Complete works of willia.., p.635
Complete Works of William Morris, page 635
Then straightway the handmaid bade him go up to the washing-vat,
And wash him therein; and he saw it, and his soul rejoiced thereat,
And the water warm; for nowise was he wont to be cherished with care
Since he left the house of Calypso of the lovely-knotted hair;
But that while with her was he cherished as a God is evermore.
But when the handmaids had washed him and with oil had sleeked him
A goodly cloak and a kirtle they did upon him then, [o’er,
And he gat him up out of the bath-vat and away to the wine-drinking men.
But lo, Nausicaa, dowered with God-given beauty, stood
By the doorway of the feast-hall of the steadfast house and good;
And her eyes beheld Odysseus, and she fell a-wondering, [wing:
And the sound of her voice she uttered, and sent forth a word on the
“Farewell, O guest! When thou comest to thy land where thou dost go,
Remember me, for life-ransom unto me the first dost thou owe!”
But Odysseus of many a rede thus answered for his part:”
Nausicaa, thou daughter of Alcinoiis, mighty of heart,
May Zeus the Great-voiced grant it, of Herd’s Lord may I earn,
That unto my house I get me and see my day of return!
Then unto thee, O maiden, as unto a God, will I pray
For all days from henceforward; for thou gavest me life on a day.”
He spake and sat him adown beside Alcinoiis’ chair.
And now the wine were they blending, and dealing share by share;
And the henchman drew near leading the sweet-voiced singer along,
Demodocus dear to the people, and amidst the feasting throng
He set his seat and leaned it against a pillar tall.
Then Odysseus, wealthy of counsel, to the herald spake withal,
Having cut and carved a portion from the chine of a white-toothed boar,
With rich fat all about it (and yet was left much more):
“Bear forth this flesh, O henchman, to Demodocus, that he
May eat thereof; and I greet him, though grieved at heart I be;
For surely dear unto all men upon the earth that dwell
Are minstrels, and worthy of worship, since the Muse hath learned them well
To wend the ways of song-craft, and she loves the minstrel race.”
Therewith the henchman bore it unto the hands and the place
Of Demodocus the hero, and he took it and was glad.
And men reached out their hands to the dainties that before them there
[they had.
But when the desire for meat and for drink they had done away,
Unto Demodocus then ‘gan the wise Odysseus to say:
“Demodocus, thee of all mortals do I ever worship and praise,
Whether the Muse, Zeus’ Daughter, or Apollo learned thee of lays;
Because of the doom of Achaeans dost thou sing a most due tale,
All deeds that we did, we Achaeans, and our travail and our bale.
Whether thou wert there amidst it, or hast learned of another one;
But change them the tale and tell us how the Wooden Horse was done,
E’en him that Epeius fashioned with Athene’s help anigh,
The snare that goodly Odysseus brought into the burg on high
Fulfilled with men, that Ilios they might waste with utter bale.
But if aright and in order thou shalt set forth such a tale,
Thereafter among all men will I tell of thee this thing,
How a kind God hath given thee the holy song to sing.”
Then Demodocus, moved by the God, began and set forth the lay,
And took up the tale where the Argives, one part, were sailing away,
Having gone on theirwell-decked ships and given their booths to the flame;
But the others yet were sitting round Odysseus mighty of fame
In the Meeting Stead of the Trojans, all hidden in the Horse,
For the Trojans themselves had drawn it to the topmost burg perforce.
There it stood, and they sitting around it confused counsel spake.
Three ways their pleasure sundered, three ways their rede did take;
For some with the pitiless brass would cleave the hollow wood,
And adown the rocks to cast it o’er the burg-brow some deemed good;
And some would give it the Gods, a great gift, an atonement of bale;
And this indeed was the counsel which was doomed in the end to prevail,
For the doom of death was upon them, what time their burg should embrace
A mighty Horse of timber; and there sat in the hollow place
The flower of the Argives bearing to the Troy-folk bale and bane.
Then he sang how the sons of Achaeans from the Horse poured forth amain,
And came out from the hollow ambush and wasted all the town,
And in what wise this and that man the burg on high brake down,
While unto Deiphobus’ dwelling forthwith did Odysseus fare,
Like unto Ares, and with him Menelaus, Godheads’ peer;
And that there he dared the battle and the utmost of the fight,
And prevailed with the help of Athene of the soul that is most of might.
So sang the all-glorious singer, but Odysseus was melted withal,
And over his cheeks the tear-dew from his eyelids ‘gan to fall;
And e’en as a wife falls clinging to her mate with wailing sore,
Yea, to him who in front of his city and folk hath fallen in war,
While his burg and his children he warded from the utter hapless day.
And she beholdeth him dying and gasping his life away,
And with shrill wails walloweth on him, and the men behind her smite
Her shoulders and back with the spear-shafts, as they drive her away forth
To the thraldom where she shall suffer all toil and grief and pain, [right
And with most grievous sorrow her cheeks they waste and wane —
E’en so the woful tear-drops Odysseus poured from his brow.
But from all the rest was it hidden, nor his weeping did they know.
But Alcinoiis perceived it, and knew it, and he alone;
For anigh unto him was he sitting, and he heard his heavy groan.
Then unto those Phaeacians the oar-fain thus spake he:
“Hearken, ye lords Phaeacian, and ye elders hearken ye!
Now at last let Demodocus cease, and his shrilly harp refrain,
Because of his song meseemeth not all men here are fain.
From the time when we were supping and the Godlike singer began,
Nowhile hath he ceased his moaning, this guest and wandering man.
In a place encompassed of sorrow his heart a dwelling hath had.
Come, then, let us refrain us, that we all alike may be glad,
Both the guest-friend and the guester; for better so it were,
Since because of a guest well cherished did we do all matters here,
The flitting and gifts of friendship that we gave in all goodwill.
Forsooth the place of a brother the suppliant guest shall fill,
For the man whoever so little unto wisdom would attain.
But thou, do thou hide in nowise, by words of crafty gain,
The thing which now I ask thee; for to speak shall better be.
Tell me thy name whereby the father and mother of thee
And all the others called thee, who dwelt in the burg about
For no man at all of menfolk a name shall be without,
Whether good he be or evil. From the time of his birth, and the day
When on earth his parents brought him, a name on him did they lay.
And thou shalt tell me moreover of thy burg, and thy folk, and thy land,
That our ships in their minds may know it when they bring thee thither to
Because amidst us Phaeacians our ships no helmsmen steer, [hand,
Nor with us is any rudder like other ships must bear,
But our keels know the minds of menfolk, and their will they understand,
And of all men’s cities are wotting and the fat fields of the land.
And therewith exceeding swiftly o’er the sea-gulf do they go,
In the mist and the cloud-rack hidden; nor ever a fear they know
That any scathe may touch them, or death on any day.
But Nausithoiis, my father, a thing I have heard him say,
For he told how that Poseidon did wrath against us keep,
Because that men all scatheless we flit across the deep;
And one while a ship well-fashioned of Phaeacian men shall he wrack,
As over the darkling sea-flood from the flitting she cometh aback,
And shall shadow the city over with a mound and a mighty hill.
In suchwise spake the elder; and these things shall the God fulfil,
Or else refrain from fulfilment, as the heart within him is fain.
But come now and tell me hereof, and speak out the matter plain,
Whither of lands thouhast wandered? to what shores ofmen thou hast come?
And therewith of the very menfolk and their burgs of the pleasant home,
And of such as are hard and cruel, and unright and wild of mood,
And of such whose minds turn Godward, guest-loving men and good?
And why thou wert grieving inly, and wherefore thou didst wail
When the woe of the Argive Danaans, and of Ilios was the tale?
But this thing the Gods have fashioned, and have spun the Deathful Day
For men, that for men hereafter it might be the tale and the lay.
But did one of thy wedlock kinsmen valiant by Ilios die,
Wife’s father, daughter’s husband, of such as are most nigh,
After our very kinsmen, our very stock and blood?
Or mayhap some dear companion, a pleasant friend and good?
For no worser than a brother e’en such a man I call,
Who is one’s very fellow, and wise of heart withal.”
BOOK IX.
ARGUMENT.
ODYSSEUS TELLETH OF HIS WAYFARINGS: HOW HE FOUGHT WITH THE CICONES: HOW HE CAME TO THE LAND OF THE LOTUS-EATERS: HOW HE CAME UNTO THE LAND OF THE CYCLOPS AND OF HIS DEALINGS WITH POLYPHEMUS THERE.
BUT Odysseus of many a rede thereto he answered and said:
“Alcinous, lord and king, the people’s foremost head,
The song of such a minstrel most good it is to hear,
The man who in speech made tuneful is the very Godheads’ peer.
Indeed for me I say it, that no happier time we bide
Than when the folk and all men are held by the merry tide,
And about the house are they feasting, and the singer’s song they hear
All sitting along in order, while full boards before them bear [up
The bread and the flesh; and the wine-swain from the mixing-bowl filleth
And beareth forth, and poureth the wine in every cu
Yea, unto my mind this seemeth a thing most fair to be.
But thy mind hath been turned to ask me of the woful griefs of me,
That with yet heavier heart-grief my woes I may bewail.
But now what first shall I tell thee, what last shall be my tale?
Since the Gods that dwell in the heavens give me such wealth of woe.
“Well, first my name shall I tell you, that ye thereof may know,
And I thereafter ‘scaping from the bitter cruel day
To you may give the guest-cheer, though my house be far away.
Odysseus the son of Laertes am I, whom all men heed
For my manifold guile; and my glory to the heavens aloft doth speed.
In Ithaca seen o’er the sea I dwell, and therein is a mound,
E’en Neritos lofty, leaf-shaking; and there in the sea-flood around
Are lying the islands a many, and anigh to each other are these,
As Dulichium and Same’, and Zacynthus of the trees.
Now indeed she lieth lowly, yet the highest up the sea [sun they be.
Toward the dark and the dusk; but the others, toward the east and the
Rugged and rocky she is, but fair nurse of menfolk bold;
Nor know I anything sweeter than that land of ours to behold.
But Calypso, Godheads’ Glory, me thencefrom did she hoard
In the hollow rocky places, for she longed for me for lord.
And ^Eaean Circe the guileful, she hid and hoarded me
In her halls in suchlike manner; for her lord she would have me to be.
But the soul in my breast that lieth thereto they might not win,
For nought to a man is sweeter than his fatherland and his kin,
E’en if he hap to be dwelling ‘neath a rich and noble roof,
All in an outland country from his kinsfolk far aloof.
But now of my returning will I tell the troublous tale,
And the woe that Zeus laid on me from Troy-town setting sail.
“The wind from Ilios bore me, and me unto Ismarus drew
Of the Cicones: there the city we sacked, and the men we slew,
And their wives we had from the city and plenteous wealth that was there,
And dealt it about, so that no man of me should lack due share.
And thereupon I bade them wet-foot away to flee,
But the stark fools in their folly they nowise heeded me.
For abundant wine were they drinking; and sheep withal good store,
And knock-kneed shambling oxen were they slaughtering on the shore.
And meanwhile went the Cicones crying to others on their way,
E’en Cicones and their neighbours, but more and better than they,
Up-country dwellers, well wotting of the battle from the steed
Mid menfolk: yet a-warring would they wend afoot at need.
So at dawn were they thick as the leaves are, or the blossoms of the spring,
And the doom of Zeus bode with us, an exceeding evil thing,
That we the evil-fated might bear our woes outright.
So there they arrayed the battle, by the swift ships fought the fight;
With the cast of the war-spear brazen together did they play.
And as long as it yet was morning, and waxed the holy day,
Although they were many and more, yet we stood and kept them out.
But when to the tide of unyoking the sun had turned him about.
Then the Cicones bore us aback and outfought the Achaean men,
And of every ship six fellows well-greaved died there and then;
And therewith we fled, we others, from the tide of death and bale.
“Thenceforth with hearts sore grieving yet onward did we sail,
Yet glad from the death escaping which our fellows had foredone.
But verily in nowise did our curving ships pass on
Before for our hapless fellows o’er each aloud we cried,
Who by the Cicones vanquished on the plain of death had died.
“Now Zeus, the Cloud-Pack’s Herder, ‘gainst our ships a north wind sent,
Falling on with a marvellous whirl-blast, and with clouds he hid and blent
The earth and the sea together, and night fell down from the sky,
And the ships were driven on headlong, and to rags did the sail-cloth fly,
Thrice over and fourfold rended by the storm-blast’s very might
So adown in the ship we stowed them, for we feared to perish outright,
And toward the land a-rowing careful we toiled our way.
There then two days unbroken and two long nights we lay,
And with labour and sorrow mingled our hearts were we eating out;
But when the fair-tressed Dawning the third day brought about
We set up the masts, and hauling the white sails up to the breeze,
By wind and rudder faring straight on, we sat at ease.
“And now had I come unscathed to my fatherland at the last,
But as I doubled Malea by the seas, and the northern blast, Bo
And the stream, was I staved off thence and past Cythera to stray.
Thenceforth by baleful winds nine days were we borne away
Across the fishy sea-flood; but the tenth day did we meet
The land of the Lotus-eaters, where a flowery food men eat
“So therewith aland we wended, and drew the water there,
And along by the ships swift-sailing men fell to their dinner-cheer.
But when of meat and of drink we had tasted as was due
Two men I chose from our fellows, and a spokesman I added thereto,
And forth on their ways I sent them that they might learn and tell
What manner of manfolk eating their bread on the land might dwell.
And they, departing, mingled with the Lotus-eaters there;
Who indeed against our fellows devised no evil snare:
But withal they gave unto them to taste of the Lotus meat,
nd what man of themsoever of that sweet thing did eat
Had no will to bear back tidings or to get him back again;
But to bide with the Lotus-eaters for ever was he fain,
And to eat the Lotus for ever, and forget his returning day.
So perforce these men sore weeping to the ships I dragged away.
In the hollow ships ‘neath the benches these men all bound I laid,
And all our other fellows beloved I straightly bade
To go up on the ships swift-sailing and haste without delay,
Lest some should eat of the Lotus and forget their returning day.
Then aboard straightway they wended and sat on the thwarts alow,
And they smote the grey sea with the oar-blades as they sat along and a-row.
“Then with hearts that were hurt with the evil onward we sailed again,
Till we came to the land of the Cyclops, the overweening men,
The unrighteous: putting their trust in the Gods that ever live,
They plant no plant with their hands, nor afield the plough do th’ey drive,
But all unsown and untilled are all things springing there.
There waxeth the wheat and the barley, and the vine doth her bunches bear
Wine-filled, and from Zeus-bred showers their nourishment they draw;
But with them are no Wise-men Meetings nor giving forth of the law,
But there on the most high mountains they dwell the crags about,
