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The White Goddess Rises
More translation practice! I'm getting a little faster: this batch was twenty lines a day! I find, as I read Homer in Greek, that the stories' connection to philosophy and the Mysteries is far more obvious than it is in translation, as so many of the words or phrases carry double meanings...
| 313 315 320 325 330 335 340 345 350 | ὣς ἄρα μιν εἰπόντ’ ἔλασεν μέγα κῦμα κατ’ ἄκρης
δεινὸν ἐπεσσύμενον, περὶ δὲ σχεδίην ἐλέλιξε. τῆλε δ’ ἀπὸ σχεδίης αὐτὸς πέσε, πηδάλιον δὲ ἐκ χειρῶν προέηκε: μέσον δέ οἱ ἱστὸν ἔαξεν δεινὴ μισγομένων ἀνέμων ἐλθοῦσα θύελλα, τηλοῦ δὲ σπεῖρον καὶ ἐπίκριον ἔμπεσε πόντῳ. τὸν δ’ ἄρ’ ὑπόβρυχα θῆκε πολὺν χρόνον, οὐδ’ ἐδυνάσθη αἶψα μάλ’ ἀνσχεθέειν μεγάλου ὑπὸ κύματος ὁρμῆς: εἵματα γάρ ῥ’ ἐβάρυνε, τά οἱ πόρε δῖα Καλυψώ. ὀψὲ δὲ δή ῥ’ ἀνέδυ, στόματος δ’ ἐξέπτυσεν ἅλμην πικρήν, ἥ οἱ πολλὴ ἀπὸ κρατὸς κελάρυζεν. ἀλλ’ οὐδ’ ὣς σχεδίης ἐπελήθετο, τειρόμενός περ, ἀλλὰ μεθορμηθεὶς ἐνὶ κύμασιν ἐλλάβετ’ αὐτῆς, ἐν μέσσῃ δὲ καθῖζε τέλος θανάτου ἀλεείνων. τὴν δ’ ἐφόρει μέγα κῦμα κατὰ ῥόον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα. ὡς δ’ ὅτ’ ὀπωρινὸς Βορέης φορέῃσιν ἀκάνθας ἂμ πεδίον, πυκιναὶ δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλῃσιν ἔχονται, ὣς τὴν ἂμ πέλαγος ἄνεμοι φέρον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα: ἄλλοτε μέν τε Νότος Βορέῃ προβάλεσκε φέρεσθαι, ἄλλοτε δ’ αὖτ’ Εὖρος Ζεφύρῳ εἴξασκε διώκειν. τὸν δὲ ἴδεν Κάδμου θυγάτηρ, καλλίσφυρος Ἰνώ, Λευκοθέη, ἣ πρὶν μὲν ἔην βροτὸς αὐδήεσσα, νῦν δ’ ἁλὸς ἐν πελάγεσσι θεῶν ἒξ ἔμμορε τιμῆς. ἥ ῥ’ Ὀδυσῆ’ ἐλέησεν ἀλώμενον, ἄλγε’ ἔχοντα, αἰθυίῃ δ’ ἐικυῖα ποτῇ ἀνεδύσετο λίμνης, ἷζε δ’ ἐπὶ σχεδίης πολυδέσμου εἶπέ τε μῦθον: κάμμορε, τίπτε τοι ὧδε Ποσειδάων ἐνοσίχθων ὠδύσατ’ ἐκπάγλως, ὅτι τοι κακὰ πολλὰ φυτεύει; οὐ μὲν δή σε καταφθίσει μάλα περ μενεαίνων. ἀλλὰ μάλ’ ὧδ’ ἔρξαι, δοκέεις δέ μοι οὐκ ἀπινύσσειν: εἵματα ταῦτ’ ἀποδὺς σχεδίην ἀνέμοισι φέρεσθαι κάλλιπ’, ἀτὰρ χείρεσσι νέων ἐπιμαίεο νόστου γαίης Φαιήκων, ὅθι τοι μοῖρ’ ἐστὶν ἀλύξαι. τῆ δέ, τόδε κρήδεμνον ὑπὸ στέρνοιο τανύσσαι ἄμβροτον: οὐδέ τί τοι παθέειν δέος οὐδ’ ἀπολέσθαι. αὐτὰρ ἐπὴν χείρεσσιν ἐφάψεαι ἠπείροιο, ἂψ ἀπολυσάμενος βαλέειν εἰς οἴνοπα πόντον πολλὸν ἀπ’ ἠπείρου, αὐτὸς δ’ ἀπονόσφι τραπέσθαι. ὣς ἄρα φωνήσασα θεὰ κρήδεμνον ἔδωκεν, αὐτὴ δ’ ἂψ ἐς πόντον ἐδύσετο κυμαίνοντα αἰθυίῃ ἐικυῖα: μέλαν δέ ἑ κῦμα κάλυψεν. | As he was talking to himself, a frightfully great wave drove down
rushing over him, and his raft whirled around. He was thrown far from the raft, the rudder yanked from his hands; and the mast shattered in the middle from a terrible blast of the whirling winds, the yard-arm and sail plunging deep into the sea. A long time he was held under, and he wasn't able to very quickly rise from under the rush of the mighty wave since the clothes which Kalupso gave him weighed him down.* Finally, at length he surfaced, his mouth spitting out bitter brine which ran in many streams from his crown. He didn't forget the raft in spite of his distress, but rushed after it in the waves and held it to himself, and he sat in the middle to hide from a deadly end, as the great wave carried it here and there in the current. Just like how, in late summer, Boreas* carries thistledown along the plain, and clusters cling to each other, in the same way the winds carried the raft here and there in the sea: at once Notos* tossing it to Boreas to carry, and again Euros* giving it up for Zephuros* to chase. And then came the daughter of Kadmos, dainty-footed Ino,* the White* Goddess, who used to be a mortal possessed of voice,* but now, in the sea, receives her share of reverence given to its gods. She pitied Odusseus in his wandering and the suffering he bore, and she rose from the water like a seabird in flight, alighted upon the raft of many fastenings, and said to him: “You poor thing, why is Poseidaon Earth-Shaker so very mad at you, that he causes you so much trouble? Don't worry,* he won't kill you even though he really wants to. But you seem sensible enough to me, so do as I say: take off your clothes and abandon your raft* to be borne by the winds, but, swimming with your hands,* try to get to the land of the Phaiakians, where it is your fate to escape. And here, wrap my immortal veil* around your chest, so that you may fear neither suffering nor death; but when you've laid hands on the firm ground, untie it and throw it back into the wine-like sea* far from land, and turn yourself far away* from it.” So speaking, the goddess gave him her veil, and dove back into the surging sea like a bird, and the dark swell covered her. |
(Homer, Odyssey V 313–53, as translated—hopefully not too badly!—by yours truly.)
Notes:
- The clothes which Kalupso gave him weighed him down: Kalupso ("one who covers") is sensual desire, and the clothes she gives Odusseus are the physical body (which enables sensual desire). Focusing on the body, of course, hampers the soul which wishes to return home.
- Boreas: the frigid north wind.
- Notos: the desiccating south wind.
- Euros: the wet east wind.
- Zephuros: the balmy west wind.
- Ino: Ino is the daugher of Kadmos, sister of Semele, and aunt and nurse of Dionusos. She represents the Mysteries guiding the mature soul which, having already mastered the fear of death (e.g. Kirke) and sensual desire (e.g. Kalupso), is nonetheless still lost in the material world and doesn't know the way home.
- White: representative of purity (as the Mysteries are meant to purify the soul) and simplicity (as the Mysteries are meant to unify the soul). See also I Ching 22:6 and the Tao Te Ching 67.
- Possessed of voice: humans communicate to the ears with words, but gods communicate directly to the mind with concepts, a thing which is at once uncanny and completely natural when one experiences it.
- Don't worry: μὲν δή, not really translatable but representing a continuation of the prior sentence's thought, so I have added this phrase to bridge the two sentences.
- Take off your clothes and abandon your raft: the clothes represent the body of dense matter and the raft represents the imagination of subtle matter, and the advice of the Mysteries is to prioritize the spiritual over the material, to "store up your treasures in heaven."
- Swimming with your hands: it is not enough to merely experience the Mysteries; material things passively grow on their own, but spiritual things only grow by making active effort.
- Immortal veil: the veil represents the teachings of the Mystery schools and tying the veil around the chest is to hold them close to heart. I'm torn on whether this represents how the teachings act as a psychological life-preserver in the welter of life or whether it represents some more esoteric spiritual connection to the god which acts to buoy one upward; certainly my philosophical studies suggest the former, but my personal experiences suggest the latter.
- Wine-like sea: οἴνοπα πόντον, literally "wine-faced sea" and usually taken as "dark in color," but the sea is a reference to life in the material world, which is as intoxicating and disorienting to the soul as wine is to the body.
- Turn yourself far away from it: the Buddha taught that, just like a raft was good for crossing a river but pointless once one got to the other side, the Mysteries are for passing over and not for holding on to.
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Thanks for sharing your translation! Casting off fear of suffering and death is something faith in Gods can help with.
Taking off clothes makes you swim faster. At a sailing course I was instructed never to leave the (remains of) a boat behind. Humans cannot swim very far, and even a moderate current pushes us back faster than we can swim. Perhaps Ino advised Odysseus to swim along a known current?
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So Odysseus was a good swimmer or a good boaster. The question I'm stuck with is, how is either the feat or the boast interesting by itself? I feel I'm missing part of Homer's meaning. As if the meaning of the words has shrunk.
Homer was a public performer, and it seems likely he would aim at a more general public than that for hidden spirituality. I'd expect the kind of metaphor men drinking wine can understand and laugh at. Like when Trump called his hands "slightly large, actually."
Getting wrecked by Poseidon, what else could that mean, besides a real ship wreck?
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The reason why any of this is interesting is that it lines up perfectly with known Mystery teachings: Odusseus's recollection of his voyages matches, for example, the hero-cult-myths of Perseus and Horos exactly. This means that, while it probably can't be taken at face value, it can be interpreted allegorically to useful effect. (In fact, doing so is very traditional: Porphyry and Thomas Taylor have famously done so.)
My own take is that the Iliad and the Odyssey are meant to be fun but contain deep references to theology that are useful to pagans like myself, but are told riddlingly and require interpretation. You can't simply take them at face value the way you might be able to with Hesiod.
But is that any different from, say, the Divine Comedy or Pilgrim's Progress?
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Interesting that you mention The Divine Comedy (1321) and Pilgrim's Progress (1678). Odysseus is under constant existential threat in a way that Dante and Christian are not. The Odysee glorifies action, swashbuckling and creativity. The Divine Comedy and Pilgrim's Progress glorify devotion, contemplation and obedience.
As I understand it, both the Divine Comedy and Pilgrim's Progress were widely read. Pilgrim's Progress was even read to children in Sunday school. I wonder who the audience for the Odysee was... The assembled population, males drinking wine, or rulers presiding over their household? Who do you think were the audience for Homer's recitals?
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We don't really have any record of original audiences of Homer when it was still being recited, but after it was written down, it seems to have become quite universal within a very short time. Rich and poor, men and women, urban and rustic, it seems everyone knew Homer—he was recited in public, imitated in poetry, referenced in literature, interpreted by philosophers, and even used as a divinatory medium. Greece wasn't a unified country until Alexander the Great and Rome conquered it all, but to the degree its many city-states were culturally unified, it was largely because the works Homer and Hesiod together formed something of the Greek-speaking world's Bible—this is in spite of the Iliad being a war story and the Odyssey being an adventure story! (Hesiod's works directly concern theology and morality, at least.)
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Thanks for your replies. Why did so many people like to listen to Odysseus? Even today teenagers in school read Homer. Yet Odysseus' plain boasts do not seem interesting in and of themselves. Hidden references to theology have an audience but not a large one. I feel there must be an attraction I'm missing.
I found several interesting reads when Kagi-ing (the new Googling) "precession of the equinoxes". Thousands of years from now spring will start in January. I learn something new every day :)
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Well, I like the Homer too, I wonder how that got lost in internet communication! I'm just wondering why.
Perhaps it's the feeling that the mind is the captain of the body, steering its boat through rough waters, rationalizing the past and guessing the future, while aiming towards home.
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Grandfather. Are you kidding? Fencing! Fighting! Torture! Revenge! Giants! Monsters! Chases! Escapes! True Love! Miracles!
Kid. That doesn't sound too bad. I'll try and stay awake.
(William Goldman, The Princess Bride.)
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This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.