THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER

S >> S. H. BUTCHER, M.A. >> THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER

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And Zeus, the cloud gatherer, answered him saying: 'Lo,
now, shaker of the earth, of widest power, what a word hast
thou spoken! The gods nowise dishonour thee; hard would it
be to assail with dishonour our eldest and our best. But if
any man, giving place to his own hardihood and strength,
holds thee not in worship, thou hast always thy revenge for
the same, even in the time to come. Do thou as thou wilt,
and as seems thee good.'

Then Poseidon, shaker of the earth, answered him:
'Straightway would I do even as thou sayest, O god of the
dark clouds; but thy wrath I always hold in awe and avoid.
Howbeit, now I fain would smite a fair ship of the
Phaeacians, as she comes home from a convoy on the misty
deep, that thereby they may learn to hold their hands, and
cease from giving escort to men; and I would overshadow
their city with a great mountain.'

And Zeus the gatherer of the clouds, answered him, saying:
'Friend, learn now what seems best in my sight. At an hour
when the folk are all looking forth from the city at the
ship upon her way, smite her into a stone hard by the land;
a stone in the likeness of a swift ship, that all mankind
may marvel, and do thou overshadow their city with a great
mountain.'

Now when Poseidon, shaker of the earth, heard this saying,
he went on his way to Scheria, where the Phaeacians dwell.
There he abode awhile; and lo, she drew near, the seafaring
ship, lightly sped upon her way. Then nigh her came the
shaker of the earth, and he smote her into a stone, and
rooted her far below with the down-stroke of his hand; and
he departed thence again.

Then one to the other they spake winged words, the
Phaeacians of the long oars, mariners renowned. And thus
would they speak, looking each man to his neighbour:

'Ah me! who is this that fettered our swift ship on the
deep as she drave homewards? Even now she stood full in
sight.'

Even so they would speak; but they knew not how these
things were ordained. And Alcinous made harangue and spake
among them:

'Lo now, in very truth the ancient oracles of my father
have come home to me. He was wont to say that Poseidon was
jealous of us, for that we give safe escort to all men. He
said that the day would come when the god would smite a
fair ship of the Phaeacians, as she came home from a convoy
on the misty deep, and overshadow our city with a great
mountain. Thus that ancient one would speak; and lo, all
these things now have an end. But come, let us all give ear
and do according to my word. Cease ye from the convoy of
mortals, whensoever any shall come unto our town, and let
us sacrifice to Poseidon twelve choice bulls, if perchance
he may take pity, neither overshadow our city with a great
mountain.'

So spake he, and they were dismayed and got ready the
bulls. Thus were they praying to the lord Poseidon, the
princes and counsellors of the land of the Phaeacians, as
they stood about the altar.

Even then the goodly Odysseus awoke where he slept on his
native land; nor knew he the same again, having now been
long afar, for around him the goddess had shed a mist, even
Pallas Athene, daughter of Zeus, to the end that she might
make him undiscovered for that he was, and might expound to
him all things, that so his wife should not know him
neither his townsmen and kinsfolk, ere the wooers had paid
for all their transgressions. Wherefore each thing showed
strange to the lord of the land, the long paths and the
sheltering havens and the steep rocks and the trees in
their bloom. So he started up, and stood and looked upon
his native land, and then he made moan withal, and smote on
both his thighs with the down-stroke of his hands, and
making lament, he spake, saying:

'Oh, woe is me, unto what mortals' land am I now come? Say,
are they froward, and wild, and unjust, or hospitable and
of a god-fearing mind? Whither do I bear all this treasure?
Yea, where am I wandering myself? Oh that the treasure had
remained with the Phaeacians where it was, so had I come to
some other of the mighty princes, who would have entreated
me kindly and sent me on my way. But now I know not where
to bestow these things, nor yet will I leave them here
behind, lest haply other men make spoil of them. Ah then,
they are not wholly wise or just, the princes and
counsellors of the Phaeacians, who carried me to a strange
land. Verily they promised to bring me to clear-seen
Ithaca, but they performed it not. May Zeus requite them,
the god of suppliants, seeing that he watches over all men
and punishes the transgressor! But come, I will reckon up
these goods and look to them, lest the men be gone, and
have taken aught away upon their hollow ship.'

Therewith he set to number the fair tripods and the
cauldrons and the gold and the goodly woven raiment; and of
all these he lacked not aught, but he bewailed him for his
own country, as he walked downcast by the shore of the
sounding sea, and made sore lament. Then Athene came nigh
him in the guise of a young man, the herdsman of a flock, a
young man most delicate, such as are the sons of kings. And
she had a well-wrought mantle that fell in two folds about
her shoulders, and beneath her smooth feet she had sandals
bound, and a javelin in her hands. And Odysseus rejoiced as
he saw her, and came over against her, and uttering his
voice spake to her winged words:

'Friend, since thou art the first that I have chanced on in
this land, hail to thee, and with no ill-will mayest thou
meet me! Nay, save this my substance and save me too, for
to thee as to a god I make prayer, and to thy dear knees
have I come. And herein tell me true, that I may surely
know. What land, what people is this? what men dwell
therein? Surely, methinks, it is some clear seen isle, or a
shore of the rich mainland that lies and leans upon the
deep.'

Then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, spake to him again:
'Thou art witless, stranger, or thou art come from afar, if
indeed thou askest of this land; nay, it is not so very
nameless but that many men know it, both all those who
dwell toward the dawning and the sun, and they that abide
over against the light toward the shadowy west. Verily it
is rough and not fit for the driving of horses, yet is it
not a very sorry isle, though narrow withal. For herein is
corn past telling, and herein too wine is found, and the
rain is on it evermore, and the fresh dew. And it is good
for feeding goats and feeding kine; all manner of wood is
here, and watering-places unfailing are herein. Wherefore,
stranger, the name of Ithaca hath reached even unto
Troy-land, which men say is far from this Achaean shore.'

So spake she, and the steadfast goodly Odysseus was glad,
and had joy in his own country, according to the word of
Pallas Athene, daughter of Zeus, lord of the aegis. And he
uttered his voice and spake unto her winged words; yet he
did not speak the truth, but took back the word that was on
his lips, for quick and crafty was his wit within his
breast:

'Of Ithaca have I heard tell, even in broad Crete, far over
the seas; and now have I come hither myself with these my
goods. And I left as much again to my children, when I
turned outlaw for the slaying of the dear son of Idomeneus,
Orsilochus, swift of foot, who in wide Crete was the
swiftest of all men that live by bread. Now he would have
despoiled me of all that booty of Troy, for the which I had
endured pain of heart, in passing through the wars of men,
and the grievous waves of the sea, for this cause that I
would not do a favour to his father, and make me his squire
in the land of the Trojans, but commanded other fellowship
of mine own. So I smote him with a bronze-shod spear as he
came home from the field, lying in ambush for him by the
wayside, with one of my companions. And dark midnight held
the heavens, and no man marked us, but privily I took his
life away. Now after I had slain him with the sharp spear,
straightway I went to a ship and besought the lordly
Phoenicians, and gave them spoil to their hearts' desire. I
charged them to take me on board, and land me at Pylos or
at goodly Elis where the Epeans bear rule. Howbeit of a
truth, the might of the wind drave them out of their
course, sore against their will, nor did they wilfully play
me false. Thence we were driven wandering, and came hither
by night. And with much ado we rowed onward into harbour,
nor took we any thought of supper, though we stood sore in
need thereof, but even as we were we stept ashore and all
lay down. Then over me there came sweet slumber in my
weariness, but they took forth my goods from the hollow
ship, and set them by me where I myself lay upon the sands.
Then they went on board, and departed for the fair-lying
land of Sidon; while as for me I was left stricken at
heart.'

So spake he and the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, smiled, and
caressed him with her hand; and straightway she changed to
the semblance of a woman, fair and tall, and skilled in
splendid handiwork. And uttering her voice she spake unto
him winged words:

'Crafty must he be, and knavish, who would outdo thee in
all manner of guile, even if it were a god encountered
thee. Hardy man, subtle of wit, of guile insatiate, so thou
wast not even in thine own country to cease from thy
sleights and knavish words, which thou lovest from the
bottom of thine heart! But come, no more let us tell of
these things, being both of us practised in deceits, for
that thou art of all men far the first in counsel and in
discourse, and I in the company of all the gods win renown
for my wit and wile. Yet thou knewest not me, Pallas
Athene, daughter of Zeus, who am always by thee and guard
thee in all adventures. Yea, and I made thee to be beloved
of all the Phaeacians. And now am I come hither to contrive
a plot with thee and to hide away the goods, that by my
counsel and design the noble Phaeacians gave thee on thy
homeward way. And I would tell thee how great a measure of
trouble thou art ordained to fulfil within thy well-builded
house. But do thou harden thy heart, for so it must be, and
tell none neither man nor woman of all the folk, that thou
hast indeed returned from wandering, but in silence endure
much sorrow, submitting thee to the despite of men.'

And Odysseus of many counsels answered her saying: 'Hard is
it, goddess, for a mortal man that meets thee to discern
thee, howsoever wise he be; for thou takest upon thee every
shape. But this I know well, that of old thou wast kindly
to me, so long as we sons of the Achaeans made war in Troy.
But so soon as we had sacked the steep city of Priam and
had gone on board our ships, and the god had scattered the
Achaeans, thereafter I have never beheld thee, daughter of
Zeus, nor seen thee coming on board my ship, to ward off
sorrow from me--but I wandered evermore with a stricken
heart, till the gods delivered me from my evil case--even
till the day when, within the fat land of the men of
Phaeacia, thou didst comfort me with thy words, and thyself
didst lead me to their city. And now I beseech thee in thy
father's name to tell me: for I deem not that I am come to
clear-seen Ithaca, but I roam over some other land, and
methinks that thou speakest thus to mock me and beguile my
mind. Tell me whether in very deed I am come to mine own
dear country.'

Then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, answered him: 'Yea,
such a thought as this is ever in thy breast. Wherefore I
may in no wise leave thee in thy grief, so courteous art
thou, so ready of wit and so prudent. Right gladly would
any other man on his return from wandering have hasted to
behold his children and his wife in his halls; but thou
hast no will to learn or to hear aught, till thou hast
furthermore made trial of thy wife, who sits as ever in her
halls, and wearily for her the nights wane always and the
days, in shedding of tears. But of this I never doubted,
but ever knew it in my heart that thou wouldest come home
with the loss of all thy company. Yet, I tell thee, I had
no mind to be at strife with Poseidon, my own father's
brother, who laid up wrath in his heart against thee, being
angered at the blinding of his dear son. But come, and I
will show thee the place of the dwelling of Ithaca, that
thou mayst be assured. Lo, here is the haven of Phorcys,
the ancient one of the sea, and here at the haven's head is
the olive tree with spreading leaves, and hard by it is the
pleasant cave and shadowy, sacred to the nymphs that are
called the Naiads. Yonder, behold, is the roofed cavern,
where thou offeredst many an acceptable sacrifice of
hecatombs to the nymphs; and lo, this hill is Neriton, all
clothed in forest.'

Therewith the goddess scattered the mist, and the land
appeared. Then the steadfast goodly Odysseus was glad
rejoicing in his own land, and he kissed the earth, the
grain-giver. And anon he prayed to the nymphs, and lifted
up his hands, saying:

'Ye Naiad nymphs, daughters of Zeus, never did I think to
look on you again, but now be ye greeted in my loving
prayers: yea, and gifts as aforetime I will give, if the
daughter of Zeus, driver of the spoil, suffer me of her
grace myself to live, and bring my dear son to manhood.'

Then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, spake to him again: 'Be
of good courage, and let not thy heart be careful about
these things. But come, let us straightway set thy goods in
the secret place of the wondrous cave, that there they may
abide for thee safe. And let us for ourselves advise us how
all may be for the very best.'

Therewith the goddess plunged into the shadowy cave,
searching out the chambers of the cavern. Meanwhile
Odysseus brought up his treasure, the gold and the
unyielding bronze and fair woven raiment, which the
Phaeacians gave him. And these things he laid by with care,
and Pallas Athene, daughter of Zeus, lord of the aegis, set
a stone against the door of the cave. Then they twain sat
down by the trunk of the sacred olive tree, and devised
death for the froward wooers. And the goddess, grey-eyed
Athene, spake first, saying:

'Son of Laertes, of the seed of Zeus, Odysseus of many
devices, advise thee how thou mayest stretch forth thine
hands upon the shameless wooers, who now these three years
lord it through thy halls, as they woo thy godlike wife and
proffer the gifts of wooing. And she, that is ever
bewailing her for thy return, gives hope to all and makes
promises to every man and sends them messages, but her mind
is set on other things.'

And Odysseus of many counsels answered her, saying:

'Lo now, in very truth I was like to have perished in my
halls by the evil doom of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, hadst
not thou, goddess, declared me each thing aright. Come
then, weave some counsel whereby I may requite them; and
thyself stand by me, and put great boldness of spirit
within me, even as in the day when we loosed the shining
coronal of Troy. If but thou wouldest stand by me with such
eagerness, thou grey-eyed goddess, I would war even with
three hundred men, with thee my lady and goddess, if thou
of thy grace didst succour me the while.'

Then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, answered him: 'Yea,
verily I will be near thee nor will I forget thee,
whensoever we come to this toil: and methinks that certain
of the wooers that devour thy livelihood shall bespatter
the boundless earth with blood and brains. But come, I will
make thee such-like that no man shall know thee. Thy fair
skin I will wither on thy supple limbs, and make waste thy
yellow hair from off thy head, and wrap thee in a foul
garment, such that one would shudder to see a man therein.
And I will dim thy two eyes, erewhile so fair, in such wise
that thou mayest be unseemly in the sight of all the wooers
and of thy wife and son, whom thou didst leave in thy
halls. And do thou thyself first of all go unto the
swineherd, who tends thy swine, loyal and at one with thee,
and loves thy son and constant Penelope. Him shalt thou
find sitting by the swine, as they are feeding near the
rock of Corax and the spring Arethusa, and there they eat
abundance of acorns and drink the black water, things
whereby swine grow fat and well-liking. There do thou abide
and sit by the swine, and find out all, till I have gone to
Sparta, the land of fair women, to call Telemachus thy dear
son, Odysseus, who hath betaken himself to spacious
Lacedaemon, to the house of Menelaus to seek tidings of
thee, whether haply thou are yet alive.'

And Odysseus of many counsels answered her saying: 'Nay,
wherefore then didst thou not tell him, seeing thou hast
knowledge of all? Was it, perchance, that he too may wander
in sorrow over the unharvested seas, and that others may
consume his livelihood?'

Then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, answered him: 'Nay, let
him not be heavy on thy heart. I myself was his guide, that
by going thither he might win a good report. Lo, he knows
no toil, but he sits in peace in the palace of the son of
Atreus, and has boundless store about him. Truly the young
men with their black ship they lie in wait, and are eager
to slay him ere he come to his own country. But this,
methinks, shall never be. Yea, sooner shall the earth close
over certain of the wooers that devour thy livelihood.'

Therewith Athene touched him with her wand. His fair flesh
she withered on his supple limbs, and made waste his yellow
hair from off his head, and over all his limbs she cast the
skin of an old man, and dimmed his two eyes, erewhile so
fair. And she changed his raiment to a vile wrap and a
doublet, torn garments and filthy, stained with foul smoke.
And over all she clad him with the great bald hide of a
swift stag, and she gave him a staff and a mean tattered
scrip, and a cord therewith to hang it.

And after they twain had taken this counsel together, they
parted; and she now went to goodly Lacedaemon to fetch the
son of Odysseus.

Book XIV

Odysseus, in the form of a beggar, goes to Eumaeus, the
master of his swine, where he is well used and tells a
feigned story, and informs himself of the behaviour of the
wooers.

But Odysseus fared forth from the haven by the rough track,
up the wooded country and through the heights, where Athene
had showed him that he should find the goodly swineherd,
who cared most for his substance of all the thralls that
goodly Odysseus had gotten.

Now he found him sitting at the vestibule of the house,
where his courtyard was builded high, in a place with wide
prospect; a great court it was and a fair, with free range
round it. This the swineherd had builded by himself for the
swine of his lord who was afar, and his mistress and the
old man Laertes knew not of it. With stones from the quarry
had he builded it, and coped it with a fence of white
thorn, and he had split an oak to the dark core, and
without he had driven stakes the whole length thereof on
either side, set thick and close; and within the courtyard
he made twelve styes hard by one another to be beds for the
swine, and in each stye fifty grovelling swine were penned,
brood swine; but the boars slept without. Now these were
far fewer in number, the godlike wooers minishing them at
their feasts, for the swineherd ever sent in the best of
all the fatted hogs. And their tale was three hundred and
three-score. And by them always slept four dogs, as fierce
as wild beasts, which the swineherd had bred, a master of
men. Now he was fitting sandals to his feet, cutting a good
brown oxhide, while the rest of his fellows, three in all,
were abroad this way and that, with the droves of swine;
while the fourth he had sent to the city to take a boar to
the proud wooers, as needs he must, that they might
sacrifice it and satisfy their soul with flesh.

And of a sudden the baying dogs saw Odysseus, and they ran
at him yelping, but Odysseus in his wariness sat him down,
and let the staff fall from his hand. There by his own
homestead would he have suffered foul hurt, but the
swineherd with quick feet hasted after them, and sped
through the outer door, and let the skin fall from his
hand. And the hounds he chid and drave them this way and
that, with a shower of stones, and he spake unto his lord,
saying:

'Old man, truly the dogs went nigh to be the death of thee
all of a sudden, so shouldest thou have brought shame on
me. Yea, and the gods have given me other pains and griefs
enough. Here I sit, mourning and sorrowing for my godlike
lord, and foster the fat swine for others to eat, while he
craving, perchance, for food, wanders over some land and
city of men of a strange speech, if haply he yet lives and
beholds the sunlight. But come with me, let us to the inner
steading, old man, that when thy heart is satisfied with
bread and wine, thou too mayest tell thy tale and declare
whence thou art, and how many woes thou hast endured.'

Therewith the goodly swineherd led him to the steading, and
took him in and set him down, and strewed beneath him thick
brushwood, and spread thereon the hide of a shaggy wild
goat, wide and soft, which served himself for a mattress.
And Odysseus rejoiced that he had given him such welcome,
and spake and hailed him:

'May Zeus, O stranger, and all the other deathless gods
grant thee thy dearest wish, since thou hast received me
heartily!'

Then, O swineherd Eumaeus, didst thou answer him, saying:
'Guest of mine, it were an impious thing for me to slight a
stranger, even if there came a meaner man than thou; for
from Zeus are all strangers and beggars; and a little gift
from such as we, is dear; for this is the way with thralls,
who are ever in fear when young lords like ours bear rule
over them. For surely the gods have stayed the returning of
my master, who would have loved me diligently, and given me
somewhat of my own, a house and a parcel of ground, and a
comely {*} wife, such as a kind lord gives to his man, who
hath laboured much for him and the work of whose hands God
hath likewise increased, even as he increaseth this work of
mine whereat I abide. Therefore would my lord have rewarded
me greatly, had he grown old at home. But he hath perished,
as I would that all the stock of Helen had perished
utterly, forasmuch as she hath caused the loosening of many
a man's knees. For he too departed to Ilios of the goodly
steeds, to get atonement for Agamemnon, that so he might
war with the Trojans.'

{* Reading [Greek]}

Therewith he quickly bound up his doublet with his girdle,
and went his way to the styes, where the tribes of the
swine were penned. Thence he took and brought forth two,
and sacrificed them both, and singed them and cut them
small, and spitted them. And when he had roasted all, he
bare and set it by Odysseus, all hot as it was upon the
spits, and he sprinkled thereupon white barley-meal. Then
in a bowl of ivywood he mixed the honey-sweet wine, and
himself sat over against him and bade him fall to:

'Eat now, stranger, such fare as thralls have to hand, even
flesh of sucking pigs; but the fatted hogs the wooers
devour, for they know not the wrath of the gods nor any
pity. Verily the blessed gods love not froward deeds, but
they reverence justice and the righteous acts of men. Yet
even foes and men unfriendly, that land on a strange coast,
and Zeus grants them a prey, and they have laden their
ships and depart for home; yea, even on their hearts falls
strong fear of the wrath of the gods. But lo you, these men
know somewhat,--for they have heard an utterance of a god
--, even the tidings of our lord's evil end, seeing that
they are not minded justly to woo, nor to go back to their
own, but at ease they devour our wealth with insolence, and
now there is no sparing. For every day and every night that
comes from Zeus, they make sacrifice not of one victim
only, nor of two, and wine they draw and waste it
riotously. For surely his livelihood was great past
telling, no lord in the dark mainland had so much, nor any
in Ithaca itself; nay, not twenty men together have wealth
so great, and I will tell thee the sum thereof. Twelve
herds of kine upon the mainland, as many flocks of sheep,
as many droves of swine, as many ranging herds of goats,
that his own shepherds and strangers pasture. And ranging
herds of goats, eleven in all, graze here by the extremity
of the island with trusty men to watch them. And day by day
each man of these ever drives one of the flock to the
wooers, whichsoever seems the best of the fatted goats. But
as for me I guard and keep these swine and I choose out for
them, as well as I may, the best of the swine and send it
hence.'

So spake he, but Odysseus ceased not to eat flesh and drink
wine right eagerly and in silence, and the while was sowing
the seeds of evil for the wooers. Now when he had well
eaten and comforted his heart with food, then the herdsman
filled him the bowl out of which he was wont himself to
drink, and he gave it him brimming with wine, and he took
it and was glad at heart, and uttering his voice spake to
him winged words:

'My friend, who was it then that bought thee with his
wealth, a man so exceedingly rich and mighty as thou
declarest? Thou saidest that he perished to get atonement
for Agamemnon; tell me, if perchance I may know him, being
such an one as thou sayest. For Zeus, methinks, and the
other deathless gods know whether I may bring tidings of
having seen him; for I have wandered far.'

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