The swineherd was very much
disturbed when he heard this. "Heaven help me," he exclaimed, "what
ever can have put such a notion as that into your head? If you go
near the suitors you will be undone to a certainty, for their
overweening pride [hubris] and violent insolence
[biê] reach the very heavens. They would never
think of taking a man like you for a servant. Their servants are all
young men, well dressed, wearing good cloaks and shirts, with well
looking faces and their hair always tidy, the tables are kept quite
clean and are loaded with bread, meat, and wine. Stay where you are,
then; you are not in anybody's way; I do not mind your being
here, no more do any of the others, and when Telemakhos comes home he
will give you a shirt and cloak and will send you wherever you want
to go."
Odysseus answered, "I hope you
may be as dear to the gods as you are to me, for having saved me from
going about and getting into trouble; there is nothing worse than
being always ways on the tramp; still, when men have once got low
down in the world they will go through a great deal on behalf of
their miserable bellies. Since however you press me to stay here and
await the return of Telemakhos, tell about Odysseus’ mother, and
his father whom he left on the threshold of old age when he set out
for Troy. Are they still living or are they already dead and in the
house of Hades?"
"I will tell you all about them,"
replied Eumaios, "Laertes is still living and prays heaven to let him
depart peacefully his own house, for he is terribly distressed about
the absence of his son, and also about the death of his wife, which
grieved him greatly and aged him more than anything else did. She
came to an unhappy end through sorrow for her son: may no friend or
neighbor who has dealt kindly by me come to such an end as she did.
As long as she was still living, though she was always grieving, I
used to like seeing her and asking her how she did, for she brought
me up along with her daughter Ktimene, the youngest of her children;
we were boy and girl together, and she made little difference between
us. When, however, we both grew up, they sent Ktimene to Same and
received a splendid dowry for her. As for me, my mistress gave me a
good shirt and cloak with a pair of sandals for my feet, and sent me
off into the country, but she was just as fond of me as ever. This is
all over now. Still it has pleased heaven to prosper my work in the
situation which I now hold. I have enough to eat and drink, and can
find something for any respectable stranger who comes here; but there
is no getting a kind word or deed out of my mistress, for the house
has fallen into the hands of wicked people. Servants want sometimes
to see their mistress and have a talk with her; they like to have
something to eat and drink at the house, and something too to take
back with them into the country. This is what will keep servants in a
good humor."
Odysseus answered, "Then you must
have been a very little fellow, Eumaios, when you were taken so far
away from your home and parents. Tell me, and tell me true, was the
city in which your father and mother lived sacked and pillaged, or
did some enemies carry you off when you were alone tending sheep or
cattle, ship you off here, and sell you for whatever your master gave
them?"
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