The Odyssey (Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection) Read online

  West, M. L., The Epic Cycle: A Commentary on the Lost Troy Epics (Oxford, 2013).

  West, M. L., The Making of the Odyssey (Oxford, 2014).

  Wright, G. M., and Jones, P. V. (eds.), Homer: German Scholarship in Translation (Oxford, 1997).

  Further Reading in Oxford World’s Classics

  Greek Lyric Poetry, trans. M. L. West.

  Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days, trans. M. L. West.

  Homer, The Iliad, trans. A. Verity.

  The Homeric Hymns, trans. M. Crudden.

  Map

  Greece and Asia Minor

  THE ODYSSEY

  BOOK ONE

  Tell me, Muse, of the man of many turns, who was driven

  far and wide after he had sacked the sacred city of Troy.

  Many were the men whose cities he saw, and learnt their minds,

  many the sufferings on the open sea he endured in his heart,

  struggling for his own life and his companions’ homecoming.5

  Even so he could not protect them, though he desired it,

  since they perished by reason of their own recklessness,

  the fools, because they ate the cattle of the Sun, Hyperion,

  and he took away the day of their homecoming. Tell us, too,

  goddess daughter of Zeus,* starting from where you will.10

  All the others, those who had escaped sheer destruction,

  had reached home, now delivered from war and the sea;

  one man alone, longing to return to his home and his wife, was

  detained by Calypso, revered nymph, bright among goddesses,

  in her hollow caverns, desiring him to be her husband.15

  But when in the course of circling seasons the year came

  in which the gods had spun the thread for his return home

  to Ithaca, not even then was he clear of trials or back

  among his own dear ones. All the gods had pity for him

  except Poseidon, who raged unrelentingly against20

  godlike Odysseus until the time he reached his homeland.

  But Poseidon was visiting the Ethiopians who live far away—

  the Ethiopians, most remote of men, who live in two places,

  some at the setting of Hyperion and some at his rising.*

  He was to receive from them a hecatomb* of bulls and rams,25

  and there he sat among them and enjoyed the feast. Meanwhile

  the other gods had gathered in the halls of Olympian Zeus, and

  among them the father of men and gods was the first to speak;

  he had been brooding in his mind over excellent Aegisthus,*

  whom far-famed Orestes, Agamemnon’s son, had killed.30

  With this man in mind he addressed the immortals:

  ‘This is not good! See how mortals find fault with us gods!

  They say it is from us that all evil things come, yet it is by their

  own recklessness that they suffer hardship beyond their destiny;

  as only now Aegisthus courted the wedded wife of Atreus’ son35

  beyond his destiny, and murdered him on his return home, knowing

  it would be his sheer destruction, since we had forewarned him,

  and had sent to him Hermes, the keen-eyed slayer of Argus,*

  telling him not to court Agamemnon’s wife nor to kill him, for

  vengeance would come at the hands of Orestes, Atreus’ grandson,40

  when he should reach manhood and long for his own country.

  That is what Hermes said, but his kindly counsel did not persuade

  the mind of Aegisthus, who now has paid the penalty in full.’

  Then the goddess grey-eyed Athena answered him:

  ‘Our father, son of Cronus, supreme among rulers,45

  Aegisthus indeed lies dead, killed exactly as he deserved;

  so may any other man perish who commits such acts.

  But it is for wise Odysseus that my heart is on fire, ill-

  fated man, who has long been suffering hardship, far from

  his friends, on a sea-girt island at the navel-point of the sea*—50

  an island full of trees, and a goddess has her dwelling on it,

  daughter of murderous-minded Atlas,* who knows the deeps

  of the whole sea and by himself holds up the tall pillars

  that keep the earth and the high sky asunder.

  It is his daughter who delays this unhappy, grieving man,55

  all the time bewitching him with soft, winning words,

  hoping to make him forget Ithaca. But Odysseus, yearning

  only to catch sight of the smoke curling up from his own land,

  longs only to die. Despite this, Olympian, your heart has not

  changed towards him in any way. Did not Odysseus win your60

  favour, offering sacrifices to you by the ships of the Argives

  in broad Troy? Zeus, why are you so odious to Odysseus?’*

  Then in answer Zeus the cloud-gatherer addressed her:

  ‘My child, what a word has escaped the barrier of your teeth!

  How could I ever forget godlike Odysseus, who is beyond65

  all mortals in understanding, and has made offerings beyond

  others to the gods who dwell in the broad high sky?

  No, it is Poseidon, encircler of the earth, who persists in

  stubborn anger because of the Cyclops, godlike Polyphemus,

  who rules supreme over all the Cyclopes, and was robbed of70

  his one eye by Odysseus. His mother was the nymph Thoösa,

  daughter of Phorcys, who holds sway over the restless sea,

  and she had lain with Poseidon in his hollow caverns.

  It is for this reason that Poseidon the earthshaker is driving

  Odysseus away from his native land, though he stops short75

  of killing him. Come, let us all who are here take thought

  as to how he may return home. Poseidon will give up

  his anger; he will certainly not be able to go on opposing

  us, if he is alone against the will of all the immortal gods.’

  Then the goddess grey-eyed Athena answered him:80

  ‘Our father, son of Cronus,* supreme among rulers,

  if it really is now the desire of the blessed gods, that

  Odysseus of many designs should return to his home,

  let us now rouse Hermes the guide, the slayer of Argus,

  to go to the island of Ogygia, so that he may quickly tell85

  the nymph with lovely hair of your infallible decision,

  that Odysseus of the enduring spirit must return home.

  As for me, I shall make my way to Ithaca, to urge his son

  to greater action; I shall put vigour in his heart to summon

  the long-haired Achaeans to an assembly, and to speak90

  out against the suitors for their constant slaughter of his

  crowding sheep and crook-horned shambling cattle.

  I shall send him to Sparta and sandy Pylos, to ask about his

  dear father’s return, in the hope that he will hear some news,

  and so that he may win noble fame in the eyes of men.’95

  So she spoke, and bound under her feet her beautiful sandals,

  golden and deathless, that carried her over the watery sea

  and the boundless earth, keeping pace with the wind’s breath.

  She took up her stout spear, tipped with sharp bronze, heavy,

  thick, and massive, with which she beats down ranks of men,100

  of heroes with whom she, child of a mighty father, is enraged.

  Down she went, swooping from the peaks of Olympus, and

  alighted in the land of Ithaca by Odysseus’ porch, on the

  courtyard’s threshold, bronze-tipped spear in hand; and in

  the likeness of his guest-friend* Mentes, the Taphians’* leader.105

  There she found the proud suitors delighting thei
r hearts

  in front of the doors with games of draughts, and sitting

  on the hides of oxen that they themselves had slaughtered.

  Heralds and diligent attendants were busy about them,

  some of them mixing wine and water in large bowls and110

  some wiping down tables with porous sponges and setting

  them out, while others served out large portions of meat.

  First to notice Athena was Telemachus, looking like a god;

  he was sitting among the suitors, troubled in his heart,

  picturing his noble father and wondering if he would ever115

  return home and scatter the suitors in confusion about his house,

  winning honour for himself and ownership of his possessions.

  He was sitting among them with thoughts like these when he

  noticed Athena, and made straight for the porch, angry in his

  heart that a stranger should stand so long at the door. He stood120

  beside her, grasped her right hand, and took the bronze-tipped

  spear from her and addressed her, using winged words:

  ‘Greetings, friend; you will find hospitality here with us, and

  when you have had your meal you can speak of what you need.’

  So he spoke, and led the way, and Pallas Athena followed him.125

  When they were inside the lofty hall, Telemachus took

  the spear and leant it against a tall pillar, inside a polished

  spear-stand, where many other weapons that belonged to

  Odysseus of the enduring spirit were standing; leading her to

  a beautiful, finely worked chair he invited her to sit, after130

  spreading a linen cloth upon it; and there was a stool for her feet.

  For himself he pulled up an ornate seat, apart from the rest, the

  suitors, fearing that the stranger might be disturbed by their noise

  and, surrounded by insolent men, might lose his desire for food;

  and besides, he wanted to ask him about his absent father.135

  A maidservant brought water in a beautiful golden pitcher

  and poured it into a silver bowl for them to wash their hands,

  and drew up a polished table to stand beside them.

  A respected housekeeper fetched bread and set it before them,

  and added a heap of delicacies, giving freely from her store,140

  while a carver brought platters of different kinds of meat

  and set them before them, and placed golden cups alongside,

  and a herald passed to and fro and poured their wine.

  Then the proud suitors entered, and took their seats

  in proper order on seats and chairs. Heralds moved145

  among them and poured water over their hands, and

  women servants heaped up bread in baskets, while

  young men filled mixing-bowls to the brim with wine.

  The suitors reached out for the good things that lay before them,

  and when they had put away the desire for food and drink150

  their minds turned to thoughts of other things—singing

  and dancing, which are the accompaniments of feasts.

  A herald put a beautifully made lyre into the hands of

  Phemius, the one who sang for the suitors under compulsion,*

  and he struck up on his lyre the prelude to a splendid song;155

  but Telemachus spoke to grey-eyed Athena, holding his

  head close to hers, so that the others should not hear:

  ‘Dear guest, I hope you will not be indignant with what I say?

  This is all that these men care about, the lyre and the song—

  easy pleasures, for they pay nothing to consume another man’s160

  livelihood, a man whose white bones are rotting somewhere

  in the rain, lying on the mainland or rolled in the salt sea’s swell.

  If they were to see him coming back to his home on Ithaca

  they would all of them pray for greater swiftness of foot,

  instead of further enrichment in gold and in clothing.165

  But that cannot be; he has perished in an evil doom, and

  there is no comfort for us, even if some earth-dwelling man

  says he will come; his day of homecoming has gone for ever.

  But come, tell me this and give me a full and true account:

  Who among men are you? Where are you from? Where are your city170

  and parents? What kind of ship did you arrive in? How did sailors

  bring you to Ithaca? What kind of men did they claim to be,

  for I do not suppose for a moment you arrived here on foot?

  So tell me this truly, so that I may know clearly whether

  this is the first time you have come here, or if you are also175

  a guest-friend of my father’s; there were many who came to

  our house at the time when he was going about among men.’

  Then the goddess grey-eyed Athena addressed him:

  ‘I will indeed give you a full account of all you ask:

  I am proud to name myself Mentes, son of wise Anchialus,180

  and I rule over the Taphians who take delight in rowing.

  I am here now after putting in with my ship and companions,

  sailing over the wine-dark sea in search of men of alien tongues,

  to Temese* in pursuit of bronze; and my cargo is gleaming iron.

  My ship is moored out there near open country, away from185

  the city, in the harbour of Rheithrum, under wooded Neion.

  We can claim to be ancestral guest-friends of each other

  from long ago—as you would find if you were to go and ask

  the hero Laertes, who men say no longer comes to the city,

  but lives a life of hardship far from here in the country,190

  with an old woman servant who provides him with food

  and drink whenever weariness seizes his joints after

  painful toil in the sloping plot of his vine-bearing earth.

  So here I am. People did say he was here in his homeland,

  I mean your father, but clearly the gods are thwarting his return. 195

  Glorious Odysseus cannot yet be dead on this earth,

  but must be detained somewhere out in the broad sea,

  on a sea-girt island. Hard-hearted men confine him there,

  savages, who must be holding him back against his will.

  Now I shall speak to you as a prophet, just as the immortals200

  put it into my mind, and as I believe it will be fulfilled,

  though I am by no means a seer, nor have any skill in bird-lore.

  I tell you, he will not be absent from his dear native land

  for much longer, not even if iron chains should hold him;

  he is a man of many schemes, and will be planning his return.205

  But come, tell me this and give me a full and true account:

  you are a grown man—so are you really Odysseus’ son?

  You are startlingly like him in your head and your fine eyes.

  We were very often in each other’s company, at any rate

  before he embarked for Troy, to which others too, the best210

  of the Argives, sailed in their hollow ships. But since that

  time I have never set eyes on Odysseus, nor he on me.’

  Then in turn thoughtful Telemachus spoke to her in reply:

  ‘I shall indeed, guest-friend, give you a true account.

  My mother maintains that I am her son, though for my part215

  I do not know, since no one ever really knows his parentage.

  How I wish I were the son of some fortunate man, one whom

  old age has come upon in the enjoyment of his possessions!

  But as it is—since you ask me this question—they say I am

  the son of one who was born the unluckiest of all mortal men.’220


  Then in turn the goddess grey-eyed Athena addressed him:

  ‘The gods have not given you a family that will be without

  fame in time to come, since Penelope has borne a son like you.

  But come, tell me this and give me a full and true account.

  What feast is this? What is this crowd? What is it to do with you? 225

  A feast or a wedding? It is clearly not a contribution dinner.*

  How arrogantly and insolently they feast in your house, or

  so it seems to me; any sensible-minded man in their company

  would be indignant at the sight of such shameless behaviour.’

  Then in turn thoughtful Telemachus answered her:230

  ‘Guest-friend, since you ask me this, and seek to know:

  this house was once most likely to be rich and thriving,

  while that man was still at home here among his people;

  but now the gods, with evil intent, have wished it otherwise,

  causing him to vanish completely, beyond the fate of all men.235

  I would not be grieving for him in this way if he had died

  beaten down in the Trojans’ land with his companions, or

  in the arms of his friends, having spun out the thread of war.

  Then all the Achaeans would have made him a burial-mound,

  and he would have won great fame for his son in time to come.240

  But as it is, storm winds have swept him to obscurity;

  he has gone, unseen, unknown, and has left behind for me

  anguish and lamentation. Nor is it for him alone that I mourn

  and grieve; the gods have devised further sorrows for me.

  All those chieftains who exercise rule over the islands,245

  Dulichium and Same and wooded Zacynthus,* and all

  those who are lords throughout rocky Ithaca, are every one

  courting my mother and grinding down my house’s wealth.

  She neither refuses them a marriage hateful to her, nor is able to

  bring things to a head; meanwhile they devour my household250

  and waste it away. Soon they will prove to be my ruin too.’

  Then in deep indignation Pallas Athena addressed him:

  ‘A terrible thing! How much you must miss the absent Odysseus,

  who would lay his hands on these shameless suitors.

  How I wish he could come now and take his stand at the255

  outer doors, with his helmet and shield and his two spears,

  looking as he did when I saw him for the first time in my