willing should be hidden under a cloak; but I paid for my indiscretion
with my sufferings, for with the inclement night, and the wet of the
ditch in which we lay, I was well nigh frozen to death; and when I
could endure no longer, I jogged Ulysses who was next to me, and had
a nimble ear, and made known my case to him, assuring him that I must
inevitably perish. He answered in a low whisper, 'Hush, lest any Greek
should hear you, and take notice of your softness.' Not a word more
he said, but shewed as if he had no pity for the plight I was in. But
he was as considerate as he was brave, and even then, as he lay with
his head reposing upon his hand, he was meditating how to relieve me,
without exposing my weakness to the soldiers. At last raising up his
head, he made as if he had been asleep, and said, 'Friends, I have
been warned in a dream to send to the fleet to king Agamemnon for a
supply, to recruit our numbers, for we are not sufficient for this
enterprize;' and they believing him, one Thoas was dispatched on
that errand, who departing, for more speed, as Ulysses had foreseen,
left his upper garment behind him, a good warm mantle, to which I
succeeded, and by the help of it got through the night with credit.
This shift Ulysses made for one in need, and would to heaven that I
had now that strength in my limbs, which made me in those days to be
accounted fit to be a leader under Ulysses! I should not then want the
loan of a cloak or a mantle, to wrap about me and shield my old limbs
from the night-air."

The tale pleased the herdsmen; and Eumaeus, who more than all the rest
was gratified to hear tales of Ulysses, true or false, said, that for
his story he deserved a mantle, and a night's lodging, which he should
have; and he spread for him a bed of goat and sheep skins by the fire;
and the seeming beggar, who was indeed the true Ulysses, lay down and
slept under that poor roof, in that abject disguise to which the will
of Minerva had subjected him.

When morning was come, Ulysses made offer to depart, as if he were not
willing to burthen his host's hospitality any longer, but said, that
he would go and try the humanity of the town's folk, if any there
would bestow upon him a bit of bread or a cup of drink. Perhaps the
queen's suitors (he said) out of their full feasts would bestow a
scrap on him: for he could wait at table, if need were, and play the
nimble serving-man, he could fetch wood (he said) or build a fire,