The ODYSSEY of Homer

what befell many of the Greeks on their return; that Odysseus

ve her, and now the gods were bringing about their marriage. So now he was speeding her on her way with chariot and horses, to the famous city of the Myrmidons, among whom her lord bare rule. And for his son he was bringing to his home the daughter of Alector out of Sparta, for his well-beloved son, strong Megapenthes, 6 born of a slave woman, for the gods no more showed

f sorrow:

and their horses. And the lord Eteoneus came forth and saw them, the ready squire of renowned Menelaus; and he wen

like to the lineage of great Zeus. Say, shall we loose their swift horses from und

ce, like a child thou talkest folly. Surely ourselves ate much hospitable cheer of other men, ere we twain came hither, even if in time to come Zeus

the palace of the king, the fosterling of Zeus; for there was a gleam as it were of sun or moon through the lofty palace of renowned Menelaus. But after they had gazed their fill, they went to the polished baths and bathed them. Now when the maidens had bathed them and anointed them with olive oil, and cast about them thick cloaks and doublets, they sat on chairs by Menelaus, son of Atreus. And a handmaid bare water for the h

are; for the blood of your parents is not lost in you, but ye are of the line of men tha

nour. And they stretched forth their hands upon the good cheer set before them. Now when they had put from them the desir

e flashing of gold and of amber and of silver and of ivory. Such like, methinks, is the court of O

hair was ware of him, and uttering

ile I was yet roaming in those lands, gathering much livelihood, meantime another slew my brother privily, at unawares, by the guile of his accursed wife. Thus, look you, I have no joy of my lordship among these my possessions: and ye are like to have heard hereof from your fathers, whosoever they be, for I have suffered much and let a house go to ruin that was stablished fair, and had in it much choice substance. I would that I had but a third part of those my riches, and dwelt in my halls, and that those men were yet safe, who perished of old in the wide land of Troy, far from Argos, the pastureland of horses. Howbeit, though I bewail them all and sorrow oftentimes

from his eyelids to the ground, and held up his purple mantle with both his hands before his eyes. And Menelaus marked him and mus

olybus, who dwelt in Thebes of Egypt, where is the chiefest store of wealth in the houses. He gave two silver baths to Menelaus, and tripods twain, ad ten talents of gold. And besides all this, his wife bestowed on Helen lovely gifts; a golden distaff did she give, and a silver basket with wheels beneath, and the rims ther

to tell it. None, I say, have I ever yet seen so like another, man or woman - wonder comes over me as I look on him - as this man is like the son of great-hearted Odysseus

, such his hands, and the glances of his eyes, and his head, and his hair withal. Yea, and even now I was speaking of Odysseus, as I remembered

first coming to make show of presumptuous words in the presence of thee, in whose voice we twain delight as in the voice of a god. Now Nestor of Gerenia, lord of chariots, sent me forth to be his guide on the way: for he desired to see thee that thou mightest pu

chsafed us a return over the sea in our swift ships - that such a thing should be. And in Argos I would have given him a city to dwell in, and stablished for him a house, and brought him forth from Ithaca with his substance and his son and all his people, making one city desolate of those that lie around, and

Greek] are here correlatives, and denote respectively the parts of host and o

and Telemachus wept, and Menelaus the son of Atreus; nay, nor did the son of Nestor keep tearless eyes. For he bethought him

in weeping at supper time - the new-born day will right soon be upon us. 8 Not indeed that I deem it blame at all to weep for any mortal who hath died and met his fate. Lo, this is now the only due we pay to miserable men, to cut the hair and let the tear fall fr

B. x

seed, for whom Cronion weaves the skein of luck at bridal and at birth: even as now hath he granted prosperity to Nestor for ever for all his days, that he himself should grow into a smooth old age in his halls, and his sons moreover should be wise and the best of

s, the ready squire of renowned Menelaus. And they put

eeks, not though his mother and his father died, not though men slew his brother or dear son with the sword before his face, and his own eyes beheld it. Medicines of such virtue and so helpful had the daughter of Zeus, which Polydamna, the wife of Thon, had given her, a woman of Egypt, where earth the grain-

, and a sorry covering he cast about his shoulders, and in the fashion of a servant he went down into the wide-wayed city of the foemen, and he hid himself in the guise of another, a beggar, though in no wise such an one was he at the ships of the Achaeans. In this semblance he passed into the city of the Trojans, and they wist not who he was, and I alone knew him in that guise, and I kept questioning him, but in his subtlety he avoided me. But when at last I was about washing him and anointing him with olive oil, and had put on him raiment, and sworn a great oath not to reveal Odysseus amid

and doom. Anon thou camest thither, and sure some god must have bidden thee, who wished to bring glory to the Trojans. Yea and godlike Deiphobus went with thee on thy way. Thrice thou didst go round about the hollow ambush and handle it, calling aloud on the chiefs of the Argives by name, and making thy voice like the voices of the wives of all the Argives. Now I and the son of Tydeus and goodly Odysseus sat in the midst and hea

more grievous it is! for in no way did this courage ward from him pitiful destruction, not though his heart within hi

be a clothing over all. So they went from the hall with torch in hand, and spread the beds, and the henchman led forth the guests. Thus they slept there in the vestibule of the house, th

ut on his raiment, and cast his sharp sword about his shoulder, and beneath his smooth feet bound his goodly sa

to fair Lacedaemon, over the broad back of the sea? Is it a matter

with trailing feet and shambling gait - none other than the wooers of my mother, despiteful out of measure. So now am I come hither to thy knees, if haply thou art willing to tell me of his pitiful death, as one that saw it perchance with thine own eyes, or heard the story from some other wanderer; for his mother bare him to exceeding sorro

back to his bed, and sendeth forth unsightly death upon that pair, even so shall Odysseus send forth unsightly death upon the wooers. Would to our father Zeus and Athene and Apollo, would that in such might as when of old in stablished Lesbos he rose up and wrestled a match with Philomeleides and threw him mightily, and all the Achaeans rejoiced; would that in s

shrill winds blow fair in her wake. And therein is a good haven, whence men launch the gallant ships into the deep when they have drawn a store of deep black water. There the gods held me twenty days, nor did the sea-winds ever show their breath, they that serve to waft ships over the broad back of the sea. And now would all our corn have been spent, and likewise the strength

Homer. Cf. Wilkinson, Ancient

ss, and hast pleasure in suffering? So long time art thou holden in the isle and c

will, but it needs must be that I have sinned against the deathless gods, who keep the wide heaven. Howbeit, do thou tell me - for the gods know all things

ry sea, and is the thrall of Poseidon, and who, they say, is my father that begat me. If thou couldst but lay an ambush and catch him, he will surely declare to thee the way and the measure of thy path, and will tell thee of thy ret

ush to take this ancient one divine, lest by any chance he see me first, or

the scent they breathe of the deeps of the salt sea. There will I lead thee at the breaking of the day, and couch you all orderly; so do thou choose diligently three of thy company, the best thou hast in thy decked ships. And I will tell thee all the magic arts of that old man. First, he will number the seals and go over them; but when he has told their tale and beheld them, he will lay him down in the midst, as a shepherd mid the sheep of his flock. So soon as ever ye shall see him couched, even then mind you of your might and strength, and ho

e ship and to the sea, and we had made ready our supper and immortal night had come on, then did we lay us to rest upon the sea-beach. So soon as early Dawn shone forth, the rosy f

she wrought deliverance, and devised a great comfort. She took ambrosia of a very sweet savour, and set it beneath each man's nostril, and did away with the stench of the beast. So all the morning we waited with steadfast heart, and the seals came forth in troops from the brine, and then they couched them all orderly by the sea-beach. And at high day the ancient one came forth from out of the brine, and found his fatted seals, yea and he went along their line and told their tale; and first among the sea-beasts he reckoned us, and

ed thee with his counsel, that thou mightest waylay

ong time in this isle, neither can I find any issue therefrom, and my heart faileth within me. Howbeit do thou tell me - for the gods know all things - whi

ightst reach thy country, sailing over the wine-dark deep. For it is not thy fate to see thy friends, and come to thy stablished house and thine own country, till thou hast passed yet agai

en, for that he bade me again to go to Aegyptu

l it all plainly. Did all those Achaeans return safe with their ships, all whom Nestor and I left as we went from Troy, or

cleft it in twain. And the one part abode in his place, but the other fell into the sea, the broken piece whereon Aias sat at the first, when his heart was darkened. And the rock bore him down into the vast and heaving deep; so there he perished when he had drunk of the salt sea water. But thy brother verily escaped the fates and avoided them in his hollow ships, for queen Hera saved him. But now when he was like soon to reach the steep mount of Malea, lo, the storm wind snatched him away and bore him over the teeming deep, making great moan, to the border of the country whereof old Thyestes dwelt, but now Aegisthus abode there, the son of Thyestes. But when thence too there showed a good prospect of safe returning, and the gods changed the wind to a fair gale, and they had reached home, then verily did Agamemnon set foot with joy upon his country's soil, and as he touched his own land he kissed it, and many were the hot tears he let fall, for he saw his land and was g

I minded any more to live and see the light of the sun. But when I had taken my fill of weepi

all haste make essay that so thou mayest come to thine own country. For either thou shalt find Aegisthus yet al

in were comforted for all my sorrow, and I utt

it that is yet living and holden on the wide deep, or pe

s with oars, and no companions to send him on his way over the broad back of the sea. But thou, Menelaus, son of Zeus, art not ordained to die and meet thy fate in Argos, the pasture-land of horses, but the deathless gods will convey thee to the Elysian plain and the world's end, wh

e sails in the gallant ships, and the crew too climbed on board, and sat upon the benches and smote the grey sea water with their oars. Then back I went to the waters of Aegyptus, the heaven-fed stream, and there I moored the ships and offered the acceptable sacrifice of hecatombs. So when I had appeased the anger of the everlasting gods, I piled a barrow to Agamemnon, that his fame might never be quenched. So having fulfilled all, I set out fo

art keeping me long time here. And whatsoever gift thou wouldest give me, let it be a thing to treasure; but horses I will take none to Ithaca, but leave them here to grace thine own house, for thou art lord of a wide plain wherein is lotus great plenty, and therein is spear-reed and wheat and rye, and white and

d war cry, smiled, and caressed him w

n my house, I will give thee the goodliest and greatest of price. I will give thee a mixing bowl beautifully wrought; it is all of silver, and the lips thereof are finished wit

hey drave their sheep, and brought wine that maketh glad the heart of man: and their wives w

lace, as heretofore, in their insolence. And Antinous and god-like Eurymachus were seated there, the chief men of the wooers, who w

ted with a ship of mine, and I have need thereof, to cross over into spacious Elis, where I have twelv

achus had gone to Neleian Pylos, but that he was at home somewher

ey chosen men of Ithaca or hirelings and thralls of his own? He was in case to bring even that about. And tell me this in good sooth, that I

t were hard to deny the gift. The youths who next to us are noblest in the land, even these have gone with him; and I marked their leader on board ship, Mentor, or

hey made the wooers sit down together and cease from their games. And among them spake Antinous, son of Eupe

he hath let haul to the sea, and chosen the noblest in the township. He will begin to be our bane even more than heretofore; but may Zeus destroy his might, not ours, ere he reach the measure of manhood! But come, giv

and bade him to the work. And thereupon th

man Medon told her thereof, who stood without the court and heard their purposes, while they were weaving their plot within. So he

ye who assemble so often, and waste much livelihood, the wealth of wise Telemachus! Long ago when ye were children, ye marked not your fathers' telling, what manner of man was Odysseus among them, one that wrought no iniquity toward any man, nor spake aught unrighteous in the township, as

far greater and more grievous, which I pray the son of Cronos may never fulfil! They are set on slaying Telemachus with the

in her, and long time was she speechless, and lo, her eyes were filled with tears a

ld go abroad on swift ships, that serve men for horses on the sea, and that cross

od set him on or whether his own spirit stirred him to go to Pylos

a chair, whereof there were many in the house, but there she crouched on the threshold of her well-builded chamber, wailing piteously, and her han

alls, nor heard I of his departure. Oh, women, hard of heart, that even ye did not each one let the thought come into your minds, to rouse me from my couch when he went to the black hollow ship, though ye knew full well thereof! For had I heard that he was purposing this journey, verily he should have stayed here still, though eager to be gone, or have left me dead in the halls. Howbeit

e till at least the twelfth day should come, or thou thyself shouldst miss him and hear of his departure, that thou mightest not mar thy fair flesh with thy tears. But now, wash thee in water, and take to thee clean raiment and ascend to thy upper chamber with the women thy handmaids, and pray to Athene, d

he washed her in water, and took to her clean raiment, and ascended to the upper chamber with t

s burnt for thee fat slices of the thighs of heifer or of sheep, these things, I pray thee, now

her prayer. But the wooers clamoured through the s

th our marriage, nor knoweth at all how t

new not how these things were ordained. And

ar and tell it even in the house. But come let us arise, and in silence

r, and placed the mast and sails in the black ship, and fixed the oars in leathern loops all orderly, and spread forth the white sails. And squires, haughty of h

escape death, or even fall before the proud wooers. And as a lion broods all in fear among the press of men, when they draw the crafty

d Icarius, whom Eumelus wedded, whose dwelling was in Pherae. And she sent it to the house of divine Odysseus to bid Penelope, amid her sorrow and lamenting, to ce

live at ease suffer thee not to wail or be afflicted, seeing that th

nswer as she slumbered very s

lion heart, adorned with all perfection among the Danaans, my true lord, whose fame is noised abroad from Hellas to mid Argos. And now, again, my well-beloved son is departed on his hollow ship, poor child, not skilled in toils or in the gatherings of men. For h

a friend goes to guide him, as all men pray to stand by them, for that she hath the power, even Palla

, come, I pray thee, and tell me tidings concerning that ill-fated man, whether perchance he is yet

him I will not tell thee all the tale, whether he be

ath of the wind. And the daughter of Icarius started up from sleep; and her heart

Now there is a rocky isle in the mid sea, midway between Ithaca and rugged Samos, Asteris, a little isle; and there is a harbo