“Lady, the gods that in Olympus dwell
Have, beyond mortal women, given to thee
Lives not a wife who could endure, save thee,
Her lord to slight, who, roaming earth and sea,
Comes to his own land in the twentieth year.
Haste, Eurycleia, and go spread for me
Some couch, that I may sleep—but not with her.”
Penelope does recognise the form and features—it is indeed, to all outward appearance, the Ulysses from whom she parted in tears twenty years ago. But such appearances are deceitful; gods have been known, ere now, to put on the form of men to gain the love of mortals. She will put him to one certain test she wots of. “Give him his own bed,” she says to the nurse; “go, bring it forth from what was our bridal chamber.” But the couch of which she speaks is, as{v.ii-118} she and he both well know, immovable. Its peculiar19 structure, as detailed20 in Homer’s verse, is by no means easy to unravel21. But it is formed in some cunning fashion out of the stem of an olive-tree, rooted and growing, round which the hero himself had built a bridal chamber. Move it?—“There lives no mortal,” exclaims Ulysses, “who could stir it from its place.” Then, at last, all Penelope’s long doubts are solved in happy certainty:—
And she ran to him from her place, and threw
Her arms about his neck, and a warm dew
Of kisses poured upon him, and thus spake:
‘Frown not, Odysseus; thou art wise and true!
Our path to old age sweet, nor willed us to partake
“‘Youth’s joys together. Yet forgive me this,
Nor hate me that when first I saw thy brow
I fell not on thy neck, and gave no kiss,
Nor wept in thy dear arms as I weep now.
For in my breast a bitter fear did bow
My soul, and I lived shuddering24 day by day,
False things, and steal my spirit, and bewray
......
“‘But now, since clearly thou unfoldest this,
The secret of our couch, which none hath read,
Save only thee and me and Actoris,
To guard the chamber of our bridal bed—
Now I believe against my own belief.’
She ending a desire of weeping bred
Within him, and in tears the noble chief
“Sweet as to swimmers the dry land appears,
Whose bark Poseidon in the angry sea
Strikes with a tempest, and in pieces tears,
And a few swimmers from the white deep flee,
Spring to the shore exulting; even so
Sweet was her husband to Penelope,
Nor from his neck could she at all let go
Her white arms, nor forbid her thickening tears to flow.”
When they retire to rest, each has a long tale to tell. The personal adventures of Ulysses alone (however careful he might have been to abridge30 them in some particulars for his present auditor) would have made up many an Arabian Night’s entertainment. There would surely have been little time left for Penelope’s story, but that Minerva’s agency lengthens31 the ordinary night—
“Nor from the rolling river of Ocean’s stream
Suffered the golden-thronèd Dawn to beam,
Here, according to our modern notions of completeness, the Odyssey33 should surely end. Accordingly some critics have surmised34 that the twenty-fourth and last book is not Homer’s, but a later addition. But we may very well suppose that the primitive35 taste for narrative36 in the poet’s day was more simple and childlike; that an ancient Greek audience would inquire, as our own children would, into all the details of the sequel, and not be satisfied even with the comprehensive assertion that “they lived happy ever afterwards.” We have therefore, in the text as it has come down to us, a kind of supplement to the tale, which, as is the case{v.ii-120} with the later scenes in some of Shakespeare’s tragedies, rather weakens the force of the real catastrophe38. An episode at the beginning of this last book shows us again the regions of the dead, to which the god Mercury is conducting the spirits of the dead suitors—pale ghosts who follow him, gibbering and cowering39 with fear, into that “sunless land.” The main purpose of the poet seems to be the opportunity once more of introducing the shades of the great heroes, Achilles and Agamemnon; the latter contrasting his own miserable40 and dishonoured41 end with that of Achilles, blest above all mortals, dying in battle with all the flower of Ilium and Greece around him, and leaving a name which is a sound of glory over the whole earth. So also does he contrast, to Penelope’s honour, her fidelity42 with the treachery of his own queen Clytemnestra; giving voice to a prophecy which has been fulfilled almost beyond even a poet’s aspirations:—
“O to her first one love how true was she!
For ever, but the gods unceasingly
Shall to the earth’s inhabitants her name,
Wide on the wings of song, with endless praise proclaim.”
Ulysses himself has yet to visit and make himself known to his aged37 father Laertes, who is still alive, but living in sad retirement44 on his island-farm, solacing45 himself as well as he may with pruning46 and tending his orchard-grounds. The recognition scene, in which the scar left by the boar’s tusk47 is once more the touchstone, will seem tedious, as savouring too much of repetition, to most readers of our day. But there is one point{v.ii-121} which has a special and simple beauty of its own. When Laertes seems yet incredulous as to his son’s identity, Ulysses reminds him how, when he was yet a child, following his father about the orchards48, and begging with a child’s pertinacity49, he had given him “for his very own” a certain number of apple, fig50, and pear trees and vines—all which he can still remember and enumerate51. The token is irresistible52, and the old man all but faints for joy.
An attempt at rebellion on the part of some of his Ithacan subjects, who are enraged54 at his slaughter of their nobles, and which is headed by the father of the dead Antinous, fails to revive the fading interest of the tale. The ringleader falls by a spear cast by the trembling hand of Laertes, and the malcontents submit, after a brief contest, to their lawful55 chief.
A hint of future travel for the hero leaves his history in some degree still incomplete. A penance56 had been imposed upon him by the seer Tiresias, by which alone he could appease57 Neptune58 for the cruel injury inflicted59 on his son, the giant Polyphemus. He must seek out some people who had never seen the sea, and never eaten salt, and there offer sacrifice to the god. Then, and only then, he might hope to reign60 for the rest of his life in peace amongst his islanders. Of the fulfilment of this pilgrimage the poet tells us nothing. Other legends represent Ulysses as meeting his death at last from the hand of his own son Telegonus (born of his amour with Circe), who had landed in the island of Ithaca on a piratical enterprise. We may remark the coincidence—or the imitation—in the later legend of{v.ii-122} the British Arthur, who is slain in battle by his illegitimate son Mordred. The veil which even tradition leaves hanging over the great wanderer’s fate is no inappropriate conclusion to his story. A life of inaction, even in his old age, seems hardly suited to the poetical61 conception of this hero of unrest. In the fragmentary legends of the Middle Ages there is almost material for a second Odyssey. There, the Greek voyager becomes the pioneer of Atlantic discoverers—sailing still on into the unknown West in search of the Earthly Paradise, founding new cities as he goes, and at last meeting his death in Atlantic waters. The Italian poets—Tasso, Pulci, and especially Dante—adopted the tradition. In the ‘Inferno’ of the latter, the spirit of Ulysses thus discloses the last scenes of his career:—
Of my old father, nor return of love,
That should have crowned Penelope with joy,
To explore the world, and search the ways of life,
Into the deep illimitable main,
With but one bark, and the small faithful band
Far as Marocco, either shore I saw,
Were I and my companions, when we came
The boundaries not to be o’erstepped by man.[43]
The walls of Seville to my right I left,
On the other hand already Ceuta past.
‘O brothers!’ I began, ‘who to the west{v.ii-123}
To this the short remaining watch, that yet
Our senses have to wake, refuse not proof
Of the unpeopled world, following the track
Of Ph?bus. Call to mind from whence ye sprang:
But virtue to pursue and knowledge high.’
With these few words I sharpened for the voyage
The mind of my associates, that I then
Our poop we turned, and for the witless flight
And ours so low, that from the ocean floor
It rose not. Five times re-illumed, as oft
Vanished the light from underneath74 the moon,
Since the deep way we entered, when from far
Appeared a mountain dim, loftiest methought
Of all I e’er beheld. Joy seized us straight;
But soon to mourning changed. From the new land
A whirlwind sprung, and at her foremost side
With all the waves; the fourth time lifted up
And over us the booming billow closed.”
—Inferno, xxvi. (Cary’s transl.)
Thus also Mr Tennyson—drawing from Dante not less happily than he so often does from Homer—makes his Ulysses resign the idle sceptre into the hands of the home-keeping Telemachus, and tempt53 the seas once more in quest of new adventures:—
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed{v.ii-124}
Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old:
Death closes all, but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done.
......
’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
To sail beyond the sunset and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.”
点击收听单词发音
1 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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2 tumult | |
n.喧哗;激动,混乱;吵闹 | |
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3 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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4 riotous | |
adj.骚乱的;狂欢的 | |
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5 slain | |
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的过去分词 ); (slay的过去分词) | |
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6 deity | |
n.神,神性;被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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7 corpses | |
n.死尸,尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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8 beholds | |
v.看,注视( behold的第三人称单数 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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9 slaughter | |
n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀 | |
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10 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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11 enacted | |
制定(法律),通过(法案)( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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13 harp | |
n.竖琴;天琴座 | |
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14 wed | |
v.娶,嫁,与…结婚 | |
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15 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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16 endued | |
v.授予,赋予(特性、才能等)( endue的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17 guardian | |
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者 | |
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18 soften | |
v.(使)变柔软;(使)变柔和 | |
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19 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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20 detailed | |
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的 | |
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21 unravel | |
v.弄清楚(秘密);拆开,解开,松开 | |
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22 eyelids | |
n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 );眼睛也不眨一下;不露声色;面不改色 | |
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23 grudged | |
怀恨(grudge的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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24 shuddering | |
v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动 | |
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25 avow | |
v.承认,公开宣称 | |
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26 guile | |
n.诈术 | |
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27 exulting | |
vi. 欢欣鼓舞,狂喜 | |
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28 crested | |
adj.有顶饰的,有纹章的,有冠毛的v.到达山顶(或浪峰)( crest的过去式和过去分词 );到达洪峰,达到顶点 | |
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29 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
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30 abridge | |
v.删减,删节,节略,缩短 | |
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31 lengthens | |
(时间或空间)延长,伸长( lengthen的第三人称单数 ) | |
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32 yoke | |
n.轭;支配;v.给...上轭,连接,使成配偶 | |
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33 odyssey | |
n.长途冒险旅行;一连串的冒险 | |
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34 surmised | |
v.臆测,推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 );揣测;猜想 | |
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35 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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36 narrative | |
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的 | |
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37 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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38 catastrophe | |
n.大灾难,大祸 | |
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39 cowering | |
v.畏缩,抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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40 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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41 dishonoured | |
a.不光彩的,不名誉的 | |
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42 fidelity | |
n.忠诚,忠实;精确 | |
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43 nought | |
n./adj.无,零 | |
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44 retirement | |
n.退休,退职 | |
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45 solacing | |
v.安慰,慰藉( solace的现在分词 ) | |
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46 pruning | |
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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47 tusk | |
n.獠牙,长牙,象牙 | |
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48 orchards | |
(通常指围起来的)果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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49 pertinacity | |
n.执拗,顽固 | |
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50 fig | |
n.无花果(树) | |
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51 enumerate | |
v.列举,计算,枚举,数 | |
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52 irresistible | |
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
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53 tempt | |
vt.引诱,勾引,吸引,引起…的兴趣 | |
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54 enraged | |
使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 ); 歜; 激愤 | |
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55 lawful | |
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的 | |
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56 penance | |
n.(赎罪的)惩罪 | |
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57 appease | |
v.安抚,缓和,平息,满足 | |
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58 Neptune | |
n.海王星 | |
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59 inflicted | |
把…强加给,使承受,遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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61 poetical | |
adj.似诗人的;诗一般的;韵文的;富有诗意的 | |
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62 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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63 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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64 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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65 cleaved | |
v.劈开,剁开,割开( cleave的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66 isle | |
n.小岛,岛 | |
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67 tardy | |
adj.缓慢的,迟缓的 | |
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68 ordained | |
v.任命(某人)为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 );授予(某人)圣职;(上帝、法律等)命令;判定 | |
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69 perils | |
极大危险( peril的名词复数 ); 危险的事(或环境) | |
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70 brutes | |
兽( brute的名词复数 ); 畜生; 残酷无情的人; 兽性 | |
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71 withheld | |
withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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72 oars | |
n.桨,橹( oar的名词复数 );划手v.划(行)( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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73 beheld | |
v.看,注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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74 underneath | |
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面 | |
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75 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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76 prow | |
n.(飞机)机头,船头 | |
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77 puffs | |
n.吸( puff的名词复数 );(烟斗或香烟的)一吸;一缕(烟、蒸汽等);(呼吸或风的)呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧 | |
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78 mariners | |
海员,水手(mariner的复数形式) | |
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79 toiled | |
长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 ); 艰难缓慢地移动,跋涉 | |
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80 toil | |
vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事 | |
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81 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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82 smite | |
v.重击;彻底击败;n.打;尝试;一点儿 | |
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83 furrows | |
n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 );(脸上的)皱纹v.犁田,开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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84 isles | |
岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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