《奥德修记》-49

gold, bronze, and raiment in great abundance. This was the lastthing about which he told her, for here a deep sleep took hold uponhim and eased the burden of his sorrows.Then Minerva bethought her of another matter. When she deemed thatUlysses had had both of his wife and of repose, she badegold-enthroned Dawn rise out of Oceanus that she might shed light uponmankind. On this, Ulysses rose from his comfortable bed and said toPenelope, "Wife, we have both of us had our full share of troubles,you, here, in lamenting my absence, and I in being prevented fromgetting home though I was longing all the time to do so. Now, however,that we have at last come together, take care of the property thatis in the house. As for the sheep and goats which the wicked suitorshave eaten, I will take many myself by force from other people, andwill compel the Achaeans to make good the rest till they shall havefilled all my yards. I am now going to the wooded lands out in thecountry to see my father who has so long been grieved on my account,and to yourself I will give these instructions, though you have littleneed of them. At sunrise it will at once get abroad that I have beenkilling the suitors; go upstairs, therefore, and stay there withyour women. See nobody and ask no questions."As he spoke he girded on his armour. Then he roused Telemachus,Philoetius, and Eumaeus, and told them all to put on their armouralso. This they did, and armed themselves. When they had done so, theyopened the gates and sallied forth, Ulysses leading the way. It wasnow daylight, but Minerva nevertheless concealed them in darknessand led them quickly out of the town.THE ODYSSEYby Homertranslated by Samuel ButlerBOOK I.TELL ME, O MUSE, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wideafter he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit,and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he wasacquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to savehis own life and bring his men safely home; but do what he might hecould not save his men, for they perished through their own sheerfolly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the godprevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about allthese things, O daughter of Jove, from whatsoever source you mayknow them.So now all who escaped death in battle or by shipwreck had gotsafely home except Ulysses, and he, though he was longing to return tohis wife and country, was detained by the goddess Calypso, who had gothim into a large cave and wanted to marry him. But as years went by,there came a time when the gods settled that he should go back toIthaca; even then, however, when he was among his own people, histroubles were not yet over; nevertheless all the gods had now begun topity him except Neptune, who still persecuted him without ceasingand would not let him get home.Now Neptune had gone off to the Ethiopians, who are at the world'send, and lie in two halves, the one looking West and the other East.He had gone there to accept a hecatomb of sheep and oxen, and wasenjoying himself at his festival; but the other gods met in thehouse of Olympian Jove, and the sire of gods and men spoke first. Atthat moment he was thinking of Aegisthus, who had been killed byAgamemnon's son Orestes; so he said to the other gods:"See now, how men lay blame upon us gods for what is after allnothing but their own folly. Look at Aegisthus; he must needs makelove to Agamemnon's wife unrighteously and then kill Agamemnon, thoughhe knew it would be the death of him; for I sent Mercury to warn himnot to do either of these things, inasmuch as Orestes would be sure totake his revenge when he grew up and wanted to return home. Mercurytold him this in all good will but he would not listen, and now he haspaid for everything in full."Then Minerva said, "Father, son of Saturn, King of kings, itserved Aegisthus right, and so it would any one else who does as hedid; but Aegisthus is neither here nor there; it is for Ulysses thatmy heart bleeds, when I think of his sufferings in that lonelysea-girt island, far away, poor man, from all his friends. It is anisland covered with forest, in the very middle of the sea, and agoddess lives there, daughter of the magician Atlas, who looks afterthe bottom of the ocean, and carries the great columns that keepheaven and earth asunder. This daughter of Atlas has got hold ofpoor unhappy Ulysses, and keeps trying by every kind of blandishmentto make him forget his home, so that he is tired of life, and thinksof nothing but how he may once more see the smoke of his own chimneys.You, sir, take no heed of this, and yet when Ulysses was before Troydid he not propitiate you with many a burnt sacrifice? Why then shouldyou keep on being so angry with him?"And Jove said, "My child, what are you talking about? How can Iforget Ulysses than whom there is no more capable man on earth, normore liberal in his offerings to the immortal gods that live inheaven? Bear in mind, however, that Neptune is still furious withUlysses for having blinded an eye of Polyphemus king of theCyclopes. Polyphemus is son to Neptune by the nymph Thoosa, daughterto the sea-king Phorcys; therefore though he will not kill Ulyssesoutright, he torments him by preventing him from getting home.Still, let us lay our heads together and see how we can help him toreturn; Neptune will then be pacified, for if we are all of a mindhe can hardly stand out against us."And Minerva said, "Father, son of Saturn, King of kings, if, then,the gods now mean that Ulysses should get home, we should first sendMercury to the Ogygian island to tell Calypso that we have made up ourminds and that he is to return. In the meantime I will go to Ithaca,to put heart into Ulysses' son Telemachus; I will embolden him to callthe Achaeans in assembly, and speak out to the suitors of his motherPenelope, who persist in eating up any number of his sheep and oxen; Iwill also conduct him to Sparta and to Pylos, to see if he can hearanything about the return of his dear father- for this will makepeople speak well of him."So saying she bound on her glittering golden sandals,imperishable, with which she can fly like the wind over land or sea;she grasped the redoubtable bronze-shod spear, so stout and sturdy andstrong, wherewith she quells the ranks of heroes who have displeasedher, and down she darted from the topmost summits of Olympus,whereon forthwith she was in Ithaca, at the gateway of Ulysses' house,disguised as a visitor, Mentes, chief of the Taphians, and she helda bronze spear in her hand. There she found the lordly suitorsseated on hides of the oxen which they had killed and eaten, andplaying draughts in front of the house. Men-servants and pages werebustling about to wait upon them, some mixing wine with water in themixing-bowls, some cleaning down the tables with wet sponges andlaying them out again, and some cutting up great quantities of meat.Telemachus saw her long before any one else did. He was sittingmoodily among the suitors thinking about his brave father, and howhe would send them flying out of the house, if he were to come tohis own again and be honoured as in days gone by. Thus brooding ashe sat among them, he caught sight of Minerva and went straight to thegate, for he was vexed that a stranger should be kept waiting foradmittance. He took her right hand in his own, and bade her give himher spear. "Welcome," said he, "to our house, and when you havepartaken of food you shall tell us what you have come for."He led the way as he spoke, and Minerva followed him. When they werewithin he took her spear and set it in the spear- stand against astrong bearing-post along with the many other spears of his unhappyfather, and he conducted her to a richly decorated seat under which hethrew a cloth of damask. There was a footstool also for her feet,and he set another seat near her for himself, away from the suitors,that she might not be annoyed while eating by their noise andinsolence, and that he might ask her more freely about his father.A maid servant then brought them water in a beautiful golden ewerand poured it into a silver basin for them to wash their hands, andshe drew a clean table beside them. An upper servant brought thembread, and offered them many good things of what there was in thehouse, the carver fetched them plates of all manner of meats and setcups of gold by their side, and a man-servant brought them wine andpoured it out for them.Then the suitors came in and took their places on the benches andseats. Forthwith men servants poured water over their hands, maidswent round with the bread-baskets, pages filled the mixing-bowlswith wine and water, and they laid their hands upon the good thingsthat were before them. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drinkthey wanted music and dancing, which are the crowning embellishmentsof a banquet, so a servant brought a lyre to Phemius, whom theycompelled perforce to sing to them. As soon as he touched his lyre andbegan to sing Telemachus spoke low to Minerva, with his head closeto hers that no man might hear."I hope, sir," said he, "that you will not be offended with what Iam going to say. Singing comes cheap to those who do not pay for it,and all this is done at the cost of one whose bones lie rotting insome wilderness or grinding to powder in the surf. If these men wereto see my father come back to Ithaca they would pray for longer legsrather than a longer purse, for money would not serve them; but he,alas, has fallen on an ill fate, and even when people do sometimes saythat he is coming, we no longer heed them; we shall never see himagain. And now, sir, tell me and tell me true, who you are and whereyou come from. Tell me of your town and parents, what manner of shipyou came in, how your crew brought you to Ithaca, and of what nationthey declared themselves to be- for you cannot have come by land. Tellme also truly, for I want to know, are you a stranger to this house,or have you been here in my father's time? In the old days we had manyvisitors for my father went about much himself."And Minerva answered, "I will tell you truly and particularly allabout it. I am Mentes, son of Anchialus, and I am King of theTaphians. I have come here with my ship and crew, on a voyage to menof a foreign tongue being bound for Temesa with a cargo of iron, and Ishall bring back copper. As for my ship, it lies over yonder off theopen country away from the town, in the harbour Rheithron under thewooded mountain Neritum. Our fathers were friends before us, as oldLaertes will tell you, if you will go and ask him. They say,however, that he never comes to town now, and lives by himself inthe country, faring hardly, with an old woman to look after him andget his dinner for him, when he comes in tired from pottering abouthis vineyard. They told me your father was at home again, and that waswhy I came, but it seems the gods are still keeping him back, for heis not dead yet not on the mainland. It is more likely he is on somesea-girt island in mid ocean, or a prisoner among savages who aredetaining him against his will I am no prophet, and know very littleabout omens, but I speak as it is borne in upon me from heaven, andassure you that he will not be away much longer; for he is a man ofsuch resource that even though he were in chains of iron he would findsome means of getting home again. But tell me, and tell me true, canUlysses really have such a fine looking fellow for a son? You areindeed wonderfully like him about the head and eyes, for we were closefriends before he set sail for Troy where the flower of all theArgives went also. Since that time we have never either of us seen theother.""My mother," answered Telemachus, tells me I am son to Ulysses,