THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER

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

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Then Medon, wise of heart, answered her: 'Would, oh queen,
that this were the crowning evil! But the wooers devise
another far greater and more grievous, which I pray the son
of Cronos may never fulfil! They are set on slaying
Telemachus with the edge of the sword on his homeward way;
for he is gone to fair Pylos and goodly Lacedaemon, to seek
tidings of his father.'

So spake he, but her knees were loosened where she stood,
and her heart melted within her, and long time was she
speechless, and lo, her eyes were filled with tears and the
voice of her utterance was stayed. And at the last she
answered him and said:

'Henchman, wherefore I pray thee is my son departed? There
is no need that he should go abroad on swift ships, that
serve men for horses on the sea, and that cross the great
wet waste. Is it that even his own name may no more be left
upon earth?'

Then Medon, wise of heart, answered her: 'I know not
whether some god set him on or whether his own spirit
stirred him to go to Pylos to seek tidings of his father's
return, or to hear what end he met.'

He spake, and departed through the house of Odysseus, and
on her fell a cloud of consuming grief; so that she might
no more endure to seat her on 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
handmaids round her made low moan, as many as were in the
house with her, young and old. And Penelope spake among
them pouring forth her lamentation:

'Hear me, my friends, for the Olympian sire hath given me
pain exceedingly beyond all women who were born and bred in
my day. For erewhile I lost my noble lord of the lion
heart, adorned with all perfection among the Danaans, my
good lord, whose fame is noised abroad from Hellas to mid
Argos. And now again the storm-winds have snatched away my
well-beloved son without tidings from our halls, 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 let some one make haste to call
the ancient Dolius, my thrall, whom my father gave me ere
yet I had come hither, who keepeth my garden of trees. So
shall he go straightway and sit by Laertes, and tell him
all, if perchance Laertes may weave some counsel in his
heart, and go forth and make his plaint to the people, who
are purposed to destroy his seed, and the seed of god-like
Odysseus.'

Then the good nurse Eurycleia answered her: 'Dear lady,
aye, slay me if thou wilt with the pitiless sword or let me
yet live on in the house,--yet will I not hide my saying
from thee. I knew all this, and gave him whatsoever he
commanded, bread and sweet wine. And he took a great oath
of me not to tell thee 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, daughter of Zeus,
lord of the aegis. For so may she save him even from death.
And heap not troubles on an old man's trouble; for the seed
of the son of Arceisius, is not, methinks, utterly hated by
the blessed gods, but someone will haply yet remain to
possess these lofty halls, and the fat fields far away.'

So spake she, and lulled her queen's lamentation, and made
her eyes to cease from weeping. So she washed her in water,
and took to her clean raiment, and ascended to the upper
chamber with the women her handmaids, and placed the meal
for sprinkling in a basket, and prayed unto Athene:

'Hear me, child of Zeus, lord of the aegis, unwearied
maiden! If ever wise Odysseus in his halls burnt for thee
fat slices of the thighs of heifer or of sheep, these
things, I pray thee, now remember, and save my dear son,
and ward from him the wooers in the naughtiness of their
pride.'

Therewith she raised a cry, and the goddess heard her
prayer. But the wooers clamoured through the shadowy halls,
and thus would some proud youth say:

'Verily this queen of many wooers prepareth our marriage,
nor knoweth at all how that for her son death hath been
ordained.'

Thus would certain of them speak, but they knew not how
these things were ordained. And Antinous made harangue and
spake among them:

'Good sirs, my friends, shun all disdainful words alike,
lest someone hear and tell it even in the house. But come
let us arise, and in silence accomplish that whereof we
spake, for the counsel pleased us every one.'

Therewith he chose twenty men that were the best, and they
departed to the swift ship and the sea-banks. So first of
all they drew the ship down to the deep water, 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 heart, bare for them their
arms. And they moored her high out in the shore water, and
themselves disembarked. There they supped and waited for
evening to come on.

But the wise Penelope lay there in her upper chamber,
fasting and tasting neither meat nor drink, musing whether
her noble son should 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 ring around him, so
deeply was she musing when deep sleep came over her. And
she sank back in sleep and all her joints were loosened.

Now the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, turned to other
thoughts. She made a phantom, and fashioned it after the
likeness of a woman, Iphthime, daughter of great-hearted
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 cease from her
weeping and tearful lamentation. So the phantom passed into
the chamber by the thong of the bolt, and stood above her
head and spake unto her, saying:

'Sleepest thou, Penelope, stricken at heart? Nay, even the
gods who live at ease suffer thee not to wail or be
afflicted, seeing that thy son is yet to return; for no
sinner is he in the eyes of the gods.'

Then wise Penelope made her answer as she slumbered very
softly at the gates of dreams:

'Wherefore, sister, hast thou come hither, that before wert
not wont to come, for thou hast thine habitation very far
away? Biddest thou me indeed to cease from the sorrows and
pains, so many that disquiet my heart and soul? Erewhile I
lost my noble lord of the 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 him I sorrow yet more than for my lord, and I tremble
and fear for him lest aught befal him, whether, it may be,
amid that folk where he is gone, or in the deep. For many
foemen devise evil against him, and go about to kill him,
or ever he come to his own country.'

And the dim phantom answered her, and said: 'Take courage,
and be not so sorely afraid. For lo, such a friend goes to
guide him, as all men pray to stand by them, for that she
hath the power, even Pallas Athene. And she pitieth thee in
thy sorrow, and now hath sent me forth to speak these words
to thee.'

And wise Penelope answered her, saying: 'If thou art indeed
a god, and hast heard the word of a god, come, I pray thee,
and tell me tidings concerning that ill-fated man, whether
perchance he is yet alive and sees the light of the sun, or
hath already died, and is a dweller in the house of Hades.'

And the dim phantom answered her and said: 'Concerning him
I will not tell thee all the tale, whether he be alive or
dead; it is ill to speak words light as wind.'

Therewith the phantom slipped away by the bolt of the door
and passed into the breath of the wind. And the daughter of
Icarius started up from sleep; and her heart was cheered,
so clear was the vision that sped toward her in the dead of
the night.

Meanwhile the wooers had taken ship and were sailing over
the wet ways, pondering in their hearts sheer death for
Telemachus. Now there is a rocky isle in the mid sea,
midway between Ithaca and rugged Samos, Asteris, a little
isle; and there is a harbour therein with a double
entrance, where ships may ride. There the Achaeans abode
lying in wait for Telemachus.

Book V

The Gods in council command Calypso by Hermes to send away
Odysseus on a raft of trees; and Poseidon, returning from
Ethiopia and seeing him on the coast of Phaeacia, scattered
his raft; and how by the help of Ino he was thrown ashore,
and slept on a heap of dry leaves till the next day.

Now the Dawn arose from her couch, from the side of the
lordly Tithonus, to bear light to the immortals and to
mortal men. And lo, the gods were gathering to session, and
among them Zeus, that thunders on high, whose might is
above all. And Athene told them the tale of the many woes
of Odysseus, recalling them to mind; for near her heart was
he that then abode in the dwelling of the nymph:

'Father Zeus, and all ye other blessed gods that live for
ever, henceforth let not any sceptred king be kind and
gentle with all his heart, nor minded to do righteously,
but let him alway be a hard man and work unrighteousness,
for behold, there is none that remembereth divine Odysseus
of the people whose lord he was, and was gentle as a
father. Howbeit, as for him he lieth in an island suffering
strong pains, in the halls of the nymph Calypso, who
holdeth him perforce; so he may not reach his own country,
for he hath no ships by him with oars, and no companions to
send him on his way over the broad back of the sea. And
now, again, they are set on slaying his beloved son on his
homeward way, for he is gone to fair Pylos and to goodly
Lacedaemon, to seek tidings of his father.'

And Zeus, gatherer of the clouds, answered and spake unto
her: 'My child, what word hath escaped the door of thy
lips? Nay, didst thou not thyself plan this device, that
Odysseus may assuredly take vengeance on those men at his
coming? As for Telemachus, do thou guide him by thine art,
as well as thou mayest, that so he may come to his own
country all unharmed, and the wooers may return in their
ship with their labour all in vain.'

Therewith he spake to Hermes, his dear son: 'Hermes,
forasmuch as even in all else thou art our herald, tell
unto the nymph of the braided tresses my unerring counsel,
even the return of the patient Odysseus, how he is to come
to his home, with no furtherance of gods or of mortal men.
Nay, he shall sail on a well-bound raft, in sore distress,
and on the twentieth day arrive at fertile Scheria, even at
the land of the Phaeacians, who are near of kin to the
gods. And they shall give him all worship heartily as to a
god, and send him on his way in a ship to his own dear
country, with gifts of bronze and gold, and raiment in
plenty, much store, such as never would Odysseus have won
for himself out of Troy, yea, though he had returned unhurt
with the share of the spoil that fell to him. On such wise
is he fated to see his friends, and come to his high-roofed
home and his own country.'

So spake he, nor heedless was the messenger, the slayer of
Argos. Straightway he bound beneath his feet his lovely
golden sandals, that wax not old, that bare him alike over
the wet sea and over the limitless land, swift as the
breath of the wind. And he took the wand wherewith he lulls
the eyes of whomso he will, while others again he even
wakes from out of sleep. With this rod in his hand flew the
strong slayer of Argos. Above Pieria he passed and leapt
from the upper air into the deep. Then he sped along the
wave like the cormorant, that chaseth the fishes through
the perilous gulfs of the unharvested sea, and wetteth his
thick plumage in the brine. Such like did Hermes ride upon
the press of the waves. But when he had now reached that
far-off isle, he went forth from the sea of violet blue to
get him up into the land, till he came to a great cave,
wherein dwelt the nymph of the braided tresses: and he
found her within. And on the hearth there was a great fire
burning, and from afar through the isle was smelt the
fragrance of cleft cedar blazing, and of sandal wood. And
the nymph within was singing with a sweet voice as she
fared to and fro before the loom, and wove with a shuttle
of gold. And round about the cave there was a wood
blossoming, alder and poplar and sweet-smelling cypress.
And therein roosted birds long of wing, owls and falcons
and chattering sea-crows, which have their business in the
waters. And lo, there about the hollow cave trailed a
gadding garden vine, all rich with clusters. And fountains
four set orderly were running with clear water, hard by one
another, turned each to his own course. And all around soft
meadows bloomed of violets and parsley, yea, even a
deathless god who came thither might wonder at the sight
and be glad at heart. There the messenger, the slayer of
Argos, stood and wondered. Now when he had gazed at all
with wonder, anon he went into the wide cave; nor did
Calypso, that fair goddess, fail to know him, when she saw
him face to face; for the gods use not to be strange one to
another, the immortals, not though one have his habitation
far away. But he found not Odysseus, the greathearted,
within the cave, who sat weeping on the shore even as
aforetime, straining his soul with tears and groans and
griefs, and as he wept he looked wistfully over the
unharvested deep. And Calypso, that fair goddess,
questioned Hermes, when she had made him sit on a bright
shining seat:

'Wherefore, I pray thee, Hermes, of the golden wand, hast
thou come hither, worshipful and welcome, whereas as of old
thou wert not wont to visit me? Tell me all thy thought; my
heart is set on fulfilling it, if fulfil it I may, and if
it hath been fulfilled in the counsel of fate. But now
follow me further, that I may set before thee the
entertainment of strangers.'

Therewith the goddess spread a table with ambrosia and set
it by him, and mixed the ruddy nectar. So the messenger,
the slayer of Argos, did eat and drink. Now after he had
supped and comforted his soul with food, at the last he
answered, and spake to her on this wise:

'Thou makest question of me on my coming, a goddess of a
god, and I will tell thee this my saying truly, at thy
command. 'Twas Zeus that bade me come hither, by no will of
mine; nay, who of his free will would speed over such a
wondrous space of brine, whereby is no city of mortals that
do sacrifice to the gods, and offer choice hecatombs? But
surely it is in no wise possible for another god to go
beyond or to make void the purpose of Zeus, lord of the
aegis. He saith that thou hast with thee a man most
wretched beyond his fellows, beyond those men that round
the burg of Priam for nine years fought, and in the tenth
year sacked the city and departed homeward. Yet on the way
they sinned against Athene, and she raised upon them an
evil blast and long waves of the sea. Then all the rest of
his good company was lost, but it came to pass that the
wind bare and the wave brought him hither. And now Zeus
biddeth thee send him hence with what speed thou mayest,
for it is not ordained that he die away from his friends,
but rather it is his fate to look on them even yet, and to
come to his high-roofed home and his own country.'

So spake he, and Calypso, that fair goddess, shuddered and
uttered her voice, and spake unto him winged words: 'Hard
are ye gods and jealous exceeding, who ever grudge
goddesses openly to mate with men, if any make a mortal her
dear bed-fellow. Even so when rosy-fingered Dawn took Orion
for her lover, ye gods that live at ease were jealous
thereof, till chaste Artemis, of the golden throne, slew
him in Ortygia with the visitation of her gentle shafts. So
too when fair-tressed Demeter yielded to her love, and lay
with Iasion in the thrice-ploughed fallow-field, Zeus was
not long without tidings thereof, and cast at him with his
white bolt and slew him. So again ye gods now grudge that a
mortal man should dwell with me. Him I saved as he went all
alone bestriding the keel of a bark, for that Zeus had
crushed {*} and cleft his swift ship with a white bolt in
the midst of the wine-dark deep. There all the rest of his
good company was lost, but it came to pass that the wind
bare and the wave brought him hither. And him have I loved
and cherished, and I said that I would make him to know not
death and age for ever. Yet forasmuch as it is no wise
possible for another god to go beyond, or make void the
purpose of Zeus, lord of the aegis, let him away over the
unharvested seas, if the summons and the bidding be of
Zeus. But I will give him no despatch, not I, for I have no
ships by me with oars, nor company to bear him on his way
over the broad back of the sea. Yet will I be forward to
put this in his mind, and will hide nought, that all
unharmed he may come to his own country.'

{* It seems very doubtful whether [Greek] can bear this
meaning. The reading [Greek], 'smote,' preserved by the
Schol. is highly probable.}

Then the messenger, the slayer of Argos, answered her:
'Yea, speed him now upon his path and have regard unto the
wrath of Zeus, lest haply he be angered and bear hard on
thee hereafter.'

Therewith the great slayer of Argos departed, but the lady
nymph went on her way to the great-hearted Odysseus, when
she had heard the message of Zeus. And there she found him
sitting on the shore, and his eyes were never dry of tears,
and his sweet life was ebbing away as he mourned for his
return; for the nymph no more found favour in his sight.
Howsoever by night he would sleep by her, as needs he must,
in the hollow caves, unwilling lover by a willing lady. And
in the day-time he would sit on the rocks and on the beach,
straining his soul with tears, and groans, and griefs, and
through his tears he would look wistfully over the
unharvested deep. So standing near him that fair goddess
spake to him:

'Hapless man, sorrow no more I pray thee in this isle, nor
let thy good life waste away, for even now will I send thee
hence with all my heart. Nay, arise and cut long beams, and
fashion a wide raft with the axe, and lay deckings high
thereupon, that it may bear thee over the misty deep. And I
will place therein bread and water, and red wine to thy
heart's desire, to keep hunger far away. And I will put
raiment upon thee, and send a fair gale in thy wake, that
so thou mayest come all unharmed to thine own country, if
indeed it be the good pleasure of the gods who hold wide
heaven, who are stronger than I am both to will and to do.'

So she spake, and the steadfast goodly Odysseus shuddered,
and uttering his voice spake to her winged words: 'Herein,
goddess, thou hast plainly some other thought, and in no
wise my furtherance, for that thou biddest me to cross in a
raft the great gulf of the sea so dread and difficult,
which not even the swift gallant ships pass over rejoicing
in the breeze of Zeus. Nor would I go aboard a raft to
displeasure thee, unless thou wilt deign, O goddess, to
swear a great oath not to plan any hidden guile to mine own
hurt.'

So spake he, and Calypso, the fair goddess, smiled and
caressed him with her hand, and spake and hailed him:

'Knavish thou art, and no weakling {*} in wit, thou that
hast conceived and spoken such a word. Let earth be now
witness hereto, and the wide heaven above, and that falling
water of the Styx, the greatest oath and the most terrible
to the blessed gods, that I will not plan any hidden guile
to thine own hurt. Nay, but my thoughts are such, and such
will be my counsel, as I would devise for myself, if ever
so sore a need came over me. For I too have a righteous
mind, and my heart within me is not of iron, but pitiful
even as thine.'

{* [Greek], from root [Greek], 'ill-grown,' i. e. a
weakling, in the literal sense as B. xi.249, xiv.212, or
metaphorical, as here and viii. 177.}

Therewith the fair goddess led the way quickly, and he
followed hard in the steps of the goddess. And they reached
the hollow cave, the goddess and the man; so he sat him
down upon the chair whence Hermes had arisen, and the nymph
placed by him all manner of food to eat and drink, such as
is meat for men. As for her she sat over against divine
Odysseus, and the handmaids placed by her ambrosia and
nectar. So they put forth their hands upon the good cheer
set before them. But after they had taken their fill of
meat and drink, Calypso, the fair goddess, spake first and
said:

'Son of Laertes, of the seed of Zeus, Odysseus of many
devices, so it is indeed thy wish to get thee home to thine
own dear country even in this hour? Good fortune go with
thee even so! Yet didst thou know in thine heart what a
measure of suffering thou art ordained to fulfil, or ever
thou reach thine own country, here, even here, thou wouldst
abide with me and keep this house, and wouldst never taste
of death, though thou longest to see thy wife, for whom
thou hast ever a desire day by day. Not in sooth that I
avow me to be less noble than she in form or fashion, for
it is in no wise meet that mortal women should match them
with immortals, in shape and comeliness.'

And Odysseus of many counsels answered, and spake unto her:
'Be not wroth with me hereat, goddess and queen. Myself I
know it well, how wise Penelope is meaner to look upon than
thou, in comeliness and stature. But she is mortal and thou
knowest not age nor death. Yet even so, I wish and long day
by day to fare homeward and see the day of my returning.
Yea, and if some god shall wreck me in the wine-dark deep,
even so I will endure, with a heart within me patient of
affliction. For already have I suffered full much, and much
have I toiled in perils of waves and war; let this be added
to the tale of those.'

So spake he, and the sun sank and darkness came on. Then
they twain went into the chamber of the hollow rock, and
had their delight of love, abiding each by other.

So soon as early Dawn shone forth, the rosy-fingered, anon
Odysseus put on him a mantle and doublet, and the nymph
clad her in a great shining robe, light of woof and
gracious, and about her waist she cast a fair golden
girdle, and a veil withal upon her head. Then she
considered of the sending of Odysseus, the great-hearted.
She gave him a great axe, fitted to his grasp, an axe of
bronze double-edged, and with a goodly handle of olive wood
fastened well. Next she gave him a polished adze, and she
led the way to the border of the isle where tall trees
grew, alder and poplar, and pine that reacheth unto heaven,
seasoned long since and sere, that might lightly float for
him. Now after she had shown him where the tall trees grew,
Calypso, the fair goddess, departed homeward. And he set to
cutting timber, and his work went busily. Twenty trees in
all he felled, and then trimmed them with the axe of
bronze, and deftly smoothed them, and over them made
straight the line. Meanwhile Calypso, the fair goddess,
brought him augers, so he bored each piece and jointed them
together, and then made all fast with trenails and dowels.
Wide as is the floor of a broad ship of burden, which some
man well skilled in carpentry may trace him out, of such
beam did Odysseus fashion his broad raft. And thereat he
wrought, and set up the deckings, fitting them to the
close-set uprights, and finished them off with long
gunwales, and there he set a mast, and a yard-arm fitted
thereto, and moreover he made him a rudder to guide the
craft. And he fenced it with wattled osier withies from
stem to stern, to be a bulwark against the wave, and piled
up wood to back them. Meanwhile Calypso, the fair goddess,
brought him web of cloth to make him sails; and these too
he fashioned very skilfully. And he made fast therein
braces and halyards and sheets, and at last he pushed the
raft with levers down to the fair salt sea.

It was the fourth day when he had accomplished all. And,
lo, on the fifth, the fair Calypso sent him on his way from
the island, when she had bathed him and clad him in
fragrant attire. Moreover, the goddess placed on board the
ship two skins, one of dark wine, and another, a great one,
of water, and corn too in a wallet, and she set therein a
store of dainties to his heart's desire, and sent forth a
warm and gentle wind to blow. And goodly Odysseus rejoiced
as he set his sails to the breeze. So he sate and cunningly
guided the craft with the helm, nor did sleep fall upon his
eyelids, as he viewed the Pleiads and Bootes, that setteth
late, and the Bear, which they likewise call the Wain,
which turneth ever in one place, and keepeth watch upon
Orion, and alone hath no part in the baths of Ocean. This
star, Calypso, the fair goddess, bade him to keep ever on
the left as he traversed the deep. Ten days and seven he
sailed traversing the deep, and on the eighteenth day
appeared the shadowy hills of the land of the Phaeacians,
at the point where it lay nearest to him; and it showed
like a shield in the misty deep.

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