The Odyssey, Page 26

  "So he spoke. I now slung my silver-studded sword--

  large, of bronze--from my shoulders, strapped on my bow

  and quiver, told him to lead me back the way he'd come.

  But he clutched at my knees with both hands, besought me, wept,

  then addressed me tearfully with winged words, saying: 'Don't

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  make me go back, Zeus' nursling! Let me stay here!

  I know you'll never come back yourself, or rescue

  any of your lost comrades! Let's get out now, with those

  that are here--we still may escape the day of doom!'

  "So he spoke;

  and I responded to him, saying: 'Eurylochos you,

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  yourself can remain here, right where you are, quite safe,

  eating and drinking beside the black hollow ship; but go

  I myself must; a most powerful need is upon me.'

  "So saying, I went my way, up from the ship and the sea.

  I'd passed through the sacred glens, and was near the great

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  house of Kirke, that expert in the use of countless drugs,

  when Hermes met me, god of the golden wand,

  on my way to the house, in the likeness of a young man

  with the first down on his face, when the charm of youth

  is greatest. He took my hand, and said: 'Where are you off to

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  again, you hapless man, in the highlands, all alone,

  and ignorant of the country? Your comrades in Kirke's house

  are caged up as pigs in her imprisoning sties. Are you

  coming here to release them? I tell you, you yourself

  will never escape, you'll end up caught like the rest!

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  But see now, I shall free you from harm, and save you--

  Here, take this potent herb, have it with you when you go

  to Kirke's house: it'll keep the evil day from your head!

  And I'll tell you all Kirke's malevolent wiles: she'll make you

  a mixed posset,4 adding in drugs along with the foodstuff.

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  Yet not even so will she contrive to bewitch you: the potent

  herb that I'll give you won't let her. And I'll tell you all

  you must do. When Kirke strikes you with her long wand,

  draw your sharp sword from beside your thigh, as though

  with intent kill her. Then she, overcome by terror,

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  will invite you to bed down with her, make love together.

  You must not, at this point, refuse the bed of the goddess

  if you want her to free your comrades and provide for you;

  but make her swear a great oath by the blessed gods

  to plan no more nasty trouble against your person,

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  lest when she has you naked she'll weaken and unman you.'

  "So saying, the slayer of Argos gave me the herb,

  pulling it out of the ground, and showed me its nature.

  At its root it was black, but its flower was white as milk:

  Moly is what the gods call it: it's hard for mortal men

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  to dig up; but the gods can do whatever they've a mind to.

  "Hermes now departed to lofty Olympos, going

  up through the tree-clad island, while I made my way

  to Kirke's house, my heart in a turmoil as I went.

  I stood in the forecourt of the fine-tressed goddess

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  and standing there called to her. The goddess heard my voice,

  at once came out, flung open the shining doors

  and invited me in. Much troubled at heart, I entered.

  She led me in and seated me on a silver-studded chair--

  beautiful, finely crafted, with a footstool for my feet.

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  Then she mixed me a posset in a golden cup,

  but slipped a drug into it, with malevolence in her heart.

  When she gave it to me, and I drank it, yet was not bewitched,

  she struck me with her wand, and had this word for me, saying:

  'Off to the sty with you! Lie there with your other comrades!'

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  "So she spoke. I drew the sharp sword from beside my thigh,

  and charged at Kirke, as though with intent to kill her.

  She gave a loud scream, slipped under my charge, embraced

  my knees, and, sobbing, addressed me with winged words, saying:

  'Who are you? From where? What city? Who are your parents?

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  I'm amazed that you drank my drug and were not bewitched!

  No other man, ever, has failed to succumb to this drug

  once he'd drunk it, once it had passed the barrier of his teeth!

  Truly, the mind in your breast is proof against all enchantment.

  You must be resourceful Odysseus, who--so the slayer of Argos,

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  he of the golden wand, always told me--would visit here

  in his swift black ship, on his way back home from Troy!

  So come, sheath your sword, let the two of us now go up

  into my bed, and by mingling there together

  in the passion of love, find trust, each one in the other.'

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  "So she spoke; but I answered her thus, with a question, saying:

  'Kirke, how can you tell me to come and make love with you,

  when you've turned my comrades to swine, right here in your halls,

  and now you have me here, with malign intent you want me

  to go up into your chamber and your bed, so that when

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  you have me naked you can weaken and unman me?

  Never would I agree to come anywhere near your bed

  unless you, goddess, were to swear me a mighty oath

  that you'd plan no more malicious trouble against my person.'

  "So I spoke. She at once swore the oath as I requested.

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  But not till she'd sworn, and completed the oath in full,

  would I agree to go up into Kirke's sumptuous bed.

  Meanwhile her handmaids were busy around the halls--

  four of them, those who did all the housework in her home:

  nymphs, these, daughters of the springs and the groves,

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  of the sacred rivers that flow to their outfall by the sea.

  One was hanging fine purple cloths on the headrests

  of chairs and under them spreading white linen foot mats;

  another was setting up silver tables beside the chairs

  and arranging golden baskets upon them; the third

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  of these serving women was mixing sweet mind-honeying

  wine in a silver bowl and setting out golden goblets.

  The fourth had fetched in water and lit a blazing fire

  beneath a great cauldron: the water was getting hot.

  When it reached boiling point in the bright bronze vessel,

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  she got me into a bath, sluiced me down from the cauldron,

  mixing hot and cold to my taste, bathing head and shoulders

  to ease from my limbs their heart-crushing weariness.

  After she'd bathed me, and massaged me with rich oil,

  she provided me with a splendid mantle and tunic,

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  brought me back, and seated me on a silver-studded chair--

  elegant, finely wrought--with a footstool for my feet.

  A maid brought hand-washing water in a beautiful golden

  pitcher and poured it into a silver basin for me

  to wash with and drew up beside me a polished table.

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  The respected housekeeper now set bread beside me,

  with many side dishes, giving freely of her supplies.

  Then she told me to eat, but
I was not so minded:

  I sat brooding on other things: my heart sensed trouble.

  "Now when Kirke saw me thus sitting, not reaching out

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  for food, and overmastered by deep-felt distress, she came

  and stood close beside me, addressed me with winged words, saying:

  'Odysseus, why are you sitting there like some voiceless person,

  eating your heart out, touching neither food nor drink?

  Do you maybe anticipate some new trick? You don't need

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  to be afraid: I've already sworn that powerful oath.'

  "So she spoke:

  but to her I then responded, saying: 'Kirke, tell me,

  what kind of man is it, in his right mind, could bear

  to taste food or drink before he'd secured freedom

  for his comrades, had seen them with his own eyes? If you

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  really mean it when you tell me to eat and drink, then free them!

  And let me set eyes myself on these, my trusty comrades.'

  "So I spoke. Kirke now made her way out through the hall,

  wand in hand, flung open the doors of the sty, and drove

  my men out, embodied as hogs some nine years old.

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  They stood there before her, and she went in among them,

  anointing each one with a different magic salve, so that

  the bristles earlier grown there by the deadly drug

  that the lady Kirke had given them now sloughed off their limbs:

  men they became again, more youthful than previously,

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  a great deal more handsome, much taller in their carriage.

  They recognized me: each one of them clung to my hands.

  A yearning for lamentation came on us all, and the house

  echoed terribly round us: the goddess herself felt pity.

  "Then she, bright among goddesses, approached me and said:

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  'Son of Laertes, scion of Zeus, resourceful Odysseus,

  go down now to your swift ship, there on the seashore.

  First thing of all, haul your vessel high up upon the beach,

  then store all your goods and equipment in the caves,

  then come back yourself and bring your trusty comrades.'

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  "So she spoke, and my proud spirit was persuaded.

  I made my way down to the swift ship and the seashore,

  and there by the swift ship I found my trusty comrades

  lamenting piteously and shredding big tears. As country

  calves will come frisking about a herd of cows

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  on their way back to the dung yard, replete with fodder--

  in a mass they confront them, the pens no longer contain them,

  and endlessly lowing they keep scampering round

  their mothers--so these men, when they set eyes upon me,

  thronged round me weeping: it seemed to them in their hearts

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  as though they'd got back to their homeland, to the actual

  township of rugged Ithake where they were born and bred.

  Lamenting now they addressed me with winged words, saying:

  'We're as delighted, Zeus' nursling, by your return, as if

  we'd got back home to Ithake, to our native country!

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  But come now, tell us the fate of our other companions.'

  "So they spoke, and I gave them a reassuring response:

  'First thing of all, haul our vessel high up upon the beach,

  then store all our goods and equipment in the caves.

  That done, you--all of you--come quickly along with me

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  to the sacred halls of Kirke, where you'll see your comrades

  eating and drinking, from a never-failing abundance.'

  "So I spoke, and they were quick to obey my instructions.

  Only Eurylochos tried to hold back all our comrades,

  and addressed them with winged words, saying: 'You wretched

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  creatures, where are we going? Why long for these troubles,

  when going down into Kirke's domain will surely

  transform each one of us into swine or wolves or lions,

  condemned, under obligation, to guard her great abode?

  That's how the Kyklops acted when our comrades entered

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  his farmstead and headstrong Odysseus went in with them:

  it was through this man's recklessness that they too perished.'

  "So he spoke; I debated in my mind then whether I should

  unsheathe the long sword from beside my sturdy thigh,

  and cut off his head with it, lay him low, although

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  close kin by marriage he was to me; but my comrades

  one after another with honey-sweet words restrained me:

  'Scion of Zeus, give the order, and we'll leave this man here

  to stay by the ship and to guard it; but as for us,

  what we want is for you to lead us to Kirke's sacred abode.'

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  "So saying, they started off then, up from the ship and the sea;

  nor was Eurylochos left behind by the hollow ship,

  but came with the rest of us, fearing my strong reproof.

  "Meanwhile, back in her house, Kirke with loving care

  bathed the rest of my comrades, massaged them with rich oil,

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  and dressed them up in fine wool mantles and tunics;

  we found them all having a good dinner there in her halls.

  But when my men saw and recognized one another,

  they wept and lamented: the house reechoed around them.

  Then she, bright among goddesses, approached me and said:

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  'Son of Laertes, scion of Zeus, resourceful Odysseus,

  no longer need you all raise this loud lament! I too know

  the sum of the troubles you suffered out on the fish-rich deep

  and every wrong that's been done you by hostile men on land.

  But come now, eat your food and drink your wine, until

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  you once more recover that spirit you had in your breasts

  to begin with when you set out from your native land

  of rugged Ithake--but now you're worn and dispirited,

  forever recalling your rough wandering, nor has your heart

  known any joy, since indeed you've suffered greatly.'

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  "So she spoke, and our proud spirits consented,

  and day after day, for the course of a whole year

  we sat there feasting on plentiful meat and wine.

  but when a year had passed, as the turning seasons

  of the months went by, and the long days came to an end,

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  then my trusty companions assailed me with their complaints:

  'Are you out of your mind? High time to think of your homeland

  if it's truly your destiny to be saved and to return

  to your high-roofed house and to your own native country.'

  "So they spoke, and my proud spirit consented.

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  So all day long until the setting of the sun

  we sat there feasting on plentiful meat and sweet wine;

  but when the sun went down and darkness came on,

  and they retired to sleep along the shadowy halls,

  then I myself went up into Kirke's sumptuous bed

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  and clasped her knees in entreaty. The goddess heard

  and listened. I addressed her with winged words, saying:

  'Kirke, fulfill for me now the promise you made, that you'd

  convey me home: my spirit's eager to be on its way,

  likewise the rest of my comrades, who nag me to death

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  a
s they grieve around me, whenever you're somewhere else.'

  "So I spoke. Bright among goddesses, she at once replied:

  'Son of Laertes, scion of Zeus, resourceful Odysseus,