Then spake again the sage Penelope:
“Mother, they all are hateful; every one Plots mischief, but Antinoüs most of all; And he is like black death, to be abhorred. A friendless stranger passes through these halls, Compelled by need, and asks an alms of each, And all the others give, and fill his scrip; Antinoüs flings a footstool, and the blow Bruises the shoulder of the suppliant man.”
So talked they with each other where they sat In the queen’s chamber, mid the attendant train Of women, while meantime Ulysses took The evening meal. The queen then bade to call The noble swineherd, and bespake him thus:—
“My worthy friend Eumaeus, go and bring The stranger hither. I would speak with him, And ask if anywhere he saw or heard Aught of Ulysses; for he seems like one Whose wanderings have been in many lands.”
And thus, Eumaeus, thou didst make reply: “Would that these Greeks, O queen, would hold their peace, Then