Latest / Classic Adventure Books Library / 20 - The Odyssey - Homer

Transcript

20 - The Odyssey - Homer · Classic Adventure Books Library

• 0:00
  Book twenty. Ulysses slept in the cloister upon an undressed bullock's hide, on
• 0:06
  the top of which he threw several skins of the sheep the suitors had eaten,
• 0:10
  and Uriname threw a cloak over him. After he had laid himself down
• 0:16
  there. Then Ulysses lay wakefully, brooding upon the way in which he should
• 0:21
  kill the suitors, And by and by the women who had been in the
• 0:25
  habit of misconducting themselves with them, left the house, giggling and laughing with
• 0:29
  one another. This made Ulysses very angry, and he doubted whether to get
• 0:34
  up and kill every single one of them then and there, or to let
• 0:38
  them sleep one more and last time. With the suitors. His heart growled
• 0:44
  within him, And as a bitch with puppies growls and shows her teeth when
• 0:48
  she sees a stranger, so did his heart growl with anger at the evil
• 0:53
  deeds that were being done. But he beat his breast and said, heart,
• 0:57
  be still, you had worse than the to bear on the day when
• 1:00
  the terrible cyclops ate your brave companions. Yet you bore it in silence till
• 1:06
  your cunning got you safe out of the cave, though you made sure of
• 1:08
  being killed. Thus he chided with his heart and checked it into endurance.
• 1:15
  But he tossed about as one who turns a paunch full of blood and fat
• 1:19
  in front of a hot fire, doing it first on one side and then
• 1:22
  on the other, that he may get it cooked as soon as possible.
• 1:26
  Even so did he turn himself about from side to side, thinking all the
• 1:30
  time how single handed as he was, he should contrive to kill so large
• 1:34
  a body of men as the wicked suitors. But by and by Minerva came
• 1:41
  down from heaven in the likeness of a woman, and hovered over his head,
• 1:44
  saying, my poor, unhappy man, why do you lie awake in
• 1:49
  this way? This is your house. Your wife is safe inside it,
• 1:53
  and so is your son, who is just such a young man as any
• 1:57
  father may be proud of God. This answered, Ulysses. All that you
• 2:02
  have said is true. But I am in some doubt as to how I
• 2:06
  shall be able to kill these wicked suitors single handed, seeing what a number
• 2:09
  of them there always are. And there is this further difficulty which is still
• 2:15
  more considerable. Supposing that with joves and your assistance, I succeed in killing
• 2:22
  them, I must ask you to consider where I am to escape to from
• 2:25
  their avengers when it is all over. For shame, replied Minerva. Why
• 2:31
  any one else would trust a worse ally than myself, even though that ally
• 2:37
  were only immortal and less wise than I am? Am? I not a
• 2:40
  goddess, and have I not protected you throughout in all your troubles? I
• 2:46
  tell you plainly that even though there were fifty bands of men surrounding us and
• 2:50
  eager to kill us, you should take all their sheep and cattle and drive
• 2:54
  them away with you. But go to sleep. It is a very bad
• 2:59
  thing to lie awake all night, and you shall be out of your troubles
• 3:01
  Before long as she spoke, she shed sleep over his eyes, and then
• 3:07
  went back to Olympus. While Ulysses was thus yielding himself to a very deep
• 3:13
  slumber that eased the burden of his sorrows, his admirable wife awoke, and,
• 3:17
  sitting up in her bed, began to cry. When she had relieved
• 3:22
  herself by weeping, she prayed to Diana, saying, Great Goddess Diana,
• 3:27
  daughter of Jove, drive an arrow into my heart and slay me, or
• 3:31
  let some whirlwind snatch me up and bear me through paths of darkness till it
• 3:37
  dropped me into the mouths of overflowing oceanus as it did the daughters of Pandareus.
• 3:43
  The daughters of Pandaraus lost their father and mother, for the gods killed
• 3:46
  them, so they were left orphans. But Venus took care of them and
• 3:51
  fed them on cheese, honey, and sweet wine. Juno taught them to
• 3:55
  excel all women in beauty of form and understanding. Diana gave them an imposing
• 4:01
  presence, and Minerva endowed them with every kind of accomplishment. But one day,
• 4:06
  when Venus had gone up to Olympus to see Jove about getting them married
• 4:12
  for a well, does he know both what shall happen and what not?
• 4:15
  Happened to every one? The storm winds came and spirited them away to become
• 4:19
  handmaids to the dread Erineas. Even so, I wish that the gods who
• 4:25
  live in heaven would hide me from mortal sight, or that fair Diana might
• 4:29
  strike me, for I would fain go even beneath the sad earth, if
• 4:32
  I might do so, still looking towards Ulysses only, and without having to
• 4:36
  yield myself to a worse man than he was. Besides, no matter how
• 4:42
  much people may grieve by day, they can put up with it so long
• 4:46
  as they can sleep at night. For when the eyes are closed in slumber,
• 4:49
  people forget good and ill alike. Whereas my misery haunts me even in
• 4:54
  my dreams. This very night, methought, there was one lying by my
• 4:59
  side who was lef Ulysses, as he was when he went away with his
• 5:01
  host. And I rejoiced, for I believed that it was no dream,
• 5:06
  but the very truth itself. On this day broke But Ulysses heard the sound
• 5:13
  of her weeping, and it puzzled him, for it seemed as though she
• 5:15
  already knew him and was by his side. Then he gathered up the cloak
• 5:20
  and the fleeces on which he had lain, and set them on a seat
• 5:24
  in the cloister. But he took the bullocks hide out into the open.
• 5:29
  He lifted up his hands to heaven and prayed, saying, Father Jove,
• 5:32
  since you have seen fit to bring me over land and sea to my own
• 5:36
  home, after all the afflictions you have laid upon me, give me a
• 5:41
  sign out of the mouth of some one or other of those who are now
• 5:45
  waking within the house, and let me have another sign of some kind from
• 5:48
  outside. Thus did he pray. Jove heard his prayer, and forthwith thundered
• 5:56
  high up among the clouds from the splendor of Olympus, and was glad when
• 6:00
  he heard it. At the same time, within the house, a miller
• 6:04
  woman from hard By in the mill room lifted up her voice and gave him
• 6:09
  another sign. There were twelve miller women whose business it was to grind wheat
• 6:13
  and barley, which are the staff of life. The others had ground their
• 6:17
  task and had gone to take their rest, But this one had not yet
• 6:20
  finished, for she was not so strong as they were, And when she
• 6:24
  heard the thunder, she stopped grinding and gave the sign to her master.
• 6:29
  Father. Jove said, she, you who rule over heaven and earth,
• 6:33
  You have thundered from a clear sky without so much as a cloud in it,
• 6:38
  and this means something for somebody. Grant the prayer then of me,
• 6:42
  your poor servant, who calls upon you, and let this be the very
• 6:45
  last day that the suitors dine in the house of Ulysses. They have worn
• 6:49
  me out with the labor of grinding meal for them, and I hope they
• 6:54
  may never have another dinner anywhere at all. Ulysses was glad when he heard
• 7:00
  the omens conveyed to him by the woman's speech and by the thunder, for
• 7:03
  he knew they meant that he should avenge himself on the suitors. Then the
• 7:09
  other maids in the house rose and lit the fire on the hearth. Telemachus
• 7:14
  also rose and put on his clothes. He girded his sword about his shoulder,
• 7:18
  bound his sandals on his comely feet, and took a doughty spear with
• 7:23
  a point of sharpened bronze. Then he went to the threshold of the cloister
• 7:27
  and said to Euryclea, nurse, did you make the stranger comfortable both as
• 7:32
  regards bed and board, or did you let him shift for himself? For
• 7:36
  my mother, good woman, though she is, has a way of paying
• 7:40
  great attention to second rate people, and of neglecting others who are in reality
• 7:45
  much better. Men do not find fault, child, said Euryclea, When
• 7:50
  there is no one to find fault with. The stranger sat and drank his
• 7:55
  wine as long as he liked. Your mother did ask him if he would
• 7:59
  take any more bread. He said he would not when he wanted to go
• 8:01
  to bed. She told the servants to make one for him, But he
• 8:05
  said he was such a wretched outcast that he would not sleep on a bed
• 8:09
  and under blankets. He insisted on having an undressed bullock's hide and some sheepskins
• 8:15
  put for him in the cloister, And I threw a cloak over him myself.
• 8:20
  Then Telemachus went out of the court to the place where the Achaeans were
• 8:24
  meeting in assembly. He had his spear in his hand, and he was
• 8:28
  not alone, for his two dogs went with him. But Euryclea called the
• 8:31
  maids and said, come wake up. Set about sweeping the cloisters and sprinkling
• 8:35
  them with water, to lay the dust, put the covers on the seats,
• 8:39
  wipe down the tables. Some of you with a wet sponge, clean
• 8:43
  out the mixing jugs and the cups, and go for water from the fountain.
• 8:46
  At once. The suitors will be here directly. They will be here
• 8:50
  early, for it is a feast day. Thus did she speak, and
• 8:54
  they did even as she had said. Twenty of them went to the fountain
• 8:58
  for water, and the others set themselves busily to work about the house.
• 9:03
  The men who were in attendance on the suitors also came up and began chopping
• 9:07
  firewood. By and by the women returned from the fountain, and the swineherd
• 9:13
  came after them with the three best pigs he could pick out. These he
• 9:18
  let feed about the premises. And then he said, good humoredly to Ulysses,
• 9:22
  stranger, are the suitors treating you any better now? Or are they
• 9:26
  as insolent as ever? May heaven? Answered Ulysses, requite to them the
• 9:33
  wickedness with which they deal high handedly in another man's house without any sense of
• 9:37
  shame. Thus did they converse. Meanwhile, Melanthius the goatherd came up,
• 9:45
  for he too was bringing in his best goats for the suitors dinner, and
• 9:50
  he had two shepherds with him. They tied the goats up under the gatehouse,
• 9:54
  and then Melanthias began jibing at Ulysses. Are you still here, stranger?
• 10:00
  Said he to pester people by begging about the house. Why can you
• 10:03
  not go elsewhere? You and I shall not come to an understanding before we
• 10:07
  have given each other a taste of our fists. You beg without any sense
• 10:11
  of decency. Are there not feasts elsewhere among the Achaeans as well as here?
• 10:18
  Ulysses made no answer, but bowed his head and brooded. Then a
• 10:22
  third man, Filoecious, joined them, who was bringing in a baron heifer
• 10:26
  and some goats. These were brought over by the boatmen, who are there
• 10:31
  to take people over when anyone comes to them. So Filoecious made his heifer
• 10:35
  and his goats secure under the gatehouse, and then went up to the swineherd,
• 10:41
  who swineherd said, he is this stranger that is lately come here?
• 10:45
  Is he one of your men? What is his family? Where does he
• 10:48
  come from? Poor fellow? He looks as if he had been some great
• 10:50
  man. But the gods give sorrow to whom they will, even to kings,
• 10:54
  if it so pleases them. As he spoke, he went up to
• 10:58
  Ulysses and saluted him with his right hand. Good day to you, father,
• 11:03
  stranger, said he. You seem to be very poorly off now,
• 11:07
  but I hope you will have better times by and by Father Jove of all
• 11:11
  gods, you are the most malicious. We are your own children, Yet
• 11:16
  you show us no mercy in all our misery and afflictions. A sweat came
• 11:20
  over me when I saw this man, and my eyes filled with tears,
• 11:24
  for he reminds me of Ulysses, who I fear is going about in just
• 11:28
  such rags as this man's are, if indeed he is still among the living,
• 11:35
  if he is already dead and in the house of Hades, then alas
• 11:39
  for my good master, who made me his stockmen when I was quite young
• 11:41
  among the Cephalenians, and now his cattle are countless, no one could have
• 11:48
  done better with them than I have, for they have bread like ears of
• 11:52
  corn. Nevertheless, I have to keep bringing them in for others to eat,
• 11:56
  who take no heed to his son, though he is in the house,
• 11:58
  and fear you are not the wrath of Heaven, but are already eager
• 12:03
  to divide ulysses property among them. Because he has been away so long.
• 12:07
  I have often thought only it would not be right while his son is living,
• 12:11
  of going off with the cattle to some foreign country. Bad as this
• 12:16
  would be, it is still harder to stay here and be ill treated about
• 12:20
  other people's herds. My position is intolerable, and I should long since have
• 12:24
  run away and put myself under the protection of some other chief, only that
• 12:30
  I believe my poor master will yet return and send all these suitors flying out
• 12:35
  of the house. Stockman answered, Ulysses, you seem to be a very
• 12:39
  well disposed person, and I can see that you are a man of sense.
• 12:43
  Therefore I will tell you and will confirm my words with an oath by
• 12:48
  Jove, the chief of all gods, and by that hearth of Ulysses,
• 12:52
  to which I am now come. Ulysses shall return before you leave this place,
• 12:58
  and if you are so minded you shall I'll see him killing the suitors
• 13:01
  who are now masters here. If Jove were to bring this to pass,
• 13:05
  replied the stockman, you should see how I would do my very utmost to
• 13:11
  help him. And in like manner, Eumaeus prayed that Ulysses might return home.
• 13:18
  Thus did they converse. Meanwhile, the suitors were hatching a plot to
• 13:22
  murder Telemachus. But a bird flew near them on their left hand, an
• 13:26
  eagle with a dove in its talons. On this, Amphinomus said, my
• 13:33
  friends, this plot of ours to murder Telemachus will not succeed. Let us
• 13:37
  go to dinner instead. The others assented, so they went inside and laid
• 13:41
  their cloaks on the benches and seats. They sacrificed the sheep, goats,
• 13:46
  pigs, and the heifer, And when the inward meats were cooked, they
• 13:50
  served them round. They mixed the wine in the mixing bowls, and the
• 13:54
  swineherd gave every man his cup, while Filoetius handed round the bread in the
• 13:58
  bread basket, and Melanthius poured them out their wine. Then they laid their
• 14:03
  hands upon the good things that were before them. Telemachus purposely made Ulysses sit
• 14:09
  in the part of the cloister that was paved with stone. He gave him
• 14:13
  a shabby looking seat at a little table to himself, and had his portion
• 14:18
  of the inward meats brought to him, with his wine in a gold cup.
• 14:22
  Sit there, said he, and drink your wine among the great people.
• 14:26
  I will put a stop to the gibes and blows of the suitors,
• 14:28
  for this is no public house, but belongs to Ulysses, and has passed
• 14:33
  from him to me. Therefore, suitors, keep your hands and your tongues
• 14:37
  to yourselves, or there will be mischief. The suitors bit their lips and
• 14:43
  marveled at the boldness of his speech. Then Antynus said, we do not
• 14:48
  like such language, but we will put up with it, for Telemachus is
• 14:50
  threatening us in good earnest. If Jove had let us, we should have
• 14:54
  put a stop to his brave talk air. Now, thus spoke Antinas,
• 15:00
  but Telemachus heeded him not. Meanwhile, the heralds were bringing the Holy hecatomb
• 15:05
  through the city, and the Achaeans gathered under the shady grove of Apollo.
• 15:11
  Then they roasted the outer meat, drew it off the spits, gave every
• 15:16
  man his portion, and feasted to their hearts content. Those who waited at
• 15:20
  table gave Ulysses exactly the same portion as the others had, for Telemachus had
• 15:26
  told them to do so. But Minerva would not let the suitors for one
• 15:30
  moment drop their insolence, for she wanted Ulysses to become still more bitter against
• 15:35
  them. Now there happened to be among them a ribald fellow, whose name
• 15:39
  was Ktisippus, and who came from Samme. This man, confident in his
• 15:45
  great wealth, was paying court to the wife of Ulysses, and said to
• 15:48
  the suitors, hear what I have to say. The stranger has already had
• 15:52
  as large a portion as any one else. This is well, for it
• 15:56
  is not right nor reasonable to ill treat any guest of Telemachus who comes here.
• 16:02
  I will, however, make him a present on my own account,
• 16:04
  that he may have something to give to the bath woman or to some other
• 16:07
  of ulysses servants. As he spoke, he picked up a heifer's foot from
• 16:12
  the meat basket in which it lay, and threw it at Ulysses. But
• 16:17
  Ulysses turned his head a little aside and avoided it, smiling grimly Sardinian fashion
• 16:22
  as he did so, and it hit the wall, not him. On
• 16:26
  this Telemachus spoke fiercely to Tisippus. It is a good thing for you,
• 16:33
  said he, that the stranger turned his head so that you missed him.
• 16:37
  If you had hit him, I should have run you through with my spear,
• 16:40
  and your father would have had to see about getting you buried rather than
• 16:42
  married in this house. So let me have no more unseemly behavior from any
• 16:48
  of you, for I am grown up now to the knowledge of good and
• 16:51
  evil and understand what is going on, instead of being the child that I
• 16:55
  have been heretofore, I have long seen you killing my sheep and making free
• 17:00
  with my corn and wine. I have put up with this, for one
• 17:03
  man is no match for many. But do me no further violence. Still,
• 17:08
  if you wish to kill me, kill me. I would far rather
• 17:11
  die than see such disgraceful scenes. Day after day, guests insulted, and
• 17:17
  men dragging the women servants about the house in an unseemly way. They all
• 17:22
  held their peace till at last Agilaus, son of Damastor, said, no
• 17:29
  one should take offense at what has just been said, nor gainsay it,
• 17:33
  for it is quite reasonable. Leave off therefore, ill treating the stranger or
• 17:37
  any one else of the servants who are about the house. I would say,
• 17:41
  however, a friendly word to Telemachus and his mother, which I trust
• 17:45
  may commend itself to both as long, I would say, as you had
• 17:51
  ground for hoping that Ulysses would one day come home, no one could complain
• 17:55
  of your waiting and suffering the suitors to be in your house. It would
• 17:59
  have been her that he should have returned, but it is now sufficiently clear
• 18:03
  that he will never do. So. Therefore, talk all this quietly over
• 18:07
  with your mother, and tell her to marry the best man and the one
• 18:11
  who makes her the most advantageous offer. Thus, you will yourself be able
• 18:15
  to manage your own inheritance and to eat and drink in peace, while your
• 18:19
  mother will look after some other man's house, not yours. To this,
• 18:25
  Telemachus answered, by jove Agilaus, and by the sorrows of my unhappy father,
• 18:30
  who has either perished far from Ithaca or is wandering in some distant land,
• 18:36
  I throw no obstacles in the way of my mother's marriage. On the
• 18:40
  contrary, I urge her to choose whomsoever she will, and I will give
• 18:44
  her numberless gifts into the bargain. But I dare not insist point blank that
• 18:48
  she shall leave the house against her own wishes. Heaven forbid that I should
• 18:52
  do this. Minerva now made the suitors fall to laughing immoderately, and set
• 18:59
  their wits oneering. But they were laughing with a forced laughter. Their meat
• 19:03
  became smeared with blood, their eyes filled with tears, and their hearts were
• 19:07
  heavy with forebodings. Theo Clemenus saw this and said, unhappy men, what
• 19:15
  is it that ails you? There is a shroud of darkness drawn over you
• 19:18
  from head to foot. Your cheeks are wet with tears. The air is
• 19:22
  alive with wailing voices. The walls and roof beams drip blood. The gait
• 19:26
  of the cloisters, and the court beyond them are full of ghosts trooping down
• 19:30
  into the night of hell. The sun is blotted out of heaven, and
• 19:34
  a blighting gloom is over all the land. Thus did he speak, and
• 19:40
  they all of them laughed heartily. Eurymachus then said, this stranger who has
• 19:45
  lately come here has lost his senses. Servants turn him out into the streets,
• 19:49
  since he finds it so dark here. But theo Clemenus said, Eurymachus,
• 19:56
  you need not send any one with me. I have eyes, ears,
• 20:00
  and a pair of feet of my own, to say nothing of an
• 20:03
  understanding mind. I will take these out of the house with me, for
• 20:07
  I see mischief overhanging you, from which not one of you men who are
• 20:11
  insulting people and plotting ill deeds in the house of Ulysses, will be able
• 20:15
  to escape. He left the house as he spoke, and went back to
• 20:19
  Pereeus, who gave him welcome. But the suitors kept looking at one another
• 20:23
  and provoking Telemachus by laughing at the strangers. One insolent fellow said to him,
• 20:30
  Telemachus, you are not happy in your guests. First you have this
• 20:33
  importunate tramp who comes begging bread and wine, and has no skill for work
• 20:37
  or for hard fighting, but is perfectly useless. And now here is another
• 20:42
  fellow who is setting himself up as a prophet. Let me persuade you,
• 20:47
  for it will be much better to put them on board ship and send them
• 20:49
  off to the sea cells to sell for what they will bring. Telemachus gave
• 20:55
  him no heed, but sat silently watching his father, expecting every moment that
• 21:00
  he would begin his attack upon the suitors. Meanwhile, the daughter of Ecarius,
• 21:06
  Wise Penelope, had had a rich seat placed for her, facing the
• 21:10
  court and cloisters, so that she could hear what every one was saying.
• 21:15
  The dinner, indeed, had been prepared amid much merriment. It had been
• 21:18
  both good and abundant, for they had sacrificed many victims. But the supper
• 21:22
  was yet to come. And nothing can be conceived more gruesome than the meal
• 21:27
  which a goddess and a brave man were soon to lay before them, For
• 21:32
  they had brought their doom upon themselves. End of book twenty