My Odyssey Translation

I took a passage from Book V, when the gods decide that Odysseus should be freed from Calypso. I used the translations by Alexander Pope, William Cowper, and Samuel Butler for reference.


Then the gods commanded Hermes:
“Hermes, messenger of the gods,
Go visit Calypso the nymph, and give her these orders-
‘Zeus, king of the gods, demands that Odysseus be sent home.
He guarantees that Odysseus will see Ithaca again.
However, no men or gods will escort him;
He will travel on a handmade raft for twenty days
until he reaches the island of Scheria.
There, the Phaeacians, who are related to the gods,
will welcome him, give him a ship to return to his homeland
and offer him treasures of gold
greater than those he could have brought home from Troy.
He will see his country and family again, although it will take a long time.
This is the will of the gods.’”