Transcript Document 7339979

Book 10 Circe
Aeolus and the winds
(17) For a full month Aeolus made me welcome and questioned me about each thing,
[15] about Ilium, and the ships of the Argives, and the return of the Achaeans. And I
told him all the tale in due order. But when I, on my part, asked him that I might
depart and bade him send me on my way, he, too, denied me nothing, but furthered
my sending. He gave me a bag, made of the hide of an ox nine years old, which he
flayed, [20] and therein he bound the paths of the blustering winds.
(46) [40] Much goodly treasure is he carrying with him from the land of Troy from
out the spoil, while we, who have accomplished the same journey as he, are
returning, bearing with us empty hands. And now Aeolus has given him these gifts,
granting them freely of his love. Nay, come, let us quickly see what is here, [45] what
store of gold and silver is in the bag.’
Laestrygonians (89)
(125) At once she called from the place of assembly the glorious Antiphates,
[115] her husband, and he devised for them woeful destruction. Straightway
he seized one of my comrades and made ready his meal, but the other two
sprang up and came in flight to the ships.
(142) [130] And they all tossed the sea with their oar-blades in fear of death,
and joyfully seaward, away from the beetling cliffs, my ship sped on; but all
those other ships were lost together there.
Circe
(145) From there we sailed on, grieved at heart, glad to have escaped death, though we
had lost our dear comrades; [135] and we came to the isle of Aeaea, where dwelt fairtressed Circe, a dread goddess of human speech, own sister to Aeetes of baneful mind;
and both are sprung from Helius, who gives light to mortals, and from Perse, their
mother, whom Oceanus begot.
Hermes’ moly
(325) When Circe hits you with her long wand, then draw your
sharp sword from beside your thigh, [295] and rush upon Circe, as
though you would slay her. And she will be seized with fear, and
will bid you lie with her. Do not refuse the couch of the goddess, so
that she may set free your comrades, and give you hospitality. But
bid her swear a great oath by the blessed gods, [300] that she will
not plot against you any fresh mischief to hurt you, so that when
she has you stripped she may not render you a weakling and
unmanned.’
So saying, Argeiphontes gave me the herb, drawing it from the
ground, and showed me its nature. At the root it was black, but its
flower was like milk. [305] Moly the gods call it, and it is hard for
mortal men to dig; but with the gods all things are possible.
(539) You must first complete another journey, and come to the house of Hades and
dread Persephone, to seek soothsaying of the spirit of Theban Teiresias, the blind seer,
whose mind abides steadfast. To him even in death Persephone has granted reason,
[495] that he alone should have understanding; but the others flit about as shadows.’
(557) The breath of the North Wind will bear your ship onward. But when in your ship
you have crossed the stream of Oceanus, there is a level shore and the groves of
Persephone — [510] tall poplars, and willows that shed their fruit — there beach your
ship by the deep eddying Oceanus, and go yourself to the dank house of Hades. There
into Acheron flow Periphlegethon and Cocytus, which is a branch of the water of the
Styx; [515] and there is a rock, and the meeting place of the two roaring rivers.
Pyriphlegethon (fire) and Styx (hate) Kokytos (wailing) flow into Acheron (woe)
Book 11 The Dead
eschat/ology
kata/basis
nekuia
Cimmerians (Men of Winter 14)
Nekuia
(25) “Here Perimedes and Eurylochus held the victims, while I drew my
sharp sword from beside my thigh, [25] and dug a pit of a cubit's length
this way and that, and around it poured a libation to all the dead, first
with milk and honey, thereafter with sweet wine, and in the third place
with water, and I sprinkled thereon white barley meal. And I earnestly
entreated the powerless heads of the dead, [30] vowing that when I came
to Ithaca I would sacrifice in my halls a barren heifer, the best I had, and
pile the altar with goodly gifts, and to Teiresias alone would sacrifice
separately a ram, wholly black, the goodliest of my flocks.
Elpenor (79) Leave me not unwept and unburied as you go from there, and do
not turn away from me, lest perhaps I bring the wrath of the gods upon you. No,
burn me with my armour, all that is mine, [75] and heap up a mound
for me on the shore of
the grey sea, in
memory of an
unhappy man, that
men yet to be may
learn of me. Fulfil
this my prayer, and
fix upon the mound
my oar wherewith I
rowed in life when I
was among my
comrades.’
(136) But when you have slain the wooers in your halls, [120] whether by guile or
openly with the sharp sword, then go forth, taking a shapely oar, until you come to men
who know nothing of the sea and eat no food mingled with salt, and they know nothing
of ships with purple cheeks or of shapely oars that are as wings unto ships. And I will
tell you a very clear sign, which will not escape you. When another wayfarer, on
meeting you, says that you have a winnowing-fan on your stout shoulder, then fix in the
earth your shapely oar [130] and make goodly offerings to lord Poseidon — a ram, and
a bull, and a boar that mates with sows — and depart for your home and offer sacred
hecatombs to the immortal gods who hold broad heaven, to each one in due order.
(233) So she spoke, and I pondered in heart, and longed [205] to clasp the spirit of my
dead mother. Thrice I sprang towards her, and my heart bade me clasp her, and thrice
she flitted from my arms like a shadow or a dream, and pain grew ever sharper at my
heart.
(247) [215] “So I spoke, and my honored mother straightway answered: ‘Ah me, my
child, ill-fated above all men, in no way does Persephone, the daughter of Zeus, deceive
you, but this is the appointed way with mortals when one dies. For the sinews no longer
hold the flesh and the bones together, [220] but the strong might of blazing fire destroys
these, as soon as the life leaves the white bones, and the spirit, like a dream, flits away,
and hovers to and fro. But make haste to the light with what speed you may, and bear all
these things in mind, that you may hereafter tell them to your wife.’
(417) But upon you is grace of words, and within you is a heart of wisdom,
and your tale you have told with skill, as does a minstrel, even the grievous
woes of all the Argives and of yourself. [370] But come, tell me this, and
declare it truly, whether you saw any of thy godlike comrades, who went to
Ilium together with you, and there met their fate. The night is before us, long,
wondrous long, and it is not yet the time for sleep in the hall.
Agamemnon
(499) ‘Therefore in your own case never be gentle even to your wife. Declare
not to her all the thoughts of your heart, but tell her somewhat, and let
somewhat also be hidden. Yet not upon you, Odysseus, shall death come from
your wife, [445] for very prudent and of an understanding heart is the daughter
of Icarius, wise Penelope.
Achilles
(555) Seek not to speak soothingly to me of death, glorious Odysseus. I should choose,
so I might live on earth, to serve as the hireling of another, [490] of some portionless
man whose livelihood was but small, rather than to be lord over all the dead that have
perished. But come, tell me tidings of my son, that lordly youth, whether or not he
followed to the war to be a leader.
Neoptolemus, Ajax, Minos, Orion, Tityus, Tantalus, Sisyphus, Heracles