Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/327

Book XIV. Opposite, whom inviting thus he said. Now, eat, my guest! such as a servant may I set before thee, neither large of growth Nor fat; the fatted—those the suitors eat, Fearless of heav'n, and pitiless of man. Yet deeds unjust as theirs the blessed Gods Love not; they honour equity and right. Even an hostile band when they invade A foreign shore, which by consent of Jove They plunder, and with laden ships depart, Even they with terrours quake of wrath divine. But these are wiser; these must sure have learn'd From some true oracle my master's death, Who neither deign with decency to woo, Nor yet to seek their homes, but boldly waste His substance, shameless, now, and sparing nought. Jove ne'er hath giv'n us yet the night or day When with a single victim, or with two They would content them, and his empty jars Witness how fast the squand'rers use his wine. Time was, when he was rich indeed; such wealth No Hero own'd on yonder continent, Nor yet in Ithaca; no twenty Chiefs Could match with all their treasures his alone; I tell thee their amount. Twelve herds of his The mainland graze; as many flocks of sheep;