《奥德修记》

天天读书网（www.book.d78i.com）整理BOOK XXIV.THEN Mercury of Cyllene summoned the ghosts of the suitors, and inhis hand he held the fair golden wand with which he seals men's eyesin sleep or wakes them just as he pleases; with this he roused theghosts and led them, while they followed whining and gibberingbehind him. As bats fly squealing in the hollow of some great cave,when one of them has fallen out of the cluster in which they hang,even so did the ghosts whine and squeal as Mercury the healer ofsorrow led them down into the dark abode of death. When they hadpassed the waters of Oceanus and the rock Leucas, they came to thegates of the sun and the land of dreams, whereon they reached themeadow of asphodel where dwell the souls and shadows of them thatcan labour no more.Here they found the ghost of Achilles son of Peleus, with those ofPatroclus, Antilochus, and Ajax, who was the finest and handsomest manof all the Danaans after the son of Peleus himself.They gathered round the ghost of the son of Peleus, and the ghost ofAgamemnon joined them, sorrowing bitterly. Round him were gatheredalso the ghosts of those who had perished with him in the house ofAeisthus; and the ghost of Achilles spoke first."Son of Atreus," it said, "we used to say that Jove had loved youbetter from first to last than any other hero, for you were captainover many and brave men, when we were all fighting together beforeTroy; yet the hand of death, which no mortal can escape, was laid uponyou all too early. Better for you had you fallen at Troy in thehey-day of your renown, for the Achaeans would have built a mound overyour ashes, and your son would have been heir to your good name,whereas it has now been your lot to come to a most miserable end.""Happy son of Peleus," answered the ghost of Agamemnon, "forhaving died at Troy far from Argos, while the bravest of the Trojansand the Achaeans fell round you fighting for your body. There youlay in the whirling clouds of dust, all huge and hugely, heedlessnow of your chivalry. We fought the whole of the livelong day, norshould we ever have left off if Jove had not sent a hurricane tostay us. Then, when we had borne you to the ships out of the fray,we laid you on your bed and cleansed your fair skin with warm waterand with ointments. The Danaans tore their hair and wept bitterlyround about you. Your mother, when she heard, came with her immortalnymphs from out of the sea, and the sound of a great wailing wentforth over the waters so that the Achaeans quaked for fear. They wouldhave fled panic-stricken to their ships had not wise old Nestorwhose counsel was ever truest checked them saying, 'Hold, Argives, flynot sons of the Achaeans, this is his mother coming from the seawith her immortal nymphs to view the body of her son.'"Thus he spoke, and the Achaeans feared no more. The daughters ofthe old man of the sea stood round you weeping bitterly, and clothedyou in immortal raiment. The nine muses also came and lifted uptheir sweet voices in lament- calling and answering one another; therewas not an Argive but wept for pity of the dirge they chaunted. Daysand nights seven and ten we mourned you, mortals and immortals, but onthe eighteenth day we gave you to the flames, and many a fat sheepwith many an ox did we slay in sacrifice around you. You were burnt inraiment of the gods, with rich resins and with honey, while heroes,horse and foot, clashed their armour round the pile as you wereburning, with the tramp as of a great multitude. But when the flamesof heaven had done their work, we gathered your white bones atdaybreak and laid them in ointments and in pure wine. Your motherbrought us a golden vase to hold them- gift of Bacchus, and work ofVulcan himself; in this we mingled your bleached bones with those ofPatroclus who had gone before you, and separate we enclosed also thoseof Antilochus, who had been closer to you than any other of yourcomrades now that Patroclus was no more."Over these the host of the Argives built a noble tomb, on a pointjutting out over the open Hellespont, that it might be seen from farout upon the sea by those now living and by them that shall be bornhereafter. Your mother begged prizes from the gods, and offered themto be contended for by the noblest of the Achaeans. You must have beenpresent at the funeral of many a hero, when the young men girdthemselves and make ready to contend for prizes on the death of somegreat chieftain, but you never saw such prizes as silver-footed Thetisoffered in your honour; for the gods loved you well. Thus even indeath your fame, Achilles, has not been lost, and your name livesevermore among all mankind. But as for me, what solace had I whenthe days of my fighting were done? For Jove willed my destruction onmy return, by the hands of Aegisthus and those of my wicked wife."Thus did they converse, and presently Mercury came up to them withthe ghosts of the suitors who had been killed by Ulysses. The ghostsof Agamemnon and Achilles were astonished at seeing them, and wentup to them at once. The ghost of Agamemnon recognized Amphimedon sonof Melaneus, who lived in Ithaca and had been his host, so it began totalk to him."Amphimedon," it said, "what has happened to all you fine young men-all of an age too- that you are come down here under the ground? Onecould pick no finer body of men from any city. Did Neptune raise hiswinds and waves against you when you were at sea, or did yourenemies make an end of you on the mainland when you werecattle-lifting or sheep-stealing, or while fighting in defence oftheir wives and city? Answer my question, for I have been yourguest. Do you not remember how I came to your house with Menelaus,to persuade Ulysses to join us with his ships against Troy? It was awhole month ere we could resume our voyage, for we had hard work topersuade Ulysses to come with us."And the ghost of Amphimedon answered, "Agamemnon, son of Atreus,king of men, I remember everything that you have said, and will tellyou fully and accurately about the way in which our end was broughtabout. Ulysses had been long gone, and we were courting his wife,who did not say point blank that she would not marry, nor yet bringmatters to an end, for she meant to compass our destruction: this,then, was the trick she played us. She set up a great tambour frame inher room and began to work on an enormous piece of fine needlework.'Sweethearts,' said she, 'Ulysses is indeed dead, still, do notpress me to marry again immediately; wait- for I would not have myskill in needlework perish unrecorded- till I have completed a pallfor the hero Laertes, against the time when death shall take him. Heis very rich, and the women of the place will talk if he is laid outwithout a pall.' This is what she said, and we assented; whereuponwe could see her working upon her great web all day long, but at nightshe would unpick the stitches again by torchlight. She fooled us inthis way for three years without our finding it out, but as timewore on and she was now in her fourth year, in the waning of moons andmany days had been accomplished, one of her maids who knew what shewas doing told us, and we caught her in the act of undoing her work,so she had to finish it whether she would or no; and when she showedus the robe she had made, after she had had it washed, its splendourwas as that of the sun or moon."Then some malicious god conveyed Ulysses to the upland farm wherehis swineherd lives. Thither presently came also his son, returningfrom a voyage to Pylos, and the two came to the town when they hadhatched their plot for our destruction. Telemachus came first, andthen after him, accompanied by the swineherd, came Ulysses, clad inrags and leaning on a staff as though he were some miserable oldbeggar. He came so unexpectedly that none of us knew him, not even theolder ones among us, and we reviled him and threw things at him. Heendured both being struck and insulted without a word, though he wasin his own house; but when the will of Aegis-bearing Jove inspiredhim, he and Telemachus took the armour and hid it in an inner chamber,bolting the doors behind them. Then he cunningly made his wife offerhis bow and a quantity of iron to be contended for by us ill-fatedsuitors; and this was the beginning of our end, for not one of uscould string the bow- nor nearly do so. When it was about to reach thehands of Ulysses, we all of us shouted out that it should not be givenhim, no matter what he might say, but Telemachus insisted on hishaving it. When he had got it in his hands he strung it with easeand sent his arrow through the iron. Then he stood on the floor of thecloister and poured his arrows on the ground, glaring fiercely abouthim. First he killed Antinous, and then, aiming straight before him,he let fly his deadly darts and they fell thick on one another. It wasplain that some one of the gods was helping them, for they fell uponus with might and main throughout the cloisters, and there was ahideous sound of groaning as our brains were being battered in, andthe ground seethed with our blood. This, Agamemnon, is how we cameby our end, and our bodies are lying still un-cared for in the houseof Ulysses, for our friends at home do not yet know what has happened,so that they cannot lay us out and wash the black blood from ourwounds, making moan over us according to the offices due to thedeparted.""Happy Ulysses, son of Laertes," replied the ghost of Agamemnon,"you are indeed blessed in the possession of a wife endowed withsuch rare excellence of understanding, and so faithful to her weddedlord as Penelope the daughter of Icarius. The fame, therefore, ofher virtue shall never die, and the immortals shall compose a songthat shall be welcome to all mankind in honour of the constancy ofPenelope. How far otherwise was the wickedness of the daughter ofTyndareus who killed her lawful husband; her song shall be hatefulamong men, for she has brought disgrace on all womankind even on thegood ones."Thus did they converse in the house of Hades deep down within thebowels of the earth. Meanwhile Ulysses and the others passed out ofthe town and soon reached the fair and well-tilled farm of Laertes,which he had reclaimed with infinite labour. Here was his house,with a lean-to running all round it, where the slaves who worked forhim slept and sat and ate, while inside the house there was an oldSicel woman, who looked after him in this his country-farm. WhenUlysses got there, he said to his son and to the other two:"Go to the house, and kill the best pig that you can find fordinner. Meanwhile I want to see whether my father will know me, orfail to recognize me after so long an absence."He then took off his armour and gave it to Eumaeus and Philoetius,who went straight on to the house, while he turned off into thevineyard to make trial of his father. As he went down into the greatorchard, he did not see Dolius, nor any of his sons nor of the otherbondsmen, for they were all gathering thorns to make a fence for thevineyard, at the place where the old man had told them; he thereforefound his father alone, hoeing a vine. He had on a dirty old shirt,patched and very shabby; his legs were bound round with thongs ofoxhide to save him from the brambles, and he also wore sleeves ofleather; he had a goat skin cap on his head, and was looking verywoe-begone. When Ulysses saw him so worn, so old and full of sorrow,he stood still under a tall pear tree and began to weep. He doubtedwhether to embrace him, kiss him, and tell him all about his havingcome home, or whether he should first question him and see what hewould say. In the end he deemed it best to be crafty with him, so inthis mind he went up to his father, who was bending down and diggingabout a plant."I see, sir," said Ulysses, "that you are an excellent gardener-what pains you take with it, to be sure. There is not a singleplant, not a fig tree, vine, olive, pear, nor flower bed, but bearsthe trace of your attention. I trust, however, that you will not beoffended if I say that you take better care of your garden than ofyourself. You are old, unsavoury, and very meanly clad. It cannot bebecause you are idle that your master takes such poor care of you,indeed your face and figure have nothing of the slave about them,and proclaim you of noble birth. I should have said that you were