Ulysses now left the haven, and took the rough track up through the
wooded country and over the crest of the mountain till he reached
the place where Minerva had said that he would find the swineherd,
who was the most thrifty servant he had. He found him sitting in front
of his hut, which was by the yards that he had built on a site which
could be seen from far. He had made them spacious and fair to see,
with a free ran for the pigs all round them; he had built them during
his master's absence, of stones which he had gathered out of the ground,
without saying anything to Penelope or Laertes, and he had fenced
them on top with thorn bushes. Outside the yard he had run a strong
fence of oaken posts, split, and set pretty close together, while
inside lie had built twelve sties near one another for the sows to
lie in. There were fifty pigs wallowing in each sty, all of them breeding
sows; but the boars slept outside and were much fewer in number, for
the suitors kept on eating them, and die swineherd had to send them
the best he had continually. There were three hundred and sixty boar
pigs, and the herdsman's four hounds, which were as fierce as wolves,
slept always with them. The swineherd was at that moment cutting out
a pair of sandals from a good stout ox hide. Three of his men were
out herding the pigs in one place or another, and he had sent the
fourth to town with a boar that he had been forced to send the suitors
that they might sacrifice it and have their fill of meat.
When the hounds saw Ulysses they set up a furious barking and flew
at him, but Ulysses was cunning enough to sit down and loose his hold
of the stick that he had in his hand: still, he would have been torn
by them in his own homestead had not the swineherd dropped his ox
hide, rushed full speed through the gate of the yard and driven the
dogs off by shouting and throwing stones at them. Then he said to
Ulysses, "Old man, the dogs were likely to have made short work of
you, and then you would have got me into trouble. The gods have given
me quite enough worries without that, for I have lost the best of
masters, and am in continual grief on his account. I have to attend
swine for other people to eat, while he, if he yet lives to see the
light of day, is starving in some distant land. But come inside, and
when you have had your fill of bread and wine, tell me where you come
from, and all about your misfortunes."
On this the swineherd led the way into the hut and bade him sit down.
He strewed a good thick bed of rushes upon the floor, and on the top
of this he threw the shaggy chamois skin- a great thick one- on which
he used to sleep by night. Ulysses was pleased at being made thus
welcome, and said "May Jove, sir, and the rest of the gods grant you
your heart's desire in return for the kind way in which you have received
me."
To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaeus, "Stranger, though a still
poorer man should come here, it would not be right for me to insult
him, for all strangers and beggars are from Jove. You must take what
you can get and be thankful, for servants live in fear when they have
young lords for their masters; and this is my misfortune now, for
heaven has hindered the return of him who would have been always good
to me and given me something of my own- a house, a piece of land,
a good looking wife, and all else that a liberal master allows a servant
who has worked hard for him, and whose labour the gods have prospered
as they have mine in the situation which I hold. If my master had
grown old here he would have done great things by me, but he is gone,
and I wish that Helen's whole race were utterly destroyed, for she
has been the death of many a good man. It was this matter that took
my master to Ilius, the land of noble steeds, to fight the Trojans
in the cause of kin Agamemnon."
As he spoke he bound his girdle round him and went to the sties where
the young sucking pigs were penned. He picked out two which he brought
back with him and sacrificed. He singed them, cut them up, and spitted
on them; when the meat was cooked he brought it all in and set it
before Ulysses, hot and still on the spit, whereon Ulysses sprinkled
it over with white barley meal. The swineherd then mixed wine in a
bowl of ivy-wood, and taking a seat opposite Ulysses told him to begin.
"Fall to, stranger," said he, "on a dish of servant's pork. The fat
pigs have to go to the suitors, who eat them up without shame or scruple;
but the blessed gods love not such shameful doings, and respect those
who do what is lawful and right. Even the fierce free-booters who
go raiding on other people's land, and Jove gives them their spoil-
even they, when they have filled their ships and got home again live
conscience-stricken, and look fearfully for judgement; but some god
seems to have told these people that Ulysses is dead and gone; they
will not, therefore, go back to their own homes and make their offers
of marriage in the usual way, but waste his estate by force, without
fear or stint. Not a day or night comes out of heaven, but they sacrifice
not one victim nor two only, and they take the run of his wine, for
he was exceedingly rich. No other great man either in Ithaca or on
the mainland is as rich as he was; he had as much as twenty men put
together. I will tell you what he had. There are twelve herds of cattle
upon the mainland, and as many flocks of sheep, there are also twelve
droves of pigs, while his own men and hired strangers feed him twelve
widely spreading herds of goats. Here in Ithaca he runs even large
flocks of goats on the far end of the island, and they are in the
charge of excellent goatherds. Each one of these sends the suitors
the best goat in the flock every day. As for myself, I am in charge
of the pigs that you see here, and I have to keep picking out the
best I have and sending it to them."
This was his story, but Ulysses went on eating and drinking ravenously
without a word, brooding his revenge. When he had eaten enough and
was satisfied, the swineherd took the bowl from which he usually drank,
filled it with wine, and gave it to Ulysses, who was pleased, and
said as he took it in his hands, "My friend, who was this master of
yours that bought you and paid for you, so rich and so powerful as
you tell me? You say he perished in the cause of King Agamemnon; tell
me who he was, in case I may have met with such a person. Jove and
the other gods know, but I may be able to give you news of him, for
I have travelled much."
Eumaeus answered, "Old man, no traveller who comes here with news
will get Ulysses' wife and son to believe his story. Nevertheless,
tramps in want of a lodging keep coming with their mouths full of
lies, and not a word of truth; every one who finds his way to Ithaca
goes to my mistress and tells her falsehoods, whereon she takes them
in, makes much of them, and asks them all manner of questions, crying
all the time as women will when they have lost their husbands. And
you too, old man, for a shirt and a cloak would doubtless make up
a very pretty story. But the wolves and birds of prey have long since
torn Ulysses to pieces, or the fishes of the sea have eaten him, and
his bones are lying buried deep in sand upon some foreign shore; he
is dead and gone, and a bad business it is for all his friends- for
me especially; go where I may I shall never find so good a master,
not even if I were to go home to my mother and father where I was
bred and born. I do not so much care, however, about my parents now,
though I should dearly like to see them again in my own country; it
is the loss of Ulysses that grieves me most; I cannot speak of him
without reverence though he is here no longer, for he was very fond
of me, and took such care of me that whereever he may be I shall always
honour his memory."
"My friend," replied Ulysses, "you are very positive, and very hard
of belief about your master's coming home again, nevertheless I will
not merely say, but will swear, that he is coming. Do not give me
anything for my news till he has actually come, you may then give
me a shirt and cloak of good wear if you will. I am in great want,
but I will not take anything at all till then, for I hate a man, even
as I hate hell fire, who lets his poverty tempt him into lying. I
swear by king Jove, by the rites of hospitality, and by that hearth
of Ulysses to which I have now come, that all will surely happen as
I have said it will. Ulysses will return in this self same year; with
the end of this moon and the beginning of the next he will be here
to do vengeance on all those who are ill treating his wife and son."
To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaeus, "Old man, you will neither
get paid for bringing good news, nor will Ulysses ever come home;
drink you wine in peace, and let us talk about something else. Do
not keep on reminding me of all this; it always pains me when any
one speaks about my honoured master. As for your oath we will let
it alone, but I only wish he may come, as do Penelope, his old father
Laertes, and his son Telemachus. I am terribly unhappy too about this
same boy of his; he was running up fast into manhood, and bade fare
to be no worse man, face and figure, than his father, but some one,
either god or man, has been unsettling his mind, so he has gone off
to Pylos to try and get news of his father, and the suitors are lying
in wait for him as he is coming home, in the hope of leaving the house
of Arceisius without a name in Ithaca. But let us say no more about
him, and leave him to be taken, or else to escape if the son of Saturn
holds his hand over him to protect him. And now, old man, tell me
your own story; tell me also, for I want to know, who you are and
where you come from. Tell me of your town and parents, what manner
of ship you came in, how crew brought you to Ithaca, and from what
country they professed to come- for you cannot have come by land."
And Ulysses answered, "I will tell you all about it. If there were
meat and wine enough, and we could stay here in the hut with nothing
to do but to eat and drink while the others go to their work, I could
easily talk on for a whole twelve months without ever finishing the
story of the sorrows with which it has pleased heaven to visit me.
"I am by birth a Cretan; my father was a well-to-do man, who had many
sons born in marriage, whereas I was the son of a slave whom he had
purchased for a concubine; nevertheless, my father Castor son of Hylax
(whose lineage I claim, and who was held in the highest honour among
the Cretans for his wealth, prosperity, and the valour of his sons)
put me on the same level with my brothers who had been born in wedlock.
When, however, death took him to the house of Hades, his sons divided
his estate and cast lots for their shares, but to me they gave a holding
and little else; nevertheless, my valour enabled me to marry into
a rich family, for I was not given to bragging, or shirking on the
field of battle. It is all over now; still, if you look at the straw
you can see what the ear was, for I have had trouble enough and to
spare. Mars and Minerva made me doughty in war; when I had picked
my men to surprise the enemy with an ambuscade I never gave death
so much as a thought, but was the first to leap forward and spear
all whom I could overtake. Such was I in battle, but I did not care
about farm work, nor the frugal home life of those who would bring
up children. My delight was in ships, fighting, javelins, and arrows-
things that most men shudder to think of; but one man likes one thing
and another another, and this was what I was most naturally inclined
to. Before the Achaeans went to Troy, nine times was I in command
of men and ships on foreign service, and I amassed much wealth. I
had my pick of the spoil in the first instance, and much more was
allotted to me later on.
"My house grew apace and I became a great man among the Cretans, but
when Jove counselled that terrible expedition, in which so many perished,
the people required me and Idomeneus to lead their ships to Troy,
and there was no way out of it, for they insisted on our doing so.
There we fought for nine whole years, but in the tenth we sacked the
city of Priam and sailed home again as heaven dispersed us. Then it
was that Jove devised evil against me. I spent but one month happily
with my children, wife, and property, and then I conceived the idea
of making a descent on Egypt, so I fitted out a fine fleet and manned
it. I had nine ships, and the people flocked to fill them. For six
days I and my men made feast, and I found them many victims both for
sacrifice to the gods and for themselves, but on the seventh day we
went on board and set sail from Crete with a fair North wind behind
us though we were going down a river. Nothing went ill with any of
our ships, and we had no sickness on board, but sat where we were
and let the ships go as the wind and steersmen took them. On the fifth
day we reached the river Aegyptus; there I stationed my ships in the
river, bidding my men stay by them and keep guard over them while
I sent out scouts to reconnoitre from every point of vantage.
"But the men disobeyed my orders, took to their own devices, and ravaged
the land of the Egyptians, killing the men, and taking their wives
and children captive. The alarm was soon carried to the city, and
when they heard the war cry, the people came out at daybreak till
the plain was filled with horsemen and foot soldiers and with the
gleam of armour. Then Jove spread panic among my men, and they would
no longer face the enemy, for they found themselves surrounded. The
Egyptians killed many of us, and took the rest alive to do forced
labour for them. Jove, however, put it in my mind to do thus- and
I wish I had died then and there in Egypt instead, for there was much
sorrow in store for me- I took off my helmet and shield and dropped
my spear from my hand; then I went straight up to the king's chariot,
clasped his knees and kissed them, whereon he spared my life, bade
me get into his chariot, and took me weeping to his own home. Many
made at me with their ashen spears and tried to kil me in their fury,
but the king protected me, for he feared the wrath of Jove the protector
of strangers, who punishes those who do evil.
"I stayed there for seven years and got together much money among
the Egyptians, for they all gave me something; but when it was now
going on for eight years there came a certain Phoenician, a cunning
rascal, who had already committed all sorts of villainy, and this
man talked me over into going with him to Phoenicia, where his house
and his possessions lay. I stayed there for a whole twelve months,
but at the end of that time when months and days had gone by till
the same season had come round again, he set me on board a ship bound
for Libya, on a pretence that I was to take a cargo along with him
to that place, but really that he might sell me as a slave and take
the money I fetched. I suspected his intention, but went on board
with him, for I could not help it.
"The ship ran before a fresh North wind till we had reached the sea
that lies between Crete and Libya; there, however, Jove counselled
their destruction, for as soon as we were well out from Crete and
could see nothing but sea and sky, he raised a black cloud over our
ship and the sea grew dark beneath it. Then Jove let fly with his
thunderbolts and the ship went round and round and was filled with
fire and brimstone as the lightning struck it. The men fell all into
the sea; they were carried about in the water round the ship looking
like so many sea-gulls, but the god presently deprived them of all
chance of getting home again. I was all dismayed; Jove, however, sent
the ship's mast within my reach, which saved my life, for I clung
to it, and drifted before the fury of the gale. Nine days did I drift
but in the darkness of the tenth night a great wave bore me on to
the Thesprotian coast. There Pheidon king of the Thesprotians entertained
me hospitably without charging me anything at all for his son found
me when I was nearly dead with cold and fatigue, whereon he raised
me by the hand, took me to his father's house and gave me clothes
to wear.
"There it was that I heard news of Ulysses, for the king told me he
had entertained him, and shown him much hospitality while he was on
his homeward journey. He showed me also the treasure of gold, and
wrought iron that Ulysses had got together. There was enough to keep
his family for ten generations, so much had he left in the house of
king Pheidon. But the king said Ulysses had gone to Dodona that he
might learn Jove's mind from the god's high oak tree, and know whether
after so long an absence he should return to Ithaca openly, or in
secret. Moreover the king swore in my presence, making drink-offerings
in his own house as he did so, that the ship was by the water side,
and the crew found, that should take him to his own country. He sent
me off however before Ulysses returned, for there happened to be a
Thesprotian ship sailing for the wheat-growing island of Dulichium,
and he told those in charge of her to be sure and take me safely to
King Acastus.
"These men hatched a plot against me that would have reduced me to
the very extreme of misery, for when the ship had got some way out
from land they resolved on selling me as a slave. They stripped me
of the shirt and cloak that I was wearing, and gave me instead the
tattered old clouts in which you now see me; then, towards nightfall,
they reached the tilled lands of Ithaca, and there they bound me with
a strong rope fast in the ship, while they went on shore to get supper
by the sea side. But the gods soon undid my bonds for me, and having
drawn my rags over my head I slid down the rudder into the sea, where
I struck out and swam till I was well clear of them, and came ashore
near a thick wood in which I lay concealed. They were very angry at
my having escaped and went searching about for me, till at last they
thought it was no further use and went back to their ship. The gods,
having hidden me thus easily, then took me to a good man's door- for
it seems that I am not to die yet awhile."
To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaeus, "Poor unhappy stranger,
I have found the story of your misfortunes extremely interesting,
but that part about Ulysses is not right; and you will never get me
to believe it. Why should a man like you go about telling lies in
this way? I know all about the return of my master. The gods one and
all of them detest him, or they would have taken him before Troy,
or let him die with friends around him when the days of his fighting
were done; for then the Achaeans would have built a mound over his
ashes and his son would have been heir to his renown, but now the
storm winds have spirited him away we know not whither.
"As for me I live out of the way here with the pigs, and never go
to the town unless when Penelope sends for me on the arrival of some
news about Ulysses. Then they all sit round and ask questions, both
those who grieve over the king's absence, and those who rejoice at
it because they can eat up his property without paying for it. For
my own part I have never cared about asking anyone else since the
time when I was taken in by an Aetolian, who had killed a man and
come a long way till at last he reached my station, and I was very
kind to him. He said he had seen Ulysses with Idomeneus among the
Cretans, refitting his ships which had been damaged in a gale. He
said Ulysses would return in the following summer or autumn with his
men, and that he would bring back much wealth. And now you, you unfortunate
old man, since fate has brought you to my door, do not try to flatter
me in this way with vain hopes. It is not for any such reason that
I shall treat you kindly, but only out of respect for Jove the god
of hospitality, as fearing him and pitying you."
Ulysses answered, "I see that you are of an unbelieving mind; I have
given you my oath, and yet you will not credit me; let us then make
a bargain, and call all the gods in heaven to witness it. If your
master comes home, give me a cloak and shirt of good wear, and send
me to Dulichium where I want to go; but if he does not come as I say
he will, set your men on to me, and tell them to throw me from yonder
precepice, as a warning to tramps not to go about the country telling
lies."
"And a pretty figure I should cut then," replied Eumaeus, both now
and hereafter, if I were to kill you after receiving you into my hut
and showing you hospitality. I should have to say my prayers in good
earnest if I did; but it is just supper time and I hope my men will
come in directly, that we may cook something savoury for supper."
Thus did they converse, and presently the swineherds came up with
the pigs, which were then shut up for the night in their sties, and
a tremendous squealing they made as they were being driven into them.
But Eumaeus called to his men and said, "Bring in the best pig you
have, that I may sacrifice for this stranger, and we will take toll
of him ourselves. We have had trouble enough this long time feeding
pigs, while others reap the fruit of our labour."
On this he began chopping firewood, while the others brought in a
fine fat five year old boar pig, and set it at the altar. Eumaeus
did not forget the gods, for he was a man of good principles, so the
first thing he did was to cut bristles from the pig's face and throw
them into the fire, praying to all the gods as he did so that Ulysses
might return home again. Then he clubbed the pig with a billet of
oak which he had kept back when he was chopping the firewood, and
stunned it, while the others slaughtered and singed it. Then they
cut it up, and Eumaeus began by putting raw pieces from each joint
on to some of the fat; these he sprinkled with barley meal, and laid
upon the embers; they cut the rest of the meat up small, put the pieces
upon the spits and roasted them till they were done; when they had
taken them off the spits they threw them on to the dresser in a heap.
The swineherd, who was a most equitable man, then stood up to give
every one his share. He made seven portions; one of these he set apart
for Mercury the son of Maia and the nymphs, praying to them as he
did so; the others he dealt out to the men man by man. He gave Ulysses
some slices cut lengthways down the loin as a mark of especial honour,
and Ulysses was much pleased. "I hope, Eumaeus," said he, "that Jove
will be as well disposed towards you as I am, for the respect you
are showing to an outcast like myself."
To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaeus, "Eat, my good fellow, and
enjoy your supper, such as it is. God grants this, and withholds that,
just as he thinks right, for he can do whatever he chooses."
As he spoke he cut off the first piece and offered it as a burnt sacrifice
to the immortal gods; then he made them a drink-offering, put the
cup in the hands of Ulysses, and sat down to his own portion. Mesaulius
brought them their bread; the swineherd had bought this man on his
own account from among the Taphians during his master's absence, and
had paid for him with his own money without saying anything either
to his mistress or Laertes. They then laid their hands upon the good
things that were before them, and when they had had enough to eat
and drink, Mesaulius took away what was left of the bread, and they
all went to bed after having made a hearty supper.
Now the night came on stormy and very dark, for there was no moon.
It poured without ceasing, and the wind blew strong from the West,
which is a wet quarter, so Ulysses thought he would see whether Eumaeus,
in the excellent care he took of him, would take off his own cloak
and give it him, or make one of his men give him one. "Listen to me,"
said he, "Eumaeus and the rest of you; when I have said a prayer I
will tell you something. It is the wine that makes me talk in this
way; wine will make even a wise man fall to singing; it will make
him chuckle and dance and say many a word that he had better leave
unspoken; still, as I have begun, I will go on. Would that I were
still young and strong as when we got up an ambuscade before Troy.
Menelaus and Ulysses were the leaders, but I was in command also,
for the other two would have it so. When we had come up to the wall
of the city we crouched down beneath our armour and lay there under
cover of the reeds and thick brush-wood that grew about the swamp.
It came on to freeze with a North wind blowing; the snow fell small
and fine like hoar frost, and our shields were coated thick with rime.
The others had all got cloaks and shirts, and slept comfortably enough
with their shields about their shoulders, but I had carelessly left
my cloak behind me, not thinking that I should be too cold, and had
gone off in nothing but my shirt and shield. When the night was two-thirds
through and the stars had shifted their their places, I nudged Ulysses
who was close to me with my elbow, and he at once gave me his ear.
"'Ulysses,' said I, 'this cold will be the death of me, for I have
no cloak; some god fooled me into setting off with nothing on but
my shirt, and I do not know what to do.'
"Ulysses, who was as crafty as he was valiant, hit upon the following
plan:
"'Keep still,' said he in a low voice, 'or the others will hear you.'
Then he raised his head on his elbow.
"'My friends,' said he, 'I have had a dream from heaven in my sleep.
We are a long way from the ships; I wish some one would go down and
tell Agamemnon to send us up more men at once.'
"On this Thoas son of Andraemon threw off his cloak and set out running
to the ships, whereon I took the cloak and lay in it comfortably enough
till morning. Would that I were still young and strong as I was in
those days, for then some one of you swineherds would give me a cloak
both out of good will and for the respect due to a brave soldier;
but now people look down upon me because my clothes are shabby."
And Eumaeus answered, "Old man, you have told us an excellent story,
and have said nothing so far but what is quite satisfactory; for the
present, therefore, you shall want neither clothing nor anything else
that a stranger in distress may reasonably expect, but to-morrow morning
you have to shake your own old rags about your body again, for we
have not many spare cloaks nor shirts up here, but every man has only
one. When Ulysses' son comes home again he will give you both cloak
and shirt, and send you wherever you may want to go."
With this he got up and made a bed for Ulysses by throwing some goatskins
and sheepskins on the ground in front of the fire. Here Ulysses lay
down, and Eumaeus covered him over with a great heavy cloak that he
kept for a change in case of extraordinarily bad weather.
Thus did Ulysses sleep, and the young men slept beside him. But the
swineherd did not like sleeping away from his pigs, so he got ready
to go and Ulysses was glad to see that he looked after his property
during his master's absence. First he slung his sword over his brawny
shoulders and put on a thick cloak to keep out the wind. He also took
the skin of a large and well fed goat, and a javelin in case of attack
from men or dogs. Thus equipped he went to his rest where the pigs
were camping under an overhanging rock that gave them shelter from
the North wind.
Krystal Rap with Speaker Louis S. Luzzo, Sr. ©™ is a Christos Guardian Alliance Information Portal. Food for the Mind, Body and Soul. The beginning of a fascinating journey to discover your true Human Origins, your Human Spirit, new Revelations and Truths about your past and of the coming New Age. 🙏
Friday, January 20, 2012
Iliad, BOOK XIX
Now when Dawn in robe of saffron was hasting from the streams of
Oceanus, to bring light to mortals and immortals, Thetis reached the
ships with the armour that the god had given her. She found her son
fallen about the body of Patroclus and weeping bitterly. Many also
of his followers were weeping round him, but when the goddess came
among them she clasped his hand in her own, saying, "My son, grieve
as we may we must let this man lie, for it is by heaven's will that
he has fallen; now, therefore, accept from Vulcan this rich and goodly
armour, which no man has ever yet borne upon his shoulders."
As she spoke she set the armour before Achilles, and it rang out bravely
as she did so. The Myrmidons were struck with awe, and none dared
look full at it, for they were afraid; but Achilles was roused to
still greater fury, and his eyes gleamed with a fierce light, for
he was glad when he handled the splendid present which the god had
made him. Then, as soon as he had satisfied himself with looking at
it, he said to his mother, "Mother, the god has given me armour, meet
handiwork for an immortal and such as no living could have fashioned;
I will now arm, but I much fear that flies will settle upon the son
of Menoetius and breed worms about his wounds, so that his body, now
he is dead, will be disfigured and the flesh will rot."
Silver-footed Thetis answered, "My son, be not disquieted about this
matter. I will find means to protect him from the swarms of noisome
flies that prey on the bodies of men who have been killed in battle.
He may lie for a whole year, and his flesh shall still be as sound
as ever, or even sounder. Call, therefore, the Achaean heroes in assembly;
unsay your anger against Agamemnon; arm at once, and fight with might
and main."
As she spoke she put strength and courage into his heart, and she
then dropped ambrosia and red nectar into the wounds of Patroclus,
that his body might suffer no change.
Then Achilles went out upon the seashore, and with a loud cry called
on the Achaean heroes. On this even those who as yet had stayed always
at the ships, the pilots and helmsmen, and even the stewards who were
about the ships and served out rations, all came to the place of assembly
because Achilles had shown himself after having held aloof so long
from fighting. Two sons of Mars, Ulysses and the son of Tydeus, came
limping, for their wounds still pained them; nevertheless they came,
and took their seats in the front row of the assembly. Last of all
came Agamemnon, king of men, he too wounded, for Coon son of Antenor
had struck him with a spear in battle.
When the Achaeans were got together Achilles rose and said, "Son of
Atreus, surely it would have been better alike for both you and me,
when we two were in such high anger about Briseis, surely it would
have been better, had Diana's arrow slain her at the ships on the
day when I took her after having sacked Lyrnessus. For so, many an
Achaean the less would have bitten dust before the foe in the days
of my anger. It has been well for Hector and the Trojans, but the
Achaeans will long indeed remember our quarrel. Now, however, let
it be, for it is over. If we have been angry, necessity has schooled
our anger. I put it from me: I dare not nurse it for ever; therefore,
bid the Achaeans arm forthwith that I may go out against the Trojans,
and learn whether they will be in a mind to sleep by the ships or
no. Glad, I ween, will he be to rest his knees who may fly my spear
when I wield it."
Thus did he speak, and the Achaeans rejoiced in that he had put away
his anger.
Then Agamemnon spoke, rising in his place, and not going into the
middle of the assembly. "Danaan heroes," said he, "servants of Mars,
it is well to listen when a man stands up to speak, and it is not
seemly to interrupt him, or it will go hard even with a practised
speaker. Who can either hear or speak in an uproar? Even the finest
orator will be disconcerted by it. I will expound to the son of Peleus,
and do you other Achaeans heed me and mark me well. Often have the
Achaeans spoken to me of this matter and upbraided me, but it was
not I that did it: Jove, and Fate, and Erinys that walks in darkness
struck me mad when we were assembled on the day that I took from Achilles
the meed that had been awarded to him. What could I do? All things
are in the hand of heaven, and Folly, eldest of Jove's daughters,
shuts men's eyes to their destruction. She walks delicately, not on
the solid earth, but hovers over the heads of men to make them stumble
or to ensnare them.
"Time was when she fooled Jove himself, who they say is greatest whether
of gods or men; for Juno, woman though she was, beguiled him on the
day when Alcmena was to bring forth mighty Hercules in the fair city
of Thebes. He told it out among the gods saying, 'Hear me all gods
and goddesses, that I may speak even as I am minded; this day shall
an Ilithuia, helper of women who are in labour, bring a man child
into the world who shall be lord over all that dwell about him who
are of my blood and lineage.' Then said Juno all crafty and full of
guile, 'You will play false, and will not hold to your word. Swear
me, O Olympian, swear me a great oath, that he who shall this day
fall between the feet of a woman, shall be lord over all that dwell
about him who are of your blood and lineage.'
"Thus she spoke, and Jove suspected her not, but swore the great oath,
to his much ruing thereafter. For Juno darted down from the high summit
of Olympus, and went in haste to Achaean Argos where she knew that
the noble wife of Sthenelus son of Perseus then was. She being with
child and in her seventh month, Juno brought the child to birth though
there was a month still wanting, but she stayed the offspring of Alcmena,
and kept back the Ilithuiae. Then she went to tell Jove the son of
Saturn, and said, 'Father Jove, lord of the lightning- I have a word
for your ear. There is a fine child born this day, Eurystheus, son
to Sthenelus the son of Perseus; he is of your lineage; it is well,
therefore, that he should reign over the Argives.'
"On this Jove was stung to the very quick, and in his rage he caught
Folly by the hair, and swore a great oath that never should she again
invade starry heaven and Olympus, for she was the bane of all. Then
he whirled her round with a twist of his hand, and flung her down
from heaven so that she fell on to the fields of mortal men; and he
was ever angry with her when he saw his son groaning under the cruel
labours that Eurystheus laid upon him. Even so did I grieve when mighty
Hector was killing the Argives at their ships, and all the time I
kept thinking of Folly who had so baned me. I was blind, and Jove
robbed me of my reason; I will now make atonement, and will add much
treasure by way of amends. Go, therefore, into battle, you and your
people with you. I will give you all that Ulysses offered you yesterday
in your tents: or if it so please you, wait, though you would fain
fight at once, and my squires shall bring the gifts from my ship,
that you may see whether what I give you is enough."
And Achilles answered, "Son of Atreus, king of men Agamemnon, you
can give such gifts as you think proper, or you can withhold them:
it is in your own hands. Let us now set battle in array; it is not
well to tarry talking about trifles, for there is a deed which is
as yet to do. Achilles shall again be seen fighting among the foremost,
and laying low the ranks of the Trojans: bear this in mind each one
of you when he is fighting."
Then Ulysses said, "Achilles, godlike and brave, send not the Achaeans
thus against Ilius to fight the Trojans fasting, for the battle will
be no brief one, when it is once begun, and heaven has filled both
sides with fury; bid them first take food both bread and wine by the
ships, for in this there is strength and stay. No man can do battle
the livelong day to the going down of the sun if he is without food;
however much he may want to fight his strength will fail him before
he knows it; hunger and thirst will find him out, and his limbs will
grow weary under him. But a man can fight all day if he is full fed
with meat and wine; his heart beats high, and his strength will stay
till he has routed all his foes; therefore, send the people away and
bid them prepare their meal; King Agamemnon will bring out the gifts
in presence of the assembly, that all may see them and you may be
satisfied. Moreover let him swear an oath before the Argives that
he has never gone up into the couch of Briseis, nor been with her
after the manner of men and women; and do you, too, show yourself
of a gracious mind; let Agamemnon entertain you in his tents with
a feast of reconciliation, that so you may have had your dues in full.
As for you, son of Atreus, treat people more righteously in future;
it is no disgrace even to a king that he should make amends if he
was wrong in the first instance."
And King Agamemnon answered, "Son of Laertes, your words please me
well, for throughout you have spoken wisely. I will swear as you would
have me do; I do so of my own free will, neither shall I take the
name of heaven in vain. Let, then, Achilles wait, though he would
fain fight at once, and do you others wait also, till the gifts come
from my tent and we ratify the oath with sacrifice. Thus, then, do
I charge you: take some noble young Achaeans with you, and bring from
my tents the gifts that I promised yesterday to Achilles, and bring
the women also; furthermore let Talthybius find me a boar from those
that are with the host, and make it ready for sacrifice to Jove and
to the sun."
Then said Achilles, "Son of Atreus, king of men Agamemnon, see to
these matters at some other season, when there is breathing time and
when I am calmer. Would you have men eat while the bodies of those
whom Hector son of Priam slew are still lying mangled upon the plain?
Let the sons of the Achaeans, say I, fight fasting and without food,
till we have avenged them; afterwards at the going down of the sun
let them eat their fill. As for me, Patroclus is lying dead in my
tent, all hacked and hewn, with his feet to the door, and his comrades
are mourning round him. Therefore I can take thought of nothing save
only slaughter and blood and the rattle in the throat of the dying."
Ulysses answered, "Achilles, son of Peleus, mightiest of all the Achaeans,
in battle you are better than I, and that more than a little, but
in counsel I am much before you, for I am older and of greater knowledge.
Therefore be patient under my words. Fighting is a thing of which
men soon surfeit, and when Jove, who is wars steward, weighs the upshot,
it may well prove that the straw which our sickles have reaped is
far heavier than the grain. It may not be that the Achaeans should
mourn the dead with their bellies; day by day men fall thick and threefold
continually; when should we have respite from our sorrow? Let us mourn
our dead for a day and bury them out of sight and mind, but let those
of us who are left eat and drink that we may arm and fight our foes
more fiercely. In that hour let no man hold back, waiting for a second
summons; such summons shall bode ill for him who is found lagging
behind at our ships; let us rather sally as one man and loose the
fury of war upon the Trojans."
When he had thus spoken he took with him the sons of Nestor, with
Meges son of Phyleus, Thoas, Meriones, Lycomedes son of Creontes,
and Melanippus, and went to the tent of Agamemnon son of Atreus. The
word was not sooner said than the deed was done: they brought out
the seven tripods which Agamemnon had promised, with the twenty metal
cauldrons and the twelve horses; they also brought the women skilled
in useful arts, seven in number, with Briseis, which made eight. Ulysses
weighed out the ten talents of gold and then led the way back, while
the young Achaeans brought the rest of the gifts, and laid them in
the middle of the assembly.
Agamemnon then rose, and Talthybius whose voice was like that of a
god came to him with the boar. The son of Atreus drew the knife which
he wore by the scabbard of his mighty sword, and began by cutting
off some bristles from the boar, lifting up his hands in prayer as
he did so. The other Achaeans sat where they were all silent and orderly
to hear the king, and Agamemnon looked into the vault of heaven and
prayed saying, "I call Jove the first and mightiest of all gods to
witness, I call also Earth and Sun and the Erinyes who dwell below
and take vengeance on him who shall swear falsely, that I have laid
no hand upon the girl Briseis, neither to take her to my bed nor otherwise,
but that she has remained in my tents inviolate. If I swear falsely
may heaven visit me with all the penalties which it metes out to those
who perjure themselves."
He cut the boar's throat as he spoke, whereon Talthybius whirled it
round his head, and flung it into the wide sea to feed the fishes.
Then Achilles also rose and said to the Argives, "Father Jove, of
a truth you blind men's eyes and bane them. The son of Atreus had
not else stirred me to so fierce an anger, nor so stubbornly taken
Briseis from me against my will. Surely Jove must have counselled
the destruction of many an Argive. Go, now, and take your food that
we may begin fighting."
On this he broke up the assembly, and every man went back to his own
ship. The Myrmidons attended to the presents and took them away to
the ship of Achilles. They placed them in his tents, while the stable-men
drove the horses in among the others.
Briseis, fair as Venus, when she saw the mangled body of Patroclus,
flung herself upon it and cried aloud, tearing her breast, her neck,
and her lovely face with both her hands. Beautiful as a goddess she
wept and said, "Patroclus, dearest friend, when I went hence I left
you living; I return, O prince, to find you dead; thus do fresh sorrows
multiply upon me one after the other. I saw him to whom my father
and mother married me, cut down before our city, and my three own
dear brothers perished with him on the self-same day; but you, Patroclus,
even when Achilles slew my husband and sacked the city of noble Mynes,
told me that I was not to weep, for you said you would make Achilles
marry me, and take me back with him to Phthia, we should have a wedding
feast among the Myrmidons. You were always kind to me and I shall
never cease to grieve for you."
She wept as she spoke, and the women joined in her lament-making as
though their tears were for Patroclus, but in truth each was weeping
for her own sorrows. The elders of the Achaeans gathered round Achilles
and prayed him to take food, but he groaned and would not do so. "I
pray you," said he, "if any comrade will hear me, bid me neither eat
nor drink, for I am in great heaviness, and will stay fasting even
to the going down of the sun."
On this he sent the other princes away, save only the two sons of
Atreus and Ulysses, Nestor, Idomeneus, and the knight Phoenix, who
stayed behind and tried to comfort him in the bitterness of his sorrow:
but he would not be comforted till he should have flung himself into
the jaws of battle, and he fetched sigh on sigh, thinking ever of
Patroclus. Then he said-
"Hapless and dearest comrade, you it was who would get a good dinner
ready for me at once and without delay when the Achaeans were hasting
to fight the Trojans; now, therefore, though I have meat and drink
in my tents, yet will I fast for sorrow. Grief greater than this I
could not know, not even though I were to hear of the death of my
father, who is now in Phthia weeping for the loss of me his son, who
am here fighting the Trojans in a strange land for the accursed sake
of Helen, nor yet though I should hear that my son is no more- he
who is being brought up in Scyros- if indeed Neoptolemus is still
living. Till now I made sure that I alone was to fall here at Troy
away from Argos, while you were to return to Phthia, bring back my
son with you in your own ship, and show him all my property, my bondsmen,
and the greatness of my house- for Peleus must surely be either dead,
or what little life remains to him is oppressed alike with the infirmities
of age and ever present fear lest he should hear the sad tidings of
my death."
He wept as he spoke, and the elders sighed in concert as each thought
on what he had left at home behind him. The son of Saturn looked down
with pity upon them, and said presently to Minerva, "My child, you
have quite deserted your hero; is he then gone so clean out of your
recollection? There he sits by the ships all desolate for the loss
of his dear comrade, and though the others are gone to their dinner
he will neither eat nor drink. Go then and drop nectar and ambrosia
into his breast, that he may know no hunger."
With these words he urged Minerva, who was already of the same mind.
She darted down from heaven into the air like some falcon sailing
on his broad wings and screaming. Meanwhile the Achaeans were arming
throughout the host, and when Minerva had dropped nectar and ambrosia
into Achilles so that no cruel hunger should cause his limbs to fail
him, she went back to the house of her mighty father. Thick as the
chill snow-flakes shed from the hand of Jove and borne on the keen
blasts of the north wind, even so thick did the gleaming helmets,
the bossed shields, the strongly plated breastplates, and the ashen
spears stream from the ships. The sheen pierced the sky, the whole
land was radiant with their flashing armour, and the sound of the
tramp of their treading rose from under their feet. In the midst of
them all Achilles put on his armour; he gnashed his teeth, his eyes
gleamed like fire, for his grief was greater than he could bear. Thus,
then, full of fury against the Trojans, did he don the gift of the
god, the armour that Vulcan had made him.
First he put on the goodly greaves fitted with ancle-clasps, and next
he did on the breastplate about his chest. He slung the silver-studded
sword of bronze about his shoulders, and then took up the shield so
great and strong that shone afar with a splendour as of the moon.
As the light seen by sailors from out at sea, when men have lit a
fire in their homestead high up among the mountains, but the sailors
are carried out to sea by wind and storm far from the haven where
they would be- even so did the gleam of Achilles' wondrous shield
strike up into the heavens. He lifted the redoubtable helmet, and
set it upon his head, from whence it shone like a star, and the golden
plumes which Vulcan had set thick about the ridge of the helmet, waved
all around it. Then Achilles made trial of himself in his armour to
see whether it fitted him, so that his limbs could play freely under
it, and it seemed to buoy him up as though it had been wings.
He also drew his father's spear out of the spear-stand, a spear so
great and heavy and strong that none of the Achaeans save only Achilles
had strength to wield it; this was the spear of Pelian ash from the
topmost ridges of Mt. Pelion, which Chiron had once given to Peleus,
fraught with the death of heroes. Automedon and Alcimus busied themselves
with the harnessing of his horses; they made the bands fast about
them, and put the bit in their mouths, drawing the reins back towards
the chariot. Automedon, whip in hand, sprang up behind the horses,
and after him Achilles mounted in full armour, resplendent as the
sun-god Hyperion. Then with a loud voice he chided with his father's
horses saying, "Xanthus and Balius, famed offspring of Podarge- this
time when we have done fighting be sure and bring your driver safely
back to the host of the Achaeans, and do not leave him dead on the
plain as you did Patroclus."
Then fleet Xanthus answered under the yoke- for white-armed Juno had
endowed him with human speech- and he bowed his head till his mane
touched the ground as it hung down from under the yoke-band. "Dread
Achilles," said he, "we will indeed save you now, but the day of your
death is near, and the blame will not be ours, for it will be heaven
and stern fate that will destroy you. Neither was it through any sloth
or slackness on our part that the Trojans stripped Patroclus of his
armour; it was the mighty god whom lovely Leto bore that slew him
as he fought among the foremost, and vouchsafed a triumph to Hector.
We two can fly as swiftly as Zephyrus who they say is fleetest of
all winds; nevertheless it is your doom to fall by the hand of a man
and of a god."
When he had thus said the Erinyes stayed his speech, and Achilles
answered him in great sadness, saying, "Why, O Xanthus, do you thus
foretell my death? You need not do so, for I well know that I am to
fall here, far from my dear father and mother; none the more, however,
shall I stay my hand till I have given the Trojans their fill of fighting."
So saying, with a loud cry he drove his horses to the front.
Iliad, BOOK XVIII
Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. Meanwhile the
fleet runner Antilochus, who had been sent as messenger, reached Achilles,
and found him sitting by his tall ships and boding that which was
indeed too surely true. "Alas," said he to himself in the heaviness
of his heart, "why are the Achaeans again scouring the plain and flocking
towards the ships? Heaven grant the gods be not now bringing that
sorrow upon me of which my mother Thetis spoke, saying that while
I was yet alive the bravest of the Myrmidons should fall before the
Trojans, and see the light of the sun no longer. I fear the brave
son of Menoetius has fallen through his own daring and yet I bade
him return to the ships as soon as he had driven back those that were
bringing fire against them, and not join battle with Hector."
As he was thus pondering, the son of Nestor came up to him and told
his sad tale, weeping bitterly the while. "Alas," he cried, "son of
noble Peleus, I bring you bad tidings, would indeed that they were
untrue. Patroclus has fallen, and a fight is raging about his naked
body- for Hector holds his armour."
A dark cloud of grief fell upon Achilles as he listened. He filled
both hands with dust from off the ground, and poured it over his head,
disfiguring his comely face, and letting the refuse settle over his
shirt so fair and new. He flung himself down all huge and hugely at
full length, and tore his hair with his hands. The bondswomen whom
Achilles and Patroclus had taken captive screamed aloud for grief,
beating their breasts, and with their limbs failing them for sorrow.
Antilochus bent over him the while, weeping and holding both his hands
as he lay groaning for he feared that he might plunge a knife into
his own throat. Then Achilles gave a loud cry and his mother heard
him as she was sitting in the depths of the sea by the old man her
father, whereon she screamed, and all the goddesses daughters of Nereus
that dwelt at the bottom of the sea, came gathering round her. There
were Glauce, Thalia and Cymodoce, Nesaia, Speo, thoe and dark-eyed
Halie, Cymothoe, Actaea and Limnorea, Melite, Iaera, Amphithoe and
Agave, Doto and Proto, Pherusa and Dynamene, Dexamene, Amphinome and
Callianeira, Doris, Panope, and the famous sea-nymph Galatea, Nemertes,
Apseudes and Callianassa. There were also Clymene, Ianeira and Ianassa,
Maera, Oreithuia and Amatheia of the lovely locks, with other Nereids
who dwell in the depths of the sea. The crystal cave was filled with
their multitude and they all beat their breasts while Thetis led them
in their lament.
"Listen," she cried, "sisters, daughters of Nereus, that you may hear
the burden of my sorrows. Alas, woe is me, woe in that I have borne
the most glorious of offspring. I bore him fair and strong, hero among
heroes, and he shot up as a sapling; I tended him as a plant in a
goodly garden, and sent him with his ships to Ilius to fight the Trojans,
but never shall I welcome him back to the house of Peleus. So long
as he lives to look upon the light of the sun he is in heaviness,
and though I go to him I cannot help him. Nevertheless I will go,
that I may see my dear son and learn what sorrow has befallen him
though he is still holding aloof from battle."
She left the cave as she spoke, while the others followed weeping
after, and the waves opened a path before them. When they reached
the rich plain of Troy, they came up out of the sea in a long line
on to the sands, at the place where the ships of the Myrmidons were
drawn up in close order round the tents of Achilles. His mother went
up to him as he lay groaning; she laid her hand upon his head and
spoke piteously, saying, "My son, why are you thus weeping? What sorrow
has now befallen you? Tell me; hide it not from me. Surely Jove has
granted you the prayer you made him, when you lifted up your hands
and besought him that the Achaeans might all of them be pent up at
their ships, and rue it bitterly in that you were no longer with them."
Achilles groaned and answered, "Mother, Olympian Jove has indeed vouchsafed
me the fulfilment of my prayer, but what boots it to me, seeing that
my dear comrade Patroclus has fallen- he whom I valued more than all
others, and loved as dearly as my own life? I have lost him; aye,
and Hector when he had killed him stripped the wondrous armour, so
glorious to behold, which the gods gave to Peleus when they laid you
in the couch of a mortal man. Would that you were still dwelling among
the immortal sea-nymphs, and that Peleus had taken to himself some
mortal bride. For now you shall have grief infinite by reason of the
death of that son whom you can never welcome home- nay, I will not
live nor go about among mankind unless Hector fall by my spear, and
thus pay me for having slain Patroclus son of Menoetius."
Thetis wept and answered, "Then, my son, is your end near at hand-
for your own death awaits you full soon after that of Hector."
Then said Achilles in his great grief, "I would die here and now,
in that I could not save my comrade. He has fallen far from home,
and in his hour of need my hand was not there to help him. What is
there for me? Return to my own land I shall not, and I have brought
no saving neither to Patroclus nor to my other comrades of whom so
many have been slain by mighty Hector; I stay here by my ships a bootless
burden upon the earth, I, who in fight have no peer among the Achaeans,
though in council there are better than I. Therefore, perish strife
both from among gods and men, and anger, wherein even a righteous
man will harden his heart- which rises up in the soul of a man like
smoke, and the taste thereof is sweeter than drops of honey. Even
so has Agamemnon angered me. And yet- so be it, for it is over; I
will force my soul into subjection as I needs must; I will go; I will
pursue Hector who has slain him whom I loved so dearly, and will then
abide my doom when it may please Jove and the other gods to send it.
Even Hercules, the best beloved of Jove- even he could not escape
the hand of death, but fate and Juno's fierce anger laid him low,
as I too shall lie when I am dead if a like doom awaits me. Till then
I will win fame, and will bid Trojan and Dardanian women wring tears
from their tender cheeks with both their hands in the grievousness
of their great sorrow; thus shall they know that he who has held aloof
so long will hold aloof no longer. Hold me not back, therefore, in
the love you bear me, for you shall not move me."
Then silver-footed Thetis answered, "My son, what you have said is
true. It is well to save your comrades from destruction, but your
armour is in the hands of the Trojans; Hector bears it in triumph
upon his own shoulders. Full well I know that his vaunt shall not
be lasting, for his end is close at hand; go not, however, into the
press of battle till you see me return hither; to-morrow at break
of day I shall be here, and will bring you goodly armour from King
Vulcan."
On this she left her brave son, and as she turned away she said to
the sea-nymphs her sisters, "Dive into the bosom of the sea and go
to the house of the old sea-god my father. Tell him everything; as
for me, I will go to the cunning workman Vulcan on high Olympus, and
ask him to provide my son with a suit of splendid armour."
When she had so said, they dived forthwith beneath the waves, while
silver-footed Thetis went her way that she might bring the armour
for her son.
Thus, then, did her feet bear the goddess to Olympus, and meanwhile
the Achaeans were flying with loud cries before murderous Hector till
they reached the ships and the Hellespont, and they could not draw
the body of Mars's servant Patroclus out of reach of the weapons that
were showered upon him, for Hector son of Priam with his host and
horsemen had again caught up to him like the flame of a fiery furnace;
thrice did brave Hector seize him by the feet, striving with might
and main to draw him away and calling loudly on the Trojans, and thrice
did the two Ajaxes, clothed in valour as with a garment, beat him
from off the body; but all undaunted he would now charge into the
thick of the fight, and now again he would stand still and cry aloud,
but he would give no ground. As upland shepherds that cannot chase
some famished lion from a carcase, even so could not the two Ajaxes
scare Hector son of Priam from the body of Patroclus.
And now he would even have dragged it off and have won imperishable
glory, had not Iris fleet as the wind, winged her way as messenger
from Olympus to the son of Peleus and bidden him arm. She came secretly
without the knowledge of Jove and of the other gods, for Juno sent
her, and when she had got close to him she said, "Up, son of Peleus,
mightiest of all mankind; rescue Patroclus about whom this fearful
fight is now raging by the ships. Men are killing one another, the
Danaans in defence of the dead body, while the Trojans are trying
to hale it away, and take it to wind Ilius: Hector is the most furious
of them all; he is for cutting the head from the body and fixing it
on the stakes of the wall. Up, then, and bide here no longer; shrink
from the thought that Patroclus may become meat for the dogs of Troy.
Shame on you, should his body suffer any kind of outrage."
And Achilles said, "Iris, which of the gods was it that sent you to
me?"
Iris answered, "It was Juno the royal spouse of Jove, but the son
of Saturn does not know of my coming, nor yet does any other of the
immortals who dwell on the snowy summits of Olympus."
Then fleet Achilles answered her saying, "How can I go up into the
battle? They have my armour. My mother forbade me to arm till I should
see her come, for she promised to bring me goodly armour from Vulcan;
I know no man whose arms I can put on, save only the shield of Ajax
son of Telamon, and he surely must be fighting in the front rank and
wielding his spear about the body of dead Patroclus."
Iris said, 'We know that your armour has been taken, but go as you
are; go to the deep trench and show yourelf before the Trojans, that
they may fear you and cease fighting. Thus will the fainting sons
of the Achaeans gain some brief breathing-time, which in battle may
hardly be."
Iris left him when she had so spoken. But Achilles dear to Jove arose,
and Minerva flung her tasselled aegis round his strong shoulders;
she crowned his head with a halo of golden cloud from which she kindled
a glow of gleaming fire. As the smoke that goes up into heaven from
some city that is being beleaguered on an island far out at sea- all
day long do men sally from the city and fight their hardest, and at
the going down of the sun the line of beacon-fires blazes forth, flaring
high for those that dwell near them to behold, if so be that they
may come with their ships and succour them- even so did the light
flare from the head of Achilles, as he stood by the trench, going
beyond the wall- but he aid not join the Achaeans for he heeded the
charge which his mother laid upon him.
There did he stand and shout aloud. Minerva also raised her voice
from afar, and spread terror unspeakable among the Trojans. Ringing
as the note of a trumpet that sounds alarm then the foe is at the
gates of a city, even so brazen was the voice of the son of Aeacus,
and when the Trojans heard its clarion tones they were dismayed; the
horses turned back with their chariots for they boded mischief, and
their drivers were awe-struck by the steady flame which the grey-eyed
goddess had kindled above the head of the great son of Peleus.
Thrice did Achilles raise his loud cry as he stood by the trench,
and thrice were the Trojans and their brave allies thrown into confusion;
whereon twelve of their noblest champions fell beneath the wheels
of their chariots and perished by their own spears. The Achaeans to
their great joy then drew Patroclus out of reach of the weapons, and
laid him on a litter: his comrades stood mourning round him, and among
them fleet Achilles who wept bitterly as he saw his true comrade lying
dead upon his bier. He had sent him out with horses and chariots into
battle, but his return he was not to welcome.
Then Juno sent the busy sun, loth though he was, into the waters of
Oceanus; so he set, and the Achaeans had rest from the tug and turmoil
of war.
Now the Trojans when they had come out of the fight, unyoked their
horses and gathered in assembly before preparing their supper. They
kept their feet, nor would any dare to sit down, for fear had fallen
upon them all because Achilles had shown himself after having held
aloof so long from battle. Polydamas son of Panthous was first to
speak, a man of judgement, who alone among them could look both before
and after. He was comrade to Hector, and they had been born upon the
same night; with all sincerity and goodwill, therefore, he addressed
them thus:-
"Look to it well, my friends; I would urge you to go back now to your
city and not wait here by the ships till morning, for we are far from
our walls. So long as this man was at enmity with Agamemnon the Achaeans
were easier to deal with, and I would have gladly camped by the ships
in the hope of taking them; but now I go in great fear of the fleet
son of Peleus; he is so daring that he will never bide here on the
plain whereon the Trojans and Achaeans fight with equal valour, but
he will try to storm our city and carry off our women. Do then as
I say, and let us retreat. For this is what will happen. The darkness
of night will for a time stay the son of Peleus, but if he find us
here in the morning when he sallies forth in full armour, we shall
have knowledge of him in good earnest. Glad indeed will he be who
can escape and get back to Ilius, and many a Trojan will become meat
for dogs and vultures may I never live to hear it. If we do as I say,
little though we may like it, we shall have strength in counsel during
the night, and the great gates with the doors that close them will
protect the city. At dawn we can arm and take our stand on the walls;
he will then rue it if he sallies from the ships to fight us. He will
go back when he has given his horses their fill of being driven all
whithers under our walls, and will be in no mind to try and force
his way into the city. Neither will he ever sack it, dogs shall devour
him ere he do so."
Hector looked fiercely at him and answered, "Polydamas, your words
are not to my liking in that you bid us go back and be pent within
the city. Have you not had enough of being cooped up behind walls?
In the old-days the city of Priam was famous the whole world over
for its wealth of gold and bronze, but our treasures are wasted out
of our houses, and much goods have been sold away to Phrygia and fair
Meonia, for the hand of Jove has been laid heavily upon us. Now, therefore,
that the son of scheming Saturn has vouchsafed me to win glory here
and to hem the Achaeans in at their ships, prate no more in this fool's
wise among the people. You will have no man with you; it shall not
be; do all of you as I now say;- take your suppers in your companies
throughout the host, and keep your watches and be wakeful every man
of you. If any Trojan is uneasy about his possessions, let him gather
them and give them out among the people. Better let these, rather
than the Achaeans, have them. At daybreak we will arm and fight about
the ships; granted that Achilles has again come forward to defend
them, let it be as he will, but it shall go hard with him. I shall
not shun him, but will fight him, to fall or conquer. The god of war
deals out like measure to all, and the slayer may yet be slain."
Thus spoke Hector; and the Trojans, fools that they were, shouted
in applause, for Pallas Minerva had robbed them of their understanding.
They gave ear to Hector with his evil counsel, but the wise words
of Polydamas no man would heed. They took their supper throughout
the host, and meanwhile through the whole night the Achaeans mourned
Patroclus, and the son of Peleus led them in their lament. He laid
his murderous hands upon the breast of his comrade, groaning again
and again as a bearded lion when a man who was chasing deer has robbed
him of his young in some dense forest; when the lion comes back he
is furious, and searches dingle and dell to track the hunter if he
can find him, for he is mad with rage- even so with many a sigh did
Achilles speak among the Myrmidons saying, "Alas! vain were the words
with which I cheered the hero Menoetius in his own house; I said that
I would bring his brave son back again to Opoeis after he had sacked
Ilius and taken his share of the spoils- but Jove does not give all
men their heart's desire. The same soil shall be reddened here at
Troy by the blood of us both, for I too shall never be welcomed home
by the old knight Peleus, nor by my mother Thetis, but even in this
place shall the earth cover me. Nevertheless, O Patroclus, now that
I am left behind you, I will not bury you, till I have brought hither
the head and armour of mighty Hector who has slain you. Twelve noble
sons of Trojans will I behead before your bier to avenge you; till
I have done so you shall lie as you are by the ships, and fair women
of Troy and Dardanus, whom we have taken with spear and strength of
arm when we sacked men's goodly cities, shall weep over you both night
and day."
Then Achilles told his men to set a large tripod upon the fire that
they might wash the clotted gore from off Patroclus. Thereon they
set a tripod full of bath water on to a clear fire: they threw sticks
on to it to make it blaze, and the water became hot as the flame played
about the belly of the tripod. When the water in the cauldron was
boiling they washed the body, anointed it with oil, and closed its
wounds with ointment that had been kept nine years. Then they laid
it on a bier and covered it with a linen cloth from head to foot,
and over this they laid a fair white robe. Thus all night long did
the Myrmidons gather round Achilles to mourn Patroclus.
Then Jove said to Juno his sister-wife, "So, Queen Juno, you have
gained your end, and have roused fleet Achilles. One would think that
the Achaeans were of your own flesh and blood."
And Juno answered, "Dread son of Saturn, why should you say this thing?
May not a man though he be only mortal and knows less than we do,
do what he can for another person? And shall not I- foremost of all
goddesses both by descent and as wife to you who reign in heaven-
devise evil for the Trojans if I am angry with them?"
Thus did they converse. Meanwhile Thetis came to the house of Vulcan,
imperishable, star-bespangled, fairest of the abodes in heaven, a
house of bronze wrought by the lame god's own hands. She found him
busy with his bellows, sweating and hard at work, for he was making
twenty tripods that were to stand by the wall of his house, and he
set wheels of gold under them all that they might go of their own
selves to the assemblies of the gods, and come back again- marvels
indeed to see. They were finished all but the ears of cunning workmanship
which yet remained to be fixed to them: these he was now fixing, and
he was hammering at the rivets. While he was thus at work silver-footed
Thetis came to the house. Charis, of graceful head-dress, wife to
the far-famed lame god, came towards her as soon as she saw her, and
took her hand in her own, saying, "Why have you come to our house,
Thetis, honoured and ever welcome- for you do not visit us often?
Come inside and let me set refreshment before you."
The goddess led the way as she spoke, and bade Thetis sit on a richly
decorated seat inlaid with silver; there was a footstool also under
her feet. Then she called Vulcan and said, "Vulcan, come here, Thetis
wants you"; and the far-famed lame god answered, "Then it is indeed
an august and honoured goddess who has come here; she it was that
took care of me when I was suffering from the heavy fall which I had
through my cruel mother's anger- for she would have got rid of me
because I was lame. It would have gone hardly with me had not Eurynome,
daughter of the ever-encircling waters of Oceanus, and Thetis, taken
me to their bosom. Nine years did I stay with them, and many beautiful
works in bronze, brooches, spiral armlets, cups, and chains, did I
make for them in their cave, with the roaring waters of Oceanus foaming
as they rushed ever past it; and no one knew, neither of gods nor
men, save only Thetis and Eurynome who took care of me. If, then,
Thetis has come to my house I must make her due requital for having
saved me; entertain her, therefore, with all hospitality, while I
put by my bellows and all my tools."
On this the mighty monster hobbled off from his anvil, his thin legs
plying lustily under him. He set the bellows away from the fire, and
gathered his tools into a silver chest. Then he took a sponge and
washed his face and hands, his shaggy chest and brawny neck; he donned
his shirt, grasped his strong staff, and limped towards the door.
There were golden handmaids also who worked for him, and were like
real young women, with sense and reason, voice also and strength,
and all the learning of the immortals; these busied themselves as
the king bade them, while he drew near to Thetis, seated her upon
a goodly seat, and took her hand in his own, saying, "Why have you
come to our house, Thetis honoured and ever welcome- for you do not
visit us often? Say what you want, and I will do it for you at once
if I can, and if it can be done at all."
Thetis wept and answered, "Vulcan, is there another goddess in Olympus
whom the son of Saturn has been pleased to try with so much affliction
as he has me? Me alone of the marine goddesses did he make subject
to a mortal husband, Peleus son of Aeacus, and sorely against my will
did I submit to the embraces of one who was but mortal, and who now
stays at home worn out with age. Neither is this all. Heaven vouchsafed
me a son, hero among heroes, and he shot up as a sapling. I tended
him as a plant in a goodly garden and sent him with his ships to Ilius
to fight the Trojans, but never shall I welcome him back to the house
of Peleus. So long as he lives to look upon the light of the sun,
he is in heaviness, and though I go to him I cannot help him; King
Agamemnon has made him give up the maiden whom the sons of the Achaeans
had awarded him, and he wastes with sorrow for her sake. Then the
Trojans hemmed the Achaeans in at their ships' sterns and would not
let them come forth; the elders, therefore, of the Argives besought
Achilles and offered him great treasure, whereon he refused to bring
deliverance to them himself, but put his own armour on Patroclus and
sent him into the fight with much people after him. All day long they
fought by the Scaean gates and would have taken the city there and
then, had not Apollo vouchsafed glory to Hector and slain the valiant
son of Menoetius after he had done the Trojans much evil. Therefore
I am suppliant at your knees if haply you may be pleased to provide
my son, whose end is near at hand, with helmet and shield, with goodly
greaves fitted with ancle-clasps, and with a breastplate, for he lost
his own when his true comrade fell at the hands of the Trojans, and
he now lies stretched on earth in the bitterness of his soul."
And Vulcan answered, "Take heart, and be no more disquieted about
this matter; would that I could hide him from death's sight when his
hour is come, so surely as I can find him armour that shall amaze
the eyes of all who behold it."
When he had so said he left her and went to his bellows, turning them
towards the fire and bidding them do their office. Twenty bellows
blew upon the melting-pots, and they blew blasts of every kind, some
fierce to help him when he had need of them, and others less strong
as Vulcan willed it in the course of his work. He threw tough copper
into the fire, and tin, with silver and gold; he set his great anvil
on its block, and with one hand grasped his mighty hammer while he
took the tongs in the other.
First he shaped the shield so great and strong, adorning it all over
and binding it round with a gleaming circuit in three layers; and
the baldric was made of silver. He made the shield in five thicknesses,
and with many a wonder did his cunning hand enrich it.
He wrought the earth, the heavens, and the sea; the moon also at her
full and the untiring sun, with all the signs that glorify the face
of heaven- the Pleiads, the Hyads, huge Orion, and the Bear, which
men also call the Wain and which turns round ever in one place, facing.
Orion, and alone never dips into the stream of Oceanus.
He wrought also two cities, fair to see and busy with the hum of men.
In the one were weddings and wedding-feasts, and they were going about
the city with brides whom they were escorting by torchlight from their
chambers. Loud rose the cry of Hymen, and the youths danced to the
music of flute and lyre, while the women stood each at her house door
to see them.
Meanwhile the people were gathered in assembly, for there was a quarrel,
and two men were wrangling about the blood-money for a man who had
been killed, the one saying before the people that he had paid damages
in full, and the other that he had not been paid. Each was trying
to make his own case good, and the people took sides, each man backing
the side that he had taken; but the heralds kept them back, and the
elders sate on their seats of stone in a solemn circle, holding the
staves which the heralds had put into their hands. Then they rose
and each in his turn gave judgement, and there were two talents laid
down, to be given to him whose judgement should be deemed the fairest.
About the other city there lay encamped two hosts in gleaming armour,
and they were divided whether to sack it, or to spare it and accept
the half of what it contained. But the men of the city would not yet
consent, and armed themselves for a surprise; their wives and little
children kept guard upon the walls, and with them were the men who
were past fighting through age; but the others sallied forth with
Mars and Pallas Minerva at their head- both of them wrought in gold
and clad in golden raiment, great and fair with their armour as befitting
gods, while they that followed were smaller. When they reached the
place where they would lay their ambush, it was on a riverbed to which
live stock of all kinds would come from far and near to water; here,
then, they lay concealed, clad in full armour. Some way off them there
were two scouts who were on the look-out for the coming of sheep or
cattle, which presently came, followed by two shepherds who were playing
on their pipes, and had not so much as a thought of danger. When those
who were in ambush saw this, they cut off the flocks and herds and
killed the shepherds. Meanwhile the besiegers, when they heard much
noise among the cattle as they sat in council, sprang to their horses,
and made with all speed towards them; when they reached them they
set battle in array by the banks of the river, and the hosts aimed
their bronze-shod spears at one another. With them were Strife and
Riot, and fell Fate who was dragging three men after her, one with
a fresh wound, and the other unwounded, while the third was dead,
and she was dragging him along by his heel: and her robe was bedrabbled
in men's blood. They went in and out with one another and fought as
though they were living people haling away one another's dead.
He wrought also a fair fallow field, large and thrice ploughed already.
Many men were working at the plough within it, turning their oxen
to and fro, furrow after furrow. Each time that they turned on reaching
the headland a man would come up to them and give them a cup of wine,
and they would go back to their furrows looking forward to the time
when they should again reach the headland. The part that they had
ploughed was dark behind them, so that the field, though it was of
gold, still looked as if it were being ploughed- very curious to behold.
He wrought also a field of harvest corn, and the reapers were reaping
with sharp sickles in their hands. Swathe after swathe fell to the
ground in a straight line behind them, and the binders bound them
in bands of twisted straw. There were three binders, and behind them
there were boys who gathered the cut corn in armfuls and kept on bringing
them to be bound: among them all the owner of the land stood by in
silence and was glad. The servants were getting a meal ready under
an oak, for they had sacrificed a great ox, and were busy cutting
him up, while the women were making a porridge of much white barley
for the labourers' dinner.
He wrought also a vineyard, golden and fair to see, and the vines
were loaded with grapes. The bunches overhead were black, but the
vines were trained on poles of silver. He ran a ditch of dark metal
all round it, and fenced it with a fence of tin; there was only one
path to it, and by this the vintagers went when they would gather
the vintage. Youths and maidens all blithe and full of glee, carried
the luscious fruit in plaited baskets; and with them there went a
boy who made sweet music with his lyre, and sang the Linus-song with
his clear boyish voice.
He wrought also a herd of homed cattle. He made the cows of gold and
tin, and they lowed as they came full speed out of the yards to go
and feed among the waving reeds that grow by the banks of the river.
Along with the cattle there went four shepherds, all of them in gold,
and their nine fleet dogs went with them. Two terrible lions had fastened
on a bellowing bull that was with the foremost cows, and bellow as
he might they haled him, while the dogs and men gave chase: the lions
tore through the bull's thick hide and were gorging on his blood and
bowels, but the herdsmen were afraid to do anything, and only hounded
on their dogs; the dogs dared not fasten on the lions but stood by
barking and keeping out of harm's way.
The god wrought also a pasture in a fair mountain dell, and large
flock of sheep, with a homestead and huts, and sheltered sheepfolds.
Furthermore he wrought a green, like that which Daedalus once made
in Cnossus for lovely Ariadne. Hereon there danced youths and maidens
whom all would woo, with their hands on one another's wrists. The
maidens wore robes of light linen, and the youths well woven shirts
that were slightly oiled. The girls were crowned with garlands, while
the young men had daggers of gold that hung by silver baldrics; sometimes
they would dance deftly in a ring with merry twinkling feet, as it
were a potter sitting at his work and making trial of his wheel to
see whether it will run, and sometimes they would go all in line with
one another, and much people was gathered joyously about the green.
There was a bard also to sing to them and play his lyre, while two
tumblers went about performing in the midst of them when the man struck
up with his tune.
All round the outermost rim of the shield he set the mighty stream
of the river Oceanus.
Then when he had fashioned the shield so great and strong, he made
a breastplate also that shone brighter than fire. He made helmet,
close fitting to the brow, and richly worked, with a golden plume
overhanging it; and he made greaves also of beaten tin.
Lastly, when the famed lame god had made all the armour, he took it
and set it before the mother of Achilles; whereon she darted like
a falcon from the snowy summits of Olympus and bore away the gleaming
armour from the house of Vulcan.
The Odesssey, BOOK XIII
Thus did he speak, and they all held their peace throughout the covered
cloister, enthralled by the charm of his story, till presently Alcinous
began to speak.
"Ulysses," said he, "now that you have reached my house I doubt not
you will get home without further misadventure no matter how much
you have suffered in the past. To you others, however, who come here
night after night to drink my choicest wine and listen to my bard,
I would insist as follows. Our guest has already packed up the clothes,
wrought gold, and other valuables which you have brought for his acceptance;
let us now, therefore, present him further, each one of us, with a
large tripod and a cauldron. We will recoup ourselves by the levy
of a general rate; for private individuals cannot be expected to bear
the burden of such a handsome present."
Every one approved of this, and then they went home to bed each in
his own abode. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared,
they hurried down to the ship and brought their cauldrons with them.
Alcinous went on board and saw everything so securely stowed under
the ship's benches that nothing could break adrift and injure the
rowers. Then they went to the house of Alcinous to get dinner, and
he sacrificed a bull for them in honour of Jove who is the lord of
all. They set the steaks to grill and made an excellent dinner, after
which the inspired bard, Demodocus, who was a favourite with every
one, sang to them; but Ulysses kept on turning his eyes towards the
sun, as though to hasten his setting, for he was longing to be on
his way. As one who has been all day ploughing a fallow field with
a couple of oxen keeps thinking about his supper and is glad when
night comes that he may go and get it, for it is all his legs can
do to carry him, even so did Ulysses rejoice when the sun went down,
and he at once said to the Phaecians, addressing himself more particularly
to King Alcinous:
"Sir, and all of you, farewell. Make your drink-offerings and send
me on my way rejoicing, for you have fulfilled my heart's desire by
giving me an escort, and making me presents, which heaven grant that
I may turn to good account; may I find my admirable wife living in
peace among friends, and may you whom I leave behind me give satisfaction
to your wives and children; may heaven vouchsafe you every good grace,
and may no evil thing come among your people."
Thus did he speak. His hearers all of them approved his saying and
agreed that he should have his escort inasmuch as he had spoken reasonably.
Alcinous therefore said to his servant, "Pontonous, mix some wine
and hand it round to everybody, that we may offer a prayer to father
Jove, and speed our guest upon his way."
Pontonous mixed the wine and handed it to every one in turn; the others
each from his own seat made a drink-offering to the blessed gods that
live in heaven, but Ulysses rose and placed the double cup in the
hands of queen Arete.
"Farewell, queen," said he, "henceforward and for ever, till age and
death, the common lot of mankind, lay their hands upon you. I now
take my leave; be happy in this house with your children, your people,
and with king Alcinous."
As he spoke he crossed the threshold, and Alcinous sent a man to conduct
him to his ship and to the sea shore. Arete also sent some maid servants
with him- one with a clean shirt and cloak, another to carry his strong-box,
and a third with corn and wine. When they got to the water side the
crew took these things and put them on board, with all the meat and
drink; but for Ulysses they spread a rug and a linen sheet on deck
that he might sleep soundly in the stern of the ship. Then he too
went on board and lay down without a word, but the crew took every
man his place and loosed the hawser from the pierced stone to which
it had been bound. Thereon, when they began rowing out to sea, Ulysses
fell into a deep, sweet, and almost deathlike slumber.
The ship bounded forward on her way as a four in hand chariot flies
over the course when the horses feel the whip. Her prow curveted as
it were the neck of a stallion, and a great wave of dark blue water
seethed in her wake. She held steadily on her course, and even a falcon,
swiftest of all birds, could not have kept pace with her. Thus, then,
she cut her way through the water. carrying one who was as cunning
as the gods, but who was now sleeping peacefully, forgetful of all
that he had suffered both on the field of battle and by the waves
of the weary sea.
When the bright star that heralds the approach of dawn began to show.
the ship drew near to land. Now there is in Ithaca a haven of the
old merman Phorcys, which lies between two points that break the line
of the sea and shut the harbour in. These shelter it from the storms
of wind and sea that rage outside, so that, when once within it, a
ship may lie without being even moored. At the head of this harbour
there is a large olive tree, and at no distance a fine overarching
cavern sacred to the nymphs who are called Naiads. There are mixing-bowls
within it and wine-jars of stone, and the bees hive there. Moreover,
there are great looms of stone on which the nymphs weave their robes
of sea purple- very curious to see- and at all times there is water
within it. It has two entrances, one facing North by which mortals
can go down into the cave, while the other comes from the South and
is more mysterious; mortals cannot possibly get in by it, it is the
way taken by the gods.
Into this harbour, then, they took their ship, for they knew the place,
She had so much way upon her that she ran half her own length on to
the shore; when, however, they had landed, the first thing they did
was to lift Ulysses with his rug and linen sheet out of the ship,
and lay him down upon the sand still fast asleep. Then they took out
the presents which Minerva had persuaded the Phaeacians to give him
when he was setting out on his voyage homewards. They put these all
together by the root of the olive tree, away from the road, for fear
some passer by might come and steal them before Ulysses awoke; and
then they made the best of their way home again.
But Neptune did not forget the threats with which he had already threatened
Ulysses, so he took counsel with Jove. "Father Jove," said he, "I
shall no longer be held in any sort of respect among you gods, if
mortals like the Phaeacians, who are my own flesh and blood, show
such small regard for me. I said I would Ulysses get home when he
had suffered sufficiently. I did not say that he should never get
home at all, for I knew you had already nodded your head about it,
and promised that he should do so; but now they have brought him in
a ship fast asleep and have landed him in Ithaca after loading him
with more magnificent presents of bronze, gold, and raiment than he
would ever have brought back from Troy, if he had had his share of
the spoil and got home without misadventure."
And Jove answered, "What, O Lord of the Earthquake, are you talking
about? The gods are by no means wanting in respect for you. It would
be monstrous were they to insult one so old and honoured as you are.
As regards mortals, however, if any of them is indulging in insolence
and treating you disrespectfully, it will always rest with yourself
to deal with him as you may think proper, so do just as you please."
"I should have done so at once," replied Neptune, "if I were not anxious
to avoid anything that might displease you; now, therefore, I should
like to wreck the Phaecian ship as it is returning from its escort.
This will stop them from escorting people in future; and I should
also like to bury their city under a huge mountain."
"My good friend," answered Jove, "I should recommend you at the very
moment when the people from the city are watching the ship on her
way, to turn it into a rock near the land and looking like a ship.
This will astonish everybody, and you can then bury their city under
the mountain."
When earth-encircling Neptune heard this he went to Scheria where
the Phaecians live, and stayed there till the ship, which was making
rapid way, had got close-in. Then he went up to it, turned it into
stone, and drove it down with the flat of his hand so as to root it
in the ground. After this he went away.
The Phaeacians then began talking among themselves, and one would
turn towards his neighbour, saying, "Bless my heart, who is it that
can have rooted the ship in the sea just as she was getting into port?
We could see the whole of her only moment ago."
This was how they talked, but they knew nothing about it; and Alcinous
said, "I remember now the old prophecy of my father. He said that
Neptune would be angry with us for taking every one so safely over
the sea, and would one day wreck a Phaeacian ship as it was returning
from an escort, and bury our city under a high mountain. This was
what my old father used to say, and now it is all coming true. Now
therefore let us all do as I say; in the first place we must leave
off giving people escorts when they come here, and in the next let
us sacrifice twelve picked bulls to Neptune that he may have mercy
upon us, and not bury our city under the high mountain." When the
people heard this they were afraid and got ready the bulls.
Thus did the chiefs and rulers of the Phaecians to king Neptune, standing
round his altar; and at the same time Ulysses woke up once more upon
his own soil. He had been so long away that he did not know it again;
moreover, Jove's daughter Minerva had made it a foggy day, so that
people might not know of his having come, and that she might tell
him everything without either his wife or his fellow citizens and
friends recognizing him until he had taken his revenge upon the wicked
suitors. Everything, therefore, seemed quite different to him- the
long straight tracks, the harbours, the precipices, and the goodly
trees, appeared all changed as he started up and looked upon his native
land. So he smote his thighs with the flat of his hands and cried
aloud despairingly.
"Alas," he exclaimed, "among what manner of people am I fallen? Are
they savage and uncivilized or hospitable and humane? Where shall
I put all this treasure, and which way shall I go? I wish I had stayed
over there with the Phaeacians; or I could have gone to some other
great chief who would have been good to me and given me an escort.
As it is I do not know where to put my treasure, and I cannot leave
it here for fear somebody else should get hold of it. In good truth
the chiefs and rulers of the Phaeacians have not been dealing fairly
by me, and have left me in the wrong country; they said they would
take me back to Ithaca and they have not done so: may Jove the protector
of suppliants chastise them, for he watches over everybody and punishes
those who do wrong. Still, I suppose I must count my goods and see
if the crew have gone off with any of them."
He counted his goodly coppers and cauldrons, his gold and all his
clothes, but there was nothing missing; still he kept grieving about
not being in his own country, and wandered up and down by the shore
of the sounding sea bewailing his hard fate. Then Minerva came up
to him disguised as a young shepherd of delicate and princely mien,
with a good cloak folded double about her shoulders; she had sandals
on her comely feet and held a javelin in her hand. Ulysses was glad
when he saw her, and went straight up to her.
"My friend," said he, "you are the first person whom I have met with
in this country; I salute you, therefore, and beg you to be will disposed
towards me. Protect these my goods, and myself too, for I embrace
your knees and pray to you as though you were a god. Tell me, then,
and tell me truly, what land and country is this? Who are its inhabitants?
Am I on an island, or is this the sea board of some continent?"
Minerva answered, "Stranger, you must be very simple, or must have
come from somewhere a long way off, not to know what country this
is. It is a very celebrated place, and everybody knows it East and
West. It is rugged and not a good driving country, but it is by no
means a bid island for what there is of it. It grows any quantity
of corn and also wine, for it is watered both by rain and dew; it
breeds cattle also and goats; all kinds of timber grow here, and there
are watering places where the water never runs dry; so, sir, the name
of Ithaca is known even as far as Troy, which I understand to be a
long way off from this Achaean country."
Ulysses was glad at finding himself, as Minerva told him, in his own
country, and he began to answer, but he did not speak the truth, and
made up a lying story in the instinctive wiliness of his heart.
"I heard of Ithaca," said he, "when I was in Crete beyond the seas,
and now it seems I have reached it with all these treasures. I have
left as much more behind me for my children, but am flying because
I killed Orsilochus son of Idomeneus, the fleetest runner in Crete.
I killed him because he wanted to rob me of the spoils I had got from
Troy with so much trouble and danger both on the field of battle and
by the waves of the weary sea; he said I had not served his father
loyally at Troy as vassal, but had set myself up as an independent
ruler, so I lay in wait for him and with one of my followers by the
road side, and speared him as he was coming into town from the country.
my It was a very dark night and nobody saw us; it was not known, therefore,
that I had killed him, but as soon as I had done so I went to a ship
and besought the owners, who were Phoenicians, to take me on board
and set me in Pylos or in Elis where the Epeans rule, giving them
as much spoil as satisfied them. They meant no guile, but the wind
drove them off their course, and we sailed on till we came hither
by night. It was all we could do to get inside the harbour, and none
of us said a word about supper though we wanted it badly, but we all
went on shore and lay down just as we were. I was very tired and fell
asleep directly, so they took my goods out of the ship, and placed
them beside me where I was lying upon the sand. Then they sailed away
to Sidonia, and I was left here in great distress of mind."
Such was his story, but Minerva smiled and caressed him with her hand.
Then she took the form of a woman, fair, stately, and wise, "He must
be indeed a shifty lying fellow," said she, "who could surpass you
in all manner of craft even though you had a god for your antagonist.
Dare-devil that you are, full of guile, unwearying in deceit, can
you not drop your tricks and your instinctive falsehood, even now
that you are in your own country again? We will say no more, however,
about this, for we can both of us deceive upon occasion- you are the
most accomplished counsellor and orator among all mankind, while I
for diplomacy and subtlety have no equal among the gods. Did you not
know Jove's daughter Minerva- me, who have been ever with you, who
kept watch over you in all your troubles, and who made the Phaeacians
take so great a liking to you? And now, again, I am come here to talk
things over with you, and help you to hide the treasure I made the
Phaeacians give you; I want to tell you about the troubles that await
you in your own house; you have got to face them, but tell no one,
neither man nor woman, that you have come home again. Bear everything,
and put up with every man's insolence, without a word."
And Ulysses answered, "A man, goddess, may know a great deal, but
you are so constantly changing your appearance that when he meets
you it is a hard matter for him to know whether it is you or not.
This much, however, I know exceedingly well; you were very kind to
me as long as we Achaeans were fighting before Troy, but from the
day on which we went on board ship after having sacked the city of
Priam, and heaven dispersed us- from that day, Minerva, I saw no more
of you, and cannot ever remember your coming to my ship to help me
in a difficulty; I had to wander on sick and sorry till the gods delivered
me from evil and I reached the city of the Phaeacians, where you encouraged
me and took me into the town. And now, I beseech you in your father's
name, tell me the truth, for I do not believe I am really back in
Ithaca. I am in some other country and you are mocking me and deceiving
me in all you have been saying. Tell me then truly, have I really
got back to my own country?"
"You are always taking something of that sort into your head," replied
Minerva, "and that is why I cannot desert you in your afflictions;
you are so plausible, shrewd and shifty. Any one but yourself on returning
from so long a voyage would at once have gone home to see his wife
and children, but you do not seem to care about asking after them
or hearing any news about them till you have exploited your wife,
who remains at home vainly grieving for you, and having no peace night
or day for the tears she sheds on your behalf. As for my not coming
near you, I was never uneasy about you, for I was certain you would
get back safely though you would lose all your men, and I did not
wish to quarrel with my uncle Neptune, who never forgave you for having
blinded his son. I will now, however, point out to you the lie of
the land, and you will then perhaps believe me. This is the haven
of the old merman Phorcys, and here is the olive tree that grows at
the head of it; [near it is the cave sacred to the Naiads;] here too
is the overarching cavern in which you have offered many an acceptable
hecatomb to the nymphs, and this is the wooded mountain Neritum."
As she spoke the goddess dispersed the mist and the land appeared.
Then Ulysses rejoiced at finding himself again in his own land, and
kissed the bounteous soil; he lifted up his hands and prayed to the
nymphs, saying, "Naiad nymphs, daughters of Jove, I made sure that
I was never again to see you, now therefore I greet you with all loving
salutations, and I will bring you offerings as in the old days, if
Jove's redoubtable daughter will grant me life, and bring my son to
manhood."
"Take heart, and do not trouble yourself about that," rejoined Minerva,
"let us rather set about stowing your things at once in the cave,
where they will be quite safe. Let us see how we can best manage it
all."
Therewith she went down into the cave to look for the safest hiding
places, while Ulysses brought up all the treasure of gold, bronze,
and good clothing which the Phaecians had given him. They stowed everything
carefully away, and Minerva set a stone against the door of the cave.
Then the two sat down by the root of the great olive, and consulted
how to compass the destruction of the wicked suitors.
"Ulysses," said Minerva, "noble son of Laertes, think how you can
lay hands on these disreputable people who have been lording it in
your house these three years, courting your wife and making wedding
presents to her, while she does nothing but lament your absence, giving
hope and sending your encouraging messages to every one of them, but
meaning the very opposite of all she says'
And Ulysses answered, "In good truth, goddess, it seems I should have
come to much the same bad end in my own house as Agamemnon did, if
you had not given me such timely information. Advise me how I shall
best avenge myself. Stand by my side and put your courage into my
heart as on the day when we loosed Troy's fair diadem from her brow.
Help me now as you did then, and I will fight three hundred men, if
you, goddess, will be with me."
"Trust me for that," said she, "I will not lose sight of you when
once we set about it, and I would imagine that some of those who are
devouring your substance will then bespatter the pavement with their
blood and brains. I will begin by disguising you so that no human
being shall know you; I will cover your body with wrinkles; you shall
lose all your yellow hair; I will clothe you in a garment that shall
fill all who see it with loathing; I will blear your fine eyes for
you, and make you an unseemly object in the sight of the suitors,
of your wife, and of the son whom you left behind you. Then go at
once to the swineherd who is in charge of your pigs; he has been always
well affected towards you, and is devoted to Penelope and your son;
you will find him feeding his pigs near the rock that is called Raven
by the fountain Arethusa, where they are fattening on beechmast and
spring water after their manner. Stay with him and find out how things
are going, while I proceed to Sparta and see your son, who is with
Menelaus at Lacedaemon, where he has gone to try and find out whether
you are still alive."
"But why," said Ulysses, "did you not tell him, for you knew all about
it? Did you want him too to go sailing about amid all kinds of hardship
while others are eating up his estate?"
Minerva answered, "Never mind about him, I sent him that he might
be well spoken of for having gone. He is in no sort of difficulty,
but is staying quite comfortably with Menelaus, and is surrounded
with abundance of every kind. The suitors have put out to sea and
are lying in wait for him, for they mean to kill him before he can
get home. I do not much think they will succeed, but rather that some
of those who are now eating up your estate will first find a grave
themselves."
As she spoke Minerva touched him with her wand and covered him with
wrinkles, took away all his yellow hair, and withered the flesh over
his whole body; she bleared his eyes, which were naturally very fine
ones; she changed his clothes and threw an old rag of a wrap about
him, and a tunic, tattered, filthy, and begrimed with smoke; she also
gave him an undressed deer skin as an outer garment, and furnished
him with a staff and a wallet all in holes, with a twisted thong for
him to sling it over his shoulder.
When the pair had thus laid their plans they parted, and the goddess
went straight to Lacedaemon to fetch Telemachus.
The Odessey, BOOK XII
"After we were clear of the river Oceanus, and had got out into the
open sea, we went on till we reached the Aeaean island where there
is dawn and sunrise as in other places. We then drew our ship on to
the sands and got out of her on to the shore, where we went to sleep
and waited till day should break.
"Then, when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, I
sent some men to Circe's house to fetch the body of Elpenor. We cut
firewood from a wood where the headland jutted out into the sea, and
after we had wept over him and lamented him we performed his funeral
rites. When his body and armour had been burned to ashes, we raised
a cairn, set a stone over it, and at the top of the cairn we fixed
the oar that he had been used to row with.
"While we were doing all this, Circe, who knew that we had got back
from the house of Hades, dressed herself and came to us as fast as
she could; and her maid servants came with her bringing us bread,
meat, and wine. Then she stood in the midst of us and said, 'You have
done a bold thing in going down alive to the house of Hades, and you
will have died twice, to other people's once; now, then, stay here
for the rest of the day, feast your fill, and go on with your voyage
at daybreak tomorrow morning. In the meantime I will tell Ulysses
about your course, and will explain everything to him so as to prevent
your suffering from misadventure either by land or sea.'
"We agreed to do as she had said, and feasted through the livelong
day to the going down of the sun, but when the sun had set and it
came on dark, the men laid themselves down to sleep by the stern cables
of the ship. Then Circe took me by the hand and bade me be seated
away from the others, while she reclined by my side and asked me all
about our adventures.
"'So far so good,' said she, when I had ended my story, 'and now pay
attention to what I am about to tell you- heaven itself, indeed, will
recall it to your recollection. First you will come to the Sirens
who enchant all who come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too
close and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will
never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field and warble
him to death with the sweetness of their song. There is a great heap
of dead men's bones lying all around, with the flesh still rotting
off them. Therefore pass these Sirens by, and stop your men's ears
with wax that none of them may hear; but if you like you can listen
yourself, for you may get the men to bind you as you stand upright
on a cross-piece half way up the mast, and they must lash the rope's
ends to the mast itself, that you may have the pleasure of listening.
If you beg and pray the men to unloose you, then they must bind you
faster.
"'When your crew have taken you past these Sirens, I cannot give you
coherent directions as to which of two courses you are to take; I
will lay the two alternatives before you, and you must consider them
for yourself. On the one hand there are some overhanging rocks against
which the deep blue waves of Amphitrite beat with terrific fury; the
blessed gods call these rocks the Wanderers. Here not even a bird
may pass, no, not even the timid doves that bring ambrosia to Father
Jove, but the sheer rock always carries off one of them, and Father
Jove has to send another to make up their number; no ship that ever
yet came to these rocks has got away again, but the waves and whirlwinds
of fire are freighted with wreckage and with the bodies of dead men.
The only vessel that ever sailed and got through, was the famous Argo
on her way from the house of Aetes, and she too would have gone against
these great rocks, only that Juno piloted her past them for the love
she bore to Jason.
"'Of these two rocks the one reaches heaven and its peak is lost in
a dark cloud. This never leaves it, so that the top is never clear
not even in summer and early autumn. No man though he had twenty hands
and twenty feet could get a foothold on it and climb it, for it runs
sheer up, as smooth as though it had been polished. In the middle
of it there is a large cavern, looking West and turned towards Erebus;
you must take your ship this way, but the cave is so high up that
not even the stoutest archer could send an arrow into it. Inside it
Scylla sits and yelps with a voice that you might take to be that
of a young hound, but in truth she is a dreadful monster and no one-
not even a god- could face her without being terror-struck. She has
twelve mis-shapen feet, and six necks of the most prodigious length;
and at the end of each neck she has a frightful head with three rows
of teeth in each, all set very close together, so that they would
crunch any one to death in a moment, and she sits deep within her
shady cell thrusting out her heads and peering all round the rock,
fishing for dolphins or dogfish or any larger monster that she can
catch, of the thousands with which Amphitrite teems. No ship ever
yet got past her without losing some men, for she shoots out all her
heads at once, and carries off a man in each mouth.
"'You will find the other rocks lie lower, but they are so close together
that there is not more than a bowshot between them. [A large fig tree
in full leaf grows upon it], and under it lies the sucking whirlpool
of Charybdis. Three times in the day does she vomit forth her waters,
and three times she sucks them down again; see that you be not there
when she is sucking, for if you are, Neptune himself could not save
you; you must hug the Scylla side and drive ship by as fast as you
can, for you had better lose six men than your whole crew.'
"'Is there no way,' said I, 'of escaping Charybdis, and at the same
time keeping Scylla off when she is trying to harm my men?'
"'You dare-devil,' replied the goddess, you are always wanting to
fight somebody or something; you will not let yourself be beaten even
by the immortals. For Scylla is not mortal; moreover she is savage,
extreme, rude, cruel and invincible. There is no help for it; your
best chance will be to get by her as fast as ever you can, for if
you dawdle about her rock while you are putting on your armour, she
may catch you with a second cast of her six heads, and snap up another
half dozen of your men; so drive your ship past her at full speed,
and roar out lustily to Crataiis who is Scylla's dam, bad luck to
her; she will then stop her from making a second raid upon you.
"'You will now come to the Thrinacian island, and here you will see
many herds of cattle and flocks of sheep belonging to the sun-god-
seven herds of cattle and seven flocks of sheep, with fifty head in
each flock. They do not breed, nor do they become fewer in number,
and they are tended by the goddesses Phaethusa and Lampetie, who are
children of the sun-god Hyperion by Neaera. Their mother when she
had borne them and had done suckling them sent them to the Thrinacian
island, which was a long way off, to live there and look after their
father's flocks and herds. If you leave these flocks unharmed, and
think of nothing but getting home, you may yet after much hardship
reach Ithaca; but if you harm them, then I forewarn you of the destruction
both of your ship and of your comrades; and even though you may yourself
escape, you will return late, in bad plight, after losing all your
men.'
"Here she ended, and dawn enthroned in gold began to show in heaven,
whereon she returned inland. I then went on board and told my men
to loose the ship from her moorings; so they at once got into her,
took their places, and began to smite the grey sea with their oars.
Presently the great and cunning goddess Circe befriended us with a
fair wind that blew dead aft, and stayed steadily with us, keeping
our sails well filled, so we did whatever wanted doing to the ship's
gear, and let her go as wind and helmsman headed her.
"Then, being much troubled in mind, I said to my men, 'My friends,
it is not right that one or two of us alone should know the prophecies
that Circe has made me, I will therefore tell you about them, so that
whether we live or die we may do so with our eyes open. First she
said we were to keep clear of the Sirens, who sit and sing most beautifully
in a field of flowers; but she said I might hear them myself so long
as no one else did. Therefore, take me and bind me to the crosspiece
half way up the mast; bind me as I stand upright, with a bond so fast
that I cannot possibly break away, and lash the rope's ends to the
mast itself. If I beg and pray you to set me free, then bind me more
tightly still.'
"I had hardly finished telling everything to the men before we reached
the island of the two Sirens, for the wind had been very favourable.
Then all of a sudden it fell dead calm; there was not a breath of
wind nor a ripple upon the water, so the men furled the sails and
stowed them; then taking to their oars they whitened the water with
the foam they raised in rowing. Meanwhile I look a large wheel of
wax and cut it up small with my sword. Then I kneaded the wax in my
strong hands till it became soft, which it soon did between the kneading
and the rays of the sun-god son of Hyperion. Then I stopped the ears
of all my men, and they bound me hands and feet to the mast as I stood
upright on the crosspiece; but they went on rowing themselves. When
we had got within earshot of the land, and the ship was going at a
good rate, the Sirens saw that we were getting in shore and began
with their singing.
"'Come here,' they sang, 'renowned Ulysses, honour to the Achaean
name, and listen to our two voices. No one ever sailed past us without
staying to hear the enchanting sweetness of our song- and he who listens
will go on his way not only charmed, but wiser, for we know all the
ills that the gods laid upon the Argives and Trojans before Troy,
and can tell you everything that is going to happen over the whole
world.'
"They sang these words most musically, and as I longed to hear them
further I made by frowning to my men that they should set me free;
but they quickened their stroke, and Eurylochus and Perimedes bound
me with still stronger bonds till we had got out of hearing of the
Sirens' voices. Then my men took the wax from their ears and unbound
me.
"Immediately after we had got past the island I saw a great wave from
which spray was rising, and I heard a loud roaring sound. The men
were so frightened that they loosed hold of their oars, for the whole
sea resounded with the rushing of the waters, but the ship stayed
where it was, for the men had left off rowing. I went round, therefore,
and exhorted them man by man not to lose heart.
"'My friends,' said I, 'this is not the first time that we have been
in danger, and we are in nothing like so bad a case as when the Cyclops
shut us up in his cave; nevertheless, my courage and wise counsel
saved us then, and we shall live to look back on all this as well.
Now, therefore, let us all do as I say, trust in Jove and row on with
might and main. As for you, coxswain, these are your orders; attend
to them, for the ship is in your hands; turn her head away from these
steaming rapids and hug the rock, or she will give you the slip and
be over yonder before you know where you are, and you will be the
death of us.'
"So they did as I told them; but I said nothing about the awful monster
Scylla, for I knew the men would not on rowing if I did, but would
huddle together in the hold. In one thing only did I disobey Circe's
strict instructions- I put on my armour. Then seizing two strong spears
I took my stand on the ship Is bows, for it was there that I expected
first to see the monster of the rock, who was to do my men so much
harm; but I could not make her out anywhere, though I strained my
eyes with looking the gloomy rock all over and over
"Then we entered the Straits in great fear of mind, for on the one
hand was Scylla, and on the other dread Charybdis kept sucking up
the salt water. As she vomited it up, it was like the water in a cauldron
when it is boiling over upon a great fire, and the spray reached the
top of the rocks on either side. When she began to suck again, we
could see the water all inside whirling round and round, and it made
a deafening sound as it broke against the rocks. We could see the
bottom of the whirlpool all black with sand and mud, and the men were
at their wit's ends for fear. While we were taken up with this, and
were expecting each moment to be our last, Scylla pounced down suddenly
upon us and snatched up my six best men. I was looking at once after
both ship and men, and in a moment I saw their hands and feet ever
so high above me, struggling in the air as Scylla was carrying them
off, and I heard them call out my name in one last despairing cry.
As a fisherman, seated, spear in hand, upon some jutting rock throws
bait into the water to deceive the poor little fishes, and spears
them with the ox's horn with which his spear is shod, throwing them
gasping on to the land as he catches them one by one- even so did
Scylla land these panting creatures on her rock and munch them up
at the mouth of her den, while they screamed and stretched out their
hands to me in their mortal agony. This was the most sickening sight
that I saw throughout all my voyages.
"When we had passed the [Wandering] rocks, with Scylla and terrible
Charybdis, we reached the noble island of the sun-god, where were
the goodly cattle and sheep belonging to the sun Hyperion. While still
at sea in my ship I could bear the cattle lowing as they came home
to the yards, and the sheep bleating. Then I remembered what the blind
Theban prophet Teiresias had told me, and how carefully Aeaean Circe
had warned me to shun the island of the blessed sun-god. So being
much troubled I said to the men, 'My men, I know you are hard pressed,
but listen while I tell you the prophecy that Teiresias made me, and
how carefully Aeaean Circe warned me to shun the island of the blessed
sun-god, for it was here, she said, that our worst danger would lie.
Head the ship, therefore, away from the island.'
"The men were in despair at this, and Eurylochus at once gave me an
insolent answer. 'Ulysses,' said he, 'you are cruel; you are very
strong yourself and never get worn out; you seem to be made of iron,
and now, though your men are exhausted with toil and want of sleep,
you will not let them land and cook themselves a good supper upon
this island, but bid them put out to sea and go faring fruitlessly
on through the watches of the flying night. It is by night that the
winds blow hardest and do so much damage; how can we escape should
one of those sudden squalls spring up from South West or West, which
so often wreck a vessel when our lords the gods are unpropitious?
Now, therefore, let us obey the of night and prepare our supper here
hard by the ship; to-morrow morning we will go on board again and
put out to sea.'
"Thus spoke Eurylochus, and the men approved his words. I saw that
heaven meant us a mischief and said, 'You force me to yield, for you
are many against one, but at any rate each one of you must take his
solemn oath that if he meet with a herd of cattle or a large flock
of sheep, he will not be so mad as to kill a single head of either,
but will be satisfied with the food that Circe has given us.'
"They all swore as I bade them, and when they had completed their
oath we made the ship fast in a harbour that was near a stream of
fresh water, and the men went ashore and cooked their suppers. As
soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, they began talking about
their poor comrades whom Scylla had snatched up and eaten; this set
them weeping and they went on crying till they fell off into a sound
sleep.
"In the third watch of the night when the stars had shifted their
places, Jove raised a great gale of wind that flew a hurricane so
that land and sea were covered with thick clouds, and night sprang
forth out of the heavens. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered
Dawn, appeared, we brought the ship to land and drew her into a cave
wherein the sea-nymphs hold their courts and dances, and I called
the men together in council.
"'My friends,' said I, 'we have meat and drink in the ship, let us
mind, therefore, and not touch the cattle, or we shall suffer for
it; for these cattle and sheep belong to the mighty sun, who sees
and gives ear to everything. And again they promised that they would
obey.
"For a whole month the wind blew steadily from the South, and there
was no other wind, but only South and East. As long as corn and wine
held out the men did not touch the cattle when they were hungry; when,
however, they had eaten all there was in the ship, they were forced
to go further afield, with hook and line, catching birds, and taking
whatever they could lay their hands on; for they were starving. One
day, therefore, I went up inland that I might pray heaven to show
me some means of getting away. When I had gone far enough to be clear
of all my men, and had found a place that was well sheltered from
the wind, I washed my hands and prayed to all the gods in Olympus
till by and by they sent me off into a sweet sleep.
"Meanwhile Eurylochus had been giving evil counsel to the men, 'Listen
to me,' said he, 'my poor comrades. All deaths are bad enough but
there is none so bad as famine. Why should not we drive in the best
of these cows and offer them in sacrifice to the immortal Rods? If
we ever get back to Ithaca, we can build a fine temple to the sun-god
and enrich it with every kind of ornament; if, however, he is determined
to sink our ship out of revenge for these homed cattle, and the other
gods are of the same mind, I for one would rather drink salt water
once for all and have done with it, than be starved to death by inches
in such a desert island as this is.'
"Thus spoke Eurylochus, and the men approved his words. Now the cattle,
so fair and goodly, were feeding not far from the ship; the men, therefore
drove in the best of them, and they all stood round them saying their
prayers, and using young oak-shoots instead of barley-meal, for there
was no barley left. When they had done praying they killed the cows
and dressed their carcasses; they cut out the thigh bones, wrapped
them round in two layers of fat, and set some pieces of raw meat on
top of them. They had no wine with which to make drink-offerings over
the sacrifice while it was cooking, so they kept pouring on a little
water from time to time while the inward meats were being grilled;
then, when the thigh bones were burned and they had tasted the inward
meats, they cut the rest up small and put the pieces upon the spits.
"By this time my deep sleep had left me, and I turned back to the
ship and to the sea shore. As I drew near I began to smell hot roast
meat, so I groaned out a prayer to the immortal gods. 'Father Jove,'
I exclaimed, 'and all you other gods who live in everlasting bliss,
you have done me a cruel mischief by the sleep into which you have
sent me; see what fine work these men of mine have been making in
my absence.'
"Meanwhile Lampetie went straight off to the sun and told him we had
been killing his cows, whereon he flew into a great rage, and said
to the immortals, 'Father Jove, and all you other gods who live in
everlasting bliss, I must have vengeance on the crew of Ulysses' ship:
they have had the insolence to kill my cows, which were the one thing
I loved to look upon, whether I was going up heaven or down again.
If they do not square accounts with me about my cows, I will go down
to Hades and shine there among the dead.'
"'Sun,' said Jove, 'go on shining upon us gods and upon mankind over
the fruitful earth. I will shiver their ship into little pieces with
a bolt of white lightning as soon as they get out to sea.'
"I was told all this by Calypso, who said she had heard it from the
mouth of Mercury.
"As soon as I got down to my ship and to the sea shore I rebuked each
one of the men separately, but we could see no way out of it, for
the cows were dead already. And indeed the gods began at once to show
signs and wonders among us, for the hides of the cattle crawled about,
and the joints upon the spits began to low like cows, and the meat,
whether cooked or raw, kept on making a noise just as cows do.
"For six days my men kept driving in the best cows and feasting upon
them, but when Jove the son of Saturn had added a seventh day, the
fury of the gale abated; we therefore went on board, raised our masts,
spread sail, and put out to sea. As soon as we were well away from
the island, and could see nothing but sky and sea, the son of Saturn
raised a black cloud over our ship, and the sea grew dark beneath
it. We not get on much further, for in another moment we were caught
by a terrific squall from the West that snapped the forestays of the
mast so that it fell aft, while all the ship's gear tumbled about
at the bottom of the vessel. The mast fell upon the head of the helmsman
in the ship's stern, so that the bones of his head were crushed to
pieces, and he fell overboard as though he were diving, with no more
life left in him.
"Then Jove let fly with his thunderbolts, and the ship went round
and round, and was filled with fire and brimstone as the lightning
struck it. The men all fell into the sea; they were carried about
in the water round the ship, looking like so many sea-gulls, but the
god presently deprived them of all chance of getting home again.
"I stuck to the ship till the sea knocked her sides from her keel
(which drifted about by itself) and struck the mast out of her in
the direction of the keel; but there was a backstay of stout ox-thong
still hanging about it, and with this I lashed the mast and keel together,
and getting astride of them was carried wherever the winds chose to
take me.
"[The gale from the West had now spent its force, and the wind got
into the South again, which frightened me lest I should be taken back
to the terrible whirlpool of Charybdis. This indeed was what actually
happened, for I was borne along by the waves all night, and by sunrise
had reacfied the rock of Scylla, and the whirlpool. She was then sucking
down the salt sea water, but I was carried aloft toward the fig tree,
which I caught hold of and clung on to like a bat. I could not plant
my feet anywhere so as to stand securely, for the roots were a long
way off and the boughs that overshadowed the whole pool were too high,
too vast, and too far apart for me to reach them; so I hung patiently
on, waiting till the pool should discharge my mast and raft again-
and a very long while it seemed. A juryman is not more glad to get
home to supper, after having been long detained in court by troublesome
cases, than I was to see my raft beginning to work its way out of
the whirlpool again. At last I let go with my hands and feet, and
fell heavily into the sea, bard by my raft on to which I then got,
and began to row with my hands. As for Scylla, the father of gods
and men would not let her get further sight of me- otherwise I should
have certainly been lost.]
"Hence I was carried along for nine days till on the tenth night the
gods stranded me on the Ogygian island, where dwells the great and
powerful goddess Calypso. She took me in and was kind to me, but I
need say no more about this, for I told you and your noble wife all
about it yesterday, and I hate saying the same thing over and over
again."
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