So speaking, he brought forward to the sight, From underneath the board, a stool, on which Rested his dainty feet. The others all Gave somewhat to Ulysses, till his scrip Was filled with meat and bread. Then as he went Back to the threshold, there to feast on what The Greeks had given him in his rounds, he stopped Beside Antinoüs, and bespake him thus:—
“Give somewhat also, friend. Thou dost not seem One of the humbler rank among the Greeks, But of the highest. Kingly is thy look; It therefore will become thee to bestow More freely than the rest, and I will sound Thy praise through all the earth. Mine too was once A happy lot, for I inhabited A palace filled with goods, and often gave To wanderers, whosoever they might be That sought me out, and in whatever need. And I had many servants, and large store Of everything by which men live at ease And are accounted rich. Saturnian Jove— Such was his pleasure—brought me low; for, moved By him, I joined me to a wandering band Of pirates, and to my perdition sailed Upon a distant voyage to the coast Of Egypt. In the river of that land I stationed my good ships, and bade my men Remain with them and watch them well. I placed Sentries