VIEWS OF THE AFTERLIFE: THE REALM OF HADES 331
Hades' realm where spirits without body or sense dwell, shadows of mortals
worn out by life?" Thus he spoke, and I addressed him in answer, "O Achilles,
son of Peleus, by far the mightiest of the Achaeans, I came down to Hades' realm
to ask the seer Tiresias if he might tell me some way by which I might return
to rocky Ithaca. For I have not yet come near Achaea nor yet reached my home-
land, but I always have misfortunes. But no man either before or after is more
fortunate than you, Achilles. Previously while you lived, we Argives heaped
honors on you equal to those of the gods, and now being in this place you have
great power among these shades. So, Achilles, do not be at all distressed, even
though you are dead."
Thus I spoke, and he at once addressed me in answer: "Do not speak to me
soothingly about death, glorious Odysseus; I should prefer as a slave to serve
another man, even if he had no property and little to live on, than to rule over
all these dead who have done with life."Achilles goes on to inquire about his son, Neoptolemus; and when Odysseus
has given details of how the boy has proven himself a man worthy of his father,
Achilles in his pride feels a surge of joy illumine his gloomy existence (538-544):
The soul of swift-footed Achilles [Odysseus goes on to relate] made its way in
great strides over the plain full of asphodel, rejoicing because I said that his son
was a renowned hero. Other souls of the dead stood grieving, and each recounted
his sorrows. Only the soul of Ajax, son of Telamon, stood apart.
Ajax, who committed suicide because Odysseus was awarded the armor of
Achilles rather than he, will not respond to Odysseus' appeals (563-600):
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Instead he followed the dead spirits into Erebus, where perhaps he might have
spoken to me or I to him. But desire in my breast wished to see the souls of the
other dead.
There I saw Minos, the splendid son of Zeus, sitting with a gold scepter in
his hand and pronouncing judgments for the dead, and they sitting and stand-
ing asked the king for his decisions within the wide gates of Hades' house. And
I saw next the giant hunter Orion, driving together on the plain of asphodel the
wild beasts which he himself had killed on the lonely mountains, having in his
hand a bronze club that was always unbreakable. And I saw Tityus, son of
revered Earth, lying on the ground covering a vast area. Two vultures sitting on
either side of him tore into his body and ate at his liver, and his hands could
not keep them off. For he had assaulted Leto, the renowned consort of Zeus, as
she was going through Panopeus, a city of beautiful dancing places, to Pytho.^6
And also I saw Tantalus enduring harsh sufferings as he stood in a pool
that splashed to his chin. He strained to quench his thirst but was not able; for
every time the old man leaned eagerly to take a drink, the water was swallowed
up and gone and about his feet the black earth showed, dried up by some di-
vine power. Tall and leafy trees dangled fruit above his head: pears, pome-
granates, apples, sweet figs, and olives, growing in luxuriant profusion. But
whenever he reached out to grasp them in his hands, the wind snatched them
away to the shadowy clouds.^7