The Odyssey

  Whosoever of those that are dead and gone you permit

  to come up to the blood will converse with you truthfully;

  but any that you refuse will go back to where they came from.'

  "So saying, the ghost of the lord Teiresias departed

  150

  back to Hades' domain, after stating the gods' decrees;

  but I waited steadfastly there, until my mother

  came up and drank the dark blood, and knew me at once,

  and addressed me sorrowfully, with winged words, saying:

  'My child, how did you penetrate this murky darkness

  155

  while alive? Hard for the living to get to see these realms,

  for between them lie great rivers, awesome streams,

  Ocean above all, which may in no wise be crossed

  on foot, but only with a well-found ship! Have your

  long wanderings after Troy still brought you no further

  160

  than this with your ship and your comrades? Haven't you yet

  reached Ithake, or seen your wife and your own domain?'

  "So she spoke, and I then responded to her, saying:

  'My mother, need brought me down here to Hades' realm:

  I had to consult the shade of Theban Teiresias.

  165

  Not yet have I come near Achaia, not yet have I set foot

  on my own land, I've been wandering, grief-stricken,

  since I first followed the godlike lord Agamemnon

  to Ilion, home of fine horses, to fight against the Trojans.

  But now tell me this, and give me a truthful answer:

  170

  What fated exit of death was it overcame you?

  Some wasting disease? Or did Artemis the archer

  with her gentle shafts assail you and lay you low?

  Tell me, too, of the father and son I left behind there--

  Are my privileges still with them, or does some other

  175

  man now possess them? Do they say I'll not return?

  And what of my wedded wife? Her thoughts? Her plans?

  Has she held on with her son? Kept everything as it was?

  Or is she now remarried, to the best man of the Achaians?'

  "So I spoke, and my lady mother answered me at once:

  180

  'Truly indeed she holds on with steadfast spirit

  there in your halls: for her the nights and days

  waste away in unending sorrow amid her tears.

  As for your fine privileges, no man's assumed them, although

  Telemachos now, unchallenged, possesses your acres,

  185

  and orders the common feasts, as is right for a lawgiver

  whom all men acknowledge. But your father stays away

  in the country, and never comes into town. He has

  no bed with proper bedclothes, rugs and bright coverlets,

  but sleeps in winter along with the slaves in the house,

  190

  in the ashes close to the fire, and wears old ragged clothes.

  But when summer comes, and flourishing autumn, then

  all over the rising slope of his vine-clad orchard

  the ground is strewn with the fallen leaves for his bed.

  There he lies in his sorrow, heart nursing one great grief,

  195

  yearning for your return: old age weighs heavy on him.

  Thus it was that I too perished and met my fate:

  Neither in our abode did the deadly archer goddess

  lay me low in a visitation with her gentle shafts,

  nor did any disease come upon me, the kind most likely

  200

  with loathsome wasting to sever the spirit from my limbs:

  it was rather my yearning for you, illustrious Odysseus,

  for your wisdom, your kindness, that robbed me of sweet life.'

  "So she spoke, and I wanted, pondering in my heart,

  to embrace the ghost of my mother, now dead and gone:

  205

  three times I moved to clasp her, as my heart urged me,

  three times she eluded my arms, like some shadow or dream,

  so that the pain in my heart grew ever sharper,

  and I spoke, addressed her with winged words, saying: 'Mother,

  why won't you stay here when I want to hold you,

  210

  so that even in Hades the two of us can cast arms

  about one another, and get our fill of chill lamentation?

  Is this some phantom set on me by holy Persephone

  to add yet more to the weight of my grief and sorrow?'

  "So I spoke, and my lady mother answered me at once:

  215

  'Alas, my child, illfated beyond all other mortals,

  Persephone, daughter of Zeus, is in no way beguiling you.

  No, this is the fixed law for mortals, when anyone dies:

  The sinews no longer keep flesh and bones together,

  they're destroyed by the powerful force of blazing fire

  220

  as soon as the spirit departs from the white bones

  and the soul, like a dream, flies fluttering off, is gone.

  But quick, hurry back to the light now, with all these things

  stored in your mind, to tell your wife hereafter.'

  "So we two conversed together, and now the women

  225

  approached us, those sent up by holy Persephone,

  all those who had been great chieftains' wives or daughters.

  In throngs now they all gathered around the dark blood

  while I considered how I should question each individual.

  And this, to my mind, emerged as the best plan:

  230

  I drew the long sword from beside my sturdy thigh

  and would not let them all drink the dark blood together.

  So they approached me in turn, one after the other.

  Each told me her lineage. I interrogated them all.

  "Now the first one that I saw there was high-born Tyro,

  235

  who said she was descended from peerless Salmoneus,

  and declared herself the wife of Aiolos' son Kretheus.

  She fell in love with divine Enipeus, the river,

  loveliest of all rivers that discharge their streams on earth,

  and she used to haunt Enipeus' beautiful waters.

  240

  Assuming Enipeus' form, the Earth-Shaking Earth-Supporter

  lay with her at the outflow of the eddying river,

  and the dark wave stood up round them like a mountain,

  arching over, concealing the god and the mortal woman.

  He undid her virgin sash, shed sleep down on her,

  245

  then, when the god had completed the actions of love,

  he clasped her hand and addressed her, saying: 'Lady,

  be glad of this lovemaking! As the time of the year comes round

  you will bear fine offspring: not issueless are the couplings

  of the immortals! Look after these children, raise them.

  250

  For now, though, go back home, keep quiet, say nothing.

  But know that I am Poseidon, the Earth-Shaker!'

  "So saying,

  he plunged down into the billowing deep. And she

  indeed conceived, gave birth to Pelias and to Neleus,

  who grew to become strong henchmen of mighty Zeus,

  255

  both of them: Pelias dwelt in Iolkos' broad terrain,

  with a wealth of flocks, and Neleus in sandy Pylos.

  Other sons this queen among women bore to Kretheus:

  Aison, Pheres, Amythaon the joyful chariot fighter.

  "After her I saw Antiope, daughter of Asopos,

  260

  who boasted that she'd slept in the arms of Zeus himself,

  and bore h
im twin sons, Amphion and Zethos, who

  first laid the foundations of seven-gated Thebai,

  and walled it about, since lacking walls they could not

  dwell in broad-landed Thebai, powerful though they were.3

  265

  "After her I saw Alkmene, Amphitryon's bedfellow,

  she who conceived Herakles--bold fighter, lion-hearted--

  when she embraced and coupled with mighty Zeus.

  Megare too I saw, high-spirited Kreion's daughter,

  wife to Amphitryon's son, a man of unwearied strength.4

  270

  "Oedipus' mother I saw, the beautiful Epikaste,

  who unwittingly did a most terrible deed: she married

  her own son: he wed her after killing his father.

  Straightaway the gods revealed all this to mankind.

  Yet he in his much-loved Thebai, though racked with grief,

  275

  by the gods' grim design still reigned over the Kadmeians,

  while she went down to the realm of Hades, strong gatekeeper,

  after hanging a sheer noose from the lofty ceiling,

  possessed by her grief, bequeathing him countless woes,

  all that a mother's Furies might bring to pass.5

  "And I saw

  280

  the exquisite Chloris, that woman whom Neleus once

  wed for her looks, when he'd brought her endless bridal gifts;

  youngest daughter she was of Amphion, Iasos' son6--

  who once in Minyan Orchomenos ruled with a forceful hand--

  and queen of Pylos too: she bore him illustrious children:

  285

  Nestor and Chromios, Periklymenos the much-honored,

  and besides these she bore gorgeous Pero, a wonder to mortals.

  Her all the men living round sought in marriage. But Neleus

  would bestow her on him alone who drove from Phylake

  the broad-browed crumple-horned cattle of powerful Iphikles--

  290

  a hard lot they were, and none but the matchless seer

  undertook to drive them off; but a hard fate set by the god

  hampered him: that, and tough shackles, and those country cowherds.

  Nevertheless, when the months and days were completed

  of the circling year, and the seasons in turn came round,

  295

  he was let go by powerful Iphikles, once he'd told him

  all the divine decrees. And a plan of Zeus was fulfilled.

  "Lede also I saw, the bedfellow of Tyndareus,

  who bore to Tyndareus a pair of stout-hearted sons,

  horse-breaker Kastor and Polydeukes the skilled boxer.

  300

  Both these, though living, the life-giving earth enfolds:

  even beneath the earth they have honor from Zeus--

  in turn, on alternate days, they live and are dead.

  The honors bestowed upon them match those of the gods.

  "After her I saw Iphimedeia, Aloeus' bedfellow,

  305

  who claimed she'd coupled in passion with Poseidon.

  Two sons she bore, but both of them were short-lived:

  Otos, a match for a god, and far-famed Ephialtes,

  who were the tallest men that this grain-rich earth yet bred,

  and the best-looking by far after renowned Orion.

  310

  At nine years old they measured a full nine cubits

  in breadth, and were nine fathoms tall. They even

  made threats against the immortals on Olympos,

  that they'd start up the conflict of impetuous warfare!

  Ossa they longed to pile on Olympos, and on Ossa

  315

  leaf-rippling Pelion, to scale the heights of heaven!7

  And this they'd have done, had they come to full adulthood;

  But the son of Zeus, whom neat-haired Leto bore, slew them:

  both of them--this before the down grew beneath their temples,

  or covered their chins with a thick and healthy stubble.

  320

  "And Phaidre and Prokris I saw, and beautiful Ariadne,

  bloody-minded Minos' daughter, whom Theseus once

  brought out of Krete to take to the hill of sacred Athens,

  but had no joy of her, since before that Artemis slew her

  on sea-girt Die, because of Dionysos' indictment.8

  325

  "Maira I saw, and Klymene, and loathsome Eriphyle,

  who took precious gold in exchange for her own husband--

  But I neither can tell of nor name all the women I saw,

  the wives and daughters of heroes; long before that

  the immortal night would be gone. Now is the time

  330

  for sleep--either going aboard your swift ship to its crew

  or here. My conveyance will be the gods' concern, and yours."

  So he spoke: every one of them sat hushed and silent,

  enthralled by his words, throughout the shadowy hall.

  White-armed Arete was the first to comment, saying:

  335

  "Phaiakians, how does this man's character strike you?

  His looks, his stature, his equable inner mind?

  Besides, he's my guest, though you all share that honor:

  So don't rush to send him away, or to cut short our gifts

  to one in such need; you have plentiful possessions

  340

  stored in your halls through the good will of the gods."

  Then there spoke up among them the old hero Echeneos,

  the most aged of all the Phaiakian elders, saying:

  "My friends, not wide of the mark or of our own thinking

  is what our wise queen just said: pay attention to it--

  345

  though it's on Alkinoos here that both word and deed depend."

  Alkinoos then responded to him, saying: "Her words

  shall indeed hold good, just as surely as I am alive

  and lord over all the Phaiakians, those lovers of the oar!

  But let our guest, despite his yearning to get back home,

  350

  bear to stay till tomorrow, until I can render all

  our gift-giving complete. His conveyance shall be the concern

  of all men, but mine above all, since I hold the power here."

  Then resourceful Odysseus responded to him, saying:

  "Lordly Alkinoos, exalted above all people, should you

  355

  ask me to stay on here for a whole year, prior to

  organizing my conveyance, and giving me splendid gifts,

  that too would I accept: it would profit me far more

  to return with a fuller hand to my own country: then

  I would get a warmer and more respectful welcome

  360

  from all men who saw that I'd come home to Ithake."

  Alkinoos then responded to him, saying: "Odysseus,

  on looking at you, indeed we do not suppose

  that you're the kind of cheat or trickster that's bred

  by the black earth in large numbers, itinerant men

  365

  who fashion false tales from what no man could really see!

  But you have a way with words and an excellent mind,

  and you told your tale skillfully, just as a minstrel does:

  the grim troubles of all the Argives, and your own.

  But come, tell me this, and give me a truthful answer:

  370

  Did you see any of those--your godlike comrades--

  who went out to Ilion with you, and met their end there?

  The night before us is long, near endless, it's not yet time

  for sleep in the hall. Tell me more of your marvelous story!

  I could hold out till bright dawn, if you'd only endure

  375

  to continue the tale of your troubles, here in th
e hall."

  Then resourceful Odysseus responded to him, saying: