| Homer, Odyssey (English) (XML Header) [genre: poetry; hexameter] [word count] [lemma count] [Hom. Od.]. | ||
| <<Hom. Od. 10.382 | Hom. Od. 10.504 (Greek English(2)) | >>Hom. Od. 10.574 |
10.466"Thus did she speak and we
assented. We stayed with Circe for a whole twelvemonth feasting upon
an untold quantity both of meat and wine. But when the year had
passed, and the seasons [hôrai ] had turned
round, and the waning of moons and the long days had begun, my men
called me apart and said, ‘Sir, it is time you began to think
about going home, if so be you are to be spared to see your house and
native country at all.’
Laertes , you shall none of you stay here
any longer if you do not want to, but there is another journey which
you have got to take before you can sail homewards. You must go to
the house of Hades and of dread Persephone to consult the ghost
[psukhê ] of the blind Theban seer
[mantis ] Teiresias whose mind [phrenes ]
is still in place within him. To him alone has Persephone left his
consciousness [noos ] even in death, but the other
ghosts flit about aimlessly.’
Ithaca you will sacrifice a barren heifer to
them, the best you have, and will load the pyre with good things.
More particularly you must promise that Teiresias shall have a black
sheep all to himself, the finest in all your flocks.
psukhai ] will come to you, and you
must tell your men to skin the two sheep that you have just killed,
and offer them as a burnt sacrifice with prayers to Hades and to
Persephone. Then draw your sword and sit there, so as to prevent any
other poor ghost from coming near the spilt blood before Teiresias
shall have answered your questions. The seer [mantis ]
will presently come to you, and will tell you about your voyage -
what stages you are to make, and how you are to sail the sea so as to
reach your home [nostos ].’
psukhê ] went down
to the house of Hades.
10.475"Thus did they speak and I assented. Thereon through the livelong day to the going down of the sun we feasted our fill on meat and wine, but when the sun went down and it came on dark the men laid themselves down to sleep in the covered cloisters. I, however, after I had got into bed with Circe, besought her by her knees, and the goddess listened to what I had got to say. ‘Circe,’ said I, ‘please keep the promise you made me about furthering me on my homeward voyage. I want to get back and so do my men, they are always pestering me with their complaints as soon as ever your back is turned.’
10.487"And the goddess answered, ‘Odysseus, noble son of
10.496"I was dismayed when I heard this. I sat up in bed and wept, and would gladly have lived no longer to see the light of the sun, but presently when I was tired of weeping and tossing myself about, I said, ‘And who shall guide me upon this voyage - for the house of Hades is a port that no ship can reach.’
10.504"‘You will want no guide,’ she answered; ‘raise you mast, set your white sails, sit quite still, and the North Wind will blow you there of itself. When your ship has traversed the waters of Okeanos, you will reach the fertile shore of Persephone's country with its groves of tall poplars and willows that shed their fruit untimely; here beach your ship upon the shore of Okeanos, and go straight on to the dark abode of Hades. You will find it near the place where the rivers Pyriphlegethon and Cocytus (which is a branch of the river Styx) flow into Acheron, and you will see a rock near it, just where the two roaring rivers run into one another.
10.516"‘When you have reached this spot, as I now tell you, dig a trench a cubit or so in length, breadth, and depth, and pour into it as a drink-offering to all the dead, first, honey mixed with milk, then wine, and in the third place water-sprinkling white barley meal over the whole. Moreover you must offer many prayers to the poor feeble ghosts, and promise them that when you get back to
10.526"‘When you shall have thus besought the ghosts with your prayers, offer them a ram and a black ewe, bending their heads towards Erebus; but yourself turn away from them as though you would make towards the river. On this, many dead men's ghosts [
10.541"It was day-break by the time she had done speaking, so she dressed me in my shirt and cloak. As for herself she threw a beautiful light gossamer fabric over her shoulders, fastening it with a golden girdle round her waist, and she covered her head with a mantle. Then I went about among the men everywhere all over the house, and spoke kindly to each of them man by man: ‘You must not lie sleeping here any longer,’ said I to them, ‘we must be going, for Circe has told me all about it.’ And this they did as I bade them.
10.551"Even so, however, I did not get them away without misadventure. We had with us a certain youth named Elpenor, not very remarkable for sense or courage, who had got drunk and was lying on the house-top away from the rest of the men, to sleep off his liquor in the cool. When he heard the noise of the men bustling about, he jumped up on a sudden and forgot all about coming down by the main staircase, so he tumbled right off the roof and broke his neck, and his soul [
10.561"When I had got the men together I said to them, ‘You think you are about to start home again, but Circe has explained to me that instead of this, we have got to go to the house of Hades and Persephone to consult the ghost of the Theban seer Teiresias.’
| Homer, Odyssey (English) (XML Header) [genre: poetry; hexameter] [word count] [lemma count] [Hom. Od.]. | ||
| <<Hom. Od. 10.382 | Hom. Od. 10.504 (Greek English(2)) | >>Hom. Od. 10.574 |
