Then thus Eumæus: "Judge we which were best;
Amid yon revellers a sudden guest
Choose you to mingle, while behind I stay?
Or I first entering introduce the way?
Wait for a space without, but wait not long;
This is the house of violence and wrong:
Some rude insult thy reverend age may bear,
For like their lawless lords the servants are."
"Just is, oh friend! thy caution, and address'd,"
Replied the chief, "to no unheedful breast;
The wrongs and injuries of base mankind
Fresh to my sense, and always in my mind.
The bravely patient to no fortune yields:
On rolling oceans, and in fighting fields,
Storms have I pass'd, and many a stern debate;
And now in humbler scene submit to fate.
What cannot Want? The best she will expose, 340
And I am learn'd in all her train of woes;
She fills with navies, hosts, and loud alarms
The sea, the land, and shakes the world with arms!"
Thus, near the gates conferring as they drew,
Argus, the dog, his ancient master knew;
He, not unconscious of the voice and tread,
Lifts to the sound his ear, and rears his head;
Bred by Ulysses, nourish'd at his board,
But, ah! not fated long to please his lord!
To him, his swiftness and his strength were vain; 350
The voice of glory call'd him o'er the main.
Till then in every sylvan chase renown'd,
With Argus, Argus rung the woods around:
With him the youth pursued the goat or fawn,
Or traced the mazy leveret o'er the lawn.
Now left to man's ingratitude he lay,
Unhoused, neglected in the public way;
And where on heaps the rich manure was spread,
Obscene with reptiles, took his sordid bed.
He knew his lord; he knew, and strove to meet ; In vain he strove, to crawl, and kiss his feet;
Yet (all he could) his tail, his ears, his eyes,
Salute his master, and confess his joys.
Soft pity touch'd the mighty master's soul;
Adown his cheek a tear unbidden stole,
Stole unperceived: he turn'd his head and dried
The drop humane: then thus impassion'd cried:
"What noble beast in this abandon'd state
Lies here all helpless at Ulysses' gate?
His bulk and beauty speak no vulgar praise :
If, as he seems, he was in better days,
Some care his age deserves; or was he prized
For worthless beauty? therefore now despised:
Such dogs and men there are, mere things of state, And always cherish'd by their friends, the great.” 375 "Not Argus so," Eumæus thus rejoin'd,
"But served a master of a nobler kind,
Who never, never shall behold him more!
Long, long since perish'd on a distant shore!
Oh, had you seen him, vigorous, bold, and young,
Swift as a stag, and as a lion strong;
Him no fell savage on the plain withstood,
None 'scaped him bosom'd in the gloomy wood;
His eye how piercing, and his scent how true,
To wind the vapour in the tainted dew!
Such, when Ulysses left his natal coast:
Now years unnerve him, and his lord is lost!
The women keep the generous creature bare,
A sleek and idle race is all their care;
The master gone, the servants what restrains? 390 Or dwells humanity where riot reigns?
Jove fix'd it certain, that whatever day
Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away."
This said, the honest herdsman strode before:
The musing monarch pauses at the door:
The dog, whom fate had granted to behold
His lord, when twenty tedious years had roll'd,
Takes a last look, and, having seen him, dies;
So closed for ever faithful Argus' eyes!
And now Telemachus, the first of all, Observed Eumæus entering in the hall; Distant he saw, across the shady dome; Then gave a sign, and beckon'd him to come: There stood an empty seat, where late was placed, In order due, the steward of the feast,
(Who now was busied carving round the board,) Eumæus took, and placed it near his lord.
Before him instant was the banquet spread,
And the bright basket piled with loaves of bread.
Next came Ulysses lowly at the door,
A figure despicable, old, and poor,
In squalid vests, with many a gaping rent,
Propp'd on a staff, and trembling as he went.
Then, resting on the threshold of the gate,
Against a cypress pillar lean'd his weight;
(Smooth'd by the workman to a polish'd plain ;)
The thoughtful son beheld, and call'd his swain:
“These viands, and this bread, Eumæus! bear,
And let yon mendicant our plenty share;
Then let him circle round the suitors' board,
And try the bounty of each gracious lord.
Bold let him ask, encouraged thus by me :
How ill, alas! do want and shame agree!"
His lord's command the faithful servant bears :
The seeming beggar answers with his prayers: 425
"Bless'd be Telemachus! in every deed
Inspire him, Jove! in every wish succeed!"
This said, the portion from his son convey'd
With smiles receiving on his scrip he laid.
Long as the minstrel swept the sounding wire, 430
He fed, and ceased when silence held the lyre.
Soon as the suitors from the banquet rose,
Minerva prompts the man of mighty woes
To tempt their bounties with a suppliant's art,
And learn the generous from the ignoble heart; 435
(Not but his soul, resentful as humane,
Dooms to full vengeance all the offending train ;)
With speaking eyes, and voice of plaintive sound,
Humble he moves, imploring all around.
The proud feel pity, and relief bestow,
With such an image touch'd of human wo;
Inquiring all, their wonder they confess,
And eye the man, majestic in distress.
While thus they gaze and question with their
The bold Melanthius to their thought replies:
My lords! this stranger of gigantic port
The good Eumæus usher'd to your court.
Full well I mark'd the features of his face,
Though all unknown his clime, or noble race."
"And is this present, swine herd, of thy hand? 450
Bring'st thou these vagrants to infest the land?”
(Returns Antinous, with retorted eye;)
Objects uncouth, to check the genial joy,
Enough of these our court already grace,
Of giant stomach, and of famish'd face.
Such guests Eumæus to his country brings,
To share our feast, and lead the life of kings.”
To whom the hospitable swain rejoin'd:
Thy passion, prince, belies thy knowing mind.
Who calls, from distant nations to his own,
The poor distinguish'd by their wants alone?
Round the wide world are sought those men divine
Who public structures raise, or who design;
Those to whose eyes the gods their ways reveal,
Or bless with salutary arts to heal;
But chief to poets such respect belongs,
By rival nations courted for their songs;
These states invite, and mighty kings admire,
Wide as the sun displays his vital fire.
It is not so with want! how few that feed
A wretch unhappy, merely for his need!
Unjust to me, and all that serve the state,
To love Ulysses is to raise thy hate.
For me, suffice the approbation won
Of my great mistress, and her godlike son."
To him Telemachus: "No more incense The man by nature prone to insolence: Injurious minds just answers but provoke;" Then turning to Antinous, thus he spoke: "Thanks to thy care! whose absolute command 480 Thus drives the stranger from our court and land. Heaven bless its owner with a better mind! From envy free, to charity inclined.
This both Penelope and I afford :
Then, prince! be bounteous of Ulysses' board. 485 To give another's is thy hand so slow?
So much more sweet to spoil than to bestow?" "Whence, great Telemachus, this lofty strain ?" Antinous cries with insolent disdain;
"Portions like mine if every suitor gave,
Our walls this twelvemonth should not see the
He spoke, and lifting high above the board His ponderous footstool, shook it at his lord. The rest with equal hand conferr'd the bread; He fill'd his scrip, and to the threshold sped; But first before Antinous stopp'd, and said: "Bestow, my friend! thou dost not seem the worst Of all the Greeks, but princelike and the first; Then, as in dignity, be first in worth,
And I shall praise thee through the boundless earth. Once I enjoy'd in luxury of state
What'er gives man the envied name of great;
Wealth, servants, friends, were mine in better days,
And hospitality was then my praise;
In every sorrowing soul I pour'd delight,
And poverty stood smiling in my sight.
But Jove, all-governing, whose only will
Determines fate, and mingles good with ill,
Sent me (to punish my pursuit of gain)
With roving pirates o'er the Egyptian main:
By Egypt's silver flood our ships we moor;
Our spies commission'd straight the coast explore;
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