The Irish fineid (Imtheachta finiasa) translated by George Calder In parentheses Publications Medieval Irish Series Cambridge, Ontario 2000 Now when the Greeks had accomplished the plunder, sacking, and effacement of Phrygia(cid:213)s royal city Troy, the head of all Asia in dignity and supremacy, the kings of the Greeks came to the hill of Minerva in Troy; and all being assembled in one place, Agamemnon, the sovereign lord, asked them what counsel they would give him respecting those that had betrayed the city, or whether they should keep faith with them. Some of the Greeks said it was not right to keep faith with them, (cid:210)since it was not for love of us, but for fear of us, and for their own safety, they betrayed the city; and they did us evil as long as they could, and they would do so again if they thought it possible.(cid:211) Then after that Nestor said: (cid:210)Sixty years ago, now,(cid:211) said he, (cid:210)came I and Pelias and Telamon and Castor and Pollux along with Hercules(cid:209)the crews of seven ships in all, with the Argo(cid:209)and we destroyed this city. Everyone in it fit to be killed we put to the point of spear or sword. Everyone that was not slain we brought into captivity or slavery. All its treasure we took out of it, and then gave it to the flames. Thereafter Laomedon overtook us and gave us battle, and at our hands in that battle, both Laomedon fell and his three sons Pulus, Foclointis, and Aimpiter, and there fell the choice of kings, chiefs, and champions of the Trojans along with him. We brought with us into captivity Hesione and Priam, a daughter and a son of Laomedon. For a time after that Troy was uninhabited for fear of the Greeks. Thereafter, in return for treasure and riches, Hercules granted Priam permission to come to Troy and rebuild it again, on condition that he should not again wage war with Greeks, a condition that Priam fulfilled as long as Hercules was alive. When he was dead, and Priam observed his city(cid:213)s strength and his army(cid:213)s efficiency, high-mindedness and pride took possession of him. And besides he did not think it becoming not to demand of the Greeks [redress for] his wrong; and he sent his sons Alexander and fineas on a raid against the Greeks, and 2 they plundered the island of Cytherea, and carried off Spartan Helen. Then, with all our army, we came after our spoil; and we were but set at nought, and no restitution was made us for the sake of peace with us, and against us was assembled the mighty strength of Asia; and in battle against us uprose contentiously, powerfully, proudly, kings and chiefs, heroes and battle-soldiers, and valiant men of all the Asias, from Scythia in the north to India in the east, and Ethiopia in the south; and while there fell by them a multitude of our kings and chiefs and battle-soldiers, they fell by us to a man, and Priam himself, with his fifty sons and daughters and sons-in-law, and all his heroes and battle-soldiers, kings and chiefs and nobles of Troy, save only the traitors, fineas and Antenor, with their followers. That was the end of Priam(cid:213)s friendship with Greeks. It is certain to you, then, that if you leave fineas in Troy his friendship with you will be no better than was that of Priam with Greeks. Woe to Greek that will put confidence in him, for fineas is ever an enemy to Greeks. A multitude of heroes and battle-soldiers and champions of the Greeks fell by him by his own hand in the hundred and sixty-seven battles that were fought against us in defence of Troy.(cid:211) When the Greeks heard these words which Nestor spoke, the counsel which they voiced and decided on was to lay Troy waste, and drive the traitors out of it without killing them, since the honour of Pyrrhus was engaged to save them in return for the betrayal of Troy. Then, by the counsel of the Greeks, Agamemnon enjoined on fineas and Antenor to leave Troy waste, the latter to go to Illyricum, a country between Greece and Italy, toward the West. fineas, however, with the following he had, came to Mount Ida, on the shore of the Tyrrhene Sea, to a beautiful forest there. Excellent was the timber for ship-building, and twenty ships were built by him there; and when he had completed the building of his ships, he launched upon the Tyrrhene Sea with the first fair weather, at the beginning of summer, and with him his aged sire Anchises, his son Ascanius, and every one of his allies that followed him. Sad, gloomy, tearful, sorrowful, very distressing was that departure. Listless was the journey on which they went. Sad, too, was the voice of weeping, the smiting of hands, and wailing, as they looked on their land and their own fatherland after being driven out of it by their enemies. Then they sailed to Thrace, a country friendly to Trojans as long as they had power, 3 for the mother of Priam(cid:213)s children was a daughter of the King of Thrace(cid:209)to wit, Hecuba, daughter of Cisseus. On reaching the land of Thrace they built a town there, and named it fineades [finus], after the name of fineas. Close to that city was a hill with a sacred grove upon it. fineas came to pluck some of it in order to lay its branches upon the altars of the gods, for the purpose of offering sacrifice to them. There a thing strange and horrible befell him(cid:209)to wit, the first branch he plucked from the ground showers of blood dripped from it, so that the ground out of which the branch had been torn was full of gore and blood. fineas was silent at the sight of the branch and that dreadful sign; and fear and great terror seized him, so that he was unable to speak. Then he heard issuing from the ground a great lamentation, and a feeble, very wretched utterance, and this is what it said: (cid:210)Do not do that, fineas; but deliver me, and do not dishonour me under the grove that has grown through my grave. I am Polydorus, son of Priam. When decline came upon Troy, I was sent here by Priam, with abundance of gold and silver, to my brother-in-law, the king of Thrace(cid:209)to wit, Polymestor(cid:209)who had Iliona, Priam(cid:213)s daughter, my sister, to wife. When we heard, however, that Troy was sacked, he played me false, and slew me and my sister, and took away our gold and our silver, and buried me here, and through my grave has grown this wood you wished to cut. Leave a deceitful and fratricidal land, and make for Italy; for there it is fated you to gain a country.(cid:211) Then fineas went and told that tale to Anchises, who said it was proper counsel Polydorus gave them; and the Trojans performed his due of burial for Polydorus. His grave was made, his stone was placed, his name was written, he was called to his grave, and mourning was made for him. On accomplishing that they went to their ships, and left the land of Thrace, and sailed away to the Isle of Delos where was Anius, king and priest to Apollo. He offered a sacrifice to Apollo on behalf of fineas, and the answer Apollo gave him was that it was fated to fineas to find neither territory nor land till he should reach Italy. fineas, on hearing this answer of Apollo, came unto his ships. Past Naxos, past Donusa, and past Paros, and past Cyclades, making for Crete. On their arrival at that island a town called Pergamia was built for them; and they remained for the space of a month in Crete. In obedience to a prophecy of Apollo, they leave the Island of Crete, and fare forth 4 upon the main onwards to Italy, so that they saw neither land nor dry ground, but the sea round them in every direction. Storm and tempest burst upon them there. In the air came wind and thunder and lightning; the clouds darkened on them so that they knew not whither they were going. A storm rose on the sea which cast its lowest depths to its surface; and they were three days and three nights in that peril, with no sunlight by day, no moonlight by night. On the fourth day they sighted the mountains of the Island of Strophades. Then they struck their sails, and proceeded by rowing(cid:209)for they had not favourable conditions for sailing(cid:209)till they reached the port of the Island of Strophades, on the Ionian Sea. Thus was that island(cid:209)full of cattle, sheep, and goats, with no one to protect them or to guard them. Among the Trojans therefore, they made much flesh-meat from these herds. Now after that, when their portions of food were brought before them, they saw bearing down upon them from the hills a flock of noisome birds(cid:209)Harpies they are named(cid:209)that screamed and snatched their portions of food from them out of their hands, and left their filth upon their platters. The Trojans seized their shields and swords, and got quit of them by dint of fighting. After that they sailed away from the Island of Strophades past these islands(cid:209)to wit, Zacynthus, and the Island of Dulichium, and the Island of Samos, and past Ithaca, and many other isles of the Tyrrhene Sea, till they arrived at Epirus, and they anchored there. And [fineas] went to speak with Helenus, son of Priam, for he it was who was King of Epirus at that time; for Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, had given Andromache to Helenus to wife, when he himself married Hermione, daughter of Menelaus, son of Atreus, after her betrothal at first to Orestes, son of Agamemnon; and Orestes slew Pyrrhus in the temple of Apollo, after his betrayal by Apollo(cid:213)s priest. Pyrrhus, before his death, bequeathed the son Andromache bore him (Molossus was his name) to be brought up by Helenus and by his mother; and to Helenus he (fiacides) gave his property for behoof of his son(cid:209)i.e., Molossus(cid:209)which is part of Epirus. Now, when fineas reached Helenus, he received a warm welcome at his hands. Helenus then uttered a prophecy to him, and said to him: (cid:210)Make for Italy, for there it is your destiny to find a country.(cid:211) And he gave him a token(cid:209)where a white sow, with thirty of a farrow, should appear to him at the side of the river Tiber, there he would of a surety abide, and 5 build a town and acquire land; and he bade him not settle in Italy near Epirus, for Greeks dwelt there. Now, fineas, son of Anchises, and Helenus parted in peace and good will; and fineas came to his ships, and sailed on the sea till they reached the district of Italy, where dwelt Greeks; and they skirted the coast of Italy till they came between Scylla and Charybdis, and they ran aground there, till power of rowing and sailing brought them away. They went then under Crete (having lost their bearings) to the port of Mount Etna, where dwell the Cyclopes. An ever-living fire always [burns] in that mountain, and [columns] of its black smoke and flame burst at all times forth from caves and craters of that mountain. God does that to make known to men that the fire of hell is eternal; for this is what some allege, that Mount Etna is one of the doors of hell.(cid:213) When morning rose upon them in that port, they saw [coming] towards them from the wood the form of a miserable, wretched man, with his hands spread out, and himself in supplication and great entreaty, and, this is what he was saying: (cid:210)For the sake of heaven(cid:213)s God, and for kindness(cid:213) sake, and for pity(cid:213)s sake, Trojans, slay me or put me to sea rather than leave me here.(cid:211) He put his hand under Anchises(cid:213) knee, and Anchises took his right hand as a pledge of safety to him, and asked of him whence and who he was, and what brought him there. (cid:210)I am a Greek,(cid:211) said he, (cid:210)and Achemenides is my name; and in the ship of Ulysses, son of Laertes, came I to this port. We landed here and went into Cyclops(cid:213) cave; and he seized two of us, and dashed them out of his hands against the rocks of the cave; so that small fragments were made of them, and he ate them raw, and I myself saw their limbs in the openings, that were between his teeth. Then he drank wine, and went to sleep in his cave after it. We could not imagine Ulysses departing from him without avenging his people upon him; and we approached him so as to surround him while he was asleep, belching out and slobbering his blood and vomit on his beard; one eye in his head as big as a Grecian battle-shield or a moon on the fifteenth. We wounded that eye and broke it, and, joyous, very terrified, we embarked. I was left unwittingly unnoticed by my folk, since I had strayed away from them. I have been here for the space of three months, with no food save herbs and small haws. Polyphemus, with his cave shut upon him, is now milking his goats and his sheep, and he will come to you to this port to wash his eye with 6 the brine, just as he comes daily; and he has a hundred brothers exactly like himself in that mountain. (cid:213)Tis time for you, Trojans, to flee from him, lest ye be drowned here.(cid:211) Now,while Achemenides was in that discourse, they saw approaching towards them seawards that huge monster approaching the haven(cid:209)to wit, Polyphemus with a [shepherd(cid:213)s] pipe on his back, and a stem of a fir tree stripped of its branches, for a staff, in his hand, and his flock of goats and sheep about him; and he came past them in the sea, and cleansed the pus and gore from his eye, and there were heard afar off the crunching of his teeth and his groaning as he cleansed his eye. While he was washing his eye the Trojans escaped away past him, in terror, stealthily towards the sea. He perceived the shouting of men and the rushing of ships going past him seaward. He turned about after them in order to overtake them, and in his case the Ionian Sea did not reach above his shoulder; and since he overtook them not, for he did not hit upon the way they had gone, he uttered his heavy martial roar, so that Mount Etna shook, and he put the Ionian Sea under a wave-roar, so that the people of Italy were alarmed and terrified at the dreadfulness of the voice they heard. The Trojans beheld coming towards them from the woods a huge host, the intolerable evil of his brethren(cid:209)like mighty oaks, so that they filled the ports [approaching] towards him. In sooth there came there a horrible and fierce host. Woe to the Trojans on whom they should lay hold. But the Trojans, when they saw the ugly and awful host of the Cyclopes [bearing] towards them to the assistance of their brother, became alarmed and terrified before them, and their fear was not causeless. They sailed away from them on the sea, wherever the wind bore them; for they preferred to brave the danger of the deep, and to go upon a devious course, rather than remain to meet the Cyclopes. Thus the Trojans got away from all these struggles and dangers, one after another, and they made the port of Drepanum, in Sicily. Now, when the Trojans reached that port, Acestes, king of Sicily, advanced to meet them, and gave them a warm welcome, and they abode with him for a while; and with them there in Sicily the aged Anchises died, and his grave was made there, his stone was set up, his name was inscribed, and he was called to his tomb, and his funeral games were celebrated as was the custom with Pagans to celebrate those games to their dead. Now, when a little time had passed, there came 7 clear weather and a fair wind for Italy. fineas made haste in accordance with the burden of a prophecy of Cassandra and Helenus, and his ships were cleansed and launched by him, and when he had finished fitting out his ships, he sailed out to sea with dexterous and resolute rowing, so that they lost sight of the land of Sicily away astern. Howbeit that was a grief to Juno, wife of Jove; for she had a grudge against the Trojans on account of the partial judgment Alexander, son of Priam, gave about the golden apple. Juno, therefore, came to speak with fiolus, king of the Winds, and said to him: (cid:210)I have seven sweet virgins, and they are very beautiful; and there is one virgin, named Deiope, that surpasses them all. That virgin will be given you in wedlock if you will let loose the winds over the sea, to break up and drown the expedition of fineas, who goes now to Italy in my despite.(cid:211) When Juno had accordingly promised fiolus that reward, he then hurried forth the winds from their caves and lurking-places over the sea, as a host of enemies overruns a country, and convulsed the land and the air with a great tempest. The clouds gathered and massed together, so as to obscure the light of the sun from the Trojan voyagers; and a hideous darkness came upon them, and they knew not where they should go. Then the foul weather poured down on them, and storm and thunder and lightning, so that they knew of no shelter for their lives. There came then a mighty wind from every point over the sea(cid:209)Eurus from the east, Notus from the south, and Africus from the west(cid:209)that threw the sea into heights and mountains, and dashed and broke the walls of the waves against the cliffs and against the shores, so that the boom and roar of them were heard throughout the nations and throughout the far distant territories. When fineas saw those signs, he rose to his feet, and lifted up his hands and uttered these words: (cid:210)Woe(cid:213)s me, O ye almighty ones, that I did not fall fighting in defence of Troy, where fell Hector, Troilus, Alexander, and swarthy Memnon, King of Persia, and Sarpedon, Penthesilea, and all the other heroes and nobles of the Trojans, before ye inflicted this vengeance on us to-day.(cid:211) Now, while fineas was in that mood, the wind called Aquilo from the north came against the sails with its whistling and great roar. It roused up the waves of the sea, so that they reached the firmament of heaven. It rent the sea; and the sludge was visible below through the sea and through the brine between the 8 waves; and it struck the sails, and turned the ships(cid:213) broadsides to the huge waves of the sea; and they thought that the billows, towering in mountain peaks above their heads, would dash in upon them into the ships. The oars were broken, their ships were made into withes, their pegs started out of them, and their planks separated. The silt and sand were lifted from the depth of the sea, so that they had it in the midst of their ships and long-boats from below, combined with the violence of the waves darkly pouring down upon them from above. Then came an overwhelming wave unto a ship of the Lycians, commanded by Orontes. It rose high above the ship and poured itself upon her, sweeping the pilot overboard into the sea. Thrice did the vortex turn the ship round, and then it swallowed her. Ah! sad was the shout the Trojans uttered then as they saw their folk a-drowning, without the power to help them, because themselves were a-drowning. The fleet was scattered, and they were drowned all over the sea. Notus, the south wind, drove three ships of them, and dashed them on hidden reefs that were in the bottom of the sea, so that they were being submerged together. Then Eurus, the east wind, drove three other ships, to the bottom of the sea(cid:209)the ships of Ilioneus, of Achates, and of Aletes. They sprang leaks and were submerged, the bilge-water submerging them and playing havoc with them below, and the storm and the violence of the waves above. Such was the tumult and confusion the winds wrought on the expedition of fineas. Neptune appeared above the sea; and when he saw the aspect that was upon the sea, he took it ill, and was roused to anger against the winds Zephyr and Eurus; and he said to them he would avenge upon them the invasion and destruction of his land. For the dominion of the sea is Neptune(cid:213)s. After that the winds fled, and a gentle calm came upon the sea. Thereupon fineas, with seven crews, arrived at a port of Africa, torn as he was and half-drowned, after they had despaired of their lives. They went after that into the port, and then lighted fires and brought their possessions ashore out of their ships unto their fires, to dry them. fineas then went to the top of a neighbouring cliff to scan the sea, if perchance he could descry any of his folk out of their course on the sea. Well, at that time fineas beheld three huge stags with a herd of hinds behind them, out of the wood, a-grazing. fineas seized his quiver and his bow, and killed seven hinds of them, besides the three stags, before 9 they could effect their escape from him; and the crews of the fleet then fetched themselves a hind for each ship; and they prepared the food, roasted, and consumed it; and then drank, wine which they had brought with them from Sicily. Then fineas cheered and encouraged them to be stout-hearted, so as to bear every hardship they might encounter and every danger that should befall them; and he said to them: (cid:210)It will be pleasant for you,(cid:211) said he, (cid:210)to be in Italy relating every danger you will meet.(cid:211) Then their spirit and power and confidence returned to them; and they rid themselves of sorrow and anxiety through the encouragement fineas gave them. Then came night; and they slept in the luxuriant grass of the wilderness where they landed. When the light of day came on the morrow, fineas rose, and Achates with him, and they made a search round the seaboard where they had landed, to ascertain whether he could see anyone, or whether any member of the crews that had wandered from them might fall in with him. Now, while the two of them were threading the wood that was in the neighbourhood of the port in which they had landed, they were met by Venus, fineas(cid:213) mother, in the guise of a huntress. fineas recognized her, and bewailed to her his tribulation and distress. Venus therefore gave him heartening: (cid:210)Do not be discouraged,(cid:211) said she, (cid:210)over every danger and misfortune you will encounter; for, though great the dangers you will meet, you will escape every danger of them, and reach Italy at last.(cid:211) And she said to him: (cid:210)There is in your neighbourhood a queen, to whom belongs this land you are in(cid:209)to wit, Dido, daughter of Belus(cid:209)and she is building a city; and I shall guide you to that city, and Dido, the queen, will welcome you; and after that your retinue will come to you scathless unto the city.(cid:211) Then Venus proceeded to a hill that was in the city; and they saw the hosts building the city, some of them laying the foundation of it, some arranging stones, some bringing sand, some mixing lime, everyone at work in like manner. When they had seen the city, Venus dismissed them to the city, and conferred invisibility upon them; and they passed unseen among the hosts, and they entered the city, and went into the temple which Dido had built to Juno the Beautiful in the city; and they saw graven on the walls of the temple the form of Troy, and a figure of the leaguers of the Greeks, figures of Priam, and of the Trojans. There, too, was graven a picture of the battle, of Hector and 10