Page 225 - the-odyssey

sailed away to Sidonia, and I was left here in great distress
of mind.’
Such was his story, but Minerva smiled and caressed
him with her hand. Then she took the form of a woman,
fair, stately, and wise, ‘He must be indeed a shifty lying fel-
low,’ said she, ‘who could surpass you in all manner of craft
even though you had a god for your antagonist. Dare devil
that you are, full of guile, unwearying in deceit, can you
not drop your tricks and your instinctive falsehood, even
now that you are in your own country again? We will say
no more, however, about this, for we can both of us deceive
upon occasion—you are the most accomplished counsellor
and orator among all mankind, while I for diplomacy and
subtlety have no equal among the gods. Did you not know
Jove’s daughter Minerva—me, who have been ever with
you, who kept watch over you in all your troubles, and who
made the Phaeacians take so great a liking to you? And now,
again, I am come here to talk things over with you, and help
you to hide the treasure I made the Phaeacians give you; I
want to tell you about the troubles that await you in your
own house; you have got to face them, but tell no one, nei-
ther man nor woman, that you have come home again. Bear
everything, and put up with every man’s insolence, without
a word.’
And Ulysses answered, ‘A man, goddess, may know a
great deal, but you are so constantly changing your appear-
ance that when he meets you it is a hard matter for him to
know whether it is you or not. This much, however, I know
exceedingly well; you were very kind to me as long as we

The Odyssey