The Odyssey
were all the bravest of the Argives waiting to bring death and
destruction on the Trojans. Anon he sang how the sons of the Achaeans
issued from the horse, and sacked the town, breaking out from their
ambuscade. He sang how they overran the city hither and thither and
ravaged it, and how Ulysses went raging like Mars along with Menelaus
to the house of Deiphobus. It was there that the fight raged most
furiously, nevertheless by Minerva’s help he was victorious.
All this he told, but Ulysses was overcome as he heard him, and his
cheeks were wet with tears. He wept as a woman weeps when she throws
herself on the body of her husband who has fallen before his own city
and people, fighting bravely in defence of his home and children. She
screams aloud and flings her arms about him as he lies gasping for
breath and dying, but her enemies beat her from behind about the back
and shoulders, and carry her off into slavery, to a life of labour and
sorrow, and the beauty fades from her cheeks—even so piteously did
Ulysses weep, but none of those present perceived his tears except
Alcinous, who was sitting near him, and could hear the sobs and sighs
that he was heaving. The king, therefore, at once rose and said:
“Aldermen and town councillors of the Phaeacians, let Demodocus cease
his song, for there are those present who do not seem to like it. From
the moment that we had done supper and Demodocus began to sing, our
guest has been all the time groaning and lamenting. He is evidently in
great trouble, so let the bard leave off, that we may all enjoy
ourselves, hosts and guest alike. This will be much more as it should
be, for all these festivities, with the escort and the presents that we
are making with so much good will are wholly in his honour, and any one
with even a moderate amount of right feeling knows that he ought to
treat a guest and a suppliant as though he were his own brother.
“Therefore, Sir, do you on your part affect no more concealment nor
reserve in the matter about which I shall ask you; it will be more
polite in you to give me a plain answer; tell me the name by which your
father and mother over yonder used to call you, and by which you were
known among your neighbours and fellow-citizens. There is no one,
neither rich nor poor, who is absolutely without any name whatever, for
people’s fathers and mothers give them names as soon as they are born.
Tell me also your country, nation, and city, that our ships may shape
their purpose accordingly and take you there. For the Phaeacians have
no pilots; their vessels have no rudders as those of other nations
have, but the ships themselves understand what it is that we are
thinking about and want; they know all the cities and countries in the
whole world, and can traverse the sea just as well even when it is
covered with mist and cloud, so that there is no danger of being
wrecked or coming to any harm. Still I do remember hearing my father
say that Neptune was angry with us for being too easy-going in the
matter of giving people escorts. He said that one of these days he
should wreck a ship of ours as it was returning from having escorted
some one,74 and bury our city under a high mountain. This is what my
father used to say, but whether the god will carry out his threat or no
is a matter which he will decide for himself.
“And now, tell me and tell me true. Where have you been wandering, and
in what countries have you travelled? Tell us of the peoples
themselves, and of their cities—who were hostile, savage and
uncivilised, and who, on the other hand, hospitable and humane. Tell us
also why you are made so unhappy on hearing about the return of the
Argive Danaans from Troy. The gods arranged all this, and sent them
their misfortunes in order that future generations might have something
to sing about. Did you lose some brave kinsman of your wife’s when you
were before Troy? a son-in-law or father-in-law—which are the nearest
relations a man has outside his own flesh and blood? or was it some
brave and kindly-natured comrade—for a good friend is as dear to a man
as his own brother?”
BOOK IX
ULYSSES DECLARES HIMSELF AND BEGINS HIS STORY—-THE CICONS, LOTOPHAGI,
AND CYCLOPES.
And Ulysses answered, “King Alcinous, it is a good thing to hear a bard
with such a divine voice as this man has. There is nothing better or
more delightful than when a whole people make merry together, with the
guests sitting orderly to listen, while the table is loaded with bread
and meats, and the cup-bearer draws wine and fills his cup for every
man. This is indeed as fair a sight as a man can see. Now, however,
since you are inclined to ask the story of my sorrows, and rekindle my
own sad memories in respect of them, I do not know how to begin, nor
yet how to continue and conclude my tale, for the hand of heaven has
been laid heavily upon me.
“Firstly, then, I will tell you my name that you too may know it, and
one day, if I outlive this time of sorrow, may become my guests though
I live so far away from all of you. I am Ulysses son of Laertes,
renowned among mankind for all manner of subtlety, so that my fame
ascends to heaven. I live in Ithaca, where there is a high mountain
called Neritum, covered with forests; and not far from it there is a
group of islands very near to one another—Dulichium, Same, and the
wooded island of Zacynthus. It lies squat on the horizon, all highest
up in the sea towards the sunset, while the others lie away from it
towards dawn.75 It is a rugged island, but it breeds brave men, and my
eyes know none that they better love to look upon. The goddess Calypso
kept me with her in her cave, and wanted me to marry her, as did also
the cunning Aeaean goddess Circe; but they could neither of them
persuade me, for there is nothing dearer to a man than his own country
and his parents, and however splendid a home he may have in a foreign
country, if it be far from father or mother, he does not care about it.
Now, however, I will tell you of the many hazardous adventures which by
Jove’s will I met with on my return from Troy.
“When I had set sail thence the wind took me first to Ismarus, which is
the city of the Cicons. There I sacked the town and put the people to
the sword. We took their wives and also much booty, which we divided
equitably amongst us, so that none might have reason to complain. I
then said that we had better make off at once, but my men very
foolishly would not obey me, so they staid there drinking much wine and
killing great numbers of sheep and oxen on the sea shore. Meanwhile the
Cicons cried out for help to other Cicons who lived inland. These were
more in number, and stronger, and they were more skilled in the art of
war, for they could fight, either from chariots or on foot as the
occasion served; in the morning, therefore, they came as thick as
leaves and bloom in summer, and the hand of heaven was against us, so
that we were hard pressed. They set the battle in array near the ships,
and the hosts aimed their bronze-shod spears at one another.76 So long
as the day waxed and it was still morning, we held our own against
them, though they were more in number than we; but as the sun went
down, towards the time when men loose their oxen, the Cicons got the
better of us, and we lost half a dozen men from every ship we had; so
we got away with those that were left.
“Thence we sailed onward with sorrow in our hearts, but glad to have
escaped death though we had lost our comrades, nor did we leave till we
had thrice invoked each one of the poor fellows who had perished by the
hands of the Cicons. Then Jove raised the North wind against us till it
blew a hurricane, so that land and sky were hidden in thick clouds, and
night sprang forth out of the heavens. We let the ships run before the
gale, but the force of the wind tore our sails to tatters, so we took
them down for fear of shipwreck, and rowed our hardest towards the
land. There we lay two days and two nights suffering much alike from
toil and distress of mind, but on the morning of the third day we again
raised our masts, set sail, and took our places, letting the wind and
steersmen direct our ship. I should have got home at that time unharmed
had not the North wind and the currents been against me as I was
doubling Cape Malea, and set me off my course hard by the island of
Cythera.
“I was driven thence by foul winds for a space of nine days upon the
sea, but on the tenth day we reached the land of the Lotus-eaters, who
live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we landed to take
in fresh water, and our crews got their mid-day meal on the shore near
the ships. When they had eaten and drunk I sent two of my company to
see what manner of men the people of the place might be, and they had a
third man under them. They started at once, and went about among the
Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus,
which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off caring about
home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to
them, but were for staying and munching lotus77 with the Lotus-eaters
without thinking further of their return; nevertheless, though they
wept bitterly I forced them back to the ships and made them fast under
the benches. Then I told the rest to go on board at once, lest any of
them should taste of the lotus and leave off wanting to get home, so
they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars.
“We sailed hence, always in much distress, till we came to the land of
the lawless and inhuman Cyclopes. Now the Cyclopes neither plant nor
plough, but trust in providence, and live on such wheat, barley, and
grapes as grow wild without any kind of tillage, and their wild grapes
yield them wine as the sun and the rain may grow them. They have no
laws nor assemblies of the people, but live in caves on the tops of
high mountains; each is lord and master in his family, and they take no
account of their neighbours.
“Now off their harbour there lies a wooded and fertile island not quite
close to the land of the Cyclopes, but still not far. It is over-run
with wild goats, that breed there in great numbers and are never
disturbed by foot of man; for sportsmen—who as a rule will suffer so
much hardship in forest or among mountain precipices—do not go there,
nor yet again is it ever ploughed or fed down, but it lies a wilderness
untilled and unsown from year to year, and has no living thing upon it
but only goats. For the Cyclopes have no ships, nor yet shipwrights who
could make ships for them; they cannot therefore go from city to city,
or sail over the sea to one another’s country as people who have ships
can do; if they had had these they would have colonised the island,78
for it is a very good one, and would yield everything in due season.
There are meadows that in some places come right down to the sea shore,
well watered and full of luscious grass; grapes would do there
excellently; there is level land for ploughing, and it would always
yield heavily at harvest time, for the soil is deep. There is a good
harbour where no cables are wanted, nor yet anchors, nor need a ship be
moored, but all one has to do is to beach one’s vessel and stay there
till the wind becomes fair for putting out to sea again. At the head of
the harbour there is a spring of clear water coming out of a cave, and
there are poplars growing all round it.
“Here we entered, but so dark was the night that some god must have
brought us in, for there was nothing whatever to be seen. A thick mist
hung all round our ships;79 the moon was hidden behind a mass of clouds
so that no one could have seen the island if he had looked for it, nor
were there any breakers to tell us we were close in shore before we