seer, who was flying from Argos because he had killed a man. He wasdescended from Melampus, who used to live in Pylos, the land of sheep;he was rich and owned a great house, but he was driven into exile bythe great and powerful king Neleus. Neleus seized his goods and heldthem for a whole year, during which he was a close prisoner in thehouse of king Phylacus, and in much distress of mind both on accountof the daughter of Neleus and because he was haunted by a great sorrowthat dread Erinyes had laid upon him. In the end, however, heescaped with his life, drove the cattle from Phylace to Pylos, avengedthe wrong that had been done him, and gave the daughter of Neleus tohis brother. Then he left the country and went to Argos, where itwas ordained that he should reign over much people. There hemarried, established himself, and had two famous sons Antiphates andMantius. Antiphates became father of Oicleus, and Oicleus ofAmphiaraus, who was dearly loved both by Jove and by Apollo, but hedid not live to old age, for he was killed in Thebes by reason of awoman's gifts. His sons were Alcmaeon and Amphilochus. Mantius, theother son of Melampus, was father to Polypheides and Cleitus.Aurora, throned in gold, carried off Cleitus for his beauty's sake,that he might dwell among the immortals, but Apollo made Polypheidesthe greatest seer in the whole world now that Amphiaraus was dead.He quarrelled with his father and went to live in Hyperesia, wherehe remained and prophesied for all men.His son, Theoclymenus, it was who now came up to Telemachus as hewas making drink-offerings and praying in his ship. "Friend'" said he,"now that I find you sacrificing in this place, I beseech you byyour sacrifices themselves, and by the god to whom you make them, Ipray you also by your own head and by those of your followers, tell methe truth and nothing but the truth. Who and whence are you? Tell mealso of your town and parents."Telemachus said, "I will answer you quite truly. I am from Ithaca,and my father is 'Ulysses, as surely as that he ever lived. But he hascome to some miserable end. Therefore I have taken this ship and gotmy crew together to see if I can hear any news of him, for he has beenaway a long time.""I too," answered Theoclymenus, am an exile, for I have killed a manof my own race. He has many brothers and kinsmen in Argos, and theyhave great power among the Argives. I am flying to escape death attheir hands, and am thus doomed to be a wanderer on the face of theearth. I am your suppliant; take me, therefore, on board your shipthat they may not kill me, for I know they are in pursuit.""I will not refuse you," replied Telemachus, "if you wish to joinus. Come, therefore, and in Ithaca we will treat you hospitablyaccording to what we have."On this he received Theoclymenus' spear and laid it down on the deckof the ship. He went on board and sat in the stern, biddingTheoclymenus sit beside him; then the men let go the hawsers.Telemachus told them to catch hold of the ropes, and they made allhaste to do so. They set the mast in its socket in the cross plank,raised it and made it fast with the forestays, and they hoistedtheir white sails with sheets of twisted ox hide. Minerva sent thema fair wind that blew fresh and strong to take the ship on hercourse as fast as possible. Thus then they passed by Crouni andChalcis.Presently the sun set and darkness was over all the land. The vesselmade a quick pass sage to Pheae and thence on to Elis, where theEpeans rule. Telemachus then headed her for the flying islands,wondering within himself whether he should escape death or should betaken prisoner.Meanwhile Ulysses and the swineherd were eating their supper inthe hut, and the men supped with them. As soon as they had had toeat and drink, Ulysses began trying to prove the swineherd and seewhether he would continue to treat him kindly, and ask him to stayon at the station or pack him off to the city; so he said:"Eumaeus, and all of you, to-morrow I want to go away and beginbegging about the town, so as to be no more trouble to you or toyour men. Give me your advice therefore, and let me have a goodguide to go with me and show me the way. I will go the round of thecity begging as I needs must, to see if any one will give me a drinkand a piece of bread. I should like also to go to the house of Ulyssesand bring news of her husband to queen Penelope. I could then go aboutamong the suitors and see if out of all their abundance they will giveme a dinner. I should soon make them an excellent servant in all sortsof ways. Listen and believe when I tell you that by the blessing ofMercury who gives grace and good name to the works of all men, thereis no one living who would make a more handy servant than I should- toput fresh wood on the fire, chop fuel, carve, cook, pour out wine, anddo all those services that poor men have to do for their betters."The swineherd was very much disturbed when he heard this. "Heavenhelp me," he exclaimed, "what ever can have put such a notion asthat into your head? If you go near the suitors you will be undoneto a certainty, for their pride and insolence reach the veryheavens. They would never think of taking a man like you for aservant. Their servants are all young men, well dressed, wearinggood cloaks and shirts, with well looking faces and their hairalways tidy, the tables are kept quite clean and are loaded withbread, meat, and wine. Stay where you are, then; you are not inanybody's way; I do not mind your being here, no more do any of theothers, and when Telemachus comes home he will give you a shirt andcloak and will send you wherever you want to go."Ulysses answered, "I hope you may be as dear to the gods as youare to me, for having saved me from going about and getting intotrouble; there is nothing worse than being always ways on the tramp;still, when men have once got low down in the world they will gothrough a great deal on behalf of their miserable bellies. Sincehowever you press me to stay here and await the return ofTelemachus, tell about Ulysses' mother, and his father whom he left onthe threshold of old age when he set out for Troy. Are they stillliving or are they already dead and in the house of Hades?""I will tell you all about them," replied Eumaeus, "Laertes is stillliving and prays heaven to let him depart peacefully his own house,for he is terribly distressed about the absence of his son, and alsoabout the death of his wife, which grieved him greatly and aged himmore than anything else did. She came to an unhappy end through sorrowfor her son: may no friend or neighbour who has dealt kindly by mecome to such an end as she did. As long as she was still living,though she was always grieving, I used to like seeing her and askingher how she did, for she brought me up along with her daughterCtimene, the youngest of her children; we were boy and girltogether, and she made little difference between us. When, however, weboth grew up, they sent Ctimene to Same and received a splendiddowry for her. As for me, my mistress gave me a good shirt and cloakwith a pair of sandals for my feet, and sent me off into thecountry, but she was just as fond of me as ever. This is all over now.Still it has pleased heaven to prosper my work in the situationwhich I now hold. I have enough to eat and drink, and can findsomething for any respectable stranger who comes here; but there is nogetting a kind word or deed out of my mistress, for the house hasfallen into the hands of wicked people. Servants want sometimes to seetheir mistress and have a talk with her; they like to have somethingto eat and drink at the house, and something too to take back withthem into the country. This is what will keep servants in a goodhumour."Ulysses answered, "Then you must have been a very little fellow,Eumaeus, when you were taken so far away from your home and parents.Tell me, and tell me true, was the city in which your father andmother lived sacked and pillaged, or did some enemies carry you offwhen you were alone tending sheep or cattle, ship you off here, andsell you for whatever your master gave them?""Stranger," replied Eumaeus, "as regards your question: sit still,make yourself comfortable, drink your wine, and listen to me. Thenights are now at their longest; there is plenty of time both forsleeping and sitting up talking together; you ought not to go to bedtill bed time, too much sleep is as bad as too little; if any one ofthe others wishes to go to bed let him leave us and do so; he can thentake my master's pigs out when he has done breakfast in the morning.We two will sit here eating and drinking in the hut, and telling oneanother stories about our misfortunes; for when a man has sufferedmuch, and been buffeted about in the world, he takes pleasure inrecalling the memory of sorrows that have long gone by. As regardsyour question, then, my tale is as follows:"You may have heard of an island called Syra that lies over aboveOrtygia, where the land begins to turn round and look in anotherdirection. It is not very thickly peopled, but the soil is good,with much pasture fit for cattle and sheep, and it abounds with wineand wheat. Dearth never comes there, nor are the people plagued by anysickness, but when they grow old Apollo comes with Diana and killsthem with his painless shafts. It contains two communities, and thewhole country is divided between these two. My father Ctesius son ofOrmenus, a man comparable to the gods, reigned over both."Now to this place there came some cunning traders from Phoenicia(for the Phoenicians are great mariners) in a ship which they hadfreighted with gewgaws of all kinds. There happened to be a Phoenicianwoman in my father's house, very tall and comely, and an excellentservant; these scoundrels got hold of her one day when she was washingnear their ship, seduced her, and cajoled her in ways that no womancan resist, no matter how good she may be by nature. The man who hadseduced her asked her who she was and where she came from, and onthis she told him her father's name. 'I come from Sidon,' said she,'and am daughter to Arybas, a man rolling in wealth. One day as Iwas coming into the town from the country some Taphian piratesseized me and took me here over the sea, where they sold me to the manwho owns this house, and he gave them their price for me.'"The man who had seduced her then said, 'Would you like to comealong with us to see the house of your parents and your parentsthemselves? They are both alive and are said to be well off.'"'I will do so gladly,' answered she, 'if you men will first swearme a solemn oath that you will do me no harm by the way.'"They all swore as she told them, and when they had completedtheir oath the woman said, 'Hush; and if any of your men meets me inthe street or at the well, do not let him speak to me, for fear someone should go and tell my master, in which case he would suspectsomething. He would put me in prison, and would have all of youmurdered; keep your own counsel therefore; buy your merchandise asfast as you can, and send me word when you have done loading. I willbring as much gold as I can lay my hands on, and there is somethingelse also that I can do towards paying my fare. I am nurse to theson of the good man of the house, a funny little fellow just able torun about. I will carry him off in your ship, and you will get a greatdeal of money for him if you take him and sell him in foreign parts.'"On this she went back to the house. The Phoenicians stayed awhole year till they had loaded their ship with much preciousmerchandise, and then, when they had got freight enough, they sentto tell the woman. Their messenger, a very cunning fellow, came tomy father's house bringing a necklace of gold with amber beadsstrung among it; and while my mother and the servants had it intheir hands admiring it and bargaining about it, he made a signquietly to the woman and then went back to the ship, whereon shetook me by the hand and led me out of the house. In the fore part ofthe house she saw the tables set with the cups of guests who hadbeen feasting with my father, as being in attendance on him; thesewere now all gone to a meeting of the public assembly, so she snatchedup three cups and carried them off in the bosom of her dress, whileI followed her, for I knew no better. The sun was now set, and