The Odyssey
Minerva answered, “Stranger, you must be very simple, or must have come
from somewhere a long way off, not to know what country this is. It is
a very celebrated place, and everybody knows it East and West. It is
rugged and not a good driving country, but it is by no means a bad
island for what there is of it. It grows any quantity of corn and also
wine, for it is watered both by rain and dew; it breeds cattle also and
goats; all kinds of timber grow here, and there are watering places
where the water never runs dry; so, sir, the name of Ithaca is known
even as far as Troy, which I understand to be a long way off from this
Achaean country.”
Ulysses was glad at finding himself, as Minerva told him, in his own
country, and he began to answer, but he did not speak the truth, and
made up a lying story in the instinctive wiliness of his heart.
“I heard of Ithaca,” said he, “when I was in Crete beyond the seas, and
now it seems I have reached it with all these treasures. I have left as
much more behind me for my children, but am flying because I killed
Orsilochus son of Idomeneus, the fleetest runner in Crete. I killed him
because he wanted to rob me of the spoils I had got from Troy with so
much trouble and danger both on the field of battle and by the waves of
the weary sea; he said I had not served his father loyally at Troy as
vassal, but had set myself up as an independent ruler, so I lay in wait
for him with one of my followers by the road side, and speared him as
he was coming into town from the country. It was a very dark night and
nobody saw us; it was not known, therefore, that I had killed him, but
as soon as I had done so I went to a ship and besought the owners, who
were Phoenicians, to take me on board and set me in Pylos or in Elis
where the Epeans rule, giving them as much spoil as satisfied them.
They meant no guile, but the wind drove them off their course, and we
sailed on till we came hither by night. It was all we could do to get
inside the harbour, and none of us said a word about supper though we
wanted it badly, but we all went on shore and lay down just as we were.
I was very tired and fell asleep directly, so they took my goods out of
the ship, and placed them beside me where I was lying upon the sand.
Then they sailed away to Sidonia, and I was left here in great distress
of mind.”
Such was his story, but Minerva smiled and caressed him with her hand.
Then she took the form of a woman, fair, stately, and wise, “He must be
indeed a shifty lying fellow,” said she, “who could surpass you in all
manner of craft even though you had a god for your antagonist. Dare
devil that you are, full of guile, unwearying in deceit, can you not
drop your tricks and your instinctive falsehood, even now that you are
in your own country again? We will say no more, however, about this,
for we can both of us deceive upon occasion—you are the most
accomplished counsellor and orator among all mankind, while I for
diplomacy and subtlety have no equal among the gods. Did you not know
Jove’s daughter Minerva—me, who have been ever with you, who kept watch
over you in all your troubles, and who made the Phaeacians take so
great a liking to you? And now, again, I am come here to talk things
over with you, and help you to hide the treasure I made the Phaeacians
give you; I want to tell you about the troubles that await you in your
own house; you have got to face them, but tell no one, neither man nor
woman, that you have come home again. Bear everything, and put up with
every man’s insolence, without a word.”
And Ulysses answered, “A man, goddess, may know a great deal, but you
are so constantly changing your appearance that when he meets you it is
a hard matter for him to know whether it is you or not. This much,
however, I know exceedingly well; you were very kind to me as long as
we Achaeans were fighting before Troy, but from the day on which we
went on board ship after having sacked the city of Priam, and heaven
dispersed us—from that day, Minerva, I saw no more of you, and cannot
ever remember your coming to my ship to help me in a difficulty; I had
to wander on sick and sorry till the gods delivered me from evil and I
reached the city of the Phaeacians, where you encouraged me and took me
into the town.120 And now, I beseech you in your father’s name, tell me
the truth, for I do not believe I am really back in Ithaca. I am in
some other country and you are mocking me and deceiving me in all you
have been saying. Tell me then truly, have I really got back to my own
country?”
“You are always taking something of that sort in your head,” replied
Minerva, “and that is why I cannot desert you in your afflictions; you
are so plausible, shrewd and shifty. Any one but yourself on returning
from so long a voyage would at once have gone home to see his wife and
children, but you do not seem to care about asking after them or
hearing any news about them till you have exploited your wife, who
remains at home vainly grieving for you, and having no peace night or
day for the tears she sheds on your behalf. As for my not coming near
you, I was never uneasy about you, for I was certain you would get back
safely though you would lose all your men, and I did not wish to
quarrel with my uncle Neptune, who never forgave you for having blinded
his son.121 I will now, however, point out to you the lie of the land,
and you will then perhaps believe me. This is the haven of the old
merman Phorcys, and here is the olive tree that grows at the head of
it; [near it is the cave sacred to the Naiads;122 here too is the
overarching cavern in which you have offered many an acceptable
hecatomb to the nymphs, and this is the wooded mountain Neritum.”
As she spoke the goddess dispersed the mist and the land appeared. Then
Ulysses rejoiced at finding himself again in his own land, and kissed
the bounteous soil; he lifted up his hands and prayed to the nymphs,
saying, “Naiad nymphs, daughters of Jove, I made sure that I was never
again to see you, now therefore I greet you with all loving
salutations, and I will bring you offerings as in the old days, if
Jove’s redoubtable daughter will grant me life, and bring my son to
manhood.”
“Take heart, and do not trouble yourself about that,” rejoined Minerva,
“let us rather set about stowing your things at once in the cave, where
they will be quite safe. Let us see how we can best manage it all.”
Therewith she went down into the cave to look for the safest hiding
places, while Ulysses brought up all the treasure of gold, bronze, and
good clothing which the Phaeacians had given him. They stowed
everything carefully away, and Minerva set a stone against the door of
the cave. Then the two sat down by the root of the great olive, and
consulted how to compass the destruction of the wicked suitors.
“Ulysses,” said Minerva, “noble son of Laertes, think how you can lay
hands on these disreputable people who have been lording it in your
house these three years, courting your wife and making wedding presents
to her, while she does nothing but lament your absence, giving hope and
sending encouraging messages123 to every one of them, but meaning the
very opposite of all she says.”
And Ulysses answered, “In good truth, goddess, it seems I should have
come to much the same bad end in my own house as Agamemnon did, if you
had not given me such timely information. Advise me how I shall best
avenge myself. Stand by my side and put your courage into my heart as
on the day when we loosed Troy’s fair diadem from her brow. Help me now
as you did then, and I will fight three hundred men, if you, goddess,
will be with me.”
“Trust me for that,” said she, “I will not lose sight of you when once
we set about it, and I imagine that some of those who are devouring
your substance will then bespatter the pavement with their blood and
brains. I will begin by disguising you so that no human being shall
know you; I will cover your body with wrinkles; you shall lose all your
yellow hair; I will clothe you in a garment that shall fill all who see
it with loathing; I will blear your fine eyes for you, and make you an
unseemly object in the sight of the suitors, of your wife, and of the
son whom you left behind you. Then go at once to the swineherd who is
in charge of your pigs; he has been always well affected towards you,
and is devoted to Penelope and your son; you will find him feeding his
pigs near the rock that is called Raven124 by the fountain Arethusa,
where they are fattening on beechmast and spring water after their
manner. Stay with him and find out how things are going, while I
proceed to Sparta and see your son, who is with Menelaus at Lacedaemon,
where he has gone to try and find out whether you are still alive.”125
“But why,” said Ulysses, “did you not tell him, for you knew all about
it? Did you want him too to go sailing about amid all kinds of hardship
while others are eating up his estate?”
Minerva answered, “Never mind about him, I sent him that he might be
well spoken of for having gone. He is in no sort of difficulty, but is
staying quite comfortably with Menelaus, and is surrounded with
abundance of every kind. The suitors have put out to sea and are lying
in wait for him, for they mean to kill him before he can get home. I do
not much think they will succeed, but rather that some of those who are
now eating up your estate will first find a grave themselves.”
As she spoke Minerva touched him with her wand and covered him with
wrinkles, took away all his yellow hair, and withered the flesh over
his whole body; she bleared his eyes, which were naturally very fine
ones; she changed his clothes and threw an old rag of a wrap about him,
and a tunic, tattered, filthy, and begrimed with smoke; she also gave
him an undressed deer skin as an outer garment, and furnished him with
a staff and a wallet all in holes, with a twisted thong for him to
sling it over his shoulder.
When the pair had thus laid their plans they parted, and the goddess
went straight to Lacedaemon to fetch Telemachus.
BOOK XIV
ULYSSES IN THE HUT WITH EUMAEUS.
Ulysses now left the haven, and took the rough track up through the
wooded country and over the crest of the mountain till he reached the
place where Minerva had said that he would find the swineherd, who was
the most thrifty servant he had. He found him sitting in front of his
hut, which was by the yards that he had built on a site which could be
seen from far. He had made them spacious126 and fair to see, with a
free run for the pigs all round them; he had built them during his
master’s absence, of stones which he had gathered out of the ground,
without saying anything to Penelope or Laertes, and he had fenced them
on top with thorn bushes. Outside the yard he had run a strong fence of
oaken posts, split, and set pretty close together, while inside he had
built twelve styes near one another for the sows to lie in. There were
fifty pigs wallowing in each stye, all of them breeding sows; but the
boars slept outside and were much fewer in number, for the suitors kept
on eating them, and the swineherd had to send them the best he had
continually. There were three hundred and sixty boar pigs, and the
herdsman’s four hounds, which were as fierce as wolves, slept always
with them. The swineherd was at that moment cutting out a pair of
sandals127 from a good stout ox hide. Three of his men were out herding
the pigs in one place or another, and he had sent the fourth to town
with a boar that he had been forced to send the suitors that they might
sacrifice it and have their fill of meat.
When the hounds saw Ulysses they set up a furious barking and flew at
him, but Ulysses was cunning enough to sit down and loose his hold of