Homer's Odyssey δ 4.593-608

Greek text hyperlinked to lexica via Perseus (perseus.tufts.edu):

τὸν δ᾽ αὖ Τηλέμαχος πεπνυμένος ἀντίον ηὔδα:

‘Ἀτρεΐδη, μὴ δή με πολὺν χρόνον ἐνθάδ᾽ ἔρυκε.

καὶ γάρ κ᾽ εἰς ἐνιαυτὸν ἐγὼ παρὰ σοί γ᾽ ἀνεχοίμην

ἥμενος, οὐδέ κέ μ᾽ οἴκου ἕλοι πόθος οὐδὲ τοκήων:

αἰνῶς γὰρ μύθοισιν ἔπεσσί τε σοῖσιν ἀκούων

τέρπομαι. ἀλλ᾽ ἤδη μοι ἀνιάζουσιν ἑταῖροι

ἐν Πύλῳ ἠγαθέῃ: σὺ δέ με χρόνον ἐνθάδ᾽ ἐρύκεις.

δῶρον δ᾽ ὅττι κέ μοι δοίης, κειμήλιον ἔστω:

ἵππους δ᾽ εἰς Ἰθάκην οὐκ ἄξομαι, ἀλλὰ σοὶ αὐτῷ

ἐνθάδε λείψω ἄγαλμα: σὺ γὰρ πεδίοιο ἀνάσσεις

εὐρέος, ᾧ ἔνι μὲν λωτὸς πολύς, ἐν δὲ κύπειρον

πυροί τε ζειαί τε ἰδ᾽ εὐρυφυὲς κρῖ λευκόν.

ἐν δ᾽ Ἰθάκῃ οὔτ᾽ ἂρ δρόμοι εὐρέες οὔτε τι λειμών:

αἰγίβοτος, καὶ μᾶλλον ἐπήρατος ἱπποβότοιο.

οὐ γάρ τις νήσων ἱππήλατος οὐδ᾽ ἐυλείμων,

αἵ θ᾽ ἁλὶ κεκλίαται: Ἰθάκη δέ τε καὶ περὶ πασέων.’

Samuel Butler’s translation with certain names Hellenised:

‘Son of Atreus,’ replied Telemachus, ‘do not press me to stay longer; I should be contented to remain with you for another twelve months; I find your conversation so delightful that I should never once wish myself at home with my parents; but my crew whom I have left at Pylos are already impatient, and you are detaining me from them. As for any present you may be disposed to make me, I had rather that it should be a piece of plate. I will take no horses back with me to Ithaca, but will leave them to adorn your own stables, for you have much flat ground in your kingdom, where lotus thrives, as also meadow-sweet and wheat and barley, and oats with their white and spreading ears; whereas in Ithaca we have neither open fields nor racecourses, and the country is more fit for goats than horses, and I like it the better for that.^[13] None of our islands have much level ground, suitable for horses, and Ithaca least of all.’