On that side of the island which lay nearest the rising sun, there was a fine, deep harbor; for there the shore bent5 inward, and only a narrow neck of land lay between the eastern waters and the western sea. Close on either side of this harbor arose two mountains, Neritus and Nereius, which stood like giant watchmen overlooking land and sea and warding6 harm away; and on the neck, midway between these mountains, was the king's white palace, roomy and large, with blossoming orchards to the right and the left, and broad lawns in front, sloping down to the water's edge.
Here, many hundreds of years ago, lived Laertes--a man of simple habits, who thought his little island home a kingdom large enough, and never sighed for a greater. Not many men had seen so much of the world as he; for he had been to Colchis with Jason and the Argonauts, and his feet had trod the streets of every city in Hellas. Yet in all his wanderings he had seen no fairer land than rocky Ithaca. His eyes had been dazzled by the brightness of the Golden Fleece, and the kings of Argos and of Ilios had shown him the gold and gems7 of their treasure-houses. Yet what cared he for wealth other than that which his flocks and vineyards yielded him? There was hardly a day but that he might be seen in the fields guiding his plough, or training his vines, or in his orchards pruning8 his trees, or gathering9 the mellow10 fruit. He had all the good gifts of life that any man needs; and for them he never failed to thank the great Giver, nor to render praises to the powers above. His queen, fair Anticleia, daughter of the aged11 chief Autolycus, was a true housewife, overseeing the maidens12 at their tasks, busying herself with the distaff and the spindle, or plying13 the shuttle at the loom14; and many were the garments, rich with finest needlework, which her own fair fingers had fashioned.
To Laertes and Anticleia one child had been born,--a son, who, they hoped, would live to bring renown15 to Ithaca. This boy, as he grew, became strong in body and mind far beyond his playfellows; and those who knew him wondered at the shrewdness of his speech no less than at the strength and suppleness16 of his limbs. And yet he was small of stature17, and neither in face nor in figure was he adorned18 with any of Apollo's grace. On the day that he was twelve years old, he stood with his tutor, the bard19 Phemius, on the top of Mount Neritus; below him, spread out like a great map, lay what was to him the whole world. Northward20, as far as his eyes could see, there were islands great and small; and among them Phemius pointed21 out Taphos, the home of a sea-faring race, where Anchialus, chief of warriors22, ruled. Eastward23 were other isles24, and the low-lying shores of Acarnania, so far away that they seemed mere25 lines of hazy26 green between the purple waters and the azure27 sky. Southward beyond Samos were the wooded heights of Zacynthus, and the sea-paths which led to Pylos and distant Crete. Westward28 was the great sea, stretching away and away to the region of the setting sun; the watery29 kingdom of Poseidon, full of strange beings and unknown dangers,--a sea upon which none but the bravest mariners30 dared launch their ships.
The boy had often looked upon these scenes of beauty and mystery, but to-day his heart was stirred with an unwonted feeling of awe32 and of wonder at the greatness and grandeur33 of the world as it thus lay around him. Tears filled his eyes as he turned to his tutor. "How kind it was of the Being who made this pleasant earth, to set our own sunny Ithaca right in the centre of it, and to cover it all over with a blue dome34 like a tent! But tell me, do people live in all those lands that we see? I know that there are men dwelling35 in Zacynthus and in the little islands of the eastern sea; for their fishermen often come to Ithaca, and I have talked with them. And I have heard my father tell of his wonderful voyage to Colchis, which is in the region of the rising sun; and my mother often speaks of her old home in Parnassus, which also is far away towards the dawn. Is it true that there are men, women, and children, living in lands which we cannot see? and do the great powers above us care for them as for the good people of Ithaca? And is there anywhere another king so great as my father Laertes, or another kingdom so rich and happy as his?"
Then Phemius told the lad all about the land of the Hellenes beyond the narrow sea; and, in the sand at their feet, he drew with a stick a map of all the countries known to him.
A GLIMPSE OF THE WORLD. The Map which Phemius drew in the Sand.
A GLIMPSE OF THE WORLD.
The Map which Phemius drew in the Sand.
"We cannot see half of the world from this spot," said the bard, "neither is Ithaca the centre of it, as it seems to you. I will draw a picture of it here in the sand, and show you where lies every land and every sea. Right here in the very centre," said he, heaping up a pile of sand into the shape of a mountain,--"right here in the very centre of the world is Mount Parnassus, the home of the Muses36; and in its shadow is sacred Delphi, where stands Apollo's temple. South of Parnassus is the Bay of Crissa, sometimes called the Corinthian Gulf37. The traveller who sails westwardly38 through those waters will have on his right hand the pleasant hills and dales of ?tolia and the wooded lands of Calydon; while on his left will rise the rugged mountains of Achaia, and the gentler slopes of Elis. Here to the south of Elis are Messene, and sandy Pylos where godlike Nestor and his aged father Neleus reign39. Here, to the east, is Arcadia, a land of green pastures and sweet contentment, unwashed by any sea; and next to it is Argolis,--rich in horses, but richest of all in noble men,--and Laced?mon in Laconia, famous for its warriors and its beautiful women. Far to the north of Parnassus is Mount Olympus, the heaven-towering home of Zeus, and the place where the gods and goddesses hold their councils."
Then Phemius, as he was often wont31 to do, began to put his words into the form of music; and he sang a song of the world as he supposed it to be. He sang of Helios the Sun, and of his flaming chariot and his four white steeds, and of the wonderful journey which he makes every day above the earth; and he sang of the snowy mountains of Caucasus in the distant east; and of the gardens of the Hesperides even farther to the westward; and of the land of the Hyperboreans, which lies beyond the northern mountains; and of the sunny climes where live the Ethiopians, the farthest distant of all earth's dwellers40. Then he sang of the flowing stream of Ocean which encircles all lands in its embrace; and, lastly, of the Islands of the Blest, where fair-haired Rhadamanthus rules, and where there is neither snow nor beating rains, but everlasting41 spring, and breezes balmy with the breath of life.
"O Phemius!" cried the boy, as the bard laid aside his harp42, "I never knew that the world was so large. Can it be that there are so many countries and so many strange people beneath the same sky?"
"Yes," answered Phemius, "the world is very broad, and our Ithaca is but one of the smallest of a thousand lands upon which Helios smiles, as he makes his daily journey through the skies. It is not given to one man to know all these lands; and happiest is he whose only care is for his home, deeming it the centre around which the world is built."
"If only the half of what you have told me be true," said the boy, "I cannot rest until I have seen some of those strange lands, and learned more about the wonderful beings which live in them. I cannot bear to think of being always shut up within the narrow bounds of little Ithaca."
"My dear boy," said Phemius, laughing, "your mind has been greatly changed within the past few moments, When we came here, a little while ago, you thought that Neritus was the grandest mountain in the world, and that Ithaca was the centre round which the earth was built. Then you were cheerful and contented43; but now you are restless and unhappy, because you have learned of possibilities such as, hitherto, you had not dreamed about. Your eyes have been opened to see and to know the world as it is, and you are no longer satisfied with that which Ithaca can give you."
"But why did you not tell me these things before?" asked the boy.
"It was your mother's wish," answered the bard, "that you should not know them until to-day. Do you remember what day this is?"
"It is my twelfth birthday. And I remember, too, that there was a promise made to my grandfather, that when I was twelve years old I should visit him in his strong halls on Mount Parnassus. I mean to ask my mother about it at once."
And without waiting for another word from Phemius, the lad ran hurriedly down the steep pathway, and was soon at the foot of the mountain. Across the fields he hastened, and through the vineyards where the vines, trained by his father's own hand, were already hanging heavy with grapes. He found his mother in the inner hall, sitting before the hearth44, and twisting from her distaff threads of bright sea-purple, while her maidens plied45 their tasks around her. He knelt upon the marble floor, and gently clasped his mother's knees.
"Mother," he said, "I come to ask a long-promised boon46 of you."
"What is it, my son?" asked the queen, laying aside her distaff. "If there be any thing in Ithaca that I can give you, you shall surely have it."
"I want nothing in Ithaca," answered the boy; "I want to see more of this great world than I ever yet have known. And now that I am twelve years old, you surely will not forget the promise, long since made, that I should spend the summer with my grandfather at Parnassus. Let me go very soon, I pray; for I tire of this narrow Ithaca."
ODYSSEUS AND HIS MOTHER.
ODYSSEUS AND HIS MOTHER.
The queen's eyes filled with tears as she answered, "You shall have your wish, my son. The promise given both to you and to my father must be fulfilled. For, when you were but a little babe, Autolycus came to Ithaca. And one evening, as he feasted at your father's table, your nurse, Dame47 Eurycleia, brought you into the hall, and put you into his arms. 'Give this dear babe, O king, a name,' said she. 'He is thy daughter's son, the heir to Ithaca's rich realm; and we hope that he will live to make his name and thine remembered.'
"Then Autolycus smiled, and gently dandled you upon his knees. 'My daughter, and my daughter's lord,' said he, 'let this child's name be Odysseus; for he shall visit many lands and climes, and wander long upon the tossing sea. Yet wheresoever the Fates may drive him, his heart will ever turn to Ithaca his home. Call him by the name which I have given; and when his twelfth birthday shall have passed, send him to my strong halls in the shadow of Parnassus, where his mother in her girlhood dwelt. Then I will share my riches with him, and send him back to Ithaca rejoicing!' So spake my father, great Autolycus; and before we arose from that feast, we pledged our word that it should be with you even as he wished. And your name, Odysseus, has every day recalled to mind that feast and our binding48 words."
"Oh that I could go at once, dear mother!" said Odysseus, kissing her tears away. "I would come home again very soon. I would stay long enough to have the blessing49 of my kingly grandfather; I would climb Parnassus, and listen to the sweet music of the Muses; I would drink one draught50 from the Castalian spring of which you have so often told me; I would ramble51 one day among the groves52 and glens, that perchance I might catch a glimpse of Apollo or of his huntress sister Artemis; and then I would hasten back to Ithaca, and would never leave you again."
"My son," then said Laertes, who had come unheard into the hall, and had listened to the boy's earnest words,--"my son, you shall have your wish, for I know that the Fates have ordered it so. We have long looked forward to this day, and for weeks past we have been planning for your journey. My stanchest ship is ready to carry you over the sea, and needs only to be launched into the bay. Twelve strong oarsmen are sitting now upon the beach, waiting for orders to embark53. To-morrow, with the bard Phemius as your friend and guide, you may set forth54 on your voyage to Parnassus. Let us go down to the shore at once, and offer prayers to Poseidon, ruler of the sea, that he may grant you favoring winds and a happy voyage."
Odysseus kissed his mother again, and, turning, followed his father from the hall.
Then Anticleia rose, and bade the maidens hasten to make ready the evening meal; but she herself went weeping to her own chamber55, there to choose the garments which her son should take with him upon his journey. Warm robes of wool, and a broidered tunic56 which she with her own hands had spun57 and woven, she folded and laid with care in a little wooden chest; and with them she placed many a little comfort, fruit and sweetmeats, such as she rightly deemed would please the lad. Then when she had closed the lid, she threw a strong cord around the chest, and tied it firmly down. This done, she raised her eyes towards heaven, and lifting up her hands, she prayed to Pallas Athené:--
"O queen of the air and sky, hearken to my prayer, and help me lay aside the doubting fears which creep into my mind, and cause these tears to flow. For now my boy, unused to hardships, and knowing nothing of the world, is to be sent forth on a long and dangerous voyage. I tremble lest evil overtake him; but more I fear, that, with the lawless men of my father's household, he shall forget his mother's teachings, and stray from the path of duty. Do thou, O queen, go with him as his guide and guard, keep him from harm, and bring him safe again to Ithaca and his loving mother's arms."
Meanwhile Laertes and the men of Ithaca stood upon the beach, and offered up two choice oxen to Poseidon, ruler of the sea; and they prayed him that he would vouchsafe58 favoring winds and quiet waters and a safe journey to the bold voyagers who to-morrow would launch their ship upon the deep. And when the sun began to sink low down in the west, some sought their homes, and others went up to the king's white palace to tarry until after the evening meal.
Cheerful was the feast; and as the merry jest went round, no one seemed more free from care than King Laertes. And when all had eaten of the food, and had tasted of the red wine made from the king's own vintage, the bard Phemius arose, and tuned59 his harp, and sang many sweet and wonderful songs. He sang of the beginning of things; of the broad-breasted Earth, the mother of created beings; of the sky, and the sea, and the mountains; of the mighty60 race of Titans,--giants who once ruled the earth; of great Atlas61, who holds the sky-dome upon his shoulders; of Cronos and old Oceanus; of the war which for ten years raged on Mount Olympus, until Zeus hurled62 his unfeeling father Cronos from the throne, and seized the sceptre for himself.
When Phemius ended his singing, the guests withdrew from the hall, and each went silently to his own home; and Odysseus, having kissed his dear father and mother, went thoughtfully to his sleeping-room high up above the great hall. With him went his nurse, Dame Eurycleia, carrying the torches. She had been a princess once; but hard fate and cruel war had overthrown63 her father's kingdom, and had sent her forth a captive and a slave. Laertes had bought her of her captors for a hundred oxen, and had given her a place of honor in his household next to Anticleia. She loved Odysseus as she would love her own dear child; for, since his birth, she had nursed and cared for him. She now, as was her wont, lighted him to his chamber; she laid back the soft coverings of his bed; she smoothed the fleeces, and hung his tunic within easy reach. Then with kind words of farewell for the night, she quietly withdrew, and closed the door, and pulled the thong64 outside which turned the fastening latch65. Odysseus wrapped himself among the fleeces of his bed, and soon was lost in slumber66.[1]
[1] See Note 1 at the end of this volume.
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1
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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warding
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| 监护，守护（ward的现在分词形式） | |
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gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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pruning
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| n.修枝，剪枝，修剪v.修剪（树木等）( prune的现在分词 )；精简某事物，除去某事物多余的部分 | |
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9
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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10
mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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13
plying
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的现在分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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14
loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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15
renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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suppleness
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| 柔软； 灵活； 易弯曲； 顺从 | |
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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18
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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bard
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| n.吟游诗人 | |
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northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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21
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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mariners
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| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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muses
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的第三人称单数 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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westwardly
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| 向西，自西 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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41
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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42
harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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43
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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45
plied
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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46
boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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48
binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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49
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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50
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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51
ramble
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| v.漫步，漫谈，漫游；n.漫步，闲谈，蔓延 | |
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52
groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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53
embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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54
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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56
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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57
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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58
vouchsafe
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| v.惠予，准许 | |
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59
tuned
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| adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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60
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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61
atlas
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| n.地图册，图表集 | |
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62
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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64
thong
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| n.皮带；皮鞭；v.装皮带 | |
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65
latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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