Odysseus, the Hero of Ithaca. Homer

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СКАЧАТЬ the wooden horse, and one of the Greeks tied to a tree, who told them he was left there as a punishment, and that the wooden horse was an offering to the gods. The Trojans made up their minds to carry it into their city and give it the best place on their highest hill.

      Then Laocoön, a priest of Apollo, stepped forth, and said to them: "Unhappy people! what madness possesses you? Do ye think the enemy gone? Do ye know Odysseus so little? There are Greek warriors hidden in this horse, or else some other mischief is lurking there. Fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts."

      With these words, he thrust his spear into the flank of the horse, and the arms of the hidden enemy clashed with a loud noise. Just then two snakes of great size, sent by Athena, rose from the sea, and sprang upon Laocoön and his two sons, and, coiling around them, bit them to death. The Trojans, in great fear at the sight, took this as a sign from the gods that the horse was sacred and that they must protect it, and they moved it at once into their city, breaking down a part of their wall to get it in.

      Having done this, they gave themselves up to feasting and making merry, without the slightest thought that any evil was in store for them. But when night had come, and all were in a deep sleep, the ships of the Greeks, which had been hiding all the while behind a neighboring island, came back. The warriors who were concealed in the wooden horse sprang out and rushing wildly through the city, slew the Trojans right and left without mercy. From all sides came wailings and groans, and the flames of the burning city rose up to the sky.

      A deadly struggle took place between the Trojans and the Greeks. Priam was slain, and Paris and many other heroes. The victory was to the Greeks. Troy fell never to rise again, and the women and children were led off to become slaves to their conquerors.

      Thus was destroyed in one night the great and glorious city of Troy, all on account of the crime which Paris had committed against the laws of hospitality.

      The trials of the Greeks were not yet at an end. After their victory at Troy they embarked in their ships and started eagerly for their homes. But Zeus prepared a sad fate for them, because Ajax had violently dragged Cassandra, the beautiful daughter of Priam, from the altar of Athena and had made her his slave. Thus many of the leaders perished in the sea far from home, and some were cast on foreign shores to die.

      Menelaos was thrown by wind and waves on the island of Crete, and he lost many of the ships on the cliffs. Thence he strayed to the island of Cyprus, noted for its mines; and he roved through other lands until he came to Egypt, where he wandered about for eight years, when he returned to Sparta, taking Helen with him. He became reconciled to his wife, and they lived a quiet life far removed from the enchantments of the wily Aphrodite.

      But the saddest fate of all overtook Agamemnon, who met his death in his own house at the hands of his wife and brother.

      Agamemnon, without any accident at sea, reached his native land. Full of gratitude, he kissed the earth and wept tears of joy at the thought of meeting his wife and son.

      He entered his home with a glad heart, and his faithless wife came to meet him, but she had prepared a hot bath for him, and there he met his death, entangled in a net which she threw over him, for she had not forgotten the loss of her beautiful daughter, Iphigeneia, whom she believed to have been offered up as a sacrifice on the altar of Artemis.

      She was assisted in this dreadful deed by her husband's brother, who became ruler over the land, holding sway eight years, when Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, slew him and regained the kingdom.

      And now we come to the return of Odysseus, the wisest of the Greeks, who wandered to the remotest part of the earth and learned the customs of many people, and who suffered terrible things by land and sea.

      PART II

      THE RETURN OF ODYSSEUS TO

       HIS OWN COUNTRY

       Table of Contents

CHAPTER V

       Table of Contents

      ODYSSEUS ON THE ISLAND OF CALYPSO

      All the Greeks who had escaped from the destruction of Troy and had been spared the terrors of the sea returned to their homes. But the unfortunate Odysseus was delayed by the fair nymph Calypso on her island, where she made her home in a cool and beautiful grotto. There he wept and mourned, desiring to see his wife again and his native land. Each of the gods save one, Poseidon, god of the sea, wished to help him to find the way home. Odysseus had brought Poseidon's wrath upon himself through inflicting a terrible injury upon the favorite son of that deity, and for that reason the wrath of the god fell on him and he was wrecked. One day all the other gods had assembled in the hall of Zeus, on Mount Olympos, when Athena, the favorite daughter of Zeus and firm friend of Odysseus, knowing that her father in his heart was well-disposed toward the hero, began to plead for him in a way to excite greater pity still.

      "O my father, thou great king among the gods," she said, "my heart is troubled on account of the wise Odysseus, who lingers on an island, far away from home, and suffers greatly; for a nymph lives on the island, the daughter of great Atlas, and with sweet words she strives to make Odysseus forget his native land. But he bewails his fate and is full of sorrow, his only wish being to have a glimpse of the smoke of his beloved country."

      Zeus thereupon ordered Hermes to depart at once for the island and tell the nymph to send Odysseus to his home without delay. Hermes obeyed quickly. He bound his winged sandals to his feet, and, taking his golden wand in his hand, flew like a meteor over land and sea till he reached the island where the nymph Calypso made her abode. He found her within the grotto, singing sweetly while she wove a fine web on a golden loom.

      All about the grotto there was a grove of cypress-trees in which birds of gay colors were sporting and springs of pure water bubbling, and the fragrance of strange flowers filled the air. When Hermes had gazed upon these wonders he entered the grotto. It was bright with a blazing fire on a spacious hearth, and fragrant with the odor of burning cedar and cypress.

      Calypso saw him as he came in and knew him. She bade him sit down on a throne dazzling with jewels, and, placing a table before him laden with nectar and ambrosia, invited him to eat and drink. After he had finished his repast, Hermes told her that Zeus had sent him to her with the command that she should send Odysseus without delay to his native land. Having given this message, he disappeared, leaving Calypso in great grief.

      Odysseus in the meantime sat by the shore mourning and gazing out upon the sea. Calypso found him there, sitting alone, weeping and longing for his home. She stood by him and said: "Odysseus, my unhappy friend, do not waste thy life any longer in sorrow. The end of thy grief has come. Arise and prepare to depart for thy home. Build thee a raft of the trunks of trees which thou shalt hew down. I will put bread and water and delicate wine on board; and I will clothe thee in comfortable garments, and send a favorable wind that thou mayest safely reach thy native land."

      Thus spoke the lovely goddess, but Odysseus could hardly believe her, and said: "I fear, O goddess, that thou hast some other thought in thy mind, and that thou dost not wish to send me home when thou biddest me sail over this stormy and dangerous sea. I shall never go on to the raft against thy wish, and thou must swear the great oath of the gods that no harm СКАЧАТЬ