No More Learning

sweep the palace-floor
And sprinkle it; then give the sumptuous seats 180
Their purple coverings. Let others cleanse
With sponges all the tables, wash and rince
The beakers well, and goblets rich-emboss'd;
Run others to the fountain, and bring thence
Water with speed. The suitors will not long
Be absent, but will early come to-day,
For this day is a public festival. [91]
So she; whom all, obedient, heard; forth went
Together, twenty to the crystal fount,
While in their sev'ral provinces the rest 190
Bestirr'd them brisk at home. Then enter'd all
The suitors, and began cleaving the wood.
Meantime, the women from the fountain came,
Whom soon the swine-herd follow'd, driving three
His fattest brawns; them in the spacious court
He feeding left, and to Ulysses' side
Approaching, courteously bespake the Chief.
Guest! look the Greecians on thee with respect
At length, or still disdainful as before?
Then, answer thus Ulysses wise return'd. 200
Yes--and I would that vengeance from the Gods
Might pay their insolence, who in a house
Not theirs, dominion exercise, and plan
Unseemly projects, shameless as they are!
Thus they conferr'd; and now Melanthius came
The goat-herd, driving, with the aid of two
His fellow-swains, the fattest of his goats
To feast the suitors. In the sounding porch
The goats he tied, then, drawing near, in terms
Reproachful thus assail'd Ulysses' ear. 210
How, stranger? persever'st thou, begging, still
To vex the suitors? wilt thou not depart?
Scarce shall we settle this dispute, I judge,
Till we have tasted each the other's fist;
Thou art unreasonable thus to beg
Here always--have the Greeks no feasts beside?
He spake, to whom Ulysses answer none
Return'd, but shook his brows, and, silent, framed
Terrible purposes. Then, third, approach'd
Chief o'er the herds, Philoetius; fatted goats 220
He for the suitors brought, with which he drove
An heifer; (ferry-men had pass'd them o'er,
Carriers of all who on their coast arrive)
He tied them in the sounding porch, then stood
Beside the swine-herd, to whom thus he said.
Who is this guest, Eumaeus, here arrived
So lately? from what nation hath he come?
What parentage and country boasts the man?
I pity him, whose figure seems to speak
Royalty in him. Heav'n will surely plunge 230
The race of common wand'rers deep in woe,
If thus it destine even Kings to mourn.
He ceas'd; and, with his right hand, drawing nigh,
Welcom'd Ulysses, whom he thus bespake.
Hail venerable guest! and be thy lot
Prosp'rous at least hereafter, who art held
At present in the bonds of num'rous ills.
Thou, Jupiter, of all the Gods, art most
Severe, and spar'st not to inflict distress
Even on creatures from thyself derived. [92] 240
I had no sooner mark'd thee, than my eyes
Swam, and the sweat gush'd from me at the thought
Of dear Ulysses; for if yet he live
And see the sun, such tatters, I suppose,
He wears, a wand'rer among human-kind.
But if already with the dead he dwell
In Pluto's drear abode, oh then, alas
For kind Ulysses! who consign'd to me,
While yet a boy, his Cephalenian herds,
And they have now encreas'd to such a store 250
Innumerable of broad-fronted beeves,
As only care like mine could have produced.
These, by command of others, I transport
For their regale, who neither heed his son,
Nor tremble at the anger of the Gods,
But long have wish'd ardently to divide
And share the substance of our absent Lord.