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The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury; Now First Collected and Edited by Sir William Molesworth, Bart., (London: Bohn, 1839-45). 11 vols. Vol. 10.

Author: Homer
Translator: Thomas Hobbes
Editor: Sir William Molesworth

Part of: The English Works of Thomas Hobbes, 11 vols.

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LIB. XXIV.

The Ithacesians bury the wooers, and sitting in council, resolve on revenge; and coming near the house of Laertes, are met by Ulysses and Laertes, with Telemachus and servants, the whole number twelve, and overcome & submit.
Meanwhile unto the house came Mercury;
A golden rod he carried in his hand,
Wherewith he lays asleep a mortal eye,
And opens it again with the same wand,
5And at the bloody heap he calls away

The suitors’ souls. They all about him fly.
And as the rod directeth them the way,
They follow all, but screaming fearfully.
As in some venerable hollow cave,
10Where bats that are at roost upon a stone,

And from the ledge one chance a fall to have,
The rest scream out and hold fast one by one;
So screaming all the souls together fly.
And first pass by Oceanus his streams,
The Ithacesians bury the wooers.
15Then by Sol’s gate, and rock of Leucady;

And then they passed through the town of dreams,
And in a trice to th’ mead of Asphodel,
And saw the soul there of Peleiades,
For there the souls of wretched mortals dwell,
20And of Patroclus and Nestorides.

The soul of Ajax son of Telamon
Was also there, who ’mongst those warriors tall,
The goodliest person was, except the son
Of Peleus, who did much excel them all.
25To these Atrides’ soul came from hard by,

And theirs whose death had joined been with his,
And by Ægistus’ hand were made to die.
Then to Atrides said Achilles this:
Atrides, we thought you of all the host
30That came to fight against the town of Troy,

Had been by the high Gods beloved most;
For in the army you bore greatest sway.
Yet afterwards the first you were to fall.
T’ had better been commanding t’ have been slain.
35Then had you had a noble funeral,

And tomb, whereby your glory might remain.
But now you died a miserable death.
To this Atrides’ soul thus answered:
Happy were you at Troy to lose your breath,
40With other Argives; that there perished

Fighting about you, in your dusty bed
Stretch’d out, your feats of horsemanship forgot,
But fighting we all day continued,
And till we gain’d your body ceased not.
45Nor had we ceased then, but for the storm.

And then we bare your body to the fleet,
And there the blemishes thereof reform
With water fair and warm, and unguents sweet.
The Greeks about you wept, and cut their hair;
50Your mother and her nymphs then came and roar’d,

Th’ Achæan army was in such a fear,
That they were ready all to run aboard.
But Nestor, whose advice most current was,
Cried, Stay you, Argives, this is not the noise
55Of armed foes, but Thetis now doth pass

With all her nymphs; of them this is the voice.
Then they all fearless stay’d. And the nymphs stood
Mourning, and clothed him with garments meet.
The Muses nine, in turn with voices good,
60Singing, made all the standers by to weep.

And seventeen days both Gods and men we mourn.
On the eighteenth we sheep and cattle slay.
And then in God-like clothes your body burn,
With many unguents sweet that on it lay.
65Both foot and horse many the pile sustain,

And loudly shout, and Vulcan makes an end.
Only the bones and nothing else remain,
Which with pure wine and unguents sweet we blend.
Your mother sent the urn, by Vulcan made,
70But given her by Bacchus, and therein,

Noble Achilles, your white bones we laid,
Mix’d with Patroclus you delighted in.
By yours, the ashes of Antilochus,
Whom next Patroclus was to you most dear,
75We placed in an urn apart, and thus

Over you all one monument we rear,
High to be seen from sea by them that now,
Or shall hereafter sailing be that way.
Your mother also to the Gods did vow
80T’ have noble prizes for the lords to play.

At princes’ sepultures I oft have seen
Propos’d rich prizes to provoke the strife
Of noble minds, but that like these had been,
I never any saw in all my life.
85So after death renown’d your name will be;

But what am I the better, to whom Jove
Did for my pains a wretched death decree
(Such was the pleasure of the Gods above)
B’ Ægistus and my own wife’s bloody hand?
90Thus they to one another talk’d in hell.

Then Mercury came to them with his band
Of woo’rs that in Ulysses’ palace fell.
Of these Atrides knew Amphimedon,
(For he in Ithaca had been his guest),
95And speaking to him first, he thus begun:

Amphimedon, what ail’d you and the rest,
To come to this dark place so in a throng,
The flow’r of Ithaca, of equal years?
If purposely a man should seek among
100Your people all, he should not find you peers.

Were you by Neptune drowned in the main,
And hither sent by fury of the weather?
Or landing to find booty were you slain?
Or fighting for fair women were sent hither?
105Come, tell me freely; I have been your guest.

Know you not I t’ your father’s house did come
With Menelaus, Ulysses to request
That he would go with us to Ilium?
Then said Amphimedon: I know it all,
110And how we all deprived were of life,

I’ll tell you true, and manner of our fall.
Ulysses absent, we all woo’d his wife.
She none denied, nor any married,
But casting how of life us to bereave,
115To set a loom up came into her head,

As if she somewhat did intend to weave.
She sets it up, and did begin to weave.
Suitors, said she, since dead Ulysses is,
Stay yet a little while, and give me leave
120To make an end but of one business.

I must for old Laertes make a cloth,
Which in his sepulchre he is to wear.
T’ offend the wives of Greece I should be loth.
For to accuse me they will not forbear.
125They’ll say I very hasty was to wed,

If I go hence, and not provide a shroud,
Wherein Laertes must be buried.
Out of his wealth, that might have been allow’d.
The suitors then were all content. And then
130All day she wove, but ere she went to bed

What she had wov’n she ravell’d out agen.
Three years her suitors she thus frustrated;
In the fourth year her women her betray’d;
And in we came while she the web undid.
135She could the wedding now no more avoid.

The robe when it was finished and done
She washed clean, and it before us laid:
As bright it shin’d as either moon or sun.
And then ill-fortune brought Ulysses home
140To the house were dwelt the master of the swine;

And thither too Telemachus did come,
From sandy Pylus, safely through the brine;
And both together there our death contrive.
That done, they both into the city come.
145Telemachus the first was to arrive.

The master of the swine brought th’ other home,
Like an old beggar with his staff in’s hand,
Apparell’d in such miserable gear,
That, that was he, we could not understand,
150Nor no man else, although he elder were.

We mock, we rate him, throw things at his head;
He patiently endured all his harms,
Until, by Jupiter encouraged,
From out the hall he took away the arms,
155And in an upper chamber lock’d them fast.

Then craftily he bids his wife to send
To us his mighty bow, our strength to taste.
This the beginning was of our ill end;
For much too weak to bend the bow were we.
160But when it was unto Ulysses brought,

Fearing by him lest it should bended be,
We all at once cried out, Hold, give ’t him not.
Only Telemachus cried, Let him try.
And then ’twas put into Ulysses’ hands.
165Ulysses bent it very easily.

Then leap’d he to the sill, and there he stands;
And round about he look’d upon us grim.
And first of all he shot Antinous,
At whom he took his aim, and killed him,
170And with his arrows, after, more of us.

And one upon another down we fall.
’Twas plain, some present God there gave him aid,
For then he follow’d us about the hall,
Till all on heaps at last he had us laid.
175Of groans and blows it made a dismal sound.

And thus, King Agamemnon, died we.
Our bodies yet there lie upon the ground;
Our friends yet unacquainted with it be,
That else would wash our wounds and us lament,
180Which to the dead are ceremonies due.

Then said Atrides, O virtue excellent
Of your fair wife, happy Ulysses, you,
That with great valour have her repossess’d.
My wife, Tyndareus’ daughter, was not such.
185Your consort’s fame will be hereafter dress’d

In noble songs, and the sex honour much.
But my wife’s name shall stand in ballads vile,
And, sung in filthy songs, the sex disgrace.
Thus they discoursing were in hell. Meanwhile
190Ulysses cometh to Laertes’ place:

About it many lodgings were, wherein
His necessary servants all were laid;
And there they fed, and sat, and slept. But in
The house itself one old Sicelian maid,
195That of his person always had the care.

Ulysses then, lest supper they should lack,
Said to his two good servants, For our fare
You must again unto the town go back,
And fetch a swine, the fattest in the sties,
200Meanwhile I’ll to the vineyard go, and try

Whether my father know can with his eyes,
After so long an absence, that ’tis I.
This said, his servants armed homeward hie,
And to the vineyard goes Ulysses then.
205But Dolius he there could not espy,

Nor any of his sons, or of his men.
His sons and servants all abroad were gone,
For thorns to mend the hedges of the ground.
Laertes in the vineyard all alone
210Placing of earth about a plant he found.

On him he had a foul coat, full of patches,
And ugly leather boots, those patch’d also;
But good enough to save his legs from scratches:
Gloves of the same against the briars too.
215A goat-skin head-piece he had on to boot.

Ulysses, when he saw him in this plight,
Worn out with age, and so much sorrow to it,
Under a tree stood weeping out of sight.
And then bethought him whether it were best
220T’ embrace and kiss him, and directly say,

I am Ulysses, or first talk in jest,
And give him time his person to survey.
Resolv’d at last, his father he goes nigh,
Who with his head down, digg’d about a plant.
225Old man, said he, your skill is good. For why,

Your garden neither art nor care does want.
Nor plant, nor fig, nor vine, nor olive-tree,
Nor so much as a leek but prospers here.
One thing there wants (I pray not angry be);
230You look not to yourself. Ill cloathes you wear,

And also pale and yellow is your hue,
Which cannot be imputed to being aged.
’Tis not because you do no work, that you
He little sets by that has you engaged;
235There’s nothing in your aspect of a slave.

The look and stature you have of a king,
And the appearance of a king would have,
If you, what’s due to age had ev’ry thing.
Whose servant are you, and who owns the ground?
240And say if this be Ithaca or no;

For this man whom upon the way I found,
Is not so wise as certainly to know?
I ask’d him of a friend that I had here,
Whether alive he were or dead. But he;
245Whether he dead, or living still he were,

Unable was at all to answer me.
My house a stranger on a time was at,
Which of all strangers I did love the best;
That said he came from Ithaca, and that
250Laertes was his father’s name. This guest

I entertained as kindly as I could,
With viands good, whereof I had good store;
And gave him talents ten of well-wrought gold,
And beside that I gave him these gifts more:
255A pot for temper’d wine of silver bright;

Twelve carpets fair; twelve robes; twelve coats that were
All lined through; and twelve more that were light;
And four maid-servants, both well taught and fair,
Such as he from a greater number chose.
260Then said Laertes, Ithaca this is,

Now held by wicked men. But you will lose
Your presents all, and of requital miss.
But had you found my son Ulysses here,
He would have kept of amity the law,
265And well requited both your gifts and cheer.

But say, how long it is since you last saw
And entertain’d my son, if yet he be;
But he at sea devoured is by fish
Far hence, or else to beasts and fowls is he
270Somewhere, poor man, at land become a dish;

Neither his father nor his mother by,
To wind him and to shed tears o’er his bed;
Nor yet his wife weeping to close his eye,
Which are the honours due unto the dead.
275Tell me also your dwelling and your name,

Your parents and your city what they be;
And where the good ship lies in which you came,
And what men with you came in company,
Or with some merchants in their ship, and they
280Departing hence have left you here alone?

To this Ulysses answering did say,
I’ll answer to your questions each one.
My city’s Alybas, and of the same
Apherdas is the king. His son am I,
285And called am Eperitus by name.

Far hence at the land’s end my ship doth lie.
And since Ulysses from me went away,
’Tis now five years, and with good augury
That we should meet again another day,
290And joy in mutual hospitality.

This said, Laertes, overcome with woe,
Took up the scalding dust with both his hands,
And pour’d the same upon his head of snow,
And sobbing thick and weeping there he stands.
295Ulysses’ heart up to his nostrils swell’d

With pity to behold his father’s woe,
And to him leapt; and ’s arms about him held,
And said, The man you weep and mourn for so
Am I, come after twenty years again.
300Give over sobbing now; for, though in haste,

I tell you must, the suitors I have slain,
And made them of their crimes the fruit to taste.
Then said Laertes, If indeed you be
My son Ulysses, let me see some sign
305To know you by for certain. Then, said he,

Behold the wound received from the swine
On Mount Parnassus, when I thither went
T’ Autolycus my mother’s father, to
Receive the gifts he promis’d me. You sent
310Me thither, and so did my mother too.

I’ll tell you too what trees you gave me when
I walking once was with you there. And I
Ask’d you of all the trees the names (for then
’Twixt man and boy I was). And severally
315As I the trees’ names ask’d, you told the same.

Pear-trees thirteen; apple-trees half a score;
Rankles fifty (to the vines you gave that name);
All of them in their season berries bore;
And forty fig trees. Th’ old man knew it all;
320Embrac’d his son, and with abundant joy

Fainted, and sinking ready was to fall,
But that his son’s embraces were his stay.
Then coming to himself again he said:
Jove, father, and you Gods (Gods there are yet!)
325The suitors for their evil deeds have paid,

But now I fear the town will on us set,
And with themselves make all the city rise
In Cephalenia. Then said his son,
Fear not. Of that we’ll by and by advise.
330Eumæus and Philœtius are gone

To get a supper ready at your house.
This said, into the house they come away,
And find Eumæus and Philœtius
At work to cut out meat, and wine allay.
335Meanwhile Laertes oil’d and bathed is,

And by his maid in seemly garments clad,
And Pallas, standing by him, added this,
A larger stature than before he had.
As of a God his presence did appear.
340Ulysses seeing him, admir’d, and said:

Father, you greater now are than you were,
Some God has beauty on your person laid.
Then said Laertes, O ye Gods on high,
Jove, Pallas, and Apollo, had I been
345Such as I was at Neritus, when I

Stormed the town, and armed had come in
When you and the proud suitors were in fight,
I had made many of them bend the knee;
And you would have rejoic’d at the sight.
350So to his son Ulysses talked he.

Supper brought in, they sit; and then came in
Old Dolius, sent for, from his husbandry,
And his sons, weary. Working they had been.
The nurse had bidden them come speedily.
355They wondered to see Ulysses there;

But he to Dolius then gently said,
Pray for awhile your wond’ring to forbear;
We hungry are, and long have for you staid.
Then Dolius embrac’d him, and said,
360Since long’d for you are come, and unexpected,

And to us by the Gods have been convey’d;
All hail, and by the Gods be still protected.
But tell me if Penelope yet have
The news received of your coming home,
The Ithacesians in council resolve on revenge.
365Or shall we send her word? That labour save,

Replied Ulysses, for she knows I’m come.
This said, he sat him down. His sons also,
With decent words, Ulysses entertain,
And lay their hands in his. That done, they go,
370And by their father sat them down again.

Now fame divulged had the suitors’ fate;
And people howling, came in ev’ry way,
And gather’d whereabout Ulysses’ gate,
To fetch the bodies of the dead away.
375And those that out of Ithaca had liv’d,

To fishermen they gave to carry home.
And staying on the place, though sorely griev’d,
Amongst themselves they into counsel come.
Eupeithes, father of Antinous,
380That first of all slain by Ulysses was,

Spake first, and weeping for his son, said thus:
See how much mischief this man done us has.
He carried hence our ships, and ablest men;
And lost them all, as one that had design’d
385Our utter ruin. Coming back agen,

He killed hath those whom he left behind.
Come then, let’s to him quickly, lest meanwhile
He should pass over the wide sea, and get
Protection at Elis, or at Pyle,
390And we so sham’d as we were never yet.

’Twill be a scorn to our posterity
To let the murder of our children so
Stay unrevenged, and put up cowardly.
For my part, to my grave I’d rather go.
395Come quickly then, lest we prevented be.

This said, the people for him pity had.
Then came in Medon, who had scaped free,
And Phemius that scap’d too, and was glad.
And Medon to th’ assembly spake, and said,
400Ulysses of himself could not have done

This mighty deed without th’ Immortals’ aid.
I saw, when present I was looking on,
A God stand by that him encouraged,
In Mentor’s shape he plainly did appear;
405And then about the room the suitors fled,

And fell before Ulysses in their fear.
Next him spake Alitherses, who alone
Saw fore and aft. Hear me, you men, said he;
Of this great slaughter I accuse can none,
410But even yourselves that gave no ear to me,

Nor yet to Mentor. We you counselled
The licence of your children to take down,
That spent the substance, and dishonoured
The wife of him that was of such renown.
415My counsel, therefore, to you now is this,

Not to proceed, lest on yourselves you bring
More mischief yet, and of your purpose miss.
So said he then, but little profiting;
For more than half with alalaes up start,
420And cry aloud, To arms, go on, proceed!

But quietly sat still the lesser part,
That with Eupeithes’ judgment disagreed.
When they had clad themselves in glist’ning brass,
Without the town they came to rendezvous
425In open field. Eupeithes leader was,

Seeking revenge where he his life shall lose.
Then Pallas to her father came, and said,
O father, king of kings, what do you mean,
The war shall last between them, or be staid?
430To this her father answer’d her agen:

Child, why d’ye ask me that? ’twas your request
The suitors for their insolence should pay.
Do what you please, but yet I think it best,
When you have done, that peace for ever stay;
435And ever reign Ulysses and his race.

Which to confirm, oblivion I’ll send
Of former acts the image to deface.
Then gladly Pallas did from heaven descend.
When now Ulysses and his company
440Removed had their hunger with good cheer,

Ulysses said, Some one go forth and see
Whether the Ithacesians be near.
And then one of the young men standing there,
Went forth and saw them as he pass’d the sill;
445And turning back, Arm, said he, they are here!

And then they all put on their arms of steel.
Ulysses and his son, and servants four,
Six sons of Dolius. And the old men,
Laertes, and Dolius, were two more.
450Aged they were, but necessary then.

Then arm’d, Ulysses leading, out they go.
And Pallas, both in person and in voice
Resembling Mentor, in came to them too.
Ulysses seeing her did much rejoice.
455And looking on Telemachus, he said,

Telemachus, this battle will declare
Who courage has, who not. Be not afraid:
That you dishonour not your stock beware.
Father, said he, you shall see by-and-bye,
460You need not be ashamed of your son.

Laertes this discourse heard joyfully,
And to the Gods cried out in passion,
O ye kind Gods, and happy day is this!
O joy! My son and grandson are at strife
And coming near the house of Laertes, are met by Ulysses and Laertes, with Telemachus and servants, the whole number twelve, are overcome & submit.
465Which of the two the most courageous is,

And ready to buy honour with his life.
Then Pallas to Laertes said, My friend,
Son of Arcesius, whom the Gods do love,
With all your force your spear now from you send.
470But pray first unto Pallas and to Jove.

He pray’d, and threw his spear, which th’ helmet smote
Of old Eupeithes, and went into’s head.
Down dead he fell, the helmet sav’d him not.
His armour rattled, and his spirit fled.
475And then fell on Ulysses and his son,

Upon the foremost, both with sword and spear,
And surely had destroy’d them ev’ry one,
Had not Jove’s daughter, Pallas, then been there.
She to the people call’d aloud, and said,
480Hold Ithacesians; the quarrel may

Without more blood be ended. They, afrai
Of th’ heavenly voice, began to run away.
Ulysses yet not ceased to pursue
The captains of his foes, till from above,
485In thunder, Jove his sooty bolt down threw.

Then Pallas said, Beware; offend not Jove;
And glad was then Ulysses to give o’er.
By Pallas were propounded terms of peace,
In Mentor’s shape, and each part to them swore.
490And thus it was agreed the war should cease.

FINIS.

london: richards, printer, st. martin’s lane.

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LIB. XXIV. - Homer, The English Works, vol. X (Iliad and Odyssey) [1839]

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LIB. XXIV.