PROMPTS FOR JULY 2026 are from Emily Wilson’s excellent translation of The #Odyssey, 2018

‘Tell me about a complicated man.’   (Book 1: line 1)

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Flushed Menelaus shouted angrily,

‘You used to have some brains!

Now you are talking like a silly child.’   (4: 28-30)

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His story broke my heart, and I sat down

upon the sands and wept.   (4: 537-9)

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‘We reached the sea and first of all we launched

the ship into the sparkling salty water,

set up the mast and sails, and brought the sheep

on board with us. We were still grieving, weeping,

in floods of tears’    (11: 1-5)

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                                    Even if I talked

a whole year, I would not complete the story

of everything the gods have made me suffer.   (14: 196-8)

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                                    Argos lay there dirty,

covered with fleas. And when he realized

Odysseus was near, he wagged his tail,

and both his ears dropped back. He was too weak

to move towards his master.   (17: 300-4)

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Lying Odysseus replied, ‘I will

tell you the truth completely.’ (24: 303-4)