Proteus Demands Sacrifice

35“ ‘O son of Atreus! who of all the gods
Has taught you how to take me in this snare,
Unwilling as I am? What would you have?’

36“He spoke; I answered: ‘Aged prophet, well
You know. Why deceitfully inquire?
It is that I am held a prisoner long
Within this isle, and vainly seek the means
Of my escape, and grief consumes my heart.
Now —since the gods know all things —tell me this,
What deity it is, that, hindering thus
My voyage, keeps me here, and tell me how
To cross the fishy deep and reach my home.’

37“Such were my words, and he in answer said: —
‘But you to Zeus and to the other gods
Should first have paid acceptable sacrifice,
And should have then embarked to reach with speed
Your native land across the dark-blue deep.
Now it is not your fate to see again
Your friends, your stately palace, and the land
That saw your birth, until you stand once more
Beside the river that through Egypt flows
From Zeus, and offer sacred hecatombs
To the ever-living gods inhabiting
The boundless heaven, and they will speed you forth
Upon the voyage you do long to make.’

38“He spoke. My heart was broken as I heard
His bidding to recross the shadowy sea
To Egypt, for the way was difficult
And long; and yet I answered him and said: —