Seba.Health

The Odyssey 5.313–327

The Odyssey 5.313–327
Far from the raft he fell, and let fall the steering-oar from his hand; but his mast was broken in the midst by the fierce blast of tumultuous winds that came upon it, and far in the sea sail and yardarm fell. As for him, long time did the wave hold him in the depths, nor could he rise at once from beneath the onrush of the mighty wave, for the garments which beautiful Calypso had given him weighed him down. At length, however, he came up, and spat forth from his mouth the bitter brine which flowed in streams from his head. Yet even so he did not forget his raft, in evil case though he was, but sprang after it amid the waves, and laid hold of it, and sat down in the midst of it, seeking to escape the doom of death; and a great wave ever bore him this way and that along its course. As when in autumn the North Wind bears the thistle-tufts over the plain, and close they cling to one another,
ὣς ἄρα μιν εἰπόντʼ ἔλασεν μέγα κῦμα κατʼ ἄκρης δεινὸν ἐπεσσύμενον, περὶ δὲ σχεδίην ἐλέλιξε. τῆλε δʼ 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 δʼ ἄρʼ ὑπόβρυχα θῆκε πολὺν χρόνον, οὐδʼ ἐδυνάσθη αἶψα μάλʼ ἀνσχεθέειν μεγάλου ὑπὸ κύματος ὁρμῆς· εἵματα γάρ ῥʼ ἐβάρυνε, τά οἱ πόρε δῖα Καλυψώ. ὀψὲ δὲ δή ῥʼ ἀνέδυ, στόματος δʼ ἐξέπτυσεν ἅλμην πικρήν, οἱ πολλὴ ἀπὸ κρατὸς κελάρυζεν. ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ὣς σχεδίης ἐπελήθετο, τειρόμενός περ, ἀλλὰ μεθορμηθεὶς ἐνὶ κύμασιν ἐλλάβετʼ αὐτῆς, ἐν μέσσῃ δὲ καθῖζε τέλος θανάτου ἀλεείνων. τὴν δʼ ἐφόρει μέγα κῦμα κατὰ ῥόον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα.
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