Page 304 - the-odyssey

dogs and pigs off; you are a pitiful creature, and if you try to
make yourself king of the beggars any more you shall fare
still worse.’
Then he threw his dirty old wallet, all tattered and torn
over his shoulder with the cord by which it hung, and went
back to sit down upon the threshold; but the suitors went
within the cloisters, laughing and saluting him, ‘May Jove,
and all the other gods,’ said they, ‘grant you whatever you
want for having put an end to the importunity of this in-
satiable tramp. We will take him over to the mainland
presently, to king Echetus, who kills every one that comes
near him.’
Ulysses hailed this as of good omen, and Antinous set
a great goat’s paunch before him filled with blood and fat.
Amphinomus took two loaves out of the bread-basket and
brought them to him, pledging him as he did so in a golden
goblet of wine. ‘Good luck to you,’ he said, ‘father stranger,
you are very badly off at present, but I hope you will have
better times by and by.’
To this Ulysses answered, ‘Amphinomus, you seem to
be a man of good understanding, as indeed you may well
be, seeing whose son you are. I have heard your father well
spoken of; he is Nisus of Dulichium, a man both brave and
wealthy. They tell me you are his son, and you appear to
be a considerable person; listen, therefore, and take heed to
what I am saying. Man is the vainest of all creatures that
have their being upon earth. As long as heaven vouchsafes
him health and strength, he thinks that he shall come to no
harm hereafter, and even when the blessed gods bring sor-

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