Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

have loved and suffered, but I never did thee wrong, and now I follow thee to the dark land of Hades.'

Presently the flame shot up to heaven from the funeral pile of Paris, and Enônê lay down to rest on the fiery couch by his side.56

247

A

THE LOTOS-EATERS.

MONG the chiefs of the Achaians who fought

before the walls of Ilion, there was none who gained for himself a greater glory than Odysseus the son of Laertes. Brave he was in battle, and steadfast in danger; but most of all did the Achaians seek his aid in counsel, when great things must be weighed and fixed. And so it was that, in every peril where there was need of the wise heart and the ready tongue, all hastened to Odysseus, and men felt that he did. more to throw down the kingdom of Priam than the mightiest chieftains who fought only with sword and spear.57

Yet, in the midst of all his toil and all his great exploits in the land of Ilion, the heart of Odysseus was far away in rocky Ithaca, where his wife Penelope dwelt with his young son Telemachos. Many a time, as the weary years of the war rolled on, he said within himself, 'Ah, when will the strife he ended, and when shall we spread our sails to the breeze, and speed on our way

homewards over the wine-faced sea?' At last the doom of Paris was accomplished, and the hosts of Agamemnon gave the city of Ilion to fire and sword. Then Odysseus hastened to gather his men together, that they might go to their home in Ithaca; and they dragged the ships down to the sea from the trenches where they had so long lain idle.58 But before they sat down to row the ship out to the deep water, Odysseus spake to them and said, 'O friends, think now, each one of you, of his home, of his wife, and of his children. Ten times have summer and winter passed over us since we left them with cheerful hearts, thinking that in but a little time we should come back to them laden with glory and booty. Ten years have they mourned for us at home; and we, who set out for Ilion in the vigour of our manhood, go back now with grey hairs, or bowed down with our weary labour. Yet faint not, O friends, neither be dismayed. Think how they wait and long for you still at home, and as we go from land to land in our voyage to rocky Ithaca, let not weariness weigh down your hearts, or things fair and beautiful lead you to seek for rest, till our ships are moored in the haven which we left ten years ago.' 59

With shouts of joy they sat down to their long

oars; and when they had rowed the ships out into the open sea, they spread the white sails to the breeze, and watched the Ilian land as it faded away from their sight in the far distance. For many a day they went towards the land of the setting sun, until a mighty wind from the north drove them to a strange country far out of their course to Ithaca. Fair it was and peaceful beyond all lands which they had seen. The sun looked down out of the cloudless heaven on fruits and flowers which covered the laughing earth. Far away beyond the lotos plains, the blue hills glimmered in a dreamy haze. The trees bowed their heads in a peaceful slumber; and the lagging waves sank lazily to sleep upon the seashore. The summer breeze breathed its gentle whisper through the air, and the birds sang listlessly of their loves from the waving groves. Then said the men of Odysseus to one another, Would that our wives and our children were here! Truly Ithaca is but a rough and barren land, and a sore grief it is to leave this happy shore to go home, and there find, it may be, that our children remember us no more.' And Odysseus said within himself, 'Surely some strange spell is on this fair land; almost might I long to sit down and sleep on the shore for ever, but

Penelope waits for me in my home, and I cannot rest till I see her face once more.' Then he bade three of his men go forth and ask the name of the land and of the men who lived in it. So they went slowly from the beach where the waves sang their lulling song to the sleepy flowers; and they wandered along the winding stream which came from the glimmering hills far away, till, deep down in a glen where the sun shed but half its light, they saw men with fair maidens lying on the soft grass under the shade of the pleasant palm trees. Before them was spread a banquet of rich and rosy fruit, and some were eating, and others lay asleep. Then the men of Odysseus went up to them, and sat down by their side, for they feared them not, as men are wont to fear the people of a strange land. They asked not their name, for they remembered not the bidding of Odysseus; but they drank the dark wine and ate of the rosy fruit which the fair maidens held out to them. Eat,' they said, 'O strangers, of the fruit which kills all pain: surely ye are weary and your hearts are faint with sorrow, and your eyes are dim as with many tears. Eat of our fruit and forget your labours; for all who eat of it remember no more weary toil and strife and war.' So they ate of the fruit, and

6

« ZurückWeiter »