Return of the Greeks from Troy

During the sacking of Troy, the Greeks, in their hour of victory, committed many acts of desecration and cruelty that angered the gods. As a result, their homeward voyage was filled with dangers and disasters, and many perished before they reached their native land.

Nestor, Diomedes, Philoctetes, and Neoptolemus were among those who arrived safely in Greece after a prosperous voyage. The vessel that carried Menelaus and Helen was driven by violent storms to the coast of Egypt, and only after many years of weary wanderings and hardships did they succeed in reaching their home at Sparta.

Ajax the Lesser, having offended Pallas-Athene by desecrating her temple on the night Troy was destroyed, was shipwrecked off Cape Caphareus. He managed to cling to a rock, and his life might have been spared but for his impious boast that he needed no help from the gods. No sooner had he uttered those sacrilegious words than Poseidon, enraged at his audacity, split the rock with his trident, and the unfortunate Ajax was overwhelmed by the waves.

FATE OF AGAMEMNON

The homeward voyage of Agamemnon was fairly uneventful and prosperous, but on his arrival at Mycenae, misfortune and ruin awaited him.

His wife Clytemnestra, in revenge for the sacrifice of her beloved daughter Iphigenia, had formed a secret alliance during his absence with Aegisthus, the son of Thyestes. Upon Agamemnon's return, they conspired to bring about his destruction. Clytemnestra pretended great joy at seeing her husband, and despite the urgent warnings of Cassandra, who was now a captive in his train, he accepted her protestations of affection with trusting confidence. In her well-assumed anxiety for the comfort of the weary traveler, she prepared a warm bath for his refreshment, and at a given signal from the treacherous queen, Aegisthus, who was concealed in an adjoining chamber, rushed upon the defenseless hero and slew him.

During the massacre of Agamemnon's retainers that followed, his daughter Electra, with great presence of mind, managed to save her young brother Orestes. He fled for refuge to his uncle Strophius, king of Phocis, who educated him alongside his own son Pylades. An ardent friendship sprang up between the youths, which, from its constancy and selflessness, became proverbial.

As Orestes grew to manhood, his one great all-consuming desire was to avenge his father's death. Accompanied by his faithful friend Pylades, he went in disguise to Mycenae, where Aegisthus and Clytemnestra reigned jointly over the kingdom of Argos. To avoid suspicion, he had taken the precaution to send a messenger to Clytemnestra, purporting to come from King Strophius, announcing the untimely death of her son Orestes in an accident during a chariot race at Delphi.

Arriving at Mycenae, he found his sister Electra so overwhelmed with grief at the news of her brother's death that he revealed his identity to her. When he heard from her lips how cruelly she had been treated by her mother, and how joyfully the news of his demise had been received, his long-suppressed passion completely overpowered him. Rushing into the presence of the king and queen, he first pierced Clytemnestra to the heart, and then her guilty partner.

But the crime of murdering his own mother was not long unavenged by the gods. Hardly had the fatal act been committed when the Furies appeared and unceasingly pursued the unfortunate Orestes wherever he went. In this wretched state, he sought refuge in the temple of Delphi, where he earnestly begged Apollo to release him from his cruel tormentors. The god commanded him, as expiation for his crime, to go to Taurica-Chersonesus and bring back the statue of Artemis to the kingdom of Attica, an expedition fraught with extreme peril. We have already seen in a former chapter how Orestes escaped the fate that befell all strangers who landed on the Taurian coast, and how, with the aid of his sister Iphigenia, the priestess of the temple, he succeeded in conveying the statue of the goddess to his native country.

But the Furies did not easily relinquish their prey, and only through the intervention of the just and powerful goddess Pallas-Athene was Orestes finally liberated from their persecution. With his peace of mind at length restored, Orestes assumed the government of the kingdom of Argos and married the beautiful Hermione, daughter of Helen and Menelaus. To his faithful friend Pylades, he gave the hand of his beloved sister, the good and faithful Electra.

HOMEWARD VOYAGE OF ODYSSEUS

With his twelve ships laden with enormous treasures captured during the sacking of Troy, Odysseus set sail with a light heart for his rocky island home of Ithaca. At last the happy hour had arrived which for ten long years the hero had anxiously awaited, and he little dreamed that ten more must elapse before the Fates would permit him to clasp his beloved wife and child to his heart.

During his homeward voyage, his little fleet was driven by stress of weather to a land whose inhabitants subsisted entirely on a curious plant called the lotus, which was sweet as honey to the taste but had the effect of causing utter forgetfulness of home and country, and creating an irresistible longing to remain forever in the land of the lotus-eaters. Odysseus and his companions were hospitably received by the inhabitants, who regaled them freely with their peculiar and very delicious food. After partaking of it, however, his comrades refused to leave the country, and it was only by sheer force that he at length succeeded in bringing them back to their ships.

POLYPHEMUS

Continuing their journey, they next arrived at the country of the Cyclopes, a race of giants remarkable for having only one eye, placed in the center of their foreheads. Here Odysseus, whose love of adventure overcame more prudent considerations, left his fleet safely anchored in the bay of a neighboring island, and with twelve chosen companions set out to explore the country.

Near the shore they found a vast cave, into which they boldly entered. In the interior they saw to their surprise huge piles of cheese and great pails of milk ranged round the walls. After partaking freely of these provisions, his companions tried to persuade Odysseus to return to the ship, but the hero, being curious to meet the owner of this extraordinary abode, ordered them to remain and await his pleasure.

Towards evening a fierce giant made his appearance, bearing an enormous load of wood on his shoulders and driving before him a large flock of sheep. This was Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon, the owner of the cave. After all his sheep had entered, the giant rolled before the entrance an enormous rock, which the combined strength of a hundred men would have been powerless to move.

Having kindled a fire of great logs of pinewood, he was about to prepare his supper when the flames revealed to him, in a corner of the cavern, its new occupants, who now came forward and told him they were shipwrecked mariners, claiming his hospitality in the name of Zeus. But the fierce monster railed at the great ruler of Olympus, for the lawless Cyclopes knew no fear of the gods, and hardly deigned to reply to the hero's demand. To the consternation of Odysseus, the giant seized two of his companions, dashed them to the ground, and consumed their remains, washing down the ghastly meal with huge draughts of milk. He then stretched his gigantic limbs on the ground and soon fell fast asleep beside the fire.

Thinking this a favorable opportunity to rid himself and his companions of their terrible enemy, Odysseus drew his sword, crept stealthily forward, and was about to slay the giant when he suddenly remembered that the cave's entrance was effectively sealed by the immense rock, making escape impossible. He wisely decided to wait until the following day and set his wits to work to devise a scheme by which he and his companions might escape.

Early next morning, when the giant awoke, he seized and devoured two more companions of the hero, after which Polyphemus leisurely drove out his flock, carefully securing the entrance as before.

Next evening the giant devoured two more victims, and when he had finished his revolting meal, Odysseus stepped forward and presented him with a large measure of wine he had brought from his ship in a goat's skin. Delighted with the delicious beverage, the giant asked the name of the donor. Odysseus replied that his name was Noman, whereupon Polyphemus graciously announced that he would show his gratitude by eating him last.

The monster, thoroughly overcome by the powerful old liquor, soon fell into a heavy sleep, and Odysseus lost no time putting his plans into action. During the day he had cut a large piece of the giant's own olive staff, which he now heated in the fire, and aided by his companions, thrust it into the eye of Polyphemus, effectively blinding him.

The giant made the cave resound with his howls of pain and rage. His cries were heard by his brother Cyclopes, who lived in caves not far distant, and they soon came trooping over the hills from all sides, calling out to ask the cause of his cries and groans. But as his only reply was, "Noman has injured me," they concluded he had played them a trick and abandoned him to his fate.

The blinded giant now groped round his cave in hopes of laying hands on some of his tormentors, but weary at length of these fruitless efforts, he rolled away the rock closing the entrance, thinking his victims would rush out with the sheep, making them easy to capture. Meanwhile Odysseus had not been idle, and the hero's cunning now proved more than a match for the giant's strength. The sheep were very large, and Odysseus, with bands of willow taken from Polyphemus's bed, cleverly linked them together three abreast, and under each center one he secured one of his comrades. After providing for the safety of his companions, Odysseus himself selected the finest ram of the flock and, clinging to its wool, made his escape. As the sheep passed out of the cave, the giant felt carefully among them for his victims, but not finding them on the animals' backs, he let them pass, and thus they all escaped.

They now hastened aboard their vessel, and Odysseus, thinking himself at a safe distance, shouted his real name and mockingly defied the giant. Polyphemus seized a huge rock and, following the direction of the voice, hurled it toward the ship, which narrowly escaped destruction. He then called upon his father Poseidon to avenge him, entreating him to curse Odysseus with a long and tedious voyage, to destroy all his ships and all his companions, and to make his return as late, as unhappy, and as desolate as possible.

FURTHER ADVENTURES

After sailing over unknown seas for some time, the hero and his followers cast anchor at the island of Aeolus, king of the Winds, who welcomed them cordially and entertained them sumptuously for a whole month.

When they took their leave, he gave Odysseus the skin of an ox, into which he had placed all the contrary winds to ensure a safe and speedy voyage. Then, having cautioned him on no account to open it, he caused the gentle Zephyrus to blow so that he might waft them to the shores of Greece.

On the evening of the tenth day after their departure, they arrived in sight of the watch-fires of Ithaca. But here, unfortunately, Odysseus, completely weary, fell asleep, and his comrades, thinking Aeolus had given him a treasure in the bag he so carefully guarded, seized the opportunity to open it. All the adverse winds rushed out and drove them back to the Aeolian island. This time Aeolus did not welcome them as before but dismissed them with bitter reproaches for their disregard of his injunctions.

After a six days' voyage they at length sighted land. Observing what appeared to be smoke from a large town, Odysseus sent a herald with two companions to procure provisions. When they arrived in the city, they discovered to their horror that they had set foot in the land of the Laestrygones, a race of fierce and gigantic cannibals ruled by King Antiphates. The unfortunate herald was seized and killed by the king, but his two companions, who took flight, succeeded in reaching their ship safely and urgently begged their chief to put to sea without delay.

But Antiphates and his fellow giants pursued the fugitives to the shore, where they appeared in large numbers. They seized huge rocks, hurled them at the fleet, sinking eleven ships with all hands; only the vessel commanded directly by Odysseus escaped destruction. In this ship, with his few remaining followers, Odysseus now set sail, but adverse winds drove them to an island called Aeaea.

CIRCE

The hero and his companions were in dire need of provisions, but, warned by previous disasters, Odysseus resolved that only a certain number of the crew should go to reconnoiter the country. When lots were drawn by Odysseus and Eurylochus, the latter was chosen to lead the small band selected for the task.

They soon came to a magnificent marble palace situated in a charming and fertile valley. Here dwelt a beautiful enchantress named Circe, daughter of the sun-god and the sea-nymph Perse. The entrance to her abode was guarded by wolves and lions, which, to the surprise of the strangers, were as tame and harmless as lambs. These were, in fact, human beings who, by the wicked arts of the sorceress, had been transformed. From within, they heard the enchanting voice of the goddess, who was singing a sweet melody as she sat at her work, weaving a web such as immortals alone could produce. She graciously invited them to enter, and all except the prudent Eurylochus accepted.

As they trod the wide halls of tessellated marble, objects of wealth and beauty met their eyes on all sides. The soft couches on which she bade them sit were studded with silver, and the banquet she provided was served in vessels of pure gold. But while her unsuspecting guests abandoned themselves to the pleasures of the table, the wicked enchantress was secretly working their ruin. The wine cup presented to them was drugged with a potent draught, and after partaking, she touched them with her magic wand, and they were immediately transformed into swine, still retaining their human senses.

When Odysseus heard from Eurylochus of the terrible fate of his companions, he set out, regardless of personal danger, determined to rescue them. On his way to the palace of the sorceress, he met a fair youth bearing a wand of gold, who revealed himself as Hermes, the divine messenger of the gods. He gently reproached the hero for venturing into Circe's abode without an antidote against her spells and presented him with a peculiar herb called Moly, assuring him it would counteract the baneful arts of the enchantress. Hermes warned Odysseus that Circe would offer him a draught of drugged wine with the intention of transforming him as she had done his companions. He bade him drink the wine, the effect of which would be completely nullified by the herb, and then rush boldly at the sorceress as though he would take her life; whereupon her power over him would cease, she would recognize her master, and grant him whatever he desired.

Circe received the hero with all the grace and fascination at her command and presented him with a draught of wine in a golden goblet. He readily accepted, trusting in the efficacy of the antidote. Then, obeying Hermes's injunction, he drew his sword and rushed upon the sorceress as though he would slay her.

When Circe found that her fell purpose was for the first time frustrated and that a mortal had dared to attack her, she knew this must be the great Odysseus, whose visit had been foretold to her by Hermes. At his request, she restored his companions to human form, promising that henceforth the hero and his comrades would be free from her enchantments.

But all warnings and past experience were forgotten when Circe began to exercise her fascinations on him. At her request, his companions took up their abode on the island, and he himself became the guest and slave of the enchantress for a whole year, only at the earnest admonition of his friends did he finally free himself from her toils.