The Odyssey - 11

must take a well made oar and carry it on and on, till you come to a
country where the people have never heard of the sea and do not even
mix salt with their food, nor do they know anything about ships, and
oars that are as the wings of a ship. I will give you this certain
token which cannot escape your notice. A wayfarer will meet you and
will say it must be a winnowing shovel that you have got upon your
shoulder; on this you must fix the oar in the ground and sacrifice a
ram, a bull, and a boar to Neptune.90 Then go home and offer hecatombs
to all the gods in heaven one after the other. As for yourself, death
shall come to you from the sea, and your life shall ebb away very
gently when you are full of years and peace of mind, and your people
shall bless you. All that I have said will come true].’91
“‘This,’ I answered, ‘must be as it may please heaven, but tell me and
tell me and tell me true, I see my poor mother’s ghost close by us; she
is sitting by the blood without saying a word, and though I am her own
son she does not remember me and speak to me; tell me, Sir, how I can
make her know me.’
“‘That,’ said he, ‘I can soon do. Any ghost that you let taste of the
blood will talk with you like a reasonable being, but if you do not let
them have any blood they will go away again.’
“On this the ghost of Teiresias went back to the house of Hades, for
his prophecyings had now been spoken, but I sat still where I was until
my mother came up and tasted the blood. Then she knew me at once and
spoke fondly to me, saying, ‘My son, how did you come down to this
abode of darkness while you are still alive? It is a hard thing for the
living to see these places, for between us and them there are great and
terrible waters, and there is Oceanus, which no man can cross on foot,
but he must have a good ship to take him. Are you all this time trying
to find your way home from Troy, and have you never yet got back to
Ithaca nor seen your wife in your own house?’
“‘Mother,’ said I, ‘I was forced to come here to consult the ghost of
the Theban prophet Teiresias. I have never yet been near the Achaean
land nor set foot on my native country, and I have had nothing but one
long series of misfortunes from the very first day that I set out with
Agamemnon for Ilius, the land of noble steeds, to fight the Trojans.
But tell me, and tell me true, in what way did you die? Did you have a
long illness, or did heaven vouchsafe you a gentle easy passage to
eternity? Tell me also about my father, and the son whom I left behind
me, is my property still in their hands, or has some one else got hold
of it, who thinks that I shall not return to claim it? Tell me again
what my wife intends doing, and in what mind she is; does she live with
my son and guard my estate securely, or has she made the best match she
could and married again?’
“My mother answered, ‘Your wife still remains in your house, but she is
in great distress of mind and spends her whole time in tears both night
and day. No one as yet has got possession of your fine property, and
Telemachus still holds your lands undisturbed. He has to entertain
largely, as of course he must, considering his position as a
magistrate,92 and how every one invites him; your father remains at his
old place in the country and never goes near the town. He has no
comfortable bed nor bedding; in the winter he sleeps on the floor in
front of the fire with the men and goes about all in rags, but in
summer, when the warm weather comes on again, he lies out in the
vineyard on a bed of vine leaves thrown any how upon the ground. He
grieves continually about your never having come home, and suffers more
and more as he grows older. As for my own end it was in this wise:
heaven did not take me swiftly and painlessly in my own house, nor was
I attacked by any illness such as those that generally wear people out
and kill them, but my longing to know what you were doing and the force
of my affection for you—this it was that was the death of me.’93
“Then I tried to find some way of embracing my poor mother’s ghost.
Thrice I sprang towards her and tried to clasp her in my arms, but each
time she flitted from my embrace as it were a dream or phantom, and
being touched to the quick I said to her, ‘Mother, why do you not stay
still when I would embrace you? If we could throw our arms around one
another we might find sad comfort in the sharing of our sorrows even in
the house of Hades; does Proserpine want to lay a still further load of
grief upon me by mocking me with a phantom only?’
“‘My son,’ she answered, ‘most ill-fated of all mankind, it is not
Proserpine that is beguiling you, but all people are like this when
they are dead. The sinews no longer hold the flesh and bones together;
these perish in the fierceness of consuming fire as soon as life has
left the body, and the soul flits away as though it were a dream. Now,
however, go back to the light of day as soon as you can, and note all
these things that you may tell them to your wife hereafter.’
“Thus did we converse, and anon Proserpine sent up the ghosts of the
wives and daughters of all the most famous men. They gathered in crowds
about the blood, and I considered how I might question them severally.
In the end I deemed that it would be best to draw the keen blade that
hung by my sturdy thigh, and keep them from all drinking the blood at
once. So they came up one after the other, and each one as I questioned
her told me her race and lineage.
“The first I saw was Tyro. She was daughter of Salmoneus and wife of
Cretheus the son of Aeolus.94 She fell in love with the river Enipeus
who is much the most beautiful river in the whole world. Once when she
was taking a walk by his side as usual, Neptune, disguised as her
lover, lay with her at the mouth of the river, and a huge blue wave
arched itself like a mountain over them to hide both woman and god,
whereon he loosed her virgin girdle and laid her in a deep slumber.
When the god had accomplished the deed of love, he took her hand in his
own and said, ‘Tyro, rejoice in all good will; the embraces of the gods
are not fruitless, and you will have fine twins about this time twelve
months. Take great care of them. I am Neptune, so now go home, but hold
your tongue and do not tell any one.’
“Then he dived under the sea, and she in due course bore Pelias and
Neleus, who both of them served Jove with all their might. Pelias was a
great breeder of sheep and lived in Iolcus, but the other lived in
Pylos. The rest of her children were by Cretheus, namely, Aeson,
Pheres, and Amythaon, who was a mighty warrior and charioteer.
“Next to her I saw Antiope, daughter to Asopus, who could boast of
having slept in the arms of even Jove himself, and who bore him two
sons Amphion and Zethus. These founded Thebes with its seven gates, and
built a wall all round it; for strong though they were they could not
hold Thebes till they had walled it.
“Then I saw Alcmena, the wife of Amphitryon, who also bore to Jove
indomitable Hercules; and Megara who was daughter to great King Creon,
and married the redoubtable son of Amphitryon.
“I also saw fair Epicaste mother of king Oedipodes whose awful lot it
was to marry her own son without suspecting it. He married her after
having killed his father, but the gods proclaimed the whole story to
the world; whereon he remained king of Thebes, in great grief for the
spite the gods had borne him; but Epicaste went to the house of the
mighty jailor Hades, having hanged herself for grief, and the avenging
spirits haunted him as for an outraged mother—to his ruing bitterly
thereafter.
“Then I saw Chloris, whom Neleus married for her beauty, having given
priceless presents for her. She was youngest daughter to Amphion son of
Iasus and king of Minyan Orchomenus, and was Queen in Pylos. She bore
Nestor, Chromius, and Periclymenus, and she also bore that marvellously
lovely woman Pero, who was wooed by all the country round; but Neleus
would only give her to him who should raid the cattle of Iphicles from
the grazing grounds of Phylace, and this was a hard task. The only man
who would undertake to raid them was a certain excellent seer,95 but
the will of heaven was against him, for the rangers of the cattle
caught him and put him in prison; nevertheless when a full year had
passed and the same season came round again, Iphicles set him at
liberty, after he had expounded all the oracles of heaven. Thus, then,
was the will of Jove accomplished.
“And I saw Leda the wife of Tyndarus, who bore him two famous sons,
Castor breaker of horses, and Pollux the mighty boxer. Both these
heroes are lying under the earth, though they are still alive, for by a
special dispensation of Jove, they die and come to life again, each one
of them every other day throughout all time, and they have the rank of
gods.
“After her I saw Iphimedeia wife of Aloeus who boasted the embrace of
Neptune. She bore two sons Otus and Ephialtes, but both were short
lived. They were the finest children that were ever born in this world,
and the best looking, Orion only excepted; for at nine years old they
were nine fathoms high, and measured nine cubits round the chest. They
threatened to make war with the gods in Olympus, and tried to set Mount
Ossa on the top of Mount Olympus, and Mount Pelion on the top of Ossa,
that they might scale heaven itself, and they would have done it too if
they had been grown up, but Apollo, son of Leto, killed both of them,
before they had got so much as a sign of hair upon their cheeks or
chin.
“Then I saw Phaedra, and Procris, and fair Ariadne daughter of the
magician Minos, whom Theseus was carrying off from Crete to Athens, but
he did not enjoy her, for before he could do so Diana killed her in the
island of Dia on account of what Bacchus had said against her.
“I also saw Maera and Clymene and hateful Eriphyle, who sold her own
husband for gold. But it would take me all night if I were to name
every single one of the wives and daughters of heroes whom I saw, and
it is time for me to go to bed, either on board ship with my crew, or
here. As for my escort, heaven and yourselves will see to it.”
Here he ended, and the guests sat all of them enthralled and speechless
throughout the covered cloister. Then Arete said to them:—
“What do you think of this man, O Phaeacians? Is he not tall and good
looking, and is he not clever? True, he is my own guest, but all of you
share in the distinction. Do not be in a hurry to send him away, nor
niggardly in the presents you make to one who is in such great need,
for heaven has blessed all of you with great abundance.”
Then spoke the aged hero Echeneus who was one of the oldest men among
them, “My friends,” said he, “what our august queen has just said to us
is both reasonable and to the purpose, therefore be persuaded by it;
but the decision whether in word or deed rests ultimately with King
Alcinous.”
“The thing shall be done,” exclaimed Alcinous, “as surely as I still
live and reign over the Phaeacians. Our guest is indeed very anxious to
get home, still we must persuade him to remain with us until to-morrow,
by which time I shall be able to get together the whole sum that I mean
to give him. As regards his escort it will be a matter for you all, and
mine above all others as the chief person among you.”
And Ulysses answered, “King Alcinous, if you were to bid me to stay
here for a whole twelve months, and then speed me on my way, loaded
with your noble gifts, I should obey you gladly and it would redound
greatly to my advantage, for I should return fuller-handed to my own
people, and should thus be more respected and beloved by all who see me
when I get back to Ithaca.”
“Ulysses,” replied Alcinous, “not one of us who sees you has any idea
that you are a charlatan or a swindler. I know there are many people
going about who tell such plausible stories that it is very hard to see
through them, but there is a style about your language which assures me
of your good disposition. Moreover you have told the story of your own
misfortunes, and those of the Argives, as though you were a practiced
bard; but tell me, and tell me true, whether you saw any of the mighty
heroes who went to Troy at the same time with yourself, and perished
there. The evenings are still at their longest, and it is not yet bed
time—go on, therefore, with your divine story, for I could stay here
listening till tomorrow morning, so long as you will continue to tell
us of your adventures.”
“Alcinous,” answered Ulysses, “there is a time for making speeches, and
a time for going to bed; nevertheless, since you so desire, I will not
refrain from telling you the still sadder tale of those of my comrades
who did not fall fighting with the Trojans, but perished on their
return, through the treachery of a wicked woman.
“When Proserpine had dismissed the female ghosts in all directions, the
ghost of Agamemnon son of Atreus came sadly up to me, surrounded by
those who had perished with him in the house of Aegisthus. As soon as
he had tasted the blood, he knew me, and weeping bitterly stretched out
his arms towards me to embrace me; but he had no strength nor substance
any more, and I too wept and pitied him as I beheld him. ‘How did you
come by your death,’ said I, ‘King Agamemnon? Did Neptune raise his
winds and waves against you when you were at sea, or did your enemies
make an end of you on the main land when you were cattle-lifting or
sheep-stealing, or while they were fighting in defence of their wives
and city?’
“‘Ulysses,’ he answered, ‘noble son of Laertes, I was not lost at sea
in any storm of Neptune’s raising, nor did my foes despatch me upon the
mainland, but Aegisthus and my wicked wife were the death of me between
them. He asked me to his house, feasted me, and then butchered me most
miserably as though I were a fat beast in a slaughter house, while all
around me my comrades were slain like sheep or pigs for the wedding
breakfast, or picnic, or gorgeous banquet of some great nobleman. You
must have seen numbers of men killed either in a general engagement, or
in single combat, but you never saw anything so truly pitiable as the
way in which we fell in that cloister, with the mixing bowl and the
loaded tables lying all about, and the ground reeking with our blood. I
heard Priam’s daughter Cassandra scream as Clytemnestra killed her
close beside me. I lay dying upon the earth with the sword in my body,
and raised my hands to kill the slut of a murderess, but she slipped
away from me; she would not even close my lips nor my eyes when I was
dying, for there is nothing in this world so cruel and so shameless as
a woman when she has fallen into such guilt as hers was. Fancy
murdering her own husband! I thought I was going to be welcomed home by
my children and my servants, but her abominable crime has brought
disgrace on herself and all women who shall come after—even on the good
ones.’
“And I said, ‘In truth Jove has hated the house of Atreus from first to
last in the matter of their women’s counsels. See how many of us fell
for Helen’s sake, and now it seems that Clytemnestra hatched mischief
against you too during your absence.’
“‘Be sure, therefore,’ continued Agamemnon, ‘and not be too friendly
even with your own wife. Do not tell her all that you know perfectly
well yourself. Tell her a part only, and keep your own counsel about
the rest. Not that your wife, Ulysses, is likely to murder you, for
Penelope is a very admirable woman, and has an excellent nature. We
left her a young bride with an infant at her breast when we set out for
Troy. This child no doubt is now grown up happily to man’s estate,96
and he and his father will have a joyful meeting and embrace one
another as it is right they should do, whereas my wicked wife did not
even allow me the happiness of looking upon my son, but killed me ere I
could do so. Furthermore I say—and lay my saying to your heart—do not
tell people when you are bringing your ship to Ithaca, but steal a
march upon them, for after all this there is no trusting women. But now
tell me, and tell me true, can you give me any news of my son Orestes?
Is he in Orchomenus, or at Pylos, or is he at Sparta with Menelaus—for
I presume that he is still living.’
“And I said, ‘Agamemnon, why do you ask me? I do not know whether your
son is alive or dead, and it is not right to talk when one does not
know.’
“As we two sat weeping and talking thus sadly with one another the
ghost of Achilles came up to us with Patroclus, Antilochus, and Ajax
who was the finest and goodliest man of all the Danaans after the son
of Peleus. The fleet descendant of Aeacus knew me and spoke piteously,
saying, ‘Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, what deed of daring will you
undertake next, that you venture down to the house of Hades among us
silly dead, who are but the ghosts of them that can labour no more?’
“And I said, ‘Achilles, son of Peleus, foremost champion of the
Achaeans, I came to consult Teiresias, and see if he could advise me
about my return home to Ithaca, for I have never yet been able to get
near the Achaean land, nor to set foot in my own country, but have been
in trouble all the time. As for you, Achilles, no one was ever yet so
fortunate as you have been, nor ever will be, for you were adored by
all us Argives as long as you were alive, and now that you are here you
are a great prince among the dead. Do not, therefore, take it so much
to heart even if you are dead.’
“‘Say not a word,’ he answered, ‘in death’s favour; I would rather be a
paid servant in a poor man’s house and be above ground than king of
kings among the dead. But give me news about my son; is he gone to the
wars and will he be a great soldier, or is this not so? Tell me also if
you have heard anything about my father Peleus—does he still rule among
the Myrmidons, or do they show him no respect throughout Hellas and
Phthia now that he is old and his limbs fail him? Could I but stand by
his side, in the light of day, with the same strength that I had when I
killed the bravest of our foes upon the plain of Troy—could I but be as
I then was and go even for a short time to my father’s house, any one
who tried to do him violence or supersede him would soon rue it.’
“‘I have heard nothing,’ I answered, ‘of Peleus, but I can tell you all
about your son Neoptolemus, for I took him in my own ship from Scyros
with the Achaeans. In our councils of war before Troy he was always
first to speak, and his judgement was unerring. Nestor and I were the
only two who could surpass him; and when it came to fighting on the
plain of Troy, he would never remain with the body of his men, but
would dash on far in front, foremost of them all in valour. Many a man
did he kill in battle—I cannot name every single one of those whom he
slew while fighting on the side of the Argives, but will only say how
he killed that valiant hero Eurypylus son of Telephus, who was the
handsomest man I ever saw except Memnon; many others also of the
Ceteians fell around him by reason of a woman’s bribes. Moreover, when
all the bravest of the Argives went inside the horse that Epeus had
made, and it was left to me to settle when we should either open the
door of our ambuscade, or close it, though all the other leaders and
chief men among the Danaans were drying their eyes and quaking in every
limb, I never once saw him turn pale nor wipe a tear from his cheek; he
was all the time urging me to break out from the horse—grasping the
handle of his sword and his bronze-shod spear, and breathing fury
against the foe. Yet when we had sacked the city of Priam he got his
handsome share of the prize money and went on board (such is the
fortune of war) without a wound upon him, neither from a thrown spear
nor in close combat, for the rage of Mars is a matter of great chance.’
“When I had told him this, the ghost of Achilles strode off across a
meadow full of asphodel, exulting over what I had said concerning the
prowess of his son.
“The ghosts of other dead men stood near me and told me each his own
melancholy tale; but that of Ajax son of Telamon alone held aloof—still
angry with me for having won the cause in our dispute about the armour
of Achilles. Thetis had offered it as a prize, but the Trojan prisoners
and Minerva were the judges. Would that I had never gained the day in
such a contest, for it cost the life of Ajax, who was foremost of all
the Danaans after the son of Peleus, alike in stature and prowess.
“When I saw him I tried to pacify him and said, ‘Ajax, will you not
forget and forgive even in death, but must the judgement about that
hateful armour still rankle with you? It cost us Argives dear enough to
lose such a tower of strength as you were to us. We mourned you as much
as we mourned Achilles son of Peleus himself, nor can the blame be laid
on anything but on the spite which Jove bore against the Danaans, for
it was this that made him counsel your destruction—come hither,
therefore, bring your proud spirit into subjection, and hear what I can
tell you.’
“He would not answer, but turned away to Erebus and to the other
ghosts; nevertheless, I should have made him talk to me in spite of his
being so angry, or I should have gone on talking to him,97 only that
there were still others among the dead whom I desired to see.
“Then I saw Minos son of Jove with his golden sceptre in his hand
sitting in judgement on the dead, and the ghosts were gathered sitting
and standing round him in the spacious house of Hades, to learn his
sentences upon them.
“After him I saw huge Orion in a meadow full of asphodel driving the
ghosts of the wild beasts that he had killed upon the mountains, and he
had a great bronze club in his hand, unbreakable for ever and ever.
“And I saw Tityus son of Gaia stretched upon the plain and covering
some nine acres of ground. Two vultures on either side of him were
digging their beaks into his liver, and he kept on trying to beat them
off with his hands, but could not; for he had violated Jove’s mistress
Leto as she was going through Panopeus on her way to Pytho.
“I saw also the dreadful fate of Tantalus, who stood in a lake that
reached his chin; he was dying to quench his thirst, but could never
reach the water, for whenever the poor creature stooped to drink, it
dried up and vanished, so that there was nothing but dry ground—parched
by the spite of heaven. There were tall trees, moreover, that shed
their fruit over his head—pears, pomegranates, apples, sweet figs and
juicy olives, but whenever the poor creature stretched out his hand to
take some, the wind tossed the branches back again to the clouds.
“And I saw Sisyphus at his endless task raising his prodigious stone
with both his hands. With hands and feet he tried to roll it up to the
top of the hill, but always, just before he could roll it over on to
the other side, its weight would be too much for him, and the pitiless
stone98 would come thundering down again on to the plain. Then he would
begin trying to push it up hill again, and the sweat ran off him and
the steam rose after him.
“After him I saw mighty Hercules, but it was his phantom only, for he
is feasting ever with the immortal gods, and has lovely Hebe to wife,
who is daughter of Jove and Juno. The ghosts were screaming round him
like scared birds flying all whithers. He looked black as night with
his bare bow in his hands and his arrow on the string, glaring around
as though ever on the point of taking aim. About his breast there was a
wondrous golden belt adorned in the most marvellous fashion with bears,
wild boars, and lions with gleaming eyes; there was also war, battle,
and death. The man who made that belt, do what he might, would never be
able to make another like it. Hercules knew me at once when he saw me,
and spoke piteously, saying, ‘My poor Ulysses, noble son of Laertes,
are you too leading the same sorry kind of life that I did when I was
above ground? I was son of Jove, but I went through an infinity of
suffering, for I became bondsman to one who was far beneath me—a low
fellow who set me all manner of labours. He once sent me here to fetch
the hell-hound—for he did not think he could find anything harder for
me than this, but I got the hound out of Hades and brought him to him,
for Mercury and Minerva helped me.’
“On this Hercules went down again into the house of Hades, but I stayed
where I was in case some other of the mighty dead should come to me.
And I should have seen still other of them that are gone before, whom I
would fain have seen—Theseus and Pirithous—glorious children of the
gods, but so many thousands of ghosts came round me and uttered such
appalling cries, that I was panic stricken lest Proserpine should send
up from the house of Hades the head of that awful monster Gorgon. On
this I hastened back to my ship and ordered my men to go on board at
once and loose the hawsers; so they embarked and took their places,
whereon the ship went down the stream of the river Oceanus. We had to
row at first, but presently a fair wind sprang up.


BOOK XII

THE SIRENS, SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS, THE CATTLE OF THE SUN.

“After we were clear of the river Oceanus, and had got out into the
open sea, we went on till we reached the Aeaean island where there is
dawn and sun-rise as in other places. We then drew our ship on to the
sands and got out of her on to the shore, where we went to sleep and
waited till day should break.
“Then, when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, I sent
some men to Circe’s house to fetch the body of Elpenor. We cut firewood
from a wood where the headland jutted out into the sea, and after we
had wept over him and lamented him we performed his funeral rites. When
his body and armour had been burned to ashes, we raised a cairn, set a
stone over it, and at the top of the cairn we fixed the oar that he had
been used to row with.
“While we were doing all this, Circe, who knew that we had got back
from the house of Hades, dressed herself and came to us as fast as she
could; and her maid servants came with her bringing us bread, meat, and
wine. Then she stood in the midst of us and said, ‘You have done a bold
thing in going down alive to the house of Hades, and you will have died
twice, to other people’s once; now, then, stay here for the rest of the
day, feast your fill, and go on with your voyage at daybreak tomorrow
morning. In the meantime I will tell Ulysses about your course, and
will explain everything to him so as to prevent your suffering from
misadventure either by land or sea.’
“We agreed to do as she had said, and feasted through the livelong day
to the going down of the sun, but when the sun had set and it came on
dark, the men laid themselves down to sleep by the stern cables of the
ship. Then Circe took me by the hand and bade me be seated away from
the others, while she reclined by my side and asked me all about our
adventures.
“‘So far so good,’ said she, when I had ended my story, ‘and now pay
attention to what I am about to tell you—heaven itself, indeed, will
recall it to your recollection. First you will come to the Sirens who
enchant all who come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too close
and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will never
welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field and warble him to
death with the sweetness of their song. There is a great heap of dead
men’s bones lying all around, with the flesh still rotting off them.
Therefore pass these Sirens by, and stop your men’s ears with wax that
none of them may hear; but if you like you can listen yourself, for you
may get the men to bind you as you stand upright on a cross piece half
way up the mast,99 and they must lash the rope’s ends to the mast
itself, that you may have the pleasure of listening. If you beg and
pray the men to unloose you, then they must bind you faster.
“‘When your crew have taken you past these Sirens, I cannot give you