Suitors Learn of the Voyage

51But in the well-paved court which lay before
The palace of Odysseus, where of late
Their insolence was shown, the suitor train
Amused themselves with casting quoits and spears,
While by themselves Antinous, and the youth
Of godlike mien, Eurymachus, who both
Were eminent above the others, sat.
To them Noemon, son of Phronius, went,
Drew near, bespoke Antinous and inquired: —

52“Is it among us known, or is it not,
Antinous, when Telemachus returns
From sandy Pylos? Thither he is gone
And in my galley, which I need to cross
To spacious Elis. There I have twelve mares
And hardy mule-colts with them yet untamed,
And some I must subdue to take the yoke.”

53He spoke, and they were both amazed; for they
Had never thought of him as visiting
Neleian Pylos, deeming that the youth
Was somewhere in his fields, among the flocks,
Or haply with the keeper of the swine.