 Book XI. THE VISIT TO THE DEAD. Then when we had got down to the seashore we drew our ship into the water and got her mast and sails into her. We also put the sheep on board and took our places, weeping and in great distress of mind. Cersei, that great and cunning goddess, sent us a fair wind that blew dead aft and stayed steadily with us keeping our sails all the time well filled. So we did whatever wanted doing to the ship's gear and let her go as the wind and helmsman headed her. All day long her sails were full as she held her course over the sea, but when the sun went down and darkness was over all the earth we got into the deep waters of the river Oceanus where lie the land and city of the Cimmerians who live enshrouded in mist and darkness which the rays of the sun never pierce, neither at his rising nor as he goes down again out of the heavens, but the poor wretches live in one long melancholy night. When we got there we beached the ship, took the sheep out of her and went along by the waters of Oceanus till we came to the place of which Cersei had told us. Here, Pyrimides and Euryllicus held the victims, while I drew my sword and dug the trench a cubit each way. I made a drink offering to all the dead, first with honey and milk, then with wine, and thirdly with water. And I sprinkled white barley-meal over the whole, praying earnestly to the poor feckless ghosts, and promising them that when I got back to Ithaca I would sacrifice a barren heifer for them, the best I had, and would load the pyre with good things. I also particularly promised that Terecia should have a black sheep to himself, the best in all my flocks. When I prayed sufficiently to the dead, I cut the throats of the two sheep and let the blood run into the trench, whereon the ghosts came trooping up from Erebus. Brides, young bachelors, old men worn out with toil, maids who had been crossed in love, and brave men who had been killed in battle, with their armor still smirched with blood. They came from every quarter and flitted round the trench with a strange kind of screaming sound that made me turn pale with fear. When I saw them coming, I told the men to be quick and flay the carcasses of the two dead sheep and make bird offerings of them. And at the same time to repeat prayers to Hades and to Perseponi. But I sat where I was with my sword drawn, and would not let the poor feckless ghosts come near the blood till Terecia should have answered my questions. The first ghost that came was that of my comrade Elpiner, for he had not yet been laid beneath the earth. We had left his body unwaked and unburied in Cersei's house, for we had had too much else to do. I was very sorry for him and cried when I saw him. Elpiner, said I, how did you come down here into this gloom and darkness? You have got here on foot quicker than I have with my ship. Sir, he answered with a groan. It was all bad luck, and my own unspeakable drunkenness. I was lying asleep on the top of Cersei's house, and never thought of coming down again by the great staircase but fell right off the roof and broke my neck, so my soul came down to the house of Hades. And now I beseech you, by all those whom you have left behind you, though they are not here, by your wife, by the father who brought you up when you were a child, and by Telemachus, who is the one hope of your house, do what I shall now ask you. I know that when you leave this loombo, you will again hold your ship for the Eon Island. Do not go thence leaving me unwaked and unburied behind you, or I may bring heaven's anger upon you. But burn me with whatever armor I have, build a barrel for me on the seashore, that may tell people in days to come what a poor unlucky fellow I was, and plant over my grave the ore I used to row with, when I was yet alive and with my mess-mates. And I said, my poor fellow, I will do all that you have asked of me. Thus, then, did we sit and hold sad talk with one another, I on the one side of the trench with my sword held over the blood, and the ghost of my comrade saying all this to me from the other side. Then came the ghost of my dead mother Anteclea, daughter to Octelicus. I had left her alive when I set out for Troy, and was moved to tears when I saw her, but even so, for all my sorrow, I would not let her come near the blood till I had asked my questions of Tiresias. Then came also the ghost of Theban Tiresias, with his golden scepter in his hand. He knew me and said, Ulysses, noble son of laertes, why, poor man, have you left the light of day and come down to visit the dead in this sad place? Stand back from the trench and withdraw your sword that I may drink of the blood and answer your questions truly. So I drew back and sheathed my sword, whereon, when he had drank of the blood, he began with his prophecy. You want to know, said he, about your return home, but heaven will make this hard for you. I do not think that you will escape the eye of Neptune, who still nurses his bitter grudge against you for having blinded his son. Still, after much suffering, you may get home if you can restrain yourself and your companions when your ship reaches the Threnation Island, where you will find the sheep and cattle belonging to the sun, who sees and gives ear to everything. If you leave these flocks unharmed and think of nothing but getting home, you may yet, after much hardship, reach Ithaca. But if you harm them, then I forewarn you of the destruction both of your ship and of your men. Even though you may yourself escape, you will return in bad plight after losing all your men in another man's ship and you will find trouble in your house, which will be overrun by high-handed people, who are devouring your substance under the pretext of paying court and making presence to your wife. When you get home, you will take revenge on these suitors, and after you have killed them by force or fraud in your own house, you must take a well-made oar and carry it on and on, till you come to a country where the people have never heard of the sea, and do not even mix salt with their food, nor do they know anything about ships, and oars that are as the wings of a ship. I will give you this certain token which cannot escape your notice. A wayfarer will meet you and will say it must be a winnowing shovel that you have got upon your shoulder. On this you must fix the oar in the ground and sacrifice a ram, a bull, and a boar to Neptune. Then go home and offer hecatombs to all the gods in heaven, one after the other. As for yourself, death shall come to you from the sea, and your life shall ebb away very gently when you are full of years and peace of mind, and your people shall bless you. All that I have said will come true." This, I answered, must be as it may please heaven. But tell me and tell me and tell me true. I see my poor mother's ghost close bias. She is sitting by the blood without saying a word, and though I am her own son, she does not remember me and speak to me. Tell me, sir, how can I make her know me? That, said he, I can soon do. Any ghost that you let taste of the blood will talk to you like a reasonable being, but if you do not let them have any blood they will go away again. On this the ghost of Tyresias went back to the house of Hades, for his prophesies had now been spoken. But I sat where I was until my mother came up and tasted the blood. Then she knew me at once and spoke fondly to me, saying, My son, how did you come down to this abode of darkness while you are still alive? It is a hard thing for the living to see these places, for between us and them there are great and terrible waters, and there is Oceanus, which no man can cross on foot, but he must have a good ship to take him. Are you all this time trying to find your way home from Troy, and have you never yet got back to Ethica, nor seen your wife in your own house? Mother, said I, I was forced to come here to consult the ghost of the Theban prophet Tyresias. I have never yet been near the Achaean land nor set foot on my native country. And I have had nothing but one long series of misfortunes from the very first day that I set out with Agamemnon for Ilias, the land of Nobles Deeds, to fight the Trojans. But tell me, and tell me true, in what way did you die? Did you have a long illness, or did heaven vouchsafe you a gentle easy passage to eternity? Tell me also about my father, and the son whom I left behind me. Is my property still in their hands, or has someone else got hold of it who thinks that I shall not return to claim it? Tell me again what my wife intends doing, and in what mind she is. Does she live with my son and guard my estate securely, or has she made the best match she could and married again? My mother answered, Your wife still remains in your house, but she is in great distress of mind and spends her whole time in tears both night and day. No one as yet has got possession of your fine property, and Telemachus still holds your lands undisturbed. He has to entertain largely, as of course he must, considering his position as a magistrate, and how everyone invites him. Your father remains at his old place in the country, and never goes near the town. He has no comfortable bed nor bedding. In the winter he sleeps on the floor in front of the fire with the men, and goes about all in rags. But in summer, when the warm weather comes on again, he lies out in the vineyard on a bed of vine-leaves thrown anyhow upon the ground. He grieves continually about your never-having-come-home, and suffers more and more as he grows older. As for my own end, it was in this wise. Heaven did not take me swiftly and painlessly in my own house, nor was I attacked by any illness such as those that generally wear people out and kill them, but my longing to know what you were doing and the force of my affection for you, this it was that was the death of me. Then I tried to find some way of embracing my poor mother's ghost. Thrice I sprang towards her, and tried to clasper in my arms, but each time she flitted from my embrace as it were a dream or phantom, and being touched to the quick I said to her, Mother, why do you not stay still when I would embrace you? If we could throw our arms around one another we might find sad comfort in the sharing of our sorrows, even in the house of Hades. Does Prosperpony want to lay a still further load of grief upon me by mocking me with a phantom only? My son, she answered, most ill-fated of all mankind. It is not Prosperpony that is beguiling you, but all people are like this when they are dead. The sinews no longer hold the flesh and bones together. These perish in the fierceness of consuming fire as soon as life has left the body, and the soul flits away as though it were a dream. Now, however, go back to the light of day as soon as you can and note all these things that you may tell them to your wife hereafter. Thus did we converse, and Anon Prosperpony sent up the ghosts of the wives and daughters of all the most famous men. They gathered in crowds about the blood, and I considered how I might question them severly. In the end I deemed that it would be best to draw the keen blade that hung by my sturdy thigh and keep them from all drinking the blood at once. So they came up one after the other, and each one, as I questioned her, told me her race and lineage. The first I saw was Tyro. She was daughter of Salmonius and wife of Cretius, the son of Iolus. She fell in love with the river Aeneepius, who was much the most beautiful river in the whole world. Once, when she was taking a walk by his side as usual, Neptune, disguised as her lover, lay with her at the mouth of the river, and a huge blue wave arched itself like a mountain over them to hide both woman and God, whereon he loosed her virgin girdle and laid her in a deep slumber. When the God had accomplished the deed of love, he took her hand in his own and said, Tyro, rejoice in all goodwill. The embraces of the gods are not fruitless, and you will have fine twins about this time twelve months. Take great care of them. I am Neptune, so now go home, and hold your tongue, and do not tell any one. Then he dived under the sea, and she, in due course, bore Pilius and Nelius, who both of them served Jove with all their might. Pilius was a great breeder of sheep and lived in Iolcus, but the other lived in Pylos. The rest of her children were by Cretius, namely Aeson, Furies, and Amethaean, who was a mighty warrior and charioteer. Next to her I saw Antaipi, daughter to Asipus, who could boast of having slept in the arms of even Jove himself, and who bore him two sons, Amphion and Zethus. These founded Thebes with its seven gates, and built a wall all round it. For strong though they were, they could not hold Thebes till they had walled it. Then I saw Alcmena, the wife of Amfitrian, who also bore to Jove indomitable Hercules. Antaigara, who was the daughter to great King Creon, and married the redoubtable son of Amfitrian. I also saw Fair Epicasty, mother of King Attipides, whose awful lot it was to marry her own son without suspecting it. He married her after having killed his father, but the gods proclaimed the whole story to the world. Whereon he remained King of Thebes, in great grief for the spite the gods had borne him. But Epicasty went to the house of the mighty Jailor Hades, having hanged herself for grief, and the avenging spirits haunted him as for an outraged mother, to his ruin bitterly thereafter. Then I saw Chloris, whom Nellius married for her beauty, having given priceless presents for her. She was youngest daughter to Amphion, son of Easus, and King of Minion Orcomenus, and was queen in Pylos. She bore Nestor, Chromius, and Paraclimonus, and she also bore that marvelously lovely woman, Perot, who was wooed by all the country round. But Nellius would only give her to him who should raid the cattle of Ithicles from the grazing grounds of Philaeus, and this was a hard task. The only man who would undertake to raid them was a certain excellent seer, but the will of heaven was against him, for the rangers of the cattle caught him and put him in prison. Nevertheless, when a full year had passed and the same season came round again, Nellius set him at liberty, after he had expounded all the oracles of heaven. Thus then was the will of Jov accomplished. And I saw Lida, the wife of Tindaris, who bore him two famous sons, Caster, Breaker of Horses, and Pulex, the mighty Boxer. Both these heroes are lying under the earth, though they are still alive, for by a special dispensation of Jov, they die and come to life again, each one of them every other day throughout all time, and they have the rank of gods. After her I saw Iphimidea, wife of Aelius, who boasted the embrace of Neptune. She bore two sons, Otus and Ephialtes, but both were short-lived. They were the finest children that were ever born in this world, and the best-looking Orion only accepted. For at nine years old they were nine fathoms high and measured nine cubits around the chest. They threatened to make war with the gods in Olympus and tried to set Mount Osa on the top of Mount Olympus and Mount Pelion on the top of Osa, that they might scale heaven itself. And they would have done it, too, if they had been grown up. But Apollo, son of Lido, killed both of them before they had got so much as a sign of hair upon their cheeks or chin. Then I saw Fedra and Procress, and fair Ariadne, daughter of the Magician Minos, whom Theseus was carrying off from Crete to Athens, but he did not enjoy her, for before he could do so Diana killed her in the Isle of Dia on account of what Bacchus had set against her. I also saw Myra and Climini and hateful Aritheli, who sold her own husband for gold. But it would take me all night if I were to name every single one of the wives and daughters of heroes whom I saw, and it was time for me to go to bed, either on board ship with my crew or here. As for my escort, heaven and yourselves will see to it. Here he ended, and the guests sat all of them enthralled and speechless throughout the covered cloister. Then Ariti said to them, What do you think of this man, Ophiations? Is he not tall and good-looking, and is he not clever? True, he is my own guest, but all of you share in the distinction. Do not be in a hurry to send him away, nor niggardly in the presence you make to one who is in such great need, for heaven has blessed all of you with great abundance. Then spoke the aged hero Echinius, who was one of the oldest men among them. My friends, said he, what our August Queen has just said to us is both reasonable and to the purpose. Therefore, be persuaded by it. But the decision whether in word or deed rests ultimately with King Alsinus. The thing shall be done, exclaimed Alsinus, as surely as I still live and reign over the Fiecians. Our guest is indeed very anxious to get home. Still we must persuade him to remain with us until tomorrow, by which time I shall be able to get together the whole sum that I mean to give him. As regards his escort, it will be a matter for you all, and mine above all others, as the chief person among you. And Ulysses answered, King Alsinus, if you were to bid me to stay here for a whole twelve months and then speed me on my way, loaded with your noble gifts, I should obey you gladly. And it would redound greatly to my advantage, for I should return fuller-handed to my own people, and should thus be more respected and beloved by all who see me when I get back to Ithaca. Ulysses, replied Alsinus, not one of us who sees you has any idea that you are a charlatan or a swindler. I know there are many people going about who tell such plausible stories that it is very hard to see through them, but there is a style about your language which assures me of your good disposition. Moreover, you have told the story of your own misfortune and those of the Argives, as though you were a practised bard. But tell me and tell me true, whether you saw any of the mighty heroes who went to Troy at the same time with yourself and perished there. The evenings are still at their longest, and it is not yet bedtime. Go on, therefore, with your divine story, for I could stay here listening till tomorrow morning, so long as you will continue to tell us of your adventures. Alsinus, answered Ulysses, there is a time for making speeches and a time for going to bed. Nevertheless, since you so desire, I will not refrain from telling you the still-satter tale of those of my comrades who did not fall fighting with the Trojans, but perished on their return through the treachery of a wicked woman. When Prosperpony had dismissed the female ghosts in all directions, the ghost of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, came sadly up to me, surrounded by those who had perished with him in the house of Aegisthus. As soon as he had tasted the blood he knew me, and weeping bitterly stretched out his arms towards me to embrace me. But he had no strength nor substance any more, and I too wept and pitted him as I beheld him. How did you come by your death, said I, King Agamemnon? Did Neptune raise his wings and waves against you when you were at sea, or did your enemies make an end of you on the mainland when you were cattle-lifting or sheep-stealing, or while they were fighting in defense of their wives and city? Ulysses, he answered, noble son of Laertes, I was not lost at sea in any storm of Neptune's raising, nor did my foes dispatch me upon the mainland, but Agisthus and my wicked wife were the death of me between them. He asked me to his house, feasted me, and then butchered me most miserably, as though I were a fat beast in a slaughter-house, while all around me my comrades were slain like sheep or pigs for the wedding breakfast or picnic or gorgeous banquet of some great nobleman. You must have seen numbers of men killed either in a general engagement or in single combat, but you never saw anything so truly pitiable as the way in which we fell in that cloister, with the mixing-ball and the loaded tables lying all about and the ground reeking with our blood. I heard Priam's daughter Cassandra scream as Clytemnestra killed her close beside me. I lay dying upon the earth with the sword in my body, and raised my hands to kill the slut of a murderous, but she slipped away from me. She would not even close my lips nor my eyes when I was dying, for there is nothing in this world so cruel and so shameless as a woman when she has fallen into such guilt as hers was. Fancy murdering her own husband. I thought I was going to be welcomed home by my children and my servants, but her abominable crime has brought disgrace on herself and all women who shall come after, even on the good ones. And I said, in truth, Jove has hated the House of Atreus from first to last in the matter of their women's councils. See how many of us fell for Helen's sake, and now it seems that Clytemnestra hatched mischief against you too during your absence. Be sure, therefore, continued Agamemnon, and not be too friendly even with your own wife. Do not tell her all that you know perfectly well yourself. Tell her a part only, and keep your own counsel about the rest. Not that your wife, Ulysses, is likely to murder you, for Penelope is a very admirable woman, and has an excellent nature. We left her a young bride with an infant at her breast when we set out for Troy. This child, no doubt, is now grown up happily to man's estate, and he and his father will have a joyful meeting and embrace one another as it is right they should do, whereas my wicked wife did not even allow me the happiness of looking upon my son, but killed me ere I could do so. Furthermore, I say, and lay my saying to your heart, do not tell people when you are bringing your ship to Ithaca, but steal a march upon them, for after all this there is no trusting women. But now tell me and tell me true. Can you give me any news of my son Narestis? Is he in Orcomenus, or at Pylos, or is he at Sparta with Menelaus, for I presume that he is still living? And I said, Agamemnon, why do you ask me? I do not know whether your son is alive or dead, and it is not right to talk when one does not know. As we too sat weeping and talking thus sadly with one another, the ghost of Achilles came up to us with Patroclus, Antillicus, and Ajax, who was the finest and goodliest man of all the Denaeans after the son of Pelius. The fleet descendent of Iacus knew me and spoke piteously, saying, Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, what deed of daring will you undertake next, that you venture down to the house of Hades among us silly dead, who are but the ghost of them who can labor no more? And I said, Achilles, son of Pelius, foremost champion of the Achaeans, I came to consult Tiresias, and see if he could advise me about my return home to Ithaca, for I have never yet been able to get near the Achaean land, nor to set foot in my own country, but have been in trouble all the time. As for you, Achilles, no one was ever yet so fortunate as you have been, nor ever will be. For you were adored by all us Argyves as long as you were alive, and now that you are here, you are a great prince among the dead. Do not, therefore, take it so much to heart even if you are dead. Say, not a word, he answered, in death's favour. I would rather be a paid servant in a poor man's house and be above ground than king of kings among the dead. But give me news about my son. Is he gone to the wars, and will he be a great soldier, or is this not so? Tell me also, if you have heard anything about my father Peleus. Does he still rule among the Mimridans, or do they show him no respect throughout Helicenthea, now that he is old and his limbs fail him? Could I but stand by his side, in the light of day, with the same strength that I had when I killed the bravest of our foes upon the plain of Troy? Could I but be as I then was, and go even for a short time to my father's house, any one who tried to do him violence or supersede him would soon rue it? I have heard nothing, I answered, of Peleus, but I can tell you all about your son Neotolomus, for I took him in my own ship from Skyros with the Achaeans. In our councils of war before Troy he was always first to speak, and his judgment was unerring. Nester and I were the only two who could surpass him, and when it came to fighting on the plain of Troy he would never remain with the body of his men, but would dash on far in front, for most of them in all valor. Many a man did he kill in battle. I cannot name every single one of those whom he slew while fighting on the side of the Arjives, but will only say how he killed that valiant hero Euripolis, son of Telephus, who was the handsomest man I ever saw except Memnon. Many others also of the Cetayans fell around him by reason of a woman's arms. Moreover, when all the bravest of the Arjives went inside the horse that Epeus had made, and it was left to me to settle when we should either open the door of our ambuscade or close it, though all the other leaders and chief men among the Denaeans were drying their eyes and quaking in every limb, I never once saw him turn pale nor wipe a tear from his cheek. He was all the time urging me to break out from the horse, grasping the handle of his sword and his bronze shod spear, and breathing fury against the foe. Yet when we had sacked the city of Priam he got his handsom share of the prize money and went on board, such as the fortune of war, without a wound upon him, neither from a thrown spear nor in close combat, for the rage of Mars is a matter of great chance. When I had told him this, the ghost of Achilles strode off across a meadow full of Asphodel, exulting over what I had said concerning the prowess of his son. The ghosts of other dead men stood near me and told me each his own melancholy tale. But that of Ajax's son of Telemann alone held aloof, still angry with me for having won the cause in our dispute about the armor of Achilles. Thetis had offered it as a prize, but the Trojan prisoners and Minerva were the judges. Would that I had never gained the day in such a contest, for it cost the life of Ajax, who was foremost of all the Denaeans after the son of Pelius, alike in stature and prowess. When I saw him I tried to pacify him and said, Ajax, will you not forget and forgive even in death, but must the judgment about that hateful armor still rankle with you? It cost us our jives dear enough to lose such a tower of strength as you were to us. We mourned you as much as we mourned Achilles' son of Pelius himself, nor can the blame be laid on anything but on the spite which Jov bore against the Denaeans, for it was this that made him counsel your destruction. Come hither, therefore, bring your proud spirit into subjection and hear what I can tell you." He would not answer, but turned away to Erebus and to the other ghosts. Nevertheless I should have made him talk to me in spite of his being so angry, or I should have gone on talking to him, only that there were still others among the dead whom I desired to see. Then I saw Minos, son of Jov, with his golden scepter in his hand sitting in judgment on the dead, and the ghosts were gathered sitting and standing round him in the spacious house of Hades, to learn his sentences upon them. After him I saw a huge Orion in a meadow full of Asphodel driving the ghosts of the wild beasts that he had killed upon the mountains, and he had a great bronze club in his hand, unbreakable for ever and ever. And I saw Titius, son of Gaia, stretched upon the plain and covering some nine acres of ground. Two vultures on either side of him were digging their beaks into his liver, and he kept on trying to beat them off with his hands, but could not. For he had violated Jov's mistress Lido as she was going through Panopias on her way to Pytho. I saw also the dreadful fate of Tantalus, who stood in a lake that reached his chin. He was dying to quench his thirst, but could never reach the water. For whenever the poor creature stooped to drink, it dried up and vanished, so that there was nothing but dry ground, parched by the spite of heaven. There were tall trees, moreover, that shed their fruit over his head, pears, pomegranates, apples, sweet figs, and juicy olives, but whenever the poor creature stretched out his hand to take some, the wind tossed the branches back again to the clouds. And I saw Sisyphus, at his endless task raising his prodigious stone with both his hands. With hands and feet he tried to roll it up to the top of the hill. But always, just before he could roll it over onto the other side, its weight would be too much for him, and the pitiless stone would come thundering down again onto the plain. Then he would begin trying to push it up hill again, and the sweat ran off him, and the steam rose after him. After him I saw Mighty Hercules, but it was his phantom only, for he is feasting ever with the immortal gods, and has lovely heebie to wife, who is daughter of Job and Juno. The ghosts were screaming round him like scared birds flying all withers. He looked black as night with his bare bow in his hands and his arrow on the string, glaring around as though ever on the point of taking aim. About his breast there was a wondrous golden belt adorned in the most marvelous fashion with bears, wild boars and lions with gleaming eyes. There was also war, battle, and death. The man who made that belt, do what he might, would never be able to make another like it. Hercules knew me at once when he saw me, and spoke piteously, saying, My poor Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, are you two leading the same sorry kind of life that I did when I was above ground? I was son of Job, but I went through an infinity of suffering, for I became bondsman to one who was far beneath me, a low fellow who sent me all manner of labours. He once sent me here to fetch the hell hound, for he did not think he could find anything harder for me than this, but I got the hound out of Hades and brought him to him, for Mercury and Minerva helped me. On this Hercules went down again into the house of Hades, but I stayed where I was in case some other of the mighty dead should come to me. And I should have seen still other of them that are gone before, whom I would feign have seen, Theseus and Peritus, glorious children of the gods. But so many thousands of ghosts came round me and uttered such appalling cries, that I was panic-stricken, less prosperity should send up from the house of Hades the head of that awful monster Gorgon. On this I hastened back to my ship, and ordered my men to go on board at once and loose the hausers, so they embarked and took their places, whereon the ship went down the stream of the river Oceanus. We had to row at first, but presently, a fair wind sprang up. After we were clear of the river Oceanus, and had got out into the open sea, we went on till we reached the Aeion Island, where there was dawn and sunrise as in other places. We then drew our ship onto the sands and got out of her onto the shore, where we went to sleep and waited till day should break. Then, when the child of morning, rosy finger dawn appeared, I sent some men to Cersei's house to fetch the body of Elpener. We cut firewood from a wood where the headland jutted out into the sea, and after we had wept over him and lamented him, we performed his funeral rites. When his body and armor had been burned to ashes, we raised a cairn, set a stone over it, and at the top of the cairn we fixed the ore that he had been used to row with. While we were doing all this, Cersei, who knew that we had got back from the House of Hades, dressed herself and came to see us as fast as she could, and her maid-servants came with her bringing us bread, meat, and wine. Then she stood in the midst of us and said, You have done a bold thing in going down alive to the House of Hades, and you will have died twice, to other peoples once. Now then, stay here for the rest of the day, feast your fill, and go on with your voyage at daybreak to-morrow morning. In the meantime I will tell Ulysses about your course, and will explain everything to him, so as to prevent your suffering from misadventure either by land or sea. We agreed to do as she had said, and feasted through the live-long day to the going down of the sun, but when the sun had set and it came on dark, the men laid themselves down to sleep by the stern cables of the ship. Then Cersei took me by the hand and bade me be seated away from the others, while she reclined by my side and asked me all about our adventures. So far so good, said she, when I had ended my story. And now pay attention to what I am about to tell you. Heaven itself indeed will recall it to your recollection. First, you will come to the sirens who enchant all who come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the sirens, his wife and children will never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field and warble him to death with the sweetness of their song. There is a great heap of dead men's bones lying all around, with the flesh still rotting off them. Therefore pass these sirens by, and stop your men's ears with wax that none of them may hear. But if you like, you can listen yourself, for you may get the men to bind you as you stand upright on a cross-piece half way up the mast, and they must lash the rope's ends to the mast itself, that you may have the pleasure of listening. If you beg and pray the men to enluse you, then they must bind you faster. When your crew have taken you past these sirens, I cannot give you coherent directions as to which of two courses you are to take. I will lay the two alternatives before you, and you must consider them for yourself. On the one hand there are some overhanging rocks against which the deep blue waves of amphitrati beat with terrific fury. The blessed gods call these rocks the wanderers. Here, not even a bird may pass. No, not even the timid doves that bring ambrosia to Father Jove. But the sheer rock always carries off one of them, and Father Jove has to send another to make up their number. No ship that ever yet came to these rocks has got away again, but the waves and whirlwinds of fire are freighted with wreckage and with the bodies of dead men. The only vessel that ever sailed and got through was the famous Argo on her way from the house of Aetis, and she too would have gone against these great rocks only that Juno piloted her past them for the love she bore to Jason. Of these two rocks the one reaches heaven and its peak is lost in a dark cloud. This never leaves it, so that the top is never clear, not even in summer and early autumn. No man, though he had twenty hands and twenty feet, could get a foothold on it and climb it, for it runs sheer up, as smooth as though it had been polished. In the middle of it there is a large cavern, looking west and turned towards Erebus. You must take your ship this way, but the cave is so high up that not even the stoutest archer could send an arrow into it. Inside it Scylla sits and yelps with a voice that you might take to be that of a young hound, but in truth she is a dreadful monster and no one, not even a god, could face her without being terror struck. She has twelve misshapen feet and six necks of the most prodigious length, and at the end of each neck she has a frightful head with three rows of teeth in each, all set very close together, so that they would crunch anyone to death in a moment. And she sits deep within her shady cell, thrusting out her heads and peering all round the rock, fishing for dolphins or dogfish or any larger monster that she can catch, of the thousands with which Amphitrite teams. No ship ever yet got past her without losing some men, for she shoots out all her heads at once and carries off a man in each mouth. You will find the other rock lie lower, but they are so close together that there is not more than a bow shot between them. A large fig tree in full leaf grows upon it, and under it lies the sucking whirlpool of Caribdis. Three times in the day does she vomit forth her waters, and three times she sucks them down again. See that you be not there when she is sucking, for if you are, Neptune himself could not save you. You must hug the Silicide and drive ship by as fast as you can, for you had better lose six men than your whole crew. Is there no way, said I, of escaping Caribdis and at the same time keeping Silo off when she is trying to harm my men? You, dare devil, replied the Goddess, you are always wanting to fight somebody or something. You will not let yourself be beaten even by the immortals. For Silo is not mortal. Moreover, she is savage, extreme, rude, cruel, and invincible. There is no help for it. Your best chance will be to get by her as fast as ever you can. For if you dawdle about her rock while you are putting on your armor, she may catch you with the second cast of her six heads and snap up another half dozen of your men. So drive your ship past her at full speed, and roar out lustily to Creteus who is Sila's dam, bad luck to her. She will then stop her from making a second raid upon you. You will now come to the Thornation Island, and here you will see many herds of cattle and flocks of sheep belonging to the Sun God, seven herds of cattle and seven flocks of sheep, with fifty head in each flock. They do not breed, nor do they become fewer in number, and they are tended by the goddesses Fithusa and Lampedi, who are children of the Sun God Hyperion by Niera. Their mother, when she had borne them and had done suckling them, sent them to the Thornation Island, which was a long way off to live there and look after their father's flocks and herds. If you leave these flocks unharmed and think of nothing but getting home, you may yet after much hardship reach Ithaca. But if you harm them, then I forewarn you of the destruction both of your ship and of your comrades. And even though you may yourself escape, you will return late, in bad plight, after losing all your men. Here she ended, and dawn and thrown in gold began to show in heaven, whereon she returned inland. I then went on board and told my men to loose the ship from her moorings. So they had once got into her, took their places, and began to smite the grey sea with their oars. Presently the great and cunning goddess Cersei befriended us with a fair wind that blew dead aft, and stayed steadily with us, keeping our sails well filled, so we did whatever wanted doing to the ship's gear and let her go as wind and helmsman-headed her. Then, being much troubled in mind, I said to my men, My friends, it is not right that one or two of us alone should know the prophecies that Cersei has made me. I will therefore tell you about them, so that whether we live or die we may do so with our eyes open. First, she said we were to keep clear of the sirens, who sit and sing most beautifully in a field of flowers. But she said I might hear them myself, so long as no one else did. Therefore take me and bind me to the cross-piece half-way up the mast. Bind me as I stand upright, with a bond so fast that I cannot possibly break away, and lash the rope's ends to the mast itself. If I beg and pray you to set me free, then bind me more tightly still. I had hardly finished telling everything to the men before we reached the island of the two sirens, for the wind had been very favourable. Then all of a sudden it fell dead calm. There was not a breath of wind nor ripple upon the water, so the men furl the sails and stowed them. Then, taking to their oars, they whitened the water with the foam they raised in rowing. Meanwhile, I took a large wheel of wax and cut it up small with my sword. Then I kneaded the wax in my strong hands till it became soft, which it soon did between the kneading and the rays of the sun-god's sun of Hyperion. Then I stopped the ears of all my men, and they bound me hands and feet to the mast as I stood upright on the cross-piece. But they went on rowing themselves. When we had got within earshot of the land, and the ship was going at a good rate, the sirens saw that we were getting in shore and began with their singing. Come here, they sang, renowned Ulysses, honour to the Achaean name, and listen to our two voices. No one ever sailed past us without staying to hear the enchanting sweetness of our song, and he who listens will go on his way not only charmed but wiser, for we know all the ills that the gods laid upon the Argives and the Trojans before Troy, and can tell you everything that is going to happen over the whole world. They sang these words most musically, and as I long to hear them further I made signs by frowning to my men that they should set me free. But they quickened their stroke, and Urolikus and Paramedes bound me with still stronger bonds till we had got out of hearing of the sirens' voices. Then my men took the wax from their ears and unbound me. Immediately after we had got past the island I saw a great wave from which spray was rising, and I heard a loud rowing sound. The men were so frightened that they loosed hold of their oars, for the whole sea resounded with the rushing of the waters. But the ship stayed where it was, for the men had left off rowing. I went round, therefore, and exhorted them man by man not to lose heart. My friends, said I, this is not the first time that we have been in danger, and we are in nothing like so bad a case as when the Cyclops shut us up in his cave. Nevertheless, my courage and wise counsel saved us then, and we shall live to look back on all this as well. Now, therefore, let us all do as I say, trust in Jove and Rowan with might and main. As for you, Ocoxon, these are your orders. Attend to them, for the ship is in your hands. Turn her head away from these steaming rapids and hug the rock, or she will give you the slip and be over-yonder before you know where you are, and you will be the death of us. So they did as I told them, but I said nothing about the awful monster Silla, for I knew the men would not go on rowing if I did, but would huddle together in the hold. In one thing only did I disobey Cersei's strict instructions. I put on my armour. Then, seizing two strong spears, I took my stand on the ship's boughs, for it was there that I expected first to see the monster of the rock, who was to do my men so much harm. But I could not make her out anywhere, though I strained my eyes with looking the gloomy rock all over and over. Then we entered the straits in great fear of mind, for on the one hand was Silla, and on the other Dread Caribdis kept sucking up the salt water. As she vomited it up it was like the water in a cauldron when it is boiling over upon a great fire, and the spray reached the top of the rocks on either side. When she began to suck again we could see the water all inside whirling round and round, and it made a deafening sound as it broke against the rocks. We could see the bottom of the whirlpool all black with sand and mud, and the men were at their wits' ends for fear. While we were taken up with this, and were expecting each moment to be our last, Silla pounced down suddenly upon us and snatched up my six best men. I was looking at once after both ship and men, and in a moment I saw their hands and feet ever so high above me, struggling in the air as Silla was carrying them off, and I heard them all call out my name in one last despairing cry. As a fisherman, seated spear in hand, upon some jutting rock, throws bait into the water to deceive the poor little fishes, and spears them with the ox's horn with which his spear is shot, throwing them gasping onto the land as he catches them one by one. Even so did Silla land these panting creatures on her rock and munch them up at the mouth of her den, while they screamed and stretched out their hands to me in their mortal agony. This was the most sickening sight that I saw throughout all my voyages. When we had passed the wandering rocks, with Silla and terrible Charybdis, we reached the noble island of the Sun God, where were the goodly cattle and she belonging to the Sun Hyperion. While still at sea in my ship, I could hear the cattle lowing as they came home to the yards, and the sheep bleeding. Then I remembered what the blind Theban prophet Tiresius had told me, and how carefully E.E. and Cersei had warned me to shun the island of the blessed Sun God. So being much troubled, I said to the men, My men, I know you are hard-pressed, but listen while I tell you the prophecy that Tiresius made me, and how carefully E.E. and Cersei warned me to shun the island of the blessed Sun God. For it was here, she said, that our worst danger would lie. Head the ship therefore away from the island. The men were in despair at this, and Eurylicus had once gave me an insolent answer. Ulysses said he, You are cruel. You are very strong yourself, and never get worn out. You seem to be mane of iron, and now, though your men are exhausted with toil and want of sleep, you will not let them land and cook themselves a good supper upon this island, but bid them put out to sea and go faring fruitlessly on through the watches of the flying night. It is by night that the winds blow hardest and do so much damage. How can we escape, should one of those sudden squalls spring up from south-west or west, which so often wreak a vessel when our lords the gods are unpropitious? Now therefore, let us obey the behests of night and prepare a supper here hard by the ship. Tomorrow morning we will go on board again and put out to sea. Thus spoke Eurylicus, and the men approved his words. I saw that heaven met us mischief and said, You force me to yield, for you are many against one. But at any rate each one of you must take his solemn oath that if he meet with a herd of cattle or a large flock of sheep he will not be so mad as to kill a single head of either, but will be satisfied with the food that Cersei has given us. They all swore as I bade them, and when they had completed their oath we made the ship fast in a harbor that was near a stream of fresh water, and the men went ashore and cooked their suppers. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink they began talking about their poor comrades whom Silla had snatched up and eaten. This set them weeping, and they went on crying till they fell off into a sound sleep. In the third watch of the night when the stars had shifted their places, Jove raised a great gale of wind that flew a hurricane, so that land and sea were covered with thick clouds, and night sprang forth out of the heavens. When the child of morning, rosy-finger dawn appeared, we brought the ship to land and drew her into a cave wherein the sea-nymphs hold their quarts and dances, and I called the men together in council. My friends, said I, we have meat and drink in the ship, let us mine therefore, and not touch the cattle, or we shall suffer for it, for these cattle and sheep belong to the mighty sun, who sees and gives ear to everything. And again they promised that they would obey. For a whole month the wind blew steadily from the south, and there was no other wind but only south and east. As long as corn and wine held out, the men did not touch the cattle when they were hungry. When, however, they had eaten all there was in the ship, they were forced to go further afield with hook and line, catching birds and taking whatever they could lay their hands on, for they were starving. One day therefore I went up inland that I might pray heaven to show me some means of getting away. When I had gone far enough to be clear of all my men, and had found a place that was well sheltered from the wind, I washed my hands and prayed to all the gods in Olympus till by and by they sent me off into a sweet sleep. Meanwhile, Eurylicus had been giving evil counsel to the men. Listen to me, said he. My poor comrades. All deaths are bad enough, but there is none so bad as famine. Why should not we drive in the best of these cows and offer them in sacrifice to the immortal gods? If we ever get back to Ithaca we can build a fine temple to the sun god and enrich it with every kind of ornament. If, however, he is determined to sink our ship out of revenge for these home cattle and the other gods are of the same mind, I for one would rather drink salt water once for all and have done with it than be starved to death by inches in such a desert island as this is. Thus spoke Eurylicus and the men approved his words. Now the cattle, so fair and goodly, were feeding not far from the ship. The men, therefore, drove in the best of them, and they all stood round them saying their prayers and using young oak shoots instead of barley-meal, for there was no barley left. When they had done praying they killed the cows and dressed their carcasses. They cut out the thigh bones, wrapped them round in two layers of fat, and set some pieces of raw meat on top of them. They had no wine with which to make drink offerings over the sacrifice while it was cooking, so they kept pouring on a little water from time to time while the inward meats were being grilled. Then, when the thigh bones were burned and they had tasted the inward meats, they cut the rest up small and put the pieces upon the spits. By this time my deep sleep had left me, and I turned back to the ship and to the seashore. As I drew near I began to smell hot roast meat, so I groaned out a prayer to the immortal gods. Father Jove, I exclaimed, and all you other gods who live in everlasting bliss, you have done me a cruel mischief by the sleep into which you have sent me. See what fine work these men of mine have been making in my absence. Meanwhile Lampedi went straight off to the sun and told him we had been killing his cows, whereon he flew into a great rage and said to the immortals, Father Jove and all you other gods who live in everlasting bliss, I must have vengeance on the crew of Ulysseship. They have had the insolence to kill my cows, which were the one thing I loved to look upon, whether I was going up heaven or down again. If they do not square accounts with me about my cows, I will go down to Hades and shine there among the dead. Son, said Jove, go on shining upon us gods and upon mankind over the fruitful earth. I will shiver their ship into little pieces with a bolt of white lightning as soon as they get out to sea. I was told all this by Calypso, who said she had herded from the mouth of Mercury. As soon as I got down to my ship and to the seashore, I rebuked each one of the men separately, but we could see no way out of it, for the cows were dead already. And indeed the gods began at once to show signs and wonders among us, for the hides of the cattle crawled about, and the joints upon the spits began to low like cows, and the meat, whether cooked or raw, kept on making a noise just as cows do. For six days my men kept driving in the best cows and feasting upon them, but when Jove, the son of Saturn, had added a seventh day, the fury of the gaol abated. We therefore went on board, raised our masts, spread sail, and put out to sea. As soon as we were well away from the island and could see nothing but sky and sea, the son of Saturn raised a black cloud over our ship, and the sea grew dark beneath it. We did not get on much further, for in another moment we were caught by a terrific squall from the west that snapped the forest days of the mast so that it fell aft, while all the ship's gear tumbled about at the bottom of the vessel. The mast fell upon the head of the helmsman in the ship's stern, so that the bones of his head were crushed to pieces, and he fell overboard as though he were diving, with no more life left in him. Then Jove let fly with his thunderbolts, and the ship went round and round and was filled with fire and brimstone as the lightning struck it. The men all fell into the sea. They were carried about in the water round the ship, looking like so many seagulls, but the god presently deprived them of all chance of getting home again. I stuck to the ship till the sea knocked her sides from her keel, which drifted about by itself, and struck the mast out of her in the direction of the keel. But there was a backstay of stout oxthong still hanging about it, and with this I lashed the mast and keel together, and getting astride of them was carried wherever the winds chose to take me. The gale from the west had now spent its force, and the wind got into the south again, which frightened me lest I should be taken back to the terrible whirlpool of Corribus. This indeed was what actually happened, for I was borne along by the waves all night, and by sunrise had reached the rock of Silla and the whirlpool. She was then sucking down the salt seawater, but I was carried aloft toward the fig tree, which I caught hold of and clung on to like a bat. I could not plant my feet anywhere so as to stand securely, for the roots were a long way off, and the boughs that overshadowed the whole pool were too high, too vast, and too far apart for me to reach them. So I hung patiently on, waiting till the pool should discharge my mast and raft again, and a very long while it seemed. A juryman is not more glad to get home to supper after having been long detained in court by troublesome cases than I was to see my raft beginning to work its way out of the whirlpool again. At last I let go with my hands and feet, and fell heavily into the sea, hard by my raft on which I then got, and began to row with my hands. As for Silla, the father of gods and men would not let her get further side of me, otherwise I should have certainly been lost. Hence I was carried along for nine days till on the tenth night the gods stranded me on the Ojijian island, where dwells the great and powerful goddess Calypso. She took me in and was kind to me, but I need say no more about this, for I told you and your noble wife all about it yesterday, and I hate saying the same thing over and over again. End of Book 12 Book 13. Of the Odyssey by Homer. Translated by Samuel Butler. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Odyssey. Book 13. Ulysses leaves Scaria and returns to Ithaca. Thus did he speak, and they all held their peace throughout the covered cloister, enthralled by the charm of his story, till presently Alsoness began to speak. Ulysses said he, Now that you have reached my house, I doubt not you will get home without further misadventure, no matter how much you have suffered in the past. To you others, however, who come here night after night to drink my choicest wine and listen to my bard, I would insist as follows. Our guest has already packed up the clothes, wrought gold, and other valuables which you have brought for his acceptance. Let us now therefore present him further, each one of us, with a large tripod and a cauldron. We will recoup ourselves by the levy of a general rate, for private individuals cannot be expected to bear the burden of such a handsome present. Everyone approved of this, and then they went home to bed each in his own abode. When the child of mourning, Rosie finger Dawn, appeared, they hurried down to the ship and brought their cauldrons with them. Alsoness went on board and saw everything so securely stowed under the ship's benches that nothing could break adrift and injure the rowers. Then they went to the house of Alsoness to get dinner, and he sacrificed a bull for them in honor of Jove, who is the Lord of all. They set the stakes to grill and made an excellent dinner, after which the inspired bard, Demoticus, who was a favorite with everyone, sang to them. But Ulysses kept on turning his eyes towards the sun, as though to hasten its setting, for he was longing to be on his way. As one who has been all day plowing a fellow field with a couple of oxen keeps thinking about his supper and is glad when night comes that he may go and get it, for it is all his legs can do to carry him. Even so did Ulysses rejoice when the sun went down, and he at once went to the Fiatians, addressing himself more particularly to King Alsoness. Sir and all of you farewell. Make your drink offerings and send me on my way rejoicing, for you have fulfilled my heart's desire by giving me an escort and making me presents, which heaven grant that I may turn to good account. May I find my admirable wife living in peace among friends, and may you whom I leave behind me give satisfaction to your wives and children. May heaven vouchsafe you every good grace, and may no evil thing come among your people. Thus did he speak. His hearers all of them approved his saying and agreed that he should have his escort in as much as he had spoken reasonably. Alsoness, therefore, said to his servant, Pontoness, mix some wine and hand it round to everybody, that we may offer a prayer to Father Jov and speed our guest upon his way. Pontoness mixed the wine and handed it to every one in turn. The others each from his own seat made a drink offering to the blessed gods that live in heaven, but Ulysses rose and placed the double cup in the hands of Queen Aready. Farewell, Queen, said he, henceforward and for ever, till age and death, the common lot of mankind, lay their hands upon you. I now take my leave. Be happy in this house with your children, your people, and with King Alsoness. As he spoke he crossed the threshold, and Alsoness sent a man to conduct him to his ship and to the seashore. Aready also sent some maidservants with him, one with a clean shirt and cloak, another to carry his strongbox, and a third with corn and wine. When they got to the waterside the crew took these things and put them on board, with all the meat and drink. But for Ulysses they spread a rug and a linen sheet on deck that he might sleep soundly in the stern of the ship. Then he too went on board and lay down without a word, but the crew took every man his place and loose the hauser from the pierced stone to which it had been bound. Thereon, when they began rowing out to sea, Ulysses fell into a deep, sweet, and almost deathlike slumber. The ship bounded forward on her way as a foreign hand chariot flies over the course when the horses feel the whip. Her prow curved it as it were the neck of a stallion, and a great wave of dark blue water seathed in her wake. She held steadily on her course, and even a falcon, swiftest of all birds, could not have kept pace with her. Thus then she cut her way through the water, carrying one who was as cunning as the gods, but who was now sleeping peacefully, forgetful of all that he had suffered both on the field of battle and by the waves of the weary sea. When the bright star that heralds the approach of dawn began to show, the ship drew near to land. Now there is in Ithaca a haven of the old Merman forces, which lies between two points that break the line of the sea and shut the harbor in. These shelter it from the storms of wind and sea that rage outside, so that, when once within it, a ship may lie without being even moored. At the head of this harbor there is a large olive tree, and at no great distance a fine overarching cavern sacred to the nymphs who are called niads. There are mixing bowls within it and wine jars of stone, and the bees hive there. Moreover there are great looms of stone on which the nymphs weave their robes of sea-purple, very curious to see, and at all times there is water within it. It has two entrances, one facing north by which mortals can go down into the cave, while the other comes from the south and is more mysterious. Mortals cannot possibly get in by it, it is the way taken by the gods. Into this harbor then they took their ship, for they knew the place. She had so much way upon her that she ran half her own length on to the shore, when, however, they had landed. The first thing they did was to lift Ulysses with his rug and linen sheet out of the ship, and lay him down upon the sand, still fast asleep. Then they took out the presents which Minerva had persuaded the Pheatians to give him when he was setting out on his voyage homewards. They put these all together by the root of the olive tree, away from the road, for fearsome passer-by might come and steal them before Ulysses awoke. And then they made the best of their way home again. But Neptune did not forget the threats with which he had already threatened Ulysses, so he took counsel with Jove. Father Jove, said he, I shall no longer be held in any sort of respect among you gods, if mortals like the Pheatians, who are my own flesh and blood, show such small regard for me. I said I would let Ulysses get home when he had suffered sufficiently. I did not say that he should never get home at all, for I knew you had already knotted your head about it, and promised that he should do so. But now they have brought him in a ship fast asleep, and have landed him in Ithaca after loading him with more magnificent presents of bronze, gold, and raiment than he would ever have brought back from Troy, if he had had his share of the spoil and got home without misadventure. And Jove answered, What, O Lord of the earthquake, are you talking about? The gods are by no means wanting in respect of you. It would be monstrous where they to insult one so old and honored as you are. As regards mortals, however, if any of them is indulging in insolence and treating you disrespectfully, it will always rest with yourself to deal with him as you may think proper, so do just as you please. I should have done so at once, replied Neptune, if I were not anxious to avoid anything that might displease you. Now, therefore, I should like to wreck the Fiation ship as it is returning from its escort. This will stop them from escorting people in future, and I should also like to bury their city under a huge mountain. My good friend, answered Jove, I should recommend you at the very moment when the people from the city are watching the ship on her way, to turn it into a rock near the land and looking like a ship. This will astonish everybody, and you can then bury their city under the mountain. When Earth and circling Neptune heard this, he went to Scaria, where the Fiation's live, and stayed there till the ship, which was making rapid way, had got close in. Then he went up to it, turned it into stone, and drove it down with the flat of his hand so as to root it in the ground. After this, he went away. The Fiation's then began talking among themselves, and one would turn towards his neighbor, saying, Bless my heart! Who is it that can have rooted the ship in the sea just as she was getting into port? We could see the whole of her only a moment ago. This was how they talked, but they knew nothing about it. And Alsina said, I remember now the old prophecy of my father. He said that Neptune would be angry with us for taking everyone so safely over the sea, and would one day wreck a Fiation ship as it was returning from an escort, and bury our city under a high mountain. This was what my old father used to say, and now it is all coming true. Now therefore let us all do as I say. In the first place we must leave off giving people escorts when they come here, and in the next let us sacrifice twelve picked bulls to Neptune, that he may have mercy upon us, and not bury our city under the high mountain. When the people heard this they were afraid and got ready the bulls. Thus did the chiefs and rulers of the Fiatians pray to King Neptune, standing round his altar. And at the same time Ulysses woke up once more upon his own soil. He had been so long away that he did not know it again. Moreover Joves' daughter Minerva had made it a foggy day, so that people might not know of his coming home, and that she might tell him everything without either his wife or his fellow citizens and friends recognizing him, until he had taken his revenge upon the wicked suitors. Everything therefore seemed quite different to him. The long straight tracks, the harbors, the precipices, and the goodly trees appeared all changed as he started up and looked upon his native land. So he smote his thighs with the flat of his hands and cried aloud despairingly. Alas, he exclaimed, among what manner of people am I fallen? Are they savage and uncivilized, or hospitable and humane? Where shall I put all this treasure, and which way shall I go? I wish I had stayed over there with the Fiatians, or I could have gone to some other great chief who would have been good to me and given me an escort. As it is, I do not know where to put my treasure, and I cannot leave it here for fear somebody else should get hold of it. In good truth, the chiefs and rulers of the Fiatians have not been dealing fairly by me, and have left me in the wrong country. They said they would take me back to Ithaca, and they have not done so. May Jove the protector of suppliance chastise them, for he watches over everybody and punishes those who do wrong. Still, I suppose I must count my goods and see if the crew have gone off with any of them. He counted his goodly coppers and cauldrons, his gold and all his clothes, but there was nothing missing. Still, he kept grieving about not being in his own country, and wandered up and down by the shore of the sounding sea, bewilling his hard fate. Then Minerva came up to him disguised as a young shepherd of delicate and princely mean, with a good cloak folded doubly about her shoulders. She had sandals on her comely feet and held a javelin in her hand. Ulysses was glad when he saw her and went straight up to her. "'My friend,' said he, "'you are the first person whom I have met with in this country. I salute you, therefore, and beg you to be well disposed towards me. Protect these my goods and myself, too, for I embrace your knees and pray to you as though you were a god. Tell me, then, and tell me truly, what land and country is this? Who are its inhabitants? Am I on an island, or is this the sea-board of some continent?' Minerva answered, "'Stranger, you must be very simple, or must have come from somewhere a long way off, not to know what country this is. It is a very celebrated place, and everybody knows it east and west. It is rugged and not a good driving country, but it is by no means a bad island for what there is of it. It grows any quantity of corn and also wine, for it is watered both by rain and dew. It breeds cattle also and goats. All kinds of timber grow here, and there are watering places where the water never runs dry. So, sir, the name of Ithaca is known even as far as Troy, which I understand to be a long way off from this Achaean country.'" Ulysses was glad at finding himself, as Minerva told him, in his own country, and he began to answer, but he did not speak the truth, and made up a lying story in the instinctive wiliness of his heart. "'I heard of Ithaca,' said he, when I was in Crete beyond the seas, and now it seems I have reached it with all these treasures. I have left as much more behind me for my children, but am flying because I killed Orcilicus, son of Idominaeus, the fleetest runner in Crete. I killed him because he wanted to rob me of the spoils I had got from Troy with so much trouble and danger both on the field of battle and by the waves of the weary sea. He said I had not served his father loyally at Troy as vassal, but had set myself up as an independent ruler, so I lay in wait for him with one of my followers by the roadside, and speared him as he was coming into town from the country. It was a very dark night, and nobody saw us. It was not known, therefore, that I had killed him, but as soon as I had done so I went to a ship and besought the owners, who were Phoenicians, to take me on board and set me in Pytos or Anelis, where the Apeans rule, giving them as much spoil as satisfied them. They met no guile, but the wind drove them off their course and we sailed on till we came hither by night. It was all we could do to get inside the harbor, and none of us said a word about supper though we wanted it badly, but we all went on shore and lay down just as we were. I was very tired and fell asleep directly, so they took my goods out of the ship and placed them beside me where I was lying upon the sand. Then they sailed away to Sedonia, and I was left here in great distress of mind. Such was his story, but Minerva smiled and caressed him with her hand. Then she took the form of a woman, fair, stately and wise. He must be indeed a shifty lying fellow, said she, who could surpass you in all manner of craft, even though you had a God for your antagonist. Dare devil that you are, full of guile, unwearing in deceit! Can you not drop your tricks and your instinctive falsehood, even now that you're in your own country again? We will say no more, however, about this, for we can both of us deceive upon occasion. You are the most accomplished counselor and orator among all mankind, while I, for diplomacy and subtly, have no equal among the gods. Did you not know Jove's daughter, Minerva, me, who have been ever with you, who kept watch over you in all your troubles, and who made the Fiatians take so great a liking to you? And now again, I am come here to talk things over with you, and help you to hide the treasure I made the Fiatians give you. I want to tell you about the troubles that await you in your own house. You have got to face them, but tell no one, neither man nor woman, that you have come home again. Bear everything and put up with every man's insolence without a word. And Ulysses answered, A man, goddess, may know a great deal, but you are so constantly changing your appearance that when he meets you it is a hard matter for him to know whether it is you or not. This much, however, I know exceedingly well. You were very kind to me as long as we Achaeans were fighting before Troy. But from the day in which we went on board ship after having sacked the city of Priam and heaven dispersed us, from that day, Minerva, I saw no more of you, and cannot ever remember your coming to my ship to help me in a difficulty. I had to wander on sick and sorry till the gods delivered me from evil and I reached the city of the Fiatians, where you encouraged me and took me into the town. And now I beseech you in your father's name, tell me the truth, for I do not believe I am really back in Ithaca. I am in some other country and you are mocking me and deceiving me in all you have been saying. Tell me then truly, have I really got back to my own country? You are always taking something of that sword in your head, replied Minerva, and that is why I cannot desert you in your afflictions. You are so plausible, shrewd and shifty. Any one but yourself on returning from so long a voyage would at once have gone home to see his wife and children. But you do not seem to care about asking after them or hearing any news about them till you have exploited your wife, who remains at home vainly grieving for you and having no peace night or day for the tears she sheds on your behalf. As for mine not coming near you, I was never uneasy about you, for I was certain you would get back safely though you would lose all your men, and I did not wish to quarrel with my uncle Neptune who never forgave you for having blinded his son. I will now, however, point out to you the lie of the land, and you will then perhaps believe me. This is the haven of the old Merman forces, and here is the olive tree that grows at the head of it. Near it is the cave sacred to the Nyads, near too is the overarching cavern in which you have offered many inexceptible Hecateum to the Nymphs, and this is the wooded mountain Neretum. As she spoke the goddess dispersed the mist and the land appeared. Then Ulysses rejoiced at finding himself again in his own land and kissed the bounteous soil. He lifted up his hands and prayed to the Nymphs, saying, Nyad Nymphs, daughters of Jove, I made sure that I was never again to see you, now therefore I greet you with all loving salutations, and I will bring you offerings as in the old days, if Jove's redoubtable daughter will grant me life and bring my son to manhood. Take heart and do not trouble yourself about that, rejoined Minerva. Let us rather set about stowing your things at once in the cave where they will be quite safe. Let us see how we can best manage it all. Therewith she went down into the cave to look for the safest hiding-places, while Ulysses brought up all the treasure of gold, bronze, and good clothing which the Phaeacians had given him. They stowed everything carefully away, and Minerva set a stone against the door of the cave. Then the two sat down by the root of the great olive and consulted how to compass the destruction of the wicked suitors. Ulysses, said Minerva, noble son of Laertes, think how you can lay hands on these disreputable people who have been lording it in your house these three years, courting your wife and making wedding presents to her, while she does nothing but lament your absence, giving hope and sending encouraging messages to every one of them, but meeting the very opposite of all she says. And Ulysses answered, In good truth, goddess, it seems I should have come to much the same bad end in my own house as Agamemnon did, if you had not given me such timely information. Advise me how I shall best avenge myself. Stand by my side and put your courage into my heart, as on the day when we loosed Troy's fair diadem from her brow. Help me now as you did then, and I will fight three hundred men if you goddess will be with me. Trust me for that, said she. I will not lose sight of you when once we set about it, and I imagine that some of those who are devouring your substance will then bespatter the pavement with their blood and brains. I will begin by disguising you so that no human being shall know you. I will cover your body with wrinkles. You shall lose all your yellow hair. I will clothe you in a garment that shall fill all who see it with loathing. I will blear your fine eyes for you and make you an unseenly object in the sight of the suitors, of your wife and of the son whom you left behind you. Then go at once to the swine herd who is in charge of your pigs. He has been always well affected towards you, and is devoted to Penelope and your son. You will find him feeding his pigs near the rock that is called Raven by the fountain Eritusa, where they are fattening on beach-mast and spring-water after their manner. Stay with them and find out how things are going, while I proceed to Sparta and see your son, who is with Menelaus at Lassidemmon, where he is gone to try and find out whether you are still alive. But why, said Ulysses, did you not tell him, for you knew all about it? Did you want him to go sailing about amid all kinds of hardship while others are eating up his estate? Minerva answered, Never mind about him. I sent him that he might be well spoken of for having gone. He is in no sort of difficulty, but is staying quite comfortably with Menelaus, and is surrounded with abundance of every kind. The suitors have put out to sea and are lying in wait for him, for they mean to kill him before he can get home. I do not much think they will succeed, but rather that some of those who are now eating up your estate will first find a grave themselves. As she spoke, Minerva touched him with her wand and covered him with wrinkles, took away all his yellow hair, and withered the flesh over his whole body. She bleared his eyes, which were naturally very fine ones. She changed his clothes and threw an old rag of a wrap about him, and a tunic, tattered, filthy and begrimed with smoke. She also gave him an undressed deerskin as an outer garment, and furnished him with a staff and a wallet all in holes, with a twisted thong for him to sling it over his shoulder. When the pair had thus laid their plans they parted, and the goddess went straight to Lassidemmon to fetch Telemachus. End of Book Thirteen Book Fourteen of the Odyssey by Homer, translated by Samuel Butler. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Odyssey. Book Fourteen. Ulysses in the Hut with Eumaeus Ulysses now left the haven and took the rough track up through the wooded country and over the crest of the mountain, till he reached the place where Minerva had said that he would find the swine-herd, who was the most thrifty servant he had. He found him sitting in front of his hut, which was by the yards that he had built on a site which could be seen from far. He had made them spacious and fair to see, with a free run for the pigs all round them. He had built them during his master's absence of stones which he had gathered out of the ground without saying anything to Penelope or Laertes, and he had fenced them on top with thorn-bushes. Outside the yard he had run a strong fence of oaken posts, split and set pretty close together, while inside he had built twelve sties near one another for the sows to lie in. There were fifty pigs wallowing in each stie, all of them breeding sows, but the boars slept outside and were much fewer in number, for the suitors kept on eating them and the swine-herd had to send them the best he had continually. There were three hundred and sixty boar pigs, and the herdsmen's four hounds, which were as fierce as wolves, slept always with them. The swine-herd was at that moment cutting out a pair of sandals from a good stout oxide. Three of his men were out herding the pigs in one place or another, and he had sent the fourth to town with a boar that he had been forced to send the suitors that they might sacrifice it and have their fill of meat. When the hounds saw Ulysses they set up a furious barking and flew at him, but Ulysses was cunning enough to sit down and lose his hold of the stick that he had in his hand. Still he would have been torn by them in his own homestead, had not the swine-herd dropped his oxide, rushed full speed through the gate of the yard and driven the dogs off by shouting and throwing stones at them. Then he said to Ulysses, Old man, the dogs were likely to have made short work of you, and then you would have got me into trouble. The gods have given me quite enough worries without that, for I have lost the best of masters and am in continual grief on his account. I have to attend swine for other people to eat, while he, if he yet lives to see the light of day, is starving in some distant land. But come inside, and when you have had your fill of bread and wine, tell me where you come from and all about your misfortunes. On this the swine-herd led the way into the hut and bade him sit down. He strewed a good thick bed of rushes upon the floor, and on top of this he threw a shaggy chamois skin, a great thick one, on which he used to sleep by night. Ulysses was pleased at being made thus welcome, and said, May Jove, sir, and the rest of the gods grant you your heart's desire in return for the kind way in which you have received me. To this you answered, O swine-herd, you mayas. Stranger, though a still-poor man should come here, it would not be right for me to insult him, for all strangers and beggars are from Jove. You must take what you can get and be thankful, for servants live in fear when they have young lords for their masters. And this is my misfortune now, for heaven has hindered the return of him who would have been always good to me and given me something of my own, a house, a piece of land, a good-looking wife, and all else that a liberal master allows a servant who has worked hard for him, and whose labor the gods have prospered as they have mine in the situation which I hold. If my master had grown old here, he would have done great things by me, but he is gone, and I wish that Helen's whole race were utterly destroyed, for she has been the death of many a good man. It was this matter that took my master to Ilyas, the land of noble steeds, to fight the Trojans in the cause of King Agamemnon. As he spoke he bound his girl round him and went to the sties where the young sucking pigs were penned. He picked out two which he brought back with him and sacrificed. He singed them, cut them up, and spitted them. When the meat was cooked he brought it all in and set it before Ulysses, hot and still on the spit, whereon Ulysses sprinkled it over with white barley-meal. The swine heard then mixed wine in a bowl of ivy-wood, and taking a seat opposite Ulysses told him to begin. "'Fall too, stranger,' said he, on a dish of servants' pork. The fat pigs have to go to the suitors, who eat them up without shame or scruple. But the blessed gods love not such shameful doings, and respect those who do what is lawful and right. Even the fierce free-booters who go raiding on other people's land and jove gives them their spoil. Even they, when they have filled their ships and got home again, live conscience-stricken and look fearfully for judgment. But some gods seem to have told these people that Ulysses is dead and gone. They will not, therefore, go back to their own homes and make their offers of marriage in the usual way, but waste is a state by force, without fear or stint. Not a day or night comes out of heaven, but they sacrifice not one victim, nor two only, and they take the run of his wine, for he was exceedingly rich. No other great man, either in Ithaca or on the mainland, is as rich as he was. He had as much as twenty men put together. I will tell you what he had. There are twelve herds of cattle upon the mainland, and as many flocks of sheep, there are also twelve droves of pigs, while his own men and hired strangers feed him twelve widely-spreading herds of goats. Here in Ithaca he runs even large flocks of goats on the far end of the island, and they are in the charge of excellent goat herds. Each one of these sends the suitors the best goat in the flock every day. As for myself, I am in charge of the pigs that you see here, and I have to keep picking out the best I have and sending it to them. This was his story, but Ulysses went on eating and drinking ravenously without a word, brooding his revenge. When he had eaten enough and was satisfied, the swine-herd took the bowl from him which he usually drank, filled it with wine, and gave it to Ulysses, who was pleased and said as he took it in his hands, My friend, who is the master of yours that brought you and paid for you, so rich and so powerful as you tell me? You say he perished in the cause of King Agamemnon. Tell me who he was, in case I may have met with such a person. Jove and the other gods know, but I may be able to give you news of him, for I have traveled much. You may as answered. Old man, no traveller who comes here with news will get Ulysses' wife and son to believe his story. Nevertheless Trampton want of a lodging keep coming with their mouths full of lies, and not a word of truth. Everyone who finds his way to Ithaca goes to my mistress and tells her falsehoods, whereon she takes them in, makes much of them, and asks them all manner of questions, crying all the time as women will when they have lost their husbands. And you too, old man, for a shirt and a cloak would doubtless make up a very pretty story. But the wolves and birds of prey have long since torn Ulysses to pieces, or the fishes of the sea have eaten him, and his bones are lying buried deep in sand upon some foreign shore. He is dead and gone, and a bad business it is for all his friends, for me especially. Go where I may, I shall never find so good a master, not even if I were to go home to my mother and father where I was bred and born. I do not so much care, however, about my parents now, though I should dearly like to see them again in my own country. It is the loss of Ulysses that grieves me most. I cannot speak of him without reverence, though he is here no longer, for he was very fond of me, and took such care of me that wherever he may be I shall always honor his memory. My friend, replied Ulysses, you are very positive and very hard of belief about your master's coming home again. Nevertheless I will not merely say, but will swear that he is coming. Do not give me anything for my news till he has actually come. You may then give me a shirt and cloak of good wear, if you will. I am in great want, but I will not take anything at all till then, for I hate a man, even as I hate Hellfire, who lets his poverty tempt him into lying. I swear by King Jov, by the rites of hospitality and by that hearth of Ulysses to which I have now come, that all will surely happen as I have said it will. Ulysses will return in this self-same year. With the end of this moon and the beginning of the next he will be here to do vengeance on all those who are ill-treating his wife and son. To this, you answered, O swine-herd, you mayas. Old men, you will neither get paid for bringing good news nor will Ulysses ever come home. Drink your wine in peace, and let us talk about something else. Do not keep on reminding me of all this. It always pains me when any one speaks about my honoured master. As for your oath we will let it alone, but I only wish he may come, as Dupanelope, his old father Laertes, and his son Telemachus. I am terribly unhappy too about this same boy of his. He was running up fast into manhood and bade fair to be no worse man, face and figure than his father, but someone, either God or man, has been unsettling his mind, so he has gone off to Pylos to try and get news of his father. And the suitors are lying in wait of him, as he is coming home, in the hope of leaving the house of Arsaceus without a name in Ithaca. But let us say no more about him, and leave him to be taken, or else to escape if the son of Saturn holds his hand over him to protect him. And now, old man, tell me your own story. Tell me also, for I want to know, who you are and where you come from. Tell me of your town and parents, what manner of ship you came in, how crew brought you to Ithaca, and from what country they profess to come, for you cannot have come by land? And Ulysses answered, I will tell you all about it. If there were meat and wine enough, and we could stay here in the hut with nothing to do but to eat and drink while the others go to their work, I could easily talk on for a whole twelve months without ever finishing the story of the sorrows with which it has pleased heaven to visit me. I am by birth a Cretan. My father was a well to do man, who had many sons born in marriage, whereas I was the son of a slave whom he had purchased for a concubine. Nevertheless, my father cast her son of Hilax, whose lineage I claim and who was held in the highest honour among the Cretans for his wealth, prosperity and the valour of his sons, put me on the same level with my brothers who had been born in wedlock. When, however, death took him to the house of Hades, his sons divided his estate and cast lots for their shares, but to me they gave a holding and little else. Nevertheless, my valour enabled me to marry into a rich family, for I was not given to bragging or shirking on the field of battle. It is all over now. Still, if you look at the straw you can see what the ear is, for I have had trouble enough and despair. Mars and Minerva made me doubty in war. When I picked my men to surprise the enemy with an ambush gate, I never gave death so much as a thought, but was the first to leap forward and spear all whom I could overtake. Such was I in battle, but I did not care about farm work nor the frugal home life of those who would bring up children. My delight was in ships, fighting, javelins and arrows, things that most men shudder to think of. But one man likes one thing, and another another, and this was what I was most naturally inclined to. Before the Achaeans went to Troy, nine times was I in command of men and ships on foreign service, and I amassed much wealth. I had my pick of the spoil in the first instance, and much more was allotted to me later on. My house grew apace and I became a great man among the Cretans. But when Jove counseled that terrible expedition in which so many perished, the people required me and Idomanias to lead their ships to Troy. And there was no way out of it, for they insisted on our doing so. There we fought for nine whole years, but in the tenth we sacked the city of Priam and sailed home again as heaven dispersed us. Then it was that Jove devised evil against me. I spent but one month happily with my children, wife and property, and then I conceived the idea of making a descent on Egypt, so I fitted out a fine fleet and manned it. I had nine ships, and the people flocked to fill them. For six days I and my men made feast, and I found them many victims both for sacrifice to the gods and for themselves. But on the seventh day we went on board and set sail from Crete with a fair north wind behind us, though we were going down a river. Nothing went ill with any of our ships, and we had no sickness on board, but sat where we were and let the ships go as the wind and steersmen took them. On the fifth day we reached the river Egyptis. There I stationed my ships in the river, bidding my men stay by them and keep guard over them while I sent out scouts to reconnoiter from every point of vantage. But the men disobeyed my orders, took to their own devices, and ravaged the land of the Egyptians, killing the men and taking their wives and children captive. The alarm was soon carried to the city, and when they heard the war cry the people came out at daybreak till the plain was filled with horsemen and foot soldiers and with the gleam of armor. Then Jove spread panic among my men, and they would no longer face the enemy, for they found themselves surrounded. The Egyptians killed many of us, and took the rest alive to do forced labor for them. Jove, however, put it in my mind to do thus, and I wish I had died then and there in Egypt instead, for there was much sorrow in store for me. I took off my helmet and shield and dropped my spear from my hand. Then I went straight up to the king's chariot, clasped his knees and kissed them, whereon he spared my life, bade me get into his chariot, and took me weeping to his own home. Many mated me with their ash and spears and tried to kill me in their fury, but the king protected me, for he feared the wrath of Jove, the protector of strangers, who punishes those who do evil. I stayed there for seven years and got together much money among the Egyptians, for they all gave me something. But when it was now going on for eight years there came a certain Phoenician, a cunning rascal, who had already committed all sorts of villainy, and this man talked me over into going with him to Phoenicia, where his house and possessions lay. I stayed there for a whole twelve months, but at the end of that time, when months and days had gone by till the same season had come round again, he sent me on board a ship bound for Libya, on a pretense that I was to take a cargo along with him to that place. But really, that he might sell me as a slave and take the money I fetched. I suspected his intention, but went on board with him, for I could not help it. The ship ran before a fresh north wind till we had reached the sea that lies between Crete and Libya. There, however, Jove counseled their destruction, for as soon as we were well out from Crete and could see nothing but sea and sky, he raised a black cloud over our ship and the sea grew dark beneath it. Then Jove let fly with his thunderbolts and the ship went round and round and was filled with fire and brimstone as the lightning struck it. The men fell all into the sea. They were carried about in the water round the ship, looking like so many seagulls. But the God presently deprived them all chance of getting home again. I was all dismayed. Jove, however, sent the ship's mast within my reach, which saved my life, for I clung to it and drifted before the fury of the gale. Nine days did I drift, but in the darkness of the tenth night a great wave bore me on to the Thesprosian coast. There, Phaedon, king of the Thesprosians entertained me hospitably without charging me anything at all, for his son found me when I was nearly dead with cold and fatigue, whereon he raised me by the hand, took me to his father's house and gave me clothes to wear. There it was that I heard news of Ulysses, for the king told me he had entertained him and shown him much hospitality while he was on his homeward journey. He showed me also the treasure of gold and wrought iron that Ulysses had got together. There was enough to keep his family for ten generations, so much had he left in the house of King Phaedon. But the king said Ulysses had gone to Dodona that he might learn Jove's mind from the God's high oak tree, and know whether after so long an absence he should return to Ithaca openly or in secret. Moreover, the king swore in my presence, making drink offerings in his own house as he did so, that the ship was by the waterside and the crew found that should take him to his own country. He sent me off, however, before Ulysses returned, for there happened to be a Thesprosian ship sailing for the wheat-growing island of Dulicum, and he told those in charge of her to be sure and take me safely to King Acastus. These men hatched a plot against me that would have reduced me to the very extreme of misery, for when the ship had got some way out from the land they resolved on selling me as a slave. They stripped me of the shirt and cloak that I was wearing, and gave me instead the tattered old clouts in which you now see me. Then towards nightfall they reached the tilled lands of Ithaca, and there they bound me with a strong rope fast in the ship, while they went on shore to get supper by the seaside. But the God soon undid my bonds for me, and having drawn my rags over my head I slid down the rudder into the sea, where I struck out and swam till I was well clear of them, and came ashore near a thick wood in which I lay concealed. They were very angry at my having escaped and went searching about for me, till at last they thought it was no further use and went back to their ship. The Gods, having hid me thus easily, then took me to a good man's door, for it seems that I am not to die yet awhile. To this you answered, O swine-herd Umeus. Poor unhappy stranger, I have found the story of your misfortunes extremely interesting, but that part about Ulysses is not right. And you will never get me to believe it. Why should a man like you go about telling lies in this way? I know all about the return of my master. The Gods, one and all of them, detest him, or they would have taken him before Troy or let him die with friends around him when the days of his fighting were done. For then the Achaeans would have built a mound over his ashes, and his son would have been heir to his renown, but now the storm winds have spirited him away and we know not wither. As for me, I live out of the way here with the pigs, and never go to the town unless when Penelope sends for me on the arrival of some news about Ulysses. Then they all sit round and ask for the Achaeans, both those who grieve over the king's absence and those who rejoice at it because they can eat up his property without paying for it. For my own part, I have never cared about asking anyone else since the time when I was taken in by a Anatolian who had killed a man and come a long way till at last he reached my station and I was very kind to him. He said he had seen Ulysses with Idominaeus among the Cretans, refitting his ships which had been damaged in a gale. He said Ulysses would return in the following summer or autumn with his men, and that he would bring back much wealth. And now you, you unfortunate old man, since fate has brought you to my door, do not try to flatter me in this way with vain hopes. It is not for any such reason that I shall treat you kindly, but only out of respect for Jove the God of Hospitality as fearing him and pitying you. Ulysses answered, I see that you are of an unbelieving mind. I have given you my oath and yet you will not credit me. Let us then make a bargain and call all the gods in heaven to witness it. If your master comes home, give me the cloak and shirt of good wear and send me to Delicium where I want to go. But if he does not come as I say he will, set your men on to me and tell them to throw me from yonder precipice as a warning to Tramps not to go about the country telling lies. And a pretty figure I should cut then, replied Ulysses, both now and hereafter, if I were to kill you after receiving you into my hut and showing you Hospitality. I should have to say my prayers and good earnest if I did. But it is supper time and I hope my men will come in directly that we may cook something savory for supper. Thus did they converse, and presently the swine-hurst came up with the pigs which were then shut up for the night in their sties and a tremendous squealing they made as they were being driven into them. But you may call to his men and said, Bring in the best pig you have that I may sacrifice him for this stranger and we will take toll of him ourselves. We have had trouble enough this long time feeding pigs while others reap the fruit of our labor. Of this he began chopping firewood, while the others brought in a fine fat five-year-old boar pig and set it at the altar. You may as did not forget the gods, for he was a man of good principles, so the first thing he did was to cut bristles from the pig's face and throw them into the fire, praying to all the gods as he did so that Ulysses might return home again. Then he clubbed the pig with a billet of oak which he had kept back when he was chopping the firewood and stunned it, while the others slaughtered and singed it. Then they cut it up and you may as began by putting raw pieces from each joint onto some of the fat. These he sprinkled with barley meal and laid upon the embers. They cut the rest of the meat up small, put the pieces upon the spits and roasted them till they were done. When they had taken them off the spits they threw them on to the dresser in a heap. The swine-herd, who was a most equitable man, then stood up to give every one his share. He made seven portions. One of these he set apart for Mercury, the son of Maya and the Nymphs, praying to them as he did so. The others he delved out to the men man by man. He gave Ulysses some slices cut lengthways down the loin as a mark of a special honour, and Ulysses was much pleased. I hope you may as, said he, that Jove will be as well disposed towards you as I am, for the respect you are showing to an outcast like myself. To this you answered, O swine-herd Umeas, eat my good fellow and enjoy your supper, such as it is. God grants this and withholds that, just as he thinks right, for he can do whatever he chooses. As he spoke, he cut off the first piece and offered it as a burnt sacrifice to the immortal gods. Then he made them a drink offering, put the cup in the hands of Ulysses, and sat down to his own portion. Miss Ulysses brought them their bread. The swine-herd had brought this man on his own account from among the Tafians during his master's absence, and had paid for him with his own money without saying anything either to his mistress or laertes. Then they laid their hands upon the good things that were before them. And when they had had enough to eat and drink, Mesaulius took away what was left of the bread, and they all went to bed after having made a hearty supper. Now the night came on stormy and very dark, for there was no moon. It poured without ceasing, and the wind blew strong from the west, which is a wet quarter, so Ulysses thought he would see whether Umeas, in the excellent care he took of him, would take off his own cloak and give it him, or make one of his men give him one. "'Listen to me,' said he, "'Umeas and the rest of you, when I have said a prayer I will tell you something. It is the wine that makes me talk in this way. Wine will make even a wise man fall to singing. It will make him chuckle and dance and say many a word that he had better leave unspoken. Still, as I have begun, I will go on. Would that I were still young and strong as when we got up and ambusque before Troy. Menaulius and Ulysses were the leaders, but I was in command also, for the other two would have it so. When we had come up to the wall of the city, we crouched down beneath our armor and lay there under cover of the reeds and thick brushwood that grew about the swamp. It came on to freeze with a north wind blowing. The snow fell small and fine, like whorefrost, and our shields were coated thick with rhyme. The others had all got cloaks and shirts, and slept comfortably enough with their shields about their shoulders. But I had carelessly left my cloak behind me, not thinking that I should be too cold, and had gone off in nothing but my shirt and shield. When the night was two-thirds through and the stars had shifted their places, I nudged Ulysses who was close to me with my oboe, and he had once gave me his ear. Ulysses said I, this cold will be the death of me, for I have no cloak. Some God fooled me into setting off with nothing on but my shirt, and I do not know what to do. Ulysses, who was as crafty as he was valiant, hid upon the following plan. Keep still, said he in a low voice, or the others will hear you. Then he raised his head on his elbow. My friends, said he, I have had a dream from heaven in my sleep. We are a long way from the ships. I wish someone would go down and tell Agamemnon to send us up more men at once. On this, Thoas, son of Adreaman, threw off his cloak and set out running to the ships, whereon I took the cloak and lay in it comfortably enough till morning. Would that I were still young and strong as I was in those days, for then some one of you swine-herds would give me a cloak both out of good will and for the respect due to a brave soldier. But now people look down upon me because my clothes are shabby. And Umeis answered, Old man, you have told us an excellent story, and have said nothing so far but what is quite satisfactory. For the present, therefore, you shall want neither clothing nor anything else that a stranger in distress may reasonably expect. But tomorrow morning you have to shake your own old rags about your body again, for we have not many spare cloaks nor shirts up here, but every man has only one. When Ulysses' son comes home again, he will give you both cloak and shirt and send you wherever you may want to go. With this he got up and made a bed for Ulysses by throwing some goatskins and sheepskins on the ground in front of the fire. Here Ulysses lay down and Umeis covered him over with a great heavy cloak that he kept for a change in case of extraordinarily bad weather. Thus did Ulysses sleep, and the young men slept beside him. But the swine-herd did not like sleeping away from his pigs, so he got ready to go outside, and Ulysses was glad to see that he looked after his property during his master's absence. First he slung his sword over his brawny shoulders, and put on a thick cloak to keep out the wind. He also took the skin of a large and well-fed goat, and a javelin in case of attack from men or dogs. Thus equipped he went to his rest where the pigs were camping under an overhanging rock that gave them shelter from the north wind.