“These from Telemachus, who bids thee ask A dole from every suitor, for he says No beggar should be bashful in his need.”
Ulysses, the sagacious, answered thus:
“May Jove, the sovereign, make Telemachus A happy man among the sons of men, And grant him all his heart desires in life!”
He spake, and took the gift in both his hands, And laid it down upon his tattered scrip Close to his feet.
Then, while the poet sang, He ate, and, just as he had supped, the bard Closed his divine recital.
Then ensued Great clamor in the hall, but Pallas came And moved Ulysses to arise, and ask From every suitor there a dole of bread, That he might know the better from the worse, Though none were to be spared.
From right to left He took his way, and asked of every man, With outstretched hand, as if he had been long A beggar. And they pitied him, and gave, And looked at him with wonder, and inquired One of another who he was, and whence.
Then spake Melanthius, keeper of the goats:—
“Give ear, ye suitors of the illustrious queen. As to this stranger, I have seen him once. The swineherd brought him; but I know him not, And of what race he is I cannot tell.”
He spake; Antinoüs chid the swineherd thus:
“Why hast thou brought him, too well known thyself? Have we not vagabonds enough? enough Of sturdy beggars, pests of every feast. Or is it a light matter that they throng Hither to waste the substance of thy lord, And therefore thou art with this fellow here?”