The Odyssey of Homer Part 16

The course is easy. Learn it, taught by me.

What shade soe'er, by leave of thee obtain'd, Shall taste the blood, that shade will tell thee truth; The rest, prohibited, will all retire.

When thus the spirit of the royal Seer Had his prophetic mind reveal'd, again 180 He enter'd Pluto's gates; but I unmoved Still waited till my mother's shade approach'd; She drank the blood, then knew me, and in words Wing'd with affection, plaintive, thus began.

My son! how hast thou enter'd, still alive, This darksome region? Difficult it is For living man to view the realms of death.

Broad rivers roll, and awful floods between, But chief, the Ocean, which to pa.s.s on foot, Or without ship, impossible is found. 190 Hast thou, long wand'ring in thy voyage home From Ilium, with thy ship and crew arrived, Ithaca and thy consort yet unseen?

She spake, to whom this answer I return'd.

My mother! me necessity constrain'd To Pluto's dwelling, anxious to consult Theban Tiresias; for I have not yet Approach'd Achaia, nor have touch'd the sh.o.r.e Of Ithaca, but suff'ring ceaseless woe Have roam'd, since first in Agamemnon's train 200 I went to combat with the sons of Troy.

But speak, my mother, and the truth alone; What stroke of fate slew _thee_? Fell'st thou a prey To some slow malady? or by the shafts Of gentle Dian suddenly subdued?

Speak to me also of my ancient Sire, And of Telemachus, whom I left at home; Possess I still unalienate and safe My property, or hath some happier Chief Admittance free into my fortunes gain'd, 210 No hope subsisting more of my return?

The mind and purpose of my wedded wife Declare thou also. Dwells she with our son Faithful to my domestic interests, Or is she wedded to some Chief of Greece?

I ceas'd, when thus the venerable shade.

Not so; she faithful still and patient dwells Thy roof beneath; but all her days and nights Devoting sad to anguish and to tears.

Thy fortunes still are thine; Telemachus 220 Cultivates, undisturb'd, thy land, and sits At many a n.o.ble banquet, such as well Beseems the splendour of his princely state, For all invite him; at his farm retired Thy father dwells, nor to the city comes, For aught; nor bed, nor furniture of bed, Furr'd cloaks or splendid arras he enjoys, But, with his servile hinds all winter sleeps In ashes and in dust at the hearth-side, Coa.r.s.ely attired; again, when summer comes, 230 Or genial autumn, on the fallen leaves In any nook, not curious where, he finds There, stretch'd forlorn, nourishing grief, he weeps Thy lot, enfeebled now by num'rous years.

So perish'd I; such fate I also found; Me, neither the right-aiming arch'ress struck, Diana, with her gentle shafts, nor me Distemper slew, my limbs by slow degrees But sure, bereaving of their little life, 240 But long regret, tender solicitude, And recollection of thy kindness past, These, my Ulysses! fatal proved to me.

She said; I, ardent wish'd to clasp the shade Of my departed mother; thrice I sprang Toward her, by desire impetuous urged, And thrice she flitted from between my arms, Light as a pa.s.sing shadow or a dream.

Then, pierced by keener grief, in accents wing'd With filial earnestness I thus replied. 250 My mother, why elud'st thou my attempt To clasp thee, that ev'n here, in Pluto's realm, We might to full satiety indulge Our grief, enfolded in each other's arms?

Hath Proserpine, alas! only dispatch'd A shadow to me, to augment my woe?

Then, instant, thus the venerable form.

Ah, son! thou most afflicted of mankind!

On thee, Jove's daughter, Proserpine, obtrudes No airy semblance vain; but such the state 260 And nature is of mortals once deceased.

For they nor muscle have, nor flesh, nor bone; All those (the spirit from the body once Divorced) the violence of fire consumes, And, like a dream, the soul flies swift away.

But haste thou back to light, and, taught thyself These sacred truths, hereafter teach thy spouse.

Thus mutual we conferr'd. Then, thither came, Encouraged forth by royal Proserpine, Shades female num'rous, all who consorts, erst, 270 Or daughters were of mighty Chiefs renown'd.

About the sable blood frequent they swarm'd.

But I, consid'ring sat, how I might each Interrogate, and thus resolv'd. My sword Forth drawing from beside my st.u.r.dy thigh, Firm I prohibited the ghosts to drink The blood together; they successive came; Each told her own distress; I question'd all.

There, first, the high-born Tyro I beheld; She claim'd Salmoneus as her sire, and wife 280 Was once of Cretheus, son of aeolus.

Enamour'd of Enipeus, stream divine, Loveliest of all that water earth, beside His limpid current she was wont to stray, When Ocean's G.o.d, (Enipeus' form a.s.sumed) Within the eddy-whirling river's mouth Embraced her; there, while the o'er-arching flood, Uplifted mountainous, conceal'd the G.o.d And his fair human bride, her virgin zone He loos'd, and o'er her eyes sweet sleep diffused. 290 His am'rous purpose satisfied, he grasp'd Her hand, affectionate, and thus he said.

Rejoice in this my love, and when the year Shall tend to consummation of its course, Thou shalt produce ill.u.s.trious twins, for love Immortal never is unfruitful love.

Rear them with all a mother's care; meantime, Hence to thy home. Be silent. Name it not.

For I am Neptune, Shaker of the sh.o.r.es.

So saying, he plunged into the billowy Deep. 300 She pregnant grown, Pelias and Neleus bore, Both, valiant ministers of mighty Jove.

In wide-spread Iaolchus Pelias dwelt, Of num'rous flocks possess'd; but his abode Amid the sands of Pylus Neleus chose.

To Cretheus wedded next, the lovely nymph Yet other sons, aeson and Pheres bore, And Amythaon of equestrian fame.

I, next, the daughter of Asopus saw, Antiope; she gloried to have known 310 Th' embrace of Jove himself, to whom she brought A double progeny, Amphion named And Zethus; they the seven-gated Thebes Founded and girded with strong tow'rs, because, Though puissant Heroes both, in s.p.a.cious Thebes Unfenced by tow'rs, they could not dwell secure.

Alcmena, next, wife of Amphitryon I saw; she in the arms of sov'reign Jove The lion-hearted Hercules conceiv'd, And, after, bore to Creon brave in fight 320 His daughter Megara, by the n.o.ble son Unconquer'd of Amphitryon espoused.

The beauteous Epicaste[44] saw I then, Mother of Oedipus, who guilt incurr'd Prodigious, wedded, unintentional, To her own son; his father first he slew, Then wedded her, which soon the G.o.ds divulged.

He, under vengeance of offended heav'n, In pleasant Thebes dwelt miserable, King Of the Cadmean race; she to the gates 330 Of Ades brazen-barr'd despairing went, Self-strangled by a cord fasten'd aloft To her own palace-roof, and woes bequeath'd (Such as the Fury sisters execute Innumerable) to her guilty son.

There also saw I Chloris, loveliest fair, Whom Neleus woo'd and won with spousal gifts Inestimable, by her beauty charm'd She youngest daughter was of Iasus' son, Amphion, in old time a sov'reign prince 340 In Minueian Orchomenus, And King of Pylus. Three ill.u.s.trious sons She bore to Neleus, Nestor, Chromius, And Periclymenus the wide-renown'd, And, last, produced a wonder of the earth, Pero, by ev'ry neighbour prince around In marriage sought; but Neleus her on none Deign'd to bestow, save only on the Chief Who should from Phylace drive off the beeves (Broad-fronted, and with jealous care secured) 350 Of valiant Iphicles. One undertook That task alone, a prophet high in fame, Melampus; but the Fates fast bound him there In rig'rous bonds by rustic hands imposed.

At length (the year, with all its months and days Concluded, and the new-born year begun) Ill.u.s.trious Iphicles releas'd the seer, Grateful for all the oracles resolved,[45]

Till then obscure. So stood the will of Jove.

Next, Leda, wife of Tyndarus I saw, 360 Who bore to Tyndarus a n.o.ble pair, Castor the bold, and Pollux cestus-famed.

They pris'ners in the fertile womb of earth, Though living, dwell, and even there from Jove High priv'lege gain; alternate they revive And die, and dignity partake divine.

The comfort of Aloeus, next, I view'd, Iphimedeia; she th' embrace profess'd Of Neptune to have shared, to whom she bore Two sons; short-lived they were, but G.o.dlike both, 370 Otus and Ephialtes far-renown'd.

Orion sole except, all-bounteous Earth Ne'er nourish'd forms for beauty or for size To be admired as theirs; in his ninth year Each measur'd, broad, nine cubits, and the height Was found nine ells of each. Against the G.o.ds Themselves they threaten'd war, and to excite The din of battle in the realms above.

To the Olympian summit they essay'd To heave up Ossa, and to Ossa's crown 380 Branch-waving Pelion; so to climb the heav'ns.

Nor had they failed, maturer grown in might, To accomplish that emprize, but them the son[46]

Of radiant-hair'd Latona and of Jove Slew both, ere yet the down of blooming youth Thick-sprung, their cheeks or chins had tufted o'er.

Phaedra I also there, and Procris saw, And Ariadne for her beauty praised, Whose sire was all-wise Minos. Theseus her From Crete toward the fruitful region bore 390 Of sacred Athens, but enjoy'd not there, For, first, she perish'd by Diana's shafts In Dia, Bacchus witnessing her crime.[47]

Maera and Clymene I saw beside, And odious Eriphyle, who received The price in gold of her own husband's life.

But all the wives of Heroes whom I saw, And all their daughters can I not relate; Night, first, would fail; and even now the hour Calls me to rest either on board my bark, 400 Or here; meantime, I in yourselves confide, And in the G.o.ds to shape my conduct home.

He ceased; the whole a.s.sembly silent sat, Charm'd into ecstacy by his discourse Throughout the twilight hall, till, at the last, Areta iv'ry arm'd them thus bespake.

Phaeacians! how appears he in your eyes This stranger, graceful as he is in port, In stature n.o.ble, and in mind discrete?

My guest he is, but ye all share with me 410 That honour; him dismiss not, therefore, hence With haste, nor from such indigence withhold Supplies gratuitous; for ye are rich, And by kind heav'n with rare possessions blest.

The Hero, next, Echeneus spake, a Chief Now ancient, eldest of Phaeacia's sons.

Your prudent Queen, my friends, speaks not beside Her proper scope, but as beseems her well.

Her voice obey; yet the effect of all Must on Alcinous himself depend. 420 To whom Alcinous, thus, the King, replied.

I ratify the word. So shall be done, As surely as myself shall live supreme O'er all Phaeacia's maritime domain.

Then let the guest, though anxious to depart, Wait till the morrow, that I may complete The whole donation. His safe conduct home Shall be the gen'ral care, but mine in Chief, To whom dominion o'er the rest belongs.

Him answer'd, then, Ulysses ever-wise. 430 Alcinous! Prince! exalted high o'er all Phaeacia's sons! should ye solicit, kind, My stay throughout the year, preparing still My conduct home, and with ill.u.s.trious gifts Enriching me the while, ev'n that request Should please me well; the wealthier I return'd, The happier my condition; welcome more And more respectable I should appear In ev'ry eye to Ithaca restored.

To whom Alcinous answer thus return'd. 440 Ulysses! viewing thee, no fears we feel Lest thou, at length, some false pretender prove, Or subtle hypocrite, of whom no few Disseminated o'er its face the earth Sustains, adepts in fiction, and who frame Fables, where fables could be least surmised.

Thy phrase well turn'd, and thy ingenuous mind Proclaim _thee_ diff'rent far, who hast in strains Musical as a poet's voice, the woes Rehears'd of all thy Greecians, and thy own. 450 But say, and tell me true. Beheld'st thou there None of thy followers to the walls of Troy Slain in that warfare? Lo! the night is long-- A night of utmost length; nor yet the hour Invites to sleep. Tell me thy wond'rous deeds, For I could watch till sacred dawn, could'st thou So long endure to tell me of thy toils.

Then thus Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.

Alcinous! high exalted over all Phaeacia's sons! the time suffices yet 460 For converse both and sleep, and if thou wish To hear still more, I shall not spare to unfold More pitiable woes than these, sustain'd By my companions, in the end destroy'd; Who, saved from perils of disast'rous war At Ilium, perish'd yet in their return, Victims of a pernicious woman's crime.[48]

Now, when chaste Proserpine had wide dispers'd Those female shades, the spirit sore distress'd Of Agamemnon, Atreus' son, appear'd; 470 Encircled by a throng, he came; by all Who with himself beneath aegisthus' roof Their fate fulfill'd, perishing by the sword.

He drank the blood, and knew me; shrill he wail'd And querulous; tears trickling bathed his cheeks, And with spread palms, through ardour of desire He sought to enfold me fast, but vigour none, Or force, as erst, his agile limbs inform'd.

I, pity-moved, wept at the sight, and him, In accents wing'd by friendship, thus address'd. 480 Ah glorious son of Atreus, King of men!

What hand inflicted the all-numbing stroke Of death on thee? Say, didst thou perish sunk By howling tempests irresistible Which Neptune raised, or on dry land by force Of hostile mult.i.tudes, while cutting off Beeves from the herd, or driving flocks away, Or fighting for Achaia's daughters, shut Within some city's bulwarks close besieged?

I ceased, when Agamemnon thus replied. 490 Ulysses, n.o.ble Chief, Laertes' son For wisdom famed! I neither perish'd sunk By howling tempests irresistible Which Neptune raised, nor on dry land received From hostile mult.i.tudes the fatal blow, But me aegisthus slew; my woeful death Confed'rate with my own pernicious wife He plotted, with a show of love sincere Bidding me to his board, where as the ox Is slaughter'd at his crib, he slaughter'd _me_. 500 Such was my dreadful death; carnage ensued Continual of my friends slain all around, Num'rous as boars bright-tusk'd at nuptial feast, Or feast convivial of some wealthy Chief.

Thou hast already witness'd many a field With warriors overspread, slain one by one, But that dire scene had most thy pity moved, For we, with br.i.m.m.i.n.g beakers at our side, And underneath full tables bleeding lay.

Blood floated all the pavement. Then the cries 510 Of Priam's daughter sounded in my ears Most pitiable of all. Ca.s.sandra's cries, Whom Clytemnestra close beside me slew.

Expiring as I lay, I yet essay'd To grasp my faulchion, but the trayt'ress quick Withdrew herself, nor would vouchsafe to close My languid eyes, or prop my drooping chin Ev'n in the moment when I sought the shades.

So that the thing breathes not, ruthless and fell As woman once resolv'd on such a deed 520 Detestable, as my base wife contrived, The murther of the husband of her youth.

I thought to have return'd welcome to all, To my own children and domestic train; But she, past measure profligate, hath poured Shame on herself, on women yet unborn, And even on the virtuous of her s.e.x.

He ceas'd, to whom, thus, answer I return'd.

G.o.ds! how severely hath the thund'rer plagued The house of Atreus even from the first, 530 By female counsels! we for Helen's sake Have num'rous died, and Clytemnestra framed, While thou wast far remote, this snare for thee!

So I, to whom Atrides thus replied.

Thou, therefore, be not pliant overmuch To woman; trust her not with all thy mind, But half disclose to her, and half conceal.

Yet, from thy consort's hand no b.l.o.o.d.y death, My friend, hast thou to fear; for pa.s.sing wise Icarius' daughter is, far other thoughts, 540 Intelligent, and other plans, to frame.

Her, going to the wars we left a bride New-wedded, and thy boy hung at her breast, Who, man himself, consorts ere now with men A prosp'rous youth; his father, safe restored To his own Ithaca, shall see him soon, And _he_ shall clasp his father in his arms As nature bids; but me, my cruel one Indulged not with the dear delight to gaze On my Orestes, for she slew me first. 550 But listen; treasure what I now impart.[49]

Steer secret to thy native isle; avoid Notice; for woman merits trust no more.

Now tell me truth. Hear ye in whose abode My son resides? dwells he in Pylus, say, Or in Orchomenos, or else beneath My brother's roof in Sparta's wide domain?

For my Orestes is not yet a shade.

So he, to whom I answer thus return'd.

Atrides, ask not me. Whether he live, 560 Or have already died, I nothing know; Mere words are vanity, and better spared.

Thus we discoursing mutual stood, and tears Shedding disconsolate. The shade, meantime, Came of Achilles, Peleus' mighty son; Patroclus also, and Antilochus Appear'd, with Ajax, for proportion just And stature tall, (Pelides sole except) Distinguish'd above all Achaia's sons.

The soul of swift aeacides at once 570 Knew me, and in wing'd accents thus began.

Brave Laertiades, for wiles renown'd!

What mightier enterprise than all the past Hath made thee here a guest? rash as thou art!

How hast thou dared to penetrate the gloom Of Ades, dwelling of the shadowy dead, Semblances only of what once they were?

He spake, to whom I, answ'ring, thus replied.

O Peleus' son! Achilles! bravest far Of all Achaia's race! I here arrived 580 Seeking Tiresias, from his lips to learn, Perchance, how I might safe regain the coast Of craggy Ithaca; for tempest-toss'd Perpetual, I have neither yet approach'd Achaia's sh.o.r.e, or landed on my own.

But as for thee, Achilles! never man Hath known felicity like thine, or shall, Whom living we all honour'd as a G.o.d, And who maintain'st, here resident, supreme Controul among the dead; indulge not then, 590 Achilles, causeless grief that thou hast died.

I ceased, and answer thus instant received.

Renown'd Ulysses! think not death a theme Of consolation; I had rather live The servile hind for hire, and eat the bread Of some man scantily himself sustain'd, Than sov'reign empire hold o'er all the shades.

But come--speak to me of my n.o.ble boy; Proceeds he, as he promis'd, brave in arms, Or shuns he war? Say also, hast thou heard 600 Of royal Peleus? shares he still respect Among his num'rous Myrmidons, or scorn In h.e.l.las and in Phthia, for that age Predominates in his enfeebled limbs?

For help is none in me; the glorious sun No longer sees me such, as when in aid Of the Achaians I o'erspread the field Of s.p.a.cious Troy with all their bravest slain.

Oh might I, vigorous as then, repair[50]

For one short moment to my father's house, 610 They all should tremble; I would shew an arm, Such as should daunt the fiercest who presumes To injure _him_, or to despise his age.

Achilles spake, to whom I thus replied.

Of n.o.ble Peleus have I nothing heard; But I will tell thee, as thou bidd'st, the truth Unfeign'd of Neoptolemus thy son; For him, myself, on board my hollow bark From Scyros to Achaia's host convey'd.