ODYSSEY BOOK V
WHILE that the Morn from the couch of her consort, lordly Tithonus,
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Newly arisen was bringing the daylight to men and immortals,
Unto a session of council the deities gathered, and midst them
Sat high thundering Zeus, whose might of them all is the greatest.
Then did Athena begin of Odysseus, his many afflictions
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Calling to mind, for it grieved her to think of him still with the sea-nymph :
"Father Zeus and ye other immortals eternally blesséd,
Never be kindly affectioned again, nor loving and gentle,
Any that beareth the sceptre as king, nor righteously minded!
Nay, let him rather be hard and be cruel and practise injustice !
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So is it true that the godlike Odysseus by none is remembered,
None of the people he governed and lovingly ruled as a father.
Now on an island he lieth, and cruel the pain that he suffers,
Held in Calypso's halls; for the sea-nymph still with compulsion
Keepeth him there all hopeless of reaching the land of his fathers,
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Since no ship well-fitted with oars he possesseth or shipmates,
Such as to help him to traverse the wide expanses of ocean.
Also his dearly-belovéd, his son, they are meaning to murder
While he is voyaging homeward; for hoping to hear of his father
Lately he journeyed to Pylos the fair and divine Lacedaemon."
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Her then in turn gave answer the Father who gathers the storm-clouds :
"Nay but my child, what word by the door of thy lips hath escaped thee?
Surely the plan was devised, and by none but thyself, that Odysseus
Safely returned to his home should wreak his revenge on the suitors.
Telemachus do thou guard with thy guidance (for well thou art able)
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So that without all harm he shall come to the land of his fathers,
While all baffled the suitors return once more in the vessel."
These words uttered, to Hermes, his well-loved son, he addressed him:
"Hermes for ever as herald thou bear'st the behests of immortals—
Bring to the fair-tressed nymph our will's immutable verdict,
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Even that patient Odysseus return and arrive at his homeland,
Neither by furthering aid of the gods nor of men that be mortal—
Nay, on a firm-lashed raft shall he sail and with sufferings many
Days full twenty shall drift, till he come to the Scherian island,
Land of a nation akin to the gods, Phaeacian people;
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These in their hearts will revere him and honour him like an immortal,
Yea and will send him again in a ship to his well-loved homeland,
Giving him many a present of bronze and of gold and of raiment,
Riches so great as he never had won from the land of the Trojans
Had he returned unscathed and received full share of the booty.
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Thus is he fated his friends once more to revisit and once more
Win to his high-roofed home and arrive at the land of his fathers.”
Thus when he spake, Hermeias the Messenger, Slayer of Argus,
Quickly obeyed, and he bound to his ankles the beautiful sandals,
Golden, immortal, that carry him over the waters of ocean
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Swift as the blast of a storm, and across earth's boundless expanses;
Took then his wand, with the which men's eyes he entranceth to slumber
E'en as he wills, while others again from their sleep he awaketh.
So with the rod in his hand the redoubtable Slayer of Argus
Flew, till above the Piërian land from the sky to the ocean
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Plunging he sped mid the waves of the sea, as a cormorant speedeth
Over the perilous gulfs of the barren expanses of ocean,
Chasing the fishes and drenching in salt sea water its plumage.
Thus Hermeias was borne mid the infinite throng of the billows,
Till at the last he arrived at the shore of that far-off island.
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Here from the violet depths of the ocean emerging he mounted
Into the island until he was come to a cavern capacious,
Home of the fair-tressed nymph of the sea; and he found her within it.
High from a hearth shot upward a flame, and widely around it
Odours of splintered cedar and juniper over the island
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Spread as it blazed; and within with a beautiful voice she was singing,
Moving in front of her loom, and with shuttle of gold she was weaving.
Close to the cavern and clustered around it was growing a coppice;
Alder was there and poplar and cypress of delicate perfume.
Many a long-winged bird in the copse found covert at night-time,
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Many a falcon and owl, and crook-billed chattering sea-crows,
Birds of the brine which busy themselves with a life on the ocean.
Here too, stretching in front of the hollow mouth of the cavern,
Trailed a luxuriant vine rich-laden with many a cluster.
Four bright runnels of water arose from a neighbouring fountain,
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Each one nigh to the other but turned to a different channel.
Spreading around soft meadows with violets blossomed and parsley
Richly bedight—yea e'en an immortal, if haply he came there,
All might wondering view and rejoice in his heart to behold it.
Here stood gazing in wonder the Messenger, Slayer of Argus,
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Till at the last, when his spirit was fully contented with gazing,
Into the wide-mouthed cavern he entered; and standing before her
Straightway known was the god to the beautiful goddess Calypso,
Seeing that never unknown is a deity unto another,
None of the spirits immortal, not e'en if he dwells at a distance.
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Not inside of the cavern he found great-hearted Odysseus.
Out on the beach he was sitting and weeping, as ever aforetime,
Painfully racking his soul with his grieving and groaning and weeping,
Gazing with tears in his eyes at the barren expanse of the ocean.
Now with a question addressed him the beautiful goddess Calypso,
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After the god on a polished and glittering chair she had seated:
"God of the golden wand, Hermeias, revered and belovéd,
Say now, why art thou come? Thou steppedst rarely aforetime.
Tell me the whole of thy thought. I am bid by my heart to fulfil it,
What to fulfil I am able, if Fate shall permit the fulfilment.
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Now come, follow within! I will give thee a welcome as guest-friend."
These words uttered the goddess, and placing a table beside him
Full of ambrosia, mixed him of rich red nectar a goblet.
Soon was he drinking and eating, the Messenger, Slayer of Argus.
Now when at length he had supped and contented his spirit with eating,
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Unto the goddess he turned and thus he addressed her in answer:
"Thou who art goddess hast questioned a god on his coming, and therefore
All that as message I bear will I truly relate, as thou biddest.
Zeus hath commanded me hither to come, and I came but unwilling.
Who would willingly cross such spaces of salt sea water?
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Terrible, endless! and never at hand was a city of mortals
Where to the gods oblation of choice fat victims is offered.
Ah but the mind and the purpose of Zeus who beareth the aegis
None can evade or annul, not even another immortal.
Here in thy home is a man, he asserts, most wretched of all men,
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All of the others who fought at the siege of the city of Priam
Nine long years—In the tenth, when the city was sacked, they departed
Homeward; but during the voyage they sinned and offended Athene;
Therefore roused she the wind and enormous billows against them.
Then did the rest, yea all of his brave companions, perish;
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Hither alone he was borne by the stress of the wind and the billows
Him Zeus bids thee to send on his way—and as quickly as may be.
Destiny willeth it not that he die here far from his dear ones,
Since he is fated his friends once more to revisit and once more
Win to his high-roofed home and arrive at the land of his fathers.”
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Thus did he speak and she shuddered, the beautiful goddess Calypso ;
Then upraised she her voice and with swift-winged words she addressed him :
"Truly ye gods are cruel of heart and exceedingly jealous!
Ever ye grudge that a goddess shall mate with a man that is mortal,
Openly though it be done and she take him as consort and love him.
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Thus when Orion was chosen by Morning, the roseate-fingered,
All of you gods were jealous, who live at your ease in the heaven,
Till in Ortygia's isle chaste Artemis, golden-enthronéd,
Launching her painless shafts assailed him and suddenly slew him.
Also with Iasion when the fair-tressed goddess Demeter,
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Yielding herself to desire, was united in tender embracements,
While in a thrice-ploughed fallow they lay, right quickly perceived it
Zeus; and he cast with the blinding bolt of his thunder and slew him.
Now once more ye are jealous, ye gods, that I live with a mortal,
Even the man that I saved as he clung to the keel of his vessel
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Sole—for the swift-winged ship with the blinding bolt of his thunder
Zeus in the midst of the wine-dark ocean had smitten and shattered.
Then did the rest, yea all of his brave companions, perish;
Hither alone was he borne by the stress of the wind and the billows.
Him did I tenderly cherish and nourish, and also I promised
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Even to make him immortal and ageless for ever and ever.
Ah but the mind and the purpose of Zeus who beareth the aegis
None can evade or annul, not even another immortal.
So, let him go!—since such is the will and command of the Father—
Over the wastes of the sea let him go! No aid can I give him,
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Since I possess no ships well fitted with oars and with rowers,
Such as to help him to traverse the wide expanses of ocean.
Yet will I readily prompt him thereto, nor will practise concealment,
So that without all harm he shall come to the land of his fathers."
Her then in turn gave answer the Messenger, Slayer of Argus:
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"Well now, speed his departing, and slight not the wrath of the Father,
Lest peradventure hereafter in anger he send thee affliction."
These words uttered, departed the valiant Slayer of Argus.
Then great-hearted Odysseus to seek did the lady Calypso
Quickly betake her, as soon as she heard the behest of the Father.
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Him still sitting she found on the shore; incessant the teardrops
Flooded his eyes, and ebbing away was his life and its sweetness,
While for his homeland he pined, no longer in love with the sea-nymph.
Truly at night he had ever (not finding a means of refusal)
Slept by her side in the cave, unwilling indeed—but she willed it.
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All day long howbeit he sat on the rocks or the shingle
Painfully racking his soul with his grieving and groaning and weeping,
Gazing with tears in his eyes at the barren expanse of the ocean.
Coming anigh now spake and addressed him the beautiful goddess:
"Ill-starred mortal, remain no longer with me on my island,
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Wailing and pining to death! I am ready to speed thy departure.
Come now, fell with the axe tall timber and join it together
Into a broad-beamed raft, and a bulwark fix thou upon it
High, that in safety it carry thee over the mist-bound ocean.
Then on the raft will I place wheat-bread, sweet water and red wine,
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Food that delighteth the heart of a man and appeaseth his hunger.
Raiment to clothe thee withal will I give, and a breeze will I send thee,
Such as shall bring thee in safety again to the land of thy fathers,
Should the immortals be willing who dwell in the infinite heaven,
Since they are stronger than I to devise what they will and perform it."
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Thus did she speak and he shuddered, the patient and godlike Odysseus;
Then upraised he his voice and with swift-winged words he addressed her :
"Other is here thy device, O goddess—not homeward to send me—
While on a raft thou bidd'st me retraverse a gulf of the ocean
Such in its terrors and perils that never a well-built vessel
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Voyaging swiftly and gladdened by Zeus-sent breezes will cross it.
Ne'er will I mount on a raft—still less if it give thee displeasure—
Art thou not willing to swear me an oath and solemnly promise
Never against me to plot a device that is evil to harm me."
Thus did he speak, and smiling the beautiful goddess Calypso
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Touched him with gentle caress, then opened her lips and addressed him:
"Truly thou seemest a rogue—not at all with the wits of a weakling—
Craftily thus to devise in thy heart these words thou hast uttered.
Well—be my witness the earth and the infinite heaven above us,
Yea and the water of Styx which floweth beneath us—the greatest,
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Most terrific of oaths e'en sworn by the blessed immortals—
Ne'er will I plot a device that is evil against thee to harm thee.
Nay, what I think and intend to advise is exactly the counsel
I to myself would give, were suchlike need to befall me.
Also in me is a mind which loves what is fair and is seemly,
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Nor is the heart in my bosom of iron; it feeleth compassion."
These words uttered, at once went forward the beautiful goddess,
Hastily leading the way, and he followed the steps of the sea-nymph.
Soon they arrived, both goddess and man, in the shade of the cavern.
Here did Odysseus recline on the chair from the which had arisen
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Hermes, and near him the nymph laid out all manner of viands,
Many a meat and a drink—such food as is eaten by mortals.
Then on a chair she reclined full fronting the godlike Odysseus,
While that her maiden attendants ambrosia brought her and nectar.
Now did they stretch forth hands to the food that was lying before them,
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Till, when at last they had lost all longing for meat and the wine-cup,
Once more made a beginning the beautiful goddess Calypso :
"Zeus-born son of Laertes, thou wise and wileful Odysseus,
Dost thou indeed so wish to the well-loved land of thy fathers
Now forthwith to return? E'en so, good fortune attend thee!
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Yet, if thou knewst in thy heart what measure of woe and affliction
Still it is fated for thee to fulfil ere reaching thy homeland,
Here thou'ldst wish to remain, and to rule as the lord of my household,
Yea and be made an immortal—how strong soever thy yearnings
After thy consort—for whom thou art sighing for ever and alway.
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Ay and forsooth not less am I able to boast me of beauty
Either of form or of favour—for surely it never beseemeth
Earth-born women to vie with immortals in form and in feature."
Her then in answer addressed these words deep-plotting Odysseus:
"Goddess and queen, O speak not in anger! I know it myself too—
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Well do I know it that likened to thee wise Penelopeia
Seems less comely in face and in form less noble to look on.
She is an earth-born woman and thou art immortal and ageless.
Still e'en so, it is true, I am longing and yearning for ever
After my home, and I dream of the dawn of the day of returning.
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E'en if a god should shatter my raft on the wine-dark ocean,
All will I bear, for the heart in my bosom disdaineth disaster.
Much I have suffered already, and many a peril and hardship
Seen on the sea and in war: let this to the number be added!"
Thus did he speak, and the sun went down, and the darkness descended.
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Then did the twain to an inner recess of the cavern betake them.
Here they delighted in love and abode right gladly together.
Now when the morning was newly arisen, the roseate-fingered,
Forthwith donned his apparel Odysseus, his tunic and mantle,
While that the nymph threw round her a garment of glistering whiteness,
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Delicate, lovely; and over her waist then fastened a girdle,
Beautiful, fashioned of gold; and her head in a hood she enveloped.
Then she bethought her to send on his way great-hearted Odysseus.
Firstly a great wood-axe, in his hands well fitted, she gave him,
Fashioned of bronze, two-edged; and firmly inserted within it
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Fixed was a helve of the wood of an olive, of wonderful beauty.
PATTEN WILSON.
THE BUILDING OF THE RAFT
Also she gave him an adze well-sharpened, and going before him
Led to an end of the isle where tall straight timber was growing;
Alder was there and poplar and pine which reacheth to heaven,
Dry long since, well-seasoned and buoyant to float on the water.
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After the spot she had shown where tall straight timber was growing;
Homeward again she betook her, the beautiful goddess Calypso.
Then did he hew him his rafters, and quickly the work made headway.
Twenty the trees that he felled, and he lopp'd all clean with the wood-axe,
Planed them and cut all straight to the line with the skill of a master.
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Now meanwhile she had brought to him borers, the goddess Calypso,
So that he bored each beam, and fitting the one to the other
Hammered and joined all firmly together with clamps and with tree-nails.
Even as much as a man who is versed in the craft of a shipwright,
Making a broad-beamed hull, might measure him off for the bottom,
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Such for his broad-beamed raft was the platform made by Odysseus.
Bulwarks too he erected and strengthened with many an upright,
Coping them off from above in the whole of their length with a gunwale;
Made then a mast and shipped it, and hoisted and fitted the yardarm;
Fashioned moreover a rudder to guide its course in the waters;
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Fenced it around from the stem to the stern with a wattle of osiers,
Making it safe from the waves; and he covered it over with boarding.
Now meanwhile she had brought to him canvas, the goddess Calypso,
Bidding him fashion the sails, and he wrought these skilfully also,
Binding upon them the sheets; and he rigged her with braces and halyards,
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Then with his handspikes hove her down to the vast salt ocean.
Now was the fourth day come, and all of his labour was ended;
So on the fifth day sped his departing the goddess Calypso,
Bathing him first and arraying him freshly in fragrant apparel.
Then to the raft she conveyed dark wine in a bottle of goat-skin
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—One was of wine and another, a greater, of water—and viands
Stowed in a wallet; and many a toothsome relish she added.
Then did she send him a favouring breeze both gentle and kindly.
Now exulting his sails to the breeze spread godlike Odysseus.
Keeping the raft to her course by the helm with the skill of a sailor
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Seated he steered (nor a moment did drowsiness fall on his eyelids),
Holding the Pleiads in view and the autumn-setting Boötes,
Holding moreover the Bear, that is called by the name of the Wagon.
(Ever she circles around and around on the watch for Orion,
Having alone of the stars no share in the baths of the ocean.)
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Her—since thus had commanded the beautiful goddess Calypso—
Voyaging over the ocean he steadily held on the left hand.
Seven and ten was the number of days that he voyaged the waters,
Till on the eighteenth day he beheld far shadowy mountains,
Where was arising the land Phaeacia nearest before him,
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Like to a vapoury rack, as it loomed on the mist-bound ocean.
Now from the Aethiop people returning, the King Earth-shaker
Forth of the far-off hills of the Solymi looked, and beheld him
Voyaging over the sea, and, enraged more fiercely than ever,
Wagging his head in his wrath, spake thus to the spirit within him:
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"Lo now! Truly it seemeth the gods have altered their counsels
Touching Odysseus, when I was away with the Aethiop people.
Now he is nigh to the land Phaeacia, where he is fated
Out of affliction's net to escape, that was closing around him;
Yet shall I force him, I promise, to suffer his fill of misfortune."
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Thus as he spake he collected the clouds and stirred up the ocean,
Both hands seizing the trident, and wakened to fury the tempests,
Every wind of the heaven. All covered and darkened with storm-rack
Earth was at once and the sea, while down from the sky fell midnight.
Wildly together they rushed—East, South, and the furious West Wind,
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Air-born Boreas too, with a huge wave rolling before him.
Then were loosened the limbs and the inmost heart of Odysseus,
While distracted he spake to the valiant spirit within him:
"Ah, poor wretch that I am! What fate in the end will befall me?
Verily now do I fear that she spake too truly, the goddess,
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Saying that here on the sea, ere reaching the land of my fathers,
Woes to the full I shall suffer. It surely is finding fulfilment.
Lo, how mighty the rack wherewith envelops the welkin
Zeus; and he stirreth the deep, and down come sweeping the storm-blasts,
Every wind of the heaven. Now sheer destruction is certain.
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O thrice happy and four times they, those heroes who perished
Once on the Trojan plain for the sake of the lordly Atridae!
There, O, would I had died and my destined doom had encountered,
Yea on the day when so many a bronze-shod spear of the Trojans
Hurtled around me bestriding the body of fallen Achilles!
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So had I gained death-rites and th' Achaeans had held me in honour.
Now by a pitiful doom overwhelmed I am fated to perish."
E'en as he spake from aloft came crashing a billow enormous
Bursting terrific upon him and whirling the quivering raft round.
Far from the raft he was swept by the wave, and the rudder in falling
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Loosed from the grip of his hand, while clean in the middle the mast snapt,
Smit by the terrible blast of the winds which met in a cyclone.
Far off on to the waves down clattered the sail with the yardarm.
Long did it keep him below in the depths of the water, unable
Swiftly to rise, held back by the rush of the mountainous rollers,
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Weighed down too by his garment, the gift of the goddess Calypso.
Slowly at last he arose, and the pungent brine of the billow
Spat from his mouth, while down from his head in a flood it was streaming.
Neither forgat he the raft e'en then, though sorely exhausted.
Making a dash in the water he reached it and clutched it, and climbing
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Sat him amidships down, thus saved from the jaws of destruction,
While on the great sea-rollers she tossed, swept hither and thither.
Even as Boreas sweepeth in autumn the down of the thistles
Over a plain, all closely entangled together in masses,
So now over the sea winds carried her hither and thither.
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Now for a space she was left by the North as a sport for the South Wind,
Now by the East for a time to the West the pursuit was abandoned.
Seeing his peril the daughter of Cadmus with beautiful ankles,
Ino Leucothëe—erstwhile an articulate mortal,
Now in the depths of the brine by the gods as a deity honoured—
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Pitied Odysseus, as thus he was tossed by the storm and distracted.
So as a gannet, uprising on wings from the waste of the waters,
Down on the firm-lashed raft she alighted and spake to him, saying:
"Tell me, unfortunate, how doth it hap Earth-shaking Poseidon
Thus exceedingly rageth and sends thee so many misfortunes?
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Nay but he ne'er shall destroy thee, how much soever he yearneth.
Lo now, this shalt thou do—for thou seemst not lacking in wisdom.
Doff these garments, and letting the raft drift loose to the storm-wind
Leave her, and trust to thy hands; they shall bring thee in safety by swimming
Unto the Scherian land, where destiny grants thee a refuge.
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Take this scarf—'tis a tissue ambrosial. Bind it around thee
Over thy breast, and thou needst not fear to be harmed and to perish.
Then—so soon as thy hands have grasped securely the dry land,
Loosen the scarf and flinging it back in the wine-dark ocean
Far from the edge of the shore, make haste from the spot to avert thee."
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So did she speak, and, leaving the garment behind her, the goddess
Plunged in the billowing flood once more of the waters of ocean,
Like to a gannet; and quickly the dark wave hid her beneath it.
Then did he ponder in doubt, long-suffering godlike Odysseus,
While despondent he spake to the valiant spirit within him:
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"Ah woe! Surely again some snare contriveth against me
One of the gods, thus bidding me leap from my firm-lashed vessel.
Nay, not yet will I do it, for still at a distance I noticed
Lying the land where Fate (as she said) is to grant me a refuge.
Lo now, this will I do—for I think it is certainly better:
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While that the timbers shall hold them in all their jointings together,
Here on the raft I shall stay and endure all hardships and perils;
Should howbeit the waves break all of the vessel in pieces,
Then will I swim. I can find no better device and precaution."
Whilst these things in his mind and his spirit he still was revolving
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Sent an enormous roller the King Earth-shaking Poseidon.
Terrible, irresistible, vaulted, it toppled upon him.
Even as chaff that is lying in heaps, when a violent storm-gust
Seizes the light dry husks and scatters them hither and thither,
Thus did the wave send flying the beams of the raft; but Odysseus
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Mounting on one of the timbers bestrode it, as riding a racer,
Stripping himself of his garment, the gift of the goddess Calypso.
Hastily over his breast then binding the scarf of the sea-nymph
Into the water he plunged, both hands extended before him,
Eager to swim. But the King Earth-shaking Poseidon, who saw it,
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Wagging his head in his wrath spake thus to the spirit within him:
"There! thou hast suffered already and now go toss on the ocean!
Swim till thou reachest the dwellings of earth-born children of heaven!
Not e'en there, do I think, thou'lt carelessly prate of disaster."
Thus in his anger he spake, and, lashing his long-maned horses,
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Swiftly was there where standeth his glorious temple at Aegae.
Then did Athena the daughter of Zeus plan other devices.
Staying the furious courses of all of the rest of the storm-winds,
Bidding them cease and be still and peacefully lay them to slumber,
Boreas swift she aroused, and she whitened the billows before him,
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Heaven-descended Odysseus to rescue from death and destruction,
Wafting him home to the lovers of oars, Phaeacia's sea-folk.
So two days and two nights did he toss on the mountainous billows
Drifting, and oft in his spirit the coming of death he foreboded,
Till, when the third day rose from the lap of the fair-tressed morning,
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Then of a sudden abated the wind, and it ceased, and a calm spread
Breathless around, and the land once more much nearer he sighted,
Gazing intently ahead when aloft on the crest of a billow.
Welcome as life, when again it returneth, appeareth to children
Whose dear father was lying in sickness and suffering anguish,
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Withering slowly away, by the wrath of a deity wounded:
E'en as they welcome him back, by the gods set free from his trouble,
So to Odysseus was welcome the sight of the land and the forests.
Strongly he swam, in his longing to tread with his feet on the dry land,
Till, when as far from the shore as the voice of a shouter will carry,
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Sudden he heard on the reefs and the shingle the thunder of surges.
Here was a terrible surf that was crashing on rocks of the mainland,
Horribly belching, and all was enwrapped in the foam of the salt spray;
Neither a haven was there for the mooring and shelter of shipping;
Headlands only he saw and reefs and crags overhanging.
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Then were loosened the limbs and the inmost heart of Odysseus,
While distracted he spake to the valiant spirit within him:
"Ah me! Lo, of the land unhoped-for vision had granted
Zeus, and far I had cloven my way in the gulf of the ocean;
Now from the grey salt sea no place for a landing appeareth;
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All outside it is rugged with crags, and around them the billows
Thunder and surge, where steeply and smoothly the precipice rises.
Near it the water is deep, nor might one hope to discover
Hold for the feet, whereby to escape from the jaws of destruction;
So that I fear some roller enormous will seize me and hurl me
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On to the sharp-jagg'd rocks, and vain would prove my endeavour.
Ay, but if further along I shall swim in the hope to alight on
Beaches that slope to the water or sheltering creeks of the ocean
Much do I fear some blast of the wind may seize me and bear me,
Heavily groaning, away once more to the home of the fishes;
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Or peradventure a god might send some monster against me
Out of the brine, where feedeth her sea-droves Amphitrite.
How I am hated I know by the King Earth-shaking Poseidon."
Whilst these things in his mind and his spirit he still was revolving,
On to the rock-bound shore he was borne by a billow enormous.
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Here had his skin been stript and his bones all broken in pieces,
Had not the thought been put in his heart by the goddess Athene
Suddenly forward to dart and to clutch with his hands on a boulder,
Clinging to which with a groan he awaited the rush of the roller.
This he withstood and escaped it; but seaward recoiling the billow
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Leapt on him, smote him and hurled him away far out on the ocean.
E'en as it haps when a cuttle is dragged from its hole by a fisher
While to its tentacle-tips full many a pebble is clinging,
Thus by the jags of the rock from the strong bold hands of Odysseus
Stript was the skin as the mountainous billow descended upon him.
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Now had the hapless Odysseus despite all destiny perished,
Had not a fortunate thought been sent by the goddess Athene.
Steering him clear of the surf of the surge that was thundering landward
Further he coasted along and he gazed at the land to discover
Beaches that slope to the water or sheltering creeks of the ocean.
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Then at the last to the mouth of a river of beautiful waters
Swimming he came, and here he believed was the place for a landing;
Smooth was the rockless beach, and withal from the wind was a covert;
Soon too, feeling the stream of the river, he prayed in his spirit:
"Hear me, whoever thou be'st, O King! As thy suppliant I too
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Pray thee to succour me fleeing the deep and the threats of Poseidon.
E'en by the gods everlasting is every mortal respected
Should he as wanderer come to entreat them for succour, as I now
Come to thy river and fall at thy knees, outworn with my labours.
Nay now pity me, prince, for thy suppliant, lo, I avow me."
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Thus did he pray, and it slackened the might of its billowy current,
Spreading before him a calm; and the deity brought him in safety
Unto the beach at the mouth of the stream—but his knees and his stout hands
Powerless drooped, for the sea had his inmost heart overmastered;
Swollen was all of the flesh of his body, and plentiful sea-brine
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Oozed in his mouth and his nostrils, and long time breathless and speechless
Swooning he lay on the ground, for a terrible weariness seized him.
Now when at last he revived and the soul was recalled to the senses,
Forthwith loosing again from his bosom the scarf of the goddess
Into the midst of the tide of the sea-tinged river he launched it.
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Down on the current a great wave bore it, and speedily Ino
Held it again in her hands. Then back from the river he turned him,
Knelt on the rushes, and kissing the earth, dear mother of harvests,
Thus distracted he spake to the valiant spirit within him:
"Ah me! what shall betide? What fate in the end will befall me?
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Here if the whole of the night I shall anxiously watch by the river,
May not the dangerous rime and abundant dews of the morning
Master the soul that within me already is gasping for faintness?
Cold too breathes ere morning ariseth the breeze of the river.
Should I however, ascending the slope to the shade of the forest,
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Seek to recline me and rest in the thick of the bushes, I fear me,
Cold and weariness gone and sweet sleep stealing upon me,
Unto the ravening beasts I shall fall as a prey and a booty."
Thus as he pondered thereon this plan seemed surely the better :
Up to a coppice he went, and he found trees nigh to the water
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Standing apart in the open, and 'neath two bushes he hid him
Sprung from the selfsame stock—true olive and wilding of olive.
These did the might of the wind ne'er breathe through laden with moisture,
Neither did ever the sun with the shafts of his radiance pierce them,
Nor did the rain drip through them at all, so densely together
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Woven the one with the other they grew; and beneath them Odysseus
Crept, and anon with his hands he had raked him a litter together
Spacious and deep; for of leafage was lying a plentiful downfall,
Such as for two or for three might offer enough of protection
During the season of storms, how bitter soever the weather.
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This then seeing with joy, long-suffering godlike Odysseus
Laid him to rest in the midst of the leaves, and he piled them around him.
E'en as a man might cover a brand with the blackened ashes
Out on a bound of his farm, where living is none of his neighbours,
Guarding the seed of the fire (else must he rekindle from elsewhere),
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So did he cover him closely with leaves; and the goddess Athene
Poured on his eyes sweet sleep, for she wished right soon to release him
Out of his weary exhaustion; and gently she covered his eyelids.
“Leucothea, the White Goddess, Preserving Ulysses” (1805). John Flaxman (1755–1826). Purchased as part of the Oppé Collection with assistance from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, 1996.