Gods Debate Odysseus’ Fate

1Eos, rising from her couch beside
The famed Tithonus, brought the light of day
To men and to immortals. Then the gods
Came to their seats in council. With them came
High-thundering Zeus, amongst them all
The mightiest. Athena, mindful of the past,
Spoke of Odysseus and his many woes,
Grieved that he still was with the island nymph: —
“O father Zeus, and all you blessed ones
Who live forever! let not sceptred king
Henceforth be gracious, mild, and merciful
And righteous; rather be he deaf to prayer
And prone to deeds of wrong, since no one now
Remembers the divine Odysseus more
Among the people over whom he ruled
Benignly, like a father. Still he lies,
Weighed down by many sorrows, in the isle
And dwelling of Calypso, who so long
Constrains his stay. To his dear native land
Depart he cannot; ship arrayed with oars
And seamen has he none, to bear him over
The breast of the broad ocean. Nay, even now,
Against his well-beloved son a plot
is laid, to slay him as he journeys home
From Pylos the divine, and from the walls
Of famous Sparta, whither he had gone
To gather tidings of his father’s fate.”

2Then answered her the Ruler of the storms: —
“My child, what words are these that pass your lips?
Was not your long-determined counsel this —
That in good time Odysseus should return,
To be avenged? Guide, then, Telemachus
Wisely —for so you can —that, all unharmed,
He reach his native land, and, in their barques,
Homeward the suitor-train retrace their way.”

3He spoke, and turned to Hermes, his dear son: —
“Hermes —for you in this my messenger
Are, as in all things —to the bright-haired nymph
Make known my steadfast purpose —the return
Of suffering Odysseus. Neither gods
Nor men shall guide his voyage. On a raft,
Made firm with bands, he shall depart and reach,
After long hardships, on the twentieth day,
The fertile shore of Scheria, on whose isle
Dwell the Phaeacians, kinsmen of the gods.
They like a god shall honor him, and thence
Send him to his loved country in a ship,
With ample gifts of brass and gold, and store
Of raiment —wealth like which he never had brought
From conquered Ilion, had he reached his home
Safely, with all his portion of the spoil.
So is it preordained that he behold
His friends again, and stand once more within
His high-roofed palace, on his native soil.”