Summary : The Odyssey / Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original

Translating the Odyssey into English ProseThe author presents this full prose translation of the Odyssey to supplement his 1897 work, The Authoress of the Odyssey, which contained only an abridged version. He dedicated the volume to Professor Cav Biagio Ingroia as a helpful ally. The author reiterates two central claims without offering new arguments, asserting that no valid rebuttals have been raised against them. First, he maintains that the poem was composed in Trapani on the western coast of Sicily, and that the travels of Ulysses describe a voyage around Sicily starting and ending in Trapani. Second, he argues that the Odyssey was written by a young woman from Trapani who portrayed herself as Nausicaa within the story. Seeing no need to engage further with scholars, he focuses on providing an accessible English prose text along with notes, explanatory diagrams, and illustrations, including an updated plan of the house of Ulysses.Regarding translation philosophy, the author explains that turning verse into prose requires taking liberties to preserve readability. To illustrate his own prose style, he quotes the opening sixty lines of the Odyssey from the translation by Messrs Butcher and Lang. This excerpt recounts how Odysseus wandered after the fall of Troy, lost his companions when they ate the cattle of Helios Hyperion, and remained captive on the island of Calypso. It describes Zeus discussing the fate of Aegisthus with the gods while Poseidon is visiting the Ethiopians, prompting grey-eyed Athene to ask Zeus why Odysseus is left to suffer away from Ithaca.The author notes that while the Odyssey borrows heavily from the Iliad, he decided against printing those passages in a different typeface to avoid making the work overly academic. Instead, he urges university presses to publish Greek editions highlighting these shared lines, noting that he deposited marked copies of both epics at the British Museum for students. He argues that recognizing the common Sicilian origin, an early date before 750 B C, and the author's complete familiarity with the Iliad will resolve many academic debates. Furthermore, he explains that the Odyssey was created by joining two distinct original poems, namely the Return of Ulysses and the story of Penelope and the suitors, with minimal adjustments made to unify them. He concludes with brief technical remarks on minor punctuation choices and capitalization inconsistencies found in the 1894 Leipsic Teubner edition.

Jupiter addresses the assembly of the gods on Mount Olympus, reflecting on the death of Aegisthus at the hands of Orestes and noting how mortals blame divine powers for their own foolish actions. Minerva uses this moment to plead for the absent Ulysses, who remains trapped on a remote island by the nymph Calypso while Neptune continues to harbor wrath against him for blinding his son Polyphemus. Prompted by Minerva, the gods agree that Ulysses must finally return home to his native Ithaca. Minerva immediately prepares to descend to the mortal realm to guide the hero's young son. Disguised as Mentes, the chief of the Taphians, Minerva arrives at the palace of Ulysses and finds a crowd of unruly suitors feasting insolently while consuming the household's wealth. Telemachus welcomes the visitor with utmost courtesy, providing hospitality before discussing his grief and the hopeless certainty of his father's death. Minerva encourages the disheartened youth by predicting that Ulysses will soon find a way back, and advises Telemachus to summon an assembly of the Achaeans the next day to denounce the suitors. She further instructs him to sail to Pylos and Sparta in search of news regarding his missing father. After Minerva departs swiftly like a bird, leaving divine courage and renewed purpose in the young man, Telemachus confronts the rowdy suitors and his mother Penelope. When Penelope descends from her chamber to ask the bard Phemius to cease his sorrowful song about the return from Troy, Telemachus asserts his authority as master of the house and directs her to return to her private quarters. He then publicly warns the hostile suitors that he will call a formal assembly to demand their departure. As night falls, Telemachus retires to his high chamber to ponder the goddess's counsel.

This section consists entirely of structural headings marking sequential book divisions alongside back matter, including footnotes and licensing information. The main body lists titles for twenty-three distinct books, running continuously from Book II through Book XXIV. These headings indicate the overarching framework and division of the work into multiple major parts without providing narrative content or character developments within the text itself. Following the list of book titles, the text transitions into structural reference material. It includes a specific section designated for footnotes, which provides auxiliary commentary and background notes for the main work. Finally, the section concludes with a formal inclusion of the full Project Gutenberg license, establishing the legal terms, permissions, and conditions governing the distribution and electronic availability of the text.

Minerva travels to Lacedaemon to urge Telemachus to return to Ithaca immediately. She warns him that the suitors are consuming his estate and that his mother Penelope is being pressured by her family to marry Eurymachus. Minerva alerts him to an ambush set by the suitors in the strait between Ithaca and Samos, advising him to sail by night, keep clear of the islands, and seek refuge with the loyal swineherd Eumaeus upon arrival. Waking Pisistratus, Telemachus prepares to leave. Menelaus and Helen host a final meal for them and present costly gifts, including a silver mixing bowl and an embroidered robe. As they depart, an eagle carrying a stolen goose flies past on the right, which Helen interprets as an omen that Ulysses will return to exact vengeance on the suitors. Telemachus and Pisistratus drive their chariot to Pherae and then to Pylos. To avoid delay from Nestor, Telemachus asks to be taken straight to his ship. While sacrificing on board, he meets Theoclymenus, a prophet fleeing Argos after killing a kinsman. Theoclymenus asks for protection from his pursuers, and Telemachus grants him passage. The ship sets sail for Ithaca with a favorable wind sent by Minerva, dodging the locations where the suitors might lie in wait. Meanwhile in Ithaca, Ulysses tests Eumaeus by proposing to beg among the suitors and work in their service. Eumaeus strongly advises against this plan, describing the dangerous arrogance of the suitors and promising that Telemachus will care for him upon his return. Ulysses inquires about his parents. Eumaeus explains that Ulysses' mother died of grief for her missing son and that his father Laertes lives in deep sorrow. Eumaeus then relates his own life story. He was born a prince on the island of Syra, but his Phoenician nurse betrayed him, agreeing to kidnap him in exchange for passage home. After she died at sea during their voyage, the Phoenicians brought him to Ithaca and sold him to Laertes, where he was raised alongside Ulysses' sister Ctimene. Telemachus reaches the coast of Ithaca safely and instructs his crew to sail the ship onward to the city. Theoclymenus asks where he should go, and a hawk carrying a dove flies by on the right. Theoclymenus interprets the bird as an auspicious sign that Telemachus' royal lineage will remain supreme in Ithaca. Telemachus entrusts the exile to his loyal companion Piraeus, who agrees to harbor him. Telemachus puts on his sandals, retrieves his spear, and sets out on foot toward the swineherd's shelter.

Telemachus arrives at the remote hut of the swineherd Eumaeus, where he is warmly greeted by his loyal servant. Telemachus checks on the welfare of his mother Penelope, learning that she remains at the palace in deep sorrow while resisting the suitors. Inside the shelter, Telemachus meets a stranger disguised as a poor beggar, who is actually his father Ulysses in disguise. Demonstrating his hospitality, Telemachus offers the traveller food and clothing but explains that he cannot harbor him in the main palace due to the danger posed by the arrogant suitors. Ulysses expresses outrage at the insolent behavior of the suitors, questioning why Telemachus allows such dishonour in his home, while Telemachus explains the immense pressure he faces as an only son standing against scores of hostile noblemen. Telemachus dispatches Eumaeus to the palace to privately inform Penelope that her son has returned safely from Pylos, while instructing him not to make an extra journey to inform his grieving grandfather Laertes for the time being. Once Eumaeus leaves, the goddess Minerva appears outside the hut and commands Ulysses to reveal his true identity to his son. She uses her golden wand to instantly transform Ulysses, restoring his youthful vigor, handsome features, and clean garments. Returning inside, Ulysses astounds Telemachus, who initially fears he is witnessing a deity. Ulysses reassures him that he is indeed his long-lost father returning after twenty years, and the two embrace in an emotional, tearful reunion. With their identity established, Ulysses and Telemachus formulate a strategic plan to defeat the suitors. Telemachus counts more than one hundred men among the suitor faction and their attendants, expressing doubt that two men can prevail against such numbers, but Ulysses assures him that Minerva and Jove will fight on their side. Ulysses instructs Telemachus to return to the palace the following morning, while he will follow later in the guise of a beggar. Telemachus is ordered to bear any abuse without reacting and, upon a signal from Ulysses, secretly remove all the weapons and armor from the main hall into the storage room under the pretense of protecting the gear from smoke. They agree to keep Ulysses' presence a complete secret from everyone, including Penelope and Laertes, to test the loyalty of the household servants. Meanwhile, the ship carrying Telemachus' crew reaches the town harbor, and a herald announces his return to the palace while Eumaeus delivers the private message to Penelope. The suitors gather in dismay after discovering that their ambush in the strait failed to stop Telemachus. Antinous proposes assassinating Telemachus immediately on his rural farm or on the road before he can assemble the local people against them, but Amphinomus urges restraint, advising that they should consult the will of Jove before attempting to slay a noble. Penelope confronts Antinous directly, scorning his wickedness and reminding him of how Ulysses once saved his father from an angry mob. Eurymachus deceitfully assures her that no harm will come to her son while he lives. That evening, Eumaeus returns to the hut, where Minerva has once again transformed Ulysses into an old beggar, and the three men share a meal before retiring for the night.

Ulysses and Telemachus secretly remove the weapons from the hall, guided by the divine light of Minerva, while Euryclea confines the maids to their quarters. Once the preparations are complete, Telemachus retires to rest, leaving Ulysses alone in the cloister where Penelope comes to meet him. Seated by the hearth, Penelope questions the stranger about his origins, still deeply mourning her long-absent husband and recounting the clever stratagem of the shroud by which she delayed her suitors for three years until her own servants betrayed her. Ulysses fabricates a detailed false identity, claiming to be Aethon from Crete and asserting that he once hosted Ulysses on his way to Troy. As he describes the apparel and companions of her husband with striking accuracy, Penelope is overcome with grief and weeps bitterly. To console her, Ulysses shares recent news that Ulysses is alive, wealthy, and currently among the Thesprotians, predicting that he will return safely home before the end of the current month. Moved by his words, Penelope orders her nurse to provide the traveler with proper hospitality and foot-washing. Euryclea approaches the task and immediately recognizes an old scar on his leg, acquired years ago during a boar hunt on Mount Parnassus with his grandfather Autolycus. Overjoyed and astonished, she realizes the stranger is Ulysses himself, but he swiftly silences her with a stern warning to protect his disguise from the wicked suitors and the disloyal household maids. The faithful nurse promises absolute secrecy, and the chapter concludes with Penelope, still unaware of her husband's true identity, confiding her inner turmoil and debating whether she should remain with her son or finally choose a new husband.

Ulysses spends a sleepless night in the cloister lying upon a bullock hide and sheepskins while brooding over how to destroy the arrogant suitors. He becomes intensely angered as the unfaithful women of the household leave to lie with the suitors, but he checks his rage and commands his heart to endure as it did when the Cyclops trapped them. Minerva descends from heaven to comfort him and reassures him of her divine protection before returning to Olympus. Meanwhile, Penelope wakes in deep distress and prays tearfully to Diana to take her life or cast her into the sea so that she will not have to marry another man. As dawn breaks, Ulysses hears her weeping and asks Father Jove for a sign from heaven. Jove answers with a sudden thunderclap from a clear sky while a weary miller woman in the adjoining mill room voices a prayer that this may be the very last day the suitors dine in the house. Telemachus rises, dresses, girds his sword, and goes to the assembly after confirming that the stranger was properly accommodated. Euryclea rouses the servants to clean and prepare the hall for the expected feast day. Soon afterward, Eumaeus arrives with pigs, Melanthius the goatherd arrives with goats to taunt Ulysses, and Philoetius the stockman arrives with a heifer. Philoetius expresses deep loyalty and yearns for the return of his master Ulysses. Ulysses reassures Philoetius and swears by Jove and the hearth that he will soon see the master return to slay the suitors. While the suitors plot to murder Telemachus, an eagle carrying a dove appears on their left hand, leading Amphinomus to advise abandoning the plot in favor of dining. Telemachus seats Ulysses on a shabby stool in the stone-paved part of the cloister, giving him a portion of meat and wine in a gold cup and warning the suitors to keep their hands and tongues to themselves. Ctesippus mocks this hospitality by throwing an ox foot at Ulysses, who dodges it with a grim smile as it strikes the wall. Telemachus fiercely rebukes Ctesippus and declares that he would run him through with a spear if the missile had struck its target. Agelaus attempts to calm the tension by advising Telemachus to urge his mother to marry the best suitor, but Telemachus insists he will not force her against her will. Minerva then inflicts a fit of helpless, forced laughter upon the suitors, causing their meat to drip with blood and their eyes to fill with tears. The prophet Theoclymenus observes this horrific vision and warns them that the walls drip with blood and the court is full of ghosts hurrying down to hell. Eurymachus mocks the prophet as a madman and suggests turning him out into the streets, prompting Theoclymenus to leave the house voluntarily while predicting swift doom for everyone inside.