{"id":117,"date":"2021-05-26T09:19:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T13:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/book-xi\/"},"modified":"2022-02-01T10:52:35","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T15:52:35","slug":"11","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/11\/","title":{"raw":"Book XI","rendered":"Book XI"},"content":{"raw":"

Argument<\/b><\/h2>\r\nUlysses relates to Alcino\u00fcs his voyage to the infernal regions, his conference there with the prophet Tiresias concerning his return to Ithaca, and gives him an account of the heroes, heroines, and others whom he saw there.\r\n\r\nArriving on the shore, and launching, first,\r\nOur bark into the sacred Deep, we set\r\nOur mast and sails, and stow\u2019d secure on board\r\nThe ram and ewe, then, weeping, and with hearts\r\nSad and disconsolate, embark\u2019d ourselves.\r\nAnd now, melodious Circe, nymph divine,\r\nSent after us a canvas-stretching breeze,\r\nPleasant companion of our course, and we\r\n(The decks and benches clear\u2019d) untoiling sat,\r\nWhile managed gales sped swift the bark along.\r\nAll day, with sails distended, e\u2019er the Deep\r\nShe flew, and when the sun, at length, declined,\r\nAnd twilight dim had shadow\u2019d all the ways,\r\nApproach\u2019d the bourn of Ocean\u2019s vast profound.\r\nThe city, there, of the Cimmerians stands\r\nWith clouds and darkness veil\u2019d, on whom the sun\r\nDeigns not to look with his beam-darting eye,\r\nOr when he climbs the starry arch, or when\r\nEarthward he slopes again his west\u2019ring wheels,[footnote]Milton.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nBut sad night canopies the woeful race.\r\nWe haled the bark aground, and, landing there\r\nThe ram and sable ewe, journey\u2019d beside\r\nThe Deep, till we arrived where Circe bade.\r\nHere, Perimedes\u2019 son Eurylochus\r\nHeld fast the destined sacrifice, while I\r\nScoop\u2019d with my sword the soil, op\u2019ning a trench\r\nEll-broad on ev\u2019ry side, then pour\u2019d around\r\nLibation consecrate to all the dead,\r\nFirst, milk with honey mixt, then luscious wine,\r\nThen water, sprinkling, last, meal over all.\r\nThis done, adoring the unreal forms\r\nAnd shadows of the dead, I vow\u2019d to slay,\r\n(Return\u2019d to Ithaca) in my own abode,\r\nAn heifer barren yet, fairest and best\r\nOf all my herds, and to enrich the pile\r\nWith delicacies, such as please the shades.\r\nBut, in peculiar, to the Theban seer\r\nI vow\u2019d a sable ram, largest and best\r\nOf all my flocks. When thus I had implored\r\nWith vows and pray\u2019r, the nations of the dead,\r\nPiercing the victims next, I turn\u2019d them both\r\nTo bleed into the trench; then swarming came\r\nFrom Erebus the shades of the deceased,\r\nBrides, youths unwedded, seniors long with woe\r\nOppress\u2019d, and tender girls yet new to grief.\r\nCame also many a warrior by the spear\r\nIn battle pierced, with armour gore-distain\u2019d,\r\nAnd all the multitude around the foss\r\nStalk\u2019d shrieking dreadful; me pale horror seized.\r\nI next, importunate, my people urged,\r\nFlaying the victims which myself had slain,\r\nTo burn them, and to supplicate in pray\u2019r\r\nIllustrious Pluto and dread Proserpine.\r\nThen down I sat, and with drawn faulchion chased\r\nThe ghosts, nor suffer\u2019d them to approach the blood,\r\nTill with Tiresias I should first confer.\r\nThe spirit, first, of my companion came,\r\nElpenor; for no burial honours yet\r\nHad he received, but we had left his corse\r\nIn Circe\u2019s palace, tombless, undeplored,\r\nOurselves by pressure urged of other cares.\r\nTouch\u2019d with compassion seeing him, I wept,\r\nAnd in wing\u2019d accents brief him thus bespake.\r\nElpenor! how cam\u2019st thou into the realms\r\nOf darkness? Hast thou, though on foot, so far\r\nOutstripp\u2019d my speed, who in my bark arrived?\r\nSo I, to whom with tears he thus replied.\r\nLaertes\u2019 noble son, for wiles renown\u2019d!\r\nFool\u2019d by some d\u00e6mon and the intemp\u2019rate bowl,\r\nI perish\u2019d in the house of Circe; there\r\nThe deep-descending steps heedless I miss\u2019d,\r\nAnd fell precipitated from the roof.\r\nWith neck-bone broken from the vertebr\u00e6\r\nOutstretch\u2019d I lay; my spirit sought the shades.\r\nBut now, by those whom thou hast left at home,\r\nBy thy Penelope, and by thy fire,\r\nThe gentle nourisher of thy infant growth,\r\nAnd by thy only son Telemachus\r\nI make my suit to thee. For, sure, I know\r\nThat from the house of Pluto safe return\u2019d,\r\nThou shalt ere long thy gallant vessel moor\r\nAt the \u00c6\u00e6an isle. Ah! there arrived\r\nRemember me. Leave me not undeplored\r\nNor uninhumed, lest, for my sake, the Gods\r\nIn vengeance visit thee; but with my arms\r\n(What arms soe\u2019er I left) burn me, and raise\r\nA kind memorial of me on the coast,\r\nHeap\u2019d high with earth; that an unhappy man\r\nMay yet enjoy an unforgotten name.\r\nThus do at my request, and on my hill\r\nFunereal, plant the oar with which I row\u2019d,\r\nWhile yet I lived a mariner of thine.\r\nHe spake, to whom thus answer I return\u2019d.\r\nPoor youth! I will perform thy whole desire.\r\nThus we, there sitting, doleful converse held,\r\nWith outstretch\u2019d faulchion, I, guarding the blood,\r\nAnd my companion\u2019s shadowy semblance sad\r\nMeantime discoursing me on various themes.\r\nThe soul of my departed mother, next,\r\nOf Anticleia came, daughter of brave\r\nAutolycus; whom, when I sought the shores\r\nOf Ilium, I had living left at home.\r\nSeeing her, with compassion touch\u2019d, I wept,\r\nYet even her, (although it pain\u2019d my soul)\r\nForbad, relentless, to approach the blood,\r\nTill with Tiresias I should first confer.\r\nThen came the spirit of the Theban seer\r\nHimself, his golden sceptre in his hand,\r\nWho knew me, and, enquiring, thus began.\r\nWhy, hapless Chief! leaving the cheerful day,\r\nArriv\u2019st thou to behold the dead, and this\r\nUnpleasant land? but, from the trench awhile\r\nReceding, turn thy faulchion keen away,\r\nThat I may drink the blood, and tell thee truth.\r\nHe spake; I thence receding, deep infix\u2019d\r\nMy sword bright-studded in the sheath again.\r\nThe noble prophet then, approaching, drank\r\nThe blood, and, satisfied, address\u2019d me thus.\r\nThou seek\u2019st a pleasant voyage home again,\r\nRenown\u2019d Ulysses! but a God will make\r\nThat voyage difficult; for, as I judge,\r\nThou wilt not pass by Neptune unperceiv\u2019d,\r\nWhose anger follows thee, for that thou hast\r\nDeprived his son Cyclops of his eye.\r\nAt length, however, after num\u2019rous woes\r\nEndur\u2019d, thou may\u2019st attain thy native isle,\r\nIf thy own appetite thou wilt controul\r\nAnd theirs who follow thee, what time thy bark\r\nWell-built, shall at Thrinacia\u2019s shore arrive,[footnote]The shore of Scilly commonly called Trinacria, but Euphonic\u00e8 by Homer, Thrinacia.[\/footnote]\r\nEscaped from perils of the gloomy Deep.\r\nThere shall ye find grazing the flocks and herds\r\nOf the all-seeing and all-hearing Sun,\r\nWhich, if attentive to thy safe return,\r\nThou leave unharm\u2019d, though after num\u2019rous woes,\r\nYe may at length arrive in Ithaca.\r\nBut if thou violate them, I denounce\r\nDestruction on thy ship and all thy band,\r\nAnd though thyself escape, late shalt thou reach\r\nThy home and hard-bested,[footnote]The expression is used by Milton, and signifies\u2014Beset with many difficulties.[\/footnote]<\/sup> in a strange bark,\r\nAll thy companions lost; trouble beside\r\nAwaits thee there, for thou shalt find within\r\nProud suitors of thy noble wife, who waste\r\nThy substance, and with promis\u2019d spousal gifts\r\nCeaseless solicit her to wed; yet well\r\nShalt thou avenge all their injurious deeds.\r\nThat once perform\u2019d, and ev\u2019ry suitor slain\r\nEither by stratagem, or face to face,\r\nIn thy own palace, bearing, as thou go\u2019st,\r\nA shapely oar, journey, till thou hast found\r\nA people who the sea know not, nor eat\r\nFood salted; they trim galley crimson prow\u2019d\r\nHave ne\u2019er beheld, nor yet smooth-shaven oar,\r\nWith which the vessel wing\u2019d scuds o\u2019er the waves.\r\nWell thou shalt know them; this shall be the sign\u2014\r\nWhen thou shalt meet a trav\u2019ler, who shall name\r\nThe oar on thy broad shoulder borne, a van,[footnote]Mistaking the oar for a corn-van. A sure indication of his ignorance of maritime concerns.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nThere, deep infixing it within the soil,\r\nWorship the King of Ocean with a bull,\r\nA ram, and a lascivious boar, then seek\r\nThy home again, and sacrifice at home\r\nAn hecatomb to the Immortal Gods,\r\nAdoring each duly, and in his course.\r\nSo shalt thou die in peace a gentle death,\r\nRemote from Ocean; it shall find thee late,\r\nIn soft serenity of age, the Chief\r\nOf a blest people.\u2014I have told thee truth.\r\n<\/span> He spake, to whom I answer thus return\u2019d.\r\nTiresias! thou, I doubt not, hast reveal\u2019d\r\nThe ordinance of heav\u2019n. But tell me, Seer!\r\nAnd truly. I behold my mother\u2019s shade;\r\nSilent she sits beside the blood, nor word\r\nNor even look vouchsafes to her own son.\r\nHow shall she learn, prophet, that I am her\u2019s?\r\nSo I, to whom Tiresias quick replied.\r\nThe course is easy. Learn it, taught by me.\r\nWhat shade soe\u2019er, by leave of thee obtain\u2019d,\r\nShall taste the blood, that shade will tell thee truth;\r\nThe rest, prohibited, will all retire.\r\nWhen thus the spirit of the royal Seer\r\nHad his prophetic mind reveal\u2019d, again\r\nHe enter\u2019d Pluto\u2019s gates; but I unmoved\r\nStill waited till my mother\u2019s shade approach\u2019d;\r\nShe drank the blood, then knew me, and in words\r\nWing\u2019d with affection, plaintive, thus began.\r\nMy son! how hast thou enter\u2019d, still alive,\r\nThis darksome region? Difficult it is\r\nFor living man to view the realms of death.\r\nBroad rivers roll, and awful floods between,\r\nBut chief, the Ocean, which to pass on foot,\r\nOr without ship, impossible is found.\r\nHast thou, long wand\u2019ring in thy voyage home\r\nFrom Ilium, with thy ship and crew arrived,\r\nIthaca and thy consort yet unseen?\r\nShe spake, to whom this answer I return\u2019d.\r\nMy mother! me necessity constrain\u2019d\r\nTo Pluto\u2019s dwelling, anxious to consult\r\nTheban Tiresias; for I have not yet\r\nApproach\u2019d Achaia, nor have touch\u2019d the shore\r\nOf Ithaca, but suff\u2019ring ceaseless woe\r\nHave roam\u2019d, since first in Agamemnon\u2019s train\r\nI went to combat with the sons of Troy.\r\nBut speak, my mother, and the truth alone;\r\nWhat stroke of fate slew thee<\/i>? Fell\u2019st thou a prey\r\nTo some slow malady? or by the shafts\r\nOf gentle Dian suddenly subdued?\r\nSpeak to me also of my ancient Sire,\r\nAnd of Telemachus, whom I left at home;\r\nPossess I still unalienate and safe\r\nMy property, or hath some happier Chief\r\nAdmittance free into my fortunes gain\u2019d,\r\nNo hope subsisting more of my return?\r\nThe mind and purpose of my wedded wife\r\nDeclare thou also. Dwells she with our son\r\nFaithful to my domestic interests,\r\nOr is she wedded to some Chief of Greece?\r\nI ceas\u2019d, when thus the venerable shade.\r\nNot so; she faithful still and patient dwells\r\nThy roof beneath; but all her days and nights\r\nDevoting sad to anguish and to tears.\r\nThy fortunes still are thine; Telemachus\r\nCultivates, undisturb\u2019d, thy land, and sits\r\nAt many a noble banquet, such as well\r\nBeseems the splendour of his princely state,\r\nFor all invite him; at his farm retired\r\nThy father dwells, nor to the city comes,\r\nFor aught; nor bed, nor furniture of bed,\r\nFurr\u2019d cloaks or splendid arras he enjoys,\r\nBut, with his servile hinds all winter sleeps\r\nIn ashes and in dust at the hearth-side,\r\nCoarsely attired; again, when summer comes,\r\nOr genial autumn, on the fallen leaves\r\nIn any nook, not curious where, he finds\r\nThere, stretch\u2019d forlorn, nourishing grief, he weeps\r\nThy lot, enfeebled now by num\u2019rous years.\r\nSo perish\u2019d I; such fate I also found;\r\nMe, neither the right-aiming arch\u2019ress struck,\r\nDiana, with her gentle shafts, nor me\r\nDistemper slew, my limbs by slow degrees\r\nBut sure, bereaving of their little life,\r\nBut long regret, tender solicitude,\r\nAnd recollection of thy kindness past,\r\nThese, my Ulysses! fatal proved to me.\r\nShe said; I, ardent wish\u2019d to clasp the shade\r\nOf my departed mother; thrice I sprang\r\nToward her, by desire impetuous urged,\r\nAnd thrice she flitted from between my arms,\r\nLight as a passing shadow or a dream.\r\nThen, pierced by keener grief, in accents wing\u2019d\r\nWith filial earnestness I thus replied.\r\nMy mother, why elud\u2019st thou my attempt\r\nTo clasp thee, that ev\u2019n here, in Pluto\u2019s realm,\r\nWe might to full satiety indulge\r\nOur grief, enfolded in each other\u2019s arms?\r\nHath Proserpine, alas! only dispatch\u2019d\r\nA shadow to me, to augment my woe?\r\nThen, instant, thus the venerable form.\r\nAh, son! thou most afflicted of mankind!\r\nOn thee, Jove\u2019s daughter, Proserpine, obtrudes\r\nNo airy semblance vain; but such the state\r\nAnd nature is of mortals once deceased.\r\nFor they nor muscle have, nor flesh, nor bone;\r\nAll those (the spirit from the body once\r\nDivorced) the violence of fire consumes,\r\nAnd, like a dream, the soul flies swift away.\r\nBut haste thou back to light, and, taught thyself\r\nThese sacred truths, hereafter teach thy spouse.\r\nThus mutual we conferr\u2019d. Then, thither came,\r\nEncouraged forth by royal Proserpine,\r\nShades female num\u2019rous, all who consorts, erst,\r\nOr daughters were of mighty Chiefs renown\u2019d.\r\nAbout the sable blood frequent they swarm\u2019d.\r\nBut I, consid\u2019ring sat, how I might each\r\nInterrogate, and thus resolv\u2019d. My sword\r\nForth drawing from beside my sturdy thigh,\r\nFirm I prohibited the ghosts to drink\r\nThe blood together; they successive came;\r\nEach told her own distress; I question\u2019d all.\r\nThere, first, the high-born Tyro I beheld;\r\nShe claim\u2019d Salmoneus as her sire, and wife\r\nWas once of Cretheus, son of \u00c6olus.\r\nEnamour\u2019d of Enipeus, stream divine,\r\nLoveliest of all that water earth, beside\r\nHis limpid current she was wont to stray,\r\nWhen Ocean\u2019s God, (Enipeus\u2019 form assumed)\r\nWithin the eddy-whirling river\u2019s mouth\r\nEmbraced her; there, while the o\u2019er-arching flood,\r\nUplifted mountainous, conceal\u2019d the God\r\nAnd his fair human bride, her virgin zone\r\nHe loos\u2019d, and o\u2019er her eyes sweet sleep diffused.\r\nHis am\u2019rous purpose satisfied, he grasp\u2019d\r\nHer hand, affectionate, and thus he said.\r\nRejoice in this my love, and when the year\r\nShall tend to consummation of its course,\r\nThou shalt produce illustrious twins, for love\r\nImmortal never is unfruitful love.\r\nRear them with all a mother\u2019s care; meantime,\r\nHence to thy home. Be silent. Name it not.\r\nFor I am Neptune, Shaker of the shores.\r\nSo saying, he plunged into the billowy Deep.\r\nShe pregnant grown, Pelias and Neleus bore,\r\nBoth, valiant ministers of mighty Jove.\r\nIn wide-spread I\u00e4olchus Pelias dwelt,\r\nOf num\u2019rous flocks possess\u2019d; but his abode\r\nAmid the sands of Pylus Neleus chose.\r\nTo Cretheus wedded next, the lovely nymph\r\nYet other sons, \u00c6son and Pheres bore,\r\nAnd Amythaon of equestrian fame.\r\nI, next, the daughter of Asopus saw,\r\nAntiope; she gloried to have known\r\nTh\u2019 embrace of Jove himself, to whom she brought\r\nA double progeny, Amphion named\r\nAnd Zethus; they the seven-gated Thebes\r\nFounded and girded with strong tow\u2019rs, because,\r\nThough puissant Heroes both, in spacious Thebes\r\nUnfenced by tow\u2019rs, they could not dwell secure.\r\nAlcmena, next, wife of Amphitryon\r\nI saw; she in the arms of sov\u2019reign Jove\r\nThe lion-hearted Hercules conceiv\u2019d,\r\nAnd, after, bore to Creon brave in fight\r\nHis daughter Megara, by the noble son\r\nUnconquer\u2019d of Amphitryon espoused.\r\nThe beauteous Epicaste[footnote]By the Tragedians called\u2014Jocasta.[\/footnote]<\/sup> saw I then,\r\nMother of Oedipus, who guilt incurr\u2019d\r\nProdigious, wedded, unintentional,\r\nTo her own son; his father first he slew,\r\nThen wedded her, which soon the Gods divulged.\r\nHe, under vengeance of offended heav\u2019n,\r\nIn pleasant Thebes dwelt miserable, King\r\nOf the Cadmean race; she to the gates\r\nOf Ades brazen-barr\u2019d despairing went,\r\nSelf-strangled by a cord fasten\u2019d aloft\r\nTo her own palace-roof, and woes bequeath\u2019d\r\n(Such as the Fury sisters execute\r\nInnumerable) to her guilty son.\r\nThere also saw I Chloris, loveliest fair,\r\nWhom Neleus woo\u2019d and won with spousal gifts\r\nInestimable, by her beauty charm\u2019d\r\nShe youngest daughter was of Iasus\u2019 son,\r\nAmphion, in old time a sov\u2019reign prince\r\nIn Minu\u00ebian Orchomenus,\r\nAnd King of Pylus. Three illustrious sons\r\nShe bore to Neleus, Nestor, Chromius,\r\nAnd Periclymenus the wide-renown\u2019d,\r\nAnd, last, produced a wonder of the earth,\r\nPero, by ev\u2019ry neighbour prince around\r\nIn marriage sought; but Neleus her on none\r\nDeign\u2019d to bestow, save only on the Chief\r\nWho should from Phylace drive off the beeves\r\n(Broad-fronted, and with jealous care secured)\r\nOf valiant Iphicles. One undertook\r\nThat task alone, a prophet high in fame,\r\nMelampus; but the Fates fast bound him there\r\nIn rig\u2019rous bonds by rustic hands imposed.\r\nAt length (the year, with all its months and days\r\nConcluded, and the new-born year begun)\r\nIllustrious Iphicles releas\u2019d the seer,\r\nGrateful for all the oracles resolved,[footnote]Iphicles had been informed by the Oracles that he should have no children till instructed by a prophet how to obtain them; a service which Melampus had the good fortune to render him.[\/footnote]\r\nTill then obscure. So stood the will of Jove.\r\nNext, Leda, wife of Tyndarus I saw,\r\nWho bore to Tyndarus a noble pair,\r\nCastor the bold, and Pollux cestus-famed.\r\nThey pris\u2019ners in the fertile womb of earth,\r\nThough living, dwell, and even there from Jove\r\nHigh priv\u2019lege gain; alternate they revive\r\nAnd die, and dignity partake divine.\r\nThe comfort of Alo\u00ebus, next, I view\u2019d,\r\nIphimedeia; she th\u2019 embrace profess\u2019d\r\nOf Neptune to have shared, to whom she bore\r\nTwo sons; short-lived they were, but godlike both,\r\nOtus and Ephialtes far-renown\u2019d.\r\nOrion sole except, all-bounteous Earth\r\nNe\u2019er nourish\u2019d forms for beauty or for size\r\nTo be admired as theirs; in his ninth year\r\nEach measur\u2019d, broad, nine cubits, and the height\r\nWas found nine ells of each. Against the Gods\r\nThemselves they threaten\u2019d war, and to excite\r\nThe din of battle in the realms above.\r\nTo the Olympian summit they essay\u2019d\r\nTo heave up Ossa, and to Ossa\u2019s crown\r\nBranch-waving Pelion; so to climb the heav\u2019ns.\r\nNor had they failed, maturer grown in might,\r\nTo accomplish that emprize, but them the son[footnote]Apollo.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nOf radiant-hair\u2019d Latona and of Jove\r\nSlew both, ere yet the down of blooming youth\r\nThick-sprung, their cheeks or chins had tufted o\u2019er.\r\nPh\u00e6dra I also there, and Procris saw,\r\nAnd Ariadne for her beauty praised,\r\nWhose sire was all-wise Minos. Theseus her\r\nFrom Crete toward the fruitful region bore\r\nOf sacred Athens, but enjoy\u2019d not there,\r\nFor, first, she perish\u2019d by Diana\u2019s shafts\r\nIn Dia, Bacchus witnessing her crime.[footnote]Bacchus accused her to Diana of having lain with Theseus in his temple, and the Goddess punished her with death.[\/footnote]\r\nM\u00e6ra and Clymene I saw beside,\r\nAnd odious Eriphyle, who received\r\nThe price in gold of her own husband\u2019s life.\r\nBut all the wives of Heroes whom I saw,\r\nAnd all their daughters can I not relate;\r\nNight, first, would fail; and even now the hour\r\nCalls me to rest either on board my bark,\r\nOr here; meantime, I in yourselves confide,\r\nAnd in the Gods to shape my conduct home.\r\nHe ceased; the whole assembly silent sat,\r\nCharm\u2019d into ecstacy by his discourse\r\nThroughout the twilight hall, till, at the last,\r\nAreta iv\u2019ry arm\u2019d them thus bespake.\r\nPh\u00e6acians! how appears he in your eyes\r\nThis stranger, graceful as he is in port,\r\nIn stature noble, and in mind discrete?\r\nMy guest he is, but ye all share with me\r\nThat honour; him dismiss not, therefore, hence\r\nWith haste, nor from such indigence withhold\r\nSupplies gratuitous; for ye are rich,\r\nAnd by kind heav\u2019n with rare possessions blest.\r\nThe Hero, next, Echeneus spake, a Chief\r\nNow ancient, eldest of Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s sons.\r\nYour prudent Queen, my friends, speaks not beside\r\nHer proper scope, but as beseems her well.\r\nHer voice obey; yet the effect of all\r\nMust on Alcino\u00fcs himself depend.\r\nTo whom Alcino\u00fcs, thus, the King, replied.\r\nI ratify the word. So shall be done,\r\nAs surely as myself shall live supreme\r\nO\u2019er all Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s maritime domain.\r\nThen let the guest, though anxious to depart,\r\nWait till the morrow, that I may complete\r\nThe whole donation. His safe conduct home\r\nShall be the gen\u2019ral care, but mine in Chief,\r\nTo whom dominion o\u2019er the rest belongs.\r\nHim answer\u2019d, then, Ulysses ever-wise.\r\nAlcino\u00fcs! Prince! exalted high o\u2019er all\r\nPh\u00e6acia\u2019s sons! should ye solicit, kind,\r\nMy stay throughout the year, preparing still\r\nMy conduct home, and with illustrious gifts\r\nEnriching me the while, ev\u2019n that request\r\nShould please me well; the wealthier I return\u2019d,\r\nThe happier my condition; welcome more\r\nAnd more respectable I should appear\r\nIn ev\u2019ry eye to Ithaca restored.\r\nTo whom Alcino\u00fcs answer thus return\u2019d.\r\nUlysses! viewing thee, no fears we feel\r\nLest thou, at length, some false pretender prove,\r\nOr subtle hypocrite, of whom no few\r\nDisseminated o\u2019er its face the earth\r\nSustains, adepts in fiction, and who frame\r\nFables, where fables could be least surmised.\r\nThy phrase well turn\u2019d, and thy ingenuous mind\r\nProclaim thee<\/i> diff\u2019rent far, who hast in strains\r\nMusical as a poet\u2019s voice, the woes\r\nRehears\u2019d of all thy Greecians, and thy own.\r\nBut say, and tell me true. Beheld\u2019st thou there\r\nNone of thy followers to the walls of Troy\r\nSlain in that warfare? Lo! the night is long\u2014\r\nA night of utmost length; nor yet the hour\r\nInvites to sleep. Tell me thy wond\u2019rous deeds,\r\nFor I could watch till sacred dawn, could\u2019st thou\r\nSo long endure to tell me of thy toils.\r\nThen thus Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.\r\nAlcino\u00fcs! high exalted over all\r\nPh\u00e6acia\u2019s sons! the time suffices yet\r\nFor converse both and sleep, and if thou wish\r\nTo hear still more, I shall not spare to unfold\r\nMore pitiable woes than these, sustain\u2019d\r\nBy my companions, in the end destroy\u2019d;\r\nWho, saved from perils of disast\u2019rous war\r\nAt Ilium, perish\u2019d yet in their return,\r\nVictims of a pernicious woman\u2019s crime.[footnote]Probably meaning Helen.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nNow, when chaste Proserpine had wide dispers\u2019d\r\nThose female shades, the spirit sore distress\u2019d\r\nOf Agamemnon, Atreus\u2019 son, appear\u2019d;\r\nEncircled by a throng, he came; by all\r\nWho with himself beneath \u00c6gisthus\u2019 roof\r\nTheir fate fulfill\u2019d, perishing by the sword.\r\nHe drank the blood, and knew me; shrill he wail\u2019d\r\nAnd querulous; tears trickling bathed his cheeks,\r\nAnd with spread palms, through ardour of desire\r\nHe sought to enfold me fast, but vigour none,\r\nOr force, as erst, his agile limbs inform\u2019d.\r\nI, pity-moved, wept at the sight, and him,\r\nIn accents wing\u2019d by friendship, thus address\u2019d.\r\nAh glorious son of Atreus, King of men!\r\nWhat hand inflicted the all-numbing stroke\r\nOf death on thee? Say, didst thou perish sunk\r\nBy howling tempests irresistible\r\nWhich Neptune raised, or on dry land by force\r\nOf hostile multitudes, while cutting off\r\nBeeves from the herd, or driving flocks away,\r\nOr fighting for Achaia\u2019s daughters, shut\r\nWithin some city\u2019s bulwarks close besieged?\r\nI ceased, when Agamemnon thus replied.\r\nUlysses, noble Chief, Laertes\u2019 son\r\nFor wisdom famed! I neither perish\u2019d sunk\r\nBy howling tempests irresistible\r\nWhich Neptune raised, nor on dry land received\r\nFrom hostile multitudes the fatal blow,\r\nBut me \u00c6gisthus slew; my woeful death\r\nConfed\u2019rate with my own pernicious wife\r\nHe plotted, with a show of love sincere\r\nBidding me to his board, where as the ox\r\nIs slaughter\u2019d at his crib, he slaughter\u2019d me<\/i>.\r\nSuch was my dreadful death; carnage ensued\r\nContinual of my friends slain all around,\r\nNum\u2019rous as boars bright-tusk\u2019d at nuptial feast,\r\nOr feast convivial of some wealthy Chief.\r\nThou hast already witness\u2019d many a field\r\nWith warriors overspread, slain one by one,\r\nBut that dire scene had most thy pity moved,\r\nFor we, with brimming beakers at our side,\r\nAnd underneath full tables bleeding lay.\r\nBlood floated all the pavement. Then the cries\r\nOf Priam\u2019s daughter sounded in my ears\r\nMost pitiable of all. Cassandra\u2019s cries,\r\nWhom Clytemnestra close beside me slew.\r\nExpiring as I lay, I yet essay\u2019d\r\nTo grasp my faulchion, but the trayt\u2019ress quick\r\nWithdrew herself, nor would vouchsafe to close\r\nMy languid eyes, or prop my drooping chin\r\nEv\u2019n in the moment when I sought the shades.\r\nSo that the thing breathes not, ruthless and fell\r\nAs woman once resolv\u2019d on such a deed\r\nDetestable, as my base wife contrived,\r\nThe murther of the husband of her youth.\r\nI thought to have return\u2019d welcome to all,\r\nTo my own children and domestic train;\r\nBut she, past measure profligate, hath poured\r\nShame on herself, on women yet unborn,\r\nAnd even on the virtuous of her sex.\r\nHe ceas\u2019d, to whom, thus, answer I return\u2019d.\r\nGods! how severely hath the thund\u2019rer plagued\r\nThe house of Atreus even from the first,\r\nBy female counsels! we for Helen\u2019s sake\r\nHave num\u2019rous died, and Clytemnestra framed,\r\nWhile thou wast far remote, this snare for thee!\r\nSo I, to whom Atrides thus replied.\r\nThou, therefore, be not pliant overmuch\r\nTo woman; trust her not with all thy mind,\r\nBut half disclose to her, and half conceal.\r\nYet, from thy consort\u2019s hand no bloody death,\r\nMy friend, hast thou to fear; for passing wise\r\nIcarius\u2019 daughter is, far other thoughts,\r\nIntelligent, and other plans, to frame.\r\nHer, going to the wars we left a bride\r\nNew-wedded, and thy boy hung at her breast,\r\nWho, man himself, consorts ere now with men\r\nA prosp\u2019rous youth; his father, safe restored\r\nTo his own Ithaca, shall see him soon,\r\nAnd he<\/i> shall clasp his father in his arms\r\nAs nature bids; but me, my cruel one\r\nIndulged not with the dear delight to gaze\r\nOn my Orestes, for she slew me first.\r\nBut listen; treasure what I now impart.[footnote]This is surely one of the most natural strokes to be found in any Poet. Convinced, for a moment, by the virtues of Penelope, he mentioned her with respect; but recollecting himself suddenly, involves even her in his general ill opinion of the sex, begotten in him by the crimes of Clytemnestra.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nSteer secret to thy native isle; avoid\r\nNotice; for woman merits trust no more.\r\nNow tell me truth. Hear ye in whose abode\r\nMy son resides? dwells he in Pylus, say,\r\nOr in Orchomenos, or else beneath\r\nMy brother\u2019s roof in Sparta\u2019s wide domain?\r\nFor my Orestes is not yet a shade.\r\nSo he, to whom I answer thus return\u2019d.\r\nAtrides, ask not me. Whether he live,\r\nOr have already died, I nothing know;\r\nMere words are vanity, and better spared.\r\nThus we discoursing mutual stood, and tears\r\nShedding disconsolate. The shade, meantime,\r\nCame of Achilles, Peleus\u2019 mighty son;\r\nPatroclus also, and Antilochus\r\nAppear\u2019d, with Ajax, for proportion just\r\nAnd stature tall, (Pelides sole except)\r\nDistinguish\u2019d above all Achaia\u2019s sons.\r\nThe soul of swift \u00c6acides at once\r\nKnew me, and in wing\u2019d accents thus began.\r\nBrave Laertiades, for wiles renown\u2019d!\r\nWhat mightier enterprise than all the past\r\nHath made thee here a guest? rash as thou art!\r\nHow hast thou dared to penetrate the gloom\r\nOf Ades, dwelling of the shadowy dead,\r\nSemblances only of what once they were?\r\nHe spake, to whom I, answ\u2019ring, thus replied.\r\nO Peleus\u2019 son! Achilles! bravest far\r\nOf all Achaia\u2019s race! I here arrived\r\nSeeking Tiresias, from his lips to learn,\r\nPerchance, how I might safe regain the coast\r\nOf craggy Ithaca; for tempest-toss\u2019d\r\nPerpetual, I have neither yet approach\u2019d\r\nAchaia\u2019s shore, or landed on my own.\r\nBut as for thee, Achilles! never man\r\nHath known felicity like thine, or shall,\r\nWhom living we all honour\u2019d as a God,\r\nAnd who maintain\u2019st, here resident, supreme\r\nControul among the dead; indulge not then,\r\nAchilles, causeless grief that thou hast died.\r\nI ceased, and answer thus instant received.\r\nRenown\u2019d Ulysses! think not death a theme\r\nOf consolation; I had rather live\r\nThe servile hind for hire, and eat the bread\r\nOf some man scantily himself sustain\u2019d,\r\nThan sov\u2019reign empire hold o\u2019er all the shades.\r\nBut come\u2014speak to me of my noble boy;\r\nProceeds he, as he promis\u2019d, brave in arms,\r\nOr shuns he war? Say also, hast thou heard\r\nOf royal Peleus? shares he still respect\r\nAmong his num\u2019rous Myrmidons, or scorn\r\nIn Hellas and in Phthia, for that age\r\nPredominates in his enfeebled limbs?\r\nFor help is none in me; the glorious sun\r\nNo longer sees me such, as when in aid\r\nOf the Achaians I o\u2019erspread the field\r\nOf spacious Troy with all their bravest slain.\r\nOh might I, vigorous as then, repair[footnote]Another most beautiful stroke of nature. Ere yet Ulysses has had opportunity to answer, the very thought that Peleus may possibly be insulted, fires him, and he takes the whole for granted. Thus is the impetuous character of Achilles sustained to the last moment![\/footnote]\r\nFor one short moment to my father\u2019s house,\r\nThey all should tremble; I would shew an arm,\r\nSuch as should daunt the fiercest who presumes\r\nTo injure him<\/i>, or to despise his age.\r\nAchilles spake, to whom I thus replied.\r\nOf noble Peleus have I nothing heard;\r\nBut I will tell thee, as thou bidd\u2019st, the truth\r\nUnfeign\u2019d of Neoptolemus thy son;\r\nFor him, myself, on board my hollow bark\r\nFrom Scyros to Achaia\u2019s host convey\u2019d.\r\nOft as in council under Ilium\u2019s walls\r\nWe met, he ever foremost was in speech,\r\nNor spake erroneous; Nestor and myself\r\nExcept, no Greecian could with him compare.\r\nOft, too, as we with battle hemm\u2019d around\r\nTroy\u2019s bulwarks, from among the mingled crowd\r\nThy son sprang foremost into martial act,\r\nInferior in heroic worth to none.\r\nBeneath him num\u2019rous fell the sons of Troy\r\nIn dreadful fight, nor have I pow\u2019r to name\r\nDistinctly all, who by his glorious arm\r\nExerted in the cause of Greece, expired.\r\nYet will I name Eurypylus, the son\r\nOf Telephus, an Hero whom his sword\r\nOf life bereaved, and all around him strew\u2019d\r\nThe plain with his Cetean warriors, won\r\nTo Ilium\u2019s side by bribes to women giv\u2019n.[footnote]\u0393\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03af\u03c9\u03bd \u03b5\u03b9\u03bd\u03b5\u03ba\u03b1 \u03b4\u03ce\u03c1\u03c9\u03bd\u2014Priam is said to have influenced by gifts the wife and mother of Eurypylus, to persuade him to the assistance of Troy, he being himself unwilling to engage. The passage through defect of history has long been dark, and commentators have adapted different senses to it, all conjectural. The Ceteans are said to have been a people of Mysia, of which Eurypylus was King.[\/footnote]\r\nSave noble Memnon only, I beheld\r\nNo Chief at Ilium beautiful as he.\r\nAgain, when we within the horse of wood\r\nFramed by Epe\u00fcs sat, an ambush chos\u2019n\r\nOf all the bravest Greeks, and I in trust\r\nWas placed to open or to keep fast-closed\r\nThe hollow fraud; then, ev\u2019ry Chieftain there\r\nAnd Senator of Greece wiped from his cheeks\r\nThe tears, and tremors felt in ev\u2019ry limb;\r\nBut never saw I changed to terror\u2019s hue\r\nHis<\/i> ruddy cheek, no tears wiped he<\/i> away,\r\nBut oft he press\u2019d me to go forth, his suit\r\nWith pray\u2019rs enforcing, griping hard his hilt\r\nAnd his brass-burthen\u2019d spear, and dire revenge\r\nDenouncing, ardent, on the race of Troy.\r\nAt length, when we had sack\u2019d the lofty town\r\nOf Priam, laden with abundant spoils\r\nHe safe embark\u2019d, neither by spear or shaft\r\nAught hurt, or in close fight by faulchion\u2019s edge,\r\nAs oft in war befalls, where wounds are dealt\r\nPromiscuous at the will of fiery Mars.\r\nSo I; then striding large, the spirit thence\r\nWithdrew of swift \u00c6acides, along\r\nThe hoary mead pacing,[footnote]\u039a\u03b1\u03c4\u2019 \u03b1\u03c3\u03c6\u03bf\u03b4\u03b5\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd \u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd\u03b1\u2014Asphodel was planted on the graves and around the tombs of the deceased, and hence the supposition that the Stygian plain was clothed with asphodel. F.[\/footnote]<\/sup> with joy elate\r\nThat I had blazon\u2019d bright his son\u2019s renown.\r\nThe other souls of men by death dismiss\u2019d\r\nStood mournful by, sad uttering each his woes;\r\nThe soul alone I saw standing remote\r\nOf Telamonian Ajax, still incensed\r\nThat in our public contest for the arms\r\nWorn by Achilles, and by Thetis thrown\r\nInto dispute, my claim had strongest proved,\r\nTroy and Minerva judges of the cause.\r\nDisastrous victory! which I could wish\r\nNot to have won, since for that armour\u2019s sake\r\nThe earth hath cover\u2019d Ajax, in his form\r\nAnd martial deeds superior far to all\r\nThe Greecians, Peleus\u2019 matchless son except.\r\nI, seeking to appease him, thus began.\r\nO Ajax, son of glorious Telamon!\r\nCanst thou remember, even after death,\r\nThy wrath against me, kindled for the sake\r\nOf those pernicious arms? arms which the Gods\r\nOrdain\u2019d of such dire consequence to Greece,\r\nWhich caused thy death, our bulwark! Thee we mourn\r\nWith grief perpetual, nor the death lament\r\nOf Peleus\u2019 son, Achilles, more than thine.\r\nYet none is blameable; Jove evermore\r\nWith bitt\u2019rest hate pursued Achaia\u2019s host,\r\nAnd he ordain\u2019d thy death. Hero! approach,\r\nThat thou may\u2019st hear the words with which I seek\r\nTo sooth thee; let thy long displeasure cease!\r\nQuell all resentment in thy gen\u2019rous breast!\r\nI spake; nought answer\u2019d he, but sullen join\u2019d\r\nHis fellow-ghosts; yet, angry as he was,\r\nI had prevail\u2019d even on him to speak,\r\nOr had, at least, accosted him again,\r\nBut that my bosom teem\u2019d with strong desire\r\nUrgent, to see yet others of the dead.\r\nThere saw I Minos, offspring famed of Jove;\r\nHis golden sceptre in his hand, he sat\r\nJudge of the dead; they, pleading each in turn,\r\nHis cause, some stood, some sat, filling the house\r\nWhose spacious folding-gates are never closed.\r\nOrion next, huge ghost, engaged my view,\r\nDroves urging o\u2019er the grassy mead, of beasts\r\nWhich he had slain, himself, on the wild hills,\r\nWith strong club arm\u2019d of ever-during brass.\r\nThere also Tityus on the ground I saw\r\nExtended, offspring of the glorious earth;\r\nNine acres he o\u2019erspread, and, at his side\r\nStation\u2019d, two vultures on his liver prey\u2019d,\r\nScooping his entrails; nor sufficed his hands\r\nTo fray them thence; for he had sought to force\r\nLatona, illustrious concubine of Jove,\r\nWhat time the Goddess journey\u2019d o\u2019er the rocks\r\nOf Pytho into pleasant Panopeus.\r\nNext, suff\u2019ring grievous torments, I beheld\r\nTantalus; in a pool he stood, his chin\r\nWash\u2019d by the wave; thirst-parch\u2019d he seem\u2019d, but found\r\nNought to assuage his thirst; for when he bow\u2019d\r\nHis hoary head, ardent to quaff, the flood\r\nVanish\u2019d absorb\u2019d, and, at his feet, adust\r\nThe soil appear\u2019d, dried, instant, by the Gods.\r\nTall trees, fruit-laden, with inflected heads\r\nStoop\u2019d to him, pomegranates, apples bright,\r\nThe luscious fig, and unctuous olive smooth;\r\nWhich when with sudden grasp he would have seized,\r\nWinds hurl\u2019d them high into the dusky clouds.\r\nThere, too, the hard-task\u2019d Sisyphus I saw,\r\nThrusting before him, strenuous, a vast rock.[footnote]\u0392\u03b1\u03c3\u03b1\u03b6\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1 must have this sense interpreted by what follows. To attempt to make the English numbers expressive as the Greek is a labour like that of Sisyphus. The Translator has done what he could.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nWith hands and feet struggling, he shoved the stone\r\nUp to a hill-top; but the steep well-nigh\r\nVanquish\u2019d, by some great force repulsed,[footnote]It is now, perhaps, impossible to ascertain with precision what Homer meant by the word \u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9\u03af\u03c2, which he uses only here, and in the next book, where it is the name of Scylla\u2019s dam.\u2014\u0391\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9\u03b4\u03b7\u03c2\u2014is also of very doubtful explication.[\/footnote]<\/sup> the mass\r\nRush\u2019d again, obstinate, down to the plain.\r\nAgain, stretch\u2019d prone, severe he toiled, the sweat\r\nBathed all his weary limbs, and his head reek\u2019d.\r\nThe might of Hercules I, next, survey\u2019d;\r\nHis semblance; for himself their banquet shares\r\nWith the Immortal Gods, and in his arms\r\nEnfolds neat-footed Hebe, daughter fair\r\nOf Jove, and of his golden-sandal\u2019d spouse.\r\nAround him, clamorous as birds, the dead\r\nSwarm\u2019d turbulent; he, gloomy-brow\u2019d as night,\r\nWith uncased bow and arrow on the string\r\nPeer\u2019d terrible from side to side, as one\r\nEver in act to shoot; a dreadful belt\r\nHe bore athwart his bosom, thong\u2019d with gold.\r\nThere, broider\u2019d shone many a stupendous form,\r\nBears, wild boars, lions with fire-flashing eyes,\r\nFierce combats, battles, bloodshed, homicide.\r\nThe artist, author of that belt, none such\r\nBefore, produced, or after. Me his eye\r\nNo sooner mark\u2019d, than knowing me, in words\r\nBy sorrow quick suggested, he began.\r\nLaertes\u2019 noble son, for wiles renown\u2019d!\r\nAh, hapless Hero! thou art, doubtless, charged,\r\nThou also, with some arduous labour, such\r\nAs in the realms of day I once endured.\r\nSon was I of Saturnian Jove, yet woes\r\nImmense sustain\u2019d, subjected to a King\r\nInferior far to me, whose harsh commands\r\nEnjoin\u2019d me many a terrible exploit.\r\nHe even bade me on a time lead hence\r\nThe dog, that task believing above all\r\nImpracticable; yet from Ades him\r\nI dragg\u2019d reluctant into light, by aid\r\nOf Hermes, and of Pallas azure-eyed.\r\nSo saying, he penetrated deep again\r\nThe abode of Pluto; but I still unmoved\r\nThere stood expecting, curious, other shades\r\nTo see of Heroes in old time deceased.\r\nAnd now, more ancient worthies still, and whom\r\nI wish\u2019d, I had beheld, Piritho\u00fcs\r\nAnd Theseus, glorious progeny of Gods,\r\nBut nations, first, numberless of the dead\r\nCame shrieking hideous; me pale horror seized,\r\nLest awful Proserpine should thither send\r\nThe Gorgon-head from Ades, sight abhorr\u2019d!\r\nI, therefore, hasting to the vessel, bade\r\nMy crew embark, and cast the hawsers loose.\r\nThey, quick embarking, on the benches sat.\r\nDown the Oceanus[footnote]The two first lines of the following book seem to ascertain the true meaning of the conclusion of this, and to prove sufficiently that by \u1f68\u03ba\u03b5\u03b1\u03bd\u1f78\u03c2 here Homer could not possibly intend any other than a river. In those lines he tells us in the plainest terms that the ship left the stream of the river Oceanus, and arrived in the open sea. Diodorus Siculus informs us that \u1f68\u03ba\u03b5\u03b1\u03bd\u1f78\u03c2 had been a name anciently given to the Nile. See Clarke.[\/footnote]<\/sup> the current bore\r\nMy galley, winning, at the first, her way\r\nWith oars, then, wafted by propitious gales.","rendered":"

Argument<\/b><\/h2>\n

Ulysses relates to Alcino\u00fcs his voyage to the infernal regions, his conference there with the prophet Tiresias concerning his return to Ithaca, and gives him an account of the heroes, heroines, and others whom he saw there.<\/p>\n

Arriving on the shore, and launching, first,
\nOur bark into the sacred Deep, we set
\nOur mast and sails, and stow\u2019d secure on board
\nThe ram and ewe, then, weeping, and with hearts
\nSad and disconsolate, embark\u2019d ourselves.
\nAnd now, melodious Circe, nymph divine,
\nSent after us a canvas-stretching breeze,
\nPleasant companion of our course, and we
\n(The decks and benches clear\u2019d) untoiling sat,
\nWhile managed gales sped swift the bark along.
\nAll day, with sails distended, e\u2019er the Deep
\nShe flew, and when the sun, at length, declined,
\nAnd twilight dim had shadow\u2019d all the ways,
\nApproach\u2019d the bourn of Ocean\u2019s vast profound.
\nThe city, there, of the Cimmerians stands
\nWith clouds and darkness veil\u2019d, on whom the sun
\nDeigns not to look with his beam-darting eye,
\nOr when he climbs the starry arch, or when
\nEarthward he slopes again his west\u2019ring wheels,[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nBut sad night canopies the woeful race.
\nWe haled the bark aground, and, landing there
\nThe ram and sable ewe, journey\u2019d beside
\nThe Deep, till we arrived where Circe bade.
\nHere, Perimedes\u2019 son Eurylochus
\nHeld fast the destined sacrifice, while I
\nScoop\u2019d with my sword the soil, op\u2019ning a trench
\nEll-broad on ev\u2019ry side, then pour\u2019d around
\nLibation consecrate to all the dead,
\nFirst, milk with honey mixt, then luscious wine,
\nThen water, sprinkling, last, meal over all.
\nThis done, adoring the unreal forms
\nAnd shadows of the dead, I vow\u2019d to slay,
\n(Return\u2019d to Ithaca) in my own abode,
\nAn heifer barren yet, fairest and best
\nOf all my herds, and to enrich the pile
\nWith delicacies, such as please the shades.
\nBut, in peculiar, to the Theban seer
\nI vow\u2019d a sable ram, largest and best
\nOf all my flocks. When thus I had implored
\nWith vows and pray\u2019r, the nations of the dead,
\nPiercing the victims next, I turn\u2019d them both
\nTo bleed into the trench; then swarming came
\nFrom Erebus the shades of the deceased,
\nBrides, youths unwedded, seniors long with woe
\nOppress\u2019d, and tender girls yet new to grief.
\nCame also many a warrior by the spear
\nIn battle pierced, with armour gore-distain\u2019d,
\nAnd all the multitude around the foss
\nStalk\u2019d shrieking dreadful; me pale horror seized.
\nI next, importunate, my people urged,
\nFlaying the victims which myself had slain,
\nTo burn them, and to supplicate in pray\u2019r
\nIllustrious Pluto and dread Proserpine.
\nThen down I sat, and with drawn faulchion chased
\nThe ghosts, nor suffer\u2019d them to approach the blood,
\nTill with Tiresias I should first confer.
\nThe spirit, first, of my companion came,
\nElpenor; for no burial honours yet
\nHad he received, but we had left his corse
\nIn Circe\u2019s palace, tombless, undeplored,
\nOurselves by pressure urged of other cares.
\nTouch\u2019d with compassion seeing him, I wept,
\nAnd in wing\u2019d accents brief him thus bespake.
\nElpenor! how cam\u2019st thou into the realms
\nOf darkness? Hast thou, though on foot, so far
\nOutstripp\u2019d my speed, who in my bark arrived?
\nSo I, to whom with tears he thus replied.
\nLaertes\u2019 noble son, for wiles renown\u2019d!
\nFool\u2019d by some d\u00e6mon and the intemp\u2019rate bowl,
\nI perish\u2019d in the house of Circe; there
\nThe deep-descending steps heedless I miss\u2019d,
\nAnd fell precipitated from the roof.
\nWith neck-bone broken from the vertebr\u00e6
\nOutstretch\u2019d I lay; my spirit sought the shades.
\nBut now, by those whom thou hast left at home,
\nBy thy Penelope, and by thy fire,
\nThe gentle nourisher of thy infant growth,
\nAnd by thy only son Telemachus
\nI make my suit to thee. For, sure, I know
\nThat from the house of Pluto safe return\u2019d,
\nThou shalt ere long thy gallant vessel moor
\nAt the \u00c6\u00e6an isle. Ah! there arrived
\nRemember me. Leave me not undeplored
\nNor uninhumed, lest, for my sake, the Gods
\nIn vengeance visit thee; but with my arms
\n(What arms soe\u2019er I left) burn me, and raise
\nA kind memorial of me on the coast,
\nHeap\u2019d high with earth; that an unhappy man
\nMay yet enjoy an unforgotten name.
\nThus do at my request, and on my hill
\nFunereal, plant the oar with which I row\u2019d,
\nWhile yet I lived a mariner of thine.
\nHe spake, to whom thus answer I return\u2019d.
\nPoor youth! I will perform thy whole desire.
\nThus we, there sitting, doleful converse held,
\nWith outstretch\u2019d faulchion, I, guarding the blood,
\nAnd my companion\u2019s shadowy semblance sad
\nMeantime discoursing me on various themes.
\nThe soul of my departed mother, next,
\nOf Anticleia came, daughter of brave
\nAutolycus; whom, when I sought the shores
\nOf Ilium, I had living left at home.
\nSeeing her, with compassion touch\u2019d, I wept,
\nYet even her, (although it pain\u2019d my soul)
\nForbad, relentless, to approach the blood,
\nTill with Tiresias I should first confer.
\nThen came the spirit of the Theban seer
\nHimself, his golden sceptre in his hand,
\nWho knew me, and, enquiring, thus began.
\nWhy, hapless Chief! leaving the cheerful day,
\nArriv\u2019st thou to behold the dead, and this
\nUnpleasant land? but, from the trench awhile
\nReceding, turn thy faulchion keen away,
\nThat I may drink the blood, and tell thee truth.
\nHe spake; I thence receding, deep infix\u2019d
\nMy sword bright-studded in the sheath again.
\nThe noble prophet then, approaching, drank
\nThe blood, and, satisfied, address\u2019d me thus.
\nThou seek\u2019st a pleasant voyage home again,
\nRenown\u2019d Ulysses! but a God will make
\nThat voyage difficult; for, as I judge,
\nThou wilt not pass by Neptune unperceiv\u2019d,
\nWhose anger follows thee, for that thou hast
\nDeprived his son Cyclops of his eye.
\nAt length, however, after num\u2019rous woes
\nEndur\u2019d, thou may\u2019st attain thy native isle,
\nIf thy own appetite thou wilt controul
\nAnd theirs who follow thee, what time thy bark
\nWell-built, shall at Thrinacia\u2019s shore arrive,[2]<\/sup><\/a>
\nEscaped from perils of the gloomy Deep.
\nThere shall ye find grazing the flocks and herds
\nOf the all-seeing and all-hearing Sun,
\nWhich, if attentive to thy safe return,
\nThou leave unharm\u2019d, though after num\u2019rous woes,
\nYe may at length arrive in Ithaca.
\nBut if thou violate them, I denounce
\nDestruction on thy ship and all thy band,
\nAnd though thyself escape, late shalt thou reach
\nThy home and hard-bested,[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup> in a strange bark,
\nAll thy companions lost; trouble beside
\nAwaits thee there, for thou shalt find within
\nProud suitors of thy noble wife, who waste
\nThy substance, and with promis\u2019d spousal gifts
\nCeaseless solicit her to wed; yet well
\nShalt thou avenge all their injurious deeds.
\nThat once perform\u2019d, and ev\u2019ry suitor slain
\nEither by stratagem, or face to face,
\nIn thy own palace, bearing, as thou go\u2019st,
\nA shapely oar, journey, till thou hast found
\nA people who the sea know not, nor eat
\nFood salted; they trim galley crimson prow\u2019d
\nHave ne\u2019er beheld, nor yet smooth-shaven oar,
\nWith which the vessel wing\u2019d scuds o\u2019er the waves.
\nWell thou shalt know them; this shall be the sign\u2014
\nWhen thou shalt meet a trav\u2019ler, who shall name
\nThe oar on thy broad shoulder borne, a van,[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nThere, deep infixing it within the soil,
\nWorship the King of Ocean with a bull,
\nA ram, and a lascivious boar, then seek
\nThy home again, and sacrifice at home
\nAn hecatomb to the Immortal Gods,
\nAdoring each duly, and in his course.
\nSo shalt thou die in peace a gentle death,
\nRemote from Ocean; it shall find thee late,
\nIn soft serenity of age, the Chief
\nOf a blest people.\u2014I have told thee truth.
\n<\/span> He spake, to whom I answer thus return\u2019d.
\nTiresias! thou, I doubt not, hast reveal\u2019d
\nThe ordinance of heav\u2019n. But tell me, Seer!
\nAnd truly. I behold my mother\u2019s shade;
\nSilent she sits beside the blood, nor word
\nNor even look vouchsafes to her own son.
\nHow shall she learn, prophet, that I am her\u2019s?
\nSo I, to whom Tiresias quick replied.
\nThe course is easy. Learn it, taught by me.
\nWhat shade soe\u2019er, by leave of thee obtain\u2019d,
\nShall taste the blood, that shade will tell thee truth;
\nThe rest, prohibited, will all retire.
\nWhen thus the spirit of the royal Seer
\nHad his prophetic mind reveal\u2019d, again
\nHe enter\u2019d Pluto\u2019s gates; but I unmoved
\nStill waited till my mother\u2019s shade approach\u2019d;
\nShe drank the blood, then knew me, and in words
\nWing\u2019d with affection, plaintive, thus began.
\nMy son! how hast thou enter\u2019d, still alive,
\nThis darksome region? Difficult it is
\nFor living man to view the realms of death.
\nBroad rivers roll, and awful floods between,
\nBut chief, the Ocean, which to pass on foot,
\nOr without ship, impossible is found.
\nHast thou, long wand\u2019ring in thy voyage home
\nFrom Ilium, with thy ship and crew arrived,
\nIthaca and thy consort yet unseen?
\nShe spake, to whom this answer I return\u2019d.
\nMy mother! me necessity constrain\u2019d
\nTo Pluto\u2019s dwelling, anxious to consult
\nTheban Tiresias; for I have not yet
\nApproach\u2019d Achaia, nor have touch\u2019d the shore
\nOf Ithaca, but suff\u2019ring ceaseless woe
\nHave roam\u2019d, since first in Agamemnon\u2019s train
\nI went to combat with the sons of Troy.
\nBut speak, my mother, and the truth alone;
\nWhat stroke of fate slew thee<\/i>? Fell\u2019st thou a prey
\nTo some slow malady? or by the shafts
\nOf gentle Dian suddenly subdued?
\nSpeak to me also of my ancient Sire,
\nAnd of Telemachus, whom I left at home;
\nPossess I still unalienate and safe
\nMy property, or hath some happier Chief
\nAdmittance free into my fortunes gain\u2019d,
\nNo hope subsisting more of my return?
\nThe mind and purpose of my wedded wife
\nDeclare thou also. Dwells she with our son
\nFaithful to my domestic interests,
\nOr is she wedded to some Chief of Greece?
\nI ceas\u2019d, when thus the venerable shade.
\nNot so; she faithful still and patient dwells
\nThy roof beneath; but all her days and nights
\nDevoting sad to anguish and to tears.
\nThy fortunes still are thine; Telemachus
\nCultivates, undisturb\u2019d, thy land, and sits
\nAt many a noble banquet, such as well
\nBeseems the splendour of his princely state,
\nFor all invite him; at his farm retired
\nThy father dwells, nor to the city comes,
\nFor aught; nor bed, nor furniture of bed,
\nFurr\u2019d cloaks or splendid arras he enjoys,
\nBut, with his servile hinds all winter sleeps
\nIn ashes and in dust at the hearth-side,
\nCoarsely attired; again, when summer comes,
\nOr genial autumn, on the fallen leaves
\nIn any nook, not curious where, he finds
\nThere, stretch\u2019d forlorn, nourishing grief, he weeps
\nThy lot, enfeebled now by num\u2019rous years.
\nSo perish\u2019d I; such fate I also found;
\nMe, neither the right-aiming arch\u2019ress struck,
\nDiana, with her gentle shafts, nor me
\nDistemper slew, my limbs by slow degrees
\nBut sure, bereaving of their little life,
\nBut long regret, tender solicitude,
\nAnd recollection of thy kindness past,
\nThese, my Ulysses! fatal proved to me.
\nShe said; I, ardent wish\u2019d to clasp the shade
\nOf my departed mother; thrice I sprang
\nToward her, by desire impetuous urged,
\nAnd thrice she flitted from between my arms,
\nLight as a passing shadow or a dream.
\nThen, pierced by keener grief, in accents wing\u2019d
\nWith filial earnestness I thus replied.
\nMy mother, why elud\u2019st thou my attempt
\nTo clasp thee, that ev\u2019n here, in Pluto\u2019s realm,
\nWe might to full satiety indulge
\nOur grief, enfolded in each other\u2019s arms?
\nHath Proserpine, alas! only dispatch\u2019d
\nA shadow to me, to augment my woe?
\nThen, instant, thus the venerable form.
\nAh, son! thou most afflicted of mankind!
\nOn thee, Jove\u2019s daughter, Proserpine, obtrudes
\nNo airy semblance vain; but such the state
\nAnd nature is of mortals once deceased.
\nFor they nor muscle have, nor flesh, nor bone;
\nAll those (the spirit from the body once
\nDivorced) the violence of fire consumes,
\nAnd, like a dream, the soul flies swift away.
\nBut haste thou back to light, and, taught thyself
\nThese sacred truths, hereafter teach thy spouse.
\nThus mutual we conferr\u2019d. Then, thither came,
\nEncouraged forth by royal Proserpine,
\nShades female num\u2019rous, all who consorts, erst,
\nOr daughters were of mighty Chiefs renown\u2019d.
\nAbout the sable blood frequent they swarm\u2019d.
\nBut I, consid\u2019ring sat, how I might each
\nInterrogate, and thus resolv\u2019d. My sword
\nForth drawing from beside my sturdy thigh,
\nFirm I prohibited the ghosts to drink
\nThe blood together; they successive came;
\nEach told her own distress; I question\u2019d all.
\nThere, first, the high-born Tyro I beheld;
\nShe claim\u2019d Salmoneus as her sire, and wife
\nWas once of Cretheus, son of \u00c6olus.
\nEnamour\u2019d of Enipeus, stream divine,
\nLoveliest of all that water earth, beside
\nHis limpid current she was wont to stray,
\nWhen Ocean\u2019s God, (Enipeus\u2019 form assumed)
\nWithin the eddy-whirling river\u2019s mouth
\nEmbraced her; there, while the o\u2019er-arching flood,
\nUplifted mountainous, conceal\u2019d the God
\nAnd his fair human bride, her virgin zone
\nHe loos\u2019d, and o\u2019er her eyes sweet sleep diffused.
\nHis am\u2019rous purpose satisfied, he grasp\u2019d
\nHer hand, affectionate, and thus he said.
\nRejoice in this my love, and when the year
\nShall tend to consummation of its course,
\nThou shalt produce illustrious twins, for love
\nImmortal never is unfruitful love.
\nRear them with all a mother\u2019s care; meantime,
\nHence to thy home. Be silent. Name it not.
\nFor I am Neptune, Shaker of the shores.
\nSo saying, he plunged into the billowy Deep.
\nShe pregnant grown, Pelias and Neleus bore,
\nBoth, valiant ministers of mighty Jove.
\nIn wide-spread I\u00e4olchus Pelias dwelt,
\nOf num\u2019rous flocks possess\u2019d; but his abode
\nAmid the sands of Pylus Neleus chose.
\nTo Cretheus wedded next, the lovely nymph
\nYet other sons, \u00c6son and Pheres bore,
\nAnd Amythaon of equestrian fame.
\nI, next, the daughter of Asopus saw,
\nAntiope; she gloried to have known
\nTh\u2019 embrace of Jove himself, to whom she brought
\nA double progeny, Amphion named
\nAnd Zethus; they the seven-gated Thebes
\nFounded and girded with strong tow\u2019rs, because,
\nThough puissant Heroes both, in spacious Thebes
\nUnfenced by tow\u2019rs, they could not dwell secure.
\nAlcmena, next, wife of Amphitryon
\nI saw; she in the arms of sov\u2019reign Jove
\nThe lion-hearted Hercules conceiv\u2019d,
\nAnd, after, bore to Creon brave in fight
\nHis daughter Megara, by the noble son
\nUnconquer\u2019d of Amphitryon espoused.
\nThe beauteous Epicaste[5]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup> saw I then,
\nMother of Oedipus, who guilt incurr\u2019d
\nProdigious, wedded, unintentional,
\nTo her own son; his father first he slew,
\nThen wedded her, which soon the Gods divulged.
\nHe, under vengeance of offended heav\u2019n,
\nIn pleasant Thebes dwelt miserable, King
\nOf the Cadmean race; she to the gates
\nOf Ades brazen-barr\u2019d despairing went,
\nSelf-strangled by a cord fasten\u2019d aloft
\nTo her own palace-roof, and woes bequeath\u2019d
\n(Such as the Fury sisters execute
\nInnumerable) to her guilty son.
\nThere also saw I Chloris, loveliest fair,
\nWhom Neleus woo\u2019d and won with spousal gifts
\nInestimable, by her beauty charm\u2019d
\nShe youngest daughter was of Iasus\u2019 son,
\nAmphion, in old time a sov\u2019reign prince
\nIn Minu\u00ebian Orchomenus,
\nAnd King of Pylus. Three illustrious sons
\nShe bore to Neleus, Nestor, Chromius,
\nAnd Periclymenus the wide-renown\u2019d,
\nAnd, last, produced a wonder of the earth,
\nPero, by ev\u2019ry neighbour prince around
\nIn marriage sought; but Neleus her on none
\nDeign\u2019d to bestow, save only on the Chief
\nWho should from Phylace drive off the beeves
\n(Broad-fronted, and with jealous care secured)
\nOf valiant Iphicles. One undertook
\nThat task alone, a prophet high in fame,
\nMelampus; but the Fates fast bound him there
\nIn rig\u2019rous bonds by rustic hands imposed.
\nAt length (the year, with all its months and days
\nConcluded, and the new-born year begun)
\nIllustrious Iphicles releas\u2019d the seer,
\nGrateful for all the oracles resolved,[6]<\/sup><\/a>
\nTill then obscure. So stood the will of Jove.
\nNext, Leda, wife of Tyndarus I saw,
\nWho bore to Tyndarus a noble pair,
\nCastor the bold, and Pollux cestus-famed.
\nThey pris\u2019ners in the fertile womb of earth,
\nThough living, dwell, and even there from Jove
\nHigh priv\u2019lege gain; alternate they revive
\nAnd die, and dignity partake divine.
\nThe comfort of Alo\u00ebus, next, I view\u2019d,
\nIphimedeia; she th\u2019 embrace profess\u2019d
\nOf Neptune to have shared, to whom she bore
\nTwo sons; short-lived they were, but godlike both,
\nOtus and Ephialtes far-renown\u2019d.
\nOrion sole except, all-bounteous Earth
\nNe\u2019er nourish\u2019d forms for beauty or for size
\nTo be admired as theirs; in his ninth year
\nEach measur\u2019d, broad, nine cubits, and the height
\nWas found nine ells of each. Against the Gods
\nThemselves they threaten\u2019d war, and to excite
\nThe din of battle in the realms above.
\nTo the Olympian summit they essay\u2019d
\nTo heave up Ossa, and to Ossa\u2019s crown
\nBranch-waving Pelion; so to climb the heav\u2019ns.
\nNor had they failed, maturer grown in might,
\nTo accomplish that emprize, but them the son[7]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nOf radiant-hair\u2019d Latona and of Jove
\nSlew both, ere yet the down of blooming youth
\nThick-sprung, their cheeks or chins had tufted o\u2019er.
\nPh\u00e6dra I also there, and Procris saw,
\nAnd Ariadne for her beauty praised,
\nWhose sire was all-wise Minos. Theseus her
\nFrom Crete toward the fruitful region bore
\nOf sacred Athens, but enjoy\u2019d not there,
\nFor, first, she perish\u2019d by Diana\u2019s shafts
\nIn Dia, Bacchus witnessing her crime.[8]<\/sup><\/a>
\nM\u00e6ra and Clymene I saw beside,
\nAnd odious Eriphyle, who received
\nThe price in gold of her own husband\u2019s life.
\nBut all the wives of Heroes whom I saw,
\nAnd all their daughters can I not relate;
\nNight, first, would fail; and even now the hour
\nCalls me to rest either on board my bark,
\nOr here; meantime, I in yourselves confide,
\nAnd in the Gods to shape my conduct home.
\nHe ceased; the whole assembly silent sat,
\nCharm\u2019d into ecstacy by his discourse
\nThroughout the twilight hall, till, at the last,
\nAreta iv\u2019ry arm\u2019d them thus bespake.
\nPh\u00e6acians! how appears he in your eyes
\nThis stranger, graceful as he is in port,
\nIn stature noble, and in mind discrete?
\nMy guest he is, but ye all share with me
\nThat honour; him dismiss not, therefore, hence
\nWith haste, nor from such indigence withhold
\nSupplies gratuitous; for ye are rich,
\nAnd by kind heav\u2019n with rare possessions blest.
\nThe Hero, next, Echeneus spake, a Chief
\nNow ancient, eldest of Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s sons.
\nYour prudent Queen, my friends, speaks not beside
\nHer proper scope, but as beseems her well.
\nHer voice obey; yet the effect of all
\nMust on Alcino\u00fcs himself depend.
\nTo whom Alcino\u00fcs, thus, the King, replied.
\nI ratify the word. So shall be done,
\nAs surely as myself shall live supreme
\nO\u2019er all Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s maritime domain.
\nThen let the guest, though anxious to depart,
\nWait till the morrow, that I may complete
\nThe whole donation. His safe conduct home
\nShall be the gen\u2019ral care, but mine in Chief,
\nTo whom dominion o\u2019er the rest belongs.
\nHim answer\u2019d, then, Ulysses ever-wise.
\nAlcino\u00fcs! Prince! exalted high o\u2019er all
\nPh\u00e6acia\u2019s sons! should ye solicit, kind,
\nMy stay throughout the year, preparing still
\nMy conduct home, and with illustrious gifts
\nEnriching me the while, ev\u2019n that request
\nShould please me well; the wealthier I return\u2019d,
\nThe happier my condition; welcome more
\nAnd more respectable I should appear
\nIn ev\u2019ry eye to Ithaca restored.
\nTo whom Alcino\u00fcs answer thus return\u2019d.
\nUlysses! viewing thee, no fears we feel
\nLest thou, at length, some false pretender prove,
\nOr subtle hypocrite, of whom no few
\nDisseminated o\u2019er its face the earth
\nSustains, adepts in fiction, and who frame
\nFables, where fables could be least surmised.
\nThy phrase well turn\u2019d, and thy ingenuous mind
\nProclaim thee<\/i> diff\u2019rent far, who hast in strains
\nMusical as a poet\u2019s voice, the woes
\nRehears\u2019d of all thy Greecians, and thy own.
\nBut say, and tell me true. Beheld\u2019st thou there
\nNone of thy followers to the walls of Troy
\nSlain in that warfare? Lo! the night is long\u2014
\nA night of utmost length; nor yet the hour
\nInvites to sleep. Tell me thy wond\u2019rous deeds,
\nFor I could watch till sacred dawn, could\u2019st thou
\nSo long endure to tell me of thy toils.
\nThen thus Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.
\nAlcino\u00fcs! high exalted over all
\nPh\u00e6acia\u2019s sons! the time suffices yet
\nFor converse both and sleep, and if thou wish
\nTo hear still more, I shall not spare to unfold
\nMore pitiable woes than these, sustain\u2019d
\nBy my companions, in the end destroy\u2019d;
\nWho, saved from perils of disast\u2019rous war
\nAt Ilium, perish\u2019d yet in their return,
\nVictims of a pernicious woman\u2019s crime.[9]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nNow, when chaste Proserpine had wide dispers\u2019d
\nThose female shades, the spirit sore distress\u2019d
\nOf Agamemnon, Atreus\u2019 son, appear\u2019d;
\nEncircled by a throng, he came; by all
\nWho with himself beneath \u00c6gisthus\u2019 roof
\nTheir fate fulfill\u2019d, perishing by the sword.
\nHe drank the blood, and knew me; shrill he wail\u2019d
\nAnd querulous; tears trickling bathed his cheeks,
\nAnd with spread palms, through ardour of desire
\nHe sought to enfold me fast, but vigour none,
\nOr force, as erst, his agile limbs inform\u2019d.
\nI, pity-moved, wept at the sight, and him,
\nIn accents wing\u2019d by friendship, thus address\u2019d.
\nAh glorious son of Atreus, King of men!
\nWhat hand inflicted the all-numbing stroke
\nOf death on thee? Say, didst thou perish sunk
\nBy howling tempests irresistible
\nWhich Neptune raised, or on dry land by force
\nOf hostile multitudes, while cutting off
\nBeeves from the herd, or driving flocks away,
\nOr fighting for Achaia\u2019s daughters, shut
\nWithin some city\u2019s bulwarks close besieged?
\nI ceased, when Agamemnon thus replied.
\nUlysses, noble Chief, Laertes\u2019 son
\nFor wisdom famed! I neither perish\u2019d sunk
\nBy howling tempests irresistible
\nWhich Neptune raised, nor on dry land received
\nFrom hostile multitudes the fatal blow,
\nBut me \u00c6gisthus slew; my woeful death
\nConfed\u2019rate with my own pernicious wife
\nHe plotted, with a show of love sincere
\nBidding me to his board, where as the ox
\nIs slaughter\u2019d at his crib, he slaughter\u2019d me<\/i>.
\nSuch was my dreadful death; carnage ensued
\nContinual of my friends slain all around,
\nNum\u2019rous as boars bright-tusk\u2019d at nuptial feast,
\nOr feast convivial of some wealthy Chief.
\nThou hast already witness\u2019d many a field
\nWith warriors overspread, slain one by one,
\nBut that dire scene had most thy pity moved,
\nFor we, with brimming beakers at our side,
\nAnd underneath full tables bleeding lay.
\nBlood floated all the pavement. Then the cries
\nOf Priam\u2019s daughter sounded in my ears
\nMost pitiable of all. Cassandra\u2019s cries,
\nWhom Clytemnestra close beside me slew.
\nExpiring as I lay, I yet essay\u2019d
\nTo grasp my faulchion, but the trayt\u2019ress quick
\nWithdrew herself, nor would vouchsafe to close
\nMy languid eyes, or prop my drooping chin
\nEv\u2019n in the moment when I sought the shades.
\nSo that the thing breathes not, ruthless and fell
\nAs woman once resolv\u2019d on such a deed
\nDetestable, as my base wife contrived,
\nThe murther of the husband of her youth.
\nI thought to have return\u2019d welcome to all,
\nTo my own children and domestic train;
\nBut she, past measure profligate, hath poured
\nShame on herself, on women yet unborn,
\nAnd even on the virtuous of her sex.
\nHe ceas\u2019d, to whom, thus, answer I return\u2019d.
\nGods! how severely hath the thund\u2019rer plagued
\nThe house of Atreus even from the first,
\nBy female counsels! we for Helen\u2019s sake
\nHave num\u2019rous died, and Clytemnestra framed,
\nWhile thou wast far remote, this snare for thee!
\nSo I, to whom Atrides thus replied.
\nThou, therefore, be not pliant overmuch
\nTo woman; trust her not with all thy mind,
\nBut half disclose to her, and half conceal.
\nYet, from thy consort\u2019s hand no bloody death,
\nMy friend, hast thou to fear; for passing wise
\nIcarius\u2019 daughter is, far other thoughts,
\nIntelligent, and other plans, to frame.
\nHer, going to the wars we left a bride
\nNew-wedded, and thy boy hung at her breast,
\nWho, man himself, consorts ere now with men
\nA prosp\u2019rous youth; his father, safe restored
\nTo his own Ithaca, shall see him soon,
\nAnd he<\/i> shall clasp his father in his arms
\nAs nature bids; but me, my cruel one
\nIndulged not with the dear delight to gaze
\nOn my Orestes, for she slew me first.
\nBut listen; treasure what I now impart.[10]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nSteer secret to thy native isle; avoid
\nNotice; for woman merits trust no more.
\nNow tell me truth. Hear ye in whose abode
\nMy son resides? dwells he in Pylus, say,
\nOr in Orchomenos, or else beneath
\nMy brother\u2019s roof in Sparta\u2019s wide domain?
\nFor my Orestes is not yet a shade.
\nSo he, to whom I answer thus return\u2019d.
\nAtrides, ask not me. Whether he live,
\nOr have already died, I nothing know;
\nMere words are vanity, and better spared.
\nThus we discoursing mutual stood, and tears
\nShedding disconsolate. The shade, meantime,
\nCame of Achilles, Peleus\u2019 mighty son;
\nPatroclus also, and Antilochus
\nAppear\u2019d, with Ajax, for proportion just
\nAnd stature tall, (Pelides sole except)
\nDistinguish\u2019d above all Achaia\u2019s sons.
\nThe soul of swift \u00c6acides at once
\nKnew me, and in wing\u2019d accents thus began.
\nBrave Laertiades, for wiles renown\u2019d!
\nWhat mightier enterprise than all the past
\nHath made thee here a guest? rash as thou art!
\nHow hast thou dared to penetrate the gloom
\nOf Ades, dwelling of the shadowy dead,
\nSemblances only of what once they were?
\nHe spake, to whom I, answ\u2019ring, thus replied.
\nO Peleus\u2019 son! Achilles! bravest far
\nOf all Achaia\u2019s race! I here arrived
\nSeeking Tiresias, from his lips to learn,
\nPerchance, how I might safe regain the coast
\nOf craggy Ithaca; for tempest-toss\u2019d
\nPerpetual, I have neither yet approach\u2019d
\nAchaia\u2019s shore, or landed on my own.
\nBut as for thee, Achilles! never man
\nHath known felicity like thine, or shall,
\nWhom living we all honour\u2019d as a God,
\nAnd who maintain\u2019st, here resident, supreme
\nControul among the dead; indulge not then,
\nAchilles, causeless grief that thou hast died.
\nI ceased, and answer thus instant received.
\nRenown\u2019d Ulysses! think not death a theme
\nOf consolation; I had rather live
\nThe servile hind for hire, and eat the bread
\nOf some man scantily himself sustain\u2019d,
\nThan sov\u2019reign empire hold o\u2019er all the shades.
\nBut come\u2014speak to me of my noble boy;
\nProceeds he, as he promis\u2019d, brave in arms,
\nOr shuns he war? Say also, hast thou heard
\nOf royal Peleus? shares he still respect
\nAmong his num\u2019rous Myrmidons, or scorn
\nIn Hellas and in Phthia, for that age
\nPredominates in his enfeebled limbs?
\nFor help is none in me; the glorious sun
\nNo longer sees me such, as when in aid
\nOf the Achaians I o\u2019erspread the field
\nOf spacious Troy with all their bravest slain.
\nOh might I, vigorous as then, repair[11]<\/sup><\/a>
\nFor one short moment to my father\u2019s house,
\nThey all should tremble; I would shew an arm,
\nSuch as should daunt the fiercest who presumes
\nTo injure him<\/i>, or to despise his age.
\nAchilles spake, to whom I thus replied.
\nOf noble Peleus have I nothing heard;
\nBut I will tell thee, as thou bidd\u2019st, the truth
\nUnfeign\u2019d of Neoptolemus thy son;
\nFor him, myself, on board my hollow bark
\nFrom Scyros to Achaia\u2019s host convey\u2019d.
\nOft as in council under Ilium\u2019s walls
\nWe met, he ever foremost was in speech,
\nNor spake erroneous; Nestor and myself
\nExcept, no Greecian could with him compare.
\nOft, too, as we with battle hemm\u2019d around
\nTroy\u2019s bulwarks, from among the mingled crowd
\nThy son sprang foremost into martial act,
\nInferior in heroic worth to none.
\nBeneath him num\u2019rous fell the sons of Troy
\nIn dreadful fight, nor have I pow\u2019r to name
\nDistinctly all, who by his glorious arm
\nExerted in the cause of Greece, expired.
\nYet will I name Eurypylus, the son
\nOf Telephus, an Hero whom his sword
\nOf life bereaved, and all around him strew\u2019d
\nThe plain with his Cetean warriors, won
\nTo Ilium\u2019s side by bribes to women giv\u2019n.[12]<\/sup><\/a>
\nSave noble Memnon only, I beheld
\nNo Chief at Ilium beautiful as he.
\nAgain, when we within the horse of wood
\nFramed by Epe\u00fcs sat, an ambush chos\u2019n
\nOf all the bravest Greeks, and I in trust
\nWas placed to open or to keep fast-closed
\nThe hollow fraud; then, ev\u2019ry Chieftain there
\nAnd Senator of Greece wiped from his cheeks
\nThe tears, and tremors felt in ev\u2019ry limb;
\nBut never saw I changed to terror\u2019s hue
\nHis<\/i> ruddy cheek, no tears wiped he<\/i> away,
\nBut oft he press\u2019d me to go forth, his suit
\nWith pray\u2019rs enforcing, griping hard his hilt
\nAnd his brass-burthen\u2019d spear, and dire revenge
\nDenouncing, ardent, on the race of Troy.
\nAt length, when we had sack\u2019d the lofty town
\nOf Priam, laden with abundant spoils
\nHe safe embark\u2019d, neither by spear or shaft
\nAught hurt, or in close fight by faulchion\u2019s edge,
\nAs oft in war befalls, where wounds are dealt
\nPromiscuous at the will of fiery Mars.
\nSo I; then striding large, the spirit thence
\nWithdrew of swift \u00c6acides, along
\nThe hoary mead pacing,[13]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup> with joy elate
\nThat I had blazon\u2019d bright his son\u2019s renown.
\nThe other souls of men by death dismiss\u2019d
\nStood mournful by, sad uttering each his woes;
\nThe soul alone I saw standing remote
\nOf Telamonian Ajax, still incensed
\nThat in our public contest for the arms
\nWorn by Achilles, and by Thetis thrown
\nInto dispute, my claim had strongest proved,
\nTroy and Minerva judges of the cause.
\nDisastrous victory! which I could wish
\nNot to have won, since for that armour\u2019s sake
\nThe earth hath cover\u2019d Ajax, in his form
\nAnd martial deeds superior far to all
\nThe Greecians, Peleus\u2019 matchless son except.
\nI, seeking to appease him, thus began.
\nO Ajax, son of glorious Telamon!
\nCanst thou remember, even after death,
\nThy wrath against me, kindled for the sake
\nOf those pernicious arms? arms which the Gods
\nOrdain\u2019d of such dire consequence to Greece,
\nWhich caused thy death, our bulwark! Thee we mourn
\nWith grief perpetual, nor the death lament
\nOf Peleus\u2019 son, Achilles, more than thine.
\nYet none is blameable; Jove evermore
\nWith bitt\u2019rest hate pursued Achaia\u2019s host,
\nAnd he ordain\u2019d thy death. Hero! approach,
\nThat thou may\u2019st hear the words with which I seek
\nTo sooth thee; let thy long displeasure cease!
\nQuell all resentment in thy gen\u2019rous breast!
\nI spake; nought answer\u2019d he, but sullen join\u2019d
\nHis fellow-ghosts; yet, angry as he was,
\nI had prevail\u2019d even on him to speak,
\nOr had, at least, accosted him again,
\nBut that my bosom teem\u2019d with strong desire
\nUrgent, to see yet others of the dead.
\nThere saw I Minos, offspring famed of Jove;
\nHis golden sceptre in his hand, he sat
\nJudge of the dead; they, pleading each in turn,
\nHis cause, some stood, some sat, filling the house
\nWhose spacious folding-gates are never closed.
\nOrion next, huge ghost, engaged my view,
\nDroves urging o\u2019er the grassy mead, of beasts
\nWhich he had slain, himself, on the wild hills,
\nWith strong club arm\u2019d of ever-during brass.
\nThere also Tityus on the ground I saw
\nExtended, offspring of the glorious earth;
\nNine acres he o\u2019erspread, and, at his side
\nStation\u2019d, two vultures on his liver prey\u2019d,
\nScooping his entrails; nor sufficed his hands
\nTo fray them thence; for he had sought to force
\nLatona, illustrious concubine of Jove,
\nWhat time the Goddess journey\u2019d o\u2019er the rocks
\nOf Pytho into pleasant Panopeus.
\nNext, suff\u2019ring grievous torments, I beheld
\nTantalus; in a pool he stood, his chin
\nWash\u2019d by the wave; thirst-parch\u2019d he seem\u2019d, but found
\nNought to assuage his thirst; for when he bow\u2019d
\nHis hoary head, ardent to quaff, the flood
\nVanish\u2019d absorb\u2019d, and, at his feet, adust
\nThe soil appear\u2019d, dried, instant, by the Gods.
\nTall trees, fruit-laden, with inflected heads
\nStoop\u2019d to him, pomegranates, apples bright,
\nThe luscious fig, and unctuous olive smooth;
\nWhich when with sudden grasp he would have seized,
\nWinds hurl\u2019d them high into the dusky clouds.
\nThere, too, the hard-task\u2019d Sisyphus I saw,
\nThrusting before him, strenuous, a vast rock.[14]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nWith hands and feet struggling, he shoved the stone
\nUp to a hill-top; but the steep well-nigh
\nVanquish\u2019d, by some great force repulsed,[15]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup> the mass
\nRush\u2019d again, obstinate, down to the plain.
\nAgain, stretch\u2019d prone, severe he toiled, the sweat
\nBathed all his weary limbs, and his head reek\u2019d.
\nThe might of Hercules I, next, survey\u2019d;
\nHis semblance; for himself their banquet shares
\nWith the Immortal Gods, and in his arms
\nEnfolds neat-footed Hebe, daughter fair
\nOf Jove, and of his golden-sandal\u2019d spouse.
\nAround him, clamorous as birds, the dead
\nSwarm\u2019d turbulent; he, gloomy-brow\u2019d as night,
\nWith uncased bow and arrow on the string
\nPeer\u2019d terrible from side to side, as one
\nEver in act to shoot; a dreadful belt
\nHe bore athwart his bosom, thong\u2019d with gold.
\nThere, broider\u2019d shone many a stupendous form,
\nBears, wild boars, lions with fire-flashing eyes,
\nFierce combats, battles, bloodshed, homicide.
\nThe artist, author of that belt, none such
\nBefore, produced, or after. Me his eye
\nNo sooner mark\u2019d, than knowing me, in words
\nBy sorrow quick suggested, he began.
\nLaertes\u2019 noble son, for wiles renown\u2019d!
\nAh, hapless Hero! thou art, doubtless, charged,
\nThou also, with some arduous labour, such
\nAs in the realms of day I once endured.
\nSon was I of Saturnian Jove, yet woes
\nImmense sustain\u2019d, subjected to a King
\nInferior far to me, whose harsh commands
\nEnjoin\u2019d me many a terrible exploit.
\nHe even bade me on a time lead hence
\nThe dog, that task believing above all
\nImpracticable; yet from Ades him
\nI dragg\u2019d reluctant into light, by aid
\nOf Hermes, and of Pallas azure-eyed.
\nSo saying, he penetrated deep again
\nThe abode of Pluto; but I still unmoved
\nThere stood expecting, curious, other shades
\nTo see of Heroes in old time deceased.
\nAnd now, more ancient worthies still, and whom
\nI wish\u2019d, I had beheld, Piritho\u00fcs
\nAnd Theseus, glorious progeny of Gods,
\nBut nations, first, numberless of the dead
\nCame shrieking hideous; me pale horror seized,
\nLest awful Proserpine should thither send
\nThe Gorgon-head from Ades, sight abhorr\u2019d!
\nI, therefore, hasting to the vessel, bade
\nMy crew embark, and cast the hawsers loose.
\nThey, quick embarking, on the benches sat.
\nDown the Oceanus[16]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup> the current bore
\nMy galley, winning, at the first, her way
\nWith oars, then, wafted by propitious gales.<\/p>\n

  1. Milton. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. The shore of Scilly commonly called Trinacria, but Euphonic\u00e8 by Homer, Thrinacia. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  3. The expression is used by Milton, and signifies\u2014Beset with many difficulties. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  4. Mistaking the oar for a corn-van. A sure indication of his ignorance of maritime concerns. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  5. By the Tragedians called\u2014Jocasta. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  6. Iphicles had been informed by the Oracles that he should have no children till instructed by a prophet how to obtain them; a service which Melampus had the good fortune to render him. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  7. Apollo. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  8. Bacchus accused her to Diana of having lain with Theseus in his temple, and the Goddess punished her with death. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  9. Probably meaning Helen. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  10. This is surely one of the most natural strokes to be found in any Poet. Convinced, for a moment, by the virtues of Penelope, he mentioned her with respect; but recollecting himself suddenly, involves even her in his general ill opinion of the sex, begotten in him by the crimes of Clytemnestra. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  11. Another most beautiful stroke of nature. Ere yet Ulysses has had opportunity to answer, the very thought that Peleus may possibly be insulted, fires him, and he takes the whole for granted. Thus is the impetuous character of Achilles sustained to the last moment! ↵<\/a><\/li>
  12. \u0393\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03af\u03c9\u03bd \u03b5\u03b9\u03bd\u03b5\u03ba\u03b1 \u03b4\u03ce\u03c1\u03c9\u03bd\u2014Priam is said to have influenced by gifts the wife and mother of Eurypylus, to persuade him to the assistance of Troy, he being himself unwilling to engage. The passage through defect of history has long been dark, and commentators have adapted different senses to it, all conjectural. The Ceteans are said to have been a people of Mysia, of which Eurypylus was King. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  13. \u039a\u03b1\u03c4\u2019 \u03b1\u03c3\u03c6\u03bf\u03b4\u03b5\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd \u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd\u03b1\u2014Asphodel was planted on the graves and around the tombs of the deceased, and hence the supposition that the Stygian plain was clothed with asphodel. F. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  14. \u0392\u03b1\u03c3\u03b1\u03b6\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1 must have this sense interpreted by what follows. To attempt to make the English numbers expressive as the Greek is a labour like that of Sisyphus. The Translator has done what he could. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  15. It is now, perhaps, impossible to ascertain with precision what Homer meant by the word \u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9\u03af\u03c2, which he uses only here, and in the next book, where it is the name of Scylla\u2019s dam.\u2014\u0391\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9\u03b4\u03b7\u03c2\u2014is also of very doubtful explication. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  16. The two first lines of the following book seem to ascertain the true meaning of the conclusion of this, and to prove sufficiently that by \u1f68\u03ba\u03b5\u03b1\u03bd\u1f78\u03c2 here Homer could not possibly intend any other than a river. In those lines he tells us in the plainest terms that the ship left the stream of the river Oceanus, and arrived in the open sea. Diodorus Siculus informs us that \u1f68\u03ba\u03b5\u03b1\u03bd\u1f78\u03c2 had been a name anciently given to the Nile. See Clarke. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":11,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-117","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/117\/revisions\/250"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/117\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}