Then, when we had got down to the sea shore we
drew our ship into the water and got her mast and sails into her; we also put
the sheep on board and took our places, weeping and in great distress of mind.
Circe, that great and cunning goddess, sent us a fair wind that blew dead aft
and stayed steadily with us keeping our sails all the time well filled; so we
did whatever wanted doing to the ship's gear and let her go as the wind and
helmsman headed her. All day long her sails were full as she held her course
over the sea, but when the sun went down and darkness was over all the earth,
we got into the deep waters of the river Okeanos, where lie the dêmos and city of the Cimmerians who live enshrouded
in mist and darkness which the rays of the sun never pierce neither at his
rising nor as he goes down again out of the heavens, but the poor wretches live
in one long melancholy night. When we got there we beached the ship, took the
sheep out of her, and went along by the waters of Okeanos till we came to the
place of which Circe had told us.
"Here Perimedes and Eurylokhos held the victims,
while I drew my sword and dug the trench a cubit each way. I made a
drink-offering to all the dead, first with honey and milk, then with wine, and
thirdly with water, and I sprinkled white barley meal over the whole, praying
earnestly to the poor feckless ghosts, and promising them that when I got back
to Ithaca I would sacrifice a barren
heifer for them, the best I had, and would load the pyre with good things. I
also particularly promised that Teiresias should have a black sheep to himself,
the best in all my flocks. When I had prayed sufficiently to the dead, I cut
the throats of the two sheep and let the blood run into the trench, whereon the
ghosts [psukhai] came trooping up from Erebus -
brides, young bachelors, old men worn out with toil, maids who had been crossed
in love, and brave men who had been killed in battle, with their armor still
smirched with blood; they came from every quarter and flitted round the trench
with a strange kind of screaming sound that made me turn pale with fear. When I
saw them coming I told the men to be quick and flay the carcasses of the two
dead sheep and make burnt offerings of them, and at the same time to repeat
prayers to Hades and to Persephone; but I sat where I was with my sword drawn
and would not let the poor feckless ghosts come near the blood till Teiresias
should have answered my questions.
"The first ghost [psukhê] that came was that of my comrade Elpenor, for he had not yet
been laid beneath the earth. We had left his body unwaked and unburied in
Circe's house, for other labor [ponos] was pressing
us. I was very sorry for him, and cried when I saw him: ‘Elpenor,’ said I, ‘how
did you come down here into this gloom and darkness? You have here on foot
quicker than I have with my ship.’
"‘Sir,’ he answered with a groan, ‘it was all
bad luck of a daimôn, and my own unspeakable
drunkenness. I was lying asleep on the top of Circe's house, and never thought
of coming down again by the great staircase, but fell right off the roof and
broke my neck, so my soul [psukhê] went down to the
house of Hades. And now I beseech you by all those whom you have left behind
you, though they are not here, by your wife, by the father who brought you up
when you were a child, and by Telemakhos who is the one hope of your house, do
what I shall now ask you. I know that when you leave this limbo you will again
hold your ship for the Aeaean island. Do not go thence leaving me unwaked and
unburied behind you, or I may bring the gods' anger upon you; but burn me with
whatever armor I have, build a grave marker [sêma]
for me on the sea shore that may tell people in days to come what a poor
unlucky man I was, and plant over my grave the oar I used to row with when I
was yet alive and with my messmates.’ And I said, ‘My poor man, I will do all
that you have asked of me.’
"Thus, then, did we sit and hold sad talk with
one another, I on the one side of the trench with my sword held over the blood,
and the ghost of my comrade saying all this to me from the other side. Then
came the ghost [psukhê] of my dead mother
Antikleia, daughter to Autolykos. I had left her alive when I set out for
Troy and was moved to tears when I
saw her, but even so, for all my sorrow I would not let her come near the blood
till I had asked my questions of Teiresias.
"Then came also the ghost [psukhê] of Theban Teiresias, with his golden scepter in his hand. He
knew me and said, ‘Odysseus, noble son of Laertes, why, poor man, have you left the light of day and come
down to visit the dead in this sad place? Stand back from the trench and
withdraw your sword that I may drink of the blood and answer your questions
truly.’
"So I drew back, and sheathed my sword, whereon
when he had drank of the blood he began with his prophecy [mantis].
"You want to know,’ said he, ‘about your return
home [nostos], but heaven will make this hard for
you. I do not think that you will escape the eye of Poseidon, who still nurses
his bitter grudge against you for having blinded his son. Still, after much
suffering you may get home if you can restrain yourself and your companions
when your ship reaches the Thrinacian island, where you will find the sheep and
cattle belonging to the sun, who sees and gives ear to everything. If you leave
these flocks unharmed and think of nothing but of getting home [nostos], you may yet after much hardship reach
Ithaca; but if you harm them, then
I forewarn you of the destruction both of your ship and of your men. Even
though you may yourself escape, you will return in bad plight after losing all
your men, in another man's ship, and you will find trouble in your house, which
will be overrun by high-handed people, who are devouring your substance under
the pretext of paying court and making presents to your wife.
"‘When you get home you will take your revenge
on these suitors; and after you have killed them by force [biê] or fraud in your own house, you must take a well-made oar and
carry it on and on, till you come to a country where the people have never
heard of the sea and do not even mix salt with their food, nor do they know
anything about ships, and oars that are as the wings of a ship. I will give you
this certain token [sêma] which cannot escape your
notice. A wayfarer will meet you and will say it must be a winnowing shovel
that you have got upon your shoulder; on this you must fix the oar in the
ground and sacrifice a ram, a bull, and a boar to Poseidon. Then go home and
offer hecatombs to the gods in heaven one after the other. As for yourself,
death shall come to you from the sea, and your life shall ebb away very gently
when you are full of years and peace of mind, and your people shall be
prosperous [olbios]. All that I have said will come
true.’
"‘This,’ I answered, ‘must be as it may please
heaven, but tell me and tell me true, I see my poor mother's ghost [psukhê] close by us; she is sitting by the blood
without saying a word, and though I am her own son she does not remember me and
speak to me; tell me, Sir, how I can make her know me.’
"‘That,’ said he, ‘I can soon do. Any ghost
that you let taste of the blood will talk with you like a reasonable being, but
if you do not let them have any blood they will go away again.’
"On this the ghost [psukhê] of Teiresias went back to the house of Hades, for his
prophecies had now been spoken, but I sat still where I was until my mother
came up and tasted the blood. Then she knew me at once and spoke fondly to me,
saying, ‘My son, how did you come down to this abode of darkness while you are
still alive? It is a hard thing for the living to see these places, for between
us and them there are great and terrible waters, and there is Okeanos, which no
man can cross on foot, but he must have a good ship to take him. Are you all
this time trying to find your way home from Troy, and have you never yet got back to Ithaca nor seen your wife in your own
house?’
"‘Mother,’ said I, ‘I was forced to come here
to consult the ghost [psukhê] of the Theban seer
Teiresias. I have never yet been near the Achaean land nor set foot on my
native country, and I have had nothing but one long series of misfortunes from
the very first day that I set out with Agamemnon for Ilion, the land of noble steeds, to fight the
Trojans. But tell me, and tell me true, in what way did you die? Did you have a
long illness, or did heaven grant you a gentle easy passage to eternity? Tell
me also about my father, and the son whom I left behind me; is my property
still in their hands, or has some one else got hold of it, who thinks that I
shall not return to claim it? Tell me again what my wife intends doing, and in
what mind [noos] she is; does she live with my son
and guard my estate securely, or has she made the best match she could and
married again?’
"My mother answered, ‘Your wife still remains
in your house, but she is in great distress of mind and spends her whole time
in tears both night and day. No one as yet has got possession of your fine
property, and Telemakhos still holds your lands undisturbed. He has to
entertain largely, as of course he must, considering his position as a
magistrate, and how every one invites him; your father remains at his old place
in the country and never goes near the town. He has no comfortable bed nor
bedding; in the winter he sleeps on the floor in front of the fire with the men
and goes about all in rags, but in summer, when the warm weather comes on
again, he lies out in the vineyard on a bed of vine leaves thrown anyhow upon
the ground, in grief [akhos]. He is in continual
distress [penthos] about your never having achieved
a homecoming [nostos], and suffers more and more as
he grows older. As for my own end it was in this wise: heaven did not take me
swiftly and painlessly in my own house, nor was I attacked by any illness such
as those that generally wear people out and kill them, but my longing to know
what you were doing and the force of my affection for you - this it was that
was the death of me.’
"Then I tried to find some way of embracing my
mother's ghost [psukhê]. Thrice I sprang towards
her and tried to clasp her in my arms, but each time she flitted from my
embrace as it were a dream or phantom, and being touched to the quick I said to
her, ‘Mother, why do you not stay still when I would embrace you? If we could
throw our arms around one another we might find sad comfort in the sharing of
our sorrows [akhos] even in the house of Hades;
does Persephone want to lay a still further load of grief upon me by mocking me
with a phantom only?’
"‘My son,’ she answered, ‘most ill-fated of all
humankind, it is not Persephone that is beguiling you, but all people are like
this when they are dead. The sinews no longer hold the flesh and bones
together; these perish in the fierceness of consuming fire as soon as life has
left the body, and the soul [psukhê] flits away as
though it were a dream. Now, however, go back to the light of day as soon as
you can, and note all these things that you may tell them to your wife
hereafter.’
"Thus did we converse, and anon Persephone sent
up the ghosts of the wives and daughters of all the most famous men. They
gathered in crowds about the blood, and I considered how I might question them
severally. In the end I deemed that it would be best to draw the keen blade
that hung by my sturdy thigh, and keep them from all drinking the blood at
once. So they came up one after the other, and each one as I questioned her
told me her race and lineage.
"The first I saw was Tyro. She was daughter of
Salmoneus and wife of Cretheus the son of Aeolus. She fell in love with the
river Enipeus who is much the most beautiful river in the whole world. Once
when she was taking a walk by his side as usual, Poseidon, disguised as her
lover, lay with her at the mouth of the river, and a huge seething wave arched
itself like a mountain over them to hide both woman and god, whereon he loosed
her virgin girdle and laid her in a deep slumber. When the god had accomplished
the deed of love, he took her hand in his own and said, ‘Tyro, rejoice in all
good will; the embraces of the gods are not fruitless, and you will have fine
twins about this time twelve months. Take great care of them. I am Poseidon, so
now go home, but hold your tongue and do not tell any one.’
"Then he dived under the sea, and she in due
course bore Pelias and Neleus, who both of them served Zeus with all their
might. Pelias was a great breeder of sheep and lived in Iolkos, but the other
lived in Pylos. The rest of her
children were by Cretheus, namely, Aison, Pheres, and Amythaon, who was a
mighty warrior and charioteer.
"Next to her I saw Antiope, daughter to Asopos,
who could boast of having slept in the arms of even Zeus himself, and who bore
him two sons Amphion and Zethos. These founded Thebes with its seven gates, and built a wall all round it; for
strong though they were they could not hold Thebes till they had walled it.
"Then I saw Alkmene, the wife of Amphitryon,
who also bore to Zeus indomitable Herakles; and Megara who was daughter to
great King Kreon, and married the redoubtable son of Amphitryon.
"I also saw fair Epikaste mother of king
Oedipus whose awful lot it was to marry her own son without suspecting it in
her noos. He married her after having killed his
father, but the gods proclaimed the whole story to the world; whereon he
remained king of Thebes, in great
grief for the spite the gods had borne him; but Epikaste went to the house of
the mighty gatekeeper Hades, having hanged herself for grief, and the avenging
spirits haunted him as for an outraged mother - to his ruing bitterly
thereafter.
"Then I saw Chloris, whom Neleus married for
her beauty, having given priceless presents for her. She was youngest daughter
to Amphion son of Iasos and king of
Minyan Orkhomenos, and was Queen in Pylos. She bore Nestor, Chromios, and Periklymenos, and she
also bore that marvelously lovely woman Pero, who was wooed by all the country
round; but Neleus would only give her to him who should raid the cattle of
Iphikles from the grazing grounds of Phylake, and this was a hard task. The
only man who would undertake to raid them was a certain excellent seer [mantis], but the will of heaven was against him, for
the rangers of the cattle caught him and put him in prison; nevertheless when a
full year had passed and the same season [hôra]
came round again, Iphikles set him at liberty, after he had expounded all the
oracles of heaven. Thus, then, was the will of Zeus accomplished.
"And I saw Leda the wife of Tyndarus, who bore
him two famous sons, Castor breaker of horses, and Pollux the mighty boxer.
Both these heroes are lying under the earth, though they are still alive, for
by a special dispensation of Zeus, they die and come to life again, each one of
them every other day throughout all time, and they have the rank of gods.
"After her I saw Iphimedeia wife of Aloeus who
boasted the embrace of Poseidon. She bore two sons Otus and Ephialtes, but both
were short lived. They were the finest children that were ever born in this
world, and the best looking, Orion only excepted; for at nine years old they
were nine fathoms high, and measured nine cubits round the chest. They
threatened to make war with the gods in Olympus, and tried to set Mount Ossa on the top of Mount Olympus, and Mount Pelion on the top of
Ossa, that they might scale heaven itself, and they would have done it too if
they had been grown up, but Apollo, son of Leto, killed both of them, before
they had got so much as a sign of hair upon their cheeks or chin.
"Then I saw Phaedra, and Procris, and fair
Ariadne daughter of the magician Minos, whom Theseus was carrying off from
Crete to Athens, but he did not enjoy her, for
before he could do so Artemis killed her in the island of Dia on account of
what Bacchus had said against her.
"I also saw Maira and Klymene and hateful Eriphyle, who sold her own
husband for gold. But it would take me all night if I were to name every single
one of the wives and daughters of heroes whom I saw, and it is time [hôra] for me to go to bed, either on board ship with
my crew, or here. As for my escort, heaven and yourselves will see to it."
Here he ended, and the guests sat all of them
enthralled and speechless throughout the covered room. Then Arete said to
them:
"What do you think of this man, O Phaeacians?
Is he not tall and good looking, and is he not clever? True, he is my own
guest, but all of you share in the distinction. Do not be in a hurry to send
him away, nor be withholding in the presents you make to one who is in such
great need, for heaven has blessed all of you with great abundance."
Then spoke the aged hero Echeneus who was one
of the oldest men among them, "My friends," said he, "what our august queen has
just said to us is both reasonable and to the purpose, therefore be persuaded
by it; but the decision whether in word or deed rests ultimately with King
Alkinoos."
"The thing shall be done," exclaimed Alkinoos,
"as surely as I still live and reign over the Phaeacians. Our guest is indeed
very anxious to get home [nostos], still we must
persuade him to remain with us until tomorrow, by which time I shall be able to
get together the whole sum that I mean to give him. As regards his escort it
will be a matter for you all, and mine above all others as the chief person in
the dêmos."
And Odysseus answered, "King Alkinoos, if you
were to bid me to stay here for a whole twelve months, and then speed me on my
way, loaded with your noble gifts, I should obey you gladly and it would
redound greatly to my advantage, for I should return fuller-handed to my own
people, and should thus be more respected and beloved by all who see me when I
get back to Ithaca."
"Odysseus," replied Alkinoos, "not one of us
who sees you has any idea that you are a charlatan or a swindler. I know there
are many people going about who tell such plausible stories that it is very
hard to see through them, but there is a style about your language which
assures me of your good disposition. Moreover you have told the story of your
own misfortunes, and those of the Argives, as though you were a practiced bard;
but tell me, and tell me true, whether you saw any of the mighty heroes who
went to Troy at the same time with
yourself, and perished there. The evenings are still at their longest, and it
is not yet bed time [hôra] - go on, therefore, with
your divine story, for I could stay here listening till tomorrow morning, so
long as you will continue to tell us of your adventures."
"Alkinoos," answered Odysseus, "there is a time
[hôra] for making speeches, and a time [hôra] for going to bed; nevertheless, since you so
desire, I will not refrain from telling you the still sadder tale of those of
my comrades who did not fall fighting with the Trojans, but perished on their
return [nostos], through the treachery of a wicked
woman.
"When Persephone had dismissed the female
ghosts [psukhai] in all directions, the ghost
[psukhê] of Agamemnon son of Atreus came sadly
up to me, surrounded by those who had perished with him in the house of
Aigisthos. As soon as he had tasted the blood he knew me, and weeping bitterly
stretched out his arms towards me to embrace me; but he had no strength nor
substance any more, and I too wept and pitied him as I beheld him. ‘How did you
come by your death,’ said I, ‘King Agamemnon? Did Poseidon raise his winds and
waves against you when you were at sea, or did your enemies make an end of you
on the mainland when you were cattle-lifting or sheep-stealing, or while they
were fighting in defense of their wives and city?’
"‘Odysseus,’ he answered, ‘noble son of
Laertes, I was not lost at sea
in any storm of Poseidon's raising, nor did my foes dispatch me upon the
mainland, but Aigisthos and my wicked wife were the death of me between them.
He asked me to his house, feasted me, and then butchered me most miserably as
though I were a fat beast in a slaughter house, while all around me my comrades
were slain like sheep or pigs for the wedding breakfast, or dinner-party, or
gourmet feast of some great nobleman. You must have seen numbers of men killed
either in a general engagement, or in single combat, but you never saw anything
so truly pitiable as the way in which we fell in that room, with the
mixing-bowl and the loaded tables lying all about, and the ground reeking with
our blood. I heard Priam's daughter Cassandra scream as Clytemnestra killed her
close beside me. I lay dying upon the earth with the sword in my body, and
raised my hands to kill the slut of a murderess, but she slipped away from me;
she would not even close my lips nor my eyes when I was dying, for there is
nothing in this world so cruel and so shameless as a woman when she has fallen
into such guilt as hers was. Fancy murdering her own husband! I thought I was
going to be welcomed home by my children and my servants, but her abominable
crime has brought disgrace on herself and all women who shall come after - even
on the good ones.’
"And I said, ‘In truth Zeus has hated the house
of Atreus from first to last in the matter of their women's counsels. See how
many of us fell for Helen's sake, and now it seems that Clytemnestra hatched
mischief against you too during your absence.’
"‘Be sure, therefore,’ continued Agamemnon,
‘and not be too friendly even with your own wife. Do not tell her all that you
know perfectly well yourself. Tell her a part only, and keep your own counsel
about the rest. Not that your wife, Odysseus, is likely to murder you, for
Penelope is a very admirable woman, and has an excellent nature. We left her a
young bride with an infant at her breast when we set out for Troy. This child no doubt is now grown up
happily [olbios] to man's estate, and he and his
father will have a joyful meeting and embrace one another as it is right they
should do, whereas my wicked wife did not even allow me the happiness of
looking upon my son, but killed me ere I could do so. Furthermore I say - and
lay my saying to your heart - do not tell people when you are bringing your
ship to Ithaca, but steal a march upon
them, for after all this there is no trusting women. But now tell me, and tell
me true, can you give me any news of my son Orestes? Is he in Orkhomenos, or at Pylos, or is he at Sparta with Menelaos - for I presume that
he is still living.’
"And I said, ‘Agamemnon, why do you ask me? I
do not know whether your son is alive or dead, and it is not right to talk when
one does not know.’
"As we two sat weeping and talking thus sadly
with one another the ghost [psukhê] of Achilles
came up to us with Patroklos, Antilokhos, and Ajax who was the finest and
goodliest man of all the Danaans after the son of Peleus. The psukhê of the fleet descendant of Aiakos knew me and
spoke piteously, saying, ‘Odysseus, noble son of Laertes, what deed of daring will you
undertake next, that you venture down to the house of Hades among us silly
dead, who are but the ghosts of them that can labor no more?’
"And I said, ‘Achilles, son of Peleus, foremost
champion of the Achaeans, I came to consult Teiresias, and see if he could
advise me about my return home to Ithaca, for I have never yet been able to get near the Achaean
land, nor to set foot in my own country, but have been in trouble all the time.
As for you, Achilles, no one was ever yet so fortunate as you have been, nor
ever will be, for you were adored by all us Argives as long as you were alive,
and now that you are here you are a great prince among the dead. Do not,
therefore, take it so much to heart even if you are dead.’
"‘Say not a word,’ he answered, ‘in death's
favor; I would rather be a paid servant in a poor man's house and be above
ground than king of kings among the dead. But give me news about son; is he
gone to the wars and will he be a great warrior, or is this not so? Tell me
also if you have heard anything about my father Peleus - does he still rule
among the Myrmidons, or do they show him no respect throughout Hellas and Phthia now that he is old and his limbs fail him? Could I but
stand by his side, in the light of day, with the same strength that I had when
I killed the bravest of our foes upon the plain of Troy - could I but be as I then was and go
even for a short time to my father's house, any one who tried to do him
violence or supersede him would soon feel my strength and invincible
hands.’
"‘I have heard nothing,’ I answered, ‘of
Peleus, but I can tell you the truth [alêtheia]
about your son Neoptolemos, for I took him in my own ship from Skyros with the Achaeans. In our councils of
war before Troy he was always first
to speak, and his judgment was unerring. Nestor and I were the only two who
could surpass him; and when it came to fighting on the plain of Troy, he would never remain with the body of
his men, but would dash on far in front, foremost of them all in valor. Many a
man did he kill in battle - I cannot name every single one of those whom he
slew while fighting on the side of the Argives, but will only say how he killed
that valiant hero Eurypylos son of Telephus, who was the handsomest man I ever
saw except Memnon; many others also of the Ceteians fell around him by reason
of a woman's bribes. Moreover, when all the bravest of the Argives went inside
the horse that Epeios had made, and it was left to me to settle when we should
either open the door of our ambuscade, or close it, though all the other
leaders and chief men among the Danaans were drying their eyes and quaking in
every limb, I never once saw him turn pale nor wipe a tear from his cheek; he
was all the time urging me to break out from the horse - grasping the handle of
his sword and his bronze-shod spear, and breathing fury against the foe. Yet
when we had sacked the city of Priam he got his handsome share of the prize
wealth and went on board (such is the fortune of war) without a wound upon him,
neither from a thrown spear nor in close combat, for the rage of Ares is a
matter of great chance.’
"When I had told him this, the ghost [psukhê] of Achilles strode off across a meadow full of
asphodel, exulting over what I had said concerning the prowess of his son.
"The ghosts [psukhai] of other dead men stood near me and told me each his own
melancholy tale; but the psukhê of Ajax son of
Telamon alone held aloof - still angry with me for having won the cause in our
dispute about the armor of Achilles. Thetis had offered it as a prize, but the
Trojan prisoners and Athena were the judges. Would that I had never gained the
day in such a contest [athlos], for it cost the
life of Ajax, who was foremost of all the Danaans after the son of Peleus,
alike in stature and prowess.
"When I saw him I tried to pacify him and said,
‘Ajax, will you not forget and forgive even in death, but must the judgment
about that hateful armor still rankle with you? It cost us Argives dear enough
to lose such a tower of strength as you were to us. We mourned you as much as
we mourned Achilles son of Peleus himself, nor can the blame [aitios] be laid on anything but on the spite which
Zeus bore against the Danaans, for it was this that made him counsel your
destruction - come here, therefore, bring your proud spirit into subjection,
and hear what I can tell you.’
"He would not answer, but turned away to Erebus
and to the other ghosts [psukhai]; nevertheless, I
should have made him talk to me in spite of his being so angry, or I should
have gone talking to him, only that there were still others among the dead whom
I desired to see.
"Then I saw Minos son of Zeus with his golden
scepter in his hand sitting in judgment on the dead, and the ghosts were
gathered sitting and standing round him in the spacious house of Hades, to
learn his sentences [dikai] upon them.
"After him I saw huge Orion in a meadow full of
asphodel driving the ghosts of the wild beasts that he had killed upon the
mountains, and he had a great bronze club in his hand, unbreakable for ever and
ever.
"And I saw Tityus son of Gaia stretched upon
the plain and covering some nine acres of ground. Two vultures on either side
of him were digging their beaks into his liver, and he kept on trying to beat
them off with his hands, but could not; for he had violated Zeus’ mistress Leto
as she was going through Panopeus on her way to Pytho.
"I saw also the dreadful fate of Tantalus, who
stood in a lake that reached his chin; he was dying to quench his thirst, but
could never reach the water, for whenever the poor creature stooped to drink,
it dried up and vanished, so that there was nothing but dry ground - parched by
a daimôn. There were tall trees, moreover, that
shed their fruit over his head - pears, pomegranates, apples, sweet figs and
juicy olives, but whenever the poor creature stretched out his hand to take
some, the wind tossed the branches back again to the clouds.
"And I saw Sisyphus at his endless task raising
his prodigious stone with both his hands. With hands and feet he tried to roll
it up to the top of the hill, but always, just before he could roll it over on
to the other side, its weight would be too much for him, and the pitiless stone
would come thundering down again on to the plain. Then he would begin trying to
push it up hill again, and the sweat ran off him and the steam rose after
him.
"After him I saw mighty Herakles, but it was
his phantom only, for he is feasting ever with the immortal gods, and has
lovely Hebe to wife, who is daughter of Zeus and Hera. The ghosts were
screaming round him like scared birds flying in all directions. He looked black
as night with his bare bow in his hands and his arrow on the string, glaring
around as though ever on the point of taking aim. About his breast there was a
wondrous golden belt adorned in the most marvelous fashion with bears, wild
boars, and lions with gleaming eyes; there was also war, battle, and death. The
man who made that belt, do what he might, would never be able to make another
like it. Herakles knew me at once when he saw me, and spoke piteously, saying,
‘My poor Odysseus, noble son of Laertes, are you too leading the same sorry
kind of life that I did when I was above ground? I was son of Zeus, but I went
through an infinity of suffering, for I became bondsman to one who was far
beneath me - a lowly man who set me all manner of labors [athloi]. He once sent me here to fetch the hell-hound - for he did
not think he could find any athlos harder for me
than this, but I got the hound out of Hades and brought him to him, for Hermes
and Athena helped me.’
"On this Herakles went down again into the
house of Hades, but I stayed where I was in case some other of the mighty dead
should come to me. And I should have seen still other of them that are gone
before, whom I would fain have seen - Theseus and Peirithoos glorious children
of the gods, but so many thousands of ghosts came round me and uttered such
appalling cries, that I was panic stricken lest Persephone should send up from
the house of Hades the head of that awful monster Gorgon. On this I hastened
back to my ship and ordered my men to go on board at once and loose the
hawsers; so they embarked and took their places, whereon the ship went down the
stream of the river Okeanos. We had to row at first, but presently a fair wind
sprang up.