for a wife when her husband is far and perished. So you too, old sir, might spin out a well-made story,
if someone would give you a cloak or tunic to wear for it. But, for
him, the dogs and the flying birds must by now have worried
the skin away from his bones, and the soul has left them; or else
135 the fish have eaten him, out in the great sea, and his bones lie now on the mainland shore with the sand piled deeply upon them.
So he has perished there, and sorrows are made for his dear ones
all hereafter, and me most of all, for never again now
will I find again a lord as kind as he, wherever
140 I go; even if I could come back to my father and mother's
Asked who he is, Odysseus
house, where first I was born, and they raised me when I was little. But I do not so much mourn for this, much though my longing
is to behold them with these eyes and in my own country,
but the longing is on me for Odysseus, and he is gone from me;
145 and even when he is not here, my friend, I feel some modesty about naming him, for in his heart he cared for me greatly
and loved me. So I call him my master, though he is absent.’
Then long-suffering great Odysseus spoke to him in answer:
‘Dear friend, since you are altogether full of denial,
150 you do not think he will come, and your heart is ever untrusting; but I will not speak in the same manner, but on my oath tell you
Odysseus is on his way home. Let me have my reward for good news
then, as soon as he is come back and enters his own house.
Give me fine clothing, a cloak and tunic to wear. Before that,
155 much as I stand in need of these, I will not accept them. For as I detest the doorways of Death I detest that man who
under constraint of poverty babbles beguiling falsehoods.
Zeus be my witness, first of the gods, and the table of friendship,
and the hearth of blameless Odysseus, to which I come as a suppliant,
160 all these things are being accomplished in the way I tell them. Sometime within this very year Odysseus will be here.
Either at the waning of the moon, or at its onset,
he will come home and take his vengeance here upon any
who deprives his wife and his glorious son of their due honor.’
165 Then, O swineherd Eumaios, you said to him in answer: ‘Old sir, I will never pay you that gift for good news, nor will Odysseus come to this house again. Be easy
and drink your wine. We will think of other matters. Do not then
keep on reminding me of this, for the heart within me
170 grieves whenever anyone speaks of my gracious master. So we will let your oath alone, but I hope that Odysseus
will come back, as I wish, and as Penelope wishes,
and Laertes the old man too, and godlike Telemachos.
But now I grieve unforgettingly for Telemachos, the son
175 born to Odysseus. The gods made him grow like a young tree, and I thought he would be among the men one not inferior
to his dear father, admirable for build and beauty;
but some immortal upset the balanced mind within him,
or else it was some man. He went after news of his father
embarks on a false story
180 to Pylos the sacrosanct, and the haughty suitors are lying in wait for him as he comes home, to make Arkeisios’
stock and seed perish all away and be nameless in Ithaka.
Now we will let him be, however, whether they catch him
or whether he escapes and the son of Kronos protects him.
185 But come now, aged sir, recite me the tale of your sorrows, and tell me this too, tell me truly, so that I may know it:
What man are you and whence? Where is your city? Your parents?
What kind of ship did you come here on? And how did the sailors
bring you to Ithaka? What men do they claim that they are?
190 For I do not think you could have traveled on foot to this country.’
Then resourceful Odysseus spoke in turn and answered him: ‘See, I will accurately answer all that you ask me.
I only wish there were food enough for the time, for us two,
and sweet wine for us here inside of the shelter, so that
195 we could feast quietly while others tended the work; then easily I could go on for the whole of a year, and still not
finish the story of my heart's tribulations, all that
hard work I have done in my time, because the gods willed it.
I announce that my origin is from Crete, a spacious
200 land; I am son of a rich man, and there were many other sons who were born to him and reared in his palace. These were
lawful sons by his wife, but a bought woman, a concubine,
was my mother, yet I was favored with the legitimate
sons by Kastor, Hylakos’ son, whom I claim as father,
205 honored among the Cretans in the countryside as a god is, in those days, for wealth and power and glorious children.
But then, you see, the death spirits caught and carried him from us
to the house of Hades, and his overbearing sons divided
the livelihood among them and cast lots for it. Little
210 enough, however, was what they gave me in goods and houses. But I took for myself a wife from people with many possessions,
because of my courage, for I was no contemptible man, not
one who fled from the fighting; but now all that has gone from me,
but still, I think, if you look at the stubble you see what the corn was
215 like when it grew, but since then hardship enough has had me. Ares and Athene endowed me with courage, that power
that breaks men in battle. Whenever I detailed the best fighters
to go into ambush, planning evil things for the enemy,
Odysseus claims to be a veteran of Troy
the proud heart in me had no image of death before it,
220 but far the first I would leap out and with my spear bring down that enemy man whose speed of foot failed him against me.
Such was I in the fighting; but labor was never dear to me,
nor care for my house, though that is what raises glorious children;
but ships that are driven on by oars were dear to me always,
225 and the wars, and throwing spears with polished hafts, and the arrows, gloomy things, which to other men are terrible, and yet
those things were dear to me which surely some god had put there
in my heart, for different men take joy in different actions.
Before the sons of the Achaians embarked for Troy, I was
230 nine times a leader of men and went in fast-faring vessels against outland men, and much substance came my way, and from this
I took out an abundance of things, but much I allotted
again, and soon my house grew greater, and from that time on
I went among the Cretans as one feared and respected.
235 But when Zeus of the wide brows devised for us that hateful expedition, which unstrung the knees of so many
men, they were urgent upon me and renowned Idomeneus
to lead with the ships to Ilion, and there was no remedy,
nor any refusing, for the hard speech of the people constrained us.
240 Then for nine years we sons of the Achaians fought there, and in the tenth we sacked the city of Priam, and went back
homeward with our ships, and the god scattered the Achaians.
But for wretched me Zeus of the counsels devised more hardships;
one month only I stayed, taking pleasure in my children
245 and my wedded wife and my possessions, but then the spirit within me urged me to make an expedition to Egypt
with ships well appointed and with my godlike companions.
I appointed nine ships, and rapidly the people were gathered,
and for six days then my eager companions continued
250 feasting, but I provided them with abundant victims for sacrifice to the gods, and for themselves to make ready
their feast. On the seventh day we went aboard and from wide Crete
sailed on a North Wind that was favorable and fair. It was
easy, like sailing downstream, so that never a single
255 one of my ships was hurt, and we, unharmed, without sickness, sat still, and let the wind and the steersmen hold them steady.
On the fifth day we reached the abundant stream Aigyptos,
who came to grief in Egypt
and I stayed my oarswept ships inside the Aigyptos River.
Then I urged my eager companions to stay where they were, there
260 close to the fleet, and to guard the ships, and was urgent with them to send look-outs to the watching places; but they, following
their own impulse, and giving way to marauding violence,
suddenly began plundering the Egyptians’ beautiful
fields, and carried off the women and innocent children,
265 and killed the men, and soon the outcry came to the city. They heard the shouting, and at the time when dawn shows, they came
on us, and all the plain was filled with horses and infantry
and the glare of bronze, and Zeus who delights in thunder flung down
a foul panic among my companions, and none was so hardy
270 as to stand and fight, for the evils stood in a circle around them. There they killed many of us with the sharp bronze, and others
they led away alive, to work for them in forced labor;
but Zeus himself put this thought into my mind, as I will
tell you, but how I wish I had died and met my destiny
275 there in Egypt, for there was still more sorrow awaiting me. At once I put the well-wrought helm from my head, the great shield
off my shoulders, and from my hand I let the spear drop,
and went out into the way of the king and up to his chariot,
and kissed his knees and clasped them; he rescued me and took pity
280 and seated me in his chariot and took me, weeping, homeward with him; and indeed many swept in on me with ash spears
straining to kill me, for they were all too angered, but the king
held them off from me, and honored the anger of Zeus Protector
of Strangers, who beyond others is outraged at evil dealings.
285 There for seven years I stayed and gathered together much substance from the men of Egypt, for all gave to me;
but when in the turning of time the eighth year had befallen me,
then there came a Phoenician man, well skilled in beguilements,
a gnawer at others’ goods, and many were the hurts he inflicted
290 on men, and by his wits talked me over, so I went with him to Phoenicia, where lay this man's house and possessions.
There for the fulfillment of a year I stayed with him,
but when the months and when the days had come to completion,
with the circling back of the year again, and the seasons came on,
295 then he took me on his seafaring ship to Libya, with lying advices, that with him we could win a cargo, but in fact
He claims to have bad news
so he could sell me there and take the immense price for me.
I went with him on his ship, forced to, although I suspected
all, on a North Wind that was favorable and fair, above
300 the middle of Crete, but Zeus was plotting these men's destruction. But after we had left Crete behind us, and there was no more
land in sight, but only the sky and the sea, then Kronian
Zeus drew on a blue-black cloud, and settled it over
the hollow ship, and the open sea was darkened beneath it.
305 Zeus with thunder and lightning together crashed on our vessel, and, struck by the thunderbolt of Zeus, she spun in a circle,
and all was full of brimstone. The men were thrown in the water,
and bobbing like sea crows they were washed away on the running
waves all around the black ship, and the god took away their homecoming.
310 But Zeus himself, though I had pain in my heart, then put into my hands the giant mast of the ship with dark prows,
so that I still could escape the evil, and I embracing
this was swept along before the destructive stormwinds.
Nine days I was swept along, and on the tenth, in black night,
315 the great wave rolling washed me up on the shore of Thesprotia. There the king of the Thesprotians, the hero Pheidon,
looked after me without price, for his own dear son had come on me
when I was beaten by weariness and cold air, and lifted me
up by the hands, and led me home to the house of his father,
320 and put a mantle and tunic about me to wear as clothing. It was there I had word of Odysseus, for this king told me
he had feasted and friended him on his way back to his own country;
and he showed me all the possessions gathered in by Odysseus,
bronze and gold and difficulty wrought iron. Truly,
325 that would feed a succession of heirs to the tenth generation, such are the treasures stored for him in the house of the great king.
But he said Odysseus had gone to Dodona, to listen
to the will of Zeus, out of the holy deep-leaved oak tree,
for how he could come back to the rich countryside of Ithaka,
330 in secret or openly, having been by now long absent. And he swore to me in my presence, as he poured out a libation
in his house, that the ship was drawn down to the sea and the crew were ready
to carry Odysseus back again to his own dear country;
but before that he sent me off, for a ship of Thesprotian
of Odysseus on his way home
335 men happened then to be sailing for Doulichion, rich in wheatfields; so he urged them to convey me there to the king Akastos,
in a proper way, but their hearts were taken with a bad counsel
concerning me, so I still should have the pain of affliction.
So when the seafaring ship had gone far out from the mainland,
340 they presently devised the day of slavery for me. They took off me the mantle and tunic I wore as clothing,
and then they put another vile rag on me, and a tunic,
tattered, the one you yourself see with your eyes. At evening
time they made their way off the fields of sunny Ithaka,
345 and there they tied me fast in the strong-benched ship, with a rope's end twisted and tightly about me, and themselves disembarking
speedily took their evening meal on the sand of the seashore.
But the very gods themselves untied the knots that were on me
easily, and I, wrapping my head in a rag, climbed down
350 the polished plank that was there for loading, and let my chest into the sea, then struck out with both my arms, and thus swimming
I very soon was out of the water and close to where they were.
Then I went up, where there was a growth of flowering thicket,
and lay there, cowering; they with outcry great and sorrowful
355 came back to search, but then it seemed there was no more profit in looking for me any longer, and so they went back, boarding
their hollow ship again; but it was the gods who concealed me
easily, and it was they who brought me here to the steading
of an understanding man. So now, life is still my portion.’
360 Then, O swineherd Eumaios, you said to him in answer: ‘O sorrowful stranger, truly you troubled the spirit in me, by telling me all these details, how you suffered and wandered;
yet I think some part is in no true order, and you will not persuade me
in your talk about Odysseus. Why should such a man as you are
365 lie recklessly to me? But I myself know the whole truth of what my lord's homecoming is, how all the gods hated him
so much that they did not make him go down in the land of the Trojans,
nor in the arms of his friends, after he had wound up the fighting.
So all the Achaians would have heaped a grave mound over him,
370 and he would have won great fame for himself and his son hereafter. But now ingloriously the stormwinds have caught and carried him.
But I keep away and with my pigs, and I do not go now
to the city, unless circumspect Penelope for some reason
Eumaios is skeptical
asks me to go, when word comes in from one place or another;
375 and there are those who sit beside me and question me over particulars, whether they are grieving for a lord long absent,
or are happy at eating up his substance without recompense.
But I have no liking for this inquiry and asking of questions,
since that time an Aitolian man beguiled me by telling
380 a story. This one had killed a man and wandered over much country. He came to my house and I entertained him fondly.
He said he had seen him with Idomeneus, among the Cretan
men, repairing his ships, for the stormwinds had smashed them,
and he said he would be coming back, in the summer or autumn,
385 bringing in many possessions, and with his godlike companions. You too, old man of many sorrows, since the spirit brought you
here to me, do not try to please me nor spell me with lying
words. It is not for that I will entertain and befriend you,
but for fear of Zeus, the god of guests, and for my own pity.’
390 Then resourceful Odysseus spoke in turn and answered him: ‘Truly, the mind in you is something very suspicious. Not even with an oath can I bring you round, nor persuade you.
Come now, we two shall make an agreement, and for the future
the gods who hold Olympos shall be witnesses to both sides.
395 As your lord makes his homecoming into his palace here, you shall give me a tunic and mantle to wear, and send me
on my way to Doulichion, where my heart has been desiring
to go; but if your lord never comes in the way I tell you
he will, set your serving men on me, and throw me over a high cliff,
400 so the next vagabond will be careful, and not lie to you.’
Then in turn the glorious swineherd spoke to him in answer: ‘That would be virtuous of me, my friend, and good reputation
would be mine among men, for present time alike and hereafter,
if first I led you into my shelter, there entertained you
405 as guest, then murdered you and ravished the dear life from you. Then cheerfully I could go and pray to Zeus, son of Kronos.
But now it is time for our dinner, and I hope my companions come in
soon, so we can prepare a good dinner here in my shelter.’
So these two remained conversing this way together,
410 and the sows came up, and with them came the men who were swineherds, and they penned the sows for the night inside their accustomed places,
but entertains him well
and an endless clamor went up from the crowding swine. Thereafter
the glorious swineherd gave the word to his own companions:
‘Bring in the best of the pigs, to sacrifice for our stranger
415 guest from afar, and we ourselves shall enjoy it, we who long have endured this wretched work for the pigs with shining
teeth, while others at no cost eat up what we have worked on.’
So he spoke, and with the pitiless bronze split kindling,
and the men brought in a pig, five years old and a very fat one,
420 and made it stand in front of the fireplace, nor did the swineherd forget the immortal gods, for he had the uses of virtue;
but he cut off hairs from the head of the white-toothed pig, and threw them
into the fire as dedication, and prayed to all the gods
that Odysseus of the many designs should have his homecoming.
425 He hit the beast with a split of oak that he had lying by him. The breath went out of the pig; then they slaughtered him and singed him,
then jointed the carcass, and the swineherd laid pieces of raw meat
with offerings from all over the body upon the thick fat,
and sprinkled these with meal of barley and threw them in the fire, then
430 they cut all the remainder into pieces and spitted them, and roasted all carefully and took off the pieces,
and laid it all together on platters. The swineherd
stood up to divide the portions, for he was fair minded,
and separated all the meat into seven portions.
435 One he set aside, with a prayer, for the nymphs and Hermes, the son of Maia, and the rest he distributed to each man,
but gave Odysseus in honor the long cuts of the chine's portion
of the white-toothed pig, and so exalted the heart of his master.
Then resourceful Odysseus spoke to him and addressed him:
440 ‘I wish, Eumaios, you could be as dear to our father Zeus as to me, when I am so poor, but you grace me with good things.’
Then, O swineherd Eumaios, you said to him in answer:
‘Eat, my guest, strange man that you are, and take your pleasure
of what is here now; the god will give you such, or will let it
445 be, as in his own mind he may wish. He can do anything.’
He spoke, and sacrificed first-offerings to the immortal gods, then poured bright wine for Odysseus, sacker of cities,
and put the cup in his hands, and sat down to his own portion.
Odysseus hints for a mantle
Mesaulios served the bread to them, a man whom the swineherd
450 owned himself by himself and apart from his absent master, and independently of his mistress and aged Laertes,
having bought him from the Taphians with his own possessions.
They put forth their hands to the good things that lay ready before them.
But when they had put away their desire for eating and drinking,
455 Mesaulios took the food away again, and they made haste to go to bed, filled with bread and meat to repletion.
A bad night came on, the dark of the moon, and Zeus rained
all night long, and the West Wind blew big, always watery.
Odysseus spoke among them. He was trying it out on the swineherd,
460 to see if he might take off his mantle and give it him, or tell one of his men to do it, since he cared for him so greatly:
‘Hear me now, Eumaios and all you other companions.
What I say will be a bit of boasting. The mad wine tells me
to do it. Wine sets even a thoughtful man to singing,
465 or sets him into softly laughing, sets him to dancing. Sometimes it tosses out a word that was better unspoken.
But now I have broken into loud speech I will not suppress it.
I wish I were young again and the strength still steady within me,
as when, under Troy, we formed an ambush detail and led it.
470 The leaders were Odysseus and Atreus’ son, Menelaos, and I made a third leader with them, since they themselves asked me.
But when we had come underneath the city and the steep wall,
we, all about the city in marshy ground and the dense growth
of swamp grass and the reeds, and huddling under our armor,
475 lay there, and a bad night came on with a rush of the North Wind freezing, and from above came a fall of snow, chilling
like frost, and on the shields’ edges the ice formed, rimming them.
There all the other men were wearing both mantles and tunics,
and they slept at ease, pulling their great shields over their shoulders,
480 but I, in my carelessness when I started with my companions, had left my mantle; I never thought I would be so cold,
but went along with only my shield and my shining waist guard.
But when it was the third time of the night and after the star change,
then I spoke to Odysseus, for he was lying next me,
485 nudging him with my elbow, and he listened at once. I said: “Son of Laertes and seed of Zeus, resourceful Odysseus,
I shall no longer be left among the living. The weather
by telling a yarn about Troy
is too much for me. I have no mantle. The spirit made me
silly, to go half-dressed, and now there is no escape for me.”
490 So I spoke, and he immediately had an idea in his mind, such a man he was for counseling, as for fighting.
He spoke to me in a little voice and said a word to me:
“Be quiet now, let no other of the Achaians hear you.”
Then he propped his head on his elbow and spoke a word, out loud:
495 “Hear me, friends. In my sleep a divine dream came to me. We have come too far away from the ships. Now, would there be someone
to tell Agamemnon, Atreus’ son, shepherd of the people,
so he might send more of the men by the ships to come here to us?”
So he spoke, and Thoas sprang up, the son of Andraimon,
500 quickly, and took off and laid aside his red mantle, and went on the run for the ships, and I lay down in his clothes,
happily, and rested until Dawn of the golden throne came.
I wish I were young like that and the strength still steady within me.
Some one of the swineherds in this house would give me a mantle,
505 both for love and out of respect for a strong warrior. Now they slight me because I wear vile clothing upon me.’
Then, O swineherd Eumaios, you said to him in answer:
‘Old sir, that was a blameless fable the way you told it;
and you have made no unprofitable speech, nor one that
510 missed the point, so you shall not lack for clothes, nor anything rightfully due the unhappy suppliant who approaches us.
For now, that is. You must flaunt your rags again in the morning.
There are not many extra mantles and extra tunics
here to change into. There is only one set for each man.
515 When, however, the dear son of Odysseus comes back, he will give you a mantle and tunic to wear as clothing,
and send you wherever your heart and spirit desire to be sent.’
So he spoke, and sprang up, and laid a bed for him next to
the fire, and threw the fleeces of sheep and goats over it.
520 There Odysseus lay down, and he threw over him a mantle that was great and thick, which he kept by him as an extra covering
to wrap in when winter weather came on and was too rigorous.
So there Odysseus went to bed and the young men beside him
lay down also to go to sleep. Only the swineherd
525 did not please to leave his pigs, and go to bed indoors,
Eumaios sleeps with the pigs
but made preparations as he went out; and Odysseus was happy that his livelihood was so well cared for while he was absent.
First the swineherd slung his sharp sword on his heavy shoulders,
and put a very thick mantle about him, to keep the wind out,
530 and took up also the hairy skin of a great, well-conditioned goat, and took up a sharp javelin as a protection
against men and dogs, and went to sleep where his pigs, with shining
teeth, lay in the hollow of a rock, sheltered from the North Wind.