household. Whensoe’er They drank this rich red wine, he only filled A single cup with wine, and tempered that With twenty more of water. From the cup Arose a fragrance that might please the gods, And hard it was to put the draught aside. Of this I took a skin well filled, besides Food in a hamper—for my thoughtful mind Misgave me, lest I should encounter one Of formidable strength and savage mood, And with no sense of justice or of right.
“Soon were we at the cave, but found not him Within it; he was in the fertile meads, Tending his flocks. We entered, wondering much At all we saw. Around were baskets heaped With cheeses; pens were thronged with lambs and kids, Each in a separate fold; the elder ones, The younger, and the newly yeaned, had each Their place apart. The vessels swam with whey— Pails smoothly wrought, and buckets into which He milked the cattle. My companions then Begged me with many pressing words to take Part of the cheeses, and, returning, drive With speed to our good galley lambs and kids From where they stabled, and set sail again On the salt sea. I granted not their wish; Far better if I had. ’Twas my intent To see the owner of the flocks and prove His hospitality. No pleasant sight Was that to be for those with whom I came.
“And then we lit a fire, and sacrificed, And ate the cheeses, and within the cave Sat waiting, till from pasturing his flocks He came; a heavy load of well-dried wood He bore, to make a blaze at suppertime. Without the den he flung his burden down With such a crash that we in terror slunk Into a corner of the cave. He drove His well-fed flock, all those whose milk he drew, Under that spacious vault of rock, but left The males, both goats and rams, without the court. And then he lifted a huge barrier up, A mighty weight; not two-and-twenty wains, Four-wheeled and strong, could move it from the ground: Such was the enormous rock he raised, and placed Against the entrance. Then he sat and milked The ewes and bleating goats each one in turn, And gave to each its young. Next, half the milk He caused to curdle, and disposed the curd In woven baskets;