The
Odysses
Translated
by Thomas Hobbes
London 1674
[Sample
from the Opening of the Poem]
TELL me,
O Muse, th’ adventures of the man
That
having sack’d the sacred town of Troy,
Wander’d
so long at sea; what course he ran
By
winds and tempests driven from his way:
That
saw the cities, and the fashions knew
Of
many men, but suffer’d grievous pain
To
save his own life, and bring home his crew;
Though
for his crew, all he could do was vain,
They
lost themselves by their own insolence,
Feeding,
like fools, on the Sun’s sacred kine;
Which
did the splendid deity incense
To
their dire fate. Begin, O Muse divine.
The
Greeks from Troy were all returned home,
All
that the war and winds had spar’d, except
The
discontent Ulysses only; whom
In
hollow caves the nymph Calypso kept.
But
when the years and days were come about,
Wherein
was woven his return by fate
To
Ithaca (but neither there without
Great
pain), the Gods then pitied his estate,
All
saving Neptune; who did never cease
To
hinder him from reaching his own shore,
And
persecute him still upon the seas
Till
he got home, then troubled him no more.
Neptune
was now far off in Black-moor land;
The
Black-moors are the utmost of mankind,
As
far as east and west asunder stand,
So
far the Black-moors’ borders are disjoin’d.
Invited
there to feast on ram and bull,
There
sat he merry. Th’ other Gods were then
Met
on Olympus in a synod full,
In
th’ house of Jove, father of Gods and men.
And
first spake Jove, whose thoughts were now upon
Ægistus’
death, which he but then first knew,
By
th’ hand of Agamemnon’s valiant son,
Who
to revenge his father’s blood him slew.
Ha!
how dare mortals tax the Gods, and say,
Their
harms do all proceed from our decree,
And
by our setting; when by their crimes they
Against
our wills make their own destiny?
As
now Ægistus did Atrides kill
Newly
come home, and married his wife;
Although
he knew it was against my will,
And
that it would cost him one day his life.
Sent
we not Hermes to him to forbid
The
murder, and the marriage of the wife;
And tell him if the contrary he did
Orestes
should revenge it on his life?
All
this said Hermes, as we bade him. But
Ægistus,
for all this, was not afraid
His
lust in execution to put.
And
therefore now has dearly for it paid.
Review Comment
To
access the full translation, please use the following link: Online
Library of Liberty. For
a brief comment on Hobbes’ translation of the Iliad,
please use this link: Hobbes’
Iliad.
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