now broad day; it will be night again directly and then you willfind it colder.""I know, and understand you," replied Ulysses; "you need say nomore. Let us be going, but if you have a stick ready cut, let mehave it to walk with, for you say the road is a very rough one."As he spoke he threw his shabby old tattered wallet over hisshoulders, by the cord from which it hung, and Eumaeus gave him astick to his liking. The two then started, leaving the station incharge of the dogs and herdsmen who remained behind; the swineherd ledthe way and his master followed after, looking like some broken-downold tramp as he leaned upon his staff, and his clothes were all inrags. When they had got over the rough steep ground and were nearingthe city, they reached the fountain from which the citizens drew theirwater. This had been made by Ithacus, Neritus, and Polyctor. There wasa grove of water-loving poplars planted in a circle all round it,and the clear cold water came down to it from a rock high up, whileabove the fountain there was an altar to the nymphs, at which allwayfarers used to sacrifice. Here Melanthius son of Dolius overtookthem as he was driving down some goats, the best in his flock, for thesuitors' dinner, and there were two shepherds with him. When he sawEumaeus and Ulysses he reviled them with outrageous and unseemlylanguage, which made Ulysses very angry."There you go," cried he, "and a precious pair you are. See howheaven brings birds of the same feather to one another. Where, pray,master swineherd, are you taking this poor miserable object? Itwould make any one sick to see such a creature at table. A fellow likethis never won a prize for anything in his life, but will go aboutrubbing his shoulders against every man's door post, and begging,not for swords and cauldrons like a man, but only for a few scraps notworth begging for. If you would give him to me for a hand on mystation, he might do to clean out the folds, or bring a bit of sweetfeed to the kids, and he could fatten his thighs as much as he pleasedon whey; but he has taken to bad ways and will not go about any kindof work; he will do nothing but beg victuals all the town over, tofeed his insatiable belly. I say, therefore and it shall surely be- ifhe goes near Ulysses' house he will get his head broken by thestools they will fling at him, till they turn him out."On this, as he passed, he gave Ulysses a kick on the hip out of purewantonness, but Ulysses stood firm, and did not budge from the path.For a moment he doubted whether or no to fly at Melanthius and killhim with his staff, or fling him to the ground and beat his brainsout; he resolved, however, to endure it and keep himself in check, butthe swineherd looked straight at Melanthius and rebuked him, liftingup his hands and praying to heaven as he did so."Fountain nymphs," he cried, "children of Jove, if ever Ulyssesburned you thigh bones covered with fat whether of lambs or kids,grant my prayer that heaven may send him home. He would soon put anend to the swaggering threats with which such men as you go aboutinsulting people-gadding all over the town while your flocks are goingto ruin through bad shepherding."Then Melanthius the goatherd answered, "You ill-conditioned cur,what are you talking about? Some day or other I will put you onboard ship and take you to a foreign country, where I can sell you andpocket the money you will fetch. I wish I were as sure that Apollowould strike Telemachus dead this very day, or that the suitorswould kill him, as I am that Ulysses will never come home again."With this he left them to come on at their leisure, while he wentquickly forward and soon reached the house of his master. When hegot there he went in and took his seat among the suitors oppositeEurymachus, who liked him better than any of the others. Theservants brought him a portion of meat, and an upper woman servant setbread before him that he might eat. Presently Ulysses and theswineherd came up to the house and stood by it, amid a sound of music,for Phemius was just beginning to sing to the suitors. Then Ulyssestook hold of the swineherd's hand, and said:"Eumaeus, this house of Ulysses is a very fine place. No matterhow far you go you will find few like it. One building keeps followingon after another. The outer court has a wall with battlements allround it; the doors are double folding, and of good workmanship; itwould be a hard matter to take it by force of arms. I perceive, too,that there are many people banqueting within it, for there is asmell of roast meat, and I hear a sound of music, which the godshave made to go along with feasting."Then Eumaeus said, "You have perceived aright, as indeed yougenerally do; but let us think what will be our best course. Willyou go inside first and join the suitors, leaving me here behindyou, or will you wait here and let me go in first? But do not waitlong, or some one may you loitering about outside, and throw somethingat you. Consider this matter I pray you."And Ulysses answered, "I understand and heed. Go in first andleave me here where I am. I am quite used to being beaten and havingthings thrown at me. I have been so much buffeted about in war andby sea that I am case-hardened, and this too may go with the rest. Buta man cannot hide away the cravings of a hungry belly; this is anenemy which gives much trouble to all men; it is because of thisthat ships are fitted out to sail the seas, and to make war upon otherpeople."As they were thus talking, a dog that had been lying asleep raisedhis head and pricked up his ears. This was Argos, whom Ulysses hadbred before setting out for Troy, but he had never had any work out ofhim. In the old days he used to be taken out by the young men whenthey went hunting wild goats, or deer, or hares, but now that hismaster was gone he was lying neglected on the heaps of mule and cowdung that lay in front of the stable doors till the men should comeand draw it away to manure the great close; and he was full offleas. As soon as he saw Ulysses standing there, he dropped his earsand wagged his tail, but he could not get close up to his master. WhenUlysses saw the dog on the other side of the yard, dashed a tearfrom his eyes without Eumaeus seeing it, and said:"Eumaeus, what a noble hound that is over yonder on the manure heap:his build is splendid; is he as fine a fellow as he looks, or is heonly one of those dogs that come begging about a table, and are keptmerely for show?""This hound," answered Eumaeus, "belonged to him who has died in afar country. If he were what he was when Ulysses left for Troy, hewould soon show you what he could do. There was not a wild beast inthe forest that could get away from him when he was once on itstracks. But now he has fallen on evil times, for his master is deadand gone, and the women take no care of him. Servants never do theirwork when their master's hand is no longer over them, for Jove takeshalf the goodness out of a man when he makes a slave of him."As he spoke he went inside the buildings to the cloister where thesuitors were, but Argos died as soon as he had recognized his master.Telemachus saw Eumaeus long before any one else did, and beckonedhim to come and sit beside him; so he looked about and saw a seatlying near where the carver sat serving out their portions to thesuitors; he picked it up, brought it to Telemachus's table, and satdown opposite him. Then the servant brought him his portion, andgave him bread from the bread-basket.Immediately afterwards Ulysses came inside, looking like a poormiserable old beggar, leaning on his staff and with his clothes all inrags. He sat down upon the threshold of ash-wood just inside the doorsleading from the outer to the inner court, and against abearing-post of cypress-wood which the carpenter had skillfullyplaned, and had made to join truly with rule and line. Telemachus tooka whole loaf from the bread-basket, with as much meat as he could holdin his two hands, and said to Eumaeus, "Take this to the stranger, andtell him to go the round of the suitors, and beg from them; a beggarmust not be shamefaced."So Eumaeus went up to him and said, "Stranger, Telemachus sendsyou this, and says you are to go the round of the suitors begging, forbeggars must not be shamefaced."Ulysses answered, "May King Jove grant all happiness toTelemachus, and fulfil the desire of his heart."Then with both hands he took what Telemachus had sent him, andlaid it on the dirty old wallet at his feet. He went on eating itwhile the bard was singing, and had just finished his dinner as heleft off. The suitors applauded the bard, whereon Minerva went up toUlysses and prompted him to beg pieces of bread from each one of thesuitors, that he might see what kind of people they were, and tell thegood from the bad; but come what might she was not going to save asingle one of them. Ulysses, therefore, went on his round, goingfrom left to right, and stretched out his hands to beg as though hewere a real beggar. Some of them pitied him, and were curious abouthim, asking one another who he was and where he came from; whereon thegoatherd Melanthius said, "Suitors of my noble mistress, I can tellyou something about him, for I have seen him before. The swineherdbrought him here, but I know nothing about the man himself, norwhere he comes from."On this Antinous began to abuse the swineherd. "You precious idiot,"he cried, "what have you brought this man to town for? Have we nottramps and beggars enough already to pester us as we sit at meat? Doyou think it a small thing that such people gather here to wasteyour master's property and must you needs bring this man as well?"And Eumaeus answered, "Antinous, your birth is good but your wordsevil. It was no doing of mine that he came here. Who is likely toinvite a stranger from a foreign country, unless it be one of thosewho can do public service as a seer, a healer of hurts, a carpenter,or a bard who can charm us with his Such men are welcome all the worldover, but no one is likely to ask a beggar who will only worry him.You are always harder on Ulysses' servants than any of the othersuitors are, and above all on me, but I do not care so long asTelemachus and Penelope are alive and here."But Telemachus said, "Hush, do not answer him; Antinous has thebitterest tongue of all the suitors, and he makes the others worse."Then turning to Antinous he said, "Antinous, you take as much careof my interests as though I were your son. Why should you want tosee this stranger turned out of the house? Heaven forbid; take'something and give it him yourself; I do not grudge it; I bid you takeit. Never mind my mother, nor any of the other servants in thehouse; but I know you will not do what I say, for you are more fond ofeating things yourself than of giving them to other people.""What do you mean, Telemachus," replied Antinous, "by thisswaggering talk? If all the suitors were to give him as much as Iwill, he would not come here again for another three months."As he spoke he drew the stool on which he rested his dainty feetfrom under the table, and made as though he would throw it at Ulysses,but the other suitors all gave him something, and filled his walletwith bread and meat; he was about, therefore, to go back to thethreshold and eat what the suitors had given him, but he first went upto Antinous and said:"Sir, give me something; you are not, surely, the poorest manhere; you seem to be a chief, foremost among them all; therefore youshould be the better giver, and I will tell far and wide of yourbounty. I too was a rich man once, and had a fine house of my own;in those days I gave to many a tramp such as I now am, no matter whohe might be nor what he wanted. I had any number of servants, andall the other things which people have who live well and are accountedwealthy, but it pleased Jove to take all away from me. He sent me witha band of roving robbers to Egypt; it was a long voyage and I wasundone by it. I stationed my bade ships in the river Aegyptus, andbade my men stay by them and keep guard over them, while sent outscouts to reconnoitre from every point of vantage."But the men disobeyed my orders, took to their own devices, and