speak critically, indeed, the latter rather carried
the thing to excess, and seemed to make it a
point to wallow in the miriest part of the sty,
and otherwise to outdo the original swine in
their own natural vocation. When men once
turn to brutes, the trifle of man's wit that remains
in them adds tenfold to their brutality.

The comrades of Ulysses, however, had not
quite lost the remembrance of having formerly
stood erect. When he approached the sty, two
and twenty enormous swine separated them-
selves from the herd, and scampered towards
him, with such a chorus of horrible squealing as
made him clap both hands to his ears. And yet
they did not seem to know what they wanted,
nor whether they were merely hungry, or misera-
ble from some other cause. It was curious, in
the midst of their distress, to observe them thrust-
ing their noses into the mire, in quest of some-
thing to eat. The nymph with the bodice of
oaken bark (she was the hamadryad of an oak)
threw a handful of acorns among them; and the
two -and twenty hogs scrambled and fought for
the prize, as if they had tasted not so much as a
noggin of sour milk for a twelvemonth.

[[209]]

p208 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p209w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p210

v?