Verse
Odyssey
Book 14, Line 148 by Samuel Butler (English)
"My friend," replied Odysseus, "you are very positive, and very hard of belief about your master's coming home again, nevertheless I will not merely say, but will swear, that he is coming. Do not give me anything for my news till he has actually come, you may then give me a shirt and cloak of good wear if you will. I am in great want, but I will not take anything at all till then, for hateful [ ekhthros ] is the man, as hateful as Hades, who lets his poverty tempt him into lying. I swear by king Zeus, by the rites of hospitality, and by that hearth of Odysseus to which I have now come, that all will surely happen as I have said it will. Odysseus will return in this self same year; with the end of this moon and the beginning of the next he will be here to do vengeance on all those who are ill treating his wife and son."
OdysseyBook 14, Line 148Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 14
HomerProseID odyssey-odyssey-butler-en-prose-14-148