Homer, Odyssey

ToposText · Homer · 2,435 sections

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§ 5.270 Then he sat and steered skillfully with the steering oar, and sleep didn't fall upon his eyelids as he looked at the Pleiades, and late setting Bootes, and the Bear, which they also call the Wagon as another name, that turns in its place and watches Orion,
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§ 5.275 and is the only one without a share of Ocean's baths. For the goddess divine, Calypso, had bid him keep it on his left hand as he sailed the sea. Seventeen days he sailed, sailing on the sea, and on the eighteenth, the shadowy mountains of the Phaeacians'
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§ 5.280 land appeared, where it was closest to him, and it looked like a shield in the misty water. Coming back from the Ethiopians, his majesty the Earth-shaker saw him from far away, from the mountains of the Solymi, for he could be seen sailing over the sea. He became the more enraged at heart,
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§ 5.285 and with a shake of his head said to his own spirit: “Humph! Yes, the gods have surely changed their minds about Odysseus while I was among the Ethiopians, and he's near the Phaeacians' land at last, where it's his destiny to escape the great bond of misery that's come to him.
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§ 5.290 But I think I'll yet drive him to his fill of evil.” So saying, he gathered clouds, grasped his trident in his hands, and stirred the sea into confusion. He incited all the gusts of winds of every kind, and hid with clouds both land and sea, as night rushed from heaven.
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§ 5.295 East Wind and South Wind, and ill-blowing West Wind, and North Wind, born of the upper air and rolling a great wave, fell together. Right then Odysseus' knees and dear heart were undone, and troubled, he said to his own great-hearted spirit: “Oh my, wretched me, what surely may become of me at last?
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§ 5.300 I fear the goddess spoke everything infallibly, who said that on the sea, before I reached my fatherland, I'd have my fill of sorrows, which are now all come to pass. Zeus wreathes wide heaven with such clouds and troubles the sea, and windstorms, of all kinds of winds,
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§ 5.305 rush upon me. Sheer destruction is certain now for me! Three and four times blessed were the Danaans, who perished back then in wide Troy bringing favor to the Atreidae, as I wish I'd died and met my fate on that day when the greatest number of Trojans
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§ 5.310 threw bronzed-tipped spears at me around the dead Peleion. Then I'd have had funeral honors and Achaeans would have spread my fame, but it had been fated that I now be caught by dismal death.” As he said so, a great wave drove down on him from above, and rushing at him dreadfully, spun his raft around.
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§ 5.315 He himself fell far away from the raft and threw the steering oar from his hands. A dread windstorm came, of winds mixing together, and snapped his mast in the middle, and the sail and yardarm fell far off into the sea. The storm kept him underwater for a long time, and he wasn't able
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§ 5.320 to emerge from under the wave's great onset very soon, for the clothing divine Calypso gave him weighed him down. He came up at last, and spit brine from his mouth, bitter brine that gushed in great quantity from his head. But even so, he didn't forget his raft despite his distress,
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§ 5.325 but he rushed after it in the waves, grabbed hold of it, and sat down in the middle to avoid the doom of death. A great wave carried her to and fro through the current. As when in late summer North Wind carries thistles over the plain, and they hold on in clusters to each other,
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§ 5.330 so the winds bore her to and fro on the sea. At one time South Wind would cast it to North Wind to carry, at another, East Wind would yield to West Wind to drive it. Cadmus' daughter, fair-ankled Ino, saw him, Leucothea, who was a mortal of human speech before,
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§ 5.335 but in the sea's depths now has her share of honor from the gods. She felt pity for Odysseus, as he wandered and had sorrows, and disguised as a gull she went up in flight from the sea, sat on the raft, and said to him: “Ill-fated one, why does Earth-shaker Poseidon hate you
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§ 5.340 so terribly, that he plants evils aplenty for you? He won't destroy you, though he's very eager to. You don't seem to me to be without sense, so act in just this way. Strip off these clothes, abandon the raft to be borne by winds, then swim with your hands and strive for a return
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§ 5.345 to the Phaeacians' land, where it's your lot to escape. Take this veil and stretch it under your chest. It's immortal. Don't have any fear that you'll suffer or perish. Then after you've laid hold of land with your hands, loosen it from you and cast it back into the wine-dark sea,
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§ 5.350 far from the land, and turn yourself away.” So saying, the goddess gave him the veil, then herself dove back into the billowing sea, disguised as a gull, and dark wave covered her. Then long-suffering divine Odysseus pondered,
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§ 5.355 and troubled, he said to his own great-hearted spirit: “Oh my me, may it not be that some immortal again weaves a trap for me, whoever orders me get off my raft? But I won't obey just yet, since I myself saw with my eyes the land is far away, where she said I'd have safe refuge.
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§ 5.360 Instead I'll do it just this way, as it seems best to me. As long as the timbers are held together by the cables, I'll stay where I am and endure it, suffering sorrows, but after the waves break my raft into pieces, I'll swim, since there's nothing better to plan besides that.”
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§ 5.365 While he was turning this over in his mind and heart, Earth-shaker Poseidon raised a great wave, dread and grievous, overarching, and drove it against him. As a stormy wind shakes a heap of dried chaff and scatters it in one direction and another,
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§ 5.370 so it scattered the long timbers. Then Odysseus straddled one timber, as if riding a horse, and took off the clothes divine Calypso gave him. At once he stretched the veil beneath his chest, dropped down headfirst into the sea, and spread out his arms,
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§ 5.375 eager to swim. His majesty Earth-shaker saw him, and with a shake of his head, said to his own spirit: “So now, suffering many evils, wander on the sea until you mingle with Zeus -nurtured men. But even so, I don't expect you'll take your badness lightly.”
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§ 5.380 So saying, he whipped his fair-maned horses and went to Aegae, where he has a splendid home. Then Zeus's daughter Athena thought of other things. She tied down the courses of the other winds and bid all of them to stop and go to sleep.
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§ 5.385 She roused swift North Wind and broke the waves before him until he could mingle with the oar-loving Phaeacians, Zeus -born Odysseus, escaping death's spirits and death. Then for two nights and two days he was driven off course by the solid wave, and many times his heart foresaw destruction.
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§ 5.390 But when fair-haired Dawn brought the third day on, right then after that the wind stopped and there was a windless calm. He caught sight of land nearby, looking forward very keenly when lifted by a great wave. As when life appears welcome to the children
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§ 5.395 of a father who lies in sickness and suffers mighty pains, wasting away a long time as some loathesome divinity assails him, and then welcomely, the gods free him from the badness, so welcome to Odysseus seemed the land and woodland, and he swam in eager haste to set foot on the land.
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§ 5.400 But when he was as far away as one shouting can be heard, he heard the thud of the sea against the reefs, for a great wave was crashing against the dry land, belching terribly, and all was wrapped in sea's spray. For there were no harbors, ships' holders, not even roadsteads,
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§ 5.405 but there were jutting spits, rocks, and reefs. Right then Odysseus' knees and dear heart were undone, and troubled, he said to his own great-hearted spirit: “O my, after Zeus has granted that I see unhoped for land, and I've managed at last to cut through this gulf,
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§ 5.410 no exit out of the gray sea appears anywhere. For outside there are sharp rocks, and dashing waves bellow about them, then the rock runs up smooth, the sea is deep near shore, and it's not possible to stand with both feet and escape distress,
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§ 5.415 lest a great wave perhaps snatch me as I get out and throw me against the stony rock and my effort will be in vain. But if I swim along still further, in hope of finding beaches, angled to the waves and harbors from the sea, I'm afraid a windstorm may snatch me up again
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§ 5.420 and bear me, groaning heavily, over the fishy sea, or a divinity may set upon me some great monster out of the sea, such as the many famed Amphitrite breeds, for I know how the famed Earth-shaker hates me.” While he was turning this over in his mind and heart,
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§ 5.425 a great wave carried him to the rugged shore. His skin would have been stripped off there, and his bones crushed with it, if bright-eyed goddess Athena hadn't put this in his mind. He rushed at the rock and grabbed it with both hands. He held onto it, groaning, until the great wave passed.
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§ 5.430 And this way he escaped it, but as it flowed back again it rushed at him and struck him, then threw him far out on the sea. As when pebbles cling thickly to the suckers of an octopus pulled out of its hole, so the skin was stripped away from his bold hands
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§ 5.435 against the rocks. The great wave now covered him. Then, wretched beyond his lot, Odysseus would have perished had not bright-eyed Athena given him prudence. Emerging from the wave as it belched toward the mainland, he swam out along it, looking toward land in hope he'd find
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§ 5.440 beaches, angled to the waves and harbors from the sea. But when he swam and reached the mouth of a fair-flowing river, there the place seemed best, free of rocks, and there was shelter from the wind. He recognized him flowing forth and in his heart he prayed:
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§ 5.445 “Listen, lord, whoever you are. I reach you, long prayed for, as I flee out of the sea from the threats of Poseidon. He's worthy of compassion, even for immortal gods, any man who comes as a wanderer, as I come too now to your current and to your knees, after much toil.
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§ 5.450 So have mercy, lord. I claim that I'm your suppliant.” So said he, and he immediately stopped his current, held the wave, made a calm before him, and brought him safely into the river's outlet. He bent both his knees and his well-knit hands, for his dear heart had been tamed by the sea.
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§ 5.455 All his flesh was swollen, and much sea oozed up through his nose and mouth. He lay breathless and speechless, with barely strength to move, and grim exhaustion had reached him. But when he came to and his spirit gathered in his heart, right then he loosened the god's veil from him
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§ 5.460 and threw it into the river as it flowed into the sea. A great wave carried it back down the current, and Ino at once received it in her dear hands. He drew back from the river, leaned under a bed of reeds, kissed the grain-giving earth, and troubled, said to his own great-hearted spirit:
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§ 5.465 “Oh my me, what am I to suffer? What surely may become of me at last? If I keep watch in the river through the uncomfortable night, I'm afraid evil frost and fresh dew together will tame me, when from weakness I gasp out my spirit, and the breeze from the river blows chill early in the morning.
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§ 5.470 If I climb the hillside to the thickly-shaded woods, and lie down to sleep in the thick bushes, in hope that cold and exhaustion let go of me and sweet sleep come upon me, I'm afraid I'll become the spoil and prey for wild beasts.” Upon consideration, this seemed better to him.
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§ 5.475 He made his way to the woods. He found it near the water in a clearing. He went under two bushes growing out of the same place, one a wild olive, one an olive. Neither the strength of wetly blowing wind would blow through them nor would the shining sun ever beat them with its rays,
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§ 5.480 nor would rain penetrate through them, they grew so thickly, intertwined with each other. Odysseus crawled under them. At once he scraped together a bed with his dear hands, a wide one, for there was a pile of leaves big enough to shelter either two or three men
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§ 5.485 in wintertime, even if it was very hard. Long-suffering divine Odysseus saw it and was glad, then lay in the middle and poured a pile of leaves upon himself. As when someone hides a firebrand in a black pile of ashes, on a remote farm with no other neighbors beside him,
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§ 5.490 to save a seed of fire, so not to get a light from somewhere else, so did Odysseus hide himself with leaves. Then Athena poured sleep upon his eyes, so she might most quickly give him rest from toilsome exhaustion by shrouding his dear eyelids.
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§ 6.1 BOOK 6 So, while long-suffering divine Odysseus slept there worn out by sleep and exhaustion, Athena came to the district and city of Phaeacian men, who once upon a time dwelt in broad-lawned Hypereia,
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§ 6.5 close by the Cyclopes, overbearing men, who were stronger and used to harass them violently. Getting them to migrate, godlike Nausithous led them from there and settled them in Scheria far from men who work for bread. He drove a wall around the city, had houses built,
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§ 6.10 made temples of the gods, and parceled out fields. But, tamed by fate, he had already gone to Hades. Alcinous, wise in counsel from the gods, ruled then. Bright-eyed goddess Athena made her way to his house with a scheme for the return home of great-hearted Odysseus.
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§ 6.15 She made her way to a richly-adorned chamber, in which a girl, like immortals in shape and form, slept, the daughter of great-hearted Alcinous, Nausicaa; and beside her, two handmaids, having beauty from the Graces, on each side of the doorposts. The shining doors were shut.
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§ 6.20 Like a breath of wind, she rushed to the girl's bed, stood above her head, and said to her, disguised as ship-famed Dymas' daughter, who was the same age and dear to her heart. Imitating that one, bright-eyed Athena said to her:
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§ 6.25 “ Nausicaa, why did your mother bear you, careless one? Your glittering clothes lie neglected, but your wedding is nigh, so you must wear fine clothes yourself and provide them to those who attend you. For, from these things, good credit rises up for you
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§ 6.30 among men, and your father and lady mother rejoice. So let's go do laundry as soon as dawn appears, and I'll come along with you as workmate, so you can get ready very quickly, since you won't be a maiden much longer. For already, throughout all Phaeacian districts,
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§ 6.35 nobles woo you, since their race is yours, too. But come, urge your famous father early in the morning to ready mules and wagon, to take girdles, robes and glittering fabrics. And, going this way is much better for you than on foot,
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§ 6.40 since the washing places are quite far from the city. So saying, bright-eyed Athena departed for Olympus, where they say the gods' abode is firm forever. It is not shaken by winds or ever wet by rain, and snow does not come near it, rather, cloudless clear air
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§ 6.45 spreads, and white sunlight plays, upon it. In it the blessed gods take pleasure every day. There the bright-eyed one departed, after she talked to the girl. Straightaway came fair-throned Dawn, who woke fair-robed Nausicaa. She marveled much at once about the dream,
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§ 6.50 then made her way through the house to report it to her parents, her beloved father and mother. She found them inside. Her mother was sitting at the hearth with handmaid women spinning sea-purple yarn. She met her father coming through a door with renowned kings
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§ 6.55 to a council where illustrious Phaeacians had called him. Standing very close to him, she said to her dear father: “Daddy dear, won't you ready me a wagon, a high, well-wheeled one, so I can take my splendid clothes, that lie dirty, to the river to wash them?
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§ 6.60 And, for you yourself it's fitting, when you're among the first ones taking counsel of their counsels, you have clean clothes for your flesh. In your halls you have five dear sons, two who are married, three lusty ones, unmarried, who always like having fresh-washed clothes
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§ 6.65 to go dancing. All this is on my mind.” So said she, for she was ashamed to mention lusty marriage to her beloved father, but he understood all and with a word answered: “Child, I begrudge you neither mules nor anything else. Go. The servants will ready a wagon for you,
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§ 6.70 a high, well-wheeled one, equipped with a cover.” So saying, he gave the servants orders and they obeyed him. While outside they equipped a well-wheeled mule-drawn wagon and led the mules under and yoked them to the wagon, the girl brought her shining clothing from the bedroom
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§ 6.75 and placed it in the well-polished wagon. Her mother placed in a chest abundant food of all kinds, then put cooked meat in it, then poured wine into a goatskin pouch. Then the girl got into the wagon. Then she gave her liquid olive oil in a gold oil flask
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§ 6.80 so she, with her handmaid women, could be anointed. She grabbed the whip and glittering reins and used the whip to drive them. There was the tramping sound of mules as they pulled ceaselessly forward and carried the clothing and her, not alone. The rest of her handmaids went along with her, too.
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§ 6.85 When they reached the gorgeous current of the river, where places for washing were always available and much water welled up, fine for cleaning even very dirty things, there they unharnessed the mules from the wagon and herded them beside the eddying river
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§ 6.90 to graze on honey-sweet clover. Then from the wagon they lifted the clothes with their hands and carried them into the dark water, and stomped on them rapidly in the basins, making a contest of it. Then after they'd washed and cleaned all the dirt away, they spread them in rows along the sea's shore, where the sea
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§ 6.95 had most washed pebbles upon dry land. They bathed and anointed themselves richly with olive oil, then took lunch beside the river's bank and waited for the clothes to dry in the bright light of the sun. Then after she and her servants had enjoyed the food
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§ 6.100 they threw off their veils and played with a ball, and white-armed Nausicaa led them in the sport. Just as arrow-shedding Artemis comes down from the mountains, from either Erymanthus or lofty Teugetus, and amuses herself with wild boars and swift deer,
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§ 6.105 and, along with her, nymphs, daughters of aegis-bearer Zeus, haunt the fields in play, and Leto rejoices at heart, as she holds her head and brows above them all and is easy to distinguish, though all are beautiful, so the unwedded maiden stood out among her handmaids.
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§ 6.110 But when she was just about to head back home, and had folded the fine clothes and yoked the mules, then bright-eyed goddess Athena thought of something else, how Odysseus should awaken and see the lovely girl who would guide him to the city of Phaeacian men.
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§ 6.115 Then the princess threw the ball toward a handmaid but missed the handmaid and threw it into a deep whirlpool. They shouted at length. Divine Odysseus awoke, sat up, and pondered in his mind and heart: “Oh my me, in what mortals' land have I arrived?
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§ 6.120 Are they wanton, unjust, and wild, or hospitable and have god-fearing minds? How a female battle cry surrounds me, of girls, of nymphs, who hold mountains' sheer peaks, and rivers' headwaters, and grassy meadows.
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§ 6.125 Or, am I somewhere close to men of mortal voice? But come, I'll try to find out for myself.” So saying, divine Odysseus emerged from the bushes, and with a thick hand broke off from the thicket a limb of leaves, to pull over his body to cover his genitals.
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§ 6.130 He made his way like a mountain-bred lion, sure in strength, who comes, though rained and blown upon, and in whom eyes blaze. He comes after sheep and cattle or deer in the wild, and his belly commands him to go, even into a fenced sheepfold, to try for sheep and goats.
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§ 6.135 So Odysseus was about to mix with the fair-haired girls, though he was naked, for the need had arrived. But, disfigured with brine, he seemed horrific to them, and they fled, here and there, to the spits. Only Alcinous' daughter remained, for Athena
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§ 6.140 had put courage in her heart and taken terror from her limbs. She stood and held her ground in front of him, as Odysseus pondered whether to clasp her knees and plead with the lovely girl or, keeping his distance, plead with words meant to win her if she'd give him clothes and show him the city.
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§ 6.145 Upon consideration, this seemed better to him, to plead at a distance with words meant to win her, lest the girl become angry at him clasping her knees. At once he spoke a cunning speech meant to win her: “I entreat you, my queen. Are you a god or mortal?
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§ 6.150 If you are a god, who holds wide heaven, I think you nearest Artemis, great Zeus's daughter, in figure, form, and stature. If you are a mortal, who dwells on the earth, thrice blessed are your father and lady mother,
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§ 6.155 thrice blessed your bothers. No doubt their heart is ever gladdened with happiness because of you, when they see such a young shoot going to join the dance. But that one, far beyond others, will be most blessed at heart who, weighed down with your bride price, leads you home.
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§ 6.160 For with my eyes I've never seen such a man or woman. Wonder holds me as I look at you. I saw such once, at Delos, beside the altar of Apollo, a young sapling of a palm tree shooting up. For I'd gone there, and a great throng had gone with me,
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§ 6.165 on that journey where I was to have bad trouble. In the same way that I marveled for a long time in my heart when I saw that, since such a shoot had never shot up from the earth, so, my lady, I wonder and marvel at you and am terribly afraid to clasp your knees. Hard sorrow comes upon me.
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§ 6.170 Yesterday, on the twentieth day, I escaped the wine-dark sea. That long had the waves and blustering storms borne me ever on from the island of Ogygia. Now destiny has cast me down here, so here I'll no doubt suffer evil too, for I don't think it will stop, but the gods will still bring much about beforehand.
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§ 6.175 But, my queen, take pity, for I've suffered many evils, and to you first I've come, but I know none of the others, the men who hold this land and city. Show me the city, and give me a rag to throw about me, if by chance you had a wrapper for cloths when you came here.
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§ 6.180 May the gods give you as much as your heart desires. May they grant you a husband, and also a house, and good like-mindedness, for nothing is better or stronger than when two, like-minded in disposition, keep a house as husband and wife. Many sorrows for enemies,
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§ 6.185 joys for well-wishers, they hear of especially. White-armed Nausicaa said back to him in turn: “Stranger, since you seem neither mindless nor evil, Olympian Zeus himself allots to men good fortune, to good and bad, to each as he wishes,
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§ 6.190 and he's given this by chance to you, so you surely must endure it. Now, since you've reached our land and city, you'll not want for clothing or anything else that is fitting for one who comes as a long-suffering supplicant. I'll show you the city, and tell you the name of its people.
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§ 6.195 The Phaeacians hold this land and city, and I am the daughter of great-hearted Alcinous, by whom both power and might are held from the Phaeacians. She spoke, and bid her fair-haired handmaids: “Stand with me, handmaids. To where do you flee on seeing a man?
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§ 6.200 Can it be you think he's one of the enemy men? This man is not, and a living mortal will not come to be, who'll come to the land of Phaeacian men bearing warfare, for we are very dear to the immortals. We dwell at a distance from the loud-breaking sea,
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§ 6.205 most remote, and not any other mortal mixes with us. But this one arrives here as a wretched wanderer whom we ought to take care of, for all strangers and beggars are from Zeus, and a gift both small and welcome. So, handmaids, give the stranger food and drink,
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§ 6.210 and wash him in the river, where there's shelter from the wind. So said she, and they stood giving each other orders, then sat Odysseus down at a sheltered spot, as Nausicaa, daughter of great-hearted Alcinous, had bidden. They placed beside him a cloak, a tunic, and clothing,
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§ 6.215 and gave liquid olive oil in a golden oil flask, then urged him to wash himself in the river's streams. Then divine Odysseus said to the handmaids: Handmaids, stand off a way, please, so I myself can wash the brine off my shoulders and rub them
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§ 6.220 with olive oil, for ointment is a long time off my flesh. I would not wash myself in front of you, for I am ashamed to find myself naked among fair-haired girls.” So said he, and they went off a distance and told the girl. Then in the river divine Odysseus washed from his flesh
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§ 6.225 the brine that covered his back and broad shoulders and wiped off his head the barren sea's scum. Then after he'd washed and richly anointed everything and put on the clothes the unwedded maiden gave him, then Athena, born of Zeus, made him
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§ 6.230 appear bigger and thicker and caused curly hair to fall from his head like a hyacinth flower. As when someone pours gold around silver, a skillful man whom Hephaestus and Pallas Athena have taught every kind of art, and fashions pleasing works,
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§ 6.235 so she poured grace upon his head and shoulders. Then he went a way off and sat on the shore of the sea, glistening in grace and beauty, and the girl gazed at him. Then she said to her fair-haired handmaids: “Hear me, white-armed handmaids, so I can say something.
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§ 6.240 Not against the will of all the gods who hold Olympus does this man commerce with the godlike Phaeacians. Though he seemed to me to be shameful before, now he's like the gods who hold wide heaven. If only such a one were to be called my husband,
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§ 6.245 one who abides here, and whom it pleases to remain here. So, handmaids, give the stranger food and drink.” So said she, and they heard well and obeyed her, and placed beside Odysseus food and drink. Long-suffering divine Odysseus ate and drank greedily
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§ 6.250 indeed, for he had not tasted food for a long time. Then white-armed Nausicaa thought of other things. She folded the clothes and put them in the fine wagon, yoked the strong-hoofed mules, and got in herself, then roused Odysseus, called him by name, and said this:
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§ 6.255 “Get up now, stranger, to go to the city, so I can send you to my skilled father's house, where I think you'll be seen by all the Phaeacians, all the best. But do it just this way, as you seem to me not without sense. While we're going through men's fields and farms,
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§ 6.260 go quickly with the handmaids, behind the mules and wagon. I will guide the way. Then when we come to the city, there's a lofty tower around it, and on either side of the city a fine harbor and a narrow entrance. Double-oared ships are drawn up
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§ 6.265 on the way, for all have a slip for each. There they have an assembly, a fine Posideum at its sides, the stones hauled in, fit together, and embedded. There they care for the black ships' equipment, cables and sails, and taper the oars.
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§ 6.270 For neither bow nor quiver matter to Phaeacians, but ships' masts and oars and ships are equal, with which in exultation they traverse the gray sea. I shun their unkind speech, lest someone censure us hereafter. They are very haughty throughout the district,

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.