Odyssey

Tell me, O Muse, of that many-sided hero who traveled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy . Many cities did he visit, and many were the people with whose customs and thinking [ noos ] he was acquainted; many things he suffered at sea while seeking to save his own life [ psukhê ] and to achieve the safe homecoming [ nostos ] of his companions; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer recklessness in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Helios; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, as you have told those who came before me, about all these things, O daughter of Zeus, starting from whatsoever point you choose.

OdysseyBook 1, Line 1Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 1

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