The poem was composed and intended to be sung rather than read. In the English language as well as many others, the word odyssey has come to refer to an epic voyage. The style of the poem is different to The Iliad, causing some critics to identify separate authorship, while others claim The Odyssey to be the hallmark of a maturer Homer, after years of experienced poetic composition.
Encouraged by the success of the Iliad, Pope translated the Odyssey, enlisting the help of William Broome and Elijah Fenton due to the enormity of the task. The translation appeared in 1726 and Pope attempted to conceal the extent of the collaboration. He himself translated only twelve books, Broome eight and Fenton four, but the secret was soon discovered, causing Pope’s reputation some damage, though not to his profits.
Odysseus braving the alluring, but deadly sirens
CAST OF CHARACTERS
To aid reading The Odyssey, a list of the principle characters is provided here. It may be useful to create a bookmark of this page.
Achaeans (also called Greeks, Danaans and Argives)
Agamemnon — King of Mycenae and Overlord of the Greeks.
Achilles — Leader of the Myrmidons, half-divine war hero.
Odysseus — King of Ithaca, the wiliest Greek commander and hero of the Odyssey.
Aias (Ajax the Greater) — son of Telamon, with Diomedes, he is second to Achilles in martial prowess.
Menelaus — King of Sparta, husband of Helen and brother of Agamemnon.
Diomedes — son of Tydeus, King of Argos.
Aias (Ajax the Lesser) — son of Oileus, often partner of Ajax the Greater.
Patroclus - Achilles’ closest companion.
Nestor - King of Pylos.
Penelope – Odysseus’ faithfully wife, awiaitng his return at Itahca, where she is ‘besieged’ by man suitors for her hand.
Telemachus – Odysseus’ son
Trojans
Hector — son of King Priam and the foremost Trojan warrior.
Aeneas — son of Anchises and Aphrodite.
Deiphobus — brother of Hector and Paris.
Paris — Helen’s lover-abductor.
Priam — the aged King of Troy.
Polydamas — a prudent commander whose advice is ignored; he is Hector’s foil.
Agenor — a Trojan warrior who attempts to fight Achilles (Book XXI).
Sarpedon, son of Zeus — killed by Patroclus. Was friend of Glaucus & co-leader of the Lycians (fought for the Trojans).
Glaucus, son of Hippolochus — friend of Sarpedon and co-leader of the Lycians (fought for the Trojans).
Euphorbus — first Trojan warrior to wound Patroclus.
Dolon — a spy upon the Greek camp (Book X).
Antenor — King Priam’s advisor, who argues for returning Helen to end the war. Paris refuses.
Polydorus — son of Priam and Laothoe.
Pandarus — famous archer and son of Lycaon.
The Trojan women
Hecuba (Ἑκάβη) — Priam’s wife, mother of Hector, Cassandra, Paris, and others.
Helen (Ἑλένη) — Menelaus’s wife; espoused first to Paris, then to Deiphobus; her abduction by Paris precipitated the war.
Andromache (Ἀνδρομάχη) — Hector’s wife, mother of Astyanax (Ἀστυάναξ).
Cassandra (Κασσάνδρα) — Priam’s daughter; courted by Apollo, who bestows the gift of prophecy to her; upon her rejection, he curses her, and her warnings of Trojan doom go unheeded.
Briseis — a Trojan woman captured by the Greeks; she was Achilles’ prize of the Trojan war.
Ulysses deriding Polyphemus by J.M.W. Turner
CONTENTS
Odyssey Book III. The Interview of Telemachus and Nestor
Odyssey Book V. The Departure of Ulysses from Calypso
Odyssey Book VII. The Court of Alcinoüs
Odyssey Book IX. The Adventures of the Cicons, Lotophagi, and Cyclops
Odyssey Book X. Adventures with Æolus, the Læstrygons, and Circe
Odyssey Book XIII. The Arrival of Ulysses in Ithaca
Odyssey Book XIV. The Conversation with Eumæus
Odyssey Book XV. The Return of Telemachus
Odyssey Book XVII
Odyssey Book XXI. The Bending of Ulysses’ Bow
Odyssey Book XXII. The Death of the Suitors
Odyssey Book XXIV
Odyssey Book III. The Interview of Telemachus and Nestor
THE ARGUMENT
Telemachus, guided by Pallas in the shape of Mentor, arrives in the morning at Pylos, where Nestor and his sons are sacrificing on the sea-shore to Neptune. Telemachus declares the occasion of his coming, and Nestor relates what passed in their return from Troy, how their fleets were separated, and he never since heard of Ulysses. They discourse concerning the death of Agamemnon, the revenge of Orestes, and the injuries of the suitors. Nestor advises him to go to Sparta, and inquire further of Menelaus. The sacrifice ending with the night, Minerva vanishes from them in the form of an eagle: Telemachus is lodged in the palace. The next morning they sacrifice a bullock to Minerva; and Telemachus proceeds on his journey to Sparta, attended by Pisistratus.
The scene lies on the sea-shore of Pylos.
THE SACRED Sun, above the waters rais’d,
Thro’ Heav’n’s eternal brazen portals blazed;
And wide o’er earth diffused his cheering ray,
To Gods and men to give the golden day.
Now on the coast of Pyle the vessel falls, 5
Before old Neleus’ venerable walls.
There, suppliant to the Monarch of the Flood,
At nine green theatres the Pylians stood.
Each held five hundred (a deputed train),
At each, nine oxen on the sand lay slain. 10
They taste the entrails, and the altars load
With smoking thighs, an off’ring to the God.
Full for the port the Ithacensians stand,
And furl their sails, and issue on the land.
Telemachus already press’d the shore; 15
Not first; the Power of Wisdom march’d before,
And, ere the sacrificing throng he join’d,
Admonish’d thus his well-attending mind:
‘Proceed, my son! this youthful shame expel;
An honest business never blush to tell. 20
To learn what Fates thy wretched sire detain,
We pass’d the wide immeasurable main.
Meet then the senior far renown’d for sense,
With rev’rend awe, but decent confidence:
Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies; 25
And sure he will: for Wisdom never lies.’
‘O tell me, Mentor! tell me, faithful guide’
(The youth with prudent modesty replied),
‘How shall I meet, or how accost the sage,
Unskill’d in speech, nor yet mature of age. 30
Awful th’ approach, and hard the task appears,
To question wisely men of riper years.’
To whom the martial Goddess thus rejoin’d:
‘Search, for some thoughts, thy own suggesting mind;
And others, dictated by heav’nly Power, 35
Shall rise spontaneous in the needful hour.
For nought unprosperous shall thy ways attend,
Born with good omens, and with Heav’n thy friend.’
She spoke, and led the way with swiftest speed:
As swift, the youth pursued the way she led: 40
And join’d the band before the sacred fire,
Where sate encompass’d with his sons, the sire.
The youth of Pylos, some on pointed wood
Transfix’d the fragments, some prepared the food:
In friendly throngs they gather to embrace 45
Their unknown guests, and at the banquet place.
Pisistratus was first to grasp their hands,
And spread soft hides upon the yellow sands;
Along the shore
th’ illustrious pair he led,
Where Nestor sate with youthful Thrasymed. 50
To each a portion of the feast he bore,
And held the golden goblet foaming o’er;
Then first approaching to the elder guest,
The latent Goddess in these words address’d:
‘Whoe’er thou art, whom Fortune brings to keep 55
These rites of Neptune, Monarch of the Deep,
Thee first it fits, O Stranger! to prepare
The due libation and the solemn prayer:
Then give thy friend to shed the sacred wine;
Tho’ much thy younger, and his years like mine, 60
He too, I deem, implores the Powers divine:
For all mankind alike require their grace,
All born to want; a miserable race!’
He spake, and to her hand preferr’d the bowl:
A secret pleasure touch’d Athena’s soul, 65
To see the pref’rence due to sacred age
Regarded ever by the just and sage.
Of Ocean’s King she then implores the grace:
‘O thou! whose arms this ample globe embrace,
Fulfil our wish, and let thy glory shine 70
On Nestor first, and Nestor’s royal line;
Next grant the Pylian states their just desires,
Pleas’d with their hecatomb’s ascending fires;
Last, deign Telemachus and me to bless,
And crown our voyage with desired success.’ 75
Thus she: and, having paid the rite divine.
Gave to Ulysses’ son the rosy wine.
Suppliant he pray’d. And now, the victims dress’d,
They draw, divide, and celebrate the feast.
The banquet done, the narrative old man, 80
Thus mild, the pleasing conference began:
‘Now, gentle guests! the genial banquet o’er,
It fits to ask ye, what your native shore,
And whence your race? on what adventure, say,
Thus far you wander thro’ the wat’ry way? 85
Relate, if business, or the thirst of gain,
Engage your journey o’er the pathless main:
Where savage pirates seek thro’ seas unknown
The lives of others, venturous of their own.’
Urged by the precepts by the Goddess giv’n, 90
And fill’d with confidence infused from Heav’n,
The youth, whom Pallas destin’d to be wise
And famed among the sons of men, replies:
‘Inquirest thou, father: from what coast we came?
(Oh grace and glory of the Grecian name!) 95
From where high Ithaca o’erlooks the floods,
Brown with o’er-arching shades and pendent woods,
Us to these shores our filial duty draws,
A private sorrow, not a public cause.
My sire I seek, where’er the voice of Fame 100
Has told the glories of his noble name,
The great Ulysses; famed from shore to shore
For valour much, for hardy suff’ring more.
Long time with thee before proud Ilion’s wall
In arms he fought: with thee beheld her fall. 105
Of all the Chiefs, this hero’s fate alone
Has Jove reserv’d, unheard of, and unknown;
Whether in fields by hostile fury slain,
Or sunk by tempests in the gulfy main,
Of this to learn, oppress’d with tender fears, 110
Lo, at thy knee his suppliant son appears.
If or thy certain eye, or curious ear,
Have learn’d his fate, the whole dark story clear:
And, oh! whate’er Heav’n destin’d to betide,
Let neither flatt’ry smooth, nor pity hide. 115
Prepared I stand: he was but born to try
The lot of man; to suffer, and to die.
Oh then, if ever thro’ the ten years’ war
The wise, the good Ulysses claim’d thy care;
If e’er he join’d thy council, or thy sword, 120
True in his deed, and constant to his word;
Far as thy mind thro’ backward time can see,
Search all thy stores of faithful memory:
‘T is sacred truth I ask, and ask of thee.’
To him experienc’d Nestor thus rejoin’d: 125
‘O friend! what sorrows dost thou bring to mind!
Shall I the long, laborious scene review,
And open all the wounds of Greece anew?
What toils by sea! where dark in quest of prey
Dauntless we roved; Achilles led the way: 130
What toils by land! where, mix’d in fatal fight,
Such numbers fell, such heroes sunk to night:
There Ajax great, Achilles there the brave:
There wise Patroclus, fill an early grave:
There, too, my son — ah! once my best delight, 135
Once swift of foot, and terrible in fight;
In whom stern courage with soft virtue join’d,
A faultless body and a blameless mind:
Antilochus — what more can I relate?
How trace the tedious series of our Fate? 140
Not added years on years my task could close,
The long historian of my country’s woes:
Back to thy native islands might’st thou sail,
And leave half-heard the melancholy tale.
Nine painful years on that detested shore, 145
What stratagems we form’d, what toils we bore!
Still lab’ring on, till scarce at last we found
Great Jove propitious, and our conquest crown’d.
Far o’er the rest thy mighty father shin’d,
In wit, in prudence, and in force of mind. 150
Art thou the son of that illustrious sire?
With joy I grasp thee, and with love admire.
So like your voices, and your words so wise.
Who finds thee younger must consult his eyes.
Thy sire and I were one; nor varied aught 155
In public sentence or in private thought;
Alike to council or th’ assembly came,
With equal souls, and sentiments the same.
But when (by wisdom won) proud Ilion burn’d,
And in their ships the conquering Greeks return’d, 160
‘T was God’s high will the victors to divide,
And turn th’ event, confounding human pride:
Some he destroy’d, some scatter’d as the dust
(Not all were prudent, and not all were just).
Then Discord, sent by Pallas from above, 165
Stern daughter of the great avenger Jove,
The Brother-Kings inspired with fell debate;
Who call’d to council all th’ Achaian state,
But call’d untimely (not the sacred rite
Observ’d, nor heedful of the setting light, 170
Nor herald sworn the session to proclaim);
Sour with debauch, a reeling tribe they came.
To these the cause of meeting they explain,
And Menelaüs moves to cross the main;
Not so the King of Men: he will’d to stay, 175
The sacred rites and hecatombs to pay,
And calm Minerva’s wrath. Oh blind to Fate!
The Gods not lightly change their love, or hate.
With ireful taunts each other they oppose,
Till in loud tumult all the Greeks arose. 180
Now diff’rent counsels ev’ry breast divide,
Each burns with rancour to the adverse side:
Th’ unquiet night strange projects entertain’d
(So Jove, that urged us to our fate, ordain’d).
We with the rising morn our ships unmoor’d, 185
And brought our captives and our stores aboard;
But half the people with respect obey’d
The King
of Men, and at his bidding stay’d.
Now on the wings of winds our course we keep
(For God had smooth’d the waters of the deep); 190
For Tenedos we spread our eager oars,
There land, and pay due victims to the powers:
To bless our safe return, we join in prayer;
But angry Jove dispers’d our vows in air,
And rais’d new discord. Then (so Heav’n decreed) 195
Ulysses first and Nestor disagreed:
Wise as he was, by various counsels sway’d,
He there, tho’ late, to please the Monarch, stay’d.
But I, determin’d, stem the foamy floods,
Warn’d of the coming fury of the Gods. 200
With us Tydides fear’d, and urged his haste:
And Menelaüs came, but came the last:
He join’d our vessels in the Lesbian bay,
While yet we doubted of our wat’ry way;
If to the right to urge the pilot’s toil 205
(The safer road) beside the Psyrian isle;
Or the straight course to rocky Chios plough,
And anchor under Mimas’ shaggy brow?
We sought direction of the Power divine:
The God propitious gave the guiding sign; 210
Thro’ the mid seas he bid our navy steer
And in Eubœa shun the woes we fear.
The whistling winds already waked the sky;
Before the whistling winds the vessels fly;
With rapid swiftness cut the liquid way, 215
And reach Gerestus at the point of day.
There hecatombs of bulls, to Neptune slain,
High-flaming please the Monarch of the Main.
The fourth day shone, when, all their labours o’er,
Tydides’ vessels touch’d the wish’d-for shore. 220
But I to Pylos scud before the gales,
The God still breathing on my swelling sails;
Sep’rate from all I safely landed here;
Alexander Pope - Delphi Poets Series Page 123