"My lady, wife of Odysseus,
Telemakhos does not understand these things; listen therefore to me,
for I can divine them surely, and will hide nothing from you. May
Zeus the king of heaven be my witness, and the rites of hospitality,
with that hearth of Odysseus to which I now come, that Odysseus
himself is even now in Ithaca, and, either going about the country or
staying in one place, is inquiring into all these evil deeds and
preparing a day of reckoning for the suitors. I saw an omen when I
was on the ship which meant this, and I told Telemakhos about
it."
"May it be even so," answered
Penelope; "if your words come true, you shall have such gifts and
such good will from me that all who see you shall congratulate
you."
Thus did they converse. Meanwhile
the suitors were throwing discs, or aiming with spears at a mark on
the leveled ground in front of the house, and behaving with all their
old insolence [hubris]. But when it was now time for
dinner, and the flock of sheep and goats had come into the town from
all the country round, with their shepherds as usual, then Medon, who
was their favorite servant, and who waited upon them at table, said,
"Now then, my young masters, you have had enough sport
[athlos], so come inside that we may get dinner ready.
Dinner is not a bad thing, at dinner time
[hôra]."
They left their sports as he told
them, and when they were within the house, they laid their cloaks on
the benches and seats inside, and then sacrificed some sheep, goats,
pigs, and a heifer, all of them fat and well grown. Thus they made
ready for their meal. In the meantime Odysseus and the swineherd were
about starting for the town, and the swineherd said, "Stranger, I
suppose you still want to go to town to-day, as my master said you
were to do; for my own part I should have liked you to stay here as a
station hand, but I must do as my master tells me, or he will scold
me later on, and a scolding from one's master is a very serious
thing. Let us then be off, for it is now broad day; it will be night
again directly and then you will find it colder."
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