Homer
The Odyssey
Translated W. H. D. Rouse
New York 1937

 

[Selection from the Opening of the Poem]

 

BOOK I
What Went On in the House of Odysseus

 

THIS IS THE STORY OF A MAN, ONE WHO WAS NEVER AT A loss. He had travelled far in the world, after the sack of Troy, the virgin fortress; he saw many cities of men, and learnt their mind; he endured many troubles and  hardships in the struggle to save his own life and to bring back his men safe to their homes. He did his best, but he could not save his companions. For they perished by their own madness, because they killed and ate the cattle of Hyperion the Sun-god, and the god took care that they should never see home again.

    At the time when I begin, all the others who had not been killed in the war were at home, safe from the perils of battle and sea: but he was alone, longing to get home to his wife. He was kept prisoner by a witch, Calypso, a radiant creature, and herself one fo the great family of gods, who wanted him to stay in her cave and be her husband. Well then, the seasons went rolling by, and when the year came, in which by the thread that fate spins for every man he was to return home to Ithaca, he had not yet got free of his troubles and come back to his own people. The gods were all sorry for him, except Poseidon, god of the sea, who bore a lasting grudge against him all the time until he returned.

    But it happened that Poseidon went for a visit a long way off, to the Ethiopians; who live at the ends of the earth, some near the sunrise, some near the sunset. There he expected a fine sacrifice of bulls and goats, and there he was, feasting and enjoying himself mightily; but the other gods were all gathered in the palace of Olympian Zeus.

    Then the Father of gods and men made them a speech; for his heart was angry against a man, Aigisthos, and Agamemnon’s son Orestęs, as you know, had just killed the man. So he spoke to the company as follows:

    “Upon my word, just see how mortal men always put the blame on us gods! We are the source of evil, so they say—when they have only their own madness to thank if their miseries are worse than they ought to be. Look here, now: Aigisthos has done what he ought not to have done. Took Agamemnon’s wedded wife for himself, killed Agamemnon when he came home, though he knew quite well it would be his own ruin! We gave him fair warning, sent our special messenger Hermęs, and told him not to kill the man or to make love to his wife; their son Orestęs would punish him, when he grew up and wanted his own dominions. Hermęs told him plainly, but he could do nothing with Aigisthos, although it was for his own good. Now he has paid the debt in one lump sum.”

 

 

REVIEW COMMENT

 

Rouse’s original translation bears the sub-title “The Adventures of Ulysses” and he must be among the last translators to use the old Latin names (although that has changed in more recent editions of his translation, from which the above sample was taken). Rouse indicates in his preface that his translation is designed to rescue the Odyssey from the clutches of poetic translations:

 

. . . [The story] enchants every man, lettered or unlettered, and every boy who hears it; but unless someone tells it by word of mouth, few are likely to hear it or read it unless they know Greek. They cannot get it from any existing translation, because all are filled with affectations and attempts at poetic language, which Homer himself is quite free from. Homer speaks naturally and we must do the same. That is what I have tried to do in this book, and I ask that it may be judged simply as a story.

 

In pursuit of this goal Rouse takes many liberties with Homer’s Greek text. But his plain English keeps the story moving—there’s plenty of energy here, if little of the imaginatively poetic.

 

In its day the translation was well known, and it is still in print (as a Signet Classic) and available on line. Rouse is worth browsing for his no-nonsense brusquely energetic prose (larded with the occasional odd piece of antique diction), but anyone seeking a prose translation of Homer’s Odyssey should, in the interest of getting Homer’s poem relatively unsullied and of experiencing more of Homer than the mere story, select another version. 

 

For a short contemporary review of Rouse’s Odyssey, use the following link: Classical Review (1938)

 

Readers who would like a preview of the Rouse translation should use the following link to Amazon: Rouse Odyssey.

 

[List of Published English Translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey]