Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/388

380 Thus they conferr'd. The gallant bark, meantime, Reach'd Ithaca, which from the Pylian shore Had brought Telemachus with all his band. Within the many-fathom'd port arrived His lusty followers haled her far aground, Then carried thence their arms, but to the house Of Clytius the illustrious gifts convey'd. Next to the royal mansion they dispatch'd An herald charg'd with tidings to the Queen, That her Telemachus had reach'd the cot Of good Eumæus, and the bark had sent Home to the city; lest the matchless dame Should still deplore the absence of her son. They, then, the herald and the swine-herd, each Bearing like message to his mistress, met, And at the palace of the godlike Chief Arriving, compass'd by the female throng Inquisitive, the herald thus began. Thy son, O Queen! is safe; ev'n now return'd. Then, drawing nigh to her, Eumæus told His message also from her son received, And, his commission punctually discharged, Leaving the palace, sought his home again. Grief seized and anguish, at those tidings, all The suitors; issuing forth, on the outside Of the high wall they sat, before the gate, When Polybus' son, Eurymachus, began.