The Odyssey, Page 5

  the fools, for they slaughtered the cattle of Helios the sun god

  and ate them: for that he took from them their day of returning.

  Tell us this tale, goddess, child of Zeus; start anywhere in it!

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  Now the rest, all those who'd escaped from sheer destruction,

  were home by now, survivors of both warfare and the sea;

  Him alone, though longing for his homecoming and his wife,

  the queenly nymph Kalypso, bright among goddesses,

  held back in her hollow cavern, desiring him for her husband.

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  But when the year arrived, with its circling seasons, in which

  the gods had ordained he should make his homeward journey

  to Ithake, not even then would he be free of trials,

  even among his own people. All the gods felt pity for him

  except for Poseidon, who still nursed unabated wrath

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  against godlike Odysseus until he reached his native land.

  But now Poseidon was visiting the remote Aithiopians--

  who live in two sundered groups, both at mankind's frontiers,

  the one at Hyperion's setting, the other where he rises--

  to receive from them a full sacrifice of bulls and rams,

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  and was sitting there at the feast, enjoying himself: the other

  gods were all assembled in the halls of Olympian Zeus.

  Discussion was started among them by the Father of men and gods,

  who'd been brooding in his heart over handsome1 Aigisthos,

  slain by far-famed Orestes, the son of Agamemnon:

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  with him in mind he now spoke among the immortals, saying:

  "My oh my, the way mortals will fasten blame on the gods!

  From us, they say, evils come, yet they themselves

  through their own blind recklessness have ills beyond

  their fated lot, as lately Aigisthos--beyond his fated lot--

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  killed Atreus' son at his homecoming, married his wife,

  though he knew this meant sheer destruction, since we'd told him

  before the event, sending Hermes, the sharp-eyed Argos-slayer,

  he should neither slay the man nor marry his bedfellow,

  since vengeance for Atreus' son would come from Orestes

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  once he'd reached manhood, and longed for his own country.

  So Hermes said; but he failed, for all his good intentions,

  to dissuade Aigisthos, who now has paid the full penalty."

  Then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, responded to him, saying:

  "Our father, son of Kronos, highest above all rulers,

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  that man indeed was destroyed by well-merited disaster--

  so may all others perish who commit such crimes!--

  but my heart is distressed on account of clever Odysseus,

  that ill-fated man, who, far from his dear ones, has long

  suffered griefs on a sea-ringed island, where the sea's navel is:

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  a tree-rich island, and a goddess has her home there,

  the daughter of crafty-minded Atlas, who knows the depths

  of every sea, who in person shoulders those lofty

  pillars that keep earth and firmament apart from each other.

  His daughter it is who detains that luckless, sorrowful man,

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  forever beguiling him with soft and wheedling words

  to forget his island, Ithake. Yet Odysseus, in his yearning

  to perceive were it only the smoke rising up into the sky

  from his homeland, longs now for death. But your own heart

  cares nothing for him, Olympian! Did not Odysseus

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  by the Argives' ships honor you with the sacrifices he made

  in the broad land of Troy? Why, Zeus, do you hate2 him so?"

  Cloud-gatherer Zeus responded to her, saying: "My child,

  what's this word that's escaped the barrier of your teeth?

  Now how could I ever forget the godlike Odysseus,

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  who for mind surpasses all mortals, who's sacrificed most

  to the deathless gods who possess the wide firmament? No,

  it's Poseidon, the Earth-Shaker, whose fury with him is relentless,

  unceasing, because of the Kyklops, whose eye he blinded--

  the godlike Polyphemos, whose strength is the mightiest

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  among all the Kyklopes: the nymph Thoosa bore him,

  daughter of Phorkys who rules the unharvested sea,

  for there in the hollow sea caves she lay with Poseidon.

  That's why Earth-Shaker Poseidon is wroth with Odysseus:

  not killing him, but forever frustrating his homeward journey.

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  So come, let all of us here give some thought to his return,

  how to get him home safely: Poseidon will have to abandon

  his rage, he won't be able, with all the immortals united

  against him, to strive alone, lacking the gods' goodwill."

  The goddess, grey-eyed Athene, responded to him, saying:

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  "Our father, son of Kronos, highest above all rulers,

  if indeed it is now agreeable to the blessed gods

  that quick-witted Odysseus should return to his own home,

  let us then dispatch Hermes, the guide, the slayer of Argos,

  to the isle of Ogygia, so that as soon as may be

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  he can inform the fair-tressed nymph of our firm decision

  on steadfast-minded Odysseus: that he's to return home.

  I meanwhile will go to Ithake, approach his son,

  put more strength in his heart, give him the courage

  to summon the long-haired Achaians to assembly, and make

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  a strong case to the suitors, who without cease slaughter

  his flocks of sheep and his shambling, crumple-horned cattle;

  and then I'll send him to Sparta and sandy Pylos, to seek

  news of his father's homecoming--he may learn something--

  and win a good reputation among men at large."

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  So she spoke,

  and bound on her elegant sandals under her feet,

  immortal, golden, that bore her both over the sea

  and across the boundless earth, as swift as the wind's blast;

  and she took her brave spear, so massive, thick and strong,

  its tip of sharp bronze, with which she routs the ranks of men,

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  heroes against whom she, a strong sire's daughter, is wroth,

  and took off, down from the heights of Olympos, landing

  on Ithake, right before Odysseus' outer entrance,

  his courtyard's threshold, still grasping the bronze spear,

  in the guise of a stranger, the Taphian leader Mentes.

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  There she found the bold suitors. They at the time

  were amusing themselves with board games out of doors,

  seated on hides of oxen they themselves had slaughtered,

  while heralds and henchmen were busy on their behalf,

  some mixing wine and water for them in bowls,

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  while others were swabbing the tables with porous sponges

  and setting them out, or carving meat in lavish helpings.

  By far the first to see her was godlike Telemachos,

  who was sitting among the suitors, sorely vexed at heart,

  in his mind's eye seeing his noble father, how he might

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  return, make a scattering of the suitors through his domain,

  and himself gain honor, be king of his own possessions.

  Thinking thus, there among the suitors, he noticed Athene,

&nbs
p; and went at once to the forecourt, embarrassed at heart

  that a guest had to wait outside. He stood beside her,

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  clasped her right hand, took charge of the bronze spear,

  and addressed her with winged words, saying: "Greetings, stranger!

  As a guest you're welcome among us, and afterwards, when

  you've shared our meal, then explain to us what it is you need."

  That said, he led the way, and Pallas Athene followed.

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  When they entered the lofty house, Telemachos carried

  her spear across and stood it beside a tall pillar, in

  a polished spear rack, where many more spears were standing,

  that belonged to steadfast Odysseus. Athene herself

  he led and had sit down in a backed chair, spreading

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  a cloth on it first: a finely wrought chair, with footstool,

  and beside it an inlaid seat for himself, away from the others,

  the suitors, lest his guest, irritated by their uproar,

  should be put off his food, among such arrogant men--

  and besides, he wanted to ask him about his absent father.

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  Then a handmaid brought water for them in an exquisite

  golden pitcher, poured it into a silver basin, so they

  could rinse their hands, then set a polished table beside them,

  and a grave housekeeper brought them bread, and with it

  appetizers galore, giving freely of what was to hand,

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  while a carver made up and sent them platefuls of meat

  of every kind, and set by them golden goblets, while

  a herald went to and fro to furnish them with wine.

  Then in came the arrogant suitors, and all immediately

  settled themselves in rows on the seats and benches,

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  and heralds now poured water over their hands, while maids

  brought them bread by the basketful, and youths

  filled the bowls to the brim with drink for them, and they

  reached out their hands to the good things ready for them.

  But when they had satisfied their desire for food and drink,

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  the suitors' minds now turned to other pleasures,

  to singing and dancing, a feast's proper complement,

  and a herald brought out for Phemios his well-tuned lyre--

  he sang for the suitors only because he was forced to--

  and he struck a chord, introducing his own fine song.

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  But Telemachos now spoke to grey-eyed Athene, leaning

  his head close to hers, so that no one else could hear him:

  "Dear stranger, would you be shocked by what I tell you?

  All these men care about is music and singing, easy enough

  for them--they're freeloading off another man's livelihood,

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  a man whose white bones may be rotting in the rain

  away on the mainland, or rolled by the sea's breakers.

  If they were to see him, if he ever returned to Ithake,

  they'd all be praying that they could run away faster, not

  as now, that they were richer in gold and expensive clothes!

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  But no, he must have suffered a wretched fate, nor is there

  any comfort for us, not even should someone, somewhere,

  claim he'll come back: his day of returning's perished.

  But now tell me this, and give me a truthful answer:

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

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  On what kind of ship did you come here? How did sailors

  bring you to Ithake? What place do they say they're from?

  For I don't imagine you made your way here on foot!

  And tell me this truly too, that I may be certain of it:

  Is this your first visit here, or are you one of my father's

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  guest-friends? Many the men who used to visit our home,

  just as he too traveled widely among mankind."

  Then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, responded to him, saying:

  "So, I'll answer the questions you asked me fully and truthfully.

  I declare I am Mentes, wise Anchialos' son,

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  and that I rule the Taphians, master rowers; and now,

  as you see, I've put in here by ship, with my companions,

  sailing the wine-dark deep to meet men of foreign speech,

  on my way to Temese for copper, with a cargo of gleaming iron.

  My ship's out there, by the countryside, far from the city,

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  in the harbor of Rheithron, down below wooded Neion.

  Guest-friends of each other Odysseus and I claim we are

  from way back--you can go ask that elderly hero

  Laertes, who, they say, no longer comes to the city,

  but far away in the backwoods has a hard existence

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  with one old woman servant, who sees to his victuals and drink

  when exhaustion steals over and weakens his limbs as he

  shuffles along the high slope of his patch of vineyard.

  So now I've come, for indeed word had it that your father

  was back home; but the gods must be thwarting his return,

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  since not yet has he died in this world, the noble Odysseus,

  but still lives, perhaps held prisoner, out on the vast deep

  in some sea-girt island, kept there by violent men,

  wild savages, who, most likely, are holding him under duress.

  But I shall now make a prediction for you, just as the immortals

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  put it into my mind--and I think it will come to pass,

  though I am no seer, have no clear knowledge of bird-signs!

  Not much longer will he be away from his own beloved

  country, no, not even if iron bonds restrain him--he'll

  find a way to return, this man of many resources!

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  But now tell me this, and declare it to me truly,

  if indeed, big as you are, you're Odysseus' own son--because

  your head and fine eyes bear an amazing resemblance

  to his: many the hours we spent with one another

  before he embarked for Troy, like so many others,

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  the finest of the Achaians, in the hollow ships, and set forth.

  But since then I've not seen Odysseus, nor he me."

  Sagacious Telemachos responded to her, saying:

  "So, stranger, I'll give you a full and truthful answer.

  My mother says I'm his child, but for my own part

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  I cannot tell: never yet did any man know his begetting!

  Indeed, I could wish I'd been the son of some fortunate

  gentleman, taken by age while among his own possessions!

  But truth is, it was the most ill-fated of mortals who,

  so they say, begot me--since you're asking about this matter."

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  Then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, responded to him, saying:

  "No nameless lineage, surely, did the gods decree for you

  hereafter, since such as you are you were born to Penelope!

  But now tell me this, and declare it to me truly:

  What party, what gathering's this? What's your concern with it?

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  A feast, is it? Or a wedding? No communal dinner, surely?

  The riotous, arrogant manner in which, as it seems to me,

  they are carrying on in your house! A man might well take offense,

  walking in on this shameful behavior--any decent man, that is."

  Sagacious Telemachos then responded to her, saying:

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  "S
ince, stranger, you ask this, and question me on these matters,

  our household once looked to be rich and respectable,

  so long as that certain man was here among his people;

  but now the gods have willed otherwise, have planned misfortune,