swineherd was at that moment cutting out a pair of sandals from a goodstout ox hide. Three of his men were out herding the pigs in one placeor another, and he had sent the fourth to town with a boar that he hadbeen forced to send the suitors that they might sacrifice it andhave their fill of meat.When the hounds saw Ulysses they set up a furious barking and flewat him, but Ulysses was cunning enough to sit down and loose hishold of the stick that he had in his hand: still, he would have beentorn by them in his own homestead had not the swineherd dropped his oxhide, rushed full speed through the gate of the yard and driven thedogs off by shouting and throwing stones at them. Then he said toUlysses, "Old man, the dogs were likely to have made short work ofyou, and then you would have got me into trouble. The gods havegiven me quite enough worries without that, for I have lost the bestof masters, and am in continual grief on his account. I have to attendswine for other people to eat, while he, if he yet lives to see thelight of day, is starving in some distant land. But come inside, andwhen you have had your fill of bread and wine, tell me where youcome from, and all about your misfortunes."On this the swineherd led the way into the hut and bade him sitdown. He strewed a good thick bed of rushes upon the floor, and on thetop of this he threw the shaggy chamois skin- a great thick one- onwhich he used to sleep by night. Ulysses was pleased at being madethus welcome, and said "May Jove, sir, and the rest of the godsgrant you your heart's desire in return for the kind way in whichyou have received me."To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaeus, "Stranger, though a stillpoorer man should come here, it would not be right for me to insulthim, for all strangers and beggars are from Jove. You must take whatyou can get and be thankful, for servants live in fear when theyhave young lords for their masters; and this is my misfortune now, forheaven has hindered the return of him who would have been alwaysgood to me and given me something of my own- a house, a piece of land,a good looking wife, and all else that a liberal master allows aservant who has worked hard for him, and whose labour the gods haveprospered as they have mine in the situation which I hold. If mymaster had grown old here he would have done great things by me, buthe is gone, and I wish that Helen's whole race were utterly destroyed,for she has been the death of many a good man. It was this matter thattook my master to Ilius, the land of noble steeds, to fight theTrojans in the cause of kin Agamemnon."As he spoke he bound his girdle round him and went to the stieswhere the young sucking pigs were penned. He picked out two which hebrought back with him and sacrificed. He singed them, cut them up, andspitted on them; when the meat was cooked he brought it all in and setit before Ulysses, hot and still on the spit, whereon Ulyssessprinkled it over with white barley meal. The swineherd then mixedwine in a bowl of ivy-wood, and taking a seat opposite Ulysses toldhim to begin."Fall to, stranger," said he, "on a dish of servant's pork. Thefat pigs have to go to the suitors, who eat them up without shame orscruple; but the blessed gods love not such shameful doings, andrespect those who do what is lawful and right. Even the fiercefree-booters who go raiding on other people's land, and Jove givesthem their spoil- even they, when they have filled their ships and gothome again live conscience-stricken, and look fearfully for judgement;but some god seems to have told these people that Ulysses is deadand gone; they will not, therefore, go back to their own homes andmake their offers of marriage in the usual way, but waste his estateby force, without fear or stint. Not a day or night comes out ofheaven, but they sacrifice not one victim nor two only, and theytake the run of his wine, for he was exceedingly rich. No othergreat man either in Ithaca or on the mainland is as rich as he was; hehad as much as twenty men put together. I will tell you what he had.There are twelve herds of cattle upon the mainland, and as many flocksof sheep, there are also twelve droves of pigs, while his own menand hired strangers feed him twelve widely spreading herds of goats.Here in Ithaca he runs even large flocks of goats on the far end ofthe island, and they are in the charge of excellent goatherds. Eachone of these sends the suitors the best goat in the flock every day.As for myself, I am in charge of the pigs that you see here, and Ihave to keep picking out the best I have and sending it to them."This was his story, but Ulysses went on eating and drinkingravenously without a word, brooding his revenge. When he had eatenenough and was satisfied, the swineherd took the bowl from which heusually drank, filled it with wine, and gave it to Ulysses, who waspleased, and said as he took it in his hands, "My friend, who was thismaster of yours that bought you and paid for you, so rich and sopowerful as you tell me? You say he perished in the cause of KingAgamemnon; tell me who he was, in case I may have met with such aperson. Jove and the other gods know, but I may be able to give younews of him, for I have travelled much."Eumaeus answered, "Old man, no traveller who comes here with newswill get Ulysses' wife and son to believe his story. Nevertheless,tramps in want of a lodging keep coming with their mouths full oflies, and not a word of truth; every one who finds his way to Ithacagoes to my mistress and tells her falsehoods, whereon she takes themin, makes much of them, and asks them all manner of questions,crying all the time as women will when they have lost theirhusbands. And you too, old man, for a shirt and a cloak woulddoubtless make up a very pretty story. But the wolves and birds ofprey have long since torn Ulysses to pieces, or the fishes of thesea have eaten him, and his bones are lying buried deep in sand uponsome foreign shore; he is dead and gone, and a bad business it isfor all his friends- for me especially; go where I may I shall neverfind so good a master, not even if I were to go home to my motherand father where I was bred and born. I do not so much care,however, about my parents now, though I should dearly like to see themagain in my own country; it is the loss of Ulysses that grieves memost; I cannot speak of him without reverence though he is here nolonger, for he was very fond of me, and took such care of me thatwhereever he may be I shall always honour his memory.""My friend," replied Ulysses, "you are very positive, and veryhard of belief about your master's coming home again, nevertheless Iwill not merely say, but will swear, that he is coming. Do not give meanything for my news till he has actually come, you may then give me ashirt and cloak of good wear if you will. I am in great want, but Iwill not take anything at all till then, for I hate a man, even as Ihate hell fire, who lets his poverty tempt him into lying. I swearby king Jove, by the rites of hospitality, and by that hearth ofUlysses to which I have now come, that all will surely happen as Ihave said it will. Ulysses will return in this self same year; withthe end of this moon and the beginning of the next he will be hereto do vengeance on all those who are ill treating his wife and son."To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaeus, "Old man, you willneither get paid for bringing good news, nor will Ulysses ever comehome; drink you wine in peace, and let us talk about something else.Do not keep on reminding me of all this; it always pains me when anyone speaks about my honoured master. As for your oath we will let italone, but I only wish he may come, as do Penelope, his old fatherLaertes, and his son Telemachus. I am terribly unhappy too aboutthis same boy of his; he was running up fast into manhood, and badefare to be no worse man, face and figure, than his father, but someone, either god or man, has been unsettling his mind, so he has goneoff to Pylos to try and get news of his father, and the suitors arelying in wait for him as he is coming home, in the hope of leaving thehouse of Arceisius without a name in Ithaca. But let us say no moreabout him, and leave him to be taken, or else to escape if the sonof Saturn holds his hand over him to protect him. And now, old man,tell me your own story; tell me also, for I want to know, who youare and where you come from. Tell me of your town and parents, whatmanner of ship you came in, how crew brought you to Ithaca, and fromwhat country they professed to come- for you cannot have come byland."And Ulysses answered, "I will tell you all about it. If there weremeat and wine enough, and we could stay here in the hut with nothingto do but to eat and drink while the others go to their work, Icould easily talk on for a whole twelve months without everfinishing the story of the sorrows with which it has pleased heaven tovisit me."I am by birth a Cretan; my father was a well-to-do man, who hadmany sons born in marriage, whereas I was the son of a slave whom hehad purchased for a concubine; nevertheless, my father Castor son ofHylax (whose lineage I claim, and who was held in the highest honouramong the Cretans for his wealth, prosperity, and the valour of hissons) put me on the same level with my brothers who had been born inwedlock. When, however, death took him to the house of Hades, his sonsdivided his estate and cast lots for their shares, but to me they gavea holding and little else; nevertheless, my valour enabled me to marryinto a rich family, for I was not given to bragging, or shirking onthe field of battle. It is all over now; still, if you look at thestraw you can see what the ear was, for I have had trouble enoughand to spare. Mars and Minerva made me doughty in war; when I hadpicked my men to surprise the enemy with an ambuscade I never gavedeath so much as a thought, but was the first to leap forward andspear all whom I could overtake. Such was I in battle, but I did notcare about farm work, nor the frugal home life of those who wouldbring up children. My delight was in ships, fighting, javelins, andarrows- things that most men shudder to think of; but one man likesone thing and another another, and this was what I was mostnaturally inclined to. Before the Achaeans went to Troy, nine timeswas I in command of men and ships on foreign service, and I amassedmuch wealth. I had my pick of the spoil in the first instance, andmuch more was allotted to me later on."My house grew apace and I became a great man among the Cretans, butwhen Jove counselled that terrible expedition, in which so manyperished, the people required me and Idomeneus to lead their shipsto Troy, and there was no way out of it, for they insisted on ourdoing so. There we fought for nine whole years, but in the tenth wesacked the city of Priam and sailed home again as heaven dispersed us.Then it was that Jove devised evil against me. I spent but one monthhappily with my children, wife, and property, and then I conceived theidea of making a descent on Egypt, so I fitted out a fine fleet andmanned it. I had nine ships, and the people flocked to fill them.For six days I and my men made feast, and I found them many victimsboth for sacrifice to the gods and for themselves, but on theseventh day we went on board and set sail from Crete with a fair Northwind behind us though we were going down a river. Nothing went illwith any of our ships, and we had no sickness on board, but satwhere we were and let the ships go as the wind and steersmen tookthem. On the fifth day we reached the river Aegyptus; there Istationed my ships in the river, bidding my men stay by them andkeep guard over them while I sent out scouts to reconnoitre from everypoint of vantage."But the men disobeyed my orders, took to their own devices, andravaged the land of the Egyptians, killing the men, and taking theirwives and children captive. The alarm was soon carried to the city,and when they heard the war cry, the people came out at daybreaktill the plain was filled with horsemen and foot soldiers and with thegleam of armour. Then Jove spread panic among my men, and they wouldno longer face the enemy, for they found themselves surrounded. The