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THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS
Retold in English by
Francis Sydney Marvin,
R. J. G. Mayor
and
Florence Melian Stawell
Illustrated by Charles Robinson
PREFACE
It has been our aim in this book to reproduce the substance of Homer's Odyssey in simple modern Enghsh. Told in this way, the story seems to us one which children might understand and enjoy among their earliest fairy-tales. At the same time we hope that such a version may, in many cases, prove more acceptable to older readers than a literal translation. We have not hesitated to omit and compress where we thought fit, but we have done our best to make a faithful translation within our limits, and to keep what we could of the Homeric spirit.
We have used in most cases the Greek proper names, as Zeus^ Atloena^ and Odysseus^ rather than the Latin forms, Jupiter^ Minerva^ and Ulysses^ which claim to represent them. The Latin names, no doubt, are somew^hat more familiar, but their associations are misleading; while the Greek originals do not, we think, offer
Preface
any serious difficulty, and are steadily becoming better known. For the customary term Phaeacians^ which seemed to us awkward, we have ventured to substitute Sea-kifigs^ a title suggested by the character of the people and the seafaring names in use among them.
F. S. M.
R. y. G. M.
F. M. S.
CHAPTER I
HOW ATHENA PLEADED FOR ODYSSEUS IN THE COUNCIL OF THE GODS AND OF THE TROUBLES AT HIS HOUSE IN ITHACA
Sing us the song of the hero, steadfast, skilful, and strong,
Taker of Troy's high towers who wandered for ten years long
Over the perilous waters, through unknown cities of men.
Leading his comrades onward, seeking his home again.
Sing us the song of the Wanderer, sing us the wonderful song !
It was ten years since the Greeks had taken Troy, and all the heroes who had escaped from the war and the perils of the sea were safe at home again in Greece. Odysseus alone had never returned, and was left to waste his soul in Calypso's island, far away from Ithaca, his native land. But Father Zeus had determined that he should reach his home at last, though he was not to be free of trouble even there; and all the Gods pitied him, except Poseidon, the lord of the sea, who wished him ill
and raged against him continually, for he had his own cause of spite.
Now one day Poseidon had gone to visit the Ethiopians who dwell at the ends of the earth, and the other Gods were sitting together on Olympus, in the hall of Zeus, and speaking of the fate of mortal men.
" They blame us," said Father Zeus, " and say that we send them their evil lot. But it is not so. It is their own blindness and wickedness that work their ruin."
Then Athena spoke, the wise Goddess with the clear grey eyes: " Father and king, some men, it is true, deserve their fate. But what of Odysseus ? My heart is torn when I think of him, pining away in that lonely island where Calypso dwells, the daughter of Atlas, the wizard who knows all the secrets of the sea and guards the pillars that keep heaven and earth apart. She holds him there and woos him with soft and winning words. But his one desire is to reach his native land again, were it only to see the smoke curling up from the roof of his house. Will the lord of Olympus let him die ? How can he be wroth with Odysseus, after all the sacrifices he offered on the spreading plains of Troy ?"
And Zeus replied, " No, my child, I could never forget Odysseus, the wisest man on earth. But Poseidon is wroth with him, ever since he blinded his son, the giant Cyclops. And so he keeps him
Then she answered, " If such is the will of the Gods, let Hermes, the messenger, go to Calypso and tell her our decree. But 1 will go to Ithaca and arouse Telemachus, Odysseus' son, and bid him call an assembly and speak out against the princes, who are devouring his father's substance and wooing his father's wife. Then I will send him to Pylos and Sparta to seek tidings of Odysseus there."
So saying, she bound on her beautiful sandals that bear her like the wind over sea and land, and shot down from the heights of Olympus to the house of Odysseus in Ithaca. There she took the shape of a prince called Mentes, a friend of his, and went up to the palace and stood in the gateway, with her bronze spear in her hand.
The courtyard was strewn with the hides of the oxen that had been slaughtered for the feast, and the princes were lying upon them and playing at draughts, while the banquet was being prepared. Their henchmen were busy in the hall, washing the tables and mixing the wine and carving the joints of meat.
Telemachus was in the courtyard too, sitting
among the princes, dreaming of his father and wondering if he would ever return and scatter them all and come into his own again. He was the first to notice the Goddess, and he rose at once and went out to meet her, for he could not bear to think that a stranger should be kept standing at the gates. So he took her by the hand and greeted her warmly and led her into the hall. He put her spear against a pillar in a polished stand where the spears of Odysseus stood, and gave her a beautiful carved chair in a quiet corner of the hall, and sat down beside her himself Then a maid-servant brought a silver basin and poured water over their hands from a golden ewer, and another loaded a table with all kinds of bread and meat. The princes came in after them to their feast, and when it was over they made Phemius the minstrel take his lyre and sing to them.
But Telemachus and Athena were sitting apart, close together, and talking low, so that the others could not hear. " Stranger," said Telemachus, " those men are light of heart and love the lyre and song, for they are devouring another man's substance and paying nothing for all they take. And his bones, maybe, are rotting on some distant shore or floating in the waves. Ah ! if they saw him home again they would pray for swift feet sooner than all the gold and raiment in the world. But he will never come now. I would not believe
it, even if some one told me that he was on the way. But tell me now who you are yourself and how you came here. Is it your first visit, or are you an old friend of my father's, for he had many guests ?"
Then the Goddess replied, "My name is Mentes and I am an old friend of your house. I am on a voyage to Cyprus, to buy copper in exchange for iron. If you would know more of me, ask old Laertes, your father's sire. His life is sad now, I hear, and he stays alone on the farmland with one old servant and never comes to the city. I thought to find your father here when I came and, though he is so long delayed, I believe with all my heart that he will soon come back. He must be kept somewhere against his will, perhaps on an island in the far-off^ seas. But he would know how to find a way out, even if he were bound in iron chains. I am no seer, but I am sure of that. And so you are his son! I can see for myself how like you are. You have his head and his beautiful eyes that I remember so well in the old days, when we used to talk together before he set sail for Troy. We have never met since then. But come now, tell me, what is this rout I see ? Can these be guests of yours ? How wantonly they revel in your house!"
" Sir," said Telemachus, " it is the ruin of our
house that you see. My father is gone for ever, and these men are the princes from Ithaca and the islands round, who have come to demand my mother in marriage. They destroy our w^ealth, but she will not give them an answer; and so it goes on from day to day, and I shall soon perish too."
Then the Goddess said, " Alas, poor son, how sorely you need the mighty hand of your father to right your wrongs. If he were only standing in the doorway now with helmet and shield and spear as I knew him in his prime! But listen and I will tell you what to do. Tomorrow summon all the lords of Ithaca together, and there before the assembly bid these men leave your house; and if your mother desires to marry, let her return to her father's house and be married thence. But for yourself, fit out a ship, the best you have, and go to Pylos and to Sparta to seek for news of your father. If he is still alive, wait and endure this ruin for another year; but if you hear that he is really dead, come home to build him a funeral mound and pay him every honour, and give your mother in marriage to one of the lords. And now farewell, for I must be going, and remember what I say. You are a child no longer and must talk and act like a man."
Then Telemachus begged his guest to stay or at least to take some worthy gift in memory of
him. But Athena would not wait. She rose and turned herself into an eagle and fiew away over the sea. Then Telemachus knew that he had seen a Goddess, and took her words to heart and went back among the suitors, stronger and braver than before.
Now the minstrel was singing to them the sad story of the return of the Greeks from Troy and they were listening in silence, when Penelope the (jueen appeared, standing in the doorway, with her bright veil before her face. She had heard the song from her upper chamber and had come down weeping, to beg the minstrel for some other lay.
" Phemius," she said, " you know many other songs that charm the minds of men. But this one will break my heart, for it tells me of my dear lord, whom I think of day and night."
Then Telemachus said, "Mother, let the minstrel sing as he pleases. He is not to blame, but Father Zeus, who gives men joy and sorrow as he will and to us this grief. Be brave and listen, for all men love to hear the newest song."
Penelope was astonished as she heard him and went back to her room, and Telemachus turned to the princes and said, " Go on with your feast, proud lords, and be merry, if you will : I too delight to hear a minstrel who can sing us such songs as these. But in the morning I bid you all assemble in the public square, for I have a
word to say. There I shall demand that you leave these halls and find your feasts elsewhere. And, if you refuse, I shall call on the Gods to repay you for all your crimes."
And the princes, too, were astonished when they heard him speak so boldly, and bit their lips ; and Antinous, who was ever the foremost, said, " My lord Telemachus, you speak like a man inspired. It would be an ill day for us all, if Zeus made you king in sea-girt Ithaca, as your fathers were before you."
And Telemachus answered, " I will take the kingship gladly, if Zeus will give it me. But it may pass to some other lord, now that Odysseus is dead and gone. Only I claim for myself, and will maintain, the rule in my father's house."
Then another of the suitors, called Eurymachus, joined in, "Who shall be king in Ithaca, only the Gods can tell. But we are all content that you should keep your own possessions, Telemachus, and be master in your own house. But tell us, who was the stranger that came here just now ? Did he bring any news of your father ? He was gone so quickly that no one could see who he was. But he had a noble mien."
"I expect no more news of my father," said Telemachus, " and I have no faith in signs. That man was a prince called Mentes, a friend of our house."
But he knew in his heart that it was the heavenly Goddess, and when the song and the dance were over, he went to his own chamber to think over all she had said. And Eurycleia, the old nurse, went with him and lighted him to his room. She had nursed him as a baby and no one in the household loved him more. She waited there and took his doublet and folded it up and hung it on a peg. Then she went away and closed the door carefully behind her. And he lay awake all night, wrapt in his soft sheep-skin, and thinking of the journey that Athena would have him make.
CHAPTER II
HOW TELEMACHUS SPOKE TO THE PEOPLE AND WENT IN SEARCH OF HIS FATHER
In the morning the heralds called the assembly together, and Telemachus went down with his sharp sword slung about him and his spear in his hand and two fine dogs at his heels. He seemed a nobler figure than ever before, as he sat down in his father's seat, while all the elders made way for him and the people looked on with wonder.
Then one of the elders opened the debate, an old man bent with age. One of his sons had gone with Odysseus to Troy, and the loss was ever in his mind.
" Who has called us together ?" he said, " it is the first time since Odysseus went to Troy. Has some brave man heard news of the absent host?"
Then Telemachus leapt up and stood in the midst of the assembly, and the herald put the speaker's staff in his hand and he began:
" Old man, it is I who have called this assembly together, but I have no public news. It is the ruin of my house that has made me do it, and of that I must speak. " I have lost my father, who was a father to his people too, and now there are men, lords of these islands, who beset my mother in our house against her will and are afraid to go to Icarius, her father, and ask her in marriage from him. I am not strong enough to drive them out myself, and so they stay on and revel, and all our cattle are being slaughtered and the good wine drunk for naught. " Friends, men of Ithaca, will you not hold them back for good Odysseus' sake and let me bear my grief alone ?"
So saying, he dashed the staff to the ground and burst into tears; and all the people pitied him and for a while no one had the heart to speak.
At last Antinous made answer, " You are angry, Telemachus, and make bold to put the blame on us. But your mother herself must bear it, who has led us on these four years and tricked us with her craft. No one could be more cunning. She sent secret messages to us all and gave every man some ground for hope; meanwhile she had a scheme at work which would defeat us all.
" She set up a great loom in the palace and began to weave a web upon it, fine and very wide.
' The lord Odysseus,' she said,' is dead and gone, and all you noble suitors are eager to marry his wife. But you must wait and give me time to finish this shroud for his father, old Laertes, who is near his end. I should be disgraced among all the women of Greece, if for all his wealth he had no winding-sheet to lie in when he died.' And so we waited and she kept weaving this great web by day; but every night she came and unravelled it again. For three years she beguiled us thus ; but in the fourth year one of her serving-v^omen told us all, and we went in by night and found her there. So she was forced to finish it against her will.
" And now, Telemachus, before all this assembly, we make you answer. Either you must send your mother home and let her father choose whom she shall wed; or else we shall woo her still and stay in your house and eat your substance, until she chooses for herself."
And Telemachus answered, " How can I send my own mother away from the house against her will ^ All men would blame me, and her father would seek to punish me, and she herself would pray for vengeance and Heaven would hear her prayer. No, leave my house yourselves, if you have any shame, and eat your feasts elsewhere. But if you still refuse, I call upon Zeus and all the Immortal Gods to punish you for your sins."
And as he spoke, Zeus sent down a sign from Olympus to show that his prayer was answered. Two eagles were seen flying overhead, grappling with one another and glaring down on the crowd below. And an old soothsayer interpreted the omen and said that Odysseus was already on his way home, bringing destruction to the suitors. But they derided him, and bade him go home and prophesy to his children or it might be the worse for him: they w^ould go on with their wooing as they had begun.
Then Telemachus remembered the counsel of the Goddess and spoke again, " Princes, I will say no more about the w^rong you do me, for now it is known to all men and to the Gods above. I only ask the people for a ship and twenty seamen, that I may go to Pylos and Sparta to seek for tidings of the king."
And after he had spoken Mentor arose, the faithful friend of Odysseus, whom the king had charged with the care of his house when he went away.
" Listen to me, men of Ithaca," he said, " your king Odysseus was gentle to all his people as a father. But you have forgotten his goodness to let these proud men prey upon his house. I do not blame them so much as you, for they are but a few and hazard their lives by what they are doing, while you sit by quietly and see it done."
But again the suitors were defiant and one of
them shouted that Telemachus might find a ship if he could, but they would not yield to any words of Mentor. " And even if Odysseus ever came home again to turn us out, he might find himself outnumbered and his wife would have no joy of his return."
Then they broke up the assembly and the suitors returned to the palace of the king.
But Telemachus went down to the sea-shore and dipped his hands in the salt sea-foam, and prayed to the Goddess.
" Hear me, O thou who camest yesterday to our house! Thou badest me take ship and go in search of my father, but the suitors will not let me do thy bidding."
And in answer to his prayer, Athena came, this time in the form of Mentor, the guardian of his house.
" Telemachus," she said, " you will not fail if you are your father's son. Take no heed of these suitors: let them go their own way to their doom. I will see to the ship and your company and will sail with you myself. You must go up to the palace and make ready the corn and wine for your voyage, and I will have the best ship in Ithaca waiting at the furthest quay."
So he went to the palace, and when he entered the hall, Antinous came up to him with a laugh and took him by the hand: " Sit down, Telemachus,"
Telemachus speaks to the People
he cried, " sit down, brave youth! Let us have no more of this bickering but eat and drink as before."
But he drew back his hand and answered, " Antinous, I can sit no longer and feast in your company. While I was a child, you wasted my substance at your will and destroyed my house: now I am a man and I have heard the story and will brook the evil no more. If there is no help for me in Ithaca, I shall find it in Pylos and my voyage will not be in vain."
And he strode past the tables and out of the hall, and as he passed, one or another of the suitors would turn with a mocking word:
" He means mischief, I think." " He is going to fetch help from foreign lands." " Or do you think he will bring home drugs to poison our drink ?" " It would be sad, if he perished at sea, like his father; we should have to divide up the wealth among us."
But Telemachus went down to his father's storeroom, a lofty chamber where gold and bronze lay in plenty and chests full of clothing and casks of olive oil and of wine. Eurycleia, the old nurse, kept watch over the treasure, and Telemachus found her there and called her to him.
" Nurse, give me twelve jars of your sweet wine, not the best of all that you keep for my father's return, but the next to that, and put twenty measures of barley meal in some good stout skins; for I have to set off to Pylos and Sparta this very night and no one must know it, not even my mother herself"
And the kind old woman wept aloud when she heard it and begged him not to go. " We have lost Odysseus; you are all that is left to us. As soon as you go, they will plot to murder you and will divide all this treasure among them."
Then he comforted her and told her that it was the will of Heaven that he should go and he made her swear not to tell his mother till eleven days were past.
So she did his bidding, and he went back and waited in the hall.
Meanwhile the Goddess had found a ship and a crew, and when all was ready she took the shape of Mentor and went up to the palace to let Telemachus know. And as she entered, a strange drowsiness came over the princes, so that their cups fell out of their hands and they were soon glad to return to the city and sleep. Then she called to Telemachus to follow her and led the way to the harbour. There was the ship's company, ready to embark, and when they had brought down the stores from the palace, they took their places; and the Goddess sat down at the helm, with the young prince by her side. And a fresh breeze came whistling from the west and filled their sail and they sped along all night, over the dark blue waters: and as they went, they poured out offerings of wine to the Gods who live for ever, and, chief of all, to Athena, that wise daughter of Father Zeus, the Goddess with the clear grey eyes.
CHAPTER III
HOW TELEMACHUS CAME TO PYLOS
All night the ship ran on, and in the morning, just as the sun leapt up from the waves, they came in sight of sandy Pylos and the fortress where Nestor hved. He was on the beach with all his people, making a solemn sacrifice to Poseidon, king of the sea. And when the ship touched land Athena spoke to Telemachus, and bade him go up boldly to Nestor and ask about his father whom he had crossed the sea to find. So they stepped ashore, and all the company went up to greet them; and Nestor's son took them by the hand, and made them sit down beside his father on the soft fleeces they had strewn upon the sand, and gave them meat and wine. And when they were refreshed Nestor said to the others, " Now we may ask the strangers who they are." And with that he turned to the two:
" Strangers, where do you come from ? And why do you wander over the broad highways of the sea ? Is it for traffic, or for the plunder that pirates love ?"
Then Telemachus took heart and said,
" Nestor, son of Neleus, noblest of the Greeks, I will tell you what you ask. My home is in Ithaca, and I have come to search for tidings of my father, Odysseus the stedfast-hearted, who fought with you at Troy, I have heard, and sacked the town. He has never returned and we do not know if he is alive or dead. And now I entreat you, for my father's sake and the love he bore you, tell me what has happened to him and do not hide the truth to spare me."
Then the old knight sighed and said, " Ah! my friend, how well your words bring back to me that war, and all we suffered there, and the noble men we lost, Ajax, and Achilles, and my own son, the best of warriors! And are you indeed the son of Odysseus ? Yes, you are like him when you speak, more like him than I would have thought so young a man could be. He was my faithful friend, and we were always of one mind and gave the same counsel to the Greeks. But I sailed away in haste from Troy, and I have never seen him since and only know by hearsay what happened to the rest. You must have heard yourselves of Agamemnon's fate, how he was
murdered on his return in his own palace by Aegisthus and the faithless queen. But his valiant son has avenged him now and slain the traitor and won great glory for himself. And you will be as valiant as he, and famous among men, I know, for you are strong and fair, and I pray that Pallas Athena may watch over you, she who was your father's friend."
But Telemachus answered sadly, " Alas! my lord, your hopes are far too high. The Gods have never meant such happiness for me; and even if it was their will, they could not help me here."
But Athena rebuked him for his doubts : " How can you speak like that, Telemachus ? The Gods are far away, but they can help and save. And I would rather wait and suffer and come home safe at last, than perish like Agamemnon on the very day of my return."
But Telemachus would not be comforted. Then Nestor said, Mcnelaus might be able to give him tidings, for he had wandered far and v>^ide and seen many lands before he had come home to Sparta again. And he offered to give Telemachus a chariot and send him there next day. " But you must stay this night with me, for it shall never be said that your father's son slept in his ship under the open sky, while I or son of mine was here to welcome him."
Then Athena thanked the old khig and said Telemachus should stay, but there was other work for her to do and she must leave them. And as she spoke she rose and flew away like a sea-bird, leaving them all amazed. Nestor was the first to speak: " That was the warrior maiden, the glorious child of Zeus. She came to be your guide, Telemachus, and you cannot prove weak or base if the Gods are near you in your youth."
Then he took the prince up to his palace, and made him rest there that night. And next morning he gave him a chariot and sent his own son with him for his guide. So they drove out of the echoing courtyard and down the steep hill to the plain, and all day long the sleek horses carried them forward, till the light went down in the west and all the ways grew dark.
CHAPTER IV
HOW TELEMACHUS WAS ENTERTAINED AT SPARTA
At last they came to the hollow vale of Sparta and to the palace of Menelaus, the fair-haired king. There was a great banquet on foot in his hall, and all his neighbours and kinsmen were assembled, for both his son and his daughter were being married that day. And as the company sat feasting and listening to the minstrel's song, news came that two strangers were at the gate. " Bring them in to feast with us," said the king. "No stranger shall go empty from our doors, for we ourselves have eaten the bread of strangers in other lands."
So the attendants brought Telemachus and the son of Nestor into the house; and they bathed themselves, and new clothes were given to them, and then they were led to the banqueting hall. Seats were placed for them at the king's side, and Menelaus said to them, " Sit down and welcome
to our feast. When you have eaten and drunk you shall tell us who you are; but I can see that you come of kingly stock.''
So they sat down at the board, and as they feasted they looked round them and wondered at the splendour of the hall: for the whole palace shone like the moon or the sun. And presently Telemachus said in a low voice to the son of Nestor, " Look, my friend, at the beauty of this house, how it glitters with bronze and silver and ivory and gold. It dazzles me to look at it. I think the palace of Zeus in heaven must be like this."
" No, my son," said Menelaus; for he had heard what was said. " No palace upon earth can compare with the dwellings of the Immortals. Men may call me wealthy, it is true: and yet I would give the best part of my wealth to have those heroes back who fell upon the plains round Troy. Often as I sit here I think of them all until I weep: but the man I grieve for most is the godlike Odysseus. He was ever the first of the Greeks in all adventures; but ill-fortune befell him, and now we know not whether he is alive or dead."
When Telemachus heard his father's name he could not keep back his tears, and he hid his face in his cloak; and Menelaus watched him, and wondered if he should ask him who he was. But
at that moment Helen came from her chamber, fair as the Goddess Artemis. Her maidservants set her chair ready, and brought her a golden distaff and a silver basket full of purple yarn. So she took her seat and then she said to her husband, " Who are these guests, Menelaus ? One of them is strangely like the noble Odysseus. Surely it must be Telemachus, the little son v^hom he left behind when he sailed for Troy."
" Yes," answ^ered Menelaus, " I see myself hov^^ like he is. And even now, when I spoke of Odysseus, he hid his face and wept."
Then the son of Nestor said, " Noble Menelaus, this is indeed the son of Odysseus; and Nestor my father sent me to guide him to your palace, for he hoped that he might find help or comfort here. His father has never returned, and he has no one in Ithaca to take his part."
At that Menelaus welcomed Telemachus afresh for his father's sake, and told him how valiantly Odysseus had fought in his cause at Troy and how dearly he loved him in return. And as he thought upon old days he shed tears, and Helen wept with him, and the son of Nestor wept too, for he remembered his valiant brother who had died at Troy. But Helen thought how she might comfort them, and she mingled in the wine a magic drug. It was brought from Egypt, the land where strange herbs grow, and it could
soothe all pain and bring forgetfulness of every grief: the man who should once taste it would shed no tear that day, not though he saw his own brother slain with the sword before his face. This drug she mingled in the wine and bade the steward bear it round, and then she spoke of Odysseus and his wisdom and courage.
" I remember that time in the war," she said, " when he came into Troy alone. What a deed that was! He disguised himself as a beggar and so made his way into the enemy's town, and no one guessed who he was but I. I questioned him, but he turned my questions aside, till I took him into my own chamber and swore that I would not betray him; and then he told me the purposes of the Greeks, and after that he returned to the camp in safety with his news. And I rejoiced, for my heart had turned again to my own people, and I wept to think how I had left my home and my husband, the noblest of men."
" Yes," said Menelaus, " and how he showed his wisdom when we lay in the wooden horse with the chosen band! The Trojans had brought it into the city, and then you came and put your hand on it, and walked round it, calling us all by name. It seemed to each of us as if it were his own wife's voice, and we would have answered: but Odysseus made us hold our peace and so he saved our lives."
Thus they told tales of old adventures, until the time for rest was come.
Next morning Menelaus made Telemachus sit by his side, and asked what had brought him to Sparta; and when he had heard the story and what wrong the suitors did, he cried out in fury, " Shame upon the dastards! They have made their bed in a lion's den: but the lion will come back and he will not spare them. And now I will tell you all I know of the fate of Odysseus, as it was told to me by the wizard Proteus, the herdsman of Poseidon, who knows all the depths of the sea.
" As I was sailing home from Troy, my ship was windbound on a desert island off the coast of Egypt. The days went by and our store of food was nearly spent, and we went roaming along the shore in search of hsh. At last one morning as I was alone on the beach, a sea-nymph saw me and had pity on me, and rose from the heaving waters to give me counsel. She said that she was the daughter of Proteus, and that her father could tell me how to escape, but I must take him prisoner first. Then she shewed me where he would come at noon to count over his flock of seals, and she told me how I might seize him; and when I seized him, she said he would turn into all manner of shapes, but I must hold him fast and in the end he would answer me.
So I called three of my comrades, and we scooped out holes in the sand and lay down, and ihe nymph hrought skins of seals and threw over us. There we waited while the seals came up from the salt water and settled themselves upon the beach. At noontide Proteus rose from the waves, and went along the line and counted all his flock, and then lay down to rest. And as soon as he was asleep out we rushed and seized him. Then he turned himself into all manner of shapes, into a lion and a serpent and a stream of water and a tall branching tree; but we held him fast all the while, as the sea-nymph had bidden us, and in the end he took his own shape again and told me all I asked him. First he told me that the Gods were angry with me, but I might turn away their wrath by sacrifice and so come safely home again. And then he told me the fate of the Greek heroes who had fought at Troy, how some had returned safely and some were lost at sea, and how my own brother Agamemnon was slain by treachery when he had just set foot on land. Last of all he said, ' And one of the heroes is yet living on an island in the far-off seas: it is Odysseus, king of Ithaca. I saw him prisoner in the cave of the nymph Calypso: his ships are wrecked and his comrades lost, and big tears fall from his eyes as he thinks upon the home he cannot reach.'
" That was the tale which I heard from the
old wizard of the sea; and after that I offered sacrifice to the Gods, and they brought me to Sparta in safety."
Thus Menelaus and Helen entertained Telemachus in their halls. Meanwhile in Ithaca the suitors heard how he had taken a ship and gone to Pylos. " We shall have trouble with this youth," said Antinous, " unless we rid ourselves of him in time. Give me a ship and twenty men, and I will lie in wait for him off Samos in the strait and put an end to his journeys." So they manned a ship and lay in wait off Samos to take Telemachus on his way home.
But Medon the herald heard their plot, and he went and told Penelope. She had not yet learned that her son was gone from home; and she was broken-hearted at the news, and sat on the ground and wept among her women, and blamed them all for hiding from her what had happened. Then the old nurse Eurycleia said, " Slay me if you will, my child, but I will tell you the truth. I knew that he was gone, but he made me swear that I would not tell you till eleven days were past. Pray to Pallas Athena, the child of Zeus, for it can never be the will of heaven to root out utterly this ancient house."
So Penelope dried her tears and went apart with her women and prayed to Athena: " Hear me, warrior maiden, child of Zeus! to
mind how Odysseus honoured thee, and deUver my son from the enemies who He in wait for him." And all day long she lay alone in her upper chamber, thinking of her son and tasting neither food nor drink, while below in the hall the suitors revelled and boasted how they would win her for themselves.
But in the dead of night a vision came to Penelope through the gate of dreams. She thought that her sister whose home was far away stood beside her bed and said to her, " Why is your heart so sore, Penelope ? Your son will return to you: the Gods have not abandoned him."
And Penelope said in her dream, " Sister, it is long since I have seen you. Are you come to comfort me in my troubles ? I have much need of comfort. I have lost my lion-hearted husband, whose fame was spread abroad through all the land of Greece; and now my son is gone over seas and I tremble at what may happen to him, for there are many foes that seek his life."
And the dim phantom answered, " Have no fear for your son. Pallas Athena is his friend and guide. She has charged me to tell you this, for she has pity on your grief."
Then Penelope said again, " If you are in truth an Immortal or have had speech with Immortals,
tell me of my lord. Does he still see the light of the sun ?"
And the dim phantom answered, " Of him I cannot tell you : question me no more."
Then the dream vanished into the air, and the queen awoke and her heart was comforted.
CHAPTER V
HOW ODYSSEUS CAME TO THE LAND OF THE SEA-KINGS
But next morning when the Gods were sitting in council and Zeus among them, Athena spoke of Odysseus again, for she never forgot how he suffered in Calypso's cave. " O, Father Zeus," she said, " why should any man he a just and righteous king ? For see how all his people have forgotten Odysseus, who was gentle as a father, and now the suitors are plotting to kill his son, as he comes back from Pylos and Sparta."
And the lord of the thunders answered, " My child, have you not planned yourself that in the end Odysseus shall take vengeance on all his enemies ? But see that Telemachus returns home safely and that the suitors make their voyage in vain." And he said to Hermes, " My son, go to
Calypso, the nymph with the beautiful hair, and tell her that Odysseus must leave her. He must build a raft and set sail, and after twenty days he will reach the land of the Sea-kings, who will load him with gifts and send him on his way. And so he shall see his home and his kindred again."
Then Hermes took his magic wand and bound his golden sandals on his feet and leapt down from sky to sea and flew over the depths like a cormorant, as it chases the fish through the waves and dips its feathers in the foam. And when he reached the far-ofi^ island, he went up to the lofty cave and found Calypso alone within, singing sweetly as she wove at her loom with a golden shuttle. A great fire was burning on the hearth and the scent of the burning cedar wood was wafted through the island. Round the cave was a grove of stately trees, alders and poplars and sweet-smelling cypresses, where the birds came to roost at night, falcons and owls and sea-mews who are busy in the waves. And over the mouth of the cave a garden vine was growing, thick with clustering grapes, and there were four springs beside it and four clear streams that ran through flowering meadows of parsley and violet. It was all so beautiful that even a God might stand and wonder. At last he entered and the Goddess knew him and made him sit down on a shining seat and gave him ambrosia and
nectar, the food of the Immortals, and said, " Tell me your errand, Hermes, for it is not your wont to visit here."
Then he told her how Zeus had taken pity on Odysseus who had been kept so many years from his home by war and tempest, and bade her send him on his way as quickly as she could. The Goddess shuddered when she heard his message and said, " Cruel Gods, you are jealous of my friend and guest! I saved him when he was left alone, clinging to the wreck of his ship when Zeus had struck it with his thunderbolt and shattered it in mid sea. But if it is the will of Zeus that he depart, I will not hinder him; I cannot send him myself, for I have no ships nor men; but I will tell him all you say."
And Hermes said, " Do so at once, lest Zeus be angry."
So he departed, and Calypso went out to seek Odysseus on the shore. And she found him sitting there and weeping as he looked across the barren sea; for so he sat day by day. "Unhappy man," she said, "do not sorrow any more, for I have come to let you go, and I will give you all the help I can. Come, build a raft and make it strong enough for the sea, and I will give you bread and wine and water to last you on your journey and a fair wind to follow in your wake and bring you safely home, if such is the
will of the Gods, who are wiser and stronger than I.''
But Odysseus could not beUeve her words, and he was not satisfied until she swore a solemn oath by earth and heaven and the world below that she did not mean to work him harm.
Then they went back to the cave and feasted and talked till evening. Nectar and ambrosia were set before Calypso, but Odysseus ate the common fare of mortal men.
At last the Goddess said, " Odysseus, if you are resolved to return to Ithaca and the wife you love, I wish you well. Yet if you knew what suffering you have in store before you see her, you would remain with me, I think, and be immortal. I am a Goddess and can I be less beautiful or less noble than your mortal wife ?"
And he replied, " Goddess and queen, I know full well Penelope cannot compare with you in form or stature. She will grow old and die. Yet I long day and night to see her, and would endure another shipwreck and untold sorrows to be at home again I can bear this as I have borne the rest."
When morning came Calypso gave him a great bronze axe and a hatchet; and they went out to the wood, and there the Goddess showed him where the tall trees grew, and left him to his work. He soon felled a score and made the
timbers straight and smooth and jointed them together and put in a mast and gunwale and rudder. In four days he finished the raft and launched it and made his sails. And on the fifth he stored it well with food and water and wine that the Goddess gave him, and then set sail with a joyful heart. For seventeen days and nights he never slept but steered straight on, watching the Pleiades and Bootes and always keeping on his left hand, as the Goddess had bidden him, those great stars that some men call the Bear and some the Wain. And on the eighteenth day he sighted the shadowy hills of the Sea-kings' land, like a shield upon the misty waters.
But Poseidon was on his way back from Ethiopia, riding in his chariot over the waves, and he saw Odysseus from afar, and anger filled him at the sight. "So!" he cried, "the Gods have changed their plans while I was away from Olympus. And Odysseus is close to the shore where he will be safe from me. But he shall have more trouble first." Then grasping his trident, he gathered the clouds and roused the winds and brought down night from heaven.
Then the brave heart of Odysseus sank within him and he recalled the warning of the Goddess, aye, and envied the Greeks who died at Troy. *' Would that I had died that day when the Trojans overwhelmed me with their spears! Then
I should have died with glory, but this is a piteous end."
And, as he spoke, a huge wave fell upon him and swept him from the raft, and he was overwhelmed by the surging waters. His garments weighed him down, but at last he rose, and even in this peril remembered the raft and clutched at it and dragged himself upon it. And the waves bore it hither and thither and the four winds blew upon it all together, tossing it to and fro, like a tuft of thistledown.
Then Odysseus would have perished at last, had not one of the sea-nymphs, Ino the slender-footed, who had been a woman once, taken pity on him in his need. She rose from the gulfs like a seabird and sat upon the raft. " Unhappy man," she said, " why does Poseidon hate you so.? But he shall not destroy you after all. Strip off your garments and leave your raft to drift before the winds. Then fasten this magic veil beneath your breast and swim to land. But when you have touched the shore, loose it and throw it far back into the sea, and as you throw it, turn away."
Then she gave him the veil and dived back into the surge like a sea-gull, and the dark waters hid her from his sight. Then Odysseus thought to himself, "Is this another snare of the Immortals, to bid me quit my raft ? I will not leave it yet, for the land is a long way off. No, so long as
the timbers hold together, 1 will remain on the raft whatever I may suffer. But when the waves have broken it to pieces, then I will trust to swimminir."
But while he was thinking, a great crested wave came down upon him and scattered the timbers of the raft, as the wind scatters a heap of chaff, and Odysseus was left astride on a single beam. Then he stripped off the garments which Calypso had given him and wound the sea-nymph's veil beneath his breast and plunged into the sea. And when Poseidon saw him swimming, he shook his head and said, " Drift on and suffer till you reach land again, and even there you will suffer your fill."
With that he lashed his steeds and turned away, but Athena bound up all the winds except the north, which blew strong and carried Odysseus towards the Sea-kings' land. Two nights and two days he struggled forward, and on the third day when the bright-haired dawn was in the sky the wind fell, and from the top of a rising wave he saw the coast. The sight made him as glad as children are who see their father well again after -a long and wasting sickness. But when he had swum near enough to hear the thunder of the breakers on the shore and saw that there was no harbour and no shelter and only cliffs and jagged reefs, then at last his knees
were loosened and his heart sank within him and he cried, " Can it be that I have struggled hither against all hope and yet there is no place to land ? If I go on, the waves will dash me on the rocks, and the cliff is so sheer and the water so deep that I can gain no foothold. If I swim along the coast to find some shelter the winds may bear me out again to sea, or Poseidon may send some monster to devour me, and there are many such."
At that moment a billow swept him towards the cliffs, and there all his bones would have been broken, had he not thought of clutching at a rock and clinging to it with both his hands till the wave had passed. But as it ebbed back again, it dragged him away with it and stripped his hands of skin, as a cuttle-fish is dragged from its hole with pebbles clinging to its suckers. But he saved himself by turning and swimming along the shore outside the breakers, till he came to the mouth of a river free from rocks and sheltered from the wind.
He felt the river flowing and prayed to the River-God. " Hear me, O King, whoever thou art, for I come as a wanderer flying from Poseidon's wrath. Take pity on me, I pray thee." Then the river stayed his stream and smoothed his waters and so Odysseus made his way to land. And then his knees gave way beneath him and his strong arms dropped at his
sides and he fell senseless on the shore. There for a time he lay swooning while the salt water streamed from his mouth and nostrils. But when at last he came to himself, he loosed the magic veil and threw it back into the water. And a great wave came and bore it out to sea, where Ino rose and caught it in her hands. But Odysseus sank down among the rushes by the river-bank and kissed the kindly earth.
Then he thought to himself, " What shall I do now.f* If I spend the night by the river, the dew and the frost may kill me, and the morning-breeze blows cold. But if I go up the hillside and fall asleep in the wood, the savage beasts may devour me.
At last he found a thicket near the river, and in it two bushes so thickly grown together that neither wind nor rain nor sun could pierce them. He crept under the branches and heaped up a couch of fallen leaves. There was abundance of them there, enough to cover him as well as to lie upon, and he lay down among them and covered himself up as a countryman who lives in a lonely place will cover up his fire under the ashes to keep it alive. And Athena shed sleep on his eyes to take away his weariness and pain.
CHAPTER VI
HOW ODYSSEUS MET THE PRINCESS NAUSICAA
So there the stout-hearted Odysseus lay and slept, worn out with all his toil. But meanwhile Athena went to the Sea-kings' city, up to the palace of their ruler, the wise Alcinous, and into the beautiful chamber where his daughter lay asleep, the young princess Nausicaa, fair as the Immortals. On either side of the threshold two maidens were sleeping, as lovely as the Graces, and the glittering doors were shut. But the Goddess floated through them like a breath of wind up to the head of the couch, and spoke to Nausicaa in a dream. She seemed to her one of her dear companions, the daughter of Dymas, the sailor.
" How heedless you are, Nausicaa!" so the vision said. " You let all your fine clothing lie uncared for, and your marriage day is close at hand, when you ought to have beautiful robes for yourself and for your maidens, if you wish your
friends to praise you and your father and mother to be glad. Let us take the clothes down to the river and wash them early to-morrow morning. I will help you in the work, for we must get ready as quickly as we can; the best men among your people are suitors for you already. And ask the king your father to give you a pair of mules and a car, for the river is a long way off."
Then Athena went back to Olympus, the peaceful home of the Gods. No winds blow there, so men say, and no rain falls, and the snow never comes near it, but the whole sky is calm and cloudless and all the air is full of light.
So the night passed away, and the young dawn appeared on her glorious throne in the sky and awakened the princess. She was full of wonder at the dream and went through the house to tell her parents and found them in the hall. Her mother was sitting by the hearth among her maidens spinning her sea-blue yarn, and she met her father at the door on his way to the council of his lords. Nausicaa ran up to him and said :
" Father dear, we have so much fine linen lying soiled in the house,—could you not lend me a pair of mules and a car, and I will take it all down to the river and wash it ? You must have clean robes to wear yourself when you sit at the council among the chiefs, and you have five sons at home,
three of them young and bachelors, and they always want fresh linen for the dances, and I must think of it all."
She was too shy to speak about her marriage to her father; but he understood, and answered, " You may have the mules, my child, and anything you wish."
So the princess brought out the bright garments and put them on the car; and her mother packed a store of dainties in a basket and gave her a goatskin full of wine and olive-oil in a golden tlask. Then Nausicaa mounted the car and her maidens went with her, and she took the whip and the glistening reins and started the mules, and they clattered off at once and carried her willingly all the way.
At last they came to the flowing river, and there they stopped and unyoked the mules, and sent them to feed on the sweet clover that grew along the banks; and they lifted out the clothes and laid them in the trenches and trod them in the dark water, vying with one another in the work. And when they had finished they spread them out on the beach to dry in the sun, just where the sea had washed the pebbles clean. Then they bathed and anointed themselves and took their meal at the riverside, and afterwards they threw aside their veils and played at ball, and white-armed Nausicaa led the song. And she
looked like Artemis the huntress on the hillside among the mountain nymphs, taller by the head and fairer and statelier than them all.
At last it was time to go home, and they harnessed the mules and folded up the clothes. But now Athena planned that Odysseus should awake and see the maiden. Just then the princess had the ball and threw it to one of the girls, but it missed her and dropped into the eddying river and they cried out as they saw it fall. The cry woke Odysseus and he sprang up in wonder.
" Where am I ?'' he asked himself, " what country can this be ? I hear the sound of women's voices. Are they mortals or nymphs of the meadows and the stream ? I will go and see."
Then he broke off a leafy bough to cover his loins and went out from his shelter in the wood to meet the fair-haired maidens, all rough and naked as he was,—his need was so great,—like a mountain-lion stalking through wind and rain after the forest deer. But they were terrified when they saw him, covered with the salt sea-brine, and they ran away from him to the end of the curving beach. Only the daughter of Alcinous stood where she was and waited for him face to face without trembling, for Athena gave her courage. Then Odysseus spoke to her gently and he knew what was best to say.
" Maiden," he said, " whoever you are, I need your help. Surely you must be Artemis the huntress, if you are one of the Immortals. Or are you a mortal maiden ? Then how happy must your father be and your mother and your brothers when they watch you moving in the dance. Only once have I seen a thing so fair, long ago in Delos, a young sapling palm-tree, straight and tall and wonderful, that grew by Apollo's temple. Princess, I have suffered much. I have been wandering over the dark sea for twenty days and nights, tossed to and fro by wave and storm, and at last I have landed here. But I am a stranger, and do not know the people of the land. You are the first I have met and I ask you to help me. In kindness show me the way to the city and give me clothing, some wrapper you have used for the linen. So may the Gods grant you your heart's desire, a worthy husband and love and unity in your home. For no power in the world is stronger than the husband and wife who are one at heart; their enemies cannot hurt them and their friends rejoice, but they know their own joy best themselves."
And Nausicaa said to him, " Stranger, it is Zeus who gives us everything, sorrow and happiness alike. You must bear what he has sent you, and you seem to me brave and wise. And now that you have come to us and asked
me for help you shall have everything you need. This is the land of the Sea-kings, and I am the daughter of their ruler, the great-hearted Alcinous."
Then she called to her maidens, " Come back to me, girls; w^hy do you run away ? This man is no enemy, but a shipwrecked wanderer, and we must treat him kindly. All strangers and suppliants are sent to us by Zeus. Give him food and drink and let him bathe in the river, somewhere out of the wind."
So they took Odysseus to a sheltered place, and gave him a vest and a cloak and soft olive-oil in a golden flask, and showed him where to bathe. And he washed away the salt sea-brine from his limbs and the scurf of salt from his hair, and anointed himself and put on the garments, and his long curls fell clustering round his shoulders and Athena gave him grace and stateliness. Then he came back to the maiden and sat down on the beach, and the princess looked at him and said to her women:
" The Gods themselves have sent this stranger here. At first I thought him ill-favoured, but now he looks like one of the Immortals, the lords of heaven and earth. Oh that such a hero would stay with us and be my husband ! Go now, give him food and drink."
But when Odysseus had eaten and drunk his
fill, another thought came into Nausicaa's mind. She folded away the linen and mounted the car, and then called Odysseus to her side and said ;
" Come, stranger, let us go to the city and I will send you to my father's house. But you must do as I tell you, and you will understand, I think, why it is best. So long as we go through the meadows, follow close behind me with my maidens, and I will lead the way. But when we come near the city,—you will see a high wall round it and a noble harbour on either side with a narrow neck of land between, and the ships drawn up along the road, each one in its own station. Close by is the public square and Poseidon's sacred place and the shipyards where they make the ropes and sails and shave the oars. Now there are insolent men among our folk, and some of them might say, ' Who is the tall kingly stranger with Nausicaa ? Some wanderer from a distant land, or a God perhaps, come down from heaven at her prayer! It is well that she has found a foreign husband for herself, since she scorns the noble Sea-kings who make their suit to her!' Thus they will reproach me, and I should blame it myself in another maid. So listen to my plan. You will find a grove of Athena on the way, tall poplars and a running spring and a meadow close beside them. Sit there and wait until we are home again. And when you
think it time follow us to the city and ask for my father's house: it is easy to find, for none of the rest are like it. Go straight up through the hall to my mother: she will be sitting by the hearth in the firelight, her chair against a pillar, spinning her wonderful sea-blue yarn, and her maidens sit behind her. My father's throne is next to hers: there he sits and drinks his wine like one of the Immortals. But go past him and put your hands on my mother's knees, for you will soon see your home again if you can win her favour."
Then Nausicaa lifted the whip and the mules started for home. And as the sun set they came to the sacred grove of Athena. There Odysseus sat down and waited, and he prayed to the Goddess that the Sea-kings might pity him and give him help, and she heard his prayer.
CHAPTER VII
HOW ODYSSEUS WAS RECEIVED IN THE PALACE OF ALCINOUS
Meanwhile the princess had reached her father's house, and the young princes her brothers met her at the porch and unyoked her mules and carried the garments into the house. And she went into her own chamber where her old nurse lit the fire and prepared her supper.
Just then Odysseus started for the city and Athena spread a mist about him lest any of the proud Sea-kings should be aware of him and mock him and ask him who he was. But when he entered the city, she met him herself in the form of a maiden carrying a pitcher; and as she stopped before him, he said, " My child, can you tell me where King Alcinous lives, for I am a stranger in this place ?''
And she replied, '' Follow me, sir, and I will
show you his house; for It is near where my own father Uves. But do not speak to anyone by the way, for my countrymen are not too fond of strangers. They put their trust in their ships and sail everywhere over the great waters, for Poseidon has made them kings of the sea." So saying she led the way quickly, and Odysseus followed. And as he went along, he could see the harbours and ships and long high walls and public squares and marvelled at it all, but no one could see him for he was covered by the mist.
When they reached the palace of the king, Athena said, " This is the house, father, which you bade me show you. Kings are sitting there at the feast; but enter boldly, for a brave heart fares best. You will find the queen first: her name is Arete, and she is honoured by her husband and her children and her people as no other woman in the world is honoured. She is wise, too, and can settle men's quarrels when she will. If you can only win her favour, you may hope to see your friends and your native land again."
And then the Goddess went back over the sea to Marathon and her good house at Athens, while Odysseus entered the palace of Alcinous and wondered at what he saw. For the whole house shone like the sun or the moon. The walls were all of bronze and the doors of gold. The doorposts and the lintel were silver, and on each side
stood dogs of gold and silver which never grew old nor died. Inside along the walls were rows of seats, spread with fine coverlets woven by the women, where the Sea-kings sat at the banquet. And boys of gold stood round the hall with torches in their hands to give them light. There were fifty maid-servants in the house, some to grind the corn and some to spin and some to weave; and they weave their cloth as skilfully as the men can sail their ships. Before the gate was a garden with pear-trees and pomegranates and olives in their bloom, and bright apples and sweet figs, which grew and ripened all the year round. And there was a fruitful vineyard, where some of the grapes were just turning colour and some were being dried and others pressed, and flower-beds of every colour always in blossom, and two fountains, one that watered the garden and one at the courtyard gate for the townsfolk.
Odysseus stood awhile outside and gazed at it all in wonder. Then he crossed the threshold and walked straight through the hall to the place where the king and queen were sitting. The princes were all drinking at the tables, but no one saw him as he passed because of the mist about him. But when he came to the queen's throne the mist suddenly rolled away, and all the company saw him and gazed in silence and amazement. Then he knelt down and put his hand on her
knees and made his prayer: " O Queen Arete, take pity on me, unhappy wanderer that I am, and send me to my far-off home; and I will pray the Gods that they may give happiness and worthy children and every honour to you and to your husband and to these noble guests."
Then he sat down like a suppliant on the hearth, and they all gazed still in silence, till at last one old lord, wiser and readier than the rest, spoke out: " Alcinous, we wait upon your word ; but surely it is not seemly that a guest should sit among the ashes in the suppliant's place. Lead him, I pray you, to an honourable seat and let him have food and drink, while we will fill our cups and drink in his honour."
Then Alcinous took Odysseus by the hand and raised him from the ashes and put him by his side in his own son's place. And the servants washed his hands and spread a table with good things and set it by him. And when the feast was over, Alcinous said, " My lords, I have a word to say before you go. To-morrow morning we will meet in council to receive this stranger and provide for his return, for if he sails in a ship of ours no harm can happen to him on his way. But if he is an Immortal, the Gods are dealing with us as they have never dealt before. They have ever met us as neighbours, openly and face to face; for we are near of kin to them like the Cyclops and the Giants."
Then Odysseus said, " I am no Immortal, Alcinous, but the most afflicted of all mortal men, and I could tell a long tale of the sufferings that the Gods have given me to bear. But now, I pray you, let me forget my troubles, and in the morning make haste to send me on my way, for all I now desire in life is to see my people and my home again."
The nobles promised that it should be so, and then they went home for the night; and Odysseus was left in the hall with Alcinous and the queen, while the maidens cleared away the feast.
Now Arete had noticed his cloak and doublet, for she and her women had made them. So she said, " Stranger, I must first ask you this. Whence have you come and who has given you these garments ? Did you not say that you were a wanderer from over seas ? "
And Odysseus answered, " My story, lady, is long and sad, but I will tell you this. I have come from a far-ofF island where a Goddess lives. Calypso of the beautiful hair. A storm drove me there and destroyed my ship and all my company, and the Goddess took me in and fed and cherished me and promised to make me live for ever and never grow old. But I always longed to depart, and at last, after seven years, she let me go. So I built a good stout raft and stored it with food and clothing that she gave me, and sailed away before a
soft and favouring breeze. But on the eighteenth day, just as I caught sight of your shadowy hills above the sea, Poseidon raised the winds against me and I was wrecked once more. Naked and scarce alive I swam to shore and found a resting-place near the river's mouth, where I slept among the bushes with leaves for my covering. " Next day at sundown I woke and found your daughter and her companions playing on the shore, and made my prayer to her. And she showed a wisdom that was strange in one so young and gave me food and drink and the garments that you see."
But Alcinous said, " Stranger, in one thing my daughter did amiss. She should have brought you to the house in her train, when you had asked her favour."
Then Odysseus answered, " Blame her not, my lord; she would have brought me had I wished. But I feared the sight might anger you, and so remained behind; we men are quick to take offence."
" Sir," replied Alcinous, " I am not so quick as that. Nay, I would gladly have such a man as you are to be my son-in-law, and would give you house and wealth to stay with us. But no one shall keep you here against your will. So, when to-morrow comes, you shall have your escort who will row you quickly over the sea as you lie E 6s
asleep. However far you may wish to go, they can take you there and return in one day and not be weary. For we have the best sailors and the most wonderful ships in the world."
Meanwhile Arete had bidden her maidens make a bed in the corridor with soft purple blankets and a thick covering over all. Hither they led Odysseus, torch in hand, and he lay down gladly and fell asleep.
And Alcinous and his wife went to their own chamber behind the hall.
CHAPTER VIII
HOW ODYSSEUS CONTENDED WITH THE SEA-KINGS IN THEIR GAMES
Next morning the king took Odysseus with him to the market place close beside the harbour, and they sat down there on the seats of polished stone, while Athena in the herald's shape went through the town, bidding the people come and see the godlike stranger, so that they thronged the square. Then Alcinous rose in the midst and said, " Princes and friends, this stranger—I do not know his name—has come to my house and asked me for a guide to take him home. Let us do as we have always done, and help him on his way."
Then he told them to prepare a ship and choose fifty of the best sailors for her crew, and come to the palace afterwards to feast in honour of his guest. So they made the ship ready and then sat down to the feast, and their minstrel came into the hall. A herald led him by the hand,
for he was blind. But the Gods had given him joy as well as sorrow: they had taken his sight from him, but they gave him the gift of song. And he sang of the heroes of Troy and the siege, till Odysseus wept as he listened. But he was ashamed for the kings to see his tears and hid his face in his cloak, so that none of them noticed but Alcinous, who sat beside him. And when he saw it he broke up the banquet, and told the princes they ought to show the stranger what skill they had in every kind of game. So they ran races and threw quoits and boxed and wrestled and leapt, until at last one of them said to the others :
" Come, let us ask our guest if there is anything he can do. He looks a stalwart man, broad-shouldered and stout-limbed, and young and strong enough, though somewhat broken with all the hardships he has borne."
So they challenged Odysseus to try his hand; but he only said, " I have more taste for grieving than for games. I have toiled and suffered for years and I sit here now, longing for my return, asking your king and all your people to send me on my way."
At that one of them, whose name was Euryalus, sneered openly and said, " No, stranger, I should not think that you would care for games. You have spent your time, I should say, on
board a merchantman and know more about cargoes and profits and traders' tricks. No, you have not the look of an athlete."
But Odysseus glanced at him sternly under his
deep brows and said, "Sir, there is little grace in such a speech. The Gods, I see, will never give all their favours to one man. They have given you beauty in full measure, but a scanty store of sense. Now your taunts have stung me, for I am not the weakling you say, but may count myself, I think, as good as any man while I have the strength of my prime. I am
stifF with toils and sufferings now, but I will shew you what I can do."
Then, without throwing his cloak aside, he sprang up and lifted a great quoit that lay beside him, far heavier and larger than any the Sea-kings threw. He poised it and hurled, and all the sailors shrank aside as the stone whizzed past and fell far beyond the rest, so that Odysseus smiled for pleasure and said with a lighter heart:
" Match that throw, my friends ! Or challenge me to run or box or wrestle, and 1 will not draw back. And I can handle a bow at need. I have shot with the best archers living, and only found one man who could surpass me."
Odysseus paused, but all the Sea-kings were silent, and only Alcinous said, " Friend, no man of sense could despise your strength and skill. Indeed, we are not the best of boxers or wrestlers, but we are nimble - footed, and our ships are swifter than thought, and we love the banquet and the lute and the dance and changes of raiment and warm baths and sleep. And now my people shall dance for you, and you shall tell your wife and children at home what wonderful dancers they are."
With that he called two of his sons, and they came forward at his bidding; and the heralds made a ring and the minstrel played for them, and they
danced and leapt and threw a crimson ball to one another, backwards and forwards, and up and down, catching it in the air, till Odysseus wondered at the twinkling of their feet, and turned to the king, praising their skill to his heart's content.
Then Alcinous asked each of the princes to bring a present for their guest, a bright cloak and a vest and a talent of solid gold, and he said that Euryalus should make a special gift and ask the stranger's pardon for his lack of courtesy. Euryalus was ready enough to obey, and brought a great bronze sword with a silver hilt and a scabbard of carved ivory and gave it to Odysseus, saying:
" Sir, you are a welcome guest. Forgive me if my words were rough and let the wind blow them all away. And I wish you a safe return to your country and your wife, for you have been long away and have had many a trial to bear."
Then Odysseus said, " And you, friend, I wish you well. May all good fortune follow you, and may you never need this blade that you have given me in your courtesy."
So saying he took the sword and slung it over his shoulder. By this time the sun had set, and Alcinous led the way home to the palace, and Odysseus went to his chamber and bathed and
came down again to the hall where the kings were sitting at their wine. There Nausicaa stood in her beauty beside the door, and she looked at him in wonder and said:
" Farewell, stranger ! Remember me sometimes even when you are home again in your native land, for I was the first to help you."
And Odysseus answered, " Princess, may it be as you say! May I see my home once more! I will think of you there, and you will always be like one of the Gods to me, for it was you that gave me back my life."
Then he went on into the hall and sat down by the king. And he asked the minstrel to sing to them again, a song about the wooden horse and the cunning plan by which Odysseus took the citadel of Troy. But when the song began, his tears gathered and fell, so that Alcinous noticed it again and broke off the song, crying,
" Hush ! Let the minstrel cease! Perhaps his song does not please all our company; ever since he began our guest has wept for sorrow. So let us have no more, and then we can all be glad, guest and host alike."
With that he turned to Odysseus : " Hide your secret no longer; surely you may tell it now. Tell us your name and your country, and where you have wandered and the cities and men you
have seen, and why you wept when you heard of the Greeks and their fate at Troy. Has one of your kindred perished there ? Or a true comrade whom you loved ? A loyal and trusted friend is as near to us as a brother."
CHAPTER IX
HOW ODYSSEUS ESCAPED FROM THE CYCLOPS
Then Odysseus answered:
" King Alcinous, it is good to see a whole people met together like this in the palace hall, taking their pleasure at the feast, while a minstrel sings such a glorious song for them to hear. This is a pure delight; but there is little joy in the story you ask me for; in sorrow it must begin and in sorrow end.
I am Odysseus, the son of Laertes, and the fame of my wisdom has gone through all the world. My home is the island Ithaca: it rises far-off in the western sea, a rugged land, but a good nurse of heroes, and no place could be so dear in my sight. My father and mother lived there, and there I was born. I longed for it even when Calypso, the fairest of nymphs, kept me in
her hollow caves, even wrhen Circe, the enchantress, tried to win my heart. But now I will tell you what you ask: the tale of my wanderings and my sufferings on the way home from Troy.
From the first we had trouble enough by sea and land; but we reached the Cape of Malea at last and had almost rounded it, when the north wind swept down on us and drove us out of our course. Nine days we drifted before the gale, but on the tenth we came to the land of the lotus-eaters, a people who live on flowers. We went on shore and took our mid-day meal by the beach, and I sent three of my comrades to find out what sort of men lived there. The lotus-eaters were kind to them, and gave them lotus to taste. It was as sweet as honey, and all who took it forgot their country and longed to stay there and eat it for ever. But I forced them back to the ships, though they wept to come away, and I bound them under the benches and hurried the rest on board; and so we put to sea.
Then we sailed on sadly till we came to the land of the Cyclops, a savage and lawless race. They never plough and they sow no seed; but wheat and barley and fruitful vines grow wild in their land. They dwell alone in caves among the mountains, and each one lays down the law himself for his wife and children, and cares for no one else. At the mouth of the bay
where they hve there is a wooded island. It is a lonely place, full of wild goats, with no sign of man to frighten them away. No shepherds come there and no hunters, for the Cyclops have no ships to cross the sea and no shipwrights to build them. Yet it is a fertile land and men might settle there; it would bear all kinds of fruit in their season; there are rich water meadows by the sea, and vines that never fail, and level fields for ploughing, and a harbour where ships could lie without rope or anchor, and at the head of it a cave with a spring of sparkling water and poplars growing all around. We ran in there on a dark night, and some God must have been our guide; for there was no moon and the mist lay thick over the sea, so that none of us saw the land nor the long rollers on the beach, until the ships were aground.
We lay down on the shore and slept within sound of the sea till dawn, and then we took our bows and long hunting spears, and followed the mountain - goats, and soon brought down game enough, nine for each of the twelve ships that sailed with me and ten for my own crew. So we sat there till sundown feasting and drinking wine, and we looked across to the land of the Cyclops, and could see the smoke from their fires and hear their voices and the bleating of their flocks.
Next morning at daybreak I called my men
together, and told the rest to wait in the island while my crew and I went over to see what the Cyclops were like. So we rowed across to the mainland, and as we came near we saw a high cave by the shore. It was overhung with laurels, and in front was a courtyard fenced with a huge wall of stones and trunks of oak and towering pine. It was there that one of the Cyclops penned his flocks at night, and there he lived all alone among them: and a strange monster he was: he had only one eye in the middle of his forehead and he looked more like a wooded mountain-peak than a mortal man.
Then I chose the twelve best of my company, leaving the others to guard the ship, and went up with them to the giant's cave. I put some food in a wallet and filled a goatskin full of a strong red wine I had with me, a wonderful fragrant wine that no man could resist. We soon reached the cave but found no one there, for the Cyclops was still away at the pasture. So we went in and looked at what he kept in his home. There were folds crowded with lambs and kids, and piles of wicker - baskets loaded with cheeses, and milk-pails, and bowls brimful of whey. Then my comrades begged me to take some of the cheeses and drive off the lambs and kids to our ship and hurry away. Better if we had ! But I would not listen. I wanted to
see the giant and ask him for a gift. So we Ht a fire and ate some of the cheeses and waited.
At nightfall he came home with his herds, carrying a huge bundle of faggots to make a fire for supper. He flung them down on the floor with a crash, and we ran away from him into the depths of the cave. Then he drove in the ewes, leaving the rams outside in the yard, and he lifted up an enormous stone, so heavy that twenty teams could not hoist it from the ground, and set it in the mouth of the cave. After that he milked the sheep and the goats and curdled half the milk, putting the rest aside for his drink, and then he lit up the fire and caught sight of us and shouted :
" Who are you, strangers ? Pirates or merchants ? And where have you come from, along the paths of the sea ? "
Our hearts sank within us when we heard his deep voice and saw what a monster he was, but I answered :
" We are Greeks, warriors of Agamemnon's host, homeward bound from Troy across the fathomless waters. We have been driven out of our course by foul weather, and now we have come to you, and we beg you to treat us as your guests. Reverence the Gods, noble sir; for all guests and suppliants are avenged by Zeus."
But he only said, " You are a fool, stranger, or else you have come from far indeed. We Cyclops
pay no heed to Zeus nor any of the Gods; we are far stronger than they. No fear of his anger would make me spare your friends or you unless I chose. But now tell me where you have left your ship."
But I saw through the snare, and gave him a cunning answer:
" Poseidon, the earth-shaker, wrecked our ship on the rocks, and we are the only men who were saved."
At that he sprang up without a word, and seized two of my comrades like whelps, and dashed their heads on the ground, and then he tore them limb from limb and devoured them like a mountain lion, flesh and bones and all. And we wept at the horror and prayed to Zeus, but we found no way of escape. So the Cyclops filled his maw and then lay down full-length on the ground among his flocks and fell asleep. Then I thought I would draw my sword and go up to him and feel for his heart with my hand and strike him dead; but I stopped, for I remembered that if I killed him we should only perish too, since none of us could roll away the enormous stone. So we had to wait there in our misery all night long.
Day came at last and the Cyclops awoke. He lit a fire and milked his ewes and seized two more of us for his meal, and then he drove out the
sheep and goats, lifting away the stone and putting it back like the lid on a quiver. And off he went to the mountains whistling to his herd, and I was left to scheme for our revenge. And at last I thought of a plan. The giant had put a great club of his in the cave to dry. It was the trunk of an olive tree and as big as a tall ship's mast. I cut off a fathom's length and we smoothed it down and sharpened the point and hardened it in the fire and hid it away out of sight, for I meant to drive it into the monster's eye when he lay asleep. Then we cast lots to see who should help me, and the lot fell on the four I would have chosen myself.
In the evening he came back again with his flocks, and this time he drove them all into the cave; and afterwards he sat down and milked the ewes and seized two more of us for his meal. Then I filled a wooden bowl with the wine I had brought, and I went up to him and said:
" Look, Cyclops, here is some wine to end your meal. Taste it and see what we carried in our ship. I brought it for you in hope you would take pity on us and let us go, but you have no mercy. Think, what man will ever come near you again if you are so cruel as this ?"
So he took the wine and drank it, and it pleased him hugely, and he asked me for another draught.
"Give me some more," he said, "and tell me your name, and I will give you something to please you in return. We have grapes in our ov^n land, but this w^ine is nectar."
Then I brought the w^ine, and three times I poured it out for him, and three times he drank it off in his folly. And v^hen the wine began to cloud his thoughts, I said to him softly, ' Cyclops, I will tell you my name, and you must give me the gift you promised. Noman is my name; Noman is what my father and mother call me and all my friends.'
But he only said, " I will eat Noman last and his comrades first. That shall be his gift."
With that he rolled over on his back and lay there fast asleep, his huge neck on one side. Then I thrust the stake into the embers and waited until it grew red-hot, cheering on my comrades all the time. And when the bar was just about to catch, we drew it out, and the four took hold of it and drove it into the monster's eye, w^hile I stood at the end and turned it round and round, until everything was burnt away. The giant gave a terrible cry, so that the whole cliff rang, and we rushed back in terror, and he tore the bar out of his eye and flung it away, maddened with the pain. Then he shouted to the Cyclops who lived near him on the windy mountain-peaks. They heard his cries and gathered round the cave and
asked him, " What ails you, Polyphemus ? Why have you wakened us from our sleep, shouting through the silence of the night ? Has someone driven off your flocks or tried to murder you ?"
And Polyphemus ansv^ered, " O, my friends, Noman is murdering me."
Then they replied, " If no man has hurt you, v^e cannot save you from the sickness the Gods have sent. Pray to our father Poseidon."
So they w^ent av^ay, and I laughed to myself as I sav^ how my cunning had saved us. Then the giant groped his way to the mouth of the cave, moaning in his agony, and moved aside the stone and sat there with outstretched hands to catch us if we tried to pass; he thought I would be such a fool. But I sat and pondered what to do, turning over many a plan in my head, for all our lives were at stake; and at last I resolved on this. The rams were big and strong and their fleece was thick: I bound them together in threes, tying them with the withies on which the monster slept, and under each one in the middle I fastened a man, so that he was guarded on either side. I had chosen the strongest in the flock for myself, and after all my comrades were safely fastened, I took hold of his back and curled myself round under his belly and held on tight to his great shaggy fleece; and we waited in this plight for the dawn.
At last the morning broke, and then the rams
went out to the pastures, while the ewes stayed near the folds, bleating to be milked. Their master felt along the backs of the rams as they passed before him; but he had not the wit to guess that the men were bound underneath. At the end, after the rest, came the one that carried me ; my weight had made him slow. Polyphemus stroked him lovingly, and said, " Dear ram, why are you the last to-day ? You have always been the first before,—first to crop the tiowers and the fresh young grass, first at the stream, first to hurry home again at night,—but now you are the last of all. Are you grieving for your master whom a wicked man has blinded ? If you could only understand and had a voice to tell me where he is skulking now, I would dash his head on the ground and scatter his brains all over the cave, and get some comfort in my misery."
Then he let the ram go out. And when w^e were a little way off I slipped down and unfastened my comrades, and we drove the fat rams before us and hurried to our ships. The others were full of joy to see us again; only they mourned for those we had lost. But I hastened them on board and would not give them time to weep, and we took our places on the benches and struck our oars into the foam. But just before we were out of earshot I called to the Cyclops: " Cyclops, it was no weakling whose comrades
you devoured ! And now the Gods have punished you for all your cruelty."
Then his anger burst forth and he tore off the top of a mountain and hurled it down at us. It fell just beyond the ship, and the sea dashed up so that the backwash drove us to the shore; but I seized a pole and pushed off again, and then I shouted to him once more, though my comrades tried to stop me:
" Cyclops, if anyone asks who disfigured and blinded you, tell them it was Odysseus, the son ot Laertes, who dwells in Ithaca."
Then Polyphemus groaned and said, " Alas! The old oracle is fulfilled. A prophet told me long ago that Odysseus would take my sight from me; but I always looked for a great and valiant hero, and now it has been a puny nobody who deceived me and made me drunk."
Then he lifted his hands to the starry heaven and called upon Poseidon:
" Hear me, Poseidon, enfolder of the earth, blue-haired God of the sea ! If I am indeed your son, grant this prayer of mine. May Odysseus never see his home again ! Or if that cannot be, and he is fated to return, let it be after many years, after the loss of all his comrades, on a foreign ship, in wretchedness, to find suffering and trouble in his house."
That was the Cyclops' prayer, and the blue
haired Sea-God heard him. But we escaped for the time and reached the island in safety, where we found our comrades on the beach, waiting for us anxiously. We told them all that had happened and they w^ept bitterly for the dead. That night we slept on shore, but at sunrise we went on board again, and rowed out once more over the waste of the grey sea,''
CHAPTER X
HOW ODYSSEUS WAS ENTERTAINED BY CIRCE
" And we came to the floating island where iEolus Uves, the friend of the immortal Gods: all round it runs a barrier wall of bronze, and the cliff^s fall sheer to the sea. There sits ^olus feasting in his palace with his six sons and six daughters, and the halls are full of the steam of the banquet, and the court-yard echoes all day long. He heard our story and entertained us kindly; and at parting he gave me a leather sack, in which he had shut up all the winds, tying the mouth with a silver cord. For the Gods have made him keeper of the winds, so that he can bind or loose them when he pleases. Only he set the west wind free, to carry our ship homewards.
So nine days we sailed, and on the tenth our native country came in sight; and now we were so near that we could see the beacon fires, when a deep sleep fell upon me; for I would let no one manage the sail but myself and I was tired out
with the work. Then my companions began to whisper together, thinking that there was gold and silver in the sack; and they said to one another:
" See how much Odysseus is loved and honoured wherever he goes. He is bringing many treasures home from Troy, while we who have made the journey too must return with empty hands. And now jEoIus has given him all this wealth! Let us open the sack and see how much gold and silver he has got."
So they undid the cord, and out rushed all the winds and swept them back to sea. Then I awoke, and I could have found it in my heart to leap overboard and drown myself; but I hardened myself to bear it, and lay in the ship with my face muffled, while the winds drove us back to the island of iEolus.
There we landed, and I went with two of my men up to the palace, and found the king feasting in the hall with his wife and children round him. We sat down on the threshold, and they all looked at us in amazement and asked what ill fortune had befallen us. And I answered sadly, " The folly of my comrades and my own sleep have been our ruin: help me, friends, for you have the power." But they all were silent, while their father said: "Get you gone from the island quickly, for I must give no help to one
whom the Immortals hate." With that he drove us from the house; and we launched our ship and rowed on, till the crew were wearied out, for we had no longer a wind to fill our sails.
Then we came to the country of the Giants, the land where dawn follows close on darkness, so close that one shepherd as he drives his flocks afield can hail his fellow returning home. And there I lost all my ships but one. We saw the Giant's city with its mighty gates and we rowed up to the harbour, a quiet bay with a narrow mouth and steep clifi^s on either hand. I moored my own ship to a rock at the entrance, but the other captains steered inside. The Giants caught sight of them and rushed out on the clifl^s, hurling down enormous rocks, till they sank the ships, and then they speared the men like fishes. At once I cut the hawsers and called on my crew to row for their lives, and so we escaped ourselves, but all the rest were lost.
Then we sailed on sadly, grieving for our comrades, till at last we came to the island where Circe lives, the bright-haired daughter of the Sun; she is a Goddess with magic power, but her voice is the voice of a mortal woman. There we found good harbour, and ran the ship ashore in silence, and lay on the beach two days and two nights, for we were worn out with our sorrows and our labour.
But when the third morning rose, I took my spear and sword and set out in the hope that I might find some trace of men. I went up to the top of a craggy hill, and from there I saw the whole island beneath me, covered with forest and thick woodlands, and in the middle of them I could see smoke going up from the house of Circe. At that 1 doubted for a while whether I should go and search further, but at last I thought it better to go back first to the ship and find food for my companions. Then some God had pity on me in my loneliness; for when I drew near the ship, a noble stag with branching antlers came right across my path, going down from his pasture in the woods to drink at the stream. As he came up from the water I hurled my spear and struck him in the back, and he fell in the dust with a sob. Then I broke off willow twigs, and plaited a rope with which I tied his feet together, and so I brought him to the ship, carrying him across my back and leaning on my spear; for I could not carry him on my shoulder with one hand, he was such a size. I threw him down before the ship and shouted to my comrades:
"Courage, friends! In spite of all our troubles we shall not go down to the House of Death before our time. Come, let us eat, for we still have food and drink."
At my words they roused themselves and looked
up, and wondered at the size of the stag; for he was a splendid beast. So we made a noble banquet and sat all day long till sunset, feasting on sweet wine and meat as much as we could wish; and when darkness came we lay and slept within sound of the sea.
But in the morning I called them all together and said, " It is time for us now to consider what way of safety lies open; for my part I see none. We have lost reckoning of which is east and which is west; and yesterday I went up to the top of a hill and saw that this place is an island and that the wide sea lies all round it as far as the eye can reach; I saw, too, smoke in the middle of the island going up through the forest-trees."
At these words their hearts sank, for they remembered what they had suffered from the cruel Cyclops; but they got no good for all their weeping. I divided my company into two bands, and over each band I set a captain, myself over one and Eurylochus over the other. Then we cast lots in a brazen helmet, and the lot fell on Eurylochus. So he set off and with him two and twenty men. They went up through the valleys, and in an open glade they came upon the house of Circe. It was all built of polished stone; and round it were lions and mountain wolves, whom the Goddess had bewitched by the power of her magic drugs. My
men were frightened at the sight, but the beasts did thein no harm; only they stood on their hind legs and fawned upon them, wagging their long tails, like dogs round their master at supper time. Now while my men stood waiting in the porch, they could hear Circe singing with a sweet voice inside the house, and they could see her as she worked at a wonderful loom, weaving such rare and delicate work as the immortal Goddesses can fashion. Then Polites, the best and trustiest of them all, said to the rest:
" Friends, there is someone in the house, going up and down before a great loom and singing so sweetly that all the hall rings with her song. Is it a woman or a Goddess ? Let us call and make her hear."
So they called out to her; and she came at once and opened the shining doors, and bade them enter; and in their folly they obeyed. Only Eurylochus stayed outside, for he feared some mischief. She led them in and made them sit down on chairs and couches, and prepared for them a drink of wine and yellow honey, with cheese and barleymeal; but in it she mixed deadly drugs to make them forget their own country. Now when she had given them the cup and they had drunk, suddenly she struck them with a wand, and they were changed to swine. They grunted like swine, and they had the snouts and bristles of
swine, but they still kept the minds of men. So they were shut up in the sty lamenting; and Circe threw before them beechnuts and acorns, the fitting food of swine.
But Eurylochus came back to the ship to bring the news of their unhappy fate; and at first he could not speak for grief, but at last when we pressed him he told us what had happened. " We went up through the wood, as you commanded, noble Odysseus: and there in an open glade we found a stately building, and within it someone, a woman or a Goddess, singing sweetly and going up and down before a loom. The others called out to her, and she opened the shining doors and bade them enter, and they followed in their thoughtlessness and disappeared altogether; nor was any sign of them to be seen, though I sat and waited long."
When I heard this, I slung about my shoulder my bow and my great silver-studded sword and ordered him to lead the way; but he fell at my knees and said, " Leave me here, I entreat you, and do not drag me to that place again: for I am sure that you will never bring back any of our comrades, nor yet return yourself Better to escape at once with those that are here, while there is still time for flight."
But I answered, " Stay here, if you like, Eurylochus, and eat and drink: but I must go, for I have no choice."
With that I left the ship and went up into the enchanted valleys; and as I came near the house of the sorceress a young man met me, in the bloom of youth, with the first down on his chin; and I knew him for the God Hermes, the bearer of the golden wand. He clasped my hand and said to me:
" Where are you going, unhappy man, all alone through the glens in a country that you do not know ? Do you hope to set your comrades free ? They are changed to swine and imprisoned in the house of Circe; and you yourself would fare as they have done, if it were not that I will deliver you from your peril. See, take this magic herb in your hand, when you go into her house, and it will protect you from harm. And I will tell you of all her wicked plans: she will mix you an enchanted drink and afterwards she will strike you with her wand. Then you must draw your sword and rush upon her as though you meant to kill her, and she will be afraid and implore you to be her friend: but before you promise you must make her swear a solemn oath by the blessed Gods that she will do you no harm when she finds you off your guard."
Then he plucked from the ground that magic herb and showed me its nature. Its root is black but its flower milk-white, and the Gods call it 'moly': men find it hard to gather, but the Gods can do what they will.
Then Hermes vanished among the woodlands, and I went on my way to the house of Circe, with dark thoughts in my heart. I stood in the porch and called out, and the Goddess heard my voice, and she came and opened the shining doors and bade me enter. She led me in and made me sit down on a chair of silver work, with a footstool for my feet; and then she mixed me drink in a golden cup, and in it she put a charm to work me mischief. Now when she had given me the cup and I had drunk it, she struck me suddenly with her wand and cried; " Off to the sty and lie there with your friends." But I drew my sword and rushed upon her, as though I meant to kill her: and she gave a loud cry, and ran in and caught my knees, and said with tears, " Who are you, strange man, and of what race do you spring ? There is no other man on earth who has resisted the power of my drugs, once they have passed his lips. Surely you must be that wise Odysseus, of whom Hermes told me, that he would come to me some day on his journey home from Troy. Come, sheath your sword, and be my friend.''
But I answered, " O Circe, how can you bid me treat you kindly ? You have turned my friends to swine within this hall, and now you would beguile me in the hope that you may take me off my guard. There can be no friendship between us, unless you will swear a solemn oath
that you will do me no more harm." So I spoke and she took an oath as I commanded.
Now there are four maid-servants who do the work in Circe's house: they are the children of the springs and woods and of lonely rivers that flow towards the sea. One of them spread purple coverlets upon the chairs, and another hrought silver tahles and golden haskets for our feast. A third mixed sweet wine in a silver bowl and set ready golden cups; and the fourth prepared me a bath of warm water, to take away the weariness from my limbs. Then when I had bathed myself, and was clothed in a new vest and cloak, she led me back to the hall, and meat and drink were set before me; but I had no taste for food, and my thoughts were far away.
When Circe saw me sitting thus, she came and said to me, " What is the matter, Odysseus ? Why do you sit like a dumb man, not touching food or drink .? Are you still afraid of treachery ? You need not fear me now, for I have sworn you a binding oath." And I answered, " How can I have any heart for food until I have set my comrades free and seen them face to face ?"
Then she took her wand and went through the hall and opened the doors of the sty, and drove out things that looked like swine, and I knew them for my comrades. But she went among them where they stood, and sprinkled each of
them with another charm ; and the bristles dropped from their Hmbs, and they became men again, younger than they had been before and comeher far and taller to behold. They knew me and clasped my hands, while the tears fell from their eyes, so that the Goddess herself felt pity; and she said to me, " Go down to the beach, Odysseus, and draw up the ship and store your goods and tackle in a cave; then come back here, and bring all your company with you."
So I went down to the ship and found my companions sitting there with heavy hearts; but when they saw me they thronged round me, and they were comforted as though they had come back to their own country, rugged Ithaca, where they were born. Then they asked me how the rest had perished: but I said, " Draw the ship on land, and follow me and you shall see our friends eating and drinking in the house of Circe, where there are good things enough and to spare."
And they were ready to obey, but Eurylochus said to them, " Here is fresh trouble for us! Are you so bent on danger that you must go to the house of Circe, who will turn us all into swine or wolves or bears, to guard her great house and be her prisoners ? Remember how it happened in the land of the Cyclops, when Odysseus led our comrades into the cave, and through his rashness they met their death."
At this I grew so angry that I could have drawn my sword and hewn his head from his body, though he was my own near kinsman : but the others came between us and said, " Lead the way to Circe's house, and leave him here alone." So they all went with me; and Eurylochus followed too, when he saw that he would be left alone, for he was afraid of my rebuke.
When we came to Circe's house, we found the others sitting at a rich banquet; and my companions wept for joy to see one another again. Then Circe came and stood by my side and said to them, " Do not weep any longer: I know that you have had trouble enough by land and sea. But now you must eat and drink, until you have forgotten your wanderings and your hearts are young again within you as on the day when you left Ithaca long ago."
So there we lived in all comfort until a whole year had passed : but at the year's end my comrades called me apart, and bade me remember our native country. Then in the evening I went to Circe's chamber and put her in mind of her promise, and told her how my heart and the hearts of all my company were set upon returning home. And the Goddess answered, " 1 will not keep you here, Odysseus, against your will. But before you see your home, you have another journey to make, for you must visit the House of Death and ask
couiivSel from the spirit of Teiresias, the blind old prophet of Thebes: he alone has kept his wisdom even in the other world, where all the rest are flitting shadows."
When I heard this my heart sank, and I no longer wished to look upon the sun: but at last I said, " Who will be my pilot, Circe, upon such a voyage ? No ship has ever touched that shore."
Then the Goddess answered, " Son of Laertes, you will have no need of any pilot. Raise the mast and set the sails and rest in your places; and the north wind will bear you of itself. You will come to the stream of Ocean, and beyond it you will reach a desolate shore, where tall poplars grow and willows which lose their fruit. Beach your ship there beside the deep eddies of Ocean, and go to the House of Death. There you must dig a pit a yard in length each way, and pour three times a drink offering to the dead, honey and wine and water; and you must sprinkle barley-meal upon it, and sacrifice a ram and a black ewe. Soon the spirits of the dead will rise and throng about you; but you must draw your sword and not suffer any of them to come near to the sacrifice, until you have held counsel with Teiresias."
Thus we talked through the night, and when morning came I roused my comrades, and said to them, " Awake and let us be upon our way: such
Is Circe's bidding. But before we see our home we have another journey to make, for we must visit the House of Death and take counsel of the spirit of Teiresias." Their hearts sank within them at my words, but their weeping brought no good: so we went with heavy thoughts toward the sea. There by the black ship Circe met us and made fast a ram and a ewe; and immediately she vanished from our sight.'
Part 2
