Odyssey
E
Ἠὼς δ᾿ ἐκ λεχέων παρ᾿ ἀγαυοῦ Τιθωνοῖο ὤρνυθ᾿, ἵν᾿ ἀθανάτοισι φόως φέροι ἠδὲ βροτοῖσιν· οἱ δὲ θεοὶ θῶκόνδε καθίζανον, ἐν δ᾿ ἄρα τοῖσι Ζεὺς ὑψιβρεμέτης, οὗ τε κράτος ἐστὶ μέγιστον. 5τοῖσι δ᾿ Ἀθηναίη λέγε κήδεα πόλλ᾿ Ὀδυσῆος μνησαμένη· μέλε γάρ οἱ ἐὼν ἐν δώμασι νύμφης·
“Ζεῦ πάτερ ἠδ᾿ ἄλλοι μάκαρες θεοὶ αἰὲν ἐόντες, μή τις ἔτι πρόφρων ἀγανὸς καὶ ἤπιος ἔστω σκηπτοῦχος βασιλεύς, μηδὲ φρεσὶν αἴσιμα εἰδώς, 10ἀλλ᾿ αἰεὶ χαλεπός τ᾿ εἴη καὶ αἴσυλα ῥέζοι· ὡς οὔ τις μέμνηται Ὀδυσσῆος θείοιο λαῶν οἷσιν ἄνασσε, πατὴρ δ᾿ ὣς ἤπιος ἦεν. ἀλλ᾿ ὁ μὲν ἐν νήσῳ κεῖται κρατέρ᾿ ἄλγεα πάσχων νύμφης ἐν μεγάροισι Καλυψοῦς, ἥ μιν ἀνάγκῃ 15ἴσχει· ὁ δ᾿ οὐ δύναται ἣν πατρίδα γαῖαν ἱκέσθαι· οὐ γάρ οἱ πάρα νῆες ἐπήρετμοι καὶ ἑταῖροι, οἵ κέν μιν πέμποιεν ἐπ᾿ εὐρέα νῶτα θαλάσσης. νῦν αὖ παῖδ᾿ ἀγαπητὸν ἀποκτεῖναι μεμάασιν οἴκαδε νισόμενον· ὁ δ᾿ ἔβη μετὰ πατρὸς ἀκουὴν 20ἐς Πύλον ἠγαθέην ἠδ᾿ ἐς Λακεδαίμονα δῖαν.”
τὴν δ᾿ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη νεφεληγερέτα Ζεύς· “τέκνον ἐμόν, ποῖόν σε ἔπος φύγεν ἕρκος ὀδόντων.
Book 5
Book 5
Now Dawn arose from her couch from beside lordly Tithonus, to bear light to the immortals and to mortal men. And the gods were sitting down to council, and among them Zeus, who thunders on high, whose might is supreme. To them Athene was recounting the many woes of Odysseus, as she called them to mind; for it troubled her that he remained in the dwelling of the nymph:
“Father Zeus, and you other blessed gods that are forever, never hence forward let sceptered king with a ready heart be kind and gentle, nor let him heed righteousness in his mind; but let him ever be harsh, and deal unjustly, seeing that no one remembers divine Odysseus of the people whose lord he was, although gentle was he as a father. Yet he lies in an island suffering grievous pains, in the halls of the nymph Calypso, who keeps him perforce, and he cannot return to his own land, for he has at hand no ships with oars and no comrades to send him on his way over the broad back of the sea; and now again they are minded to slay his well-loved son on his homeward way, for he went in quest of tidings of his father to sacred Pylos and to splendid Lacedaemon.”
Then Zeus, the cloud-gatherer, answered her, and said: “My child, what a word has escaped the barrier of your