How we cite our quotes: (Book.Line)
Quote #1
So he spoke and the dear nurse Eurykleia cried out, and bitterly lamenting she addressed him in winged words: ‘Why, my beloved child, has this intention come into your mind? Why do you wish to wander over much country, you, an only and loved son? Illustrious Odysseus has perished far from his country in some outlandish region. And these men will devise evils against you, on your returning, so you shall die by guile, and they divide all that is yours. No, but stay here and guard your possessions. It is not right for you to wander and suffer hardships on the barren wide sea.’ (2.361-370)
Eurykleia’s loyalty to Odysseus’s household is seen in her love for Telemachos, whom she treats like her own son.
Quote #2
[…] the sweet lifetime was draining out of him, as he wept for a way home, since the nymph was no longer pleasing to him. By nights he would lie beside her, of necessity, in the hollow caverns, against his will, by one who was willing, but all the days he would sit upon the rocks, at the seaside, breaking his heart in tears and lamentation and sorrow as weeping tears he looked out over the barren water. (5.152-158)
Uh-huh. At least that's what he's going to tell Penelope.
Quote #3
(Nausikaa:) ‘A while ago he seemed an unpromising man to me. Now he even resembles one of the gods, who hold high heaven. If only the man to be called my husband could be like this one, a man living here, if only this one were pleased to stay here.’ (6.242-245)
Since we know Odysseus has no qualms about sleeping around on Penelope, we have to wonder why he holds no interest in the obviously beautiful Nausikaa. Might it have something to do with being a good guest? Hmm…