The Egyptian Tale

47“Give somewhat also, friend. You do not seem
One of the humbler rank among the Greeks,
But of the highest. Kingly is your look;
It therefore will become you to bestow
More freely than the rest, and I will sound
Your praise through all the earth. Mine too was once
A happy lot, for I inhabited
A palace filled with goods, and often gave
To wanderers, whosoever they might be
That sought me out, and in whatever need.
And I had many servants, and large store
Of everything by which men live at ease
And are accounted rich. Cronian Zeus —
Such was his pleasure —brought me low; for, moved
By him, I joined me to a wandering band
Of pirates, and to my perdition sailed
Upon a distant voyage to the coast
Of Egypt. In the river of that land
I stationed my good ships, and bade my men
Remain with them and watch them well. I placed
Sentries upon the heights. Yet confident
In their own strength, and rashly giving way
To greed, my comrades ravaged the fair fields
Of the Egyptians, slew them, and bore off
Their wives and little ones. The rumor reached
The city soon; the people heard the alarm
And came together. With the dawn of day
All the great plain was thronged with horse and foot,
And gleamed with brass, while Zeus, the Thunderer, sent
A deadly fear into our ranks, where none
Dared face the foe. On every side was death.
The Egyptians hewed down many with the sword,
And some they led away alive to toil
For them in slavery. Me my captors gave
Into a stranger’s hands, upon his way
To Cyprus, where he reigned, a mighty king,
Demetor, son of Jasus. Thence at last
I came through many hardships to this isle.”

48Antinous lifted up his voice, and said:
“What god has sent this nuisance to disturb
The banquet? Take yourself to the mid-hall,
Far from your table, else expect to see
An Egypt and a Cyprus of a sort
That you will little like. You are a bold
And shameless beggar. You do take your round
And ask from each, and foolishly they give,
And spare not nor consider; well supplied
Is each, and freely gives what is not his.”

49Then sage Odysseus said as he withdrew:
“ It is strange; your mind agrees not with your form.
You would not give a suppliant even salt
In your own house —you who, while sitting here
Fed at another’s table, can not bear
To give me bread from your well-loaded board.”