The Odysseys of Homer, together with the shorter poems

Hermes, the son of Jove and Maia, sing, O Muse, th’ Arcadian and Cyllenian king, They rich in flocks, he heaven enriching still In messages return’d with all his will. Whom glor...

“Arriv’d now at our ship, we launch’d, and set Our mast up, put forth sail, and in did get Our late-got cattle. Up our sails, we went, My wayward fellows mourning now th’ event....

Yet did divine Ulysses keep his roof, And with Minerva plotted still the proof Of all the Wooers’ deaths; when thus his son He taught with these fore-counsels: “We must run A cl...

But when air’s rosy birth, the morn, arose, Telemachus did for the town dispose His early steps; and took to his command His fair long lance, well-sorting with his hand, Thus pa...

Now when the rosy-finger’d Morn arose, The sacred pow’r Alcinous did dispose Did likewise rise; and, like him, left his ease The city-razer Laertiades. The Council at the navy w...

I will remember and express the praise Of heaven’s Far-darter, the fair King of days, Whom even the Gods themselves fear when he goes Through Jove’s high house; and when his goo...

But he the rough way took from forth the port, Through woods and hill-tops, seeking the resort Where Pallas said divine Eumæus liv’d; Who of the fortunes, that were first achiev...

“To the Æolian island we attain’d, That swum about still on the sea, where reign’d The God-lov’d Æolus Hippotades. A wall of steel it had; and in the seas A wave-beat-smooth roc...

Cyllenian Hermes, with his golden rod, The Wooers’ souls, that yet retain’d abode Amidst their bodies, call’d in dreadful rout Forth to th’ Infernals; who came murmuring out. An...

Aurora rose from high-born Tithon’s bed, That men and Gods might be illustrated, And then the Deities sat. Imperial Jove, That makes the horrid murmur beat above, Took place pas...

The man, O Muse, inform, that many a way[1] Wound with his wisdom to his wished stay; That wander’d wondrous far, when he the town Of sacred Troy had sack’d and shiver’d down; T...

The sun now left the great and goodly lake, And to the firm heav’n bright ascent did make, To shine as well upon the mortal birth, Inhabiting the plow’d life-giving earth, As on...

“Our ship now past the straits of th’ ocean flood, She plow’d the broad sea’s billows, and made good The isle Ææa, where the palace stands Of th’ early riser with the rosy hands...

Ulysses and divine Eumæus rose Soon as the morning could her eyes unclose, Made fire, brake fast, and to their pasture send The gather’d herds, on whom their swains attend. The...

The upper rags that wise Ulysses wore Cast off, he rusheth to the great hall door With bow and quiver full of shafts, which down He pour’d before his feet, and thus made known H...

He said; and silence all their tongues contain’d, In admiration, when with pleasure chain’d Their ears had long been to him. At last brake Alcinous silence, and in this sort spa...

There came a common beggar to the court, Who in the city begg’d of all resort, Excell’d in madness of the gut, drunk, ate, Past intermission, was most hugely great, Yet had no f...

Now when with rosy fingers, th’ early born And thrown through all the air, appear’d the Morn, Ulysses’ lov’d son from his bed appear’d, His weeds put on, and did about him gird...

Pallas, the Goddess with the sparkling eyes, Excites Penelope t’ object the prize, The bow and bright steels, to the Wooers’ strength And here began the strife and blood at leng...

Ulysses in the entry laid his head, And under him an ox-hide newly-flay’d, Above him sheep-fells store; and over those Eurynomé cast mantles. His repose Would bring no sleep yet...

The servants thus inform’d, the matron goes Up where the Queen was cast in such repose, Affected with a fervent joy to tell What all this time she did with pain conceal. Her kne...

[3] This four day days’ work (you will say) is too much for one man: and Pliny affirms, that Hiero (a king of Sicily) in five-and forty days built two hundred and twenty ships,...

Receiv’d now in the Spartan court, Telemachus prefers report To Menelaus of the throng Of Wooers with him, and their wrong. Atrides tells the Greeks’ retreat, And doth a prophec...

[3] This familiar and near wanton carriage of Nausicaa to her father, joined with that virgin modesty expressed in her after, is much praised by the gravest of Homer’s expositor...

Of Dionysus, noble Semele’s Son, I now intend to render mention, As on a prominent shore his person shone, Like to a youth whose flow’r was newly blown, Bright azure tresses pla...

Minerva to his native seat. Exhorts Ulysses’ son’s retreat, In bed, and waking. He receives Gifts of Atrides, and so leaves The Spartan court. And, going aboard, Doth favourable...

The force, O Muse, and functions now unfold Of Cyprian Venus, grac’d with mines of gold; Who even in Deities lights love’s sweet desire, And all Death’s kinds of men makes kiss...

Then were my fellows instant to convey Kids, cheeses, lambs, aship-board, and away Sail the salt billow. I thought best not so, But better otherwise; and first would know, What...

Ent’ring the fields, first let my vows call on The Muses’ whole quire out of Helicon Into my heart, for such a poem’s sake, As lately I did in my tables take, And put into repor...

With these last words I fortified my breast, In which again a gen’rous spring began Of fitting comfort, as I was a man; But, as a brother, I must ever mourn. Yet forth I went, a...

The radiant Sun’s divine renown diffuse, Jove’s daughter, great Calliope, my Muse; Whom ox-ey’d Euryphaëssa gave birth To the bright Seed of starry Heaven and Earth. For the far...

[2] Since the Phæacians were not only dwellers by sea, but studious also of sea qualities, their names seem to usurp their faculties therein. All consisting of sea-faring signif...

CHAPMAN’S INTRODUCTION. CERTAIN ANCIENT GREEK EPIGRAMS TRANSLATED. THE FIRST BOOK OF HOMER’S ODYSSEYS THE SECOND BOOK OF HOMER’S ODYSSEYS THE THIRD BOOK OF HOMER’S ODYSSEYS THE...

“O me, Eumæus,” said Laertes’ son, “Hast thou then err’d so of a little one, Like me, from friends and country? Pray thee say, And say a truth, doth vast Destruction lay Her han...

_So wrought divine Ulysses through his woes, So crown’d the light with him his mother’s throes, As through his great Renowner I have wrought, And my safe sail to sacred anchor b...

She straight replied: ‘I’ll utter truth in all: When heav’n’s supremest height the sun doth skall, The old Sea-tell-truth leaves the deeps, and hides Amidst a black storm, when...

[1] _Πέλειαι τρήρωνες. Columbæ timidæ._ What these doves were, and the whole mind of this place, the great Macedon asking Chiron Amphipolites, he answered: They were the Pleiade...

[1] The information or fashion of an absolute man; and necessary (or fatal) passage through many afflictions (according with the most Sacred Letter) to his natural haven and cou...

[2] This place suffers different construction in all the Commentors: in which all err from the mind of the Poet, as in a hundred other places (which yet I want time to approve)...

[3] For the more perspicuity of this pedigree, I have here set down the diagram, as Spondanus hath it. Neptune begat Nausithous of Peribœa. By Nausithous, Rhexenor, Alcinous, we...

He shows from Hell his safe retreat To th’ isle Ææa, Circe’s seat; And how he ’scap’d the Sirens’ calls, With th’ erring rocks, and waters’ falls, That Scylla and Charybdis brea...

Telemachus, and Heav’n’s wise Dame That never husband had, now came To Nestor; who his either guest Receiv’d at the religious feast He made to Neptune, on his shore; And there t...

[1] _’Αΐδηλον ὅμιλον, ἀΐδηλος of ἀΐδης, orcus,_ and signifies properly _tenebricosus,_ or _infernalis,_ so that _perniciosus_ (which is the Latin translation) is not so fit as d...

[1] _Χοὶνικος ἅπτηται,_ they will needs turn this, _quadram_ (for _modium) gustet._ Though the words bear no such signification, but give a proverb then in use repetition, which...

Ulysses and rogue Irus fight. Penelope vouchsafes her sight To all her Wooers; who present Gifts to her, ravish’d with content. A certain parlé then we sing. Betwixt a Wooer and...

Penelope proposeth now To him that draws Ulysses’ bow Her instant nuptials. Ithacus Eumæus and Philœtius Gives charge for guarding of the gates; And he his shaft shoots through...

Ulysses and his son eschew Offending of the Wooers’ view With any armour. His birth’s seat, Ulysses tells his Queen, is Crete, Euryclea the truth yet found, Discover’d by a scar...