The Odyssey, Page 35

  what the grain once was. Since then I've suffered greatly.

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  In the past Athene and Ares endowed me with courage

  and rank-breaking strength: whenever I chose for an ambush

  our best men, sowing the seeds of trouble for the foe,

  never did my proud spirit anticipate death: no, I

  was always the first to spring forward, and with my spear

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  to lay low any opponent who lacked my speed of foot.

  Such a man was I in warfare. Field work was not to my taste,

  nor was running a household--the way to raise fine children.

  Oared vessels were always my passion--that, and warfare,

  arrows and well-polished javelins--deadly objects,

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  to which others, more often than not, react with a shudder;

  but to me were welcome: maybe a god endeared them to me,

  and different men take pleasure in different actions.

  For before the Achaians' sons set foot in the land of Troy

  I had nine times commanded troops and swift-sailing ships

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  against foreign fighters. Much plunder kept coming my way,

  of which I chose what I fancied, and plenty afterwards

  I obtained by lot. At once my house grew rich: thenceforward

  I became respected and feared among the Kretans.

  "But when

  far-seeing Zeus devised that hateful expedition

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  which unstrung the knees of so many warriors, then

  they ordered me, together with far-famed Idomeneus,

  to lead ships to Ilion, nor was there any device

  that would let us refuse, for the people's stern will compelled us.

  There for nine years we Achaians' sons were at war,

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  but on the tenth we sacked Priam's citadel, and set out

  for home in our ships. A god then scattered the Achaians,

  and for wretched me Zeus the planner thought up more trouble.

  One month I stayed home, taking pleasure in my children

  and wedded wife and possessions. But after that

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  to Egypt my spirit drove me to make a voyage,

  in ships that were well appointed, with my godlike comrades.

  Nine ships I fitted out, and their crews assembled quickly.

  For six days on end my trusty comrades feasted,

  and I provided them with victims in plenty, so they

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  could sacrifice to the gods and have a feast themselves;

  then on the seventh we boarded, sailed out from broad Krete,

  running on before a strong wind out of the north,

  lightly, as though downstream: nor did any misfortune

  befall my vessels: unscathed and free from sickness

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  we sat there, while the wind and the helmsmen steered them.

  "On the fifth day we reached Egypt's fine-flowing stream

  and in that Egyptian river I anchored my curved vessels.

  Then I issued orders to my trusty comrades, to remain

  there with the ships, and to be those ships' protectors

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  while I sent off scouts to find and man lookout posts.

  But, trusting their strength, they yielded to wanton aggression,

  and at once began ravaging the Egyptians' splendid

  fields, and carrying off their wives and little children,

  and killing the men. Word quickly reached the city,

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  and, hearing the shouting, people came out at daybreak.

  The whole plain filled up with infantry and horses

  and the bright glint of bronze. Zeus, hurler of thunderbolts,

  cast a craven panic upon my comrades: nobody dared

  to stand firm and face the foe, for trouble confronted us

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  on every side. Many of us they slew with the sharp bronze;

  others they led off alive, to do forced labor for them.

  But Zeus himself put this thought in my mind--how I wished

  I had suffered death and encountered my destiny there

  In Egypt, since yet more sorrow was waiting to welcome me!

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  At once I removed from my head the well-wrought helmet,

  and the shield from my shoulders, and let fall my spear,

  and made my way toward the horses of the king,

  and clasped his knees and kissed them. He rescued and pitied me,

  picked me up in his chariot, took me, weeping, to his home.

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  Numerous fighters ran at me with their ash-wood spears,

  eager to kill me, for they were greatly angered;

  but he warded them off, in concern for the wrath of Zeus,

  the strangers' protector, the stern requiter of evil deeds.

  "I stayed there for seven years, during which I acquired

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  great wealth from the men of Egypt, for they all gave me gifts.

  But when the eighth year came round for me, there appeared

  a man, a Phoenician, a fine expert in deceptions,

  a sharp nibbler, who already had cheated many people.

  By his cunning he talked me into accompanying him

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  to Phoenicia, where were located his home and his possessions,

  and there I stayed with him till a year had run its course.

  But when at length the months and days were completed

  Of the circling year, and the seasons in turn came on,

  he put me aboard a seagoing ship bound for Libya,

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  with a lying tale that we'd both be conveying a cargo,

  but in fact to sell me there for a high price. I went with him

  on the ship, though suspecting trouble, under constraint.

  She ran on before a strong wind out of the north,

  above central Krete; but Zeus was planning their destruction,

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  and when we'd left Krete behind us, and there was no other

  land in plain view, but nothing save sky and sea,

  then the son of Kronos conjured up a black cloud

  over our hollow ship, and the deep beneath it darkened.

  Zeus with a clap of thunder hurled his bolt at our vessel:

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  she shuddered her whole length, struck by the bolt of Zeus,

  and was filled with the reek of sulfur. The crew all fell overboard,

  and like shearwaters went bobbing around our black ship,

  borne up by the waves. The god deprived them of their return.

  But for me, in my heartfelt distress, Zeus himself at this moment

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  put into my hands the seagoing vessel's great mast,

  so that once more I might escape destruction. And so,

  clinging firmly to this, I was carried away by fierce winds

  for nine days, but on the tenth, in the blackness of night,

  a great wave rolled me ashore in Thesprotian country.

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  There the Thesprotian king, the hero Pheidon,

  cared for me without payment, for his son now found me

  overcome by chill air and exhaustion, and took me home,

  leading me by the hand, till he reached his father's abode,

  and gave me clothing, a mantle and tunic. It was there

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  that I heard news of Odysseus, for the king now told me

  he'd befriended and entertained him on his way to his native land,

  and showed me all the possessions Odysseus had amassed--

  bronze and gold, and iron, laboriously wrought,

  enough to support his descendants to the tenth generation,

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  so great was the wealth stored for him there in the king's domain.

/>   But Odysseus, he said, had gone to Dodone, to discover,

  from the deep-leaved sacred oak, what Zeus was planning,

  and how he should make his way back to Ithake's rich land

  after so long an absence, whether openly or in secret.

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  And he swore to me at home, while pouring libations,

  that the ship had been launched, and the crew were in readiness

  to convey him to his own country. But me he sent off first,

  since there chanced to be a Thesprotian vessel ready

  to set sail for Doulichion, that country rich in wheat.

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  He told them to ferry me there, to King Akastos, with proper

  care; but an evil plan had found favor in their hearts

  about me, so I'd still suffer at misery's nadir. When

  the seagoing vessel had sailed a fair way from land, at once

  they set about making ready the day of slavery for me.

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  My clothing, my mantle and tunic, they stripped off from me,

  and replaced them with the vile rags and tattered tunic

  that you can see now in front of you. That same evening

  they reached the tilled fields of sunny Ithake. Then

  they left me bound fast in the well-benched ship with a rope

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  that they'd twisted tight, and themselves went off ashore,

  and hastened to take their supper there on the seashore.

  But the gods themselves took care of me, untied the knots

  easily. Wrapping the rags around my head, I slid down

  the polished gangplank, plunged breast first into the sea,

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  struck out with both arms, swimming fast, and very quickly

  got back ashore, well away from where they were.

  Then I went up and found a coppice in full bloom,

  and lay cowering there, while they, complaining loudly,

  went searching around; but when it seemed quite hopeless

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  to go on looking, they went back and reembarked

  on their hollow ship. The gods themselves kept me hidden

  easily, then brought me safe here to the farmstead

  of an understanding man. So, it's still my fate to live."

  To him then, swineherd Eumaios, you responded, saying:

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  "Ah, wretched stranger, indeed you stirred my heart deeply

  with your detailed tale of how much you suffered and wandered!

  But one part was not, I think, right, nor will you convince me--

  what you said of Odysseus. Why should a man such as you

  tell a pointless lie? Apropos my lord's homecoming,

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  this I know well: he got himself so hated by all the gods

  that they would not allow his life to end among the Trojans

  or in the arms of his friends, after winding up the war.

  Then all the Achaians would have raised him a burial mound,

  and great glory would have been his, and his son's, hereafter.

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  But now, ingloriously, the storm winds have swept him away.

  I stay out here with the pigs, I don't go into town,

  except those times when prudent Penelope wants me,

  when news has reached her from somewhere or other--then

  folk sit round and keep querying every detail,

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  both those who grieve for their lord who's been so long gone,

  and those who enjoy eating up his livelihood for free.

  But I haven't fancied this business of questioning and enquiries

  ever since a certain Aitolian deceived me with his story.

  He was someone who'd killed a man: after wandering far

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  he appeared at my house, and I gave him a friendly welcome.

  He'd seen him, he said, with the Kretans in Idomeneus' company,

  repairing his ships, severely battered by storms. He assured me

  Odysseus would be back here by summer or harvesttime,

  bringing much treasure, both he and his godlike comrades!

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  And you, grief-struck old man, since some god led you to me,

  don't try to please me with lies, or to charm me in any way:

  That's not why I shall respect and befriend you, but through fear

  of Zeus, god of strangers, and because I feel pity for you."

  Then resourceful Odysseus responded to him, saying:

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  "The spirit you have in your breast is indeed distrustful,

  one not to be won or persuaded even by my sworn oath!

  Come, then, let's make an agreement, to which hereafter

  the gods who hold Olympos can bear witness for us both:

  If your master does in fact return to this house of his,

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  then give me a mantle and tunic to wear, and send me

  on to Doulichion, which is where my heart's set on going;

  but if your master does not come back home--as I tell you

  he will--set your servants on me, have me thrown off a high cliff,

  as a warning to other beggars against telling lying tales."

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  Then the noble swineherd responded to him, saying:

  "Stranger, that way I'd win a fine reputation for virtue

  among men, both today and in time to come, were I,

  who brought you into my hut and entertained you,

  then to kill you, deprive you of the dear breath of life!

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  Very ready I'd be then to pray to Kronos' son Zeus!

  But now it's time for supper. My comrades should very soon

  be home, so we can make a tasty meal in the hut."

  While the two thus conversed, the one with the other, the pigs

  and the men who were herding them now drew near. The sows

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  they shut up for the night in their accustomed sties,

  and a vast clamor arose from the pigs as they were penned.

  Then the noble swineherd called to his comrades, saying:

  ''Fetch out the best of the hogs, so I can slaughter it

  for the stranger--he's traveled far--and we'll share it too,

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  who have all the trouble of tending these white-tusked swine

  while others devour our labor and pay nothing for it."

  So saying, he split up wood with the pitiless bronze,

  while the others brought in a five-year-old fattened hog

  and set him down by the hearth. Nor did the swineherd

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  forget the immortals now, for his was a virtuous mind.

  He cut off and cast in the fire as firstlings hairs from the head

  of the white-tusked hog, with prayers to all the gods

  that quick-witted Odysseus might return to his own home.

  Then he lifted a billet of oak he'd kept from the splitting

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  and felled the hog. It died. They cut its throat and singed it,

  then butchered it at once. The swineherd took cuts of raw flesh

  from all its limbs as firstlings, wrapped them in rich fat,

  gave them a sprinkling of barley, then threw them in the fire.

  The rest they cut up, and threaded the pieces on spits,

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  and roasted them carefully, then drew all the pieces off

  and heaped them on platters. The swineherd now

  stood up to carve, an expert in fair sharing. The meat

  he sliced into seven portions: one he set aside

  for the nymphs and for Hermes, son of Maia, together

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  with an accompanying prayer. Of the rest, each man got one.

  But Odysseus he honored with the long cuts from the chine

  of the white-tusked hog, and gladden
ed his master's heart.

  Resourceful Odysseus now addressed him, saying: "Eumaios,4

  I only wish you could be as dear to Zeus the Father

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  as to me, a poor man, whom you honor with such good things."

  To him, then, swineherd Eumaios, you responded, saying: