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365 While he pondered thus in mind and heart, Poseidon, the earth-shaker, made to rise up a great wave, dread and grievous, arching over from above, and drove it upon him. And as when a strong wind tosses a heap of straw that is dry, and some it scatters here, some there, 370 even so the wave scattered the long timbers of the raft. But Odysseus bestrode one plank, as though he were riding a horse, and stripped off the garments which beautiful Calypso had given him. Then straightway he stretched the veil beneath his breast, and flung himself headlong into the sea with hands outstretched, 375 ready to swim. And the lord, the earth-shaker, saw him, and he shook his head, and thus he spoke to his own heart: “So now, after thou hast suffered many ills, go wandering over the deep, till thou comest among the folk fostered of Zeus. Yet even so, methinks, thou shalt not make any mock at thy suffering.” 380 So saying, he lashed his fair-maned horses, and came to Aegae , where is his glorious palace. But Athena, daughter of Zeus, took other counsel. She stayed the paths of the other winds, and bade them all cease and be lulled to rest; 385 but she roused the swift North Wind , and broke the waves before him, to the end that Zeus-born Odysseus might come among the Phaeacians, lovers of the oar, escaping from death and the fates. Then for two nights and two days he was driven about over the swollen waves, and full often his heart forboded destruction. 390 But when fair-tressed Dawn brought to its birth the third day, then the wind ceased and there was a windless calm, and he caught sight of the shore close at hand, casting a quick glance forward, as he was raised up by a great wave. And even as when most welcome to his children appears the life 395 of a father who lies in sickness, bearing grievous pains, long while wasting away, and some cruel god assails him, but then to their joy the gods free him from his woe, so to Odysseus did the land and the wood seem welcome; and he swam on, eager to set foot on the land. 400 But when he was as far away as a man's voice carries when he shouts, and heard the boom of the sea upon the reefs—for the great wave thundered against the dry land, belching upon it in terrible fashion, and all things were wrapped in the foam of the sea; for there were neither harbors where ships might ride, nor road-steads, 405 but projecting headlands, and reefs, and cliffs—then the knees of Odysseus were loosened and his heart melted, and deeply moved he spoke to his own mighty spirit:

Odyssey. Homer. A. T. Murray (Translator). London. 1919.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

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

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.) — 5.365 focus

ἧος ὁ ταῦθʼ ὥρμαινε κατὰ φρένα καὶ κατὰ θυμόν,

365

ὦρσε δʼ ἐπὶ μέγα κῦμα Ποσειδάων ἐνοσίχθων,

δεινόν τʼ ἀργαλέον τε, κατηρεφές, ἤλασε δʼ αὐτόν.

ὡς δʼ ἄνεμος ζαὴς ἠΐων θημῶνα τινάξῃ

καρφαλέων· τὰ μὲν ἄρ τε διεσκέδασʼ ἄλλυδις ἄλλῃ·

ὣς τῆς δούρατα μακρὰ διεσκέδασʼ. αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς

370

ἀμφʼ ἑνὶ δούρατι βαῖνε, κέληθʼ ὡς ἵππον ἐλαύνων,

εἵματα δʼ ἐξαπέδυνε, τά οἱ πόρε δῖα Καλυψώ.

αὐτίκα δὲ κρήδεμνον ὑπὸ στέρνοιο τάνυσσεν,

αὐτὸς δὲ πρηνὴς ἁλὶ κάππεσε, χεῖρε πετάσσας,

νηχέμεναι μεμαώς. ἴδε δὲ κρείων ἐνοσίχθων,

375

κινήσας δὲ κάρη προτὶ ὃν μυθήσατο θυμόν·

οὕτω νῦν κακὰ πολλὰ παθὼν ἀλόω κατὰ πόντον,

εἰς ὅ κεν ἀνθρώποισι διοτρεφέεσσι μιγήῃς.

ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ὥς σε ἔολπα ὀνόσσεσθαι κακότητος.

ὣς ἄρα φωνήσας ἵμασεν καλλίτριχας ἵππους,

380

ἵκετο δʼ εἰς Αἰγάς, ὅθι οἱ κλυτὰ δώματʼ ἔασιν.

αὐτὰρ Ἀθηναίη κούρη Διὸς ἄλλʼ ἐνόησεν.

ἦ τοι τῶν ἄλλων ἀνέμων κατέδησε κελεύθους,

παύσασθαι δʼ ἐκέλευσε καὶ εὐνηθῆναι ἅπαντας·

ὦρσε δʼ ἐπὶ κραιπνὸν Βορέην, πρὸ δὲ κύματʼ ἔαξεν,

385

ἧος ὃ Φαιήκεσσι φιληρέτμοισι μιγείη

διογενὴς Ὀδυσεὺς θάνατον καὶ κῆρας ἀλύξας.

ἔνθα δύω νύκτας δύο τʼ ἤματα κύματι πηγῷ

πλάζετο, πολλὰ δέ οἱ κραδίη προτιόσσετʼ ὄλεθρον.

ἀλλʼ ὅτε δὴ τρίτον ἦμαρ ἐυπλόκαμος τέλεσʼ Ἠώς,

390

καὶ τότʼ ἔπειτʼ ἄνεμος μὲν ἐπαύσατο ἠδὲ γαλήνη

ἔπλετο νηνεμίη· ὁ δʼ ἄρα σχεδὸν εἴσιδε γαῖαν

ὀξὺ μάλα προϊδών, μεγάλου ὑπὸ κύματος ἀρθείς.

ὡς δʼ ὅτʼ ἂν ἀσπάσιος βίοτος παίδεσσι φανήῃ

πατρός, ὃς ἐν νούσῳ κεῖται κρατέρʼ ἄλγεα πάσχων,

395

δηρὸν τηκόμενος, στυγερὸς δέ οἱ ἔχραε δαίμων,

ἀσπάσιον δʼ ἄρα τόν γε θεοὶ κακότητος ἔλυσαν,

ὣς Ὀδυσεῖ ἀσπαστὸν ἐείσατο γαῖα καὶ ὕλη,

νῆχε δʼ ἐπειγόμενος ποσὶν ἠπείρου ἐπιβῆναι.

ἀλλʼ ὅτε τόσσον ἀπῆν ὅσσον τε γέγωνε βοήσας,

400

καὶ δὴ δοῦπον ἄκουσε ποτὶ σπιλάδεσσι θαλάσσης·

ῥόχθει γὰρ μέγα κῦμα ποτὶ ξερὸν ἠπείροιο

δεινὸν ἐρευγόμενον, εἴλυτο δὲ πάνθʼ ἁλὸς ἄχνῃ·

οὐ γὰρ ἔσαν λιμένες νηῶν ὄχοι, οὐδʼ ἐπιωγαί.

ἀλλʼ ἀκταὶ προβλῆτες ἔσαν σπιλάδες τε πάγοι τε·

405

καὶ τότʼ Ὀδυσσῆος λύτο γούνατα καὶ φίλον ἦτορ,

ὀχθήσας δʼ ἄρα εἶπε πρὸς ὃν μεγαλήτορα θυμόν·

Translations (9)

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.) — 5.382 focus

382 But Athena resolved to help Odysseus, so she bound the ways of all the winds except one, and made them lie quite still; but she roused a good stiff breeze from the North that should lay the waters till Odysseus reached the land of the Phaeacians where he would be safe.

388 Thereon he floated about for two nights and two days in the water, with a heavy swell on the sea and death staring him in the face; but when the third day broke, the wind fell and there was a dead calm without so much as a breath of air stirring. As he rose on the swell he looked eagerly ahead, and could see land quite near. Then, as children rejoice when their dear father begins to get better after having for a long time borne sore affliction sent him by some angry spirit, but the gods deliver him from evil, so was Odysseus thankful when he again saw land and trees, and swam on with all his strength that he might once more set foot upon dry ground. When, however, he got within earshot, he began to hear the surf thundering up against the rocks, for the swell still broke against them with a terrific roar. Everything was enveloped in spray; there were no harbors where a ship might ride, nor shelter of any kind, but only headlands, low-lying rocks, and mountain tops.

406 Odysseus’ heart now began to fail him, and he said despairingly to himself, "Alas, Zeus has let me see land after swimming so far that I had given up all hope, but I can find no landing place, for the coast is rocky and surf-beaten, the rocks are smooth and rise sheer from the sea, with deep water close under them so that I cannot climb out for want of foothold. I am afraid some great wave will lift me off my legs and dash me against the rocks as I leave the water - which would give me a sorry landing. If, on the other hand, I swim further in search of some shelving beach or harbor, a wind may carry me out to sea again sorely against my will, or heaven may send some great monster of the deep to attack me; for Amphitrite breeds many such, and I know that Poseidon is very angry with me."

424 While he was thus in two minds a wave caught him and took him with such force against the rocks that he would have been smashed and torn to pieces if Athena had not shown him what to do. He caught hold of the rock with both hands and clung to it groaning with pain till the wave retired, so he was saved that time; but presently the wave came on again and carried him back with it far into the sea- tearing his hands as the suckers of a octopus are torn when some one plucks it from its bed, and the stones come up along with it- even so did the rocks tear the skin from his strong hands, and then the wave drew him deep down under the water.

English (Butler, rev. Nagy et al., 2020) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Butler, rev. Nagy et al., 2020)) — 5.365 focus

While he was thus in two minds, Poseidon, shaker of the earth, sent a terrifying great wave that seemed to rear itself above his head till it broke right over the raft, which then went to pieces [370] as though it were a heap of dry chaff tossed about by a whirlwind. Odysseus got astride of one plank and rode upon it as if he were on horseback; he then took off the clothes divine Kalypsō had given him, bound Ino’s veil under his arms, and plunged into the sea— [375] meaning to swim on shore. King Poseidon, the strong Earthshaker, watched him as he did so, and wagged his head, muttering to himself and saying, “‘There now, swim up and down as you best can till you fall in with well-to-do people. I do not think you will be able to say that I have let you off too lightly.” [380] Then he lashed his fair-maned horses and drove to Aigai where his palace is.

But Athena, daughter of Zeus, resolved to help Odysseus, so she bound the ways of all the winds except one, and made them lie quite still; [385] but she roused a good stiff breeze from the North that should lay the waters till Zeus-sprung Odysseus reached the land of the oar-loving Phaeacians where he would be safe.

Then he floated about for two nights and two days in the water, with a heavy swell on the sea and death staring him in the face; [390] but when the third day broke, the wind fell and there was a dead calm without so much as a breath of air stirring. As he rose on the swell he looked eagerly ahead, and could see land quite near. Then, as children rejoice when their dear father [395] begins to get better after having for a long time borne sore affliction sent him by some angry spirit, but the gods deliver him from evil, so was Odysseus thankful when he again saw land and trees, and swam on with all his strength that he might once more set foot upon dry ground. [400] When, however, he got within earshot, he began to hear the surf thundering up against the rocks, for the swell still broke against them with a terrific roar. Everything was enveloped in spray; there were no harbors where a ship might ride, nor shelter of any kind, [405] but only headlands, low-lying rocks, and mountain tops.

English (William Cullen Bryant, 1873) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (William Cullen Bryant, 1873)) — 5.365 focus

As he revolved this purpose in his mind,

Earth-shaking Neptune sent a mighty wave,

Horrid and huge and high, and where he sat

It smote him. As a violent wind uplifts

The dry chaff heaped upon a threshing-floor,

440

And sends it scattered through the air abroad,

So did that wave fling loose the ponderous beams.

To one of these, Ulysses, clinging fast,

Bestrode it, like a horseman on his steed;

And now he took the garments off, bestowed

445

By fair Calypso, binding round his breast

The veil, and forward plunged into the deep,

With palms outspread, prepared to swim. Meanwhile

Neptune beheld him, - Neptune, mighty king, -

And shook his head, and said within himself : -

450

"Go thus, and laden with mischances roam

The waters till thou come among the race

Cherished by Jupiter, but well I deem

Thou wilt not find thy share of suffering light."

Thus having said he urged his coursers on,

455

With their fair-flowing manes, until he came

To Ægæ, where his glorious palace stands.

But Pallas, child of Jove, had other thoughts.

She stayed the course of every wind beside,

And bade them rest, and lulled them into sleep,

460

But summoned the swift north to break the waves,

That so Ulysses, the high-born, escaped

From death and from the fates, might be the guest

Of the Phæacians, - men who love the sea.

Two days and nights among the mighty waves

465

He floated, oft his heart foreboding death.

But when the bright-haired Eos had fulfilled

The third day's course, and all the winds were laid,

And calm was on the watery waste, he saw

That land was near, as, lifted on the crest

470

Of a huge swell, he looked with sharpened sight;

And as a father's life preserved makes glad

His children's hearts, when long time he has lain

Sick, wrung with pain, and wasting by the power

Of some malignant genius, till at length

475

The gracious gods bestow a welcome cure,

So welcome to Ulysses was the sight

Of woods and fields. By swimming on he thought

To climb and tread the shore; but when he drew

So near that one who shouted could be heard

480

From land, the sound of ocean on the rocks

Came to his ear, - for there huge breakers roared

And spouted fearfully, and all around

Was covered with the sea-foam. Haven here

Was none for ships, nor sheltering creek, but shores

485

Beetling from high, and crags and walls of rock.

Ulysses trembled both in knees and heart,

And thus to his great soul, lamenting, said: -

English (Alexander Pope, 1726, ed. Watson, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Alexander Pope, 1726, ed. Watson, 1858)) — 5.365 focus

While thus his thoughts an anxious council hold,

465

The raging god a watery mountain roll'd;

Like a black sheet the whelming billows spread,

Burst o'er the float, and thunder'd on his head.

Planks, beams, disparted fly; the scatter'd wood

Rolls diverse, and in fragments strews the flood.

470

So the rude Boreas, o'er the field new-shorn,

Tosses and drives the scatter'd heaps of corn.

And now a single beam the chief bestrides :

There, pois'd awhile above the bounding tides,

His limbs discumbers of the clinging vest,

475

And binds the sacred cincture round his breast;

Then, prone on ocean in a moment flung,

Stretch'd wide his eager arms, and shot the seas along.

All naked now, on heaving billows laid,

Stern Neptune ey'd him, and contemptuous said:

480

NEPTUNE

'Go, learn'd in woes, and other foes essay!

'Go, wander helpless on the watery way:

'Thus, thus find out the destin'd shore, and then

'(If Jove ordains it) mix with happier men:

'Whate'er thy fate, the ills our wrath could raise
485

'Shall last remember'd in thy best of days.'

This said, his sea-green steeds divide the foam,

And reach high Aegae¹ and the towery dome.

Now, scarce withdrawn the fierce earth-shaking power,

Jove's daughter Pallas watch'd the favouring hour;

490

Back to their caves she bade the winds to fly,

And hush'd the blustering brethren of the sky.

The drier blasts alone of Boreas sway,

And bear him soft on broken waves away;

With gentle force impelling to that shore,

495

Where Fate has destin'd he shall toil no more.

And now two nights and now two days were past,

Since wide he wander'd on the watery waste;

Heav'd on the surge with intermitting breath,

And hourly panting in the arms of death.

500

The third fair morn now blaz'd upon the main;

Then glassy smooth lay all the liquid plain;

The winds were hush'd, the billows scarcely curl'd,

And a dead silence still'd the watery world,

When, lifted on a ridgy wave, he spies

505

The land at distance, and with sharpen'd eyes.

As pious children joy with vast delight

When a lov'd sire revives before their sight,

(Who, lingering long, has call'd on death in vain,

Fix'd by some demon to his bed of pain,

510

Till Heaven by miracle his life restore;)

So joys Ulysses at th' appearing shore;

And sees (and labours onward as he sees)

The rising forests, and the tufted trees.

And now, as near approaching as the sound

515

Of human voice the listening ear may wound,

Amidst the rocks he hears a hollow roar

Of murmuring surges breaking on the shore:

Nor peaceful port was there, nor winding bay,

To shield the vessel from the rolling sea,

520

But cliffs, and shaggy shores, a dreadful sight!

All rough with rocks, with foamy billows white.

Fear seiz'd his slacken'd limbs and beating heart,

And thus he commun'd with his soul apart:

ULYSSES

English (Thomas Hobbes, 1667, ed. Molesworth 1843) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Hobbes, 1667, ed. Molesworth 1843)) — 5.365 focus

While with himself consulting was Ulysses,

340

Neptune with wind the water sets upright

Into a high and formidable wave,

And threw it on the raft with all his might,

Which all the parts thereof asunder drave.

Just as the wind scatters a cock of hay,

345

So scattered was Ulysses* raft of trees;

Whilst he on one of them astride did stay,

And of his garments there himself he frees.

Then Ino's scarf applies he to his breast,

And on the troubled sea himself he laid

350

With open arms. To swim he now thought best.

Which Neptune seeing, thus unto him said:

Go wander now upon the sea in woe,

And do not make account that this is all.

This said, away to Ægae did he go,

355

Where many men that need him on him call.

When he was gone Pallas the winds did lay,

All but a lusty gale of Boreas,

And broke the waves before him all the way,

That to Phœacia he might safely pass.

360

Two nights and days perpetual he swam,

And was of drowning all the while afraid.

But when the morning of the third day came,

The air was calm, and all the winds allay'd.

And now unto the isle he was so nigh,

365

That from a high wave he could see the shore,

And glad he was. As when about to die,

Lien has a man long time by sickness sore,

Is by the Gods recovered suddenly,

Glad are his children; so Ulysses was

370

To see the so-much wish'd-for land so nigh,

And thither made what haste he could to pass.

When he was gotten so near to the shore

That one might hear another when he calls,

Torn by the rocks he heard the water roar.

375

(Loud is the sea when on hard rocks it falls.)

There neither haven was nor place to land,

But upright banks and cliffs and brows of stone.

And everywhere too deep it was to stand.

And now again quite was his courage gone,

380

English (George Chapman, 1667, ed. Hooper 1857) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (George Chapman, 1667, ed. Hooper 1857)) — 5.365 focus

While this discourse employ'd him, Neptune raised

A huge, a high, and horrid sea, that seized

475

Him and his ship, and toss'd them through the lake.

As when the violent winds together take

Heaps of dry chaff, and hurl them every way;

So his long wood-stack Neptune strook astray.

Then did Ulysses mount on rib, perforce,

480

Like to a rider of a running horse,

To stay himself a time, while he might shift

His drenched weeds, that were Calypso's gift.

When putting straight Leucothea's amulet

About his neck, he all his forces set

485

To swim, and cast him prostrate to the seas.

When powerful Neptune saw the ruthless prease

Of perils siege him thus, he mov'd his head,

And this betwixt him and his heart he said:

" So, now feel ills enow, and struggle so,

490

Till to your Jove-lov'd islanders you row.

But my mind says, you will not so avoid

This last task too, but be with suffrance cloy'd."

This said, his rich-man's horse he mov'd, and reach'd

His house at Ægas. But Minerva fetch'd

495

The winds from sea, and all their ways but one

Barr'd to their passage; the bleak North alone

She set to blow, the rest she charg'd to keep

Their rages in, and bind themselves in sleep.

But Boreas still flew high to break the seas,

500

Till Jove-bred Ithacus the more with ease

The navigation-skill'd Phæacian states

Might make his refuge, Death and angry Fates

At length escaping. Two nights, yet, and days

He spent in wrestling with the sable seas;

505

In which space, often did his heart propose

Death to his eyes. But when Aurora rose,

And threw the third light from her orient hair,

The winds grew calm, and clear was all the air,

Not one breath stirring. Then he might descry,

510

Rais'd by the high seas, clear, the land was nigh.

And then, look how to good sons that esteem

Their father's life dear, (after pains extreme,

Felt in some sickness, that hath held him long

Down to his bed, and with affections strong

515

Wasted his body, made his life his load,

As being inflicted by some angry God)

When on their prayers they see descend at length

Health from the heavens, clad all in spirit and strength,

The sight is precious; so, since here should end

520

Ulysses' toils, which therein should extend

Health to his country, held to him his sire,

And on which long for him disease did tire,

And then, besides, for his own sake to see

The shores, the woods so near, such joy had he,

525

As those good sons for their recover'd sire.

Then labour'd feet and all parts to aspire

To that wish'd continent; which when as near

He came, as Clamour might inform an ear,

He heard a sound beat from the sea-bred rocks,

530

Against which gave a huge sea horrid shocks,

That belch'd upon the firm land weeds and foam,

With which were all things hid there, where no room

Of fit capacity was for any port,

Nor from the sea for any man's resort,

535

The shores, the rocks, the cliffs, so prominent were.

English (William Cowper, 1791, ed. Southey) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (William Cowper, 1791, ed. Southey)) — 5.365 focus

My sole resource then left. While thus he mused,

Neptune a billow of enormous bulk

Hollow'd into an overwhelming arch

440

On high up-heaving, smote him. As the wind

Tempestuous, falling on some stubble-heap,

The arid straws dissipates every way,

So flew the timbers. He, a single beam

Bestriding, oar'd it onward with his feet,

445

As he had urged an horse. His raiment, then,

Gift of Calypso, putting off, he bound

His girdle on, and prone into the sea

With wide-spread palms prepared for swimming, fell.

Shore-shaker Neptune noted him; he shook

450

His aweful brows, and in his heart he said.

Thus, suffering many miseries roam the flood,

Till thou shalt mingle with a race of men,

Heaven's special favourites; yet even there

Fear not that thou shalt feel thy sorrows light.

455

He said, and scourging his bright steeds, arrived

At Ægæ, where his glorious palace stands.

But other thoughts Minerva's mind employ'd

Jove's daughter; every wind binding beside,

She lull'd them, and enjoin'd them all to sleep,

460

But roused swift Boreas, and the billows broke

Before Ulysses, that, deliver'd safe

From a dire death, the noble Chief might mix

With maritime Phæacia's sons renown'd.

Two nights he wander'd, and two days, the flood

465

Tempestuous, death expecting every hour;

But when Aurora, radiant-hair'd, had brought

The third day to a close, then ceased the wind,

And breathless came a calm; he, nigh at hand

The shore beheld, darting acute his sight

470

Toward it, from a billow's towering top.

Precious as to his children seems the life

Of some fond father through disease long-time

And pain stretch'd languid on his couch, the prey

Of some vindictive Power, but now, at last,

475

By gracious heaven to ease and health restored,

So grateful to Ulysses' sight appear'd

Forests and hills. Impatient with his feet

To press the shore, he swam; but when within

Such distance as a shout may fly, he came,

480

The thunder of the sea against the rocks

Then smote his ear; for hoarse the billows roar'd

On the firm land, belch'd horrible abroad,

And the salt spray dimm'd all things to his view.

For neither port for ships nor sheltering cove

485

Was there, but the rude coast a headland bluff

Presented, rocks and craggy masses huge.

Then, hope and strength exhausted both, deep-groan'd

The Chief, and in his noble heart complain'd.

English (H. B. Cotterill, 1911) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (H. B. Cotterill, 1911)) — 5 focus

ODYSSEY BOOK V

WHILE that the Morn from the couch of her consort, lordly Tithonus,

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

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 !

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,

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."

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)

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,

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;

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.

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

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

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.

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

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,

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,

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,

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.

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,

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.

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,

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?

465

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,

470

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

475

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

480

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.

485

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),

490

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.

English Bridge (Amelia Parrish and Gregory Crane, 2023) (OCR draft) Experimental (English Bridge (Amelia Parrish and Gregory Crane, 2023)) — 5.365 focus

While that man was turning these things over through his mind and also through his heart,

365

Poseidon the Earth-shaker sent surging in his direction a great wave,

both fearsome and harsh, arching over the boat. It drove Odysseus himself.

Like a stormy wind might rattle a pile of dried husks-

these it scatters, some in one direction, and some in another-

just so it scattered the long beams of the boat. As for him, Odysseus,

370

he began to move wrapped-around one beam like driving a race- horse,

and he started to take off the clothes, those which divine Calypso handed to him.

Immediately he draped the headscarf below his chest,

and he himself fell down face-first in the sea, having spread out his two hands,

doing everything in his power to swim. The ruling Earth-shaker saw.

375

After shaking his head, he deliberated with his own heart:

“Like this now, having suffered many evils, wander down through the sea,

up to that point you may have dealings with people cared for by Zeus.

But even so I do not expect you to be dissatisfied with this hardship.”

Then, having spoken in this way, he whipped his beautiful-maned horses,

380

and he came into Aegae, where his famous homes are.

But for her part, Athena, the daughter of Zeus, had in her mind other things.

In fact she tied down the paths of the other winds,

and she commanded all of them together to stop what they were doing, and to put themselves at rest:

she stirred up in opposition the quick North Wind, and in front she broke the waves down,

385

so that he might have dealings with the oar-loving Phaeacians-

Zeus-born Odysseus, having escaped death and also fate.

There through two nights and two days he was constantly buffeted by the strong swell,

and many times his heart kept anticipating his destruction.

But when beautiful-haired Dawn brought to pass the third day,

390

at that point afterwards the wind stopped itself, and a calm,

windless, began: and so he saw in front of him land nearby,

having looked forward very quickly , and having been lifted up from under a great wave.

And as when the hoped-for life of a father migh t appear to his children,

he who lies in sickness, suffering harsh pains,

395

wasting away for a long time, a hateful spirit had been having its way with him.

But then indeed the gods free him, hoped for, from the evil-

even so hoped-for to Odysseus both the land and the forest came into sight.

And he kept swimming, scrambling to step upon the mainland with his feet.

Yet when he was distant as far as a man can make himself heard by shouting,

400

then he heard the crash of the sea against the rocks,

for the great wave kept roaring against the coast of the mainland,

spewing fearsomely, and all things had been cloaked by the foam of the sea.

For there were no secure harbors of ships, and not any places of shelter;

instead there were jutting coasts, as well as rocks and cliffs.

405

And then the knees and beloved heart of Odysseus gave way,

and he, agitated, spoke to his own great-spirited heart:

New Alexandria Commentaries

Douglas Frame

analysis of Pylos’ (púlai of Hades) possible connection to lost story of Nestor’s cave, which Homer might here allude to: en Pulōi en nekúessin, “in Pylos amongst the dead”

source

Gregory Nagy

The rhapsody starts with the releasing of Odysseus by one goddess and ends with the mystical saving of his life by a second goddess, who is Leukotheā, the White Goddess. The beautiful Leukotheā saves Odysseus by undoing her hair and giving him as a life-saver the veil that had held her curls in place. As for the first goddess, who is Calypso, her action in releasing Odysseus from their mutual love affair becomes another life-saver for him. That is because the chances of success for such an affair between a mortal man and an immortal goddess would have been minimal, as we will see by observing other myths that tell about other such affairs. If the liaison of Odysseus with Calypso had continued, it is a certainty that he would have been killed off, just as Orion had died because of his liaison with Ēōs the goddess of the dawn.

draft js image error “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. Image via the Tate.

source

Here the verb tēkesthai ‘melt away’ refers to wasting away in illness. For other metaphorical applications, see especially the comment at O.19.204–212

source

Homer Odyssey 5.365

A. T. Murray (Translator)

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Current edition Perseus

NEPTUNE

'Go, learn'd in woes, and other foes essay!

'Go, wander helpless on the watery way:

'Thus, thus find out the destin'd shore, and then

'(If Jove ordains it) mix with happier men:

'Whate'er thy fate, the ills our wrath could raise
485

'Shall last remember'd in thy best of days.'

ULYSSES

ODYSSEY BOOK V

PATTEN WILSON.
THE BUILDING OF THE RAFT

New Alexandria Commentaries

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

NEPTUNE 'Go, learn'd in woes, and other foes essay! 'Go, wander helpless on the watery way: 'Thus, thus find out the destin'd shore, and then '(If Jove ordains it) mix with happier men: 'Whate'er thy fate, the ills our wrath could raise 485 'Shall last remember'd in thy best of days.'

ULYSSES

ODYSSEY BOOK V

PATTEN WILSON. THE BUILDING OF THE RAFT

New Alexandria Commentaries

Stable identifiers

NEPTUNE

'Go, learn'd in woes, and other foes essay!

'Go, wander helpless on the watery way:

'Thus, thus find out the destin'd shore, and then

'(If Jove ordains it) mix with happier men:

'Whate'er thy fate, the ills our wrath could raise
485

'Shall last remember'd in thy best of days.'

PATTEN WILSON.
THE BUILDING OF THE RAFT