The Adventures of Ulysses by Charles Lamb
THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES
BY CHARLES LAMB
PREFACE
This work is designed as a supplement to the Adventures of Telemachus. It treats of the conduct and sufferings of Ulysses, the father of Telemachus. The picture which it exhibits is that of a brave man struggling with adversity; by a wise use of events, and with an inimitable presence of mind under difficulties, forcing out a way for himself through the severest trials to which human life can be exposed; with enemies natural and preternatural surrounding him on all sides. The agents in this tale, besides men and women, are giants, enchanters, sirens: things which denote external force or internal temptations, the twofold danger which a wise fortitude must expect to encounter in its course through this world. The fictions contained in it will be found to comprehend some of the most admired inventions of Grecian mythology.
Terracotta plaque, ca. 460-450 BC,
artist unknown
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Fletcher Fund, 1930 (30.11.9)
From the description from the Metropolitan Museum website: “Odysseus returning to Penelope….Here [Odysseus] is shown approaching the disconsolate Penelope, as the faithful members of his household—his father, Laertes, his son, Telemachos, and the swineherd Eumaios—look on.”
www.metmuseum.org
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
The Cicons.—The Fruit of the Lotus-tree.—Polyphemus and the Cyclops.—
The Kingdom of the Winds, and God Aeolus’s Fatal Present.—The
Laestrygonian Man-eaters.
CHAPTER TWO
The House of Circe.—Men changed into Beasts.—The Voyage to Hell.—The
Banquet of the Dead.
CHAPTER THREE
The Song of the Sirens.—Scylla and Charybdis.—The Oxen of the Sun.—The
Judgment.—The Crew Killed by Lightning.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Island of Calypso.—Immortality Refused.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Tempest.—The Sea-bird’s Gift.—The Escape by Swimming.—The Sleep in the Woods.
CHAPTER SIX
The Princess Nausicaa.—The Washing.—The Game with the Ball.—The Court of Phaeacia and King Alcinous.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Songs of Demodocus—The Convoy Home.—The Manners—Transformed to
Stone—The Young Shepherd.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Change from a King to a Beggar.—Eumaeus and the Herdsmen—Telemachus.
CHAPTER NINE
The Queen’s Suitors—The Battle of the Beggars.—The Armour Taken Down.—
The Meeting with Penelope.
CHAPTER TEN
The Madness from Above—The Bow of Ulysses.—The Slaughter.—The
Conclusion.
***
