master, though I were to come Into my father’s and my mother’s house, Where I was born and reared. Nor do I pine So much to look on them with my own eyes, And in my place of birth, as I lament Ulysses lost. Though he be far away, Yet must I ever speak, O stranger guest, His name with reverence, for exceedingly He loved me and most kindly cared for me; And though he is to be with us no more, I hold him as an elder brother still.”
Ulysses, the great sufferer, thus replied: “Since then, my friend, thou dost not say nor think That he will come again, nor wilt believe My words, I now repeat, but with an oath, Ulysses will return. Let this reward Be given for my good news: the very hour When he once more is in his house, bestow On me a comely change of raiment—cloak And tunic—nor will I accept the gift, Though great my need, until he comes again. For as the gates of hell do I detest The man who, tempted by his poverty, Deceives with lying words. Now Jupiter Bear witness, and this hospitable board And hearth of good Ulysses where I sit, That all which I foretell will come to pass. This very year Ulysses will return. He, when this month goes out, and as the next Is entering, will be here in his domain, To be avenged on those, whoe’er they be, That dare insult his wife and noble son.”
And then, Eumaeus, thou didst answer thus: “Old man, I shall not give thee that reward, For never will Ulysses come again To his own palace. Drink thy wine in peace, And let us give our thoughts to other things. Remind me not of this again; my heart Grows heavy in my bosom when I hear My honored master named. But leave the oath Unsworn, and may Ulysses come, as we Earnestly wish—I and Penelope, And old Laertes, and the godlike youth Telemachus. And then, again, I bear Perpetual sorrow for Telemachus, My master’s son, to whom the gods had given A generous growth like that of some young plant, And who, I hoped, would prove no less in worth Than his own father, and of eminent gifts In form and mind. Some god, perchance some man, Hath caused that