I came, a suppliant, to thy door.”
He spake; the swineherd went, and as he crossed
The threshold of Penelope she said:—
“Thou bringst him not, Eumaeus? What may be The wanderer’s scruple? Fear of someone here? Or in a palace is he filled with awe? To be a bashful beggar is most hard.”
And thus, Eumaeus, thou didst answer her:
“Rightly he speaks, and just as one would think Who shuns the encounter of disorderly men. He prays that thou wilt wait till set of sun; And better were it for thyself, O queen, To speak with him and hear his words alone.”
Then spake discreet Penelope again:
“Whoe’er may be the stranger, not unwise He seems; for nowhere among men are done Such deeds of wrong and outrage as by these.”