Complete Works of William Morris, page 650
Then Artemis the shaft-fain did the woman smite and slay,
And she fell, and plunged down to the hold as diveth the mew of the sea;
And straight they cast her outboard, the meat and the prey to be
Of the sea-calves and the fishes, and left in my grief was I.
But the wind and water driving to Ithaca brought them anigh,
And there Laertes bought me with the wealth he had in hand,
And thus indeed mine eyen first looked upon the land.”
But Odysseus, the Zeus-nourished, thus answering spake the word:
“Kuma-us, very sorely this tale of thy telling hath stirred
The mood in my mind for thy sorrows, that oft thine heart hath had:
Yet Zeus for thee meseemeth hath set the good by the bad,
Whereas in thy toil thou hast gotten to the house of a man that is kind,
Who carefully for thy living both meat and drink doth find,
So that plentifully thou livest. While as for me — Yea, then,
Hither I come wide-wandering through the many cities of men.”
Thus then they told to each other, and no long while did abide
In sleep and slumber lying, but e’en for the littlest tide,
For at hand was the Gold-throned Day-dawn. But on the shore at last
Telemachus’ shipmen briskly struck sail and unshipped mast,
And then with rowing speeded the ship to the beaching-ground,
And cast the anchors ^mtboard, and fast the hawsers bound.
Then outboard on the seashore themselves withal they wend,
And therewith their meat are dighting and the dark-red wine they blend
But when the desire for meat and for drink they had done away,
Then Telemachus the heedful thus fell to speak and say:
“Do ye now drive on straightly the black ship toward the town,
While I unto the acres and fields will get me down,
But to-night will go up to the city when my lands I have looked upon,
And to-morrow will set before you the faring-wage ye have won,
To wit, a noble banquet of flesh and sweetest wine.”
But therewith spake unto him Theoclymenus divine:
“Dear child, and whither wend I? To what man’s house of the men.
Who in Ithaca the craggy are lords, shall I get me then?
Shall I go straight unto thy mother, and the very house of thy stead?”
But Telemachus the heedful to him thus answered and said:
‘‘ Yea, otherwise would I bid thee unto my house to speed,
For none there faileth of guest-cheer; but for thee ‘twill be worser indeed,
For I shall lack; and neither will my mother see thee at all,
For not oft before the Wooers is she seen amidst the hall,
But aloof in the upper chamber her weaving doth she speed.
But I of a man will tell thee to whom thou may’st come at need,
E’en Eurymachus the glorious, the wiseheart Polybus’ son,
Whom e’en as the peer of Godhead do the Ithacans look upon;
For he is their best and greatest, and longeth eagerly
For the wedding of my mother and Odysseus’ sov’reignty:
But Zeus of Olympus knoweth who dwells in the lofty home,
If yet before the wedding their evil day may come.”
As he spake, from the right came flying a fowl, a falcon fleet,
Swift flitter of Apollo, who held betwixt his feet
A dove, and with talons tore her, and to earth the feathers poured,
Midway ‘twixt where the ship was and Telemachus the lord.
Him then did Theoclymenus aloof from his fellows call,
And clasped his hand and bespake him, and said the word withal:
“Telemachus, nowise godless flew the fowl forth on the right;
Yea, I knew him for a token so soon as he came in sight.
Among the Ithacan people there is none so kingly a race
As thine is: ye are the stronger, and for ever first in place.”
But Telemachus the heedful he answered him again:
“And were thy word accomplished, then O but I were fain
Then shouldst thou know of my kindness and the gifts that I should give,
That whosoever met thee should call thee blest to live.”
Therewith unto Piraeus his trusty friend did he call:
“Piraeus, son of Clytius, of my fellow-farers all
That followed me to Pylos thou hearkenest most to me;
So do thou take this stranger, and have him home with thee,
To cherish in all honour till back again I fare.”
Then answered him Piraeus, the famous with the spear:
“Telemachus, e’en if thou bidest longwhile ere thou come back,
I will cherish the man, and nowise of guest-cheer shall he lack.”
So saying he went a-shipboard, and to all those gave the word
To cast aloose the hawsers and themselves to come aboard;
And aboard went all men lightly, and a-down on the benches they sat
But underneath his footsoles fair sandals Telemachus gat,
And from off the deck of the ship he took a mighty spear,
Headed with brass, sharp-whetted. Then they cast the hawsers clear,
And thrust out, and made for the city according to the word
Of Telemachus, son beloved of Odysseus the good lord.
But for him, his feet sped onward till he came to the garth and the wall,
Where dwelt his swine unnumbered, and where slept his swineherd withal,
The goodman knowing the kindness that unto his lords should falL.
BOOK XVI.
ARGUMENT.
TELEMACHUS COMETH TO THE BOOTH OF THE SWINEHERD, AND SENDETH HIM TO THE TOWN WITH TIDINGS TO PENELOPE. ODYSSEUS MAKETH HIMSELF KNOWN TO HIS SON. THE CREW OF TELEMACHUS BRING THE SHIP TO HAVEN BY THE TOWN J AND IN LIKEWISE THOSE WHO WAYLAID HIM COME BACK HOME. THE WOOERS TAKE COUNSEL CONCERNING Telemachus’ Safe Return, And Penelope Upbraideth
THEM FOR THEIR ILL-DOINGS. EUM^US COMETH BACK TO TELE-
MACHUS AT THE BOOTH, AND TELLETH OF THE SPEEDING OF HIS
MESSAGE.
AS it fell, in the booth Odysseus, and the swineherd, the goodly of men,
Were dighting their breakfast at dawning, and kindling the fire as
And with the swine wold-pasturing had sent the herds away; [then,
But round Telemachus fawned they, the ban-dogs wont to bay,
Nor howled as he came forward; and Odysseus noted that,
Both the fawning dogs, and the trampling of coming feet thereat,
So straight unto Euinaeus a winged word he said:
“Eumaeus, one of thy fellows now cometh unto the stead,
Or some one else that thou knowest; for the dogs howl at him nought,
But are whining round about him; and the sound of feet have I caught”
But scarce the word had he spoken ere lo in the door of the close
Stood his own son well-beloved; and amazed Eumaeus arose,
And down from his hands fell the vessels wherewith he was labouring
In blending the dark-red wine, and he went up unto the king,
And on the head he kissed him, and both his eyes so fair,
And both his hands moreover, and he shed a mighty tear;
And e’en as a loving father makes much of his dear son,
Who hath come from an alien country when the tenth long year is done
His only son and darling for whom he hath travailed sore,
E’en so the goodly swineherd now kisseth him o’er and o’er,
Telemachus the godlike, as one escaped from death,
And amidst of moans and greeting such winged words he saith:
“Thou art come, sweet light of mine eyes, Telemachus! Yea, though I said.
I should see thee no more, when to Pylos in the fleeting ship ye sped.
Come in, dear child, I bid thee, that mine heart may be glad of thy face,
When at last I look upon thee new come from an alien place.
For not oft hast thou come to thine herdsmen, or the countryside hast seen,
But a city-abider art thou, and thy will hereto hath it been
To behold the throng of the Wooers, the ravening company.”
Then Telemachus the heedful in this wise answered he:
“Yea, even so, my father! and for this cause am I come,
To set mine eyes upon thee and to hearken thy word of my home.
If yet in our halls my mother abideth, or is wed
To another man at this moment; the while Odysseus’ bed
Lies lacking gear to sleep in, and cobwebs foul doth breed.”
Then answered him the swineherd that folk afield did lead:
“Yea, surely she abideth, and a steadfast heart she bears
Within the halls of thine homestead, but in grief the night-tide wears
All nights that are, and weepeth through all the days that pass.”
So saying from the youngling he took his spear of brass,
Who over the stony threshold now stepped with entering feet;
And unto him would his father Odysseus yield his seat,
But Telemachus withheld him on his part, and thus he said:
“Nay, sit thee down, O stranger! for sure in this our stead
Another seat shall we get us; and the man is at hand therefor.”
So he spake, and back went Odysseus, and sat him down as afore;
But green twigs was the swineherd strewing, and fleeces thereupon,
And on the same thereafter sat Odysseus’ loved son.
Then platters of roasted flesh-meat did the swineherd by them lay,
Which was of the meat left over from the feast of yesterday,
And bread in the maunds of wicker he hasted to heap up,
And the wine heart-soothing he mingled within the ivy cup,
And sat down over against him, Odysseus wondrous of might.
So they reached out their hands to the victual that lay before them dight
And when of meat and of drink they had done the longing away,
Then to the goodly swineherd ‘gan Telemachus to say:
“Father, and whence is the stranger, and whatwise over the sea
Did the shipmen to Ithaca bring him, and what did they boast them to be?
For hitherward meseemeth afoot he might not fare.”
Then thou, O swineherd Eumaeus, didst answer then and there:
“Yea, son, and to thee full surely a true tale will I tell:
For he saith of the folk he cometh in Crete the wide that dwell,
And that he hath been cast in his strayings to men’s cities full many an one.
Since e’en such is the thread of the doom that the Gods for him have spua
But as now from a ship of Thesprotians hath he fled away aland,
And come to this mine homestead: so I give him into thine hand,
And do thou to him as thou willest: but he boasts him thy bedesman to be.”
But Telemachus the heedful in this wise answered he:
“Eumaeus, this word spoken is a grievous word of thine;
For how may I take this stranger to the house and the hall that is mine?
For myself, I am but a youngling; nor trust in my hands have I
To ward me from him who against me would stir up enmity;
And my mother, the mood within her hangs doubtfully indeed,
Whether she with me abiding the house and home shall heed,
And honour the bed of my father, and the fame of the folk and its word;
Or shall follow him of Achaeans whom she deemeth the worthiest lord
That in her halls is wooing, and gives gifts most plenteous.
But now for this same stranger, since he hath come to thine house,
I shall give him a cloak and a kirtle that be raiment fair and meet,
And a two-edged sword moreover, and sandals to his feet,
And will speed him whithersoever his soul will have him fare.
Or keep him if thou willest in the stead and make him cheer;
And the raiment will I send him, and meat withal from the town,
That thee and these thy fellows, he may not wear thee down.
But I will not have him wending where the Wooers’ band abide,
For with folly of heart do they fare, and most unmeasured pride,
Lest they fall to and maltreat him, and so bring me sorrow sore;
Since hard it is to be dealing, one man with many and more,
In despite of all his valiance; for the stronger side have they.”
Then unto him did the goodly toil-stout Odysseus say:
“O friend, since for me it is lawful to answer yet a word,
My heart hast thou cleft asunder with this tale that I have heard;
Whereas ye say that the Wooers such prideful folly plan
Within thine halls despite thee, and thou such a worshipful man!
But say! art thou cowed of thy freewill, or the people everywhere,
Do they hate thee through the city because God’s voice they hear?
Or eastest thou blame on thy brethren; on whose help in the warfaring
A man may well be trusting for as great as the strife may upspring?
Ah, were I yet in my youth-days, and of such an heart indeed,
Or were I the son of Odysseus, or himself come back at need
From all his many wanderings; since the hope is yet alive;
Yea then might the stroke of another the head from my body drive,
But I went to the house of Odysseus, and into Laertes’ hall,
And made myself the banesman of those Wooers one and all
Yea, and even if, one amid many, I there were overcome,
Yet so to fall were better, and to die in the halls of my home,
Than such foul deeds for ever to look on with mine eyes.
The very guests mishandled, and in unseemly wise
The women-thralls haled roughly about the lovely stead;
The wine-casks ever running, and wantons eating bread no
In waste — and all for nothing; for a deed that shall not be.”
Then Telemachus the heedful in this wise answered he:
“Yea the tale hereof, O stranger, to thee will I clearly show;
For the whole folk nowise hates me nor counteth me its foe;
Nor cast I blame on my brethren, on whose help in the warfaring
A man may well be trusting, for as great as the strife may upspring.
For look you, the Son of Cronos gives our race but a single son.
Arcesius begat Laertes, and had but him alone,
And his father begat Odysseus, one only son, and he
Left me in his halls one only — and had no joy of me.
And therefore in mine homestead is the foes’ folk manifold:
Yea all the best of the islands, who rule thereover hold,
As Dulichium, or Samel, or Zacynthus’ woody lands,
Or in Ithaca the craggy have folk beneath their hands,
All these are wooing my mother, and eating mine house away:
And she the loathsome wedding doth not utterly gainsay,
Nor may make an ending of it, while they eat up house and all,
And no long time shall pass over ere on me shall their havoc fall.
But on God’s knees it lieth, all this that is and shall be.
Now hasten, thou, O father, to the wise Penelope,
And say that back am I gotten from Pylos safe and well:
But here will I bide; and the tidings to her alone shalt thou tell,
And come thy ways back hither, lest thereof some man should know.
For my bane are a many devising, and manifold is the foe.”
But his word, O swineherd Eumaeus, thuswise didst thou answer it:
“I wot and I heed; for thou biddest a man not lacking for wit
But I prithee tell me of one thing, and speak out straight and clear;
To that unhappy Laertes shall I go by the way to bear
These tidings? for up to this while, for Odysseus grieving withal,
He would oversee his acres, and eat and drink in his hall
With his house-carles, whenso desire should move his mind thereto.
But from the time when to Pylos thou needs must ship and go,
Men say that thus it fareth, that he eateth and drinketh no more,
Nor hath an eye to his acres, but sitteth in sorrow sore,
In weeping and in wailing, and the flesh from his bones doth wane.”
But Telemachus the heedful thus answered him again:
“Woe worth! but though it be grievous, alone must we leave him still.
For if all things by mortals might be chosen after their will,
Then would I choose my father and his returning day.
So get back after thy message, nor through the tillage stray
Seeking the man: but natheless thou may’st tell my mother to speed
Her housewife with all swiftness, yet privily indeed,
That she the tale may be telling to the elder of the land.”
He spake, and uproused the swineherd, who took his shoes in his hand
And unto his feet he bound them and took the townward road.
But Athene failed not to note him as he went from that abode,
And drew near, like to a woman both tall and fair to see,
And deft in goodly working of the weaver’s mystery.
So manifest unto Odysseus she stood ‘gainst the door of the place,
But Telemachus saw her nowise though she stood before his face;
For not unto all are the Gods clear-seen in the light of the day.
But the dogs and Odysseus beheld her, yet her they did not bay,
But toward the far side of the booth they shrank away with a whine.
Then she bent her brows and nodded, and Odysseus noted the sign,
And forth he went from the chamber to the garth’s high-builded wall,
And there he stood before her, and to him she spake withal:
“O Zeus-bred son of Laertes, Odysseus of many a rede,
Now speak out the word to thy son, nor hide thou the day and the deed,
That death and doom for the Wooers ye two at last may frame,
When ye come your ways to the city and the dwelling great of fame.
Nor long shall I be lacking; for I weary for the fight”
