he has the power. Sit here then and eat,
and I will entertain you with a story.
Enjoy it; it is fitting to the times.
I cannot tell of all the challenges240
steadfast Odysseus has undergone.
But I will tell you what that brave man did
at Troy, when the Achaeans were in trouble.
He beat himself and bruised his body badly
and put a ragged cloak on, like a slave,
then shuffled through the enemy city streets.
In his disguise he seemed a poor old beggar,
hardly a man to sail with the Achaeans.
He crept through Troy like that, and no one knew him
except for me. I saw through his disguise250
and questioned him. He was too smart to talk,
acting evasive. But I washed and scrubbed him
with oil and dressed him, and I swore an oath
that I would not reveal him to the Trojans
before he had got back to his own camp.
He told me all the things the Greeks were planning.
On his way back, he used his long bronze sword
to slaughter many Trojans, and he brought
useful intelligence to tell the Greeks.
The Trojan women keened in grief, but I260
was glad—by then I wanted to go home.
I wished that Aphrodite had not made me
go crazy, when she took me from my country,
and made me leave my daughter and the bed
I shared with my fine, handsome, clever husband.”
And Menelaus said,
“Yes, wife, quite right.
I have been round the world, and I have met
many heroic men and known their minds.
I never saw a man so resolute
as that Odysseus. How tough he was!270
And what impressive fortitude he showed
inside the Wooden Horse! We fighters lurked
inside, to bring destruction to the Trojans.
You came there too. Some spirit who desired
to glorify the Trojans urged you on.
Godlike Deiphobus was following you.
Three times you went around the hollow belly,
touching the hiding place, and calling on
us Greeks by name; you put on different voices
for each man’s wife. Then I and Diomedes280
and good Odysseus, inside the horse,
heard you call out to us, and we two wanted
to go out, or to answer from in there.
Odysseus prevented us from going.
Then all the other sons of the Achaeans
were quiet; Anticlus still wished to answer.
Odysseus’ hands clamped shut his mouth
and saved us all. He held him there like that,
until Athena led you far away.”
Weighing these words, Telemachus replied,290
“But Menelaus, all this makes it worse!
My father’s courage could not save his life,
even if he had had a heart of iron.
So now, show us to bed. We need the comfort
of being lulled into a sweet deep sleep.”
Then Argive Helen told her girls to spread
beds on the porch and pile on them fine rugs
of purple, and lay blankets over them,
with woolly covers on the very top.
The girls went out with torches in their hands300
and made the beds. A slave led out the guests.
Telemachus and Nestor’s handsome son
slept in the front room; Menelaus slept
far back inside the lofty house. Beside him
lay marvelous Helen, in her flowing gown.
Soon Dawn was born, her fingers bright with roses.
Gruff Menelaus jumped up out of bed,
got dressed and strapped his sharp sword to his shoulder,
then tied his sandals on his well-oiled feet.
He went out of his bedroom like a god,310
approached Telemachus, and spoke to him.
“What need has brought you here, Telemachus,
to Sparta, over such expanse of sea?
Private or public business? Tell me truly!”
Telemachus inhaled and then replied,
“King Menelaus, son of Atreus,
I came in search of news about my father.
My house is being eaten up; our wealth
is ruined. My whole home is full of men
who mean me harm—my mother’s loutish suitors.320
Each day they kill more sheep, more longhorn cattle.
So I am begging you, here on my knees,
tell me the dreadful news, if he is dead!
Perhaps you saw it with your eyes, or heard
tales of his travels. He was surely born
to suffer in extraordinary ways.
Please do not try to sweeten bitter news
from pity; tell me truly if you saw him,
and how he was. If my heroic father
ever helped you at Troy when things were bad,330
keep that in mind right now, and tell the truth.”
Flushed, Menelaus shouted out in anger,
“Damn them! Those cowards want to steal the bed
of one whose heart is braver than their own.
As when a deer lays down two newborn fawns,
still sucklings, in the lair of some strong lion,
and goes to look for pasture, over slopes
and grassy valleys; when the lion comes back
to his own bed, he brings down doom on them—
so will Odysseus upon those men.340
O Father Zeus, Athena, and Apollo,
I pray he is as strong as when he stood
to wrestle Philomeleides, on Lesbos,
and hurled him to the ground, and we all cheered.
So may Odysseus attack the suitors.
May all their lives be brief, their weddings cursed!
As for your questions, I will not deceive you.
I will not hide a single word I heard
from that old Sea God Proteus. Although
I longed to come back home, away from Egypt,350
the gods prevented me, since I had failed
to offer perfect hecatombs. They always
desire obedience. There is an island
out in the sea beside the coast of Egypt,
named Pharos. If a clear wind blows your ship,
it takes all day to travel to that island.
Its harbor has good anchorage, and there
men draw dark water up, and then launch off
to sea. But I was held for twenty days
by gods. No winds appeared to guide my ships360
across the water’s back. All our supplies
would have been gone, and all our hope; but then
a goddess, Eidothea, pitied me—
the child of Proteus, the old sea god.
She met me pacing sadly all alone.
My men were off around the island, fishing
with hooks, as usual—hunger pinched their bellies.
She stood beside me and she spoke to me.
‘Stranger, are you so foolish that you choose
to give up, and take pleasure in your pain? 370
There is no end in sight; you have been stuck
here on this island for so long. Your men
grow weak at heart.’ I answered her and said,
‘Whoever you may be—for sure a goddess—
I tell you I am trapped against my will.
I must have sinned against the deathless gods
who live in heaven. Please explain which spirit
is blocking me from going home across
the teeming sea. Gods must know everything.’
That shining goddess answered me at once, 380
‘Stranger, I will be frank with you. A deathless
old sea god haunts this place, named Proteus
of Egypt, who can speak infallibly,
who knows the depths of seas, and serves Poseidon.
They say he is the one who fathered me.
If you can somehow lie in wait and catch him,
he will explain how you can get back home,
plotting your path where fish leap through the waters.
And if you wish it, prince, he will explain
what happened in your home, both good and bad, 390
while you were gone on this long, painful journey.’
Those were her words. I answered, ‘Tell me, please,
how I can trap this ancient god, so he
will not see me too soon, and get away.
It is not easy for a man to catch
a god.’ The goddess answered me at once,
‘Stranger, I will instruct you thoroughly.
When the sun hits the midpoint of the sky,
the old god bobs above the salty water;
the breath of Zephyr hides him in dark shade. 400
He goes to take his nap inside the caves.
Around him sleep the clustering seals, the daughters