Homer, Odyssey

ToposText · Homer · 2,435 sections

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§ 3.120 There no one wished to match him face to face in counsel, since divine Odysseus very much surpassed them in all kinds of stratagems, your father, if it's true that you're his son. Wonder holds me when I look at you. For yes, your words at least are like his, nor would you think
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§ 3.125 a younger man would say things so like his. Yes, all the time divine Odysseus and I were there we never spoke at odds in either assembly or council, but had one temperament, in mind and sage counsel, and thought out how things could happen best by far for Argives.
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§ 3.130 Then after we sacked Priam's lofty city and went off in our ships, a god scattered the Achaeans. Right then Zeus in his mind resolved a wretched homecoming for Argives, since not at all reasonable or righteous were all. So, many of them met an evil fate
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§ 3.135 from the wrath of the bright-eyed daughter of a powerful father, who caused discord between both of the Atreidae. The two called all Achaeans to assembly, recklessly and not in an orderly way, at sunset. The sons of the Achaeans came, heavy with wine,
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§ 3.140 and the two spoke their speech, for which they'd gathered the men. There Menelaus ordered all Achaeans to remember their return home upon the broad back of the sea, but he didn't at all please Agamemnon, for he planned to detain the men and offer sacred hecatombs
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§ 3.145 to appease the dread anger of Athena. The fool, he didn't know he wasn't going to persuade her, for the mind of the gods who are forever is not turned suddenly. So while the two stood there exchanging hard words the well-greaved Achaeans got up
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§ 3.150 with an awful din, and the council pleased them in two different ways. That night we rested, contemplating in our minds hard things against each other, for Zeus was preparing a calamity of evil. At dawn, some of us hauled our ships to the divine sea and loaded both possessions and deep-girdled women aboard.
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§ 3.155 Then, half the men held back and stayed beside Atreides Agamemnon, the shepherd of men. Half of us got aboard and drove our ships, which very quickly sailed, and a god smoothed the great-mawed sea. We came to Tenedos and offered victims to the gods,
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§ 3.160 eager to go home, but Zeus did not yet intend our return, stubborn one, who sent evil discord to us a second time again. Some turned their double-curved ships around and left, skilled lord Odysseus, the wily conniver, and his company, back to Atreides Agamemnon, showing their support.
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§ 3.165 Then I fled with the ships that followed me, crowded together, since I knew that a divinity intended evil, and Tydeus' warlike son fled and urged on his comrades. Blond Menelaus came after us long afterwards and caught up with us in Lesbos debating our long voyage,
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§ 3.170 whether we should sail north of rugged Chios, by the island of Psyria, keeping it on our left, or south of Chios, past windy Mimas. We asked god to show us a sign. Then he showed one to us, and ordered us to cut the middle of the sea
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§ 3.175 to Euboea, so we'd escape the soonest from distress. A whistling fair wind at once began to blow. Our ships very quickly crossed the fishy ways and brought us at night into Geraestus. We offered many bulls' thighs to Poseidon, since we'd measured the great sea.
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§ 3.180 It was the fourth day when the comrades of Tydeides, Diomedes the tamer of horses, moored their balanced ships in Argos. Then I held on course toward Pylos, and the fair wind never quelled, after the god first sent it out to blow. So I came, dear child, without tidings, and I know nothing
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§ 3.185 of the others, which Achaeans were saved and which perished. Now, as much as I've heard sitting in my palace, you'll learn it, that's right, and I won't hide it from you. They say the Myrmidons came safely, the raging spearmen whom the brilliant son of great-hearted Achilles led,
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§ 3.190 and safely Philoctetes, Poias' splendid son. Idomeneus brought to Crete all his comrades who'd escaped from war, and the sea took no one from him. Even you yourselves, distant as you are, heard of Atreides, how he came and how Aegisthus meant wretched destruction.
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§ 3.195 But, yes indeed, that one paid miserably for it, how good it is that even a child of a man who's died be left behind, since even that one took vengeance on his father's killer cunning Aegisthus, who'd slain his famous father. You too, my friend, for I clearly see you're big and handsome,
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§ 3.200 be staunch, so those born after will speak well of you.” Astute Telemachus said back to him in turn: “ Nestor Neleades, great glory of Achaeans, in truth that one took revenge, and the Achaeans will carry his fame widely, even as a song for those to be.
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§ 3.205 If only the gods would cast such strength about me to take vengeance on the suitors for their grievous trespass, who in their wanton arrogance devise reckless things for me, but the gods have not spun such happiness for me, for me or for my father. And now we must endure it nonetheless.”
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§ 3.210 Then Gerenian horseman Nestor answered him: “Friend, since you've spoken these things and reminded me of them, they do say that many suitors for the hand of your mother, in your palace against your will, are devising evils. Tell me whether you accept subjection willingly, or do the people
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§ 3.215 throughout the kingdom hate you, following the voice of a god? Who knows if Odysseus will ever come and repay them for their violence, either he all by himself, or all Achaeans too? If only bright-eyed Athena cared to love you as much as she cared about gloried Odysseus then,
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§ 3.220 in the kingdom of the Trojans, where we Achaeans suffered sorrows. For I never saw gods love as openly as when Pallas Athena openly came to Odysseus' aid. If she cared to love you this way and cared for you in her heart, then at least some of the suitors might as well forget marriage!”
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§ 3.225 Astute Telemachus said back to him in turn: “Old man, I doubt this word of yours will ever come to pass. What you've said is much too big. Wonder holds me. What I hope for wouldn't happen to me, not even if the gods were to will it so.” Bright-eyed goddess Athena said back to him:
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§ 3.230 “ Telemachus, what kind of talk has fled your wall of teeth? It's easy for a god to save a man, if he wishes, even from afar. Even if I suffered many sorrows, I would rather go home and see homecoming day, than be slain at the hearth on coming home, as Agamemnon
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§ 3.235 was killed by Aegisthus and the guile of his own wife. But yes, not even gods can ward off death, common to all, even from a dear man, when baneful doom, of death that brings long woe, takes him down.” Astute Telemachus said back to her in turn:
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§ 3.240 “ Mentor, let's speak of this no longer, despite our sorrow. His return is real no longer, but immortals have already devised black doom and death for him. Now I want to inquire about a different story and ask Nestor, since he beyond others knows righteousness and wisdom.
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§ 3.245 For they say he's ruled three men's generations and he seems to me like an immortal to behold. You, Nestor Neleides, tell the truth. How did wide-ruling Atreides Agamemnon die? Where was Menelaus? What destruction did cunning Aegisthus
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§ 3.250 devise for himself, since he killed a much better man? Wasn't Menelaus in Achaean Argos, or was he wandering somewhere else among mankind, so Aegisthus took heart and killed?” Then Gerenian horseman Nestor answered him: “Well then, child, I'll tell you the whole truth.
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§ 3.255 Yes, you can imagine for yourself how it would have gone had he found Aegisthus still alive in his palace, Atreides, blond Menelaus, on his return from Troy. They'd not have heaped a mound of earth upon him, even dead, but the dogs and birds of prey would have devoured him
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§ 3.260 lying on the plain far from the city, and no Achaean woman would have mourned him, for he devised a very monstrous deed. For while we sat over there and completed many trials, he, at his ease in a corner of horse-grazing Argos, often tried to charm the wife of Agamemnon with his words.
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§ 3.265 Yes, at first divine Clytemnestra disdained the shameful deed, for she was endowed with good judgment, and there was also a singer man beside her, whom Atreides on his way to Troy had ordered many times to keep watch on his wife. But when at last the gods' doom bound her to be tamed,
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§ 3.270 then Aegisthus led that singer to a desert island and left him behind to become the spoil and carrion for birds of prey, then he brought her, as willing as he was, to his own house. He burned many thighs on altars of the gods and hung up many ornaments, woven webs and gold,
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§ 3.275 on accomplishing a monstrous deed he'd never expected in his heart. Now we sailed together on our way from Troy, Atreides and I, with friendly feelings toward each other, but when we reached the cape of Athens, sacred Sunium, there Phoebus Apollo attacked with his gentle darts
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§ 3.280 and killed Menelaus' steersman as he held in his hands the steering oar of the running ship, Phrontis Onetorides, who surpassed the tribes of men in steering a ship when storm winds blow. So he stopped there, though eager for the way,
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§ 3.285 to bury his comrade and perform funeral rites over him. But when at last he too went on the wine-dark sea in his hollow ships and on the run reached the steep mount of Maleia, far-seeing Zeus then contrived a loathsome voyage and poured the breaths of whistling winds upon him
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§ 3.290 and waves swollen monstrously, like mountains. Then he split his ships in two and drove some to Crete where the Cydonians lived about Iardanus' streams. There is a certain smooth rock, sheer into the sea, on the edge of Gortyn, in the misty sea.
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§ 3.295 There South Wind pushes a great wave against the headland on the left toward Phaestus, and a small stone holds back the great wave. The ships got there, and with great effort the men avoided destruction, but waves shattered the ships against the reefs. Then wind and water carried and drove
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§ 3.300 the other five dark-prowed ships to Egypt. So he gathered much substance and gold there and wandered with his ships through foreign men, while Aegisthus devised these maleficent things at home. He ruled for seven years over Mycenae, rich with gold,
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§ 3.305 after he killed Atreides, and the people were tamed beneath him. But in the eighth divine Orestes came back from Athens as an evil for him and slew his father's killer, cunning Aegisthus, who'd slain his famous father. Yes, he killed him and held a funeral banquet for the Argives,
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§ 3.310 for his loathsome mother and cowardly Aegisthus. Battle-cry-brave Menelaus came to him the same day, bringing many possessions, all that his ships held as cargo. And you, friend, don't wander for a long time far away from home, having left in your house your possessions
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§ 3.315 and such haughty men, lest they divide and devour all your possessions and you make a fruitless journey. Instead, I bid and order you to go to Menelaus, for he's newly come from elsewhere, from the men from whom one wouldn't hope in his heart
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§ 3.320 to return, whomever storm winds drive off course into a sea so big not even birds of prey get out of it in a single year, since it's great and terrible. But go now with your ship and your comrades. If you want to go on foot, a chariot and horses are before you,
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§ 3.325 and before you are my sons, who'll be your escorts to divine Lacedaemon, where blond Menelaus is. Entreat him yourself, so he'll speak infallibly. Since he's very astute, he will not tell a lie.” So said he, and the sun went down and dusk came on,
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§ 3.330 and bright-eyed goddess Athena said among them: “Yes, old man, you've recounted this duly, but come, cut their tongues and mix the wine, so we can make libation to Poseidon and other immortals and think of rest, since it's time for it.
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§ 3.335 For the light already goes under the darkness, and it's not fitting to sit long at a feast of the gods, but to go.” Zeus's daughter spoke, and they listened as she spoke. Heralds poured water on their hands, and boys filled mixing bowls to the brim with drink
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§ 3.340 then passed it out to all after pouring drops in their goblets. They threw the tongues in the fire, stood up, and poured libation on them. Then after they'd made libation and drunk as much as hearts desired, right then Athena and godlike Telemachus both got up to go to their hollow ship.
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§ 3.345 Nestor held them back and addressed them with these words: “May Zeus and the rest of the immortal gods avert this, that you'd go from my house to your swift ship as from someone poor and completely without clothing, who hasn't cloaks and many rugs in his house
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§ 3.350 for either him or his guests to sleep on softly. But I do have robes and beautiful blankets beside me. Surely now, the dear son of that man Odysseus won't lie down on a ship's deck, as long as I'm alive and sons are left in my palace after me
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§ 3.355 to treat strangers as guests, whoever may come to my house!” Bright-eyed goddess Athena said back to him: “You've said this well, dear old man. It's fitting that Telemachus obey you, since it's much better this way. But while he'll now follow with you, so he can sleep
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§ 3.360 in your palace, I'm going to our black ship to encourage our comrades and tell them every thing. For I claim to be the only older one among them, but the others, younger men, follow him in friendship, all of them the same age as great-hearted Telemachus.
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§ 3.365 I'll lie there beside the hollow swift ship now. Then at dawn I'll go after the great-hearted Cauconians, where a debt is owed me, nothing new or small. You, send this one, since he's reached your house, with a chariot and also your son. Give him horses,
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§ 3.370 the nimblest you have in running and best in strength.” So saying, bright-eyed Athena departed, disguised as a vulture. Wonder took hold of all the Achaeans, and the old man marveled at what his eyes had seen. He grabbed Telemachus' hand, called out his name, and said:
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§ 3.375 “Friend, I don't suppose that you'll be mean and cowardly if the gods already go with one as young as you as escorts. For this one is none other, of those who have Olympian homes, than Zeus's daughter, most glorious Tritogeneia, who honored your good father too among the Argives.
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§ 3.380 So, my queen, be gracious and grant me good fame, to me myself and my children and my venerable wife. I'll sacrifice a heifer to you, a wide-browed yearling, an unbroken one, that no man's ever led beneath a yoke. I'll sacrifice her to you and pour gold around her horns!”
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§ 3.385 So said he in prayer, and Pallas Athena heard him. Gerenian horseman Nestor acted as their guide, for his sons and sons-in-law, to his beautiful home. But when they reached the lord's very famous home, they sat down in rows on chairs and couches
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§ 3.390 and the old man mixed up a mixing bowl for them when they came, of wine, sweet to drink, which, in the eleventh year, the housekeeper loosened the lid string and opened. The old man mixed a mixing bowl of it, and prayed hard to Athena, to Aegis-bearer Zeus's daughter, as he made libation.
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§ 3.395 Then after they'd made libation and drunk as much as hearts desired, they each went home to rest, but Gerenian horseman Nestor put him to bed there where he was, Telemachus, the dear son of divine Odysseus, beneath the echoing portico in a perforated bed,
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§ 3.400 and a leader of men beside him, Peisistratus of the good ash spear, who still unwed was one of his sons in the palace. He himself slept back in an inner room of the lofty house and his mistress wife shared his bed and bedding. When early-born rose-fingered Dawn appeared,
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§ 3.405 Gerenian horseman Nestor arose from bed, went out and sat down upon the smooth stones that he had in front of the lofty doors, white stones, that glistened with oil, on which Neleus, a counselor equal to the gods, used to sit before.
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§ 3.410 But, tamed by fate, he'd already gone to Hades. Now in turn Gerenian Nestor, Achaean watchman, sat holding a scepter. His sons gathered in a throng around him, when they came from their chambers: Echephron and Stratius, Perseus and Aretus, and godlike Thrasymedes too.
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§ 3.415 Then came their sixth, the hero Peisistratus, and they led and seated godlike Telemachus beside him. Gerenian horseman Nestor was the first of them to speak: “Quickly, dear children, make my wish come true for me, so I can first, of all the gods, seek the favor of Athena
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§ 3.420 who came incarnate to me to the god's abundant feast. So come, have one go to the plain for a cow, so it may come very soon, and let a man, a cattle herdsman, drive it. Have one go to great-hearted Telemachus' black ship and bring all his comrades leaving only two behind.
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§ 3.425 Have one order the goldsmith Laerces to come here to pour gold around the cow's horns. The rest of you, stay here together, and tell the slave women inside to prepare a splendid feast throughout the house, seats and logs on both sides, and to carry shining water!”
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§ 3.430 So said he, then all of them got busy. The cow came from the plain. From the swift balanced ship came the comrades of great-hearted Telemachus. The smith came, holding smith's tools in his hands, implements of his art, anvil, hammer, and well-made tongs,
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§ 3.435 with which he worked gold. Athena came to take part in the sacred rites. The old man, horseman Nestor, gave him gold, and the smith then fashioned it, and poured it around the cow's horns, so the goddess would be gloriously glad at its sight. Stratius and divine Echephron led the cow by the horns,
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§ 3.440 Aretus came from his chamber, bringing water for washing in a flowery basin, and he had barley groats in a basket in his other hand. Valiant Thrasymedes stood by, holding a sharp axe in his hand for striking the cow. Perseus held a bowl for the blood. The old man, horseman Nestor,
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§ 3.445 began the rite with the groats and water, then prayed hard to Athena as he cut hairs from the cow's head and threw them in the fire. Then after they prayed and threw barley groats before it, Nestor's son, high-spirited Thrasymedes, at once stood near and struck. The axe cut away the tendons
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§ 3.450 of the neck and broke the cow's strength. They ululated now, Nestor's daughters, sons' daughters, and venerable wife, Eurydice, the eldest of the daughters of Clymenus. The men then lifted it up from the wide-wayed earth and held it, then Peisistratus, a leader of men, cut its throat.
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§ 3.455 After the black blood flowed from her and life left her bones they carved her up, immediately cut out the thighs, all in due order, covered them with fat, making a double fold, then laid raw flesh upon them. The old man burned them on wooden sticks and poured sparkling wine
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§ 3.460 upon them. Young men beside him held five-pronged forks in their hands. Then after the thighs were burned up and they'd tasted the entrails, they cut up the rest, pierced them with spits on both sides, and roasted them, holding the sharp-pointed spits in their hands. Meanwhile, beautiful Polycaste, youngest daughter
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§ 3.465 of Nestor Neleides, bathed Telemachus. Then after she bathed him and anointed him richly with olive oil, she threw a fine cloak and tunic about him, then he went from the tub like immortals in form and went and sat down beside Nestor, the shepherd of men.
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§ 3.470 After they'd roasted the outer meats and pulled them off, they sat and dined, as good men waited on them pouring wine in golden goblets. Then after they'd dispatched desire for food and drink, Gerenian horseman Nestor was the first of them to speak:
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§ 3.475 “Come, my sons, bring fair-maned horses for Telemachus and yoke them under a chariot, so he can get on his way!” So said he, and they listened to him with care and obeyed and quickly yoked swift horses under a chariot. A woman, the housekeeper, put food and wine in it,
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§ 3.480 and cooked meats, the kinds Zeus -nurtured kings eat. Telemachus then got on the gorgeous chariot and Peisistratos Nestorides, a leader of men, got into the chariot beside him and took the reins in his hands. He whipped the horses to drive them, and the two flew, not unwilling,
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§ 3.485 into the plain and left the sheer citadel of Pylos. Now all day long they shook the yoke as they held it on both sides. And the sun went down, and all the ways were dark. They came to Pherae, to the house of Diocles, the son of Ortilochus, whom Alpheius fathered as his son.
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§ 3.490 They rested there for the night, and he showed them hospitality. When early-born rose-fingered Dawn appeared, they yoked the horses and climbed into the ornamented chariot, drove out of the gateway and the echoing portico, and Peisistratus whipped the horses to drive them, and the two flew, not unwilling.
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§ 3.495 They reached the wheat-bearing plain, then after that finished their journey, so fast their swift horses sped on. And the sun went down, and all the ways were dark.
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§ 4.1 BOOK 4 They now reached hollow hilly Lacedaemon, then rode toward the house of gloried Menelaus. They found him hosting many clansmen for a wedding in his own house for his son and noble daughter.
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§ 4.5 He was sending her to the son of man-breaker Achilles, for in Troy he'd first nodded assent and promised to give her, and the gods were making the wedding happen for them. He was sending her there, to go with horses and chariots to the far-famed city of the Myrmidons over whom he ruled.
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§ 4.10 He was bringing Alector's daughter from Sparta for his son, mighty Megapenthes, grown up, who'd been borne him by a slave. The gods no longer made a child appear for Helen after she gave birth to her first child, lovely Hermione, who had the form of golden Aphrodite.
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§ 4.15 So while the neighbors and clansmen of gloried Menelaus feasted throughout the big high-roofed house in enjoyment, a divine singer performed among them on the lyre. Two tumblers whirled through them, through the middle of them, beginning the performance.
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§ 4.20 The hero Telemachus and Nestor's splendid son stood with their two horses in the house's doorway, and his majesty Eteoneus, deft cohort of gloried Menelaus, came out and saw them, then made his way through the house to announce them to the shepherd of people.
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§ 4.25 He stood close by and spoke winged words to him: “ Zeus -nurtured Menelaus, there are some strangers over there, two men, and they seem like the seed of great Zeus. But tell me whether we should unharness their swift horses or send them on their way to someone else who'd welcome them.”
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§ 4.30 Vexed greatly, blond Menelaus said to him: “You weren't a fool before this, Eteonus Boethoides, but now you babble nonsense like a child. We'd eaten many guest-meals of other men before we got here, in hope that Zeus would
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§ 4.35 somehow stop our sorrow. So, free the strangers' horses and bring the men forward to be feasted inside.” So said he, and he sped through the palace and bid the other deft cohorts to follow along with him. They freed the sweating horses from under the yoke,
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§ 4.40 tethered them to the horse mangers, threw grain before them, mixed white barley in it, leaned the chariot against the gleaming inner wall, and led the men into the divine house. They beheld with wonder the house of the Zeus -nurtured king.
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§ 4.45 For there was a radiance, as of the sun or moon, throughout gloried Menelaus' high-roofed house. Then after they'd looked and satisfied their eyes, they stepped into well-polished tubs and bathed. After slave women washed them, and anointed them with olive oil,
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§ 4.50 and threw about them woolen robes and tunics, they sat on chairs beside Atreides Menelaus. A handmaid brought water for washing in a fine golden pitcher and poured it above a silver basin so they could wash then pulled a polished table beside them.
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§ 4.55 A venerable housekeeper brought bread and set it before them, placing many foods on it, pleasing them from her stores. A carver raised and placed before them platters of meats of all kinds, and put golden cups beside them. Blond Menelaus said to them in greeting:
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§ 4.60 “Take food for yourselves and be welcome. Then after you've tasted supper we'll ask what men you are. For your fathers' race is not lost in you, but you're of the race of Zeus -nurtured men, of sceptered kings, since mean ones couldn't father such as you.”
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§ 4.65 So said he, and lifting the roast in his hands he placed the bull's fat back beside them, the prize they'd set before him for himself. They threw their hands on the good things laid ready before them. Then after they'd dispatched desire for food and drink, right then Telemachus spoke to Nestor's son,
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§ 4.70 holding his head close so others couldn't hear him: “Dear to my heart Nestorides, observe the flash of bronze throughout the echoing house, of gold and amber, of silver and ivory. Such, I suppose, is Olympian Zeus's courtyard inside,
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§ 4.75 untold many things as these. Wonder holds me as I behold them!” Blond Menelaus heard him talking and voicing winged words, he said to them: “Dear children, no, no mortal could compete with Zeus, for his houses and possessions are immortal.
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§ 4.80 Some man might compete with me, or might not, in property. For yes, suffering much and wandering far, I brought it in my ships and came back in the eighth year. I wandered to Cyprus and Phoenicia, and to the Egyptians, and reached the Ethiopians, Sidonians, and Erembi,
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§ 4.85 and Libya, where rams become horned suddenly, for the sheep give birth three times in the course of a year. There neither lord nor shepherd lacks any cheese and meat, or sweet milk either, but the sheep always produce ample milk for suckling.
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§ 4.90 While I wandered around those places collecting much substance, another murdered my brother by stealth, unexpectedly, by a ruinous wife's treachery, so I rule over these possessions without joy. And you probably heard this from your fathers, whoever
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§ 4.95 yours are, since I suffered very much and lost a house, a very well-settled one containing many good things. Would that I lived in my house with just a third part of it, and that my men were safe, who perished then in wide Troy, far from horse-grazing Argos.
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§ 4.100 But as it is, I mourn and grieve for all of them often, as I sit in our palace. At times I soothe my mind with weeping, at other times I stop. It's quick to come, one's fill of chilling lamentation. Despite my grief, I don't mourn all of them as much as I do
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§ 4.105 one of them, who makes food and sleep hateful to me when I recall him, since no Achaean toiled as much as Odysseus toiled, undertook, and achieved. But for that one himself there'd be troubles, and for me an ever unforgettable sorrow for him, that he's been gone so long and we don't know at all
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§ 4.110 whether he's dead or alive. They must mourn him, I suppose, the old man, Laertes, and discreet Penelope, and Telemachus, whom he left newborn in his home.” So said he, and roused in Telemachus the desire to weep for his father. He let tears fall from his eyelids to the ground on hearing of his father,
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§ 4.115 holding up his purple robe in front of his eyes with both hands. Menelaus noticed him, then pondered in his mind and heart whether to let him mention his father himself or first ask about every thing and test him.

Via ToposText (topostext.org), a project of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation created by Brady Kiesling. Translated by James E. Huddleston (1952-2007). Composed ca. 700 BCE. Licence: under copyright, reusable for non-commercial purposes. Source.