“Friend,” said Odysseus, “you speak as if return were impossible. I will not take a gift for empty hope — but Odysseus is coming. Let Zeus be my witness, and this hospitable table, and the hearth of blameless Odysseus to which I have come: within this month he will reach home, and whoever insults him will pay.”
Eumaeus answered, “Old man, I will not pay you for that news, and Odysseus will not come. Drink in peace and talk of other things. Do not remind me. My heart aches whenever anyone speaks of him. We will leave an oath alone. Tell me instead who you are, where your city is, and who your parents were — and how you reached Ithaca in that ship.”
Odysseus said, “I could talk a year and not finish my troubles, if food and wine held out and we sat here in quiet. I am Cretan by birth. My father was a rich man with many sons by his wife; I was the son of a bought woman, yet he honored me like the others. When he died the legitimate sons cast lots and gave me little, but I married a wealthy wife by my own courage — I was no weakling then, in war or ambush.”
“Before the sons of the Achaeans sailed for Troy, I led men nine times in ships against foreign coasts and took much spoil. I was counted among the foremost in Crete. When Zeus ordained that hard war, they made me and the famous Idomeneus leaders of the Cretan ships. We fought nine years at Troy; in the tenth we sacked the city and started home, but a god scattered the Achaeans.”
“I meant to sail straight home, yet my spirit drove me toward Egypt. I fitted out ships and chose willing crews. On the fifth day we reached the Nile. I told the men to stay by the ships and send a few to learn the people’s mind. They disobeyed, ravaged the fields, killed men, and carried off women and children.”
“The Egyptians heard the cry and came at dawn with chariots and bronze. They killed many of us beside the ships and led others inland as slaves. Zeus put courage in my heart: I threw down my spear and shield, clasped the king’s knees, and he spared me and seated me in his chariot. I stayed seven years and gathered wealth from the Egyptians’ gifts.”
“In the eighth year a Phoenician rogue came — a cheat who had already done much harm in the world. He persuaded me with craft to sail with him to Phoenicia, where I stayed a full year. When the months turned, he put me on a ship bound for Libya, saying I would carry cargo, but he meant to sell me for a great price. The ship ran north of Crete; Zeus planned ruin. He shattered the mast with a thunderbolt; the crew went overboard like diving birds, and the god took their return.”
“I clung to the mast nine days. On the tenth night the gods cast me ashore in Thesprotia. The king’s son found me nearly dead, led me home, and clothed me. There I heard of Odysseus. The king said he had hosted him and shown him friendship on his way to Dodona, to learn Zeus’s will from the oak — whether to return openly or in secret. The king swore Odysseus’s ship was already launched and his crew waiting to bring him home.”
“But first the king sent me on: a Thesprotian ship was sailing for Dulichium. He told the crew to take me safely to King Acastus. They plotted otherwise. When the ship was far from land they stripped my fine clothes, gave me these rags, bound me, and meant to sell me. At evening they put into Ithaca’s bay. The gods themselves unbound my cords while the men ate on the shore. I swam under the oars, climbed through reeds, and lay hidden until they gave up the search and sailed on. So the gods brought me to your door.”
Eumaeus said, “Poor stranger, you have moved me with your hardships. But that part about Odysseus you will not make me believe. Why must you lie in that one thing? I know well how my master would have come if he could — openly, with gifts, not sneaking. As for me, I keep these pigs far from town and go in only when Penelope sends for news, or when some chance word reaches her. The suitors’ servants mock me when I ask. So I stay here with my swine and pray to the gods for my master’s return.”