No More Learning

Tradition pictures him as blind
and old. Seven cities claimed to be his birthplace. Probably he lived
in the ninth century B. C. , since the particular stages of social life
which he portrays probably belong to that era. Beyond this, all is
conjecture. The poems were not written down till a later date, when
their authorship was already a matter of tradition; and when what
we may call the canon of the text of the epics was laid down in the
sixth century B. C. , it may be readily supposed that they were not in
the exact form which the master-poet himself had given them. Hence
the ingenuity of the modern commentator has endeavoured to resolve
Homer into an indefinite number of ballad-mongers, whose ballads were
edited into their existing unity. On the whole, this view may be called
Teutonic. Of the "Iliad," it suffices to say that it relates events
immediately preceding the fall of Troy, at the close of the tenth year
of the siege undertaken by the Greeks on account of the abduction of
Helen from Menelaus by Paris. Of Chapman's translation we shall speak
in the introduction to the "Odyssey. "


_III_. --_Of Patroclus, and the Rousing of Achilles_

Bearing the armour of Achilles, save the spear which none other could
wield, Patroclus sped forth, leading the Myrmidons.

And when ye see upon a mountain bred
A den of wolves about whose hearts unmeasured strengths are fed,
New come from currie of a stag, their jaws all blood-besmeared,
And when from some black-water fount they all together herd,
There having plentifully lapped with thin and thrust-out tongues
The top and clearest of the spring, go, belching from their lungs
The clottered gore, look dreadfully, and entertain no dread,
Their bellies gaunt, all taken up with being so rawly fed;
Then say that such in strength and look, were great Achilles' men
Now ordered for the dreadful fight.

The Trojans, taking Patroclus for Achilles, were now driven before
him and the other Grecian chiefs. Patroclus slew Sarpedon, king of
Lycia, and the fight raged furiously about the corse. The Trojans
fled, Patroclus pursued. At last Phoebus Apollo smote his armour from
him; Euphorbus thrust him through from behind, and Hector slew him.
Ajax and Menelaus came to rescue Patroclus' body; Hector fled, but
had already stripped off the armour of Achilles, which he now put on
in place of his own. Again the battle waxed furious about the dead
Patroclus until Menelaus and Meriones bore the corpse while the two
Ajaces stood guard.

Now, when the ill news was brought to Achilles, he fell into a great
passion of grief; which lamentation Thetis, his mother, heard from
the sea-deeps; and came to him, bidding him not go forth to the war
till she had brought him new armour from Vulcan. Nevertheless, at the
bidding of Iris, he arose:

And forth the wall he stepped and stood, and sent abroad his voice;
Which Pallas far-off echoed, who did betwixt them noise
Shrill tumult to a topless height. His brazen voice once heard, The
minds of all were startled, so they yielded. Thrice he spake, And
thrice, in heat of all the charge, the Trojans started back.

In this wise was the dead Patroclus brought back to Achilles. But
Thetis went to Vulcan and besought him, and he wrought new armour for
Achilles--a shield most marvellous, and a cuirass and helmet--which
she bore to her son. And the wrath of Achilles against Agamemnon was
assuaged; and they two were reconciled at a gathering of the chiefs.
And when by the counsel of Ulysses they had all well broken their
fast, the Greeks went forth to the battle, Achilles leading. Now, in
this contest, by Jove's decree, all the Olympian gods were suffered to
take part.

And thus the bless'd gods both sides urged; they all stood in the
midst
And brake contention to their hosts. And over all their heads
The gods' king in abhorred claps his thunder rattled out.
Beneath them, Neptune tossed the earth; the mountains round about
Bowed with affright and shook their heads, Jove's hill the earthquake
felt,
Steep Ida trembling at her roots, and all her fountains spilt,
With crannied brows; the infernal king, that all things frays, was
fray'd
When this black battle of the gods was joining. Thus array'd
'Gainst Neptune Phoebus with winged shafts, 'gainst Mars the blue-eyed
maid,
'Gainst Juno Phoebe, whose white hands bore stinging darts of gold,
Her side armed with a sheaf of shafts, and (by the birth two-fold
Of bright Latona) sister-twin to him that shoots so far. Against
Latona, Hermes stood, grave guard in peace and war Of human beings.
Against the god whose empire is on fire, The wat'ry godhead, that
great flood, to show whose pow'r entire In spoil as th' other, all his
streams on lurking whirlpits trod, Xanthus by gods, by men Scamander
called. Thus god 'gainst god Entered the field.


_IV_. --_Of Achilles and Hector_

Now Achilles fell upon the Trojan host, slaying one after another of
their mighty men; but AEneas and Hector the gods shielded from him.
Twelve he took captive, to sacrifice at the funeral of Patroclus. And
he would have stormed into Troy itself but that Phoebus deceived him,
and all the Trojans fled within the walls save Hector. But when he saw
Achilles coming, cold fear shook Hector from his stand.

No more stay now, all posts we've left, he fled in fear the hand
Of that Fear-Master, who, hawk-like, air's swiftest passenger,
That holds a timorous dove in chase, and with command doth bear
His fiery onset, the dove hastes, the hawk comes whizzing on.
This way and that he turns and winds and cuffs the pigeon:
So urged Achilles Hector's flight.

They ran thrice about the walls, until Hector, beguiled by Athene in
the form of his brother Deiphobus, stayed to fight Achilles. Having
cast his lance in vain,

Then forth his sword flew, sharp and broad, and bore a deadly weight,
With which he rushed in. And look how an eagle from her height
Stoops to the rapture of a lamb, or cuffs a timorous hare;
So fell in Hector; and at him Achilles.

Achilles smote Hector through with his javelin, and thus death closed
his eyes. Then, in his wrath for the death of Patroclus, Achilles
bound the dead Hector by his feet to his chariot,

And scourged on his horse that freely flew;
A whirlwind made of startled dust drave with them as they drew,
With which were all his black-brown curls knotted in heaps and fill'd.

Which piteous sight was seen from the walls by Priam and Hecuba; but
Andromache did not know that Hector had stayed without, until the
clamour flew

Up to her turret; then she shook; her work fell from her hand,
And up she started, called her maids; she needs must understand
That ominous outcry. "Come," said she; then fury-like she went,
Two women, as she willed, at hand, and made her quick ascent
Up to the tower and press of men, her spirit in uproar. Round
She cast her greedy eye, and saw her Hector slain, and bound
T'Achilles' chariot, manlessly dragged to the Grecian fleet.
Black night struck through her, under her trance took away her feet.

Thus all Troy mourned; but Achilles dragged the slain Hector to the
slain Patroclus, and did despite to his body in his wrath; and made
ready to hold high obsequies for his friend. And on the morrow

They raised a huge pile, and to arms went every Myrmidon,
Charged by Achilles; chariots and horse were harnessed,
Fighters and charioteers got up, and they the sad march led,
A cloud of infinite foot behind. In midst of all was borne
Patroclus' person by his peers.

Fit feastings were held, and games with rich prizes, racings and
wrestlings, wherein the might of Ajax could not overcome the skill
of Ulysses, nor his skill the might of Ajax. Then Thetis by the will
of the gods bade Achilles cease from his wrath against Hector; and
suffer the Trojans to redeem his body for a ransom. And Iris came to
Priam where the old king sate: the princesses his seed, the princesses
his sons' fair wives, all mourning by. She bade him offer ransom
to Achilles; and then, guided by Hermes, Priam came to the tent of
Achilles, bearing rich gifts, and he kneeled before him, clasping his
knees, and besought him, saying:

"Pity an old man like thy sire, different in only this,
That I am wretcheder, and bear that weight of miseries
That never man did, my cursed lips enforced to kiss that hand
That slew my children. " At his feet he laid his reverend head.
Achilles' thoughts now with his sire, now with his friend were fed.

Moved by compassion, and by the message which Thetis had brought
him, Achilles accepted the ransom, and suffered Priam to bear away
the body, granting a twelve days' truce. And Troy mourned for him,
Andromache lamenting and Hecuba, his mother. And on this wise spake
Helen herself.

"O Hector, all my brothers more were not so loved of me
As thy most virtues. Not my lord I held so dear as thee,

That brought me hither; before which I would I had been brought
To ruin; for what breeds that wish, which is the mischief wrought
By my access, yet never found one harsh taunt, one word's ill
From thy sweet carriage. Twenty years do now their circles fill
Since my arrival; all which time thou didst not only bear
Thyself without check, but all else that my lord's brothers were.
Their sisters' lords, sisters themselves, the queen, my mother-in-law
(The king being never but most mild) when thy man's spirit saw
Sour and reproachful, it would still reprove their bitterness
With sweet words and thy gentle soul. "

So the body of Hector was laid upon the fire, and was burnt; and his
ashes were gathered into an urn of gold and laid in a grave.




The Odyssey[G]


_I_. --_How Ulysses Came to Phaeacia, and of Nausicaa_

Years had passed since the fall of Troy, yet alone Ulysses came not
to his home in Ithaca. Therefore many suitors came to woo his wife
Penelope, devouring his substance with riotous living, sorely grieving
her heart, and that of her young son, Telemachus. But Ulysses the
nymph Calypso had held for seven years an unwilling guest in the
island of Ogygia. And now the gods were minded to bring home the man--

That wandered wondrous far, when he the town
Of sacred Troy had sacked and shivered down;
The cities of a world of nations
With all their manners, minds, and fashions
He was and knew; at sea felt many woes,
Much care sustained to save from overthrows
Himself and friends in their retreat for home;
But so their fates he could not overcome.

Then came Pallas Athene to Telemachus, and bade him take ship that he
might get tidings of his sire. And he spake words of reproach to the
company of suitors. To whom

Antinous only in this sort replied:
"High-spoken, and of spirit unpacified,
How have you shamed us in this speech of yours!
Will you brand us for an offence not ours?
Your mother, first in craft, is first in cause.
Three years are past, and near the fourth now draws,
Since first she mocked the peers Achaian;
All she made hope, and promised every man. "

The suitors suffered Telemachus to depart, though they repented after;
and he came with Athene, in disguise of Mentor, to Nestor at Pylos,
and thence to Menelaus at Sparta, who told him how he had laid hold on
Proteus, the seer, and learnt from him first of the slaying of his own
brother Agamemnon; and, secondly, concerning Ulysses,

Laertes' son; whom I beheld
In nymph Calypso's palace, who compell'd
His stay with her, and since he could not see
His country earth, he mourned incessantly.

Laden with rich gifts, Telemachus set out on his return home, while
the suitors sought to way-lay him. And, meantime. Calypso, warned
by Hermes, let Ulysses depart from Ogygia on a raft. Which, being
overwhelmed by storms, he yet made shore on the isle of Phaeacia;
where, finding shelter, he fell asleep. But Pallas visited the
Princess Nausicaa in a dream.

Straight rose the lovely morn, that up did raise
Fair-veiled Nausicaa, whose dream her praise
To admiration took.

She went with her maidens, with raiment for cleansing, to the river,
where, having washed the garments,

They bathed themselves, and all with glittering oil
Smoothed their white skins, refreshing then their toil
With pleasant dinner. Then Nausicaa,
With other virgins did at stool-ball play,
Their shoulder-reaching head-tires laying by.
Nausicaa, with wrists of ivory,
The liking stroke struck, singing first a song,
As custom ordered, and, amidst the throng,
Nausicaa, whom never husband tamed,
Above them all in all the beauties flamed.
The queen now for the upstroke, struck the ball
Quite wide off th' other maids, and made it fall
Amidst the whirlpools. At which, out-shrieked all,
And with the shriek did wise Ulysses wake;
Who, hearing maidish voices, from the brake
Put hasty head out; and his sight did press
The eyes of soft-haired virgins . . . Horrid was
His rough appearance to them; the hard pass
He had at sea stuck by him. All in flight
The virgins scattered, frighted with this sight.
All but Nausicaa fled; but she stood fast;
Pallas had put a boldness in her breast,
And in her fair limbs tender fear compress'd.
And still she stood him, as resolved to know
What man he was, or out of what should grow
His strange repair to them. Then thus spake he;
"Let me beseech, O queen, this truth of thee,
Are you of mortal or the deified race?
If of the gods that th' ample heavens embrace,
I can resemble you to none alive
So near as Cynthia, chaste-born birth of Jove.
If sprung of humans that inhabit earth,
Thrice blest are both the authors of your birth;
But most blest he that hath the gift to engage
Your bright neck in the yoke of marriage. "

He prayed her then for some garment, and that she would show him the
town. Then she, calling her maidens, they brought for him food and oil
and raiment, and went apart while he should cleanse and array himself.

And Pallas wrought in him a grace full great
From head to shoulders, and as sure did seat
His goodly presence. As he sat apart,
Nausicaa's eyes struck wonder through her heart;
He showed to her till now not worth the note;
But now he seemed as he had godhead got.

Then, fearing the gossip of the market-place, she bade him follow
afoot with her maidens, giving him directions how he should find her
father's palace, which entering,

"Address suit to my mother, that her mean
May make the day of your redition seen.
For if she once be won to wish you well,
Your hope may instantly your passport seal,
And thenceforth sure abide to see your friends,
Fair house, and all to which your heart contends. "

Nausicaa and her maidens went forward, Ulysses following after a time;
whom Pallas met, and told him of the King Alcinous and the Queen
Arete. Then he, being wrapped in a cloud which she had set about him,
entered unmarked; and, the cloud vanishing, embraced the knees of
Arete in supplication, as one distressed by many labours. And they all
received him graciously. Now, as they sat at meat, a bard sang of the
fall of Troy; and Alcinous, the king, marked how Ulysses wept at the
tale; and then Ulysses told them who he was, and of his adventures, on
this wise.


_II_. --_Ulysses Tells of his Wanderings_

After many wanderings, we came to the isle of the Cyclops, and I, with
twelve of my men, to his cave. He coming home bespake us.

"Ho! guests! What are ye? Whence sail ye these seas?
Traffic or rove ye, and, like thieves, oppress
Poor strange adventurers, exposing so
Your souls to danger, and your lives to woe? "
"Reverence the gods, thou greatest of all that live,
We suppliants are. " "O thou fool," answered he,
"To come so far, and to importune me
With any god's fear or observed love!
We Cyclops care not for your goat-fed Jove
Nor other blest ones; we are better far.
To Jove himself dare I bid open war. "
The Cyclop devoured two sailors, and slept. I slew him not sleeping--
For there we all had perished, since it past
Our powers to lift aside a log so vast
As barred all our escape.

At morn, he drove forth the flocks, but barred the entry again, having
devoured two more of my comrades. But we made ready a great stake for
thrusting out his one eye. And when he came home at night, driving in
all his sheep,

Two of my soldiers more
At once he snatched up, and to supper went.
Then dared I words to him, and did present
A bowl of wine with these words: "Cyclop! take
A bowl of wine. " "Thy name, that I may make
A hospitable gift; for this rich wine
Fell from the river, that is more divine,
Of nectar and ambrosia. " "Cyclop, see,
My name is No-Man. " Cruel answered he.
"No-Man! I'll eat thee last of all thy friends. "
He slept; we took the spar, made keen before,
And plunged it in his eye. Then did he roar
In claps like thunder.

Other Cyclops gathered, to inquire who had harmed him; but he--

"by craft, not might,
No-Man hath given me death. " They then said right,
"If no man hurt thee, and thyself alone,
That which is done to thee by Jove is done. "
Then groaning up and down, he groping tried
To find the stone, which found, he put aside,
But in the door sat, feeling if he could,
As the sheep issued, on some man lay hold.

But we, ranging the sheep three abreast, were borne out under their
bellies, and drove them in haste down to our ship; and having put out,
I cried aloud:

"Cyclop! if any ask thee who imposed
Th' unsightly blemish that thine eye enclosed,
Say that Ulysses, old Laertes' son,
Whose seat is Ithaca, who hath won
Surname of city-razer, bored it out. "
At this he brayed so loud that round about
He drove affrighted echoes through the air
In burning fury; and the top he tare
From off a huge rock, and so right a throw
Made at our ship that just before the prow
It overflew and fell, missed mast and all
Exceeding little; but about the fall
So fierce a wave it raised that back it bore
Our ship, so far it almost touched the shore.

So we escaped; but the Cyclop stirred up against us the wrath of his
father Neptune. Thereafter we came to the caves of AEolus, lord of the
winds, and then to the land of the giants called Laestrygones, whence
there escaped but one ship of all our company.

Then to the isle of AEaea we attained,
Where fair-haired, dreadful, eloquent Circe reigned.
Then I sent a company, led by Eurylochus, to search the land.
These in a dale did Circe's house descry;
Before her gates hill-wolves and lions lie;
Which, with her virtuous drugs, so tame she made
That wolf nor lion would no man invade
With any violence, but all arose,
Their huge, long tails wagged, and in fawns would close,
As loving dogs. Amaz'd they stay'd at gate,
And heard within the goddess elevate
A voice divine, as at her web she wrought,
Subtle and glorious and past earthly thought.

She called them in, but Eurylochus, abiding without, saw her feast
them, and then turn them with her wand into swine. From him hearing
these things I hastened thither. But Hermes met me, and gave me of the
herb Moly, to be a protection against her spells, and wise counsel
withal. So when she had feasted me she touched me with her wand.

I drew my sword, and charged her, as I meant
To take her life. When out she cried, and bent
Beneath my sword her knees, embracing mine,
And full of tears, said, "Who, of what high line
Art thou? Deep-souled Ulysses must thou be. "
Then I, "O Circe, I indeed am he.
Dissolve the charms my friends' forced forms enchain,
And show me here those honoured friends like men. "

Now she restored them, and knowing the will of the gods, made good
cheer for us all, so that we abode with her for one year. Nor might
we depart thence till I had made journey to the abode of Hades to get
speech of Tiresias the Seer. Whereby I saw made shades of famous folk,
past recounting. Thence returning, Circe suffered us to be gone; with
warning of perils before us, and of how we should avoid them.

First to the Sirens. Whoso hears the call
Of any Siren, he will so despise
Both wife and children, for their sorceries,
That never home turns his affection's stream,
Nor they take joy in him nor he in them.
Next monstrous Scylla. Six long necks look out
Of her rank shoulders; every neck doth let
A ghastly head out; every head, three set,
Thick thrust together, of abhorred teeth,
And every tooth stuck with a sable death;
Charybdis, too, whose horrid throat did draw
The brackish sea up. These we saw

And escaped only in part. Then came they to the island where are
fed the Oxen of the Sun; and because his comrades would slay them,
destruction came upon them, and Ulysses alone came alive to the isle
of Calypso.


_III_. --_How Ulysses Came Back to Ithaca_

Now, when Ulysses had made an end, it pleased Alcinous and all the
Phaeacians that they should speed him home with many rich gifts. So
they set him in a ship, and bore him to Ithaca, and laid him on
the shore, yet sleeping, with all the goodly gifts about him, and
departed. But he, waking, wist not where he was till Pallas came
to him. Who counselled him how he should deal with the Wooers, and
disguised him as a man ancient and worn.

Then Ulysses sought and found the faithful swine-herd Eumaeus, who made
him welcome, not knowing who he was, and told him of the ill-doing of
the suitors. But Pallas went and brought back Telemachus from Sparata,
evading the Wooers' ambush.

Out rushed amazed Eumaeus, and let go
The cup to earth, that he had laboured so,
Cleansed for the neat wine, did the prince surprise,
Kissed his fair forehead, both his lovely eyes,
And wept for joy. Then entering, from his seat
His father rose to him; who would not let
The old man remove, but drew him back, and prest
With earnest terms his sitting, saying, "Guest,
Take here your seat again. "

Eumaeus departing, Pallas restored Ulysses to his own likeness, and he
made himself known to Telemachus, and instructed him.

"Go them for home, and troop up with the Wooers,
Thy will with theirs joined, power with their rude powers;
And after shall the herdsmen guide to town
My steps, my person wholly overgrown
With all appearance of a poor old swain,
Heavy and wretched. If their high disdain
Of my vile presence made them my desert
Affect with contumelies, let thy loved heart
Beat in fixed confines of thy bosom still,
And see me suffer, patient of their ill.
But when I give the sign, all th' arms that are
Aloft thy roof in some near room prepare--
Two swords, two darts, two shields, left for us twain.
But let none know Ulysses near again. "
But when air's rosy birth, the morn, arose,
Telemachus did for the turn dispose
His early steps; went on with spritely pace,
And to the Wooers studied little grace . . .
And now the king and herdsman from the field
Drew nigh the town; when in the yard there lay
A dog called Argus, which, before his way
Assumed for Ilion, Ulysses bred,
Yet stood his pleasure then in little stead,
As being too young, but, growing to his grace,
Young men made choice of him for every chase,
Or of their wild goats, of their hares, or harts;
But, his king gone, and he, now past his parts,
Lay all abjectly on the stable's store
Before the ox-stall, and mules' stable-door,
To keep the clothes cast from the peasants' hands
While they laid compass on Ulysses' lands,
The dog, with ticks (unlook'd to) overgrown.
But by this dog no sooner seen but known
Was wise Ulysses; who now enter'd there.
Up went his dog's laid ears, coming near,
Up he himself rose, fawned, and wagged his stern,
Couch'd close his ears, and lay so; nor discern
Could ever more his dear-loved lord again.
Ulysses saw it, nor had power t'abstain From
shedding tears; but (far-off seeing his swain)
His grief dissembled. . . . Then they entered in
And left poor Argus dead; his lord's first sight
Since that time twenty years bereft his sight.

Telemachus welcomed the wayworn suppliant; the feasting Wooers, too,
sent him portions of meat, save Antinous, who

Rapt up a stool, with which he smit
The king's right shoulder, 'twixt his neck and it.
He stood him like a rock. Antinous' dart
Stirred not Ulysses, who in his great heart
Deep ills projected.

The very Wooers were wroth. Which clamour Penelope hearing, she sent
for Eumaeus, and bade him summon the stranger to her; but he would
not come till evening, by reason of the suitors, from whom he had
discourteous treatment.
Now Ulysses coming to Penelope, did not discover himself, but told
her made-up tales of his doings; as, how he had seen Ulysses, and of
a robe he had worn which Penelope knew for one she had given him; so
that she gave credence to his words. Then she bade call the ancient
nurse Euryclea, that she might wash the stranger's feet. But by a scar
he came to be discovered by the aged dame. Her he charged with silence
and to let no ear in all the court more know his being there. As for
Penelope, she told him of her intent to promise herself to the man who
could wield Ulysses' bow, knowing well that none had the strength and
skill.


_IV. --Of the Doom of the Suitors_

On the morrow came Penelope to the Wooers, bearing the bow of her lord.

Her maids on both sides stood; and thus she spake:
"Hear me, ye Wooers, that a pleasure take
To do me sorrow, and my house invade
To eat and drink, as if 'twere only made
To serve your rapines, striving who shall frame
Me for his wife. And since 'tis made a game,
I here propose divine Ulysses' bow
For that great master-piece, to which ye row.
He that can draw it with least show to strive,
And through these twelve axe-heads an arrow drive,
Him will I follow, and this house forego. "
Whereat the herd Eumaeus wept for woe.

Then Telemachus set up the axe-heads, and himself made vain essay, the
more to tempt the Wooers. And while they after him strove all vainly,
Ulysses went out and bespake Eumaeus and another herd, Philoetius.

"I am your lord; through many a sufferance tried
Arrived now here, whom twenty years have held
Forth from my home. Of all the company
Now serving here besides, not one but you
Mine ear hath witnessed willing to bestow
Their wishes of my life, so long held dead.
The curious Wooers will by no means give
The offer of the bow and arrow leave
To come at me; spite then their pride, do thou,
My good Eumaeus, bring both shaft and bow
To my hands' proof; and charge the maids before
That instantly they shut the door.
Do thou, Philoetius, keep their closure fast. "

Then Ulysses claiming to make trial of the bow, the Wooers would have
denied him; but Penelope would not; whereas Telemachus made a vow that
it was for himself and none other to decide, and the guest should make
trial. But he, handling it while they mocked, with ease

Drew the bow round. Then twanged he up the string,
That as a swallow in the air doth sing,
So sharp the string sung when he gave it touch,
Once having bent and drawn it. Which so much
Amazed the Wooers, that their colours went
And came most grievously. And then Jove rent
The air with thunder; which at heart did cheer
The now-enough-sustaining traveller.

Then through the axes at the first hole flew
The steel-charged arrow. Straightway to him drew
His son in complete arms. . . .
"Now for us
There rests another mark more hard to hit,
And such as never man before hath smit;
Whose full point likewise my hands shall assay,
And try if Phoebus will give me his day. "
He said, and off his bitter arrow thrust
Right at Antinous, that struck him just
As he was lifting up the bowl, to show
That 'twixt the cup and lip much ill may grow.

Then the rest cried out upon him with threats, while they made vain
search for weapons in the hall.

He, frowning, said, "Dogs, see in me the man
Ye all held dead at Troy. My house it is
That thus ye spoil, and thus your luxuries
Fill with my women's rapes; in which ye woo
The wife of one that lives, and no thought show
Of man's fit fear, or gods', your present fame,
Or any fair sense of your future name;
And, therefore, present and eternal death
Shall end your base life. "

Then the Wooers made at Ulysses and Telemachus, who smote down first
Eurymachus and then Amphinomus. But a way to the armoury having
been left, the Wooers got arms by aid of a traitor; whom Eumaeus and
Philoetius smote, and then came to Ulysses and his son. Moreover,
Pallas also came to their help; so that the Wooers, being routed--

Ulysses and his son the flyers chased
As when, with crooked beaks and seres, a cast
Of hill-bred eagles, cast off at some game,
That yet their strengths keep, but, put up, in flame
The eagle stoops; from which, along the field
The poor fowls make wing this and that way yield
Their hard-flown pinions, then the clouds assay
For 'scape or shelter, their forlorn dismay
All spirit exhaling, all wings strength to carry
Their bodies forth, and, truss'd up, to the quarry
Their falconers ride in, and rejoice to see
Their hawks perform a flight so fervently;
So in their flight Ulysses with his heir
Did stoop and cuff the Wooers, that the air
Broke in vast sighs, whose heads they shot and cleft,
The pavement boiling with the souls they reft.

Now all the Wooers were slain, and they of the household that were
their accomplices; and the chamber was purified.

Then first did tears ensue
Her rapt assurance; when she ran and spread
Her arms about his neck, kiss'd oft his head.
He wept for joy, t'enjoy a wife so fit
For his grave mind, that knew his depth of wit.

But as for the Wooers, Hermes gathered the souls of them together,
and, as bats gibbering in a cavern rise, so came they forth gibbering
and went down to the House of Hades.


FOOTNOTES:

[G] Of the "Odyssey" it may be said with certainty that its
composition was later than that of the "Iliad," but it cannot be
affirmed that both poems were not composed within the life-time of one
man. It may be claimed that the best criticism declines to reject the
identity of authorship of the poet of the "Iliad" and the poet of the
"Odyssey," while admitting the probability that the work of other poets
was incorporated in his. We have given our readers the translation by
George Chapman, Shakespeare's contemporary, with which may be compared
the fine modern prose translation by Professor Butcher and Mr. Andrew
Lang. On the other hand, Alexander Pope's verse rendering has nothing
Homeric about it. It may be regretted that Chapman did not in the
"Odyssey" retain the swinging metre which he used in the "Iliad. " The
poem relates the adventures of Odysseus (latinised into Ulysses) on his
homeward voyages, after the fall of Troy.




HORACE[H]




Poems




_Satires_


HUMAN DISCONTENT

Whence is it, sir, that none contented lives
With the fair lot which prudent reason gives,
Or chance presents, yet all with envy view
The schemes that others variously pursue?
Broken with toils, with ponderous arms oppressed,
The soldier thinks the merchant solely blest.
In opposite extreme, when tempests rise,
"War is a better choice," the merchant cries.
When early clients thunder at his gate,
Te barrister applauds the rustic's fate;
While, by _sub-poenas_ dragged from home, the clown
Thinks the supremely happy dwell in town!
Not to be tedious, mark the moral aim
Of these examples. Should some god proclaim,
"Your prayers are heard: you, soldier, to your seas;
You, lawyer, take that envied rustic's ease,--
Each to his several part--What! Ha! not move
Even to the bliss you wished! " And shall not Jove,
With cheeks inflamed and angry brow, forswear
A weak indulgence to their future prayer?


AVARICE

Some, self-deceived, who think their lust of gold
Is but a love of fame, this maxim hold,
"No fortune is enough, since others rate
Our worth proportioned to a large estate. "
Say, for their cure what arts would you employ?
Let them be wretched, and their choice enjoy.
Would you the real use of riches know?
Bread, herbs, and wine are all they can bestow.
Or add, what nature's deepest wants supplies;
These and no more thy mass of money buys.
But with continual watching almost dead,
Housebreaking thieves, and midnight fires to dread,
Or the suspected slave's untimely flight
With the dear pelf--if this be thy delight,
Be it my fate, so heaven in bounty please,
Still to be poor of blessings such as these!


A PARAGON OF INCONSISTENCY

Nothing was of a piece in the whole man:
Sometimes he like a frightened coward ran,
Whose foes are at his heels; now soft and slow
He moved, like folks who in procession go.
Now with two hundred slaves he crowds his train;
Now walks with ten. In high and haughty strain,
At morn, of kings and governors he prates;
At night, "A frugal table, O ye Fates,
A little shell the sacred salt to hold,
And clothes, though coarse, to keep from me the cold. "
Yet give this wight, so frugally content,
A thousand pounds, 'tis every penny spent
Within the week! He drank the night away
Till rising dawn, then snored out all the day.
Sure, such a various creature ne'er was known.
But have you, sir, no vices of your own?


ON JUDGING FRIENDS

A kindly friend, who balances my good
And bad together, as in truth he should,
If haply my good qualities prevail,
Inclines indulgent to the sinking scale:
For like indulgence let his friendship plead,
His merits be with equal measure weighed;
For he who hopes his wen shall not offend
Should overlook the pimples of his friend.


ON LOYALTY TO ABSENT FRIENDS

He who, malignant, tears an absent friend,
Or fails, when others blame him, to defend,
Who trivial bursts of laughter strives to raise
And courts for witty cynicism praise,
Who can, what he has never seen, reveal,
And friendship's secrets knows not to conceal--
Romans beware--that man is black of soul.


HORACE'S DEBT TO HIS FATHER

If some few trivial faults deform my soul
(Like a fair face, when spotted with a mole),
If none with avarice justly brand my fame,
With sordidness, or deeds too vile to name;
If pure and innocent; if dear (forgive
These little praises) to my friends I live,
My father was the cause, who, though maintained
By a lean farm but poorly, yet disdained
The country schoolmaster, to whose low care
The mighty captain sent his high-born heir,
With satchel, copy-book, and pelf to pay
The wretched teacher on the appointed day.
To Rome by this bold father was I brought,
To learn those arts which well-born youths are taught,
So dressed, and so attended, you would swear
I was some wealthy lord's expensive heir.
Himself my guardian, of unblemished truth,
Among my tutors would attend my youth,
And thus preserved my chastity of mind--
That prime of virtue in its highest kind.


HORACE'S HABITS IN THE CITY

Alone I saunter, as by fancy led,
I cheapen herbs, or ask the price of bread,
I watch while fortune-tellers fate reveal,
Then homeward hasten to my frugal meal,
Herbs, pulse, and pancakes (each a separate plate),
While three domestics at my supper wait.
A bowl on a white marble table stands,
Two goblets, and a ewer to wash my hands,
And hallowed cup of true Campanian clay
My pure libation to the gods to pay.
I then retire to rest, nor anxious fear
Before dread Marsyas early to appear.
I lie till ten; then take a walk, or choose
A book, perhaps, or trifle with the muse.
For cheerful exercise and manly toil
Anoint my body with the pliant oil--
Yet not with such as Natta's, when he vamps
His filthy limbs and robs the public lamps.
But when the sun pours down his fiercer fire,
And bids me from the toilsome sport retire,
I haste to bathe, and in a temperate mood
Regale my craving appetite with food
(Enough to nourish nature for a day);
Then trifle my domestic hours away.
Such is the life from bad ambition free;
Such comfort has one humble born like me:
With which I feel myself more truly blest,
Than if my sires the quaestor's power possessed.


FOOTNOTES:

[H] Horace (Q. Horatius Flaccus), who was born near Venusia,
in Apulia, in 65 B. C. , and died in 8 B. C. , was a southern Italian.
When twenty, Horace was a student of philosophy at Athens. A period
of poverty-stricken Bohemianism followed his return to Rome, till
acquaintance with Virgil opened a path into the circle of Maecenas and
of the emperor. His literary career falls into three divisions--that
of his "Epodes" and "Satires," down to 30 B. C. ; that of his lyrics,
down to 23 B. C. , when the first three books of the "Odes" appeared;
and that of the reflective and literary "Epistles," which include
the famous "Art of Poetry," and, with sundry official odes, belong
to his later years. Horatian "satire," it should be observed, does
not imply ferocious personal onslaughts, but a miscellany containing
good-humoured ridicule of types, and lively sketches of character and
incident. So varied a performance as satirist, lyrist, moralist and
critic, coupled with his vivid interest in mankind, help to account for
the appeal which Horace has made to all epochs, countries, and ranks.
Of the translations of Horace here given, some are by Prof. Wight Duff,
and have been specially made for this selection, whilst a few are by
Milton, Dryden, Cowper, and Francis.




_Horace and the Bore_


SCENE. --_Rome, on the Sacred Way. The poet is walking down the street,
composing some trifle, in a brown study, when a person, known
to him only by name, rushes up and seises his hand_.

BORE (_effusively_): How d'ye do, my dear fellow?

HORACE (_politely_): Nicely at present. I'm at your service, sir.
(HORACE _walks on, and as the_ BORE _keeps following, tries to choke
him off_. ) You don't want anything, do you?

BORE: You must make my acquaintance, I'm a savant.

HORACE: Then I'll think the more of you. (HORACE, _anxious to get
away, walks fast one minute, halts the next, whispers something to his
attendant slave, and is bathed in perspiration all over. Then, quietly
to himself_) Lucky Bolanus, with your hot temper!

BORE (_whose chatter on things in general, and about the streets of
Rome in particular, has been received with dead silence_): You're
frightfully keen to be off. I've noticed it all along. But it's no
good. I'm going to stick to you right through. I'll escort you from
here to your destination.

HORACE (_deprecatingly_): No need for you to make such a detour.
(_Inventing fibs as he goes along_) There's someone I want to look
up--a person you don't know, on the other side of the river--yes, far
away--he's confined to bed--near Caesar's Park.

BORE: Oh, I've nothing to do, and I don't dislike exercise. I'll
follow you right there. (HORACE _is as crestfallen as a sulky donkey
when an extra heavy load is dumped upon its back. The_ BORE
_continues_) If I know myself, you'll not value Viscus more highly
as a friend, or Varius either; for who can write verses faster, and
more of them, than I can? Who's a greater master of deportment? As
for my singing, it's enough to make even Hermogenes jealous!

HORACE (_seizing the chance of interrupting_): Have you a mother--any
relatives to whom your health is of moment?

BORE: Not one left. I've laid them all to rest.

HORACE: Lucky people! Now I'm the sole survivor. Do for _me_! The
melancholy fate draws near which a fortune-telling Sabellian crone once
prophesied in my boyhood: "This lad neither dread poison nor hostile
sword shall take off, nor pleurisy, nor cough, nor crippling gout. A
chatterbox will one day be his death! "

BORE (_realising that, as it is the hour for opening the law course,
he must answer to his recognisances, or lose a suit to which he is a
party_): Oblige me with your assistance in court for a little.

HORACE: Deuce take me if I've strength to hang about so long, or know
any law. Besides, I'm hurrying, you know where.

BORE: I'm in a fix what to do--whether to give you up or my case.

HORACE: Me, please.

BORE: Shan't! (_Starts ahead of_ HORACE, _who, beaten at every point,
has to follow. The other opens conversation again_. ) On what footing do
you and Maecenas stand?

HORACE (_haughtily_): He has a select circle, and thoroughly sound
judgment.

BORE (_unimpressed_): Ah! No one ever made a smarter use of his
chances. You'd have a powerful supporter, a capable understudy, if
you'd agree to introduce your humble servant. Deuce take me if you
wouldn't clear everybody out of your way.

HORACE (_disgusted_): We don't live on the terms _you_ fancy. No
establishment is more honest than his, or more foreign to such
intrigues. It does me no harm, I tell you, because this one has more
money or learning than I. Everybody has his own place.

BORE: A tall story--hardly believable.

HORACE: A fact, nevertheless.

BORE: You fire my anxiety all the more to be one of his intimate
friends.

HORACE (_sarcastically_): You've only got to wish. Such are _your_
qualities, you'll carry him by storm.

BORE (_on whom the irony is lost_): I'll not fail myself. I'll bribe
his slaves. If I find the door shut in my face I'll not give up. I'll
watch for lucky moments. I'll meet him at street corners. I'll see him
home. Life grants man nothing without hard work.

[_Enter_ FUSCUS, _a friend of_ HORACE. _Knowing the_
BORE'S _ways, he reads the situation_. HORACE
_furtively tugs at_ FUSCUS'S _gown, pinches him,
nods and winks to_ FUSCUS _to rescue him_. FUSCUS
_smiles, and with a mischievous fondness for a joke,
pretends he does not understand_.

HORACE (_angry with_ Fuscus): Of course, you _did_ say you wanted to
talk over something with me in private.

FUSCUS: Ah, yes, I remember; but I'll tell you at a more convenient
season. (_Inventing an excuse with mock solemnity_. ) To-day is the
"Thirtieth Sabbath. " You wouldn't affront the circumcised Jews, would
you?

HORACE: I have no scruples.

FUSCUS: But _I_ have. I'm a slightly weaker brother--one, of many.
Pardon, I'll talk about it another time.

[_Exit, leaving_ HORACE _like a victim under the knife_.

HORACE (_to himself_): To think this day should have dawned so
black for me!

[_Suddenly enter the_ PLAINTIFF _in the suit against the_
BORE.

PLAINTIFF (_loudly to the_ BORE): Where are you off to, you
scoundrel? (_To_ HORACE) May I call you as a witness to his contempt
of court?

[HORACE _lets his ear be touched, according to legal form.
The_ BORE _is hauled away to court, he and the_ PLAINTIFF
_bawling at each other. The arrest attracts a large
crowd_.

HORACE (_quietly disappearing_): What an escape! Thank Apollo!




_The Art of Poetry_


UNITY AND SIMPLICITY ARE REQUISITE

Suppose a painter to a human head
Should join a horse's neck, and wildly spread
The various plumage of the feather'd kind
O'er limbs of different beasts, absurdly joined.
Or if he gave to view of beauteous maid
Above the waist with every charm arrayed,
But ending, fish-like, in a mermaid tail,
Could you to laugh at such a picture fail?
Such is the book that, like a sick man's dreams,
Varies all shapes, and mixes all extremes.
"Painters and poets our indulgence claim,
Their daring equal, and their art the same. "
I own the indulgence, such I give and take;
But not through nature's sacred rules to break.
Your opening promises some grand design,
And purple patches with broad lustre shine
Sewed on the poem; here in laboured strain
A sacred grove, or fair Diana's fane
Rises to view; there through delightful meads
A murmuring stream its winding water leads.
Why will you thus a mighty vase intend,
If in a worthless bowl your labours end?
Then learn this wandering humour to control,
And keep one equal tenour through the whole.


THE FALSEHOOD OF EXTREMES IN STYLE

But oft our greatest errors take their rise
From our best views. I strive to be concise,
And prove obscure. My strength, or passion, flees,
When I would write with elegance and ease.
Aiming at greatness, some to fustian soar:
Some, bent on safety, creep along the shore.
Thus injudicious, while one fault we shun,
Into its opposite extreme we run.


CHOICE OF THEME

Examine well, ye writers, weigh with care,
What suits your genius, what your strength can bear;
For when a well-proportioned theme you choose,
Nor words, nor method shall their aid refuse.


WORDS OLD AND NEW

The author of a promised work must be
Subtle and careful in word-harmony.
To choose and to reject. You merit praise
If by deft linking of known words a phrase
Strikes one as new.