"I was trying to come on here,
but the gods detained me in Egypt, for my hecatombs had not given
them full satisfaction, and the gods are very strict about having
their dues. Now off Egypt, about as far as a ship can sail in a day
with a good stiff breeze behind her, there is an island called Pharos
- it has a good harbor from which vessels can get out into open sea
when they have taken in water - and the gods becalmed me twenty days
without so much as a breath of fair wind to help me forward. We
should have run clean out of provisions and my men would have
starved, if a goddess had not taken pity upon me and saved me in the
person of Eidothea, daughter to Proteus, the old man of the sea, for
she had taken a great fancy to me.
"She came to me one day when I
was by myself, as I often was, for the men used to go with their
barbed hooks, all over the island in the hope of catching a fish or
two to save them from the pangs of hunger. ‘Stranger,’ said
she, ‘it seems to me that you like starving in this way - at any
rate it does not greatly trouble you, for you stick here day after
day, without even trying to get away though your men are dying by
inches.’
"‘Let me tell you,’
said I, ‘whichever of the goddesses you may happen to be, that I
am not staying here of my own accord, but must have offended the gods
that live in heaven. Tell me, therefore, for the gods know
everything: which of the immortals it is that is hindering me in this
way, and tell me also how I may sail the sea so as to reach my home
[nostos]?’
"‘Stranger,’ replied
she, ‘I will make it all quite clear to you. There is an old
immortal who lives under the sea hereabouts and whose name is
Proteus. He is an Egyptian, and people say he is my father; he is
Poseidon's head man and knows every inch of ground all over the
bottom of the sea. If you can snare him and hold him tight, he will
tell you about your voyage, what courses you are to take, and how you
are to sail the sea so as to reach your home [nostos].
He will also tell you, if you so will, all that has been going on at
your house both good and bad, while you have been away on your long
and dangerous journey.’
Homer. The Odyssey. Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. Samuel Butler. Based on public domain edition, revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy. A. C. Fifield, London. 1900 (?).
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