- Circe: Ulysses, what are you doing? Do you really think you can leave me?
- Ulysses: I have left you long ago, Circe. The day my men died.
- Circe: And do you think your journey will outlast theirs?
- Ulysses: You can't keep me here any longer.
- Circe: Listen to me! I'll give you something to make you forget those petty dreams of yours. Your pitiful kingdom, your aging wife. Stay, and tonight Olympus will crown a new god: Ulysses!
- Ulysses: Immortality?
- Circe: This is my gift. The greatest gift ever given to a man.
- Ulysses: [after a pause] No. There are greater gifts. To be born. To die. And in between, to live as a man.
- Circe: Yes, live as a man. Kneaded from fear.
- Ulysses: Only those who know fear understand courage.
- Circe: And old age? That rolling mean you call a body? Then - death. Such is man's terrible legacy.
- Ulysses: I accept this inheritance. I don't even flatter myself that I'll fall in battle or in the roar of storms. Far less will suffice. A sudden shiver. A chill at dusk. And yet - this fragile heap of fear dared to fight a god - and remains undefeated. If men speak of me one day, they will do so with pride, because I was of them.
- Circe: Their pride won't warm you in the kingdom of shadows. I offer you centuries of light!
- Ulysses: I don't think I will mind closing my eyes when the time comes.
- Polyphemus: [after eating one of Ulysses' men] My these Greeks are hard to chew. What horrible meat!
- [first lines]
- Eurycleia: Be gone now, ladies. Be gone. The day is over. Stay in your rooms. Do not follow the example of Melantho and the other maids, who infringed the laws of this house to flatter the vanity of the guests. Go.
- Penelope: As the light in the sky starts to dim, and night breaks, dark and silent, my sorrow and my torment grow ever sharper. At times, I fear I can bear it no longer.
- Antinoos: The ghost of Ulysses has lingered in this house for too long. Now, you need a man who will lead. One who will drive out the swarm of suitors. One who will bring you back to life.
- Ulysses: There's a strange smell in the air.
- Eurylochus: Yes, I can smell it.
- Ulysses: A dry, dusty smell, like that of dead flowers.
- Ulysses: There are two natures within me. One loves home, family, the hearth. The other longs for travel, the open sea, the strange shapes of unknown islands, demons, giants. Yes, Eurylochus, many times I feel homesick for things I have never seen!
- Ulysses: Why do you not speak? Where is Circe? Deaf and dumb. The perfect virtues for a servant in this house.
- Circe: What is it?
- Ulysses: It is strange. You have the same proud face, the same look as Penelope. It is strange.
- Circe: Why strange? Does not the difference between women dwell in the minds of men?
- Ulysses: No. The difference is Penelope would never yield to a stranger's embrace.
- Circe: Not even if the stranger were Ulysses?
- Ulysses: The gods are mocking and merciless, Eurylochus. And their deceptions are fierce. Ithaca seems so distant now!
- Circe: You stubborn mortal. So proud of that fleeting dream you name life. So enamored of your frailties and sins. Fascinated by death. Against such defiance, even the gods stand helpless.
- Penelope: I've been waiting too many years. At first, only news from the war. And the war never seemed to end. First months, then years. And I spent my days wondering, "Where is he? Is he with his soldiers? Perhaps there are women there. Beautiful women, full of life. Maybe he has forgotten me." But Penelope is loyal! It's so easy for Penelope to be loyal. And then, one fine day, word comes that the war is over. And you feel joy. Everyone else comes home. Kings, servants! But not him! He alone does not return! And so the waiting begins again. More months. More years. And the years are made of a thousand hours, of days, and nights. Nights. And you lie awake in your empty bed - and you wait.
- Ulysses: I am Ulysses, son of Laertes, King of Ithaca, breaker of Troy's might. Beyond the sea lies my home, my people, my son. My wife. For years I have wandered, harried by the gods' wrath. I battled storms. I heard the Sirens' fatal song. I was spellbound. I looked death in the eye. Yet here I stand, still alive!
- Penelope: If you truly knew my husband, then speak to me of him. Why don't you speak? Who are you?
- Ulysses: [disguised as a beggar] A friend of Ulysses. We were comrades beneath the walls of Troy. On many nights, as we waited for battle, he would speak of you, filled with sorrow.
- Penelope: What would he say?
- Ulysses: "She is dark-haired," he would say. "Radiant in her youth. With a sweet, gentle smile. She has a curious habit of tucking back her hair, absentmindedly, while spinning wool. Or watching over the sleeping child." Sometimes he spoke to me of his son, Telemachus, who slept smiling in his cradle on the day the ships set off for Troy. And sometimes, he spoke of that farewell day, when you stood by the ship, weeping in his embrace, and whispered, "I'll be here when you return."
- Penelope: When will you return?
- Ulysses: Nausicaa, I shall carry your tears with me. In a world of malice and hatred, they are proof of the love I have found.
- Eurimaco: You are too cruel with your beauty, Penelope. And far too young to sleep with nothing but your memories.
- Telemachus: Father, why are you dressed like this? Why do you return as a stranger to your own home?
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