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A mighty wave rush'd o'er him as he spoke,

The raft it cover'd, and the mast it broke:

405

Swept from the deck, and from the rudder torn,

Far on the swelling surge the chief was borne;

While by the howling tempest rent in twain

Flew sail and sail-yards rattling o'er the main.

Long-press'd, he heav'd beneath the weighty wave,

410

Clogg'd by the cumb'rous vest Calypso gave:

At length emerging, from his nostrils wide

And gushing mouth effus'd the briny tide;

Ev'n then, not mindless of his last retreat,

He seiz'd the raft, and leap'd into his seat,

415

Strong with the fear of death. The rolling flood

Now here, now there, impell'd the floating wood.

As when a heap of gather'd thorns is cast

Now to, now fro, before th' autumnal blast;

Together clung, it rolls around the field;

420

So roll'd the float, and so its texture held:

And now the south, and now the north, bear sway,

And now the east the foamy floods obey,

And now the west wind whirls it o'er the sea.

The wandering chief, with toils on toils oppress'd,

425

Leucothea saw, and pity touch'd her breast.¹

(Herself a mortal once, of Cadmus' strain,

But now an azure sister of the main.)

Swift as a sea-mew springing from the flood,

All radiant on the raft the goddess stood:

430

LEUCOTHEA

Then thus address'd him: 'Thou whom heaven decrees

'To Neptune's wrath, stern tyrant of the seas!

'(Unequal contest!) not his rage and power,

'Great as he is, such virtue shall devour.

'What I suggest, thy wisdom will perform:
435

'Forsake thy float, and leave it to the storm:

'Strip off thy garments; Neptune's fury brave

'With naked strength, and plunge into the wave.

'To reach Phaeacia all thy nerves extend,

'There Fate decrees thy miseries shall end.
440

'This heavenly scarf beneath thy bosom bind,

'And live; give all thy terrors to the wind.

'Soon as thy arms the happy shore shall gain,

'Return the gift, and cast it in the main;

'Observe my orders, and with heed obey,
445

'Cast it far off, and turn thy eyes away.'

With that, her hand the sacred veil bestows,

Then down the deeps she dived from whence she rose;

A moment snatch'd the shining form away,

And all was cover'd with the curling sea.

450

ULYSSES

Struck with amaze, yet still to doubt inclin'd,

He stands suspended, and explores his mind.

'What shall I do? unhappy me! who knows

'But other gods intend me other woes?

'Whoe'er thou art, I shall not blindly join
455

'Thy pleaded reason, but consult with mine:

'For scarce in ken appears that distant isle

'Thy voice foretells me shall conclude my toil.

'Thus then I judge: while yet the planks sustain

'The wild waves' fury, here I fix'd remain:
460

'But when their texture to the tempest yields,

'I launch adventurous on the liquid fields,

'Join to the help of gods the strength of man,

'And take this method, since the best I can.'

Odyssey. Homer. London. 1858.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Current edition Experimental

English (Alexander Pope, 1726, ed. Watson, 1858) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Alexander Pope, 1726, ed. Watson, 1858))

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.) — 5.313 focus

ὣς ἄρα μιν εἰπόντʼ ἔλασεν μέγα κῦμα κατʼ ἄκρης

δεινὸν ἐπεσσύμενον, περὶ δὲ σχεδίην ἐλέλιξε.

τῆλε δʼ ἀπὸ σχεδίης αὐτὸς πέσε, πηδάλιον δὲ

315

ἐκ χειρῶν προέηκε· μέσον δέ οἱ ἱστὸν ἔαξεν

δεινὴ μισγομένων ἀνέμων ἐλθοῦσα θύελλα,

τηλοῦ δὲ σπεῖρον καὶ ἐπίκριον ἔμπεσε πόντῳ.

τὸν δʼ ἄρʼ ὑπόβρυχα θῆκε πολὺν χρόνον, οὐδʼ ἐδυνάσθη

αἶψα μάλʼ ἀνσχεθέειν μεγάλου ὑπὸ κύματος ὁρμῆς·

320

εἵματα γάρ ῥʼ ἐβάρυνε, τά οἱ πόρε δῖα Καλυψώ.

ὀψὲ δὲ δή ῥʼ ἀνέδυ, στόματος δʼ ἐξέπτυσεν ἅλμην

πικρήν, ἥ οἱ πολλὴ ἀπὸ κρατὸς κελάρυζεν.

ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ὣς σχεδίης ἐπελήθετο, τειρόμενός περ,

ἀλλὰ μεθορμηθεὶς ἐνὶ κύμασιν ἐλλάβετʼ αὐτῆς,

325

ἐν μέσσῃ δὲ καθῖζε τέλος θανάτου ἀλεείνων.

τὴν δʼ ἐφόρει μέγα κῦμα κατὰ ῥόον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα.

ὡς δʼ ὅτʼ ὀπωρινὸς Βορέης φορέῃσιν ἀκάνθας

ἂμ πεδίον, πυκιναὶ δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλῃσιν ἔχονται,

ὣς τὴν ἂμ πέλαγος ἄνεμοι φέρον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα·

330

ἄλλοτε μέν τε Νότος Βορέῃ προβάλεσκε φέρεσθαι,

ἄλλοτε δʼ αὖτʼ Εὖρος Ζεφύρῳ εἴξασκε διώκειν.

τὸν δὲ ἴδεν Κάδμου θυγάτηρ, καλλίσφυρος Ἰνώ,

Λευκοθέη, ἣ πρὶν μὲν ἔην βροτὸς αὐδήεσσα,

νῦν δʼ ἁλὸς ἐν πελάγεσσι θεῶν ἒξ ἔμμορε τιμῆς.

335

ἥ ῥʼ Ὀδυσῆʼ ἐλέησεν ἀλώμενον, ἄλγεʼ ἔχοντα,

αἰθυίῃ δʼ ἐικυῖα ποτῇ ἀνεδύσετο λίμνης,

ἷζε δʼ ἐπὶ σχεδίης πολυδέσμου εἶπέ τε μῦθον·

κάμμορε, τίπτε τοι ὧδε Ποσειδάων ἐνοσίχθων

ὠδύσατʼ ἐκπάγλως, ὅτι τοι κακὰ πολλὰ φυτεύει;

340

οὐ μὲν δή σε καταφθίσει μάλα περ μενεαίνων.

ἀλλὰ μάλʼ ὧδʼ ἔρξαι, δοκέεις δέ μοι οὐκ ἀπινύσσειν·

εἵματα ταῦτʼ ἀποδὺς σχεδίην ἀνέμοισι φέρεσθαι

κάλλιπʼ, ἀτὰρ χείρεσσι νέων ἐπιμαίεο νόστου

γαίης Φαιήκων, ὅθι τοι μοῖρʼ ἐστὶν ἀλύξαι.

345

τῆ δέ, τόδε κρήδεμνον ὑπὸ στέρνοιο τανύσσαι

ἄμβροτον· οὐδέ τί τοι παθέειν δέος οὐδʼ ἀπολέσθαι.

αὐτὰρ ἐπὴν χείρεσσιν ἐφάψεαι ἠπείροιο,

ἂψ ἀπολυσάμενος βαλέειν εἰς οἴνοπα πόντον

πολλὸν ἀπʼ ἠπείρου, αὐτὸς δʼ ἀπονόσφι τραπέσθαι.

350

ὣς ἄρα φωνήσασα θεὰ κρήδεμνον ἔδωκεν,

αὐτὴ δʼ ἂψ ἐς πόντον ἐδύσετο κυμαίνοντα

αἰθυίῃ ἐικυῖα· μέλαν δέ ἑ κῦμα κάλυψεν.

αὐτὰρ ὁ μερμήριξε πολύτλας δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,

ὀχθήσας δʼ ἄρα εἶπε πρὸς ὃν μεγαλήτορα θυμόν·

355

ὤ μοι ἐγώ, μή τίς μοι ὑφαίνῃσιν δόλον αὖτε

ἀθανάτων, ὅ τέ με σχεδίης ἀποβῆναι ἀνώγει.

ἀλλὰ μάλʼ οὔ πω πείσομʼ, ἐπεὶ ἑκὰς ὀφθαλμοῖσιν

γαῖαν ἐγὼν ἰδόμην, ὅθι μοι φάτο φύξιμον εἶναι.

ἀλλὰ μάλʼ ὧδʼ ἔρξω, δοκέει δέ μοι εἶναι ἄριστον·

360

ὄφρʼ ἂν μέν κεν δούρατʼ ἐν ἁρμονίῃσιν ἀρήρῃ,

τόφρʼ αὐτοῦ μενέω καὶ τλήσομαι ἄλγεα πάσχων·

αὐτὰρ ἐπὴν δή μοι σχεδίην διὰ κῦμα τινάξῃ,

νήξομʼ, ἐπεὶ οὐ μέν τι πάρα προνοῆσαι ἄμεινον.

Translations (9)

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.) — 5.313 focus

Even as thus he spoke the great wave smote him from on high, rushing upon him with terrible might, and around it whirled his raft. 315 Far from the raft he fell, and let fall the steering-oar from his hand; but his mast was broken in the midst by the fierce blast of tumultuous winds that came upon it, and far in the sea sail and yardarm fell. As for him, long time did the wave hold him in the depths, nor could he 320 rise at once from beneath the onrush of the mighty wave, for the garments which beautiful Calypso had given him weighed him down. At length, however, he came up, and spat forth from his mouth the bitter brine which flowed in streams from his head. Yet even so he did not forget his raft, in evil case though he was, 325 but sprang after it amid the waves, and laid hold of it, and sat down in the midst of it, seeking to escape the doom of death; and a great wave ever bore him this way and that along its course. As when in autumn the North Wind bears the thistle-tufts over the plain, and close they cling to one another, 330 so did the winds bear the raft this way and that over the sea. Now the South Wind would fling it to the North Wind to be driven on, and now again the East Wind would yield it to the West Wind to drive. But the daughter of Cadmus , Ino of the fair ankles, saw him, even Leucothea, who of old was a mortal of human speech, 335 but now in the deeps of the sea has won a share of honor from the gods. She was touched with pity for Odysseus, as he wandered and was in sore travail, and she rose up from the deep like a sea-mew on the wing, and sat on the stoutly-bound raft, and spoke, saying: “Unhappy man, how is it that Poseidon, the earth-shaker, 340 has conceived such furious wrath against thee, that he is sowing for thee the seeds of many evils? Yet verily he shall not utterly destroy thee for all his rage. Nay, do thou thus; and methinks thou dost not lack understanding. Strip off these garments, and leave thy raft to be driven by the winds, but do thou swim with thy hands and so strive to reach 345 the land of the Phaeacians, where it is thy fate to escape. Come, take this veil, and stretch it beneath thy breast. It is immortal; there is no fear that thou shalt suffer aught or perish. But when with thy hands thou hast laid hold of the land, loose it from thee, and cast it into the wine-dark sea 350 far from the land, and thyself turn away.” So saying, the goddess gave him the veil, and herself plunged again into the surging deep, like a sea-mew; and the dark wave hid her. Then the much-enduring, goodly Odysseus pondered, 355 and deeply moved he spoke to his own mighty spirit: “Woe is me! Let it not be that some one of the immortals is again weaving a snare for me, that she bids me leave my raft. Nay, but verily I will not yet obey, for afar off mine eyes beheld the land, where she said I was to escape. 360 But this will I do, and meseems that this is best: as long as the timbers hold firm in their fastenings, so long will I remain here and endure to suffer affliction; but when the wave shall have shattered the raft to pieces, I will swim, seeing that there is naught better to devise.”

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.) — 5.333 focus

333 When he was in this plight, Ino daughter of Cadmus, also called Leukothea, saw him. She had formerly been a mere mortal, but had been since raised to the rank of a marine goddess. Seeing in what great distress Odysseus now was, she had compassion upon him, and, rising like a sea-gull from the waves, took her seat upon the raft.

339 "My poor good man," said she, "why is Poseidon so furiously angry with you? He is giving you a great deal of trouble, but for all his bluster he will not kill you. You seem to be a sensible person, do then as I bid you; strip, leave your raft to drive before the wind, and swim to the Phaeacian coast where better luck awaits you. And here, take my veil and put it round your chest; it is enchanted, and you can come to no harm so long as you wear it. As soon as you touch land take it off, throw it back as far as you can into the sea, and then go away again." With these words she took off her veil and gave it him. Then she dived down again like a sea-gull and vanished beneath the seething dark waters.

354 But Odysseus did not know what to think. "Alas," he said to himself in his dismay, "this is only some one or other of the gods who is luring me to ruin by advising me to will quit my raft. At any rate I will not do so at present, for the land where she said I should be quit of all troubles seemed to be still a good way off. I know what I will do - I am sure it will be best - no matter what happens I will stick to the raft as long as her timbers hold together, but when the sea breaks her up I will swim for it; I do not see how I can do any better than this."

365 While he was thus in two minds, Poseidon sent a terrible great wave that seemed to rear itself above his head till it broke right over the raft, which then went to pieces 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 Calypso had given him, bound Ino's veil under his arms, and plunged into the sea - meaning to swim on shore. King Poseidon 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." On this he lashed his horses and drove to Aigai where his palace is.

English (Butler, rev. Nagy et al., 2020) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Butler, rev. Nagy et al., 2020)) — 5.313 focus

As he spoke a sea broke over him with such terrific fury that the raft reeled again, [315] and he was carried overboard a long way off. He let go the helm, and the force of the hurricane was so great that it broke the mast half way up, and both sail and yard went over into the sea. For a long time Odysseus was under water, and it was all he could do [320] to rise to the surface again, for the clothes Kalypsō had given him weighed him down; but at last he got his head above water and spat out the bitter brine that was running down his face in streams. In spite of all this, however, he did not lose sight of his raft, [325] but swam as fast as he could towards it, got hold of it, and climbed on board again so as to escape drowning. The sea took the raft and tossed it about as Autumn winds whirl thistledown round and round upon a road. [330] [It was as though the South, North, East, and West winds were all playing battledore and shuttlecock with it at once.]

333 He [= Odysseus] was seen by the daughter of Kadmos. She is Ino, with the beautiful ankles, 334 and she is also called the White Goddess [Leukotheā], but she had been a mortal before that, endowed with a special voice [ audē]. [335] But now, in the depths, she had a share in the honor [ tīmē] that belongs to gods. 336 She took pity on Odysseus, lost at sea and suffering pains [ algea]. 337 Appearing as a winged diving bird [ aithuia], she emerged from the waters 338 and perched on the raft, addressing him with this set of words [ mūthos]: 339 “Unfortunate man, why on earth is Poseidon the earth-shaker [340] so terribly hateful toward you, creating so many bad experiences for you? 341 But I now see that he will not destroy you, much as he wants to. 342 Do as I tell you, and I think you will not miss in your mind what I tell you: 343 get out of these clothes of yours and let your raft be carried off by the winds. 344 Just let it go. Then start paddling with your hands and strive for your homecoming [ nostos] [345] by heading for the land of the Phaeacians, where your destiny [moira] for escape awaits you. 346 Here, take my veil [ krēdemnon] and wrap it around your chest. 347 It is a veil that is immortalizing [ ambroton], and there is nothing to be afraid of: you will not suffer anything or be destroyed. 348 But as soon as you touch land with your hands, 349 at that moment take off the veil and throw it into the wine-colored sea [ pontos]. [350] Throw it as far back as you can into the sea, while you turn in the other direction.” 351 Speaking these words, the goddess took off her veil [ krēdemnon] and gave it him. 352 Then she plunged down again into the seething sea [ pontos], 353 looking like the diving bird [ aithuia], and vanished beneath the dark waves.

But long-suffering great Odysseus did not know what to think. [355] “Alas,” he said to himself in his dismay, “this is only some one or other of the gods who is luring me to ruin by advising me to quit my raft. At any rate I will not do so at present, for the land where she said I should be quit of all troubles seems to be still a good way off. [360] I know what I will do—I am sure it will be best—no matter what happens I will stick to the raft as long as her timbers hold together, but when the sea breaks her up I will swim for it; I do not see how I can do any better than this.”

[365]

English (William Cullen Bryant, 1873) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (William Cullen Bryant, 1873)) — 5.313 focus

As thus he spake, upon him, from on high,

A huge and frightful billow broke; it whirled

375

The raft around, and far from it he fell.

His hands let go the rudder; a fierce rush

Of all the winds together snapped in twain

The mast; far off the yard and canvas flew

Into the deep; the billow held him long

380

Beneath the waters, and he strove in vain

Quickly to rise to air from that huge swell

Of ocean, for the garments weighed him down

Which fair Calypso gave him. But at length

Emerging, he rejected from his throat

385

The bitter brine that down his forehead streamed.

Even then, though hopeless with dismay, his thought

Was on the raft; and, struggling through the waves,

He seized it, sprang on board, and, seated there,

Escaped the threatened death. Still to and fro

390

The rolling billows drave it. As the wind

In autumn sweeps the thistles o'er the field,

Clinging together, so the blasts of heaven

Hither and thither drove it o'er the sea.

And now the south wind flung it to the north

395

To buffet; now the east wind to the west.

Ino Leucothea saw him clinging there, -

The delicate-footed child of Cadmus, once

A mortal, speaking with a mortal voice,

Though now within the ocean gulfs she shares

400

The honors of the gods. With pity she

Beheld Ulysses struggling thus distressed,

And, rising from the abyss below, in form

A cormorant, the sea-nymph took her perch

On the well-banded raft, and thus she said : -

405

"Ah, luckless man! how hast thou angered thus

Earth-shaking Neptune, that he visits thee

With these disasters? Yet he cannot take,

Although he seek it earnestly, thy life.

Now do my bidding, for thou seemest wise.

410

Laying aside thy garments, let the raft

Drift with the winds, while thou, by strength of arm,

Makest thy way in swimming to the land

Of the Phæacians, where thy safety lies.

Receive this veil, and bind its heavenly woof

415

Beneath thy breast, and have no further fear

Of hardship or of danger. But, as soon

As thou shalt touch the island, take it off,

And turn away thy face, and fling it far

From where thou standest into the black deep."

420

The goddess gave the veil as thus she spoke,

And to the tossing deep went down, in form

A cormorant; the black wave covered her.

But still Ulysses, mighty sufferer,

Pondered, and thus to his great soul he said: -

425

"Ah me! perhaps some god is planning here

Some other fraud against me, bidding me

Forsake my raft. I will not yet obey,

For still far off I see the land in which

'T is said my refuge lies. This will I do,

430

For this seems wisest. While the fastenings last

That hold these timbers, I will keep my place

And bide the tempest here; but when the waves

Shall dash my raft in pieces, I will swim,

For nothing better will remain to do."

435

English (Thomas Hobbes, 1667, ed. Molesworth 1843) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Hobbes, 1667, ed. Molesworth 1843)) — 5.313 focus

This said, he dash'd was 'gainst a point of land,

Which with great force whirled the raft about.

And then the rudder flew out of his hand;

295

And he into the water was cast out.

Of divers winds then followed one great blast,

And sail and tackle o'er-board far off bears,

And in the middle breaks in two the mast,

While he was in the sea o'er head and ears;

300

At last he rais'd his head above the pickle,

(Ilis heavy clothes awhile had hindered him),

Then from his hair into his mouth did trickle

The brine, which he spits out, and falls to swim.

And when he had his raft recovered,

305

And plac'd himself i' th' midst, then both together

The wind uncertainly them carried

From place to place, now hither and now thither;

Just as the wind in harvest blows pease-straw

Upon the plain field whilst it holds together;

310

So on the sea without a certain law

Ulysses' raft was driven by the weather.

In this distress by Ino he was seen,

A sea-nymph and immortal she was then,

Though woman, Cadmus' daughter, she had been.

315

And now in ngure Of a water-hen

She sat upon the raft and to him spake.

What meaneth Neptune that he hates you so ?

Do what he can your life he shall not take;

Do what I bid you. Off your garments throw,

320

And quit the raft; and to Phœacia

Swim with your hands, and there you shall find rest.

For so it is ordain'd by fatal law.

Here, take this scarf; apply it to your breast,

And fear not death. But when you come to land

325

Throw't in the sea as far off as you can,

Then turn. This said, she put it in his hand,

And diving there alone she left the man.

Ulysses grieving to himself then says,

What is it now I am advis'd unto!

330

Ah me! Some other God now me betrays

To quit my raft. I know what I will do.

For since my refuge is so near at hand,

Such counsel I will not too soon obey;

But do what does with greatest reason stand.

335

Upon my raft I mean so long to stay

As it shall hold together and be one.

But when the wind has broken it in pieces

I'll swim; since better counsel I have none.

English (George Chapman, 1667, ed. Hooper 1857) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (George Chapman, 1667, ed. Hooper 1857)) — 5.313 focus

This spoke, a huge wave took him by the head,

And hurl'd him o'er board; ship and all it laid

Inverted quite amidst the waves, but he

Far off from her sprawl'd, strow'd about the sea,

405

His stern still holding broken off, his mast

Burst in the midst, so horrible a blast

Of mix'd winds struck it. Sails and sail-yards fell

Amongst the billows; and himself did dwell

A long time under water, nor could get

410

In haste his head out, wave with wave so met

In his depression; and his garments too,

Given by Calypso, gave him much to do,

Hind'ring his swimming; yet he left not so

His drenched vessel, for the overthrow

415

Of her nor him, but gat at length again,

Wrestling with Neptune, hold of her; and then

Sat in her bulk, insulting over death,

Which, with the salt stream press'd to stop his breath,

He 'scap'd, and gave the sea again to give

420

To other men. His ship so striv'd to live,

Floating at randon, cuff'd from wave to wave.

As you have seen the North wind when he drave

¹²

In autumn heaps of thorn-fed Grasshoppers

Hither and thither, one heap this way bears,

425

Another that, and makes them often meet

In his confus'd gales; so Ulysses' fleet

The winds hurl'd up and down; now Boreas

Toss'd it to Notus, Notus gave it pass

To Eurus, Eurus Zephyr made it pursue

430

The horrid tennis. This sport call'd the view

Of Cadmus' daughter, with the narrow heel,

Ino Leucothea, that first did feel

A mortal dame's desires, and had a tongue,

But now had th' honour to be nam'd among

435

The marine Godheads. She with pity saw

Ulysses justled thus from flaw to flaw,

And, like a cormorant in form and flight,

Rose from a whirl-pool, on the ship did light,

And thus bespake him: "Why is Neptune thus

440

In thy pursuit extremely furious,

Oppressing thee with such a world of ill,

Even to thy death? He must not serve his will,

Though 'tis his study. Let me then advise

As my thoughts serve; thou shalt not be unwise

445

To leave thy weeds and ship to the commands

Of these rude winds, and work out with thy hands

Pass to Phæacia, where thy austere Fate

Is to pursue thee with no more such hate.

Take here this tablet, with this riband strung,

450

And see it still about thy bosom hung;

By whose eternal virtue never fear

To suffer thus again, nor perish here.

But when thou touchest with thy hand the shore,

Then take it from thy neck, nor wear it more,

455

But cast it far off from the continent,

And then thy person far ashore present."

Thus gave she him the tablet; and again,

Turn'd to a cormorant, dived, past sight, the main.

Patient Ulysses sigh'd at this, and stuck

460

In the conceit of such fair-spoken luck,

And said: "Alas! I must suspect even this,

Lest any other of the Deities

Add sleight to Neptune's force, to counsel me

To leave my vessel, and so far off see

465

The shore I aim at. Not with thoughts too clear

Will I obey her, but to me appear

These counsels best: As long as I perceive

My ship not quite dissolv'd, I will not leave

The help she may afford me, but abide,

470

And suffer all woes till the worst be tried.

When she is split, I'll swim. No miracle can,

Past near and clear means, move a knowing man."

English (William Cowper, 1791, ed. Southey) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (William Cowper, 1791, ed. Southey)) — 5.313 focus

Bursting impetuous, whirl'd the raft around,

375

And dashing from his grasp the helm, himself

Plunged far remote. Then came a sudden gust

Of mingling winds, that in the middle snapp'd

His mast, and hurried o'er the waves afar,

Both sail and sail-yard fell into the flood.

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Long time submerged he lay, nor could with ease

The violence of that dread shock surmount,

Or rise to air again, so burthensome

His drench'd apparel proved; but, at the last,

He rose, and rising, sputter'd from his lips

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The brine that trickled copious from his brows.

Nor, harass'd as he was, resign'd he yet

His raft, but buffetting the waves aside

With desperate efforts, seized it, and again

Fast seated on the middle deck, escaped.

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Then roll'd the raft at random in the flood,

Wallowing unwieldy, toss'd from wave to wave.

As when in autumn, Boreas o'er the plain

Conglomerated thorns before him drives,

They, tangled, to each other close adhere,

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So her the winds drove wild about the Deep.

By turns the South consign'd her to be sport

For the rude North-wind, and by turns, the East

Yielded her to the worrying West a prey.

But Cadmus' beauteous daughter (Ino once,

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Now named Leucothea) saw him; mortal erst

Was she, and trod the earth, but nymph become

Of Ocean since, in honours shares divine.

She mark'd his anguish, and, while toss'd he roam'd,

Pitied Ulysses; from the flood, in form

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A cormorant, she flew, and on the raft

Close-corded perching, thus the Chief address'd.

Alas, unhappy! how hast thou incensed

So terribly the Shaker of the shores,

That he pursues thee with such numerous ills?

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Sink thee he cannot, wish it as he may.

Thus do, (for I account thee not unwise,)

Thy garments putting off, let drive thy raft

As the winds will, then swimming, strive to reach

Phæacia, where thy doom is to escape.

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Take this. This ribbon bind beneath thy breast,

Celestial texture. Thenceforth every fear

Of death dismiss, and laying once thy hands

On the firm continent, unbind the zone,

Which thou shalt cast far distant from the shore

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Into the Deep, turning thy face away.

So saying, the Goddess gave into his hand

The wonderous zone, and cormorant in form,

Plunging herself into the waves again

Headlong, was hidden by the closing flood.

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But still Ulysses sat perplex'd, and thus

The toil-enduring Hero reason'd sad.

Alas! I tremble lest some God design

To ensnare me yet, bidding me quit the raft.

But let me well beware how I obey

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Too soon that precept, for I saw the land

Of my foretold deliverance far remote.

Thus, therefore, will I do, for such appears

My wiser course. So long as yet the planks

Mutual adhere, continuing on board

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My raft, I will endure whatever woes;

But when the waves shall shatter it, I will swim,

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;

110

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,

140

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:

145

"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.

150

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,

160

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,

185

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,

200

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.

225

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,

230

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.

240

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.

245

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,

250

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;

255

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,

260

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.)

275

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,

280

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."

290

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,

295

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,

300

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!

310

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

315

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,

320

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

325

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.

330

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?

340

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."

350

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:

355

"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:

360

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,

375

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,

380

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,

385

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,

395

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,

400

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.

405

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;

410

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

415

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;

420

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.

425

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

430

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.

435

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.

440

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

445

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."

450

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

455

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.

460

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)) — 5.313 focus

Then, having spoken thus , a great wave drove him down from above,

overwhelming in a way that struck him with fear, and it shook the boat around.

As for him, far away from the boat he fell, and the rudder

315

he threw forward out of his hands; it shattered his mast in the middle,

the fearsome storm that had come from the winds, mixing with one another,

and far away the sail and yard-arm fell in the sea.

And it placed him underwater for a long time, and he was not able

at first to get up very much from under the surge of the great wave:

320

for the clothes were heavy , those which divine Calypso provided to him.

After a long time he rose up, and he spat out saltwater from his mouth-

the bitter saltwater, which was gurgling from his head in great amounts.

Nevertheless not even soὣς], was he forgetful of the boat, although being exhausted.

Instead, lunging after it in the waves, he seized onto it for himself;

325

he sat down in its middle, avoiding the fulfillment of death.

A great wave repeatedly carried along this boat down the current, this way and that way.

And as when in late summer the North Wind may carry along thistles

over a plain, and they cling together close beside one another,

so did the winds keep carrying the boat over the sea, this way and that way:

330

sometimes, on one hand, the South Wind kept tossing it over to the North Wind to be carried-

other times, on the other hand, again the East Wind would again and again yield to the West Wind to come after it.

But she saw him, the daughter of Cadmus, beautiful-ankled Ino,

Leukothea (the white goddess), she who was previously a mortal who used human speech,

but now in the seas of brine she had received a position of rank from the gods.

335

That woman took pity on wandering Odysseus, possessing sufferings.

Like a seagull in flight she lifted herself out of the sea,

and she began to sit on the boat with many fastenings, and she spoke a message:

“Ill-fated one, why to this extent violently has Poseidon the Earthshaker

gotten himself into a fury, that for you he causes to emerge many evil things?

340

Indeed he will not destroy you, although much boiling with passion.

Instead, act much in this way. You seem to me not to be stupid:

having taken off those clothes, leave the boat to be carried by the winds-

instead, swimming with your hands, grasp your homecoming,

the land of the Phaeacians, where your fate is to escape.

345

But here, drape this headscarf beneath your chest,

the kind that immortals wear: and for you there is no fear to suffer anything and not to die.

However, when you take hold of the mainland with your hands,

having loosened it from yourself cast it back again into the wine-colored sea,

very far away from the mainland, and as for you yourself, turn yourself far away.”

350

Having spoken in this way, the goddess then gave the headscarf

and she herself sank back into the swelling sea

like a seagull. And a dark wave concealed her.

Meanwhile, for his part that man, much-suffering, godlike Odysseus, pondered.

Agitated, he then spoke to his own great-spirited heart:

355

“Oh me, I, for my part, fear that one of the immortals is weaving a trap for me again,

when she orders me to get away from the boat.

Instead I will most definitely not follow her directions yet, since far out I, for my part, saw with my eyes

land, where she claimed to be a chance of escape for me.

Instead I will most definitely take action in this way, this seems to be best for me.

360

However long as the beams should remain joined together in their joints,

so long I will remain right here, and I will endure, suffering pains.

But then when a wave should smash my boat apart,

I will swim, since it really is not possible to plan out ahead of time anything better.”

Notes on the current edition

Odyssey

1. Leucothea, or Ino, the wife or mistress of Athamas, king of Orchomenus in Boeotia, metamorphosed into a sea-goddess.

New Alexandria Commentaries

Douglas Frame

analysis of original notion of verb halṓō, “to be seized by death”

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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”

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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.

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The verb heleto ‘took’ referring here at O.05.121 to the seduction of Orion by Ēōs the goddess of the dawn is neutral in comparison to other verbs indicating an abduction by force, as when Ēōs hērpasen ‘seized’ Tīthōnos in Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 218. For more on the links of heroes like Orion and Tithōnos with Ēōs, see the comment on O.15.250–251.

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The myth about the liaison between the mortal man Orion and the immortal goddess Ēōs is retold by Calypso herself as an example of the double standard shown by the divine powers in not tolerating a relationship where the immortal lover of a mortal is female, not male. It is to be noted that Ēōs, at the moment when she takes the initiative in seducing Orion at O.05.121, is described with the epithet rhododaktulos ‘rosy-fingered’ instead of the epithet thugatēr Dios ‘daughter of Zeus’, which would have been appropriate if the seducer had been a goddess like Aphrodite. See the anchor comment at O.12.001–010.

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The goddess Artemis shoots Orion with her arrows.

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At O.05.136, Calypso says that she was intending to make Odysseus athanatos ‘immortal’ and agērōs ‘ageless’. Similarly in Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 214, Zeus when he abducts Ganymedes makes him athanatos ‘immortal’ and agērōs ‘ageless’. By contrast, in Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 221, Ēōs forgets to ask for agelessness after she abducts Tīthōnos and asks only that her mortal lover be athanatos ‘immortal’. So, she forgot to ask that he should have lasting hēbē ‘youth’, Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 224.

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At O.05.160, aiōn ‘life-force, lifetime’ is a potential recycling of time: see the comment on I.01.052. But such a recycling is threatened at O.05.161 by a linear prolongation of life, which would result in what is indicated here by the verb phthinesthai ‘wilt, perish’.

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For a god to swear by the Styx is to reaffirm the absolute permanence of its waters, as indicated by the epithet aphthito- ‘imperishable’ in Hesiod Theogony 389, 397, 805. See the comment on I.02.046; also the comment on Homeric Hymn to Demeter 259, where Demeter swears by the Styx that she would have made the child Demophon athanatos ‘immortal’ and agērōs, 260, if the mother of this child had not spoiled what the goddess intended.

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We see here a specialized sense of this noun harmoniā ‘joint’, derived from the root ar- as in arariskein ‘join’.

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If Odysseus could read the stars correctly, he would see that the constellation of Orion shows him what would have happened if his liaison with Calypso had been prolonged: Odysseus too would have been killed off, like Orion. The astral configuration of Orion the Hunter and Arktos the Bear here at O.05.273–275 is pictured also at I.18.487–489. The stars in this configuration are re-enacting the myth of Orion: how Ēōs the goddess of dawn made Orion her lover and how the goddess Artemis the huntress then shot Orion with her arrows and killed him. The myth, as we have already seen, is narrated at O.05.121–124. A special point of interest in the description of Arktos the Bear at O.05.274—also at I.18.488—is the expression dokeuei: it appears that this she-bear is ‘taking aim’ at Orion. It can be argued that this pose of Arktos the she-bear reveals her to be a stand-in for the goddess Artemis herself at the moment when the goddess takes aim at Orion in order to shoot him dead with her arrows. It can also be argued that the dangerous liaison of Ēōs with Orion at O.05.121–124 is viewed as a relevant parallel to the liaison of Calypso with Odysseus.

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The formulation of this wish shows that Odysseus is longing to be defined by an epic that is limited to the happenings in the Trojan War, excluding the happenings that he experiences in the Odyssey. But this is not to be. For Odysseus to be hero in his own epic, he must have a safe homecoming from Troy.

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Odysseus is saved from drowning by Ino, O.05.333, who was once a mortal woman but who has become immortalized after death by becoming the Leukotheā or ‘White Goddess’, O.05.334. The White Goddess gives to Odysseus her krēdemnon, that is, her headdress or ‘veil’, which becomes his life-saver: O.05.346, O.05.351, O.05.373, O.05.459. In order to give the hero her headdress, she would first have to undo her hair, as we can see by comparing the scene where Andromache lets fall from her head her own headdress, the word for which is, here again, krēdemnon, I.22.470. See the commentary on I.22.460–474, where I noted that the undoing of a woman’s hair, caused by the undoing of her krēdemnon, produces what I called an Aphrodisiac effect. So long as a woman’s krēdemnon is in place, her sexuality is under control just as her hair is under control. When the krēdemnon is out of place, however, her sexuality threatens to get out of control. Also, while saving the hero, the goddess assumes the form of a diving bird called aithuia, O.05.337 and O.05.353. These actions of Ino in saving Odysseus from the mortal dangers of the sea are parallel to the actions of the goddess Athena herself. [What follows is epitomized from Nagy 1985:80–81 (= §78).] Ino as aithuia has a parallel agent in ensuring the salvation of Odysseus from the sea: Athena herself redirects the storm sent against the hero by Poseidon, O.05.382–387, and then she saves him from immediate drowning by giving him a timely idea for swimming to safety, O.05.435–439. The hero submerges but then emerges from a wave that would surely have drowned him had it not been for Athena, O.05.435 and O.05.438, and this detail corresponds closely to the preceding emergence and submergence of Ino herself, O.05.337 and O.05.352–353. Such a correspondence suggests that Ino, the former mortal who is now a goddess, O.05.334 and O.05.335, is a model for a transition from death to life anew.

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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

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The comparison of Odysseus to an octopus here is a signature, as it were, of his reputation for being polutropos ‘turning-into-many-different-selves’. This epithet is analyzed in the comment on O.01.001–010. On the polytropic nature of the octopus, I cite two relevant passages: Theognis 215–218 and Pindar F 43 SM.

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For this translation of epiphrosunē, ‘impulse of wisdom’, see HPC 45n33.

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This verb expresses the idea of revival, ana-pneîn (ἄμπνυτο) in the sense of ‘taking a breath’ or ‘breathing in’. See the comment on I.05.696–698.

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Leonard Muellner

analysis of divine mēnis at sexual transgressions (regarding the triangle of a goddess, a mortal, and Zeus, representing the gods as a group – notion of social solidarity in connection with mēnis)

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analysis of divine mēnis at sexual transgressions (regarding amphadiēn as “with the knowledge of Zeus”)

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analysis of divine mēnis at sexual transgressions (regarding amphadiēn)

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