Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/342

334 The forehead bristles of the tusky boar, Then pray'd to all above, that, safe, at length, Ulysses might regain his native home. Then lifting an huge shive that lay beside The fire, he smote the boar, and dead he fell, Next, piercing him, and scorching close his hair, They carv'd him quickly, and Eumæus spread Thin slices crude taken from ev'ry limb O'er all his fat, then other slices cast, Sprinkling them first with meal, into the fire. The rest they slash'd and scored, and roasted well, And placed it, heap'd together, on the board. Then rose the good Eumæus to his task Of distribution, for he understood The hospitable entertainer's part. Sev'n-fold partition of the banquet made, He gave, with previous pray'r, to Maia's son And to the nymphs one portion of the whole, Then served his present guests, honouring first Ulysses with the boar's perpetual chine; By that distinction just his master's heart He gratified, and thus the Hero spake. Eumæus! be thou as belov'd of Jove As thou art dear to me, whom, though attired So coarsely, thou hast served with such respect! To whom, Eumæus, thou didst thus reply. Eat, noble stranger! and refreshment take