The Odyssey
to find your way home from Troy, and have you never yet got back to
Ithaca nor seen your wife in your own house?’
“‘Mother,’ said I, ‘I was forced to come here to consult the ghost of
the Theban prophet Teiresias. I have never yet been near the Achaean
land nor set foot on my native country, and I have had nothing but one
long series of misfortunes from the very first day that I set out with
Agamemnon for Ilius, the land of noble steeds, to fight the Trojans.
But tell me, and tell me true, in what way did you die? Did you have a
long illness, or did heaven vouchsafe you a gentle easy passage to
eternity? Tell me also about my father, and the son whom I left behind
me, is my property still in their hands, or has some one else got hold
of it, who thinks that I shall not return to claim it? Tell me again
what my wife intends doing, and in what mind she is; does she live with
my son and guard my estate securely, or has she made the best match she
could and married again?’
“My mother answered, ‘Your wife still remains in your house, but she is
in great distress of mind and spends her whole time in tears both night
and day. No one as yet has got possession of your fine property, and
Telemachus still holds your lands undisturbed. He has to entertain
largely, as of course he must, considering his position as a
magistrate,92 and how every one invites him; your father remains at his
old place in the country and never goes near the town. He has no
comfortable bed nor bedding; in the winter he sleeps on the floor in
front of the fire with the men and goes about all in rags, but in
summer, when the warm weather comes on again, he lies out in the
vineyard on a bed of vine leaves thrown any how upon the ground. He
grieves continually about your never having come home, and suffers more
and more as he grows older. As for my own end it was in this wise:
heaven did not take me swiftly and painlessly in my own house, nor was
I attacked by any illness such as those that generally wear people out
and kill them, but my longing to know what you were doing and the force
of my affection for you—this it was that was the death of me.’93
“Then I tried to find some way of embracing my poor mother’s ghost.
Thrice I sprang towards her and tried to clasp her in my arms, but each
time she flitted from my embrace as it were a dream or phantom, and
being touched to the quick I said to her, ‘Mother, why do you not stay
still when I would embrace you? If we could throw our arms around one
another we might find sad comfort in the sharing of our sorrows even in
the house of Hades; does Proserpine want to lay a still further load of
grief upon me by mocking me with a phantom only?’
“‘My son,’ she answered, ‘most ill-fated of all mankind, it is not
Proserpine that is beguiling you, but all people are like this when
they are dead. The sinews no longer hold the flesh and bones together;
these perish in the fierceness of consuming fire as soon as life has
left the body, and the soul flits away as though it were a dream. Now,
however, go back to the light of day as soon as you can, and note all
these things that you may tell them to your wife hereafter.’
“Thus did we converse, and anon Proserpine sent up the ghosts of the
wives and daughters of all the most famous men. They gathered in crowds
about the blood, and I considered how I might question them severally.
In the end I deemed that it would be best to draw the keen blade that
hung by my sturdy thigh, and keep them from all drinking the blood at
once. So they came up one after the other, and each one as I questioned
her told me her race and lineage.
“The first I saw was Tyro. She was daughter of Salmoneus and wife of
Cretheus the son of Aeolus.94 She fell in love with the river Enipeus
who is much the most beautiful river in the whole world. Once when she
was taking a walk by his side as usual, Neptune, disguised as her
lover, lay with her at the mouth of the river, and a huge blue wave
arched itself like a mountain over them to hide both woman and god,
whereon he loosed her virgin girdle and laid her in a deep slumber.
When the god had accomplished the deed of love, he took her hand in his
own and said, ‘Tyro, rejoice in all good will; the embraces of the gods
are not fruitless, and you will have fine twins about this time twelve
months. Take great care of them. I am Neptune, so now go home, but hold
your tongue and do not tell any one.’
“Then he dived under the sea, and she in due course bore Pelias and
Neleus, who both of them served Jove with all their might. Pelias was a
great breeder of sheep and lived in Iolcus, but the other lived in
Pylos. The rest of her children were by Cretheus, namely, Aeson,
Pheres, and Amythaon, who was a mighty warrior and charioteer.
“Next to her I saw Antiope, daughter to Asopus, who could boast of
having slept in the arms of even Jove himself, and who bore him two
sons Amphion and Zethus. These founded Thebes with its seven gates, and
built a wall all round it; for strong though they were they could not
hold Thebes till they had walled it.
“Then I saw Alcmena, the wife of Amphitryon, who also bore to Jove
indomitable Hercules; and Megara who was daughter to great King Creon,
and married the redoubtable son of Amphitryon.
“I also saw fair Epicaste mother of king Oedipodes whose awful lot it
was to marry her own son without suspecting it. He married her after
having killed his father, but the gods proclaimed the whole story to
the world; whereon he remained king of Thebes, in great grief for the
spite the gods had borne him; but Epicaste went to the house of the
mighty jailor Hades, having hanged herself for grief, and the avenging
spirits haunted him as for an outraged mother—to his ruing bitterly
thereafter.
“Then I saw Chloris, whom Neleus married for her beauty, having given
priceless presents for her. She was youngest daughter to Amphion son of
Iasus and king of Minyan Orchomenus, and was Queen in Pylos. She bore
Nestor, Chromius, and Periclymenus, and she also bore that marvellously
lovely woman Pero, who was wooed by all the country round; but Neleus
would only give her to him who should raid the cattle of Iphicles from
the grazing grounds of Phylace, and this was a hard task. The only man
who would undertake to raid them was a certain excellent seer,95 but
the will of heaven was against him, for the rangers of the cattle
caught him and put him in prison; nevertheless when a full year had
passed and the same season came round again, Iphicles set him at
liberty, after he had expounded all the oracles of heaven. Thus, then,
was the will of Jove accomplished.
“And I saw Leda the wife of Tyndarus, who bore him two famous sons,
Castor breaker of horses, and Pollux the mighty boxer. Both these
heroes are lying under the earth, though they are still alive, for by a
special dispensation of Jove, they die and come to life again, each one
of them every other day throughout all time, and they have the rank of
gods.
“After her I saw Iphimedeia wife of Aloeus who boasted the embrace of
Neptune. She bore two sons Otus and Ephialtes, but both were short
lived. They were the finest children that were ever born in this world,
and the best looking, Orion only excepted; for at nine years old they
were nine fathoms high, and measured nine cubits round the chest. They
threatened to make war with the gods in Olympus, and tried to set Mount
Ossa on the top of Mount Olympus, and Mount Pelion on the top of Ossa,
that they might scale heaven itself, and they would have done it too if
they had been grown up, but Apollo, son of Leto, killed both of them,
before they had got so much as a sign of hair upon their cheeks or
chin.
“Then I saw Phaedra, and Procris, and fair Ariadne daughter of the
magician Minos, whom Theseus was carrying off from Crete to Athens, but
he did not enjoy her, for before he could do so Diana killed her in the
island of Dia on account of what Bacchus had said against her.
“I also saw Maera and Clymene and hateful Eriphyle, who sold her own
husband for gold. But it would take me all night if I were to name
every single one of the wives and daughters of heroes whom I saw, and
it is time for me to go to bed, either on board ship with my crew, or
here. As for my escort, heaven and yourselves will see to it.”
Here he ended, and the guests sat all of them enthralled and speechless
throughout the covered cloister. Then Arete said to them:—
“What do you think of this man, O Phaeacians? Is he not tall and good
looking, and is he not clever? True, he is my own guest, but all of you
share in the distinction. Do not be in a hurry to send him away, nor
niggardly in the presents you make to one who is in such great need,
for heaven has blessed all of you with great abundance.”
Then spoke the aged hero Echeneus who was one of the oldest men among
them, “My friends,” said he, “what our august queen has just said to us
is both reasonable and to the purpose, therefore be persuaded by it;
but the decision whether in word or deed rests ultimately with King
Alcinous.”
“The thing shall be done,” exclaimed Alcinous, “as surely as I still
live and reign over the Phaeacians. Our guest is indeed very anxious to
get home, still we must persuade him to remain with us until to-morrow,
by which time I shall be able to get together the whole sum that I mean
to give him. As regards his escort it will be a matter for you all, and
mine above all others as the chief person among you.”
And Ulysses answered, “King Alcinous, if you were to bid me to stay
here for a whole twelve months, and then speed me on my way, loaded
with your noble gifts, I should obey you gladly and it would redound
greatly to my advantage, for I should return fuller-handed to my own
people, and should thus be more respected and beloved by all who see me
when I get back to Ithaca.”
“Ulysses,” replied Alcinous, “not one of us who sees you has any idea
that you are a charlatan or a swindler. I know there are many people
going about who tell such plausible stories that it is very hard to see
through them, but there is a style about your language which assures me
of your good disposition. Moreover you have told the story of your own
misfortunes, and those of the Argives, as though you were a practiced
bard; but tell me, and tell me true, whether you saw any of the mighty
heroes who went to Troy at the same time with yourself, and perished
there. The evenings are still at their longest, and it is not yet bed
time—go on, therefore, with your divine story, for I could stay here
listening till tomorrow morning, so long as you will continue to tell
us of your adventures.”
“Alcinous,” answered Ulysses, “there is a time for making speeches, and
a time for going to bed; nevertheless, since you so desire, I will not
refrain from telling you the still sadder tale of those of my comrades
who did not fall fighting with the Trojans, but perished on their
return, through the treachery of a wicked woman.
“When Proserpine had dismissed the female ghosts in all directions, the
ghost of Agamemnon son of Atreus came sadly up to me, surrounded by
those who had perished with him in the house of Aegisthus. As soon as
he had tasted the blood, he knew me, and weeping bitterly stretched out
his arms towards me to embrace me; but he had no strength nor substance
any more, and I too wept and pitied him as I beheld him. ‘How did you
come by your death,’ said I, ‘King Agamemnon? Did Neptune raise his
winds and waves against you when you were at sea, or did your enemies
make an end of you on the main land when you were cattle-lifting or
sheep-stealing, or while they were fighting in defence of their wives
and city?’
“‘Ulysses,’ he answered, ‘noble son of Laertes, I was not lost at sea