-THE ODYSSEY

HOMER,

RENDERED INTO ENGLISH BLANK VERSE.

By MORDAUNT BARNARD, M.A.

WILLIAMS AND NORGATE,

14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON.

AND 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.

1876.

*«

T. RICHARDS, 37, GREAT QUEEN STREET, W.C.

IZ7S

TO MY WIFE,

ADELAIDE SOPHIA,

THIS LITTLE WORK IS DEDICATED,

IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HER ASSISTANCE

IN PREPARING IT FOR THE PRESS.

M. B.

PREFACE

The object of the translator is two-fold : to assist backward students in mastering the ori- ginal, and to give English readers a simple and unambitious version, often differing little from mere prose. He has therefore made it as literal as the requirements of metre would allow, except, for obvious reasons, in two or three passages. " Virginibus puerisque canto."

The liberty has been taken of sometimes omitting formulaic epithets, and of varying the names of Deities and the patronymics of men.

The marginal numeration of the lines refers to the original. The passages enclosed in brackets are of doubtful authenticity. The

Vlll PREFACE,

absence of the translator from England may excuse a few errors or inconsistencies of punc- tuation, for which he and not the printer is responsible. It had been at first intended to publish the work in two volumes, but it now appears in only one. This will account for the blank page before the thirteenth book, and for the numbering of the pages in the latter part.

Villa Carabacel, Nice.

April 1876.

THE ODYSSEY.

BOOK I.

Muse ! tell me of the man with much resource, Who wandered far, when sacred Troy he sacked ; Saw towns of many men, learned all they knew, Winning his own life and his friends' return. 5

Yet the in he saved not, earnest though he was, For by their own temerity they died. Fools ! who devoured the oxen of the sun, Who from them took the day of their return. [Muse, child of Jove! from some source tell us this.] 10

The others, all who sudden death escaped, Flying from war and sea, were now at home. Him only, yearning for his home and wife, Calypso, nymph adorable, detained In hollow caves, and woo'd him for her spouse. 15

When with revolving years the year was come In which the gods had fated his return To Ithaca (nor there he toils escaped Even among his friends), then all the gods, Neptune except, compassion on him took. 20

He 'gainst Ulysses raged unceasingly,

2 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK I.

Before that to his native land he came.

To the far ^Ethiopians he had gone,

The ^Ethiopians most remote of men ;

Some near the setting, some the rising sun,

To take a hecatomb of bulls and lambs. 25

There sitting he enjoyed the feast. The rest

Were in the house of the Olympian Jove.

The sire of gods and men began a speech,

Calling the famed iEgisthus to his mind,

Whom Agamemnon's son, Orestes, slew. 30

Rememb'ring him, th' immortals he addressed :'

* 0 strange it is how mortals blame the gods ! ' They say their evils are from us, while they ' By their own folly have unfated woes.

' Thus, contrary to fate, yEgisthus took 35

' Atrides' wife, and slew him when returned ;

' Though knowing his own fate, as him we wrarned

* (And Hermes, wTatchful Argeiphontes, sent), ' Neither to kill him nor to woo his wife ;

' For that revenge would from Orestes come, 40

' When he grew up and claimed his own domains. ' This Hermes told him, but did not persuade, ' Though well he counselled him, ^Egisthus' mind. 1 Now for all this the penalty he pays.'

Minerva, blue -eyed goddess, answered him : ' 0 father ! son of Saturn ! chief of kings ! 45

1 In a befitting death full well he lies. ' So perish every one who does such deeds ! ' But for the wise Ulysses aches my heart ; ' Ill-fated, far from friends, and suffering woes ' On th' island, where 's the centre of the sea ; 50

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK I. A

1 A woody island, where a goddess dwells, ' The daughter of sagacious Atlas, who ' Knows of all seas the depth, and bears himself 1 The pillars which support the earth and sky.

* His daughter that sad mourning man detains, 55 1 And soothes with soft delusive words, that he

1 May Ithaca forget. Ulysses longs

* Of his dear country but the rising smoke

' To see, and then to die ; but still thine heart,

* Olympian Jove ! relents not. Did not he 60 1 Bring grateful offerings by the Grecian ships

* In the wide Troy ? then why so angry, Jove 1 '

The cloud-compelling Jove replied : ' My child ! 1 What word has passed the barrier of thy teeth ?

* Could I divine Ulysses e'er forget, 65

* First among men in wisdom, first to pay ' Kites to immortals dwelling in the sky 1

1 But earth-surrounding Neptune is enraged ' Inflexibly, because the Cyclops' eye

* He blinded, Polypheme, of greatest strength 70

* Among the Cyclops. Him Thoosa bare,

* Daughter of Phorcys, ruler of the sea, 1 Allied with Neptune in a hollow cave.

* Since then earth-shaking Neptune does not kill

* Ulysses, but detains him from his home. 75 ' But come, let all of us deliberate

' For his return. Neptune shall moderate

* His rage, nor will be able 'gainst the will 1 Of all th' immortals to contend alone.'

Minerva, blue-eyed goddess, answered him : 80

1 0 father ! son of Saturn ! chief of kings !

4 THE ODYSSEY.— BOOK I.

6 If 'tis the pleasure of the blessed gods

4 That wise Ulysses to his home return,

' Let us send Mercury, the messenger,

' Slayer of Argus, to th' Ogygian isle, 85

' That he may quickly tell the fair-haired nymph

' Our purpose that Ulysses home return.

1 But I to Ithaca will go, and urge

1 His son, and courage in his mind will place,

' That, having to a council called the Greeks, 90

' He warn the suitors off, who constantly

1 Slay his fat sheep and slowly-trailing beeves.

1 To Sparta and to sandy Pylos I

* Will send him to enquire what he may hear

1 Of his dear sire returning to his home,

( And among men may have a noble fame.' 95

She spake, and bound fair sandals on her feet, [Ambrosial, golden, which o'er earth and sea Bore her as swift as breezes of the wind; And then her spear, tipped with a brazen point, Strong, weighty, firm, she took, wherewith the ranks 100 Of heroes in her anger she subdues.] Down from Olympus' tops she rushed, and stood In Ithaca, close to Ulysses' porch, Upon the palace threshold. In her hand (Likening herself to Mentes, as a guest, 105

A Taphian chief), she held a brazen spear. She found the noble suitors ; they their minds, Before the doors, were solacing with dice, Sitting on hides of beeves which they had slain. By them were heralds and attendants quick ; Some mingled wine and water in the bowls ; 'no

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK I. O

And some with sponges, pierced with many holes, The tables wiped and decked ; some carved the flesh. Her much the first Telemachus descried, For 'mong the suitors sad at heart he sate, Beholding his brave father in his mind, 115

Should he but come the suitors to disperse, His rank maintain, and rule his own domains. Full of these thoughts, he left them when he saw Minerva, and went straightway from the porch, Vexed in his mind that at the gates so long 120

A guest should stand. Approaching her he took Her right hand, and received her brazen spear, And then addressed her with these winged words : 1 Hail, guest ! kind treatment thou shalt have from us, 1 And after supper shalt thy wants declare.'

He led the way : Minerva followed him, 125

And when they were the lofty house within, Against a column tall he placed the spear In a well-polished case, wherein there stood Of brave Ulysses many other spears. He led her to a throne, and placed a cloth 130

Embroidered fair, with footstool for her feet. Then from the suitors placed a couch apart, Lest by their clamorous din the guest annoyed Dislike the meal in such proud company, And that about his father he might ask. 135

From a fair golden ewer a maiden filled A bowl, above a silver cauldron placed, To wash, and laid a polished table near. A venerable housekeeper brought bread, [Piling up divers cates in full supply. 140

0 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK I.

Dishes of various meats the carver set,

And by their side the golden cups arranged.]

And oft a herald went and poured out wine.

The noble suitors entered then, and sate In order due upon the seats and thrones. 145

The heralds poured out water on their hands ; The maidens high in baskets heaped the bread ; The young men crowned the goblets with the wine j And on the feast prepared their hands they laid. But when for drink and food their appetite 150

They satisfied, to other thoughts they turned ; To song and dance, which ornament a feast. A herald gave to Phemius a lyre, And he reluctant to the suitors played ; But though he harped he yet delayed to sing. 155

Then to Minerva said Telemachus, Holding his head close lest the rest should hear : ' Dear stranger, wilt be angry at my words? 1 To these men harp and song are easy cares ; 1 For they the substance of another eat 160

1 Without their cost ; the property of one 1 Whose whitened bones are weltering in the rain, ■ Or on the land, or rolling in the wave. ' But if to Ithaca they saw him come, ' They all would pray to be more light of foot, 1 Rather than richer be in gold and vests. 165

' He now by evil fate has died j no comfort is ' To us, e'en though some man on earth should say ' He will return : of that all hope is lost. ' Now tell me this, and let thy speech be true, ' Who art thou? whence? what city, parents thine? 170

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK I. 7

' In what ship didst thou come to Ithaca 1

* Why did the sailors bring thee ? who are they 1 1 For thou by land most surely couldst not come. ' And tell me truly this, that I may know ;

* New comer art thou, or my father's guest 1 175

* For many others to our house have come, 'And he was very conversant with men.'

Minerva, blue-eyed goddess, answered him : 1 Aye ! I will truly tell thee all these things.

I Mentes, the son of brave Anchialus, 180

I I am, and rule the Taphians, fond of oars.

1 Now hither with my ship and friends I come

* To strangers, o'er the dark sea sailing, bound ' To Temesa for brass ; and bright steel bring.

1 Far from the town in Rheithron's harbour lies 335

1 My ship, beneath the woody Lei'on.

' Hereditary friends we claim to be

' From times of old ; if thou wilt go and ask

' Laertes, aged hero, who, they say,

' To the town comes not, but in distant fields 190

4 Endures calamities ; and on him waits

1 An aged housekeeper, who food and drink,

' When weariness comes o'er his limbs, supplies,

1 As through his vineyard's fertile plot he creeps.

' I came because they told me that thy sire

' Was here, whose homeward road the gods obstruct. 195

1 For upon earth Ulysses is not dead,

' But, living, by the broad sea is detained

1 Within a sea-girt island. Cruel men

* Hold and restrain him far against his will.

'But I will prophesy, as to my mind 200

0 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK I.

* The gods suggest, and as I think will be,

' Although no prophet, nor in birds well-skilled :

1 Not from his dear paternal land will he

1 Be absent long, though iron chains may bind.

' Man of much craft, he'll plan for his return. 205

1 But tell me this, and let thy speech be true,

6 If thou, so stalwart, art Ulysses' son.

' Much thou resemblest him in head and eyes ;

* For we repeatedly together met

* Before he went to Troy, where other chiefs 210 ' Went of the Grecians in their hollow ships;

1 Him from that time I saw not nor he me.'

Prudent Telemachus to her replied : ' Guest ! I will speak to thee with perfect truth. ' My mother says that I'm his son, but I 215

■ Know not, nor any son his father knows. 4 The son I should be of a wealthy man, ' Whom of his own domains old age finds lord. ' But now of one beyond all men distrest

* They call me son ; since this thou dost enquire.' 220

Minerva, blue-eyed goddess, spake again :

* The gods have not inglorious made thy birth, ' Whom, such a son, Penelope has borne.

' But tell me this, and let thy words be true : ' What is this feast, this concourse ! and what need 225 ' For thee] what banquet, or what marriage -day? 1 Not one where all a contribution make, 1 For with proud insolence they seem to feast ; ' And any prudent man would angry be, ' Who should come near and such foul deeds behold.' The wise Telemachus replied and said : 230

THE ODYSSEY. BOOK I.

^

1 Guest ! since these questions thou dost ask and urge, 1 There was a time when this house used to be 1 Honoured and rich, while that man was at home. 1 Now the gods, planning ills, have changed its state,

I And have of all men left him most obscure. 235

I I should not grieve so much if he had died .^ ^ 4 Among his own companions, slain at Troy,

' Or in his friends' hands, when the war was done.

1 Then would the Greeks have built his tomb, and he

1 Both for himself and son have earned renown. 240

' Whirlwinds ingloriously have borne him off;

' Unknown, unheard of, he is gone, and left

' Nothing behind for me but griefs and groans.

' Nor for him only do I weep and wTail,

' For evil cares on me the gods have brought.

' As many chiefs as o'er the islands rule, 245

1 Samos, Zacynthus, and Dulichium,

1 And who bear sway in rocky Ithaca,

' All woo my mother, and despoil the house.

* And she the hateful marriage nor denies

' Nor can conclude. They gluttonously waste 250 ' My house, and quickly will destroy myself.'

Pallas Minerva said indignantly : ' 0 shame ! Ulysses' absence well thou may'st ' Iiegret, for on the shameless suitors he 1 Would lay his hands. E'en at the entrance gates 955

* Were he to stand with helm, shield and two spears, 1 Such as when first I knew him in our house,

' [In revelry and joy, from Ephyra

1 And Ilus, son of Mermerus, returned.

1 Ulysses thither in his swift ship went, 2G0

10 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK I.

1 To seek for deadly poison to besmear

' His brazen arrows, but he gave it not,

' Fearing the anger of th' immortal gods ;

' My father gave it, for he loved him much.]

1 If such Ulysses met the suitors now, 265

' Swift death and bitter wooing they would have.

' But in the gods' lap all these things repose,

' Whether for vengeance he return or not

1 To his own house. I bid thee to reflect

1 How thou canst drive the suitors from thine house. 270

' Come then, consider and regard my words.

' To-morrow to a council call the Greeks,

' Harangue them all, and let the gods attest j

' The suitors bid thou to their homes disperse.

' To wedlock if thy mother's mind inclines, . 275

' Let her to her great father's house return.

1 The marriage they will fix ; the bridal gifts,

* As for a daughter dear are fit, prepare.

1 Thyself I'll counsel, if thou wilt obey :

' With twenty rowers thy best ship supply, 280

' And thy long absent father go to seek,

' If men can tell thee, or from Jove the voice,

' Which chiefest brings report to men, thou hear'st.

1 Go first to JJvJqs, and of Nestor ask ;|n

1 To Sparta next and Menelaus fair, 285

' For he of well-armed Greeks has come the last,

i If thou canst learn thy sire's return and life ;

' And there, however vexed, remain a year.

1 If thou shouldst hear that he is dead, nor more

' Alive, to thy dear native land return \ 290

' To him erect a monument, and pay,

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK I. 11

' As is befitting, all funereal rites,

* And to another spouse thy mother give.

' And when all this thou hast completely done, 1 Then counsel take within thy mind and thought, 1 How thou may'st slay the suitors in thine house, 295 1 By craft or openly : it is not fit

* To play a child's game when no longer such.

* Hast thou not heard what fame Orestes gained

* From all, who killed his father's murderer,

' Crafty ^Egisthus, slayer of his sire 1 300

1 And thou, dear youth, whom fair and strong I see, ' Be brave, that future men may speak of thee. 1 But to my swift ship I will now go down,

* And to my friends who wait for me and grieve.

* Take thou good heed, and think upon my words.' 305

To her the wise Telemachus replied :

* Guest ! thou hast spoken with kind thoughts, as might 1 Father to son, and I will ne'er forget,

1 But stay thou now, though eager to depart,

i That, having bathed and gratified thine heart, 310

* Thou to thy ship may'st with a present go ' Rejoicing, very precious, beautiful,

'A keepsake, such as hosts to loved guests give.'

Minerva, blue-eyed goddess, answered him : ' Stay me not now when eager to depart, 315

' As to the gift which thy kind mind suggests, ' Give it on my return to carry home, ' And I will give one worthy of exchange.'

Blue-eyed Minerva spake and sped away, Swift as an eagle flies ; and in his heart 320

Put strength and courage, calling to his mind,

12 THE ODYSSEY. —BOOK I.

More than before, his father; and he thought Admiringly, and deemed it was a god. Then to the suitors went the god-like man.

To them a bard was singing, of renown. 325

They sate and listened silently, while he Was hymning the return of Greeks from Troy, Which Pallas had decreed should mournful be. From her high chamber heard the song divine Icarius' daughter, wise Penelope, And on the lofty stair, but not alone, 330

Came down ; two maidens followed in her steps. When to the suitors came the noble dame, She by a column of the well-wrought roof Stood with a shining kerchief o'er her cheeks, While on each side a modest maiden stood, 335

And weeping thus the bard divine addressed :

* 0 Phemius ! thou knowest other songs

1 Which mortals charm, the deeds of Gods and men, 1 Which bards recite : sit there and sing them one 1 Of those, and let them listen, as they drink 340

* Their wine ; but cease from this lugubrious song, 1 Which always vexes in this breast my heart ;

1 For on me comes my unforgotten grief.

* So long I for, and in my mem'ry hold

* That man whose fame o'er Greece and Argos spreads.'

The wise Telemachus in answer said : 345

' Mother ! why grudgest thou the much loved bard

* To charm us at his will 1 for not the bards ' Are to be blamed, but Jove is blameable,

1 Who gives inventive men whate'er he wills.

1 To him no blame who sings the Grecians' fate. 350

THE ODYSSEY. BOOK I. 13

' Men on that song confer the most renown ' Which is the newest to them as they hear.

* Ulysses not alone lost his return

* In Troy ; for many other men have died. 355

* Enter the house, and thine own works control, 1 The loom and distaff, and command thy maids

* To ply their tasks. Speech is the part of men, 'And specially of him who rules the house.'

She wond'ring went again within the house, 360 And pondered in her mind her son's wise speech. With maids attendant, to the upper room She climbed, and there her husband dear bewailed, Till on her eyes sweet sleep Minerva shed. The suitors shouted through the shady halls, g&

And they all prayed to lie beside her couch. To them the wise Telemachus began :

* Ye suitors of my mother ! haughty ! proud ! ' Let us enjoy the feast ; let clamour cease.

1 'Tis good that we should listen to a bard 370

1 Like this, an equal to the gods in voice.

1 Let us to-morrow in a council sit,

' That I may fearlessly command you all

* To leave this house. Go, look for other feasts,

1 Consuming your own goods from house to house ; 375

' But, if it seems to you a better thing

' That one man's substance perish unavenged,

' Waste it ! but I th' immortal gods will pray

' That Jove may grant these deeds to be repaid,

1 And in this house ye unavenged may die.' 380

He spake : they all, with teeth fixed in their lips, Admired what boldly spoke Telemachus.

14 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK I.

Antinous, Eupeithes' son, replied : 1 Thee, 0 Telemachus ! the gods themselves 4 Teach to be proud and confident in speech. 385

' Never in sea-girt Ithaca may Jove 1 Make thee the king, by thy paternal right ! ' V Prudent Telemachus again replied : 4 Wilt thou, Antinous, at what I say 4 Be angry I This, if Jove would grant, I wish. 390

* Dost thou think this the worst thing among men ? 4 'Tis no bad thing to govern. A king's house

* Is rich, and he is honoured above all. 4 Yet many other Grecian princes are

4 In sea-girt Ithaca, both young and old. 395

* Let one of them take this, since now is dead

* Divine Ulysses. I will be the king

1 Of our own house, and of the servants whom 4 Divine Ulysses as a booty gained.' Eurymachus, the son of Polybus, Eeplied : ' Telemachus ! these things are laid 400

4 In the gods' lap, who of the Greeks shall reign 4 In sea-girt Ithaca. Do thou retain

* Thine own possessions, and thine own house rule. 1 Ne'er may the man come who against thy will

' May rob thee, while men dwell in Ithaca !

' But, friend ! I wish to ask about the guest : 405

4 Whence is this man 1 from what land does he boast

4 To be 1 what race 1 what his paternal soil 1

4 Brings he a message of thy coming sire,

4 Or comes he seeking objects of his own1?

4 He rushed away, and stayed not to be known, 410

1 Resembling no mean man in countenance.'

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK I. 15

Prudent Telemachus to him replied : * Euryruachus ! my sire's return is lost ; ' No tidings can I trust that he will come, 1 Nor heed what soothsaying my mother seeks, 415 ' When she invites some prophet to the house. 1 Friend of my father and myself, the guest, ' Mentes, from Taphos comes, and boasts to be ' Son of Anchialus, well-skilled in war ; ' And o'er the Taphian mariners he rules.'

So spake Telemachus, but in his mind 420

Th' immortal goddess knew . They to the dance And to the charming song delighted turned, And stayed till ev'ning came and on them there, Still revelling, the dusky ev'ning came. Then each went home with purpose of repose. Telemachus, whose lofty chamber was 425

Built in the hall, a place seen far around, Went to his couch with many thoughts and cares. Euryclea, skilled housekeeper, brought lights, Daughter of Ops, who was Peisenor's son. Her with his wealth Laertes bought of yore, 4.30

Yet in her prime, and twenty oxen gave. Her he respected like his own good wife, Shunning whose wrath he went not to her couch. The flaming torch she bore ; of all the maids She loved him most, and nursed him when a babe. 435 He opened then the well-made chamber doors, And sitting on the couch he doffed his vest, And placed it in the careful matron's hands. The vest she smoothed, and folded up and hung Upon a peg beside the well-turned bed, 440

16 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK II.

And from the chamber went : the door she closed With, silver ring and with a thong-tied bolt. There, covered with a fleece of wool, all night He deeply thought on what Minerva said.

BOOK II.

When new-born rosy-fingered morn appeared,

Ulysses' dear son from his couch up-sprang ;

Dressed, and his sharp sword o'er his shoulder placed,

Bound his fair sandals on his shining feet,

And from his chamber like a god came forth. 5

Forthwith the loud-voiced heralds he desired

To call to council all the long-haired Greeks :

They called them, and they all assembled quick.

When gath'ring they in full assembly were,

He to the council went, and in his hand 10

He held a brazen jav'lin ; not alone,

For two swift dogs accompanied his steps.

A grace divine Minerva o'er him shed ;

And as he went the people all admired.

He took his father's seat : old men gave way.

Egyptius, the hero, then began, 15

Bowed down by age and knowing many things ;

For with divine Ulysses his dear son

Went in the hollow ships to well-horsed Troy,

The warlike Antiphus ; him Cyclops fierce

Slew in the cave, and feasted on him last. 20

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK II. 17

Three more there were ; one joined the suitors' band,

Eurynomus ; two tilled their father's fields.

Still in deep grief he ne'er forgot his son ;

So, shedding tears, he thus harangued and said :

' Listen, ye Ithacans ! to what I say. 25

1 Nor council nor assembly has there been

* Since in his hollow ships Ulysses went.

1 Who calls us now 1 on whom comes so much need,

* Or of the older or the younger men 1

1 What tidings of the army has he heard, 30

* Which, first to learn, he may reveal to us 1 ' What public news does he declare and tell 1

* He must be good ; may he be gratified !

1 Jove grant him all the purpose of his mind ! '

He spake ; at th' omen joyed Ulysses' son, 35

Nor long he sate, for he desired to speak.

In the mid concourse of the crowd he stood.

A herald, well in prudent counsels skilled,

Peisenor, placed a sceptre in his hands.

The old man touching first, he thus began : 40

1 Old man ! he is not far, as thou shalt see,

' For it is I who have the council called.

' On me the most of all has sorrow come.

' No tidings of the army have I heard,

'Which, first to learn, I may reveal to you ; / Nor public news do I declare and tell :

' Mine is the need, for ill befalls my house, 45

' Doubly, for I a father good have lost,

* King of you all, and as a father mild.

' Now there is e'en a greater ill, which soon

* My house will ruin, and my substance waste.

18 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK il.

4 Suitors invade my mother 'gainst her will, 50

* Sons of tho men who aro tho noblost hore, 4 Who are reluctant that she should return ' Unto her father's house, Icarius,

4 Who would endow his daughter, and betroth 'To whom sho will, and who comos most preferred. 4 Our palace they frequenting ev'ry day, 55

' And slaving oxen, sheep, and fatted goats,

* Upon them feast, and drink the sparkling wine.

* Mueh wanton waste is made, nor is there one,

* Such as Ulysses, from our house to drive

* The woo, which we are powerless to do ; Co

* Klse were we pitiful and spiritless.

4 1 would repel them, if I had tho power, 4 For deeds no longer io he borne are done. 1 My house is desolated ; ye yourselves

* Should be indignant, and feel shame bofore to

* Those who dwell near. Dread too the wrath of Gods,

* Lest (hey turn angry round on these base deeds.

* Olympian Jove and Themis I invoke,

* For sho dissolves men's councils and convenes.

* Hold, friends ! and lot mo pine alone in grief ; 70

* Unless it be indeed that my good sire,

* Ulysses, e'er wrought evil to the Greeks : 4 Then in requital do these hostile deeds,

* And urge the suitors on. 'Twere best for me

4 That ye should eat my goods and revenues ; 7~>

1 For if ye did there soon would be revenge, 4 And through the city 1 would urge my plea, 4 And re demand my goods till all were paid*

* Bat now ye cause me woes without redress.)

jiii; OPTMBT. — BOOK II. 1%

He spake in anger, ami upon the ground &<)

the . ecptrc, bursting into tears; And pity came on all the people round. The rest in silence sate, and no one dared Answer tin: fierce words of Telemachus. Antinous alone replied and said : ' I - I'iriachus ! proud speaker! uncontrolled! 85

' What hast thou said to shame us? thou wouldst fix

ti on ns ; yet in no re »pect ' The Grecian suitors should be blamed by th ' Thine own dear crafty mother is to blame. ' 'Tis the third year, and soon will come the fourth, ' Since she misleads the hearts and minds of Greeks; W) ' Gives hope to all ; gives promises to each ; ' Sends messages ; but other things design*. 'This other craft she in her mind devised ; f Within her halls a web she fixed and wove, ' Fine, beyond measure large ; and said to us : 95

' " Young suitors ! since Ulysses now is dead,

* " Delay to urge my marriage on me till

' " Tin finish, lest my threads be vain.

' " For brave Laertes 'tis a winding sheet,

* " When of long-sleeping death the fate shall come; 100 ' "That no Greek matron may indignant be '"That one IjoiiI'1 die without a shroud."

' This said she, and our noble mind agneed

' She, while by day the ample web she wove,

1 Unravelled it \>y torch-light in (he night. |,,:'

'Three years by craft sin; thus misled the Greeks; ' But wImii the fourth year came and hours went on, ' One of her women told, who knew it well,

20 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK II.

' And her we found unravelling the web :

' So she completed it against her will. HO

1 Thus answer thee the suitors, that both thou

In thine own mind, and all the Greeks may know. ' Thy mother send away, and bid her wed ' Him whom her father bids and she approves. 1 If she shall long perplex the sons of Greece, H5

' (Thinking those counsels which Minerva gives,

* Skilful in beauteous works and prudent thoughts, ' And in such wiles as never have we heard

' Of any fair-haired Greeks who lived of yore, 120

' Tyro, Alcmene, and Mycene fair,

1 Who had no deep thoughts like Penelope ;

' Yet injudicious was this thought of hers).

« Thy goods and substance they will still consume,

* So long as she retains the mind which now

* The Gods plant in her ; bringing to herself 125 1 Fame, but to thee regret for loss of wealth.

1 Nor to our fields nor elsewhere will we go,

* Till of the Greeks she marries whom she will.'

Prudent Telemachus to him replied : 1 Antinous ! it cannot be that I 130

' Should from the house against her will repel ' Her who gave birth to, and who brought me up.

* Either my father lives in other lands,

1 Or he is dead. Ill would it be for me

1 To make large payments to Icarius,

1 If I myself my mother sent away.

' For from my father I shall suffer woes, 135

1 And God will others add, should she invoke

* The hateful Furies when she goes from home :

THE ODYSSEY. BOOK II. 21

1 And from men too will vengeance come ; thus I

* Will never utter such a word as this.

* If for these things thy mind has any awe,

* Go from my house, and look for other feasts,

* Consuming your own goods from house to house. 140 ' But, if it seems to you a better thing

* That one man's substance perish unavenged, j| y 1 Waste it, and T th' immortal gods will pray j /

' That Jove may grant these deeds to be repaid!' i/N^ ' And in the house you unavenged may die.' | r l45

So spake Telemachus : wide-thand'ring Jove Sent forth two eagles from a mountain top, Who flew awhile, swift as the gales of wind, Near to each other, stretching out their wings. When to the noisy forum's midst they came, 150

Shaking their wings they often wheeled around, Looked on the heads of all, and boded death ; Then, clawing one another's cheeks and necks, Rushed through the roofs and city to the right. Men wondered as upon the birds they gazed, 155

And in their minds mused how these things would end.

To them th' old hero, Alitherses, spoke, From Mastor sprung : for he alone excelled His equals, birds to know and fates foretell ; Who, wishing well to them, harangued and said : 160 ' Now listen, Ithacans ! to what I say, ' And to the suitors specially declare.

* A mighty woe rolls o'er them ; for not long 1 Ulysses will be from his friends apart,

1 But even now is near, and for them all

' Is planning death and fate ; and wToes shall come 1G5

22 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK II.

' On us who dwell in sunny Ithaca. ' Let us consult to stay it ere it comes.

* Let them forthwith desist ; 'tis best for them.

' Not inexpert but skilled I prophesy. 170

1 1 say that all is now to him fulfilled,

' As I had told him, when the Greeks for Troy

1 Embarked, and wise Ulysses with them went ;

' That, having suffered much, lost all his friends,

1 He unexpected, in the twentieth year, 175

' Would home return : which all is now fulfilled.'

Eurymachus, the son of Poly bus, Replied : * Old man ! go home and prophesy 1 To thine own children lest they suffer wrong. ' Herein I better prophet am than thou. 180

' Many birds fly beneath the sun ; not all ' Are sent by fate ; far off Ulysses died ; ' I would that thou hadst also died with him, ' So wouldst thou not have told such prophecies, ' Nor thus have roused Telemachus to wrath, 135

1 Looking that some gift to thine house he make. ' But this I tell thee, and it shall be done ; ' Shouldst thou, who knowest many ancient things, ' Cheat and excite a younger man to rage,

* First it shall be more grievous to himself, 190 4 [Nor in his object shall he have success.]

1 On thee, old man ! we will a fine impose,

' Hard to be paid ; and bitterly thou 'It grieve.

' I publicly advise Telemachus

1 To bid his mother to her sire return. 195

' They will arrange the marriage, fix the dower

' Which a dear child's espousal should attend.

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK II. 23

* T deem not that the Grecians will desist

' From their stern courtship : no one do we fear,

* Not e'en Telemachus, though full of words. 200

* Nor need we prophecies, which thou, old man !

* Speakest in vain, and shalt be hated more. 1 Still shall his goods be eaten, nor be made

* Any equivalent to him, so long

* As to the Greeks her marriage she delays. 205

* We'll wait, and for pre-eminence contend,

* Nor seek another wife whom each may wed.' ^The wise. Telemachus replied and said :

* Eurymachus ! and noble suitors all !

' No more will I entreat you or address ; 210

' These things the Gods and all the Greeks know well.

* But give me a swift ship and twenty men,

' Who here and there a voyage may perform.

' To Sparta and to sandy rylos I

' Will go, inquiring what I there may learn

' Of the return of my long absent sire, 215

1 If any man can tell me, or T hear

* A voice from Jove which brings report to men.

* If tidings of his life or his return

* I get, I would, though grieved, remain a year.

* But if that he is dead nor more in life 220 ' I learn, to my dear country I '11 return,

* Will build a tomb and pay fit funeral rites, ' And to a husband will my mother give.V/

He spake and took his seat. To them arose Mentor, illustrious Ulysses' friend, 225

Who trusted him, when in the ship he went, With all his household, that they should obey

24 THE ODYSSEY. —BOOK II.

The old man's words, and safely guard his goods : "Who, wishing -well to them, harangued and said : fl* Now listen, Ithacans ! to what I say : 1 Henceforth let never sceptre -bearing king 230

' Strive to be gentle, mild, and well-disposed : ' Let him be stern, and cruel deeds commit, .

* Since none of those o'er whom he reigned recalls c How kind a sire divine Ulysses was.

* Yet to the noble suitors grudge I not 235

* To do in folly works of violence :

' Risking their own heads, forcibly they eat

' Ulysses' goods, nor think he will return.

' Yet with the rest I am enraged ; for ye

' Sit silently, and check not by your words 240

* The suitors few, while ye so many are//''

Leiocritus, Euenor's son, replied : * ' What, Mentor ! baneful, foolish, hast thou said,

* Urging to check us? *t would be difficult

' E'en for more men to fight with us for food. 245

* Should Ithacan Ulysses come himself,

* And in his mind desire to drive away

1 The noble suitors feasting in his house,

1 His wife, however she may long for him,

1 Would not rejoice, because to dreadful death,

1 Even with more to help him, he would yield. 250

' What thou hast said is contrary to fate.

* But come, ye people ! to your fields disperse. 1 Mentor and Alitherses will promote

' This voyage, his paternal friends of old ;

1 But he, I ween, in Ithaca will sit 255

' And hear reports, but not this voyage make/

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK II. 25

He spake, and quick th' assembly he dissolved, And to their own abodes they each dispersed : But to Ulysses' house the suitors went. To the shore went Telemachus apart, 2G0

And, in the white sea having washed his hands, Prayed to Minerva : ' Hear me, Goddess ! thou

* Who to our palace yesterday didst come,

1 And badst me sail upon the cloud-streaked sea 1 To ask about my absent sire's return ;

* But now the Greeks are baffling all these plans, 265 1 And specially the suitors, basely proud.'

He spake in prayer : Minerva near him came, To Mentor likened, both in form and voice, And thus addressed him with her winged words : ' Telemachus ! nor base nor senseless thou 270

' Shalt be hereafter : for thy father's force 4 Is shed upon thee, and thou shalt be such ' As he was to complete both deed and word.

* Thy journey shall nor vain nor fruitless be.

* If son of him and of Penelope

* Thou wert not, I should never hope that thou 275 1 Couldst do the deeds which thou art fain to do.

* Sons of their fathers few the equals are,

* Inferior most, and better very few.

1 But since nor base nor foolish thou shalt be,

* And since Ulysses' prudence fails thee not,

* There 's hope for thee these deeds to execute. 280

* As to the foolish suitors, let alone

* Their counsel and device : nor wise nor just

' Are they, nor know of death and gloomy fate

* Approaching on the day when all will die.

2Q THE ODYSSEY. BOOK 11.

i Thy wished for voyage shall not be deferred, 285

1 For such hereditary friend I am,

' Who will equip a ship and go myself.

* Go to the house, and with the suitors mix : ' Supplies prepare, in baskets store them all,

1 And wine in jars, and meal, the life of men, 290

- In well-sewn skins ; and through the district I

- Will willing friends collect ; and many ships 1 There are in Ithaca, both new and old,

' And them I will inspect to find the best ;

- Will quick equip and launch it in the sea.' 295

Thus spoke Minerva, child of Jove, nor long, Hearing her voice, Telemachus remained, But to the house with grieving heart he went. The noble suitors in the halls he found Flaying the goats and feasting on fat swine. Antinous straight laughingly approached Telemachus, and took his hand and said : l< ' Telemachus ! proud speaker ! unrestrained !

* Let no more evil deeds or words perplex

- Thy breast, but eat and drink as heretofore.^ " ' The Greeks will all provide a ship and men/*

* That swift to sacred Pylos thou mayst g<W?

* To seek for tidings of thy noble sir^ey ^^

Prudent Telemachus to him replied :

* Antinous ! it cannot be that I 310.^

* Should feast with you so proud against my will, ■ Nor revel calmly. Is it not enough,

1 Ye suitors ! that ye have consumed my goods,

* Many and fair, while I was yet a child 1

- But now that I 'm a man, and seek to know

THE ODYSSET. BOOK II. 27

1 The thoughts of others, and my mind 's enlarged, 315

1 111 fates upon you I will strive to hurl,

1 To Pylos going or remaining here.

1 I'll go a passenger, (nor vain shall be

1 The journey I propose), not of a ship

' Nor rowers master, since ye deem it best.' 320

He spake, and quickly from Antinous His hand withdrew. The suitors through the house Feasted, and taunted him with cutting words ; And thus spake one of th' overbearing youths : 1 Surely Telemachus plots death for us. 325

1 Either from sandy Pylos he will bring 1 Allies, or Sparta ; such his eager wish. 1 Or to the fertile soil of Ephyra

* He means to go, and deadly poisons bring,

' And put them in the cups and slay us all. ' 330

Thus spake another of the haughty youths :

* Who knows but in the hollow ships himself, ' Far from his friends, he may a wand'rer die, 1 As died Ulysses % Yet he would increase,

* If so, our toil ; for we must then divide

1 His goods and houses, and bestow them on 335

f His mother, and on him who her may wed.'

They spake : he to his father's chamber went, High-roof'd and wide, where heaped-up gold and brass ' Were lying \ vests in boxes ; fragrant oil ; And there stood casks of old wine, sweet to drink, 340 Containing liquor, pure, divine, within, Ranged by the wall ; to wait if e'er should come Ulysses homeward, suff'ring many woes. Close bars were o'er them, fitted skilfully,

28 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK II.

Doubly«secured. The housekeeper was there 345

By night and day, and carefully kept watch,

Euryclea, sprung from Ops, Peisenor's son.

Her, summoning, Telemachus addressed :

1 Good nurse ! come pour me into jars sweet wine,

' Best flavoured next to that which thou dost keep 350

* For that ill-fated man, if e'er he comes,

* Divine Ulysses, 'scaping death and fate.

4 Fill twelve, and fit them all with covers close ;

4 And store up meal for me in well-sewn skins ;

4 Let there be twenty pecks of mill-ground meal. 355

4 Be here alone : let all be throughly done,

4 For in the ev'ning I shall take them, when

* My mother to her chamber climbs for sleep. ' To Sparta and to sandy Pylos I

4 News of my sire's return will go to seek.' 300

He spake : Euryclea, his dear nurse, moan'd, And weeping answered with these winged words : ' Why, dear child ! rises in thy mind this thought 1 4 Why o'er much country dost thou wish to go, 4 A dear one left alone 1 afar from home 365

* Divine Ulysses in a foreign land

' Has perished : afterwards, when thou art gone, 4 They will plan evils for thee, by their craft 4 To die ; and they will all these things divide. 4 Stay in thine own house ; thee it ill befits

* To stray and suffer on the barren sea.' 370 »

Prudent Telemachus to her replied : (^

,Take heart, dear nurse l(not without God this plan.) Swear not to tell it to my mother dear, 4 Till the eleventh or twelfth day shall come,

/

/

*

/

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK II.

* Unless she pines for me, or learns my flight;^" 375 1 Lest her fair skin she injure by her tears.'^^

He spake : the old dame sware God's mighty oath. When she had sworn and made the oath complete, Into the jars forthwith she drew the wine, And stored the meal up in the well-sewn skins. 380 Then with the suitors sat Telemachus.

Blue-eyed Minerva then had other thoughts. Like to Telemachus, throughout the town She went and, standing by, each man addressed, And bade them meet at evening near the ship. 385 Then of Noemon, Phronius' noble son, She asked a ship, which willingly he gave. The sun was setting, and the streets were dark, When to the sea the swift ship down she drew, Put tackle in, which well-benched vessels bear, 390 And at the port's mouth moored it : the good crew Collected thick, for each the Goddess urged. Blue-eyed Minerva then had other thoughts. She hasted to divine Ulysses' house, And drowsiness upon the suitors poured ; 395

Confused them drinking; from their hands struck down Their cups. They hasted to the town to sleep, Nor longer sate, for sleep fell on their eyes.

Minerva then Telemachus addressed, And from the well-built palace called him forth, 400 In guise of Mentor, both in form and voice : 1 Telemachus ! e'en now thy well-greaved friends 1 Sit at their oars and wait for thy approach. 1 Come ! let us go, nor linger on the road.'

Pallas Minerva spake and led the way 405

30 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK II.

With speed, and in the Goddess' steps he went. When to the ship and to the sea they came, They found his long-haired crew upon the shore ; And of Telemachus the sacred force Addressed them thus : ' Come friends ! and let us bring 1 The stores, for all are ready in the house ; 410

' Nor have my mother or the servants heard * Of this : one only has my purpose learned.'

He spake, and led the way : they followed him, Bringing the stores, which in the well-benched ship, As had desired Ulysses' son, they placed. 415

Telemachus embarked, Minerva led, And in the stern sate down ; and near her sate Telemachus, and they the stern-ropes loosed, And by the rowing-benches went and sate. Blue-eyed Minerva sent a fav'ring gale, 420

Fair Zephyr, sounding o'er the purple sea. Telemachus urged on the crew, and bade The tackling fix ; he urged and they obeyed. The fir- wood mast they raised and fixed within The hollow socket, and made fast with ropes, 425

And drew the white sails up with well -twined thongs. The wind the main-sail filled ; the purple wave On the keel sounded as the ship sped on And through the wave ran, hasting on its way. When they had lashed the tackling on the ship, 430 They held up goblets brimming o'er with wine, And to th' immortal, everlasting Gods Libation made, and, chiefest of them all, To her, the blue-eyed child of Jove. The ship Through night and early dawn pursued its way.

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK III. 31

BOOK III.

Leaving the beauteous sea, up-rose the sun

Into the brazen sky, to light the Gods,

And mortal men upon the fertile earth.

To Pylos, Neleus' well-built town, they came.

They on the shore were ofF'ring sacrifice, 5

Black bulls to Neptune, shaker of the earth.

There were nine seats : on each five hundred sate,

And held in front of each of them nine bulls.

The entrails they had tasted, burnt the thighs

To God, when these were landing. In the ship

They furled the sails, drew up, and disembarked. 10

Telemachus came forth : Minerva led,

And him the blue-eyed Goddess first addressed :

* Telemachus ! no cause of slightest shame

* To thee who o'er the sea hast sailed to hear 15 1 What land conceals thy sire, what fate he met.

* Go straight to Nestor, tamer of the horse,

' To know what counsel in his breast he hides, f [And pray that he will tell thee all the truth I \He will no falsehood tell for he is wise.]'^/ 20

Prudent Telemachus to her replied ;

* How, Mentor ! can I go 1 how him address 1 ' I am not skilled in use of artful words.

* It shames a young. to ask an older map.'

Minerva, blue-eyed Goddess, spake again : 25

* Telemachus ! some thoughts thyself wilt have,

* And God will furnish others : for I deem

' Thou hast been born and bred with fav'ring Gods.'

32 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK III.

Pallas Minerva spoke and led the way, While quickly he the Goddess' steps pursued. 30

Th' assembled Pylians and their seats they reached, Where with his sons sate Nestor and his friends, Spitting and roasting flesh to form the feast. All came in crowds when they the strangers saw. Saluted with their hands and bade them sit. Pisistratus, the son of Nestor, first I Came near, took hands of both, and at the feast On the sand seated them on fleeces soft, By Thrasymede his brother, and his sire ; Gave of the entrails part, and poured out wine 40

In cup of gold, and, pledging, thus addressed Minerva, child of aegis-bearing Jove : ' Guest ! to king Neptune offer up a prayer,

* For coming hither in his feast ye share.

' When thou libation and due prayer hast made, 45

' Then give to him the cup of honeyed wine

1 To make libation ; for I deem that he

' Will to th' immortals pray ; all need the Gods.

* The younger he ; his age is like mine own ;

1 So to thee first I give the golden cup.' 50

The cup of sweet wine in her hand he placed : Minerva joyed in one so wise and just, Because to her the first he gave the cup Of gold ; and then she thus to Neptune prayed : 1 Hear, Neptune ! thou surrounder of the earth ! 55 ' Nor grudge to ratify the prayer we make. 1 First glory give to Nestor and his sons ;

* Then next to all the other Pylians grant

1 Gracious return for this famed hecatomb.

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK III. 33

* Grant that Telemachus and I may home, G°

■ In our black ship, our object gained, return.'

When she had prayed and finished all the rites, She gave Telemachus the beauteous cup ; And in like words Ulysses' dear son prayed. When they the flesh had roasted and drawn off, 65 Dividing shares they ate the noble feast. ^

When they with meat and Jlnn^wej^s^tisfied, Nestor, Gerenian horseman, them addressed : ' Now is the fitter time to seek and ask

* Of guests, when pleased with feasting, who they are. 70

* Who are ye, guests 1 whence come ye o'er the waves 1 ' Come ye for traffic, or mere rovers ye,

' As pirates wand'ring o'er the sea, who risk ' Their own lives, bringing ill to foreigners'?'

Prudent Telemachus thus spoke again, 75

Courageous, for Minerva in his mind Put courage, that about his absent sire He should inquire [and gain renown from men]. 1 Nestor Neleides ! glory of the Greeks ! ' Thou askest whence we are, and I will tell. 80

■ From Ithaca, beneath mount Nemm,

* We come ; our object is not popular,

* But it is private, as I will relate.

' I come to seek, if I perchance may hear, 1 News of the wide-spread glory of my sire, 1 Patient, divine Ulysses ; who, they say,

* Fighting with thee destroyed the Trojan town. 85

* Of all the rest who 'gainst the Trojans fought

' We hear where each by mournful fate has died. ' But Saturn's son has made his death unheard,

T)

34 THE ODYSSEY.— BOOK III.

1 For none can clearly tell me where he died ;

1 Whether on land by hostile men destroyed, 90

' Or in the sea 'mid Amphitrite's waves.

* So to thy knees I come, a suppliant,

' If thou canst tell me of his mournful death ;

' Hast seen it with thine eyes, or heard report

' Of where he wanders : him his mother bare 95

' Most wretched, f Do not from regard to me, $* *,

1 Nor from compassion, tell me honeyed words^r J?\

1 But tell me true, as thou hast found report?) \y

' 1 pray, if e'er Ulysses, my good sire,

1 Has helped thee to accomplish word or deed

* In Troy, where ye Achaeans suffered woes, 100 ' These for my sake recall and tell me true.'

Nestor, Gerenian horseman, answered him : ' 0 friend ! thou callest to my mind the grief 1 Which we, resistless sons of Greece, endured, ' Either in ships upon the cloudy sea, 105

' Wand 'ring for plunder where Achilles led,

* Or when we fought round Priam's mighty town, 1 Where many of our chiefest men were slain.

* There warlike Ajax, there Achilles lies ;

* Patroclus there, an equal of the Gods HO ' In counsel ; there my dear son, blameless, brave,

1 Antilochus, swift runner, warrior.

' And many other evils we endured :

' But who of mortals could narrate them all 1

6 Not if for five years thou shouldst stay or six, 118

' And ask what evils there the Greeks endured ;

* For wearied with the tale thou home wouldst go. ' Nine years we were with varied craft employed,

THE ODYSSEY. BOOK III. 35

* And evils planned, which scarcely Jove at last

* Performed. There no one ventured to compare 12°

* With him in council ; for in varied craft 1 God-like Ulysses far surpassed them all,

I Thy sire, if really thou his offspring art.

I I wonder as I gaze : so much thy words

' Resemble his ; and no one would suppose

* So young a man so suitably would speak. 125 1 I and divine Ulysses, all that while,

* Nor in assembly nor in council spake

* Diversely, but, unanimous in thought

* And plan, devised the best things for the Greeks.

' When Priam's lofty city we had sacked, 130

* [We sailed away, and God dispersed the Greeks.]

* Then for the Greeks Jove planned a sad return, ' Because not all of them were wise and just,

* And many of them fell by evil fate,

* Caused by the blue-eyed goddess, child of Jove, 135 1 Who 'tween the two Atridse raised a strife.

1 They to th' assembly summoned all the Greeks,

1 Reckless, disorderly, till set of sun,

' (For the Greeks came to it weighed down by wine)

* And told the reason why they summoned them. l*i0

* Then Menelaus ordered all the Greeks

' To plan return upon the broad sea's back.

1 This pleased not Agamemnon ; he desired

1 To stay the host, give sacred hecatombs,

1 And so Minerva's dreadful wrath appease : 145

1 Unwise ! nor knowing she would not relent ;

' Slow turns the mind of the immortal gods.

* Thus stood the two, exchanging angry words.

36 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK III.

' With dreadful shout the well-greaved Greeks arose, 1 And diff'rent were the plans which pleased their minds. 150

c At night we rested, meditating thoughts

* Ungentle : Jove was planning baneful fate.

1 At dawn we some launched ships into the sea, ' Embarking goods, and women deeply -zoned ;

* But half the host remained, and would not leave 155 1 Atrides Agamemnon, king of men :

' And we, the other half, embarked and rowed :

4 And very quickly sailed the ships, while God

1 Had tranquillised the great gulf of the sea.

' At Tenedos we offered to the Gods

' Victims, as homeward bound ; but our return 160

' Jove, unrelenting, had not purposed yet,

' And evil strife a second time stirred up.

' Ulysses, warlike, prudent, with his friends

1 Back from the voyage turned their well-oared ships,

1 Siding with Agamemnon, Atreus' son.

* I, with the ships that followed closely, fled, 165 ' Knowing the ills the Gods designed ; and fled

1 Tydeus' brave son, and his companions urged.

' Late after us fair Menelaus came,

1 And reached at Lesbos : we a long course planned,

1 Either above rough Chios to return 170

6 By Psyria's isle and keep it to the left,

' Or under Chios by high Mimas' hill.

' We prayed the God to shew a sign ; and he

' Shewed it, and bade us to Eubcea's isle

' Cleave the mid sea, and sorrow so escape. 175

' Fair rushed the breeze that blew; the ships with speed

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK III. 37

' Ran o'er the fishy ways, and reached at night ' Gersestum : there to Neptune many thighs ' Of bulls we gave, for we had passed much sea.

* It was the fourth day when their equal ships 180 ' The crew of Diomede, of Tydeus son,

* The tamer of the horse, in Argos moored.

' But I for Pylos sailed, nor failed the breeze

' Since first the God had sent it forth to blow.

1 Thus without news, dear child ! I came, nor knew

1 Who of the Argives were preserved, who died. I85

' But what, while sitting in my house, I hear

1 Thou shalt know truly, nor will I conceal.

1 They say the warlike Myrmidons came safe,

' Whom the famed son of brave Achilles led ;

1 Safe Philoctetes, Paean's noble son. 190

' Idomeneus brought all his friends to Crete,

1 Who 'scaped the war, nor one the sea destroyed.

* Of Atreus' son ye, though remote, have heard,

* Both how he came, and how ^Egisthus planned

1 His death, for which he shamefully has paid. 195

1 How good it is that, when a man is dead,

' His son survives ; he vengeance wreaked upon

* ^Egisthus, murd'rer of his noble sire.

' [And thou, dear youth ! whom fair and strong I see, ' Be brave, that future men may speak of thee.]' 20°

Prudent Telemachus to him replied ; ' Nestor Neleides ! glory of the Greeks !

* Well he avenged his father ; and the Greeks .

* Will spread his name for future men to hear.

1 0 that to me such power the Gods would grant, 205 ' To pay the suitors for their grievous pride,

\!

38 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK III.

' Who insolent against me plan foul deeds !

' But not for ine such bliss the Gods have planned,

* For sire nor me ; but we must bear our fate.'

Gerenian horseman, Nestor, answered him : 21°

' My friend ! these things thou callest to my mind. ' They say that many suitors in thine halls, ' Wooing thy mother in despite of thee, ' Plot evils. Tell me if thou willingly ■ Submitt'st thyself, or if th' inhabitants ' Are hostile, and obey God's oracle. 215

' Who knows but he their insults may repay, ' Either alone or joined by all the Greeks 1 ' If blue-eyed Pallas would but be thy friend,

* As when of famed Ulysses she took care

' In Troy, where many woes we Greeks endured, 22° ' (For never saw I Gods so plainly show ' Their love as when Minerva by him stood.) ' If she would thus befriend thee and regard, ' Soon each of them the marriage would forget.'

Prudent Telemachus to him replied : 225

6 Old man ! thy word, I think, will not be done ; ' For tjbou hast said too much, to my surprise ; ' This, though the Gods might will, I could not hope.'

Minerva, blue-eyed goddess, answered him : ' Telemachus ! what word has now escaped 230

* Thy lips 1 a God who wills it can with ease 1 Protect a man, though distant he may be.

1 However I might toil, I rather would

* Go to my country, and have safe return, ' Than die at home, as Agamemnon died

' By treach'ry of iEgisthus and his wife. 235

THE ODYSSEY. BOOK III. 39

* Yet not the Gods themselves can ward off deatlyw ' That comes to all, e'en from a man they love,^^

1 When comes the hard fate of long-sleeping death.'

Prndent Telemachus to her replied : 1 Mentor ! though anxious let us not discuss 240

' These things ; for his return is not assured, ' But the Gods for him death and black fate plan. 1 Another word of Nestor I would ask, ' For he in sense and justice all excels.

* Three generations he has ruled, they say, 245

* And, as he strikes my mind, immortal seems'. ' 0 Nestor ! son of Neleus ! tell me truth,

' How Agamemnon, son of Atreus, died ;

1 And where was Menelaus ? what the death

1 Which crafty-counselling yEgisthus planned,

1 And slew a man much braver than himself^ 25°

' In Grecian Argos was he not 1 where else

■ A wanderer, when him he dared to slay 1 '

To him Gerenian horseman, Nestor, said : ' Well then, my child ! I'll tell thee all the truth. 1 How 'twould have happed thou rightly dost sur- mise " 255 ' If Menelaus, coming back from Troy, <-*• rf^f®** ' Had found ^EgisthjisJiving in the house. '

* Not o'er him dead would men have heaped the earth, 1 But dogs and birds would have his flesh devoured,

* On the plain lying, from the city far. 2G0

* Not one Achaean matron would have mourned 1 For him, who plotted this enormous deed.

' While there we sate and many toils endured, ' He, in a nook of Argos, at his ease,

265

40 THE ODYSSEY. —BOOK III.

' Witched Agamemnon's wife with many words.

' The noble Clytemnestra spurned at first

' Th' unworthy offer, for her mind was good.

' Now near her was a man of song, to whom

4 Atrides, when he went to Troy, had giv'n

1 The strictest charge to keep watch o'er his wife.

' When fate divine had chained him to his death,

' He to a desert isle the bard conveyed, 270

' And left him there, a spoil and prey for birds ;

' And willing took her willing to his home.

1 There many thighs of beeves he sacrificed

' Upon the sacred altars of the Gods,

' And hung up offerings, both vests and gold,

' The great deed done he scarce had hoped to do. 275

' We sailed together as we came from Troy,

' I and Atrides, each to each a friend.

* To sacred Sunium, th' Athenian cape,

1 We came, and Phoebus with his sudden darts

< The pilot slew of Menelaus' ship, 280

' Holding the rudder as the ship ran on,

1 Phrontis, Onetor's son, who far surpassed

* The tribes of men in steering, when the storms

* Come rushing on ; and there he was detained, 1 Though hasting on his voyage, till his friend

' He buried, and performed funereal rites. 285

' But when he, going o'er the darksome sea,

' In hollow ships, to Malea's mount had run,

' Far-sounding Jove a mournful journey planned,

1 And on him poured a blast of roaring winds,

' And monstrous swelling waves, as mountains high. 290

' There he dispersed them, and drove some to Crete,

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK III. 41

1 Where round Iardan's streams Cydonians dwell.

* There a bare steep rock runs into the sea, ' A cape of Gortys in the gloomy deep.

' The south wind there a mighty wave impels 295

1 Against the left-hand crag on Phsestus' shore,

1 And a small rock the mighty wave restrains.

' Thither they came ; the men scarce death escaped,

' While the waves wrecked the ships upon the rocks.

' But yet five dark-pro wed ships the winds and sea 300

1 Bore off, and drove them on th' Egyptian shore.

' Collecting there much property and gold,

' He wandered with his ships to strange -tongued men.

' Meanwhile ^Egisthus planned sad deeds at home,

1 Atrides slew, and o'er his people reigned.

' Seven years he ruled Mycene rich in gold : 305

' In the eighth year divine Orestes came,

' A woe to him, from Athens, and destroyed

1 ^Egisthus, who his noble father slew ;

1 And, having slain him, to the Arrives made,

' For his detested mother and for him, 310

* Feeble iEgisthus, a funereal feast.

1 On that same day brave Menelaus came,

* Loaded with riches, which his ships conveyed.

' And thou, friend ! do not wander far from home,

* Leaving within thine house thy goods, and men

' So proud : lest they divide them and devour, 315

' And thou have made a voyage all in vain.

1 But I exhort and order thee to go

1 To Menelaus, who has lately come

' From men from whom he never hoped to come,

' When first the tempests drove him from his course 320

42 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK III.

' Into a sea so vast j whence emigrate

' No yearly birds ; so great and fierce it. is.

' Go with thy ship and friends, or, if thou wilt,

' Journey by land : a chariot and steeds

' Await thee, and my sons shall be thy guides 325

' To Sparta, where fair Menelaus dwells.

1 Entreat him that he tell thee all the truth :

* He will no falsehood tell for he is wise.'

He spake : the sun went down and darkness came ; Blue-eyed Minerva then addressed him thus : 330

' Thou, venerable man ! hast spoken well. ' Now cut the victims' tongues, and mingle wine,

* That we, to Neptune and the other Gods 1 Having libation made, may seek repose,

1 For 'tis the hour : the sun beneath the west 335

* Is now departed ; 'tis not meet to sit

' At the Gods' feast too long, but to retire.'

So spake Jove's daughter j they obeyed her voice. Upon their hands the heralds water pour'd ; The young men crowned the goblets with the wine, And gave to each the cups in order due. 340

They burned the tongues, and rising poured out wine. When they had made libation, and had drunk All that their mind desired, Telemachus And Pallas to their ship made haste to go. But Nestor touched and checked him with these words : ' May Jo?e and all th' immortal Gods forbid 345

j ' That from my house you to your ships should go, £ ' As from one destitute of clothes, and poor ; P * Who has nor vests nor carpets in his house I ' Whereon or he or guests may softly sleep ! 350

THE ODYSSEY. —BOOK III. 43

1 But I have many vests and carpets fair.

1 Not of that man Ulysses shall the son

' On ship board sleep forsooth while I'm alive,

1 Nor when sons after me are left at home

' To welcome guests who at my house arrive.' 355

Blue-eyed Minerva answered him again : ' Well hast thou spoken, dear old man ! 'tis fit

* Telemachus obey, and better thus :

1 And he shall follow to thine house to sleep.

* But to the black ship I myself will go, 3G0 1 To cheer our friends there, and to tell them all.

J I only with them have authority :

* The others, younger, follow but from love, 1 All of such age as brave Telemachus.

* In the black hollow ship I now would sleep : 365 1 But to the brave Cauconians I at dawn

* Must go ; for there a debt is due to me,

* Nor new nor small. But him who to thine house ' Has come, with chariot and with thy sons

' Send on the road ; and give him horses too

* That run the quickest and are best in strength.' 370

Thus speaking, blue-eyed Pallas went away, Like a sea-eagle. Wonder seized them all. The old man, when he saw it, was amazed, Took by the hand Telemachus and said : ' Dear youth ! I could not think thee base or mean, 375 ' When one so young attendant Gods conduct. ' None of the Gods who have Olympian homes 4 Is this but Jupiter's most glorious child, 1 Tritogeneia, who on thy good sire ' Honour among the men of Greece besfcowred.

44 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK III.

' Be thou, 0 queen ! propitious. ; grant renown 380

' To me, my children, and my virtuous wife.

1 A year-old heifer, with a forehead broad,

' Untamed, which none have led beneath the yoke,

' To thee I'll give, and plate its horns with gold.'

He spake : Minerva hearkened to his prayer. 385 Then the Gerenian horseman, Nestor, led His sons and daughters' husbands to his house. When to the palace of the king they came, They sate in order on their seats and thrones. And when they came, the old man mixed a bowl 390 Of luscious wine which, in th' eleventh year, The house-keeper unsealed and loosed the band. The bowl the old man mingled, and besought Minerva, child of segis-bearing Jove, Making libation and with many prayers. When they had made libation, and had drunk 395

All that their mind desired, they sought repose, Each in his own abode. But Nestor made Telemachus, Ulysses' son, to sleep On a wrought couch, beneath the sounding porch, And near him prince Pisistratus, renowned 400

As spearman, who alone unmarried was Of all his sons, within the house. Himself Slept in an inner chamber of the hall, And there his royal wife adorned his couch. When early rosy -fingered morn appeared, Quick from his couch Gerenian Nestor sprang, 405 And, coming forth, on polished marble sate ; A seat that was before the lofty doors, White, polished well with oil, where sate of yore

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK III. 45

Neleus, in counsel equal to the Gods :

To Hades he, by fate subdued, had gone ; 410

Gerenian Nestor, guardian of the Greeks,

Then sate there, with a sceptre in his hand ;

And round him were assembled close his sons,

Forth coming : Echephron and Stratius,

Perseus, Aretus, godlike Thrasymede,

And to them came the sixth, Pisistratus. 415

They led and seated there Telemachus.

Them the Gerenian Nestor thus addressed :

1 Dear children ! quickly execute my wish,

' That of the Gods I may Minerva first

1 Propitiate, who clearly to my sight 420

1 Came to the Gods' feast. Let one to the field A

1 Go, that the herdsman drive the oxen up ; Mr

* One to the ship of brave Telemachus,

1 And hither bring his friends, and leave but two.

1 Goldsmith Laerces let another bid 425

* To come, and plate a heifer's horns with gold.

* Stay here the rest of you ; and tell the maids 1 Within the house to labour at a feast.

' Bring seats, and wTood, and wTater shining clear.'

He spake : all quick obey'd ; the heifer came 430 Forth from the field \ and from the equal ship Came the companions of Telemachus. The goldsmith came, and in his hands he bore His implements, resources of his art ; Anvil and hammers, pincers wrought with skill, AVherewith he worked the gold. Minerva came 435 To share the sacrifice. Old Nestor gave The gold, which he beat out and fixed around

46 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK III.

Its horns, that she might see it and rejoice.

Then Statius and god-like Echephron

Led forth the heifer by the horns. To them

Aretus from the chamber brought a vase 440

Placed in an urn bedecked with flowers ; and held

Cakes in a basket with the other hand.

And valiant Thrasymedes came, and brought

A sharpened axe to strike the heifer down :

And Perseus held a bowl. Old Nestor took

Religiously the vase and cakes, and prayed 445

Much to Minerva, as he led the rites :

Then from the victim's head he burnt the hairs.

When they had prayed and raised the barley cakes,

Then Thrasymedes, Nestor's valiant son,

Rushed up. The axe the tendons of the neck

Severed, and took the heifer's strength away. 450

Daughters, and sons' wives, and Eurydice,

Of Clymenus the eldest daughter, wife

Of Nestor, all up -raised a joyous cry.

The brothers raised it from the wide-spread ground,

And prince Pisistratus the heifer slew.

Forth gushed the black blood, and life left the bones.

Then they dismembered it, cut off the thighs, 455

All in due order ; covered them with fat

In double folds, and placed raw meat thereon.

The old man roasted it with logs, and poured

Bright wine thereon : the young men standing by 460

Held in their hands the spits with five sharp prongs.

But when the thighs were burnt the inward parts

They tasted, and cut off the rest, and placed

On spits, and roasted, turning with their hands.

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK III. 47

Then Polycaste bathed Telemachus, 465

Of Nelian Nestor youngest daughter fair.

When she had bathed him, and with olive oil

Anointed, she around him threw a vest

And tunic. From the bath, in form a god,

He went, and sate by Nestor, king of men.

When they the flesh had roasted and drawn off, 470

They feasting sate ; and young men quickly came,

And poured the wine forth into cups of gold.

When they were satisfied with drink and food,

Nestor, Gerenian horseman, them addressed :

* My sons ! go bring Telemachus the steeds jt 475

1 With shining coats, and yoke them to the cap*

4 Ready to go.' He spake, and they obeyed,

And to the car the swift steeds quickly yoked.

Therein the house-keeper placed bread and wine,

xVnd viands such as Jove -born kings consume. 480

Telemachus the beauteous chariot climbed,

And Nestor's princely son, Pisi stratus,

Mounted the chariot and assumed the reins,

Whipped on the steeds, which, not unwilling, flew

Across the plain, and lofty Pylos left, ^ 485

And shook all day the neck-encircling yoke.

The sun had set, and all the ways were dark.

They Pherse reached, the house of Diocles,

Son of Orsilochus, Alpheius' son.

They rested j hogpitalityJie-gage. 490

When early rosy-fingered dawn appeared,

They yoked the horses, mounted on the car,

And from the sounding portico they drove.

[He whipped the steeds, which not unwilling flew.]

48 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK IV.

They went along the fertile plain, and soon 495

Were near their journey's end : so fast The rapid horses bore them on their way. The sun had set, and all the ways were dark.

BOOK IV.

To LacedjEMON, full of deep ravines,

They drove, where famous Menelaus dwelL_

They found him sd^a^arri^^J^eFd\y?k\__

(Given to many friends and neighbours there)

Of son and blameless daughter in his house.

Her he was sending to Achilles' son, 5

For he had promised and by vow confirmed

At Troy, that he would give her ; and the Gods

Accomplished the espousals ; so that he

Was sending her, with chariots and steeds,

To the famed city of the Myrmidons,

O'er whom he reigned. But for his son he brought 10

Alector's daughter from the Spartan land.

He, Megapenthes, of a slave was born,

Dearly beloved, because the Gods denied

Offspring to Helen, since she first produced

Hermione, that lovely child ; whose form

Resembled that which golden Venus had.

[Thus, in the spacious house with lofty roof, 15

Neighbours and friends of Menelaus held

A feast, delighted ; and among them played

A god-like harpist, while two dancers whirled

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV. 49

Amid them, when the bard his strain began.]

They and the horses at the portal stood, 20

Telemachus and Nestor's noble son.

Them Eteoneus coming forward saw,

(Of Menelaus active servant he),

And went to tell the tidings to the king,

And, standing near him, spoke these winged words : 25

1 Two strangers, noble Menelaus ! here

' Are standing, like the race of mighty Jove.

* Tell me if I their horses shall unyoke,

* Or bid them other entertainer seek.'

Fair Menelaus angrily replied : 30

1 0 Eteoneus, of Boethes son !

' Thou wert not foolish once, but now thou speak'st, 1 As though a child thou wert, these foolish words. 1 We two have hither come, consuming oft

* The hospitable gifts of other men,

' Hoping that Jove would free us from our cares. 35 ' JjO, loose their steeds, and bring them in to feast ! '

He spake : the servant hastened from the house, And bade the rest to follow in his steps. They loosed the sweating horses from the yoke, And to the stable -mangers tied them fast. 4Q

Before them rye they placed and barley white, And reared the car against the shining front, And led the men the noble house within. They, when the palace of the Jove-born king They saw, were filled with wonder ; for a beam As of the sun or moon appeared to shine 45

In noble Menelaus' high-roofed house. AY hen they had gratified their wondering eyes,

f:

50 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV.

They to the polished cauldrons went, and bathed. Them when the maids had bathed and rubbed with oil They clothed with vests and tunics of crisp wool, 50 And placed on thrones where Menelaus sate. From a fair golden ewer a maiden filled A bowl, above a silver cauldron placed, To wash, and spread a polished table near. A venerable house -keeper brought bread, 55

Piling up divers cates in full supply. •Y

[Dishes of various meats the carver brought, J^

And by their side the golden cups arranged.] n/*<w' Fair Menelaus pledged them both and said : T, « ' Feast on, and welcome be ! and, when ye cease 60 ' From feasting, we will ask you who ye are^X ' Your parents' race has not been lost in you. ' From mighty kings that wield the sceptre ye ' Are sprung; mean parents could not such beget.'

He spake, and in their hands he placed the chine 65 Of a fat ox, the portion set for him ; And on the feast prepared their hands they threw. When they were satisfied with drink and meat, Telemachus thus spake to Nestor's son, Holding his head nigh lest the rest should hear : 70 ' Mark, son of Nestor, pleasant to my soul ! ' The gleam of brass within the sounding house, ' Of gold and amber, silver, ivory. ' Such must the hall be of Olympian Jove ; ' Such wealth untold ; I wonder as I gaze.' 75

Fair Menelaus understood his speech, And thus addressed them with his winged words : ' Dear youths ! no mortal could with Jove contend : .

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV. 51

* Immortal are his houses and his goods.

1 Some one of men perhaps will vie with me 80

1 In wealth, some not ; for, after many woes

* And wanderings, I brought it in my ships ;

1 And in the eighth year came, a wand'rer o'er 1 Cyprus, Phcenice, to th' Egyptian men, 1 The ^Ethiopians, Sidonians,

* Th' Erembi, Libya, where the lambs are born 85

* With horns, and thrice a year the ewes bring forth. ' There neither king nor shepherd is in want

4 Of cheese and flesh, nor of the pleasant milk \ ' They always store the yearly milk away.

* While in those realms I strayed, collecting wealth, 90

* One slew my brother secretly, beyond

* All thought, through craft of his pernicious wife :

* Thus without joy o'er all this wealth I rule.

1 You from your sires, whoe'er they be, would learn

* What ills I underwent, and lost my home 95

I Well-peopled, and with many riches stored.

* 0 that I dwelt here, having but a third

* Of all this wealth, and that the men were safe

* Who died at Troy, from fertile Argos far !

* Although lamenting and bewailing all, 100

* Yet oft, within my palace as I sit,

* Sometimes I ease my mind by tears, sometimes

* Refrain; cold sorrow soon has. wailed enough.

I I do not grieve and weep so much for all

f As for one man, who takes away my sleep 105

r And appetite, when I remember him ; \ For no one of the Greeks has toiled and borne ^What he, Ulysses, toiled and underwent.

52 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK IV.

' Care was to him assigned, and grief to me

' Unceasingly, for he is absent long ;

1 Nor know we whether he's alive or dead. HO

' Aged Laertes, wise Penelope,

1 And, whom he left at home but lately born,

* Telemachus, bewail him in his house.'

He spake, and roused his sorrow for his sire : He from his eye -lids shed upon the ground A tear-drop, when he heard his father's name. He held the purple cloak before his eyes H5

With both his hands. Him Menelaus marked, And meditated in his heart and mind Whether to leave him thinking on his sire, Or first inquire what might his purpose be. While thus he doubted in his heart and mind, 120

From her high fragrant chamber Helen came, ~

Like to Diana who the distaff bears. CSi**^ • Y^^ Adraste for her placed a well-made couch, A carpet of soft wool Alcippe bore ; Phylo a silver basket, which to her 125

Alcandra, wife of Polybus, had given, Who dwelt at Thebes in the Egyptian land, Where many treasures in his house are laid. To Menelaus he two silver baths, Two tripods, and ten golden talents gave. His wife besides to Helen gave fair gifts, 130

A golden distaff', and a basket round Of silver, finished off with lips of gold. The maiden Phylo brought and set it down, Filled to the brim with fine-drawn threads, whereon Was fixed the distaff, bearing dark-hiied-wool. 135

THE ODYSSEY. BOOK IV. . 53

She sate upon the couch, a stool beneath

Her feet, and of her husband thus inquired :

1 0 noble Menelaus ! know we yet

1 Who these men are who to our house have come 1

' Are my words true or false 1 my mind compels 140

1 My speech ; for never saw I one so like,

1 Woman or man (I wonder as I gaze),

* As this one seems to brave Ulysses' son, ' Telemachus, whom, lately -born, he left

1 At home, when for the sake of shameless me H5

* Ye. Grecians, fierce war planning, went to Troy.' J y/Y&xx Menelaus answered her and said :

I My wife ! as thou surmisest so think T.

' Such are his feet as his, and such his hands,

' Glance of his eyes, his head and hair above. 150

* When now, Ulysses calling to my mind,

I I spoke of woes which he for me endured,

* He from his eye-lids shed a bitter tear,

1 And held his purple cloak before his eyes.'

Pisistratus, the son of Nestor, said : 155

* 0 godlike Menelaus ! Atreus' son !

' Prince of the people ! truly, as thou say'st, ' Of that man he is son ; but still he is ' Modest, and is reluctant in his mind

* To introduce his overtures to thee, 160 1 With whose voice, as a God's, we both are charmed.

1 Me the Gerenian horseman, Nestor, sent s escort on his journey ; for he wished b see thee, if perchance thou couldst suggest

1 Aught or of word or deed ; for many griefs

* For his long-absent sire the boy endures

54 . THE ODYSSEY. BOOK IV.

1 At home ; to whom no other aids remain, 165

' Since now Telemachns is gone, and none

' Are in the realm who can his wrongs redress^

Fair Menelaus answered him and said : ' 0 wonderful ! the son of my dear friend ' Has at my house arrived, who for my sake 1"°

1 Has many labours borne. /I said I would ' Above all other Argives show him love,

* If to us two loud-sounding Jove should grant 1 In our swift ships return upon the sea ;

' A city would assign him ; build a house ; 175

1 From Ithaca would bring him with his goods,

' His son and subjects ; would depopulate

4 One neighb'ring town of those beneath my sway ;

1 And we would be united ; nor would aught

' Dissever us in friendship and in joy,

' Till death's black cloud should overshadow both. 180

' But God himself has envied this to us,

' Who made him wretched and without return.'

He spake, and roused in all regretful tears. The Jove-descended Argive Helen wept ; Telemachus and Menelaus wept, 185

Nor even Nestor's son had tearless eyes ; For he remembered brave Antilochus, Whom bright Aurora's noble offspring slew. Rememb'ring him he spoke these winged words : ' Atrides ! aged Nestor used to say 19°

* [When in our house each with the other spoke] ' That thou above all other men art wise.

1 Now, if it may be, hear me. \ 'Tis no joy

' To weep at feasts ! the early dawn will come.^

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV. 55

1 Yet I am not ashamed to weep for one 195

' Who may have died and yielded unto fate.

1 And 'tis the privilege of men in grief

1 To cut the hair and dew the cheek with tears.

' My brother too, of Argives not the worst,

1 Is dead : thou must have known him well, but I 200

' Nor knew nor saw him j but Antilochus,. C£ - o^

' As they report, all other men excelled

* As a swift runner and a warrior.'

Fair Menelaus answered him and said : ' Friend ! thou hast spoken as a brave man ought

* To speak and act, an elder of his race 205

* And of such sire ; wise therefore are thy words. 1 Soon is his son discerned to whom, at birth

1 And marriage, Jove prosperity decreed.

* So he has granted Nestor to grow old

* In happiness unceasingly at home ; 210

* And that his sons be wise and warriors brave. 1 But let us check the tears which lately rose,

' And think upon the feast. Upon our hands

* Let them pour water : when the day shall dawn

1 Telemachus and I will converse hold.' 215

He spake : upon their hands Asphalion, Servant of Menelaus, water poured, And on the feast prepared their hands they placed. Then Helen, sprung from Jove, had other thoughts. c

Into the cup of wine from whence they drank 220 yf

She put a drug which care and anger soothes, &s ir Bringing forgetfulness of all distress p'J/ J?

To him who drinks it mingled in the bowl. 7 Nor would he all day long one tear let fall

56 THE ODYSSEY. —BOOK IV.

If father and if mother both were dead, Or if they killed his brother or dear son 225

Before him, and he saw it with his eyes. Such drugs, with skill prepared, Jove's daughter had, Which Polydamna gave her, wife of Thon Of Egypt, where the ground bears many drugs, Some good when mixt, and some the cause of grief. 230 And each physician there is skilled beyond All others, for of Paeon's race they are. When she had put the drug within the bowl, And bade them pour the wine forth, thus she spake : ' 0 Menelaus ! Atreus' son divine ! 235

1 And ye of noble sires the children ! (Jove ' To one and other sends both good and ill, ' For he 's omnipotent) now sit and feast, ' Pleased with appropriate tales which I will tell. J/l cannot tell, not even name them all, 240

J^VThe struggles of Ulysses' patient mind ; J' // Such deeds the valiant hero did and dared, 1 When ye Greeks bore calamities at Troy. ' There with unseemly stripes he scarred, himself, ' And, like a slave, upon his shoulders put 245

' Coarse rags, and slunk into the wide- way 'd [town. ' Of hostile men, and stealthily he took 1 Another form, as of some beggar-man ; ' Who at the Grecian ships far other was. ' Ulysses came in form like him to] Troy. ' All by his craft were duped : but I alone, 250

' Though in such guise, detected him, and put ' Questions, which craftily he turned aside. 4 But when I bathed and rubbed him o'er with oil,

THE ODYSSEY.— BOOK IV. 57

' And put his garments on, I sware an oath

* Not to the Trojans to disclose his name

' Till he had reached the swift ships and the tents. 255 c And then he told me all the Grecians' plan, 1 And many Trojans with his sharp sword slew ; ' Then went, and gave the Greeks intelligence.

* While other Trojan matrons loudly wept,

(^My heart rejoiced, for homeward it was turned, \ 2G0 1 And I bewailed the woe which Venus caused,

* Who took me thither from my native land,

' Leaving my daughter, marriage -bed, and spouse, 1 One not deficient or in mind or form.'

Fair Menelaus answered her and said : 265

1 All this, my wife ! thou hast correctly said. ' I well have known the counsel and the mind

* Of many heroes, and to many lands

4 Have gone ; but never with these eyes have seen ' One with such heart as brave Ulysses had ; 270

' Who did or dared as did that valiant man ' Within the polished horse, where we, the best

* Of all the Argives, were enclosed, and brought ' Death and destruction to the Trojan men.

' Thou wentest thither ; 'twas some God that bade, ' Who to the Trojans wished to give renown. 275

* Deiphobus attended on thy steps :

* Thrice round the hollow ambush thou didst walk 1 Inspecting, and the chiefest Greeks didst call

1 By name, with voice that seem'd as of their wives.

* Divine Ulysses, Tydeus' son, and I 280

* Among them sitting heard when thou didst speak.

* We two were both desirous to rush forth,

A

58 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK IV.

* Or from within to listen and reply :

' Ulysses checked us, eager as we were.

' [Then all the other Greeks in silence sate, 285

' Though Anticlus desired to make reply ;

* But with strong hand Ulysses pressed his lip ' Persistently, and so saved all the Greeks,

1 And held it, till Minerva led thee off].'

The wise Telemachus replied and said : 290

1 0 godlike Menelaus ! Atreus' son !

* Prince of the people ! this is sadder still ;

* For from himself he could not death repel, ' Not though he had an iron heart within.

' But come, permit us to our couch to go,

* And there reclining pleasant sleep enjoy.' 295

He spake : the Argive Helen bade her maids To place the beds beneath the sounding porch, To spread thereon fair purple coverlets, Carpets to lay, and vestments soft above. They, bearing torches, from the hall went forth, 300 And spread the beds ; a herald led the guests. There in the palace entrance-hall they slept, Telemachus and Nestor's noble son. In a sequestered chamber of the house The son of Atreus slept ; and by his side, Woman divine, the long-robed Helen lay. 305

When early rosy-fingered morn appeared, f Brave Menelaus left his couch, and donned His vest ; his sharp sword o'er his shoulders hung ; Braced his fair sandals o'er his shining feet, And, like some God, forth from his chamber came, 310 And, sitting by Telemachus, thus spake :

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV. 59

' What need has brought thee, 0 Telemachus !

* To Lacedsemon, o'er the broad sea's back,

* Public or private 1 truly tell me this.'

Prudent Telemachus replied and said : 315

1 0 godlike Menelaus ! Atreus' son ! 1 Prince of the people ! I am come to hear

* If of my father thou canst give report.

' My substance is devoured, my goods destroyed,

1 My house is full of enemies, who slay

' My folded sheep and slowly-trailing beeves, 320

* Unchecked, and haughtily my mother woo.

* So to thy knees I come a suppliant,

* If thou couldst tell me of his mournful death ;

* Hast seen it wTith thine eyes or heard report

' Of where he wanders. Him his mother bare 325 1 Most wretched. Do not, from regard to me,

* Nor from compassion, tell me honeyed words,

I But tell me true, as thou hast heard report.

I I pray, if e'er Ulysses, my good sire,

* Has helped thee to accomplish word or deed

1 In Troy, where ye Achseans suffered woes, 330

* These for my sake recall, and tell me true.'

Fair Menelaus answered him and said : 1 0 strange it is that in a strong man's bed 1 They should, so mean themselves, desire to lie ! 1 It is as though in some fierce lion's lair 335

' A hind should leave her new-born suckling fawns 1 Asleep, while she explores the woody slopes 1 And grassy glens in search of food ; and he, ' Returning after to his den, should slay

* Them both : and thus Ulysses them will slay. 340

GO THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV.

' 0 father Jove ! Minerva ! Phoebus ! would 1 He such were now as in fair Lesbos once,

* A wrestler, matched with Philomeleus' son

' Whom he o'erthrew, and all the Greeks rejoiced ;

* Would that Ulysses such the suitors met ! 345 1 Their fate would swift, their marriage bitter be.

' As to thy questions and thy prayers, I will ' Nor give eyasive_answers nor deceive^ ' What the old prophet of the sea declared

* I will not hide nor will conceal a word. 350

* In Egypt, when desirous to return,

1 The Gods detained me. Perfect hecatombs

* T had not offered to them ; and the Gods

1 Expect that men should think on their commands.

r There is an island in the storm-tost sea In front of Egypt, which they Pharos call ; 355

1 Distant as far as could a hollow ship 1 Make a day's voyage when the wind blows fair. ' A harbour with good anchorage is there, ' Whence equal ships they launch into the sea,

* When they have drawn dark water from the spring.

' There the Gods kept me twenty days, nor once 360

* Appeared fair breezes blowing o'er the wave,

1 Which on the broad sea's back the ships convey. ' Provisions and men's strength would all have failed, ' Had not a Goddess pitied me and saved,

* Daughter of Proteus, th' old man of the sea, 365 ' Eidothea, whose mind I greatly moved.

* She met me lonely, from my friends apart ;

* For round the island wandering they fished

* With hooks, while hunger vexed our stomachs sore.

( l(

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV. 61

She, standing near me, spoke this word and said : 370 " Stranger ! thou 'rt foolish, and thy mind 's unstrung, " Or, willingly inactive, courtest woe, Thus in the isle detained ; nor remedy

* " Canst find, the while thy friends' hearts waste away." 1 She spoke : I thus addressed her in reply : 375

* " Whoever of the Goddesses thou art, ' " I tell thee that I am not willingly

* " Detained, but seem against th' immortal Gods, C<^ * " Who the wide sky inhabit, to have sinned^,,^ °^~

I 'r But, for the Gods know all things^ telTme now 4 " Who of th' immortals hinders and retards 380

« " My voyage homeward o'er the fishy sea." ' I spake : the Goddess thus forthwith replied : 1 " I will, 0 stranger ! speak with perfect truth. ' " The old man of the sea this place frequents,

* " Truthful, immortal, of Egyptian race, 385 1 " Proteus, wTho knows the depth of every sea,

' " Servant of Neptune : him they call my sire. ' " If him in ambush lying thou couldst catch, ' " Thy way, and what the distance, he could tell,

* " And what thy homeward voyage o'er the sea ; 390 * " And, noble prince ! could tell, if thou wouldst

know, 1 " What good or ill is done at home, while thou ' " Art absent on thy long and painful way." ' 'Twas thus she spake, and in reply I said :

* " Tell me the aged prophet's lurking place, 395 ' " Lest he, fore-knowing and fore-warned, escape.

' " 'Tis hard for mortal to subdue a God."

* So spake I, and the Goddess thus replied :

62 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK IV.

' " Well, stranger ! I with perfect truth will speak.

* " When the mid-sky the sun has overpast, 400

' " Forth from the sea the truthful sage will come,

' " While blows the Zephyr, clad in dusky fur,

* " And go to sleep beneath the hollow rocks.

' " Fin-footed seals around, from salt waves sprung,

* " Emerging from the sea, collected sleep, 405 ' " Snorting the salt sea's bitter odour forth.

" Thither I'll bring thee when the dawn appears, " And make recline : thou three companions choose, " The best of those who man thy well-benched ships.

* " I will recite the old man's elfish tricks. 410 * " The seals he first will number and recount.

' " When he has reckoned and reviewed them all, * " 'Mid them he'll sleep as shepherd 'mid his flock. ' " And when ye first have seen him lulled to sleep,

* " Then summon to you all your force and strength,

1 " And seize upon him eager to escape. 415

' " He will endeavour to become whate'er

1 " There are of crawling creatures, water, fire.

' " Hold firmly on, and press him all the more.

* " When he himself shall question thee with words, 420

* " In shape as when ye saw him go to sleep,

1 " Then slack your force, and set the old man free, ' " And ask him, hero ! who of all the Gods ' " Checks thy return, in anger, o'er the sea."

' She spake, and plunged beneath the foaming wave. ' To the ships, drawn upon the beach, I went, 425

' And sore my heart was panting as I walked. ' When at the ship and sea I had arrived ' We supper served, and night divine came on ;

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV. 63

' And where the waves broke on the shore we slept. 1 When finrly^msy-fingftHxl rla.vyn appeared, 430

1 Along the sea's wide-spreading shore I went,

* With much pray'r to the Gods, and took three

friends, 1 On wThom, in ev'ry need, I trusted most. 1 Then she beneath the wide sea's bosom plunged, 435

* And from the deep the skins of four seals brought, 1 New-stripped, and planned a fraud upon her sire.

* Then, in the sea-sand having trenches dug,

' She sate and waited : we to her approached.

1 She made us lie, and put a skin on each. 440

' Dreadful our ambush would have been ; the stench

* Of the sea-nurtured seals so dreadfully

* Oppressed us : who with sea-bred beasts would lie 1 ' But she preserved and gave us great relief.

* She brought, and on the nostrils placed of each, 445 ' Ambrosia, sweetly -breathing, and destroyed

* The stench ; and all the morn we patient lay.

' Forth from the sea came seals in crowds, and they 1 Lay down to sleep in order on the shore.

* The old man from the sea came forth at noon; 450 1 Found the fat seals ; o'erlooked and counted all j

1 Reckoned us first among them, nor perceived

* The fraud ; and then himself lay down to sleep.

' We with a shout rushed on, and round him threw 1 Our hands ; but he did not his craft forget, 455

' But first a bearded lion he became,

* A dragon next, a leopard and a boar ;

* Then liquid water, and a high-branched tree,

* While we, with patient mind, held firmly on.

64 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV.

* But when the old man, skilled in elfish tricks, 460 1 Was grieved, enquiring of me thus he spake :

' " What God, Atrides ! has this plan devised

* "To snare me 'gainst my will? what needest thou I" 4 He spake, and I replying to him said :

' " Old man ! thou knowst, why speak misleading me ? 1 " How in the island I'm detained, nor find, 465

* " While wastes my heart away, a remedy.

1 " But, for the Gods know all things, tell me this : ' " Who of th' immortals hinders and retards

I " My voyage homeward o'er the fishy sea V

I I spake : and he forthwith replied and said : 470 ' " Aye ! but thou ought est to have gone on board,

1 " Having to Jove and to the other Gods

' " Due off'rings made, that swiftly thou mightst go

\ " Unto thy country o'er the dusky sea.

* " It is not fate that thou shouldst see thy friends, 4/5 ' " Nor to thy high-roofed house and native land

' " Shouldst go, before that thou hast visited

t " Th' Egyptian river's water, sprung from Jove,

* " And shouldst have offered to th' immortal Gods, ' " Who dwell in heaven, sacred hecatombs.

' " Then the return thou seekest they will grant." 480 ' He spake : and in me my dear heart was crushed, 1 For that he ordered me upon the sea ' To go to Egypt j voyage long and hard.

* Yet even so I answered with these words :

' " Old man ! as thou commandest I will do. 485

' " But tell me this, and tell me truthfully,

* " If all the Greeks have safely with their ships

' " Arrived, whom I and Nestor, when from Troy

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV. 65

* " We went, had left there ; or if any one

1 " By bitter death has perished in his ship,

* " Or in his friends' hands when he ceased from war." ' So spake I : he immediately replied : 490 ' " 0 son of Atreus ! why enquire of this %

1 " It fits thee not to know or search my mind ; 6 " Nor, shouldst thou hear it, do I think that thou

* " Wouldst long be free from sorrow ; for of them

1 " While many perished many yet were left. 495

' " Two leaders only perished of the Greeks

* " On their return, whom thou hast joined in fight. ' " One, living, by the wide sea is detained ;

1 " Ajax was killed among the long-oar'd ships.

* " Neptune first drove them on the Gyrian rocks, 500

' " And saved him from the sea ; and death he would, v^f' 1 " Though hated by Minerva, have escaped, c*< ^

Had he not uttered a proud speech, and sinned.

He said that, in despite of all the Gods,. *\" He would escape the great gulf of the sea.

* " Neptune o'erheard him speak these haughty words. ' " Then in his strong hands he his trident took, 505

* " Drove at and cleft in twain the Gyrian rock. 1 " Part there remained, part fell into the sea ; ' " And Ajax, seated there, was greatly hurt. 1 " It plunged him in the boundless surging sea, 510 ' "And there, the salt wave drinking in, he died. t " Thy brother had avoided and escaped

* " Death in the hollow ships, for Juno saved.

* " But, when to Malea's mountain he approached, 515 1 " A tempest caught, and o'er the fishy sea

* " Hurried him onward, utt'ring many groans,

F

66 THE ODYSSEY.— BOOK IV.

" To th' headland, where Thyestes used to dwell,

" But then iEgisthus from Thyestes sprung.

" When there it seem'd that his return was safe.

" The Gods a fair breeze gave, and home they went. 520

" With joy he climbed his native land again,

M And, touching, kissed it, while hot tears fell down,

" As with delight he saw the land again.

" Him from the watch-tower spied a scout, whom there

" Crafty iEgisthus placed, and promised him 525

" Two golden talents. For a year he watched

" Lest Agamemnon pass him unobserved,

" And his impetuous strength again recall.

" Then to the house he went to tell the king.

" ^Egisthus speedily a scheme devised,

" And twenty chosen men in ambush placed, 530

" And in the further hall a feast prepared.

" Then Agamemnon, king of men, he went

" With chariots and horses to invite,

" Planning atrocious deeds ; and at the feast

" Destruction brought on him, and slew,

" As at the manger one would slay an ox. 535

" Not one of all Atrides' friends was left,

" Nor of JEgisthus : all were slaughtered there."

So spake he, and my very heart was crushed.

Sitting upon the sands I wept ; my heart

No longer wished to live, nor sun's light see. 540

But, when my grief and agitation ceased,

Thus spoke the ancient prophet of the sea :

" Weep not, Atrides ! thus incessantly,

" For we shall gain no object ; but forthwith

" Endeavour to thy native land to go. 545

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV. 67

" Either thou'lt find him living, or perhaps

11 Orestes, coming in before thee, may

" Have slain, and thou but light upon his tomb."

He spake, and, grieving as I was, my heart

And noble soul revived within my breast ;

And thus I spake to him with winged-words : 550

" These, then I know; but now the third man name,

" Who, living, by the wide sea is detained,

" [Or who is dead : though grieved I fain would hear.]"

o said I, and forthwith he answered me : " Laertes' son, who dwells in Ithaca ; 555

" I saw him on an island shedding tears, " In nymph ^Calypso^s house, who him by force " Detains ; nor can he to his country go, " For he has neither well-oared ships nor friends " To send him o'er the broad back of the sea. 5G0 " 'Tis not, 0 Menelaus ! sprung from Jove ! " Thy fate in Argos, famed for steeds, to die, " But to th' Elysian plain, earth's furthest bound, " The Gods will send thee. Rhadamanthus there " Abides, and there the easiest life for men. 565

Vl " No winter, snow, nor too much rain is there, " But ocean sends the gently -breathing gales " Of zephyr, ever to refresh mankind •) " For Helen's spouse, Jove's son-in-law thou art." He spake, and plunged beneath the foaming sea. 570 I to my ship, with my heroic friends, Returned : my heart much panted as I went. When to the ship and to the sea I came, The supper we prepared ; the(mght divine/ Came on, and, where the sea waves broke, we slept. 575

68 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV.

' When early rosy-fingered morn appeared, ' First to the sea divine our ships we drew,

* Fixed masts and sails upon the well-trimmed ships. 4 The men embarking on the benches sate,

' And beat the sea in order with their oars. 580

* Back on Egyptus' Jove -sprung stream I stayed 4 The ships, and offered perfect hecatombs.

1 When I had soothed the anger of the Gods,

* I built a tomb to Agamemnon's fame.

4 This done, I homewrard turned. Th' immortal Gods 585 ' Fair breezes gave, and sent me to my home. /-. ' But come, do thou within my house remain J J Till the eleventh or the twelfth day come. Then will I send thee onward, and will give Fair gifts ; three horses and a well-wrought car j 590 xl beauteous bowl, that to th' immortal Gods J Libation thou mayst make, rememb'ring me.' rv^3^*^

Prudent Telemachus replied and said \ ■-■ .j*^*^ ' 0 son of Atreus ! here detain me not : ^ J l>r\ 4 Though I would gladly stay with thee a year, 595

* And not regret my parents or my home, ' Delighting greatly in thy tales and words. 4 Yet now the friends whom I at Pylos left

* Are grieving while thou here detain est me. 4 The cup thou giv'st me shall a keep-sake be. 600 4 To Ithaca I will not take the steeds, 1 But leave them here, an honour to thyself. 4 Thou rulest o'er a plain where trefoil grows, 4 Wheat, rushes, maize, white barley spreading wide. ' In Ithaca nor meadows are nor plains, 605 ' The goat more suited than the horse to feed.

THE ODYSSEY.— BOOK IV. 69

1 None of the islands sloping to the sea

1 Are for the horse-course suited, nor abound

1 In meadows ; Ithaca beyond them all.'

He spake: the warlike Menelaus smiled, 610

Caressed him writh his hand, and thus replied :

* Dear youth ! thy words attest thy noble blood. ' I will then change the presents, for I can.

* Whatever treasures in my house are stored,

* The fairest and most precious I will give.

1 A goblet I will give thee, fashioned all 615

* Of silver, finished off with lips of gold,

1 The work of Vulcan : noble Phaedimus, ' The king of the Sidonians, gave it me ' When his house sheltered me on my return ; 1 And this to thee I willingly will give.'

Such converse they with one another held. 620

[To the king's house the serving-men repaired ; Some led the sheep, some brought th' inspiring wine. The wives, with beauteous handkerchiefs, brought wine ; * And thus the feast they in the house prepared.]^^^ ^

Meanwhile the suitors in Ulysses' hall &fe

In hurling quoits and javelins took delight On the smooth pavement, haughty as before. Antinous and fair Eurymachus, Chief of the suitors and most brave, sate there. Noemon, son of Phronius, approached, 630

And to Antinous enquiring spoke : i Are we aware, Antinous ! or not 1 From sandy Pylos when Telemachus 1 Returned 1 for he has ta'en my ship, and I ' Have need of it to Elis' plains to go, 635

70 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV.

' Where I have twelve mares with laborious mules 1 Unbroken, some of which I wish to train.'

He spake ; they wondered, for they did not know That to Neleian Pylos he had gone, But thought 'twas to the swine-herd or the sheep. 640 Antinous, Eupeithes' son, replied : 1 Tell me the truth ; when went he, and what youths

* Attended ? were they chosen Ithacans,

* Or his own serfs and hirelings 1 this might be.

' And this too tell me true, that I may know : 645

' Did he against thy will the vessel take,

' Or didst thou give it, when he urged his plea 1 '

Noemon, son of Phronius, replied : 1 I gave it to him. What else could one do, ' When such a man, with troubles in his mind, 650 ' Kequested ! to deny the gift were hard. ' The young men, who among us are esteemed ' The best, attended. Mentor chief I saw,

* Or else some God, so very like he was.

* But this I wonder at ; for yesterday, 655 4 At early morning, I saw Mentor here ;

' But then to Pylos in the ship he went.'

He spake, and to his father's house repaired, And both their minds with wonder were perplexed. They made the suitors sit and cease their games. Then spake Antinous, Eupeithes' son, 660

[In grief: with gloomy thoughts their minds were filled, And his eyes sparkled like a fiery flame] :

* 0 strange ! this journey of Telemachus

1 Is a great deed, and proudly has been done, ' But will not, we suppose, be finished so.

THE ODYSSEY. BOOK IV. 71

1 In spite of us so many, this young boy 665

1 Has gone and launched a ship, and chosen out 1 The best men of the land : this ill will grow.

* May Jove destroy him ere he ruins us !

1 But give me a swift ship, and twenty men, **/*

1 That I may lie in ambush, and keep watch &tf \^5

* For him upon his voyage, in the strait ^rf^ \ . "** 1 That between Ithaca and Samos lies ; ^^^ <^-

' That sad may be his voyage for his sire.'

He spake : they all approved, and orders gave, And rising, went within Ulysses' house.

Nor was Penelope long uninformed 675

Of what the suitors brooded in their minds. Medon, the herald, told her, who without The palace heard what they devised within, And went to tell it to Penelope. Penelope addressed him as he passed 680

Across the threshold : ' Herald ! tell me why ' The noble suitors have despatched thee thus 1 1 Is it to bid Ulysses' maidens cease ' From labour, and prepare a feast for them 1 1 May they no more come wooing, nor combine ' In crowds, but eat their last last supper here ! 685 ' Ye who in swarming bands much substance eat, 6 The property of wise Telemachus ;

* Nor from the sires, whose sons ye are, have heard ' Of former days ; what man Ulysses was,

1 Not doing deed nor saying word unjust 690

' Among the people, as good rulers ought ; ' Nor hated one man and another loved, 1 Nor did to any act of violence ;

72 THE ODYSSEY. —BOOK IV.

' So that your thoughts and deeds unseemly are,

' Nor is there gratitude for favours past.' 695

Med on with prudent thought to her replied : ' Would that, 0 queen ! this were the greatest ill ! 1 But one much greater and more dangerous ' The suitors plan, which may not Jove complete ! 1 With the sharp sword they eager are to slay ' Telemachus, as homeward he returns. 700 yp

' He for some tidings of his sire is gone f

' To Pylos and to sacred Sparta's land.' ~C

So spake he ; and her knees and heart grew weak /\ Silence from words she kept ; her eyes were filled >\j With tears ; her voice was stifled by her sobs :^T 705 But with these words at last she made reply : (j> 1 0 herald ! tell me why my son is gone. ' No need for him in swift ships to embark, ' In ships that are the horses of the sea 1 For men to cross its watery expanse. 1 Is it for fear he leave no fame behind ? ' 710

Medon with prudent thought to her replied : ' I know not whether some divinity ' Excited him, or his own mind impelled, ' To go to Pylos, tidings to obtain * Or of his sire's return or how he died.'

He spake, and to Ulysses' house retired. 715

Heart-breaking grief o'erwhelmed her : on no seat, Though many were there, could she bear to sit, But on the well-wrought chamber's floor she crouched, Piteously wailing, and her maidens groaned, All in the house who were, both young and old. 720 Them, weeping much, Penelope addressed :

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK IV. 73

' Hear, friends ! high Jove has more afflicted me

* Than all who with me have been born and bred \ 1 Who first my good and valiant husband lost,

* Among the Greeks for many virtues famed 725 ' [In Hellas and mid-Argos wide his fame] ;

1 Now storms have torn my daj^ng^son_away

' Inglorious, nor heard I when he went.

' Unkind ! not one among you had the thought

' To rouse me from my couch, though well aware 730

* When in the black ship he designed to go.

* For, had I heard that he such voyage planned,

' He would have stayed, though eager to be gone, 1 Or would have left me dying in the house. 1 One of you quickly call old Dolius, 735

1 The serf whom when I came my father gave.

* He tends the shady garden : bid him go

' Quick to Laertes and these things narrate,

1 To see if he will some wise scheme devise,

1 And mourning to the people go, who wTish 740

' Him and the brave Ulysses' son to kill.'

To her Euryclea, her nurse, replied : 1 Dear daughter ! kill me with unpitying sword, 1 Or let me live : no word will I conceal. ' I knew it all ; I gave him what he asked, 745

' Food and sweet wine ; from me a solemn oath

* He took that, till the twelfth day had arrived,

* Or till thyself shouldst miss him, or shouldst hear ' Of his departure, I would tell thee nought,

1 Lest thy fair form with weeping thou shouldst waste.

* But bathe thyself, and put fresh garments on ; 750

* Go to thine upper chamber with thy maids

74 THE QDYSSEY. — BOOK IV.

' And to Minerva pray, of mighty Jove

' The child, for she can save him e'en from death.

* Vex not the vexed old man ; for not, I deem,

1 Are the descendants of Arceisias 755

* Utterly hated by the blessed Gods.

1 One of them yet will come, who will possess 1 Their lofty houses and wide fertile fields.'

She speaking soothed her moan and dried her eyes. She bathed herself and put fresh garments on ; Went to the upper chamber with her maids ; 760

Offered the cakes, and to Minerva prayed : 1 Hear me, unconquered child of mighty Jove !

* If e'er the wise Ulysses in his house

' Fat thighs of ox or sheep has sacrificed,

* Think now on this for me, and save my son, 765

* And those vile haughty suitors drive away.' She spake and groaned: the Goddess heard her

prayer. The suitors gathered in the shady halls, And of the haughty youths thus some one said :

* Surely the spousal rites the much-wooed queen 770

* Prepares, nor knows what death awaits her son.'

Thus some one spake : they knew not how it was. Antinous harangued them thus and said : ' Unwise ! restrain all overbearing words,

* Lest some one tidings bear the house within. 775 1 Come, let us rise and silent execute

1 The plan agreed on in the minds of all.'

Thus speaking he selected twenty men : Then to the swift ship and the shore they went. Into the deep sea first of all they drew 780

THE ODYSSEY. —BOOK IV. 75

The ship, and masts and sails they placed within j Upon the leathern rowlocks fixed the oars, All in due order, and the white sails spread, While the proud servants brought the tackling in. They anchored in the deep ; then disembarked, 785 Took food, and waited till the evening came.

Penelope lay in the upper room Fasting, and tasting neither food nor drink, Revolving if her son would death escape, Or by the haughty suitors be destroyed. 790

As when a lion in a crowd of men Fears when they form a treacherous circle round, So sweet sleep came on her revolving thus, And, with her limbs relaxed, she lay and slept.

Blue-eyed Minerva then had other thoughts. 795 She made an image in a woman's form, Like to Iphthime, who the daughter was Of brave Icarius, whom Eumelus took To wife, in Pherse having his abode. She sent her to divine Ulysses' house, That she might make the sad Penelope 800

To cease from weeping and from tearful groans. She to her chamber went, the bolt withdrew, Stood o'er her head, and then addressed her thus : * Sleep'st thou, Penelope ! with grieving heart 1 ' The Gods who live at ease permit thee not 805

' To weep and wail : thy son will home return, ' Because he has not sinned against the Gods.'

To her the wise Penelope replied, While sweetly slumb'ring in the dreamy gates : 1 Why, sister ! com'st thou hither ? not before 810

76 THE ODYSSEY.— BOOK IV.

' Was it thy wont, who dwell'st so far away.

1 Thou bidd'st me cease from wailing, and the griefs

' Which num'rous agitate my mind and thoughts,

' Who first my good and valiant husband lost,

1 Among the Greeks for varied virtues famed ; 815

1 [In Hellas and mid-Argos wide his fame.]

1 Now in the ship my darling son has gone,

' Young, ignorant of councils and of toils ;

' And more I grieve for him than for his sire,

' And tremble for him lest some ill he meet, 820

' Or on the land he goes to or the sea.

' For many enemies against him plot,

' And seek to kill him ere he home arrives.'

The image, indistinctly seen, replied : ' Take courage ; fear not in thy mind too much. 825 ' A guardian leads him, such as other men ' Pray to stand by them, for indeed she can, ' Minerva : she compassionates thy grief, ' Who sends me hither now to tell thee this.'

The wise Penelope replied and said : 830

1 If God thou art and hear'st the voice of God, 4 Come tell me of that other wretched man, ' If yet he lives and yet the sun's light sees, ' Or if he's dead and is in Pluto's halls.'

The image, indistinctly seen, replied: 835

■ I will not tell thee plainly if he lives * Or if he's dead ; 'tis wrong vain words to speak.'

The image spake, and by the portal's bar Into the breezy air retired, and she, Icarius' daughter, rose up from her,sleep. 840

Her heart was lightened, for a dream distinct

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK V. 77

Had come upon her in the dead of night.

Meanwhile the suitors went on board and sailed Upon the wat'ry way, and dreadful death Planned in their minds against Telemachus. In the mid- sea a certain rocky isle &15

'Tween Ithaca and rugged Samos lies, Called Asteris, not large : the harbour's mouthy Is double : there the lurking suitors lay. "

gW

is

BOOK V. J^

^^ Aurora, from the famed Tithonus' side, Sprang from her couch with light for Gods and men. The Gods were sitting on their thrones, and «j£>v£ Among them, thund'rer, God of greatest might. Minerva to their mem'ry brought and told 5

The many sorrows which Ulysses had, In the nymph's house the object of her care : 1 0 father Jove ! and ye immortal Gods ! ' Henceforth let never sceptre -bearing king ' Strive to be gentle, mild and well-disposed. ' Let him be stern, and godless deeds commit, 10

' Since none of those o'er whom he reigned recalls

* What a kind sire divine Ulysses was. fefow on an island, suffring many woes, (mi nymph Calypso's house he lies, while she

f Detains him that he cannot homeward go. 15

* No ships equipped with oars nor friends has he ' Who can escort him o'er the broad sea's back.

I

78 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK V.

1 His much-loved son they now desire to kill ' Returning to his home ; for he is gone,

* To learn some tidings of his absent sire,

* To Pylos and to sacred Sparta's land.' 20

The cloud -compelling Jove replied and said : ' My child ! what word has issued from thy lips 1 1 Was it not thou that didst devise a plan ' That he should come and vengeance on them take ?

* Guide skilfully Telemachus (thou canst) 25 ' That scatheless to his country he may go,

And in their ship the suitors quick return.' He spake, and Mercury his son addressed :

* Go, Mercury ! thou art my messenger,

* And tell the fair-haired nymph our firm design 30 1 That home the brave Ulysses shall return,

* Not with the escort or of Gods or men,

* But let him go upon a well-bound raft,

' And, suff'ring much, upon the twentieth day

' Reach fertile Scheria, the Phceacians' land, 35

* Men almost godlike, who will honour him

' As though he were a God with all their heart,

' And in a ship will send him to his home ;

' Brass, gold, and vests abundantly bestow ;

' More than Ulysses would have brought from Troy,

' Had he come safe and with his share of spoil. 40

' Thus it is fate that he his friends should see,

1 And to his high -roofed house and country come.'

He spoke, nor Argeiphontes disobeyed. Forthwith he bound fair sandals on his feet, Ambrosial, golden, which o'er earth and sea 45

Would bear him swift as breezes of the wind.

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK V. 79

The rod he took, wherewith at will he soothes The eyes of men, and wakes again from sleep : This holding mighty Argeiphontes flew, And reached Pieria from the npper air. 50

He lighted on the sea, and o'er the wave Skimmed, like a gull, which in the dreadful gulfs Of the unfruitful sea, in search of fish, Wets in the spray its closely-feathered wings ; So o'er the many waves rode Mercury. But, to the distant island when he came, 55

From the dark sea he went upon the ground, Till to the mighty cave he came, where dwelt The fair-haired nymph, and her within he found. A fire was burning on the hearth ; the scent Of the cleft cedar and the sandal wood 60

Was fragrant through the island as they blazed. She, singing with her lovely voice the while, A golden shuttle plied and wove a web. A grove grew flourishing around the cave, The alder, poplar, and the cypress sweet. Birds with their long-stretched necks were nestling there, 65

Owls, hawks, and cormorants with chattering tongues ; Sea-birds that have their work upon the waves. A vine extended o'er the hollow cave Of vig'rous growth, luxuriant with grapes. Four fountains poured their limpid water forth, 70 Each to the other turning with its stream. With violets and parsley bloomed the meads Around ; and even an immortal God Who came would look with pleasure at the sight.

80 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK V.

Hermes, the messenger, there stood and gazed. 75

When in his mind he had admired it all,

Into the cavern wide forthwith he went.

Divine Calypso knew him when she saw :

Not to each other are the Gods unknown,

However far apart they each may dwell. 80

He did not find the brave Ulysses there :

He on the beach sate weeping as before,

[Vexing his mind with tears, and groans and griefs,

Tearfully gazing o'er the barren sea].

Divine Calypso questioned Mercury, 85

When she had placed him on a shining throne :

* Why com'st thou, Hermes of the golden rod !

' Thou, reverend and dear ! who com'st not oft 1 1 Tell me thy purpose, which I would perform 1 If but I can, and it can be performed. 1 [Advance and take my hospitality.]'

So spake the Goddess, and a table set Piled with ambrosia and the nectar red. Hermes, the messenger, both eat and drank. When with the feast he satisfied his mind, 95

Then with these words he answered her and said :

* Goddess ! a God thou questionest ; but I

' Will tell the truth, for such is thy command.

c Jove ordered me, against my wish, to come.

1 Who willingly so much salt sea would cross, 100

' Immense 1 no city is there near of men

' Who offer to the Gods choice hecatombs j

' But still the will of segis-bearing Jove

' No other God may thwart or render void.

' He says that there is with thee one most grieved 105

THE ODYSSEY. BOOK V. 81

1 Of all men who round Priam's city fought

' Nine years ; destroyed it in the tenth ; and went

* Homeward : but Pallas they on their return ' Offended : she foul wind and mighty waves

1 Raised up against them [and the rest all died j HO 1 But him the winds and waves have hither brought],

* Him Jove commands that thou shouldst send away .

* With speed : ^tja^njygj^^

* Here in this land, far parted from his friends :

* But 'tis his lot to see his friends, and go

■ To his high house and his paternal land.' 115

Divine Calypso shuddered as he spoke, And then addressed him with these winged words : 1 Hard above all and jealous are ye Gods,

* Who grudge that Goddesses should mate with men

1 In open wedlock, should one choose a spouse. 120

* Aurora of the rosy fingers chose

| Orion, and ye tranquil Gods were wroth. ' [Him chaste Diana of the golden throne

* Slew in Ortygia with her painless darts.]

' So fair-haired Ceres with Iasion, 125

* To passion yielding, was in wedlock joined

* In the thrice furrowed field ; not long unknown 1 To Jove, who killed him with his gleaming bolt.

* Ye Gods are jealous that a mortal man

1 Is here, whom clinging to the keel I saved ISO

1 Alone, when Jove with gleaming bolt had struck

' His ship, and wrecked it in the gloomy sea.

' His good companions all were there destroyed,

' But him the winds and billows hither drove.

' Kindly I treated, fed him, and proposed M3

G

82 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK V.

1 To make him deathless, youthful, all his days.

4 But, since the will of segis-bearing Jove

' No other God may thwart or render void,

' Let him depart, since thus he gives command,

1 Over the barren sea ; but I will not 14W

1 Convey him, for T have not ships nor friends

' Who may conduct him o'er the broad sea's back :

' But willing I will tell him, nor conceal,

1 How scatheless he his native land may reach.'

Hermes, the messenger, to her replied : 145

* Send him away then, and Jove's wrath respect, ' Lest afterwards with thee he be enraged.'

Strong Mercury thus spoke and went away. Soon as the nymph adorable had heard Jove's message, she to brave Ulysses went. 150

She found him on the shore ; his eyes from tears Were never dry : his sweet life ebbed away , In grief for home ; the nymph no longer pleased, Though by her in the cave at night he slept 186

Perforce, unwilling by a willing spouse. By day he sate upon the rocks and beach, Vexing his mind with tears, and groans and griefs, And weeping looked upon the barren sea. The Goddess standing near him thus addressed : ' Weep not, ill-fated one ! nor let thy life 1(5°

' Thus pine away ; I'll freely let thee go. ' Come, cut long timbers with an axe, and frame 1 A raft ; upon it fix a lofty deck ' That it may bear thee o'er the gloomy sea. 1 Food, water, and red wine I '11 place therein, 165

' To cheer thine heart and hunger drive away ;

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK V. 83

1 Will clothe thee, and will send a fav'ring breeze, ' That thou mayst scatheless to thy country go,

* If the Gods will, who in the broad sky dwell,

* Stronger than I to plan and execute. ' 170

She spake : Ulysses, man of sufferings great, Shuddered, and thus with winged words replied : 1 0 Goddess ! surely something else than this ' Thou plannest, not at all my voyage home ; ' Who bidd'st me on a raft the sea's vast depth 1 Dread, difficult to cross, which not e'en ships 175 1 Equal and swift, rejoicing in Jove's breeze,

* May pass. I would not 'gainst thy will embark

* Upon a raft, unless, 0 Goddess ! thou

1 Wouldst deign to swear to me a mighty oath 6 No other ill against me to devise.'

Thus as he spoke divine Calypso smiled, 180

Caressed him with her hand, and thus replied : ' Sure thou art crafty, skilled in no vain arts, 1 Who hadst the thought to offer such a speech. ' Let earth attest, and heaven stretched above,

* And water of the Styx which rolls below

1 (Oath greatest, strongest for the blessed Gods), i&>

1 That I no evil will against thee plan ;

' But I will counsel and contrive for thee

J What, were there need, I'd purpose for myself. /My mind is upright, and my heart within/) 190

V My breast not iron but compassionate.' '( The Goddess spake, and quickly led the way,

And he her footsteps followed as she went,

Entering the cave, the Goddess and the man.

Upon the seat whence Hermes rose he sate, 195v

84 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK V.

And the nymph placed before him ev'ry food

To eat and drink ; such food as mortals eat.

She of divine Ulysses sate in front ;

The maidens nectar and ambrosia brought

For her j and on the feast their hands they laid. 200

When they with meat and drink were satisfied,

Divine Calypso converse thus began :

' Ulysses ! wise ! Laertes' noble son !

1 Dost thou to home and thy dear native land 205

' Thus long to go ? if so may good betide !

' But didst thou know what woes it is thy fate

' To suffer, ere arriving at thy home,

1 Here thou wouldst stay with me and guard this house,

' And be immortal, eager though to see

1 Thy wife, whom thou art always pining for. 210

' And yet I boast that not inferior

1 Am I to her in form or countenance ;

' Nor is it fit in beauty or in shape

' For mortals with immortals to contend.'

The wise Ulysses answered her and said : ' Goddess adorable ! 0 not for this 215

' Be angry with me ! for I know full well

* That chaste Penelope must yield to thee

* To look upon, in figure and in face,

1 She mortal, thou immortal, ever young.

1 But even so I wish and long all day

' For home, and my returning day to see. 220

' If some God wreck me on the darksome wave

' I will endure, and have a patient mind.

' Already woes and toils I have endured

' In waves and wars; let this to them be joined.'

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK V. 85

He spake : the sun went down and darkness came.

They, going to the hollow cave's recess, 225

Each by the other stayed and joyed in love.

When early rosy-fingered morn appeared,

Ulysses put his vest and mantle on.

The nymph a cloak of silv'ry whiteness took 230

Slender and graceful ; put around her waist

A golden belt, upon her head a veil ;

Then planned to send Ulysses on his way.

She gave into his hands a mighty axe,

Well-fitted, brazen, sharpened on both sides, 235

With a fair olive handle fixed therein ;

A polished hatchet next, and led the way

To th' isle's extremity where tall trees grew,

The alder, poplar, and the tow'ring pine, Dry and well-seasoned, which would lightly float. 240 When she had shewn him where the tall trees grew, Divine Calypso to her house returned. But he cut beams and quickly did the work. Twenty he felled and lopped them with the axe, Smoothed skilfully and straightened by the line. 245 Divine Calypso then the gimlets brought ; He drilled the planks and fitted each to each, And hammered skilfully the bolts and joints. Such a ship's frame, broad and for burthen fit, • As one would fashion skilled in shipwright's art, 250 Such frame upon the _raf£, Ulysses made. He formed the deck, compact with frequent spars, And with long planks he made the raft complete. He formed the mast and fitted on the yard, He made a rudder to direct its course, 255

86 THE ODYSSEY.— BOOK V.

And guarded it throughout with willow rods, Defence against the waves, and put much on. Divine Calypso then the canvas brought To form the sails, and these he made with skill ; The braces, shrouds and ropes therein he bound, 260 And dragged it down with levers to the sea.

'Twas the fourth day, and all was now complete : Him on the fifth divine Calypso sent From th' island, clothing first in fragrant vests, And bathing. Then the Goddess put on board Of the black wine one skin, of water one, 265

And of co^kedmeats a plentiful supply ) And made a fav'ring gentle wind to blow. Rejoicing in the breeze, Ulysses spread The sails, and sitting at the helm he steered, 270

Watching the ELeiads and Bootes, slow To set, and Arctos, which men call the wain, Which, turning on itself, Orion spies, Alone not sharing in the ocean's bath. 275

Calypso, nymph divine, had bade him keep This on the left hand as he sailed along. Over the sea for s£y^nteen_daya he sailed ; On the _ejghteenth_appeared the shady hills Where the Phseacian land the nearest was, 280 .

Which like a shield seemed on the dusky sea. Him royal Neptune saw, as he returned From ^Ethiopia, from the distant hills Of Solymi, thus sailing o'er the sea ; And more than ever in his heart enraged, Shaking his head, he thus himself addressed : 285

* Strange ! how the other Gods their plans have changed

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK V. 87

1 About. Ulysses, while I absent was

' In ^Ethiopia ; and now he comes

1 Near the Phseacian land ; whence fate decrees

1 That he the great woe which draws near escape :

' Still I propose to send him woe enough.' 290

Speaking he piled the clouds and stirred the sea, Holding the trident in his hand, and roused The blasts of all the winds ; and earth and sea Covered with clouds, while night rushed down the sky. Eurus and Notus, Zephyr violent, 295

And stormy Boreas rolling mighty waves Came rushing on j Ulysses' knees and heart Fainted, and troubled to himself he said : ' 0 wretched me ! what will fall out at last 1 1 The Goddess has, I fear, told all things true, 300

' Who said that I should suffer woes at sea ' Before that to my native land T came.

* This now is done. 0 with what dreadful clouds 1 Does Jupiter the spreading sky surround,

* And stir the sea, while blasts of every wind 305 1 Come rushing on ! Now is my fate assured.

' Thrice, four times happy were the Greeks who died

* In Troy's wide plain for the Atrides' sake.

* 0 that I there had died and met my fate

Vrv/ ^Pon ^Qa,t ^ay wnen many Trojans hurled 310

)[} '' Darts o'er Achilles' corpse ! funereal rites

* I should have had, and honour from the Greeks ; 1 Now an ignoble death I'm doomed to die.'

Against a rock a great wave, as he spoke, Dashed him, and rushing on, whirled round the raft. Far from the raft he fell, and from his hands 315

88 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK V.

/

Let go the rudder j and the dreadful storm Of mingled winds came on and broke the mast ; And shrouds and deck fell down into the sea. Long time it overwhelmed him, nor could he Rise quickly from the billows' mighty force, 320

The vests Calypso gave so weighed him down. He rose at last, ejecting from his mouth The bitter brine which fiWed abundant down. Yet did he not in this distress forget The raft, but turning seized it in the waves, 325

And sate avoiding death ; the mighty sea Hither, and thither, bore him on its flood. As when autumnal Boreas sweeps the thorns, That closely cling together, o'er the plain ; So the storm hither, thither, drove the sea.^^v^ 330 Notus let ftoreas urge the raft along • A^K' To Zephyr^Eurus yielded the pursuit.!^ Him the fair-ankled child of Cadmus saw, Ino Leucothea, who mortal voice Had once, but in the sea's wTaves now obtained 335 A God's renown. When she Ulysses saw, She pitied him, a wand'rer woe-begone [And like a sea-gull rose from 'neath the deep.] She sate upon the well -joined raft and said : ' 0 why is Neptune, ruler of the sea, ' With thee, ill-fated man ! so much displeased 1 340 ' Why does he plan so many woes for thee ? * He will not slay thee, though so much enraged. 1 This do, for not unwise thou seem'st to be ; 1 Thy garments doff, and for the winds to toss v^"' The raft abandon, swimming with thine hands.

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK V. 89

1 Seek to arrive on the Phseacian shore,

1 Where it is fated that thou shalt escape. 345

' Come, this ambrosial fillet take and bind

' Beneath thy breast, and fear not pain nor death.

' When the firm earth thou graspest with thine hands,

1 Unbind and cast it in the gloomy sea

' Far from the land, and turn thyself away.' 350

Thus spake the Goddess, and the fillet gave ; And like a sea-gull 'neath the foaming wave She plunged, and her the gloomy sea concealed. Patient Ulysses, god-like man, took thought, And, troubled, thus his mighty heart addressed : 355 ' Alas ! 0 may not some one of the Gods ' Be planning a deceit against me here, ' When from the raft she bids me to depart ! ' I'd better not obey ; for with mine eyes ' I've seen the land to which she bids me flee. ' But this I'll do, for thus it seems the best : 360

' Long as the planks shall to the joints adhere, ' So long I'll stay and patiently endure. 1 But when the wave has broken up the raft, ' Then will I swim ; there is no better plan.'

While thus he meditated in his mind, 365

Earth-shaking Neptune drove a mighty wave, Horrid, o'erwhelming, fierce ; and struck him down, As when a rushing wind disturbs a heap Of withered husks, and scatters here and there, So scattered he the planks. Ulysses then 370

Strode on a plank, as riding on a horse. He doffed the garments which Calypso gave, And braced the fillet underneath his breast ;

90 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK V.

Fell headlong in the sea, and stretched his hands, Eager to swim. When him king Neptune saw, 375

^ Shaking his head thus to himself he said : ' Go, suff'ring man ! now wander o'er the sea, ' Till thou hast mingled with the Jove -sprung men ; * Nor will thy sorrows so, I hope, be light.'

Thus having said, he lashed his fair -haired steeds, 380 And went to Mgsd where his famed house is. Minerva, child of Jove, had other thoughts ; She stayed the courses of the other winds, And bid them all to cease and to repose. Swift Boreas she roused ; but broke the waves 385 Until divine Ulysses should consort

j With the Phseacians, men who take delight

\Jn rowing, having death and fate escaped. Two days, two nights, upon the swollen wave He strayed, and much his heart foreboded death : But when fair-haired Aurora closed the third, 390

Then ceased the wind to blow : a breathless calm Came on, and he the neighb'ring land descried, Acutely gazing, lifted on a wave. As to his children seems a father's life Welcome, when lying in some sore disease He wastes away, while cruel fate attacks, 395

i And the Gods make him welcome, freed from pain ; So welcome to Ulysses land and wood Appeared, and eager to the shore he swam. When he was distant as a man can shout, 400

He heard the sound of waves against the rocks. A great wave roaring broke upon the shore With violence, and all was wrapt in foam.

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK V. 91

No harbour there, a refuge for the ships, No shelter j all was rocks and crags and cliffs. 405 Then were Ulysses' heart and knees unstrung, And troubled to his own brave mind he said :

* Ah me ! though Jove has granted me to see 1 The land unhoped for, and successfully

' I've cut my way through this abyss, yet still 1 From the white billows no escape appears. 410

' Sharp crags in front ; a wave that roars around ; ' And a sheer precipice runs up above.

* The sea is all around ; nor is there place

' For both my feet to stand and woe escape. ■ May the great wave not dash me on the crag 415 ' When landing ! dreadful would my struggle be. ^ Should T swim further on and find a shore ' And shelt'ring rocks projecting from the sea, ' I fear the ebb may hurry me away, ' And bear me groaning to the fishy sea ; 420

* Or a sea-monster from the deep some God ' May send, for many Amphitrite breeds ; 'And Neptune with me is, I know, enraged.'

While this he thought of in his heart and mind, A great wave bore him on the rocky shore. 425

Torn would his skin, his bones have broken been, Qr"V~ 4 But that Minerva gave his mind a thought. ^^^''(jVa^-- Struggling with both his hands he clutched the rock, And groaning held it till the wave had past ; And so he shunned it ; but when flowing back 430 It struck and bore him struggling out to sea. As from its cell a polypus is torn, And stones are firmly by its suckers grasped ;

92 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK \.

So by the rocks from off his stalwart hand,. The skin was torn, and o'er him came a wave. 435

And surely there, though contrary to fate, Unfortunate Ulysses would have died, Had not Minerva given him calm thought. Emerging from the wave which lashed the shore He swam aside, still looking to the land, If either sloping shore or jutting rock 440

He could discern, a refuge from the sea. When a jair-flowing nverjjnouth he reached By swimming, there the place appeared the best, As free from rock and sheltered from the wind. The flowing stream he recognised, and prayed : ' Hear me, 0 king ! whoever thou mayst be. ' Beseeching thee with many pray'rs, I come, 445

' Flying the threats of Neptune, from the sea. ' He is respected, even by the Gods, ■ Whoe'er he be that comes a wanderer, 1 As to thy stream and knees I suffering come. ' Have pity, king ! thy suppliant I am.' 450

He spake : and he forthwith the stream restrained, Kept back his waves, and made a calm in front, And saved him at the outlet of the flood. He let his knees and stalwart hands droop down, For his dear heart was conquered by the sea. His flesh was swollen, and sea- water welled 455

Forth from his mouth and nostrils ; and he lay Breathless and voiceless, fainting with fatigue. But when again he breathed and sense returned, The fillet of the Goddess from his breast He loosed, and cast it in the sea-mixt stream, 460

THE ODYSSEY. BOOK V. 93

And a great wave conveyed it down the flood, Where Ino quickly took it in her hands. He from the river hasting bent him down Upon the sedge, and kissed the fertile ground, And, troubled, to his own brave mind he said :

* 0 how I suffer ! what will come at last 1 465 ' If in the stream the painful night I watch,

' Hoar frost and cold dew may together quench

* My little life now fainting with fatigue ;

' Cold blows the river's breeze before the dawn.

* But if the bank I climb, and fall asleep 470

* In the thick bushes of the shady grove,

' Though cold and weariness may leave me free,

* And sweet sleep come upon me, yet I fear

1 Lest of wild beasts I should become the prey.'

This as be meditated seemed the best ; And to the grove he went ; he found it near 475

The water, in an open space, and came Upon two shrubs, both springing from one stem, This of the mastic, that the olive-tree. Through them nor blows the force of wat'ry winds ; Nor strikes the sun when shining with its rays, Nor penetrates the rain ; so thick they grow, 480

Each with the other's branches intertwined. Ulysses crept beneath, and with his hands Piled the wide couch ; for there abundantly Were shed of leaves as many as might well Two men or three protect in time of storm, However it might furiously rage. 485

Divine Ulysses saw it and rejoiced, Lay down, and o'er him heaped a pile of leaves.

94 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VI.

As in black ashes when one hides a brand

In a field's corner, with no neighbours by,

Saving the seed of fire, that so no more

He elsewhere may have need to kindle it; 490

Divine Ulysses so within the leaves

Concealed himself. Minerva on his eyes

Poured sleep, that she might quickly give him rest

From his hard labour, and his eye -lids close.

i

BOOK VI.

Thus there long-suffering Ulysses slept,

Subdued by sleep and toil. Minerva sought

The realm and town of the Phseacians,

Who dwelt of yore in wide Hyperia^ ^

Near the Cyclopes, over-weening men,^' \' 5

Who plundered them and far excelled in strength.

God -like Nausithous removed them thence

And placed in Scheria, far from wand'ring men ;

The city fortified and houses built ;

Made temples to the Gods and lands assigned. 10

But when by fate to Hades he had gone,

Alcinous, by Gods instructed, reigned.

Blue-eyed Minerva to his house now came,

Of brave Ulysses planning the return.

Into the chamber, wrought with art, she went 15

Where slept a damsel, like the Goddesses

In countenance and form, ^ausicaa,

The daughter of the brave Alcinous.

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VI. 95

By her two maids, who from the Graces had

Their beauty, on each side the door-posts lay,

And brightly-shining portals shut them in.

She to the damsel's couch, like breath of air, 20

Came gliding in, and, standing o'er her head,

Addressed her, putting on herself the form

Of Dymas' daughter, famed for seamanship ;

Of like age to herself and much beloved.

Blue-eyed Minerva in her form thus spake :

* Why did thy mother bear thee indolent, 25 ' Nausicaa 1 thy shining garments lie

1 Uncared for j yet thy marriage is at hand,

' When thou must clothe thyself in vestments fair,

1 And give them too to those who lead thee forth.

1 Thus among men will good report be spread,

' And sire and honoured mother will rejoice. 30

' But let us go to wash when dawn appears ;

' And I, thy fellow-spinster, will attend,

' That thou mayst quickly preparation make ;

1 For 'tis not long that thou'lt a maiden be.

* E'en now the chiefs of the Phseacian men, 'Whence springs thine own race, woo thee as their

bride. 35

' Come, urge thy noble father, ere the dawn, ' Appears, the mules and chariot to prepare, . ' Which girdles, vests, and carpets may convey. ' 'Twill for thyself be better than to go 1 On foot ; for distant are the washing pits.' W

Blue-eyed Minerva spoke and went away [T' Olympus where, they say, the Gods' abode Ts ever safe, nor shaken by the winds,

96 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VI.

Nor wet with rain, nor does the snow approach.

A cloudless ether ever floats above,

And spotless splendour overspreads the sky. 45

There all day long the Gods rejoice, and there,

When she had told the damsel, Pallas went].

Forthwith Aurora, from her beauteous throne

Arising, woke the fair Nausicaa.

She wondered at the dream, and through the house

Hastened to tell it to her parents dear, 50

Father and mother : them she found within.

She by the hearth was sitting with her maids,

Reeling the purple yarn ; but him she met

Going abroad to council with the chiefs,

Where the illustrious Phseacians called. 55

Near her dear father standing thus she spoke :

' Dear father ! couldst thou not prepare for me

' The lofty well- wheeled car, that I may take

* The beauteous vestments to the stream to wash j

' They are not pure, and 'tis but right that thou, 60. ' In council with the chiefs, fresh clothes shouldst wear. And thou hast five dear sons within the house ;

* Two of them husbands, three young bachelors : When to the dance they go they always wish

1 For new-washed vests; and these are in my charge.' Thus said she to her sire ; she shamed to speak 65 )f marriage j but he understood it all, [And answered : * Neither mules I grudge thee, child ! ' Nor anything : go, and the servants shall

* The lofty well-wheeled chariot prepare,

1 Fitted with platform to convey the vests.' "0

He gave the servants order ; they obeyed.

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VI. 97

And out of doors the well-wheeled car prepared,

And brought the mules and bound them to the yoke.

The damsel from the chamber brought the vests,

And laid them shining on the well-wrought car. 75

Her mother in a basket pleasant food

Of various kinds bestowed, and poured out wine

In goat-skin bag : (the damsel climbed the car).

The liquid oil in golden flask she gave,

That with her maids she might herself anoint. 80

The whip and shining reins she took, and urged Q>

The mules to go ; their trampling sounded far. £ ^^

Steady they drew, and bore the vests and her ;

But not alone, for with her ran the maids.

When to the river's beauteous bank they came, 85

There were the washing pits in full supply,

And much fair water ever overflowed

To cleanse the vests, however soiled they were.

Then from the yoke they let the mules go free,

And drove them by the river's rippling stream

On the sweet grass to feed ; and from the car 90

They took the garments in their hands, and poured

Pure water on, and stamped in rivalry.

When they had washed them and all stains removed,

They spread them out in order on the shore,

W7here most the sea rolled pebbles on the beach. 05

Then, having bathed and rubbed the rich oil on,

They took their meal beside the river's bank,

And in the sun-beams left the vests to dry.

When maids and she with food were satisfied,

They played at ball, and threw their kerchiefs off. 100

White-armed Nausicaa began the game.

H

98 THE ODYSSEY.— BOOK VI.

As when the archeress piana goes

On Erymanthus or Taygetum,

Charmed with the chase of boars and rapid deer ;

Nymphs, sprung from aegis-bearing Jove, with her 105

Sport o'er the fields : Latona joys to see

How she excels them all in form and face,

Distinguished easily ; yet all are fair :

So the pure virgin shone among her maids.

But homeward when she was about to go, J 1 0

Yoking the mules and folding up the vests,

Blue-eyed Minerva then had other thoughts ;

That now Ulysses should from sleep awake,

And see the lovely maiden ; and tha^she

Should be his guide to the Phseacian town.

As to a maid the princess threw the ball H6

It missed the maid, and in a deep pool fell.

They loudly wailed. Divine Ulysses wol^g,

And sitting pondered in his mind and thought :

4 Ah me ! to what men's country am I come 1

' Are they unruly, savage, and unjust,

1 Or kind to strangers and of mind devout ? 1-0

6 The female voice of damsels round me comes

1 [Of nymphs who dwell upon the mountain-tops,

' By rivers' sources or in grassy meads].

' Am I near those who speak with human voice ? 1-5

1 But I will trial make myself and see.'

Thus speaking from the copse Ulysses came, And with strong hands a leafy bough he broke From the thick wood, his person to conceal. He went as goes a lion in his strength, 130

Bred on the mountains, spite of wind and rain ;

THE ODYSSEY.— BOOK VI. 90

His eyes are glaring ; and he goes among Cows, ewes, or deer, while hunger drives him on The thickly-peopled sheep-fold to attack. So 'mong the maidens, naked as he was, 135

Ulysses dared to go, for sore his need ; Dreadful he seemed to them, besmeared with brine. To the high banks confusedly they ran Alarmed ; the daughter of Alcinous Alone remained ; Minerva to her mind Gave strength, and terror from her limbs removed. 140 Checking herself from flight she fronted him : Ulysses doubted whether suppliant He should embrace the lovely damsel's knees, Or, at a distance, standing as he was, Entreat with honeyed words that she would show Where lay the city and would clothing give. This, as he meditated, seemed the best ; 145

To stand apart and pray with honeyed words^. Lest she be angry should he touch her knees. Forthwith he made this honeyed artful speech. 1 I supplicate thee, Queen ! if Goddess thou ' Or mortal art. If Goddess, and of those 150

1 Who in the wide sky dwell, thou art, I deem,

* Like to Diana, daughter of great Jove ;

1 Like her in stature, form and countenance. ' If thou of mortals art who dwell on earth,

* Thrice happy are thy mother and thy sire ;

' Thrice happy are thy brothers ; for their mind 155

* Is charmed with loveliness for thy dear sake, 1 When such a flowret in the dance they see.

1 But happiest is he above the rest

100 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK VI.

' Who loads with bridal gifts and takes thee home. ' Such mortal never have these eyes beheld, 160

' Woman or man : I wonder as I gaze.

* Yet once at Delos, by Apollo's shrine, 1 Such a young palm-tree springing-up I saw. ' Thither I went, and many followed me ' Along a road where griefs were doomed to come. 165 ' Still as I gazed I wondered in my mind

* For never from the earth did such tree spring. 1 Thus, lady ! thee I wond'ringly admire, 4 And fear exceedingly to touch thy knees : ' For dreadful sorrow has upon me come.

* I yestere'en, upon the twentieth day, 170

* Escaped the gloomy sea. The waves and storms

* Drove me so long from the Ogygian isle.

* And now the Deity has cast me here, ' That here too I may suffer ; for I think 1 He will not cease ; the Gods have much in store. ' But, Queen ! have pity ; for to thee the first, 178

* After my many sufferings, I come ; ' Nor know I who this town and land possess. 1 Show me the town, and deign some clothes to give, ' If some torn wrapper thou hast with thee here ; 1 So may the Gods grant all thy mind desires, 180

£v / Husband and home and harmony bestow ! ' For nothing better can there be than this,

* That man and wife should with harmonious thought

* Dwell in their home ; vexation to their foes, \Joy to their friends, and chiefly to themselves.'/ 185

White armed Nausicaa to him replied :

* Stranger ! thou seemest nor unwise nor mean

i

^

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VI. 101

' (Olympian Jove good fortune gives to men, 1 To good and bad, to each one as he wills :

* What he has giv'n to thee thou must endure), 190 1 Since at our town and land thou hast arrived,

* Nor garments shalt thou want, nor anything 1 Which a long-suff'ring suppliant should have.

* The town I'll show and tell the people's name.

* This town and country the Phseacians have, 195

* And 1 am child of brave Alcinous,

' On whom Phseacian pow'r and strength depend.'

She spake, and ordered thus her fair-haired maids : 1 Stay, maidens !( whither when a man ye see

* Thus fly ye 1 think ye he's an enemy 1 200 ' No man is thisAno living man could be,

1 Who to the land of the Phaeacians comes ' With war, for they are by the Gods beloved,

* And far apart, within a storm-tossed sea,

* We dwell, and others do not mix with us. 205

r Hither this wretched wand'ring man is come, O-^v^ ^"And we must tend him.I Strangers, beggars, all ^^ ' Are Jove's ; the gift is welcome though but smalh ' But, maidens ! give the stranger meat and drink, ) ' And bathe him where is shelter from the wind.' y^io

She spake : they standing each encouraged each, And took Ulysses under shelter, where Nausicaa, of brave Alcinous

The daughter, bade them ; placed a cloak and vest ; Gave in a golden flask the liquid oil, 215

And bade him in the river's stream to bathe. Then to the maidens thus Ulysses spake :

* Ye maidens ! stand apart that I myself

102 THE ODYSSEY. —BOOK VI.

' May from my shoulders wash the brine, and rub ' The oil, to which my skin is long unused. 220

' I could not in your presence bathe, ashamed ' Naked among you fair-haired maids to go.'

He spake : retiring they the damsel told. He in the river washed from off his skin The brine which to his back and shoulders clung, 225 And wiped the barren sea's foam from his head. When he had bathed, and rubbed himself with oil, And donned the garments which the virgin gave, Minerva, Jove-descended, made him seem Greater and more majestic ; down his head 230

Let the crisp hyacinthine hair descend. As gold a skilful man on silver spreads, (Whom Vulcan and Minerva taught the art Of varied kind) and beauteous works completes, So on his head and shoulders grace she poured. 235 On the sea-shore he sat apart, with grace And beauty bright ; the maid admiring gazed. Then to the fair-haired maidens thus she spake : ' Hear me, ye white-armed maidens ! while I speak. < Not 'gainst the will of all th' Olympian Gods 240

' To the divine Phseacians this man comes. ' He was at first unseemly in my sight, ' But now is like the Gods in heav'n who dwell. 1 Would such a husband were designed for me, ' That he would dwell here and be pleased to stay ! 245 1 But, maidens ! give the stranger food and drink.'

They heard, and with alacrity obeyed ; And to Ulysses food and drink supplied. Long-suffering Ulysses ate and drank

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VI. 103

Freely ; 'twas long since he had tasted food. 25°

White-armed Nausicaa had other thoughts : Folding the vests she placed them on the car, Yoked the swift mules, the chariot climbed herself; Summoned Ulysses, and addressed him thus : 1 Now, stranger ! rise and to the city go, 255

* That to my valiant father's house I may

1 Conduct thee : there, I tell thee, thou wilt see ' Of the Phseacians all the chiefest men.

* But specially do this — thou seemest wise —

1 While we are going through the fields and farms,

' So long, quick following the mules and car, 26°

' Go with the maids, and I will lead the way.

' When to the town we come — around it are

1 A lofty battlement and harbour fair

' On either side, and narrow the approach ;

1 For ships impelled by oars enclose the way,

* And for each man there is a mooring-place. 26> 1 The(Jorum, walled with quarried deep -dug stones,

* The temple fair of Neptune here surrounds ;

* And here they store their naval armaments,

* The ropes and sails ; and here they plane the oars.

* Phaeacians nor for bow nor quiver care ; 2'° ' But they delight in masts, and oars, and ships,

* And in them go across the white -waved sea. 1 I shun to give of them a bad report,

* Lest any one reproach me afterwards.

' There are among them men unscrupulous ;

* And of the baser sort some one might say : 275

* " What stranger large and handsome follows now 1 " Nausicaa 1 Where found she him % No doubt

104 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VI.

( «

He'll be her husband : she has pick'd him up, ' " A vagabond, from some outlandish ship ; 1 " As if, forsooth, there were not such men near ! 1 " Or some God, answ'ring her frequent pray'rs, 280 ' " Is come from heav'n to keep her all her days. ' " Tis better she should go herself and find '"A husband of some other race, since she ' " Despises the Phseacians of the land, ' " Many and good, who woo her for their bride." ' So will they say, and such their slander be j_ ' And any other maiden I should blame ' Who did such deeds, or who against the will ' Of father and of mother should consort ' With men before a public marriage came. ' Now, stranger ! heed me, that thou quickly mayst 290 ' Gain from my father convoy and return. 1 Minerva's shining grove of poplar trees ' Thou wilt discover near the road, wherein ' A fountain springs, and meadows lie around. 1 There, too, my father's grounds and garden are, ' Far from the city as a man can shout. ' There sit and wait a while till we shall go 295

* Into the city to my father's house. ' But when thou thinkest we've arrived at home, 1 Then enter the Phasacian town, and seek ' The house of my brave sire, Alcinous : ' 'Tis easy to be known, and e'en a child 300

' Would lead thee to it ; for in no respect ' Are the Phasacian houses built as that, ' The house of brave Alcinous. But when ' The house and court conceal thee, quickly go

THE ODYSSEY. —BOOK VI. 105

* Across the hall till thou my mother reach j 305 1 Upon the hearth, close by the fire, she sits,

' Reeling the purple yarn, a sight to see ! 1 Close to a column, and the maids behind : ' Against it is upreared my father's throne,

* Where, like a God, he sits and drinks his wine.

* Passing him by, upon my mother's knees 310

* Lay thou thine hands, that thy returning -day,

' Though far from home, thou mayst rejoicing see.

1 [If she is friendly to thee in her mind,

' Then there is hope that thou mayst see thy friends,

* Go to thy home and thy paternal land.]' 315

Thus speaking, with her shining whip she urged The mules, which quickly left the river's bank, And well they tramped, and well threw out their feet. She driving, that Ulysses and the maids On foot might follow, wisely used the whip. 320

The sun was setting ; to Minerva's grove They came, and there divine Ulysses sate. Then to the daughter of great Jove he prayed : 1 Unconquered child of a3gis-bearing Jove ! ' Hear me, hear now at least, though formerly 325 1 Thou didst not hear me in my great distress, ' Whom the famed shaker of the earth distressed.

* Grant me that I to the Phseacians

' Object of love and pity may have come !'

He spake in pray'r, and him Minerva heard, But did not face to face appear, because She feared her brother who was much enraged 330 Against Ulysses ere he reached his home.

106 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VII.

BOOK VII.

While thus long-suff'ring Ulysses prayed, The strong mules bore the damsel to the town. When to her father's famous house she came She stayed them at the porch. Around her stood . Her brothers, men like to th' immortal Gods, 5

Unyoked the mules, and brought the vestments in. She to her chamber went ; an ancient dame, Eurymedusa, an Aperian, Kindled a fire. Her once the well-oared ships Brought from Aperia, whom they chose a prize 10

For king Alcinous, because he ruled O'er the Phseacians, honoured as a God : She in the house Nausicaa had nursed. The fire she kindled and the supper served. Ulysses hasted to the town to go : Minerva round him pour'd, with loving care, 15

A mist, lest some Phseacian should meet And insolently ask him who he was. As he was entering the pleasant town, Minerva, blue-eyed Goddess, met him there, Like a young virgin who a pitcher bore, 20

And fronted him. Ulysses questioned her : ' Child ! couldst thou lead me to the house of one ' Alcinous, who o'er this people rules 1 ' For I, a suff'ring stranger, here am come 5 From a far distant land, and therefore know 25

' None of the men who own this town and land.' Minerva, blue-eyed Goddess, answered him :

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VII. 107

' Yes, reverend stranger ! I will show the house

* Thou askest for ; he near my father dwells.

* But go in silence, I will lead the way, 30 1 And look not at nor question any one ;

* For these men have for strangers no respect,

* Nor treat him kindly who has come from far. 1 They, trusting in their swiftly-sailing ships,

1 Cross the deep sea, for Neptune gives them this, 35 1 And Swift their ships are as a wing or thought.'

Pallas Minerva spake, and swiftly led The way, while in the Goddess' steps he went. The ship -renowned Phseacians saw him not Walking throughout the town. The Goddess dread, 40 Fair-haired Minerva, did not this permit. She kindly poured a mist divine around. Ulysses wondered at the ports and ships, The chieftains' council -courts, the lofty walls Fitted with buttresses, a sight to see ! 45

But to the king's famed palace when they came Blue -eyed Minerva thus began to say : 1 That, reverend stranger ! is the house for which

* Thou askest : princes feasting there thou 'It meet ;

1 But go thou in, and fear not in thy mind. 50

* A brave man ever is superior

1 In deeds, from wheresoever he may come.

1 First thou wilt find the mistress in the house ;

' Arete is her name ; from ancestor

1 The same as to Alcinous gave birth. 55

* First Neptune, shaker of the earth, begat

* Nausithous, whose mother, of her sex ' The fairest, Peribcea, youngest child

108 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK VII.

'Was of magnanimous Eurymedon,

' Who of the haughty giants once was king.

' He their proud race destroyed, and died himself. CO

' Neptune, with her as concubine, begat

* Nausithous, who the Phseacians ruled. 1 Nausithous begat Ehexenor and

' Alcinous. The first, who had no son,

1 Apollo of the silver bow struck down

' While yet a bridegroom, who one daughter left, 65

*,4rete, whom Alcinous espoused

1 AndTionoured as not any other wife

* On earth is honoured, many as there are,

* Who with their husbands occupy a home. 1 She in such honour heartily is held

1 By her dear children, and Alcinous, 70

1 And all the people, who, regarding her

' As though she were a Goddess, courteously

' Address her as she passes through the town.

' She lacks not wisdom, nor aught else that's good,

' And kindly wives with husbands reconciles.

1 If she is friendly to thee in her mind, 75

' Then there is hope that thou mayst see thy friends,

' Go to thine home and thy paternal land.'

Blue-eyed Minerva spake, and w?ent away Across the sea, and lovely Scheria left. To Marathon and Athens, with wide streets, 80

She came, and w7ent Erectheus' house within. But to the palace of Alcinous Ulysses came, and much his heart was moved. There paused he ere he to the threshold went ; A ray, as though it were of sun or moon,

i&

THE ODYSSF.Y. BOOK VII. 109

Was on the high house of Alcinous. 85

Two walls of brass extended here and there

From threshold to the inner room's recess,

And a bronze cornice was around : the doors

Of gold the well-compacted house enclosed.

Columns of silver stood on floor of brass ; 90

Silver the lintel and the ring of gold.

On each side dogs of gold and silver were,

Which Vulcan with his skilful art had forged

To guard the house of brave Alcinous,

[Which are immortal, never growing old].

Thrones here and there were fix'd around the walls 95

From threshold to recess, and vestments there,

Fine and well woven, women's works, were laid.

There the Phseacian princes used to sit,

Drinking and eating with a full supply.

Boys made of gold by well-built altars stood, 100

Upholding flaming torches in their hands,

Lighting the night to those who feasted there.

And fifty serving-women in the house ;

Some in the hand-mills grind the yellow corn,

Some weave the webs, and some the spindles turn, 105

Sitting like leaves of the tall poplar tree ;

And from the woven cloth moist oil drops down.

As the Phoeacians other men excel

Tn sailing o'er the sea, the women so

Excel in weaving webs : Minerva gives 110

Knowledge of beauteous works and skilful minds.

Outside the palace, near the portal, lies

A spacious orchard o'er four acres spread,

And on both sides of it a wall extends.

110 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VII.

Trees, lofty, flourishing, are growing there ;

The pears, pomegranates, and the apple-trees, H5

With shining fruit, sweet figs, and olives grow.

The fruit of these nor perishes nor fails,

Winter or summer, lasting through the year :

The ever-breathing Zephyr others brings,

And ripens them, f Near pear, the pear grows old ; 136

Near apple, apple ; near the grape, the grape \

Fig near the fig : the many-fruited ground

Is planted there ; part on a level plain

Is heated by the sun j they gather grapes

In this part, and in that the vintage crush.

There the green bunches shed their early bloom, 125

And others just begin to change their hue.

Well-ordered borders in the furthest plot,

Of varied growth, perpetually shine.

There are two fountains ; one its water spreads

O'er all the garden, and the other flows

Beneath the threshold to the lofty house, v 130

And thence the citizens the water drawr. J

Such were the Gods' gifts to Alcinous.

There paused divine Ulysses wond'ringly :

When in his mind he had admired it all,

He o'er the threshold quickly passed and went 135

The house within, and there the princes found

Of the Phseacians, pouring from their cups

Libations to clear-sighted Mercury,

Made last to him before they went to rest,

But through the hall divine Ulysses went,

With cloud around him w7hich Minerva poured, 140

Till to Arete and Alcinous

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VII. Ill

He came, and on Arete's knees he placed

His hands, and then the God-sent cloud dispersed.

They sate in silence when they saw the man,

And wondered as they gazed. Ulysses prayed 145

' Arete ! from divine Rhexenor sprung !

* Both to thy husband ^and thy knees I come, 1 And to those feasting here, a suff'ring man,

* May the Gods grant them happily to live,

* And to their children each transmit their wealth,

' And honour which to them the people give ! 150

* But grant me speedily a convoyhome,

* For from my friends alar 1 sutler woes.'

He spake, and took his seat upon the hearth Among the ashes, while all held their peace. At last the aged Echineus spake, 155

The oldest man of the Phseacians, Who was adorned with eloquence, and knew Many old deeds : he kindly them addressed : ' Alcinous ! it is not good nor right ' That thus a stranger should upon the hearth ICO

1 In ashes sit : thy friends their speech restrain 1 Awaiting thine : then raise the stranger up, ' And place him on a silver-studded throne.

* Command thy heralds that they mix fresh wine,

* That our libations we may make to Jove

' The thunderer, who sacred strangers guards ; 165

* And to the stranger let the house-keeper ' Give of such viands as there are, a feast.'

When holy King Alcinous heard this, He took the wise Ulysses by the hand, liaised from the hearth and on a shining throne

112 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VII.

Made him to sit, displacing his own son, 170

Who near him sate and whom he dearly loved,

The brave Laodomas. A maiden brought,

And from a beauteous golden ewer filled,

A bowl above a silver cauldron placed,

To wash, and spread a polished table near.

The venerable house-keeper brought food, 175

And divers cates, such as there were, heaped up.

Divine Ulysses ate and drank, and then

Alcinous addressed the herald thus :

c Pontonous ! a bowl of sweet wine mix

' For all within the house, that so to Jove 180

' The thunderer we may libations make,

' Who venerable suppliants protects.'

He spake : Pontonous the sweet wine mixed, And in the cups distributed to all. When they had made libation, and had drunk All their mind wished, Alcinous thus spoke : 185

1 Hear me, ye chiefs of the Pheeacians ! 1 While what my mind persuades me I shall say.

* Now having feasted go ye home to sleep, ' And in the morning we the senators

' Will summon, on the stranger to bestow

* Our hospitality, and to the Gods 190 VWill offer sacrifice, and then consult

J About a convoy, that the stranger may,

' From labour and amiction free, return

1 Rejoicing quickly to his native land,

' Under our convoy, though far off it be,

' Nor in the meantime suffer grief and woe 195

' Ere he reach home : when there, he will endure

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VII. 113

1 Whatever destiny and fates severe

1 Span with their thread when him his mother bare.

1 If he immortal does from heav'n descend,

1 Something beyond their wont the Gods devise ; 200

1 For always hitherto the Gods appear

■ Without disguise, when famous hecatombs

* We make, and sitting with us feast as we.

* If one a lonely wayfarer should come,

' They hide it not, for we are kin to them, 205

* As are the Cyclops' and fierce giant tribes.'

The wise Ulysses answered him and said :

* Alcinous ! let other thoughts be thine.

' I nor in form nor force am like the Gods ' Who dwell in heav'n, but am to mortal men. 210

' Whatever men most wretched ye have known, j ' To them in suff'ring I compare myself ; / j And I could tell of evils greater still H ' Which by the impulse of the Gods I bore. \J| * But leave me to my meal, however grieved ; 215

'* For nothing than a craving appetite <* Is more audacious ; it compels regard 1 From the vexed man with sorrow in his soul, 1 (As sorrow in my soul indeed I have) (* For it obliges me to eat and drink, 220

V' Makes me forget my suff'rings, bids me feast.

* But with the dawn appearing rise ye up ' That in my country miserable me, ' Who all these woes have suffered, ye may place. 1 I would that life might leave me when I've seen ' My lands, my servants and my high-roofed house.' 225

He spake : they all assented and decreed

114 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VII.

To send the guest, who well had spoken, home. When they had made libation, and had drank All that they wished, they homeward went to sleep. Divine Ulysses in the hall was left : 230

Arete and Alcinous sate near : The servants cleared the fragments of the feast. White-armed Arete then began a speech, For she the cloak, the tunic and the vests Had, when she saw them, recognised, which she Herself had with the female servants made. 235

Addressing him she spake these winged words : ' Stranger ! I first will question thee myself. 1 Who and whence art thou? who these garments gave? ' Said'st thou that thou hadst wandered o'er the sea ? ' The wise Ulysses answered her and said : 240

' 'Tis hard, 0 queen ! to tell my woes at length ; 6 So many are there which the Gods have caused. ' But what thou askest of me I will tell. J^K certain island, called Ogygia, 2v \ Lies in the distant sea : Calypso there, 245

r ' Of Atlas fair-haired crafty daughter, dwells \ 1 A dreadful Goddess ; no one of the Gods * Or mortal men with her holds intercourse. ' Me only wretched to her hearth the God ' Conveyed, when with his shining thunder-bolt ' Jove in the mid-sea struck and wrecked my ship. 250 ' There all my other brave companions died ; ' But seizing with my arms the vessel's keel 1 Nine days I drifted ; on the tenth black night ' The Gods impelled me on th' Ogygian isle, ' Where fair Calypso, dreadful Goddess, dwells,

THE ODYSSEY. BOOK VII. 115

' Who took and kindly treated me and fed,. 255

' And often said that she would render me

* Immortal, all my days from old age free ;

1 But never did my heart and mind persuade.

' For seven long^yearsj there immoveably

1 Remained, and ever moistened with my tears 2C0

' Th' ambrosial garments which Calypso gave.

* But when the eighth revolving year was come,

* She urged and bade me to go home, for Jove

* Had sent a message, or her mind was changed. 1 She sent me on a well-built raft, and gave

1 Food, wine, and clothed me with ambrosial vests, 265

* And made a fav'ring gentle^breeze to blow. 1 For seventeen days I sailed along the sea ;

* On the eighteenth appeared the shady hills

' Of this your land, whereat my heart rejoiced,

1 A luckless man ; for I was still to meet 270

1 With suff'rings which earth-shaking Neptune sent,

1 Who on me urged the winds, and stopped my course,

' Stirred the vast sea ; nor did the wave allow

1 Me wretched to be carried on the raft.

* Then the storm wrecked it ; but I swam across 275 1 The sea's deep gulf, until the wind and wave

? Bore me along and brought me to your land.

' The wave would then have forced me on the shore

' Emerging from the sea, and would have dashed

1 Upon great rocks, a joyless landing-place ;

' But I retreating swam until I reached 280

* The river j there the place appeared the best,

* Free from the rocks with shelter from the wind. 1 Reviving I escaped, and night came on.

116 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VII.

' I from the stream divine retreating lay

1 Among the shrubs ; upon me leaves I heaped, 2S5

1 And endless sleep the God upon me poured.

' There mid the leaves, afflicted in my heart,

* All night I slept till morning and mid-day.

* The sun declined and sweet sleep left me there.

1 Then on the shore I heard thy daughter's maids 290

* Disporting ; she herself among them was 1 Like to the Goddesses ; to her I prayed.

' Of sound discretion she had no defect : ' Thou never couldst have hoped that one so young ' Would act like her ; the young are seldom wise. ^-She gave me food enough, and sparkling wine ; 295 ' In the stream bathed me,' and these vests bestowed. 1 1, miserable man, thus tell the_truth^'. To him Alcinous replied and said :

* Stranger ! in this my daughter judged not well :

' She did not with her maidens to our house 300

' Bring thee, though her thou first didst supplicate.' The wise Ulysses answered him and said :

* Hero ! thy blameless daughter do not chide

1 For me ; she bade me follow with the maids :

' But timid and ashamed I would not go, 305

* Lest when thou saw'st me thou shouldst angry be ;

* We tribes of men on earth are prone to wrath.'

To him Alcinous replied and said :

* Stranger ! not such my heart as causelessly

1 Is angry : moderation is the best. 310

* O father Jove ! Minerva ! Phoebus ! would

* Such a man as thou art, thinking like myself, ' Might wed my child and be my son-in-law,'

THE ODYSSEY. BOOK VII. 117

* Here staying; house and wealth I would bestow

* If thou wouldst stay ; but no Phseacian will 315

* Keep thee against thy wish ; this Jove forbid ! 1 A convoy I to-morrow will appoint

' (That thou mayst know) ; but now, subdued by sleep,

1 Repose till then, and they shall sail a ship

1 O'er the calm sea, that to thy native land

1 And home, and where thou wiliest, thou mayst go,

* Though it more distant than Eubcea be, 320 ' Most distant, as our countrymen report

1 Who saw it, when they Rhadamanthus took

* To visit Tityos, the son of earth ;

' And thither went they j and without fatigue 325

* On the same day performed their voyage home.

1 Thou'lt see thyself how much my ships and men 1 Excel, who with their oar-blades turn the sea.'

Patient Ulysses at his words rejoiced, And with a pray'r addressed them thus and said: 330 1 0 father Jove ! grant that Alcinous

* All that he says may do. His glory great

* On earth would be, and I should reach my home.'

Such words they thus to one another spake. Arete bade the white-armed maidens place 335

A bed beneath the porch, and purple quilts To lay thereon, and carpets o'er them spread, And coverlids of wool above them all. They, bearing torches in their hands, came forth. When with alacrity they 'd spread the couch, 340

Ulysses they invited with these words : 1 Rise, stranger ! and repose : thy bed 's prepared.'

They spake : it pleased him much to seek repose.

118 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VIII.

Then the long -suffering Ulysses slept

On a wrought couch beneath the sounding porch. 345

Alcinous reclined in a recess,

And by his side the queen his couch adorned.

#

BOOK VIII.

When early rosy -fingered morn appeared,

Up from his couch Alcinous arose ;

Up rose Ulysses, noble warrior.

The king Alcinous then led the way

To the Phseacian forum, near the ships. 5

When they arrived they sate in company

On polished stones. Then through the city went

Pallas Minerva, likening her form

To th' herald of the wise Alcinous,

Of brave Ulysses planning the return.

And, standing by each man, addressed them thus : 10

' Princes and chiefs of the Phseacians !

' To the assembly come, that you may hear

' News of the stranger who has lately come

' Unto the house of wise Alcinous,

1 A wand'rer o'er the sea, a God in form.' r*

She by her words the mind of each aroused^ * 15 And soon the forum and the seats were filled With men. They wondered when they saw the son Of wise Laertes ; for Minerva shed Upon his head and shoulders grace divine ;

y

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VIII. 119

Made him more tall and portly to behold, 2o

That so to the Phseacians he might seem

Both noble and majestic, and excel

In contests when Ulysses they should prove.

When in assembly they collected were,

Alcinous harangued them thus, and said : 25

1 Ye chiefs and princes of Phseacia ! hear,

1 While I shall tell you what my mind commands.

* This stranger, who he is I know not, came

* A wand'rer to my house ; and he may be

* Either of eastern or of western men.

1 Convoy he asks, and prays that it be sure. 30

1 A convoy let us hasten as of yore ;

* For no one else who to my house has come ' Has stayed lamenting for a convoy long.

1 Come, let us launch a ship that sails the first 35

\ * Upon the sea, and from the people choose

* Youths fifty-two, before approved the best.

* Ye on the benches having bound the oars

* Debark, and quickly going to my house

* Prepare a feast : I will provide for all.

* Such charge I give the youths ; but ye the rest, 40

* The sceptred princes, to my house repair,

* That there the stranger we may entertain.

* Let none refuse ; and call that bard divine, ' Demodocus, on whom the God bestows

* A song to charm us when inclined to sing.' 45

He spake and led the way : the sceptred chiefs Followed ; a herald went to fetch the bard. The youths selected, two and fifty, went To the sea-shore as he commanded them.

120 THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VIII.

But when they to the ship and sea had come, 50

Into the black wave's depth they launched the ship.

In the black ship they placed the masts and sails ;

Within the leathern rowlocks fixed the oars

In order due ; the white sails spread aloft,

And, in deep water anchoring the ship, 55

Went to the palace of Alcinous.

The porches, courts, and halls were filled with men

[Collected many there both young and old.]

For them Alcinous twelve sheep bade slay ;

Eight white-tusked swine ; two trailing-footed beeves.

They skinned and dressed them, and prepared the feast. 60

The herald near them brought the much-loved bard,

Whom the muse loved, and gave him good and ill ;

Deprived of eyes but gave him pleasant song.

Pontonous a silver-studded throne 65

Placed for him 'mid the guests, and rested it

Upon a column ; hung his tuneful harp

Above his head, and taught his hands to reach.

By him a dish and table fair he placed,

And cup of wine to drink when he inclined. 70

Upon the food prepared their hands they threw.

When they with food and drink were satisfied,

The muse aroused the bard the glorious deeds

Of men to sing ; a story whose renown

E'en then to heaven had reached ; the strife between

Ulysses and Achilles, Peleus' son ; 75

How once they quarrelled at a genial feast

In the God's honour, with outrageous words,

And Agamemnon, king of men, rejoiced

When quarrelled thus the bravest of the Greeks.

f.

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VIII. 121

For this Apollo by an oracle

In sacred Pytho told him, when he crossed 80

The marble threshold to consult the God.

Then the beginning of calamity

To Greeks and Trojans, so Jove willed, rolled on.

This sang the famous bard : Ulysses then

With his strong hands a purple kerchief drew

Down o'er his head, and veiled his comely face, 85

Shamed the Pheeacians should his moist eyes see.

Then when the bard divine his song had ceased,

Wiping his tears away Ulysses took

The kerchief from his head, and lifting up

A goblet made libation to the Gods.

But when the bard again began to sing, 90

And the Phseacian princes urged him on,

Delighted with the strain, Ulysses drew

Again the kerchief o'er his head and groaned. •

He wept unseen by the Phaeacians :

Alcinous alone perceived and marked,

As he beside him sate, his heavy groan ; 95

And the Phaeacians, fond of oars, addressed :

1 Princes and chiefs of the Phaeacians ! hear.

1 We with the equally-divided feast,

'And with the harp, companion of the feast,

* Are satisfied. Now let us go and try 100 1 Athletic contests, that the stranger may ' Tell to his friends, when home he goes, how far

All other men in boxing we excel,

* In wrestling, leaping, and in speed of foot.'

He spake, and, while they followed, led the way. A herald from the peg the loud-voiced harp 105

122 THE ODYSSEY.— BOOK VJII.

Took down, and by the hand Demodocas

Led from the hall, the way the other chief

Phseacians had gone to see the games.

They to the forum went ; unnumbered crowds

Attended ; many valiant youths stood up : HO

Uprose Acronius, Ocyalus,

Elatreus, Nautes, and Anchialus,

Prymneus, Eretmus, Ponteus, Proreus,

Thoon, and Anabesimus ; and next

Amphialus, the son of Polyneus,

The son of Tecton, and Euryalus 115

Vying with murd'rous Mars ; Eubolides,

Who was the best in figure and in face

Of all Phasacians next Laodomas.

Uprose Alcinous' three noble sons,

Laodomas, and, rival to the Gods,

Clytoneiis and Halius ; these tried

The foot-race first, and from the starting-place 120

The course was marked, and all of them at once

Flew swiftly, raising on the plain a dust.

Clytoneiis was far the best to run :

Long as a furrow 's marked for mules to plough

In unturned ground, so far he ran the first

Up to the crowd, while they were left behind. 125

Then others tried the wrestling match severe :

Here all the best Euryalus outshone.

Amphialus in leaping was the first ;

Elatreus with the discus ; with the fist,

Son of Alcinous, Laodomas. 13°

When they were all delighted with the games,

Laodomas addressed them with these words :

THE ODYSSEY. BOOK VIII. 123

i Come, friends ! and let us now the stranger ask

* If he is skilled in many games. In form

' He's not deficient, nor in thighs and knees, 135

* In hands above, and sturdy neck and strength ;

1 Nor lacks he youth, though worn by many woes ;

' For than the sea there's nothing worse, I ween,

1 To break a man, however strong he be.'

To him Euryalus replied and said : 140

1 Well, hast thou spoken, 0 Laodomas !

[' Now with a challenge go and make thy speech.']

Alcinous' brave son, when this he heard, Stood in the midst and to Ulysses said : 1 Come, reverend stranger ! thou too try the games, 145 ■ If thou art skilled, as likely seems, therein. « « kj. 1 No greater glory to a man can be ^=>4^

' Than what with hands and feet he can achieve. 1 Come try, and from thy mind thy cares disperse ; 1 Not distant is the time of thy return ; 150

1 Launched is the ship and ready are the crew.'

The wise Ulysses answered him and said : 1 Laodomas ! why jesting urge ye this 1

* More in my mind are sorrows than are games,

* Who in time past have toiled and suffered much, 155 1 And now, in your assembly sitting, ask

* Return ; to king and people suppliant.' Euryalus thus scoffingly replied :

* Stranger ! I do not think thee like to one

' Well-skilled in all the many games of men, ICO

' But to a man who frequently in ships

1 Is chief of sailors who go trafficking,

1 Mindful of freight and watching for returns

124 THE ODYSSEY. BOOK VIII.

* And stealthy gains ; not to an athlete like.'

Ulysses, sternly eyeing him, replied : 165

' Thou say'st not well ; thou seemest arrogant. 1 So the Gods give not graceful gifts to all,

* As beauty, wisdom, eloquent address.

* One man is mean in figure, but his form

* God crowns with eloquence, and other men 170 ' Delighted gaze while fluently he speaks

1 With sweet persuasion, and amid them shines,

* Who in the city view him as a God. y 'jf' Again another to immortal Gods

^y ' Is like in form, but no grace crowns his words. 175 y ^So though thy form is fair, nor God himself r Could mend it, thou art empty in thy mind. *"Thou hast aroused my soul within my breast, ' Thus rudely speaking ; not in games am I ' A novice, as thou say'st^ Among the first 180

' Was I, when I could trust my youth and hands. ' Now I'm oppressed by misery and woe ; 1 Have suffered much, and had experience ' Of wars with men, and hardships in the waves. 1 Yet even so, though much I have endured, ' I'll make a trial in the games : thy speech

* Has Btungjny soul, thy words have urged me on. '185 Cloaked as he was he rushed and seized a disc*.

More large and heavy by no small excess

Than what Pheeacians flung among themselves.

Whirling he sent it from his stalwart arm ;

Loud boomed the stone, and cowered to the ground* 90

The long-oared ship-renowned Phaeacians

Beneath the cast : past all the bounds it flew

THE ODYSSEY. — BOOK VIII. 125

Quick speeding from his hand ; Minerva marked The limit, like a man in form, and said :

* A blind man, stranger ! could thy mark discern 195 1 By feeling ; 'tis not with the crowd confused

1 But far the first ; take courage in the game ;

* This no Phseacian will or reach or pass.'

Divine Ulysses at her words rejoiced, When in the games a kindly friend he saw, 200

And the Phseacians in light strain addressed :

* Come up to that, young men ! and I will throw

* Another such as it, or further still.

* And in the other games let any one,

1 Whose heart and mind persuade him, come and try, 205 1 (For much ye have provoked me) or with list

* Or wrestling, running ; nothing reck I which :

* Any Phseacian but Laodomas ;

* He is my host : who with his friend would strive 1

* The man is foolish and of no account

1 Who, in a strange land, with his host contends 210

* In games, and perils all his own success.

* None of the rest refuse I or disdain,

1 Willing to know and try them, face to face,

1 No mean competitor in manly games.

1 The polished bow to handle wnll T know, 215

1 And would be first to shoot at and to hit

* A man among a crowd of enemies,

1 Though many of my friends stood by and shot. ' Me Philoctetes only with the bow

* Could vanquish, when at Troy we Grecians shot. 220 ' But o'er the rest I claim pre-eminence,

' As many men