THE ADVENTURE S 
 OF ODYSSEUS AND 
 THE TALE OF TROY 
 BY PADRA1C COLUM 
 
 THE MACM1LLAN COMPANY NEWYORK 
 
BATH 
 
 U N D 
 
 
 
 p^ 
 
 I \ 
 
 th* 
 
c 
 
 IN 
 
 s s 
 
 
 
 eaten?— 
 
 
UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00022094895 
 
 THE ADVENTURE S 
 OF ODYSSEUS AND 
 THE TALE OF TROY 
 
* $ ^"* o 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 NBW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
 ATLANTA - SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 
 
 LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
 MELBOURNE 
 
 THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 
 
 TORONTO 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/adventuresofodyscolu 
 

 THE ADVENTURES 
 OF ODYSSEUS AND 
 THE TALE Of TROY 
 
 BYPADRA1C COLUM 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 M1IYPOGANY 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEWYORK 
 
 
COPYRIGHT, I918, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 
 SET UP AND ELECTROTYPED. PUBLISHED NOVEMBER, I918. 
 
 REPRINTED JUNE, OCTOBER, I919 ; OCTOBER, I92O; AUGUST, 
 1922; MARCH, 1923; MAY, I924 ; JUNE, 1925. 
 
 NotfaOoB $«0S : J. S. Cushing Co. - Berwick & Smith Co. 
 Norwood, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 
 
FOR HUGHIE AND PETER 
 
 THIS TELLING OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST STORY 
 
 BECAUSE THEIR IMAGINATIONS 
 
 RISE TO DEEDS AND WONDERS 
 
PART I 
 
 How Telemachus the Son of Odysseus Was Moved to Go on 
 a Voyage in Search of His Father and How He Heard 
 feom menelaus and helen the tale of troy ... i 
 
 PART II 
 
 How Odysseus Left Calypso's Island and Came to the Land 
 of the Phaeacxans; How He Told He Fared with the 
 Cyclopes and Went Past the Terrible Scylla and Cha- 
 
 RYBDIS AND CAME TO THE ISLAND OF ThRINACIA WHERE HlS 
 
 Men Slaughtered the Cattle of the Sun ; How He Was 
 Given a Ship by the Phaeactans and Came to His Own 
 Land ; How He Overthrew the Wooers Who Wasted His 
 Substance and Came to Reign Again as King of Ithaka . 125 
 vii 
 
I i L U ST RAT I ONS 
 
 COLOUR PLATES 
 The Judgement of Paris Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 The Fair Helen 30 
 
 Achilles Victorious 106 
 
 The Princess Threw the Ball 138 
 
 The Sorrowing Odysseus 148 
 
 Circe j~ 
 
 The Sirens T y5 
 
 Penelope Unravelling the Web 221 
 
PARTI 
 
 H O W TEl^EMACHVl S 
 THE SOX OF ODYS 
 SEUS WAS MOVED 
 TOGO ON A ^ O 
 
 YA.CE IN SEARCH 
 OF HIS FATHER AND 
 HOW HE HEA.RD 
 
 FRONl IVlENELrAUS 
 
 AND HELEN THE 
 
 TAIjE OF TROT 
 
HIS is the story of Odysseus, the most 
 renowned of all the heroes the Greek 
 poets have told us of — of Odysseus, his 
 wars and his wanderings. And this story 
 of Odysseus begins with his son, the 
 youth who was called Telemachus. 
 It was when Telemachus was a child 
 of a month old that a messenger came from Agamemnon, the 
 Great King, bidding Odysseus betake himself to the war against 
 Troy that the Kings and Princes of Greece were about to wage. 
 The wise Odysseus, foreseeing the disasters that would befall 
 all that entered that war, was loth to go. And so when Aga- 
 memnon's messenger came to the island of Ithaka where he 
 was King, Odysseus pretended to be mad. And that the mes- 
 senger, Palamedes, might believe he was mad indeed, he did a 
 thing that no man ever saw being done before — he took an 
 ass and an ox and yoked them together to the same plough 
 and began to plough a field. And when he had ploughed a 
 
4 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 furrow he sowed it, not with seeds that would grow, but with 
 salt. When Palamedes saw him doing this he was nearly per- 
 suaded that Odysseus was mad. But to test him he took the 
 child Telemachus and laid him down in the field in the way of 
 the plough. Odysseus, when he came near to where the child 
 lay, turned the plough aside and thereby showed that he was 
 not a mad man. Then had he to take King Agamemnon's sum- 
 mons. And Agamemnon's word was that Odysseus should go 
 to Aulis where the ships of the Kings and Princes of Greece 
 were being gathered. But first he was to go into another 
 country to seek the hero Achilles and persuade him also to enter 
 the war against Troy. 
 
 And so Odysseus bade good-bye to his infant son, Telemachus, 
 and to his young wife, Penelope, and to his father, old Laertes. 
 And he bade good-bye to his house and his lands and to the island 
 of Ithaka where he was King. He summoned a council of the 
 chief men of Ithaka and commended to their care his wife and 
 his child and all his household, and thereafter he took his sailors 
 and his fighting men with him and he sailed away. The years 
 went by and Odysseus did not return. After ten years the City 
 was taken by the Kings and Princes of Greece and the thread 
 of war was wound up. But still Odysseus did not return. And 
 now minstrels came to Ithaka with word of the deaths or the 
 homecomings of the heroes who had fought in the war against 
 Troy. But no minstrel brought any word of Odysseus, of his 
 death or of his appearance in any land known to men. Ten 
 
THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 years more went by. And now that infant son whom he had 
 left behind, Telemachus, had grown up and was a young man of 
 strength and purpose. 
 
 II 
 
 NE day, as he sat sad and disconsolate in 
 the house of his father, the youth Telema- 
 chus saw a stranger come to the outer 
 gate. There were many in the court out- 
 side, but no one went to receive the new- 
 comer. Then, because he would never 
 let a stranger stand at the gate without 
 hurrying out to welcome him, and because, too, he had hopes 
 that some day such a one would bring him tidings of his father, 
 Telemachus rose up from where he was sitting and went down 
 the hall and through the court and to the gate at which the 
 stranger stood. 
 
 'Welcome to the house of Odysseus,' said Telemachus giving 
 him his hand. The stranger clasped it with a friendly clasp. 
 'I thank you, Telemachus,' he said, 'for your welcome, and 
 glad I am to enter the house of your father, the renowned 
 Odysseus.' 
 
 The stranger looked like one who would be a captain amongst 
 soldiers. His eyes were grey and clear and shone wonderfully. 
 In his hand he carried a great bronze spear. He and Telemachus 
 went together through the court and into the hall. And when 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 7 
 
 the stranger left his spear within the spearstand Telemachus 
 took him to a high chair and put a footstool under his feet. 
 
 He had brought him to a place in the hall where the crowd 
 would not come. There were many in the court outside and 
 Telemachus would not have his guest disturbed by questions or 
 clamours. A handmaid brought water for the washing of his 
 hands, and poured it over them from a golden ewer into a silver 
 basin. A polished table was left at his side. Then the house- 
 dame brought wheaten bread and many dainties. Other ser- 
 vants set down dishes of meat with golden cups, and afterwards 
 the maids came into the hall and filled up the cups with wine. 
 
 But the servants who waited on Telemachus and his guest 
 were disturbed by the crowd of men who now came into the 
 hall. They seated themselves at tables and shouted out their 
 orders. Great dishes of meat were brought to them and bowls 
 of wine, and the men ate and drank and talked loudly to each 
 other and did not refrain even from staring at the stranger who 
 sat with Telemachus. 
 
 'Is there a wedding-feast in the house?' the stranger asked, 
 'or do the men of your clan meet here to drink with each other ? ' 
 
 A flush of shame came to the face of Telemachus. 'There is 
 no wedding-feast here,' he said, 'nor do the men of our clan 
 meet here to drink with each other. Listen to me, my guest. 
 Because you look so wise and because you seem so friendly to 
 my father's name I will tell you who these men are and why 
 they trouble this house.' 
 
8 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 HEREUPON Telemachus told the stranger 
 how his father had not returned from the 
 war of Troy although it was now ten years 
 since the City was taken by those with 
 whom he went. 'Alas,' Telemachus said, 
 ' he must have died on his way back to us, 
 and I must think that his bones lie under 
 some nameless strait or channel of the ocean. Would he had 
 died in the fight at Troy ! Then the Kings and Princes would 
 have made him a burial-mound worthy of his name and his 
 deeds. His memory would have been reverenced amongst men, 
 and I, his son, would have a name, and would not be imposed 
 upon by such men as you see here — men who are feasting 
 and giving orders in my father's house and wasting the substance 
 that he gathered.' 
 
 ' How come they to be here ? ' asked the stranger. 
 Telemachus told him about this also. When seven years had 
 gone by from the fall of Troy and still Odysseus did not return 
 there were those who thought he was dead and would never be 
 seen more in the land of Ithaka. Then many of the young lords 
 of the land wanted Penelope, Telemachus' mother, to marry one 
 of them. They came to the house to woo her for marriage. But 
 she, mourning for the absence of Odysseus and ever hoping that 
 he would return, would give no answer to them. For three 
 years now they were coming to the house of Odysseus to woo 
 the wife whom he had left behind him. 'They want to put 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 9 
 
 my lady-mother between two dread difficulties,' said Tele- 
 machus, 'either to promise to wed one of them or to see the 
 substance of our house wasted by them. Here they come and 
 eat the bread of our fields, and slay the beasts of our flocks and 
 herds, and drink the wine that in the old days my father laid up, 
 and weary our servants with their orders.' 
 
 When he had told him all this Telemachus raised his head 
 and looked at the stranger: '0 my guest,' he said, 'wisdom 
 and power shine out of your eyes. Speak now to me and tell 
 me what I should do to save the house of Odysseus from ruin. 
 And tell me too if you think it possible that my father should 
 still be in life.' 
 
 The stranger looked at him with his grey, clear, wonderfully- 
 shining eyes. 'Art thou verily the son of Odysseus?' said 
 he. 
 
 'Verily, I am the son of Odysseus,' said Telemachus. 
 
 'As I look at you,' said the stranger, 'I mark your head and 
 eyes, and I know they are such a head and such eyes as Odysseus 
 had. Well, being the son of such a man, and of such a woman 
 as the lady Penelope, your spirit surely shall find a way of 
 destroying those wooers who would destroy your house.' 
 
 'Already,' said Telemachus, 'your gaze and your speech 
 make me feel equal to the task of dealing with them.' 
 
 'I think,' said the stranger, 'that Odysseus, your father, 
 has not perished from the earth. He may yet win home 
 through labors and perils. But you should seek for tidings 
 
io THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 of him. Harken to me now and I shall tell you what to 
 do. 
 
 ' To-morrow summon a council of all the chief men of the land 
 of Ithaka, and stand up in that council and declare that the time 
 has come for the wooers who waste your substance to scatter, 
 each man to his own home. And after the council has been 
 held I would have you voyage to find out tidings of your father, 
 whether he still lives and where he might be. Go to Pylos first, 
 to the home of Nestor, that old King who was with your father 
 in the war of Troy. Beg Nestor to give you whatever tidings 
 he has of Odysseus. And from Pylos go to Sparta, to the home 
 of Menelaus and Helen, and beg tidings of your father from them 
 too. And if you get news of his being alive, return : It will be 
 easy for you then to endure for another year the wasting of your 
 substance by those wooers. But if you learn that your father, 
 the renowned Odysseus, is indeed dead and gone, then come 
 back, and in your own country raise a great funeral mound to 
 his memory, and over it pay all funeral rites. Then let your 
 mother choose a good man to be her husband and let her marry 
 him, knowing for a certainty that Odysseus will never come back 
 to his own house. After that something will remain for you to 
 do: You will have to punish those wooers who destroy the 
 goods your father gathered and who insult his house by their 
 presence. And when all these things have been done, you, 
 Telemachus, will be free to seek out your own fortune: you will 
 rise to fame, for I mark that you are handsome and strong and 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY n 
 
 most likely to be a wise and valiant man. But now I must fare 
 on my journey.' 
 
 The stranger rose up from where he sat and went with Tele- 
 machus from the hall and through the court and to the outer 
 gate. Telemachus said: 'What you have told me I shall not 
 forget. I know you have spoken out of a wise and a friendly 
 heart, and as a father to his son.' 
 
 The stranger clasped his hands and went through the gate. 
 And then, as he looked after him Telemachus saw the stranger 
 change in his form. He became first as a woman, tall, with fair 
 hair and a spear of bronze in her hand. And then the form of a 
 woman changed too. It changed into a great sea-eagle that on 
 wide wings rose up and flew high through the air. Telemachus 
 knew then that his visitor was an immortal and no other than the 
 goddess Athene who had been his father's friend. 
 
 Ill 
 
 HEN Telemachus went back to the hall 
 those who were feasting there had put the 
 wine-cups from them and were calling out 
 for Phemius, the minstrel, to come and 
 sing some tale to delight them. And as 
 he went amongst them one of the wooers 
 said to another, ' The guest who was with 
 him has told Telemachus something that has changed his bear- 
 
12 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 ing. Never before did I see him hold himself so proudly. 
 Mayhap he has spoken to him of the return of his father, the 
 renowned Odysseus.' 
 
 Phemius came and the wooers called upon him to sing 
 them a tale. And the minstrel, in flowing verse, began the 
 tale of the return of the Kings and Princes from Troy, and of 
 how some god or goddess put a trouble upon them as they left 
 the City they had taken. And as the minstrel began the tale, 
 Penelope, Telemachus' lady-mother, was coming down the 
 stairs with two hand-maids beside her. She heard the 
 words he sang, and she stood still in her grief and drew 
 her veil across her face. 'O Phemius,' she cried, 'cease from 
 that story that ever wastes my heart — the story that has 
 brought me sorrow and that leaves me comfortless all my 
 days ! O Phemius, do you not know other tales of men 
 and gods that you might sing in this hall for the delight of 
 my noble wooers?' 
 
 The minstrel would have ceased when Penelope spoke thus to 
 him, but Telemachus went to the stairway where his lady-mother 
 stood, and addressed her. 
 
 'My lady-mother,' said he, 'why should you not let the 
 minstrel delight the company with such songs as the spirit 
 moves him to give us ? It is no blame to him if he sings of that 
 which is sorrowful to us. As for you, my mother, you must 
 learn to endure that story, for long will it be sung and far and 
 wide. And you are not the only one who is bereaved — many 
 
i 4 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 another man besides Odysseus lost the happy day of his home- 
 coming in the war of Troy.' 
 
 Penelope, his lady-mother, looked in surprise at the youth who 
 spoke to her so wisely. Was this indeed Telemachus who before 
 had hardly lifted his head ? And as she looked at him again she 
 saw that he carried his head — that head of his that was so like 
 Odysseus' — high and proudly. She saw that her son was now 
 indeed a man. Penelope spoke no word to him, for a new thought 
 had come into her mind. She turned round on the stairs and 
 went back with her hand-maids to the chamber where her loom 
 and her distaff were. And as she went up the stairway and 
 away from them her wooers muttered one to the other that she 
 would soon have to choose one of them for her husband. 
 
 Telemachus turned to those who were standing at the tables 
 and addressed them. 'Wooers of my mother,' he said, 'I have 
 a word to say to you.' 
 
 'By the gods, youth,' said one of the wooers, 'you must tell 
 us first who he is who has made you so high and proud of speech.' 
 
 'Surely,' said another, 'he who has done that is the stranger 
 who was with him. Who is he? Why did he come here, and 
 of what land has he declared himself to be ? ' 
 
 ' Why did he not stay so that we might look at him and speak 
 to him ? ' said another of the wooers. 
 
 'These are the words I would say to you. Let us feast now 
 in peace, without any brawling amongst us, and listen to the tale 
 that the minstrel sings to us,' said Telemachus. ' But to-morrow 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 15 
 
 let us have a council made up of the chief men of this land of 
 Ithaka. I shall go to the council and speak there. I shall ask 
 that you leave this house of mine and feast on goods that you 
 yourselves have gathered. Let the chief men judge whether I 
 speak in fairness to you or not. If you do not heed what I will 
 say openly at the council, before all the chief men of our land, 
 then let it be on your own heads what will befall you.' 
 
 All the wooers marvelled that Telemachus spoke so boldly. 
 And one said, 'Because his father, Odysseus, was king, this youth 
 thinks he should be king by inheritance. But may Zeus, the god, 
 never grant that he be king.' 
 
 Then said Telemachus, ' If the god Zeus should grant that I be 
 King, I am ready to take up the Kingship of the land of Ithaka 
 with all its toils and all its dangers.' And when Telemachus said 
 that he looked like a young king indeed. 
 
 But they sat in peace and listened to what the minstrel sang. 
 And when evening came the wooers left the hall and went each 
 to his own house. Telemachus rose and went to his chamber. 
 Before him there went an ancient woman who had nursed him 
 as a child — Eurycleia was her name. She carried burning 
 torches to light his way. And when they were in his chamber 
 Telemachus took off his soft doublet and put it in Eurycleia's 
 hands, and she smoothed it out and hung it on the pin at his bed- 
 side. Then she went out and she closed the door behind with 
 its handle of silver and she pulled the thong that bolted the door 
 on the other side. And all night long Telemachus lay wrapped 
 
i6 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 in his fleece of wool and thought on what he would say at the 
 council next day, and on the goddess Athene and what she had 
 put into his heart to do, and on the journey that was before him 
 to Nestor in Pylos and to Menelaus and Helen in Sparta. 
 
 IV 
 
 soon as it was dawn Telemachus rose 
 from his bed. He put on his raiment, 
 bound his sandals on his feet, hung his 
 sharp sword across his shoulder, and took 
 in his hand a spear of bronze. Then he 
 went forth to where the Council was 
 being held in the open air, and two swift 
 hounds went beside him. 
 
 The chief men of the land of Ithaka had been gathered al- 
 ready for the council. When it was plain that all were there, the 
 man who was oldest amongst them, the lord ^Egyptus, rose up 
 and spoke. He had sons, and two of them were with him yet, 
 tending his fields. But one, Eurynomous by name, kept com- 
 pany with the wooers of Telemachus' mother. And ^Egyptus 
 had had another son ; he had gone in Odysseus' ship to the war 
 of Troy, and /Egyptus knew he had perished on his way back. 
 He constantly mourned for this son, and thinking upon him as he 
 spoke, iEgyptus had tears in his eyes. 
 
 'Never since Odysseus summoned us together before he took 
 
18 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 ship for the war of Troy have we met in council,' said he. 
 'Why have we been brought together now? Has someone 
 heard tidings of the return of Odysseus? If it be so, may the 
 god Zeus give luck to him who tells us of such good fortune.' 
 
 Telemachus was glad because of the kindly speech of the old 
 man. He rose up to speak and the herald put a staff into his 
 hands as a sign that he was to be listened to with reverence. 
 Telemachus then spoke, addressing the old lord ^Egyptus. 
 
 'I will tell you who it is,' he said, 'who has called the men of 
 Ithaka together in council, and for what purpose. Revered lord 
 iEgyptus, I have called you together, but not because I have had 
 tidings of the return of my father, the renowned Odysseus, nor 
 because I would speak to you about some affair of our country. 
 No. I would speak to you all because I suffer and because I am 
 at a loss — • I, whose father was King over you, praised by you 
 all. Odysseus is long away from Ithaka, and I deem that he will 
 never return. You have lost your King. But you can put 
 another King to rule over you. I have lost my father, and I 
 can have no other father in all my days. And that is not all my 
 loss, as I will show you now, men of Ithaka. 
 
 ' For three years now my mother has been beset by men who 
 come to woo her to be wife for one of them. Day after day 
 they come to our house and kill and devour our beasts and 
 waste the wine that was laid up against my father's return. 
 They waste our goods and our wealth. If I were nearer man- 
 hood I would defend my house against them. But as yet I 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 19 
 
 am not able to do it, and so I have to stand by and see our 
 house and substance being destroyed.' 
 
 So Telemachus spoke, and when his speech was ended Antinous, 
 who was one of the wooers, rose up. 
 
 'Telemachus,' said he, 'why do you try to put us to shame 
 in this way ? I tell all here that it is not we but your mother who 
 is to blame. We, knowing her husband Odysseus is no longer in 
 life, have asked her to become the wife of one of us. She gives 
 us no honest answer. Instead she has given her mind to a 
 device to keep us still waiting. 
 
 'I will tell you of the council what this device is. The lady 
 Penelope set up a great loom in her house and began to weave 
 a wide web of cloth. To each of us she sent a message saying that 
 when the web she was working at was woven, she would choose 
 a husband from amongst us. "Laertes, the father of Odysseus, 
 is alone with none to care for him living or dead," said she to us. 
 "I must weave a shroud for him against the time which cannot 
 now be far off when old Laertes dies. Trouble me not while I do 
 this. For if he should die and there be no winding-sheet to wrap 
 him round all the women of the land would blame me greatly." 
 
 'We were not oppressive and we left the lady Penelope to 
 weave the web, and the months have gone by and still the web 
 is not woven. But even now we have heard from one of her 
 maids how Penelope tries to finish her task. What she weaves 
 in the daytime she unravels at night. Never, then, can the web 
 be finished and so does she try to cheat us. 
 
20 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 'She has gained praise from the people for doing this. "How 
 wise is Penelope," they say, "with her devices." Let her be 
 satisfied with their praise then, and leave us alone. We too 
 have our devices. We will live at her house and eat and drink 
 there and give orders to her servants and we shall see which will 
 satisfy her best — to give an answer or to let the wealth of her 
 house be wasted. 
 
 ' As for you, Telemachus, I have these words to say to you. 
 Lead your mother from your father's house and to the house of 
 her father, Icarius. Tell Icarius to give her in marriage to the 
 cne she chooses from amongst us. Do this and no more goods 
 will be wasted in the house that will be yours.' 
 
 Then Telemachus rose and said, 'Never will I lead my mother 
 cut of a house that my father brought her into. Quit my father's 
 house, or, as I tell you now, the day may come when a doom will 
 fall upon you there for your insolence in it.' 
 
 And even as Telemachus spoke, two eagles from a mountain 
 crest flew over the place where the council was being held. 
 They wheeled above and flapped their wings and looked down 
 upon the crowd with destruction in their gaze. They tore each 
 other with their talons, and then flew away across the City. 
 
 An old man who was there, Halitherses by name, a man skilled 
 in the signs made by birds, told those who were around what was 
 foreshown by the combat of the eagles in the air. 'Odysseus,' 
 he said, 'is not far from his friends. He will return, and his 
 return will mean affliction for those who insult his house. Now 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 21 
 
 let them make an end of their mischief.' But the wooers only 
 laughed at the old man, telling him he should go home and 
 prophesy to his children. 
 
 Then arose another old man whose name was Mentor, and he 
 was one who had been a friend and companion of Odysseus. 
 He spoke to the council saying : 
 
 'Never again need a King be gentle in his heart. For kind 
 and gentle to you all was your King, Odysseus. And now his 
 son asks you for help and you do not hurry to give it him. It 
 is not so much an affliction to me that these wooers waste his 
 goods as that you do not rise up to forbid it. But let them per- 
 sist in doing it on the hazard of their own heads. For a doom 
 will come on them, I say. And I say again to you of the council : 
 you are many and the wooers are few : Why then do you not 
 put them away from the house of Odysseus ? ' 
 
 But no one in the council took the side of Telemachus and 
 Halitherses and Mentor — so powerful were the wooers and so 
 fearful of them were the men of the council. The wooers looked 
 at Telemachus and his friends with mockery. Then for the last 
 time Telemachus rose up and spoke to the council. 
 
 'I have spoken in the council, and the men of Ithaka know, 
 and the gods know, the rights and wrongs of my case. All I ask 
 of you now is that you give me a swift ship with twenty youths 
 to be my crew so that I may go to Pylos and to Sparta to seek 
 tidings of my father. If I find he is alive and that he is returning, 
 then I can endure to wait another year in the house and submit 
 to what you do there.' 
 
22 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 Even at this speech they mocked. Said one of them, Leocri- 
 tus by name, 'Though Odysseus be alive and should one day 
 come into his own hall, that would not affright us. He is one, 
 and we are many, and if he should strive with those who out- 
 number him, why then, let his doom be on his own head. And 
 now, men of the council, scatter yourselves and go each to his 
 own home, and let Mentor and Halitherses help Telemachus to 
 get a ship and a crew.' 
 
 Leocritus said that knowing that Mentor and Halitherses were 
 old and had few friends, and that they could do nothing to help 
 Telemachus to get a ship. The council broke up and those who 
 were in it scattered. But the wooers went together back to the 
 house of Odysseus. 
 
 ELEMACHUS went apart, and, going by 
 himself, came to the shore of the sea. He 
 dipped his hands into the sea-water and 
 prayed, saying, 'O Goddess Athene, you 
 who did come to my father's hall yester- 
 day, I have tried to do as you bade me. 
 But still the wooers of my mother hinder 
 
 me from taking ship to seek tidings of my father.' 
 
 He spoke in prayer and then he saw one who had the likeness 
 
 of the old man Mentor coming towards him. But by the grey, 
 
 clear, wonderfully-shining eyes he knew that the figure was none 
 
 other than the goddess Athene. 
 
24 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 ' Telemachus,' said she, 'if you have indeed one drop of your 
 father's blood in you or one portion of his spirit, if you are as he 
 was — one ready to fulfil both word and work, your voyage shall 
 not be in vain. If you are different from what he was, I have no 
 hope that you will accomplish your desire. But I have seen in 
 you something of the wisdom and the courage of Odysseus. 
 Hear my counsel then, and do as I direct you. Go back to your 
 father's house and be with the wooers for a time. And get 
 together corn and barley-flour and wine in jars. And while 
 you are doing all this I will gather together a crew for your 
 ship. There are many ships in sea-girt Ithaka and I shall choose 
 the best for you and we will rig her quickly and launch her on 
 the wide deep.' 
 
 When Telemachus heard her counsel he tarried no more but 
 went back to the house and stood amongst the wooers, and 
 when he had spoken with them he went down into the treasure- 
 vault. It was a spacious room filled with gold and bronze and 
 chests of raiment and casks of wine. The doors of that vault 
 were closed night and day and Eurycleia, the dame who had 
 been the nurse of Telemachus when he was little, guarded the 
 place. She came to him, and he spoke to her : 
 
 'My nurse,' said he, 'none but yourself must know what 
 I would do now, and you must swear not to speak of it to my 
 lady-mother until twelve days from this. Fill twelve jars with 
 wine for me now, and pour twelve measures of barley-meal into 
 well-sewn skins. Leave them all together for me, and when my 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 25 
 
 mother goes into the upper chamber, I shall have them carried 
 away. Lo, nurse, I go to Pylos and to Sparta to seek tidings 
 from Nestor and Menelaus of Odysseus, my father.' 
 
 When she heard him say this, the nurse Eurycleia lamented. 
 'Ah, wherefore, dear child,' she cried, 'has such a thought 
 risen in your mind? How could you fare over wide seas and 
 through strange lands, you who were never from your home? 
 Stay here where you are well beloved. As for your father, he 
 has long since perished amongst strangers — why should you 
 put yourself in danger to find out that he is no more ? Nay, 
 do not go, Telemachus, my fosterling, but stay in your own 
 house and in your own well-beloved country.' 
 
 Telemachus said : ' Dear nurse, it has been shown to me that 
 I should go by a goddess. Is not that enough for you and for 
 me ? Now make all ready for me as I have asked you, and swear 
 to me that you will say nothing of it to my mother until twelve 
 days from this, or until she shall miss me herself.' 
 
 Having sworn as he asked her, the nurse Eurycleia drew the 
 wine into jars and put the barley-meal into the well-sewn skins. 
 Telemachus left the vault and went back again into the hall. 
 He sat with the wooers and listened to the minstrel Phemius 
 sing about the going forth of Odysseus to the wars of Troy. 
 
 And while these things were happening the goddess Athene 
 went through the town in the likeness of Telemachus. She 
 went to this youth and that youth and told them of the voyage 
 and asked them to make ready and go down to the beach where 
 
26 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 the boat would be. And then she went to a man called Noemon, 
 and begged him for a swift ship, and Noemon gave it her. 
 
 When the sun sank and when the ways were darkened Athene 
 dragged the ship to where it should be launched and brought 
 the tackling to it. The youths whom Athene had summoned — 
 they were all of the age of Telemachus — ■ came, and Athene 
 aroused them with talk of the voyage. And when the ship was 
 ready she went to the house of Odysseus. Upon the wooers 
 who were still in the hall she caused sleep to fall. They laid 
 their heads upon the tables and slumbered beside the wine cups. 
 But Athene sent a whisper through the hall and Telemachus 
 heard and he rose up and came to where she stood. Now she 
 had on the likeness of old Mentor, the friend of his father Odys- 
 seus. 
 
 'Come,' said she, 'your friends are already at the oars. We 
 must not delay them.' 
 
 But some of the youths had come with the one whom they 
 thought was old Mentor. They carried with Telemachus the 
 skins of corn and the casks of wine. They came to the ship, and 
 Telemachus with a cheer climbed into it. Then the youths 
 loosed the ropes and sat down at the benches to pull the oars. 
 And Athene, in the likeness of old Mentor, sat at the helm. 
 
 And now they set up the mast of pine and they made it fast 
 with forestays, and they hauled up the sails with ropes of twisted 
 oxhide. And a wind came and filled out the sails, and the 
 youths pulled at the oars, and the ship dashed away. All night 
 
28 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 long Telemachus and his friends sat at the oars and under the 
 sails, and felt the ship bearing them swiftly onward through the 
 dark water. Phemius, the minstrel, was with them, and, as 
 the night went by, he sang to them of Troy and of the heroes 
 who had waged war against it. 
 
 VI 
 
 ROY, the minstrel sang, was the greatest of 
 the Cities of men ; it had been built when 
 the demi-gods walked the earth ; its walls 
 were so strong and so high that enemies 
 could not break nor scale them; Troy 
 had high towers and great gates; in its 
 citadels there were strong men well armed, 
 and in its treasuries there were stores of gold and silver. And 
 the King of Troy was Priam. • He was old now, but he had 
 sons that were good Captains. The chief of them all was 
 Hector. 
 
 Hector, the minstrel sang, was a match for any warrior the 
 nations could send against Troy. Because he was noble and 
 generous as well as brave, the people were devoted to him. And 
 Hector, Priam's son, was commander in the City. 
 
 But Priam had another son who was not counted amongst the 
 Captains. Paris was his name. Now when Paris was in his 
 infancy, a soothsayer told King Priam that he would bring trouble 
 upon Troy. Then King Priam had the child sent away from the 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 29 
 
 City. Paris was reared amongst country people, and when he 
 was a youth he herded sheep. 
 
 Then the minstrel sang of Peleus, the King of Phthia, and of 
 his marriage to the river nymph, Thetis. All the gods and god- 
 desses came to their wedding feast. Only one of the immortals 
 was not invited — Eris, who is Discord. She came, however. 
 At the games that followed the wedding feast she threw a golden 
 apple amongst the guests, and on the apple was written "For 
 the fairest." 
 
 Each of the three goddesses who was there wished to be known 
 as the fairest and each claimed the golden apple — Aphrodite 
 who inspired love ; Athene who gave wisdom ; and Hera who 
 was the wife of Zeus, the greatest of the gods. But no one at 
 the wedding would judge between the goddesses and say which 
 was the fairest. And then the shepherd Paris came by, and him 
 the guests asked to give judgment. 
 
 Said Hera to Paris, 'Award the apple to me and I will give you 
 a great kingship.' Said Athene, 'Award the golden apple to me 
 and I will make you the wisest of men.' And Aphrodite came 
 to him and whispered, 'Paris, dear Paris, let me be called the 
 fairest and I will make you beautiful, and the fairest woman in 
 the world will be your wife.' Paris looked on Aphrodite and in 
 his eyes she was the fairest. To her he gave the golden apple 
 and ever afterwards she was his friend. But Hera and Athene 
 departed from the company in wrath. 
 
3 o THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 The minstrel sang how Paris went back to his father's City and 
 was made a prince of Troy. Through the favor of Aphrodite he 
 was the most beautiful of youths. Then Paris went out of the 
 City again. Sent by his father he went to Tyre. And coming 
 back to Troy from Tyre he went through Greece. 
 
 Now the fairest woman in the world was in Greece; she was 
 Helen, and she was married to King Menelaus. Paris saw her 
 and loved her for her beauty. And Aphrodite inspired Helen 
 to fall in love with Paris. He stole her from the house of Mene- 
 laus and brought her into Troy. 
 
 King Menelaus sent to Troy and demanded that his wife be 
 given back to him. But the people of Troy, thinking no King 
 in the world could shake them, and wanting to boast that the 
 fairest woman in the world was in their city, were not willing 
 that Menelaus be given back his wife. Priam and his son, 
 Hector, knew that a wrong had been done, and knew that Helen 
 and all that she had brought with her should be given back. 
 But in the council there were vain men who went against the 
 word of Priam and Hector, declaring that for no little King of 
 Greece would they give up Helen, the fairest woman in all the 
 world. 
 
 Then the minstrel sang of Agamemnon. He was King of 
 rich Mycenae, and his name was so high and his deeds were so 
 renowned that all the Kings of Greece looked to him. Now 
 Agamemnon, seeing Menelaus, his brother, flouted by the Trojans, 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 31 
 
 vowed to injure Troy. And he spoke to the Kings and Princes 
 of Greece, saying that if they all united their strength they 
 would be able to take the great city of Troy and avenge 
 the slight put upon Menelaus and win great glory and riches 
 for themselves. 
 
 And when they had come together and had taken note of their 
 strength, the Kings and Princes of Greece thought well of the 
 word of Agamemnon and were eager to make war upon Troy. 
 They bound themselves by a vow to take the City. Then 
 Agamemnon sent messages to the heroes whose lands were far 
 away, to Odysseus, and to Achilles, who was the son of Peleus 
 and Thetis, bidding them also enter the war, 
 
 In two years the ships of all the Kings and Princes were 
 gathered into Aulis and the Greeks, with their leaders, Aga- 
 memnon, Aias, Diomedes, Nestor, Idomeneus, Achilles and 
 Odysseus, sailed for the coast of Troy. One hero after another 
 subdued the cities and nations that were the allies of the Tro- 
 jans, but Troy they did not take. And the minstrel sang to 
 Telemachus and his fellow-voyagers how year after year went 
 by, and how the host of Greeks still remained between their ships 
 and the walls of the City, and how in the ninth year there came 
 a plague that smote with death more men than the Trojans killed. 
 
 So the ship went on through the dark water, very swiftly, 
 with the goddess Athene, in the likeness of old Mentor, guiding 
 it, and with the youths listening to the song that Phemius the 
 minstrel sang. 
 
r- 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 VII 
 
 HE sun rose and Telemachus and his 
 fellow-voyagers drew near to the shore of 
 Pylos and to the steep citadel built by 
 Neleus, the father of Nestor, the famous 
 King. They saw on the shore men in 
 companies making sacrifice to Poseidon, 
 the dark-haired god of the sea. There 
 were nine companies there and each company had nine black 
 oxen for the sacrifice, and the number of men in each com- 
 pany was five hundred. They slew the oxen and they laid 
 parts to burn on the altars of the god, and the men sat down 
 to feast. 
 
 The voyagers brought their ship to the shore and Telemachus 
 sprang from it. But before him went the goddess, grey-eyed 
 Athene, in the likeness of the old man, Mentor. And the goddess 
 told Telemachus that Nestor, the King whom he had come to 
 seek, was on the shore. She bade him now go forward with a 
 good heart and ask Nestor for tidings of his father, Odysseus. 
 
 But Telemachus said to her, 'Mentor, how can I bring myself 
 to speak to one who is so reverenced ? How should I greet him ? 
 And how can I, a young man, question such a one as Nestor, 
 the old King?' 
 
 The goddess, grey-eyed Athene, encouraged him; the right 
 words, she said, would come. So Telemachus went forward with 
 
34 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 his divine companion. Nestor was seated on the shore with 
 his sons around him. And when they saw the two strangers 
 approach, the sons of Nestor rose up to greet them. One, 
 Peisistratus, took the hand of Telemachus and the hand of the 
 goddess and led them both to where Nestor was. 
 
 A golden cup was put into the hand of each and wine was 
 poured into the cups, and Nestor's son, Peisistratus, asked Tele- 
 machus and the goddess to pray that the sacrifice they were 
 making to Poseidon, the god of the sea, would bring good to them 
 and to their people. Then the goddess Athene in the likeness 
 of old Mentor held the cup in her hand and prayed : 
 
 ' Hear me, Poseidon, shaker of the earth : First to Nestor 
 and his sons grant renown. Then grant to the people of Pylos 
 recompense for the sacrifice of oxen they have made. Grant, 
 too, that Telemachus and I may return safely when what we 
 have come in our swift ship to seek has been won.' 
 
 Telemachus prayed in the words of the goddess and then the 
 sons of Nestor made them both sit on the fleeces that were spread 
 on the shore. And dishes of meat were brought to them and 
 cups of wine, and when they had eaten and drunk, the old King, 
 Nestor, spoke to them. 
 
 'Until they have partaken of food and drink, it is not cour- 
 teous,' he said, 'to ask of strangers who they are and whither 
 they go. But now, my guests, I will ask of you what your land 
 is, and what your quest, and what names you bear.' 
 
 Then Telemachus said : ' Nestor, renowned King, glory of 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 35 
 
 the Greeks, we have come out of Ithaka and we seek tidings of 
 my father, of Odysseus, who, long ago, fought by your side in the 
 war of Troy. With you, men say, he sacked the great City of 
 the Trojans. But no further story about him has been told. 
 And I have come to your knees, O King, to beg you to give me 
 tidings of him — whether he died and you saw his death, or 
 whether you heard of his death from another. And if you 
 should answer me, speak not, I pray you, in pity for me, but tell 
 me all you know or have heard. Ah, if ever my father helped 
 you in the land of the Trojans, by the memory of what help he 
 gave, I pray you speak in truth to me, his son.' 
 
 Then said Nestor, the old King, 'Verily, my son, you bring 
 sorrow to my mind. Ah, where are they who were with me in 
 our war against the mighty City of Troy ? Where is Aias and 
 Achilles and Patroklos and my own dear son, Antilochos, who 
 was so noble and so strong? And where is Agamemnon now? 
 He returned to his own land, to be killed in his own hall by a 
 most treacherous foeman. And now you ask me of Odysseus, 
 the man who was dearer to me than any of the others — • Odysseus, 
 who was always of the one mind with me ! Never did we two 
 speak diversely in the assembly nor in the council. 
 
 ' You say to me that you are the son of Odysseus ! Surely you 
 are. Amazement comes over me as I look on you and listen to 
 you, for you look as he looked and you speak as he spoke. But 
 I would have you speak further to me and tell me of your home- 
 land and of how things fare in Ithaka.' 
 
3^ 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 ^|HEN he told the old King of the evil deeds 
 worked by the wooers of his mother, and 
 when he had told of them Telemachus 
 cried out, 'Oh, that the gods would give 
 me such strength that I might take 
 vengeance on them for their many trans- 
 gressions.' 
 
 Then said old Nestor, 'Who knows but Odysseus will win 
 home and requite the violence of these suitors and the insults 
 they have offered to your house. The goddess Athene might 
 bring this to pass. Well was she inclined to your father, and 
 never did the gods show such favour to a mortal as the grey-eyed 
 goddess showed to Odysseus, your father.' 
 
 But Telemachus answered, 'In no wise can your word be 
 accomplished, King.' 
 
 Then Athene, in the likeness of old Mentor, spoke to him and 
 said, 'What word has crossed your lips, Telemachus? If it 
 should please them, any one of the gods could bring a man home 
 from afar. Only this the gods may not do — avert death from 
 a man who has been doomed to it.' 
 
 Telemachus answered her and said, 'Mentor, no longer let 
 us talk of these things. Nestor, the renowned King, has been 
 very gracious to me, but he has nothing to tell me of my father. 
 I deem now that Odysseus will never return.' 
 
 'Go to Menelaus,' said Nestor. 'Go to Menelaus in Sparta. 
 Lately he has come from a far and a strange country and it may 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 37 
 
 be that he has heard of Odysseus in his wanderings. You can 
 go to Sparta in your ship. But if you have a mind to fare by 
 land then will I give you a chariot and horses, and my son will go 
 with you to be a guide for you into Sparta.' 
 
 Then Telemachus, with Athene, the grey-eyed goddess in the 
 likeness of old Mentor, would have gone back to their ship, but 
 Nestor the King said, 'Zeus forbid that you two should go 
 back to the ship to take your rest while there is guest- 
 room in my hall. Come with me to a place where you can lie 
 softly. Never shall it be said that a son of Odysseus, my dear 
 friend, lay on the hard deck of a ship while I am alive and 
 while children of mine are left in my hall. Come with me now.' 
 
 Then the goddess Athene in the likeness of old Mentor said, 
 'You have spoken as becomes you, renowned King. Telem- 
 achus should harken to your word and go with you. But it 
 is meet that the young men who came for the love of him should 
 have an elder with them on the ship to-night. I shall abide 
 with them.' 
 
 So speaking, the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, in the likeness of 
 old Mentor went from the shore, and Telemachus went with 
 Nestor and his sons to the high citadel of Neleus. And there he 
 was given a bath, and the maiden Polycaste, the youngest daugh- 
 ter of King Nestor, attended him. She gave him new raiment 
 to wear, a goodly mantle and doublet. He slept in a room with 
 Peisistratus, the youngest of Nestor's sons. 
 
 In the morning they feasted and did sacrifice, and when he had 
 
3§ 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 given judgments to the people, the old King Nestor spoke to his 
 sons, — 
 
 'Lo, now, my sons. Yoke for Telemachus the horses to the 
 chariot that he may go on his way to Sparta.' 
 
 The sons of Nestor gave heed and they yoked the swift horses 
 to the chariot and the housedame came from the hall and placed 
 within the chariot wine and dainties. Telemachus went into 
 the chariot and Peisistratus sat before him. Then Peisistratus 
 touched the horses with the whip and they sprang forward, and 
 the chariot went swiftly over the plain. Soon they left behind 
 them the steep citadel of Neleus and the land of Pylos. And when 
 the sun sank and the ways were darkened, they came to Pherae 
 and to the house of Diodes and there they rested for the night. 
 
 In the morning as soon as the sun rose they yoked the horses 
 and they mounted the chariot, and for another day they journeyed 
 across the plain. They had gone far and the ways were again 
 darkened around them. 
 
 VIII 
 
 HEY came to Sparta, to a country lying 
 low amongst the hills, and they stayed 
 the chariot outside the gate of the King's 
 dwelling. Now upon that day Menelaus 
 was sending his daughter into Phthia, 
 with horses and chariots, as a bride for 
 Achilles' son. And for Megapenthes, his 
 
4 o THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 own son, a bride was being brought into the house. Because 
 of these two marriages there was feasting in the palace and 
 kinsmen and neighbours were gathered there. A minstrel was 
 singing to the guests and two tumblers were whirling round the 
 high hall to divert them. 
 
 To the King in his high hall came Eteoneus, the steward. 
 'Renowned Menelaus,' said Eteoneus, 'there are two strangers 
 outside, men with the looks of heroes. What would you have me 
 do with them ? Shall I have their horses unyoked, bidding them 
 enter the Palace, or shall I let them fare on to another dwelling?' 
 
 'Why do you ask such a question, Eteoneus?' said Menelaus 
 in anger. 'Have we not eaten the bread of other men on our 
 wanderings, and have we not rested ourselves in other men's 
 houses? Knowing this you have no right to ask whether you 
 should bid strangers enter or let them go past the gate of my 
 dwelling. Go now and bid them enter and feast with us.' 
 
 Then Eteoneus went from the hall, and while he had servants 
 unyoke the horses from their chariot he led Telemachus and 
 Peisistratus into the palace. First they were brought to the 
 bath, and when they had come from the bath refreshed, they were 
 given new cloaks and mantles. When they had dressed them- 
 selves they were led into the King's high hall. They seated 
 themselves there, and a maid brought water in a golden ewer 
 and poured it over their hands into a silver basin. Then a 
 polished table was put beside them, and the housedame placed 
 bread and meat and wine upon it so that they might eat. 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 4i 
 
 Menelaus came to where they sat and said to Telemachus 
 and Peisistratus, 'By your looks I know you to be of the line 
 of Kings. Eat now, and when you have refreshed yourselves I 
 will ask who you are and from what place you come.' 
 
 But before they had finished their meal, and while yet Mene- 
 laus the king was showing them the treasures that were near, the 
 lady Helen came into the high hall — Helen for whom the Kings 
 and Princes of Greece had gone to war. Her maids were with 
 her, and they set a chair for her near where Menelaus was and 
 they put a rug of soft wool under her feet. Then one brought 
 to her a silver basket filled with colored yarn. And Helen sat 
 in her high chair and took the distaff in her hands and worked 
 the yarn. She questioned Menelaus about the things that 
 had happened during the day, and as she did she watched 
 Telemachus. 
 
 Then the lady Helen left the distaff down and said, 'Menelaus, 
 I am minded to tell you who one of these strangers is. No one 
 was ever more like another than this youth is like great-hearted 
 Odysseus. I know that he is no other than Telemachus, whom 
 Odysseus left as a child, when, for my sake, the Greeks began 
 their war against Troy.' 
 
 Then said Menelaus, 'I too mark his likeness to Odysseus. 
 The shape of his head, the glance of his eye, remind me of Odys- 
 seus. But can it indeed be that Telemachus has come into my 
 house?' 
 
 'Renowned Menelaus,' said Peisistratus, 'this is indeed the 
 
42 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 son of Odysseus. And I avow myself to be the son of another 
 comrade of yours, of Nestor, who was with you at the war of 
 Troy. I have been sent with Telemachus to be his guide to 
 your house.' 
 
 Menelaus rose up and clasped the hand of Telemachus. 
 'Never did there come to my house,' said he, 'a youth more 
 welcome. For my sake did Odysseus endure much toil and many 
 adventures. Had he come to my country I would have given 
 him a city to rule over, and I think that nothing would have 
 parted us, one from the other. But Odysseus, I know, has not 
 returned to his own land of Ithaka.' 
 
 Then Telemachus, thinking upon his father, dead, or wander- 
 ing through the world, wept. Helen, too, shed tears, remember- 
 ing things that had happened. And Menelaus, thinking upon 
 Odysseus and on all his toils, was silent and sad ; and sad and 
 silent too was Peisistratus, thinking upon Antilochos, his brother, 
 who had perished in the war of Troy. 
 
 But Helen, wishing to turn their minds to other thoughts, 
 cast into the wine a drug that lulled pain and brought forget- 
 fulness — a drug which had been given to her in Egypt by Poly- 
 damna, the wife of King Theon. And when they had drunk the 
 wine their sorrowful memories went from them, and they spoke 
 to each other without regretfulness. Thereafter King Mene- 
 laus told of his adventure with the Ancient One of the Sea 
 — the adventure that had brought to him the last tidings of 
 Odysseus. 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 43 
 
 IX 
 
 AID Menelaus, 'Over against the river 
 that flows out of Egypt there is an Island 
 that men call Pharos, and to that island 
 I came with my ships when we, the heroes 
 who had fought at Troy, were separated 
 one from the other. There I was held, 
 day after day, by the will of the gods. 
 Our provision of corn was spent and my men were in danger 
 of perishing of hunger. Then one day while my companions 
 were striving desperately to get fish out of the sea, I met on the 
 shore one who had pity for our plight. 
 
 'She was an immortal, Eidothee, a daughter of the Ancient 
 One of the Sea. I craved of her to tell me how we might get 
 away from that place, and she counselled me to take by an 
 ambush her father, the Ancient One of the Sea, who is also called 
 Proteus. "You can make him tell you," said she, " for he knows 
 all things, what you must do to get away from this island of 
 Pharos. Moreover, he can declare to you what happened to 
 the heroes you have been separated from, and what has taken 
 place in your own hall." 
 
 "Then said I to that kind nymph Eidothee, "Show me how 
 I may take by an ambush your immortal father, the Ancient 
 One of the Sea.'" 
 
 'Said Eidothee, "My father, Proteus, comes out of the sea 
 
44 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 when the sun is highest in the heavens. Then would he lie down 
 to sleep in the caves that are along the shore. But before he 
 goes to sleep he counts, as a shepherd counts his flock, the seals 
 that come up out of the ocean and lie round where he lies. If 
 there be one too many, or one less than there should be, he will 
 not go to sleep in the cave. But I will show you how you and 
 certain of your companions may be near without the Ancient 
 One of the Sea being aware of your presence. Take three of 
 your men — ■ the three you trust above all the others — and 
 as soon as it is dawn to-morrow meet me by the edge of 
 the sea.'" 
 
 'So saying the nymph Eidothee plunged into the sea and I 
 went from that place anxious, but with hope in my heart. 
 
 'Now as soon as the dawn had come I walked by the sea- 
 shore and with me came the three that I trusted above all my 
 companions. The daughter of the Ancient One of the Sea, 
 Eidothee, came to us. In her arms she had the skins of seals 
 newly-slain, one for each of us. And at the cave where the 
 seals lay she scooped holes in the sand and bade us He there, 
 covering ourselves with the skins. Then she spoke to me and 
 said : 
 
 "'When my father, the Ancient One of the Sea, comes here to 
 sleep, lay hands upon him and hold him with all the strength you 
 have. He will change himself into many shapes, but do not you 
 let go your hold upon him. When he changes back into the 
 shape he had at first you may let go your holds. Question him 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 45 
 
 then as to how you may leave this place, or question him as to 
 any other matter that may be on your mind, and he will answer 
 you, speaking the truth." ' 
 
 'We lay down in the holes she had scooped in the sand and 
 she covered each of us with one of the skins she had brought. 
 Then the seals came out of the sea and lay all around us. The 
 smell that came from those beasts of the sea afflicted us, and it 
 was then that our adventure became terrible. We could not 
 have endured it if Eidothee had not helped us in this also. She 
 took ambrosia and set it beneath each man's nostril, so that what 
 came to us was not the smell of the sea-beasts but a divine savour. 
 Then the nymph went back to the sea. 
 
 'We lay there with steadfast hearts amongst the herd of seals 
 until the sua was at its highest in the heavens. The Ancient 
 One of the Sea came out of the ocean depths. He went amongst 
 the seals and counted them, and us four men he reckoned amongst 
 his herd. Then in great contentment he laid himself down to 
 sleep. 
 
 'We rushed upon him with a cry and laid hold on him with all 
 the strength of our hands. But we had no sooner grasped him 
 than his shape changed. He became a lion and faced us. Yet 
 we did not let go of our grasp. He became a serpent, yet we 
 still held him. He became a leopard and then a mighty boar; 
 he became a stream of water and then a flowering tree. Yet 
 still we held to him with all our might and our hearts were 
 not daunted by the shapes he changed to before our eyes. 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 47 
 
 Then, seeing that he could not make us loose our hold, the 
 Ancient One of the Sea, who was called Proteus, ceased in his 
 changes and became as we had seen him first. 
 
 '''Son of Atreus," said he, speaking to me, "who was it 
 showed you how to lay this ambush for me?" ' 
 
 ' "It is for you who know all things," said I, "to make answer 
 to us. Tell me now why it is that I am held on this island? 
 Which of the gods holds me here and for what reason?" ' 
 
 'Then the Ancient One of the Sea answered me, speaking 
 truth, "Zeus, the greatest of all the gods holds you here. You 
 neglected to make sacrifice to the gods and for that reason you 
 are held on this island." 
 
 ' "Then," said I, "what must I do to win back the favor of 
 the gods?'" 
 
 'He told me, speaking truth, "Before setting sail for your 
 own land," he said, "you must return to the river ^Egyptus that 
 flows out of Africa, and offer sacrifice there to the gods." ' 
 
 ' When he said this my spirit was broken with grief. A long 
 and a grievous way would I have to sail to make that sacrifice, 
 turning back from my own land. Yet the will of the gods would 
 have to be done. Again I was moved to question the Ancient 
 One of the Sea, and to ask him for tidings of the men who were 
 my companions in the wars of Troy. 
 
 'Ah, son of Odysseus, more broken than ever was my spirit 
 with grief when he told me of their fates. Then I heard how 
 my brother, great Agamemnon, reached his own land and was 
 
48 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 glad in his heart. But his wife had hatred for him, and in his 
 own hall she and ^Egisthus had him slain. I sat and wept on 
 the sands, but still I questioned the Ancient One of the Sea. And 
 he told me of strong Aias and how he was killed by the falling 
 rock after he had boasted that Poseidon, the god of the Sea, 
 could afflict him no more. And of your father, the renowned 
 Odysseus, the Ancient One had a tale to tell. 
 
 'Then, and even now it may be, Odysseus was on an island 
 away from all mankind. "There he abides in the hall of the 
 nymph Calypso," the Ancient One of the Sea told me. "I saw 
 him shed great tears because he could not go from that place. 
 But he has no ship and no companions and the nymph Calypso 
 holds him there. And always he longs to return to his own 
 country, to the land of Ithaka." And after he had spoken to 
 me of Odysseus, he went from us and plunged into the sea. 
 
 'Thereafter I went back to the river ^Egyptus and moored 
 my ships and made pious sacrifice to the gods. A fair wind came 
 to us and we set out for our own country. Swiftly we came to it, 
 and now you see me the happiest of all those who set out to wage 
 war against Troy. And now, dear son of Odysseus, you know 
 what an immortal told of your father — how he is still in life, 
 but how he is held from returning to his own home.' 
 
 Thus from Menelaus the youth Telemachus got tiding of his 
 father. When the King ceased to speak they went from the hall 
 with torches in their hands and came to the vestibule where 
 Helen's handmaids had prepared beds for Telemachus and 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 49 
 
 Peisistratus. And as he lay there under purple blankets and 
 soft coverlets, the son of Odysseus thought upon his father, still 
 in life, but held in that unknown island by the nymph Calypso. 
 
 IS ship and his fellow-voyagers waited at 
 Pylos but for a while longer Telemachus 
 bided in Sparta, for he would fain hear 
 from Menelaus and from Helen the 
 tale of Troy. Many days he stayed, 
 and on the first day Menelaus told him 
 of Achilles, the greatest of the heroes who 
 had fought against Troy, and on another day the lady Helen 
 told him of Hector, the noblest of all the men who defended 
 King Priam's City. 
 
 ' Achilles,' said King Menelaus, ' was sprung of a race that was 
 favoured by the immortals. Peleus, the father of Achilles, had 
 for his friend, Cheiron, the wisest of the Centaurs — of those im- 
 mortals who are half men and half horse. Cheiron it was who 
 gave to Peleus his great spear. And when Peleus desired to wed 
 an immortal, Zeus, the greatest of the gods, prevailed upon the 
 nymph Thetis to marry him, although marriage with a mortal was 
 against her will. To the wedding of Thetis and Peleus all the 
 gods came. And for wedding gifts Zeus gave such armour as 
 no mortal had ever worn before — armour wonderfully bright 
 and wonderfully strong, and he gave also two immortal horses. 
 
5o THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 ' Achilles was the child of Thetis and Peleus — of an immortal 
 woman married to a mortal hero. He grew up most strong and 
 fleet of foot. When he was grown to be a youth he was sent to 
 Cheiron, and his father's friend instructed him in all the ways of 
 war. He became the greatest of spearmen, and on the mountain 
 with the Centaur he gained in strength and in fleetness of foot. 
 
 ' Now after he returned to his father's hall the war against Troy 
 began to be prepared for. Agamemnon, the king, wanted Achil- 
 les to join the host. But Thetis, knowing that great disasters 
 would befall those who went to that war, feared for Achilles. 
 She resolved to hide him so that no word from King Agamemnon 
 might reach him. And how did the nymph Thetis hide her son? 
 She sent him to King Lycomedes and prayed the King to hide 
 Achilles amongst his daughters. 
 
 ' So the youth Achilles was dressed as a maiden and stayed 
 with the daughters of the King. The messengers of Agamemnon 
 searched everywhere for him. Many of them came to the court 
 of King Lycomedes, but not finding one like Achilles amongst 
 the King's sons they went away. 
 
 ' Odysseus, by Agamemnon's order, came to seek Achilles. 
 He knew that the youth was not amongst the King's sons. He 
 saw the King's daughters in their father's orchard, but could 
 not tell if Achilles was amongst them, for all were veiled and 
 dressed alike. 
 
 1 Then Odysseus went away and returned as a peddler carrying 
 in his pack such things as maidens admire — veils and orna- 
 
52 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 ments and brazen mirrors. But under the veils and ornaments 
 and mirrors the wise Odysseus left a gleaming sword. When 
 he came before the maidens in the King's orchard he laid down 
 his peddler's pack. The mirrors and veils and ornaments were 
 taken up and examined eagerly. But one of the company took 
 up the gleaming sword and looked at it with flashing eyes. 
 Odysseus knew that this was Achilles, King Peleus' son. 
 
 ' He gave the youth the summons of King Agamemnon, bidding 
 him join the war that the Kings and Princes of Greece were 
 about to wage against Troy. And Achilles was glad to get the 
 summons and glad to go. He returned to Phthia, to his father's 
 citadel. There did he make ready to go to Aulis where the ships 
 were being gathered. He took with him his father's famous 
 warriors, the Myrmidons who were never beaten in battle. And 
 his father bestowed on him the armour and the horses that had 
 been the gift of Zeus — the two immortal horses Xanthos and 
 Balios. 
 
 ' But what rejoiced Achilles more than the gift of marvellous 
 armour and immortal steeds was that his dear comrade, Patro- 
 klos, was to be with him as his mate in war. Patroklos had come 
 into Phthia and into the hall of Peleus when he was a young boy. 
 In his own country he had killed another boy by mischance over 
 a game of dice. His father, to save him from the penalty, fled 
 with him to King Peleus. And Achilles' father gave them refuge 
 and took Patroklos into his house and reared him up with his 
 own son. Later he made him squire to Achilles. These two 
 
54 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 grew up together and more than brothers they loved each 
 other. 
 
 ' Achilles bade good-bye to Phthia, and to his hero-father and 
 his immortal mother, and he and Patroklos with the Myrmidons 
 went over the sea to Aulis and joined the host of the Kings and 
 Princes who had made a vow not to refrain from war until they 
 had taken King Priam's famous city.' 
 
 XI 
 
 CHILLES became the most renowned of 
 all the heroes who strove against Troy in 
 the years the fighting went on. Before the 
 sight of him, clad in the flashing armour 
 that was the gift of Zeus and standing in 
 the chariot drawn by the immortal horses, 
 the Trojan ranks would break and the 
 
 Trojan men would flee back to the gate of their city. And 
 
 many lesser cities and towns around Troy did the host with the 
 
 help of Achilles take. 
 
 ' Now because of two maidens taken captive from some of 
 
 these cities a quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon grew up. 
 
 One of the maidens was called Chryseis and the other Briseis. 
 
 Chryseis was given to Agamemnon and Briseis to Achilles. 
 ' The father of Chryseis was a priest of Apollo, and when the 
 
 maiden, his daughter, was not given back to him, he went and 
 
 prayed the god to avenge him on the host. Apollo listened to 
 
56 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 his prayer, and straightway the god left his mountain peak with 
 his bow of silver in his hands. He stood behind the ships and 
 shot his arrows into the host. Terrible was the clanging of his 
 silver bow. He smote the beasts of the camp first, the dogs and 
 the mules and the horses, and then he smote the men, and those 
 whom his arrows smote were stricken by the plague. 
 
 ' The warriors began to die, and every day more perished by 
 the plague than were killed by the spears and swords and arrows 
 of the Trojans. Now a council was summoned and the chiefs 
 debated what was to be done to save the host. At the coun- 
 cil there was a soothsayer named Kalchas; he stood up and 
 declared that he knew the cause of the plague, and he knew too 
 how the remainder of the host might be saved from it. 
 
 ' It was because of the anger of Apollo, Kalchas said ; and that 
 anger could only be averted by Agamemnon sending back to his 
 father, the priest of Apollo, the maiden Chryseis. 
 
 'Then was Agamemnon wroth exceedingly. "Thou seer of 
 things evil," said he to Kalchas, "never didst thou see aught of 
 good for me or mine. The maiden given to me, Chryseis, I 
 greatly prize. Yet rather than my folk should perish I shall let 
 her be taken from me. But this let you all of the council know : 
 some other prize must be given to me that the whole host may 
 know that Agamemnon is not slighted." ' 
 
 'Then said Achilles: "Agamemnon, of all Kings you are the 
 most covetous. The best of us toil and battle that you may 
 come and take what part of the spoil may please you. Be 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 57 
 
 covetous no more. Let this maiden go back to her father and 
 afterwards we will give you some other prize." ' 
 
 ( Said Agamemnon : "The council here must bind itself to 
 give me recompense." ' 
 
 '"Still you speak of recompense, Agamemnon," answered 
 Achilles. " No one gains more than you gain. I had no quarrel 
 with the men of Troy, and yet I have come here, and my hands 
 bear the brunt of the war." ' 
 
 ' "You who are captains must give me a recompense," said 
 Agamemnon, "or else I shall go to the tent of Achilles and take 
 away the maiden given to him, Briseis of the Fair Cheeks." ' 
 
 ' "I am wearied of making war for you," answered Achilles. 
 " Though I am always in the strife but little of the spoil comes 
 to my tent. Now will I depart to my own land, to Phthia, for 
 I am not minded to stay here and be dishonoured by you, O 
 King."' 
 
 ' " Go," said Agamemnon, "if your soul be set upon fleeing, go. 
 But do not think that there are not captains and heroes here 
 who can make war without you. Go and lord it amongst your 
 Myrmidons. Never shall we seek your aid. And that all may 
 know I am greater than you, Achilles, I shall go to your tent and 
 take away the maiden Briseis." ' 
 
 ' When he heard Agamemnon's speech the heart within Achilles' 
 breast was divided, and he knew not whether he should remain 
 still and silent in his anger, or, thrusting the council aside, go up 
 to Agamemnon and slay him with the sword. His hand was upon 
 
58 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 the sword-hilt when an immortal appeared to him — the goddess 
 Athene. No one in the company but Achilles was aware of her 
 presence. "Draw not the sword upon Agamemnon," she said, 
 "for equally dear to the gods are you both." Then Achilles drew 
 back and thrust his heavy sword into its sheath again. But 
 although he held his hand he did not refrain from angry and 
 bitter words. He threw down on the ground the staff that had 
 been put into his hands as a sign that he was to be listened to in 
 the council. "By this staff that no more shall bear leaf or 
 blossom," he said, "I swear that longing for Achilles' aid shall 
 come upon the host of Agamemnon, but that no Achilles shall 
 come to their help. I swear that I shall let Hector triumph 
 over you." ' 
 
 ' Then the council broke up and Achilles with Patroklos, his 
 dear comrade, went back to their tent. A ship was launched 
 and the maiden Chryseis was put aboard and Odysseus was 
 placed in command. The ship set out for Chryse. There on 
 the beach they found the priest of Apollo, and Odysseus 
 placed his daughter in the old man's arms. They made sac- 
 rifice to Apollo, and thereafter the plague was averted from the 
 host. 
 
 1 But to Achilles' tent there came the messengers of the King, 
 and they took Briseis of the Fair Cheeks and led her away; 
 Achilles, in bitter anger, sat by the sea, hard in his resolve not to 
 help Agamemnon's men, no matter what defeat great Hector 
 inflicted upon them.' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 59 
 
 XII 
 
 UCH was the quarrel, dear son, between 
 Agamemnon, King of men, and great 
 Achilles. Ah, because of that quarrel 
 many brave men and great captains 
 whom I remember went down to their 
 deaths ! ' 
 
 ' But Agamemnon before long relented 
 and he sent three envoys to make friendship between himself 
 and Achilles. The envoys were Odysseus and Aias and the old 
 man Phoinix who had been a foster-father to Achilles. Now 
 when these three went into his hut they found Achilles sitting 
 with a lyre in his hands, singing to the music he made. His song 
 was of what Thetis, his goddess-mother, had told him concerning 
 his own fate — how, if he remained in the war against Troy, 
 he should win for himself imperishable renown but would soon 
 lose Ins life, and how, if he left the war, his years in his own land 
 should be long, although no great renown would be his. Patro- 
 klos, his dear friend, listened to what Achilles sang. And 
 Achilles sang of what royal state would be his if he gave up 
 the war against the Trojans and went back to his father's halls 
 — old Peleus would welcome him, and he would seek a bride 
 for him from amongst the loveliest of the Greek maidens. "In 
 three days," he sang, "can Poseidon, God of the Sea, bring me 
 to my own land and to my father's royal castle." ' 
 
60 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 ' "Well dost thou sing, Achilles," said Odysseus to him, "and 
 pleasant would it be to hear thy song if our hearts were not filled 
 up with great griefs. But have not nine years passed away since 
 we came here to make war on Troy ? And now are not our ships' 
 timbers rotted and their tacklings loosed, and do not many of our 
 warriors think in their hearts how their wives and children have 
 long been waiting for their return ? And still the walls of Troy 
 rise up before us as high and as unconquerable as ever ! No 
 wonder our hearts are filled up with griefs. And now Achilles, 
 the greatest of our heroes, and the Myrmidons, the best of our 
 warriors, have left us and gone out of the fight." ' 
 
 ' "Even to-day did great Hector turn back our battalions that 
 were led by Agamemnon and Aias and Diomedes, driving us to 
 the wall that we have built around our ships. Behind that wall 
 we halted and called one to the other to find out who had escaped 
 and who had fallen in the onslaught Hector made. Only when 
 he had driven us behind our wall did Hector turn back his chariot 
 and draw off his men." ' 
 
 UT Hector has not gone through the gates 
 of the City. Look now, Achilles ! His 
 chariots remain on the plain. Lo now, 
 his watch-fires ! A thousand fires thou 
 canst see and beside each sits fifty war- 
 riors with their horses loose beside their 
 chariots champing barley. Eagerly they 
 wait for the light of the dawn when they will come against us 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 61 
 
 again, hoping this time to overthrow the wall we have builded, 
 and come to our ships and burn them with fire, and so destroy 
 all hope of our return. " ' 
 
 ' "We are all stricken with grief and fear. Even Agamemnon 
 weeps. We have seen him standing before us like unto a dark 
 fountain breaking from some beetling cliff. How else could he 
 but weep tears ? To-morrow it may be he shall have to bid the 
 host draw the ships to the water and depart from the coast of 
 Troy. Then will his name forever be dishonoured because of 
 defeat and the loss of so many warriors." ' 
 
 ' "Deem'st thou I grieve for Agamemnon's griefs, Odysseus?" 
 said Achilles. "But although thou dost speak of Agamemnon 
 thou art welcome, thou and thy companions. Even in my 
 wrath you three are dear to me." ' 
 
 ' He brought them within the hut and bade a feast be pre- 
 pared for them. To Odysseus, Aias and Phoinix wine cups were 
 handed. And when they had feasted and drunk wine, Odysseus 
 turned to where Achilles sat on his bench in the light of the fire, 
 and said : 
 
 ' "Know, Achilles, that we three are here as envoys from King 
 Agamemnon. He would make a friendship with thee again. He 
 has injured and he has offended thee, but all that a man can do he 
 will do to make amends. The maiden Briseis he will let go back. 
 Many gifts will he give thee too, Achilles. He will give thee 
 seven tripods, and twenty cauldrons, and ten talents of gold. 
 Yes, and besides, twelve royal horses, each one of which has 
 
62 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 triumphed in some race. He who possesses these horses will 
 never lack for wealth as long as prizes are to be won by swiftness. 
 And harken to what more Agamemnon bade us say to thee. If 
 we win Troy he will let thee load your ship with spoil of the city 
 — with gold and bronze and precious stuffs. And thereafter, 
 if we win to our homes he will treat thee as his own royal son and 
 will give thee seven cities to rule over. And if thou wilt wed 
 there are three daughters in his hall — three of the fairest maidens 
 of the Greeks — and the one thou wilt choose he will give thee 
 for thy wife, Chrysothemis, or Laodike, or Iphianassa." ' 
 
 ' So Odysseus spoke and then Aias said, "Think, Achilles, and 
 abandon now thy wrath. If Agamemnon be hateful to thee 
 and if thou despiseth his gifts, think upon thy friends and thy 
 companions and have pity upon them. Even for our sakes, 
 Achilles, arise now and go into battle and stay the onslaught of 
 the terrible Hector." ' 
 
 ' Achilles did not answer. His lion's eyes were fixed upon 
 those who had spoken and his look did not change at all for all 
 that was said.' 
 
 ' Then the old man Phoinix who had nurtured him went over 
 to him. He could not speak, for tears had burst from him. 
 But at last, holding Achilles' hands, he said : 
 
 ' "In thy father's house did I not rear thee to greatness — ■ even 
 thee, most noble Achilles. With me and with none other 
 wouldst thou go into the feasthall, and, as a child, thou would'st 
 stay at my knee and eat the morsel I gave, and drink from the 
 
6 4 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 cup that I put to thy lips. I reared thee, and I suffered and 
 toiled much that thou mightst have strength and skill and 
 quickness. Be thou merciful in thy heart, Achilles. Be not 
 wrathful any more. Cast aside thine anger now and save the 
 host. Come now. The gifts Agamemnon would give thee are 
 very great, and no king nor prince could despise them. But if 
 without gifts thou would'st enter the battle, then above all 
 heroes the host would honour thee." ' 
 
 'Achilles answered Phoinix gently and said, "The honour the 
 host would bestow upon me I have no need of, for I am honoured in 
 the judgment of Zeus, the greatest of the gods, and while breath 
 remains with me that honour cannot pass away. But do thou, 
 Phoinix, stay with me, and many things I shall bestow upon thee, 
 even the half of my kingdom. Ah, but urge me not to help 
 Agamemnon, for if thou dost I shall look upon thee as a friend 
 to Agamemnon, and I shall hate thee, my foster-father, as I hate 
 him." ' 
 
 HEN to Odysseus, Achilles spoke and said, 
 "Son of Laertes, wisest of men, harken 
 now to what I shall say to thee. Here 
 I should have stayed and won that imper- 
 ishable renown that my goddess-mother 
 told me of, even at the cost of my young 
 life if Agamemnon had not aroused the 
 wrath that now possesses me. Know that my soul is im- 
 placable towards him. How often did I watch out sleepless 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 65 
 
 nights, how often did I spend my days in bloody battle for 
 the sake of Agamemnon's and his brother's cause ! Why are 
 we here if not because of lovely Helen? And yet one whom 
 I cherished as Menelaus cherished Helen has been taken from 
 me by order of this King ! He would let her go her way now ! 
 But no, I do not desire to see Briseis ever again, for everything 
 that comes from Agamemnon's hand is hateful to me. Hateful 
 are all the gifts he would bestow upon me, and him and his 
 treasures I hold at a straw's worth. I have chosen. To- 
 morrow I shall have my Myrmidons draw my ships out to the 
 sea, and I shall depart from Troy for my own land." ' 
 
 ' Said Aias, "Have the gods, Achilles, put into your breast a 
 spirit implacable and proud above all men's spirits? " ' 
 
 ' "Yea, Aias," said Achilles. "My spirit cannot contain my 
 wrath. Agamemnon has treated me, not as a leader of armies 
 who won many battles for him, but as a vile sojourner in his 
 camp. Go now and declare my will to him. Never again shall 
 I take thought of his war." ' 
 
 ' So he spoke, and each man took up a two-handled cup and 
 poured out wine as an offering to the gods. Then Odysseus 
 and Aias in sadness left the hut. But Phoinix remained, and 
 for him Patroklos, the dear friend of Achilles, spread a couch 
 of fleeces and rugs.' 
 
 ' Odysseus and Aias went along the shore of the sea and by the 
 line of the ships and they came to where Agamemnon was with 
 the greatest of the warriors of the host. Odysseus told them 
 
06 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 that by no means would Achilles join in the battle, and they all 
 were made silent with grief. Then Diomedes, the great horse- 
 man, rose up and said, "Let Achilles stay or go, fight or not 
 fight, as it pleases him. But it is for us who have made a vow 
 to take Priam's city, to fight on. Let us take food and rest now, 
 and to-morrow let us go against Hector's host, and you, Aga- 
 memnon, take the foremost place in the battle." ' 
 
 ' So Diomedes spoke and the warriors applauded what he said, 
 and they all poured out libations of wine to the gods, and there- 
 after they went to their huts and slept. But for Agamemnon, 
 the King, there was no sleep that night. Before his eyes was 
 the blaze of Hector's thousand watch-fires and in his ears were 
 the sound of pipes and flutes that made war-music for the Trojan 
 host encamped upon the plain.' 
 
 XIII 
 
 HEN dawn came the King arrayed himself 
 for the battle, putting on his great breast- 
 plate and his helmet that had a high 
 plume of horse-hair ; fastening about his 
 legs greaves fitted with ankle-clasps of 
 silver ; and hanging round his shoulders 
 a great sword that shone with studs of 
 gold — a sword that had a silver scabbard fitted with golden 
 chains. Over his shoulders he cast a great lion's skin, and he 
 took upon his arm a shield that covered the whole of a man. 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 67 
 
 Next he took in his hands two strong spears of bronze, and so 
 arrayed and so armed he was ready to take the foremost place 
 in the battle.' 
 
 ' He cried aloud and bade the Greeks arm themselves, and 
 straightway they did so and poured from behind the wall that 
 guarded their ships into the Trojan plain. Then the chiefs 
 mounted their chariots, and their charioteers turned the horses 
 towards the place of battle.' 
 
 ' Now on the high ground before them the Trojans had gathered 
 in their battalions and the figure of great Hector was plain to 
 Agamemnon and his men. Like a star that now and then was 
 hidden by a cloud, so he appeared as he went through the battal- 
 ions, all covered with shining bronze. Spears and arrows fell 
 upon both sides. Footmen kept slaying footmen and horsemen 
 kept slaying horsemen with the sword, and the dust of the plain 
 rose up, stirred by the thundering hooves of the horses. From 
 dawn till morning and from morning till noon the battle raged, 
 but at mid-day the Greeks broke through the Trojan lines. 
 Then Agamemnon in his chariot rushed through a gap in the 
 line. Two men did he instantly slay, and dashing onward he 
 slew two warriors who were sons of King Priam. Like fire 
 falling upon a wood and burning up the underwood went King 
 Agamemnon through the Trojan ranks, and when he passed 
 many strong-necked horses rattled empty chariots, leaving on 
 the earth the slain warriors that had been in them. And through 
 the press of men and up to the high walls of Troy did Agamem- 
 
68 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 non go, slaying Trojan warriors with his spear. Hector did not 
 go nigh him, for the gods had warned Hector not to lead any 
 onslaught until Agamemnon had turned back from battle.' 
 
 ' But a Trojan warrior smote King Agamemnon on the mid- 
 arm, below the elbow, and the point of his spear went clean 
 through. Still he went through the ranks of the Trojans, slay- 
 ing with spear and sword. And then the blood dried upon 
 his wound and a sharp pain came upon him and he cried out, 
 "O friends and captains! It is not possible for me to war for 
 ever against the Trojans, but do you fight on to keep the battle 
 from our ships." His charioteer turned his horses, and they, 
 all covered with foam and grimed with dust, dashed back across 
 the plain bearing the wounded King from that day's battle.' 
 
 ' Then Hector sprang to the onslaught. Leaping into his 
 chariot he led the Trojans on. Nine captains of the Greeks he 
 slew in the first onset. Now their ranks would have been broken, 
 and the Greeks would have fled back to their ships if Odysseus 
 had not been on that wing of the battle with Diomedes, the great 
 horseman. Odysseus cried out, "Come hither, Diomedes, or 
 verily Hector will sweep us across the plain and bring the battle 
 down to our ships." ' 
 
 ' Then these two forced themselves through the press of battle 
 and held back the onset of Hector till the Greeks had their 
 chance to rally. Hector spied them and swept in his chariot 
 towards them. Diomedes lifted his great spear and flung it full 
 at Hector. The bronze of the spear struck the bronze of his 
 
70 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 helmet, and bronze by bronze was turned. The blow told upon 
 Hector. But he, springing from his chariot, stayed amongst 
 the press of warriors, resting himself on his hands and knees. 
 Darkness was before his eyes for a while, but he got breath again, 
 and leaping back into his chariot drove away from that danger- 
 ous place.' 
 
 ' Then Diomedes himself received a bitterer wound, for Paris, 
 sheltering himself behind a pillar on the plain, let fly an arrow 
 at him. It went clean through his right foot. Odysseus put 
 his shield before his friend and comrade, and Diomedes was able 
 to draw the arrow from his flesh. But Diomedes was fain to get 
 back into his chariot and to command his charioteer to drive 
 from the battle.' 
 
 ' Now Odysseus was the only one of the captains who stayed 
 on that side of the battle, and the ranks of the Trojans came on 
 and hemmed him round. One warrior struck at the centre of 
 his shield and through the shield the strong Trojan spear passed 
 and wounded the flesh of Odysseus. He slew the warrior who 
 had wounded him and he drew the spear from his flesh, but he 
 had to give ground. But loudly as any man ever cried, Odysseus 
 cried out to the other captains. And strong Aias heard him and 
 drew near, bearing his famous shield that was like a tower. The 
 Trojan warriors that were round him drew back at the coming 
 of Aias and Odysseus went from the press of battle, and mounting 
 his chariot drove away.' 
 
 ' Where Aias fought the Trojans gave way, and on that side of 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 71 
 
 the battle they were being driven back towards the City. But 
 suddenly upon Aias there fell an unaccountable dread. He cast 
 behind him his great shield, and he stood in a maze, like a wild 
 bull, turning this way and that, and slowly retreating before 
 those who pressed towards him. But now and again his valour 
 would come back and he would stand steadily and, with his 
 great shield, hold at bay the Trojans who were pressing towards 
 the ships. Arrows fell thick upon his shield, confusing his mind. 
 And Aias might have perished beneath the arrows if his comrades 
 had not drawn him to where they stood with shields sloping for 
 a shelter, and so saved him.' 
 
 ' All this time Hector was fighting on the left wing of the battle 
 against the Greeks, who were led by Nestor and Idomeneus. 
 And on this side Paris let fly an arrow that brought trouble 
 to the enemies of his father's City. He struck Machaon who 
 was the most skilled healer of wounds in the whole of the host. 
 And those who were around Machaon were fearful that the 
 Trojans would seize the stricken man and bear him away. Then 
 said Idomeneus, "Nestor, arise. Get Machaon into your chariot 
 and drive swiftly from the press of battle. A healer such as he 
 is worth the lives of many men. Save him alive so that we 
 may still have him to draw the arrows from our flesh and put 
 medicaments into our wounds." Then did Nestor lift the 
 healer into his chariot, and the charioteer turned the horses 
 and they too drove from the press of battle and towards the 
 hollow ships.' 
 
7 2 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 XIV 
 
 CHILLES, standing by the stern of his 
 great ship, saw the battle as it went this 
 way and that way, but his heart was not 
 at all moved with pity for the destruction 
 wrought upon the Greeks. He saw the 
 chariot of Nestor go dashing by, dragged 
 by sweating horses, and he knew that a 
 wounded man was in the chariot. When it had passed he 
 spoke to his dear friend Patroklos. 
 
 ' "Go now, Patroklos," he said, " and ask of Nestor who it is 
 that he has borne away from the battle." ' 
 
 '"I go, Achilles," Patroklos said, and even as he spoke he 
 started to run along the line of the ships and to the hut of Nestor.' 
 ' He stood before the door, and when old Nestor beheld him he 
 bade him enter. "Achilles sent me to you, revered Nestor," 
 said Patroklos, " to ask who it was you bore out of the battle 
 wounded. But I need not ask, for I see that it is none other 
 than Machaon, the best of our healers." ' 
 
 '"Why should Achilles concern himself with those who are 
 wounded in the fight with Hector?" said old Nestor. "He 
 does not care at all what evils befall the Greeks. But thou, 
 Patroklos, wilt be grieved to know that Diomedes and Odysseus 
 have been wounded, and that sore- wounded is Machaon whom 
 thou seest here. Ah, but Achilles will have cause to lament 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 73 
 
 when the host perishes beside our burning ships and when Hector 
 triumphs over all the Greeks." ' 
 
 ' Then the old man rose up and taking Patroklos by the hand 
 led him within the hut, and brought him to a bench beside which 
 lay Machaon, the wounded man.' 
 
 '"Patroklos," said Nestor, "speak thou to Achilles. Nay, 
 but thy father bade thee spake words of counsel to thy friend. 
 Did he not say to thee 'turn Achilles from harsh courses by 
 gentle words'? Remember now the words of thy father, 
 Patroklos, and if ever thou did'st speak to Achilles with gentle 
 wisdom speak to him now. Who knows but thy words might 
 stir up his spirit to take part in the battle we have to fight with 
 Hector?'" 
 
 1 "Nay, nay, old man," said Patroklos, "I may not speak to 
 Achilles to ask for such a thing." ' 
 
 HEN," said Nestor, "do thou thyself 
 enter the war and bring Achilles' Myr- 
 midons with thee. Then might we who 
 are wearied with fighting take breath. 
 And beg of Achilles to give you his 
 armour that you may wear it in the 
 battle. If thou would'st appear clad in 
 Achilles' bronze the Trojans would think that he had entered 
 the war again and they would not force the fight upon us." ' 
 
 ' What old Nestor said seemed good to Patroklos and he left 
 the hut and went back along the ships. And on his way he met 
 
74 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 Eurypylos, a sorely wounded man, dragging himself from the 
 battle, and Patroklos helped him back to his hut and cheered 
 him with discourse and laid healing herbs upon his wounds.' 
 
 ' And even as he left old Nestor's hut, Hector was before the 
 wall the Greeks had builded to guard their ships. On came the 
 Trojans against that wall, holding their shields of bulls' hides 
 before them. From the towers that were along the wall the 
 Greeks IhmgBpt stones upon the attackers.' 
 
 ' Over the Wst an eagle flew, holding in its talons a blood-red 
 serpent. The serpent struggled with the eagle and the eagle 
 with the serpent, and both had sorely wounded each other. 
 But as they flew over the host of Greeks and Trojans the serpent 
 struck at the eagle with his fangs, and the eagle, wounded in the 
 breast, dropped the serpent. Then were the Trojans in dread, 
 seeing the blood-red serpent across their path, for they thought 
 it was an omen from Zeus. They would have turned back from 
 the wall in fear for this omen had not Hector pressed them on. 
 "One omen is best, I know," he cried, "to fight a good fight for 
 our country. Forward then and bring the battle to those ships 
 that came to our coast against the will of the gods." ' 
 
 ' So Hector spoke. Then he lifted up a stone — such a stone 
 as not two of the best of men now living could as much as raise 
 from the ground — and he flung this stone full at the strongly- 
 set gate. It broke the hinges and the bars, and the great 
 gate fell under the weight of the tremendous stone. Then 
 Hector leaped across it with two spears in his hands. No 
 
76 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 warrior could withstand him now. And as the Trojans scaled 
 the walls and poured across the broken gate, the Greeks fled to 
 their ships in terror and dismay.' 
 
 . ' Patroklos saw the gate go down and the Trojans pour towards 
 the ships in a mass that was like a great rock rolling down a 
 cliff. Idomeneus and Aias led the Greeks who fought to hold 
 them back. Hector cast a spear at Aias and struck him where 
 the belt of his shield and the belt of his sword crossed. Aias 
 was not wounded by the stroke. Then Aias cast at Hector a 
 great stone that was used to prop a ship. He struck him on the 
 breast, just over the rim of his shield. Under the weight of that 
 blow great Hector spun round like a tQ£>. The spear fell from 
 his hands and the bronze of his shield and helmet rang as he fell 
 on the ground.' 
 
 ' Then the Greeks dashed up to where Hector lay, hoping to 
 drag him amongst them. But his comrades placed their shields 
 around him and drove back the warriors that were pressing 
 round. They lifted Hector into his chariot, and his charioteer 
 drove him from the place of battle groaning heavily from the 
 hurt of that terrible blow.' 
 
 ' Now the Greeks rallied and came on with a shout, driving the 
 Trojans back before them. The swift horses under Hector's 
 chariot brought him out on the plain. They who were with 
 him lifted him out, and Hector lay gasping for breath and with 
 black blood gushing from him. And then as he lay there 
 stricken he heard the voice of a god — even of Apollo — saying, 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 77 
 
 "Hector, son of Priam, why dost thou lie fainting, apart from 
 the host? Dost thou not know that the battle is desperate? 
 Take up thy spirit again. Bid thy charioteer drive thee towards 
 the ships of the Greeks." ' 
 
 ' Then Hector rose and went amongst the ranks of his men and 
 roused up their spirits and led them back to the wall. And 
 when the Greeks saw Hector in fighting trim again, going up 
 and down the ranks of his men, they were affrighted.' 
 
 ' He mounted his chariot and he shouted to the others, and the 
 Trojan charioteers lashed their horses and they came on like a 
 great wave. They crossed the broken wall again and came near 
 the ships. Then many of the Greeks got into their ships and 
 struck at those who came near with long pikes.' 
 
 ' And all around the ships companies of Greek warriors stood 
 like rocks that the sea breaks against in vain. Nestor cried out 
 to the Greeks, bidding them fight like heroes, or else lose in the 
 burning ships all hope of return to their native land. Aias, a 
 long pike in his hand, drove multitudes of Trojans back, while, 
 in a loud voice, he put courage into the Greeks. Hector fought 
 his way forward crying to the Trojans to bring fire to the ships 
 that had come to their coast against the will of the gods.' 
 
 ' He came to the first of the ships and laid his hand upon its 
 stern. Many fought against him there. Swords and spears 
 and armour fell on the ground, some from the hands, some off 
 the shoulders of warring men, and the black earth was red with 
 blood. But Hector was not driven away from the ship. And 
 
78 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 he shouted "Bring fire that we may burn the ships that have 
 brought the enemy to our land. The woes we have suffered 
 were because of the cowardice of the elders of the City — they 
 would not let me bring my warriors here and bring battle down 
 to the ships when first they came to our beach. Do not let us 
 return to the City until we have burned the ships with fire." ' 
 
 ' But whoever brought fire near the ship was stricken by strong 
 Aias who stood there with a long pike in his hands. Now all 
 this time Patroklos sat in the hut of Eurypylos, the wounded 
 man he had succoured, cheering him with discourse and laying 
 healing herbs on his wounds. But when he saw fire being brought 
 to the ships he rose up and said, ''Eurypylos, no longer may I 
 stay here although great is your need of attendance. I must 
 get aid for our warriors." Straightway he ran from the hut and 
 came to where Achilles was.' 
 
 '"If thy heart, Achilles," he said, "is still hard against the 
 Greeks, and if thou wilt not come to their aid, let me go into the 
 fight and let me take with me thy company of Myrmidons. 
 And O Achilles, grant me another thing. Let me wear thine 
 armour and thy helmet so that the Trojans will believe for a 
 while that Achilles has come back into the battle. Then would 
 they flee before me and our warriors would be given a breathing- 
 time." ' 
 
 1 Said Achilles, "I have declared that I shall not cease from my 
 wrath until the Trojans come to my own ships. But thou, 
 Patroklos, dear friend, may'st go into the battle. All thou hast 
 
80 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 asked shall be freely given to thee — my Myrmidons to lead and 
 my armour to wear, and even my chariot and my immortal 
 horses. Drive the Trojans from the ships. But when thou 
 hast driven them from the ships, return to this hut. Do not go 
 near the City. Return, I bid thee, Patroklos, when the Trojans 
 are no longer around the ships, and leave it to others to battle 
 on the plain." ' 
 
 ' Then Patroklos put on the armour that Zeus had given to 
 Achilles' father, Peleus. Round his shoulders he cast the sword 
 of bronze with its studs of silver, and upon his head he put the 
 helmet with its high horse-hair crest — the terrible helmet of 
 Achilles. Then Achilles bade the charioteer yoke the horses to 
 the chariot — the horses, Xanthos and Balios, that were also gifts 
 from the gods. And while all this was being done Achilles went 
 amongst the Myrmidons, making them ready for the battle and 
 bidding them remember all the threats they had uttered against 
 the Trojans in the time when they had been kept from the 
 fight.' 
 
 ' Then he went back to his hut and opening the chest that his 
 mother, Thetis, had given him he took from it a four-handled 
 cup — ■ a cup that no one drank out of but Achilles himself. Then 
 pouring wine into this cup and holding it towards Heaven, 
 Achilles prayed to Zeus, the greatest of the gods : 
 " My comrade I send to the war, far-seeing Zeus : 
 May'st strengthen his heart, O Zeus, that all triumph be his : 
 But when from the ships he hath driven the spear of our foes, 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 81 
 
 Out of the turmoil of battle may he to me return 
 Scathless, with arms and his comrades who fight hand to hand." 
 ' So Achilles prayed, and the Myrmidons beside their ships 
 shouted in their eagerness to join in the battle.' 
 
 XV 
 
 [O was the first of the great Trojan 
 Champions to go down before the onset 
 of Patroklos? The first was Sarpedon 
 who had come with an army to help 
 Hector from a City beyond Troy. He 
 saw the Myrmidons fight round the ships 
 and break the ranks of the Trojans and 
 quench the fire on the half-burnt ship. He saw that the war- 
 rior who had the appearance of Achilles affrighted the Trojans 
 so that they turned their horses' heads towards the City. The 
 Myrmidons swept on with Patroklos at their head. Now when 
 he saw him rushing down from the ships Sarpedon threw a 
 dart at Patroklos. The dart did not strike him. Then Patro- 
 klos flung a spear and struck Sarpedon even at the heart. He 
 fell dead from his chariot and there began a battle for his body 
 — the Trojans would have carried it into the City, so that they 
 might bury with all honour the man who had helped them, and 
 the Greeks would have carried it away, so that, having his body 
 and his armour, the slaying of Sarpedon might be more of a 
 triumph for them.' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 83 
 
 ' So a battle for his body went on. Now Sarpedon's comrade, 
 Glaukos, sought out Hector, who was fighting in another part of 
 the battle-field, and he spoke to him reproachfully. "Hector," 
 he said, "art thou utterly forgetful of those who came from their 
 own country to help thee to protect thy father's City ? Sarpedon 
 has fallen, and Achilles' Myrmidons would strip him of his armour 
 and bring his body to the ships that their triumph over him may 
 be greater still. Disgraceful will it be to thee, Hector, if they 
 win that triumph." ' 
 
 ' Hector, when this was said to him, did not delay, but came 
 straight to the spot where Sarpedon had been slain. The Greek 
 who had laid hands upon the body he instantly slew. But as he 
 fought on it suddenly seemed to Hector that the gods had re- 
 solved to give victory to the Greeks, and his spirit grew weary 
 and hopeless within him. He turned his horses' heads towards 
 the City and galloped from the press of battle. Then the Trojans 
 who were fighting round it fled from the body of Sarpedon, and 
 the Greeks took it and stripped it of its armour and carried the 
 body to their ships.' 
 
 ' It was then that Patroklos forgot the command of Achilles — 
 the command that he was not to bring the battle beyond the 
 ships and that he was to return when the Trojans were beaten 
 towards their City. Patroklos forgot all that, and he shouted 
 to the immortal horses, Xanthos and Balios, that drew his chariot, 
 and, slaying warrior after warrior he swept across the plain and 
 came to the very gates of Troy.' 
 
84 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 ' Now Hector was within the gates and had not yet left his 
 chariot. Then there came and stood before him one who was 
 thought to be the god Apollo, but who then had the likeness of 
 a mortal man. "Hector," said he, "why hast thou ceased from 
 the fight ? Behold, Patroklos is without the gate of thy father's 
 City. Turn thy horses against him now and strive to slay him, 
 and may the gods give thee glory." ' 
 
 ' Then Hector bade his charioteer drive his horses through the 
 gate and into the press of battle. He drew near to Patroklos, 
 and Patroklos, leaping down from his chariot, seized a great 
 stone and flung it at Hector's charioteer. It struck him on the 
 brow and hurled him from the chariot.' 
 
 'Hector too leaped from the chariot and took his sword in 
 hand. Their men joined Patroklos and joined Hector and the 
 battle began beside the body of Hector's charioteer. Three 
 times did Patroklos rush against the ranks of the Trojans and 
 nine warriors did he slay at each onset. But the doom of Patro- 
 klos was nigh. A warrior smote him in the back and struck the 
 helmet from his head. With its high horse-hair crest it rolled 
 beneath the hooves of the horses. Who was it smote Prince 
 Patroklos then? Men said it was the god Apollo who would 
 not have the sacred City of Troy taken until the time the gods 
 had willed it to fall.' 
 
 ' The spear fell from his hands, the great shield that Achilles 
 had given him dropped on the ground, and all in amaze Patroklos 
 stood. He gave ground and retreated towards his comrades. 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 85 
 
 Then did Hector deal him the stroke that slew. With his great 
 spear he struck and drove it through the body of Patroklos.' 
 
 'Then did Hector exult crying, "Patroklos, thou didst swear 
 that thou wouldst sack our sacred City and that thou wouldst 
 take from our people their day of freedom. Now thou hast 
 fallen and our City need not dread thee ever any more ! " ' 
 
 'Then said Patroklos, "Thou mayst boast now, Hector, al- 
 though it was not thy stroke that slew me. Apollo's stroke it 
 was that sent me down. Boast of my slaying as thou wilt, but 
 hear my saying and keep it in thy heart : Thy fate too is meas- 
 ured and thee Achilles will slay." ' 
 
 UT Hector did not heed what the dying 
 Patroklos said. He took from his body 
 the armour of Achilles that had been a 
 gift from the gods. The body too he 
 would have brought within the City that 
 his triumph might be greater, but now 
 Aias came to where Patroklos had fallen 
 and over the body he placed his great shield. The fight went 
 on and Hector, withdrawing himself to the plain, put upon 
 himself the armour he had stripped off the body of Patroklos. 
 The armour fitted every limb and joint and as he put it on 
 more courage and strength than ever yet he had felt came into 
 the soul of Hector.' 
 
 'And the immortal steeds that Patroklos had driven, having 
 galloped from the battle, stood apart and would not move for 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 87 
 
 all that their charioteer would do. They stood apart with their 
 heads bowed, and tears flowed from their eyes down on the ground. 
 And Zeus, the greatest of the gods, saw them and had pity upon 
 them and spoke to himself saying, " Ah, immortal steeds, why did 
 I give ye to king Peleus, whose generations die while ye remain 
 young and undying ? Was it that ye should know the sorrows 
 that befall mortal men ? Pitiful, indeed, is the lot of all men upon 
 the earth. Even Hector now, who boasteth in the armour that 
 the gods once gave, will shortly go down to his death and the City 
 he defendeth will be burned with fire." ' 
 
 ' So saying he put courage into the hearts of the immortal steeds 
 and they went where the charioteer would have them go, and they 
 came safely out of the battle.' 
 
 ' Now Hector, with the armour of Achilles upon him, gathered 
 his companies together and brought them up to the battle to 
 win and carry away the body of Patroklos. But each one who 
 laid hands upon that body was instantly slain by Aias. All day 
 the battle went on, for the Greeks would say to each other, " Com- 
 rades, let the earth yawn and swallow us rather than let the 
 Trojans carry off the body of Patroklos." And on their side the 
 Trojans would say, " Friends, rather let us all be slain together 
 beside this man than let one of us go backward now." ' 
 
 1 Now Nestor's son, Antilochos, who was fighting on the left 
 of the battlefield, heard of the slaying of Patroklos. His eyes 
 filled with tears and his voice was choked with grief and he 
 dashed out of the battle to bring the grievous tidings to the hut 
 
88 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 of Achilles. "Fallen is Patroklos," he cried, "and Greeks and 
 Trojans are fighting around his body. And his body is naked 
 now, for Hector has stripped the armour from it." ' 
 
 HEN Achilles fainted away, and his head 
 lay in the ashes of his hut. He woke 
 again and moaned terribly. His goddess- 
 mother heard the sound of his grief as she 
 sat within the depths of the Ocean. She 
 came to him as he was still moaning ter- 
 ribly. She took his hand and clasped it 
 and said, "My child, why weep'st thou?" Achilles ceased his 
 moaning and answered, "Patroklos, my dear friend, has been 
 slain. Now I shall have no joy in my life save the joy of slay- 
 ing Hector who slew my friend." ' 
 
 ' Thetis, his goddess-mother, wept when she heard such speech 
 from Achilles. "Short-lived you will be, my son," she said, "for 
 it is appointed by the gods that after the death of Hector your 
 death will come." ' 
 
 1 "Straightway then let me die," said Achilles, "since I let my 
 friend die without giving him help. O that I had not let my 
 wrath overcome my spirit ! Here I stayed, a useless burthen on 
 the earth, while my comrades and my own dear friend fought for 
 their country — • here I stayed, I who am the best of all the 
 Greeks. But now let me go into the battle and let the Trojans 
 know that Achilles has come back, although he tarried long." ' 
 '"But thine armour, my son," said Thetis. "Thou hast no 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 89 
 
 armour now to protect thee in the battle. Go not into it until 
 thou seest me again. In the morning I shall return and I shall 
 bring thee armour that Hephaistos, the smith of the gods, shall 
 make for thee." ' 
 
 ' So she spoke, and she turned from her son, and she went to 
 Olympus where the gods have their dwellings.' 
 
 ' Now darkness had come down on those who battled round the 
 body of Patroklos, and in that darkness more Greeks than Tro- 
 jans were slain. It seemed to the Greeks that Zeus had resolved 
 to give the victory to the Trojans and not to them, and they were 
 dismayed. But four Greek heroes lifted up the body and put it 
 upon their shoulders, and Aias and his brother stood facing the 
 Trojans, holding them back while the four tried to bear the body 
 away. The Trojans pressed on, striking with swords and axes, 
 but like a wooded ridge that stretches across a plain and holds 
 back a mighty flood, Aias and his brother held their ground.' 
 
 ' Achilles still lay in his hut, moaning in his grief, and the ser- 
 vants raised loud lamentations outside the hut. „The day wore 
 on and the battle went on and Hector strove against Aias and 
 his brother. Then the figure of a goddess appeared before 
 Achilles as he lay on the ground. "Rouse thee, Achilles," she 
 said, "or Hector will drag into Troy the body of thy friend, 
 Patroklos." ' 
 
 ' Said Achilles, " Goddess Iris, how may I go into the battle 
 since the Trojans hold the armour that should protect me?" ' 
 
 ' Said Iris, the Messenger of the gods, " Go down to the wall as 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 91 
 
 thou art and show thyself to the men of Troy, and it may be that 
 they will shrink back on seeing thee and hearing thy voice, and 
 so give those who defend the body of Patroklos a breathing- 
 spell.'" 
 
 ' So she said and departed. Then Achilles arose and went down 
 to the wall that had been built around the ships. He stood upon 
 the wall and shouted across the trench, and friends and foes saw 
 him and heard his voice. Around his head a flame of fire arose 
 such as was never seen before around the head of a mortal man. 
 And seeing the flame of fire around his head and hearing his 
 terrible voice the Trojans were affrighted and stood still. Then 
 the Greeks took up the body of Patroklos and laid it on a litter 
 and bore it out of the battle.' 
 
 XVI 
 
 OW Thetis, the mother of Achilles, went 
 to Olympus where the gods have their 
 dwellings and to the house of Hephaistos, 
 the smith of the gods. That house shone 
 above all the houses on Olympus because 
 Hephaistos himself had made it of shining 
 bronze. And inside the house there were 
 wonders — handmaidens that were not living but that were 
 made out of gold and made with such wondrous skill that 
 they waited upon Hephaistos and served and helped him as 
 though they were living maids.' 
 
92 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 ' Hephaistos was lame and crooked of foot and went limping. 
 He and Thetis were friends from of old time, for, when his mother 
 would have forsaken him because of his crooked foot, Thetis 
 and her sister reared him within one of the Ocean's caves and it 
 was while he was with them that he began to work in metals. 
 So the lame god was pleased to see Thetis in his dwelling and he 
 welcomed her and clasped her hand and asked of her what she 
 would have him do for her.' 
 
 'Then Thetis, weeping, told him of her son Achilles, how he had 
 lost his dear friend and how he was moved to go into the battle 
 to fight with Hector, and how he was without armour to protect 
 his life, seeing that the armour that the gods had once given his 
 father was now in the hands of his foe. And Thetis besought 
 Hephaistos to make new armour for her son that he might go 
 into the battle.' 
 
 ' She no sooner finished speaking than Hephaistos went to his 
 work-bench and set his bellows — twenty were there — work- 
 ing. And the twenty bellows blew into the crucibles and made 
 bright and hot fires. Then Hephaistos threw into the fires 
 bronze and tin and silver and gold. He set on the anvil-stand 
 a great anvil, and took in one hand his hammer and in the other 
 hand his tongs.' 
 
 ' For the armour of Achilles he made first a shield and then a 
 corselet that gleamed like fire. And he made a strong helmet to go 
 on the head and shining greaves to wear on the ankles. The 
 shield was made with five folds, one fold of metal upon the other, 
 
94 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 so that it was so strong and thick that no spear or arrow could 
 pierce it. And upon this shield he hammered out images that 
 were a wonder to men.' 
 
 ' The first were images of the sun and the moon and of the stars 
 that the shepherds and the seamen watch — the Pleiades and 
 Hyads and Orion and the Bear that is also called the Wain. And 
 below he hammered out the images of two cities : in one there 
 were people going to feasts and playing music and dancing and 
 giving judgements in the market-place : the other was a city 
 besieged : there were warriors on the walls and there was an 
 army marching out of the gate to give battle to those that be- 
 sieged them. And below the images of the cities he made a 
 picture of a ploughed field, with ploughmen driving their yokes of 
 oxen along the furrows, and with men bringing them cups of wine. 
 And he made a picture of another field where men were reaping 
 and boys were gathering the corn, where there was a servant 
 beneath an oak tree making ready a feast, and women making 
 ready barley for a supper for the men who were reaping, and a 
 King standing apart and watching all, holding a staff in his 
 hands and rejoicing at all he saw.' 
 
 ' And another image he made of a vineyard, with clusters of 
 grapes that showed black, and with the vines hanging from silver, 
 poles. And he showed maidens and youths in the vineyard, 
 gathering the grapes into baskets, and one amongst them, a boy, 
 who played on the viol. Beside the image of the vineyard he 
 made images of cattle, with herdsmen, and with nine dogs guarding 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 95 
 
 them. But he showed two lions that had come up and had seized 
 the bull of the herd, and the dogs and men strove to drive them 
 away but were affrighted. And beside the image of the oxen 
 he made the image of a pasture land, with sheep in it, and sheep- 
 folds and roofed huts.' 
 
 1 He made yet another picture — a dancing-place with youths 
 and maidens dancing, their hands upon each others' hands. 
 Beautiful dresses and wreaths of flowers the maidens had on, and 
 the youths had daggers of gold hanging from their silver belts. 
 A great company stood around those who were dancing, and 
 amongst them there was a minstrel who played on the 
 lyre.' 
 
 ' Then all around the rim of the shield Hephaistos, the lame god, 
 set an image of Ocean, whose stream goes round the world. Not 
 long was he in making the shield and the other wonderful pieces 
 of armour. As soon as the armour was ready Thetis put her 
 hands upon it, and flying down from Olympus like a hawk, 
 brought it to the feet of Achilles, her son.' 
 
 ' And Achilles, when he saw the splendid armour that Hephaistos 
 the lame god had made for him, rose up from where he lay and 
 took the wonderfully-wrought piece in his hands. And he began 
 to put the armour upon him, and none of the Myrmidons who 
 were around could bear to look upon it, because it shone with 
 such brightness and because it had all the marks of being the 
 work of a god.' 
 
9 6 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 XVII 
 
 HEN Achilles put his shining armour upon 
 him and it fitted him as though it were 
 wings ; he put the wonderful shield before 
 him and he took in his hands the great 
 spear that Cheiron the Centaur had given 
 to Peleus his father — that spear that no 
 one else but Achilles could wield. He 
 bade his charioteer harness the immortal horses Xanthos and 
 Balios. Then as he mounted his chariot Achilles spoke to the 
 horses. "Xanthos and Balios," he said, "this time bring the 
 hero that goes with you back safely to the ships, and do not 
 leave him dead on the plain as ye left the hero Patroklos." ' 
 
 ' Then Xanthos the immortal steed spoke, answering for him- 
 self and his comrade. "Achilles," he said, with his head bowed 
 and his mane touching the ground, "Achilles, for this time we 
 will bring thee safely back from the battle. But a day will come 
 when we shall not bring thee back, when thou too shalt lie with 
 the dead before the walls of Troy." ' 
 
 ' Then was Achilles troubled and he said, "Xanthos, my steed, 
 why dost thou remind me by thy prophecies of what I know 
 already — that my death too is appointed, and that I am to 
 perish here, far from my father and my mother and my own 
 land." ' 
 ^ ' Then he drove his immortal horses into the battle. The 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 97 
 
 Trojans were affrighted when they saw Achilles himself in the 
 fight, blazing in the armour that Hephaistos had made for him. 
 They went backward before his onset. And Achilles shouted 
 to the captains of the Greeks, "No longer stand apart from the 
 men of Troy, but go with me into the battle and let each man 
 throw his whole soul into the fight." ' 
 
 ' And on the Trojan side Hector cried to his captains and said, 
 "Do not let Achilles drive you before him. Even though his hands 
 are as irresistible as fire and his fierceness as terrible as flashing 
 steel, I shall go against him and face him with my spear." ' 
 
 ' But Achilles went on, and captain after captain of the Trojans 
 went down before him. Now amongst the warriors whom he 
 caught sight of in the fight was Polydoros, the brother of Hector 
 and the youngest of all King Priam's sons. Priam forbade him 
 ever to go into the battle because he loved him as he would love 
 a little child. But Polydoros had gone in this day, trusting 
 to his fleetness of foot to escape with his life. Achilles saw him 
 and pursued him and slew him with the spear. Hector saw the 
 death of his brother. Then he could no longer endure to stand 
 aside to order the battle. He came straight up to where Achilles 
 was brandishing his great spear. And when Achilles saw Hector 
 before him he cried out, "Here is the man who most deeply 
 wounded my soul, who slew my dear friend Patroklos. Now 
 shall we two fight each other and Patroklos shall be avenged by 
 me." And he shouted to Hector, "Now Hector, the day of thy 
 triumph and the day of thy life is at its end." ' 
 
98 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 'But Hector answered him without fear, "Not with words, 
 Achilles, can you affright me. Yet I know that thou art a man 
 of might and a stronger man than I. But the fight between us 
 depends upon the will of the gods. I shall do my best against 
 thee, and my spear before this has been found to have a danger- 
 ous edge." ' 
 
 ' He spoke and lifted up his spear and flung it at Achilles. Then 
 the breath of a god turned Hector's spear aside, for it was not 
 appointed that either he or Achilles should be then slain. Achil- 
 les darted at Hector to slay him with his spear. But a god hid 
 Hector from Achilles in a thick mist.' 
 
 ' Then in a rage Achilles drove his chariot into the ranks of the 
 war and many great captains he slew. He came to Skamandros, 
 the river that flows across the plain before the city of Troy. And 
 so many men did he slay in it that the river rose in anger against 
 him for choking its waters with the bodies of men.' 
 
 ' Then on towards the City, he went like a fire raging through 
 a glen that had been parched with heat. Now on a tower of the 
 walls of Troy, Priam the old King stood, and he saw the Trojans 
 coming in a rout towards the City, and he saw Achilles in his 
 armour blazing like a star — like that star that is seen at harvest 
 time and is called Orion's Dog; the star that is the brightest of 
 all stars, but yet is a sign of evil. And the old man Priam sorrowed 
 greatly as he stood upon the tower and watched Achilles, because 
 he knew in his heart whom this man would slay — Hector, his son, 
 the protector of his City.' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 99 
 
 XVIII 
 
 s 
 
 O much of the story of Achilles did Tele- 
 machus, the son of Odysseus, hear from 
 the lips of King Menelaus as he sat with 
 his comrade Peisistratus in the King's 
 f easting-hall. And more would Menelaus 
 have told them then if Helen, his wife, 
 had not been seen to weep. 'Why weepst 
 thou, Helen?' said Menelaus. 'Ah, surely I know. It is be- 
 cause the words that tell of the death of Hector are sorrowful 
 to thee.' 
 
 And Helen, the lovely lady, said 'Never did Prince Hector 
 speak a hard or a harsh word to me in all the years I was in his 
 father's house. And if anyone upbraided me he would come and 
 speak gentle words to me. Ah, greatly did I lament for the 
 death of noble Hector ! After his wife and his mother I wept 
 the most for him. And when one speaks of his slaying I can- 
 not help but weep.' 
 
 Said Menelaus, 'Relieve your heart of its sorrow, Helen, by 
 praising Hector to this youth and by telling your memories of 
 him.' 
 
 'To-morrow I shall do so,' said the lady Helen. She went 
 with her maids from the hall and the servants took Telemachus 
 and Peisistratus to their sleeping places. 
 The next day they sat in the banqueting hall ; King Mene- 
 
ioo THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 laus and Telemachus and Peisistratus, and the lady Helen came 
 amongst them. Her handmaidens brought into the hall her sil- 
 ver work-basket that had wheels beneath it with rims of gold, and 
 her golden distaff that, with the basket, had been presents from 
 the wife of the King of Egypt. And Helen sat in her chair and 
 took the distaff in her hands and worked on the violet-coloured 
 wool that was in her basket. And as she worked she told Tele- 
 machus of Troy and of its guardian, Hector. 
 
 AID Helen, ' The old men were at the gate 
 of the City talking over many things, and 
 King Priam was amongst them. It was 
 in the days when Achilles first quarrelled 
 with King Agamemnon. ''Come hither, 
 my daughter," said King Priam to me, 
 "and sit by me and tell me who the war- 
 riors are who now come out upon the plain. You have seen 
 them all before, and I would have you tell me who such and such 
 a one is. Who is yon hero who seems so mighty ? I have seen 
 men who were more tall than he by a head, but I have never 
 seen a man who looked more royal." ' 
 
 ' I said to King Priam. " The hero whom you look upon is the 
 leader of the host of the Greeks. He is the renowned King 
 Agamemnon." ' 
 
 ' " He looks indeed a King," said Priam. "Tell me now who the 
 other warrior is who is shorter by a head than King Agamemnon, 
 but who is broader of chest and shoulder." ' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 101 
 
 ' " He is Odysseus," I said, " who was reared in rugged Ithaka, 
 but who is wise above all the Kings." ' 
 
 'And an old man, Antenor, who was by us said, "That indeed 
 is Odysseus. I remember that he and Menelaus came on an 
 embassy to the assembly of the Trojans. When they both 
 stood up, Menelaus seemed the greater man, but when they 
 sat down Odysseus seemed by far the most stately. When 
 they spoke in the assembly, Menelaus was ready and skilful of 
 speech. Odysseus when he spoke held his staff stiffly in his 
 hands and fixed his eyes on the ground. We thought by the 
 look of him then that he was a man of no understanding. But 
 when he began to speak we saw that no one could match Odys- 
 seus — ■ his words came like snow-flakes in winter and his voice 
 was very resonant." ' 
 
 'And Priam said, "Who is that huge warrior? I think he is 
 taller and broader than any of the rest." ' 
 
 '"Heis great Aias," I said, "who is as a bulwarkfor the Greeks. 
 And beside him stands Idomeneus, who has come from the Island 
 of Crete. Around him stand the Cretan captains." So I spoke, 
 but my heart was searching for a sight of my own two brothers. 
 I did not see them in any of the companies. Had they come 
 with the host, I wondered, and were they ashamed to be seen 
 with the warriors on account of my wrong-doing? I wondered 
 as I looked for them. Ah, I did not know that even then my two 
 dear brothers were dead, and that the earth of their own dear 
 land held them.' 
 
io2 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 ' Hector came to the gate and the wives and daughters of the 
 Trojans came running to him, asking for news of their husbands 
 or sons or brothers, whether they were killed or whether they 
 were coming back from the battle. .He spoke to them all and 
 went to his own house. But Andromache, his wife, was not 
 there, and the housedame told him that she had gone to the 
 great tower by the wall of the City to watch the battle and that 
 the nurse had gone with her, bringing their infant child. 
 
 ' So Hector went down the street and came to the gate where 
 we were, and Andromache his wife came to meet him. With her 
 was the nurse who carried the little child that the folk of the city 
 named Astyanax, calling him, 'King of the City' because his 
 father was their city's protector. Hector stretched out his arms 
 to the little boy whom the nurse carried. But the child shrank 
 away from him, because he was frightened of the great helmet 
 on his father's head with its horse-hair crest. Then Hector 
 laughed and Andromache laughed with him, and Hector took off 
 his great helmet and laid it on the ground. Then he took up his 
 little son and dandled him in his arms, and prayed, "O Zeus, 
 greatest of the gods, grant that this son of mine may become 
 valiant, and that, like me, he may be protector of the City and 
 thereafter a great King, so that men may say of him as he returns 
 from battle, 'Far greater is he than was Hector his father.'" 
 Saying this he left the child back in his nurse's arms. And to 
 Andromache, his wife, who that day was very fearful, he said 
 "Dear one, do not be over sorrowful. You urge me not to go 
 
f 
 
 /ervaay 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 every day into the battle, but some days to stay behind the walls. 
 But my own spirit forbids me to stay away from battle, for 
 always I have taught myself to be valiant and to fight in the 
 forefront." ' 
 
 ' So he said and he put on his helmet again and went to order 
 his men. And his wife went towards the house, looking back at 
 him often and letting her tears fall down. Thou knowst from 
 Menelaus' story what triumphs Hector had thereafter — how 
 he drove the Greeks back to their ships and affrighted them with 
 his thousand watch-fires upon the plain ; how he drove back the 
 host that Agamemnon led when Diomedes and Odysseus and 
 Machaon the healer were wounded ; how he broke through the 
 wall that the Greeks had builded and brought fire to their ships, 
 and how he slew Patroklos in the armour of Achilles.' 
 
 XIX 
 
 ING PRIAM on his tower saw Achilles 
 come raging across the plain and he cried 
 out to Hector, "Hector, beloved son, do 
 not await this man's onset but come 
 within the City's walls. Come within 
 that thou mayst live and be a protection 
 to the men and women of Troy. And 
 
 come within that thou mayst save thy father who must perish 
 
 if thou art slain." ' 
 
 'But Hector would not come within the walls of the City. He 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 105 
 
 stood holding his shield against a jutting tower in the wall. And 
 all around him were the Trojans, who came pouring in through 
 the gate without waiting to speak to each other to ask who were 
 yet living and who were slain. And as he stood there he was say- 
 ing in his heart, "The fault is mine that the Trojans have been 
 defeated upon the plain. I kept them from entering the City 
 last night against the counsel of a wise man, for in my pride I 
 thought it would be easy to drive Achilles and the Greeks back 
 again and defeat them utterly and destroy their hopes of return. 
 Now are the Trojans defeated and dishonoured and many have 
 lost their lives through my pride. Now the women of Troy will 
 say, 'Hector, by trusting to his own might, has brought destruc- 
 tion upon the whole host and our husbands and sons and brothers 
 have perished because of him.' Rather than hear them say this 
 I shall face Achilles and slay him and save the City, or, if it must 
 be, perish by his spear." ' 
 
 ' When Achilles came near him Hector spoke to him and said 
 "My heart bids me stand against thee although thou art a 
 mightier man than I. But before we go into battle let us take 
 pledges, one from the other, with the gods to witness, that, if I 
 should slay thee, I shall strip thee of thine armour but I shall not 
 carry thy body into the City but shall give it to thine own friends 
 to treat with all honour, and that, if thou should slay me, thou 
 shalt give my body to my friends." ' 
 
 'But Achilles said, "Between me and thee there can be no 
 pledges. Fight, and fight with all thy soldiership, for now I shall 
 
106 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 strive to make thee pay for all the sorrow thou hast brought to 
 me because of the slaying of Patroklos, my friend." ' 
 
 ' He spoke and raised his spear and flung it. But with his 
 quickness Hector avoided Achilles' spear. And he raised his 
 own, saying, "Thou hast missed me, and not yet is the hour of 
 my doom. Now it is thy turn to stand before my spear." ' 
 
 'He flung it, but the wonderful shield of Achilles turned Hector's 
 spear and it fell on the ground. Then was Hector downcast, for 
 he had no other spear. He drew his sword and sprang at Achilles. 
 But the helmet and shield of Achilles let none of Hector's great 
 strokes touch his body. And Achilles got back into his hands 
 his own great spear, and he stood guarding himself with his shield 
 and watching Hector for a spot to strike him on. Now in the 
 armour that Hector wore — the armour that he had stripped off 
 Patroklos — ■ there was a point at the neck where there was an 
 opening. As Hector came on Achilles drove at his neck with his 
 spear and struck him and Hector fell in the dust.' 
 
 ' Then Achilles stripped from him the armour that Patroklos 
 had worn. The other captains of the Greeks came up and looked 
 at Hector where he lay and all marvelled at his size and strength 
 and goodliness. And Achilles dragged the body at his chariot 
 and drove away towards the ships.' 
 
 ' Hector's mother, standing on the tower on the wall, saw all that 
 was done and she broke into a great cry. And all the women of 
 Troy took up the cry and wailed for Prince Hector who had 
 guarded them and theirs from the foe. Andromache, his wife, 
 
§5 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 107 
 
 did not know the terrible thing that had happened. She was 
 in an inner chamber of Hector's house, weaving a great web of 
 cloth and broidering it with flowers, and she had ordered her 
 handmaidens to heat water for the bath, so that Hector might 
 refresh himself when he came in from the fight. But now 
 she heard the wail of the women of Troy. Fear came upon 
 her, for she knew that such wailing was for the best of their 
 warriors.' 
 
 ' She ran from her chamber and out into the street and came 
 to the battlements where the people stood watching. She saw 
 the chariot of Achilles dashing off towards the ships and she 
 knew that it dragged the dead body of Hector. Then darkness 
 came before her eyes and she fainted away. Her husband's 
 sisters and his brothers' wives thronged round her and lifted her 
 up. And at last her life came back to her and she wailed for 
 Hector, "O my husband," she cried, "for misery were we two 
 born ! Now thou hast been slain by Achilles and I am left 
 husbandless ! And ah, woe for our young child ! Hard-hearted 
 strangers shall oppress him when he lives amongst people that 
 care not for him or his. And he will come weeping to me, 
 his widowed mother, who will live forever sorrowful think- 
 ing upon where thou liest, Hector, by the ships of those who 
 slew thee." ' 
 
 'So Andromache spoke and all the women of Troy joined 
 in her grief and wept for great Hector who had protected their 
 city.' 
 
io8 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 XX 
 
 OW that Hector was dead, King Priam, his 
 father, had only one thought in his mind, 
 and that was to get his body from Achil- 
 les and bring it into the City so that it 
 might be treated with the honour befit- 
 ting the man who had been the guardian 
 of Troy. And while he sat in his grief, 
 thinking of his noble son lying so far from those who would 
 have wept over him, behold ! there appeared before him Iris, 
 the messenger of Zeus, the greatest of the Gods. Iris said to 
 him, "King, thou mayst ransom from Achilles the body of 
 Hector, thy noble son. Go thou thyself to the hut of Achilles 
 and bring with thee great gifts to offer him. Take with thee a 
 wagon that thou mayst bring back in it the body, and let only 
 one old henchman go with thee to drive the mules." ' 
 
 ' Then Priam, when he heard this, arose and went into his treas- 
 ure chamber and took out of his chests twelve beautiful robes; 
 twelve bright-coloured cloaks ; twelve soft coverlets and ten 
 talents of gold ; he took, too, four cauldrons and two tripods and 
 a wonderful goblet that the men of Thrace had given him 
 when they had come on an embassy to his city. Then he 
 called upon his sons and he bade them make ready the wagon 
 and load it with the treasures he had brought out of his treasure- 
 chamber.' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 109 
 
 1 When the wagon was loaded and the mules were yoked under 
 it, and when Priam and his henchman had mounted the seats, 
 Hekabe, the queen, Priam's wife and the mother of Hector, came 
 with wine and with a golden cup that they might pour out an 
 offering to the gods before they went on their journey ; that they 
 might know whether the gods indeed favoured it, or whether 
 Priam himself was not going into danger. King Priam took the 
 cup from his wife and he poured out wine from it, and looking 
 towards heaven he prayed, "O Father Zeus, grant that I may 
 find welcome under Achilles' roof, and send, if thou wilt, a bird of 
 omen, so that seeing it with mine own eyes I may go on my way 
 trusting that no harm will befall me." ' 
 
 ' He prayed, and straightway a great eagle was seen with wide 
 wings spread out above the City, and when they saw the eagle, 
 the hearts of the people were glad for they knew that their King 
 would come back safely and with the body of Prince Hector who 
 had guarded Troy.' 
 
 ' Now Priam and his henchman drove across the plain of Troy 
 and came to the river that flowed across and there they let their 
 mules drink. They were greatly troubled, for dark night was 
 coming down and they knew not the way to the hut of Achilles. 
 They were in fear too that some company of armed men would 
 come upon them and slay them for the sake of the treasures they 
 had in the wagon.' 
 
 ' The henchman saw a young man coming towards them. And 
 when he reached them he spoke to them kindly and offered to 
 
no THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 guide them through the camp and to the hut of Achilles. He 
 mounted the wagon and took the reins in his hands and drove 
 the mules. He brought them to the hut of Achilles and helped 
 Priam from the wagon and carried the gifts they had brought 
 within the hut. "Know, King Priam," he said, "that I am not 
 a mortal, but that I am one sent by Zeus to help and companion 
 thee upon the way. Go now within the hut and speak to Achilles 
 and ask him, for his father's sake, to restore to thee the body of 
 Hector, thy son." ' 
 
 ' So he spoke and departed and King Priam went within the 
 hut. There great Achilles was sitting and King Priam went to 
 him and knelt before him and clasped the hands of the man who 
 had slain his son. And Achilles wondered when he saw him 
 there, for he did not know how one could have come to his hut 
 and entered it without being seen. He knew then that it was 
 one of the gods who had guided this man. Priam spoke to him 
 and said, "Bethink thee, Achilles upon thine own father. He 
 is now of an age with me, and perhaps even now, in thy far- 
 away country, there are those who make him suffer pain and 
 misery. But however great the pain and misery he may suffer 
 he is happy compared to me, for he knows that thou, his son, art 
 still alive. But I no longer have him who was the best of my 
 sons. Now for thy father's sake have I come to thee, Achilles, 
 to ask for the body of Hector, my son. I am more pitiable than 
 thy father or than any man, for I have come through dangers to 
 take in my hands the hands that slew my son." ' 
 
ii2 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 ' Achilles remembered his father and felt sorrow for the old man 
 who knelt before him. He took King Priam by the hand and 
 raised him up and seated him on the bench beside him. And he 
 wept, remembering old Peleus, his father.' 
 
 'He called his handmaids and he bade them take the body of 
 Hector and wash it and wrap it in two of the robes that Priam 
 had brought. When they had done all this he took up the body 
 of Hector and laid it himself upon the wagon.' 
 
 'Then he came and said to King Priam, "Thy son is laid upon 
 a bier, and at the break of day thou mayst bring him back to the 
 City. But now eat and rest here for this night." ' 
 
 ' King Priam ate, and he looked at Achilles and he saw how great 
 and how goodly he was. And Achilles looked at Priam and he 
 saw how noble and how kingly he looked. And this was the first 
 time that Achilles and Priam the King of Troy really saw each 
 other.' 
 
 ' When they gazed on each other King Priam said, "When thou 
 goest to lie down, lord Achilles, permit me to lie down also. Not 
 once have my eyelids closed in sleep since my son Hector lost 
 his life. And now I have tasted bread and meat and wine for 
 the first time since, and I could sleep." ' 
 
 'Achilles ordered that a bed be made in the portico for King 
 Priam and his henchman, but before they went Achilles said : 
 "Tell me, King, and tell me truly, for how many days dost thou 
 desire to make a funeral for Hector? For so many days space 
 I will keep back the battle from the City so that thou mayst 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 113 
 
 make the funeral in peace." "For nine days we would watch 
 beside Hector's body and lament for him ; on the tenth day we 
 would have the funeral ; on the eleventh day we would make the 
 barrow over him, and on the twelfth day we would fight," King 
 Priam said. "Even for twelve days I will hold the battle back 
 from the City," said Achilles.' 
 
 'Then Priam and his henchman went to rest. But in the 
 middle of the night the young man who had guided him to the 
 hut of Achilles — - the god Hermes he was — appeared before his 
 bed and bade him arise and go to the wagon and yoke the mules 
 and drive back to the City with the body of Hector. Priam 
 aroused his henchman and they went out and yoked the mules 
 and mounted the wagon, and with Hermes to guide them they 
 drove back to the City.' 
 
 'And Achilles on his bed thought of his own fate — how he 
 too would die in battle, and how for him there would be no father 
 to make lament. But he would be laid where he had asked his 
 friends to lay him — beside Patroklos — and over them both the 
 Greeks would raise a barrow that would be wondered at in after 
 times.' 
 
 ' So Achilles thought. And afterwards the arrow fired by Paris 
 struck him as he fought before the gate of the City, and he was 
 slain even on the place where he slew Hector. But the Greeks 
 carried off his body and his armour and brought them back 
 to the ships. And Achilles was lamented over, though not by old 
 Peleus, his father. From the depths of the sea came Thetis, his 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 US 
 
 goddess-mother, and with her came the Maidens of the Sea. 
 They covered the body of Achilles with wonderful raiment 
 and over it they lamented for seventeen days and seventeen 
 nights. On the eighteenth day he was laid in the grave beside 
 Patroklos, his dear friend, and over them both the Greeks raised 
 a barrow that was wondered at in the after- times.' 
 
 XXI 
 
 "l]OW Hector's sister was the first to see her 
 father coming in the dawn across the 
 plain of Troy with the wagon upon which 
 his body was laid. She came down to 
 the City and she cried through the streets, 
 "O men and women of Troy, ye who 
 often went to the gates to meet Hector 
 coming back with victory, come now to the gates to receive 
 Hector dead." ' 
 
 ' Then every man and woman in the City took themselves out- 
 side the gate. And they brought in the wagon upon which 
 Hector was laid, and all day from the early dawn to the going 
 down of the sun they wailed for him who had been the guardian 
 of their city.' 
 
 ' His father took the body to the house where Hector had lived 
 and he laid it upon his bed. Then Hector's wife, Andromache, 
 went to the bed and cried over the body. "Husband," she cried, 
 "thou art gone from life, and thou hast left me a widow in thy 
 
n6 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 house. Our child is yet little, and he shall not grow to manhood 
 in the halls that were thine, for long before that the City will be 
 taken and destroyed. Ah, how can it stand, when thou, who wert 
 its best guardian, hast perished ? The folk lament thee, Hector ; 
 but for me and for thy little son, doomed to grow up amongst 
 strangers and men unfriendly to him, the pain for thy death will 
 ever abide." ' 
 
 'And Hekabe, Hector's mother, went to the bed and cried 
 "Of all my children thou, Hector, wert the dearest. Thou wert 
 slain because it was not thy way to play the coward ; ever wert 
 thou championing the men and women of Troy without thought 
 of taking shelter or flight. And for that thou wert slain, my 
 son." ' 
 
 'And I, Helen, went to the bed too, to lament for noble Hector. 
 "Of all the friends I had in Troy, thou wert the dearest, Hector," 
 I cried. "Never did I hear one harsh word from thee to me who 
 brought wars and troubles to thy City. In every way thou wert 
 as a brother to me. Therefore I bewail thee with pain at my 
 heart, for in all Troy there is no one now who is friendly 
 to me." ' 
 
 'Then did the King and the folk of the City prepare for 
 Hector's funeral. On the tenth day, weeping most bitter tears 
 they bore brave Hector away. And they made a grave for him, 
 and over the grave they put close-set stones, and over it all they 
 raised a great barrow. On the eleventh day they feasted at King 
 Priam's house, and on the twelfth day the battle began anew.' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 117 
 
 XXII 
 
 OR many days Telemachus and his com- 
 rade Peisistratus stayed in the house of 
 King Menelaus. On the evening before 
 he departed Menelaus spoke to him of 
 the famous deeds of his father, Odysseus. 
 'Now Achilles was dead/ said Mene- 
 aus, 'and his glorious armour was offered 
 as a prize for the warrior whom the Greeks thought the most 
 of. Two men strove for the prize — Odysseus and his friend 
 Aias. To Odysseus the armour of Achilles was given, but he 
 was in no way glad of the prize, for his getting it had wounded 
 the proud spirit of great Aias.' 
 
 ' It was fitting that Odysseus should have been given Achilles' 
 armour, for no warrior in the host had done better than he. But 
 Odysseus was to do still greater things for us. He knew that 
 only one man could wield a bow better than Paris, — Paris who had 
 shot with an arrow Achilles, and who after that had slain many of 
 our chiefs. That man was Philoctetes. He had come with Aga- 
 memnon's host to Troy. But Philoctetes had been bitten by 
 a water-snake, and the wound given him was so terrible that none 
 of our warriors could bear to be near him. He was left on the 
 Island of Lemnos and the host lost memory of him. But Odys- 
 seus remembered, and he took ship to Lemnos and brought 
 Philoctetes back. With his great bow and with the arrows of 
 
n8 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 Hercules that were his, Philoctetes shot at Paris upon the wall 
 of Troy and slew him with an arrow.' 
 
 'And then Odysseus devised the means by which we took 
 Priam's city at last. He made us build a great Wooden Horse. 
 We built it and left it upon the plain of Troy and the Trojans 
 wondered at it greatly. And Odysseus had counselled us to 
 bring our ships down to the water and to burn our stores and 
 make it seem in every way that we were going to depart from 
 Troy in weariness. This we did, and the Trojans saw the great 
 host sail away from before their City. But they did not know 
 that a company of the best of our warriors was within the hollow 
 of the Wooden Horse, nor did they know that we had left a 
 spy behind to make a signal for our return.' 
 
 'The Trojans wondered why the great Wooden Horse had been 
 left behind. And there were some who considered that it had 
 been left there as an offering to the goddess, Pallas Athene, and 
 they thought it should be brought within the city. Others were 
 wiser and would have left the Wooden Horse alone. But those 
 who considered that it should be brought within prevailed ; and, 
 as the Horse was too great to bring through the gate, they flung 
 down part of the wall that they might bring it through. The 
 Wooden Horse was brought within the walls and left upon the 
 streets of the city and the darkness of the night fell.' 
 
 1 Now Helen, my wife, came down to where the Wooden Horse 
 was, and she, suspecting there were armed men within, walked 
 around it three times, calling to every captain of the Greeks who 
 
120 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 might Be within in his own wife's voice. And when the sound 
 of a voice that had not been heard for so many years came to 
 him each of the captains started up to answer. But Odysseus 
 put his hands across the mouth of each and so prevented them 
 from being discovered.' 
 
 'We had left a spy hidden between the beach and the city. 
 Now when the Wooden Horse had been brought within the walls 
 and night had fallen, the spy lighted a great fire that was signal 
 to the ships that had sailed away. They returned with the host 
 before the day broke. Then we who were within the Wooden 
 Horse broke through the boards and came out on the City with 
 our spears and swords in our hands. The guards beside the gates 
 we slew and we made a citadel of the Wooden Horse and fought 
 around it. The warriors from the ships crossed the wall where 
 it was broken down, and we swept through the streets and came 
 to the citadel of the King. Thus we took Priam's City and all 
 its treasures, and thus I won back my own wife, the lovely Helen.' 
 
 'But after we had taken and sacked King Priam's City, great, 
 troubles came upon us. Some of us sailed away, and some of us 
 remained on the shore at the bidding of King Agamemnon, to 
 make sacrifice to the gods. We separated, and the doom of 
 death came to many of us. Nestor I saw at Lesbos, but none 
 other of our friends have I ever since seen. Agamemnon, my own 
 brother, came to his own land. But ah, it would have been happier 
 for him if he had died on the plain of Troy, and if we had left a 
 great barrow heaped above him ! For he was slain in his own 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 121 
 
 house and by one who had married the wife he had left behind. 
 When the Ancient One of the Sea told me of my brother's doom 
 I sat down upon the sand and wept, and I was minded to live 
 no more nor to see the light of the sun.' 
 
 'And of thy father, Telemachus, I have told thee what I my- 
 self know and what was told me of him by the Ancient One of 
 the Sea — how he stays on an Island where the nymph Calypso 
 holds him against his will : but where that Island lies I do not 
 know. Odysseus is there, and he cannot win back to his own 
 country, seeing that he has no ship and no companions to help 
 him to make his way across the sea. But Odysseus was ever 
 master of devices. And also he is favoured greatly by the 
 goddess, Pallas Athene. For these reasons, Telemachus, be 
 hopeful that your father will yet reach his own home and 
 country.' 
 
 XXIII 
 
 "TJOW the goddess, Pallas Athene, had 
 thought for Telemachus, and she came 
 to him where he lay in the vestibule of 
 Menelaus' house. His comrade, Peisistra- 
 tus was asleep, but Telemachus was wake- 
 ful, thinking upon his father. 
 
 Athene stood before his bed and said 
 to him, 'Telemachus, no longer shouldst thou wander abroad, 
 for the time has come when thou shouldst return. Come. 
 Rouse Menelaus, and let him send thee upon thy way.' 
 
i 2 2 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 Then Telemachus woke Peisistratus out of his sleep and 
 told him that it was best that they should be going on 
 their journey. But Peisistratus said, 'Tarry until it is dawn, 
 Telemachus, when Menelaus will come to us and send us on 
 our way.' 
 
 Then when it was light King Menelaus came to them. When 
 he heard that they would depart he told the lady Helen to bid 
 the maids prepare a meal for them. He himself, with Helen his 
 wife, and Megapenthes, his son, went down into his treasure- 
 chamber and brought forth for gifts to Telemachus a two- 
 handled cup and a great mixing bowl of silver. And Helen took 
 out of a chest a beautiful robe that she herself had made and 
 embroidered. They came to Telemachus where he stood by 
 the chariot with Peisistratus ready to depart. Then Menelaus 
 gave him the beautiful two-handled cup that had been a gift to 
 himself from the king of the Sidonians. Megapenthes brought 
 up the great bowl of silver and put it in the chariot, and beautiful 
 Helen came to him holding the embroidered robe. 
 
 'I too have a gift, dear child, for thee,' she said. 'Bring 
 this robe home and leave it in thy mother's keeping. I want 
 thee to have it to give to thy bride when thou bringest her into 
 thy father's halls.' 
 
 Then were the horses yoked to the chariot and Telemachus 
 and Peisistratus bade farewell to Menelaus and Helen who had 
 treated them so kindly. As they were ready to go Menelaus 
 poured out of a golden cup wine as an offering to the gods. And 
 
i2 4 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 as Menelaus poured it out, Telemachus prayed that he might 
 find Odysseus, his father, in his home. 
 
 Now as he prayed a bird flew from the right hand and over 
 the horses' heads. It was an eagle, and it bore in its claws a goose 
 that belonged to the farmyard. Telemachus asked Menelaus 
 was this not a sign from Zeus, the greatest of the Gods. 
 
 Then said Helen, 'Hear me now, for I will prophesy from this 
 sign to you. Even as yonder eagle has flown down from the 
 mountain and killed a goose of the farmyard, so will Odysseus 
 come from far to his home and kill the wooers who are there.' 
 
 'May Zeus grant that it be so,' said Telemachus. He spoke 
 and lashed the horses, and they sped across the plain. 
 
 When they came near the city of Pylos, Telemachus spoke to 
 his comrade, Peisistratus, and said : 
 
 'Do not take me past my ship, son of Nestor. Thy good 
 father expects me to return to his house, but I fear that if I should, 
 he, out of friendliness, would be anxious to make me stay many 
 days. But I know that I should now return to Ithaka.' 
 
 The son of Nestor turned the horses towards the sea and they 
 drove the chariot to where Telemachus' ship was anchored. 
 Then Telemachus gathered his followers, and he bade them take 
 on board the presents that Menelaus and Helen had given him. 
 
 They did this, and they raised the mast and the sails and the 
 rowers took their seats on the benches. A breeze came and the 
 sails took it and Telemachus and his companions sailed towards 
 home. And all unknown to the youth, his father, Odysseus, was 
 even then nearing his home. 
 
PART II 
 
 HOW ODYSSEUS 
 
 LEFT CALYPSO' 
 
 S ISLAND AND CAME 
 
 TO THE LAND OF 
 
 THE PHiEA-CIANS; 
 
 HOW HE TOLD HE FARED 
 WITH THE CYCLOPES 
 
 AND WENT PAST THE 
 TERRIBLE SCYLLA AND 
 CHARYBDIS AND CAME 
 TO THE ISLAND OP 
 
 THRITVACIA WHERE 
 
 HIS MEN SLAUGHTERED 
 
THE CATTLE OF THE 
 SUN; HOW HE W A S 
 
 GIVEN A SHIP BY 
 
 THE P HiE» ACIANS AND 
 
 came to his own 
 latntd; how he over 
 threw the wooers 
 who wasted his 
 
 SUBSTANCE AMD 
 
 CAME TO REIG^T 
 
 AGAIN AS KITSTG 
 
 OF ITHAKA 
 
 Gwd 
 
VER mindful was Pallas Athene of Odys- 
 seus although she might not help him 
 openly because of a wrong he had done 
 Poseidon, the god of the sea. But she 
 spoke at the council of the gods, and she 
 won from Zeus a pledge that Odysseus 
 would now be permitted to return to his 
 own land. On that day she went to Ithaka, and, appearing to 
 Telemachus, moved him, as has been told, to go on the voyage in 
 search of his father. And on that day, too, Hermes, by the will 
 of Zeus, went to Ogygia — to that Island where, as the Ancient 
 One of the Sea had shown Menelaus, Odysseus was held by the 
 nymph Calypso. 
 
 Beautiful indeed was that Island. All round the cave where 
 Calypso lived was a blossoming wood — alder, poplar and cypress 
 trees were there, and on their branches roosted long-winged birds 
 — falcons and owls and chattering sea-crows. Before the cave 
 was a soft meadow in which thousands of violets bloomed, and 
 with four fountains that gushed out of the ground and made clear 
 
 127 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 129 
 
 streams through the grass. Across the cave grew a straggling 
 vine, heavy with clusters of grapes. Calypso was within the cave, 
 and as Hermes came near, he heard her singing one of her magic 
 songs. 
 
 She was before a loom weaving the threads with a golden 
 shuttle. Now she knew Hermes and was pleased to see him on 
 her Island, but as soon as he spoke of Odysseus and how it was 
 the will of Zeus that he should be permitted to leave the Island, 
 her song ceased and the golden shuttle fell from her hand. 
 
 'Woe to me,' she said, 'and woe to any immortal who loves 
 a mortal, for the gods are always jealous of their love. I do not 
 hold him here because I hate Odysseus, but because I love him 
 greatly, and would have him dwell with me here, — more than 
 this, Hermes, I would make him an immortal so that he would 
 know neither old age nor death.' 
 
 'He does not desire to be freed from old age and death/ said 
 Hermes, 'he desires to return to his own land and to live with 
 his dear wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. And Zeus, the 
 greatest of the gods, commands that you let him go upon his way.' 
 
 'I have no ship to give him,' said Calypso, 'and I have no 
 company of men to help him to cross the sea.' 
 
 ' He must leave the Island and cross the sea — Zeus com- 
 mands it,' Hermes said. 
 
 'I must help him to make his way across the sea if it must be 
 so,' Calypso said. Then she bowed her head and Hermes went 
 from her. 
 
130 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 Straightway Calypso left her cave and went down to the sea. 
 By the shore Odysseus stayed, looking across the wide sea with 
 tears in his eyes. 
 
 She came to him and she said, 'Be not sorrowful any more, 
 Odysseus. The time has come when thou mayst depart from 
 my Island. Come now. I will show how I can help thee on thy 
 way.' 
 
 ]HE brought him to the side of the Island 
 where great trees grew and she put in his 
 hands a double-edged axe and an adze. 
 Then Odysseus started to hew down the 
 timber. Twenty trees he felled with his 
 axe of bronze, and he smoothed them and 
 made straight the line. Calypso came to 
 him at the dawn of the next day ; she brought augers for boring 
 and he made the beams fast. He built a raft, making it very 
 broad, and set a mast upon it and fixed a rudder to guide it. 
 To make it more secure, he wove out of osier rods a fence that 
 went from stem to stern as a bulwark against the waves, and 
 he strengthened the bulwark with wood placed behind. Calypso 
 wove him a web of cloth for sails, and these he made very 
 skilfully. Then he fastened the braces and the halyards and 
 sheets, and he pushed the raft with levers down to the sea. 
 
 That was on the fourth day. On the fifth Calypso gave him 
 garments for the journey and brought provision down to the raft 
 — two skins of wine and a great skin of water ; corn and mam 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 131 
 
 dainties. She showed Odysseus how to guide his course by the 
 star that some call the Bear and others the Wain, and she bade 
 farewell to him. He took his place on the raft and set his sail 
 to the breeze and he sailed away from Ogygia, the island where 
 Calypso had held him for so long. 
 
 But not easily or safely did he make his way across the sea. 
 The winds blew upon his raft and the waves dashed against it ; 
 a fierce blast came and broke the mast in the middle ; the sail and 
 the arm-yard fell into the deep. Then Odysseus was flung down 
 on the bottom of the raft. For a long time he lay there over- 
 whelmed by the water that broke over him. The winds drove 
 the raft to and fro — the South wind tossed it to the North to 
 bear along, and the East wind tossed it to the West to chase. 
 
 In the depths of the sea there was a Nymph who saw his toils 
 and his troubles and who had pity upon him. Ino was her name. 
 She rose from the waves in the likeness of a seagull and she sat 
 upon the raft and she spoke to Odysseus in words. 
 
 'Hapless man,' she said, 'Poseidon, the god of the sea, is 
 still wroth with thee. It may be that the waters will destroy 
 the raft upon which thou sailest. Then there would be no hope 
 for thee. But do what I bid thee and thou shalt yet escape. 
 Strip off thy garments and take this veil from me and wind it 
 around thy breast. As long as it is upon thee thou canst not 
 drown. But when thou reachest the mainland loose the veil and 
 cast it into the sea so that it may come back to me.' 
 
 She gave him the veil, and then, in the likeness of a seagull 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 133 
 
 she dived into the sea and the waves closed over her. Odysseus 
 took the veil and wound it around his breast, but he would not 
 leave the raft as long as its timbers held together. 
 
 Then a great wave came and shattered the raft. He held 
 himself on a single beam as one holds himself on a horse, and then, 
 with the veil bound across his breast, he threw himself into the 
 waves. 
 
 For two nights and two days he was tossed about on the 
 waters. When on the third day the dawn came and the winds 
 fell he saw land very near. He swam eagerly towards it. But 
 when he drew nearer he heard the crash of waves as they struck 
 against rocks that were all covered with foam. Then indeed 
 was Odysseus afraid. 
 
 A great wave took hold of him and flung him towards the shore. 
 Now would his bones have been broken upon the rocks if he had 
 not been ready-minded enough to rush towards a rock and to 
 cling to it with both hands until the wave dashed by. Its 
 backward drag took him and carried him back to the deep with 
 the skin stripped from his hands. The waves closed over him. 
 When he rose again he swam round looking for a place where 
 there might be, not rocks, but some easy opening into the land. 
 
 At last he saw the mouth of a river. He swam towards it until 
 he felt its stream flowing through the water of the sea. Then in 
 his heart he prayed to the river. 'Hear me, O River,' was what 
 he said, 'I am come to thee as a suppliant, fleeing from the anger 
 of Poseidon, god of the sea. Even by the gods is the man 
 
134 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 pitied who comes to them as a wanderer and a hapless man. I 
 am thy suppliant, O River ; pity me and help me in my need.' 
 
 Now the river water was smooth for his swimming, and he 
 came safely to its mouth. He came to a place where he might 
 land, but with his flesh swollen and streams of salt water gushing 
 from his mouth and nostrils. He lay on the ground without 
 breath or speech, swooning with the terrible weariness that was 
 upon him. But in a while his breath came back to him and his 
 courage rose. He remembered the veil that the Sea-nymph had 
 given him and he loosened it and let it fall back into the flowing 
 river. A wave came and bore it back to Ino who caught it in 
 her hands. 
 
 But Odysseus was still fearful, and he said in his heart, 'Ah 
 me ! what is to befall me now ? Here am I, naked and forlorn, and 
 I know not amongst what people I am come. And what shall 
 I do with myself when night comes on ? If I lie by the river in 
 the frost and dew I may perish of the cold. And if I climb up 
 yonder to the woods and seek refuge in the thickets I may become 
 the prey of wild beasts.' 
 
 He went from the cold of the river up to the woods, and he 
 found two olive trees growing side by side, twining together 
 so that they made a shelter against the winds. He went and lay 
 between them upon a bed of leaves, and with leaves he covered 
 himself over. There in that shelter, and with that warmth he 
 lay, and sleep came on him, and at last he rested from perils and 
 toils. 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 135 
 
 II 
 
 ND while he rested the goddess, Pallas 
 Athene, went to the City of the Phsea- 
 cians, to whose land Odysseus had now 
 come. 
 
 She came to the Palace of the King, 
 and, passing through all the doors, came 
 to the chamber where the King's daughter, 
 Nausicaa slept. She entered into Nausicaa's dream, appearing 
 to her in it as one of her girl-comrades. And in the dream 
 she spoke to the Princess : 
 
 'Nausicaa,' she said, 'the garments of your household are 
 all uncared for, and the time is near when, more than ever, you 
 have need to have much and beautiful raiment. Your marriage 
 day will be soon. You will have to have many garments ready 
 by that time — garments to bring with you to your husband's 
 house, and garments to give to those who will attend you at your 
 wedding. There is much to be done, Nausicaa. Be ready at 
 the break of day, and take your maidens with you, and bring 
 the garments of your household to the river to be washed. 
 I will be your mate in the toil. Beg your father to give you 
 a wagon with mules to carry all the garments that we have 
 need to wash.' 
 
 So in her dream Pallas Athene spoke to the Princess in the 
 likeness of her girl-friend. Having put the task of washing into 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 137 
 
 her mind, the goddess left the Palace of the King and the coun- 
 try of the Phaeacians. 
 
 Nausicaa, when she rose, thought upon her dream, and she went 
 through the Palace and found her father. He was going to the 
 assembly of the Phaeacians. She came to him, but she was shy 
 about speaking of that which had been in her dream — her mar- 
 riage day — since her parents had not spoken to her about such a 
 thing. Saying that she was going to the river to wash the garments 
 of the household, she asked for a wagon and for mules. ' So 
 many garments have I lying soiled,' she said. ' Yea, and thou too, 
 my father, should have fresh raiment when you go forth to the 
 assembly of the Phaeacians. And in our house are the two 
 unwedded youths, my brothers, who are always eager for new 
 washed garments wherein to go to dances.' 
 
 Her father smiled on her and said, 'The mules and wagon 
 thou mayst have, Nausicaa, and the servants shall get them 
 ready for thee now.' 
 
 He called to the servants and bade them get ready the mules 
 and the wagon. Then Nausicaa gathered her maids together 
 and they brought the soiled garments of the household to the 
 wagon. And her mother, so that Nausicaa and her maids might 
 eat while they were from home, put in a basket filled with 
 dainties and a skin of wine. Also she gave them a jar of 
 olive-oil so that they might rub themselves with oil when 
 bathing in the river. 
 
 Young Nausicaa herself drove the wagon. She mounted it 
 
138 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 and took the whip in her hands and started the mules, and they 
 went through fields and by farms and came to the river-bank. 
 
 The girls brought the garments to the stream, and leaving 
 them in the shallow parts trod them with their bare feet. The 
 wagon was unharnessed and the mules were left to graze along 
 the river side. Now when they had washed the garments they 
 took them to the sea-shore and left them on the clean pebbles 
 to dry in the sun. Then Nausicaa and her companions went into 
 the river and bathed and sported in the water. 
 
 When they had bathed they sat down and ate the meal that 
 had been put on the wagon for them. The garments were not 
 yet dried and Nausicaa called on her companions to play. 
 Straightway they took a ball and threw it from one to the other, 
 each singing a song that went with the game. And as they 
 played on the meadow they made a lovely company, and the 
 Princess Nausicaa was the tallest and fairest and noblest of 
 them all. 
 
 Before they left the river side to load the wagon they played 
 a last game. The Princess threw the ball, and the girl whose 
 turn it was to catch missed it. The ball went into the river and 
 was carried down the stream. At that they all raised a cry. It 
 was this cry that woke up Odysseus who, covered over with 
 leaves, was then sleeping in the shelter of the two olive trees. 
 
 He crept out from under the thicket, covering his nakedness 
 with leafy boughs that he broke off the trees. And when he saw 
 the girls in the meadow he wanted to go to them to beg for their 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 139 
 
 help. But when they looked on him they were terribly frightened 
 and they ran this way and that way and hid themselves. Only 
 Nausicaa stood still, for Pallas Athene had taken fear from her 
 mind. 
 
 Odysseus stood a little way from her and spoke to her in a 
 beseeching voice. 'I supplicate thee, lady, to help me in my 
 bitter need. I would kneel to thee and clasp thy knees only I 
 fear thine anger. Have pity upon me. Yesterday was the 
 twentieth day that I was upon the sea, driven hither and thither 
 by the waves and the winds.' 
 
 ND still Nausicaa stood, and Odysseus 
 looking upon her was filled with reverence 
 for her, so noble she seemed. 'I know not 
 as I look upon thee,' he said, 'whether 
 thou art a goddess or a mortal maiden. 
 If thou art a mortal maiden, happy must 
 thy father be and thy mother and thy 
 brothers. Surely they must be proud and glad to see thee in 
 the dance, for thou art the very flower of maidens. And happy 
 above all will he be who will lead thee to his home as his bride. 
 Never have my eyes beheld one who had such beauty and such 
 nobleness. I think thou art like to the young palm-tree I once 
 saw springing up by the altar of Apollo in Delos — a tree that 
 many marvelled to look at. O lady, after many and sore trials, 
 to thee, first of all the people, have I come. I know that thou 
 wilt be gracious to me. Show me the way to the town. Give 
 
i 4 o THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 me an old garment to cast about me. And may the gods grant 
 thee thy wish and heart's desire — a noble husband who will 
 cherish thee.' 
 
 She spoke to him as a Princess should, seeing that in spite of 
 the evil plight he was in, he was a man of worth. 'Stranger,' 
 she said, 'since thou hast come to our land, thou shalt not lack 
 for raiment nor aught else that is given to a suppliant. I will 
 show thee the way to the town also.' 
 
 He asked what land he was in. 'This, stranger,' she said, 
 'is the land of the Phaeacians, and Alcinous is King over them. 
 And I am the King's daughter, Nausicaa.' 
 
 Then she called to her companions. ' Do not hide yourselves,' 
 she said. ' This is not an enemy, but a helpless and an unfriended 
 man. We must befriend him, for it is well said that the stranger 
 and the beggar are from God.' 
 
 The girls came back and they brought Odysseus to a sheltered 
 place and they made him sit down and laid a garment beside him. 
 One brought the jar of olive oil that he might clean himself when 
 he bathed in the river. And Odysseus was very glad to get this 
 oil for his back and shoulders were all crusted over with flakes of 
 brine. He went into the river and bathed and rubbed himself 
 with the oil. Then he put on the garment that had been brought 
 him. So well he looked that when he came towards them again 
 the Princess said to the maids : 
 
 ' Look now on the man who a while ago seemed so terrifying ! 
 He is most handsome and stately. Would that we might see 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 141 
 
 <nore of him. Now, my maidens, bring the stranger meat and 
 drink.' 
 
 They came to him and they served him with meat and drink 
 and he ate and drank eagerly, for it was long since he had tasted 
 food. And while he ate, Nausicaa and her companions went down 
 to the seashore and gathered the garments that were now dried, 
 singing songs the while. They harnessed the mules and folded 
 the garments and left them on the wagon. 
 
 When they were ready to go Nausicaa went to Odysseus and 
 said to him, ' Stranger, if thou wouldst make thy way into the city 
 come with us now, so that we may guide thee. But first listen 
 to what I would say. While we are going through the fields 
 and by the farms walk thou behind, keeping near the wagon. 
 But when we enter the ways of the City, go no further with us. 
 People might speak unkindly of me if they saw me with a stranger 
 such as thou. They might say, " Who does Nausicaa bring to 
 her father's house? Someone she would like to make her hus- 
 band, most likely." So that we may not meet with such rudeness 
 I would have thee come alone to my father's house. Listen now 
 and I will tell thee how thou mayst do this.' 
 
 'There is a grove kept for the goddess Pallas Athene within 
 a man's shout of the city. In that grove is a spring, and when we 
 come near I would have thee go and rest thyself by it. Then 
 when thou dost think we have come to my father's house, enter 
 the City and ask thy way to the palace of the King. When thou 
 hast come to it, pass quickly through the court and through the 
 
142 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 great chamber and come to where my mother sits weaving yarn 
 by the light of the fire. My father will be sitting near, drinking 
 his wine in the evening. Pass by his seat and come to my mother, 
 and clasp your hands about her knees and ask for her aid. If 
 she become friendly to thee thou wilt be helped by our people 
 and wilt be given the means of returning to thine own land.' 
 
 So Nausicaa bade him. Then she touched the mules with the 
 whip and the wagon went on. Odysseus walked with the maids 
 behind. As the sun set they came to the grove that was outside 
 the City — the grove of Pallas Athene. Odysseus went into it 
 and sat by the spring. And while he was in her grove he prayed 
 to the goddess, ' Hear me, Pallas Athene, and grant that I may 
 come before the King of this land as one well worthy of his pity 
 and his help.' 
 
 Ill 
 
 BOUT the time that the maiden Nausicaa 
 had come to her father's house, Odysseus 
 rose up from where he sat by the spring 
 in the grove of Pallas Athene and went 
 into the City. There he met one who 
 showed him the way to the palace of King 
 Alcinous. The doors of that palace were 
 golden and the door-posts were of "silver. And there was a gar- 
 den by the great door filled with fruitful trees — pear trees and 
 pomegranates ; apple trees and trees bearing figs and olives. 
 
i 4 4 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 Below it was a vineyard showing clusters of grapes. That 
 orchard and that vineyard were marvels, for in them never 
 fruit fell or was gathered but other fruit ripened to take its 
 place ; from season to season there was fruit for the gathering 
 in the king's close. 
 
 Odysseus stood before the threshold of bronze and many 
 thoughts were in his mind. But at last with a prayer to Zeus 
 he crossed the threshold and went through the great hall. Now 
 on that evening the Captains and the Councillors of the Phae- 
 acians sat drinking wine with the King. Odysseus passed by 
 them, and stayed not at the King's chair, but went where Arete, 
 the Queen, sat. And he knelt before her and clasped her knees 
 with his hands and spoke to her in supplication : 
 
 'Arete, Queen ! After many toils and perils I am come to 
 thee and to thy husband, and to these, thy guests ! May the 
 gods give all who are here a happy life and may each see his 
 children in safe possession of his halls. I have come to thee to 
 beg that thou wouldst put me on my way to my own land, for 
 long have I suffered sore affliction far from my friends.' 
 
 Then, having spoken, Odysseus went and sat down in the ashes 
 of the hearth with his head bowed. No one spoke for long. 
 Then an aged Councillor who was there spoke to the King. 
 
 'O Alcinous,' he said, 'it is not right that a stranger should 
 sit in the ashes by thy hearth. Bid the stranger rise now and 
 let a chair be given him and supper set before him.' 
 
 Then Alcinous took Odysseus by the hand, and raised him 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 145 
 
 from where he sat, and bade his son Laodamas give place to him. 
 He sat on a chair inlaid with silver and the housedame brought 
 him bread and wine and dainties. He ate, and King Alcinous 
 spoke to the company and said : 
 
 'To-morrow I shall call you together and we will entertain 
 this stranger with a feast in our halls, and we shall take counsel 
 to see in what way we can convoy him to his own land.' 
 
 The Captains and Councillors assented to this, and then each 
 one arose and went to his own house. Odysseus was left alone 
 in the hall with the King and the Queen. Now Arete, looking 
 closely at Odysseus, recognized the mantle he wore, for she herself 
 had wrought it with her handmaids. And when all the company 
 had gone she spoke to Odysseus and said : 
 
 'Stranger, who art thou? Didst thou not speak of coming 
 to us from across the deep ? And if thou didst come that way, 
 who gave thee the raiment that thou hast on?' 
 
 AID Odysseus, 'Lady, for seven and ten 
 days I sailed across the deep, and on the 
 eighteenth day I sighted the hills of thy 
 land. But my woes were not yet ended. 
 The storm winds shattered my raft, and 
 when I strove to land the waves over- 
 whelmed me and dashed me against great 
 rocks in a desolate place. At length I came to a river, and 
 I swam through its mouth and I found a shelter from the wind. 
 There I lay amongst the leaves all the night long and from 
 
146 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 dawn to mid-day. Then came thy daughter down to the river. 
 I was aware of her playing with her friends, and to her I 
 made my supplication. She gave me bread and wine, and she 
 bestowed these garments upon me, and she showed an under- 
 standing that was far beyond her years.' 
 
 Then said Alcinous the King, 'Our daughter did not do well 
 when she did not bring thee straight to our house.' 
 
 Odysseus said, 'My Lord, do not blame the maiden. She 
 bade me follow with her company, and she was only careful that 
 no one should have cause to make ill-judged remarks upon the 
 stranger whom she found.' 
 
 Then Alcinous, the King, praised Odysseus and said that he 
 should like such a man to abide in his house and that he would 
 give him land and wealth, in the country of the Phasacians. 
 'But if it is not thy will to abide with us,' he said, 'I shall give 
 thee a ship and a company of men to take thee to thy own land, 
 even if that land be as far as Eubcea, which, our men say, is the 
 farthest of all lands.' As he said this Odysseus uttered a prayer 
 in his heart, ' O Father Zeus, grant that Alcinous the King may 
 fulfil all that he has promised — and for that may his fame never 
 be quenched — and that I may come to my own land.' 
 
 Arete now bade the maids prepare a bed for Odysseus. This 
 they did, casting warm coverlets and purple blankets upon it. 
 And when Odysseus came to the bed and lay in it, after the tossing 
 of the waves, rest in it seemed wonderfully good. 
 
 At dawn of day he went with the King to the assembly of the 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 147 
 
 Phseacians. When the Princes and Captains and Councillors 
 were gathered together, Alcinous spoke to them saying : 
 
 'Princes and Captains and Councillors of the Phaeacians ! 
 This stranger has come to my house in his wanderings, and he 
 desires us to give him a ship and a company of men, so that he 
 may cross the sea and come to his own land. Let us, as in times 
 past we have done for others, help him in his journey. Nay, 
 let us even now draw down a black ship to the sea, and put 
 two and fifty of our noblest youths upon it, and let us make 
 it ready for the voyage. But before he departs from amongst 
 us, come all of you to a feast that I shall give to this stranger 
 in my house. And moreover, let us take with us the minstrel 
 of our land, blind Demodocus, that his songs may make us glad 
 at the feast.' 
 
 So the King spoke, and the Princes, Captains and Councillors 
 of the Phaeacians went with him to the palace. And at the same 
 time two and fifty youths went down to the shore of the sea, and 
 drew down a ship and placed the masts and sails upon it, and left 
 the oars in their leathern loops. Having done all this they went 
 to the palace where the feast was being given and where many 
 men had gathered. 
 
 The henchman led in the minstrel, blind Demodocus. To 
 him the gods had given a good and an evil fortune — ■ the gift of 
 song with the lack of sight. The henchman led him through the 
 company, and placed him on a seat inlaid with silver, and hung 
 his lyre on the pillar above his seat. When the guests and the 
 
148 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 minstrel had feasted, blind Demodocus took down the lyre and 
 sang of things that were already famous — of the deeds of 
 Achilles and Odysseus. 
 
 Now when he heard the words that the minstrel uttered, 
 Odysseus caught up his purple cloak and drew it over his head. 
 Tears were falling down his cheeks and he was ashamed of their 
 being seen. No one marked his weeping except the King, and 
 the King wondered why his guest should be so moved by what 
 the minstrel related. 
 
 When they had feasted and the minstrel had sung to them, 
 Alcinous said, 'Let us go forth now and engage in games and 
 sports so that our stranger guest may tell his friends when he is 
 amongst them what our young men can do.' 
 
 All went out from the palace to the place where the games 
 were played. There was a foot-race, and there was a boxing- 
 match, and there was wrestling and weight-throwing. All the 
 youths present went into the games. And when the sports 
 were ending Laodamas, the son of King Alcinous, said to his 
 friends : 
 
 ' Come, my friends, and let us ask the stranger whether he is 
 skilled or practised in any sport.' And saying this he went to 
 Odysseus and said, 'Friend and stranger, come now and try thy 
 skill in the games. Cast care away from thee, for thy journey 
 shall not be long delayed. Even now the ship is drawn down to 
 the sea, and we have with us the company of youths that is ready 
 to help thee to thine own land.' 
 

 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 iSi 
 
 shalt have something to tell thy friends when thou art in thine 
 own land, we shall show thee the games in which we are most 
 skilful. For we Phseacians are not perfect boxers or wrestlers, 
 but we excel all in running and in dancing and in pulling with 
 the oar. Lo, now, ye dancers ! Come forward and show your 
 nimbleness, so that the stranger may tell his friends, when he is 
 amongst them, how far we surpass all men in dancing as well as 
 in seamanship and speed of foot.' 
 
 PLACE was levelled for the dance, and 
 the blind minstrel, Demodocus, took the 
 lyre in his hands and made music, while 
 youths skilled in the dance struck the 
 ground with their feet. Odysseus as he 
 watched them marvelled at their grace 
 and their spirit. When the dance was 
 ended he said to the King, 'My Lord Alcinous, thou didst 
 boast thy dancers to be the best in the world, and thy word 
 is not to be denied. I wonder as I look upon them.' 
 
 At the end of the day Alcinous spoke to his people and said, 
 'This stranger, in all that he does and says, shows himself to be 
 a wise and a mighty man. Let each of us now give him the 
 stranger's gift. Here there are twelve princes of the Phaeacians 
 and I am the thirteenth. Let each of us give him a worthy gift, 
 and then let us go back to my house and sit down to supper. As 
 for Euryalus, let him make amends to the stranger for his rude- 
 ness of speech as he offers him his gift.' 
 
152 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 All assented to the King's words, and Euryalus went to Odys- 
 seus and said, ' Stranger, if I have spoken aught that offended 
 thee, may the storm winds snatch it and bear it away. May 
 the gods grant that thou shalt see thy wife and come to thine 
 own country. Too long hast thou endured afflictions away from 
 thy friends.' 
 
 So saying, Euryalus gave Odysseus a sword of bronze with a 
 silver hilt and a sheath of ivory. Odysseus took it and said, 
 'And to you, my friend, may the gods grant all happiness, and 
 mayst thou never miss the sword that thou hast given me. Thy 
 gracious speech hath made full amends.' 
 
 Each of the twelve princes gave gifts to Odysseus, and the gifts 
 were brought to the palace and left by the side of the Queen. 
 And Arete herself gave Odysseus a beautiful coffer with raiment 
 and gold in it, and Alcinous, the King, gave him a beautiful cup, 
 all of gold. 
 
 In the palace the bath was prepared for Odysseus, and he 
 entered it and was glad of the warm water, for not since he had 
 left the Island of Calypso did he have a warm bath. He came 
 from the bath and put on the beautiful raiment that had been 
 given him and he walked through the hall, looking a king amongst 
 men. 
 
 Now the maiden, Nausicaa, stood by a pillar as he passed, and 
 she knew that she had never looked upon a man who was more 
 splendid. She had thought that the stranger whom she had 
 saved would have stayed in her father's house, and that one day 
 
154 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 he would be her husband. But now she knew that by no means 
 would he abide in the land of the Phseacians. As he passed by, 
 she spoke to him and said, ' Farewell, O Stranger ! And when 
 thou art in thine own country, think sometimes of me, Nausicaa, 
 who helped thee.' Odysseus took her hand and said to her, 
 ' Farewell, daughter of King Alcinous ! May Zeus grant that 
 I may return to my own land. There every day shall I pay 
 homage to my memory of thee, to whom I owe my life.' 
 
 He passed on and he came to where the Princes and Captains 
 and Councillors of the Phaeacians sat. His seat was beside the 
 King's. Then the henchman brought in the minstrel, blind 
 Demodocus, and placed him on a seat by a pillar. And when 
 supper was served Odysseus sent to Demodocus a portion of his 
 own meat. He spoke too in praise of the minstrel saying, 
 'Right well dost thou sing of the Greeks and all they wrought 
 and suffered — as well, methinks, as if thou hadst been present 
 at the war of Troy. I would ask if thou canst sing of the Wooden 
 Horse that brought destruction to the Trojans. If thou canst, 
 I shall be a witness amongst all men how the gods have surely 
 given thee the gift of song.' 
 
 Demodocus took down the lyre and sang. His song told how 
 one part of the Greeks sailed away in their ships and how others 
 with Odysseus to lead them were now in the center of Priam's 
 City all hidden in the great Wooden Horse which the Trojans 
 themselves had dragged across their broken wall. So the 
 Wooden Horse stood, and the people gathered around talked of 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 155 
 
 what should be done with so wonderful a thing — whether to 
 break open its timbers, or drag it to a steep hill and hurl it down 
 on the rocks, or leave it there as an offering to the gods. As an 
 offering to the gods it was left at last. Then the minstrel sang 
 how Odysseus and his comrades poured forth from the hollow 
 of the horse and took the City. 
 
 As the minstrel sang, the heart of Odysseus melted within him 
 and tears fell down his cheeks. None of the company saw him 
 weeping except Alcinous the King. But the King cried out to 
 the company saying, 'Let the minstrel cease, for there is one 
 amongst us to whom his song is not pleasing. Ever since it 
 began the stranger here has wept with tears flowing down his 
 cheeks.' 
 
 The minstrel ceased, and all the company looked in surprise at 
 Odysseus, who sat with his head bowed and his mantle wrapped 
 around his head. Why did he weep? each man asked. No 
 one had asked of him his name, for each thought it was more 
 noble to serve a stranger without knowing his name. 
 
 Said the King, speaking again, 'In a brother's place stands 
 the stranger and the suppliant, and as a brother art thou to us, 
 O unknown guest. But wilt thou not be brotherly to us ? Tell 
 us by what name they call thee in thine own land. Tell us, too, 
 of thy land and thy city. And tell us, too, where thou wert borne 
 on thy wanderings, and to what lands and peoples thou earnest. 
 And as a brother tell us why thou dost weep and mourn in spirit 
 over the tale of the going forth of the Greeks to the war of Troy. 
 
156 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 Didst thou have a kinsman who fell before Priam's City — a 
 daughter's husband, or a wife's father, or someone nearer by 
 blood? Or didst thou have a loving friend who fell there 
 — one with an understanding heart who wast to thee as a 
 brother ? ' 
 
 Such questions the King asked, and Odysseus taking the 
 mantle from around his head turned round to the company. 
 
 IV 
 
 HEN Odysseus spoke before the company 
 and said, 'O Alcinous, famous King, it is 
 good to listen to a minstrel such as Demo- 
 docus is. And as for me, I know of no 
 greater delight than when men feast to- 
 gether with open hearts, when tables are 
 plentifully spread, when wine-bearers pour 
 out good wine into cups, and when a minstrel sings to them 
 noble songs. This seems to me to be happiness indeed. But 
 thou hast asked me to speak of my wanderings and my toils. 
 Ah, where can I begin that tale? For the gods have given 
 me more woes than a man can speak of ! ' 
 
 'But first of all I will declare to you my name and my country. 
 I am Odysseus, son of Laertes, and my land is Ithaka, an 
 island around which many islands lie. Ithaka is a rugged isle, 
 but a good nurse of hardy men, and I, for one, have found that 
 there is no place fairer than a man's own land. But now I 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 157 
 
 will tell thee. King, and tell the Princes and Captains and 
 Councillors of the Phceacians, the tale of my wanderings.' 
 
 'The wind bore my ships from the coast of Troy, and with 
 our white sails hoisted we came to the cape that is called Malea. 
 Now if we had been able to double this cape we should soon have 
 come to our own country, all unhurt. But the north wind came 
 and swept us from our course and drove us wandering past 
 Cythera.' 
 
 'Then for nine days we were borne onward by terrible winds, 
 and away from all known lands. On the tenth day we came to 
 a strange country. Many of my men landed there. The people 
 of that land were harmless and friendly, but the land itself was 
 most dangerous. For there grew there the honey-sweet fruit 
 of the lotus that makes all men forgetful of their past and 
 neglectful of their future. And those of my men who ate 
 the lotus that the dwellers of that land offered them became 
 forgetful of their country and of the way before them. They 
 wanted to abide forever in the land of the lotus. They wept when 
 they thought of all the toils before them and of all they had en- 
 dured. I led them back to the ships, and I had to place them 
 beneath the benches and leave them in bonds. And I commanded 
 those who had ate of the lotus to go at once aboard the ships. 
 Then, when I had got all my men upon the ships, we made haste 
 to sail away.' 
 
 'Later we came to the land of the Cyclopes, a giant people. 
 There is a waste island outside the harbour of their land, and on 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 159 
 
 it there is a well of bright water that has poplars growing round 
 it. We came to that empty island, and we beached our ships 
 and took down our sails.' 
 
 ' As soon as the dawn came we went through the empty island, 
 starting the wild goats that were there in flocks, and shooting 
 them with our arrows. We killed so many wild goats there 
 that we had nine for each ship. Afterwards we looked across 
 to the land of the Cyclopes, and we heard the sound of voices 
 and saw the smoke of fires and heard the bleating of flocks of 
 sheep and goats.' 
 
 'I called my companions together and I said, "It would be 
 well for some of us to go to that other island. With my own 
 ship and with the company that is on it I shall go there. The 
 rest of you abide here. I will find out what manner of men live 
 there, and whether they will treat us kindly and give us gifts 
 that are due to strangers — ■ gifts of provisions for our voyage." ' 
 E embarked and we came to the land. 
 There was a cave near the sea, and round 
 the cave there were mighty flocks of 
 sheep and goats. I took twelve men with 
 me and I left the rest to guard the ship. 
 We went into the cave and found no 
 man there. There were baskets filled with 
 cheeses, and vessels of whey, and pails and bowls of milk. My 
 men wanted me to take some of the cheeses and drive off some 
 of the lambs and kids and come away. But this I would not 
 
160 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 do, for I would rather that he who owned the stores would 
 give us of his own free will the offerings that were due to 
 strangers.' 
 
 'While we were in the cave, he whose dwelling it was, returned 
 to it. He carried on his shoulder a great pile of wood for his 
 fire. Never in our lives did we see a creature so frightful as 
 this Cyclops was. He was a giant in size, and, what made him 
 terrible to behold, he had but one eye, and that single eye was 
 in his forehead. He cast down on the ground the pile of wood 
 that he carried, making such a din that we fled in terror into the 
 corners and recesses of the cave. Next he drove his flocks into 
 the cave and began to milk his ewes and goats. And when he 
 had the flocks within, he took up a stone that not all our strengths 
 could move and set it as a door to the mouth of the cave.' 
 
 ' The Cyclops kindled his fire, and when it blazed up he saw 
 us in the corners and recesses. He spoke to us. We knew not 
 what he said, but our hearts were shaken with terror at the 
 sound of his deep voice.' 
 
 'I spoke to him saying that we were Agamemnon's men on 
 our way home from the taking of Priam's City, and I begged 
 him to deal with us kindly, for the sake of Zeus who is ever in 
 the company of strangers and suppliants. But he answered me 
 saying, "We Cyclopes pay no heed to Zeus, nor to any of thy 
 gods. In our strength and our power we deem that we are 
 mightier than they. I will not spare thee, neither will I give 
 thee aught for the sake of Zeus, but only as my own spirit bids 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 161 
 
 me. And first I would have thee tell me how you came to oui 
 land.'" 
 
 ' I knew it would be better not to let the Cyclops know that 
 my ship and my companions were at the harbour of the island. 
 Therefore I spoke to him guilefully, telling him that my ship had 
 been broken on the rocks, and that I and the men with me were 
 the only ones who had escaped utter doom.' 
 
 'I begged again that he would deal with us as just men deal 
 with strangers and suppliants, but he, without saying a word, 
 laid hands upon two of my men, and swinging them by the legs, 
 dashed their brains out on the earth. He cut them to pieces 
 and ate them before our very eyes. We wept and we prayed to 
 Zeus as we witnessed a deed so terrible.' 
 
 'Next the Cyclops stretched himself amongst his sheep and 
 went to sleep beside the fire. Then I debated whether I should 
 take my sharp sword in my hand, and feeling where his heart 
 was, stab him there. But second thoughts held me back from 
 doing this. I might be able to kill him as he slept, but not even 
 with my companions could I roll away the great stone that 
 closed the mouth of the cave.' 
 
 'Dawn came, and the Cyclops awakened, kindled his fire and 
 milked his flocks. Then he seized two others of my men and 
 made ready for his mid-day meal. And now he rolled away the 
 great stone and drove his flocks out of the cave.' 
 
 C I had pondered on a way of escape, and I had thought of 
 something that might be done to baffle the Cyclops. I had with 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 163 
 
 me a great skin of sweet wine, and I thought that if I could make 
 him drunken with wine I and my companions might be able for 
 him. But there were other preparations to be made first. On 
 the floor of the cave there was a great beam of olive wood which 
 the Cyclops had cut to make a club when the wood should be 
 seasoned. It was yet green. I and my companions went and 
 cut off a fathom's length of the wood, and sharpened it to a point 
 and took it to the fire and hardened it in the glow. Then I hid 
 the beam in a recess of the cave.' 
 
 'The Cyclops came back in the evening, and opening up the 
 cave drove in his flocks. Then he closed the cave again with 
 the stone and went and milked his ewes and his goats. Again 
 he seized two of my companions. I went to the terrible creature 
 with a bowl of wine in my hands. He took it and drank it and 
 cried out, " Give me another bowl of this, and tell me thy name 
 that I may give thee gifts for bringing me this honey-tasting 
 drink.'" 
 
 'Again I spoke to him guilefully and said, "Noman is my 
 name. Noman my father and my mother call me." ' 
 
 "'Give me more of the drink, Noman," he shouted. "And 
 the gift that I shall give to thee is that I shall make thee the last 
 of thy fellows to be eaten." ' 
 
 ' I gave him wine again, and when he had taken the third bowl 
 he sank backwards with his face upturned, and sleep came upon 
 him. Then I, with four companions, took that beam of olive 
 wood, now made into a hard and pointed stake, and thrust it into 
 
164 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 the ashes of the fire. When the pointed end began to glow we 
 drew it out of the flame. Then I and my companions laid hold 
 on the great stake and, dashing at the Cyclops, thrust it into his 
 eye. He raised a terrible cry that made the rocks ring and we 
 dashed away into the recesses of the cave.' 
 
 IS cries brought other Cyclopes to the 
 mouth of the cave, and they, naming him 
 as Polyphemus, called out and asked him 
 what ailed him to cry. "Noman," he 
 shrieked out, "Noman is slaying me by 
 guile." They answered him saying, "If 
 no man is slaying thee, there is nothing we 
 can do for thee, Polyphemus. What ails thee has been sent to 
 thee by the gods." Saying this, they went away from the 
 mouth of the cave without attempting to move away the stone.' 
 'Polyphemus then, groaning with pain, rolled away the stone 
 and sat before the mouth of the cave with his hands outstretched, 
 thinking that he would catch us as we dashed out. I showed my 
 companions how we might pass by him. I laid hands on certain 
 rams of the flock and I lashed three of them together with supple 
 rods. Then on the middle ram I put a man of my company. 
 Thus every three rams carried a man. As soon as the dawn had 
 come the rams hastened out to the pasture, and, as they passed, 
 Polyphemus laid hands on the first and the third of each three 
 that went by. They passed out and Polyphemus did not guess 
 that a ram that he did not touch carried out a man.' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 165 
 
 ' For myself, I took a ram that was the strongest and fleeciest 
 of the whole flock and I placed myself under him, clinging to 
 the wool of his belly. As this ram, the best of all his flock, 
 went by, Polyphemus, laying his hands upon him, said, " Would 
 that you, the best of my flock, were endowed with speech, so 
 that you might tell me where Noman, who has blinded me, 
 has hidden himself." The ram went by him, and when he had 
 gone a little way from the cave I loosed myself from him and 
 went and set my companions free.' 
 
 'We gathered together many of Polyphemus' sheep and we 
 drove them down to our ship. The men we had left behind 
 would have wept when they heard what had happened to six of 
 their companions. But I bade them take on board the sheep 
 we had brought and pull the ship away from that land. Then 
 when we had drawn a certain distance from the shore I could 
 not forbear to shout my taunts into the cave of Polyphemus. 
 " Cyclops," I cried, " you thought that you had the company 
 of a fool and a weakling to eat. But you have been worsted by 
 me, and your evil deeds have been punished." ' 
 
 1 So I shouted, and Polyphemus came to the mouth of the cave 
 with great anger in his heart. He took up rocks and cast them 
 at the ship and they fell before the prow. The men bent to the 
 oars and pulled the ship away or it would have been broken by the 
 rocks he cast. And when we were further away I shouted to him : 
 
 ' " Cyclops, if any man should ask who it was set Iris mark 
 upon you, say that he was Odysseus, the son of Laertes." ' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 167 
 
 ' Then I heard Polyphemus cry out, "I call upon Poseidon, the 
 god of the sea, whose son I am, to avenge me upon you, Odys- 
 seus. I call upon Poseidon to grant that you, Odysseus, may 
 never come to your home, or if the gods have ordained your 
 return, that you come to it after much toil and suffering, in an 
 evil plight and in a stranger's ship, to find sorrow in your home." ' 
 
 'So Polyphemus prayed, and, to my evil fortune, Poseidon 
 heard his prayer. But we went on in our ship rejoicing at our 
 escape. We came to the waste island where my other ships 
 were. All the company rejoiced to see us, although they had to 
 mourn for their six companions slain by Polyphemus. We 
 divided amongst the ships the sheep we had taken from Polyphe- 
 mus' flock and we sacrificed to the gods. At the dawn of the 
 next day we raised the sails on each ship and we sailed away.' 
 
 Winds 
 month, 
 not try 
 
 W^W " TflE came to the Island where iEolus, the Lord 
 
 % M I ()1 " t ^ e Winds, h e wno can §i ye mar iners 
 
 \^/ W a good or a bad wind, has his dwelling. 
 
 A* v With his six sons and his six daughters 
 
 iEolus lives on a floating island that has 
 
 all around it a wall of bronze. And when 
 
 we came to his island, the Lord of the 
 
 treated us kindly and kept us at his dwelling for a 
 
 Now when the time came for us to leave, ^Eolus did 
 
 to hold us on the island. And to me, when I was going 
 
168 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 down to the ships, he gave a bag made from the hide of an ox, 
 and in that bag were all the winds that blow. He made the 
 mouth of the bag fast with a silver thong, so that no wind that 
 might drive us from our course could escape. Then he sent the 
 West Wind to blow on our sails that we might reach our own 
 land as quickly as a ship might go.' 
 
 'For nine days we sailed with the West Wind driving us, and 
 on the tenth day we came in sight of Ithaka, our own land. We 
 saw its coast and the beacon fires upon the coast and the people 
 tending the fires. Then I thought that the curse of the Cyclops 
 was vain and could bring no harm to us. Sleep that I had kept 
 from me for long I let weigh me down, and I no longer kept 
 watch.' 
 
 'Then even as I slept, the misfortune that I had watched 
 against fell upon me. For now my men spoke together and 
 said, " There is our native land, and we come back to it after 
 ten years' struggles and toils, with empty hands. Different it 
 is with our lord, Odysseus. He brings gold and silver from 
 Priam's treasure-chamber in Troy. And ^Eolus too has given 
 him a treasure in an ox-hide bag. But let us take something 
 out of that bag while he sleeps." ' 
 
 ' So they spoke, and they unloosed the mouth of the bag, and 
 behold ! all the winds that were tied in it burst out. Then the 
 winds drove our ship towards the high seas and away from our 
 land. What became of the other ships I know not. I awoke 
 and I found that we were being driven here and there by the 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 169 
 
 winds. I did not know whether I should spring into the sea and 
 so end all my troubles, or whether I should endure this terrible 
 misfortune. I muffled my head in my cloak and lay on the deck 
 of my ship.' 
 
 'The winds brought us back again to the floating Island. We 
 landed and I went to the dwelling of the Lord of the Winds. I 
 sat by the pillars of his threshold and he came out and spoke to 
 me. " How now, Odysseus? " said he. " How is it thou hast 
 returned so soon ? Did I not give thee a fair wind to take thee 
 to thine own country, and did I not tie up all the winds that 
 might be contrary to thee? " ' 
 
 ' "My evil companions," I said, "have been my bane. They 
 have undone all the good that thou didst for me, O King of the 
 Winds. They opened the bag and let all the winds fly out. 
 And now help me, O Lord iEolus, once again." ' 
 
 'But ^Eolus said to me, " Far be it from me to help such a 
 man as thou — a man surely accursed by the gods. Go from my 
 Island, for nothing will I do for thee." Then I went from his 
 dwelling and took my way down to the ship.' 
 
 E sailed away from the Island of ^Eolus 
 with heavy hearts. Next we came to the 
 iEean Island, where we met with Circe, 
 the Enchantress. For two days and two 
 nights we were on that island without 
 seeing the sign of a habitation. On the 
 third day I saw smoke rising up from 
 
i 7 o THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 some hearth. I spoke of it to my men, and it seemed good 
 to us that part of our company should go to see were there 
 people there who might help us. We drew lots to find out 
 who should go, and it fell to the lot of Eurylochus to go 
 with part of the company, while I remained with the other 
 part. ' 
 
 'So Eurylochus went with two and twenty men. In the 
 forest glades they came upon a house built of polished stones. 
 All round that house wild beasts roamed — wolves and lions. 
 But these beasts were not fierce. As Eurylochus and his men 
 went towards the house the lions and wolves fawned upon them 
 like house dogs.' 
 
 'But the men were affrighted and stood round the outer gate 
 of the court. They heard a voice within the house singing, and 
 it seemed to them to be the voice of a woman, singing as she went 
 to and fro before a web she was weaving on a loom. The men 
 shouted, and she who had been singing opened the polished doors 
 and came out of the dwelling. She was very fair to see. As 
 she opened the doors of the house she asked the men to come 
 within and they went into her halls.' 
 
 'But Eurylochus tarried behind. He watched the woman 
 and he saw her give food to the men. But he saw that she 
 mixed a drug with what she gave them to eat and with the wine 
 she gave them to drink. No sooner had they eaten the food and 
 drunk the wine than she struck them with a wand, and behold ! 
 the men turned into swine. Then the woman drove them out 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 171 
 
 of the house and put them in the swine-pens and gave 
 them acorns and mast and the fruit of the cornel tree tc 
 eat.' 
 
 'Eurylochus, when he saw these happenings, ran back through 
 the forest and told me all. Then I cast about my shoulder my 
 good sword of bronze, and, bidding Eurylochus stay by the 
 ships, I went through the forest and came to the house of the 
 enchantress. I stood at the outer court and called out. Then 
 Circe the Enchantress flung wide the shining doors, and called 
 to me to come within. I entered her dwelling and she brought 
 me to a chair and put a footstool under my feet. Then she 
 brought me in a golden cup the wine into which she had cast a 
 harmful drug.' 
 
 'As she handed me the cup I drew my sword and sprang at 
 her as one eager to slay her. She shrank back from me and 
 cried out, " Who art thou who art able to guess at my enchant- 
 ments? Verily, thou art Odysseus, of whom Hermes told me. 
 Nay, put up thy sword and let us two be friendly to each other. 
 In all things I will treat thee kindly." ' 
 
 'But I said to her, " Nay, Circe, you must swear to me first 
 that thou wilt not treat me guilefully." ' 
 
 ' She swore by the gods that she would not treat me guilefully, 
 and I put up my sword. Then the handmaidens of Circe pre- 
 pared a bath, and I bathed and rubbed myself with olive oil, and 
 Circe gave me a new mantle and doublet. The handmaidens 
 brought out silver tables, and on them set golden baskets with 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 173 
 
 bread and meat in them, and others brought cups of honey- 
 tasting wine. I sat before a silver table but I had no pleasure 
 in the food before me.' 
 
 'When Circe saw me sitting silent and troubled she said, 
 ''Why, Odysseus, dost thou sit like a speechless man? Dost 
 thou think there is a drug in this food? But I have sworn that 
 I will not treat thee guilefully, and that oath I shall keep.'" 
 
 'And I said to her, " O Circe, Enchantress, what man of good 
 heart could take meat and drink while his companions are as 
 swine in swine-pens ? If thou wouldst have me eat and drink, 
 first let me see my companions in their own forms." ' 
 
 ' Circe, when she heard me say this, went to the swine-pen and 
 anointed each of the swine that was there with a charm. As she 
 did, the bristles dropped away and the limbs of the man were 
 seen. My companions became men again, and were even taller 
 and handsomer than they had been before.' 
 
 'After that we lived on Circe's island in friendship with the 
 enchantress. She did not treat us guilefully again and we 
 feasted in her house for a year.' 
 
 'But in all of us there was a longing to return to our own 
 land. And my men came to me and craved that I should ask 
 Circe to let us go on our homeward way. She gave us leave 
 to go and she told us of the many dangers we should meet on 
 our voyage.' 
 
174 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 VI 
 
 HEN the sun sank and darkness came on, 
 my men went to lie by the hawsers of the 
 ship. Then Circe the Enchantress took 
 my hand, and, making me sit down by 
 her, told me of the voyage that was be- 
 fore us.' 
 
 ' "To the Sirens first you shall come," 
 said she, " to the Sirens, who sit in their field of flowers and 
 bewitch all men who come near them. He who comes near 
 the Sirens without knowing their ways and hears the sound 
 of their voices — never again shall that man see wife or child, 
 or have joy of his home-coming. All round where the Sirens 
 sit are great heaps of the bones of men. But I will tell thee, 
 Odysseus, how thou mayst pass them."' 
 
 ' "When thou comest near put wax over the ears of thy com- 
 pany lest any of them hear the Sirens' song. But if thou thyself 
 art minded to hear, let thy company bind thee hand and foot 
 to the mast. And if thou shalt beseech them to loose thee, 
 then must they bind thee with tighter bonds. When thy com- 
 panions have driven the ship past where the Sirens sing then 
 thou canst be unbound."' 
 
 '"Past where the Sirens sit there is a dangerous place indeed. 
 On one side there are great rocks which the gods call the Rocks 
 Wandering. No ship ever escapes that goes that way. And 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 175 
 
 round these rocks the planks of ships and the bodies of men are 
 tossed by waves of the sea and storms of fire. One ship only 
 ever passed that way, Jason's ship, the Argo, and that ship 
 would have been broken on the rocks if Hera the goddess had 
 not helped it to pass, because of her love for the hero Jason." ' 
 
 ' " On the other side of the Rocks Wandering are two peaks 
 through which thou wilt have to take thy ship. One peak is 
 smooth and sheer and goes up to the clouds of heaven. In the 
 middle of it there is a cave, and that cave is the den of a monster 
 named Scylla. This monster has six necks and on each neck 
 there is a hideous head. She holds her heads over the gulf, 
 seeking for prey and yelping horribly. No ship has ever passed 
 that way without Scylla seizing and carrying off in each mouth 
 of her six heads the body of a man." ' 
 
 '"The other peak is near. Thou couldst send an arrow 
 across to it from Scylla's den. Out of the peak a fig tree grows, 
 and below that fig tree Charybdis has her den. She sits there 
 sucking down the water and spouting it forth. Mayst thou not 
 be near when she sucks the water down, for then nothing could 
 save thee. Keep nearer to Scylla's than to Charybdis's rock. 
 It is better to lose six of your company than to lose thy 
 ship and all thy company. Keep near Scylla's rock and drive 
 right on." ' 
 
 ' " If thou shouldst win past the deadly rocks guarded by 
 Scylla and Charybdis thou wilt come to the Island of Thrinacia. 
 There the Cattle of the Sun graze with immortal nymphs to 
 
176 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 guard them. If thou comest to that Island, do no hurt to those 
 herds. If thou doest hurt to them I foresee ruin for thy ship and 
 thy men, even though thou thyself shouldst escape." ' 
 
 'So Circe spoke to me, and having told me such things she 
 took her way up the island. Then I went to the ship and roused 
 my men. Speedily they went aboard, and, having taken their 
 seats upon the benches, struck the water with their oars. Then 
 the sails were hoisted and a breeze came and we sailed away from 
 the Isle of Circe, the Enchantress.' 
 
 'I told my companions what Circe had told me about the 
 Sirens in their field of flowers. I took a great piece of wax and 
 broke it and kneaded it until it was soft. Then I covered the 
 ears of my men, and they bound me upright to the mast of the 
 ship. The wind dropped and the sea became calm as though 
 a god had stilled the waters. My company took their oars 
 and pulled away. When the ship was within a man's shout 
 from the land we had come near the Sirens espied us and raised 
 their song.' 
 
 '"Come hither, come hither, O Odysseus," the Sirens sang, 
 "stay thy bark and listen to our song. None hath ever gone 
 this way in his ship until he hath heard from our own lips the 
 voice sweet as a honeycomb, and hath joy of it, and gone on his 
 way a wiser man. We know all things — ■ all the travail the 
 Greeks had in the war of Troy, and we know all that hereafter 
 shall be upon the earth. Odysseus, Odysseus, come to our field 
 of flowers, and hear the song that we shall sing to thee." ' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 177 
 
 'My heart was mad to listen to the Sirens. I nodded my 
 head to the company commanding them to unloose me, but 
 they bound me the tighter, and bent to their oars and rowed on. 
 When we had gone past the place of the Sirens the men took 
 the wax .from of! their ears and loosed me from the mast.' 
 
 UT no sooner had we passed the Island 
 than I saw smoke arising and heard the 
 roaring of the sea. My company threw 
 down their oars in terror. I went amongst 
 them to hearten them, and I made them 
 remember how, by my device, we had 
 escaped from the Cave of the Cyclops. 
 I told them nothing of the monster Scylla, lest the fear of her 
 should break their hearts. And now we began to drive through 
 that narrow strait. On one side was Scylla and on the other 
 Charybdis. Fear gripped the men when they saw Charybdis 
 gulping down the sea. But as we drove by, the monster Scylla 
 seized six of my company — the hardiest of the men who were 
 with me. As they were lifted up in the mouths of her six heads 
 they called to me in their agony. ■ But I could do nothing to aid 
 them. They were carried up to be devoured in the monster's 
 den. Of all the sights I have seen on the ways of the water, 
 that sight was the most pitiful.' 
 
 'Having passed the rocks of Scylla and Charybdis we came 
 to the Island of Thrinacia. While we were yet on the ship I 
 heard the lowing of the Cattle of the Sun. I spoke to my com- 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 179 
 
 pany and told them that we should drive past that Island and 
 not venture to go upon it.' 
 
 'The hearts of my men were broken within them at that 
 sentence, and Eurylochus answered me, speaking sadly.' 
 
 '"It is easy for thee, O Odysseus, to speak like that, for thou 
 art never weary, and thou hast strength beyond measure. But 
 is thy heart, too, of iron that thou wilt not suffer thy companions 
 to set foot upon shore where they may rest themselves from the 
 sea and prepare their supper at their ease?" ' 
 
 ' So Eurylochus spoke and the rest of the company joined in 
 what he said. Their force was greater than mine. Then said 
 I, "Swear to me a mighty oath, one and all of you, that if we go 
 upon this Island none of you will slay the cattle out of any herd." ' 
 
 'They swore the oath that I gave them. We brought our 
 ship to a harbour, and landed near a spring of fresh water, and the 
 men got their supper ready. Having eaten their supper they 
 fell to weeping for they thought upon their comrades that Scylla 
 had devoured. Then they slept.' 
 
 ' The dawn came, but we found that we could not take our ship 
 out of the harbour, for the North Wind and the East Wind blew a 
 hurricane. So we stayed upon the Island and the days and the 
 weeks went by. When the corn we had brought in the ship was 
 all eaten the men went through the island fishing and hunting. 
 Little they got to stay their hunger.' 
 
 ' One day while I slept, Eurylochus gave the men a most evil 
 counsel. "Every death," he said, "is hateful to man, but death 
 
180 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 by hunger is by far the worst. Rather than die of hunger 
 let us drive off the best cattle from the herds of the Sun. Then, 
 if the gods would wreck us on the sea for the deed, let them do it. 
 I would rather perish on the waves than die in the pangs of 
 hunger." ' 
 
 'So he spoke, and the rest of the men approved of what he 
 said. They slaughtered them and roasted their flesh. It was 
 then that I awakened from my sleep. As I came down to the 
 ship the smell of the roasting flesh came to me. Then I knew 
 that a terrible deed had been committed and that a dreadful 
 thing would befall all of us.' 
 
 1 For six days my company feasted on the best of the cattle. 
 On the seventh day the winds ceased to blow. Then we went 
 to the ship and set up the mast and the sails and fared out again 
 on the deep.' 
 
 'But, having left that island, no other land appeared, and only 
 sky and sea were to be seen. A cloud stayed always above our 
 ship and beneath that cloud the sea was darkened. The West 
 Wind came in a rush, and the mast broke, and, in breaking, struck 
 off the head of the pilot, and he fell straight down into the sea. 
 A thunderbolt struck the ship and the men were swept from the 
 deck. Never a man of my company did I see again.' 
 
 'The West Wind ceased to blow but the South Wind came and 
 it drove the ship back on its course. It rushed towards the 
 terrible rocks of Scylla and Charybdis. All night long I was 
 borne on, and, at the rising of the sun, I found myself near 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 181 
 
 Charybdis. My ship was sucked down. But I caught the 
 branches of the fig tree that grew out of the rock and hung to it 
 like a bat. There I stayed until the timbers of my ship were 
 cast up again by Charybdis. I dropped down on them. Sitting 
 on the boards I rowed with my hands and passed the rock of 
 Scylla without the monster seeing me.' 
 
 1 Then for nine days I was borne along by the waves, and on 
 the tenth day I came to Ogygia where the nymph Calypso 
 dwells. She took me to her dwelling and treated me kindly. 
 But why tell the remainder of my toils ? To thee, O King, and 
 to thy noble wife I told how I came from Calypso's Island, and 
 I am not one to repeat a plain-told tale.' 
 
 VII 
 
 DYSSEUS finished, and the company in 
 the hall sat silent, like men enchanted. 
 Then King Alcinous spoke and said, 
 'Never, as far as we Phaeacians are con- 
 cerned, wilt thou, Odysseus, be driven 
 from thy homeward way. To-morrow we 
 will give thee a ship and an escort, and 
 we will land thee in Ithaka, thine own country.' The Princes, 
 Captains and Councillors, marvelling that they had met the 
 renowned Odysseus, went each to his own home. When the 
 dawn had come, each carried down to the ship on which Odys- 
 seus was to sail, gifts for him. 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 183 
 
 When the sun was near its setting they all came back to the 
 King's hall to take farewell of him. The King poured out a great 
 bowl of wine as an offering to the gods. Then Odysseus rose up 
 and placed in the Queen's hands a two-handled cup, and he said, 
 ' Farewell to thee, O Queen ! Mayst thou long rejoice in thy 
 house and thy children, and in thy husband, Alcinous, the re- 
 nowned King.' 
 
 He passed over the threshold of the King's house, and he went 
 down to the ship. He went aboard and lay down on the deck 
 on a sheet and rug that had been spread for him. Straightway 
 the mariners took to their oars, and hoisted their sails, and the 
 ship sped on like a strong sea-bird. Odysseus slept. And 
 lightly the ship sped on, bearing that man who had suffered so 
 much sorrow of heart in passing through wars of men and through 
 troublous seas — the ship sped on, and he slept, and was forgetful 
 of all he had passed through. 
 
 When the dawn came the ship was near to the Island of Ithaka. 
 The mariners drove to a harbour near which there was a great 
 cave. They ran the ship ashore and lifted out Odysseus, wrapped 
 in the sheet and the rugs, and still sleeping. They left him on the 
 sandy shore of his own land. Then they took the gifts which 
 the King and Queen, the Princes, Captains and Councillors of the 
 Phaeacians had given him, and they set them by an olive tree, 
 a little apart from the road, so that no wandering person might 
 come upon them before Odysseus had awakened. Then they went 
 back to their ship and departed from Ithaka for their own land. 
 
1 84 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 Odysseus awakened on the beach of his own land. A mist lay 
 over all, and he did not know what land he had come to. He 
 thought that the Phaeacians had left him forsaken on a strange 
 shore. As he looked around him in his bewilderment he saw one 
 who was like a King's son approaching. 
 
 Now the one who came near him was not a young man, but 
 the goddess, Pallas Athene, who had made herself look like a 
 young man. Odysseus arose, and questioned her as to the land 
 he had come to. The goddess answered him and said, 'This 
 is Ithaka, a land good for goats and cattle, a land of woods and 
 wells.' 
 
 Even as she spoke she changed from the semblance of a young 
 man and was seen by Odysseus as a woman tall and fair. 'Dost 
 thou not know me, Pallas Athene, the daughter of Zeus, who 
 has always helped thee?' the goddess said. 'I would have 
 been more often by thy side, only I did not want to go openly 
 against my brother, Poseidon, the god of the sea, whose son, 
 Polyphemus, thou didst blind.' 
 
 As the goddess spoke the mist that lay on the land scattered 
 and Odysseus saw that he was indeed in Ithaka, his own country 
 
 — he knew the harbour and the cave, and the hill Neriton all 
 covered with its forest. And knowing them he knelt down on 
 the ground and kissed the earth of his country. 
 
 Then the goddess helped him to lay his goods within the cave 
 
 — the gold and the bronze and the woven raiment that the Phae- 
 acians had given him. She made him sit beside her under the 
 
1 86 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 olive tree while she told him of the things that were happening 
 in his house. 
 
 'There is trouble in thy halls, Odysseus,' she said, 'and it 
 would be well for thee not to make thyself known for a time. 
 Harden thy heart, that thou mayest endure for a while longer ill 
 treatment at the hands of men.' She told him about the wooers 
 of his wife, who filled his halls all day, and wasted his substance, 
 and who would slay him, lest he should punish them for their 
 insolence. 'So that the doom of Agamemnon shall not befall 
 thee — thy slaying within thine own halls — I will change thine 
 appearance that no man shall know thee,' the goddess said. 
 
 HEN she made a change in his appear- 
 ance that would have been evil but that 
 it was to last for a while only. She made 
 his skin wither, and she dimmed his shin- 
 ing eyes. She made his yellow hair grey 
 and scanty. Then she changed his rai- 
 ment to a beggar's wrap, torn and stained 
 with smoke. Over his shoulder she cast the hide of a deer, and 
 she put into his hands a beggar's staff, with a tattered bag and 
 a cord to hang it by. And when she had made this change in 
 his appearance the goddess left Odysseus and went from Ithaka. 
 It was then that she came to Telemachus in Sparta and coun- 
 selled him to leave the house of Menelaus and Helen ; and it has 
 been told how he went with Peisistratus, the son of Nestor, and 
 came to his own ship. His ship was hailed by a man who was 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 187 
 
 flying from those who would slay him, and this man Telemachus 
 took aboard. The stranger's name was Theoclymenus, and he 
 was a sooth-sayer and a second-sighted man. 
 
 And Telemachus, returning to Ithaka, was in peril of his life. 
 The wooers of his mother had discovered that he had gone from 
 Ithaka in a ship. Two of the wooers, Antinous and Euryma- 
 chus, were greatly angered at the daring act of the youth. 'He 
 has gone to Sparta for help,' Antinous said, 'and if he finds 
 that there are those who will help him we will not be able to 
 stand against his pride. He will make us suffer for what we have 
 wasted in his house. But let us too act. I will take a ship with 
 twenty men, and lie in wait for him in a strait between Ithaka 
 and Samos, and put an end to his search for his father.' 
 
 Thereupon Antinous took twenty men to a ship, and fixing 
 mast and sails they went over the sea. There is a little isle 
 between Ithaka and Samos — Asteris it is called — and in the 
 harbour of that isle he and his men lay in wait for Telemachus. 
 
 VIII 
 
 EAR the place where Odysseus had landed 
 there lived an old man who was a faithful 
 servant in his house. Eumaeus was his 
 name, and he was a swineherd. He had 
 made for himself a dwelling in the wildest 
 part of the island, and had built a wall 
 round it, and had made for the swine pens 
 
188 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 in the courtyard — ■ twelve pens, and in each pen there were 
 fifty swine. Old Eumaeus lived in this place tending the 
 swine with three young men to help him. The swine-pens 
 were guarded by four dogs that were as fierce as the beasts of 
 the forest. 
 
 As he came near the dogs dashed at him, yelping and snapping ; 
 and Odysseus might have suffered foul hurt if the swineherd had 
 not run out of the courtyard and driven the fierce dogs away. 
 Seeing before him one who looked an ancient beggar, Eumaeus 
 said, ' Old man, it is well that my dogs did not tear thee, for they 
 might have brought upon me the shame of thy death. I have 
 grief and pains enough, the gods know, without such a happening. 
 Here I sit, mourning for my noble master, and fattening hogs 
 for others to eat, while he, mayhap, is wandering in hunger 
 through some friendless city. But come in, old man. I have 
 bread and wine to give thee.' 
 
 The swineherd led the seeming beggar into the courtyard, and 
 he let him sit down on a heap of brushwood, and spread for him 
 a shaggy goat-skin. Odysseus was glad of his servant's welcome, 
 and he said, 'May Zeus and all the other gods grant thee thy 
 heart's dearest wish for the welcome that thou hast given to me.' 
 
 Said Eumaeus the swineherd, 'A good man looks on all strangers 
 and beggars as being from Zeus himself. And my heart's dearest 
 wish is that my master Odysseus should return. Ah, if Odysseus 
 were here, he would give me something which I could hold as 
 mine own — a piece of ground to till, and a wife to comfort me. 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 189 
 
 But my master will not return, and we thralls must go in fear 
 when young lords come to rule it over them.' 
 
 He went to the swine-pens and brought out two sucking pigs ; 
 he slaughtered them and cut them small and roasted the meat. 
 When all was cooked, he brought portions to Odysseus sprinkled 
 with barley meal, and he brought him, too, wine in a deep bowl of 
 ivy wood. And when Odysseus had eaten and drunken, Eumaeus 
 the swineherd said to him : 
 
 'Old man, no wanderer ever comes to this land but that our 
 lady Penelope sends for him, and gives him entertainment, hoping 
 that he will have something to tell her of her lord, Odysseus. 
 They all do as thou wouldst do if thou earnest to her — tell her 
 a tale of having seen or of having heard of her lord, to win her ear. 
 But as for Odysseus, no matter what wanderers or vagrants say, 
 he will never return — dogs, or wild birds, or the fishes of the deep 
 have devoured his body ere this. Never again shall I find so 
 good a lord, nor would I find one so kind even if I were back in my 
 own land, and saw the faces of my father and my mother. But 
 not so much for them do I mourn as for the loss of my master.' 
 
 Said Odysseus, 'Thou sayst that thy master will never return, 
 but I notice that thou art slow to believe thine own words. Now 
 I tell thee that Odysseus will return and in this same year. And 
 as sure as the old moon wanes and the young moon is born, he will 
 take vengeance on those whom you have spoken of — those who 
 eat his substance and dishonour his wife and son. I say that, and 
 I swear it with an oath.' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 191 
 
 'I do not heed thine oath/ said Eumaeus the swineherd. 
 'I do not listen to vagrant's tales about my master since a 
 stranger came here and cheated us with a story. He told us that 
 he had seen Odysseus in the land of the Cretans, in the house of 
 the hero Idomeneus, mending his ships that had been broken by 
 the storm, and that he would be here by summer or by harvest 
 time, bringing with him much wealth.' 
 
 As they were speaking the younger swineherds came back from 
 the woods, bringing the drove of swine into the courtyard. 
 There was a mighty din whilst the swine were being put into their 
 pens. Supper time came on, and Eumaeus and Odysseus and 
 the younger swineherds sat down to a meal. Eumseus carved 
 the swineflesh, giving the best portion to Odysseus whom he 
 treated as the guest of honour. And Odysseus said, 'Eumseus, 
 surely thou art counselled by Zeus, seeing thou dost give the best 
 of the meat even to such a one as I.' 
 
 And Eumaeus, thinking Odysseus was praising him for treating 
 a stranger kindly, said, 'Eat, stranger, and make merry with such 
 fare as is here.' 
 
 The night came on cold with rain. Then Odysseus, to test the 
 kindliness of the swineherd, said, ' that I were young and could 
 endure this bitter night! that I were better off! Then 
 would one of you swineherds give me a wrap to cover myself 
 from the wind and rain ! But now, verily, I am an outcast be- 
 cause of my sorry raiment.' 
 
 Then Eumaeus sprang up and made a bed for Odysseus near 
 
i 9 2 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 the fire. Odysseus lay down, and the swineherd covered him with 
 a mantle he kept for a covering when great storms should 
 arise. Then, that he might better guard the swine, Eumaeus, 
 wrapping himself up in a cloak, and taking with him a sword and 
 javelin, to drive off wild beasts should they come near, went to 
 lie nearer to the pens. 
 
 When morning came, Odysseus said, ' I am going to the town 
 to beg, so that I need take nothing more from thee. Send some- 
 one with me to be a guide. I would go to the house of Odysseus, 
 and see if I can earn a little from the wooers who are there. 
 Right well could I serve them if they would take me on. There 
 could be no better serving-man than I, when it comes to splitting 
 faggots, and kindling a fire and carving meat.' 
 
 'Nay, nay,' said Eumaeus, 'do not go there, stranger. 
 None here are at a loss by thy presence. Stay until the son of 
 Odysseus, Telemachus, returns, and he will do something for 
 thee. Go not near the wooers. It is not such a one as thee that 
 they would have to serve them. Stay this day with us.' 
 
 Odysseus did not go to the town but stayed all day with 
 Eumaeus. And at night, when he and Eumaeus and the younger 
 swineherds were seated at the fire, Odysseus said, 'Thou, too, 
 Eumaeus, hast wandered far and hast had many sorrows. Tell 
 us how thou earnest to be a slave and a swineherd.' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 193 
 
 THE STORY OF EUM^US THE SWINEHERD 
 
 HERE is,' said Eumseus, 'a certain island 
 over against Ortygia. That island has 
 two cities, and my father was king over 
 them both.' 
 
 ' There came to the city where my father 
 dwelt, a ship with merchants from the land 
 of the Phoenicians. I was a child then, 
 and there was in my father's house a Phoenician slave-woman 
 who nursed me. Once, when she was washing clothes, one of the 
 sailors from the Phoenician ship spoke to her and asked her 
 would she like to go back with them to their own land.' 
 
 'She spoke to that sailor and told him her story. "I am from 
 Sidon in the Phoenician land," she said, "and my father was 
 named Artybas, and was famous for his riches. Sea robbers 
 caught me one day as I was crossing the fields, and they stole me 
 away, and brought me here, and sold me to the master of yonder 
 house." ' 
 
 'Then the sailor said to her, "Your father and mother are 
 still alive, I know, and they have lost none of their wealth. 
 Wilt thou not come with us and see them again?" ' 
 
 'Then the woman made the sailors swear that they would 
 bring her safely to the city of Sidon. She told them that when 
 their ship was ready she would come down to it, and that she 
 would bring what gold she could lay her hands on away from 
 
i 9 4 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 her master's house, and that she would also bring the child whom 
 she nursed. "He is a wise child," she said, "and you can sell 
 him for a slave when you come to a foreign land." ' 
 
 'When the Phoenician ship was ready to depart they sent a 
 message to the woman. The sailor who brought the message 
 brought too a chain of gold with amber beads strung here and 
 there, for my mother to buy. And, while my mother and her 
 handmaids were handling the chain, the sailor nodded to the 
 woman, and she went out, taking with her three cups of gold, and 
 leading me by the hand.' 
 
 'The sun sank and all the ways were darkened. But the Phoe- 
 nician woman went down to the harbour and came to the ship 
 and went aboard it. And when the sailor who had gone to my 
 father's house came back, they raised the mast and sails, and took 
 the oars in their hands, and drew the ship away from our land. 
 We sailed away and I was left stricken at heart. For six days 
 we sailed over the sea, and on the seventh day the woman died 
 and her body was cast into the deep. The wind and the waves 
 bore us to Ithaka, and there the merchants sold me to Laertes, 
 the father of Odysseus.' 
 
 'The wife of Laertes reared me kindly, and I grew up with the 
 youngest of her daughters, the lovely Ctimene. But Ctimene 
 went to Same, and was married to one of the princes of that 
 island. Afterwards Laertes' lady sent me to work in the fields. 
 But always she treated me kindly. Now Laertes' lady is dead — 
 she wasted away from grief when she heard no tidings of her only 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 195 
 
 son, Odysseus. Laertes yet lives, but since the death of his noble 
 wife he never leaves his house. All day he sits by his fire, they 
 say, and thinks upon his son's doom, and how his son's sub- 
 stance is being wasted, and how his son's son will have but little 
 to inherit.' 
 
 So Odysseus passed part of the night, Eumasus telling 
 him of his wanderings and his sorrows. And while they were 
 speaking, Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, came to Ithaka in his 
 good ship. Antinous had lain in wait for him, and had posted 
 sentinels to watch for his ship ; nevertheless Telemachus had 
 passed by without being seen by his enemies. And having come 
 to Ithaka, he bade one of his comrades bring the ship into the 
 wharf of the city while he himself went to another place. Leav- 
 ing the ship he came to the dwelling of the servant he most 
 trusted — to the dwelling of Eumasus, the swineherd. 
 
 IX 
 
 IN the morning of his fourth day in Ithaka, 
 as he and the swineherd were eating a 
 meal together, Odysseus heard the sound 
 of footsteps approaching the hut. The 
 fierce dogs were outside and he expected 
 to hear them yelping against the stranger's 
 approach. No sound came from them. 
 Then he saw a young man come to the entrance of the court- 
 yard, the swineherd's dogs fawning upon him. 
 
196 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 When Eumaeus saw this young man he let fall the vessels he 
 was carrying, and running to him, kissed his head and his eyes 
 and his hands. While he was kissing and weeping over him, 
 Odysseus heard the swineherd saying : 
 
 'Telemachus, art thou come back to us? Like a light in the 
 darkness thou hast appeared ! I thought that never again 
 should we see thee when I heard that thou hadst taken a ship to 
 Pylos ! Come in, dear son, come in, that I may see thee once 
 again in mine house.' 
 
 Odysseus raised his head and looked at his son. As a lion 
 might look over his cub so he looked over Telemachus. But 
 neither the swineherd nor Telemachus was aware of Odysseus' 
 gaze. 
 
 'I have come to see thee, friend Eumaeus,' said Telemachus, 
 ' for before I go into the City I would know whether my mother 
 is still in the house of Odysseus, or whether one of the wooers has 
 at last taken her as a wife to his own house.' 
 
 'Thy mother is still in thy father's house,' Eumaeus an- 
 swered. Then Telemachus came within the courtyard. Odys- 
 seus in the guise of the old beggar rose from his seat, but the 
 young man said to him courteously : 'Be seated, friend. Another 
 seat can be found for me.' 
 
 Eumaeus strewed green brushwood and spread a fleece upon 
 it, and Telemachus seated himself. Next Eumaeus fetched a 
 meal for him — oaten cakes and swine flesh and wine. While 
 they were eating, the swineherd said : 
 
198 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 'We have here a stranger who has wandered through many 
 countries, and who has come to my house as a suppliant. Wilt 
 thou take him for thy man, Telemachus?' 
 
 Said Telemachus, ' How can I support any man ? I have not 
 the strength of hand to defend mine own house. But for this 
 stranger I will do what I can. I will give him a mantle and doub- 
 let, with shoes for his feet and a sword to defend himself, and I 
 will send him on whatever way he wants to go. But, Eumaeus, 
 I would not have him go near my father's house. The wooers 
 grow more insolent each day, and they might mock the stranger 
 if he went amongst them.' 
 
 Then said Odysseus, speaking for the first time, 'Young sir, 
 what thou hast said seems strange to me. Dost thou willingly 
 submit to insolence in thine own father's house? But perhaps 
 it is that the people of the City hate thee and will not help thee 
 against thine enemies. Ah, if I had such youth as I have spirit, 
 or if I were the son of Odysseus, I should go amongst them this 
 very day, and make myself the bane of each man of them. I 
 would rather die in mine own halls than see such shame as is 
 reported — strangers mocked at, and servants injured, and wine 
 and food wasted.' 
 
 Said Telemachus, 'The people of the City do not hate me, and 
 they would help me if they could. But the wooers of my mother 
 are powerful men — men to make the City folk afraid. And if 
 I should oppose them I would assuredly be slain in my father's 
 house, for how could I hope to overcome so many ? ' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 199 
 
 'What wouldst thou have me do for thee, Telemachus?' 
 said the swineherd. 
 
 'I would have thee go to my mother, friend Eumaeus,' Tele- 
 machus said, 'and let her know that I am safe-returned from 
 Pylos.' 
 
 Eumaeus at once put sandals upon his feet and took his staff 
 in his hands. He begged Telemachus to rest himself in the hut, 
 and then he left the courtyard and went towards the City. 
 
 Telemachus lay down on his seat and closed his eyes in weari- 
 ness. He saw, while thinking that he only dreamt it, a woman 
 come to the gate of the courtyard. She was fair and tall and 
 splendid, and the dogs shrank away from her presence with a 
 whine. She touched the beggar with a golden wand. As she 
 did, the marks of age and beggary fell from him and the man 
 stood up as tall and noble looking. 
 
 'Who art thou?' cried Telemachus, starting up. 'Even 
 a moment ago thou didst look aged and a beggar ! Now thou 
 dost look a chief of men ! Art thou one of the divine ones ? ' 
 
 Odysseus looked upon him and said, 'My son, do not speak 
 so to me. I am Odysseus, thy father. After much suffering 
 and much wandering I have come to my own country.' He 
 kissed his son with tears flowing down his cheeks, and Telemachus 
 threw his arms around his father's neck, but scarce believing 
 that the father he had searched for was indeed before him. 
 
 But no doubt was left as Odysseus talked to him, and told him 
 how he had come to Ithaka in a ship given him by the Phaeacians, 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 201 
 
 and how he had brought with him gifts of bronze and raiment 
 that were hidden in the cave, and told him, too, how Pallas Athene 
 had changed his appearance into that of an old beggar. 
 
 And when his own story was finished he said, 'Come, my son, 
 tell me of the wooers who waste the substance of our house — 
 tell me how many they number, and who they are, so that we 
 may prepare a way of dealing with them.' 
 
 'Even though thou art a great warrior, my father, thou and 
 I cannot hope to deal with them. They have come, not from 
 Ithaka alone, but from all the islands around — from Dulichium 
 and Same and Zacynthus. We two cannot deal with such a 
 throng.' 
 
 Said Odysseus, 'I shall make a plan to deal with them. Go 
 thou home, and keep company with the wooers. Later in the 
 day the swineherd will lead me into the city, and I shall go into 
 the house in the likeness of an old beggar. And if thou shouldst 
 see any of the wooers ill-treat me, harden thine heart to endure 
 it — • even if they drag me by the feet to the door of the house, 
 keep quiet thou. And let no one — not even thy mother, 
 Penelope — ■ nor my father Laertes — know that Odysseus hath 
 returned.' 
 
 Telemachus said, 'My father, thou shalt learn soon what 
 spirit is in me and what wisdom I have.' 
 
 While they talked together the ship that Antinous had taken, 
 when he went to lie in wait for Telemachus, returned. The 
 wooers assembled and debated whether they should kill Telema- 
 
202 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 chus, for now there was danger that he would draw the people 
 to his side, and so make up a force that could drive the wooers out 
 of Ithaka. But they did not agree to kill him then, for there was 
 one amongst them who was against the deed. 
 
 Eumaeus brought the news to Telemachus and Odysseus of 
 the return of Antinous' ship. He came back to the hut in the 
 afternoon. Pallas Athene had again given Odysseus the appear- 
 ance of an ancient beggar-man and the swineherd saw no change 
 in his guest. 
 
 IT was time for Telemachus to go into the 
 City. He put his sandals on his feet, and 
 took his spear in his hand, and then speak- 
 ing to the swineherd he said : 
 
 ' Friend Eumasus, I am now going into 
 the City to show myself to my mother, and 
 to let her hear from my own lips the tale 
 of my journey. And I have an order to leave with thee. Take 
 this stranger into the City, that he may go about as he desires, 
 asking alms from the people.' 
 
 Odysseus in the guise of a beggar said, 'I thank thee, lord 
 Telemachus. I would not stay here, for I am not of an age to 
 wait about a hut and courtyard, obeying the orders of a master, 
 even if that master be as good a man as thy swineherd. Go thy 
 way, lord Telemachus, and Eumaeus, as thou hast bidden him, 
 will lead me into the City.' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 203 
 
 Telemachus then passed out of the courtyard and went the 
 ways until he came into the City. When he went into the house, 
 the first person he saw was his nurse, old Eurycleia, who wel- 
 comed him with joy. To Eurycleia he spoke of the guest who 
 had come on his ship, Theoclymenus. He told her that this 
 guest would be in the house that day, and that he was to be 
 treated with all honour and reverence. The wooers came into 
 the hall and crowded around him, with fair words in their mouths. 
 Then all sat down at tables, and Eurycleia brought wheaten 
 bread and wine and dainties. 
 
 Just at that time Odysseus and Eumasus were journeying 
 towards the City. Odysseus, in the guise of a beggar, had a 
 ragged bag across his shoulders and he carried a staff that the 
 swineherd had given him to help him over the slippery ground. 
 They went by a rugged path and they came to a place where a 
 spring flowed into a basin made for its water, and where there was 
 an altar to the Nymphs, at which men made offerings. 
 
 As Eumaeus and Odysseus were resting at the spring, a servant 
 from Odysseus' house came along. He was a goatherd, and 
 Melanthius was his name. He was leading a flock of goats for 
 the wooers to kill, and when he saw the swineherd with the seem- 
 ing beggar he cried out : 
 
 'Now we see the vile leading the vile. Say, swineherd, 
 whither art thou leading this wretch ? It is easy to see the sort 
 of fellow he is ! He is the sort to rub shoulders against many 
 doorposts, begging for scraps. Nothing else is he good for. But 
 
204 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 if thou wouldst give him to me, swineherd, I would make him 
 watch my fields, and sweep out my stalls, and carry fresh water 
 to the kids. He'd have his dish of whey from me. But a fellow 
 like this doesn't want an honest job — he wants to lounge through 
 the country, filling his belly, without doing anything for the 
 people who feed him up. If he goes to the house of Odysseus, 
 I pray that he be pelted from the door.' 
 
 E said all this as he came up to them with 
 his flock of goats. And as he went by he 
 gave a kick to Odysseus. 
 
 Odysseus took thought whether he should 
 strike the fellow with his staff or fling him 
 upon the ground. But in the end he hard- 
 ened his heart to endure the insult, and let 
 the goatherd go on his way. But turning to the altar that was 
 by the spring, he prayed : 
 
 ' Nymphs of the Well ! If ever Odysseus made offerings to 
 you, fulfil for me this wish — that he — even Odysseus — may 
 come to his own home, and have power to chastise the insolence 
 that gathers around his house.' 
 
 They journeyed on, and when they came near they heard the 
 sound of the lyre within the house. The wooers were now feast- 
 ing, and Phemius the minstrel was singing to them. And when 
 Odysseus came before his own house, he caught the swineherd by 
 the hand suddenly and with a hard grip, and he said : 
 
 'Lo now, I who have wandered in many lands and have walked 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 205 
 
 in pain through many Cities have come at last to the house of 
 Odysseus. There it is, standing as of old, with building beyond 
 building ; with its walls and its battlements ; its courts and its 
 doors. The house of Odysseus, verily ! And lo ! unwelcome 
 men keep revel within it, and the smoke of their feast rises up 
 and the sound of the lyre is heard playing for them.' 
 
 Said Eumasus, 'What wilt thou have me do for thee, friend? 
 Shall I bring thee into the hall and before the company of wooers, 
 whilst I remain here, or wouldst thou have me go in before thee ?' 
 
 'I would have thee go in before me,' Odysseus said. 
 
 Now as they went through the courtyard a thing happened 
 that dashed Odysseus' eyes with tears. A hound lay in the dirt 
 of the yard, a hound that was very old. All uncared for he lay 
 in the dirt, old and feeble. But he had been a famous hound, and 
 Odysseus himself had trained him before he went to the wars of 
 Troy. Argos was his name. Now as Odysseus came near, the 
 hound Argos knew him, and stood up before him and whined and 
 dropped his ears, but had no strength to come near him. Odys- 
 seus knew the hound and stopped and gazed at him. 'A good 
 hound lies there,' said he to Eumaeus, 'once, I think, he was so 
 swift that no beast in the deep places of the wood could flee 
 from him.' Then he went on, and the hound Argos lay down 
 in the dirt of the yard, and that same day the life passed 
 from him. 
 
 Behind Eumasus, the swineherd, he came into his own hall, 
 in the appearance of a beggar, wretchedly clad and leaning on an 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 207 
 
 old man's staff. Odysseus looked upon the young lords who 
 wooed his wife, and then he sat down upon the threshold and 
 went no further into the hall. 
 
 Telemachus was there. Seeing Eumasus he called to him 
 and gave the swineherd bread and meat, and said, ' Take these, 
 and give them to the stranger at the doorway, and tell him 
 that he may go amongst the company and crave an alms from 
 each.' 
 
 Odysseus ate whilst the minstrel was finishing his song. When 
 it was finished he rose up, and went into the hall, craving an alms 
 from each of the wooers. 
 
 Seeing him, Antinous, the most insolent of the wooers, cried 
 out, 'O notorious swineherd, why didst thou bring this fellow 
 here? Have we not enough vagabonds? Is it nothing to thee 
 that worthless fellows come here and devour thy master's sub- 
 stance ? ' 
 
 Hearing such a speech from Antinous, Telemachus had to 
 say, 'Antinous, I see that thou hast good care for me and mine. 
 I marvel that thou hast such good care. But wouldst thou have 
 me drive a stranger from the door? The gods forbid that I 
 should do such a thing. Nay, Antinous. Give the stranger 
 something for the sake of the house.' 
 
 ' If all the company gives him as much as I, he will have some- 
 thing to keep him from beggary for a three months' space,' said 
 Antinous, meaning by that that he would work some hurt upon 
 the beggar. 
 
2 o8 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 Odysseus came before him. 'They say that thou art the 
 noblest of all the wooers,' he said, 'and for that reason thou 
 shouldst give me a better thing than any of the others have 
 given me. Look upon me. I too had a house of mine own, and 
 was accounted wealthy amongst men, and I had servants to 
 wait upon me. And many a time would I make welcome the 
 wanderer and give him something from my store.' 
 
 'Stand far away from my table, thou wretched fellow,' said 
 Antinous. 
 
 Then said Odysseus, 'Thou hast beauty, lord Antinous, but 
 thou hast not wisdom. Out of thine own house thou wouldst 
 not give a grain of salt to a suppliant. And even whilst thou 
 dost sit at another man's table thou dost not find it in thy heart 
 to give something out of the plenty that is before thee.' 
 
 So Odysseus spoke and Antinous became terribly angered. 
 He caught up a footstool, and with it he struck Odysseus in the 
 back, at the base of the right shoulder. Such a blow would have 
 knocked another man over, but Odysseus stood steadfast under 
 it. He gave one look at Antinous, and then without a word he 
 went over and sat down again upon the threshold. 
 
 Telemachus had in his heart a mighty rage for the stroke that 
 had been given his father. But he let no tear fall from his eyes 
 and he sat very still, brooding in his heart evil for the wooers. 
 Odysseus, after a while, lifted his head and spoke : 
 
 'Wooers of the renowned queen,' he said, 'hear what the 
 spirit within me bids me say to you. There is neither pain nor 
 
210 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 shame in the blow that a man may get in battle. But in the blow 
 that Antinous has given me — a blow aimed at a beggar — there 
 is pain and there is shame. And now I call upon that god who 
 is the avenger of the insult to the poor, to bring, not a wedding to 
 Antinous, but the issue of death.' 
 
 'Sit there and eat thy meat in quiet,' Antinous called out, 
 ' or else thou wilt be dragged through the house by thy heels, and 
 the flesh will be stripped off thy bones.' 
 
 And now the lady Penelope had come into the hall. Hearing 
 that a stranger was there, she sent for Eumaeus and bade the 
 swineherd bring him to her, that she might question him as to 
 what he had heard about Odysseus. Eumaeus came and told 
 him of Penelope's request. But Odysseus said, 'Eumaeus, 
 right willing am I to tell the truth about Odysseus to the fair and 
 wise Penelope. But now I may not speak to her. Go to her 
 and tell her that when the wooers have gone I will speak 
 to her. And ask her to give me a seat near the fire, that I 
 may sit and warm myself as I speak, for the clothes I wear are 
 comfortless.' 
 
 As Eumaeus gave the message to the lady Penelope, one who 
 was there, Theoclymenus, the guest who had come in Telema- 
 chus' ship, said, 'O wife of the renowned Odysseus, be sure 
 that thy lord will return to his house. As I came here on the 
 ship of Telemachus, thy son, I saw a happening that is an omen 
 of the return of Odysseus. A bird flew out on the right, a 
 hawk. In his talons he held a dove, and plucked her and shed 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 211 
 
 the feathers down on the ship. By that omen I know that 
 the lord of this high house will return, and strike here in his 
 anger.' 
 
 Penelope left the hall and went back to her own chamber. 
 Next Eumaeus went away to look after his swine. But still the 
 wooers continued to feast, and still Odysseus sat in the guise of 
 a beggar on the threshold of his own house. 
 
 XI 
 
 HERE was in Ithaka a common beggar ; 
 he was a most greedy fellow, and he was 
 nicknamed Irus because he used to run er- 
 rands for the servants of Odysseus' house. 
 He came in the evening, and seeing a 
 seeming beggar seated on the threshold, 
 he flew into a rage and shouted at him : 
 ' Get away from here, old fellow, lest you be dragged away by 
 the hand or foot. Look you ! The lords within the house are 
 giving me the wink to turn you out. But I can't demean myself 
 by touching the like of you. Get up now and go while I'm easy 
 with you.' 
 
 Odysseus looked at the fellow and said, 'I have not harmed 
 you in deed or word, and I do not grudge you anything of what 
 you may get in this house. The threshold I sit on is wide enough 
 for two of us.' 
 
 'What words this fellow has!' said Irus the beggar. 'He 
 
THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 talks like an old sit-by-the-fire. I'll not waste more words on 
 him. Get up now, heavy paunch, and strip for the fight, for I'm 
 going to show all the lords that I can keep the door for them.' 
 
 'Do not provoke me,' said Odysseus. 'Old as I seem, I may 
 be able to draw your blood.' 
 
 But Irus kept on shouting, 'I'll knock the teeth out of your 
 jaws.' 'I'll trounce you.' Antinous, the most insolent of the 
 wooers, saw the squabble, and he laughed to see the pair defying 
 each other. 'Friends,' said he, 'the gods are good to us, and 
 don't fail to send us amusement. The strange beggar and our 
 own Irus are threatening each other. Let us see that they don't 
 draw back from the fight. Let us match one against the other.' 
 LL the wooers trooped to the threshold 
 and stood round the ragged men. Anti- 
 nous thought of something to make the 
 game more merry. 'There are two great 
 puddings in the larder,' he said. 'Let us 
 offer them for a prize to these pugilists. 
 Come, Irus. Come, stranger. A choice 
 of puddings for whichever of you wins the match. Aye, and 
 more than that. Whoever wins shall have leave to eat every 
 day in this hall, and no other beggar shall be let come near the 
 house. Go to it now, ye mighty men.' All the wooers crowded 
 round and clapped the men on to the fight. 
 
 Odysseus said, 'Friends, an old man like me cannot fight one 
 who is younger and abler.' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 213 
 
 But they cried to him, 'Go on, go on. Get into the fight or 
 else take stripes upon your body.' 
 
 Then said Odysseus, 'Swear to me, all of you, that none of 
 you will show favour to Irus nor deal me a foul blow.' 
 
 All the wooers cried out that none would favour Irus or deal 
 his opponent a foul blow. And Telemachus, who was there, 
 said, 'The man who strikes thee, stranger, will have to take 
 reckoning from me.' 
 
 Straightway Odysseus girt up his rags. When his great arms 
 and shoulders and thighs were seen, the wooers were amazed and 
 Irus was frightened. He would have slipped away if Antinous 
 had not caught him and said to him, 'You lubber, you ! If you 
 do not stand up before this man I will have you flung on my ship 
 and sent over to King Echetus, who will cut off your nose and ears 
 and give your flesh to his dogs to eat.' He took hold of Irus 
 and dragged him into the ring. 
 
 The fighters faced each other. But Odysseus with his hands 
 upraised stood for long without striking, for he was pondering 
 whether he should strike Irus a hard or a light blow. It seemed 
 to him better to strike him lightly, so that his strength should not 
 be made a matter for the wooers to note and wonder at. Irus 
 struck first. He struck Odysseus on the shoulder. Then Odysseus 
 aimed a blow at his neck, just below the ear, and the beggar fell 
 to the ground, with the blood gushing from his mouth and nose. 
 
 The wooers were not sorry for Irus. They laughed until they 
 were ready to fall backwards. Then Odysseus seized Irus by the 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 21 5 
 
 feet, and dragged him out of the house, and to the gate of the 
 courtyard. He lifted him up and put him standing against the 
 wall. Placing the staff in the beggar's hands, he said, 'Sit there, 
 and scare off the dogs and swine, and do not let such a one as you 
 lord it over strangers. A worse thing might have befallen you.' 
 
 Then back he went to the hall, with his beggar's bag on his 
 shoulder and his clothes more ragged than ever. Back he went, 
 and when the wooers saw him they burst into peals of laughter 
 and shouted out: 
 
 'May Zeus, O stranger, give thee thy dearest wish and thy 
 heart's desire. Thou only shalt be beggar in Ithaka.' They 
 laughed and laughed again when Antinous brought out the great 
 pudding that was the prize. Odysseus took it from him. And 
 another of the wooers pledged him in a golden cup, saying, 'May 
 you come to your own, O beggar, and may happiness be yours 
 in time to come.' 
 
 While these things were happening, the wife of Odysseus, the 
 lady Penelope, called to Eurycleia, and said, 'This evening I will 
 go into the hall of our house and speak to my son, Telemachus. 
 Bid my two handmaidens make ready to come with me, for I 
 shrink from going amongst the wooers alone.' 
 
 Eurycleia went to tell the handmaidens and Penelope washed 
 off her cheeks the traces of the tears that she had wept that 
 day. Then she sat down to wait for the handmaidens to come 
 to her. As she waited she fell into a deep sleep. And as she 
 slept, the goddess Pallas Athene bathed her face in the Water 
 
216 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 of Beauty and took all weariness away from her body, and 
 restored all her youthfulness to her. The sound of the hand- 
 maidens' voices as they came in awakened her, and Penelope 
 rose up to go into the hall. 
 
 Now when she came amongst them with her two handmaidens, 
 one standing each side of her, the wooers were amazed, for they 
 had never seen one so beautiful. The hearts of all were en- 
 chanted with love for her, and each prayed that he might have 
 her for his wife. 
 
 Penelope did not look on any of the wooers, but she went to 
 her son, Telemachus, and spoke to him. 
 
 'Telemachus,' she said, 'I have heard that a stranger has 
 been ill-treated in this house. How, my child, didst thou permit 
 such a thing to happen ? ' 
 
 Telemachus said, ' My lady mother, thou hast no right to be 
 angered at what took place in this hall.' 
 
 So they spoke to one another, mother and son. Now one of 
 the wooers, Eurymachus by name, spoke to Penelope, saying : 
 
 'Lady, if any more than we beheld thee in the beauty thou hast 
 now, by so many more wouldst thou have wooers to-morrow.' 
 
 'Speak not so to me, lord Eurymachus,' said Penelope, 
 'speak not of my beauty, which departed in the grief I felt when 
 my lord went to the wars of Troy.' 
 
 Odysseus stood up, and gazed upon his wife who was standing 
 amongst her wooers. Eurymachus noted him and going to him, 
 said, 'Stranger, wouldst thou be my hireling? If thou wouldst 
 
2i8 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 work on my upland farm, I should give thee food and clothes. 
 But I think thou art practised only in shifts and dodges, and that 
 thou wouldst prefer to go begging thy way through the country.' 
 
 Odysseus, standing there, said to that proud wooer, 'Lord 
 Eurymachus, if there might be a trial of labour between us two, I 
 know which of us would come out the better man. I would that 
 we two stood together, a scythe in the hands of each, and a good 
 swath of meadow to be mown — then would I match with thee, 
 fasting from dawn until evening's dark. Or would that we were 
 set ploughing together. Then thou shouldst see who would 
 plough the longest and the best furrow ! Or would that we two 
 were in the ways of war ! Then shouldst thou see who would 
 be in the front rank of battle. Thou dost think thyself a great 
 man. But if Odysseus should return, that door, wide as it is, 
 would be too narrow for thy flight.' 
 
 So angry was Eurymachus at this speech that he would have 
 struck Odysseus if Telemachus had not come amongst the wooers, 
 saying, ' That man must not be struck again in this hall. Sirs, 
 if you have finished feasting, and if the time has come for you, 
 go to your own homes, go in peace I pray you.' 
 
 All were astonished that Telemachus should speak so boldly. 
 No one answered him back, for one said to the other, 'What he 
 has said is proper. We have nothing to say against it. To 
 misuse a stranger in the house of Odysseus is a shame. Now let 
 us pour out a libation of wine to the gods, and then let each man 
 go to his home.' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 219 
 
 The wine was poured out and the wooers departed. Then 
 Penelope and her handmaidens went to her own chamber and 
 Telemachus was left with his father, Odysseus. 
 
 XII 
 
 O Telemachus Odysseus said, 'My son, we 
 must now get the weapons out of the hall. 
 Take them down from the walls.' Telema- 
 chus and his father took down the hel- 
 mets and shields and sharp-pointed spears. 
 Then said Odysseus as they carried them 
 out, 'To-morrow, when the wooers miss 
 the weapons and say, "Why have they been taken?" answer 
 them, saying, "The smoke of the fire dulled them, and they no 
 longer looked the weapons that my father left behind him when 
 he went to the wars of Troy. Besides, I am fearful lest some 
 day the company in the hall come to a quarrel, one with the 
 other, and snatch the weapons in anger. Strife has come here 
 already. And iron draws iron, men say."' : 
 
 Telemachus carried the armour and weapons out of the hall 
 and hid them in the women's apartment. Then when the hall 
 was cleared he went to his own chamber. 
 
 It was then that Penelope came back to the hall to speak to the 
 stranger. One of her handmaidens, Melantho by name, was 
 there, and she was speaking angrily to him. Now this Melantho 
 
220 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 was proud and hard of heart because Antinous often conversed 
 with her. As Penelope came near she was saying : 
 
 'Stranger, art thou still here, prying things out and spying on 
 the servants? Be thankful for the supper thou hast gotten and 
 betake thyself out of this.' 
 
 Odysseus, looking fiercely at her, said, 'Why shouldst thou 
 speak to me in such a way? If I go in ragged clothes and beg 
 through the land it is because of my necessity. Once I had a 
 house with servants and with much substance, and the stranger 
 who came there was not abused.' 
 
 The lady Penelope called to the handmaiden and said, 'Thou, 
 Melantho, didst hear it from mine own lips that I was minded to 
 speak to this stranger and ask him if he had tidings of my lord. 
 Therefore, it does not become thee to revile him.' She spoke 
 to the old nurse who had come with her, and said, 'Eurycleia, 
 bring to the fire a bench, with a fleece upon it, that this stranger 
 may sit and tell me his story.' 
 
 Eurycleia brought over the bench, and Odysseus sat down near 
 the fire. Then said the lady Penelope, 'First, stranger, wilt 
 thou tell me who thou art, and what is thy name, and thy race 
 and thy country ? ' 
 
 Said Odysseus, 'Ask me all thou wilt, lady, but inquire not 
 concerning my name, or race, or country, lest thou shouldst fill 
 my heart with more pains than I am able to endure. Verily I 
 am a man of grief. But hast thou no tale to tell me ? We know 
 of thee, Penelope, for thy fame goes up to heaven, and no one of 
 mortal men can find fault with thee.' 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 221 
 
 Then said Penelope, 'What excellence I had of face or form 
 departed from me when my lord Odysseus went from this hall 
 to the wars of Troy. And since he went a host of ills has beset 
 me. Ah, would that he were here to watch over my life ! The 
 lords of all the islands around — Dulichium and Same and 
 Zacynthus ; and the lords of the land of Ithaka, have come here 
 and are wooing me against my will. They devour the substance 
 of this house and my son is being impoverished.' 
 
 'Long ago a god put into my mind a device to keep marriage 
 with any of them away from me. I set up a great web upon my 
 loom and I spoke to the wooers, saying, "Odysseus is assuredly 
 dead, but I crave that you be not eager to speed on this marriage 
 with me. Wait until I finish the web I am weaving. It is a 
 shroud for Odysseus' father, and I make it against the day when 
 death shall come to him. There will be no woman to care for 
 Laertes when I have left his son's house, and I would not have 
 such a hero He without a shroud, lest the women of our land 
 should blame me for neglect of my husband's father in his last 
 days.'" 
 
 'So I spoke, and they agreed to wait until the web was woven. 
 In the daytime I wove it, but at night I unravelled the web. So 
 three years passed away. Then the fourth year came, and my 
 wooers were hard to deal with. My treacherous handmaidens 
 brought them upon me as I was unravelling the web. And now 
 I cannot devise any other plan to keep the marriage away from 
 me. My parents command me to marry one of my wooers. 
 
222 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 My son cannot long endure to see the substance of his house and 
 field being wasted, and the wealth that should be his destroyed. He 
 too would wish that I should marry. And there is no reason why 
 I should not be wed again, for surely Odysseus, my lord, is dead.' 
 Said Odysseus, 'Thy lord was known to me. On his way to 
 Troy he came to my land, for the wind blew him out of his course, 
 sending him wandering past Malea. For twelve days he stayed 
 in my city, and I gave him good entertainment, and saw that he 
 lacked for nothing in cattle, or wine, or barley meal.' 
 
 When Odysseus was spoken of, the heart of Penelope melted, 
 and tears ran down her cheeks. Odysseus had pity for Ins wife 
 when he saw her weeping for the man who was even then sitting 
 by her. Tears would have run down his own cheeks only that 
 he was strong enough to hold them back. 
 
 Said Penelope, 'Stranger, I cannot help but question thee 
 about Odysseus. What raiment had he on when thou didst see 
 him ? And what men were with him ? ' 
 
 AID Odysseus, 'Lady, it is hard for one 
 so long parted from him to tell thee what 
 thou hast asked. It is now twenty years 
 since I saw Odysseus. He wore a purple 
 mantle that was fastened with a brooch. 
 And this brooch had on it the image of a 
 hound holding a fawn between its fore- 
 paws. All the people marvelled at this brooch, for it was of 
 gold, and the fawn and the hound were done to the life. And 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 223 
 
 I remember that there was a henchman with Odysseus — he was 
 a man somewhat older than his master, round shouldered and 
 black-skinned and curly headed. His name was Eurybates, and 
 Odysseus honoured him above the rest of his company.' 
 
 When he spoke, giving such tokens of Odysseus, Penelope wept 
 again. And when she had wept for a long time she said : 
 
 'Stranger, thou wert made welcome, but now thou shalt be 
 honoured in this hall. Thou dost speak of the garments that 
 Odysseus wore. It was I who gave him these garments, folding 
 them myself and bringing them out of the chamber. And it 
 was I who gave him the brooch that thou hast described. Ah, 
 it was an evil fate that took him from me, bringing him to Troy, 
 that place too evil to be named by me.' 
 
 Odysseus leaned towards her, and said, 'Do not waste thy heart 
 with endless weeping, lady. Cease from lamentation, and lay 
 up in thy mind the word I give thee. Odysseus is near. He 
 has lost all his companions, and he knows not how to come into 
 this house, whether openly or by stealth. I swear it. By the 
 hearth of Odysseus to which I am come, I swear that Odysseus 
 himself will stand up here before the old moon wanes and the 
 new moon is born.' 
 
 'Ah, no,' said Penelope. 'Often before have wanderers told 
 me such comfortable things, and I believed them. I know now 
 that thy word cannot be accomplished. But it is time for thee 
 to rest thyself, stranger. My handmaidens will make a bed for 
 thee in the vestibule, and then come to thee and bathe thy feet.' 
 
224 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 Said Odysseus, ' Thy handmaidens would be loath to touch the 
 feet of a wanderer such as I. But if there is in the house some 
 old wife who has borne such troubles as I have borne, I would 
 have my feet bathed by her.' 
 
 Said Penelope, 'Here is an ancient woman who nursed and 
 tended that hapless man, Odysseus. She took him in her arms 
 in the very hour he was born. Eurycleia, wash the feet of this 
 man, who knew thy lord and mine.' 
 
 Thereupon the nurse, old Eurycleia, fetched water, both hot 
 and cold, and brought the bath to the hearth. And standing 
 before Odysseus in the flickering light of the fire, she said, 'I 
 will wash thy feet, both for Penelope's sake and for thine own. 
 The heart within me is moved at the sight of thee. Many 
 strangers have come into this hall, but I have never seen one 
 that was so like as thou art to Odysseus.' 
 
 Said Odysseus, 'Many people have said that Odysseus and 
 I favour each other.' 
 
 His feet were in the water, and she put her hand upon one 
 of them. As she did so, Odysseus turned his face away to 
 the darkness, for it suddenly came into his mind that his 
 nurse, old Eurycleia, might recognize the scar that was upon 
 that foot. 
 
 How came it there, that scar? It had been made long ago 
 when a boar's tusk had ripped up the flesh of his foot. Odysseus 
 was then a youth, and he had gone to the mountain Parnassus 
 to visit there his mother's father. 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 225 
 
 
 WL / 
 
 NE morning, with his uncles, young Odys- 
 seus went up the slope of the mountain 
 Parnassus, to hunt with hounds. In a 
 thick lair a mighty boar was lying. When 
 the sound of the men's trampling came 
 near him, he sprang up with gleaming 
 eyes and stood before them all. Odys- 
 seus, holding lus spear in his hands, rushed upon him. But 
 before he could strike him, the boar charged, ripping deep into 
 his flesh with his tusk. Then Odysseus speared him through 
 the shoulder and the boar was slain. His uncles staunched the 
 wound and he stayed with them on the mountain Parnassus, in 
 his grandfather's house, until the wound was healed. 
 
 And now, as Eurycleia, his old nurse, passed her hands along 
 the leg, she let his foot drop suddenly. His knee struck against 
 the bath, and the vessel of water was overturned. The nurse 
 touched the chin of Odysseus and she said, 'Thou art Odysseus.' 
 
 She looked to where Penelope was sitting, so that she might 
 make a sign to her. But Penelope had her eyes turned away. 
 Odysseus put his hand on Eurycleia's mouth, and with the other 
 hand he drew her to him. 
 
 'Woman,' he whispered. 'Say nothing. Be silent, lest 
 mine enemies learn what thou knowest now.' 
 
 'Silent I'll be,' said the nurse Eurycleia. 'Thou knowest 
 me. Firm and unyielding I am, and by no sign will I let anyone 
 know that thou hast come under this roof.' 
 Q 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 227 
 
 So saying she went out of the hall to fetch water in the place 
 of that which had been spilt. She came back and finished bathing 
 his feet. Then Odysseus arranged the rags around his leg to hide 
 the scar, and he drew the bench closer to the fire. 
 
 Penelope turned to him again. 'Wise thou art, my guest,' 
 she said, 'and it may be that thou art just such a man as can 
 interpret a dream that comes to me constantly. I have twenty 
 geese in the yard outside. In my dream I see them, and then 
 a great eagle flies down from the mountains, and breaks their 
 necks and kills them all, and lays them in a heap in this hall. 
 I weep and lament for my geese, but then the eagle comes back, 
 and perching on a beam of the roof speaks to me in the voice of 
 a man. "Take heart, O wife of Odysseus," the eagle says, 
 "this is no dream but a true vision. For the geese that thou 
 hast seen are thy wooers, and I, that appeared as an eagle, am 
 thy husband who will swiftly bring death to the wooers." Then 
 the dream goes, and I waken and look out on the daylight and 
 see my geese in the courtyard pecking at the wheat in the 
 trough. Canst thou interpret this dream ? ' 
 
 'Lady,' said Odysseus, 'the dream interprets itself. All 
 will come about as thou hast dreamed.' 
 
 'Ah,' said Penelope, 'but it cannot now, for the day of my 
 woe is at hand. I am being forced by my parents to choose a 
 husband from the wooers, and depart from the house of Odysseus. ' 
 
 'And how wilt thou choose from amongst them?' said 
 Odysseus. 
 
228 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 'In this way will I make choice,' said Penelope. 'My 
 husband's great bow is still in the house. The one who can 
 bend that bow, and shoot an arrow through the holes in the 
 backs of twelve axes set one behind the other — him will I choose 
 for my husband.' 
 
 Said Odysseus, 'Thy device is good, Penelope, and some god 
 hath instructed thee to do this. But delay no longer the contest 
 of the bow. Let it be to-morrow.' 
 
 ' Is that thy counsel, O stranger ? ' said Penelope. 
 
 'It is my counsel/ said Odysseus. 
 
 'I thank thee for thy counsel,' she said. 'And now farewell, 
 for I must go to my rest. And do thou lie down in the vestibule, 
 in the bed that has been made for thee.' 
 
 So Penelope spoke, and then she went to her chamber with 
 her handmaidens. And in her bed she thought over all 
 the stranger had told her of Odysseus, and she wept again 
 for him. 
 
 XIII 
 
 LL night Odysseus lay awake, tossing this 
 side and that, as he pondered on how he 
 might slay the wooers, and save his house 
 from them. As soon as the dawn came, 
 he went into the open air and, lifting up 
 his hands, prayed to Zeus, the greatest 
 of the gods, that he might be shown 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 229 
 
 some sign, as to whether he would win victory or meet with 
 defeat. 
 
 And then, as he was going within the house, he heard the voice 
 of a woman who ground barley-meal between stones. She was 
 one of twelve, but the other women had fallen asleep by the quern- 
 stones. She was an ancient, wretched woman, covered all over 
 with the dust of the grain, and, as Odysseus came near her, she 
 lifted up her hands and prayed in a weak voice : 
 
 'O Zeus, even for miserable me, fulfil a prayer ! May this be 
 the last day that the wooers make their feast in the house of 
 Odysseus ! They have loosened my knees with the cruel toil 
 they have made me undergo, grinding for them the barley for 
 the bread they eat. O Zeus, may they to-day sup their 
 last ! ' 
 
 Thus the quern-woman spoke, as Odysseus crossed his thresh- 
 old. He was glad of her speech, for it seemed to him her words 
 were an omen from Zeus, and that vengeance would soon be 
 wrought upon the proud and hard-hearted men who wasted the 
 goods of the house and oppressed the servants. 
 
 And now the maids came into the hall from the women's 
 apartment, and some cleaned the tables and others took pitchers 
 and went to the well for water. Then men-servants came in and 
 split the fagots for the fire. Other servants came into the court- 
 yard — Eumaeus the swineherd, driving fatted swine, the best 
 of his drove, and Philcetius the cattle-herd bringing a calf. The 
 goatherd Melanthius, him whom Odysseus and Eumjeus had 
 
230 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 met on the road the day before, also came, bringing the best goats 
 of his flock to be killed for the wooers' feast. 
 
 When the cattle-herd, Philoetius, saw a stranger in the guise 
 of a beggar, he called out as he tethered the calf in the yard, 
 ' Hail, stranger friend ! My eyes fill with tears as I look on 
 thee. For even now, clad as thou art in rags, thou dost make 
 me think of my master Odysseus, who may be a wanderer such 
 as thou in friendless lands. Ah, that he might return and make 
 a scattering of the wooers in his hall.' Eumaeus the swineherd 
 came up to Philoetius and made the same prayer. These two, 
 and the ancient woman at the quern, were the only ones of his 
 servants whom he heard pray for his return. 
 
 And now the wooers came into the hall. Philoetius the cattle- 
 herd, and Melanthius the evil goatherd, went amongst them, 
 handing them bread and meat and wine. Odysseus stood outside 
 the hall until Telemachus went to him and brought him within. 
 
 Now there was amongst the wooers a man named Ctesippus, 
 and he was the rudest and the roughest of them all. When he 
 saw Telemachus bringing Odysseus within he shouted out, 
 'Here is a guest of Telemachus to whom some gift is due from 
 us. It will be unseemly if he should get nothing to-day. 
 Therefore I will bestow this upon him as a token.' 
 
 Saying this, Ctesippus took up the foot of a slaughtered ox and 
 flung it full at Odysseus. Odysseus drew back, and the ox's foot 
 struck the wall. Then did Odysseus smile grimly upon the 
 wooers. 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 231 
 
 Said Telemachus, 'Verily, Ctesippus, the cast turned out 
 happily for thyself. For if thou shouldst have struck my guest, 
 there would have been a funeral feast instead of a wedding 
 banquet in thy father's house. Assuredly I should have driven 
 my spear through thee.' 
 
 All the wooers were silent when Telemachus spoke these bold 
 words. But soon they fell laughing at something one of their 
 number said. The guest from Telemachus' ship, Theoclymenus, 
 was there, and he started up and went to leave the hall. 
 
 'Why dost thou go, my guest?' said Telemachus. 
 
 'I see the walls and the beams of the roof sprinkled with 
 blood,' said Theoclymenus, the second-sighted man. 'I hear the 
 voice of wailing. I see cheeks wet with tears. The men before 
 me have shrouds upon them. The courtyard is filled with 
 ghosts.' 
 
 So Theoclymenus spoke, and all the wooers laughed at the 
 second-sighted man, for he stumbled about the hall as if it were 
 in darkness. Then said one of the wooers, 'Lead that man out 
 of the house, for surely he cannot tell day from night.' 
 
 'I will go from the place,' said Theoclymenus. 'I see death 
 approaching. Not one of all the company before me will be 
 able to avoid it.' 
 
 So saying, the second-sighted man went out of the hall. The 
 wooers looking at each other laughed again, and one of them said : 
 
 'Telemachus has no luck in his guests. One is a dirty beggar, 
 who thinks of nothing but what he can put from his hand into 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 233 
 
 his mouth, and the other wants to stand up here and play the 
 seer.' So the wooers spake in mockery, but neither Telemachus 
 nor Odysseus paid heed to their words, for their minds were bent 
 upon the time when they should take vengeance upon them. 
 
 XIV 
 
 N the treasure-chamber of the house Odys- 
 seus' great bow was kept. That bow had 
 been given to him by a hero named Iphitus 
 long ago. Odysseus had not taken it with 
 him when he went to the wars of Troy. 
 
 To the treasure-chamber Penelope went. 
 She carried in her hand the great key that 
 opened the doors — a key all of bronze with a handle of ivory. 
 Now as she thrust the key into the locks, the doors groaned as 
 a bull groans. She went within, and saw the great bow upon 
 its peg. She took it down and laid it upon her knees, and 
 thought long upon the man who had bent it. 
 
 Beside the bow was its quiver full of bronze- weighted arrows. 
 The servant took the quiver and Penelope took the bow, and they 
 went from the treasure-chamber and into the hall where the 
 wooers were. 
 
 When she came in she spoke to the company and said : ' Lords 
 of Ithaka and of the islands around : You have come here, each 
 desiring that I should wed him. Now the time has come for me 
 to make my choice of a man from amongst you. Here is how 
 I shall make choice.' 
 
234 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 'This is the bow of Odysseus, my lord who is no more. Who- 
 soever amongst you who can bend this bow and shoot an arrow 
 from it through the holes in the backs of twelve axes which I 
 shall have set up, him will I wed, and to his house I will go } 
 forsaking the house of my wedlock, this house so filled with 
 treasure and substance, this house which I shall remember in 
 my dreams. ' 
 
 As she spoke Telemachus took the twelve axes and set them 
 upright in an even line, so that one could shoot an arrow through 
 the hole that was in the back of each axe-head. Then Eumaeus, 
 the old swineherd, took the bow of Odysseus, and laid it before 
 the wooers. 
 
 One of the wooers took up the bow and tried to bend it. But 
 he could not bend it, and he laid it down at the doorway with the 
 arrow beside it. The others took up the bow, and warmed it at 
 the fire, and rubbed it with lard to make it more pliable. As 
 they were doing this, Eumaeus, the swineherd, and Philcetius, 
 the cattleherd, passed out of the hall. 
 
 Odysseus followed them into the courtyard. He laid a hand 
 on each and said, ' Swineherd and cattleherd, I have a word to 
 say to you. But will you keep it to yourselves, the word I say ? 
 And first, what would you do to help Odysseus if he should 
 return? Would you stand on his side, or on the side of the 
 wooers? Answer me now from your hearts.' 
 
 Said Philcetius the cattleherd, 'May Zeus fulfil my wish and 
 bring Odysseus back ! Then thou shouldst know on whose side 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 235 
 
 I would stand.' And Eumasus said, 'If Odysseus should return 
 I would be on his side, and that with all the strength that is in me.' 
 
 When they said this, Odysseus declared himself. Lifting up 
 his hand to heaven he said, 'I am your master, Odysseus. After 
 twenty years I have come back to my own country, and I find 
 that of all my servants, by you two alone is my homecoming 
 desired. If you need see a token that I am indeed Odysseus, 
 look down on my foot. See there the mark that the wild boar 
 left on me in the days of my youth.' 
 
 Straightway he drew the rags from the scar, and the swineherd 
 and the cattleherd saw it and marked it well. Knowing that 
 it was indeed Odysseus who stood before them, they cast their 
 arms around him and kissed him on the head and shoulders. 
 And Odysseus was moved by their tears, and he kissed their 
 heads and their hands. 
 
 As they went back to the hall, he told Eumaeus to bring the 
 bow to him as he was bearing it through the hall. He told him, 
 too, to order Eurycleia, the faithful nurse, to bar the doors of the 
 women's apartment at the end of the hall, and to bid the women, 
 even if they heard a groaning and a din, not to come into the hall. 
 And he charged the cattleherd Philcetius to bar the gates of the 
 courtyard. 
 
 As he went into the hall, one of the wooers, Eurymachus, was 
 striving to bend the bow. As he struggled to do so he groaned 
 aloud : 
 
 'Not because I may not marry Penelope do I groan, but 
 
236 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 because we youths of to-day are shown to be weaklings beside 
 Odysseus, whose bow we can in no way bend.' 
 
 Then Antinous, the proudest of the wooers, made answer and 
 said, 'Why should we strive to bend the bow to-day? Nay, 
 lay the bow aside, Eurymachus, and let the wine-bearers pour 
 us out a cupful each. In the morning let us make sacrifice to 
 the Archer-god, and pray that the bow be fitted to some of our 
 hands.' 
 
 Then Odysseus came forward and said, 'Sirs, you do well to 
 lay the bow aside for to-day. But will you not put the bow into 
 my hands, that I may try to bend it, and judge for myself whether 
 I have any of the strength that once was mine ? ' 
 
 All the wooers were angry that a seeming beggar should attempt 
 to bend the bow that none of their company were able to bend ; 
 Antinous spoke to him sharply and said : 
 
 ' Thou wretched beggar ! Is it not enough that thou art let 
 into this high hall to pick up scraps, but thou must listen to our 
 speech and join in our conversation ? If thou shouldst bend that 
 bow we will make short shrift of thee, I promise. We will put 
 thee on a ship and send thee over to King Echetus, who will cut 
 thee to pieces and give thy flesh to his hounds.' 
 
 Old Eumaeus had taken up the bow. As he went with it to 
 Odysseus some of them shouted to him, ' Where art thou going 
 with the bow, thou crazy fellow? Put it down.' Eumseus 
 was confused by their shouts, and he put down the bow. 
 
 Then Telemachus spoke to him and said, 'Eumaeus, beware 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 237 
 
 of being the man who served many masters.' Eumaeus, hearing 
 these words, took it up again and brought it to Odysseus, and 
 put the bow into his hands. 
 
 As Odysseus stood in the doorway of the hall, the bow in his 
 hands, and with the arrows scattered at his feet, Eumaeus went 
 to Eurycleia, and told her to bar the door of the women's apart- 
 ment at the back. Then Philcetius, the cattleherd, went out of 
 the hall and barred the gates leading out of the courtyard. 
 
 For long Odysseus stood with the bow in his hands, handling 
 it as a minstrel handles a lyre when he stretches a cord or tightens 
 a peg. Then he bent the great bow; he bent it without an effort, 
 and at his touch the bow-string made a sound that was like the 
 cry of a swallow. The wooers seeing him bend that mighty bow 
 felt, every man of them, a sharp pain at the heart. They saw 
 Odysseus take up an arrow and fit it to the string. He held the 
 notch, and he drew the string, and he shot the bronze-weighted 
 arrow straight through the holes in the back of the axe-heads. 
 
 Then as Eumaeus took up the axes, and brought them outside, 
 he said, 'Thou seest, lord Telemachus, that thy guest does not 
 shame thee through foolish boasting. I have bent the bow of 
 Odysseus, and I have shot the arrow aright. But now it is time 
 to provide the feast for the lords who woo thy lady mother. 
 While it is yet light, the feast must be served to them, and with 
 the feast they must have music and the dance.' 
 
 Saying this he nodded to Telemachus, bending his terrible 
 brows. Telemachus instantly girt his sword upon him and took 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 239 
 
 his spear in his hand. Outside was heard the thunder of Zeus. 
 And now Odysseus had stripped his rags from him and was 
 standing upright, looking a master of men. The mighty bow was 
 in his hands, and at his feet were scattered many bronze-weighted 
 arrows. 
 
 XV 
 
 T is ended,' Odysseus said, 'My trial is 
 ended. Now will I have another mark.' 
 Saying this, he put the bronze-weighted 
 arrow against the string of the bow, and 
 shot at the first of his enemies. 
 
 It was at Antinous he pointed the arrow 
 — at Antinous who was even then lifting 
 up a golden cup rilled with wine, and who was smiling, with 
 death far from his thoughts. Odysseus aimed at him, and smote 
 him with the arrow in the throat and the point passed out clean 
 through his neck. The wine cup fell from his hands and Anti- 
 nous fell dead across the table. Then did all the wooers raise a 
 shout, threatening Odysseus for sending an arrow astray. It did 
 not come into their minds that this stranger-beggar had aimed 
 to kill Antinous. 
 
 But Odysseus shouted back to them, 'Ye dogs, ye that said 
 in your hearts that Odysseus would never return to his home, ye 
 that wasted my substance, and troubled my wife, and injured my 
 servants ; ye who showed no fear of heaven, nor of the just judge- 
 
2 4 o THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 ments of men; behold Odysseus returned, and know what death 
 is being loosed on you ! ' 
 
 Then Eurymachus shouted out, 'Friends, this man will not 
 hold his hands, nor cease from shooting with the bow, until all of 
 us are slain. Now must we enter into the battle with him. 
 Draw your swords and hold up the tables before you for shields 
 and advance upon him.' 
 
 But even as he spoke Odysseus, with a terrible cry, loosed an 
 arrow at him and shot Eurymachus through the breast. He let 
 the sword fall from his hand, and he too fell dead upon the floor. 
 
 One of the band rushed straight at Odysseus with his sword in 
 hand. But Telemachus was at hand, and he drove his spear 
 through this man's shoulders. Then Telemachus ran quickly 
 to a chamber where there were weapons and armour lying. The 
 swineherd and the cattleherd joined him, and all three put 
 armour upon them. Odysseus, as long as he had arrows to 
 defend himself, kept shooting at and smiting the wooers. When 
 all the arrows were gone, he put the helmet on his head and 
 took up the shield that Telemachus had brought, and the two 
 great spears. 
 
 But now Melanthius, the goatherd — he who was the enemy 
 of Odysseus, got into the chamber where the arms were kept, and 
 brought out spears and shields and helmets, and gave them to 
 the wooers. Seeing the goatherd go back for more arms, Telem- 
 achus and Eumaeus dashed into the chamber, and caught him 
 and bound him with a rope, and dragged him up near the roof- 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 241 
 
 beams, and left him hanging there. Then they closed and bolted 
 the door, and stood on guard. 
 
 Many of the wooers lay dead upon the floor of the hall. Now 
 one who was called Agelaus stood forward, and directed the 
 wooers to cast spears at Odysseus. But not one of the spears 
 they cast struck him, for Odysseus was able to avoid them all. 
 
 And now he directed Telemachus and Eumaeus and Philcetius 
 to cast their spears. When they cast them with Odysseus, each 
 one struck a man, and four of the wooers fell down. And again 
 Odysseus directed his following to cast their spears, and again 
 they cast them, and slew their men. They drove those who 
 remained from one end of the hall to the other, and slew 
 them all. 
 
 Straightway the doors of the women's apartment were flung 
 open, and Eurycleia appeared. She saw Odysseus amongst the 
 bodies of the dead, all stained with blood. She would have 
 cried out in triumph if Odysseus had not restrained her. 'Re- 
 joice within thine own heart,' he said, 'but do not cry aloud, 
 for it is an unholy thing to triumph over men lying dead. These 
 men the gods themselves have overcome, because of their own 
 hard and unjust hearts.' 
 
 [ As he spoke the women came out of their chambers, carrying 
 torches in their hands. They fell upon Odysseus and embraced 
 him and clasped and kissed his hands. A longing came over him 
 to weep, for he remembered them from of old — every one of the 
 servants who were there. 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 243 
 
 XVI 
 
 URYCLEIA, the old nurse, went to the 
 upper chamber where Penelope lay in her 
 bed. She bent over her and called out, 
 'Awake, Penelope, dear child. Come down 
 and see with thine own eyes what hath 
 happened. The wooers are overthrown. 
 And he whom thou hast ever longed to 
 see hath come back. Odysseus, thy husband, hath returned. 
 He hath slain the proud wooers who have troubled thee for so 
 long.' 
 
 But Penelope only looked at the nurse, for she thought that 
 her brain had been turned. 
 
 Still Eurycleia kept on saying, 'In very deed Odysseus is here. 
 He is that guest whom all the wooers dishonour in the hall.' 
 
 Then hearing Eurycleia say these words, Penelope sprang out 
 of bed and put her arms round the nurse's neck. 'O tell me — 
 if what thou dost say be true — tell me how this stranger slew 
 the wooers, who were so many.' 
 
 'I did not see the slaying,' Eurycleia said, 'but I heard 
 the groaning of the men as they were slain. And then I 
 found Odysseus standing amongst many dead men, and it com- 
 forted my heart to see him standing there like a lion aroused. 
 Come with me now, lady, that you may both enter into your 
 heart's delight — you that have suffered so much of affliction. 
 
244 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 Thy lord hath come alive to his own hearth, and he hath found 
 his wife and his son alive and well.' 
 
 'Ah no!' said Penelope, 'ah no, Odysseus hath not returned. 
 He who hath slain the wooers is one of the deathless gods, come 
 down to punish them for their injustice and their hardhearted- 
 ness. Odysseus long ago lost the way of his returning, and he is 
 lying dead in some far-off land.' 
 
 'No, no,' said Eurycleia. 'I can show thee that it is Odysseus 
 indeed who is in the hall. On his foot is the scar that the tusk 
 of a boar gave him in the old days. I spied it when I was washing 
 his feet last night, and I would have told thee of it, but he clapped 
 a hand across my mouth to stop my speech. Lo, I stake my life 
 that it is Odysseus, and none other who is in the hall below.' 
 
 Saying this she took Penelope by the hand and led her from the 
 upper chamber into the hall. Odysseus was standing by a tall 
 pillar. He waited there for his wife to come and speak to him. 
 But Penelope stood still, and gazed long upon him, and made no 
 step towards him. 
 
 Then said Telemachus, 'Mother, can it be that thy heart is 
 so hard ? Here is my father, and thou wilt not go to him nor 
 question him at all.' 
 
 Said Penelope, 'My mind is amazed and I have no strength 
 to speak, nor to ask him aught, nor even to look on him face to 
 face. If this is indeed Odysseus who hath come home, a place 
 has to be prepared for him.' 
 
 Then Odysseus spoke to Telemachus and said, 'Go now to 
 
246 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 the bath, and make thyself clean of the stains of battle. I will 
 stay and speak with thy lady mother.' 
 
 'Strange lady,' said he to Penelope, 'is thy heart indeed so 
 hard? No other woman in the world, I think, would stand so 
 aloof from her husband who, after so much toil and so many 
 trials, has come back after twenty years to his own hearth. Is 
 there no place for me here, and must I again sleep in the stranger's 
 bed?' 
 
 Said Penelope, 'In no stranger's bed wilt thou lie, my lord. 
 Come, Eurycleia. Set up for him his own bedstead outside his 
 bed-chamber.' 
 
 Then Odysseus said to her, speaking in anger: 'How comes 
 it that my bed can be moved to this place and that ? Not a bed 
 of that kind was the bed I built for myself. Knowest thou not 
 how I built my bed ? First, there grew up in the courtyard an 
 olive tree. Round that olive tree I built a chamber, and I roofed 
 it well and I set doors to it. Then I sheared off all the light 
 wood on the growing olive tree, and I rough-hewed the trunk with 
 the adze, and I made the tree into a bed post. Beginning with 
 this bed post I wrought a bedstead, and when I finished it, I 
 inlaid it with silver and ivory. Such was the bed I built for 
 myself, and such a bed could not be moved to this place or that.' 
 
 Then did Penelope know assuredly that the man who stood be- 
 fore her was indeed her husband, the steadfast Odysseus — none 
 other knew of where the bed was placed, and how it had been built. 
 Penelope fell a-weeping and she put her arms round his neck. 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 247 
 
 'O Odysseus, my lord,' she said, 'be not angry with thy wife. 
 Always the fear was in my heart that some guileful stranger 
 should come here professing to be Odysseus, and that I should 
 take him to me as my husband. How terrible such a thing would 
 be ! But now my heart is freed from all doubts. Be not angry 
 with me, Odysseus, for not throwing myself on thy neck, as the 
 women of the house did.' 
 
 Then husband and wife wept together, and Penelope said, 
 'It was the gods did this to us, Odysseus — the gods who 
 grudged that we should have joy of the days of our youth.' 
 
 Next they told each other of things that happened in the 
 twenty years they were apart; Odysseus speaking of his own 
 toils and sorrows, and Penelope telling what she had endured at 
 the hands of the wooers. And as they told tales, one to the other, 
 slumber came upon them, and the dawn found them sleeping side 
 by side. 
 
 XVII 
 
 ND still many dangers had to be faced. 
 The wooers whom Odysseus had slain 
 were the richest and the most powerful of 
 the lords of Ithaka and the Islands ; all 
 of them had fathers and brothers who 
 would fain avenge them upon their slayer. 
 Now before anyone in the City knew 
 that he had returned, Odysseus went forth to the farm that 
 
248 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 Laertes, his old father, stayed at. As he drew near he saw an 
 old man working in the vineyard, digging round a plant. When 
 he came to him he saw that this old man was not a slave nor a 
 servant, but Laertes, his own father. 
 
 When he saw him, wasted with age and all uncaredfor, Odysseus 
 stood still, leaning his hand against a pear tree and sorrowing 
 in his heart. Old Laertes kept his head down as he stood digging 
 at the plant, and he did not see Odysseus until he stood before 
 him and said : 
 
 'Old man, thou dost care for this garden well and all things 
 here are flourishing — fig tree, and vine, and olive, and pear. 
 But, if a stranger may say it, thine own self is not cared for well.' 
 
 'Who art thou that dost speak to me like this?' old Laertes 
 said, lifting his head. 
 
 'I am a stranger in Ithaka,' said Odysseus. 'I seek a man 
 whom I once kindly treated — a man whose name was Odysseus. 
 A stranger, he came to me, and he declared that he was of Ithaka, 
 and that one day he would give me entertainment for the enter- 
 tainment I had given him. I know not if this man be still alive.' 
 
 Old Laertes wept before Odysseus. 'Ah,' said he, 'if thou 
 hadst been able to find him here, the gifts you gave him would 
 not have been bestowed in vain. True hospitality thou wouldst 
 have received from Odysseus, my son. But he has perished — 
 far from his country's soil he has perished, the hapless man, and 
 his mother wept not over him, nor his wife, nor me, his father. ' 
 
 So he spake and then with his hands he took up the dust of the 
 
250 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 ground, and he strewed it over his head in his sorrow. The 
 heart of Odysseus was moved with grief. He sprang forward 
 and fell on his father's neck and he kissed him, saying : 
 
 'Behold I am here, even I, my father. I, Odysseus, have 
 come back to mine own country. Cease thy lamentation until 
 I tell thee of the things that have happened. I have slain the 
 wooers in mine hall, and I have avenged all their injuries and all 
 their wrongful doings. Dost thou not believe this, my father? 
 Then look on what I will show thee. Behold on my foot the 
 mark of the boar's tusk — there it is from the days of my 
 youth.' 
 
 Laertes looked down on the bare foot, and he saw the scar, but 
 still his mind was clouded by doubt. But then Odysseus took 
 him through the garden, and he told him of the fruit trees that 
 Laertes had set for him when he, Odysseus, was a little child, 
 following his father about the garden — thirteen pear trees, and 
 ten apple trees, and forty fig trees. 
 
 When Odysseus showed him these Laertes knew that it was 
 his son indeed who stood before him — his son come back after 
 twenty years' wandering. He cast his arms around his neck, 
 and Odysseus caught him fainting to his breast, and led him into 
 the house. 
 
 Within the house were Telemachus, and Eumasus the swine- 
 herd and Philcetius the cattleherd. They all clasped the hand 
 of Laertes and their words raised his spirits. Then he was 
 bathed, and, when he came from the bath, rubbed with olive oil 
 
AND THE TALE OF TROY 
 
 251 
 
 he looked hale and strong. Odysseus said to him, 'Father, 
 surely one of the gods has made thee goodlier and greater than 
 thou wert a while ago.' 
 
 Said the old hero Laertes : 'Ah, my son, would that I had such 
 might as when, long before thou wert born, I took the Castle of 
 Nericus there upon the Foreland. Would that in such might, 
 and with such mail upon my shoulders, I stood with thee yester- 
 day when thou didst fight with the wooers.' 
 
 HELE they were speaking in this way the 
 rumour of the slaying of the wooers went 
 through the City. Then those who were 
 related to the men slain went into the 
 courtyard of Odysseus' house, and brought 
 forth the bodies. Those who belonged to 
 Ithaka they buried, and those who be- 
 longed to the Islands they put upon ships, and sent them with 
 fisherfolk, each to his own home. Many were wroth with 
 Odysseus for the slaying of a friend. He who was the most 
 wroth was Eupeithes, the father of Antinous. 
 
 There was an assembly of the men of the country, and Eupeithes 
 spake in it, and all who were there pitied him. He told how 
 Odysseus had led away the best of the men of Ithaka, and how 
 he had lost them in his ships. And he told them how, when he 
 returned, he slew the noblest of the men of Ithaka and the Islands 
 in his own hall. He called upon them to slay Odysseus saying, 
 'If we avenge not ourselves on the slayer of our kin we will be 
 
252 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 scorned for all time as weak and cowardly men. As for me, life 
 will be no more sweet to me. I would rather die straightway 
 and be with the departed. Up now, and let us attack Odysseus 
 and his followers before they take ship and escape across the sea.' 
 
 Many in that assembly put on their armour and went out with 
 old Eupeithes. And as they went through the town they met 
 with Odysseus and his following as they were coming from the 
 house of Laertes. 
 
 Now as the two bands came close to each other — Odysseus 
 with Telemachus and Laertes; with the swineherd and the 
 cattleherd; with Dolius, Laertes' servant, and with the six sons 
 of Dolius — and Eupeithes with his friends — a great figure 
 came between. It was the figure of a tall, fair and splendid 
 woman. Odysseus knew her for the goddess Pallas Athene. 
 
 'Hold your hands from tierce righting, ye men of Ithaka,' 
 the goddess called out in a terrible voice. 'Hold your hands.' 
 Straightway the arms fell from each man's hands. Then the 
 goddess called them together, and she made them enter into a 
 covenant that all bloodshed and wrong would be forgotten, and 
 that Odysseus would be left to rule Ithaka as a King, in peace. 
 
 So ends the story of Odysseus who went with King Agamemnon 
 to the wars of Troy ; who made the plan of the Wooden Horse 
 by which Priam's City was taken at last ; who missed the way 
 of his return, and came to the Land of the Lotus-eaters ; who 
 came to the Country of the dread Cyclopes, to the Island of 
 /Solus and to the house of Circe, the Enchantress ; who heard 
 
254 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS 
 
 the song of the Sirens, and came to the Rocks Wandering, and 
 to the terrible Charybdis, and to Scylla, past whom no other 
 man had won scatheless ; who landed on the Island where the 
 Cattle of the Sun grazed, and who stayed upon Ogygia, the home 
 of the nymph Calypso ; so ends the story of Odysseus, who would 
 have been made deathless and ageless by Calypso if he had not 
 yearned always to come back to his own hearth and his own 
 land. And spite of all his troubles and his toils he was for- 
 tunate, for he found a constant wife and a dutiful son and a 
 father still alive to weep over him. 
 
 Printed in the United States of America. 
 
THE BATH 
 
 THE BOUND 
 
 
 
 I 
 
: S S 
 
 J L. 
 
 
 
 
 5 eai(