Ups and Downs
February 4th, 2007 by Christine
The Odyssey is full of waves. If you inquire about particular ones, the Lookup Tool at Perseus picks out, for instance, Book 3 in which Odysseus tells us of the time when Menelaus
… in his turn, as he passed over the wine-dark sea in the hollow ships, reached in swift course the steep height of Malea, then verily Zeus, whose voice is borne afar, planned for him a hateful path and poured upon him the blasts of shrill winds, and the waves were swollen to huge size, like unto mountains.
But also, to our relief, a passage like this one from Book 12 in which simply
… the wind ceased and there was a windless calm, and a god lulled the waves to sleep.
2 Responses to “Ups and Downs”
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Definate down: Heading for the strait between Charybdis (whodraws in water and spouts it again thrice a day) and Scylla (who gobbles up six of his comrades - as rephrased by the Perseus-team)
Definate up: Waking up at the coast of the Phaeacians; falling instantly in love with Princess Nausicaa.
P.S. Charybdis - I guess - is still around. Levende’s post Waveless http://www.shareabrainwave.net/2007/01/28/waveless/ clearly shows what happens when Charybdis haunts the oceans…
[…] We all have our everchanging ups and downs. The ups and downs of one person might only be a ripple in the vast ocean of mother Earth’s inhabitants. But when all of our ups and downs are compiled they form interesting waves of moods, happiness, sadness, fear and optimism. […]