Epic poetry, Greek -- Translations into English; Homer -- Translations into English; Odysseus, King of Ithaca (Mythological character)
“‘Friends, for all our sorrows we shall not yet a while go down to the
house of Hades, ere the coming of the day of destiny; go to then, while
as yet there is meat and drink in the swift ship, let us take thought
thereof, that we be not famished for hunger.’
“Even so I spake, and they speedily hearkened to my words. They
unmuffled their heads, and there on the shore of the unharvested sea
gazed at the stag, for he was a mighty quarry. But after they had
delighted their eyes with the sight of him, they washed their hands and
got ready the glorious feast. So for that time we sat the livelong day
till the going down of the sun, feasting on abundant flesh and sweet
wine. But when the sun sank and darkness had come on, then we laid us
to rest upon the sea beach. So soon as early Dawn shone forth, the
rosy-fingered, I called a gathering of my men and spake in the ears of
them all:
“‘Hear my works, my fellows, despite your evil case. My friends, lo,
now we know not where is the place of darkness or of dawning, nor where
the Sun, that gives light to men, goes beneath the earth, nor where he
rises; therefore let us advise us speedily if any counsel yet may be:
as for me, I deem there is none. For I went up a craggy hill, a place
of out-look, and saw the island crowned about with the circle of the
endless sea, the isle itself lying low; and in the midst thereof mine
eyes beheld the smoke through the thick coppice and the woodland.’
“Even so I spake, but their spirit within them was broken, as they
remembered the deeds of Antiphates the Laestrygonian, and all the evil
violence of the haughty Cyclops, the man-eater. So they wept aloud
shedding big tears. Howbeit no avail came of their weeping.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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