Then didst thou make answer, swineherd Eumaeus:  ’Antinous, no fair words are these of thine, noble though thou art.  For who ever himself seeks out and bids to the feast a stranger from afar, save only one of those that are craftsmen of the people, a prophet or a healer of ills, or a shipwright or even a godlike minstrel, who can delight all with his song?  Nay, these are the men that are welcome over all the wide earth.  But none would call a beggar to the banquet, to waste his substance.  But thou art ever hard above all the other wooers to the servants of Odysseus, and, beyond all, to me; but behold, I care not, so long as my mistress, the constant Penelope, lives in the halls and godlike Telemachus.’

Then wise Telemachus answered him, saying:  ’Be silent, answer him not, I pray thee, with many words, for Antinous is wont ever to chide us shamefully with bitter speech, yea, and urges the others thereto.’

Therewithal he spake winged words to Antinous:  ’Antinous, verily thou hast a good care for me, as it were a father for his son, thou that biddest me drive our guest from the hall with a harsh command.  God forbid that such a thing should be!  Take somewhat and give it him:  lo, I grudge it not; nay, I charge thee to do it.  And herein regard not my mother, nor any of the thralls that are in the house of divine Odysseus.  Nay, but thou hast no such thought in thy heart, for thou art far more fain to eat thyself than to give to another.’

Then Antinous answered him and spake, saying:  ’Telemachus, proud of speech, and unrestrained in fury, what word hast thou spoken?  If all the wooers should vouchsafe him as much as I, this house would keep him far enough aloof even for three months’ space.’

So he spake, and seized the footstool whereon he rested his sleek feet as he sat at the feast, and showed it from beneath the table where it lay.  But all the others gave somewhat and filled the wallet with bread and flesh; yea, and even now, Odysseus as he returned to the threshold, was like to escape scot free, making trial of the Achaeans, but he halted by Antinous, and spake to him, saying: 

’Friend, give me somewhat; for methinks thou art not the basest of the Achaeans, but the best man of them all, for thou art like a king.  Wherefore thou shouldest give me a portion of bread, and that a better than the others; so would I make thee renowned over all the wide earth.  For I too, once had a house of mine own among men, a rich man with a wealthy house, and many a time would I give to a wanderer, what manner of man soever he might be, and in whatsoever need he came.  And I had thralls out of number, and all else in plenty, wherewith folk live well and have a name for riches.  But Zeus, the son of Cronos, made me desolate of all,—­for surely it was his will,—­who sent me with wandering sea-robbers to go to Egypt, a far road, to my ruin.  And in the river Aegyptus I stayed my curved ships.  Then verily I bade my loved companions to abide there