Chapter 16 When Telemachus arrived, Odysseus and the worthy swine-herd were preparing their breakfast in the hut by the light of dawn, after stirring up the fire and sending the herdsmen off with the pigs to the pastures. The dogs, usually so obstreperous, not only did not bark at the newcomer but greeted him with […]
Chapter 15 Pallas Athene, meanwhile, went to the broad vale of Lacedaemon to warn King Odysseus’ noble son that it was time for him to return, and to hasten his departure.She found Telemachus and Prince Peisistratus sleeping in the great Menelaus’ portico. Nestor’s son, at all events, was lying sound asleep; but Telemachus was enjoying
Chapter 14 Meanwhile Odysseus turned his back on the harbour and followed a rough track leading up into the woods and through the hills towards the spot where Athene had told him he would meet the worthy swineherd, who of all the royal servants had shown himself to be his most faithful steward.He found him
Chapter 13 Odysseus’ tale was finished, and such was the spell he had cast on the whole company that not a sound was heard throughout the shadowy hall, till at last Alcinous turned to his guest and said: “Odysseus, you have suffered much. But now that you have set foot on the bronze floor of
Chapter 12 “From the flowing waters of the River of Ocean my ship passed into the wide spaces of the open sea, and so reached Aeaea, the Island of the Rising Sun, where tender Dawn has her home and her dancing-lawns. Here we beached her on the sands and climbed out onto the sea-shore, where
Chapter 11 “Our first task, when we came down to the sea and reached our ship, was to run her into the good salt water and put the mast and sails on board. We then picked up the sheep we found there, and stowed them in the vessel. After which we ourselves embarked. And a
Chapter 10 “Our next landfall was the floating island of Aeolia, the home of Aeolus son of Hippotas, who is a favourite of the immortal gods. All round this isle there runs an unbroken wall of bronze, and below it the cliffs rise sheer from the sea. Aeolus shares his house with his family of
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff* in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boy’s parents had told him that the old man was
Chapter 9 In answer to the King, this is how Odysseus, the man of many resources, began his tale:“Lord Alcinous, my most worshipful prince, it is indeed a lovely thing to hear a bard such as yours, with a voice like the gods’. I myself feel that there is nothing more delightful than when the
Chapter 8 As soon as the fresh Dawn had decked herself in crimson, the divine King Alcinous left his bed and conducted Odysseus, the royal sacker of cities, who had risen at the same time, to the place by the ships where the Phaeacians held their Assemblies; and there they sat down side by side
Chapter 7 While the much-enduring Odysseus was praying in Athene’s grove, the two sturdy mules brought the princess to the city. When she reached her father’s palace, she drew up at the entrance, and her handsome brothers gathered round her, un-harnessed the mules from the cart and carried the clothes indoors. She herself retired to
Chapter 6 While the noble, much-enduring Odysseus, conquered by sleep and worn out by his exertions, lay resting there, Athene came to the country of the Phaeacians and entered their city. These Phaeacians had once lived in the broad lands of Hypereie, and been neighbours to the Cyclopes, a quarrelsome people, who took advantage of
Chapter 5 When dawn had risen from the bed where she sleeps with the Lord Tithonus, to bring daylight to the immortals and to men, the gods sat down in assembly, and were joined by Zeus the Thunderer, the greatest of them all. The imprisonment of Odysseus in Calypso’s home was heavy on Athene’s heart,
Chapter 4 And so they came to the rolling lands of Lacedaemon, deep in the hills, and drove up to the palace of the illustrious Menelaus. They found him entertaining a large company of retainers in his house to celebrate the weddings of his son and of the princess, his daughter. He was sending the
Chapter 3 Leaving the waters of the splendid East, the Sun leapt up into the firmament to bring light to the immortals and to men who plough the earth and perish. The travellers now came to Pylos, the stately citadel of Neleus, where they found the people on the sea-beach sacrificing jet-black bulls to Poseidon,