Page:The Odyssey of Homer, with the Hymns, Epigrams, and Battle of the Frogs and Mice (Buckley 1853).djvu/228

192 good king. However we will leave alone the oath; hut may Ulysses come, as I wish he should, and Penelope, and aged Laertes, and godlike Telemachus. Now again I lament unceasingly for the son, whom Ulysses begot, Telemachus: since the gods had nourished him, like unto a plant; and I said that he would not be at all inferior amongst men to his dear father, admirable as to his frame and form; but some one of the immortals has injured his mind which was equal within, or some of men; but he has gone in quest of news of his father, to divine Pylos: but for him the illustrious suitors lie in ambush as he is returning home, that the clan of godlike Arcesias may perish entirely from Ithaca without a name. But however we will leave him, whether he is wandering or flying away, and may the son of Saturn hold his hand over him. But come, do thou, O old man, relate to me thine own sorrows, and tell me this truly, that I may know it well, who art thou? from whence art thou of men? where are thy city and parents? in what kind of ship didst thou come? how did the sailors conduct thee to Ithaca? whom did they boast themselves to be? for I do not think at all that thou camest here on foot."

But him much-planning Ulysses answering addressed: "Then I will tell thee these things very truly. If now we had for a long time both food and sweet wine, when we are within your lodge, to feast at ease, but should others attend to their business: I should not easily then finish, even for a whole year, telling of the sorrows of my mind, all the things whatever I have toiled through by the will of the gods. I boast myself to be of the race of spacious Crete, the son of an opulent man: but many other sons also were both nourished and born in his palace, legitimate from his wife; but me a purchased mother brought forth, a concubine, but Castor Hylacides, of whose race I boast myself to be, honoured me equally with his legitimate sons; who formerly was honoured, as a god, by the people amongst the Cretans, on account of his prosperity, and riches, and his glorious sons. But however the fates of death came bringing him to the abodes of Pluto; and his high-minded sons divided his livelihood, and cast lots [for the shares]: but to me they gave very few things, and allotted me a dwelling. But on account of my excellence I married a wife fit for wealthy men: since I neither was vain, nor cowardly in war; but now all things