Homer, Odyssey

§ 9.1 BOOK 9 Adroit Odysseus said to him in reply: “Your majesty Alcinous, most exalted of all men, it's surely a fine thing, listening to a singer such as this one is, in voice just like the gods.

§ 9.5 For I say that no occasion is in any way more pleasant than when merriment takes hold, throughout the whole kingdom, and guests, throughout the house, sit in rows listening to a singer, while beside them tables are full of bread and meat, and, drawing wine from the mixing bowl,

§ 9.10 the wine bearer brings and pours it into goblets. In a way, this seems to my mind the finest thing there is, but your heart is inclined to ask about my woeful troubles, so that I'll groan still more in lamentation. What first, what last, will I recount for you then,

§ 9.15 since the heavenly gods have given me many troubles? First, I'll speak my name now, so you'll know it, too, and, once I've escaped the ruthless day, I may be your host, though I live in a home that's far away. I am Odysseus Laertiades, who am of interest to all men

§ 9.20 for my wiles, and my fame reaches heaven. I live in clear Ithaca. On it is a mountain, Neriton, conspicuous with trembling leaves. Around it many islands lie very close to one another, Doulichion, Same, and wooded Zacynthus.

§ 9.25 It lies low on the sea, farthest off toward the gloom, with the others off toward sun and dawn, rugged, but a good nurse of youths. Indeed, I can't see that anything else is sweeter than one's own land. Indeed, a goddess divine, Calypso, detained me in her place,

§ 9.30 in hollow caves, eager that I be her husband. Likewise, the crafty Aeaean, Circe, held me back in her palace, eager that I be her husband, but never persuaded the heart in my chest. So, nothing becomes sweeter than one's fatherland

§ 9.35 and parents, even if one lives in a rich house far away, in a foreign country, far from his parents. But come, let me tell you of my return, full of troubles that Zeus sent to me on my way from Troy. “The wind carried and drove me from Ilium to the Ciconians,

§ 9.40 at Ismarus. There I sacked the city and destroyed them. We took their wives and many possessions from the city, and divided up so none would go cheated of a fair share by me. Then indeed I ordered that with nimble feet we flee, but, greatly foolish, they did not obey.

§ 9.45 Then much wine was drunk, and by the shore they slaughtered many sheep and lumbering curved-horn cattle. Meanwhile, the Ciconians had gone and cried out to Ciconians who were were more numerous and stronger, their neighbors living inland, skilled in fighting men

§ 9.50 from horses, and where needed, on foot. They came then, in the morning, as many as leaves and flowers come in season. Then Zeus's evil destiny was with us, grimly doomed, so that we would suffer many sorrows. Setting up for battle, they fought beside the swift ships,

§ 9.55 and threw bronze spears at each other. While it was morning and sacred day was growing, we stayed and fought them off though there were more of them. But when the sun had passed beyond the time to unyoke oxen, right then Ciconians turned and tamed Achaeans,

§ 9.60 and six well-greaved comrades from each ship were killed, but the rest of us escaped death and doom. “We sailed on from there with grief in our hearts at the loss of our dear comrades, glad to have escaped death. But my double-curved ships sailed no further

§ 9.65 until someone called out three times to each of our wretched comrades who died on the plain, cut down by the Ciconians. Cloud-gatherer Zeus aroused North Wind against the ships, with a marvelous furious storm, and hid with clouds both land and sea, as night rushed from heaven.

§ 9.70 The ships were borne sideways, and the wind's force tore our sails into three and even four pieces. We lowered them into the ships, fearing destruction, and hurriedly rowed our ships toward the mainland. For two days and two nights we lay there, without ever a break,

§ 9.75 eating our hearts in pain and exhaustion. But when fair-haired Dawn brought the third day on, we set up the masts, hoisted the white sails, and took our seats, then wind and pilots steered them. And now I would have reached my fatherland unscathed,

§ 9.80 but current, wave, and North Wind drove me back rounding Malea and pushed me off course past Cythera. “Nine days I was carried by baneful winds over the fishy sea, but on the tenth we landed in the land of the Lotus Eaters, who eat a flowery food.

§ 9.85 We went ashore there and drew water, and my comrades soon took dinner beside our swift ships. Then after they partook of food and drink, I then sent comrades to go and find out who the men were who ate bread upon the earth.

§ 9.90 I chose two men, and sent a third with them as a herald, who went and soon mingled with the Lotus Eater men, and the Lotus Eaters did not intend destruction for our comrades, but gave them lotus to partake of. Whoever of them ate the honey-sweet fruit of the lotus

§ 9.95 no longer wished to report or come back, but wanted to stay there among the Lotus Eater men to feed on lotus and forget return home. I brought them by force, weeping, to the ships, then, dragged them in the hollow ships and tied them under the benches.

§ 9.100 Then I ordered the rest of my trusty comrades to board the fast ships in a hurry, lest by chance anyone eat lotus and forget return home, then they went aboard at once and sat down at the oarlocks, and, seated in rows, beat the gray sea with their oars.

§ 9.105 “We sailed on from there with grief in our hearts. We reached the land of the haughty, lawless Cyclopes, who, trusting in the gods immortal, neither plow nor plant trees with their hands, but everything grows unplowed and unsown,

§ 9.110 wheat and barley, and vines that bear clusters of grapes for wine, and Zeus's rain makes them grow for them. They have neither advisory councils nor established laws, but they live on the peaks of high mountains, in hollow caves, and each one is the judge

§ 9.115 of his wives and children, but they don't heed one another. “A rough island stretches outside the harbor, neither near nor far from the Cyclopes' land, a wooded one, on which there are countless wild goats, for the coming and going of men does not drive them away,

§ 9.120 nor do hunters enter it, who in forests suffer sorrows as they haunt mountain peaks. So, filled with neither flocks nor fields, all its days unplowed and unsown instead, the island is without men but feeds bleating goats.

§ 9.125 For the Cyclopes have no vermilion-cheeked ships, nor are men among them shipwrights, who would have built well-benched ships that could fulfill each one's needs and take them to cities of mankind, much as men often cross the sea with ships to each other,

§ 9.130 and who would have made the island well-settled for them. For the island isn't bad at all and would bear all things in season. For on it, by the gray sea's banks, there are meadows, watered, soft ones. Vines would be very hardy there. On it there's smooth land for plowing. They would always reap

§ 9.135 a deep crop in season, since beneath the surface it is very fertile. The harbor in it is safe anchorage, so there's no need for moorings, neither to cast anchors nor secure stern cables, instead, those who bring a ship to shore can await the time when sailors' hearts urge them and breezes favorably blow.

§ 9.140 Then, at the harbor's head, splendid water flows, a spring from under a cave, around which poplars grow. We sailed down there, and some god guided us through the murky night, and there was no light to see, for a deep mist was around the ships, and the moon

§ 9.145 didn't shine from heaven, but was shrouded in clouds. No one saw the island with his eyes then, nor did we see the great waves rolling toward dry land, before we brought our well-benched ships to land. When the ships landed, we lowered all the sails

§ 9.150 and went ashore ourselves at the edge of sea's surf. We fell asleep there and awaited divine Dawn. “When early-born rose-fingered Dawn appeared, we marveled at the island as we roamed thoughout it. Nymphs, aegis-bearer Zeus's daughters,

§ 9.155 roused mountain goats so my comrades could have dinner. At once we grabbed curved bows and goat spears with long collars from the ships, split into three groups, and threw. God soon gave us abundant game. Twelve ships followed me, and nine goats fell by lot

§ 9.160 to each. For me alone they picked out ten. So then all day until the sun went down, we sat feasting on boundless meat and sweet wine. For the red wine wasn't yet used up from the ships, but was still in them, for each had drawn much into jars

§ 9.165 with two handles when we took the Ciconians' sacred citadel. We gazed at the land of the Cyclopes, who were nearby, saw their smoke and heard the cry of goats and rams. When the sun went down and dusk came on, we laid down then to sleep at the edge of sea's surf.

§ 9.170 When early-born rose-fingered Dawn appeared, right then I held an assembly and said among them all:'Trusty comrades of mine, the rest of you stay here now, while I go with my ship and my comrades to find out about these men, whoever they are,

§ 9.175 whether they're wanton, unjust, and wild, or hospitable and have god-fearing minds.' “So saying, I boarded my ship and bid my comrades get aboard themselves and free up the stern cables. Then they went aboard at once and sat down at the oarlocks,

§ 9.180 and, seated in rows, beat the gray sea with their oars. But when we reached the place, nearby as it was, there at the edge, near the sea, we saw a cave, a high one overgrown with laurels. Many sheep, rams and goats, too, spent the night there. A high fence

§ 9.185 had been built around it, with embedded stones, tall pines, and lofty, leafy oaks. A monstrous man spent the night there, who used to tend his sheep alone and far away, and did not go among others, but kept his distance and had a mood for lawlessness.

§ 9.190 For he'd been made a monstrous wonder, and did not seem like a man who eats bread but like a wooded peak of high mountains that appears apart from others. “Then I ordered the rest of my trusty comrades to stay where they were beside the ship and guard it.

§ 9.195 Then I chose twelve of the best of my comrades and went. But I had a goatskin bag of sweet black wine, that Maron, Euantheus' son, a priest of Apollo, who straddles Ismarus, had given me because out of respect we protected him, with his wife

§ 9.200 and child, for he lived in a wooded grove of Phoebus Apollo. He gave me splendid gifts. He gave me seven talents of well-worked gold, gave me a solid silver mixing bowl, and then, into double-handled jars, twelve in all, he drew

§ 9.205 sweet unmixed wine, a drink divine. None of the slaves or handmaids in his house, but only he, his wife, and one housekeeper, knew it. Whenever they would drink that honey-sweet red wine, he'd fill a goblet full with twenty measures of water and pour

§ 9.210 it in, then a sweet smell would spread from the mixing bowl, a marvelous smell, and it would please no one to abstain. I filled a big wineskin full of it and brought provisions, too, in a leather sack, for my manly heart imagined I would soon come upon a man clad in great might,

§ 9.215 a wild one, who knew well neither law nor justice. “We arrived quickly at the cave, but didn't find him inside, since he was herding his fat sheep through pasture. We went into the cave and gazed at every single thing. Baskets were loaded with cheeses, and pens were crowded

§ 9.220 with kids and lambs, and each kind was sorted out and penned, the yearlings separately, the ones born after separately, and, again, the ones just born. All the crafted vessels, the pails and buckets he milked into, flowed with whey. Then my comrades begged me, first of all,

§ 9.225 that they help themselves to the cheeses and go back, then later, drive the kids and lambs out of their pens to our swift ship and sail over the briny water. But I didn't give in, though that would've been much better, so I could see him and in hope he'd give me guest gifts.

§ 9.230 As it turned out, he'd be no welcome sight for my comrades. “We lit a fire there, made an offering to the gods, helped ourselves to the cheese and ate, sat down inside and waited for him, until the herder neared. He carried a heavy load of dry wood to be of use to him at dinner,

§ 9.235 and made a loud crash throwing it inside the cave. We scurried off in fear to the innermost part of the cave. Then into the wide cavern he drove his fat sheep, all the ones he milked, but left the males at the door, the billy goats and rams, outside in the deep courtyard.

§ 9.240 But then he lifted high and put in place a big door rock, a mighty one. Twenty-two good four-wheeled wagons would not have heaved it from the ground. Such a steep rock he put in place in the doorway. He sat and milked the sheep and bleating goats,

§ 9.245 completely properly, and under each he pushed its young. Soon he curdled half the white milk, collected it in plaited baskets, and put it away, but the other half he let stand in the vessels, so it'd be his to take and drink and be used at dinner by him.

§ 9.250 Then after he'd quickly done his work, right then he lit a fire, caught sight of us, and asked:'Who are you, strangers? From where did you sail the watery ways? On some business, or did you roam at random, even as pirates over the sea, who roam,

§ 9.255 and risk their lives, and bring evil to foreigners?' “So said he, and in turn our dear heart snapped in fear of his deep voice and monstrous body. But even so, I said to him in answer:'We're Achaeans, driven off course from Troy

§ 9.260 by all kinds of winds over the great gulf of the sea, and on our way home we took a different route, wrong ways, as I suppose Zeus wished to contrive it. We claim we're people of Atreides Agamemnon, whose fame is now greatest under heaven,

§ 9.265 for he sacked so great a city and destroyed many men. Now we've reached your knees in supplication, in hope you'll give some guest gift or even in a different way give a present, which is the right of strangers. But revere the gods, most noble one. We are supplicants to you.

§ 9.270 Zeus is the avenger of supplicants and strangers, the guest god, who attends venerable strangers.' “So said I, and he answered me at once with a ruthless heart:'Stranger, you're a fool, or come from far away, to bid me to either avoid or fear the gods,

§ 9.275 for Cyclopes don't heed aegis-bearer Zeus or the blessed gods, since, indeed, we are far better. I wouldn't avoid Zeus' hatred, and spare either you or your comrades, unless my heart bid me. But tell me where you moored your ship when you came here,

§ 9.280 at the border, perhaps, or just nearby, so I'll know it.' “So said he, testing me, but with my great experience I didn't miss it, instead, with guileful words, I said back to him:'Earth-shaker Poseidon shattered my ship, throwing it against the rocks at the border of your land,

§ 9.285 driving it against headland, and wind from the sea took it. But, with the ones here, I escaped sheer destruction.' “So said I, but with a ruthless heart, he answered me nothing, instead, he sprang up and threw his hands upon my comrades, grabbed two at once and dashed them, like puppies,

§ 9.290 to the ground. Brain flowed out on the ground and wet the earth. He cut through them, limb from limb, and prepared dinner. He ate, like a mountain-bred lion, and left nothing, entrails, flesh, and marrowy bones. We held our hands up to Zeus and wailed, when we saw

§ 9.295 his reckless deeds, and helplessness took hold of our hearts. Then after the Cyclops had filled his great stomach, eating human meat and drinking unmixed milk on top of it, he lay inside the cave and stretched out among the sheep. I planned in my great-hearted heart

§ 9.300 to get closer to him, draw my sharp sword from beside my thigh, and stab him in the chest, where the midriff holds the liver, feeling for it with my hand. But a second thought restrained me, for, where we were, we too would perish in sheer destruction, since we would not be able, with our hands, to push

§ 9.305 from the lofty door the mighty stone he'd put there. So then, with groans, we awaited divine Dawn. “When early-born rose-fingered Dawn appeared, right then he lit a fire and milked his famous sheep, completely properly, and under each he pushed its young.

§ 9.310 Then after he'd quickly done his work, he again grabbed two at once and prepared breakfast. He ate his meal and drove his fat sheep from the cave and easily removed the great door rock. But then at once he put it in place, as if he were putting a lid in place on a quiver.

§ 9.315 With much whistling, the Cyclops turned his fat sheep toward the mountains. Then I was left, deeply contemplating evil, in hope I'd somehow make him pay and Athena'd grant me glory. And in my heart this plan seemed best. For Cyclops' big club lay beside the pen,

§ 9.320 a green one of olive wood that he'd cut, to carry when it dried. We looked at it and made it out to be as big as the mast of a black ship with twenty oars, a wide cargo ship that goes out on the great gulf, such was it in length, such in thickness, to behold.

§ 9.325 I stood next to it, cut off a fathom's length, set it next to my comrades, and bid them taper it. They made it smooth, as I stood by and sharpened the end, then I quickly took and hardened it in burning fire and put it well away, hiding it under dung,

§ 9.330 which in exceedingly great amount was spread throughout the cave. Then I ordered the others to cast lots to see who'd dare to lift the stake with me to grind it in his eye when sweet sleep came upon him. They chose by lot the ones I myself would have wanted chosen,

§ 9.335 four of them, then I counted fifth among them. He came at evening, herding his fine-fleeced sheep and at once drove his fat sheep into the wide cave, all of them, and left none in the deep courtyard outside, either suspecting something or as a god so bid him.

§ 9.340 But then he lifted high and put in place the big door rock, sat, and milked the sheep and bleating goats, completely properly, and under each he pushed its young. Then after he'd quickly done his work, he again grabbed two at once and prepared dinner.

§ 9.345 Right then I went close and spoke to the Cyclops, holding a wooden cup of black wine in my hands:' Cyclops, take it, drink the wine, after you've eaten human meat, so you can see what kind of drink our ship contained. I brought it for you now as a libation, that you would pity me

§ 9.350 and send me home, but now you're intolerably angry. Reckless one, why would anyone else, of multitudes of men, ever come to you later, since you haven't acted properly?' “So said I, and he took and drank it, and was terribly pleased drinking the sweet drink, and in turn asked me for seconds:

§ 9.355'Give me some more, freely, and tell me your name right now, so I can give you a guest gift which you'll enjoy, since for Cyclopes the grain-giving earth bears clusters of grapes for wine, and Zeus's rain makes them grow for them, but this is like a bit of ambrosia and nectar!'

§ 9.360 “So said he, then I handed him in turn the sparkling wine. Three times I brought and gave it and three times he drank in folly. Then after the wine had gone around the Cyclops' mind, right then I spoke to him with words meant to win him:'You ask me my famous name, Cyclops? Then I'll tell you,

§ 9.365 but give me a guest gift, just as you promised. My name is Nobody. And they call me Nobody, my mother and father and all my comrades as well.' “So said I, and he answered me at once with a ruthless heart:'I'll eat Nobody last among his comrades,

§ 9.370 and the others before him. That'll be my guest gift to you.' “He spoke, leaned back, fell on his back, then afterwards lay, thick neck drooping, and sleep, the tamer of all, seized him. Wine, and bits of human flesh, burst from his gullet, and, drunk with wine, he belched.

§ 9.375 Right then I drove the stake under deep ashes until it got hot, and with words encouraged all my comrades, lest any of mine flinch in fear. But when, before long, the olive-wood stake in the fire, green as it was, was about to catch fire and glowed terribly,

§ 9.380 right then I brought it nearer, out of the fire, and my comrades stood about me. Then a divinity breathed great confidence in us. While they lifted the olive-wood stake, sharp at the end, and thrust him in his eye, I pressed my weight from above and twisted it, as when some man bores a ship's plank

§ 9.385 with an auger, while others below rotate it with a strap they clasp at either end, so it always runs continuously. So we took the fire-sharpened stake and twisted it in his eye, and blood, hot as it was, flowed around it. The breath of his burning pupil singed all around his eyelids

§ 9.390 and eyebrows, and the roots of his eye crackled with fire. As when a smith man plunges a big axe or adze in cold water to temper it, and it hisses greatly, for this is how it has again the strength of iron, so his eye sizzled around the olive-wood stake.

§ 9.395 He let out a great horrifying cry, the rock echoed, and we scurried off in fear. He pulled the stake, stained with lots of blood, out of his eye, then, in a frenzy, threw it from him with his hands, and called loudly to the Cyclopes who lived

§ 9.400 about him in caves along the windy hilltops. They heard his cry, came from one place or another, stood around his cave, and asked what distressed him:'What's hurt you so, Polyphemus, that you've cried out this way, through the ambrosial night and made us sleepless?

§ 9.405 No one mortal drives away your sheep, against your will, does he? No one's killing you, by guile or violence, is he?' “From his cave mighty Polyphemus said back to them:'My friends! Nobody is killing me, by guile and not by violence!' “They spoke winged words in reply:

§ 9.410'If, alone as you are, no one does you violence, there's no way to avoid sickness from great Zeus, so, pray to your father lord Poseidon.' “So said they and then went away, and my dear heart laughed, at how my name and noble cunning had tricked him.

§ 9.415 The Cyclops, groaning in the throes of agony, felt around with his hands, took the stone from the door, sat down in the doorway, and spread out his arms in hope he'd catch someone walking out the door with his sheep, for in his mind he hoped I was so foolish.

§ 9.420 But I was pondering how the best by far could happen, in the hope of finding some release from death for my comrades and myself. I wove all my tricks and cunning, as it meant our lives, for great evil was at hand. And in my heart this plan seemed best.

§ 9.425 The male sheep were well-fed, thick-fleeced, big and beautiful, with violet-dark wool. I tied them together in silence, with well-plaited willow branches on which the Cyclops, monster with a mood for lawlessness, used to sleep, taking them three at a time. The one in the middle carried a man,

§ 9.430 and the other two went on either side, saving my comrades, and three sheep carried each man, but for me there was a ram, the best by far of all the sheep, that I grabbed by the back and lay curled beneath his shaggy belly. Then, turned around, I held onto his abundant fleece

§ 9.435 with my hands continuously with a steadfast heart. So then, with groans, we awaited divine Dawn. “When early-born rose-fingered Dawn appeared, Right then the male sheep scurried out to pasture but the unmilked females bleated about their pens

§ 9.440 for their udders were bursting. Their master, worn out by evil agonies, felt along the backs of all the sheep standing upright, but the fool didn't notice it, how they were tied beneath the breasts of his woolly-fleeced sheep. Last of the sheep, the ram walked through the door,

§ 9.445 encumbered by wool and shrewdly scheming me. Mighty Polyphemus felt him and said:'Pet ram, why have you gone this way through my cave, last of the sheep? You never before went left behind by sheep, but were first by far to graze on smooth blades of grass,

§ 9.450 taking long strides, first to reach rivers' streams, first eager to depart for the sheepfold at evening. But now you're last of all. Surely, you miss your master's eye, that an evil man, with his wretched comrades, blinded, when tamed my mind with wine,

§ 9.455 Nobody, whom I think has not yet escaped destruction. If you but thought as I, and became able to speak, to tell where that one skulks away from my fury, then his brain would be dashed to the ground here and there throughout the cave, when he was smashed, and my heart

§ 9.460 would recover from the evils no-account Nobody gave me.' “So saying, he sent the ram from him through the door. When we'd gone a little way away from the cave and courtyard, I first freed myself from under the ram, then released my comrades. We quickly rounded up many of the long-shanked sheep,

§ 9.465 fat with fat, and drove them, until we reached our ship. We were a welcome sight to our dear comrades, those of us who'd escaped death. They groaned and wept for the others. But I did not let them cry, and raised my brows to each to tell him so. Instead, I bid them quickly load in the ship

§ 9.470 the many fine-fleeced sheep and set sail on the briny water. Then they went aboard at once and sat down at the oarlocks, and, seated in rows, beat the gray sea with their oars. But when I was as far away as one shouting can be heard, right then I spoke to the Cyclops with mocking words:

§ 9.475' Cyclops, you weren't just going to eat a defenseless man's comrades in your hollow cave with mighty violence. Surely, your evil deeds were going to catch up with you, reckless one, since you did not shrink from eating strangers in your house, so Zeus and other gods have made you pay!'

§ 9.480 “So said I, then he became more enraged at heart, broke off the peak of a big mountain and hurled it, threw it down beyond our cyan-prowed ship, and barely missed reaching the tip of the rudder. The sea was dashed up by the stone as it went down,

§ 9.485 and the wave that rushed back soon carried the ship to the mainland, and the flood from the sea drove it to come to dry land. Then taking a very long pole in my hands, I pushed off and along, then, by nodding my head to my comrades, urged and bid them lay on the oar handles, so we'd get out of danger,

§ 9.490 and they threw themselves forward and rowed. But when we passed over the sea and were twice as far away, right then I spoke to the Cyclops, as my comrades about me, from one place or another, restrained me with words meant to win me.'Reckless one, why do you want to provoke a wild man,

§ 9.495 who just now threw a missile at the sea and brought our ship back to dry land, and we thought right there we'd perished? If he'd heard one of us speaking or making a sound, he'd have thrown, and smashed our heads and the ship's timbers at the same time with a jagged rock, for that's how far he throws.'