We  read  of  kings'  sons  who  were  herdsmen  and  shepherds,
such  as  Paris  and  Ganymedes  and  Anchises :  and  Eumseus
the  divine  swineherd  seems  to  have  been  a  person  of  conse-
quence in  the  island  of  Ithaca.  In  some  instances,  too,  they
are  represented  as  occupied  in  agriculture.  In  the  stately
scenes  of  the  Homeric  shield,  while  the  reapers  cut  and  bind
the  corw,  the  master  stands  by,  leaning  on  his  staff  and  rejoic-
ing in  his  heart.  But  the  aged  Laertes,  father  of  Odysseus,  is
found  by  that  hero  clad  in  skins  labouring  in  digging  his  own
land.  And  the  story  goes,  that  when  the  chiefs  came  to  fetch
Odysseus  himself  to  the  war  against  Troy,  they  found  him,  like
Cincinnatus,  occupied  in  ploughing.  But  Odysseus  and  all  his
belongings  are  at  a  lower  stage  of  material  splendour  than  the
heroes  of  ^acid  and  Pelopid  race.
^  Thucyd.  i  2.
