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No Fear Translations of Shakespeare’s plays (along with audio!) and other classic works
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Book 1
Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.
Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,
many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,
fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.
But he could not save them from disaster, hard as he strove—
the recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all,
the blind fools, they devoured the cattle of the Sun
and the Sungod blotted out the day of their return.
Launch out on his story, Muse, daughter of Zeus,
start from where you will—sing for our time too.
In the epic’s opening passage, the narrator invokes the ancient Muse, asking for inspiration to tell the tale of Odysseus, whom they refer to as “the man of twists and turns.” In the lines that follow, the narrator hints at what is to come—namely the many trials Odysseus has suffered and will continue to suffer, and the tragic fates of his crew. Read more about this quote in Famous Quotes Explained and Quotes by Character: Odysseus.
Ah how shameless—the way these mortals blame the gods.
From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes,
but they themselves, with their own reckless ways,
compound their pains beyond their proper share.
In Book 1, Zeus claims during the assembly of the gods that mortals are largely responsible for their own suffering. Though they may blame the gods for all their “miseries,” the gods are merely a vehicle for meting out punishments mortals bring upon themselves through their own transgressions (such as hubris or the violation of the ancient Greek notion of hospitality known as xenia). Read more about this quote in Quotes by Theme: Divine Justice.
Book 2
So by day she’d weave at her great and growing web—
by night, by the light of torches set beside her,
she would unravel all she’d done. Three whole years
she deceived us blind, seduced us with this scheme.
In Book 2, Antinous, one of Penelope’s suitors, describes to Telemachus the trick Penelope played on them all to delay choosing a husband after Odysseus’s presumed death. She told them all she would marry again when she finished weaving a funeral shroud for Odysseus’s father, Laertes. At night, however, she would undo all the progress she accomplished on the shroud during the day. Her scheme signals that she is equal to Odysseus in cunning. Read more about this quote in Quotes by Theme: The Power of Cunning over Strength.
