《奥德修记》-8

every single one of the exploits of Ulysses, but I can say what he didwhen he was before Troy, and you Achaeans were in all sorts ofdifficulties. He covered himself with wounds and bruises, dressedhimself all in rags, and entered the enemy's city looking like amenial or a beggar. and quite different from what he did when he wasamong his own people. In this disguise he entered the city of Troy,and no one said anything to him. I alone recognized him and began toquestion him, but he was too cunning for me. When, however, I hadwashed and anointed him and had given him clothes, and after I hadsworn a solemn oath not to betray him to the Trojans till he had gotsafely back to his own camp and to the ships, he told me all thatthe Achaeans meant to do. He killed many Trojans and got muchinformation before he reached the Argive camp, for all which thingsthe Trojan women made lamentation, but for my own part I was glad, formy heart was beginning to oam after my home, and I was unhappy aboutwrong that Venus had done me in taking me over there, away from mycountry, my girl, and my lawful wedded husband, who is indeed by nomeans deficient either in person or understanding."Then Menelaus said, "All that you have been saying, my dear wife, istrue. I have travelled much, and have had much to do with heroes,but I have never seen such another man as Ulysses. What endurance too,and what courage he displayed within the wooden horse, wherein all thebravest of the Argives were lying in wait to bring death anddestruction upon the Trojans. At that moment you came up to us; somegod who wished well to the Trojans must have set you on to it andyou had Deiphobus with you. Three times did you go all round ourhiding place and pat it; you called our chiefs each by his own name,and mimicked all our wives -Diomed, Ulysses, and I from our seatsinside heard what a noise you made. Diomed and I could not make up ourminds whether to spring out then and there, or to answer you frominside, but Ulysses held us all in check, so we sat quite still, allexcept Anticlus, who was beginning to answer you, when Ulysses clappedhis two brawny hands over his mouth, and kept them there. It wasthis that saved us all, for he muzzled Anticlus till Minerva tookyou away again.""How sad," exclaimed Telemachus, "that all this was of no avail tosave him, nor yet his own iron courage. But now, sir, be pleased tosend us all to bed, that we may lie down and enjoy the blessed boon ofsleep."On this Helen told the maid servants to set beds in the room thatwas in the gatehouse, and to make them with good red rugs, andspread coverlets on the top of them with woollen cloaks for the gueststo wear. So the maids went out, carrying a torch, and made the beds,to which a man-servant presently conducted the strangers. Thus,then, did Telemachus and Pisistratus sleep there in the forecourt,while the son of Atreus lay in an inner room with lovely Helen byhis side.When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Menelausrose and dressed himself. He bound his sandals on to his comelyfeet, girded his sword about his shoulders, and left his roomlooking like an immortal god. Then, taking a seat near Telemachus hesaid:"And what, Telemachus, has led you to take this long sea voyage toLacedaemon? Are you on public or private business? Tell me all aboutit.""I have come, sir replied Telemachus, "to see if you can tell meanything about my father. I am being eaten out of house and home; myfair estate is being wasted, and my house is full of miscreants whokeep killing great numbers of my sheep and oxen, on the pretence ofpaying their addresses to my mother. Therefore, I am suppliant at yourknees if haply you may tell me about my father's melancholy end,whether you saw it with your own eyes, or heard it from some othertraveller; for he was a man born to trouble. Do not soften thingsout of any pity for myself, but tell me in all plainness exactlywhat you saw. If my brave father Ulysses ever did you loyal serviceeither by word or deed, when you Achaeans were harassed by theTrojans, bear it in mind now as in my favour and tell me truly all."Menelaus on hearing this was very much shocked. "So," heexclaimed, "these cowards would usurp a brave man's bed? A hindmight as well lay her new born young in the lair of a lion, and thengo off to feed in the forest or in some grassy dell: the lion whenhe comes back to his lair will make short work with the pair ofthem- and so will Ulysses with these suitors. By father Jove, Minerva,and Apollo, if Ulysses is still the man that he was when he wrestledwith Philomeleides in Lesbos, and threw him so heavily that all theAchaeans cheered him- if he is still such and were to come nearthese suitors, they would have a short shrift and a sorry wedding.As regards your questions, however, I will not prevaricate nor deceiveyou, but will tell you without concealment all that the old man of thesea told me."I was trying to come on here, but the gods detained me in Egypt,for my hecatombs had not given them full satisfaction, and the godsare very strict about having their dues. Now off Egypt, about as faras a ship can sail in a day with a good stiff breeze behind her, thereis an island called Pharos- it has a good harbour from which vesselscan get out into open sea when they have taken in water- and thegods becalmed me twenty days without so much as a breath of fairwind to help me forward. We should have run clean out of provisionsand my men would have starved, if a goddess had not taken pity upon meand saved me in the person of Idothea, daughter to Proteus, the oldman of the sea, for she had taken a great fancy to me."She came to me one day when I was by myself, as I often was, forthe men used to go with their barbed hooks, all over the island in thehope of catching a fish or two to save them from the pangs ofhunger. 'Stranger,' said she, 'it seems to me that you like starvingin this way- at any rate it does not greatly trouble you, for youstick here day after day, without even trying to get away thoughyour men are dying by inches.'"'Let me tell you,' said I, 'whichever of the goddesses you mayhappen to be, that I am not staying here of my own accord, but musthave offended the gods that live in heaven. Tell me, therefore, forthe gods know everything. which of the immortals it is that ishindering me in this way, and tell me also how I may sail the sea soas to reach my home.'"'Stranger,' replied she, 'I will make it all quite clear to you.There is an old immortal who lives under the sea hereabouts andwhose name is Proteus. He is an Egyptian, and people say he is myfather; he is Neptune's head man and knows every inch of ground allover the bottom of the sea. If you can snare him and hold him tight,he will tell you about your voyage, what courses you are to take,and how you are to sail the sea so as to reach your home. He will alsotell you, if you so will, all that has been going on at your houseboth good and bad, while you have been away on your long and dangerousjourney.'"'Can you show me,' said I, 'some stratagem by means of which Imay catch this old god without his suspecting it and finding me out?For a god is not easily caught- not by a mortal man.'"'Stranger,' said she, 'I will make it all quite clear to you. Aboutthe time when the sun shall have reached mid heaven, the old man ofthe sea comes up from under the waves, heralded by the West windthat furs the water over his head. As soon as he has come up he liesdown, and goes to sleep in a great sea cave, where the seals-Halosydne's chickens as they call them- come up also from the greysea, and go to sleep in shoals all round him; and a very strong andfish-like smell do they bring with them. Early to-morrow morning Iwill take you to this place and will lay you in ambush. Pick out,therefore, the three best men you have in your fleet, and I willtell you all the tricks that the old man will play you."'First he will look over all his seals, and count them; then,when he has seen them and tallied them on his five fingers, he will goto sleep among them, as a shepherd among his sheep. The moment you seethat he is asleep seize him; put forth all your strength and holdhim fast, for he will do his very utmost to get away from you. He willturn himself into every kind of creature that goes upon the earth, andwill become also both fire and water; but you must hold him fast andgrip him tighter and tighter, till he begins to talk to you andcomes back to what he was when you saw him go to sleep; then you mayslacken your hold and let him go; and you can ask him which of thegods it is that is angry with you, and what you must do to reachyour home over the seas.'"Having so said she dived under the waves, whereon I turned backto the place where my ships were ranged upon the shore; and my heartwas clouded with care as I went along. When I reached my ship we gotsupper ready, for night was falling, and camped down upon the beach."When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, I took thethree men on whose prowess of all kinds I could most rely, and wentalong by the sea-side, praying heartily to heaven. Meanwhile thegoddess fetched me up four seal skins from the bottom of the sea,all of them just skinned, for she meant playing a trick upon herfather. Then she dug four pits for us to lie in, and sat down towait till we should come up. When we were close to her, she made uslie down in the pits one after the other, and threw a seal skin overeach of us. Our ambuscade would have been intolerable, for thestench of the fishy seals was most distressing- who would go to bedwith a sea monster if he could help it?-but here, too, the goddesshelped us, and thought of something that gave us great relief, for sheput some ambrosia under each man's nostrils, which was so fragrantthat it killed the smell of the seals."We waited the whole morning and made the best of it, watching theseals come up in hundreds to bask upon the sea shore, till at noon theold man of the sea came up too, and when he had found his fat seals hewent over them and counted them. We were among the first he counted,and he never suspected any guile, but laid himself down to sleep assoon as he had done counting. Then we rushed upon him with a shout andseized him; on which he began at once with his old tricks, and changedhimself first into a lion with a great mane; then all of a sudden hebecame a dragon, a leopard, a wild boar; the next moment he wasrunning water, and then again directly he was a tree, but we stuckto him and never lost hold, till at last the cunning old creaturebecame distressed, and said, Which of the gods was it, Son ofAtreus, that hatched this plot with you for snaring me and seizingme against my will? What do you want?'"'You know that yourself, old man,' I answered, 'you will gainnothing by trying to put me off. It is because I have been kept solong in this island, and see no sign of my being able to get away. Iam losing all heart; tell me, then, for you gods know everything,which of the immortals it is that is hindering me, and tell me alsohow I may sail the sea so as to reach my home?'"Then,' he said, 'if you would finish your voyage and get homequickly, you must offer sacrifices to Jove and to the rest of the godsbefore embarking; for it is decreed that you shall not get back toyour friends, and to your own house, till you have returned to theheaven fed stream of Egypt, and offered holy hecatombs to the immortalgods that reign in heaven. When you have done this they will let youfinish your voyage.'"I was broken hearted when I heard that I must go back all that longand terrible voyage to Egypt; nevertheless, I answered, 'I will doall, old man, that you have laid upon me; but now tell me, and tell metrue, whether all the Achaeans whom Nestor and I left behind us whenwe set sail from Troy have got home safely, or whether any one of themcame to a bad end either on board his own ship or among his friends