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He conquer'd in Ciconia, and thence reach'd

The fruitful shores of the Lotophagi;

370

The Cyclops' deeds he told her next, and how

He well avenged on him his slaughter'd friends

Whom, pitiless, the monster had devour'd.

How to the isle of Æolus he came,

Who welcomed him and safe dismiss'd him thence,

375

Although not destined to regain so soon

His native land; for o'er the fishy deep

Loud tempests snatch'd him sighing back again.

How, also at Telepylus he arrived,

Town of the Læstrygonians, who destroy'd

380

His ships with all their mariners, his own

Except, who in his sable bark escaped.

Of guileful Circe too he spake, deep-skill'd

In various artifice, and how he reach'd

With sails and oars the squalid realms of death,

385

Desirous to consult the prophet there

Theban Tiresias, and how there he view'd

All his companions, and the mother bland

Who bare him, nourisher of his infant years.

How next he heard the Sirens in one strain

390

All chiming sweet, and how he reach'd the rocks

Erratic, Scylla and Charybdis dire,

Which none secure from injury may pass.

Then how the partners of his voyage slew

The Sun's own beeves, and how the Thunderer Jove

395

Hurl'd down his smoky bolts into his bark,

Depriving him at once of all his crew,

Whose dreadful fate, he yet himself escaped.

How to Ogygia's isle he came, where dwelt

The nymph Calypso, who enamour'd wish'd

400

To espouse him, and within her spacious grot

Detain'd, and fed, and promised him a life

Exempt for ever from the sap of age,

But him moved not. How also he arrived

After much toil, on the Phæacian coast,

405

Where every heart revered him as a God,

And whence, enriching him with brass and gold,

And costly raiment first, they sent him home.

At this last word, oblivious slumber sweet

Fell on him, dissipating all his cares.

410

Odyssey. Homer. ed. Robert Southey. London. 1837.

Current edition Experimental

English (William Cowper, 1791, ed. Southey) (OCR draft) (English) (English (William Cowper, 1791, ed. Southey))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)

Ὀδύσσεια Perseus (Homer. The Odyssey, Volume 1-2. Murray, A. T. (Augustus Taber), editor. London: William Heinmann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1919.) — 23.310 focus

ἤρξατο δʼ ὡς πρῶτον Κίκονας δάμασʼ, αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα

310

ἦλθʼ ἐς Λωτοφάγων ἀνδρῶν πίειραν ἄρουραν·

ἠδʼ ὅσα Κύκλωψ ἔρξε, καὶ ὡς ἀπετίσατο ποινὴν

ἰφθίμων ἑτάρων, οὓς ἤσθιεν οὐδʼ ἐλέαιρεν·

ἠδʼ ὡς Αἴολον ἵκεθʼ, ὅ μιν πρόφρων ὑπέδεκτο

καὶ πέμπʼ, οὐδέ πω αἶσα φίλην ἐς πατρίδʼ ἱκέσθαι

315

ἤην, ἀλλά μιν αὖτις ἀναρπάξασα θύελλα

πόντον ἐπʼ ἰχθυόεντα φέρεν βαρέα στενάχοντα·

ἠδʼ ὡς Τηλέπυλον Λαιστρυγονίην ἀφίκανεν,

οἳ νῆάς τʼ ὄλεσαν καὶ ἐϋκνήμιδας ἑταίρους

πάντας· Ὀδυσσεὺς δʼ οἶος ὑπέκφυγε νηῒ μελαίνῃ·

320

καὶ Κίρκης κατέλεξε δόλον πολυμηχανίην τε,

ἠδʼ ὡς εἰς Ἀΐδεω δόμον ἤλυθεν εὐρώεντα,

ψυχῇ χρησόμενος Θηβαίου Τειρεσίαο,

νηῒ πολυκλήϊδι, καὶ εἴσιδε πάντας ἑταίρους

μητέρα θʼ, ἥ μιν ἔτικτε καὶ ἔτρεφε τυτθὸν ἐόντα·

325

ἠδʼ ὡς Σειρήνων ἁδινάων φθόγγον ἄκουσεν,

ὥς θʼ ἵκετο Πλαγκτὰς πέτρας δεινήν τε Χάρυβδιν

Σκύλλην θʼ, ἣν οὔ πώ ποτʼ ἀκήριοι ἄνδρες ἄλυξαν·

ἠδʼ ὡς Ἠελίοιο βόας κατέπεφνον ἑταῖροι·

ἠδʼ ὡς νῆα θοὴν ἔβαλε ψολόεντι κεραυνῷ

330

Ζεὺς ὑψιβρεμέτης, ἀπὸ δʼ ἔφθιθεν ἐσθλοὶ ἑταῖροι

πάντες ὁμῶς, αὐτὸς δὲ κακὰς ὑπὸ κῆρας ἄλυξεν·

ὥς θʼ ἵκετʼ Ὠγυγίην νῆσον νύμφην τε Καλυψώ,

ἣ δή μιν κατέρυκε, λιλαιομένη πόσιν εἶναι,

ἐν σπέσσι γλαφυροῖσι, καὶ ἔτρεφεν ἠδὲ ἔφασκε

335

θήσειν ἀθάνατον καὶ ἀγήραον ἤματα πάντα·

ἀλλὰ τοῦ οὔ ποτε θυμὸν ἐνὶ στήθεσσιν ἔπειθεν·

ἠδʼ ὡς ἐς Φαίηκας ἀφίκετο πολλὰ μογήσας,

οἳ δή μιν περὶ κῆρι θεὸν ὣς τιμήσαντο

καὶ πέμψαν σὺν νηῒ φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν,

340

χαλκόν τε χρυσόν τε ἅλις ἐσθῆτά τε δόντες.

τοῦτʼ ἄρα δεύτατον εἶπεν ἔπος, ὅτε οἱ γλυκὺς ὕπνος

λυσιμελὴς ἐπόρουσε, λύων μελεδήματα θυμοῦ.

Translations (8)

Odyssey Perseus (Homer. The Odyssey, Volume 1-2. Murray, A. T. (Augustus Taber), translator. London: William Heinmann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1919.) — 23.310 focus

310 He began by telling how at the first he overcame the Cicones, and then came to the rich land of the Lotus-eaters, and all that the Cyclops wrought, and how he made him pay the price for his mighty comrades, whom the Cyclops had eaten, and had shown no pity. Then how he came to Aeolus, who received him with a ready heart, 315 and sent him on his way; but it was not yet his fate to come to his dear native land, nay, the storm-wind caught him up again, and bore him over the teeming deep, groaning heavily. Next how he came to Telepylus of the Laestrygonians, who destroyed his ships and his well-greaved comrades 320 one and all, and Odysseus alone escaped in his black ship. Then he told of all the wiles and craftiness of Circe, and how in his benched ship he had gone to the dank house of Hades to consult the spirit of Theban Teiresias, and had seen all his comrades 325 and the mother who bore him and nursed him, when a child. And how he heard the voice of the Sirens, who sing unceasingly, and had come to the Wandering Rocks, and to dread Charybdis, and to Scylla, from whom never yet had men escaped unscathed. Then how his comrades slew the kine of Helios, 330 and how Zeus, who thunders on high, smote his swift ship with a flaming thunderbolt, and his goodly comrades perished all together, while he alone escaped the evil fates. And how he came to the isle Ogygia and to the nymph Calypso, who kept him there 335 in her hollow caves, yearning that he should be her husband, and tended him, and said that she would make him immortal and ageless all his days; yet she could never persuade the heart in his breast. Then how he came after many toils to the Phaeacians, who heartily showed him all honor, as if he were a god, 340 and sent him in a ship to his dear native land, after giving him stores of bronze and gold and raiment. This was the end of the tale he told, when sweet sleep, that loosens the limbs of men, leapt upon him, loosening the cares of his heart.

Odyssey Perseus (Homer. The Odyssey: rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. Butler, Samuel, 1835-1902, translator. Revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy. London: A.C. Fifield, 1900.) — 23.288 focus

288 Thus did they converse. Meanwhile Eurynome and the nurse took torches and made the bed ready with soft coverlets; as soon as they had laid them, the nurse went back into the house to go to her rest, leaving the bed chamber woman Eurynome to show Odysseus and Penelope to bed by torch light. When she had conducted them to their room she went back, and they then came joyfully to the rites of their own old bed. Telemakhos, Philoitios, and the swineherd now left off dancing, and made the women leave off also. They then laid themselves down to sleep in the cloisters.

300 When Odysseus and Penelope had had their fill of love they fell talking with one another. She told him how much she had to bear in seeing the house filled with a crowd of wicked suitors who had killed so many sheep and oxen on her account, and had drunk so many casks of wine. Odysseus in his turn told her what he had suffered, and how much trouble he had himself given to other people. He told her everything, and she was so delighted to listen that she never went to sleep till he had ended his whole story.

310 He began with his victory over the Kikones, and how he thence reached the fertile land of the Lotus-eaters. He told her all about the Cyclops and how he had punished him for having so ruthlessly eaten his brave comrades; how he then went on to Aeolus, who received him hospitably and furthered him on his way, but even so he was not to reach home, for to his great grief a gale carried him out to sea again; how he went on to the Laestrygonian city Telepylos, where the people destroyed all his ships with their crews, save himself and his own ship only. Then he told of cunning Circe and her craft, and how he sailed to the chill house of Hades, to consult the ghost [ psukhê] of the Theban seer Teiresias, and how he saw his old comrades in arms, and his mother who bore him and brought him up when he was a child; how he then heard the wondrous singing of the Sirens, and went on to the wandering rocks and terrible Charybdis and to Scylla, whom no man had ever yet passed in safety; how his men then ate the cattle of the sun-god, and how Zeus therefore struck the ship with his thunderbolts, so that all his men perished together, himself alone being left alive; how at last he reached the Ogygian island and the nymph Calypso, who kept him there in a cave, and fed him, and wanted him to marry her, in which case she intended making him immortal so that he should never grow old, but she could not persuade him to let her do so; and how after much suffering he had found his way to the Phaeacians, who had treated him as though he had been a god, and sent him back in a ship to his own country after having given him gold, bronze, and raiment in great abundance. This was the last thing about which he told her, for here a deep sleep took hold upon him and eased the burden of his sorrows.

344 Then Athena thought of another matter. When she deemed that Odysseus had had enough both of his wife and of repose, she bade gold-enthroned Dawn rise out of Okeanos that she might shed light upon humankind. On this, Odysseus rose from his comfortable bed and said to Penelope, "Wife, we have both of us had our full share of trials [ athlos], you, here, in lamenting my absence, and I in being prevented from getting home [ nostos] though I was longing all the time to do so. Now, however, that we have at last come together, take care of the property that is in the house. As for the sheep and goats which the wicked suitors have eaten, I will take many myself by force from other people, and will compel the Achaeans to make good the rest till they shall have filled all my yards. I am now going to the wooded lands out in the country to see my father who has so long been grieved on my account, and to yourself I will give these instructions, though you have little need of them. At sunrise it will at once get abroad that I have been killing the suitors; go upstairs, therefore, and stay there with your women. See nobody and ask no questions."

English (Butler, rev. Nagy et al., 2020) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Butler, rev. Nagy et al., 2020)) — 23.310 focus

He began with his victory over the Kikones, and how he thence reached the fertile land of the Lotus-eaters. He told her all about the Cyclops and how he had punished him for having so ruthlessly eaten his brave comrades; how he then went on to Aiolos, who received him hospitably [315] and furthered him on his way, but even so he was not to reach home, for a gust of wind [ thuella] 317 carried him, heavily groaning, over the fishy [ ikhthuoeis] sea [ pontos]; how he went on to the Laestrygonian city Telepylos, where the people destroyed all his ships with their crews, [320] save himself and his own ship only. Then he told of cunning Circe and her craft, and how he sailed to the chill house of Hādēs, to consult the spirit [ psūkhē] of the Theban prophet Teiresias, and how he saw his old comrades in arms, [325] and his mother who bore him and brought him up when he was a child; how he then heard the wondrous singing of the Sirens, and went on to the wandering rocks and terrifying Charybdis and to Scylla, whom no man had ever yet passed in safety; how his men then ate the cattle of the sun-god, [330] and how Zeus therefore struck the ship with his thunderbolts, so that all his men perished together, himself alone being left alive; how at last he reached the Ogygian island and the nymph Kalypsō, who kept him there [335] in a cave, and fed him, and wanted him to marry her, in which case she intended making him immortal so that he should never grow old, but she could not persuade him to let her do so; and how after much suffering he had found his way to the Phaeacians, who had treated him as though he had been a god, and sent him [340] back in a ship to his own country after having given him gold, bronze, and raiment in great abundance. This was the last thing about which he told her, for here a deep sleep took hold upon him and eased the burden of his sorrows.

English (William Cullen Bryant, 1873) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (William Cullen Bryant, 1873)) — 23.310 focus

And first he told her how he overcame

The people of Ciconia; how he passed

Thence to the rich fields of the race who feed

Upon the lotus; what the Cyclops did,

375

And how upon the Cyclops he avenged

The death of his brave comrades, whom the wretch

Had piteously slaughtered and devoured.

And how he came to Æolus, and found

A friendly welcome, and was sent by him

380

Upon his voyage; yet 't was not his fate

To reach his native land; a tempest caught

His fleet, and far across the fishy deep

Bore him away, lamenting bitterly.

And how he landed at Telepylus,

385

Among the Læstrigonians, who destroyed

His ships and warlike comrades, he alone

In his black ship escaping. Then he told

Of Circè, her deceit and many arts,

And how he went to Pluto's dismal realm

390

In his good galley, to consult the soul

Of him of Thebes, Tiresias, and beheld

All his lost comrades and his mother, - her

Who brought him forth, and trained him when a child.

And how he heard the Sirens afterward,

395

And how he came upon the wandering rocks,

The terrible Charybdis, and the crags

Of Scylla, - which no man had ever passed

In safety; how his comrades slew for food

The oxen of the Sun; how Jupiter,

400

The Thunderer, with a bolt of fire from heaven

Smote his swift bark; and how his gallant crew

All perished, he alone escaped with life.

And how he reached Ogygia's isle, he told,

And met the nymph Calypso, who desired

405

That he would be her husband, and long time

Detained and fed him in her vaulted grot,

And promised that he ne'er should die, nor know

Decay of age, through all the days to come;

Yet moved she not the purpose of his heart.

410

And how he next through many hardships came

To the Phæacians, and they welcomed him

And honored him as if he were a god,

And to his native country in a bark

Sent him with ample gifts of brass and gold

415

And raiment. As he uttered this last word,

Sleep softly overcame him; all his limbs

Lay loose in rest, and all his cares were calmed.

English (Alexander Pope, 1726, ed. Watson, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Alexander Pope, 1726, ed. Watson, 1858)) — 23.310 focus

The king alternate a dire tale relates,

Of wars, of triumphs, and disastrous fates;

330

All he unfolds: his listening spouse turns pale

With pleasing horror at the dreadful tale;

Sleepless devours each word; and hears how slain

Cicons on Cicons swell th' ensanguin'd plain;

How to the land of Lote unbless'd he sails;

335

And images the rills and flowery vales!

How, dash'd like dogs, his friends the Cyclops tore,

(Not unrevenged,) and quaff'd the spouting gore;

How, the loud storms in prison bound, he sails

From friendly Aeolus with prosperous gales;

340

Yet fate withstands! a sudden tempest roars,

And whirls him groaning from his native shores:

How on the barbarous Laestrygonian coast,

By savage hands his fleet and friends he lost;

How scarce himself surviv'd: he paints the bower,

345

The spells of Circè, and her magic power;

His dreadful journey to the realms beneath,

To seek Tiresias in the vales of death;

How in the doleful mansions he survey'd

His royal mother, pale Anticlea's shade;

350

And friends in battle slain, heroic ghosts!

Then how, unharm'd, he pass'd the Siren-coasts,

The justling rocks where fierce Charybdis raves,

And howling Scylla whirls her thunderous waves,

The cave of death! How his companions slay

355

The oxen sacred to the god of day,

Till Jove in wrath the rattling tempest guides,

And whelms th' offenders in the roaring tides:

How, struggling through the surge, he reach'd the shores

Of fair Ogygia, and Calypso's bowers;

360

Where the gay blooming nymph constrain'd his stay,

With sweet, reluctant, amorous delay;

And promis'd, vainly promis'd, to bestow

Immortal life, exempt from age and woe:

How, sav'd from storms, Phaeacia's coast he trod,

365

By great Alcinoüs honour'd as a god,

Who gave him last his country to behold,

With change of raiment, brass, and heaps of gold.

He ended, sinking into sleep, and shares

A sweet forgetfulness of all his cares.

370

English (Thomas Hobbes, 1667, ed. Molesworth 1843) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Hobbes, 1667, ed. Molesworth 1843)) — 23.310 focus

He told her how the Cicons he had beaten;

270

How Late from love of home his men did keep;

How Cyclops his companions had eaten;

And in revenge how he had made him blind;

How, to convey him home he did obtain

Of Æolus a leather-bag of wind,

275

Which breaking prison blew him back again ;

And how in Laestrigonia he lost

His good ships all but one, in which he was;

Told her the wiles of Circe; what the Ghost

In Hell said to him of Tiresias,

280

To whom he went his fortune for to know,

In a black ship ; and with his mother there

Discoursed; and saw many a one laid low

That in the Argive host had been his peer;

And how he heard the tempting Sirens sing

285

In concert, and scap'd safely by; and how

By th' shifting rocks, Charybdis vomiting,

And Scylla's clutches he did safely row;

How to Ogygia he came, and how

Calypso kept him in a cave, where she

290

To be his wife did promise to bestow

Upon him youth and immortality.

How to Phaeacia he came, where he

Much honour'd was, and thence by sea did come

Enrich'd by public liberality

295

With brass and gold and costly vestures home.

And at these words sleep seized on his eyes.

English (George Chapman, 1667, ed. Hooper 1857) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (George Chapman, 1667, ed. Hooper 1857)) — 23.310 focus

Beginning where he gave the Cicons fall;

From thence his pass to the Lotophagi;

The Cyclop's acts, the putting out his eye,

And wreak of all the soldiers he had eat,

No least ruth shown to all they could entreat;

465

His way to Æolus; his prompt receipt

And kind dismission; his enforced retreat

By sudden tempest to the fishy main,

And quite distraction from his course again;

His landing at the Læstrigonian port,

470

Where ships and men in miserable sort

Met all their spoils, his ship and he alone

Got off from the abhorr'd confusion;

His pass to Circe, her deceit and arts;

His thence descension to th' Infernal parts;

475

His life's course of the Theban prophet learn'd,

Where all the slaughter'd Grecians he discern'd

And loved mother; his astonish'd ear

With what the Sirens' voices made him hear;

His 'scape from th' erring rocks, which Scylla was,

480

And rough Charybdis, with the dangerous pass

Of all that touch'd there; his Sicilian

Offence given to the Sun; his every man

Destroy'd by thunder vollied out of heaven,

That split his ship; his own endeavours driven

485

To shift for succours on th' Ogygian shore,

Where Nymph Calypso such affection bore

To him in his arrival, that with feast

She kept him in her caves, and would have blest

His welcome life with an immortal state

490

Would he have stay'd and lived her nuptial mate,

All which she never could persuade him to;

His pass to the Phæacians spent in woe;

Their hearty welcome of him, as he were

A God descended from the starry sphere;

495

Their kind dismission of him home with gold,

Brass, garments, all things his occasions would.

This last word used, sleep seized his weary eye

That salves all care to all mortality.

English (H. B. Cotterill, 1911) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (H. B. Cotterill, 1911)) — 23 focus

ODYSSEY BOOK XXIII

LAUGHING for joy now hurried the nurse to the upper apartment,

Bringing her lady the news that Odysseus was there in his homestead.

Onward with tottering knees and with feet unsteady she stumbled,

Till, at the head of the sleeper arriving, she called to her mistress:

"Wake, my belov'd! wake, Penelopeia my child! Thou shalt see now,

Yea with thine eyes thou shalt see, what every day thou hast longed for.

Come is Odysseus !—is here in his home, whence long he was vanished !

Slain are all of the arrogant suitors who troubled his homestead,

Wasting the wealth of the house and treating his son with oppression."

Her forthwith gave answer the wise-souled Penelopeia:

"Nancy, dear mother, the gods have driven thee mad! An immortal

Ofttimes maketh a fool of the wise—yea, even the wisest—

Ay and the one that is foolish he guides in the path of discretion.

Surely a god hath unbalanced thy mind that was steady aforetime.

Why dost thou mock me and add to the grief that is heavy within me,

Chattering thus so wildly and waking me out of my slumber

While so softly imprisoned it held me and shaded mine eyelids?

Never I slept thus sound from the day that Odysseus departed

Sailing for Ilion, city of doom, name ne'er to be mentioned.

Go now, get thee away and return to the women's apartment!

Verily were it another of all of the maids that attend me,

Bringing reports like these and waking me out of my slumber,

Rudely enough I had sent her away and had bid her betake her

Back to her chamber—but thou..! it is only thy age that protects thee."

Then once more made answer the dear nurse Eurycleia:

"Nancy, I am mocking thee not, dear child! I assure thee in earnest

Come is Odysseus and here is arrived at his home, as I told thee.

He was the stranger—the guest whom all at the banquet insulted.

Telemachus long since was aware that his father was present,

Yet with a manly discretion the plans of his sire he revealed not,

Waiting for vengeance to fall on the heads of the arrogant suitors."

Thus as the old nurse spake, in her gladness Penelopeia

Sprang from her couch and embraced her, and tears fell fast from her eyelids ;

Then she uplifted her voice and with swift-winged words she addressed her :

"Come, dear mother, I beg thee to tell me and give me assurance,

Should he in sooth be arrived and be here in his home as thou sayest,

How was he able to lay strong hands on the insolent suitors,

Being alone, while ever they keep right many together?"

Then once more made answer the dear nurse Eurycleia :

"Nothing I saw—knew nothing—and nothing I heard but a groaning

Made by the dying. We sat in the strong-built room in a corner

Frozen with fear, and the door close-fitting was shut of the chamber,

Till that I heard one calling me forth from the women's apartment,

Even thy son, prince Telemachus for his father had sent him.

So to Odysseus I came, and I found him amidst of the slaughtered

Standing; and round him was covered the hard-stamped floor with the corpses

Lying the one on the other. I ween that thy soul had exulted

Hadst thou beheld him besmeared with the filth and the gore as a lion.

Now they're lying together, anigh to the gate of the courtyard,

All in a heap, and the master is fuming the palace with sulphur,

Setting aflame great braziers of coal; and he sent me to call thee.

Follow me now, that ye both in a heaven of happiness enter,

Where your hearts shall rejoice, forgetting their former afflictions.

Now is accomplished the thing that for long long years thou hast hoped for :

Lo, he is come—he is here— he is safe in his home—and has found thee

Safe in his halls, and his son; while those who had wickedly wronged him,

Even the suitors he wreaked his revenge on them all in his palace."

Her then in answer addressed these words wise Penelopeia :

"Nancy, dear mother, refrain thee at present from vaunting and laughter!

Well dost thou know how welcome he were to the whole of his household,

All of us, chiefly indeed to myself and the son that I bare him.

Yet—it is never and never the truth, this tale that thou tellest.

Navy, 'twas a god immortal that slaughtered the high-born suitors,

Wroth at their grievous and insolent pride and their infamous actions,

Seeing they treated alike all earth-born men with dishonour,

Good no less than the bad—yea every one who approached them;

So for their folly and madness they suffered. But dead is Odysseus;

Lost was his way to the land of Achaea, and lost was his life too."

Then did the dear old nurse make answer and thus she addressed her :

"Nancy but, my child, what word from the door of thy lips hath escaped thee,

While thou affirmst that thy lord, who is here at the hearth of his homestead,

Ne'er shall return! Ay, truly, thy heart was incredulous alway!

Well, I will tell thee besides of a proof infallibly certain,

Even the wound which once by a boar's white tusk was inflicted.

This as I bathed him I spied—and I eagerly turned me towards thee

Wishing to speak; but he, laying his hand on my mouth to prevent it,

Would not permit me to utter a word, in his wisdom and foresight.

Nancy, come, follow me now! I will venture my life on my tidings.

Should I deceive thee at all, by a death most pitiful slay me!"

Her once more gave answer the wise-souled Penelopeia :

"Ah, dear mother, 'tis hard, how great soever thy wisdom,

Over the plans and the counsels to watch of the gods everlasting.

Well then, now let us go to my son. I am fain to behold them,

These dead men, these suitors and him moreover that slew them."

Then from her room she descended, and deeply she pondered in spirit

Whether to hold her aloof from her lord and to test him with questions

Or to approach and embrace him and kiss him on hands and on forehead.

So, when at length she had entered the hall and had stept from the door-stone,

Fronting Odysseus she seated herself, in the light of a brazier,

Close to the opposite wall; and with eyes cast down he was sitting

Nigh to a pillar that rose to the roof; and he waited expectant,

Hoping his beautiful wife would speak when she saw him before her.

Long while silent she sat, with her spirit amazed and bewildered;

Now with her eyes fixed full on his face she was earnestly gazing,

Now she was doubting, beholding him clad in a beggarly raiment.

Then spake Telemachus and with words of reproach he addressed her :

"Mother—and yet no mother of mine, for thy heart is unloving—

Wherefore now dost thou hold thee aloof from my father, nor gladly

Seat thee beside him and bid him to speak and to answer thy questions?

Ne'er was a wife like thee, with a heart thus hardened within her,

100

So as to turn from a husband who after unnumber'd afflictions

Came in the twentieth year to his home and the land of his fathers.

Thus it was ever for harder than stone is the heart in thy bosom!"

Him then in answer addressed these words wise Penelopeia :

"Nancy but, my child, have patience—for dead is the spirit within me ;

105

Neither to utter a word am I able, nor ask him a question,

Nancy, nor to look in his face. If in truth it is he, as thou sayest,

Even Odysseus returned to his home, we can verily better

Learn it than thus, and be surer the one of the other; for we twain

Tokens possess that we kept to ourselves and hidden from others."

110

Hearing her words with a smile, long-suffering godlike Odysseus

Suddenly turned to his son, and with swift-winged words he addressed him :

"Telemachus, now leave us alone in the hall, that thy mother

Test me; for thus she will soon be aware of the truth and confess it.

Now I am covered with filth and am clothed in a beggarly raiment,

115

So with dishonour she treats me and says I am never thy father.

Meanwhile, come, let us think how best we shall act in the future.

He that hath happened to slay one person alone in a people,

One who was able to leave not many behind to avenge him,

Flieth from kith and from kin and from native land as an exile;

120

We.. 'twas the stay of the city we slew 'twas the best of the princes

Here in the Ithacan land. It is this that I bid thee consider."

Him sage Telemachus addressing in turn gave answer:

"See to the matter thyself, dear father; for thine is the wisdom

Said to be greatest on earth, and with thee in the giving of counsel

125

None might hope to compete no other of men that be mortal.

All of us others will eagerly follow thee. Ne'er shalt thou find us

Lacking in will to support thee, if only the power is present."

Him then in answer addressed these words deep-plotting Odysseus:

"Well now, come, I will tell thee the plan that I hold to be wisest.

130

First then, all of you cleanse you with water and clothe you in doublets,

Also the maidens command to array them in festal apparel.

Then let the godlike bard with his lute's loud-echoing music

Give us the lead for the dance in a mirthful melodious measure,

So that it sound as a wedding to those outside of the palace,

135

Whether to folk that shall pass on the road, or to neighbours around us.

Thus no word shall be bruited abroad in the town that the suitors

Lie here slaughtered before we shall get us away to the country

Unto the farm in the midst of the forest; and there we can counsel

How to avail us of luck, if the Father Olympian grant it."

140

Thus did he speak, and they listened attent to his words and obeyed them.

Firstly they bathed them in water and cast fresh tunics around them;

Also the women did on their attire; and the godlike minstrel,

Taking his hollow harp, in the depths of their bosoms excited

Yearning for sweet-voiced song and the peerless pleasure of dancing.

145

Then to the sound of their feet did the spacious mansion reëcho

While that the fair-zoned maidens and men were making them merry;

Hearing the which spake many a one outside of the palace :

"Sure, she is married at last, our lady of many a wooer!

Pitiful creature, unable to wait for the love of her girlhood,

150

Faithfully keeping on guard at his palace until he arrived here!”

Thus spake many a one; but they knew not how it had happened.

Now great-hearted Odysseus was back in his home, and the house-dame

Eurynomé brought water to bathe him and oil to anoint him,

Also apparel to clothe him withal, both mantle and tunic.

155

Over him then great beauty was shed by the goddess Athene :

Taller and stronger she made him in aspect, and down from his head fell

Clustering thickly the locks of his hair as the flower hyacinthine.

Even as gold o'er silver is poured by an artist—a craftsman

Taught in his art by the god Hephaestus and Pallas Athene

160

Manifold skill, and of beauty is every work that he fashions,

Thus did she pour forth grace on the shoulders and head of Odysseus;

So as he stept from the bath he was like an immortal in semblance.

Then he reseated himself on the chair from the which he had risen,

Placing himself in the front of his wife; and he spake to her, saying:

165

“Nancy, good lady, a heart more hard, more cruel, than thine is

Never a woman received from the gods who inhabit Olympus;

Ne'er was a wife like thee, with a heart thus hardened within her,

So as to turn from a husband who after unnumber'd afflictions

Came in the twentieth year to his home and the land of his fathers.

170

Nurse, go strew me my bed! I will sleep by myself; I will forthwith

Lay me to rest—for the heart in her bosom is surely of iron."

Him then in answer addressed these words wise Penelopeia :

"Nancy, good man, it is neither because I am proud or disdainful,

Nor am I dazed. Right well I recall thee (if thou be Odysseus)

175

Such as thou wert when from here in a long-oared vessel thou sailedst.

Go now, Eurycleia, and strew him the strong-made bedstead

Here outside of the room that he built for himself as his chamber.

Bring ye the bedstead forth; then lay soft bedding upon it;

Cover it over with fleeces and wrappers and glistering blankets."

180

Thus did she speak as a test for her husband ; and much was Odysseus

Angered thereat, and he turned to his own true wife and addressed her :

"Verily, wife, this word thou hast spoken is grievously cruel.

Who hath removed it—the bed that I built? 'Twere difficult truly

E'en for a man right skilful, unless some deity helped him.

185

Though for a god 'twere easy to move it wherever he listed,

Never a mortal that liveth, not e'en in the prime of his manhood,

Out of its place could heave it with handspikes. Great is the secret

Touching that fine-wrought bed—for I made it myself and in private.

Once was a long-leaved olive that stood inside the enclosure,

190

Thriving and grown to the full ; and its stem was as thick as a pillar.

Round it I built me a chamber and laboured until it was finished,

Making a structure of stones close-set; and I carefully roofed it;

Also I gave it a door well-fitting and firmly compacted.

Next from the long-leaved olive I lopped off all of the brushwood,

195

Whittled the bark of the stump right down to the root, and I planed it

Evenly, cutting it straight to the line with the skill of a master.

Then with an auger I bored it and fashioned it into a bed-post.

Thus I began, and I wrought me the bed, and, until it was finished,

Carved it, and richly with ivory, silver, and gold I adorned it.

200

Then to the frame hide thongs I attached bright-coloured with purple.

There now! Such is the secret I tell thee as token. I know not

Whether my bed stands still as it stood, O wife, or if long since

Some man moved it away, with the trunk cut off at the bottom."

Thus as he spake were loosened her knees and the heart in her bosom,

205

Since to herself she confessed that the token was sure that he gave her.

Bursting in tears, straightway to Odysseus she ran and embraced him,

Casting her arms on his neck and kissing his head and exclaiming :

"Gaze not upon me in anger, Odysseus! In all thou hast shown thee

Wisest of men—and thou knowst that the gods have sent us affliction,

210

Jealous to see us abiding in happiness one with the other,

Joying in youth and hoping to reach eld's threshold together.

Wherefore now I beseech thee to feel not wroth and indignant

Only because, when I saw thee at first, not thus I embraced thee.

Ever and ever again hath my heart in the depths of my bosom

215

Shuddered with fear lest any with tales might haply deceive me,

One of the many that come with an evil and gainful intention.

Navy, e'en Argive Helen, the daughter of Zeus the Almighty,

Ne'er to a stranger had given her love and her tender embraces

Had she but known that again by the warlike sons of Achaea

220

Back to her home she was doomed to be brought and the land of her fathers.

True, to committing the shameless deed some deity urged her;

True, she had never foreseen in her spirit the end of her folly,

End so fearful that first on ourselves brought mourning and sorrow.

Now I believe! for thou giv'st me a token unerring—the secret

225

Touching the bed—our bed—that was ne'er by a mortal beholden

Saving by thee and by me, and by one of my women attendants,

Actoris—one that my sire, when I came as a bride to thy palace,

Gave me—and ever the door of thy strong-built chamber she guarded.

Yea, I believe! thou hast conquered my heart, however unloving!"

230

PATTEN WILSON.
THE RECOGNITION OF ODYSSEUS BY HIS WIFE

Thus as she spake still more she excited his yearning for wailing.

Clasping his true sweet wife to his bosom he wept as he held her.

Welcome as sight of the land, when at last it appeareth to swimmers

Whose good ship, o'erwhelmed in the midst of the sea by Poseidon,

Drifts as a wreck and is tossed by the wind and the mountainous billows,

235

While some few, in the hope to escape from the grey salt water,

Swim for the land, and with brine are thickly encrusted their bodies,

Then on the shore right gladly they step, and they find them in safety,

Thus, when she saw him, she welcomed with gladness Odysseus her husband,

Nor from his neck for a moment her fair white arms did she loosen.

240

Yea, on their weeping had risen the morning, the roseate-fingered,

Save for the friendly device of the grey-eyed goddess Athene :

Night in her outmost realm she delayed long-lingering; held back

Morning the golden-enthron'd at the stream of the Ocean, and bade her

Yoke not her swift-paced horses, the bringers to mortals of daylight,

245

Lampus and Phaethon, chariot-steeds of the goddess of morning.

Then at the last spake thus to his wife deep-plotting Odysseus:

"Not at the end, O wife, do I deem us of every labour.

Much is remaining of toil, yea, measureless travail, and hardships

Many and great—all which I am destined to do and to suffer,

250

E'en as foretold me the spirit of Teiresias the diviner,

Yea, on the day I descended and entered the mansion of Hades,

Seeking to hear of a way of return for myself and my comrades.

Now come, wife, let us lay us abed—'tis the season already

There to repose us and seek the delicious enjoyment of slumber."

255

Him forthwith gave answer the wise-souled Penelopeia:

"Yea, most surely thy bed shall be ready whenever thy spirit

Longeth to rest, for at last by the will and the favour of heaven

Here to thy well-built home thou art come and the land of thy fathers.

Still—as thou spakest thereof and a deity stirr'd thy remembrance—

260

Tell me, I pray, of the travail to come; for I ween I shall learn it

Later, and knowing it now were sure no greater misfortune."

Her then in answer addressed these words deep-plotting Odysseus:

"Nancy, good lady, but why thus all impatiently urge me,

Bidding me speak? Well, come, I will tell thee, nor try to conceal it.

265

Verily little thy soul will rejoice; yea also myself too

Little am joyed, for to many a city of mortals he bade me

Wander again from my home, with a well-shaped oar on my shoulder,

Till to a people I come which never hath heard of the ocean,

Yea to a people that mix no salt with the food that they live on ;

270

Neither hath any a ship, with the cheeks red-painted, beholden,

Neither hath knowledge of oars which serve as the wings of a vessel.

Also he gave me a sign most certain the which I will tell thee.

Whensoever it haps that a chance wayfarer that meets thee

Saith 'tis a winnowing fan that thou bearst on thy glistering shoulder,

275

Fixing the oar in the ground I shall leave it for thus he commanded.

Then to Poseidon the king I shall offer a goodly oblation,

Even a male of the swine and a male of the herd and the sheepfold,

Then turn homeward again, and many an offering holy

Slay to the deathless gods who inhabit the infinite heaven,

280

Each one after the other. At last shall a death from the ocean,

Such as of deaths is the mildest, befall thee and gently remove thee,

Weary and worn, in a smooth old age; and around thee thy people

Happy shall live. All this he foretold would have a fulfilment."

Him forthwith gave answer the wise-souled Penelopeia :

285

"Should but the gods vouchsafe to thy life such happier ending,

Surely they grant thee a hope to escape at the last from affliction."

Thus in the hall these twain held converse one with the other.

Meantime Eurynomé and the nurse made ready the bedstead,

Laying thereon soft wraps, by the light of the radiant torches.

290

Then, when the strong-built bed was prepared and the labour was ended,

Back to her room went Eurycleia to lay her to slumber,

While that the other, the maiden attendant who guarded the chamber,

Guided the way for her lord and her mistress, holding a pine-torch

Unto the chamber she led them and then she returned; and with gladness

295

These two came once more to the rites of the bed as aforetime.

Soon now Telemachus and the cowherd and also the swineherd

Stayed their feet from the dance, and bidding the women to cease too

Laid them to rest for the night in the shadowy hall of the palace.

Now when the twain had delighted in love and its tender endearments,

300

Then to the pleasure of talking they turned, and all they recounted.

First by the fairest of women was told what woes she had suffered,

Forced to behold in the palace the ruinous horde of the suitors

Coming to woo her and slaying the fat-fed sheep and the oxen,

Many and many a head, and emptying many a wine-cask.

305

Next did Odysseus descended from Zeus tell all of the sorrows

Brought on his foes, and how he had toiled and had suffered afflictions—

All he related; and hearing it greatly she joyed, nor did slumber

Fall on her eyelids before he had finished the whole of the story.

Firstly he told how landing he sacked the Ciconian city,

310

Then to the rich-soiled land of the Eaters of Lotus was wafted.

Next of the deeds of the Cyclops he spake, and how he avenged him,

Blinding the pitiless monster for eating his valiant comrades.

Then how Aeolus' island he reached, and was kindly entreated,

Yea and was helped to return to his well-loved home, but to reach it

315

Yet was forbidden by Fate, and suddenly seized by a tempest,

Grievously groaning, again he was borne to the home of the fishes.

Then how Telepylus of the Laestrygonian people

Next he had reached—where perished his well-greaved mates and his vessels

One of them only escaping, the black-hulled ship of Odysseus.

320

Also he told of the infinite guile and the magic of Circe.

Then how, seeking to visit the mouldering mansion of Hades,

There to consult with the spirit of Teiresias the diviner,

Over the ocean he sailed in his well-manned ship, and beheld there

All of his comrades of old, and the mother that bore him and reared him.

325

Then how maddened he listed the sweet-voiced song of the Sirens;

Then of the Wandering Rocks he related and dreadful Charybdis,

Yea and of Scylla, from whom unscathed none ever escapeth.

Then how, after the kine of the Sun were slain by his comrades,

Struck by the sulphurous bolt of the Father who speaketh in thunder

330

Perished his swift-winged ship and perished his trusty companions,

All of them all but himself; and alone he escaped from destruction.

Then to the isle Ogygian come and the goddess Calypso,

How he was held by the nymph, in her yearning to make him her husband,

Long in her hollow caves; and she cherished him kindly and promised

335

Even to make him immortal and ageless for ever and ever;

Still did she never persuade him nor soften the heart in his bosom.

Then to the folk Phaeacian come through many a peril,

How he was kindly received and was honoured like an immortal,

Yea and was sent on a ship to the well-loved land of his fathers

340

Laden with many a treasure of bronze and of gold and of raiment.

This was the last he related before sweet slumber o'ercame him,

Slumber that loosens the limbs and loosens the cares of the spirit.

Then by the friendly device of the grey-eyed goddess Athene

(After she knew it for sure in the depths of her heart that Odysseus

345

Now had delighted in love and in sleep to his soul's satisfaction)

Out of the Ocean the early-arising, the golden-enthronéd

Goddess appeared who bringeth to mortals the day; and the hero

Rose from his soft-strewn bed, and he spake to his wife and enjoined her :

"Truly enough in the past, O wife, did we suffer affliction,

350

Both of us thou with thy sorrow unending because I returned not

Weeping at home, while Zeus and the other immortals had bound me

Fast in misfortune, despite of my longings, afar from my homeland.

Now, since heaven hath brought us again to the raptures of wedlock,

See thou attend as of old to the wealth we possess in the palace

355

While, for the sheep and the cattle consumed by the arrogant suitors,

Many another as spoil I shall capture, and others the chieftains

Freely will give, till full once more are all of my farmyards.

Natheless, now I shall go to my farm in the midst of the forest.

There I shall visit my dear good father, who endlessly mourns me.

360

Touching thyself.. thou art prudent and wise but I tell thee my wishes :

Swiftly will spread a report, so soon as the sun is arisen,

Telling the fate of the men—these suitors I slew in the palace.

Wherefore unto thy chamber ascend with thy maiden attendants.

There keep seated, nor show thee to any that pass, and address none."

365

Thus as he spake on his shoulders he buckled his beautiful armour.

Then he awakened his son and the cowherd and also the swineherd,

Bidding them each lay hand on a weapon of war to defend them.

Nor did they fail to obey, and they fully equipped them in harness.

Then they unbolted a door and they ventured them forth, and Odysseus

370

Led them. Already was light on the earth, but the goddess Athene

Hid them in night, and she swiftly conducted them out of the city.

New Alexandria Commentaries

Gregory Nagy

After the killing of the suitors, Eurykleia rushes to the bedroom of Penelope, waking her up. The queen has slept through it all—the first good night’s sleep she has had in the longest time, she admits. Eurykleia goes on to tell Penelope that Odysseus has really returned and has killed the suitors, but the patient wife will need one more test, to make it perfectly certain that she has recovered her husband. The sēma ‘sign’ of the royal bed that once was theirs and will be theirs once again can now seal their perfect mutual understanding.

draft js image error Eurykleia waking Penelope (1773). Print by Thomas Burke, after a painting by Angelika Kauffmann. Image via the British Museum.

source

At O.23.264–284, Odysseus retells to Penelope the prophecy of Teiresias about the odyssey that still awaits the hero after he has re-established himself as husband of Penelope and as king of Ithaca. The retelling here does not add to what was said already at O.11.119–137, on which I refer to the comment at those lines. But there is one big exception, centering on a most interesting detail: in his quest to travel as far inland as possible, until the oar that he carries on his shoulder is mistaken for a winnowing shovel, the wording of Odysseys has it that he will be passing through many astea ‘cities’ of humankind, Ο.23.267–268. The word astea ‘cities’ here recalls the same word as used in O.01.003, with reference to the journeys of Odysseus in the Odyssey: there too, it is said, the hero will be passing through many astea ‘cities’ of many different kinds of people. The question is, do those astea ‘cities’ belong to the Odyssey or to an odyssey beyond the Odyssey?

source

For this epithet of ships, phoinikoparēioi ‘having cheeks of purple’, see also at O.11.124. Also the comment at O.09.125.

source

The scholia report that this line was the very last line of the Odyssey as supposedly composed by Homer—in the opinion of both Aristarchus and his predecessor, Aristophanes of Byzantium. Whatever their opinion may have been, there is evidence to show that both these editors of Homeric poetry retained in their editions of the base text the remaining lines of Odyssey 23 and the lines of Odyssey 24. For an example of such evidence, see the comment at O.23.310–343.

source

The scholia report that these lines were athetized by Aristarchus. Such a report shows that, even where editors like Aristarchus expressed doubts concerning the authenticity of a given set of verses in Homeric poetry, they would still retain such verses in the base text of their editions. This point is relevant to the comment at O.23.296. On athetesis and on base text, see the inventory of Words and Ideas.

source

Homer Odyssey 23.310

ed. Robert Southey

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ODYSSEY BOOK XXIII

PATTEN WILSON.
THE RECOGNITION OF ODYSSEUS BY HIS WIFE

New Alexandria Commentaries

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Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Experimental

ODYSSEY BOOK XXIII

PATTEN WILSON. THE RECOGNITION OF ODYSSEUS BY HIS WIFE

New Alexandria Commentaries

Stable identifiers

PATTEN WILSON.
THE RECOGNITION OF ODYSSEUS BY HIS WIFE