Exegesis on the Soul 6

1Accordingly, it is written in the poet:

2Odysseus sat on the island, suffering and grieving,

3and turning his face away from Calypso’s words and charms,

4yearning to see his village again and smoke rising from it.

5And if he had not [received] help from Heaven,

6[he could not have returned] to his village. (Homer, Odyssey 1.48–1.59)

7Again, [Helen also] says:

8My heart changed within me;

9[] it is to my home that I would return. (Homer, Odyssey 4.260–261)

10For she moaned, saying:

11It is Aphrodite who misled me

12and took me away from my village.

13I abandoned my own daughter,

14and my husband, good, intelligent, and handsome. (Homer, Odyssey 4.261–4.264)

15For when the soul abandons her perfect husband because of the disloyalty of Aphrodite, who comes into existence here through the act of begetting, she will then come to harm. But if she moans and repents, she will be returned to her house.