The Odyssey, Page 25

for I'd handled the sheet throughout, wouldn't let any other

  crew member have it, to get us back home the sooner.

  But my comrades had started to mutter among themselves,

  said I was bringing home gold and silver as presents

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  from Aiolos, Hippotas' great-hearted son; and thus

  would one, with a sidelong glance, sound off to his neighbor:

  'Look how this fellow is always loved and honored

  by all men, whatever city or land he comes to!

  Much rich treasure he's bringing back home from Troy

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  out of the booty, while we, who went through the selfsame

  venture as he did, are returning empty-handed!

  And now he's been given these further generous gifts

  by Aiolos, out of friendship! So let's take a quick look

  and see how much gold and silver there is in that bag!'

  "So they spoke,

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  and this evil advice of my companions was accepted.

  They opened the bag, and all the winds rushed out--

  a storm wind instantly seized them, bore them seaward

  weeping, away from their native land; and I,

  waking, debated in my own blameless spirit

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  whether to plunge overboard, and perish in the deep,

  or to endure in silence, remain among the living.

  I held on and stayed, head covered, lying there

  in my ship. By this evil gale our vessels were carried

  right back to Aiolos' island, my comrades lamenting.

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  "There we went ashore and took aboard more water,

  and my comrades at once ate a meal beside the swift ships.

  But when we'd gotten a taste of food and drink,

  then I, taking with me a herald and one companion,

  made my way to Aiolos' famed abode, and found him

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  at dinner, along with his wife and children. We entered

  his house, and sat by the doorposts, at the threshold.

  They were amazed to see us, and questioned us, saying:

  'Why are you here, Odysseus? What mean god assailed you?

  We dispatched you with all kindness, to ensure you'd come

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  safely to home and country, or wherever you wanted.'

  "So they spoke; and, grieving at heart, I then explained to them:

  'My wretched companions undid me; they, and damnable

  slumber! My friends, help me now: you have the power.'

  "So I spoke, addressing them with conciliatory words;

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  but they remained silent. Then their father made this response:

  'Leave this island at once, most abject of living creatures!

  It's not proper for me to aid or provide conveyance

  to a man whom the blessed gods abominate! Begone!

  You come here as one marked out by divine hostility!'

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  "That said, he dismissed me, groaning heavily, from his domain.

  So from there we pushed on still further, grieving at heart,

  the men's spirit worn down by the hardship of rowing, since,

  due to our folly, we no longer had a good wind behind us.

  For six more days, then, we voyaged on, day and night,

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  and on the seventh we reached the steep citadel of Lamos,1

  Laistrygonian Telepylos, where shepherd greets shepherd

  one driving his flock back home, out to pasture the other.

  There a man that needed no sleep could earn a double wage,2

  by both herding cattle, and tending white sheep, so close

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  do the paths of the night and the day run on together.

  When we reached the fine harbor there--a sheer cliff face

  ran all the way round it from side to side, while two

  projecting headlands, confronting each another, loomed large

  at the mouth, leaving only a restricted entrance--

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  then all the rest went on in with their well-curved vessels.

  and moored them there, snug inside the hollow harbor,

  packed side by side, for no wave ever stirred there,

  either great or small; all around was a bright calm.

  But I alone held my black ship back outside

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  at the furthest edge, hitched my cables to a rock;

  then climbed to a rugged lookout point, and stood there.

  Looking round, I saw no cattle, no human activity, nothing

  except for a trace of smoke drifting skyward from the earth.

  So I then sent out some comrades to go ahead and discover

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  what kind of men, among earth's bread-eaters, dwelt here:

  two men I chose, and a third to go with them as herald.

  They went ashore and followed a beaten track, by which

  wagons would haul down wood to the city from the hilltops.

  Outside the city they met a girl who was drawing water--

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  the strapping daughter, this, of a certain Laistrygonian,

  Antiphates: she'd come down to the fair-flowing spring,

  Artakie, from which they carried their water into town.

  So they approached her, spoke to her, asked her questions--

  Who was king of these people, and who were his subjects?

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  She promptly showed them her father's high-roofed house.

  When they entered this famed domain, they found his wife at home,

  huge as a mountain peak, and were horrified by her.

  She at once summoned famous Antiphates, her husband,

  from assembly: he devised a miserable fate for them.

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  One of my comrades he grabbed, prepared him for dinner,

  But the other two took to their heels, got away to the ships.

  Then he raised a cry through the city, and when they heard it

  the powerful Laistrygonians thronged in from all around,

  thousands of them, resembling not human beings, but Giants!

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  From the cliffs with boulders--each one a man-sized load--

  they showered us: a ghastly sound rose up from the ships

  of men dying and tinber shattering. They speared them

  like fishes, carried them off to have as their gruesome meal.

  But while they were murdering those inside the deep harbor,

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  I meanwhile, drawing the sharp sword from by my thigh

  with it cut the stern cables of my dark-prowed vessel,

  and quickly called to my comrades, urging, commanding them

  to row for dear life, get us clear of disaster. They all,

  in terror of death ripped up the salt spume with their oar blades.

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  Ah, the joy of escaping those sheer cliffs, getting out to sea--

  for my ship alone: all the rest now perished as they lay there.

  "So we sailed on from there, lamenting at heart, but glad

  at having escaped from death, though we'd lost our comrades;

  and we came to the isle of Aiaia, that was the home

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  of fair-tressed Kirke, dread goddess of mortal speech--

  full sister was she to the evil-minded Aietes,

  and both were begotten by Helios, bringer of light,

  on Perse, their mother, whom Ocean had as his daughter.

  There we put in to land with our ship, and silently steered her

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  into a well-sheltered harbor, with some god guiding us.

  Then, after disembarking, we lay there two days and nights

  eating our hearts with out with fatigue and sorrow;

  But when fair-tressed Dawn ushered in the third day, then

  I took
my spear and my keen-edged sword, and quickly

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  climbed on up from the ship to a point with a good view

  in my search for signs of field work or of human voices.

  I got to a rocky outcrop, a lookout station, and stood there,

  and glimpsed smoke wavering up from the wide-wayed earth

  out of Kirke's dwelling, through dense coppices and leafage.

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  So then I pondered, in my mind and spirit, whether--

  having seen fire and smoke--I should go and find out more;

  and as I reflected, it struck me that this was the best course:

  to go back to my swift ship first, and to the seashore,

  give my comrades a meal, but then send them to investigate.

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  But as I went, and came close to my well-curved vessel,

  then, too, some god, seeing me alone, felt pity,

  and sent, right into my path, a huge high-antlered stag

  on his way from his forest range to drink at the river,

  since the sun's strong heat had got to him. As he emerged,

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  I speared him, in mid-back, piercing his spine: the bronze

  spear now transfixed him, he uttered a dying cry

  and collapsed in the dust. The spirit fled from him. Then,

  one foot on his back, I tugged the bronze spear out

  from the wound, left the carcass there on the ground,

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  while I plucked still-growing stems and osiers, wove them

  into a fathom-long rope, well twisted at either end,

  and, tying the feet of this monstrous beast together,

  slung it across my back, and went on to the black ship

  leaning upon my spear, since no way could I support it

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  with one hand upon my shoulder, so huge a brute it was.

  I dumped it in front of the ship, and spoke encouraging words

  to my comrades, addressing each individual in turn:

  'Not yet, friends, for all our grief, shall we go down

  to Hades' realm before our destined day arrives!

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  So come, while there's still food and drink in our swift ship

  Let's think about eating, not waste away from hunger!'

  "So I spoke: they at once paid heed to my words, uncovered

  their faces,3 and, on that shore by the unharvested sea,

  stared in awe at the stag: a huge beast it was indeed.

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  But when they'd feasted their eyes upon this spectacle

  they washed their hands and made ready a truly splendid feast.

  "So the whole long day until the going down of the sun

  we sat feasting on meat in abundance, drinking sweet wine;

  but when the sun had set and darkness came on

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  then we lay down and slept along the line of the shore.

  When Dawn appeared, early risen and rosy-fingered,

  I called an assembly and then addressed them all, declaring:

  'Heed what I say, my comrades, for all your grim suffering!

  Dear friends, we don't know where darkness lies, or dawn,

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  or where the sun that brings light to mortals goes down

  under the earth, or rises; but let us take thought, quickly:

  Is there any course open to us? Myself, I do not think so.

  I climbed to a rugged lookout point and surveyed

  the island. The boundless deep encircles it all around.

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  It's low-lying land: I did see smoke, in the middle,

  wavering up through dense coppices and leafage.'

  "So I spoke, and their inner spirit was broken, as they

  recalled the deeds of Antiphates, the Laistrygonian,

  and of the Kyklops, that gross-spirited man-eater.

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  They wept aloud and shed thick-flowing tears,

  but all their lamenting accomplished nothing for them.

  "I divided my well-greaved comrades into two groups,

  chose a leader for each of them: I myself took command

  of one, put godlike Eurylochos in charge of the other.

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  Next, at once, we shook lots in a bronze helmet,

  and out leapt the lot of great-hearted Eurylochos.

  So he set off, and took with him twenty-two comrades,

  all in tears; and the ones left behind were lamenting too.

  "They found, in a woodland glen, the house of Kirke, built

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  of polished stone, and set in a space with a wide vista.

  Prowling around it were mountain wolves and lions

  that she had enchanted by feeding them evil drugs.

  These beasts did not rush to attack my men, but instead

  fawned round them, rearing, swishing their long tails.

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  In the way that dogs, when their master's coming from dinner,

  fawn round him, since he always has some tasty tit-bit for them,

  so round my men now fawned these strong-clawed wolves

  and lions. The men were afraid on seeing such scary monsters.

  So there they stood in the sweet-haired goddess' forecourt

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  and heard Kirke singing inside in an enchanting voice

  as she went to and fro, weaving a great immortal web--

  fine work, exquisite, charming, as is that of all goddesses.

  First to find words was Polites, leader of men, the dearest

  to me of all my comrades, and the most devoted:

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  'Friends, there's some lady inside, going to and fro at the loom

  and singing so sweetly that the whole floor echoes round--

  goddess or woman, let's call out to her!'

  "So he spoke,

  and they all clamored, calling out to her. She at once

  threw open the shining doors, came out herself,

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  and invited them in. They all, in their innocence, followed,

  except for Eurylochos: he, suspecting a trap, hung back.

  She escorted them in, sat them down on chairs and benches,

  and offered them barley meal, cheese, and pale yellow honey

  mixed with Pramnian wine; but she added to this mixture

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  baneful drugs to destroy their memory of their homeland.

  When she'd given it them and they'd swallowed it, then at once

  she struck them with her wand, and shut them away in sties:

  they now all had pigs' heads, pigs' voices, and pigs' bristles,

  pigs' bodies too; but their minds remained unchanged.

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  So they were penned in, weeping; and Kirke threw them

  oak nuts to eat, acorns, the fruit of the cornel tree--

  such food as swine that sleep on the ground will feed on.

  "Now Eurylochos came straight back to our swift black ship

  to tell us the news of his comrades and their unkind fate.

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  But not one word could he utter, much though he longed to,

  so stricken with great distress was he in his heart; his eyes

  were brimming with tears, his spirit brooded on lamentation.

  Only after we questioned him, in our amazement, did he

  then inform us about the fate of his other comrades:

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  'We went through the wood as you told us, noble Odysseus,

  and found, in a glen, a splendid house, constructed

  of polished stone, and set in a space with a wide vista.

  Someone inside was going to and fro at a great web, singing

  sweetly, goddess or woman. We all called out to her.

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  She at once threw open the shining doors, emerged,

  and invited us in. The rest, in t
heir innocence, followed.

  But I held back, suspecting a trap, and they then

  vanished together--not one of them ever returned,

  though I sat around long enough, watching out for them.'

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