Bibliotheca Polyglotta

αὐτὰρ Τηλέμαχος προσέφη γλαυκῶπιν Ἀθήνην,
ἄγχι σχὼν κεφαλήν, ἵνα μὴ πευθοίαθ᾽ οἱ ἄλλοι:
‘ξεῖνε φίλ᾽, ἦ καὶ μοι νεμεσήσεαι ὅττι κεν εἴπω;
τούτοισιν μὲν ταῦτα μέλει, κίθαρις καὶ ἀοιδή,
160 ῥεῖ᾽, ἐπεὶ ἀλλότριον βίοτον νήποινον ἔδουσιν,
ἀνέρος, οὗ δή που λεύκ᾽ ὀστέα πύθεται ὄμβρῳ
κείμεν᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἠπείρου, ἢ εἰν ἁλὶ κῦμα κυλίνδει.

Nam Thelemacus affatus est : glaucopem athenam
Iuxta tenens caput : ut non audirent alii
forensis amice licet et me arguas quicquid dicam
Istis certe hae curae sunt cithara et cantilena
Leuiter quia alienas opes multas commedunt
–– rei cuius iam alicubi alba ossa marcerescunt pluuia
Iacentia in terra vel in mari unda deuoluit

But to the Goddess Pallas, in her ear
Telemachus began to speak his mind,
185  Not being willing any else should hear.
Excuse me, friend, that I say what I find.
You see the care of these men what it is,
Singing and dancing. And no wonder, since
That which they spend is not their own, but his
[309] 190  Whose bones lie somewhere naked far from hence,
Unburied, it may be, on the ground,
There rotting as he lies i’ th’ dew and rain;
Or else at sea, perhaps, if he be drown’d,
The waves his body roll upon the main.

But Telemachus spoke to flashing-eyed Athena,
holding his head close, that the others might not hear:
“Dear stranger, wilt thou be wroth with me for the word that I shall say?
These men care for things like these, the lyre and song,
[160] full easily, seeing that without atonement they devour the livelihood of another,
of a man whose white bones, it may be,
rot in the rain as they lie upon the mainland, or the wave rolls them in the sea.

εἰ κεῖνόν γ᾽ Ἰθάκηνδε ἰδοίατο νοστήσαντα,
πάντες κ᾽ ἀρησαίατ᾽ ἐλαφρότεροι πόδας εἶναι
165 ἢ ἀφνειότεροι χρυσοῖό τε ἐσθῆτός τε.

Si illum ithachia videbit iam reuersim
omnes orabunt leuiores pedibus esse
quam duitiores auroque vesteque

195  If him at home the best of them should meet
Safely arriv’d in Ithaca, he would
Much rather wish, I think, for nimble feet,
Than to be rich in garment or in gold.

Were they to see him returned to Ithaca,
they would all pray to be swifter of foot,
[165] rather than richer in gold and in raiment.

νῦν δ᾽ ὁ μὲν ὣς ἀπόλωλε κακὸν μόρον, οὐδέ τις ἡμῖν
θαλπωρή, εἴ πέρ τις ἐπιχθονίων ἀνθρώπων
φῇσιν ἐλεύσεσθαι: τοῦ δ᾽ ὤλετο νόστιμον ἦμαρ.

Nunc hic sic periit mala morte nec argua nobis
consolation licet aliquis terrestrium hominum
Dicat neutrum : illius autem periit reditus dies

But, oh! he’s dead, and of some cruel death;
200  And though some tell us he is coming home,
’Tis comfortless, for he’s bereav’d of breath.
To Ithaca I ne’er shall see him come.

But now he has thus perished by an evil doom, nor for us
is there any comfort, no, not though any one of men upon the earth
should say that he will come; gone is the day of his returning.

ἀλλ᾽ ἄγε μοι τόδε εἰπὲ καὶ ἀτρεκέως κατάλεξον:
170 τίς πόθεν εἰς ἀνδρῶν; πόθι τοι πόλις ἠδὲ τοκῆες;
ὁπποίης τ᾽ ἐπὶ νηὸς ἀφίκεο: πῶς δέ σε ναῦται
ἤγαγον εἰς Ἰθάκην; τίνες ἔμμεναι εὐχετόωντο;

Sed eia mihi hanc dic : et vere narra
Quis unde es uirorum : ubi tibi ciuitas atque parentes
In qua autem naui venisti : quomodo autem nautae
Duxerunt ad ithacia · qui esse geriatur?

But let this pass, and tell me truly now
Your own, your father’s, and your country’s name.
205  And further, I desire you’ll let me know,
Whence are the mariners that with you came
Unto this town? and tell me this likewise,
Where rideth the good ship that brought you to’t;

But come, tell me this, and declare it truly.
[170] Who art thou among men, and from whence? Where is thy city and where thy parents?
On what manner of ship didst thou come, and how did sailors bring thee to Ithaca?
Who did they declare themselves to be?

tuque mihi narrato omnia disertim;

οὐ μὲν γὰρ τί σε πεζὸν ὀίομαι ἐνθάδ᾽ ἱκέσθαι.
καί μοι τοῦτ᾽ ἀγόρευσον ἐτήτυμον, ὄφρ᾽ ἐὺ εἰδῶ,
175 ἠὲ νέον μεθέπεις ἦ καὶ πατρώιός ἐσσι
ξεῖνος, ἐπεὶ πολλοὶ ἴσαν ἀνέρες ἡμέτερον δῶ
ἄλλοι, ἐπεὶ καὶ κεῖνος ἐπίστροφος ἦν ἀνθρώπων.’

Non enim te peditem puto huc venire
Et mihi hoc narra verum ut bene sciam ·
4 Et nuper uenis venis (del. scriba) vel patrius es ·
Amicus qui multi fuerunt uiri nostra in domo
Alii quia ille conuersabilis fuit hominum ·

For verily I can no way devise
210  How you should come on horseback or on foot?
And tell me, were you never here before,
Nor saw my father whilst he here abode?
For strangers came to visit him good store,
As having much convers’d with men abroad.

For nowise, methinks, didst thou come hither on foot.
And tell me this also truly, that I may know full well,
[175] whether this is thy first coming hither, or whether thou art indeed a friend of my father's house.
For many were the men who came to our house as strangers
since he, too, had gone to and fro among men.”

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