Of suitors, hopeless of their ambush, reach'd The port again, or wait they still for me? To whom Eumæus, thou didst thus reply. No time for such enquiry, nor to range, Curious, the streets had I, but anxious wish'd 550 To make my message known, and to return. But, as it chanced, a nimble herald sent From thy companions, met me on the way, Who reach'd thy mother first. Yet this I know, For this I saw. Passing above the town Where they have piled a way-side hill of stones To Mercury, I beheld a gallant bark Ent'ring the port; a bark she was of ours, The crew were num'rous, and I mark'd her deep- Laden with shields and spears of double edge. 560 Theirs I conjectured her, and could no more. He spake, and by Eumæus unperceived, Telemachus his father eyed and smiled. Their task accomplish'd, and the table spread, They ate, nor any his due portion miss'd, And hunger, now, and thirst both sated, all To rest repair'd, and took the gift of sleep. FOOTNOTES: [72] Alluding probably to entreaties made to him at some former time by herself and Telemachus, that he would not harm them. Clarke. BOOK XVII ARGUMENT Telemachus returns to the city, and relates to his mother the principal passages of his voyage; Ulysses, conducted by Eumæus, arrives there also, and enters among the suitors, having been known only by his old dog Argus, who dies at his feet. The curiosity of Penelope being excited by the account which Eumæus gives her of Ulysses, she orders him immediately into her presence, but Ulysses postpones the interview till evening, when the suitors having left the palace, there shall be no danger of interruption. Eumæus returns to his cottage.