Seba.Health

The Odyssey 17.290–304

The Odyssey 17.290–304
Thus they spoke to one another. And a hound that lay there raised his head and pricked up his ears, Argos, the hound of Odysseus, of the steadfast heart, whom of old he had himself bred, but had no joy of him, for ere that he went to sacred Ilios. In days past the young men were wont to take the hound to hunt the wild goats, and deer, and hares; but now he lay neglected, his master gone, in the deep dung of mules and cattle, which lay in heaps before the doors, till the slaves of Odysseus should take it away to dung his wide lands. There lay the hound Argos, full of vermin; yet even now, when he marked Odysseus standing near, he wagged his tail and dropped both his ears, but nearer to his master he had no longer strength to move. Then Odysseus looked aside and wiped away a tear,
ὣς οἱ μὲν τοιαῦτα πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἀγόρευον· ἂν δὲ κύων κεφαλήν τε καὶ οὔατα κείμενος ἔσχεν, Ἄργος, Ὀδυσσῆος ταλασίφρονος, ὅν ῥά ποτʼ αὐτὸς θρέψε μέν, οὐδʼ ἀπόνητο, πάρος δʼ εἰς Ἴλιον ἱρὴν ᾤχετο. τὸν δὲ πάροιθεν ἀγίνεσκον νέοι ἄνδρες αἶγας ἐπʼ ἀγροτέρας ἠδὲ πρόκας ἠδὲ λαγωούς· δὴ τότε κεῖτʼ ἀπόθεστος ἀποιχομένοιο ἄνακτος, ἐν πολλῇ κόπρῳ, οἱ προπάροιθε θυράων ἡμιόνων τε βοῶν τε ἅλις κέχυτʼ, ὄφρʼ ἂν ἄγοιεν δμῶες Ὀδυσσῆος τέμενος μέγα κοπρήσοντες· ἔνθα κύων κεῖτʼ Ἄργος, ἐνίπλειος κυνοραιστέων. δὴ τότε γʼ, ὡς ἐνόησεν Ὀδυσσέα ἐγγὺς ἐόντα, οὐρῇ μέν ῥʼ γʼ ἔσηνε καὶ οὔατα κάββαλεν ἄμφω, ἆσσον δʼ οὐκέτʼ ἔπειτα δυνήσατο οἷο ἄνακτος ἐλθέμεν· αὐτὰρ νόσφιν ἰδὼν ἀπομόρξατο δάκρυ,
Read in context →