The Odyssey Darkly

Ominous Invocation

Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns…

 

Penelope to the still-disguised Odysseus

Our lives are much too brief…

If a man is cruel by nature, cruel in action,

the mortal world will call down curses on his head

while he is alive, and all will mock his memory after death.

But then if a man is kind by nature, kind in action,

his guests will carry his fame across the earth

and people all will praise him from the heart.” (19 377-383)

 

Narrator, Recognition Scene

[Odysseus had gone to] Parnassus, out to see Autolycus and his sons.

The man was his [Odysseus’] mother’s noble father, one who excelled

the world at thievery, that and subtle, shifty oaths.

Hermes gave him the gift, overjoyed by the thighs

of lambs and kids he burned in the god’s honor—

Hermes the ready partner in his crimes. Now

Autolycus once visited Ithaca’s fertile land,

to find his daughter’s son had just been born.

…You,

my daughter, and you, my son-in-law, “ Autolycus [gently commanded]

“give the boy the name I tell you now. Just as I

have come from afar, creating pain for many—

men and women across the good green earth—

so let his name be Odysseus…

the Son of Pain, a name he’ll earn in full.” (19 447-464)

 

Odysseus on Recouping Losses

But as for the flocks those brazen suitors plundered,

Much I’ll recoup myself, making many raids;

The rest our fellow-Ithacans will supply

Till all my folds are full of sheep again. (XXIII 402-5)

Polyphemus to the Strangers in His Cave

“Strangers!” he thundered out, “now who are you?

Where did you sail from, over the running sea-lanes?

Out on a trading spree or roving the waves like pirates,

sea-wolves raiding at will, who risk their lives

to plunder other men?” (IX 284-8)

Odysseus to Polyphemus

I called back with another burst of anger, “Cyclops—

if any man on the face of the earth should ask you

who blinded you, shamed you so—say Odysseus,

Raider of cities, he gouged out your eye,

Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca! (9 558-562)

Polyphemus to Poseidon

Poseidon, god of the sea-blue mane who rocks the earth!

…

Come, grant that Odysseus, raider of cities,

Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca,

never reaches home. Or if he’s fated to see

his people once again and reach his well-built house

and his own native country, let him come home late

and come a broken man—all shipmates lost,

alone in a stranger’s ship—

and let him find a world of pain at home!” (9 586-595)

Eurymachyus to Odysseus

You’re right to accuse these men of what they’ve done—

so much reckless outrage here in your palace,

so much on your lands. But here he lies,

quite dead, and he incited it all—Antinous—

look, the man who drove us all to crime!

…

But now he’s received the death that he deserved.

So spare your own people! Later we’ll recoup

your costs with a tax laid down upon the land,

covering all we ate and drank inside your halls,

and each of us here will pay full measure too—

twenty oxen in value, bronze and gold we’ll give

until we melt your heart. Before we’ve settled,

who on earth could blame you for your rage?” (22 47-63)

Odysseus to Eurymachus

“No, Eurymachus! Not if you paid me all your father’s wealth—

all you possess now, and all that could pour in from the world’s end—

no, not even then would I stay my hands from slaughter

till all you suitors had paid for all your crimes!

Now life or death—your choice—fight me or flee

if you hope to escape your sudden bloody doom!

I doubt one man in the lot will save his skin! (22 66-71)

Eumaeus to Odysseus

“Odysseus, wily captain,

there he goes again, the infernal nuisance—

just as we suspected—back to the storeroom [getting armor and weapons for the suitors.]

Give me a clear command!

Do I kill the man—if I can take him down—

or drag him back to you, here, to pay in full

for the vicious work he’s plotted in your house?”

Odysseus, master of tactics, answered briskly,

“I and the prince will keep these brazen suitors

crammed in the hall, for all their battle-fury.

You two wrench Melanthius’ arms and legs behind him,

fling him down in the storeroom—lash his back to a plank

and strap a twisted cable fast to the scoundrel’s body,

hoist him up a column until he hits the rafters—

let him dangle in agony, still alive,

for a good long time!” (22 171-186)

…

Quick, they rushed him, seized him, hauled him back by the hair,

flung him down on the floor, writhing with terror, bound him

hand and foot with a chafing cord, wrenched his limbs

back, back till the joints locked tight—

just as Laertes cunning son commanded—(22 196-200)

…

Then you mocked him, Eumaeus, my good swineherd:

“now stand guard through the whole night, Melanthius—

stretched out on a soft bed fit for you, your highness! (22 203-206)

…

So they left him, trussed in his agonizing sling; (22 209)

…

Melanthius?

They hauled him out through the doorway, into the court,

lopped his nose and ears with a ruthless knife,

tore his genitals out for the dogs to eat raw

and in manic fury hacked off hands and feet.” (22. ,500-504)

Odysseus to Telemachus (regarding the serving women who betrayed the household)

“… Start clearing away the bodies.

Make the women pitch in too. Chairs and tables—

scrub them down with sponges, rinse them clean.

And once you’ve put the entire house in order,

march the women out of the great hall—between

the roundhouse and the courtyard’s strong stockade—

and hack them with your swords, slash out their lives—

blot out of their minds the joys of love they relished

under the suitors’ bodies, rutting on the sly!” (22 462-470)

Telemachus to the men (regarding the serving women who betrayed the household)

“No clean death for the likes of them, by god!

Not from me—they showered abuse on my head,

my mother’s too!

                        You sluts—the suitors’ whores!

With that, taking a cable used on a dark-prowed ship

he coiled it over the roundhouse, lashed it fast to a tall column,

hoisting it up so high no toes could touch the ground.
Then, as doves or thrushes beating their spread wings

against some snare rigged up in thickets—flying in

for a cozy nest but a grisly bed receives them—

so the women’s heads were trapped in a line,

nooses yanking their necks up, one by one

so all might die a pitiful ghastly death…

They kicked up their heels for a little—not for long.” (22 487-499)

 

Odysseus to Telemachus

“When someone kills a lone man in the realm

who leaves behind him no great band of avengers,

still the killer flees, goodbye to kin and country.

But we brought down the best of the island’s princes,

the pillars of Ithaca. Weigh it well, I urge you.” (23, 134-138)

Old Lord Eupithes father of Antinous to the Assembly of Ithacans

“my friends, what a mortal blow this man has dealt

to all our island people! Those fighters, many and brave,

he led away in his curved ships—he lost the ships

and he lost the men and back he comes again

to kill the best of our Cephallenian princes.

Quick, after him! Before he flees to Pylos

or holy Elis, where Epeans rule in power—

up, attack! Or we’ll hang our heads forever,

all disgraced, even by generations down the years,

if we don’t punish the murderers of our brothers and our sons!” (24, 417-480)

Odysseus to Alcinous and the Assembled Phaeacian Court

…Come,

let me tell you about the voyage fraught with hardship

Zeus inflicted on me, homeward bound from Troy…

The wind drove me out of Ilium [Troy] on to Ismarus,

the Cicones’ stronghold. There I sacked the city,

killed the men, but as for the wives and plunder,

that rich haul we dragged away from the place—

we shared it round so no one, not on my account,

would go deprived of his fair share of spoils” (9 42-49)

The Phaeacian Bard Sings and Odysseus Weeps

For Troy was fated to perish once the city lodged

inside her walls the monstrous wooden horse

where the prime of Argive power lay in wait

with death and slaughter bearing down on Troy.

And he sang how troops of Achaeans broke from cover,

streaming out of the horse’s hollow flanks to plunder Troy—

he sang how left and right they ravaged the steep city,

sang how Odysseus marched right up to Deiphobus’ house

like the god of war on attack with diehard Menelaus.

There, he sang, Odysseus fought the grimmest fight

he had ever braved but he won through at last,

thanks to Athena’s superhuman power.

That was the song the famous harper sang

but great Odysseus melted into tears,

running down from his eyes to wet his cheeks…

As a woman weeps, her arms flung round her darling husband,

a man who fell in battle, fighting for town and townsmen,

trying to beat the day of doom from home and children,

seeing the man go down, dying, gasping for breath,

she clings for dear life, screams and shrills—

but the victors, just behind her,

digging spear-butts into her back and shoulders,

drag her off in bondage, yoked to hard labor, pain,

and the most heartbreaking torment wastes her cheeks.

So from Odysseus’ eyes ran tears of heartbreak now. (8 573-597 my emphasis)

The Suitors’ Families Gather Their Dead

… massing from every quarter… kinsmen milled

With wails and moans of grief before Odysseus’ palace.

And then they carried out the bodies, every family

buried their own, and the dead from other towns

they loaded onto the rapid ships for crews

To ferry back again, each to his own home…

Then in a long, mourning file they moved to assembly

where, once they’d grouped, crowding the meeting grounds,

Old lord Eupithes rose in their midst to speak out.

Unforgettable sorrow wrung his heart for his son,

Antinous, the first that great Odysseus killed.

In tears for the one he lost, he stood and cried,

“My friends, what a mortal blow this man has dealt

to all our island people! Those fighters, many and brave,

he led away in his curved ships—he lost the ships

and he lost the men and back he comes again

to kill the best of our Cephallenian princes. (XXIV 459-75)

Zeus to Athena on the Fate of Odysseus and Ithaca

Now that royal Odysseus has taken his revenge,

let both sides seal their pacts that he shall reign for life,

and let us purge their memories of the bloody slaughter

of their brothers and their sons. Let them be friends,

devoted as in the old days. Let peace and wealth

come cresting through the land. (XXIV 533-8)

Athena Intervenes in the Final Slaughter

Athena, daughter of storming Zeus… cried out

In a piercing voice that stopped all fighters cold,

“Hold back, you men of Ithaca, back from brutal war!

Break off—shed no more blood—make peace at once!”

So Athena commanded

[yes, but the goddess still kept Mentor’s build and voice].

Terror blanched their faces,

they went limp with fear, weapons slipped from their hands

and strewed the ground at the goddess’ ringing voice.

They spun in flight to the city, wild to save their lives,

but loosing a savage cry, the long-enduring great Odysseus,

gathering all his force, swooped like a soaring eagle—

… and blazing-eyed Athena wheeled on Odysseus, crying,

“Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, master of exploits,

hold back now! Call a halt to the great leveler, War—

don’t court the rage of Zeus who rules the world!” (XXIV 582-97)

Pacts of Peace                                                             

[the goddess still kept Mentor’s build and voice]

And Athena handed down her pacts of peace

between both sides for all the years to come (XXIV 602, 599-600)