“‘‘Son of Atreus,’ he answered, ‘why ask me? You had better not know what I can tell you, for your eyes will surely fill when you have heard my story. Many of those about whom you ask are dead and gone, but many still remain, and only two of the chief men among the Achaeans perished during their return home. As for what happened on the field of battle—you were there yourself. A third Achaean leader is still at sea, alive, but hindered from returning. Ajax was wrecked, for Neptune drove him on to the great rocks of Gyrae; nevertheless, he let him get safe out of the water, and in spite of all Minerva’s hatred he would have escaped death, if he had not ruined himself by boasting. He said the gods could not drown him even though they had tried to do so, and when Neptune heard this large talk, he seized his trident in his two brawny hands, and split the rock of Gyrae in two pieces. The base remained where it was, but the part on which Ajax was sitting fell headlong into the sea and car ried Ajax with it; so he drank salt water and was drowned.”
Neptune recalled that he had been away in Ethiopia.
See evidence text
“But King Neptune, who was returning from the Ethiopians, caught sight of Ulysses a long way off, from the mountains of the Solymi. He could see him sailing upon the sea, and it made him very angry, so he wagged his head and muttered to himself, saying, ‘Good heavens, so the gods have been changing their minds about Ulysses while I was away in Ethiopia, and now he is close to the land of the Phaeacians, where it is decreed that he shall escape from the calamities that have befallen him. Still, he shall have plenty of hardship yet before he has done with it.’”
Neptune saw Ulysses from the mountains of the Solymi.
See evidence text
“But King Neptune, who was returning from the Ethiopians, caught sight of Ulysses a long way off, from the mountains of the Solymi. He could see him sailing upon the sea, and it made him very angry, so he wagged his head and muttered to himself, saying, ‘Good heavens, so the gods have been changing their minds about Ulysses while I was away in Ethiopia, and now he is close to the land of the Phaeacians, where it is decreed that he shall escape from the calamities that have befallen him. Still, he shall have plenty of hardship yet before he has done with it.’”
“While he was thus in two minds, Neptune sent a terrible great wave that seemed to rear itself above his head till it broke right over the raft, which then went to pieces as though it were a heap of dry chaff tossed about by a whirlwind. Ulysses got astride of one plank and rode upon it as if he were on horseback; he then took off the clothes Calypso had given him, bound Ino’s veil under his arms, and plunged into the sea—meaning to swim on shore. King Neptune watched him as he did so, and wagged his head, muttering to himself and saying, ‘There now, swim up and down as you best can till you fall in with well-to-do people. I do not think you will be able to say that I have let you off too lightly.’ On this he lashed his horses and drove to Aegae where his palace is.”
“On this the gods gathered to the house of Vulcan. Earth-encircling Neptune came, and Mercury the bringer of luck, and King Apollo, but the goddesses staid at home all of them for shame. Then the givers of all good things stood in the doorway, and the blessed gods roared with inextinguishable laughter, as they saw how cunning Vulcan had been, whereon one would turn towards his neighbour saying:”
“On this the gods gathered to the house of Vulcan. Earth-encircling Neptune came, and Mercury the bringer of luck, and King Apollo, but the goddesses staid at home all of them for shame. Then the givers of all good things stood in the doorway, and the blessed gods roared with inextinguishable laughter, as they saw how cunning Vulcan had been, whereon one would turn towards his neighbour saying:”
Neptune, disguised as Tyro’s lover, lay with her at the river mouth.
See evidence text
“‘The first I saw was Tyro. She was daughter of Salmoneus and wife of Cretheus the son of Aeolus. {94} She fell in love with the river Enipeus who is much the most beautiful river in the whole world. Once when she was taking a walk by his side as usual, Neptune, disguised as her lover, lay with her at the mouth of the river, and a huge blue wave arched itself like a mountain over them to hide both woman and god, whereon he loosed her virgin girdle and laid her in a deep slumber. When the god had accomplished the deed of love, he took her hand in his own and said, ‘Tyro, rejoice in all good will; the embraces of the gods are not fruitless, and you will have fine twins about this time twelve months. Take great care of them. I am Neptune, so now go home, but hold your tongue and do not tell any one.’
”
Neptune went to Scheria and stayed there until the escort ship came close in.
See evidence text
“When earth-encircling Neptune heard this he went to Scheria where the Phaeacians live, and stayed there till the ship, which was making rapid way, had got close in. Then he went up to it, turned it into stone, and drove it down with the flat of his hand so as to root it in the ground. After this he went away.
”
Neptune persecutes Ulysses without ceasing and prevents him from reaching home.
See evidence text
“Neptune, who still persecuted him without ceasing and would not let him get home”
·Direct
Neptune visits the Ethiopians to accept a hecatomb of sheep and oxen and enjoys himself at their festival.
See evidence text
“Neptune had gone off to the Ethiopians, who are at the world’s end, and lie in two halves, the one looking West and the other East. {1} He had gone there to accept a hecatomb of sheep and oxen, and was enjoying himself at his festival”
·Reported
Neptune remains furious with Ulysses for blinding his son Polyphemus’s eye.
See evidence text
“Neptune is still furious with Ulysses for having blinded an eye of Polyphemus king of the Cyclopes”
·Direct
Neptune is lord of the Earthquake and receives the Pylian people’s bull sacrifice.
See evidence text
“sacrifice of black bulls to Neptune lord of the Earthquake. There were nine guilds”
·Reported
Minerva addresses Neptune as earth-encircling and asks him to reward the Pylians for their goodly hecatomb.
See evidence text
“that encirclest the earth, vouchsafe to grant the prayers of thy servants that call upon thee. More especially we pray thee send down thy grace on Nestor and on his sons; thereafter also make the rest of the Pylian people some handsome return for the goodly hecatomb they are offering you”
·Remembered
The homeward sailors offer Neptune many sacrifices at Geraestus for helping them on their way.
See evidence text
“we offered many sacrifices to Neptune for having helped us so far on our way”
·Reported
Minerva directs that wine be mixed for drink offerings to Neptune and the other immortals.
See evidence text
“order the tongues of the victims to be cut, and mix wine that we may make drink-offerings to Neptune, and the other immortals”
·Reported
Neptune grips his trident in two brawny hands and splits the rock of Gyrae in two.
See evidence text
“he seized his trident in his two brawny hands, and split the rock of Gyrae in two pieces”
·Direct
Neptune sees Ulysses from afar, becomes angry, and vows to inflict further hardship before his escape.
See evidence text
“caught sight of Ulysses a long way off, from the mountains of the Solymi. He could see him sailing upon the sea, and it made him very angry, so he wagged his head and muttered to himself, saying, ‘Good heavens, so the gods have been changing their minds about Ulysses while I was away in Ethiopia, and now he is close to the land of the Phaeacians, where it is decreed that he shall escape from the calamities that have befallen him. Still, he shall have plenty of hardship yet before he has done with it”
·Direct
Neptune gathers clouds, wields his trident, stirs the sea, and rouses every wind until cloud and sudden night hide earth, sea, and sky.
See evidence text
“he gathered his clouds together, grasped his trident, stirred it round in the sea, and roused the rage of every wind that blows till earth, sea, and sky were hidden in cloud, and night sprang forth out of the heavens”
·Reported
Ino says Neptune is furiously angry and causing Ulysses great trouble, but will not kill him.
See evidence text
“why is Neptune so furiously angry with you? He is giving you a great deal of trouble, but for all his bluster he will not kill you”
·Direct
Neptune sends a towering wave that shatters the raft, mocks Ulysses’s swim, then lashes his horses and drives to Aegae.
See evidence text
“Neptune sent a terrible great wave that seemed to rear itself above his head till it broke right over the raft, which then went to pieces as though it were a heap of dry chaff tossed about by a whirlwind. Ulysses got astride of one plank and rode upon it as if he were on horseback; he then took off the clothes Calypso had given him, bound Ino’s veil under his arms, and plunged into the sea—meaning to swim on shore. King Neptune watched him as he did so, and wagged his head, muttering to himself and saying, ‘There now, swim up and down as you best can till you fall in with well-to-do people. I do not think you will be able to say that I have let you off too lightly.’ On this he lashed his horses and drove to Aegae where his palace is”
·Remembered
Ulysses recalls Neptune wrecking him.
See evidence text
“when Neptune was wrecking me”
·Direct
Neptune, Minerva’s uncle, remains furious and strives to prevent Ulysses from reaching home.
See evidence text
“she was afraid of her uncle Neptune, who was still furious in his endeavors to prevent Ulysses from getting home”
·Reported
Neptune grants the grace by which the Phaeacians sail the seas.
See evidence text
“sail the seas by the grace of Neptune”
·Reported
Neptune is the ancestor of Arete and Alcinous and fathered Nausithous by the beautiful Periboea.
See evidence text
“They both descend originally from Neptune, who was father to Nausithous by Periboea, a woman of great beauty.”
·Reported
Neptune fathers the great Nausithous with the woman described here as his daughter.
See evidence text
“Neptune, however, lay with his daughter, and she had a son by him, the great Nausithous”
·Remembered
Neptune bars Ulysses’s passage and raises a great storm whose high seas shatter the raft.
See evidence text
“Neptune would let me go no further, and raised a great storm against me; the sea was so terribly high that I could no longer keep to my raft, which went to pieces under the fury of the gale”
·Reported
Earth-encircling Neptune comes to Vulcan’s house with Mercury and Apollo.
See evidence text
“On this the gods gathered to the house of Vulcan. Earth-encircling Neptune came, and Mercury the bringer of luck, and King Apollo”
·Reported
Neptune takes Mars’s plight seriously, repeatedly asks Vulcan to free him, and guarantees reasonable damages.
See evidence text
“Neptune took it all seriously, and kept on imploring Vulcan to set Mars free again. ‘Let him go,’ he cried, ‘and I will undertake, as you require, that he shall pay you all the damages that are held reasonable among the immortal gods.’”