Latest / Adventure Books Library / 10 - The Odyssey - Homer
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- Book ten Aeolus the Leystrygynes Curse. Thence we went onto the Aeolian Islands, where lives Iolus, son of Hippatas, dear to the immortal gods. It is an island that floats, as it were, upon the sea, iron bound, with a wall that girds it. Now Iolus has six daughters and six lusty sons. So he made the sons marry the daughters, and they all live with their dear father and mother, feasting and enjoying every conceivable kind of luxury all day long. The atmosphere of the house is loaded with the savor of roasting meat till it groans again, yard and all but by night they on their well made bedsteads, each with his own wife between the blankets. These were the people among whom we had now come. Aeolus entertained me for a whole month, asking me questions all the time about Troy, the Argive fleet, and the return of the Achaeans. I told him exactly how everything had happened. And when I said I must go, and asked him to further me on my way, he made no sort of difficulty, but set about doing so at once. Moreover he flayed me a prime ox hide to hold the way of the roaring winds, which he shut up in the hide as in a sack. For Jove had made him captain over the winds, and he could stir or still each one of them according to his own pleasure. He put the sack in the ship and bound the mouth so tightly with a silver thread, that not even a breath of a side wind could blow from any quarter. The west wind, which was fair for us, did he alone let blow as it chose. But it all came to nothing, for we were lost through our own folly. Nine days and nine nights did we sail, And on the tenth day our native land showed on the horizon. We got so close in that we could see the stubble fires burning, And I, being then dead beat, fell into a light sleep, for I had never let the rudder out of my own hands, that we might get home the faster. On this the men fell to talking amongst themselves, and said, I was bringing back gold and silver in the sack that Aeolus had given me, bless my heart. Would one turn to his neighbor, saying, how this man gets honored and makes friends to whatever city or country, he may go see what fine prizes he is taking home from Troy, While we who have traveled just as far as he, have come back with hands as empty as we set out with. And now Aeolus has given him ever so much more quick let us see what it all is, and how much gold and silver there is in the sack he gave him. Thus they talked, and evil counsels prevailed. They loosed the sack, whereupon the wind flew howling forth and raised a storm that carried us weeping out to sea and away from our own country. Then I awoke and knew not whether to throw myself into the sea or to live on and make the best of it. But I bore it, covered myself up, and lay down in the ship, while the men lamented bitterly, as the fierce winds bore our fleet back to the Aeolian island. When we reached it, we went ashore to take in water, and dined hard by the ships. Immediately after dinner, I took a herald and one of my men and went straight to the house of Aeolus, where I found him feasting with his wife and family. So we sat down as suppliants on the threshold. They were astounded when they saw us, and said, Ulysses, what brings you here? What God has been ill treating you? We took great pains to further you on your way home to Ithaca, or wherever it was that you wanted to go to. Thus did they speak, but I answered sorrowfully, my men have undone me. They and cruel sleep have ruined me. My friends med me this mischief, for you can, if you will. I spoke as movingly as I could, But they said nothing till their father answered, vilest of mankind, get you gone at once out of the islands him whom Heaven hates. Will I in no wise help be off, For you came here as one aboard of heaven, and with these words he sent me sorrowing from his door. Thence we sailed sadly on till the men were worn out with long and fruitless rowing, for there was no longer any wind to help them. Six days, night and day did we toil, And on the seventh day we reached the rocky stronghold of Lamus Telephylus, the city of Les Virginians, where the shepherd who is driving in his sheep and goats to be milked, salutes him who is driving out his flock to feed, and this last answers the salute. In that country, a man who could do without sleep might eurn double wages, one as a herdsman of cattle and another as a shepherd, for they work much the same by night as they do by day. When we reached the harbor, we found it landlocked under steep cliffs, with a narrow entrance between two headlands. My captains took all their ships inside and made them fast close to one another, for there was never so much as a breath of wind inside, but it was always dead calm. I kept my own ship outside and moored it to a rock at the very end of the point. Then I climbed a high rock to reconnoiter, but could see no sign, neither of man nor cat, only some smoke rising from the ground. So I sent two of my company with an attendant to find out what sort of people the inhabitants were. The men, when they got on shore, followed a level road by which the people draw their firewood from the mountains into the town, till presently they met a young woman who had come outside to fetch water, and who was daughter to a Lestrigonian named Antipathes. She was going to the fountain Artasia, from which the people bring in their water, And when my men had come close up to her, they asked her who the king of that country might be, and over what kind of people he ruled. So she directed them to her father's house. But when they got there, they found his wife to be a giantess, as huge as a mountain, and they were horrified at the sight of her. She at once called her husband, Antipathies, from the place of assembly, and forthwith he set about killing my men. He snatched up one of them and began to make his dinner of him then and there where on the other two ran back to the ships as fast as ever they could, But Antipathies raised a hue and cry after them, and thousands of sturdy Lestrigonians sprang up from every quarter, ogres not men. They threw vast rocks at us from the cliffs, as though they had been mere stones. And I heard the horrid sound of the ships crunching up against one another another, and the death cries of my men, as the Lestrigonians speared them like fishes. And took them home to eat them. While they were thus killing my men within the harbor, I drew my sword, cut the cable of my own ship, and told my men to row with all their might if they too were not fair like the So they laid out for their lives, and we were thankful enough when we got into open waters out of reach of the rocks, they hurled at us. As for the others, there was not one of them left. Thence we sailed sadly on, glad to have escaped death, though we had lost our comrades, and came to the Aean island, where Surce lives, a great and cunning goddess who is own sister to the magician eighties, for they are both children of the Sun, by Perse, who is daughter to ocean Us. We brought our ship into a safe harbor without a word, for some God guided us thither, and having landed, we lay there for two days and two nights, worn out in body and mind. When the morning of the third day came, I took my spear and my sword and went away from the ship to reconnoiter and see if I could discover signs of human handiwork or hear the sound of voices. Climbing to the top of a high lookout, I espied the smoke of Sirsay's house rising upwards amid a dense forest of trees. And when I saw this I doubted whether, having seen the smoke, I would not go at once and find out more. But in the end I deemed it best to go back to the ship, give the men their dinners, and send some of them instead of going myself. When I had nearly got back to the ship, some god took pity upon my solitude and sent a fine antlered stag right into the middle of my path. He was coming down his pasture in the forest to drink of the river, for the heat of the sun drove him, and as he passed I struck him in the middle of the back. The point of the spear went clean through him, and he lay groaning in the dust until the life went out of him. Then I set my foot upon him, drew my spear from the wound, and laid it down. I also gathered rough grass and rushes and twisted them into a fathom or so of good stout rope, with which I bound the four feet of the noble creature. Together. Having so done, I hung him round my neck and walked back to the ship, leaning upon my spear, for the stag was much too big for me to be able to carry him on my shoulder, steadying him with one hand. As I threw him down in front of the ship, I called the men and spoke cheeringly, manned by man, to each of them. Look here, my friends, said I. We are not going to die so much before our time after all, and at any rate, we will not starve so long as we have got something to eat and drink on board. From this, they uncovered their heads upon the seashore and admired the stag, for he was indeed a splendid fellow. Then, when they had feasted their eyes upon him sufficiently, they washed their hands and began to cook him for dinner. Thus, through the livelong day to the going down of the sun, we stayed there, eating and drinking our fill. But when the sun went down and it came on dark, we camped upon the seashore. When the child of morning, rosy fingered dawn, appeared, I called a council and said, my friends, we are in very great difficulties. Listen Therefore, to me. We have no idea whether sun either sets or rises, so that we do not even know east from west. I seek no way out of it. Nevertheless, we must try and find one. We are certainly on an island, For I went as high as I could this morning, and saw the sea reaching all round it to the horizon. It lies low, but towards the middle I saw smoke rising from out of a thick forest of trees. Their hearts sank as they heard me, for they remembered how they had been treated by the Lestrigonian antipathies and by the savage ogre polythemus. They wept bitterly in their dismay, But there was nothing to be got by crying. So I divided them into two companies, and set a captain over each. I gave one company to Eurylochus, while I took command of the other myself. Then we cast lots in a helmet, and the lot fell upon Leuri Locus. So he set out with his twenty two men, and they wept, as also did we who were left behind. When they reached Circe's house, they found it built of cut stones, on a site that could be seen from far in the middle of the forest. There were wild mountain wolves and lions prowling all round it, poor bewitched creatures whom she had samed by her enchantments and drugged into subjection. They did not attack my men, but wagged their great tails, fawned upon them, and rubbed their noses lovingly against them, as hounds crowded round their master when they see him coming from dinner, for they know he will bring them something. Even so did these wolves and lions, with their great claws falln upon my men. But the men were terribly frightened at seeing such strange creatures. Presently they reached the gates of the goddess's house, and as they stood there they could hear Cursay within, singing most beautifully, as she worked at her loom, making a web so fine, so soft, and of such dazzling colours, as no one but a goddess could weave. On this Polites, whom I valued and trusted much more than any other of my men, said, there is someone inside, working at a loom and singing most beautifully. The whole place resound with it. Let us call her and see whether she is woman or goddess. They called her, and she came down, unfastened the door and bade them enter. They, thinking no evil, followed her, all except Leurylochus, who suspected mischief and stayed outside. When she had got them into her house, she set them upon benches and seats, and mixed them a mess with cheese, honey, meal, and Pramnian wine. But she drugged it with wicked poisons to make them forget their homes. And when they had drunk, she turned them into pit by a stroke of her wand shut them up in her Pigstyes, they were like pigs, head, hair and door, and they grunted just as pigs do, but their senses were the same as before, and they remembered everything. Thus then were they shut up squealing, And Sir Stay threw them some acorns and beech masts, such as pigs eat. But Eurylochus hurried back to tell me about the sad fate of our comrades. He was so overcome with dismay that though he tried to speak, he could find no words to do. So his eyes filled with tears, and he could only sob and sigh, till at last we forced his story out of him. And he told us what had happened to the others. We went, said he, as you told us, through the forest, and in the middle of it there was a fine house built with cut stones, in a place that could be seen from far. There we found a woman or else. She was a goddess working at her loom and singing sweetly. So the men shouted to her and called her whereon. She once came down, opened the door and invited us in. The others did not suspect any mischief, so they followed her into the house. But I stayed where I was, for I thought there might be some treachery. From that moment I saw them no more, for not one of them ever came out, though I sat a long time watching for them. Then I took my sword of bronze and slung it over my shoulders. I also took my bow and told Eurylochus to come back with me and show me the way. But he laid hold of me with both his hands and spoke piteously, saying, sir, do not force me to go with you, but let me stay here, for I know you will not bring one of them back with you, nor even return alive yourself. Let us. Rather see if we cannot escape at any rate with the few that are left us for me, we may still save our lives. Stay where you are, then, I answered, eating and drinking at the ship, but I must go, for I am most urgently bound to do so. With this, I left the ship and went up in land. When I got through the charmed grove and was near the great house of the enchantress Circe, I met Mercury with his golden wand disguised as a young man in the heyday of his youth and beauty, with a down just coming upon his face. He came up to me and took my hand within his own, saying, my, poor unhappy man, whither are you going over this mountaintop alone and without knowing the way? Your men are shut up in Circe's pigsties like so many wild boars in their lairs. You surely do not fancy that you can set them free. I can tell you that you will never get back and will have to stay there with the rest of them. But never mind, I will protect you and get you out of your difficulty. Take this herb, which is one of great virtue, and keep it about you When you go to Circe's house, it will be a talisman to you against every kind of mischief, And I will tell you of all the wicked witchcraft that Circe will try to practice upon you. She will mix a mess for you to drink, and she will drug the meal with which she makes it. But she will not be able to charm you, for the virtue of the herb that I shall give you will prevent her spells from working. I will tell you all about it. When Circe strikes you with her wand draw your sword and spring upon her as though you are going to kill her. She will then be frightened and will desire you to go to bed with her. On this you must not, point a blank refuse her. You want her to set your companions free, and to take good care also of yourself. But you must make her swear solemnly by all the blessed gods that she will plot no further mischief against you or else. When she has got you naked, she will unman you and make you fit for nothing. As he spoke, he pulled the herb out of the ground and showed me what it was like. The root was black, while the flower was as white as milk. The gods call it mowley, and mortal men cannot uproot it, but the gods can do whatever they like. Then Mercury went back to High Olympus, passing over the wooded island. But I fared onward to the House of Circe, and my heart was clouded with care as I walked along. When I got to the gates, I stood there and called the goddess, and as soon as she heard me, she came down, opened the door and asked me to come in. Followed her, much troubled in my mind. She set me on a richly decorated seat inlaid with silver. There was a footstool also under my feet, and she mixed the mess in a golden goblet for me to drink. But she drugged it, for she meant me mischief. When she had given it me and I had drunk it without its charming me, she struck me with her wand there now she cried, be off to the pigstye and make your lair with the rest of them. But I rushed at her with my sword drawn, as though I would kill her, whereupon she fell with a loud scream, clasped my knees and spoke piteously, saying, who and whence are you? From? What place? And people have you come? How can it be that my drugs have no power to charm you? Never yet was a man able to stand so much as a taste of the herb I gave you. You must be spell proof. Surely you can be none other than the bold hero Ulysses, who Mercury always said would come here someday with his ship while on his way home from Troy. So be it, then, sheath your sword and let us go to bed, that we may make friends and learn to trust each other. And I answered, sir, say, how can you expect me to be friendly with you when you have just been turning all my men into pigs? And now that you've got me here myself, you mean me mischief when you ask me to go to bed with you, and will unman me and make me unfit for nothing. I shall certainly not consent to go to bed with you unless you will first take your solemn oath to plot no further harm against me. So she swore at once as I had told her, And when she had completed her oath, then I went to bed with her. Meanwhile, her four servants, who are her housemaids, set about their work. They are the children of the groves and fountains, and of the holy waters that run down into the sea. One of them spread a fair purple cloth over a seat, and laid a carpet underneath it. Another brought tables of silver up to the seats and set them with baskets of gold. A third mixed some sweet wine with water in a silver bowl, and put golden cups upon the tables, while the fourth brought in water and set it to boil, and a large coldron over a good fire, which she had lighted. When the water in the coldron was boiling, she poured cold into it till it was just as I liked it. And then she set me in a bath and began washing me from the caldron about the head and shoulders, to take the tire and stiffness out of my limbs. As soon as she had done washing me and anointing me with oil, she had raised me in a good cloak and shirt, and led me to a richly decorated seat inlaid with silver. There was a footstool also underneath my feet. A maid servant then brought me water in a beautiful golden ewer and poured it into a silver basin for me to wash my hands, and she drew a clean table beside me. An upper servant brought me bread and offered me many things of what there was in the house. And then Circe bade me eat, but I would not and sat without heating what was before me, still moody and suspicious. When Circe saw me sitting there without eating and in great grief, she came to me and said, Ulysses, why do you sit like that, as though you were dumb, gnawing at your own heart, and refusing both meat and drink. Is it that you are still suspicious? You ought not to be, for I have already sworn solemnly that I will not hurt you. And I said, surse, no man with any sense of what his rights can think of either eating or drinking in your house until you have set his friends free and let him see them. If you want me to eat and drink, you must free my men and bring them to me that I may see them with my own eyes. When I had said this, she went straight through the court with her wand in her hand and opened the pigstye doors. My men came out like so many prime hogs, and stood looking at her. But she went among them and anointed each with a second drug, whereupon the bristles that the bad drug had given them fell off, and they became men again, younger than they were before, and much taller and better looking. They knew me at once, seized me each of them by the hand, and wept for joy, till the whole house itself was filled with the sound of their hallower bellowing. And Circe herself was so sorry for them that she came up to me and said, Ulysses, noble, son of Laertes, go back at once to the sea where you have left your ship, and first draw it onto the land. Then hide all your ship's gear and property in some cave, and come back here with your men. I agreed to this, So I went back to the seashore and found the men at the ship, weeping and whaling most piteously. When they saw me, the silly, blubbering fellows began frisking around me as carves break out and gambol round their mothers when they see them coming home to be milked after have been feeding all day, and the homestead resounds with their lowing. They seemed as glad to see me, as though they had got back to their own rugged Ithaca, where they had been born and bred. Sir, said the affectionate creatures, we are as glad to see you back, as they had got safe home to Ithaca. But tell us all about the fate of our comrades. I spoke comforting to them to them and said, we must draw our ship onto the land and hide the ship's gear with all our property in some cave. Then come with me, all of you, as fast as you can, to Curse's house, where you will find your comrades eating and drinking in the midst of great abundance. On this the men would have come with me at once, but Eurylochus tried to hold them back and said, alas, poor wretches that we are, what will become of us, rush not on your ruin by going to the house of Circe, who will turn us all into pigs or wolves or lions, and we shall have to keep guard over her house. Remember how the Cyclops treated us when our comrades went inside his cave and Ulysses with them. It was all through his sheer folly that those men lost their lives. When I heard him, I was in two minds whether or no to draw the keen blade that hung by my sturdy thigh and cut his head off, in spite of his being a near relation of my own. But the men interceded for him and said, Sir, if it may so be, let this fellow stay here and mind the ship, but take the rest of us with you to Circe's house. On this we all went in land, and Eurylochus was not left behind after all, but came on too, for he was frightened by the severe reprimand that I had given him. Meanwhile, Circe had been seeing that the men who had been left behind were washed and anointed with olive oil. She had also given them woolen cloaks and shirts, and when we came we found them all comfortably at dinner in her house. As soon as the men saw each other face to face and knew one another, they wept for joy and cried aloud till the whole palace rang again. Thereon, Curse came up to me and said, Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, tell your men to leave off crying. I know how much you have all of you suffered at sea, and how ill you have fared among cruel savages on the mainland. But that is over now. So stay here and eat and drink till you are once more as strong and hearty as you were when you left Ithaca. For at present you are weakened both in body and mind. You keep all the time thinking of the harships you have suffered during your travels, so that you have no more cheerfulness left in you. Thus did she speak, and we are sented. We stayed with Circe for a whole twelve month, feasting upon an untold quantity both of meat and wine. But when the year had passed in the waning of moons and the long days had come round, my men called me apart and said, sir, it is time you began to think about going home. If so be, you are to be spared to see your house and native country. All Thus did they speak, and I assented. Thereon, through the livelong day to the going down of the sun, we feasted our fill on meat and wine. But when the sun went down and it came on dark, the men laid themselves down to sleep in the covered cloisters. I, however, Arthur, had got into bed with Curse, beshort her by her knees, and the goddess listened to what I had got to say. Curse said, I please to keep the promise you made me about furthering me on my homeward voyage. I want to get back, and so do my men. They are always pestering me with their complaints. As soon as ever your back is turned, and the Goddess answered, Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, you shall none of you stay here any longer if you do not want to. But there is another journey which you have got to take. Before you can sail homewards. You must go to the house of Hades and of dead Proserpine to consult the ghost of the blind theban prophet Teresias, whose reason is still unshaken to him alone. Has Proserpine left his understanding even in death for the other ghosts flit about aimlessly. I was dismayed when I heard this. I sat up in bed and wept, and would gladly have lived no longer to see the light of the sun. But presently. When I was tired of weeping and tossing myself about, I said, who shall guide me upon this voyage? For the house of Hades is a port that no ship can reach. You will want no guide, she answered, Raise your mast, set your white sails, sits quite still, and the north wind will blow you there of itself. When your ship has traversed the waters of Oceanus, you will reach the fertile shore of Proserpines country, with its groves of tall poplars and willows that shed their fruit untimely. Here beat your ship upon the shore of Oceanus, and go straight on to the darker bode of Hades. You will find it near the place where the river's Pyriphlegethon and Cocytus, which is a branch of the river Styx, flow into Acharon. And you will see a rock near it, just where the two roaring rivers run into one another. When you have reached this spot, as I now tell you, dig a trench a cubit or so in length, breadth and depth, and pour into it as a drink offering to all the dead, first honey mixed with milk, then wine, and in the third place water, sprinkling white barleymeal over the hole. Moreover, you must offer many prayers to the poor feeble ghosts. Promise them that when you get back to Ithaca, you will sacrifice a baron heifer to them, the best you have, and will load the pyre with good things. More particularly, you must promise that Tyresius shall have a black sheep all to himself, and the finest in all your flocks. When you shall have thus besought the ghosts, with your prayers, offer them a ram and the black ew, bending their heads towards Erebus, but yourself turn away from them as though you would make towards the river. On this many dead men's ghosts will come to you, and you must tell your men to skin the two sheep that you have just killed and offer them as a burnt sacrifice, with prayers to Hades and to Proserpine. Then draw your sword and sit there so as to prevent any other poor ghost from coming near the spilt blood. Before Tyresius shall have answered your quest uestions, the seer will presently come to you and will tell you about your voyage, what stages you are to make, and how you are to sail the sea. So as to reach your home. It was daybreak by the time she had done speaking, so she dressed me in my shirt and cloak. As for herself, she threw a beautiful light gossamer fabric over her shoulders, fastening it with a golden girdle around her waist, and she covered her head with a mantle. Then I went about among the men everywhere all over the house, and spoke kindly to each of them. Man by man, you must not lie sleeping here any longer, said I to them. We must be going, for Circe has told me all about it, And on this they did as I bade them. Even so, however, I did not get them away without misadventure. We had with us a certain youth name elpinor not very remarkable for sense or courage, who had got drunk and was lying on the housetop away from the rest of the men, to sleep off his liquor in the cool When he heard the noise of the men bustling about, he jumped up on a sudden and forgot all about coming down by the main staircase. So he tumbled right off the roof and broke his neck, and his soul went down to the House of Hades. When I had got the men together, I said to them, you think you are about to start home again. But Circe has explained to me that instead of this, we have got to go to the house of Hades and Proserpine to consult the ghost of the Teban prophet Tyresius. The men were broken hearted as they heard me, and threw themselves on the ground, groaning and tearing their hair. But they did not men matters by crying. When we reached the sea, weeping and lamenting our fate, Circe bought the ram and the ewe, and we made them fast hard by the ship. She passed through the midst of us without our knowing it. For who can see the comings and goings of a god if the god does not wish to be seen. End of Book ten.