Page 240 - the-odyssey

all—for his son found me when I was nearly dead with cold
and fatigue, whereon he raised me by the hand, took me to
his father’s house and gave me clothes to wear.
‘There it was that I heard news of Ulysses, for the king
told me he had entertained him, and shown him much hos-
pitality while he was on his homeward journey. He showed
me also the treasure of gold, and wrought iron that Ulysses
had got together. There was enough to keep his family for
ten generations, so much had he left in the house of king
Pheidon. But the king said Ulysses had gone to Dodona that
he might learn Jove’s mind from the god’s high oak tree,
and know whether after so long an absence he should re-
turn to Ithaca openly, or in secret. Moreover the king swore
in my presence, making drink-offerings in his own house as
he did so, that the ship was by the water side, and the crew
found, that should take him to his own country. He sent me
off however before Ulysses returned, for there happened to
be a Thesprotian ship sailing for the wheat-growing island
of Dulichium, and he told those in charge of her to be sure
and take me safely to King Acastus.
‘These men hatched a plot against me that would have
reduced me to the very extreme of misery, for when the ship
had got some way out from land they resolved on selling
me as a slave. They stripped me of the shirt and cloak that
I was wearing, and gave me instead the tattered old clouts
in which you now see me; then, towards nightfall, they
reached the tilled lands of Ithaca, and there they bound me
with a strong rope fast in the ship, while they went on shore
to get supper by the sea side. But the gods soon undid my