The Norton Book of Classical Literature [1 ed.]

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The Norton Book of Classical Literature

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The Iliad. Book XXIV But one, one was left me, to guard my walls, my people— the one you killed the other day, defending his fatherland, my Hector! It’s all for him I’ve come to the ships now, to win him back from you—I bring a priceless ransom. Revere the gods, Achilles! Pity me in my own right, remember your own father! I deserve more pity . . . I have endured what no one on earth has ever done before— I put to my lips the hands of the man who killed my son.” Those words stirred within Achilles a deep desire to grieve for his own father. Taking the old man’s hand he gently moved him back. And overpowered by memory both men gave way to grief. Priam wept freely for man-killing Hector, throbbing, crouching before Achilles’ feet as Achilles wept himself, now for his father, now for Patroclus once again, and their sobbing rose and fell throughout the house. Then, when brilliant Achilles had had his fill of tears and the longing for it had left his mind and body, he rose from his seat, raised the old man by the hand and filled with pity now for his gray head and gray beard, he spoke out winging words, flying straight to the heart: “Poor man, how much you’ve borne—pain to break the spirit! What daring brought you down to the ships, all alone, to face the glance of the man who killed your sons, so many fine brave boys? You have a heart of iron. Come, please, sit down on this chair here . . . Let us put our griefs to rest in our own hearts, rake them up no more, raw as we are with mourning. What good’s to be won from tears that chill the spirit? So the immortals spun our lives that we, we wretched men live on to bear such torments—the gods live free of sorrows. There are two great jars that stand on the floor of Zeus’ halls and hold his gifts, our miseries one, the other blessings. When Zeus who loves the lightning mixes gifts for a man, now he meets with misfortune, now good times in turn. When Zeus dispenses gifts from the jar of sorrows only, he makes a man an outcast—brutal, ravenous hunger drives him down the face of the shining earth, stalking far and wide, cursed by gods and men. So with my father, Peleus. What glittering gifts the gods rained down from the day that he was born!

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He excelled all men in wealth and pride of place, he lorded the Myrmidons, and mortal that he was, they gave the man an immortal goddess for a wife. Yes, but even on him the Father piled hardships, no powerful race of princes born in his royal halls, only a single son he fathered, doomed at birth, cut off in the spring of life— and I, I give the man no care as he grows old since here I sit in Troy, far from my fatherland, a grief to you, a grief to all your children . . . And you too, old man, we hear you prospered once: as far as Lesbos, Macar’s kingdom, bounds to seaward, Phrygia east and upland, the Hellespont vast and north— that entire realm, they say, you lorded over once, you excelled all men, old king, in sons and wealth. But then the gods of heaven brought this agony on you— ceaseless battles round your walls, your armies slaughtered. You must bear up now. Enough of endless tears, the pain that breaks the spirit. Grief for your son will do no good at all. You will never bring him back to life— sooner you must suffer something worse.” But the old and noble Priam protested strongly: “Don’t make me sit on a cbair, Achilles, Prince, not while Hector lies uncared-for in your camp! Give him back to me, now, no more delay— I must see my son with my own eyes. Accept the ransom I bring you, a king’s ransom! Enjoy it, all of it—return to your own native land, , safe and sound . . . since now you’ve spared my life.” A dark glance—and the headstrong runner answered, “No more, old man, don’t tempt my wrath, not now! My own mind’s made up to give you back your son. A messenger brought me word from Zeus—my mother, Thetis who bore me, the Old Man of the Sea’s daughter. And what’s more, I can see through you, Priam— no hiding the fact from me: one of the gods has led you down to Achaea’s fast ships. No man alive, not even a rugged young fighter, would dare to venture into our camp. Never—

The Iliad. Book XXIV how could he slip past the sentries unchallenged? Or shoot back the bolt of my gates with so much ease? So don’t anger me now. Don’t stir my raging heart still more. Or under my own roof I may not spare your life, old man— suppliant that you are—may break the laws of Zeus!” The old man was terrified. He obeyed the order. But Achilles bounded out of doors like a lion— not alone but flanked by his two aides-in-arms, veteran Automedon and Alcimus, steady comrades, Achilles’ favorites next to the dead Patroclus. They loosed from harness the horses and the mules, they led the herald in, the old king’s crier, and sat him down on a bench. From the polished wagon they lifted the priceless ransom brought for Hector’s corpse but they left behind two capes and a finely-woven shirt to shroud the body well when Priam bore him home. Then Achilles called the serving-women out: “Bathe and anoint the body— bear it aside first. Priam must not see his son.” He feared that, overwhelmed by the sight of Hector, wild with grief, Priam might let his anger flare and Achilles might fly into fresh rage himself, cut the old man down and break the laws of Zeus. So when the maids had bathed and anointed the body sleek with olive oil and wrapped it round and round in a braided battle-shirt and handsome battle-cape, then Achilles lifted Hector up in his own arms and laid him down on a bier, and comrades helped him raise the bier and body onto the sturdy wagon . . . Then with a groan he called his dear friend by name: “Feel no anger at me, Patroclus, if you learn— even there in the House of Death—I let his father have Prince Hector back. He gave me worthy ransom and you shall have your share from me, as always, your fitting, lordly share.” So he vowed and brilliant Achilles strode back to his shelter, sat down on the well-carved chair that he had left, at the far wall of the room, leaned toward Priam and firmly spoke the words the king had come to hear: “Your son is now set free, old man, as you requested.

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Hector lies in state. With the first light of day you will see for yourself as you convey him home. Now, at last, let us turn our thoughts to supper. Even Niobe with her lustrous hair remembered food, though she saw a dozen children killed in her own halls, six daughters and six sons in the pride and prime of youth. True, lord Apollo killed the sons with his silver bow and Artemis showering arrows killed the daughters. Both gods were enraged at Niobe. Time and again she placed herself on a par with their own mother, Leto in her immortal beauty—how she insulted Leto: ‘All you have borne is two, but I have borne so many!’ So, two as they were, they slaughtered all her children. Nine days they lay in their blood, no one to bury them— Cronus’ son had turned the people into stone . . . then on the tenth the gods of heaven interred them. And Niobe, gaunt, worn to the bone with weeping, turned her thoughts to food. And now, somewhere, lost on the crags, on the lonely mountain slopes, on Sipylus where, they say, the nymphs who live forever, dancing along the Achelous River run to beds of rest— there, struck into stone, Niobe still broods on the spate of griefs the gods poured out to her. So come—we too, old king, must think of food. Later you can mourn your beloved son once more, when you bear him home to Troy, and you’ll weep many tears.” Never pausing, the swift runner sprang to his feet and slaughtered a white sheep as comrades moved in to skin the carcass quickly, dress the quarters well. Expertly they cut the meat in pieces, pierced them with spits, roasted them to a turn and pulled them off the fire. Automedon brought the bread, set it out on the board in ample wicker baskets. Achilles served the meat. They reached out for the good things that lay at hand and when they had put aside desire for food and drink, Priam the son of Dardanus gazed at Achilles, marveling now at the man’s beauty, his magnificent build— face-to-face he seemed a deathless god . . . and Achilles gazed and marveled at Dardan Priam,

The Iliad. Book XXIV beholding his noble looks, listening to his words. But once they’d had their fill of gazing at each other, the old majestic Priam broke the silence first: “Put me to bed quickly, Achilles, Prince. Time to rest, to enjoy the sweet relief of sleep. Not once have my eyes closed shut beneath my lids from the day my son went down beneath your hands . . . day and night I groan, brooding over the countless griefs, groveling in the dung that fills my walled-in court. But now, at long last, I have tasted food again and let some glistening wine go down my throat. Before this hour I had tasted nothing.” He shook his head as Achilles briskly told his men and serving-women to make beds in the porch’s shelter, to lay down some heavy purple throws for the beds themselves and over them spread blankets and thick woolly robes, a warm covering laid on top. Torches held in hand, they went from the hall and fell to work at once and in no time two good beds were spread and made. Then Achilles nodded to Priam, leading the king on with brusque advice: “Sleep outside, old friend, in case some Achaean captain comes to visit. They keep on coming now, huddling beside me, making plans for battle—it’s their duty. But if one saw you here in the rushing dark night he’d tell Agamemnon straightaway, our good commander. Then you’d have real delay in ransoming the body. One more point. Tell me, be precise about it— how many days do you need to bury Prince Hector? I will hold back myself and keep the Argive armies back that long.” And the old and noble Priam answered slowly, “If you truly want me to give Prince Hector burial, full, royal honors, you’d show me a great kindness, Achilles, if you would do exactly as I say. You know how crammed we are inside our city, how far it is to the hills to haul in timber, and our Trojans are afraid to make the journey. Well, nine days we should mourn him in our halls,

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on the tenth we’d bury Hector, hold the public feast, on the eleventh build the barrow high above his body— on the twelfth we’d fight again ... if fight we must.” The swift runner Achilles reassured him quickly: “All will be done, old Priam, as you command. I will hold our attack as long as you require.” With that he clasped the old king by the wrist, by the right hand, to free his heart from fear. Then Priam and herald, minds set on the journey home, bedded down for the night within the porch’s shelter. And deep in his sturdy well-built lodge Achilles slept with Briseis in all her beauty sleeping by his side. Now the great array of gods and chariot-driving men slept all night long, overcome by gentle sleep. But sleep could never hold the running Escort— Hermes kept on turning it over in his mind . . . how could he convoy Priam clear of the ships, unseen by devoted guards who held the gates? Hovering at his head the Escort rose and spoke: “Not a care in the world, old man? Look at you, how you sleep in the midst of men who’d kill you— and just because Achilles spared your life. Now, yes, you’ve ransomed your dear son—for a king’s ransom. But wouldn’t the sons you left behind be forced to pay three times as much for you alive? What if Atrides Agamemnon learns you’re here— what if the whole Achaean army learns you’re here?” The old king woke in terror, roused the herald. Hermes harnessed the mules and team for both men, drove them fast through the camp and no one saw them. Once they reached the ford where the river runs clear, the strong, whirling Xanthus sprung of immortal Zeus, Hermes went his way to the steep heights of Olympus as Dawn flung out her golden robe across the earth, and the two men, weeping, groaning, drove the team toward Troy and the mules brought on the body. No one saw them at first, neither man nor woman,

The Iliad. Book XXIV none before Cassandra, golden as goddess Aphrodite. She had climbed to Pergamus heights and from that point she saw her beloved father swaying tall in the chariot, flanked by the herald, whose cry could rouse the city. And Cassandra saw him too . . . drawn by the mules and stretched out on his bier. She screamed and her scream rang out through all Troy: “Come, look down, you men of Troy, you Trojan women! Behold Hector now—if you ever once rejoiced to see him striding home, home alive from battle! He was the greatest joy of Troy and all our people!’’ Her cries plunged Troy into uncontrollable grief and not a man or woman was left inside the walls. They streamed out at the gates to meet Priam bringing in the body of the dead. Hector— his loving wife and noble mother were first to fling themselves on the wagon rolling on, the first to tear their hair, embrace his head and a wailing throng of people milled around them. And now, all day long till the setting sun went down they would have wept for Hector there before the gates if the old man, steering the car, had not commanded, “Let me through with the mules! Soon, in a moment, you can have your fill of tears—once I’ve brought him home.” So he called and the crowds fell back on either side, making way for the wagon. Once they had borne him into the famous halls, they laid his body down on his large carved bed and set beside him singers to lead off the laments, and their voices rose in grief— they lifted the dirge high as the women wailed in answer. And white-armed Andromache led their songs of sorrow, cradling the head of Hector, man-killing Hector gently in her arms: “O my husband . . . cut off from life so young! You leave me a widow, lost in the royal halls—and the boy only a baby, the son we bore together, you and I so doomed. I cannot think he will ever come to manhood. Long before that the city will be sacked, plundered top to bottom! Because you are dead, her great guardian, you who always defended Troy,

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who kept her loyal wives and helpless children safe, all who will soon be carried off in the hollow ships and I with them— And you, my child, will follow me to labor, somewhere, at harsh, degrading work, slaving under some heartless master’s eye—that, or some Achaean marauder will seize you by the arm and hurl you headlong down from the ramparts—horrible death— enraged at you because Hector once cut down his brother, his father or his son, yes, hundreds of armed Achaeans gnawed the dust of the world, crushed by Hector’s hands! Your father, remember, was no man of mercy . . . not in the horror of battle, and that is why the whole city of Troy mourns you now, my Hector— you’ve brought your parents accursed tears and grief but to me most of all you’ve left the horror, the heartbreak! For you never died in bed and stretched your arms to me or said some last word from the heart I can remember, always, weeping for you through all my nights and days!” Her voice rang out in tears and the women wailed in answer and Hecuba led them now in a throbbing chant of sorrow: “Hector, dearest to me by far of all my sons . . . and dear to the gods while we still shared this life— and they cared about you still, I see, even after death. Many the sons I had whom the swift runner Achilles caught and shipped on the barren salt sea as slaves to Samos, to Imbros, to Lemnos shrouded deep in mist! But you, once he slashed away your life with his brazen spear he dragged you time and again around his comrade’s tomb, Patroclus whom you killed—not that he brought Patroclus back to life by that. But I have you with me now . . . fresh as the morning dew you lie in the royal halls like one whom Apollo, lord of the silver bow, has approached and shot to death with gentle shafts.” Her voice rang out in tears and an endless wail rose up and Helen, the third in turn, led their songs of sorrow: “Hector! Dearest to me of all my husband’s brothers— my husband, Paris, magnificent as a god . . . he was the one who brought me here to Troy— Oh how I wish I’d died before that day! But this, now, is the twentieth year for me

The Iliad. Book XXIV since I sailed here and forsook my own native land, yet never once did I hear from you a taunt, an insult. But if someone else in the royal halls would curse me, one of your brothers or sisters or brothers’ wives trailing their long robes, even your own mother— not your father, always kind as my own father— why, you’d restrain them with words, Hector, you’d win them to my side . . . you with your gentle temper, all your gentle words. And so in the same breath I mourn for you and me, my doom-struck, harrowed heart! Now there is no one left in the wide realm of Troy, no friend to treat me kindly— all the countrymen cringe from me in loathing!” Her voice rang out in tears and vast throngs wailed and old King Priam rose and gave his people orders: “Now, you men of Troy, haul timber into the city! Have no fear of an Argive ambush packed with danger— Achilles vowed, when he sent me home from the black ships, not to do us harm till the twelfth dawn arrives.” At his command they harnessed oxen and mules to wagons, they assembled before the city walls with all good speed and for nine days hauled in a boundless store of timber. But when the tenth Dawn brought light to the mortal world they carried gallant Hector forth, streaming tears, and they placed his corpse aloft the pyre’s crest, flung a torch and set it all aflame. At last, when young Dawn with her rose-red fingers shone once more, the people massed around illustrious Hector’s pyre . . . And once they’d gathered, crowding the meeting grounds, they first put out the fires with glistening wine, wherever the flames still burned in all their fury. Then they collected the white bones of Hector— all his brothers, his friends-in-arms, mourning, and warm tears came streaming down their cheeks. They placed the bones they found in a golden chest, shrouding them round and round in soft purple cloths. They quickly lowered the chest in a deep, hollow grave and over it piled a cope of huge stones closely set, then hastily heaped a barrow, posted lookouts all around for fear the Achaean combat troops would launch their attack

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before the time agreed. And once they’d heaped the mound they turned back home to Troy, and gathering once again they shared a splendid funeral feast in Hector’s honor, held in the house of Priam, king by will of Zeus. And so the Trojans buried Hector breaker of horses.

Translated by Robert Fagles

The Odyssey From BOOK I Proem Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in all ways of contending, the wanderer, harried for years on end, after he plundered the stronghold on the proud height of Troy. He saw the townlands and learned the minds of many distant men, and weathered many bitter nights and days in his deep heart at sea, while he fought only to save his life, to bring his shipmates home. But not by will nor valor could he save them, for their own recklessness destroyed them all— children and fools, they killed and feasted on the cattle of Lord Helios, the Sun, and he who moves all day through heaven took from their eyes the dawn of their return. Of these adventures, Muse, daughter of Zeus, tell us in our time, lift the great song again. Begin when all the rest who left behind them headlong death in battle or at sea had long ago returned, while he alone still hungered for home and wife. Her ladyship Kalypso clung to him in her sea-hollowed caves— a nymph, immortal and most beautiful, who craved him for her own.

Translated by Robert Fitzgerald

The Odyssey. Book V

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From BOOK V Odysseus and Calypso

The opening of the Odyssey locates its hero on Calypso’s island; the time is ten years after the fall of Troy. Before Homer tells us about Odysseus and Calypso, however, he devotes four whole books, one sixth of the poem, to the situation on the island of Ithaca, Odysseus ’ home. The hero’s son Telemachus has come of age to face a difficult situation. A huge crowd of suitors for the hand of his mother Penelope, certain after twenty years of absence that Odysseus must be dead, have occupied the house, refusing to leave until she chooses one of them as her new husband. Meanwhile they feast and carouse, at her; and Telemachus’, expense. The goddess Athena, who has persuaded the Olympian gods to allow Odysseus to return home at last, goes to Ithaca, and, assuming the iden¬ tity of Mentes, an overseas friend of Odysseus, encourages Telemachus to start on a voyage to Pylos and Sparta, where he asks Erst Nestor, then Menelaus, for news of his father. Meanwhile Hermes, the herald and messenger of the Olympian gods, arrives at Calypso s island with a mes¬ sage from Zeus: “Send him back in haste. ” Especially remarkable in the following excerpt is the fact (twice men¬ tioned) that Calypso is so passionately intent on keeping Odysseus as her consort that she has offered him the exclusive prerogative of the gods: immortality. Of course this was not a gift to be accepted lightly. The dawn goddess, Eos, fell in love with a Trojan prince called Tithonus, and asked Zeus to make him immortal Her wish was granted, but she had forgotten to ask also for the gift of eternal youth. Tithonus lived for ever but grew immensely old; when the goddess arose to light up the morning sky, he remained in bed. He grew feeble; and so small that he was kept in a basket; eventually he changed into a cicada. But Calypso offers to make Odysseus ageless as well as immortal. “I . . . sang that he should not die / nor grow old, ever. . .” (Robert Fitzgerald’s translation here weak¬ ens the force of the original, for the word he renders “sang is much more emphatic—“I promised, I undertook that. . .”) Calypso offers this gift again in their final interview, as she points out that the alternative is for Odysseus to set out once again on the sea where he has already suffered so much. “If you could see it all.. . all the adversity you face at sea— you would stay here. But he refuses. He refuses an everlasting life of youth and tranquility, with a goddess as his bride, choosing instead whatever the sea still holds in store for him after

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the loss of all his ships and all his men, whatever waits for him at home, and, finally, his death. Calypso’s name is a Greek word that means “.I shall conceal ” But Odysseus, like Achilles, lives for fame; his fame, he says later, when he reveals his identity to the Phaeacians, “has gone abroad to the sky’s rim. ” His refusal is one of many gestures on the part of the Homeric heroes that emphasize the one great difference between immortal gods and mortal men: heroism is something to which the gods can never aspire, for in its defiance and acceptance of death, it is exclusively human. Once again we rely on two translators. Lattimore uses the same long line as in his Iliad, a line that enables him to organize the words in approximately the same space as in the original, thus preserving some significant enjambments; he also retains much of the formularity of the epic language. Robert Fitzgerald chooses a shorter, flexible line; one closer to the norm of English narrative verse, and in general avoids Homeric formulas, though he sometimes retains formulaic epithets.

That goddess most divinely made shuddered before him, and her warm voice rose: “Oh you vile gods, in jealousy supernal! You hate it when we choose to lie with men— immortal flesh by some dear mortal side. So radiant Dawn once took to bed Orion until you easeful gods grew peevish at it, and holy Artemis, Artemis throned in gold, hunted him down in Delos with her arrows. Then Demeter of the tasseled tresses yielded to Iasion, mingling and making love in a furrow three times plowed; but Zeus found put and killed him with a white-hot thunderbolt. So now you grudge me, too, my mortal friend. But it was I who saved him—saw him straddle his own keel board, the one man left afloat when Zeus rent wide his ship with chain lightning and overturned him in the winedark sea. Then all his troops were lost, his good companions, but wind and current washed him here to me. I fed him, loved him, sang that he should not die nor grow old, ever, in all the days to come. But now there’s no eluding Zeus’ will. If this thing be ordained by him, I say

The Odyssey. Book V

so be it, let the man strike out alone on the vast water. Surely I cannot ‘send’ him. I have no long-oared ships, no company to pull him on the broad back of the sea. My counsel he shall have, and nothing hidden, to help him homeward without harm.” To this the Wayfinder made answer briefly: “Thus you shall send him, then. And show more grace in your obedience, or be chastised by Zeus.” The strong god glittering left her as he spoke, and now her ladyship, having given heed to Zeus’ mandate, went to find Odysseus in his stone seat to seaward—tear on tear brimming his eyes. The sweet days of his life time were running out in anguish over his exile, for long ago the nymph had ceased to please. Though he fought shy of her and her desire, he lay with her each night, for she compelled him. But when day came he sat on the rocky shore and broke his own heart groaning, with eyes wet scanning the bare horizon of the sea. Now she stood near him in her beauty, saying: “O forlorn man, be still. Here you need grieve no more; you need not feel your life consumed here; I have pondered it, and I shall help you go. Come and cut down high timber for a raft or flatboat; make her broad-beamed, and decked over, so you can ride her on the misty sea. Stores I shall put aboard for you—bread, water, and ruby-colored wine, to stay your hunger— give you a seacloak and a following wind to help you homeward without harm—provided the gods who rule wide heaven wish it so. Stronger than 1 they are, in mind and power.” For all he had endured, Odysseus shuddered. But when he spoke, his words went to the mark:

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“After these years, a helping hand? O goddess, what guile is hidden here? A raft, you say, to cross the Western Ocean, rough water, and unknown? Seaworthy ships that glory in god’s wind will never cross it. I take no raft you grudge me out to sea. Or yield me first a great oath, if I do, to work no more enchantment to my harm.” At this the beautiful nymph Kalypso smiled and answered sweetly, laying her hand upon him: “What a dog you are! And not for nothing learned, having the wit to ask this thing of me! My witness then be earth and sky and dripping Styx that I swear by— the gay gods cannot swear more seriously— I have no further spells to work against you. But what I shall devise, and what I tell you, will be the same as if your need were mine. Fairness is all I think of. There are hearts made of cold iron—but my heart is kind.” Swiftly she turned and led him to her cave, and they went in, the mortal and immortal. He took the chair left empty now by Hermes, where the divine Kalypso placed before him victuals and drink of men; then she sat down facing Odysseus, while her serving maids brought nectar and ambrosia to her side. Then each one’s hands went out on each one’s feast until they had had their pleasure; and she said: “Son of Laertes, versatile Odysseus, after these years with me, you still desire your old home? Even so, 1 wish you well. If you could see it all, before you go— all the adversity you face at sea— you would stay here, and guard this house, and be immortal—though you wanted her forever, that bride for whom you pine each day. Can I be less desirable than she is?

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Less interesting? Less beautiful? Can mortals compare with goddesses in grace and form?” To this the strategist Odysseus answered: “My lady goddess, here is no cause for anger. My quiet Penelope—how well I know— would seem a shade before your majesty, death and old age being unknown to you, while she must die. Yet, it is true, each day I long for home, long for the sight of home. If any god has marked me out again for shipwreck, my tough heart can undergo it. What hardship have I not long since endured at sea, in battle! Let the trial come.” Now as he spoke the sun set, dusk drew on, and they retired, this pair, to the inner cave to revel and rest softly, side by side.

Translated by Robert Fitzgerald

BOOK VI Odysseus and Nausicaa

It was only because Poseidon, Zeus’ brother, was absent from the Olym¬ pian council that the decision to set Odysseus free was unanimous. Poseidon, whose son Polyphemus the Cyclops had been blinded by Odysseus, was determined to delay the hero’s return home as long as possible. He returns from his visit to the far-off Ethiopians just in time to catch Odysseus at sea on the raft he has built on Calypso s island. His domain is the sea; he sends down a storm that shatters the raft and lea ves Odysseus in rough waves off a rocky coast. Finally, battered and ex¬ hausted, Odysseus struggles ashore at a rivermouth; he has landed on Scheria, the home of the Phaeacians, a people famous for their magically swift ships. He goes to sleep on a bed of leaves in a thicket near the shore. The figure of the young princess Nausicaa is one of Greek literature’s most charming creations. She is a young girl, but very much a princess. She is able to deal with an unusual social situation—an almost naked strange man emerging suddenly from a bush—in royal style, and she has no trouble making her deepest wishes clear in ways that do not commit

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her fully and openly. In the speech in which she instructs Odysseus to fall behind when they reach the town, for example, her description of the kind of talk she is anxious to avoid giving rise to is a discreet sugges¬ tion that she would be prepared to consider favorably a proposal of marriage.

Far gone in weariness, in oblivion, the noble and enduring man slept on; but Athena in the night went down the land of the Phaiakians, entering their city. In days gone by, these men held Hypereia, a country of wide dancing grounds, but near them were overbearing Kyklopes, whose power could not be turned from pillage. So the Phaiakians migrated thence under Nausithoos to settle a New World across the sea, Skheria Island. That first captain walled their promontory, built their homes and shrines, and parcelled out the black land for the plow. But he had gone down long ago to Death. Alkinoos ruled, and Heaven gave him wisdom, so on this night the goddess, grey-eyed Athena, entered the palace of Alkinoos to make sure of Odysseus’ voyage home. She took her way to a painted bedchamber where a young girl lay fast asleep—so fine in mould and feature that she seemed a goddess— the daughter of Alkinoos, Nausikaa. On either side, as Graces might have slept, her maids were sleeping. The bright doors were shut, but like a sudden stir of wind, Athena moved to the bedside of the girl, and grew visible as the shipman Dymas’ daughter, a girl the princess’ age, and her dear friend. In this form grey-eyed Athena said to her:

“How so remiss, and yet thy mother’s daughter? leaving thy clothes uncared for, Nausikaa, when soon thou must have store of marriage linen, and put they minstrelsy in wedding dress!

The Odyssey. Book VI Beauty, in these, will make the folk admire, and bring thy father and gentle mother joy. Let us go washing in the shine of morning! Beside thee will I drub, so wedding chests will brim by evening. Maidenhood must end! Have not the noblest born Phaiakians paid court to thee, whose birth none can excel? Go beg thy sovereign father, even at dawn, to have the mule cart and the mules brought round to take thy body-linen, gowns and mantles. Thou shouldst ride, for it becomes thee more, the washing pools are found so far from home.” On this word she departed, grey-eyed Athena, to where the gods have their eternal dwelling— as men say—in the fastness of Olympos. Never a tremor of wind, or a splash of rain, no errant snowflake comes to stain that heaven, so calm, so vaporless, the world of light. Here, where the gay gods live their days of pleasure, the grey-eyed one withdrew, leaving the princess. And now Dawn took her own fair throne, awaking the girl in the sweet gown, still charmed by dream. Down through the rooms she went to tell her parents, whom she found still at home: her mother seated near the great hearth among her maids—and twirling out of her distaff yarn dyed like the sea—; her father at the door, bound for a council of princes on petition of the gentry. She went up close to him and softly said: “My dear Papa, could you not send the mule cart around for me—the gig with pretty wheels? I must take all our things and get them washed at the river pools; our linen is all soiled. And you should wear fresh clothing, going to council with counselors and first men of the realm. Remember your five sons at home: though two are married, we have still three bachelor sprigs; they will have none but laundered clothes each time they go to the dancing. See what I must think of!”

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Homer

She had no word to say of her own wedding, though her keen father saw her blush. Said he: “No mules would I deny you, child, nor anything. Go along, now; the grooms will bring your gig with pretty wheels and the cargo box upon it.” He spoke to the stableman, who soon brought round the cart, low-wheeled and nimble; harnessed the mules, and backed them in the traces. Meanwhile the girl fetched all her soiled apparel to bundle in the polished wagon box. Her mother, for their luncheon, packed a hamper with picnic fare, and filled a skin of wine, and, when the princess had been handed up, gave her a golden bottle of olive oil for softening girls’ bodies, after bathing. Nausikaa took the reins and raised her whip, lashing the mules. What jingling! What a clatter! But off they went in a ground-covering trot, with princess, maids, and laundry drawn behind. By the lower river where the wagon came were washing pools, with water all year flowing in limpid spillways that no grime withstood. The girls unhitched the mules, and sent them down along the eddying stream to crop sweet grass. Then sliding out the cart’s tail board, they took armloads of clothing to the dusky water, and trod them in the pits, making a race of it. All being drubbed, all blemish rinsed away, they spread them, piece by piece, along the beach whose pebbles had been laundered by the sea; then took a dip themselves, and, all anointed with golden oil, ate lunch beside the river while the bright burning sun dried out their linen. Princess and maids delighted in that feast; then, putting off their veils, they ran and passed a ball to a rhythmic beat, Nausikaa flashing first with her white arms. So Artemis goes flying after her arrows flown down some tremendous valley-side—

The Odyssey. Book VI Taygetos, Erymanthos— chasing the mountain goats or ghosting deer, with nymphs of the wild places flanking her; and Leto’s heart delights to see them running, for, taller by a head than nymphs can be, the goddess shows more stately, all being beautiful. So one could tell the princess from the maids.

Soon it was time, she knew, for riding homeward— mules to be harnessed, linen folded smooth— but the grey-eyed goddess Athena made her tarry, so that Odysseus might behold her beauty and win her guidance to the town.

It happened when the king’s daughter threw her ball off line and missed, and put it in the whirling stream,— at which they all gave such a shout, Odysseus awoke and sat up, saying to himself:

“Now, by my life, mankind again! But who? Savages, are they, strangers to courtesy? Or gentle folk, who know and fear the gods? That was a lusty cry of tall young girls— most like the cry of nymphs, who haunt the peaks, and springs of brooks, and inland grassy places. Or am I amid people of human speech? Up again, man; and let me see for myself.” He pushed aside the bushes, breaking off with his great hand a single branch of olive, whose leaves might shield him in his nakedness; so came out rustling, like a mountain lion, rain-drenched, wind-buffeted, but in his might at ease, with burning eyes—who prowls among the herds or flocks, or after game, his hungry belly taking him near stout homesteads for his prey. Odysseus had this look, in his rough skin advancing on the girls with pretty braids; and he was driven on by hunger, too. Streaked with brine, and swollen, he terrified them, so that they fled, this way and that. Only

121

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Homer

Alkinoos’ daughter stood her ground, being given a bold heart by Athena, and steady knees. She faced him, waiting. And Odysseus came, debating inwardly what he should do: embrace this beauty’s knees in supplication? or stand apart, and, using honeyed speech, inquire the way to town, and beg some clothing? In his swift reckoning, he thought it best to trust in words to please her—and keep away; he might anger the girl, touching her knees. So he began, and let the soft words fall: “Mistress: please: are you divine, or mortal? If one of those who dwell in the wide heaven, you are most near to Artemis, I should say— great Zeus’ daughter—in your grace and presence. If you are one of earth’s inhabitants, how blest your father, and your gentle mother, blest all your kin. I know what happiness must send the warm tears to their eyes, each time they see their wondrous child go to the dancing! But one man’s destiny is more than blest— he who prevails, and takes you as his bride. Never have I laid eyes on equal beauty in man or woman. I am hushed indeed. So fair, one time, I thought a young palm tree at Delos near the altar of Apollo— I had troops under me when I was there on the sea route that later brought me grief— . but that slim palm tree filled my heart with wonder: never came shoot from earth so beautiful. So now, my lady, I stand in awe so great I cannot take your knees. And yet my case is desperate: twenty days, yesterday, in the winedark sea, on the ever-lunging swell, under gale winds, getting away from the Island of Ogygia. And now the terror of Storm has left me stranded upon this shore—with more blows yet to suffer, I must believe, before the gods relent. Mistress, do me a kindness! After much weary toil, I come to you,

The Odyssey. Book VI

and you are the first soul I have seen—I know no others here. Direct me to the town, give me a rag that I can throw around me, some cloth or wrapping that you brought along. And may the gods accomplish your desire: a home, a husband, and harmonious converse with him—the best thing in the world being a strong house held in serenity where man and wife agree. Woe to their enemies, joy to their friends! But all this they know best.” Then she of the white arms, Nausikaa, replied: “Stranger, there is no quirk or evil in you that I can see. You know Zeus metes out fortune to good and bad men as it pleases him. Hardship he sent to you, and you must bear it. But now that you have taken refuge here you shall not lack for clothing, or any other comfort due to a poor man in distress. The town lies this way, and the men are called Phaiakians, who own the land and city. I am daughter to the Prince Alkinoos, by whom the power of our people stands.” Turning, she called out to her maids-in-waiting: “Stay with me! Does the sight of a man scare you? Or do you take this one for an enemy? Why, there’s no fool so brash, and never will be, as to bring war or pillage to this coast, for we are dear to the immortal gods, living here, in the sea that rolls forever, distant from other lands and other men. No: this man is a castaway, poor fellow; we must take care of him. Strangers and beggars come from Zeus: a small gift, then, is friendly. Give our new guest some food and drink, and take him into the river, out of the wind, to bathe.” They stood up now, and called to one another to go on back. Quite soon they led Odysseus

123

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Homer

under the river bank, as they were bidden; and there laid out a tunic, and a cloak, and gave him olive oil in the golden flask. “Here,” they said, “go bathe in the flowing water.” But heard now from that kingly man, Odysseus: “Maids,” he said, “keep away a little; let me wash the brine from my own back, and rub on plenty of oil. It is long since my anointing. I take no bath, however, where you can see me— naked before young girls with pretty braids.” They left him, then, and went to tell the princess. And now Odysseus, dousing in the river, scrubbed the coat of brine from back and shoulders and rinsed the clot of sea-spume from his hair; got himself all rubbed down, from head to foot, then he put on the clothes the princess gave him. Athena lent a hand, making him seem taller, and massive too, with crisping hair in curls like petals of wild hyacinth, but all red-golden. Think of gold infused on silver by a craftsman, whose fine art Hephaistos taught him, or Athena: one whose work moves to delight: just so she lavished beauty over Odysseus’ head and shoulders. Then he went down to sit on the sea beach in his new splendor. There the girl regarded him, and after a time she said to the maids beside her: timore. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press. From Sappho and the Greek Lyric Poets, translated by Willis Barnstone. Copyright © 1962, 1967, 1988 by Willis Barnstone. Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc. From Lysistrata in Aristophanes: Four Comedies, translated by D. Parker. Copyright © 1961, 1962, 1969 by William Arrowsmith. Reprinted by permission of the University of Michigan Press. From The Frogs in Four Comedies, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Reprinted by permission of the University of Michigan Press.

Aristophanes:

From The Clouds in Three Comedies, translated by William Arrowsmith. Copyright © 1969 by William Arrowsmith. Reprinted by permission of the University of Mich¬ igan Press. From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, Copyright © 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books

asclepiades of samos: 1973).

Ltd. aurelius augustinus (saint Augustine):

From Confessions, translated by Henry Chad¬

wick. Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press. automedon: From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane,

1973).

Copy¬

right © 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From Two Hundred Poems from the Greek Anthology, translated by Robin Skelton. Re¬ printed by permission of the University of Washington Press. From Complete Poems, translated by Robert Fagles. Copyright ©

bacchylides:

1961

by

Robert Fagles. Reprinted by permission of Yale University Press. CALLIMACHUS: From Hymns, Epigrams, Select Fragments, translated by S. Lombardo and D. Raynor. Copyright © 1988 by Johns Hopkins University Press. Reprinted by permission of Johns Hopkins University Press. From Poems from the Greek Anthol¬ ogy, translated by Dudley Fitts. Copyright 1938, 1941, 1946 by New Directions Publishing Corporation. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Cor¬ poration.

856

Permissions From Greek Lyrics, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright ©

callinus:

i960

by

Richmond Lattimore. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press. catullus: From Catullus: Roman Culture, edited by Robert Fitzgerald. From The Poems of Catullus, translated by Peter Whigham (Penguin Classics, 1966). Translation and introduction copyright © 1966 by Peter Whigham. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From The Poems of Catullus, translated by Charles Martin. Copyright © 1979 by Charles Martin; 1990 by Johns Hopkins University Press. Reprinted by permission of Johns Hopkins University Press. From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, 1973). Copy¬ right © 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. diotimos: From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, 1973). Copyright © 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. erinna: From The Distaff, translated by Daniel Haberman. Reprinted by permission of Barbara Nissman Haberman. dioskorides:

erucius:

From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, 1973). Copyright by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.

© 1973 EURIPIDES:

From Alcestis, translated by William Arrowsmith. Copyright ©

1974

by Wil¬

liam Arrowsmith. Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press, Inc. From Medea and Hippolytus in Three Great Plays of Euripides, translated by Rex Warner. Reprinted by permission of New American Library, a division of Penguin USA, Inc. From Bacchae and Hecuba, in The Complete Greek Tragedies, translated by W. Arrowsmith; Electro, translated by E. Vermeule; Ion, translated by R. F. Willets; Iphigenia in Tauris, translated by Witter Bynner; and Trojan Women, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright © 1956, 1958, 1959 by the University of Chicago Press. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press. glaukos:

From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, 1973). Copyright by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.

© 1973

From Mimiamboi, translated by Douglass Parker. Reprinted by permission of Douglass Parker.

herodas:

herodotus:

From Herodotus: The History, translated by David Grene. Copyright ©

1987

by David Grene. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press. From The Histories, translated by Aubrey de Selincourt (Penguin Classics, 1954). Copy¬ right © 1954 by the Estate of Aubrey de Selincourt. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. hesiod:

From Works and Days, translated by Apostolos Athanassakis. Copyright ©

1983

by Apostolos Athanassakis. Reprinted by permission of Johns Hopkins University Press. From Works and Days, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright © 1959 by the University of Michigan Press. Reprinted by permission of the University of Michigan Press. hipponax:

From Greek Lyrics, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright ©

i960

by

Richmond Lattimore. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press. homer: From The Iliad, translated by Robert Fagles. Translation copyright © 1990 by Robert Fagles. Introduction and notes copyright © 1990 by Bernard Knox. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc. From The Iliad of Homer, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright © 1951 by the University of Chicago. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press. From The Odyssey of Homer, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Copyright © 1961, 1963 by Robert Fitzgerald and renewed 1989 by Benedict R. C. Fitzgerald. Reprinted by permission of Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc. From The Odyssey of Homer, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright © 1965, Lattimore. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

1967

by Richmond

Permissions Horace:

857

From The Collected Poems of Louis MacNeice, edited by E. R. Dodds. Copy¬

right © 1966 by the Estate of Louis MacNeice. Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press. From The Odes of Horace, translated by James Michie. Translation copyright © 1965 by James Michie. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a divi¬ sion of Penguin Books USA Inc. From The Complete Odes and Epodes, translated by W. G. Shepherd (Penguin Classics, 1983). Translation copyright © 1983 by W. G. Shepherd. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From Satires of Horace and Persius, translated by Niall Rudd. Copyright © 1973 by Niall Rudd. Reprinted by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From Greek Lyrics, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright © i960 by Richmond Lattimore. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago

ibycus:

Press. From The Sixteen Satires, translated by Peter Green (Penguin Classics, revised edition, 1974). Copyright © 1967, 1974 by Peter Green. Reproduced by permission

juvenal:

of Penguin Books Ltd. From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, 1973). Copy¬ right © 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. Leonidas of tarentum: From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, 1973). Copyright © 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From Poems from the Greek Anthology, translated by Dudley Fitts. Copyright KRiNAGORAS;

1938, 1941, 1946 by New Directions Publishing Corporation. Reprinted by permis¬ sion of New Directions Publishing Corporation. livy: From The Early History of Rome, translated by Aubrey de Selincourt. (Penguin Classics, i960). Copyright © i960 by the Estate of Aubrey de Selincourt. Repro¬ duced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, 1973). Copyright © 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. lucretius: From The Way Things Are, translated by Rolfe Humphries. Copyright © 1968 by Indiana University Press. Reprinted by permission of Indiana University lucilius:

Press. louis MacNEiCE:

“Autumn Journal” from The Collected Poems, edited

by

E. R. Dodds.

Copyright © 1966 by the Estate of Louis MacNeice. Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press. From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane,

marcus argentarius:

1973). Copyright © 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From Poems from the Greek Anthology, translated by Dudley Fitts. Copyright 1938, 1941, 1946 by New Directions Publishing Corporation. Reprinted by permis¬ sion of New Directions Publishing Corporation. From Meditations, translated by Maxwell Staniforth (Penguin Clas¬ sics, 1964). Copyright © 1964 by Maxwell Staniforth. Reproduced by permission of

marcus aurelius:

Penguin Books Ltd. From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, 1973)- Copyright

meleager:

© 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From The Bad-Tempered Man or The Misanthrope, translated by Philip Vel-

menander:

lacott. Copyright © i960 by Oxford University Press. Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press. From Greek Lyrics, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright © i960 by Richmond Lattimore. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press.

mimnermus:

From Sappho and the Greek Lyric Poets, translated by Willis Barnstone. Copyright © 1962, 1967, 1988 by Willis Barnstone Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

858

Permissions From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, 1973). Copy¬ right © 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From Poems from the Greek Anthology, translated by Dudley Fitts. Copyright 1938, 1941, 1946 by New Directions Publishing Corporation. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.

nikarchos:

ovid:

From Amores, translated by Guy Lee. Copyright © 1968 by Guy Lee. Reprinted by

permission of John Murray (Publishers) Ltd. From The Erotic Poems, translated by Peter Green (Penguin Classics, 1982). Copyright © 1982 by Peter Green. Repro¬ duced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From Metamorphoses, translated by Rolfe Humphries. Copyright © 1955 by Indiana University Press. Reprinted by permission of Indiana University Press. From Tristia, translated by Peter Green. paulus silentiarius: From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, 1973). Copyright © 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From Poems from the Greek Anthology, translated by Dudley Fitts. Copyright 1938, 1941. J94^ by New Directions Publishing Corporation. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation. From The Satyricon, translated by William Arrowsmith. Translation copyright © 1959,1987 by William Arrowsmith. Used by permission of New Ameri¬ can Library, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc.

petronius arbiter:

From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, 1973). Copy¬ right © 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.

philodemos:

pindar:

From The Odes of Pindar, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright ©

*947> J97^ by the University of Chicago Press. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press. From Pindar’s Victory Songs, translated by Frank Nisetich. Copyright © 1980 by Johns Hopkins University Press. Reprinted by permission of Johns Hopkins University Press. plato:

From Epistles, translated by Glen R. Morrow. Copyright © 1962 by The Bobbs-

Merrill Company, copyright renewed. Reprinted by permission of Macmillan Pub¬ lishing Company. From The Last Days of Socrates, translated by Hugh Tredennick (Penguin Classics, revised edition, 1959). Copyright © 1954, 1959 by Hugh Treden¬ nick. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From Phaedrus, translated by R. Hackforth. Reprinted by permission of Cambridge University Press. From Poems from the Greek Anthology, translated by Dudley Fitts. Copyright 1938, 1941, 1946 by New Directions Publishing Corporation. Reprinted by permission of New Direc¬ tions Publishing Corporation. From The Symposium, translated by Walter Hamilton (Penguin Classics, 1951). Copyright © 1951 by Walter Hamilton. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, 1973). Copyright © 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From The Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay (Allen Lane, 1973). Copyright © 1973 by Peter Jay. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.

pompeius:

“The Ghost (After Sextus Propertius)” from Lord Weary’s Castle, translated by Robert Lowell. Copyright 1946 and renewed 1974 by Robert Lowell. Reprinted by

Propertius:

permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. “Homage to Sextus Propertius” from Personae, translated by Ezra Pound. Copyright 1926 by Ezra Pound. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation. From The Poems of Proper¬ tius, translated by Constance Carrier. Reprinted by permission of Indiana University Press. From Propertius: The Poems, translated by W. G. Shepherd (Penguin Classics, 1985). Translation and notes copyright © 1985 by W. G. Shepherd. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.

Permissions

859

From Greek Lyrics, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright © i960 by Richmond Lattimore. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press. From Poems from the Greek Anthology, translated by Kenneth Rexroth. Copyright © 1962 by the University of Michigan Press. Reprinted by permission of the Univer¬

sappho:

sity of Michigan Press. From Sappho: Poems and Fragments, translated by Josephine Balmer. Copyright © 1980. Reprinted by permission of Carol Publishing. From Sappho, translated by Guy Davenport. Reprinted by permission of the University of California Press. From Sappho and the Greek Lyric Poets, translated by Willis Barnstone. Copyright © 1962, 1967, 1988 by Willis Barnstone. Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc. From Sappho: A New Transla¬ tion, translated by Mary Barnard. Copyright © 1958 by the Regents of the Univer¬ sity of California; © renewed 1984 Mary Barnard. Reprinted by permission of the University of California Press. From Greek Lyrics, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright © i960 by Richmond Lattimore. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press.

Simonides:

From Greek Lyrics, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright © i960 by Richmond Lattimore. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press. From Sappho and the Greek Lyric Poets, translated by Willis Barnstone. Copyright © 1962, 1967, 1988 by Willis Barnstone. Reprinted by permission of Pantheon

solon:

Books, a division of Random House, Inc. From Ajax in The Complete Greek Tragedies, translated by John Moore. Copyright © 1957 by the University of Chicago Press. Reprinted by permission of 1 the University of Chicago Press. Antigone from Three Thehan Plays, translated by Robert Fagles. Translation copyright © 1982 by Robert Fagles. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc. From Collected Earlier

SOPHOCLES:

Poems by Anthony Hecht. Copyright © 1990 by Anthony Hecht. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. From The Transparent Man by Anthony Hecht. Copyright © 1990 by Anthony Hecht. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. tacitus:

From The Annals of Imperial Rome, translated by Michael Grant (Penguin

Classics, revised edition, 1989). Copyright © 1956, 1959, 1971, 1973> J975» 1977> 1989 by Michael Grant Publications Ltd. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. From The Idylls of Theocritus, A Verse Translation, translated by Thelma Sargent. Copyright © 1982 by Thelma Sargent. Reprinted by permission of W. W.

THEOCRITUS:

Norton & Company, Inc. From Greek Lyrics, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright © i960 by Richmond Lattimore. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press.

theognis:

From Sappho and the Greek Lyric Poets, translated by Willis Barnstone. Copyright © 1962, 1967, 1988 by Willis Barnstone. Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc. From The Characters, translated by Philip Vellacott (Penguin Books, 1967). Copyright © 1967 by Philip Vellacott. Reproduced by permission of Penguin

Theophrastus:

Books Ltd. From Thucydides: The Peloponnesian XX^ars, translated by Benjamin Jowett,

thucydides:

revised by P. A. Brunt. Copyright © 1963, 1991 by Washington Square Press. Re¬ printed by permission of Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. From Greek Lyrics, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright © i960 by Richmond Lattimore. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press.

tyrtaeus:

virgil:

From The Aeneid, translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Translation copyright © 1980,

86o

Permissions

^82, 1983 by Robert Fitzgerald. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc. From The Georgies, translated by L. P. Wilkinson (Penguin Classics, 1982). Copy¬ right © 1982 by L. P. Wilkinson. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. Xenophanes: From Greek Lyrics, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright © i960 by Richmond Lattimore. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press. From Sappho and the Greek Lyric Poets, translated by Willis Barnstone. Copyright © 1962, 1967, 1988 by Willis Barnstone. Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

INDEX

Aeneid, The (Virgil), 643

Antipater of Sidon, 577

Aeschylus, 300 Agamemnon (Aeschylus), 305 “Agelaus was kind to Acestorides”

Anyte, 576 Apollonius Rhodius, 534

(iSlikarchos), 589 “A ghost is someone: death has left a hole” (Propertius), 725 “Ah, how they glide by, Postumus, Postumus” (Horace), 624 Aida, The (Callimachus), 527

Apology, The (Plato), 493 “Apple of islands, Sirmio, & bright peninsulas, set” (Catullus), 611 Archilochus, 202, 203 Argonautica (Apollonius Rhodius),

Ajax (Sophocles), 357

534 Aristophanes, 446 Art of Love, The (Ovid), 739

Alcaeus, 218, 220 Alcestis (Euripides), 436

Asclepiades of Samos, 580 “Astrologers foretold to me” (Antipater of

Aleman, 212, 214 “A level mind in crooked times” (Horace),

Salonica), 587 “At sixty I, Dionysios of Tarsos, lie here,”

622 Alexander Aetolus, 5 81 "All, O all the calamities of all the

“[.. . Atthis,]/although she is in Sardis”

Hellenes” (Archilochus), 207 “All asleep—the mountain peaks and gorges” (Aleman), 216 “Although she’s a girl, Dorkion” (Asclepiades of Samos), 580

585

(Sappho), 226 “Attribute all to the gods” (Archilochus), 204 Augustine, St., 833, 834 Automedon, 585

Amoves (Ovid), 728

Bacchae, The (Euripides), 418

Anacreon, 242, 243 “And he established three seasons”

Bacchylides, 263 “Back from the west, back from the war,

(Aleman), 216 “And 1 know how to lead off”

Marcellus” (Krinagoras), 585 Bad-Tempered Man, The (Menander),

(Archilochus), 203 “And there is the vengeance of the gods” (Aleman), 214 Annals, The (Tacitus), 786 Antigone (Sophocles), 359 Antipater of Salonica, 586

512

“Being no more than a man, you cannot tell what will happen” (Simonides), 250 “Best of all things—is never to be born” (Theognis), 237

86z “Boy, hold my wreath for me,” 583 “ ‘. . . but if you’re in a hurry and can’t wait for me’ ” (Archilochus), 207 Callimachus, 527 Catullus, 604 Changeling, The, or The Rustic (Menander), 520 Characters (Theophrastus), 522 Clouds, The (Aristophanes), 446 “Come with me now and leave the land of” (Alcaeus), 221 Confessions (St. Augustine), 834 Crito (Plato), 501 “Cypassis, incomparable coiffeuse” (Ovid), 734

Index “Family? I’m fed up with this talk of ‘family’ ” (Menander), 521 “Finest of all things I have left is the light of the sun” (Praxilla), 266 First Olympian Ode (For Hiero of Syracuse) (Pindar), 252 “For one of them spent whole days at ease at table” (Hipponax), 218 “Fountain of Bandusia, glassy waters gleaming” (Horace), 632 “Four Graces now, for to the Three” (Callimachus), 533 “Friend, we once were alive in the harbor city of Korinth” (Simonides), 250 Frogs, The (Aristophanes), 458 “Furius and Aurelius, Catullus’ comrades” (Catullus), 610

“Didyme waved her wand at me” (Asclepiades of Samos), 580 Dioskorides, 582 Diotimos, 579 Distaff, The (Erinna), 572 Dithyramb (Bacchylides), 263 “Does anyone these days respect the artist” (Ovid), 736 “Doing, a filthy pleasure is, and short” (Petronius Arbiter), 812 “Do not, Leuconoe, seek to inquire what is forbidden, what” (Horace), 618 “Doubly unfortunate are those who dwell in Hell — ” (Lucilius), 589 “Drink, comrades, drum the ground, now it is time” (Horace), 621 “Driven across many nations, across many oceans” (Catullus), 610 Electra (Euripides), 442 Epistle VII (Plato), 510 Erinna, 572 “Eros makes me shiver again” (Sappho), 231

Erucius, 586 Eumenides, The (Aeschylus), 321

Euripides, 404, 405 “Europa (in Athens) does business” (Antipater of Salonica), 586 “Even if I am only more dust” (Pompeius), 588 “Even now Eros looks at me with tenderness” (Ibycus), 247 “Even though he lies underground” (Erucius), 586

Georgies (Virgil), 639 “Ghosts do exist. Death does not finish all” (Propertius), 722 Glaukos, 583 Greek Anthology, The, 574 “Greetings to you, girl of the nose not tiny” (Catullus), 607 “ ‘//advantageous’ breathes Arrius heavily” (Catullus), 613 “Heart, my heart, so battered with misfortune far beyond your” (Archilochus), 205 Hecuba (Euripides), 444 “Here it’s rose-time again, chick-peas in season” (Philodemos), 584 “Here lies Timokritos: soldier: valiant in battle” (Anacreon), 244 “Here the island stands” (Archilochus), 205 Hermes, dear Hermes, Maia’s son from Kyllene” (Hipponax), 217 Herodas, 566 Herodotus, 267 Hesiod, 187, 188 “He stooped to put flowers on his stepmother’s tomb” (Callimachus), 533 “Hiero’s former Nurse” (Dioskorides), 582 Hippolytus (Euripides), 413 Hipponax, 216, 217 “His father Philip laid here the twelve-year-old boy” (Callimachus), 534 “His thunder confirms our belief that Jove” (Horace), 627 History, The (Herodotus), 267

Index History of Rome, The (Livy), 703 “Hold my jacket, somebody, while I hit Boupalos in the eye” (Hipponax), 218 Homer, 63 “Homeward at evening through the drifted snow” (Diotimos), 579 “ ‘Honest, I want to die,’ she said to me” (Sappho), 227 Horace, 614, 615 Hymn V (Callimachus), 529 “1 am two things: a fighter who follows the Master of Battles” (Archilochus), 20; Ibycus, 246 “1 cannot understand how the winds are set” (Alcaeus), 222 “Idle now in Athene’s shining house” (Anyte), 576 “I don’t like the towering captain with the spraddly length of leg” (Archilochus), 205 Idyll I (Theocritus), 547 Idyll II (Theocritus), 553 Idyll III (Theocritus), 559 Idyll XV (Theocritus), 562 “If a horse or lion or a slow ox” (Xenophanes), 233 “If any pleasure can come to a man through recalling” (Catullus), 609 “If ever anyone anywhere, Lesbia, is looking” (Catullus), 614

863

“In the middle of the night” (Philodemos), 584 “In this era, Tullus, and in your company” (Propertius), 717 Ion (Euripides), 434 Iphigenia in Tauris (Euripides), 425 “I saw them, caught them in the act” (Paulus Silentiairus), 590 “Is Kharidas beneath this stone” (Callimachus), 532 “It never happened to me. The god of wealth’s stone blind” (Hipponax), 218 “It was this way” (Marcus Argentarius), 588 Juvenal, 813,814 “Keep traveling, you swine, the whole way toward Smyrna” (Hipponax), 218 “Kindly pass the cup down the deck” (Archilochus), 204 Krinagoras, 585 “Kyrnos, this city is still the same city, but its people are different” (Theognis), 237 “Lately thumbing the pages of Works and Days ” (Marcus Argentarius), 587 “Leave Krete and come to this holy temple” (Sappho), 228 Leonidas of Tarentum, 580

“If you can count the number” (Anacreon), 245 “I gave the people as much privilege as

“Lesbia, let us live only for loving”

they have a right to” (Solon), 241 “I hate and love. And if you ask me how”

(Catullus), 612 “Lesbia is extraordinarily vindictive”

(Catullus), 613 “I have a beautiful daughter, golden”

(Catullus), 613 “Lesbia never avoids a good chance to

(Sappho), 227 “I have gone gray at the temples”

abuse me” (Catullus), 609 “Lesbia says she’d rather marry me”

(Anacreon), 244 “I heard the sharp cry of the bird, O son

(Catullus), 612 “Let us hide the sea-king’s gifts”

of Polypas” (Theognis), 238 “I Lai's whose laughter was scornful in

(Archilochus), 204 Libation Bearers, The (Aeschylus), 315

Hellas” (Plato), 575 Iliad, The (Homer), 63 “In breeding donkeys, rams or horses, we seek out” (Theognis), 237 “In love’s wars I have long maintained” (Horace), 632 “In spring time the Kydonian” (Ibycus), 246

(Catullus), 605 “Lesbia, our Lesbia, the same old Lesbia”

“Like the sweet apple turning red on the branch top, on the” (Sappho), 230 “Like the very gods in my sight is he who” (Sappho), 229 Livy, 702, 703 “Look on this statue, traveller; look well” (Theocritus), 566 Lucilius, 589

864

Index

Lucretius, 595, 596 Lysidice, I’m anxious to find out the meaning” (Antipater of Sidon), 577 Lysistrata (Aristophanes), 471 Marcus Argentarius, 587 Marcus Aurelius, 827 “May wide and towering heaven collapse upon me in all its” (Theognis), 236 Medea (Euripides), 405 Meditations (Marcus Aurelius), 827 Meleager, 582 Menander, 512 Metamorphoses, The (Ovid), 755 “Midnight: a letter came from my mistress to me” (Propertius), 720 “Midnight, and a letter comes to me from our mistress” (Propertius), 721 Mimiamboi (Herodas), 566 Mimnermus, 234 “More than the Pleiades’ setting” (Antipater of Sidon), 578 “Much have I eaten, much have I drunk and much have I slandered” (Simonides), 250

“Offered a sexless heaven I’d say No thank you—” (Ovid), 735 Olympian Ode, First (For Hiero of Syracuse) (Pindar), 252 “O my friend and oldest comrade” (Horace), 623 “Once he went out huddled about in dirty clothes with his hair” (Anacreon), 243 “Once upon a time, I loved you, Atthis” (Sappho), 227 “One and all” (Alcaeus), 221 “One sizable thing I do know” (Archilochus), 205 On the Nature of Things (Lucretius), 595 Oresteia, The (Aeschylus), 305 “O sweet boy like a girl” (Anacreon), 244

“O that I might but touch” (Archilochus), 204 “Others can praise in their verse Mitylene, Rhodes and its glories” (Horace), 616 “Our gods have flat noses and black skins” (Xenophanes), 233 Ovid, 727, 728

“Must it be war again” (Horace), 633 “My ash spear is my barley bread” (Archilochus), 204

Paulus Silentiarius, 590

“My Lesbia, you ask how many kisses” (Catullus), 60;

Peloponnesian Wars, The (Thucydides),

“My name is—What does it

“Percussion, salt and honey” (Sappho),

matter—My" (Paulus Silentiarius), 590 “My Thracian foal, why do you glare with disdain” (Anacreon), 244

Petronius Arbiter, 793, 794 Phaedo (Plato), 506

Nikarchos, 579, 589

Phaedrus (Plato), 477 Philodemos, 584

“No longer, maiden voices sweet-calling, sounds of allurement” (Aleman), 214 “No man more blest! O night, not dark for me” (Propertius), 718

“Philokles offers his bouncing” (Leonidas of Tarentum), 580 Pindar, 251, 252 Plato, 477, 575

“Nothing destroys a good man quicker than poverty” (Theognis), 237

Pompeius, 588 Praxilla, 266

“Nothing in the world can surprise me

Prometheus Bound (Aeschylus), 302 Propertius, 716, 717

now. Nothing” (Archilochus), 206 “Now, supposing a man were to win the prize for the foot race” (Xenophanes), “Now the Years are seven and sixty that have been tossing” (Xenophanes), 232

“Peace, Grosphus, is what the man on the open” (Horace), 625 335

231

Pythian Ode, Third (For Hiero of Syracuse) (Pindar), 258 Sappho, 223, 226 Satire I (Juvenal), 813 Satire III (Juvenal), 816 Satires, The (Horace), 635

Odyssey, The (Homer), 112 Oedipus at Colonus (Sophocles), 401

Satyricon, The (Petronius Arbiter), 794

Index “Say goodbye to the island Paros” (Archilochus), 206 “See, 1 have given you wings on which to hover uplifted” (Theognis), 236

865

Theophrastus, 522 “There is one God—supreme among gods and men—” (Xenophanes), 233 “The right way to go marrying, by Saviour

“Septimius, with his beloved Acme” (Catullus), 607 Seven Against Thebes (Aeschylus), 300

Zeus*’ (Menander), 520 “Theris, whose hands were cunning” (Leonidas of Tarentum), 581

“Short in measure, narrow in theme, Erinna” (Antipater of Sidon), 578

Theseus on His Way to Athens (Baccylides), 263 “These were my end: a fierce down-squall from the east” (Leonidas of Tarentum),

“Siesta time in sultry summer” (Ovid), 73i “Silver-tongued among the sons of Rome” (Catullus), 612 Simonides, 247, 249 . . slammed by the surf on the beach” (Archilochus), 206 “Snows have fled, the grass returns now to the meadows” (Horace), 634 Solon, 238, 239 “Some barbarian is waving my shield, since I was obliged to” (Archilochus), 205 “Sotnebody told me you were dead” (Callimachus), 533 “Some there are who say that the fairest thing seen” (Sappho), 228 Sophocles, 357 “So that’s my role—the professional defendant?” (Ovid), 733 Spartan Creed, The (Tyrtaeus), 211 Symposium, The (Plato), 481 Tacitus, 786, 787“Tell us, if it isn’t too much trouble” (Catullus), 608 “The fox knows many tricks, the hedgehog only one” (Archilochus), 206 “The gods did not enrich man” (Xenophanes), 233 “The gold booty of Gyges means nothing to me” (Archilochus), 207

580 “The Spartan wrestlers and their rules amaze me—” (Propertius), 719 “The sun works every day and there’s no rest” (Mimnermus), 234 “They acquired useless luxuries out of Lydia” (Xenophanes), 233 “They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead” (Callimachus), 533 Third Pythian Ode (For Hiero of Syracuse) (Pindar), 258 “This bank makes welcome citizen and foreigner” (Theocritus), 566 “This city of ours will never be destroyed by the planning” (Solon), 240 “This is the grave of that Megistias, whom once the Persians” (Simonides), 250 “This piece of Lydian earth holds Amyntor” (Antipater of Sidon), 578 “Though innocent you shall atone for the crimes” (Horace), 629 “Thou wert the morning star among the living” (Plato), 575 “Throned in splendor, deathless, O Aphrodite” (Sappho), 229 Thucydides, 334, 335 “Time was when once upon a time, such toys” (Glaukos), 583 “To be a good man, without blame and without question” (Simonides),

250

“The good man innocent of sin”

“To whom will I give this sophisticated”

(Horace), 619 “The great hall is aglare with bronze

(Catullus), 604 “Traveler, take this word to the men of Lakedaimon” (Simonides), 250

armament and the whole inside” (Alcaeus), 222 “The love god with his golden curls”

Tristia (Ovid), 779 Trojan Women, The (Euripides), 428

(Anacreon), 243 “The monument of Phrasikleia,” 575

Tyrtaeus, 209, 211

“The moon has set” (Sappho), 231

“Varus, you know Suffenus as well as any”

Theocritus, 547 Theognis, 235, 236

(Catullus), 606 Virgil, 639

866

Index

“Wash your gullet with wine for the Dog-Star returns” (Alcaeus), 220

Xenophanes, 231, 232

“We have heard of Quintia’s beauty. To me she is tall, slender” (Catullus), 614 “Welcome, old friend, long-necked

“Yes, Atticus, take it from me—” (Ovid),

bottle” (Marcus Argentarius), 587 “What, then, is life if love the golden is gone? What is pleasure?” (Mimnermus), 234 “What slim youth, Pyrrha, drenched in perfumed oils” (Horace), 615 “When dead no man finds respect or glory from men” (Archilochus), 207 “. . . when in the wrought chest” (Simonides), 249 “ ‘When I was dear to you’ ” (Horace), 631 “When somebody as dear as he is dead” (Horace), 620 “When this man, Manes, lived, he was a slave” (Anyte), 576 “Where did I fail? When did I give up goals” (Solon), 239 “Where is your famous beauty” (Antipater of Sidon), 577 “Who hung these shields here still all shiny” (Antipater of Sidon), 578 “Whose the hand unloosed Clearista’s zone” (Dioskorides), 582 “Winter to Spring: the west wind melts the frozen rancour” (Horace), 615 Works and Days, The (Hesiod), 188 “Wretched Catullus! You have to stop this nonsense” (Catullus), 605

732 “Yesterday Dr. Marcus went to see the statue of Zeus” (Nikarchos), 579 “Yesterday 1 ate tough mutton” (Automedon), 585 “You have come home from the ends of the earth” (Alcaeus), 221 “Your cottage, Furius, sheltered” (Catullus), 611 “Your husband? Going to the same dinner as us?” (Ovid), 728 “Your most recent acquisition, Flavius” (Catullus), 611 “You see how deep Soracte stands in snow” (Horace), 617 “You too, Clenorides, homesickness drove,” 583 “You were the morning star among the living” (Plato), 576 “You who wander above the long earth” (Alcaeus), 221 “You who will die, watch over your life, don’t set sail” (Alexander Aetolus), 581 “You will die and be still, never shall be memory left of you” (Sappho), 230 “You will dine well with me, my dear Fabullus” (Catullus), 606 “Zeus rains upon us, and from the sky comes down” (Alcaeus), 222

4

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For most of us classical writing is little more than a narrow circle of leg¬ endary figures; but behind the familiar work of Homer, Aeschylus, Plato, Virgil, and Saint Augustine lies a vast fellowship of writers with a com¬ mon mythological and artistic heritage. The Norton Book of Classical Literature includes not only the “greats” but also significant but lesserknown figures and traditions: archaic lyric poets, Alexandrian Greeks, and Roman satirists, for example. The translations selected for this collec¬ tion, ranging from classic nineteenth-century versions to as-yet-unpublished manuscripts, reflect the diversity of the works themselves and bring them to us with eloquence and clarity. From the lyrical precision of Archilochus and Sappho to the epic sweep of Apollonius and Virgil; from the storytelling genius of Herodotus and Ovid to the philosophical ruminations of Marcus Aurelius; from the sobering histories of Thucydides and Tacitus to the satires of Petronius and Juvenal; from tantalizing papyrus fragments only recently unearthed to the complete Antigone—The Norton Book of Classical Literature revives what for many of us has become a lost tradition. *

BERNARD KNOX is a director emeritus of Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. His articles and reviews have appeared in many publications, and in 1978 he won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. His books include Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles Tragic Hero and His Time, The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy, Word and Actic n: Essays on the Ancient Theatre, and Essays Ancient and Modern, which was awarded the first PEN/SpielvogelDiamonstein Award for the art of the literary essay. In 1992 he was named as the Jefferson Lecturer in the humanities by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Cover Design by Mike Mclver Cover illustration: Red-figure kylix, Tarquinia Museum. Reproduced by permission of Scala/Art Resource. Printed in U.S.A.

W-W-NORTON

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