The Odyssey (Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection), page 19
My home is in Ithaca, an island that is clear to discern.
There is a mountain there, Neriton, easily seen, with shivering
leaves, and nearby lie many islands close to one another:
Dulichium and Same and Zacynthos, covered in woods.
Ithaca itself lies low in the sea, furthest out to the west,25
away from the others, which face the east and the sun’s rising.*
It is a rough land, but a good nurse of young men; I tell you,
I can think of no sight sweeter to a man than his own country.
Calypso, bright among goddesses, tried to keep me with her,
there in her hollow caverns, desiring me to be her husband;30
and in the same way Circe, the cunning woman of Aeaea,
sought to imprison me in her halls, desiring me to be her
husband; but she never persuaded the heart in my breast,
for there is nothing sweeter to a man than his own land
and parents, even if he lives in a wealthy house far away35
in a foreign country, separated from his father and mother.
So listen, and I will tell you of my troubled homecoming,
inflicted on me by Zeus as I was returning from Troy.
‘From Troy a wind bore me to the region of the Cicones,*
to Ismarus; and there we sacked their city and killed its men.40
From the city I took their wives and much treasure and
divided it, so that no one to my knowledge should go without
his share. Then I gave orders that we should make haste
and leave, but they, great fools, would not listen, and stayed
there on the shore, drinking great quantities of wine and45
slaughtering many sheep and crook-horned shambling cattle.
Meanwhile some Cicones went off and raised the alarm to
their neighbours who lived inland, and were moreover more
numerous and braver, skilled both at fighting against men
from chariots and also when they had to do battle on foot.50
They came at dawn, as many as leaves or flowers that appear
in season; and then an evil fate from Zeus stood close to us,
ill-fated as we were, and caused us to suffer many torments.
Both sides stood and fought a pitched battle by the swift ships,
hurling volleys of bronze-tipped spears at one another.55
As long as it was morning and the sacred day was growing,
we stood firm and, though outnumbered, kept them at bay;
but when the sun sloped towards the time for unyoking oxen,
the Cicones overpowered the Achaeans and put them to flight.
Six of my well-greaved companions out of each ship60
perished, but the rest of us fled, escaping death and fate.
‘From there we sailed on, grieving in our hearts, glad
to have escaped death but having lost our dear companions;
even so, I would not let our well-balanced ships sail until
we had made three ritual calls to each of our poor friends65
who had died on the plain, cut down by the Cicones.
Zeus the cloud-gatherer now roused the North Wind against
our ships with an astonishing blast, and hid earth and sea
alike in clouds; and night swept down from the high sky.
The ships were now pitching wildly, their sails torn70
into three or four pieces by the violence of the wind;
fearing destruction, we struck the sails down into the
ships, and taking to the oars rowed vigorously towards
land. There for two nights and two days on end we lay
at rest, eating our hearts out with anguish and weariness.75
When Dawn with her lovely hair brought the third day
we stepped the masts, hauled the white sails up, and sat
still; and the wind and the steersmen held us on our course.
And indeed I would have come unharmed to my own land,
had not the swell, the current, and the North Wind driven me80
off course as I rounded Malea, and sent me drifting past Cythera.*
‘For nine days after this I was borne along by deadly winds
over the fish-rich deep; and on the tenth day we reached
the land of the Lotus-eaters, who feed on a flowery food.
There we went ashore and drew water, and my companions85
lost no time in making their supper beside the swift ships.
When we had had our fill of eating and drinking I sent
some of my companions to go and find out what kind
of men, what eaters of bread, lived in this land, choosing
two and sending a third to accompany them as herald.90
Without more ado they set off, and found themselves among
the Lotus-eaters. So far from plotting destruction for our
companions, these people gave them some lotus to taste;
and whoever of them ate the honey-sweet fruit of the lotus,
no longer wished to come back and to bring us a report,95
but preferred to remain there with the Lotus-eaters,
browsing on the fruit and forgetting their journey home.*
These I forcibly brought back, weeping, to the hollow ships,
dragged them aboard, and tied them up under the benches.
Then I gave orders to the rest of my trusty companions100
to make haste and go on board the swift ships, in case
anyone else should eat the lotus and forget his homecoming.
They quickly embarked and took their seats at their oarlocks,
and sitting in rows they struck the grey sea with their oars.
‘From there we sailed on, grieving in our hearts, and came105
to the land of the Cyclopes,* arrogant and lawless beings,
who, leaving all responsibility to the immortal gods,
do not set their hands to planting crops or to ploughing.
Everything grows unsown, from fields that are untilled:
wheat and barley and vines that give wine in rich grape-110
clusters, and the rain from Zeus swells the fruit for them.
The Cyclopes have no counsel-forming assemblies, nor
any established laws, but live in hollow caverns on high
mountain peaks, and each man makes laws for his women
and children; and they have no interest at all in one another.115
‘Now, there is a low island lying off the harbour of
the Cyclopes’ land, neither near nor far away from it,
and wooded. It is the home of countless goats, wild
ones, for the footsteps of men do not trouble them,
nor do hunters visit it—hunters who live a hard life,120
pursuing their quarry over woods and mountain peaks.
The island is not given over to flocks or to arable land,
and for all time remains unsown and unploughed, free
from men’s presence and feeding only its bleating goats.
The Cyclopes, you see, have no crimson-cheeked ships,125
nor are there shipwrights among them, men who could
build strong-benched vessels so as to reach other men’s
cities and answer all the needs for which people often
cross the sea in ships, to meet one another. Men such as
these could have made this island a good place to settle,130
for it is by no means a poor land, and could bear everything
in season. There are meadows along the shore of the grey
sea, soft and well-watered, where grapes would never fail.
There is level land for ploughing; one could reap a good crop
every year in season, for there is a rich tilth below the surface.135
There is a good harbour, with no need for mooring-cables,
nor to drop anchor-stones or make fast with stern-ropes,
for a man has simply to beach his ship and wait until
the sailors’ spirit moves them and favourable breezes blow.
At the head of the harbour a stream of bright water flows,140
running from a spring deep in a cave; and around it grow
poplars. It was there that we stood in, and some god guided us
through the murky night, for there was no light to see;
a thick mist surrounded the ship, and there was no moon
shining from the high sky, for it was enveloped in clouds.145
There was no one whose eyes could make out the island,
nor were we able to see the long breakers rolling on to
the beach, until we ran our strongly benched ships ashore.
When we had beached them we lowered all the sails,
and disembarked at the place where the breakers reached.150
There we fell asleep and waited for the bright Dawn.
‘When early-born Dawn with her rosy fingers appeared
we ranged all over the island, amazed at what we saw.
Nymphs, daughters of Zeus who wields the aegis, started
some mountain goats so that my companions might eat;155
at once we fetched our curved bows and long-socketed hunting-
spears from the ships, and dividing ourselves into three parties,
we began to shoot; and a god soon sent us an abundant bag.
Twelve ships had accompanied me, and to each one nine goats
fell as their portion; but for me alone they picked out ten.160
And so, all day long until the setting of the sun, we sat there,
feasting on boundless quantities of meat and sweet wine;
the red wine in our ships had not yet given out, and there
was still some remaining, for each ship had drawn off
plenty in jars when we sacked the sacred city of the Cicones.165
We looked out at the land of the Cyclopes lying nearby,
and saw smoke and heard the bleating of sheep and goats.
When the sun went down and darkness came over us we
settled ourselves for sleep where the sea’s breakers reach.
‘When early-born Dawn with her rosy fingers appeared,170
then I called an assembly and addressed everyone:
“My trusty companions; the rest of you now stay here,
while I go in my ship, together with my companions,
and find out about these men, to see who they are,
if they are violent and uncivilized, and given to wrongdoing,175
or are hospitable, and there is in them a god-fearing disposition.”
‘So I spoke, and boarded my ship, and gave orders to my
companions to embark as well and cast off the stern-ropes.
Without more ado they went on board and sat at their oarlocks,
and sitting in rows they struck the grey sea with their oars.180
When we reached the agreed place, which lay close by,
there on a promontory we saw a cave next to the sea,
high up and overhung with bay-trees; here great flocks of
sheep and goats would spend the night, and around the cave
a high-walled yard was constructed with deep-bedded185
stones, the trunks of tall pine-trees, and high-leaved oaks.
Here a monstrous man spent his nights, one who pastured
his flocks on his own, away from everyone else; he had no
dealings with others, but lived apart with his lawless thoughts.
And indeed he was a monstrous, amazing sight, not at all190
like men who eat bread, but more like a wooded peak that
stands out alone on lofty mountains, distant from the rest.
‘At this point I ordered the rest of my trusty companions
to wait there beside the ship and mount guard over it,
while I chose the twelve who were the best of them, and195
set off. I had with me a goatskin filled with dark, sweet
wine which Maron, the son of Euanthes, priest of
Apollo who stands guard over Ismarus,* had given me
because we had protected him with his son and wife,
out of respect, for he lived in a grove of trees sacred to200
Phoebus Apollo. He presented me with splendid gifts:
seven talents of skilfully worked gold he gave me,
and a mixing-bowl that was made of solid silver,
and then he drew off sweet, unmixed wine into jars,
twelve in all; it was a divine drink. Not a single servant205
in his house, man or woman, knew of this wine, but
only he himself knew, his wife, and one housekeeper.
When he drank this red, honey-sweet wine, he would
fill one cup and add twenty measures of water;* and when
he poured it an amazingly sweet fragrance rose from210
the mixing-bowl; and then no one wanted to hold back.
I filled a great wineskin with this drink, and also put
provisions in a bag, for my proud spirit had a foreboding
that we were going to meet a man clothed in huge strength,
a savage with no understanding of either justice or laws.215
‘Quickly we reached the cave, but did not find him at home,
because he was tending his fat flocks out in his pastures.
We went into the cave, and looked wonderingly at everything.
There were baskets heavy with cheeses, and folds crowded
with lambs and kids; each kind was penned separately, the220
firstlings on their own, the later-born on their own, and the
newly weaned on their own; and all his well-made vessels,
the pails and bowls he used for milking into, were brimming
with whey. At first, my companions begged me to take
some of the cheeses and then go back and waste no225
time in driving some lambs and kids from their pens down
to the swift ship, and after that to set sail over the salt sea.
I was not persuaded—though it would have been much better—
as I wanted to see him, hoping he might give me presents; but
when he did appear my crew found him anything but pleasant.230
‘We lit a fire and made an offering, helped ourselves to some
cheeses and ate; then we sat down in the cave and waited.
When he came back, driving his flocks, he was carrying a
huge load of dry wood to serve him at supper time, and
after entering the cave he threw this down with a crash.235
We were terrified, and scuttled away into the cave’s recesses.
After this he drove all those of his fat flocks he was milking
into the wide cave, while he left the males—the rams and
billy-goats—beyond the door, outside in the high-walled yard.
Then he heaved up a huge rock and used it to block the door:240
a massy thing, one that not even twenty-two good four-
wheeled carts could have shifted it from the ground, so
massive was the steepling rock he set over the doorway.
Then he sat and began to milk his ewes and bleating goats,
all in due order, and under each mother he put her young.245
Half of the white milk he curdled straightaway, and then
collected the whey and set it aside in woven baskets;
and half he left to stand where it was in the pails, so that
it might be there for him to drink when he ate his supper.
When he had finished busying himself with his tasks250
he lit the fire and caught sight of us, and demanded:
“Strangers, who are you? Where have you sailed from, over
the watery ways? Are you after some business, or do you
roam on chance, like pirates who range over the sea, risking
their lives and bringing ruin to people in foreign lands?”255
‘So he spoke, and the hearts in us were shattered, terrified
as we were by the huge size of the man and his rumbling voice.
Even so, I answered him, addressing him in these words:
‘ “We are Achaeans, on our way from Troy, driven off course
by all the winds there are over the great gulf of the deep.260
We are making for home, but have taken the wrong way
and the wrong course; this I suppose was Zeus’ favoured plan.
We claim to be the war-band of Agamemnon, Atreus’ son,
whose fame is now the greatest there is under the high sky,
because he sacked that great city and killed many people.265
And now in turn we chance to come as suppliants at your
knees, hoping you will offer us hospitality, or else give us
the kind of present that is customary between host and guest.
So, master, show the gods respect; we are your suppliants,
and Zeus is the protector of suppliants and strangers, the270
guest-champion who attends strangers; they deserve respect.”
‘So I spoke, and he at once answered me from his ruthless heart:
“You are a fool, stranger, or you have come from very far away,
if you tell me to fear the gods or seek to avoid their anger.
We Cyclopes care not one jot for Zeus who wields the aegis,275
nor for the blessed gods, since we are much stronger than them;
for my part, I would spare neither you nor your companions
just to escape Zeus’ enmity, unless I was so inclined. But
tell me where you moored your well-made ship when you came;
was it somewhere far away, or nearby? I should like to know.”280
‘So he spoke, testing me, but I am a wise fellow and he did not
fool me, and I returned an answer to him in cunning words:
“As for my ship, Poseidon shaker of the earth has shattered it;
the wind drove us from the sea, and forced it against a headland,
hurling it onto rocks at the far limit of your country.285
But I and these men here managed to escape sheer destruction.”
‘So I spoke, and he in his pitiless heart made no reply, but
started up and, stretching out his hands towards my companions,
seized two of them as if they were puppies and beat their heads
on the ground; and their brains ran out and drenched the earth. 290
He then tore them limb from limb, and so prepared his supper;
