Book 14

1 But Odysseus went up from the harbor by a rough path through wooded country along the heights, to the place where Athena had told him he would find the noble swineherd, who of all the servants noble Odysseus had acquired took the most care of his master’s goods.

5 He found him sitting in the forecourt, where his yard had been built with high walls in a place open to view on every side, a fine, large yard with a way all around it. The swineherd had built it himself for the swine while his master was away, without the help of his mistress or old Laertes, out of stones he had hauled there, and he had crowned it with a hedge of wild pear. Outside he had driven stakes all along, on this side and that, close-set and many, splitting them from the black heart of oak. Inside the yard he had made twelve sties close to one another as beds for the swine, and in each of them fifty swine that sleep on the ground were penned, all breeding sows. The boars slept outside, and they were far fewer, for the godlike suitors kept thinning them by their feasting, since the swineherd always had to send them the best of all the fatted hogs; and the boars numbered three hundred and sixty. Beside them, always, slept four dogs like wild beasts, which the swineherd, leader of men, had reared. He himself was fitting sandals to his feet, cutting them from a good, well-colored ox hide. The others had gone off, one here and one there, with the herds of swine, three of them; the fourth he had sent to the city to take a hog to the overbearing suitors, because he had to, so that they might sacrifice it and fill their hearts with meat.

29 Suddenly the loud-barking dogs caught sight of Odysseus. They rushed at him, baying, but Odysseus had the cunning to sit down, and the staff dropped from his hand. There, by his own farmstead, he might have suffered a shameful hurt; but the swineherd came quickly after them on swift feet and dashed out through the gateway, and the leather dropped from his hand. Shouting at the dogs, he drove them off this way and that with a shower of stones, and he said to his master:

37 “Old man, the dogs nearly tore you to pieces just now, and you would have heaped disgrace on me. The gods have given me pains and griefs enough besides. Here I sit, mourning and grieving for my godlike master, and I fatten his hogs for other men to eat; while he, wanting for food, I suppose, wanders over the land and the city of men of strange speech, if he is still alive anywhere and sees the light of the sun. But come with me, old man, let us go to the hut, so that you too may eat and drink your fill of bread and wine, and tell me where you are from and what troubles you have endured.”

48 So saying, the noble swineherd led the way to the hut, brought him in, and sat him down. He heaped up thick brushwood underneath and spread on it the skin of a shaggy wild goat, his own bedding, large and thick. Odysseus was glad that he received him so, and he spoke and addressed him:

53 “Stranger, may Zeus and the other immortal gods grant you what you most desire, since you have received me with such a good will.” And you answered him, Eumaeus, swineherd: “Stranger, it is not right for me to slight a stranger, not even if one came who was poorer than you; for all strangers and beggars come from Zeus. Our gift is small, but it is given with love; that is the way of servants, who are always afraid when young masters lord it over them. For the gods have surely stopped the homecoming of the man who loved me kindly and would have given me possessions of my own, such as a good-hearted master gives his servant: a house and a plot of land and a wife whom many would court, to a man who has worked hard for him and whose work a god makes prosper, as he prospers this work of mine that I keep at. So my master would have done much for me, if he had grown old here. But he is dead—if only the whole race of Helen had perished root and branch, since she has loosed the knees of many men! For he too went to Ilion of the fine horses, for the honor of Agamemnon, to fight the Trojans.”

72 So saying, he quickly cinched his tunic with his belt and went to the sties, where the tribes of piglets were penned. He picked out two and brought them and slaughtered both; he singed them, cut them up, and spitted the pieces. When he had roasted it all, he brought it and set it before Odysseus, hot on the spits themselves, and sprinkled white barley meal over it. Then in a wooden bowl he mixed honey-sweet wine, and he sat down himself facing him and urged him on, saying:

80 “Eat now, stranger, what servants have to eat, piglets; the fatted hogs are for the suitors to eat, who have no thought in their hearts of the gods’ watchful eye, and no pity. The blessed gods do not love cruel deeds: they honor justice and men’s righteous deeds. Even hostile, lawless men, who land on a country not their own, and Zeus gives them plunder, and they fill their ships and set off for home, even on their hearts falls a strong fear of the gods’ eye. But these men must know something; they must have heard some voice of a god telling of his miserable death, since they will not court her fairly or go back to what is theirs, but at their ease they devour his possessions insolently, and there is no sparing. For every night and day that comes from Zeus, they never sacrifice just one victim, or just two; and they drain the wine insolently and waste it. For his wealth was beyond telling. No hero had so much, neither on the dark mainland nor on Ithaca itself; not twenty men together have riches so great. I will reckon it up for you. Twelve herds of cattle on the mainland; as many flocks of sheep, as many droves of swine, as many broad herds of goats, which hired strangers and his own herdsmen pasture. And here, broad herds of goats, eleven in all, graze at the far end of the island, and good men watch over them. Each of these men, every day, drives one beast to the suitors, whichever of the fatted goats seems the best. And I guard and keep these swine, and pick out the best of the hogs with care, and send it to them.”

109 So he spoke, and Odysseus eagerly ate the meat and drank the wine, greedily, in silence, and sowed evil for the suitors. When he had dined and satisfied his heart with food, the swineherd filled the cup from which he himself drank and gave it to him full of wine; and he took it, and was glad at heart, and he spoke to him, and his words had wings:

115 “Friend, who was it who bought you with his own possessions, a man so very rich and mighty as you say? You say he died for the honor of Agamemnon. Tell me, in case I might have known such a man. Zeus knows, I suppose, and the other immortal gods, whether I have seen him and could bring you news of him; for I have wandered far.”

121 Then the swineherd, leader of men, answered him: “Old man, no wanderer who came with news of him could persuade his wife and his dear son. Wanderers who need a living tell lies without a second thought and have no wish to tell the truth. Whoever comes wandering to the land of Ithaca goes to my mistress and babbles lies; and she receives him kindly and makes much of him and asks about everything, and the tears fall from her eyelids as she grieves, as is right for a woman when her husband has died far away. You too, old man, would soon make up a tale, if someone would give you a cloak and a tunic to wear. But by now the dogs and the swift birds must have torn the skin from his bones, and the life has left him; or the fish have eaten him at sea, and his bones lie on the mainland, wrapped in deep sand. So he has perished there, and sorrow is laid up for his friends hereafter, for all of them, and for me most of all; for never again shall I find so gentle a master, wherever I go, not even if I came back to the house of my father and mother, where I was first born and where they reared me themselves. Nor do I mourn so much for them anymore, though I long to see them with my eyes in my native land; it is longing for Odysseus, who is gone, that takes hold of me. His name, stranger, even when he is not here, I am shy to speak; for he loved me greatly and cared for me in his heart. I call him my dear lord, even though he is far away.”

148 Then much-enduring noble Odysseus said to him: “Friend, since you deny it altogether and say that he will never come, and your heart is always unbelieving, I will not say it idly, but with an oath: Odysseus is coming home. Let me have my reward for the good news as soon as he comes to his house: dress me in a cloak and a tunic, fine clothes. Before that, however great my need, I would not take a thing. For hateful to me as the gates of Hades is the man who gives way to poverty and babbles lies. Let Zeus be my witness first of the gods, and this table of hospitality, and the hearth of excellent Odysseus to which I have come: truly all these things will be fulfilled as I say. Within this very year Odysseus will come here. As one month wanes and the next begins, he will come home and take vengeance on anyone here who dishonors his wife and his shining son.”

165 And you answered him, Eumaeus, swineherd: “Old man, I shall never pay you that reward for good news, and Odysseus will never come home again. Drink in peace, and let us think of other things, and do not remind me of this; for the heart in my breast grieves whenever anyone speaks of my good master. As for the oath, let it be; but may Odysseus come, as I long for him to come, and as Penelope does, and old Laertes, and Telemachus, godlike in looks. But now I grieve without end for the boy Odysseus fathered, for Telemachus. When the gods had made him grow like a young sapling, and I thought he would be no worse among men than his dear father, wonderful in form and looks, then some immortal, or some man, disturbed the good sense in him, and he has gone to holy Pylos after news of his father. And the lordly suitors lie in wait for him on his way home, so that the race of godlike Arceisius may perish from Ithaca and leave no name. But let us leave him be, whether he is taken or escapes and the son of Cronus holds his hand over him. But come, old man, tell me of your own troubles, and tell me this truly, so that I may know it well: Who are you, and where are you from? Where is your city, and where are your parents? On what kind of ship did you come? How did sailors bring you to Ithaca? Who did they say they were? For I do not suppose you came here on foot.”

191 Odysseus of many wiles answered him: “Then I will tell you all this truly. If only we two had food and sweet wine enough for a long while, here inside your hut, to feast in quiet while others went about the work, even so I could easily talk for a whole year and never come to the end of the sorrows of my heart, all that I have toiled through by the will of the gods.

199 “I claim to come of a family from wide Crete, the son of a rich man. Many other sons too were born and reared in his halls, true-born sons of his wedded wife; but the mother who bore me was a bought woman, a concubine. Yet Castor son of Hylax honored me equally with his true-born sons, he whose son I claim to be, and who in those days was honored like a god by the people of Crete for his good fortune and his wealth and his renowned sons. But the spirits of death came and carried him off to the house of Hades, and his high-handed sons divided his living among them and cast lots for it; to me they gave very little, and allotted me a house. But I married a wife from people with many lands, by my own merit, for I was no worthless man and no coward in war. Now all that has left me; and yet, I think, if you look at the stubble you can tell what the grain was, though great misery holds me, heaps of it. Truly Ares and Athena gave me daring, and the strength that breaks through the ranks of men. Whenever I picked the best men for an ambush, sowing evil for our enemies, my proud heart never gave a thought to death; I was far the first to leap out and strike down with my spear any enemy who gave ground before me. Such was I in war. But work was never dear to me, nor tending a household, which rears glorious children; it was always oared ships that I loved, and wars, and polished javelins and arrows, grim things that make others shudder. But those things were dear to me that a god, I suppose, put into my heart; for one man takes joy in one kind of work, and another in another. Before the sons of the Achaeans set foot on Troy, nine times I led men and swift-sailing ships against foreign peoples, and a great deal came my way. Of this I chose out what pleased me, and much more fell to me afterward by lot; quickly my house grew, and after that I was feared and respected among the Cretans. But when far-seeing Zeus devised that hateful voyage which loosed the knees of many men, then they urged me and glorious Idomeneus to lead the ships to Ilion; and there was no way to refuse, for the people’s voice pressed hard on us. There we sons of the Achaeans fought for nine years, and in the tenth we sacked the city of Priam and set off homeward with our ships, and a god scattered the Achaeans. But for wretched me Zeus the counselor was devising evil. For only a month I stayed at home, taking my joy in my children and my wedded wife and my possessions; and then my heart urged me to fit out ships well and sail to Egypt with my godlike companions. Nine ships I fitted out, and the men gathered quickly. For six days then my faithful companions feasted, and I provided many victims for them to sacrifice to the gods and to make a feast for themselves. On the seventh day we went aboard and sailed from wide Crete with a fresh, fair North Wind, easily, as if downstream. Not one of my ships came to harm; we sat unhurt and free of sickness, and the wind and the helmsmen steered them.

257 “On the fifth day we reached the fair-flowing river Aegyptus, and in the river Aegyptus I moored my curved ships. Then I ordered my faithful companions to stay there by the ships and guard them, and I sent out scouts to go up to the lookout points. But my men gave way to insolence and followed their own fury: at once they began to lay waste the beautiful fields of the Egyptian men, and they carried off the women and little children and killed the men, and soon the cry reached the city. Hearing the shouting, the townsmen came out at the break of dawn, and the whole plain was filled with foot soldiers and horses and the flash of bronze. And Zeus who delights in thunder cast an evil panic among my companions, and none dared to stand and face the enemy, for evils stood all around us. Then they killed many of us with the sharp bronze and led others away alive, to work for them by force. But Zeus himself put this thought into my mind—and how I wish I had died and met my fate right there in Egypt, for more misery was still waiting for me—I at once took the well-made helmet from my head and the shield from my shoulders, and let the spear fall from my hand. I went straight toward the horses of the king, and clasped his knees and kissed them; and he spared me and took pity on me, and set me in his chariot and took me home in tears. Many of them, it is true, rushed at me with their ash spears, eager to kill me—for they were very angry—but he kept them off, for he feared the wrath of Zeus, god of strangers, who above all is angered by evil deeds.

285 “There I stayed seven years, and gathered much wealth among the Egyptian men, for they all gave me gifts. But when the eighth year came round, then came a Phoenician man, well versed in deceit, a greedy knave, who had already done men much harm. He talked me over with his cunning and took me with him, until we reached Phoenicia, where his house and his possessions lay. There I stayed with him for a full year. But when the months and the days were accomplished, as the year came round again and the seasons returned, he put me aboard a seafaring ship bound for Libya, with lies in his plans: I was to take a cargo there with him, but in truth he meant to sell me there and get a huge price. I went aboard with him, suspecting it, but forced. She ran with a fresh, fair North Wind, on a mid-sea course beyond Crete; and Zeus was planning their destruction. When we had left Crete behind and no other land was in sight, only sky and sea, then the son of Cronus set a dark cloud above the hollow ship, and the sea grew dark beneath it. Zeus thundered and at the same moment hurled his thunderbolt at the ship. She spun all around, struck by the thunderbolt of Zeus, and was filled with the smell of sulfur, and all the men fell out of the ship. Like sea crows they were tossed on the waves around the black ship, and the god took away their homecoming. But Zeus himself, though I had pains enough in my heart, put the huge mast of the dark-prowed ship into my hands, so that I might escape harm once more. I wrapped myself around it and was carried by the deadly winds. Nine days I was carried, and on the tenth, in the black night, a great rolling wave brought me to the land of the Thesprotians. There the king of the Thesprotians, the hero Pheidon, took care of me and asked no price; for his dear son came upon me, overcome by cold and weariness, and raised me by the hand and led me home until he reached his father’s house, and he dressed me in a cloak and a tunic.

321 “There I heard of Odysseus. The king said he had entertained him and treated him as a friend on his way to his native land, and he showed me the treasures that Odysseus had gathered, bronze and gold and iron wrought with much toil. It would feed one man after another to the tenth generation, so much treasure lay stored for him in the halls of the king. He said Odysseus had gone to Dodona, to hear the will of Zeus from the god’s oak with its high crown of leaves, how he should return to the rich land of Ithaca after so long away, whether openly or in secret. And he swore to me myself, pouring offerings in his house, that a ship had been launched and companions were ready to take him to his own native land. But he sent me off first, for a ship of Thesprotian men happened to be going to Dulichium, rich in wheat. He ordered them to take me there to King Acastus, and to treat me kindly; but an evil plan concerning me pleased their hearts, so that I might yet sink to the very depths of misery. When the seafaring ship had sailed far from land, at once they plotted the day of slavery for me. They stripped me of my cloak and tunic and threw about me this other vile rag and tunic, all in tatters, which you see with your own eyes. In the evening they reached the fields of clear-seen Ithaca. There they bound me fast in the well-benched ship with a tightly twisted rope, and they went ashore and hurried to take their supper by the shore of the sea. But the gods themselves easily loosened my bonds. I wrapped the rag around my head, let myself down the smooth steering oar, brought my breast to the water, and then struck out with both hands, swimming, and very soon I was out of the sea and clear of them. I climbed up to where there was a thicket of flowering wood, and lay there crouching. They went up and down with loud cries; but as it seemed to them no use to search any further, they went back aboard their hollow ship. And the gods themselves hid me easily, and led me to the farmstead of a man of understanding; for it is still my fate to live.”

360 And you answered him, Eumaeus, swineherd: “Ah, poor stranger, you have stirred my heart deeply with all you have told me, all you have suffered and all your wanderings. But one part, I think, is not true, and you will not persuade me of what you say about Odysseus. Why must a man like you tell idle lies? I myself know well enough about my master’s homecoming: he was hated by all the gods, utterly, since they did not let him fall among the Trojans, or in the arms of his friends, once he had wound up the skein of war. Then all the Achaeans would have built him a tomb, and he would have won great fame for his son as well in days to come. But now the Harpies have snatched him away without fame. And I live apart with the swine. I do not go to the city, unless prudent Penelope happens to call me there, when news has come from somewhere. Then they sit around the newcomer and ask him about everything, both those who grieve for their master so long gone and those who are glad to eat up his living and pay nothing for it. But I have no wish to ask and inquire, ever since an Aetolian fooled me with his story. He had killed a man and wandered over much of the earth, and he came to my house, and I made him warmly welcome. He said he had seen Odysseus among the Cretans with Idomeneus, mending his ships which the storms had shattered; and he said he would come either by summer or by harvest time, bringing much wealth, with his godlike companions. And you, old man of many sorrows, since a god has brought you to me, do not try to please me with lies or charm me. That is not why I will respect you or be kind to you; it is because I fear Zeus, god of strangers, and because I pity you.”

390 Odysseus of many wiles answered him: “Truly the heart in your breast is slow to believe, since not even with an oath can I win you over or persuade you. But come now, let us make a bargain, and the gods who hold Olympus shall be witnesses for us both hereafter. If your master comes home to this house, dress me in a cloak and a tunic and send me on to Dulichium, where my heart wants to go. But if your master does not come as I say, set your servants on me and have them throw me down a great cliff, so that the next beggar may think twice before he tells lies.”

401 The noble swineherd answered him and said: “Stranger, that would be fine fame and fine virtue for me among men, both now and hereafter, if I first brought you into my hut and gave you a guest’s portion, and then killed you and took your dear life! With a glad heart, after that, I could pray to Zeus, son of Cronus! But now it is time for supper. I hope my companions will be in soon, so that we can make a good supper in the hut.”

409 So they spoke with one another, and the swine and the men who herded them came near. They shut the sows in their usual places to sleep, and an enormous clamor rose from the swine as they were penned. And the noble swineherd called to his companions:

414 “Bring the best of the hogs, so that I can sacrifice it for the stranger from far away. We will have the good of it ourselves too, we who have long suffered hardship for the sake of the white-tusked swine, while others eat up our labor and pay nothing for it.”

418 So saying, he split wood with the pitiless bronze, and they brought in a very fat hog, five years old, and stood it by the hearth. And the swineherd did not forget the immortals, for his heart was good. He began the rite by throwing bristles from the head of the white-tusked hog into the fire, and he prayed to all the gods that wise-hearted Odysseus would return to his own home. Then he raised his arm and struck the hog with a billet of oak which he had kept back when he split the wood, and the life left it. They cut its throat and singed it, and quickly jointed it; and the swineherd took raw pieces from all the limbs, as first offerings, and laid them on the rich fat and threw them into the fire, sprinkling them with barley meal. The rest they cut up and pierced with spits, and roasted it carefully, and drew it all off and threw it all together on platters. The swineherd stood up to carve, for his heart knew well what was fitting. He divided it all into seven portions. One he set aside for the nymphs and for Hermes, son of Maia, with a prayer, and the others he gave out to each man. Odysseus he honored with the long chine of the white-tusked hog, and he gladdened the heart of his master; and Odysseus of many wiles spoke to him and said:

440 “Eumaeus, may you be as dear to father Zeus as you are to me, since you honor me, such as I am, with good things.”

442 And you answered him, Eumaeus, swineherd: “Eat, strange man, my guest, and enjoy these things, such as they are. A god will give one thing and withhold another, as his heart wishes; for he can do all things.”

446 He spoke, and he burned the first cuttings for the everlasting gods, and when he had poured an offering of sparkling wine he put the cup in the hands of Odysseus, sacker of cities, and sat down by his own portion. Mesaulius served them bread, a servant whom the swineherd had acquired by himself while his master was away, without his mistress or old Laertes; he had bought him from the Taphians with his own goods. And they put out their hands to the good things that lay ready before them. But when they had put from them the desire for drink and food, Mesaulius cleared away the bread, and they hurried to their beds, full of bread and meat.

457 Night came on, foul and moonless. Zeus rained all night long, and the West Wind blew hard, always bringing rain. Odysseus spoke among them, testing the swineherd, to see whether he would take off his own cloak and give it to him, or tell one of his companions to, since he cared for him so much:

462 “Hear me now, Eumaeus, and all you other companions. I will tell you a tale to my own credit; the wine bids me, the maddening wine, which sets even a very wise man singing and laughing softly, and rouses him to dance, and brings out a word that would be better left unsaid. But since I have once begun to shout, I will not hold it back. If only I were young, and my strength firm, as when we laid an ambush and led it under Troy! Odysseus led it, and Menelaus son of Atreus, and I was third in command with them, for they had asked me themselves. When we came to the city and its steep wall, we lay around the town in the thick brush, among the reeds and the marsh, crouching under our armor. A foul night came on when the North Wind dropped, freezing, and from above the snow came down like hoarfrost, cold, and ice formed thick around the rims of our shields. All the others had cloaks and tunics, and they slept in peace with their shields over their shoulders; but I, when I set out, had left my cloak with my companions, like a fool, since I never thought I would be cold, and I had come with only my shield and my shining belt. But when it was the last third of the night, and the stars had passed their height, I spoke to Odysseus, who was near me, nudging him with my elbow, and he listened at once:

486 “‘Son of Laertes, sprung from Zeus, resourceful Odysseus, I shall not be among the living much longer; the cold is killing me, for I have no cloak. Some god beguiled me into coming in only a tunic, and now there is no way out.’

490 “So I spoke, and then he thought of this plan in his heart, such a man he was for counsel and for fighting. He spoke in a low voice and said to me: ‘Quiet now, so that no other Achaean hears you.’

494 “He spoke, and he raised his head on his elbow and said: ‘Hear me, friends. A dream from the gods came to me in my sleep. We have come too far from the ships. Someone should go and tell Agamemnon son of Atreus, shepherd of the people, in case he will send more men from the ships.’

499 “So he spoke, and Thoas son of Andraemon jumped up at once and threw off his purple cloak and ran to the ships; and I lay gladly in his cloak, until Dawn of the golden throne appeared. If only I were young like that now, and my strength firm! Then someone in the swineherds’ farmstead would give me a cloak, for two reasons, out of kindness and out of respect for a good man. But now they dishonor me, because I wear wretched clothes on my body.”

507 And you answered him, Eumaeus, swineherd: “Old man, that was an excellent tale you told, and you have not yet said a word out of place or without its profit. So you will not lack clothing or anything else that a hard-pressed suppliant ought to have when he comes to us, for tonight; but in the morning you will flap about in your own rags again. For we have no store of cloaks here, or tunics to change into; each man has one only. But when the dear son of Odysseus comes, he himself will give you a cloak and a tunic to wear, and send you wherever your heart and spirit bid you go.”

518 So saying, he sprang up and made a bed for him near the fire, and threw on it skins of sheep and goats. There Odysseus lay down, and over him the swineherd threw a thick, large cloak which he kept by him as a change, to wear whenever some monstrous storm arose.

523 So there Odysseus slept, and the young men slept beside him. But the swineherd did not like to have his bed there, to sleep away from the swine; he got himself ready to go outside, and Odysseus was glad that he took such care of his master’s goods while he was away. First he slung a sharp sword over his sturdy shoulders, then put on a very thick cloak to keep off the wind, and he took up the fleece of a large, well-fed goat, and a sharp javelin to keep off dogs and men. Then he went to lie down where the white-tusked swine slept under a hollow rock, sheltered from the North Wind.