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Tell
me, O Muse, of that many-sided hero who traveled far and wide after
he had sacked the famous town of
Troy. Many cities did he visit, and
many were the people with whose customs and thinking
[noos] he was acquainted; many things he suffered at
sea while seeking to save his own life [psukhê]
and to achieve the safe homecoming [nostos] of his
companions; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they
perished through their own sheer recklessness in eating the cattle of
the Sun-god Helios; so the god prevented them from ever reaching
home. Tell me, as you have told those who came before me, about all
these things, O daughter of Zeus, starting from whatsoever point you
choose.
So now all who escaped death in
battle or by shipwreck had got safely home except Odysseus, and he,
though he was longing for his return [nostos] to his
wife and country, was detained by the goddess Calypso, who had got
him into a large cave and wanted to marry him. But as years went by,
there came a time when the gods settled that he should go back to
Ithaca; even then, however, when he was among his own people, his
trials [athloi] were not yet over; nevertheless all
the gods had now begun to pity him except Poseidon, who still
persecuted him without ceasing and would not let him get
home.
Now Poseidon had gone off to the
Ethiopians, who are at the world's end, and lie in two halves,
the one looking West and the other East. He had gone there to accept
a hecatomb of sheep and oxen, and was enjoying himself at his
festival; but the other gods met in the house of Olympian Zeus, and
the sire of gods and men spoke first. At that moment he was thinking
of Aigisthos, who had been killed by Agamemnon's son Orestes; so
he said to the other gods:
"See now, how men consider us gods
responsible [aitioi] for what is after all nothing but
their own folly. Look at Aigisthos; he must needs make love to
Agamemnon's wife unrighteously and then kill Agamemnon, though
he knew it would be the death of him; for I sent Hermes to warn him
not to do either of these things, inasmuch as Orestes would be sure
to take his revenge when he grew up and wanted to return home. Hermes
told him this in all good will but he would not listen, and now he
has paid for everything in full."
Then Athena said, "Father, son of
Kronos, King of kings, it served Aigisthos right, and so it would any
one else who does as he did; but Aigisthos is neither here nor there;
it is for Odysseus that my heart bleeds, when I think of his
sufferings in that lonely sea-girt island, far away, poor man, from
all his friends. It is an island covered with forest, in the very
middle of the sea, and a goddess lives there, daughter of the
magician Atlas, who looks after the bottom of the ocean, and carries
the great columns that keep heaven and earth asunder. This daughter
of Atlas has got hold of poor unhappy Odysseus, and keeps trying by
every kind of blandishment to make him forget his home, so that he is
tired of life, and thinks of nothing but how he may once more see the
smoke of his own chimneys. You, sir, take no heed of this, and yet
when Odysseus was before
Troy did he not propitiate you with many a
burnt sacrifice? Why then should you keep on being so angry with
him?"
And Zeus said, "My child, what are
you talking about? How can I forget Odysseus than whom there is no
more capable man on earth [in regard to noos], nor
more liberal in his offerings to the immortal gods that live in
heaven? Bear in mind, however, that Poseidon is still furious with
Odysseus for having blinded an eye of Polyphemus king of the
Cyclopes. Polyphemus is son to Poseidon by the nymph Thoosa, daughter
to the sea-king Phorkys; therefore though he will not kill Odysseus
outright, he torments him by preventing him from his homecoming
[nostos]. Still, let us lay our heads together and see
how we can help him to return; Poseidon will then be pacified, for if
we are all of a mind he can hardly stand out against us."
And Athena said, "Father, son of
Kronos, King of kings, if, then, the gods now mean that Odysseus
should get home, we should first send Hermes to the Ogygian island to
tell Calypso that we have made up our minds and that he is to have
his homecoming [nostos]. In the meantime I will go to
Ithaca, to put heart into Odysseus' son Telemakhos; I will
embolden him to call the Achaeans in assembly, and speak out to the
suitors of his mother Penelope, who persist in eating up any number
of his sheep and oxen; I will also conduct him to
Sparta and to
Pylos, to see if he can hear anything about the return
[nostos] of his dear father - for this will give him
genuine fame [kleos] throughout humankind."
So saying she bound on her
glittering golden sandals, imperishable, with which she can fly like
the wind over land or sea; she grasped the redoubtable bronze-shod
spear, so stout and sturdy and strong, wherewith she quells the ranks
of heroes who have displeased her, and down she darted from the
topmost summits of
Olympus, whereon forthwith she was in the
dêmos of
Ithaca, at the gateway of Odysseus' house,
disguised as a visitor, Mentes, chief of the Taphians, and she held a
bronze spear in her hand. There she found the lordly suitors seated
on hides of the oxen which they had killed and eaten, and playing
draughts in front of the house. Men-servants and pages were bustling
about to wait upon them, some mixing wine with water in the
mixing-bowls, some cleaning down the tables with wet sponges and
laying them out again, and some cutting up great quantities of
meat.
Telemakhos saw her long before
any one else did. He was sitting moodily among the suitors thinking
about his brave father, and how he would send them fleeing out of the
house, if he were to come to his own again and be honored as in days
gone by. Thus brooding as he sat among them, he caught sight of
Athena and went straight to the gate, for he was vexed that a
stranger should be kept waiting for admittance. He took her right
hand in his own, and bade her give him her spear. "Welcome," said he,
"to our house, and when you have partaken of food you shall tell us
what you have come for."
He led the way as he spoke, and
Athena followed him. When they were within he took her spear and set
it in the spear - stand against a strong bearing-post along with the
many other spears of his unhappy father, and he conducted her to a
richly decorated seat under which he threw a cloth of damask. There
was a footstool also for her feet, and he set another seat near her
for himself, away from the suitors, that she might not be annoyed
while eating by their noise and insolence, and that he might ask her
more freely about his father.
A maid servant then brought them
water in a beautiful golden ewer and poured it into a silver basin
for them to wash their hands, and she drew a clean table beside them.
An upper servant brought them bread, and offered them many good
things of what there was in the house, the carver fetched them plates
of all manner of meats and set cups of gold by their side, and a
man-servant brought them wine and poured it out for them.
Then the suitors came in and took
their places on the benches and seats. Forthwith men servants poured
water over their hands, maids went round with the bread-baskets,
pages filled the mixing-bowls with wine and water, and they laid
their hands upon the good things that were before them. As soon as
they had had enough to eat and drink they wanted music and dancing,
which are the crowning embellishments of a banquet, so a servant
brought a lyre to Phemios, whom they compelled perforce to sing to
them. As soon as he touched his lyre and began to sing Telemakhos
spoke low to Athena, with his head close to hers that no man might
hear.
"I hope, sir," said he, "that you
will not be offended with what I am going to say. Singing comes cheap
to those who do not pay for it, and all this is done at the cost of
one whose bones lie rotting in some wilderness or grinding to powder
in the surf. If these men were to see my father come back to
Ithaca
they would pray for longer legs rather than a longer purse, for
wealth would not serve them; but he, alas, has fallen on an ill fate,
and even when people do sometimes say that he is coming, we no longer
heed them; we shall never see him again. And now, sir, tell me and
tell me true, who you are and where you come from. Tell me of your
town and parents, what manner of ship you came in, how your crew
brought you to
Ithaca, and of what nation they declared themselves to
be - for you cannot have come by land. Tell me also truly, for I want
to know, are you a stranger to this house, or have you been here in
my father's time? In the old days we had many visitors for my
father went about much himself."
And Athena answered, "I will tell
you truly and particularly all about it. I am Mentes, son of
Anchialos, and I am King of the Taphians. I have come here with my
ship and crew, on a voyage to men of a foreign tongue being bound for
Temesa with a cargo of iron, and I shall bring back copper. As for my
ship, it lies over yonder off the open country away from the town, in
the harbor Rheithron under the wooded mountain Neritum. Our fathers
were friends before us, as old
Laertes will tell you, if you will go
and ask him. They say, however, that he never comes to town now, and
lives by himself in the country, faring hardly, with an old woman to
look after him and get his dinner for him, when he comes in tired
from pottering about his vineyard. They told me your father was at
home again, and that was why I came, but it seems the gods are still
keeping him back, for he is not dead yet not on the mainland. It is
more likely he is on some sea-girt island in mid ocean, or a prisoner
among savages who are detaining him against his will. I am no seer
[mantis], and know very little about omens, but I
speak as it is borne in upon me from heaven, and assure you that he
will not be away much longer; for he is a man of such resource that
even though he were in chains of iron he would find some means of
getting home again. But tell me, and tell me true, can Odysseus
really have such a fine looking young man for a son? You are indeed
wonderfully like him about the head and eyes, for we were close
friends before he set sail for
Troy where the flower of all the
Argives went also. Since that time we have never either of us seen
the other."
"My mother," answered Telemakhos,
"tells me I am son to Odysseus, but it is a wise child that knows his
own father. Would that I were son to one who had grown old upon his
own estates, for, since you ask me, there is no more ill-starred man
under heaven than he who they tell me is my father."
And Athena said, "There is no
fear of your race dying out yet, while Penelope has such a fine son
as you are. But tell me, and tell me true, what is the meaning of all
this feasting, and who are these people? What is it all about? Have
you some banquet, or is there a wedding in the family - for no one
seems to be bringing any provisions of his own? And the guests - how
atrociously they are behaving; what riot they make over the whole
house; it is enough to disgust any respectable person who comes near
them."
"Sir," said Telemakhos, "as
regards your question, so long as my father was here it was well with
us and with the house, but the gods in their displeasure have willed
it otherwise, and have hidden him away more closely than mortal man
was ever yet hidden. I could have borne it better even though he were
dead, if he had fallen with his men in the dêmos of
Troy, or had died with friends around him when the days of his
fighting were done; for then the Achaeans would have built a mound
over his ashes, and I should myself have been heir to his renown
[kleos]; but now the storm-winds have spirited him
away we know not wither; he is gone without leaving so much as a
trace behind him, and I inherit nothing but dismay. Nor does the
matter end simply with grief for the loss of my father; heaven has
laid sorrows upon me of yet another kind; for the chiefs from all our
islands, Dulichium, Same, and the woodland island of
Zacynthus, as
also all the principal men of
Ithaca itself, are eating up my house
under the pretext of paying their court to my mother, who will
neither point blank say that she will not marry, nor yet bring
matters to an end; so they are making havoc of my estate, and before
long will do so also with myself."
"Is that so?" exclaimed Athena,
"then you do indeed want Odysseus home again. Give him his helmet,
shield, and a couple lances, and if he is the man he was when I first
knew him in our house, drinking and making merry, he would soon lay
his hands about these rascally suitors, were he to stand once more
upon his own threshold. He was then coming from
Ephyra, where he had
been to beg poison for his arrows from Ilos, son of Mermerus. Ilos
feared the ever-living gods and would not give him any, but my father
let him have some, for he was very fond of him. If Odysseus is the
man he then was these suitors will have a swift doom and a sorry
wedding.
"But there! It rests with heaven
to determine whether he is to return, and take his revenge in his own
house or no; I would, however, urge you to set about trying to get
rid of these suitors at once. Take my advice, call the Achaean heroes
in assembly tomorrow -lay your case before them, and call heaven to
bear you witness. Bid the suitors take themselves off, each to his
own place, and if your mother's mind is set on marrying again,
let her go back to her father, who will find her a husband and
provide her with all the marriage gifts that so dear a daughter may
expect. As for yourself, let me prevail upon you to take the best
ship you can get, with a crew of twenty men, and go in quest of your
father who has so long been missing. Some one may tell you something,
or (and people often hear things in this way) some heaven-sent
message [kleos] may direct you. First go to
Pylos and
ask Nestor; thence go on to
Sparta and visit Menelaos, for he got
home last of all the Achaeans; if you hear that your father is alive
and about to achieve his homecoming [nostos], you can
put up with the waste these suitors will make for yet another twelve
months. If on the other hand you hear of his death, come home at
once, celebrate his funeral rites with all due pomp, build a grave
marker [sêma] to his memory, and make your
mother marry again. Then, having done all this, think it well over in
your mind how, by fair means or foul, you may kill these suitors in
your own house. You are too old to plead infancy any longer; have you
not heard how people are singing Orestes' praises
[kleos] for having killed his father's murderer
Aigisthos? You are a fine, smart looking young man; show your mettle,
then, and make yourself a name in story. Now, however, I must go back
to my ship and to my crew, who will be impatient if I keep them
waiting longer; think the matter over for yourself, and remember what
I have said to you."
"Sir," answered Telemakhos, "it
has been very kind of you to talk to me in this way, as though I were
your own son, and I will do all you tell me; I know you want to be
getting on with your voyage, but stay a little longer till you have
taken a bath and refreshed yourself. I will then give you a present,
and you shall go on your way rejoicing; I will give you one of great
beauty and value - a keepsake such as only dear friends give to one
another."
Athena answered, "Do not try to
keep me, for I would be on my way at once. As for any present you may
be disposed to make me, keep it till I come again, and I will take it
home with me. You shall give me a very good one, and I will give you
one of no less value in return."
With these words she flew away
like a bird into the air, but she had given Telemakhos courage, and
had made him think more than ever about his father. He felt the
change, wondered at it, and knew that the stranger had been a god, so
he went straight to where the suitors were sitting.
Phemios was still singing, and
his hearers sat rapt in silence as he told the baneful tale of the
homecoming [nostos] from
Troy, and the ills Athena had
laid upon the Achaeans. Penelope, daughter of Ikarios, heard his song
from her room upstairs, and came down by the great staircase, not
alone, but attended by two of her handmaids. When she reached the
suitors she stood by one of the bearing posts that supported the roof
of the cloisters with a staid maiden on either side of her. She held
a veil, moreover, before her face, and was weeping
bitterly.
"Phemios," she cried, "you know
many another feat of gods and heroes, such as poets love to
celebrate. Sing the suitors some one of these, and let them drink
their wine in silence, but cease this sad tale, for it breaks my
sorrowful heart, and reminds me of my lost husband for whom I have
grief [penthos] ever without ceasing, and whose name
[kleos] was great over all
Hellas and middle
Argos."
"Mother," answered Telemakhos,
"let the bard sing what he has a mind [noos] to; bards
are not responsible [aitios] for the ills they sing
of; it is Zeus, not they, who is responsible [aitios],
and who sends weal or woe upon humankind according to his own good
pleasure. There should be no feeling of nemesis against this
one for singing the ill-fated return of the Danaans, for people
always favor most warmly the kleos of the latest songs. Make
up your mind to it and bear it; Odysseus is not the only man who
never came back from
Troy, but many another went down as well as he.
Go, then, within the house and busy yourself with your daily duties,
your loom, your distaff, and the ordering of your servants; for
speech is man's matter, and mine above all others - for it is I
who am master here."
She went wondering back into the
house, and laid her son's saying in her heart. Then, going
upstairs with her handmaids into her room, she mourned her dear
husband till Athena shed sweet sleep over her eyes. But the suitors
were clamorous throughout the covered cloisters, and prayed each one
that he might be her bed fellow.
Then Telemakhos spoke, "You
suitors of my mother," he cried, "you with your overweening
hubris, let us feast at our pleasure now, and let there be no
brawling, for it is a rare thing to hear a man with such a divine
voice as Phemios has; but in the morning meet me in full assembly
that I may give you formal notice to depart, and feast at one
another's houses, turn and turn about, at your own cost. If on
the other hand you choose to persist in sponging upon one man, heaven
help me, but Zeus shall reckon with you in full, and when you fall in
my father's house there shall be no man to avenge
you."
The suitors bit their lips as
they heard him, and marveled at the boldness of his speech. Then,
Antinoos, son of Eupeithes, said, "The gods seem to have given you
lessons in bluster and tall talking; may Zeus never grant you to be
chief in
Ithaca as your father was before you."
Telemakhos answered, "Antinoos,
do not chide with me, but, god willing, I will be chief too if I can.
Is this the worst fate you can think of for me? It is no bad thing to
be a chief, for it brings both riches and honor. Still, now that
Odysseus is dead there are many great men in
Ithaca both old and
young, and some other may take the lead among them; nevertheless I
will be chief in my own house, and will rule those whom Odysseus has
won for me."
Then Eurymakhos, son of Polybos,
answered, "It rests with heaven to decide who shall be chief among
us, but you shall be master in your own house and over your own
possessions; no one while there is a man in
Ithaca shall do you
violence [biê] nor rob you. And now, my good
man, I want to know about this stranger. What country does he come
from? Of what family is he, and where is his estate? Has he brought
you news about the return of your father, or was he on business of
his own? He seemed a well-to-do man, but he hurried off so suddenly
that he was gone in a moment before we could get to know
him."
"The nostos of my father
is dead and gone," answered Telemakhos, "and even if some rumor
reaches me I put no more faith in it now. My mother does indeed
sometimes send for a soothsayer and question him, but I give his
prophesying no heed. As for the stranger, he was Mentes, son of
Anchialos, chief of the Taphians, an old friend of my father's."
But in his heart he knew that it had been the goddess.
The suitors then returned to
their singing and dancing until the evening; but when night fell upon
their pleasuring they went home to bed each in his own abode.
Telemakhos' room was high up in a tower that looked on to the
outer court; there, then, he went, brooding and full of thought. A
good old woman, Eurykleia, daughter of Ops, the son of Pisenor, went
before him with a couple of blazing torches.
Laertes had bought her
with his own wealth when she was quite young; he gave the worth of
twenty oxen for her, and showed as much respect to her in his
household as he did to his own wedded wife, but he did not take her
to his bed for he feared his wife's resentment. She it was who
now lighted Telemakhos to his room, and she loved him better than any
of the other women in the house did, for she had nursed him when he
was a baby. He opened the door of his bed room and sat down upon the
bed; as he took off his shirt he gave it to the good old woman, who
folded it tidily up, and hung it for him over a peg by his bed side,
after which she went out, pulled the door to by a silver catch, and
drew the bolt home by means of the strap. But Telemakhos as he lay
covered with a woolen fleece kept thinking all night through of his
intended voyage and of the counsel that Athena had given him
.