§1.1ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ §1.2πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσεν·
Tell me, Muse, of the man of many devices, who full many a time was driven off course, after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy.
§1.3πολλῶν δʼ ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω, §1.4πολλὰ δʼ ὅ γʼ ἐν πόντῳ πάθεν ἄλγεα ὃν κατὰ θυμόν, §1.5ἀρνύμενος ἥν τε ψυχὴν καὶ νόστον ἑταίρων.
Many were the men whose cities he saw and whose mind he learned, and many were the pains he suffered in his heart upon the sea, seeking to win his own life and the return of his comrades.
§1.6ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ὣς ἑτάρους ἐρρύσατο, ἱέμενός περ· §1.7αὐτῶν γὰρ σφετέρῃσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὄλοντο, §1.8νήπιοι, οἳ κατὰ βοῦς Ὑπερίονος Ἠελίοιο §1.9ἤσθιον· αὐτὰρ ὁ τοῖσιν ἀφείλετο νόστιμον ἦμαρ.
Yet not even so did he save his comrades, though he desired it sore; for through their own blind folly they perished, fools, who devoured the cattle of Hyperion Helios; and he took from them the day of their returning.
§1.10τῶν ἁμόθεν γε, θεά, θύγατερ Διός, εἰπὲ καὶ ἡμῖν.
Of these things, goddess, daughter of Zeus, from what point you will, tell to us also.
§1.11ἔνθʼ ἄλλοι μὲν πάντες, ὅσοι φύγον αἰπὺν ὄλεθρον, §1.12οἴκοι ἔσαν, πόλεμόν τε πεφευγότες ἠδὲ θάλασσαν· §1.13τὸν δʼ οἶον νόστου κεχρημένον ἠδὲ γυναικὸς §1.14νύμφη πότνιʼ ἔρυκε Καλυψὼ δῖα θεάων §1.15ἐν σπέσσι γλαφυροῖσι, λιλαιομένη πόσιν εἶναι.
Then all the others, as many as had escaped sheer destruction, were at home, having escaped both war and the sea; but him alone, filled with longing for his return and for his wife, did the queenly nymph Calypso detaining, that bright goddess, in her hollow caves, yearning to have him as her husband.
§1.16ἀλλʼ ὅτε δὴ ἔτος ἦλθε περιπλομένων ἐνιαυτῶν, §1.17τῷ οἱ ἐπεκλώσαντο θεοὶ οἶκόνδε νέεσθαι §1.18εἰς Ἰθάκην, οὐδʼ ἔνθα πεφυγμένος ἦεν ἀέθλων §1.19καὶ μετὰ οἷσι φίλοισι.
But when, as the years rolled round, the year came in which the gods had spun his destiny that he should return home to Ithaca—even there he was not free from trials, even among his own folk.
θεοὶ δʼ ἐλέαιρον ἅπαντες §1.20νόσφι Ποσειδάωνος· ὁ δʼ ἀσπερχὲς μενέαινεν §1.21ἀντιθέῳ Ὀδυσῆι πάρος ἣν γαῖαν ἱκέσθαι.
And all the gods pitied him, save Poseidon; but he raged continually against godlike Odysseus until he reached his own land.
§1.22ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν Αἰθίοπας μετεκίαθε τηλόθʼ ἐόντας, §1.23Αἰθίοπας τοὶ διχθὰ δεδαίαται, ἔσχατοι ἀνδρῶν, §1.24οἱ μὲν δυσομένου Ὑπερίονος οἱ δʼ ἀνιόντος, §1.25ἀντιόων ταύρων τε καὶ ἀρνειῶν ἑκατόμβης.
But Poseidon had gone to the Ethiopians who dwell afar off, the Ethiopians who are divided in two, the outermost of men, some where Hyperion sets and some where he rises, to receive a hecatomb of bulls and rams.
§1.26ἔνθʼ ὅ γʼ ἐτέρπετο δαιτὶ παρήμενος· οἱ δὲ δὴ ἄλλοι §1.27Ζηνὸς ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν Ὀλυμπίου ἁθρόοι ἦσαν.
There he sat at the feast and took his joy; but the other gods were gathered together in the halls of Olympian Zeus.
§1.28τοῖσι δὲ μύθων ἦρχε πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε· §1.29μνήσατο γὰρ κατὰ θυμὸν ἀμύμονος Αἰγίσθοιο, §1.30τόν ῥʼ Ἀγαμεμνονίδης τηλεκλυτὸς ἔκτανʼ Ὀρέστης·
And among them the father of men and gods began to speak; for he remembered in his heart noble Aegisthus, whom far-famed Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, had slain.
§1.31τοῦ ὅ γʼ ἐπιμνησθεὶς ἔπεʼ ἀθανάτοισι μετηύδα· §1.32ὢ πόποι, οἷον δή νυ θεοὺς βροτοὶ αἰτιόωνται·
Mindful of him he spoke among the immortals: "Ah, how shameless are these mortals in their accusations of the gods!
§1.33ἐξ ἡμέων γάρ φασι κάκʼ ἔμμεναι, οἱ δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ §1.34σφῇσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὑπὲρ μόρον ἄλγεʼ ἔχουσιν,
For they say that evil comes from us, whereas they themselves through their own blind folly have sorrows beyond what is ordained.
§1.35ὡς καὶ νῦν Αἴγισθος ὑπὲρ μόρον Ἀτρεΐδαο §1.36γῆμʼ ἄλοχον μνηστήν, τὸν δʼ ἔκτανε νοστήσαντα, §1.37εἰδὼς αἰπὺν ὄλεθρον, ἐπεὶ πρό οἱ εἴπομεν ἡμεῖς, §1.38Ἑρμείαν πέμψαντες, ἐύσκοπον ἀργεϊφόντην, §1.39μήτʼ αὐτὸν κτείνειν μήτε μνάασθαι ἄκοιτιν· §1.40ἐκ γὰρ Ὀρέσταο τίσις ἔσσεται Ἀτρεΐδαο, §1.41ὁππότʼ ἂν ἡβήσῃ τε καὶ ἧς ἱμείρεται αἴης.
Even as now Aegisthus, beyond what was ordained, took to himself the wedded wife of the son of Atreus, and slew him on his return, though he knew of sheer destruction, since we forewarned him, sending Hermes, the keen-sighted slayer of Argus, that he should neither slay the man nor woo his wife; for from Orestes shall come vengeance for the son of Atreus, whensoever he shall come to manhood and long for his own land.
§1.42ὣς ἔφαθʼ Ἑρμείας, ἀλλʼ οὐ φρένας Αἰγίσθοιο §1.43πεῖθʼ ἀγαθὰ φρονέων· νῦν δʼ ἁθρόα πάντʼ ἀπέτισεν. §1.44τὸν δʼ ἠμείβετʼ ἔπειτα θεά, γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη· §1.45ὦ πάτερ ἡμέτερε Κρονίδη, ὕπατε κρειόντων, §1.46καὶ λίην κεῖνός γε ἐοικότι κεῖται ὀλέθρῳ· §1.47ὡς ἀπόλοιτο καὶ ἄλλος, ὅτις τοιαῦτά γε ῥέζοι·
So spoke Hermes, but he did not persuade the heart of Aegisthus, for all his good intent; and now he has paid the price for all at once." And him the goddess, flashing-eyed Athena, answered then: "Our father, son of Cronus, highest of ruling powers, indeed that man lies low in a fitting destruction; so perish also any other who does such deeds!
§1.48ἀλλά μοι ἀμφʼ Ὀδυσῆι δαΐφρονι δαίεται ἦτορ, §1.49δυσμόρῳ, ὃς δὴ δηθὰ φίλων ἄπο πήματα πάσχει §1.50νήσῳ ἐν ἀμφιρύτῃ, ὅθι τʼ ὀμφαλός ἐστι θαλάσσης.
But my heart is torn for wise Odysseus, ill-fated man, who far from his friends has long been suffering woes in a seagirt island, where is the navel of the sea.
§1.51νῆσος δενδρήεσσα, θεὰ δʼ ἐν δώματα ναίει, §1.52Ἄτλαντος θυγάτηρ ὀλοόφρονος, ὅς τε θαλάσσης §1.53πάσης βένθεα οἶδεν, ἔχει δέ τε κίονας αὐτὸς §1.54μακράς, αἳ γαῖάν τε καὶ οὐρανὸν ἀμφὶς ἔχουσιν.
A wooded island it is, and a goddess has her dwelling there, the daughter of Atlas of baneful mind, who knows the depths of all the sea, and himself keeps the pillars tall, which hold earth and heaven apart.
§1.55τοῦ θυγάτηρ δύστηνον ὀδυρόμενον κατερύκει, §1.56αἰεὶ δὲ μαλακοῖσι καὶ αἱμυλίοισι λόγοισιν §1.57θέλγει, ὅπως Ἰθάκης ἐπιλήσεται· αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεύς, §1.58ἱέμενος καὶ καπνὸν ἀποθρῴσκοντα νοῆσαι §1.59ἧς γαίης, θανέειν ἱμείρεται.
His daughter it is who keeps back that wretched, sorrowing man, and ever with soft and wheedling words beguiles him, so that he may forget Ithaca; but Odysseus, yearning to see even the smoke leaping up from his own land, longs to die.
οὐδέ νυ σοί περ §1.60ἐντρέπεται φίλον ἦτορ, Ὀλύμπιε.
And yet your heart is not turned, Olympian.
Did not Odysseus please you by offering sacrifices near the ships of the Argives in wide Troy?
τί νύ οἱ τόσον ὠδύσαο, Ζεῦ; §1.63τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη νεφεληγερέτα Ζεύς· §1.64τέκνον ἐμόν, ποῖόν σε ἔπος φύγεν ἕρκος ὀδόντων.
Why then are you so wroth with him, Zeus?" Then cloud-gathering Zeus answered her and said: "My child, what a word has escaped the barrier of your teeth!
§1.65πῶς ἂν ἔπειτʼ Ὀδυσῆος ἐγὼ θείοιο λαθοίμην, §1.66ὃς περὶ μὲν νόον ἐστὶ βροτῶν, περὶ δʼ ἱρὰ θεοῖσιν §1.67ἀθανάτοισιν ἔδωκε, τοὶ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἔχουσιν;
How could I ever forget godlike Odysseus, who is beyond all mortals in wisdom, and beyond all has offered sacrifice to the immortal gods, who hold the wide heaven?
§1.68ἀλλὰ Ποσειδάων γαιήοχος ἀσκελὲς αἰεὶ §1.69Κύκλωπος κεχόλωται, ὃν ὀφθαλμοῦ ἀλάωσεν, §1.70ἀντίθεον Πολύφημον, ὅου κράτος ἐστὶ μέγιστον §1.71πᾶσιν Κυκλώπεσσι·
But Poseidon, the earth-enfolder, is stubbornly wroth because of the Cyclops whom Odysseus blinded of his eye, even godlike Polyphemus, whose strength is greatest among all the Cyclopes.
Θόωσα δέ μιν τέκε νύμφη, §1.72Φόρκυνος θυγάτηρ ἁλὸς ἀτρυγέτοιο μέδοντος, §1.73ἐν σπέσσι γλαφυροῖσι Ποσειδάωνι μιγεῖσα.
The nymph Thoosa bore him, daughter of Phorcys, lord of the barren sea, after she lay with Poseidon in the hollow caves.
Since that time Poseidon, the shaker of the earth, does not indeed slay Odysseus, but drives him wandering from his native land.
§1.76ἀλλʼ ἄγεθʼ, ἡμεῖς οἵδε περιφραζώμεθα πάντες
But come, let us who are here all take counsel