because you cannot bend it! Why, your good mother did not
bear you for a brandisher of bows and arrows. But others among the lordly
suitors will bend it by and by."

So saying, he gave an order to Melanthius, the goatherd: "Hasten,
Melanthius, and light a fire in the hall and set a long bench near, with
fleeces on it; then bring me the large cake of fat which lies inside the
door, that after we have warmed the bow and greased it well, we young men
may try the bow and end the contest."

He spoke, and straightway Melanthius kindled a steady fire, and set a
bench beside it with a fleece thereon, and brought out the large cake of
fat which lay inside the door, and so the young men warmed the bow and
made their trial. But yet they could not bend it; they fell far short of
power. Antinous, however, still held back, and prince Eurymachus, who were
the suitors' leaders; for they in manly excellence were quite the best of
all.

Meanwhile out of the house at the same moment came two men, princely
Ulysses' herdsmen of the oxen and the swine; and after them came royal
Ulysses also from the house. And when they were outside the gate, beyond
the yard, speaking in gentle words Ulysses said,--

"Neatherd, and you too, swineherd, may I tell a certain tale, or shall I
hide it still? My heart bids me speak. How ready would you be to aid
Ulysses if he should come from somewhere, thus, on a sudden, and a god
should bring him home? Would you support the suitors or Ulysses? Speak
freely, as your heart and spirit bid you speak."

Then said to him the herdsman of the cattle, "O father Zeus, grant this my
prayer! May he return and Heaven be his guide! Then shall you know what
might is mine and how my hands obey."

So prayed Eumaeus too to all the Gods, that wise Ulysses might return to
his own home. So when he knew with certainty the heart of each, finding
his words once more Ulysses said,--

"Lo, it is I, through many grievous toils now in the twentieth year come
to my native land! And yet I know that of my servants none but you desire
my coming. From all the rest I have not heard one prayer that I return. To
you then I will truly tell what shall hereafter be. If God by me subdues
the lordly suitors, I will obtain you wives and give you wealth and homes
established near my own; and henceforth in my eyes you shall be friends
and brethren of Telemachus. Come, then, and I will show you too a very
trusty sign,--that you may know me certainly