Homer : The Underworld ( Odyssey - Rhapsody 11 )

Here Perimedes and Eurylochus held the victims, while I drew my sword and dug the trench a cubit each way. I made a drink-offering to all the dead, first with honey and milk, then with wine, and thirdly with water, and I sprinkled white barley meal over the whole, praying earnestly to the poor feckless ghosts, and promising them that when I got back to Ithaca I would sacrifice a barren heifer for them, the best I had, and would load the pyre with good things. I also particularly promised that Teiresias should have a black sheep to himself, the best in all my flocks. When I had prayed sufficiently to the dead, I cut the throats of the two sheep and let the blood run into the trench, whereon the ghosts came trooping up from Erebus--brides, {89} young bachelors, old men worn out with toil, maids who had been crossed in love, and brave men who had been killed in battle, with their armour still smirched with blood; they came from every quarter and flitted round the trench with a strange kind of screaming sound that made me turn pale with fear. When I saw them coming I told the men to be quick and flay the carcasses of the two dead sheep and make burnt offerings of them, and at the same time to repeat prayers to Hades and to Proserpine; but I sat where I was with my sword drawn and would not let the poor feckless ghosts come near the blood till Teiresias should have answered my questions.

Ἔνθ΄ ἱερήϊα μὲν Περιμήδης Εὐρύλοχός τε ἔσχον· ἐγὼ δ΄ ἄορ ὀξὺ ἐρυσσάμενος παρὰ μηροῦ βόθρον ὄρυξ΄ ὅσσον τε πυγούσιον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα͵ ἀμφ΄ αὐτῷ δὲ χοὴν χεόμην πᾶσιν νεκύεσσι͵ πρῶτα μελικρήτῳ͵ μετέπειτα δὲ ἡδέϊ οἴνῳ͵ τὸ τρίτον αὖθ΄ ὕδατι· ἐπὶ δ΄ ἄλφιτα λευκὰ πάλυνον. πολλὰ δὲ γουνούμην νεκύων ἀμενηνὰ κάρηνα͵ ἐλθὼν εἰς Ἰθάκην στεῖραν βοῦν͵ ἥ τις ἀρίστη͵ ῥέξειν ἐν μεγάροισι πυρήν τ΄ ἐμπλησέμεν ἐσθλῶν͵ Τειρεσίῃ δ΄ ἀπάνευθεν ὄϊν ἱερευσέμεν οἴῳ παμμέλαν΄͵ ὃς μήλοισι μεταπρέπει ἡμετέροισι. τοὺς δ΄ ἐπεὶ εὐχωλῇσι λιτῇσί τε͵ ἔθνεα νεκρῶν͵ ἐλλισάμην͵ τὰ δὲ μῆλα λαβὼν ἀπεδειροτόμησα ἐς βόθρον͵ ῥέε δ΄ αἷμα κελαινεφές· αἱ δ΄ ἀγέροντο ψυχαὶ ὑπὲξ Ἐρέβευς νεκύων κατατεθνηώτων· νύμφαι τ΄ ἠΐθεοί τε πολύτλητοί τε γέροντες παρθενικαί τ΄ ἀταλαὶ νεοπενθέα θυμὸν ἔχουσαι͵ πολλοὶ δ΄ οὐτάμενοι χαλκήρεσιν ἐγχείῃσιν͵ ἄνδρες ἀρηΐφατοι͵ βεβροτωμένα τεύχε΄ ἔχοντες· οἳ πολλοὶ περὶ βόθρον ἐφοίτων ἄλλοθεν ἄλλος θεσπεσίῃ ἰαχῇ· ἐμὲ δὲ χλωρὸν δέος ᾕρει. δὴ τότ΄ ἔπειθ΄ ἑτάροισιν ἐποτρύνας ἐκέλευσα μῆλα͵ τὰ δὴ κατέκειτ΄ ἐσφαγμένα νηλέϊ χαλκῷ͵ δείραντας κατακῆαι͵ ἐπεύξασθαι δὲ θεοῖσιν͵ ἰφθίμῳ τ΄ Ἀΐδῃ καὶ ἐπαινῇ Περσεφονείῃ· αὐτὸς δὲ ξίφος ὀξὺ ἐρυσσάμενος παρὰ μηροῦ ἥμην οὐδ΄ εἴων νεκύων ἀμενηνὰ κάρηνα αἵματος ἄσσον ἴμεν πρὶν Τειρεσίαο πυθέσθαι.

Homer Bilingual Anthology : THE UNDERWORLD - 2

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