manon’s Reviews > The Odyssey > Status Update

“‘So you are back, Telemachus, light of my eyes!’ he said in tears, and his words flew. ‘And I thought I would never see you again, once you had sailed for Pylos! Come in, come in, dear child, and let me feast my eyes on the wanderer just home. We herdsmen see little of you here on the farm: ypu are always in the town. It seems though you found it amusing to watch that pernicious gang of Suitors!’”

“‘Anyone who met you , even a god, would have to be a consummate trickster to surpass you in subterfuge. You were always an obstinate, cunning and irrepressible intriguer. So you don’t propose, even in your own country, to drop the tricks and lying tales you love so much!“

“Next after him I observed the mighty Heracles - his wraith, that is to say, since he himself banquets at ease with the immortal gods and has for wife Hebe of the slim ankles, the daughter of almighty Zeus and golden-sandalled Hera. From the dead around him there rose a clamour like the noise of wild fowl taking off in alarm.“

“‘“My friends,” I said, “we may be miserable, but we are not going down to the house of Hades yet, not till our time has come. Get up, and while there’s food and drink on board, let us have something to eat instead of dying here of starvation.””

“‘But my temper was up; their words did not dissuade me, and in my rage I shouted back at him once more: “Cyclops, if anyone ever asks you how you came by your blindness, tell him your eye was put out by Odysseus, sacker of cities, the son of Laertes, who lives in Ithaca.”

“With a black look the nimble-witted Odysseus retorted: ‘That, sir, was an unbecoming speech; you strike me as a presumptuous fool. And it shows that the gods do not grave men equally with the attributes of good looks, brains and eloquence.“

“When she had finished, bright-eyed Athene withdrew to Olympus, where people say the gods have made their everlasting home. Shaken by no wind, drenched by no showers, and invaded by no snows, it is set in cloudless limpid air with a white radiance playing over all. There the blessed gods spend their days in pleasure, and there the Lady of the Bright Eyes went when she had spoken to the girl.”

“Yet directly he got his wind and breath came into his lungs, he unwound the goddess’ veil from his waist and let it drop into the river as it rushed out to sea. The strong current swept it downstream and in a moment it was in Ino’s hands. Odysseus turned away from the river, threw himself down in the reeds and kissed the bountiful earth.”

“‘Back comes the lion to his lair, and the fawns meet a grisly fate — as will the Suitors at Odysseus’ hand. Once, in the pleasant isle of Lesbos I saw him stand up to Philomeleides in a wrestling-match and bring him down with a mighty throw which delighted all the Acheans. By Father Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, that’s the Odysseus I should like to see these Suitors meet.”

“‘Back comes the lion to his lair, and the fawns meet a grisly fate — as will the Suitors at Odysseus’ hand. Once, in the pleasant isle of Lesbos I saw him stand up to Philomeleides in a wrestling-match and bring him down with a mighty throw which delighted all the Acheans. By Father Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, that’s the Odysseus I should like to see these Suitors meet.”