The Odyssey by Homer (best novels in english txt) 📕

flew to arms, and when they had put on
The glittering brass, they mustered in close ranks
Before the spacious city. At their head
Eupeithes led them on, who madly deemed
Himself the avenger of his slaughtered son.
Yet he from that encounter nevermore
Was to return; his fate o’ertook him there.

Then Pallas thus addressed Saturnian Jove:
“Our Father, son of Saturn, king of kings,
Tell me, I pray, the purpose of thy heart
Yet unrevealed. Shall there be cruel war
And deadly combats, or wilt thou ordain
That these shall henceforth dwell in amity?”

And cloud-compelling Jove made answer thus:
“My child, why ask me? Was it not with thee
A cherished purpose, that, returning home,
Ulysses amply should avenge himself
Upon the suitors? Do, then, as thou wilt.
Yet this, as the most fitting, I advise.
Now that the great Ulysses has avenged
His wrongs, let there be made a faithful league
With oaths, and let Ulysses ever reign;
And we will cause the living to forget
Their sons and brothers slain, and all shall dwell
In friendship as they heretofore have dwelt,
And there shall be prosperity and peace.”

He spake, and eager as she was before,
Encouraged by his words, the goddess plunged
Down from the summits of the Olympian mount
Now when they all had feasted to the full,
The much-enduring chief, Ulysses, said:
“Go, one of you, and see if they are near.”

He spake; a son of Dolius at his word
Went forth, and, coming to the threshold, stopped.
He saw them all at hand, and instantly
Bespake Ulysses thus, with winged words:
“They are upon us; we must arm at once.”

He spake; they rose, and quickly were in arms.
Four were Ulysses and his friends, and six
The sons of Dolius. Old Laertes then,
And Dolius, put on armor with the rest,
Gray-headed as they were, for now their aid
Was needed. When they all had clad themselves
In shining brass, they threw the portals wide
And sallied forth, Ulysses at their head.

Now Pallas, daughter of almighty Jove,
Drew near them. She had taken Mentor’s form
And Mentor’s voice. The much-enduring chief,
Ulysses, saw her and rejoiced, and said
To his beloved son, Telemachus:⁠—

“Now wilt thou, of thyself, Telemachus,
Bethink thee, when thou minglest in the fray
That tries men’s valor, not to cast disgrace
Upon thy forefathers⁠—a race renowned
For manly daring over all the earth.”

And thus discreet Telemachus replied:
“Nay, if thou wilt, my father, thou shalt see
That by no lack of valor shall I cast,
As thou hast said, dishonor on thy race.”

Laertes heard them, and rejoiced, and said:
“O what a day for me, ye blessed gods,
Is this! With what delight I see my son
And grandson rivals on the battlefield.”

And then the blue-eyed Pallas, drawing near
Laertes, said: “Son of Arcesias, loved
By me beyond all others of my friends,
Pray to Jove’s blue-eyed daughter, and to Jove,
And brandish thy long spear, and send it forth.”

So Pallas spake, and breathed into his frame
Strength irresistible. The aged chief
Prayed to the daughter of almighty Jove,
And brandished his long spear and sent it forth.
It smote Eupeithes on the helmet’s cheek.
The brass stayed not the spear, the blade passed through,
And heavily Eupeithes fell to earth,
His armor clashing round him as he fell.
Then rushed Ulysses and his valiant son
Forward, the foremost of their band, and smote
Their foes with swords and lancet double-edged,
And would have struck them down to rise no more,
If Pallas, daughter of the god who bears
The aegis, had not with a mighty voice
Commanded all the combatants to cease:⁠—

“Stay, men of Ithaca; withhold your hands
From deadly combat. Part, and shed no blood.”

So Pallas spake, and they grew pale with awe,
And fear-struck; as they heard her words they dropped
Their weapons all upon the earth. They fled
Townward as if for life, while terribly
The much-enduring chief Ulysses raised
His voice, and shouted after them, and sprang
Upon them as an eagle darts through air.
Then Saturn’s son sent down a bolt of fire;
It fell before his blue-eyed daughter’s feet,
And thus the goddess to Ulysses called:⁠—

“Son of Laertes, nobly born and wise,
Ulysses, hold thy hand; restrain the rage
Of deadly combat, lest the god who wields
The thunder, Saturn’s son, be wroth with thee.”

She spake, and gladly he obeyed; and then
Pallas, the child of aegis-bearing Jove,
Plighted, in Mentor’s form with Mentor’s voice,
A covenant of peace between the foes.

Colophon

The Odyssey
is thought to have been written between 800 and 700 BC by
Homer.

It was translated from Homeric Greek in 1879 by
William Cullen Bryant.

This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Emma Sweeney,
and is based on digital scans available at the
Internet Archive,
the
HathiTrust Digital Library,
and
Google Books.

The cover page is adapted from
Ulysses and the Sirens,
a painting completed in 1891 by
John William Waterhouse.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by
The League of Moveable Type.

The first edition of this ebook was released on
February 8, 2020, 1:55 a.m.
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