The Odyssey

  With her I was reared, and she favored me scarcely less.

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  But when we both reached the longed-for prime of youth,

  her they saw married on Same, and she had countless bride-gifts;

  but me she clothed in a mantle and tunic, both

  of the finest stuff, shod me with sandals, and then sent me

  out on the estate. Yet at heart it was me she cared for more.

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  These days I go short of such things, yet the blessed gods

  prosper the work of my hands, at which I labor:

  that lets me eat and drink, care for respected guests.

  Yet from my mistress I hear nothing pleasant, either

  by word or deed, for an evil has fallen on the household--

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  these arrogant men! The servants greatly need and want

  to speak personally with their mistress, check each detail,

  eat and drink, and then take some tid-bit back with them

  to the fields--such are the things as warm a servant's heart."

  Then resourceful Odysseus responded to him, saying:

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  "Indeed, swineherd Eumaios, how little you must have been

  when parted so far from your country and your parents!

  But come now, tell me this, and give me the true answer:

  Was the wide-wayed city of men destroyed in which

  your father and lady mother had their dwelling?

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  Or when you were out alone with your sheep or cattle,

  did hostile men carry you off in their ships for sale here

  to your master's house, and he paid a good price for you?"

  Then the swineherd, leader of men, responded to him, saying:

  "Stranger, since you're questioning me about these matters,

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  listen in silence now at your ease, and drink your wine

  while you sit here. These nights are endless: you can sleep,

  you can also listen for pleasure. No need to bed down

  before the time comes. Too much sleep can be exhausting.

  If any one of the rest of you feels the urge to do so,

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  let him go out and sleep in the open: then, when it's dawn,

  get a bite to eat, and take care of our master's swine.

  But we two will drink and feast in the hut, and enjoy

  hearing about each other's wretched misfortunes

  as we recall them. A man looking back can find pleasure

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  even in grief, one who's suffered and wandered much.

  "So now let me answer the questions that you asked me.

  There's an island called Syria--you may have heard tell of it--

  at the turning points of the sun, out beyond Ortygie,8

  It's not very populous, but possesses excellent terrain:

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  good for cattle and sheep, many vineyards, abundant wheat.

  No famine ever afflicts this land, nor does any other

  hateful disease appear as a plague to wretched mortals,

  but when the tribes of mankind grow old in the city,

  then comes silver-bowed Apollo, together with Artemis,

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  and assails and slays them with his gentle arrows.

  Two cities there are: all the land's divided between them,

  and over them both my father held sway as king--

  Ktesios, Ormenos' son, who was likened to the immortals.

  "Thither Phoenicians came, men famous for their ships,

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  sharp traffickers, countless trinkets in their black vessel.

  Now there was in my father's household a Phoenician woman,

  tall and good-looking, highly skilled in fine handiwork,

  and her these crafty Phoenicians set about to beguile.

  First, while she was washing clothes near the hollow ship,

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  one of them made love to her, a thing that fuddles the senses

  of truly feminine women, even one that's well-behaved.

  Then he asked her who she was and from where, and she at once

  pointed out my father's high-roofed house, and declared:

  'I come from Sidon, that bronze-rich city, and am

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  the daughter of Arybas, a man who had rivers of wealth;

  but a bunch of Taphian pirates kidnapped me on my way

  back from the fields, and brought me here. I was sold

  to the man who lives up there, and he paid a good price for me.'

  "Then the man who'd secretly had her responded to her, saying:

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  'Would you like to go back with us now and get to see

  the high-roofed house of your father and mother?--them too,

  for they're still alive, and the word is they're very rich?'

  "Then the woman responded to him in these words, saying:

  'This indeed might be done, if all you sailors were willing

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  to swear an oath that you'd deliver me home unharmed.'

  "So she spoke, and they all swore the oath as she demanded.

  But when they'd sworn, and completed the terms of the oath,

  the woman addressed them again, in these words, saying:

  'Keep quiet now, and let none of your crew accost me

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  if we chance to encounter each other, either out on the street

  or at the well, in case someone goes to his dwelling

  and tells the old man, so that he becomes suspicious

  and keeps me closely confined, and plans your destruction.

  So don't forget what I say, and be quick with the barter

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  for your homeward voyage! When your ship is fully laden,

  then contact me up at the house, and I will come,

  with any gold I can find; and there's one other thing

  I'd be glad to give you in return for my passage--a son

  of my master, whose house-nurse I am, a clever child

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  who trots along at my side when I go out: I'd bring him

  aboard with me--he'd fetch you a gigantic price, wherever

  you chose to sell him abroad to some foreign buyer.'

  "So she spoke, and went off back to the splendid mansion.

  They stayed there in our country for an entire year,

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  and by trafficking piled up the goods in their hollow ship.

  But when the ship's hold was full-laden for their return,

  they then sent a messenger to alert the woman.

  A sharp-witted man it was that came to my father's dwelling,

  bringing a golden necklace interlaced with amber beads.

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  So while in the hall the maidservants and my lady mother

  were handling and looking at this and making their offer

  to buy it, the man nodded silently to the woman,

  and, having done this, departed, making for the hollow ship,

  and she took me by the hand, led me out of the house.

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  There in the forecourt she found the cups and tables

  of the men who'd been dining, associates of my father

  who'd left for a council session, with public discussion.

  She quickly hid three cups under the front fold of her dress

  and carried them off. In my innocence I went with her.

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  So the sun went down, and all the ways were in shadow,

  and we hurriedly made our way to the famous harbor

  where these Phoenician men's swift ship was moored.

  They now embarked, and sailed out over the watery ways,

  with us two on board as well: Zeus gave us a tailwind.

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  For six days we sailed, both night and day; but when

  Zeus, son of Kronos, bro
ught on the seventh day,

  then Artemis, divine archer, struck the woman down,

  and she fell in the bilge like a sea tern, with a thud.

  Her corpse they threw overboard to end as food for seals

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  and fishes, and I was left there, grieving at heart.

  Now wind and wave in their passage carried us to Ithake,

  where Laertes bought me with his resources. Thus it was

  that I first happened to set eyes on this country."

  To him then Odysseus, Zeus' scion, responded, saying:

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  "Indeed, Eumaios, you've stirred the spirit in my breast

  by telling me all the heartfelt sorrows you endured!

  Yet surely you had some good along with the suffering

  from Zeus? After all your troubles you ended in the household

  of a decent man, who takes good care to provide you

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  with food and drink, and you have a good life; whereas I

  got here as a vagrant, who'd strayed through many folks' cities."

  These were the things they talked about to each other.

  Now they lay down and slept--briefly, not long, for soon

  came fair-throned Dawn. And meanwhile Telemachos' comrades

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  made landfall. They furled the sail, unstepped the mast,

  smartly, and rowed the ship on till they reached their anchorage,

  then belayed the stern warps, threw out the anchor stones,

  and themselves, disembarking on the strand of the seashore,

  prepared their meal, and mixed the bright red wine;

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  and when they'd satisfied their desire for food and drink,

  sagacious Telemachos spoke first among them, saying:

  "The rest of you now row the black ship on to the city.

  I'm going out to inspect the fields and the herdsmen,

  and I'll come into town this evening when I've seen to the estate.

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  Early tomorrow I'll give you, as wages for your journey,

  a square meal of meat, with some sweetly drinkable wine."

  Then godlike Theoklymenos addressed him, saying:

  "Where should I go, dear child? To which particular house

  of the men in authority over rugged Ithake?

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  Or shall I go straight to your house--yours and your mother's?"

  Sagacious Telemachos responded to him, saying:

  "In different circumstances I'd tell you to go to our house,

  where there's no lack of hospitality; but for yourself

  that's not a good idea, since I'll be away, and my mother

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  won't see you: she seldom comes out in the house to face

  the suitors, but works at her loom apart from them, upstairs.

  But I'll tell you another man to whom you can go instead--

  Eurymachos, glorious son of skillful Polybos,

  whom nowadays the Ithakans treat like a god, for he

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  is their best man by far, as well as the most determined

  to marry my mother, acquire Odysseus' privileges!

  Yet Olympian Zeus alone, the sky-dweller, knows whether

  he'll meet with his day of ill destiny before that wedding."

  As he spoke, a bird flew by on the right: a falcon,

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  Apollo's swift messenger, clutching a dove in its talons,

  and plucking its feathers, that were shed on the ground

  midway between the ship and Telemachos himself.

  Then Theoklymenos called him aside from his comrades,

  and clasping him by the hand, exclaimed: "Telemachos,

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  not without some god's will did that bird fly on our right!

  I knew, when I saw it, that this had to be an omen!

  There is no other family that's more kingly than yours

  in the whole realm of Ithake: you'll hold power forever."

  Sagacious Telemachos responded to him, saying:

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  "If only these words of yours, stranger, might be fulfilled!

  Then would you quickly know friendship and gifts in plenty

  from me, so that any who met you would call you blessed."

  That said, he then addressed Peiraios, a faithful comrade:

  "Peiraios, son of Klytios, in all else you're the most

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  reliable of the comrades who accompanied me to Pylos:

  so now, please, take this stranger, give him a proper welcome

  in your home, with all due honor, until I come back."

  Peiraios, famous spearman, responded to him, saying:

  "Telemachos, no matter how long you may stay out here,

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  I shall take care of this man: as a guest he'll lack for nothing."

  So saying, he boarded the ship, and ordered his companions

  to cast off the stern warps and to embark themselves.

  They at once went on board, and sat down at their rowlocks.

  But Telemachos shod himself in his well-made sandals,

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  and took his sturdy spear, tipped with sharp-pointed bronze,

  from the deck of the ship. They cast off the stern warps,

  pushed clear, and made for the city, just as Telemachos,

  dear son of godlike Odysseus, had ordered them to do.

  But him his feet bore on, briskly striding, till he reached

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  the farmstead where were pigs unnumbered, beside which

  slept the good swineherd, with kind thoughts for his masters.

  Book 16

  The two in the hut, Odysseus and the noble swineherd,

  had stirred up the fire, and were making breakfast at dawn,

  and had sent out the herdsmen with droves of pigs to pasture.

  Their usually noisy dogs now fawned round Telemachos,

  not barking as he approached them. Noble Odysseus noticed

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  both the dogs' silent fawning and the sound of footsteps,

  and at once he addressed Eumaios with winged words, saying:

  "Eumaios, there's somebody coming here--one of your comrades,

  or some other acquaintance, because the dogs aren't barking

  but making up to him--and I can hear his footsteps."

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  He'd not yet finished speaking when his own dear son

  appeared in the doorway. Amazed, the swineherd sprang up,

  and the vessels fell from his hands with which he'd been busy

  mixing the bright red wine. He went to greet his master

  and kissed his head and his two bright shining eyes

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  and both his hands, tears falling thick and fast.

  As a loving father welcomes his own dear son's return

  from some distant land, after a ten-year absence--

  his only son, late-born, for whose sake he's suffered much--

  so now did the noble swineherd clasp godlike Telemachos

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  and kiss him all over, as though he'd escaped from death,

  and, still weeping, then address him with winged words, saying:

  "You're back, Telemachos, sweet light of my eyes! I thought

  I'd never see you again when you sailed off to Pylos!

  Come in now, dear child, and let me pleasure my heart

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  with the sight of you inside here, now you've arrived!

  For you don't often make visits to the herdsmen on the estate,

  but stay in town: these days it would seem your fancy is

  to observe the baneful throng of these men, the suitors."

  Sagacious Telemachos responded to him, saying:

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  "So it shall be, old fellow. It's on your account I'm here,

  to see you myself, and have you tell me whether r />
  my mother is still in the house, or by now some other man

  has got her in marriage, so that maybe Odysseus' bed,