rnia
 
 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER 
 
 TRANSLATED BT 
 
 GEORGE HERBERT PALMER 
 
 ALFORD PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 ttmcrs'i&c press Cambridge
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1884, l3 9'. & 110 I 9 IJ 
 BY O. H. PALMER 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
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 CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
 PRINTED IN THE U.SJU
 
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 PREFACE. 
 
 IN this translation of the Odyssey I have had the 
 following aims : 
 
 To give to the thought of Homer a more direct and 
 simple expression than has hitherto been judged ad- 
 missible ; to be at once minutely faithful to the Greek 
 original and to keep out of sight the fact that either 
 an original or a translator exists ; to present especially 
 the objective, unreflective, realistic, and non-literary 
 features of the primitive story ; to report in all their 
 delicacy the events which Homer reports, to exhibit 
 his attitude of mind toward them, and to produce 
 again the impression produced by him that things 
 did happen just so ; in the wording, to discard origi- 
 nality and to make free use of the fortunate phrases 
 f preceding translators ; but to employ persistently 
 the veracious language, the language of prose, rather 
 than the dream language, the language of poetry; 
 and still to confess that the story, unlike a bare record 
 of fact, is throughout, like poetry, illuminated with an 
 underglow of joy ; to mark gently this permeating joy 
 by a simple rhythm, a rhythm so unobtrusive and so 
 free from systematic arrangement that no one need
 
 *1 PREFACE. 
 
 turn from the matter to mark the movement ; above 
 all, to discharge a debt of gratitude to the great 
 friend who for twenty-five years has been showing me 
 the beauty of himself and of the world ; and finally, 
 to make it plain that I cannot attain these aims, and 
 to commend them to others as alluring and impos- 
 sible. 
 
 CAMBBXDGB, February 21, 1881.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 WHEN the poems of Homer were written, no man 
 
 knows. We shall not be far wrong if we say 
 
 . i i Date - 
 
 they came into being a thousand years be- 
 fore the Christian era, or about as early as we find 
 the Greek race. At the dawn of authentic history 
 portions of them were chanted about the cities of the 
 Grecian mainland, southern Italy, Sicily, the islands 
 of the ^gean, and the coast of Asia Minor. Through- 
 out the continuance of Greek civilization they were 
 the chief ingredient in the education of the young 
 and the chief literary delight of the men of mature 
 years. So universally did they enter into the making 
 of the Greek mind that it is no exaggeration to say 
 that every one of that race of whom we have certain 
 historical knowledge was "by this vision splendid 
 upon his way attended." Yet unfortunately we have 
 little knowledge of their author, a circumstance due in 
 part to his greatness. Founders are seldom known. 
 Buddha, Theseus, King Alfred, Shakespeare, John 
 Harvard, are shadowy figures standing at the dim 
 beginning of important eras largely created by them- 
 selves. By the time the importance of such men is 
 comprehended and we turn to inspect their person- 
 ality, they are gone, hidden behind the majesty f 
 their works.
 
 Yin INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Moreover, the question When and by whom was 
 the Odyssey written? is not so simple as it 
 
 MAterUL 
 
 sounds. A great work has many sources. 
 Its creator, however creative, finds much of his ma- 
 terial already prepared. Shakespeare invented few of 
 his plots. He took characters, scenes, and conversa- 
 tions from novels and histories where their power had 
 already been proved. Sometimes he altered old plays. 
 In deference to later taste his own have frequently 
 been altered. A poem, therefore, even in the clear 
 light of modern times and among a people possessing 
 strong notions of literary birthright, may not be con- 
 structed throughout by a single author nor contain 
 within itself security against change. How much 
 more, then, in an age accustomed to tradition and care- 
 less of individual performance, may we expect the 
 substance of a poem to bear the marks of many minds. 
 Into the Odyssey has gone a mass of histories, 
 legends, mythologies, genealogies, ideals of character, 
 manners, modes of life, which must have required 
 centuries to mature. The book is an epitome of a 
 civilization, with all that civilization's variegated 
 dreams, records, and inventions. 
 
 To what extent this accumulated material was 
 
 already shaped before its appearance here 
 Authorthip. T f 
 
 we cannot say. .Possibly enough fragments 
 
 of early song contribute something to the large har- 
 mony, and later times may also have admitted inter- 
 polations. Peculiarities of style and diction which 
 mark portions of the poem might in this way be most 
 easily explained. Here and there, too, critics have 
 suspected such incongruities in the narrative, or have 
 found a single action or character thrown into such 
 questionable prominence, that they have imagined it
 
 INTRODUCTION. be 
 
 possible to tell where the piecing has occurred. But 
 while an abundance of this sharp-sighted criticism has 
 been spent upon the poem, no critic has had any large 
 success in convincing others of his conclusions. All 
 are at least agreed that in the Odyssey more than 
 in the Iliad there is a prevailing evenness of style, 
 firmness of plot, and harmony in the presentation of 
 characters and situations. Whatever diverse poetic 
 materials were originally employed, the resulting unity 
 is conspicuous and astonishing. The Odyssey is no 
 ehance conglomerate. It is a masterpiece of poetic 
 art, beautiful in its parts, and no less beautiful in its 
 structure, bearing throughout the impress of a single 
 mind his whom we rightly call Homerus, the Joiner, 
 the Composer. 
 
 The poem presupposes the events of the Trojan war, 
 a war which fifty years ago was believed to The Tale of 
 be mythical, but which the excavations of Tr y- 
 Dr. Schliemann at the site of the city have shown to 
 have historic basis. The incidents referred to are 
 these : Paris, the son of Priam, King of Troy, carried 
 off to Troy Helen, the wife of Menelaus, King of 
 Lacedsemon. At the summons of his brother, Aga- 
 memnon, King of Argos and Mycenae, the princes of 
 Greece and the neighboring islands united in an expe- 
 dition for her recovery. Troy, too, summoned its allies 
 and for ten years endured a close siege. The Greek 
 camp lay along the seashore where a landing was first 
 effected. Between this and the city stretched a plain 
 on which fighting was almost constant. Dissensions 
 and pestilence at last broke out in the Greek army 
 and were followed by the series of battles described in 
 the Iliad. Despairing of capturing the city by force, 
 the Greeks resorted to stratagem. They sailed away,
 
 X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 leaving upon the shore a huge wooden horse in which 
 were hidden Menelaus and a band of resolute men. 
 The Trojans foolishly dragged the trophy within their 
 walls. The following night the men within it crept 
 from their ambush, threw open the gates of Troy to 
 the returning Greeks, and carried fire and slaughter 
 through the rich city. The objects of the joint expe- 
 dition were now accomplished ; and each surviving 
 chief, taking his share of plunder, assembled his ships, 
 sailed away, and was soon established once more in 
 his former home. 
 
 Or rather, all but one came safely home. Among 
 The island tne men * n ^ e w oden horse was Odysseus, 
 of ithaoa. Ulysses, as the Romans afterwards called 
 him, the ruler of the little island of Ithaca. Ten 
 years before, he had left in Ithaca his young wife, 
 Penelope, and his infant son, Telemachus. For ten 
 years more he was to be parted from them, wandering 
 among seas and islands, whose god, Poseidon, he had 
 offended. When half that time was gone, and Odys- 
 seus did not like the other leaders return, reports 
 of his death were spread, and Penelope was urged to 
 take another husband. In the remote state of Ithaca 
 when the rightful sovereign was absent, the prince but 
 a boy, and the ruler a beautiful and wealthy woman, 
 disorganization easily set in. The princes of the conn- 
 try and of the neighboring islands gathered at the 
 palace, and, under excuse of wooing Penelope, lived 
 at free quarters there, wasting the substance of Odys- 
 seus and corrupting nearly all his retainers. Penel- 
 ope, powerless to restrain their lawlessness, but be- 
 lieving Odysseus still alive, could defend herself from 
 the dreaded marriage only by matching woman's wit 
 against dull force and numbers.
 
 INTRODUCTION XI 
 
 This, then, is the twofold story of the Odyssey: 
 the story of a loyal wife, sagaciously watch- 
 iug through years of turmoil for the coming Th e me 
 of the husband in whose power she trusts ; 
 and the story of that resourceful husband 
 himself, who, when men, gods, and nature are arrayed 
 against him, triumphs over all and by cool intelli- 
 gence, patient courage, and a tenacious heart that ever 
 rejoiced in danger, forces a way single-handed one 
 man against the world, but obedient to the voice of 
 wisdom until he wins once more his wife, child, 
 and kingdom. The theme of the Odyssey is the domi- 
 nance of mind over circumstance, a theme deeply fixed 
 in the genius of the Greek race, and continually 
 emphasized by Homer in the standing epithets at- 
 tached to his three leading characters : Odysseus is 
 "the wise" (TroAv/AT/ris), Penelope "the heedful" 
 (Trepu^MJv), and Telemachus " the discreet " (7re7rvu/Ae- 
 vos). The form given to the poem by this ethical mo- 
 tive is naturally that of a story of adventure, a story 
 matchless in its combination of plainness, profundity, 
 and range of human interest, and one that has prob- 
 ably affected western civilization more deeply than 
 any piece of writing outside the Bible. 
 
 The poem naturally divides itself into two Parts, 
 widely contrasted in subject, method, and 
 movement. The twelve Books of the First ^^ r ! 
 
 Part relate the experiences of Odysseus on Homeward 
 , . , , . i j v y a * e - 
 
 his homeward ]ourney at sea, among lands 
 
 and peoples who are not Greek, in regions where 
 marvels happen easily, where gods, beings half 
 human, and phantoms of the dead, show themselves 
 without exciting much surprise. In this First Part the 
 pages are crowded with events, and here are found
 
 ai INTRODUCTION. 
 
 most of the single incidents which make the Odys- 
 sey famous. Each book has its independent inter- 
 est, and fragmentary readers who seek detachable 
 incidents are chiefly attracted to this Part. 
 
 In the twelve Books of the Second Part, reporting 
 Partn- * ne recovery by Odysseus of his island king- 
 dom, the events pass on land, at home, 
 of the among familiar Greek customs from which 
 the marvelous is for the most part banished. 
 Here the struggle is with wicked men, not with 
 divine or physical powers. The interest of this Part 
 is dramatic rather than incidental, each incident find- 
 ing its principal significance through its bearing on 
 the final catastrophe the slaughter of the suitors 
 and the reinstatement of Odysseus. To catch the 
 sweep of inevitable dramatic vengeance here it is 
 necessary to read several Books together. But when 
 connectedly read, this Part reveals a sustained psycho- 
 logic power which is not found in the earlier portion. 
 Within these two large divisions the Books group 
 themselves in sets of four, each little group 
 having its distinctive theme, and making its 
 needful contribution to the common plot. 
 That plot is orderly, firm in texture, and well calcu- 
 lated to hold the attention of the hearer. It begins 
 with depicting the situation at once in Heaven and in 
 Ithaca. It is now the twentieth year since Odysseus 
 left his home, the tenth since he sailed from Troy. 
 During three years of the homeward voyage the 
 avenging god Poseidon delayed him on the sea. For 
 the past seven years the nymph Calypso has held 
 him as her unwilling guest in the island of Ogygia. 
 At last (B. I) the protectress of his family, the god- 
 dess Athene, protests to Zeus against permitting
 
 INTRODUCTION. xili 
 
 further wrong to one so wise and pious, and urges 
 Zeus to send the messenger Hermes to Calypso with 
 orders of release. Athene herself goes disguised to 
 Ithaca and encourages Teleraachus, now just coming 
 of age, to assert himself against the suitors. Tele- 
 machus (B. II) in an assembly bids the suitors de- 
 part from Ithaca, and begs of them a ship with which 
 he may search for tidings of his father. Scornfully 
 they refuse. By Athene's aid, however, he obtains 
 ahip and crew, sails to Pylos, and learns (B. Ill) 
 from King Nestor the little he knows about the wan- 
 derings of Odysseus. Peisistratus, the son of Nestor, 
 joining him, the two young men go overland to Lace- 
 daemon, to the palace of Menelaus and Helen. Mene- 
 laus (B. IV) has been at home but two years. He 
 recounts his own wanderings, and relates how he heard 
 from the old man of the sea that Odysseus is a captive 
 in Ogygia. The suitors at Ithaca lie in wait to catch 
 Telemachus on his return. 
 
 When we have thus become familiar with the state 
 of affairs in Ithaca, the scene changes (B. V) 
 to Ogygia. A second council of the gods is y-vni: 
 held, or we are reminded of the previous Ogygia to 
 
 Phaeacia. 
 
 one. Hermes takes flight with his message, 
 delivers it, and Calypso unwillingly consents to the 
 departure of Odysseus. He builds a raft and sets sail, 
 but on the eighteenth day of his voyage is discovered 
 by his enemy Poseidon, who wrecks him on the island 
 of Phaeacia. Naked and fainting, he struggles ashore 
 at a river's mouth, and falls asleep in a thicket. The 
 country (B. VI) is ruled by King Alcinoiis. His 
 daughter Nausicaa, in obedience to a dream, persuades 
 her father to allow her and her maidens to make a 
 washing expedition to the neighboring river. Theif
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 sportive cries awake Odysseus who, without disclosing 
 his name, wins from Nausicaa a promise of aid. She 
 conducts him to the city and bids him make appeal 
 to her mother Arete. After admiring (B. VII) the 
 house and gardens of Alcinoiis, he presents himself to 
 the Queen, who listens kindly to the account of his 
 shipwreck. At an assembly (B. VIII) it is decided 
 to send Odysseus onward. He shows his strength 
 at the games ; but when at the following banquet 
 the bard sings a song of Troy, he cannot restrain his 
 tears, he discloses his name, and is entreated to tell 
 the tale of his wanderings. 
 
 By this device Homer enlivens his poem, and breaks 
 
 the long account of the homeward voyage 
 
 ncxji : * n * * wo eas y sections. It is the journey's 
 
 Troyto second section, that from Ogygia through 
 Phaeacia, of which we first learn. This is 
 performed before our very eyes. But of the earlier 
 section, that from Troy to Ogygia, we know only by 
 hearsay. Odysseus narrates it, telling a traveler's 
 tale which fills four breathless Books with marvels. 
 His story begins (B. IX) with the departure from 
 Troy. He plundered the Ciconians, he visited the 
 Lotus-eaters ; he was in the cave of Polyphemus ; his 
 men (B. X) turned the winds of helpful JEolus to 
 harm. From the subsequent attack of the Lsestry- 
 gonians only one ship escaped and reached the isle of 
 Circe. Here followed still stranger events, and Odys- 
 seus learned from Circe that the Prophet Teiresias in 
 the laud of the dead must direct his farther course. 
 To the dim region (B. XI) beyond the Ocean-stream 
 he accordingly steered, talked there with his dead 
 sailor, with his mother, with a group of great men's 
 wives and daughters, with his former comrades of the
 
 INTRODUCTION. TV 
 
 Trojan war, with the mythical heroes of his race, and 
 with Teiresias, who warned him against deeds of im- 
 piety. Returning to Circe (B. XII) and receiving 
 from her supplies and instructions, he set sail once 
 more, passed the Sirens in safety, lost six of his men 
 under the crag of Scylla, and landed at last on the 
 island where the herds of the Sun were pastured. In 
 spite of the warnings of Teiresias, these sacred cattle 
 were killed and eaten by his men. To avenge their 
 death Zeus sent upon the ship a tempest which wrecked 
 it, leaving Odysseus alone alive. He clung to the keel, 
 even when sucked down by the whirlpool of Charybdis, 
 and after ten days of drifting reached Calypso's island, 
 where we found him at the beginning of B. V. 
 
 Part Second now begins, yet not abruptly. Won- 
 ders of the sea still mark the early pages of 
 B. XIII. The Phseacians are delighted with xin-xvi: 
 Odysseus's story. They give him abundant InHilin s- 
 gifts, and set him on one of their marvelous ships, 
 which lands him after a single night's sail on the 
 Ithacan coast, Poseidon taking a final and impotent 
 vengeance by sinking the ship as it returns to Sober ia. 
 Athene appears, instructs Odysseus how to store 
 his goods, warns him of the coming struggle with 
 the suitors, and bids him, while concerting plans, to 
 take shelter with the swineherd EumaBus, the one 
 among his retainers who has kept him in most loyal 
 remembrance. To prevent likelihood of recognition, 
 she transforms his garb and person into those of an 
 aged beggar. By Eumseus (B. XIV) he is hospita 
 bly received. At table he tells a tale of fictitious wan- 
 derings, in the course of which he had heard of Odys- 
 seus, who, as he thinks, will soon return. As they 
 lie down for the night Odysseus commends himself
 
 Jtvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 further to Eumaeus by a story of the Trojun war. 
 Telemachus meanwhile (B. XV), under guidance of 
 Athene, leaves Menelaus, joins his ship at Pylos, safely 
 passes the suitors' ambuscade, but instead of going to 
 the palace seeks the lodge of Eumaeus. Welcomed 
 there (B. XVI), he sends Eumaeus to Penelope, to in- 
 form her of his return ; then alone with the pretended 
 beggar he describes the hardships endured at the pal- 
 ace by himself and his mother. Odysseus, through 
 the transforming power of Athene becoming once more 
 a king, reveals himself to his son, and together they 
 plan the overthrow of the suitors. Eumaeus, after deliv- 
 ering his message at the palace and finding the suitors 
 there foiled in their ambuscade, returns to the lodge. 
 It is the purpose of the next group of Books to 
 delay the action, to make us see Odysseus 
 xvn'xx: calmly enduring outrage under his own roof, 
 pli the an ^ ky thus bringing before us the immen- 
 sity of the suitors' insolence to prepare our 
 minds to accept with exultation the tremendous ven- 
 geance at the close. Telemachus (B. XVII), depart- 
 ing at dawn to the town, reports to Penelope what 
 Menelaus had told him of Odysseus. Theoclymenus, 
 too, an Argive prophet who had come to Ithaca on 
 the ship of Telemachus, declares that Odysseus is al- 
 ready in the land. But Penelope doubts. And now 
 Odysseus, a beggar once more, is conducted by Eu- 
 maeus to the palace, being insulted on the way by a 
 goatherd Melanthius. In the courtyard lies his old 
 neglected dog, Argos, who dies in recognizing his mas- 
 ter. Entering the hall, Odysseus asks alms of the 
 suitors and for a time obtains it, until Antinoiis, one 
 of their leaders, breaking into abuse hurls a stool 
 at him. Penelope in her own room, hearing that a
 
 INTRODUCTION. xvii 
 
 man is hurt, is indignant and sends Eumaeus to fetch 
 him. But the beggar, though professing to have tid- 
 ings of Odysseus, postpones the meeting till evening. 
 While Odysseus sits by the threshold (B. XVIII), 
 the privileged beggar Irus appears. Angry at being 
 supplanted, and cheered on by the suitors, he pro- 
 vokes Odysseus to a combat. Odysseus fells him with 
 a single blow, drags him into the courtyard, and warns 
 Amphinomus, a leader of the suitors who had shown 
 signs of kindness, to avoid impending doom. Pe- 
 nelope stands at the door, allures the suitors by her 
 beauty, and, declaring that she must soon make her 
 choice among them, obtains rich gifts. Odysseus 
 meets with further insult from the handmaid Me- 
 lantho and from Eurymachus. When the suitors 
 have departed for the night, leaving Telemachus and 
 Odysseus behind, the two (B. XIX) remove to an- 
 other room all weapons found in the hall. Tele- 
 machus then goes to rest, while Penelope comes with 
 her women to the appointed meeting with Odysseus. 
 In answer to her questions, he gives a feigned account 
 of seeing Odysseus in Crete and moves her to tears 
 by the minuteness of his description. Odysseus will 
 be in Ithaca, he asserts, before the new year. She 
 offers him a bed and bath, and he is compelled to 
 allow the old nurse Eurycleia to wash his feet. There 
 was a scar upon his knee, the result of a wound given 
 by a boar when he was but a youth. On touching 
 this, Eurycleia recognizes him, but is checked in her 
 cry by Odysseus. Athene diverts for the moment the 
 attention of Penelope, who soon relates a dream which 
 may portend the overthrow of the suitors. She also 
 tells of the trial of the bow that to-morrow must decide 
 which of the suitors shall become her unwelcome hus-
 
 xviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 band. Night (B. XX) brings little sleep to Odysseus 
 and Penelope. In her restless dreams she beholds her 
 husband once more beside her ; while he, full of rage 
 at the shameless suitors, and perceiving the need of 
 instant action, is dismayed at the odds against him. 
 Athene promises aid and Zeus sends him an omen. 
 For the festival of the archer god Apollo the house 
 is in the morning set in order. Wood, water, swine, 
 and goats are brought. Odysseus learns that Phike- 
 tius, a goatherd, loyally desires his master's return. 
 The suitors soon gather, with murder in their hearts 
 against Telemachus, but are restrained by signs from 
 Zeus. At the morning meal brawling breaks out. 
 When Odysseus receives from Telemachus a portion 
 like the rest, Ctesippus flings an ox-hoof at him, and 
 a demand is uttered that Penelope at once make her 
 decision. Telemachus assents, but hideous premoni- 
 tions fill the hall. 
 
 Penelope now (B. XXI) brings from the store- 
 room the great bow of Odysseus, the sight 
 .of which moves Euniams and Phiketius to 
 
 Betrtbu- tears. Telemachus sets up the row of axes 
 tion. 
 
 through which the archers are to shoot, and, 
 announcing that he too will compete, attempts to 
 string the bow. He almost succeeds, but is stopped 
 by a sign from Odysseus. Others also failing, they 
 heat and grease the bow. To no effect ; they hav< 
 not strength to string it. Meanwhile Odysseus, fol 
 lowing Eumaeus and Pliiloetius to the court, reveals 
 himself to them and gives his final orders. They all 
 return, and find that neither Antinous nor Eury- 
 machus can bend the bow. Odysseus asks it. The 
 suitors insultingly refuse, and Penelope intervenes. 
 Telemachus, sending her to her chamber, allows Ody
 
 INTRODUCTION. xix 
 
 seus to try the bow, who shoots an arrow through the 
 axes. Telemachus is beside him. Taking his stand 
 before the door (B. XXII), he shoots down Anti- 
 noiis, and declares himself Odysseus. The frightened 
 suitors, who have only their swords, try to propitiate 
 him, to flee, to rush upon him. One after one they 
 fall. From the armory Telemachus brings weapons 
 to be used when the quiver of arrows shall be spent. 
 Melanthius also succeeds in obtaining twelve spears 
 for the suitors. These they let fly at Odysseus and 
 his men. But Athene frustrates their missiles, guides 
 those hurled against them, and spreads a panic which 
 brings slaughter on them all. None are spared except 
 the bard Phemius and the herald Medon. And now 
 Eurycleia, at the bidding of Odysseus, summons twelve 
 guilty handmaids, who are forced to carry out the 
 bodies and to aid in cleansing the great hall and then 
 are hanged in the courtyard. With fumes of sulphur 
 Odysseus purifies the house, while loyal handmaids 
 rejoice over his return. During the struggle Athene 
 has kept Penelope in a deep sleep. Eurycleia (B. 
 XXIII) now goes to waken her, bearing to her tid- 
 ings of the return of Odysseus and the slaughter of 
 the suitors. It is more than Penelope can believe. If 
 the men are dead, they have been slain by some god 
 through anger at their crimes. Yet she descends and 
 meets Odysseus, but is speechless with joy and inde- 
 cision. Telemachus upbraids her. Odysseus, per- 
 ceiving that time is needed for the recognition, turn? 
 to other things. Dance and song must continue the 
 festival, or from the stillness the townspeople will dis- 
 cover what has happened. While the bard plays, 
 Odysseus bathes, and in his own dress once more pre- 
 sents himself before Penelope. She tries if it is he bj
 
 xx INTRODUCTION. 
 
 bidding Eurycleia move out a great bed for him from 
 the bridal chamber he had formerly built. A grow- 
 ing tree wrought into its frame made it immovable. 
 Of this none knew except her maid, herself, and Odys- 
 seus. The angry question of Odysseus whether in his 
 absence the olive trunk had been cut assures her that 
 it is in truth her husband, and she throws herself into 
 his arms. As they lie in bed that magical night each 
 tells the other what has passed in the long separation. 
 At dawn Odysseus rises, calls Telemachus and the two 
 herdsmen, and sets off for the farm of his father 
 Laertes. An interlude, possibly an interpolation (B. 
 XXIV), shows Hermes conducting the souls of the 
 suitors to Hades, where, surrounded by a group of 
 dead Greek chieftains, Agamemnon contrasts the 
 stately burial of Achilles with his own pitiful end. 
 From one of the suitors he learns how the long fidelity 
 of Penelope has been rewarded with triumph. At the 
 farm Odysseus gradually reveals himself to his aged 
 and impoverished father. But a rumor of the slaugh- 
 ter of the suitors runs through the town, and their 
 kinsmen quickly gather. Led by the father of Anti- 
 noils they attack the house of Laertes. Laertes strikes 
 down their leader, and all are put to rout. Athene 
 intervenes in guise of Nestor and makes between the 
 foes a lasting peace. 
 
 The action of the Odyssey occupies about six weeks. 
 _. At a few points the days are doubtful, but 
 
 Division the most probable scheme is that of Faesi, 
 who divides as follows : 
 
 1st day. Council of the gods. Athene visits Ithaca. B. I. 
 2d day. Calling of the Ithacan assembly and the departure 
 
 of Telemachus. B. II. 
 3d day. Viait to Pylos. B. HI 1-403.
 
 INTRODUCTION. TOO. 
 
 4th day. Sacrifice at Pylos. Departure to Lacedsemon. 
 Arrival at Pherse. B. Ill 404-490. 
 
 6th day. Arrival at Lacedsemon and welcome by Menelaus. 
 B. Ill 491-IV 305. 
 
 6th day. Stay in Lacedaeraon. Plot of the suitors in 
 Ithaca against Telemachus. B. IV 306-847. 
 
 7th day. Second council of the gods. Hermes sent to 
 Calypso. B. V 1-227. 
 
 8th-llth day. Building of the raft. B. V 228-262. 
 
 12th-28th day. Odysseus departing from Ogygia continues 
 his voyage safely for seventeen days. B. V 263-278. 
 
 29th-31st day. The Phaeacian mountains come in sight. 
 Storm, shipwreck, and two days of drifting on the sea, 
 Odysseus lands on the coast of Scheria and falls asleep 
 in a thicket. B. V 278-VI 48. 
 
 32d day. Meeting of NausicaA and Odysseus. His com- 
 ing to the palace of Alcinoiis. B. VI 48 VII 347. 
 
 33d day. Second day at Scheria. Banquet. Games. Story 
 of Odysseus. B. VIII 1-XIII 17. 
 
 34th day. Third day at Scheria. Gifts are brought to the 
 ship of Odysseus, which sails at night. B. XIII 18-92. 
 
 35th day. Odysseus wakes in Ithaca and goes to Eumaeus. 
 From Lacedaemon Athene summons Telemachus, who 
 sleeps at Pheraa. B. XIII 93-XV 188. 
 
 36th day. By night Telemachus passes Pheae and Elis. 
 Stay of Odysseus with Eumaeus. B. XV 189^94. 
 
 37th day. Telemachus lands in Ithaca and meets Odys- 
 seus at the lodge of Eumaeus. B. XV 495-XVI 481. 
 
 38th day. Telemachus goes to the town, followed by Odys- 
 seus. The fight with Irus. The recognition by Eury- 
 cleia and talk with Penelope. B. XVII 1-XX 90. 
 
 39th day. The trial of the bow. The slaughter of the 
 suitors and the recognition by Penelope. B. XX 91 
 XXIII 346. 
 
 40th day. The recognition by Laertes and the conclusion 
 of peace. B. XXHI 347-end.
 
 jcxii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The scenes of the Odyssey are not, like those of 
 j-h, the Iliad, drawn from wars and camps. They 
 
 Scenery. nav e for the most part a domestic and social 
 character. When the heroes of the Iliad have nothing 
 else to do, they fight ; under similar circumstances those 
 of the Odyssey eat. These are the distinctive occu- 
 pations of the two poems. That of the Odyssey is 
 the nobler, for it is connected with home, friendship, 
 reflection, woman's influence. A wider range of mo- 
 tive is consequently opened in the Odyssey. 
 
 Odysseus is the central character, a man wise not 
 Tha through the possession of large knowledge 
 
 Character*. (Jfestor is that) but through sagacity, re- 
 sourcefulness, and self-command. Other men Tele- 
 machus, Eumaeus, Antinoiis, and Eurymachus bear 
 important parts. But the dominant forces of the poem 
 are women. The prime mover is a goddess. Those 
 most influential over the journey home are the nymphs 
 Calypso and Circe, perhaps we should add Ino and 
 Leucothea. In Phaeacia Queen Arete is of larger con- 
 sequence than King Alcinoiis. Among the mighty 
 dead whom Odysseus meets in Hades there are a 
 many women as men. Eurycleia, Eurynome, and the 
 forward handmaid Melantho are conspicuous figures 
 of the Ithacan household ; while, exalted above them 
 all, appear the three eternal types of womanhood, 
 Nausicaa, the unconquered girl, Helen, the accom- 
 plished lady, Penelope, the faithful wife. In the 
 Odyssey, in short, woman is the comrade of man, 
 respected as his equal in intellectual power, admin- 
 istrative capacity, and artistic skill. It is usually 
 assumed that Homer's women lived in isolation, hav- 
 ing an apartment to themselves, the gynaecaeum or 
 harem of Eastern nations ; and certainly this was usual
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxiii 
 
 in the historic ages of Greece. But in the Odyssey 
 I find no clear trace of such an arrangement, while 
 the psychologic evidence against it is strong. Though 
 Penelope and her maids generally withdraw from the 
 riotous suitors to rooms of their own, they enter the 
 hall with freedom, even when men are there ; and it is 
 there at night that Penelope talks with Odysseus. 
 Helen sits in the hall of Menelaus and receives guests 
 there. So does Arete in the hall of Alcinoiis. Arete 
 attends a public banquet. Penelope would have been 
 present at the trial of the bow had she not for pru- 
 dential reasons been dismissed by Telemachus. Nau- 
 sicaa and her maids drive unattended into the country ; 
 and when she comes home from washing, it is her 
 brother who carries her clothing to her chamber. 
 These are not harem manners. To find anything like 
 them in their combination of freedom and dignity we 
 must cross the intervening ages and talk with the 
 women of our own time. 
 
 The style of Homer is radiant with the freshness 
 
 of the early world. He seems always to be 
 ii P i . f in> The Style. 
 
 thinking of everything for the first time. 
 
 Grave and weighty though he is, he has a simplicity 
 and swiftness that are the despair of translators. 
 His common cast of phrase is inexplicably felicitous. 
 " There 's magic in the web of it," but there is no con- 
 straint. He does not, like Milton, " build the lofty 
 line." His little words fall into their places as if they 
 belonged there unremarkable, unalterable, efficient, 
 and lingering long in the mind when the sight of them 
 is gone. His sentence is seldom an organic whole like 
 the modern period, the parts mutually dependent; it can 
 generally be cut in several places and still give a toler- 
 able sense. When describing an event, he ordinarily
 
 xxiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 mentions what happened as a series of separate facts, 
 strung together with " and, and." Qualifying clauses 
 he usually places subsequently, like afterthoughts ; not 
 where rhetoricians say they should be placed, before 
 the introduction of the thing qualified. Like the 
 Elizabethan dramatists he frequently employs con 
 structions intelligible only to the interested listener, 
 not to the grammarian ; nouns are omitted ; pronouns 
 serve in places where our critics call them ambiguous; 
 doors for misconception are again and again left open 
 for those who care to misconceive. Everywhere is 
 seen a syntax full of beauty when thought of as that 
 of living speech; full of defect, if judged by the 
 canons of the schools. In the very forms of the lan- 
 guage there is extraordinary flexibility ; a syllable is 
 prolonged here, clipped there ; a consonant is doubled 
 or left single ; the commoner vowels have alternative 
 forms. All is plastic. Literary conventions have not 
 yet sprung up. This freedom from conventional tram- 
 mels is an immense artistic advantage to Homer, and 
 he uses it to the full. What portion of the thought 
 should fall on the mind first he knows as nobody else 
 has ever known, and this is the portion that he places 
 first. He fixes his eye on the object, and as its differ- 
 ent parts present themselves he tells us of them. In 
 reading him, we must think of the prowling lion and 
 the starting ship rather than of the printed words. 
 Repetition is with him, as with the child, a genuine 
 poetic resource. He has all the child's delight in 
 "saying it again," and he always prefers the old 
 story to the new. The individual aspects of object or 
 person he is fond of fixing once for all in an epithet, 
 whose recurrence may convey a pleasure somewhat 
 fjmila.r to that which we moderns receive in rhyme,
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxv 
 
 a pleasure enlarged by the repetition of phrases, or 
 even of whole passages. The appropriateness of these 
 to their new situation is secured by changes in the turn 
 of a word or two. Similes are common, metaphors 
 rare ; the thing and that with which it is compared 
 remain two and unblended, exactly as in life. 
 
 In the whole body of Homeric poetry there are 
 about thirty thousand lines: sixteen thou- 
 sand in the Iliad, twelve thousand in the 
 
 Odyssey, and two or three thousand in the * the 
 Hymns a collection of separate hexameter 
 poems, addressed to various gods, and now believed 
 to be the product of a later age. The most conven- 
 ient school edition of the Odyssey is that of W. W. 
 Merry, in two volumes, published by the Clarendon 
 Press. In it the Greek text is broken at intervals by 
 an English line descriptive of the matter, and there 
 are careful notes and introductions. The large edition 
 of H. Hayman, three volumes, London, D. Nutt & 
 Co., is especially valuable for its summaries of the 
 narrative, its full notes, its marginal references, and 
 its analyses of the characters. The handiest Homeric 
 dictionary is that of Autenrieth, translated by R. P. 
 Keep, and published by Harper. Dunbar's "Con- 
 cordance of the Odyssey," Clarendon Press, cites pas- 
 sages, though with many inaccuracies. Gladstone's 
 "Primer of Homer," his "Juventus Mundi," both 
 published by Macmillan, and A. M. Clerke's " Famil- 
 iar Studies in Homer," published by Longman, are 
 entertaining, but not, like R. C. Jebb's "Introduc- 
 tion to Homer," published by Ginn & Co., altogether 
 trustworthy. A. J. Church, in his " Stories from 
 Homer," published by Harper, has preserved much of 
 the Homeric spirit.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 There are twenty-three English translations of th* 
 Odyssey. Between the earliest of them the bril- 
 Tranii*. Kant version of George Chapman, 1615, in 
 tton. fj ve i am bic8, couplet rhyme and the year 
 1861, when Matthew Arnold published his stimulating 
 essays " On Translating Homer," a new rendering of 
 the Odyssey appeared about every thirty years. Since 
 that time the rate of issue has been ten times more 
 rapid. Among these translations the most important 
 are those of Alexander Pope, 1725, five iambics, 
 couplet rhyme ; William Cowper, 1791, five iambics, 
 blank verse ; Henry Gary, 1823, prose ; P. S. Worsley, 
 1861, Spenserian stanza ; W. C. Bryant, 1872, five 
 iambics, blank verse ; S. H. Butcher and A. Lang, 
 A world's book like the Odyssey cannot be exhausted, 
 nor can any one person completely report it. It 
 has as many aspects as it has translators. Hobbes 
 commended it to his readers as a series of lessons in 
 morals; to Worsley it was the world's great fairy 
 tale ; to Butcher and Lang it is an archaic " historical 
 document." Others have found in it a philological 
 interest, a mythological, a grammatical. However 
 broad-minded a student may be, his sympathies are 
 sure to reach a limit somewhere short of the compass 
 of Homer. I have approached the Odyssey from 
 the philosophic and poetic side, delighting in Homer's 
 nnique mental attitude. Notwithstanding his extraor- 
 dinary powers of observation and utterance, he seems 
 to me to confront the world like a child. Turning to 
 him, I escape from our complicated and introspec- 
 tive world, and am refreshed.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 MM 
 
 L THE COUNCIL OF THE GODS AND THE SUMMONS TO 
 TELEMACHUS 1 
 
 IL THE ASSEMBLY AT ITHACA AND THE DEPARTURE OF 
 
 TELEMACHUS 15 
 
 HL AT PYLOS 29 
 
 IV. AT LACEDAEMON 46 
 
 V. THE RAFT OF ODYSSEUS 72 
 
 VI. THE LANDING IN PHAEACIA 88 
 
 VJLJL THE WELCOME OF ALCINOUS 99 
 
 VIOL THE STAY IN PHAEACIA 110 
 
 IX. THE STORY TOLD TO ALCINOUS. THE CYCLOPS . 129 
 
 X. AEOLUS, THE LAESTKYGONIANS, AND CIRCE . . 147 
 
 XL THE LAND OF THE DEAD 165 
 
 XII. THE SIHENS, SCYLLA, CHABYBDIS, AND THE SINE OF 
 
 THE SUN 186 
 
 XTTI. FROM PHAEACIA TO ITHACA 199 
 
 XTV. THE STAY WITH EUMAEUS 213 
 
 XV. TELEMACHUS AND EUMAEUS 230 
 
 XVL THE RECOGNITION BY TELEMACHUS . 248 
 
 Xvll. THE RETURN OF TELEMACHUS TO ITHACA . . 263 
 XVHL THE FIGHT OF ODYSSEUS AND IBUS . . . 282 
 
 XTX. THE MEETING WITH PENELOPE AND THE RECOGNI- 
 TION BY EURYCLEIA ....... 296 
 
 TCX- BEFORE THE SLAUGHTER 315 
 
 XXL THE TRIAL OF THE Bow 328 
 
 XXII. THE SLAUGHTER OF THE SUITORS .... 342 
 
 XXIIL THE RECOGNITION BY PENELOPE 358 
 
 XXTV. PKACB. . . 370
 
 THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER. 
 
 1HE COUNCIL OP THE GODS AND THE SUMMONS TO 
 
 TELEMACHUS. 
 
 SPEAK to me, Muse, of the adventurous man who 
 wandered long after he sacked the sacred citadel of 
 Troy. Many the men whose towns he saw, whose 
 ways he proved ; and many a pang he bore in his own 
 breast at sea while struggling for his life and his men's 
 safe return. Yet even so, by all his zeal, he did not 
 save his men ; for through their own perversity they 
 perished fools! who devoured the kine of the ex- 
 alted Sun. Wherefore he took away the day of their 
 return. Of this, O goddess, daughter of Zeus, begin- 
 ning where them wilt, speak to us also. 
 
 Now all the others who were saved from utter ruin 
 were at home, safe both from war and sea. Him only, 
 longing for his home and wife, the potent nymph Ca^ 
 lypso, a heavenly goddess, held in her hollow grotto; 
 desiring him to be her husband. Nay, when the time 
 had come in the revolving years at which the gods 
 ordained his going home to Ithaca, even then, among 
 his kin, he was not freed from trouble. Yet the gods 
 felt compassion, all save Poseidon, who steadily strove 
 with godlike Odysseus till he reached his land.
 
 2 THE ODYSSEY. [1.22-64. 
 
 But Poseidon now was with the far-off Ethiopians, 
 the remotest of mankind, who form two tribes, one 
 at the setting of the Exalted one, one at his rising ; 
 awaiting there a sacrifice of bulls and rams. So sit- 
 ting at the feast he took his pleasure. The other 
 'gods, meanwhile, were gathered in the halls of Zeus 
 upon Olympus, and thus began the father of men and 
 gods ; for in his mind he mused of gentle Aegisthus, 
 whom Agamemnon's far-famed son, Orestes, slew. 
 Mindful of him, he thus addressed the immortals : 
 
 " Lo, how men blame the gods ! From us, they 
 say, spring troubles. But through their own perver- 
 sity, and more than is their due, they meet with sor- 
 row ; even as now Aegisthus, pressing beyond his due, 
 married the lawful wife of the son of Atreus and slew 
 her husband on his coming home. Yet he well knew 
 his own impending ruin ; for we ourselves forewarned 
 him, dispatching Hermes, our clear-sighted Speedy- 
 comer, and told him not to slay the man nor woo the 
 wife. * For because of the son of Atreus shall come 
 vengeance from Orestes when he is grown and longs 
 for his own land.' This Hermes said, but did not 
 turn the purpose of Aegisthus by his kindness. And 
 now Aegisthus makes atonement for it all." 
 
 Then answered him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene : 
 " Our father, son of Krcnos, most high above all 
 rulers, that man assuredly lies in befitting ruin. So 
 perish all who do such deeds I Yet is my heart din* 
 tressed for wise Odysseus, hapless man, who, long cut 
 off from friends, is meeting hardship upon a sea-girt 
 island, the navel of the sea. Woody the island is, 
 and there a goddess dwells, daughter of wizard Atlas 
 who knows the depths of every sea and through his 
 holds the tall pillars which keep earth and sky
 
 L 65-87.] THE ODYSSEY. 8 
 
 asunder. It is bis daughter who detains this hapless, 
 sorrowing man, ever with tender and insistent words 
 enticing to forgetfulness of Ithaca. And still Odys- 
 seus, through longing but to see the smoke spring 
 from his land, desires to die. Nevertheless, your heart 
 turns not, Olympian one. Did not Odysseus seek your 
 favor beside the Argive ships and offer sacrifice upon 
 the plain of Troy? Why then are you so wroth 
 against him, Zeus ? " 
 
 Then answered her cloud-gathering Zeus, and said : 
 ** My child, what word has passed the barrier of your 
 teeth? How could I possibly forget princely Odys 
 seus, who is beyond all mortal men in wisdom, beyond 
 them too in giving honor to the immortal gods, who 
 hold the open sky? Nay, but Poseidon, the girder 
 of the land, is ceasclessJy enraged because Odysseus 
 blinded of his eye the Cyclops, god-like Polyphemus, 
 who of all Cyclops has the greatest power. A nymph, 
 Thoosa, bore him, daughter of Phorcys, lord of the 
 barren sea, for she within the hollow caves united 
 with Poseidon. And since that day the earth-shaking 
 Poseidon does not indeed destroy Odysseus, but ever 
 drives him wandering from his land. Come then, let 
 us all here plan for his turning home. So shall Posei* 
 don lay by his anger, unable, in defiance of us all, to 
 strive with the immortal gods alone." 
 
 Then answered him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene: 
 " Our father, son of Kronos, most high above all 
 rulers, if it now please the blessed gods that wise 
 Odysseus shall return to his own home, let us send 
 Hermes forth the Guide, the Speedy-comer into 
 the island of Ogygia, straightway to tell the fair- 
 haired nymph our steadfast purpose, that hardy Odys- 
 BCUS shall set forth upon his homeward way. I in
 
 4 THE ODYSSEY. [1. 88-lia 
 
 the mean while go to Ithaca, to rouse his son yet 
 more and to put vigor in his breast ; that, summon* 
 ing to an assembly the long-haired Achaeans, he may 
 denounce the troop of suitors, men who continually 
 butcher his thronging flocks and swing-paced, crook- 
 horned oxen. And I will send him to Sparta and to 
 sandy Pylos, to try to learn of his dear father's cox** 
 Ing, and so to win a good report among mankind." 
 
 Saying this, under her feet she bound her beautiful 
 sandals, immortal, made of gold, which carry her over 
 the Hoed and over the boundless land swift as a breath 
 of wind. She took her ponderous spear, tipped with 
 sharp bronze, thick, long, and strong, with which she 
 vanquishes the ranks of men, of heroes, even, 
 when this daughter of a mighty sire is roused against 
 them. Then she went dashing down the ridges of 
 Olympus and in the land of Ithaca stood at Odysseus' 
 gate, on the threshold of his court. Holding in 
 hand a brazen spear, she seemed the stranger Mentes, 
 the Taphian leader. Here then she found the haughty 
 suitors. They were amusing themselves with games 
 of draughts before the palace door, seated on hides of 
 oxen which they themselves had slain. Their pages 
 and busy squires were near ; some mixing wine and 
 water in the bowls, others with porous sponges wash- 
 ing and laying tables, while others still carved theic 
 abundant meat. 
 
 By far the first to see Athene was princely Telema- 
 chus. For he was sitting with the suitors, sad at heart, 
 picturing in mind his noble father, how he might 
 come from somewhere, make a scattering of the suitors, 
 take to himself his honors, and be master of his own. 
 Thus thinking while he sat among the suitors, Athene 
 met his eye. Straight to the door he went, beiug at
 
 I 120-151.] THE ODYSSEY. 5 
 
 heart ashamed to have a stranger stand so long before 
 his gate. So drawing near and grasping her right 
 hand, he took her brazen spear, and speaking in winged 
 words he said : " Hail, stranger, here with us you 
 shall be welcome ; and by and by when you have tasted 
 food, you shall make known your needs." 
 
 Saying this, he led the way, and Pallas Athene fol- 
 lowed. When they were come within the lofty hallj 
 he carried the spear to a tall pillar and set it in a 
 well- worn rack, where also stood many a spear of hardy 
 Odysseus. Athene herself he led to a chair and seated, 
 spreading a linen cloth below. Good was the chair 
 and richly wrought ; upon its lower part there was a 
 rest for feet. Beside it, for himself, he set a sumptu- 
 ous treat apart from all the suitors, for fear the stran* 
 ger, meeting rude men and worried by their din, 
 might lose his taste for food ; and then that he might 
 ask him, too, about his absent father. Now water for 
 the hands a servant brought in a beautiful pitches 
 made of gold, and poured it out over a silver basin 
 for their washing, and spread a polished table by their 
 side. And the grave housekeeper brought bread and 
 placed before them, setting out food of many a kind, 
 freely giving of her store. The carver, too, took plat- 
 ters of meat, and placed before them, meat of all 
 kinds, and set their golden goblets ready; while a 
 page, pouring wine, passed to and fro between them. 
 
 And now the haughty suitors entered. These soon 
 took seats in order, on couches and on chairs. Pages 
 poured water on their hands, maids heaped them bread 
 in baskets, and young men brimmed the bowls with 
 drink; and on the food spread out before them 
 they laid hands. So after they had stayed desire for 
 drink and food, then in their thoughts they turned to
 
 THE ODYSSEY. [1.152-185. 
 
 other things, the song and dance ; for these attend a 
 feast. A page put a beautiful harp into the hands of 
 Phemius, who sang perforce among the suitors ; and 
 touching the harp, he raised his voice and sang a beau- 
 tiful song. Then said Telemachus to clear-eyed Athene, 
 his head bent close, that others might not hear : 
 
 " Good stranger, will you feel offense at what I say? 
 These things are all their care, the harp and song, 
 an easy care when, making no amends, they eat the 
 substance of a man whose white bones now are rotting 
 in the rain, if lying on the land, or in the sea the 
 waters roll them round. Yet were they once to see 
 him coming home to Ithaca, they all would pray rather 
 for speed of foot than stores of gold and clothing. 
 But he, instead, by some hard fate is gone, and naught 
 remains to us of comfort no, not if any man on 
 earth shall say he still will come. Passed is his day of 
 coming. But now declare me this and plainly tell, who 
 are you ? Of what people ? Where is your town and 
 kindred? On what ship did you come? And how 
 did sailors bring you to Ithaca ? Whom did they call 
 themselves ? For I am sure you did not come on foot. 
 And tell me truly this, that I may know full well if 
 for the first time now you visit here, or are you mj 
 father's friend? For many foreigners once sough! 
 our home ; because Odysseus also was a rover among 
 men." 
 
 Then said to him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene z 
 " Well, I will very plainly tell you all : Mentes I call 
 myself, the son of wise Anchialus, and I am lord of the 
 oar-loving Taphians. Even now I put in here, with 
 ship and crew, when sailing over the wine-dark sea to 
 men of a strange speech, to Temese 4 , for bronze. I 
 carry glittering iron. Here my ship lies, just oft the
 
 1186-220.] THE ODYSSEY. t 
 
 fields outside the town, within the bay of Reithron 
 under woody Nei'on. Hereditary friends we count 
 ourselves from early days, as you may learn if you 
 will go and ask old lord Laertes, who, people say, 
 conies to the town no more, but far out in the coun- 
 try suffers hardship, an aged woman his attendant, 
 who supplies him food and drink whenever weariness 
 weighs down his knees, as he creeps about his slope of 
 garden ground. Even now I came, for I was told 
 your father was at home. But, as I see, the gods de- 
 lay his journey ; for surely nowhere yet on earth has 
 royal Odysseus died ; living, he lingers somewhere still 
 on the wide sea, upon some sea-girt island, and cruel 
 men constrain him some savage folk, who hold him 
 there against his will. Nay, I will prophesy such 
 things as the immortals bring to mind, things which 
 I think will happen ; although I am no prophet and 
 have no skill in birds. Not long shall he be absent 
 from his own dear land, though iron fetters bind him. 
 Some means he will devise to come away ; for many a 
 shift has he. But now, declare me this and plainly 
 tell, if you indeed so tall are the true son of 
 Odysseus. In head and beautiful eyes you surely art 
 much like him. So often we were together before h 
 embarked for Troy, where others too, the bravest oi 
 the Argives, went in their hollow ships. But since 
 that day I have not seen Odysseus, nor he me." 
 
 Then answered her discreet Telemachus: "Yes, 
 stranger, I will plainly tell you all. My mother says 
 I am his child ; I myself do not know ; for no one 
 ever yet knew his own parentage. Yet would I were 
 the son of some blest man on whom old age had come 
 amongst his own possessions. But now, the man born 
 most ill-fated of all human kind of him they say 1 
 come, since this you ask me."
 
 THE ODYSSEY. [1.221-264 
 
 Then said to him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene : 
 " Surely the gods meant that your house should not 
 lack future fame, when to such son as you Penelope 
 gave birth. Nevertheless declare me this and truly 
 tell, what is the feast? What company is this? 
 And what is your part here ? Some drinking bout or 
 wedding? It surely is no festival at common cost.. 
 So rude they seem, and wanton, feasting about the 
 hall. A man of sense must be indignant who comes 
 and sees such outrage." 
 
 Then answered her discreet Telemachus : " Stran- 
 ger, since now you ask of this and question me, 
 in former days this house bade fair to be wealthy 
 and esteemed, so long as he was here ; but the hard* 
 purposed gods then changed their minds and shut him 
 from our knowledge more than all men beside. For 
 were he dead, I should not feel such grief, if he had 
 fallen among comrades in the Trojan land, or in the 
 arms of friends when the skein of war was wound. 
 Then would the whole Achaean host have made his 
 grave, and for his son in after days a great name had 
 been gained. Now, silently the robber winds have 
 swept him off. Gone is he, past all sight and hear- 
 ing, and sighs and sorrows he has left to me. Yet 
 now I do not grieve and mourn for him alone; be. 
 cause the gods have brought me other sore distress, 
 For all the nobles who bear sway among the islands, 
 Doulichion, Same, and woody Zacynthos, and 
 they who have the power in rocky Ithaca, all woo my 
 mother and despoil my home. She neither declines 
 the hated suit nor hits she power to end it; while 
 thoy with feasting im]x>verish my home and soon 
 will bring me also to destruction." 
 
 Stirred into auger, Pallas Athene spoke : " Alas I
 
 1 253-288.] THE ODYSSEY. 
 
 in very truth you greatly need absent Odysseus, to lay 
 hands on the shameless suitors. What if he came 
 even now and here before his house stood at the outer 
 gate, with helmet, shield, and his two spears, even 
 such as when I saw him first at my own home, drink- 
 ing and making merry, on his return from Ephyra, 
 from Bus, son of Mermerus. For thither on his swift 
 ship went Odysseus, seeking a deadly drug in which 
 to dip his brazen arrows. And Hus did not give it, 
 for he feared the immortal gods ; my father, however, 
 gave it, for he held him strangely dear. If as he 
 was that day Odysseus now might meet the suitors, 
 they all would find quick turns of fate and bitter rite* 
 of marriage. Still, in the gods' lap it lies to say if 
 he shall come and wreak revenge within his halls; 
 but yours it is to plan to thrust the suitors from your 
 door. Give me your ear and heed my words. To- 
 morrow, summoning to an assembly the Achaean 
 lords, announce your will to all and call the gods to 
 witness ! Bid the suitors all disperse, each to his 
 own. And for your mother, if her heart inclines to 
 marriage, let her return to her strong father's hall. 
 They there shall make the wedding and provide the 
 many gifts which should accompany a well-loved 
 child. Then for yourself I offer sound advice, if 
 you will hearken. Man the best ship you have 
 with twenty oarsmen, and go and gather tidings of 
 your long-absent father. Perhaps some man may teU 
 you, or you may catch a rumor sent from Zeus, 
 which oftenest carries tidings. First go to Pylos, and 
 question royal Nestor. Then on to Sparta, to light- 
 haired Menelaus ; for he came last of all the mailed 
 Achaeans. And if you hear your father is alive 
 and coming home, then, worn as you are, you might
 
 10 THE ODYSSEY. [1. 289-320, 
 
 endure for one year more. But if you hear that he 
 is dead, no longer with the living you shall at 
 once return to your own native land, and pile his 
 mound and pay the funeral rites, full many, as are 
 due, and you shall give your mother to a husband. 
 Moreover, after you have ended this and finished all, 
 within your mind and heart consider next how you 
 may slay the suitors in your halls, whether by strata- 
 gem or open force. You must not hold to childish 
 ways, because you are no longer now the child you 
 were. Have you not heard what fame royal Orestes 
 gained with all mankind, because he slew the slayer, 
 wily Aegisthus, who had slain his famous father? 
 You too, my friend, for certainly I find you fair 
 And tall, be strong, that men hereafter born may 
 speak your praise. Now I will go to my swift ship 
 and to my comrades, who greatly chafe at waiting. 
 Rely upon yourself. Heed what I say." 
 
 Then answered her discreet Telemachus : " Stran- 
 ger, in this you speak with kindness, even as a father 
 *o a son. Never shall I forget it. But tarry now, 
 though eager for your journey. Bathe, and refresh 
 your soul ; then glad at heart turn to your ship, bear- 
 ing a gift of value, very beautiful, to be to you a keep- 
 sake from myself, even such a thing as dear friends 
 give to friends." 
 
 , Then answered him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene : 
 ** Do not detain me longer now, when I am anx 
 ious for my journey. And any gift your heart may 
 bid you give, give when 1 come again, for me to carry 
 home. Choose one exceeding beautiful; it shall be 
 matched in the exchange." 
 
 Saying this, clear-eyed Athene passed away, even 
 as a bird a sea-hawk takes its flight. Into hii
 
 I. 321-352.] THE ODYSSEY. It 
 
 heart she had brought strength and courage, turning 
 his thoughts upon his father more even than before. 
 As he marked this in his mind, an awe came on his 
 heart ; he knew a god was with him. Straightway he 
 sought the suitors, godlike himself. 
 
 To them the famous bard was singing, while they 
 in silence sat and listened. He sang of the return of 
 the Achaeans, the sad return, which Pallas Athene had 
 appointed them on leaving Troy. 
 
 Now from her upper chamber, there heard this won- 
 drous song the daughter of Icarius, heedful Penelope, 
 and she descended the long stairway from her room, 
 yet not alone ; two damsels followed her. And when 
 the royal lady reached the suitors, she stood beside a 
 column of the strong-built roof, holding before her 
 face her delicate wimple, the while a faithful damsel 
 stood upon either hand. Then bursting into tears, 
 she said to the noble bard : 
 
 " Phemius, many another tale you know to charm 
 mankind, exploits of men and gods, which bards make 
 famous. Sit and sing one of these. The rest drink 
 vine in silence. But cease this song, this song of 
 woe, which harrows evermore the soul within my 
 breast; because on me has fallen grief that cannot 
 be forgotten. So dear a face I miss, ever remember- 
 ing one whose fame is wide through Hellas and mid- 
 Argos." 
 
 Then answered her discreet Telemachus : " My 
 mother, why forbid the honored bard to cheer us in 
 whatever way his mind is moved ? The bards are not 
 to blame, but rather Zeus, who gives to toiling men 
 even as he wills to each. And for the bard, there is 
 no ground for censure if he sings the Danaans' cruel 
 doom. The song which men most heartily applaud is
 
 12 THE ODYSSEY. [1.363-385. 
 
 that which comes the newest to their ears. Then let 
 your heart and soul submit to listen ; for not Odys- 
 seus only lost the day of his return at Troy, but many 
 another perished also. Nay, seek your chamber and 
 attend to matters of your own, the loom, the distaff, 
 and bid the women ply their tasks. Words are for 
 men, for all, especially for me ; for power within this 
 house rests here." 
 
 Amazed, she turned to her own room again, for the 
 wise saying of her son she laid to heart. And coming 
 to the upper chamber with her maids, she there be- 
 wailed Odysseus, her dear husband, till on her lids 
 clear-eyed Athene caused a sweet sleep to fall. 
 
 But the suitors broke into uproar up and down the 
 dusky hall. Each prayed to lie beside her. But thus 
 discreet Telemachus began to speak : " You suitors of 
 my mother, overweening in your pride, let us enjoy 
 our feast and have no brawling now. For a pleasant 
 thing it is to hear a bard like this, one who is like the 
 gods in voice. But in the morning let us all take 
 seats in the assembly, where I may unreservedly an- 
 nounce my will that you shall quit my halls. Seek 
 other tables and eat what is your own, changing from 
 house to house ! Or if it seems to you more profitable 
 and better to ruin the living of one man without 
 amends, go wasting on ! But I will call upon the 
 gods that live forever and pray that Zeus may grant 
 deeds of requital. Then beyond all amends, here in 
 this house you shall yourselves be ruined." 
 
 He spoke, and all with teeth set in their lips mar- 
 veled because Telemachus had spoken boldly. Then 
 said Antinoiis, Eupeithes' son : " Telemachus, surely 
 the gods themselves are training you to be a man of 
 lofty tongue and a bold speaker. But may the SOD
 
 L38(>-417.j THE ODYSSEY. 13 
 
 of Kronos never make you king in sea-girt Ithaca, 
 although it is by birth your heritage ! " 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus: "Anti- 
 nous, will you feel offense at what I say? This I 
 would gladly take, if Zeus would grant it. Do you 
 suppose the kingship is the worst fate in the world ? 
 Why, it is no bad thing to be a king ! Soon the house 
 of a king grows rich and he himself is honored more. 
 Still, as to kings of the Achaeans, here in sea-girt 
 Ithaca are many others young and old, some one of 
 whom may take the place, since royal Odysseus now is 
 dead. But I myself will be the lord of our own house 
 and of the slaves which royal Odysseus won for me." 
 
 Then answered him Eurymachus, the son of Poly, 
 bus: "Telemachus, in the gods' lap it lies to say 
 which one of the Achaeans shall be king in sea-girt 
 Ithaca. Your substance may you keep and of your 
 house be lord ; may the man never come who, heedless 
 of your will, shall strip you of that substance while 
 men shall dwell in Ithaca. But, good sir, I would ask 
 about this stranger whence the man comes, and of 
 what land he calls himself. Where are his kinsmen 
 and his native fields ? Does he bring tidings of your 
 father's coming, or is he come with hope of his own 
 gains? How hastily he went! Not waiting to be 
 known ! And yet he seemed no low-born fellow by 
 the face." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus: "Eury- 
 machus, as for my father's coming, that is at an end. 
 Tidings I trust no longer, let them come whence 
 they may. Nor do I care for divinations, such as my 
 mother seeks, summoning a diviner to the hall. This 
 stranger is my father's friend, a man of Taphos; 
 Mentes he calls himself, the son of wise Anchialus, 
 and he is lord of the oar-loving Taphians."
 
 14 THE ODYSSEY. [L 418-444- 
 
 So spoke Telemachus, but in his mind he knew the 
 immortal goddess. Meanwhile the suitors to dancing 
 and the gladsome song turned merrily, and waited 
 for the evening to come on. And on their merriment 
 dark evening came. So then, desiring rest, they each 
 departed homeward. 
 
 But Telemachus himself, where on the beautiful 
 court his chamber was built high upon commanding 
 ground, went to his bed with many doubts in mind. 
 And walking by his side, with blazing torch, went 
 faithful Eurycleia, daughter of Ops, Peisenor's son, 
 whom once Laertes purchased with his substance when 
 she was but a girl, and paid the price of twenty oxen. 
 Her equally with his faithful wife he honored at the 
 palace, but he never sought her bed, avoiding a wife's 
 anger. Now she it was who bore the blazing torch be- 
 side Telemachus ; for she of all the handmaids loved 
 him most and was his nurse when little. He opened 
 the doors of the strong chamber, sat down upon the 
 bed, pulled his soft tunic off, and laid it in the wise 
 old woman's hands. Folding and smoothing out the 
 tunic, she hung it on a peg beside the well-bored bed- 
 stead, then left the chamber, and by its silver ring 
 pulled to the door, drawing the bolt home by its strap. 
 So there Telemachus, all the night long, wrapped in 
 a fleece of wool, pondered in mind the course Athene 
 counseled.
 
 II.. 
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT ITHACA VMD THE DEPARTURE 
 OP TELEMACHU8. 
 
 SOON as the early, rosy-fingered dawn appeared, the 
 dear son of Odysseus rose from bed, put on his clothes, 
 slung his sharp sword about his shoulder, under his 
 shining feet bound his fair sandals, and came forth 
 from his chamber in bearing like a god. Straightway 
 he bade the clear-voiced heralds summon to an as- 
 sembly the long-haired Achaeans. Those summoned, 
 and these gathered very quickly. So when they were 
 assembled and all had come together, he went himself 
 to the assembly, holding in hand a brazen spear, 
 yet not alone, two swift dogs followed after, and 
 marvelous was the grace Athene cast about him, that 
 all the people gazed as he drew near. He sat down 
 in his father's seat ; the elders made him way. 
 
 The first to speak was lord Aegyptius, a maq 
 bowed down with age, who knew a thousand things, 
 His dear son Antiphus, a spearman, had gone with 
 god-like Odysseus in the hollow ships to Ilios, famed 
 for horses. The savage Cyclops killed him in the 
 deep cave and on him made a supper last of all. Three 
 other sons there were ; one joined the suitors, Eu- 
 rynomus and two still kept their father's farm. 
 Yet not because of these did he forget to mourn and 
 miss that other. With tears for him, he thus ad- 
 dressed the assembly, saying :
 
 16 THE ODYSSEY. pi. 26-55. 
 
 M Hearken now, men of Ithaca, to what I say. 
 Never has our assembly once been held, no single ses- 
 sion, since royal Odysseus went away in hollow ships. 
 Who is it calls us now, in such a fashion ? Who has 
 such urgent need ? Young or old is he ? Has he 
 heard tidings of the army's coming, which he would 
 plainly tell to us so soon as he has learned ? Or has 
 he other public matter to announce and argue ? At 
 any rate, good seems the man to me a blessed man. 
 May Zeus accomplish all the good his mind intends I " 
 
 As thus he spoke, the dear son of Odysseus rejoiced 
 at what was said and kept his seat no longer. He 
 burned to speak. He rose up in the midst of the as* 
 sembly, and in his hand a herald placed the sceptre, 
 a herald named Peisenor, discreet of understanding. 
 Then turning first to the old man, he thus addressed 
 him : 
 
 " Sire, not far off is he, as you full soon shall know, 
 who called the people hither; for it is I especially 
 whom grief befalls. No tidings of the army's com- 
 ing have I heard, which I would plainly tell to yon 
 so soon as I have learned ; nor have I other public 
 matter to announce and argue. Rather it is my pri- 
 vate need, ill falling on my house in twofold wise. 
 For first I lost my noble father, who was formerly 
 your king, kind father as e'er was and now there 
 comes a thing more grievous still, which soon will ut- 
 terly destroy my home and quite cut off my substance. 
 Suitors beset my mother sorely against her will, sons 
 of rtie very men who are the leaders here. They 
 fth.nik from going to the house of Icarius, her father, 
 to let him count the bride-gifts of his daughter and 
 give her then to whom he will, whoever meets his 
 favor ; but haunting this house of ours day after day.
 
 H. 66-87.] THE ODYSSEY. 17 
 
 killing our oxen, sheep, and fatted goats, they hold 
 high revel, drinking sparkling wine with little heed. 
 Much goes to waste, for there is no man here fit like 
 Odysseus to keep damage from our doors. We are 
 not fit ourselves to guard the house ; attempting it, 
 we should be pitiful, unskilled in conflict. Guard it 
 I would, if only strength were mine. For deeds are 
 done not to be longer borne, and with no decency my 
 house is plundered. Shame you should feel your- 
 selves, and some respect as well for neighbors living 
 near you, and awe before the anger of the gods, lest 
 haply they may turn upon you, vexed with your evil 
 courses. Nay, I entreat you by Olympian Zeus, and 
 by that Justice which dissolves and gathers men's 
 assemblies, forbear, my friends ! Leave me to pine in 
 bitter grief alone, unless indeed my father, good Odys- 
 seus, ever in malice wronged the mailed Achaeans, 
 and in return for that you now with malice do me 
 wrong, urging these people on. Better for me it were 
 you should yourselves devour my stores and herds. If 
 you devoured them, perhaps some day there might be 
 payment made ; for we would constantly pursue you 
 through the town, demanding back our substance till 
 all should be restored. Now, woes incurable you lay 
 upon my heart.'* 
 
 In wrath he spoke, and dashed the sceptre to the 
 ground, letting his tears burst forth, and pity fell on 
 all the people. So all the rest were silent ; no man 
 dared to make Telemachus a bitter answer. Antinoiis 
 alone made answer, saying : 
 
 " Telemachus, of the lofty tongue and the unbridled 
 temper, what do you mean by putting us to shame ? 
 On us you would be glad to fasten guilt. I tell you 
 the Achaean suitors are not at all to blame; your
 
 18 THE ODYSSEY. [IL 88-lia 
 
 mother is to blame, whose craft exceeds all women's. 
 The third year is gone by, and fast the fourth is going 
 since she began to mock the hearts in our Achaean 
 breasts. To all she offers hopes, has promises for 
 each, and sends us messages, but her mind has a dif- 
 ferent purpose. Here is the last pretext she cun- 
 ningly devised. Within the hall she set up a great 
 loom and went to weaving ; fine was the web and very 
 large ; and then to us said she : * Young men who are 
 my suitors, though royal Odysseus now is dead, for- 
 bear to urge my marriage till I complete this robe, 
 its threads must not be wasted, a shroud for lord 
 Laertes, against the time when the fell doom of death 
 that lays men low shall overtake him. Achaean wives 
 about the land, I fear, might give me blame if he 
 should lie without a shroud, he who had great posses- 
 sions.' Such were her words, and our high hearts 
 Assented. Then in the daytime would she weave 
 at the great web, but in the night unravel, after her 
 torch was set. Thus for three years she hid her craft 
 and cheated the Achaeans. But when the fourth 
 year came, as time rolled on, then at the last one of 
 her maids, who knew full well, confessed, and we dis- 
 covered her unraveling the splendid web ; so then she 
 finished it, against her will, perforce. Therefore to 
 you the suitors make this answer, that you yourself 
 may understand in your own heart, and that the 
 Achaeans all may understand. Send forth your mo* 
 tharl Bid her to marry whomever her father willf 
 and him who pleases her ! Or will she weary longer 
 yet the sons of the Achaeans, mindful at heart of what 
 Athene largely gave her, skill in fair works, a noble 
 mind, and such a craft as we have never known in 
 those of old, those who were long ago fair-haired
 
 JL12O-151.] THE ODYSSEY. 19 
 
 Achaean women, Tyro, Alcmene, and crowned My- 
 cene, no one of whom had judgment like Penelope ; 
 and yet, in truth, in this she judged not wisely. For 
 just so long shall men devour your life and substance 
 as she retains the mind the gods put in her breast at 
 present. Great fame she brings herself, but brings 
 on you the loss of large possessions ; for we will never 
 go to our estates, nor elsewhere either, till she shaL', 
 marry an Achaean whom she wilL" 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus: "Anti- 
 nous, against her will I cannot drive from home the one 
 who bore me and who brought me up. My father is 
 away, alive or dead, and hard it were to pay the 
 heavy charges to Icarius which I needs must, if of 
 my will alone I send my mother forth. For from her 
 father's hand I shall meet ills, and Heaven will send 
 me more, when my mother calls upon the dread Aven- 
 gers as she forsakes the house; blame too will fall 
 upon me from mankind. Therefore that word I never 
 will pronounce ; and if your hearts chafe at your foot* 
 ing here, then quit my halls ! Seek other tables and 
 eat what is your own, changing from house to nouse I 
 Or if it seems to you more profitable and better to 
 ruin the living of one man without amends, go wast- 
 ing on ! But I will call upon the gods that live for- ' 
 ever and pray that Zeus may grant deeds of requital 
 Then beyond all amends, here in this house yot 
 shall yourselves be ruined ! " 
 
 So spoke Telemachus, and answering him far-seeing 
 Zeus sent forth a pair of eagles, flying from a moun- 
 tain peak on high. These for a time moved on along 
 the wind, close by each other and with outstretched 
 wings ; but as they reached the middle of the many- 
 voiced assembly, wheeling about they briskly flapped
 
 20 THE ODYSSEY. [11.162-184. 
 
 their wings, glared at the heads of all, and death was 
 in their eyes. Then with their claws tearing each 
 other's cheek and neck, they darted to the right, across 
 the town and houses. Men marveled at the birds, as 
 they beheld, and pondered in their hearts what they 
 might mean. And to the rest spoke old lord Halither- 
 ses, the son of Master; for he surpassed all people 
 of his time in understanding birds and telling words 
 of fate. He with good will addressed them thus, 
 and said : 
 
 " Hearken now, men of Ithaca, to what I say ; and 
 to the suitors especially I speak, for over them rolls a 
 great wave of woe. Odysseus will not long be parted 
 from his friends, but even now is near, sowing the 
 seeds of death and doom for all men here. Ay, and 
 on many others too shall sorrow fall, on many of us 
 who live in far-seen Ithaca! But long ere that, let us 
 consider how to check these men, or rather, let them 
 check themselves ; that shall be soon their gain. And 
 not as inexpert I prophesy, but with sure knowledge. 
 For this I say : all has come true which 1 declared 
 that day the Argive host took ship for Ilios, and with 
 them also wise Odysseus went. I said that after suf- 
 fering much, and losing all his men, unknown to all, 
 in the twentieth year he should come home ; and now 
 it all comes true." 
 
 Then answered him Eurymachus, the son of Poly- 
 bus : " Well, well, old man, go home and play the 
 prophet to your children, or else they may have trouble 
 in the days to come ! About these matters I can pro- 
 phesy much better than yourself. Plenty of birds flit 
 in the sunshine, but not all are fateful. As for Odys- 
 seus, he died far away ; and would that you had per- 
 ished with him I You would not then be prating so
 
 II. 186-217.] THE ODYSSEY. 21 
 
 of reading signs, nor would you, when Telemachus is 
 wroth, thus press him on, looking for him to send your 
 house some gift. But this I tell you, and it shall be 
 done ; if you, who know all that an old man knows, 
 delude this youth with talk and urge him on to anger, 
 it shall be in the first place all the worse for him, and 
 he shall accomplish nothing by aid of people here, 
 Awhile on yourself, old man, we will inflict a fine which 
 It will grieve you to the soul to pay. Bitter indeed 
 shall be your sorrow. And to Telemachus, here be- 
 fore all, I give this warning. Let him instruct his 
 mother to go to her father's house. They there shall 
 make the wedding and arrange the many gifts which 
 should accompany a well-loved child ; for not, I think, 
 till then will the sons of the Achaeans quit their rough 
 courtship. No fear have we of any man, not even of 
 Telemachus, so full of talk. Nothing we care for au- 
 guries which you, old man, idly declare, making your- 
 self the more detested. So now again, his substance 
 shall be miserably devoured, and no return be made, 
 so long as she delays the Achaeans with her marriage. 
 Moreover, waiting here day after day, as rivals for 
 her charms, we will not seek out other women whom 
 it might well become a man to marry." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " Euryma- 
 chus and all you other lordly suitors, this will I urge 
 no longer ; I have no more to say ; for now the gods 
 and all the Achaeans understand. But give me a 
 swift ship with twenty comrades, to help me make a 
 journey up and down the sea ; for I will go to Sparta 
 and to sandy Pylos, to learn about the coming home 
 of my long-absent father. Perhaps some man may tell 
 me, or I may catch a rumor sent from Zeus, which 
 of tenest carries tidings. If I shall hear my father is
 
 22 THE ODYSSEY. [II. 218-249. 
 
 alive and coming home, worn as I am, I might endure 
 for one year more. But if I hear that he is dead, 
 no longer with the living, I will at once return to 
 my own native land, and pile his mound and pay the 
 funeral rites, full many, as are due, and I will give my 
 mother to a husband." 
 
 So saying, he sat down ; and up rose Mentor, who 
 was the friend of gallant Odysseus. On going with 
 the ships, Odysseus gave him charge of all his house, 
 that they should heed their elder and he keep all 
 things secure. He with good will addressed them thus, 
 and said : 
 
 " Hearken now, men of Ithaca, to what I say. 
 Never again let sceptred king in all sincerity be 
 kind and gentle, nor let him in his mind heed right- 
 eousness. Let him instead ever be stern, and work 
 unrighteous deeds ; since none remembers princely 
 Odysseus among the people whom he ruled, kind 
 father though he was. Yet I make no complaint 
 against the haughty suitors for doing deeds of vio- 
 lence in insolence of heart ; for they at hazard of their 
 heads thus violently devour the household of Odys- 
 seus, saying he comes no more. But with the rest of 
 the people I am wroth, because you all sit still, and, 
 uttering not a word, you do not stop the suitors, 
 they so few and you so many." 
 
 Then answered him Evenor's son, Leiocritus : " In- 
 fernal Mentor, crazy -witted, what do you mean by 
 urging these to stop us ? Hard would it be, for many 
 more than we, to fight with us on question of our food I 
 Indeed, should Ithacan Odysseus come himself upon 
 us lordly suitors feasting in his house, and be resolved 
 at heart to drive us from the hall, his wife would have 
 no joy, however great her longing, over his coming;
 
 IL 260-283.] THE ODYSSEY. 28 
 
 but here he should meet shameful death, fighting with 
 more than he. You spoke unwisely ! Come, people, 
 then, turn to your own affairs ! For this youth here, 
 Mentor shall speed his voyage, and Halitherses too, 
 for they are from of old his father's friends ; but I 
 suspect he still will sit about, gather his news ID, 
 Ithaca, and never make the voyage." 
 
 He spoke, and hastily dissolved the assembly. So 
 they dispersed, each to his house ; but the suitors 
 sought the house oi princely Odysseus. 
 
 Telemachus, however, walked alone along the shore, 
 and, washing his hands in the foaming water, prayed 
 to Athene : " Hear me, thou god who earnest yester- 
 day here to our home, and badst me go on ship- 
 board over the misty sea to ask about the coming 
 home of my long-absent father. All thy commands 
 the Achaeans hinder, the suitors most of all in wicked 
 insolence." 
 
 So spoke he in his prayer, and near him came 
 Athene, likened to Mentor in her form and voice, and 
 speaking in winged words she said : 
 
 " Telemachus, henceforth you shall not be a base 
 man nor a foolish, if in you stirs the brave soul of 
 your father, and you like him can give effect to deed 
 and word. Then shall this voyage not be vain and 
 ineffective. But if you are no son of him and of Pe- 
 nelope, then am I hopeless of your gaming what you 
 seek. Few sons are like their fathers ; most are worse, 
 few better than the father. Yet because you henceforth 
 will not be base nor foolish, nor has the wisdom of 
 Odysseus wholly failed you, therefore there is a hope 
 you will one day accomplish all. Disregard, then, the 
 thoughts and plans of the mad suitors, for they are in 
 no way wise or upright men. Nothing they know of
 
 24 THE ODYSSEY. [11.284-318. 
 
 death and the dark doom which now is near, so that 
 they all shall perish in a day. But for yourself, the 
 journey you desire shall not be long delayed. So 
 truly am I your father's friend, I will provide you a 
 swift ship and be myself your comrade. But go you 
 to the palace, mix with the suitors, and prepare the 
 stores, securing all in vessels, wine in jars, and bar- 
 ley-meal, men's marrow, in tight skins, while I about 
 the town will soon collect a willing crew. The ships 
 are many in sea-girt Ithaca, ships new and old. Of 
 these I will select the best, and quickly making ready 
 we will sail the open sea." 
 
 So spoke Athene, daughter of Zeus. No longer then 
 lingered Telemachus when he heard the goddess speak. 
 He hastened to the house, though with a heavy heart, 
 and at the palace found the haughty suitors flaying 
 goats and singeing swine within the court. Antinoiis 
 laughingly came forward to Telemachus, and holding 
 him by the hand he spoke, and thus addressed him : 
 
 " Telemachus, of the lofty tongue and the uubridled 
 temper, do not again grow sore in heart at what we do 
 or say ! No, eat and drink just as you used to do. 
 All you have asked of course the Achaeans will pro- 
 vide, the ship and the picked crew, to help you 
 quickly find your way to hallowed Pylos, seeking for 
 tidings of your noble father." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " Anti- 
 noiis, it is not possible to sit at table quietly with yon 
 rude men and calmly take my ease. Was it not quite 
 enough that in the days gone by you suitors wasted 
 much good property of mine, while I was still a help- 
 less child ? But now that I am grown and hear and 
 understand what people say, the spirit swells within 
 me, and I will try to bring upon your heads an eril
 
 H. 317-348.] THE ODYSSEY. 26 
 
 doom whether I go to Pylos or remain here in this 
 land. But go I will not vain shall be the voyage 
 of which I speak a passenger with others, since I 
 can have command of neither ship nor crew. And 
 this was what a while ago you judged was best." 
 
 He spoke, and from the hand of Antinoiis quietly 
 drew his own. Meanwhile, the suitors in the house 
 were busy at their meal. They mocked him, jeering 
 at him in their talk, and a rude youth would say : 
 
 " Really, Telemachus is plotting for our ruin I He 
 will bring champions from sandy Pylos , or even from 
 Sparta, so deeply is he stirred ; or else he means to go 
 to Ephyra, that fruitful land, and fetch thence deadly 
 drugs to drop into our wine-bowl and so destroy us 
 all." 
 
 Then would another rude youth answer thus : " If 
 he goes off upon a hollow ship and wanders far from 
 friends, who knows but he too may be lost just as 
 Odysseus was ! And that would make us more ado ; 
 for all his goods we then must share, and to his mother 
 give the house, for her to keep her and the man who 
 marries her." 
 
 So ran their talk. Meanwhile Telemachus passed 
 down the house into his father's large and high-roofed 
 chamber, where in a pile lay gold and bronze; cloth- 
 ing in chests, and stores of fragrant oil. Great jars 
 of old delicious wine were standing there, holding 
 within pure liquor fit for gods, in order ranged along 
 the wall, in case Odysseus, after all his woes, ever 
 came home again. Shut were the folding-doors, close- 
 fitting, double ; and here both night and day a house- 
 wife stayed, who in her watchful wisdom guarded all 
 Eurycleia, daughter of Ops, Peisenor's son. To 
 tei now spoke Telemachus, calling her to the room :
 
 26 THE ODYSSEY. [11.349-380. 
 
 "Good nurse, come draw me wine in jars, sweet 
 wine that is the choicest next to the wine you keep, 
 thinking that ill-starred man will one day come 
 high-born Odysseus safe from death and doom. Fill 
 twelve and fit them all with covers. Then pour me 
 barley into well-sewn sacks. Let there be twenty 
 measures of ground barley-meal. None but yourself 
 must know. Get all together, and I to-night will 
 fetch them, so soon as my mother goes to her cham- 
 ber seeking rest; for I am going to Sparta and to 
 sandy Pylos, to try to learn of my dear father's 
 coming." 
 
 As he said this, his dear nurse Eurycleia cried aloud 
 and sorrowfully said in winged words : " Ah, my dear 
 child, how came such notions in your mind ? Where 
 will you go through the wide world, our only one, our 
 darling! High-born Odysseus is already dead, far 
 from his home in some strange land. And now these 
 men, the instant you are gone, will plot against you 
 harm, that you by stealth may be cut off, and they 
 thus share with one another all things here. No, stay 
 you here at ease among your own! You have no 
 Heed to suffer hardship, roaming over barren seas." 
 
 Then answered her discreet Telemachus: "Cour- 
 age, good nurse ! for not without God's warrant is my 
 purpose. But swear to speak no word of this to my 
 dear mother until the eleventh or twelfth day comes, 
 or until she shall miss me and hear that I am gone, 
 that so she may not stain her beautiful face with 
 tears." 
 
 Thus did he speak, and the old woman swore by the 
 gods a solemn oath. Then after she had sworn and 
 ended all that oath, she straightway drew him wine 
 in jars, and poured him barley into well-sewn sacks.
 
 n. 381-411.] THE ODYSSEY. 2? 
 
 Teleinachus, meanwhile, passed to the house and joined 
 the suitors. 
 
 Now a new plan the goddess formed, clear-eyed 
 Athene. In likeness of Telemachus, she went through- 
 out the town, and, approaching one and anothei man, 
 gave them the word, bidding them meet by the swift 
 ship at eventide. Noemon next, the gallant son of 
 Phronius, she begged for a swift ship; and this he 
 freely promised. 
 
 Now the sun sank and all the ways grew dark. 
 And now she drew the swift ship to the sea and put 
 in all the gear that well-benched vessels carry ; she 
 moored her by the harbor's mouth ; the good crew 
 gathered round about, and the goddess gave them 
 zeal. 
 
 Then a new plan the goddess formed, clear-eyed 
 Athene. She hastened to the house of princely Odys- 
 seus, there on the suitors poured sweet sleep, confused 
 them as they drank, and made the cups fall from their 
 hands. They hurried off to rest throughout the town, 
 and did not longer tarry, for sleep fell on their eyelids. 
 Then to Telemachus spoke clear-eyed Athene, calling 
 him forth before the stately hall, likened to Mentor 
 in her form and voice : 
 
 " Telemachus, already your mailed comrades sit at 
 the oar and wait your starting. Come, let us go, and 
 not lose time upon the way." 
 
 Saying this, Pallas Athene led the way in haste, 
 and he walked after in the footsteps of the goddess. 
 But when they came to the ship and to the sea, they 
 found upon the shore their long-haired comrades, to 
 whom thus spoke revered Telemachus : 
 
 " Come, friends, and let us fetch the stores ; all are 
 collected at the hall. My mother knows of nothing,
 
 28 THE ODYSSEY. [11.412-134. 
 
 nor do the handmaids either. One alone had my 
 orders." 
 
 So saying, he led the way, the others followed after ; 
 and bringing all the stores into their well-benched ship 
 they stowed them there, even as the dear sou of Odys- 
 seus ordered. Then came Telemachus aboard ; but 
 Athene led the way, and at the vessel's stern she sat 
 her down, while close at hand Telomachus was seated. 
 The others loosed the cables, and coming aboard them- 
 selves took places at the pins. A favorable wind 
 clear-eyed Athene sent, a brisk west wind that sang 
 along the wine-dark sea. And now Telemachus, in- 
 spiriting his men, bade them lay hold upon the tac- 
 kling, and they hearkened to his call. Raising the pine- 
 wood mast, they set it in the hollow socket, binding it 
 firm with forestays, and tightened the white sail with 
 twisted oxhide thongs. The wind swelled out the 
 belly of the sail, and round the stem loudly the rip- 
 pling water roared as the ship started. Onward she 
 sped, forcing a passage through the waves. Making 
 the tackling fast throughout the swift black ship, the 
 men brought bowls brimming with wine, and to the 
 gods, that never die and never have been born, they 
 poured it forth chief est of all to her, the clear-eyed 
 child of Zeus. So through the night and early dawn 
 did the ship cleave her way.
 
 m. 
 
 AT PYLOS. 
 
 AND now the sun, leaving the beauteous bay, rose 
 to the brazen sky, to shine for the immortals and for 
 mortal men upon the fruitful fields ; and the two drew 
 near to Pylos, the stately citadel of Neleus. The 
 townsfolk here were offering a sacrifice upon the shore, 
 slaying black bulls to the dark-haired Earth-shaker. 
 Nine groups there were, five hundred men in each, 
 and nine bulls were presented for each group. When 
 the inward parts were tasted and the thighs were 
 burning to the god, the two ran swiftly in, hauled 
 up and furled their trim ship's sail, brought her to 
 anchor, and came forth themselves. So from the ship 
 came forth Telemachus, but Athene led the way, and 
 thus began the goddess, clear-eyed Athene : 
 
 " Telemachus, no shyness now ! For to accomplish 
 this you crossed the sea, to make inquiry for your 
 father and to learn where he lies buried and what 
 fate he met. Go then straight forward to the horse- 
 man Nestor, and let us know what is the wisdom hid- 
 den in his breast. Beg him yourself to tell the very 
 truth. Falsehood he will not speak; truly upright 
 is he." 
 
 Then answered her discreet Telemachus : " Mentor, 
 how can I go ? How importune him ? In subtleties 
 of speech I am not practised. Shyness is fitting in a 
 youth when questioning his elders."
 
 80 THE ODYSSEY. [HI. 
 
 Then said to him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene : 
 " Telemachus, some promptings you will find in your 
 own breast, and Heaven will send still more ; for, cer- 
 tainly, not un befriended of the gods have you been 
 born and bred." 
 
 Saying this, Pallas Athene led the way in haste, and 
 he walked after in the footsteps of the goddess. So 
 they approached the gathering of the men of Pylos' 
 and the group where Nestor sat among his sons. 
 Kound him bis people, making the banquet ready, 
 were roasting meats and putting pieces on the spits. 
 But as they saw the strangers, all the men crowded 
 near, gave hands in welcome, and asked them to sit- 
 down ; and Nestor's son Peisistratus, approaching first, 
 took each one by the hand and placed them at the 
 feast on some soft fleeces laid upon the sands, beside 
 his brother Thrasymedes and his father. He gave 
 them portions of the inward parts, poured out some 
 wine into a golden cup, and, offering welcome, said to 
 Pallas Athene, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus : 
 
 " Here, stranger, make a prayer to lord Poseidon. 
 It is his feast you find at this your coming. Then, 
 after you have poured and prayed as is befitting, give 
 this man too the cup of honeyed wine for him to pour ; 
 for I suppose he also prays to the immortals. All 
 men have need of gods. But he is the younger, young 
 as I myself; so I will give you first the golden 
 chalice." 
 
 Saying this, he placed the cup of sweet wine in her 
 hand. And Athene was pleased to find the man so 
 wise and courteous, pleased that he gave her first the 
 golden chalice. Forthwith she prayed a fervent prayer 
 to lord Poseidon : 
 
 44 Hearken, Poseidon, thou girder of the land, and
 
 III. 66-86.] THE ODYSSEY. 31 
 
 count it not too much to give thy suppliants these 
 blessings. First upon Nestor and his sons bestow all 
 honor ; then to the rest grant gracious recompense, to 
 all the men of Pylos, for their splendid sacrifice ; and 
 grant still farther that Telemachus and I may sai) 
 away having accomplished that for which we came 
 upon our swift black ship." 
 
 Thus did she pray, and was herself fulfilling all. To 
 Telemachus she passed the goodly double cup, and in 
 like manner also prayed the dear son of Odysseus. 
 But when the rest had roasted the outer flesh and 
 drawn it off, dividing the portions, they held a glori- 
 ous feast. And after they had stayed desire for drink 
 and food, then thus began the Gereniau horseman 
 Nestor : 
 
 " Now, then, it is more suitable to prove our guests 
 and ask them who they are, since they are refreshed 
 with food. Strangers, who are you ? Where do you 
 come from, sailing the watery ways? Are you upon 
 gome business ? Or do you rove at random, as the 
 pirates roam the seas, risking their lives and bringing 
 ill to strangers ? " 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus, plucking 
 up courage; for Athene herself put courage in his 
 heart to ask about his absent father and to win a good 
 report among mankind : 
 
 " O Nestor, son of Neleus, great glory of the Achae- 
 ans, you ask me whence we are, and I will tell you. 
 We are of Ithaca, under Mount Nei'on. Our busi- 
 ness is our own, no public thing, as I will show. I 
 come afar to seek some tidings of my father, royal 
 hardy Odysseus, who once, they say, fought side by 
 side with you and sacked the Trojan town. For as to 
 all the others who were in the war at Troy we have
 
 82 THE ODYSSEY. [III. 87- lift 
 
 already learned where each man met his mournful 
 death ; but this man's death the son of Kronos left 
 unknown. No one can surely say where he has died ; 
 whether he was borne down on land by foes, or on the 
 sea among the waves of Amphitrite. Therefore I 
 now come hither to your knees to ask if you wiil tell 
 me of my father's mournful death, in case you saw it 
 for yourself with your own eyes, or from some other 
 heard the story of his wanderings ; for to exceeding 
 grief his mother bore him. Use no mild word nor 
 yield to pity from regard for me, but tell me fully all 
 you chanced to see. I do entreat you, if ever my 
 father, good Odysseus, in word or deed kept covenant 
 with you there in the Trojan land where you Achae- 
 an s suffered, be mindful of it now ; tell me the very 
 truth." 
 
 Then answered him the Gerenian horseman Nestor : 
 " Ah, friend, you make me call to mind the pains we 
 bore when in that land, untamed in spirit as we sons 
 of the Achaeans were all we endured on shipboard 
 on the misty sea, coasting for plunder where Achilles 
 led; and all our fightings round the stronghold of 
 King Priam, where so many of our bravest perished. 
 There warlike Ajax lies, and there Achilles. There 
 too Patroclus, the peer of gods in wisdom. There my 
 own son, so strong and gallant, Antilochus, exceeding 
 swift of foot, a famous fighter. And many other woes 
 we had, added to these. What mortal man could 
 count them ? Nay, should you tarry five or six years 
 here to ask what woes the great Achaeans suffered, 
 you would return to your own land, wearied ere I 
 could tell. 
 
 " For nine years long we plotted their destruction, 
 busy with craft of every kind; yet still the son of
 
 HI. 120-152.] THE ODYSSEY. 33 
 
 Kronos hardly brought us through. With one man 
 then none sought to vie in wisdom ; for far beyond 
 us all in craft of every kind was royal Odysseus, your 
 father, if you are indeed his child. I am amazed 
 to see. And yet, how fitting are your words ! One 
 would not say a youth could speak so fitly. There, 
 all that while, royal Odysseus and I never once dis- 
 agreed in the assembly or the council ; but with one 
 heart, with will and steadfast purpose, we planned how 
 all might best be ordered for the Argives. 
 
 " Yet after we overthrew the lofty town of Priam, 
 when we went away in ships and God dispersed the 
 Achaeans, ah, then Zeus purposed in his mind a sad 
 voyage for the Argives ! For nowise prudent and up- 
 right were all. So, many a one came to an evil end, 
 through the fell wrath of the dread father's clear-eyed 
 child, who caused a strife betwixt the sons of Atreus. 
 For these two summoned to an assembly all the 
 Achaeans, in haste, not in due order, at the setting 
 sun ; and heavy with wine the young Achaeans came. 
 Then each declared the reason why he called the host 
 together. Now Menelaus exhorted all the Achae- 
 ans to turn their thoughts toward going home on the 
 broad ocean-ridges ; but this pleased Agamemnon not 
 at all. He wished to stay the host and offer sacred 
 hecatombs, that so he might appease the dread wrath 
 of Athene, ah, fool ! who did not know she might 
 not be persuaded ; for a purpose is not lightly changed 
 in gods who live forever. Thus stood the brothers ex- 
 changing bitter words, while up sprang other mailed 
 Achaeans in wild din and both the plans found favor. 
 That night we rested, nursing in our breasts hard 
 thoughts of one another. Zeus was preparing us the 
 ill that comes from wrong. At dawn we dragged our
 
 84 THE ODYSSE*. [III. 153-184, 
 
 ship*, into the sacred sea, and put therein our goods 
 and the low-girdled women. Half of the host held 
 back, remaining with the son of Atreus, Agamemnon, 
 the shepherd of the people ; while we, the other half, 
 embarked and sailed. Swiftly our ships ran on ; God 
 smoothed the billowy deep. Arrived at Tenedos, we 
 offered sacrifices to the gods, as homeward bound ; but 
 Zeus had not yet willed our coming home, cruel 1 to 
 waken bitter strife a second time. Part turned their 
 curved ships back and sailed away after Odysseus, keen 
 and crafty, again to proffer aid to Agamemnon, son of 
 Atreus. I, with the company of ships which followed 
 me, pressed onward, for I knew some power intended 
 ill. On pressed the warlike son of Tydeus, too, inspirit* 
 ing his men. Later upon our track came light-haired 
 Menelaus, who overtook us while at Lesbos we debated 
 on the long sea voyage, doubtful if we should eail 
 above steep Chios, by way of the island Psyria, with 
 Chios on our left, or under Chios and past windy 
 Mimas. We therefore begged of God to show some 
 sign ; and he made plain our way, bidding us cut the 
 centre of the sea straight for Euboea, if we would 
 soonest flee from danger. The whistling wind began 
 to blow, and swiftly along the swarming water sped 
 our ships, and touched at night Geraestus, where on 
 Poseidon's altar we laid many thighs of bulls, thank- 
 ful that we had compassed the wide sea. It was the 
 fourth day when the crews of Diomed the horseman, 
 son of Tydeus, moored their trim ships at Argos. I 
 still held on toward Pylos, nor did the breeze once fall 
 after the god first sent it forth to blow. 
 
 ** And thus jt was I came, dear child, bringing no 
 tidings ; nothing I know about the rest of the Achae- 
 ans, which were saved and which were lost. But all
 
 IIL186-217.J THE ODYSSEY. 86 
 
 that I have learned while sitting here at home, this, 
 as is proper, you shall know ; I will hide nothing from 
 you. Safely, they say, returned the spearmen of the 
 Myrmidons, whom the proud son of fierce Achilles 
 led ; safely, too, Philoctetes, the gallant son of Poias ; 
 and back to Crete Idomeneus brought all his men, ^ 
 oil who escaped the war, the sea took not a man* 
 About the son of Atreus you yourselves have heard, 
 though you live far away ; how he returned, and how 
 Aegisthus plotted his mournful death. And yet a 
 fearful reckoning Aegisthus paidl When a man 
 dies, how good it is to leave a son ! That son took 
 vengeance on the slayer, wily Aegisthus, who had 
 slain his famous father. You too, my friend, for 
 certainly I find you fair and tall, be strong, that 
 men hereafter born may speak your praise." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " O Nes- 
 tor, son of Neleus, great glory of the Achaeans, 
 stoutly that son took vengeance, and the Achaeans 
 ahall spread his fame afar, that future times may 
 know. Oh, that to me as well the gods would give 
 the power to pay the suitors for their grievous wrongs, 
 for they with insult work me abominations ! But no 
 such boon the gods bestowed on me and on my father. 
 Now, therefore, all must simply be endured." 
 
 Then answered him the Gerenian horseman Nestort 
 " Friend, since you turn my thoughts that way by 
 your own words, they say that many suitors of your 
 mother, heedless of you, work evil in your halls. 
 Pray tell me, do you willingly submit, or are the peo- 
 ple of your land adverse to you, led by some voice 
 of God ? Who knows but yet Odysseus may return 
 and recompense their crimes, either alone, or all the 
 Achaeans with him? Ah, might clear-eyed Athene
 
 8d THE ODYSSEY. [III. 218-247. 
 
 be pleased to be your friend as formerly she aided 
 great Odysseus, there in the Trojan land where we 
 Achaeans suffered ! For I never knew the gods to 
 show such open friendship as Pallas Athene showed 
 in standing by Odysseus. If now to you she would 
 be such a friend and heartily give aid, it might be 
 some of these men here would cease to think of mar- 
 riage." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : ** Nay, 
 sire, not soon, I think, will words like these come 
 true. Too great is what you say ; I am astonished. 
 Hope what I might, such things could never be, not 
 if the gods should will them." 
 
 Then said to him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene : 
 "Telemachus, what word has passed the barrier of 
 your teeth ? Easily may a god, who will, bring a man 
 safe from far. But I myself would gladly meet a 
 multitude of woes, if thus I might go home and see 
 my day of coming, and not return and fall beside 
 my hearth as Agamemnon fell, under the plottings of 
 his own wife and Aegisthus. Yet death, the common 
 lot, gods have no power to turn even from one they 
 love, when the fell doom of death that lays men low 
 once overtakes him." 
 
 Then answered her discreet Telemachus : " Mentor, 
 let us talk of this no more, sad as we are. For him no 
 real return can ever be ; long time ago the immortals 
 fixed his death and his dark doom. At present I 
 would trace a different story and question Nestor, 
 since beyond all men else he knows the right and wise. 
 Three generations off ifaankind they say that he has 
 ruled, and as I now behold him he seems like an in> 
 mortal. O Nestor, son of Neleus, relate to me the 
 truth I How did the son of Atreus die, wide-ruling
 
 HI. 248-278.] THE ODYSSEY, 87 
 
 Agamemnon ? And where was Menelans ? What was 
 the deadly plot wily Aegisthus laid to kill a man much 
 braver than himself? Was Menelaus absent from 
 Achaean Argos, traveling to men afar, that so Aegis* 
 thus, taking courage, did the murder ? " 
 
 Then answered him the Gerenian horseman Nestor : 
 Well, I will tell you all the truth, my child. In- 
 deed, you yourself guess how it had fallen out if the i 
 son of Atreus, light-haired Menelaus, had found Ae- 
 gisthus living in the palace when he returned from 
 Troy. Then over dead Aegisthus, men had heaped 
 no mound of earth, but dogs and birds had feasted on 
 him where he lay upon the plain outside the town, 
 and no Achaean woman had made lament for him; 
 for monstrous was the deed he wrought. At Troy we 
 tarried, bringing to fulfillment many toils, while he, at 
 ease, hidden in grazing Argos, strove hard to win the 
 wife of Agamemnon by his words. At first, indeed, 
 she scorned ill-doing, this royal Clytaemnestra, being 
 of upright mind. Moreover, a bard was with her 
 whom the son of Atreus strictly charged, on setting 
 forth for Troy, to guard his wife. But when at last 
 the doom of gods constrained her to her ruin, then did 
 Aegisthus take the bard to a lone island and leave 
 him there the prey and prize of birds, while her, as \ 
 willing as himself, he led to his own home. And 
 many a thigh-piece did he burn upon the sacred altars v 
 of the gods, and many an offering render, woven stuffs 
 and gold, at having achieved such monstrous deed as 
 in his heart he had not hoped. 
 
 " Now as we came from Troy, the son of Atreus and 
 myself set sail together full of loving thoughts ; but 
 when we were approaching sacred Sunion, a cape of 
 Athens, Phoebus Apollo smote the helmsman of Me-
 
 38 THE ODYSSEY. [HI. 279-312. 
 
 nelaus and slew him with his gentle arrows while he 
 held the rudder of the running ship within his hands. 
 Phrontis it was, Onetor's son, one who surpassed all 
 .humankind in piloting a ship when winds were wild. 
 So Menelaus tarried, though eager for his journey, to 
 bury his companion and to pay the funeral rites. But 
 when he also, sailing in his hollow ships over the wine* 
 dark sea, reached in his course the steep height of 
 Maleia, from that point on far-seeing Zeus gave him 
 a grievous way. He poured forth blasts of whistling 
 winds and swollen waves as huge as mountains. Di~ 
 viding the ships, he brought a part to Crete, where 
 the Cydonians dwelt around the streams of lardanus. 
 Here is a cliff, smooth and steep toward the water, at 
 the border land of Gortyn, on the misty sea, where 
 the south wind drives in the heavy waves on the west- 
 ern point toward Phaestus, and this small rock holds 
 back the heavy waves. Some came in here, and the 
 men themselves hardly escaped destruction ; their 
 ships the waves crushed on the ledges. But the five 
 other dark-bowed ships wind and wave bore to Egypt. 
 So Menelaus gathered there much substance and 
 much gold, coasting about on ship-board to men of 
 alien speech ; and all this time at home Aegisthus 
 foully plotted. Seven years he reigned in rich My- 
 cene when he had slain the son of A trims. The peo- 
 1 pie were held down. But in the eighth ill came ; for 
 royal Orestes came from Athens and slew the slayer, 
 wily Aegisthus, who had slain his famous father. 
 The slaughter done, he held a funeral banquet for the 
 Argives, over his hateful mother and spiritless Aegis- 
 thus, and on that self-same day came Menelaus, good 
 at the war-cry, bringing a store of treasure, all the 
 freight his ships could bear.
 
 HI. 313-343.] THE ODYSSEY. 89 
 
 "You too, dear friend, wander not long and far 
 from home, leaving your wealth behind and persons 
 in your house so insolent as these ; for they may swal- 
 low all your wealth, sharing with one another, while 
 you are gone a fruitless journey. And yet, I say, go 
 visit Menelaus. Indeed, I bid you go ; for he is lately 
 come from foreign lands and from those nations 
 whence one could not really hope to come, when once 
 the storms had swept him off into so vast a sea, a 
 sea from which birds travel not within a year, so vast 
 it is and fearful. Go then at once with your own 
 ship and crew, or if you like by land ; chariot and 
 horses are ready for you, and ready too my sons to 
 be your guides to sacred Lacedaemon, where lives 
 light-haired Menelaus. Beg him yourself to tell the 
 very truth. Falsehood he will not speak ; truly up- 
 right is he." 
 
 As he thus spoke the sun went down and darkness 
 came, and the goddess, clear-eyed Athene, said to 
 them: 
 
 "Sire, certainly these words of yours are fitly 
 spoken. But come, cut up the tongues and mix the 
 wine, that after we have poured libations to Poseidon 
 and the rest of the immortals we seek our rest, since 
 it is time for that. For now the day has turned to 
 dusk, and surely it is not well to tarry long at the 
 gods' feast ; rather to rise and go." 
 
 So spoke the daughter of Zeus ; and they hearkened 
 to her saying. Pages poured water on their hands ; 
 young men brimmed bowls with drink and served to 
 all, with a first pious portion for the cup , they them- 
 selves threw the tongues into the flame and, rising, 
 poured libations. So after they had poured and drunk 
 as their hearts would, then would Athene and princely
 
 *0 THE ODYSSEY. [III. 344-370. 
 
 Telemachus set off together for their hollow ship. 
 But Nestor checked them and rebuked them, say- 
 ing: 
 
 " Zeus and the other immortal gods forbid that you 
 should leave my house and turn to a swift ship I As 
 if I were a man quite without clothes and poor, a man 
 who had not robes and rugs enough at home for him* 
 self and friends to sleep in comfort! But in my 
 house are goodly robes and rugs. And never, surely, 
 shall the son of that Odysseus lie on ship's deck while 
 I am living, or while within my halls children remain 
 to entertain such guests as visit house of mine." 
 
 Then said to him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene : 
 '* Well have you said in this, kind sir, and good it 
 were Telemachus should heed, for it is far more seemly 
 so. Nay, he shall now attend you and sleep within 
 your halls. But as for me, I go to the black ship to 
 cheer my men and tell their duties, for I am the only 
 man of years among them all ; the others, youngei 
 men, follow me out of friendship, and all are of th 
 age of bold Telemachus. There would I lay me down 
 by the black hollow ship to-night ; but in the morn- 
 ing I will go to the bold Cauconians where there are 
 debts now due me, not recent ones nor small. As for 
 Telemachus who stays with you, send him upon his 
 way by chariot with your son, and give him horses 
 that have swiftest speed and best endurance." 
 
 Saying this, clear-eyed Athene passed away, in like- 
 ness of an osprey. Awe fell on all who saw. The 
 old man marveled as he gazed, grasped by the hand 
 Telemachus, and said as he addressed him : 
 
 " Dear friend, you will not prove, I trust, a base 
 man, lacking spirit, if when so young the gods be- 
 come your guides. This is none else of those who
 
 HI. 377-409.] THE ODYSSEY. 41 
 
 have their dwelling on Olympus than the daughter of 
 Zeus, the Plunderer, Tritogeneia, who honored your 
 good father too amongst the Argives. Ah, queen, be 
 gracious and vouchsafe me fair renown, me and my 
 children and my honored wife, and I will give to 
 thee a glossy heifer, broad of brow, unbroken, one no 
 man ever brought beneath the yoke. Her I will give, 
 tipping her horns with gold." 
 
 So spoke he in his prayer, and Pallas Athene heard. 
 i Then the Gerenian horseman Nestor led sons and sons- 
 in-law to his fair palace. And they on reaching the 
 far-famed palace of the king, took seats in order 
 on couches and on chairs ; and the old man mixed at 
 their coming a vessel of sweet wine, which, now eleven 
 years old, the housewife opened, loosening the lid. A 
 bowl of this the old man mixed, and fervently he 
 prayed, pouring libation to Athene, daughter of segis- 
 bearing Zeus. 
 
 Then after they had poured and drunk as their 
 hearts would, desiring rest, they each departed home- 
 ward ; but in the house itself the Gerenian horseman 
 Nestor prepared the bed of Telemachus, the son of 
 princely Odysseus, upon a well-bored bedstead beneath 
 the echoing portico. By him he placed Peisistratus, 
 that sturdy spearman, one ever foremost, he who was 
 still the bachelor among the sons at home. But Nestor 
 . slept in the recess of the high hall; his wife, the Queen, 
 making her bed beside him. 
 
 Soon as the early rosy-fingered dawn appeared, the 
 Gerenian horseman Nestor rose from bed, and coming 
 forth sat down on the smooth stones which stood be- 
 fore his lofty gate, white, glistening as with oil. On 
 them in former days Neleus had sat, the peer of gods 
 in wisdom ; but long ago he met his doom and went to
 
 12 THE ODYSSEY. [III. 41O-44L 
 
 the house of Hades, and now Gerenian Nestor sat 
 thereon, as warder of the Achaeans, holding the scep- 
 tre. Round him his sons collected in a group, on com- 
 ing from their chambers, Echephron and Stratius, 
 Perseus, Aretus, and gallant Thrasymedes, and sixth 
 and last came lord Peisistratus. Then they led for- 
 ward godlike Teleraachus, and set him by their side, 
 and thus began the Gerenian horseman Nestor : 
 
 " Hasten, dear children, and fulfill my vow ; that 
 first of all the gods I satisfy Athene, who came to me 
 in open presence at the gods' high feast Go one 
 among you to the field and have a heifer quickly 
 brought, and let the neat-herd drive her up. One go 
 to the black ship of bold Telemachus, and bring here 
 all his crew. Leave only two behind. Let one again 
 summon the smith Laerces hither, to tip with gold the 
 heifer's horns. The rest of you stay here together. 
 But tell the maids within our famous palace to spread 
 a feast, to fetch some seats, some logs of wood, and 
 some fresh water." 
 
 He spoke ; away went all in breathless haste. And 
 now there came the heifer from the field ; there cauie 
 from the swift balanced ship the crew of brave Te- 
 lemachus ; there came the smith, with his smith's tools 
 in hand, his implements of art, anvil and hammer and 
 the shapely tongs, with which he works the gold , 
 there came Athene, too, to meet the sacrifice. Then 
 the old horseman Nestor furnished gold, and so that 
 other welded it round the heifer's horns, smoothing it 
 till the goddess might be pleased to view the offering. 
 Now by the horns Stratius and noble Echephron led 
 up the heifer ; Aretus brought lustra! water in a flow- 
 ered basin from the store-room, and in his other hand 
 held barley in a basket ; and dauntless Thrasymedes,
 
 IIL 442-171.] THE ODYSSEY. 48 
 
 a sharp axe in his hand, stood by to fell the heifer, 
 while Perseus held the blood -bowl. Then the old 
 horseman Nestor began the opening rites, of washing 
 hands and sprinkling meal. And fervently he prayed 
 Athene at beginning, casting the forelocks in the fire. 
 
 So after they had prayed and strewn the barley- 
 meal, forthwith the son of Nestor, ardent Thrasymedes, 
 drew near and dealt the blow. The axe cut through 
 the sinews of the neck and broke the heifer's power, 
 A cry went up from the daughters of Nestor, the sons' 
 wives, and his own honored wife, Eurydice, the eldest 
 of the daughters of Clymenus. The sons then raised 
 the beast up from the trodden earth and held her so, 
 the while Peisistratus, ever the foremost, cut the throat. 
 And after the black blood had flowed and life had left 
 the carcase, they straightway laid it open, quickly cut 
 out the thighs, all in due order, wrapped them in fat 
 in double layers and placed raw flesh thereon. On 
 billets of wood the old man burned them, and poured 
 upon them sparkling wine, while young men by his 
 side held five-pronged forks. So after the thighs 
 were burned and the inward parts were tasted, they 
 sliced the rest, and stuck it on the forks and roasted 
 all, holding the pointed forks in hand. 
 
 Meanwhile to Telemachus fair Polycaste gave a bath, 
 she who was youngest daughter of Nestor, son of Ne- 
 leus. And after she had bathed him and anointed 
 him with oil and put upon him a goodly robe and 
 tunic, forth from the bath he came, in bearing like the 
 immortals ; and he went and sat by Nestor, the shep- 
 herd of the people. 
 
 The others, too, when they had roasted the outer 
 flesh and drawn it off, sat down and fell to feasting. 
 Men of degree attended them, pouring the wine into
 
 44 THE ODYSSEY. [HI. 472-49T. 
 
 their golden cups. So after they had stayed desir* 
 for drink and food, then thus began the Gerenian 
 horseman Nestor : ** My sons, go fetch the f ull-maned 
 horses for Telemachus and yoke them to the car, thai 
 he may make his journey." 
 
 So he spoke, and willingly they heeded and obeyed. 
 Quickly they harnessed the swift horses to the car. 
 The housewife put in bread and wine and dainties, 
 such things as heaven-descended princes eat And 
 now Telemachus mounted the goodly chariot, and 
 Nestor's son Peisistratus, ever the foremost, mounted 
 the chariot too, and took the reins in hand. Hq 
 cracked the whip to start, and not unwillingly the pah 
 flew off into the plain, left the steep citadel of Pylos, 
 and all day long they shook the yoke they bore be* 
 tween them. 
 
 Now the sun sank and all the ways grew dark, ar-1 
 the men arrived at Pherae, before the house of Diocleb, 
 the son of Orsilochus, whose father was Alpheius, 
 There for the night they rested ; he gave them enter, 
 tainment 
 
 Then as the early rosy-fingered dawn appeared* 
 they harnessed the horses, mounted the gay charot, 
 and off they drove from porch and echoing portico. 
 Peisistratus cracked the whip to start, and not unwil- 
 lingly the pair flew off. So into the plain they came 
 where grew the grain ; and through this, by and by, 
 they reached their journey's ending. So fast theii 
 horses sped them. Then the sun sank and all the 
 ways grew dark.
 
 IV. 
 
 AT LACEDAEMON. 
 
 
 
 INTO the low land now they came of caverned Lace- 
 daemon and drove to the palace of famous Menelaus. 
 They found him holding a wedding feast for all his kin 
 in honor of the son and gentle daughter of his house. 
 To the son of Achilles, that breaker of men's ranks, 
 he gave his daughter; for long ago, at Troy, h& 
 pledged himself to give her, and now the gods brought 
 round their wedding. Accordingly to-day with horses 
 and with chariots he sent her forth to the famed city 
 of the Myrmidons, whose king her bridegroom was. 
 Then for his son he took to wife Alector's daughter 
 out of Sparta, his son being now full grown, strong 
 Megapenthes, the child of a slave mother. The gods 
 gave Helen no more issue after she in the early time 
 had borne her lovely child, Hermione, who had the 
 grace of golden Aphrodite. 
 
 Thus at the feast in the great high-roofed house, 
 neighbors and kinsmen of famous Menelaus sat and 
 made merry. Among them sang the sacred bard and 
 touched his lyre; a pair of dancers went whirling 
 down the middle as he began the song. 
 
 Now at the palace gate two youths and their horses 
 stopped, princely Telemachus and the proud son of 
 Nestor. Great Eteoneus came forth and saw them, 
 he was a busy squire of famous Menelaus, and 
 hastened through the hall to tell the shepherd of the
 
 46 THE ODYSSEY. [IV. 
 
 people, and standing close beside him he said in 
 winged words : 
 
 " Here are two strangers, heaven-descended Mene- 
 laus, and they are like the seed of mighty Zeus. Say, 
 shall we unharness their swift horses, or shall we send 
 them forth for some one else to entertain ? " 
 
 Then, deeply moved, said light-haired Menelaus: 
 " You were no fool, Boethous' son, Eteoneus, before 
 this time, but now you chatter folly like a child ! Only 
 because as guests we often had our food of strangers, 
 are we here ; and we must look to Zeus henceforth to 
 keep us safe from harm. No ! take the harness from 
 the strangers' horses and bring the men themselves 
 within to share our feast." 
 
 He spoke, and Eteoneus hastened along the hall 
 and called on other busy squires to follow. They 
 took the sweating horses from the yoke, tied them 
 securely at the mangers, threw them some corn and 
 mixed therewith white barley, then tipped the chariot 
 up against the bright face-wall, and brought the men 
 into the lordly house. And they, beholding, marveled 
 at the dwelling of the heaven-descended king ; for a 
 ftheen as of the sun or moon played through the high- 
 roofed house of famous Menelaus. Now after they 
 'had satisfied their eyes with gazing, they went to the 
 polished baths and bathed. And when the maids had 
 bathed them and anointed them with oil, and put 
 upon them fleecy coats and tunics, they took their 
 seats by Menelaus, son of Atreus. And water for 
 the hands a servant brought in a beautiful pitcher 
 made of gold, and poured it out over a silver basin 
 for their washing, and spread a polished table by 
 their side. Then the grave housekeeper brought 
 bread and placed before them, setting out food of
 
 IV. 56-88.] THE ODYSSEY. 47 
 
 many a kind, freely giving of her store. The carver, 
 too, took platters of meat and placed before them, 
 meat of all kinds, and set their golden goblets ready. 
 And greeting the pair said light-haired Menelaus : 
 
 " Break bread, and have good cheer ! and by and 
 by when you have eaten, we will ask what men you 
 are. Surely the parent line suffers no loss in you j 
 but you are of some line of heaven-descended sceptred 
 kings. For common men have no such children." 
 
 So saying, he set before them fat slices of a chine 
 of beef, taking up in his hands the roasted flesh 
 which had been placed before him as the piece of 
 honor ; and on the food spread out before them they 
 laid hands. But after they had stayed desire for 
 drink and food, Telemachus said to Nestor's son, 
 his head bent close, that others might not hear : 
 
 " O son of Nestor, my heart's delight, notice the 
 blaze of bronze throughout the echoing halls, the gold, 
 the amber, silver, and ivory ! The court of Olympian 
 Zeus within must be like this. What untold wealth 
 is here ! I am amazed to see." 
 
 What he was saying light-haired Menelaus over- 
 heard, and speaking in winged words he said : " Dear 
 children, no ! No mortal man could vie with Zeus ; 
 eternal are his halls and his possessions ; but one of 
 humankind to vie with me in wealth there may or 
 may not be. Through many woes and wanderings I 
 brought it in my ships, and I was eight years on the 
 way. Cyprus, Phosnicia, Egypt, I wandered over ; I 
 came to the Ethiopians, Sidonians, and Erembians, 
 and into Libya, where the lambs are full-horned at 
 their birth. Three times a year the flocks bear young. 
 No prince or peasant there lacks cheese, meat, or 
 sweet milk, but the ewes always give their milk the
 
 48 THE ODYSSEY. [IV. 89-1HX 
 
 whole year round. While I was gathering there- 
 abouts much wealth and wandering on, a stranger 
 slew my brother while off his guard, by stealth, and 
 through the craft of his accursed wife. Here too 
 I have no joy as lord of my possessions. But from 
 your fathers you will have heard that tale, whoever 
 they may be ; for great was my affliction, and deso- 
 late my house which once stood fair and stored with 
 many blessings. Would I were here at home with but 
 the third part of my wealth, and they were safe to-day 
 who fell on the plain of Troy, far off from grazing 
 Argos ! But no I and for them all I often grieve and 
 mourn when sitting in my halls. Now with a sigh \ 
 ease my heart, then check myself ; soon comes a sur- 
 feit of benumbing sorrow. Yet in jny grief it is not 
 all I so much mourn as one alone, who makes me 
 loathe my sleep and food when I remember him ; for 
 no Achaean met the contests that Odysseus met and 
 won. And still on him it was appointed woe should 
 fall, and upon me a ceaseless pain because of him ; 
 so long he tarries, whether alive or dead we do not 
 know. For him now mourn the old Laertes, steadfast 
 Penelope, and Telemachus, whom he left at home a 
 new-born child." 
 
 So he spoke, and stirred in Telemachus yearnings 
 to mourn his father. Tears from his eyelids dropped 
 apon the ground when he heard his father's name, 
 and he held with both his hands his purple cloak be- 
 fore his eyes. This Menelaus noticed, and hesitated 
 in his mind and heart whether to leave him to make 
 mention of his father or first to question him and 
 prove him through and through. 
 
 While he thus doubted in his mind and heart, forth 
 from her fragrant high-roofed chamber Helen came,
 
 IV. 121-166.] THE ODYSSEY. 49 
 
 like golden-shafted Artemis. For her, Adraste placed 
 a carven chair ; Alcippe brought a covering of soft 
 wool, and Phylo a silver basket which Alcandra gave, 
 the wife of Polybus, who lived at Thebes in Egypt, 
 where abundant wealth is in the houses. He gave to 
 Menelaus two silver bath-tubs, a pair of kettles, and 
 ten talents of gold. And then, besides, his wife gave 
 Helen beautiful gifts ; she gave a golden distaff and a 
 basket upon rollers, fashioned of silver, and its rim 
 finished with gold. This her attendant Phylo now 
 brought and set beside her, filled with a fine-spun 
 yarn ; across it lay the distaff, charged with dark wool 
 Seated upon her chair, upon whose lower part there 
 was a rest for feet, she straightway questioned thus 
 her husband closely : 
 
 "Do we know, heaven - descended Menelaus, who 
 these men here assert themselves to be ? Shall I dis- 
 guise my thought or speak it plainly ? My heart bids 
 speak. None have I ever seen, I think, so like another 
 no man, no woman ; amazed am I to see I as 
 this man here is like the son of brave Odysseus, even 
 like Telemachus, whom his father left at home a new- 
 born child, when you Achaeans, for the sake of worth- 
 less me, came under the walls of Troy, eager for val- 
 orous fighting." 
 
 Then, answering her, said light-haired Menelaus: 
 " Now I too note it, wife, even as you suggest ; such 
 were Odysseus' feet and hands, his turn of eye, his 
 head, and hair above. And even now, as I began to 
 call to mind Odysseus and to tell what grievous toils 
 he bore in my behalf, this youth let fall a bitter tear 
 from under his brows and held his purple cloak be- 
 fore his eyes." 
 
 Then Nestor's son, Peisistratus, made answer : " O
 
 50 THE ODYSSEY. [IV. 166-187. 
 
 son of Atrctis, heaven-descended Mcnelaus, leader of 
 nosts, this is in truth his son, as you have said ; but he 
 is modest and too bashful in his heart to make display 
 of talk on his first coming here, before you too, whose 
 voice we both enjoy as if it were a god's. The Gerenian 
 horseman, Nestor, sent me forth to be his guide ; for 
 he desired to see you, hoping that you might give him 
 aid by word or deed. Ah, many a grief the son of an 
 absent father meets at home, when other helpers are 
 not by. So with Telemachus ; the one is gone, and 
 others there are none throughout the land to ward off 
 ilL" 
 
 Then, answering him, said light - haired Menelaus : 
 " What ! Is there then within my house the son of 
 one so dear, one who for me bore many a conflict ! 1 
 used to say I should rejoice over his coming home far 
 more than over that of all the other Argives, if through 
 the seas Olympian far-seeing Zeus let our swift shipe 
 find passage. In Argos I would have granted him a 
 city, and would here have built his house, and I would 
 have brought him out of Ithaca, him and his goods, 
 his child, and all his people, clearing its dwellers 
 from some single city that lies within my neighbor- 
 hood and owns me as its lord. So living here we had 
 been much together ; and nothing further could have 
 parted then our joyous friendship till death's dark 
 cloud closed round. But God himself must have been 
 envious of a life like this, and made that hapless man 
 alone to fail of coming." 
 
 So he spoke, and stirred in all a yearning after tears. 
 Then Argive Helen wept, the child of Zeus ; Telema- 
 chus too wept, and Menelaus, son of Atreus ; nor yet 
 did Nestor's son keep his eyes tearless. For in his 
 mind he mused on good Autilochus, whom the illu*
 
 IV. 188-220.] THE ODYSSEY. 61 
 
 trious son of the bright dawn had slain. Remembering 
 whom, he spoke in winged words : 
 
 " O son of Atreus, that you were wise beyond the 
 wont of men old Nestor used to say, when we would 
 mention you at home, talking with one another. And 
 now if it is well, give heed to me ; for after a feast 
 I do not like to sit and grieve. There is to-mor- 
 row. Not that I think it ill to weep for one who 
 dies, when he has met his doom. It is the only honor 
 sorrowing men can pay, to cut the hair and let the tear 
 fall down the cheek. A brother of mine once died, one 
 not the meanest of the Argives. You must have 
 known him. I never myself looked on his face and 
 never knew him ; but Antilochus, they say, was very 
 swift of foot, a famous fighter." 
 
 Then answering him said light-haired Menelaus: 
 " Friend, you have said just what a man of understand- 
 ing might say and even do, were he indeed your elder ; 
 for sprung from such a father you too talk with un- 
 derstanding. Easily is his offspring known to whon> 
 the son of Kronos allots a boon in birth and marriage 
 And thus has he blessed Nestor continually, all his 
 days, granting him hale old age at home and children 
 who are youths of wisdom, mighty with the spear. 
 Let us then check the lamentation which arose a while 
 ago and turn once more to feasting. Let them pour 
 water on our hands. Again, to-morrow, for Telema- 
 chus and me there will be tales to tell." 
 
 He spoke, and Asphalion poured water on their' 
 hands, he was a busy squire of famous Menelaus, 
 then on the food spread out before them they laid 
 hands. 
 
 Now elsewhere Helen turned her thoughts, the child 
 of Zeus. Straightway she cast into the wine of which
 
 62 -fHE ODYSSEY. [IV. 221-25L 
 
 they drank a drug which quenches pain and strife and 
 brings forgetfulness of every ill. He who should taste 
 it, mingled in the bowl, would not that day let tears 
 fall down his cheeks although his mother and his 
 father died, although before his door a brother or dear 
 son fell by the sword and his own eyes beheld. Such 
 running drugs had the daughter of Zeus, drugs of a 
 healing virtue, which Polydamna gave, the wife of 
 Thon, in Egypt, where the fruitful soil yields drugs of 
 every kind, some that when mixed are healing, others 
 deadly. There every one is a physician, skillful be- 
 yond all humankind ; for they are of the race cf 
 Paeon. So after she had cast the drug into the bowl 
 and bidden pour, then once more taking up the word, 
 she said : 
 
 " Heaven-descended son of Atreus, Menelaus, and 
 you too, you sons of worthy men, though Zeus to one 
 in one way, to another in another, distributes good 
 and ill and is almighty, yet for the present sit and 
 feast within the hall and cheer yourselves with tales. 
 One fitting well the time I will relate. Fully I can- 
 not tell, nor even name the many feats of hardy 
 Odysseus. But this is the sort of deed that brave 
 man did and dared there in the Trojan land where 
 you Achaeans suffered. Marring himself with cruel 
 blows, casting a wretched garment round his shoul- 
 lers, and looking like a slave, he entered the wide- 
 wayed city of his foes ; and other than his own true 
 self he made himself appear in this disguise, even like 
 a beggar, far as he was from such an one at the 
 Achaean ships. In such a guise, he entered the Tro- 
 jans' town ; they took no notice, one and all ; I alone 
 knew him for the man he was and questioned him. 
 He shrewdly tried to foil me. But after I had bathed
 
 IV. 262-285.] THE ODYSSEY. 58 
 
 him and anointed him with oil and given him cloth- 
 ing, when I had sworn a solemn oath not to make 
 known Odysseus to the Trojans till he should reach 
 the swift ships and the huts of the Achaeans, then he 
 described the whole Achaean plot. So, slaying many 
 Trojans with his trenchant sword, he went off to the 
 Argives and carried back much knowledge. Thereat 
 the other Trojan women raised a loud lament. My 
 soul was glad; for my heart already turned toward 
 going home again, and I would mourn the blindness 
 Aphrodite brought when she lured me thither from 
 my native land and bade me leave my daughter, my 
 chamber, and my husband, a man who lacked for 
 nothing, either in mind or person." 
 
 Then, answering her, said light-haired Menelaus: 
 "Yes, all your tale, my wife, is told right well. I 
 have in days gone by tested the wisdom and the will 
 of many heroes, and I have traveled over many 
 lands ; but never have I beheld a soul so true as 
 hardy Odysseus. This also is the sort of deed that 
 brave man did and dared within the wooden horse 
 where all we Argive chiefs were lying, bearing to the 
 Trojans death and doom. Erelong you passed that 
 way, some god must have impelled you who sought 
 to bring the Trojans honor ; godlike Deiphobus was 
 following after. Thrice walking round our hollow 
 ambush, touching it here and there, you called by 
 name the Danaan chiefs, feigning the voice of every 
 Argive's wife. Now I and the son of Tydeus and 
 royal Odysseus, crouched in the middle, heard your 
 call, and we two, starting up, were minded to go forth, 
 or else to answer straightway from within ; but Odys- 
 seus held us back and stayed our madness. Then 
 &U the other sons of the Achaeans held their peace.
 
 64 THE ODYSSEY. [IV. 286-316. 
 
 Anticlus only was determined to make answer to your 
 words ; but Odysseus firmly closed his mouth with his 
 strong hands, and so saved all the Achaeans. All 
 through that time he held him thus, till Pallas Athene 
 led you off." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " O son 
 of Atreus, heaven - descended Menelaus, leader of 
 hosts, so much the harder is it ; all was of no avail 
 against a mournful death, though an iron heart was 
 his. Nay, bring us to our beds, that so at last, lulled 
 in sweet sleep, we be at ease." 
 
 He spoke, and Argive Helen bade the maids to set 
 a bed beneath the portico, to lay upon it beautiful pur- 
 ple rugs, spread blankets over these, and then place 
 woolen mantles on the outside for a covering. So the 
 maids left the hall, with torches in their hands, and 
 spread the bed ; and a page led forth the strangers. 
 Thus in the porch slept prince Telemachus and the 
 illustrious son of Nestor. But the son of Atreus 
 slept in the recess of the high hall, and by him long- 
 robed Helen lay, a queen of women. 
 
 Soon as the early rosy-fingered dawn appeared, 
 Menelaus, good at the war-cry, rose from bed, put on 
 his clothes, slung his sharp sword about his shoulder, 
 under his shining feet bound his fair sandals, and 
 came forth from his chamber in bearing like a god. 
 Then seating himself beside Telemachus, he thus ad- 
 dressed him, saying: 
 
 "What is it that has brought you here, my lord 
 Telemachus, to sacred Lacedaemon on the broad 
 ocean-ridges? A public need or private? Tell me 
 the very truth." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " O son of 
 Atreus, heaven-descended Menelaus, leader of hosts,
 
 IV. 317-350.] THE ODYSSEY. 65 
 
 I came to see if you could tell me tidings of my father. 
 My home is swallowed up, my rich estate is wasted ; 
 with men of evil hearts my house is filled, men who 
 continually butcher my thronging flocks and swing' 
 I paced, crook-horned oxen, the suitors of my mother, 
 overweening in their pride. Therefore I now come 
 hither to your knees to ask if you will tell me of my 
 father's mournful death, in case you saw it for your- 
 self with your own eyes or from some other heard 
 the story of his wanderings ; for to exceeding grief his 
 mother bore him. Use no mild word nor yield to 
 pity from regard for me, but tell me fully all you 
 chanced to see. I do entreat you, if ever my father, 
 good Odysseus, in word or deed kept covenant with 
 you there in the Trojan land where you Achaeans suf- 
 fered, be mindful of it now ; tell me the very truth." 
 
 Then, deeply moved, said light-haired Menelausr 
 " Heavens I In a very brave man's bed they sought 
 to lie, the weaklings ! As when in the den of a strong 
 lion a hind has laid asleep her new-born sucking fawns, 
 then roams the slopes and grassy hollows seeking 
 food, and by and by into his lair the lion comes and 
 on both hind and fawns brings ghastly doom ; so shall 
 Odysseus bring a ghastly doom on these. Ah, father 
 Zeus, Athene, and Apollo! if with the power he 
 showed one day in stately Lesbos, when he rose and 
 wrestled in a match with Philomeleides, and down he 
 threw him heavily, while the Achaeans all rejoiced, 
 if as he was that day Odysseus now might meet the 
 suitors, they all would find quick turns of fate and 
 bitter rites of marriage. But as to what you ask thus 
 urgently, I will not turn to talk of other things, and 
 so deceive you ; but what the unerring old man of the 
 sea told me, in not a word will I disguise or hide from 
 you.
 
 66 THE ODYSSEY. [IV. 351-381. 
 
 " At the river of Egypt, eager as I was to hasten 
 hither, the gods still held me back, because I did not 
 make the offerings due ; and the gods wish us ever to 
 be mindful of their precepts. Now in the surging sea 
 an island lies, Pharos they call it, distant as far. 
 from the Egyptian stream as a hollow ship runs in a! 
 day when a whistling wind blows after. By it there 
 lies a bay with a good anchorage, from which they 
 send the trim ships off to sea after supplying them 
 with drinking water. Here the gods kept me twenty 
 days ; not once came winds that blow along the sea 
 and serve for aid to ships on the broad ocean-ridges. 
 So all my stores would have been spent and my men's 
 courage, had not a certain goddess pitied and pro- 
 served me. This was Eidothea, the daughter of 
 mighty Proteus, the old man of the sea ; for I deeply 
 moved her heart as she met me on my solitary way 
 apart from my companions ; for they were ever roam- 
 ing round the island, fishing with crooked hooks, and 
 hunger pinched their bellies. She, drawing near me, 
 spoke and thus she said : ' Are you so very helpless, 
 stranger, and unnerved, or do you willingly give way, 
 taking a pleasure in your pains ? So long you have 
 been pent within the island, unable to discover an es- 
 cape, while fainter grows the courage of your com. 
 rades.' 
 
 ** So she spoke, and answering her said I : * Then 
 let me tell you, whatsoever goddess you may be, that I 
 remain here through no will of mine, but I must have 
 given offense to the immortals, who hold the open sky. 
 Rather tell me, for gods know all, which of the 
 immortals chains me here and bars my progress ; and 
 tell me of my homeward way. how I may pass along 
 the swarming sea.'
 
 IV. 382-413.] THE ODYSSEY. 67 
 
 " So I spoke, and straight the heavenly goddess an- 
 swered : * Well, stranger, I will plainly tell you all. 
 There haunts this place a certain old man of the sea, 
 unerring and immortal, Proteus of Egypt, who knows 
 the depths of every sea, and is Poseidon's minister. 
 He is, men say, my father, who begot me. If you 
 could only lie in wait and seize on him, he would 
 tell you of your course, the stages of your journey, 
 and of your homeward way, how you may pass along 
 the swarming sea. And he would tell you, heaven- 
 descended man, if you desire, all that has happened 
 at your home, of good or ill, while you have wandered 
 on your long and toilsome way.' 
 
 " So she spoke, and answering her said I : * Do you 
 instruct me how to lie in wait for the old god, lest he 
 foreseeing or foreknowing may escape. Hard is a god 
 for mortal man to master.' 
 
 " So I spoke, and straight the heavenly goddess 
 answered : * Well, stranger, I will truly tell you alL 
 When now the sun has reached mid-heaven, forth from 
 the water comes the unerring old man of the sea at a 
 puff of the west wind and veiled in the dark ripple. 
 When he is come, he lays him down under the caverned 
 cliffs ; while round him seals, the brood of a fair sea 
 nymph, huddle and sleep, on rising from the foaming 
 water, and pungent is the scent they breathe of the 
 unfathomed sea. There will I bring you at the dawn 
 of day and lay you in the line. Meantime do you 
 choose carefully for comrades the three best men you 
 have among the well-benched ships. And I will tell 
 you all the old man's magic arts. First he will count 
 the seals and go their round ; and when he has told 
 them off by fives and found them all, he will lie down 
 among them like a shepherd with his flock. As soon
 
 68 THE ODYSSEY. [IV. 414448. 
 
 as you see him sleeping, summon all your might and 
 inuiu and hold him fast, although he strive and strug- 
 gle to escape. He will make trial of you, turning into 
 whatsoever moves on earth, to water even, and heaven- 
 kindled fire ; yet hold unflinchingly and clasp the 
 more. But when at length he questions you in his 
 own shape, in the same shape as when you saw him 
 sleeping, then, hero, cease from violence and set the 
 old man free, but ask what god afflicts you, and ask, 
 about your homeward way, how you may pass along 
 the swarming sea.' 
 
 '* Saying this, she plunged into the surging sea. I to 
 the ships which lay along the sands turned me away, 
 and as I went my heart grew very dark. But when I 
 came to the ship and to the sea and we had made our 
 supper and the immortal night drew near, we laid us 
 down to sleep upon the beach. Then as the early 
 rosy-fingered dawn appeared, along the shore of the 
 wide-stretching sea I went with many supplications to 
 the gods. I took three comrades with me, men whom 
 I trusted most in every undertaking. 
 
 " She, in the mean time, having plunged into the 
 sea's broad bosom, brought from the deep four skins 
 of seals ; all were fresh-flayed ; and she prepared the 
 plot against her father. She had scooped hollows in 
 the sands, and sat awaiting us. Near her we drew. 
 She made us all lie down in order and threw a skin 
 on each. Then might our ambuscade have proved sr 
 hard one ; for the pestilent stench of the sea-born seals 
 oppressed us sorely. And who would make his bed 
 beside a, monster of the sea ? But she preserved us 
 and contrived for us great ease. Under the nose of 
 each she set ambrosia, very sweet of smell, and this de- 
 stroyed the creature's stench. So all the morning did
 
 IV. 447-479.] THE ODYSSEY. 59 
 
 we wait with patient hearts. At last the seals came 
 trooping from the sea and soon lay down in order on 
 the beach. At noon out of the sea came the old man, 
 found his fat seals, went over all, and told their num- 
 ber, telling us first among the creatures, and never in 
 his heart suspected there was fraud. At length he too 
 lay down. Then with a shout we sprang and threw 
 our arms about him, and the old man did not forget 
 his crafty wiles : for first he turned into a bearded lion, 
 then to a dragon, leopard, and huge boar ; he turned 
 into liquid water, into a branching tree ; still we held 
 firm, with patient hearts. But when at last the old 
 man wearied, skillful though he was in magic arts, in 
 open speech he questioned me and said : 
 
 44 * Which of the gods, O son of Atreus, aided yo*ii' 
 plot to seize me here against my will, by ambuscade ? 
 What would you have ? ' 
 
 "So he spoke, and answering him said I: 'You 
 know, old man, why put me off with such a question? 
 how long a time I am confined upon this island, un- 
 able to discover an escape, while fainter grows my 
 heart within. Bather tell me, for gods know all, 
 which of the immortals chains me here and bars my 
 progress; and tell me of my homeward way, how 1 
 may pass along the swarming sea.' 
 
 "So I spoke, and straightway answering me said 
 be: 'Nay, but to Zeus and to the other gods you 
 should have made good offerings on setting forth, if 
 you would quickly reach your land, sailing the wine- 
 dark sea; for now it is appointed you to see your 
 friends no more nor reach your stately house and na- 
 tive land till you have gone again to Egypt's waters, 
 to its heaven-descended stream, and offered sacred 
 hecatombs to the immortal gods who hold the open
 
 60 THE ODYSSEY. [IV. 480-51! 
 
 sky. Then shall the gods grant you the course which 
 you desire.' 
 
 " As thus he spoke, my very soul was crushed 
 within me because he bade me cross again the misty 
 sea and go to Egypt's river, a long and weary way. 
 Yet still I answered thus and said: 'Old man, all 
 that you bid me 1 will do. Only declare me this and 
 plainly tell, did all the Achaeans with their ships re- 
 turn unharmed, whom Nestor and I left on our set- 
 ting forth from Troy? Did any die by grievous death 
 at sea or in the arms of friends when the skein of war 
 was wound ? ' 
 
 " So I spoke, and straightway answering me said 
 he : * Son of Atreus, why question me of this ? Bet- 
 ter it were you should not see nor comprehend my 
 knowledge ; for certainly you will not long be free 
 from tears after you learn the truth. Yes, many were 
 cut off and many spared. Of leaders, only two among 
 the mailed Achaeans died on the journey home, as 
 for the battle, you yourself were there, and one, still 
 living, lingers yet on the wide sea. Ajax was lost, he 
 and his long-oared ships. At first Poseidon wrecked 
 him on the great rocks of Gyrae, but saved him from 
 the sea. And so he might have escaped his doom, 
 though hated by Athene, had he not uttered overween- 
 ing words, puffed up with pride ; for he said he had 
 escaped the great gulf of the sea in spite of gods. 
 Poseidon heard his haughty boasting, and straightway, 
 grasping the trident in his sturdy hands, he smote the 
 rock of Gyrae, splitting it open. One part still held 
 its place ; the broken piece fell in the sea. It was 
 on this Ajax at first had sat, puffed up with pride. 
 It bore him down into the boundless surging deep* 
 80 there he died, drinking the briny water.
 
 IV. 612-543.] THE ODYSSEY. 61 
 
 " * Your brother escaped his doom and came in 
 safety, he and his hollow ships ; for powerful Here 
 saved him. But when he was about to reach the 
 steep height of Maleia, a sweeping storm bore him 
 once more along the swarming sea, loudly lamenting, 
 fc> the confines of that country where Thyestes dwelt 
 ja. former days, but where now dwelt Thyestes' son, 
 Aegisthus. And when at last from this point on his 
 course was clear of danger, and the gods changed 
 the wind about and home they came, then with rejoi- 
 cing did he tread his country's soil, and he kissed 
 and clasped that soil ; and from him many hot tears 
 fell, for he saw the land with gladness. But from a 
 tower a watchman spied him, whom wily Aegisthus 
 posted there and promised him for pay two talents 
 of gold. He had been keeping guard throughout 
 the year, lest unobserved the king might come and 
 try the force of arms. He hastened to the house to 
 tell the shepherd of the people, and soon Aegisthus 
 planned his treacherous craft. Selecting twenty of 
 the bravest in the land, he laid an ambush ; and just 
 across the hall bade that a feast be spread. Then he 
 went to welcome Agamemnon, the shepherd of the 
 people, with horses and with chariots, while medita- 
 ting crimes. He led him up unheeding to his death 
 and slew him at the feast, even as one kills the ox be- 
 fore the manger. Not a follower of the son of Atreus 
 lived, nor a follower of Aegisthus ; all died within the 
 hall.' 
 
 " As thus he spoke, my very soul was crushed 
 within me, and sitting on the sands I fell to weeping ; 
 my heart no longer cared to live and see the sunshine. 
 But when of weeping and of writhing I had had my 
 then said the unerring old man of the sea : ' Do
 
 62 THE ODYSSEY. [TV. 
 
 not, O son of Atreus, long and unceasingly thus weep, 
 because we know there is no remedy. Seek rather 
 with all speed to reach your native land ; for either 
 you will find Aegisthus still alive, or Orestes will have 
 slain him, so forestalling you, and you may join the 
 funeral feast.' 
 
 " So he spoke, and the heart and sturdy spirit in 
 my breast through all my grief again grew warm ; 
 and speaking in winged words I said : ' Of these men 
 then I know, but name the third who still alive lin- 
 gers on the wide sea ; or be he dead, spite of my grief 
 I fain would hear.' 
 
 " So I spoke, and straightway answering me said 
 he : * It is Laertes' son, whose home is Ithaca. I saw 
 him on an island, letting the big tears fall, in the 
 liall of the nymph Calypso, who holds him there by 
 force. No power has he to reach his native land, for 
 he has no ships fitted with oars, nor crews to bear him 
 over the broad ocean-ridges. As for yourself, heaven- 
 favored Menelaus, it is not destined you shall die and 
 meet your doom in grazing Argos ; but to the Ely- 
 sian plain and the earth's limits the immortal gods 
 shall bring you, where fair-haired Rhadamanthus 
 dwells. Here utterly at ease passes the life of men. 
 No snow is here, no winter long, no rain, but the loud- 
 blowing breezes of the west the Ocean-stream sends 
 up to bring men coolness ; for you have Helen and 
 are counted son-in-law of Zeus.' 
 
 " Saying this, he plunged into the surging sea. I 
 with my gallant comrades turned to our ships, and aa 
 I went my heart grew very dark. But when we came 
 to the ship and to the sea, and we had made our sup- 
 per, and the immortal night drew near, we laid us 
 down to sleep upon the beach. Then as the early rosy*
 
 IV. 677-610.] THE ODYSSEY. 68 
 
 fingered dawn appeared, we in the first place launched 
 our ships into the sacred sea, put masts and sails in 
 the trim ships, the men embarked themselves, took 
 places at the pins, and sitting in order smote the 
 foaming water with their oars. So back again to 
 Egypt's waters, to its heaven-descended stream, I 
 brought my ships and made the offerings due. And 
 after appeasing the anger of the gods that live for- 
 ever, I raised a mound to Agamemnon, that his fame 
 might never die. This done, I sailed away ; the gods 
 gave wind and brought me swiftly to my native land. 
 But come, remain awhile here at my hall until eleven 
 or twelve days pass. Then I will send you forth 
 with honor, giving you splendid gifts, three horses 
 and a polished car. Moreover, I will give a goodly 
 chalice, that as you pour libations to the immortal 
 gods you may be mindful all your days of me." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " O son 
 of Atreus, keep me no long time here, though I could 
 be content to stay a year, and no desire for kindred 
 or for home would ever come ; for I find a wonderful 
 pleasure in hearing your tales and talk. But already 
 friends at hallowed Pylos are uneasy, and you still 
 hold me here. As for the gift that you would give, 
 pray let it be some keepsake. Horses I will not take 
 to Ithaca, but leave them as an honor here for you ; 
 for you rule open plains, where lotus is abundant, 
 marsh-grass and wheat and corn, and the white broad- 
 eared barley. In Ithaca there are no open runs, no 
 meadows ; a land for goats, and pleasanter than graz- 
 ing country. Not one of the islands is a place to 
 drive a horse, none has good meadows, of all that rest 
 upon the sea ; Ithaca least of all." 
 
 He spoke, and Menelaus, good at the war-cry, 
 smiled, patted him with his hand, and said :
 
 64 THE ODYSSEY. [TV. 611-64L 
 
 " Of noble blood you are, dear child, as your words 
 how. Yes, I will make the change, for well I can. 
 And out of all the gifts stored in my house as trea- 
 sures I will give you that which is most beautiful and 
 precious : I will give a well- wrought bowl. It is of 
 solid silver, its rim finished with gold, the work of 
 Hephaestus. Lord Phaedimus, the king of the Si- 
 donians, gave it to me, when his house sheltered me 
 upon my homeward way. And now to you I gladly 
 give it." 
 
 So they conversed together. But banqueters were 
 coming to the palace of the noble king. Men drove 
 up sheep, and brought the cheering wine, and their 
 veiled wives sent bread. Thus they were busied with 
 their dinner in the hall. 
 
 Meanwhile before the palace of Odysseus the sui- 
 tors were making merry, throwing the discus and the 
 bunting spear upon the level pavement, holding riot as 
 of old. Here sat Antinoiis and god-like Eurymachus, 
 the leaders of the suitors ; for they in manly excel- 
 lence were quite the best of all. To them Noemon, 
 son of Phronius, now drew near; and questioning 
 Antinoiis thus he spoke : 
 
 " Antinoiis, do we know, or do we not, when Tele- 
 tmachus will come from sandy Pylos ? He took a ship 
 of mine and went away, and now I need her for cross 
 ing to broad Elis where I keep my twelve brood mares. 
 The hardy mules, their foals, are still unbroken ; one 
 I would fetch away and break him in." 
 
 So he spoke. The others were amazed. They did 
 not think Telemachus was gone to Pylos, to the land 
 of Neleus ; they thought he still was somewhere at the 
 farm, among the flocks, or with the swineherd. 
 
 Then said Antmoiis, Eupeithes son: "Tell me
 
 IV. 642-672.] THE ODYSSEY. 65 
 
 precisely whe& ne went and what young men were 
 with him. Picked men of Ithaca, or did he take his 
 hirelings and slaves ? That indeed he might do I 
 And tell me truly this, that I may know it well ; did 
 he with violence, against your will, take the black 
 ship? Or did you give it willingly, because he 
 begged?" 
 
 Then answered him Noemon, son of Phronius : '* I 
 gave it willingly. What could one do when a man 
 like him, with troubles on his heart, entreated ? Hard 
 would it be to keep from giving. The youths who 
 next to us are noblest in the land are his companions. 
 I marked their captain as he went on board, and it 
 was Mentor or a god exactly like him. Yet this is 
 strange. Here I saw noble Mentor yesterday in the 
 morning ; and there he was embarking on the ship for 
 Pylos." 
 
 So saying, he departed to his father's house. But 
 the proud spirits of the two were stirred. They made 
 the suitors seat themselves and stop their sports. And 
 then Antinoiis, Eupeithes' son, addressed them in dis- 
 pleasure. With great passion was his dark soul filled. 
 His eyes were like bright fire. 
 
 " Well I Well ! Here is a monstrous action im- 
 pudently brought to pass, this journey of Telemaohus. 
 f We said it should not be ; and here in spite of all of 
 ' us this young boy simply goes, launching a ship and 
 picking out the best men of the land. Before we 
 think, he will begin to be our bane. But may Zeus 
 blast his power before he reaches man's estate ! Come 
 then, and give me a swift ship with twenty comrade?, 
 and I will lie in wait upon his way, and guard the 
 strait twixt Ithaca and rugged Samos. So to his grief 
 he cruises off to find his father." He spoke, and all
 
 66 THE ODYSSEY. [TV. 673-704. 
 
 approved and urged him on. And presently they rose 
 and entered the hall of Odysseus. 
 
 But now Penelope, no long time after, learned of 
 the plans on which the suitors' hearts were brooding. 
 For the page Medon told her, who overheard the plot 
 as he stood outside the court, while they within it 
 Framed their scheme. He hastened through the palace 
 with the tidings to Penelope ; and as he crossed her 
 threshold Penelope thus spoke : 
 
 "Page, why have the lordly suitors sent you here? 
 Was it to tell the maids of princely Odysseus to put 
 by work and lay their table ? Oh that they had not 
 wooed or gathered here, or that they here to-day 
 might eat their last and latest meal ! You troop about 
 and squander all our living, even all the estate of 
 wise Telemachus. To your fathers of old you gave 
 no heed when you were children, nor heard what sort 
 of man Odysseus was among your elders, how he did 
 no wrong by deed or word to any in the land. And 
 that is the common way with high-born kings; one 
 man they hate and love another. But he wrought no 
 iniquity to any man. Yet what your disposition is, 
 and what your shameful deeds, is plain to see. There 
 is no gratitude for good deeds done." 
 
 Then Medon spoke, a man of understanding : " Ah, 
 Queen, I would that were our greatest ill ; but 
 weightier matters yet, a sorer evil, the suitors now 
 propose which may the son of Kronos hinder! 
 They have resolved to slay Telemachus with the keen 
 
 V / 
 
 sword, as he sails home. He went away for tidings 
 of his father, to hallowed Pylos and to sacred Lace- 
 daemon.*' 
 
 As he thus spoke, her knees grew feeble and her 
 very souL Long time a speechless stupor held her;
 
 IV. 705-736.] THE ODYSSEY. 67 
 
 her two eyes filled with tears, her full voice stayed. 
 But at the last she answered thus and said : " Page, 
 why is my child gone ? What need had he to mount 
 the coursing ships, which serve men for sea-horses and 
 cross the mighty flood? Was it to leave no name 
 among men here ? " 
 
 Then answered Medon, that man of understanding : 
 " I do not know whether a god impelled him, or if his 
 own heart stirred within to go to Pylos, to gather 
 tidings of his father's coming or there to learn what 
 fate he met." 
 
 So saying, he departed along the hall of Odysseus. 
 But upon her heart-eating anguish fell. No longer 
 had she power to sit upon a chair, though many were 
 in the room, but down she sank upon the floor of her 
 rich chamber, pitifully moaning. Round about, her 
 maids were sobbing all her household, young and 
 old. And with repeated cries, Penelope thus spoke : 
 
 " Listen, dear maids ! Surely the Olympian gave 
 me exceeding sorrow, beyond all women born and 
 bred my mates. For I in former days lost my good 
 husband, a man of lion heart, for every excellence 
 honored among the Danaans good man! his fame 
 is wide through Hellas and mid-Argos. Moreover 
 now my darling son the winds have snatched away, 
 silently, from my halls ; I heard not of his going. 
 Hard-hearted maids ! No one of you took thought to 
 rouse me from my bed, though well your own hearts 
 knew when he embarked on the black hollow ship. 
 Ah, had I learned that he was purposing this jour- 
 ney, surely he would have stayed, however eager for 
 the journey, or else he should have left me dead 
 within the hall. But now let some one haste and call 
 .old Dolius, the slave my father gave when I came here,
 
 68 THE ODYSSEY. [IV. 737-767. 
 
 who tends my orchard trees ; that he may quickly go, 
 seat himself by Laertes and, telling all, learn if Laer- 
 tes can devise a way to come before the people and 
 cry out against the men who seek to crush his race 
 fcnd that of great Odysseus." 
 
 Then answered her the good nurse Eurycleia : 
 * Dear lady, slay me with the ruthless sword or leave 
 me in the hall ; I will not hide my story. I knew of 
 fill. I gave him what he wanted, bread and sweet 
 wine. But he exacted from me a solemn oath to 
 speak no word to you until twelve days were past, 
 or until you should miss him and hear that he was 
 gone, that so you might not stain your beautiful face 
 with tears. Now therefore bathe, and putting on 
 fresh garments, go to your upp^r chamber with you* 
 maids, and offer prayer to Athene, daughter of aegis* 
 bearing Zeus ; for thus she may preserve him safe 
 from death. Vex not an old man, vexed already. 
 Surely I cannot think the Arceisian line is wholly 
 hateful to the blessed gods. Nay, one shall still sur- 
 vive to hold the high-roofed house and the fat fields 
 around." 
 
 She spoke, and lulled the other's cries and stayed 
 her eyes from tears. Penelope bathed, and putting 
 on fresh garments went to her upper chamber with 
 her maids, took barley in a basket, and thus shd 
 prayed Athene : 
 
 "Hear me, thou child of aegis-bearing Zeus, un- 
 wearied one ! If ever wise Odysseus when at homu 
 burned the fat thighs of ox or sheep to thee, thereof 
 be mindful now ; preserve me my dear son. Guard 
 him against the cruel suitors' wrongs." 
 
 Thus having said, she raised the cry, and the god- 
 heard her prayer. But the suitors broke into
 
 IV. 788-801.] THE ODYSSEY. 69 
 
 uproar up and down the dusky hall, and a rude youth 
 would say : " Ha, ha ! at last the long-wooed queen 
 makes ready for our marriage. Little she thinks that 
 for her son death is in waiting." So they would say, 
 but knew not how things were. 
 
 And now Antinoiis addressed them, saying : " Good 
 sirs, beware of haughty talk of every kind, or some ' 
 one may report it indoors too. Come, rather, let us 
 rise and quietly as we may let us effect the scheme 
 which pleased the hearts of all." 
 
 So saying, he chose the twenty fittest men, who 
 went to the swift ship and to the shore. They in the 
 first place launched the ship into deep water, put 
 mast and sail in the black ship, fitted the oars into 
 their leathern slings, all in due order, and up aloft 
 spread the white sail. Stately squires carried their 
 armor. Out in the stream they moored the boat, they 
 themselves disembarked, took supper there, and waited 
 for the evening to come on. 
 
 But in her upper chamber heedful Penelope still 
 lay fasting, tasting neither food nor drink, anxious 
 whether her gentle son would escape death, or by the 
 audacious suitors be borne down ; as doubts a lion in 
 a crowd of men, in terror as they draw the crafty cir- 
 cle round him. To her in such anxiety sweet slumber 
 came, and lying back she slept and every joint re- 
 laxed. 
 
 Now a new plan the goddess formed, clear-eyed 
 Athene. She shaped a phantom fashioned in a wo- 
 man's form, even like Iphthime, daughter of brave 
 Icarius, her whom Eumelus married, that had his 
 home at Pherae. And this she sent to the house of 
 princely Odysseus, that it might make Penelope, 
 mourning and sighing now, cease from her griefs and
 
 TO THE ODYSSEY. [IV. 802-834. 
 
 tearful cries. It came into the chamber past the bolt* 
 strap, stood by her head and thus addressed her : 
 
 "Are you asleep, Penelope, dear troubled heart? 
 No, never shall the gods that live at ease leave you 
 to weep and pine ; f or still your son is destined to re* 
 turn, since ai the gods' sight he is no trangressor." 
 
 Then answered heedful Penelope, very sweetly slum, 
 bering at the gates of dreams : " Why, sister, have you 
 come ? You never before were with me, because your 
 home is very far away. And you bid me cease from 
 grief and all the pangs that vex my mind and heart 
 me who in former days lost my good husband, a man 
 of lion heart, for every excellence honored among the 
 Danaans good man ! his fame is wide through Hel- 
 las and mid-Argos. Moreover now my darling son is 
 gone on a hollow ship, a mere boy too, but little 
 skilled in cares and counsels. Therefore for him I 
 mourn even more than for that other. For him I 
 tremble, and I fear that he may meet with ill, either 
 from those within the land where he is gone, or on 
 the sea. For many evil-minded men now plot against 
 him and seek to cut him off before he gains his native 
 land." 
 
 And answering her, said the dun phantom : " Take 
 heart, and be not in your mind too sore afraid. So 
 .rue a guide goes with him as other men have prayed 
 for aid for powerful is she Pallas Athene. See- 
 ing you grieve, she pities you, and it was she who sent 
 me here to tell you so." 
 
 Then heedful Penelope said to her : " If you are a 
 god and have obeyed some heavenly bidding, come 
 tell me also of that hapless one, if he still lives and 
 sees the sunshine ; or is he now already dead and io 
 the house of Hades ? "
 
 IV. 835-847.] THE ODYSSEY. 71 
 
 And answering her, said the dim phantom : ** Of 
 him I will not speak at length, be he alive or dead. 
 To speak vain words is ilL" 
 
 So saying, it glided past the door-post's bolt into 
 the airy breezes. And out of sleep awoke Icarius' 
 daughter, and her very soul was warmed, so clear a 
 dream was sent her in the dead of night. 
 
 Meanwhile the suitors, embarking in their ship, sailed 
 on their watery journey, purposing in their minds the 
 speedy murder of Telemachus. Now in mid-sea there 
 is a rocky island, midway from Ithaca to rugged 
 Samoa Star Islet called of no great size. It 
 has a harbor, safe for ships, on either side ; and here 
 it was the Achaeans waited, watching.
 
 V. 
 
 THE RAFT OP ODYSSEUS. 
 
 DAWN from her couch by high Tithonus rose to 
 bring light to immortals and to men ; and now the 
 gods sat down to council. With them was Zeus, who 
 thunders from on L.gh, whose power is over all ; and 
 to them Athene, ever mindful of Odysseus, told of his 
 many woes ; for she was troubled by his stay at the 
 dwelling of the nymph. 
 
 "O Father Zeus, and all you blessed gods that 
 live forever, never again let sceptred king in all sin- 
 cerity be kind and gentle, nor let him in his mind 
 heed righteousness. Let him instead ever be stern 
 and work unrighteous deeds; since none remembers 
 princely Odysseus among the people whom he ruled, 
 kind father though he was. Upon an island now he 
 lies, deeply distressed, at the hall of the nymph Ca- 
 lypso, who holds him there by force. No power has 
 he to reach his native land, for he has no ships fitted 
 with oars, nor crews to bear him over the broad ocean- 
 ridges. Now, too, men seek to slay his darling son, 
 as he sails home. He went away for tidings of his 
 father, to hallowed Pylos and to sacred Lacedaemon." 
 
 Then answering, said cloud-gathering Zeus : " My 
 child, what word has passed the barrier of your teeth ? 
 For was it not yourself proposed the plan to have 
 Odysseus crush these men by his return ? As for 
 aid him upon his way with wisdom, ~-*
 
 V. 25-56. J THE ODYSSEY. 78 
 
 as you can, that he may come unharmed to his own 
 native land, and the suitors in their ship may be turned 
 back again." 
 
 He spoke, and said to Hermes, his dear son: 
 " Hermes, since you in all things are my messenger, 
 tell to the fair-haired nymph our steadfast purpose, 
 that hardy Odysseus shall go forth upon his homeward 
 way, not with gods' guidance nor with that of mortal 
 man ; but by himself, beset with sorrows, on a strong- 
 built raft, he shall in twenty days reach fertile Scheria, 
 the land of the Phaeacians, who are kinsmen of the 
 gods. There shall they greatly honor him, as if he 
 were a god, and bring him on his way by ship to his 
 own native land, giving him stores of bronze and gold 
 and clothing, more than Odysseus would have won from 
 Troy itself, had he returned unharmed with his due 
 share of spoil. Thus, then, it is his lot to see his 
 friends and reach his high-roofed house and native 
 land." 
 
 So he spoke, and the guide, the Speedy-comer, did 
 not disobey ; forthwith under his feet he bound his 
 beautiful sandals, immortal, made of gold, which carry 
 him over the flood and over the boundless land swift 
 as a breath of wind. He took the wand with which 
 he charms to sleep the eyes of whom he will, while 
 again whom he will he wakens out of slumber. With 
 this in hand, the powerful Speedy-comer began his 
 flight. On coming to Pieria, out of the upper air 
 he dropped down on the deep and skimmed along the 
 water like a bird, a gull, which down the fearful hol- 
 lows of the barren sea, snatching at fish, dips its thick 
 plumage in the spray. In such wise, through the mul- 
 titude of waves, moved Hermes. But when he neared 
 the distant island, there turning landward from the
 
 74 THE ODYSSEY. [V. 67-89. 
 
 dark blue sea, he talked until he came to a great 
 grotto where dwelt the fair-haired nymph. He found 
 she was within. Upon the hearth a great fire blazed, 
 and far along the island the fragrance of cleft cedar 
 and of sandal-wood sent perfume as they burned. In- 
 doors, and singing with sweet voice, she tended her loom 
 and wove with golden shuttle. Around the grotto, 
 trees grew luxuriantly, alder and poplar and sweet* 
 scented cypress, where long- winged birds had nests, 
 owls, hawks, and sea-crows ready-tongued, that ply 
 their business in the waters. Here too was trained 
 over the hollow grotto a thrifty vine, luxuriant with 
 clusters ; and four springs in a row were running with 
 clear water, making their way from one another here 
 and there. On every side soft meadows of violet 
 and parsley bloomed. Here, therefore, even an im- 
 mortal who should come might gaze at what he saw, 
 and in his heart be glad. Here stood and gazed the 
 guide, the Speedy-comer. Then after he had gazed to 
 his heart's fill on all, straightway he entered the wide- 
 mouthed grotto, and at a glance Calypso, the heavenly 
 goddess, failed not to know it was he ; for not un- 
 known to one another are immortal gods, although 
 they have their dwellings far apart. But brave Odys. 
 seus he did not find within ; for he sat weeping on the 
 shore, where, as of old, with tears and groans and 
 griefs racking his heart, he watched the barren 
 sea and poured forth tears. And now Calypso, the 
 heavenly goddess, questioned Hermes, seating him on 
 a handsome, shining chair : 
 
 ** Pray, Hermes of the golden wand, why are you 
 come, honored and welcome though you are ? You 
 were not often with me hitherto. Speak what you 
 have in mind ; my heart bids me to do it, if 1 can do
 
 V. 90-124.] THE ODYSSEY. 75 
 
 it and it is a thing that can be done. But follow me 
 first, and let me give you entertainment." 
 
 So saying, the goddess laid a table, loading it with 
 ambrosia and mixing ruddy nectar ; and so the guide, 
 the Speedy-comer, drank and ate. But when he had 
 eaten dinner and stayed his heart with food, then thus 
 he answered her and said : 
 
 " Goddess, you question me, a god, about my com- 
 ing hither, and I will truly tell my story as you bid. 
 Zeus ordered me to come, against my will. Who of 
 his own accord would cross such stretches of salt sea ? 
 Interminable ! And no city of men at hand to make 
 an offering to the gods and bring them chosen heca- 
 tombs. Nevertheless the will of aegis-bearing Zeus 
 no god may cross or set at naught. He says a man 
 is with you, the most unfortunate of all who fought 
 for Priam's town nine years and in the tenth de- 
 stroyed the city and departed home. They on their 
 homeward way offended Athene, who raised ill winds 
 against them and a heavy sea. Thus all the rest of 
 his good comrades perished, but wind and water 
 brought him here. This is the man whom Zeus now 
 bids you send away, and quickly too, for it is not 
 ordained that he shall perish far from friends ; it is 
 his lot to see his friends once more and reach his high- 
 roofed house and native land." 
 
 As he said this, Calypso, the heavenly goddess, 
 shuddered, and speaking in winged words she said: 
 " Hard are you gods and envious beyond all, to grudge 
 the goddesses their meeting men in open wedlock, when 
 one makes the man she loves her husband. So when 
 rosy-fingered Dawn had chosen Orion, you gods that 
 live at ease grudged him to her, till in Ortygia chaste 
 gold-throned Artemis attacked and slew him with her
 
 76 THE ODYSSEY. [V. 125-159. 
 
 gentle arrows. When, too, fair-haired Demeter, fol- 
 lowing her heart, lay with lasion in the thrice- 
 ploughed field, not long was Zeus unmindful ; for he 
 slew him, hurling his gleaming bolt. So now again, 
 you gods grudge me the mortal tarrying here. Yet 
 it was I who saved him, as he rode astride his keel 
 alone, when Zeus with a gleaming bolt smote his swift 
 ship and wrecked it in the middle of the wine-dark 
 sea. There all the rest of his good comrades perished, 
 but wind and water brought him here. I loved and 
 cherished him, and often said that I would make him 
 an immortal, young forever. But since the will of 
 segis-bearing Zeus no god may cross or set at naught, 
 let him depart, if Zeus commands and bids it, over 
 the barren sea I Only I will not aid him on his way, 
 for I have no ships fitted with oars, nor crews to bear 
 him over the broad ocean-ridges ; but I will freely 
 give him counsel and not hide how he may come 
 unharmed to his own native land." 
 
 Then said to her the guide, the Speedy-comer : 
 " Even so, then, let him go ! Beware the wrath of 
 Zeus ! Let not his anger by and by grow hot against 
 you!" 
 
 So saying, the powerful Speedy-comer went his way, 
 while the potent nymph hastened to brave Odysseus, 
 obedient to the words of Zeus. She found him sitting 
 on the shore, and from his eyes the tears were never 
 dried ; his sweet life ebbed away in longings for his 
 home, because the nymph pleased him no more. And 
 yet by night he always lay, though by constraint, 
 within the hollow grotto, unwilling by her willing 
 side; but in the daytime, sitting on the rocks and 
 aands, with tears and groans and griefs racking his 
 heart, he watched the barren sea and poured forth 
 Now drawing near, the heavenly goddess said :
 
 V. 160-191.] THE ODYSSEY. 77 
 
 " Unhappy man, sorrow no longer here, nor let 
 your days be wasted, for I at last will freely let you 
 go. Come, then, hew the long timbers and fashion 
 with your axe a broad-beamed raft ; build a high bul- 
 wark round, and let it bear you over the misty sea. 
 I will supply you bread, water, and the ruddy wine 
 you like, to keep off hunger; I will provide you 
 clothing and will send a wind to follow, that you 
 may come unharmed to your own native land, if 
 the gods will, who hold the open sky, for they are 
 mightier than I to purpose or fulfill." 
 
 As she said this, long-tried royal Odysseus shud- 
 dered, and speaking in winged words he said : 
 
 " Some other purpose, goddess, you surely have in 
 this than aid upon my way, when you thus bid me 
 cross on a raft that great gulf of the sea terrible, 
 toilsome which trim ships cannot cross, although 
 they speed so fast, glad in the breeze of Zeus. But I 
 will never, notwithstanding what you say, set foot 
 upon a raft till you consent, goddess, to swear a sol- 
 emn oath that you are not meaning now to plot me 
 further woe." 
 
 He spoke ; Calypso, the heavenly goddess, smiled, 
 caressed him with her hand and spoke thus, saying : 
 
 " You are a cunning rogue, never inclined to folly ! 
 How could you think of uttering such words ! Hear 
 this, then, Earth, and the broad Heaven above, and 
 thou down-flowing water of Styx, which is the 
 strongest and most dreaded oath among the blessed 
 gods, I am not meaning now to plot you further 
 woe. Nay, that I have in mind, and that I here pro- 
 pose, which I would seek for my own good were such 
 need laid on me. Indeed, my thoughts are upright; 
 no iron heart is in my breast, but one of pity."
 
 T8 THE ODYSSEY. [V. 192-224. 
 
 So saying, the heavenly goddess led the way in 
 haste, and he walked after in the footsteps of the god- 
 dess. And now to the hollow grotto came the god- 
 dess and the man, and he sat down upon the chair 
 whence Hermes had arisen. The nymph then set be- 
 fore him all food to eat and drink which men are 
 wont to use, and took her seat over against princely 
 Odysseus, while maids set forth for her ambrosia and 
 nectar ; then on the food spread out before them they 
 laid hands. So after they were satisfied with food 
 and onnik, then thus began Calypso, the heavenly 
 goddess : 
 
 ** High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, do 
 you so wish to go at once home to your native land ? 
 Farewell, then, even so ! But if at heart you knew 
 how many woes you must endure before you reach 
 that native land, you would remain with me, become 
 the guardian of my home, and be immortal, spite of 
 your wish to see your wife, whom you are always 
 longing for day after day. Yet not inferior to her I 
 count myself, either in form or stature. Surely it is 
 not likely that mortal women rival the immortals in 
 form and beauty." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : " Pow- 
 erful goddess, do not be wroth at what I say. Full 
 well I know that heedful Penelope, compared with you, 
 is poor to look upon in height and beauty ; for she is 
 human, but you are an immortal, young forever. Yet 
 even so, I wish yes, every day I long to travel 
 home and see my day of coming. And if again one 
 of the gods shall wreck me on the wine-dark sea, I 
 will be patient still, bearing within my breast a heart 
 well-tried with trouble ; for in times past much have I 
 borne and much have toiled, in waves and war; to 
 let this be added."
 
 V. 22&-259.] THE ODYSSEY. 79 
 
 As he thus spoke, the sun went down and darkness 
 came ; and so the two, hid in the hollow grotto, joyed 
 in their love, abiding by each other. 
 
 Soon as the early rosy-fingered dawn appeared, 
 quickly Odysseus dressed in coat and tunic ; and the 
 nymph dressed herself in a long silvery robe, finespun 
 and graceful, she bound a beautiful golden girdle 
 round her waist, and put a veil upon her head. Then 
 she prepared to send forth brave Odysseus. She gave 
 him a great axe, which fitted well his hands ; it was an 
 axe of bronze, sharp on both sides, and had a beauti- 
 ful olive handle, strongly fastened ; she gave him too 
 a polished adze. And now she led the way to the 
 farther shore of the island where the trees grew tall, 
 alder and poplar and sky-stretching pine, long-sea- 
 soned, very dry, that would float lightly. When she 
 had shown him where the trees grew tall, homeward 
 Calypso went, the heavenly goddess, while he began to 
 cut the logs. The work was quickly done. Twenty in 
 all he felled, and trimmed them with the axe, smoothed 
 them with skill, and leveled them to the line. Mean- 
 while, Calypso, the heavenly goddess, brought him au- 
 gers, and so he bored each piece and fitted all, and 
 then with pins and crossbeams fastened the whole to- 
 gether. As when a man skillful in carpentry lays out 
 the floor of a broad freight-ship, of such a size Odys- 
 seus built his broad-beamed raft. He raised a bul- 
 wark, set with many ribs, and finished with long tim- 
 bers on the top. He made a mast and sail-yard fitted 
 to it ; he made a rudder, too, with which to steer. 
 And then he caulked the raft from end to end with 
 willow withes, to guard against the water, and much 
 material he used. Meanwhile, Calypso, the heavenly 
 goddess, brought him cloth to make the sail, and well
 
 80 THE ODYSSEY. [V. 260-29L 
 
 did he contrive this too. Braces and halyards and 
 sheet-ropes he set up in her and then with levers 
 heaved her down into the sacred sea. 
 
 The fourth day came, and he had finished all. So 
 on the fifth divine Calypso sent him from the island, 
 putting upon him fragrant clothes and giving him a 
 bath. A skin the goddess gave him, filled with dark 
 wine, a second large one full of water, and some pro- 
 vision in a sack. She put upon the raft whatever dain- 
 ties pleased him and sent along his course a fair and 
 gentle breeze. Joyfully to the breeze royal Odysseus 
 spread his sail, and with his rudder skillfully he steered 
 from where he sat. No sleep fell on his eyelids as he 
 gazed u] ion the Pleiads, on Bootes which sets late, and 
 on the Bear which men call Wagon too, which turns 
 around one spot, watching Orion, and alone does not 
 dip in the Ocean-stream. For Calypso, the heavenly 
 goddess, bade him to cross the sea with the Bear upon 
 his left ; so seventeen days he sailed across the sea. 
 On the eighteenth there came in sight the dim heights 
 of Phaeacia, where nearest him it lay ; it seemed a 
 shield laid on the misty sea. 
 
 But now the mighty Earth-shaker, coming from 
 Ethiopia, spied him afar from the mountains of the 
 Solymi ; for Odysseus came in sight as he sailed along 
 the sea. And Poseidon grew more wroth in spirit, 
 and shaking his head he muttered to his heart : 
 
 44 Aha ! so then the gods have changed their pur- 
 poses about Odysseus, while I was with the Ethiopians I 
 And here he is close to the land of the Phaeacians, 
 where he is destined to escape from the great coil of 
 evil that surrounds him. Yet still I hope to plunge 
 him into sufficient trouble." 
 
 So Baying, he gathered clouds and stirred the deep,
 
 V. 292-326.] THE ODYSSEY. 81 
 
 grasping the trident in his hands ; he started tempests 
 of wiud from every side, and covered with his clouds 
 both land and sea; night broke from heaven; forth 
 rushed together Eurus and Notus, hard-blowing Ze- 
 phyrus, and sky-born Boreas, rolling up heavy waves. 
 Then did Odysseus' knees grow feeble, and his very 
 soul, and in dismay he said to his stout heart: 
 
 " Ah, woe is me ! What will become of me at last ? 
 I fear that all the goddess told was true, when she de- 
 clared that on the sea, before I reached my native land, 
 I should be filled with sorrow. Now all is come to pass. 
 Ah, with what clouds Zeus overcasts the open sky I 
 He stirred the deep, and tempests of wind hurry from 
 every side. Swift death is sure. Thrice, four times 
 happy Danaans who in the time gone by fell on the 
 plain of Troy to please the sons of Atreus ! Would I 
 had died there too, and met my doom the day a multi- 
 tude of Trojans hurled at me brazen spears over the 
 body of the son of Peleus ! Then had I found a burial, 
 and the Achaeans had borne my name afar. Now I 
 must be cut off by an inglorious death." 
 
 As thus he spoke, a great wave broke on high and 
 madly plunging whirled his raft around ; far from the 
 raft he fell and sent the rudder flying from his hand. 
 The mast snapped in the middle under the fearful 
 tempest of opposing winds that struck, and far in the 
 sea canvas and sail-yard fell. The water held him 
 long submerged; he could not rise at once after the 
 crash of the great wave, for the clothing which divine 
 Calypso gave him weighed him down. At length, 
 however, he came up, spitting from out his mouth the 
 bitter brine which plentifully trickled from his head. 
 Yet even then, spent as he was, he did not forget his 
 raft, but pushing on amongst the waves laid hold of
 
 82 THE ODYSSEY. [V. 326-364 
 
 her, and in her middle got a seat and so escaped 
 death's ending. But her the great wave drove along 
 its current, up and down. As when in autumn Boreas 
 drives thistleheads along the plain, and close they 
 cling together, so the winds drove her up and down 
 the deep. One moment Notus tossed her on for Bo- 
 reas to drive ; the next would Eurus give her up for 
 Zephyrus to chase. 
 
 But the daughter of Cadmus saw him, fair-ankled 
 Ino, that goddess pale who formerly was mortal and 
 of human speech, but now in the water's depths shares 
 the gods' honors. She pitied Odysseus, cast away 
 and meeting sorrow, and like a petrel on the wing she 
 rose from the sea's trough, and lighting on his strong- 
 built raft spoke to him thus : 
 
 " Unhappy man, why is it earth-shaking Poseidon 
 is so furiously enraged that he makes many ills spring 
 up around you ? Destroy you shall he not, however 
 wroth he be I Only do this, you seem to me not 
 to lack understanding. Strip off these clothes, and 
 leave your raft for winds to carry, then strike out 
 with your arms and seek a landing on the Phaeacian 
 coast, where fate allows you safety. Here, spread 
 this wimple underneath your breast. It is immortal ; 
 have no fear of suffering or death. But when your 
 hands shall touch the shore, untie and fling the wim- 
 ple into the wine-dark sea, well off the shore, and so 
 depart" 
 
 Saying this, the goddess gave the wimple, and she 
 herself plunged back into the surging sea, in likeness 
 of a petrel. The dark wave closed around. Then 
 hesitated long-tried royal Odysseus, and in dismay he 
 aid to his stout heart : 
 
 M Ah me I I fear that here again an immortal plots
 
 V. 357-4*91.] THE ODYSSEY. 38 
 
 me harm in bidding me leave my raft. I will not yet 
 obey ; for in the distance I saw land, where it was said 
 my safety lies. This I will do, for best it seems : so 
 long as the beams hold in the fastenings, here I will 
 stay and bide what I must bear ; but when the surgo 
 batters my raft to pieces, then I will swim. There it 
 no better plan." 
 
 While he thus doubted in his mind and heart, earth- 
 shaking Poseidon raised a great wave, gloomy and 
 grievous, and with bending crest, and launched it on 
 him. And as a gusty wind tosses a heap of grain 
 when it is dry, and some it scatters one way, some an- 
 other, so were the long beams scattered. But Odys- 
 seus mounting a beam, as if he rode a steed, stripped 
 off the clothing which divine Calypso gave, spread 
 quickly the wimple underneath his breast, and plunged 
 down headlong in the sea, with hands outstretched, 
 ready to swim. The great Earth-shaker spied him, 
 and shaking his head he muttered to his heart : 
 
 " Thus, after meeting many ills, be tossed about the 
 sea until you join a people who are favorites of Zeus ; 
 but even then, I trust, you will not laugh at danger." 
 
 Saying this, he lashed his full-maned horses and 
 came to Aegae, where his lordly dwelling stands. 
 
 And now Athene, daughter of Zeus, formed a new 
 plan. She barred the pathway of the other winds, 
 bade them to cease and all be laid to rest ; but she 
 roused bustling Boreas and before it broke the waves, 
 that safely among the oar-loving Phaeacians might 
 come high-born Odysseus, freed from death and doom. 
 
 Then two nights and two days on the resistless 
 waves he drifted ; many a time his heart faced death. 
 But when the fair-haired dawn brought the third day, 
 then the wind ceased ; there came a breathless calm ;
 
 84 THE ODYSSEY. [V. 392-424 
 
 and close at hand he spied the coast, as he cast a keen 
 glance forward, upborne on a great wave. As when 
 the precious life is watched by children in a father, 
 who lies in sickness, suffering great pain and slowly 
 wasting, for a hostile power assails him, and 
 then the one thus prized the gods set free from dan- 
 ger ; so precious in Odysseus' eyes appeared the land 
 and trees. Onward he swam, impatient for his feet 
 to touch the ground. But when he was as far away 
 as one can call, he heard a pounding of the ocean 
 on the ledges ; for the great waves roared as on the 
 barren land they madly dashed, and all was whirled 
 in spray. There was no harbor here to hold a ship, 
 no open roadstead ; only projecting bluffs, ledges, 
 and reefs. At this Odysseus' knees grew feeble, and 
 his very soul, and in dismay he said to his stout 
 heart: 
 
 ** Alas ! when Zeus now lets me see unlocked for 
 land, and forcing my way along the gulf I finally 
 reach its end, no landing anywhere appears out of the 
 foaming sea. Outside are jagged reefs ; around thun- 
 der the surging waves, and smooth and steep rises the 
 rocky shore. To the edge the sea is deep, and possi- 
 ble it is not to get a footing with both feet and so es- 
 cape disaster. If I should try to land, great sweep- 
 ing waves might dash me on the solid rock ; useless 
 would the attempt be ! But if I swim still farther, 
 hoping to find a sloping shore and harbors off the sea, 
 I fear a sweeping storm may bear me yet again along 
 the swarming sea, loudly lamenting ; or God may send 
 upon me a monster of the deep, and many such 
 great Amphitrite breeds, for I know how angry is 
 the great Land-shaker." . 
 
 While he thus doubted in his mind and heart, a
 
 V. 425-456.] THE ODYSSEY. 85 
 
 huge wave bore him onward toward the rugged shore. 
 There would his skin have been stripped off and his 
 bones broken, had not the goddess, clear-eyed Athene, 
 given him counsel. Struggling, he grasped the rock 
 with both his hands and clung there, groaning, till 
 the great wave passed. That one he thus escaped, 
 but the back-flowing water struck him again, still 
 struggling, and swept him out to sea. And just as, 
 when a polyp is torn from out its bed, about its suck- 
 ers clustering pebbles cling, so on the rocks pieces of 
 skin were stripped from his strong hands. The great 
 wave covered him. Then miserably, before his time, 
 Odysseus would have died, if clear-eyed Athene had 
 not given him ready thought. Rising beyond the 
 waves which thundered on the coast, he swam along 
 outside, eying the land, in hopes to find a sloping 
 shore and harbors off the sea. But when, as he swam, 
 he reached the mouth of a fair-flowing river, there 
 the ground seemed most fit, for it was clear of stones 
 and sheltered from the breeze. He felt the river 
 flowing forth, and in his heart he prayed : 
 
 " Hearken, O lord, whoe'er thou art ! Thee, long 
 desired, I find, when flying from the sea and from 
 Poseidon's threats. Respected even of immortal gods 
 is he who comes a fugitive, as I here now come to thy 
 current and thy knees through weary toil. Show 
 pity, lord ! I call myself thy suppliant." 
 
 He spoke, and the god straightway stayed the 
 stream and checked the waves, before him made a 
 calm, and brought him safely into the river's mouth. 
 Both knees hung loose, and both his sturdy arms, for 
 by the sea his spirit had been broken. His body was 
 all swollen, and water gushed in streams out of his 
 mouth and nostrils. So, breathless and speechless, in
 
 86 THE ODYSSEY. [V. 457-488, 
 
 a swoon he lay and dire fatigue o'crcame him. But 
 when he gained his breath, and in his breast the spirit 
 rallied, then he unbound the wimple of the goddess 
 and dropped it in the river running out to sea ; and 
 back a great wave bore it down the stream, and Ino 
 soon received it in her friendly hands. But he, re- 
 treating from the river, lay down among the rushes 
 and kissed the bounteous earth, and in dismay he said 
 to his stout heart : 
 
 u Ah me 1 What shall I do ? What will become 
 of me even now ? If by the stream I watch through- 
 out the weary night, may not the bitter frost and the 
 fresh dew together after this swoon end my exhausted 
 life ? The breeze from off a river blows cool toward 
 early morning. But if I climb the hill-side up to the 
 dusky wood and sleep in the thick bushes, suppos- 
 ing that the chill and weariness depart and pleasant 
 sleep come on, I am afraid I may become the wild 
 beasts' prey and prize." 
 
 Yet on reflecting thus, this seemed the better way : 
 be hastened therefore to the wood. This he found 
 near the water, with open space around. He crept 
 under a pair of shrubs sprung from a single spot ; the 
 one was wild, the other common, olive. These no 
 force of wind with its chill breath could pierce, no 
 sunbeams smite, nor rain pass through, they grew so 
 thickly intertwined with one another. Under them 
 crept Odysseus, and quickly with his hands he scraped 
 a bed together, an ample one, for a thick fall of leaves 
 was there, enough to shelter two or three men in 
 winter-time, however severe the weather. This long- 
 tried royal Odysseus saw with joy, and lay down in 
 the midst, heaping the fallen leaves above. As a man 
 hides a brand in a dark bed of ashes, at some out-
 
 V. 489-493.] THE ODYSSEY. 87 
 
 lying farm where neighbors are not near, hoarding a 
 need of fire to save his seeking elsewhere, even so did 
 Odysseus hide himself in leaves ; and on his eyes 
 Athene poured a sleep, quickly to ease Mm from the 
 fatigue of toil, letting hie eyelids close.
 
 vr. 
 
 THE LANDING IN PHAEAC1A. 
 
 THUS long-tried royal Odysseus slumbered here, 
 heavy with sleep and toil ; but Athene went to the 
 land and town of the Phaeacians. This people once 
 in ancient times lived in the opeii Highlands, near that 
 rude folk the Cyclops, who often plundered them, be- 
 ing in strength more powerful than they. Moving 
 them thence, godlike Nausithoiis, their leader, estab- 
 lished them at Scheria, far from toiling men. He ran 
 a wall around the town, built houses there, made tem- 
 ples for the gods, and laid out farms ; but Nausithoiis 
 had met his doom and gone to the house of Hades, and 
 Alcinous now was reigning, trained in wisdom by the 
 gods. To this man's dwelling came the goddess, clear- 
 eyed Athene, planning a safe return for brave Odys- 
 seus. She hastened to a chamber, richly wrought, in 
 which a maid was sleeping, of form and beauty like 
 Hit- immortals, Nausicaa, daughter of generous Alci- 
 nous. Near by two damsels, dowered with beauty by 
 the Graces, slept by the threshold, one on either hand. 
 The shining doors were shut; but Athene, like a 
 breath of air, moved to the maid's couch, stood by hear 
 head, and thus addressed her, taking the likeness 
 of the daughter of Dymas, the famous seaman, a 
 maiden just Nausicaa's age, dear to her heart. Taking 
 her guise, thus spoke clear-eyed Athene : 
 
 "Nauaicaa, how did your mother bear a child BO
 
 n. 26-56.] THE ODYSSEY. 89 
 
 heedless ? Your gay clothes lie uncared for, though 
 the wedding time is near, when you must wear fine 
 clothes yourself and furnish them to those that may 
 attend you. From things like these a good repute 
 arises, and father and honored mother are made glade 
 Then let us go a-washing at the dawn of day, and I 
 will go to help, that you may soon be ready; for! 
 really not much longer will you be a maid. Already 
 you have for suitors the chief ones of the land 
 throughout Phaeacia, where you too were born. Come, 
 then, beg your good father early in the morning to 
 harness the mules and cart, so as to carry the men's 
 clothes, gowns, and bright-hued rugs. Yes, and for 
 you yourself it is more decent so than setting forth 
 on foot ; the pools are far from the town." 
 
 Saying this, clear-eyed Athene passed away, off to 
 Olympus, where they say the dwelling of the gods 
 stands fast forever. Never with winds is it disturbed, 
 nor by the rain made wet, nor does the snow come 
 near; but everywhere the upper air spreads cloudless, 
 and a bright radiance plays over all ; and there the 
 blessed gods are happy all their days. Thither now 
 came the clear-eyed one, when she had spoken with 
 the maid. 
 
 Soon bright-throned morning came, and waked fair- 
 robed Nausicaa. She marveled at the dream, and 
 hastened through the house to tell it to her parents, 
 her dear father and her mother. She found them 
 still in-doors: her mother sat by the hearth among 
 the waiting-women, spinning sea-purple yarn ; she met 
 her father at the door, just going forth to join the 
 famous princes at the council, to which the high 
 Phaeacians summoned him. So standing close beside 
 ium, she said to her dear father :
 
 00 THE ODYSSEY. [VI. 57-80, 
 
 Papa dear, could you not have the wagon har- 
 nessed for me, the high one, with good wheels, 
 to take my nice clothes to the river to be washed, 
 which now are lying dirty ? Surely for you yourself it 
 is but proper, when you are with the first men holding 
 councils, that you should wear clean clothing. Five 
 good sons too are here at home, two married, and 
 three merry young men still, and they are always 
 wanting to go to the dance wearing fresh clothes. 
 And this is all a trouble on my mind." 
 
 Such were her words, for she was shy of naming the 
 glad marriage to her father ; but he understood it all, 
 and answered thus : 
 
 ** I do not grudge the mules, my child, nor anything 
 beside. Go ! Quickly shall the servants harness the 
 wagon for you, the high one, with good wheels, fitted 
 with rack above." 
 
 Saying this, he called to the servants, who gave 
 heed. Out in the court they made the easy mule-cart 
 ready ; they brought the mules, and yoked them to the 
 wagon. The maid took from her room her pretty 
 clothing, and stowed it in the polished wagon ; her 
 mother put in a chest food the maid liked, of every 
 kind, put dainties in, and poured some wine into a 
 goat-skin bottle, the maid, meanwhile, had got into 
 the wagon, and gave her in a golden flask some 
 liquid oil, that she might bathe and anoint herself, 
 she and the waiting-women. Nausicaa took the whip 
 and the bright reins, and cracked the whip to start. 
 There was a clatter of the mules, and steadily they 
 pulled, drawing the clothing and the maid, yet not 
 alone ; beside her went the waiting-women too. 
 
 When now they came to the fair river's current, 
 , where the pools were always full, for in abundance
 
 VL 87-119.] THE ODYSSEY. 91 
 
 clear water bubbles from beneath to cleanse the foul- 
 est stains, they turned the mules loose from the 
 wagon, and let them stray along the eddying stream, 
 to crop the honeyed pasturage. Then from the wagon 
 they took the clothing in their arms, carried it into 
 the dark water, and stamped it in the pits with rivalry 
 in speed. And after they had washed and cleansed 
 it of all stains, they spread it carefully along the shore, 
 just where the waves washed up the pebbles on the 
 beach. Then bathing and anointing with the oil, 
 they presently took dinner on the river bank and 
 waited for the clothes to dry in the sunshine. And 
 when they were refreshed with food, the maids and 
 she, they then began to play at ball, throwing their 
 wimples off. White-armed Nausicaa led their sport ; 
 and as the huntress Artemis goes down a mountain, 
 down long Taygetus or Erymanthus, exulting in the 
 boars and the swift deer, while round her sport the 
 woodland nymphs, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus, 
 and glad is Leto's heart, for all the rest her child 
 o'ertops by head and brow, and easily marked is she, 
 though all are fair ; so did this virgin pure excel her 
 women. 
 
 But when Nausicaa thought to turn toward home 
 once more, to yoke the mules and fold up the clean 
 clothes, then a new plan the goddess formed, clear- 
 eyed Athene ; for she would have Odysseus wake and 
 see the bright-eyed maid, who might to the Phaeacian 
 city show the way. Just then the princess tossed the 
 ball to one of her women, and missing her it fell in 
 the deep eddy. Thereat they screamed aloud. Royal 
 Odysseus woke, and sitting up debated in his mind 
 and heart : 
 
 "Alas! To what men's land am I come now?
 
 92 THE ODYSSEY. [VI. 120-149. 
 
 Lawless and savage are they, with no regard for 
 right, or are they kind to strangers and reverent 
 toward the gods ? It was as if there came to me the 
 delicate voice of maids nymphs, it may be, who 
 haunt the craggy peaks of hills, the springs of streams 
 and grassy marshes ; or am I now, perhaps, near men 
 of human speech ? Suppose I make a trial for myself, 
 and see." 
 
 So saying, royal Odysseus crept from the thicket, 
 but with his strong hand broke a spray of leaves 
 from the close wood, to be a covering round his body 
 for his nakedness. He set off like a lion that is bred 
 among the hills and trusts its strength; onward it 
 goes, beaten with rain and wind ; its two eyes glare ; 
 and now in search of oxen or of sheep it moves, or 
 tracking the wild deer; its belly bids it make trial 
 of the flocks, even by entering the guarded folds ; so 
 was Odysseus about to meet those fair-haired maids, 
 all naked though he was, for need constrained him. 
 To them he seemed a loathsome sight, befouled with 
 brine. They hurried off, one here, one there, over 
 the stretching sands. Only the daughter of Alcinoiis 
 stayed, for in her breast Athene had put courage and 
 from her limbs took fear. Steadfast she stood to 
 meet him. And now Odysseus doubted whether to 
 make his suit by clasping the knees of the bright-eyed 
 maid, or where he stood, aloof, in winning words to 
 make that suit, and try if she would show the town 
 and give him clothing. Reflecting thus, it seemed the 
 better way to make his suit in winning words, aloof ; 
 for fear if he should clasp her knees, the maid might 
 be offended. Forthwith he spoke, a winning and 
 shrewd speech : 
 
 w 1 am your suppliant, princess. Are you some god
 
 VL 150-182.] THE ODYSSEY. 93 
 
 or mortal? If one of the gods who hold the open 
 sky, to Artemis, daughter of mighty Zeus, in beauty, 
 height, and bearing I find you likest. But if you are a 
 mortal, living on the earth, most happy are your father 
 and your honored mother, most happy your brothers 
 also. Surely their hearts ever grow warm with plea- 
 sure over you, when watching such a blossom moving 
 in the dance. And then exceeding happy he, beyond 
 all others, who shall with gifts prevail and lead you 
 home. For I never before saw such a being with these 
 eyes no man, no woman. I am amazed to see. At 
 Delos once, by Apollo's altar, something like you I 
 noticed, a young palm-shoot springing up ; for thither 
 too I came, and a great troop was with me, upon a 
 journey where I was to meet with bitter trials. And 
 just as when I looked on that I marveled long within, 
 since never before sprang such a stalk from earth ; so, 
 lady, I admire and marvel now at you, and greatly 
 fear to touch your knees. Yet grievous woe is on 
 me. Yesterday, after twenty days, I escaped from 
 the wine-dark sea, and all that time the waves and 
 boisterous winds bore me away from the island of 
 Ogygia. Now some god cast me here, that probably 
 here also I may meet with trouble; for I do not 
 think trouble will cease, but much the gods will first 
 accomplish. Then, princess, have compassion, for it 
 is you to whom through many grievous toils I first am 
 come ; none else I know of all who own this city and 
 this land. Show me the town, and give me a rag to 
 throw around me, if you had perhaps on coming here 
 some wrapper for your linen. And may the gods 
 grant all that in your thoughts you long for : husband 
 and home and true accord may they bestow; for a 
 better and higher gift than this there cannot be, when
 
 94 THE ODYSSEY. [VI. 183-215. 
 
 with accordant aims man and wife have a home. Great 
 grief it is to foes and joy to friends ; but they them- 
 selves best know its meaning." 
 
 Then answered him white-armed Nausicaa : " Stran- 
 ger, because you do not seem a common, senseless per- 
 son, and Olympian Zeus himself distributes fortune 
 to mankind and gives to high and low even as he wills 
 to each ; and this he gave to you, and you must bear 
 it therefore, now you have reached our city and 
 our land, you shall not lack for clothes nor anything 
 Sesides which it is fit a hard-pressed suppliant should 
 find. I will point out the town and tell its people's 
 name. The Phaeacians own this city and this land, 
 and I am the daughter of generous Alcinoiis, on 
 whom the might and power of the Phaeacians rests." 
 
 She spoke, and called her fair-haired waiting-wo- 
 men : " My women, stay I Why do you run because 
 you saw a man ? You surely do not think him evil- 
 minded. The man is not alive, and never will be born, 
 who can come and offer harm to the Phaeacian land : 
 for we are very dear to the immortals ; and then we live 
 apart, far on the surging sea, no other tribe of men 
 has dealings with us. But this poor man has come 
 here having lost his way, and we should give him aid ; 
 for in the charge of Zeus all strangers and beggars 
 stand, and a small gift is welcome. Then give, my 
 women, to the stranger food and drink, and bathe 
 him in the river where there is shelter from the 
 breeze." 
 
 She spoke; the others stopped and called to one 
 another, and down they brought Odysseus to the 
 place of shelter, even as Nausicaa, daughter of gene- 
 rous Alcinoiis, had ordered. They placed a robe and 
 tunic there for clothing, they gave him in the golden
 
 VI. 215-246.] THE ODYSSEY. 95 
 
 flask the liquid oil, and bade him bathe in the stream's 
 currents. Then to the waiting - women said royal 
 Odysseus : 
 
 " Women, stand here aside, while by myself I wash 
 the salt from off my back and with the oil anoint me ; 
 for it is long since ointment touched my skin. But 
 before you I will not bathe ; for I am ashamed to bare 
 myself among you fair-haired maids." 
 
 So he spoke ; the women went away, and told it to 
 the maid. And now with water from the stream royal 
 Odysseus washed his skin clean of the salt which 
 clung about his back and his broad shoulders, and 
 wiped from his head the foam brought by the barren 
 sea ; and when he had thoroughly bathed and oiled 
 himself and had put on the clothing which the chaste 
 maiden gave, Athene, the daughter of Zeus, made 
 him taller than before and stouter to behold, and she 
 made the curling locks to fall around his head as on 
 the hyacinth flower. As when a man lays gold on 
 silver, some skillful man whom Hephaestus and Pal- 
 las Athene have trained in every art, and he fash- 
 ions graceful work ; so did she cast a grace upon 
 his head and shoulders. He walked apart along the 
 shore, and there sat down, beaming with grace and 
 beauty. The maid observed ; then to her fair-haired 
 waiting-women said: 
 
 " Hearken, my white-armed women, while I speak. 
 Not without purpose on the part of all the gods that 
 hold Olympus is this man's meeting with the godlike 
 Phaeacians. A while ago, he really seemed to me ill- 
 looking, but now he is like the gods who hold the 
 open sky. Ah, might a man like this be called my 
 husband, having his home here, and content to stay I 
 But give, my women, to the stranger food and drink."
 
 *6 THE ODYSSEY. [VI. 247-278. 
 
 She spoke, and very willingly they heeded and 
 obeyed, and set beside Odysseus food and drink. 
 Then long-tried royal Odysseus eagerly drank and ate, 
 for he had long been fasting. 
 
 And now to other matters white-armed Nausicaa 
 turned her thoughts. She folded the clothes and laid 
 them in the beautiful wagon, she yoked the stout- 
 hoofed mules, mounted herself, and calling to Odys- 
 seus thus she spoke and said : 
 
 ** Arise now, stranger, and hasten to the town, that 
 I may set you on the road to my wise father's house, 
 where you shall see, I promise you, the best of all 
 Phaeacia. Only do this, you seem to me not to lack 
 understanding : while we are passing through the fields 
 and farms, here with my women, behind the mules 
 and cart, walk rapidly along, and I will lead the way. 
 But as we near the town, round which is a lofty 
 rampart, a beautiful harbor on each side and a narrow 
 road between, there curved ships line the way ; for 
 every man has his own mooring-place. Beyond is the 
 assembly near the beautiful grounds of Poseidon, 
 constructed out of blocks of stone deeply imbedded. 
 Further along, they make the black ships' tackling, ca- 
 bles and canvas, and shape out the oars ; for the Phae- 
 acians do not care for bow and quiver, only for masts 
 and oars of ships and the trim ships themselves, with 
 which it is their joy to cross the foaming sea. Now 
 the rude talk of such as these I would avoid, that no 
 one afterwards may give me blame. For very for- 
 ward persons are about the place, and some coarse 
 man might say, if he should meet us : What tall and 
 handsome stranger is following Nausicaa? Where 
 did she find him? A husband he will be, her very 
 own. Some castaway, perhaps, she rescued from his
 
 VL 279-312.] THE ODYSSEY. 97 
 
 vessel, some foreigner ; for we have no neighbors here. 
 Or at her prayer some long-entreated god has come 
 straight down from heaven, and he will keep her his 
 forever. So much the better, if she has gone herself 
 and found a husband elsewhere I The people of our 
 own land here, Phaeacians, she disdains, though she 
 has many high-born suitors.' So they will talk, and 
 for me it would prove a scandal. I should myself cen- 
 mre a girl who acted so, who, heedless of friends, 
 while father and mother were alive, mingled with men 
 before her public wedding. And, stranger, listen now 
 to what I say, that you may soon obtain assistance 
 and safe conduct from my father. Near our road 
 you will see a stately grove of poplar trees, belonging 
 to Athene ; in it a fountain flows, and round it is a 
 meadow. That is my father's park, his fruitful vine- 
 yard, as far from the town as one can call. There 
 sit and wait a while, until we come to the town and 
 reach my father's palace. But when you think we 
 have already reached the palace, enter the city of the 
 Phaeacians, and ask for the palace of my father, gene- 
 rous Alcinoiis. Easily is it known ; a child, though 
 young, could show the way ; for the Phaeacians do not 
 build their houses like the dwelling of Alcinoiis their 
 prince. But when his house and court receive you, 
 pass quickly through the hall until you find my mother. 
 She sits in the firelight by the hearth, spinning sea- 
 purple yarn, a marvel to behold, and resting against a 
 pillar. Her handmaids sit behind her. Here ixJC 
 my father's seat rests on the selfsame pillar, and here 
 he sits and sips his wine like an immortal. Passing 
 him by, stretch out your hands to our mother's knees, 
 if you would see the day of your return in gladness 
 and with speed, although you come from far. If
 
 98 THE ODYSSEY. [VI. 313-331. 
 
 she regards yon kindly in her heart, then there is 
 hope that you may see your friends and reach your 
 stately house and native land." 
 
 Saying this, with her bright whip she struck the 
 mules, and fast they left the river's streams ; and well 
 they trotted, well they plied their feet, and skillfully 
 she reined them that those on foot might follow, 
 the waiting-women and Odysseus, and moderately 
 she used the lash. The sun was setting when they 
 reached the famous grove, Athene's sacred ground, 
 where royal Odysseus sat him down. And thereupon 
 he prayed to the daughter of mighty Zeus : 
 
 " Hearken, thou child of tegis-bearing Zeus, un- 
 wearied one ! Oh hear me now, although before thou 
 didst not hear me, when I was wrecked, what time the 
 great Land-shaker wrecked me. Grant that I come 
 among the Phaeacians welcomed and pitied by them." 
 
 So spoke he in his prayer, and Pallas Athene heard, 
 but did not yet appear to him in open presence ; for 
 she regarded still her father's brother, who stoutly 
 strove with godlike Odysseus until he reached his 
 land.
 
 vn. 
 
 THE WELCOME OF ALCINOU8. 
 
 HERE, then, long-tried royal Odysseus made his 
 prayer ; but to the town the strong mules bore the maid. 
 And when she reached her father's famous palace, she 
 stopped before the door-way, and round her stood her 
 brothers, men like immortals, who from the cart un- 
 yoked the mules and carried the clothing in. The 
 maid went to her chamber, where a fire was kindled 
 for her by an old Apeirean woman, the chamber-ser- 
 vant Eurymedousa, whom long ago curved ships 
 brought from Apeira ; her they had chosen from the 
 rest to be the gift of honor for Alcinoiis, because he 
 was the lord of all Phaeacians, and people listened to 
 his voice as if he were a god. She was the nurse of 
 white-armed Nausicaa at the palace, and she it was 
 who kindled her the fire and in her room prepared 
 her supper. 
 
 And now Odysseus rose to go to the city; but 
 Athene kindly drew thick clouds around Odysseus, 
 for fear some bold Phaeacian meeting him might 
 trouble him with talk and ask him who he was. And 
 just as he was entering the pleasant town, the goddess, 
 clear-eyed Athene, came to meet him, disguised as a 
 young girl who bore a water-jar. She paused as she 
 drew near, and royal Odysseus asked : 
 
 " My child, could you not guide me to the house of 
 one Alcinoiis, who is ruler of this people ? For I am
 
 100 THE ODYSSEY. [VII. 25-57. 
 
 a toil-worn stranger come from far, out of a distant 
 land. Therefore I know not one among the men who 
 own this city and this land." 
 
 Then said to him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene : 
 44 Yes, good old stranger, I will show the house for 
 which you ask, for it stands near my gentle father's. 
 But follow in silence ; I will lead the way. Cast 
 not a glance at any man and ask no questions ; 
 for our people do not well endure a stranger, nor 
 courteously receive a man who comes from elsewhere. 
 Yet they themselves trust in swift ships and traverse 
 the great deep, for the Earth-shaker permits them. 
 Swift are their ships as wing or thought." 
 
 Saying this, Pallas Athene led the way in haste, 
 and he walked after in the footsteps of the goddess. 
 So the Phaeacians, famed for shipping, did not ob- 
 serve him walking through the town among them, 
 because Athene, the fair-haired powerful goddess, did 
 not allow it, but in the kindness of her heart drew a 
 marvelous mist around him. And now Odysseus ad- 
 mired the harbors, the trim ships, the meeting-places 
 of the lords themselves, and the long walls that were 
 BO high, fitted with palisades, a marvel to behold. 
 Then as they neared the famous palace of the king, 
 the goddess, clear-eyed Athene, thus began : 
 
 44 Here, good old stranger, is the house you bade me 
 show. You will see heaven-descended kings sitting at 
 table here. But enter, and have no misgivings in your 
 heart ; for the courageous man in all affairs better at* 
 tains his end, come he from where he may. First yon 
 shall find the Queen within the hall. Arete is her 
 name ; sprung from the self-same ancestry as King 
 Alcinoiia. In early days earth-shaking Poseidon begot 
 by Periboea, the chief of womankind in
 
 VII. 58-89.] THE ODYSSEY. 101 
 
 beauty and youngest daughter of that bold Euryme- 
 don who once was king of the presumptuous giants : 
 but he brought ruin on his impious tribe and on him- 
 self. Poseidon lay with Periboea and had by her a 
 eon, resolute Nausithoiis, who was king of the Phaea- 
 cians. Nausithoiis begot Rhexenor and Alcinoiis ; but 
 before Rhexenor had a son, Apollo of the silver bow 
 smote him within his hall, soon after he was wed, and 
 he left behind an only child, Arete. Alcinoiis took 
 Arete for his wife, and he has honored her as no one 
 else on earth is honored among the women who to-day 
 keep houses for their husbands. Thus has she had a 
 heartfelt honor, and she has it still, from her own 
 children, from Alcinoiis himself, and from the people 
 also, who gaze on her as on a god and greet her with 
 welcomes when she walks about the town. For of 
 sound judgment, woman as she is, she has no lack ; 
 and those whom she regards, though men, find troubles 
 clear away. If she regards you kindly in her heart, 
 then there is hope that you may see your friends and 
 reach your high-roofed house and native land." 
 
 Saying this, clear-eyed Athene passed away, over 
 the barren sea. She turned from pleasant Seheria, 
 and came to Marathon and wide-wayed Athens and 
 entered there the strong house of Erechtheus. Mean- 
 while Odysseus neared the lordly palace of Alcinoiis, 
 and his heart was deeply stirred so that he paused be- 
 fore he crossed the brazen threshold ; for a sheen as 
 of the sun or moon played through the high-roofed 
 house of generous Alcinoiis. On either hand ran 
 walls of bronze from threshold to recess, and round 
 about the ceiling was a cornice of dark metal. Doors 
 made of gold closed in the solid building. The door- 
 posts were of silver and stood on a bronze threshold.
 
 103 THE ODYSSEY. [VII. 90-124. 
 
 silver the lintel overhead, and gold the handle. On 
 the two sides were gold and silver dogs; these had 
 Hephaestus wrought with subtle craft to guard the 
 house of generous Alcinoiis, creatures immortal, young 
 forever. Within were seats planted against the wall 
 on this side and on that, from threshold to recess, in 
 long array ; and over these were strewn light fine* 
 spun robes, the work of women. Here the Phaeacian 
 leaders used to sit, drinking and eating, holding con- 
 stant cheer. And golden youths on massive pedestals 
 stood and held flaming torches in their hands to light 
 by night the palace for the feasters. 
 
 In the King's house are fifty serving maids, some 
 grinding at the mill the yellow corn, some plying 
 looms or twisting yarn, who as they sit are like the 
 leaves of a tall poplar ; and from the close-spun linen 
 drops the liquid oil. And as Phaeacian men are 
 skilled beyond all others in speeding a swift ship 
 along the sea, so are their women practiced at the 
 loom ; for Athene has given them in large measure 
 ikill in fair works and noble minds. 
 
 Without the court and close beside its gate is a 
 large garden, covering four acres ; around it runs a 
 hedge on either side. Here grow tall thrifty trees 
 j>ears, pomegranates, apples with shining fruit, sweet 
 figs and thrifty olives. On them fruit never fails ; it 
 is not gone in winter or in summer, but lasts through- 
 aut the year; for constantly the west wind's breath 
 brings some to bud and mellows others. Pear ripens 
 upon pear, apple on apple, cluster on cluster, fig on 
 fig. Here too the teeming vineyard has been planted, 
 one part of which, the drying place, lying on level 
 ground, is heating in the sun ; elsewhere men gather 
 grapes; and elsewhere still they tread them. In
 
 YIL 125-156.] THE ODYSSEY. 103 
 
 front, the grapes are green and shed their flower, 
 but a second row are now just turning dark. And 
 here trim garden-beds, along the outer line, spring up 
 in every kind and all the year are gay. Near by, two 
 fountains rise, one scattering its streams throughout 
 the garden, one bounding by another course beneath 
 the court-yard gate toward the high house ; from this 
 the townsfolk draw their water. Such at the palace 
 , of Alcinoiis were the gods' splendid gifts. 
 
 Here long-tried royal Odysseus stood and gazed. 
 Then after he had gazed to his heart's fill on all, he 
 quickly crossed the threshold and came within the 
 house. He found the Phaeacian captains and coun- 
 cilors pouring libations from their cups to the clear- 
 sighted Speedy-comer, to whom they always offer a last 
 cup when they prepare for bed. Along the hall went 
 long-tried royal Odysseus, still clothed in the thick 
 cloud which Athene drew around him, until he came 
 to Arete and to King Alcinoiis. About Arete's knees 
 Odysseus threw his arms, and then the marvelous 
 cloud retreated from him. Seeing the man, the peo- 
 ple of the house were hushed and marveled as they 
 gazed, and thus Odysseus made his supplication : 
 
 " Arete, daughter of divine Rhexenor, to your hus- 
 oand I am come, and to your knees, through many 
 toils, and to these f casters too. The gods bestow upon 
 them the blessing of long life, and to his children may 
 each one leave the wealth within his hall and every 
 honor men have given. But quickly grant me aid to 
 reach my native land ; for long cut off from friends I 
 have been meeting hardship." 
 
 When he had spoken thus, he sat down on the 
 hearth among the ashes by the fire, while all were 
 hushed to silence. At last the old lord Echeneiis
 
 104 THE ODYSSEY. [VII. 156-187. 
 
 spoke, the oldest man of the Phaeacian race, pree'mv 
 iifiii in speech and full of knowledge of the past. 
 He with good will addressed them thus, and said : 
 
 44 Alcinoiis, this is not quite honorable to you ; it is 
 unseemly that a stranger should be sitting on the 
 hearth among the ashes. Awaiting words of yours, 
 these men hold back. Come then, raise up the stran- 
 ger, seat him on a silver-studded chair, and bid the 
 pages mix more wine, that we may also pour to Zeus, 
 the Thunderer, who waits on worthy suppliants. And 
 let the housekeeper give supper to the stranger from 
 what, she has in store." 
 
 Now when revered Alcinoiis heard his word, he 
 took by the hand Odysseus, keen and crafty, raised 
 him from the hearth and placed him on a shining 
 chair, making his son arise, manly Laodamas, who sat 
 beside his father, for his father loved him best. And 
 water for the hands a servant brought in a beautiful 
 pitcher made of gold, and poured it out over a silver 
 basin for their washing, and spread a polished table 
 by their side. And the grave housekeeper brought 
 bread and placed before them, setting out food of 
 many a kind, freely giving of her store. So long- 
 tried royal Odysseus drank and ate. And now to 
 the page revered Alcinoiis said : 
 
 44 Pontonous, mix a bowl and pass the wine to all 
 within the hall, that we may also pour to Zeus, the 
 Thunderer, who waits on worthy suppliants." 
 
 He spoke ; Pontonoiis stirred the cheering wine and 
 served to all, with a first pious portion for the cup. 
 So after they had poured and drunk as their hearts 
 would, then thus Alcinoiis addressed them, saying: 
 
 44 Hearken, Phaeacian captains and councilors, and 
 let ino tell you uh.a the heart within me bids. After
 
 VII. 188-220.] THE ODYSSEY. 105 
 
 the feast is over, go to your homes and rest ; and 
 in the morning we will call more elders hither, and 
 entertain the stranger at the hall, and make fit offer- 
 ing to the gods. Then afterwards we will take 
 thought about his going, so that the stranger, free 
 from toil and trouble, may by our guidance reach his 
 land in gladness and with speed, although he comes 
 from far. So shall he, meanwhile, meet no ill or harm 
 till he set foot in his own land ; there, in the days to 
 come, he shall receive whatever fate and the stern 
 spinners wove in his birth-thread when his mother 
 bore him. But if he be some deathless one come 
 down from heaven, then do the gods herein deal with 
 us strangely; for heretofore the gods have always 
 shown themselves without disguise, and when we offer 
 splendid hecatombs they sit beside us at the feast, even 
 like ourselves. And if a man, walking alone, meet 
 them upon his way, they do not hide ; for we are of 
 their kin, as are the Cyclops and the wild tribes of 
 Giants." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said : " Al- 
 cinoiis, other thoughts of me be yours ! I am not like 
 the deathless ones who hold the open sky, either in 
 form or bearing, but on the contrary I am like men 
 that die ; and whomsoever you have known bearing 
 most grief among mankind, his sorrows I could equal. 
 Yes, even more distresses still I might relate which 
 first and last I bore at the gods' bidding. But 
 let me now, though sick at heart, take supper ; for 
 nothing is more brutal than an angry belly. Perforce 
 it bids a man attend, sadly though he be worn, 
 though grief be on his mind. Even so, I too have 
 grief upon my mind, and yet this evermore calls me 
 to eat and drink ; all I have borne it makes me quite
 
 106 THE ODYSSEY. [VII. 221-251 
 
 forget, and bids me take my fill. But do you hasten 
 at the dawn of day to laud unhappy me in my own 
 country, much as I still must bear ; and let life pass 
 when once I have beheld my goods, my slaves, and 
 my great high-roofed house." 
 
 He spoke, and all approved and bade send forth the 
 stranger, for rightly had he spoken. Then after they 
 had poured and drunk as their hearts would, desiring 
 rest, they each departed homeward. So in the hall 
 was royal Odysseus left behind ; Arete, too, and god- 
 like Alcinoiis sat beside him, while servants cleared 
 away the dishes of the meal. Then thus began white- 
 armed Arete ; for when she saw Odysseus she knew 
 his robe and tunic to be the beautiful clothing which 
 she herself had made she and her waiting- women ; 
 and speaking in winged words, she said : 
 
 " Stranger, I will myself first ask you this : Who 
 are you ? Of what people ? Who gave this clothing 
 to you ? Did you not say you came to us when lost 
 upon the sea ? " 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : " Hard 
 it were, Queen, fully to tell my woes, because the gods 
 of heaven have given me many ; still, what you ask 
 and seek to know I will declare. Ogygia is an island 
 lying far out at sea, where the daughter of Atlas 
 dwells, crafty Calypso, a fair-haired, powerful god- 
 dess. Her no one visits, neither god nor mortal man ; 
 but hapless me some heavenly power brought to her 
 hearth, and all alone, for Zeus with a gleaming bolt 
 mote my swift ship and wrecked it in the middle 
 of the wine-dark sea. There all the rest of my good 
 comrades perished, but I myself caught in my arms 
 the keel of my curved ship and drifted for nine days. 
 Upon the tenth, in the dark night, gods, brought me
 
 VII. 264-287.] THE ODYSSEY. 107 
 
 to the island of Ogygia, where dwells Calypso, the 
 fair-haired, powerful goddess. Receiving nie, she 
 loved and cherished me, and often said that she would 
 make me an immortal, young forever ; but she never 
 beguiled the heart within my breast. Here for seven 
 years I lingered, and often with my tears bedewed the 
 immortal robes Calypso gave. But when the eighth 
 revolving year was come, she bade me, even urged 
 me, to depart, whether through message sent from 
 Zeus or that her own mind changed. Upon a strong- 
 built raft she sent me forth, giving abundant food, 
 bread and sweet wine ; she clad me in immortal robes 
 and sent along my course a fair and gentle breeze. 
 For seventeen days I sailed across the sea ; on the 
 eighteenth there caine in sight the dim heights of 
 your coast, and I was glad at heart ill-fated I 
 who yet must meet the sore distress which earth 
 shaking Poseidon brought upon me. For he awoke 
 the winds and barred my progress, stirred marvelously 
 the waters, and the waves did not suffer me, spite of 
 my many groans, to ride my raft. This soon the 
 tempest shattered, but I by swimming forced my way 
 through the flood, till at your coast the wind and water 
 brought me in. Here, as I tried to land, the waves 
 upon the shore might well have overcome me, casting 
 me on great rocks and on forbidding ground ; but I 
 turned back and swam until I reached a stream where 
 the ground seemed most fit, so clear of stones and 
 sheltered from the breeze. Gathering my strength, 
 I staggered out, and the immortal night drew near. 
 Off to a distance from the heaven-descended stream 
 I walked, and fell asleep among the bushes, heaping 
 the leaves around ; and here God poured upon me a 
 slumber without end. For lying among the leaves and
 
 108 THE ODYSSEY. [VII. 288-320. 
 
 ad at heart, I slept all night till morning, then till 
 noon ; the sun was going down as the sweeo slumber 
 left me. And now upon the shore I saw your daugh- 
 ter's maids, playing a game, and she among them 
 seemed a goddess. To her I made entreaty, and she 
 did not lack sound judgment, such as you could not 
 hope that a young person meeting you would show ; 
 for usually the young are giddy. She gave me bread 
 enough and sparkling wine, she bathed me in the 
 river and gave to me these clothes. Thus, though in 
 trouble, I have told you all the truth." 
 
 Then answered him Alcinoiis and said : " Stranger, 
 in this my child behaved not rightly, in that she did 
 not bring you hither with her maids. Yet it was she 
 from whom you first sought aid." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said : " Sire, 
 do not for this reproach the blameless girl. For she 
 instructed me to follow with the maids ; but I would 
 not, for fear and very shame, lest possibly your heart 
 might be offended at the sight. Suspicious creatures 
 are we sons of men on earth." 
 
 Then answered him Alcinoiis and said : " Stranger, 
 die heart within my breast is not one lightly troubled. 
 ! Better, good sense in all things. O father Zeus, 
 Athene, and Apollo, that such a man as you, so like 
 in mind to me, might take my child, be called my 
 son-in-law, and here abide! For I would give you 
 house and goods if you would like to stay. Against 
 your wish, shall no Phaeacian hold you. That, father 
 Zeus forbid 1 Nay, I will fix your setting forth, and 
 you iu^ay rcb sxc^re ; to-morrow shall it be. And you 
 shall be lying all the time wrapt in a sleep, while they 
 are speeding you along calm seas until you reach 
 your land and home or anywhere you please, though
 
 VII. 3i>l-347.] THE ODYSSEY. 109 
 
 that were far beyond Eubcea, which is called the far- 
 thest shore by those among our people who once saw 
 it when they carried light-haired Rhadamanthus to 
 visit Tityus, the son of Gaia. So far they went, with- 
 out fatigue performing all, and on the self-same day 
 finished the journey home. But you yourself shall 
 judge how excellent my ships and young men are in 
 tossing up the water with the oar." 
 
 He spoke, and glad was long-tried royal Odysseus, 
 who, making his prayer, uttered these words and 
 said: 
 
 " O father Zeus, all that Alcinoiis has said may lie 
 fulfill. Then on the fruitful earth his name shall 
 never die, and I shall reach my home." 
 
 So they conversed together. Meantime white- 
 armed Arete bade her maids to set a bed beneath the 
 portico, to lay upon it beautiful purple rings, spread 
 blankets over these, and then place woolen mantles 
 on the outside for a covering. So the maids left the 
 hall, with torches in their hands. And after they had 
 spread the comfortable bed with busy speed, they 
 summoned Odysseus, drawing near and saying : " Up, 
 stranger, come to sleep. Your bed is ready." So did 
 they speak, and to him rest seemed delightful. Thus 
 long-tried royal Odysseus lay down to sleep upon 
 the well-bored bedstead beneath the echoing portico. 
 But Alcinoiis slept in the recess of his high hall; his 
 wife, the queen, making her bed beside him.
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE STAY IN PHAEACIA. 
 
 SOON as the early rosy-fingered dawn appeared, *e 
 vered Alcinoiis rose from bed, and up rose also high- 
 born Odysseus, spoiler of cities. And now revered 
 Alcinoiis led the way to the assembly - place of the 
 Phaeacians, which lay beside the ships. When they 
 were come, they took their seats on polished stones, 
 set side by side; while Pallas Athene went through 
 out the town in likeness of the page of wise Alcinoiis, 
 planning a safe return for brave Odysseus ; and ap- 
 proaching one and another man, she gave the word : 
 
 " Come hither, Phaeacian captains and councilors, 
 come, hasten to the assembly to hear about the stran- 
 ger who came but lately to the house of wise Alci- 
 noiis, when cast away at sea. In form he is like the 
 immortals." 
 
 With words like these she stirred in each a zeal and 
 a desire, and speedily the assembly-place and all its 
 seats were filled with those who came. Then many 
 marveled when they saw the wise son of Laertes ; for 
 Athene cast a wondrous grace about his head and 
 shoulders, and made him taller than before and 
 stouter to behold, that so he might find favor in all 
 Phaeacian eyes as one of power and worth, and that 
 he might win too the many games in which the Phaea- 
 cian.s tried Odysseus. So when they were assembled 
 and all had come together, Alcinoiis thus addressed 
 them, Baying :
 
 VIII. 26-69.] THE ODYSSEY. Ill 
 
 " Hearken, Phaeacian captains and councilors, and 
 let me tell you what the heart within me bids. This 
 stranger who he is I do not know came hither as 
 a wanderer from peoples east or west. He begs us 
 for assistance and prays it be assured. Then let us, 
 even as heretofore, furnish assistance promptly ; for 
 never has a stranger reached my halls and tarried 
 long distressed for lack of aid. Come, let us launch 
 into the sacred sea a black ship, freshly fitted, and 
 let the two and fifty youths be chosen from the land 
 who have at former times been found the best. Then 
 after lashing carefully the oars upon the pins, all dis- 
 embark and take a hasty meal, coming for this to me ; 
 I will make good provision for you all. These are 
 my orders to the youths. But for the rest of you, you 
 sceptred kings, come to my goodly palace, that there 
 within my hall we entertain the stranger; let none 
 refuse; and call the sacred bard, Demodocus, for 
 surely God has granted him exceeding skill in song, 
 to cheer us in whatever way his soul is moved to 
 sing." 
 
 So saying, he led the way, the sceptred princes 
 followed, and a page went to seek the sacred bard, 
 while two and fifty picked young men departed, as he 
 ordered, to the shore of the barren sea. On coming 
 to the ship and to the sea, they launched the black 
 ship into deep water, put mast and sail in the black 
 ship, fitted the oars into their leathern slings, all in 
 due order, and up aloft spread the white sail. Out 
 in the stream they moored her, then took their way 
 to the great house of wise Alcinoiis. Filled were the 
 porticoes, the courts, and rooms with those already 
 *>me ; many were there, both young and old. In their 
 behalf Alcinoiis sacrificed twelve sheep, eight white-
 
 112 THE ODYSSEY. [VIII. 60-90. 
 
 toothed swine, two swing-paced oxen ; these the men 
 flayed and served, and made a merry feast. 
 
 Meanwhile the page drew near, leading the honored 
 bard. The muse had greatly loved him, and had given 
 him good and ill : she took away his eyesight, but gave 
 delightful song. Pontonoiis placed for him among the 
 ' Coasters a silver-studded chair, backed by a lofty pil- 
 bur, and hung the tuneful lyre upon its peg above his 
 head, and the page showed him how to reach it with 
 his hands. By him he set a tray and a good table, 
 and placed thereon a cup of wine to drink as need 
 should bid. So on the food spread out before them 
 they laid hands. Now after they had stayed desire 
 for drink and food, the muse impelled the bard to 
 sing men's glorious deeds, a lay whose fame was then 
 as wide as is the sky. He sang the strife of Odysseus 
 with Pelian Achilles, how they once quarreled at 
 the gods' high feast with furious words, and Aga- 
 memnon, king of men, rejoiced in spirit when the 
 bravest of the Achaeans quarreled; for Phoebus 
 Apollo had by oracle declared it so should be, at hal- 
 lowed Pytho, when Agamemnon crossed its stony 
 threshold to ask for a response. Then was the day 
 the tide of woe began to roll on Trojans and on Dana- 
 am, according to the will of mighty Zeus. 
 
 So sang the famous bard. Meanwhile Odysseus 
 dutched his great purple cloak in his stout hands and 
 drew it round his head, hiding his beautiful face ; for 
 Le felt shame before the Phaeacians as from beneath 
 his brow he dropped the tears. But when the sacred 
 bard paused in the song, Odysseus dried his tears, 
 took from his head the cloak, and seizing his double 
 cup poured offerings to the gods. Then as the other 
 Would begin again, cheered on to sing by the Phaea-
 
 VIII. 91-124.] THE ODYSSEY. 118 
 
 cian chiefs, for they enjoyed the story, again 
 would Odysseus, covering his head, break into sobs. 
 And thus he hid from all the rest the tears he shed ; 
 only Alcinoiis marked him and took heed, for he sat 
 near and heard his deep-drawn sighs; and to the 
 Phaeacians, who delight in oars, he straightway said : 
 
 44 Hearken, Phaeacian captains and councilors 1 
 Now have we satisfied desire for the impartial feast 
 and for the lyre, which is the fellow of the stately 
 feast. Let us then come away and try all kinds of 
 games, so that the stranger, going home, may tell his 
 friends how greatly we surpass all other men in box- 
 ing, wrestling, leaping, speed of foot." 
 
 So saying, he led the way, the others followed after. 
 The page hung on its peg the tuneful lyre, then took 
 by the hand Demodocus and led him from the hall, 
 guiding his steps along the selfsame road by which 
 the rest of the Phaeacian chiefs went forth to view 
 the games. Thus to the assembly-place they came, 
 a great troop following after, thousands in number ; 
 and many a gallant youth stood waiting there. Forth 
 stood Acroneus, Ocyalus and Elatreus, Nauteus and 
 Prymneus, Anchialus and Eretmeus, Ponteus and 
 Proreus, Thoon, Anabasineiis and Amphialus the son 
 of Polyneus, son of the carpenter. Forth also stood 
 a youth like murderous Ares, Euryalus, the son of 
 Naubolus, who was the first in beauty and in stature 
 of all Phaeacians after brave Laodamas. Forth stood 
 three sons of good Alcinoiis, Laodamas, Halms, and 
 matchless Clytoneus. At first they tried each other 
 in the foot-race. Straight from a mark their track 
 was measured ; and all flew swiftly off together, rais- 
 ing the dust along the plain. Best in the race was 
 gallant Clytoneus j and by such space as at the plough
 
 114 THE ODYSSEY. [VIIL 125-155. 
 
 the mule-course runs, so far he shot ahead and reached 
 the crowd ; the rest were left behind. Next in the 
 hardy wrestling-match they had a trial, and here Eu- 
 ryalus surpassed all champions. At leaping Amphi- 
 alus was foremost of them all, while at the discus the 
 leader was Elatreus. In boxing it was Laodamas, the 
 good son of Alcinoiis. So when all hearts were glad- 
 dened by the games, up spoke Laodamas, son of Al- 
 einoiis: 
 
 " Come, friends, and let us ask the stranger if he 
 knows games and has some skill in any. In build, at 
 all events, he is no common man, in thighs, and 
 calves, and arms above, strong neck, and massive 
 chest. Fit years he does not lack, only he has been 
 broken down by many hardships ; for nothing, I be- 
 lieve, is worse than sea-life for weakening a man, how- 
 ever strong he be." 
 
 Then answered him Euryalus, and said: "Lao- 
 Jamas, what you have said is rightly spoken. Go, 
 challenge him yourself, and give the message." 
 
 Now when the good son of Alcinoiis heard his 
 words, he went and stood before them all and thus 
 addressed Odysseus : 
 
 "Come, good old stranger, do you also try the 
 games, if you have skill in any. Games you should 
 know. There is no greater glory for a man in all his 
 life than what he wins with his own feet and hands. 
 Come then, and try I Drive trouble from your heart ! 
 Your journey hence shall not be long delayed. Al- 
 ready the ship is launched, the sailors ready." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said : " Lao- 
 damas, why mock me with this challenge ? Sorrow is 
 on my heart far more than games ; for in times past 
 much have I borne and much have toiled, and now I
 
 VHL 156-187.] THE ODYSSEY. 115 
 
 sit in your assembly longing for my home and suppli- 
 cate your king and all this people." 
 
 Then answered back Euryalus, and mocked him to 
 his face : " No indeed, stranger, you do not look like 
 one expert in games, much as these count with men ; 
 rather like one busied with ships of many oars, cap- 
 tain of seamen who are traders, one whose mind is on 
 his cargo, watching freights and greedy gams. You 
 are not like an athlete." 
 
 But looking sternly on him wise Odysseus said: 
 " Stranger, your words are rude. You seem a reckless 
 person. So true it is that not to all alike the gods 
 grant grace, in stature, wisdom, and the power of 
 speech. For one man is in look inferior, but God 
 crowns his words with beauty, and men behold him 
 and rejoice ; with sure effect he speaks and a sweet 
 modesty ; he shines where men are gathered, and as 
 he walks the town men gaze as on some god. And 
 one again in look is like the immortals, but his is not 
 the crowning grace of words. So you, in look, are 
 excellent, better God could not fashion, but you 
 are weak in judgment. You stirred the very soul 
 within my breast by talking so unmannerly. No I I 
 am not unskilled in games, as you declare; I was 
 among the best, I think, while I could trust my vigor- 
 ous age and these my arms. Now I am overwhelmed 
 with pain and trouble ; for much have I endured, 
 cleaving my way through wars of men and through 
 the boisterous seas. Still even so, all woe-worn as I 
 am, I will attempt the games, because your words 
 were galling ; you provoked me, talking thus." 
 
 He spoke, and with his cloak still on he sprang 
 and seized a discus larger than the rest and thick, 
 heavier by not a little than those which the Phaea-
 
 116 THE ODYSSEY. (THI. 188-221. 
 
 cians were using for themselves. This with a twist 
 he sent from his stout hand. The stone hummed as 
 it went ; down to the ground crouched the Phaeacian 
 oarsmen, notable men at sea, at the stone's cast. Past 
 all the marks it flew, swift speeding from his hand. 
 Athene marked the distances, taking a human form, 
 and thus she spoke and cried aloud : 
 
 U A blind man, stranger, could pick you out that 
 mark by feeling merely, because it is not huddled 
 in the crowd, but lies ahead of all. Have a good 
 heart, this bout at least ; for no Phaeacian will reach 
 that or overpass it" 
 
 She spoke, and glad was long-tried royal Odysseus, 
 pleased that he saw a true friend in the ring. And 
 now with lighter heart he called to the Phaeacians : 
 
 " Come up to that, young men I Soon I will send 
 another as far, I think, or farther. And if there is 
 one among you all whose heart and spirit bids, come, 
 let him try me for you vexed me very sore in 
 boxing, wrestling, or the foot-race even ; it matters 
 not to me ; let any Phaeacian try, except Lacxlamas. 
 He is my host, and who would quarrel with his 
 entertainer? Witless the man must be, and alto- 
 gether worthless, who challenges his nost to games 
 when in a foreign land ; he hinders his own welfare. 
 None of the rest I either dread or scorn, but I will 
 gladly know you all and prove you face to face. Not 
 at all weak am I in any games men practice. I un- 
 derstand full well handling the polished bow, and I 1 
 should be the first to strike my man by sending an 
 arrow in the throng of foes, however many comrades 
 stood around and shot at their men too. None except 
 Philoctetes excelled me with the bow at Troy, when 
 we Achaeans tried the bow. All others I declare I
 
 VHL 222-266.J THE ODYSSEY. 117 
 
 far surpass, all that are living now and eating bread on 
 earth. The men of former days 1 will not seek to 
 rival Hercules, and Eurytus of Oechalia, for 
 these would rival with the bow immortals even. 
 Wherefore great Eurytus died all too soon ; no old 
 age came upon him in his home, because in wrath 
 Apollo slew him ; for Eurytus had challenged him to 
 try the bow. I send the spear farther than other men 
 an arrow. Only I fear that in the foot-race some 
 Phaeacian may outstrip me ; for rudely battered have 
 I been on many waters, because I had no ease at sea 
 for any length of time ; therefore my joints are weak- 
 ened." 
 
 So he spoke, and all were hushed to silence ; only 
 Alcinoiis answering said : " Stranger, without dis- 
 courtesy to us is all you say ; you merely seek to show 
 the prowess that is yours, indignant that the man be- 
 side you in the ring insulted you, though surely no man 
 would dispraise your prowess who knew within his 
 heart what it was fit to say. But listen now to words 
 of mine, that you may have tales to tell to other 
 heroes when, feasting in your hall with wife and 
 children, you recollect our prowess and the feats Zeus 
 has vouchsafed us from our fathers' days till now. 
 We are not faultless boxers, no, nor wrestlers ; but 
 in the foot-race we run swiftly, and in our ships ex- 
 cel. Dear to us ever is the feast, the harp, the dance, 
 changes of clothes, warm baths, and bed. Come then, 
 Phaeacian dancers, the best among you make us sport, 
 that so the stranger on returning home may tell his 
 friends how we surpass all other men in sailing, run- 
 ning, in the dance and song. Go, one of you, forth- 
 with, and fetch Demodocus the tuneful lyre that lies 
 within our hall."
 
 118 THE ODYSSEY. [VIII. 256-287. 
 
 So spoke godlike Alcinoiis, and a page sprang to 
 fetch from the king's house the hollow lyre. Then 
 rose the appointed umpires, nine in all, whose public 
 work it was to order all things at the ring ; they 
 smoothed the dancing-ground and cleared a fair wide 
 ring. Meanwhile the page drew near and brought 
 his tuneful lyre to Demodocus, who thereupon stepped 
 to the centre, and round him stood young men in the 
 first bloom of years, skillful at dancing. They struck 
 the splendid dance-ground with their feet ; Odysseus 
 watched their twinkling feet, and was astonished. 
 
 And now the bard, touching his lyre, began a beau- 
 tiful song about the loves of Ares and crowned Aphro- 
 dite : how at the first they lay together in the palace 
 of Hephaestus, privily ; and many a gift he gave, and 
 wronged the bed of lord Hephaestus. Soon to He- 
 phaestus came the tell-tale Sun, who had observed 
 their meeting. And when Hephaestus heard the gall- 
 ing tale, he hastened to his smithy meditating evil in 
 his heart, there set upon its block the mighty anvil 
 and forged him fetters none might break or loose, fet- 
 ters to hold securely. So after he had wrought his 
 snare, in anger against Ares, hastening to the cham- 
 ber where his own dear bed was set, around its posts 
 on every side he dropped his toils ; and many too 
 hung drooping from the rafter, like delicate spider- 
 webs which nobody could see, not even the blessed 
 gods, so shrewdly were they fashioned. Then after 
 he had spread the snare all round the bed, he made 
 a show of going off to Lemnos, that stately citadel 
 which in his sight is far the dearest of all spots on 
 earth. Now Ares of the golden rein had kept no 
 careless watch, and so espied craftsman Hephaestus 
 setting forth. He hastened to the house of famed
 
 VIII. 288-320.] THE ODYSSEY. 119 
 
 Hephaestus, keen for the love of fair-crowned Cythe- 
 rea. She, just come home from visiting her sire, the 
 powerful son of Kronos, was sitting down. He came 
 within the door, and holding her by the hand he spoke 
 and thus addressed her : 
 
 " Come, dear, to bed, and let us take our pleasure ; 
 for Hephaestus is no longer here at home, but gone 
 at last to Lemnos, to the harsh-tongued Sintians." 
 
 He spoke, and pleasant it seemed to her to lie be- 
 side him. So the pair went and laid them down in 
 bed, and all about them dropped the toils fashioned 
 by shrewd Hephaestus ; it was not in their power to 
 move or raise a limb. This they saw only then when 
 there was no escape. But on them came the famous 
 strong-armed god, who had turned back before he 
 reached the land of Lemnos ; for in his stead the Sun 
 kept watch and told him all. He hastened to the 
 house, with heavy heart, stood at the porch, wild rage 
 upon him, and raised a fearful cry, calling to all the 
 gods : 
 
 " O Father Zeus, and all you other blessed gods 
 that live forever, come see a sight for laughter, deeds 
 not to be endured ! For I being lame, this Aphrodite, 
 daughter of Zeus, ever dishonors me and gives her 
 love to deadly Ares, since he is handsome and is sound 
 of limb, while I was born a cripple. Yet nobody is 
 to blame for that but my two parents, would they 
 had never given me birth ! But you shall see where lie 
 the loving pair who stole into my bed. I smart to see 
 them ! And yet I think they will not lie much longer 
 thus, however great their love. Shortly they will not 
 wish to sleep together ; but still my snare and mesh 
 shall hold them, till her father pays me back the many 
 wedding gifts I gave to get the shameless girl, 
 seeing his child was fair, though not true-hearted.'*
 
 120 THE ODYSSEY. [VIII. 321-351. 
 
 He spoke, and the gods gathered at the brazen 
 threshold of his house. Poseidon came, who girds the 
 land, the fortune-bringer Hermes came, and the far- 
 working king Apollo. The goddesses for shame all 
 stayed at home. So at the portal stood the gods, the 
 givers of good things, and uncontrollable laughter 
 broke from the blessed gods as they beheld the arfcL 
 of shrewd Hephaestus ; and glancing at his neighbor 
 one would say : 
 
 " Wrong-doing brings no gain. Slow catches swift ; 
 as here Hephaestus, who is slow, caught Ares, who is 
 swiftest of the gods that hold Olympus, catching 
 him by his craft, though lame himself. Now Ares 
 owes the adulterer's fine." 
 
 So they conversed together. And now to Hermes 
 spoke the king, the son of Zeus, Apollo : " O Hermes, 
 son of Zeus, guide, giver of good things, would you 
 not like, though loaded down with heavy bonds, to lie 
 in bed by golden Aphrodite ? " 
 
 Then answered him the guide, the Speedy-comer : 
 "Would it might be, far-shooting king Apollo, 
 though thrice as many bonds, bonds numberless, 
 should hold me fast, and all you gods and goddesses 
 should come and see, would I might lie by golden 
 Aphrodite ! " 
 
 He spoke, and laughter rose among the immortal 
 gods. But Poseidon did not laugh ; he earnestly en- 
 treated Hephaestus, the great craftsman, to loosen 
 Ares. And speaking in winged words he said : 
 
 " Loose him, and I engage, as you desire, that he 
 shall pay all dues before the immortal gods." 
 
 Then said to him the famous strong-armed god : 
 ** Poseidon, girder of the land, ask not for this. From 
 triflers, even pledges in the hand are trifles. How
 
 . 362-384.] THE ODYSSEY. 121 
 
 could I hold you bound before the immortal gods, if 
 Ares should evade both debt and bond and flee ? " 
 
 Then said to him the earth-shaker, Poseidon : 
 " Hephaestus, even if Ares does evade the debt and 
 flee, still I myself will pay." 
 
 Then answered him the famous strong-armed god : 
 " I cannot and I must not say you nay." 
 
 So saying, mighty Hephaestus raised the net, and 
 the pair loosed from out the net, so very strong, 
 sprang up forthwith. He went to Thrace ; but she, 
 the laughter-loving Aphrodite, came to Cyprus, into 
 the town of Paphos, where is her grove and fragrant 
 shrine. There did the Graces bathe her and anoint 
 her with imperishable oil, such as bedews the gods 
 that live forever, and they arrayed her in a dainty 
 robe, a marvel to behold. 
 
 So sang the famous bard. Odysseus joyed in heart 
 to hear, as did the others also, the Phaeacian oarsmen, 
 notable men at sea. 
 
 And now Alcinoiis called on Ilalius and Laodamas 
 to dance alone, for with them none could vie. So tak- 
 ing in their hands a goodly purple ball, which skill- 
 ful Polybus had made them, one, bending backward, 
 flung it toward the dusky clouds ; the other, leaping 
 upward from the earth, easily caught the ball before 
 his feet touched ground again. Then after they had 
 tried the ball straight in the air, they danced upon the 
 bounteous earth with tossings to and fro. Other 
 young men beat time for them, standing around the 
 ring, and a loud sound of stamping rose. Then to 
 Alcinoiis said royal Odysseus : 
 
 "Mighty Alcinoiis, renowned of all, you boasted 
 that your dancers were the best, and now it is proved 
 true. I am amazed to see."
 
 122 THE ODYSSEY. [VTLL 385-417. 
 
 He spoke ; revered Alcinoiia was glad, and to the 
 Phaeacians, who delight in oars, he straightway said : 
 " Hearken, Phaeacian captains and councilors 1 This 
 stranger truly seems a man of understanding. Come 
 then, and let us give such guest-gift as is meet. 
 Twelve honored kings bear sway throughout the land 
 and are its rulers, and a thirteenth am I. Let each 
 present him a spotless robe and tunic and a talent 
 of precious gold. And let us speedily fetch all 
 together, so that the stranger, having these in hand, 
 may come to supper glad at heart. Let too Euryalus 
 give satisfaction to the man, by word and gift, for his 
 speech was unbecoming." 
 
 He spoke, and all approved and gave their orders, 
 and for the bringing of the gifts each man sent forth 
 his page. But Euryalus made answer to the king and 
 said : " Mighty Alcinoiis, renowned of all, I will in- 
 deed give satisfaction to the stranger, as you bid ; for 
 I will give this brazen blade. Its hilt is silver, and a 
 sheath of fresh-cut ivory incloses it. Of great worth 
 he will find it." 
 
 So saying, he put into Odysseus' hands the silver- 
 studded sword, and speaking in winged words he said : 
 " Hail, good old stranger ! If any word was uttered 
 that was harsh, straight let the sweeping winds bear 
 it away. But the gods grant that you may see your 
 wife and reach your land ; for long cut off from 
 friends you have been meeting hardship." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said : " You 
 too, my friend, all hail ! May the gods grant you for- 
 tune, and may you never miss the sword you give, 
 jnaking amends besides in what you say." 
 
 He spoke, and round his shoulders slung the silver- 
 studded sword. As the sun set, the noble gifts were
 
 VIII. 418-449.] THE ODYSSEY. 123 
 
 there ; stately pages bore them to the palace of Alci- 
 noiis, where the sons of good Alcinoiis, receiving 
 them, laid the fair gifts before their honored mother. 
 But for the princes revered Alcinoiis led the way, and 
 entering the house they sat them down on the high 
 seats. Then to Arete spoke revered Alcinoiis : 
 
 "Bring hither, wife, a serviceable chest, the best 
 you have, and lay therein a spotless robe and tunic. 
 Then heat upon the fire a caldron for the stranger 
 and warm some water, that, having bathed and seen 
 all gifts put safely by which the gentle Fhaeacians 
 brought him, he may enjoy the feast and hear the sing- 
 er's song. Moreover I will give him my goodly 
 golden chalice, that as he pours libations at his hall to 
 Zeus and to the other gods he may be mindful all his 
 days of me." 
 
 He spoke, and Arete told the maids to set a great 
 kettle on the fire as quickly as they could. They set 
 the kettle which sapplied the bath upon the blazing 
 fire, they poured in water, put the wood beneath, and 
 lighted. Around the belly of the kettle crept the 
 flame, and so the water warmed. Meanwhile Arete 
 brought the stranger a goodly chest from out the 
 chamber; she put therein the beautiful gifts, the 
 clothing and the gold which the Phaeacians gave, 
 and she herself put in a robe and goodly tunic, and 
 speaking in winged words she said : 
 
 " Look to the lid yourself and quickly tie the cord, 
 iest some one rob you on the way, when sailing by 
 and by, on the black ship, you rest in pleasant sleep." 
 
 When long-tried royal Odysseus heard these words, 
 he straightway fitted on the lid and quickly tied th; 
 cunning knot which potent Circe once had taught 
 him. Thereafter the housewife called him to come to
 
 124 THE ODYSSEY. [VHL 460-481 
 
 the bath and bathe ; and he was pleased to see the 
 steaming water, for he was not used to care like this 
 since he had left fair-haired Calypso's home ; but 
 there he had as constant care as if he were a god. 
 Now when the maids had bathed him and anointed 
 him with oil and put upon him a goodly coat and 
 tunic, forth from the bath he came and went to join 
 the drinkers , and Nausicaa, with beauty given her 
 of the gods, stood by a column of the strong-built 
 roof and marveled at Odysseus as she looked into 
 his eyes, and speaking in winged words she said : 
 
 "Stranger, farewell! "When you are once again 
 in your own land, remember me, and how before all 
 others it is to me you owe the saving of your life." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : " Nau- 
 ricaa, daughter of generous Alcinoiis, Zeus grant it 
 so he the loud thunderer, husband of Here that 
 I go home and see my day of coming. Then would I 
 there too, as to any god, give thanks to you forever, 
 all my days ; for, maiden, it was you who gave me 
 life." 
 
 He spoke, and took his seat by king Aleinoiis. 
 Men were already serving food and mixing wine. 
 The page drew near, leading the honored bard, Demo~ 
 docus, beloved of all, and seated him among the feast- 
 crs, backed by a lofty pillar. Then to the page said 
 wise Odysseus, cutting a slice of chine, whereof still 
 more was left, from out a white-toothed boar, the rich 
 fat on its sides : 
 
 M Page, set before Demodocus this piece of meat, 
 that he may eat and I may do him homage, sad though 
 I be myself ; for at the hands of all on earth bards 
 meet respect and honor, because the muse has taught 
 them song and loves the race of bards." 

 
 VIII. 482-611.] THE ODYSSEY. 125 
 
 He spoke, and the page bore the food and put it 
 in the hands of lord Demodocus. He took it and was 
 glad, and on the food spread out before them they laid 
 hands. But after they had stayed desire for drink 
 and food, then to Demodocus said wise Odysseus : 
 
 " Demodocus, I praise you beyond all mortal men, 
 whether your teacher was the muse, the child of 
 Zeus, or was Apollo. With perfect truth you sing 
 the lot of the Achaeans, all that they did and bore, 
 the whole Achaean struggle, as if yourself were there, 
 or you had heard the tale from one who was. Pass 
 on then now, and sing the building of the wooden 
 horse, made by Epeius with Athene's aid, which royal 
 Odysseus once conveyed into the citadel, a thing of 
 craft, filled full of men, who by its means sacked Ilios. 
 And if you now relate the tale in its due order, forth- 
 with I will declare to all mankind how bounteously 
 God gave to you a wondrous power of song." 
 
 So he spoke. Thereat the other, stirred by the 
 god, began and showed his skill in song : starting the 
 story where some Argives boarding the well-benched 
 ships were setting sail and spreading fire through 
 the camp; while others still, under renowned Odys- 
 seus, lay in the assembly of the Trojans all hidden 
 in the horse ; for the Trojans themselves had dragged 
 it to their^citadel. So there it stood, while long and 
 uncertainly the people argued, seated around it. 
 Three plans were finding favor: either to split the 
 hollow trunk with ruthless axe ; or else to drag it to 
 the height and hurl it down the rocks ; or still to 
 spare the monstrous image, as a propitiation of the 
 gods. And thus at last it was to end; for it was 
 fated they should perish so soon as their city should 
 inclose the enormous wooden horse, where all the AJ>
 
 126 THE ODYSSEY. [VIU. 
 
 give chiefs were lying, bearing to the Trojans death 
 and doom. He sang how they o'erthrew the town, 
 these sons of the Achaeans, issuing from the horse, 
 leaving their hollow ambush. Each for himself, he 
 sang, pillaged the stately city ; but Odysseus went 
 like Ares to the palace of Dei'phobus with godlike 
 Menelaus; and there, he said, braving the fiercest 
 fight, at last he won the day through resolute Athene. 
 
 So sang the famous bard. Odysseus melted into 
 tears, and all below his eyes his cheeks were wet. 
 And as a woman wails and clings to her dear husband, 
 who falls for town and people, seeking to shield his 
 home and children from the ruthless day ; seeing him 
 dying, gasping, she flings herself on him with a pier- 
 cing cry; while men behind, smiting her with their 
 spears on back and shoulder, force her along to bond- 
 age to suffer toil and trouble ; with pain most pitiful 
 her cheeks are thin ; so pitifully fell the tears beneath 
 Odysseus' brows. And yet he hid from all the rest 
 the tears he shed ; only Alcinoiis marked him and 
 took heed, for he sat near and heard his deep-drawn 
 eighs ; and to the Phaeacians, who delight in oars, he 
 straightway said : 
 
 " Hearken, Phaeacian captains and councilors, and 
 let Demodocus hush now the tuneful lyre, because not 
 to the pleasure of us all he sings to-day ; for since we 
 supped and since the sacred bard began, this stranger 
 has not ceased from bitter sighs. Surely some grief 
 hovers about his heart. Let then the bard cease sing- 
 ing, that all alike be merry, stranger and entertainers, 
 for that is better far ; since for the worthy stranger's 
 sake all things are ready now, escort and friendly 
 gifts, which we grant heartily. Even as a brother is 
 the stranger and the suppliant treated by any ma& 
 who feels a touch of wisdom.
 
 VIH. 646^579.] THE ODYSSEY. 127 
 
 " And do not you, then, longer cautiously conceal 
 what I will ask ; plain speech is better. Tell me the 
 name by which at home your father and mother called 
 you, they and the other folk, your townsmen and 
 your neighbors ; for none of all mankind can lack a 
 name, be he of low degree or high, when once he has 
 been born ; since in the very hour of birth parents give 
 names to all. And tell me of your land, your home, 
 and city, that thither our ships may bear you with a 
 discerning aim ; for on Phaeacian ships tLere are no 
 pilots, nor are there rudders such as other vessels 
 carry, but the ships understand the will and mind of 
 man. They know the cities and rich lands of every 
 nation, and swiftly they cross the sea-gulf, shrouded 
 in mist and cloud. On them there is no fear of being 
 harmed or lost. Still, this is what I heard Nausi- 
 thoiis, my father, tell : he said Poseidon was displeased 
 because we were safe guides for all mankind ; and he 
 averred the god one day would wreck a stanch ship of 
 the Phaeacians, returning home from pilotage upon 
 the misty sea, and so would throw a lofty mound 
 about our city. That was the old man's tale, and this 
 God may fulfill, or else it may go unfulfilled, as pleases 
 him. But now declare me this and plainly tell where 
 you have wandered and what countries you have seen. 
 About the men and stately towns, too, let me hear, 
 what ones were fierce and savage, with no regard for 
 right, what ones were kind to strangers and reverent 
 toward the gods. And tell me why you weep and 
 grieve within your breast on hearing of the lot of 
 Argive Danaans and of Ilios. This the gods wrought ; 
 they spun the thread of death for some, that others 
 in the time to come might have a song. Had you 
 some relative who fell at Ilios ? One who was dear ?
 
 128 THE ODYSSEY. [VHL 680-383. 
 
 some daughter's husband cr wife's father? they 
 who stand closest to us after our flesh and blood. Or 
 was it perhaps some friend who pleased you well, a 
 gallant comrade ? For a friend with an understand- 
 ing heart is worth no less than a brother."
 
 IX. 
 
 THE STORY TOLD TO ALCINOU8. THE CYCLOPS. 
 
 THEN wise Odysseus answered him and said: 
 * Mighty Alcinoiis, renowned of all, surely it is a 
 pleasant thing to hear a bard like this, one who is 
 even like the gods in voice. For more complete de- 
 light I think there cannot be than when good cheer 
 possesses a whole people, and feasting through the 
 houses they listen to a bard, seated in proper order, 
 while beside them stand the tables supplied with bread 
 and meat, and dipping wine from out the mixer the 
 pourer bears it round and fills the cups. That is a 
 sight most pleasing. Nevertheless your heart inclines 
 to learn my grievous woes, and thus to make me weep 
 and sorrow more. What shall I tell you first, then, 
 and what last ? For many are the woes the gods of 
 heaven have given me. First, I will tell my name, that 
 you, like all, may know it ; and I accordingly, seeking 
 deliverance from my day of doom, may be your guest- 
 friend, though my home is far away. I am Odysseus, 
 son of Laertes, who for all craft am noted among men, 
 and my renown reaches to heaven. I live in Ithaca, a 
 land far seen ; for on it is the lofty height of Neriton, 
 covered with waving woods. Around lie many is- 
 lands, very close to one another, Doulichion, Same, 
 and woody Zacynthus. Ithaca itself lies low along 
 the sea, far to the west, the others stretching east- 
 ward, toward the dawn, a rugged land, and yet a
 
 180 THE ODYSSEY. [IX. 27-BGl 
 
 kindly nurse. A sweeter spot than my own land I 
 shall not see. Calypso, a heavenly goddess, sought to 
 keep me by her side within her hollow grotto, desir- 
 ing me to be her husband ; so too Aeaean Circe, full 
 of craft, detained me in her palace, desiring me to be 
 \uer husband ; but they never beguiled the heart within 
 my breast. Nothing more sweet than home and pa- 
 rents can there be, however rich one's dwelling far in 
 a foreign land, cut off from parents. But let me tell 
 you of the grievous journey home which Zeus ordained 
 me on my setting forth from Troy. 
 
 44 The wind took me from Ilios and bore me to the 
 Cicouians, to Ismarus. There I destroyed the town 
 and slew its men ; but from the town we took the wo- 
 men and great stores of treasure, and parted all, that 
 none might go lacking his proper share. This done, 
 I warned our men swiftly to fly ; but they, in utter 
 folly, did pot heed. Much wine was drunk, and they 
 slaughtered on the shore a multitude of sheep and 
 swing-parsed, crook-horned oxen. Meanwhile, escaped 
 Ciconians began to call for aid on those Ciconians 
 who were their neighbors and more numerous and 
 brave than they, a people dwelling inland, skillful 
 at fighting in chariot or on foot, as need might be. 
 Accordingly at dawn they gathered, thick as leaves 
 and flowers appear in spring. And now an evil fate 
 from Zeus beset our luckless men, causing us many 
 sorrows ; for setting the battle in array by the swift 
 hips, all fought and hurled their brazen spears at one 
 another. While it was morning and the day grew 
 stronger, we steadily kept them off and held our 
 ground, though they were more than we ; but as the 
 sun declined, toward stallin^-time, then the Ciconians 
 turned our men and routed the Achaeans. Six of the
 
 TX. 60-93.] THE ODYSSEY. 131 
 
 crew of every ship fell in their harness there , the rest 
 fled death and doom. 
 
 " Thence we sailed on with aching hearts, glad to 
 be clear of death, though missing our dear comrades ; 
 yet the curved ships did not pass on till we had called 
 three times to each poor comrade who died upon the 
 plain, cut off by the Ciconians. But now cloud-gath- 
 ering Zeus sent the north wind against our ships in a 
 fierce tempest, and covered with his clouds both land 
 and sea ; night broke from heaven. The ships drove 
 headlong onward, their sails torn into tatters by the 
 fury of the wind. These sails we lowered, in ter- 
 ror for our lives, and rowed the ships themselves 
 hurriedly toward the land. There for two nights and 
 days continuously we lay, gnawing our hearts because 
 of toil and trouble. But when the fair-haired dawn 
 brought the third day, we set our masts, and hoisting 
 the white sails we sat us down, while wind and helms- 
 men kept us steady. And now I should have come 
 unharmed to my own native land, but that the swell 
 and current, in doubling Maleia, and the north wind 
 turned me aside and drove me past Cythera. 
 
 " Thence for nine days I drifted before the deadly 
 winds along the swarming sea ; but on the tenth we 
 touched the land of Lofris-eaters, men who make food 
 of flowers. So here we went ashore and drew ua 
 water, and soon by the swift ships my men prepared 
 their dinner. Then after we had tasted food and 
 drink, I sent some sailors forth to go and learn what 
 men who live by bread dwelt in the land, selecting 
 two, and joining with them a herald as a third. These 
 straightway went and mingled with the Lotus-eaters, 
 and yet the Lotus-eaters had no thought of harm 
 against our men; indeed, they gave them lotus to
 
 132 THE ODYSSEY. [IX. 94-128. 
 
 taste ; but whosoever of them ate the lotus' honeyed 
 fruit wished to bring tidings back no more and never 
 to leave the place, but with the Lotus-eaters there do- 
 sired to stay, to feed on lotus and forget his going 
 home. These men I brought back weeping to the 
 ships by very force, and dragging them under the 
 benches of our hollow ships I bound them fast, and 
 bade my other trusty men to hasten and embark on 
 the swift ships, that none of them might eat the lotus 
 and forget his going home. Quickly they came 
 aboard, took places at the pins, and sitting in order 
 mote the foaming water with their oars. 
 
 " Thence we sailed on with aching hearts, and came 
 to the land of the Cyclops, a rude and lawless folk, 
 who, trusting to the immortal gods, plant with their 
 hands no plant, nor ever plough, but all things spring 
 unsown and without ploughing, wheat, barley, and 
 grape-vines with wine in their heavy clusters, for rain 
 from Zeus makes the grape grow. Among this peo- 
 ple no assemblies meet; they have no stable laws. 
 They live on the tops of lofty hills in hollow caves; 
 each gives the law to his own wife and children, and 
 for each other they have little care. 
 
 "Now a rough island stretches along outside the 
 harbor, not close to the Cyclops' coast nor yet far out, 
 covered with trees. On it innumerable wild goats 
 breed ; no tread of man disturbs them ; none comes 
 here to follow hounds, to toil through woods and 
 climb the crests of hills. The island is not held for 
 flocks or tillage, but all unsown, un tilled, it evermore 
 is bare of men and feeds the bleating goats. Among 
 the Cyclops are no red-cheeked ships, nor are there 
 shipwrights who might build the well-benched ships 
 to do them service, sailing to foreign cities ; as usually
 
 IX. 129-162.] THE ODYSSEY. 133 
 
 men cross the sea in ships to one another. With 
 ships they might have worked the well-placed island ; 
 for it is not at all a worthless spot, but would bear all 
 things duly. For here are meadows on the banks 
 of the gray sea, moist, with soft soil ; here vines could 
 never die ; here is smooth ploughing-land ; a very 
 heavy crop, and always well in season, might be 
 reaped, for the under soil is rich. Here is a quiet 
 harbor, never needing moorings, throwing out an- 
 chor-stones or fastening cables, but merely to run 
 in and wait awhile till sailor hearts are ready and the 
 winds are blowing. Just at the harbor's head a spring 
 of sparkling water flows from beneath a cave ; around 
 it poplars grow. Here we sailed in, some god our 
 guide, through murky night ; there was no light to 
 see, for round the ships was a dense fog. No moon 
 looked out from heaven ; it was shut in with clouds. 
 So no one saw the island, and the long waves rolling 
 upon the shore we did not see until we beached our 
 well-benched ships. After the ships were beached, 
 we lowered all our sails and forth we went ourselves 
 upon the shore ; where falling fast asleep we awaited 
 sacred dawn. 
 
 " But when the early rosy-fingered dawn appeared, 
 in wonder at the island we made a circuit round 
 it, and nymphs, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus, 
 started the mountain goats, to give my men a ineai- 
 Forthwith we took our bending bows and our long 
 hunting spears from out the ships, and parted in 
 three bands began to shoot; and soon God granted 
 ample game. Twelve ships were in my train ; to 
 each there fell nine goats, while ten they set apart for 
 me alone. Then all throughout the day till setting sun 
 we sat and feasted on abundant meat and pleasant
 
 184 THE ODYSSEY. [IX. 163-194. 
 
 wine. For the ruddy wine of our ships was not yet 
 spent ; some still was left, because our crews took a 
 large store in jars the day we seized the sacred citadel 
 of the Ciconians. And now we looked across to the 
 land of the neighboring Cyclops, and marked the 
 smoke, the sounds of men, the bleat of sheep and 
 goats; but when the sun went down and darkness 
 came, we laid us down to sleep upon the beach. Then 
 as the early rosy-fingered dawn appeared, holding a 
 council, I said to all my men : 
 
 ** * The rest of you, my trusty crews, stay for the 
 present here ; but I myself, with my own ship and 
 my own crew, go to discover who these men may be, 
 if they are fierce and savage, with no regard for 
 right, or kind to strangers and reverent toward the 
 gods.' 
 
 "When I had spoken thus, I went on board my 
 ship, and called my crew to come on board and loose 
 the cables. Quickly they came, took places at the 
 pins, and sitting in order smote the foaming water 
 with their oars. But as we reached the neighboring 
 shore, there at the outer point, close to the sea, we 
 saw a cave, high, overhung with laurel. Here many 
 flocks of sheep and goats were nightly housed. 
 Around was built a yard with a high wall of deep-em- 
 bedded stone, tall pines, and crested oaks. Here a 
 man-monster slept, who shepherded his flock alone 
 and far apart; with others he did not mingle, but 
 quite aloof followed his lawless ways. Thus had he 
 grown to be a marvelous monster ; not like a man who 
 lives by bread, but rather like a woody p*ak of the 
 high hills, seen single, clear of others. 
 
 44 Now to my other trusty men I gave command to 
 itay there by the ship and guard the ship ; but I my-
 
 IX. 195-227.] THE ODYSSEY. 186 
 
 self chose the twelve best among my men and sallied 
 forth. I had a goat-skin bottle of the dark sweet 
 wine given me by Maron, son of Evanthes, priest of 
 Apollo, who watches over Ismarus. He gave me this 
 because we guarded him and his son and wife, through 
 holy fear ; for he dwelt within the shady grove of 
 Phoebus Apollo. He brought me splendid gifts : of 
 fine-wrought gold he gave me seven talents, gave me 
 a mixing-bowl of solid silver, and afterwards filled 
 me twelve jars with wine, sweet and unmixed, a drink 
 for gods. None knew that wine among the slaves and 
 hand-maids of his house, none but himself, his own 
 dear wife, and one sole house-dame. Whenever they 
 drank the honeyed ruddy wine, he filled a cup and 
 poured it into twenty parts of water, and still from the 
 bowl cume a sweet odor of a surprising strength ; then 
 to refrain had been no easy matter. I filled a large 
 skin full of this and took it with me, and also took 
 provision in a sack ; for my stout heart suspected I 
 soon should meet a man arrayed in mighty power, a 
 savage, ignorant of rights and laws. 
 
 " Quickly we reached the cave, but did not find 
 him there; for he was tending his fat flock afield. 
 Entering the cave, we looked around. Here crates 
 were standing, loaded down with cheese, and here 
 pens thronged with lambs and kids. In separate pens 
 each sort was folded: by themselves the older, by 
 themselves the later born, and by themselves the 
 younglings. Swimming with whey were all the ves- 
 sels, the well-wrought pails and bowls in which he 
 milked. Here at the very first my men entreated me 
 to take some cheeses and depart ; then quickly to 
 drive the kids and lambs to our swift ship out of the 
 pens, and sail away over the briny water. But I re-
 
 186 THE ODYSSEY. [IX. 228-2591 
 
 fused, far better had I yielded, hoping that I 
 might see him and he might offer gifts. But he was 
 to prove, when seen, no pleasure to my men. 
 
 * Kindling a fire here, we made burnt offering and 
 we ourselves took of the cheese and ate ; and so we 
 sat and waited in the cave until he came from pasture. 
 He brought a ponderous burden of dry wood to use 
 at supper time, and tossing it down inside the cave 
 raised a great din. We hurried off in terror to a 
 corner of the cave. But into the wide-mouthed cave 
 he drove his sturdy flock, all that he milked; the 
 males, both rams and goats, he left outside in the high 
 yard. And now he set in place the huge door-stone, 
 lifting it high in air, a ponderous thing ; no two and 
 twenty carts, stanch and four-wheeled, could start it 
 from the ground ; such was the rugged rock he set 
 against the door. Then sitting down, he milked the 
 ewes and bleating goats, all in due order, and under- 
 neath put each one's young. Straightway he curdled 
 half of the white milk, and gathering it in wicker 
 baskets, set it by ; half he left standing in the pails, 
 ready for him to take and drink, and for his supper 
 also. So after he had busily performed his tasks, he 
 kindled a fire, noticed us, and asked : 
 
 44 4 Ha, strangers, who are you ? Where do you 
 come from, sailing the watery ways ? Are you upon 
 some business ? Or do you rove at random, as the 
 pirates roam the seas, risking their lives and bringing 
 ill to strangers ? ' 
 
 44 As he thus spoke, our very souls were crushed 
 within us, dismayed by the heavy voice and by the 
 monster's self ; nevertheless I answered thus and 
 aid: 
 
 ** 4 We are from Troy, Achaeans, driven by shifting
 
 IX. 260-289.] THE ODYSSEY. 137 
 
 winds out of our course across the great gulf of the 
 ea ; homeward we fared, but through strange ways 
 and wanderings are come hither ; so Zeus was pleased 
 to purpose. Subjects of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, 
 we boast ourselves to be, whose fame is now the widest 
 under heaven ; so great a town he sacked, so many 
 men he slew. But chancing here, we come before 
 your knees to ask that you will offer hospitality, and 
 in other ways as well will give the gift which is the 
 stranger's due. O mighty one, respect the gods. We 
 are your suppliants, and Zeus is the avenger of the 
 suppliant and the stranger ; he is the stranger's friend 
 and waits on worthy strangers.' 
 
 " So I spoke, and from a ruthless heart he straight- 
 way answered: 'You are simple, stranger, or come 
 from far away, to bid me dread the gods or shrink be- 
 foro them. The Cyclops pay no heed to segis-bearing 
 Zews, nor to the blessed gods ; because we are much 
 stronger than themselves. To shun the wrath of Zeus, 
 I would not spare you or your comrades, did my heart 
 not bid. But tell me where you left your stanch ship 
 at your coming. At the far shore, or near ? Let me 
 but know.' 
 
 4C He thought to tempt me, but he could not cheat 
 a knowing man like me; and I again replied with 
 words of guile : * The Earth-shaker, Poseidon, wrecked 
 my ship and cast her on the rocks at the land's end, 
 drifting her on a headland ; the wind blew from the 
 sea; and I with these men here escaped impending 
 ruin.' 
 
 " So I spoke, and from a ruthless heart he answered 
 nothing, but starting up laid hands on my compan- 
 ions. He seized on two and dashed them to the 
 ground as if they had been dogs. Their brains ran
 
 188 THE ODYSSEY. [IX. 290-322. 
 
 out upon the floor, and wet the earth. Tearing them 
 limb from limb, he made his supper, and ate as does 
 a mountain lion, leaving nothing, entrails, or flesh, or 
 marrow bones. We in our tears held up our hands 
 to Zeus, at sight of his reckless deeds ; helplessness 
 held our hearts. But when the Cyclops had filled his 
 monstrous maw by eating human flesh and pouring 
 down pure milk, he laid himself in the cave full length 
 among his flock. And I then formed the plan within 
 my daring heart of closing on him, drawing my sharp 
 sword from my thigh, and stabbing him in the breast 
 where the midriff holds the liver, feeling the place out 
 with my hand. Yet second thoughts restrained me, 
 for there we too had met with utter ruin ; for we 
 corld never with our hands have pushed from the 
 lofy door the enormous stone which he had set against 
 it. Thus then with sighs we awaited sacred dawn. 
 
 * But when the early rosy-fingered dawn appeared, 
 he kindled a fire, milked his goodly flock, all in due 
 order, and underneath put each one's young. Then 
 after he had busily performed his tasks, seizing once 
 more two men, he made his morning meal. And 
 when the meal was ended, he drove from the cave his 
 sturdy flock, and easily moved the huge door-stone ; 
 but afterwards he put it back as one might put the lid 
 upon a quiver. Then to the hills, with many a call, 
 he turned his sturdy flock, while I was left behind 
 brooding on evil and thinking how I might obtain re- 
 venge, would but Athene grant my prayer. And to 
 my mind this seemed the wisest way. There lay be- 
 iide the pen a great club of the Cyclops, an olive stick 
 still green, which he had cut to be his staff when 
 dried. Inspecting it, we guessed its size, and thought 
 it like the mast of a black ship of twenty oars,
 
 IX. 323-353.] THE ODYSSEY. 139 
 
 some broad-built merchantman which sails the great 
 gulf of the sea ; so huge it looked in length and thick- 
 ness. I went and cut away a fathom's length of this, 
 laid it before my men, and bade them shape it down ; 
 they made it smooth ; I then stood by to point the tip 
 and, laying hold, I charred it briskly in the blazing 
 fire. The piece I now put carefully away, hiding it in 
 the dung which lay about the cave in great abun- 
 dance ; and then I bade my comrades fix by lot who 
 the bold men should be to help me raise the stake and 
 grind it in his eye, when pleasant sleep should come. 
 Those drew the lot whom I myself would fain have 
 chosen ; four were they, for a fifth I counted in myself. 
 He came toward evening, shepherding the fleecy flock, 
 and forthwith drove his sturdy flock into the wide- 
 mouthed cave, all with much care ; he did not leave a 
 sheep in the high yard outside, either through some 
 suspicion, or God bade him so to do. Again he set in 
 place the huge door-stone, lifting it high in air, and, 
 sitting down, he milked the ewes and bleating goats, 
 all in due order, and underneath put each one's young. 
 Then after he had busily performed his tasks, he 
 seized once more two men and made his supper. And 
 now it was that drawing near the Cyclops I thus 
 spoke, holding within my hands an ivy bowl filled 
 with dark wine : 
 
 " ' Here, Cyclops, drink some wine after your meal , 
 of human flesh, and see what sort of liquor our ship 
 held. I brought it as an offering, thinking that you 
 might pity me and send m& home. But you are mad 
 past bearing. Reckless I How should a stranger 
 come to you again from any people, when you have 
 done this wicked deed ? ' 
 
 "Sol spoke ; he took the cup and drank it off, and
 
 140 THE ODYSSEY. [IX. 354-384. 
 
 mightily pleased he was with the taste of the sweet 
 liquor, and thus he asked me for it yet again : 
 
 " ' Give me some more, kind sir, and straightway 
 tell your name, that I may give a stranger's gift with 
 , which you shall be pleased. Ah yes, the Cyclops* 
 fruitful fields bear wine in their heavy clusters, for 
 rain from Zeus makes the grape grow; but this is 
 a bit of ambrosia and nectar.' 
 
 "So he spoke, and I again offered the sparkling 
 wine. Three times I brought and gave ; three times 
 he drank it in his folly. Then as the wine began to 
 dull the Cyclops' senses, in winning words I said to 
 him : 
 
 ** * Cyclops, you asked my noble name, and I will 
 tell it ; but do you give the stranger's gift, just as you 
 promised. My name is Noman. Noman I am called 
 by mother, father, and by all my comrades.' 
 
 " So I spoke, and from a ruthless heart he straight- 
 way answered : * Noman I eat up last, after his com- 
 rades ; all the rest first ; and that shall be the stran- 
 ger's gift for you.' 
 
 " He spoke, and sinking back fell flat ; and there he 
 lay, lolling his thick neck over, till sleep, that conquers 
 all, took hold upon him. Out of his throat poured 
 wine and scraps of human flesh ; heavy with wine, he 
 , spewed it forth. And now it was I drove the staked 
 under a heap of ashes, to bring it to a heat, and with 
 my words emboldened all my men, that none might 
 flinch through fear. Then when the olive stake, green 
 though it was, was ready to take fire, and through and 
 through was all aglow, I snatched it from the fire, 
 while my men stood around and Heaven inspired us 
 with great courage. Seizing the olive stake, sharp at 
 the tip, they plunged it in his eye, and I, perched up
 
 *X. 385-416.] THE ODYSSEY. 141 
 
 above, whirled it around. As when a man bores ship- 
 beams with a drill, and those below keep it in motion 
 with a strap held by the ends, and steadily it runs ; 
 even so we seized the fire-pointed stake and whirled it 
 in his eye. Blood bubbled round the heated thing- 
 The vapor singed off all the lids around the eye, 
 and even the brows, as the ball burned and its roots 
 crackled in the flame. As when a smith dips a great 
 axe or adze into cold water, hissing loud, to temper it, 
 for that is strength to steel, so hissed his eye about 
 the olive stake. A hideous roar he raised ; the rock 
 resounded ; we hurried off in terror. He wrenched the 
 stake from out his eye, all dabbled with the blood, and 
 flung it from his hands in frenzy. Then he called 
 loudly on the Cyclops who dwelt about him in the 
 caves, along the windy heights. They heard his cry, 
 and ran from every side, and standing by the cave 
 they asked what ailed him : 
 
 " 4 What has come on you, Polyphemus, that you 
 scream so in the immortal night, and keep us thus 
 from sleeping ? Is a man driving off your flocks in 
 spite of you ? Is a man murdering you by craft or 
 force ? ' 
 
 " Then in his turn from out the cave big Polyphe- 
 mus answered : ' Friends, Noman is murdering me by 
 craft. Force there is none.' 
 
 " But answering him in winged words they said : 
 * If no man harms you then when you are left alone, 
 illness which comes from mighty Zeus you cannot fly. 
 But make your prayer to your father, lord Poseidon.' 
 
 " This said, they went their way, and in my heart 
 I laughed, my name, that clever notion, so deceived 
 them. But now the Cyclops, groaning and in agonies 
 of anguish, by groping with his hands took the stone
 
 142 THE ODYSSEY. [DC 417-448. 
 
 off the door, yet sat himself inside the door with hands 
 outstretched, to catch whoever ventured forth among 
 the sheep ; for he probably hoped in his heart that I 
 should be so silly. But I was planning how it all 
 might best be ordered that I might win escape from 
 death both for my men and me. So many a plot and 
 scheme I framed, as for my life ; great danger was at 
 hand. Then to my mind this seemed the wisest way : 
 some rams there were of a good breed, thick in the 
 fleece, handsome and large, which bore a dark blue 
 wool. These I quietly bound together with the twisted 
 willow withes on which the giant Cyclops slept, 
 the brute, taking three sheep together. One, in 
 the middle, carried the man; the other two walked by 
 the sides, keeping my comrades safe. Thus three 
 sheep bore each man. Then for myself, there war 
 a ram, by far the best of all the flock, whose back 1 
 grasped, and curled beneath his shaggy belly there 
 I lay, and with my hands twisted in that enormous 
 fleece I steadily held on, with patient heart. Thus 
 then with sighs we awaited sacred dawn. 
 
 " Soon as the early rosy-fingered dawn appeared, the 
 rams hastened to pasture, but the ewes bleated un- 
 milked about the pens, for their udders were well- 
 nigh bursting. Their master, racked with grievous 
 pains, felt over the backs of all the sheep as they 
 stood up, but foolishly did not notice how under the 
 breasts of the woolly sheep men had been fastened. 
 Last of the flock, the ram walked to the door, cramped 
 by his fleece and me the crafty plotter ; and feeling 
 him over, big Polyphemus said : 
 
 ** 4 What, my pet ram I Why do you move across 
 the cave hindmost of all the flock? Till now you 
 never lagged behind, but with your long strides you
 
 EX -449-479.] THE ODYSSEY. 143 
 
 were always first to crop the tender blooms of grass ; 
 you arere the first to reach the running streams, and 
 first to wish to turn to the stall at night : yet here you 
 are the last. Ah, but you miss your master's eye, 
 which a villain has put out, he and his vile compan- 
 ions, blunting my wits with wine. Noman it was, 
 not, I assure him, safe from destruction yet. If 
 only you could sympathize and get the power of speech 
 to say where he is skulking from my rage, then should 
 that brain of his be knocked about the cave and dashed 
 upon the ground. So might my heart recover from 
 the ills which miserable Noman brought upon me.* 
 
 " So saying, from his hand he let the ram go forth , 
 and after we were come a little distance from the cave 
 and from the yard, first from beneath the ram I freed 
 myself and then set free my comrades. So at quick 
 pace we drove away those long-legged sheep, heavy 
 with fat, many times turning round, until we reached 
 the ship. A welcome sight we seemed to our dear 
 friends, as men escaped from death. Yet for the 
 others they began to weep and wail ; but this I did 
 not suffer ; by my frowns I checked their tears. In- 
 stead, I bade them straightway toss the many fleecy 
 sheep into the ship, and sail away over the briny 
 water. Quickly they came, took places at the pins, 
 and sitting in order smote the foaming water with 
 their oars. But when I was as far away as one can 
 call, I shouted to the Cyclops in derision : 
 
 " * Cyclops, no weakling's comrades you were des- 
 tined to devour in the deep cave, with brutal might. 
 But it was also destined your bad deeds should find 
 you out, audacious wretch, who did not hesitate to eat 
 the guests within your house ! For this did Zeua 
 chastise you, Zeus and the other gods.'
 
 144 THE ODYSSEY. [DC. 480-S1L 
 
 44 So I spoke, and he was angered in his heart the 
 inore ; and tearing off the top of a high hill, he flung 
 it at us. It fell before the dark-bowed ship a little 
 space, but failed to reach the rudder's tip. The sea 
 surged underneath the stone as it came down, and 
 swiftly toward the land the wash of water swept us, 
 Like a flood-tide from the deep, and forced us back to 
 shore. I seized a setting-pole and shoved the vessel 
 off ; then inspiriting my men, I bade them fall to their 
 oars that we might flee from danger, with my head 
 making signs, and bending forward, on they rowed. 
 When we had traversed twice the distance on the sea, 
 again to the Cyclops would I call ; but my men, gath- 
 ering round, sought with soft words to stay me, each 
 in his separate wise : 
 
 " * O reckless man, why seek to vex this savage, 
 who even now, hurling his missile in the deep, drove 
 the ship back to shore ? We verily thought that we 
 were lost. And had he heard a man make but a 
 sound or speak, he would have crushed our heads and 
 our ships' beams, by hurling jagged granite stone ; for 
 he can throw so far.* 
 
 '* So they spoke, but did not move my daring spirit ; 
 again I called aloud out of an angry heart : ' Cyclops, 
 if ever mortal man asks you the story of the ugly 
 blinding of your eye, say that Odysseus made you 
 blind, the spoiler of cities, Laertes' son, whose home 
 is Ithaca.' 
 
 * So I spoke, and with a groan he answered : * Ah 
 surely now the ancient oracles are come upon me ! 
 Here once a prophet lived, a prophet brave and tall, 
 TelemuB, son of Eurymus, who by his prophecies ob- 
 tained renown and in prophetic works grew old among 
 the Cyclops. He told me it should come to pass in
 
 IX. 512-542.] THE ODYSSEY. 146 
 
 af tertime that I should lose my sight by means of one 
 Odysseus ; but I was always watching for the coming 
 of some tall and comely person, arrayed in mighty 
 power ; and now a little miserable feeble creature 
 blinded me of my eye, overcoming me with wine. 
 Nevertheless, come here, Odysseus, and let me give 
 the stranger's gift, and beg the famous Land-shaker 
 to aid you on your way. His son am I ; he calls him- 
 self my father. He, if he will, shall heal me ; none 
 else can, whether among the blessed gods or mortal 
 men.' 
 
 " So he spoke, and answering Lim said I : * Ah, 
 would I might as surely strip you of life and being 
 and send you to the house of Hades, as it is sure the 
 Earth-shaker will never heal your eye ! ' 
 
 " So I spoke, whereat he prayed to lord Poseidon^ 
 stretching his hands forth toward the starry sky : 
 * Hear me, thou girder of the land, dark-haired Posei- 
 don ! If I am truly thine, and thou art called my 
 father, vouchsafe no coming home to this Odysseus, 
 spoiler of cities, Laertes' son, whose home is Ithaca. 
 Yet if it be his lot to see his friends once more, and 
 reach his stately house and native land, late let him 
 come, in evil plight, with loss of all his crew, on the 
 vessel of a stranger, and may he at his home find trou- 
 ble.' 
 
 " So spoke he in his prayer, and the dark-haired 
 god gave ear. Then once more picking up a stone 
 much larger than before, the Cyclops swung and sent 
 it, putting forth stupendous power. It fell behind the 
 dark-bowed ship a little space, but failed to reach the 
 rudder's tip. The sea surged underneath the stone as 
 it came down, but the wave swept us forward and 
 forced us to the shore.
 
 146 THE ODYSSEY. [DL 643^688 
 
 44 Now when we reached the island where our other 
 well-benched ships waited together, while their crews 
 Bat round them sorrowing, watching continually for 
 us, as we ran in we beached our ship among the sands, 
 and forth we went ourselves upon the shore. Then 
 taking the Cyclops' sheep out of the hollow ship, we 
 Darted all, that none might go lacking his proper 
 share. The ram my mailed companions gave to me 
 alone, a mark of special honor in the division of the 
 flock ; and on the shore I offered him to Zeus of the 
 dark cloud, the son of Kronos, who is the lord of all, 
 burning the thighs. He did not heed the sacrifice. 
 Instead, he purposed that my well-benched ships 
 should all be lost, and all my trusty comrades. But 
 all throughout that day till setting sun we sat and 
 feasted on abundant meat and pleasant wine; and 
 when the sun went down and darkness came, we laid 
 ds down to sleep upon the beach. Then as the early 
 rosy-fingered dawn appeared, inspiriting my men, I 
 bade them come on board and loose the cables. 
 Quickly they came, took places at the pins, and sit- 
 ting in order smote the foaming water with their oars. 
 
 " Thence we sailed on, with aching hearts, glad to 
 be clear of death, though missing our dear comrades.' 1
 
 AEOLUS, THE LAESTRYGONIANS, AND CIRCE. 
 
 " SOON we drew near the island of Aeolia, where 
 Aeolus, the son of Hippotas, dear to immortal gods, 
 dwelt on a floating island. All round it is a wall of 
 bronze, not to be broken through, and smooth and 
 steep rises the rocky shore. Within the house of 
 Aeolus, twelve children have been born, six daughters 
 and six sturdy sons, and here he gave his daughters to 
 his sons to be their wives. Here too with their loved 
 father and honored mother they hold continual feast- 
 ing; before them countless viands lie. By day the 
 steaming house resounds even to its court ; by night 
 they sleep by their chaste wives under the coverlets on 
 well-bored bedsteads. Their city it was we reached, 
 their goodly dwelling. For a full month he made me 
 welcome, and he questioned me of all, of Ilios, the Ar- 
 give ships, and the return of the Achaeans. So I re- 
 lated all the tale in its due order. And when I fur- 
 thermore asked him about my journey and entreated 
 him for aid, he did not say me nay, but made provi- 
 sion for my going. He gave me a sack, flaying 
 therefor a nine-year ox, and in it bound the courses 
 of the blustering winds ; for the son of Kronos made 
 him steward of the winds, to stay or rouse which one 
 he would. Upon my hollow ship he tied the sack with 
 a bright cord of silver, that not a breath might stir, 
 however little, Then for my aid he sent the
 
 148 THE ODYSSEY [X. 25-67. 
 
 wind forth, to blow and bear along my ships and men. 
 But it was not to be ; by our folly we were lost. 
 
 "Nine days we sailed, as well by night as day. 
 Upon the tenth our native fields appeared, so close at 
 hand that we could see men tending fires. Then sweet 
 sleep overcame me, wearied as I was ; for I had all 
 the time managed the vessel's sheet and yielded it to 
 no one else among the crew, that so we might the 
 sooner reach our native land. Meanwhile my men 
 began to talk with one another, and to tell how I was 
 bringing gold and silver home as gifts from Aeolus, 
 the generous son of Hippotas ; and glancing at his 
 neighbor one would say : 
 
 " ' Lo, how this man is welcomed and esteemed by 
 all mankind, come to whose town and land he may ! 
 He brings a store of goodly treasure out of the spoils 
 of Troy, while we, who toiled along the selfsame road, 
 come home with empty hands. Now Aeolus gives him 
 friendly gifts. Come, then, and let us quickly see 
 what there is here, and how much gold and silver the 
 sack holds.' 
 
 " Such was their talk, and the ill counsel of the 
 crew prevailed ; they loosed the sack, and out rushed 
 all the winds. Straightway a sweeping storm bore off 
 to sea my weeping comrades, far from their native 
 land. And I, awaking, hesitated in my gallant heart 
 whether to cast myself out of the ship into the sea and 
 perish there, or saying nothing to endure and bide 
 among the living. I forced myself to stay ; covering 
 my head, I laid me down, the while the ships were 
 driven by the cruel storm of wind back to the island 
 of Aeolia, my comrades sighing sore. 
 
 " So here we went ashore and drew us water, and 
 Boon by the swift ships my men prepared a meaL
 
 X.6S-87.] THE ODYSSEY. 149 
 
 Then after we had tasted food and drink, taking a 
 herald and a comrade with me, I turned me toward 
 the lordly house of Aeolus. I found him at the feast, 
 beside his wife and children. We entered the hall 
 and on the threshold by the doorposts sat us down , 
 and they all marveled in their hearts and questioned : 
 
 " ' How came you here, Odysseus ? What hostile 
 power assailed you ? With care we sent you forth, 
 to let you reach your land and home or anywhere you 
 pleased.' 
 
 "So they spoke, and with an aching heart I an 
 gwered : * A wicked crew betrayed me they and a 
 cruel sleep. But heal my woes, my friends, for you 
 have power.' 
 
 "So I spoke, addressing them in humble words. 
 Then all the rest were silent, but the father answered 
 thus : * Out of the island instantly, vilest of all that 
 live I I may not aid or send upon his way a man 
 detested by the blessed gods. Begone ! for you are 
 here because detested by the immortals.' 
 
 " Therewith he turned me loud lamenting from his 
 door. Thence we sailed on, with aching hearts. Worn 
 was the spirit of my men under the heavy rowing, 
 caused by our folly too ; aid on our way appeared no 
 more. 
 
 " Six days we sailed, as well by night as day, and 
 on the seventh came to the steep citadel of Lamos, 
 Telepylus in Laestrygonia, where one shepherd lead- 
 ing home his flock calls to another, and the other an- 
 swers as he leads his own flock forth. Here a man 
 who never slept might earn a double wage : this, herd- 
 ing kine ; that, tending silvery sheep ; so close are the 
 outgoings of the night and day. Now when we 
 reached the splendid harbor, round which the rock
 
 150 THE ODYSSEY. [X. 88-12L 
 
 runs steep, continuous all the way, and the projecting 
 cliffs, facing each other, stretch forward at the niouth, 
 and narrow is the entrance, into the basin all the 
 reut steered their curved ships, and so the ships lay in 
 the hollow harbor close-anchored, side by side ; for no 
 wave swelled within it, large or small, but a clear calm 
 was all around. I alone posted my black ship with- 
 out the harbor, there at the point, lashing my cables 
 to the rock. Then climbing up, I took my stand on a 
 rugged point of outlook. From it no work of man or 
 beast was to be seen, only we saw some smoke ascend- 
 ing from the ground. So I sent sailors forth to go 
 and learn what men who live by bread dwelt in the 
 land, selecting two, and joining with them a herald 
 as a third. Leaving the ship, they took a beaten 
 road where carts brought timber from the lofty htlla 
 down to the town below. Before the town they met a 
 maiden drawing water, the stately daughter of the 
 Laestrygonian Antiphates. She had come down to 
 the clear-flowing fountain of Artacia, from which they 
 used to fetch the water for the town. So my men, 
 drawing near, addressed her and inquired who was the 
 king of the folk here and whom he ruled ; whereat she 
 pointed to her father's high-roofed house. But when 
 they entered the lordly hall, they found a woman there 
 huge as a mountain peak ; at her they were aghast. 
 Forthwith she called from the assembly noble Anti- 
 phates, her husband, who sought to bring upon my 
 men a miserable end. Straight seizing one, he made 
 his meal of him ; and the two others, dashing off. came 
 flying to the ships. Thereat he raised a cry through- 
 out the town, and hearing it, the mighty Laestrygo- 
 nians gathered from here and there, seeming not men 
 but giants. Then from the rocks they hurled down
 
 X. 122-156.] THE ODYSSEY. 151 
 
 ponderous stones ; and soon among the ships arose a 
 dreadful din of dying men and crashing ships. As 
 men spear fish, they gathered in their loathsome meal. 
 But while they slaughtered these in the deep harbor, 
 I drew my sharp sword from my thigh and cut the 
 cables of my dark-bowed ship ; and quickly inspiriting 
 my men, I bade them fall to their oars, that we might 
 Jee from danger. They all tossed up the water, in 
 terror for their lives, and cheerily to sea, away from 
 the beetling cliff, my ship sped on ; but all the other 
 ships went down together there. 
 
 " Thence we sailed on with aching hearts, glad to 
 be clear of death, though missing our dear comrades. 
 And now we reached the island of Aeaea, where fair- 
 haired Circe dwelt, a mighty goddess, human of peech. 
 She was own sister of the sorcerer Aeetes ; both were 
 the children of the beaming Sun and of a mother 
 Perse, the daughter of Oceanus. Here we bore land- 
 ward with our ship and ran in silence into a sheltering 
 harbor, God our guide. Landing, we lay two days 
 ft\nd nights, gnawing our hearts because of toil and 
 trouble ; but when the fair-haired dawn brought the 
 third day, I took my spear and my sharp sword, and 
 from the ship walked briskly up to a place of distant 
 wiew, hoping to see some work of man or catch some 
 voice. So climbing up, I took my stand on a rugged 
 point of outlook, and smoke appeared rising from 
 open ground at Circe's dwelling, through some oak 
 thickets and a wood. Then for a time I doubted in 
 my mind and heart whether to go and search the mat- 
 ter while I saw the flaring smoke. Reflecting thus, 
 it seemed the better way first to return to the swift 
 ship and to the shore ; there give my men their din- 
 ner, and send them forth to search.
 
 152 THE ODYSSEY. [X. 156- 18ft 
 
 "But on my way, as I drew near to the curved 
 ship, some god took pity on me all forlorn, and sent a 
 high-horned deer into my very path. From feeding 
 in the wood he came to the stream to drink, for the 
 sun's power oppressed him. As he stepped out, I 
 struck him in the spine midway along the back ; the 
 bronze spear pierced him through ; down in the dust 
 he fell with a moan, and his life flew away. Setting 
 my foot upon him, I drew from the wound the brazec 
 spear and laid it on the ground ; then I plucked twigs 
 and osiers, and wove a rope a fathom long, twisted 
 from end to end, with which I bound together the mon- 
 strous creature's legs. So with him upon my back I 
 walked to the black ship leaning upon my spear, be- 
 cause it was not possible to hold him with my hand 
 upon my shoulder ; for the beast was very large. Be- 
 fore the ship I threw him down and then with cheer- 
 ing words aroused my men, standing by each in turn : 
 
 ** * We shall not, friends, however sad, go to the 
 halls of Hades until our destined day. But while 
 there still is food and drink in the swift ship, let UP 
 attend to eating and not waste away with hunger.' 
 
 " So I spoke, and my words they quickly heeded. 
 Throwing their coverings off upon the shore beside 
 the barren sea, they gazed upon the deer ; for the beast 
 was very large. Then after they had satisfied their 
 eyes with gazing, they washed their hands and made 
 a glorious feast. Thus all throughout the day till set- 
 ting sun we sat and feasted on abundant meat and 
 pleasant wine ; and when the sun went down and 
 darkness came, we laid us down to sleep upon the 
 beach. Then as the early rosy-fingered dawn ap- 
 peared, holding a council, I said to all my men : 
 
 444 My suffering comrades, hearken to my words:
 
 X. 190-222.] THE ODYSSEY. 158 
 
 for since, my friends, we do not know the place of 
 dusk or dawn, the place at which the beaming sun 
 goes under ground nor where he rises, let us at once 
 consider if a wise course is left. I do not think there 
 is ; for I saw, on climbing to a rugged outlook, an is- 
 land which the boundless deep encircles like a crown. 
 Low in the sea it lies ; midway across, I saw a smoke 
 through some oak thickets and a wood.' 
 
 " As I thus spoke, their very souls were crushed 
 within them, remembering the deeds of Laestrygonian 
 Antiphates and the cruelty of the daring Cyclops, the 
 devourer of men. They cried aloud and let the big 
 tears fall ; but no good came to them from their la- 
 menting. 
 
 " Now the whole body of my mailed companions I 
 told off in two bands, and to each band assigned a 
 leader : the one I led, godlike Eurylochus the other. 
 Straightway we shook the lots in a bronze helmet-, 
 and the lot of bold Eurylochus leapt out the first. 
 So he departed, two and twenty comrades following, 
 all in tears ; and us they left in sorrow too behind. 
 Within the glades they found the house of Circe, built 
 of smooth stone upon commanding ground. All round 
 about were mountain wolves and lions, which Circe 
 had charmed by giving them evil drugs. These crea- 
 tures did not spring upon my men, but stood erect, 
 wagging their long tails, fawning. As hounds fawn 
 round their master when he comes from meat, because 
 he always brings them dainties that they like, so round 
 these men the strong-clawed wolves and lions fawned. 
 Still my men trembled at the sight of the strange 
 beasts. They stood before the door of the fair-haired 
 goddess, and in the house heard Circe singing with 
 sweet voice, while tending her great imperishable loom
 
 164 THE ODYSSEY. [X. 223-262. 
 
 and weaving webs, fine, beautiful, and lustrous as are 
 the works of gods. Polites was the first to speak, one 
 ever foremost, and one to me the nearest and the dear- 
 est of my comrades : 
 
 " * Ah, friends, somebody in the house is tending a 
 great loom and singing sweetly ; all the pavement 
 rings. It is a god or woman. Then let us quickly 
 call' 
 
 "He spoke, the others lifted up their voice and 
 called; and suddenly coming forth, she opened the 
 shining doors and bade them in. The rest all fol- 
 lowed, heedless. Only Eurylochus remained behind, 
 suspicious of a snare. She led them in and seated 
 them on couches and on chairs, and made a potion for 
 them, cheese, barley, and yellow honey, stirred into 
 Pramnian wine, but mingled with the food perni- 
 cious drugs, to make them quite forget their native 
 land. Now after she had given the cup and they had 
 drunk it off, straight with a wand she smote them and 
 penned them up in sties ; and they took on the headfl 
 of swine, the voice, the bristles, and even the shape, yet 
 was their reason as sound as heretofore. Thus, weep 
 ing, they were penned ; and Circe flung them acorns, 
 chestnuts, and cornel-fruit to eat, such things as swine 
 that wallow in the mire are wont to eat. 
 
 " Eurylochus, meanwhile, came to the swift black 
 ihip to bring me tidings of my men and tell their bit- 
 ter fate. Strive as he might, he could not speak 9 
 word, so stricken was he to the soul with great dis- 
 tress ; bis eyes were filled with tears, his heart felt 
 anguish. But when we all in great amazement ques- 
 tioned him, then he described the loss of all his men : 
 
 " * We went, as you commanded, noble Odysseus, 
 through the thicket and found within the glades a
 
 X.25S-282.] THE ODYSSEY. 155 
 
 beautiful house, built of smooth stone upon command- 
 ing ground. There somebody was tending a great 
 loom and singing loud, some god or woman. The 
 others lifted up their voice and called ; and suddenly 
 coming forth, she opened the shining doors and bade 
 them in. The rest all followed, heedless ; but I re- 
 mained behind, suspicious of a snare. They vanished, 
 one and all ; not one appeared again, though long I 
 sat and watched/ 
 
 " So he spoke ; I slung my silver-studded sword 
 about my shoulders, large it was and made of 
 bronze, and my bow with it, and bade him lead me 
 back the selfsame way. But he, clasping my knees 
 with both his hands, entreated me, and sorrowfully 
 said in winged words : 
 
 " * O heaven-descended man, bring me not there 
 against my will, but leave me here ; for well I know 
 you never will return, nor will you bring another of 
 your comrades. Rather, with these now here, let us 
 speed on ; for we might even yet escape the evil day.' 
 
 " So he spoke, and answering him said I : * Eurylo- 
 chus, remain then here yourself, eating and drinking 
 by the black hollow ship ; but I will go, for strong 
 necessity is laid on me.' 
 
 " Saying this, I passed up from the ship and from 
 the sea. But when, in walking up the solemn glades,, 
 I was about to reach the great house of the sorceress 
 Circe, there I was met, as I approached the house, by 
 Hermes of the golden wand, in likeness of a youth, the 
 first down on his lip, a time of life most winning. 
 He held my hand and spoke, and thus addressed me : 
 
 " ' Where are you going, hapless man, along the 
 hills alone, ignorant of the land? Your comrades 
 yonder, at the house of Circe, are penned like swina
 
 156 THE ODYSSEY. [X. 283-316. 
 
 and kept in fast-closed sties. You come to free them ? 
 Nay, I am sure you will return no more, but there, 
 like all the rest, you too will stay. Still, I can keep 
 you clear of harm and give you safety. Here, take 
 this potent herb and go to Circe's house ; this shall 
 protect your life against the evil day. And I will tell 
 you all the magic arts of Circe : she will prepare 
 for you a potion and cast drugs into your food ; but 
 even so, she cannot charm you, because the potent 
 herb which I shall give will not permit it. And let 
 me tell you more : when Circe turns against you her 
 long wand, then draw the sharp sword from your 
 thigh and spring upon Circe as if you meant to slay 
 her; she then will cower and bid you to her bed. 
 And do not you refuse the goddess' bed, that so she 
 may release your men and care for you. But bid her 
 swear the blessed ones' great oath that she is not 
 meaning now to plot you a new woe, nor when she 
 has you stripped to leave you feeble and unmanned.' 
 
 " As he thus spoke, the Speedy-comer gave the 
 herb, drawing it from the ground, and pointed out its 
 nature. Black at the root it is, like milk its blossom, 
 and the gods call it moly. Hard is it for a mortal 
 man to dig ; with gods all things may be. 
 
 " Hermes departed now to high Olympus, along the 
 woody island. I made my way to Circe's house, and 
 as I went my heart grew very dark. But I stood at 
 the gate of the fair-haired goddess, stood there and 
 called, and the goddess heard my voice. Suddenly 
 coming forth, she opened the shining doors and bade 
 me in ; I followed her with aching heart. She led me 
 in and placed me on a silver-studded chair, beautiful, 
 richly wrought, upon its lower part there was a rest 
 lor feet, and she prepared a potion in a golden cup,
 
 X. 317-347.] THE ODYSSEY. 157 
 
 for me to drink, but put therein a drug, with wicked 
 purpose in her heart. Now after she had given the 
 drink and I had drunk it off, and yet it had not 
 charmed me, smiting me with her wand, she spoke 
 these words and cried : ' Off to the sty, and lie there 
 i with your fellows ! ' 
 
 ** She spoke ; I drew the sharp blade from my thigh 
 and sprang upon Circe as if I meant to slay her. 
 With a loud cry, she cowered and clasped my knees, 
 and sorrowfully said in winged words : 
 
 "'Who are you? Of what people? Where is 
 your town and kindred ? I marvel much that drink- 
 ing of these drugs you were not charmed. None, no 
 man else, ever withstood these drugs who tasted them, 
 so soon as they had passed the barrier of his teeth . 
 but in your breast there is a mind which cannot be 
 beguiled. Surely you are adventurous Odysseus, who 
 the god of the golden wand, the Speedy-comer, always 
 declared would come upon his way from Troy, he 
 and his swift black ship. Nay, then, put up your 
 blade within its sheath, and let us now approach our 
 bed, that there we two may join in love and learn to 
 trust each other.' 
 
 " So she spoke, and answering her said I : * Circe, 
 why ask me to be gentle toward you when you have 
 turned my comrades into swine within your halls, and 
 here detain me and with treacherous purpose invite 
 me to your chamber and to approach your bed, that 
 you, when I am stripped, may leave me feeble and un- 
 manned ? But I will never willingly approach your 
 bed till you consent, goddess, to swear a solemn oath 
 that you are not meaning now to plot me a new woe." 
 
 " So I spoke, and she then took the oath which I 
 required. So after she had sworn and ended all that 
 oath, then I approached the beauteous bed of Circe.
 
 165 THE ODYSSEY. [X. 348-38L 
 
 " Meanwhile attendants plied their work about the 
 halls, four maids, who were the serving-women of 
 the palace. They are the children of the springs and 
 groves and of the sacred streams that run into the 
 sea. One threw upon the chairs beautiful cloths; 
 purple she spread above, linen below. The next 
 placed silver tables by the chairs and set forth golden 
 baskets. A third stirred in a bowl the cheering wine, 
 sweet wine in silver and filled the golden cups. 
 A fourth brought water and kindled a large fire under 
 a great kettle, and let the water warm. Then when 
 the water in the glittering copper boiled, she seated 
 me in the bath and bathed me from the kettle about 
 .he head and shoulders, tempering the vt<*ler well, till 
 from my joints she drew the sore fatigue. And after 
 ihe had bathed me and anointed me with oil and put 
 upon me a goodly coat and tunic, she led me in and 
 placed me on a silver-studded chair, beautiful, richly 
 wrought, upon its lower part there was a rest for 
 feet, and water for the hands a servant brought me 
 in a beautiful pitcher made of gold, and poured it 
 out over a silver basin for my washing, and spread a 
 polished table by my side. Then the grave house- 
 keeper brought bread and placed before me, setting 
 out food of many a kind, freely giving of her store, 
 tad bade me eat. But that pleased not my heart ; I 
 sat with other thoughts ; my heart foreboded evil. 
 
 u When Circe marked me sitting thus, not laying 
 hands upon my food but cherishing sore sorrow, ap- 
 proaching me she said in winged words : * Why do 
 you sit, Odysseus, thus, like one struck dumb, gnawing 
 your heart, and touch no food nor drink ? Do you 
 suspect some further guile ? You have no cause for 
 fear, for even now 1 swore to you a solemn oath.'
 
 2L 882-415.] THE ODYSSEY. 159 
 
 " So she spoke, and answering her said I : * Ah, 
 Circe, what upright man could bring himself to taste 
 of food or drink before he had released his friends 
 and seen them with his eyes ? But if you in sincerity 
 will bid me drink and eat, then set them free ; that I 
 with my own eyes may see my trusty comrades.* 
 
 " So I spoke, and from the hall went Circe, wand 
 in hand. She opened the sty doors, and forth she 
 drove what seemed like nine-year swine. A while 
 they stood before her, and, passing along the line, 
 Circe anointed each one with a counter-charm. So 
 from their members fell the hair which at the first the 
 accursed drug which potent Circe gave had made to 
 grow; and once more they were men, men younger 
 than before, much fairer too and taller to behold. 
 They knew me, and each grasped my hand, and from 
 them all passionate sobs burst forth, and all the house 
 gave a sad echo. The goddess pitied us, even she, 
 and standing by my side the heavenly goddess said : 
 
 " 4 High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, go 
 now to your swift ship and to the shore, and first of 
 all draw up your ship upon the land, and store within 
 the caves your goods and all your gear, and then come 
 back yourself and bring your trusty comrades.' 
 
 "So she spoke, and my high heart assented. I 
 went to the swift ship and to the shore, and found by 
 the swift ship my trusty comrades in bitter lamentation, 
 letting the big tears fall. As the stalled calves skip 
 round a drove of cows returning to the barn-yard 
 when satisfied with grazing ; with one accord they all 
 bound forth, the folds no longer hold them, but with 
 continual bleat they frisk about their mothers ; so did 
 these men, when they caught sight of me, press weep- 
 ing round. To them it seemed as if they had already
 
 160 THE ODYSSEY. [X. 416-448. 
 
 readied their land, their very town of rugged Ithaca 
 where they were bred and born ; and through their 
 sobs they said in winged words : 
 
 44 * Now you have come, O heaven-descended man, 
 ire are as glad as if we were approaching Ithaca, our 
 native land. But tell about the loss of all our other 
 comrades.' 
 
 44 So they spoke ; I in soft words made answer : 
 * Let us now first of all draw up our ship upon the 
 land and store within the caves our goods and all our 
 gear ; then hasten all of you to follow me, and see 
 your comrades in the magic house of Circe drinking 
 and eating, holding constant cheer.* 
 
 44 So I spoke, and my words they quickly heeded. 
 Eurylochus alone tried to hold back my comrades, 
 and speaking in winged words he said : ' Poor fools, 
 where are we going ? Why are you so in love with 
 misery that you will go to Circe's hall and let her turn 
 us all to swine and wolves and lions, that we may then 
 keep watch at her great house, perforce ? Such deeds 
 the Cyclops did when to his lair our comrades came, 
 and with them went this reckless man, Odysseus; 
 for through his folly those men also perished.' 
 
 44 As he thus spoke, I hesitated in my heart whether 
 to draw my keen-edged blade from my stout thigh 
 and by a blow bring down his head into the dust, near 
 as he was by tie of marriage ; but with soft words my 
 comrades stayed me, each in his separate wise : 
 
 44 4 High-born Odysseus, we will leave him, if you 
 please, here by the ship to guard the ship ; but lead 
 us to the magic house of Circe.' 
 
 41 Saying this, they passed up from the ship and 
 from the sea. Yet did Eurylochus not tarry by the 
 hollow ship ; he followed, for he feared my stern re* 
 buke.
 
 X. 449-482.] THE ODYSSEY. 161 
 
 " But in the mean while to my other comrades at 
 the palace Circe had given a pleasant bath, anointed 
 them with oil, and put upon them fleecy coats and tu 
 nics ; merrily feasting in her halls we found them alL 
 When the men saw and recognized each other, they 
 wept aloud and the house rang around ; and standing 
 by my side the heavenly goddess said : 
 
 *" High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, let 
 not this swelling grief rise farther now. I myself 
 know what hardships you have borne upon the swarm- 
 ing sea and how fierce men harassed you on the land. 
 Come, then, eat food, drink wine, until you find once 
 more that spirit in the breast which once was yours 
 when you first left your native land of rugged Ithaca. 
 Now, worn and spiritless, your thoughts still dwell 
 upon your weary wandering. This many a day your 
 heart has not been glad, for sorely have you suffered.' 
 
 " So she spoke, and our high hearts assented. Here, 
 then, day after day, for a full year, we sat and feasted 
 on abundant meat and pleasant wine. But when the 
 year was gone and the round of the seasons rolled, 
 as the months waned and the long days were done, 
 then calling me aside my trusty comrades said : 
 
 " * Ah, sir, consider now your native land, if you are 
 destined ever to be saved and reach your stately house 
 and native land/ 
 
 " So they spoke, and my high heart assented. Yet 
 all throughout that day till setting sun we sat and 
 feasted on abundant meat and pleasant wine ; and when 
 the sun went down and darkness came, my men lay 
 down to sleep throughout the dusky halls. But I, on 
 coming to the beauteous bed of Circe, made supplica- 
 tion to her by her knees, and to my voice the goddess 
 hearkened ; and speaking in winged words, I said :
 
 162 THE ODYSSEY. [JL 483-61& 
 
 44 * Ciroe, fulfill the promise made to send me home ; 
 for now my spirit stirs, with that of all my men, who 
 vex my heart with their complaints when you are gone 
 
 . ***!> 
 
 " So I spoke, and straight the heavenly goddess an 
 
 ,gwered : * High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus 
 stay no longer at my home against your will. But yoi. 
 must first perform a different journey, and go to tK 
 halls of Hades and of dread Persephone, there to con 
 suit the spirit of Teiresias of Thebes, the prophet 
 blind, whose mind is steadfast still. To him, though 
 dead, Persephone has granted reason, to him alone 
 sound understanding ; the rest are flitting shadows.' 
 
 44 As she thus spoke, my very soul was crushed 
 within me, and sitting on the bed I fell to weeping ; 
 my heart no longer cared to live and see the sunshine. 
 But when of weeping and of writhing I had had my 
 fill, then thus I answered her and said : ' But, Circe, 
 who will be my pilot on this journey ? None by black 
 ship has ever reached the land of Hades.' 
 
 44 So I spoke, and straight the heavenly goddess an- 
 swered : * High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, 
 let not the lack of pilot for your ship disturb you, but 
 set the mast, spread the white sail aloft, and sit yon 
 down ; the breath of Boreas shall bear her onward. 
 When you have crossed by ship the Ocean-stream to 
 where the shore is rough and the grove of Persephone 
 stands, tall poplars and seed-shedding willows, 
 there beach your ship by the deep eddies of the Ocean- 
 stream, but go yourself to the mouldering house of 
 Hades. There is a spot where into Acheron run 
 Pyriphlegethon and Cocytus, a stream which is an off- 
 shoot of the waters of the Styx ; a rock here forms 
 the meeting-point of the two roaring rivers. To thk
 
 X 516-648.] THE ODYSSEY. 168 
 
 spot then, hero, draw nigh, even as I bid j and dig a 
 pit, about a cubit either way, and round its edges pour 
 an offering to all the dead, first honey-mixture, 
 next sweet wine, and thirdly water, and over all strew 
 the white barley-meal. Make many supplications also 
 to the strengthless dead, vowing when you return to 
 Ithaca to take the barren cow that is your best and 
 offer it in your hall, heaping the pyre with treasure ; 
 and to Teiresias separately to sacrifice a sheep, for him 
 alone, one wholly black, the very choicest of your 
 flock. So when with vows you have implored the il- 
 lustrious peoples of the dead, offer a ram and a black 
 ewe, bending their heads toward Erebus, but turn 
 yourself away, facing the river's stream ; to you shall 
 gather many spirits of those now dead and gone. 
 Then forthwith call your men, and bid them take the 
 sheep now lying there slain by the ruthless sword, and 
 flay and burn them, and call upon the gods, on 
 powerful Hades and on dread Persephone, while 
 you yourself, drawing your sharp sword from your 
 thigh, sit still and do not let the strengthless dead 
 approach the blood till you have made inquiry of 
 Teiresias. Thither the seer will quickly come, O chief 
 of men, and he will tell your course, the stages of your 
 journey, and of your homeward way, how you may 
 pass along the swarming sea.' 
 
 "Even as she spoke, the gold-throned morning 
 came. On me she put a coat and tunic for my rai- 
 ment ; and the nymph dressed herself in a long silvery 
 robe, fine spun and graceful ; she bound a beautiful 
 golden girdle round her waist, and put a veil upon her 
 head. Then through the house I passed and roused 
 my men with cheering words, standing by each in turn : 
 
 " ' Sleep no more now, nor drowse in pleasant slum-
 
 164 THE ODYSSEY. [X. 549-574 
 
 her, but let us go, for potent Circe has at last made 
 known to me the way.' 
 
 44 So I spoke, and their high hearts assented. Yet 
 even from there I did not bring away my men in 
 safety. There was a certain Elpenor, the youngest of 
 them all, a man not very stanch in fight nor sound of 
 understanding, who, parted from his mates, lay down to 
 sleep upon the magic house of Circe, seeking for cool- 
 ness when overcome with wine. As his companions 
 stirred, hearing the noise and tumult, he suddenly 
 sprang up and quite forgot how to come down again 
 by the long ladder, but he fell headlong from the roof ; 
 his neck was broken in its socket, and his soul went 
 down to the house of Hades. 
 
 ** When my men mustered there, I said to them : 
 * You think, perhaps, that you are going home to your 
 own native land ; but Circe has marked out for us a 
 different journey, even to the halls of Hades and of 
 dread Persephone, there to consult the spirit of Teire- 
 sias of Thebes.' 
 
 " As I thus spoke, their very souls were crushed 
 within them, and sitting down where each one was 
 they moaned and tore their hair ; but no good came 
 to them from their lamenting. 
 
 " Now while we walked to the swift ship and to the 
 shore, in sadness, letting the big tears fall, Circe went 
 on before, and there by the black ship tied a black 
 ewe and ram, passing us lightly by. When a god does 
 not will, what man can spy him moving to and fro ?"
 
 XL 
 
 THE LAND OF THE DEAD. 
 
 " Now when we came down to the ship and to the 
 sea, we in the first place launched our ship into the 
 sacred sea, put mast and sail hi the black ship, then 
 took the sheep and drove them in, and we ourselves 
 embarked in sadness, letting the big tears fall. And 
 Cor our aid behind our dark-bowed ship came a fair 
 wind to fill our sail, a welcome comrade, sent us bj 
 fair -haired Circe, the mighty goddess, human of 
 speech. So when we had done our work at the sev- 
 eral ropes about the ship we sat us down, while wind 
 and helmsman kept her steady ; and all day long the 
 sail of the running ship was stretched. Then the sun 
 sank, and all the ways grew dark. 
 
 "And now she reached earth's limits, the deep 
 stream of the Ocean, where the Cimmerian people's 
 land and city lie, wrapt in a fog and cloud. Never 
 on them does the shining sun look down with his 
 beams, as he goes up the starry sky or as again toward 
 earth he turns back from the sky, but deadly night 
 is spread abroad over these hapless men. OB coming 
 Jere, we beached our ship and set the sheep ashore, 
 vhen walked along the Ocean-stream until we reached 
 the spot foretold by Circe. 
 
 " Here Perimedes and Eurylochus held fast the vic- 
 tims, while drawing my sharp blade from my thigh, I 
 dug a pit, about a cubit either way, and round its
 
 166 THE ODYSSEY. [XL 
 
 edges poured an offering to all the dead, first honey- 
 mixture, next sweet wine, and thirdly water, and over 
 all I strewed white barley-meal ; and I made many 
 tupplications to the strengthless dead, vowing when 
 I returned to Ithaca to take the barren cow that was 
 my best and offer it in my hall, heaping the pyre with 
 treasure ; and to Teireaias separately to sacrifice a 
 sheep, for him alone, one wholly Mack, the choicest of 
 my flock. So when with prayers and vows I had im- 
 plored the peoples of the dead, I took the sheep and 
 out their throats over the pit, and forth the dark blood 
 ran. Then gathered there spirits from out of Erebus 
 of those now dead and gone, brides, and unwedded 
 youths, and worn old men, delicate maids with hearts 
 but new to sorrow, and many pierced with brazen 
 spears, men slain in fight, wearing their blood-stained 
 armor. In crowds around the pit they flocked from 
 every side, with awful wail. Pale terror seized me. 
 Nevertheless, inspiriting my men, I bade them take 
 the sheep now lying there slain by the ruthless sword, 
 and flay and burn them, and call upon the gods, on 
 powerful Hades and on dread Persephone, while I 
 myself, drawing my sharp sword from my thigh, sat 
 still and did not let the strengthless dead approach 
 the blood till I had made inquiry of Teiresias. 
 
 "First came the spirit of my man, Elpenor. He 
 had not yet been buried under the broad earth ; for 
 we left his body at the hall of Circe, unwept, unbur- 
 ied, since other tasks were urgent. I wept to see him 
 and pitied him from my heart, and speaking in winged 
 words I said : 
 
 "'Elpenor, how came you in this murky gloom? 
 Faster you came on foot than I in my black ship.' 
 
 "So I spoke, and with a groan he answered:
 
 XI. 60-91.] THE ODYSSEY. 167 
 
 * High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, Heaven's 
 cruel doom destroyed me, and excess of wine. After 
 I went to sleep on Circe's house, I did not notice 
 how to go down again by the long ladder, but I fell 
 headlong from the roof ; my neck was broken in its 
 socket, and my soul came down to the house of Hades. 
 Now I entreat you by those left behind, not present 
 here, by your wife, and by the father who cared for 
 you when little, and by Telemachus whom you left 
 at home alone, for I know, as you go hence out of 
 the house of Hades, you will touch with your stanch 
 ship the island of Aeaea, there then, my master, I 
 charge you, think of me. Do not, in going, leave me 
 behind, unwept, unburied, deserting me, lest I be- 
 come a cause of anger to the gods against you ; but 
 burn me in the armor that was mine, and on the shore 
 of the foaming sea erect the mound of an unhappy 
 man, that future times may know. Do this for me, 
 and fix upon my grave the oar with which in life I 
 rowed among my comrades.' 
 
 " So he spoke, and answering him said I : * Un- 
 happy man, this will I carry out and do for you.' 
 
 " In such sad words talking with one another, there 
 we sat, I on the one side, holding my blade over 
 the blood, while the spectre of my comrade, on the 
 other, told of his many woes. 
 
 " Now came the spirit of my dead mother, Anticleia, 
 daughter of brave Autolycus, whom I had left alive 
 on setting forth for sacred Hies, I wept to see her 
 and pitied her from my heart ; but even so, I did not 
 let her deeply though it grieved me approach 
 the blood till I had made inquiry of Teiresias. 
 
 " Now came the spirit of Teiresias of Thebes, hold- 
 ing his golden sceptre. He knew me, and said to
 
 168 THE ODYSSEY. [XL 92-12a 
 
 me : * High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, why 
 now, unhappy man, leaving the sunshine, have you 
 oomo here to see the dead and this forbidding place ? 
 Nay, draw back from the pit and turn your sharp 
 blade from the blood, that I may drink and speak 
 what will not fail.' 
 
 ** So he spoke, and drawing back I thrust my silver- 
 studded sword into its sheath. And after he had 
 drunk of the dark blood, then thus the blameless seer 
 addressed me : 
 
 ** * You are looking for a joyous journey home, glo- 
 rious Odysseus, but a god will make it hard ; for I do 
 not think you will elude the Land-shaker, who bears 
 s grudge against you in his heart, angry because you 
 blinded his dear son. Yet even so, by meeting hard- 
 ship you may still reach home, if you will curb the 
 passions of yourself and crew when once you bring 
 your stanch ship to the Thrinacian island, safe from 
 the dark blue sea, and find the pasturing kine and 
 sturdy sheep of the Sun, who all things oversees, all 
 overhears. If you leave these unharmed and heed 
 your homeward way, you still may come to Ithaca, 
 though you shall meet with hardship. But if you 
 harm them, then I predict the loss of ship and crew ; 
 and even if you yourself escape, late shall you come, 
 in evil plight, with loss of all your crew, on the vessel 
 of a stranger. At home you shall find trouble, 
 bold men devouring your living, wooing your match- 
 less wife, and offering bridal gifts. Nevertheless, on 
 your return, you surely shall avenge their Crimea, 
 But after you have slain the suitors in your halls, 
 whether by stratagem or by the sharp sword boldly, 
 then journey on, bearing a shapely oar, until you reach 
 the men who know no sea and do not eat food mixed
 
 XL 124-156.) THE ODYSSEY. 1C9 
 
 with salt. These therefore have no knowledge of the 
 red-cheeked ships, nor of the shapely oars which are 
 the wings of ships. And I will give a sign easy to be 
 observed, which shall not fail you : when another trav- 
 eler, meeting you, shall say you have a winnowing fan 
 on your white shoulder, there fix in the ground youff 
 shapely oar, and make fit offerings to lord Poseidon ^ 
 a ram, a bull, and the sow's mate, a boar, and turn* 
 Ing homeward offer sacred hecatombs to the immortal 
 ods who hold the open sky, all in the order due. 
 Upon yourself death from the sea shall very gently 
 tiome and cut you off bowed down with hale old age, 
 Round you shall be a prosperous people. I speak 
 what shall not fail.' 
 
 " So he spoke, and answering him said I : * Teire- 
 sias, these are the threads of destiny the gods them- 
 selves have spun. Nevertheless, declare me this, and 
 plainly tell : I see the spirit of my dead mother here ; 
 silent she sits beside the blood and has not, although 
 I am her son, deigned to look in my face or speak to 
 me. Tell me, my master, how may she know that it 
 is I?' 
 
 " So I spoke, and straightway answering me said 
 he : * A simple saying I will tell and fix it in your 
 mind : whomever among those dead and gone you let 
 approach the blood, he shall declare the truth. But 
 whomsoever you refuse, he shall go back again.' 
 
 "So saying, into the house of Hades passed the 
 spirit of the great Teiresias, after telling heaven's de- 
 crees ; but I still held my place until my mother came 
 and drank of the dark blood. She knew me instantly, 
 and sorrowfully said in winged words : 
 
 " * My child, how came you in this murky gloom, 
 while still alive ? Awful to the living are these sights.
 
 170 THE ODYSSEY. [XI. 167-1901 
 
 Great rivers are between, and fearful floods, might- 
 iest of all the Ocean-stream, not to be crossed on foot, 
 but only on a strong-built ship. Are you but now 
 come here, upon your way from Troy, wandering a 
 long time with your ship and crew ? Have you not 
 been in Ithaca, nor seen your wife at home ? ' 
 
 44 So she spoke, and answering her said I : * My mo- 
 ther, need brought me to the house of Hades, here tc 
 consult the spirit of Teiresias of Thebes. I have not 
 yet been near Achaea nor once set foot upon my land, 
 but have been always wandering and meeting sorrow 
 since the fiist day I followed royal Agamemnon to 
 Ilios, famed for horses, to fight the Trojans there. 
 But now declare me this and plainly tell : what doom 
 of death that lays men low o'erwhelmed you ? Some 
 long disease? Or did the huntress A/temis attack 
 and slay you with her gentle arrows ? And tell me 
 of my father and the son I left ; still in their keeping 
 are my honors? Or does at last an alien hold them, 
 while people say that I shall come no more ? Tell 
 me, moreover, of my wedded wife, her purposes and 
 thoughts. Is she abiding by her child and keeping all 
 in safety ? Or was she finally married by some chief 
 of the Achaeans ? ' 
 
 ** So I spoke, and straight my honored mother an. 
 swered : ' Indeed she stays with patient heart within 
 your hall, and wearily the nights and days are wasted 
 with her tears. Nobody yet holds your fair honors : 
 in peace Telemachus farms your estate, and sits a' 
 equal feasts where it befits the lawgiver to be a guest 
 for all give him a welcome. Your father stays amonp 
 the fields, and comes to the town no more. Bed hac 
 be none, bedstead, nor robes, nor bright-hued rugs ; 
 but through the winter he sleeps in the house where
 
 XI. 191-224.] THE ODYSSEY. 171 
 
 servants sleep, in the dust beside the fire, and wears 
 upon his body sorry clothes. Then when the sum- 
 mer comes and fruitful autumn, wherever he may be 
 about his slope of vineyard-ground a bed is piled of 
 leaves fallen on the earth. There lies he in distress, 
 woe waxing strong within, longing for your return ; 
 and hard old age comes on. Even so I also died and 
 met my doom : not that at home the sure-eyed hun- 
 tress attacked and slew me with her gentle arrows ; 
 nor did a sickness come, which oftentimes by sad de- 
 cay steals from the limbs the life ; but longing for you 
 your wise ways, glorious Odysseus, and your ten- 
 derness, took joyous life away.' 
 
 " As she thus spoke, I yearned, though my mind 
 hesitated, to clasp the spirit of my mother, even though 
 dead. Three times the impulse came ; my heart urged 
 me to clasp her. Three times out of my arms like a 
 shadow or a dream she flitted, and the sharp pain 
 about my heart grew only more; and speaking in 
 winged words, I said : 
 
 " ' My mother, why not stay for me who long to clasp 
 you, so that in the very house of Hades, throwing our 
 arms round one another, we two may take our fill of 
 piercing grief ? Or is it a phantom high Persephone 
 has sent, to make me weep and sorrow more ? ' 
 
 ** So I spoke, and straight my honored mother an- 
 swered : * Ah, my own child, beyond all men ill-fated! 
 In no wise is Persephone, daughter of Zeus, beguiling 
 you, but this is the way with mortals when they die : 
 the sinews then no longer hold the flesh and bones to- 
 gether ; for these the strong force of the blazing fire 
 destroys, when once the life leaves the white bones, 
 and like a dream the spirit flies away. Nay now, 
 press quickly on into the light, and of all this take 
 heed, to tell your wife hereafter.,'
 
 172 THE ODYSSEY. [XL 225-25a 
 
 " So we held converse there ; but now the women 
 came for high Persephone had sent them, who 
 were great men's wives and daughters. Round the 
 dark blood in throngs they gathered, and I consid- 
 ered how to question each. Then to my mind this 
 seemed the wisest way : I drew my keen-edged blade 
 from my stout thigh and did not let them all at once 
 drink the dark blood, but one by one they came, and 
 each declared her lineage, and I questioned all. 
 
 "There I saw Tyro first, of noble ancestry, who 
 told of being sprung from gentle Salmoneus; told 
 how she was the wife of Cretheus, son of Aeolus. 
 She loved a river-god, divine Enipeus, who flows the 
 fairest of all streams on earth. So she would walk 
 by the fair currents of Enipeus, and in his guise the 
 Laud-shaker, who girds the laud, lay with her at the 
 outpouring of the eddying stream. The upheaving 
 water compassed them, high as a hill and arching, 
 and hid the god and mortal woman. He loosed the 
 maiden's girdle and cast on her a sleep. Then when 
 the god had done the deeds of love, he held her hand 
 and spoke and thus addressed her : 
 
 " * Be happy, lady, in my love ! In the revolving 
 year you shall bear noble children ; for the embraces 
 of immortals are not barren. Rear them yourself, 
 and cherish them. And now go home. Hold fast, 
 and speak it not : I am Poseidon, the shaker of the 
 earth.' 
 
 " Saying this, he plunged into the surging sea. She 
 then, conceiving, bore Pelias and Neleus, who both 
 became strong ministers of mighty Zeus. Pelias 
 dwelt in the open country of lolcus, rich in flocks ; 
 the other at sandy Pylos. And sons to Cretheus also 
 this queen of women bore, Aeson, and Pheres, and 
 Amythaon the charioteer.
 
 XI. 260-291.] THE ODYSSEY. 173 
 
 " And after her I saw Antiope, Asopus' daughter, 
 who boasted she had been embraced by Zeus himself. 
 And so she bore two sons, Amphion and Zethus, who 
 first laid the foundations of seven-gated Thebes, and 
 fortified it ; because unfortified, they could not dwell 
 in open Thebes, for all their power. 
 
 " And after her I saw Alcmene, wife of Amphitryon, 
 her who bore dauntless Hercules, the lion-hearted, 
 yielding to the embrace of mighty Zeus ; and Megara, 
 harsh Creon's daughter, whom the tireless son of Am- 
 phitryon took to wife. 
 
 " The mother of Oedipus I saw, fair Epicaste, who 
 did a monstrous deed through ignorance of heart, in 
 marrying her son. He, having slain his father, mar- 
 ried her ; and soon the gods made the thing known 
 to men. In pain at pleasant Thebes he governed the 
 Cadmeians, through the gods' destroying purpose ; and 
 she went down to Hades, the strong gaoler, fastening 
 a fatal noose to the high rafter, abandoned to her 
 grief. To him she left the many woes which the 
 Avengers of a mother bring. 
 
 "Beautiful Chloris too I saw, whom Neleus once 
 married for her beauty after making countless gifts, 
 the youngest daughter of that Amphion, son of lasus, 
 who once held powerful sway at Minyan Orchomenus. 
 She was the queen of Pylos, and bore Neleus famous 
 children, Nestor and Chromius and Periclymenus the 
 headstrong. And beside these she bore that stately 
 Pero, the marvel of mankind, whom all her neighbors 
 wooed. But to none would Neleus give her save to 
 him who should drive from Phylace the crook-horned, 
 broad-browed kine of haughty Iphiclus, and danger- 
 ous kine were they. A blameless seer alone would 
 undertake to drive them; but cruel doom of God
 
 174 THE ODYSSEY. [XI. 292-S2& 
 
 prevented, harsh bonds and clownish herdsmen. Yet 
 after days and months were spent, as the year rolled 
 and other seasons came, then haughty Iphiclus re- 
 leased him on his telling all the oracles. The will of 
 Zeus was done. 
 
 44 Leda I saw, the wife of Tyndareus, who bore tc 
 Tyndareus two stalwart sons : Castor, the horseman, 
 and Polydeuces, good at boxing. These in a kind of 
 life the nourishing earth now holds ; and even beneath 
 the ground they have from Zeus the boon that to-day 
 they be alive, to-morrow dead ; and they are allotted 
 honors like the gods. 
 
 " Iphimedeia I saw, wife of Aloeus, who said that 
 she had lain beside Poseidon. She bore two chil- 
 dren, but short-lived they proved, Otus, the god- 
 like, and the far-famed Ephialtes, whom the fruitful 
 earth made grow to be the tallest and most beauti- 
 ful of men, after renowned Orion ; for at nine years 
 they were nine cubits broad, and in height they 
 reached nine fathoms. Therefore they even threat- 
 ened the immortals with raising on Olympus the din 
 of furious war. Ossa they strove to set upon Olym- 
 pus, and upon Ossa leafy Pelion, that so the heavens 
 might be scaled. And this they would have done, 
 had they but reached the period of their vigor ; but 
 the son of Zeus whom fair-haired Leto bore destroyed 
 them both before below their temples the downy hair 
 had sprung and covered their chins with the fresh 
 beard. 
 
 ** Phaedra and Procris, too, I saw, and beautiful 
 Ariadne, daughter of wizard Minos, whom Theseus 
 tried to bring from Crete to the slopes of sacred 
 Athens. But he gained naught thereby ; before she 
 eame, Artemis rlew her in sea-girt Dia, prompted by 
 (he report of Dionysus.
 
 XL 326-359.] THE ODYSSEY. 176 
 
 " Maera and Clymene I saw, and odious Eriphyle 
 who took a bribe of gold as the price of her own hus- 
 band. But all I cannot tell, nor even name the many 
 heroes' wives and daughters whom I saw ; ere that, the 
 immortal night would wear away. Already it is time 
 to sleep, at the swift ship among the crew or here. 
 My journey hence rests with the gods and you." 
 
 As thus he ended, all were hushed to silence, held 
 by the spell throughout the dusky hall. White-armed 
 Arete was the first to speak : " Phaeacians, how seems 
 to you this man in beauty, height, and balanced mind 
 within ? My guest indeed he is, but each one shares 
 the honor. Be not in haste then to dismiss him, nor 
 stint your gifts to one so much in need. By favor of 
 the gods great wealth is in your houses." 
 
 Then also spoke the old lord Echeneiis, who was 
 the oldest of Phaeacian men : " My friends, not wide 
 of the mark, nor of her reputation, speaks the wise 
 queen ; therefore give heed. Yet word and work 
 rest with Alcinoiis here." 
 
 Then answered him Alcinoiis and said : " Even as 
 she speaks that word shall be, if I be now the living 
 lord of oar-loving Phaeacians! But let our guest, 
 however much he longs for home, consent to stay at 
 all events until to-morrow, till I shall make our gift 
 complete. To send him hence shall be the charge of 
 all, especially of me ; for power within this land rests 
 here." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said: 
 " Mighty Alcinoiis, renowned of all, if you should bid 
 me stay a year and then should send me forth, giving 
 me splendid gifts, that is what I would choose ; for 
 much more to my profit would it be with fuller hands 
 to reach my native land. Then should I be regarded
 
 176 THE ODYSSEY. [XL 360-39a 
 
 more and welcomed more by all who saw me coming 
 home to Ithaca." 
 
 Then answered him Alcinoiis and said : " Odysseus, 
 we judge you by your looks to be no cheat or thief ' 
 though many are the men the dark earth breeds, and 
 scatters far and wide, who fashion falsehoods out of 
 what no man can see. But you have a grace of word 
 and a noble mind within, and you told your tale ae 
 skillfully as if you were a bard, relating all the Ar- 
 gives' and your own sore troubles. But now declare 
 me this and plainly tell : did you see any of the god- 
 like comrades who went with you to Ilios and there 
 met doom ? The night is very long ; yes, vastly long. 
 The hour for sleeping at the hall is not yet come. 
 Tell me the wondrous story. I could be well content 
 till sacred dawn, if you were willing in the hall to tell 
 us of your woes." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said . - Lord 
 Alcinoiis, renowned of all, there is a time for stories 
 and a time for sleep ; yet if you wish to listen longer, 
 I would not shrink from telling tales more pitiful than 
 these, the woes of my companions who died in after- 
 time, men who escaped the grievous war-cry of the 
 Trojans to die on their return through a wicked wo- 
 man's will. 
 
 ** When, then, chaste Persephone had scattered here 
 and there those spirits of tender women, there came 
 the spirit of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, sorrowing. 
 Around thronged other spirits of men who by his side 
 had died in the house of Aegisthus and there had met 
 their doom. He knew me as soon as he had drunk 
 of the dark blood ; and then he cried aloud and let 
 the big tears fall, and stretched his hands forth ea- 
 gerly to grasp me. But no, there was no strength or
 
 XI. 394-426. j THE ODYSSEY. 177 
 
 vigor left, such as was once within his supple limbs. 
 I wept to see him, and pitied him from my heart, and 
 speaking in winged words I said : 
 
 " ' Great son of Atreus, Agamemnon, lord of men, 
 what doom of death that lays men low o'erwhelmed 
 you ? Was it on shipboard that Poseidon smote you. 
 raising unwelcome blasts of cruel wind? Or did 
 fierce men destroy you on the land, while you were 
 cutting oif their kine or their fair flocks of sheep, or 
 while you fought to win their town and carry off their 
 women ? * 
 
 " So I spoke, and straightway answering me said 
 The : * No, high-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, 
 on shipboard Poseidon did not smite me, raising un- 
 weicome blasts of cruel wind, nor did fierce men de- 
 stroy me on the land ; it was Aegisthus, plotting 
 death and doom, who slew me, aided by my accursed 
 wife, when he had bidden me home and had me at the 
 feast, even as one kills the ox before the manger. So 
 thus I died a lamentable death, and all my men, with 
 no escape, were slain around me ; like white-toothed 
 wine at some rich, powerful man's wedding, or ban- 
 quet, or gay festival. You have yourself been pres- 
 ent at the death of many men, men slain in single 
 combat and in the press of war ; yet here you would 
 have felt your heart most touched with pity, to see 
 how round the mixing-bowl and by the loaded tables 
 we lay about the hall, and all the pavement ran with 
 blood. Saddest of all, I heard the cry of Priam's 
 daughter, Cassandra, whom crafty Clytaemnestra 
 slew beside me ; and I, on the ground, lifted my 
 hands and clutched my sword in dying. But she, the 
 brutal woman, turned away and did not deign, though 
 I was going to the house of Hades, to draw with her
 
 178 THE ODYSSEY. [XI. 426-46L 
 
 hand my eyelids down and press my lips together. 
 Ah, what can be more horrible and brutish than a wo- 
 man when she admits into her thoughts such deeds as 
 these I And what a shameless deed she plotted to 
 bring about the murder of the husband of her youth I 
 I used to think how glad my coming home would be, 
 even to my children and my slaves ; but she, intent on 
 each extremity of crime, brought shame upon herself 
 and all of womankind who shall be born hereafter, 
 even on well-doers too.' 
 
 44 So he spoke, and answering him said I : ' Alas I 
 The house of Atreus far -seeing Zeus has sorely 
 plagued with women's arts, from the beginning : for 
 Helen's sake how many of us died ; and Clytaemnes- 
 tra devised a plot while you were far away.' 
 
 " So I spoke, and straightway answering me said 
 he : * Never be you, then, gentle to your wife, nor 
 speak out all you really mean ; but tell a part and let 
 a part be hid. And yet on you, Odysseus, no violent 
 death shall ever fall from your wife's hand ; for truly 
 wise and of an understanding heart is the daughter 
 of Icarius, heedful Penelope. As a young bride we 
 left her, on going to the war. A child was at her 
 breast, an infant then, who now perhaps sits in the 
 ranks of men, and happy too ; for his dear father, com- 
 ing home, will see him, and he will meet his father 
 with embrace, as children should. But my wife did 
 not let me feast my eyes upon my son ; before he 
 came, she slew me. Nay, this I will say farther : mark 
 it well. By stealth, not openly, bring in your ship to 
 shore, for there is no more faith in woman. But now 
 declare me this and plainly tell if you hear my son is 
 living still at Orchomenus, perhaps, or sandy Pylos, 
 or at the home of Menelaus in broad Sparta; for 
 sorely nowhere on the earth has royal Orestes died.'
 
 XI. 462-492.] THE ODYSSEY. 179 
 
 " So he spoke, and answering him said I : * O son 
 of Atreus, why question me of this ? Whether he be 
 alive or dead I do not know. To speak vain words is 
 ill.' 
 
 " In such sad words talking with one another 
 mournfully we stood, letting the big tears fall. And 
 jiow there came the spirit of Achilles, son of Peleus, 
 and of Patroclus too, of gallant Antilochus, and of 
 Ajax who was first in beauty and in stature of all the 
 Danaans after the gallant son of Peleus. But the 
 spirit of swift-footed Aeacides knew me, and sorrow- 
 fully said in winged words : 
 
 " * High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, rash 
 as you are, what will you undertake more desperate 
 than this ! How dared you come down hither to the 
 house of Hades, where dwell the senseless dead, spec- 
 tres of toil-worn men ? ' 
 
 " So he spoke, and answering him said I : * Achilles, 
 son of Peleus, foremost of the Achaeans, I came for 
 consultation with Teiresias, hoping that he might give 
 advice for reaching rugged Ithaca. I have not yet 
 been near Achaea nor once set foot upon my land, but 
 have had constant trouble ; while as for you, Achilles, 
 no man was in the past more fortunate, nor in the fu- 
 ture shall be ; for formerly, during your life, we Ar- 
 gives gave you equal honor with the gods, and now 
 you are a mighty lord among the dead, when here. 
 Then do not grieve at having died, Achilles.' 
 
 " So I spoke, and straightway answering me said 
 he : ' Mock not at death, glorious Odysseus. Better 
 to be the hireling of a stranger, and serve a man of 
 mean estate whose living is but small, than be the 
 ruler over all these dead and gone. No, tell me tales 
 of my proud son. whether or not he followed to the
 
 180 THE ODYSSEY. [XI. 49S-527 
 
 war to be a leader ; tell what you know of gallant Pe- 
 leus, whether he still has honor in the cities of the 
 Myrmidons ; or do they slight him now in Hellas and 
 in Phthia, because old age has touched his hands and 
 feet ? I am myself no longer in the sunlight to defend 
 him, nor like what I once was when on the Trojan 
 plain I routed a brave troop in succoring the Argives. 
 If once like that I could but come, even for a little 
 space, into my father's house, frightful should be my 
 might and my resistless hands to any who are trou- 
 bling him and keeping him from honor.' 
 
 44 So he spoke, and answering him said 1 : 4 Indeed, 
 of gallant Peleus I know nothing. But about your 
 dear son Neoptolemus, I will tell you all the truth, as 
 you desire ; for it was I, in my trim hollow ship, who 
 brought him from Scyros to the mailed Achaeans. 
 And when encamped at Troy we held a council, he 
 always was the first to speak, and no word missed its 
 mark ; godlike Nestor and I alone surpassed him. 
 Moreover, on the Trojan plain, when we Achaeans 
 battled, he never tarried in the throng nor at the ral- 
 lying-place, but pressed before us all, yielding to none 
 in courage. Many a man he slew in mortal combat. 
 Fully I cannot tell, noi even name the host he slew in 
 fighting for the Argives ; but how he vanquished with 
 his sword the son of Telephus, Eurypylus the hero I 
 Many of that Ceteian band fell with their leader, de- 
 stroyed by woman's bribes. So goodly a man as he I 
 never saw, save kingly Memnon. 
 
 44 4 Then when we entered the horse Epeius made, 
 we chieftains of the Argives, and it lay all with 
 me to shut or open our close ambush, other captains 
 and councilors of the Danaans would wipe away a 
 tear, and their limbs shook beneath them ; but watch-
 
 XI. 628-663.] THE ODYSSEY 181 
 
 ing him, at no time did I see his fair skin pale, not 
 from his cheeks did he wipe tears away. Often he 
 begged to leave the horse; he fingered his sword-hilt 
 and his bronze-tipped spear, longing to vex the Tro- 
 jans. Yet after we overthrew the lofty town of Priam, 
 he took his share of spoil and an honorable prize, and 
 went oil board unharmed, not hit by brazen point nor 
 wounded in close combat, as for the most part happens 
 in war ; bap-hazard Ares rages.' 
 
 " So I spoke, and the spirit of swift-footed Aeacides 
 departed with long strides across the field of asphodel, 
 pleased that I said his son was famous. 
 
 u But the other spirits of those dead and gone stood 
 sadly there ; each asked for what he loved. Only the 
 spirit of Ajax, son of Telamon, held aloof, still angry at 
 the victory I gained in the contest at the ships for the 
 armor of Achilles. The goddess mother of Achilles 
 offered the prize, and the sons of the Trojans were the 
 judges, they and Pallas Athene. Would I had 
 never won in such a strife, since thus the earth closed 
 round the head of Ajax, who in beauty and achieve- 
 ment surpassed all other Dan a a us save the gallant son 
 of Peleus. To him I spoke in gentle words and said : 
 
 " 'Ajax, son of gallant Telamon, will you not, even 
 in death, forget your wrath about the accursed armor ? 
 To plague the Argives the gods gave it, since such a 
 tower as you were lost thereby. For you as for 
 Achilles, son of Peleus, do we Achaeans mourn un- 
 ceasingly. None was to blame but Zeus, who, fiercely 
 hating all the host of Danaan spearmen, brought upon 
 you this doom. Nay, king, draw near, that you may 
 listen to our voice and hear our words. Abate your 
 pride and haughty spirit.' 
 
 " I spoke ; he did not answer, but he went his way
 
 182 THE ODYSSEY. [XI. 564-B9& 
 
 after the other spirits of those dead and gone, on into 
 Erebus. Yet then, despite his wrath, he should have 
 spoken, or I had spoken to him, but that the heart 
 within my breast wished to see other spirits of the 
 dead. 
 
 '* There I saw Minos, the illustrious son of Zens, a 
 golden sceptre in his hand, administering justice to the 
 dead from where he sat, while all around men called 
 for judgment from the king, sitting and standing in 
 the wide-doored hall of Hades. 
 
 ** Next I marked huge Orion drive through the field 
 of asphodel the game that in his life he slew among 
 the lonely hills. He held a club of solid bronze that 
 never can be broken. 
 
 "And Tityus I saw, the son of far-famed Gaia, 
 stretched on the plain ; across nine roods he stretched. 
 Two vultures sat beside him, one upon either hand, 
 and tore his liver, piercing the caul within. Yet with 
 his hands he did not keep them off ; for he did violence 
 to Leto, the honored wife of Zeus, as she was going to 
 Pytho through pleasant Panopeus. 
 
 '* Tantalus, too, I saw in grievous torment and stand- 
 ing in a pool. It touched his chin. He strained for 
 thirst, but could not take and drink ; for as the old man 
 bent, eager to drink, the water always was absorbed 
 and disappeared, and at his feet the dark earth showed. 
 God made it dry. Then leafy-crested trees drooped 
 down their fruit, pears, pomegranates, apples with 
 shining fruit, sweet figs, and thrifty olives. But when 
 the old man stretched his hand to take, a breeze vould 
 toss them toward the dusky clouds. 
 
 "And Sisyphus I saw in bitter pains, forcing a 
 monstrous stone along with both his hands. Tugging 
 with hand and foot, he pushed the stone upward along
 
 XI. 697-629.] THE ODYSSEY. 183 
 
 a hill. But when he thought to heave it on clean to 
 the summit, a mighty power would turn it back ; and 
 so once more down to the ground the wicked stone 
 would tumble. Again he strained to push it back ; 
 sweat ran down from his limbs, and from his head a 
 dust cloud rose. 
 
 " And next I marked the might of Hercules, his 
 phantom form ; for he himself is with the immortal 
 gods reveling at their feasts, wed to fair-ankled Hebe, 
 child of great Zeus and golden-sandaled Here. 
 Around him rose a clamor of the dead, like that of 
 birds, fleeing all ways in terror ; while he, like gloomy 
 night, with his bare bow and arrow on the string, 
 glared fearfully, as if forever shooting. Terrible was 
 the baldric round about his breast, a golden belt 
 where marvelous devices had been wrought, bears and 
 wild boars and fierce-eyed lions, struggles and fights, 
 murders and blood-sheddings. Let the artificer de- 
 sign no more who once achieved that sword-belt by 
 his art. Soon as he saw, he knew me, and sorrow- 
 fully said in winged words : 
 
 "'High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, so 
 you, poor man, work out a cruel task such as I once 
 endured when in the sunlight. I was the son of Kro- 
 nian Zeus, yet I had pains unnumbered; for to one 
 very far beneath me I was bound, and he imposed 
 hard labors. He even sent me here to carry off the 
 dog, for nothing he supposed could be a harder labor. 
 I brought the dog up hence, and dragged him forth 
 from Hades. Hermes was my guide, he and clear- 
 eyed Athene.' 
 
 " So saying, back he went into the house of Hades, 
 while I still held my place, hoping there yet might 
 come some other heroes who died long ago. And
 
 184 THE ODYSSEY. [XL 630-6401 
 
 more of the men of old I might have seen, as I de- 
 sired, Theseus and Peirithoiis, famous children of 
 the gods ; but ere they came, myriads of the people of 
 the dead gathered with awful cry. Pale terror seized 
 me ; I thought perhaps the Gorgon head of some fell 
 monster high Persephone might send out of the house 
 of Hades. So, turning to my ship, I called my crew 
 to come on board and loose the cables. Quickly they 
 came, took places at the pins, and down the Ocean- 
 stream the flowing current bore us, with oarage first 
 and then a pleasant breeze."
 
 xn. 
 
 THE SIRENS, 8CTLLA, CHARYBDI8, AND THE KINE OF 
 
 THE SUN. 
 
 " AFTER our ship had left the current of the Ocean- 
 stream and come into the waters of the open sea and 
 to the island of Aeaea, where is the dwelling of the 
 early dawn, its dancing-ground and place of rising, as 
 we ran in we beached our ship among the sands, and 
 forth we went ourselves upon the shore ; where, falling 
 fast asleep, we awaited sacred dawn. 
 
 " But when the early rosy-fingered dawn appeared, 
 i sent men forward to the house of Circe to fetch the 
 body of the dead Elpenor. Then hastily cutting logs, 
 where the coast stood out most boldly we buried him, 
 in sadness, letting the big tears falL After the dead 
 was burned and the armor of the dead man, we raised 
 a mound, and dragged a stone upon it, and fixed on 
 the mound's highest point his shapely oar. 
 
 " With all this we were busied ; nevertheless, our 
 coming from the house of Hades was not concealed 
 from Circe, but quickly she arrayed herself and came 
 to meet us. Her maids bore bread and stores of meat 
 and ruddy sparkling wine ; and standing in the midst 
 of all, the heavenly goddess said : 
 
 " * Madmen ! who have gone down alive into the 
 house of Hades, thus twice to meet with death while 
 others die but once, come, eat this food and drink this 
 wine here for to-day, and when to-morrow comes you
 
 186 THE ODYSSEY. [XII. 25-59. 
 
 shall set sail. I will myself point out the way and 
 fully show you all ; lest by unhappy lack of skill you 
 be distressed on sea or land and suffer harm/ 
 
 " So she spoke, and our high hearts assented. Thus 
 all throughout the day till setting sun we sat and 
 feasted on abundant meat and pleasant wine; and 
 when the sun had set and darkness came, my men lay 
 down to sleep by the ship's cables ; but leading me by 
 the hand apart from my good comrades, the goddess 
 bade me sit, herself reclined beside me, and asked me 
 for my story. So I related all the tale in its due 
 order. Then thus spoke potent Circe : 
 
 ** * All this is ended now ; but listen to what I say, 
 and God himself shall help you to remember. First 
 you will meet the Sirens, who cast a spell on every 
 man who goes their way. Whoso draws near unwarned 
 and hears the Sirens' voices, by him no wife nor little 
 child shall ever stand, glad at his coming home ; for 
 the Sirens cast a spell of penetrating song, sitting 
 within a meadow. Near by is a great heap of rotting 
 human bones ; fragments of skin are shriveling on 
 them. Therefore sail on, and stop your comrades' 
 ears with sweet wax kneaded soft, that none of the 
 rest may hear. If you yourself will listen, see that 
 they bind you hand and foot on the swift ship, up- 
 right upon the mast-block, round it let the rope 
 be wound, that so with pleasure you may hear the 
 Sirens' song. But if you should entreat your men 
 and bid them set you free, let them with still more 
 fetters bind you fast 
 
 " * After your men have brought the ship past 
 these, what is to be your course I will not fully say ; 
 do you yourself ponder it in your heart. I will de- 
 oribe both ways. Along one route stand beetling
 
 60-94.] THE ODYSSEY. 187 
 
 cliffs, and on them roar the mighty waves of dark- 
 eyed Amphitrite ; the blessed gods call them the 
 Wanderers. This way not even winged things can 
 pass, no, not the gentle doves which bear ambrosia 
 to father Zeus ; but one of them the smooth rock al- 
 ways draws away, though the father puts another in 
 to fill the number. No ship of man ever escapes 
 when once come hither, but in one common ruin 
 planks of ships and sailors' bodies are swept by the 
 sea-waves and storms of deadly flame. The only 
 coursing ship that ever passed this way was Argo, 
 famed of all, when voyaging from Aeetes ; and her 
 the waves would soon have dashed on the great rocks, 
 but Here brought her through from love of Jason. 
 
 " 4 By the other way there are two crags, one reach- 
 ing up to the broad heavens with its sharp peak. 
 Clouds gather about it darkly and never float away ; 
 light strikes its peak neither in heat nor harvest. No 
 mortal man could clamber up or down it, though 
 twenty hands and feet were his ; for the rock is 
 smooth, as it were polished. About the middle of the 
 crag is a dim cave, facing the west and Erebus, the 
 very way where you must steer your rounded ship, 
 glorious Odysseus ; and from that rounded ship no 
 lusty youth could with a bow-shot reach the hollow 
 cave. Here Scylla dwells and utters hideous cries; 
 her voice like that of a young dog, and she herself an 
 evil monster. None can behold her and be glad, be 
 it a god who meets her. Twelve feet she has, and all 
 misshapen ; six necks, exceeding long ; on each a 
 frightful head ; in these three rows of teeth, stout and 
 close-set, fraught with dark death. As far as the 
 waist she is drawn down within the hollow cave ; but 
 she holds forth her heads outside the awful chasm
 
 188 THE ODYSSEY. [XII. 96-127. 
 
 and fishes there, spying around the crag for dolphins, 
 dogfish, or whatever larger creature she may catch, 
 such things as voiceful Amphitrite breeds by thou- 
 sands. Never could sailors boast of passing her in 
 safety ; for with each head she takes a man^ snatch* 
 ing him from the dark-bowed ship. 
 
 " * The second crag is lower, you will see, Odysseus, 
 and close beside the first; you well might shoot across. 
 On it a fig-tree stands, tall and in leafy bloom, under- 
 neath which divine Charybdis sucks the dark water 
 down. For thrice a day she sends it up, and thrice 
 she sucks it down, a fearful sight! May you not 
 happen to be there when it goes down, for nobody 
 could save you then from ill, not even the Earth- 
 shaker. But swiftly turn your course toward Scylla's 
 crag, and speed the ship along ; for surely it is better 
 to miss six comrades from your ship than all together.' 
 
 " So she spoke, and answering her, said I : * Yet, 
 goddess, tell me this in very truth: might I not possi- 
 bly escape from fell Charybdis, and then beat off the 
 other when she assails my crew ? ' 
 
 " So I spoke, and straight the heavenly goddess 
 answered : * Foolhardy man ! Still bent on war and 
 struggle ! Will you not yield even to immortal gods ? 
 This is no mortal being, but an immortal woe, dire, 
 hard, and fierce, and not to be fought down. Courage 
 is nothing ; flight is best. For if you arm and lin- 
 ger by the rock, I fear that, issuing forth once more, 
 she may attack you with her many heads and carry off 
 as many men. Therefore with zeal speed on; and 
 call on Force, the mother of this Scylla, who bore her 
 for a bane to humankind ; she will restrain her from 
 a second onset. 
 
 Mt Next, you will reach the island of Thrinacia,
 
 XII. 128-169.] THE ODYSSEY. 189 
 
 where in great numbers feed the kine and the sturdy 
 flocks of the Sun, seven droves of kine and just as 
 many beautiful flocks of sheep, fifty in each. Of them, 
 no young are born, nor do they ever die. Goddesses 
 , fire their shepherds, nymphs of fair hair, Phaethousa 
 , and Lampetia, whom to the exalted Sun divine Neaera 
 bore. These their potent mother bore and reared, 
 and sent them to the island of Thrinacia to dwell 
 afar and keep their father's flocks and crook-horned 
 kine. If you leave these unharmed and heed your 
 homeward way, you still may come to Ithaca, though 
 you shall meet with hardship. But if you harm them, 
 then I predict the loss of ship and crew ; and even 
 if you yourself escape, late shall you come, in evil 
 plight, with loss of all your crew.' 
 
 "Even as she spoke, the gold-throned morning 
 came, and up the island the heavenly goddess went 
 her way ; I turned me toward my ship, and called my 
 crew to come on board and loose the cables. Quickly 
 they came, took places at the pins, and sitting in or- 
 der smote the foaming water with their oars. And 
 for our aid behind our dark-bowed ship came a fair 
 wind to fill our sail, a welcome comrade, sent us by 
 fair -haired Circe, the mighty goddess, human of 
 speech. When we had done our work at the several 
 ropes about the ship, we sat us down, while wind and 
 helmsman kept her steady. 
 
 " Now to my men, with aching heart, I said : ' My 
 ^riends, it is not right for only one or two to know 
 the oracles which Circe told, that heavenly goddess. 
 Therefore I speak, that, knowing all, we so may die, 
 *r fleeing death and doom, we may escape. She 
 warns us first against the marvelous Sirens, and bids 
 us flee their voice and flowery meadow. Only myself
 
 190 THE ODYSSEY. [XIL 160-19L 
 
 she bade to hear their song ; but bind me with galling 
 cords, to hold me firm, upright upon the mast-block, 
 round it let the rope be wound. And if I should 
 entreat you, and bid you set me free, thereat with 
 still more fetters bind me fast.' 
 
 " Thus I, relating all my tale, talked with my com- 
 rades. Meanwhile our stanch ship swiftly neared the 
 Sirens' island ; a fair wind swept her on. On a sud- 
 den the wind ceased ; there came a breathless calm ; 
 Heaven hushed the waves. My comrades, rising, 
 furled the sail, stowed it on board the hollow ship, 
 then sitting at their oars whitened the water with the 
 polished blades. But I with my sharp sword cut a 
 great cake of wax into small bits, which I then 
 kneaded in my sturdy hands. Soon the wax warmed, 
 forced by the powerful pressure and by the rays of 
 the exalted Sun, the lord of all. Then one by one 
 I stopped the ears of all my crew ; and on the deck 
 they bound me hand and foot, upright upon the mast- 
 block, round which they wound the rope ; and sit- 
 ting down they smote the foaming water with their 
 oars. But when we were as far away as one can call 
 and driving swiftly onward, our speeding ship, as it 
 drew near, did not escape the Sirens, and thus they 
 lifted up their penetrating voice : 
 
 ** * Come hither, come, Odysseus, whom all praise, 
 great glory of the Achaeans ! Bring in your ship, 
 and listen to our song. For none has ever passed us 
 in a black-hulled ship till from our lips he heard ec- 
 static song, then went his way rejoicing and with 
 larger knowledge. For we know all that on the plain 
 of Troy Argives and Trojans suffered at the gods' 
 behest ; we know whatever happens on the bounteous 
 earth.'
 
 XH. 192-223.] THE ODYSSEY. 191 
 
 " So spoke they, sending forth their glorious song, 
 and my heart longed to listen. Knitting my brows, 
 I signed my men to set me free; but bending for- 
 ward, on they rowed. And straightway Perimedes 
 and Eurylochus arose and laid upon me still more 
 cords and drew them tighter. Then, after passing by, 
 when we could hear no more the Sirens' voice nor any 
 singing, quickly my trusty crew removed the wax with 
 which I stopped their ears, and set me free from bon- 
 
 " Soon after we left the island, I observed a smoke, 
 I saw high waves and heard a plunging sound. From 
 the hands of my frightened men down fell the oars, 
 *nd splashed against the current. There the ship 
 stayed, for they worked the tapering oars no more. 
 Along the ship I passed, inspiriting my men with 
 cheering words, standing by each in turn : 
 
 " ' Friends, hitherto we have not been untried in 
 danger. Here is no greater danger than when the 
 Cyclops penned us with brutal might in the deep cave- 
 Yet out of that, through energy of mine, through will 
 and wisdom, we escaped. These dangers, too, I think 
 some day we shall remember. Come then, and what 
 I say let us all follow. You with your oars strike 
 the deep breakers of the sea, while sitting at the pins, 
 and see if Zeus will set us free from present death 
 and let us go in safety. And, helmsman, these are 
 my commands for you ; lay them to heart, for you 
 control the rudders of our hollow ship : keep the ship 
 off that smoke and surf and hug the crags, or else, be- 
 fore you know it, she may veer off that way, and you 
 will bring us into danger.' 
 
 " So I spoke, and my words they quickly heeded. 
 But Scylla I did not name, that hopeless horror,
 
 192 THE ODYSSEY. [XII. 224-269. 
 
 for fear through fright my men might cease to row, 
 and huddle all together in the hold. I disregarded 
 too the hard behest of Circe, when she had said I must 
 by no means arm. Putting on my glittering armor and 
 taking in my hands my two long spears, I went upon 
 the ship's fore-deck, for thence I looked for the first 
 sight of Scylla of the rock, who brought my men dis- 
 aster. Nowhere could I descry her ; I tired my eyes 
 with searching up and down the dusky cliff. 
 
 ** So up the strait we sailed in sadness ; for here lay 
 Scylla, and there divine Charybdis fearfully sucked 
 the salt sea-water down. Whenever she belched it 
 forth, like a kettle in fierce flame all would foam 
 swirling up, and overhead spray fell upon the tops of 
 both the crags. But when she gulped the salt sea- 
 water down, then all within seemed in a whirl ; the 
 rock around roared fearfully, and down below the bot- 
 tom showed, dark with the sand. Pale terror seized 
 my men ; on her we looked and feared to die. 
 
 " And now it was that Scylla snatched from the 
 hollow ship six of my comrades who were best in skill 
 and strength. Turning my eyes toward my swift ship 
 to seek my men, I saw their feet and hands already 
 in the air as they were carried up. They screamed 
 aloud and called my name for the last time, in agony 
 of heart. As when a fisher, on a jutting rock, with 
 long rod throws a bait to lure the little fishes, casting 
 into the deep the horn of stall-fed ox ; then, catching 
 a fish, flings it ashore writhing ; even so were these 
 drawn writhing up the rocks. There at her door she 
 Ate them, loudly shrieking and stretching forth their 
 hands in mortal pangs toward me. That was the 
 saddest sight my eyes have ever seen, in all my toils, 
 searching the ocean pathways.
 
 XII 260-293.] THE ODYSSEY. 193 
 
 " Now after we had passed the rocks of dire Cha- 
 rybdis and of Scylla, straight we drew near the pleas- 
 ant island of the god. Here were the goodly broad* 
 browed kine and the many sturdy flocks of the exalted 
 Sun. While still at sea, on the black ship, I heard 
 the lowing of stalled cattle and the bleat of sheep j 
 ind on my mind fell words of the blind prophet, 
 Xeiresias of Thebes, and of Aeaean Circe, who very 
 strictly charged ine to shun the island of the Sun, the 
 cheerer of mankind. So to my men with aching heart 
 I said: 
 
 " ' My suffering comrades, hearken to my words, 
 that I may tell you of the warnings of Teiresias, and 
 of Aeaean Circe, who very strictly charged me to 
 shun the island of the Sun, the cheerer of mankind ; 
 for there our deadliest danger lay, she said. Then 
 past the island speed the black ship on her way.' 
 
 "As I spoke thus, their very souls were crushed 
 within them, and instantly Eurylochus, with surly 
 words, made answer : * Headstrong are you, Odysseus ; 
 more than man's is your mettle, and your limbs never 
 tire ; and yet you must be made of nothing else than 
 iron not to allow your comrades, worn with fatigue 
 and sleep, to land, though on this sea-girt island we 
 might make once more a savory supper. Instead, 
 just as we are, night falling fast, you bid us journey 
 on and wander from the island over the misty deep* 
 But in the night rough winds arise, fatal to vessels ; 
 and how could any one escape from utter ruin if by 
 some chance a sudden storm of wind should come, th6 
 south wind or the blustering west, which wreck ships* 
 oftentimes, heedless of sovereign gods? No, let us 
 now obey the dark night's bidding, let us prepare 
 our supper and rest by the black ship; to -morrow 
 morning: we will embark and sail the open sea.'
 
 194 THE ODYSSEY. |XIL 294-326. 
 
 ** So spoke Eurylochus, the rest assented, and then 
 I knew some god intended ill ; and speaking in winged 
 words I said : 
 
 *** Eurylochus, plainly you force me, since I am 
 only one. But come, all swear me now a solemn oath 
 that if we find a herd of cattle or great flock of sheep, 
 none in mad willfulness will slay a cow or sheep ; but 
 bo content, and eat the food immortal Circe gave.' 
 
 " So I spoke, and they then took the oath which I 
 required. And after they had sworn and ended all 
 their oath, we moored our stanch ship hi the rounded 
 haroor, near a fresh stream, and my companions left 
 the ship and busily got supper. But after they had 
 stayed desire for drink and food, then calling to re- 
 membrance their dear comrades, they wept for those 
 whom Scylla ate, those whom she snatched from out 
 the hollow ship ; and as they wept, on them there came 
 a pleasant sleep. Now when it was the third watch of 
 the ni^ht and the stars crossed the zenith, cloud-gather- 
 ing Zeus sent forth a fiirious wind in a fierce tempest, 
 and covered with his clouds both land and sea ; night 
 broke from heaven. And when the early rosy-fingered 
 dawn appeared, we beached our ship, hauling her up 
 into a hollow cave where there were pretty dancing- 
 grounds and haunts for nymphs. Then holding a 
 council. I said to all my men : 
 
 ** * Friends, there is food and drink enough on the 
 swift ship ; let us then spare the kine, for fear we 
 come to harm, for these are the herds and sturdy 
 flocks of a dread god, the Sun, who all things over- 
 tees, all overhears.' 
 
 " So I spoke, and their high hearts assented. But 
 all that month incessant south winds blew ; thera 
 flame no wind except from east and south. So long 93
 
 XII. 327-369.] THE ODYSSEY. 195 
 
 they had bread and ruddy wine, they spared the kine, 
 because they loved their lives. But when the vessel's 
 stores were now all spent, and roaming perforce they 
 sought for game, for fish, for fowl, for what might 
 come to hand, caught by their crooked hooks, and 
 hunger pinched their bellies, then I departed by my. 
 self far up the island, to beg the gods to show my 
 homeward way. And when by a walk across the is- 
 land I had escaped my crew, I washed my hands 
 where there was shelter from the breeze, and offered 
 prayer to all the gods that hold Olympus. But they 
 poured down sweet sleep upon my eyelids, while Eury- 
 lochus began his evil counsel to my crew : 
 
 " 4 My suffering comrades, hearken to my words. 
 Hateful is every form of death to wretched mortals ; 
 and yet to die by hunger, and so to meet one's doom, 
 is the most pitiful of all. Come then, and let us drive 
 away the best of the Sun's kine, and sacrifice them to 
 the immortals who hold the open sky. And if we 
 ever come to Ithaca, our native land, we will at once 
 build a rich temple to the exalted Sun, and put therein 
 many fair offerings. If then the Sun, wroth for his 
 high-homed kine, seeks to destroy our ship, and other 
 gods consent, for my part I would rather, open-mouthed 
 In the sea, give up my life at once than slowly let it 
 Wear away here in this desert island.' 
 
 '* So spoke Eurylochus ; the rest assented. Forth- 
 with they drove away the best of the Sun's kine out 
 of the field close by ; for not far from the dark-bowed 
 ship the kine were grazing, crook-horned and beauti- 
 ful and broad of brow. Round them they stood and 
 prayed the gods, stripping the tender leaves from off 
 a lofty oak ; for they had no white barley on the well- 
 benched ship. Then after prayer, when they had out
 
 196 THE ODYSSEY. fXIL 360-39<X 
 
 the throats and flayed the kine, they cut away the 
 thighs, wrapped them in fat in double layers, and 
 placed raw flesh thereon. They had no wine to pour 
 upon the blazing victims, but using water for libation 
 they roasted all the entrails. So after the thighs were 
 burned and the inward parts were tasted, they slicec 
 the rest and stuck it on the spits. 
 
 44 And now the pleasant sleep fled from my eyelids ; 
 I hastened to the swift ship and the shore. But on 
 my way, as I drew near to the curved ship, around 
 me came the savory smell of fat. I groaned and 
 called aloud to the immortal gods : 
 
 44 4 O father Zeus, and all you other blessed gods 
 that live forever, verily to my ruin you laid me in 
 ruthless sleep, while my men left behind plotted a 
 monstrous deed.' 
 
 44 Soon to the exalted Sun came long-robed Lampe- 
 tia, bearing him word that we had slain his kine ; and 
 straightway with an angry heart he thus invoked the 
 Immortals: 
 
 44 4 father Zeus, and all you other blessed gods 
 that live forever, avenge me on the comrades of Laer- 
 tes' son, Odysseus, who insolently slew the kine in 
 which I joy as I go forth into the starry sky, or as 
 again toward earth I turn back from the sky. But 
 if they do not make me fit atonement for the kine, I 
 will go down to Hades and shine among the dead.' 
 
 44 Then answered him cloud-gathering Zeus, and 
 aid : ' O Sun, do you shine on among the immortals 
 and on the fruitful fields of mortal men. Soon I will 
 smite their swift ship with a gleaming bolt, and cleave 
 it in pieces in the middle of the wine-dark sea.' 
 
 44 All this I heard from fair-haired Calypso, who 
 said sho heard it from the Guide-god Hermes.
 
 XH. 391-425.] THE ODYSSEY. 197 
 
 " Now when I caine to the ship and to the sea, I 
 ehid my men, confronting each in turn. But no help 
 could we find ; the kine were dead already. Soon too 
 the gods made prodigies appear : the skins would 
 crawl; the spitted flesh, both roast and raw, would 
 moan ; and sounds came forth like those of kine. 
 
 " For six days afterwards my trusty comrades 
 feasted, for they had driven away the best of the Sun's 
 kine ; but when Zeus, the son of Kronos, brought the 
 seventh day round, then the wind ceased to blow a 
 gale, and we in haste embarking put forth on the open 
 sea, setting our mast and hoisting the white sail. 
 
 " Yet when we had left the island and no other land 
 appeared, but only sky and sea, the son of Kronos set 
 ct dark cloud over the hollow ship and the deep 
 gloomed below. The ship ran on for no long time ; 
 for soon a shrill west wind arose, blowing a heavy 
 gale. The storm of wind snapped both the forestays 
 of the mast. Back the mast fell, and all its gear lay 
 scattered in the hold. At the ship's stern it struck 
 the helmsman on the head and crushed his skull, all 
 in an instant ; like a diver from the deck he dropped, 
 and from his frame the strong life fled. Zeus at the 
 same time thundered, hurling his bolt against the ship. 
 She quivered in every part, struck by the bolt of Zeus, 
 and filled with sulphur smoke. Out of the ship my 
 comrades fell and then like sea-fowl were borne by 
 the side of the black ship along the waves ; God cut 
 them off from coming home. 
 
 " I myself paced the ship until the surge tore her 
 ribs off the keel, which the waves then carried along 
 dismantled. The mast broke at the keel ; but to it 
 clung the backstay, made of ox-hide. With this I 
 bound the two together, keel and mast, and getting a 
 seat on these, I drifted before the deadly winds.
 
 198 THE ODYSSEY [XH. 426-453. 
 
 * And now the west wind ceased to blow a gale ; but 
 goon the south wind came and brought me anguish 
 that I must measure back my way to fell Charybdis. 
 All night I drifted on, and with the sunrise I came to 
 Scylla's crag and dire Charybdis. She at that moment 
 sucked the salt sea-water down ; and when to the tall 
 fig-tree I was upward borne, I clutched and clung as a 
 bat clings. Yet could I nowhere set my feet firmly 
 down or climb the tree ; for its roots were far away 
 and out of reach its branches, and these were long 
 and large, and overspread Charybdis. But steadily 
 I clung, until she should disgorge my mast and keel ; 
 and as I hoped they came, though it was late. But at 
 the hour one rises from the assembly for his supper, 
 after deciding many quarrels of contentious men, then 
 was it that the timbers came to light from out Cha- 
 rybdis. I let go feet and hands, and down I dropped 
 i>y the long timbers, and getting a seat on these rowed 
 onward with my hands. But the father of men and 
 gods gave me no further sight of Scylla, or else I 
 should not have escaped from utter ruin. 
 
 44 Thence for nine days I drifted ; on the tenth, at 
 night, gods brought me to the island of Ogygia, where 
 dwells Calypso, a fair-haired powerful goddess, hu- 
 man of speech. She welcomed me and gave me care. 
 Why tell the tale ? It was but yesterday I told it in 
 the hall to you and your good wife ; and it is irk- 
 some to tell a plain-told tale a second time."
 
 xra. 
 
 PROM PHAEACIA TO ITHACA. 
 
 As he thus ended, all were hushed to silence, held 
 by the spell throughout the dusky hall. At length, 
 Alcinoiis answering said : " Odysseus, having crossed 
 the brazen threshold of my high-roofed house, you 
 shall be aided home with no more wanderings, be 
 sure, long as you now have suffered. And this I say 
 with earnestness to everybody here, to you who in my 
 hall drink of the elders' sparkling wine and listen to 
 the bard : you know that in a polished chest lie gar- 
 ments for the stranger, with rich-wrought gold and 
 all the other gifts which the Phaeacian councilors have 
 brought him hither. But let us also, each man here, 
 give a caldron and large tripod ; then gathering the 
 cost among the people, we will repay ourselves. For 
 one to give outright were hard indeed." 
 
 So said Alcinoiis, and his saying pleased them; 
 and now desiring rest, they each departed homeward. 
 But when the early rosy-fingered dawn appeared, they 
 hastened to the ship and brought the gladdening 
 bronze. Revered Alcinoiis, going himself aboard the 
 vessel, stowed it all carefully beneath the benches, so 
 that it might not incommode the crew upon the pas- 
 sage while they labored at the oars. Then to Alci- 
 noiis' house they went and turned to feasting. 
 
 In their behalf revered Alcinoiis offered an ox to 
 Zeus of the dark cloud, the son of Kronos, who is the
 
 200 THE ODYSSEY. [XIII. 26-68. 
 
 lord of all ; and having burned the thighs, they held 
 a glorious feast and made them merry. Among them 
 sang the sacred bard, Demodocus, beloved of all. 
 Nevertheless Odysseus would often turn his face to- 
 ward the still shining sun, eager to see its setting, be- 
 cause he was impatient to be gone. As a man longs 
 for supper whose pair of tawny oxen all day long have 
 dragged the jointed plough through the fresh field ji 
 gladly for him the sunlight sinks and sends him home 
 to supper ; stiff are his knees for walking ; so gladly 
 for Odysseus sank the sun. Straightway he turned 
 to the oar-loving Phaeacians, and speaking to Alcinoiis 
 especially he said : 
 
 " Mighty Alcinoiis, renowned of all, pour a libation 
 and send me safely forth. Fare you all well I All 
 that my heart desired is ready escort and friendly 
 gifts and may the gods of heaven make them a 
 blessing ! My true wife may I find on coming home, 
 and dear ones safe I And you who stay, may you 
 make glad your wedded wives and children! The 
 gods bestow all happiness, and may no ill be found 
 among you ! " 
 
 He spoke, and all approved and bade send forth the 
 etranger, for rightly had he spoken. Then said re- 
 vered Alcinoiis to the page : " Pontonoiis, mix a bowl 
 and pass the wine to all within the hall, that with a 
 prayer to father Zeus we may send forth the stranger 
 to his native land." 
 
 He spoke ; Pontonoiis stirred the cheering wine and 
 terved to all in turn ; then to the blessed gods who 
 hold the open sky they poured libations where they 
 sat. But royal Odysseus rose, placed in Arete's 
 hand the double cup, and sneaking in winged words 
 bo said:
 
 XIII. 59-92.] THE ODYSSEY. 201 
 
 " Fare you well, queen, for all the years until old 
 age and death, which visit all, shall come. I go my 
 way ; may you within this home enjoy your children, 
 people, and Alcinoiis the king ! " 
 
 So saying, royal Odysseus crossed the threshold. 
 With him revered Alcinoiis sent a page, to show the 
 way to the swift ship and to the shore. Arete too 
 sent damsels after : one with the spotless robe and 
 tunic, one to accompany the close-packed chest, and 
 one bore bread and ruddy wine. 
 
 Now when they came to the ship and to the sea, 
 straight the tall seamen took the stores and laid them 
 by within the hollow ship, even all the food and drink. 
 Then for Odysseus they spread a rug and linen sheet 
 on the hollow vessel's deck, so that he might sleep 
 soundly, there at the stern ; and he himself embarked 
 and laid him down in silence. The other men took 
 places at the pins, each one in order, and loosed the 
 cable from the perforated stone. But now when bend* 
 ing to their work they tossed the water with their oars, 
 upon Odysseus' lids deep slumber fell, sound and most 
 pleasant, very like to death. And as upon a plain 
 four harnessed stallions spring forward all together 
 at the crack of whip, and lifting high their feet speed 
 swiftly on their way ; even so the ship's stern lifted, 
 while in her wake followed a huge upheaving wave of 
 the resounding sea. Safely and steadily she ran ; no 
 circling hawk, swiftest of winged things, could keep 
 beside her. Running thus rapidly she cut the ocean 
 waves, bearing a man of godlike wisdom, a man who 
 had before met many griefs of heart, cleaving his 
 way through wars of men and through the boisterous 
 seas, yet here slept undisturbed, heedless of all he 
 suffered.
 
 202 THE ODYSSEY. [Xm. 9S-127. 
 
 AJB that most brilliant star arose which comes the 
 surest herald of the light of early dawn, the sea-borne 
 ship drew near the island. 
 
 Now in the land of Ithaca there is a certain harbor 
 sacred to Phorcys, the old man of the sea. Here two 
 projecting jagged cliffs slope inward toward the harbor 
 and break the heavy waves raised by wild winds with- 
 out Inside, without a cable ride the well-benched 
 ships when once they reach the roadstead. Just at the 
 harbor's head a leafy olive stands, and near it a pleas- 
 ant darksome cave sacred to nymphs, called Naiads. 
 Within the cave are bowls and jars of stone, and here 
 bees hive their honey. Long looms of stone are here, 
 where nymphs weave purple robes, a marvel to behold. 
 Here are ever-flowing springs. The cave has double 
 doors : one to the north, accessible to men ; one to the 
 south, for gods. By this, men do not pass ; it is the 
 immortals' entrance. 
 
 Here they rowed in, knowing the place of old. The 
 sLip ran up the shore full half her length, by rea- 
 son of her speed ; so was she driven by her rowers' 
 arms. The men then left the timbered ship and came 
 ashore, and straightway took Odysseus from the hol- 
 low ship him and his linen sheet and bright-hued 
 rug and set him on the sands, still sunk in sleep. 
 They also brought the treasure out which the Phaeacian 
 chiefs gave him at his departure, prompted by kind 
 Athene, and laid it all together by the olive trunk a 
 little off the road ; for fear, before Odysseus woke, 
 some passer-by might come and harm it. Then they 
 departed homeward. Nevertheless the Earth-shaker 
 did not forget the threats with which at first he threat- 
 ned great Odysseus, but thus he asked the purposes 
 of Zeus i
 
 XHL 128-158.] THE ODYSSEY. 203 
 
 ** O father Zeus, no more shall I be honored among 
 immortal gods if mortal men, the people of Phaeacia, 
 honor me not, though men of my own kin. For I had 
 meant that through much hardship Odysseus should 
 return ; I never tried to cut him off from coming al- 
 together, because you gave him once a promise and 
 confirmed it with a nod. Yet these Phaeacians have 
 borne him through the sea on their swift ship asleep, 
 and set him down in Ithaca, and given him glorious 
 gifts such stores of bronze and gold and woven stuffs 
 as Odysseus never would have won from Troy itself, 
 had he returned unharmed with his due share of 
 spoil." 
 
 Then answered him cloud-gathering Zeus and said : 
 " For shame, wide-ruling Land-shaker I What are you 
 saying ? The gods do not refuse you honor. Hard 
 would it be to cast dishonor on our oldest and our 
 best. And as to men, if any, led by pride and power, 
 dishonors you, vengeance is yours and shall be ever. 
 Do what you will, even all your heart's desire ! " 
 
 Then earth - shaking Poseidon answered : " Soon 
 would I do, dark-clouded one, all that you say, but 
 that I ever dread and would avoid your wrath. Even 
 now this shapely ship of the Phaeacians, returning 
 home from pilotage upon the misty sea, I would de- 
 stroy, that they henceforth may hold aloof and cease 
 to give men aid, and I would throw a lofty mound 
 about their city." 
 
 Then answered him cloud-gathering Zeus and said : 
 u Friend, this appears to me the better way. When 
 all the people of the town look off and see her sailing, 
 then turn her into stone close to the shore, yet like 
 a swift ship still, that all the folk may marvel, 
 and throw a lofty mound about their city."
 
 204 THE ODYSSEY. [XIlL 169-19L 
 
 On hearing this, earth-shaking- Poseidon hastened 
 to Scheria, where the Phaeacians live, and waited 
 there. Then as the sea-borne ship drew near, run- 
 ning full swiftly, the Earth-shaker drew near her too, 
 turned her to stone and rooted her to the bottom, 
 forcing her under with his outspread hand, and went 
 away ; but in winged words to one another talked the 
 Phaeacian oarsmen, notable men at sea. And glan- 
 cing at his neighbor a Phaeacian man would say : 
 
 " Hah ! Who stopped the swift ship on the sea as 
 *he was running in ? In full sight too she was." 
 
 So they would say, but knew not how things were. 
 And now Alcinoiis addressed them thus : " Ah, surely 
 then the ancient oracles are come to pass, told by my 
 father, who said Poseidon was displeased because we 
 were safe guides for all mankind ; and he averred the 
 god one day would wreck a shapely ship of the Phaea- 
 cians, returning home from pilotage upon the misty 
 sea, and so would throw a lofty mound about our city. 
 That was the old man's tale, and now it all cornea 
 tru<5. However, what I say let us all follow: stop 
 piloting the men who come from time to time here to 
 our city ; and to Poseidon let us offer twelve choice 
 bulls, that he may have compassion and so not throw 
 a lofty mound about our city.'' 
 
 He spoke, and all the people feared and brought 
 the bulls. And then to lord Poseidon, standing 
 around his altar, the captains and councilors of the 
 Phaeacians offered prayer. 
 
 Meanwhile within his native land royal Odysseus 
 woke from sleep, and did not know the land from 
 which he had been gone so long ; for a goddess spread 
 a clond around, even Pallas Athene, daughter of Zeus, 
 that she might render him unknown and herself tell
 
 XIIL 192-226.] THE ODYSSEY. 205 
 
 him all, and that his wife, his townsfolk, and his 
 friends might never know him until the suitors paid 
 the price of all their lawless deeds. Thus to its mas- 
 ter all the land looked strange, the footpaths 
 stretching far away, the sheltered cores, steep rocks, 
 and spreading trees. Rising, he stood and gazed 
 upon his land, then groaned and smote his thighs- 
 with outspread hands, saying in anguish : 
 
 "Alas! To what men's land am I come now? 
 Lawless and savage are they, with no regard for right, 
 or are they kind to strangers and reverent toward the 
 gods? Where shall I leave my many goods, and 
 whither shall I turn ? Would these had staid with 
 the Phaeacians where they were, and I myself had 
 found some other powerful prince who might have 
 entertained me and sent me on my way I Now, where 
 to store my goods I do not know ; yet here I must 
 not leave them, to fall a prey to strangers. Not at 
 all wise and just were the Phaeacian captains and 
 councilors in bringing me to this strange shore. 
 They promised they would carry me to far-seen Ithaca, 
 but that they did not do. May Zeus, the god of sup- 
 pliants, reward them ! For over all men watches 
 Zeus, chastising those who sin. However, let me 
 count my goods, and see that the Phaeacians took 
 none away upon their hollow ship." 
 
 So saying, he counted the beautiful tripods, the 
 caldrons, gold, and goodly woven stuffs, and none 
 was lacking. Then sighing for his native land he 
 paced the shore of the resounding sea in sadness. 
 Near him Athene drew, in form of a young shepherd, 
 yet delicate as are the sons of kings. Doubled about 
 her shoulders she wore a fine-wrought mantle ; under 
 her shining feet her sandals, and in her hand a spear;
 
 206 THE ODYSSEY. [XIIL 226-2CO. 
 
 To see her made Odysseus glad. He went to meet 
 her, and speaking in winged words he said : 
 
 u Friend, since you are the first I find within this 
 land, I bid you welcome, and hope you come with no 
 ill-will. Nay, save these goods and save me too 1 I 
 supplicate you as a god, and I approach your knees. 
 And tell me truly this, that I may know full welL 
 what land is this ? What people ? What sort of 
 men dwell here ? Is it a far-seen island, or a tongue 
 of fertile mainland that stretches out to sea ? " 
 
 Then said to him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene : 
 ** You are simple, stranger, or come from far away, to 
 ask about this land. It is not quite so nameless. 
 Many men know it well, men dwelling toward the east 
 and rising sun, and those behind us also toward the 
 darksome west. It is a rugged land, not fit for driv- 
 ing horses, yet not so very poor though lacking plains. 
 Grain grows abundantly and wine as well ; the show- 
 era are frequent and the dews refreshing ; here is good 
 pasturage for goats and cattle ; trees of all kinds are 
 here, and never - failing springs. So, stranger, the 
 name of Ithaca has gone as far as Troy, which is, they 
 say, a long way from Achaea." 
 
 She spoke, and glad was long-tried royal Odysseus, 
 filled with delight over his native land through what 
 was said by Pallas Athene, daughter of aegis-bearing 
 Zeus ; and speaking in winged words he said, yet 
 uttered not the truth, but turned his words awry, ever 
 revolving in his breast some gainful purpose : 
 
 " In lowland Crete, I heard of Ithaca far off be- 
 yond the sea, and now I reach it I and these 
 goods of mine. I left an equal portion to my children 
 and fled away from home ; for I had killed the dear 
 ton of Idoineneus, Orsilochus, the runner, who on the
 
 261-292.] THE ODYSSEY. 207 
 
 plains of Crete beat all us toiling men in speed of 
 foot. The cause was this : he sought to cut me off 
 from all the Trojan spoil to gain which I bore grief 
 of heart, cleaving my way through wars of men and 
 .through the boisterous seas; and all because I did 
 not, as he wished, serve with his father in the land of 
 Troy, but led my separate men. With a brazen spear 
 I struck him as he was coming from his farm and I 
 was lying with a comrade near the road. A very dark 
 night screened the sky ; no man observed us ; secretly 
 I took his life. So after I had slain him with my 
 brazen pointed spear, I straightway sought a ship, 
 asked aid of the proud Phoenicians, and gave them 
 from my booty what they wished. I bade them take 
 me on their ship and set me down at Pylos, or else at 
 sacred Elis where the Epeians rule. But stress of 
 wind turned them aside, though much against their 
 will ; they meant no wrong ; and missing our course, 
 here we arrived last night. With much ado we rowed 
 into the port, and gave no thought to supper, hungry 
 although we were, but simply disembarking from the 
 ship, we all lay down. Then, weary as I was, sweet 
 sleep came on me ; and the Phoenicians, taking my 
 treasure from the hollow ship, laid it upon the sands 
 tfhere I was lying, and they embarked and sailed away 
 to stately Sidon. So I was left behind with aching 
 heart." 
 
 As he thus spoke, the goddess, clear-eyed Athene, 
 smiled and patted him with her hand. Her form 
 grew like a woman's, one fair and tall and skilled 
 in dainty work, and speaking in winged words she 
 said: 
 
 " Prudent and wily must one be to overreach you 
 In craft of any kind, even though it be a god who
 
 208 THE ODYSSEY. [XIIL 293-320, 
 
 strives to match you. Bold, shifty, and insatiate of 
 wiles, will you not now within your land cease from 
 the false misleading tales which from the bottom of 
 your heart you love ? But let us talk no longer thus, 
 both being versed in wiles ; for you are far the best 
 of men in plots and tales, and I of all the gods am 
 famed for craft and wiles. And yet you did not 
 know me, Pallas Athene, daughter of Zeus, me who 
 am ever near to guard you in all toil, me who have 
 made you welcome to all Phaeacian folk I Now I am 
 come to frame with you a scheme to hide the treasure 
 which the Phaeacian chiefs, through my advice and 
 prompting, gave you at your departure ; and I will 
 tell you too what griefs you must endure within your 
 stately house. Bear them, because you must. Do not 
 report to man or woman of them all that you are 
 come from wandering ; but silently receive all pains 
 and bear men's buffets." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : " Hard 
 is it, goddess, for a man, however wise he be, to know 
 when you are near, because you take all forms. I 
 very well remember how kind to me you were when 
 all we young Achaeans were in the war at Troy. But 
 since we overthrew the lofty town of Priam, since we 
 went away in ships and God dispersed the Achaeans, I 
 never once have seen you, daughter of Zeus, nor known 
 you to draw near my ship protecting me from barm. 
 Yet bearing ever in my breast a stricken heart, I wan- 
 dered till the gods delivered me from ill, when in the 
 rich land of the Phaeacians you cheered me by your 
 words and led me to the city. Now I entreat you 
 by your father's name, for I cannot think that I am 
 come to far-seen Ithaca. No, I have strayed to some 
 strange shore, and you in mockery, I think, have told
 
 . 327-360.] THE ODYSSEY. 209 
 
 this tale to cheat me. But tell me, have I really 
 reached my own dear land ? " 
 
 Then answered him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene : 
 "Such thoughts as these are ever in your breast; 
 therefore I cannot leave you even in misfortune, be- 
 cause you are discreet, wary, and steadfast. For any 
 other man on coming back from wanderings would 
 eagerly have hastened home to see his wife and chil- 
 dren ; but you have no desire to know or hear of them 
 till you have proved your wife, who as of old sits in 
 your hall and wearily the nights and days are wasted 
 with her tears. But I for my part never doubted. I 
 knew within my heart that you would come, though 
 with the loss of all your men. But I did not wish to 
 quarrel with Poseidon, my father's brother, who bore 
 a grudge against you in his heart, angry because you 
 blinded his dear son. Come then, and let me point 
 you out the parts of Ithaca, that so you may believe. 
 Here is the port of Phorcys, the old man of the sea 
 here at the harbor's head the leafy olive ; and near 
 at hand the pleasant darksome cave, sacred to nymphs 
 called Naiads ; here is the arching cavern too, where 
 oftentimes you made due sacrifices to the nymphs; 
 and this is the wood-clad hill of Neriton." 
 
 The goddess, speaking thus, scattered the cloud, and 
 plain the land appeared. Then glad was long-tried 
 royal Odysseus, and he exulted in his land and kissed 
 the bounteous earth, and straightway prayed the 
 nymphs with outstretched hands : 
 
 "O Naiad Nymphs, daughters of Zeus, I said I 
 should not see you any more, yet now with loving 
 prayers I give you greeting. Gifts will we also give, 
 even as of old, if the daughter of Zeus, the Plunderer, 
 graciously grants me life and prospers my dear son."
 
 210 THE ODYSSEY. [XIIL 361-39a 
 
 Then said to him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene : 
 ** Be of good courage ! Let not these things vex your 
 mind ! But in a corner of the monstrous cave let us 
 lay by the goods, instantly, now, here to remain in 
 safety ; then let us plan how all may turn out well." 
 
 So saying, the goddess entered the darksome cave, 
 and searched about the cave for hiding-places. Odys- 
 seus too brought hither all he had, gold and enduring 
 bronze and fair-wrought raiment, things given by the 
 Phaeacians. All these were laid away with care, and 
 at the entrance a stone was set by Pallas Athene, 
 daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus. Then sitting down at 
 the foot of the sacred olive, they planned the death of 
 the audacious suitors; and thus began the goddess, 
 clear-eyed Athene : 
 
 " High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, con- 
 sider how to lay hands on the shameless suitors, who 
 for three years have held dominion in your hall, wooing 
 your matchless wife and offering bridal gifts ; while 
 she, continually mourning at heart over your coming, 
 gives hopes to all, has promises for each, and sends 
 each messages ; but her mind has a different purpose." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : " Cer- 
 tainly here at home I too had met the evil fate of Aga- 
 memnon, the son of Atreus, had you not, goddess, duly 
 told me all. Come then, and frame a plot for me to 
 win revenge. And do you stand beside me, inspiring 
 hardy courage, even so as when we tore the shining 
 crown from Troy. If you would stand as stoutly by 
 me, clear-eyed one, then I would face three hundred 
 men, mated with you, dread goddess, with you for my 
 strong aid." 
 
 Then answered him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene : 
 * I sorely will be with you ; you shall never be forgot
 
 XIII. 394-428.] THE ODYSSEY. 211 
 
 when we begin the work. Some too, I think, shall 
 spatter with their blood and brains the spacious floor, 
 some of these suitors who devour your living. But let 
 me make you strange to all men's view. I will shrivel 
 the fair flesh on your supple limbs, pluck from your 
 head the yellow locks, and clothe you in such rags 
 that they who see shall loathe the wearer. And 1 
 will blear your eyes, so beautiful before, that you may 
 seem repulsive to all the suitors here, and even to 
 your wife and the son you left at home. But first 
 seek out the swineherd, the keeper of your swine ; for 
 he is loyal, loving your son and steadfast Penelope. 
 You will find him sitting by his swine. They feed 
 along the Raven Crag by the spring of Arethusa, 
 eating the pleasant acorns and drinking the shaded 
 water, a food which breeds abundant fat in swine. 
 There wait, and sitting by his side question him 
 fully; while I go on to Sparta, the land of lovely 
 women, to summon thence Telemachus, your son, 
 Odysseus. He went to spacious Lacedaemon to visit 
 Menelaus, hoping to learn if you were still alive." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : 
 " Why, knowing all, did you yourself not tell him ? 
 Must he too meet with sorrow, roaming the barren 
 sea, while others eat his substance ? " 
 
 Then answered him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene: 
 " Nay, let him not too much oppress your heart. I 
 was myself his guide, and helped him win a noble name 
 by going thither. He meets no hardship there, but 
 sits at ease within the palace of the son of Atreus, 
 with plenty all around. Young men, indeed, now lie 
 in wait on their black ship and seek to cut him o 
 before he gains his native land. Yet this I think 
 snail never be ; rather the earth shall cover some of 
 the suitors who devour your living."
 
 212 THE ODYSSEY. [Kill. 429-440. 
 
 So having said, Athene touched him with her wand, 
 shriveled the fair flesh on his supple limbs, plucked 
 from his head the yellow locks, and made the skin of 
 all his limbs the skin of an old man. Likewise she 
 bleared his eyes, so beautiful before, and gave him for 
 his clothing a wretched frock and tunic, tattered and 
 foul and grimed with filthy smoke. Then over all she 
 threw a swift deer's ample hide, stripped of its hair : 
 and gave him a staff and miserable wallet, full of holes, 
 which hung upon a cord. 
 
 So having formed their plans, they parted ; and 
 thereupon the goddess went to sacred Lacedaemon, 
 seeking Odysseus' son.
 
 XIV. 
 
 THE STAY WITH EUMAEU8. 
 
 Bur from the harbor, up the rocky path, along the 
 woody country on the hills, Odysseus went to where 
 Athene bade him seek the noble swineherd, who 
 guarded his estate more carefully than any man royal 
 Odysseus owned. 
 
 He found him sitting in his porch, by which was 
 built a high-walled yard upon commanding ground, 
 a handsome yard and large, with space around. 
 With his own hands the swineherd built it for the 
 swine after his lord was gone, without assistance 
 from the queen or old Laertes, constructing it with 
 blocks of stone and coping it with thorn. Outside 
 the yard he drove down stakes the whole way round, 
 stout and close-set, of split black oak. Inside the 
 yard he made twelve sties alongside one another, 
 as bedding places for the swine ; and fifty swine that 
 wallow in the mire were penned in each, all of them 
 sows for breeding; the boars, much fewer, lay out- 
 side. On these the gallant suitors feasted and kept 
 their number small; for daily the swineherd sent 
 away the best fat hog he had. Three hundred and 
 sixty they were now. Hard by, four dogs, like wild 
 beasts, always lay, dogs which the swineherd bred, 
 the overseer. He was himself now fitting sandals 
 to his feet, cutting therefor a well-tanned hide. The 
 other men were gone their several ways : three with
 
 214 THE ODYSSEY. [XIV. 26^50, 
 
 the swine to pasture ; a fourth sent to the town to 
 take to the audacious suitors, as was ordered, a hog 
 to slay and sate their souls with meat 
 
 But now the ever-barking dogs suddenly spied Odys- 
 seus, and baying rushed upon him; whereat Odys- 
 seus calmly sat down and from his hand let fall his 
 staff. Yet here at his own farm he would have come 
 to cruel grief, had not the swineherd, springing swiftly 
 after, dashed from the door and from his hand let fall 
 the leather. Scolding the dogs, he drove them off this 
 way and that with showers of stones, and thus ad- 
 dressed his master : 
 
 ** Old man, my dogs had nearly torn you to pieces 
 here all of a sudden, and so you would have brought 
 reproach on me. Ah well! The gods have given 
 me other griefs and sorrows ; for over my matchless 
 master I sit and sigh and groan, and tend fat hogs for 
 other men to eat ; while he, perhaps longing for food, 
 wanders about the lands and towns of men of alien- 
 speech, if he still lives and sees the sunshine. But 
 follow me, old man, into the lodge ; so that you too, 
 when satisfied with food and drink, may tell where 
 you are come from and what troubles you have borne.** 
 
 So saying, to the lodge the noble swineherd led the 
 way, and bringing Odysseus in made him a seat. Be- 
 neath, he laid thick brushwood, and on the top he 
 spread a shaggy wild goat's great soft skin, hi* usuaJ. 
 bed. Odysseus was pleased that he received him so, 
 and spoke and thus addressed him : 
 
 ** Stranger, may Zeus and the other deathless gods 
 grant all you most desire for treating me so kindly I ** 
 
 L_i, swineherd Eumaeus, you answered him and 
 said: "Stranger, it is not right for me to slight a 
 stranger, not even one in poorer plight than you ; for
 
 . 67-88.] THE ODYSSEY. 215 
 
 in the charge of Zeus all strangers and beggars stand, 
 and our small gift is welcome. But so it is with ser- 
 vants, continually afraid when new men are their mas- 
 tersl Surely the gods kept him from coming who 
 would have loved me well and given me for my own 
 the things a generous master always allows his man - 
 a house, a plot of ground, and a fair wife at least 
 when one has labored long, and God has made his 
 work to prosper, as he makes prosper all the work 1 
 undertake. So would my master have well rewarded 
 me, had he but grown old here. But he is gone I 
 Would all the tribe of Helen had gone too, down 
 on their knees I for she has made the knees of many 
 men grow weak. Yes, he too went for Agamemnon's 
 honor to Ilios, famed for horses, to fight the Trojans 
 there." 
 
 So saying, he hurriedly girt his tunic with his belt, 
 and went to the sties where droves of pigs were 
 penned. Selecting two, he brought them in and 
 killed them both, singed them and sliced them and 
 stuck them on the spits, and roasting carried all the 
 meat to offer to Odysseus, hot on the spits themselves. 
 He sprinkled it with white barley. Then in an ivy 
 bowl he mixed some honeyed wine, and taking a seat 
 over against Odysseus thus cheerily began : 
 
 "Now, stranger, eat what servants have, this young 
 p!g*s flesh. The fatted hogs are eaten by the suitors, 
 who heed not in their hearts the wrath of Heaven, nor 
 even pity. Yet reckless deeds the blessed gods love 
 not ; they honor justice and men's upright deeds. 
 Why, evil-minded cruel men who land on a foreign 
 shore, and Zeus allows them plunder so that they sail 
 back home with well-filled ships, even on the hearts 
 of such falls a great fear of heavenly wrath. But these
 
 216 THE ODYSSEY. [XIV. 89-120. 
 
 men know of something, having heard the utterance 
 of some god about his mournful end, and therefore 
 they are minded to woo so lawlessly, never depart- 
 ing to their homes, but at their ease wasting this 
 wealth with recklessness and sparing naught. For 
 every day and night sent us by Zeus, they slay their 
 victimi, no mere one or two ; and wine they also waste 
 with reckless draughts. Odysseus' means were vast. 
 No noble haa so much on the dark mainland or in 
 Ithaca itself. No twenty men together have such 
 revenues as he. I will reckon up the sum. Twelve 
 herds upon the mainland ; as many flocks of sheep ; 
 as many droves of swine ; as many roving bands of 
 goat* ; all shepherded by foreigners and herdsmen of 
 his own. Then here in Ithaca graze roving bands of 
 goats, eleven in all, along the farther shore, and trusty 
 herdsmen watch them. Of these the herdsman every 
 day drives up the fatted goat that seems the best. My 
 task it is to guard and keep these swine, and picking 
 carefully the best to send it to the suitors." 
 
 So spoke the swineherd, while his companion hun- 
 grily ate his meat and drank with eagerness his wine 
 in silence, sowing the seeds of evil for the suitors. 
 But after he had dined and stayed his heart with 
 food, Eumaeus, filling for his guest the cup from 
 which he drank, gave it brimful of wine. Odysseus 
 took it and was glad at heart, and speaking in winged 
 words he said : 
 
 44 My friend, who was the man that bought you 
 with his wealth and was so very rich and powerful as 
 you say ? You said he died for Agamemnon's honor. 
 Tell me. I may have known some such as he. Zeus 
 and the other deathless gods must know if I have seen 
 him and can give you news ; but I have traveled far."
 
 XIV. 121-153.] THE ODYSSEY. 217 
 
 Then said to him the swineherd, the overseer: 
 " Old man, no traveler coming here to teH of him 
 could win his wife or son to trust the story. Lightly 
 do vagrants seeking hospitality tell lies, and nevel 
 care to speak the truth. So when a vagabond reaches 
 the land of Ithaca, he comes and chatters cheating 
 stories to my queen. And she receives him well and, 
 giving entertainment, questions him closely, while 
 from her weeping eyelids trickle tears; for that is 
 the way with wives when husbands die afar. You 
 too, old man, would soon be patching up a story if 
 somebody would give you clothes, a coat and tunic. 
 But probably already dogs and swift birds have 
 plucked the flesh from off his bones and life has left 
 him ; or fishes devoured him in the deep, and on the 
 land his bones are lying wrapped in a heap of sand. 
 So he died, far away, and for his friends sorrow is left 
 behind for all of them, and most of all for me ; for 
 never another such kind master shall I find, go where 
 I may, not even if I return to my father's and mo- 
 ther's house, where I was born and where my parents 
 reared me. Yet nowadays for them I do not greatly 
 grieve, much as I wish to see them and to be in my 
 own land ; but longing possesses me for lost Odysseus. 
 Why, stranger, though he is not here I speak his 
 name with awe ; for he was very kind and loved me 
 from his heart, and worshipful I call him even when 
 he is away." 
 
 Then long-tried royal Odysseus answered thus : 
 " Friend, though you wholly contradict and say he will 
 not come, and ever unbelieving is your heart, yet I 
 declare, not with mere words but with an oath, Odys- 
 seus will return. Give me the fee for welcome news 
 when he arrives at home. Then clothe me in a coat
 
 218 THE ODYSSEY. \X1V. 164-187- 
 
 and tunic, goodly garments. Before that time, how- 
 ever great my need, I will take nothing ; for hatefcl 
 as the gates of hell is he who pressed by poverty tells 
 cheating tales. First then of all the gods be witness 
 Zeus, and let this hospitable table and the hearth of 
 good Odysseus whereto I come be witness : all this 
 shall be accomplished exactly as I say. This very 
 year Odysseus comes. As this moon wanes and as the 
 next appears, he shall return and punish all who 
 wrong his wife and gallant son." 
 
 And, swineherd Eumaeus, you answered him and 
 said : " Old man, I nevei then shall give that fee for 
 welcome news, nor will Odysseus reach his home. 
 Nay, drink in peace. Let us turn to other thoughts, 
 and do not bring such matters to remembrance. Ah, 
 my heart aches within when one recalls my honored 
 master I As for the oath, why let it be ; yet may 
 Odysseus come, as I desire I I and Penelope, Laertes 
 the old man, and prince Telemachus. But now I 
 have unceasing grief about Odysseus' child, Telema- 
 chus ; whom when the gods had made to grow like a 
 young sapling, and I would often say that he would 
 stand in men's esteem no whit behind his father, glo- 
 rious in form and beauty, some god or man upset the 
 balanced mind within, and off he went for tidings of 
 his father to hallowed Pylos. And now the lordly suit- 
 ors watch for his coming home, hoping to have the race 
 of prince Arceisius blotted from Ithaca and left with- 
 out a name. However, let us leave him too, whether 
 he falls or flies, or whether the son of Kronos holds 
 over him his arm. But come, old man, relate to me 
 your troubles ; and tell me truly this, that I may 
 know full well: Who are you? Of what people? 
 . Where is your town and kindred? On what ship
 
 XIV. 188-223.] THE ODYSSEY. 219 
 
 did you come? And how did sailors bring you to 
 Ithaca ? Whom did they call themselves ? For I am 
 sure you did not come on foot." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said: 
 " Well, I will very plainly tell you this. But had we 
 in the lodge food and sweet wine for long, and should 
 we feast in quiet, letting others do our work, then 
 might I easily not finish in a year the tale of all the 
 toils I bore by the gods' bidding. 
 
 " Of a family in lowland Crete I boast that I was. 
 born, a rich man's son. There were many sons be- 
 sides, born and brought up within that hall, sons of a 
 lawful wife. Me a bought mother bore, a concubine ; 
 yet he gave me equal honor with his true-begotten 
 sons, this Castor, son of Hylax, whose child I say I 
 am. Among the Cretans he was at this time honored 
 throughout the land as if he were a god, because of his 
 prosperity, his wealth, and famous sons ; but death's 
 doom bore him to the house of Hades, and his dis- 
 dainful sons divided up his living, casting lots. Me 
 they assigned a very meagre share, besides my dwell- 
 ing. Nevertheless, I took to wife the daughter of 
 a wealthy house, winning her by my merit ; because 
 I was no weakling and not afraid of war. Now all 
 is gone. Yet still, when you see stubble I think you 
 know the grain ; hardships innumerable have pressed 
 me sore. In those days Ares and Athene gave me 
 courage, and strength to break the line ; and when I 
 picked our bravest for an ambush, sowing the seeds of 
 evil for our foes, my swelling heart cast not a look on 
 death ; but charging ever foremost, I would catch upon 
 my spear whatever foeman showed less speed than I. 
 Such was I once in war; labor I never liked, nor 
 household thrift, which breeds good children. But
 
 220 THE ODYSSEY. [XIV. 224-26a 
 
 ships equipped with oars were ever my delight, battles 
 and polished javelins and arrows appalling things, 
 which are to others hateful. Whatever God put in 
 my heart I liked ; for different men delight in differ- 
 ent deeds. Before the young Achaeans went to Troy, 
 nine times I led forth men and sea-bound ships to 
 plunder foreign tribes ; and much I gained. Out of 
 the spoil I picked what pleased me and then obtained 
 much afterwards by lot. Thus rapidly my household 
 grew, and 1 became a man of weight and honor with 
 the Cretans. But when far-seeing Zeus ordained the 
 unhappy journey which made the knees of many men 
 grow weak, they called on me and famed Idomeneus 
 to lead the ships to Ilios. We had no power to say 
 them nay; the people's voice was stern. There for 
 nine years we young Achaeans battled, and in the 
 tenth, destroying the town of Priam, turned home- 
 wards with our ships. But God dispersed the 
 Achaeans; especially for hapless me wise Zeus in- 
 tended ill. Only a month I stayed at home, glad in 
 my children, in my wedded wife and in my goods ; 
 and then my heart impelled me to make a voyage to 
 Egypt with gallant comrades and with ships well 
 fitted out Nine ships I fitted, and my force was 
 gathered soon. 
 
 "For six days afterwards my trusty comrades 
 feasted, and I provided many victims to offer to the 
 gods and make my men a feast. Embarking on the 
 seventh, we sailed from lowland Crete, the north wind 
 fresh and fair, and moved off easily as if down stream. 
 No ship met harm ; but safe and sound we sat, while 
 wind and helmsmen kept us steady. In five days we 
 arrived at Egypt's flowing stream, and in the Egyptian 
 river 1 anchored my curved ships. Then to my
 
 XIV. 259-291.) THE ODYSSEY. 221 
 
 trusty men I gave command to stay there by the ships 
 and guard the ships, while I sent scouts to points of 
 observation ; but giving way to lawlessness and fol- 
 lowing their own bent, they presently began to pillage 
 the fair fields of the Egyptians, carrying off wives and 
 infant children and slaughtering the men. Soon the 
 din reached the city. The people there, hearing the 
 shouts, came forth at early dawn, and all the plain 
 was filled with footmen and with horsemen and with 
 the gleam of bronze. Then Zeus, the thunderer, 
 brought on my men a cruel panic, and none dared 
 stand and face the foe. Danger encountered us on 
 every side. So the Egyptians slew many of our men 
 with the sharp sword, and carried others off alive to 
 work for them in bondage. But Zeus himself put in 
 my heart this plan. Would I had rather died, and met 
 my doom there by the stream of Egypt I For since 
 that day sorrow has held me fast. Straightway 1 took 
 the well-made helmet from my head and shield from 
 off my shoulders, and flinging away my spear, I ran 
 to meet the horses of the king. I clasped and kissed 
 his knees ; he spared and pitied me, and seating me 
 in his chariot bore me weeping home. A multitude 
 with spears rushed after, intent on killing me, for they 
 were much enraged. He held them back, dreading 
 the wrath of Zeus, the stranger's friend, who ever 
 visits evil deeds with his displeasure. Here I stayed 
 seven years, and I amassed much wealth among the 
 Egyptians ; for they all gave me gifts. But when 
 the eighth revolving year was come, a certain Phoeni- 
 cian came, full of deceiving arts, a greedy knave, one 
 who had wrought much harm to men already. He 
 now prevailed upon me by his wiles, and took me with 
 tiiii till we reached Phoenicia, where was his home
 
 THE ODYSSEY. [XTV. 292-32a 
 
 and substance. Here at his house I stayed through- 
 out the year. But after days and months were spent, 
 as the year rolled and other seasons came, he set me 
 on a sea-bound ship sailing for Libya, falsely profess- 
 ing I should share his gains ; but purposing to sell me 
 there and reap a large reward. I followed him on 
 board, suspecting him, but helpless. And now the 
 ehip sped on, with north wind fresh and fair, through 
 the mid sea past Crete, Zeus purposing our ruin. 
 
 ** For when we had left Crete and no other land ap. 
 pearcd, but only sky and sea, the son of Kronos set & 
 dark cloud over the hollow ship, and the deep gloomed 
 below. Zeus at the same time thundered, hurling hit 
 bolt against the ship. She quivered in every part, 
 struck by the bolt of Zeus, and filled with sulphur 
 smoke. Out of the ship my comrades fell, and then 
 like sea-fowl were borne by the side of the black ship 
 along the waves ; God cut them off from coming home. 
 But helping me, whose heart was filled with anguish, 
 Zeus put the long mast of the dark-bowed ship into 
 my hands, so that I might once more escape from 
 death. To this I clung and drifted before the deadly 
 winds. Nine days I drifted ; on the tenth, in the dark 
 night, the vast and rolling waters cast me on the coast 
 . of the Thesprotiaus. Here the king of the Thespro- 
 < tians, lord Pheidon, entertained me, and freely too \ 
 it was his son who found me, overcome with cold and 
 toil, and took me home, with his own hand supporting 
 me until we reached his father's palace. He gave 
 me also a coat and tunic for my clothing. 
 
 " Here, then, I heard about Odysseus ; for Pheidon 
 said he had him as his guest and friend upon his 
 homeward voyage. He showed me all the treasure 
 that Odysseus had obtained, the bronze and gold and
 
 XIV. 324-357.] THE ODYSSEY. 223 
 
 well-wrought iron ; and really it would support man 
 after man ten generations long, so large a gtock was 
 stored in the king's palace. Odysseus himself, he 
 said, was gone at that time to Dodona, to learn from 
 the sacred lofty oak the will of Zeus, and how he might 
 return, whether openly or by stealth, to the rich land 
 of Ithaca, when now so long away. Moreover, in my 
 presence, as he offered a libation in his house, he 
 swore the ship was launched and sailors waiting to 
 bring him home to his own native land. But he sent 
 me off before, for a ship of the Thesprotians happened 
 to be starting for the Doulichian grain-fields. He 
 bade her men conduct me carefully to king Acastus ; 
 but in their hearts a wicked scheme found favor, to 
 bring me yet once more into the depths of woe. For 
 when the sea-bound ship was far from shore, they 
 planned a life of slavery for me. They stripped me 
 of my clothes, my coat and tunic, and gave in- 
 stead the wretched frock and the tunic full of holefr 
 which you yourself now see. Toward night they 
 reached the fields of far-seen Ithaca. Here with a 
 twisted rope they bound me fast upon the well- 
 benched ship, and disembarking they hastily took sup- 
 per on the shore. Meanwhile the gods themselves 
 lightly untied my cords ; and I, wrapping my frock 
 about my head and sliding down the slippery rudder, 
 brought my breast into the sea, where swimming hard 
 I oared my way with my two hands, and very soon 
 was out of the water, clear of them. Climbing the 
 bank where there were thickets of leafy trees, I laid 
 me down and hid. With loud cries ran the others 
 here and there ; but as there seemed no profit in any 
 further search, they entered their hollow ship once 
 more. So the gods with ease concealed me and
 
 224 THE ODYSSEY. [XIV. 358-3891 
 
 brought me to this farm of a sagacious man ; because 
 it was my lot to live still longer." 
 
 Then, swineherd Eumaeus, you answered him and 
 said : " Alas, poor stranger I You have deeply stirred 
 my heart by telling me this tale of all your woes and 
 wanderings. Yet here I think you err : you never can 
 persuade me with talk about Odysseus. Why should 
 a man like you tell lies for nothing? I understand 
 about my master's coming ; he has been hated utterly 
 by all the gods, who did not let him die among the 
 Trojans nor in the arms of friends when the skein 
 of war was wound. Then would the whole Achaean 
 host have made his grave, and for his son in after days 
 a great name had been gained. Now, silently the 
 robber winds have swept him off. I, meanwhile, 
 dwell apart among the swine. To the town I never 
 go, unless sometimes heedful Penelope commands my 
 going, when any tidings come. Ah, then the people 
 sit around and closely question, some grieving for 
 their long-gone master, some glad to eat his substance 
 and make him no amends. But as for me, I have no 
 mind to search and question since an Aetolian fellow 
 cheated me with his tale. He killed a man, and wan- 
 dering far and wide came to my farmstead here, and 
 I received him kindly. He told me how in Crete he 
 saw Odysseus with Idomeneus, mending the ships 
 which storms had shattered. He said he would be 
 here by summer or by harvest, bringing a store of 
 wealth and all his gallant crew. You too, old woe- 
 worn man, now Heaven has brought you here, do not 
 by lying tales attempt to please or win me ; since out 
 of no such cause I show respect and kindness, but out 
 of reverence for Zeus the stranger's friend, and pity 
 for yourself."
 
 XTV. 390-421.] THE ODYSSEY. 225 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said: 
 ** Surely in you there is a heart so unbelieving that 
 by an oath I did not move it nor win you to be- 
 lieve. But let us make a covenant now, and for us 
 both hereafter our witnesses shall be the gods who 
 hold Olympus: if ever to this house your master 
 comes, clothe me in coat and tunic and send me to 
 Doulichion, where I desire to be. But if your mas- 
 ter does not come, as I declare he will, send out your 
 men and throw me down the lofty cliff, that other 
 beggars may beware of telling lying tales." 
 
 Then answering said the noble swineherd : " Stran- 
 ger, fine fame and fortune would be mine among 
 mankind, both now and evermore, if after I had 
 brought you to the lodge and given you welcome I 
 turned about and slew you and took away your life I 
 With a clear heart thereafter I should pray to Zeus v 
 the son of Kronos 1 Well, it is supper-time ; and 
 may my comrades soon be here to get at the lodge a 
 savory supper I " 
 
 So they conversed together. Presently came the 
 swine and those who kept them. They shut them up 
 to sleep in their accustomed sties, and a prodigious 
 noise arose from the penned swine. Then to his com- 
 rades called the noble swineherd : 
 
 "Fetch me the best hog hither, to slaughter for 
 the stranger who comes from far away. We too 
 will have some cheer, who for a long time now 
 have plagued ourselves over the white-toothed swine. 
 Others devour our labor and make us no amends." 
 
 So saying, with the ruthless axe he cleft some wood. 
 The others brought a boar, well fatted, five years old, 
 and stood him on the hearth ; and now the swineherd, 
 being of upright heart, did not forget the immortal
 
 22ft THE ODYSSEY. [XIV. 422-463, 
 
 At the beginning he cast into the fire hairs 
 from the head of the white-toothed boar, and prayed 
 to all the gods that wise Odysseus might return to his 
 own home. Next raising high a billet of oak, saved 
 when he split the wood, he dealt a blow and the boar's 
 life departed. The others cut the throat and singed 
 the boar, and quickly laid him open. The swineherd 
 then put the raw meat, selected from each joint, into 
 rich fat. Some parts of this, sprinkled with barley 
 meal, they cast into the fire ; the rest they sliced and 
 stuck on spits, roasted with care, drew it all off, and 
 tossed it all together on the trencher*. And now the 
 swineherd rose to carve, for well he knew his duties, 
 and as he carved divided all in seven messes. The 
 first mess for the Nymphs and Hermes, Maia's son, he 
 set aside with prayer, passing the rest to each. Odys- 
 seus he honored with the whole length of the chine, 
 cut from the white-toothed boar, and so rejoiced his 
 master's heart. Addressing him, said wise Odysseus: 
 
 " Eumaeus, may yon be as dear to father Zeus a& 
 now to me, for honoring with kindness such as I." 
 
 And, swineherd Eumaeus, you answered him and 
 said : " Good stranger, eat ; enjoy what lies before 
 you I God gives and God withholds, as is his plea- 
 sure. His power is over alL" 
 
 He spoke and burned the consecrated pieces to tho 
 ever-living gods ; then pouring sparkling wine, he put 
 the cup into the hands of city-sacking Odysseus, and 
 took his seat by his own portion. Mesaulius passed 
 them bread, a man the swineherd had acquired after 
 his lord was gone, without assistance from the queen 
 or lord Laertes ; with his own means he bought him 
 of the Taphians. So on the food spread out before 
 them they kid hands. Then after they had stayed
 
 XIV. 464-483.] THE ODYSSEY. 227 
 
 desire for drink and food, Mesaulius took away the 
 bread; and so to sleep, sated with bread and meat, 
 they hastened. 
 
 And now the night came on, moonless and foul. 
 Zeus rained all night ; and strong the west wind blew, 
 a wet wind always. To his companions spoke Odys- 
 seus, making trial of the swineherd to see if he would 
 pull his own coat off and offer him, or order one of 
 the men to give a coat, through love of him. 
 
 " Hearken, Eumaeus, and all you other men, and I 
 will boast a bit and tell a story ; for crazy wine so 
 bids, which sets a man, even if wise, to singing loud 
 and laughing lightly, and makes him dance and brings 
 out stories really better left untold. But since I have 
 begun to croak, I '11 not be silent. Would I were in 
 my prime, my vigor firm, as in the days when we went 
 under Troy and set an ambush. Odysseus was our 
 captain, and Atreides Menelaus, and with them I was 
 third ; for so they ordered. Now when we reached 
 the city and the lofty wall, in the thick bushes by the 
 citadel, among some reeds and marsh-grass, curled up 
 beneath our armor, we laid us down to sleep. An 
 ugly night came on, although the north wind fell, 
 and bleak it was. From overhead came snow, like 
 hoar-frost, cold; and ice formed on the edges of 
 our shields. Then all the other men had coats and 
 tunics, and slept in comfort with their shields snug 
 round their shoulders. But I at starting foolishly left 
 my coat with my companions, because I did not think 
 I should be cold at all ; so off I came with nothing 
 but my shield and colored doublet. But when it was 
 the third watch of the night and the stars crossed the 
 zenith, I spoke to Odysseus who was near, nudging 
 him with my elbow, and readily he listened :
 
 228 THE ODYSSEY. [XIV. 484-517. 
 
 * * High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, I shall 
 not be among the living long. This cold is killing 
 me, because I have no coat Some god beguiled me 
 into wearing nothing but my tunic. Now there is no 
 escape.' 
 
 So said I, and he at once had an idea in mind, 
 so ready was he both to plan and fight, and speaking 
 in an undertone he said : * Keep quiet for the present 
 lent some other Achaean hear.' 
 
 " Then raising his head and resting on his elbow, 
 thus he spoke : * Hark, friends ! A dream from heaven 
 came to me in my sleep. Yes, we have come a long 
 way from the ships. Would there were some one here 
 to tell Atreides Agamemnon, the shepherd of the peo- 
 ple, to send us more men hither from the fleet.' 
 
 " As he thus spoke, up Thoas sprung, Andraemon's 
 son, who, quickly casting off his purple coat, went run- 
 ning to the ships. I, in his garment, lay comfortably 
 down till gold-throned morning dawned. 
 
 ** So would 1 now were in my prime, my vigor firm ; 
 then one of the swineherds of the farm might give a 
 coat, through kindness and respect for a deserving man. 
 Now they despise me for the sorry clothes I wear." 
 
 Then, swineherd Eumaens, you answered him and 
 said : " Old man, the boastings you have uttered are 
 not ilL You have not spoken an improper or a silly 
 word. Therefore you shall not lack for clothes no t 
 anjthing besides which it is fit a hard-pressed sup 
 pliant should find, at least for now ; to-morrow you 
 hall wrap yourself in your own rags. There are not 
 many coats and extra tunics here to wear, but sim- 
 ply one apiece. But when Odysseus' son returns, he 
 will give u coat and tunic for your clothing and send 
 you where your heart and soul may bid you go."
 
 XTV. 518^533.] THE ODYSSEY. 229 
 
 So saying, he rose and placed a bed beside the 
 fire, and threw upon it skins of sheep and goats. On 
 this Odysseus laid him down, and over him Eumaeus 
 threw a great shaggy coat which lay at hand as extra 
 clothing, to put on when there came a bitter storm. 
 
 So here Odysseus slept, and by his side the young 
 men slept, but not the swineherd. A bed here pleased 
 him not, thus parted from his swine, but he prepared 
 to venture forth. Glad was Odysseus that Eumaeus 
 took such care of his estate while he was gone. And 
 first Eumaeus slung a sharp-edged sword about his 
 sturdy shoulders, put on his storm-proof shaggy coat, 
 picked up the fleece of a large full-grown goat, took u 
 sharp spear to keep off dogs and men, and went away 
 to rest where lay the white-toothed swine under a hoi* 
 low rock, sheltered from Boreas.
 
 XV. 
 
 TELEMACHU8 AND EUMAEU8. 
 
 Now to spacious Lacedaemon went Pallas Athene 
 to seek the noble son of resolute Odysseus, wishing to 
 call his home to mind and bid him hasten. She found 
 Telemachus and the worthy son of Nestor lying within 
 the porch of famous Menelaus. The son of Nestor 
 was still wrapped in gentle sleep ; but to Telemachus 
 came no welcome sleep, for through the immortal 
 night thoughts in his heart about his father kept him 
 awake. So clear-eyed Athene, drawing near, addressed 
 him thus : 
 
 " Telemachus, it is not well to wander longer far 
 from home, leaving your wealth behind and persons 
 in your house so insolent as these ; for they may swal- 
 low all your wealth, sharing with one another, while 
 you are gone a fruitless journey. Nay, with all haste 
 urge Menelaus, good at the war-cry, to send you forth, 
 that you may find your blameless mother still at 
 home. Already her father and her brothers press 
 her to wed Eurymachus ; for he excels all suitors 
 in his gifts and overtops their dowry. But let her 
 not against your will take treasure from your home. 
 You know a woman's way : she strives to enrich his 
 house who marries her, while of her former children 
 and the husband of her youth when he is dead she 
 thinks not, and she talks of him no more. Go then 
 and put your household in the charge of her among
 
 XV. 25-67.] THE ODYSSEY. 281 
 
 the maids who seems the best, until the gods grant 
 you an honored wife. And let me tell you more ; lay 
 \t to heart ; by a deliberate plan the leaders of the 
 suitors now guard the strait twixt Ithaca and rugged 
 Samos, and seek to cut you off before you gain your 
 native land. Yet this I think shall never be ; rather 
 the earth shall cover some of the suitors who devour 
 your living. Still, keep your stanch ship off the islands 
 and sail both night and day ; and one of the immor- 
 tals who guards and keeps you safe shall send a favor- 
 ing breeze. When then you reach the nearest shore 
 of Ithaca, send forward to the city your ship and all 
 her crew, and go yourself before all else straight to 
 the swineherd, who is the keeper of your swine and 
 ever loyal. There rest a night, but send the swine- 
 herd to the city to bear the news to heedful Penelope 
 how you are safe and how you have returned from 
 Pylos." 
 
 So saying, Athene passed away to high Olympus. 
 But from sweet sleep Telemachus waked Nestor's son, 
 touching him with his heel, and thus addressed him : 
 " Wake, Nestor's son, Peisistratus I Bring out the 
 strong-hoofed horses and yoke them to the car, that 
 we may make our journey." 
 
 Then Nestor's son, Peisistratus, made answer; 
 ** Telemachus, we cannot, eager for the journey though 
 we are, drive in the dusky night. It will be morning 
 soon. Wait then awhile until the royal son of Atreus, 
 the spearman Menelaus, brings his gifts, places them 
 in the chariot, and sends us forth with cheering 
 words upon our way. For a guest remembers all his 
 days the hospitable man who showed him kindness." 
 
 He spoke, and soon the gold-throned morning came j 
 and Menelaus, good at the war-cry, now drew near,
 
 233 THE ODYSSEY. [XV. 68-OT. 
 
 just risen from bed by fair-haired Helen. When the 
 son of Odysseus spied him, in haste he girt his glossy 
 tunic round his body, and threw a great cloak round 
 his sturdy shoulders. So forth he went and drawing 
 near thus spoke Telernachus, the son of princely 
 Odysseus : 
 
 "O son of Atreus, heaven-descended Menelaus, 
 leader of hosts, now at last let me go to my own native 
 land ; for my heart longs for home." 
 
 Then answered Menelaus, good at the war-cry: 
 ** Telemachus, I will not keep you longer if you desire 
 to go. I blame a host if over-kind, or over-rude. 
 Better, good sense in all things. It is an equal fault 
 -o thrust away the guest who does not care to go, and 
 to detain the impatient. Best make the stranger wel- 
 come while he stays, and speed him when he wishes. 
 But wait until I bring you gifts and place them io 
 your chariot, beautiful gifts, as you yourself shall see. 
 And let me bid the maids prepare a meal here in the 
 hall from our abundant stores. It brings dignity and 
 honor and benefit besides to feast before you travel 
 along the boundless earth. Then if you choose to 
 make a tour through Hellas and mid-Argos, so far I 
 will attend you ; for I will yoke my horses and guide 
 you through the towns. No one will send us empty 
 off, but each will give some single thing to bear away, 
 a brazen tripod, caldron, pair of mules or golden 
 goblet" 
 
 Then again answered him discreet Telemachus: 
 44 O son of Atreus, heaven-descended Menelaus, leader 
 of hosts, at present I had rather go to my own home, 
 for I left behind at starting no guardian of my goods ; 
 BO while I seek my godlike father, I may myself be 
 lost, or else may lose out of my house some valued 
 treasure."
 
 XV. 92-124.] THE ODYSSEY. 233 
 
 When Menelaus, good at the war-cry, heard his 
 words, he straightway bade his wife and maids pre- 
 pare a meal there in the hall from his abundant 
 stores. And now the son of Boethoiis, Eteoneus, en- 
 tered, just risen from his bed ; for he lived not far 
 away. Menelaus, good at the war-cry, told him to 
 light the fire and roast the meat ; and when he heard, 
 he did not disobey. Menelaus himself, meanwhile, 
 went down to a fragrant chamber ; yet not alone, 
 for Helen went and Megapenthes. And when they 
 came where lay his treasure, the son of Atreus took 
 a double cup and ordered Megapenthes to bring a 
 silver bowl, while Helen lingered by the chests where 
 were the embroidered robes which she herself had 
 wrought. Out of these robes the royal lady, Helen, 
 drew forth one to bear away, one handsomest in work 
 and largest, which sp?.rkled like a star ; it lay be- 
 jieath the others. Then forth they hastened through 
 the palace till they found Telemachus, whom light- 
 haired Menelaus thus addressed : 
 
 " Telemachus, as your heart hopes, may Zeus, the 
 thunderer, husband of Here, grant you a safe return ! 
 And out of all the gifts stored in my house as treas- 
 ures, I will give you that which is most beautiful and 
 precious : I will give a well-wrought bowl. It is of 
 solid silver, its rim finished with gold, the work of 
 Hephaestus. Lord Phaedimus, the king of the Si- 
 donians, gave it to me, when his house sheltered me 
 upon my homeward way. And now to you I gladly 
 give it." 
 
 So saying, the lordly son of Atreus put in his hands 
 the double cup. Then the bright silver bowl strong 
 Megapenthes brought and set before him, while at his 
 side stood fair-cheeked Helen, holding the robe, and 
 thus she spoke and said :
 
 234 THE ODYSSEY. [XV. 126-155. 
 
 " I too, dear child, will give a gift, this keepsake 
 from the hands of Helen against the wished-for wed* 
 ding time, for your wife then to wear. Meanwhile, 
 in your good mother's charge lay it away at home : 
 and may you with rejoicing reach your stately house 
 and native land." 
 
 So saying, she laid it in his hands; he took it 
 and was glad. Then lord Peisistratus put in the 
 chariot box the gifts as he received them, viewing 
 them all with wonder. Light-haired Menelaus led 
 them to the house, where they took seats on benches 
 and on chairs. Now water for the hands a servant 
 brought in a beautiful pitcher, made of gold, and 
 poured it out over a silver basin for their washing, and 
 spread a polished table by their side. And the grave 
 housekeeper brought bread and placed before them, 
 setting out food of many a kind, freely giving of her 
 store. The son of Boethoiis, too, carved meat and 
 passed them portions, and the son of famous Mene- 
 laus poured their wine : and on the food spread out 
 before them they kid hands. Then after they had 
 stayed desire for drink and food, Telemachus and 
 Nestor's gallant son harnessed the horses, mounted 
 the gay chariot, and off they drove from porch and 
 echoing portico. After them came the son of Atreus, 
 Xght-hairod Menelaus, in his right hand a golden cup 
 of cheering wine, for them to pour at starting. He 
 stopped before the horses and pledging them he said : 
 
 44 A health to you, young men I And say the same 
 to Nestor, the shepherd of the people ; for he was kind 
 to me as any father those days we young Achaeans 
 were in the war at Troy." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " Even 
 at you say, O heaven - descended prince, whan we
 
 XV. 156-184.] THE ODYSSEY. 235 
 
 arrive we will report all these your words. And 
 would that coming home to Ithaca, I there might find 
 Odysseus in my home, and so might say how after 
 meeting every kindness here with you I went my way 
 and carried many precious treasures with me 1 " 
 
 On his right, as he was speaking, flew an eagle, 
 bearing in his claws a large white goose, a tame fowl 
 from the yard. People ran shouting after, men and 
 women. But as the bird drew near, he darted to the 
 right before the horses. All saw it and were glad, 
 and in their breasts their hearts grew warm. And 
 thus began Peisistratus, the son of Nestor : 
 
 " Think, heaven - descended Menelaus, leader of 
 hosts ! Is it we to whom God shows this sign, or is it 
 you?" 
 
 He spoke and valiant Menelaus pondered, doubting 
 what he should think and rightly answer. But long- 
 robed Helen, taking up the word, spoke thus : 
 " Hearken and I will prophesy such things as the im- 
 mortals bring to mind, things which I think will hap- 
 pen. As the eagle caught the goose, she, fattened 
 in the house ; he, coming from the hills where he was 
 born and bred, so shall Odysseus, through many 
 woes and wanderings, come home and take revenge. 
 Even now, perhaps, he is at home, sowing the seeds of 
 ill for all the suitors." 
 
 Then answered her discreet Telemachus: "Zeus 
 grant it so, he the loud thunderer, husband of Here ! 
 Then would I there too, as to any god, give thanks to 
 you." 
 
 He spoke and laid the lash upon the horses, and 
 very quickly they started toward the plain, hastening 
 through the city ; and all day long they shook tbu 
 yoke they bore between them.
 
 236 THE ODYSSEY. [XV. 185-214. 
 
 Now the sun sank and all the ways grew dark ; 
 and the men arrived at Pherae, before the house of 
 Diodes, the sou of Orsilochus, whose father was Al- 
 pheius. There for the night they rested ; he gave them 
 entertainment. Then as the early rosy-fingered dawn 
 appeared, they harnessed the horses, mounted the gay 
 chariot, and off they drove from porch and echoing 
 portico. Telemachus cracked the whip to start, and 
 not unwillingly the pair flew off, and by and by they 
 came to the steep citadel of Pylos. Then said Tele- 
 machus to Nestor's son : 
 
 ** O son of Nestor, could you give and perform the 
 promise I shall ask ? Friends from of old we call 
 ourselves, because of our fathers' friendship. Besides, 
 we are alike in years, and this our journey will make 
 the tie more close. Do not then, heaven-descended 
 prince, take me beyond my ship, but leave me there ; 
 for fear old Nestor, eager for kindness, detain me at 
 his house against my will, when I should hasten on." 
 
 So he spoke, and the son of Nestor doubted within 
 his heart if he could rightly give and perform the 
 promise. Yet on reflecting thus, it seemed the better 
 way. He turned his horses toward the swift ship 
 and shore, took out and set by the ship's stern the 
 goodly gifts, the clothing and the gold which Mene- 
 laus gave, and hastening Telemachus, spoke thus in 
 winged words : 
 
 " Quickly embark and summon all your crew be- 
 fore I reach my home and tell old Nestor ; for in my 
 mind and heart full well I know how stern his temper 
 is. He will not let you go ; he will himself oome here 
 and call you. I tell you, too, go back he will not 
 empty-handed; for he will be very angry, notwith- 
 standing what you say."
 
 XV. 215-246.] THE ODYSSEY. 
 
 So saying, he drove his f ull-maned horses to the 
 town of Pylos, and quickly reached the palace. But 
 Teleniachus, inspiriting his crew, called to them thus : 
 ** Put all the gear in order, friends, on the black ship ; 
 and come aboard yourselves and let us make our 
 journey." 
 
 So he spoke, and willingly they heeded and obeyed ; 
 quickly they came on board and took their places at 
 the pins. 
 
 With these things he was busied, and now by the 
 ship's stern was making prayers and offerings to 
 Athene, when up there came a wanderer, exiled from 
 Argos through having killed a man. He was a seer, 
 and of the lineage of Melampus. In former times Me- 
 lainpus lived at Pylos, the mother-land of flocks, and 
 had a very wealthy home among the Pylians. Then 
 he went to a land of strangers and departed from his 
 country, flying from high-souled Neleus, lordliest of 
 living men, who for a full year held by force his 
 great possessions. He meanwhile in the halls of 
 Phylacus was kept in bitter bondage and suffered 
 great distress, because of the daughter of Neleus and 
 the delusion deep which the divine sharp-scourging 
 fury brought his mind. But he escaped his doom 
 and drove the bellowing oxen from Phylace to Pylos ; 
 and punishing matchless Neleus for his disgraceful 
 deed, he brought the maiden home to be his brother's ' 
 wife. So he came to a land of strangers, grazing 
 Argos, where afterwards he was to live, sovereign of 
 many Argives. And here he took a wife and built a 
 high-roofed house, and he begot two sturdy sons, An- 
 tiphates and Mantius. Antiphates again begot brave 
 Oicles, and Oicles Aonphiaraus, the summoner of 
 hosts, whom Zeus the aegis-bearer and Apollo tenderly
 
 238 THE ODYSSEY. [XV. 246-277. 
 
 loved, and showed him every favor ; and yet he did 
 not reach the threshold of old age, but died at Thebes, 
 destroyed by woman's bribes. To him were born two 
 sons, Alcmaeon and Amphilochus. Now Mantiua 
 begot Cleitus and Polypheides; but gold throned 
 dawn took Cleitus, by reason of his beauty, to dwell 
 with the immortals. Of eager Polypheides Apollo 
 made a seer, the best among mankind when Amphia- 
 raiis died. Quarrelling with his father, he withdrew 
 to II yperesia ; and there he dwelt and prophesied for 
 all men. 
 
 It was his son drew near, named Theoclymenus, 
 and stood before Telemachus. He found him making 
 offerings and prayers beside the swift black ship : and 
 speaking in winged words he said : 
 
 " Friend, since I find you offering burnt-offerings 
 here, by these offerings and the god I will entreat 
 you, and by your own life too, and that of those who 
 follow: tell truly all I ask. Hold nothing back. 
 Who are you? Of what people? Where is your 
 town and kindred ? " 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " Well, 
 stranger, I will plainly tell you all. By birth I am of 
 Ithaca. My father is Odysseus if ever such there 
 were ! But long ago he died, a mournful death ; so 
 I, with men and a black ship, am come to gather 
 news of my long-absent father." 
 
 Then answered godlike Theoclymenus : " Like you, 
 I too am far from home, because I killed a kinsman. 
 He has many relatives and friends in grazing Argos, 
 and with the Achaeans their influence is large. To 
 shun the death and the dark doom which they would 
 deal, I flee ; for I must be a wanderer now from tribe 
 to tribe. Set me upon your ship, a fugitive and sup-
 
 XV. 278-307.] THE ODYSSEY. 239 
 
 pliant. Let them not kill me ; for I know they will 
 pursue." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " I shall 
 not thrust you forth from the trim ship against you* 
 will. Nay, follow I In our land you shall receive 
 what we can give." 
 
 So saying he took the brazen spear from Theocly- 
 menus and laid it on the deck of the curved ship. Te-- 
 lemachus himself came on the sea-bound ship and sat 
 him in the stern, while by his side sat Theoclymenus. 
 The others loosed the cables. And now Telemachus, 
 inspiriting his men, bade them lay hold upon the tac- 
 kling, and they busily obeyed. Raising the pine-wood 
 mast, they set it in the hollow socket, binding it firm 
 with forestays, and tightened the white sail with 
 twisted ox-hide thongs. And a favorable wind clear- 
 eyed Athene sent, which swept with violence along the 
 sky, so that the scudding ship might swiftly make her 
 way through the salt ocean water. Thus on they ran, 
 past Crouni and the pleasant streams of Chalcis. The 
 sun was setting and the ways were growing dark as 
 the ship drew near to Pheae, driven by the breeze of 
 Zeus ; then on past sacred Elis where the Epeians rule. 
 From here Telemachus steered for the Pointed Isles, 
 uncertain if he should escape from death or fall a 
 prey. 
 
 Meanwhile at the lodge Odysseus and the noble 
 swineherd were eating supper, and with them supped 
 *Jie others. And after they had stayed desire for 
 drink and food, thus spoke Odysseus, making trial 
 of the swineherd, to see if he would longer give him 
 a hearty welcome and urge his staying at the farm, or 
 if he would send him straightway to the town : 
 
 ** Hearken, Eumaeus and all you other men I I
 
 240 THE ODYSSEY. [XV. 308^342. 
 
 want to go to-morrow to beg about the town, for fear I 
 burden you and these your men. Only direct me 
 well, and give me a trusty guide to show the way. 
 Once in the city, I must wander by myself, and 
 hope some man will give a cup and crust. And if I 
 come to the house of princely Odysseus, there I will 
 tell my tale to heedful Penelope and join the auda- 
 cious suitors, who might perhaps give me a meal ; 
 since they have great abundance. Soon I could serve 
 them well in all they want. For let me tell you this, 
 and do you mark and listen : by favor of the Guide- 
 god, Hermes, who lends the grace and dignity to all 
 the deeds of men, in servants' work I have no equal, 
 in laying a fire well, splitting dry wood, carving 
 and roasting meat, and pouring wine, indeed, in all 
 the ways that poor men serve their betters." 
 
 Then deeply moved said you, swineherd Eumaeus : 
 v Why, stranger, how came such a notion in your 
 mind ? You certainly must long to die that very in- 
 stant when you consent to plunge into the throng of 
 suitors, whose arrogance and outrage reach to the 
 iron heavens. Their servants are not such as you ; 
 but younger men, well dressed in coats and tunics, 
 ever with glossy heads and handsome faces, are they 
 who do them service. Their polished tables are laden 
 with bread and meat and wine. No, stay with us J 
 Nobody is disturbed that you are here, not I myself, 
 nor any one of these my men. And when Odysseus' 
 son returns, he will give a coat and tunic for your 
 clothing and send you where your heart and soul may 
 bid you go." 
 
 Then answered him long -tried royal Odysseus: 
 " May you, Eumaeus, be as dear to father Zeus as now 
 to me, for having stopped my wandering and saved
 
 XV. $13-376.] THE ODYSSEY. '241 
 
 me bitter woe. Nothing is harder for a man than 
 restless roaming. 'T is for the cursed belly's sake that 
 men meet cruel ills when wandering, misfortune, and 
 distresses come. Yet while you keep me here, bidding 
 me wait your master, pray tell me of the mother of 
 princely Odysseus, and of his father, whom when he 
 went away he left behind on the threshold of old age. 
 Are they still living in the sunshine, or are they now 
 already dead and in the house of Hades?" 
 
 Then said to him the swineherd, the overseer : 
 " Well, stranger, I will plainly tell you all. Laertes 
 is still living, but ever prays to Zeus to let life leave 
 his limbs here at his home ; for he mourns exceedingly 
 his absent son and the early-wedded trusty wife whose 
 death distressed him sorely and brought him into pre- 
 mature old age. In sorrow for her famous son, she 
 pined away a piteous death ! May none die so who 
 dwells with me, who is my friend and does me kind- 
 ness. While she still lived, much as she suffered, 
 pleasant it was to ask for her and make inquiries ; for 
 it was she who brought me up with long-robed Cti- 
 mene, her stately daughter, the youngest child she 
 bore. With her I was brought up and I was honored 
 little less. Then when we reached together the longed- 
 for days of youth, they sent Ctimene to Same and 
 obtained large wedding gifts, while me my lady dressed 
 in coat and tunic, goodly garments, and giving san- 
 dals for my feet she sent me to the farm ; yet in her 
 heart she loved me more and more. Now all that love 
 I lack, though the good gods bless all I undertake. 
 By work I get my meat and drink, and give to the 
 deserving, but from the queen I cannot win one cheer- 
 ing word or deed; trouble has fallen on the house 
 through overbearing men. Yet servants long to speak
 
 242 THE ODYSSEY. [XV. 377-40& 
 
 with their mistress face to face, from her to learn of 
 all, with her to eat and drink, and then take some- 
 thing also to the fields. Such things make servants' 
 hearts grow warm." 
 
 Then answering said wise Odysseus : " Swineherd 
 Eumaeus, certainly when you were small you must 
 iave wandered far from home and kindred. Tell me 
 about it ; tell me plainly too. Was the wide-wayed 
 city of your people sacked, the city where your father 
 and honored mother dwelt ? Or when you were alone 
 among your sheep and cattle, did foemen take you on 
 their ships and bring you across the sea to the palace 
 of a man who paid a proper price ? " 
 
 Then said to him the swineherd, the overseer: 
 " Stranger, since now you ask of this and question 
 me, quietly listen ; take your ease, and sit and drink 
 your wine. These nights are vastly long. There is time 
 enough to sleep, and time to cheer ourselves with hear- 
 ing stories. You must not go to bed till bed-time ; too 
 much sleeping harms. As for the others here, if any- 
 body's heart and liking bids, let him go off and sleep ; 
 then early in the morning after eating, let him attend 
 his master's swine. But let us drink and feast within 
 the lodge and please ourselves with telling one an- 
 other tales of piteous ill ; for afterwards a man finds 
 pleasure in his pains, when he has suffered long and 
 wandered long. So I will tell you what you ask and 
 seek to know. 
 
 " There is an island, Syria it is called, you may 
 have heard its name, above Ortygia, where the sun'a 
 course turns ; not very thickly settled, good however, 
 with excellent flocks and herds and full of corn and 
 wine. Into this land dearth never comes, nor any foul 
 disease attacks unhappy men ; but when the families
 
 XV. 409-441.] THE ODYSSEY. 248 
 
 throughout the town grow old, Apollo and Artemis 
 come with silver bow and slay them with their gentle 
 arrows. Here are two towns and all the land is 
 shared between them. Over them both my father 
 ruled, Ctesius, son of Ormenus, a man like the im- 
 mortals. 
 
 " Thither Phoenicians came, notable men at sea, but 
 greedy knaves, with countless trinkets in their black- 
 hulled ship. Now in my father's house lived a Phoe- 
 nician woman, handsome and tall and skilled in 
 dainty work ; and her the wily Phoenicians led astray. 
 In the first days, when she was washing clothes beside 
 the hollow ship, a man seduced her by love and kind- 
 ness ; for these things turn the heads of womankind, 
 even the upright too. Then he asked her who she 
 was and whence she came ; whereat she pointed 
 straightway to my father's high-roofed house. 
 
 " * I boast of being born in Sidon, rich in bronze, 
 and am the daughter of Arybas, a man of abounding 
 wealth. But Taphian pirates seized me as I wandered 
 through the fields, and brought me here across the 
 sea to the palace of a man who paid a proper price.' 
 
 ** Then said the man who secretly seduced her : * Re- 
 turn then home again with us, to see your father's and 
 your mother's high-roofed house, and see them too; 
 for they are living still and still accounted rich.' 
 
 " Then answered him the woman thus and said ; 
 ' It may be, if you sailors pledge yourselves by oath 
 to take me home unharmed. 
 
 " So she spoke, and they all took the oath which she 
 required. Then after they had sworn and ended all 
 their oath, once more the woman answered them and 
 said : * Be quiet for the present I Let none among 
 your crew utter a word to me, in meetings on the street
 
 244 THE ODYSSEY. [XV. 442-47a 
 
 or at the well, or some one coming to the old king's 
 house may tell ; and he, if he understands, will bind 
 me in bitter bonds and plot your ruin. So bear in 
 mind my words, and press the purchase of your cargo ; 
 then when the ship is filled with freight, let a messen- 
 ger come quickly to the palace, and I will bring what- 
 ever gold I find at hand. Another kind of passage- 
 money I would gladly give. At home I tend a child, 
 so bright a boy ! who runs beside me out of 
 doors. Him I might bring on board, and he would 
 fetch a mighty sum from any foreign folk you visit.' 
 
 " So saying, she departed to the stately palace. And 
 they continued with us all the year, and by their trad- 
 ing gathered in their hollow ship large stores. But 
 when the hollow ship was freighted to set sail, they 
 sent a messenger to tell the woman. This crafty man 
 came to my father's house, bringing a golden necklace 
 strung with amber beads. The maids about the 
 house and my good mother kept fingering the chain, 
 and eying it, and offering a price. The man mean- 
 while signed to the woman silently, and having given 
 his sign departed to the hollow ship. The woman, 
 then, taking me by the hand, led me off out of doors. 
 In the fore part of the house she found some cups 
 and tables, where people had been feasting who waited 
 on my father. They were now gone to a public 
 gathering and debate. Quickly she hid three goblets 
 in her breast and bore them off. I innocently fol- 
 lowed. The sun was setting and the roads were grow- 
 ing dark ; but we walked swiftly on and came to the 
 well-known harbor where the Phoenicians' sea-bound 
 ship was lying. Embarking there, the men set sail 
 upon their watery way, making us too embark. Zeua 
 ent us wind. Six days we sailed, as well by night aa
 
 XV. 477-608.] THE ODYSSEY. 245 
 
 day ; but when Zeus, the son of Kronos, brought the 
 seventh day round, the huntress Artemis struck down 
 the woman, and, like a sea-coot, in the hold she 
 dropped. They threw her overboard, a prey to seals 
 and fishes, and I was left behind with aching heart. 
 But wind and water bore us thence and brought us 
 here to Ithaca, and here Laertes bought me with hia 
 substance. This is the way I came to see this land/' 
 
 Then thus replied high-born Odysseus : " Eumaeus, 
 you have deeply stirred the heart within my breast, 
 telling these tales of all the troubles you have borne. 
 Yet side by side with evil Zeus surely gave you good, 
 since at the end of all your toils you reached the 
 house of a kind man who furnishes you food and 
 drink in plenty. A comfortable life you lead ; but I 
 come here a wanderer through many cities." 
 
 So they conversed together, then lay and slept a 
 little while, not long ; for soon came bright-throned 
 dawn. 
 
 Meantime, approaching shore, the comrades of Te- 
 lemachus slackened their sail, hastily lowered the 
 mast, and with their oars rowed the vessel to her 
 moorings. Here they cast anchor and made fast the 
 cables; and going forth themselves upon the shore, 
 prepared their dinner and mixed the sparkling wine. 
 Then after they had stayed desire for food and drink, 
 discreet Telemachus thus began : 
 
 " Sail the black-hulled ship, my men, straight to the 
 town ; I go to the fields and herdsmen. At evening, 
 after looking at the farm, I too will come to town. 
 To-morrow I will make you payment for your voyage 
 by a bounteous feast of meat and pleasant wine." 
 
 Then up spoke godlike Theoclymenus : "Where 
 I go, my child ? To whose house come, of all
 
 248 THE ODYSSEY. [XV. 60&-63& 
 
 the men who rule in rocky Ithaca? Or shall I go 
 directly to your mother's house and yours ? " 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " At any 
 other time I would bid you come to us, because we 
 have no lack of means of welcome. But for your- 
 self it would be somewhat dreary now. I shall be 
 gone, and my mother will not see you ; for she is 
 not often seen in the same room with the suitors, but 
 in an upper chamber far away she tends her loom. 
 But I will name another man to whom you well might 
 go : Eurymachus, the illustrious son of skillful Poly- 
 bus, whom nowadays the men of Ithaca look upon as 
 s god ; for he is certainly the chief man here. He 
 much desires to wed my mother and obtain the hon- 
 ors of Odysseus. Nevertheless, Olympian Zeus, who 
 dwells in the clear sky, knows whether before the 
 wedding he will set a day of ill." 
 
 Even as be spoke, upon his right there flew a bird, 
 a hawk, Apollo's speedy messenger. With his claws 
 he tore the dove he held and scattered down its fea- 
 thers to the ground, midway between the ship and 
 Telemachus himself. Then Theoclymenus, calling 
 Telemachus aside from his companions, held fast his 
 hand and spoke and thus addressed him : 
 
 " Telemachus, not without God's warrant flew this 
 bird upon our right I knew him at a glance to be 
 a bird of omen. There is no house in Ithaca more 
 kingly than your own ; and you shall always be the 
 rulers here." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus: "Ah 
 stranger, would these words of yours might be ful- 
 filled ! Soon should you know my kindness and many 
 a gift from me, and every man you met would call 
 yon blessed."
 
 XV. 639-567.] THE ODYSSEY. 247 
 
 Then turning to Peiraeus, his good comrade t " Pei- 
 raeus, son of Clytius, you always do my bidding best 
 of all the men who followed me to Pylos; so take 
 this stranger to your home and treat him kindly, and 
 show him honor till the time that I shall come." 
 
 Then answered him Peiraeus, the famous spearman : 
 ** Telemachus, though you stay long, I still will enter- 
 tain him ; no lack of welcome shall there be." 
 
 So saying, Peiraeus went aboard the ship and called 
 the crew to come on boar-1 and loose the cables. 
 Quickly they came and took their places at the pins. 
 Telemachus bound to his feet his beautiful sandals 
 and took his ponderous spear, tipped with sharp 
 bronze, from the ship's deck. The sailors loosed the 
 cables and thrusting off the ship sailed to the town, 
 as they were ordered by Telemachus, the son of 
 princely Odysseus. But him, meanwhile, his feet 
 bore swiftly onward until he reached the court where 
 were the countless swine with whom the trusty swine- 
 herd Dodged, still faithful to his master.
 
 XVL 
 
 THE RECOGNITION BT TELEMACHUS. 
 
 MEANWHILE at the lodge Odysseus and the noble 
 swineherd prepared their breakfast in the early dawn, 
 before the lighted fire, having already sent the herds- 
 men with the droves of swine forth to the fields. 
 As Telemachus drew near, the dogs that love to bark 
 began to wag their tails, but did not bark. Royal 
 Odysseus noticed the dogs wagging their tails, and the 
 sound of footsteps reached him ; and straightway to 
 Eumaeus he spoke these winged words : 
 
 " Eumaeus, certainly a friend is coming, at least a 
 man you know ; for the dogs here do not bark, bu 
 wag their tails, and I hear the tramp of feet." 
 
 The words were hardly uttered when his own son 
 stood in the doorway. In surprise up sprang the 
 swineherd, and from his hands the vessels fell with 
 which he had been busied, mixing sparkling wine. 
 He went to meet his master, and kissed his face, each 
 of his beautiful eyes, and both his hands, letting the 
 big tears fall. And as a loving father greets the son 
 who comes from foreign lands, ten years away, his 
 only child, now grown a man, for whom he long has 
 Borrowed ; even so the noble swineherd took princely 
 Telemachus in his arms and kissed him o'er and o'er, 
 as one escaped from death, and sobbing said to him 
 ID winged words : 
 
 44 80 you are here, Telemachus, my own sweet light I
 
 XVI. 23-56.] THE ODYSSEY. 249 
 
 I said I should not see you any more after you went 
 away by ship to Pylos. Come in then, child, and let 
 me cheer my heart with looking at you, just come from 
 far away. You do not often visit the farm and herds- 
 men. You tarry in the town ; for nowadays you want 
 to watch the wasteful throng of suitors." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " So be 
 it, father ! 'T is for your sake I am here, to see you 
 with my eyes, and hear you tell if my mother still is 
 staying at the hall, or if at last some stranger won 
 her, and so Odysseus' bed, empty of occupants, stands 
 covered with foul cobwebs." 
 
 Then answered him the swineherd, the overseer: 
 *' In deed she stays with patient heart within your 
 hall, and wearily the nights and days are wasted with 
 her tears." 
 
 So saying, Eumaeus took Telemachus' brazen spear, 
 and Telemachus went in and over the stone threshold. 
 As he drew near, his father, Odysseus, yielded him 
 his seat; but Telemachus on his part checked him, 
 saying: 
 
 " Be seated, stranger. Elsewhere we shall find a 
 seat at this our farm. Here is a man will give one." 
 
 He spoke, and his father turned and sat once more ; 
 but the swineherd threw green brushwood down and 
 on its top a fleece, on which the dear son of Odysseus 
 took his seat. And now the swineherd brought plat- 
 ters of roasted meat, which those who ate the day 
 before had left. Bustling about he heaped bread in 
 the baskets, and in an ivy bowl mixed honeyed wine, 
 then took a seat himself over against princely Odys- 
 seus, and on the food spread out before them they 
 laid hands. So after they had stayed desire for drink 
 and food, to the noble swineherd said Telemachus :
 
 250 THE ODYSSEY. [XVI. 57-a 
 
 "Father, whence came this stranger? How did 
 his sailors bring him to Ithaca? Whom did they 
 call themselves ? For I am sure he did not come on 
 foot." 
 
 Then, swineherd Eumaeus, you answered him and 
 said : " Well, I will tell you all the truth, my child. 
 He calls himself by birth of lowland Crete, but says 
 he has come to many cities in his wanderings; so 
 Heaven ordained his lot. Lately he ran away from 
 a ship of the Thesprotians and came to my farm here. 
 I place him in your charge. Do what you wilL He 
 calls himself your suppliant." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus: "Eu- 
 maeus, truly these are bitter words which you have 
 said. How can I take a stranger home? I am 
 myself but young and cannot trust my arm to right 
 me with the man who wrongs me first. Moreover my 
 mother's feeling wavers, whether to bide beside me 
 here and keep the house, and thus revere her hus- 
 band's bed and heed the public voice, or finally to 
 follow some chief of the Achaeans who woos her in 
 the hall with largest gifts. However, since the stranger 
 has reached your lodging here, I will clothe him in 
 a coat and tunic, goodly garments, give him a two- 
 edged sword and sandals for his feet, and I will send 
 him where his heart and soul may bid him go. Or, 
 if you like, serve him yourself and keep him at the 
 farm ; and I will send him clothing and all his food to 
 eat, so that he may not burden you and yours. Yon- 
 der among the suitors I would not have him go ; for 
 they are full of wanton pride. So they might mock 
 him, a cruel grief to me. Hard is it even for a 
 powerful man to act against a crowd ; because to- 
 gether they are far too strong."
 
 XVI. 90-125.] THE ODYSSEY. 251 
 
 Then said to him long - tried royal Odysseus : 
 '* Friend, for surely I too have a right to answer, 
 my heart is sore at hearing what you say, that suit- 
 ors work abomination at the palace against a man 
 like you. But tell me, do you willingly submit, or 
 are the people of your land adverse to you, led by 
 some voice of God ? Or have you any cause to blame 
 your brothers, on whom a man relies for aid when 
 bitter strifes arise ? Would that, to match my spirit, 
 I were young as you, and were the son of good 
 Odysseus, or even Odysseus' self, come from his wan- 
 derings, as there still is room for hope ; then quickly 
 should my foe strike off my head, or I would prove 
 the bane of all these suitors when I should cross the 
 hall of Laertes' son Odysseus. And should they by 
 their number crush me, all single and alone, far 
 rather would I die, cut down within my hall, than 
 constantly behold disgraceful deeds, strangers abused, 
 and damsels dragged to shame through the fair pal- 
 ace, wine running waste, men eating up my bread, all 
 idly, uselessly, to win what cannot be ! " 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " Well, 
 stranger, I will plainly tell you all. My people as a 
 whole bear me no grudge or hate ; nor yet can I blame 
 brothers, on whom a man relies for aid when bitter 
 strifes arise ; for the son of Kronos made our race 
 run in a single line. Arceisius begot a single son 
 Laertes ; and he, the single son Odysseus ; Odysseus left 
 me here at home, the single son of his begetting, and 
 of me had no joy. But bands of evil-minded men 
 now fill my house ; for all the nobles who bear sway 
 among the islands Doulichion, Same, and woody 
 Zacynthus and they who have the power in rocky 
 Ithaca, all woo my mother and despoil my home.
 
 252 THE ODYSSEY. [XVI. 126-159. 
 
 She neither declines the hated suit nor has she power 
 to end it, while they with feasting impoverish my 
 home and soon will bring me also to destruction. 
 However, in the lap of the gods these matters lie. 
 But, father, quickly go and say to steadfast Penelope 
 that I am safe and have returned from Pylos. I will 
 stay here ; do you come hither too ; and tell your tid 
 ings to her only. Let none of the rest of the Achae- 
 ans hear ; for many are they that plot against me." 
 
 Then, swineherd Eumaeus, you answered him and 
 said : " I see, I understand ; you speak to one who 
 knows. But now declare me this and plainly say, shall 
 I go tell Laertes on my way, wretched Laertes, who for 
 a time, though grieving greatly for Odysseus, still 
 oversaw his fields and with his men at home would 
 drink and eat as appetite inclined ; but from the day 
 you went by ship to Pylos did never eat nor drink the 
 same, they say, nor oversaw his fields, but full of 
 moans and sighs sits sorrowing, while the flesh wastes 
 upon his bones." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " 'T is 
 hard, but though it grieves us, we will let him be ; if 
 all that men desire were in their power, the first thing 
 we should choose would be the coming of my father. 
 No, give your message and return, and do not wander 
 through the fields to find Laertes. But tell my mother 
 to send forthwith her housemaid thither, yet privately,* 
 for to the old man she might bear the news." 
 
 So saying, he dispatched the swineherd, who took 
 his sandals, bound them to his feet, and went to town. 
 Yet not unnoticed by Athene swineherd Eumaeus left 
 the farm ; but she herself drew near in likeness of 
 a woman, one fair and tall and skilled in dainty 
 work. By the lodge door she stood, visible to Odys-
 
 XVI. 160-191.] THE ODYSSEY. 253 
 
 seus. Telemachus did not glance her way nor notice 
 her ; for not to every one do gods appear. Odysseus 
 saw her, and the dogs ; yet the dogs did not bark, but 
 whining slunk away across the place. With her brows 
 she made a sign ; royal Odysseus understood, came 
 forth from the hall past the great courtyard wall, and 
 stood before her, and Athene said : 
 
 "High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, tell 
 now your story to your son. Hide it no longer. Then 
 having planned the suitors' death and doom, go for- 
 ward both of you into the famous city. And I my- 
 self will not be far away, for I am eager for the com- 
 bat." 
 
 She spoke and with a golden wand Athene touched 
 Odysseus. And first she laid a spotless robe and tunio 
 on his body, and then increased his bulk and bloom. 
 Again he grew dark-hued ; his cheeks were rounded, 
 and dark the beard became about his chin. This 
 done, she went away ; and now Odysseus entered the 
 lodge. His son was awe-struck and reverently turned 
 his eyes aside, fearing it was a god. Then speaking 
 in winged words he said : 
 
 " Stranger, you seem a different person now and a 
 while ago. Your clothes are different and your flesh 
 1 is not the same. You surely are one of the gods who 
 hold the open sky. Nay, then, be gracious ! So will 
 we give you grateful offerings and fine-wrought gifts 
 of gold. Have mercy on us ! " 
 
 Then long-tried royal Odysseus answered : " I am 
 no god. Why liken me to the immortals ? I am 
 your father, him for whom you sighed and suffered 
 long, enduring outrage at the hands of men." 
 
 So saying, he kissed his son and down his cheeks 
 upon the ground let fall a tear, which always hitherto
 
 254 THE ODYSSEY. [XVI. 192-224. 
 
 he sternly had suppressed. But Telemachus for he 
 did not yet believe it was his father, finding his 
 words once more made answer thus : 
 
 " No, you are not Odysseus, not my father I Some 
 god beguiles me, to make me weep and sorrow more. 
 No mortal man by his own wit could work such won- 
 den, unless a god came to his aid and by his will made 
 him with ease a young man or an old. For lately you 
 were old and meanly clad ; now you are like the gods 
 who hold the open sky." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said : " Te- 
 lemachus, it is not right when here your father stands, 
 to marvel overmuch and to be so amazed. Be sure no 
 other Odysseus ever will appear ; but as you see me, 
 it is I, I who have suffered long and wandered long, 
 and now in the twentieth year come to my native 
 land. This is the work of the Plunderer, Athene, 
 who makes me what she will, for she has power, 
 now like a beggar, now again a youth in fair attire. 
 Easily can the gods who hold the open sky give glory 
 to a mortal man or give him shame." 
 
 So saying, he sat down ; whereat Telemachus, 
 throwing his arms round his good father, began to 
 sob and pour forth tears, and in them both arose a 
 longing of lament. Loud were their cries and more 
 inceasing than those of birds, ospreys or crook-clawed 
 vultures, when farmers take away their young before 
 the wings are grown: so pitifully fell the tears be- 
 neath their brows. And daylight had gone down 
 upon their weeping, had not Telemachus suddenly 
 addressed his father thus : 
 
 " Why, father, by what ship did sailors bring you 
 to Ithaca ? Whom did they call themselves ? For I 
 am sure you did not come on foot"
 
 XVI. 225-269.] THE ODYSSEY. 255 
 
 Then said to him long-tried royal Odysseus : " Well, 
 I will tell you, child, the very truth. The Phaeacians 
 brought me here, notable men at sea, who pilot others 
 too who come their way. They brought me across the 
 sea on a swift ship asleep, landed me here in Ithaca 
 and gave me glorious gifts, much bronze and gold 
 and woven stuff ; which treasures by the gods' com- 
 mand are laid away in caves. Here I now am by 
 bidding of Athene, that we may plan together the 
 slaughter of our foes. Come tell me then the num. 
 ber of the suitors, that I may know how many and 
 what sort of men they are ; and so, weighing the 
 matter in my gallant heart, I may decide if we can 
 meet them quite alone, without allies, or whether we 
 shall seek the aid of others." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " Verily, 
 father, I have ever heard your great renown, what a 
 warrior you are in arm and what a sage in council. 
 But now you speak of something far too vast ; I am 
 astonished. Two could not fight a troop of valiant 
 men. The suitors number no mere ten, nor twice ten 
 either ; many more. \ ou shall soon learn their num- 
 ber. From Doulichion, two and fifty chosen youths 
 and six attendants ; four and twenty men from Same ; 
 from Zacynthus twenty young Achaeans ; twelve out 
 of Ithaca itself, all men of mark, with whom are also 
 the page Medon and the sacred bard, besides two fol- 
 lowers skilled in table service. If we confront al) 
 these within the hall, bitter and grievous may the 
 vengeance be, gained by your coming. So if you pos- 
 sibly can think of aid, consider who will aid us now 
 whole-heartedly." 
 
 Then said to him long-tried royal Odysseus : " Nay, 
 let me speak, and do you mark and listen. Consider
 
 256 THE ODYSSEY. [XVI. 260-294. 
 
 if Athene, joined with father Zens, suffice for us, or 
 shall I seek for other aid ? " 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " Excel- 
 lent helpers are the two you name, who sit among the 
 clouds on high. All else they govern, all mankind 
 and the immortal gods." 
 
 Then said to him long-tried royal Odysseus : " Not 
 long will they be absent from the mighty fray when 
 in my hall betwixt the suitors and ourselves the tug 
 of war is tried. But go at early morning straightway 
 home, and join the audacious suitors. Thereafter 
 the swineherd shall bring me to the city, like an old 
 and wretched beggar. And if they treat me rudely 
 in my home, let the faithful heart within your breast 
 endure what I must bear ; yes, though they drag me 
 through the palace by the heels and out of door, or 
 hurl their missiles at me, see and be patient still. Bid 
 them, however, cease their folly, and with gentle 
 words dissuade. They will not heed you, for their 
 day of doom draws near. But this I will say farther ; 
 mark it well. When wise Athene puts it in my mind, 
 then I will nod my head, and you take note. And all the 
 fighting gear that lies about the hall do you collect and 
 lay in a corner of the lofty chamber, carefully, every 
 piece. Then with soft words beguile the suitors when 
 they, because they miss it, question you : ' I put it by 
 out of the smoke, for it looks no longer like the ar- 
 mor which Odysseus left behind when he went away 
 to Troy; it is all tarnished, where the scent of fire 
 has come nigh. Besides, the son of Kronos brought 
 this graver fear to mind. You might when full of 
 wine begin a quarrel and give each other wounds, 
 making a scandal of the feast and of your wooing. 
 Steel itself draws men on.' Yet privily reserve two
 
 KVI. 295-330.] THE ODYSSEY. 257 
 
 swords, two spears, two leathern shields, for us to 
 seize to rush and seize. And thereupon shall Pal- 
 las Athene and all- wise Zeus confound the suitors. 
 Nay, this I will say farther ; mark it well. If you 
 are truly mine, my very blood, then that Odysseus 
 now is here let no man know ; let not Laertes lean, 
 it, let not the swineherd, let none of the household, 
 nor Penelope herself. But you and I alone will test 
 the temper of the women. And we might also try 
 the serving-men, and see who honors and respects us 
 in his heart, and who neglects and scorns a man like 
 you." 
 
 Then answered him his noble son and said : " My 
 father, you shall know my heart, believe me, by and 
 by. No laggard thoughts are mine ; and yet I think 
 your plan will prove for neither of us gain, and so I 
 say : Consider ! Long will you vainly go, trying the 
 different men among the farms; while undisturbed 
 within the hall these waste your wealth with reckless- 
 ness and do not spare. But I advise your finding out 
 the women, and learning who dishonor you and who 
 are guiltless. As to the men about the place, I would 
 not prove them. Let that at any rate be thought of 
 later, when you are really sure of signs from aegis- 
 bearing Zeus." 
 
 So they conversed together. But in the mean while ( 
 on to Ithaca ran the stanch ship which brought Te- ' 
 lemachus and all his crew from Pylos. When they 
 had entered the deep harbor, they hauled the black- 
 hulled ship ashore, and stately squires carried their 
 armor and straightway bore the goodly gifts to Cly- 
 tius' house. And now they sent a page to the palace 
 of Odysseus, to tell the news to heedful Penelope, 
 bow Telemachus was at the farm, but had ordered that
 
 258 THE ODYSSEY. [XVI. 331-360- 
 
 the ship sail to the city lest the stately queen should 
 be alarmed and shed a tender tear. So the two met, 
 the herald and the noble swineherd, while on the self- 
 same errand, bearing tidings to the queen. And when 
 they reached the palace of the noble king, the page 
 said to Penelope in hearing of her maids : " O queen* 
 your son has come from Pylos." But the swineherd 
 stood beside Penelope and so reported all that her 
 dear son had bade him say. Then when he had de- 
 livered all his charge, he departed to his swine, and 
 left the court and hall. 
 
 But the suitors grew dismayed and downcast in 
 their hearts, and came forth from the hall past the 
 great courtyard wall and there before the gate sat 
 down to council ; and first Eurymachus, the son of 
 Polybus, addressed them : 
 
 " Friends, here is a monstrous action impudently 
 brought to pass, this journey of Telemachus. We 
 Said it should not be. Come, then, and let us launch 
 the best black ship we have, and get together fisher- 
 men for rowers, quickly to carry tidings to our friends, 
 and bid them sail for home with all the speed they 
 may." 
 
 The words were hardly uttered when Amphinomus. 
 turning in his place, sighted the ship in the deep har- 
 bor, some of her crew furling the sail and some with 
 oars in hand. Then lightly laughing, thus he called 
 to his companions : 
 
 44 No need to send a message now, for here they are. 
 Some god has told the story ; or else they saw the ves- 
 ol pass and could not catch her." 
 
 He spoke, and all arose and hastened to the shore. 
 Swiftly the black-hulled ship was hauled ashore, and 
 lately squires carried their armor. The men them*
 
 XVI. 361-393.] THE ODYSSEY. 259 
 
 jelves went in a body to the assembly and suffered no 
 one, either young or old, to join them there ; and thus 
 Antinoiis, Eupeithes' son, addressed them : 
 
 " Strange, how the gods help this man out of dan- 
 ger I By day our sentries sat upon the windy heights, 
 posted in close succession ; and after sunset, we did 
 not pass the night ashore, but sailed our swift ship on 
 the sea, awaiting sacred dawn, lying in wait to seize 
 and slay Telemachus. Meantime some god has brought 
 him home. Then let us here contrive a miserable 
 ending for Telemachus, not letting him escape ; for 
 while he lives, nothing, be sure, will prosper. He 
 is himself shrewd in his thoughts and plans, and peo- 
 ple here proffer us no more aid. Come then, be- 
 fore he gathers the Achaeans hi a council. Back- 
 ward he will not be, I know. He will be full of 
 wrath, and rising he will tell to all how we contrived 
 his instant death but could not catch him. And 
 when men hear our evil deeds, they will not praise 
 them ; but they may cause us trouble and drive us 
 from our country, and we may have to go away into 
 the land of strangers. Let us be quick, then, and 
 seize him in the fields far from the city, or on the 
 road at least ; and let us take possession of his sub- 
 stance and his wealth, sharing all suitably among our- 
 selves ; the house, however, we might let his mother 
 keep, or him who marries her. If this plan does not 
 please you, and you will let him live to hold his 
 father's fortune, then let us not devour his store of 
 pleasant things by gathering here ; but from, his own 
 abode let each man make his wooing, and press his 
 suit with gifts. So may Penelope marry the man who 
 gives her most and comes with fate to favor." 
 
 As he thus spoke, the rest were hushed to silence.
 
 260 THE ODYSSEY. [XVI. 394^24 
 
 But Amphinomus addressed them now and said 
 Amphiuoiiius, the illustrious son of noble Nisus and 
 grandson of Aretias, who from Doulichion, rich in 
 wheat and grass, had led a band of suitors, and more 
 than all the rest found favor with Penelope through 
 what he said, because his heart was upright he with 
 good will addressed them thus and said : 
 
 " Nay, friends, I would not like to kill Telemachua 
 It is a fearful thing to kill a king. Let us at least 
 first ask the gods for counsel ; and if the oracles of 
 mighty Zeus approve, I will myself share in the kill- 
 ing and urge the others too ; but if the gods turn from 
 us, I warn you to forbear." 
 
 So said Amphinomus, and his saying pleased them. 
 Boon they arose and entered the hall of Odysseus, and 
 went and took their seats on polished chairs. 
 
 Heedful Penelope, meanwhile, had planned anew to 
 show herself among the suitors, overweening in their 
 pride. Within the palace she learned of the intended 
 murder of her son, for the page Medon told her, who 
 overheard the plot ; so to the hall she went with her 
 attendant women. And when the royal lady reached 
 the suitors, she stood beside a column of the strong- 
 built roof, holding before her face her delicate wim- 
 ple ; and she rebuked Autinoiis and spoke to him and 
 said: 
 
 " Antinoiis, full of all insolence and wicked guile, 
 in Ithaca they say you are the foremost person of your 
 ' years in judgment and in speech. But such you never 
 were. Madman ! Why do you seek the death and 
 ruin of Telemachus, and pay no heed to suppliants, 
 though Zeus be witness for them ? 'T is impious plot- 
 ting crimes against one's fellow men. Do you not 
 know your father once took refuge here, in terror of
 
 XVI. 425-469.] THE ODYSSEY. 261 
 
 the people? For they were very angry because he 
 joined with Taphian pirates and troubled the Thespro- 
 tians, men who were our allies. So the people would 
 destroy him, would snatch his life away, and swal- 
 low all his large and pleasant living ; but Odysseus 
 held them back and stayed their madness. Yet you 
 insultingly devour his house ; you woo his wife, mur- 
 der his child, and make me wholly wretched. For- 
 bear, I charge you, and bid the rest forbear 1 " 
 
 Then answered her Eurymachus, the son of Poly- 
 bus : " Daughter of Icarius, heedful Penelope ; be of 
 good courage I Let not these things vex your mind I 
 The man is not alive, and never will be born, who 
 shall lay hands upon your son, Telemachus, so long as 
 I have life and sight on earth. For this I tell you, 
 and it shall be done : soon the dark blood of such a 
 man shall flow around my spear. Many a time the 
 spoiler of towns, Odysseus, has set me on his knee, 
 put roasted meat into my hands and given me ruddy 
 wine. Therefore I hold Telemachus dearest of all 
 mankind. I bid him have no fear of death, at least 
 not from the suitors. Death from the gods can no 
 man shun." 
 
 So he spoke, cheering her, yet was himself plotting 
 the murder. But she, going to her bright upper cham- 
 ber, bewailed Odysseus, her dear husband, till on her 
 lids clear-eyed Athene caused a sweet sleep to fall. 
 
 At evening the noble swineherd joined Odysseus 
 and his son. Busily they prepared their supper, hav- 
 ing killed a yearling pig. And Athene, drawing 
 near, touched with her wand Laertes' son, Odysseus, 
 and made him old once more and clad him in mean 
 clothes; for fear the swineherd looking in his face 
 might know, and go and tell the tale to steadfast 
 Penelope, not holding fast the secret in his heart.
 
 262 THE ODYSSEY. [XVI. 46(M*L 
 
 Now Telemachus first addressed the swineherd, say- 
 ing : " So you are come, noble Eumaeus. What news 
 then in the town ? Are the haughty suitors at home 
 again after their ambuscade, or are they watching still 
 for me to pass ? " 
 
 Then, swineherd Eumaeus, you answered him and 
 said : " I had no mind to search and question while 
 stumbling through the town. My inclination bade 
 me to tell my message with all speed and hasten home. 
 There overtook me, though, an eager newsman of 
 your crew, a page, who told his story to your mother 
 first Moreover, this I know, because I saw it : I was 
 already on the road above the town, where stands the 
 hill of Hermes, when I saw a swift ship entering our 
 harbor. A crowd of men were on her. Heavy she 
 was with shields and double-pointed spears. 'T was 
 they, I thought, and yet I do not know." 
 
 As he thus spoke, revered Telemachus smiled, and 
 glancing at his father shunned the swineherd's eye. 
 
 Now ceasing from their labor of laying out the 
 meal, they fell to feasting. There was no lack of ap- 
 petite for the impartial feast. And after they had 
 stayed desire for drink and food, they turned toward 
 bed and took the gift of sleep.
 
 xvn. 
 
 THE RETURN OP TELEMACHUS TO ITHACA. 
 
 SOON as the early rosy-fingered dawn appeared, 
 Telemachus, the son of princely Odysseus, bound to 
 his feet his goodly sandals, took the ponderous spear 
 which fitted well his hand, and setting off to town, 
 addressed his swineherd thus : 
 
 44 Father, I go to the city to let my mother see me ; 
 for I know she will not cease from gloomy grief and 
 crying until she sees my very self. This charge I lay 
 on you : bring the poor stranger to the city, to beg his 
 living there ; and whosoever will shall give a cup and 
 crust. I cannot put up all ; my heart is full of trou- 
 ble. And if the stranger chafes at this, so much the 
 worse for him. I like to speak the truth." 
 
 But wise Odysseus answered him and said : " Friend, 
 I do not care to tarry here. Better a beggar should 
 beg his living in the town than in the fields ; and he 
 who will may give ; for I am now too old to stay about 
 a farm and answer all the orders of an overseer. Go 
 then your way; this man shall be my guide, even 
 as you bid, when I have warmed me at the fire and 
 when the sunshine comes. The clothes I wear are 
 miserably bad, and the early frost may harm me ; the 
 town is far, they say." 
 
 He spoke, and through the farm-stead passed Tele- 
 machus, moving with rapid stride and sowing seeds 
 of evil for the suitors. And when he reached hia
 
 264 THE ODYSSEY. [XVTI. 27-32. 
 
 stately dwelling, he took his spear and set it up by a 
 tall pillar, while he himself went farther in and over 
 the stone threshold. 
 
 His nurse was first to see him, Eurycleia, now busy 
 spreading fleeces on the carven chairs. With a 
 burst of tears she came straight forward ; and other 
 maids of hardy Odysseus gathered round and fondly 
 kissed his face and neck. Then from her chamber 
 came heedful Penelope, like Artemis or golden Aphro- 
 dite. Round her dear son, weeping, she threw her 
 arms, and kissed his face and both his beauteous eyes, 
 and sobbing said to him in winged words : 
 
 "So you are come, Telemachus, my own sweet 
 light ! I said I should not see you any more after 
 you went away by ship to Pylos, so secretly, with no 
 consent of mine, to hear about your father. Come 
 then and tell me all you chanced to see." 
 
 But wise Telemachus made answer : " My mother, 
 do not stir my tears nor move my heart within, for I 
 am only now escaped from utter ruin. But bathe, and 
 putting on fresh garments, go to your upper chamber 
 with your maids, and vow to pay full hecatombs to all 
 the gods if Zeus some day will grant us deeds of ven- 
 geance. But I will go to the market-place to call a 
 stranger who joined me on my journey here from 
 Pylos. I sent him forward with my gallant crew and 
 bade Peiraeus take him home and entertain him well 
 and give him honor till the time that I should come." 
 
 Such were his words ; unwinged, they rested with 
 ner. Bathing, and putting on fresh garments, she 
 vowed to all the gods to pay full hecatombs if Zeus 
 some day would grant her deeds of vengeance. 
 
 Presently through the hall forth went Telemachus, 
 his spear in hand, two swift dogs following after ; and
 
 XVII. 63-95.] THE ODYSSEY. 265 
 
 marvelous was the grace Athene cast about him, that 
 all the people gazed us he drew near. And round him 
 flocked the haughty suitors, kind in their talk but in 
 their hearts brooding on evil. He turned aside from 
 the great company of these and off where Mentor 
 sat with Antiphus and Halitherses, who were of old 
 his father's friends, he went and sat him down ; and 
 much they questioned. Peiraeus, the famous spear- 
 man, now drew near, leading the stranger through the 
 city to the market-place. Not long then from his 
 guest delayed Telemachus, but came to meet hunj 
 though Peiraeus was the first to speak and say : 
 
 " Telemachus, quickly send women to my house, 
 and let me send to you what Menelaus gave." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " Peiraeus, 
 as yet we do not know how matters here will be. 
 Suppose the haughty suitors at the palace should slay 
 me privily and share my father's goods, I had rather 
 you yourself should keep and enjoy the gifts than 
 any one of these. But if I sow for these men death 
 and doom, when I am merry merrily fetch all here." 
 
 So saying, he led the way-worn stranger home. 
 And entering the stately buildings, they threw their 
 coats upon the couches and the chairs, and went to the 
 polished baths and bathed. And when the maids had 
 bathed them and anointed them with oil, and put 
 upon them fleecy coats and tunics, out of the baths 
 they came and sat upon the couches. And water for 
 the hands a servant brought in a beautiful pitcher 
 made of gold, and poured it out over a silver basin 
 for their washing, and spread a polished table by 
 their side. Then the grave housekeeper brought 
 bread and placed before them, setting out food of 
 many a kind, freely giving of her store. The mother
 
 266 THE ODYSSEY. [XVII. 96-13QT 
 
 of Telemachus sat on the farther side, by a column of 
 the hall, resting upon a couch, spinning fine threads 
 of yarn. So on the food spread out before them they 
 laid hands. And after they had stayed desire tor 
 drink and food, then thus began heedful Penelope : 
 
 44 Telemachus, I go to my upper chamber and lay 
 me on my bed, which has become for me a bed of 
 sorrows, ever watered with my tears since Odysseus 
 went away to Ilios with the Atreidae, because you 
 did not deign before the haughty suitors entered, 
 plainly to tell what tidings you have heard about your 
 father's coming." 
 
 Then answered her discreet Telemachus: "Nay, 
 mother, I will tell you all the truth. We went to 
 Pylos, to Nestor, the shepherd of the people. And 
 he, receiving me within his lofty palace, gave me such 
 hearty welcome as a father gives his child when lately 
 come from far, after long time away ; so heartily he 
 entertained me, he and his noble sons. Of hardy 
 Odysseus, he said he had not heard from any man on 
 earth, if he were alive or dead. But with horses and 
 a strong-built chariot he sent me to the son of Atreus, 
 to the spearman Menelaus. There I saw Argive 
 Helen, her in behalf of whom Argives and Trojans 
 bore so much at the gods' bidding. And Menelaus, 
 good at the war-cry, soon asked me on what errand I 
 came to royal Lacedaemon. I told him all the truth. 
 And then he answered thus and said to me : 4 Hea- 
 vens! In a very brave man's bed they sought to lie, 
 the weaklings 1 As when in the den of a strong lion 
 a hind has laid asleep her new-born sucking fawns, 
 then roams the slopes and grassy hollows seeking food, 
 and by and by into his lair the lion comes and on both 
 hind and fawns brings ghastly doom , so shall Ody
 
 XVII. 131-163.] THE ODYSSEY. 267 
 
 seus bring a ghastly doom on these. Ah father Zeus, 
 Athene, and Apollo I if with the power he showed one 
 day in stately Lesbos, when he rose and wrestled in a 
 match with Philomeleides, and down he threw him 
 heavily while the Achaeans all rejoiced, if as he 
 was that day Odysseus now might meet the suitors, 
 they all would find quick turns of fate and bitter 
 rites of marriage. But as to what you ask thus 
 urgently, I will not turn to talk of other things and 
 so deceive you ; but what the unerring old man of 
 the sea told me, in not a word will I disguise or hide 
 from you. He said he saw Odysseus on an island, in 
 great distress, at the hall of the nymph Calypso, who 
 holds him there by force. No power has he to reach 
 his native land, for he has no ships fitted with oars, 
 nor crews to bear him over the broad ocean-ridges.' 
 So said the son of Atreus, the spearman Menelaus. 
 And this accomplished, back I sailed ; the gods gave 
 breezes and brought me swiftly to my native land." 
 
 So he spoke, and stirred the heart within her breast. 
 But god-like Theoclymenus addressed them thus : " O 
 honored wife of Laertes' son Odysseus, certainly Me- 
 nelaus did not know the truth. Listen instead to 
 words of mine ; for I will plainly prophesy and not 
 conceal. First then of all the gods be witness Zeus, ( 
 and let this hospitable table and the hearth of good . 
 Odysseus whereto I come be witness ; Odysseus is al- 
 ready within his native land, biding his time or 
 moving, and, understanding all these wicked deeds, 
 is sowing seeds of ill for all the suitors. As proof, 
 while on the well-benched ship I marked a bird of 
 omen, and I announced it to Telemachus." 
 
 Then said to him heedful Penelope : " Ah strangei 
 Would these words of yours might be fulfilled I Soon
 
 268 THE ODYSSEY. [XVII. 164-198. 
 
 should yon know my kindness and many a gift from 
 me, and every man you met would call you blessed." 
 
 So they conversed together. Meanwhile before the 
 palace of Odysseus the suitors were making merry, 
 throwing the discus and the hunting-spear upon the 
 level pavement, holding riot as of old. But now when 
 it was dinner-time, and from the fields around the 
 flocks returned, the shepherds leading who were 
 wont to lead, then Medon spoke ; a man most loved 
 of all the pages, one who was ever present at their 
 feasts: 
 
 " Now, lads, since all your hearts are cheered with 
 sports, come to the house and let us lay the table. 
 One's dinner at the proper time is no bad thing." 
 
 He spoke, and up they sprang and went to heed hia 
 words. And entering the stately buildings, they threw 
 their coats upon the couches and chairs, and they be- 
 gan to kill great sheep and fatted goats, to kill sleek 
 pigs and the heifer of the herd, and so to make their 
 meaL 
 
 Meanwhile at the farm Odysseus and the noble 
 swineherd were making ready to depart to town. And 
 thus began the swineherd, the overseer: "Stranger, 
 so you desire to go to town to-day, just as my master 
 ordered, though I myself would rather leave you as a 
 watchman for the farm ; but of him I stand in fear 
 and awe, lest he hereafter chide me. Hard is a mas- 
 ter's censure. Come then and let us go. The day is 
 passing. It will be colder by and by toward night." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said : " I 
 
 see, I understand ; you speak to one who knows. Let 
 
 us go on, and all the way be you my guide. But give 
 
 me a stick, if you have one cut. to lean upon; for 
 
 v you said the road was very rough."
 
 XVII. 197-229.] THE ODYSSEY. 269 
 
 He spoke, and round bis shoulders slung his misera- 
 ble wallet, full of holes, which hung upon a cord. 
 Eumaeus gave the staff desired, and so the two set 
 forth ; but dogs and herdsmen stayed behind to keep 
 the farm. On to the town Eumaeus led his lord, like 
 an old and wretched beggar, leaning upon a staff. 
 Upon his back were miserable clothes. 
 
 Now as they walked along the rugged road, near- 
 ing the city, they reached a stone-built fountain, run- 
 ning clear, from which the towns -folk draw their 
 water, a fountain made by Ithacus, by Neritus and 
 Polyctor. There was a grove of stream-fed poplars, 
 encircling it, and from the rock above ran the cool 
 water, while at the top was built an altar to th,< 
 nymphs, where all who passed made offerings. Here 
 the son of Dolius, Melantheus, met them, driving the 
 goats that were the best of all the flock, to make tho 
 suitors' dinner. Two herdsmen followed after. See- 
 ing Eumaeus and Odysseus, he broke into abuse ; and 
 speaking to them, used rude and indecent words, which 
 stirred Odysseus' blood : 
 
 " Now sure enough the vile man leads the vile I 
 As ever, god brings like and like together ! Where 
 are you carrying that glutton, you good-for-nothing 
 swineherd, that nasty beggar to make mischief at 
 our feasts ? A man to stand and rub his back on 
 many doors and tease for scraps of food, but not for 
 swords and caldrons. If you would let me have him 
 for a watchman at my farm, to be a stable-cleaner 
 and fetch fodder to the kids, he might by drinking 
 wLey grow a big thigh. But no ! For he has learned 
 bad ways and will not turn to work. He will prefer 
 to beg about the town, teasing for stuff to feed ais 
 greedy maw. But this I tell you, and it shall be
 
 270 THE ODYSSEY. [XVII. 230-269, 
 
 done : if he comes near the house of princely Odys- 
 seus, many a footstool from men's hands flying around 
 his head his ribs shall rub, as he is knocked about the 
 house." 
 
 lie spoke, and as he passed recklessly kicked Odys- 
 seus on the hip, but did not force him from the 
 pathway. Fixed he stood. Odysseus doubted whether 
 to spring and with his cudgel take his life, or to lift ' 
 him in the air and dash his head upon the ground. 
 But he was patient, and by thought restrained him- 
 self. And now the swineherd, looking him in the 
 face, rebuked the man and stretching forth his hands 
 prp.jed thus aloud : 
 
 "Nymphs of the fountain, daughters of Zeus, if ever 
 Odysseus burned on thy altars thighs of lambs and 
 kids, and wrapped them in rich fat, grant this my 
 prayer ! May he return and Heaven be his guide ! 
 Then would he scatter all the smartness you now reck- 
 lessly assume, roaming continually around the town, 
 while careless herdsmen let the flock decay." 
 
 Then answered him Melanthius the goatherd : " So, 
 so! How the cur talks, as if he knew some magic 
 arts ! Some day I '11 take him on a black and well* 
 benched ship far off from Ithaca, and get me a great 
 fortune. Oh that Apollo of the silver bow would/ 
 smite Telemachus at home to-day, or let him fall be- 
 fore the suitors, as certainly as for Odysseus, far in 
 foreign lands, the day of coming home is lost ! " 
 
 So saying, he left them slowly plodding on, and off 
 he went and soon he came to the king's palace. He en- 
 tered at once and took his seat among the suitors over 
 against Eurymachus, for he liked him best of all. 
 Then those who served passed him a portion of the 
 meat, while th grave housekeeper brought bread and
 
 XVII. 260-292.] THE ODYSSEY. 271 
 
 set before him, for him to eat. Meantime Odysseus 
 and the noble swineherd halted as they drew near, 
 while round them came notes of the hollow lyre; 
 for Phemius lifted up his voice to sing before the 
 suitors. And taking the swineherd by the hand, 
 Odysseus said : 
 
 " Surely, Eumaeus, this is the goodly palace of Odys. 
 seus, easy to notice even among many. Building joins 
 building here. The court is built with wall and cor- 
 nice, and a double gate protects. No man may scorn 
 it. I notice too that a great company are banqueting 
 within ; for the savory steam mounts up, and in the 
 house resounds the lyre, made by the gods the fellow 
 of the feast." 
 
 And, swineherd Eumaeus, you answered him and 
 said : " You notice quickly, dull of thought in no- 
 thing. Come then and let us plan what we must do. 
 You enter the stately buildings first and mingle with 
 the suitors, while I stay here behind ; or if you like, 
 wait you, and I will go. But do not linger long, or 
 somebody may spy you at the door and throw a stone 
 or strike you. Take care, I say ! " 
 
 Then long-tried royal Odysseus answered : " I see, 
 I understand ; you speak to one who knows. But go 
 you on before, I will stay here behind : for I am not 
 unused to blows and missiles. Stanch is my soul; 
 for many dangers have I borne from waves and war. 
 To those let this be added. Yet I cannot disregard a 
 gnawing belly, the pest which brings so many ills to 
 men. To ease it, timbered ships are fitted and carry 
 woe to foemen over barren seas." 
 
 So they conversed together. But a dog lying near 
 lifted his head and ears. Argos it was, the dog of 
 hardy Odysseus, whsm long ago he reared but never _
 
 272 THE ODYSSEY. [XVII. 293-327. 
 
 used. Before the dog was grown, Odysseus went to 
 sacred Ilios. In the times past young men would take 
 him on the chase, for wild goats, deer, and hares ; but 
 now he lay neglected, his master gone away, upon the 
 pile of dung which had been dropped before the door 
 by mules and oxen, and which lay there in a heap for 
 slaves to carry off and dung the broad lands of Odys- 
 seus. Here lay the dog, this Argos, full of fleas. Yet 
 even now, seeing Odysseus near, he wagged his tail 
 and dropped both ears, but toward his master he had 
 not strength to move. Odysseus turned aside and 
 wiped away a tear, swiftly concealing from Euinaeus 
 what he did ; then straightway thus he questioned : 
 
 " Eumaeus, it is strange this dog lies on the dung- 
 hill. His form is good ; but I am not sure if he has 
 speed of foot to match his beauty, or if he is merely 
 what the table-dogs become which masters keep for 
 show." 
 
 And, swineherd Eumaeus, yon answered him and 
 aaid : " Aye truly, that is the dog of one who died 
 afar. If he were as good in form and action as when 
 Odysseus left him and went away to Troy, you would 
 be much surprised to see his speed and strength. For 
 nothing could escape him in the forest-depths, no crea- 
 ture that he started ; he was keen upon the scent. 
 Now he has come to ill. In a strange land his master 
 perished, and the slack women give him no more care ; 
 for slaves, when masters lose control, will not attend to 
 duties. Ah, half the value of a man far-seeing Zeus 
 destroys when the slave's lot befalls him I " 
 
 So saying, he entered the stately house and went 
 straight down the hall among the lordly suitors. But 
 upon Argos fell the doom of darksome death when he 
 beheld Odysseus, twenty years away.
 
 XVII. 328-357.] THE ODYSSEY. 278 
 
 By far the first to see the swineherd as he walked 
 along the hall was princely Telemachus, and he quick- 
 ly gave a nod to call him to his side. Glancing 
 around, Eumaeus took a stool which stood at hand, 
 where the carver sat at feasts within the hall when 
 carving for the suitors the many joints of meat ; car- 
 rying the stool to the table of Telemachus, he placed 
 it on the farther side and there sat down. And then 
 a page took up a dish of meat and passed it, and from 
 the basket gave him also bread. 
 
 Close following after, Odysseus entered the palace, 
 like an old and wretched beggar leaning upon a staff. 
 Upon his back were miserable clothes. He sat down 
 on the ash- wood threshold just within the door, lean- 
 ing against the cypress post which long ago the car- 
 penter had smoothed with skill and leveled to the line. 
 But to the swineherd said Telemachus, calling him to 
 his side and taking a whole loaf from the goodly bas- 
 ket and also all the meat his hands stretched wide 
 would hold : 
 
 " Take this and give the stranger, and bid him move 
 about and beg of all the suitors. Shyness is no good 
 comrade for a needy man." 
 
 He spoke, and the swineherd went as soon as he 
 heard the order, and standing by Odysseus said in 
 winged words : " Stranger, Telemachus gives this, and 
 bids you move about and beg of all the suitors. 
 Shyness, he says, is no good comrade for a beggar 
 man." 
 
 Then answering him, said wise Odysseus : " O Zeus 
 above, may Telemachus be blessed among mankind, 
 and may he get whatever in his heart he longs for 1 " 
 
 He spoke, and took the food with both his hands 
 and laid it down before his feet on his mean wallet,
 
 274 THE ODYSSEY. [XVIL 358-388. 
 
 and so ate, the while within the hall the bard was 
 singing. But when the meal was ended and the sa- 
 cred bard had ceased, the suitors raised an uproar in 
 the hall. And now Athene, drawing near Laertes* 
 son, Odysseus, urged him to gather crusts among 
 the suitors, and learn who were the righteous ones 
 and who the lawless ; though not even thus would she 
 preserve a man of them from ruin. So off he went 
 to beg of all from left to right, stretching his hand 
 around as if he had been long a beggar. They pitied 
 him and gave, and wondering at the man asked one 
 another who he was and whence he came ; and Me- 
 lanthius, the goatherd, said : 
 
 ** Hear from me, suitors of the illustrious queen, 
 something about the stranger. I saw him a while ago ; 
 and certainly it was the swineherd brought him hither. 
 The man himself I do not really know, nor of what 
 tribe he boasts himself to be." 
 
 When he had spoken, Antinous rebuked the swine- 
 herd thus : " Infamous swineherd, why bring this man 
 to town ? Have we not here already plenty of vaga- 
 bonds and nasty beggars to make mischief at our 
 feasts ? Do you not mind that men devour the living 
 of their lord by gathering here? And do you ask 
 this fellow too to come ? *' 
 
 Then, swineherd Eumaeus, you answered him and 
 said: " Antinous, you speak but ill, noble although 
 you are. Who ever goes and calls a stranger from 
 abroad ? Unless indeed the stranger is a master of 
 some craft, a prophet, healer of disease, or builder, 
 or else a wondrous bard who pleases by his song ; for 
 these are welcomed by mankind the wide world 
 through. A beggar, who would ask to be a torment 
 to himself ? But you are always harsh more tnan
 
 XVIL 389-420.] THE ODYSSEY. 275 
 
 the other suitors, to the servants of Odysseus, es- 
 pecially to me. And yet I do not care, so long as heed* 
 ful Penelope is living in the palace, Penelope and 
 prince Telemachus." 
 
 Then said discreet Telemachus : " Hush ! Do not 
 make him a long answer. It is Antinous' way ever to 
 tease with ugly talk. He stirs up others too." 
 
 He spoke, and to Antinoiis in winged words he said : 
 '* Antinoiis, finely you care for me, as a father for his 
 son, bidding me drive this stranger forth by a com- 
 pulsive word I God let that never be ! Take of the 
 food and give him. I do not grudge it ; indeed I 
 bid you give. Be not disquieted about my mother or 
 any servant of the house of great Odysseus. But in 
 your breast there is no thought of giving. Far better 
 you like to eat than give to others." 
 
 Then answering said Antinoiis : " Telemachus, of 
 the lofty tongue and the unbridled temper, what do 
 you mean? If every suitor gave as much as I, for 
 three months' space at least the house would miss him." 
 
 So saying, he seized his stool and drew it out from 
 under the table where it lay. On it he used to set 
 his dainty feet while feasting. Now all the rest 
 had given food and filled with bread and meat the 
 beggar's wallet. A moment and Odysseus would go 
 back to the threshold to taste the Achaeans' bounty. 
 Before Antinoiis he paused, and said : 
 
 " Give me some food, kind sir ! You do not seem 
 the poorest of the Achaeans ; rather, the chief ; for 
 you are like a king. So you shall give me bread 
 more generously than others, and I will sing your 
 praise the wide world through. For once I lived in 
 luxury among my mates, in a rich house, and often 
 gave to wanderers, careless who they might be or
 
 276 THE ODYSSEY. (.XVII. 421-162. 
 
 with what needs they came. Servants I had in plenty, 
 and everything besides by which men live at ease 
 and are reputed rich. But Zeus, the son of Kronos, 
 brought me low. His will it was. He sent me with 
 a roving band of plunderers to Egypt, a long voyage, 
 to my ruin. In Egypt's stream I anchored my curved 
 ships ; then to my trusty men I gave command to stay 
 there by the ships and guard the ships, while I sent 
 scouts to points of observation. But giving way to 
 lawlessness and following their own bent, they pres- 
 ently began to pillage the fair fields of the Egyp- 
 tians, carrying off wives and infant children and 
 slaughtering the men. Soon the din reached the 
 city. The people there, hearing the shouts, camo 
 forth at early dawn, and all the plain was filled with 
 footmen and with horsemen and with the gleam of 
 bronze. Then Zeus, the Thunderer, brought on my 
 men a cruel panic, and none dared stand and face 
 the foe. Danger encountered us on every side. So 
 the Egyptians slew many of our men with the sharp 
 sword, and carried others off alive to work for them 
 in bondage. They gave me to a friend who chanced 
 to meet them upon his way to Cyprus, to Dmetor son 
 of lasus, who ruled with power in Cyprus. Thence 
 I am now come hither, sore distressed." 
 
 Then answered him Antinoiis and said: "What 
 god has brought to us this pest, this mar-feast here ? 
 Stand off there in the middle, back from my table, or 
 you shall find a bitter Egypt and a bitter Cyprus 
 too, brazen and shameless beggar that you are I You 
 go to all in turn, and they give lavishly. No scruple 
 or compunction do they feel at being generous with 
 others' goods, while there remains abundance for 
 themselves."
 
 XVII. 463-485.] THE ODYSSEY. 277 
 
 Then stepping back said wise Odysseus : " Indeed ! 
 In you then wisdom does not go with beauty. From 
 your own house you would not give a suppliant salt, 
 if sitting at another's table you will not take and give 
 me bread. Yet here there is abundance." 
 
 As he thus spoke, Antinoiis was angered in his 
 heart the more, and looking sternly on him said io 
 winged words : " Now you shall never leave the hall in 
 peace, I think, now you have taunted me." 
 
 So saying, he seized his footstool, flung it and struck 
 Odysseus on the back of the right shoulder, near the 
 spine. Firm as a rock he stood ; the missile of Anti- 
 noils did not move him. Silent he shook his head, 
 brooding on evil. Then once more walking toward 
 the threshold, down he sat, laid off his well-filled 
 wallet, and thus addressed the suitors : 
 
 " Hearken, you suitors of the illustrious queen, and 
 let me tell you what the heart within me bids. One 
 feels no smart or indignation in his mind if struck 
 while fighting for his own possessions, his oxen, say, 
 or white-wooled sheep ; but Antinoiis gave this blow 
 because of my poor belly, that wretched part which 
 brings to men so many ills. If then for beggars there 
 be gods and furies, may death's doom seize Antinoiis 
 uefore his marriage." 
 
 Then said Antinoiis, Eupeithes' son: "Stranger, 
 sit still and eat, or go off elsewhere ; or for such talk 
 as this young men will drag you through the house 
 by hand and foot, and strip off all your skin." 
 
 At these his words all were exceeding wroth, and 
 a rude youth would say : " Antinoiis, r t was not well 
 done to assault the wretched wanderer. A doomed 
 man you, if he should be a god come down from 
 heaven. And gods in guise of strangers from afaa
 
 278 THE ODYSSEY. [XVIL 486-518. 
 
 in every form do roam our cities, marking the sin 
 and righteousness of men." 
 
 So said the suitors ; Antinoiis did not heed their 
 words. But Telemachus nursed in his heart great in- 
 dignation at the blow, yet let no tear fall from his 
 eyelids to the ground. Silent he shook his head, 
 brooding on evil. 
 
 When heedful Penelope heard how in the hall a 
 man was struck, she said to her maids : " May the 
 archer-god Apollo strike you even so I " Whereat 
 Eurynume the housekeeper made answer : " If only 
 prayers of ours might be fulfilled, no one of them 
 should see another bright-throned dawn." 
 
 And heedful Penelope replied : " Nurse, hateful are 
 they all; their ways are evil; but Antinoiis is like 
 dark doom itself. Into the house strays some poor 
 stranger, and begs for bread, as need compels ; then 
 while all others gave and filled his wallet, Antinoiis 
 struck him with a footstool on the back of the right 
 shoulder." 
 
 So talked Penelope with her maids as she sat within 
 a chamber, while rcyal Odysseus was busied with his 
 meal. Then callirg the noble swineherd, thus she 
 spoke : " Go, noble Eurnrums, go bid the stranger 
 come to me. I wish to prreet him and to ask if he 
 has heard of hardy Odysseus or with his own eye? 
 seen him. He looks a traveled man." 
 
 Then, swineherd Eumaeus, you answered her an<* 
 aaid : " Would, queen, the Achaeans would be still ' 
 What he can tell would charm your very souL ThnxS 
 nights I had him ; for three days I kept him at the 
 lodge ; he came to me at once on escaping from his 
 vessel. Yet all that time he never ended telling me 
 hi* troubles. And just as when men gaze upon a
 
 XVH 519-551.] THE ODYSSEY. 279 
 
 bard who has been taught by gods to sing them mov- 
 ing lays, and they long to listen endlessly so long as 
 the bard will sing ; even so he held me spell-bound as 
 he sat within my room. He calls Odysseus his ances- 
 tral friend, and says his home is Crete, where the race 
 of Minos dwell. Thence he is now come hither, sore 
 distressed and onward driven ever. He declares he 
 lias heard that Odysseus is near at hand, in the rich 
 land of the Thesprotians, a living man, and that he 
 brings a mass of treasure home." 
 
 Then said to him heedful Penelope : " Go call him 
 hither, to tell his story here before my face. Let men 
 make merry, sitting before the door, or here within 
 the house. Their hearts are gay. Untouched at home 
 their goods are lying, their bread and their sweet wine. 
 On these their servants feed. But haunting this 
 house of GUIS day after day, killing our oxen, sheep, 
 and fatted goats, these suitors hold high revel, drink- 
 ing sparkling wine with little heed. Much goes to 
 waste ; for there is no man here fit, like Odysseus, to 
 keep damage from our doors. But if Odysseus should 
 return, home to his native land, soon with his son's 
 help he would punish these men's crimes." 
 
 As she spoke thus, Telemachus sneezed loudly, and 
 all the hall gave a great echo. Penelope laughed, 
 and to Eumaeus straightway said in winged words : 
 44 Pray go and call the stranger before me, as I bade. 
 Do you not notice how my son sneezed at my words? 
 Therefore no partial death shall strike the suitors. 
 On all it falls ; none shall escape from death and 
 doom. Nay, this I will say farther ; mark it well : if 
 I shall find that all the stranger tells is true, I will 
 clothe him in a coat and tunic, goodly garments." 
 
 She spoke, and the swineherd went as soon as he
 
 280 THE ODYSSEY. [XVII. 552-^84 
 
 heard the order, and standing near the stranger said 
 in winged words : " Here, good old stranger, heedful 
 Penelope is calling, the mother of Telemachus. Her 
 heart inclines her to ask for tidings of her husband, 
 so full of grief is she. And if she finds that all you 
 trll is true, she will clothe you in a coat and tunic, 
 things that you greatly need. Moreover, you shall 
 beg your bread about the land and fill your belly. 
 Whoever will shall give." 
 
 Then said to him long-tried royal Odysseus : " Eu- 
 maeus, I would straightway tell my whole true story 
 to the daughter of Icarius, heedful Penelope ; for well 
 I know about Odysseus. We have borne the self- 
 same sorrows. But I have fears about this crowd of 
 cruel suitors, whose arrogance and outrage reaches 
 the iron heavens ; for even now when, as I walked 
 along the hall doing no harm, this person struck and 
 hurt me, neither Telemachus nor others interfered. 
 Bid then Penelope, however eager, wait in the hall 
 till sunset; then let her ask about her husband's 
 coming, after giving me a seat beside the fire ; for 
 tie clothes I wear are poor. That, you yourself well 
 know; because it was of you I first sought aid." 
 
 He spoke, and the swineherd went as soon as he 
 heard the order. But as he crossed the threshold, 
 thus spoke Penelope : " Are you not bringing him, 
 Eumaeus ? What does the wanderer mean ? Is he 
 afraid of some bad man, or simply shy at being in 
 *he palace ? To be a homeless man and shy is bad." 
 
 Then, swineherd Eumaeus, you answered her and 
 i/aid : " Rightly he speaks, as any man must think, if 
 he would shun the violence of these audacious men. 
 He bids you wait till sunset. And it is better too for 
 you, my queen, to speak to the stranger privately and 
 listen to his tale."
 
 XVII. 685-606.] THE ODYSSEY. 281 
 
 Then said to him heedful Penelope : " Not without 
 wisdom thinks the stranger thus, whoever he may be ; 
 for mortal men have never yet so wantonly wrought 
 outrage." 
 
 She spoke, and the noble swineherd entered the 
 throng of suitors, when he had told her all; and 
 straightway to Telemachus he spoke these winged 
 words, his head bent close, that others might not 
 hear: 
 
 " My dear, I go to guard the swine and matters 
 there, your livelihood and mine ; do you mind all 
 things here. Above all else, keep yourself safe and 
 see that nothing happens. Many of the Achaean? 
 are forming wicked plans, whom Zeus confound before 
 harm falls on us ! " 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus: "So be 
 it, father ! Go when you have supped ; and in the 
 morning come and bring us goodly victims. To me 
 and the immortal gods leave all things here." 
 
 He spoke, and once more down Eumaeus sat upon 
 a polished bench. Then, after having satisfied desire 
 for food and drink, he departed to his swine, leaving 
 the courts and hall crowded with feasters, who with 
 dance and song were making merry ; for evening now 
 drew near.
 
 XVI1L 
 
 THE FIGHT OF ODT88EU8 AND IRU8. 
 
 THERE came into the ball a common beggar, who 
 tsed to beg about the town of Ithaca, and everywhere 
 Was noted for his greedy belly, eating and drinking 
 without end. He had no strength nor sinew, but in 
 bulk was large to see. Arnaeus was his name, the name 
 his honored mother gave at his birth ; but Irus all the 
 young men called him, because he used to run on 
 errands at anybody's bidding. Coming in now, he 
 tried to drive Odysseus from the house, and jeeringly 
 he spoke these winged words : 
 
 " Get up, old man, and leave the door-way, or you 
 will soon be dragged off by the leg. Do you not see 
 how everybody gives the wink and bids me drag you 
 forth ? I still hold back. Up, then ! Or soon our 
 quarrel comes to blows." 
 
 But looking sternly on him wise Odysseus said: 
 u Sir, I am doing you no harm by deed or word, noi 
 do I grudge it when men take and give you much. 
 This door will hold us both. Surely you should not 
 grudge the goods of others. You seem a wanderer, 
 like myself ; but the gods may grant us fortune. Yet 
 do not challenge me too far with show of fists, or you 
 may rouse my rage ; and old as I am, I still might 
 stain your breast and lips with blood. Then I should 
 have more peace to-morrow than to-day : for a second 
 time, I think, you would not seek the hall of Laertes* 
 on, Odysseus."
 
 XVIIL 25-57.] THE ODYSSEY. 283 
 
 Then angrily replied the beggar Irus: "Pshaw I 
 How glibly the glutton talks, like an old oven-woman ! 
 But I will do him an ugly turn, knocking him right 
 and left, and scattering all the teeth out of his jaws 
 upon the ground, as if he were a pig spoiling the corn. 
 Gird yourself then, that all these men may watch our 
 fighting. Yet how could you defend yourself against 
 a younger man ? " 
 
 Thus on the well-worn threshold before the lofty 
 door they fiercely wrangled. Revered Antinoiis ob- 
 served them, and gaily laughing he thus addressed the 
 suitors : 
 
 " Friends, nothing so good as this has ever hap- 
 pened. What sport God sends this house ! The 
 stranger here and Irus are goading one another on 
 to blows. Let us quickly set them on ! " 
 
 He spoke, and laughing all sprang up and flocked 
 around the tattered beggars, and Antinoiis, Eupei- 
 thes' son, called out : " Hearken, you haughty suitors, 
 while I speak. Here are goat-paunches lying by the 
 fire, set there for supper, full of fat and blood. 
 "Whichever wins and proves the better man, let him 
 step forth and take what one of these he will ; and 
 that man shall hereafter always attend our feasts and 
 we will allow no other beggar to come here asking 
 alms." 
 
 So said Antinoiis, and his saying pleased them. But 
 in his subtlety said wise Odysseus : " It is not fair, 
 my friends, a younger man should fight an old one,- 
 one broken too by trouble. Yet a reckless belly 
 forces me to bear his blows. Come then, all swear a 
 solemn oath that nobody helping Irus will strike with 
 heavy hand an unfair blow, and put me down before 
 the man perforce."
 
 284 THE ODYSSEY. [XVIII. c 2-88. 
 
 He spoke, and all then took the oath which he 
 required. And after they had sworn and endod all 
 their oath, once more revered Telemachus spoke out 
 among them : " Stranger, if heart and daring spirit 
 tempt you to meet the man, be not afraid of any of 
 the Achaeans ; for he shall fight the crowd who strikes 
 at you. I am the host. The princes too assent, An- 
 tin oils and Euryinachus, both honest-minded men." 
 
 He spoke, and all approved. Meanwhile Odysseus 
 gathered his rags around his waist and showed his 
 thighs, so fair and large, and his broad shoulders 
 came in sight, his breast and sinewy arms. Athene, 
 drawing nigh, filled out the limbs of the shepherd of. 
 the people, that all the suitors greatly wondered. 
 And glancing at his neighbor one would say : 
 
 " Irus will soon be no more Irus, but catch a plagn 
 of his own bringing ; so big a thigh the old man sLows 
 under his rags." 
 
 So they spoke, and Irus' heart was sorely snaken ; 
 nevertheless, the serving-men girt him and led him 
 out, forcing him on in spite of fears. The muscles 
 quivered on his limbs. But Antinoiis rebuked him 
 and spoke to him and said : 
 
 " Better you were not living, loud-mouthed bully, 
 and never had been born, if you quake and are so 
 mightily afraid at meeting this old man, one broken 
 by the trouble he has had. Nay, this I tell you and 
 it shall be done : if he shall win and prove the better 
 man, I will toss you into a black ship and send you 
 to the mainland, off to king Echetus, the bane of all 
 mankind ; and he will cut your nose and ears off with 
 his ruthless sword, and tearing out your bowels give 
 them raw to dogs to eat." 
 w So he spoke, and a trembling greater still fell on
 
 XVIII. 8&-117.] THE ODYSSEY. 285 
 
 the limbs of Irus. But into the ring they led him, 
 and both men raised their fists. Then long-tried 
 royal Odysseus doubted whether to strike him so that 
 life might leave him as he fell, or to strike lightly 
 and but stretch him on the ground. Reflecting thus, 
 it seemed the better way lightly to strike, for fear the 
 Achaeans might discover it was he. So when they 
 raised their fists, Irus struck the right shoulder of 
 Odysseus ; but he struck Irus on the neck below the 
 ear and crushed the bones vrithin. Forthwith from 
 out his mouth the red blood ran, and down in the 
 dust he fell with a moan, gnashing his teeth and 
 kicking on the ground. The lordly suitors raised 
 their hands and almost died with laughter. But 
 Odysseus caught Irus by the foot and dragged him 
 through the door-way, until he reached the courtyard 
 and the opening of the porch. Against the courtyard 
 wall he set him up aslant, then thrust a staff into his 
 hand, and speaking in winged words he said : 
 
 " Sit there awhile, and scare off dogs and swine ; and 
 do not try to be the lord of strangers and of beggars, 
 while pitiful yourself, or haply some worse fate may 
 fall on you." 
 
 He spoke, and round his shoulder slung his mis- 
 erable wallet, full of holes, which hung upon a cord, 
 then once more walking to the threshold he sat down ; 
 meanwhile the others pressed indoors with merry 
 laughter and thus accosted him : 
 
 " Stranger, may Zeus and the other immortal gods 
 grant all you wish for most, even all your heart's 
 desire, for stopping this insatiate fellow's begging 
 through the land. Soon we will take him to the main- 
 land, off to king Echetus, the bane of all mankind." 
 
 So they spoke, and royal Odysseus was happy in
 
 286 THE ODYSSEY. [XVIH 118-150. 
 
 the omen. Antinoiis too set a great paunch before 
 him, full of fat and blood, and Amphinomus took 
 two loaves out of the basket and offered them, and 
 pledged him in a golden cup and said : " Hail, aged 
 stranger I May happiness be yours in time to come, 
 though you are tried by many troubles now I " 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said : ** In- 
 deed, Amphinomus, you seem a man of understand' 
 ing. Such was your father too; for I have heard 
 a good report of Nisus of Doulichion, how he was 
 brave and rich. They say you are his son. You 
 appear kind. So I will speak and do you mark and 
 listen. Earth breeds no creature frailer than a man, 
 of all that breathe and move upon the earth . For 
 he says he never more will meet with trouble, TO 
 long as the gods give vigor and make his knees 
 be strong. Then when the blessed gods send sorrow, 
 this too he bears with patient heart, although against 
 his will. Ever the mood of man while on the earth 
 is as the day which the father of men and gods be- 
 stows. Once among men I too was counted prosper- 
 ous ; but many wrongs I wrought, led on by pride and 
 sense of power, confident in my father's and my 
 brothers' aid. Wherefore let none in any wise be 
 reckless, but calmly take whatever gifts the gods pro- 
 vide. Yet I behold you suitors working wrong, wast- 
 ing the wealth and worrying the wife of one who, 
 I can tell you, will not be absent long from friends 
 and native land ; for he is very near. May then some 
 heavenly power conduct you to your homes I And 
 may you not encounter him whenever he returns to 
 his own native land I Surely not bloodless will the 
 parting be between the suitors and himself when un- 
 derneath this roof he comes once more."
 
 . 151-182.] THE ODYSSEY. 287 
 
 He spoke, and pouring a libation drank the honeyed 
 wine, then back in the hands of the guardian of the 
 people placed the cup. Amphinoinus walked down 
 the hall heavy at heart, shaking his head; his soul 
 foreboded ill. Yet even so he did not escape his 
 doom ; for Athene bound him fast, beneath the hand 
 and spear of Telemachus to be perforce laid low. So 
 back he turned and took the seat from which he first 
 arose. 
 
 And now the goddess, clear-eyed Athene, put in the 
 mind of Icarius' daughter, heedful Penelope, to show 
 herself among the suitors ; that she might thus open 
 the suitors' hearts most largely, and so become more 
 highly prized by husband and by son than heretofore. 
 Idly she laughed and thus she spoke and said : 
 
 * Eurynome, my heart is longing as it never longed 
 before to show myself among the suitors, hateful 
 although they be. I would say to my son a word that 
 may be useful ; tell him to mingle not at all with the 
 audacious suitors, for they speak kindly but have evil 
 thoughts behind." 
 
 And in her turn Eurynome, the housewife, an- 
 swered : " Truly, my child, in all this you speak 
 rightly. Go then and tell this saying to your son and 
 do not hide it ; only first wash your body and anoint 
 your cheeks. Go not with such a tear-stained face, 
 To grieve incessantly makes matters worse. And 
 now your son is what you often prayed the immortals 
 you might see him, a bearded man already." 
 
 Then said to her heedful Penelope: "Eurynome, 
 urge me not, out of kindness, to wash my body and 
 anoint me with the oil. All charm of mine the gods 
 who hold Olympus took away when he departed in 
 the hollow ships. But tell Autonoe and Hippodameia
 
 285 THE ODYSSEY. \XVHL 183-214 
 
 to come hither, to attend me in the hall. Among the 
 men I will not go alone, for very shame." 
 
 So she spoke, and through the hall forth the oid 
 woman went to give the message to the maids and bid 
 them come with speed. 
 
 Then a new plan the goddess formed, clear-eyed 
 Athene. She poured sweet slumber on the daughter 
 of Icarius ; and lying back she slept and every joint 
 relaxed, there on her couch. Meanwhile the heavenly 
 goddess gave her immortal gifts, to make the Achae 
 aus marvel. And first she bathed her lovely cheekd 
 with an immortal bloom, like that with which crowned 
 Cytherea anoints herself when going to the gladsome 
 dance among the Graces. She made her also taller 
 and larger to behold, and made her whiter than the 
 new-cut ivory. So having done, the heavenly goddess 
 went her way ; and out of the hall the white-armed 
 damsels came, entering the room with noise. Sweet 
 slumber left Penelope. She drew her hands across 
 her cheeks and thus she spoke : 
 
 " Ah, utterly wretched as I am, soft slumber wrapt 
 me round. Would that chaste Artemis would send 
 a death so soft, instantly, now, that, sad at heart 
 no more, I might not waste my days mourning the 
 many-sided worth of him, my husband, the best of all 
 Achaeans ! " 
 
 So saying, down she went from her bright upper 
 cliamber, yet not alone ; two damsels followed her. 
 And when the royal lady reached the suitors, she 
 stood beside a column of the strong-built roof, hold- 
 ing before her face her delicate wimple, the while 
 a faithful damsel stood upon either hand. The suit- 
 ors' knees grew weak; with love their hearts were 
 tranced. Each prayed to lie beside her. But she 
 addressed TelemachuH.her n\vn dear son :
 
 XVIII. 215-249.] THE ODYSSEY. 289 
 
 " Telemaehus, your mind and judgment are no 
 longer sound. While still a boy you managed more 
 discreetly. But now when you are grown and come 
 to man's estate, and any stranger would call you the 
 son of a man of worth, if he observed your height 
 and beauty, now mind and judgment are not trusty 
 any more. For only see what happened in the hall: 
 /you let this stranger be maltreated there. And what 
 will be thought if a stranger, seated within our house, 
 should meet with harm through brutal handling? 
 Shame and disgrace would come on you from all 
 men." 
 
 Then answered her discreet Telemachus : " Mother, 
 I do not blame you for your anger. Yet in my heart 
 I know and fully understand the right and wrong. 
 Before, I was a child, and I am not always able now to 
 see what wise ways are ; for the suitors disconcert me, 
 coming on every side with wicked plans, while I have 
 none to help. However, the quarrel of Irus and the 
 stranger turned out in no wise to the suitors* mind. 
 In strength the stranger proved the better man. Ah 
 father Zeus, Athene, and Apollo, would that the suit- 
 ors in our halls might beaten hang their heads, 
 some in the yard, some in the house, and so theii 
 limbs be loosed, as that same Irus at the courtyard 
 gate now sits and hangs his head, like a man drunk, 
 and cannot stand straight on his feet nor go off home, 
 wherever that may be, because his limbs are loose." 
 
 So they conversed together. But now Eurymachus 
 addressed Penelope : " Daughter of Icarius, heedful 
 Penelope, if all Achaeans in lasian Argos could be- 
 hold you, more suitors would be feasting in your halls 
 to-morrow ; for you excel all womankind in beauty, 
 height, and balanced mind within."
 
 290 THE ODYSSEY. [XVIII. 260-283, 
 
 Then answered him heedful Penelope : " Euryma- 
 jh us, all excellence of mine in face or form the im- 
 mortals took away the day the Argive host took ship 
 for Ilios, and with them went my lord Odysseus. If he 
 would come and tend this life of mine, greater would 
 be my fame and fairer then. Now I am in distress, 
 such woes God thrusts upon me. Ah, when be went 
 and left his native laud, holding my hand, my right 
 band, by the wrist, he said : * Wife, I do not think 
 the mailed Achaeans will all come back from Troy 
 safe and unharmed ; for they say the Trojans are good 
 fighters, hurlers of spears, drawers of bows, and 
 riders on swift horses, such men as soon decide the 
 struggle of uncertain war. Therefore I do not know 
 if God will bring me back, or if I shall be captured 
 there in Troy. On you must rest the care of all 
 things here. Be mindful of my father and my mother 
 here at home, as you are now, and even more when I 
 am gone. And when you see our son a bearded man, 
 then marry whom you will, and leave the house now 
 yours.' Such were his words, and all now nears its 
 end. The night will come when a detested marriage 
 falls on doomed me, whom Zeus has stripped of for* 
 tune. One bitter vexation, too, touches my heart and 
 soul: this never was the way with suitors hereto* 
 fore ; they who will woo a lady of rank, a rich man's 
 daughter, rivaling one another, bring oxen and sturdy 
 sheep, to feast the maiden's friends, and give rich 
 gifts besides. They do not, making no amends, de- 
 Tour another's substance." 
 
 She spoke, and glad was long-tried royal Odysseus 
 to see her winning gifts and charming the suitors' 
 hearts with pleasing words, while her mind had a dif- 
 ferent purpose.
 
 . 284-316.] THE ODYSSEY. 291 
 
 Then said Antinoiis, Eupeithes* son : " Daughter 
 of Icarius, heedful Penelope, if any Achaean cares to 
 bring gifts hither, accept them ; for it is not gracious 
 to refuse a gift. But we will never go to our estates, 
 nor elsewhere either, till you are married to the best 
 Achaean here." 
 
 So said Antinoiis, and his saying pleased them ; 
 and for the bringing of the gifts each man sent forth 
 his page. The page of Antinoiis brought a fair large 
 robe of many colors ; on it were golden brooches, 
 twelve in all, mounted with twisted clasps. To Eury- 
 machus his page presently brought a chain, wrought 
 curiously in gold and set with amber, bright as 
 the sun. His servants brought Eurydamus a pair of 
 earrings, each brilliant with three drops ; from them 
 great beauty sparkled. Out of the house of lord 
 Peisander, son of Polyctor, his servant brought a 
 necklace, a jewel exceeding fair. And other servants 
 brought still other fitting gifts from the Achaeans. 
 
 Then went the royal lady to her upper chamber, 
 her damsels carrying the goodly gifts. Meanwhile 
 the suitors to dancing and the gladsome song turned 
 merrily, and waited for the evening to come on. And 
 on their merriment dark evening came. Straightway 
 they set three braziers in the hall, to give them light, 
 and piled upon them sapless logs, long seasoned, 
 very dry, and freshly split, with which they mingled 
 brands. By turns the maids of hardy Odysseus fed 
 the fire ; and he, the high-born wise Odysseus, thus 
 addressed them : 
 
 " You damsels of Odysseus, a master long away, go 
 to the room where your honored mistress stays. 
 There twirl your spindles by her side and furnish her 
 good cheer, as you sit within her hall, and card with
 
 92 THE ODYSSEY. [XVIII. 317-346. 
 
 your hands the wool. I will supply the light for all 
 these here. Yes, if they wish to stay till bright- 
 throned dawn, they will not weary me ; I am prac- 
 ticed to endure." 
 
 At these his words the damsels laughed and glanced 
 at one another, and Melantho rudely reviled Odysseus, 
 Melantho the fair-faced girl, daughter of Dolius, 
 whom Penelope had reared and treated as her child, 
 granting her every whim. But for all this, she enter- 
 tained no sorrow for Penelope, but loved Eurymachua 
 and was his paramour. She now reviled Odysseus in 
 these abusive words : 
 
 " Why, silly stranger, you are certainly some crack- 
 brained person, unwilling to go to the coppersmith's 
 to sleep, o* to the common lodge ; but here you prate 
 continually, braving these many lords and unabashed 
 at heart. Surely the wine has touched your wits ; or 
 else it is your constant way to chatter idly. Are you 
 beside yourself because you beat that scapegrace Irus ? 
 A better man than Irus may by and by arise, to box 
 your pate with doughty blows and pack you out of 
 doors all dabbled with your blood." 
 
 But looking sternly on her, wise Odysseus said: 
 "You cur, I go, and at once tell Telemachus what 
 words yon use ; and he shall tear you limb from limb 
 upon the spot." 
 
 So saying, by his words he frightened off the 
 women. They hurried along the hall. The knees of 
 each grew weak with terror, for they thought he spoke 
 in earnest. He, meanwhile, keeping up the fire, stood 
 by the blazing braziers observing all the men. But 
 other thoughts his heart debated, thoughts not to fai] 
 of issue. 
 
 Yet Athene allowed the haughty suitors not alto-
 
 XVIII. 347-577.] THE ODYSSEY. 293 
 
 gether yet to cease from biting scorn. She wished 
 more pain to pierce the heart of Laertes' son, Odys- 
 seus. So Eurymachus the son of Polybus began to 
 speak, and jeering Odysseus raised a laugh among his 
 mates : " Hearken, you suitors of the illustrious queen, 
 and let me tell you what the heart within me bids. 
 Not without guidance of a god this fellow comes to 
 the household of Odysseus. At any rate, a torchlight 
 seems to rise from his very head; for hair upon it 
 Jhere is none, no not the least." 
 
 With that he called to the spoiler of towns, Odys- 
 seus : " Stranger, if I would take you, would you like 
 to work for hire on the outskirts of my farm, there 
 will be pay enough, gathering stones for walls and 
 setting out tall trees? There for a year I would 
 provide you food, furnish you clothing and put san- 
 dals on your feet. Still, now that you have learned 
 bad ways you will not care to work, but will prefer to 
 beg about the town, so long as you can find where- 
 with to stuff your greedy maw." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said ; " Eu- 
 rymachus, I wish that we might have a match at 
 work, in spring-time when the days are long, upon the 
 grass ; and I would take a well-curved scythe and you 
 another like it to test our power of work, fasting 
 right up till dark, with grass still plenty. Or if again 
 the match were driving oxen, choice, tawny, large 
 ones, both well fed with grass, equal in years and 
 pulling well together, tireless in strength, and here 
 were a field four acres large, whose soil would take 
 the plow ; then you should see if I could cut a straight 
 and even furrow. Or, once more, if the son of Kro- 
 nos by some means stirred up war, this very day, and 
 I had a shield and pair of spears and a brazen helmet
 
 294 THE ODYSSEY. [XVIII. 37&-4091 
 
 fitted to my brow, then would you see me join the 
 foremost in the fight, and you would no longer jest 
 and talk about my belly. No, you are very proud and 
 your temper is disdainful ; no doubt you seem a great 
 man and a mighty, because you mix with few and 
 they of little worth. But should Odysseus come and 
 reach his native land, soon would these doors, how- 
 ever wide, prove all too narrow, as you hurried through 
 the porch." 
 
 As he spoke thus, Eurymachus grew angrier still 
 at heart, and looking sternly on Odysseus, he spoke 
 these winged words : " Wretch, I shall do you mis. 
 chief soon for prating so, braving these many lords 
 and unabashed at heart. Surely the wine has touched 
 your wits ; or else it is your constant way vx> chatter 
 idly. Are you beside yourself because you beat that 
 scapegrace Irus ? " 
 
 So saying, he seized a footstool ; Odysseus crouched 
 by the knees of Amphinomus of Doulichion, fearing 
 Eurymachus, who hit the right hand of the wine- 
 pourer. Down went his beaker clattering to the 
 ground, and he himself fell moaning in the dust. But 
 the suitors broke into uproar up and down the dusky 
 ball, and glancing at his neighbor one would say : 
 
 " Would that the vagabond had perished elsewhere 
 before he came in here 1 He would not then have 
 caused this din. Here we are brawling over beggara. 
 No more delight in jolly feasts ; now worse things have 
 their way ! " 
 
 Then said to them revered Telemachus : " Sirs, you 
 are mad, and do not hide that you have drunk and 
 eaten. Some god excites you. But now that you have 
 feasted well, go home to bed as quickly as you please. 
 Yet I drive none away."
 
 XVIII. 4KM28.] THE ODYSSEY. 295 
 
 He spoke, and all with teeth set in their lips mar- 
 veled because Teleinaclms had spoken boldly. And 
 then Amphinomus, the illustrious son of noble Nisus, 
 and grandson of Aretias, addressed them saying: 
 ** Friends, in answering what is fairly said, none should 
 be angry and retort with spiteful words. Let none 
 abuse the stranger nor any of the servants in great 
 Odysseus' hall. Come then and let the wine-pourer 
 give pious portions to our cups, that after a libation 
 we each go home to bed. And let us leave the stran- 
 ger here within Odysseus' hall, to be cared for by Te- 
 lemachus ; for to his house he came." 
 
 He spoke, and to them all his words were pleas- 
 ing. So a bowl was brewed by the lord Moulius, a 
 Doulichian page and follower of Amphinotnus- To 
 all in turn he served ; and they, with a libation to the 
 blessed gods, drank of the honeyed wine. Then fter 
 they had poured and drunk as their hearts would* de- 
 siring rest, they each departed homeward.
 
 XIX. 
 
 THB MEETING WITH PENELOPE AND THE RECOGNI- 
 TION BY EUHYCLEIA. 
 
 So in the hall was royal Odysseus left behind, plot 
 ting to slay the suitors with Athene's aid, and straight, 
 way to Telumachus he spoke these winged words : 
 
 "Telemachus, this fighting gear must all be laid 
 fcway, and with soft words you must beguile the suit- 
 ors when they because they miss it question you : * I 
 put it by out of the smoke, for it looks no longer like 
 the armor which Odysseus left behind when he went 
 away to Troy ; it is all tarnished, where the scent of 
 fire has come nigh. Besides, this graver fear some 
 god put in my mind. You might when full of wine 
 begin a quarrel and give each other wounds, making 
 a scandal of the feast and of your wooing. Steel it* 
 self draws men on.' " 
 
 He spoke, and Telemachus heeded his dear father, 
 and calling aside nurse Eurycleia, said : " Nurse, go 
 and keep the women in their rooms while I place in 
 the chamber my father's goodly armor, which as it 
 lies uncared for round the house smoke stains, while 
 he is gone. I have been foolish. Now I will place 
 it where no scent of fire shall come nigh." 
 
 Then said to him his dear nurse Eurycleia: "Ah I 
 Would, my child, you might incline to heedful ways* 
 and mind the house and guard its treasures I But 
 who shall go and bear the light? You will not let 
 the women stir who might have lighted you."
 
 . 26-58.] THE ODYSSEY. 297 
 
 Then answered her discreet Telemachus: "This 
 stranger here ; for I will allow no idle man to touch 
 my bread, come he from whence he may." 
 
 Such were his words ; un winged, they rested with 
 her. She looked the doors of the stately hall. And 
 now arose Odysseus and his gallant son and bore away 
 the helmets, bulging shields and pointed spears. Be- 
 fore them Pallas Athene, holding a golden lamp, 
 made beauteous light. Thereat Telemachus said to 
 his father quickly : 
 
 " Father, my eyes behold a mighty marvel. The 
 palace walls and the fair interspaces, the pine-wood 
 beams and the uprising pillars are all aglow as from 
 a blazing fire. Surely a god is in this house, even 
 such as they who hold the open sky." 
 
 But wise Odysseus answered him and said : " Hush, 
 check your thoughts and ask no question. It is in- 
 deed an indication of the gods that hold Olympus. 
 Go you to rest. I will continue here, to try these 
 damsels and your mother more ; and she shall weep 
 and question me of all." 
 
 So he spoke, and through the hall forth went Te- 
 lemachus with blazing torch, to rest within that cham- 
 ber where he always lay when pleasant sleep drew 
 near. Here then he laid him down, awaiting sacred 
 clawn ; while in the hall royal Odysseus staid behind, 
 plotting to slay the suitors with Athene's aid. 
 
 Now from her room came heedful Penelope, like 
 Artemis or golden Aphrodite. Beside the fire where 
 she was wont to sit, they placed a chair fashionod 
 with spiral work of ivory and silver ; which Icmalius, 
 the carpenter, had made long time ago, setting upon 
 the lower part a rest for feet, fixed to the chair itself. 
 Over the whole a large fleece had been thrown. Here
 
 298 THE ODYSSEY. [XIX. 69-9<X 
 
 heedful Penelope now sat down. Soon came the 
 white -armed damsels from their hall, and cleared 
 away the abundant food, the tables, and the cups from 
 which the proud lords had been drinking. The em- 
 bers from the braziers they threw upon the floor, and 
 in the braziers piled fresh heaps of wood to furnish 
 light and warmth. Then thus Melantho once more 
 chid Odysseus : 
 
 " Stranger, are you still here, to plague us all night 
 long, prowling about the house, watching the women ? 
 Be off, vile thing, and be content with eating, or you 
 will soon be hit with a brand and go." 
 
 But looking sternly on her, wise Odysseus said : 
 " Woman, why rail at me with such an angry heart ? 
 Is it that I am foul and wear mean clothes and beg 
 about the land? Necessity constrains me. This is 
 what beggars and what homeless people are. Yet 
 once I lived in luxury among my mates, in a rich 
 house, and often gave to wanderers, careless who they 
 might be or with what need they came. Servants I 
 had in plenty and everything besides by which men 
 live at ease and are reputed rich. But Zeus, the son of 
 Kronos, brought me low. His will it was. And you 
 too, woman, some day yet may lose those charms in 
 which you now excel the other maids. Your mistress 
 may become provoked to anger with you. Odysseus 
 may return ; there still is room for hope. But if he is 
 dead, as you suppose, and to return no more, yet by 
 Apollo's grace he has a worthy son, Telemachus, 
 whose eye no woman in the hall escapes in her mis- 
 deeds; because he is no longer now the child he 
 was." 
 
 Heedful Penelope heard what he was saying, and 
 he rebuked her maid and spoke to her and said*
 
 XIX. 91-122.] THE ODYSSEY. 299 
 
 " Not in the least, you bold and shameless creature, 
 have you escaped my eye in doing guilty deeds. Your 
 head shall answer for them. Full well you knew 
 you heard it from myself that I intended to ask 
 tidings of this stranger here in my hall about my hus- 
 band; for I am sore distressed." 
 
 She spoke, and to the house-keeper Eurynome she 
 said : " Eurynome, pray bring a bench and a fleece 
 on it, and let the stranger sit and tell his tale, and 
 listen too to me ; I wish to question him." 
 
 She spoke ; the other with all speed brought her a 
 polished bench and placed it there, and on it laid a 
 fleece. Then long-tried royal Odysseus sat him down, 
 and thus began heedful Penelope : 
 
 " Stranger, I will myself first ask you this : who 
 are you? Of what people? Where is your town and 
 kindred?" 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : " Lady, 
 no man upon the boundless earth may speak dispraise 
 of you, because your fame is wide as is the sky. 
 Such is the glory of a blameless king who reverences 
 God and rules a people numerous and mighty, up- 
 holding justice. For him the dark-soiled earth pro- 
 duces wheat and barley, trees bend low with fruit, 
 the flock has constant issue, and the sea yields 
 fish, under his righteous sway. Because of him his 
 people prosper. Question me, then, of all things else 
 while I am here ; but do not asV my lineage and 
 home, nor fill my heart with still more pains by recol- 
 lection. I am a man of sorrows ; yet must I not in 
 a strange house sit down to weep and wail. To 
 grieve incessantly makes matters worse. One of 
 these maids, or you yourself, might take it ill, and say 
 my flood of tears came with a weight of wine."
 
 800 THE ODYSSEY. [XIX. 12^-168. 
 
 Then answered him heedful Penelope : " Stranger, 
 all excellence of mine in face or form the immortals 
 took away the day the Argive host took ship for Ilios, 
 and with them went my lord Odysseus. If he would 
 conic and tend this life of mine, greater would be my 
 fame and fairer then. Now I am in distress, such 
 woes God thrusts upon me. For all the nobles who 
 bear sway among the islands Doulichion, Same, 
 and woody Zacynthus and they who here in far- 
 seen Ithaca dwell round about, sue for unwilling me 
 and waste my house. Wherefore I pay no heed to 
 strangers or to suppliants, nor even to heralds who ply 
 a public trade ; but, longing for Odysseus, I waste my 
 heart away. These men urge on my marriage: I 
 wind my skein of guile. First, Heaven inspired my 
 mind to set up a great loom within the hall and weave 
 a robe, fine and exceeding large ; and to the men 
 said I, * Young men who are my suitors, though royal 
 Odysseus now is dead, forbear to urge my marriage 
 till I complete this robe, its threads must not be 
 wasted, a shroud for lord Laertes, against the time 
 when the fell doom of death that lays men low shall 
 overtake him. Achaean wives about the land I fear 
 might give me blame if he should lie without a 
 shroud, he who had great possessions.' Such were 
 my words, and their high hearts assented. Then in 
 the daytime would I weave at the great web, but in 
 the night unravel, after my torch was set. Thus for 
 three years I hid my craft and cheated the Achaeans. 
 But when the fourth year came, as time relied on, 
 when the months waned and the long days were done, 
 then through the means of maids the thankless 
 creatures, they came and caught me and up- 
 braided me ; so then I finished it, against my will,
 
 XIX. 157-187.] THE ODYSSEY. 301 
 
 perforce. Now I can neither shun the match nor find 
 a fresh device. My parents too press me to many, 
 and my son chafes at the men who swallow up his 
 living ; noting it now, for now he is a man and fully 
 able to heed his house, and Zeus vouchsafes him honor. 
 Yet what of this ! Tell me the lineage of which you 
 come. You are not born of immemorial oak or 
 rock." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said: "O 
 honored wife of Laertes' son, Odysseus, will you not 
 cease to question of my lineage? Well, I will tell 
 the tale, though you deliver me to sorrows more than 
 I now bear. But so it ever is when one is absent 
 from his land as long as I, wandering from town to 
 town, he meets with hardship I Still, I will tell you 
 what you ask and seek to know. 
 
 "There is a country, Crete, in the midst of the 
 wine-dark sea, a fair land and a rich, begirt with water. 
 The people there are many, innumerable indeed, and 
 they have ninety cities. Their speech is mixed ; one 
 language joins another. Here are Achaeans, here 
 brave native Cretans, here Cydonians, crested Do- 
 rians, and noble Pelasgians. Of all their towns the 
 capital is Cnosus, where Minos became king when 
 nine years old Minos, the friend of mighty Zeus 
 and father of my father, bold Deucalion. Deucalion 
 begot me and the prince Idomeneus. Idomeneus, how* . 
 ever, went in beaked ships to Ilios, in train of the 
 Atreidae. My own proud name is Aethon,and I am 
 the younger born ; he was the older and the better 
 man. Here was it that I saw Odysseus and gave him 
 entertainment ; for into Crete a strong wind bore 
 him, and while he steered toward Troy it forced him 
 part Maleia. He anchored at Amnisus, where is
 
 802 THE ODYSSEY. [XIX. 188-21t 
 
 Elithyia's cave, in a harbor hard to win, and he 
 scarcely cleared the storm. Straightway he came to 
 town, inquiring for Idomeneus ; for he said he was his 
 friend, beloved and honored. But it was now the tenth 
 dawn, or the eleventh, since Idomeneus had gone with 
 the beaked ships to llios. And so it happened it was 
 I who brought him to the palace, where I entertained 
 hxn well and gave him generous welcome from the 
 abundance of my house. To him and all the men 
 who followed I furnished barley-meal and sparkling 
 wine from out the public store, with oxen enough for 
 sacrifice to fill their heart's desire. Here for twelve 
 days the noble Achaeans tarried; the strong wind 
 Boreas constrained them and even near the shore let 
 them not lie at anchor. Some baffling power aroused 
 it. But on the thirteenth day the wind went down, 
 and so they put to sea." 
 
 He made the many falsehoods of his tale seem like 
 the truth. So as she listened, drops ran down ; she 
 melted into tears. And as the snow melts on the 
 lofty mountains, when Eurus melts what Zephyrus 
 his scattered, and at its melting flowing rivers fill; 
 BO did her fair cheeks melt with flowing tears, as she 
 bf wailed the husband who was seated by her side. 
 Odysseus in his heart pitied his sobbing wife ; but his 
 eyes stood fixed as horn or iron, motionless in their 
 sockets. Through craft he checked his tears. But 
 when she had had her fill of tears and sighs, finding 
 her words once more she said to him : 
 
 " Now, stranger, I shall put you to the test, I think, 
 and see if at your hall you really entertained my hus- 
 band and his gallant comrades, as you say. Tell me 
 what sort of clothes he wore ; what the man him- 
 self was like, and the comrades who were with him,**
 
 XIX. 220-262.] THE ODYSSEY. 808 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : " 
 lady, it is hard, with so long a time between, to tell 
 you that ; for twenty years are gone since he set forth 
 and left my land. Still, I will tell you how my mind 
 makes him appear. A cloak of purple wool Odysseus 
 wore, made with a double fold. A brooch of gold 
 upon it was fashioned with twin buckles, the front 
 part ornamented. In his forepaws a dog held down a 
 spotted fawn and clutched it as it writhed. This all 
 admired and marveled how, though things of gold, 
 the dog would clutch and choke the fawn, and how 
 the fawn that struggled to escape would twitch its 
 feet. His tunic too I noticed, sheeny across the flesh, 
 just like the skin stripped down from a dried onion ; so 
 smooth it was, and glistering like the sun. And truly 
 many a woman gazed on the man with wonder. But 
 this I will say farther ; mark it well. I do not know 
 if Odysseus wore this dress at home, or if a comrade 
 gave it when he entered the swift ship, or yet perhaps 
 some host. Odysseus was beloved by many men ; 
 few of the Achaeans equally. I gave him gifts my- 
 self, a sword of bronze, a beautiful purple doublet 
 and a bordered tunic ; and I sent him off with honor 
 on his well-benched ship. A herald a little older than 
 himself attended him. I will describe what manner 
 of man this herald was : bent in the shoulders, 
 swarthy, curly-haired, and named Eurybates. Odys- 
 seus honored him beyond his other comrades, because 
 he had a mind that suited well his own." 
 
 So he spoke, and stirred still more her yearning 
 after tears, as she recognized the tokens which Odys- 
 seus exactly told. But when she had had her fill of 
 tears and sigh* finding her words once more she said 
 to him:
 
 804 THE ODYSSEY. [XIX. 253-284 
 
 " From this time forth, stranger, you who before 
 were pitied shall in my halls be one beloved and hon- 
 ored. For I it was who gave the clothes which yon 
 describe. I folded them in the chamber and fixed the 
 glittering brooch to be his pride. But I shall never- 
 more receive him homeward returning to his native 
 land. Wherefore through evil fate Odysseus went by 
 hollow ship to see accursed Ilios, name never to be 
 named." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : " O 
 honored wife of Laertes' son Odysseus, mar your 
 fair face no more, nor waste your heart with sorrow- 
 ing for your husband. And yet I do not blame you ; 
 for any woman weeps to lose the husband of her 
 youth, whose children she has borne, whose love she 
 tasted, though he were other than Odysseus, who they 
 say is like the gods. Still, cease your grief and mark 
 my word ; for I will speak unerringly and nothing 
 will I hide of what I lately heard about the coming 
 of Odysseus, how he is near, in the rich country of 
 the Thesprotians, a living man, and bringing with him 
 much good treasure which he has begged throughout 
 the land. His trusty crew and hollow ship he lost on 
 the wine-dark sea, when coming from the island of 
 Thrinacia ; for Zeus and the Sun were angry with 
 him, because his crew killed the Sun's kine. So they 
 all perished in the surging sea ; but he on his ship's 
 keel was cast by a wave ashore on the coast of the 
 Phaeacians, who are kinsmen of the gods. They 
 honored him exceedingly, as if he were a god, and gave 
 him many gifts and themselves wished to bring him 
 borne unharmed. And here in Ithaca Odysseus would 
 have been long time ago, only it seemed a thing of 
 greater profit to gather wealth by roaming far and
 
 IX. 286-317.] THE ODYSSEY. 305 
 
 wide, so many gainful ways, beyond all mortal men, 
 Odysseus understands ; no living man can match him. 
 This is the story which the king of the Thesprotians, 
 Pheidon, told me. Moreover in my presence, as he 
 offered a libation in his house, he swore the ship was 
 launched and sailors waiting to bring him home to his 
 own native land. But he sent me off before, for a 
 ship of the Thesprotians happened to be starting for 
 the Doulichian grainfields. He showed me all the trea- 
 sure that Odysseus had obtained ; and really it would 
 support man after man ten generations long, so large 
 a stock was stored in the king's palace. Odysseus 
 himself, he said, was gone at that time to Dodona, to 
 learn from the sacred lofty oak the will of Zeus, and 
 how he might return, whether openly or by stealth, to 
 his dear native land when now so long away. So he 
 is safe, and soon will come, and now is near at hand, 
 and parted from friends and native land he will not 
 tarry long. Lo, I will add an oath. First then of 
 all the gods be witness Zeus, highest of gods and 
 noblest, and let the hearth of good Odysseus whereto 
 I come be witness ; all this shall be accomplished ex- 
 actly as I say. This very year Odysseus comes, as 
 this moon wanes and as the next appears." 
 
 Then said to him heedful Penelope : " Ah, stranger, 
 would these words of yours might be fulfilled ! Soon 
 should you know my kindness and many a gift from 
 me, and every man you met would call you blessed. 
 But yet the thought is in my heart how it will really 
 be. Odysseus will return no more, nor you get con- 
 voy hence ; for there are no more masters in the 
 house, able, as once Odysseus was if ever he was 
 here, to speed the worthy stranger forth or kindly to 
 receive. Still, wash the stranger's feet, my women, and
 
 806 THE ODYSSEY. [XIX. 318-353. 
 
 prepare his bed, bedstead and robes and bright-hued 
 rugs, that well and warmly he may spend the time till 
 gold-throned dawn ; and early in the morning bathe 
 and anoint him well, so that indoors beside Telema- 
 chus he may await his meal seated within the hall. 
 And woe to him who persecutes or frets the man. 
 Henceforth he shall get nothing here, though he be 
 sorely vexed. For how could you think me, stranger, 
 better than other women in will and careful wisdom, if 
 you should sit at table in my hall unkempt and meanly 
 clad ? Meu are short-lived. And if a man is harsh 
 and thinks harsh thoughts, on him all call down curses 
 while he lives, and when he dies revile him ; but he 
 who is gentle and thinks gentle thoughts, his praises 
 strangers carry far and wide to all mankind, and many 
 speak him well." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : " O 
 honored wife of Laertes' son Odysseus, hateful to 
 me are robes and bright-hued rugs, since first I left 
 the snowy hills of Crete on board the long-oared ship. 
 Here I would rest just as I used to lie through sleep- 
 less nights ; for many a night I spent on a rough bed, 
 awaiting sacred bright-throned dawn. Baths for the 
 feet give me no pleasure, and foot of mine shall not be 
 touched by any of these maids who serve the palace, 
 unless indeed there be some aged woman, sober- 
 minded, one who has borne as many sorrows as myself. 
 It would not trouble me that such a one should touch 
 my feet" 
 
 Then said to him heedful Penelope : " Dear stran- 
 ger, and none discreet as you among the traveling 
 strangers has been more welcome at my house, so 
 suitably discreet is all you say, I have an aged 
 woman of an understanding heart, who gently nursed
 
 XIX. 354-389.] THE ODYSSEY. SOT 
 
 and tended that unfortunate and took him in her arms 
 the day his mother bore him. She, feeble as she is, 
 shall wash your feet. Come, rise up, heedful Eury- 
 cleia, and wash a man old as your master 1 Perhaps 
 Odysseus is already such as he, in feet and hands ; 
 for soon in times of trouble men grow old." 
 
 As she spoke thus, the old woman hid her face in hex 
 hands and shed hot tears and uttered wailing words : 
 
 " Alas for you, my child I Powerless am I. Zeut> 
 surely hated you beyond all humankind, godfearing 
 though you were. For no man ever burned to Zeus, 
 the Thunderer, fat thighs so good or such choice heca- 
 tombs as you have offered when you prayed to reach 
 a hale old age and rear your gallant son. And yet 
 from you alone he utterly cut off the day of coming 
 home. Even so perhaps women reviled him too at 
 foreign tables, when he reached some lordly house, just 
 as these brutes are all reviling you. To shun their 
 insults and their many taunts, you do not let them 
 wash you ; and I, not loath, am bidden to it by the 
 daughter of Icarius, heedful Penelope. So I will 
 wash your feet, both for Penelope's own sake and for 
 your own, because my heart within is stirred by sor- 
 row. Yet mark the words I say 1 Many a way-worn 
 stranger has come hither ; but one so like Odysseus I 
 declare I never saw, as you are like him, form, and 
 voice and feet." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : " Yes, 
 woman, so says every one who sees us two, that we 
 are like each other, even as you shrewdly say." 
 
 As he spoke thus, the old woman took the glittering 
 basin which she used for washing feet and poured in 
 much cold water, afterwards adding warm. Now 
 Odysseus was sitting by the hearth, but soon turned
 
 808 THE ODYSSEY. [XIX. 390-42a 
 
 toward the darkness ; for suddenly into his mind there 
 came the thought that in touching him she might de- 
 tect the scar and thus the facts be known. So she 
 drew near him and began to wash her master ; and 
 presently she found the scar which a boar inflicted 
 long ago with his white tusk, when to Parnassus came 
 Odysseus to see Autolycus and his sons. Good Au- 
 tolycus was the father of the mother of Odysseus, 
 and was famous among men for thievery and oaths. 
 Hermes, the god, had given him skill, because to him 
 Autolycus had burned well-pleasing thighs of lambs 
 and kids ; so Hermes gladly served him. Now Au- 
 tolycus, visiting the fertile land of Ithaca, found there 
 his daughter's son, a child new-born ; and after supper 
 Eurycleia laid the child upon his knees, and speaking 
 thus she said : 
 
 " Autolycus, choose now a name to give your child's 
 own child. He has been wished for long." 
 
 Then answered her Autolycus and said : " My son- 
 in-law and daughter, give him the name I say. Since 
 I come hither odious to many men and women on the 
 bounteous earth, therefore Odysseus be his name. 
 And I, when he is grown and visits the great palace 
 rf his mother's kin upon Parnassus, where my posses- 
 lions lie, will give thereof to him and send him home 
 rejoicing." 
 
 On this account Odysseus came to get the gloriouL 
 gifts. And Autolycus and his sons gave him a wel- 
 come with friendly hands and courteous words ; and 
 Amphithea, his mother's mother, took Odysseus in her 
 arms and kissed his face and both his beauteous eyes. 
 Then Autolycus bade his famous sons to lay the dinner 
 ready, and they hearkened to his call. They quickly 
 brought an ox, five years old, and flayed and dressed
 
 XIX. 421-455.] THE ODYSSEY. 809 
 
 it, laid it asunder, sliced it with skill, stuck it on spits, 
 and roasting it with care served out the portions. 
 Thus all throughout the day till setting sun they held 
 their feast. There was no lack of appetite for the im- 
 partial feast. But when the sun had set and darkness 
 came, they laid them down and took the gift of sleep. 
 When now the early rosy-fingered dawn appeared, 
 they started on the hunt ; the dogs went forth, the men 
 themselves, the sons of Autolycus, and with them 
 went royal Odysseus too. They climbed the steep 
 and wood-clad mountain of Parnassus and soon they 
 reached its windy ridges. Just then the sun began to 
 touch the fields as he ascended from the calm and 
 brimming stream of Ocean. And now to a glen the 
 prickers came. Before them, following the tracks, 
 the hounds ran on, the sons of Autolycus hastening 
 after. With the sons went royal Odysseus, close on 
 the hounds, wielding his outstretched spear. In a 
 dense thicket here a huge boar lay. It was a spot no 
 force of wind with its chill breath could pierce, no sun- 
 beams smite, nor rain pass through, so dense it was, 
 and a thick fall of leaves was in it. Here round the 
 boar there came the tramp of men and dogs, as the 
 prickers pushed along. Facing them from his lair, 
 with bristling back, fire flashing in his eyes, the boar 
 stood close at bay. Odysseus first sprang forward, 
 raising the long spear in his sinewy hand, eager to 
 give the blow ; but the boar was quick and struck him 
 on the knee, and by a side-thrust of his tusk tore the 
 flesh deep, but reached no bone. And now Odysseus, 
 by a downward blow, struck the right shoulder of the 
 boar ; clean through it the bright spear-point passed. 
 Down in the dust he fell with a moan, and his life 
 flew away. Then the good sons of Autolycus looked
 
 810 THE ODYSSEY. [XIX. 45^487. 
 
 to the boar ; and the wound of gallant princely Odys- 
 seus they bound up skillfully, and with a spell 
 stanched the black blood, and soon they reached their 
 father's house. So Autolycus and his sons when they 
 had fully healed Odysseus and given him glorious 
 gifts, pleasing by kindness him who pleased them 
 too, sent him with speed to Ithaca, where his father 
 and honored mother rejoiced at his return and ques 
 tioned much how he had got the scar. He told them 
 how, while he was hunting, a boar inflicted it with his 
 white tusk when he had gone to Parnassus with Au- 
 tolycus' sons. 
 
 This was the scar the woman felt with her flat 
 hand. She knew it by the touch and dropped the 
 foot. The leg fell in the basin ; the copper rang, and 
 tilting sidewise let all the water run upon the ground. 
 Then joy and grief together seized her breast* her 
 two eyes filled with tears, her full voice stayed ; and 
 laying her hand upon Odysseus' chin she said : 
 
 " You really are Odysseus, my dear child, and I never 
 knew you till I handled my master o'er and o'er I " 
 
 She spoke and cast her eyes upon Penelope, mean* 
 ing to let her know her lord was there. But Pene- 
 lope could not catch the glance nor understand, be- 
 cause Athene drew away her notice ; and Odysseus, 
 feeling for Eurycleia's throat, clutched it with his 
 right hand, then drew her closer toward him with his 
 left and said : 
 
 " Why, mother, will you kill me ? It was yourself 
 who nursed me at the breast ; and now through many 
 hardships I come in the twentieth year to my own na- 
 tive land. Though you have found me out and a god 
 inspired your heart, be silent, lest some other person 
 in the hall may know. Or else, I tell you, and if
 
 XIX. 488-620.] THE ODYSSEY. 811 
 
 shall be done, if God by me subdues the lordly 
 suitors, I will not spare even you, nurse though you 
 are, when I shall slay the other serving-women in my 
 halls." 
 
 Then answered heedful Eurycleia : " My child, 
 what word has passed the barrier of your teeth ? You 
 know how steadfast, how inflexible my spirit is. I 
 shall hold fast like stubborn rock or iron. And this I 
 will say farther : mark it well. If God by you sub- 
 dues the lordly suitors, then I will name the women 
 of the hall and tell you who dishonor you and who are 
 guiltless." 
 
 But wise Odysseus answered her and said : " Mother, 
 why talk of them ? You have no need. I will myself 
 observe them well and find out each. Be quiet with 
 your story ! Leave the matter to the gods I " 
 
 So he spoke, and through the hall forth went the 
 aged woman to fetch water for his feet ; for all the 
 first was spilled. Now when she had washed him and 
 anointed him with oil, again Odysseus drew his bench 
 closer beside the fire, to warm himself, but with his 
 tatters hid the scar, and thus began heedful Pene 
 lope: 
 
 " Stranger, there is but little more that I will ask ; 
 because the season of sweet rest will soon be here, 
 for those to whom kind sleep will come when they 
 are sad. But upon me God sends incessant sorrow.* 
 Day after day my joys are tears and sighs, as I watch 
 my household tasks and watch my women. Then 
 when night comes and slumber visits all, I lie in bed, 
 and crowding on my heavy heart sharp cares sting 
 me to weeping. As when Pandareos' daughter, the 
 russet nightingale, sings sweetly at the coming in of 
 spring, perched in the thick-leaved trees, and to and
 
 512 THE ODYSSEY. [XIX. 521-553, 
 
 fro pours out her thrilling voice, in lamentation for 
 her dear child, Itylus, whom with the sword she 
 one day blxndly slew, her son by royal Zethus ; so 
 does my doubtful heart toss to and fro whether to 
 bide beside my son and keep all here in safety, my 
 goods, my maids, and my great high-roofed house, . 
 and thus revere my husband's bed and heed the public 
 voice, or finally to follow some chief of the Achae- 
 ans who wooes me in my hall with countless gifts. 
 My son, while but a child and slack of understanding, 
 did not permit my marrying and departing from my 
 husband's home ; but now that he is grown and come 
 to man's estate, he prays me to go home again and 
 leave the hall, so troubled is he for that substance 
 which the Achaeans waste. But come, interpret now 
 and hear this dream of mine. I have twenty geese 
 about the place who pick up corn out of the water, 
 and I amuse myself with watching them. But from 
 the mountain came a great hook-beaked eagle and 
 broke the necks of all and killed my geese. In heaps 
 they lay, scattered about the buildings, while he was 
 borne aloft into the sacred sky. So I began to weep 
 and wail, still in my dream, and fair-haired 
 Achaean damsels gathered round and found me sadly 
 jobbing that the eagle killed my geese. Then down 
 again he came, lit on a jutting rafter, and with a hu- 
 man voice he checked my tears and said : ' Courage, 
 
 daughter of renowned Icarius I This is no dream, 
 but true reality, which yet shall come to pass. The 
 geese are suitors ; and I, the eagle, was at the first a 
 bird, but now, this second time, am come your husband 
 to bring a ghastly doom on all the suitors.' At these 
 his words sweet slumber left me, and opening my eyes 
 
 1 saw the geese about the buildings devouring corn be* 
 tide the trough just as they used to do."
 
 XIX. 654^587.] THE ODYS&EY. 813 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said: 
 " Lady, the dream cannot be understood by wrest- 
 ing it to other meanings ; Odysseus surely has him- 
 self revealed what yet shall be. The suitors' over- 
 throw is plain : on all it falls ; none shall escape from 
 death and doom." 
 
 But heedful Penelope said to him once more: 
 '* Stranger, in truth dreams do arise perplexed and 
 hard to tell, dreams which come not, in men's experi- 
 ence, to their full issue. Two gates there are for un- 
 substantial dreams, one made of horn and one of 
 ivory. The dreams that pass through the carved 
 ivory delude and bring us tales that turn to naught ; 
 those that come forth through polished horn accomplish 
 real things, whenever seen. Yet through this gate 
 came not I think my own strange dream. Ah, welcome, 
 were it so, to me and to my child ! But this I will say 
 farther ; mark it well. This is the fatal dawn which 
 parts me from Odysseus' home ; for now I shall pro- 
 pose a contest with the axes which when at home he 
 used to set in line, like trestles, twelve in all ; then he 
 would stand a great way off and send an arrow 
 through. This contest I shall now propose to all the 
 suitors. And whoever with his hands shall lightliest 
 bend the bow and shoot through all twelve axes, him 
 I will follow and forsake this home, this bridal home, 
 so very beautiful and full of wealth, a place I think I 
 ever shall remember even in my dreams." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : " O 
 honored wife of Laertes' son, Odysseus, delay no 
 longer this contest at the hall ; for wise Odysseus will 
 be here before the suitors, handling the polished bow, 
 can stretch the string and shoot an arrow through the 
 iron."
 
 814 THE ODYSSEY. [XIX. 588-601 
 
 Then said to him heedful Penelope : " Stranger, if 
 you were willing to sit beside me here and entertain 
 me, no sleep should ever fall upon my eyes. And y-;-. 
 one cannot be forever without sleep ; for to each tiling 
 the immortals fix a season, to be ordained for men 
 upon the fruitful earth. So I will go to my upper 
 chamber and lay me on my bed, which has become 
 for me a bed of sorrows, ever watered with my tears 
 since Odysseus went away to see accursed Ilios, 
 name never to be named. There I must lie. Do you 
 lie in the hall. Make a bed upon the floor, or the 
 maids shall bring you bedding." 
 
 So saying, she went to her bright upper chamber, 
 yet not alone; beside her went her waiting-women 
 too. And coming to the chamber with the maids, she 
 there bewailed Odysseus, her dear husband, till on 
 her lids clear-eyed Athene caused a sweet sleep to fall
 
 XX. 
 
 BEFORE THE SLAUGHTER. 
 
 ROYAL Odysseus made his bed within the porch. 
 Upon the floor he spread an untanned hide, and on it 
 many fleeces of the sheep which the Achaeans had 
 been slaying ; and when he had laid him down, Eury- 
 nome threw over him a cloak. So, meditating in his 
 heart how he might harm the suitors, here lay Odys- 
 seus sleepless. Forth from the hall came women who 
 had long been paramours of the suitors, now making 
 jests and merriment among themselves. The heart of 
 Odysseus stirred within, and in his mind and heart he 
 doubted much whether to hasten after and deal out 
 death to each, or to allow to the audacious suitors one 
 last and latest night. Within him growled his spirit. 
 Even as a dog walks round her tender young, growl- 
 ing at any man she does not know and resolute to fight 
 him ; so within growled his spirit, wroth at these evil 
 deeds. But he smote upon his breast and thus re- 
 proved his heart : 
 
 " Bear up, my heart ! A thing more hideous than 
 this you once endured with patience, that day the 
 Cyclops, unrestrained in fury, devoured your sturdy 
 comrades. Then you bore up till crafty planning 
 brought from the cave you who had thought to die." 
 
 So he spoke, chiding the very spirit in his breast ; 
 and therefore in obedience his heart held firm and 
 steadfast, yet he himself kept tossing to and fro. As
 
 816 THE ODYSSEY. [XX. 25-601 
 
 when a man near a great glowing fire turns to and 
 fro a sausage, full of fat and blood, anxious to have 
 it quickly roast ; so to and fro Odysseus tossed, and 
 pondered how to lay hands upon the shameless suit- 
 ors, he being alone, and they so many. Near him 
 Athene drew, descending out of heaven. In a wo- 
 man's form she stood beside his head, and thus ai 
 dressed him : 
 
 " Why wakeful still, unhappiest of men ? This is 
 your home, and in this home your wife and child, eveo 
 such a son as others pray for." 
 
 But wise Odysseus answered her and said : u In aB 
 this, goddess, you speak rightly; and yet my heart 
 within is pondering how to lay hands upon the shame- 
 less suitors, I being alone, while they are always 
 here together. A graver fear besides I ponder in my 
 mind ; suppose I slay them, by the aid of Zeus and 
 you, where shall I flee then ? Tell me this, I pray." 
 
 Then said to him the goddess, clear-eyed Athene : 
 " O doubter I Men trust weaker friends, friends who 
 are mortal and not wise as I. I am a god and will 
 protect you to the end, through all your toils. And 
 let me tell you plainly : should fifty troops of mortal 
 men stand round about us, eager in the fight to slay, 
 you still might drive away from them their oxen 
 and sturdy sheep. Nay ! Nay ! Let slumber come I 
 Evil it is to watch and wake all the night long. You 
 shall come forth from peril yet." 
 
 So spoke she, and poured sleep upon his eyelids ; 
 and then the heavenly goddess departed to Olympus. 
 But as the slumber seized him, freeing his heart from 
 care, easing his members, his faithful wife awoke, and 
 sitting up in her soft bed began to weep. When she 
 bad satisfied her heart with weeping, the royal lady 
 prayed, and first to Artemis :
 
 XX. 61-95.] THE ODYSSEY. 317 
 
 "O honored goddess Artemis, daughter of Zeus, 
 strike now I pray an arrow in my breast and take 
 away my life this very instant ; or let a sweeping 
 storm bear me its windy way and cast me in the 
 streams of restless Ocean I As when storms seized 
 Pandareos' daughters, whose parents gods had slain 
 and they were left at home as orphans, then goddess 
 Aphrodite brought them cheese, sweet honey and 
 pleasant wine ; Here endowed them, beyond all other 
 women, with beauty and understanding ; chaste Arte- 
 mis gave stature ; Athene taught them skill in honor- 
 able work. But while heavenly Aphrodite went to 
 high Olympus, to win the maids the final boon of 
 happy marriage, a boon from Zeus, the Thunderer, 
 who understands all well, all fortunes good or ill of 
 mortal men, the Harpies swept away the maids and 
 gave them over to be servants to the dread Avengers. 
 Even so may those who have their dwellings on Olym- 
 pus blot out me, or else may I receive a shaft from 
 fair-haired Artemis, that I may go to my dread grave 
 seeing Odysseus still, and never gladden heart of 
 meaner husband ! Yet ills like these are bearable if, 
 with a burdened heart, one weeps by day and then by 
 night has sleep. For such an one forgets all good 
 and ill when once the eyelids close. But as for me, 
 Heaven sends me cruel dreams. Again to-night there 
 lay beside me one like him, such as he was when he 
 departed with the army. My heart was glad. I said 
 it was no dream, but truth at last." 
 
 "While she was speaking gold - throned morning 
 came. And as she wept, royal Odysseus heard her 
 voice and mused awhile. In his heart she seemed to 
 know him and to stand beside his head. Gathering 
 up the cloak and fleece in which he slept, he laid
 
 818 THE ODYSSEY. [XX. 96-124. 
 
 them in the hall upon a chair, carried the ox-hide out 
 of doors and spread it down, and with uplifted hands 
 prayed thus to Zeus : 
 
 " O father Zeus, if of good will ye gods have led 
 me over field and flood to my own land, though 
 ill ye brought me also, let some one now awake 
 speak a good word indoors, and another sign from 
 Zeus be given outside the house ! " 
 
 So spoke he in his prayer, and wise Zeus heard him 
 and straightway thundered out of bright Olympus, 
 out of the clouds above. Royal Odysseus was made 
 glad. Moreover a woman grinding corn sent forth 
 an ominous cry out of the house hard by, where stood 
 the mills of the shepherd of the people. Twelve 
 women in all worked here, preparing barley-meal and 
 corn, men's marro* The rest were sleeping, having 
 ground their wheat ; one only had not ended, for she 
 was very weak. She, stopping at last her mill, ut- 
 tered these words, an omen for her master : 
 
 " O father Zeus, who rulest over gods and men, loud 
 hast thou thundered from the starry sky, and no 
 cloud anywhere. Surely in this thou givest man a 
 sign. Then bring to pass for miserable me the words 
 I speak. May the suitors to-day for the last and 
 latest time hold their glad feast within Odysseus' hall I 
 They who with galling labor made my knees grow 
 weak, while I prepared them meal, may they now feast 
 Iheirlastl" 
 
 She spoke, and royal Odysseus was gladdened by 
 her cry and by the thunder of Zeus. He said that 
 woe was come upon the guilty. 
 
 And now the other handmaids of the goodly palace 
 of Odysseus came together and kindled on the hearth 
 ft steady fire. Telemachus also, a mortal like a god,
 
 XX.12&-166.] THE ODYSSEY. 819 
 
 rose from his bed, put on his clothes, slung his sharp 
 sword about his shoulder, under his shining feet bound 
 his fair sandals, then took his ponderous spear, tipped 
 with sharp bronze, and went and stood upon the 
 threshold, saying to Eurycleia : 
 
 " Good nurse, have you provided for the stranger 
 in the house comfort in bed and food ? Or does he 
 lie neglected ? That is my mother's way, wise though 
 she is. Blindly she honors one of the meaner sort, 
 and sends the better man away unhonored." 
 
 Then heedful Eurycleia answered: "Now do not 
 blame a blameless person, child I He sat and drank 
 his wine as long as he inclined, and he said he wanted 
 no more bread ; she asked him that. And as soon a? 
 he began to think of rest and sleep, she bade her dam- 
 sels spread his bed. Then he, like a man quite mean 
 and miserable, refused to sleep upon a bed and under 
 blankets, but on an undressed hide and fleecy sheep- 
 skins lay down within the porch. We put a cloak 
 upon him." 
 
 So she spoke ; and through the hall forth went Te- 
 lemachus, his spear in hand, two swift dogs following 
 after. He hastened to the assembly to join the mailed 
 Achaeans. But noble Eurycleia, daughter of Ops, 
 Peisenor's son, called to the women : 
 
 " Come, stir about and sweep the house and sprin- 
 kle it, and beat the purple coverings on the shapely 
 chairs. And others, take your sponges and wipe off 
 all the tables, and clean the mixing-bowls and well- 
 wrought double cups. And others still, go to the well 
 for water, and fetch it quickly here. It is not long 
 the suitors will be absent from the hall. They will 
 be here right early. To-day is for them all a holi- 
 day."
 
 820 THE ODYSSEY. [XX. 157-1901 
 
 She spoke, and very willingly they heeded and 
 obeyed. Twenty went to the dark well ; the others 
 plied their tasks with skill about the house. Soon 
 came the Achaeans' laboring men, who neatly and 
 skillfully split logs of wood ; there came the women 
 also, returning from the well. After them came the 
 swineherd, driving three fat hogs, the best of all his 
 herds. He let them feed about the pleasant yard, 
 and said to Odysseus kindly : 
 
 " Stranger, do the Achaeans look after you any 
 better, or do they still insult you in the hall, as at the 
 first?" 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said : " Eu- 
 maeus, may the gods requite the wrongs which these 
 in their abominable pride work in a house not theirs I 
 They have no touch of shame." 
 
 So they conversed together. Melanthius now drew 
 Bear, the goatherd, driving the goats that were the 
 best of all his flock, to make the suitors' dinner. Two 
 shepherds followed after. He tied his goats under the 
 echoing portico and said to Odysseus rudely : 
 
 " Stranger, will you still be a nuisance in the house 
 and beg of people? Will you not quit our doors? 
 We never shall quite settle things, I think, until you 
 taste my fists. Beyond all decency you keep on beg- 
 ging. Surely there are Achaean feasts elsewhere." 
 
 He spoke, but not a word did wise Odysseus an- 
 swer. Silent he shook his head, brooding on eviL 
 
 A third now joined them, Philoetius, ever foremost, 
 and brought the suitors a barren cow and fatted goats. 
 The ferrymen brought them over, they who bring peo- 
 ple too, whenever anybody comes their way. He tied 
 the cattle carefully under the echoing portico and 
 drawing near the swineherd asked :
 
 XX. 191-223.] THE ODYSSEY. 321 
 
 " Who is this stranger, swineherd, lately come, and 
 staying at the hall ? Out of what tribe does he pro- 
 fess to be ? Where are his kinsmen and his native 
 fields? Poor man! He seems in beai-ing like a 
 lordly king. The gods may well send homeless people 
 troubles when even for kings they weave a web of 
 grief." 
 
 He spoke, and turning to Odysseus gave his right 
 hand in welcome, and speaking in winged words he 
 said : " Hail, good old stranger ! May happiness be 
 yours in time to come 1 Now you are bound by many 
 ills. O father Zeus, none of the gods is crueler than 
 thou I Thou carest not that men, when thou hast 
 given them birth, be plunged in misery and sharp dis- 
 tress. A sweat came over me in looking at the man ; 
 my eyes were filled with tears for memory of Odys- 
 seus ; for he also, I suppose, in just such tatters, is a 
 wanderer among men, if he indeed yet lives and sees 
 the sunshine. But if he is already dead and in the 
 house of Hades, then woe is me for good Odysseus, who 
 gave me charge of cattle when I was but a boy in the 
 land of the Cephallenians. And now the herds have 
 grown enormously. No breed of broad-browed cattle 
 ever bladed better. But strangers bid me drive these 
 ;now for them to eat. For the son of the house they 
 do not care, nor do they tremble at the wrath of 
 gods ; but they are bent on parting out their long- 
 gone master's goods. And as for me, around one 
 point my heart within keeps turning : 't is very bad 
 while the son lives to go to the land of strangers, cattle 
 and all, to foreigners ; worse still to stay with stran- 
 gers' herds and sit about and suffer. Certainly long 
 ago I would have fled and found some other mighty 
 king, life here cannot be borne, but still I think
 
 822 THE ODYSSEY. [XX. 224-252 
 
 of that unfortunate, how he may come from some- 
 where, and make a scattering of the suitors up and 
 down the house." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said: 
 ** Herdsman, because you do not seem a common, 
 senseless person, but I perceive wisdom is in your 
 heart, I will speak out and swear a solemn oath on 
 what I say : so first of all the gods be witness Zeus, 
 and let this hospitable table and the hearth of good 
 Odysseus whereto I come be witness ; while you are 
 here Odysseus shall return, and you with your own 
 eyes shall see him, if you will, slaying the suitors who 
 now lord it here." 
 
 Then answered him the herdsman of the cattle: 
 44 Ah stranger, may the son of Kronos fulfill these 
 words of yours I Then shall you know what might is 
 mine and how my hands obey." 
 
 So also did Eumaeus pray to all the gods that wise 
 Odysseus might return to his own home. So they con- 
 versed together. 
 
 N^w for Telemachus the suitors had been plotting 
 death and doom. But toward them, on the left, a 
 bird came flying, a soaring eagle, clutching a timid 
 dove ; whereat Amphinomus called to them thus and 
 said: 
 
 tt Ah friends, this plan of ours will not run well, 
 this murder of Telemachus. Let us rather turn to 
 feasting." 
 
 So said Amphinomus, and his saying pleased them. 
 Entering the house of princely Odysseus, they threw 
 their coats upon the couches and the chairs, and they 
 began to kill great sheep and fatted goats, to kill 
 sleek pigs and the heifer of the herd. They roasted 
 the inward parts and passed them round, and mixed
 
 XX. 263-283.] THE ODYSSEY. 823 
 
 wine in the mixers. The swineherd passed the cups ; 
 Philoetius, ever foremost, handed them bread in goodly 
 baskets ; Melantheus poured the wine. So on the food 
 spread out before them they laid hands. 
 
 And now Telemachus, with crafty purpose, Heated 
 Odysseus within the stately hall by the stone thresh- 
 old, providing him a common bench and little table. 
 He gave him portions of the inward parts and, pour- 
 ing him wine into a golden cup, he thus addressed 
 him: 
 
 " Sit here among the men and sip your wine, and I 
 will keep you from the taunts and blows of all the 
 suitors. This is no public house. It is Odysseus* 
 own, acquired for me. Therefore you suitors check 
 your taste for insult and abuse, or else there may be 
 strife and quarrel here." 
 
 He spoke, and all with teeth set in their lips maiv 
 veled because Telemachus had spoken boldly. Then 
 said Antinoiis, Eupeithes' son : " Harsh as it is, Achae- 
 fcfls, lot us take the bidding of Telemachus. He 
 speaks with lofty threatening. Zeus, son of Kronos, 
 hindered, or long ago we in the hall had stopped him, 
 hrill talker though he be." 
 
 So said Antinoiis ; Telemachus did not heed his 
 words. For pages came, leading along f he town a 
 hecatomb of cattle sacred to the gods. Long-haired 
 Achaeans, too, assembled in the shady grove of the 
 archer-king Apollo. 
 
 But when the rest had roasted the outer flesh and 
 drawn it off, dividing up the portions they held a fa- 
 mous feast. And those who served set for Odysseus 
 a portion quite as large as that they took themselves ; 
 for this was the bidding of Telemachus, the son of 
 princely Odysseus.
 
 824 THE ODYSSEY. [XX. 284-3161 
 
 Yet Athene allowed the nnughty suitors not alto- 
 gether yet to cease from biting scorn. She wished 
 .ttiorw pain to pierce the heart of Laertes' son, Odys- 
 seus. There was among the suitors a man of lawless 
 life; Ctesippus was his name; he lived in Same. 
 Proud of vast wealth, he wooed the wife of Odysseus, 
 long away. He it v/as now who thus addressed the 
 audacious suitors : 
 
 "Hearken, you haughty suitors, while I speak 
 This stranger here awhile ago received a portion, and, 
 as was proper, one as large as ours ; for it is neither 
 honorable nor fitting to worry strangers who may 
 reach this palace of Telemachus. Come then and let 
 me also give a hospitable gift, and he shall have 
 wherewith to give a present to the bath-keeper or to 
 some servant of the house of great Odysseus." 
 
 So saying, he flung with his strong hand an ox-hoof 
 which lay near, taking it from the basket. Odysseus 
 with a quick turning of the head avoided it, and in 
 his heart smiled grimly. It struck the massive wall. 
 But Telemachus rebuked Ctesippus thus : 
 
 " Surely, Ctesippus, that was Jucky for your life. 
 You missed our guest. He shunned your missile. 
 Else I had run you through the middle with my 
 pointed spear, and in the place of wedding-feast your 
 father had been busied with a funeral here. Let no 
 man in this house henceforth show rudeness ; for I 
 now mark and understand each deed, good deeds as 
 well as bad. Before, I was a child. And even yet 
 we bear what nevertheless we see, sheep slain, wine 
 drunk, bread wasted, for hard it is for one to cope 
 with many. Nay then, do me no more deliberate 
 wrong. But if you seek to slay me with the sword, 
 that I would choose ; and better far were death than
 
 XX. 317-350.] THE ODYSSEY. 
 
 constantly behold disgraceful deeds, strangers abused, 
 and damsels dragged to shame through the fair pal- 
 ace." 
 
 So he spoke and all were hushed to silence ; but by 
 and by said Agelaiis, son of Damastor : " Friends, in 
 answering what is fairly said, none should be angry 
 and retort with spiteful words. Let none abuse the* 
 stranger nor any of the servants in great Odysseus' 
 hall. But to Telemachus and his mother I would say 
 one friendly word ; perhaps it may find favor in the 
 mind of each. So long as your hearts hoped wise 
 Odysseus would return to his own home, it was no 
 harm to wait and hold the suitors at the palace. That 
 was the better way, if but Odysseus had returned and 
 reached his home once more. Now it is plain that 
 he will never come. Go then, sit down beside your 
 mother and plainly tell her this, to marry the man who 
 is the best and offers most. So shall you keep in 
 peace all that your father left, to eat and drink your 
 fill, and she shall guide the household of another." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus: "Nay, 
 Agelaiis, by Zeus I swear and by the sufferings of 
 my father, who far away from Ithaca is dead or lost, 
 it is not I delay my mother's marriage ; indeed I urge 
 her to marry whom she will, I will give countless gifts. 
 But I hesitate to drive her forth, against her will, by 
 a compulsive word. God let that never be I " 
 
 So spoke Telemachus, but Pallas Athene woke 
 uncontrollable laughter in the suitors. She turned 
 their wits awry. Now they would laugh as if with 
 others' faces, and blood-bedabbled was the flesh they 
 ate. Their eyes were filled with tears, their heart 
 felt anguish; and godlike Theoclymenus addressed 
 them thus :
 
 826 THE ODYSSEY. [XX. 351-385, 
 
 ** All wretched men, what woe befalls you ? Night 
 shrouds your heads, your faces, and lower still, your 
 knees. Wild cries are kindled ; cheeks are wet with 
 tears ; walls and the fair mid-spaces drip with blood. 
 The porch is full, the court is full, of shapes that 
 haste to Erebus, down into darkness. The sun is 
 blotted from the heavens ; a foul fog covers all." 
 
 He spoke, aud all burst into merry laughter ; and 
 thus began Eurymachus, the son of Polybus: "A 
 crazy stranger this, new come from foreign lands I 
 Quick then, young men, and guide him out of doors, 
 off to the market, since he finds it here like night I ' ' 
 
 Then godlike Theoclymenus made answer : ** Eury- 
 machus, I do not ask a guide ; I have my eyes and 
 ears, and my two feet, and in my breast a steadfast 
 mind of no mean sort. By their aid I go forth, for 
 I perceive an evil approaching you which none shall 
 shun or flee, nay, not a man among these suitors 
 who in the house of great Odysseus work wantonly 
 abominations to mankind." 
 
 So saying, forth he went out of the stately palace 
 and found Peiraeus, who received him kindly. Then 
 all the suitors, glancing at one another, began to tease 
 Telemachus by laughing at his guests, and a rude 
 youth would say : 
 
 " Telemachus, no man is more unfortunate in guests 
 than you. For instance, what a filthy vagabond is 
 this you keep, one always wanting bread and wine, 
 incapable of work or deeds of strength, simply a cum- 
 berer of the ground! And now this other fellow 
 stands up and plays the prophet. But if you would 
 heed me, the better way were this ; to toss your guests 
 into a ship of many oars and pack them off to Sicily, 
 where they would fetch their price."
 
 XX. 384-394.] THE ODYSSEY. 827 
 
 So said the suitors ; Telemachus did not heed their 
 words. Silent he watched his father, waiting ever till 
 he should lay hands on the shameless suitors. 
 
 Now having set her goodly seat just opposite the 
 door, the daughter of Icarius, heedful Penelope, at- 
 tended to the talk of all within the hall. With 
 laughter they prepared their dinner, a pleasant meal, 
 such as they liked, and many a beast was slaugh- 
 tered. But how could feast be more unwelcome than 
 the supper which a goddess and a valiant man were 
 soon to set before them ? For from the first they had 
 wrought deeds of shame.
 
 THE TRIAL OF THE BOW. 
 
 Ain> now the goddess, clear-eyed Athene, put in the 
 mind of Icarius' daughter, heedful Penelope, to offer 
 to the suitors in the hall the bow and the gray steel, 
 as means of sport and harbingers of death. She 
 mounted the long stairway of her house, holding a 
 crooked key in her firm hand, a goodly key of 
 bronze, having an ivory handle, and hastened with 
 her damsels to a far-off room where her lord's treasure 
 lay, bronze, gold, and well-wrought steel. Here also 
 lay his curved bow and the quiver for his arrows, 
 and many grievous shafts were in it still, gifts which 
 a friend had given Odysseus when he met him once in 
 Lacedaemon, Iphitus, son of Eurytus, a man like 
 the immortals. At Messene the two met, in the house 
 of wise Orsilochus. Odysseus had come hither to 
 claim a debt which the whole district owed him ; for 
 upon ships of many oars Messenians carried off from 
 Ithaca three hundred sheep together with their herds- 
 men. In the long quest for these, Odysseus took the 
 journey when he was but a youth ; for his father and 
 the other elders sent him forth. Iphitus, on the other 
 hand, was seeking horses ; for twelve mares had been 
 lost, which had as foals twelve hardy mules. These 
 afterwards became the death and doom of Iphitus 
 when he met the stalwart son of Zeus, the hero Her- 
 cules, who well knew deeds of daring ; for Hercules
 
 XXL 26-60.] THE ODYSSEY. 829 
 
 slew Iphitus in his own house, although his guest, and 
 recklessly did not regard the anger of the gods nor yet 
 the proffered table, but slew the man and kept at his 
 own hall the strong-hoofed mares. It was when seek- 
 ing these that Iphitus had met Odysseus and given 
 the bow which in old days great Eurytus was wont to 
 bear, and which on dying in his lofty hall he left his 
 on. To Iphitus, Odysseus gave a sharp-edged sword 
 and a stout spear, as the beginning of a loving friend- 
 ship. They never sat, however, at one another's table ; 
 ere that could be, the son of Zeus slew godlike Iphitus, 
 the son of Eurytus, who gave the bow. Royal Odys- 
 seus when going off to war in the black ships would 
 never take this bow. It always stood in its own place 
 at home, as a memorial of his honored friend. In his 
 own land he bore it. 
 
 Now when the royal lady reached this room and 
 stood on the oaken threshold, which long ago the car- 
 penter had smoothed with skill and leveled to the line, 
 fitting the posts thereto and setting the shining doors, 
 then quickly from its ring she loosed the strap, 
 thrust in the key, and with a careful aim shot back 
 the door-bolts. As a bull roars when feeding in the 
 field, so roared the goodly door touched by the key t 
 and open flew before her. She stepped to a raised 
 dais where stood some chests in which lay fragrant 
 garments. Thence reaching up, she took from its peg 
 the bow in the glittering case which held it. And 
 now she sat her down and laid the case upon her lap 
 and loudly weeping drew her lord's bow forth. But 
 when she had had her fill of tears and sighs, she has- 
 tened to the hall to meet the lordly suitors, bearing in 
 hand the curved bow and the quiver for the arrows, 
 and many grievous shafts were in it still. Beside her,
 
 880 THE ODYSSEY. [XXI. 61-9& 
 
 damsels bore s box in which lay many a piece of steel 
 and bronze, implements of her lord's for games like 
 these. And when the royal lady reached the suitors, 
 she stood beside a column of the strong-built roof, 
 holding before her face her delicate wimple, the while 
 a faithful damsel stood upon either hand. And 
 straightway she addressed the suitors, speaking thus : 
 
 " Hearken, you haughty suitors who beset this house, 
 eating and drinking ever, now my husband is long 
 gone ; no word of excuse can you suggest except your 
 wish to marry me and win me for your wife. Well 
 then, my suitors, since before you stands your prize, 
 I offer you the mighty bow of prince Odysseus; 
 and whoever with his hands shall lightliest bend the 
 bow and shoot through all twelve axes, him I will fol- 
 low and forsake this home, this bridal home, so very 
 beautiful and full of wealth, a place I think I ever 
 shall remember, even in my dreams." 
 
 So saying, she bade Eumaeus, the noble swine- 
 herd, deliver to the suitors the bow and the gray 
 eteeL With tears Eumaeus took the arms and laid 
 them down before them. Near by, the neatherd also 
 wept to see his master's bow. But Antinous rebuked 
 them, and spoke to them and said : 
 
 "You stupid boors, who only mind the passing 
 minnte, wretched pair, what do you mean by shedding 
 tears, troubling this lady's heart, when already her heart 
 is prostrated with grief at losing her dear husband ? 
 Sit down and eat in silence, or else go forth and weep, 
 but leave the bow behind, a dread ordeal for the suit- 
 ors ; for I am sure this polished bow will not be bent 
 with ease. There is not a man of all now here so 
 powerful as Odysseus. I saw him once myself and 
 Well recall him, though I was then a child.''
 
 XXI. 96-127.] THE ODYSSEY. 331 
 
 He spoke, but in his breast his heart was hoping to 
 draw the string and send an arrow through the steel ; 
 yet he was to be the first to taste the shaft of good 
 Odysseus, whom he now wronged though seated in hi* 
 hall, while to like outrage he encouraged all his com- 
 rades. To these now spoke revered Telemachus : 
 
 " Ha ! Zeus the son of Kronos has made me play 
 the fool ! My mother, and wise she is, says she 
 will follow some strange man and quit this house ; 
 and I but laugh and in my silly soul am glad. Come 
 then, you suitors, since before you stands your prize, 
 a lady whose like cannot be found throughout Achaean 
 land, in sacred Pylos, Argos, or Mycenae, in Ithaca 
 itself, or the dark mainland, as you yourselves well 
 know, what needs my mother praise ? come then, 
 delay not with excuse nor longer hesitate to bend the 
 bow, but let us learn what is to be. I too might try 
 the bow. And if I stretch it and send an arrow 
 through the steel, then with no shame to me my 
 honored mother may forsake this house and follow 
 some one else, leaving me here behind; for I shall 
 then be able to wield my father's arms." 
 
 He spoke, and flung his red cloak from his shoul- 
 ders, rising full height, and put away the sharp sword 
 also from his shoulder. First then he set the axes, 
 marking one long furrow for them all, aligned by cord. 
 The earth on the two sides he stamped down flat. 
 Surprise filled all beholders to see how properly he 
 set them, though he had never seen the game before. 
 Then he went and stood upon the threshold and began 
 to try the bow. Three times he made it tremble aa 
 he sought to make it bend. Three times he slacked 
 his strain, still hoping in his heart to draw the string 
 and send an arrow through the steel. And now ha
 
 882 THE ODYSSEY. [XXL 128-158, 
 
 might have drawn it by force of a fourth tug, had 
 not Odysseus shook his head and stayed the eager 
 boy. So to the suitors once more spoke revered Te- 
 lemachus : 
 
 44 Fie I Shall I ever be a coward and a weakling, 
 or am I still but young and cannot trust my arm to 
 right me with the man who wrongs me first? But 
 come, you who are stronger men than I, come try the 
 bow and end the contest." 
 
 So saying, he laid by the bow and stood it on the 
 ground, leaning it on the firm-set polished door. The 
 swift shaft, too, he likewise leaned against the bow's 
 fair knob, and once more took the seat from which he 
 first arose. Then said to them Antinoiis, Eupeithes* 
 son: 
 
 44 Rise up in order all, from left to right, beginning 
 where the cupbearer begins to pour the wine." 
 
 So said Antinoiis, and his saying pleased them. 
 Then first arose Leiodes, son of Oenops, who was 
 their soothsayer and had his place beside the goodly 
 mixer, farthest along the hall. To him alone their 
 lawlessness was hateful ; he abhorred the suitor crowd. 
 He it was now who first took up the bow and the swift 
 shaft ; and going to the threshold, he stood and tried 
 the bow. He could not bend it. Tugging the string 
 wearied his hands, his soft, unhorny hands ; and to 
 the suitors thus he spoke : 
 
 44 No, friends, I cannot bend it Let some other 
 take the bow. Ah, many chiefs this bow shall rob 
 of life and breath I Yet better far to die than live 
 and still to fail in that for which we constantly are 
 gathered, waiting expectantly from day to day I Now 
 each man hopes and purposes at heart to win Pene- 
 loj>e, Odysseus' wife. But when he shall have tried
 
 XXI. 15&-187.] THE ODYSSEY. 333 
 
 the bow and seen his failure, then to some other fair- 
 robed woman of Achaea let each go, and offer her his 
 suit and woo her with his gifts. So may Penelope 
 marry the man who gives her most and comes with 
 fate to favor 1 " 
 
 When he had spoken, he laid by the bow, leaning 
 it on the firm-set polished door. The swift shaft, too, 
 be likewise leaned against the bow's fair knob, and 
 once more took the seat from which he first arose. 
 But Antinous rebuked him, and spoke to him, and 
 said: 
 
 "Leiodes, what words have passed the barrier of 
 your teeth ? Strange words and harsh I Vexatious 
 words to hear ! As it this bow must rob our chiefs 
 of life and breath because you cannot bend it ! Why, 
 your good mother did not bear you for a brandisher 
 of bows and arrows. But others among the lordly 
 suitors will bend it by and by." 
 
 So saying, he gave an order to Melanthius, the goat- 
 herd : " Hasten, Melantheus, and light a fire in the 
 hall and set a long bench near, with fleeces on it ; then 
 bring me the large cake of fat which lies inside the 
 door> that after we have warmed the bow and greased 
 it well, we young men try the bow and end the con- 
 test." 
 
 He spoke, and straightway Melanthius kindled a 
 steady fire, and set a bench beside it with a fleece 
 thereon, and brought out the large cake of fat which 
 lay inside the door, and so the young men warmed the 
 bow and made their trial. But yet they could not bend 
 it ; they fell far short of power. Antinoiis, however, 
 still held back, and prince Eurymachus, who were 
 the suitors' leaders ; for they in manly excellence were 
 f}uite the best of all.
 
 884 THE ODYSSEY. [XXI. 18&-22Q. 
 
 Meanwhile out of the house at the same moment 
 came two men, princely Odysseus' herdsmen of the 
 oxen and the swine ; and after them came royal Odys- 
 seus also from the house. And when they were out* 
 tide the gate, beyond the yard, speaking in gentle 
 Words Odysseus said : 
 
 M Neatherd, and you too, swineherd, may I tell a 
 certain tale, or shall I hide it still ? My heart bids 
 speak. How ready would you be to aid Odysseus if 
 he should come from somewhere, thus, on a sudden, 
 and a god should bring him home ? Would you sup- 
 port the suitors or Odysseus ? Speak freely, as your 
 heart and spirit bid you speak." 
 
 Then said to him the herdsman of the cattle : 
 " O father Zeus, grant this my prayer I May he re- 
 turn and Heaven be his guide ! Then shall you know 
 what might is mine and how my hands obey." 
 
 So prayed Eumaeus too to all the gods, that wise 
 Odysseus might return to his own home. So when he 
 knew with certainty the heart of each, finding his 
 words once more Odysseus said : 
 
 " Lo, it is I, through many grievous toils now in 
 the twentieth year come to my native land I And 
 yet I know that of my servants none but you desires 
 my coming. From all the rest I have not heard 
 one prayer that I return. To you then I will truly 
 tell what shall hereafter be. If God by me subdues 
 the lordly suitors, I will obtain you wives and give 
 you wealth and homes established near my own ; 
 and henceforth in my eyes you shall be friends and 
 brethren of Telemachus. Come then and I will show 
 you too a very trusty sign, that you may know me 
 certainly and be assured in heart, the scar the boar 
 dealt long ago with his white tusk, when I once jour- 
 neyed to Parnassus with Autolycus' sons."
 
 221-260.] THE ODYSSEY. 885 
 
 So saying, he drew aside his rags from the great 
 scar. And when the two beheld and understood it 
 all, their tears burst forth; they threw their arms 
 round wise Odysseus and passionately kissed his face 
 and neck. So likewise did Odysseus kiss their heads 
 and hands. And daylight had gone down upon their 
 weeping had not Odysseus stayed their tears and 
 said: 
 
 "Have done with grief and wailing, or some, 
 body in coming from the hall may see, and tell the 
 tale indoors. Nay, go in one by one, not all together. 
 I will go first, you after. And let this be agreed : 
 the rest within, the lordly suitors, will not allow me 
 to receive the bow and quiver. But, noble Eumaeus, 
 bring the bow along the room and lay it in my hands. 
 Then tell the women to lock the hall's close-fitting 
 doors; and if from their inner room they hear a 
 moaning or a strife within our walls, let no one ven- 
 ture forth, but stay in silence at her work. And, 
 noble Philoetius, in your care I put the court-yard 
 gates. Bolt with the bar and quickly lash the fasten- 
 ing." 
 
 So saying, Odysseus made his way into the stately 
 house, and went and took the seat from which he first 
 arose. And soon the serving-men of princely Odys- 
 seus entered too. 
 
 Now Eurymachus held the bow and turned it up 
 and down, trying to heat it at the glowing fire. But 
 still, with all his pains, he could not bend it ; his proud 
 soul groaned aloud. Then bitterly he spoke ; these 
 were the words he said : 
 
 *' Ah ! here is woe for me and woe for all ! Not 
 that I so much mourn missing the marriage, though 
 vexed I am at that. Still, there are enough more
 
 SSo* THE ODYSSEY. [XXL 261-284. 
 
 women of Achaea, both here in sea-girt Ithaca and in 
 the other cities. But if in strength we fall so short 
 of princely Odysseus that we cannot bend his bow 
 oh, the disgrace for future times to know I " 
 
 Then said Antinous, Eupeithes' son : " Not so, 
 Euryinachus, and you yourself know better. To-day 
 throughout the land is the archer-god's high feast. 
 Who then could bend a bow ? Nay, quietly lay it by ; 
 and for the axes, what if we leave them standing? 
 Nobody, I am sure, will carry one away and trespass 
 on the house of Laertes' son, Odysseus. Come then, 
 and let the wine-pourer give pious portions to our 
 cups, that after a libation we may lay aside curved 
 bows. To-morrow morning tell Melanthius, the goat- 
 herd, to drive us here the choicest goats of all his 
 flock ; and we will set the thighs before the archer- 
 god, Apollo, then try the bow and end the contest." 
 
 So said Antinous, and his saying pleased them. 
 Pages poured water on their hands ; young men 
 brimmed bowls with drink and served to all, with a 
 first pious portion for the cups. And after they had 
 poured and drunk as their hearts would, then in his 
 subtlety said wise Odysseus : 
 
 " Hearken, you suitors of the illustrious queen, and 
 let me tell you what the heart within me bids. I beg 
 a special favor of Eurymachus, and great Antinous 
 too ; for his advice was wise, that you now drop the 
 bow and leave the matter with the gods, and in the 
 morning God shall grant the power to whom he may. 
 But give me now the polished bow, and let me in your 
 presence prove my skill and power and see if I have 
 yet such vigor left as once there was within my sup- 
 ple limbs, or whether wanderings and neglect have 
 ruined all"
 
 XXI. 285-317.] THE ODYSSEY. 337 
 
 At these his words all were exceeding wroth, fear- 
 ing that he might bend the polished bow. But Anti- 
 nous rebuked him, and spoke to him and said : " You 
 scurvy stranger, with not a whit of sense, are you not 
 satisfied to eat in peace with us, your betters, unstinted 
 in your food and hearing all we say ? Nobody else, 
 stranger or beggar, hears our talk. 'T is wine that 
 goads you, honeyed wine, a thing that has brought 
 others trouble, when taken greedily and drunk without 
 due measure. Wine crazed the Centaur, famed Eu- 
 rytion, at the house of bold Peirithoiis, on his visit to 
 the Lapithae. And when his wits were crazed with 
 wine, he madly wrought foul outrage on the household 
 of Peirithoiis. So indignation seized the heroes. 
 Through the porch and out of doors they rushed, 
 dragging Eurytion forth, shorn by the pitiless sword 
 of ears and nose. Crazed in his wits, he went his way, 
 bearing in his bewildered heart the burden of his 
 guilt. And hence arose a feud between the Centaurs 
 and mankind ; but the beginning of the woe he him- 
 self caused by wine. Even so I prophesy great harm 
 to you, if you shall bend the bow. No kindness will 
 you meet from any in our land, but we will send you 
 by black ship straight to king Echetus, the bane of 
 all mankind, out of whose hands you never shall come 
 clear. Be quiet, then, and take your drink ! Do not 
 presume to vie with younger men ! " 
 
 Then said to him heedful Penelope : " Antinous, it 
 is neither honorable nor fitting to worry strangers 
 who may reach this palace of Telemachus. Do you 
 suppose the stranger, if he bends the great bow of 
 Odysseus, confident in his skill and strength of arm, 
 will lead me home and take me for his wife? He in 
 his inmost soul imagines no such thing. Let none of
 
 THE ODYSSEY. [XXI. 318-353. 
 
 you sit at the table disturbed by such a thought ; for 
 that could never, never, be ! " 
 
 Then answered her Eurymachus, the son of Poly- 
 bus : " Daughter of Icarius, heedful Penelope, we do 
 not think the man will marry you. Of course that 
 could not be. And yet we dread the talk of men and 
 women, and fear that one of the baser sort of the 
 Achaeans say : ' Men far inferior sue for a good man's 
 wife, and cannot bend his polished bow. But some- 
 body else, a wandering beggar, came, and easily 
 bent the bow and sent an arrow through the steel.' 
 This they will say, to us a shame indeed." 
 
 Then said to him heedful Penelope ; " Eurymachus, 
 men cannot be in honor in the land and rudely rob 
 the household of their prince. Why then count this 
 a shame? The stranger is right tall, and well-knit 
 too, and calls himself the son of a good father. Give 
 him the polished bow, and let us see. For this I 
 tell you, and it shall be done : if he shall bend it and 
 Apollo grants his prayer, I will clothe him in a coat 
 and tunic, goodly garments, give him a pointed spear 
 to keep off dogs and men, a two-edged sword, and 
 sandals for his feet, and I will send him where his 
 heart and soul may bid him go." 
 
 Then answered her discreet Telemachus : " My 
 mother, no Achaean has better right than I to give or 
 to refuse the bow to any as I will. And out of all 
 who rule in rocky Ithaca, or in the islands off to 
 ward grazing Elis, none may oppose my will, even if I 
 wished to put the bows into the stranger's hands and 
 let him take them once for all away. Then seek your 
 chamber and attend to matters of your own, the 
 loom, the distaff, and bid the women ply their 
 tasks. Bows are for men, for all, especially for me; 
 tor power within this house rests here."
 
 XXL 364-385.] THE ODYSSEY. 839 
 
 Amazed, she turned to her own room again, for the 
 wise saying of her son she laid to heart. And com- 
 ing to the upper chamber with her maids, she there 
 bewailed Odysseus, her dear husband, till on her lids 
 clear-eyed Athene caused a sweet sleep to fall. 
 
 Meanwhile the noble swineherd, taking the curved 
 bow, was bearing it away. But the suitors all broke 
 into uproar in the hall, and a rude youth would say : 
 " Where are you carrying the curved bow, you miser- 
 able swineherd ? Crazy fool I Soon out among the 
 swine, away from men, swift dogs shall eat you, 
 dogs you yourself have bred will but Apollo and 
 the other deathless gods be gracious ! " 
 
 At these their words the bearer of the bow laid it 
 down where he stood, frightened because the crowd 
 within the hall cried out upon him. But from the 
 other side Telemachus called threateningly aloud : 
 " Nay, father I Carry on the bow ! You cannot well 
 heed all. Take care, or I, a nimbler man than you, 
 will drive you to the fields with pelting stones. Supe- 
 rior in strength I am to you. Ah, would I were as 
 much beyond the others in the house, beyond these 
 suitors, in my skill and strength of arm I Then 
 would I soon send somebody away in sorrow from my 
 house ; for men work evil here." 
 
 He spoke, and all burst into merry laughter and 
 laid aside their bitter anger with Telemachus. And 
 so the swineherd, bearing the bow along the hall, 
 drew near to wise Odysseus and put it in his hands ; 
 then calling aside nurse Eurycleia, thus he said : 
 
 " Telemachus bids you, heedful Eurycleia, to lock 
 the hall's close-fitting doors ; and if a woman from 
 the inner room hears moaning or a strife within our 
 walls, let her not venture forth, but stay in silence 
 at her work."
 
 840 THE ODYSSEY. [XXL 3SG-417 
 
 Such were his words ; unwinged, they rested with 
 her. She looked the doors of the stately hall. Then 
 silently from the house Philoetius stole forth and 
 straightway barred the gates of the fenced court. 
 Beneath the portico there lay a curved ship's cable, 
 made of byblus plant. With this he lashed the gates, 
 then passed indoors himself, and went and took the 
 seat from which he first arose, eying Odysseus. Now 
 Odysseus already held the bow and turned it round 
 and round, trying it here and there to see if worms had 
 gnawed the horn while its lord was far away. And 
 glancing at his neighbor one would say : 
 
 " A sort of fancier and a trickster with the bow this 
 fellow is. No doubt at home he has himself a bow 
 like that, or means to make one like it. See how 
 be turns it in his hands this way and that, ready for 
 mischief, rascal ! " 
 
 Then would another rude youth answer thus : " Oh 
 may he always meet with luck as good as when he is 
 unable now to bend the bow I " 
 
 So talked the suitors. Meantime wise Odysseus, 
 when he had handled the great bow and scanned it 
 closely, even as one well-skilled to play the lyre and 
 sing stretches with ease round its new peg a string, 
 securing at each end the twisted sheep-gut ; so with- 
 out effort did Odysseus string the mighty bow. Hold- 
 ing it now with his right hand, he tried its cord ; and 
 clear to the touch it sang, voiced like the swr^low. 
 Great consternation came upon the suitors. All faces 
 then changed color. Zeus thundered loud for signal. 
 And glad was long-tried royal Odysseus to think the 
 son of crafty Kronos sent an omen. He picked up a 
 swift shaft which lay beside him on the table, drawn. 
 Within the hollow quiver still remained the rest, which
 
 XXI. 418-434.] THE ODYSSEY. 341 
 
 the Achaeans soon should prove. Then laying the 
 arrow on the arch, he drew the string and arrow 
 notches, and forth from the bench on which he sat 
 let fly the shaft, with careful aim, and did not miss 
 an axe's ring from first to last, but clean through all 
 sped on the bronze-tipped arrow ; and to Telemachus 
 he said : 
 
 " Telemachus, the guest now sitting in your hall 
 brings you no shame. I did not miss my mark, nor 
 in the bending of the bow make a long labor. My 
 strength is sound as ever, not what the mocking suit- 
 ors here despised. But it is time for the Achaeans 
 to make supper ready, while it is daylight still ; and 
 then for us in other ways to make them sport, 
 with dance and lyre ; for these attend a feast." 
 
 He spoke and frowned the sign. His sharp sword 
 then Telemachus girt on, the son of princely Odys- 
 seus ; clasped his right hand around his spear, and 
 close beside his father's seat he took his stand, armed 
 with the gleaming bronze.
 
 XXIL 
 
 THE SLAUGHTER OP THE SUITORS. 
 
 THEN wise Odysseus threw off his rags and sprang 
 *> the broad threshold, bow in hand and quiver full 
 of arrows. Out he poured the swift shafts at his feet, 
 jmd thus addressed the suitors : 
 
 " So the dread ordeal ends ! Now to another mark 
 I turn, to hit what no man ever hit before, will but 
 Apollo grant my prayer." 
 
 He spoke, and aimed a pointed arrow at Antinoiis. 
 The man was in the act to raise his goodly goblet, 
 gold it was and double-eared, and even now guided it 
 in his hands to drink the wine. Death gave his heart 
 no care. For who could think that in this company 
 of feasters one of the crowd, however strong, could 
 bring upon him cruel death and dismal doom ? But 
 Odysseus aimed an arrow and hit him in the throat ; 
 right through his tender neck the sharp point passed. 
 He sank down sidewise ; from his hand the goblet fell 
 when he was hit, and straightway from his nose ran a 
 thick stream of human blood. Roughly he pushed 
 his table back, kicking it with his foot, and scattered 
 off the food upon the floor. The bread and roasted 
 meat were thrown away. Into a tumult broke the 
 suitors round about the hall when they saw the fallen 
 man. They sprang from their seats and, hurrying 
 through the hall, peered at the massive walls on every 
 aide. But nowhere was there shield or ponderous
 
 XXII. 26-66.] THE ODYSSEY. 
 
 spear to seize. Then they assailed Odysseus with in* 
 dignant words : 
 
 " Stranger, to your sorrow you turn your bow on 
 men I You never shall take part in games again. 
 Swift death awaits you ; for you have killed the leader 
 of the noble youths of Ithaca. To pay for this, vul- 
 tures shall eat you here ! " 
 
 So each one spoke ; they thought he had not meant 
 to kill the man. They foolishly did not see that for 
 them one and all destruction's cords were knotted. 
 But looking sternly on them wise Odysseus said : 
 
 " Dogs ! You have been saying all the time I never 
 should return out of the land of Troy; and there- 
 fore you destroyed my home, outraged my women- 
 servants, and, I alive, covertly wooed my wife, 
 fearing no gods that hold the open sky, nor that the 
 indignation of mankind would fall on you hereafter. 
 Now for you one and all destruction's cords are 
 knotted ! " 
 
 As he spoke thus, pale fear took hold on all. Each 
 peered about to flee from instant death. Only Eury- 
 machus made answer, saying : 
 
 " If you indeed be Ithacan Odysseus, now returned,, 
 justly have you described what the Achaeans have 
 been doing, full many crimes here at the hall and 
 many in the field. But there at last lies he who was 
 the cause of all, Antinoiis ; for it was he who set us 
 on these deeds, not so much needing and desiring 
 marriage, but with this other purpose, which the 
 son of Kronos never granted, that in the settled 
 land of Ithaca he might himself be king, when he 
 should treacherously have slain your son. Now he is 
 justly slain. But spare your people, and we here- 
 after, making you public recompense for all we drank
 
 844 THE ODYSSEY. [XXII. 56-8a 
 
 and ate here at the hall, will pay a fine of twenty 
 oxen each and give you bronze and gold enough to 
 warm your heart. Till this is done, we cannot blame 
 your wrath." 
 
 But looking sternly on him, wise Odysseus said : 
 '* Eurymachus, if you would give me all your father's 
 goods, and all your own, and all that you might gather 
 elsewhere, I would not stay my hands from slaying 
 until the suitors paid the price of all their lawless 
 deeds. It lies before you then to fight or flee, if any 
 man will save himself from death and doom. But 
 some here will not flee, I think, from instant death." 
 
 As he spoke thus, their kr 'jes grew feeble and their 
 very souls ; but Eurymachus called out a second time : 
 " Come, friends, the man will not hold back his ruth- 
 less hands ; but having got possession of a polished 
 bow and quiver, he will shoot from the smooth thresh- 
 old until he kills us all. Let us then turn to fighting. 
 Draw swords, and hold the tables up against his 
 deadly arrows I Have at him all together ! Perhaps 
 we may dislodge him from the threshold and the door, 
 then reach the town and quickly raise the alarm. So 
 would the fellow soon have shot his last." 
 
 So saying, he drew his sharp two-edged bronze 
 nword and sprang upon Odysseus with a fearful cry. 
 But on the instant royal Odysseus shot an arrow and 
 hit him in the breast beside the nipple, fixing the 
 swift bolt in his liver. Out of his hand his sword 
 dropped on the ground, and he himself, sprawling 
 across the table, bent and fell, spilling the food and 
 double cup upon the floor. With his brow he beat 
 the pavement in his agony of heart, and with his 
 kicking shook the chair. Upon hi? eyes gathered the 
 mists of death.
 
 XXII. 89-117.] THE ODYSSEY. 846 
 
 But Amphinomus assaulted glorious Odysseus, and 
 dashing headlong forward drew his sharp sword, hop- 
 ing to make Odysseus yield the door. But Telema- 
 chus was quick and struck him with his brazen spear 
 upon the back, between the shoulders, and drove the 
 spear-point through his chest. He fell with a thud and 
 struck the ground flat with his forehead. Telemachus 
 sprang back and left the long spear sticking in Am- 
 phinomus ; for he feared if he should draw the long 
 spear out, an Achaean might attack him, rushing on 
 him with his sword, and as he stooped might stab 
 him. So off he ran and hastily went back to his dear 
 father; and standing close beside him, he said in 
 winged words : 
 
 "Now, father, I will fetch a shield and pair of 
 spears, and a brazen helmet also, fitted to your brow. 
 And I will go and arm myself, and give some armor 
 to the swineherd and to the neatherd too ; for to be 
 armed is better." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said " " Run ! 
 Bring the arms while I have arrows to defend me, or 
 they will drive me from the door when I am left 
 alone." 
 
 He spoke, and Telemachus heeded his dear father, 
 and hastened to the chamber where the glittering 
 armor lay. Out of the store he chose four shields, 
 eight spears, and four bronze helmets having horse- 
 hair plumes. These he bore off and hastily went back 
 to his dear father. Telemachus first girt his body 
 with the bronze, then the two servants likewise girt 
 themselves in goodly armor, and so all took their 
 stand by Odysseus, keen and crafty. 
 
 He, just as long as he had arrows to defend him, 
 shot down a suitor in the hall with every aim, and
 
 846 THE ODYSSEY. [XXIL 11&-147. 
 
 Bide by side they fell. Then when his arrows failed 
 the princely bowman, he leaned the bow against the 
 door-post of the stately room, letting it stand beside 
 the bright face-wall, and he too slung a fourfold shield 
 about his shoulders, put on his sturdy head a shapely 
 helmet, horsehair-plumed, grimly the crest above it 
 nodded, and took in hand two ponderous spears 
 pointed with bronze. 
 
 Now in the solid wall there was a postern-door ; and 
 level with the upper threshold of the stately hall, an 
 opening to a passage, closed with jointed boards. 
 Odysseus ordered the noble swineherd to guard this 
 postern-door and in its neighborhood to take his 
 stand, since this was the only exit. But to the suitors 
 said Agelaiis, speaking his words to all : 
 
 " Friends, could not one of you climb by the 
 postern-door and tell our people, and quickly raise 
 the alarm ? So would the fellow soon have shot his 
 last." 
 
 Then said to him Melanthius the goatherd : " No, 
 heaven-descended Agelaiis, that may in no wise be ; for 
 the good court-yard door is terribly near at hand, and 
 the mouth of the passage-way is narrow. One person 
 there, if resolute, could bar the way for all. Yet I 
 will fetch you from the chamber arms to wear; for 
 there, I think, and nowhere else, Odysseus stored the 
 armor, he and his gallant son." 
 
 So having said, Melanthius, the goatherd, climbed 
 to the chambers of Odysseus through the vent-holes of 
 the hall. Out of the store he chose twelve shields, as 
 many spears, and just as many brazen helmets having 
 horsehair plumes ; then turning back, he brought 
 them very quickly and gave them to the suitors. And 
 bow did Odysseus' knees grow feeble and his very
 
 XXII. 148-181.] THE ODYSSEY. 347 
 
 soul, when he saw them donning arms and waving in 
 their hands long spears. Large seemed his task; 
 and straightway to Telemachus he spoke these winged 
 words : 
 
 " Surely, Telemachus, a woman of the house aids 
 the hard fight against us ; or else it is Melantheus." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " Father, 
 the fault is mine ; no other is to blame ; for I it was 
 who opened the chamber's tight-shut door and left it 
 open. Their watchman was too good. But, noble 
 Eumaeus, go and close the chamber-door, and see if 
 any woman has a hand in this, or if, as I suspect, 
 it is the son of Dolius, Melantheus." 
 
 So they conversed together. And now Melan thins, 
 the goatherd, went to the room again to fetch more 
 goodly armor. The noble swineherd spied him, and 
 quickly to Odysseus, standing near, he said : 
 
 " High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, there 
 is the knave whom we suspected, just going to the 
 chamber. Speak plainly ; shall I kill him if I prove 
 the better man, or shall I bring him here to pay for 
 all the crimes he plotted in your house ? " 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said : " Here 
 in the hall Telemachus and I will hold the lordly suit- 
 ors, rage they as they may. You two tie the man's 
 feet and hands and drag him within the chamber ; 
 there fasten boards upon his back, and lashing a 
 twisted rope around him hoist him aloft, up the tall 
 pillar, and bring him to the beams, that he may keep 
 alive there long and suffer grievous torment." 
 
 So he spoke, and willingly they heeded and obeyed. 
 They hastened to the chamber, unseen of him within. 
 He was engaged in searching after armor in a corner 
 of the room, while the pair stood beside the door-
 
 848 THE ODYSSEY. [XXII. 182-212. 
 
 posts, one on either hand, and waited. Soon as Melan- 
 thius the goatherd crossed the threshold, in one hand 
 bearing a goodly helmet and in the other a broad 
 old shield beflecked with mould, the shield of lord 
 Laertes, which he carried in his youth, now laid away, 
 its strap-seams parted, then on him sprang the two 
 and dragged him by the hair within the door, threw 
 him all horror-stricken to the ground, bound hands 
 and feet together with a galling cord, which tight 
 and fast they tied, as they were ordered by Laertes* 
 son, long-tried royal Odysseus ; then they lashed a 
 twisted rope around and hoisted him aloft, up the tall 
 pillar, and brought him to the beams ; and mocking 
 him said you, swineherd Eumaeus : 
 
 ** Now then, Melanthius, you shall watch the whole 
 night long, stretched out on such a comfortable bed 
 as suits you well. The early dawn out of the Ocean- 
 stream shall not in golden splendor slip unheeded by, 
 when you should drive goats for the suitors at the hall 
 to make their meal." 
 
 Thus was he left there, fast in deadly bonds. The 
 pair put on their armor, closed the shining door and 
 went to join Odysseus, keen and crafty. Here they 
 stood, breathing fury, four of them on the threshold, 
 although within the hall were many men of might. 
 But near them came Athene, the daughter of Zeus, 
 likened to Mentor in her form and voice. To see her 
 made Odysseus glad, and thus he spoke : 
 
 " Mentor, save us from ruin ! Remember the good 
 comrade who often aided you. You are of my own 
 years." 
 
 He said this, though he understood it was Athene, 
 the summoner of hosts. But the suitors shouted from 
 the other side, down in the hall ; and foremost in 
 abuse was Agelaiis, son of Damastor :
 
 XXII. 213-245.1 THE ODYSSEY. 349 
 
 " Mentor, do not let Odysseus lure you by his words 
 to fight the suitors and to lend him aid ; for I am 
 sure even then we still shall work our will. And 
 after we have slain these men, father and son, you too 
 shall die beside them for deeds you thought to do 
 within the hall. Here with your head you shall make 
 due amends. And when with the sword we have cut 
 short your power, whatever goods you have, within 
 doors and without, we will confound with the posses- 
 sions of Odysseus. We will not let your sons and 
 daughters live at home, nor let your true wife linger 
 in the town of Ithaca." 
 
 As he spoke thus, Athene grew more wroth in spirit 
 and chid Odysseus with these angry words : " Odys- 
 seus, you have no longer such firm power and spirit 
 as when for the sake of white-armed high-born Helen 
 you fought the Trojans nine years long unflinchingly, 
 and vanquished many men in mortal combat, and by 
 your wisdom Priam's wide-wayed city fell. Why, 
 now returned to home and wealth and here confronted 
 with the suitors, do you shrink from being brave? 
 Nay, nay, good friend, stand by my side, watch what 
 I do, and see how, in the presence of the foe, Mentor, 
 the son of Alcimus, repays a kindness." 
 
 She spoke, but gave him not quite yet the victory 
 in full. Still she made trial of the strength and spirit 
 both of Odysseus and his valiant son. Up to the 
 roof-beam of the smoky hall she darted like a swallow, 
 resting there. 
 
 Now the suitors were led by Agelaiis, son of Da- 
 mastor, by Eurynomus, Amphimedon, and Demopto- 
 lemus, by Peisander, son of Polyctor, and wise Poly- 
 bus ; for these in manly excellence were quite the best 
 of all who still were living, fighting for their lives.
 
 S60 THE ODYSSEY. [XXIL 246-276L 
 
 The rest the bow and storm of arrows had laid low. 
 So to these men said Agelaiis, speaking his words to 
 all: 
 
 " Now, friends, at last the man shall hold his ruth- 
 less hands ; for Mentor has departed after uttering 
 idle boasts, and the men at the front door are left 
 alone. So hurl your long spears, but not all together I 
 Now then, six let fly first; and see if Zeus allows 
 Odysseus to be hit and us to win an honor. No 
 trouble about the rest when he is down 1 " 
 
 He said, and all to whom he spoke let fly their 
 spears with power. Athene made all vain. One 
 struck the doorpost of the stately hall ; one the tight- 
 fitting door ; another's ashen shaft, heavy with bronze, 
 crashed on the wall. And when the men were safe 
 from the suitors' spears, then thus began long-tried 
 royal Odysseus : 
 
 " Friends, let me give the word at last to our side 
 too. Let fly your spears into the crowd of suitors, 
 men who seek to slay and strip us, adding this to 
 former wrongs 1 " 
 
 He spoke, and all with careful aim let fly their 
 pointed spears. Odysseus struck down Demoptole- 
 mus ; Telemachus, Euryades ; the swineherd, Elatus ; 
 and the herdsman of the cattle, Peisander. All these 
 together bit the dust of the broad floor, the other suit- 
 ors falling back from hall to deep recess. Odysseus' 
 men sprang forward and from the bodies of the dead 
 pulled out the spears. 
 
 And now the suitors again let fly their pointed 
 spears with power. Athene made them for the most 
 part vain. One struck the doorpost of the stately 
 hall ; one the tight-fitting door ; another's ashen shaft, 
 heavy with bronze, crashed on the wall. But Amplii-
 
 XXIL 277-305.] THE ODYSSEY. 351 
 
 medon wounded Telemachus on the wrist of the right 
 hand, though slightly ; the metal tore the outer skin. 
 And Ctesippus with his long spear grazed Eumaeus 
 on the shoulder which showed above his shield ; the 
 spear flew past and fell upon the ground. 
 
 Once more the men beside Odysseus, keen and 
 crafty, let fly their sharp spears on the crowd of suit- 
 ors. And now by Odysseus, the spoiler of cities, 
 Eurydamas was hit ; by Telemachus, Amphimedon ; 
 by the swineherd, Polybus ; and afterwards the herds- 
 man of the cattle hit Ctesippus in the breast and 
 cried in triumph : 
 
 " Ha, son of Polytherses, ready mocker, never again 
 give way to folly and big words ! Leave boasting to 
 the gods ; they are stronger far than you. This gift 
 offsets the hoof you gave to great Odysseus a little 
 while ago, when in his house he played the beggar 
 man." 
 
 So spoke the herdsman of the crook-horned kine. 
 Then Odysseus wounded Damastor's son with his long 
 spear, when fighting hand to hand. Telemachus 
 wounded Evenor's son, Leiocritus, with a spear-thrust 
 in the middle of the waist, and drove the point clean 
 through. He fell on his face and struck the ground 
 flat with his forehead. And now Athene from the 
 roof above stretched forth her murderous aegis. 
 Their souls were panic-stricken. They scurried 
 through the hall like herded cows, on whom the 
 glancing gadfly falls and maddens them, in spring- 
 time when the days are long. And as the crook- 
 clawed hook-beaked vultures, descending from the 
 hills, dart at the birds which fly the clouds and skim 
 the plain, while the vultures pounce and kill them ; 
 defense they have not and have no escape, and men
 
 852 THE ODYSSEY. [XXII. 308-330. 
 
 are merry at their capture ; so the four chased the 
 suitors down the hall and smote them right and left. 
 There went up moans, a dismal sound, as skulls were 
 crushed and all the pavement ran with blood. 
 
 But Leiodes, rushing forward, clasped Odysseus by 
 the knees, and spoke imploringly these winged words : 
 '* I clasp your knees, Odysseus I Oh, respect and spare 
 me I For I protest I never harmed a woman of the 
 house by wicked word or act. No I and I used to try 
 to stop the rest, the suitors, when one of them 
 would do such deeds. But they were not inclined to 
 hold their hands from wrong. So through their own 
 perversity they met a dismal doom ; and I, their sooth- 
 sayer, although I did no ill, must also fall. There is 
 no gratitude for good deeds done I " 
 
 Then looking sternly on him wise Odysseus said : 
 " If you avow yourself their soothsayer, many a time 
 you must have prayed within the hall that the issue of 
 a glad return might be delayed for me, while my dear 
 wife should follow you and bear you children. There- 
 fore you shall not now avoid a shameful death." 
 
 So saying, he seized in his sturdy hand a sword 
 that lay near by, a sword which Agelaiis had dropped 
 upon the ground when he was slain, and drove it 
 through the middle of Leiodes' neck. While he yet 
 spoke, his head rolled in the dust. 
 
 But the bard, the son of Terpes, still had escaped 
 dark doom, Phemius, who sang perforce among the 
 suitors. He stood, holding the tuneful lyre in his 
 hands, close to the postern-door ; and in his heart he 
 doubted whether to hasten from the hall to the mas- 
 sive altar of great Zeus, guardian of courts, and take 
 his seat where oftentimes Laertes and Odysseus had 
 burned the thighs of beeves ; or whether he should
 
 XXII. 337-369.] THE ODYSSEY. 358 
 
 run and clasp Odysseus by the knees. Reflecting 
 thus, it seemed the better way to touch the knees of 
 Laertes' son, Odysseus. He laid his hollow lyre upon 
 the ground, midway between the mixer and the silver- 
 studded chair, ran forward to Odysseus, clasped his 
 knees, and spoke imploringly these winged words : 
 
 44 1 clasp your knees, Odysseus I Oh, respect and 
 spare me I To you yourself hereafter grief will come, 
 if you destroy a bard who sings to gods and men. 
 Self-taught am I ; God planted in my heart all kinds 
 of song ; and I had thought to sing to you as to a god. 
 Then do not seek to slay me. Telemachus, your own 
 dear son, will say how not through will of mine, nor 
 seeking gain, I lingered at your palace, singing to the 
 suitors at their feasts ; for being more and stronger 
 men than I, they brought me here by force." 
 
 What he had said revered Telemachus heard, and 
 he quickly called to his father who was standing near : 
 " Hold I For the man is guiltless. Do not stab him 
 with the sword I And let us also spare Medon, the 
 page, who here at home used to have charge of me 
 while I was still a child, unless indeed Philoetius or 
 the swineherd slew him, or he encountered you as you 
 stormed along the hall." 
 
 What he was saying Medon, that man of under- 
 standing, heard ; for he lay crouching underneath a 
 chair, wrapped in a fresh-flayed ox's hide, seeking to 
 shun dark doom. Straightway he rose from underneath 
 the chair, quickly cast off the hide, sprang forward to 
 Telemachus, clasped his knees, and cried imploringly 
 in winged words : 
 
 " Friend, stay your hand ! It is I ! And speak to 
 your father, or exulting in his sharp sword he will 
 destroy me out of indignation at the suitors, who
 
 864 THE ODYSSEY. [XXII. 37<M02. 
 
 wasted the possessions in his halls and in their folly 
 paid no heed to you." 
 
 But wise Odysseus, smiling, said : " Be of good 
 cheer, for he has cleared and oaved you ; that in your 
 heart you may perceive and may report to others how 
 much more safe is doing good than ill. But both of 
 you leave the hall and sit outside, out of this blood- 
 shed, in the court, you and the full-voiced bard, 
 till I have accomplished in the house all that I still 
 must do." 
 
 Even as he spoke, the pair went forth and left the 
 hall, and both sat down by the altar of great Zeus, 
 peering about on every side as still expecting death. 
 Odysseus too peered round his hall to see if any liv- 
 ing man were lurking there, seeking to shun dark 
 doom. He found them all laid low in blood and dust, 
 and in such numbers as the fish which fishermen draw 
 to the shelving shore out of the foaming sea in meshy 
 nets ; these all, sick for the salt sea wave, lie heaped 
 upon the sands, while the resplendent sun takes life 
 away ; so lay the suitors, heaped on one another. And 
 now to Telemachus said wise Odysseus : 
 
 " Telemachus, go call nurse Eurycleia, that I may 
 speak to her the thing I have in mind." 
 
 He spoke, and Telemachus heeded his dear father 
 and, shaking the door, said to nurse Eurycleia : " Up I 
 aged woman, who have charge of all the damsels in 
 our hall I Come hither 1 My father calk and wants 
 to speak with you." 
 
 Such were his words ; unwinged, they rested with 
 her. Opening the doors of the stately hall, she en- 
 tered. Telemachus led the way. And there among 
 the bodies of the slain she found Odysseus, dabbled 
 with blood and gore, like a lion come from feeding
 
 403-136.] THE ODYSSEY. 856 
 
 on some stall-fed ox ; its whole breast and its cheeks 
 on either side are bloody ; terrible is the beast to see \ 
 so dabbled was Odysseus, feet and hands. And when 
 she saw the bodies and the quantity of blood, she 
 was ready to cry aloud at the sight of the mighty deed. 
 But Odysseus held her back and stayed her madness, 
 and speaking in winged words he said : 
 
 " Woman, be glad within ; but hush, and make no 
 cry. It is not right to glory in the slain. The gods' 
 doom and their reckless deeds destroyed them ; for 
 they respected nobody on earth, bad man or good, 
 who came among them. So through their own per 
 versity they met a dismal doom. But name me now 
 the women of the hall, and tell me who dishonor mo 
 and who are guiltless." 
 
 Then said to him his dear nurse Eurycleia : " Then 
 I will tell you, child, the very truth. You have fifty 
 women-servants at the hall whom we have taught their 
 tasks, to card the wool and bear the servant's lot. 
 Out of these women, twelve in all have gone the way 
 of shame, paying no heed to me nor even to Pene- 
 lope. It is but lately Telen?achus has come to man- 
 hood, and his mother has never suffered him to rule 
 the maids. But let me go above, to the bright upper 
 chamber, and tell your wife, whom a god has laid 
 asleep." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : " Do 
 not awake her yet ; tell those women to come here 
 who in the past behaved unworthily." 
 
 So he spoke, and through the hall forth the old 
 .woman went, to give the message to the maids and bid 
 them come with speed. Meanwhile Odysseus, calling 
 to his side Telemachus, the neatherd, and the swine- 
 herd, spoke to them thus in winged words :
 
 856 THE ODYSSEY. [XXII. 437-469- 
 
 "Begin to carry off the dead, and bid the women 
 aid you ; then let them clean the goodly chairs and 
 tables with water and porous sponges. And when you 
 have set in order all the house, lead forth these serv- 
 ing-maid;., out of the stately hall to a spot between the 
 round-house and the neat court-yard wall, and smite 
 them with your long swords till you take life from all : 
 and so they may forget the love they had among the 
 suitors, when they would meet them unobserved." 
 
 He spoke, and the women came, trooping along 
 together, in bitter lamentation, letting the big tears 
 fall. First they carried out the bodies of the dead 
 and laid them by the portico of the fenced court, piling 
 them there one on another. Odysseus gave the orders 
 and hastened on the work, and only because compelled 
 the maids bore off the bodies. Then afterwards they 
 cleaned the goodly chairs and tables with water and 
 porous sponges. Telemachus, the neatherd and the 
 swineherd with shovels scraped the pavement of the 
 strong-built room, and the maids took up the scrapings 
 and threw them out of doors. And when they had 
 set in order all the hall, they led the serving-maids 
 out' of the stately hall to a spot between the round- 
 house and the neat court-yard wall, and there they 
 shut them in a narrow space whence there was no 
 escape. Then thus began discreet Telemachus : 
 
 "By no honorable death would 1 take away the 
 lives of those who poured reproaches on my head and 
 on my mother, and lay beside the suitors." 
 
 He spoke, and tied the cable of a dark-bowed ship 
 to a great pillar, then lashed it to the round-house, 
 stretching it high across, too high for one to touch 
 the feet upon the ground. And as the wide-winged 
 thrushes or the doves strike on a net set in the bushes)
 
 XXII. 470-601.] THE ODYSSEY. 857 
 
 and when they think to go to roost a cruel bed re- 
 ceives them ; even so the women held their heads in 
 line, and around every neck a noose was laid, that 
 they might die most vilely. They twitched their feet 
 a little, but not long. 
 
 Then forth they led Melanthius across the porch 
 and yard. With rustless sword they lopped his nose 
 and ears, pulled out his bowels to be eaten raw by 
 dogs, and in their rage cut off his hands and feet. 
 
 Afterwards washing clean their own hands and their 
 feet, they went to meet Odysseus in the house, and all 
 the work was done. But to his dear nurse Eurycleia 
 said Odysseus : " Woman, bring sulphur, a protection 
 against harm, and bring me fire to fumigate the hall. 
 And bid Penelope come hither with her women, and 
 order all the maids throughout the house to come." 
 
 Then said to him his dear nurse Eurycleia : " Truly, 
 my child, in all this you speak rightly. Yet let me 
 fetch you clothes, a coat and tunic. And do not, with 
 this covering of rags on your broad shoulders, stand in 
 the hall. That would be cause for blame." 
 
 But wise Odysseus answered her and said : " First 
 let a fire be lighted in the hall." 
 
 At these his words, his dear nurse Eurycleia did not 
 disobey but brought the fire and sulphur. Odysseus 
 fumigated all the hall, the buildings and the court. 
 
 And now the old woman passed through the goodly 
 palace of Odysseus to take his message to the maids 
 and bid them come with speed. Out of their room 
 they came, with torches in their hands. They gath- 
 ered round Odysseus, hailing him with delight. 
 Foundly they kissed his face and neck, and held him 
 by the hand. Glad longing fell upon him to weep and 
 cry aloud. All these he knew were true.
 
 XX11L 
 
 THE RECOGNITION BY PENELOPE. 
 
 So the old woman, full of glee, went to the upper 
 chamber to tell her mistress her dear lord was in the 
 house. Her knees grew strong; her feet outran 
 themselves. By Penelope's head she paused, and 
 thus she spoke : 
 
 " Awake, Penelope, dear child, to see with your own 
 eyes what you have hoped to see this many a day ! 
 Odysseus is here I He has come home at last, and slain 
 the haughty suitors, the men who vexed his house, 
 devoured his substance, and oppressed his son." 
 
 Then heedful Penelope said to her : " Dear nurse, 
 the gods have crazed you. They can befool one who 
 is very wise, and often they have set the simple in the 
 paths of prudence. They have confused you; you 
 were sober-minded heretofore. Why mock me when 
 my heart is full of sorrow, telling wild tales like these ? 
 And why arouse me from the sleep that sweetly bound 
 me and kept my eyelids closed ? I have not >lept ao 
 soundly since Odysseus went away to see accursed 
 Ilios, uame never to be named. Nay then, go 
 down, back to the hall. If any other of my maids 
 had come and told me this and waked me out of 
 sleep, I would soon have sent her off in sorry wise 
 into the hall once more. This time age serves you 
 well" 
 
 Then said to her the good nurse Eurycleia : " Dear
 
 26-457.] THE ODYSSEY. 859 
 
 child, I do not mock you. In very truth it is Odys- 
 seus ; he is come, as I have said. He is the stranger 
 whom everybody in the hall has set at naught. Te- 
 lemachus knew long ago that he was here, but oat of 
 prudence hid his knowledge of his father till he 
 should have revenge from these bold men for wicked 
 deeds." 
 
 So spoke she ; and Penelope was glad, and, spring- 
 ing from her bed, fell on the woman's neck, and let 
 the tears burst from her eyes ; and, speaking in winged 
 words, she said : " Nay, tell me, then, dear nurse, and 
 tell me truly ; if he is really come as you declare, how 
 was it he laid hands upon the shameless suitors, being 
 alone, while they were always here together ? " 
 
 Then answered her the good nurse Eurycleia: "I 
 did not see ; I did not ask ; I only heard the groans 
 of dying men. In a corner of our protected chamber 
 we sat and trembled, the doors were tightly closed, 
 until your son Telemachus called to me from the 
 hall ; for his father bade him call. And there among 
 the bodies of the slain I found Odysseus standing. 
 All around, covering the trodden floor, they lay, one 
 on another. It would have warmed your heart to see 
 him, like a lion, dabbled with blood and gore. Now 
 all the bodies are collected at the courtyard gate, 
 while he is fumigating the fair house by lighting a 
 great fire. He sent me here to call you. Follow me, 
 then, that you may come to gladness in your true 
 hearts together, for sorely have you suffered. Now 
 the long hope has been at last fulfilled. He has come 
 back alive to his own hearth, and found you still, you 
 and his son, within his hall ; and upon those who did 
 him wrong, the suitors, on all of them here in his 
 home he has obtained revenge."
 
 860 THE ODYSSEY. [XXIII. 58-91. 
 
 Then heedful Penelope said to her : " Dear nurse, 
 be not too boastful yet, nor filled with glee. Yon 
 know how welcome here the sight of him would be to 
 all, and most to me and to the son we had. But this 
 is no true tale you tell. Nay, rather some immortal 
 slew the lordly suitors, in anger at their galling inso- 
 lence and wicked deeds ; for they respected nobody 
 on earth, bad man or good, who came among them. 
 So for their sins they suffered. But Odysseus, far 
 from Achaea, lost the hope of coming home ; nay, he 
 htuiaeif was lost." 
 
 Then answered her the good nurse Eurycleia : ** My 
 child, what word has passed the barrier of your teeth, 
 to say your husband, who is now beside your hearth, 
 will never cornel Your heart is always doubting. 
 Come, then, and let me name another sign most sure, 
 the scar the boar dealt long ago with his white tusk. 
 I found it as I washed him, and I would have told you 
 then ; but he laid his hand upon my mouth, aiul in 
 his watchful wisdom would not let me speak. But 
 follow me. I stake my very life ; if I deceive you, 
 slay me by the vilest death." 
 
 Then heedful Penelope answered her : " Dear nurse, 
 't is hard for you to trace the counsels of the everlast- 
 ing gods, however wise you are. Nevertheless, let us 
 go down to meet my son, and see the suitors who are 
 dead, and him who slew them/' 
 
 So saying, she went from her chamber to the hall, 
 and much her heart debated whether aloof to ques- 
 tion her dear husband, or to draw near and kiss his 
 face and take his hand. But when she entered, cross- 
 ing the stone threshold, she sat down opposite Odys- 
 seus, in the firelight, beside the farther wall. He sat 
 by a tall pillar, looking down, waiting to hear if hit
 
 XXIII. 92-124.] THE ODYSSEY. 861 
 
 stately wife would speak when she should look his 
 way. But she sat silent long; amazement filled her 
 heart. Now she would gaze with a long look upon 
 his face, and now she would not know him for the 
 mean clothes that he wore. But Telemachus rebuked 
 her, and spoke to her and said : 
 
 " Mother, hard mother, of ungentle heart, why do 
 you hold aloof so from my father, and do not sit beside 
 him, plying him with words and questions? There is 
 no other woman of such stubborn spirit to stand off 
 from the husband who, after many grievous toils, 
 comes in the twentieth year home to his native land. 
 Your heart is always harder than a stone ! " 
 
 Then said to him heedful Penelope : " My child, 
 my soul within is dazed with wonder. I cannot speak 
 to him, nor ask a question, nor look him in the face. 
 But if this is indeed Odysseus, come at last, we cer- 
 tainly shall know each other better than others know ; 
 for we have signs which we two understand, signs 
 hidden from the rest." 
 
 As she, long tried, spoke thus, royal Odysseus 
 smiled, and said to Telemachus forthwith in winged 
 words : " Telemachus, leave your mother in the hall 
 to try my truth. She soon will know me better. 
 Now, because I am foul and dressed in sorry clothes, 
 she holds me in dishonor, and says I am not he. But 
 you and I have yet to plan how all may turn out well. 
 For whoso kills one man among a tribe, though the 
 man leaves few champions behind, becomes an exile, 
 quitting king and country. We have destroyed the 
 pillars of the state, the very noblest youths of Ithaca. 
 Form, then, a plan, I pray." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus: "Look 
 you to that, dear father. Your wisdom is, they say,
 
 862 THE ODYSSEY. [XXIIL 125-16<X 
 
 the best among mankind. No mortal man can rival 
 you. Zealously will we follow, and not fail, I think, 
 in daring, so far as power is ours." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said : " Then 
 I will tell you what seems best to me. First wash and 
 put on tunics, and bid the maids about the house array 
 themselves. Then let the sacred bard with tuneful 
 lyre lead us in sportive dancing, that men may say, 
 hearing us from without, * It is a wedding/ whether 
 such men be passers-by or neighboring folk ; and so 
 broad rumor may not reach the town about the suit- 
 ors' murder till we are gone to our well-wooded farm. 
 There will we plan as the Olympian shall grant us 
 wisdom." 
 
 So he spoke, and willingly they heeded and obeyed. 
 For first they washed themselves and put on tunics, 
 and the women also put on their attire. And then the 
 noble bard took up his hollow lyre, and in them stirred 
 desire for merry music and the gallant dance ; and 
 the great house resounded to the tread of lusty men 
 and gay-girt women. And one who heard the dancing 
 from without would say, " Well, well I some man has 
 married the long-courted queen. Hard-hearted I For 
 the husband of her youth she would not guard her 
 great house to the end, till he should come." So they 
 would say, but knew not how things were. 
 
 Meanwhile within the house Eurynome, the house- 
 keeper, bathed resolute Odysseus and anointed him 
 urith oil, and on him put a goodly robe and tunic. 
 Upon his face Athene cast great beauty ; she made 
 him taller than before, and stouter to behold, and 
 made the curling locks to fall around his head as on 
 the hyacinth flower. As when a man lays gold 
 OH silver, some skillful man whom Hephaestus and
 
 XXIII. 161-191.] THE ODYSSEY. 
 
 Pallas Athene have trained in every art, and he fash- 
 ions graceful work ; so did she cast a grace upon his 
 head and shoulders. Forth from the bath he came, 
 in bearing like the immortals, and once more took 
 the seat from which he first arose, facing his wife, and 
 spoke to her these words : 
 
 "Lady, a heart impenetrable beyond the sex of 
 women the dwellers on Olympus gave to you. There 
 is no other woman of such stubborn spirit to stand 
 off from the husband who, after many grievous toils, 
 comes in the twentieth year home to his native land. 
 Come, then, good nurse, and make my bed, that I may 
 lie alone. For certainly of iron is the heart within 
 her breast." 
 
 Then said to him heedful Penelope : " Nay, sir, 1 
 am not proud, nor contemptuous of you, nor too much 
 dazed with wonder. I very well remember what you 
 were when you went upon your long-oared ship away 
 from Ithaca. However, Eurycleia, make up his mas- 
 sive bed outside that stately chamber which he himself 
 once built. Move the massive frame out there, and 
 throw the bedding on, the fleeces, robes, and bright- 
 hued rugs." 
 
 She said this in the hope to prove her husband ; 
 but Odysseus spoke in anger to his faithful wife : 
 u Woman, these are bitter words which you have said I 
 Who set my bed elsewhere ? A hard task that would 
 be for one, however skilled, unless a god should come 
 and by his will set it with ease upon some other spot ; 
 but among men no living being, even in his prime, 
 could lightly shift it ; for a great token is inwrought 
 into its curious frame. I built it ; no one else. There 
 grew a thick-leaved olive shrub inside the yard, full- 
 grown and vigorous, in girth much like a pillar.
 
 364 THE ODYSSEY. [XXIII. 192-22a 
 
 Hound this I formed my chamber, and I worked till 
 it was done, building it out of close-set stones, and 
 roofing it over welL Framed and tight-fitting doors 
 I added to it. Then I lopped the thick-leaved olive's 
 crest, cutting the stem high up above the roots, neatly 
 and skillfully smoothed with my axe the sides, and to 
 the line I kept all true to shape my post, and with an 
 auger I bored it all along. Starting with this, I fash- 
 ioned me the bed till it was finished, and I inlaid it 
 well with gold, with silver, and with ivory. On it I 
 stretched a thong of ox-hide, gay with purple. This 
 is the token I now tell. I do not know whether the 
 bed still stands there, wife, or whether somebody has 
 set it elsewhere, cutting the olive trunk." 
 
 As he spoke thus, her knees grew feeble and her 
 very soul, when she recognized the tokens which Odys- 
 seus exactly told. Then bursting into tears, she ran 
 straight toward him, threw her arms round Odysseus* 
 neck and kissed his face, and said : 
 
 "Odysseus, do not scorn me! Ever before, you 
 were the wisest of mankind. The gods have sent us 
 sorrow, and grudged our staying side by side to share 
 the joys of youth and reach the threshold of old age. 
 But do not be angry with me now, nor take it ill 
 that then when I first saw you I did not greet yon 
 thus ; for the heart within my breast was always 
 trembling. I feared some man might come and cheat 
 me with his tale. Many a man makes wicked schemes 
 for gain. Nay, Argire Helen, the daughter of Zens, 
 would not have given herself to love a stranger if she 
 had known how warrior sons of the Achaeans would 
 bring her home again, back to her native land. And 
 yet it was a god prompted her deed of shame. Be- 
 fore, she did not cherish in her heart such sin, such
 
 . 224-367.] THE ODYSSEY. 365 
 
 grievous sin, from which began the woe which 
 stretched to us. But now, when you have clearly told 
 the tokens of our bed, which no one else has seen, but 
 only you and I and the single servant, Actoris, whom 
 my father gave me on my coming here to keep the 
 door of our closed chamber, you make even my un- 
 gentle heart believe." 
 
 So she spoke, and stirred still more his yearning 
 after tears ; and he began to weep, holding his loved 
 and faithful wife. As when the welcome land appears 
 to swimmers, whose sturdy ship Poseidon wrecked at 
 sea, confounded by the winds and solid waters ; a few 
 escape the foaming sea and swim ashore ; thick salt 
 foam crusts their flesh ; they climb the welcome land, 
 and are escaped from danger ; so welcome to her gaz- 
 ing eyes appeared her husband. From round his neck 
 she never let her white arms go. And rosy-fingered 
 dawn had found them weeping, but a different plan 
 the goddess formed, clear-eyed Athene. She checked 
 the long night in its passage, and at the Ocean-stream 
 she stayed the gold-throned dawn, and did not suffei 
 it to yoke the swift-paced horses which carry light 
 to men, Lampus and Phaeton which bear the dawn. 
 And now to his wife said wise Odysseus : 
 
 " O wife, we have not reached the end of all our 
 trials yet. Hereafter comes a task immeasurable, 
 long and severe, which I must needs fulfill ; for so 
 the spirit of Teiresias told me, that day when I de- 
 scended to the house of Hades to learn about the 
 journey of my comrades and myself. But come, my 
 wife, let us to bed, that there at last we may refresh 
 ourselves with pleasant sleep." 
 
 Then said to him heedful Penelope : " The bed shall 
 be prepared whenever your heart wills, now that the
 
 THE ODYSSEY. [XXIII. 258-292, 
 
 gods have let you reach your stately house and native 
 land. But since you speak of this, and God inspires 
 your heart, come, tell that trial. In time to come, I 
 know, I shall experience it. To learn about it now, 
 makes it no worse." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered her and said : " Lady, 
 why urge me so insistently to tell ? Well, I will 
 speak it out ; I will not hide it. Yet your heart will 
 feel no joy ; I have no joy myself ; for Teiresias bade 
 me go to many a peopled town, bearing in hand a 
 shapely oar, till I should reach the men that know no 
 sea and do not eat food mixed with salt. These, 
 therefore, have no knowledge of the red-cheeked ships, 
 nor of the shapely oars which are the wings of ships. 
 And this was the sign, he said, easy to be observed. 
 I will not hide it from you. When another traveler, 
 meeting me, should say I had a winnowing-fan on my 
 white shoulder, th.re in the ground he bade me fix my 
 oar and make fit offerings to lord Poseidon, a ram, 
 a bull, and the sow's mate, a boar, and, turning 
 homeward, to offer sacred hecatombs to the immortal 
 gods who hold the open sky, all in the order due. 
 And on myself death from the sea shall very gently 
 come and cut me off, bowed down with hale old age. 
 Round me shall be a prosperous people. All this, he 
 said, should be fulfilled." 
 
 Then said to him heedful Penelope : " If gods can 
 make old age the better time, then there is hope 
 there will be rest from trouble." 
 
 So they conversed together. Meanwhile, Eurynome 
 and the nurse prepared their bed with clothing soft, 
 under the light of blazing torches. And after they 
 had spread the comfortable bed, with busy speed, the 
 old woman departed to her room to rest ; while the
 
 KXIII. 293-324.1 THE ODYSSEY. 367 
 
 chamber-servant, Eurynome, with torch in hand, 
 walked on before, as they two came to bed. She 
 brought them to their chamber, and then she went her 
 way. So they came gladly to their old bed's rites. 
 And now Telemachus, the neatherd and the swine- 
 herd stayed their feet from dancing, and bade the 
 women stay, and all betook themselves to rest through- / / 
 >ut the dusky halls. 
 
 So when the pair had joyed in happy love, they 
 joyed in talking too, each one relating : she, the royal $a 
 lady, what she endured at home, watching the waste- . 
 ful throng of suitors, who, making excuse of her, 
 slew many cattle, beeves, and sturdy sheep, and stores 
 of wine were drained from out the casks ; he, high- 
 born Odysseus, what miseries he brought on other 
 men and what he bore himself in anguish, all he 
 told, and she was glad to listen. No sleep fell on her 
 eyelids till he had told her all. 
 
 He began with how at first he conquered the Cico- 
 nians, and came thereafter to the fruitful land of 
 Lotus-eaters ; then what the Cyclops did, and how he 
 took revenge for the brave comrades whom the Cy- 
 clops ate and never pitied ; then how he came to 
 Aeolus, who gave him hearty welcome and sent him 
 on his way; but it was fated that he should not 
 reach his dear land yet, for a sweeping storm bore 
 him once more along the swarming sea, loudly la- 
 menting ; how he came to Telepylus in Laestrygonia, 
 where the men destroyed his ships and his mailed 
 comrades, all of them ; Odysseus fled in his black 
 ship alone. He told of Circe, too, and all her crafty 
 guile ; and how on a ship of many oars he came to 
 the mouldering house of Hades, there to consult the 
 spirit of Teiresias of Thebes, and looked on all his
 
 868 THE ODYSSEY. [XXIII. 325-357. 
 
 comrades, and on the mother who had borne him and 
 cared for him when little ; how he had heard the full- 
 voiced Sirens' song ; how he came to the Wandering 
 Rocks, to dire Charybdis and to Scylla, past whom 
 pone goes unharmed ; how then his crew slew the 
 Sun's kine ; how Zeus with a blazing bolt smote his 
 swift ship, Zeus, thundering from on high, and 
 his good comrades perished, utterly, all, while he 
 escaped their evil doom ; how he came to the island of 
 Ogygia and to the nymph Calypso, who held him in 
 her hollow grotto, wishing him to be her husband, 
 cherishing him, and saying she would make him an 
 immortal, young forever, but she never beguiled the 
 heart within his breast ; then how he came through 
 many toils to the Phaeacians, who honored him ex- 
 ceedingly, as if he were a god, and brought him on 
 his way to his own native land, giving him stores of 
 bronze and gold and clothing. This was the latest 
 tale he told, when pleasant sleep fell on him, easing 
 his limbs and from his heart removing care. 
 
 Now a new plan the goddess formed, clear-eyed 
 Athene, when in her mind she judged Odysseus had 
 enough of love and sleep. Straightway from out the 
 Ocean-stream she roused the gold-throned dawn, to 
 bring the light to men. Odysseus was aroused from 
 his soft bed, and gave his wife this charge : 
 
 ** Wife, we have had in days gone by our fill of 
 trials: you, mourning here my grievous journey home ; 
 me, Zeus and the other gods bound fast in sorrow, all 
 eager as I was, far from my native land. But since 
 we now have reached the rest we long desired to- 
 gether, do you protect whatever wealth is still within 
 my halls. As for the flocks which the audacious 
 suitors wasted, I shall myself seiza many, and the
 
 XXIII. 358-372.] THE ODYSSEY. 
 
 Achaeans shall give me more besides, until they fill 
 my folds. But now I go to the well-wooded farm, to 
 visit my good father, who for my sake has been in 
 constant grief. On you, my wife, wise as you are, I 
 lay this charge. Straight with the sunrise a report 
 will go abroad about the suitors whom I slew here in 
 the hall. Then go to the upper chamber with your 
 waiting- worn en. There abide. Give not a look to 
 any one, nor ask a question." 
 
 He spoke, and girt his beautiful arms about his 
 shoulders ; and he awoke Telemachus, the neatherd 
 and the swineherd, and bade them all take weapons in 
 their hands for fighting. They did not disobey, but 
 took their brazen harness. They opened the doors ; 
 they sallied forth ; Odysseus led the way. Over the 
 land it was already light, but Athene, hiding them in 
 darkness, led them swiftly from the town.
 
 XXIV. 
 
 PEACE. 
 
 MEANWHILE Cyllenian Hermes summoned henoe 
 the spirits of the suitors. In his hand he held a 
 wand, beautiful, made of gold, with which he charina 
 to sleep the eyes of whom he will, while again whom 
 he will he wakens out of slumber. With this he 
 started them and led them forth ; they followed gib* 
 bering after. As in a corner of a monstrous cave 
 the bats fly gibbering, when one tumbles from the 
 rock out of the cluster as they cling together ; so gib- 
 bering, these moved together. Protecting Hermes 
 was their guide down the dank pathway. Past the 
 Ocean-stream they went, past the White Rock, past 
 the portals of the Sun and land of dreams, and 
 soon they reached the field of asphodel, where spirits 
 dwell, spectres of worn-out men. 
 
 Here they came upon the spirit of Achilles, son of 
 Peleus, and of Patroclus too, of gallant Antilochus, 
 and of A jax, who was first in beauty and in stature of 
 all the Danaans after the gallant son of Peleus. 
 These formed a group around Achilles; to whom 
 approached the spirit of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, 
 Borrowing. Around thronged other spirits of men 
 who by his side had died in the house of Aegisthus 
 and there had met their doom. And the spirit of the 
 on of Peleua first addressed him :
 
 XXIV. 24^55.] THE ODYSSEY. 871 
 
 "O son of Atreus, throughout your life we said 
 you were exceeding dear to Zeus, the Thunderer, be- 
 yond all other heroes, because you were the lord of 
 many mighty men there in the land of Troy where 
 we Achaeans suffered ; yet all too early you were 
 doomed to meet fell fate, which no one that is born 
 avoids. Ah, would that, in the pride of your full 
 power, there in the land of Troy you had met death 
 and doom I Then would the whole Achaean host have 
 made your grave, and for your son in after days a 
 great name had been gained. Now you must be cut 
 off by an inglorious death." 
 
 Then said to him the spirit of the son of Atreus : 
 " Fortunate son of Peleus, godlike Achilles, who died 
 at Troy, afar from Argos I Around you others fell, 
 the Trojans' and Achaeans' bravest sons, battling be- 
 cause of you ; while in a cloud of dust proud you lay 
 proudly, all your horsemanship forgotten. All through 
 the day we battled, and never would have stopped our 
 fighting had Zeus himself not stopped us with a storm. 
 And after we had borne you to the ships from out the 
 fight, we laid you on a bier and washed your comely 
 body with warm water and with oil. The Danaans 
 standing round you shed many burning tears, and 
 cut their hair. Out of the sea came forth your 
 mother, with the immortal sea nymphs, when she 
 heard the tale, while over the water ran a wondrous 
 wail, and secret trembling fell on all the Achaeans. 
 Then all had hastened off and boarded the hollow 
 ships, if one had not detained them who was wise in 
 ancient lore, Nestor, whose counsel had before been 
 proved the best. He with good will addressed them 
 thus, and said: 'Hold, Argives! Do not flee, you 
 young Achaeans ! It is his mother coming from the
 
 872 THE ODYSSET. [XXIV. 5 
 
 sea with the immortal nymphs to look on hei dead 
 son/ By these his words the bold Achaeans were with- 
 held from flight ; while round you stood the daughters 
 of the old man of the sea, lamenting bitterly, and 
 with immortal robes they clad your body. Mean- 
 time the Muses, nine in all, with sweet responsive 
 voices sang your dirge. Then not an Argive could 
 you see but was in tears ; the piercing song so deeply 
 moved them. For seventeen days, alike by night and 
 day, we mortal men and deathless gods continued 
 mourning. On the eighteenth we gave you to the 
 dames. Many fat sheep we slew beside you, and 
 many crook-horned kine. In vesture of the gods you 
 burned, with much anointing oil and much sweet 
 honey. Many Achaean heroes moved in their armor 
 round your blazing pyre, footmen and charioteers, and 
 a loud din arose. And when at length Hephaestus* 
 flame had made an end of you, at dawn we gathered 
 your white bones, Achilles, laid in pure wine and oil. 
 Your mother gave the golden urn ; a gift, she said, of 
 Dionysus, and handiwork of famed Hephaestus. In 
 this your white bones lie, illustrious Achilles, mingled 
 with those of dead Patroclus, son of Menoetius, and 
 parted from Antilochus, whom you regarded more 
 than all your other comrades, excepting dead Patro- 
 clus. Over them all the powerful host of Argive spear- 
 men built a great stately tomb at a projecting point on 
 the broad Hellespont, so that it might be seen far off 
 upon the sea by men who now are born or shall be 
 born hereafter. Your mother, having besought the 
 gods for splendid prizes, offered them in the open lists 
 to the bravest of the Achaeans. In former days you 
 have been present at the burial of many a hero, when 
 at a king's death young men girt themselves and
 
 XXIV. 89-121.] THE ODYSSEY. 
 
 strove for prizes ; but here you would have marveled 
 in your heart far more to see the splendid prizes 
 offered in your honor by silver-footed Thetis ; for you 
 were very dear to all the gods. Thus though you died, 
 you did not lose your name ; but ever among mankind, 
 Achilles, your glory shall be great. While as for me, 
 what gain had I in winding up the war ? On my 
 return Zeus purposed me a miserable end, at the hands 
 of Aegisthus and my accursed wife." 
 
 So they conversed together. And now the Guide 
 approached, the Speedy-comer, leading the spirits of 
 the suitors whom Odysseus slew. Amazed, the two 
 drew near to see ; and the spirit of Agamemnon, son 
 of Atreus, perceived the son of Melaneus, renowned 
 Amphimedon ; for Melaneus of Ithaca was once his 
 entertainer. Then thus began the spirit of the son 
 of Atreus : 
 
 " Amphimedon, what has happened that you come 
 to this dreary land, all of you chosen men and all 
 alike in years? One who would pick the best men of 
 a town would choose no others. Was it on shipboard 
 that Poseidon smote you, raising ill winds and heavy 
 seas ? Or did fierce men destroy you on the land, 
 while you were cutting off their kine or their fair 
 flocks of sheep, or while you fought to win their town 
 and carry off their women? Tell what 1 ask I I 
 call myself your friend. Do you not recollect how I, 
 with godlike Menelaus, came to your house to urge 
 Odysseus to follow us to Hios on the well-benched 
 ships? A whole month long we spent, crossing the 
 open sea, and found it hard to win the spoiler of 
 towns, Odysseus." 
 
 Then answered him the spirit of Amphimedon 
 M Great son of Atreus, Agamemnon, lord of men,
 
 874 THE ODYSSEY. [XXIV. 122-164 
 
 all that you say, heaven-favored one, I recollect ; and 
 I in turn will very plainly tell how a cruel end of 
 death befell us. We wooed the wife of long gone 
 Odysseus. She neither declined the hated suit nor 
 did she end it, because she planned for us death and 
 dark doom. This was the last pretext she cunningly 
 devised : within the hall she set up a great loom and 
 went to weaving ; fine was the web and very large ; 
 and then to us said she : * Young men who are my 
 suitors, though royal Odysseus now is dead forbear 
 to urge my marriage till I complete this robe, its 
 threads must not be wasted, a shroud for lord 
 LaSrtes, against the time when the fell doom of death 
 that lays men low shall overtake him. Achaean wives 
 about the land, I fear, might give me blame if he 
 should lie without a shroud, he who had great posses- 
 sions.' Such were her words, and our high hearts 
 assented. Then in the daytime would she weave at 
 the great web, but in the night unravel, after her 
 torch was set. Thus for three years she hid her craft 
 and cheated the Achaeans. But when the fourth 
 year came, as time rolled on, when the months waned 
 and the long days were done, then at the last one 
 of her maids, who knew full well, confessed, and we 
 discovered her unraveling the splendid web ; so then 
 she finished it, against her will, perforce. When she 
 displayed the robe, after weaving the great web 
 and washing it, like sun or moon it shone. And 
 then some hostile god guided Odysseus, whence I 
 know not, to the confines of our country, where the 
 swineherd has his home. Thither the son of royal 
 Odysseus also came, returning by black ship from 
 Bandy Pylos. And when the two had planned the 
 suitors' cruel death, they entered our famous town;
 
 XXFV. 155-190.] THE ODYSSEY. 375 
 
 Odysseus later, Telemachus coming on before. The 
 svineherd brought Odysseus, who wore a sorry garb, 
 like an old and wretched beggar, leaning upon a staff. 
 Upon his back were miserable clothes, and none of us 
 could know him as he suddenly appeared, not even 
 our older men ; but we assailed him with harsh words 
 and missiles. A while he bore with patience this 
 pelting and abuse in his own house ; but when at last 
 the will of aegis-bearing Zeus aroused him, he and 
 Telemachus gathered the goodly weapons and put 
 them in the store-room, fastening the bolts. Then, 
 full of craft, he bade his wife deliver to the suitors 
 the bow and the gray steel, to be to us ill-fated men 
 means for our sport and harbingers of death. Not one 
 of us could draw the string of the strong bow ; we fell 
 far short of power. But when the great bow reached 
 Odysseus' hands, we shouted all together not to give 
 the bow, whatever he might say. Telemachus alone 
 urgently bade him take it. Then long-tried royal 
 Odysseus took the bow in hand, bent it with ease, and 
 sent an arrow through the steel. Advancing to the 
 threshold, there he stood and poured out the swift 
 arrows, glaring terribly around. He shot down 
 prince Antinous, and then on others turned his 
 grievous shafts, with careful aim, and side by side 
 they fell. Soon it was seen some god was the men's 
 ally ; for straightway rushing down the hall, with all 
 their might they smote us right and left. Then went 
 up moans, a dismal sound, as skulls were crushed and 
 all the pavement ran with blood. Thus we died, 
 Agamemnon ; and still uncared-for in Odysseus' halls 
 our bodies lie. Our friends at home have had no 
 tidings, or they had washed the dark clots from our 
 wounds and laid us out with wailing ; for that is the 
 dead man's due."
 
 876 THE ODYSSEY. [XXIV. 191-222 
 
 Then answered the spirit of the son of Atrcus : 
 "Fortunate son of Laertes, ready Odysseus! You 
 won a wife full of all worth. How upright was the 
 heart of true Penelope, the daughter of Icarius I 
 How faithful to Odysseus, the husband of her youth I 
 Wherefore the story of her worth shall never die} 
 but for all humankind immortal ones shall make a 
 gladsome song in praise of steadfast Penelope. Not 
 like the daughter of Tyndareus did she contrive vile 
 deeds and slay the husband of her youth. Of her a 
 loathsome song shall spread among mankind, and 
 bring an ill repute on all the sex of women, even on 
 well-doers too." 
 
 So they conversed together, where they stood within 
 the house of Hades, in the secret places of the earth. 
 
 But Odysseus and his men, after departing from 
 the town, soon reached the rich well-ordered farmstead 
 of Laertes. This place Laertes had acquired for him- 
 self in days gone by, after much patient toil. Here 
 was his house; round it on every side there ran a 
 shed, in which ate, sat, and slept the slaves who did his 
 pleasure. Within, there lived an old Sicilian woman, 
 who tended carefully the aged man here at his farm, 
 far from the town. Arriving here, Odysseus thus 
 addressed his servants and his son : 
 
 '* Go you at once into the stately house and slay 
 forthwith for dinner the fattest of the swine. But 
 I will put my father to the proof, and try if he will 
 recognize and know me by the sight, or if he will fail 
 to know me who have been absent long." 
 
 So saying, he gave his armor to his men, who then 
 went quickly in, while Odysseus approached the fruit- 
 ful vineyard, to make his trial there. Delias he did 
 not find, ip crossing the long garden, nor any slaves
 
 XXIV. 223-257.J THE ODYSSEY. 377 
 
 or men ; for they were gone to gather stones to make 
 a vineyard wall, and Dolius was their leader. His 
 father he found alone in the well-ordered vineyard, 
 hoeing about a plant. He wore a dirty tunic, patched 
 and coarse, and round his shins had bound sewed 
 leather leggings, a protection against scratches. Upon 
 his hands were gloves, to save him from the thorns, 
 and on his head a goatskin cap ; and so he nursed 
 Jiis sorrow. 
 
 When long-tried royal Odysseus saw his father, worn 
 with old age and in great grief of heart, he stopped 
 beneath a lofty pear-tree and shed tears. Then in his 
 mind and heart he doubted much whether to kiss his 
 father, to clasp him in his arms and tell him all, how 
 he had come and found his native land ; or first to 
 question him and prove him through and through. 
 Reflecting thus, it seemed the better way to try him 
 first with probing words. With this intent, royal 
 Odysseus walked straight toward him. Laertes, with 
 his head bent low, was digging round the plant, and 
 standing by his side his gallant son addressed him : 
 
 "Old man, you have no lack of skill in tending 
 gardens. Of these your care is good. Nothing is 
 here shrub, fig-tree, vine, olive, or pear, or bed of 
 earth, in all the field uncared for. But one thing I 
 will say ; be not offended. No proper care is taken 
 of yourself ; for you are meeting hard old age, yet you 
 are sadly worn and meanly clad. It is not as if for 
 idleness your master had cast you by, and nothing 
 of the slave shows in your face or form. Rather you 
 seem a royal person ; like one who after taking bath 
 and food might sleep at ease, as is the due of age. 
 Come, then, declare me this and plainly tell whose 
 slave you are, whose farm you tend. And tell me
 
 878 THE ODYSSEY. 
 
 truly this, that I may know full well, if this is really 
 Ithaca to which we now are come, as the man said just 
 now who met me on my way. He was not overwise, 
 however ; for he did not deign to talk at length, nor 
 yet to hear my talk, when I inquired for my friend, 
 and asked if he were living still or if he were already 
 dead and hi the house of Hades. But let me speak 
 of that to you, and do you mark and listen. In my 
 own country once I entertained a man who had come 
 thither ; and none among the traveling strangers was 
 more welcome at my house. He called himself by 
 birth a man of Ithaca, and said his father was Laer- 
 tes, son of Arceisius. I brought him home and enter- 
 tained him well and gave him generous welcome from 
 the abundance in my house. Such gifts I also gave 
 as are fitting for a guest: of fine -wrought gold 1 
 gave him seven talents, gave him a flowered bowl of 
 solid silver, twelve cloaks of single fold, as many rugs, 
 as many goodly mantles, and as many tunics too. 
 Further, I gave him women trained to faultless work, 
 any four shapely damsels whom he himself might 
 choose." 
 
 Then answered him his father, shedding tears : 
 ** Certainly, stranger, you are in the land for which 
 you ask; but lawless impious men possess it now. 
 Vain were the many gifts you gave. Yet had you 
 found him living in the land of Ithaca, with fair re- 
 turn of gifts he had sent you on your way, and with 
 a generous welcome ; for that is just, when one begins 
 a kindness. But come, declare me this, and plainly 
 tell: how many years are passed since you received 
 this guest, this napless guest, my son, if really it 
 was he, ill-fated man I whom, far from friends and 
 home, fishes devoured in the deep or else on land ho
 
 XXIV. 292-323.] THE ODYSSEY. 879 
 
 fell a prey to beasts and birds. No mother mourned 
 for him and wrapped him in his shroud, nor father 
 either, we who gave him life I Nor did his richly- 
 dowered wife, steadfast Penelope, wail by her hus- 
 band's couch, as the wife should, and close his eyes, 
 though that is the dead man's due. Tell me, how- 
 ever, truly, and let me know full well : who are you ? 
 of what people ? Where is your town and kindred ? 
 Where is the swift ship moored which brought you 
 hither, you and your gallant comrades ? Or did you 
 come a passenger on some strange ship, from which 
 they landed you and sailed away ? " 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said : " Well, 
 I will very plainly tell you all. I come from Alybas, 
 where I have a noble house, and am the son of lord 
 Apheidas, the son of Polypemon. My own name is 
 Eperitus. God drove me from Sicania and brought 
 me here, against my will. Here my ship lies, just off 
 the fields outside the town. As for Odysseus, five 
 years ago he went away and left my land. Ill-fated 
 man I And yet the birds were favorable at starting 
 and came on his right hand. So I rejoiced and 
 sent him forth, and he rejoicing went his way. Our 
 hearts then hoped to meet again in friendship, and to 
 give each other glorious gifts." 
 
 So he spoke, and on Laertes fell a dark cloud of 
 grief. He caught in his hands the powdery dust and 
 strewed it on his hoary head with many groans. 
 Odysseus' heart was stirred. Up through his nostrils 
 shot a tingling pang as he beheld his father. For- 
 ward he sprang and clasped and kissed him, saying : 
 
 *' Lo, father, I am he for whom you seek, now in the 
 twentieth year come to my native land ! Then cease 
 this grief and tearful sighing ; for let me tell you, ~
 
 880 THE ODYSSEY. XXIV. 3^4-355. 
 
 and the need of haste is great, I slew the suitors 
 in our halls, and so avenged their galling insolence 
 and wicked deeds." 
 
 Then in his turn Laertes answered : " If you are 
 indeed my son, Odysseus, now returned, tell me some 
 trusty sign that so I may believe." 
 
 But wise Odysseus answered him and said : " Ex- 
 amine first this scar, which a boar inflicted with his 
 gleaming tusk npon Parnassus, whither I had gone. 
 You and my honored mother sent me thither, to see 
 Autolycus, my mother's father, and to obtain the 
 gifts which he, when here, agreed to give. Then come, 
 and let me tell the trees in the well -ordered vine- 
 yard, which you once gave, when I, being still a child, 
 begged you for this and that, as I followed about the 
 garden. Among these trees we passed. You named 
 them and described them. You gave me thirteen 
 pear-trees, ten apples, forty figs. And here you 
 marked off fifty rows of vines to give, each one in 
 bearing order. Along the rows clusters of all sorts 
 hang, whenever the seasons sent by Zeus give them 
 their fullness." 
 
 As he spoke thus, Laertes' knees grew feeble and 
 his very soul, when he recognized the tokens which 
 Odysseus exactly told. Round his dear son he threw 
 his arms, and long-tried royal Odysseus drew him 
 fainting toward him. But when he gained his breath, 
 and in his breast the spirit rallied, finding his words 
 once more Laertes said : 
 
 " O father Zeus, surely you gods still live on high 
 Olympus, if the suitors have indeed paid for their 
 wanton sin ! And yet I have great fear at heart that 
 all the men of Ithaca may soon attack us here and 
 may send tidings through the Cephallenian cities."
 
 XXTV. KW-388.] THE ODYSSEf. 381 
 
 But wise Odysseus answered him and said : " Be of 
 good courage ! Let not these things vex your mind I 
 But let us hasten to the house which stands beside 
 the orchard. Thither I sent Telemachus, the neat- 
 herd and the swineherd, that there they straightway 
 might prepare our meal." 
 
 So talked the two, and walked to the fair house. 
 And when they reached the stately buildings, they 
 found Telemachus, the neatherd and the swineherd, 
 carving much meat and mixing sparkling wine. Soon 
 in his room the Sicilian servant bathed brave Laertes 
 and anointed him with oil and round him wrapped a 
 goodly cloak. And Athene, drawing nigh, filled out 
 the limbs of the shepherd of the people, and made 
 him taller than before and larger to behold. Out of 
 the bath he came, and his son wondered to see how 
 like the immortal gods his bearing was ; and speaking 
 in winged words he said : 
 
 " Certainly, father, one of the everlasting gods has 
 made your face and figure nobler to behold." 
 
 Then in his turn said wise Laertes: "O father 
 Zeus, Athene, and Apollo, would I were what I was 
 when I took Nericus, the stately citadel on the main 
 shore, leading my Cephallenians ; and would that thus 
 I yesterday had stood beside you in our hall, my 
 armor on my shoulders, beating back the suitors I 
 Then had I shook the knees of many in the hall, and 
 you had felt your inmost heart grow warm I " 
 
 So they conversed together. Meanwhile the others, 
 after ceasing from their labor of laying out the meal, 
 took seats in order on couches and on chairs. They 
 all were laying hands upon their food, when in came 
 aged Dolius and his sons, tired from their work. Their 
 mother, the old Sicilian woman, had gone and called
 
 882 THE ODYSSEY. XXIV. 389-41& 
 
 them ; for she provided for them, and diligently 
 tended the old man now that old age was on him. 
 When the men saw Odysseus and marked him in their 
 minds, they stood still in the hall, astonished; but 
 Odysseus kindly accosting them, spoke thus : 
 
 " Old man, sit down to dinner and lay aside sur- 
 prise ; for eager as we were to take our food, we 
 waited long about the hall, ever expecting you." 
 
 He spoke, and Dolius ran, both hands outstretched, 
 and seizing Odysseus' hand kissed it upon the wrist, 
 and speaking in winged words he said : 
 
 " Dear master, because you have come home to us 
 who sorely missed you and never thought to see you 
 any more, but gods themselves have brought you, 
 hail and rejoice 1 Gods grant you blessings 1 And 
 tell me truly this, that I may know it well: does 
 heedful Penelope understand that you are here, or 
 shall we send her tidings ? " 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said : " Old 
 man, she understands already. Why should you 
 think of that?" 
 
 So he spoke, and Dolius took his seat upon a pol- 
 ished bench. Likewise the sons of Dolius, gathering 
 round renowned Odysseus, greeted him with their 
 words and clasped his hands, and then sat down in 
 order by Dolius, their father. Thus were they busied 
 with their dinner in the hall. 
 
 Rumor, meanwhile, with tidings, ran swiftly through 
 the town, reporting the suitors' awful death and doom ; 
 and those who heard gathered from every side, with 
 moans and groans, before the palace of Odysseus. 
 Out of the house they each brought forth his dead, 
 and buried them ; and all that came from other towns 
 they gave to fishermen to carry home on their swift
 
 XXTV. 420-449.] THE ODYSSEY. 
 
 ships. Then they went trooping to the assembly, sad 
 at heart. And when they were assembled and all had. 
 come together, Eupeithes rose and thus addressed 
 them : for he cherished in his heart a sorrow for his 
 son that could not be appeased, his son Antinoiis, 
 the first whom royal Odysseus slew. With tears for 
 him, he thus addressed them, saying : 
 
 " O friends, this man has wrought a monstrous 
 deed on the Achaeans I For some he carried off in 
 ships, good men and many, and then he lost his 
 hollow ships and lost his people too ; and now he 
 has come home and killed the very noblest men of 
 Cephallenia. Up then ! Let us set forth, before he 
 swiftly goes to Pylos, and sacred Elis where the Epei- 
 ans rule, or we shall be disgraced henceforth forever ; 
 for it will be a shame for future times to know, if we 
 take no revenge on those who slew our sons and bro- 
 thers. Life to my thinking then would be no longer 
 sweet. Nay, I would die at once and join the men 
 now slain. But forth, ere they escape from us across 
 the sea 1 " 
 
 Tears in his eyes, he spoke; pity touched all the 
 Achaeans. But Medon now drew near, and with him 
 the sacred bard, from the palace of Odysseus; for 
 slumber left them. They stood still in the midst, and 
 wonder fell on all, while Medon, a man of understand- 
 ing, thus addressed them : 
 
 " Hearken to me now, men of Ithaca ; for not 
 without consent of the immortal gods Odysseus 
 planned these deeds. I myself saw a deathless god 
 stand by Odysseus, in all points like to Mentor. And 
 this immortal god appeared before Odysseus, cheering 
 him on ; then to the consternation of the suitors he 
 stormed along the hall, and side by side they felL"
 
 884 THE ODYSSEY. [XXIV. 450-4G2, 
 
 As he spoke thus, pale fear took hold on all. But 
 to them spoke the old lord Halitherses, the son of 
 Master ; for he alone looked both before and after. 
 He with good will addressed them thus, and said : 
 
 " Hearken now, men of Ithaca, to what I say. By 
 your own fault, my friends, these deeds are done ; be- 
 cause you paid no heed to me nor yet to Mentor, the 
 shepherd of the people, in hindering your sons from 
 foolish crime. They wrought a monstrous deed in 
 wanton willfulness, when they destroyed the goods and 
 wronged the wife of one who was their prince, saying 
 that he would come no more. Let then the past be 
 ended, and listen to what I say : do not set forth, or 
 some may find a self-sought ill." 
 
 He spoke ; but with a mighty cry up started more 
 than half, together in their seats remained the rest, 
 for his counsel had not pleased them. Eupeithes 
 they approved, and they straightway ran for weapons. 
 Then when they had arrayed themselves in glittering 
 bronze, they gathered in a troop outside the spacious 
 town. Eupeithes in his folly led them. He thought 
 to avenge the murder of his son, yet was himself never 
 to come back more, but there would meet his doom. 
 
 Meanwhile Athene said to Zeus, the son of Kronos: 
 ** Our father, son of Kronos, most high above all 
 rulers, speak what I ask : what is your secret pur- 
 pose ? Will you still further stir up evil strife and 
 the dread din of war, or do you stablish peace betwixt 
 the two?" 
 
 Then answered her cloud-gathering Zeus and said : 
 ** My child, why question me of this ? For was it not 
 yourself proposed the plan to have Odysseus crush 
 these men by his return? Do as you will; I tell 
 you what is wise. Now royal Odysseus has avenged
 
 XXIV. 483-612.] THE ODYSSEY. 385 
 
 himself upon the suitors, let a sure league be made 
 and he be always king ; while for the death of sons 
 and brothers we bring about oblivion. So shall all 
 love each other as before, and wealth and peace 
 abound." 
 
 I With words like these he roused Athene, eager 
 enough before, and she went dashing down the ridges 
 of Olympus. 
 
 Now when the men had stayed desire for cheering 
 food, then thus began long-tried royal Odysseus : " Let 
 gome one go and see if our foes are drawing near." 
 
 He spoke ; and out the son of Dolius ran, as he was 
 bidden, and went and stood upon the threshold, and 
 saw the men all near. Then straight to Odysseus in 
 winged words he called: "Here they are, close at 
 hand I Quick, let us arm ! " 
 
 As soon as he spoke, there sprang to arms the 
 four men with Odysseus and the six sons of Dolius. 
 Laertes too and Dolius put on armor ; gray though 
 they were, still warriors at need. Then when they 
 had arrayed themselves in glittering bronze, they 
 opened the doors and sallied forth, Odysseus leading. 
 
 But Athene now drew near, the daughter of Zeus, 
 likened to Mentor in her form and voice ; whom long- 
 tried royal Odysseus saw with joy, and to Telema- 
 chus his son he straightway said: "Now shall you 
 learn, Telemachus, by taking part yourself while men 
 are battling where the best are proved, how not to 
 bring disgrace upon your line of sires ; for they from 
 ancient times were famed for strength and bravery 
 through all the land." 
 
 Then answered him discreet Telemachus : " In this 
 my present mood, dear father, you shall see me, if you 
 will, bring no disgrace upon the line of which you 
 speak."
 
 B86 THE ODYSSEY. [XXIV. 
 
 So said he, and Laertes too was glad and said : 
 ** Oh, what a day for me is this, kind gods ! Eight 
 glad am I. My son and son's son vie in valor." 
 
 And standing by his side, clear-eyed Athene said '. 
 * Son of Arceisius, far the dearest of my friends, call 
 on the clear-eyed maid and father Zeus ; then swing 
 your long spear and straight let it fly." 
 
 With words like these Pallas Athene inspired him 
 with great power. He prayed to the daughter of 
 mighty Zeus ; then swung his long spear and straight 
 let it fly, and struck Eupeithes on the helmet's brazen 
 cheek. This did not stay the spear ; the point passed 
 through. He fell with a thud ; his armor rattled 
 round him. On the front ranks Odysseus fell, he and 
 his gallant son, and smote them with their swords and 
 double-pointed spears. And now they certainly had 
 slain them all and cut them off from coming home, 
 had not Athene, daughter of aegis - bearing Zeus, 
 shouted aloud and held back all the host : 
 
 "Hold, men of Ithaca, from cruel combat, and 
 without bloodshed straightway part ! " 
 
 As thus Athene spoke, pale fear took hold on all. 
 Their weapons all flew from their trembling hands 
 and fell upon the ground, as the goddess gave her cry. 
 To the town they turned, eager to save their lives. 
 .Tearfully shouted long -tried royal Odysseus, and 
 gathering his might swooped like a soaring eagle. 
 Then too the son of Kronos cast his blazing bolt, and 
 down it fell by the dread father's clear-eyed child. 
 And now to Odysseus said clear-eyed Athene : 
 
 44 High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus, stay I 
 Cease from the struggle of uncertain war 1 Let not 
 the son of Kronos, far-seeing Zeus, be moved to 
 anger 1 "
 
 XXIV. 646-648.] THE ODYSSEY. 887 
 
 So spoke Athene. Odysseus heeded, and was glad 
 at heart. Then for all coming time betwixt the two 
 a peace was made by Pallas Athene, daughter of aegis- 
 bearing Zeus, likened to Mentor in her form and 
 voice.
 
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