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Irus

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The beggar of gigantic stature, who kept watch over the suitors of Penelʹope. His real name was Arʹneos, but the suitors nicknamed him Iros because he carried their messages for them. Ulysses, on his return, felled him to the ground with a single blow, and flung him out of doors.

Poorer than Irus. A Greek proverb, adopted by the Romans (see Ovid), and existing in the French language (“Plus pauvre quʹIrus”), alluding to the beggar referred to above.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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(5) Giants of Mythology