D 

 
 Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN
 
 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER.
 
 THE 
 
 ODYSSEY OF HOMER 
 
 DONE INTO ENGLISH VERSE 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM MORRIS, 
 
 AUTHOR OF THE EARTHLY PARADISE. 
 
 IN TWO VOL UMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 REEVES & TURNER, 190 STRAND. 
 
 MDCCCLXXXVII.
 
 SRLF 
 URL 
 
 PA 
 
 V. / 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 PAGF 
 
 The Gods ordain the Return of Odysseus : Pallas goes to Ithaca and 
 in the Likeness of Mentes heartens up Telemachus, and bids him 
 call a Meeting of Men to lay his Grievance against the Wooers, 
 and then to take Ship to Pylos and Sparta seeking Tidings of his 
 Father ........... i 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 The Meeting of Folk in Ithaca : the masterful and proud words of 
 the Wooers. Zeus sends a Token. Telemachus takes ship for 
 Pylos ... ....... 17 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 Telemachus sails to Pylos, and there sees Nestor, who tells him of 
 Agamemnon and Menelaus, and sends him on to Sparta in the 
 company of Pisi stratus his Son . . -33 
 
 I5OOK IV. 
 
 Telemachus comet h with Pisistratus, Son of Nestor, to Menelaus af 
 Sparta, and hath some tidings of his Father. The Wooers 
 waylay Telemachus 1 return. Penelope hath a Dream sent for 
 her solace by Athene . . 5 1 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 A Council of the Gods. Hermes sent to Calypso to bid her further 
 the Return of Odysseus. Odysseus sails away on a Raft. He is 
 wrecked in the sea hard on Phceacia and swims ashore there 82
 
 vi CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Odysseus is awakened by Nausicad, the Daughter of Alcinoiis, King 
 of the Phczacians, and by her is brought to the City and the Palace 
 of her Father . . . . . . . . .too 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 Odysseus comes to the Phceacian City and the House of Alcinoiis, 
 where he is received as a Suppliant and Guest^ and Alcinoiis 
 
 promises to further him on his way home on the morrow . 112 
 
 * 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 Alcinoiis bringeth Odysseus to the Assembly, and biddeth men play 
 before Odysseus till the time is come for his departure : Demodocus 
 the Minstrel telleth the Tale of Hephtzstus and the Love of Ares 
 and Aphrodite : great gifts are given to Odysseus : he weepeth at 
 the Song of Demodocus concerning the Wooden Horse: Alcinoiis 
 perceiveth it and pray eth him to tell his Story . . . .125 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 Odysseus telleth of his Wayfarings : how he fought with the Cicones : 
 how he came to the Land of the Lotus-eaters : how he came unto 
 the Land of the Cyclops and of his dealings with Polyphemus 
 there . . . . . . . . . . .147 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 Odysseus comeih to ^olus, who giveth him a fair wind, whereby he 
 is borne close to Ithaca, but by the folly of his Folk is driven back 
 thence to ALolus again : thence he cometh to the Lcesttygons, and 
 by them loseth the more part of his ships and men : sailing thence 
 they come to ALcea, where dwelt Circe, whose sorcery is told of, 
 and how Odysseus dwelt with her a whole year$ when she bade 
 him go visit the Land of the Dead before he set out for home again 168
 
 CONTENTS. vii 
 
 BOOK XI. 
 
 PA(,P: 
 
 Odysstus fareth beyond the Ocean-stream and cometh to the Realm 
 and House of Hades, and there hath counsel of Tiresias the 
 Theban : there also he seeth the Ghost of Elpenor, but late dead, 
 and the Ghost of his Mother, and of many men and -women of 
 renown . . .......190 
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 Odysseus cometh back to scea again, and Circe giveth him counsel 
 concerning his Road: he passeth by the Sirens and heareth their 
 Song: he cometh by Scylla and Charybdis, and losdh to Scylla 
 six of his men. Thence they come to the Island of the Sun, and 
 despite of warnings his fellows slay and eat of the Kine of the 
 Sun. Wherefore is the ship wrecked in mid-sea, and all the 
 shipmen perish save Odysseus, who barely saves himself from 
 Charybdis, whence he is carried to the Isle of Ogygia, and 
 cherished there by Calypso as is aforesaid . . .214
 
 THE 
 
 ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 THE GODS ORDAIN THE RETURN OF ODYSSEUS : PALLAS GOES TO ITHACA 
 AND IN THE LIKENESS OF MENTES HEARTENS UP TELEMACHUS, AND 
 BIDS HIM CALL A MEETING OF MEN TO LAY HIS GRIEVANCE AGAINST 
 THE WOOERS, AND THEN TO TAKE SHIP TO PYLOS AND SPARTA 
 SEEKING TIDINGS OF HIS FATHER. 
 
 TELL me, O Muse, of the Shifty, the man who wandered afar, 
 After the Holy Burg, Troy-town, he had wasted with war ; 
 He saw the towns of menfolk, and the mind of men did he learn ; 
 As he warded his life in the world, and his fellow-farers' return, 
 Many a grief of heart on the deep-sea flood he bore, 
 Nor yet might he save his fellows, for all that he longed for it sore. 
 They died of their own souls' folly, for witless as they were 
 They ate up the beasts of the Sun, the Rider of the Air, 
 And he took away from them all their dear returning day ; 
 O Goddess, O daughter of Zeus, from whencesoever ye may, 10 
 
 Gather the tale, and tell it, yea even to us at the last ! 
 
 Now all the other heroes, who forth from the warfare passed 
 And fled from sheer destruction and 'scaped each man his bane,
 
 2 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Saved from the sea and the battle, at home they sat full fain ; 
 
 But him alone, Odysseus, sore yearning after the strife 
 
 To get him back to his homestead, sore yearning for his wife, 
 
 Did the noble nymph Calypso, the Godhead's glory hoard 
 
 In the hollow rocky places ; for she longed for him for lord, 
 
 Yea and e'en when the circling seasons had brought the year to hand, 
 
 Wherein the Gods had doomed it that he should reach his land, 20 
 
 E'en Ithaca his homestead, not even then was he, 
 
 Though amidst his kin and his people, of heavy trouble free. 
 
 Know now, that of all the God-folk there was none but pitied him, 
 
 Save that Poseidon only was with ceaseless wrath abrim 
 
 Against the God-like Hero from his house and his home shut out 
 
 But he to the ^Ethiopians e'en now was gone about, 
 
 The far-dwellers outmost of menfolk ; and these are sundered atwain, 
 
 Some dwell where the High-rider setteth, and some where he riseth again. 
 
 There then of bulls and of rams would he gather an hundred-fold, 
 
 And he sat him adown rejoicing and noble feast did hold. 30 
 
 But the rest in the hall were gathered of Zeus the Olympian lord. 
 
 So the Father of Gods and of men amidst them took up the word, 
 
 For mindful in heart was he of ^Egistheus the noble one, 
 
 He that was slain of Orestes far-famed, Agamemnon's son. 
 
 Thus then to the deathless he spake, these things remembering still. 
 
 " Out on it ! how do the menfolk to the Gods lay all their ill, 
 
 And say that of us it cometh ; when they themselves indeed 
 
 Gain griefs from their own souls' folly beyond the fateful meed. 
 
 E'en as of late ^Egistheus must wed Atrides' wife 
 
 In Doom's despite, and must slay him returning home from the strife. 40 
 
 Though his end therefrom he wotted, and thereof we warned him plain, 
 
 Sending him Hermes withal, the keen-eyed Argus-bane,
 
 BOOK I. 3 
 
 Bidding him slay not the man, nor woo the wife to his bed. 
 ' For vengeance shall come from Orestes for the son of Atreus dead 
 When the child is waxen a man and longeth his land to win : ' 
 So spake Hermes, but nought prevailed with ^Egistheus herein, 
 Despite of his goodly counsel. But now for all hath he paid." 
 
 Therewith the Grey-eyed, the Goddess, Athene answered and said, 
 
 " O Father, O Son of Cronos, O Highest of all that is high I 
 
 In a doom and a death most fitting indeed that man doth lie, 50 
 
 And e'en so may all men perish such deeds as this who earn ! 
 
 But lo for the wise Odysseus as now my heart doth burn. 
 
 Luckless, aloof from his folk, long-lasting woe bears he 
 
 In an isle of the circling Ocean, and the navel of the Sea, 
 
 In an isle by trees grown over : in that house a Goddess dwells 
 
 Daughter of Atlas the baleful, who knoweth all ocean wells 
 
 Whereso they be, and moreover he holdeth in his hand 
 
 The long-wrought pillars that sunder the heavens from the earthly land. 
 
 There the hapless man in sorrow this Atlas' Daughter hoards 
 
 And his heart for ever wooeth with soft and wheedling words 60 
 
 That of Ithaca nought he may mind him ; but Odysseus longeth to see, 
 
 If it were but the smoke a-leaping from the land where he would be ; 
 
 And now he yearneth for death. Nor yet doth thy dear heart 
 
 Heed aught of this, Olympian. But Odysseus for his part 
 
 Wrought he not holy deeds, and gifts to give thee joy 
 
 By the side of the ships of the Argives before wide-spreading Troy ? 
 
 Then why doth thine anger O Zeus so sore against him drift ? " 
 
 But to her made answer Zeus, the Lord that driveth the lift : 
 " O thou my child ! what a word from the wall of thy teeth hath sped ! 
 How should I ever forget Odysseus' goodlihead ? 70 
 
 Whose mind overgoes all mortals, and hallowed gifts hath he given
 
 4 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 To the deathless folk of the Gods, the lords of the wide-spread heaven. 
 
 But Poseidon Girdler of Earth his anger will not slake 
 
 Because of the eye bereft, and the blinded Cyclops' sake, 
 
 Polyphemus great as a god, whose might is far before 
 
 All others of the Cyclops : but him Thoosa bore 
 
 Daughter of Phorcys, the lord of the untilled salt-sea plain; 
 
 For with Poseidon she lay in the hollow rocks of the main. 
 
 Now therefore the Shaker of Earth, though the man he will not slay, 
 
 From the father-land of his folk still driveth him ever to stray. 80 
 
 But come ! let us compass his ways, and bring his returning about, 
 
 So that at last Poseidon may let his wrath die out : 
 
 For nought is his might so mighty that one 'gainst all may strive, 
 
 E'en he alone contending with the Gods for ever alive." 
 
 Therewith the Grey-eyed, the Goddess, Athene took up the word. 
 
 " O Father, O Son of Cronos, O highest of every lord, 
 
 If the happy Gods of the heavens indeed of this are fain, 
 
 Of the wise Odysseus coming to his very home again, 
 
 Then speed we the Slayer of Argus, e'en Hermes the Flitter, to go 
 
 Unto the isle Ogygia, our steadfast will to show 90 
 
 To the fair-haired nymph Calypso as swiftly as he may : 
 
 E'en return for Odysseus the patient, and he straight to go on his way. 
 
 But for me unto Ithaca now shall I wend me, that I the more 
 
 May stir up the son to be keen, and his heart with stoutness store, 
 
 That he the long-haired Achaeans may call to a meeting day 
 
 To bid the Wooers forbear, even the men who slaughter and slay 
 
 His huddled sheep and his oxen, the shambling knock-kneed band; 
 
 And to Sparta will I send him and to Pylos of the sand, 
 
 To seek of his father's home-coming if tidings he may hear, 
 
 So that fair fame among folk and full goodly heTnay bear." 100
 
 BOOK I. 5 
 
 She spake, and under her feet the lovely shoes she tied, 
 Deathless and golden they are ; over the wet sea wide 
 And the boundless earth they waft her as the breath of the winds that pass. 
 Then she took the mighty spear, headed and sharp with brass, 
 Heavy and great and stubborn, wherewith the ranks of men 
 The Zeus-born Maiden quelleth, and angry is she then. 
 Down she glanced from the heights of Olympus, and stayed her in the land 
 And the isle of the Ithacan people : by Odysseus' door did she stand, 
 On the threshold of the forecourt, in her palm a brazen spear, 109 
 
 And the likeness of Mentes the stranger, the Taphian Chief did she bear. 
 There she found the high-souled Wooers, and there at the tables they played, 
 Before the doors of the homestead, and game and glee they made 
 As they sat on the hides of the oxen which they themselves had slain ; 
 And there with them were the heralds and the lads of service fain, 
 Who blent the wine with the water and bowls for the Wooers poured ; 
 And some with hole-pierced sponges made clean each feasting board, 
 And plenteous flesh were they shearing as the boards for the feast they laid. 
 
 But Telemachus the godlike he first beheld the maid ; 
 
 For he sat among the Wooers, his dear heart sore downcast, 
 
 And his mind beheld his father might he but come at last 120 
 
 And send those Wooers scattering about the homestead fair, 
 
 And gain his goods and his glory and be lord and master there. 
 
 Thus as he sat and pondered, on the Maid he set his eyes 
 
 And wended him straight to the fore-doors, and wrath in his soul did arise 
 
 That a guest in the door should be standing so long : so he drew anear 
 
 And took therewith her right-hand, and took the brazen spear, 
 
 And fell to speech moreover and set these words on the wing : 
 
 " Greeting, O guest, and welcome ! thou shalt tell us of the thing 
 
 Thou needest, e'en as it is, when thou hast tasted of meat"
 
 6 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 He led her on as he spake, and Pallas followed his feet; 130 
 
 But against a long-wrought pillar he set the spear that he bore 
 
 Within the well-sleeked spear-rack, wherein were many more 
 
 Of the spears of that Odysseus who bore so many an ill. 
 
 Then to a chair he brought her fair wrought with crafty skill, 
 
 And spread the linen thereunder, and the stool beneath her feet ; 
 
 And by her apart from the Wooers he set his painted seat, 
 
 For fear that the guest should be troubled by all the din and cry, 
 
 And should loathe his meat amid men so masterful and high ; 
 
 And withal of his father's straying he would ask if aught might be told. 
 
 Now a maid brought in the water in a ewer fair- wrought of gold, 140 
 And over the silver bowl for the washing of hands she poured, 
 And therewithal beside them set out the polished board. 
 Then a goodwife set before them the baken bread of wheat, 
 And of suchlike as was handy gave forth things good to eat. 
 Till the server upbore the trenchers of divers flesh and good, 
 And served it forth, and beside them the golden beakers stood ; 
 And to and fro went the herald and amidst them poured the wine. 
 
 Then in came the masterful Wooers, and in an ordered line 
 They sat them adown in the hall on noble bench and chair, 
 And over their hands the heralds poured forth the water fair. 150 
 
 In wicker maunds the handmaids fair wheaten bread piled up, 
 And the serving-lads were crowning with drink each bowl and cup. 
 So they stretched out their hands to the board and the meat that before 
 
 [them lay. 
 
 But when of meat and of drink they had worn the longing away, 
 The care of other matters in the Wooers' hearts had place ; 
 Yea even the song and the dance, the banquet's -glory and grace. 
 So in the hand of Phemius a harp the herald set,
 
 BOOK I. 7 
 
 Perforce he sang to the Wooers, and was their minstrel yet. 
 
 So his hands with the harp were dealing and he smote the song awake. 
 
 Now therewithal to the Grey-eyed a word Telemachus spake, 160 
 
 Holding his head to her head that the others might not hear : 
 
 "Dear guest, for the word that I speak what anger wilt thou bear? 
 
 Such men of such things have heed, the harp and the singing sweet, 
 
 Since the life and the goods of another all unavenged they eat, 
 
 Whose white bones somewhere are wasting in the mainland rain may be, 
 
 Or the billows roll them around and around in the salt of the sea, 
 
 And yet if they knew him returning to this Ithacan land on a day 
 
 Full surely each of these wooers for the speedy foot would pray 
 
 Rather than increase of gold and the gain of goodly weed. 
 
 He is dead by an evil doom, and for us is no cherishing rede; 170 
 
 Nay, not though perchance some man of the earth-dwelling folk should say 
 
 That he yet shall come again stark dead is his home-coming day. 
 
 But come now, tell me of this and speak to me closely herein, 
 
 From whence thou art of menfolk, and what is thy city and kin ? 
 
 In what manner of keel didst thou come ? What like did the seafarers fare 
 
 Who hither to Ithaca brought thee, and what gave they out that they were ? 
 
 Since afoot and aland, meseemeth, thou earnest to us not. 
 
 Tell all in truth and in deed, for clearly would I wot 
 
 If thou be a new-come guest, or the homestead's wonted friend ; 
 
 For many indeed were the strangers that would to usward wend ; 1 80 
 
 Since forsooth he would be dealing with many a manner of men." 
 
 But the Grey-eyed, the goddess Athene, thus spake and answered again : 
 
 " Yea of all shall I do thee to wit as clear as it may be done. 
 
 For know that I am Mentes, the wise Anchialus' son, 
 
 And lord am I of the Taphians, the lovers of the oar. 
 
 So with ship and with fellow-farers as now am I come to shore.
 
 8 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 But to men of alien speech I sail o'er the wine-dark sea 
 To Temesa seeking for brass, and bright iron I bear with me. 
 My ship afar from the city by field and acre rides 
 In the haven-stead of Reithron, neath the woody Neion's sides. 190 
 And surely each of each we are house-friends from of old. 
 Go now to the elder, Laertes, and e'en thus shalt thou be told 
 By the warrior ancient of days, who now no more doth go 
 To the city, but out in the acres wears through his weary woe, 
 And he with an hoary handmaid, who whiles before him lays 
 The meat and the drink for his solace, when toil on his body weighs, 
 As to and fro he creepeth where his fat land wine doth bear. 
 Now hither I came ; for they told me that thy father now was here 
 Amid his folk ; but it seemeth that the Gods his coming let. 
 Yet hath not Odysseus the godlike from the earth departed yet ; 200 
 Alive he is and hoarded, meseems, amidst of the deep, 
 In an isle by the sea begirdled ; hard men his body keep, 
 Fierce men, and him unwilling belike they hoard apart. 
 But somewhat will I foretell thee as the thing falls into my heart 
 How the end is doomed by the Deathless, and whitherward all shall go. 
 Though nought of a seer I be, nor the wisdom of fowl do I know. 
 For long now he shall not be lacking from the land of his fathers of old j 
 Yea e'en were he shackled with iron it should not his coming withhold ; 
 Somehow return shall he win him ; he is wise in many a gin. 
 But come and tell me of one thing, and clear be thy telling herein : 210 
 Thou fair, well waxen lad, art thou Odysseus' seed ? 
 For full like is thy head unto his and thine eyes are his indeed. 
 And often we twain together in speech and deed were blent, 
 Before unto Troy he fared in the days when the others went, 
 The blossom of the Argives, in the hollow ships of the sea. 
 But thenceforward nought have I seen him, nor ye hath he looked upon 
 
 [me.'
 
 BOOK I. 9 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful to speaking thus befell : 
 " O guest, exceeding clearly the story will I tell ; 
 My mother saith I am his ; but myself I know it not, 
 For no man of his father, meseemeth, can indeed and throughly wot. 
 But for me, O would that I were the child of some happy one, 221 
 Whom amidst his home and his havings old age should over-run : 
 Yet now since hereof thou askest, they say that I had my birth 
 From that most hapless man of all men that dwell on the earth." 
 
 Thereto the Grey-eyed, the goddess, Athene, answered again : 
 
 " No nameless line hereafter did the Gods for thee ordain, 
 
 When Penelope thy mother thus bore thee as thou art. 
 
 But what is this cheer and assembly, what therein is thy part ? 
 
 Is it a gild or a wedding ? No meeted meal can it be ; 
 
 For men that with pride are swollen, men masterful here I see 230 
 
 Throughout the homestead revelling ; hereto if a wise man came 
 
 Wroth would he be amongst them beholding many a shame." 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful thereto the answer gave : 
 
 " O guest, since hereof thou askest, and full answer thou wouldst have, 
 
 Time was when this house that thou seest was on a goodly road 
 
 Towards riches and great honour, while that man with his folk abode. 
 
 Now the Gods have otherwise willed it, and evil things they plan, 
 
 For more unseen have they made him than any son of man. 
 
 Yea I had known of him dead with no such grief and pain, 
 
 If he mid his battle-fellows mid the folk of Troy had been slain, 240 
 
 Or lay dead in the hands of his folk when the spindle of war he had wound, 
 
 For then would the host together, the Achaeans, have heaped his mound, 
 
 And great renown had he gotten for his son in the coming day ; 
 
 But now the Wights of the Whirlwind have snatched him fameless away. 
 
 He is gone unseen and unheard of, and hath left me lamenting and moan.
 
 io THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Nor withal amidst my sorrow must I wail for him alone. 
 
 For look you, in these our islands, as many as lord it o'er 
 
 Dulichium or Samos, or Zacynthus' woody shore, 
 
 Or in Ithaca the rocky the rule o'er the people bear, 
 
 All these are wooing my mother and our house they waste and wear. 250 
 
 And she the loathly wedding doth not utterly gainsay 
 
 Nor bring it to any ending, while my house they are eating away ; 
 
 And me at last will they come to and rend me utterly." 
 
 Then answered Pallas Athene, her anger swelling high : 
 
 " Out on it ! Sorely thou needest Odysseus wandering afar 
 
 To lay hand on these wasting Wooers as shameless as they are. 
 
 Lo now might he come to the house and there by the foredoor stand, 
 
 And he with helm and with shield and with two great spears in his hand ; 
 
 He even such as I saw him when he came to our house and our hall, 
 
 And there he sat at the drink, and was blithe and merry withal. 260 
 
 From Ephyra then was he faring, from Ilus that Mermerus' son, 
 
 For there in his fleet-faring ship o'er the sea had Odysseus gone, 
 
 And he sought for a deadly venom, and the bane of men would he have 
 
 For the smearing of brazen arrows, but this nowise Ilus gave, 
 
 Since he feared the Gods of heaven and the folk that never die. 
 
 But my father gave it him straight, for he loved him utterly. 
 
 Ah might he but deal with these Wooers e'en such as I know of his ways ; 
 
 Then bitter would be their wedding and speedy the doom of their days. 
 
 But whether he come back again, and in his hall built high 
 
 Avenge him of all; these things on the knees of the God they lie. 270 
 
 But thee, I bid thee consider, and seek till thou find a rede 
 
 Whereby from out of thine homestead these Wooers ye may speed. 
 
 Come now and hearken to me, and take heed unto my words ; 
 
 To-morrow unto the meeting thou shalt call the Achaean lords 
 
 And speak out the word before all men with the Gods to witness it,
 
 BOOK I. ii 
 
 Bidding the Wooers to scatter and home to their own to flit : 
 
 But thy mother, if in her heart for wedlock she doth yearn, 
 
 Then home to her father the mighty, to his house let her return. 
 
 And men will make her a wedding, and goodly and fair and great 
 
 Shall they dight the gifts of the wedding for a well-loved daughter meet. 
 
 But a rede will I set in thy heart if thou wilt hearken and heed : 281 
 
 Do thou dight thee a twenty-banked ship right good, and therewith speed 
 
 To ask tidings of thy father so long away from his home, 
 
 If a man of men may tell thee or from Zeus a word may come, 
 
 Who most of all to menfolk bears tidings of renown. 
 
 And first of the glorious Nestor ask thou in Pylos town ; 
 
 Then of tawny Menelaus when to Sparta thou hast come, 
 
 For of all brass-clad Achseans was he last to get him home. 
 
 Then if of thy father living and returning thou dost hear, 
 
 Thou may'st then outwear this wasting for yet another year ; 290 
 
 But if thou hear of him dead and no longer living on earth, 
 
 Then getting thee back to thy folk-land, the dear land of thy father's birth, 
 
 There heap up the howe, and be giving great gifts of the burial bed, 
 
 As great and as good as befitteth : but some man thy mother shall wed. 
 
 And when thou hast done all this and these things to the end hast wrought, 
 
 Then in thy heart and thy soul thou shalt hold and cherish the thought 
 
 What wise in thy very homestead these Wooers ye may slay, 
 
 Whether by guile it be done or straight out in the face of the day : 
 
 For thou of years so waxen childs' play befitteth no more. 
 
 Or hast thou not heard of the fame which the great Orestes bore 300 
 
 Amid all the folk of mankind, when he slew his father's bane 
 
 ^Egistheus the guileful of rede who his glorious sire had slain ? 
 
 And thou, dear heart, for both great and fair do I look on thee, 
 
 Be valiant and gather fair fame of the men who are going to be. 
 
 But now to my ship swift-faring must I get me aback at this tide 
 
 And unto my fellow-farers, who downcast my coming abide,
 
 12 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 But thou, be heedful of all and ponder the words I have said." 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful to her the answer sped : 
 " O guest, with words full friendly hast thou spoken with all goodwill 
 As a father speaks to a son, and I shall remember it still. 310 
 
 But come now, abide yet a little, although thou be pressed to depart, 
 Until well washen and merry, with all content in thy heart 
 Thou may'st wend to thy ship in joyance bearing a gift with thee, 
 Dear-bought, exceeding beauteous, an heirloom given by me, 
 Such as dear guests beloved will give for guests to take." 
 
 But therewithal the Goddess, grey-eyed Athene spake. 
 " Nay hoard me no longer as now, for I long for the road and the way, 
 And the gift that thy dear heart biddeth thou shalt give on another day ; 
 When I come again thou shalt give it, and home shall I bear it indeed 
 And thou bearing out things goodly shalt have goodly things for thy meed." 
 
 So spake the Grey-eyed Athene, and departed e'en as a fowl, 321 
 
 In an eagle-shape she flew ; but in the young man's soul 
 Stoutness and might had she planted, and ever more and more 
 He bethought him of his father ; so he turned these matters o'er 
 And his soul was fulfilled of wonder, for he deemed it a God to be. 
 So he got him back to the Wooers, and e'en as a God was he. 
 
 Now to these was the minstrel singing, and silent there they sat, 
 
 And hearkened the sad returning the Achaean war-host gat 
 
 From Troy-town, all the story of Pallas' heavy doom. 
 
 But the child of Icarius heard it from above in the upper room ; 330 
 
 Wise-heart Penelope hearkened and caught up the holy song : 
 
 Down then from the stair high-builded of her hou^e she cometh along, 
 
 But not alone, for behind her there follow maidens twain.
 
 BOOK I. 13 
 
 But when that Glory of Women the Wooers' band doth gain, 
 She standeth beside the door-post of that strong-builded stead, 
 Before her cheeks yet holding the gleaming gear of her head, 
 On each hand a heedful maiden beside her in the hall. 
 So to the glorious singer she speaketh, and weepeth withal : 
 
 " O Phemius, since for man's solace thou knowest full many a thing, 
 The deeds of men and of Godfolk, such fame as minstrels sing, 340 
 Sit, while they drink and are silent, and sing to them somewhat of these. 
 But from this woful rhyme, this lamenting, I bid thee to cease, 
 For the heart that is dear in my breast doth it ever waste and wear, 
 Since I, and I above all a ceaseless sorrow bear, 
 For so dear a head sore longing, remembering still the man 
 Whose fame was abroad in Hellas, and through mid Argos ran." 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful to her thus answered and spake : [make 
 " O mother, and why dost thou grudge it that the faithful minstrel should 
 Such glee as his heart would have him ? Nor lay we on singers sweet 
 This blame, but on Zeus let us lay it, he that to each doth mete, 350 
 Yea to each of men gainseeking such measure as he will. 
 Blame not the man though he singeth of the Danaans' doom of ill ; 
 For ever to men that hearken will minstrels make no doubt 
 To tell of the newest tidings, if such be floating about. 
 But the tale of such-like things thy soul must hear and abide, 
 For it was not only Odysseus that lost his returning-tide, 
 But by Troy-town moreover fell many another man. 
 But come now, go to thy bower, and deal with such things as ye can : 
 With the rock and the loom be busy, and thine handmaids order and teach, 
 That they speed the work and the weaving : but for men is the word and 
 the speech ; 360 
 
 For all, but for me the chiefest, for here am I the might and the power.'
 
 i 4 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 She wondered and back again she wended unto her bower, 
 
 And deep in her heart was she holding the heedful word he had said. 
 
 To her bower aloft was she gone with wife and with serving-maid ; 
 
 There she wept for her man beloved, for Odysseus, till at last 
 
 Sweet slumber and sleep on her eyelids Grey-eyed Athene cast 
 
 But again rose the din of the Wooers through the shadowy halls and wide, 
 
 And each and all were they longing to lie in the bed by her side. 
 
 Then Telemachus the heedful took up the word again : 
 
 " O Wooers of my mother, O measureless masterful men ! 370 
 
 Now speed we the feast in joyance, nor din of riot raise, 
 
 For lovely it is to be hearkening to such a minstrel's lays, 
 
 Whose speech is the voice of a God, so fair it is and fit. 
 
 But wend we all in the dawning and in assembly sit, 
 
 That there I may speak before you, and a downright word ye may hear : 
 
 To wit, from this house be ye wending, and seek your meat elsewhere, 
 
 Yourselves your own wealth eating from house to house in turn 1 
 
 But if it like you better, and if for the sweetness ye yearn 
 
 Of wasting another's life-store, and no atonement to pay, 
 
 Rejoice therein ! But for me to the Deathless Gods will I pray, 380 
 
 If for deed the deed's requital perchance from Zeus may come, 
 
 And unavenged shall ye perish one day in this house and home." 
 
 So spake, and all the Wooers they bit their lips in wrath, 
 
 And at Telemachus marvelled, so boldly spake he forth. , 
 
 But him Antinous answered, Eupeithes' son was he : 
 
 " Telemachus, the Godfolk are surely teaching thee 
 
 To speak out high and haughty, and put forth the daring word ? 
 
 So may the son of Cronos ne'er make thee king and lord 
 
 O'er Ithaca the seagirt the heirloom that ye take."^
 
 BOOK I. 15 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful these words in answer spake : 390 
 
 " Antinous, art thou angry with the shapen word of my voice ? 
 
 This thing, if of Zeus it were given, I should take it and rejoice ; 
 
 Or of all that befalleth manfolk dost thou deem it the evillest thing ? 
 
 For look you, I deem it no evil to become a lord and a king, 
 
 For in wealth his house is waxen and most glorious doth he grow. 
 
 But many a King of Achseans meseems there is e'en now 
 
 In Ithaca the seagirt, both young and old ; and one 
 
 Amidst these may chance on the lordship since Odysseus' days are done. 
 
 But o'er this my house and my war-thralls will I verily be the king, 
 
 E'en they that Odysseus gat me in his gainful warfaring." 400 
 
 Then Eurymachus, Polybus' child, thus answering, spake on high : 
 " Telemachus, as for this thing on the knees of the Gods doth it lie, 
 Which man shall be King of Achaeans in Ithaca girt by the sea ; [be : 
 And surely thine own shalt thou have, and King in thine house shalt thou 
 And ne'er may the man come hither to force thee against thy will, 
 And wrest thy wealth from thine hand while men live in Ithaca still. 
 But now, O friend, would I ask thee of the guest that dealt with thee, 
 Whence was the man among menfolk? Of what land did he boast him to be? 
 What was the earth that begat him and the fields of his father's land ? 
 Came he with tidings and message that thy father is nigh unto hand ? 410 
 Or seeking some need of his own thus wise has he hitherward hied ? 
 But he leapt up and straightway was gone, nor here to be known would abide, 
 And yet by his mien and his visage was he nowise one of the base." 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful thus answered to the case : 
 " Eurymachus, gone is the day of my father's coming home, 
 Nor yet would I trust a message if from anywhere any should come. 
 Nor would I heed foretelling if perchance my mother should bring 
 Some wizard unto the homestead to ask him of the thing.
 
 1 6 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 But as for my guest, e'en Mentes he gave himself out for to be, 
 
 The wise Anchialus' son, from Taphos of the sea ; 420 
 
 And he lordeth it over the Taphians the lovers of the oar." 
 
 So spake he ; but certain knowledge of the Deathless Goddess he bore. 
 But they, they gat to the dance, and the lovesome song's delight, 
 And there they abode in joyance the coming on of night ; 
 And as they rejoiced and were merry, was the dark night on them come, 
 And they went each one to his place to slumber and sleep at home. 
 
 But Telemachus went to his chamber high-built in a far-looking stead, 
 
 Of the house exceeding beauteous, and there he came to his bed, 
 
 While many things in his mind was he heedfully turning o'er. 
 
 But the burning brand for his lighting a trusty woman bore, 430 
 
 Euryclea, daughter of Ops, that was Pisenor's seed ; 
 
 But her with his wealth and his treasure had Laertes bought indeed 
 
 In the very bloom of her youth, and twenty beeves was her price ; 
 
 And he honoured her in the house as his wife the prudent and wise. 
 
 But abed he lay not with her, for the wrath of his wife did he fear. 
 
 So she bore the brands a-flaming, and of all the handmaids there 
 
 She loved him the most, and had nursed him while yet but a babe was he. 
 
 So he opened the door of the chamber wrought well and heedfully, 
 
 And sat him down on the bed, and put off his dainty weed 
 
 And gave it unto the goodwife, to the hands of the heedful of rede : 440 
 
 And she folded up the garment and smoothed it out with care, 
 
 And hung it up on a pin by the jointed bedstead fair. 
 
 Then forth from the chamber she wended, and the door thereof pulled to 
 
 By the handle-ring of silver, and the bolt with a thong she drew. 
 
 There night long well enfolded in the flower of the fleece he lay 
 And pondered the word of Athene and the Goddess-bidden way.
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 THE MEETING OF FOLK IN ITHACA : THE MASTERFUL AND PROUD WORDS 
 OF THE WOOERS. ZEUS SENDS A TOKEN. TELEMACHUS TAKES SHIP 
 FOR PYLOS. 
 
 NOW when the Mother of Daydawn, the Ruddy-fingered, shone, 
 From the bed he gat him straightway, Odysseus' well-loved son. 
 He clad him, and over his shoulders the sword he cast around, 
 And under his sleek-skinned feet the sandals fair he bound. 
 And forth he went from the chamber and e'en as a God was he made. 
 
 But therewithal the heralds, the shrilly-voiced, he bade 
 
 The long haired lords Acha;an to the meeting-place to cry ; 
 
 And the cry went forth, and the people came thronging speedily. 
 
 But when they were gathered and thronging, to the Meeting did he fare, 
 
 And as he went, in his right hand he held a bra/en spear. 10 
 
 Nor went he alone, for behind him two swift hounds followed his feet, 
 
 And great measure of grace and glory did Athene to him mete. 
 
 So there as he sat amongst them all folk beheld his face, 
 
 And he sat in his father's high-seat, for the elders gave him place. 
 
 But first the lord ^Egyptius the speech to the folk upheld ; 
 
 Of ten thousand things was he learned, and sore was he bowed with eld. 
 
 But his son the well-beloved, with Odysseus gone had he 
 
 c
 
 i8 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Unto Ilios nurse of horses in the hollow ships of the sea : 
 
 He was Antiphus the warfain : the wild Cyclops slew him outright, 
 
 In the hollow place of the mountain, for his latest supper dight. 20 
 
 There were three more sons of the elder ; one went in the Wooers' band, 
 
 Eurynomus men called him ; but two laboured his father's land. 
 
 Yet the lost he forgat in nowise, but mourned and lamented him sore ; 
 
 And for him e'en now was he weeping as these words to the folk he upbore : 
 
 " O men of Ithaca, hearken to the words that I shall say : 
 Our Meeting hath not been holden, nor our sitting since the day 
 When forth in the hollow ships did the great Odysseus speed. [need, 
 And who now hath summoned us thuswise ? on whom hath fallen such 
 Whether he be of the younglings or of those who are elder of days ? 
 Hath he perchance heard tidings of the war-host wending its ways, 30 
 Whereof he may speak to us clearly, since first to his ears it came ? 
 Or what else to all folk common hath he got to tell out and proclaim ? 
 But good unto me he seemeth ; fair fall his luck from henceforth ! 
 May Zeus to a good end bring it, the thing that he deemeth of worth !" 
 
 So he spake : the loved son of Odysseus of his words' betokening was fain. 
 And he sat but a little longer, for he yearned the speech to- gain. 
 So he stood amidst of the Meeting, and took the staff in his hand ; 
 The Herald Pisenor gave it, for due things did he understand. 
 So he to the elder turned him and these words withal he said : 
 
 " Old man, he is nowise afar that this gathering of people hath made, 40 
 And soon shalt thou know him thyself; for to me is the great grief come, 
 Though neither have I heard tidings of the war-host wending home, 
 Nor yet may I speak it out clearly, as the first that hath heard of its fame : 
 Nor aught else to all folk common have I got to tell out and proclaim ; 
 But on me myself is the need ; in my house is the evil thing,
 
 BOOK II. 19 
 
 Twofold : I have lost my father, a great man, whiles the king 
 
 Of us here gathered together ; and fatherly mild was his sway. 
 
 But behind lies a harm far greater, which will hurry us all to decay, 
 
 And break up house and home, and waste all the store of my life. 49 
 
 For Wooers are hard on my mother, and she loth, to be lady and wife. 
 
 And these are the sons beloved of the noblest men that are here. 
 
 To the house of her father Icarius they durst not draw anear, 
 
 That he may give his daughter and the wedding gift receive, 
 
 And may give her to whom he willeth and the man to him most lieve ; 
 
 But now are they hanging about my homestead day by day, 
 
 And there my sheep and my oxen and my fatted goats they slay, 
 
 And feast in wanton riot as they drink the gleaming wine. 
 
 And huge is the wrack and the wasting ; for in that house of mine 
 
 Is none such as was Odysseus the house from wrack to defend : 
 
 And at least nought such am I : yea, belike to the very end 60 
 
 I shall be but a pitiful warrior, and no crafty man in fight. 
 
 Yet indeed from this I would ward me, if I had but craft and might : 
 
 For we bear, but may bear it no longer, for now without glory or fame 
 
 My house and my home is falling ; but ye, on yourselves take blame, 
 
 And have shamefast heed of others, the men that neighbours be, 
 
 That dwell about and around us ; and the wrath of the Gods fear ye, 
 
 Lest at last they turn upon you in wrath at your evil deeds. 
 
 But I pray you by Zeus of Olympus, and by Themis' head who heeds 
 
 The meetings of all men-folk to gather or let go, 
 
 Refrain your hands, and leave me to waste alone in my woe. 70 
 
 Unless it be that my father Odysseus the glorious one, [done : 
 
 Hath grudged 'gainst the well-greaved Achaeans, and some evil to them 
 
 Then grudge against me, and avenge you, and wreak me evil amain, 
 
 And be egging on these Wasters ! But more would be my gain 
 
 If all ye yourselves would be wasting my treasure and my fee. 
 
 For if ye to its eating betake you, then speedy atonement should be,
 
 20 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 For we through the town would be wending and hugging the word of our 
 And still for our goods beseeching, till all should be given aback, [lack, 
 But now a bootless grievance on my heart and my soul ye thrust." 
 
 So spake he full of anger, and threw down the staff in the dust, 80 
 
 And broke out into weeping, and the whole folk pitied him there, 
 And all others sat in silence, neither did any dare 
 To speak hard words to the youngling, nor any answer they made ; 
 None save Antinous only, who thuswise answered and said : 
 
 " High spoken, unbridled of mood ! Telemachus, what dost thou say 
 
 To bring us to shame among men, and the scorn on our heads to lay ! 
 
 But for these Achaean Wooers, herein thou shalt blame them not ; 
 
 But rather thy mother beloved who of many a wile doth wot : 
 
 Three years have worn away, and the fourth is now on the road, 
 
 While the hearts of all the Achaeans with trouble she doth load. 90 
 
 Fair hope unto all she giveth, and promiseth every one, 
 
 And many a message she sendeth, while her heart doth otherwise run ; 
 
 And another wile she pondered, that her heart was bringing to birth. 
 
 Within the house of her homestead hath she dight her a warp of worth, 
 
 Fine and far-reaching of measure, and thus unto us hath she said : 
 
 ' O younglings, O wooers of mine, since the goodly Odysseus is dead, 
 
 Withhold you from urging my wedding till this web to an end I have brought, 
 
 Lest the yarn have been spun in vain and perish and come to nought. 
 
 'Tis a shroud for the lord Laertes against his doom-day strong 
 
 And the tide when Death shall seize him, that layeth men along : 100 
 
 Lest from the Achaean women this blame upon me hap, 
 
 There lieth a man that was wealthy, and he lacketh a linen lap.' 
 
 " So she spake and we gave consent, and our -noble hearts did she sway, 
 And that web of worth thenceforward she was weaving ever by day,
 
 BOOK II. 21 
 
 And ever by night would undo it when the torches were set beside. 
 
 Three years she beguiled the Achosans, and the thing by craft did hide ; 
 
 But when come was the fourth of the years, and season on season rolled, 
 
 Then one of her women who knew it the story to us told, 
 
 And we found her there undoing that worthy web of cloth, 
 
 And so to an end must she bring it perforce and exceeding loth. no 
 
 " But for thee, lo we the Wooers this answer to thee show, 
 
 That thou in thy soul may'st know it, and that all the folk may know. 
 
 Send thou thy mother away, and bid her a wedding to gain 
 
 With whomso her father willeth, of whomso her heart may be fain. 
 
 But if the Achaean children she troubleth so long a space, 
 
 Still turning about in her mind the great gifts of Athene's grace, 
 
 All the cunning of works most beauteous and crafty redes and fair, 
 
 And gainful wiles so goodly that the like no man may hear, 
 
 Nay not e'en of the fairhaired women of the old days of renown, 
 
 As Tyro and Alcmene, and Mycene of the crown : 120 
 
 Not one of these in her wisdom as Penelope was wise. 
 
 Yet this rede of hers hath she compassed in no such happy guise, 
 
 For the Wooers shall eat thy life-store and waste thy treasury, 
 
 While yet this mind she holdeth which the Gods who live on high 
 
 Have set in her breast : for herself she wins glory great and good, 
 
 But for thee but sorrowful longing for thy wasted livelihood ; 
 
 For neither to labour our lands nor elsewhere will we depart 
 
 Till she weds that man of Achaeans who is lief and dear to her heart." 
 
 Then Telemachus the heedful thus answered and gan say ; 
 
 "Antinous, nought is it in me to thrust from my house away 130 
 
 The woman that bore me and reared me, while aloof in other lands 
 
 My father is living or dead : ill too to pay from my hands 
 
 Great wealth to Icarius her father, for that willing I send her home :
 
 22 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 All ill from him shall I suffer ; from the Gods too evil shall come 
 
 When my mother cries on the Hateful, the Wreakers, as forth from the hall 
 
 She fareth ; and blame moreover on me from men should fall. 
 
 No, never this word that ye bid me shall mouth of mine proclaim. 
 
 But if the soul within you of these things thinketh shame, 
 
 Then forth from my house be wending your meat elsewhere to earn, 
 
 Yourselves your own wealth eating from house to house in turn. 140 
 
 But if sweeter to you it seemeth, and by far the better way, 
 
 To eat up the life of another and no atonement pay, 
 
 Rejoice therein ! But for me, on the Deathless Gods will I call 
 
 If for deed the deed's requital perchance from Zeus may fall, 
 
 And all unavenged hereafter in my house and home shall ye die." 
 
 So he spake ; but Zeus the Farseer sent him two ernes to fly 
 Adown from the tops of the mountains that Meeting-stead to find. 
 And they twain for awhile came flying along the breath of the wind 
 With their wings outstretched together, as side by side they flew. 
 But when to the midmost Assembly, the many-voiced, they drew, 150 
 They whirled about thereover, and flapped their mighty wings, 
 And looked o'er the heads of all men betokening deadly things ; 
 For each other, cheek and neck, they rent with their talons, and then 
 Rightward they shot through the houses, and the city of those men. 
 
 So at the fowl men marvelled, for they saw the sight as it was ; 
 
 And they pondered it all in their minds what things were coming to pass. 
 
 But then spake Halitherses, the old lord, Master's son : 
 
 For of all that generation he outwent every one 
 
 In the lore of fowl, and of telling how things foredoomed shall fall. 
 
 So now of his goodwill he spake, and he said before them all : 160 
 
 " Hearken, O Ithacan men, to the word I am going to say !
 
 BOOK II. 23 
 
 And chiefly I speak to the Wooers and a word before them lay : 
 
 For their bane is rolling upon them. For not much longer now 
 
 Shall Odysseus be far from his friends ; he draws near, and he fashions to 
 
 The slaughter and the death-doom of all who are gathered here ; [grow 
 
 And to many another who dwelleth in Ithaca shining out clear 
 
 Is death and the evil fashioned. But before we get our bane 
 
 Let us look to it how we may stay them ; or themselves let them refrain. 
 
 For so shall it all be better, as men shall speedily see ; 
 
 Nor untried am I in foretelling, but well knowing the thing that shall be. 
 
 For I say that unto that man all verily came to pass 171 
 
 In that very wise I foretold it, when to Troy the faring was ; 
 
 When the Argives went, and with them Odysseus of many a rede : 
 
 To wit, that with evil laden and his folk all dead indeed, 
 
 At last unknown of all men within the twentieth year 
 
 He should come to his home and his people : and now the end draws 
 
 [near." 
 
 But Eurymachus, Polybus' son, thus answering, spake on high : 
 " Old man, get thee back to thine house, to thine own babes prophesy, 
 Lest they suffer evil hereafter. Forsooth I tell thee now, 
 That I of these things am foretelling in a better wise than thou. 180 
 For many a manner of fowl goeth to and fro forsooth 
 Beneath the beams of the sun, nor do all tell fateful truth. 
 Far off is Odysseus and dead ; and I would thou hadst perished as well; 
 Then no words wouldst thou be making of fateful betokening to tell, 
 Or be egging Telemachus here, who is ever as wroth as may be, 
 Expecting a gift from thine household if perchance he may give it thee. 
 But a thing I do thee to wit, and surely shall it be done 
 If thou, who knowest so much, and such ancient lore, egg on 
 A youngling unto anger with these wheedling words of thee. 
 Then first of all unto him more grievous will it be, 190 
 
 And by means of these moreover no prevailing may he get,
 
 24 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And on thee a fine shall we lay, old man, that thy soul shall fret 
 
 When thou payest the same unto us ; and for thee hard sorrow shall grow. 
 
 But unto Telemachus here, amidst all the road will I show : 
 
 Let him straightway bid his mother to her father's house to fare 
 
 And there will men dight her a wedding, and the wedding gift outbear, 
 
 Great gifts, such as well-loved daughters have with them on the way. 
 
 Nor deem I ere this be accomplished that we sons of Achseans will stay 
 
 Our eager grievous wooing ; for never a man do we dread, 
 
 Nay, not Telemachus even, though plenteous speech he shed ; 200 
 
 Nor heed we the fateful tokens which thou, old man and hoar, 
 
 Wilt thus be babbling vainly and thereby be hated more. 
 
 But his wealth shall be evilly eaten, and bootless shall be the waste, 
 
 While the woman wears out the wedding that we Achasans would haste. 
 
 Here too from day unto day will all we abide the end, 
 
 And each strive to win her glory, nor with other women will wend, 
 
 E'en such as were verily meet for each of us Wooers to wed." 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful thereto made answer and said : 
 " Eurymachus, thou, and ye Wooers high-born who are here in the place, 
 No more will I speak hereover, nor beseech you more in the case; 210 
 Since now the Gods know it all, and all the Achaeans know. 
 But come now, give me a ship, and a score of fellows to row, 
 E'en such as may speed my ways from here to there of the land ; 
 For to Sparta would I get me, and to Pylos of the sand, 
 To ask tidings of my father so long away from home, 
 If a man of men may tell me, or from Zeus a word may come, 
 Who most of all to men-folk bears tidings of renown. 
 But if of my father's life-days and returning I am shown 
 Then may I endure this wasting for yet another year. 
 But if he is gene from the earth, and of nought Uut his death I hear, 220 
 Then getting me back to my folk-land, the dear earth where the fathers were 
 
 [bred,
 
 BOOK II. 25 
 
 Shall I heap up his howe, and be giving great gifts of the burial bed, 
 As meet as may be ; but my mother will I give to a man among men." 
 
 So he spake and sat him adown ; but to them rose Mentor then, 
 The friend of the glorious Odysseus, who had given into his hand 
 The charge of his house and his homestead when in ships he left the land, 
 And all to obey the elder as the steadfast warder of all : 
 Well-willing he spake amidst them, and such words from his mouth let fall : 
 
 " Hearken, O Ithacan men, to the word I am going to speak ! 
 
 Let no sceptred king henceforward be kindly and blithe and meek, 230 
 
 Nor practised in seemly knowledge befitting the mind of kings ! 
 
 But let him be hard and cruel to do unseemly things ! 
 
 Since no man of the people remembereth the goodly Odysseus to-day, 
 
 The man who was king amongst us, and fatherly mild was his sway. 
 
 But for these same wanton Wooers, forsooth I envy them not, 
 
 Nor begrudge the masterful doings that with evil mind they plot. 
 
 For whereas the house of Odysseus perforce a prey they make 
 
 And say ' no more he returneth,' their very heads they stake. 
 
 But with all this folk am I angry, that in silence sit ye all 
 
 And have no heart on these Wooers with words at least to fall, 240 
 
 And make them cease from troubling : ye are many and they are few." 
 
 But Leocritus, son of Evenor, he answered thereunto : 
 
 " O baneful, O wit-straying Mentor, what a word hath come from thee ! 
 
 That thou biddest these men to stay us ; and forsooth full hard shall it be, 
 
 Even for you, the many, from our meat to drive us with war : 
 
 Yea, e'en if the Ithacan came, if Odysseus were come once more, 
 
 All hot of heart to be doing and forth from his house to drive 
 
 The noble Wooers, that feasting about his homestead live, 
 
 Yet scarce should his wife be rejoicing, though she long for his coming sore:
 
 26 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 For foul doom would he draw upon him if he battle the few with the more. 
 So against due doom hast thou spoken, and thy word is nowise good. 
 But now let the people sunder, each one to his livelihood ; 252 
 
 But let Mentor or Halitherses for the youngling speed the way, 
 For they were his father's fellows of old time in the earlier day. 
 And yet meseemeth indeed that in Ithaca long will he sit, 
 And as for this his way fare, he will never accomplish it" 
 
 So went his voice abroad, and the Meeting was broken withal, 
 
 And the folk therefrom they sundered, and each went to his house and his 
 
 And into the house of Odysseus went the Wooers presently. [hall. 
 
 But Telemachus, getting him gone apart by the side of the sea, 260 
 His hands in the grey wave washed, and besought Athene and said : 
 " Hearken to me, thou Holy, who yesterday came to our stead 
 Bidding me fare in a ship o'er the shadow-haunted main, 
 Of my far-off father's return some tidings to gather and gain, 
 Lo, this thy rede and thy bidding the Achaeans hinder and let, 
 Yea, these the masterful Wooers on evil counsel set." 
 
 E'en so he spake beseeching ; and Athene drew anear 
 
 In the shape of Mentor's body ; and her voice was his to hear 
 
 As the Goddess spake to himward, and set these words on the wing : 
 
 " Telemachus, now shalt thou be no foolish faintheart thing. 270 
 
 If of thy father's good-heart in thee hath sprung the seed, 
 
 Such a man for the word well-spoken, and fulfilment of the deed, 
 
 Not in vain shall be thy faring, nor thy going forth be undone. 
 
 But if of Penelope fair and of him thou be no son, 
 
 Then nought is my hope hereover that thou bring about thy desire. 
 
 Though not oft is the son meseemeth e'en such an one as his sire.
 
 BOOK II. 27 
 
 Worser they be for the more part, and a few may be better forsooth. 
 
 But since thou shalt be henceforward no foolish, faintheart youth, 
 
 And the wise redes of Odysseus have not utterly gone from thee, 
 
 So there is hope for thee yet that thou make this matter to be. 280 
 
 Heed not these Wooers the witless, nor their purpose nor their rede, 
 
 Since nought have they wit and wisdom, nor of righteousness have heed; 
 
 And of death are they wotting nothing, and their black doom drawing 
 
 That all these men together on one day shall they die. [anigh, 
 
 But this journey for which thou longest, it shall nowise letted be ; 
 
 For I, thy father's fellow, will be such an one for thee 
 
 As will dight thee a ship full speedy, and myself with thee will fare. 
 
 But get thee aback to the homestead and consort with the Wooers there, 
 
 And furnish forth thy victual ; set all things in their vessels then ; 
 
 The wine in pitchers befitting, and meal the marrow of men 290 
 
 In skins that are nothing leaky. But I through the folk will go 
 
 And gather thee fellows well-willing. But for ships there are many enow, 
 
 Both new, and old and wayworn, in Ithaca girt by the flood, 
 
 And I will see unto it if one may be better than good, 
 
 And in haste then will we dight her and sail the sea-plain wide." 
 
 So spake the daughter of Zeus ; nor long did Telemachus bide 
 When the voice and the words of counsel of the Goddess he had heard, 
 But he went his ways to the homestead and heavy of heart he fared. 
 There then in the palace he found them, the masterful Wooers a-playing, 
 And there were they singeing the swine, and the goats in the fore-court 
 But unto Telemachus laughing came Antinous the lord, [flaying. 
 
 And took him straight by the hand, and named him and spake out the 
 
 [word : 
 
 " Telemachus, high-flown of speech, unbridled of wrath, from thy heart 
 Let all thought of the deed of evil and the wicked word depart, 
 And be eating and drinking amongst us as it was thy wont to do,
 
 a8 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 But all these matters of thine the Achseans will look thereto, 
 
 E'en the ship and the chosen rowers, that the swiftlier thou may'st fare 
 
 To the glorious goodly Pylos, some tale of thy father to hear." 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful thus spake and answered again : 
 
 " Antinous, not any longer with this band of masterful men 310 
 
 May I eat my meat in silence and be merry and at peace. 
 
 Is it not enough, O Wooers, that ye would shear me and fleece 
 
 Of my havings great and goodly, and a speechless babe was I then? 
 
 But now am I grown unto manhood, and I hear the speech of men, 
 
 And I know the tale ; and within me my mood is waxen indeed, 
 
 And I will try it upon you the evil doom to speed, 
 
 Whether I fare into Pylos, or here mid the folk may be ; 
 
 For not in vain meseemeth shall be that road o'er the sea. 
 
 As a merchant I go ; for no master am I of rowers or keel, 
 
 For even so would ye have it as more gainful to your weal." 320 
 
 He spake : from Antinous' hand his hand he snatched forthright : 
 
 And there as about the homestead the feast the Wooers dight 
 
 They cast the jeers upon him, and spake with mocking words, 
 
 And thus would a man be saying of those young and proud-heart lords : 
 
 " Lo now Telemachus surely is compassing our bane, 
 
 If he from sandy Pylos some help of men may gain, 
 
 Or it may be out of Sparta, so sore he longs for the thing ; 
 
 Or belike unto Ephyra would he, that he therefrom may bring 
 
 Some drug that man's bane winneth from the fatness of the land, 
 
 And into our cup would he cast it, that all we may die at his hand." 330 
 
 Then another of those proud younglings would speak and say e'en so : 
 " But who knoweth if he betake him on the hollow ship to go 
 But he shall die as Odysseus far off from any friend ?
 
 BOOK II. 29 
 
 And therewith a toil and a trouble on us the man shall send, 
 
 The dealing out of his treasure, and the giving of his stead 
 
 To his mother, that she may have it, and the man who the woman shall wed." 
 
 So they spake ; but down he wended to his father's treasury, 
 
 High-ceiled and vast, where in heaps did the gold and the copper lie, 
 
 And the raiment in the coffers, and well-smelling oil good store. 
 
 And there within stood the casks ; sweet drinking, pressed from of yore, 
 
 Unblended, glorious, and good was the drink within the same ; 341 
 
 Orderly ranged by the wall they stood till Odysseus came, 
 
 Full many a woe outwearing returning home to his house. 
 
 Thereto were the folding-doors, two-leaved and fitting close, 
 
 And there by day and by night-tide a housewife abode apart, 
 
 All things therein well warding in the wisdom of her heart ; 
 
 Euryclea daughter of Ops, Pisenor's son, was she. 
 
 Her then Telemachus hailed and called to the Treasury : 
 
 " Dame, draw me off into pitchers the wine that is sweet in the cup, 
 
 The sweetest of all that thou hast after that which thou hoardest up 350 
 
 Mindful of him the hapless, if yet from anywhere 
 
 Odysseus, seed of Zeus, from the death and the doom may fare. 
 
 Thereof now fill me twelve, and to each its due lid deal, 
 
 And into the well-sewn wallets pour me the barley meal ; 
 
 And twenty measures in all of well-ground meal let there be. 
 
 And do thou alone know this ; and gather these things for me, 
 
 And I at the nightfall will fetch them, what time my mother is sped 
 
 Aloft to the woman's bower, and her mind is turning to bed : 
 
 For unto Sparta as now, and to sandy Pylos I fare, 
 
 If perchance of my father beloved returning home I may hear." 360 
 
 Then his loved nurse Euryclea straightway into wailing brake,
 
 30 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And therewithal sore weeping these winged words she spake : 
 " Wherefore, O child beloved, hath this thought in thy soul had birth ? 
 And whither wilt thou be faring o'er so great a deal of the earth ? 
 Thou lonely, thou well-beloved ! And Odysseus, the God-begot, 
 Afar from his land hath perished mid a folk that knoweth him not 
 And when thou art gone, these Wooers will devise thee evil to come, 
 What wise with guile they may slay thee and deal out the goods of thine 
 Bide here ! by thine own be sitting ! what needest thou to go [home. 
 And over the untilled sea-plain to wander bearing thy woe ? " 370 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful the answering word did speed ; 
 
 " Heart up, O mother ! for surely nought godless is my rede, 
 
 But make oath no word hereover to say to my mother dear 
 
 Until the eleventh day, or the twelfth at least, be here ; 
 
 Or till she herself shall miss me, and shall learn that I wander afar, 
 
 Lest she with grief and weeping her lovely body mar." 
 
 Then a great oath swore the old wife by the Gods to speak to none : 
 And so when she had sworn it and all the oath had done, 
 Then straightway into the pitchers for him the wine she drew, 
 And into the well-sewn wallets the barley-meal did do. 380 
 
 But Telemachus hied to the homestead and again with the Wooers was 
 
 [blent. 
 
 But the Goddess, the Grey-eyed Athene, on other errand went, 
 For in Telemachus' likeness she sped the city through 
 And stood by each of the shipmen, and spake a word thereto, 
 That unto the ship at nightfall they should gather every one ; 
 Moreover of Noemon, who was Phronius' famous son, 
 She craved a ship ; and blithely gave he promise of the same. 
 
 And now the sun sank under, and on all ways darkness came.
 
 BOOK II. 31 
 
 Then she let shove the swift ship seaward, and therein stow all the gear, 
 E'en such as is well-befitting for well-benched ships to bear, 390 
 
 By the haven's head she moored her, and there were gathered the crew, 
 The goodly lads, and the Goddess cheered each to dare and do. 
 
 But the Goddess, the Grey-eyed Athene, of other things had heed, 
 And unto the house of Odysseus the goodly did she speed : 
 There heavy sweet o'er the Wooers the slumber and sleep she shed, 
 From their hands fell the cups of the Wooers and their souls astray she led. 
 Till they roused them to sleep through the town ; no longer they delayed 
 To sit, now the slumber was on them and the sleep on their eyelids weighed. 
 
 But now the Grey-eyed Athene to Telemachus spake again, 
 
 Having called him forth from the halls and the fair habitation of men, 
 
 In the shape of Mentor's body, and her voice as his voice to hear : 401 
 
 " Telemachus, now already are thy well-greaved fellows there, 
 
 By the oars they sit abiding till thou speed them forth on the way : 
 
 Come now, the road and the journey no longer let us delay." 
 
 So spake Pallas Athene, and swiftly forth she led, 
 
 And hard on the feet of the Goddess his footsteps forth he sped ; 
 
 But when they were come to the ship and down to the side of the sea, 
 
 They found upon the foreshore the long-haired company. 
 
 Then the holy might of the youngling, Telemachus, spake and said : 
 
 " Hither now with the meal, fair fellows, for together all is laid, 410 
 
 And in the hall abideth ; nor thereof hath my mother heard, 
 
 Nor hath any maid of the handmaids, save one, known any word." 
 
 He spake and led them thither, and they followed hard at heel, 
 And they brought forth all and laid it within the well-benched keel, 
 E'en so as they had been bidden by Odysseus' well-loved son.
 
 32 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Then Telemachus went a ship-board, but Athene led him on, 
 
 And she sat, and Telemachus by her, in the hinder part of the ship, 
 
 And therewithal the shipmen, they let the hawsers slip, 
 
 And they also went a shipboard, and sat on the benches there ; 
 
 But Grey-eyed Athene sped them a happy wind and fair, 420 
 
 The north-west piping keenly across the wine-dark sea. 
 
 But Telemachus bade his fellows, and egged them busily, 
 
 To gear their tackling duly, and they hearkened and so did ; 
 
 For into the mid-thwart's hollow the pine-tree mast they slid 
 
 When up aloft they had raised it ; then with forestays it they stayed, 
 
 And hauled the white sails upward with ox-hide ropes well laid. 
 
 With the wind the mid-sail bellied and the purple wave began 
 
 To roar out aloud round the keel, as forth the good ship ran : 
 
 So, her road and her way fair speeding, through the waters did she slip. 
 
 But they made fast all the tackling throughout the swift black ship, 430 
 And they set the bowls of wine all garlanded about, 
 And poured thereof to the Godfolk whose lives shall never die out, 
 And in chief to the daughter of Zeus, the Goddess, the Grey-eyed May. 
 
 So all through the night and the dawning the good ship cleft her way.
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 TELEMACHUS SAILS TO PYLOS, AND THERE SEES NESTOR, WHO TELLS HIM 
 OF AGAMEMNON AND MENELAUS, AND SENDS HIM ON TO SPARTA IX 
 THE COMPANY OF PISISTRATUS HIS SON. 
 
 N" OW uprose the Sun, and leaving the exceeding lovely mere 
 Fared up to the brazen heaven, to the Deathless shining clear, 
 And unto deathful men on the corn-kind earth that dwell. 
 But they came to the Burg of Neleus, e'en Pylos builded well, 
 And there on the shore of the sea-flood deeds holy did men do ; 
 To the dark-blue haired Earth-shaker bulls spotless black they slew. 
 Nine seats of men there were, and five hundred sat in each band, 
 And for every band of the men nine bulls were held in hand ; 
 And now were they tasting the inwards, and toGodwere burning the thigh, 
 When those fellows ran on the beach and brailed the sails on high, 10 
 And moored the shapely ship and went thenceforth ashore. 
 So aland was Telemachus wending, and Athene went before ; 
 And thus as they went, to him-ward the speech of the Grey-eyed came : 
 
 "Telemachus, thee it bchoveth no longer, the sin inking and shame, 
 Since for this hast thou sailed the sea flood, that tidings thou might'st get 
 Of thy father, what earth may hide him, or what is the doom he hath met 
 So go thou straight unto Nestor, the tamer of the steed, 
 That we learn what his bosom hoardeth of good and helpful rede. 
 But do thou thyself beseech him that he speak straight words to thce ;
 
 34 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 For no lying speech will he make us, so exceeding wise is he." 20 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful in answer spake the word : 
 
 " What wise shall I go, O Mentor? what wise shall I greet the lord ? 
 
 For as yet in all words of wisdom am I untried and weak ; 
 
 And well may a youngling be shamefaced, if speech of an elder he seek." 
 
 But the Goddess, the Grey-eyed Athene, to him thus answered and spake : 
 " Telemachus, some words surely the thought in thine heart shall make, 
 And some the Gods shall give thee : for this of thee I wot, 
 That against the will of the Godfolk thy birth and thy life were not." 
 
 So spake Pallas Athene, and swift the way she led, 
 
 And after the feet of the Goddess his footsteps forth he sped. 30 
 
 And they went to the Pylian Meeting and unto the Pylian seats, 
 
 Where Nestor sat with his sons, and around were they dighting the meats, 
 
 And some deal of the flesh were they roasting, and some were they spitting through; 
 
 But when they beheld the strangers, about them thronging they drew, 
 
 And took their hands in greeting, and bade them sit thereby. 
 
 But Pisistratus, son of Nestor, it was he that first drew nigh, 
 
 And seated the twain at the feast when of each he had taken the hand, 
 
 And on soft-wooled fleeces he set them adown on the sea-washed sand, 
 
 By his brother Thrasymedes, and by his father old ; 
 
 And he gave them share of the inwards, and filled the cup of gold 40 
 
 With wine ; and with outstretched right hand he hailed Athene the Maid, 
 
 The daughter of Zeus the Shielded, and therewithal he said : 
 
 " Pour out, O guest, O stranger, to Poseidon lord and king, 
 
 For his feast it is ye have happed on thus hither wandering ; 
 
 But when thou hast poured and hast prayed, as-the wont is right and meet, 
 
 Then give the cup to this other, that the good wine honey-sweet
 
 BOOK III. 35 
 
 He too may pour ; for meseemeth he too with the Deathless doth deal : 
 
 For all sons of men to the Godfolk have need to crave for weal. 
 
 But whereas he is the younger, and his age is like unto mine, 
 
 Unto thee the first do I give it, the golden cup of wine." 50 
 
 The wine that was sweet in the cup he set in her hand as he spake, 
 
 And Athene rejoiced in the man for his wisdom and justice' sake, 
 
 Because unto her the first the golden cup he gave. 
 
 Then she prayed a great prayer to Poseidon, the king and lord of the wave: 
 
 " O Poseidon, O Earth-shaker, hearken ! nor grudge unto us that pray, 
 
 Nor yet to the deeds that we crave thee fulfilling-tide gainsay ! 
 
 To Nestor first and his sons give thou glory to befall ; 
 
 And give good and kindly guerdon to these Pylians one and all, 
 
 For their gifts an hundred-folded all glorious with goodwill 
 
 But to me and Telemachus give it our journey's end to fulfil, 60 
 
 And the thing that we sailed for hither in a black ship over the sea." 
 
 [should be, 
 
 So she spake and she prayed ; and fulfilled it, the thing that she prayed 
 But unto Telemachus straightway she gave the twofold cup, 
 And the loved son of Odysseus like her the prayer sent up. 
 
 But when they had roasted the out-flesh and drawn off from the spits the 
 
 Then round about they dealt it for a goodly feast and great, [meat, 
 
 And when yearning for meat and for drink they had utterly done away, 
 
 Then the Rider, Gerenian Nestor, to the guest-folk fell to say : 
 
 " Now is the time more fitting that we ask of guests to tell 
 
 What and of whence they may be, since now they have eaten well. 70 
 
 What are ye, guests ? whence coming o'er the wet ways do ye go ? 
 
 Are ye about a business, or fare ye to and fro 
 
 As the strong thieves of the waters, that waste and wander, and stake 
 
 Their very lives on the hazard, as the aliens' bale they make ?"
 
 36 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful thus answered for his part : 
 
 And bold he spake, for Athene set boldness in his heart, 
 
 That he might crave him tidings of his father wandering wide, 
 
 And withal that his fame and his glory mid the sons of men might abide : 
 
 " O Nestor, O son of Neleus, great grace of Achaean men, [again : 
 
 Thou askest of whence we are wending, and straight out will I tell thee 
 
 From the Ithacan land, that lieth under Neion, do we fare, 81 
 
 And our own and no all-folk's matter is that which I declare : 
 
 For some wide-spread tale of my father I would gather and bear away, 
 
 Of the hapless, glorious Odysseus. Time was, as all men say, 
 
 That with him ye were warring and wasting the Troy-folk's city great : 
 
 Now of them that fought with the Troy-folk, of all others we know the fate, 
 
 And where and how they perished, each man by woful weird ; 
 
 But for him, the Son of Cronos hath hid his doom unheard, 
 
 Nor can any tell me clearly of the place where my father fell, 
 
 Whether it were on the mainland that the foe his life did quell, 90 
 
 Or by Amphitrite's billows in the deep sea drowned he lay. 
 
 So now to thy knees I betake me, if thou hast goodwill to say 
 
 What wise was his woful death-day, if thou saw'st it with thine eyes, 
 
 Or from any other wanderer hast heard the tale arise. 
 
 This man, his mother bore him to most exceeding woe 
 
 But have no respect of my sorrow nor be soft and soothing now, 
 
 But tell all out unto me, in what wise the man thou hast seen. 
 
 And I pray thee, if ever my father, the good Odysseus, hath been, 
 
 As good as his word unto thee of the thing that he promised to do, 
 
 Amid the Folk of the Trojans, the land of Achaean woe, 100 
 
 Of these things for me be mindful, and speak out straight and plain." 
 
 But the Rider of Gerenia, old Nestor, answered again : 
 
 " O friend, since thou bringest to mind the grief that we bore of old
 
 BOOK III. 37 
 
 In that Folk, we sons of Achaeans, of mood unbridled and bold ; 
 
 Whatever of grief in our ships on the darkling sea we won, 
 
 When after the spoil we wandered as Achilles led us on, 
 
 All the grief that about the great City of Priam the King we bare, 
 
 As there we fought and there perished all those that the doughtiest were. 
 
 For there fell Ajax the champion, and there Achilles lies, 
 
 And there Patroclus lieth as the Gods in council wise : no 
 
 And there lieth the brave and the blameless, Antilochus my son, 
 
 A warrior midst the warriors, most swift of foot to run. 
 
 And many things else most grievous to us in that land befel ; 
 
 Yea, who of men that are mortal the tale thereof may tell 
 
 Nor if thou wert here abiding for five, for six years more, 
 
 Wouldst thou have out the tale of the troubles that the great Achaeans bore. 
 
 Before the story's ending would'st thou hie thee sorrowing home. 
 
 " Nine years we lay hard upon them, and wove them baleful doom 
 
 With many a wile, and hardly would Zeus the deed fulfil. 
 
 But to equal himself against that man in redes none had the will, 120 
 
 For in every wile and cunning he had the foremost part, 
 
 Thy father, the glorious Odysseus, if indeed his son thou art. 
 
 And for me, amazement holds me as I look on thce to-day ; 
 
 For thy speech is e'en as his speech, nor yet could any man say 
 
 That a youngling's speech to an elder's could be so like and nigh. 
 
 " Now all the while we abode there, the glorious Odysseus and I, 
 
 Never in meeting or council did we speak a diverse rede, 
 
 But with one mind together, with wit and wisdom indeed, 
 
 Of their matter we counselled the Argives how best to bring it about. 
 
 But when the steep city of Priam with war we had wasted out 130 
 
 Ashipboard we went, and the Gods the Achaeans sundered apart, 
 
 And a woful return for the Argives did Zeus devise in his heart ;
 
 3 8 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Since not all men amongst us were wise-heart men and true ; 
 111 doom from a deadly anger a many on them drew, 
 The wrath of the Grey-eyed Goddess, the awful Father's Maid, 
 Who betwixt those sons of Atreus the strife and the anger laid. 
 
 " For those twain, they called to the Meeting the Achaeans every one, 
 
 Rashly and with no order at the setting of the sun, 
 
 And heavy with wine they wended, the sons of Achseans thereto. 
 
 But the twain spake a word of the summons, why the folk together they 
 
 There then spake Menelaus, who bade all men presently [drew. 
 
 To dight their journey homeward o'er the broad back of the sea. 
 
 But nought it pleased Agamemnon, who would hold the people still, 
 
 The gifts an hundred-folded, and things holy to fulfil, [heal ; 
 
 That the dreadful wrath of Athene and the bale they might hinder and 
 
 Simple ! and nothing wotting that of her he might win no weal ; 
 
 For not lightly the mind of the Gods, of the Deathless, turneth again. 
 
 [twain; 
 
 "There they stood, and words that were bitter they bandieda bout, those 
 Till up rose the well-greaved Achseans with clamour huge indeed, 
 And in two ways were they minded and diverse was their rede. 150 
 So there night-long we abided, and each side on the other was fain 
 To speed hard things and bitter, since Zeus was devising our bane. 
 But down to the salt-sea holy our ships on the morn did we get, 
 And therein the goods we had gathered and our low-girt women we set. 
 But half of the folk were withholden, to abiding were they won 
 With the Shepherd of the People, Agamemnon, Atreus' son : 
 And half, we went a-shipboard and unmoored, and speedily 
 Sailed off; for the God was laying all smooth the whale-great sea. 
 
 - 
 
 " Thenceforth unto Tenedos coming, the Gods we hallowed there 
 
 Of home full fain, but not yet did Zeus the unyielding bear 160
 
 BOOK III. 39 
 
 Our homeward way in his heart, but raised up the strife again ; 
 
 For the folk of King Odysseus, the wise-heart, shifty of men, 
 
 Went up on their rolling ships, and turned them about and went 
 
 Aback unto Atreus' son, for Agamemnon's content. 
 
 But I fled with the gathered ship-host that was wont with me to go, 
 
 For I knew of the bale and the bane that the God was devising to do. 
 
 Fled the warrior, the son of Tydeus, and egged on his fellows to flee. 
 
 But the yellow-haired Menelaus came late to our company : 
 
 At Lesbos he came upon us, as we schemed the long-drawn way, 
 
 Whether northing Chios the craggy, our ships we so should lay 170 
 
 Beside the island Psyria, that on our lee it lie, 
 
 Or else to the south of Chios pass windy Mimas by. 
 
 So we prayed the God for a token, and he set forth one in a while, 
 
 And bade us cleave mid ocean into Euboea's isle, 
 
 That we at our best and swiftest might flee the bale and the bane. 
 
 Then arose the wind shrill piping and the keels sped on amain, 
 
 And ran o'er the way of the fishes, and by night and cloud we made 
 
 Geraestus ; there to Poseidon the thighs of bulls we paid 
 
 A many, since thus we had measured so great a deal of sea. 
 
 But the fourth day it was ere in Argos Tydides' company, 180 
 
 That Diomede, Tamer of Horses, their good ships stayed by the shore. 
 
 But for me I made for Pylos, and the wind dropped never more 
 
 From the time when God first sent it across the sea to blow. 
 
 "So I came, dear child, unwitting, and nought of the others I know, 
 
 Nor who was saved of Achxans, nor what man had his bane : 
 
 But of all the knowledge that sitting within these halls I gain, 
 
 Thou shalt wot as is meet and right; I will hide nought; all will I tell. 
 
 Now men say that the Myrmidon Folk, the spear-wont, fared home well, 
 
 E'en they whom the famous son of great-heart Achilles led, 
 
 And that well the son of Poias, Philocletes the glorious, sped ; 190
 
 40 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And Idomeneus brought unto Crete his fellows, every one 
 
 Who had 'soaped the war and the battle ; the sea-flood swallowed none. 
 
 But ye, though afar ye are dwelling, of the son of Atreus have heard, 
 
 How he came to his home; how ^gistheus for him wove woful weird. 
 
 But the man, e'en he who did it, in wretched wise did he pay. 
 
 It is good that the son of the murdered be left for another day. 
 
 For he, he avenged his father, and slew his father's bane, 
 
 ^Egistheus guileful of rede, who his famous father had slain. 
 
 And thou friend, so great and so fair as I behold thee now, 
 
 Be stout, that good word of thy fame mid the late-born folk may grow." 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful thus spake and answered again : 201 
 
 " O Nestor, O son of Neleus, great grace of Achaean men, 
 
 Full well did he avenge him, and Achaeans far and near 
 
 Shall make his fame to be hearkened, that those who are coming may hear. 
 
 But would that the Gods might be giving e'en me so much of might, 
 
 That I on the Wooers might wreak me for their most grievous unright ! 
 
 Whereas in their pride they fashion and devise me impious ill : 
 
 But of no such happy doings the Gods for me have will, 
 
 Nay, not for me nor my father ; we must bear all e'en as we may." 
 
 Then thus did Nestor, the Rider of Gerenia, answer and say : 210 
 
 " O friend, since the word thou speakest and hereof thou mindest me, 
 
 Men say that thy mother's wooers a many now there be 
 
 In thy house, though thou wouldest it not, who devise thee evil fate. 
 
 Say then, art thou cowed as a craven, or liest thou under the hate 
 
 Of thy land and thy people hearkening what the voice of God doth speak? 
 
 Yet who knoweth but he returning their wrong one day shall wreak, 
 
 Whether alone he returneth or with all the Achaean men. 
 
 B'ut ah ! if the Grey eyed Athene would befriend thee now, as then, 
 
 In the days that were she cherished Odysseus, the glory of war,
 
 BOOK III. 41 
 
 Mid the Troy-folk, where we, the Achaeans, so many a heart-grief bore. 
 For never saw I the God-folk love men in such open wise 221 
 
 As Pallas stood beside him to help before all eyes. 
 And if thee in her heart she would cherish, and befriend thee such a way, 
 Then some of these, meseemeth, should forget their wedding-day." 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful thus answered him and said : 
 
 " O father, thy word meseemeth to its end shall never be sped, 
 
 For a mighty word hast thou spoken, and great wonder holdeth me ; 
 
 Nor shall this my hope be fulfilled, though the Gods would have it to be.' 
 
 But the Goddess, the Grey-eyed Athene, thereto made answer and said : 
 
 "Telemachus, what is this word from the wall of thy teeth that hath sped? 
 
 For 'tis easy for God if he willeth, though far off, man to save. 231 
 
 But I for my part were fainer a many griefs to have 
 
 And come home safe in the ending, and see my returning day, 
 
 Than to come as came Agamemnon, and die on my hearth straightway ; 
 
 For he fell by the wiles of /Kgistheus and the woful wiles of his wife. 
 
 But not even the very God-folk, not even a loved man's life, 
 
 From the common death can deliver, when come is the fate full strong, 
 
 And the deadly doom is upon him that layeth men along." 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful thus answered thereunto : 
 
 " Let us speak hereof no further, though our hearts be full of woe. 240 
 
 For him there is no returning : for already, have no doubt, 
 
 Black doom and deadly ending have the Deathless meted out. 
 
 But one other word would I speak and ask of Nestor here, 
 
 Since he knoweth righteous wisdom above all that ever were ; 
 
 For o'er three generations of men they say he hath been the king, 
 
 And unto mine eyes beholding he is as a deathless thing : 
 
 O Nestor, O son of Neleus, speak now true word unto me !
 
 42 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER, 
 
 i 
 
 Agamemnon, son of Atreus, wide ruler, how died he ? 
 
 Where then was Menelaus ? What bale did he bring forth 
 
 For him, ^Egistheus the wily, since he slew a man more worth? 250 
 
 Or was he not in Argos but wandering wide away, 
 
 Amid other dwellings of man-folk, when the man grew bold to slay?" 
 
 But the Rider of Gerenia, old Nestor, answered there : 
 
 " I will show thee now, O youngling, all things as they verily were. 
 
 For thou thyself hast an inkling of what deed hereof would have come 
 
 If the yellow Menelaus, from Troy returning home, 
 
 Had happed upon ^Egistheus alive in the halls of his stead. 
 
 Then full surely on his body no earth had there been shed, 
 
 But the fowl and the dogs had feasted on the dead man as he lay 
 
 In the wold without the city, and no Achaean may 260 
 
 Would have raised the death-song o'er him; for a monstrous deed had he 
 
 Yea, there afar were we biding where many a deed we won, [done. 
 
 While he in the nook of Argos, the horseland, sat at ease, 
 
 The wife of Agamemnon with wheedling words to please. 
 
 And indeed it is true that the woman for a while the foul deed spurned, 
 
 The glorious Clytemnestra, for in wisdom well was she learned. 
 
 And a minstrel was with her moreover, whom, when unto Troy he would 
 
 Was the son of Atreus bidding that well his wife he should heed, [speed, 
 
 But when the fate of the Gods had bound her that fall she must, 
 
 Then into a desert island that man the minstrel thrust, 270 
 
 And left him there for the fowl to be a quarry and prey, 
 
 And longing he led her longing to his house and his home away. 
 
 Many thighs of beasts he burned on the altar of sacrifice, 
 
 And he hung up many adornments, both of gold and webs of price ; 
 
 Whereas he had done the deed, and the thing unhoped in his heart. 
 
 "But we sailed while these things were adoing and from Troydidwe depart,
 
 BOOK III. 43 
 
 We twain, Atrides and I, in goodwill and happiness. 
 But whenas we were making Sunium, the holy Athenian ness, 
 .There Phoebus Apollo falling with kindly, shafts amain 
 On the pilot of Menelaus, thereof he had his bane ; 280 
 
 E'en as he held the tiller of the good ship fleeting fast ; 
 Phrontis, the son of Onetor, who all tribes of men surpassed 
 In steering a ship when the storm-winds drive hard across the sea. 
 So aback was held Menelaus, though fain of the road was he, 
 That he might bury his fellow with all rites of the burial bed. 
 
 " But now, as in hollow ships o'er the wine-dark sea he sped, 
 
 And, speeding, to that steep headland of Malaea now was brought, 
 
 A road and a way full loathly far-seeing Zeus for him wrought ; 
 
 And the blast of the wind shrill-piping he poured upon his host, 
 
 And the billows monstrous-swollen all mountain-high uptost. 290 
 
 Thence he sundered the host atwain : one half unto Crete did he drive, 
 
 Where about Jardanus' streams Cydonian people live. 
 
 Now a smooth rock thereby goeth to the water, sheer and steep, 
 
 The outermost ness of Gortys thrust forth in the darkling deep. 
 
 There the south-west driveth a billow against the leftward ness 
 
 To Phasstus, and small is the rock that wardeth the great seas' stress. 
 
 Thereon drave part of the ship-host, and hardly saved were the folk, 
 
 But the ships the might of the billows against the sea-rocks broke. 
 
 But as to those five, those others, the wind and the water bore 
 
 Their coal-blue prows and brought them anigh the /Egyptian shore. 300 
 
 " Thus then he fared, and gathering great store of goods and of gold, 
 Came on with his keels to the aliens and the folk of another fold. 
 But amidst all this yEgistheus at home wrought deeds right grim ; 
 For the son of Atreus he slaughtered, and the folk were in bonds to him. 
 Seven years did he lord it over Mycenae golden-great,
 
 44 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 But the eighth year came Orestes the glorious, came his fate ; 
 
 He betook him home from Athens and slew his father's bane, 
 
 ^gistheus, crafty of rede, who his famous father had slain. 
 
 He slew him, and then to the Argives gave the feast of the burial bed 
 
 Over his baleful mother and yEgistheus mightless and dead. 310 
 
 And that same day came Menelaus, the skilled in the voice of war, 
 
 And plenteous wealth was with him, the freight that his good ship bore. 
 
 " But thou, dear son, from thy homestead no longer be wandering wide, 
 
 Leaving thy wealthy and leaving such men in thine house to abide, 
 
 So utterly overweening, lest they eat up all from thee, 
 
 And share out all thy havings, and in vain shall thy wayfaring be ; 
 
 But unto Menelaus I charge thee and bid thee to fare, 
 
 For he has come but newly to his home from otherwhere, 
 
 Yea, from men whence no man in his heart could have hope to win away 
 
 When once the winds and the whirlwinds had driven him far astray, 320 
 
 Into so mighty an ocean that not in one whole year 
 
 Could the very fowl flee from it, so great it is and drear. 
 
 So now depart with thy fellows in thy ship across the sea. 
 
 Or if of the land thou art liefer, I have twi-car and horses for thee ; 
 
 And my sons are for thee moreover, and they shall bring thee there 
 
 Unto glorious Lacedsemon, and Menelaus the fair; 
 
 And thou thyself shalt beseech him that he tell thee the very truth. 
 
 And nought of lies will he tell thee, for most wise he is forsooth." 
 
 He spake, and the sun was setting and the dark came on amain, 329 
 And the Goddess, the Grey-eyed Athene, she spake and answered again : 
 
 " Yea, father, thou sayest it meetly, and good is this word of thine ; 
 But betake ye to slicing the tongues and to blending of the wine, 
 That we unto Poseidon and all the Deathless may pour,
 
 BOOK III. 45 
 
 And so of our beds bethink us, for this is the rightful hour. 
 
 For the light is gone under the darkness, and no man doth it befit 
 
 To sit long at the feast of the Gods, but all of us homeward to flit." 
 
 So spake the Daughter of Zeus, and they hearkened her voice and her word ; 
 And the water over their hands the serving-fellows poured, [them up, 
 And the swains to the bowls betook them, and with drink they brimmed 
 And dealt about to all men, and poured from cup unto cup. 340 
 
 And then they arose and poured forth, and cast the tongues on the fire; 
 But when they had poured, and had drunk each man to his heart's desire, 
 Then therewithal did Athene and godlike Telemachus yearn 
 To ge,t them gone thenceforth, to their hollow ship to return : 
 Yet did Nestor hold them aback and with words did on them fall : 
 
 " Nay now, may Zeus forbid it, and the Deathless one and all, 
 
 That ye to your ship swift sailing should depart from me to-night, 
 
 As though from a poor man's dwelling and the house of a raimentless wight, 
 
 As from one who nothing of blankets or of rugs in his house doth keep, 
 
 That neither he nor his guest-friends full soft anights may sleep; 350 
 
 Whereas in my house are blankets and noble rugs good store. 
 
 Nay, ne'er shall the son beloved of the man Odysseus of yore 
 
 On the deck of his ship be lying, while I am living at least. 
 
 But thereafter my sons in my homestead shall abide the folk to feast, 
 
 Whoso may fare unto usward for the guesting of our stead." 
 
 Then the Goddess, the Grey-eyed Athene, in this wise answered and said : 
 " All good are thy words, dear father, and well it bcfitteth thee 
 That Telemachus do thy bidding ; for fairer so shall it be ; 
 And he with thee will be wending to sleep in thine house and thine hall. 
 But aboard of the coal-black ship will I be wending withal 360 
 
 To hearten up my fellows, and to tell them what hath betid,
 
 46 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 For that I alone amid these men am the elder may not be hid ; 
 
 And the rest they are but younglings, and for love's sake with us fare : 
 
 To Telemachus mighty of mood all equal in age they are. 
 
 So I in the black ship's hollow will sleep, and on the morn 
 
 To those great-souled Cauconians will I belike be borne, 
 
 Where owed unto me is increase ; nor yet of yesterday, 
 
 Nor little it is. But this man, to thy house he hath wended his way, 
 
 Set him forth with thy sons and thy twi-car and give him horses at need 
 
 E'en such as thou hast that are stoutest and swiftest-footed to speed." 
 
 So spake the Grey-eyed Athene, and like to an eagle was gone, 371 
 And wonder and awe held all men who were gazing thereupon ; , 
 And the old man marvelled indeed at the sight he had seen with his eyes, 
 And he took Telemachus' hand, and named him, and spake in such wise: 
 
 " Nought base I deem thee, O friend, and no weakling shalt thou be, 
 
 When the Gods in thine early days thus guide and further thee. 
 
 For none other was this of all those that Olympian houses hold, 
 
 Save the Daughter of Zeus, the War-glorious, the Trito-born from of old. 
 
 E'en she who honoured thy father mid the Argives in the strife. 
 
 But do thou, O Queen, be gracious ! and give good glory of life 380 
 
 To me and to my children, and my wife of reverend grace ; 
 
 And a heifer will I give thee, a yearling wide of face, 
 
 Untamed, whom no man ever beneath the yoke hath won : 
 
 E'en her to thee will I hallow, and her horns with gold shall be done." 
 
 Thus-wise he prayed, and Athene gave ear to the words he sped. 
 Then the Rider of Gerenia, old Nestor, these men led, 
 E'en his sons and his daughters' husbands, to the lovely house of his home. 
 But when to the house all-glorious of the king-they now were come, 
 They sat them down in order on bench and noble seat,
 
 BOOK III. 47 
 
 And the elder blended the bowl with wine all honey-sweet, 390 
 
 E'en that which the handmaid, the goodwife, in its eleventh year 
 
 Had opened at last, and loosened the jar's head-binding gear. 
 
 This then in the bowl he blended, and many things did he pray, 
 
 The old man, as he poured to Athene, Zeus the Shield-bearer's May. 
 
 But when they had poured and had drunk as their hearts desired thereto, 
 
 The others thence departed and each to his house did go; 
 
 But Telemachus, son beloved of Odysseus' godlihead, 
 
 Did Nestor, Gerenian Rider, lead off to sleep and bed, 
 
 On the framed and jointed bedstead in the echoing cloister there, 
 
 By Pisistratus, leader of war-ranks, the lord of the ashen spear, 400 
 
 Who .alone of his sons abided in his house and hall unwed : 
 
 But for him, he slept as his wont was, in the nook of his high-built stead, 
 
 Where his bed, and therewith his bed-gear, his queen-wife for him dighL 
 
 But when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Dawn, shone bright, 
 
 The Rider, Gerenian Nestor, rose up from his bed straightway, 
 
 And gat him forth and sat him on the well-smoothed stones that lay 
 
 In the forefront of his homestead, before the high-built door, 
 
 White, polished, well-sleeked over : there in the days of yore 
 
 Would Neleus oft be sitting, as the Gods in council great ; 
 
 But now to the House of Hades had he wended, tamed by fate. 410 
 
 And there in his turn sat Nestor, the Achieans' warder, the King, 
 
 Holding his staff; and about him were his gathered sons in a ring, 
 
 New come from their rooms. Echephron and Stratius, there they were ; 
 
 Perseus was there, and Aretus, Thrasymedes, godhead's peer ; 
 
 And to them came forth the sixth man, Pisistratus warfain and great 
 
 So Telemachus the godlike amidst them they led to his seat, 
 
 And Nestor, Gerenian Rider, in their midst the word began : 
 
 " Loved sons, fulfil my desire in the swiftest wise ye can,
 
 48 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 That of all the Gods from Athene I most the grace may gain, 
 
 Who to our glorious God-feast came manifest and plain. 420 
 
 Now let one go to the meadow, that, as swift as it may be done, 
 
 We have a heifer hither, with the neatherd driving her on ; 
 
 And let one to the black ship going of Telemachus, mighty of mind, 
 
 Fetch hither all his fellows, two only abiding behind. 
 
 And one to Laerces the goldsmith, the bidding let him say, 
 
 That he come the horns of the heifer with gold to overlay. 
 
 But here let the others be gathered, and let them bid withal 
 
 The handmaids to dight us the banquet in our glorious house and hall, 
 
 And to set forth the seats and the logs, and bear forth water fair." 429 
 
 He spake, and they fell to and hastened, and the heifer was speeded there 
 
 From the mead; and thither came, from the swift ship shapely wrought, 
 
 The high-souled Telemachus' fellows : and the smith came there, and he 
 
 His smithying tools in his hand, his craft's fulfilling gear, [brought 
 
 To wit, his hammer and anvil, and his fire-tongs fashioned fair, 
 
 Wherewith the gold to smithy. And thither, to gather her meed 
 
 Of the hallowed gifts, came Athene. Then old Nestor of the Steed 
 
 Gave gold, and the craftsman wrought it, and therewith were the beast's horns done, 
 
 That thereof might the Goddess be glad as its fairness she looked upon. 
 
 Then Stratius and Echephron fair by the horns the heifer led; 439 
 
 And Aretus came from the chamber with a bowl with flowers bespread, 
 
 And therein the hand-washing water ; and his other hand did hold 
 
 The barley-meal maund : and stood forth Thrasymedes, war-biding and bold, 
 
 In his hand the axe well whetted all ready the heifer to hew ; 
 
 And Perseus held the blood-bowl. Then the rider Nestor 'gan do 
 
 The hand-washing and barley-sprinkling, and much prayer to Athene he sped 
 
 In the outset, and cast in the fire the forelock of the head. 
 
 But when they had prayed and cast forth the barley-meal thereon 
 
 Then drew anigh Thrasymedes the high-soul, Nestor's son,
 
 BOOK III. 49 
 
 And he hewed and the beast's neck-tendons he sundered with the blade 
 And loosened the might of the heifer, and the whoop and the cry they made, 
 The daughters and the sons' wives, and the wife the reverend queen, 45 1 
 Eurydice, first-born daughter of Clymenus once had she been. 
 So they from the wide-wayed earth raised the beast and held her then, 
 And Pisistratus slaughtered her straightway, the leader of ranks of men. 
 But when the black blood had flowed forth and life the bones had left, 
 Then at once they sheared up the carcase, and the thighs thereof they cleft, 
 And all in due wise and wonted ; and twofold wrapping they made 
 Of fat about them, and slices of the raw flesh on them laid. 
 On the faggots the elder burned them and poured on the gleaming wine, 
 But the youths stood by him and handled the forks five-fold of tyne ; 
 But when burned up were the thighs, and the inwards were tasted aright, 
 They cut up the flesh, and the gobbets on spits for the roasting dight, 
 And they handled the spits sharp-pointed and roasted it then and there. 
 
 Meanwhile was Telemachus bathed by Polycaste the fair, 
 
 Of Nestor son of Neleus the youngest daughter and last ; 
 
 And when she had washed his body and the olive oil o'er him cast, 
 
 And had done a frock upon him, and a fair cloak thereon laid, 
 
 From the bath he went, and his body as fair as a God's was made. 
 
 So he went and by Nestor's side, the shepherd of folk, did he sit. 
 
 But when they had roasted the outflesh, and drawn it off from the spit, 
 
 They sat and fell to feasting, and men of worth rose up 471 
 
 And poured the wine unto them in many a golden cup. 
 
 But when the yearning for meat and for drink they had put away, 
 
 Then the Rider, Gerenian Nestor, began to speak and to say : 
 
 " O sons, for Telemachus bring ye the well-maned horses fair, 
 
 And unto the chariot yoke them that he the way may wear."
 
 5 o THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 He spake, and therewithal his word did they hearken and heed, 
 
 And straight the swift-foot horses to the car they yoked with speed, 
 
 And therein laid the store-maid bread and wine and dainty meat, 
 
 E'en such as kingfolk cherished of Zeus are wont to eat. 480 
 
 Then Telemachus went up straightway on the lovely-fashioned car, 
 
 And Pisistratus, son of Nestor, the chief of the men of war, 
 
 Went up on the car moreover, and caught in hand the rein, 
 
 And smote the steeds to be going, and unloth they sped to the plain ; 
 
 And the builded burg of Pylos, and the steep they left behind, 
 
 And daylong the yoke they were swaying that both the twain did bind. 
 
 But now the sun sank under, and dark lay on every road, 
 
 When they came their ways to Pherse and Diodes' abode, 
 
 Of Orsilochus begotten, whom Alpheus did beget. 
 
 There nightlong they abided and guest-cheer for them he set 490 
 
 But when the Mother of Daylight, Rose-fingered Dawn, shone clear, 
 
 They yoked their steeds and mounted the chariot painted fair. [sped, 
 
 Then they drove their ways from the forecourt, from the echoing cloister 
 
 And they smote the steeds to be going, and nothing loth they fled, 
 
 Till they came to the plain wheat-bearing, and fast their way they wore, 
 
 So speedily their going the swift-foot horses bore : 
 
 And so the sun sank under, and all ways were shadowed o'er.
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 TELEMACHUS COMETH WITH PISISTRATUS, SON OF NESTOR, TO MENELAUS 
 AT SPARTA, AND HATH SOME TIDINGS OF HIS FATHER. THE WOOERS 
 WAYLAY TELEMACHUS' RETURN. PENELOPE HATH A DREAM SENT 
 FOR HER SOLACE BY ATHENE. 
 
 SO they came unto Lacedsemon in the hollow dales adown, 
 To the house of Menelaus, the lord of high renown, 
 And they found him holding a wedding to many a man of his kin, 
 Of his son and daughter the noble his house and his home within. 
 Now her to the son was he sending of Achilles, the cleaver of war, 
 As he yea-said and promised to give her by Troy in the days of yore ; 
 And now the Gods for these to its end the wedding would speed ; 
 So the maiden was he flitting to wend with chariot and steed 
 To the Myrmidon burg all-glorious, where the man was lord and king. 
 But the daughter of Alector from Sparta withal would he bring 10 
 
 For his last-loved son, Megapenthes, the mighty man born of a slave ; 
 For now the Gods unto Helen no fruit of her body gave 
 Since the day when the lovely maiden, Hermione, she bare, 
 As the golden Aphrodite of body fashioned fair. 
 
 Thus then in the high-roofed hall were feasting, the neighbours and kin 
 Of the glorious Menelaus, and were merry therewithal ; 
 And to them a goodly minstrel was harping and singing the lay ; 
 And e'en with his song's beginning two tumblers fell to play,
 
 52 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And amidst the feasting folk they whirled about as they played. 
 
 But by the porch of the homestead those twain their horses stayed, 20 
 
 Telemachus the hero and Nestor's noble son, 
 
 And the swain, e'en Eteoneus, came forth and looked thereon, 
 
 Of the glorious Menelaus the handy fellow ; so then 
 
 He went through the house to be telling thereof to the Shepherd of Men, 
 
 And drew anigh unto him, and set these words on the wing : 
 
 " There are stranger guests come hither, Menelaus God-bred king, 
 
 Two men that are like in fashion to the kin of mighty Zeus. 
 
 What say'st thou then ? Their horses swift-footed shall we loose, 
 
 Or speed them on to another who to guest them may be fain?" 
 
 But the yellow Menelaus in wrath thus answered again : 30 
 
 " Eteoneus, son of Boethous, no fool thou wert wont to be, 
 
 But now as a child mere folly thou bab blest unto me. 
 
 What ! have we not eaten guest-cheer of other men, we twain, 
 
 Ere hither we got us home ; if yet of Zeus we may gain 
 
 An end of trouble henceforward ? Go, loose the guest-folks' steeds, 
 
 And bring the men in to be feasted according to their needs." 
 
 Then }he swain from the hall departed, and called on those who were 
 
 Of the handy swains of service, along with him to fare ; [there, 
 
 And they the sweating horses from the yoke unharnessed straight 
 
 And tied them up to the mangers wherefrom the horse-kind ate, 40 
 
 And they cast the oats into them, and hoary barley withal ; 
 
 Then they tilted up the chariot 'gainst the shiming face of the wall, 
 
 And into the holy house brought the twain, much wondering 
 
 At what their eyes were beholding of the house of the Zeus-bred king ; 
 
 For therein was a glory abiding as it were of tke moon or the sun 
 
 In the high-roofed house of the famous, Menelaus the mighty one.
 
 BOOK IV. 53 
 
 But when they for their eyes' rejoicing had gazed as they deemed it good, 
 
 They went to the well-smoothed bath-vats to wash them as they would ; 
 
 And when the maids had washed them and with oil had sleeked them well, 
 
 They did the frocks upon them, and cloaks of close-set fell; 50 
 
 And they sat on the chairs beside him, Menelaus, Atreus' son, 
 
 And a damsel brought them water for their hands, and poured thereon 
 
 From a goodly golden ewer in a bowl of silver white. 
 
 Then the board well-smoothed and polished before them there she dight, 
 
 And a goodwife brought them bread, and set it there beside, 
 
 Of meat she made them welcome of such as did there betide. 
 
 And the sewer set forth the platters of flesh-meat manifold, 
 
 And therewithal beside them he set the cups of gold. 
 
 Then the yellow Menelaus, he greeted the twain and said : 
 
 "Now taste the meat and be merry; but when ye have broken bread 60 
 
 And have eaten, then will we ask you what manner of man ye be ; 
 
 For in you the race of your fathers hath not failed utterly, 
 
 And ye are of men mace-wielding, and the kin of Zeus-bred kings, 
 
 For it is not in men that are base-born to beget such noble things." 
 
 With that word the fatted ox-chine, the roast, in hand did he take, 
 
 And gave them the very portion meted out for his honour's sake ; 
 
 And therewith they stretched out their hands to the meat that before them 
 
 But when of meat and of drink they had worn the longing away, [lay. 
 
 Then to the son of Nestor spake Telemachus, drawing anear, 
 
 Laying his head to his head that the others might not hear: 70 
 
 " O thou, the son of Nestor, to my heart the dearest of all ! 
 Note thou the flashing of brass about the echoing hall, 
 The gleam of the gold, and amber, and silver, and ivory ! 
 E'en such must the courts withinward of Zeus the Olympian be
 
 54 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 For wealth untold : as I look my soul doth the wonder take." 
 
 But the yellow Menelaus was ware of the word he spake, 
 
 And he sent his voice to themward, and set such words on the wing : 
 
 " Dear son, no man that dieth may strive with Zeus the king, 
 
 For deathless are his houses, and his wealth may never die : 
 
 But of manfolk there may or may not be with me in wealth to vie. 80 
 
 Yet at least many things have I suffered, and have wandered far and near, 
 
 And about in ships have been flitted to come back in the eighth long year. 
 
 To Cyprus and Phoenicia and ^Egypt have I strayed ; 
 
 Ethiopia too and Sidon, and Erembian land we made, 
 
 And Lybia withal, where the lambs are full-horned from their very birth, 
 
 And thrice are the sheepkind yeaning in the space of one year of the earth; 
 
 Where neither king nor shepherd may ever lack to eat 
 
 Of either cheese or flesh-meat, or to drink milk fresh and sweet, 
 
 For yearlong there unceasing they yield to the milking-trough. 
 
 But while about I wandered and gat me gear enough, 90 
 
 That very while another was taking my brother's life, 
 
 In covert wise and unwares by the wiles of his wicked wife ; 
 
 So in little joy am I ruling o'er all this wealth ye see. 
 
 Ye may know hereof from your fathers, whosoever they may be, 
 
 How much of grief I have suffered, how gone is my house of old, 
 
 That once was so goodly dwelt in, that such plenteous gear did hold. 
 
 Yea, would that I had but a third, and there still in my house to abide, 
 
 And that safe those men were living who long ago have died 
 
 In broad Troy far from Argos, the horseland of the earth ! 
 
 " But while for all this I lament me, and grief in my soul has birth, 100 
 And oft in my halls here sitting my soul I satisfy 
 With bewailing of my sorrows, and oft lay sorrow by 
 (Since soon will a man be sated of lamentation chill) ;
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 55 
 
 Not so for all these do I sorrow as for one I sorrow still, 
 
 Whose memory maketh loathly my meat and my sleeping-tide, 
 
 For no one man of Achjeans such labour did abide 
 
 As Odysseus wrought and laboured : and for him it was to be 
 
 But very toil and trouble ; and enduring grief to me 
 
 That so long he wandereth houseless, while of him all tidings fail, 
 
 Whether he liveth or dieth. There too for him they wail, no 
 
 Penelope wise of heart, and Laertes elder of days, 
 
 And Telemachus left in his homestead new-born when he went his ways.'' 
 
 He spake, and therewith the youngling to yearning grief he stirred, 
 
 And he dropped the tears from his eyelids as he of his father heard ; 
 
 While before his eyes he was holding the cloak of purple dye 
 
 With both hands ; but Menelaus beheld him heedfully, 
 
 And in his mind and his mood was he musing therewithal 
 
 If he should abide till the youngling to his mind his father should call, 
 
 Or whether he first should ask him and seek all matters to learn. 
 
 But while in his mind and his mood these matters did he turn, 120 
 
 Lo, Helen came from her chamber fragrant, high-vaulted of old ; 
 
 And like unto Artemis was she the Dame of the Shaft of Gold. 
 
 And there with her came Adraste, who set forth the well-wrought chair ; 
 
 But the caq)et of soft wool woven forth did Alcippe bear, 
 
 And Phylo a silver basket, the gift of Polybus' wife 
 
 Alcandra ; in Thebes of /Kgypt forsooth she weareth life, 
 
 Where of all the world most treasure the houses in them have. 
 
 But he to Menelaus two silver bath-vats gave, 
 
 Two caldrons withal three-footed, and of gold ten talents weight. 
 
 And his wife to Helen moreover gave goodly gifts and great : 1 30 
 
 A distaff of gold and a basket fashioned on wheels to run, 
 
 Of silver wrought ; but its edges about with gold were done.
 
 56 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And e'en this it was that was carried and set down by Phylo the maid, 
 With the wrought yarn all fulfilled, and the distaff over it laid, 
 Reached out therefrom, with its head well charged with dark-blue wool. 
 So Helen sat in the chair and under her feet was the stool. 
 
 So she spake out words to her husband, and asked him needfully : 
 " Know we, O Menelaus, Zeus-cherished, who these be ? 
 And what men of men they avow them, who this our house would seek ? 
 Shall I lie or speak out the truth ? Nay, my mood would have me speak. 
 I say then that none hath been seen, whether man or woman it were, 141 
 (And a mighty wonder holds me as I gaze upon him there), 
 More like than this man to the son of Odysseus mighty of heart, 
 Telemachus, left in his homestead new-born when he needs must depart ; 
 What time the Achaean war-host for the shameless, even for me, 
 Went up under Troy and were waking the war so mightily." 
 
 But the yellow Menelaus he answered her and spake : 
 
 " Of this thing and the likeness thou deemest note also did I take : 
 
 And e'en now when I called unto mind the tale of Odysseus, and told 
 
 Of his toil and his trouble for me, that was grievous and manifold, 150 
 
 Then this man from under his brows let a bitter tear fall down, 
 
 As before his eyes he was holding the lap of his purple gown." 
 
 Then Pisistratus, son of Nestor, spake out and answered again : 
 
 " Menelaus, son of Atreus, Zeus-cherished leader of men, 
 
 Verily this is the son of him of whom thou hast told ; 
 
 But wise is the man of his mood, and were shamed were he overbold 
 
 Hither to come, and be first to put forth the pushing word 
 
 Before thee, whoseVoice unto us is the voice of a God and a Lord. 
 
 But for me, the Gerenian Rider, e'en Nestor bade me to go 159 
 
 And guide the man hither to theeward, for thee would he look on and know,
 
 BOOK IV. 57 
 
 That some word thou may'st teach unto him or some work that he may 
 For the son of an absent father in his house hath many an ill [fulfil. 
 When he hath none other helpers, as with this man now doth it fare. 
 For far away is his father, nor others hath he there 
 Who may ward him amid the people and thrust the evil away." 
 
 But the yellow Menelaus thus fell to answer and say : 
 
 " Out on it ! here to my house hath come the loved man's son, 
 
 Who for me hath laboured sorely and such doughty deeds hath done. 
 
 And I said that came he hither, above all Argive men 
 
 I would greet him; if Zeus of Olympus farseeing had given us then 170 
 
 Return to our house and our home in our swift ships over the sea, 
 
 I had given him dwelling in Argos, and a burg wherein to be, 
 
 And from Ithaca forth had I brought him, with his son and all his gear 
 
 And all his folk ; and one city of those that are dwelt in here, 
 
 Of those that I lord it over, for him had I wasted clean. 
 
 Then oft in this homestead meeting together had we been, 
 
 And nothing then would have sundered our love and our delight, 
 
 Till the dark and the cloud of death had wrapped us up in the night. 
 
 But God for such things happening the grudge against us bore, 
 
 Since him only made he hapless returning never more." 180 
 
 He moved their hearts to weeping with the words that thus he said- 
 There wept the Argive Helen, the Zeus-begotten maid ; 
 Telemachus was weeping, and the son of Atreus wept ; 
 Nor yet the son of Nestor his eyes unwetted kept ; 
 For he in his heart remembered Antilochus undone, 
 The noble warrior slaughtered by the bright Dawn's glorious Son : 
 It was him he held in memory as he let these words forth fly : 
 
 " O Atreus' son, the wisest of all the men that die,
 
 58 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Would the ancient Nestor name thee whenso we thought of thee 
 
 In our halls, and each of other asked what-like thou might'st be. 190 
 
 Yet -heed me, I pray, if thou mayest, since for my part indeed 
 
 I love not weeping at supper ; and now doth the Day-dawn speed, 
 
 And at hand is the Mother of Morning: though no shame I think it yet 
 
 To weep for the man that dieth, and the day of his doom hath met, 
 
 Since there is no other honour that is left for the hapless dead [head. 
 
 Save the tears to run over the cheeks, and the clipping the hair of the 
 
 Lo, I had a brother that perished, nor the worst of the Argives was he. 
 
 Yea, thou belike wilt have seen him, but he never was seen of me, 
 
 'Nor ever we met together : but men of Antilochus tell 
 
 That he outwent all in running, and withal was a warrior fell." 200 
 
 But the yellow Menelaus thus spake and answered again : 
 
 " O friend, hereof thou speakest as a heedful man among men 
 
 Would speak, and would do; yea, even were he elder-born than thy youth ; 
 
 For e'en such a man is thy father, so wise are the words of his mouth ; 
 
 And easy it is to know the seed of such an one 
 
 For whom in wedding and getting good fortune Zeus hath spun. 
 
 But he unto Nestor hath given henceforward for ever to bide 
 
 ; In his homestead, and ever smoothly toward age and the end to glide ; 
 
 While his sons should be wise withal, and right good the spear to throw. 
 
 Now let us away with the weeping that we happed upon e'en now, 210 
 
 And betake us again to supper, and the water let men pour 
 
 On our hands; then betimes on the morrow shall tales be told once more: 
 
 'Twixt me and Telemachus then shall all speech to an end be sped." 
 
 He spake, and over their hands the water Asphalion shed, 
 
 The handy swain of the King Menelaus, glorious and great, 
 
 And they reached their hands therewith to th feast and the ready meat.
 
 BOOK IV. 59 
 
 
 
 But now did the Zeus-born Helen on other matters think, 
 
 And she cast a thing and a drug in the wine whence they would drink, 
 
 The queller of grief and of anger, that lulleth all evil asleep; 
 
 And when this in the bowl is mingled and thereof one drinketh deep, 220 
 
 Then all day long o'er his cheek no tear adown shall fall, 
 
 Not e'en if his father lie dead and his mother were dead withal ; 
 
 Nay, not if his brother before him the brazen edge should smite, 
 
 Or his well-loved son were slaughtered and his eyes beheld the sight. 
 
 Such goodly drugs and crafty the daughter of Zeus did own, 
 
 And Polydamna gave them, the wife of Egyptian Thon, 
 
 Where most drugs of the world all over the corn-kind acres bear ; 
 
 And many are hale for the mingling, and many are deadly and drear. 
 
 And every man of the leeches of that land is skilled indeed 
 
 Above all men ; for truly are they Paeoeon's seed. 230 
 
 But when in the bowl she had put it and the wine she had bidden pour, 
 
 Forthwith she betook her to speaking, and said the word once more : 
 
 " Menelaus, son of Atreus, Zeus-cherished, and ye twain, 
 
 Sons of the good and the gallant, since turn and turn again 
 
 Zeus giveth good and evil, and of all things hath he might, 
 
 Be sitting here and feasting within our halls to-night, 
 
 With spoken tales be merry. Hear one befitting well ; 
 
 For not with words may I number all tales that erst befell 
 
 Of the toils of Odysseus the patient, and all that him betid. 
 
 But one alone will I tell of that the brave man dared and did 240 
 
 In Troy-town, where the Ach?eans full many an evil bore. 
 
 For he on his own body laid grievous stripes and sore,* 
 
 And with loathly rags <?n his shoulders, and e'en as a slave did he go, 
 
 And came his ways to the city and the wide ways of the foe. 
 
 So hid in the alien likeness of a beggar was he then ; 
 
 But nought forsooth was he such-like by the ships of Achjean men.
 
 60 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 In that shape went he down into Troy, and no man knew him there 
 
 But I alone : I knew him e'en in that guise and gear. 
 
 Therewith I questioned him straitly, but he shunned it with crafty lore ; 
 
 But at last, when I had washed him and with oil had sleeked him o'er, 250 
 
 And had set the raiment on him, and had sworn an oath of might 
 
 That never amid the Trojans would I bring Odysseus to light, 
 
 Till he came to the booths of battle and the swift-going ships of the sea. 
 
 Then all the Achaean counsel he opened out unto me, 
 
 And many an one of the Trojans with the long-edged brass he slew, 
 
 And came his ways to the Argives and therefrom much knowledge drew. 
 
 " Shrill wailed the Trojan women, the others, but I was fain ; 
 
 For turned was my mind and my mood to get me home again : 
 
 And now I loathed the blindness from Aphrodite's hand, 
 
 Wherewith she led me away from the well-loved father-land. 260 
 
 Apart from my child, and my chamber, and my lord she sundered me there, 
 
 Though neither in wit was he lacking, nor in form of his body fair." 
 
 But the yellow Menelaus thus answered thereunto : 
 
 "Yea, all these things, O wife, hast thou told in manner due; 
 
 I have known the mind and the counsel of many a man of war, 
 
 O'er a mighty deal of the earth have I passed and wandered afar, 
 
 But never anywhere yet have I seen such a thing with mine eyes 
 
 As the heart that Odysseus had of the patient mind and wise. 
 
 Yea, and this deed, this other that the stout man dared and did, 
 
 When in the Horse well-shapen we, the best of the Argives, were hid, 270 
 
 And for all the Trojan people we bore the death and the doom. 
 
 For then thou earnest thither, and some God had bidden thee come 
 
 Who on giving the gain and the glory to the folk of Troy was bent. 
 
 And Deiphobus the godlike withal beside tloee went. 
 
 Three times about thou wentedst and handledst the hollow snare,
 
 BOOK IV. 6 1 
 
 And on all the best of the Danaans by name thou calledst there, 
 And the voice of all wives of the Argives wert thou feigning cunningly. 
 Now there were the son of Tydeus and the great Odysseus and I, 
 All we were sitting amidmost and hearkened thy cry and thy speech, 
 And we twain, Tydides and I, were minded each and each 280 
 
 Either to rise and come forth, or to answer thee back from within ; 
 But Odysseus there withheld us, though we longed that work to win : 
 And so we sons of Achseans in silence sat we all, 
 Save that Anticlus of all men with words would answer and call, 
 But on his mouth Odysseus he laid his mighty hand, 
 And held it there and stayed him, and saved the Achaean band, 
 Till at last did Pallas Athene from usward lead thee away." 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful thus answered and 'gan say : 
 
 " Menelaus, son of Atreus, Zeus-cherished people's lord, 
 
 Woe worth ! for not even so the woful weird might he ward, 290 
 
 Not even though within him he bore an iron heart. 
 
 But come now, turn us bedward, that we others for our part 
 
 May have our fill of slumber, and in sweet sleep be laid." 
 
 He spake, and the Argive Helen straightway the handmaids bade 
 
 To lay the beds in the cloister, and over them to do 
 
 Fair purple rugs, and thereover the coverlets to strew, 
 
 And over all to be casting the blankets thick and fair. 
 
 Forth then from the hall they wended, and torch in hand they bare, 
 
 And arrayed the beds, and the marshal therefrom the guest-folk led, 
 
 And in the porch of the homestead they laid them down abed, 300 
 
 Telemachus the warrior, and Nestor's noble son ; 
 
 But Atrides slept in the nook of his house high-builded and done, 
 
 And beside him the long-robed Helen, the glory of women, lay.
 
 62 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 , But when shone out the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Early Day, 
 From his bed uprose Menelaus, the good at the battle-word, 
 And clad him ; and over his shoulders he hung his sharpened sword, 
 And unto his sleek-skinned foot-soles fair- fashioned sandals tied, 
 And like to a God to look on forth then from his chamber he hied ; 
 And so to Telemachus came he, and named him and spake the word : 
 "What need hath brought thee hither, Telemachus the lord, 310 
 
 To Lacedsemon the Holy, o'er the broad back of the sea ? 
 Thine own or a common matter ? Speak straight and plain to me." 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful this word in answer spoke : 
 
 " Zeus-cherished son of Atreus, Menelaus leader of folk, 
 
 I came that thou mightest tell me of my father some true tale : 
 
 But my house is being devoured ; the fat lands to fallow fail, 
 
 And the house is filled with the foemen, and oft and every day 
 
 My knock-kneed shambling oxen and my huddling sheep they slay, 
 
 Those Wooers of my mother with insolence fulfilled : 
 
 So now to thy knees have I hied me, if thou may'st be so willed, 320 
 
 To tell of his woful death-day if thou saw'st it with thine eyes, 
 
 Or from any other wanderer hast heard the tale arise 
 
 This man, his mother bore him to most exceeding woe 
 
 But have no respect of my sorrow or be soft and soothing now," 
 
 But tell me all the story what wise the man thou hast seen. 
 
 And I pray thee if ever my father, the noble Odysseus, hath been 
 
 As good as his word unto thee of the thing that he promised to do 
 
 Amid the folk of the Trojans, the land of Achaean woe, 
 
 Of these things for me bethink thee, and tell me the very truth." 
 
 [youth : 
 
 Then from wrath-burdened mind Menelaus the fair thus answered the 
 " Out on if ! how are the.se Wooers thus minded? yea and why 331. 
 In the bed of a great-heart man will they, the puny, lie ?
 
 BOOK IV. 6$ 
 
 As when some hind hath been laying in a mighty lion's lair, 
 Her little fawns new-born, unweaned, and she leaveth them there, 
 And pasturing seeketh the knolls and the dales all grass bespread. 
 But lo ! it befalleth thereafter that he cometh back to his bed, 
 And unto them both he dealeth a dreadful doom straightway ; 
 And a dreadful doom for these men shall Odysseus deal on a day. 
 Grant Zeus the Father, Athene, and Apollo, that it might fall, 
 That being such a'man as he showed him by Lesbos' well-built wall, 340, 
 When he stood against Philomeleides, and the strife of wrestling had, 
 And threw him a mighty fall, and all the Achaeans were glad 
 Might Odysseus but meet those Wooers such a man as then was he, 
 Short then were their fated life-days, and bitter their wedding should be. 
 But of this whereof thou beseechest nought crooked or beside 
 The very sooth will I tell thee, and nought with guile will I hide. 
 But all that which I had from the Elder, the Unerring-one of the Sea, 
 No word thereof will I cover or huddle it up from thee. 
 
 " The Gods in ^gypt held me, though hither would I be gone, 
 
 Since the gifts an hundred-folded for them I had not done, 350 
 
 And ever the Gods would have us of their bidding mindful to be. 
 
 Now there is a certain island amidst the wave-washing sea, 
 
 That Pharos is named of men-folk, from /Egypt lying there 
 
 As far as in one day's sailing a hollow ship may fare ; 
 
 When fast behind her follows the sea-wind piping shrill ; 
 
 And therein is a handy haven, where the shapely ships that fill 
 
 Their store of the deep black water they drag down to the seas. 
 
 There for twenty days God held us, and never came the breeze, 
 
 No breath o'er the salt seas blowing ; though such be born indeed 
 
 O'er the broad back of the seaflood the fleeting ships to speed. 360 
 
 There had all our victual perished, and all the might of our men, 
 
 If a certain of the Godfolk had not pitied and saved me then,
 
 64 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 E'en the daughter of Proteus the mighty, the Elder of the Sea, 
 
 Eidothea hight, whose mind was mightily moved by me. 
 
 For she met me wandering alone as apart from my fellows I went, 
 
 Who over the isle-shore scattered fished on with angles bent ; 
 
 For indeed their bellies constrained them, and hunger pinched them sore. 
 
 So she drew anigh me and spake, and the word to mewards bore : 
 
 " ' Art thou but simple, O Stranger, and exceeding wanting in wit ? 
 Or wanton and heedless art thou ? Or thy grief thou lovest it ? 370 
 That so long in this isle thou art holden, and no issue may'st thou find, 
 While the heart of thy folk is failing and minished is their mind ? ' 
 
 " She spake, but I took up the word and answered for my part : 
 
 1 Nay, now to thee will I tell it, since one of the Gods thou art, 
 
 That unwilling here am I holden ; and this is the tale to tell, 
 
 That I trespass against the Deathless who in the wide heaven dwell. 
 
 But since the Gods know all things, do thou speak out and say 
 
 Which oneof the Deathless hath hindered and bound me back from my way, 
 
 And my wending back, and my going across the fishy main?' 
 
 " So I spake ; but that Godhead's glory thus answered me again : 380 
 
 * Yea to thee, O friend, will I tell it as clearly as I may. 
 
 Here haunteth the Sea-wight, the Elder, that never goeth astray, 
 
 Proteus the deathless of ^Egypt, who throughly knoweth all 
 
 The deeps of the sea ; of Poseidon the very bounden thrall, 
 
 And they say that he is my father and begat me once on a while. 
 
 Now mightest thou compass an ambush to take the man by guile, 
 
 He should tell thee of thy faring, and the way that is meeted for thee, 
 
 Whereby thou shalt get thee homeward across the fishy sea. 
 
 Yea, thou dear unto Zeus, he shall tell thee, i thereof thou hast the will,
 
 BOOK IV. 65 
 
 What thing in thine house hath befallen, be it good, or be it ill, 390 
 While afar and long thou hast wandered and laboured thy way with pain.' 
 
 " She spake, and I took up the word and answered her again : 
 ' Yea now, for this Ancient of Gods do thou devise the snare, 
 Lest he perchance escape me foreseeing and beware. 
 For 'tis hard for a man that dieth against a God to prevail.' 
 
 " I spake and that Godhead's glory again took up the tale : 
 
 ' Yea, all shall I tell thee, O friend, that thereof thou have no doubt : 
 
 When up to the midmost heaven the sun hath wended about, 
 
 The Sea-floods' Elder unerring cometh up from the brine outright, 
 
 Along with the breath of the west-wind with the darkling ripple dight, 
 
 And in the hollow places of the rocks he falleth asleep, 401 
 
 And about him the flock of the sea-calves, the brood of the Maid of the 
 
 Lie sleeping gathered together, come up from the hoary sea, [Deep, 
 
 And they breathe forth a bitter savour of the brine where the flood-wells be. 
 
 Now thither will I lead thee when the dawn beginneth to show, 
 
 And lay thee there all duly : but three whom thou dost know 
 
 To be the best of thy fellows from thy fair-decked ships choose well. 
 
 But that Elder's baleful magic to thee will I fully tell : 
 
 For first unto numbering his sea-calves and telling them o'er will he fall, 
 
 But when his count is accomplished, and he hath beheld them all, 410 
 
 Then lieth he down amidst them, as a shepherd amidst of his sheep. 
 
 But so soon as ye have beheld him that he lieth there asleep, 
 
 Then mind ye of your starkness and to your might look ye, 
 
 That ye hold him, as sore as he striveth, and longeth to be free. 
 
 He will try it and turn into all things, all such as creep upon earth, 
 
 And he will be the water, and the fire that of God hath birth. 
 
 But all unmoved do ye hold him, and press him all the more. 
 
 But when he shall speak unto you in the shape that he had before,
 
 66 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And he being then nought other than ye saw him lying asleep, 
 
 Then refrain your might and loosen that Elder of the Deep. 420 
 
 But ask him which of the Gods it is that is hard on thee, 
 
 And ask of thine homeward faring, and thy road o'er the fishy sea.' 
 
 " She spake, and therewithal dived under the billowy flood ; 
 
 But unto my ships I wended where hauled on the sands they stood, 
 
 And with many things as I went my mind was darkened o'er. 
 
 But when at last I was come to the sea and the ships and the shore, 
 
 Our supper there we dighted, and the deathless night came on, 
 
 And there on the salt-sea beach the slumber and sleep we won. 
 
 But when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Dawn, shone clear, 
 
 By the side of the wide-wayed seaflood in that hour did I fare, 430 
 
 Many things of the Godfolk praying : and I had with me fellows three, 
 
 E'en such as of wont I trusted when any deed was to be. 
 
 " But she meanwhile went under the broad breast of the main, 
 And with four skins of the sea-calves came up from the sea again, 
 And all were new-flayed, for she devised for her father a snare ; 
 So then in the sand of the sea-beach she scooped for us each a lair, 
 And sat and abode our coming till we neared her down on the beach. 
 Then she laid us all in order, and a skin cast over each. 
 Now our ambush was like to be grim, for indeed the baleful stench 
 Of the sea-bred beasts sore grieved us as we lay in the lurking-trench, 
 For who indeed would lie down and sleep by a sea-born whale ? 441 
 But she saved us, and found us a solace that was of much avail, 
 For the deathless sweet-breathed savour she brought, and the same did lay 
 Beneath the nostril of each man, and the whale-stench did away. 
 
 " Through the morning there were we biding,-and patient hearts we bore, 
 Till the calves from the sea came flocking and pressing up ashore,
 
 BOOK IV. 67 
 
 And laid them down on the sea-beach in order all around. 
 
 But at noon from the sea came the Elder, and there his calves he found 
 
 Fat fed, and he went o'er their order, and their number did he tell ; 449 
 
 And us first mid the whales did he number, and no doubt his soul befell 
 
 Of the guile and the craft we devised him ; but he lay down to sleep at the last. 
 
 Then we whooped and fell upon him, and our hands about him cast. 
 
 And nothing then did the Elder forget of his ancient guile ; 
 
 For first a well-maned lion he was, and then in a while 
 
 A dragon he was, and a panther, and a boar of mighty make, 
 
 And wet water withal, and a tree that aloft its leaves did shake. 
 
 But unblenching there we held him, and patient hearts we bore. 
 
 But when he was grieved and weary, that Elder of ancient lore, 
 
 Then was he fain of asking, and bespake me words, and said : 
 
 " ' What God, O son of Atreus, this rede for thee hath made, 460 
 
 That by guile thou hast got me unwilling ; what wouldst thou that I do ? ' 
 
 " So he said, and I spake unto him and answered thereunto : 
 
 1 Thou knowest, O Ancient; why then dost thou wind thy question about ? 
 
 For here in this isle am I holden, and can find me no way out, 
 
 And hence the heart within me is worn and brought alow : 
 
 Now therefore do thou tell me, since the Gods all matters know, 
 
 Which one of the Deathless hindereth, and ever bindeth me, 
 
 From my homeward road and my faring across the fishy sea ? ' 
 
 " So I spake, and he in turn made answer in such wise : 
 
 ' Yea, thee it behoved most surely to make fair sacrifice 470 
 
 To Zeus and the Gods ere ye wended, that as swiftly as might be 
 
 Ye should win to the land of your fathers as ye sailed the wine-dark sea. 
 
 Now to thee is the doom not meeted to behold thy friends and thy kin, 
 
 And to come to the land of thy fathers, and thine house well-builded therein,
 
 68 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Before thou hast got thee again to the River of ^Egypt of old, 
 And the water fallen from Zeus ; and the gifts an hundred-fold 
 Thouhastdone to the Deathless Gods whodwellin the wide-spread heaven; 
 And then by the Gods shall thy way and the road that thou wouldest be 
 
 [given.' 
 
 " So he said, and thereat within me my very heart would break, 
 Because he bade me backward the ^Egyptian land to make, 480 
 
 And wend o'er the darkling sea-flood a long and weary way ; 
 Wherefore in words I answered, and thus to him did say : 
 ' Yea, all will I do, O Ancient ! in such wise as thou biddest me do. 
 But I prithee tell me hereof, and speak but the word that is true. 
 Came those Achasans home a shipboard safe and hale, 
 Whom we left there, I and Nestor, when from Troy town we did sail ? 
 Or else the bitter bane on his ship hath any found ? 
 Or amidst the handsof well-vvillers when the spindleof war he had wound?' 
 
 " So I spake ; but again he answered, and in this wise took up the tale : 
 
 ' Atrides, why dost thou ask me ? since thee it shall nowise avail 490 
 
 To know and to seek out my mind ; but this to thee I tell, 
 
 That not long shalt thou bide unweeping when all thou knowest well. 
 
 For of these a many were quelled, and left was many an one. 
 
 But of all the brass-clad Achseans of the champions perished none 
 
 On the homeward way save twain : and thou know'st of the battle strife : 
 
 And one yet mid the wide sea somewhere is hoarded and hath his life. 
 
 Amid the long-oared ships was Ajax quelled indeed, 
 
 For on to the edge of Gyrse him did Poseidon speed, 
 
 And on to the mighty rock-walls he drew him safe from the sea. 
 
 And there his bane had he 'scaped, though loathed of Athene was he. 
 
 But he from a mind bewildered a word o'erweening cast, 501 
 
 How that now, in despite of the Gods, from the deep of the sea he had passed. 
 
 But him and his monstrous boasting then did Poseidon hear,
 
 BOOK IV. 69 
 
 And straight in his mighty hands he caught up his three-tyned spear, 
 
 And therewith the rock Gyrsean he smote, and clave it atwain, 
 
 So that part in its place was abiding, and a fragment fell in the main, 
 
 E'en that whereon Ajax was sitting when his mind was clouded o'er. 
 
 Him then to the billowy sea-flood down the endless deep it bore 
 
 And thus and there he perished and the salt sea-water drank. 
 
 But thy brother fled from destruction, and thence away he shrank 510 
 
 In the hollow ships ; for Here' the high queen saved him there. 
 
 But e'en as unto the headland of Malea he drew near, 
 
 The whirlwind snatched him away and him thenceforward drave, 
 
 Lamenting very sorely, across the fishy wave, 
 
 To the outermost land and the house where Thyestes dwelt of old ; 
 
 But as then his son yEgistheus that dwelling-place did hold. 
 
 But when from even thence safe seemed his faring home, 
 
 And again fair wind gave the Gods and he to his house was come, 
 
 O then the land of his fathers in joy he went thereon ! 519 
 
 And he touched the land and he kissed it, and the hot tears many an one, 
 
 From him were they pouring adown as he saw his land and was glad. 
 
 But him was the watcher beholding from the watching-place he had 
 
 Held there by the wily ./Egistheus, who had promised to give him of gold 
 
 Two talents' weight for a guerdon. There watch yearlong did he hold, 
 
 Lest the King should slip by and be mindful of his courage fierce and fell. 
 
 He now to the homestead hurried to the Folk-shepherd tidings to tell. 
 
 And straightway that /Egistheus devised a cunning snare, 
 
 For twenty men from the township he chose, of the best that were there, 
 
 And set them to lurk : but elsewhere he bade the banquet dight, 
 
 And with chariots and horses he wended to bid thereto forthright 530 
 
 Agamemnon the Shepherd of Folk ; and he pondered the evil deed. 
 
 For all unawares and feasting the King to his bane did he lead, 
 
 And slaughtered him there as men slaughter a fatted ox in the stall. 
 
 Nor yet of Atrides' fellows was any man left at all,
 
 70 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Nor any man of ^Egistheus : but in the halls they died.' 
 
 " He spake the word, and all broken did the heart within me abide, 
 
 And I wept on the sea-sand sitting, and desire in my heart was done 
 
 To be living any longer or to look on the light of the sun. 
 
 But when I was weary of weeping and wallowing on the ground, 
 
 The unerring sea-bred Elder a word for me he found : 540 
 
 " ' No longer, son of Atreus, weep on so wearily, 
 
 For of no avail shall we find it ; but as swiftly as may be 
 
 Seek out what way ye may wend you aback to your father's land. 
 
 For either alive shall ye meet him, or Orestes hath been beforehand 
 
 And hath slain him, and ye shall happen upon his funeral feast.' 
 
 " He spake, and the heart within me and the proud soul in my breast 
 Once more had rest and solace of all my sore lament, 
 And I lifted up my voice and a word on the wing I sent : 548 
 
 'Then I know concerning these men, but a third didst thou speak of to me 
 Whom thou saidst alive was hoarded somewhere in the wide-spread sea, 
 Or dead ? for I long to hearken though it bring me grief to have heard.' 
 
 " So I spake, but he spake again, and gave me an answering word : 
 
 ' The son of Laertes it is, whose home is the Ithacan stead ; 
 
 And I in an island beheld him, as plenteous tears he shed 
 
 In the house of the Nymph Calypso ; and perforce she holdeth him there, 
 
 So that he may not wend him to his fatherland to fare. 
 
 For now indeed no fellows and no oar-dight ships hath he, 
 
 E'en such as thence might speed him o'er the broad back of the sea. 
 
 But, Zeus-cherished Menelaus, to thee it shall not come 
 
 In the horse-kind land of Argos to meet thy death and doom. 560 
 
 But unto the fields Elysian and the wide world's- utmost end, 
 
 Where dwells tawny Rhadamanthus, the Deathless thee shall send,
 
 BOOK IV. 71 
 
 Wherein are the softest life-days that men may ever gain ; 
 
 No snow and no ill weather, nor any drift of rain ; 
 
 But Ocean ever wafteth the wind of the shrilly west, 
 
 On menfolk ever breathing, to give them might and rest ; 
 
 Because thou hast wedded Helen, and God's son art said to be.' 
 
 " And withal at that word of his he went under the billowy sea, 
 
 And unto the ships and my fellows the godlike I wended withal, 
 
 While many a darksome shadow about my heart did fall ; 570 
 
 But when at last to the ships and the sea-side we had won, 
 
 Then all we set out supper, and Deathless Night came on, 
 
 And withal we laid us down and slept on the sea-beach there. 
 
 But when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Dawn, shone clear, 
 
 Then first the ships we shoved adown to the holy sea, 
 
 And we set the masts and the sails in the ships wrought evenly, 
 
 And withal aboard went our fellows, and on the thwarts took seat, 
 
 And in orderly fashion sitting with the oars the grey sea beat. 
 
 " Back then to the River of ^Egypt, Zeus-fed, the ships I brought, 
 And the gifts a hundred-folded all duly done I wrought ; 580 
 
 But when of the Gods undying I had stayed the evil will, 
 I heaped up the howe to my brother that his fame might be quenchless still. 
 This done we wended us homeward, and the Deathless gave to me 
 Fair wind, and sent us swiftly to the land where we would be. 
 
 " But come now, I bid thee tarry within my house and hall 
 
 Until the eleventh day, or the twelfth day, shall befal, 
 
 When in goodly wise will I speed thee and give good gifts to thee 
 
 Three steeds and a fair-smoothed twi-car ; and another gift shall be 
 
 A goodly cup wherewith to the Deathless Gods to pour, 
 
 That of me thou mayest be mindful each day and evermore." 590
 
 72 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 But Telemachus the heedful thus answering fell to say : 
 
 " No long while, son of Atreus, my parting-tide delay. 
 
 Forsooth yearlong were I willing to sit here by thy side, 
 
 And in my soul no longing for kindred or home would abide ; 
 
 For wondrous joy I deem it thy word and thy tale to hear. 
 
 But now are my fellows wearying as they bide in Pylos the fair ; 
 
 And forsooth for a space of time in thine house hast thou holden me. 
 
 But the gift, whatso thou wilt give me, an heirloom let it be. 
 
 But to Ithaca take I no horses, but leave them here as a gain 
 
 To thee ; for thou rulest over a mighty stretch of plain. 600 
 
 And there groweth the lote-grass plenty, and withal the galingale, 
 
 And there wheat and rye and barley, white, wide-spread, shall not fail. 
 
 But in Ithaca are no courses wide-reaching, nor any mead ; 
 
 A goatland : yet unto me more sweet than the land of the steed. 
 
 For not mead-rich nor horse-driving are the isles that lie in the sea : 
 
 And Ithaca, least of all islands, for such things fitting shall be." 
 
 So he spake ; but smiled Menelaus the deft at the battle-shout, 
 
 And stroked him down with his hand and named him and spake out : 
 
 "Yea, good is thy blood and begetting, dear child, as thou speakest so ; 
 
 And for thee these things will I change as I have the might to do. 610 
 
 And of all the stored-up treasure within mine house that lies 
 
 I will give thee the gift most goodly, and that which is most of price. 
 
 A fair-wrought bowl will I give thee, of silver wrought throughout, 
 
 But of gold its lips are fashioned that go all round about. 
 
 It was fashioned by Hephaestus, and Phsedimus the king 
 
 Of Sidonians gave it unto me, whom his house was covering, 
 
 When I was about departing. Now to thee will I give it to take." 
 
 Thus then about such matters there each unto each they spake, 
 
 And the feasting-folk drew anear to the house of the king divine, 619
 
 BOOK IV. 73 
 
 And sheep withal were they leading, and bringing heart-gladdening wine; 
 And their wives of the goodly head-gear bore in the wheaten bread, 
 And in the halls were they busy and the banquet there they spread . 
 
 But before the hall of Odysseus the Wooers pastime made, 
 
 With casting the quoits and the goat-spears on a level floor well laid, 
 
 Where with pride all overweening they erst were wont to be ; 
 
 But there was Antinoiis sitting, with Eurymachus godlike to see ; 
 
 And there were the chiefs of the Wooers and the doughtiest of all those. 
 
 But to them now came Noemon, son of Phronius, and stood close, 
 
 And spake to Antinous thus, and answer of him sought : 
 
 " Antinous, wot we at all, or perchance in our minds wot nought, 630 
 
 When cometh Telemachus back from Pylos of the sand ? 
 
 For he went away with my ship, whereof need now cometh to hand : 
 
 Since to Elis the wide would I journey, for twelve brood-mares there have I, 
 
 And their suckling mules toil-patient untamed around them lie. 
 
 And fain would I drive away one and tame him to my need." 
 
 He spake and in heart they marvelled, for as yet they deemed not indeed 
 That he unto Pylos was gone, but that in the country-side 
 Among the sheep, or maybe with the swineherd, he yet did abide. 
 
 Then Antinous, son of Eupithes, the word to Noemon sent : 
 
 " Tell me truly now, when went he, and what lads with him went? 640 
 
 Were they Ithacan swains well-chosen, or his thralls and hirelings ? 
 
 Or was his might so mighty to accomplish e'en these things ? 
 
 And hereof the verity say thou, that I know full certainly. 
 
 Thy black ship, took he her perforce 'gainst the will of thee, 
 
 Or freely didst thou give her, since with words therefor he prayed ? "
 
 74 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Then Noemon, son of Phronius, he answered him and said : 
 
 " I gave him the same of my freewill ; for how otherwise might one fare 
 
 When such a man so craved it with his soul so laden with care? 
 
 For hard it is such asking and such a gift to gainsay. 
 
 But the swains who are his fellows are the best, were we away, 650 
 
 Amid all the folk. Now I noted their Captain aboard, and he 
 
 Was Mentor, or else some God e'en as like to him as may be. 
 
 And thereat indeed I wonder, for at day-dawn yesterday 
 
 I saw the goodly Mentor, though to Pylos by then on his way." 
 / 
 
 So he spake, and away he wended toward his father's house and hall ; 
 But those twain, a great amazement on their haughty souls 'gan fall ; 
 And they set down the Wooers together, and their game and their play they 
 And Antinoiis, son of Eupithes, a word amid them spake, [brake, 
 
 Sore grieved, and his blackened heart was fulfilled with monstrous ire, 
 And the eyes of him moreover were like to a flaming fire. 660 
 
 " Out on it ! great is the deed, and done high-handedly, 
 Telemachus he and his journey ! and we deemed it would not be. 
 In despite of us all hath the youngling departed just e'en as he would, 
 And hath hauled down his ship and hath chosen from the folk all the better 
 
 than good. 
 
 Now a waxing ill shall he be henceforth ; and may Zeus o'erthrow 
 His might ere a heavy trouble he fashion for us to grow. 
 But a swift-sailing ship and a crew of twenty give ye to me, 
 That I may waylay his goings and watch the frith of sea 
 Betwixt Ithaca the island and Samos' craggy shore. 
 So, sailing after his father, may he hap on troubles sore." 670 
 
 He spake, and all yeasaid him, and egged on his intent, 
 And all they straight arising to the house of Qdysseus went. 
 But no long while it was ere their word Penelope knew,
 
 BOOK IV. 75 
 
 And the deed that the Wooers devised in the depths of their soul to do. 
 
 For Medon the herald told her, who a word .thereof did win 
 
 As he stood without the forecourt while they wove the rede within. 
 
 So through the house with the tidings to Penelope he ran, 
 
 And e'en as he went o'er the threshold she spake unto the man : 
 
 " Herald, and why have the Wooers, the high-born, sent thee forth ? 
 Is it to bid the handmaids of Odysseus, the mighty of worth, 680 
 
 To cease from their work, for them the feast and the banquet to set ? 
 Would that they wooed me no more, nor gathered anywhere met ! 
 Would that the last and the latest of feasts they had feasted here ! 
 Ah ye, that gathered together such plenteous life-store wear 
 Of Telemachus wise-hearted, never yet then have ye heard, 
 When little ye were, your fathers of aforetime tell the word 
 Of what a man was Odysseus among the men of their day. 
 Hownoman of thefolk would he wrong, and no word of unright would say. 
 Howbeit 'tis ever the fashion of holy kings and great 
 That this one will they love of manfolk, and that other one will they hate. 
 But he to no man ever did any deed of unright 691 
 
 But for you, your shameless souls are shown and come to light : 
 Nor forsooth doth all well-doing the fruit of kindness bear." 
 
 Then Medon, skilled in prudence, thuswise he answered her : 
 " Ah well it were, O Queen, that this were the worst of the ill ; 
 But indeed a grievous matter, a thing more grievous still, 
 These Wooers are now devising : may Zeus not bring it to pass ! 
 For Telemachus now are they eager to slay with the whetted brass, 
 As he wendeth hither homeward ; for he went of his father to hear, 
 To Pylos exceeding goodly, and Lacedsemon the fair." 700 
 
 So he spake, and her knees were loosened and the heart within her failed,
 
 76 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And a long while over her mouth the speechlessness prevailed, 
 
 And her eyes were filled with tears and her full sweet voice fell dead. 
 
 But at last she spake with words, and answered him and said : 
 
 " Herald, why then went rny child, and wherefore needed he 
 
 To fare on the ships swift-sailing that to men are the steeds of the sea, 
 
 And over the mighty waste of the wallow of waters they wend ? 
 
 Doth he so that his name among manfolkmay perish and come to an end? " 
 
 But her then Medon answered, in prudence skilled and good : 
 
 " I wot not if one of the Godfolk hath urged him, or his own mood 710 
 
 Drave him on to fare unto Pylos some tidings thence to get 
 
 If his father were wending homeward, or what fateful doom he hath met." 
 
 So speaking, straight he departed to the house of Odysseus the fair : 
 
 But soul-wasting grief enwrapped her, nor yet in any chair 
 
 Did she endure to be sitting, though her house had many an one. 
 
 On the threshold of her chamber much-wrought she sat her down 
 
 And piteously bewailed her, and around moaned her handmaids there, 
 
 As many of young or of old as about the homestead were. 
 
 To these amidst plenteous wailing thus spake Penelope : 
 
 ' Hearken, O friends ! the Olympian much grief hath given to me 720 
 Beyond all other women that with me were born and bred : 
 For first my glorious husband, the lion-heart, is dead, 
 Bright with all worth and valour past every Danaan man, 
 Whose fame was abroad in Hellas and through mid Argos ran : 
 And now my son beloved from our halls have the whirlwinds rent, 
 And no tidings left : for I knew not the hour when he hastened and went. 
 O cruel ! that none among you should have had the thought in her head, 
 Though well ye knew what was toward, to lead me forth from my bed
 
 BOOK IV. 77 
 
 In that nick of time when the youngling on his hollow black ship went ; 
 
 For I, if I had wotted that on such a way he was bent, 730 
 
 Then verily had I stayed him for as fain of the road as he were, 
 
 Or dead should he have left me in these halls of the homestead here. 
 
 But now let a handy swain bid Dolius hither to come, 
 
 The thrall that my father gave me when here I was wending home, 
 
 And who keepeth my orchard of trees, that as swift as may be done 
 
 He sit beside Laertes and tell him how all hath gone, 
 
 If he in his mind mayhappen may weave some rede of avail, 
 
 And going out mid the people 'gainst those may raise the wail, 
 
 Who his seed and the seed of Odysseus the godlike are eager to slay." 
 
 But her loved nurse Euryclea in turn did answer and say : 740 
 
 " Dear Queen, now whether thou slay me straightway with the ruthless sword, 
 
 Or let me live on in the homestead, from thee will I hide no word. 
 
 For of all these things have I wotted, and all that he bade me I gave, 
 
 Both bread and honey-sweet wine ; but a great oath of me did he have 
 
 To tell thee nothing hereof till the twelfth day came to hand, 
 
 Or till thou thyself hadst lacked him and hadst heard of him leaving the land ; 
 
 Lest thou mar thy lovely body with weeping and with woe. 
 
 But now wash thee and on thy body the clean fair raiment do, 
 
 And up to thy bower aloft with thine handmaids wend thy way, 
 
 And there to Athene, the Daughter of Zeus the Shielded, pray : 750 
 
 For She is the one who may save him, yea, e'en from the very death. 
 
 Nor trouble an old man's trouble, for my mind to me nowise saith 
 
 That the happy Gods are hating all this Arcesius' seed : 
 
 But there shall yet be abiding one man to hold at need 
 
 These great high-builded houses and the fat fields far from here." 
 
 So saying she lulled her wailing and stanched her eyes of the tear ; 
 So she washed her and on her body the raiment clean she cast,
 
 78 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And up to her bower aloft with her handmaids then she passed, 
 And she set the meal in the maund, and thus to Athene she prayed : 
 
 " Hear me, O Seed of the Shielded, of Zeus, thou untamed Maid ! 760 
 If ever Odysseus the Shifty within these halls hath burned 
 Fat thighs of ox and of sheep, thereto let thy mind be turned ; 
 And thereof for my sake be mindful and save my son lest he die, 
 And ward him from these my Wooers of the evil hearts and high ! " 
 
 She cried out as she spake, and the Goddess was hearkening her prayer and 
 
 [her need. 
 
 But great in the shadowy hall was the din of the Wooers indeed, 
 And thus would one say to another of those young o'erweening men : 
 " This Queen of the many Wooers dights the wedding for us then, 
 But nought of the bane is she wotting that is fated for her son." 
 
 Thus would he say, not knowing what Fate was speeding on. 770 
 
 But Antinoiis took up the word and spake in their midst again : 
 " Now once for all, good fellows, from o'erweening words refrain, 
 Lest some one fetch and carry the tidings there within. 
 Now let us arise in silence, and the tale and device let us win 
 Which unto us all, we Wooers, has seemed so good and fair. 
 
 So saying, he chose out twenty of the best of those that were there. 
 
 To the ship swift-sailing they hastened, and down to the shore of the sea. 
 
 And first adown to the deeps they hauled her there to be, 
 
 While in her, the coal-black ship, the masts and the sails they set, 
 
 And into the leathern rowlocks the oars withal did they get, 780 
 
 And fitted all in order, and the white sails hoisted abroad. 
 
 Then the high-souled swains of service brought them their arms aboard, 
 
 And in the deep they moored her and went up one and all ;
 
 BOOK IV. 79 
 
 And therewith they gat them to supper and abode till night should fall. 
 
 But in her upper chamber all-wise Penelope lay, 
 
 And fasting of meat and of drink she pondered either way, 
 
 Whether her noble son should yet escape his bane, 
 
 Or whether by those Wooers the masterful he should be slain. 
 
 As amidst the thronging menfolk a lion broods o'er his fear, 
 
 Whenso all round about him they draw the ring and the snare, 790 
 
 In such wise did she ponder till sleep on her did fall, 
 
 And she slept as aback she lay, and her limbs slacked one and all. 
 
 But the Grey-eyed, the Goddess Athene, of other matters thought, 
 
 And an image and a seeming in the shape of a woman she wrought, 
 
 Iphthime Icarius' daughter, the high-souled ; her did wed 
 
 Eumelus, who in Pherae upheld his house and stead. 
 
 To the house of Odysseus the goodly she sped this thing away, 
 
 That Penelope's sore sorrow and heart-grief she should stay, 
 
 And might stay the weeping and wailing wherewith she made lament 
 
 So into the sleeping-chamber by the thong of the latch it went, 800 
 
 And above her head did it stand and this word began to say : 
 
 " O Penelope, then thou sleepest with sorrowing heart alway ? 
 But the Gods who live so softly will nowise have thee mourn 
 And weep in thine affliction ; for thy son doth now return, 
 Since indeed against the Godfolk no trespasser is he." 
 
 But therewithal thus answered the wise Penelope 
 
 As she slept exceeding sweetly within the dreamy door : 
 
 "Why comest thou hither, my sister ? since never yet before 
 
 Hast thou come here ; for thou dwellest in a house far far apart. 
 
 Now thou biddest me cease from lamenting, and my weary grief of heart,
 
 8o THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Wherewith in all unrest my mind and my soul are tossed. 811 
 
 But first my glorious husband, the lion-heart, have I lost, 
 
 Adorned with worth and valour o'er every Danaan man, 
 
 Whose fame was abroad in Hellas and through mid Argos ran. 
 
 And now my son beloved, in the hollow ship hath gone ! 
 
 A child ! who of toil or of Councils scant knowledge yet hath won. 
 
 And for him more than my husband do I sorrow, for I fear, 
 
 And sore I tremble about him, lest some evil fate he bear 
 
 Amid the folk he hath gone to, or perchance upon the sea ; 
 
 For many foemen about him are devising craftily, 820 
 
 And are eager for his slaughter ere he come to his fatherland." 
 
 But the shadowy image answered and spake whence it did stand : 
 
 " Heart-up ! nor thy mind be holding so utterly in fear ; 
 
 For such a guide was with him as all men everywhere 
 
 Would crave to have beside them, and She hath might thereto. 
 
 And She is Pallas Athene, and it pitieth Her of thy woe. 
 
 And now hath She sent me hither to speak this word to thee." 
 
 But therewith spake and answered all-wise Penelope : 
 
 " Now if of God thou art, and the voice of God hast heard, 
 
 I pray thee of Him the Hapless tell me another word, 830 
 
 Whether he yet is living and beholding the light of the sun, 
 
 Or down in the House of Hades dwells dead with his life-days done ? " 
 
 But withal the shadowy image thus answered her and said : 
 " I will not tell thee throughly if the man be alive or dead ; 
 For ill it is to babble a windy tale, and vain." 
 
 Therewith by the bolt of the doorpost it drew away again, 
 
 And passed into the breath of the wind : but Icarius' daughter withal
 
 BOOK IV. 8 1 
 
 Roused her awhile from slumber and joy on her heart did fall, 
 
 So clear was the dream that came to her when the night was deep and 
 
 [dead. 
 
 But the Wooers went a shipboard and o'er the wet ways sped, 840 
 
 And in their minds were they brooding for Telemachus' baleful bane. 
 
 A certain island is there rock-built in the midst of the main, 
 Midways 'twixt the Ithacan land and Samos craggy and bare : 
 It is Asteris called, nor is great : but it hath an haven fair, 
 Two-mouthed, and those Achaeans they lay a lurking there.
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 A COUNCIL OF THE GODS. HERMES SENT TO CALYPSO TO BID HER FURTHER 
 THE RETURN OF ODYSSEUS. ODYSSEUS SAILS AWAY ON A RAFT. HE IS 
 WRECKED IN THE SEA HARD ON PH^EACIA AND SWIMS ASHORE THERE. 
 
 NOW Dawn arose from her bed and the great Tithonus' side 
 To bear the light to the Deathless and to mortals far and wide j 
 But the gathered Gods were sitting, and there among the rest 
 Was Zeus the Lofty Thunderer, whose might is the mightiest. 
 There the manifold grief of Odysseus mindful Athene told, 
 For e'en yet was she heedful of him whom the house of the Nymph did 
 
 [hold. 
 
 " Zeus, Father and happy Godfolk of the life that never dies, 
 Henceforth let no king mace-bearing be kind and mild and wise, 
 Nor let him still be minded toward meet and righteous rede, 
 But rather hard and cruel and bold for godless deed ; 10 
 
 Since none of the folk remember Odysseus great and good, 
 Who once was king among them as a father mild of mood. 
 But he in an isle is abiding and bearing heavy woe 
 In the halls of the nymph Calypso, who will not let him go ; 
 And nowise is he able to win to his fathers' land, 
 For no oar-dight ships he hath, and no fellows are to hand, 
 E'en such as well might speed him o'er the broad back of the main ; 
 And now of his dear son's slaying a certain folk are fain 
 As his ways he wendeth homeward ; for he went of his father to hear, 
 To Pylos exceeding goodly and to Lacedsemon the dear." 20
 
 BOOK V. a? 
 
 J 
 
 Then Zeus, the Cloud-packs' Herder, he answered her and said : 
 
 " O my child, and what a word from the wall of thy teeth hath sped, 
 
 For is not e'en this counsel of thine own devising then, 
 
 That Odysseus home returning might wreak him on these men ? 
 
 But with craft Telemachus speed thou, as no might thereto dost thou lack, 
 
 That unto the land of his fathers all scathless he get him aback ; 
 
 And the Wooers, home be they wending in their ship with nothing done !" 
 
 And therewith he spake unto Hermes his well-beloved son : 
 
 " Hermes, since thou in all else hast ever our tidings to speed, 
 
 To the nymph of the hair well-woven now carry this unerring rede ; 30 
 
 The return of Odysseus the patient, that homeward he may hie, 
 
 Though not by the Godfolks' guiding or the deed of men that die. 
 
 But many a grief enduring upon a raft well-bound 
 
 On the twentieth day shall he win him to Scheria's loamy ground, 
 
 To the land of those Phaeacians who are the Gods' own kin ; 
 
 And of them and their hearts such worship shall he have as a God may win, 
 
 And in a ship shall they send him to his fatherland the dear, 
 
 And shall give him gold and brass and abundant weed to wear ; 
 
 So great that ne'er had Odysseus such spoil from Troy-town got 
 
 Had he come aback all scathless with his due and shared-out lot 40 
 
 For so aright is it fated that his folk and his friends he behold, 
 
 And come back to his house high-builded and the land of his fathers of old." 
 
 So he spake, and the Slayer of Argus, the Flitter, gainsaid him nought, 
 But straightway unto his foot-soles he bound the shoon fair-wrought, 
 Deathless and never-dying : o'er the wet wave him they bear, 
 And over the limitless land as swift as the breath of the air. 
 And he took his wand wherewithal he lulleth the eyelids of men, 
 Of those whom he willeth, but others from slumber he rouseth again. 
 This then in his hand thus holding flew the mighty Argus-bane,
 
 84 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And over Pieria wending from the heavens sank down to the main. 50 
 
 Then over the billows he drave ; as a fowl, as a sea-mew, was he, 
 
 Who over the terrible gulf of the all unharvested sea 
 
 Fares ever hunting the fishes, and her thick wing dips in the deep. 
 
 E'en so o'er the manifold billows his way did Hermes keep ; 
 
 But when he came to the island that far and far off lay, 
 
 Then forth from the dark -blue sea-flood aland he went his way, 
 
 Till unto a mighty cavern where dwelt the Nymph did he win, 
 
 E'en she of the hair well-woven ; and he found her therewithin. 
 
 On the hearth burned a mighty fire, and the savour and the scent 
 
 Of the well-cleft cedar and sandal all through the island went ; 60 
 
 And therewithin was she singing in a voice exceeding sweet 
 
 As she traversed the loom aweaving and the web with a gold comb beat. 
 
 But all about that cavern there grew a blossoming wood, 
 
 Of alder and of poplar and of cypress savouring good ; 
 
 And fowl therein wing-spreading were wont to roost and be, 
 
 For owls were there and falcons, and long-tongued crows of the sea, 
 
 And deeds of the sea they deal with and thereof they have a care. 
 
 But round the hollow cavern there spread and flourished fair 
 
 A vine of garden breeding, and in its grapes was glad ; 
 
 And four wells of the white water their heads together had, 70 
 
 And flowing on in order four ways they thence did get; 
 
 And soft were the meadows blooming with parsley and violet. 
 
 Yea, if thither indeed had come e'en one of the Deathless, e'en he 
 
 Had wondered and gladdened his heart with all that was there to see. 
 
 And there in sooth stood wondering the Flitter, the Argus-bane. 
 
 But when o'er all these matters in his soul he had marvelled amain, 
 
 Then into the wide cave went he, and Calypso, Godhead's Grace, 
 
 Failed nowise there to know him as she looked^ upon his face ; 
 
 For never unknown to each other are the Deathless Gods, though they
 
 BOOK V. 85 
 
 Apart from one another may be dwelling far away. 80 
 
 But Odysseus the mighty-hearted within he met not there, 
 
 Who on the beach sat weeping, as oft he was wont to wear 
 
 His soul with grief and groaning, and weeping ; yea, and he 
 
 As the tears he was pouring downward yet gazed o'er the unfilled sea. 
 
 But to Hermes spake Calypso, the Godhead's Glorious One, 
 
 And said, as aloft she was sitting on her all-bright gleaming throne : 
 
 " O God of the Wand of Gold, O Hermes dread and dear, 
 
 Why comest thou now, since aforetime thou wert not frequent here ? 
 
 Tell me whereof thou art minded, for my heart would have it won 
 
 If my might thereto may avail me, and if it be doomed to be done. 90 
 
 But fare thou forth, for the guest-cheer for thee as now would I dight." 
 
 In such wise spake the Goddess, and spread the board aright 
 
 With meat of the Deathless before him and mingled the nectar red, 
 
 And there ate and drank the Hitter, the Bane of Argus dead. 
 
 So after that he had eaten, his soul with the meat to rejoice, 
 
 He answered the speech of the Goddess and sent forth the word of his 
 
 [voice : 
 
 " Thou askest me why I am come, a God to a Goddess ; so this 
 I will tell, yea, the whole tale truly, as forsooth my bidding is. 
 It was Zeus that sent me hither, and I not willing, for who 
 Such a wondrous space of the brine would be fain to hurry through, ico 
 And never a city of men-folk anear the road, that they 
 Choice gifts an hundred-folded and holy deeds might pay ? 
 But indeed no other God the will of Zeus may transgress, 
 Or the rede of the ^Kgis-bearer may turn to emptiness. 
 Now he said that a man bides with thee, most hapless of the men 
 Who beset the city of Priam for one year short of ten ; 
 But the tenth that town they wasted, and went on their homeward way.
 
 86 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 But thereon against Athene they sinned and went astray, 
 
 And she raised up a blast against them and long billows of the sea, 
 
 And there all the other fellows they perished pitifully, no 
 
 But him the wind and the wave bore off and wafted here. 
 
 Him then shalt thou send away ere the least of whiles shall wear, 
 
 Since for him is it nowise fated apart from his friends to die ; 
 
 But the doom is, he shall behold them and at last shall draw anigh 
 
 His house the lofty-builded and the land of his fathers' race." 
 
 He spake ; but shuddered Calypso, the Godhead's very Grace, 
 
 And withal she sent forth her voice and set these words on the wing : 
 
 " Hard are ye, Gods, and grudging beyond all other thing ! 
 
 Us Goddesses so begrudging if we by a man be laid 
 
 In open wise, when any of a man her mate hath made ; 120 
 
 As when She took Orion, the Rosy-fingered Day, 
 
 Just so did the Gods begrudge her, soft lives that live alway, 
 
 Till Artemis chaste, gold-throned, in Ortygia at the last 
 
 With her gentle shafts fell on him and slew him with their cast. 
 
 Or as when fair-haired Demeter to her mind and her mood gave way 
 
 And blent her with lasion and in love beside him lay 
 
 In the fallow thrice ploughed over : but the deed soon came to light 
 
 Zeus knew it, and straight he slew him with his thunder flashing white. 
 
 So now do ye grudge me, O Gods, this mortal man by my side, 
 
 Though him I saved, as lonely on the upturned keel did he ride, 130 
 
 When Zeus with his white-flashing thunder had broken utterly 
 
 And cleft the ship beneath him amidst the wine-dark sea : 
 
 Then the others, his goodly fellows, they perished there indeed, 
 
 .But the wind and the waves they bore him and hither him did speed. 
 
 And I cherished him and fed him and said that he should be 
 
 Undying and unageing through all his days foEjne. 
 
 But since no other God may the will of Zeus transgress,
 
 BOOK V. 87 
 
 Or the will of the ^Egis-bearer may turn to emptiness, 
 
 Let him go his ways ! Since That One so biddeth him to wend 
 
 O'er the all unharvested ocean : yet him I will not send : 140 
 
 For here are no oar-dight ships, and no sea-folk are with me 
 
 Wherewith forthright to speed him o'er the broad back of the sea. 
 
 But heedfully will I forewarn him, and cover nothing o'er, 
 
 That all unscathed in the ending he may come to his fathers' shore." 
 
 But the Flitter, the Bane of Argus, thus answered to her there : 
 
 " Yea, e'en so sbalt thou speed him, and of Zeus and his anger beware, 
 
 Lest wroth, with thee full hardly he deal in other days." 
 
 So the mighty Bane of Argus spake the word and went his ways ; 
 
 But unto the great-heart Odysseus the glorious damsel hied, 
 
 When the word of Zeus she had hearkened and heard how all should betide. 
 
 And she found him there asitting on the beach, and ever aswim 151 
 
 Were his eyes with tears and weeping, and the sweet life ebbed from him 
 
 As his lost return he lamented. But he had no joy of the May, 
 
 Although perforce in the night-tide by the side of her he lay 
 
 In the hollow den of the rocks, he loth, though fain were she. 
 
 But by day on the rocks was he sitting and down by the shore of the sea, 
 
 And with grief he wore his soul and with tears, and many a moan, 
 
 As he gazed o'er the untilled sea-flood and let the tears fall down. 
 
 So the Godhead's Glory drew near him and spake as she stood anear : 
 
 " O hapless, no longer be wailing and the life within thce wear; 160 
 
 For now indeed with goodwill will I bring thy departure to pass. 
 
 Fall to now, the long beams be hewing, and shape thee a raft with the brass 
 
 Full wide, and withal the deck-beams aloft thereunto fit, 
 
 That over the darkling sea-flood to thy land it thee may flit. 
 
 But bread and water, and wine the ruddy therein will I lay,
 
 88 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 E'en such as thy soul desires, that thou stave thy hunger away. 
 And with raiment will I clothe thee, and a following wind will I send, 
 That all unscathed of evil to thy fatherland thou may'st wend. 
 For the Gods that hold the heavens wide-spread will have it so ; 
 And forsooth they are mightier than I to devise the deed and to do." 
 
 But thereat the goodly Odysseus, toil-stout, fell shuddering, 171 
 
 And his voice withal he lifted and set these words on the wing : 
 " Far other things than my going, O Goddess, thou wiliest for me, 
 When thou biddest me fare in a raft o'er the mighty gulf of the sea, 
 The perilous place and dreadful, where a way is scarce to be had 
 With a shapely ship swift-sailing, with the wind of Zeus made glad : 
 Against thy will, O Goddess, on the raft will I nowise fare, 
 But and if thou hast the heart with a mighty oath to swear 
 That no other baleful trouble thou wiliest on me to fall." 
 
 He spake, and the Godhead's Glory, Calypso, smiled withal, 180 
 
 And she stroked him down with her hand and named him, and spake for 
 
 [her part : 
 
 " Yea, verily art thou cunning and no scant-of-wit thou art, 
 That in thy mind thou hast compassed to speak such a word as this. 
 Now hereof may the Earth bear witness, and the Heaven aloft that is ! 
 And Styx, the downlong water ! (and this of every oath 
 Is the mightiest and most fearful for the blessed Gods forsooth) 
 That no other baleful trouble do I will and devise for thee, 
 But all this that I plan and think of is even such as for me 
 Myself would be devising, were I in such-like need ; 
 For the soul within me is righteous, nor yet in my breast indeed 190 
 Is my spirit iron-fashioned, but compassionate am I." 
 
 So spake the Grace of the Godhead, and led on speedily,
 
 BOOK V. 89 
 
 And he followed on her footsteps and his way behind her wan 
 
 Till they came to the rock-den's hollow, the Goddess and the man, 
 
 And there he sat him adown on the throne and the lofty seat 
 
 Whence Hermes had arisen ; and she set out diverse meat, 
 
 All things to eat and to drink that are food for mortal men, 
 
 And over against Odysseus the goodly she set her then, 
 
 And the meat and the drink of the Deathless the handmaids set for her. 
 
 So they stretched out their hands to the meat that lay before them there. 
 
 But when of meat and of drink desire was fully fed, 201 
 
 Then Calypso, Godhead's Glory, took up the word and said : 
 
 " O Zeus-born son of Laertes, Odysseus, full of guile, 
 
 And art thou then utterly minded to get thee home this while 
 
 To thy fatherland beloved ? Then go, and fare thee well ! 
 
 But if the soul within thee the tale could truly tell 
 
 Of the woes for thy fulfilling ere thou come to thy fatherland, 
 
 Then here with me abiding as the guard of this house wouldst thou stand, 
 
 A deathless man : though the sight of thy wife thou longest for, 
 
 Since her indeed thou desirest each day and evermore. 210 
 
 Although forsooth I deem me in nowise worser than she 
 
 In comeliness and stature, and meet may it never be 
 
 For the deathful with the Deathless in body and shape to contend." 
 
 Therewith all-wise Odysseus this answer forth did send : 
 
 " Be not wroth herewith, great Goddess, for I know full certainly 
 
 That lacking in all beside thee is the wise Penelope, 
 
 Both in comeliness and stature and in all wise to behold ; 
 
 For she is of men that perish, and thou deathless and waxing not old. 
 
 Nevertheless e'en so all days daylong do I yearn 
 
 To get me back again homeward and to see my day ol return. 220 
 
 But if some God should wreck me as I wend o'er the wine-dark deep
 
 9 o THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 I will bear it, for in my breast an enduring heart I keep. 
 
 Many woes and toil abundant in the war, on the wave of the sea, 
 
 Have I suffered and done already; and of these let this one be." 
 
 So he spake, and the sun sank under, and the dark drew on apace ; 
 And they gat them away together in a nook of the hollow place, 
 And fulfilled their love and their longing as each by each they lay. 
 
 But when shone the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Early Day, 
 
 His cloak and his kirtle on him Odysseus did forthright, 
 
 And the Nymph did on a garment full wide and silver-white 230 
 
 Of a lovely web and lightsome ; and round her loins she did 
 
 A goodly golden girdle, and her head with the veil she hid. 
 
 Then for great-souled Odysseus she devised his leaving the land. 
 
 A mighty axe she gave him, made meet for the palm of his hand, 
 
 Brazen, on both sides whetted ; and hefted was the head 
 
 With a full fair helve of olive firm fitted in its stead. 
 
 Then she gave him an adze well polished, and led the way along 
 
 To the utmost end of the island, where the trees grew tall and strong, 
 
 The alder and the poplar and the heaven-upreaching pine, 
 
 Well-seasoned, dry, and ancient, and light to swim the brine. 240 
 
 But when the place she had shown him where long the tree-boles grew 
 
 Then Calypso, Godhead's Glory, aback to her homestead drew ; 
 
 And therewith he hewed the timber, and swift the work he won, 
 
 And of trees he felled him twenty, and the brass axe laid thereon, 
 
 And planed them with all cunning, and the rule along them laid. 
 
 Till Calypso, Godhead's Glory, the wimbles brought to aid, 
 
 And then all the beams did he bore, and each to each did fit, 
 
 And so with mortice and treenail each beam he mated it. 
 
 And as wide as a man well skilled in the woodwright's art would trace 
 
 The hold of a ship that beareth a freight from place to place, 250
 
 BOOK V. 9 i 
 
 So wide was Odysseus making his roomy raft to be. 
 
 Then withal to the serried ribs the deck-beams craftily 
 
 He fitted ; and finished all with the long planks of the side. 
 
 But therein he stepped a mast, with a yard across it to ride ; 
 
 And he wrought thereto a rudder that a straight road he might steer ; 
 
 And with wicker bulwarks fenced it about and everywhere, 
 
 To ward off the wash of the billows, and heaped wood for ballasting. 
 
 Then Calypso, Godhead's Glory, a web thereto did she bring 
 
 To fashion him sails, and this also in goodly wise did he do, 
 
 And braces therewith and halyards and sheets he wrought thereto. 260 
 
 And then to the holy salt sea with handspikes he hove her adown. 
 
 And now by the fourth day's ending the work was throughly won, 
 
 And the fifth day fair Calypso from the isle the man did speed 
 
 When she had washed his body and clad him in fragrant weed. 
 
 And two skins in the raft laid the Goddess : of black wine was the one, 
 
 And the other, the great one, of water ; and victual had she done 
 
 In a wallet, yea, many dainties to his uttermost content ; 
 
 And a fair wind nothing troublous, and soft and warm, she sent. 
 
 Glad then was the goodly Odysseus as he set his sail to the wind, 
 
 And sitting down by the tiller steered on with heedful mind. 270 
 
 Nor yet did any slumber on his eyelids lay its weight 
 
 As he gazed upon the Pleiads and Bootes setting late, 
 
 And the Bear, which some moreover by the name of the Wain they call, 
 
 And on himself he turneth and watcheth Qrion withal ; 
 
 And he alone in the washing of ocean hath no share. 
 
 Now Calypso, Godhead's Glory, had so bidden him to steer 
 And wend his ways o'er the sea-flood on the left hand still to be ; 
 So for seven days' space and ten he went his ways o'er the sea,
 
 92 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 But on the eighteenth day, lo the shadowy mountains there 
 
 Of the land of the Phseacians where nighest to him they were, 280 
 
 And even as a war-shield on the darkling deep it showed. 
 
 But the Lord, the Shaker of Earth, from the ^Ethiopians' abode, 
 
 As he came, beheld him afar from the hills of the Solymi, [rose high, 
 
 As he showed there a-sailing the sea-flood. Then the wrath in his soul 
 
 And wagging his head withal such words to his soul did he speed : 
 
 " Out on it ! now have the Gods on Odysseus shifted their rede, 
 
 Since amid the ^Ethiopians awhile agone I was, 
 
 And he neareth the land of Phasacia, where to him shall it come to pass 
 
 To escape the goal of his sorrows that so sore on him do prevail. 
 
 And yet meseems shall I drive him towards full enough of bale." 290 
 
 He spake, and the clouds he gathered, and troubled the deeps of the sea, 
 His hand the tri-spear grasping ; and he stirred up all blasts that may be 
 Of every airt of the winds, and he covered up with the drift 
 The earth and the sea together, and night fell down from the lift. 
 Then the East and the South together, and the hard-breathed West did 
 And the North aloft-engendered rolled huge the billowy wash. [clash, 
 
 Ah ! then the knees of Odysseus fell slack, and his dear heart failed, 
 
 And into his soul the mighty he spake in words that wailed : 
 
 " O me ! O me unhappy ! what now shall be the end ? 
 
 O'er-true meseems the Goddess that word to me did send, 300 
 
 When she said that on the sea-flood, ere I came to my father's land, 
 
 I should fill up the measure of woes ; and all is now at hand. 
 
 Ah ! with what mighty cloud-rack Zeus piles the stretch of sky, 
 
 And troubleth all the sea-flood, and the blasts go hurrying by 
 
 Of every airt of the winds : now sure is the bitter bane. 
 
 O threefold, fourfold happy, ye Danaans, of your gain
 
 BOOK V. 93 
 
 Of death by Troy wide-spreading ! when for Atreus' son ye wrought, 
 O would that I had perished and bane upon me brought 
 In the day when the thronging Trojans their brazen spears cast on, 
 When about the son of Peleus, the dead man, war we won ! 310 
 
 E'en so had I gotten my burial, and my fame the Achaeans had spread, 
 But now unto me is it fated in a pitiful wise to be dead." 
 
 And e'en as the word was spoken came a mighty toppling wave, 
 
 And fiercely tumbling upon him the shuddering craft it drave, 
 
 And the tiller was torn from his hand-grip, and therewithal was he cast 
 
 Afar from the raft, and moreover amidmost brake the mast 
 
 As a squall of the blended whirlwind fell on it fearfully, 
 
 And the sail withal and the yard-arm fell far amidst the sea. 
 
 Long while was he holden under, nor yet had he the might 
 
 Against the rush of the billow to heave him up forthright, 320 
 
 For heavily hung the raiment of Calypso the divine. 
 
 But at last and at length he came up, and spat out the bitter brine, 
 
 Which from his head moreover ran down abundantly. 
 
 But the raft he forgat in nowise though sore outworn was he, 
 
 And thereat he dashed through the billows and gat a hold of her, 
 
 And sat him down amidships and shunned the death anear : 
 
 But that craft the mighty billows drave here and there on the tide ; 
 
 As when the autumn northwind o'er the plain is driving wide 
 
 The thistledown, and huddled there clingeth bur to bur, 
 
 So here and there o'er the sea-flood the wild wind shuttled her, 330 
 
 And whiles the South would give her to be borne by the North wind strong, 
 
 And whiles the East to the West would cast her to hurry along. 
 
 All this saw Cadmus' daughter, Ino, fair-ancled maid, 
 Leucothea hight, who erewhile the speech of mortals said,
 
 94 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 But now in the salt-sea dwelling in the glory of Gods had share. 
 
 Now she pitied Odysseus bewildered, all the burden of griefs he must bear. 
 
 So now in the shape of a sea-mew she arose from the deep of the sea, 
 
 And sat on the raft hard-bounden, and therewith a word spake she : 
 
 " Hapless ! why then is Poseidon, the Shaker of the Earth, 
 
 So utterly wroth against thee and such evil bringeth to birth ? 340 
 
 Yet neither so shall he slay thee though he be fain of it. 
 
 Now therefore this wise do thou, since thou seem'st no scant-of-wit, 
 
 Do from thee these thy garments, leave the raft for the wind to bear, 
 
 And with thy hands be rowing, and strive to draw anear 
 
 The land of the Phaeacians, where escape to thee shall hap, 
 
 And this my veil undying about thy body wrap. 
 
 Then nought need'st thou dread of evil or any death at hand. 
 
 But when at last with thy hand-grip thou hast taken hold of the land, 
 
 Then do it off thee and cast it away to the wine-dark deep 
 
 Afar from the land, and turn thee about and thine own way keep." 350 
 
 So spake the Goddess, and therewith the head-gear to him gave, 
 And again went under the sea-flood, uptossed with many a wave, 
 In the likeness of a sea-mew ; and the black wave hid her again. 
 
 But the toil-stout goodly Odysseus he pondered his thought atwain, 
 
 And unto his mighty soul he spake in heavy wise : 
 
 " Woe's me ! some one of the Deathless against me the guile doth devise 
 
 Once more, since thus she biddeth from the raft to get me away. 
 
 But nowise will I obey her, since mine eyes saw where it lay 
 
 Far off, that land that she told of as my refuge from the sea. 
 
 Nay rather this will I do, and the best it seemeth to me ; 360 
 
 As long as the timbers hold, and the joints are together still, 
 
 So long will I abide here, and bear what cometh of ill : 
 
 But when the seas have shaken the raft to pieces at last
 
 BOOK V. 95 
 
 Therewith will I fall to my swimming; for no better may I forecast." 
 
 But while to his mind and his mood such thoughts as this he gave, 
 
 Poseidon, the Shaker of Earth, thrust on a mighty wave, 
 
 Rough, perilous, toppling aloft, and on him drave adown. 
 
 As it haps with a heap of chaff when the fresh wind falleth on 
 
 And tosseth it up, and scattereth the dry stuff every road, 
 
 So now were the long beams scattered : but Odysseus yet bestrode 370 
 
 One beam, and drave it onward as one that a horse doth bear ; 
 
 And he did from off him the raiment, the gift of Calypso the fair, 
 
 And the veil of the Goddess withal he wrapped round the breast of him, 
 
 And cast himself prone on the sea-flood, and strove and fell to swim, 
 
 Stretching out either hand ; but the Lord, the Shaker of Earth, 
 
 Beheld him, and wagging his head, bespake his soul in his mirth : 
 
 " Yea, thou with thy load of evil, go wandering over the sea, 
 
 Until of the men Zeus-cherished a fellow thou shalt be. 
 
 Yet not e'en so to my deeming shalt thou hold thy troubles light." 
 
 So he spake, and his fair-maned horses with the whip withal did he smite; 
 And came his ways to ^Egoe, where his glorious house is wrought. 381 
 
 But the Damsel, the Daughter of Zeus, of other things had thought ; 
 For now of the rest of the winds a bond on their goings she laid, [bade. 
 And caused them to cease from blowing, and to slumber and sleep she 
 But she egged on the eager North, and brake down the seas before, 
 Until the Zeus-bred Odysseus, with the lovers of the oar, 
 The Phaeacian folk, might mingle, and safe from bane might be. 
 
 Two days and nights thenceforward did he drift on the swell of the sea, 
 
 And many things of his deathday did he in his heart forecast ; 
 
 But when the fair-haired Dawning the third day made at last 390
 
 96 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 All dead the gale was fallen, and all was calm and clear, 
 
 And no breath of air was about ; then he saw the land anear, 
 
 As he looked forth very sharply upraised on a swelling sea : 
 
 And as dear as the life of a father to his children seemeth to be, 
 
 Who in sickness hath been lying and wasting away for long, 
 
 And suffering grievous torment, and worn by the God of wrong ; 
 
 But now the Gods release him, and his life is dear and good 
 
 E'en so dear unto Odysseus was the sight of land and wood ; 
 
 And he swam on stoutly, striving to tread the earth once more. 
 
 But when at last he was gotten within shouting space of the shore, 400 
 
 Then indeed he heard the thundering of the surf on the reefs of the sea, 
 
 For flung forth on the rocks of the mainland the swell roared dreadfully, 
 
 And all things there were weltering in the salt-sea wave and the foam, 
 
 And therein was no haven for ships and no wind-free harbouring home, 
 
 But crags and jutting nesses and reefs by the sea washed o'er. 
 
 Then loosened the knees of Odysseus, and his dear heart failed him sore, 
 
 And midst his woe was he saying to his mighty heart and bold : 
 
 " O me ! now that Zeus hath granted the unhoped-for land to behold, 
 And that cleaving my way I have won o'er so great a gulf of the sea, 
 From out of the hoary water no door there seemeth for me, 410 
 
 For sharp upriseth the crag-wall, and about it everywhere 
 Are the broken billows roaring, and the rocks rise smooth and sheer 
 Right up from the deep of the sea ; and no place for my feet to stand 
 Is anywhere there to be come at to escape from the evil at hand. 
 For if I come forth from the sea-flood by the billow shall I be caught 
 And flung up 'gainst the stony rocks, and my deed shall come to nought ; 
 And if I swim along coasting and seek if yet there be 
 Some downward-sloping foreshore or some haven of the sea, 
 O then I fear lest the stormwind should catch me up once more 
 And over the fishy sea should drive me moaning sore. 420
 
 BOOK V. 97 
 
 Or against me the God, the Mighty, may send some whale of the deep 
 Of the many that Amphitrite the great doth cherish and keep. 
 For I wot of the wrath against me of the mighty Shaker of Earth." 
 
 But while in his mind and his mood such words as this had birth 
 
 A mighty billow bore him 'gainst the rugged ness of stone, 
 
 And there had his skin been stripped and broken every bone, 
 
 But the Goddess, the Grey-eyed Athene, in his mind she set a thought, 
 
 And stark with both hands straining the rock therewith he caught, 
 
 And held on groaning aloud till the mighty wave had gone by. 
 
 But when he had thus escaped it, the back-draft mightily 430 
 
 Fell on him, and bore against him and drave him out to sea. 
 
 As when from the place of his dwelling a cuttle-fish dragged shall be, 
 
 And about the creature's suckers cling the pebbles many an one, 
 
 So now from the mighty hands of the man by the stress of the stone 
 
 Was the skin stripped off, and his body did the swelling billow hide. 
 
 And there the hapless Odysseus in the teeth of doom had died 
 
 If the Goddess, the Grey-eyed Athene, had not taught him to understand. 
 
 So, coming up from the billows that were hurled against the land, 
 
 Coasting he swam, looking forth to the land if yet there might be 
 
 Some downward-sloping foreshore or some haven of the sea. 440 
 
 And lo, at the last to the mouth of a river flowing fair 
 
 He came as he swam, and he looked for the place that was likeliest there, 
 
 Smooth from all rocks, and a shelter against the blast of the wind. 
 
 And he felt the stream against him and in such wise prayed in his mind : 
 
 " Hear me, O King, whosoever thou art ! to thee much beprayed 
 I come from the sea-flood fleeing and the threats that Poseidon hath made; 
 And e'en to the Gods that die not 'tis a matter for pity indeed 
 When a man bewildered cometh, as I come now in my need, 
 To thy stream, and unto thy knees with the burden of trouble on me. 
 
 H
 
 98 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Now pity me therefore, O King, for thy bedesman I boast me to be." 450 
 
 Then the God his tide held backward, and therewith laid the wave, 
 
 And sent a calm before him, and the man aland did he save 
 
 By the going out of the river. But weak was either knee, 
 
 And weak were his mighty hands, for his soul was worn by the sea, 
 
 And all his flesh was swollen, and the plenteous salt sea ran 
 
 From his mouth and from his nostrils : a breathless, voiceless man 
 
 He lay there fainting, and on him the weariness weighed downright. 
 
 But when he was breathed again, and his soul had gotten her might, 
 
 Therewith the Goddess' headgear he loosed away from him, 
 
 And into the sea-flowing river he cast it forth to swim, 460 
 
 And a great wave bore it away down the tide, and Ino fair [and there, 
 
 Caught it up in her dear hands straightway; but he turned from the river, 
 
 He laid him adown on the rushes and kissed the corn-kind earth, 
 
 And in grief these words was he speaking to his soul, the mighty of worth : 
 
 " Woe's me for my weary trouble ! What now shall be last to betide ? 
 
 For if indeed by the river through the weary night I abide, 
 
 Then the bitter evil rime and the fresh dew of the night 
 
 Shall overcome my spirit all worsened with lack of might, [nigh. 
 
 For cold blows the wind from the river when the time of the dawning is 
 
 But if I climb to the bent, and the shady wood on high, 470 
 
 And abide in the bushy thicket, then, though it well may be 
 
 That the cold and the weariness pass and the sweet sleep come to me, 
 
 Yet I fear that unto the beasts I become but a spoil and a prey." 
 
 But unto him turning it over the last seemed the better way, 
 And toward the wood he wended : to the water somewhat anear 
 In the midst of a glade he found it ; and two -trees were waxing there 
 From one and the selfsame root, a wild olive and a tame,
 
 BOOK V. 99 
 
 And no blast of the wet-blowing wind through the midst of them ever came, 
 
 And never the Sun, the gleaming, shot through them with his ray, 479 
 
 Nor the shower soaked all fhrough them, so exceeding thick were they 
 
 With their boughs grown interlacing. There Odysseus laid him adown, 
 
 But first with his very hands a wide bed had he strown, 
 
 For great plenty of fallen leaves lay underneath the tree, 
 
 Yea, fully enough to cover two men, or mayhappen three 
 
 In the season of the winter how hard soever it were. ) 
 
 E'en these he beheld and gathered, Odysseus mighty to bear, [high : 
 
 And he lay down there in the midmost and the leaves heaped over him 
 
 E'en as when 'neath the blackened embers one thrusteth a brand to lie 
 
 At the acres' uttermost ending, where no neighbours are anear, 
 
 To save the seed of fire nor seek kindling otherwhere. 490 
 
 So hid by the leaves was Odysseus, and therewith over his eyes 
 
 The sleep was Athene shedding, that in the speediest wise 
 
 Might end his weary trouble : so she closed his eyelids dear.
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 ODYSSEUS IS AWAKENED BY NAUSICAA, THE DAUGHTER OF ALCINOUS, 
 KING OF THE PH^EACIANS, AND BY HER IS BROUGHT TO THE CITY 
 AND THE PALACE OF HER FATHER. 
 
 THUSWISE the goodly Odysseus, the toil-stout, slumbered there, 
 By sleep and weariness laden ; but therewith did Athene fare 
 To the folk of those Phseacians and the burg where they abide : 
 Who dwelt in days passed over by Hypereia the wide, 
 Anigh unto the Cyclops of the haughty minds and high, 
 Who were wont with war to waste them ; for they had the mastery. 
 Till Nausithoiis the godlike stirred them, and brought them then 
 To the sure abode of Scheria, far from gain-pursuing men. 
 And he drew a wall round the city, and the houses he upreared, 
 And the shrines of the Gods he fashioned, and the fruitful acres shared; 
 But when by doom he was vanquished, and to Hades went to dwell, 1 1 
 In his stead was Alcinoiis ruling with god-craft furnished well. 
 
 To the house of him did Athene, the Goddess, the Grey-eyed, wend, 
 For Odysseus the mighty-hearted devising the wandering's end ; 
 And she came to the fair-wrought chamber where asleep was a damsel laid 
 Who no worser of her body than the Deathless Ones was made, 
 E'en Nausicaa, the daughter of Alcinoiis great of heart ; 
 And two handmaids, to whose fairness gave the Graces share and part, 
 Were on either side of the door-posts, and shut was the shining door. 
 But she as the night-wind's breathing towards the maiden's bedside bore,
 
 BOOK VI. 101 
 
 And above her head was she standing as she uttered forth the word 2 1 
 In the likeness of the daughter of Dymas, ship-famed lord, 
 Of like age with the damsel, of her heart full well beloved. 
 Of such fashion was Athene as the word to her she moved. 
 
 " Nausicaa, how did thy mother so heedless thee beget ? 
 
 Whereas the gleaming raiment lies all unheeded yet, 
 
 And near at hand is thy wedding, when both thou fair dight shouldst be, 
 
 And shouldst give withal to the others, yea those that marry thee. 
 
 For hereby shall a good report among menfolk fare forth, 29 
 
 And therein shall thy father rejoice, and thy mother of worship and worth. 
 
 So let us fare forth to the washing with the first of the dawn of the day, 
 
 And I will go with thee a helping, that all this ye may swiftly array. 
 
 For now but a little longer shall endure thy maidenhood, 
 
 Since amidst this folk and city by the mightiest art thou wooed, 
 
 The chiefs of the folk Phreacian, the race whence thou wert born. 
 
 Pray then thy noble father in the early tide of morn, 
 
 To set forth for thee the yoke-mules, and the wain to bear aright 
 
 All those the gowns and the girdles and the mantles glittering bright, 
 
 And thyself withal, for far fairer it is such wise to wend 
 
 Than afoot ; for the washing-places are far from the township's end." 40 
 
 She spake, and forth to Olympus Grey-eyed Athene passed, 
 
 Where men say is the House of the Godfolk for ever firm and fast ; 
 
 And by no wind is it shaken, nor wet by the rainy drift, 
 
 Nor the snow comes ever anigh it ; but the utter cloudless lift 
 
 Is spread o'er all, and white splendour runs through it everywhere ; 
 
 And therein the Gods, the Happy, all days in gladness wear. 
 
 Thereto departed the Grey-eyed, having taught the may with a word. 
 
 Now come was the Fair-throned Morning, and the maid to waking stirred
 
 102 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Nausicaa the well-clad, who fell to wondering 
 
 Of her dream, and went through the houses to tell them of the thing, 50 
 
 Her father dear and her mother : and them within she found ; 
 
 On the hearth was her mother sitting with her handmaids all around 
 
 Twining the yarn sea-purpled : but in the doorway there 
 
 She met her father minded for the famous kings and fair 
 
 And the Council, thither summoned by the great Phseacian folk. 
 
 So she stood by her father beloved, and these words to him she spoke : 
 
 " Dear father, will ye not dight me a wain well-wheeled and high, 
 That those my goodly garments that befouled about me lie, 
 I may have away to the washing amidst the river's flow ? 
 For both thou thyself it befitteth, when thou with the chiefs dost go, 60 
 Areding the redes, that thou carry fresh raiment on thy skin. 
 And five sons moreover hast thou these halls that were born within, 
 And two thereof are wedded, but three swains in the spring of youth ; 
 And ever will they be having new-washen weed forsooth 
 When unto the dance they wend them : of all which hath my mind the 
 
 [care." 
 
 So spake she, shamefaced to name it unto her father dear, 
 Her freshly growing wedding ; but he knew it all and spake : 
 " My child, no mules I grudge thee, nor aught else that thou wouldst take. 
 Go then, and the serving-people the wain for thee shall array, 
 Full high, all tilted over and well-wheeled for the way." 70 
 
 He spake and the thralls commanded, and they his bidding wrought, 
 And there without the mule-wain light running forth they brought, 
 And dight it, and the yoke-mules beneath the yokes did lead. 
 Then the damsel from the chamber brought down the seemly weed, 
 And laid all that together within the well-smoothed wain ; 
 And in a chest laid her mother meat good for the body's gain :
 
 BOOK VI. 103 
 
 Meats diverse, yea and dainties ; and wine in a bottle of skin 
 She poured withal, and the damsel laid all the wain within. 
 And wet oil in a cruse all golden she gave unto her there, 
 That she and her handmaidens might sleek them well and fair. 80 
 
 Then the damsel took up the mule-whip, and hand to the bright reins laid, 
 And smote the mules to be going, and the mules much clatter made 
 As they strained and stretched unflagging with the raiment and the may ; 
 Nor her alone, for with her went the handmaids on the way. 
 
 So when they were come to the river and its streams exceeding fair, 
 
 Where were washing-wells unfailing, and the lovely water there 
 
 Welled up exceeding plenteous to cleanse all grime and stain, 
 
 Then therewithal the yoke-mules they loose from under the wain, 
 
 And there along they drive them by the eddying river's drift, 
 
 To browse the grass sweet-waxing ; and lay hands to the wain, and lift 
 
 The raiment thence, and bear it adown to the water black 91 
 
 And tread it in the trenches, and the strife is nowise slack. 
 
 So, having washed it and cleansed it of the dirt-stains all and each, 
 
 They lay it out in order along the salt-sea beach, 
 
 Where the pebbles are the cleanest by the sea-wash on the shore. 
 
 Then they bathe and with smooth olive they sleek their bodies o'er, 
 
 And then they take their dinner adown by the river side, 
 
 While for their garments' drying in the sunbeams they abide. 
 
 But when the maid and her maidens of the meat had had their will, 
 
 Then there they do off their head-gear, and get to the ball-play's skill, 
 
 And Nausicaa the white-armed amidst them raised the song. 101 
 
 And e'en as Artemis fareth shaft-fain the ridges along, 
 
 O'er Erymanthus' side or Taygetus measureless high, 
 
 Full fain of the chase of the boar, and the hart swift-footed to fly, 
 
 And the Daughters of Zeus the Shielded, the Woodland Women, play 
 
 All round about and about her, and glad is Leto that day ;
 
 104 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And she by the head and the frontal o'ertops them every one, 
 And all are fair and lovely, but she wendeth her easily known, 
 E'en so the maid unwedded her maidens all outwent. 
 
 But when for the road she was ready and on home again intent, no 
 Having yoked the mules to the waggon and folded the raiment fair, 
 Then the Goddess, the Grey-eyed Athene, of other things had care, 
 That Odysseus might awaken and behold the fair-faced may 
 Who to the Burg Phaeacian should lead him on the way. 
 So unto one of her handmaids the Queen-maid cast the ball, 
 And she missed it, and into the eddy and the deep of the stream did it fall, 
 And far went their crying aloud, and the goodly Odysseus awoke, 
 And he sat up and fell pondering, and two ways his pondering took. 
 
 " O me, in what land of menfolk, of mortals am I beguiled ? 
 
 Are they men unrighteous-minded and fierce and woodland wild ? 120 
 
 Or are they men guest-kindly and God-fearing men of mood ? 
 
 For a fresh cry round me ringeth of the damsels of the wood, 
 
 The maids that hold the mountains and the heathlands high aloft, 
 
 And the wells of the flowing river and the marshlands grassy soft. 
 
 But meseemeth unto menfolk speech-wont am I come anigh, 
 
 So now for myself will I see it and myself the matter try." 
 
 Forth then from under the bushes came Odysseus as he spake, 
 
 And a leafy bough of the thicket with his heavy hand he brake, 
 
 His man's unseemly members to cover up from sight. 
 
 So he went as a fell-bred lion that trusteth in his might 130 
 
 As he goes through the wind and the rain-drift, and his eyes they gleam 
 
 As after the neat he goeth and forth for the sheep doth fare, [and glare 
 
 And after the wild-deer wendeth ; for his belly biddeth him on 
 
 To try for the flock, and betake him to the garth well-builded and done.
 
 BOOK VI. 105 
 
 E'en so did Odysseus betake him, for as naked as he were 
 
 To consort with the well-tressed damsels, now need was come so near. 
 
 And he seemed to them but dreadful, befouled with the brine all o'er, 
 
 And they fled scared hither and thither about the bays of the shore. 
 
 But alone stood Alcinotis' daughter, for Athene made her bold 
 
 Of her heart, and from her body all trembling did withhold ; 1 40 
 
 So she stood in her place to meet him, and he pondered diversely 
 
 Whether he should pray to the fair-faced, laying hand upon her knee, 
 
 Or aloof from where he was standing with honied speech to pray 
 
 That she would give him a garment and tell of the townward way. 
 
 And so to him bethinking at last it seemed but good 
 
 With honied words to beseech her aloof from where he stood, 
 
 Lest the maid should be wrathful of heart if his hand her knees should 
 
 So honied words and gainful thenceforth withal he spake : [take. 
 
 " O Queen, to thy knees I betake me, be'est thou God or of mortal race, 
 
 But if thou art of the Godfolk who hold the heavenly space, 150 
 
 Then in form and stature and breeding I may liken thee to none 
 
 Save Artemis, the Daughter of Zeus the Mighty One. 
 
 But if thou art of menfolk and the dwellers of the earth, 
 
 Thrice blessed then thy father, and the Queen that gave thee birth ! 
 
 And thrice blessed are thy brethren ! for their souls full certainly 
 
 With joy and gladness ever are fain because of thee, 
 
 When they look on thee entering the dance, such a fair and blossoming 
 
 But yet of all men of menfolk is his heart the happiest now [bough ; 
 
 Who with many gifts hath prevailed to lead thee home and away. 
 
 For none such of men that are mortal have my eyes beheld on a day, 
 
 Neither of men nor of women : awe holds me looking on thee. 161 
 
 At Delos, indeed, on a day a sight e'en so dear did I see, 
 
 A fig-sapling waxing aloft by Apollo's altar-stone. 
 
 For indeed I was faring thither, and much people followed me on
 
 io6 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 By the road that was fated to bring me to labour and many an ill. 
 E'en so when that sight I beheld long did wonder my spirit fulfil, 
 Since never as yet had I seen from the earth such a tree-bole upspring. 
 And in such wise at thee do I wonder and glory, and tremble to cling 
 To thy knees : though most heavy, O maiden, the trouble on me hath 
 Yestreen, on the twentieth day from the wine-dark sea I fled, [been sped, 
 For so long had the billows borne me, and the storm-blast driven me on, 
 From the island of Ogygia, till the God here cast me adown, 172 
 
 That yet more of ill I may suffer e'en here : for thereof I see 
 No end ; but many a trouble will the Gods bring ere that be. 
 But pity me, Queen ; for to thee, having suffered many a woe, 
 Do I come the first ; and none other of all the men I know 
 Of those who hold this city and dwell on this earth and ground. 
 Then show me the burg, and give me a rag to wrap me around ; 
 For with some wrap of the linen perchance thou earnest here. 
 And so may the high Gods give thee whatso thine heart holds dear, 180 
 A husband and a homestead, and concord whole and sound. 
 For nothing sure more goodly or better may be found 
 Than man and woman holding one house with one goodwill. 
 Thus many a grief are they giving to those that wish them ill, 
 But great joy to their well-willers ; and they wot it best of all." 
 
 But Nausicaa the white-armed, she answered him withal : 
 
 " O guest, forsooth thou seemest no fool, and no man of ill. 
 
 But Zeus the Olympian giveth to menfolk after his will, 
 
 To each, be he good, be he evil, his share of the happy day ; 
 
 And these things shall be of his giving ; so bear it as ye may. 190 
 
 But since to our land and our city thou hast come thus wandering, 
 
 Thou shalt neither lack for raiment nor any other thing [place. 
 
 That is meet for a toil-worn suppliant who hath happed on our dwelling- 
 
 Now the city will I show thee, and will name our folk and our race :
 
 BOOK VI. 107 
 
 For it is the Folk Phaeacian this burg and land that hold, 
 And I am Alcinous' daughter, the great-heart king, the bold ; 
 And of him indeed it cometh what might Phaeacians have." 
 
 She spake, and unto her handmaids well-tressed the bidding gave : 
 
 " Stay now I bid ye, handmaids ! from a man's sight flee ye so ? 
 
 Perchance then ye are thinking that he cometh hither a foe. 200 
 
 But no mortal man is living, nor shall ever come to birth, 
 
 Who shall fare to the folk Phaeacian, and this people of the earth, 
 
 With war in hand : for the Deathless hold us exceeding dear ; 
 
 For amid the sea-waves' clashing aloof are we dwelling here, 
 
 The outermost of menfolk, with no other mortals blent. 
 
 But this man, a hapless wanderer, to usward now is sent, 
 
 And him is it meet to cherish ; since from Zeus come guestfolk all 
 
 And suppliants ; and full welcome is the gift, albeit but small. 
 
 So unto our guest, O handmaids, give meat and drink enow, 
 
 And bathe him in the river where never a blast may blow." 210 
 
 So spake she ; and they stayed them and called out, maid to maid ; 
 
 And Odysseus into a shelter they brought as the damsel bade, 
 
 Nausicaa, the daughter of Alcinous, heart of pride ; 
 
 And raiment withal, a kirtle and a cloak, they set by his side, 
 
 And in a cruse all golden wet oil to him they gave, 
 
 And bade him wash him straightway in the running river's wave. 
 
 But therewith unto the handmaids goodly Odysseus spake : 
 " Stand off I bid you, damsels, while the work in hand I take, 
 And wash the brine from my shoulders, and sleek them all around. 
 Since verily now this long while sweet oil they have not found. 220 
 
 But before you nought will I wash me, for shame I have indeed, 
 Amidst of fair-tressed damsels to be all bare of weed."
 
 io8 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 So he spake and aloof they gat them, and thereof they told the may, 
 
 But Odysseus with the river from his body washed away 
 
 The brine from his back and his shoulders wrought broad and mightily, 
 
 And from his head was he wiping the foam of the untilled sea ; 
 
 But when he had throughly washed him, and the oil about him had shed, 
 
 He did upon him the raiment the gift of the maid unwed. 
 
 But Athene, Zeus-begotten, dealt with him in such wise 
 
 That bigger yet was his seeming, and mightier to all eyes, 230 
 
 With the hair on his head crisp curling as the bloom of the daffodil. 
 
 And as when the silver with gold is o'erlaid by a man of skill, 
 
 Yea, a craftsman whom Hephaestus and Pallas Athene have taught 
 
 To be master over masters, and lovely work he hath wrought ; 
 
 So she round his head and his shoulders shed grace abundantly. 
 
 But he went aloof thereafter and sat down by the side of the sea, 
 
 In glory and grace fair gleaming, and at him much marvelled the maid ; 
 
 And therewithal to her damsels fair-tressed she answered and said : 
 
 " Now hearken, all ye damsels white-armed, till my word is told ! 
 
 By no means against the willing of all Gods that Olympus hold 240 
 
 Among the godlike Phasacians is this man come to be. 
 
 Forsooth e'en now uncomely was he seeming unto me ; 
 
 But now is he like to the Godfolk who hold the heavens wide. 
 
 Might but such be called my husband and ever here to abide ! 
 
 And O that it might please him to dwell within our land ! 
 
 But now for the guest, O handmaids, bring meat and drink to hand." 
 
 She spake and they heard, and straightway her bidding they obeyed, 
 
 And so before Odysseus the meat and the drink they laid : 
 
 And the toil-stout goodly Odysseus fell to full eagerly 
 
 On the meat and the drink : for this long while"fasting of all was he. 250 
 
 But Nausicaa the white-armed heeded other matters yet,
 
 BOOK VI. 109 
 
 For the garments all she folded and within the fair wain set, 
 
 And the strong-hoofed mules she yoked and gat her up on the wain, 
 
 And she heartened up Odysseus, and hailed him and spake again : 
 
 " Up, guest, and get thee townward, that thee I hence may flit 
 
 To the house of my wise-heart father : and there I do thee to wit 
 
 Thou shall hap upon Phaeacians, all the noblest that there be. 
 
 But now shalt thou do in thuswise : for no fool thou seemest to be. 
 
 The while we wend through the meadows and the tillage wrought of men, 
 
 Along with these my handmaids do thou get thee speedily then, 260 
 
 Beside the wain and the yoke-mules, and the way will I lead for all. 
 
 But when we come up to the city, around it goeth a wall 
 
 High-towered, and each side of the burg there lieth a haven fair, 
 
 Strait-mouthed ; and the curving ships on the road are drawn up there ; 
 
 For all men there have a ship-stead, to each keel his meeted ground. 
 
 There too is their place of assembly, Poseidon's house around, 
 
 And with dragged-on stones is it furnished, in earth embedded deep : 
 
 And there the black ships' tackling they care for and they keep, 
 
 As the sails thereof and the cables ; and the oars are shaven there. 
 
 For of neither bow nor quiver Phaeacian men have care, 270 
 
 But of masts and keel and oar-bank, and the shapely ships wherein 
 
 They have all joy and pleasure o'er the grey sea way to win. 
 
 Now the hard word of these would I shun lest they cast a blame on me, 
 
 For some among the people most overbearing be ; 
 
 And perchance one of these of the worser might come across me and say: 
 
 ' This stranger so great and so goodly, that Nausicaa leads by the way, 
 
 Where then will she have found him, her very lord to be ? 
 
 From her ship then will she have taken some wanderer over the sea 
 
 Of the men that aloof are living, for none such dwell anear ; 
 
 Or else some God prayer-wearied hath come down for her prayer 280 
 
 From the heavens aloft, and henceforward he shall have her all her days .
 
 no THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Yea better elsewhere that she wed her as she cometh and goeth her ways. 
 
 For ever will she be scorning us Phseacian men indeed, 
 
 Though many amidst the people were her wooers good at need.' 
 
 In such wise would they be speaking, and thence shame to me should grow, 
 
 And with her should I be angry that suchlike things should do, 
 
 And against the will of her father and mother alive and dear, 
 
 Should mix and mingle with menfolk ere her open wedding were. 
 
 But, O guest, do thou hearken my word, that as swiftly as may be 
 
 Thou may'st find of my father speeding to thy land across the sea. 290 
 
 A glorious grove of Athene shalt thou find, the way beside, 
 
 Of poplars, wherein is a well, and about it a meadow wide : 
 
 And there is the garth of my father and his garden growing fair, 
 
 E'en just so far from the city as a shouting man ye may hear, 
 
 There sit thee down and abide a while of time, till we come 
 
 Amidst of the very city and reach my father's home. 
 
 But when thou deemest us gotten unto that house of his, 
 
 Then go to the burg Phseacian, and ask of where it is, 
 
 The homestead of Alcinoiis my father great and glad. 
 
 But right easy is it to wot of, and forsooth a little lad 300 
 
 Would show it thee : for the others of Phseacian folk in nought 
 
 Are builded there and fashioned as the hero's house is wrought 
 
 But when the house and the forecourt have hid thee from the street, 
 
 Go swiftly through to the chamber, and my mother there shall ye meet : 
 
 On the hearth thereof she sitteth and twines in the firelight 
 
 The yarn of the sea-born purple, a wonder to the sight. 
 
 'Gainst a pillar is she leaning, and her handmaids sit behind, 
 
 And withal the chair of my father touching hers ye there shall find, 
 
 Where e'en as a God undying he sitteth and drinketh the wine. 
 
 But pass him by, and straightway on the knees of that mother mine 310 
 
 Lay hand, that in speedy fashion and in joy o,f heart ye may see 
 
 The day of your returning, for as far off as ye be.
 
 BOOK VI. m 
 
 For if she be well-willing and her heart of thee be fain, 
 Then good hope may'st thou cherish to look on thy friends again, 
 And come back to the land of thy fathers and thine house well builded and 
 
 [strong." 
 
 She spake the word, and the yoke-mules she smote with the shining thong, 
 And they left the streams of the river right soon, and fared full fleet, 
 And well on the way were they running, and speedily ambled their feet 
 But she drave the waggon wisely that on foot they might follow anigh, 
 Odysseus and the handmaids, and the thong plied craftily. 320 
 
 So set the sun, and they gat them to the grove of great renown, 
 
 The holy place of Athene ; and there sat Odysseus adown, 
 
 And unto ihe Daughter of Zeus, the Almighty, he fell to pray : 
 
 " Hearken, O child of the Shielded, Zeus-born, unvanquished May ! 
 
 Yea, now indeed may'st thou hear me since before thou heardest me not, 
 
 When the great Earth-shaker smote me and wrack and ruin I got 
 
 Now give me to reach these Phaeacians a man well pitied and dear ! " 
 
 So he prayed ; and Pallas Athene she hearkened to his prayer, 
 
 But showed not there before him ; for somewhat dreaded she 
 
 The wrath of her father's brother : who was wroth vehemently 330 
 
 Against the Godlike Odysseus till within his land he were.
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 ODYSSEUS COMES TO THE PH^ACIAN CITY AND THE HOUSE OF ALCINOUS, 
 WHERE HE IS RECEIVED AS A SUPPLIANT AND GUEST, AND ALCINOUS 
 PROMISES TO FURTHER HIM ON HIS WAY HOME ON THE MORROW. 
 
 THUS then was the goodly Odysseus, the toil-stout, praying there 
 While the damsel unto the city the might of the mules did bear. 
 But when she reached her father's most famous house and strong, 
 Therewith she stayed at the outdoor and about did her brothers throng, 
 Men like to the Gods undying; and they loosed the mules from the wain, 
 And therewithal the raiment bore into the house again. 
 But she to her chamber hied her, and the fire did a handmaid light, 
 An old thrall from Aperaa, and Eurymedusa she hight. 
 Her once from Aperaea did the ships wrought shapely bring, 
 And men made her Alcinoiis' portion, because over all was he king, 10 
 And the folk Phseacian heard him as though a God he were. 
 So the white-armed Nausicaa in the house had she cherished there. 
 And now the fire she kindled and within the supper laid. 
 
 E'en then arose Odysseus to go townward, but the Maid, 
 
 Athene, shed around him much mist with good intent, 
 
 Lest one of the proud Phseacians should meet him as he went, 
 
 And with taunts his heart should be smiting and ask him what he was. 
 
 But as into the lovely city he was just about to pass 
 
 Came the Goddess, the Grey-eyed Athene, and/net him in the road, 
 
 As a damsel tender of years that bare the pitcher's load, 20
 
 BOOK VII. 1.3 
 
 And as she stood before him, Odysseus asked and began : 
 
 " O child, wouldst thou be my leader to the house of a certain man, 
 
 E'en him they call Alcinoiis, who o'er these men is king ? 
 
 For hither I come as a stranger, toil-worn and wandering, 
 
 Afar from a land aloof; so I know not one of those 
 
 Who dwell within the city and work the field and the close." 
 
 But the Grey-eyed, the Goddess Athene, in thuswise answered again : 
 
 " The house, O father and stranger, will I show thee straight and plain, 
 
 For hard indeed it lieth to my noble father's abode. 
 
 But go thou in all silence while I lead thee on the road, 30 
 
 And ask thou nought of any, and look in no man's face ; 
 
 For strange men they scarce may do with, the people of this place, 
 
 Nor in loving-kindness hold him who comes from otherwhere. 
 
 But trusting in the swiftness of their speedy ships they fare 
 
 Across the mighty sea-gulf : since by Earth-shaker's gift, 
 
 As a bird, as a thought that flitteth, their ships are eager and swift." 
 
 Thuswise spake Pallas Athene, and straightway led him on, 
 
 And after the feet of the Goddess forthright the way he won ; 
 
 But the ship-famed proud Phssacians of him did nothing wot 
 
 As he went through their burg amidmost, for Athene suffered it not, 40 
 
 The fair-haired awful Goddess ; for round about him still 
 
 She shed that holy dimness from the heart of her goodwill. 
 
 But Odysseus went, and he wondered at the keels in the haven laid. 
 And the Meeting Place of the heroes, and the long walls lofty made, 
 And dight with pales embattled, an exceeding wondrous thing. 
 But when at last they were come to the famous house of the king 
 Then the Goddess, the Grey-eyed Athene, set forth and spake out so :
 
 ii4 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 "This then, O father, O stranger, is the house ye would have me to show; 
 
 And therein now wilt thou find them, the kings Zeus cherished, 
 
 At the feast and the banquet sitting : go in and have no dread : 50 
 
 For the man that is stout and hardy drives all things better home, 
 
 Whatever of deeds be toward ; yea, e'en if from far he come. 
 
 Now first shall ye meet the mistress in the hall of the builded place, 
 
 Arete named of menfolk ; and her breeding and her race 
 
 Are of those of whom is begotten Alcinoiis the king. 
 
 From Poseidon the Earth-shaker first did Nausithoiis spring, 
 
 From him and Peribcea, fairest of woman-kind ; 
 
 And she was the youngest daughter of Eurymedon high of mind, 
 
 Who was king in the days aforetime of the Giants in their pride. 
 
 And he wrecked his folk infatuate, and himself in wrack he died. 60 
 
 With her then mingled Poseidon, and begat a lad as then 
 
 Nausithoiis, the great-souled king o'er Phasacian men. 
 
 But Rhexenor and Alcinoiis next Nausithoiis begat. 
 
 Then, Rhexenor while yet son-less in his halls new-wedded he sat, 
 
 White-bowed Apollo slew him, and one child he left alone, 
 
 Arete, and her as a helpmate Alcinoiis wooed and won, 
 
 With such worship as no woman on earth hath had before, 
 
 Of all that under menfolk rule over house and store. 
 
 And she from the heart moreover hath been worshipped in each thing, 
 
 Yea, and is now, of her children and Alcinoiis the king, 7 
 
 And the folk withal, who behold her as though a Goddess she were ; 
 
 And as through the burg she walketh with words they worship her. 
 
 For nothing of wit she lacketh, nor of wisdom wanteth she : 
 
 And whomso in heart she holdeth, yea, e'en if men they be, 
 
 She setteth at one ; but for thee, if her heart of thee be fain, 
 
 Then good hope mayest thou cherish to look on thy friends again, 
 
 And the land of the ancient fathers, and thine own high-builded abode."
 
 BOOK. VIL 115 
 
 So spake Athene the Grey-eyed, and therewith she wended her road 
 O'er the all-unharvested sea-plain, and left the lovely place, 
 And unto Marathon hied she, and Athens wide of ways, 80 
 
 And into Erectheus' homestead and his steadfast house she came. 
 
 But Odysseus came his ways to Alcinoiis' house of fame ; 
 
 And many things he pondered as he stood on the threshold of brass; 
 
 For therein as though of the sun or the moon a glory there was, 
 
 And it shone through the high-roofed house of Alcinoiis great of heart. 
 
 This way and that all brazen went the walls from part tc part, 
 
 From the threshold to the house-heart, and blue ran the frieze along. 
 
 Of gold were the doors that warded the house well-builded and strong, 
 
 And on the brazen threshold did silver shafts uphold 
 
 The lintel wrought of silver, and the door-ring was of gold. 90 
 
 There hounds of gold and of silver each side the threshold stood, 
 
 Which same had Hephaestus fashioned, with cunning craft and good, 
 
 For Alcinoiis the great-heart, to guard the house and door, 
 
 And deathless are they, unageing through all days evermore. 
 
 But within were fast-set high-seats by the wall's face here and there, 
 
 From the threshold to the house-heart, and dorsars woven fair, 
 
 Fine-webbed, were cast upon them, the work that women flit ; 
 
 Therein the chiefs Phaeacian are ever wont to sit 
 
 And eat and drink, for enduring is the store that there they hold. 
 
 There too on well-built bases stand serving-swains of gold, 100 
 
 And in their hands are holding the torches burning bright, 
 
 The guests that feast a night-tide throughout the hall to light. 
 
 Now the women thralls are fifty that there the housework mind ; 
 
 And some upon the handmill the yellow corn they grind, 
 
 And some the loom they traverse, and some they twine the thread, 
 
 A-sitting e'en as the leaves are of the poplars high o'erhead ; 
 
 And o'er the linen close-woven wet oil will ever slip.
 
 n6 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 For e'en as Phseacian menfolk have craft to drive the ship 
 
 Swift through the seas o'er all men, so weave the women well. 
 
 For to them hath Athene given all others to excel no 
 
 In the craft of works most lovely, and the skill of mysteries. 
 
 But without by the gate of the forecourt a garden great there lies, 
 
 Four plough-gates wide, and about it all round a hedge doth go. - 
 
 And therein are the tall trees bearing, and fresh and fair they grow. 
 
 The pear-tree and pomegranate and apple shining fair, 
 
 And figs that exceed in sweetness, and olives strong to bear. 
 
 And thereof is the fruit unfailing, and it never maketh stay 
 
 For winter or for summer yearlong : therein alway 
 
 The west wind brings some forward, and ripeneth others there. 
 
 There apple waxeth on apple, pear putteth forth on pear, 120 
 
 And grape-bunch upon grape-bunch, and on fig fig presseth yet. 
 
 A heavy-fruited vineyard moreover there is set ; 
 
 And some part of the yield all sunny amidst a place made plain 
 
 Is dried by the sunbeams' burning ; and some part they gather and gain ; 
 
 And other some are they treading : beyond, with the bloom late cast, 
 
 Are the grapes unripe, and others meanwhile into blackness past. 
 
 And there set out in order along the outermost row 
 
 Bloom the garden-beds all diverse, and yearlong there they glow. 
 
 Two wells there are moreover, and scattering goeth one 
 
 O'er all the garth; and the other sets off' neath the threshold to run 130 
 
 Toward the lofty house ; and the townfolk are wont to water them there. 
 
 Lo the gifts to Alcinoiis given by the Gods, how great and fair ! 
 
 So the toil-stout goodly Odysseus there stood and marvelled a space ; 
 But when his heart was fulfilled with the wonder ^f the place, 
 Then over the homestead's threshold lightly his foot he set ;
 
 BOOK VII. 117 
 
 And within the lords Phseacian and their councillors he met, 
 
 As they poured forth wine from the beakers to the keen-eyed Argus-bane, 
 
 The latest cup that they poured ere of bed they were mindful and fain. 
 
 So the toil-stout goodly Odysseus sped on through house and hall, 
 
 Bearing close darkness with him that Athene wrapped him withal, 140 
 
 Until he came to Arete and Alcinoiis the king. 
 
 But when round the knees of Arete his hands did Odysseus fling, 
 
 Then away and into nothing did the holy darkness draw, 
 
 And they of the house were speechless when a man amidst they saw, 
 
 And they marvelled as they beheld him : but Odysseus made his prayer : 
 
 " Arete, thou the daughter of Rhexenor, Godhead's peer, 
 To thy knees I come and thy husband, I toil-worn with the ways ; 
 And I come to these thy guest-folk ; God give them happy days ! 
 And the wealth within his homestead to his sons may each hand on, 
 With whatsoever of worship from the people he hath won ! 150 
 
 But I pray thee further my sending to my fatherland with speed, 
 Since afar from friends and kinsmen I suffer woeful need." 
 
 He spake, and adown in the hearth-place amid the ash he sat 
 
 By the fire-side : all were speechless and spake no word thereat, 
 
 Till at last the ancient hero Echeneiis spake the word ; 
 
 Who amidst of the folk Phoeacian was the very oldest lord, 
 
 And in speech was he excelling and in all ancient skill. 
 
 So he put forth the word amidst them and spake with all goodwill : 
 
 " Alcinoiis, nought is it seemly, nor thee doth it befit, 159 
 
 That a guest on the ground of the hearth-stead amidst the ash should sit 
 But these on thy word are awaiting, and so the speech forbear. 
 Come, raise up thy guest and set him on a silver-studded chair, 
 And give word to the swains of service the wine in the bowl to blend,
 
 n8 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 That to Zeus the Fain of the Thunder a cup we now may send, 
 
 E'en he who furthereth suppliants that men's compassion win. 
 
 But the guest, let the handmaids give him to supper of what is within. 
 
 But when the holy might of Alcinoiis hearkened the word, 
 
 By the hand Odysseus taking, the wise-heart shifty lord, 
 
 Up from the hearth he raised him to a seat that shimmered and shone, 
 
 Whence he put the fain-of-valour, Laodamas his son, 170 
 
 Who sat the nighest unto him and dear his heart did hold. 
 
 Then a damsel brought hand-water in a ewer fair wrought of gold, 
 
 And straightway for the washing in a dish of silver poured, 
 
 And she drew anigh unto him the smoothed and polished board. 
 
 And a goodwife old and reverend set forth for him the bread, 
 
 And such diverse meat as was ready for his delight she spread. 
 
 But when toil-stout Odysseus had eaten and drunken, forthright 
 
 A word unto the herald spake out Alcinoiis' might : 
 
 Pontonotis, mix thou the bowl, and serve out wine amain 
 To each man in the hall, that as now unto Zeus the Thunder-fain, 180 
 The aid of piteous suppliants, the cup may be poured and sent." 
 
 He spake, and Pontonoiis straightway the wine heart-gladdening blent, 
 And dealt it out to all men from cup to cup in turn. 
 But when they had poured forth duly and drunk as each did yearn, 
 Then Alcinoiis fell unto speaking, and a word amidst them spoke : 
 
 " Hearken, O lords and elders of this Phaeacian folk, 
 
 To the words that I say, thus bidden by the heart within my breast. 
 
 Depart, since now ye have feasted, and at home lie down to rest \ 
 
 But tomorrow yet more elders together let us caH, 
 
 And feast the guest in our homestead, and unto the Gods withal 190
 
 BOOK VII. 119 
 
 Do holy rites and goodly, and then of the speeding home 
 
 Bethink us, that this our guest-friend without labour or grief may come 
 
 By our speeding unto the land of his fathers over the sea 
 
 In all joy of heart and swiftly, though far aloof he be : 
 
 So that he suffer no evil and scathe till he be there, 
 
 And on his own earth goeth ; but thereafter shall he bear 
 
 What things soever Doom and the Dreadful Spinners span 
 
 With the thread of his beginning when his mother bore him a man. 
 
 But if he be one of the Deathless and be come adown from the skies, 
 
 Then this is a new-wrought fashion of the things that the Gods devise : 
 
 For hitherto have the Godfolk been manifest to behold 201 
 
 When we the gifts have been giving most glorious an hundredfold, 
 
 Such whiles with us have they feasted and beside us have set them adown : 
 
 Yea, and if some wayfarer wending hath happed upon them alone, 
 
 In no wise have they hid them, since indeed of their kin are we, 
 
 As the Cyclops and the races of the wild-men giants be." 
 
 But thereto the guileful Odysseus made answer presently : 
 
 " Alcinoiis, put forth the thought from thy mind, for in nowise do I 
 
 Beliken myself to the Deathless who hold the heavenly space, 
 
 But in flesh and in soul am I ever of the deathful manfolks' race. 210 
 
 But whatsoever of menfolk most labour-laden ye know, 
 
 To them myself would I liken, because of my grief and my woe. 
 
 And now indeed might I tell thee the tales of many an ill, 
 
 Yea, all that heap of troubles that I toiled in by God's will : 
 
 But I pray you amidst of my sorrow that ye suffer me supper to eat, 
 
 For nought indeed more shameless than the belly-beast may ye meet, 
 
 When need and he are bidding that we mind us of his part, 
 
 Although we be worn and wasted and have sorrow in the heart. 
 
 Thus I in my heart have sorrow, but the belly evermore 
 
 Will bid me to eat and to drink and forget my sorrow sore, 220
 
 120 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Whatso my soul may have suffered, and to filling forceth me. 
 
 But I prithee look ye to it when tomorrow's dawn shall be, 
 
 That this poor wretch unhappy to his father-land ye speed, 
 
 Yea, after all he hath suffered. But let life leave me indeed 
 
 When I see mine own, and my thralls and my great house high o'erhead." 
 
 So he spake, and all they of the land accorded and yeasaid, 
 
 To further the guest on his way since he spake what was but right. 
 
 But when they had poured out duly, and had drunk to their hearts' delight, 
 
 Then each one home to his house to rest in sleep did they fare ; 
 
 But the goodly Odysseus was left in the hall of the homestead there. 
 
 But Arete sat beside him, and godlike Alcinoiis sat, 231 
 
 While the remnants of the banquet thencefrom the handmaids gat. 
 
 Then spake white-armed Arete and put forth a word thereto 
 
 When she looked on that fair raiment, for cloak and kirtle she knew, 
 
 Since she herself had wrought them, e'en she and her womenfolk. 
 
 Thus then the speech she uttered, and winged words she spoke : 
 
 " O guest, now first will I be to ask thee somewhat here : 
 
 What man art thou of menfolk ? Who gave thee thy raiment to wear ? 
 
 And whence dost thou give thyself out to have wandered here o'er the 
 
 [main?" 
 
 But Odysseus of many a rede spake out and answered again : 240 
 
 " O Queen, right hard were the work to tell thee the tale all through, 
 For the Gods above have dealt me a plenteous wealth of woe ; 
 But of this that thou askest and seekest I will tell it all to thee. 
 There lieth the isle Ogygia, far off amid the sea, 
 Where dwelleth the Daughter of Atlas, Calypso the guileful one, 
 The fair-tressed awful Goddess, and there she mingleth with none, 
 Whether it be of the Godfolk or of men that perish and die. 
 But led by the God to her hearth alone a wretch came I,
 
 BOOK VII. i2i 
 
 After that Zeus had smitten my ship with his thunder white, 
 
 And amidst the wine-dark salt-sea had cloven it outright. 250 
 
 And there indeed my fellows, the brave men, perished and died, 
 
 But I caught the curved ship's keel in my arms and thus did I ride. 
 
 Nine days I drifted suchwise, but the tenth by night and cloud 
 
 The Gods to Ogygia brought me, that is Calypso's abode, 
 
 Where she dwelleth fair-tressed and awful. She took me and cherished 
 
 And with all her heart she loved me, and meant to make me be [me, 
 
 A deathless man for ever, unageing all my days ; 
 
 But the soul in my breast in nowise might she win unto her ways. 
 
 In that island then was I hoarded for seven unbroken years, 
 
 While the deathless raiment she gave me I wetted with my tears ; 260 
 
 But when the ninth year of my sojourn round his circling course had won, 
 
 Then verily she bade me and egged me to begone, 
 
 By the message of Zeus commanded : or maybe her mind did shift. 
 
 On a strong-bound raft she sped me and gave me many a gift, 
 
 Both bread and honey-sweet wine ; and she clad me in deathless weed, 
 
 And a harmless wind and gentle she set forth for my need. 
 
 Seven days and ten did I sail and passed the salt-seas o'er, 
 
 But on the eighteenth day showed the shadowy mountain shore 
 
 Of your land, and thereat, poor wretch ! the heart rejoiced in me. 
 
 But yet of the plenteous trouble yoke-mate was I to be, 270 
 
 Which Poseidon the Earth-shaker against my life did raise ; [ways, 
 
 For he stirred up the winds against me, and bound me aback from my 
 
 And piled up a sea most monstrous, whose swell would not suffer me 
 
 To be borne along bewailing and still on the raft to be. 
 
 Then the storm-blast scattered it wide, and swimming on I clave 
 
 The mighty gulf of the sea-flood until the wind and the wave 
 
 Had borne me on and brought me to this your land anigh ; 
 
 But the swell as I strove to land 'gainst the sea-cliffs mightily 
 
 Drave on perforce, and my body in an ugly place would have cast.
 
 izz THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 But back I went a-swimming until I came at last 280 
 
 To the river, and there indeed at the place that was most to my mind, 
 
 All smooth of rocks and sheltered against the drift of the wind, 
 
 I fell ashore, gathering my spirit : but the Deathless Night came on, 
 
 And thence I gat me away ; from the Zeus-fed river I won, 
 
 And lay down to sleep in the thicket, and the leaves all over me spread, 
 
 And sleep that had no limit the God about me shed. 
 
 There then amidst the leafage, despite my sorrow sore, 
 
 Nightlong I slept till morning and the midmost day was o'er, 
 
 And the sun again was setting when sweet sleep went from me. 
 
 Then the handmaids of thy daughter on the beach there did I see 290 
 
 All a-sporting ; and amidst them as a goddess was she fair. 
 
 I besought her : and surely of wisdom hath her soul a goodly share, 
 
 Nor indeed could one ever be hoping on a youngling thus to hit 
 
 Who could do as she : since the younger be ever wanting in wit. 
 
 For she gave me bread to my need, and gave me the dark-red wine, 
 
 And she washed me in the river and gave me these garments of thine. 
 
 Thus then the truth have I told thee, though I be laden with pain." 
 
 But Alcinoiis uttered the word, and thuswise answered again : 
 " O guest, my child meseemeth in unseemly manner wrought, 
 Whereas thee amidst of her maidens to our house she never brought, 
 When of her the first amidst all folk the suppliant ye were." 301 
 
 But Odysseus full of wisdom thuswise he answered there : 
 " O hero, nought for this cause do thou chide the blameless maid. 
 For to follow her on with her handmaids in good sooth me she bade ; 
 But thereto was I nought willing for shame, and for fear of thee, 
 Lest thou in thine heart shouldst be angered beholding her and me. 
 For jealous indeed full often are the folks of earthly men."
 
 BOOK VII. 123 
 
 But him Alcinoiis answered and thuswise spake again : 
 
 " O guest, the heart in my bosom is nowise idly wroth 
 
 With such matters : yet done seemly the thing is better worth. 310 
 
 Would to Father Zeus and Apollo and Athene that it might be 
 
 That thou, e'en thou as I see thee, and of like mind unto me, 
 
 Might wed my child and be called my son and here abide ! 
 
 And a house then would I give thee and wealth and holdings wide, 
 
 If thou thereto wert willing. For against thy will shall none 
 
 Of Phaeacians stay thee ; forbid it, O Zeus, that it be done ! 
 
 But thy speeding I now do ordain, that heed thereof thou may'st keep, 
 
 For tomorrow : so lie down meanwhile, thou heavy-laden with sleep. 
 
 They shall drive through the calm of the seaflood until at last thou be come 
 
 To thy house and the land of thy fathers ; yea, whereso may be thy home. 
 
 Yea, e'en if it be much farther than Eubcea lies in the sea, 321 
 
 Which such of our folk as have seen it give out the furthest to be, 
 
 E'en they that erewhile flitted Rhadamanthus, the tawny one, 
 
 When Tityus far he followed, the great Earth's very son, 
 
 And thither then they brought him, and wore through all the way 
 
 And came home again unwearied in one and the selfsame day. 
 
 Thereby may'st thou wot full surely how no ships are like unto mine, 
 
 And no shipmen like my shipmen with the oar to toss the brine." 
 
 So he spake ; and the goodly Odysseus, the toil-stout, then was fain, 
 And he put forth a word of praying, and named him, and spake again ; 
 "Zeus Father, now if the deed as much as the word be worth 331 
 
 Of Alcinoiis, then may his glory from off the corn-kind earth 
 Die nevermore : and I, my fatherland may I reach !" 
 
 But as in suchlike fashion they spake out each unto each, 
 White-armed Arete was bidding unto her handmaids there 
 To lay the bed in the cloister, and purple blankets fair
 
 124 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 To cast thereon, and thereover the coverlet to strew, 
 
 And thereon the cloaks thick-woven atop of all to do. 
 
 Straightway then forth from the hall, and candle in hand they went ; 
 
 And when the bed they had dighted in fashion diligent 340 
 
 With words they aroused Odysseus to stand up upon his feet : 
 
 " O guest, arouse and go bedward, for the bed is arrayed right meet." 
 
 So they spake, and to him the slumber seemed good and timely now. 
 
 And so slept the goodly Odysseus, the toil-stout, lying alow 
 
 Upon the jointed bedstead in the echoing cloister there. 
 
 But Alcinoiis slept in the nook of his house well-builded and fair, 
 
 And beside him the Queen, his helpmeet, arrayed her bed and her gear.
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 ALCINOUS BRINGETH ODYSSEUS TO THE ASSEMBLY, AND BIDDETH MEN PLAY 
 BEFORE ODYSSEUS TILL THE TIME IS COME FOR HIS DEPARTURE : 
 DEMODOCUS THE MINSTREL TELLETH THE TALE OF HEPH/ESTUS AND 
 THE LOVE OF ARES AND APHRODITE: GREAT GIFTS ARE GIVEN TO 
 ODYSSEUS : HE WEEPETH AT THE SONG OF DEMODOCUS CONCERNING 
 THE WOODEN HORSE : ALCINOUS PERCEIVETH IT AND PRAYETH HIM 
 TO TELL HIS STORY. 
 
 NOW when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Dawn, was bright, 
 Then forth from his bed rose up Alcinoiis' holy might, 
 And the city-waster, Odysseus, the Zeus-kin, rose from his bed ; 
 Then the holy might of Alcinoiis thenceforth to the meeting led, 
 Whereas the folk Phceacian by the ships did them abide : 
 So they came there and sat them adown on the smooth stones side by side. 
 
 But all about the city did Pallas Athene go 
 
 In the likeness of the herald of Alcinoiis skilled to know, 
 
 For Odysseus the mighty-hearted devising return in the end, 
 
 And by this and that man standing such a word to him did she send : 
 
 " Come then, ye lords Phjeacian, and you that wise-hearts be, 1 1 
 
 Let us go to the meeting of men that this stranger ye may see 
 
 Who is now new-come to the homestead of Alcinoiis skilled in thought, 
 
 A wanderer over the sea-flood, and like to the Deathless wrought." 
 
 The will and the heart of each one suchwise she egged on then ;
 
 126 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And soon was the Meeting-Stead filled and the seats of the gathering men, 
 
 And most they fell to wonder when they saw him in the place, 
 
 The wise son of Laertes ; for indeed with a holy grace 
 
 The man and his head and his shoulders did Athene there enfold, 
 
 And taller therewith she made him and mightier to behold, 20 
 
 So that of all Phseacians he now might gain the love, 
 
 And dread withal and worship; and the feats whereby they would prove 
 
 The very might of Odysseus he might bring to an ending fair. 
 
 But when they all were thronging and gathered together there, 
 
 Alcinoiis took up the word, and thus amidst them spoke : 
 
 " Hearken, O lords and elders of this Phaeacian folk, 
 
 To the word that the soul within me now biddeth me speak and say ; 
 
 This unknown guest that hither to my house hath wandered away, 
 
 Be he come from the men of the Rising or them of the Setting Sun, 
 
 He biddeth us for a flitting, and prayeth that sure it be done. 30 
 
 So now, as ever aforetime, his flitting let us speed i 
 
 For surely hath never a man sought here to my house in need, 
 
 And here for the lack of speeding abode in sorrow sore. 
 
 But come now, let us be shoving to the holy salt-sea shore 
 
 A black ship for the first time sailing, and let shipmen fifty and two 
 
 From amidst the folk be chosen, e'en such as are best to do. 
 
 But when ye have bound the oars to the benches, then one and all 
 
 Come forth and unto my homestead, and there to the feasting fall 
 
 In speedy wise ; and for my part to all will I deal to my best. 
 
 This charge give I to the shipmen ; but verily as for the rest, 40 
 
 The sceptered kings, now come ye to my house that is builded fair, 
 
 That this man, the guest and the stranger, in the halls we may cherish there. 
 
 Nor yet let any gainsay it And Demodocus have ye along, 
 
 The holy minstrel to whom have the Gods give*n glory of song, [won." 
 
 To make joy with what singing soever from his furthering soul shall be
 
 BOOK VIII. 127 
 
 So he spake and he led them away, and the sceptred ones followed him on, 
 And the herald went to be bringing the holy minstrel there. 
 And the shipmen two-and-fifty, well chosen, down did they fare 
 To the shore of the holy sea-plain as the king had bidden it be. 
 But when they were come to the ship and down to the shore of the sea 
 Then into the deep of the water the black ship did they get, 5 1 
 
 And into the black ship straightway the mast and the sails they set, 
 And the oars withal they fitted in the thole-bights wrought of skin, 
 And the sails aloft they hoisted, and in order all did win. 
 Then high in the deeps they moored her, and thereafter went they all 
 To the house of the king the wise-heart, and Alcinoiis' mighty hall, 
 And the courts and the garth and the houses were full of the gathering 
 And of old men were there many, and many young as then. [men ; 
 
 But twelve sheep there for the feasting Alcinoiis hallowed and slew, 
 And eight swine with teeth white-gleaming, and of shambling oxen two. 
 These then they flayed and dighted and arrayed a feast full fair. 61 
 
 But withal came the herald leading the faithful singer there. 
 
 Of the Muse was he well beloved, who had given him good and ill ; 
 
 Of his eyesight had she reft him, but had given him sweet-voiced skill. 
 
 So for him had Pontonoiis set a silver-studded chair 
 
 Amidmost of the feasters, 'gainst a pillar long and fair ; 
 
 And over his head on a pin his harp the shrilly-sweet [should meet. 
 
 Had he hung, and had shown him moreover how his hand therewith 
 
 And he set a basket beside him, and a fair-dight table withal, 
 
 And a cup of wine for his drinking, when his soul thereto should call. 70 
 
 So they reached out their hands to the dainties that ready before them 
 But when the yearning for meat and for drink they had done away, [lay; 
 Then the Muse stirred up the minstrel to sing of the deeds of men 
 Whose great renown and glory to the wide heavens reached as then,
 
 128 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 To wit the Strife of Odysseus and Achilles, Peleus' son, 
 
 How with fierce words they wrangled at a feast, a glorious one 
 
 Of the Gods, and Agamemnon the folk-king then was glad 
 
 In his heart that the chiefs Achaean such strife between them had. 
 
 For thereof did Phoebus Apollo foretelling words declare 
 
 In Pythos the very lovely, when the stony threshold there 80 
 
 He crossed and sought foretelling ; and uprolled the tide of ill 
 
 On the Danaan folk and the Trojan by Zeus the Mighty's will. 
 
 Such song sang the glorious singer, but Odysseus, taking hold 
 
 Of his mighty purple mantle, with his strong hand drew a fold 
 
 Across his head to hide it, and his goodly face he hid, 
 
 For shame he had of Phseacians for the tears from his brow that slid ; 
 
 But whensoever the singer, the holy one, ceased for a space, 
 
 Then, wiping his tears away, he drew the cloak from his face, 
 
 And, taking the beaker twofold, to the Gods he poured as then ; 
 
 But when once more he awoke it, and the chiefs of Phseacian men 90 
 
 Were egging him on to singing for their joy in the words he said, 
 
 Then again was Odysseus hiding his face, as moan he made. 
 
 But there from all the others he hid the flow of tears, 
 But Alcinoiis knew it, and noted alone of all his peers ; 
 For he sat exceeding nigh him and his heavy groan he heard : 
 So unto those Phseacians oar-fain he spake the word : 
 
 " O lords of the folk Phaeacian, O elders hearken and hear ! 
 Our souls have we now contented with the feast and the equal cheer, 
 And the harp-song, ever the yoke-mate of all feast that fair shall be : 
 Now fare we forth and try us in the strife of game and glee, 100 
 
 That our guest when home he cometh to his friends the tale may tell 
 How we above all others in the play of fists prevail,
 
 BOOK VIII. 129 
 
 And the wrestling play, and the leaping and in the swift-foot race." 
 
 So saying, forth he led them and they followed from the place ; 
 
 And the herald hung on a pin the clear-voiced harp withal, 
 
 And Demodocus' hand was he taking to bring him forth from the hall; 
 
 By the road that the others had wended he led him on the way, 
 
 Yea, all the chiefs Phaeacian,to look upon the play. [throng, 
 
 Forth they fared to the Stead of Meeting, and there followed a mighty 
 
 A thousand fold a thousand ; and up stood the young and the strong : 
 
 Acroneus and Ocyalus and Elatreus there arose, 1 1 1 
 
 Nauteus, Prymneus, Eretmeus, Anchialus : next to those 
 
 Ponteus and Proreus and Thoon and Anabesineus came on, 
 
 And Amphialus ; Polyneiis begat him, Tectons' son ; 
 
 And Euryalus moreover, the Man's-bane Ares' peer ; 
 
 And Naubolus' son, of his body the goodliest fellow there 
 
 Of all Phaeacians, saving Laodamas the great. 
 
 For three sons of the great Alcinoiis uprose on the play to wait, 
 
 E'en Laodamas and Halius and Clytoneiis God-high. 
 
 Now all these men in the foot-race their manhood first should try. 120 
 
 Straight stretched the course from the starting, and all together amain, 
 
 Full swiftly forth were they fleeting and stirred up the dust of the plain. 
 
 Great Clytoneiis in running was best of all the band, 
 
 And as far as the mules draw furrow across the fallow land 
 
 So far he outwent the others when he came to the folk again. 
 
 Next then in the play of wrestling they strove with care and pain, 
 And therein it was Euryalus who prevailed o'er all the best ; 
 But Amphialus in the leaping by far outwent the rest, 
 And in casting the stone Elatreus excelled o'er every one, 
 And Laodamas in the boxing, Alcinoiis' valiant son. 130 
 
 K
 
 1 3 o THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 But now, when all in their hearts were fain of the game and the play, 
 Laodaraas spake amongst them, Alcinoiis' son 'gan say : 
 " Come, friends, let us ask the stranger if of games he knoweth aught, 
 And hath learned to play ; for his body in no evil wise is wrought : 
 Nay, look to his thighs and his legs, and both his hands forsooth ! 
 And the brawny neck and stark strength of the man ! Nor yet in youth 
 Is he lacking, but worn and wasted with many a toilsome woe, 
 For nothing worse than the sea to crush up a man do I know, 
 And to wear him down ; yea, even though exceeding strong he be." 
 
 Then Euryalus took up the word, and thuswise answered he : 140 
 
 " Laodamas, this hast thou spoken in goodly wise and well ; 
 Then do thou thyself go hail him, and this matter to him tell." 
 
 But Alcinoiis' son, the valiant, when his answer he had heard, 
 
 Came forth, and, standing amidmost, to Odysseus spake the word: 
 
 " Come thou too, guest and father, and try thee in the play, 
 
 If thereof ye be skilled in somewise, as it seemeth like ye may ; 
 
 For no fame may a man win better the while he hath his life 
 
 Than from what his feet have accomplished, or his hands amidst the strife. 
 
 Up then, and try thee in playing, and scatter the griefs from thy soul, 
 
 For not long shalt thou lack thy homefare, since even now did they roll 
 
 Thy ship adown to the water, and her folk are bound for the main." 
 
 But Odysseus of many a rede thus spake and answered again : 152 
 
 " Laodamas, why do ye taunt me, and bid me such a way ? 
 
 Far more in my mind are my troubles than any game and play, 
 
 Who have borne so many and many, and such toil have laboured to earn, 
 
 And now am sitting amidst you craving but my return ; 
 
 And thereof your king am I praying, and all tfte folk of your place."
 
 BOOK VIII. 131 
 
 Him then Euryalus answered and chid him face to face : 
 
 " Nay, I liken thee not, O Stranger, to a man well skilled of his hands 
 
 In all the plays that are toward mid the men of many lands, 160 
 
 But rather to one that haunteth the ship of many an oar, 
 
 A captain over shipmen that are chapmen furthermore ; 
 
 Of thy freight for ever mindful, an overlooker of wares 
 
 And greedy gain : of no man-strife belike shall be thy cares." 
 
 But the shifty Odysseus answered, grim-eyed from knitted brow : 
 " O stranger, basely thou speakest ; as the fool of men art thou : 
 So the Gods from men are withholding, nor give all grace to each ; 
 Neither inbred wit nor wisdom, nor skill of open speech. 
 For indeed there is such among menfolk as a feebler body hath had, 
 But God crowneth his speech with fairness, and all they that behold him are 
 For with shamefast sweetness and surely he speaketh among men ; [glad ; 
 When the folk is gathered together he excelleth verily then, 172 
 
 And men look on his ways through the city as though a God he were. 
 But another is of his body the Deathless Godhead's peer, 
 Yet his words with the grace of sweetness are nowise wreathed about 
 Thus thou in beauty excellest, nor of other guise no doubt 
 Would a very God be fashioned ; but thy mind is an empty thing. 
 But the soul that is dear in my breast hast thou set thee to stir up and sting, 
 And in manner unmeet thou speakest : for I am not new to the play, 
 As thou sayest, but mid the foremost meseems was I once on a day, 180 
 While yet in my hands I trusted and the might of my youth unworn ; 
 Now of scathe and of grief am I holden, for a many things have I borne, 
 Both the wars of men and the waves that were grievously hard on the way. 
 But e'en as I am, with such burden of griefs, will I try me the play, 
 For thy word to me is soul-biting, and thou speakest to egg me on." 
 
 [stone, 
 Therewith, and yet clad in his mantle, he ran forth and caught up the
 
 1 32 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Right great and thick to handle, and by no little greater than those 
 Wherewith the folk Phseacian contended in their throws, 
 And, whirling it round, he hurled it forthright with his mighty hand ; 
 And away the stone flew humming, and they crouched alow on the land, 
 The long-oar-wont Phaeacians, the ship-renowned men, 191 
 
 From the flight of the stone, and it flew o'er all marks marked as then, 
 As light from his hand it speeded. But Athene marked its fall ; 
 Yea, she in the shape of a man, and therewith she spake unto all : 
 
 " Yea, e'en a blind man, O Stranger, could discern this cast where it went, 
 By groping about ; since in nowise with the crowd of casts is it blent, 
 But is far the first. For this play then, hold up thine heart on high, 
 For no cast of Phseacian menfolk shall reach or pass it by." 
 
 So she spake ; but the goodly Odysseus, the toil-stout, then was glad, 
 When he saw that a friend and a fellow amid the lists he had ; 200 
 
 And therewith he spake more lightly to those Phaeacian men : 
 
 " O youths, come up to that one ! And yet the next one then 
 
 I deem indeed that as far, or further yet, shall it fly ; 
 
 But whoso of all whom his heart or his soul now biddeth to try, 
 
 Let him hither with me to be playing, since my wrath ye needs must stir, 
 
 In boxing or wrestling or foot-race ; I begrudge in no play that is here 
 
 With any man Phseacian, save Laodamas, to contend ; 
 
 For he is my very guest-friend, and who would fight with a friend ? 
 
 A fool were he of menfolk, and a worthless wight were he, 
 
 Who on him that gave him harbour thrust the strife of mastery, 210 
 
 Amidst an outland people his own well-being to mar : 
 
 But of others none will I gainsay, or slight, whoever they are ; 
 
 But rather I fain would know them, and prove them face to face, 
 
 For at all plays am I handy that are played amid manfolk's race.
 
 BOOK VIII. I33 
 
 I know how to handle the bow well shaven round about, 
 
 And the first would I be in shooting my man mid the foeman's rout, 
 
 E'en though a many fellows together gathered were 
 
 Against the folk of the foemen the arrow-shot to bear. 
 
 Yea, Philoctetes only with the bow outwent me then, 
 
 When, amidst the folk of the Trojans, well cast the Achaean men ; 220 
 
 But of all the others I boast me to be the front and the head, 
 
 Of all mortals dwelling on earth, and living and eating bread. 
 
 But with the men of aforetime I have no mind to vie, 
 
 As Heracles or Eurytus the CEchalean high ; 
 
 For these, they strove with the Deathless about the deeds of the bow. 
 
 So untimely Eurytus perished, nor yet unto eld did he grow 
 
 In his house and his hall ; for Apollo in anger slew him outright, 
 
 For this thing, that he challenged the God to contend in the bowman's 
 
 But further than others the arrow, and the spearshaft can I cast ; [sleight. 
 
 Forsooth in the foot-race only I doubt I may be o'erpassed 230 
 
 By Phaeacians ; for very sorely and unseemly am I worn 
 
 By the wash of many billows : since nought in our ship was borne 
 
 Unfailing store of victual, and my limbs are all undone." 
 
 So he spake, and they held their peace and kept silence every one, 
 
 Save that Alcinoiis only spake out and answered again : 
 
 " O guest, in good part we take it, thy speech outspoken and plain, 
 
 For the valour with thee abiding to us wouldst thou prove and show, 
 
 Being wroth with him that arose and chid thee awhile ago. 
 
 Whereas there is none of mortals who thy valour would gainsay 
 
 If his heart had understanding how to speak the righteous way. 240 
 
 But follow my word, I pray thee, that thy tale thereof may come 
 
 To another of the heroes when thou sitt'st in thy hall at home 
 
 Afeasting with thy helpmate and the seed of thee begot, 
 
 And our craft thou then rememberest, e'en the deeds that Zeus doth allot
 
 13 4 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Unto us in measure unfailing ; yea, e'en from our fathers' day. 
 
 For we are not unmatched boxers, nor first in the wrestling play, 
 
 But the best of men ashipboard and in running afoot full fleet ; 
 
 And ever we love the banquet and the harp and the dancing feet, 
 
 And the change of fair fresh raiment, and the warm bath and the bed. 
 
 Come then, ye dancers Phaeacian, who are most of lustihead, 250 
 
 Play ye, that this our guest-friend unto his friends may tell, 
 
 When home at last he is gotten, how all others we excel 
 
 In shipcraft and the footrace, and the ordered dance and the song. 
 
 But now for Demodocus go ye, fetch the clear-voiced harp and strong, 
 
 If ye may find it lying somewhere in my house and hall" 
 
 Thus Alcinoiis the godlike ; but the herald rose withal 
 
 To bring from the kingly dwelling the hollow harp away. 
 
 Then uprose the chosen judges, and nine in all were they, 
 
 Folk-chosen men to order the games in everything : 
 
 The dancing-floor they levelled, and they made a wide-drawn ring. 260 
 
 Therewith drew nigh the herald with the shrilly harp in hand 
 
 For Demodocus standing amidmost, and about him there did stand 
 
 The chosen youths well wotting the dance and all its skill, 
 
 And they beat the holy earth with their feet, and Odysseus still 
 
 Gazed on at the feet swift twinkling, and his heart was in wonder long. 
 
 But now fell to the harper and struck up a goodly song 
 Concerning the love of Ares for Aphrodite the crowned, 
 How first they privily mingled in Hephaestus' house renowned : 
 And many a gift he gave her, and befouled with scathe and shame 
 The bed of King Hephaestus. But to him the tale-teller came, 270 
 E'en the Sun, whose eyes had beheld them as in love they mingled there. 
 But Hephaestus hearkening the word that was h^rd for the heart to bear 
 Went straightway to his stithy, building guile in the deeps of his heart.
 
 BOOK VIII. 135 
 
 A huge anvil he set on the stock, and chains ne'er to be sundered apart, 
 And ne'er to be broken he forged, that fast they be holden there. 
 But when in his wrath against Ares he had fashioned the guile and the snare, 
 Forthwith he went to his chamber where his bed beloved lay, 
 And the bonds he drew in a circle round the bed-posts every way, 
 And many o'erhead were hanging from the tie-beam up on high, 279 
 All as fine as are the cobwebs, so that none could see them with eye, 
 Not e'en of theGods,the Happy, with such plenteous craft were they wrought 
 But when the bed all over in the net and the snare he had caught, 
 He feigned to depart unto Lemnos, and the burg well-builded and fair, 
 Which to him of all lands of the Earth is the best-beloved and dear. 
 But no blind watch held Ares, the Lord of the Bridle of Gold, 
 When Hephaestus, Glory of Craftsmen, departing he thus did behold ; 
 But he hastened and went to the dwelling of Hephaestus high-renowned, 
 So sore for the love was he yearning of Cytherea the crowned. 
 And she but of late was come from her father, the mighty Son 
 Of Cronos, and there was she sitting. So into the house he won, 290 
 And he took her hand in his hand, and spake the word and said : 
 
 " Oh hither, O love, and bedward ! and we twain in rest to be laid, 
 For no more mid the folk is Hephaestus, but is gone far out of reach, 
 And belike aloof unto Lemnos, and the Sintians wild of speech." 
 
 So he spake, and to her most welcome it seemed, that lying abed ; 
 So up they went and lay down, and therewith about them were spread 
 The bonds and the crafty snare of Hephaestus the all-wise, 
 And never a limb might they move, and they had no might to arise. 
 And withal were they ware of the cunning and that nought it availed to be 
 Then drew anigh unto them the glorious Haltfoot-one ; [gone. 
 
 He had turned aback from Lemnos, nor ever came to the land, 301 
 For the Sun had been his watchman and had brought the tale to hand.
 
 136 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 So into the house he hastened, his dear heart sorrowing sore, 
 
 And fierce wrath had hold upon him as he stood in the porch of the door: 
 
 In a fearful voice he shouted and to all the Gods 'gan cry : 
 
 " Zeus father, and all ye Blessed, ye Gods that never die, 
 
 Here ! look on a thing to be laughed at, and hard to be dealt with for shame, 
 
 How the Daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite, still scorneth me the lame 
 
 For ever; and ever she loveth Ares the Bringer-to-Nought, 309 
 
 For that he is fair and well-fashioned, while into the world was I brought 
 
 A weakling : and none other is guilty of the scorn [born ! 
 
 Save the twain that begat me and bore me. And would I had never been 
 
 But now indeed shall ye look on these twain as in love they lie, 
 
 Having gotten them up to my bed : and I look and shamed am I. 
 
 But not e'en for a minute meseemeth suchwise would lie those twain, 
 
 Though sore be their love, nor for long of such rest shall they be fain ; 
 
 Yet the snare and the bonds about them shall hold them nowise slack 
 
 Till all those gifts of wooing her father pays me aback, 
 
 That to him I erst made over for the damsel shameless-faced. 
 
 For as fair as is his daughter so little is she chaste." 320 
 
 So he spake: round the brass-floored house the Gods were gathered indeed. 
 Came Poseidon, Shaker of Earth ; came Hermes, good at need ; 
 And thither the King Apollo, the Far-off shooter came; 
 But withal the queens of the God-folk, each bided at home for shame. 
 
 So around the porch were they standing the Gods that give all good, 
 And uprose the quenchless laughter from the Happy Gods, as they stood 
 And looked on all the cunning of wise-heart Hephaestus' snare ; 
 And thus would one be saying as he looked on his neighbour there : 
 
 r 
 
 "111 speed of ill deed cometh ! the slow, outrunneth the swift !
 
 BOOK VIII. 137 
 
 Even as now Hephaestus, though haltfoot, by his shift 330 
 
 Hath hold of Ares, the swiftest of all the Gods, of those 
 That dwell up in Olympus. Therefore the fine he owes." 
 
 Thus one unto another were they speaking of the thing : 
 
 But to Hermes spake Apollo, the son of Zeus the King : 
 
 " O Hermes, thou son of Zeus, thou Flitter, thou Giver of Gain, 
 
 E'en by strong bonds down-weighted yet wouldst thou not be fain 
 
 By the golden Aphrodite to lie along in bed?" 
 
 But the Flitter, the Bane of Argus, thus answered him and said : 
 
 " O King, Far-shooter, Apollo, I would that it might be ; 
 
 Let bonds e'en thrice so many, untold, be laid on me, 340 
 
 Let all the Gods be onlooking and the queens at gaze stand by, 
 
 Yet with golden Aphrodite still were I fain to lie." 
 
 So he spake, and the laughter arose mid the Gods of the Deathless Day ; 
 But the laugh held not Poseidon, who never ceased to pray 
 Hephaestus, Glory of Craftsmen, to let loose Ares the lord ; 
 And speech therewith he uttered and sent forth a winged word : 
 
 " Loose him, and I will pledge me that whatso thou biddest he pay, 
 Yea, whatso things be of right mid the Gods of the Deathless Day." 
 
 But the ever-glorious Haltfoot made answer thereunto : 
 
 " Poseidon, thou Shaker of Earth, bid not the thing to do ! 350 
 
 For ever the word of the worthless is a worthless thing to my mind. 
 
 And how among the Deathless thee can I hold and bind 
 
 If Ares goeth his ways, and both bonds and debt he break?" 
 
 But Poseidon, Shaker of Earth, he put forth the word and spake :
 
 138 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 " Hephaestus, even if Ares should flee and go on his way, 
 
 And creep from under the debt, yet myself the same shall I pay." 
 
 And thereto in turn thus answered the Haltfoot, Glorious Lord : 
 
 " Nay, nowise is it seemly to gainsay thy given word." 
 
 So spake the Might of Hephaestus and undid the bonds and the snare. 
 
 But when of the bonds strong-fashioned the twain delivered were, 360 
 
 Then up they sprang, and Ares, his ways he wended to Thrace ; 
 
 But laugh-loving Aphrodite unto Cyprus and the place 
 
 Of Paphos, where is her garden and her fragrant altar therein. 
 
 And there did the Graces bathe her, and with oil they sleeked her skin, 
 
 The deathless oil that sleeketh the Gods that never die ; 
 
 And they did on her lovely raiment, a marvel to the eye. 
 
 Such tale sang the glorious minstrel, and great joy Odysseus had 
 
 In his heart as thereto he hearkened, and all the others were glad, 
 
 The oar-fain folk Phaeacian, the ship-renowned men. 
 
 But to Halius and Laodamas gave Alcinoiis bidding then 370 
 
 To dance alone together, since none might match them there. 
 
 So when in hand they had taken the purple ball and fair, 
 
 Which for them had Polybus fashioned, who nought of craft did lack, 
 
 Then one to the shadowy clouds would cast it, bending aback, 
 
 And therewithal the other aloft from the earth would bound 
 
 And lightly catch it again ere again his feet touched ground. 
 
 But when they had played the play of the straight-up cast of the ball, 
 
 Then on the Earth the fruitful unto dancing did they fall, 
 
 And from each unto each cast swiftly : and time beat the rest of those 
 
 The youths round the ring a-standing, and great noise of the tramping 
 
 arose. 
 
 Therewith Odysseus the goodly to Alcinoiis spa^ce and said : 381 
 
 " Alcinous, king and lord, of the folk the foremost head,
 
 BOOK VIII. 139 
 
 Thou hast boasted of thy dancers as the best of all dancing plays ; 
 Now indeed hast thou made it good, and thereon I marvel and gaze." 
 
 He spake, and the holy might of Alcinoiis was glad, 
 
 And straight for those Phseacians oar-fain a word he had : 
 
 " Hearken, O lords Phaeacian, O elders, hearken ye ! 
 
 Forsooth the stranger seemeth exceeding wise to be ; 
 
 So come now let us give him as a guest-gift fitting things. 
 
 Lo ye ! among this people are twelve renowned kings 390 
 
 Their leaders and their judges, and the thirteenth man am I. 
 
 So let each man among us bring forward presently 
 
 A cloak well washed and a kirtle, and a talent of fine gold, 
 
 And lay all that together for the hand of our guest to hold, 
 
 That when he goeth to supper his heart may be glad and fain ; 
 
 But Euryalus now with words atonement let him gain, 
 
 And with a gift moreover ; for an unright word he said." 
 
 He spake, and all were consenting unto the thing he bade, 
 
 And each sent forth a herald the gifts to take and bring ; 
 
 And withal Euryalus answered and spake unto the King : 400 
 
 " O King and lord Alcinoiis, O foremost of the folk, 
 
 To the guest will I make atonement, as ye bid, for the word I spoke. 
 
 I will give him this sword all brazen ; and lo the hilt thereto 
 
 Is silver wrought, and a scabbard of ivory sawn-anew 
 
 Is done all round about it. Unto him 'tis a worthy award." 
 
 So into his hand he gave it, the silver-hefted sword, 
 
 And therewithal he hailed him and set this word on the wing : 
 
 " All hail, O guest and father ! and if some grievous thing 
 
 Hath been said, let the whirl-blasts catch it and bear it far away, [day 
 
 May the Gods to thy fatherland bring thee, and to look on thy wife on a
 
 140 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Right soon, since afar from thy friends thou bearest toilsome pain !" 
 
 But Odysseus of many a rede thus spake and answered again : 412 
 
 " All hail, O friend, to thee also ! May God be good to thee, 
 Nor may'st thou lack it hereafter, this glaive thou givest me, 
 The gift which thou hast added to thine atoning word." 
 
 Therewith about his shoulders he hung the silvered sword. 
 
 But now the sun was setting, and the glorious gifts were come, 
 
 For the high-heart heralds bore them to Alcinoiis' house and home ; 
 
 And there did the sons receive them of Alcinoiis of renown, 
 
 And by their reverend mother the all-goodly gifts set down. 420 
 
 Then the holy might of Alcinoiis he led them forth withal, 
 
 And they departed and set them in the high seats of the hall. 
 
 Then the might of Alcinoiis spake, and unto Arete he said : 
 
 " O wife, bring hither a coffer full goodly, the goodliest made, 
 
 And lay thou a cloak well-washen and a decent kirtle therein, 
 
 And make hot the brass on the fire the water warm to win ; 
 
 That the guest, having washed and looked on the things that lie so fair, 
 
 The gifts that the great Pheeacians have brought and gathered here, 
 
 With the feast his heart may gladden, and may hear the song go up. 
 
 And I myself will give him my own fair golden cup, 430 
 
 That he in the hall of his homestead all days may remember me 
 
 When he poureth the wine unto Zeus and to all the Gods that be." 
 
 So he spake, and therewith Arete bade her handmaidens to heed 
 And get the three-foot caldron on the fire in haste and speed. 
 So the great three-foot bath-feeder they set on the fire to stand, 
 And therein they poured the water and thereunder laid the brand ; 
 And the flame licked the caldron's belly and w#nn the water grew. 
 Meanwhile, for the guest Arete from the chamber brought thereto
 
 BOOK VIII. 141 
 
 A chest exceeding goodly, and therein for him to have 
 
 She laid the gold and the raiment which those Phseacians gave ; 440 
 
 And therein she laid a mantle, and a kirtle, a goodly thing. 
 
 And withal she spake unto him and set this word on the wing : 
 
 " Do thou to the lid be looking, and bonds about it cast, 
 Lest one on the way beguile thee whenso thy soul hath passed 
 Into sweet sleep and slumber on thy black ship on the way." 
 
 But when the goodly Odysseus, the toil-stout, heard her say, 
 
 Then straight the lid he fitted, and fell the bonds to knit 
 
 With a crafty knot that Circe the goddess learned his wit. 
 
 Then straightway the handmaid bade him go up to the washing-vat, 
 
 And wash him therein; and he saw it, and his soul rejoiced thereat, 450 
 
 And the water warm ; for nowise was he wont to be cherished with care 
 
 Since he left the house of Calypso of the lovely-knotted hair; 
 
 But that while with her was he cherished as a God is evermore. 
 
 But when the handmaids had washed him and with oil had sleeked him 
 
 A goodly cloak and a kirtle they did upon him then, [o'er, 
 
 And he gat him up out of the bath-vat and away to the wine-drinking men. 
 
 But lo, Nausicaa, dowered with God-given beauty, stood 
 By the doorway of the feast-hall of the steadfast house and good ; 
 And her eyes beheld Odysseus, and she fell a-wondering, [wing ' 
 
 And the sound of her voice she uttered, and sent forth a word on the 
 
 " Farewell, O guest ! When thou comest to thy land where thou dost go, 
 Remember me, for life-ransom unto me the first dost thou owe !" 462 
 
 But Odysseus of many a rede thus answered for his part : 
 " Nausicaa, thou daughter of Alcinoiis, mighty of heart,
 
 142 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 May Zeus the Great-voiced grant it, of Herd's Lord may I earn, 
 
 That unto my house I get me and see my day of return ! 
 
 Then unto thee, O maiden, as unto a God, will I pray 
 
 For all days from henceforward ; for thou gavest me life on a day." 
 
 He spake and sat him adown beside Alcinoiis' chair. 
 
 And now the wine were they blending, and dealing share by share ; 470 
 
 And the herald drew near leading the sweet-voiced singer along, 
 
 Demodocus dear to the people, and amidst the feasting throng 
 
 He set his seat and leaned it against a pillar tall. 
 
 Then Odysseus, wealthy of counsel, to the herald spake withal, 
 
 Having cut and carved a portion from the chine of a white-toothed boar, 
 
 With rich fat all about it (and yet was left much more) : 
 
 " Bear forth this flesh, O herald, to Demodocus, that he 
 
 May eat thereof; and I greet him, though grieved at heart I be; 
 
 For surely dear unto all men upon the earth that dwell 
 
 Are minstrels, and worthy of worship, since the Muse hath learned them well 
 
 To wend the ways of song-craft, and she loves the minstrel race." 481 
 
 Therewith the herald bore it unto the hands and the place 
 Of Demodocus the hero, and he took it and was glad. 
 And men reached out their hands to the dainties that before them there 
 
 [they had. 
 
 But when the desire for meat and for drink they had done away, 
 Unto Demodocus then 'gan the wise Odysseus to say : 
 " Demodocus, thee of all mortals do I ever worship and praise, 
 Whether the Muse, Zeus' Daughter, or Apollo learned thee of lays ; 
 Because of the doom of Achaeans dost thou sing a most due tale, 
 All deeds that we did, we Achaeans, and our travail and our bale. 490 
 Whether thou wert there amidst it, or hast learned of another one ;
 
 BOOK VIII. 143 
 
 But change thou the tale and tell us how the Wooden Horse was done, 
 E'en him that Epeius fashioned with Athene's help anigh, 
 The snare that goodly Odysseus brought into the burg on high 
 Fulfilled with men, that Ilios they might waste with utter bale. 
 But if aright and in order thou shalt set forth such a tale, 
 Thereafter among all men will I tell of thee this thing, 
 How a kind God hath given thee the holy song to sing." 
 
 Then Demodocus, moved by the God, began and set forth the lay, 499 
 
 And took up the tale where the Argives, one part, were sailing away, 
 
 Having gone on their well-decked ships and given their booths to the flame; 
 
 But the others yet were sitting round Odysseus mighty of fame 
 
 In the Meeting Stead of the Trojans, all hidden in the Horse, 
 
 For the Trojans themselves had drawn it to the topmost burg perforce. 
 
 There it stood, and they sitting around it confused counsel spake. 
 
 Three ways their pleasure sundered, three ways their rede did take ; 
 
 For some with the pitiless brass would cleave the hollow wood, 
 
 And adown the rocks to cast it o'er the burg-brow some deemed good ; 
 
 And some would give it the Gods, a great gift, an atonement of bale; 509 
 
 And this indeed was the counsel which was doomed in the end to prevail, 
 
 For the doom of death was upon them, what time their burg should embrace 
 
 A mighty Horse of timber ; and there sat in the hollow place 
 
 The flower of the Argives bearing to the Troy-folk bale and bane. 
 
 Then he sang how the sons of Achoeans from the Horse poured forth amain, 
 
 And came out from the hollow ambush and wasted all the town, 
 
 And in what wise this and that man the burg on high brake down, 
 
 While unto Deiphobus' dwelling forthwith did Odysseus fare, 
 
 Like unto Ares, and with him Menelaus, Godheads' peer ; 
 
 And that there he dared the battle and the utmost of the fight, 519 
 
 And prevailed with the help of Athene of the soul that is most of might-
 
 144 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 So sang the all-glorious singer, but Odysseus was melted withal, 
 
 And over his cheeks the tear-dew from his eyelids 'gan to fall ; 
 
 And e'en as a wife falls clinging to her mate with wailing sore, 
 
 Yea, to him who in front of his city and folk hath fallen in war, 
 
 While his burg and his children he warded from the utter hapless day. 
 
 And she beholdeth him dying and gasping his life away, 
 
 And with shrill wails walloweth on him, and the men behind her smite 
 
 Her shoulders and back with the spear-shafts, as they drive her away forth- 
 
 To the thraldom where she shall suffer all toil and grief and pain, [right 
 
 And with most grievous sorrow her cheeks they waste and wane 530 
 
 E'en so the woful tear-drops Odysseus poured from his brow. 
 
 But from all the rest was it hidden, nor his weeping did they know. 
 
 But Alcinoiis perceived it, and knew it, and he alone ; 
 
 For anigh unto him was he sitting, and he heard his heavy groan. 
 
 Then unto those Phasacians the oar-fain thus spake he : 
 
 " Hearken, ye lords Phaeacian, and ye elders hearken ye ! 
 
 Now at last let Demodocus cease, and his shrilly harp refrain, 
 
 Because of his song meseemeth not all men here are fain. 
 
 From the time when we were supping and the Godlike singer began, 
 
 Nowhile hath he ceased his moaning, this guest and wandering man. 540 
 
 In a place encompassed of sorrow his heart a dwelling hath had. 
 
 Come, then, let us refrain us, that we all alike may be glad, 
 
 Both the guest-friend and the guester ; for better so it were, 
 
 Since because of a guest well cherished did we do all matters here, 
 
 The flitting and gifts of friendship that we gave in all goodwill. 
 
 Forsooth the place of a brother the suppliant guest shall fill, 
 
 For the man whoever so little unto wisdom would attain. 
 
 But thou, do thou hide in nowise, by words of crafty gain, 
 
 The thing which now I ask thee; for to speal/ shall better be. 
 
 Tell me thy name whereby the father and mother of thee 550
 
 BOOK VIII. 145 
 
 And all the others called thee, who dwelt in the burg about 
 
 For no man at all of menfolk a name shall be without, 
 
 Whether good he be or evil. From the time of his birth, and the day 
 
 When on earth his parents brought him, a name on him did they lay. 
 
 And thou shalt tell me moreover of thy burg, and thy folk, and thy land, 
 
 That our ships in their minds may know it when they bring thee thither to 
 
 Because amidst us Phceacians our ships no helmsmen steer, [hand, 
 
 Nor with us is any rudder like other ships must bear, 
 
 But our keels know the minds of menfolk, and their will they understand, 
 
 And of all men's cities are wotting and the fat fields of the land. 560 
 
 And therewith exceeding swiftly o'er the sea-gulf do they go, 
 
 In the mist and the cloud-rack hidden ; nor ever a fear they know 
 
 That any scathe may touch them, or death on any day. 
 
 But Nausithoiis, my father, a thing I have heard him say, 
 
 For he told how that Poseidon did wrath against us keep, 
 
 Because that men all scatheless we flit across the deep ; 
 
 And one while a ship well-fashioned of Phaeacian men shall he wrack, 
 
 As over the darkling sea-flood from the flitting she cometh aback, 
 
 And shall shadow the city over with a mound and a mighty hill. 
 
 In suchwise spake the elder ; and these things shall the God fulfil, 570 
 
 Or else refrain from fulfilment, as the heart within him is fain. 
 
 But come now and tell me hereof, and speak out the matter plain, 
 
 Whither of lands thou hast wandered? to what shores of men thou hast come? 
 
 And therewith of the very menfolk and their burgs of the pleasant home, 
 
 And of such as are hard and cruel, and unright and wild of mood, 
 
 And of such whose minds turn Godward, guest-loving men and good ? 
 
 And why thou wert grieving inly, and wherefore thou didst wail 
 
 When the woe of the Argive Danaans, and of Ilios was the tale? 
 
 But this thing the Gods have fashioned, and have spun the Deathful Day 
 
 For men, that for men hereafter it might be the tale and the lay. 580 
 
 But did one of thy wedlock kinsmen valiant by Ilios die, 
 
 L
 
 146 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Wife's father, daughter's husband, of such as are most nigh, 
 
 After our very kinsmen, our very stock and blood ? 
 
 Or mayhap some dear companion, a pleasant friend and good ? 
 
 For no worser than a brother e'en such a man I call, 
 
 Who is one's very fellow, and wise of heart withal."
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 ODYSSEUS TELLETH OF HIS WAYFARINGS : HOW HE FOUGHT WITH THE 
 CICONES : HOW HE CAME TO THE LAND OF THE LOTUS-EATERS : 
 HOW HE CAME UNTO THE LAND OF THE CYCLOPS AND OF HIS 
 DEALINGS WITH POLYPHEMUS THERE. 
 
 B 
 
 UT Odysseus of many a rede thereto he answered and said : 
 
 "Alcinoiis, lord and king, the people's foremost head, 
 
 The song of such a minstrel most good it is to hear, 
 
 The man who in speech made tuneful is the very Godheads' peer. 
 
 Indeed for me I say it, that no happier time we bide 
 
 Than when the folk and all men are held by the merry tide, 
 
 And about the house are they feasting, and the singer's song they hear 
 
 All sitting along in order, while full boards before them bear [up 
 
 The bread and the flesh; and the wine-swain from the mixing-bowl filleth 
 
 And beareth forth, and poureth the wine in every cup. 10 
 
 Yea, unto my mind this seemeth a thing most fair to be. 
 
 But thy mind hath been turned to ask me of the woful griefs of me, 
 
 That with yet heavier heart-grief my woes I may bewail. 
 
 But now what first shall I tell thee, what last shall be my tale ? 
 
 Since the Gods that dwell in the heavens give me such wealth of woe. 
 
 " Well, first my name shall I tell you, that ye thereof may know, 
 
 And I thereafter 'scaping from the bitter cruel day 
 
 To you may give the guest-cheer, though my house be far away.
 
 i 4 8 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Odysseus the son of Laertes am I, whom all men heed 
 
 For my manifold guile ; and my glory to the heavens aloft doth speed. 
 
 In Ithaca seen o'er the sea I dwell, and therein is a mound, 21 
 
 E'en Neritos lofty, leaf-shaking ; and there in the sea-flood around 
 
 Are lying the islands a many, and anigh to each other are these, 
 
 As Dulichium and Samos, and Zacynthus of the trees. 
 
 Now indeed she lieth lowly, yet the highest up the sea [sun they be. 
 
 Toward the dark and the dusk ; but the others, toward the east and the 
 
 Rugged and rocky she is, but fair nurse of menfolk bold ; 
 
 Nor know I anything sweeter than that land of ours to behold. 
 
 But Calypso, Godheads' Glory, me thencefrom did she hoard 
 
 In the hollow rocky places, for she longed for me for lord. 30 
 
 And yaean Circe the guileful, she hid and hoarded me 
 
 In her halls hi suchlike manner ; for her lord she would have me to be. 
 
 But the soul in my breast that lieth thereto they might not win, 
 
 For nought to a man is sweeter than his fatherland and his kin, 
 
 E'en if he hap to be dwelling 'neath a rich and noble roof, 
 
 All in an outland country from his kinsfolk far aloof. 
 
 But now of my returning will I tell the troublous tale, 
 
 And the woe that Zeus laid on me from Troy-town setting sail. 
 
 " The wind from Ilios bore me, and me unto Ismarus drew 
 
 Of the Cicones : there the city we sacked, and the men we slew, 40 
 
 And their wives we had from the city and plenteous wealth that was there, 
 
 And dealt it about, so that no man of me should lack due share. 
 
 And thereupon I bade them wet-foot away to flee, 
 
 But the stark fools in their folly they nowise heeded me. 
 
 For abundant wine were they drinking, and sheep withal good store, 
 
 And knock-kneed shambling oxen were they slaughtering on the shore. 
 
 And meanwhile went the Cicones crying to others on their way, 
 
 E'en Cicones and their neighbours, but more and better than they,
 
 BOOK IX. 149 
 
 Up-country dwellers, well wotting of the battle from the steed 
 
 Mid menfolk : yet a-warring would they wend afoot at need. 50 
 
 So at dawn were they thick as the leaves are, or the blossoms of the spring, 
 
 And the doom of Zeus bode with us, an exceeding evil thing, 
 
 That we the evil-fated might bear our woes outright. 
 
 So there they arrayed the battle, by the swift ships fought the fight ; 
 
 With the cast of the war-spear brazen together did they play. 
 
 And as long as it yet was morning, and waxed the holy day, 
 
 Although they were many and more, yet we stood and kept them out. 
 
 But when to the tide of unyoking the sun had turned him about. 
 
 Then the Cicones bore us aback and outfought the Achaean men, 
 
 And of every ship six fellows well-greaved died there and then ; 60 
 
 And therewith we fled, we others, from the tide of death and bale. 
 
 " Thenceforth with hearts sore grieving yet onward did we sail, 
 
 Yet glad from the death escaping which our fellows had foredone. 
 
 But verily in nowise did our curving ships pass on 
 
 Before for our hapless fellows o'er each aloud we cried, 
 
 Who by the Cicones vanquished on the plain of death had died. 
 
 " Now Zeus, the Cloud-Pack's Herder, 'gainst our ships a north wind sent, 
 Falling on with a marvellous whirl-blast, and with clouds he hid and blent 
 The earth and the sea together, and night fell down from the sky, 
 And the ships were driven on headlong, and to rags did the sail-cloth fly, 
 Thrice over and fourfold rended by the storm-blast's very might 7 1 
 So adown in the ship we stowed them, for we feared to perish outright, 
 And toward the land a-rowing careful we toiled our way. 
 There then two days unbroken and two long nights we lay, 
 And with labour and sorrow mingled our hearts were we eating out ; 
 But when the fair-tressed Dawning the third day brought about 
 We set up the masts, and hauling the white sails up to the breeze,
 
 150 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 By wind and rudder faring straight on, we sat at ease. 
 
 " And now had I come unscathed to my fatherland at the last, 
 
 But as I doubled Malea by the seas, and the northern blast, 80 
 
 And the stream, was I staved off thence and past Cythera to stray. 
 
 Thenceforth by baleful winds nine days were we borne away 
 
 Across the fishy sea-flood ; but the tenth day did we meet 
 
 The land of the Lotus-eaters, where a flowery food men eat 
 
 " So therewith aland we wended, and drew the water there, 
 And along by the ships swift-sailing men fell to their dinner-cheer. 
 But when of meat and of drink we had tasted as was due 
 Two men I chose from our fellows, and a spokesman I added thereto, 
 And forth on their ways I sent them that they might learn and tell 
 What manner of manfolk eating their bread on the land might dwell. 
 And they, departing, mingled with the Lotus-eaters there; 91 
 
 Who indeed against our fellows devised no evil snare : 
 But withal they gave unto them to taste of the Lotus meat, 
 And what man of themsoever of that sweet thing did eat 
 Had no will to bear back tidings or to get him back again ; 
 But to bide with the Lotus-eaters for ever was he fain, 
 And to eat the Lotus for ever, and forget his returning day. 
 So perforce these men sore weeping to the ships I dragged away. 
 In the hollow ships 'neath the benches these men all bound I laid, 
 And all our other fellows beloved I straightly bade too 
 
 To go up on the ships swift-sailing and haste without delay, 
 Lest some should eat of the Lotus and forget their returning day. 
 Then aboard straightway they wended and sat on the thwarts alow, 
 And they smote the grey sea with the oar-blades as they sat along and a-row. 
 
 r 
 
 " Then with hearts that were hurt with the evil onward we sailed again,
 
 BOOK IX. 151 
 
 Till we came to the land of the Cyclops, the overweening men, 
 
 The unrighteous : putting their trust in the Gods that ever live, 
 
 They plant no plant with their hands, nor afield the plough do they drive, 
 
 But all unsown and untilled are all things springing there. 109 
 
 There waxeth the wheat and the barley, and the vine doth her bunches bear 
 
 Wine-filled, and from Zeus-bred showers their nourishment they draw; 
 
 But with them are no Wise-men Meetings nor giving forth of the law, 
 
 But there on the most high mountains they dwell the crags about, 
 
 In the hollow dens of the rocks, and each the law gives out 
 
 To his own wives and his children, and they heed each other nought 
 
 "Know now, that there lieth an island off the land where we were brought, 
 
 And the haven of the Cyclops, betwixt near and far away ; 
 
 Woody it is, and the wild goats thereon unnumbered play, 
 
 For no beaten path of menfolk there is the beasts to scare, 
 
 Nor yet do the hunters haunt it who toilsome troubles bear 120 
 
 As they wend their ways through the thickets and toil o'er the hill-tops high: 
 
 But neither by herds is it holden, nor beneath the plough doth lie, 
 
 And every day of the year unsown it is and untilled, 
 
 And void of men ; but its pastures by the bleating goats are filled. 
 
 For no ships have the folk of the Cyclops with checks of cinnabar, 
 
 Nor yet among them ever ship-making wrights there are 
 
 The well-decked ships to fashion, their business to fulfil, 
 
 And to flit them to cities of menfolk ; as many a man hath will 
 
 To the burgs of other people in ships to cross the sea. 
 
 Yet might they fashion that island well-habited to be, 130 
 
 For the land is nothing evil, but would bear all things in tide ; 
 
 And therein are soft watery meadows adown by the grey sea's side, 
 
 And every year unfailing would the vine her increase bear ; 
 
 And plain is the place for ploughing, and a deep crop every year 
 
 Should men harvest in due season, for fat beneath is the soil.
 
 152 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And therein is a handy haven, where nought needeth the mooring toil, 
 
 Neither the casting of hawsers, nor making the ship's prow fast, 
 
 But to beach the keel and be biding till the will to depart at the last 
 
 Egg on the shipman to sailing, and the wind ariseth to blow. 
 
 Withal at the head of the haven doth a lovely water flow, 140 
 
 A well coming up from a cavern, and about it the poplars stand. 
 
 " So thitherward were we sailing, and some God led us on to the land 
 
 Amid the dark of the night-tide and nought could be seen about, 
 
 For thick was the mist round the ships,and no moon from the heavens shone 
 
 But there as then was she hidden amongst the clouds on high. [out, 
 
 So none there was of our fellows who beheld the isle anigh, 
 
 Nor saw we the long billows roll on against the land 
 
 Before our ships the well-decked were beached upon the strand. 
 
 And so when beached were our keels, then all the sails struck we, 
 
 And forth from the ships we wended adown on the shore of the sea, 150 
 
 And there we slept and slumbered and the holy Dawn abode. 
 
 " But when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Day-dawn, showed, 
 
 At the isle we wondered, and traversed about and along it there. 
 
 But the Daughters of Zeus the Shielded, the Nymphs now needs must stir 
 
 The goats that dwell in the mountains that our folk on their flesh might dine. 
 
 So the crooked bows were we taking and the goat-spears long of tyne 
 
 From the ships, and therewith our fellows by threes did we array ; 
 
 And we shot, and the God straight gave us our souls' desire of prey. 
 
 Twelve ships my leading followed, and to each did they allot 
 
 Nine goats, but for me alone it was ten for my share that I got. 160 
 
 So there daylong we feasted till adown the great sun sank, 
 
 And abundant flesh were we eating, and we sat and the sweet wine drank, 
 
 For indeed the wine, the ruddy, from our ships^acked not as yet 
 
 Since into our pitchers we poured, and good store did each one get
 
 BOOK IX. 153 
 
 When the holy burg of the Cicons we sacked a while ago. 
 
 " So we looked on the land of the Cyclops so near as we were thereto, 
 And we saw the smoke, and we hearkened men's voices, and goats and 
 But when the sun sank under and dusk did over us creep, [sheep. 
 
 There did we sleep and slumber the salt sea-beach upon. 169 
 
 " But when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Day-dawn, shone, 
 
 Then a meeting of men I 'stablished, and to all spake out my mind : 
 
 ' Lo ye, my trusty fellows ! do the others stay behind 
 
 While I with the ship that I sail in and the shipmen under me 
 
 Will go and of these make trial, what manner of men they may be ; 
 
 Whether they be folk o'erweening, wild men unright of mood, 
 
 Or of minds that turn them Godward, guest-loving folk and good.' 
 
 " So saying I went a-shipboard, and my fellows furthermore 
 
 I bade them go a-shipboard and cast off from the shore. 
 
 And straight they went up on the ship, and sat down on the thwarts a-low, 
 
 And beat the grey sea with the oar-blades as they sat along and a-row. 1 80 
 
 But when we came to that country, and hard at hand were we, 
 
 We espied on the uttermost bent a cavern anigh to the sea, 
 
 High, and with bay-trees covered, and flocks were there good store, 
 
 Both sheep and goats a-slumbering ; and a great garth furthermore 
 
 Was built all round about it, with many a deep-set stone 
 
 And many a pine long-shafted, and oaks of lofty crown. 
 
 But thereby lay a man most mighty, who all those flocks of sheep 
 
 Alone and apart was herding, and no fellowship did keep 
 
 With others, and lonely dwelling of no law his mind did deem. 
 
 Huge, marvellous was he of fashion ; nor like to a man did he seem 190 
 
 Who lives by the eating of bread, but e'en as a crag o'ergrown 
 
 With wood, that amidst of the mountains stands stark and all alone.
 
 1 5 4 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 " So I bade our other fellows, the trusty and the bold, 
 
 Down there by the ship to be biding, and watch and ward to hold, 
 
 While I with twelve men chosen, the best of those men of mine, 
 
 Set forth. And I had a goat-skin of the honey-sweet black wine, 
 
 The gift of Maron the son of Euanthes, and priest of the Lord 
 
 Apollo, who goeth about his Ismarus to ward. 
 
 For the man and his wife and his child had we cherished and held good 
 
 In our worship, because he was dwelling in the thicket and the wood 
 
 Of Phoebus Apollo ; whereby he bestowed on me gifts right great ; 201 
 
 For of well-wrought gold he gave me up to seven talents weight ; 
 
 And he gave me a bowl for mixing all silver, and furthermore 
 
 The drink of the Gods, unblended sweet wine, for me did he pour 
 
 Into twelve fulfilled pitchers ; and thereof did no one know 
 
 Of all the thralls and handmaids that about his house did go : 
 
 But his wife she knew, and one good-wife that to him was lief and dear. 
 
 But when of this honey-sweet wine he would drink, the ruddy clear, 
 
 Unto twenty measures of water would he pour one cup to be blent ; 
 
 And wondrous then was the fragrance from the mixing-bowl that went, 
 
 And as then to refrain from drinking had no one nigh been glad. 211 
 
 " So thereof a great goat-skin I bore, and meal in a wallet I had, 
 For the soul that was great within me that day was deeming aright 
 That a man should come upon me endued with monstrous might, 
 A wild man knowing no dooms and no setting forth of the law. 
 
 " So swiftly we came to the den, nor him within it we saw, 
 
 For his fat flocks was he herding in the pasture-land as then ; 
 
 So we wended us in, and noted all things about the den. 
 
 The baskets were heavy with cheeses, and thronged was every fold 
 
 With lambs and with kids, and sorted each kind r there did he hold. 220 
 
 Apart there were the firstlings, and apart the mid-born were ;
 
 BOOK IX. 155 
 
 And the younglings apart; and all vessels with whey were swimming there, 
 The pails and the bowls and all things wherein he milked withal. 
 
 " Now thereat my fellows besought me with words, that first of all 
 We should take of the cheeses and go, and then, if so it should be, 
 The lambs and the kids from the folds to drive down speedily 
 To the fleeting ship, and therewith o'er the salt sea-water to sail. 
 But thereto I did not hearken (or better had been the tale) 
 Until the man I had looked on and the guest-gift of him won. 
 Forsooth, he became to my fellows nought lovely to look upon. 230 
 
 " So we kindled a fire and we offered, and ourselves of the cheeses we ate, 
 
 And there abiding his coming within the den we sat. 
 
 Till at last he came herding his sheep, and a mighty burden withal 
 
 He bore ; dry wood for the firing, when his supper-time should befal : 
 
 So he cast it adown with a clatter withinwards there and then, 
 
 And we feared and gat us away to a cranny of the den. 
 
 Then into the rocky hollow his fatted flock he drave, 
 
 All such as were his milch-beasts, but withoutward did he have 238 
 
 The males, both the rams and the he-goats, the deep-walled garth within. 
 
 Then he lifted and set a great door-stone, a monstrous weight to win ; 
 
 Scarce might waggons two-and-twenty, each one four-wheeled and good, 
 
 Have stirred that mass so mighty from the floor whereon it stood ; 
 
 Such a stone, as high as a mountain, he set in the door of his hall. 
 
 Then he sat unto milking his ewes and his bleating goats withal, 
 
 Doing all in orderly fashion, and 'neath each her suckling he set 
 
 Then the white milk half he curdled, and the curds together did get, 
 
 And in the wicker presses he laid all that to stand : 
 
 But the half he stood in the vessels all ready to his hand, 
 
 That thereof he might be drinking when supper-time should be. 
 
 But when this work he had speeded and laboured carefully, 250
 
 156 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Then he kindled a fire and saw us, and began to ask us and say : 
 
 " ' What are ye then, O strangers ? from whence o'er the watery way ? 
 Are ye about some business, or as wantons do ye fare, 
 As the strong thieves over the waters, who wander here and there, 
 Of their own souls recking nothing, bearing bale to alien men ? ' 
 
 " So he spake, and the hearts within us were burned up there and then, 
 For we feared his voice so deep-set, and the man's most monstrous make; 
 Yet even so with speech-words I answered again and spake : 
 
 " ' Forsooth we men are Achseans : thrust thwart from Troy are we 
 O'er the mighty gulf of the sea-flood by all the winds that be, 260 
 
 As homeward we seek : but alien hath our road been and our ways ; 
 For the will of Zeus almighty such weird upon us lays. 
 We are folk of King Agamemnon, the son of Atreus' name, 
 Who of all folk under the heavens hath won the fairest fame, 
 So mighty a burg hath he wasted ; such a folk and so many as these 
 Hath he slain. But we, we are come as suppliants to thy knees, 
 If some guest-cheer thou wilt make us, or in other wise indeed 
 Thou wilt give us the gift that of guest folk is the very lawful meed. 
 But fear thou the Gods, thou most mighty, since we are bedesmen of thee, 
 And avenger of guests and of bedesmen shall Zeus the Guester be ; 270 
 And guests that are worthy pity Zeus' help encompasseth.' 
 
 " Thus I ; but from pitiless heart he answereth thus and saith : 
 
 ' A fool thou art, O Stranger, if indeed from afar ye fare, 
 
 That the Gods thou wouldst have me to worship, and of them to have a 
 
 Forsooth of Zeus the Shielded we Cyclops have no heed, [fear : 
 
 Nor yet of the Gods the Happy : for we are tke better at need. 
 
 Nor for Zeus' sake and his anger would I spare thee any whit,
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 '57 
 
 Neither thee nor these thy fellows, save my soul were fain of it. 
 
 But where left ye your ship well-fashioned, when hitherward ye would go? 
 
 By the outermost ness, or near by? Speak out that I may know.' 280 
 
 " So he spake, but his snare to catch me escaped not me that knew ; 
 
 And in turn in words that were guileful I answered thereunto : 
 
 ' Poseidon, the Shaker of Earth, brake up our ship with his hand ; 
 
 For against the crags he cast it at the limits of your land, 
 
 Whenhe brought us anigh to the nesses, and thewind from the seadraveon; 
 
 But I and these men only the bitter bale did we shun.' 
 
 "So I spake, but never an answer from his ruthless mind he made : 
 
 But forthwith rushing onward his hands on my fellows he laid, 
 
 And clutching two together he dashed them on the ground 289 
 
 Like whelps; and forth flowed the brains and red wet was the earth around. 
 
 And then he shredded them limb-meal and both for his supper dight, 
 
 And e'en as a hill-bred lion he ate them up outright, 
 
 And neither flesh nor inwards, nor marrow-bones left he. 
 
 But to Zeus our hands we lifted all weeping wofully, 
 
 For all we were helpless and witless when such foul deeds we saw. 
 
 " But now whenas the Cyclops had filled his mighty maw, 
 The flesh of men devouring and of mere milk drinking deep, 297 
 
 Then adown in the den he laid him stretched out amidst his sheep. 
 Then indeed I fell to counsel with my great heart, whether I [thigh 
 Should come forth from amidst, and drawing my whetted sword from the 
 Should thrust through his breast where the midriff the liver doth enfold, 
 Having groped with my hand : but again the mind did the hand withhold ; 
 For so should all we have perished by sharp and bitter bale., 
 Because from the lofty doorway our hands might nought avail 
 To move the mighty door-stone which he thereto had drawn,
 
 158 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 So there amid weeping and wailing we bode the Holy Dawn. 
 
 " But when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Dawn, shone clear, 
 
 Then he kindled up the fire and milked his flocks the fair, 
 
 With all things done all duly, and 'neath each her suckling laid. 309 
 
 But when he had toiled and hastened and an end of his work had made, 
 
 Then he clutched two more of our fellows and dight them for eating again. 
 
 And when his fast he had broken his fat sheep he drave from the den, 
 
 The great stone easily stirring, wherewith the door he hid 
 
 Once more, as on a quiver one shutteth down the lid. 
 
 Loud whooping then the Cyclops turned his fat flock toward the hill, 
 
 And there was I left in the rock-den in my heart devising ill, 
 
 What wise I might avenge me if Athene my glory should speed, 
 
 And unto my heart should be shown what best might be my rede. 
 
 " Now a mighty club of the Cyclops against the fold did lie, 
 
 Of olive green ; he had cut it to bear it when 'twas dry : 320 
 
 So huge, that when we saw it it seemed to us as the mast 
 
 Of a broad black ship of burden that oft hath overpassed 
 
 The mighty gulf of ocean with twenty oars at play ; 
 
 So huge about was its bigness, and so far along it lay. 
 
 So I drew anigh and of it a fathom's length did I shear, 
 
 And gave it unto my fellows that they the same might pare; [end, 
 
 And they made it smooth as I bade them, and I came and sharpened the 
 
 Which then in the bright hot fire about and about did I wend ; 
 
 And I stored it up thereafter, mid the dung I hid it then, 
 
 Whereof a great abundance was strawed about the den ; 330 
 
 And thereafter I bade the others to cast the lot to see 
 
 Which one should have heart and daring to raise that bar with me, 
 
 And into his eye to bore it when sweet sleep on him should fall. 
 
 And the lot chose those four fellows whom I should have chosen of all,
 
 BOOK IX. 159 
 
 And I for the fifth was chosen with them to do the thing. 
 
 " So came the eve, and he with it his fair flocks shepherding 
 But all the beasts now drave he into the den wide-spread, 
 Nor without in the garth the deep-walled did he leave one single head, 
 Whether somewhat he was foreboding or the God so bade him do. 
 Then withal the mighty door-stone once more to its place he drew, 340 
 And so to the milking his milch-ewes and his bleating goats he sat, 
 And all things done in order, and 'neath each her suckling he gat : 
 But when he had hastened and done whatso there was to do, 
 Once more he clutched and dighted for supper another two. 
 
 " Now therewith I spake to the Cyclops, and anigh him took my stand, 
 
 And black wine in an ivy cup as I stood I held in my hand : 
 
 ' Since ye eat man's flesh, O Cyclops, now take and drink the wine, 
 
 That ye may know what liquor was stored in that ship of mine ; 
 
 But I bring thee this drink-offering to win thy ruth thereby, 
 
 And that hence thou send me homeward, though thou rage so grievously. 
 
 O cruel ! and how shall any midst all the many men, 351 
 
 Because of thy deeds unrighteous, hereafter seek to thy den ? ' 
 
 " So I spake, and he took it and drank, and became exceeding fain 
 Of that sweet drink that I gave him, and besought me of drink again : 
 ' Come, give me the drink and be blythe, and straightway tell me thy name, 
 That a guest-gift I may give thee to gladden thine heart with the same, 
 Since verily for the Cyclops the corn-kind earth doth shed 
 The wine in plenteous bunches by the rain of Zeus full-fed : 
 But this indeed is handsel of the meat and drink divine.' 
 
 " So he spake, and again I gave him of the dark-red glowing wine, 360 
 And thrice I bore and gave it, and the fool thrice drank it out.
 
 160 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 But when the heart of the Cyclops the wine had encompassed about 
 
 Then honied words I uttered, and to speaking thus befel : 
 
 ' Cyclops, my name renowned thou askest, the which I will tell, 
 
 But the guest-gift thou wouldst give me, now give me it me I pray. 
 
 My name is Noman : Noman they called me on a day, 
 
 My father and my mother, and all my folk of old.' 
 
 " So I spake, but straight he answered from cruel heart and cold : 
 
 ' Noman shall I eat the latest of all his fellows here, 
 
 And all the others before him ; lo, a guest-gift good and dear ! ' 370 
 
 " Therewith he fell a backward, and there he lay along, 
 
 His thick neck wryed and twisted, and Sleep, the tamer strong, 
 
 Held him, and forth from his gullet gushed wine with man's flesh blent, 
 
 And with the wine all heavy a belching forth he sent. 
 
 So then mid the plenteous ashes the olive bar I laid 
 
 Until all warm it was waxen, and words to my fellows I said, 
 
 And heartened them all, lest any should fear and shrink away. 
 
 " But now when the spar of olive in the fire as there it lay 
 
 'Gan kindle for all its greenness, and brightly glowed the wood, 
 
 I fetched it up from the fire, and about my fellows stood, 380 
 
 And a stark and mighty courage the God on us did send ; 
 
 And they took up the shaft of olive, sharp-pointed at the end, 
 
 And into his eye they thrust it, while I, raised up aloft, 
 
 Kept turning, e'en as a craftsman the ship-beam boreth oft 
 
 With the wimble, and on both sides his men still ply the thong 
 
 To each side fixed and steady, and it runneth around for long ; 
 
 E'en so that shaft fire-hardened we took, and the eye of him 
 
 We bored, and about it glowing straightway the blood 'gan swim, 
 
 And his eyelid and his eyebrow were singed with the breath that came
 
 BOOK IX. 161 
 
 From the burning ball as the eye-roots all cracked in the heat of the flame : 
 
 As when the smith of an hatchet or great axe taketh hold 391 
 
 And dippeth it, hissing loudly, amidst the water cold, 
 
 For its tempering ; since thus only and thereby the steel is good 
 
 So hissed the eye of the Cyclops around the olive wood. 
 
 But his mighty yells were fearful, and the den rang horribly, 
 
 Till we shrank away in terror. Then he tore from out his eye 
 
 The shaft of sharpened olive all dabbled about with blood, 
 
 And raging, aloof he cast it with his hands from where he stood. 
 
 " Then he whooped out loud to the Cyclops, they who on either side, 
 Amid the rocky places of the windy bents abide ; 400 
 
 And they heard his cry, and flocking from about there did they stand 
 Around the den, and were asking what harm was come to hand : 
 ' Polyphemus, what thing grieves thee, that through the deathless night 
 Thou criest aloud, and hast made us but sleepless folk outright ? 
 Is some one of mortals driving thy flocks against thy will ? 
 Or thyself is some man quelling with might or crafty skill ? ' 
 
 " But the stark strong Polyphemus thus answered them again : 
 ' O friends, Neman me slayeth by guile and not by main ! ' 
 
 " Then with winged words they bespake him, and answered presently : 
 ' If alone thou art abiding and no man enforceth thee, 410 
 
 The ill that great Zeus sendeth, no wight may shun the thing. 
 But put up the prayer to thy father, Poseidon the mighty king.' 
 
 "And with that word they departed, and my dear heart laughed aloud 
 At my name that had so beguiled him and my worthy rede and proud. 
 But now the Cyclops, lamenting and moaning very sore, 
 With his hands went groping about him and took the stone from the door, 
 
 M
 
 1 62 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And set himself down in the doorway, and stretched his hands about 
 
 To take a hold on any with the sheep a-coming out ; 
 
 For his heart that hope was conceiving, such a fool he accounted me. 
 
 " But I for my part took counsel how best the thing might be, 420 
 
 And if some loosing from death for myself and my folk I might find ; 
 And guile and counsel divers therewith did I weave and wind 
 Concerning our very life-days, since so nigh at hand was the ill 
 And so at last to my deeming this seemed the best rede still : 
 Thick-fleeced were the rams of the sheep-kind, well fed and great and fair, 
 And dark was the wool and heavy that on them they did bear. 
 Hushed then I bound them togetherwith withes that for twining were good 
 That were strawed for the Cyclops' bed-place, the monstrous, unrighteous 
 
 of mood. 
 
 Threesome I knit them, in suchwise that each midmost bore a man, 
 And the two on each side going safe-hiding for him wan, 430 
 
 And each three a man were bearing : but for me I took a hold 
 Of a certain ram, the goodliest of all the flock and fold. 
 Him round the reins was I clutching ; 'neath his shaggy belly twined 
 I lay, and my hand-grip tightly in his fair fleece did I wind 
 And held on stoutly, keeping enduring heart alway. 
 
 " Thus then we abode in sorrow the holy dawn of day, 
 But when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Day-Dawn, shone, 
 Then all the rams of the cattle fared out to the field to begone, 
 While the ewes unmilked and bleating about the folds must go, [woe, 
 For their udders were swollen to bursting. But their King, all worn with 
 With his hand was ever groping the backs of all the sheep 441 
 
 A$ they stood up there before him ; but the fool no heed did keep 
 How under the breasts of the fleecy-fair sheep were bound the men. 
 But the last of the flock, the ram, came forth from the door of the den,
 
 BOOK IX. 163 
 
 With his plenteous wool encumbered, and with me and my wily thought ; 
 So to him spake the stark Polyphemus, as a hold of him he caught : 
 
 " ' Dear ram, why then I prithee of the flock art thou the last 
 
 To come forth from the den ? aforetime ne'er left behind thou wast, 
 
 But first of all to be cropping the tender flower of the grass, 
 
 Still striding big ; and foremost to the river wouldst thou pass. 450 
 
 And, first of all wert thou yearning in the eventide to hie 
 
 To the fold: but now art thou latest Is it so that thou mournest the eye 
 
 Of thy Master, which he the losel a while ago did blind 
 
 With his miserable fellows, when with wine he had vanquished my mind? 
 
 That Neman, who, I swear it, hath not yet 'scaped his bane. 
 
 Oh, if but as me thou wert minded, and a voice of speech mightest gain 
 
 To tell me where in the wide-world the man my might doth shun, 
 
 Then here and there o'er the rock-den his blood and brains should run 
 
 As against the ground I dashed him, and some solace should I have 
 
 For all the heap of evil which the nought-worth Noman gave.' 460 
 
 " So saying, away without doors the ram from his hand he sent, 
 And a little way from the rock-den and the garth thereof we went ; 
 And then first from the ram I loosed me, and my fellows presently, 
 And swiftly the flock long-striding, the fat afield drave we, 
 Oft looking around behind us, till ado\vn by the ship we were. 
 
 " Then we from the death escaping were dear to our fellows dear ; 
 
 But for those the rest that had perished lamenting had they made. 
 
 But that I would not suffer, but with frowns each man forbade 
 
 To weep, but charged them swiftly the fair-fleeced flock to hale 
 
 Aboard, for they were many, and o'er the brine to sail. 470 
 
 So straight aboard they gat them and sat on the thwarts alow, 
 
 And beat the grey sea with the oar-blades as they sat along and a-row.
 
 1 64 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 " But when we had made such offing as thence a shout might be heard 
 
 I put forth unto the Cyclops a hard heart-cutting word : 
 
 ' O Cyclops, of no weakling devouredst thou the men 
 
 With thy starkness overweening amidst thy rocky den ! 
 
 Thou cruel ! now henceforward on hard days shalt thou fall, 
 
 Since tholi wouldst be eating guestfolk within thine house and hall. 
 
 And now shall Zeus avenge us and the other Gods therefor.' 479 
 
 " So I spake ; and the heart within him was angered more and more, 
 
 And the head of a mighty rock-mound he wrenched and hurled and threw, 
 
 And a little way he cast it before the prow dark-blue, 
 
 And the deep of the sea was opened by the downfall of the stone. 
 
 Then back unto the mainland the indraught drave us on, 
 
 And the flood fell on from the deep sea and drave us nigh the land. 
 
 But therewith a pole long-handled I caught up in my hand 
 
 And thrust off, bidding my fellows, and egging them amain 
 
 To lie hard upon the oar-hefts that we might 'scape our bane, 
 
 Wagging my head upon them ; and each stretched out over the oar. 
 
 " But when twice the space of salt sea we had made from off the shore, 
 Then again would I cry on the Cyclops ; but my fellows all about, 49 1 
 With honied speech on all sides, would be letting me to shout. 
 
 " ' O rash one ! Why then wilt thou the wild man's anger stir ? 
 
 Whose bolt e'en now hurled seaward drave on our ship anear 
 
 Once more unto the mainland, till we deemed we there must die ; 
 
 For now should he hear one shouting, or a voice as we go by, 
 
 Our skulls and our stout ship's timbers he would crush together at last, 
 
 By hurling a ragged rock-stone ; so stark and far doth he cast !' 
 
 / 
 " So they spake, but the mighty soul within me nowise bent ;
 
 BOOK IX. 165 
 
 And again from my soul all-wrathful backward a voice I sent : 500 
 
 ' O Cyclops, now if any of the men that live to die 
 Shall ask thee who so foully hath blinded thee thine eye, 
 Thou shalt say that it came of Odysseus, the city-waster's deed, 
 Who dwells in the Ithacan homestead, the old Laertes' seed.' 
 
 "So I spake, but he groaned as he answered, and a word to meward cast: 
 
 ' Out, out ! How the old foretelling comes home to me at last ! 
 
 Here dwelt a certain seer, a great and a glorious one, 
 
 Who excelled in all foretelling, e'en Telemus, Eurymus' son, 
 
 And foretelling amidst of the Cyclops hereby grew old and grey. 
 
 But he told me how all these matters should come to pass on a day, 510 
 
 And how I, by the hand of Odysseus, should be reft of my sight and my 
 
 But ever was I looking to see some man draw nigh [eye. 
 
 Who was big and fair of body, and in stark strength mightily clad ; 
 
 And lo ! 'tis a man that is little, a weakling worthless and bad, 
 
 Who hath blinded me of my eyesight and overcome me by wine. 
 
 BuCcome thou hither, Odysseus, till I give thee that guest-gift of thine, 
 
 And beseech the great Earth-shaker to give thee speed o'er the sea : 
 
 For I am his child and his offspring, and my father he boasts him to be. 
 
 And he, if he so pleaseth, shall make me whole of mine eye, 
 
 And none else of the happy Gods, or of men on the earth that die.' 520 
 
 " So he spake ; but again I answered, and sent this word on the air : 
 ' O would that I as surely might strip thee waste and bare 
 Of thy life and soul, and send thee adown to Hades' Hall, 
 As not e'en the great Earth-shaker shall heal thine eye at all \' 
 
 " So I spake ; but to King Poseidon he sent the prayer and the word, 
 
 As unto the starry heavens he cast his hands abroad : 
 
 ' Hear me, Dark-haired Poseidon, thou Girdle of the Earth !
 
 1 66 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 If them callest thyself my father, and thine I am of birth, 
 
 Grant that Odysseus the Burg-bane, Laertes' son, e'en he, 
 
 The man of the Ithacan homestead, his home may never see ! 530 
 
 Or if, indeed, he be fated his kin and his friends to behold, 
 
 And to come to his house high-builded and the land of his fathers of old, 
 
 Then bare of all his fellows, late and loathly may he come, 
 
 In the ship of another people to find bale alive at home ! ' 
 
 "In suchwise spake he praying, and the Dark-haired hearkened his prayer; 
 And withal a stone far greater he raised aloft in air, 
 And whirled around and cast it, and put forth his measureless might, 
 And astern of our ship the black-bowed adown in the sea did it light ; 
 And but little it lacked, but the outmost of the helm it lighted on, 
 And the sea and the deep lay open with the downfal of the stone. 540 
 But the swell our ship bore onward and drave on toward the other land. 
 
 " So when we came to the island where the rest of the ships of our band, 
 
 The well-decked keels, were gathered, and round about the same 
 
 There sat our sorrowing fellows, abiding till we came, 
 
 Then thither our ship we wended and beached her on the sand, 
 
 And we ourselves went off her and on to the salt-sea strand. 
 
 And therewith the flock of the Cyclops from the hollow ship we drew, 
 
 And so dealt them about that no man of me might lack his due. 
 
 But there my well-greaved fellows the ram gave unto me, 
 
 As mine own from out the-sharing; and him, by the side of the sea, 550 
 
 Unto Zeus the son of Cronos, Black-cloudy, All-folks' King, 
 
 We offered, burning the buttocks : who took not the offering, 
 
 But rather was he devising how the bane of one and all, 
 
 The well-decked ships and my fellows the faithful might befal. 
 
 f 
 
 "So daylong there were we sitting till the going down of the sun,
 
 BOOK IX. 167 
 
 On the plenteous flesh-meat feasting and sweet wine for every one. 
 
 But when the sun sank under and dark night upon us crept, 
 
 Then there, on the strand of the deep sea, we laid us down and slept ; 
 
 But when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Day-dawn, shone, 
 
 Then I my fellows stirring straight bade and egged them on, 560 
 
 To get them aboard and be loosing the hawsers from the prow. 
 
 So aboard they gat them straightway and sat down on the benches alow, 
 
 And beat the grey sea with the oar-blades as they sat along and a-row. 
 
 " But the bale to our hearts was clinging as forth we sailed and on, 
 Glad from the death escaping which our fellows had undone."
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 ODYSSEUS COMETH TO JEOLUS, WHO GIVETH HIM A FAIR WIND, WHEREBY 
 HE IS BORNE CLOSE TO ITHACA, BUT BY THE FOLLY OF HIS FOLK IS 
 DRIVEN BACK THENCE TO AEOLUS AGAIN : THENCE HE COMETH TO 
 THE L.ESTRYGONS, AND BY THEM LOSETH THE MORE PART OF HIS 
 SHIPS AND MEN : SAILING THENCE THEY COME TO &MA, WHERE DWELT 
 CIRCE, WHOSE SORCERY IS TOLD OF, AND HOW ODYSSEUS DWELT WITH 
 HER A WHOLE YEAR, WHEN SHE BADE HIM GO VISIT THE LAND 
 OF THE DEAD BEFORE HE SET OUT FOR HOME AGAIN. 
 
 SO we came to the isle ^Eolian, where ^Eolus doth dwell, 
 E'en Hippotas' son, of the Deathless, the Gods, beloved well ; 
 In a floating isle he dwelleth, and all about it there 
 Is a brazen wall unbroken, and the cliff goeth up to it sheer. 
 But twelve children born of his body abide in his house and hall, 
 And six thereof are daughters and six lusty sons and tall ; 
 And unto his sons in wedlock his daughters did he give ; 
 And beside their father beloved and their mother dear they live 
 In endless feast : and by them ten thousand dainties lie. 
 And up from the house sweet-steaming daylong goes forth the cry ic 
 All round the garth ; but a-night-tide amid the carpets deep 
 And on the well-joined bedsteads by their shamefast wives they sleep. 
 
 " So unto their burg we hied us and their high-house builded well, 
 And me month-long there-he cherished, and all tales would have me tell 
 Of the Argive ships and of Ilios, and the Achaeans' journey home.
 
 BOOK X. 169 
 
 And in order due I told him whatwise the thing had come. 
 
 And when for the road I asked him, and speeding of him prayed, 
 
 In nowise he gainsaid me, but good speed for me arrayed : 
 
 For he gave me a wallet new flayed from a bull, a nine-year-old, 
 
 And all ways of the blustering winds therein did he bind and hold, 20 
 
 For the Son of Cronos had made him the master of the wind, 
 
 To lull the blasts or to raise them according to his mind. 
 
 So adown in the great ship's hollow with a thong had he bound it about, 
 
 All silver-bright, that no littlest of the blast might breathe thereout ; 
 
 And therewith the breeze of the South-west he sent along to blow, 
 
 To waft on us and our ship-host. Yet nowise wrought it so ; 
 
 For by our own stark folly were all we folk undone. 
 
 " Nine days and nights thereafter thenceforward sailed we on, 
 
 And with the tenth day's dawning showed the acres of our land, 
 
 Till we saw men lighting the beacons, so nigh we were at hand. 30 
 
 But on me, outworn and wearied, sweet sleep and slumber came 
 
 As I held the sheet ; for never to my folk gave I the same, 
 
 That we the swiftlier speeding our fatherland might make. 
 
 Then my fellows took up the word, and each to other spake, 
 
 For they deemed that home I was bringing great store of silver and gold 
 
 By the great-heart yEolus given, son of Hippotas of old ; 
 
 And thus would one be saying as he looked on his fellow anear : 
 
 " ' Gods ! how is this man honoured, and by all men holden dear, 
 
 To whoseso land and city he cometh on a day ! 
 
 And withal from Troy-towns' treasure great wealth he bore away : 40 
 
 While we who with him have wandered and worn the self-same road, 
 
 Here come we empty-handed back to our old abode : 
 
 And again for his love and his honour hath yEolus given him this. 
 
 But come now, let us hasten and see what treasure it is,
 
 170 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 What wealth of gold and silver within the bag doth lie.' 
 
 " So the evil rede of my fellows there won the victory ; 
 
 For they opened the bag, and from out it forth every wind did sweep, 
 
 And the whirl-blast caught us and drave us lamenting o'er the deep, 
 
 Away from the land of our fathers. Then I awoke withal, 
 
 And within my heart the blameless twifold the thought did fall,. 50 
 
 Whether casting myself from a-shipboard I should die there down in the 
 
 Or abide the thing in silence, and yet mid the living to be. [sea, 
 
 So I bore and abode, and hidden adown in the ship I lay. 
 
 But the ships by an evil whirl-blast of the wind were borne away, 
 
 And back to the isle ^Eolian ; and our folk bewailed them sore. 
 
 " There then upon earth we gat us, and drew water on the shore, 
 
 And the shipmen gat to their victuals by the ships' side fair and fleet ; 
 
 But thereafter when they had tasted of the drink and of the meat 
 
 Then I chose me out a herald, and one with him to go 
 
 To ^Eolus' house the glorious ; and when we came thereto, 60 
 
 Still feasting by his helpmate and his children him we found. 
 
 So we went to the house and sat us 'twixt the doorposts on the ground, 
 
 And their souls were filled with wonder, and they asked how it might be. 
 
 " How comest thou here, Odysseus? What ill-God grieveth thee? 
 Since in heedful wise we sped thee, that thou at last might'st gain 
 Thy fatherland and thine homestead, if therefor thine heart were fain.' 
 
 " So they spake, and thereto I answered, though needs my heart must wail : 
 ' 'Tis the scathe of evil fellows, and idle slumber's bale. 
 But now, O friends, do ye heal it, as ye have might to do.' 
 
 r 
 
 "So I spake, and with words soft-spoken besought them thereunto; 70
 
 BOOK X. 171 
 
 But the others sat in silence, while a word did their father give : 
 ' Begone in haste from the island, thou wretch amongst all that live 1 
 For unrighteous it were to cherish or speed upon his way 
 Such a man as thou, so hated by the Gods of the happy day. 
 Begone ! since unto the Deathless thou art so loathed a thing.' 
 
 " And with that word he sent me from the house sore sorrowing. 
 So there we sailed right onward with hearts oppressed with woe, 
 And outworn were the souls of the shipmen with the toilsome need to row, 
 For all our vain endeavour ; since no speeding wind there came. 
 
 "Six days our way we wended, by day and night the same, 80 
 
 But we made the burg on the seventh of Lamos builded high, 
 
 Wide compassed, Laestrygonian ; where herd to herd doth cry 
 
 As he wendeth afield, and his fellow thence coming him doth hear. 
 
 And foisooth a twofold hire might the sleepless win him there, 
 
 And one spell the neat be herding, and one the sheep-kind white ; 
 
 For there anigh to each other are the ways of day and of night 
 
 " So we came unto the haven, a fair and glorious one, 
 
 Where a rock-wall high, unbroken, all round about is done ; 
 
 And sheer out-thrusting nesses each other hold in face 
 
 At the mouth thereof, and narrow is the entry of the place. 90 
 
 " Therein laid all the others their ships, the curved and fair, 
 And in the hollow haven close-set they moored them there. 
 For thereinto no billow from the outer sea might fall, 
 Nay neither great nor little ; white calm was over all 
 But I alone of all men my black ship held without, 
 To a rock of the outer crag-wall my hawser binding about 
 Then up to a peak I gat me, a craggy place and high,
 
 1 72 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And no tillage of neat or of manfolk from thence could I espy : 
 Nay, nought but smoke proceeding from under the earth could I see. 
 So I chose out two of our fellows, and a third their herald to be, 100 
 And sent them as our forerunners, that they might ask and heed 
 What men these were of menfolk on the earth's face eating bread. 
 
 " So they went and fared on a highway whereby the wains come down 
 
 That fetch from the lofty mountains the timber toward the town ; 
 
 And they came upon a damsel drawing water nigh the gate, 
 
 Of Antiphates the Laestrygon the daughter fair and great. 
 
 For unto the well Artacia fair-flowing had she come down, 
 
 Whence folk were wont to be drawing the water for the town ; 
 
 So drawing nigh unto her they asked her of the thing 
 
 What man was lord among them, and who o'er the folk was king. no 
 
 So her father's dwelling she showed them, the house high-roofed and fair. 
 
 And they came to that glorious dwelling and found a woman there, 
 
 Huge, high as the tops of the mountains ; and they loathed her utterly. 
 
 Then straight she called from the market her lord and brought him anigh, 
 
 Antiphates the mighty, who devised them woeful bane ; 
 
 For he snatched up one and arrayed him as meat for his dinner's gain. 
 
 But his fellows fled from before him, and gat to the ships and the sea. 
 
 Then the king sent his cry through the city, and they heard him presently, 
 
 Those Lsestrygons the mighty, and flockmeal came they then 
 
 From all around, unnumbered, more giant-like than men ; 1 20 
 
 And stones each one a man-load from the rocks they cast on those. 
 
 And the clamour and cry of evil from around the ship-host rose, 
 
 And the sound of men a-dying with the crashing ships was blent, 
 
 As with men like fishes spitted to their loathly feast they went 
 
 " But while within the haven and the deep plaice these did die, 
 
 I pulled forth the sharpened edges, and drew the sword from my thigh,
 
 BOOK X. 173 
 
 And therewith I sheared the hawser of my ship of the prow dark-blue, 
 
 And bade my fellows hasten, and egged them on to do, 
 
 And lay out over the oar-hefts that we might 'scape the bane. 
 
 So they their death-day dreading cast the salt-sea up amain, 130 
 
 And fain was I, as seaward to the deep from the rock-wall sheer 
 
 My ship fled : for the ship-host the others perished there. 
 
 " Forth then we sailed and onward, our hearts with evil worn, 
 
 Yet fain of the flight from the death-day ; of our fellows all forlorn. 
 
 But we came to the isle ^Esea, where the fair-tressed Circe dwells, 
 
 And she the awful Goddess in man-speech talks and tells. 
 
 But the very sister is she of ^Eaetes fell and wise, 
 
 For they both of the Sun were begotten that lighteth all men's eyes 
 
 From one mother, and she was Perse", the maid that Ocean gat. 
 
 " So we made the shore in our keel, and in silence came thereat, 140 
 
 And into the ship-fast haven, and some God led the way. 
 
 Then on the dry land going two days and nights we lay, 
 
 Eating our hearts with labour and the burden of our ill. 
 
 But when the fair-tressed Dawning the third day did fulfil 
 
 Then, taking my spear of battle and my sword the sharp and keen, [seen, 
 
 Straight up from the ship I wended to a place whence the land might be 
 
 If perchance I might see men's tillage or the voice of men might hear ; 
 
 So a rocky height I clambered, and I stood on the topmost there, 
 
 And saw the reek uprising from the wide-wayed earth below, 
 
 As up from the house of Circe through the thicket did it go. 150 
 
 Therewith I fell to pondering, in my heart and in my mind, 
 
 If where the dark reek I was seeing I should go to seek and find : 
 
 But as I thought it over it seemed the better to me 
 
 That first aback I should hie me to the swift ship and the sea, 
 
 To give my mates their supper and send them forth to espy.
 
 174 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 " But as my ways I wended, and the curved ship drew anigh, 
 
 Then one of the Gods had pity on me the wender apart ; 
 
 For across my path he sent me a huge high-antlered hart, 158 
 
 Who had come to drink of the river adown from his woodland mead, 
 
 For the might of the high sun's burning compelled him with its need. 
 
 Then him as he went from the water amidst the back I smote [out, 
 
 By the spine; and the spear brass-headed passed through and through and 
 
 And he cried, and his soul went from him as he fell in the dust of the ground. 
 
 And therewith did I set foot on him, and drew out the spear from the wound, 
 
 And the spear, on the earth I laid it and let it be thereby, 
 
 While I plucked me twigs and withies and twined them evenly 
 
 Into a rope well twisted throughout, a fathom long, 
 
 Wherewith I bound together the feet of the beast the strong ; 
 
 Which thus on my neck a-laying to the black ship did I flit 
 
 As I steadied myself with my spear-shaft ; for I might not shoulder it, 
 
 And with one hand hold it on me ; for it was a mighty deer. 171 
 
 So I cast him adown by the ship-side, and my fellows did I stir 
 
 With words that were soft and pleasant, by each one standing anigh : 
 
 " ' Not yet, O friends, shall we wend us for all our misery 
 Adown to the House of Hades till the fateful day befal ; 
 So while in our ship the speedy there is meat and drink for all 
 Of victual be we heedful, lest our lives with hunger wear.' 
 
 " So I said, and straight they heeded what I bespake them there, 
 And with all their heads uncovered on the shore of the untilled sea 
 On the hart they looked and wondered, for a mighty deer was he; 180 
 But when their eyes they had pleasured with looking on the beast 
 They washed their hands and arrayed them to hold a noble feast. 
 So there all day were we sitting, till the sun wei>t nigh to sink, 
 To eat of the flesh unfailing and of honied wine to drink.
 
 BOOK X. 175 
 
 But when the sun sank under and the night upon us crept, 
 Then there on the side of the salt-sea we laid us down and slept. 
 
 " But when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Dawn, shone bright, 
 
 I arrayed the meeting of menfolk, and to all I spake outright : 
 
 ' Hearken, O friends and fellows, who bear such weight of woe ! 
 
 Of the place of the Dark and the Dawning no longer now we know, 190 
 
 Nor where the Sun man-lighting beneath the earth doth sink, 
 
 Nor where he riseth upward : so let us be speedy to think, 
 
 If yet there be aught of counsel, as I believe is none. 
 
 For I climbed to a craggy hill-top and looked on the isle adown, 
 
 And saw that the limitless sea-flood begirdled it all about, 
 
 And all plain it lay : but mine eyes beheld the reek rise out 
 
 From the woodland and the thicket amidmost of it there.' 
 
 " So I spake, but now all broken were their hearts beloved and dear, 
 When of that Antiphates' doings, the Loestrygon, they thought; [wrought; 
 And the rage of the stark man-eater, and the deeds which the Cyclops 
 And plenteous tears were they weeping and loud lament they made, 201 
 Though nought availed their weeping, nor might their mourning aid. 
 
 " Then my well-greaved fellows I numbered into two companies, 
 
 And a leader I appointed to be o'er each of these ; 
 
 And I led the one, and the other godlike Eurylochus led. 
 
 Then in a brazen helmet the shuffled lots we sped, 
 
 And therefrom the lot of Eurylochus the great of heart did go. 
 
 So he went his ways, and with him were fellows twenty and two ; 
 
 And they wept as they went and left us, and sorrow sore we made. 
 
 " Now they came on the house of Circe well builded down in a glade, 2 1 o 
 And all of smooth stone fashioned in a place seen far and near :
 
 i?6 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And about it were wolves of the mountain, and lions haunted there ; 
 
 And she herself had tamed them with the help of herbs of ill : 
 
 Nor fell they upon our fellows, though they thronged about them still, 
 
 But fawning there upon them their long tails wagged withal. 
 
 And as dogs will fawn on their master when he comes from the feastful hall, 
 
 Because he is wont to bring them things that their hearts deem good, 
 
 Round these the wolves the strong-clawed, and the lions fawning stood, 
 
 And they feared when they beheld them, the creatures fierce and great. 
 
 " But there was the house of the Goddess, and there they stood in the gate, 
 And Circe heard they singing in a lovely voice within, 221 
 
 As she wove on the web undying, such works as the Godfolk win, 
 Such works as are all-glorious, and delicate and fair. 
 
 " Then the chief of men, Polites, bespake his fellows there, 
 
 A man who to me was dearest, and the heedfullest of all : 
 
 ' O friends, there is some wight weaving a great web there in the hall, 
 
 And singing so fair that the pavement is echoing all about 
 
 A goddess or a woman ? but to her let us haste to cry out.' 
 
 "So he spake, and they cried aloud, and their voices toward her cast, 
 And she, straight coming outwards, through the shining doorway passed, 
 And called them, and they followed, so witless was their mood; 231 
 But Eurylochus dreaded treason, and without the door abode. 
 So she led them in and set them on bench and lordly seat, 
 And a mess of cheese, and meal and honey pale and sweet 
 With Prammian wine she mingled ; and she blended therewithal 
 111 herbs, that the land of their fathers might clean from their memories fall. 
 But when she had given thereof, and they had drunk of the wine, 
 With a staff she smote them, and shut them wijhin the sty of the swine ; 
 And swine-shape they had, and the voice and the bristles and head of the 
 
 [boar ;
 
 BOOK X. i 77 
 
 But ever their minds abided e'en such as they were before. 240 
 
 So there were they styed up weeping, and Circe presently 
 Cast to them mast, and acorns, and nuts of the cornel tree, 
 Whereof the swine earth-wallowing are wont to make their meat. 
 
 " But aback Eurylochus hastened to the ship black-wrought and fleet, 
 
 To tell tidings of his fellows and their unseemly doom ; 
 
 But though for speech he was striving yet never a word would come, 
 
 So sore his heart was smitten ; and his eyes with tears were filled, 
 
 And nought but lamentation the soul within him willed. 
 
 But when all we in wonder were asking of his tale, 
 
 Then at last of our other fellows he told the woe and the bale. 250 
 
 ' We wended, O noble Odysseus, the way whereas ye bade, 
 
 And came on a house through the thicket fair builded in a glade, 
 
 Of polished wall-stones fashioned in a place seen far and near ; 
 
 Where a great web one was weaving and singing shrilly-clear ; 
 
 A goddess or a woman ? So aloud on her we cried, 
 
 And through the doorway gleaming straightway to us she hied, 
 
 And called us ; and they followed because of their witless mind, 
 
 But treason I foreboded, and abided there behind. 
 
 And all they vanished together ; nor ever any one 
 
 Came back again, though a long while I sat and watched alone.' 260 
 
 " So he spake ; but the great blade brazen o'er my shoulders did I throw, 
 Yea, my war-sword silver-hiked, and about me did my bow. 
 And I bade him straightly lead me by the way he went with these : 
 But he caught ahold upon me, and clung to both my knees, 
 And amidst of lamentation sent winged words to me. 
 ' Nay, drive me not unwilling, Zeus-bred ! here let me be ! 
 For I know that neither thou shalt come back, nor bring bark one 
 Of our fellows. Nay, but with these that are here let us swiftly begone 
 
 N
 
 i;8 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And flee ; if yet mayhappen we may 'scape our evil day.' 
 
 " So he spake : but thereto I answered and spake to him straightway : 270 
 ' Eurylochus, thou if thou wiliest shalt here in thy place abide, 
 And here be eating and drinking by the black ship's hollow side ; 
 But for me, now am I departing for stark need is weighing on me.' 
 
 " So I spake, and my ways I wended from the ship-side and the sea ; 
 
 But when through the holy glades I now was drawing anigh 
 
 The mighty house of Circe, who of herbs hath mastery, 
 
 Lo, the God of the Golden Wand, e'en Hermes, met me there, 
 
 As toward the house I wended, as a young man shapen fair 
 
 When first his beard is sprouting in the loveliest tide of youth ; 
 
 Then he took my hand and named me, and spake a word of sooth : 280 
 
 " ' Whither away, unlucky, dost thou wander through the wold, 
 Unwotting of the country ? while Circe's house doth hold 
 Thy fellows in their swine-shape, and in stark lairs they lie. 
 And comest thou hither to loose them ? then thereof thus say I, 
 That for thee shall be no returning but there with the rest shalt thou bide. 
 And yet from these ills shall I loose thee, and save thee on this tide. 
 Lo, here a herb full crafty ! take this when thou comest thy way 
 Unto Circe's house, and its might shall stave off thine evil day. 
 But now shall I tell thee of Circe and the baleful guile she shall win, 
 For a potion shall she mix thee, and shall cast the venom therein, 290 
 But shall not avail to bewitch thee because of the herb of might 
 Which now I give unto thee ; and all things shall I show thee aright. 
 For whenas Circe would smite thee with a staff exceeding long, 
 Then from thy thigh be drawing thy sword the sharp and strong, 
 And fall upon her fiercely as though thou wouldst have her to die, 
 Then shall she cower before thee and bid thee with her to lie ;
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 179 
 
 And then shalt thou in nowise the bed of the Goddess gainsay, 
 
 So that she may loose thy fellows, and speed thee on thy way. 
 
 But the oath of the happy Gods, the Great Oath, shalt thou bid her to take, 
 
 That nothing more of evil against thee she shall wake, 300 
 
 Lest she make thee naked of might, a foul and unmanned thing.' 
 
 " So spake the Bane of Argus, and forth the herb did he bring, 
 
 Having dug it up out of the earth ; and he showed me its make and its 
 
 And black was the root thereof, but the blossom milky white ; [might ; 
 
 And Moly the Godfolk call it : hard is it for men that die 
 
 To dig it out, but all things can the Gods do easily. 
 
 And therewith from that woody island went Hermes on his road 
 
 Unto the long Olympus, but I went to Circe's abode ; 
 
 And many things o'ershadowed my heart as I wended there. 309 
 
 " So I stayed me in the doorway of the Maid of the well-tressed hair, 
 And I stood and cried out loudly, and the Goddess heard, and straight 
 She gat her out and toward me, and came through the gleaming gate, 
 And called me, and I followed with the grief my heart did bear. 
 
 " So she brought me in and set me in a silver-studded chair, 
 
 In fashion fair adorned, and a footstool under my feet ; 
 
 Then a drink in a golden beaker for me did she mingle and mete, 
 
 And into the cup cast venom, devising evil sore. 
 
 Yet when I had taken and drunken, it bewitched me none the more ; 
 
 So then with her staff she smote me, and spake unto me and said, 
 
 ' Thou, too, to the sty betake thee ! with thy fellows make thy bed ! ' 
 
 " So she spake ; but my sword keen-whetted I drew forth from my thigh, 
 
 And fell therewith on Circe, as though I would have her to die ; 
 
 And she shrieked and ran under my hands and caught me about my knees,
 
 i8o THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER 
 
 And therewith on me fawning, spake such winged words as these : 
 
 " ' What man art thou ? of what kindred, of what city comest thou ? 
 For I marvel that drinking this venom thou art nought enchanted now ; 
 Since never hath any other borne my venom ere to-day, [way. 
 
 When once he hath drunk, and the drink by the tooth-hedge hath taken its 
 Then proof against all witchcraft is the heart that thy bpsom doth hold. 
 Yea, art thou that shifty Odysseus, whom the Lord of the Staff of Gold, 
 The Argus-bane, would tell of? the man who should come, said he, 331 
 From Troy town wending homeward in his swift black ship o'er the sea ? 
 But set thou thy sword in the scabbard ! and then how well if we went, 
 We twain, in one bed together ! and thereafter we being blent 
 In love and friendly pleasure shall trust each other well.' 
 
 " She spake, and thereto I answered and said such words to tell : 
 
 ' O Circe, how wilt thou bid me to be kind and courteous 
 
 When thou hast turned my fellows into swine within thine house ? 
 
 And for me, thou hast holden me here, and in thy craftihead 
 
 Thou biddest me to thy chamber and to go up into thy bed, 340 
 
 That thou may'st strip me of manhood and make me vile and base. 
 
 Nay, never with my goodwill shall I go to thy bed and thy place, 
 
 Unless thou hast heart, O Goddess, by the Oath of all avail 
 
 To swear that from henceforward thou devisest me no bale.' 
 
 " So I spake, and straight she swore it e'en as I bade her do ; 
 
 And so when that was accomplished, and the oath made steadfast and true, 
 
 Then up to the bed of Circe, the lovely bed, I went. 
 
 " But meanwhile in the halls the handmaids on service were intent, 
 E'en the four who are ever serving about that house and home ; 
 And their race is of the well-springs, of the grassy groves they come,
 
 BOOK X. 181 
 
 And of the holy rivers that toward the sea flow down. 35 1 
 
 And now one of these was casting fair cloths on chair and throne, 
 
 And above she laid the purple, and beneath the linen fair ; 
 
 And one the silver table drew forth before the chair, 
 
 And thereon fell to setting the baskets golden-wrought ; 
 
 And the third in a bowl of silver blent wine that lulleth thought, 
 
 Sweet wine, and around was dealing the golden cups and fair : 
 
 But the fourth bore in the water and kindled much fire there, 
 
 Beneath a mighty caldron, till warm the water was. 
 
 And when it came to the boiling within the gleaming brass, 360 
 
 In the bath she put me and bathed me, and from the caldron led 
 
 Warm water softly tempered o'er my shoulders and my head, 
 
 And the weariness took from my body that the soul within me wore. 
 
 And so when she had washed me, and with oil had sleeked me o'er, 
 
 She set a kirtle upon me, and a cloak full fine and fair, 
 
 And led me in and set me in the silver-studded chair, 
 
 Well wrought with all adornment, and a stool beneath my feet ; 
 
 And hand-water brought the damsel in a golden ewer meet, 
 
 And into a silver basin over my hands she poured, 
 
 And there beside moreover arrayed the polished board. 370 
 
 And therewith a reverend woman bore in the bread for me, 
 
 And stayed me with such dainties as happened there to be. 
 
 " So there to the meat she bade me, which nought my mind deemed good, 
 For of other things had I deeming, and on evil did I brood. 
 But Circe when she beheld it, that I sat and none the more 
 Reached out my hand to the victuals, but abode in sorrow sore, 
 Came nigh and stood beside me and winged words did flit : 
 
 " ' How cometh it, Odysseus, that as one dumb ye sit 
 
 Eating thine heart, nor dealing with the meat and drink that is here ?
 
 182 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Forebodest thoti some evil ? Nay, thereof thou need'st not fear ; 380 
 For I have sworn to refrain me by the mighty Oath of dread ! ' 
 
 " In this wise she bespake me, but I answered her and said : 
 ' O Circe, where is the man that in righteous wise would think, 
 Who would have the heart to be tasting of any meat and drink 
 Ere he had loosed his fellows and beheld them with his eyes ? 
 But if unto meat and to drink thou biddest in kindly wise, 
 Loose them, that I with mine eyen may look on my fellows dear.' 
 
 So I spake, but forth from the guest-hall therewith did Circe fare, 
 
 Bearing her staff in her hand ; and she opened the swine-stye door 
 
 And drave them out, each one in the shape of a nine-years' boar ; 390 
 
 And there they stood before her, and she went amidst them there, 
 
 And with another venom each man thereof did she smear, 
 
 And down from their limbs fell the bristles that erewhile the venom had 
 
 The baleful herb they had taken at the hand of Circe the dread ; [bred, 
 
 And men again were they gotten, yet younger than afore, 
 
 And fairer folk to look on, and mightier and more. 
 
 So therewithal they knew me, and they took my hand each man, 
 
 And on them fell the wistful weeping, and the sound of their wailing ran 
 
 Through the house and the hall, and the Goddess she pitied us, e'en she. 
 
 And therewith that Godhead's Glory drew nigh and spake to me : 400 
 
 " ' O Zeus-bred son of Laertes, Odysseus of many a shift, 
 Get thee down to the side of the sea-flood, and thy ship the fair and swift, 
 And the first thing beach thy ship on the firm land high and dry, 
 And stow your wealth in the rock-dens, and there let the tackling lie, 
 Then wend thou homeward hither, and all thy folk with thee.' 
 
 f 
 
 " So she spake, and thereto I hearkened and the noble soul in me.
 
 BOOK X. 183 
 
 And I went my ways to the ship and the side of the salt-sea flood. 
 
 And there on the ship I found them, my fellows trusty and good, 
 
 Sore grieving, pouring the tear-drops most plenteous on the ground. 
 
 And as when the calves of the meadows together play and bound 4 1 o 
 
 About the herded kine as full-fed of grass withal 
 
 They come aback to the midden, and stayed no more by the stall, 
 
 The calves run round their mothers still lowing ceaselessly, 
 
 So when their eyes beheld me, weeping they thronged on me, 
 
 And even so to my deeming did the minds within them fare, 
 
 As though they were come to their country and in the city were 
 
 Of Ithaca the craggy, where they were born and bred, 
 
 And fain midst lamentation these winged words they said : 
 
 [come 
 
 " ' We are fain of thy coming, Zeus-nourished, as though we were verily 
 Unto Ithaca our country, and the ancient fathers' home. 420 
 
 But come now, tell us the story of our fellows' bale and bane.' 
 
 " So they spake ; but sweet and softly I answered them again : 
 
 ' Our ship now first of all things let us haul up high and dry, 
 
 And lay up our gear in the rock-dens and our tackling lay thereby ; 
 
 Then I bid you altogether to wend along with me, 
 
 That in Circe's holy homestead your fellows ye may see 
 
 All fain, and eating and drinking, for endless store have they.' 
 
 "So I spake, and the words of my bidding in nought did they gainsay, 
 
 Save that Eurylochus only the rest was hindering. 
 
 And thus he spake unto them and set these words on the wing : 430 
 
 1 Out, hapless ! whither wend we ? for what a bale ye yearn 
 
 That we go to the house of Circe, who all us shall change and turn 
 
 Into swine, or into wolf shapes, or lions of the wold, 
 
 Over her house the mighty enforced watch to hold.
 
 184 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 E'en such were the deeds of the Cyclops, when our folk awhile ago 
 Came amidst his garth, and with them did o'erbold Odysseus go, 
 And by that one man's folly the others perished there.' 
 
 " So he spake, and awhile I pondered in what wise I should fare, 
 
 Whether, drawing my edgy long-sword from beside my sturdy thigh, 
 
 I should smite the head from off him adown in the dust to lie, 440 
 
 Though anigh we were of kindred. But my fellows all about 
 
 With honied words withheld me, to let my wrath die out. 
 
 ' O Zeus-bred, leave we this man, if so thou wiliest it, 
 
 Beside the ship abiding and in guard thereof to sit, 
 
 But us do thou lead to Circe and her holy house and hall.' 
 
 " So they spake, and up from the sea and the ship they wended withal. 
 Nor yet was Eurylochus left by the hollow ship to abide, 
 For he dreaded my awful anger, and after us he hied. 
 
 " But meanwhile our other fellows did Circe bathe with care, 
 
 And with soft oil sleeked them over within her house the fair, 450 
 
 And thick cloaks and goodly kirtles did on them therewithal, 
 
 And we found them at the banquet within her feasting-hall. 
 
 But when these beheld each other, and thought o'er all the tale, 
 
 They mourned and wept together that the house rang with their wail, 
 
 And therewith that Godhead's Glory drew near to me and said : 
 
 " ' Odysseus, thou the wily, Laertes' son Zeus-bred, 
 
 No more awake new wailing ; for I myself, I know, 
 
 How on the sea fish-haunted ye bore a weight of woe ; 
 
 And ho x v on the land the foemen have wrought you bale and pine ; 
 
 But eat your meat I bid you, fall to upon the wipe, 460 
 
 Until within your bosoms such hardy heart shall grow
 
 BOOK X. ,y. 5 
 
 As wherewith the land of your fathers ye left a while ago, 
 E'en Ithaca the craggy. For your wanderings wide ye brood. 
 Downcast ye are and withered, nor ever of your mood 
 Gladsome ye are and merry, since ye bear this weight of woe.' 
 
 " She spake, and our noble spirits consented thereunto. 
 
 And there day on day we abided till the year fulfilled her round 
 
 On unfailing flesh we feasted ; sweet wine did there abound : 
 
 But when it now was a year, and the seasons came about, 
 
 And the long days were accomplished by the months a dying out, 470 
 
 Then my trusty fellows called me, and spake to me and said : 
 
 " ' Lord, wilt thou not bethink thee of the land where thou wast bred, 
 If of thee hath the doom been spoken that thou be saved to come 
 To thine house the steadfast-builded and the ancient fathers' home ? ' 
 
 "So my noble soul was consenting to what they would have done. 
 There all day long were we sitting till the going down of the sun, 
 Upon the flesh unfailing and the sweet wine feasting well ; 
 But when the sun sank under, and the night upon us fell, 
 Then about the shadowy halls were they bedded here and there. 
 But I went up unto Circe and the bed exceeding fair, 480 
 
 And by her knees I besought her, and my prayer the Goddess heard, 
 As speaking there before her I uttered a winged word : 
 
 " ' O Circe, now fulfil it thy word of the day bygone, 
 To speed me home ; for my soul to departing now eggeth me on, 
 And the hearts of these my fellows who about me wail and cry, 
 Wearing the soul within me when thou art not anigh.'
 
 186 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 " So I spake ; but that Godhead's Glory thus answered to my need : 
 
 { O many-wiled Odysseus, Zeus-bred Laertes' seed ! 
 
 In this my house unwilling shall ye bide for no long day, 
 
 But first another road must ye wear, and wend your way 490 
 
 Unto the house of Hades and dread Persephone, 
 
 To seek aid of the ghost of the Theban Tiresias, even he, 
 
 The blind-eyed, the foreseer, whose steadfast mind bides still ; 
 
 Unto whom, though dead he abideth, Persephone giveth will, 
 
 And alone to have understanding, while the rest as shadows flit.' 
 
 " I hearkened her speech and my heart brake down at the weight of it. 
 
 There I sat on the bed a-weeping, and all my desire was done 
 
 To live my life-days longer and look on the light of the sun ; 
 
 Till, satiate now of weeping and wallowing on the bed, 
 
 I spake a word unto Circe, and answered her and said : 500 
 
 " ' O Circe, and what helmsman for my way fare shall I get ? 
 For to Hades never shipman hath sped the black ship yet.' 
 
 " I spake ; but the Godhead's Glory thus answered thereupon : 
 
 ' Odysseus very shifty, Zeus-bred Laertes' son, 
 
 Have thou no care nor longing for one thy ship to guide, 
 
 Step the mast, and the white sails spread ye, and sit ye there beside, 
 
 And the breath of the wind of the Northward shall waft thee on thy way. 
 
 But when through the stream of Ocean thy ship hath passed on a day, 
 
 There then is Persephone's Grove in the long deserted land 
 
 Where the tall black poplars flourish and the fruitless willows stand. 510 
 
 There by deep-eddying Ocean haul up upon the bank, 
 
 And go thy ways unto Hades and his dwelling dark and dank, 
 
 Where the stream of Flaming Fire into Grief-River goes,
 
 BOOK X. 187 
 
 And the Water of the Wailing, a rill that from Hate-flood flows. 
 
 And thereby is a rock and the meeting of two roaring rivers wide ; 
 
 Draw up thereto, O hero, and e'en as I bid thee abide. 
 
 There then a pit shalt thou dig of a cubit endlong and o'er, 
 
 And thereby the due drink-offerings to all the dead shalt thou pour. 
 
 The first of mingled honey, of sweet wine the second one, 
 
 The third of very water, and the white meal sprinkled thereon. 520 
 
 Then utter thou thy praying to the mightless heads of the dead, 
 
 And vow that to Ithaca coming thou wilt slay in the halls of thy stead 
 
 A barren heifer most goodly, and heaped wealth on the fire wilt lay ; 
 
 But unto that Tiresias apart and alone wilt slay 
 
 A sheep of black unspeckled, of all thy flock most fair. 
 
 But when the great race of the Dead thou hast worshipped with thy prayer, 
 
 Then a black ram shalt thou offer, and a black ewe shalt thou slay, 
 
 To the Nether Dusk turning their heads ; and thyself turn thou away, 
 
 And about to the streams of the river. Then many a ghost shall come 
 
 Of the dead that have departed and left the earthly home. 530 
 
 There then shalt thou egg on thy fellows, and bid them to bring it to pass, 
 
 That the sheep that there are lying dead-slain by the pitiless brass 
 
 They flay and burn, and be calling with prayer on the Gods of the Dead, 
 
 On Hades the almighty and Persephone the dread ; 
 
 And thou shalt sit with thy sword sharp-whetted drawn from thy thigh, 
 
 To refrain the unmighty heads of the dead from drawing anigh 
 
 To the blood-pit, ere thou beholdest Tiresias the seer. 
 
 Soon then, O Prince of the People, shall the wizard draw anear, 
 
 And he of thy way shall tell thee, and the measure of thy road, 
 
 Whereby o'er the fishy sea-flood thou shalt reach thine own abode.' 540 
 
 " So she spake, and the gold-throned Day-dawn therewith was come at last, 
 And she did a kirtle on me and a cloak about me cast ;
 
 1 88 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And the Goddess did upon her a wide gown shining white, 
 And delicate and lovely, and about her loins she dight 
 A fair and golden girdle, and a veil upon her head. 
 
 " But I egged on all my fellows throughout the house and stead, 
 
 And by each man stood and bespoke him with honied words and meet : 
 
 * No longer now be sleeping nor sigh out slumber sweet, 
 
 But come your ways as Circe the worshipped giveth rede.' 
 
 So I spake, and their noble souls gainsayed not but gave heed. 550 
 
 " But not e'en so all scatheless my folk away did I bring ; 
 
 There was one Elpenor, the youngest ; not best in everything, 
 
 In war not over-mighty, nor of understanding strong : 
 
 Now apart from all his fellows must he needs be lying along, 
 
 Aloft on the house of Circe, wine-heavy, seeking fresh air ; 
 
 But whenas the tramp and the clatter of men stirring he did hear 
 
 He leapt up hasty and hurried, and had no thought at all 
 
 To get him adown and aback by the way of the ladders tall, [brake, 
 
 But right down from the roof he tumbled, and his neck from the backbone 
 
 And his soul to the house of Hades the downward way must take. 560 
 
 "But unto my folk now gathered a word I spake and said : 
 
 ' Ye think to be wending homeward to the land that your fathers bred ; 
 
 But to us a new wayfaring hath Circe showed, and we 
 
 Must wend to the House of Hades and dread Persephone, 
 
 To seek us aid of the Theban Tiresias the Seer.' 
 
 " So I spake, but all down-broken were their hearts the lieve and dear, 
 And they sat and moaned in their places and their very hair they tore : 
 Albeit all their mourning it helped them none /the more.
 
 BOOK X. 189 
 
 " But while we went in our sorrow to the swift ship and the sea, 
 
 And tear on tear as we wended dripped down unceasingly, 570 
 
 That while had Circe got her adown to the black ship's side, 
 
 And a ram of the sheep and a ewe all black thereby had she tied, 
 
 And lightly unseen went by us ; for what man's eyes may see 
 
 A God that is loth to be looked on, whether here or there he be ?"
 
 BOOK XL 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 ODYSSEUS FARETH BEYOND THE OCEAN-STREAM AND COMETH TO THE 
 REALM AND HOUSE OF HADES, AND THERE HATH COUNSEL OF TIRESIAS 
 THE THEBAN : THERE ALSO HE SEETH THE GHOST OF ELPENOR, BUT 
 LATE DEAD, AND THE GHOST OF HIS MOTHER, AND OF MANY MEN 
 AND WOMEN OF RENOWN. 
 
 SO when adown we were gotten to the ship's side and the shore, 
 Then into the holy salt-sea we thrust her down once more, 
 And in the black ship hoisted the sail upon the mast. 
 And the sheep we gat aboard her, and aboard we also passed 
 Sore sorrowing, pouring the tear-drops swift-following each on each. 
 But the fair-haired Circe beworshipped, the Goddess of the speech, 
 For us had thought behind us and our black-prowed ship to send 
 The following breeze sail-filling, a goodly faring-friend. 
 
 " So we, when all the tackling about the ship we had dight, 
 
 Sat still, while wind and rudder bore on the keel aright, 10 
 
 And the sails of our seafarer were filled with the wind all day : 
 
 But now the sun sank under and dusk on all roads lay, 
 
 And at last unto the utmost of deep Ocean-stream we came, 
 
 Where is the folk Cimmerian and the city of their name, 
 
 By the mist and the cloud-rack covered, and never on a day 
 
 On them doth the sun bright-shining look down with his many a ray ; 
 
 Nay, not when the starry heaven he climbeth ajoft, nor when 
 
 From the heavens again he turneth to the Earth and the lands of men,
 
 BOOK XI. 191 
 
 But over those men unhappy hangs night for ever dead. 1 9 
 
 " There then our ship did we beach, and the sheep therefrom we led, 
 
 And along the shores of Ocean ourselves the way did we hold, 
 
 Till we came to the land and the country whereof had Circe told, 
 
 Then the beasts Perimedes held and Eurylochus thereto ; 
 
 But for me the sword sharp-grinded from beside my thigh I drew, 
 
 And thereby a pit I dug me, a cubit endlong and o'er, 
 
 And drink-offerings round about it to all the dead did I pour : 
 
 The first of mingled honey, of sweet wine the second one, 
 
 And the third of very water, and white meal I sprinkled thereon ; 
 
 And many things was I praying to the heads of the mightless dead. 29 
 
 And I vowed that to Ithaca coming I would slay in the halls of my stead 
 
 A barren heifer most goodly, and heaped wealth on the fire would lay ; 
 
 But unto the seer Tiresias alone and apart would I slay 
 
 A sheep all black, of my sheep-flocks the flower and fairest head. 
 
 But when with vows and beseeching I had worshipped the folks of the dead 
 
 We took the sheep thereafter, and cut their throats o'er the pit, 
 
 And the black blood flowed thereinto : then they gathered unto it ; 
 
 All the ghosts of the dead departed from the Nether Dusk 'gan fare. 
 
 And brides there were and younglings, and burdened elders there, 
 
 And there were tender maidens still bearing newborn woe, 
 
 And many a man death-smitten by the brazen spear did go, 40 
 
 The very prey of Ares, yet clad in blood-stained gear ; 
 
 And all the throng kept flitting round the pit from here and there 
 
 With strange and awful crying, till pale fear fell on me. 
 
 So therewith I bade my fellows, and urged them eagerly [^ a )% 
 
 That the sheep that lay there slaughtered by the pitiless brass they should 
 
 And make them a burnt offering, and so to the Gods to pray ; 
 
 Unto Hades the almighty and the dread Persephone. 
 
 But for me the whetted sword I drew from the thigh of me,
 
 i 9 2 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And sat to refrain the heads of the dead men lacking might 
 
 From drawing anigh to the blood-pit ere Tiresias came in sight. 50 
 
 " But the first that drew anigh me was our friend Elpenor's shade, 
 For as yet he was not buried beneath the Earth wide-wayed ; 
 We had left his body unburied, unwept, in Circe's hall, 
 Since other need and labour on our fellowship did fall. 
 So I wept when I beheld him and was sorry for his sake, 
 And I sent my voice unto him and a winged word I spake : 
 
 " ' How earnest thou, Elpenor, beneath the dusk and the dark ? 
 And swifter afoot hast thou wended than I in my coal-black bark.' 
 
 " I spake ; but he midst groaning thus answered me the word : 
 
 ' O Zeus-bred son of Laertes, Odysseus wise-heart lord, 60 
 
 God's doom and wine unstinted on me the bane hath brought. 
 
 I lay on the house of Circe, and waking had no thought 
 
 To get me aback and adown by the way of the ladders tall : 
 
 But downright from the roof I tumbled, and brake my neck withal 
 
 From the backbone, and unto Hades and his house my soul must fare. 
 
 But I pray thee, by those whom we left and are no longer here, 
 
 By thy wife, by thy father who bred thee when thou wert but a little one, 
 
 Yea, by Telemachus also, whom thou left'st in thine house alone, 
 
 Whereas I know that, going from Hades' House in a while, 
 
 Thou wilt stay thy ship the well-wrought at that ^Esean isle; 70 
 
 There then, O King, I pray thee, have me, e'en me, in mind, 
 
 Nor go home, and all unburied, unwept, leave me behind, 
 
 Lest the anger of the Godfolk for thee I come to breed. 
 
 But I pray thee there to burn me in all my battle-weed, 
 
 And on the sea-side hoary to pile the howe for me, 
 
 A token of me the hapless to those who yet shall be.
 
 BOOK XL 193 
 
 All this for me accomplish, and set up mine oar on the howe, 
 Wherewith when I lived with my fellows I once was wont to row.' 
 
 " So he said, and thereto I answered and unto him I spake : 
 
 ' Yea, all these things, O luckless, will I compass for thy sake.' So 
 
 " But yet while there we were sitting and holding woeful speech, 
 Still all the while o'er the blood-pit my sword-point must I reach, 
 While the image of my fellow spake on from the other side. 
 
 " Then came the soul of my mother that awhile agone had died, 
 
 Anticleia, erst the daughter of Autolycus high of heart, 
 
 Whom I left behind yet living when to Troy I did depart. 
 
 And now I beheld her weeping in the pity of my mood, 
 
 And yet must I refrain her from drawing near the blood, 
 
 For all my thronging sorrow, till Tiresias I should see. 
 
 But at last came the soul of the Theban Tiresias, and he 90 
 
 Held the golden staff; and he knew me, and thus his speech did speed : 
 
 " ' O Zeus-bred son of Laertes, Odysseus of many a rede, 
 Why comest thou, unlucky, from the light of the very sun, 
 To look on the joyless country and the dead men all undone? 
 Now draw away from the blood-pit and hold off thy whetted sword 
 That I of the blood having drunken may tell thee a soothfast word.' 
 
 " So he spake, and the silver-adorned sharp sword I drew aback 
 And thrust it into the scabbard, and he drank of the blood-pit black ; 
 And when he had drunken, forthright to me spake the blameless seer : 
 
 11 famed Odysseus, thou askest of thine home-fare sweet and dear ; 100 
 Yet the Gods shall make it troublous : for I deem that it shall not be
 
 I 9 4 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 That thou may'st shun Earth-shaker, who hath stored up wrath for thee, 
 
 Because his son beloved thou didst blind a while ago. 
 
 Yet home shalt thou come in the ending, though worn with the weight of 
 
 If thou wilt refrain the desire of thee and thy company [thy woe, 
 
 When down in thy ship well-fashioned at last thou drawest anigh 
 
 Unto the Three-horned Island, as ye flit o'er the darkling deep, 
 
 And find the neat a-feeding and flocks of the fatted sheep 
 
 Of the Sun that beholdeth all things, and every deed doth hear. 
 
 If then of your home ye are mindful and leave them scatheless there, 
 
 Then, then despite of troubles, your Ithaca yet shall ye gain ; 1 1 1 
 
 But and if in aught ye scathe them, I foretell the utter bane 
 
 Of thy ship and all thy fellows, and if thou the death dost shun, 
 
 Late and evil shall be thy homefare, thy fellowship all gone, 
 
 On the keel of an outland people ; and in thine house nought good 
 
 Shalt thou find, but men o'erweening eating up thy livelihood, 
 
 Wooing thy wife the godlike and proffering the gifts of the bride, [pride. 
 
 Well, there shalt thou come and shalt wreak thee of their mastery and their 
 
 And when the bane of the Wooers in thine halls thou hast brought to pass, 
 
 Whether by wiles, or in face of the day with the whetted brass, 120 
 
 Then go thy ways, and bearing thy shapen oar with thee 
 
 Fare forth till thou com'st to a folk that wot not of the sea, 
 
 And blend no salt with their victuals, nor thereof ever seek ; 
 
 And nothing are they knowing of the ships of the crimson cheek, 
 
 Or of the oars well-fashioned, the very wings of the ship. 
 
 And hereof a manifest token, which thy heed shall never slip : 
 
 When on thy way thou meetest another wayfaring man, 
 
 Who saith that thy noble shoulder is bearing a winnowing fan, 
 
 There then the oar that thou bearest set steadfast in the earth, 
 
 And to King Poseidon hallow fair gifts and great of worth, 130 
 
 A ram and a bull to wit, and a boar the mate'of the sow ; 
 
 Then home do thou wend, and the gifts an hundredfold do thou
 
 BOOK XI. 195 
 
 Unto the Gods undying of the widespread heavenly home, 
 
 And all in the utmost order. Then thy death from the sea shall come 
 
 Exceeding mild and gentle, and thereby shalt thou fade out 
 
 By eld smooth-creeping wasted ; and the people round about 
 
 Shall be grown all blithe and happy : lo, a soothfast word have I said.' 
 
 " So he spake ; but I spake unto him, and this answer thereto made : 
 
 ' Tiresias, this is the doom that the very Gods have spun : 
 
 But tell me now of a matter, speak clearly thereupon ; 140 
 
 I behold the soul of my mother, this one departed and dead, 
 
 Who in silence sits by the blood-pit, and dares not for her dread 
 
 To look on the face of her son, or a word to him to say : 
 
 O King, how then may she know me for the man I am today?' 
 
 "So I spake, but in turn he bespake me and this answer did he speed: 
 
 ' Yea, lightly the word will I tell thee, and teach thy mind a rede : 
 
 Whichever of these departed thou shalt suffer to draw anigh 
 
 And taste of the blood, shall tell thee all things in verity ; 
 
 But back again must he get him to whom thou grudgest the thing.' 
 
 "And therewithal the spirit of Tiresias the King 150 
 
 Went into the House of Hades, having told foretelling true. 
 
 But there I abided steadfast till anigh my mother drew 
 
 And drank the black blood of the blood-pit ; then she knew my face, 
 
 And amidst of lamentation these winged words 'gan say : [straightway, 
 
 " ' O child, how earnest thou living to the shadowy land of night ? 
 For 'tis hard for living people of such things to have a sight ; 
 For amidst are mighty rivers and fearful floods are there, 
 And first the stream of Ocean, o'er which afoot none fare, 
 None save in a ship well-fashioned to flit him o'er the tide.
 
 196 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And dost thou hie thee hither from Troy-town wandering wide, 160 
 A long while, with thy ships and thy fellows? Or in Ithaca hast thou been? 
 And in the halls of thine homestead thy wife hast thou not seen?' 
 
 " She spake the word, and straightway this answer did I speed : 
 
 ' To the House of Hades, O mother, am I driven by my need 
 
 To seek of the ghost of the Theban Tiresias the seer; 
 
 For that Achaean country I have not drawn anear, 
 
 Nor set foot on the land that is mine ; but have wandered wide with my woe 
 
 Since first with Agamemnon the holy did I go 
 
 Unto Ilios the horseland 'gainst the men of Troy to fight. 
 
 But give me a word of one thing, and tell me the tale aright, 170 
 
 What doom of Death o'ercame thee that layeth men along ? 
 
 Was it the lingering sickness, or did Artemis shaft-strong 
 
 Fall on thee for thy slaying with her gentle bolts and kind ? 
 
 Yea, tell me too of my father, and the son I left behind. 
 
 Bides my lordship yet amongst them, or hath some man taken it o'er, 
 
 Some alien ? Are they saying that I return no more ? 
 
 And I bid thee tell me the counsel and the mind of my wife bewooed ; 
 
 Bides she still with my child, and steadfast yet guardeth all my good ? 
 
 Or her doth some Achaean, the best of the people, wed?' 179 
 
 "So I spake, and thereto my mother beworshipped answered and said: 
 
 ' ' Yea, surely she abideth, and a hardy heart doth bear 
 Within the halls of thine homestead ; but all nights doth she wear 
 In grief and in lamentation, and through all days doth pine. 
 Nay, no man holdeth thine honour, but on those fields of thine 
 In peace Telemachus dwelleth, and meted feasts doth he share, 
 Whereof it is due that a man, a dealer of dooms, should have care, 
 For thereto do all men bid him. But afield doth thy father abide
 
 BOOK XI. i 97 
 
 Nor ever wendeth him townward, nor hath he any tide 
 
 Bedstead and bedding and blankets or rugs wrought fine and sleek. 
 
 But a-winter he sleeps in the feast-hall whereto the thrall-folk seek, 1 90 
 
 Adown in the ash by the fire, and in sorry raiment is clad ; 
 
 But when the summer cometh with harvest rich and glad, 
 
 Then about his vineyard's fatness where the mother of wine doth abound, 
 
 And down on the leaves new-fallen, are his beds spread out on the ground. 
 
 And there in sorrow he lieth and eketh his heart-grief sore, 
 
 In his longings for thy homefare, and eld hath him more and more. 
 
 And in such wise I too perished, and e'en so to mine end I came. 
 
 For neither on me in the homestead fell the Shaft-glad Eager-of-aim, 
 
 Nor with her kindly arrows my body did she slay ; 
 
 Nor came the sickness upon me to drive the soul away 200 
 
 From the limbs that erst it quickened, with woeful waste and pine ; 
 
 But the longing for thee, Odysseus, and those glorious redes of thine, 
 
 And the longing for thy kindness reft the sweet life from me.' 
 
 " She spake, and my mind clung round it and longed that it might be 
 
 That I might take in my arms that soul of my mother dead ; 
 
 And thrice did I essay it, and my heart my longing sped, 
 
 And thrice from my arms as a shadow or a very dream did she flit, 
 
 And waxed the biting sorrow in my heart because of it ; 
 
 And therewith my voice I uttered and a winged word I spake : 
 
 '"Why bidest thou not, my mother, when thee I fain would take, 210 
 That with dear arms laid on each other, e'en here in Hades' Hold, 
 We twain might have fill of sorrow and lamentation cold ? 
 Doth Persephone the mighty thrust on some image here, 
 That with yet heavier mourning my life-days I may wear?' 
 
 " So spake I ; but my mother thus spake and answered again :
 
 198 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 " 'O me, my child, my darling, most hapless man of men, 
 
 Persephone, daughter of Zeus, beguileth thee nought hereby, 
 
 But this is the lot of mortals when at last they come to die ; 
 
 For no longer then the sinews hold together flesh and bone, 
 
 But they by the might of the fare bright-flaming are undone, 220 
 
 When first from the white bones wendeth the soul and the living breath, 
 
 And the soul as a dream forth flieth and flitting hovereth. 
 
 But thou, get thee back at thy swiftest to the light; but note thou well 
 
 All this, that thereof hereafter the tale to thy wife thou may'st tell.' 
 
 " But as we spake and answered came a throng of women there, 
 
 Whom Persephone the mighty had bidden forth to fare ; 
 
 E'en such as were wives and daughters of mighty men and strong, 
 
 And about the dark-red blood-pit there gathered they their throng. 
 
 So therewith I fell to thinking how of each I might have the tale ; 
 
 And this seemed to me the counsel that was of most avail, 230 
 
 To draw my edgy long-sword from beside my sturdy thigh 
 
 And refrain them from drinking the blood all in one company, 
 
 But in turn should each be drinking, and in turn should each one fall 
 
 To tell of her race and her kindred ; for so should I hear of all. 
 
 " And so first I looked on Tyro, and well-begotten was she, 
 
 For of Salmoneus the blameless she boasted her to be ; 
 
 And withal the wife of Cretheus, who was ^Eolus' own son. 
 
 Now Enipeus the holy river she had set her heart upon, 
 
 The fairest of all waters adown the Earth that flow, 
 
 And along by his streams most lovely the maid was wont to go. 240 
 
 But the Girdle of Earth, the Earth-shaker, beheld her on a day 
 
 And with her by the mouth of the river and its eddying streams he lay, 
 
 While the dark-blue wave stood around them allied over mountains high, 
 
 And hid the God and the Woman whereas the twain did lie.
 
 BOOK XI. i 99 
 
 But he loosed her maiden girdle and sleep on her did speed. 
 But when the God had fulfilled it, and done the lovesome deed, 
 Then he took her hand in his hand and spake and named her out : 
 ' Rejoice in my love, O woman ! When the year hath come about 
 Two noble sons shalt thou bear, for indeed the deathless lie 
 In no fruitless beds : so my seed shalt thou cherish heedfully. 250 
 
 Go now to thine house, and forbear thee and say no word of the thing, 
 For, behold, I am Poseidon, the Earth-shaker, the King.' 
 
 " Then under the wavy deep he dived adown once more. 
 But she conceived, and Neleus and Pelias she bore, 
 And stout servants of Zeus the mighty grew up those brothers twain. 
 And Pelias dwelt sheep-wealthy in lolchos' spreading plain, 
 But Neleus abode in Pylos that is sandy evermore. 
 But children gotten by Cretheus that Queen of women bore 
 to wit, and Pheres, and Amythaon of the car. 
 
 " Next came Asopus' daughter, Antiope from afar, 260 
 
 Who boasted her that one while in the arms of Zeus she had lain, 
 
 And Amphion thence and Zethus had born, his children twain ; 
 
 Who first built up and settled Thebes of the gates sevenfold, 
 
 And did it about with towers, since not e'en they might hold 
 
 The wide Thebes bare and towerless, though strong were they in strife. 
 
 "There too I saw Alcmene, who had been Amphitryon's wife, 
 
 Who Heracles the hardy, the lion-heart, did bear ; 
 
 For she lay in the arms of Zeus, and in love was mingled there. 
 
 And of Megara, daughter of Creon the high-soulcd, had I sight, 269 
 
 Whom the son of Amphitryon wedded, the ever unmarred of his might 
 
 "And I saw there CEdipus' mother, night Epicaste the fair,
 
 aoo THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 E'en she that with mind unwitting did a dreadful deed and drear ; 
 For she wedded her son ; and he, when his father he had slain, 
 Did wed her ; and unto manfolk all this did the Gods make plain. 
 He then his sorrows bearing in Thebes' most lovely home 
 Ruled over the Cadmeans by the dread Gods' awful doom ; 
 But she went to the House of Hades, strong warden of the gate : 
 Having fastened a dizzy neck-noose to a beam high up and great, 
 There she in her sorrow was holden : but for him she left indeed 
 All woes that a mother's wreakers to dreadful end may speed. 280 
 
 "And Chloris I saw most lovely, whom Neleus on a day 
 
 Must wed for her very beauty, and boundless gifts must pay ; 
 
 Arid she was the youngest daughter of Amphion, lasus' son, 
 
 Who o'er Minyan Orchomenos by might the lordship won ; 
 
 And she was Queen in Pylos and bore a noble race, 
 
 As Cromius and Nestor, and Periclyrnenus great of grace, 
 
 And thereto the glorious Pero, the wonder of all that live, 
 
 Whom all men around were wooing. Her Neleus would not give 
 
 Save to him who the shambling bulls broad-faced of Iphicles 
 
 Should drive from Phylace's garth; and hard to drive were these. 290 
 
 But one man pledged him to drive them, the blameless seer was he ; 
 
 But the doom of the deathless Gods it bound him bitterly, 
 
 And hard bonds bound him withal, and the wasteland neatherds bound. 
 
 But when done at last were the months of the year that runneth around, 
 
 And all the days were fulfilled and the seasons came about, 
 
 Then Iphicles the mighty loosed him to tell them out, 
 
 Those Dooms of his foretelling, and the rede of Zeus was done. 
 
 "And fair Leda there I beheld, the wife that Tyndareus won, 
 
 And to Tyndareus the strong-souled two children did she bear : 299 
 
 Polydeuces good at the fist-play and the horse-lord Castor they were.
 
 BOOK XL 201 
 
 They living, by Earth are covered, that quickeneth everything, 
 Yet 'neath the earth in all honour are they holden by Zeus the King. 
 But the day of their living shifteth and they live and die in turn, 
 But all days all honour and worship e'en like to the Gods they earn. 
 
 " Then saw I Iphimedeia, Aloe'us wife was she ; 
 
 And she said she had lain and mingled with Poseidon of the sea, 
 
 And bore two men ; but for life-days o'er short on Earth they came ; 
 
 E'en Otus the great, and godlike Ephialtes wide of fame : 
 
 But those twain were the biggest bodies that the corn-kind Earth hath bred, 
 
 And the fairest of all men, saving Orion's goodlihead ; 310 
 
 For when nine years they were waxen, nine cubits length outright 
 
 Was the measure of their bigness, and nine fathoms was their height, 
 
 And the very Gods undying they threatened at the last 
 
 That the din of headstrong battle midst Olympus they would cast ; 
 
 And Ossa on Olympus, and on Ossa Pelion's head 
 
 Leaf-shaking would they tumble, to climb up the heavenly stead. 
 
 Had they reached their manhood's measure no lesser had they done. 
 
 But the Child of Zeus, he slew them, the fair-haired Leto's Son, 
 
 Ere yet upon their faces the cheek-down blossomed fair, 
 
 Ere their cheeks were covered over with the flower-tide of hair. 320 
 
 " Phaedra I saw, and Procris, and Ariadne the May, 
 The daughter of Minos the wise, whom Theseus bore away 
 From the isle of Crete to the acres of Athens' holy land. 
 But of her he had no joyance, for she died by Artemis' hand 
 In Dia the sea-begirdled, for the tale Dionysus had nursed. 
 
 " There were Maera and Clymene there, and Eriphyle accursed, 
 Who took a price for her husband, and gat the treasured gold.
 
 ao2 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 " But of all I cannot be telling, nor by me may the names be told 
 Of the many wives of the heroes and their daughters that I saw, 
 Ere the deathless night be waning. And now anigh doth it draw 330 
 To the sleep-tide ; whether I wend me to the ship and my fellows there 
 Or here I sleep. But ye people and the Gods of my speeding shall care." 
 
 He spake, but they held their peace and kept silence one and all, 
 For the tale's enchantment held them throughout the shadowy hall 
 But to them white-armed Arete took up the word and spake : 
 
 " How deem ye, O Phseacians, of this man and of his make, 
 
 Of the bigness of his body, and his mind like-wrought within ? 
 
 My guest he is, and yet honour of him doth each man win. 
 
 Then haste not his departure, and no stinting let there be 
 
 To such a man, so needy ; for plenteous wealth have we 340 
 
 That lieth by Gods' kindness in many a house and stead." 
 
 Then Echineus the hero, the elder, spake and said, 
 
 E'en he who was born the oldest of all Phseacian men : 
 
 " O friends, our Queen the prudent that word she speeded then 
 
 Not far from the mark of our minds : so hearken ye and heed. 
 
 But hereof unto Alcinoiis belongeth the word and the deed." 
 
 But therewith to him Alcinoiis his answer thus did give : 
 
 " Yea, thus indeed shall the word go, if yet a king alive 
 
 I rule o'er the folk Phaeacian, and the men that love the oar. 
 
 Let the guest awhile be abiding, though he long for his homefare sore, 350 
 
 To tarry at least for the morrow, that the gift I may fulfill. 
 
 And verily of thy speeding shall all men heed them still ; 
 
 And I above all : for of me mid the folk is the kingship and might"
 
 BOOK XI. 203 
 
 Then therewith Odysseus the wily thus answering spake outright : 
 " O Lord and King Alcinoiis, of all the folk most dear, 
 And if thou would'st bid me to tarry for yet another year 
 While my homefare ye were speeding with gifts of price for me, 
 Thereto would I be consenting ; and more gainful would it be 
 That I came to the land of my fathers, and I with the fuller hand. 
 For before all men more awful, and better beloved should I stand, 360 
 E'en they who beheld me returning to the Ithacan isle and my stead." 
 
 So therewithal amidst them Alcinoiis spake and said : 
 
 " Odysseus, nought do we deem thee, as we behold thee there, 
 
 To be a cheat and a thief, for as many as such men fare 
 
 All wide about in the world, on the black earth pasturing, 
 
 And lie unto lie still piecing, till none may see through the thing. 
 
 But thy words are fair and fashioned, and thy mind is good and strong, 
 
 And as one well learned thou tellest, in the manner of a song, 
 
 The weary woe of the Argives, and the woeful toil of thee. 
 
 But come now, tell me of one thing, and tell it openly, 370 
 
 If thou sawest there thy fellows the godlike and the great, 
 
 Who with thee to Ilios wended, and by Troy town met their fate. 
 
 For long is unspeakable night-tide, nor yet doth the hour need 
 
 That we get us to sleep in the feast-hall ; so tell on of the wondrous deed, 
 
 For I would abide the morning, the holy, might'st thou bear 
 
 In this hall of thy woes to be telling, and the toil that thee did wear." 
 
 But now the wily Odysseus thereunto answered and said : 
 
 " O Lord and King Alcinoiis, the people's foremost head, 
 
 Time is for words abundant, and time for sleep maybe ; 
 
 But if thou art fain of hearkening I would not grudge it thee 380 
 
 To tell thee yet of tidings more grievous than this tale ; 
 
 Yea, the woe of those my fellows who fell beneath the bale,
 
 20 4 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 E'en they who escaped the Trojans and the cry of the battle strife, 
 But died in their returning through the lust of an evil wife. 
 
 " When Persephone the holy had scattered through the place, 
 All wide about on each side, those souls of the woman's race, 
 There came a soul sore grieving, Agamemnon, Atreus' son ; 
 And about him were there gathered all those that death had won 
 Within the house of ^Egistheus and met their doom in the hall. 
 
 "So when the black blood he had drunken he knew me therewithal, 390 
 
 And he fell to wailing shrilly, and plenteous tears 'gan pour, 
 
 And stretched his hand out toward me, for he longed to reach me sore; 
 
 But gone was his strength the steadfast, and his might was faded out 
 
 That once was so abounding in his limbs the lithe and stout. 
 
 Then my soul was sorry for him, and I gazed on him with tears, 
 
 And therewith I bespake him and winged a word for his ears : 
 
 " ' Most glorious son of Atreus, Agamemnon king of men, 
 
 What doom of death man-strewing hath overcome thee then ? 
 
 And was it that Poseidon in thy ships did thee undo 399 
 
 With the wind-drift stirred against thee, and the whirl-blast laden with woe? 
 
 Or was it the bale of the foemen on the firm land on a day 
 
 As their neat and the lovely flocks of their sheep thou wert driving away? 
 
 Or warredst thou for a city and the women of a stead ? ' 
 
 " So I spake, and thereon straightway he answered me and said : 
 ' O many-wiled Odysseus, Zeus-bred Laertes' son, 
 Nought by the King Poseidon in my ships was I undone, 
 By the stir of the furious winds and the woe-beladen gale ; 
 Nor did the folk of the foemen on the dry lanoVbear me bale, 
 But rather it was ^gistheus, with my evil wife to aid,
 
 BOOK XI. 205 
 
 That death and doom devised me. For me to his house he bade, 410 
 
 And there at the feast he slew me, as ye slaughter an ox in the stall, 
 
 And I died by a death most piteous ; and my fellows one and all 
 
 They slew there without pity, as the swine, the tusked white, 
 
 They slay in the house of the wealthy, the man of exceeding might, 
 
 It may be at the glorious banquet, or the wedding, or the gild. 
 
 Now the slaughter of many a man hast thou happed on, who were spilled 
 
 Where man the man withstandeth, or in battle stark and strong ; 
 
 Yet this hadst thou most lamented, the murder and the wrong. 
 
 For there about the wine-bowls and the tables full of food 
 
 We lay in the hall together, and all the floor ran blood. 420 
 
 And most piteous, close beside me I heard Cassandra's wail, 
 
 The daughter of King Priam, slain by that forge of bale, 
 
 Clytemnestra ; then from the earth my dying hands did I raise 
 
 And cast them about my sword hilt. But the shameless went on her ways, 
 
 Nor had she the heart, as I wended adown to Hades' House, 
 
 To shut mine eyes with her fingers, or the mouth for me to close. 
 
 Nought more shameless or more fearful than a woman may ye find 
 
 When she at last conceiveth such deeds within her mind. 
 
 E'en such a deed so unseemly as she imagined for me, 
 
 To murder her wedded husband ! And I deemed it was to be, 430 
 
 That with welcome of my children and my house-thralls I should win 
 
 The way unto my homestead. But she, well-learned in sin, 
 
 Hath cast shame upon all women that are upon the earth, 
 
 And all to come hereafter, yea e'en on those of worth.' 
 
 " He spake ; and thus I answered, and thus I fell to speak : 
 ' Woe's me ! how Zeus farseeing doth wondrous evil wreak 
 Upon the House of Atreus, and all for woman's will, 
 Yea from of old ! how many for Helen death did spill ! 
 And for thee, lo Clytemnestra, and the snare for the far away I '
 
 206 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 " So I spake ; but straight he answered, and suchlike words did say : 440 
 
 ' So now with thy wife I bid thee, be not too gentle now ; 
 
 Nor yet the uttermost tell her of the thing that thou dost know, 
 
 But somewhat shalt thou tell her, and somewhat hide withal ; 
 
 Yet not from thy wife, Odysseus, shall murder on thee fall. 
 
 For in exceeding prudence and heart-wisdom learned is she, 
 
 The daughter of Icarius, all-wise Penelope. 
 
 We left her not long wedded when we went away to the war, 
 
 And her child a speechless infant on her breast as yet she bore, 
 
 Who happy belike now sitteth amid men when their number is told. 
 
 And I deem that his father beloved shall come, and his face shall behold, 
 
 And he shall embrace his father as is but meet and right. 451 
 
 But me my bedfellow hindered that my eyes should be full of the sight 
 
 Of my son : for ere I beheld him my very self did she slay. 
 
 But this one thing will I tell thee, which unto thy breast do thou lay, 
 
 Thy ship do thou bring unto land by stealth and nought openly ; 
 
 For now from henceforth in women no troth or trust shall be. 
 
 But come now and tell me of this, and let thine answer be clear, 
 
 If of my son yet living on earth ye chance to hear, 
 
 In Orchomenos it may be, or in Pylos of the sand, 
 
 Or in Menelaiis' dwelling in Sparta's wide-spread land ? 460 
 
 For indeed the noble Orestes from the earth not yet hath died.' 
 
 " So he spake ; but I spake unto him and answered on my side : 
 ' Why ask ye of this, Atreides ? thereof I have no skill, 
 Whether he liveth or dieth, and windy words are ill' 
 
 " But while thus giving and taking in woeful words we stood, 
 And poured down plenteous teardrops in the sorrow of our mood, 
 Drew near the ghost of Achilles, the son of Peldis of old, 
 And therewith the soul of Patroclus, and Antilochus the bold,
 
 BOOK XI. 207 
 
 And Ajax, who of his body was the best and fairest one 
 
 Of all the Danaan menfolk, save the glorious Peleus' son. 470 
 
 Straight then the spirit knew me of the swift-foot yacus' seed, 
 
 And amidst of lamentation this winged word did he speed : 
 
 " ' O many-wiled Odysseus, Zeus-bred Laertes' son ! 
 
 rash man ! why hast thou thought on deeds more than all yet done, 
 And hast dared to come to Hades where dwell the witless dead, 
 
 The images of menfolk whom Death from Earth hath sped ? ' 
 
 " So he spake ; but him I answered and thuswise spake again : 
 ' Achilles, son of Peleus, far best of Achaean men, 
 
 1 came for Tiresias' counsel ; if he had aught to say 
 
 How to Ithaca the craggy I yet might win my way. 480 
 
 For not yet the land Achaean have I made, nor yet as now 
 
 Have set foot on my land ; but ever am ill-sped. Nay, but thou 
 
 Wert aforetime far the happiest of men, and yet shall be ; 
 
 For e'en as the Gods in thy lifedays we Argives honoured thee ; 
 
 And here in thy might abiding of the dead men art thou King. 
 
 Be not woe of thy death, Achilles, nor make sorrow for the thing.' 
 
 " So I spake : but a word he uttered, and thuswise answered he : 
 
 ' And thou, O famed Odysseus, belittle not Death to me. 
 
 Well were I on earth's acres e'en to serve beneath the hand 
 
 Of some man of little living and lacking share of land, 490 
 
 Rather than here to lord it o'er all the dead outworn. 
 
 But come now, what word hither of my fair son hast thou borne, 
 
 Whether the war he followed as a chief, or did it not ? 
 
 And tell me if some tidings of great Peleus thou hast got : 
 
 If yet mid the Myrmidon cities he holdeth honour still ; 
 
 Or if through Hellas and Pthia all men his honour spill,
 
 208 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Because in bonds eld holdeth his hands and his feet foredone ; 
 
 For no more am I his helper beneath the beams of the sun, 
 
 E'en such as I was aforetime when erst in Troy the wide 
 
 I slew the best of the people and held the Argive side ; 500 
 
 Might I come to my father's dwelling for a while, and I e'en such ! 
 
 Ah, then what a woe were my might and my hands that none dare touch 
 
 To those who lay wrong upon him and perforce his honour refrain !' 
 
 " So he spake ; but I spake unto him and thuswise answered again : 
 
 ' Forsooth of Peleus the blameless no tidings may I tell, 
 
 Whereas of Neoptolemus, thy son beloved well, 
 
 All true tidings may I tell thee, e'en as thou biddest it. 
 
 For he in my trim ship's hollow in time agone did sit, 
 
 When him from out of Scyros to the well-greaved host I brought. 
 
 Forsooth when by Troy's city of any rede we thought 510 
 
 The first was he to be speaking, nor went his word awry, 
 
 And no man there outwent him save Nestor the godlike and I. 
 
 But when in the plain of the Trojans with point and edge we played, 
 
 Then nought mid the medley of men and amidst of the throng was he stayed, 
 
 But far before all was he running and yielded to none in his might. 
 
 And he slew of men full many in the stark and fearful fight. 
 
 Nor of all thereof may I tell thee or name their number through, 
 
 All those the many people whom the Argive champion slew. 
 
 But only of Telephus' son, whom he slew with the brazen spear, 
 
 Eurypylus the hero ; and a many more there were 5 2 
 
 Of Ceteians who fell about him, and all for the gifts of a wife. 
 
 And he was the fairest I saw there, save Memnon the mighty in strife. 
 
 But when we went into the Horse that was wrought by Epeius' deed, 
 
 All we the best of the Argives, and thereof was I charged with the heed, 
 
 Both to open the strong-built ambush and to shyt the door of it ; 
 
 There the other Danaan chieftains and those who were wise of wit
 
 BOOK XI. 209 
 
 Were wiping the tears, and trembling on the limbs of each did fall ; 
 
 But him with mine eyes beholding I noted not at all 
 
 That his fair flesh waxed the paler, nor wiped he tears from his cheek, 
 
 But ever was he pressing, and the leave of me would seek 530 
 
 To be down and out of the Horse ; while he clutched his sword-hilt still 
 
 And handled his spear brass-heavy as he brooded the Troy-folks ill. 
 
 But when the steep city of Priam with war we had undone 
 
 He went up on the ship with the honour and the share that he had won 
 
 Unscathed, and never smitten with the point and edge of brass 
 
 Nor hurt amid the hand-strokes, and all that cometh to pass 
 
 Where with confused mingling the Ares' strife betides.' 
 
 " Then down the asphodel meadow stalked off with mighty strides 
 
 The spirit of the Swiftfoot, the glorious ^Eacus' seed, 
 
 In joy of the tale I told him, and the fame of his offspring's deed. 540 
 
 "Then the other ghosts of the dead men and of those that had their bane 
 
 They stood about me mourning and told their grief again ; 
 
 Save only the ghost of Ajax the son of Telamon : 
 
 For he stood aloof in anger because of the day that I won 
 
 When we twain in strife contended adown by the ships of the sea, 
 
 Concerning the arms of Achilles which his mother bade should be ; 
 
 And thereof doomed Pallas Athene and the sons of the Trojans withal. 
 
 Woe worth the day of my winning ! that such a strife should befal, 
 
 Whereby such a head as Ajax the Nether Earth should hold : 
 
 A man of body the fairest, and the best in the deeds of the bold 550 
 
 Of all the other Danaans next to Peleus' noble son. 
 
 So I spake in speech that was soothing, and uttered a word thereon : 
 
 " 'Ajax, great Telamon's son ! and wilt thou not forbear, 
 Not even in death, thine anger for the strife of the baleful gear, 
 
 p
 
 2io THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 The grief that the high Gods fashioned for us the Argive men ? 
 What a tower fell down when ye perished ! How all Achseans then 
 No otherwise mourned thy death-day than they mourned great Peleus'seed, 
 And the head of that Achilles ! and none to blame for the deed 
 Save Zeus, who the Danaan war-host held utterly in hate, 
 And thereby laid upon thee the very doom of fate. 560 
 
 But, O King, draw thou anigh me, that my voice and my word ye may hear, 
 And thy wrath and thine heart overweening somewhat ye may forbear ! ' 
 
 " So I spake ; but nought he answered, but with the other dead 
 And the ghosts of men departed to the Nether Dusk he sped. 
 But e'en so, though wroth, he had spoken, and I to him again, 
 But the heart in my breast beloved withal was ever fain 
 To look upon the others, the ghosts of the dead and gone. 
 
 " There then I looked on Minos, of Zeus the glorious son ; 
 And he held the golden king-staff and doomed the dead as he sat ; 
 And a many standing about him sought dooms of this and that, 570 
 Or they sat in the House of Hades, the House of the Gaping Gate. 
 
 "And there I beheld Orion, the man so mighty great, 
 Driving the deer together down the mead of asphodel, 
 E'en those that he erst had slaughtered on lonely waste and fell : 
 And he held the club all brazen that ne'er shall be fordone. 
 
 "And Tityus there I looked on, the glorious Earth's own son, 
 On the earth a-lying along ; and o'er nine roods he spread. 
 And each side of him did a vulture his liver shear and shred, 
 Within the caul a-groping : whom he warded not off with his hands. 
 For as she went to Pytho through fair Panopeus' lands 580
 
 BOOK XI. ,n 
 
 He dealt perforce with Leto, e'en Zeus' far-glorious wife. 
 
 "And Tantalus I looked on, gripped by a wretched life : 
 
 For in a mere was he standing that came anigh to his chin, 
 
 And there he stood and thirsted, and yet no drink might win : 
 
 For as oft as stooped the elder when he longed for the water sweet, 
 
 So oft it waned earth-swallowed ; and round about his feet, 
 
 Lo there the black earth lying, by the God made parched and dry. 
 
 Moreover, trees high-blossomed put forth their fruit on high, 
 
 As pear-trees and pomegranates, and apples shining fair, 
 
 And figs as sweet as honey, and olives rich to bear; 590 
 
 But when up reached the elder his hands thereon to lay, 
 
 Unto the clouds, the dusky, the wind straight tossed them away. 
 
 "And Sisyphus there I looked on, gripped by strong sorrows' weight : 
 
 For with both hands was he lifting a stone most monstrous great, 
 
 And with hands and feet for ever against the stone did he strain, 
 
 Up o'er the bent to shove it : but e'en at point to gain 
 
 The brow and tumble it over, its weight would turn him back, 
 
 And adown to the plain was it rolling as a thing that all pity did lack. 
 
 And he strove and strained to thrust it aback, and from every limb 
 
 Flowed down the sweat, and the dust-cloud rose up from the head of him. 
 
 "And Heracles the mighty I saw when these went by; 60 1 
 
 His image indeed : for himself mid the Gods that never die 
 
 Sits glad at the feast, and Hebe fair-ancled there doth hold, 
 
 The daughter of Zeus the mighty and Here shod with gold. 
 
 But about him was noise of the dead, as of birds fear-wildered in flight 
 
 About and about ; and he wended as the dusk of the midmost night, 
 
 With his bow all bare in his hand and the arrow laid on the string,
 
 212 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And peering around and about him, as who would loose at a thing; 
 And his breast was girded about with a belt of wonder and fear, 
 And of gold was that girdle fashioned, and strange things inwrought there, 
 As bears, and boars of the woodland, and lions gleaming-eyed, 611 
 And days of strife and battles, and murders of men that have died ; 
 And he who that marvellous girdle by his craft did fashion and lay 
 Hath never wrought such another, nor will do yet on a day. 
 
 " But straight the hero knew me when he saw me with his eyes, 
 
 And amidst of lamentation bespake me in such wise : 
 
 ' O many-wiled Odysseus, Zeus-bred Laertes' son, 
 
 Luckless ! and after such evil and such a doom dost thou run, 
 
 As underneath the sunlight in the days agone I bore ; 
 
 And I, son's son of Cronos, yet with labour laden sore? 620 
 
 For I, e'en I, the bondsman of a worser man was made, 
 
 And strife most utter grievous and toil on me he laid : 
 
 And the dog of this land he sent me to fetch : for of every broil 
 
 This one he deemed the direst and the heaviest of toil. 
 
 Yet forsooth in the end I vanquished, and brought the beast from Hell, 
 
 And Grey-eyed Athene sped me, and Hermes sped me well.' 
 
 " So he spake, and into the House of Hades went his way ; 
 
 And there awhile I abided till another thither should stray 
 
 Of the men that were the heroes and died in the days of old. 
 
 And more had I seen of the ancients, e'en those I was fain to behold, 
 
 As Theseus and Pirithoiis, the Gods' sons great of renown ; 63 1 
 
 But thousand and thousandfold now was the throng of the dead men grown, 
 
 And awful was their clamour, and pale fear fell on me, 
 
 Lest forth from the House of Hades the dread Persephone 
 
 Should send me the Head of Gorgon, that moifster of man's fear.
 
 BOOK XL 213 
 
 " So straight to the ship I hastened, and bade my fellows there 
 Themselves to get a-shipboard, and the hawsers loose to throw. 
 And up on the ship they gat them, and sat on the thwarts alow, 
 And adown the River of Ocean on the rippling stream we fared, 
 Sped first by the oars and the rowing, by a fair breeze afterward. 640
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 ODYSSEUS COMETH BACK TO JEJEA. AGAIN, AND CIRCE GIVETH HIM 
 COUNSEL CONCERNING HIS ROAD : HE PASSETH BY THE SIRENS AND 
 HEARETH THEIR SONG : HE COMETH BY SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS AND 
 LOSETH TO SCYLLA SIX OF HIS MEN. THENCE THEY COME TO THE 
 ISLAND OF THE SUN, AND DESPITE OF WARNINGS HIS FELLOWS SLAY 
 AND EAT OF THE KINE OF THE SUN. WHEREFORE IS THE SHIP 
 WRECKED IN MID-SEA, AND ALL THE SHIPMEN PERISH SAVE ODYSSEUS, 
 WHO BARELY SAVES HIMSELF FROM CHARYBDIS, WHENCE HE IS 
 CARRIED TO THE ISLE OF OGYGIA, AND CHERISHED THERE BY CALYPSO 
 AS IS AFORESAID. 
 
 UT when the stream of Ocean the ship had left, and she 
 
 Had gotten her back again to the wash of the open sea, 
 She came to the Isle ^Saean where the house of the Day-dawn lies, 
 Where danceth the Mother of Morning and the Sun maketh ready to rise. 
 There then the ship were we laying, and we beached her on the sand, 
 And we ourselves went from her down on to the salt-sea strand. 
 And there we slept and slumbered and the Holy Dawn abode. 
 
 " But when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Day-dawn, showed, 
 
 Forth then to the house of Circe my fellow-folk I sped, 
 
 To have away the body of Elpenor newly dead. 10 
 
 Then we cut the brands, and there where puts forth the outermost shore 
 
 We bury him in sorrow, and plenteous tears we pour: 
 
 But when all burnt is the body, and therewith the dead man's gear,
 
 BOOK XII. 215 
 
 We heap the howe above him, and the standing stone uprear, 
 And withal on the topmost tomb we set his shapen oar. 
 
 " So everything we accomplish ; but Circe none the more 
 
 Forgat our coming from Hades, but speedily fared out 
 
 To meet us, and her handmaids that were with her round about 
 
 Brought bread and flesh in plenty, and wine dark-gleaming and red, 
 
 And therewith the Godhead's Glory stood midst our folk and said : 20 
 
 " ' O rash men, ye who living have gone down to Hades' Hall 
 To die twice o'er, when others of men die once for all, 
 Now daylong here be abiding to eat and to drink the wine, 
 And so set sail tomorrow when the day beginneth to shine. 
 But I will tell you of all things, and set forth all your way, 
 That no ill-shaped contrivance may lead your band astray, 
 And neither by land or by water ye may suffer toil and woe.' 
 
 " So she spake, and our noble hearts within us hearkened thereto, 
 
 And all day long we sat there till the going down of the sun, 
 
 On abundant flesh-meat feasting and sweet wine for every one. 30 
 
 But when the sun sank, and the darkness and the night o'er all 'gan slip, 
 
 There then the others slumbered round the hawsers of the ship; 
 
 But she took my hand and led me aloof from my fellows dear, 
 
 And set me adown, and lay near me, and all things of me would hear : 
 
 And straight I told her all things in manner meet and due. 
 
 And then that Circe beworshipped, she spake a word thereto : 
 
 " ' So far hath all been accomplished ; but my word do thou hearken and 
 And the God shall give thee memory thereof amidst thy need : [heed, 
 Now the Sirens first ye shall come to ; and these are even they 
 Who bewitch and beguile all menfolk that chance to come their way. 40
 
 ai6 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And he that cometh unwary and heareth the Sirens' voice, 
 His wife and his little children o'er him shall never rejoice, 
 And nevermore stand by him, and his happy homefare meet; 
 But the Sirens shall enchant him with their song the shrilly-sweet 
 As there they sit in their meadow, where great heaps of bones abound 
 Of dead men, rotting to nothing 'neath the waste skin wrapping them round. 
 Sail by aloof, and the wax honey-sweet with the hand do thou knead 
 To anoint the ears of thy fellows, lest a man of them hearken and heed. 
 But thou if thou wiliest may'st hearken : in thy ship the trim and fleet 
 Let those thy fellows bind thee full straitly hands and feet, 50 
 
 Upright in the step of the mast, whereto let the bonds be tied ; 
 Thus hearing the voice of the Sirens in joy shalt thou abide. 
 But when thou prayest thy fellows, and biddest them let thee go, 
 Then yet again let them bind thee and add more bonds thereto. 
 
 " ' But now, whenso thy fellows past these things thus shall fare, 
 
 Thenceforth all close and clearly I have not to declare 
 
 Which one of the ways shall be thine : thereof seek thou a rede 
 
 From thine own mind : but of either as now will I tell thee indeed : 
 
 Shear rocks rise up on one side, and against them evermore 
 
 The waves of Amphitrite the dark-blue-eyed do roar ; 60 
 
 And these Rocks are called the Strayers by the blessed Gods above, 
 
 And no fowl may fly betwixt them, nay, not e'en the kin of the dove 
 
 That unto Zeus the Father bears the meat of the Deathless thereby: 
 
 But ever the stone smooth-polished takes one as the flock doth fly, 
 
 And the Father sendeth another once more to make the tale. 
 
 Nor did any keel 'scape ever that 'twixt those rocks did sail ; 
 
 But ever the ship's stout timbers and the bodies of the men 
 
 The waves of the sea and the wildfire smite, scattering there and then. 
 
 One ship alone hath passed them of all that havfr sailed the sea, 
 
 E'en Argo from JEetes for the heed of all to be : 70
 
 BOOK XII. 217 
 
 And e'en her had the billows tossed on the mighty rocks and shear, 
 But that Here speeded her onwards for Jason lief and dear. 
 
 " ' Now the other way two rocks are : one goeth to the heavens wide, 
 
 Sharp-peaked, and the dark-blue cloud-rack besets it every side, 
 
 And neither in the summer, nor on any harvest day, 
 
 Its head 'gainst the clear sky showeth, nor draweth the rack away ; 
 
 And no man on earth that dieth may climb it up or down, 
 
 Nay, not had he twenty hands or twenty feet of his own. 
 
 For smooth is the rock and polished as though by the hands of men. 
 
 Now there amidst that rockwall is a hollow darkling den, 80 
 
 Turned toward the west and the nightland ; and thereby shall ye steer 
 
 Your hollow ship beneath you, O Odysseus lief and dear. 
 
 Nor could one from thy ship a-shooting in the prime of the life of men 
 
 Send an arrow by a bowshot to the inmost of the den. 
 
 And therein Scylla dwelleth, and fearfully doth yelp ; 
 
 And forsooth the voice comes from her as the voice of a new-born whelp. 
 
 But an ill most monstrous is she, nor fain would any be 
 
 As he went his ways to behold her, not e'en if a God were he. 
 
 Twelve feet there are to her body, misshapen things ill-grown, 
 
 And six necks exceeding long, and a head on every one, 90 
 
 Most fearful ; and within them are threefold rows of teeth 
 
 Thick-thronging, close together, fulfilled with dusky death. 
 
 In the hollow den is she sunken right up to her midmost there, 
 
 But aloft her heads she holdeth from out of that gulf of fear. 
 
 There she fisheth, peering around the rocks in every way 
 
 For seadogs or for dolphins, or for whales as a greater prey, 
 
 Of the myriads Amphitrite loud-wailing feeds at sea. 
 
 Hej never yet might shipmen boast them unscathed to flee, 
 
 For with each head she snatcheth and beareth off with her 
 
 One man of every ship black-bowed that passeth there. 100
 
 aiS THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 "'But the other crag wilt thou note, Odysseus, lying alow 
 
 As nigh unto the other as a shaft may fly from a bow ; 
 
 And thereon a fig-tree waxeth, nor growth of leaves doth lack, 
 
 And beneath it dread Charybdis sucks the dark water back, 
 
 For thrice a-day she bloweth, and thrice she draweth it in : 
 
 Nor happen thou upon her when the back-draught she doth win, 
 
 For then not e'en Earth-shaker from thy bane could deliver thee. 
 
 But make for the rock of Scylla, and drive on hastily 
 
 Thy ship beyond it ; for better forsooth shall it befall 
 
 To bewail six men from thy ship than to weep for one and all' no 
 
 " So she spake ; but a word I uttered and thuswise answered thereto : 
 ' Now tell me this, O Goddess, and tell me straight and true ; 
 What if from the baleful Charybdis I might somehow win away 
 And might wreak me on the other, who shall take my folk as a prey?' 
 
 " So I spake ; but that Godhead's Glory she spake and answered again : 
 
 'Of the deeds of toil and battle wilt thou for ever be fain, 
 
 Thou overbold, nor yield thee to the Gods that never die ? 
 
 For this Thing never endeth, a bane for ever and aye. 
 
 Fierce, wild is she, and cruel, and not to be met in fight, 
 
 And nought may prevail against her : it is best to flee outright. 120 
 
 For if thou tarry to arm thee beside her rocky den 
 
 I fear lest she make an onrush and come against thee again, 
 
 And the clutch of her heads as aforetime on as many men shall be laid. 
 
 So drive on thy keel full swiftly, and call on Crata'is to aid, 
 
 The mother of that Scylla, who for men that evil bore, 
 
 And thenceforward shall she stay her that she fall on nevermore.' 
 
 [they^eed, 
 
 "'Thence then shalt thou come to the Isle Thfee-horned, where a many 
 The neat of the Sun and his sheep-flocks, the mighty in the mead.
 
 BOOK XII. ZK) 
 
 Seven herds of the beeves, and as many of the sheep-flocks goodly and fair, 
 
 And fifty in each, but no increase is gotten of them there, 130 
 
 Nor of them is any decrease : but their herds are Goddesses, 
 
 Phaethusa and Lampetie ; and fair-haired nymphs are these, 
 
 And Neaera the holy bore them to the Sun the Rider Aloft : 
 
 And when their mother beworshipped had borne them and nourished them 
 
 Unto the Three-horned island she sent them aloof to dwell, [soft, 
 
 To guard the flocks of their father and his shambling oxen well. 
 
 Now if these thou leavest scatheless, and heedest thine homefare at ail, 
 
 Unto Ithaca yet shall ye come whatever of trouble befal ; 
 
 But if in aught ye scathe them, I bear witness of the bane 
 
 Of thy ship and all thy shipmen, and if thou escape shalt gain, 140 
 
 Late and evil shall be thy coming with thy company all gone.' 
 
 "So she spake, and amidst her speaking came Dawn of the Golden Throne. 
 
 And therewith the Godhead's Glory up the island went her way 
 
 And I to the ship and my fellows, my word on them to lay 
 
 Themselves to go a-shipboard and the hawsers loose to throw. 
 
 And therewith they went a-shipboard and sat down on the thwarts alow, 
 
 And beat the grey sea with their oar-blades as they sat in order there, 
 
 And Circe, awful Goddess of the man-speech, sweet of hair, 
 
 Sent after our ship the black-bowed a fair and following brte/e, 
 
 Sail-filling, the best fellow of shipmen on the seas. 150 
 
 And so when all the tackling about the ship we had dight 
 
 We sat us adown, and the breex.es and the rudder bore us aright. 
 
 " But therewith I spake to my fellows from a laden heart of woe : 
 
 ' O friends, it nought beseemeth that but one or two should know 
 
 The foretelling of the Goddess, and the thing that Circe saith, 
 
 So thereof I now will tell you, that ye too may be learned in death, 
 
 And how we may shun it and flee it, the death and the doom of the strong.
 
 320 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 First then she biddeth us flee from the holy Sirens' song, 
 
 And that fair flowery meadow of theirs to leave behind : 
 
 Me only she biddeth to hearken; me therefore shall ye bind 160 
 
 In bonds both strait and hard, and I steadfast there to abide 
 
 Set upright in the mast-step, whereto shall the cords be tied : 
 
 But if I bid you to loose me, and if I command or I pray, 
 
 Then bonds yet more and straiter upon me shall ye lay.' 
 
 " Now while all things I was telling to my folk and hiding nought, 
 
 That while exceeding swiftly fared on the ship well-wrought 
 
 Toward the island of the Sirens, and the breeze drave fair and well ; 
 
 But now dropped all the breezes and a windless calm befel, 
 
 And the God did all the billows to sleep and slumber lay. 
 
 So therewith arose the shipmen, and struck the sails straightway, 170 
 
 And in the shiphold stowed them and sat down to the oars forthright, 
 
 And so with the shaven fir-wood they beat the water white. 
 
 Then piecemeal a loaf of wax I sheared with the whetted brass, 
 
 And that same with my sturdy hand I laboured, and brought it to pass 
 
 That it warmed ; for my might constrained it, and the bright beams made it 
 
 The beams of the Sun, the King, the seed of the Rider Aloft. [soft, 
 
 Then one by one I anointed the ears of all my men, 
 
 And hand and foot they bound me in mine own ship there and then, 
 
 Upright in the step of the mast, and the rope-yarn thereto tied ; 179 
 
 Then they sat and beat with their oar-blades the grey sea by our side. 
 
 " But when landward we drew so nearly as the sound of shout ye may hear, 
 As we ran on swiftly, they missed not the fleet ship drawing anear, 
 And shrilly-sweet about us the voice of song they woke : 
 
 " ' Come hither, Odysseus bepraised, thou famer of Achaean folk, 
 Stay here thy ship beside us that our song thou may'st hearken today ;
 
 BOOK XII. 221 
 
 For never hereby hath any in a black ship wended his way 
 
 Ere the honey-sweet voice he had hearkened that forth from the mouth of 
 
 And then in joy he departeth, and many a thing he knows : [us flows ; 
 
 For all the toil we wot of that erst in Troy the wide, 
 
 The Argives and the Trojans of God must needs abide; 190 
 
 Yea, all things that hereafter upon the Earth shall be.' 
 
 " Such words of their lovely voices they sped, but the heart in me 
 
 Was fain indeed of hearkening, and I bade men loose me away 
 
 With signs of nodding and frowning, but out on their oars they lay ; 
 
 And up rose Perimedes and Eurylochus thereto, 
 
 And more bonds exceeding straitly about me did they do. 
 
 But when the ship we had driven past these and now no more 
 
 I could hear the sound of the Sirens and the song that their voices bore, 
 
 Then straight my trusty fellows did the wax from their ears away, 
 
 And therewithal they loosed me from the bonds that on me lay. 200 
 
 " But when we had left the island, a little afterward 
 
 A reek I saw and great billows, and the roar of the surf I heard. 
 
 Then fell their hands from the oar-hefts as they sat aghast with fear, 
 
 And all clashed as down we drifted, and the ship hung holden there, 
 
 Since now the oars long-reaching with the hands no more they plied. 
 
 Then up and down I traversed the ship my fellows to chide, 
 
 And with soothing words bespake them by each man standing anear : 
 
 " ' O friends, no men unlearned in evil haps are here ; 
 
 No greater bale is upon us than when in the Cyclops' land, 
 
 In the hollow den he cooped us, with the very might of his hand. 210 
 
 But even thence we escaped by my valour and counsel and guile, 
 
 And of these things too shall we mind us, and tell the tale in a while. 
 
 But come now, e'en as I bid you, do all ye do aright,
 
 222 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And the heavy wash of the billows with your oar-blades do ye smite 
 As ye sit adown on the benches ; and so Zeus give us the gain 
 That we shun the sheer destruction and escape the day of bane ! 
 But this charge I give thee O helmsman, and lay it well to heart, 
 Since to rule the hollow ship with the rudder is thy part : 
 Drive thou the ship aloof through the reek and the wallowing sea, 
 And no less hug thou the rock, lest she slip away from thee, 220 
 
 And fall off yonder, and thus wise we drift upon harm and ill.' 
 
 " So I spake, and straight they hearkened and heeded my word and my will; 
 
 But nought I told them of Scylla, the all-unbearable bane, 
 
 Lest they perchance in their terror from the rowing might refrain, 
 
 And huddled all together beneath the deck should sit. 
 
 But that hard word of Circe nought I abode by it, 
 
 Whereas she straitly charged me nowise in arms to stand ; 
 
 But I did on my noble war-gear, and two long spears in my hand 
 
 I gat and I bore, and onward to the foredeck did I go, 
 
 For I deemed that from there the first would that Rock-haunter show, 230 
 
 That Scylla who was biding for my fellows' bale and bane : 
 
 But no sight of her I gathered, though mine eyes they toiled amain 
 
 To search the darkling rock -den inwards and all around. 
 
 So thuswise for our sorrow we sailed on through the sound, 
 
 Here Scylla : there Charybdis the Holy, awfully 
 
 Drew in the salt-sea-water amid the wallowing sea ; 
 
 But when aback she cast it, as a pot on a mighty fire 
 
 She would boil up, mingled together and ever from higher and higher, 
 
 On both the rocks high towering down fell the scattering foam. 
 
 But when the salt-sea-water again she swallowed home, 240 
 
 Then she showed within all mingled, and the rock roared terribly 
 
 All round about, and adown there the earth wasrplain to see 
 
 Black-sandy : then on my fellows came fear the deadly pale.
 
 ROOK XII. 223 
 
 But while we gazed upon her foreboding utter bale, 
 
 Lo out of the hollow ship did Scylla catch away 
 
 Six men of their hands the mightiest, and the best in the battle-play ; 
 
 And looking aback to my fellows along the ship the fleet 
 
 There nought of them I beheld, but above me their hands and their feet, 
 
 As they aloft were lifted ; and they called and cried withal, 
 
 And cried by my name upon me the last and woeful call. 250 
 
 As the fisher sits on the headland with a rod that reaches long, 
 
 And unto the little fishes casts food for a guile and a wrong, 
 
 And the horn of an ox of the meadow he sendeth into the sea, 
 
 And so the fish all struggling aland there lifteth he, 
 
 E'en so were they lifted gasping into that rock-abode, 
 
 And there on the threshold she ate them still crying out aloud, 
 
 And reaching their hands unto me amid the wretched strife. 
 
 And that was the sight most piteous of all the sights of my life 
 
 Midst all my labours and troubles as I searched the ways of the sea. 
 
 " But when the rock of Charybdis we had made a shift to flee, 260 
 
 And from Scylla, thence thereafter we came to the island fair, 
 
 The Isle of the God, and his kine wide-foreheaded are there, 
 
 And all the fat flocks a many of the Sun the Rider on High ; 
 
 And so as we sailed the sea-flood in our black ship drawing anigh, 
 
 The lowing of neat I hearkened from the stalls, and withal I heard 
 
 The bleatings of the sheep-flocks, and into my mind came the word 
 
 Of Tiresias the Theban, the seer blind of sight, 
 
 And of ^aean Circe, who charged me both outright 
 
 To flee away from the island of the man-delighting Sun ; 
 
 So thus I spake to my fellows from a heart with grief undone : 270 
 
 ' ' Hearken my word, O fellows, for all the ill that ye bear ! 
 That Tiresias' foretelling to you I may declare,
 
 234 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 And the word of ^sean Circe, wherewith they bade outright 
 To flee the Isle of the Sun, who beareth men delight : 
 For there, said he, of all evils should the worst to us betide : 
 So drive the black ship, I bid you, beyond the island's side.' 
 
 " So I said ; but the hearts within them were broken as I spake, 
 And with a word unhappy did Eurylochus answer make : 
 
 " ' Thou art overbold, Odysseus, and might abides in thee, 
 
 Nor are thy limbs for-wearied; all of iron must thou be, 280 
 
 Since thou wilt not suffer thy fellows, outworn with toil and sleep, 
 
 To go aland a little on this island of the deep, 
 
 Where with the sea around us fair supper we may dight ; 
 
 But ever wouldst thou have us stray on through the hasty night, 
 
 And leave the isle to wander o'er the shadow-haunted sea. 
 
 Ill too are the winds of the night-tide, and the bale of ships they be ; 
 
 How then might we escape it, our bale and our deadly doom, 
 
 If all unwares upon us a blast of the wind should come 
 
 From the South, or the West hard-blowing, which most of all the winds 
 
 Will rend the ships asunder despite the King-Gods' minds? 290 
 
 So now let us hearken the bidding of the dusky night, and abide, 
 
 And dight us here our supper adown by the swift ship's side ; 
 
 But at daybreak going a shipboard o'er the wide sea wend on our way.' 
 
 " So Eurylochus spake in suchwise, and the others said him yea , 
 But once again I, knowing the bane that the God would devise, 
 Set winged words before them, and bespake them in suchwise : 
 
 " ' Eurylochus, I am alone, and great force ye lay on me, 
 
 But do all ye swear an oath, and most mighty lot it be, 
 
 If we come on a herd of oxen, or a sheep-flock come our way,
 
 BOOK XII. 225 
 
 No man in his fateful folly one head thereof shall slay, 300 
 
 Be it of kine or of sheep-kind, but in peace eat that ye have, 
 The meat that of her goodwill the deathless Circe gave.' 
 
 " So I spake, and thereto they hearkened and sware the oath that I bade ; 
 
 But when of the oath and the swearing an end they now had made, 
 
 Then in the hollow haven the well-wrought ship did they moor 
 
 Anigh to a fair sweet water, and therewith went ashore, 
 
 And there in skilful fashion the meal of evening dight. 
 
 But when of meat and of drink they had quenched the longing outright, 
 
 Then fell they to remembrance, and their fellows they bewept, 
 
 The prey that Scylla devoured from out the ship's womb swept ; 310 
 
 And sleep fell on them weeping, and slumber on them lay. 
 
 "But in the third watch of the night, when the stars were shifting their way, 
 Then Zeus Cloud-gatherer stirred us a foul and furious wind, 
 Blent with a monstrous whirl-blast, and heaven with clouds did blind, 
 Confusing the earth and the sea-flood, and night from the sky rushed down. 
 But when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Daydawn, shone, 
 We beached the ship in a rock-den, and hauled her high therein 
 Where the nymphs were wont to be sitting, or the joy of dance would win. 
 And thereto I called an assembly wherein I spake the word : 
 
 "'Friends, since in our ship swift-fleeting is drink and victual stored, 
 Do we from these beasts refrain us lest an evil fate we bear ; 321 
 
 For these are the kine and the sheep of a God whom all men fear, 
 The Sun who beholdeth all things, and hearkeneth every deed.' 
 
 "So I spake, and their noble spirits unto my words gave heed ; 
 But unlulling blew the South wind, and month-long no breeze at all 
 Rose up o'er the sea save the South and the Easterly wind withal.
 
 226 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Yet so long as for bread they lacked not, nor lacked for the ruddy wine, 
 
 Whereas they were fain of their life-days they held their hands from the kine. 
 
 But at last, when all the victual that lay in the ship was spent, 
 
 Egged on by need they wandered, and after the prey they went, 330 
 
 And fish and fowl and all thing that came to hand was dear, 
 
 And they fished with the crooked angles; for want their bellies did wear. 
 
 " Then up the isle I hied me unto the Gods to pray, 
 
 If yet some God among them would show me the homeward way ; 
 
 So I came right up the island, and left my fellows behind, 
 
 And my hands I washed in a cranny that was sheltered from the wind 
 
 And prayed unto the God-folk that up in Olympus dwell. 
 
 And they shed sweet sleep on mine eyelids, and slumber on me fell. 
 
 " But Eurylochus in meantime stirred up the folk to ill : 
 
 ' Hearken my words, O fellows, with evil laden still ! 340 
 
 All manner of death is loathly to wretched men that die, 
 
 But to meet our fate by famine is to end most wretchedly : 
 
 So come, and these beasts of the Sun, the best thereof let us drive 
 
 And slay them unto the Deathless, who in the wide heavens live, 
 
 And so unto Ithaca coming, and our fatherland of old days, 
 
 There then to the Rider Aloft, to the Sun a fair house shall we raise 
 
 And set gifts therein a many and goodly things of price. 
 
 But and if for his straight-horned oxen his wrath should yet arise, 
 
 And he will our ships to ruin and the Gods all with him be, 
 
 Yet better to perish gasping in the swallow of the sea 350 
 
 Than here in an isle deserted of life to be drained all dry.' 
 
 " So Eurylochus spake ; and the others said yea in company, 
 
 And the best of the kine of the Sun they fell tordriving now 
 
 From hard by ; for no long distance from the ship of the dusky bow
 
 BOOK XII. 227 
 
 Were the shambling kine a-feeding, wide-foreheaded and fair. 
 So now they stand around them and unto the Gods make prayer, 
 And from off a high-branched oak-tree the tender limbs they strip, 
 For nought of barley was left them within the well-decked ship. [flayed, 
 But when they had hallowed and slaughtered, and the beasts withal had 
 Then they cut the steaks of the buttock which with fat they overlaid, 
 Wrapping it round twofolded and the raw flesh laying o'er; 361 
 
 And no sweet wine was left them on the holy roast to pour, 
 So they poured the water in worship and with fire the entrails dight 
 But when they had burnt up the buttocks and tasted the inwards aright, 
 Then they cut up the rest into gobbets and spitted it fair and well 
 
 " But in that very moment deep sleep from mine eyelids fell, 
 And adown to the fleet-faring ship and the side of the sea I hied, 
 But when on my way I drew nigh to the ship of the swelling side, 
 Then the roast and the fragrance of fat came up about me there, 
 And groaning, unto the Deathless, the Gods, I made my prayer : 370 
 
 '"Zeus Father, and all ye Happy, whose lifedays never wane, 
 Into pitiless sleep have ye lulled me to bring about my bane, 
 While my fellows there abiding have done a monstrous deed.' 
 
 "Soon then to the Sun, the High Rider, did the bearer of tidings speed ; 
 
 Long-robed Lampetie told it, how we the kine did slay. 
 
 Then wrathful of heart to the Deathless in this wise did he say : 
 
 '"Zeus Father, and all ye Happy, whose lifedays ne'er are done, 
 
 Avenge me of those fellows of Odysseus, Laertes' son, 
 
 Who in folly have slain my beasts that I joyed in when I went 
 
 Aloft on my ways to the heavens and the starry firmament, 380 
 
 And when again from the heavens to the earth I turned away.
 
 228 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 Now if for my cattle's slaying no penalty they pay, 
 
 To the Nether Dusk will I get me and shine amidst the dead.' 
 
 " Then Zeus, the Cloud-packs' Herder, he answered him and said : 
 ' O Sun, shine out as ever amidst the Deathless here, 
 And shine on men that perish on the corn-kind earth and dear. 
 With my white bolt of the thunder their swift ship presently 
 Will I smite and cleave it piecemeal amid the wine-dark sea.' 
 
 " Of this talk forsooth was I learning from Calypso lovely of hair, 
 Who said that Hermes the Flitter to herself did the tidings bear. 390 
 
 " So when I was gotten aback to the ship's side and the sea 
 
 One after other I chid them, yet forsooth no remedy 
 
 It availed us to seek, for stark dead already were the kine. 
 
 And straight the Gods 'gan show us a wonder and a sign ; 
 
 For the flayed-off skins crept onward, and the flesh on the spits lowed out 
 
 Both the roast and the raw, and the voices of neat were all about. 
 
 " So for six days thereafter my fellows feasted there, 
 
 Driving off from the herds of the Sun whatever was fairer than fair ; 
 
 But when Zeus the Son of Cronos the seventh day had made 
 
 The wind with the tempest raging to rest awhile he laid, 400 
 
 Then aboard we gat us and outward to the open sea did we fare, 
 
 And the mast in its stead we 'stablished and hauled the sails in air. 
 
 But when we had left that Island there opened no new land, 
 
 And nought but the sea and the heavens we saw on either hand ; 
 
 Then over our hollow ship the Son of Cronos drew 
 
 A coal-blue cloud, and beneath it all black the sea-waves grew ; 
 
 And no long while ran on the ship, for there carrfe upon us at last 
 
 The shrilly west loud piping with the rush of a mighty blast,
 
 ROOK XII. 229 
 
 And therewith did the weight of the stormwind both mainstays break and 
 
 And the mast withal fell aftward, and huddling fell the gear [shear, 
 
 Adown in the hold together, and in the steering-stead 41 1 
 
 It smote the skull of the helmsman, and all the bones of his head 
 
 It crushed at once together, and straight from the deck adown 
 
 He dropped as dives a diver, and the soul from his body had flown ; 
 
 And therewithal Zeus thundered on the ship with a lightning stroke, 
 
 And by his bolt sore smitten through all her frame she shook, 
 
 And full was she of brimstone ; outboard the men were thrown, 
 
 And like unto the sea-mews round the black ship were strown 
 
 In the wash of the waves, and their homefare from them the God did take. 
 
 " But for me the ship I traversed till the beat of the billows brake 420 
 
 The sides from the keel, and naked the sea-waves bore it along, 
 
 And had torn off the mast by the keel ; but about it, wrought of a thong 
 
 Well fashioned of an ox-hide, yet was the backstay cast 
 
 So I bound the twain together therewith, both keel and mast, 
 
 And, sitting thereon, by the blast of the baleful winds was I sped. 
 
 " But now the West wind's fur)- and his stormy blast fell dead, 
 
 And swift thereon came the South wind and brought me grief again 
 
 Lest my way I must measure backward to Charybdis and her bane. 
 
 Night-long thenceforth was I carried, and with the rising sun 
 
 I came to the crags of Scylla and Charybdis the fearful one, 430 
 
 And she the salt-sea water as now was swallowing in ; 
 
 But cast against her fig-tree aloft there did I win, 
 
 And hung on as a bat hangs clinging; nor foot-hold there I found 
 
 Whereby to make me steady, and no way to the upper ground ; 
 
 For the roots spread far below me, and overhead far aloof 
 
 Were the great long boughs and lofty that Charybdis over-roof : 
 
 So I held on steadfast, awaiting till she should vomit again
 
 230 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 The mast and the keel, and full late they came to make me fain. 
 But just when a man ariseth from the Court to his supper and home, 
 Who hath doomed in a many strifes of the young men seeking for doom, 
 Just then from the maw of Charybdis those timbers twain did show ; 
 So I reached me downward towards them and hands and feet let go, 
 And plumped adown amidmost beyond the long- wrought wood, 
 And sitting there upon them with both my hands I rowed. 
 And so wrought the Father of Gods and of Men that I was not seen 
 Of Scylla ; for then no refuge from bitter bane had been. 
 
 ' Thence nine days was I carried, and on the tenth night-tide 
 To Ogygia's isle God brought me where Calypso doth abide, 
 The fair-haired Goddess beworshipped, who speaketh the speech of men; 
 And she took me and cherished me kindly. But hereof why tell thee then? 
 Since yesterday here in thine house I told the tale to thee, 45 1 
 
 To thee and thy goodly helpmate ; and irksome 'tis to me 
 To tell again of matters that told out clearly be."
 
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