The <I>Odyssey</I>

Home > Fantasy > The <I>Odyssey</I> > Page 50
The <I>Odyssey</I> Page 50

by Homer


  His talk was heartening, yet he’d joined in the death-plot.

  The lady walked upstairs to her glistening bedroom.

  She cried for her dear husband Odysseus till glow-eyed

  450

  Athene sprinkled honeyed sleep on her eyelids.

  Back at the Farmhouse

  The godlike swineherd approached the son and Odysseus

  briskly at dusk. They’d stood there, ready for dinner:

  a year-old boar had been slaughtered. However Athene,

  standing close to Odysseus, the son of Laertes,

  touched him again with her wand. She made him an old man:

  She dressed him in ugly clothes to hinder the swineherd

  from knowing the man on sight or going to thought-full

  Penelopeia with news, not guarding the secret.

  First Telemakhos spoke up, telling the swineherd,

  460

  “You’re back, godlike Eumaios: what news from the city?

  Are manly suitors home from their ambush already?

  Or waiting to catch me still as I sail to my own house?”

  Then Eumaios the swineherd, you answered by saying,

  “It never came to mind as I moved through the city

  to ask those questions. My heart told me to swiftly

  get back home as soon as I stated your message.

  One of your own men joined me, a quick-footed herald,

  telling your mother first—he gave her our message.

  “I do know something else I saw with my own eyes.

  470

  Hiking above the city and Mound of Hermes,

  by chance I spotted a nimble vessel approaching

  Ithaka’s harbor. Plenty of men were aboard her,

  loaded with sharp, two-edged lances and round shields.

  I thought they might be suitors. Still I am not sure.”

  He stopped and Telemakhos smiled—his power was holy—

  catching his father’s eye but avoiding the swineherd’s.

  A Hearty Meal and a Good Sleep

  So now as the work was done and dinner was ready,

  they sat and ate. No heart lacked a share of the good meal.

  After the craving for food and drink was behind them

  480

  they thought about rest, the gift of sleep, and they took it.

  BOOK 17 Unknown in His Own House

  Off to the City

  When newborn Dawn came on with her rose-fingered daylight,

  Telemakhos, well-loved son of godlike Odysseus,

  tied beneath his feet two beautiful sandals

  and took a rugged spear fitting his hand well.

  Anxious to go to the city, he said to the swineherd,

  “Uncle, I’m off to the city so that my Mother

  can see me there. I doubt she’ll stop crying before then—

  all those tears, that joyless mourning and wailing—

  not till she looks at her son. I charge you with one thing:

  guide our sorry guest to the town. There he can cower

  10

  for food and those inclined may give him a cupful

  of water and bread. There’s no way now I can burden

  myself with all such beggars: my own heart is too troubled.

  So if the stranger’s very annoyed it will only

  make things worse. I like telling the truth here.”

  An answer came from Odysseus, full of his own plans:

  “My friend, I’m hardly longing myself to be left here.

  Better to plead in town than beg in the farmland

  for food for in town any man who wants to can help me.

  I’m not at the age to stay on a farm any longer

  20

  the way I am, obeying all the rules of a head man.

  So you go on. This man you ordered will take me

  soon as I’m warmed by the fire and sunlight is warmer.

  My clothes are wretchedly poor, I fear the morning

  frost could break me down—you say the city’s a long way.”

  After he spoke Telemakhos walked from the farmhouse,

  moving fast and brooding on harm for the suitors.

  Very Loving Women

  In time he came to the house where people had lived well.

  He stood the spear in its place: it leaned on a high post.

  Then passing over the stone threshold he walked in.

  30

  The first to see him by far was the nurse Eurukleia,

  spreading fleeces on chairs whose wood had been well-carved.

  She cried out, came to him straight, and plenty of other

  maids of steadfast Odysseus gathered around him,

  kissing his head and shoulders. They welcomed him warmly.

  Thought-full Penelopeia came from her own room,

  ♦ looking like Artemis, bright as the gold Aphrodite.

  She threw her arms around the son she had so loved,

  crying and kissing his head and both of his handsome

  eyes. She wept and her words had a feathery swiftness,

  40

  “You came, Telemakhos! Oh, I thought I would never

  see you again, sweet light, when you sailed to Pulos

  against my will in secret for news of your well-loved

  father who’s gone. Tell me how you met him or saw him.”

  Time for the Vengeance of Zeus

  But now Telemakhos gave her a sensible answer.

  “Please don’t rouse the heart in my chest as you make me

  mourn, Mother. I’ve run just now from a steep doom.

  You should bathe and put fresh clothes on your body.

  Go upstairs to your room with your women and handmaids.

  Vow to all of the Gods you’ll render them flawless

  50

  hecatombs, praying Zeus will act in revenge now.

  “I’ll go to the assembly place to welcome a stranger

  myself who joined us—we came together from Pulos.

  I sent the man ahead with my godlike crewmen,

  telling Peiraios to take the man to his own house,

  welcome and honor him gladly until I arrive there.”

  He spoke that way and because her answer was wingless

  she left him to bathe. She put clean clothes on her body

  and vowed to all the Gods she’d render them flawless

  hecatombs, praying Zeus might take his revenge now.

  60

  An Outward Show of Regard

  Telemakhos made his way through the hall to the outdoors,

  taking a spear. Two white dogs followed him closely.

  Athene showered grace and awe on the young man:

  everyone gazed and admired him now as he drew near.

  Brash and disdainful suitors gathered around him

  sounding fine, but at heart they were planning to hurt him.

  Shortly he moved away from the large crowding of suitors.

  where Antiphos, Mentor and Halitherses were sitting—

  close friends of his father right from the outset—

  Telemakhos took a chair. They asked about each thing.

  70

  Presents from Menelaos

  Peiraios came on now, known for a spear-throw.

  He’d led the stranger through town to this place of assembly.

  Soon Telemakhos turned to him, walked to the stranger,

  but first Peiraios wanted to speak and he asked him,

  “Telemakhos, hurry and send your maids to my household.

  I want to send you back the gifts Menelaos gave you.”

  Still Telemakhos gave him a sensible answer.

  “Peiraios, we don’t know how these doings will turn out.

  Maybe the manly suitors will cut me down in the great hall

  in secret and split up all the wealth of my Fathers.

  80

  I want you to have them with joy—not one of the suitors. />
  If I can seed their doom though, make for their own deaths,

  you’ll carry the gifts to my house in joy and in my joy.”

  A Welcome for the Stranger

  He stopped and led his hard-tried guest to his own house.

  After they entered the building where people had lived well,

  the two men laid their cloaks on a chair and a high-backed

  throne and then walked to the polished chamber to take baths.

  Handmaids washed them, rubbed their bodies with rich oil,

  then tossed a beautiful mantle and tunic around each.

  They left the bathroom then and sat on the good chairs.

  90

  A handmaid brought them water: she poured from a pitcher

  of stunning gold and they washed their hands in her silver

  basin. She set out a polished table before them.

  An honored housekeeper brought them bread and arranged it.

  She laid out plenty of meat, graceful and giving.

  A Woman’s Longing

  Telemakhos’s mother faced them too in the great hall.

  She leaned in her chair by a post, spinning her fine wool.

  Their hands went out to the good things lying before them.

  After the craving for wine and food was behind them,

  thought-full Penelopeia started by saying,

  100

  “Telemakhos, soon I’ll surely go to my upstairs

  room and lie on a bed that’s turned into mourning,

  always wet with tears from the time that Odysseus

  left me for Troy with Atreus’s sons. Still you have not yet

  dared to tell me, before the brash suitors came in the palace,

  about your father’s homecoming. Maybe you heard tell.”

  News from Pulos and Sparte

  Telemakhos promptly gave her a sensible answer.

  “Well then, Mother, I’ll tell you myself what the truth is.

  We went to Pulos first, to Nestor, a shepherd of people.

  There in his high-built house he gave me a welcome,

  110

  glad as fathers for sons newly arriving from far off

  after a long time gone. He cared in that joyful

  way with his own dear sons, young men who are well-praised.

  Yet he told me he’d heard nothing of steadfast Odysseus,

  whether alive or dead. No one on earth had informed him.

  “He sent me on by horse-team though, a tight-fitted chariot,

  to Atreus’s son Menelaos, known for his spear-throw.

  I saw Helen of Argos there, the cause of so many

  Argive and Trojan struggles willed by the great Gods.

  Menelaos, good at a war-cry, was quick with his questions:

  120

  why did I need to travel to bright Lakedaimon?

  Deer in the Lion’s Den

  “After I told him the whole truth of the matter,

  that ruler found his words and answered me this way:

  ‘Look at this! Men who’d lie in the bed of a strongly

  spirited man are themselves lacking in courage.

  The way a doe might rest her fawns when they’re suckling,

  newly born, in the lair of a powerful lion:

  she goes off looking to graze on a hillside or grassy

  vale but the lion’s back too soon to his own lair—

  what a sorry end for both of the young deer!

  130

  Odysseus too will bring a sorry end to the suitors.

  I pray to Zeus, our Father, Athene and Apollo:

  make him the man he was in strong-founded Lesbos,

  the day he stood up and faced Philomeleides wrestling.

  He threw him with force and every Akhaian applauded.

  If only that strong Odysseus dealt with the suitors,

  they’d all be dead in a hurry—that bitter a marriage!

  What Happened in Egypt

  ‘But on to the questions you ask. I’ll hardly mislead you,

  wandering far from the point. Nor would I fool you:

  I’ll tell you the tale I heard from an errorless old man

  140

  and lord of the sea. I won’t keep anything hidden.

  He told me he saw your father in strong pain on an island,

  kept in a Nymph’s hall: Kalupso had forced him

  to stay. He can’t get back to the land of his fathers,

  lacking a ship with oars and lacking crewmen

  to send him over the broad back of the salt sea.’

  “Those were the words of Atreus’s son Menelaos,

  known for a spear-throw. With all that ended I sailed off.

  Gods gave me a sea-wind sending me fast to my homeland.”

  The Prophet’s Word

  He spoke that way, stirring the heart in her bosom.

  150

  ♦ Godlike Theoklumenos spoke to her also.

  “Honored wife of Odysseus, son of Laertes,

  he can’t know all the truth. Hear out my own words,

  I’ll prophesy fully what’s coming. It’s not to be hidden,

  Zeus be my witness, first among Gods, this table

 

‹ Prev