BOOK 2

Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Telemachus rose and dressed himself. He at once sent the criers round to call the people in assembly; so they called them and the people gathered there. Then, when they were got together, he went to the place of assembly with a bronze spear in hand.

Athena endowed him with a presence of such divine beauty that all marveled at him as he went by, and when he took his place in his father's seat even the oldest advisors made way for him.

Aegyptius, a man bent double with age, and of infinite experience, began his speech.

“Men of Ithaca, ” he said, “hear my words. From the day Odysseus left us there has been no meeting of our advisors until now; who then can it be, whether old or young, that finds it so necessary to convene us? Has he got wind of some host approaching, and does he wish to warn us, or would he speak upon some other matter of public moment? I am sure he is an excellent person, and I hope Zeus will grant him his heart's desire.”

Telemachus took this speech as a good sign and rose at once, for he was bursting with what he had to say. “Sir, ” said he, “it is I, as you will shortly learn, who have convened you, for it is I who am the most upset. I have not got wind of any host approaching about which I would warn you, nor is there any matter of public moment on which I would speak. My complaint is purely personal, and turns on two great misfortunes which have fallen upon my house. The first of these is the loss of my excellent father, who was chief among all you here present, and was like a father to everyone of you; the second is much more serious, and before long will be the utter ruin of my estate. The sons of all the chief men among you are pestering my mother to marry them against her will. They are afraid to go to her father, asking him to choose the one he likes best, and to provide marriage gifts for his daughter, but day by day they keep hanging about my father's house, sacrificing our oxen, sheep, and fat goats for their banquets, and never giving so much as a thought to the quantity of wine they drink. No estate can stand such recklessness; we have now no Odysseus to ward off harm from our doors, and I cannot hold my own against them. I shall never all my days be as good a man as he was, still I would indeed defend myself if I had power to do so, for I cannot stand such treatment any longer; my house is being disgraced and ruined. Have respect, therefore, to your own consciences and to public opinion. Fear, too, the wrath of heaven, lest the gods should be displeased and turn upon you. I pray you by Zeus and Themis, who is the beginning and the end of councils, do not hold back, my friends, and leave me without help — unless it be that my brave father Odysseus did some wrong to the Achaeans which you would now avenge on me, by aiding and helping these men who want to marry my mother. Moreover, if I am to be eaten out of house and home at all, I had rather you did the eating yourselves, for I could then take action against you to some purpose, and serve you with notices from house to house till I got paid in full, whereas now I have no remedy.”

With this Telemachus dashed his staff to the ground and burst into tears. Everyone was very sorry for him, but they all sat still and no one ventured to make him an angry answer, save only Antinous, who spoke thus:

“Telemachus, rude boy that you are, how dare you try to throw the blame upon us men? It is your mother's fault not ours, for she is a very artful woman. Us men, therefore, make you this answer, that both you and the Achaeans may understand —Send your mother away, and bid her marry the man of her own and of her father's choice; for I do not know what will happen if she goes on plaguing us much longer with the airs she gives herself on the score of the accomplishments Athena has taught her, and because she is so clever. Understand, then, that we will not go back to our lands, neither here nor elsewhere, till she has made her choice and married someone or other of us.”

Telemachus answered, “Antinous, how can I drive my mother who bore me from my father's house? My father is abroad and we do not know whether he is alive or dead. If you choose to take offence at this, leave the house and feast elsewhere at one another's houses and at your own cost, turn and turn about. If, on the other hand, you elect to persist in using one man, heaven will help me. But Zeus shall reckon with you in full, and when you fall in my father's house there shall be no man to avenge you.”

Halitherses, who was the best prophet and reader of signs among them, spoke to them plainly and in all honesty, saying:

“Hear me, men of Ithaca I speak more particularly to the men who want to marry Penelope, for I see mischief brewing for them. Odysseus is not going to be away much longer; indeed he is close at hand to deal out death and destruction, not on them alone, but on many another of us who live in Ithaca. Let us then be wise in time, and put a stop to this wickedness before he comes. Let the men do so of their own accord; it will be better for them, for I am not predicting without due knowledge. I said that after going through much hardship and losing all his men, Odysseus should come home again in the twentieth year and that no one would know him; and now all this is coming true.”

Eurymachus, son of Polybus, then said, “Go home, old man, and predict to your own children, or it may be worse for them. I can read these signs myself much better than you can. Odysseus has died in a far country, and it is a pity you are not dead along with him, instead of talking here about signs and adding fuel to the anger of Telemachus which is fierce enough as it is. I suppose you think he will give you something for your family, but I tell you — and it shall surely be — when an old man like you, who should know better, talks a young one over till he becomes troublesome, in the first place his young friend will only fare so much the worse — he will take nothing by it, for the men who want to marry Penelope will prevent this —and in the next, we will lay a heavier fine, sir, upon yourself than you will at all like paying, for it will bear hardly upon you. As for Telemachus, I warn him in the presence of you all to send his mother back to her father, who will find her a husband and provide her with all the marriage gifts so dear a daughter may expect. Or we shall go on harassing him with our suit, for we fear no man, and care neither for him, with all his fine speeches, nor for any fortunetelling of yours. You may preach as much as you please, but we shall only hate you the more. We shall go back and continue to eat up Telemachus's estate without paying him, till such time as his mother leaves off tormenting us by keeping us day after day on the tiptoe of expectation, each competing with the other in his suit for a prize of such rare perfection. Besides we can go after the other women whom we should marry in due course, but for the way in which she treats us.”

Then Telemachus said, “Eurymachus, and you other men who want to marry my mother, I shall say no more, and beg you no further, for the gods and the people of Ithaca know my story. Give me, then, a ship and a crew of twenty men to take me here and there, and I will go to Sparta and to Pylos in quest of my father who has so long been missing. Someone may tell me something, or (and people often hear things in this way) some heaven-sent message may direct me. If, I can hear, of him as alive and on his way home I will put up with the waste you men will make for yet another twelve months. If, on the other hand, I hear of his death, I will return at once, celebrate his funeral with all due ceremony, build a grave to his memory, and make my mother marry again.”

With these words he sat down, and Mentor who had been a friend of Odysseus, and had been left in charge of everything with full authority over the servants, rose to speak. He, then, plainly and in all honesty addressed them thus:

“Hear me, men of Ithaca that you may never have a kind and well disposed ruler any more, nor one who will govern you equitably; I hope that all your chiefs henceforward may be cruel and unjust, for there is not one of you but has forgotten Odysseus, who ruled you as though he were your father. I am not half so angry with the men who want to marry Penelope, for at the hazard of their own heads they choose to do violence in the naughtiness of their hearts, and bet their heads that Odysseus will not return, so they can take the high hand and eat up his estate. But as for you others I am shocked at the way in which you all sit still without even trying to stop such scandalous goings on — which you could do if you chose, for you are many and they are few.”

Leiocritus, son of Evenor, answered him saying, “Mentor, what stupidity is all this, that you should set the people to stay us? It is a hard thing for one man to fight with many about his food. Even though Odysseus himself were to set upon us while we are feasting in his house, and do his best to oust us, his wife, who wants him back so very badly, would have small cause for rejoicing, and his blood would be upon his own head if he fought against such great odds. There is no sense in what you have been saying. Now, therefore, do you people go about your business, and let his father's old friends, Mentor and Halitherses, speed this boy on his journey, if he goes, which I do not think he will, for he is more likely to stay where he is till someone comes and tells him something.”

On this he broke up the assembly, and every man went back to his own house, while the men chasing for Penelope returned to the house of Odysseus.

Then Telemachus went all alone by the sea side, washed his hands in the grey waves, and prayed to Athena.

“Hear me, ” he cried, “you god who visited me yesterday, and ordered me to sail the seas in search of my father who has so long been missing. I would obey you, but the Achaeans,and more particularly the wicked men who want to marry my mother, are hindering me so that I cannot do so.”

As he thus prayed, Athena came close up to him in the likeness and with the voice of Mentor. “Telemachus, ” said she,“if you are made of the same stuff as your father you will be neither fool nor coward henceforward, for Odysseus never broke his word nor left his work half done. If, then, you take after him, your voyage will not be fruitless, but unless you have the blood of Odysseus and of Penelope in your veins I see no likelihood of your succeeding. Sons are seldom as good men as their fathers; they are generally worse, not better; still, as you are not going to be either fool or coward from now on, and are not entirely without some share of your father's wise discernment, I look with hope upon your undertaking. But mind you never make common cause with any of those foolish men, for they have neither sense nor virtue, and give no thought to death and to the doom that will shortly fall on one and all of them, so that they shall perish on the same day. As for your voyage, it shall not be long delayed; your father was such an old friend of mine that I will find you a ship, and will come with you myself. Now, however, return home, and go among the men; begin getting provisions ready for your voyage, while I go through the town and round up volunteers at once. There are many ships in Ithaca old and new; I will run my eye over them for you and will choose the best; we will get her ready and will put out to sea without delay.”

Thus spoke Athena daughter of Zeus, and Telemachus lost no time in doing as the goddess told him.

Then Athena thought of another matter. She took Telemachus's shape, and went round the town to each one of the crew, telling them to meet at the ship by sunset. She went also to Noemon, son of Phronius, and asked him to let her have a ship, which he was very ready to do. When the sun had set and darkness was over all the land, she got the ship into the water, put all the tackle on board that ships generally carry, and stationed her at the end of the harbor. Presently, the crew came up, and the goddess spoke encouragingly to each of them.

Furthermore, she went to the house of Odysseus, and threw the men into a deep sleep. She stoped their drinking, and made them drop their cups from their hands, so that instead of sitting over their wine, they went back into the town to sleep, with their eyes heavy and full of sleepiness. Then she took the form and voice of Mentor, and called Telemachus to come outside.

“Telemachus, ” said she, “the men are on board and at their oars, waiting for you to give your orders, so make haste and let us be off.”

On this, she led the way, while Telemachus followed in her steps.

When they got to the ship they found the crew waiting by the water side, and Telemachus said, “Now my men, help me to get the stores on board; they are all put together in the hall, and my mother does not know anything about it, nor any of the servants except one.”

With these words he led the way and the others followed after.

When they had brought the things as he told them, Telemachus went on board, Athena going before him and taking her seat in the stern of the vessel, while Telemachus sat beside her. Then the men took their places on the benches. Athena sent them a fair wind from the West; thus then, the ship sped on her way through the watches of the night from dark till dawn.

rosy/ˈrəʊzɪ/adj．玫瑰色的

Dawn厄俄斯，黎明女神，喻指清晨

crier/ˈk raɪə/n．传信使者

endow/ɪnˈdaʊ/v t．赋予，捐赠

divine/dɪˈvaɪn/a d j．非凡的

advisor/ədˈvaɪzə/n．长老，顾问

Aegyptius 艾吉普提奥斯，伊塔卡长老

convene/kənˈvi:n/vt．召集

pester/ˈpestə/vt．纠缠

hang about聚在……的附近

recklessness/ˈreklɪsnɪs/n． 不顾后果的耗费，鲁莽

wrath /rɒθ/ n． 愤怒

Themis 特弥斯，宙斯前妻

eat somebody out of house

and home把某人吃穷

accomplishment/əˈkʌmplɪʃmənt/n． 才艺，智慧

Halitherses 哈利特尔塞斯，奥德修斯的朋友

brew/bru:/vi．酝酿，来临

of one's own accord 主动地，自愿地

harass/ˈhærəs/v t．折磨

fortunetelling/ˈfɔ:tʃənˌtelɪŋ/n.预言

preach/pri:tʃ/vi．鼓吹

torment/ˈtɔ:ment/vt．折磨

tiptoe/ˈtɪptəʊ/n． 脚尖；on the tiptoe of expectation 翘首以待

Mentor 门托尔，奥德修斯的朋友

equitably/ˈekwɪtəblɪ/adv．公正地

henceforward /ˈhensˈfɔ:wəd/adv． 从此以后

naughtiness /ˈnɔ:tɪnəs/ n． 顽皮，淘气

going /ˈɡəʊɪŋ/ n．行为，行动；发生的事情

Leiocritus 勒奥克里托斯，求婚者之一

Evenor 欧埃诺尔，求婚者勒奥克里托斯的父亲

oust/aʊst/vt．赶走，驱逐

rejoicing /rɪˈdʒɔɪsɪŋ/ n． 快乐，喜悦，欣喜

vein/veɪn/n．血管

likelihood/ˈlaɪk lɪhʊd/n．可能性

discernment /dɪˈsɜ:nmənt/ n.机警

make common cause with

somebody 与某人联合起来，与某人合作

doom/du:m/n．厄运

Noemon 诺埃蒙，伊塔卡人，借船给特勒马科斯外出寻父

Phronius 弗罗尼奥斯，伊塔卡人，诺埃蒙的父亲

oar /ɔ:/ n． 船桨

stern/stɜ:n/n．船尾