Odysseus Continues

37And then the wise Odysseus said: “O King
Alcinous, eminent over all your race!
Should you command me to remain with you
Even for a twelvemonth, and at length provide
For my return, and give me princely gifts,
Even that would please me; for with fuller hands,
The happier were my lot on my return
To my own land. I should be honored then,
And meet a kinder welcome there from all
Who see me in my Ithaca once more.”

38And then again in turn Alcinous spoke: —
“Odysseus, when we look on you, we feel
No fear that you are false, or one of those,
The many, whom the dark earth nourishes,
Wandering at large, and forging lies, that we
May not suspect them. You have grace of speech
And noble thoughts, and fitly have you told,
Even as a minstrel might, the history
Of all your Argive brethren and your own.
Now say, and frankly, did you also see
Any of those heroic men who went
With you to Troy, and in that region met
Their fate? A night immeasurably long
Is yet before us. Let us have your tale
Of wonders. I could listen till the break
Of hallowed morning, if you can endure
So long to speak of hardships you have borne.”

39He spoke, and wise Odysseus answered thus: —
“O King Alcinous, eminent beyond
All others of your people. For discourse
There is a time; there is a time for sleep.
If more you yet would hear, I will not spare
To give the story of the greater woes
Of my companions, who were afterward
Cut off from life; and though they had escaped
The cruel Trojan war, on their return
They perished by a woman’s fraud and guilt.