The Adventures of Ulysses the Wanderer Part 1

The Adventures of Ulysses the Wanderer.

by Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull.

FOREWORD

Seven fair and ill.u.s.trious cities of the dim, ancient world, Argos, Athenae, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, Rhodos, Smyrna, fought a war of words over HOMER'S birthplace.

Each claimed the honour.

And if, indeed, such an accident of chance confers an honour upon a town, then the birthplace of the Greatest Poet of all time should be a place of pilgrimage.

For, among the weavers of Epos, Drama, and Romance, he who was called Melesegenes is first of all and wears an imperishable crown.

For 3000 years his fame has streamed down the ages.

The world has changed. Great empires have risen, flowered and pa.s.sed.

Christianity came, flooding mankind with light, at a time when, though Homer was a dim tradition, his work was a living force in the world.

When Christ was born, Homerus was dead 900 years.

A man with such immensity of glory ceases to be a man. He becomes a Force.

Of the two imperishable monuments Homer has left us, the decision of critical scholarship has placed the _Iliad_ first. It has been said that the _Iliad_ is like the midday, the _Odyssey_ like the setting sun. Both are of equal splendour, though the latter has lost its noonday heat.

But I would take that adroit simile and draw another meaning from it.

When deferred, expected night at last approaches, when the sun paints the weary west with faery pictures of glowing seas, of golden islands hanging in the sky, of lonely magic waterways unsailed by mortal keels; then, indeed, there comes into the heart and brain another warmth,--the mysterious quickening of Romance.

For I think that the ringing sound of arms, the vibrant thriddings of bows, the clash of heroes, are far less wonderful than the long, lonely wanderings of Ulysses.

Through all the _Odyssey_ the winds are blowing, the seas moaning, and the estranged sad spectres of the night flit noiselessly across the printed page.

Through new lands, among new peoples--friends and foes--touching at green islands set like emeralds in wine-coloured seas, the immortal mariner moves to the music of his creator's verse. The Sirens' voices, the Fairy's enchanted wine, the Twin Monsters of the Strait pa.s.s and are forgotten.

His wife's tears bid him ever towards home.

I sometimes have wondered if Vergil thought of Ulysses when he made his own lesser wanderer say:--

"Per varios casus per tot discrimina rerum, Tendimus in Latium, sedes ubi fata quietas Ostendunt."

And now, since we are to have, on that so magical a stage, a concrete picture: since we are to take away another storied memory from beneath the copper dome, I feel that the story of Ulysses may once more be told in English.

A fine poet, a great player, are to give us an Ulysses who must perforce be not only full of the spirit of his own age of myth, but instinct with the spirit of this.

That is as inevitable as it is interesting.

The "Gentle Elia" (how one wishes one could find a better name for him--but custom makes cowards of us all) has written his own version of the _Odyssey_. I cannot emulate that. But I think I can at least be useful.

There are three stages of knowing Homer: the time when one dog's ears and dogrells him at school, the time when one loves him, a literary love! at Oxford, and the time when the _va et vient_ of life in great capitals wakes the dormant Ulysses in the heart of every artist, and he begins to understand.

"The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset----"

_C. RANGER-GULL._

A BRIEF ACCOUNT

OF THE

PRINc.i.p.aL CHARACTERS IN THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES, ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT WRITERS AND LEGENDS.

ULYSSES. The hero of Homer's great poem was known to the Greeks under the name of Odysseus. He was king of the pastoral islands of Ithaca and Dulichium. Most of the petty Greek chieftains became suitors for the hand of the beautiful Helen, and Ulysses was among the number, but withdrew when he realised the smallness of his chances. He then married Penelope, the daughter of Icarius, and at the same time joined with the other unsuccessful lovers of Helen in a sworn league for her future protection should she ever stand in need of it. He then returned to Ithaca with his bride. The rape of Helen soon compelled him to leave Penelope and join the other Grecian princes in the great war against Troy. He endeavoured to avoid the summons by pretending madness. Yoking a horse and a bull together, he began to plough the sands of the sea sh.o.r.e. The messenger who was sent to him took Telemachus, the infant son of Ulysses, and placed the child in the direct course of the plough, in this way circ.u.mventing his design.

Ulysses was one of the most prominent figures during the Trojan war, his valour, and still more his cunning, making him of supreme importance in the councils of the princes. After the Trojan war Ulysses set sail for home, and at this period of his career the story of the _Odyssey_ begins. He was driven by malevolent winds on to the sh.o.r.es of Africa, where he and his mariners were captured by the one-eyed giant, Polyphemus, who ate five of the band. Ulysses escaped by thrusting a stake into the giant's eye and then leaving the cave in which he was confined by crawling under the bellies of the sheep when the Cyclops led them to pasture. He next arrives at aeolia, and aeolus gave him, imprisoned in bags, all the evil winds which were likely to obstruct his safe return homewards. The sailors, curious to know what the bags contained, opened them, and the imprisoned winds, rushing out with fearful violence, destroyed the whole fleet save only the vessel which bore Ulysses. The ship was thrown on the sh.o.r.es of the G.o.ddess Circe's enchanted island, and the companions of Ulysses were changed into swine by the enchantress. Ulysses escaped the like fate by means of a magic herb he had received from Mercury, and forced the G.o.ddess to bring his friends to their original shape. He then yielded to her solicitations and made her the mother of Telegonus. The next stage of his adventures brings him to Hades, where he goes to consult the shade of the wise Tiresias as to the means of reaching home in safety. He pa.s.ses the terrible coasts of the Sirens unhurt, and escaped the monsters Scylla and Charybdis by a series of narrow chances. In Sicily his sailors, urged by extreme hunger, killed some of Apollo's cattle, and the Sun-G.o.d in revenge destroyed all his companions and also his ship. Ulysses alone escaped on a raft and swam to the sh.o.r.es of an island belonging to Calypso, with whom he lived a lotos life as husband for seven years. The G.o.ds eventually interfered, and Ulysses, once more properly equipped, set out on his travels again. However, Neptune (Poseidon), the lord of the sea, still remembered the injury done to his son, the giant Polyphemus, and wrecked this ship also.

Ulysses was cast up on the island of the Phoeacians, where he was hospitably received by King Alcinous and his daughter the Princess Nausicaa, and at last sent home in safety to his own kingdom after an absence of more than twenty years. The G.o.ddess Athene befriended him, and informed him that his palace was crowded with debauched and insolent suitors for the hand of Queen Penelope, but that his wife was still faithful and unceasingly mourned his loss. Adopting the advice of the G.o.ddess, he disguised himself in rags to see for himself the state of his home. He then slew the suitors and lived quietly at home for the remaining sixteen years of his adventurous life. Tradition says that he at last met his death at the hands of his illegitimate son Telegonus.

PENELOPE. A famous Graecian princess, wife of Ulysses. She married at about the same time that Helen wedded King Menelaus, and returned home to Ithaca with her husband against the wishes of her father Icarius of Sparta. During the long absence of Ulysses she was besieged by suitors for her hand, who established themselves in the palace. She became practically their prisoner, and was compelled to dissimulate and put them off by various excuses. She managed to keep her importunate guests in some sort of good humour by giving out that she would make a choice among them as soon as she had completed a piece of tapestry on which she was engaged. Each night she undid the st.i.tches she had worked in the daytime. On the return of Ulysses she was, of course, freed from the suitors by her husband. According to some ancient writers, after the death of Ulysses she married Telegonus, Ulysses'

son by the G.o.ddess Circe. Her name Penelope sprung from some river-birds who were called "Penelopes."

TELEMACHUS. The son of Ulysses and Penelope. When his father left for the Trojan war Telemachus was but an infant, but at the close of the campaign he went to seek him and to obtain what information he could about his father's absence. When Ulysses returned home in disguise Athene brought son and parent together, and the two concerted means to rid the palace of the suitors. After the death of Ulysses, Telemachus is said to have gone to the island of Circe and married the enchantress, formerly his father's mistress. A son called Latinus sprung from this union.

ATHENE (Minerva). The G.o.ddess of Wisdom was born from Zeus' brain without a mother. She sprang from his head in full armour. She was the most powerful of the G.o.ddesses and the friend of mankind. She was the patroness of Ulysses, and it was believed she first invented ships.

Her chast.i.ty was inviolable. Her worship was universal.

ZEUS (Jupiter). Chief of all the G.o.ds. His att.i.tude towards Ulysses was friendly owing to the persuasion of his daughter Athene.

POSEIDON (Neptune) was the Sea G.o.d and next in power to Zeus. He was the father of the giant Polyphemus whom Ulysses blinded, and is the consistent enemy of Ulysses throughout the whole _Odyssey_. Neptune was the brother of Zeus.

HERMES (Mercury) was the messenger of the G.o.ds and a son of Zeus. He was especially the patron of travellers and well disposed to Ulysses.

TIRESIAS was in life a celebrated soothsayer and philosopher of Thebes. His wisdom was universal. Having inadvertently seen the G.o.ddess Athene bathing in the fountain of Hippocrene, he was blinded.

Ulysses visited his spirit in Hades, in order to obtain his advice as to the journey homewards to Ithaca.

CIRCE. An enchantress celebrated for her knowledge of the magic properties of herbs. She was of extreme personal beauty. In girlhood she married the prince of Colchis, whom she murdered to obtain his kingdom. She was thereon banished to the fairy island of aeaea. When Ulysses visited her sh.o.r.es she changed his companions into swine, but Ulysses was protected by the magic virtues of a herb called _moly_.

Ulysses spent a year in the arms of Circe, and she gave birth to a son called Telegonus.

CALYPSO. One of the daughters of Atlas, was known as the "bright-haired G.o.ddess of Silence," and was queen of the lost island of Ogygia. Ulysses spent seven years with her, and she bore him two sons. By order of Zeus, Hermes was sent to the island ordering Ulysses to leave his voluptuous sloth, and Calypso, who was inconsolable at his loss, was forced to allow him to depart. The legend runs that the G.o.ddess offered him the gift of immortality if he would remain with her.