Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/408

400 In fight and on the Deep, I have long since Learn'd patience. Follow, next, what follow may! But, to suppress the appetite, I deem Impossible; the stomach is a source Of ills to man, an avaricious gulph Destructive, which to satiate, ships are rigg'd, Seas travers'd, and fierce battles waged remote. Thus they discoursing stood; Argus the while, Ulysses' dog, uplifted where he lay His head and ears erect. Ulysses him Had bred long since, himself, but rarely used, Departing, first, to Ilium. Him the youths In other days led frequent to the chace Of wild goat, hart and hare; but now he lodg'd A poor old cast-off, of his Lord forlorn, Where mules and oxen had before the gate Much ordure left, with which Ulysses' hinds Should, in due time, manure his spacious fields. There lay, with dog-devouring vermin foul All over, Argus; soon as he perceived Long-lost Ulysses nigh, down fell his ears Clapp'd close, and with his tail glad sign he gave Of gratulation, impotent to rise And to approach his master as of old. Ulysses, noting him, wiped off a tear Unmark'd, and of Eumæus quick enquired. I can but wonder seeing such a dog Thus lodg'd, Eumæus! beautiful in form