Indeed, there once ruled here a man, whose return the gods
have set their faces against, who, if he had been suffered to reign in
peace and grow old among us, would have been kind to me and mine. But he
is gone; and for his sake would to God that the whole posterity of Helen
might perish with her, since in her quarrel so many worthies have
perished! But such as your fare is, eat it, and be welcome--such lean
beasts as are food for poor herdsmen. The fattest go to feed the voracious
stomachs of the queen's suitors. Shame on their unworthiness! there is no
day in which two or three of the noblest of the herd are not slain to
support their feasts and their surfeits."
[Illustration: '_But such as your fare is, eat it, and be welcome_.']
Ulysses gave good ear to his words; and as he ate his meat, he even tore
it and rent it with his teeth, for mere vexation that his fat cattle
should be slain to glut the appetites of those godless suitors. And he
said, "What chief or what ruler is this, that thou commendest so highly,
and sayest that he perished at Troy? I am but a stranger in these parts.
It may be I have heard of some such in my long travels."
Eumaeus answered, "Old father, never any one of all the strangers that
have come to our coast with news of Ulysses being alive could gain credit
with the queen or her son yet. These travellers, to get raiment or a meal,
will not stick to invent any lie. Truth is not the commodity they deal in.
Never did the queen get anything of them but lies.
Pages:
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91