man or woman of thyself And of thy wandering hither, but submit To many things that grieve thee, silently, And bear indignities from violent men.”
Ulysses, the sagacious, thus rejoined: “O goddess, it is hard for mortal man To know thee when he meets thee, though his sight Be of the sharpest, for thou puttest on At pleasure any form. Yet this I know, That thou wert kind to me when we, the sons Of Greece, were warring in the realm of Troy. But when we had o’erthrown the lofty town Of Priam, and embarked, and when some god Had scattered the Achaians, after that, Daughter of Jove, I never saw thee more, Never perceived thee entering my barque And guarding me from danger—but I roamed Ever from place to place, my heart weighed down By sorrow, till the gods delivered me, And till thy counsels in the opulent realm Of the Phaeacians brought my courage back, And thou thyself didst guide me to the town. And now in thy great father’s name I pray— For yet I cannot think that I am come To pleasant Ithaca, but have been thrown Upon some other coast, and fear that thou Art jesting with me, and hast spoken thus But to deceive me—tell me, is it true That I am in my own beloved land?”