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The Odyssey, Book I
Οδύσσεια, Βίβλος Α
  1. Tell me, O Muse, of the man of many devices, who wandered full many ways
    ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ
  2. after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy.
    πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσεν:
  3. Many were the men whose cities he saw and whose mind he learned,
    πολλῶν δ' ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω,
  4. aye, and many the woes he suffered in his heart upon the sea,
    πολλὰ δ' ὅ γ' ἐν πόντῳ πάθεν ἄλγεα ὃν κατὰ θυμόν,
  5. seeking to win his own life and the return of his comrades.
    ἀρνύμενος ἥν τε ψυχὴν καὶ νόστον ἑταίρων.
  6. Yet even so he saved not his comrades, though he desired it sore,
    ἀλλ' οὐδ' ὣς ἑτάρους ἐρρύσατο, ἱέμενός περ:
  7. for through their own blind folly they perished—
    αὐτῶν γὰρ σφετέρῃσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὄλοντο,
  8. fools, who devoured the kine of Helios Hyperion;
    νήπιοι, οἳ κατὰ βοῦς Ὑπερίονος Ἠελίοιο
  9. but he took from them the day of their returning.
    ἤσθιον: αὐτὰρ ὁ τοῖσιν ἀφείλετο νόστιμον ἦμαρ.
  10. Of these things, goddess, daughter of Zeus, beginning where thou wilt, tell thou even unto us.
    τῶν ἁμόθεν γε, θεά, θύγατερ Διός, εἰπὲ καὶ ἡμῖν.

  11. Now all the rest, as many as had escaped sheer destruction,
    ἔνθ' ἄλλοι μὲν πάντες, ὅσοι φύγον αἰπὺν ὄλεθρον,
  12. were at home, safe from both war and sea,
    οἴκοι ἔσαν, πόλεμόν τε πεφευγότες ἠδὲ θάλασσαν:
  13. but Odysseus alone, filled with longing for his return and for his wife,
    τὸν δ' οἶον νόστου κεχρημένον ἠδὲ γυναικὸς
  14. did the queenly nymph Calypso, that bright goddess,
    νύμφη πότνι' ἔρυκε Καλυψὼ δῖα θεάων
  15. keep back in her hollow caves, yearning that he should be her husband.
    ἐν σπέσσι γλαφυροῖσι, λιλαιομένη πόσιν εἶναι.
  16. But when, as the seasons revolved, the year came
    ἀλλ' ὅτε δὴ ἔτος ἦλθε περιπλομένων ἐνιαυτῶν,
  17. in which the gods had ordained that he should return home
    τῷ οἱ ἐπεκλώσαντο θεοὶ οἶκόνδε νέεσθαι
  18. to Ithaca, not even there was he free from toils,
    εἰς Ἰθάκην, οὐδ' ἔνθα πεφυγμένος ἦεν ἀέθλων
  19. even among his own folk. And all the gods pitied him
    καὶ μετὰ οἷσι φίλοισι. θεοὶ δ' ἐλέαιρον ἅπαντες
  20. save Poseidon; but he continued to rage unceasingly
    νόσφι Ποσειδάωνος: ὁ δ' ἀσπερχὲς μενέαινεν
  21. against godlike Odysseus until at length he reached his own land.
    ἀντιθέῳ Ὀδυσῆι πάρος ἣν γαῖαν ἱκέσθαι.

  22. Howbeit Poseidon had gone among the far-off Ethiopians—
    ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν Αἰθίοπας μετεκίαθε τηλόθ' ἐόντας,
  23. the Ethiopians who dwell sundered in twain, the farthermost of men,
    Αἰθίοπας τοὶ διχθὰ δεδαίαται, ἔσχατοι ἀνδρῶν,
  24. some where Hyperion sets and some where he rises,
    οἱ μὲν δυσομένου Ὑπερίονος οἱ δ' ἀνιόντος,
  25. there to receive a hecatomb of bulls and rams,
    ἀντιόων ταύρων τε καὶ ἀρνειῶν ἑκατόμβης.
  26. and there he was taking his joy, sitting at the feast; but the other gods
    ἔνθ' ὅ γ' ἐτέρπετο δαιτὶ παρήμενος: οἱ δὲ δὴ ἄλλοι
  27. were gathered together in the halls of Olympian Zeus.
    Ζηνὸς ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν Ὀλυμπίου ἁθρόοι ἦσαν.
  28. Among them the father of gods and men was first to speak,
    τοῖσι δὲ μύθων ἦρχε πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε:
  29. for in his heart he thought of noble Aegisthus,
    μνήσατο γὰρ κατὰ θυμὸν ἀμύμονος Αἰγίσθοιο,
  30. whom far-famed Orestes, Agamemnon's son, had slain.
    τόν ῥ' Ἀγαμεμνονίδης τηλεκλυτὸς ἔκταν' Ὀρέστης:
  31. Thinking on him he spoke among the immortals, and said:
    τοῦ ὅ γ' ἐπιμνησθεὶς ἔπε' ἀθανάτοισι μετηύδα:

  32. “Look you now, how ready mortals are to blame the gods.
    "ὢ πόποι, οἷον δή νυ θεοὺς βροτοὶ αἰτιόωνται:
  33. It is from us, they say, that evils come, but they even of themselves,
    ἐξ ἡμέων γάρ φασι κάκ' ἔμμεναι, οἱ δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ
  34. through their own blind folly, have sorrows beyond that which is ordained.
    σφῇσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὑπὲρ μόρον ἄλγε' ἔχουσιν,
  35. Even as now Aegisthus, beyond that which was ordained, took to himself
    ὡς καὶ νῦν Αἴγισθος ὑπὲρ μόρον Ἀτρεί̈δαο
  36. the wedded wife of the son of Atreus, and slew him on his return,
    γῆμ' ἄλοχον μνηστήν, τὸν δ' ἔκτανε νοστήσαντα,
  37. though well he knew of sheer destruction, seeing that we spake to him before,
    εἰδὼς αἰπὺν ὄλεθρον, ἐπεὶ πρό οἱ εἴπομεν ἡμεῖς,
  38. sending Hermes, the keen-sighted Argeiphontes,
    Ἑρμείαν πέμψαντες, ἐύσκοπον ἀργεϊφόντην,
  39. that he should neither slay the man nor woo his wife;
    μήτ' αὐτὸν κτείνειν μήτε μνάασθαι ἄκοιτιν:
  40. for from Orestes shall come vengeance for the son of Atreus
    ἐκ γὰρ Ὀρέσταο τίσις ἔσσεται Ἀτρεί̈δαο,
  41. when once he has come to manhood and longs for his own land.
    ὁππότ' ἂν ἡβήσῃ τε καὶ ἧς ἱμείρεται αἴης.
  42. So Hermes spoke, but for all his good intent he prevailed not upon the heart of Aegisthus;
    ὣς ἔφαθ' Ἑρμείας, ἀλλ' οὐ φρένας Αἰγίσθοιο
  43. and now he has paid the full price of all.”
    πεῖθ' ἀγαθὰ φρονέων: νῦν δ' ἁθρόα πάντ' ἀπέτισεν."
  44. Then the goddess, flashing-eyed Athena, answered him:
    τὸν δ' ἠμείβετ' ἔπειτα θεά, γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη:

  45. “Father of us all, thou son of Cronos, high above all lords,
    "ὦ πάτερ ἡμέτερε Κρονίδη, ὕπατε κρειόντων,
  46. aye, verily that man lies low in a destruction that is his due;
    καὶ λίην κεῖνός γε ἐοικότι κεῖται ὀλέθρῳ:
  47. so, too, may any other also be destroyed who does such deeds.
    ὡς ἀπόλοιτο καὶ ἄλλος, ὅτις τοιαῦτά γε ῥέζοι:
  48. But my heart is torn for wise Odysseus,
    ἀλλά μοι ἀμφ' Ὀδυσῆι δαί̈φρονι δαίεται ἦτορ,
  49. hapless man, who far from his friends has long been suffering woes
    δυσμόρῳ, ὃς δὴ δηθὰ φίλων ἄπο πήματα πάσχει
  50. in a sea-girt isle, where is the navel of the sea.
    νήσῳ ἐν ἀμφιρύτῃ, ὅθι τ' ὀμφαλός ἐστι θαλάσσης.
  51. 'Tis a wooded isle, and therein dwells a goddess,
    νῆσος δενδρήεσσα, θεὰ δ' ἐν δώματα ναίει,
  52. daughter of Atlas of baneful mind, who knows the depths of every sea,
    Ἄτλαντος θυγάτηρ ὀλοόφρονος, ὅς τε θαλάσσης
    πάσης βένθεα οἶδεν, ἔχει δέ τε κίονας αὐτὸς
  54. and himself holds the tall pillars which keep earth and heaven apart.
    μακράς, αἳ γαῖάν τε καὶ οὐρανὸν ἀμφὶς ἔχουσιν.
  55. His daughter it is that keeps back that wretched, sorrowing man;
    τοῦ θυγάτηρ δύστηνον ὀδυρόμενον κατερύκει,
  56. and ever with soft and wheedling words
    αἰεὶ δὲ μαλακοῖσι καὶ αἱμυλίοισι λόγοισιν
  57. she beguiles him that he may forget Ithaca. But Odysseus,
    θέλγει, ὅπως Ἰθάκης ἐπιλήσεται: αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεύς,
  58. in his longing to see were it but the smoke leaping up
    ἱέμενος καὶ καπνὸν ἀποθρῴσκοντα νοῆσαι
  59. from his own land, yearns to die. Yet,
    ἧς γαίης, θανέειν ἱμείρεται. οὐδέ νυ σοί περ
  60. thy heart doth not regard it, Olympian. Did not Odysseus
    ἐντρέπεται φίλον ἦτορ, Ὀλύμπιε. οὔ νύ τ' Ὀδυσσεὺς
  61. beside the ships of the Argives offer thee sacrifice without stint
    Ἀργείων παρὰ νηυσὶ χαρίζετο ἱερὰ ῥέζων
  62. in the broad land of Troy? Wherefore then didst thou conceive such wrath against him, O Zeus?”
    Τροίῃ ἐν εὐρείῃ; τί νύ οἱ τόσον ὠδύσαο, Ζεῦ;"
  63. ...



Book II