From HOMER'S ILIAD Angered against Agamemnon, the greatest king among the Achaeans besieging Troy, Achilles withdrew himself from battle. His mother Thetis secured from Zeus a pledge to honor her offended son at the expense of the Achaeans. With the Trojans gaining advantage, Agamemnon sent an embassage to Achilles, but Achilles denied him. The Trojans pressed hard upon the Achaeans, and broke within the wall that they had built to protect their ships. Patroclus, in the borrowed armor of Achilles, drove away the enemy from the ships; but he was slain at last by Hector. The grief of Achilles for the slaying of his comrade made him secure new armor from Hephaestus and go forth to battle. He wrought havoc among the men of Troy, driving them back within their gates, and finally slew Hector, and dragged his body to the ships. THEY fought still like the rage of fire. And now Antilochus Came to Æacides, whose mind was much solicitous For that which, as he fear'd, was fall'n. He found him near the fleet With upright sail-yards, uttering this to his heroic conceit: "Ay me, why see the Greeks themselves, thus beaten from the field, And routed headlong to their fleet? O That all the ladies won by him and his now slaughter'd friend, Afflicted strangely for his plight, came shrieking from the tents, And fell about him, beat their breasts, their tender lineaments Dissolved with sorrow. And with them wept Nestor's warlike son, Fell by him, holding his fair hands, in fear he would have done His person violence; his heart, extremely straiten'd, burn'd, Beat, swell'd, and sigh'd as it would From HOMER'S ODYSSEY Odysseus, on his homeward voyage after the destruction of Troy, to resume his throne in the island kingdom of Ithaca, was pursued by the wrath of Poseidon. After three years of wanderings and adventures, he came shipwrecked and alone to Calypso's island, where for seven years he was held, an unwilling guest. At the instance of the goddess Athene, Zeus sent the messenger Hermes to Calypso with orders of release. Hermes delivered the message, and Calypso unwillingly consented to the departure of Odysseus. Freed from the toils of Calypso, he built a raft and again set sail for home. On the eighteenth day of his voyage, he was discovered by Poseidon, who wrecked him on the island of Phaeacia. Naked and fainting, he struggled ashore, and fell asleep under some shrubs, in a bed of leaves. Book VI begins at this point. Nausicaä, daughter of King Alcinoüs, aided Odysseus. At a banquet, on hearing a song of Troy, Odysseus could not keep back his tears. He disclosed his name, and recounted the marvels and the hardships of his experience. The Phaeacians bore him in one of their marvelous ships to the coast of Ithaca. After revealing himself to his son Telemachus, he slew the insolent suitors who for years had beset his loyal wife Penelope, and took her to his heart again. Finally, going to the farm of his father Laërtes, he reveals himself to the aged man. There is an insurrection of the kinsmen of the suitors; but Athene, in the guise of Mentor, makes peace. THUS charged he; nor Argicides denied, But to his feet his fair wing'd shoes he tied, Ambrosian, golden; that in his command. Put either sea, or the unmeasured land, With pace as speedy as a puff of wind. Then up his rod went, with which he declined The eyes of any waker, when he pleased, And any sleeper, when he wish'd, diseased. This took, he stoop'd Pieria, and thence Glid through the air, and Neptune's confluence Kiss'd as he flew, and check'd the waves as light As any sea-mew in her fishing flight Her thick wings sousing in the savoury seas; Like her, he pass'd a world of wilderness; But when the far-off isle he touch'd, he went Up from the blue sea to the continent, And reach'd the ample cavern of the Queen, Whom he within found; without seldom seen. A sun-like fire upon the hearth did flame; The matter precious, and divine the frame; Of cedar cleft and incense was the pile, That breathed an odour round about the isle. Herself was seated in an inner room, Whom sweetly sing he heard, and at her loom, About a curious web, whose yarn she threw In with a golden shittle. A grove grew In endless spring about her cavern round, With odorous cypress, pines, and poplars crown'd, Where hawks, sea-owls, and long-tongued bittours bred, And other birds their shady pinions spread; All fowls maritimal; none roosted there, But those whose labours in the waters were. A vine did all the hollow cave embrace, Still green, yet still ripe bunches gave it grace. Four fountains, one against another, pour'd Their silver streams; and meadows all enflower'd With sweet balm-gentle, and blue violets hid, That deck'd the soft breasts of each fragrant mead. Should any one, though he immortal were, Arrive and see the sacred objects there, He would admire them, and be overjoy'd; And so stood Hermes' ravish'd powers employ'd. But having all admir'd, he enter'd on The ample cave, nor could be seen unknown Of great Calypso (for all Deities are Prompt in each other's knowledge, though so far Sever'd in dwellings) but he could not see Ulysses there within; without was he Set sad ashore, where 'twas his use to view Th' unquiet sea, sigh'd, wept, and empty drew His heart of comfort. The Landing in Phaeacia (Book VI; translated by S. H. Butcher and A. Lang) See the note prefixed to "Hermes in Calypso's Island," above. So there he lay asleep, the steadfast goodly Odysseus, fordone with toil and drowsiness. Meanwhile Athene went to the land and the city of the Phæacians, who of old, upon a time, dwelt in spacious Hypereia; near the Cyclopes they dwelt, men exceeding proud, who harried them. continually, being mightier than they. Thence the godlike Nausithous made them depart, and he carried them away, and planted them in Scheria, far off from men that live by bread. And he drew a wall around the town, and builded houses and made temples for the gods and meted out the fields. Howbeit ere this had he been stricken by fate, and had gone down to the house of Hades, and now Alcinous was reigning, with wisdom granted by the gods. To his house went the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, devising a return for the great-hearted Odysseus. She betook her to the rich-wrought bower, wherein was sleeping a maiden like to the gods in form and comeliness, Nausicaa, the daughter of Alcinous, high of heart. Beside her on either hand of the pillars of the door were two handmaids, dowered with beauty from the Graces, and the shining doors were shut. But the goddess, fleet as the breath of the wind, swept towards the couch of the maiden, and stood above her head, and spake to her in the semblance of the daughter of a famous seafarer, Dymas, a girl of like age with Nausicaa, who had found grace in her sight. In her shape the grey-eyed Athene spake to the princess, saying: "Nausicaa, how hath thy mother so heedless a maiden to her daughter? Lo, thou hast shining raiment that lies by thee uncared for, and thy marriage-day is near at hand, when thou thyself must needs go beautifully clad, and have garments to give to them who shall lead thee to the house of the bridegroom! And, behold, these are the things whence a good report goes abroad among men, wherein a father and lady mother take delight. But come, let us arise and go a-washing with the breaking of the day, and I will follow with thee to be thy mate in the toil, that without delay thou mayst get thee ready, since truly thou art not long to be a maiden. Lo, already they are wooing thee, the noblest youths of all the Phæacians, among that people whence thou thyself dost draw thy lineage. So come, beseech thy noble father betimes in the morning to furnish thee with mules and a wain to carry the men's raiment, and the robes, and the shining coverlets. Yea and for thyself it is seeinlier far to go thus than on foot, for the places where we must wash are a great way off the town." So spake the grey-eyed Athene, and departed to Olympus, where, as they say, is the seat of the gods that standeth fast for ever. Not by winds is it shaken, nor ever wet with rain, nor doth the snow come nigh thereto, but most clear air is spread about it cloudless, and the white light floats over it. Therein the blessed gods are glad for all their days, and thither Athene went when she had shown forth all to the maiden. Anon came the throned Dawn, and awakened Nausicaa of the fair robes, who straightway marvelled on the dream, and went through the halls to tell her parents, her father dear and her mother. And she found them within, her mother sitting by the hearth with the women her handmaids, spinning yarn of sea-purple stain, but her father she met as he was going forth to the renowned kings in their council, whither the noble Phæacians called him. Standing close by her dear father she spake, saying: "Father, dear, couldst thou not lend me a high waggon with strong wheels, that I may take the goodly raiment to the river to wash, so much as I have lying soiled? Yea and it is seemly that thou thyself, when thou art with the princes in council, shouldest have fresh raiment to wear. Also, there are five dear sons of thine in the halls, two married, but three are lusty bachelors, and these are always eager for new-washen garments wherein to go to the dances; for all these things have I taken thought." This she said, because she was ashamed to speak of glad marriage to her father; but he saw all and answered, saying: "Neither the mules nor aught else do I grudge thee, my child. Go thy ways, and the thralls shall get thee ready a high waggon with good wheels, and fitted with an upper frame." Therewith he called to his men, and they gave ear, and without the palace they made ready the smooth-running mule-wain, and led the mules beneath the yoke, and harnessed them under the car, while the maiden brought forth from her bower the shining raiment. This she stored in the polished car, and her mother filled a basket with all manner of food to the heart's desire, dainties too she set therein, and she poured wine into a goat-skin bottle, while Nausicaa climbed into the wain. And her mother gave her soft olive oil also in a golden cruse, that she and her maidens might anoint themselves after the bath. Then Nausicaa took the whip and the shining reins, and touched the mules to start them; then there was a clatter of hoofs, and on they strained without flagging, with their load of the raiment and the maiden. Not alone did she go, for her attendants followed with her, Now when they were come to the beautiful stream of the river, where truly were the unfailing cisterns, and bright water welled up free from beneath, and flowed past, enough to wash the foulest garments clean, there the girls unharnessed the mules from under the chariot, and turning them loose they drove them along the banks of the eddying river to graze on the honey-sweet clover. Then they took the garments from the wain, in their hands, and bore them to the black water, and briskly trod them down in the trenches, in busy rivalry. Now when they had washed and cleansed all the stains, they spread all out in order along the shore of the deep, even where the sea, in beating on the coast, washed the pebbles clean. Then having bathed and anointed them well with olive oil, they took their mid-day meal on the river's banks, waiting till the clothes should dry in the brightness of the sun. Anon, when they were satisfied with food, the maidens and the princess, they fell to playing at ball, casting away their tires, and among them Nausicaa of the white arms began the song. And even as Artemis, the archer, moveth down the mountain, either along the ridges of lofty Taygetus or Erymanthus, taking her pastime in the chase of boars and swift deer, and with her the wild wood-nymphs disport them, the daughters of Zeus, lord of the ægis, and Leto is glad at heart, while high over all she rears her head and brows, and easily may she be known,—but all are fair; even so the girl unwed outshone her maiden company. But when now she was about going homewards, after yoking the mules and folding up the goodly raiment, then grey-eyed Athene turned to other thoughts, that so Odysseus might awake, and see the lovely maiden, who should be his guide to the city of the Phæacian men. So then the princess threw the ball at one of her company; she missed the girl, and cast the ball into the deep eddying current, whereat they all raised a piercing cry. Then the goodly Odysseus awoke and sat up, pondering in his heart and spirit: "Woe is me! to what men's land am I come now? say, are they froward, and wild, and unjust, or are they hospitable, and of Godfearing mind? How shrill a cry of maidens rings round me, of the nymphs that hold the steep hill-tops, and the river-springs, and the grassy water meadows! It must be, methinks, that I am near men of human speech. Go to, I myself will make trial and see." Therewith the goodly Odysseus crept out from under the coppice, having broken with his strong hand a leafy bough from the thick wood, to hold athwart his body, that it might hide his nakedness withal. And forth he sallied like a lion mountain-bred, trusting in his strength, who fares out blown and rained upon, with flaming eyes; amid the kine he |