<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410316" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Odyssey: Book 11</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then, when we had got down to the sea shore we drew our ship into<br>the water and got her mast and sails into her; we also put the sheep<br>on board and took our places, weeping and in great distress of mind.<br>Circe, that great and cunning goddess, sent us a fair wind that blew<br>dead aft and stayed steadily with us keeping our sails all the time<br>well filled; so we did whatever wanted doing to the ship's gear and<br>let her go as the wind and helmsman headed her. All day long her sails<br>were full as she held her course over the sea, but when the sun went<br>down and darkness was over all the earth, we got into the deep<br>waters of the river Oceanus, where lie the land and city of the<br>Cimmerians who live enshrouded in mist and darkness which the rays<br>of the sun never pierce neither at his rising nor as he goes down<br>again out of the heavens, but the poor wretches live in one long<br>melancholy night. When we got there we beached the ship, took the<br>sheep out of her, and went along by the waters of Oceanus till we came<br>to the place of which Circe had told us.<br>"Here Perimedes and Eurylochus held the victims, while I drew my<br>sword and dug the trench a cubit each way. I made a drink-offering<br>to all the dead, first with honey and milk, then with wine, and<br>thirdly with water, and I sprinkled white barley meal over the<br>whole, praying earnestly to the poor feckless ghosts, and promising<br>them that when I got back to Ithaca I would sacrifice a barren<br>heifer for them, the best I had, and would load the pyre with good<br>things. I also particularly promised that Teiresias should have a<br>black sheep to himself, the best in all my flocks. When I had prayed<br>sufficiently to the dead, I cut the throats of the two sheep and let<br>the blood run into the trench, whereon the ghosts came trooping up<br>from Erebus- brides, young bachelors, old men worn out with toil,<br>maids who had been crossed in love, and brave men who had been<br>killed in battle, with their armour still smirched with blood; they<br>came from every quarter and flitted round the trench with a strange<br>kind of screaming sound that made me turn pale with fear. When I saw<br>them coming I told the men to be quick and flay the carcasses of the<br>two dead sheep and make burnt offerings of them, and at the same<br>time to repeat prayers to Hades and to Proserpine; but I sat where I<br>was with my sword drawn and would not let the poor feckless ghosts<br>come near the blood till Teiresias should have answered my questions.<br>"The first ghost 'that came was that of my comrade Elpenor, for he<br>had not yet been laid beneath the earth. We had left his body<br>unwaked and unburied in Circe's house, for we had had too much else to<br>do. I was very sorry for him, and cried when I saw him: 'Elpenor,'<br>said I, 'how did you come down here into this gloom and darkness?<br>You have here on foot quicker than I have with my ship.'<br>"'Sir,' he answered with a groan, 'it was all bad luck, and my own<br>unspeakable drunkenness. I was lying asleep on the top of Circe's<br>house, and never thought of coming down again by the great staircase<br>but fell right off the roof and broke my neck, so my soul down to<br>the house of Hades. And now I beseech you by all those whom you have<br>left behind you, though they are not here, by your wife, by the father<br>who brought you up when you were a child, and by Telemachus who is the<br>one hope of your house, do what I shall now ask you. I know that<br>when you leave this limbo you will again hold your ship for the Aeaean<br>island. Do not go thence leaving me unwaked and unburied behind you,<br>or I may bring heaven's anger upon you; but burn me with whatever<br>armour I have, build a barrow for me on the sea shore, that may tell<br>people in days to come what a poor unlucky fellow I was, and plant<br>over my grave the oar I used to row with when I was yet alive and with<br>my messmates.' And I said, 'My poor fellow, I will do all that you<br>have asked of me.'<br>"Thus, then, did we sit and hold sad talk with one another, I on the<br>one side of the trench with my sword held over the blood, and the<br>ghost of my comrade saying all this to me from the other side. Then<br>came the ghost of my dead mother Anticlea, daughter to Autolycus. I<br>had left her alive when I set out for Troy and was moved to tears when<br>I saw her, but even so, for all my sorrow I would not let her come<br>near the blood till I had asked my questions of Teiresias.<br>"Then came also the ghost of Theban Teiresias, with his golden<br>sceptre in his hand. He knew me and said, 'Ulysses, noble son of<br>Laertes, why, poor man, have you left the light of day and come down<br>to visit the dead in this sad place? Stand back from the trench and<br>withdraw your sword that I may drink of the blood and answer your<br>questions truly.'<br>"So I drew back, and sheathed my sword, whereon when he had drank of<br>the blood he began with his prophecy.<br>"You want to know,' said he, 'about your return home, but heaven<br>will make this hard for you. I do not think that you will escape the<br>eye of Neptune, who still nurses his bitter grudge against you for<br>having blinded his son. Still, after much suffering you may get home<br>if you can restrain yourself and your companions when your ship<br>reaches the Thrinacian island, where you will find the sheep and<br>cattle belonging to the sun, who sees and gives ear to everything.<br>If you leave these flocks unharmed and think of nothing but of getting<br>home, you may yet after much hardship reach Ithaca; but if you harm<br>them, then I forewarn you of the destruction both of your ship and<br>of your men. Even though you may yourself escape, you will return in<br>bad plight after losing all your men, [in another man's ship, and<br>you will find trouble in your house, which will be overrun by<br>high-handed people, who are devouring your substance under the pretext<br>of paying court and making presents to your wife.<br>"'When you get home you will take your revenge on these suitors; and<br>after you have killed them by force or fraud in your own house, you<br>must take a well-made oar and carry it on and on, till you come to a<br>country where the people have never heard of the sea and do not even<br>mix salt with their food, nor do they know anything about ships, and<br>oars that are as the wings of a ship. I will give you this certain<br>token which cannot escape your notice. A wayfarer will meet you and<br>will say it must be a winnowing shovel that you have got upon your<br>shoulder; on this you must fix the oar in the ground and sacrifice a<br>ram, a bull, and a boar to Neptune. Then go home and offer hecatombs<br>to an the gods in heaven one after the other. As for yourself, death<br>shall come to you from the sea, and your life shall ebb away very<br>gently when you are full of years and peace of mind, and your people<br>shall bless you. All that I have said will come true].'<br>"'This,' I answered, 'must be as it may please heaven, but tell me<br>and tell me and tell me true, I see my poor mother's ghost close by<br>us; she is sitting by the blood without saying a word, and though I am<br>her own son she does not remember me and speak to me; tell me, Sir,<br>how I can make her know me.'<br>"'That,' said he, 'I can soon do Any ghost that you let taste of the<br>blood will talk with you like a reasonable being, but if you do not<br>let them have any blood they will go away again.'<br>"On this the ghost of Teiresias went back to the house of Hades, for<br>his prophecyings had now been spoken, but I sat still where I was<br>until my mother came up and tasted the blood. Then she knew me at once<br>and spoke fondly to me, saying, 'My son, how did you come down to this<br>abode of darkness while you are still alive? It is a hard thing for<br>the living to see these places, for between us and them there are<br>great and terrible waters, and there is Oceanus, which no man can<br>cross on foot, but he must have a good ship to take him. Are you all<br>this time trying to find your way home from Troy, and have you never<br>yet got back to Ithaca nor seen your wife in your own house?'<br>"'Mother,' said I, 'I was forced to come here to consult the ghost<br>of the Theban prophet Teiresias. I have never yet been near the<br>Achaean land nor set foot on my native country, and I have had nothing<br>but one long series of misfortunes from the very first day that I<br>set out with Agamemnon for Ilius, the land of noble steeds, to fight<br>the Trojans. But tell me, and tell me true, in what way did you die?<br>Did you have a long illness, or did heaven vouchsafe you a gentle easy<br>passage to eternity? Tell me also about my father, and the son whom<br>I left behind me; is my property still in their hands, or has some one<br>else got hold of it, who thinks that I shall not return to claim it?<br>Tell me again what my wife intends doing, and in what mind she is;<br>does she live with my son and guard my estate securely, or has she<br>made the best match she could and married again?'<br>"My mother answered, 'Your wife still remains in your house, but she<br>is in great distress of mind and spends her whole time in tears both<br>night and day. No one as yet has got possession of your fine property,<br>and Telemachus still holds your lands undisturbed. He has to entertain<br>largely, as of course he must, considering his position as a<br>magistrate, and how every one invites him; your father remains at<br>his old place in the country and never goes near the town. He has no<br>comfortable bed nor bedding; in the winter he sleeps on the floor in<br>front of the fire with the men and goes about all in rags, but in<br>summer, when the warm weather comes on again, he lies out in the<br>vineyard on a bed of vine leaves thrown anyhow upon the ground. He<br>grieves continually about your never having come home, and suffers<br>more and more as he grows older. As for my own end it was in this<br>wise: heaven did not take me swiftly and painlessly in my own house,<br>nor was I attacked by any illness such as those that generally wear<br>people out and kill them, but my longing to know what you were doing<br>and the force of my affection for you- this it was that was the<br>death of me.'<br>"Then I tried to find some way of embracing my mother's ghost.<br>Thrice I sprang towards her and tried to clasp her in my arms, but<br>each time she flitted from my embrace as it were a dream or phantom,<br>and being touched to the quick I said to her, 'Mother, why do you<br>not stay still when I would embrace you? If we could throw our arms<br>around one another we might find sad comfort in the sharing of our<br>sorrows even in the house of Hades; does Proserpine want to lay a<br>still further load of grief upon me by mocking me with a phantom<br>only?'<br>"'My son,' she answered, 'most ill-fated of all mankind, it is not<br>Proserpine that is beguiling you, but all people are like this when<br>they are dead. The sinews no longer hold the flesh and bones together;<br>these perish in the fierceness of consuming fire as soon as life has<br>left the body, and the soul flits away as though it were a dream. Now,<br>however, go back to the light of day as soon as you can, and note<br>all these things that you may tell them to your wife hereafter.'<br>"Thus did we converse, and anon Proserpine sent up the ghosts of the<br>wives and daughters of all the most famous men. They gathered in<br>crowds about the blood, and I considered how I might question them<br>severally. In the end I deemed that it would be best to draw the<br>keen blade that hung by my sturdy thigh, and keep them from all<br>drinking the blood at once. So they came up one after the other, and<br>each one as I questioned her told me her race and lineage.<br>"The first I saw was Tyro. She was daughter of Salmoneus and wife of<br>Cretheus the son of Aeolus. She fell in love with the river Enipeus<br>who is much the most beautiful river in the whole world. Once when she<br>was taking a walk by his side as usual, Neptune, disguised as her<br>lover, lay with her at the mouth of the river, and a huge blue wave<br>arched itself like a mountain over them to hide both woman and god,<br>whereon he loosed her virgin girdle and laid her in a deep slumber.<br>When the god had accomplished the deed of love, he took her hand in<br>his own and said, 'Tyro, rejoice in all good will; the embraces of the<br>gods are not fruitless, and you will have fine twins about this time<br>twelve months. Take great care of them. I am Neptune, so now go<br>home, but hold your tongue and do not tell any one.'<br>"Then he dived under the sea, and she in due course bore Pelias<br>and Neleus, who both of them served Jove with all their might.<br>Pelias was a great breeder of sheep and lived in Iolcus, but the other<br>lived in Pylos. The rest of her children were by Cretheus, namely,<br>Aeson, Pheres, and Amythaon, who was a mighty warrior and charioteer.<br>"Next to her I saw Antiope, daughter to Asopus, who could boast of<br>having slept in the arms of even Jove himself, and who bore him two<br>sons Amphion and Zethus. These founded Thebes with its seven gates,<br>and built a wall all round it; for strong though they were they<br>could not hold Thebes till they had walled it.<br>"Then I saw Alcmena, the wife of Amphitryon, who also bore to Jove<br>indomitable Hercules; and Megara who was daughter to great King Creon,<br>and married the redoubtable son of Amphitryon.<br>"I also saw fair Epicaste mother of king OEdipodes whose awful lot<br>it was to marry her own son without suspecting it. He married her<br>after having killed his father, but the gods proclaimed the whole<br>story to the world; whereon he remained king of Thebes, in great grief<br>for the spite the gods had borne him; but Epicaste went to the house<br>of the mighty jailor Hades, having hanged herself for grief, and the<br>avenging spirits haunted him as for an outraged mother- to his ruing<br>bitterly thereafter.<br>"Then I saw Chloris, whom Neleus married for her beauty, having<br>given priceless presents for her. She was youngest daughter to Amphion<br>son of Iasus and king of Minyan Orchomenus, and was Queen in Pylos.<br>She bore Nestor, Chromius, and Periclymenus, and she also bore that<br>marvellously lovely woman Pero, who was wooed by all the country<br>round; but Neleus would only give her to him who should raid the<br>cattle of Iphicles from the grazing grounds of Phylace, and this was a<br>hard task. The only man who would undertake to raid them was a certain<br>excellent seer, but the will of heaven was against him, for the<br>rangers of the cattle caught him and put him in prison; nevertheless<br>when a full year had passed and the same season came round again,<br>Iphicles set him at liberty, after he had expounded all the oracles of<br>heaven. Thus, then, was the will of Jove accomplished.<br>"And I saw Leda the wife of Tyndarus, who bore him two famous<br>sons, Castor breaker of horses, and Pollux the mighty boxer. Both<br>these heroes are lying under the earth, though they are still alive,<br>for by a special dispensation of Jove, they die and come to life<br>again, each one of them every other day throughout all time, and<br>they have the rank of gods.<br>"After her I saw Iphimedeia wife of Aloeus who boasted the embrace<br>of Neptune. She bore two sons Otus and Ephialtes, but both were<br>short lived. They were the finest children that were ever born in this<br>world, and the best looking, Orion only excepted; for at nine years<br>old they were nine fathoms high, and measured nine cubits round the<br>chest. They threatened to make war with the gods in Olympus, and tried<br>to set Mount Ossa on the top of Mount Olympus, and Mount Pelion on the<br>top of Ossa, that they might scale heaven itself, and they would<br>have done it too if they had been grown up, but Apollo, son of Leto,<br>killed both of them, before they had got so much as a sign of hair<br>upon their cheeks or chin.<br>"Then I saw Phaedra, and Procris, and fair Ariadne daughter of the<br>magician Minos, whom Theseus was carrying off from Crete to Athens,<br>but he did not enjoy her, for before he could do so Diana killed her<br>in the island of Dia on account of what Bacchus had said against her.<br>"I also saw Maera and Clymene and hateful Eriphyle, who sold her own<br>husband for gold. But it would take me all night if I were to name<br>every single one of the wives and daughters of heroes whom I saw,<br>and it is time for me to go to bed, either on board ship with my crew,<br>or here. As for my escort, heaven and yourselves will see to it."<br>Here he ended, and the guests sat all of them enthralled and<br>speechless throughout the covered cloister. Then Arete said to them:<br>"What do you think of this man, O Phaecians? Is he not tall and good<br>looking, and is he not Clever? True, he is my own guest, but all of<br>you share in the distinction. Do not he a hurry to send him away,<br>nor niggardly in the presents you make to one who is in such great<br>need, for heaven has blessed all of you with great abundance."<br>Then spoke the aged hero Echeneus who was one of the oldest men<br>among them, "My friends," said he, "what our august queen has just<br>said to us is both reasonable and to the purpose, therefore be<br>persuaded by it; but the decision whether in word or deed rests<br>ultimately with King Alcinous."<br>"The thing shall be done," exclaimed Alcinous, "as surely as I still<br>live and reign over the Phaeacians. Our guest is indeed very anxious<br>to get home, still we must persuade him to remain with us until<br>to-morrow, by which time I shall be able to get together the whole sum<br>that I mean to give him. As regards- his escort it will be a matter<br>for you all, and mine above all others as the chief person among you."<br>And Ulysses answered, "King Alcinous, if you were to bid me to<br>stay here for a whole twelve months, and then speed me on my way,<br>loaded with your noble gifts, I should obey you gladly and it would<br>redound greatly to my advantage, for I should return fuller-handed<br>to my own people, and should thus be more respected and beloved by all<br>who see me when I get back to Ithaca."<br>"Ulysses," replied Alcinous, "not one of us who sees you has any<br>idea that you are a charlatan or a swindler. I know there are many<br>people going about who tell such plausible stories that it is very<br>hard to see through them, but there is a style about your language<br>which assures me of your good disposition. Moreover you have told<br>the story of your own misfortunes, and those of the Argives, as though<br>you were a practised bard; but tell me, and tell me true, whether<br>you saw any of the mighty heroes who went to Troy at the same time<br>with yourself, and perished there. The evenings are still at their<br>longest, and it is not yet bed time- go on, therefore, with your<br>divine story, for I could stay here listening till to-morrow<br>morning, so long as you will continue to tell us of your adventures."<br>"Alcinous," answered Ulysses, "there is a time for making<br>speeches, and a time for going to bed; nevertheless, since you so<br>desire, I will not refrain from telling you the still sadder tale of<br>those of my comrades who did not fall fighting with the Trojans, but<br>perished on their return, through the treachery of a wicked woman.<br>"When Proserpine had dismissed the female ghosts in all<br>directions, the ghost of Agamemnon son of Atreus came sadly up tome,<br>surrounded by those who had perished with him in the house of<br>Aegisthus. As soon as he had tasted the blood he knew me, and<br>weeping bitterly stretched out his arms towards me to embrace me;<br>but he had no strength nor substance any more, and I too wept and<br>pitied him as I beheld him. 'How did you come by your death,' said<br>I, 'King Agamemnon? Did Neptune raise his winds and waves against<br>you when you were at sea, or did your enemies make an end of you on<br>the mainland when you were cattle-lifting or sheep-stealing, or<br>while they were fighting in defence of their wives and city?'<br>"'Ulysses,' he answered, 'noble son of Laertes, was not lost at<br>sea in any storm of Neptune's raising, nor did my foes despatch me<br>upon the mainland, but Aegisthus and my wicked wife were the death<br>of me between them. He asked me to his house, feasted me, and then<br>butchered me most miserably as though I were a fat beast in a<br>slaughter house, while all around me my comrades were slain like sheep<br>or pigs for the wedding breakfast, or picnic, or gorgeous banquet of<br>some great nobleman. You must have seen numbers of men killed either<br>in a general engagement, or in single combat, but you never saw<br>anything so truly pitiable as the way in which we fell in that<br>cloister, with the mixing-bowl and the loaded tables lying all<br>about, and the ground reeking with our-blood. I heard Priam's daughter<br>Cassandra scream as Clytemnestra killed her close beside me. I lay<br>dying upon the earth with the sword in my body, and raised my hands to<br>kill the slut of a murderess, but she slipped away from me; she<br>would not even close my lips nor my eyes when I was dying, for there<br>is nothing in this world so cruel and so shameless as a woman when she<br>has fallen into such guilt as hers was. Fancy murdering her own<br>husband! I thought I was going to be welcomed home by my children<br>and my servants, but her abominable crime has brought disgrace on<br>herself and all women who shall come after- even on the good ones.'<br>"And I said, 'In truth Jove has hated the house of Atreus from first<br>to last in the matter of their women's counsels. See how many of us<br>fell for Helen's sake, and now it seems that Clytemnestra hatched<br>mischief against too during your absence.'<br>"'Be sure, therefore,' continued Agamemnon, 'and not be too friendly<br>even with your own wife. Do not tell her all that you know perfectly<br>well yourself. Tell her a part only, and keep your own counsel about<br>the rest. Not that your wife, Ulysses, is likely to murder you, for<br>Penelope is a very admirable woman, and has an excellent nature. We<br>left her a young bride with an infant at her breast when we set out<br>for Troy. This child no doubt is now grown up happily to man's estate,<br>and he and his father will have a joyful meeting and embrace one<br>another as it is right they should do, whereas my wicked wife did<br>not even allow me the happiness of looking upon my son, but killed<br>me ere I could do so. Furthermore I say- and lay my saying to your<br>heart- do not tell people when you are bringing your ship to Ithaca,<br>but steal a march upon them, for after all this there is no trusting<br>women. But now tell me, and tell me true, can you give me any news<br>of my son Orestes? Is he in Orchomenus, or at Pylos, or is he at<br>Sparta with Menelaus- for I presume that he is still living.'<br>"And I said, 'Agamemnon, why do you ask me? I do not know whether<br>your son is alive or dead, and it is not right to talk when one does<br>not know.'<br>"As we two sat weeping and talking thus sadly with one another the<br>ghost of Achilles came up to us with Patroclus, Antilochus, and Ajax<br>who was the finest and goodliest man of all the Danaans after the<br>son of Peleus. The fleet descendant of Aeacus knew me and spoke<br>piteously, saying, 'Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, what deed of daring<br>will you undertake next, that you venture down to the house of Hades<br>among us silly dead, who are but the ghosts of them that can labour no<br>more?'<br>"And I said, 'Achilles, son of Peleus, foremost champion of the<br>Achaeans, I came to consult Teiresias, and see if he could advise me<br>about my return home to Ithaca, for I have never yet been able to<br>get near the Achaean land, nor to set foot in my own country, but have<br>been in trouble all the time. As for you, Achilles, no one was ever<br>yet so fortunate as you have been, nor ever will be, for you were<br>adored by all us Argives as long as you were alive, and now that you<br>are here you are a great prince among the dead. Do not, therefore,<br>take it so much to heart even if you are dead.'<br>"'Say not a word,' he answered, 'in death's favour; I would rather<br>be a paid servant in a poor man's house and be above ground than<br>king of kings among the dead. But give me news about son; is he gone<br>to the wars and will he be a great soldier, or is this not so? Tell me<br>also if you have heard anything about my father Peleus- does he<br>still rule among the Myrmidons, or do they show him no respect<br>throughout Hellas and Phthia now that he is old and his limbs fail<br>him? Could I but stand by his side, in the light of day, with the same<br>strength that I had when I killed the bravest of our foes upon the<br>plain of Troy- could I but be as I then was and go even for a short<br>time to my father's house, any one who tried to do him violence or<br>supersede him would soon me it.'<br>"'I have heard nothing,' I answered, 'of Peleus, but I can tell<br>you all about your son Neoptolemus, for I took him in my own ship from<br>Scyros with the Achaeans. In our councils of war before Troy he was<br>always first to speak, and his judgement was unerring. Nestor and I<br>were the only two who could surpass him; and when it came to<br>fighting on the plain of Troy, he would never remain with the body<br>of his men, but would dash on far in front, foremost of them all in<br>valour. Many a man did he kill in battle- I cannot name every single<br>one of those whom he slew while fighting on the side of the Argives,<br>but will only say how he killed that valiant hero Eurypylus son of<br>Telephus, who was the handsomest man I ever saw except Memnon; many<br>others also of the Ceteians fell around him by reason of a woman's<br>bribes. Moreover, when all the bravest of the Argives went inside<br>the horse that Epeus had made, and it was left to me to settle when we<br>should either open the door of our ambuscade, or close it, though<br>all the other leaders and chief men among the Danaans were drying<br>their eyes and quaking in every limb, I never once saw him turn pale<br>nor wipe a tear from his cheek; he was all the time urging me to break<br>out from the horse- grasping the handle of his sword and his<br>bronze-shod spear, and breathing fury against the foe. Yet when we had<br>sacked the city of Priam he got his handsome share of the prize<br>money and went on board (such is the fortune of war) without a wound<br>upon him, neither from a thrown spear nor in close combat, for the<br>rage of Mars is a matter of great chance.'<br>"When I had told him this, the ghost of Achilles strode off across a<br>meadow full of asphodel, exulting over what I had said concerning<br>the prowess of his son.<br>"The ghosts of other dead men stood near me and told me each his own<br>melancholy tale; but that of Ajax son of Telamon alone held aloof-<br>still angry with me for having won the cause in our dispute about<br>the armour of Achilles. Thetis had offered it as a prize, but the<br>Trojan prisoners and Minerva were the judges. Would that I had never<br>gained the day in such a contest, for it cost the life of Ajax, who<br>was foremost of all the Danaans after the son of Peleus, alike in<br>stature and prowess.<br>"When I saw him I tried to pacify him and said, 'Ajax, will you<br>not forget and forgive even in death, but must the judgement about<br>that hateful armour still rankle with you? It cost us Argives dear<br>enough to lose such a tower of strength as you were to us. We<br>mourned you as much as we mourned Achilles son of Peleus himself,<br>nor can the blame be laid on anything but on the spite which Jove bore<br>against the Danaans, for it was this that made him counsel your<br>destruction- come hither, therefore, bring your proud spirit into<br>subjection, and hear what I can tell you.'<br>"He would not answer, but turned away to Erebus and to the other<br>ghosts; nevertheless, I should have made him talk to me in spite of<br>his being so angry, or I should have gone talking to him, only that<br>there were still others among the dead whom I desired to see.<br>"Then I saw Minos son of Jove with his golden sceptre in his hand<br>sitting in judgement on the dead, and the ghosts were gathered sitting<br>and standing round him in the spacious house of Hades, to learn his<br>sentences upon them.<br>"After him I saw huge Orion in a meadow full of asphodel driving the<br>ghosts of the wild beasts that he had killed upon the mountains, and<br>he had a great bronze club in his hand, unbreakable for ever and ever.<br>"And I saw Tityus son of Gaia stretched upon the plain and<br>covering some nine acres of ground. Two vultures on either side of him<br>were digging their beaks into his liver, and he kept on trying to beat<br>them off with his hands, but could not; for he had violated Jove's<br>mistress Leto as she was going through Panopeus on her way to Pytho.<br>"I saw also the dreadful fate of Tantalus, who stood in a lake<br>that reached his chin; he was dying to quench his thirst, but could<br>never reach the water, for whenever the poor creature stooped to<br>drink, it dried up and vanished, so that there was nothing but dry<br>ground- parched by the spite of heaven. There were tall trees,<br>moreover, that shed their fruit over his head- pears, pomegranates,<br>apples, sweet figs and juicy olives, but whenever the poor creature<br>stretched out his hand to take some, the wind tossed the branches back<br>again to the clouds.<br>"And I saw Sisyphus at his endless task raising his prodigious stone<br>with both his hands. With hands and feet he' tried to roll it up to<br>the top of the hill, but always, just before he could roll it over<br>on to the other side, its weight would be too much for him, and the<br>pitiless stone would come thundering down again on to the plain.<br>Then he would begin trying to push it up hill again, and the sweat ran<br>off him and the steam rose after him.<br>"After him I saw mighty Hercules, but it was his phantom only, for<br>he is feasting ever with the immortal gods, and has lovely Hebe to<br>wife, who is daughter of Jove and Juno. The ghosts were screaming<br>round him like scared birds flying all whithers. He looked black as<br>night with his bare bow in his hands and his arrow on the string,<br>glaring around as though ever on the point of taking aim. About his<br>breast there was a wondrous golden belt adorned in the most marvellous<br>fashion with bears, wild boars, and lions with gleaming eyes; there<br>was also war, battle, and death. The man who made that belt, do what<br>he might, would never be able to make another like it. Hercules knew<br>me at once when he saw me, and spoke piteously, saying, my poor<br>Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, are you too leading the same sorry kind<br>of life that I did when I was above ground? I was son of Jove, but I<br>went through an infinity of suffering, for I became bondsman to one<br>who was far beneath me- a low fellow who set me all manner of labours.<br>He once sent me here to fetch the hell-hound- for he did not think<br>he could find anything harder for me than this, but I got the hound<br>out of Hades and brought him to him, for Mercury and Minerva helped<br>me.'<br>"On this Hercules went down again into the house of Hades, but I<br>stayed where I was in case some other of the mighty dead should come<br>to me. And I should have seen still other of them that are gone<br>before, whom I would fain have seen- Theseus and Pirithous glorious<br>children of the gods, but so many thousands of ghosts came round me<br>and uttered such appalling cries, that I was panic stricken lest<br>Proserpine should send up from the house of Hades the head of that<br>awful monster Gorgon. On this I hastened back to my ship and ordered<br>my men to go on board at once and loose the hawsers; so they<br>embarked and took their places, whereon the ship went down the<br>stream of the river Oceanus. We had to row at first, but presently a<br>fair wind sprang up.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Homer">Homer</a>, translated by Samuel Butler<div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410316" data-title="The Odyssey: Book 11 de Homer" data-description="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..."></div> </div> </div>

solid border dashed border dotted border double border groove border ridge border inset border outset border no border blue green red purple cyan gold silver black