Scroll 4
They reached the low lying city of
Lacedaemon, where they drove straight to the halls of Menelaos. They
found him in his own house, feasting with his many clansmen in honor
of the wedding of his son, and also of his daughter, whom he was
marrying to the son of that valiant warrior Achilles. He had given
his consent and promised her to him while he was still at
Troy, and
now the gods were bringing the marriage about; so he was sending her
with chariots and horses to the city of the Myrmidons over whom
Achilles’ son was reigning. For his only son he had found a
bride from
Sparta, daughter of Alektor. This son, Megapenthes, was
born to him of a bondwoman, for heaven granted Helen no more children
after she had borne Hermione, who was fair as golden Aphrodite
herself.
So the neighbors and kinsmen of
Menelaos were feasting and making merry in his house. There was a
singer also to sing to them and play his lyre, while two tumblers
went about performing in the midst of them when the man struck up
with his tune.
Telemakhos and the son of Nestor
stayed their horses at the gate, whereon Eteoneus servant to Menelaos
came out, and as soon as he saw them ran hurrying back into the house
to tell his Master. He went close up to him and said, "Menelaos,
there are some strangers come here, two men, who look like sons of
Zeus. What are we to do? Shall we take their horses out, or tell them
to find friends elsewhere as they best can?"
Menelaos was very angry and said,
"Eteoneus, son of Boethoos, you never used to be a fool, but now you
talk like a simpleton. Take their horses out, of course, and show the
strangers in that they may have supper; you and I have stayed often
enough at other people's houses before we got back here, where
heaven grant that we may rest in peace henceforward."
So Eteoneus bustled back and bade
other servants come with him. They took their sweating hands from
under the yoke, made them fast to the mangers, and gave them a feed
of oats and barley mixed. Then they leaned the chariot against the
end wall of the courtyard, and led the way into the house. Telemakhos
and Peisistratos were astonished when they saw it, for its splendor
was as that of the sun and moon; then, when they had admired
everything to their heart's content, they went into the bath
room and washed themselves.
When the servants had washed them
and anointed them with oil, they brought them woolen cloaks and
shirts, and the two took their seats by the side of Menelaos. A
maidservant brought them water in a beautiful golden ewer, and poured
it into a silver basin for them to wash their hands; and she drew a
clean table beside them. An upper servant brought them bread, and
offered them many good things of what there was in the house, while
the carver fetched them plates of all manner of meats and set cups of
gold by their side.
Menelaos then greeted them saying,
"Eat up, and welcome; when you have finished supper I shall ask who
you are, for the lineage of such men as you cannot have been lost.
You must be descended from a line of scepter-bearing kings, for poor
people do not have such sons as you are."
On this he handed them a piece of
fat roast loin, which had been set near him as being a prime part,
and they laid their hands on the good things that were before them;
as soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, Telemakhos said to
the son of Nestor, with his head so close that no one might hear,
"Look, Peisistratos, man after my own heart, see the gleam of bronze
and gold - of amber, ivory, and silver. Everything is so splendid
that it is like seeing the palace of Olympian Zeus. I am lost in
admiration."
Menelaos overheard him and said,
"No one, my sons, can hold his own with Zeus, for his house and
everything about him is immortal; but among mortal men - well, there
may be another who has as much wealth as I have, or there may not;
but at all events I have traveled much and have undergone much
hardship, for it was nearly eight years before I could get home with
my fleet. I went to
Cyprus,
Phoenicia and the Egyptians; I went also
to the Ethiopians, the Sidonians, and the Erembians, and to
Libya
where the lambs have horns as soon as they are born, and the sheep
bear lambs three times a year. Every one in that country, whether
master or man, has plenty of cheese, meat, and good milk, for the
ewes yield all the year round. But while I was traveling and getting
great riches among these people, my brother was secretly and
shockingly murdered through the perfidy of his wicked wife, so that I
have no pleasure in being lord of all this wealth. Whoever your
parents may be they must have told you about all this, and of my
heavy loss in the ruin of a stately mansion fully and magnificently
furnished. Would that I had only a third of what I now have so that I
had stayed at home, and all those were living who perished on the
plain of
Troy, far from
Argos. I often grieve, as I sit here in my
house, for one and all of them. At times I cry aloud for sorrow, but
presently I leave off again, for crying is cold comfort and one soon
tires of it. Yet grieve for these as I may, I do so for one man more
than for them all. I cannot even think of him without loathing both
food and sleep, so miserable does he make me, for no one of all the
Achaeans worked so hard or risked so much as he did. He took nothing
by it, and has left a legacy of sorrow [akhos] to
myself, for he has been gone a long time, and we know not whether he
is alive or dead. His old father, his long-suffering wife Penelope,
and his son Telemakhos, whom he left behind him an infant in arms,
are plunged in grief on his account."
Thus spoke Menelaos, and the
heart of Telemakhos yearned as he bethought him of his father. Tears
fell from his eyes as he heard him thus mentioned, so that he held
his cloak before his face with both hands. When Menelaos saw this he
doubted whether to let him choose his own time for speaking, or to
ask him at once and find what it was all about.
While he was thus in two minds
Helen came down from her high-vaulted and perfumed room, looking as
lovely as Artemis herself. Adraste brought her a seat, Alkippe a soft
woolen rug, while Phylo fetched her the silver work-box which
Alkandra wife of Polybos had given her. Polybos lived in Egyptian
Thebes, which is the richest city in the whole world; he gave
Menelaos two baths, both of pure silver, two tripods, and ten talents
of gold; besides all this, his wife gave Helen some beautiful
presents, to wit, a golden distaff, and a silver work-box that ran on
wheels, with a gold band round the top of it. Phylo now placed this
by her side, full of fine spun yarn, and a distaff charged with
violet colored wool was laid upon the top of it. Then Helen took her
seat, put her feet upon the footstool, and began to question her
husband.
"Do we know, Menelaos," said she,
"the names of these strangers who have come to visit us? Shall I
guess right or wrong? But I cannot help saying what I think. Never
yet have I seen either man or woman so like somebody else (indeed
when I look at him I hardly know what to think) as this young man is
like Telemakhos, whom Odysseus left as a baby behind him, when you
Achaeans went to
Troy with battle in your hearts, on account of my
most shameless self."
"My dear wife," replied Menelaos,
"I see the likeness just as you do. His hands and feet are just like
Odysseus’ so is his hair, with the shape of his head and the
expression of his eyes. Moreover, when I was talking about Odysseus,
and saying how much he had suffered on my account, tears fell from
his eyes, and he hid his face in his mantle."
Then Peisistratos said,
"Menelaos, son of Atreus, you are right in thinking that this young
man is Telemakhos, but he is very modest, and is ashamed to come here
and begin opening up discourse with one whose conversation is so
divinely interesting as your own. My father, Nestor, sent me to
escort him hither, for he wanted to know whether you could give him
any counsel or suggestion. A son has always trouble at home when his
father has gone away leaving him without supporters; and this is how
Telemakhos is now placed, for his father is absent, and there is no
one among his own dêmos to stand by him."
"Bless my heart," replied
Menelaos; "then I am receiving a visit from the son of a very dear
friend, who suffered much hardship [athlos] for my
sake. I had always hoped to entertain him with most marked
distinction when heaven had granted us a safe return
[nostos] from beyond the seas. I should have founded a
city for him in
Argos, and built him a house. I should have made him
leave
Ithaca with his goods, his son, and all his people, and should
have sacked for them some one of the neighboring cities that are
subject to me. We should thus have seen one another continually, and
nothing but death could have interrupted so close and happy an
intercourse. I suppose, however, that heaven grudged us such good
fortune, for it has prevented the poor man from ever getting home at
all."
Thus did he speak, and his words
set them all to weeping. Helen wept, Telemakhos wept, and so did
Menelaos, nor could Peisistratos keep his eyes from filling, when he
remembered his dear brother Antilokhos whom the son of bright Dawn
had killed. Thereon he said to Menelaos,
"Sir, my father Nestor, when we
used to talk about you at home, told me you were a person of rare and
excellent understanding. If, then, it be possible, do as I would urge
you. I am not fond of crying while I am getting my supper. Morning
will come in due course, and in the forenoon I care not how much I
cry for those that are dead and gone. This is all we can do for the
poor things. We can only shave our heads for them and wring the tears
from our cheeks. I had a brother who died at
Troy; he was by no means
the worst man there; you are sure to have known him - his name was
Antilokhos; I never set eyes upon him myself, but they say that he
was singularly fleet of foot and in fight valiant."
"Your discretion, my friend,"
answered Menelaos, "is beyond your years. It is plain you take after
your father. One can soon see when a man is son to one whom Zeus
grants blessedness [olbos] both as regards wife and
offspring - and he has blessed Nestor from first to last all his
days, giving him a green old age in his own house, with sons about
him who are both well disposed and valiant. We will put an end
therefore to all this weeping, and attend to our supper again. Let
water be poured over our hands. Telemakhos and I can talk with one
another fully in the morning."
On this Asphalion, one of the
servants, poured water over their hands and they laid their hands on
the good things that were before them.
Then Zeus’ daughter Helen
bethought her of another matter. She drugged the wine with the herb
nêpenthes [= anti-penthos], which
banishes all care, sorrow, and anger. Whoever drinks wine thus
drugged cannot shed a single tear all the rest of the day, not even
though his father and mother both of them drop down dead, or he sees
a brother or a son hewn in pieces before his very eyes. This drug, of
such sovereign power and virtue, had been given to Helen by Polydamna
wife of
Thon, a woman of
Egypt, where there grow all sorts of herbs,
some good to put into the mixing-bowl and others poisonous. Moreover,
every one in the whole country is a skilled physician, for they are
of the race of Paieon. When Helen had put this drug in the bowl, and
had told the servants to serve the wine round, she said:
"Menelaos, son of Atreus, and you
my good friends, sons of honorable men (which is as Zeus wills, for
he is the giver both of good and evil, and can do what he chooses),
feast here as you will, and listen while I tell you a tale in season.
I cannot indeed name every single one of the exploits
[athlos] of Odysseus, but I can say what he did when
he was in the Trojan dêmos, and you Achaeans were in all
sorts of difficulties. He covered himself with wounds and bruises,
dressed himself all in rags, and entered the enemy's city
looking like a menial or a beggar, quite different from how he looked
when he was among his own people. In this disguise he entered the
city of
Troy, and no one said anything to him. I alone recognized him
and began to question him, but he was too cunning for me. When,
however, I had washed and anointed him and had given him clothes, and
after I had sworn a solemn oath not to betray him to the Trojans till
he had got safely back to his own camp and to the ships, he explained
to me the whole noos of the Achaeans. He killed many Trojans
and got much information before he reached the
Argive camp, for all
which things the Trojan women made lamentation, but for my own part I
was glad, for my heart was beginning to long after my home, and I was
unhappy about the wrong [atê] that Aphrodite had
done me in taking me over there, away from my country, my girl, and
my lawful wedded husband, who is indeed by no means deficient either
in looks or understanding."
Then Menelaos said, "All that you
have been saying, my dear wife, is true. I have traveled much, and
have learned the plans and noos of many a hero, but I have
never seen such another man as Odysseus. What endurance too, and what
courage he displayed within the wooden horse, wherein all the bravest
of the Argives were lying in wait to bring death and destruction upon
the Trojans. At that moment you came up to us; some
daimôn who wished well to the Trojans must have set you
on to it and you had Deiphobos with you. Three times did you go all
round our hiding place and pat it; you called our chiefs each by his
own name, and mimicked all our wives. Diomedes, Odysseus, and I from
our seats inside heard what a noise you made. Diomedes and I could
not make up our minds whether to spring out then and there, or to
answer you from inside, but Odysseus held us all in check, so we sat
quite still, all except Antiklos, who was beginning to answer you,
when Odysseus clapped his two brawny hands over his mouth, and kept
them there. It was this that saved us all, for he muzzled Antiklos
till Athena took you away again."
"How sad," exclaimed Telemakhos,
"that all this was of no avail to save him, nor yet his own iron
courage. But now, sir, be pleased to send us all to bed, that we may
lie down and enjoy the blessed boon of sleep."
On this Helen told the maid
servants to set beds in the room that was in the gatehouse, and to
make them with good red rugs, and spread coverlets on the top of them
with woolen cloaks for the guests to wear. So the maids went out,
carrying a torch, and made the beds, to which a man-servant presently
conducted the strangers. Thus, then, did Telemakhos and Peisistratos
sleep there in the forecourt, while the son of Atreus lay in an inner
room with lovely Helen by his side.
When the child of morning,
rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Menelaos rose and dressed himself. He
bound his sandals on to his comely feet, girded his sword about his
shoulders, and left his room looking like an immortal god. Then,
taking a seat near Telemakhos he said:
"And what, Telemakhos, has led
you to take this long sea voyage to
Lacedaemon? Are you on public or
private business? Tell me all about it."
"I have come, sir replied
Telemakhos, "to see if you can tell me anything about my father. I am
being eaten out of house and home; my fair estate is being wasted,
and my house is full of miscreants who in overweening hubris
keep killing great numbers of my sheep and oxen, on the pretense of
wooing my mother. Therefore, I am suppliant at your knees if haply
you may tell me about my father's melancholy end, whether you
saw it with your own eyes, or heard it from some other traveler; for
he was a man born to trouble. Do not soften things out of any pity
for myself, but tell me in all plainness exactly what you saw. If my
brave father Odysseus ever did you loyal service either by word or
deed, when you Achaeans were harassed in the dêmos of
the Trojans, bear it in mind now as in my favor and tell me truly
all."
Menelaos on hearing this was very
much shocked. "So," he exclaimed, "these cowards would usurp a brave
man's bed? A hind might as well lay her new born young in the
lair of a lion, and then go off to feed in the forest or in some
grassy dell: the lion when he comes back to his lair will make short
work with the pair of them - and so will Odysseus with these suitors.
By father Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, if Odysseus is still the man that
he was when he wrestled with Philomeleides in
Lesbos, and threw him
so heavily that all the Achaeans cheered him - if he is still such
and were to come near these suitors, they would have a swift doom and
a sorry wedding. As regards your questions, however, I will not
prevaricate nor deceive you, but will tell you without concealment
all that the old man of the sea told me.
"I was trying to come on here,
but the gods detained me in
Egypt, for my hecatombs had not given
them full satisfaction, and the gods are very strict about having
their dues. Now off
Egypt, about as far as a ship can sail in a day
with a good stiff breeze behind her, there is an island called Pharos
- it has a good harbor from which vessels can get out into open sea
when they have taken in water - and the gods becalmed me twenty days
without so much as a breath of fair wind to help me forward. We
should have run clean out of provisions and my men would have
starved, if a goddess had not taken pity upon me and saved me in the
person of Eidothea, daughter to Proteus, the old man of the sea, for
she had taken a great fancy to me.
"She came to me one day when I
was by myself, as I often was, for the men used to go with their
barbed hooks, all over the island in the hope of catching a fish or
two to save them from the pangs of hunger. ‘Stranger,’ said
she, ‘it seems to me that you like starving in this way - at any
rate it does not greatly trouble you, for you stick here day after
day, without even trying to get away though your men are dying by
inches.’
"‘Let me tell you,’
said I, ‘whichever of the goddesses you may happen to be, that I
am not staying here of my own accord, but must have offended the gods
that live in heaven. Tell me, therefore, for the gods know
everything: which of the immortals it is that is hindering me in this
way, and tell me also how I may sail the sea so as to reach my home
[nostos]?’
"‘Stranger,’ replied
she, ‘I will make it all quite clear to you. There is an old
immortal who lives under the sea hereabouts and whose name is
Proteus. He is an Egyptian, and people say he is my father; he is
Poseidon's head man and knows every inch of ground all over the
bottom of the sea. If you can snare him and hold him tight, he will
tell you about your voyage, what courses you are to take, and how you
are to sail the sea so as to reach your home [nostos].
He will also tell you, if you so will, all that has been going on at
your house both good and bad, while you have been away on your long
and dangerous journey.’
"‘Can you show me,’
said I, ‘some strategy by means of which I may catch this old
god without his suspecting it and finding me out? For a
daimôn is not easily caught - not by a mortal
man.’
"‘Stranger,’ said she,
‘I will make it all quite clear to you. About the time when the
sun shall have reached mid heaven, the old man of the sea comes up
from under the waves, heralded by the West wind that furs the water
over his head. As soon as he has come up he lies down, and goes to
sleep in a great sea cave, where the seals - (Halosydne's
chickens as they call them) - come up also from the gray sea, and go
to sleep in shoals all round him; and a very strong and fish-like
smell do they bring with them. Early tomorrow morning I will take you
to this place and will lay you in ambush. Pick out
[krînô], therefore, the three best men you
have in your fleet, and I will tell you all the tricks that the old
man will play you.
"‘First he will look over
all his seals, and count them; then, when he has seen them and
tallied them on his five fingers, he will go to sleep among them, as
a shepherd among his sheep. The moment you see that he is asleep
seize him; put forth all your strength [biê] and
hold him fast, for he will do his very utmost to get away from you.
He will turn himself into every kind of creature that goes upon the
earth, and will become also both fire and water; but you must hold
him fast and grip him tighter and tighter, till he begins to talk to
you and comes back to what he was when you saw him go to sleep; then
you may slacken your hold [biê] and let him go;
and you can ask him which of the gods it is that is angry with you,
and what you must do to reach your home [nostos] over
the fishy sea.’
"Having so said she dived under
the waves, whereon I turned back to the place where my ships were
ranged upon the shore; and my heart was clouded with care as I went
along. When I reached my ship we got supper ready, for night was
falling, and camped down upon the beach.
"When the child of morning,
rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, I took the three men on whose prowess
of all kinds I could most rely, and went along by the sea-side,
praying heartily to heaven. Meanwhile the goddess fetched me up four
seal skins from the bottom of the sea, all of them just skinned, for
she meant to play a trick upon her father. Then she dug four pits for
us to lie in, and sat down to wait till we should come up. When we
were close to her, she made us lie down in the pits one after the
other, and threw a seal skin over each of us. Our ambuscade would
have been intolerable, for the stench of the fishy seals was most
distressing - who would go to bed with a sea monster if he could help
it?-but here, too, the goddess helped us, and thought of something
that gave us great relief, for she put some ambrosia under each
man's nostrils, which was so fragrant that it killed the smell
of the seals.
"We waited the whole morning and
made the best of it, watching the seals come up in hundreds to bask
upon the sea shore, till at noon the old man of the sea came up too,
and when he had found his fat seals he went over them and counted
them. We were among the first he counted, and he never suspected any
guile, but laid himself down to sleep as soon as he had done
counting. Then we rushed upon him with a shout and seized him; on
which he began at once with his old tricks, and changed himself first
into a lion with a great mane; then all of a sudden he became a
dragon, a leopard, a wild boar; the next moment he was running water,
and then again directly he was a tree, but we stuck to him and never
lost hold, till at last the cunning old creature became distressed,
and said, Which of the gods was it, Son of Atreus, that hatched this
plot with you for snaring me and seizing me against my will? What do
you want?’
"‘You know that yourself,
old man,’ I answered. ‘You will gain nothing by trying to
put me off. It is because I have been kept so long in this island,
and see no sign of my being able to get away. I am losing all heart;
tell me, then, for you gods know everything, which of the immortals
it is that is hindering me, and tell me also how I may sail the sea
so as to reach my home [nostos]?’
"Then,’ he said, ‘if
you would finish your voyage and get home quickly, you must offer
sacrifices to Zeus and to the rest of the gods before embarking; for
it is decreed that you shall not get back to your friends, and to
your own house, till you have returned to the heaven-fed stream of
Egypt, and offered holy hecatombs to the immortal gods that reign in
heaven. When you have done this they will let you finish your
voyage.’
"I was broken-hearted when I
heard that I must go back all that long and terrible voyage to
Egypt;
nevertheless, I answered, ‘I will do all, old man, that you have
laid upon me; but now tell me, and tell me true, whether all the
Achaeans whom Nestor and I left behind us when we set sail from
Troy
have got home safely, or whether any one of them came to a bad end
either on board his own ship or among his friends when the days of
his fighting were done.’
"‘Son of Atreus,’ he
answered, ‘why ask me? You had better not know my noos,
for your eyes will surely fill when you have heard my story. Many of
those about whom you ask are dead and gone, but many still remain,
and only two of the chief men among the Achaeans perished during
their return home. As for what happened on the field of battle - you
were there yourself. A third Achaean leader is still at sea, alive,
but hindered from returning [nostos]. Ajax was
wrecked, for Poseidon drove him on to the great rocks of Gyrae;
nevertheless, he let him get safe out of the water, and in spite of
all Athena's hatred he would have escaped death, if he had not
ruined himself by boasting. He said the gods could not drown him even
though they had tried to do so, and when Poseidon heard this large
talk, he seized his trident in his two brawny hands, and split the
rock of Gyrae in two pieces. The base remained where it was, but the
part on which Ajax was sitting fell headlong into the sea and carried
Ajax with it; so he drank salt water and was drowned.
"‘Your brother and his ships
escaped, for Hera protected him, but when he was just about to reach
the high promontory of Malea, he was caught by a heavy gale which
carried him out to sea again sorely against his will, and drove him
to the foreland where Thyestes used to dwell, but where Aigisthos was
then living. By and by, however, it seemed as though he was to return
[nostos] safely after all, for the gods backed the
wind into its old quarter and they reached home; whereon Agamemnon
kissed his native soil, and shed tears of joy at finding himself in
his own country.
"‘Now there was a watchman
whom Aigisthos kept always on the watch, and to whom he had promised
two talents of gold. This man had been looking out for a whole year
to make sure that Agamemnon did not give him the slip and prepare
war; when, therefore, this man saw Agamemnon go by, he went and told
Aigisthos who at once began to lay a plot for him. He picked
[krînô] twenty of his bravest warriors
from the dêmos and placed them in ambuscade on one side
the room, while on the opposite side he prepared a banquet. Then he
sent his chariots and horsemen to Agamemnon, and invited him to the
feast, but he meant foul play. He got him there, all unsuspicious of
the doom that was awaiting him, and killed him when the banquet was
over as though he were butchering an ox in the shambles; not one of
Agamemnon's followers was left alive, nor yet one of
Aigisthos’, but they were all killed there in the
cloisters.’
"Thus spoke Proteus, and I was
broken hearted as I heard him. I sat down upon the sands and wept; I
felt as though I could no longer bear to live nor look upon the light
of the sun. Presently, when I had had my fill of weeping and writhing
upon the ground, the old man of the sea said, ‘Son of Atreus, do
not waste any more time in crying so bitterly; it can do no manner of
good; find your way home as fast as ever you can, for Aigisthos be
still alive, and even though Orestes anticipates you in killing him,
you may yet come in for his funeral.’
"On this I took comfort in spite
of all my sorrow, and said, ‘I know, then, about these two; tell
me, therefore, about the third man of whom you spoke; is he still
alive, but at sea, and unable to get home? Or is he dead? Tell me, no
matter how much it may grieve me.’
"‘The third man,’ he
answered, ‘is Odysseus who dwells in
Ithaca. I can see him in an
island sorrowing bitterly in the house of the nymph Calypso, who is
keeping him prisoner, and he cannot reach his home for he has no
ships nor sailors to take him over the sea. As for your own end,
Menelaos, you shall not die in
Argos, but the gods will take you to
the Elysian plain, which is at the ends of the world. There
fair-haired Rhadamanthus reigns, and men lead an easier life than any
where else in the world, for in Elysium there falls not rain, nor
hail, nor snow, but Okeanos breathes ever with a West wind that sings
softly from the sea, and gives fresh life to all men. This will
happen to you because you have married Helen, and are Zeus’
son-in-law.’
"As he spoke he dived under the
waves, whereon I turned back to the ships with my companions, and my
heart was clouded with care as I went along. When we reached the
ships we got supper ready, for night was falling, and camped down
upon the beach. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn
appeared, we drew our ships into the water, and put our masts and
sails within them; then we went on board ourselves, took our seats on
the benches, and smote the gray sea with our oars. I again stationed
my ships in the heaven-fed stream of
Egypt, and offered hecatombs
that were full and sufficient. When I had thus appeased heaven's
anger, I raised a tomb to the memory of Agamemnon that his
kleos might be inextinguishable, after which I had a quick
passage home, for the gods sent me a fair wind.
"And now for yourself - stay here
some ten or twelve days longer, and I will then speed you on your
way. I will make you a noble present of a chariot and three horses. I
will also give you a beautiful chalice that so long as you live you
may think of me whenever you make a drink-offering to the immortal
gods."
"Son of Atreus," replied
Telemakhos, "do not press me to stay longer; I should be contented to
remain with you for another twelve months; I find your conversation
so delightful that I should never once wish myself at home with my
parents; but my crew whom I have left at
Pylos are already impatient,
and you are detaining me from them. As for any present you may be
disposed to make me, I had rather that it should he a piece of plate.
I will take no horses back with me to
Ithaca, but will leave them to
adorn your own stables, for you have much flat ground in your kingdom
where lotus thrives, as also meadowsweet and wheat and barley, and
oats with their white and spreading ears; whereas in
Ithaca we have
neither open fields nor racecourses, and the country is more fit for
goats than horses, and I like it the better for that. None of our
islands have much level ground, suitable for horses, and
Ithaca least
of all."
Menelaos smiled and took
Telemakhos’ hand within his own. "What you say," said he, "shows
that you come of good family. I both can, and will, make this
exchange for you, by giving you the finest and most precious piece of
plate in all my house. It is a mixing-bowl by Hephaistos’ own
hand, of pure silver, except the rim, which is inlaid with gold.
Phaidimos, king of the Sidonians, gave it me in the course of a visit
which I paid him when I returned there on my homeward journey. I will
make you a present of it."
Thus did they converse as guests
kept coming to the king's house. They brought sheep and wine,
while their wives had put up bread for them to take with them; so
they were busy cooking their dinners in the courts.
Meanwhile the suitors were
throwing discs or aiming with spears at a mark on the leveled ground
in front of Odysseus’ house, and were behaving with all their
old hubris. Antinoos and Eurymakhos, who were their
ringleaders and much the foremost in aretê among them
all, were sitting together when Noemon son of Phronios came up and
said to Antinoos,
"Have we any idea, Antinoos, on
what day Telemakhos returns from
Pylos? He has a ship of mine, and I
want it, to cross over to
Elis: I have twelve brood mares there with
yearling mule foals by their side not yet broken in, and I want to
bring one of them over here and break him."
They were astounded when they
heard this, for they had made sure that Telemakhos had not gone to
the city of Neleus. They thought he was only away somewhere on the
farms, and was with the sheep, or with the swineherd; so Antinoos
said, "When did he go? Tell me truly, and what young men did he take
with him? Were they freemen or his own bondsmen - for he might manage
that too? Tell me also, did you let him have the ship of your own
free will because he asked you, or did he take it by force
[biê] without your leave?"
"I lent it him," answered Noemon.
"What else could I do when a man of his position said he was in a
difficulty and asked me to oblige him? I could not possibly refuse.
As for those who went with him they were the best young men we have
in the dêmos, and I saw Mentor go on board as leader -
or some god who was exactly like him. I cannot understand it, for I
saw Mentor here myself yesterday morning, and yet he was then setting
out for
Pylos."
Noemon then went back to his
father's house, but Antinoos and Eurymakhos were very angry.
They told the others to leave off competing [athlos],
and to come and sit down along with themselves. When they came,
Antinoos son of Eupeithes spoke in anger. His heart was black with
rage, and his eyes flashed fire as he said:
"Good heavens, this voyage of
Telemakhos is a very serious matter; we had made sure that it would
come to nothing, but the young man has got away in spite of us, and
with a crew picked [krînô] from the best
of the dêmos, too. He will be giving us trouble
presently; may Zeus destroy him with violence
[biê] before he is full grown. Find me a ship,
therefore, with a crew of twenty men, and I will lie in wait for him
in the straits between
Ithaca and
Samos; he will then rue the day
that he set out to try and get news of his father."
Thus did he speak, and the others
applauded his saying; they then all of them went inside the
buildings.
It was not long ere Penelope came
to know what the suitors were plotting; for a man servant, Medon,
overheard them from outside the outer court as they were laying their
schemes within, and went to tell his mistress. As he crossed the
threshold of her room Penelope said: "Medon, what have the suitors
sent you here for? Is it to tell the maids to leave their
master's business and cook dinner for them? I wish they may
neither woo nor dine henceforward, neither here nor anywhere else,
but let this be the very last time, for the waste you all make of my
son's estate. Did not your fathers tell you when you were
children how good Odysseus had been to them - never doing anything
high-handed, nor speaking harshly to anybody in the
dêmos? Such is the justice [dikê]
of divine kings: they may take a fancy to one man and dislike
another, but Odysseus never did an unjust thing by anybody - which
shows what bad hearts you have, and that there is no such thing as
gratitude [kharis] left in this world."
Then Medon said, "I wish, my
lady, that this were all; but they are plotting something much more
dreadful now - may heaven frustrate their design. They are going to
try and murder Telemakhos as he is coming home from
Pylos and
Lacedaemon, where he has been to get news of his father."
Then Penelope's heart sank
within her, and for a long time she was speechless; her eyes filled
with tears, and she could find no utterance. At last, however, she
said, "Why did my son leave me? What business had he to go sailing
off in ships that make long voyages over the ocean like sea-horses?
Does he want to die without leaving any one behind him to keep up his
name?"
"I do not know," answered Medon,
"whether some god set him on to it, or whether he went on his own
impulse to see if he could find out if his father was dead, or alive
and on his way home [nostos]."
Then he went downstairs again,
leaving Penelope in an agony of grief [akhos]. There
were plenty of seats in the house, but she had no heart for sitting
on any one of them; she could only fling herself on the floor of her
own room and cry; whereon all the maids in the house, both old and
young, gathered round her and began to cry too, till at last in a
transport of sorrow she exclaimed,
"My dears, heaven has been
pleased to try me with more affliction than any other woman of my age
and country. First I lost my brave and lion-hearted husband, who had
every good quality [aretê] under heaven, and
whose kleos was great over all
Hellas and middle
Argos; and
now my darling son is at the mercy of the winds and waves, without my
having heard one word about his leaving home. You hussies, there was
not one of you would so much as think of giving me a call out of my
bed, though you all of you very well knew when he was starting. If I
had known he meant taking this voyage, he would have had to give it
up, no matter how much he was bent upon it, or leave me a corpse
behind him - one or other. Now, however, go some of you and call old
Dolios, who was given me by my father on my marriage, and who is my
gardener. Bid him go at once and tell everything to
Laertes, who may
be able to hit on some plan for enlisting public sympathy on our
side, as against those who are trying to exterminate his own race and
that of Odysseus."
Then the dear old nurse Eurykleia
said, "You may kill me, my lady, or let me live on in your house,
whichever you please, but I will tell you the real truth. I knew all
about it, and gave him everything he wanted in the way of bread and
wine, but he made me take my solemn oath that I would not tell you
anything for some ten or twelve days, unless you asked or happened to
hear of his having gone, for he did not want you to spoil your beauty
by crying. And now, my lady, wash your face, change your dress, and
go upstairs with your maids to offer prayers to Athena, daughter of
Aegis-bearing Zeus, for she can save him even though he be in the
jaws of death. Do not trouble Laertes: he has trouble enough already.
Besides, I cannot think that the gods hate the race of the son of
Arceisius so much, but there will be a son left to come up after him,
and inherit both the house and the fair fields that lie far all round
it."
With these words she made her
mistress leave off crying, and dried the tears from her eyes.
Penelope washed her face, changed her dress, and went upstairs with
her maids. She then put some bruised barley into a basket and began
praying to Athena.
"Hear me," she cried, "Daughter
of Aegis-bearing Zeus, unweariable. If ever Odysseus while he was
here burned you fat thigh bones of sheep or heifer, bear it in mind
now as in my favor, and save my darling son from the villainy of the
suitors."
She cried aloud as she spoke, and
the goddess heard her prayer; meanwhile the suitors were clamorous
throughout the covered room, and one of them said:
"The queen is preparing for her
marriage with one or other of us. Little does she dream that her son
has now been doomed to die."
This was what they said, but they
did not know what was going to happen. Then Antinoos said, "Comrades,
let there be no loud talking, lest some of it get carried inside. Let
us be up and do that in silence, about which we are all of a
mind."
He then chose
[krînô] twenty men, and they went down to
their ship and to the sea side; they drew the vessel into the water
and got her mast and sails inside her; they bound the oars to the
thole-pins with twisted thongs of leather, all in due course, and
spread the white sails aloft, while their fine servants brought them
their armor. Then they made the ship fast a little way out, came on
shore again, got their suppers, and waited till night should
fall.
But Penelope lay in her own room
upstairs unable to eat or drink, and wondering whether her brave son
would escape, or be overpowered by the wicked suitors. Like a lioness
caught in the toils with huntsmen hemming her in on every side she
thought and thought till she sank into a slumber, and lay on her bed
bereft of thought and motion.
Then Athena bethought her of
another matter, and made a vision in the likeness of Penelope's
sister Iphthime daughter of Ikarios who had married Eumelos and lived
in
Pherai. She told the vision to go to the house of Odysseus, and to
make Penelope leave off crying, so it came into her room by the hole
through which the thong went for pulling the door to, and hovered
over her head, saying,
"You are asleep, Penelope: the
gods who live at ease will not suffer you to weep and be so sad. Your
son has done them no wrong, so he will yet come back to
you."
Penelope, who was sleeping
sweetly at the gates of dreamland, answered, "Sister, why have you
come here? You do not come very often, but I suppose that is because
you live such a long way off. Am I, then, to leave off crying and
refrain from all the sad thoughts that torture me? I, who have lost
my brave and lion-hearted husband, who had every good quality
[aretê] under heaven, and whose kleos was
great over all
Hellas and middle
Argos; and now my darling son has
gone off on board of a ship - a foolish man who has never been used
to undergoing ordeals [ponos], nor to going about
among gatherings of men. I am even more anxious about him than about
my husband; I am all in a tremble when I think of him, lest something
should happen to him, either from the people in the
dêmos where he has gone, or at sea, for he has many
enemies who are plotting against him, and are bent on killing him
before he can return home."
Then the vision said, "Take
heart, and be not so much dismayed. There is one gone with him whom
many a man would be glad enough to have stand by his side, I mean
Athena; it is she who has compassion upon you, and who has sent me to
bear you this message."
"Then," said Penelope, "if you
are a god or have been sent here by divine commission, tell me also
about that other unhappy one - is he still alive, or is he already
dead and in the house of Hades?"
And the vision said, "I shall not
tell you for certain whether he is alive or dead, and there is no use
in idle conversation."
Then it vanished through the
thong-hole of the door and was dissipated into thin air; but Penelope
rose from her sleep refreshed and comforted, so vivid had been her
dream.
Meantime the suitors went on
board and sailed their ways over the sea, intent on murdering
Telemakhos. Now there is a rocky islet called Asteris, of no great
size, in mid channel between
Ithaca and
Samos, and there is a harbor
on either side of it where a ship can lie. Here then the Achaeans
placed themselves in ambush.