Odyssey

Then Telemakhos said, "Eurymakhos, and you other suitors, I shall say no more, and entreat you no further, for the gods and the people of Ithaca now know my story. Give me, then, a ship and a crew of twenty men to take me hither and thither, and I will go to Sparta and to Pylos to inquire about the nostos of my father who has so long been missing. Some one may tell me something, or (and people often hear kleos in this way) some heaven-sent message may direct me. If I can hear of him as alive and achieving his homecoming [ nostos ] I will put up with the waste you suitors will make for yet another twelve months. If on the other hand I hear of his death, I will return at once, celebrate his funeral rites with all due pomp, build a grave marker [ sêma ] to his memory, and make my mother marry again."

OdysseyBook 2, Line 208Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 2

HomerProseID odyssey-odyssey-butler-en-prose-2-208