《奥德修记》-28

not being in his own country, and wandered up and down by the shore ofthe sounding sea bewailing his hard fate. Then Minerva came up tohim disguised as a young shepherd of delicate and princely mien,with a good cloak folded double about her shoulders; she had sandalson her comely feet and held a javelin in her hand. Ulysses was gladwhen he saw her, and went straight up to her."My friend," said he, "you are the first person whom I have met within this country; I salute you, therefore, and beg you to be willdisposed towards me. Protect these my goods, and myself too, for Iembrace your knees and pray to you as though you were a god. Tellme, then, and tell me truly, what land and country is this? Who areits inhabitants? Am I on an island, or is this the sea board of somecontinent?"Minerva answered, "Stranger, you must be very simple, or must havecome from somewhere a long way off, not to know what country thisis. It is a very celebrated place, and everybody knows it East andWest. It is rugged and not a good driving country, but it is by nomeans a bid island for what there is of it. It grows any quantity ofcorn and also wine, for it is watered both by rain and dew; itbreeds cattle also and goats; all kinds of timber grow here, and thereare watering places where the water never runs dry; so, sir, thename of Ithaca is known even as far as Troy, which I understand tobe a long way off from this Achaean country."Ulysses was glad at finding himself, as Minerva told him, in his owncountry, and he began to answer, but he did not speak the truth, andmade up a lying story in the instinctive wiliness of his heart."I heard of Ithaca," said he, "when I was in Crete beyond theseas, and now it seems I have reached it with all these treasures. Ihave left as much more behind me for my children, but am flyingbecause I killed Orsilochus son of Idomeneus, the fleetest runner inCrete. I killed him because he wanted to rob me of the spoils I hadgot from Troy with so much trouble and danger both on the field ofbattle and by the waves of the weary sea; he said I had not served hisfather loyally at Troy as vassal, but had set myself up as anindependent ruler, so I lay in wait for him and with one of myfollowers by the road side, and speared him as he was coming into townfrom the country. my It was a very dark night and nobody saw us; itwas not known, therefore, that I had killed him, but as soon as Ihad done so I went to a ship and besought the owners, who werePhoenicians, to take me on board and set me in Pylos or in Eliswhere the Epeans rule, giving them as much spoil as satisfied them.They meant no guile, but the wind drove them off their course, andwe sailed on till we came hither by night. It was all we could do toget inside the harbour, and none of us said a word about supper thoughwe wanted it badly, but we all went on shore and lay down just as wewere. I was very tired and fell asleep directly, so they took my goodsout of the ship, and placed them beside me where I was lying uponthe sand. Then they sailed away to Sidonia, and I was left here ingreat distress of mind."Such was his story, but Minerva smiled and caressed him with herhand. Then she took the form of a woman, fair, stately, and wise,"He must be indeed a shifty lying fellow," said she, "who couldsurpass you in all manner of craft even though you had a god foryour antagonist. Dare-devil that you are, full of guile, unwearying indeceit, can you not drop your tricks and your instinctive falsehood,even now that you are in your own country again? We will say nomore, however, about this, for we can both of us deceive uponoccasion- you are the most accomplished counsellor and orator amongall mankind, while I for diplomacy and subtlety have no equal amongthe gods. Did you not know Jove's daughter Minerva- me, who havebeen ever with you, who kept watch over you in all your troubles,and who made the Phaeacians take so great a liking to you? And now,again, I am come here to talk things over with you, and help you tohide the treasure I made the Phaeacians give you; I want to tell youabout the troubles that await you in your own house; you have got toface them, but tell no one, neither man nor woman, that you havecome home again. Bear everything, and put up with every man'sinsolence, without a word."And Ulysses answered, "A man, goddess, may know a great deal, butyou are so constantly changing your appearance that when he meetsyou it is a hard matter for him to know whether it is you or not. Thismuch, however, I know exceedingly well; you were very kind to me aslong as we Achaeans were fighting before Troy, but from the day onwhich we went on board ship after having sacked the city of Priam, andheaven dispersed us- from that day, Minerva, I saw no more of you, andcannot ever remember your coming to my ship to help me in adifficulty; I had to wander on sick and sorry till the godsdelivered me from evil and I reached the city of the Phaeacians, whereyou encouraged me and took me into the town. And now, I beseech you inyour father's name, tell me the truth, for I do not believe I amreally back in Ithaca. I am in some other country and you aremocking me and deceiving me in all you have been saying. Tell methen truly, have I really got back to my own country?""You are always taking something of that sort into your head,"replied Minerva, "and that is why I cannot desert you in yourafflictions; you are so plausible, shrewd and shifty. Any one butyourself on returning from so long a voyage would at once have gonehome to see his wife and children, but you do not seem to care aboutasking after them or hearing any news about them till you haveexploited your wife, who remains at home vainly grieving for you,and having no peace night or day for the tears she sheds on yourbehalf. As for my not coming near you, I was never uneasy about you,for I was certain you would get back safely though you would loseall your men, and I did not wish to quarrel with my uncle Neptune, whonever forgave you for having blinded his son. I will now, however,point out to you the lie of the land, and you will then perhapsbelieve me. This is the haven of the old merman Phorcys, and here isthe olive tree that grows at the head of it; [near it is the cavesacred to the Naiads;] here too is the overarching cavern in which youhave offered many an acceptable hecatomb to the nymphs, and this isthe wooded mountain Neritum."As she spoke the goddess dispersed the mist and the land appeared.Then Ulysses rejoiced at finding himself again in his own land, andkissed the bounteous soil; he lifted up his hands and prayed to thenymphs, saying, "Naiad nymphs, daughters of Jove, I made sure that Iwas never again to see you, now therefore I greet you with allloving salutations, and I will bring you offerings as in the old days,if Jove's redoubtable daughter will grant me life, and bring my son tomanhood.""Take heart, and do not trouble yourself about that," rejoinedMinerva, "let us rather set about stowing your things at once in thecave, where they will be quite safe. Let us see how we can best manageit all."Therewith she went down into the cave to look for the safesthiding places, while Ulysses brought up all the treasure of gold,bronze, and good clothing which the Phaecians had given him. Theystowed everything carefully away, and Minerva set a stone againstthe door of the cave. Then the two sat down by the root of the greatolive, and consulted how to compass the destruction of the wickedsuitors."Ulysses," said Minerva, "noble son of Laertes, think how you canlay hands on these disreputable people who have been lording it inyour house these three years, courting your wife and making weddingpresents to her, while she does nothing but lament your absence,giving hope and sending your encouraging messages to every one ofthem, but meaning the very opposite of all she says'And Ulysses answered, "In good truth, goddess, it seems I shouldhave come to much the same bad end in my own house as Agamemnon did,if you had not given me such timely information. Advise me how I shallbest avenge myself. Stand by my side and put your courage into myheart as on the day when we loosed Troy's fair diadem from her brow.Help me now as you did then, and I will fight three hundred men, ifyou, goddess, will be with me.""Trust me for that," said she, "I will not lose sight of you whenonce we set about it, and I would imagine that some of those who aredevouring your substance will then bespatter the pavement with theirblood and brains. I will begin by disguising you so that no humanbeing shall know you; I will cover your body with wrinkles; youshall lose all your yellow hair; I will clothe you in a garment thatshall fill all who see it with loathing; I will blear your fine eyesfor you, and make you an unseemly object in the sight of thesuitors, of your wife, and of the son whom you left behind you. Thengo at once to the swineherd who is in charge of your pigs; he has beenalways well affected towards you, and is devoted to Penelope andyour son; you will find him feeding his pigs near the rock that iscalled Raven by the fountain Arethusa, where they are fattening onbeechmast and spring water after their manner. Stay with him andfind out how things are going, while I proceed to Sparta and seeyour son, who is with Menelaus at Lacedaemon, where he has gone to tryand find out whether you are still alive.""But why," said Ulysses, "did you not tell him, for you knew allabout it? Did you want him too to go sailing about amid all kinds ofhardship while others are eating up his estate?"Minerva answered, "Never mind about him, I sent him that he might bewell spoken of for having gone. He is in no sort of difficulty, but isstaying quite comfortably with Menelaus, and is surrounded withabundance of every kind. The suitors have put out to sea and are lyingin wait for him, for they mean to kill him before he can get home. Ido not much think they will succeed, but rather that some of those whoare now eating up your estate will first find a grave themselves."As she spoke Minerva touched him with her wand and covered himwith wrinkles, took away all his yellow hair, and withered the fleshover his whole body; she bleared his eyes, which were naturally veryfine ones; she changed his clothes and threw an old rag of a wrapabout him, and a tunic, tattered, filthy, and begrimed with smoke; shealso gave him an undressed deer skin as an outer garment, andfurnished him with a staff and a wallet all in holes, with a twistedthong for him to sling it over his shoulder.When the pair had thus laid their plans they parted, and the goddesswent straight to Lacedaemon to fetch Telemachus.BOOK XIV.ULYSSES now left the haven, and took the rough track up throughthe wooded country and over the crest of the mountain till hereached the place where Minerva had said that he would find theswineherd, who was the most thrifty servant he had. He found himsitting in front of his hut, which was by the yards that he hadbuilt on a site which could be seen from far. He had made themspacious and fair to see, with a free ran for the pigs all round them;he had built them during his master's absence, of stones which hehad gathered out of the ground, without saying anything to Penelope orLaertes, and he had fenced them on top with thorn bushes. Outsidethe yard he had run a strong fence of oaken posts, split, and setpretty close together, while inside lie had built twelve sties nearone another for the sows to lie in. There were fifty pigs wallowing ineach sty, all of them breeding sows; but the boars slept outside andwere much fewer in number, for the suitors kept on eating them, anddie swineherd had to send them the best he had continually. There werethree hundred and sixty boar pigs, and the herdsman's four hounds,which were as fierce as wolves, slept always with them. The