Introduction. In this piece of translation, Sabidius turns to Homer's second great epic poem, the "Odyssey", which is believed to have been committed to writing in the eighth century B.C. This is the story of the long and tortuous homeward journey of Odysseus after the ten year siege of Troy has been successfully completed. In fact, it takes Odysseus an equal period of time, ten years, to make his way home, and on the way he loses all his companions, who are drowned in a ship-wreck. At the beginning of these two short extracts from Book V, we find Odysseus in a particularly woe-begone state, weeping and wailing on the shore as he looks out over the sea. On the face of it, it seems strange that this hero of the Trojan war should have been reduced to such a maudlin state; however, according to the legend Odysseus was effectively Calypso's prisoner on her small island home of Ogygia for as many as seven out of the ten years of his 'Odyssey'. This makes his miserable condition a little more understandable perhaps!