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The Odyssey Perseverance Quotes Page 1
Citations follow this format: (Book.Line). We used Richmond Lattimore's translation. Very conveniently, Lattimore’s English edition follows the Greek exactly line-for-line.
| Quote #1 (Telemachos:) ‘If only the gods would give me such strength as he has to take revenge on the suitors for their overbearing oppression. They force their way upon me and recklessly plot against me. No, the gods have spun out no such strand of prosperity for me and my father. Now we must even have to endure it.’ (3.205-209) |
Despite Telemachos’s burning desire to avenge himself on the suitors at his house, he perseveres in his patience, trusting justice to the gods’ will. He also makes explicit Homer’s comparison of Agamemnon’s story to that of Odysseus.
| Quote #2 (Odysseus, in his tale:) ‘“Dear friends, surely we are not unlearned in evils. This is no greater evil now than it was when the Cyclops had us cooped in his hollow cave by force and violence, but even there, by my courage and counsel and my intelligence, we escaped away. I think that all this will be remembered some day too. Then do as I say, let us all be won over.”’ (12.208-213) |
Odysseus urges his men to have courage because they have persevered through worse dangers than this (Skylla and Charybdis). His determination incites that of his men.
| Quote #3 (Eurylochos, in Odysseus’s tale:) ‘“You are a hard man, Odysseus. Your force is greater, your limbs never wear out. You must be made all of iron, when you will not let your companions, worn with hard work and wanting sleep, set foot on this land, where if we did, on the seagirt island we could once more make ready a greedy dinner; but you force us to blunder along just as we are through the running night, driven from the island over the misty face of the water.”’ (12.279-285) |
Eurylochos considers Odysseus superhuman for his ability to endure more hardship than, well, any other mortal man could. His perseverance is exceptional; after enduring the horrors of Skylla and Charybdis, he still has the fortitude to tell his crew to sail on past a potentially safe island retreat for the night.
