The Odyssey (Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection) Page 5

  house, drinking wine and taking his pleasure, on his way

  home from Ephyre,* from the house of Ilus, Mermerus’ son.

  You see, Odysseus had gone to that place on his swift260

  ship in search of a man-slaying drug, so that he could

  smear it on his bronze-tipped arrows.* Ilus did not give it

  to him, because he had regard for the indignation of the

  immortal gods, but my father did, for he loved him greatly.

  I wish Odysseus as he then was might come among the suitors—265

  that would mean quick deaths and bitter marriage-hopes

  for them all. But this of course lies on the knees of the gods,

  whether he returns home and takes vengeance in his own

  halls, or not. As for you, I advise you to take thought

  as to how you can drive the suitors out of your house.270

  So listen carefully, and pay attention to my words:

  tomorrow, summon all the Achaean heroes to an assembly

  and address them all; and let the gods be your witnesses.

  Order the suitors to leave, each man to his own home; and

  as for your mother, if her heart urges her to be married,275

  let her go back to the house of her powerful father, and

  the people there will arrange the marriage and prepare

  plentiful bride-gifts, such as go with a loved daughter.

  As for you, I shall give you shrewd advice, and I hope you

  will listen. Fit out a ship with twenty rowers, the best you can,280

  and set off to learn about your long-absent father, to see if

  any mortal has word for you, or if you will hear a rumour

  from Zeus, which is above all how reports reach men.

  First go to Pylos and question glorious Nestor, and from

  there to Sparta, to meet fair-haired Menelaus, since he was285

  the very last of the bronze-shirted Achaeans to come home.

  If you hear that your father is still alive and on his way home

  then, though worn down, you can still endure for even a year;

  but if you learn that he is now dead, and no longer living,

  you must come back to your dear native land and heap up290

  a grave-mound for him and perform all the funeral rites

  due to him, and then give your mother to a new husband.

  When you have done all this and brought it to an end,

  then you must weigh up in your mind and in your heart

  how you may kill the suitors who are in your halls,295

  either by tricking them or in open fight; it is time for you

  to give up childish ways, because you are no longer a child.*

  Have you not heard of the fame glorious Orestes won in the

  eyes of all men by killing the man who slew his father,

  Aegisthus the crafty schemer, butcher of his famous father?300

  My friend, I can see that you are a fine, strapping fellow;

  you must be brave too, so that future generations will praise you.

  As for me, I shall now go back to my swift ship and my

  companions, who are doubtless waiting for me with impatience.

  Keep your mind fixed on all this, and take my words to heart.’305

  Then in turn thoughtful Telemachus answered her:

  ‘Guest-friend, what you say is surely done with kind intent,

  like a father talking to his son; I shall never forget your words.

  But come now, stay a while, eager though you are to leave,

  so that you may bathe and let your heart take its ease;310

  and then, glad in spirit, go back to your ship with a gift,

  a precious, splendid gift, such as close guest-friends

  exchange; it will be a valued possession for you from me.’

  Then the goddess grey-eyed Athena answered him:

  ‘Do not try to detain me longer; I am eager to leave.315

  As for the gift, whatever your heart urges you to give me,

  give it to me when I come back, to take to my home; choose

  a very good one, and you will receive its equal in return.’

  So the goddess grey-eyed Athena spoke, and at once departed,

  shooting upwards in flight like a bird; and into Telemachus’ heart320

  she thrust vigour and daring, and made him think of his father,

  more than before. In his mind he grasped what had happened,

  and was amazed in his heart, for he suspected it was a god.

  At once he made his way back to the suitors, a man like a god.

  The renowned singer was singing to them, and they sat and325

  listened in silence as he sang of the Achaeans’ return home,

  a bitter ordeal, sent them by Pallas Athena after they left Troy.

  In her upstairs room the daughter of Icarius, circumspect

  Penelope, heard and understood his divinely inspired song,

  and came down the tall staircase from her part of the house,330

  not on her own, but attended by two women servants.

  When she, glorious among women, reached the suitors

  she stood next to a pillar supporting the strongly built

  roof, holding her shining veil in front of her face, and

  a devoted woman servant stood on either side of her.335

  Through tears she addressed the god-inspired singer:

  ‘Phemius, you know many other things that beguile mortals—

  the deeds of men and gods, such as singers often celebrate.

  Sing one of these as you sit among these men, and let them

  drink their wine in silence, but leave off this gloomy song,340

  which always bears heavily on the heart in my breast; a

  singular grief, one that I cannot forget, comes over me as I

  yearn for someone whom I think of constantly, a man whose

  fame spreads widely through Hellas and the heart of Argos.’

  Then in turn thoughtful Telemachus answered her:345

  ‘Mother, why do you grudge the trusty singer the chance

  to give pleasure just as his mind bids him? It is not singers

  who are to blame, but Zeus must be to blame, who hands out

  their destiny to bread-eating mankind, to each as he pleases.

  We should not be indignant if this man sings of the Danaans’*350

  wretched fate, since men always give most praise to the

  song that is the latest to reach the ears of its audience.

  So let your heart and spirit be strong to listen; Odysseus

  is not the only man at Troy to lose the day of his return

  home, since many other men perished there as well.355

  Go back to your rooms and take charge of your own tasks,

  the loom and the distaff, and order your women servants

  to go about their work. Talk must be men’s concern, all of

  them, and mine especially, for the power in the house is mine.’

  Penelope was amazed, and went back again into her rooms,360

  and stored the discerning words of her son in her heart.

  She went up into the rooms with her women servants and

  there wept for Odysseus, her dear husband, until Athena

  the grey-eyed let fall sweet sleep upon her eyes.

  Meanwhile the suitors were creating an uproar in the shadowy 365

  halls, all praying to be the one to lie in her bed with her.

  And now thoughtful Telemachus began to speak among them:

  ‘Suitors of my mother, you are men of violent insolence!

  Let us now feast and take our pleasure, and let there be no

  shouting, since it is a good thing to listen to a singer such as370

  this one, a man whose voice resembles that of the gods.

  But in the morning let us take our seats in the meeting-place,

  all of us, and I shall make my demands to you, in all directness.

  You must leave my halls, and think of feasting elsewhere,

  eating up your own possessions and taking turns in your houses.375

  If, however, you think it is a better thing and more profitable

  to exhaust the substance of one man without payment,

  then go on consuming it, and I shall cry out to the immortals

  in the hope that Zeus may some day grant me redress; and

  then you would perish in my house, with no restitution given.’380

  So he spoke, and they all bit hard on their lips and were

  amazed at Telemachus, because he had spoken out so boldly.

  Then in turn Antinous, the son of Eupeithes, addressed him:

  ‘Telemachus, only the gods themselves can have taught you

  to be such an assembly loudmouth, and to speak so boldly!385

  I hope the son of Cronus never makes you king here in

  sea-girt Ithaca, though that is admittedly your right by birth.’*

  Then in turn thoughtful Telemachus answered him:

  ‘Antinous, you may well be surprised at what I say, but

  I would be ready to accept the kingship, if Zeus granted it.390

  Do you think this is the worst that can happen to a man?

  It is certainly no bad thing to be a king; a man’s house

  quickly becomes wealthy, and he himself gains more honour.

  There are however other princes of the Achaeans on sea-girt

  Ithaca, many of them, both young and old; let one of them395

  possess this honour, now that glorious Odysseus is dead.

  For myself, I shall be the lord of my house and my servants,

  those whom glorious
Odysseus won by plunder and left to me.’

  Then in turn Eurymachus, the son of Polybus, answered him:

  ‘Telemachus, this matter surely lies on the knees of the gods,400

  which of the Achaeans will be king on sea-girt Ithaca; still,

  I hope you keep your possessions, and rule your household,

  and that no one may come and wrest them from you by force

  against your will, so long as there are men living on Ithaca.

  But, my good sir, I want to ask you about this stranger:405

  where is he from, what country does he claim as his own,

  where is his family, and where his ancestral ploughlands?

  Does he bring some news about your father’s coming, or

  has he come this way to settle some business of his own?

  How quickly he leapt up and vanished, and did not stay to be410

  known! He certainly did not have the look of a low-born man.’

  Then in turn thoughtful Telemachus answered him:

  ‘Eurymachus, I am sure my father’s homecoming is lost,

  so I can no longer believe messages that come from anywhere;

  nor do I pay any heed to divine revelations that my mother415

  may seek to understand by inviting seers into this hall.

  This stranger is a guest-friend of my father’s from Taphos;

  he declares himself to be Mentes, the son of wise Anchialus,

  and he rules over the Taphians who delight in rowing.’

  So Telemachus spoke, but he knew in his heart the immortal420

  goddess. The suitors returned to the dance and the charming

  song, enjoying themselves and waiting for evening to come.

  In the midst of their pleasures black night came down,

  and then at last they left for bed, each one to his own house.

  But Telemachus headed for where a high room had been425

  built for him in a sheltered part of the splendid courtyard, and

  there went to his bed, turning over many things in his mind.

  A devoted servant brought blazing torches for him; she was

  Eurycleia, the daughter of Ops who was the son of Peisenor,

  and Laertes had bought her long ago with his own wealth,430

  in her first youth, and he gave twenty oxen’s worth for her,

  and honoured her in his halls as much as his devoted wife;

  but he never took her to bed, wishing to avoid his wife’s anger.

  She now brought Telemachus blazing torches; of all the servants

  she loved him the most, and had nursed him when he was small.435

  He opened the doors of the strongly built room and sat

  down on his bed and took off his soft tunic, and put it

  into the hands of the sharp-witted old woman; and she

  then folded the tunic, treating it with great care, and

  hung it on a peg next to the fretted bed. Then she made440

  her way out of the room and pulled the door to by its

  silver handle, drawing home the bolt with its leather strap.

  There Telemachus lay all night, wrapped in a woollen blanket,

  planning in his mind the journey that Athena had proposed.

  BOOK TWO

  When early-born Dawn with her rosy fingers appeared,

  the dear son of Odysseus rose from his bed and put on

  his clothes, and slung his sharp sword from his shoulder;

  and under his shining feet he bound his fine sandals, and

  made his way from the chamber, in presence like a god.5

  Without delay he commanded his clear-voiced heralds to

  summon the flowing-haired Achaeans to an assembly.

  So they made the summons, and the men gathered very swiftly.

  When they had assembled and were gathered together

  he set off for the meeting-place, bronze sword in hand,10

  not alone, but two swift-footed dogs went along with him;

  and Athena poured down astounding grace over him.

  As he approached all the people gazed in amazement at him;

  he took his seat in his father’s place, and the elders fell back.

  The first to speak among them was the hero Aegyptius,15

  who was bent with old age and a man of great experience.

  His dear son had gone with godlike Odysseus in his hollow

  ships to Troy, rich in horses; this was the spearman

  Antiphus, and the cruel Cyclops had killed him in his hollow

  cave, and served him up last of all to make his supper.20

  Aegyptius had three other sons: one, Euronymus, kept company

  with the suitors, and two stayed tending their family farmlands.

  Yet Aegyptius never forgot Antiphus, lamenting and grieving

  over him. Weeping tears for him now he spoke out among them:

  ‘Listen to me now, men of Ithaca, to what I have to say:25

  we have never yet held a meeting here, nor any session,

  since the time that glorious Odysseus left in his hollow ships.

  Who has now called this one? Who is he, one of the young

  men, or one of the elders? What great need has visited him?

  Has he heard a report of some army drawing near, and being30

  the first to find out wishes to give us clear intelligence?

  Or is there some public matter he will announce and unfold?

  A good man he seems to me, and blessed; I pray that Zeus

  may bring whatever he desires in his heart to a good fulfilment.’

  So he spoke, and Odysseus’ dear son was glad at the omen;35

  eager to speak out, he did not stay seated for long, but took

  his stand in the middle of the assembly. The herald Peisenor,

  a man of discerning counsel, put the staff into his hand, and

  he first turned to the old man Aegyptius and addressed him:

  ‘Old man, that man is not far away, as you will soon find out:40

  it was I who summoned the people, being sorely touched by grief.

  I have heard no report of an army drawing near, about which

  I wish to give you clear intelligence, being the first to find out,

  nor is there any public matter that I shall announce and unfold.

  No, the need is mine alone. Disaster has fallen upon my house,45

  in two ways: I have lost my noble father, who once was king over

  you who are gathered here, and was like a kindly father to you;

  and now here is a far greater calamity, which will soon utterly

  shatter my whole house, and completely ruin my livelihood:

  much against her will my mother is assailed by suitors,50

  the dear sons of, yes, those who are the best men here,

  but who shrink from approaching the house of her father

  Icarius, to persuade him to give his daughter a dowry

  and offer her to the man he wishes and favours the most.

  Day after day, these people keep coming to my house,55

  slaughtering my oxen and sheep and fat goats, holding

  revels and drinking my gleaming wine, in utter heedlessness;

  and most of my substance is now wasted. No more is there

  a man to keep ruin from the house, such as Odysseus was;

  we ourselves are not strong enough to defend it, and will60

  surely prove to be pitiful creatures, quite without courage.

  But I, I would stand up for myself, if I had the power;

  these deeds are no longer to be borne, and my house’s

  ruin has become a disgrace; even you should be outraged,

  and feel shame before the people who live round about,65

  our neighbours; you should fear the gods’ vengeful anger,

  lest, affronted by these vile deeds, they turn against you.

  I entreat you, in the name of Olympian Zeus, and of Themis,

  who both initiates the assemblies of men and breaks them up,

  stop, my friends, and leave me alone to be worn down by my70

  wretched sorrow—unless of course my father noble Odysseus

  once did some wrong to the well-greaved Achaeans out of ill-will,

  in return for which you, out of ill-will, are wronging me in revenge,

  by inciting these men. For me, it would be better if you Ithacans

  were simply eating up my possessions and flocks of sheep;75

  if it were just your greed, there might one day be recompense,

  for then we could confront you all over the city with claims

  and demand our property back, until everything was returned.

  As it is, you are cramming pain into my heart that I cannot relieve.’

  So he spoke in great anger, and with a sudden burst of tears80