mother of the house. So Eumaeus gives an account of his relation to
them, as well as to Ktimene, sister of Ulysses; "with her I was reared,
and was honored by her mother only a little less." Eumaeus will soon
tell how he came so young to the family of Laertes. Indeed Ulysses is
moved by his narrative to ask just this question. It is to be noted
that the report of the swineherd about Penelope is not so certain;
"from the queen I have had no kindly word or deed, since that evil fell
upon her house--the haughty Suitors." Here lies one motive why Ulysses
must go to the palace and test Penelope. Thus Eumaeus shows his love for
the family of Ulysses, and responds deeply to the test of universal
charity.

Very naturally rises the question as to the history of his life. What
experience has called forth such a marvelous character? Eumaeus now
gives his fateful story. The Phoenician background is again employed,
with its commerce in merchandise, with its stealing and selling of
free, high-born people into slavery, with its navigation. The pith of
the story is, a Phoenician female slave, who had been stolen and
bought by the king of the country, plays false to her master, steals
his child and what valuables she can carry off, and escapes on a
Phoenician trading vessel after an intrigue with one of its crew. The
captive woman avenged her wrong, but was struck on "the seventh day by
Diana, archer-queen," for her own double guilt. Eumaeus was that child,
also stolen and enslaved, but he is her emphatic contrast; he has been
able fully to digest his fate. The Phoenician galley came to Ithaca,
"and there Laertes purchased me." The swineherd is of royal birth and
retains his more than royal character; in being the humblest he can
rise to the highest.

Interesting touches of the Phoenician traders are given: "Sharp
fellows, having myriads of trinkets in their ship:" surely it is the
ancient Semitic retailer of jewelry, going from town to town in his
boat. Then note specially "the cunning man who came to my father's
house, showing a golden necklace strung with amber beads;" this amber
was obtained doubtless through commerce from the Baltic, by the
Phoenicians, whose workmanship is also suggested. "The palace
servants and my mother took the trinket into their hands, turning it
over and over; they kept gazing at it haggling about the price;" the
same scene can be witnessed today in our own country towns when the
Jewish peddler appears in