’We rushed upon him with a cry and laid hold on him with all the strength of our hands.  But we had no sooner grasped him than his shape changed.  He became a lion and faced us.  Yet we did not let go of our grasp.  He became a serpent, yet we still held him.  He became a leopard and then a mighty boar; he became a stream of water and then a flowering tree.  Yet still we held to him with all our might and our hearts were not daunted by the shapes he changed to before our eyes.  Then, seeing that he could not make us loose our hold, the Ancient One of the Sea, who was called Proteus, ceased in his changes and became as we had seen him first.

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’"Son of Atreus,” said he, speaking to me, “who was it showed you how to lay this ambush for me?"’

’"It is for you who know all things,” said I, “to make answer to us.  Tell me now why it is that I am held on this island?  Which of the gods holds me here and for what reason?"’

’Then the Ancient One of the Sea answered me, speaking truth, “Zeus, the greatest of all the gods holds you here.  You neglected to make sacrifice to the gods and for that reason you are held on this island.”

‘"Then,” said I, “what must I do to win back the favor of the gods?"’

’He told me, speaking truth, “Before setting sail for your own land,” he said, “you must return to the river AEgyptus that flows out of Africa, and offer sacrifice there to the gods."’

’When he said this my spirit was broken with grief.  A long and a grievous way would I have to sail to make that sacrifice, turning back from my own land.  Yet the will of the gods would have to be done.  Again I was moved to question the Ancient One of the Sea, and to ask him for tidings of the men who were my companions in the wars of Troy.

’Ah, son of Odysseus, more broken than ever was my spirit with grief when he told me of their fates.  Then I heard how my brother, great Agamemnon, reached his own land and was glad in his heart.  But his wife had hatred for him, and in his own hall she and AEgisthus had him slain.  I sat and wept on the sands, but still I questioned the Ancient One of the Sea.  And he told me of strong Aias and how he was killed by the falling rock after he had boasted that Poseidon, the god of the Sea, could afflict him no more.  And of your father, the renowned Odysseus, the Ancient One had a tale to tell.

’Then, and even now it may be, Odysseus was on an island away from all mankind.  “There he abides in the hall of the nymph Calypso,” the Ancient One of the Sea told me.  “I saw him shed great tears because he could not go from that place.  But he has no ship and no companions and the nymph Calypso holds him there.  And always he longs to return to his own country, to the land of Ithaka.”  And after he had spoken to me of Odysseus, he went from us and plunged into the sea.

’Thereafter I went back to the river AEgyptus and moored my ships and made pious sacrifice to the gods.  A fair wind came to us and we set out for our own country.  Swiftly we came to it, and now you see me the happiest of all those who set out to wage war against Troy.  And now, dear son of Odysseus, you know what an immortal told of your father—­how he is still in life, but how he is held from returning to his own home.’