[548] "Therefore, sir, do you on your
part affect no more concealment nor reserve in the matter about which
I shall ask you; it will be more polite in you to give me a plain
answer; tell me the name by which your father and mother over yonder
used to call you, and by which you were known among your neighbors
and fellow-citizens. There is no one, neither rich nor poor, who is
absolutely without any name whatever, for people's fathers and
mothers give them names as soon as they are born. Tell me also your
country, nation dmos, and city, that our ships may
shape their purpose accordingly and take you there. For the
Phaeacians have no pilots; their vessels have no rudders as those of
other nations have, but the ships themselves understand what it is
that we are thinking about and want; they know all the cities and
countries in the whole world, and can traverse the sea just as well
even when it is covered with mist and cloud, so that there is no
danger of being wrecked or coming to any harm. Still I do remember
hearing my father say that Poseidon was angry with us for being too
easy-going in the matter of giving people escorts. He said that one
of these days he should wreck a ship of ours as it was returning from
having escorted some one, and envelop our city with a high mountain.
This is what the old man used to say, but whether the god will carry
out his threat or no is a matter which he will decide for
himself.
[572] And now, tell me and tell me
true. Where have you been wandering, and in what countries have you
traveled? Tell us of the peoples themselves, and of their cities -
who were hostile, savage and uncivilized [not
dikaios], and who, on the other hand, hospitable and
endowed with a god-fearing noos. Tell us also why you are made
unhappy on hearing about the return of the Argive Danaans from Troy.
The gods arranged all this, and sent them their misfortunes in order
that future generations might have something to sing about. Did you
lose some brave kinsman of your wife's when you were before
Troy? A son-in-law or father-in-law - which are the nearest relations
a man has outside his own flesh and blood? Or was it some brave and
kindly-natured comrade - for a good friend is as dear to a man as his
own brother?" [586]
Book 9
Scroll 9
[1] And Odysseus answered, "King
Alkinoos, it is a good thing to hear a bard with such a divine voice
as this man has. There is nothing better or more delightful than when
merriment [euphrosun] prevails over a whole
dmos, with the guests sitting orderly to listen, while
the table is loaded with bread and meats, and the cup-bearer draws
wine and fills his cup for every man. This is indeed as fair a sight
as a man can see. Now, however, since you are inclined to ask the
story of my sorrows, and rekindle my own sad memories in respect of
them, I do not know how to begin, nor yet how to continue and
conclude my tale, for the hand of heaven has been laid heavily upon
me.
[16] "Firstly, then, I will tell you my
name that you too may know it, and that one day, if I outlive this
time of sorrow, I may become a guest-friend to you, though I live so
far away from all of you. I am Odysseus son of Laertes, renowned
among humankind for all manner of subtlety, so that my kleos
ascends to heaven. I live in Ithaca, where there is a high mountain
called Neritum, covered with forests; and not far from it there is a
group of islands very near to one another - Dulichium, Same, and the
wooded island of Zacynthus. It lies squat on the horizon, all highest
up in the sea towards the sunset, while the others lie away from it
towards dawn. It is a rugged island, but it breeds brave men, and my
eyes know none that they better love to look upon. The goddess
Calypso kept me with her in her cave, and wanted me to marry her, as
did also the cunning Aeaean goddess Circe; but they could neither of
them persuade me, for there is nothing dearer to a man than his own
country and his parents, and however splendid a home he may have in a
foreign country, if it be far from father or mother, he does not care
about it. Now, however, I will tell you of the many hazardous
adventures which by Zeus will I met with on my return
[nostos] from Troy.
[39] "When I had set sail thence the
wind took me first to Ismaros, which is the city of the Kikones.
There I sacked the town and put the people to the sword. We took
their wives and also much booty, which we divided equitably amongst
us, so that none might have reason to complain. I then said that we
had better make off at once, but my men very foolishly would not obey
me, so they stayed there drinking much wine and killing great numbers
of sheep and oxen on the sea shore. Meanwhile the Kikones cried out
for help to other Kikones who lived inland. These were more in
number, and stronger, and they were more skilled in the art of war,
for they could fight, either from chariots or on foot as the occasion
served; in the morning, therefore, they came as thick as leaves and
bloom in summertime [hra], and the hand of
heaven was against us, so that we were hard pressed. They set the
battle in array near the ships, and the hosts aimed their bronze-shod
spears at one another. So long as the day waxed and it was still
morning, we held our own against them, though they were more in
number than we; but as the sun went down, towards the time when men
loose their oxen, the Kikones got the better of us, and we lost half
a dozen men from every ship we had; so we got away with those that
were left.
[62] "Thence we sailed onward with
sorrow in our hearts, but glad to have escaped death though we had
lost our comrades, nor did we leave till we had thrice invoked each
one of the poor men who had perished by the hands of the Kikones.
Then Zeus raised the North wind against us till it blew a blast of
wind, so that land and sky were hidden in thick clouds, and night
sprang forth out of the heavens. We let the ships run before the
gale, but the force of the wind tore our sails to tatters, so we took
them down for fear of shipwreck, and rowed our hardest towards the
land. There we lay two days and two nights suffering much alike from
toil and distress of mind, but on the morning of the third day we
again raised our masts, set sail, and took our places, letting the
wind and steersmen direct our ship. I should have got home at that
time unharmed had not the North wind and the currents been against me
as I was doubling Cape Malea, and set me off my course hard by the
island of Cythera.