Homer "The Odyssey": Book XII - Rhapsody M

(The same passage is presented in English and Ancient Greek.)
 

"Thus I rehearsed these things one and all, and declared them to my company. Meanwhile our good ship quickly came to the island of the Sirens twain, for a gentle breeze sped her on her way. Then straightway the wind ceased, and lo, there was a windless calm, and some god lulled the waves. Then my company rose up and drew in the ship's sails, and stowed them in the hold of the ship, while they sat at the oars and whitened the water with their polished pine blades. But I with my sharp sword cleft in pieces a great circle of wax, and with my strong hands kneaded it. And soon the wax grew warm, for that my great might constrained it, and the beam of the lord Helios, son of Hyperion. And I anointed therewith the ears of all my men in their order, and in the ship they bound me hand and foot upright in the mast-stead, and from the mast they fastened rope-ends and themselves sat down, and smote the grey sea water with their oars. But when the ship was within the sound of a man's shout from the land, we fleeing swiftly on our way, the Sirens espied the swift ship speeding toward them, and they raised their clear-toned song:

'Hither, come hither, renowned Odysseus, great glory of the Achaeans, here stay thy barque, that thou mayest listen to the voice of us twain. For none hath ever driven by this way in his black ship, till he hath heard from our lips the voice sweet as the honeycomb, and hath had joy thereof and gone on his way the wiser. For lo, we know all things, all the travail that in wide Troy-land the Argives and Trojans bare by the gods' designs, yea, and we know all that shall hereafter be upon the fruitful earth.' "33

 

33Homer, S. H Butcher, Andrew Lang, and Charles William Eliot, The Odyssey of Homer. (London – United Kingdom: Macmillan and Co., 1879), p. 197

 
 

«ἦ τοι ἐγὼ τὰ ἕκαστα λέγων ἑτάροισι πίφαυσκον:
τόφρα δὲ καρπαλίμως ἐξίκετο νηῦς ἐυεργὴς
νῆσον Σειρήνοιιν: ἔπειγε γὰρ οὖρος ἀπήμων.
αὐτίκ᾿ ἔπειτ᾿ ἄνεμος μὲν ἐπαύσατο ἠδὲ γαλήνη
ἔπλετο νηνεμίη, κοίμησε δὲ κύματα δαίμων.

ἀνστάντες δ᾿ ἕταροι νεὸς ἱστία μηρύσαντο
καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐν νηὶ γλαφυρῇ θέσαν, οἱ δ᾿ ἐπ᾿ ἐρετμὰ
ἑζόμενοι λεύκαινον ὕδωρ ξεστῇς ἐλάτῃσιν.
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ κηροῖο μέγαν τροχὸν ὀξέι χαλκῷ
τυτθὰ διατμήξας χερσὶ στιβαρῇσι πίεζον:

αἶψα δ᾿ ἰαίνετο κηρός, ἐπεὶ κέλετο μεγάλη ἲς
Ἠελίου τ᾿ αὐγὴ Ὑπεριονίδαο ἄνακτος:
ἑξείης δ᾿ ἑτάροισιν ἐπ᾿ οὔατα πᾶσιν ἄλειψα.
οἱ δ᾿ ἐν νηί μ᾿ ἔδησαν ὁμοῦ χεῖράς τε πόδας τε
ὀρθὸν ἐν ἱστοπέδῃ, ἐκ δ᾿ αὐτοῦ πείρατ᾿ ἀνῆπτον:

αὐτοὶ δ᾿ ἑζόμενοι πολιὴν ἅλα τύπτον ἐρετμοῖς.
ἀλλ᾿ ὅτε τόσσον ἀπῆμεν ὅσον τε γέγωνε βοήσας,
ῥίμφα διώκοντες, τὰς δ᾿ οὐ λάθεν ὠκύαλος νηῦς
ἐγγύθεν ὀρνυμένη, λιγυρὴν δ᾿ ἔντυνον ἀοιδήν:
«‘δεῦρ᾿ ἄγ᾿ ἰών, πολύαιν᾿ Ὀδυσεῦ, μέγα κῦδος Ἀχαιῶν,

νῆα κατάστησον, ἵνα νωιτέρην ὄπ ἀκούσῃς.
οὐ γάρ πώ τις τῇδε παρήλασε νηὶ μελαίνῃ,
πρίν γ᾿ ἡμέων μελίγηρυν ἀπὸ στομάτων ὄπ᾿ ἀκοῦσαι,
ἀλλ᾿ ὅ γε τερψάμενος νεῖται καὶ πλείονα εἰδώς.
ἴδμεν γάρ τοι πάνθ᾿ ὅσ᾿ ἐνὶ Τροίῃ εὐρείῃ

Ἀργεῖοι Τρῶές τε θεῶν ἰότητι μόγησαν,
ἴδμεν δ᾿, ὅσσα γένηται ἐπὶ χθονὶ πουλυβοτείρῃ.’ 34

 

 

34Homer. Homeri Odyssea Ad Fidem Librorum Optimorum. (Michigan – United States: University of Michigan Library, 2009), pp. 270 – 271
 

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