¹⁴Left with a single ship, he put in at the island of Aiaie, the home of Circe, a daughter of the Sun and Perse and sister of Aietes, who had knowledge of all manner of drugs. Separating his comrades into two groups, he himself remained by the ship in accordance with the lot, while Eurylochos went to visit Circe with twenty-two companions. ¹⁵At her invitation, all except Eurylochos went inside, and she offered each of them a cup that she had filled with cheese, honey, barleymeal, and wine, with a drug mixed in. And when they had drunk, she touched them with her wand and transformed them, turning some of them into wolves, and others into pigs, or asses, or lions.* ¹⁶Eurylochos saw everything and went to tell Odysseus. Obtaining some moly* from Hermes, Odysseus went to Circe and sprinkled it into her potions, so that when he drank from them, he alone escaped her enchantments. He drew his sword, with the intention of killing her, but Circe allayed his anger, and restored his comrades to their original form. After he had received an oath from her that she would cause him no harm, Odysseus went to bed with her, and she bore him a son, Telegonos.*

¹⁷After delaying there for a year, he sailed on the Ocean, and then, after offering sacrifices to the souls [of the dead], he consulted the diviner Teiresias as Circe had advised, and beheld the souls of heroes and heroines alike. He also saw his mother Anticleia, and Elpenor, who had died from a fall in Circe’s house.

¹⁸He then went back to Circe, who sent him on his way again; and putting out to sea, he sailed past the island of the Sirens. The Sirens* were daughters of Acheloos by Melpomene, one of the Muses, and their names were Peisinoe, Aglaope, and Thelxiepeia. One of them played the lyre, another sang, and the third played the flute, and by these means they caused passing sailors to want to remain with them. ¹⁹From the thighs down, they were shaped like birds. Now Odysseus wanted to hear their song as he sailed by; so following Circe’s advice, he plugged the ears of his comrades with wax, and ordered that he himself should be bound to the mast. And when the Sirens prevailed on him to want to stay with them, he pleaded to be released, but his men bound him all the more firmly, and in this way he sailed by. There was a prophecy that if a ship sailed past the Sirens, they themselves would die; so they duly perished.

²⁰After this, Odysseus arrived at a point where he had a choice of two different routes. On one side were the Wandering Rocks, and on the other, two enormous cliffs. On one of these cliffs was Scylla, a daughter of Crataiis and Trienos or Phorcos, who had the face and chest of a woman, but from her flanks down, six heads and twelve dogs’ feet; ²¹and on the other was Charybdis, who sucked in the water and spewed it out again three times a day. On Circe’s instructions, he avoided the passage around the Wandering Rocks, and sailed past the cliff of Scylla, standing fully armed at the stern. Scylla appeared, snatched up six of his comrades, and devoured them.

²²From there he went to Thrinacia, an island of the Sun, where cattle* were grazing; and held back by unfavourable weather, he remained there. When his companions slaughtered some of the cattle and feasted on them for want of food, the Sun reported the matter to Zeus; and when they set sail again, Zeus struck them with a thunderbolt. ²³As the ship broke up, Odysseus clung to the mast and was carried towards Charybdis. But when Charybdis sucked down the mast, he seized hold of an overhanging fig tree and waited; and when he saw the mast rise up again, he threw himself on to it and was carried across the sea to the island of Ogygia.

²⁴He was welcomed there by Calypso, daughter of Atlas, who went to bed with him, and bore him a son, Latinos.* He remained with her for five years,* and then built a raft and sailed away. It was broken up at sea, however, through the wrath of Poseidon, and he was cast ashore naked on the land of the Phaeacians. ²⁵Nausicaa, the daughter of King Alcinoos, was washing clothes there, and when Odysseus approached her as a suppliant, she took him to Alcinoos, who welcomed him as a guest. And then, after presenting him with gifts, he sent him away to his native land accompanied by an escort. In his anger against the Phaeacians, Poseidon turned the escorting ship to stone and surrounded their city with a mountain.

²⁶When Odysseus arrived in his native land, he found that his house had been ruined; for believing that he was dead, suitors* were courting Penelope. From Doulichion came fifty-seven: ²⁷Amphinomos, Thoas, Demoptolemos, Amphimachos, Euryalos, Paralos, Evenorides, Clytios, Agenor, Eurypylos, Pylaimenes, Acamas, Thersilochos, Hagios, Clymenos, Philodemos, Meneptolemos, Damastor, Bias, Telmios, Polyidos, Astylochos, Schedios, Antigonos, Marpsios, Iphidamas, Argeios, Glaucos, Calydoneus, Echion, Lamas, Andraimon, Agerochos, Medon, Agrios, Promos, Ctesios, Acarnan, Cycnos, Pseras, Hellanicos, Periphron, Megasthenes, Thrasymedes, Ormenios, Diopithes, Mecisteus, Antimachos, Ptolemaios, Lestorides, Nicomachos, Polypoites, and Ceraos. ²⁸From Same came twenty-three: Agelaos, Peisandros, Elatos, Ctesippos, Hippodochos, Eurystratos, Archemolos, Ithacos, Peisenor, Hyperenor, Pheroites, Antisthenes, Cerberos, Perimedes, Cynnos, Thriasos, Eteoneus, Clytios, Prothoos, Lycaithos, Eumelos, Itanos, and Lyammos. ²⁹From Zacynthos came fortyfour: Eurylochos, Laomedes, Molebos, Phrenios, Indios, Minis, Leiocritos, Pronomos, Nisas, Daemon, Archestratos, Hippo[machos, Euryalos, Periallos, Evenorides, Clytios, Agenor], Polybos, Polydoros, Thadytios, Stratios, [Phrenios, Indios,] Daisenor, Laomedon, Laodicos, Halios, Magnes, Oloitrochos, Barthas, Theophron, Nissaios, Alcarops, Periclymenos, Antenor, Pellas, Celtos, Periphas, Ormenos, [Polybos,] and Andromedes. ³⁰And from Ithaca itself, there were twelve suitors: Antinoos, Pronoos, Leiodes, Eurynomos, Amphimachos, Amphialos, Promachos, Amphimedon, Aristratos, Helenos, Doulichieus, and Ctesippos.

³¹These suitors had travelled to the palace and consumed the herds of Odysseus at their feasts. Penelope had been forced to promise that she would consent to marry when the shroud of Laertes was finished, and she worked at it for three years, weaving it by day and unravelling it by night. In this way, the suitors were fooled by Penelope, until the day came when she was caught in the act. ³²When Odysseus learned of the situation in his household, he visited his servant Eumaios disguised as a beggar. And then, after making himself known to Telemachos, he went to the city with him. Melanthios the goatherd, a mere servant, met them on the way and abused them. On arriving at the palace, Odysseus begged food from the suitors, and discovering a beggar there called Iros, he wrestled with him.* He revealed his identity to Eumaios and Philoitios, and together with them and Telemachos, he devised a plot against the suitors. ³³Penelope gave the suitors the bow of Odysseus (which he had received from Iphitos in earlier days), and said that she would marry the one who could flex the bow. When none of them succeeded, Odysseus took it and shot down the suitors, helped by Eumaios, Philoitios, and Telemachos. He also killed Melanthios, and the maidservants who had been sleeping with the suitors; and he revealed his identity to his wife and father.

The later history of Odysseus

³⁴After sacrificing to Hades, Persephone, and Teiresias, he travelled on foot through Epirus, and arrived in the land of the Thesprotians,* where he propitiated Poseidon* by offering the sacrifices that Teiresias had advised in his prophecy.* Callidice, who was queen of the Thesprotians at the time, asked him to remain and offered him the throne; ³⁵and she slept with him and bore him a son, Polypoites. After he had married Callidice, he became king of the Thesprotians, and defeated in battle the neighbouring peoples who attacked them. When Callidice died, he transferred the throne to his son and returned to Ithaca, where he discovered that Penelope had borne him a son, Poliporthes.