The Odyssey
Book V
And now, as Dawn rose from her couch beside Tithonus- harbinger of light
alike to mortals and immortals- the gods met in council and with them,
Jove the lord of thunder, who is their king. Thereon Minerva began to tell
them of the many sufferings of Ulysses, for she pitied him away there in
the house of the nymph Calypso.
"Father Jove," said she, "and all you other gods that live in everlasting
bliss, I hope there may never be such a thing as a kind and well-disposed
ruler any more, nor one who will govern equitably. I hope they will be
all henceforth cruel and unjust, for there is not one of his subjects but
has forgotten Ulysses, who ruled them as though he were their father. There
he is, lying in great pain in an island where dwells the nymph Calypso,
who will not let him go; and he cannot get back to his own country, for
he can find neither ships nor sailors to take him over the sea. Furthermore,
wicked people are now trying to murder his only son Telemachus, who is
coming home from Pylos and Lacedaemon, where he has been to see if he can
get news of his father."
"What, my dear, are you talking about?" replied her father, "did
you not send him there yourself, because you thought it would help Ulysses
to get home and punish the suitors? Besides, you are perfectly able to
protect Telemachus, and to see him safely home again, while the suitors
have to come hurry-skurrying back without having killed
him."
When he had thus spoken, he said to his son Mercury, "Mercury,
you are our messenger, go therefore and tell Calypso we have decreed that
poor Ulysses is to return home. He is to be convoyed neither by gods nor
men, but after a perilous voyage of twenty days upon a raft he is to reach
fertile Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians, who are near of kin to the
gods, and will honour him as though he were one of ourselves. They will
send him in a ship to his own country, and will give him more bronze and
gold and raiment than he would have brought back from Troy, if he had had
had all his prize money and had got home without disaster. This is how
we have settled that he shall return to his country and his
friends."
Thus he spoke, and Mercury, guide and guardian, slayer of Argus,
did as he was told. Forthwith he bound on his glittering golden sandals
with which he could fly like the wind over land and sea. He took the wand
with which he seals men′s eyes in sleep or wakes them just as he pleases,
and flew holding it in his hand over Pieria; then he swooped down through
the firmament till he reached the level of the sea, whose waves he skimmed
like a cormorant that flies fishing every hole and corner of the ocean,
and drenching its thick plumage in the spray. He flew and flew over many
a weary wave, but when at last he got to the island which was his journey′s
end, he left the sea and went on by land till he came to the cave where
the nymph Calypso lived.
He found her at home. There was a large fire burning on the hearth,
and one could smell from far the fragrant reek of burning cedar and sandal
wood. As for herself, she was busy at her loom, shooting her golden shuttle
through the warp and singing beautifully. Round her cave there was a thick
wood of alder, poplar, and sweet smelling cypress trees, wherein all kinds
of great birds had built their nests- owls, hawks, and chattering sea-crows
that occupy their business in the waters. A vine loaded with grapes was
trained and grew luxuriantly about the mouth of the cave; there were also
four running rills of water in channels cut pretty close together, and
turned hither and thither so as to irrigate the beds of violets and luscious
herbage over which they flowed. Even a god could not help being charmed
with such a lovely spot, so Mercury stood still and looked at it; but when
he had admired it sufficiently he went inside the cave.
Calypso knew him at once- for the gods all know each other, no
matter how far they live from one another- but Ulysses was not within;
he was on the sea-shore as usual, looking out upon the barren ocean with
tears in his eyes, groaning and breaking his heart for sorrow. Calypso
gave Mercury a seat and said: "Why have you come to see me, Mercury- honoured,
and ever welcome- for you do not visit me often? Say what you want; I will
do it for be you at once if I can, and if it can be done at all; but come
inside, and let me set refreshment before you.
As she spoke she drew a table loaded with ambrosia beside him and
mixed him some red nectar, so Mercury ate and drank till he had had enough,
and then said:
"We are speaking god and goddess to one another, one another, and
you ask me why I have come here, and I will tell you truly as you would
have me do. Jove sent me; it was no doing of mine; who could possibly want
to come all this way over the sea where there are no cities full of people
to offer me sacrifices or choice hecatombs? Nevertheless I had to come,
for none of us other gods can cross Jove, nor transgress his orders. He
says that you have here the most ill-starred of alf those who fought nine
years before the city of King Priam and sailed home in the tenth year after
having sacked it. On their way home they sinned against Minerva, who raised
both wind and waves against them, so that all his brave companions perished,
and he alone was carried hither by wind and tide. Jove says that you are
to let this by man go at once, for it is decreed that he shall not perish
here, far from his own people, but shall return to his house and country
and see his friends again."
Calypso trembled with rage when she heard this, "You gods," she
exclaimed, to be ashamed of yourselves. You are always jealous and hate
seeing a goddess take a fancy to a mortal man, and live with him in open
matrimony. So when rosy-fingered Dawn made love to Orion, you precious
gods were all of you furious till Diana went and killed him in Ortygia.
So again when Ceres fell in love with Iasion, and yielded to him in a thrice
ploughed fallow field, Jove came to hear of it before so long and killed
Iasion with his thunder-bolts. And now you are angry with me too because
I have a man here. I found the poor creature sitting all alone astride
of a keel, for Jove had struck his ship with lightning and sunk it in mid
ocean, so that all his crew were drowned, while he himself was driven by
wind and waves on to my island. I got fond of him and cherished him, and
had set my heart on making him immortal, so that he should never grow old
all his days; still I cannot cross Jove, nor bring his counsels to nothing;
therefore, if he insists upon it, let the man go beyond the seas again;
but I cannot send him anywhere myself for I have neither ships nor men
who can take him. Nevertheless I will readily give him such advice, in
all good faith, as will be likely to bring him safely to his own
country."
"Then send him away," said Mercury, "or Jove will be angry with
you and punish you"′
On this he took his leave, and Calypso went out to look for Ulysses,
for she had heard Jove′s message. She found him sitting upon the beach
with his eyes ever filled with tears, and dying of sheer home-sickness;
for he had got tired of Calypso, and though he was forced to sleep with
her in the cave by night, it was she, not he, that would have it so. As
for the day time, he spent it on the rocks and on the sea-shore, weeping,
crying aloud for his despair, and always looking out upon the sea. Calypso
then went close up to him said:
"My poor fellow, you shall not stay here grieving and fretting
your life out any longer. I am going to send you away of my own free will;
so go, cut some beams of wood, and make yourself a large raft with an upper
deck that it may carry you safely over the sea. I will put bread, wine,
and water on board to save you from starving. I will also give you clothes,
and will send you a fair wind to take you home, if the gods in heaven so
will it- for they know more about these things, and can settle them better
than I can."
Ulysses shuddered as he heard her. "Now goddess," he answered,
"there is something behind all this; you cannot be really meaning to help
me home when you bid me do such a dreadful thing as put to sea on a raft.
Not even a well-found ship with a fair wind could venture on such a distant
voyage: nothing that you can say or do shall mage me go on board a raft
unless you first solemnly swear that you mean me no
mischief."
Calypso smiled at this and caressed him with her hand: "You know
a great deal," said she, "but you are quite wrong here. May heaven above
and earth below be my witnesses, with the waters of the river Styx- and
this is the most solemn oath which a blessed god can take- that I mean
you no sort of harm, and am only advising you to do exactly what I should
do myself in your place. I am dealing with you quite straightforwardly;
my heart is not made of iron, and I am very sorry for
you."
When she had thus spoken she led the way rapidly before him, and
Ulysses followed in her steps; so the pair, goddess and man, went on and
on till they came to Calypso′s cave, where Ulysses took the seat that Mercury
had just left. Calypso set meat and drink before him of the food that mortals
eat; but her maids brought ambrosia and nectar for herself, and they laid
their hands on the good things that were before them. When they had satisfied
themselves with meat and drink, Calypso spoke, saying:
"Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, so you would start home to your
own land at once? Good luck go with you, but if you could only know how
much suffering is in store for you before you get back to your own country,
you would stay where you are, keep house along with me, and let me make
you immortal, no matter how anxious you may be to see this wife of yours,
of whom you are thinking all the time day after day; yet I flatter myself
that at am no whit less tall or well-looking than she is, for it is not
to be expected that a mortal woman should compare in beauty with an
immortal."
"Goddess," replied Ulysses, "do not be angry with me about this.
I am quite aware that my wife Penelope is nothing like so tall or so beautiful
as yourself. She is only a woman, whereas you are an immortal. Nevertheless,
I want to get home, and can think of nothing else. If some god wrecks me
when I am on the sea, I will bear it and make the best of it. I have had
infinite trouble both by land and sea already, so let this go with the
rest."
Presently the sun set and it became dark, whereon the pair retired
into the inner part of the cave and went to bed.
When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Ulysses
put on his shirt and cloak, while the goddess wore a dress of a light gossamer
fabric, very fine and graceful, with a beautiful golden girdle about her
waist and a veil to cover her head. She at once set herself to think how
she could speed Ulysses on his way. So she gave him a great bronze axe
that suited his hands; it was sharpened on both sides, and had a beautiful
olive-wood handle fitted firmly on to it. She also gave him a sharp adze,
and then led the way to the far end of the island where the largest trees
grew- alder, poplar and pine, that reached the sky- very dry and well seasoned,
so as to sail light for him in the water. Then, when she had shown him
where the best trees grew, Calypso went home, leaving him to cut them,
which he soon finished doing. He cut down twenty trees in all and adzed
them smooth, squaring them by rule in good workmanlike fashion. Meanwhile
Calypso came back with some augers, so he bored holes with them and fitted
the timbers together with bolts and rivets. He made the raft as broad as
a skilled shipwright makes the beam of a large vessel, and he filed a deck
on top of the ribs, and ran a gunwale all round it. He also made a mast
with a yard arm, and a rudder to steer with. He fenced the raft all round
with wicker hurdles as a protection against the waves, and then he threw
on a quantity of wood. By and by Calypso brought him some linen to make
the sails, and he made these too, excellently, making them fast with braces
and sheets. Last of all, with the help of levers, he drew the raft down
into the water.
In four days he had completed the whole work, and on the fifth
Calypso sent him from the island after washing him and giving him some
clean clothes. She gave him a goat skin full of black wine, and another
larger one of water; she also gave him a wallet full of provisions, and
found him in much good meat. Moreover, she made the wind fair and warm
for him, and gladly did Ulysses spread his sail before it, while he sat
and guided the raft skilfully by means of the rudder. He never closed his
eyes, but kept them fixed on the Pleiads, on late-setting Bootes, and on
the Bear- which men also call the wain, and which turns round and round
where it is, facing Orion, and alone never dipping into the stream of Oceanus-
for Calypso had told him to keep this to his left. Days seven and ten did
he sail over the sea, and on the eighteenth the dim outlines of the mountains
on the nearest part of the Phaeacian coast appeared, rising like a shield
on the horizon.
But King Neptune, who was returning from the Ethiopians, caught
sight of Ulysses a long way off, from the mountains of the Solymi. He could
see him sailing upon the sea, and it made him very angry, so he wagged
his head and muttered to himself, saying, heavens, so the gods have been
changing their minds about Ulysses while I was away in Ethiopia, and now
he is close to the land of the Phaeacians, where it is decreed that he
shall escape from the calamities that have befallen him. Still, he shall
have plenty of hardship yet before he has done with
it."
Thereon he gathered his clouds together, grasped his trident, stirred
it round in the sea, and roused the rage of every wind that blows till
earth, sea, and sky were hidden in cloud, and night sprang forth out of
the heavens. Winds from East, South, North, and West fell upon him all
at the same time, and a tremendous sea got up, so that Ulysses′ heart began
to fail him. "Alas," he said to himself in his dismay, "what ever will
become of me? I am afraid Calypso was right when she said I should have
trouble by sea before I got back home. It is all coming true. How black
is Jove making heaven with his clouds, and what a sea the winds are raising
from every quarter at once. I am now safe to perish. Blest and thrice blest
were those Danaans who fell before Troy in the cause of the sons of Atreus.
Would that had been killed on the day when the Trojans were pressing me
so sorely about the dead body of Achilles, for then I should have had due
burial and the Achaeans would have honoured my name; but now it seems that
I shall come to a most pitiable end."
As he spoke a sea broke over him with such terrific fury that the
raft reeled again, 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 Ulysses was under water, and it was all he could do to rise
to the surface again, for the clothes Calypso 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, 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. It was as though the South, North, East, and
West winds were all playing battledore and shuttlecock with it at
once.
When he was in this plight, Ino daughter of Cadmus, also called
Leucothea, 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 Ulysses
now was, she had compassion upon him, and, rising like a sea-gull from
the waves, took her seat upon the raft.
"My poor good man," said she, "why is Neptune 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 Phaecian
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 dark blue waters.
But Ulysses 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."
While he was thus in two minds, Neptune 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. Ulysses 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 Neptune 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 Aegae where his palace is.
But Minerva resolved to help Ulysses, so she bound the ways of
all the winds except one, and made them lie quite still; but she roused
a good stiff breeze from the North that should lay the waters till Ulysses
reached the land of the Phaeacians where he would be
safe.
Thereon he floated about for two nights and two days in the water,
with a heavy swell on the sea and death staring him in the face; but when
the third day broke, the wind fell and there was a dead calm without so
much as a breath of air stirring. As he rose on the swell he looked eagerly
ahead, and could see land quite near. Then, as children rejoice when their
dear father begins to get better after having for a long time borne sore
affliction sent him by some angry spirit, but the gods deliver him from
evil, so was Ulysses thankful when he again saw land and trees, and swam
on with all his strength that he might once more set foot upon dry ground.
When, however, he got within earshot, he began to hear the surf thundering
up against the rocks, for the swell still broke against them with a terrific
roar. Everything was enveloped in spray; there were no harbours where a
ship might ride, nor shelter of any kind, but only headlands, low-lying
rocks, and mountain tops.
Ulysses′ heart now began to fail him, and he said despairingly
to himself, "Alas, Jove has let me see land after swimming so far that
I had given up all hope, but I can find no landing place, for the coast
is rocky and surf-beaten, the rocks are smooth and rise sheer from the
sea, with deep water close under them so that I cannot climb out for want
of foothold. I am afraid some great wave will lift me off my legs and dash
me against the rocks as I leave the water- which would give me a sorry
landing. If, on the other hand, I swim further in search of some shelving
beach or harbour, a hurricane may carry me out to sea again sorely against
my will, or heaven may send some great monster of the deep to attack me;
for Amphitrite breeds many such, and I know that Neptune is very angry
with me."
While he was thus in two minds a wave caught him and took him with
such force against the rocks that he would have been smashed and torn to
pieces if Minerva had not shown him what to do. He caught hold of the rock
with both hands and clung to it groaning with pain till the wave retired,
so he was saved that time; but presently the wave came on again and carried
him back with it far into the sea-tearing his hands as the suckers of a
polypus are torn when some one plucks it from its bed, and the stones come
up along with it even so did the rocks tear the skin from his strong hands,
and then the wave drew him deep down under the water.
Here poor Ulysses would have certainly perished even in spite of
his own destiny, if Minerva had not helped him to keep his wits about him.
He swam seaward again, beyond reach of the surf that was beating against
the land, and at the same time he kept looking towards the shore to see
if he could find some haven, or a spit that should take the waves aslant.
By and by, as he swam on, he came to the mouth of a river, and here he
thought would be the best place, for there were no rocks, and it afforded
shelter from the wind. He felt that there was a current, so he prayed inwardly
and said:
"Hear me, O King, whoever you may be, and save me from the anger
of the sea-god Neptune, for I approach you prayerfully. Any one who has
lost his way has at all times a claim even upon the gods, wherefore in
my distress I draw near to your stream, and cling to the knees of your
riverhood. Have mercy upon me, O king, for I declare myself your
suppliant."
Then the god stayed his stream and stilled the waves, making all
calm before him, and bringing him safely into the mouth of the river. Here
at last Ulysses′ knees and strong hands failed him, for the sea had completely
broken him. His body was all swollen, and his mouth and nostrils ran down
like a river with sea-water, so that he could neither breathe nor speak,
and lay swooning from sheer exhaustion; presently, when he had got his
breath and came to himself again, he took off the scarf that Ino had given
him and threw it back into the salt stream of the river, whereon Ino received
it into her hands from the wave that bore it towards her. Then he left
the river, laid himself down among the rushes, and kissed the bounteous
earth.
"Alas," he cried to himself in his dismay, "what ever will become
of me, and how is it all to end? If I stay here upon the river bed through
the long watches of the night, I am so exhausted that the bitter cold and
damp may make an end of me- for towards sunrise there will be a keen wind
blowing from off the river. If, on the other hand, I climb the hill side,
find shelter in the woods, and sleep in some thicket, I may escape the
cold and have a good night′s rest, but some savage beast may take advantage
of me and devour me."
In the end he deemed it best to take to the woods, and he found
one upon some high ground not far from the water. There he crept beneath
two shoots of olive that grew from a single stock- the one an ungrafted
sucker, while the other had been grafted. No wind, however squally, could
break through the cover they afforded, nor could the sun′s rays pierce
them, nor the rain get through them, so closely did they grow into one
another. Ulysses crept under these and began to make himself a bed to lie
on, for there was a great litter of dead leaves lying about- enough to
make a covering for two or three men even in hard winter weather. He was
glad enough to see this, so he laid himself down and heaped the leaves
all round him. Then, as one who lives alone in the country, far from any
neighbor, hides a brand as fire-seed in the ashes to save himself from
having to get a light elsewhere, even so did Ulysses cover himself up with
leaves; and Minerva shed a sweet sleep upon his eyes, closed his eyelids,
and made him lose all memories of his sorrows.
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