Odyssey, Book 13: Ithaca at Last
Homer · Greek original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 13 ends Odysseus’ Phaeacian stay and begins the concealed Ithacan return. The audience’s exact Book 11 hush carries the completed apologoi into Alcinous’ final gift arrangements, where elite tripods and cauldrons are paired with reimbursement collected from the people. Dawn brings sacrifice, song, and a plowman simile that makes Odysseus long for sunset as intensely as a laborer longs for supper. After libation and a farewell centered on Arete’s household authority, the Phaeacians arrange the passenger, provisions, chest, linen, and rug aboard ship. Odysseus falls into unbroken sleep nearest death while ordered rowing and extraordinary speed carry him to Ithaca before dawn. The narrator describes Phorcys’ harbor, the Naiads’ cave, its stone vessels and looms, flowing water, and differentiated entrances; the escorts, who know the place, unload Odysseus asleep and secure his gifts beneath the olive. Poseidon then complains that the safe escort and abundant wealth diminish his honor, but he also acknowledges that Zeus’ earlier promise prevented removal of Odysseus’ return. Zeus authorizes punishment, Poseidon petrifies the returning ship, and Alcinous recognizes his father’s prophecy. Although he says the prophecy is wholly fulfilled, only the ship’s transformation is narrated: Alcinous proposes sacrificing twelve chosen bulls, the Phaeacians prepare them, and their leaders pray around the altar to avert the still-threatened mountain. Odysseus wakes in his ancestral land but cannot recognize it because Athena has cast mist for concealment, instruction, and vengeance. He mistakes fulfilled escort for betrayal, accuses the Phaeacians, counts the gifts, and mourns beside the sea until Athena approaches in a shepherd’s shape. After a verbal supplication, she describes rugged but productive Ithaca. The narrator announces that Odysseus’ reply is false before he builds a Cretan murder-and-flight story from Trojan spoil, ambush, Phoenician transport, storm, sleep, and a landing that closely reshapes his immediate experience. Athena smiles, reveals herself, and turns their mutual command of advantage, deception, counsel, and speech into the subject of a friendly but unequal contest: Odysseus is supreme among mortals, Athena among gods, and she retains the power to conceal, inform, transform, and depart. Odysseus challenges her absence after Troy and still tests whether the land is truly Ithaca. Athena answers through Penelope’s grief, her own refusal to fight Poseidon directly, and the repeated harbor landmarks. Once the mist disperses, Odysseus kisses the earth, addresses the nymphs, and helps hide the gifts. Beneath the sacred olive, Athena reports the suitors’ occupation and Penelope’s outward messages and inwardly different intention. Odysseus imagines an Agamemnon-like death, asks Athena to weave a vengeance plan, and receives both a promise of aid and a complete beggar transformation. The book then divides the work of return: Odysseus must seek Eumaeus and learn, while Athena recalls Telemachus from a fame-winning journey shadowed by an ambush she expects to fail.
Narrative arc
- the Phaeacian audience remains spellbound after the apologoi and Alcinous organizes final gifts
- dawn brings stowage, sacrifice, song, and Odysseus’ laborer-like longing for sunset
- Odysseus requests libation and escort, blesses the community, and gives Arete a final household farewell
- the escorts arrange provisions and bedding, row in order, and carry the sleeping passenger toward Ithaca
- horse and hawk comparisons mark extraordinary speed while Odysseus forgets his suffering in deathlike sleep
- the narrator maps Phorcys’ harbor, olive, Naiad cave, stone vessels, looms, waters, and two entrances
- the Phaeacians unload Odysseus asleep and secure the accumulated gifts away from the road
- Poseidon and Zeus negotiate honor, requital, prior promise, ship petrification, and the mountain threat
- Poseidon roots the ship as stone, and Alcinous answers the recalled prophecy by ending escort, proposing sacrifice, preparing bulls, and praying to avert the mountain
- Odysseus wakes under Athena’s mist, misreads the land, accuses his hosts, counts the gifts, and mourns
- Athena appears as a shepherd, receives verbal supplication, and describes Ithaca’s terrain and abundance
- the narrator exposes the Cretan tale as false before Odysseus narrates murder, flight, storm, sleep, and abandonment
- Athena reveals herself and praises the mortal strategist while retaining decisive divine power
- Odysseus challenges Athena’s absence, doubts the homeland, and hears her account of Penelope and Poseidon
- landmarks, dispersed mist, earth-kissing, prayer, gift concealment, and shared planning convert arrival into recognition
- Athena reports the suitors and Penelope’s divided strategy, and Odysseus requests an Agamemnon-avoiding plan
- Athena promises aid, defines the beggar disguise, directs Odysseus toward Eumaeus, and reports Telemachus’ journey
- the goddess enacts the bodily transformation and departs for Lacedaemon while Odysseus turns inland
Central themes
- physical homecoming versus restored household, identity, and authority
- hospitality as gift, labor, escort, communal cost, and possible divine liability
- sleep, death likeness, unconscious arrival, delayed recognition, and renewed life
- divine honor, prior promise, punishment, fear, proposed sacrifice, prayer, and incomplete fulfillment
- landscape as known place, obscured sign, narrated geography, and recovered homeland
- truth, tactical fiction, narrator disclosure, advantage, deception, and mutual intelligence
- divine and mortal agency within collaborative but unequal planning
- mist, disguise, bodily transformation, concealment, testing, and recognition
- Penelope’s grief, outward communication, inward intention, and bounded knowledge
- Agamemnon as a danger model for household return
- report about Odysseus, honorable fame for Telemachus, and the ambush against him
- silence, endurance, violence, and vengeance as the next conditions of nostos
Enchanted silence and the Phaeacians’ final gifts 13.1–17
1ὣς ἔφαθʼ, οἱ δʼ ἄρα πάντες ἀκὴν ἐγένοντο σιωπῇ,
κηληθμῷ δʼ ἔσχοντο κατὰ μέγαρα σκιόεντα.
τὸν δʼ αὖτʼ Ἀλκίνοος ἀπαμείβετο φώνησέν τε·
ὦ Ὀδυσεῦ, ἐπεὶ ἵκευ ἐμὸν ποτὶ χαλκοβατὲς δῶ,
5ὑψερεφές, τῷ σʼ οὔ τι παλιμπλαγχθέντα γʼ ὀΐω
ἂψ ἀπονοστήσειν, εἰ καὶ μάλα πολλὰ πέπονθας.
ὑμέων δʼ ἀνδρὶ ἑκάστῳ ἐφιέμενος τάδε εἴρω,
ὅσσοι ἐνὶ μεγάροισι γερούσιον αἴθοπα οἶνον
αἰεὶ πίνετʼ ἐμοῖσιν, ἀκουάζεσθε δʼ ἀοιδοῦ.
10εἵματα μὲν δὴ ξείνῳ ἐϋξέστῃ ἐνὶ χηλῷ
κεῖται καὶ χρυσὸς πολυδαίδαλος ἄλλα τε πάντα
δῶρʼ, ὅσα Φαιήκων βουληφόροι ἐνθάδʼ ἔνεικαν·
ἀλλʼ ἄγε οἱ δῶμεν τρίποδα μέγαν ἠδὲ λέβητα
ἀνδρακάς· ἡμεῖς δʼ αὖτε ἀγειρόμενοι κατὰ δῆμον
15τισόμεθʼ· ἀργαλέον γὰρ ἕνα προικὸς χαρίσασθαι.
ὣς ἔφατʼ Ἀλκίνοος, τοῖσιν δʼ ἐπιὴνδανε μῦθος.
οἱ μὲν κακκείοντες ἔβαν οἶκόνδε ἕκαστος,
1Thus he spoke, and all of them sat hushed in silence,
held by his spell throughout the shadowed halls.
Then Alcinous answered him and said:
‘Odysseus, since you have come beneath the bronze threshold of my house,
5high-roofed as it is, I think you will not be driven wandering back
before you return home, though you have suffered much.
To each man among you I address this charge—
all who continually drink the elders’ glowing wine
in my halls and listen to the singer.
10Clothing for the guest already lies in a polished chest,
with intricately worked gold and all the other gifts
the Phaeacian counselors brought here.
Come, let each of us give him a great tripod and cauldron.
We in turn will recover the cost by collecting from the people;
15it is hard for one man to make such a generous gift unaided.’
So Alcinous spoke, and his proposal pleased them.
Each man then went home to lie down.
Commentary
The exact two-line hush that followed the women catalogue in Book 11 now follows the completed apologoi, keeping the Phaeacian audience under the power of Odysseus’ performance. Alcinous answers by treating return as secure and by ordering one last layer of gifts. Each counselor is to give a tripod and cauldron, while reimbursement will be gathered from the people because such generosity is hard for one man alone. Elite decision, household hospitality, and communal cost therefore converge before the guests disperse for sleep.
13.1–3 The exact Book 11 hush carries the completed underworld performance directly into Alcinous’ final response. Lines 13.1-2 are byte-exact with 11.333-334 and 13.3 repeats Alcinous’ answer frame from 7.298, 7.308, 11.347, and 11.362. The audience remains spellbound, but the function changes from receiving the women catalogue and reopening the Nekyia to closing the apologoi and organizing departure.
13.4–15 Alcinous joins confidence in Odysseus’ return to a gift plan that distributes generosity and cost unevenly. The king treats renewed wandering as finished and addresses the men who drink elders’ wine and hear the singer in his hall. Each is to supply a tripod and cauldron, but reimbursement comes through collection from the people because one man cannot easily bear such a gift. Hospitality is generous, organized, and socially financed rather than costless.
Dawn, the farewell feast, and Odysseus’ longing 13.18–35
18ἦμος δʼ ἠριγένεια φάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς,
νῆάδʼ ἐπεσσεύοντο, φέρον δʼ εὐήνορα χαλκόν.
20καὶ τὰ μὲν εὖ κατέθηχʼ ἱερὸν μένος Ἀλκινόοιο,
αὐτὸς ἰὼν διὰ νηὸς ὑπὸ ζυγά, μή τινʼ ἑταίρων
βλάπτοι ἐλαυνόντων, ὁπότε σπερχοίατʼ ἐρετμοῖς.
οἱ δʼ εἰς Ἀλκινόοιο κίον καὶ δαῖτʼ ἀλέγυνον.
τοῖσι δὲ βοῦν ἱέρευσʼ ἱερὸν μένος Ἀλκινόοιο
25Ζηνὶ κελαινεφέϊ Κρονίδῃ, ὃς πᾶσιν ἀνάσσει.
μῆρα δὲ κήαντες δαίνυντʼ ἐρικυδέα δαῖτα
τερπόμενοι· μετὰ δέ σφιν ἐμέλπετο θεῖος ἀοιδός,
Δημόδοκος, λαοῖσι τετιμένος. αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς
πολλὰ πρὸς ἠέλιον κεφαλὴν τρέπε παμφανόωντα,
30δῦναι ἐπειγόμενος· δὴ γὰρ μενέαινε νέεσθαι.
ὡς δʼ ὅτʼ ἀνὴρ δόρποιο λιλαίεται, ᾧ τε πανῆμαρ
νειὸν ἀνʼ ἕλκητον βόε οἴνοπε πηκτὸν ἄροτρον·
ἀσπασίως δʼ ἄρα τῷ κατέδυ φάος ἠελίοιο
δόρπον ἐποίχεσθαι, βλάβεται δέ τε γούνατʼ ἰόντι·
35ὣς Ὀδυσῆʼ ἀσπαστὸν ἔδυ φάος ἠελίοιο.
18When early-born Dawn appeared, rosy-fingered,
they hurried to the ship, bringing sturdy bronze.
20The sacred strength of Alcinous stowed the gifts securely,
going himself beneath the ship’s benches, so that none of the crew
would be hindered as they drove hard at the oars.
Then they went to Alcinous’ house and prepared the feast.
For them the sacred strength of Alcinous sacrificed an ox
25to Zeus, dark-clouded son of Cronus, who rules over all.
They burned the thighbones and feasted on the glorious banquet
with delight, while the divine singer performed among them,
Demodocus, honored by the people. But Odysseus
kept turning his head toward the blazing sun,
30eager for it to set, for he longed to be on his way.
As a man longs for supper when all day long
two wine-dark oxen have dragged the fitted plow through fallow ground,
and the sunlight sinks welcome to him
as he goes to his meal, his knees faltering beneath him—
35so welcome to Odysseus was the sinking light of the sun.
Commentary
Rosy-fingered Dawn opens final preparations. The counselors bring bronze, Alcinous personally stows the gifts beneath the benches so the rowers will not be obstructed, and the company returns to the hall. An ox is sacrificed to Zeus, thighbones are burned, and Demodocus performs during the feast. Odysseus, however, repeatedly watches the sun and longs for its setting. The plowman simile makes departure bodily urgent: sunset is welcome because it releases exhausted labor toward supper.
13.18–22 The recurrent Dawn line opens practical departure labor, while Alcinous’ strength formula makes the king himself responsible for unobstructed stowage. Line 13.18 is byte-exact with the established rosy-fingered Dawn line in Books 2-5, 8-10, and 12. The familiar transition leads not immediately to sailing but to bronze carried aboard and gifts placed beneath the benches. Alcinous personally moves through the ship so hard rowing will not be impeded.
13.23–30 The farewell feast keeps sacrifice, divine sovereignty, communal delight, song, and Odysseus’ private impatience in one scene. Alcinous sacrifices an ox to Zeus, thighbones are burned, and the glorious feast proceeds while Demodocus performs. Odysseus participates within that hospitable order yet repeatedly turns toward the sun, eager for its setting. Ritual and song do not erase the guest’s desire to leave; the scene holds collective celebration beside inward nostos.
13.31–35 The plowman comparison stretches bodily labor toward sunset before the repeated welcome of fading light releases the sentence. Daylong dragging, paired oxen, fitted plow, desired supper, and failing knees accumulate before the final correspondence with Odysseus. The repetition of welcome around the sun’s descent gives the comparison an audible hinge. This is a bounded observation about pacing and balance rather than exhaustive scansion.
Farewell, libation, and Odysseus’ address to Arete 13.36–62
36αἶψα δὲ Φαιήκεσσι φιληρέτμοισι μετηύδα,
Ἀλκινόῳ δὲ μάλιστα πιφαυσκόμενος φάτο μῦθον·
Ἀλκίνοε κρεῖον, πάντων ἀριδείκετε λαῶν,
πέμπετέ με σπείσαντες ἀπήμονα, χαίρετε δʼ αὐτοί·
40ἤδη γὰρ τετέλεσται ἅ μοι φίλος ἤθελε θυμός,
πομπὴ καὶ φίλα δῶρα, τά μοι θεοὶ Οὐρανίωνες
ὄλβια ποιήσειαν· ἀμύμονα δʼ οἴκοι ἄκοιτιν
νοστήσας εὕροιμι σὺν ἀρτεμέεσσι φίλοισιν.
ὑμεῖς δʼ αὖθι μένοντες ἐϋφραίνοιτε γυναῖκας
45κουριδίας καὶ τέκνα· θεοὶ δʼ ἀρετὴν ὀπάσειαν
παντοίην, καὶ μή τι κακὸν μεταδήμιον εἴη.
ὣς ἔφαθʼ, οἱ δʼ ἄρα πάντες ἐπῄνεον ἠδʼ ἐκέλευον
πεμπέμεναι τὸν ξεῖνον, ἐπεὶ κατὰ μοῖραν ἔειπεν.
καὶ τότε κήρυκα προσέφη μένος Ἀλκινόοιο·
50Ποντόνοε, κρητῆρα κερασσάμενος μέθυ νεῖμον
πᾶσιν ἀνὰ μέγαρον, ὄφρʼ εὐξάμενοι Διὶ πατρὶ
τὸν ξεῖνον πέμπωμεν ἑὴν ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν.
ὣς φάτο, Ποντόνοος δὲ μελίφρονα οἶνον ἐκίρνα,
νώμησεν δʼ ἄρα πᾶσιν ἐπισταδόν· οἱ δὲ θεοῖσιν
55ἔσπεισαν μακάρεσσι, τοὶ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἔχουσιν,
αὐτόθεν ἐξ ἑδρέων. ἀνὰ δʼ ἵστατο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
Ἀρήτῃ δʼ ἐν χειρὶ τίθει δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον,
καί μιν φωνήσας ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα·
χαῖρέ μοι, ὦ βασίλεια, διαμπερές, εἰς ὅ κε γῆρας
60ἔλθῃ καὶ θάνατος, τά τʼ ἐπʼ ἀνθρώποισι πέλονται.
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ νέομαι· σὺ δὲ τέρπεο τῷδʼ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ
παισί τε καὶ λαοῖσι καὶ Ἀλκινόῳ βασιλῆϊ.
36At once he addressed the Phaeacians, lovers of the oar,
speaking above all to Alcinous:
‘Lord Alcinous, most renowned among all the people,
pour the libation, send me away unharmed, and may you prosper.
40Everything my own heart desired has now been fulfilled:
escort and cherished gifts. May the gods of heaven
make them a blessing to me, and may I return to find my blameless wife
and dear friends unharmed at home.
May you who remain here bring joy to your wedded wives
45and children; may the gods grant you excellence of every kind,
and may no evil arise among the people.’
So he spoke, and all approved and urged
that the guest be sent on, since he had spoken fittingly.
Then the strength of Alcinous addressed the herald:
50‘Pontonous, mix a bowl and serve the wine
to everyone in the hall, so that after praying to father Zeus
we may send the guest to his native land.’
So he spoke. Pontonous mixed the honey-hearted wine
and served each person in turn; from where they sat
55they poured libations to the blessed gods who hold broad heaven.
Then godlike Odysseus rose from his seat
and placed the two-handled cup in Arete’s hands.
He addressed her in winged words:
‘Farewell, my queen, through all the years until old age
60and death come upon you, as they come to mortals.
I am going home. Take delight in this house,
in your children, your people, and king Alcinous.’
Commentary
Odysseus asks Alcinous and the oar-loving Phaeacians for libation, harmless escort, and a prosperous future. He names escort and gifts as the desires of his heart already fulfilled, then hopes to find wife and friends unharmed while leaving his hosts with wives, children, excellence, and no public evil. The assembly approves his fitting speech. Pontonous mixes wine, the seated company pours to the gods, and Odysseus places the two-handled cup in Arete’s hands. His farewell joins mortality to her continuing delight in house, children, people, and king.
13.36–48 Phaeacian address and approval formulas move from earlier public inquiry and entertainment into the guest’s final request for escort. Line 13.36 is punctuation-normalized with 8.96, 8.386, and 8.535; 13.38 is byte-exact with Alcinous addresses at 8.382, 8.401, 9.2, 11.355, and 11.378. Lines 13.47-48 repeat the approval and escort response at 7.226-227. Familiar diction now confirms that Odysseus has spoken fittingly and should depart.
13.39–46 Odysseus frames completed hospitality as mutual flourishing rather than a one-sided extraction of escort and wealth. He names escort and gifts as what his heart desired, asks the heavenly gods to make them beneficial, and hopes for wife and friends unharmed. His blessing then turns outward toward the hosts’ wives, children, excellence, and freedom from public evil. These remain wishes in guest speech, but they answer gifts with verbal reciprocity.
13.49–62 Exact Book 7 herald-and-wine lines return before a non-formulaic farewell that centers Arete’s continuing household and public life. Lines 13.49-50 and 13.53 repeat 7.178-179 and 7.182 exactly as Pontonous mixes and distributes wine for escort. The familiar libation frame then yields to Odysseus placing the cup in Arete’s hands and naming age, death, house, children, people, and Alcinous. Repetition supports departure ritual while the direct farewell preserves Arete’s distinct authority.
Boarding, ordered rowing, and deathlike sleep 13.63–80
63ὣς εἰπὼν ὑπὲρ οὐδὸν ἐβήσετο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
τῷ δʼ ἅμα κήρυκα προΐει μένος Ἀλκινόοιο,
65ἡγεῖσθαι ἐπὶ νῆα θοὴν καὶ θῖνα θαλάσσης·
Ἀρήτη δʼ ἄρα οἱ δμῳὰς ἅμʼ ἔπεμπε γυναῖκας,
τὴν μὲν φᾶρος ἔχουσαν ἐϋπλυνὲς ἠδὲ χιτῶνα,
τὴν δʼ ἑτέρην χηλὸν πυκινὴν ἅμʼ ὄπασσε κομίζειν·
ἡ δʼ ἄλλη σῖτόν τʼ ἔφερεν καὶ οἶνον ἐρυθρόν.
70αὐτὰρ ἐπεί ῥʼ ἐπὶ νῆα κατήλυθον ἠδὲ θάλασσαν,
αἶψα τά γʼ ἐν νηῒ γλαφυρῇ πομπῆες ἀγαυοὶ
δεξάμενοι κατέθεντο, πόσιν καὶ βρῶσιν ἅπασαν·
κὰδ δʼ ἄρʼ Ὀδυσσῆϊ στόρεσαν ῥῆγός τε λίνον τε
νηὸς ἐπʼ ἰκριόφιν γλαφυρῆς, ἵνα νήγρετον εὕδοι,
75πρυμνῆς· ἂν δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐβήσετο καὶ κατέλεκτο
σιγῇ· τοὶ δὲ καθῖζον ἐπὶ κληῗσιν ἕκαστοι
κόσμῳ, πεῖσμα δʼ ἔλυσαν ἀπὸ τρητοῖο λίθοιο.
εὖθʼ οἱ ἀνακλινθέντες ἀνερρίπτουν ἅλα πηδῷ,
καὶ τῷ νήδυμος ὕπνος ἐπὶ βλεφάροισιν ἔπιπτε,
80νήγρετος, ἥδιστος, θανάτῳ ἄγχιστα ἐοικώς.
63With these words godlike Odysseus crossed the threshold.
The strength of Alcinous sent a herald with him
65to guide him to the swift ship and the seashore.
Arete also sent enslaved women in his company:
one carried a well-washed cloak and tunic,
another was charged with carrying the sturdy chest,
and a third brought bread and red wine.
70When they had gone down to the ship and the sea,
the noble escorts at once received the provisions
and stowed them in the hollow ship, all the food and drink.
For Odysseus they spread a rug and linen sheet
on the hollow ship’s stern deck, so that he might sleep unbroken.
75He himself climbed aboard and lay down
in silence. The rowers sat at their oarlocks, each in order,
and freed the cable from the perforated stone.
When they leaned back and tossed the sea with their blades,
soft sleep fell upon his eyelids,
80unbroken, sweetest sleep, most nearly like death.
Commentary
Odysseus crosses the threshold and is guided to the ship. Arete sends three enslaved women with differentiated burdens: clothing, the sturdy chest, and provisions. The escorts stow food and drink, spread rug and linen on the stern deck, and create a place for unbroken sleep. Odysseus boards and lies down silently while the rowers take their ordered seats and release the cable. As the blades strike the sea, sleep falls over him—soft, unbroken, sweetest, and explicitly nearest to death.
13.63–69 Threshold crossing turns farewell speech into a chain of guided and differentiated transport labor. Odysseus crosses the house threshold, an Alcinous-sent herald guides him, and Arete assigns three enslaved women distinct burdens: clothing, chest, and provisions. The scene preserves both the royal household’s organization and the unequal status of those who carry its material hospitality to the ship.
13.70–80 Ordered shipboard preparation narrows into a three-part description of sleep whose final comparison approaches death. Reception and stowage move through provisions, rug, linen, stern, boarding, silence, ordered oarlocks, cable, and the first sea stroke. The sleep phrase then accumulates softness, unbroken continuity, superlative sweetness, and nearest likeness to death. The compression makes unconscious arrival a formal hinge without claiming full scansion.
13.73–80 The sleep vocabulary distinguishes arrangement, duration, pleasure, and comparison rather than naming one undifferentiated trance. Nēgretos first belongs to the purpose of the prepared bedding and then qualifies the sleep itself; nēdumos marks softness or sweetness, hēdistos heightens pleasure, and the death phrase remains comparative. Translation should preserve the layered qualities and avoid converting resemblance into ontology.
The miraculous voyage and arrival before dawn 13.81–95
81ἡ δʼ, ὥς τʼ ἐν πεδίῳ τετράοροι ἄρσενες ἵπποι,
πάντες ἅμʼ ὁρμηθέντες ὑπὸ πληγῇσιν ἱμάσθλης,
ὑψόσʼ ἀειρόμενοι ῥίμφα πρήσσουσι κέλευθον,
ὣς ἄρα τῆς πρύμνη μὲν ἀείρετο, κῦμα δʼ ὄπισθε
85πορφύρεον μέγα θῦε πολυφλοίσβοιο θαλάσσης.
ἡ δὲ μάλʼ ἀσφαλέως θέεν ἔμπεδον· οὐδέ κεν ἴρηξ
κίρκος ὁμαρτήσειεν, ἐλαφρότατος πετεηνῶν.
ὣς ἡ ῥίμφα θέουσα θαλάσσης κύματʼ ἔταμνεν,
ἄνδρα φέρουσα θεοῖς ἐναλίγκια μήδεʼ ἔχοντα·
90ὃς πρὶν μὲν μάλα πολλὰ πάθʼ ἄλγεα ὃν κατὰ θυμὸν
ἀνδρῶν τε πτολέμους ἀλεγεινά τε κύματα πείρων,
δὴ τότε γʼ ἀτρέμας εὗδε, λελασμένος ὅσσʼ ἐπεπόνθει.
εὖτʼ ἀστὴρ ὑπερέσχε φαάντατος, ὅς τε μάλιστα
ἔρχεται ἀγγέλλων φάος Ἠοῦς ἠριγενείης,
95τῆμος δὴ νήσῳ προσεπίλνατο ποντοπόρος νηῦς.
81As four stallions on a plain,
all surging together beneath the lashes of the whip,
lift themselves high and swiftly accomplish their course,
so the ship’s stern kept rising, while behind her
85a great dark-rolling wave of the roaring sea rushed on.
She ran steadily and with perfect safety; not even a hawk,
the swiftest of flying things, could have kept pace.
So she sped, cutting through the waves of the sea,
carrying a man whose counsels were like the gods’—
90a man who had earlier suffered many pains in his spirit,
passing through the wars of men and grievous waves,
but now slept utterly still, forgetful of all he had endured.
When the brightest star rose, the one that most clearly
comes heralding the light of early-born Dawn,
95the seagoing ship drew near the island.
Commentary
The ship is compared first to four stallions rising and surging together, then declared too swift even for the fastest hawk to match. Its speed and safety belong to the coordinated craft and extraordinary capacities of the Phaeacians, while its passenger remains still. The narrator names Odysseus as a man whose counsels resemble the gods’ and summarizes war and wave suffering, yet the present action is forgetful sleep. The brightest heralding star rises as the ship approaches Ithaca before Dawn.
13.81–92 Horse and hawk comparisons accelerate the ship while repeated stillness keeps the passenger outside the homeward motion carrying him toward Ithaca. Four stallions surge together, the stern rises, and a dark wave follows before the ship exceeds even the swift hawk. Verbs of lifting, rushing, cutting, carrying, suffering, and passing contrast with Odysseus sleeping utterly still and forgetting what he endured. The energetic accumulation makes the approach unfold around an inactive hero.
13.86–95 The narrator certifies safe voyage and pre-dawn approach while withholding every conscious sign of homecoming from Odysseus. The ship runs securely, outpaces the hawk, and carries a man with godlike counsels. A compressed retrospective holds wars and waves beside present sleep, then the morning star announces Dawn as the ship nears Ithaca. The audience receives destination and safe approach before the sleeper can recognize either; landing follows in the next passage.
Phorcys’ harbor and the cave of the Naiads 13.96–112
96Φόρκυνος δέ τίς ἐστι λιμήν, ἁλίοιο γέροντος,
ἐν δήμῳ Ἰθάκης· δύο δὲ προβλῆτες ἐν αὐτῷ
ἀκταὶ ἀπορρῶγες, λιμένος ποτιπεπτηυῖαι,
αἵ τʼ ἀνέμων σκεπόωσι δυσαήων μέγα κῦμα
100ἔκτοθεν· ἔντοσθεν δέ τʼ ἄνευ δεσμοῖο μένουσι
νῆες ἐΰσσελμοι, ὅτʼ ἂν ὅρμου μέτρον ἵκωνται.
αὐτὰρ ἐπὶ κρατὸς λιμένος τανύφυλλος ἐλαίη,
ἀγχόθι δʼ αὐτῆς ἄντρον ἐπήρατον ἠεροειδές,
ἱρὸν νυμφάων αἱ νηϊάδες καλέονται.
105ἐν δὲ κρητῆρές τε καὶ ἀμφιφορῆες ἔασιν
λάϊνοι· ἔνθα δʼ ἔπειτα τιθαιβώσσουσι μέλισσαι.
ἐν δʼ ἱστοὶ λίθεοι περιμήκεες, ἔνθα τε νύμφαι
φάρεʼ ὑφαίνουσιν ἁλιπόρφυρα, θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι·
ἐν δʼ ὕδατʼ ἀενάοντα. δύω δέ τέ οἱ θύραι εἰσίν,
110αἱ μὲν πρὸς Βορέαο καταιβαταὶ ἀνθρώποισιν,
αἱ δʼ αὖ πρὸς Νότου εἰσὶ θεώτεραι· οὐδέ τι κείνῃ
ἄνδρες ἐσέρχονται, ἀλλʼ ἀθανάτων ὁδός ἐστιν.
96There is a harbor of Phorcys, the old man of the sea,
in the land of Ithaca. Two projecting
broken cliffs lean inward toward the harbor
and shelter it outside from the great waves of violent winds.
100Inside, well-benched ships remain without mooring
once they reach the proper anchorage.
At the harbor’s head stands a long-leaved olive.
Nearby is a lovely, shadowy cave
sacred to the nymphs called Naiads.
105Inside are mixing bowls and two-handled jars
of stone, where bees store honey.
There are long stone looms, where the nymphs
weave sea-purple cloth, a wonder to behold,
and ever-flowing waters. The cave has two entrances:
110the northern way descends for mortals,
while the southern is more divine. Men do not
enter by it; it is the pathway of immortals.
Commentary
The narrator identifies an Ithacan harbor associated with Phorcys. Broken headlands bend inward and shelter ships so completely that vessels reaching the proper anchorage need no mooring. At its head stands a long-leaved olive beside a lovely shadowed cave sacred to the Naiads. Stone mixing vessels, jars where bees store honey, long stone looms, sea-purple cloth, and ever-flowing water join craft, nourishment, wonder, and divine habitation. The northern descent is for mortals; the southern entrance is more divine and reserved as an immortal path.
13.96–112 Phorcys’ harbor is defined by shelter, proper anchorage, a headland olive, and a cave whose internal features organize the landing place. Inward-facing broken cliffs exclude the great waves of violent winds, and ships reaching the right measure of anchorage can remain without cable. The olive and nearby cave then provide fixed landmarks later repeated by Athena. This is sufficient narrative geography for approach and recognition without selecting a modern harbor.
13.102–112 The Naiad cave combines sacred ownership, craft, nourishment, water, and differentiated mortal and immortal access. Stone bowls and jars hold bee-work, stone looms support sea-purple weaving, and water runs continuously. The northern entrance descends for human use, while the southern is more divine and named as an immortal path. The passage marks difference without explaining a full ritual system or how the two routes function.
Odysseus landed asleep and his gifts secured 13.113–124
113ἔνθʼ οἵ γʼ εἰσέλασαν, πρὶν εἰδότες· ἡ μὲν ἔπειτα
ἠπείρῳ ἐπέκελσεν, ὅσον τʼ ἐπὶ ἥμισυ πάσης,
115σπερχομένη· τοῖον γὰρ ἐπείγετο χέρσʼ ἐρετάων·
οἱ δʼ ἐκ νηὸς βάντες ἐϋζύγου ἤπειρόνδε
πρῶτον Ὀδυσσῆα γλαφυρῆς ἐκ νηὸς ἄειραν
αὐτῷ σύν τε λίνῳ καὶ ῥήγεϊ σιγαλόεντι,
κὰδ δʼ ἄρʼ ἐπὶ ψαμάθῳ ἔθεσαν δεδμημένον ὕπνῳ,
120ἐκ δὲ κτήματʼ ἄειραν, ἅ οἱ Φαίηκες ἀγαυοὶ
ὤπασαν οἴκαδʼ ἰόντι διὰ μεγάθυμον Ἀθήνην.
καὶ τὰ μὲν οὖν παρὰ πυθμένʼ ἐλαίης ἀθρόα θῆκαν
ἐκτὸς ὁδοῦ, μή πώς τις ὁδιτάων ἀνθρώπων,
πρίν γʼ Ὀδυσῆʼ ἔγρεσθαι, ἐπελθὼν δηλήσαιτο·
113They rowed inside, knowing the place beforehand. The ship
ran half her length onto the shore
115in her haste, so strongly did the rowers’ hands drive her.
They stepped out of the well-benched ship onto land
and first lifted Odysseus from the hollow hull,
together with the linen and the shining rug.
They laid him on the sand, overcome by sleep.
120Then they carried out the possessions the noble Phaeacians
had given him for his journey home, through great-hearted Athena.
They set them all together at the foot of the olive,
away from the road, so that no human traveler
might come upon them and do harm before Odysseus woke.
Commentary
The escorts enter because they know the harbor in advance, and the speed of their approach drives half the ship onto shore. They lift Odysseus first, still wrapped in linen and rug and mastered by sleep, then unload the possessions given through Athena’s agency. The wealth is gathered beneath the olive and placed away from the road so no traveler can damage it before he wakes. The Phaeacians complete escort through careful bodily handling and protection of property, then return home without recognition or farewell from their passenger.
13.113–124 Phaeacian foreknowledge and labor complete the escort before Odysseus can participate in his own arrival. The rowers know the harbor, drive the ship partly ashore, lift Odysseus with bedding, and place him on sand still mastered by sleep. They unload and gather the wealth beyond the road to protect it from travelers, then leave. Bodily care and property care substitute for recognition or spoken farewell at the landing.
Poseidon and Zeus negotiate Phaeacian punishment 13.125–158
125αὐτοὶ δʼ αὖτʼ οἶκόνδε πάλιν κίον. οὐδʼ ἐνοσίχθων
λήθετʼ ἀπειλάων, τὰς ἀντιθέῳ Ὀδυσῆϊ
πρῶτον ἐπηπείλησε, Διὸς δʼ ἐξείρετο βουλήν·
Ζεῦ πάτερ, οὐκέτʼ ἐγώ γε μετʼ ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσι
τιμήεις ἔσομαι, ὅτε με βροτοὶ οὔ τι τίουσιν,
130Φαίηκες, τοί πέρ τοι ἐμῆς ἔξ εἰσι γενέθλης.
καὶ γὰρ νῦν Ὀδυσῆʼ ἐφάμην κακὰ πολλὰ παθόντα
οἴκαδʼ ἐλεύσεσθαι· νόστον δέ οἱ οὔ ποτʼ ἀπηύρων
πάγχυ, ἐπεὶ σὺ πρῶτον ὑπέσχεο καὶ κατένευσας.
οἱ δʼ εὕδοντʼ ἐν νηῒ θοῇ ἐπὶ πόντον ἄγοντες
135κάτθεσαν εἰν Ἰθάκῃ, ἔδοσαν δέ οἱ ἄσπετα δῶρα,
χαλκόν τε χρυσόν τε ἅλις ἐσθῆτά θʼ ὑφαντήν,
πόλλʼ, ὅσʼ ἂν οὐδέ ποτε Τροίης ἐξήρατʼ Ὀδυσσεύς,
εἴ περ ἀπήμων ἦλθε, λαχὼν ἀπὸ ληΐδος αἶσαν.
τὸν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη νεφεληγερέτα Ζεὺς·
140ὢ πόποι, ἐννοσίγαιʼ εὐρυσθενές, οἷον ἔειπες.
οὔ τί σʼ ἀτιμάζουσι θεοί· χαλεπὸν δέ κεν εἴη
πρεσβύτατον καὶ ἄριστον ἀτιμίῃσιν ἰάλλειν.
ἀνδρῶν δʼ εἴ πέρ τίς σε βίῃ καὶ κάρτεϊ εἴκων
οὔ τι τίει. σοὶ δʼ ἐστὶ καὶ ἐξοπίσω τίσις αἰεί.
145ἔρξον ὅπως ἐθέλεις καί τοι φίλον ἔπλετο θυμῷ.
τὸν δʼ ἠμείβετʼ ἔπειτα Ποσειδάων ἐνοσίχθων·
αἶψά κʼ ἐγὼν ἔρξαιμι, κελαινεφές, ὡς ἀγορεύεις·
ἀλλὰ σὸν αἰεὶ θυμὸν ὀπίζομαι ἠδʼ ἀλεείνω.
νῦν αὖ Φαιήκων ἐθέλω περικαλλέα νῆα,
150ἐκ πομπῆς ἀνιοῦσαν, ἐν ἠεροειδέϊ πόντῳ
ῥαῖσαι, ἵνʼ ἤδη σχῶνται, ἀπολλήξωσι δὲ πομπῆς
ἀνθρώπων, μέγα δέ σφιν ὄρος πόλει ἀμφικαλύψαι.
τὸν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη νεφεληγερέτα Ζεύς·
ὢ πέπον, ὡς μὲν ἐμῷ θυμῷ δοκεῖ εἶναι ἄριστα,
155ὁππότε κεν δὴ πάντες ἐλαυνομένην προΐδωνται
λαοὶ ἀπὸ πτόλιος, θεῖναι λίθον ἐγγύθι γαίης
νηῒ θοῇ ἴκελον, ἵνα θαυμάζωσιν ἅπαντες
ἄνθρωποι, μέγα δέ σφιν ὄρος πόλει ἀμφικαλύψαι.
125Then they themselves returned home. But the Earth-shaker
had not forgotten the threats he first made
against godlike Odysseus, and he asked Zeus for his counsel:
‘Father Zeus, I will no longer be honored among the immortal gods
when mortals show me no respect—
130the Phaeacians, though they spring from my own line.
I had said that Odysseus would come home after suffering many evils,
for I never meant to take away his return entirely,
once you had first promised it and confirmed it with your nod.
But they carried him asleep over the sea in their swift ship,
135set him down in Ithaca, and gave him boundless gifts—
bronze and gold in abundance and woven clothing,
more than Odysseus could ever have brought from Troy
if he had returned unharmed with his allotted share of spoil.’
Cloud-gathering Zeus answered him:
140‘What a thing to say, Earth-shaker of broad strength!
The gods do not dishonor you. It would be hard
to assail the oldest and best among us with disgrace.
If any mortal, giving way to violence and might,
fails to honor you, requital is always yours hereafter.
145Do as you wish and as your heart finds pleasing.’
Poseidon, shaker of the earth, answered him:
‘Dark-clouded one, I would act at once as you say,
but I always regard your will and shrink from crossing it.
Now I intend to strike the Phaeacians’ beautiful ship
150as it returns from escort over the misty sea,
to make them stop at last and cease escorting
mortal men—and to shroud their city beneath a great mountain.’
Cloud-gathering Zeus answered him:
‘Dear brother, this seems to my mind the best course.
155When all the people looking from the city see her approaching,
turn her to stone near the land, still shaped
like a swift ship, so that every mortal may marvel;
then shroud their city beneath a great mountain.’
Commentary
Poseidon has not forgotten his earlier threats, but his complaint begins by acknowledging a limit: Zeus promised and nodded that Odysseus would return, so Poseidon never intended to remove nostos entirely. His grievance is honor. Phaeacians of his own lineage have carried Odysseus asleep and enriched him beyond even a safe Trojan return. Zeus denies that the gods dishonor Poseidon and affirms continuing requital against mortals who fail to respect him. Poseidon proposes smashing the returning ship and covering the city with a mountain; Zeus recommends petrifying the ship in view of the people and repeats the mountain threat.
13.125–138 Poseidon’s complaint distinguishes an unrevoked homecoming from the honor grievance produced by how the Phaeacians completed it. He remembers his threats and says the Phaeacians of his own descent do not respect him. Yet he states that he never meant to take Odysseus’ return away completely after Zeus first promised and nodded. The new offense is transport in sleep and wealth exceeding what a safe Trojan return might have yielded.
13.131–138 Nostos here means the divinely guaranteed possibility of arrival, not the completed restoration of household and social place. Poseidon says he did not wholly deprive Odysseus of return because Zeus had committed to it. The comparison with Trojan spoil measures the wealth of arrival, while Athena’s mist, the suitors, and the coming disguise show that homecoming remains internally unfinished. The local word should not be expanded into every later stage at once.
13.139–158 Zeus denies divine dishonor yet leaves Poseidon broad authority to exact requital from mortals. Zeus calls Poseidon oldest and best, rejects the claim that gods treat him without honor, and says requital remains available when mortals fail to respect him under pressure of might. Poseidon still says he regards and avoids crossing Zeus’ will before proposing punishment. The exchange shows both hierarchy and room for independent action.
13.149–158 Poseidon’s proposed punishment and Zeus’ revision repeat the mountain threat internally while changing the ship action from smashing to visible petrification. Poseidon proposes destroying the returning escort ship and covering the city with a mountain. Zeus instead specifies a stone ship near land, still ship-shaped and publicly marvelous, then repeats the mountain clause. The repeated final threat remains verbally stable while the first punitive act becomes more exact and theatrical.
The stone ship, fulfilled prophecy, and sacrifice 13.159–187
159αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ τό γʼ ἄκουσε Ποσειδάων ἐνοσίχθων,
160βῆ ῥʼ ἴμεν ἐς Σχερίην, ὅθι Φαίηκες γεγάασιν.
ἔνθʼ ἔμενʼ· ἡ δὲ μάλα σχεδὸν ἤλυθε ποντοπόρος νηῦς
ῥίμφα διωκομένη· τῆς δὲ σχεδὸν ἦλθʼ ἐνοσίχθων,
ὅς μιν λᾶαν ἔθηκε καὶ ἐρρίζωσεν ἔνερθε
χειρὶ καταπρηνεῖ ἐλάσας· ὁ δὲ νόσφι βεβήκει.
165οἱ δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔπεα πτερόεντʼ ἀγόρευον
Φαίηκες δολιχήρετμοι, ναυσίκλυτοι ἄνδρες.
ὧδε δέ τις εἴπεσκεν ἰδὼν ἐς πλησίον ἄλλον·
ὤ μοι, τίς δὴ νῆα θοὴν ἐπέδησʼ ἐνὶ πόντῳ
οἴκαδʼ ἐλαυνομένην; καὶ δὴ προὐφαίνετο πᾶσα.
170ὣς ἄρα τις εἴπεσκε· τὰ δʼ οὐκ ἴσαν ὡς ἐτέτυκτο.
τοῖσιν δʼ Ἀλκίνοος ἀγορήσατο καὶ μετέειπεν·
ὢ πόποι, ἦ μάλα δή με παλαίφατα θέσφαθʼ ἱκάνει
πατρὸς ἐμοῦ, ὃς ἔφασκε Ποσειδάωνʼ ἀγάσασθαι
ἡμῖν, οὕνεκα πομποὶ ἀπήμονές εἰμεν ἁπάντων.
175φῆ ποτὲ Φαιήκων ἀνδρῶν περικαλλέα, νῆα,
ἐκ πομπῆς ἀνιοῦσαν, ἐν ἠεροειδέϊ πόντῳ
ῥαισέμεναι, μέγα δʼ ἧμιν ὄρος πόλει ἀμφικαλύψειν.
ὣς ἀγόρευʼ ὁ γέρων· τὰ δὲ δὴ νῦν πάντα τελεῖται.
ἀλλʼ ἄγεθʼ, ὡς ἂν ἐγὼ εἴπω, πειθώμεθα πάντες·
180πομπῆς μὲν παύσασθε βροτῶν, ὅτε κέν τις ἵκηται
ἡμέτερον προτὶ ἄστυ· Ποσειδάωνι δὲ ταύρους
δώδεκα κεκριμένους ἱερεύσομεν, αἴ κʼ ἐλεήσῃ,
μηδʼ ἡμῖν περίμηκες ὄρος πόλει ἀμφικαλύψῃ.
ὣς ἔφαθʼ, οἱ δʼ ἔδεισαν, ἑτοιμάσσαντο δὲ ταύρους.
185ὣς οἱ μέν ῥʼ εὔχοντο Ποσειδάωνι ἄνακτι
δήμου Φαιήκων ἡγήτορες ἠδὲ μέδοντες,
ἑσταότες περὶ βωμόν. ὁ δʼ ἔγρετο δῖος Ὀδυσσεὺς
159When Poseidon, shaker of the earth, heard this,
160he went to Scheria, where the Phaeacians were born.
There he waited. The seagoing ship came very near,
driven swiftly on, and the Earth-shaker came close beside her.
He turned her to stone and rooted her below,
striking her with the flat of his hand; then he went away.
165The Phaeacians spoke winged words to one another,
men of the long oar, renowned for their ships.
One would look at his neighbor and say:
‘Ah me! Who has bound the swift ship in the sea
as she made for home? A moment ago every part of her was plain.’
170So one would speak, but they did not know what had happened.
Then Alcinous addressed their assembly:
‘Ah me! The ancient prophecies of my father
have truly reached me. He said Poseidon resented us
because we give safe escort to everyone.
175He said the god would one day smash a beautiful Phaeacian ship
as it returned from escort over the misty sea
and would shroud our city beneath a great mountain.
So the old man spoke, and now it all comes to fulfillment.
Come, let us all obey what I tell you:
180stop escorting mortals whenever anyone comes
to our city. Let us sacrifice to Poseidon
twelve chosen bulls, in hope that he may pity us
and not shroud our city beneath a towering mountain.’
So he spoke. They were afraid and prepared the bulls.
185Thus they prayed to lord Poseidon,
the leaders and rulers of the Phaeacian people,
standing around the altar. But godlike Odysseus awoke
Commentary
Poseidon waits at Scheria, approaches the returning ship, turns it to stone, roots it below with a downward hand-strike, and departs. The Phaeacians see a ship that was fully visible become inexplicably fixed, but they do not know the cause until Alcinous interprets the event through his father’s prophecy. His report substantially repeats the Book 8 warning and says that everything now comes to fulfillment. His response nevertheless distinguishes completed action from proposed and preparatory action: escort must cease, he proposes sacrificing twelve chosen bulls, the people prepare them, and their leaders pray around the altar that Poseidon pity them and not cover the city with the mountain. No slaughter or offering of the bulls is narrated.
13.159–164 Poseidon enacts only the ship punishment in the narrated action and leaves immediately afterward. He travels to Scheria, waits, comes beside the approaching vessel, makes it stone, roots it below, strikes with the flat of his hand, and goes away. The action supplies precise divine agency and material transformation. No mountain appears in this narrated sequence.
13.165–183 Alcinous’ prophecy report substantially repeats Book 8 while present bewilderment turns inherited warning into policy. Line 13.166 repeats the Phaeacian ship-renown line at 8.369; 13.172 is punctuation-normalized with Polyphemus’ recognition of Telemus’ old prophecy at 9.507; and 13.174 and 13.177 repeat 8.566 and 8.569 exactly. The same arrival of ancient prophecy is voiced first by Polyphemus after his blinding and now by Alcinous after the ship’s petrification, preserving speaker and epistemic difference. Alcinous then ends escort and proposes sacrifice; narration proceeds only to bull preparation and prayer.
13.172–183 Alcinous calls the prophecy wholly fulfilled while acting as though its final threatened component may still be averted. He recognizes his father’s old divine words, cites Poseidon’s resentment of safe escort, and says everything is now being completed. His commands then separate past and future: escort ceases because the ship event has occurred, while sacrifice of twelve selected bulls remains a future proposal intended to win pity so the towering mountain will not cover the city. The speech itself preserves the tension.
13.184–193 The book cuts from Phaeacian fear and prayer to Odysseus waking under a mist whose purposes the narrator states in advance. The Phaeacians prepare bulls and pray around the altar; the adversative turn then awakens Odysseus in ancestral land. Athena has poured mist to make him unknown, instruct him, and delay recognition by wife, townsmen, and friends until requital against the suitors. The audience receives purpose before Odysseus receives place.
Athena’s mist and Odysseus’ unrecognized homeland 13.188–220
188εὕδων ἐν γαίῃ πατρωΐῃ, οὐδέ μιν ἔγνω,
ἤδη δὴν ἀπεών· περὶ γὰρ θεὸς ἠέρα χεῦε
190Παλλὰς Ἀθηναίη, κούρη Διός, ὄφρα μιν αὐτὸν
ἄγνωστον τεύξειεν ἕκαστά τε μυθήσαιτο,
μή μιν πρὶν ἄλοχος γνοίη ἀστοί τε φίλοι τε,
πρὶν πᾶσαν μνηστῆρας ὑπερβασίην ἀποτῖσαι.
τοὔνεκʼ ἄρʼ ἀλλοειδέα φαινέσκετο πάντα ἄνακτι,
195ἀτραπιτοί τε διηνεκέες λιμένες τε πάνορμοι
πέτραι τʼ ἠλίβατοι καὶ δένδρεα τηλεθόωντα.
στῆ δʼ ἄρʼ ἀναΐξας καί ῥʼ εἴσιδε πατρίδα γαῖαν·
ᾤμωξέν τʼ ἄρ ἔπειτα καὶ ὣ πεπλήγετο μηρὼ
χερσὶ καταπρηνέσσʼ, ὀλοφυρόμενος δʼ ἔπος ηὔδα·
200ὤ μοι ἐγώ, τέων αὖτε βροτῶν ἐς γαῖαν ἱκάνω;
ἦ ῥʼ οἵ γʼ ὑβρισταί τε καὶ ἄγριοι οὐδὲ δίκαιοι,
ἦε φιλόξεινοι, καί σφιν νόος ἐστὶ θεουδής;
πῇ δὴ χρήματα πολλὰ φέρω τάδε; πῇ τε καὶ αὐτὸς
πλάζομαι; αἴθʼ ὄφελον μεῖναι παρὰ Φαιήκεσσιν
205αὐτοῦ· ἐγὼ δέ κεν ἄλλον ὑπερμενέων βασιλήων
ἐξικόμην, ὅς κέν μʼ ἐφίλει καὶ ἔπεμπε νέεσθαι.
νῦν δʼ οὔτʼ ἄρ πῃ θέσθαι ἐπίσταμαι, οὐδὲ μὲν αὐτοῦ
καλλείψω, μή πώς μοι ἕλωρ ἄλλοισι γένηται.
ὢ πόποι, οὐκ ἄρα πάντα νοήμονες οὐδὲ δίκαιοι
210ἦσαν Φαιήκων ἡγήτορες ἠδὲ μέδοντες,
οἵ μʼ εἰς ἄλλην γαῖαν ἀπήγαγον, ἦ τέ μʼ ἔφαντο
ἄξειν εἰς Ἰθάκην εὐδείελον, οὐδʼ ἐτέλεσσαν.
Ζεὺς σφέας τίσαιτο ἱκετήσιος, ὅς τε καὶ ἄλλους
ἀνθρώπους ἐφορᾷ καὶ τίνυται ὅς τις ἁμάρτῃ.
215ἀλλʼ ἄγε δὴ τὰ χρήματʼ ἀριθμήσω καὶ ἴδωμαι,
μή τί μοι οἴχωνται κοίλης ἐπὶ νηὸς ἄγοντες.
ὣς εἰπὼν τρίποδας περικαλλέας ἠδὲ λέβητας
ἠρίθμει καὶ χρυσὸν ὑφαντά τε εἵματα καλά.
τῶν μὲν ἄρʼ ὀύ τι πόθει· ὁ δʼ ὀδύρετο πατρίδα γαῖαν
220ἑρπύζων παρὰ θῖνα πολυφλοίσβοιο θαλάσσης,
188from sleep in his ancestral land and did not recognize it,
for he had been absent long. The goddess had poured mist around him—
190Pallas Athena, daughter of Zeus—so she might make him
unrecognizable and tell him every detail,
and so that neither wife nor townsmen nor friends would know him
before he made the suitors repay all their transgression.
Therefore everything appeared strange in form to its king:
195the unbroken paths, the harbors safe for every ship,
the steep cliffs, and the flourishing trees.
He sprang to his feet and looked upon his native land.
Then he groaned and struck both thighs
with the flat of his hands, lamenting as he spoke:
200‘Ah me! To whose land have I come now?
Are the people overbearing, savage, and unjust,
or hospitable people with god-fearing minds?
Where can I carry all this wealth? Where am I wandering myself?
I wish I had remained there with the Phaeacians.
205I could have gone to another mighty king
who would have welcomed me and sent me home.
Now I do not know where to put these possessions, yet I will not
leave them here, for fear they become spoil for others.
Ah, the leaders and rulers of the Phaeacians
210were not altogether wise or just:
they carried me to some other land, though they said
they would bring me to sunny Ithaca and did not fulfill it.
May Zeus, protector of suppliants, punish them—he watches over
other mortals too and exacts payment from anyone who does wrong.
215Come then, I will count and inspect my possessions,
in case they have gone off carrying some away in the hollow ship.’
With these words he counted the beautiful tripods and cauldrons,
the gold, and the finely woven clothing.
He found nothing missing, yet he mourned for his native land,
220crawling along the shore of the roaring sea
Commentary
Odysseus wakes in his ancestral land and does not recognize it. The narrator names Athena as the agent of the mist and gives its purposes: conceal Odysseus, tell him each detail, and prevent wife, townsmen, and friends from recognizing him before the suitors repay their transgression. Paths, harbors, cliffs, and trees therefore appear strange to their king. Odysseus springs up, groans, strikes his thighs, repeats the unknown-land alternatives heard at his Scherian awakening, and accuses the Phaeacians of failing their promise. He invokes Zeus of suppliants, counts the gifts, finds nothing missing, and still crawls mourning beside the sea.
13.188–196 Athena’s concealment changes Odysseus’ perception of a real landscape rather than changing the landscape itself. The narrator names the ground as ancestral Ithaca before saying Odysseus does not recognize it. Mist makes paths, harbors, rocks, and trees appear otherwise to their king, and concealment serves both identity protection and future instruction. The gap is epistemic and visual, not a second transportation.
13.197–216 Odysseus repeats the Book 6 unknown-land question after homecoming, turning a former foreign-shore test into misrecognition of Ithaca. Lines 13.200-201 are byte-exact with 6.119-120, and 13.202 is punctuation-normalized with 6.121 and 9.176. The alternatives of violent injustice or god-fearing hospitality recur, but the present scene adds abundant possessions, regret about leaving the Phaeacians, accusation of failed escort, and appeal to Zeus of suppliants.
13.203–220 Odysseus’ first response to uncertainty is to secure property evidence, yet a complete inventory cannot overcome Athena’s control of place recognition. He fears the wealth may become spoil, condemns the Phaeacian leaders as neither wise nor just, invokes Zeus against them, and decides to count. Tripods, cauldrons, gold, and woven clothing are all present. Material verification disproves theft but not the mistaken belief that he is elsewhere, so he continues mourning and crawling beside the sea.
The shepherd disguise and Ithaca described 13.221–249
221πόλλʼ ὀλοφυρόμενος. σχεδόθεν δέ οἱ ἦλθεν Ἀθήνη,
ἀνδρὶ δέμας εἰκυῖα νέῳ, ἐπιβώτορι μήλων,
παναπάλῳ, οἷοί τε ἀνάκτων παῖδες ἔασι,
δίπτυχον ἀμφʼ ὤμοισιν ἔχουσʼ εὐεργέα λώπην·
225ποσσὶ δʼ ὑπὸ λιπαροῖσι πέδιλʼ ἔχε, χερσὶ δʼ ἄκοντα.
τὴν δʼ Ὀδυσεὺς γήθησεν ἰδὼν καὶ ἐναντίος ἦλθε,
καί μιν φωνήσας ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα·
ὦ φίλʼ, ἐπεί σε πρῶτα κιχάνω τῷδʼ ἐνὶ χώρῳ,
χαῖρέ τε καὶ μή μοί τι κακῷ νόῳ ἀντιβολήσαις,
230ἀλλὰ σάω μὲν ταῦτα, σάω δʼ ἐμέ· σοὶ γὰρ ἐγώ γε
εὔχομαι ὥς τε θεῷ καί σευ φίλα γούναθʼ ἱκάνω.
καί μοι τοῦτʼ ἀγόρευσον ἐτήτυμον, ὄφρʼ ἐῢ εἰδῶ·
τίς γῆ, τίς δῆμος, τίνες ἀνέρες ἐγγεγάασιν;
ἦ πού τις νήσων εὐδείελος, ἦέ τις ἀκτὴ
235κεῖθʼ ἁλὶ κεκλιμένη ἐριβώλακος ἠπείροιο;
τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη·
νήπιός εἰς, ὦ ξεῖνʼ, ἢ τηλόθεν εἰλήλουθας,
εἰ δὴ τήνδε τε γαῖαν ἀνείρεαι. οὐδέ τι λίην
οὕτω νώνυμός ἐστιν· ἴσασι δέ μιν μάλα πολλοί,
240ἠμὲν ὅσοι ναίουσι πρὸς ἠῶ τʼ ἠέλιόν τε,
ἠδʼ ὅσσοι μετόπισθε ποτὶ ζόφον ἠερόεντα.
ἦ τοι μὲν τρηχεῖα καὶ οὐχ ἱππήλατός ἐστιν,
οὐδὲ λίην λυπρή, ἀτὰρ οὐδʼ εὐρεῖα τέτυκται.
ἐν μὲν γάρ οἱ σῖτος ἀθέσφατος, ἐν δέ τε οἶνος
245γίγνεται· αἰεὶ δʼ ὄμβρος ἔχει τεθαλυῖά τʼ ἐέρση·
αἰγίβοτος δʼ ἀγαθὴ καὶ βούβοτος· ἔστι μὲν ὕλη
παντοίη, ἐν δʼ ἀρδμοὶ ἐπηετανοὶ παρέασι.
τῷ τοι, ξεῖνʼ, Ἰθάκης γε καὶ ἐς Τροίην ὄνομʼ ἵκει,
τήν περ τηλοῦ φασὶν Ἀχαιΐδος ἔμμεναι αἴης.
221and lamenting bitterly. Athena came near him,
in form like a young man, a shepherd of flocks,
delicate as the sons of kings are.
She wore a finely made, double-folded cloak across her shoulders,
225shining sandals beneath her feet, and held a spear.
Odysseus rejoiced at the sight and went to meet her.
He addressed her in winged words:
‘Friend, since you are the first I meet in this place,
greetings—and do not confront me with hostile intent.
230Save these possessions, and save me, for I pray to you
as to a god and come as a suppliant to your dear knees.
Tell me this truly, so that I may know it well:
What land is this, what people, and what men were born here?
Is it some sunlit island, or a coast
235of the fertile mainland lying out toward the sea?’
The goddess, bright-eyed Athena, answered him:
‘You are a fool, stranger, or have come from far away
if you ask about this land. It is by no means
so nameless; very many people know it,
240both those who live toward dawn and the sun
and those behind us toward the murky west.
It is rugged and not a land for driving horses;
it is not very poor, though it is not broad.
Grain grows here beyond measure, and wine as well;
245rain falls continually, and the dew lies heavy.
It is good pasture for goats and cattle. There are woods
of every kind, and watering places that never fail.
So, stranger, the name of Ithaca has reached even Troy,
which they say lies far from the land of Achaea.’
Commentary
Athena approaches as a delicate young shepherd with the clothing, sandals, and spear of a king’s son. Odysseus is glad to meet the first apparent inhabitant and greets him as friend, asks that both wealth and life be saved, and verbally comes as a suppliant to the stranger’s knees without narrated touch. Athena calls him either foolish or far-traveled for not knowing so famous a land. Her description balances ruggedness and limited breadth against grain, wine, rain, dew, pasture, woods, and unfailing water. Ithaca’s name, she says, has reached even Troy.
13.221–235 Athena chooses a socially elevated shepherd disguise, and Odysseus immediately combines welcome, caution, supplication, and inquiry. The apparent young herdsman is delicate like a king’s son and carries fine clothing, sandals, and spear. Odysseus rejoices at the first encounter but asks for safety from hostile intent, protection for wealth and self, and truthful information about land and people. Gratitude and self-protection operate together before identity is known.
13.228–235 The knee language is a verbal supplication formula and does not narrate bodily clasping. Odysseus says he prays to the stranger as to a god and reaches the dear knees in speech, but no movement of arms, hands, or contact is described. The construction continues the Book 6 distinction between verbal knee appeal and the explicit physical supplication later directed toward Arete in Book 7.
13.236–249 Athena describes Ithaca through balanced limitations and resources rather than simple praise. The land is rugged, unsuitable for horses, not broad, yet not excessively poor. Grain and wine are abundant; rain, dew, goat and cattle pasture, varied woods, and lasting water supplies make it productive. The name reaches Troy despite distance from Achaean land. The portrait resists both ideal abundance and barren marginality.
Odysseus’ first Ithacan Cretan tale 13.250–286
250ὣς φάτο, γήθησεν δὲ πολύτλας δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
χαίρων ᾗ γαίῃ πατρωΐῃ, ὥς οἱ ἔειπε
Παλλὰς Ἀθηναίη, κούρη Διὸς, αἰγιόχοιο·
καί μιν φωνήσας ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα·
οὐδʼ ὅ γʼ ἀληθέα εἶπε, πάλιν δʼ ὅ γε λάζετο μῦθον,
255αἰεὶ ἐνὶ στήθεσσι νόον πολυκερδέα νωμῶν·
πυνθανόμην Ἰθάκης γε καὶ ἐν Κρήτῃ εὐρείῃ,
τηλοῦ ὑπὲρ πόντου· νῦν δʼ εἰλήλουθα καὶ αὐτὸς
χρήμασι σὺν τοίσδεσσι· λιπὼν δʼ ἔτι παισὶ τοσαῦτα
φεύγω, ἐπεὶ φίλον υἷα κατέκτανον Ἰδομενῆος,
260Ὀρσίλοχον πόδας ὠκύν, ὃς ἐν Κρήτῃ εὐρείῃ
ἀνέρας ἀλφηστὰς νίκα ταχέεσσι πόδεσσιν,
οὕνεκά με στερέσαι τῆς ληΐδος ἤθελε πάσης
Τρωϊάδος, τῆς εἵνεκʼ ἐγὼ πάθον ἄλγεα θυμῷ,
ἀνδρῶν τε πτολέμους ἀλεγεινά τε κύματα πείρων,
265οὕνεκʼ ἄρʼ οὐχ ᾧ πατρὶ χαριζόμενος θεράπευον
δήμῳ ἔνι Τρώων, ἀλλʼ ἄλλων ἦρχον ἑταίρων.
τὸν μὲν ἐγὼ κατιόντα βάλον χαλκήρεϊ δουρὶ
ἀγρόθεν, ἐγγὺς ὁδοῖο λοχησάμενος σὺν ἑταίρῳ·
νὺξ δὲ μάλα δνοφερὴ κάτεχʼ οὐρανόν, οὐδέ τις ἡμέας
270ἀνθρώπων ἐνόησε, λάθον δέ ἑ θυμὸν ἀπούρας.
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δὴ τόν γε κατέκτανον ὀξέϊ χαλκῷ,
αὐτίκʼ ἐγὼν ἐπὶ νῆα κιὼν Φοίνικας ἀγαυοὺς
ἐλλισάμην, καί σφιν μενοεικέα ληΐδα δῶκα·
τούς μʼ ἐκέλευσα Πύλονδε καταστῆσαι καὶ ἐφέσσαι
275ἢ εἰς Ἤλιδα δῖαν, ὅθι κρατέουσιν Ἐπειοί.
ἀλλʼ ἦ τοι σφέας κεῖθεν ἀπώσατο ἲς ἀνέμοιο
πόλλʼ ἀεκαζομένους, οὐδʼ ἤθελον ἐξαπατῆσαι.
κεῖθεν δὲ πλαγχθέντες ἱκάνομεν ἐνθάδε νυκτός.
σπουδῇ δʼ ἐς λιμένα προερέσσαμεν, οὐδέ τις ἡμῖν
280δόρπου μνῆστις ἔην, μάλα περ χατέουσιν ἑλέσθαι,
ἀλλʼ αὔτως ἀποβάντες ἐκείμεθα νηὸς ἅπαντες.
ἔνθʼ ἐμὲ μὲν γλυκὺς ὕπνος ἐπήλυθε κεκμηῶτα,
οἱ δὲ χρήματʼ ἐμὰ γλαφυρῆς ἐκ νηὸς ἑλόντες
κάτθεσαν, ἔνθα περ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ ψαμάθοισιν ἐκείμην.
285οἱ δʼ ἐς Σιδονίην εὖ ναιομένην ἀναβάντες
ᾤχοντʼ· αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ λιπόμην ἀκαχήμενος ἦτορ.
250So she spoke, and much-enduring godlike Odysseus rejoiced,
glad in his ancestral land, as Pallas Athena,
the daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus, had told him.
He addressed her in winged words,
but did not speak the truth; he took up a tale instead,
255always turning a mind intent on advantage within his chest:
‘I heard of Ithaca even in broad Crete,
far across the sea. Now I myself have come
with these possessions, having left as much again for my children.
I am in flight because I killed the dear son of Idomeneus,
260swift-footed Orsilochus, who in broad Crete
outran all bread-eating men with his swift feet.
He wanted to strip me of all the Trojan spoil
for which I had suffered pains in my spirit,
passing through the wars of men and grievous waves,
265because I did not serve beneath his father to win favor
among the Trojans, but led a different company.
I struck him with my bronze-shod spear as he came from the fields,
ambushing him beside the road with a companion.
Deep darkness covered the sky, and no person
270saw us; unseen, I robbed him of his life.
But when I had killed him with the sharp bronze,
I went straight to a ship and supplicated the noble Phoenicians,
giving them a welcome share of spoil.
I asked them to set me down and put me ashore at Pylos
275or at noble Elis, where the Epeans rule.
But the force of the wind drove them away from there
much against their will; they did not mean to deceive me.
Driven off course, we reached this place by night.
With great effort we rowed into the harbor. No one thought
280of supper, though we sorely needed food;
we simply disembarked and all lay down beside the ship.
Sweet sleep came upon me in my weariness.
They took my possessions from the hollow ship
and set them down where I lay on the sand.
285Then they boarded and sailed away to well-settled Sidon,
while I was left behind, my heart in grief.’
Commentary
Odysseus rejoices at the name of his homeland, but the narrator immediately states that he does not tell the truth and instead takes up a tale while turning a mind intent on advantage. The Cretan speaker claims he killed swift Orsilochus, son of Idomeneus, because of a dispute over Trojan spoil and independent command. He narrates a roadside ambush, unseen killing, supplication to Phoenicians, payment from spoil, intended landing at Pylos or Elis, involuntary diversion by wind, difficult night entry, exhausted sleep, unloading of possessions, and abandonment on the sand. The fiction adapts the actual landing so closely that immediate experience becomes tactical narrative material.
13.250–255 The narrator exposes the coming tale as false before Odysseus speaks and names advantage as the active pressure in his mind. Joy at the ancestral land is followed by a winged-words frame, then an explicit denial that the reply is true. Odysseus takes up another muthos while continually turning a many-advantaged noos within his chest. The audience therefore hears every following claim under prior disclosure rather than discovering deception later.
13.256–270 The invented Cretan identity begins with wealth, family, contested spoil, independent command, and a deliberately concealed killing. The persona claims prior knowledge of Ithaca, arrival with possessions, children left with equal wealth, and flight after killing Orsilochus. The motive is a dispute over Trojan spoil and service outside Idomeneus’ command. Ambush beside the road, a companion’s aid, night, lack of witnesses, and removal of life make secrecy part of the fiction’s internal plausibility.
13.263–270 The fictional speaker reuses actual suffering diction before adding a roadside murder that belongs only to the invented biography. Line 13.264 is internally punctuation-normalized with the narrator’s 13.91 and with 8.183, joining wars of men and grievous waves. Inside the tale, that familiar pressure explains the value of Trojan spoil; the ambush, spear strike, hidden witness position, and removal of Orsilochus’ life are new character claims. Formulaic truth of experience does not certify the fictional event.
13.271–286 The second half of the fiction turns supplication, payment, unwilling diversion, exhausted sleep, and unloading into a false explanation of the actual landing. The persona supplicates Phoenicians and offers spoil, asks for Pylos or Elis, absolves them of intended deception when wind drives them away, and describes difficult night entry without supper. Sweet sleep, possessions removed from a hollow ship, placement on sand, and departure toward Sidon closely reshape what the narrator has just told about the Phaeacians.
13.271–286 An exact sleep line from Book 10 is relocated inside the false Phoenician landing, turning remembered exhaustion into fabricated evidence. Line 13.282 is byte-exact with 10.31. In Book 10 Odysseus tells the Phaeacians that sweet sleep overtook him after sustained sailing labor when Ithaca was already visible, before his companions opened the wind bag. In Book 13 the same first-person line belongs to the Cretan fiction: sleep follows a difficult Phoenician harbor entry and prepares the invented unloading and abandonment. Speaker continuity therefore coexists with a changed truth status and narrative function.
Athena revealed and the mutual contest in cunning 13.287–310
287ὣς φάτο, μείδησεν δὲ θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη,
χειρί τέ μιν κατέρεξε· δέμας δʼ ἤϊκτο γυναικὶ
καλῇ τε μεγάλῃ τε καὶ ἀγλαὰ ἔργα ἰδυίῃ·
290καί μιν φωνήσασʼ ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα·
κερδαλέος κʼ εἴη καὶ ἐπίκλοπος ὅς σε παρέλθοι
ἐν πάντεσσι δόλοισι, καὶ εἰ θεὸς ἀντιάσειε.
σχέτλιε, ποικιλομῆτα, δόλων ἆτʼ, οὐκ ἄρʼ ἔμελλες,
οὐδʼ ἐν σῇ περ ἐὼν γαίῃ, λήξειν ἀπατάων
295μύθων τε κλοπίων, οἵ τοι πεδόθεν φίλοι εἰσίν.
ἀλλʼ ἄγε, μηκέτι ταῦτα λεγώμεθα, εἰδότες ἄμφω
κέρδεʼ, ἐπεὶ σὺ μέν ἐσσι βροτῶν ὄχʼ ἄριστος ἁπάντων
βουλῇ καὶ μύθοισιν, ἐγὼ δʼ ἐν πᾶσι θεοῖσι
μήτι τε κλέομαι καὶ κέρδεσιν· οὐδὲ σύ γʼ ἔγνως
300Παλλάδʼ Ἀθηναίην, κούρην Διός, ἥ τέ τοι αἰεὶ
ἐν πάντεσσι πόνοισι παρίσταμαι ἠδὲ φυλάσσω,
καὶ δέ σε Φαιήκεσσι φίλον πάντεσσιν ἔθηκα,
νῦν αὖ δεῦρʼ ἱκόμην, ἵνα τοι σὺν μῆτιν ὑφήνω
χρήματά τε κρύψω, ὅσα τοι Φαίηκες ἀγαυοὶ
305ὤπασαν οἴκαδʼ ἰόντι ἐμῇ βουλῇ τε νόῳ τε,
εἴπω θʼ ὅσσα τοι αἶσα δόμοις ἔνι ποιητοῖσι
κήδεʼ ἀνασχέσθαι· σὺ δὲ τετλάμεναι καὶ ἀνάγκῃ,
μηδέ τῳ ἐκφάσθαι μήτʼ ἀνδρῶν μήτε γυναικῶν,
πάντων, οὕνεκʼ ἄρʼ ἦλθες ἀλώμενος, ἀλλὰ σιωπῇ
310πάσχειν ἄλγεα πολλά, βίας ὑποδέγμενος ἀνδρῶν.
287So he spoke. The goddess, bright-eyed Athena, smiled
and stroked him with her hand. Her shape became that of a woman,
beautiful and tall and skilled in splendid work.
290She addressed him in winged words:
‘Shrewd and stealthy indeed would anyone have to be to surpass you
in every kind of deception, even if a god encountered you.
Stubborn man, master of twists, inexhaustible in schemes!
Even in your own land you would not stop your deceptions
295and thieving tales, dear to you from the ground up.
But come, let us speak of these no longer, since we both know advantage:
you are by far the best of all mortals
in counsel and speech, while among all the gods
I am renowned for strategy and cunning. Yet you did not recognize
300Pallas Athena, daughter of Zeus, who always
stands beside you in every labor and keeps you safe.
I also made you welcome to all the Phaeacians.
Now I have come here so that together we may weave a plan,
hide the wealth the noble Phaeacians
305gave you for your homeward journey through my counsel and intent,
and tell you all the grief it is your lot to endure
inside your well-built house. You must bear it, even under compulsion,
and tell no one at all, neither man nor woman,
that after long wandering you have come home. Endure in silence
310your many pains while enduring the violence of men.’
Commentary
Athena smiles, strokes Odysseus, and replaces the shepherd body with that of a tall, beautiful woman skilled in splendid work. Her praise is competitive: anyone who surpassed him in deception would have to be shrewd and stealthy even if divine. She piles terms for varied intelligence, schemes, deceit, and thieving tales around him, then claims shared knowledge of advantage. The comparison remains hierarchical. Odysseus is best among mortals in counsel and speech; Athena is renowned among gods for strategy and cunning, made him welcome among the Phaeacians, can hide the gifts, disclose future suffering, and command silent endurance under violence.
13.287–305 Recurrent divine speech frames surround Athena’s unique praise of Odysseus as a mortal counterpart in strategic language. Line 13.290 exactly repeats goddess-to-mortal address lines at 2.269, 5.117, 7.236, 8.442, and 8.460. The frame introduces a dense local cluster—kerdaleos, epiklopos, doloi, poikilomētēs, apatai, klepioi muthoi, kerdea, boulē, and mētis—before Athena names her Phaeacian aid and shared planning. Familiar speech architecture carries an unusually explicit comparison.
13.291–310 Athena’s strategy vocabulary differentiates passing advantage, counsel, speech, deception, stolen narrative, and woven planning. Kerdos and its adjective mark advantage and shrewdness; dolos and apata name deception; klepios qualifies tales as thieving or covert; boulē and muthos locate excellence in counsel and speech; mētis marks Athena’s divine renown and the plan they will weave together. The cluster creates conceptual kinship without lexical identity or equal power.
13.303–310 Shared planning begins with concealment and endurance rather than immediate attack. Athena comes to weave a plan with Odysseus, hide the Phaeacian wealth, tell the grief allotted inside his house, and order secrecy toward every man and woman. Odysseus must suffer silently and receive male violence. The first phase of vengeance therefore requires controlled vulnerability under divine instruction.
Odysseus challenges Athena and learns her limits 13.311–343
311τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
ἀργαλέον σε, θεά, γνῶναι βροτῷ ἀντιάσαντι,
καὶ μάλʼ ἐπισταμένῳ· σὲ γὰρ αὐτὴν παντὶ ἐΐσκεις.
τοῦτο δʼ ἐγὼν εὖ οἶδʼ, ὅτι μοι πάρος ἠπίη ἦσθα,
315ἧος ἐνὶ Τροίῃ πολεμίζομεν υἷες Ἀχαιῶν.
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ Πριάμοιο πόλιν διεπέρσαμεν αἰπήν,
βῆμεν δʼ ἐν νήεσσι, θεὸς δʼ ἐκέδασσεν Ἀχαιούς,
οὔ σέ γʼ ἔπειτα ἴδον, κούρη Διός, οὐδʼ ἐνόησα
νηὸς ἐμῆς ἐπιβᾶσαν, ὅπως τί μοι ἄλγος ἀλάλκοις.
320ἀλλʼ αἰεὶ φρεσὶν ᾗσιν ἔχων δεδαϊγμένον ἦτορ
ἠλώμην, ἧός με θεοὶ κακότητος ἔλυσαν·
πρίν γʼ ὅτε Φαιήκων ἀνδρῶν ἐν πίονι δήμῳ
θάρσυνάς τε ἔπεσσι καὶ ἐς πόλιν ἤγαγες αὐτή.
νῦν δέ σε πρὸς πατρὸς γουνάζομαι—οὐ γὰρ ὀΐω
325ἥκειν εἰς Ἰθάκην εὐδείελον, ἀλλά τινʼ ἄλλην
γαῖαν ἀναστρέφομαι· σὲ δὲ κερτομέουσαν ὀΐω
ταῦτʼ ἀγορευέμεναι, ἵνʼ ἐμὰς φρένας ἠπεροπεύσῃς—
εἰπέ μοι εἰ ἐτεόν γε φίλην ἐς πατρίδʼ ἱκάνω.
τὸν δʼ ἠμείβετʼ ἔπειτα θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη·
330αἰεί τοι τοιοῦτον ἐνὶ στήθεσσι νόημα·
τῷ σε καὶ οὐ δύναμαι προλιπεῖν δύστηνον ἐόντα,
οὕνεκʼ ἐπητής ἐσσι καὶ ἀγχίνοος καὶ ἐχέφρων.
ἀσπασίως γάρ κʼ ἄλλος ἀνὴρ ἀλαλήμενος ἐλθὼν
ἵετʼ ἐνὶ μεγάροις ἰδέειν παῖδάς τʼ ἄλοχόν τε·
335σοὶ δʼ οὔ πω φίλον ἐστὶ δαήμεναι οὐδὲ πυθέσθαι,
πρίν γʼ ἔτι σῆς ἀλόχου πειρήσεαι, ἥ τέ τοι αὔτως
ἧσται ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν, ὀϊζυραὶ δέ οἱ αἰεὶ
φθίνουσιν νύκτες τε καὶ ἤματα δάκρυ χεούσῃ.
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ τὸ μὲν οὔ ποτʼ ἀπίστεον, ἀλλʼ ἐνὶ θυμῷ
340ᾔδεʼ, ὃ νοστήσεις ὀλέσας ἄπο πάντας ἑταίρους·
ἀλλά τοι οὐκ ἐθέλησα Ποσειδάωνι μάχεσθαι
πατροκασιγνήτῳ, ὅς τοι κότον ἔνθετο θυμῷ,
χωόμενος ὅτι οἱ υἱὸν φίλον ἐξαλάωσας.
311Odysseus, master of many plans, answered her:
‘It is hard for a mortal to recognize you when you meet him, goddess,
even if he knows much, for you make yourself resemble everyone.
This I know well: in former days you were kind to me,
315as long as we sons of the Achaeans fought at Troy.
But once we had sacked Priam’s steep city
and sailed away in our ships, and a god scattered the Achaeans,
I did not see you afterward, daughter of Zeus, nor did I notice you
board my ship to ward any suffering from me.
320Instead I wandered always with a heart torn within my breast
until the gods released me from misery—
until, in the rich land of the Phaeacians,
you encouraged me with words and yourself led me into the city.
Now I supplicate you in your father’s name—for I do not believe
325I have come to sunny Ithaca, but am roaming through another
land. I think you speak in mockery
to deceive my mind.
Tell me whether I have truly reached my dear native land.’
The goddess, bright-eyed Athena, answered him:
330‘Such a thought is always in your breast.
That is why I cannot abandon you, wretched as you are:
you are gentle, quick-minded, and self-possessed.
Any other man returning after long wandering would gladly
hurry inside his halls to see his children and wife.
335But it is not yet dear to you to learn or even ask about them
before you test your wife. She remains
sitting within your halls, and her sorrowful nights
and days waste away as she sheds tears.
I never doubted your return; in my heart
340I knew you would come home after losing all your companions.
But I was unwilling to fight Poseidon,
my father’s brother, who set anger in his heart against you,
enraged because you blinded his dear son.
Commentary
Odysseus answers that Athena is hard even for a knowing mortal to recognize because she can resemble everyone. He acknowledges her kindness at Troy but says he neither saw nor perceived her aboard after the Achaeans were scattered, until she encouraged and guided him among the Phaeacians. Still unconvinced, he verbally supplicates her in Zeus’ name and accuses her of mockery. Athena replies that his habitual disposition makes abandonment impossible: he is gentle, quick-minded, and self-possessed, yet unlike another returning man he prefers testing his wife before entering the house. She reports Penelope’s tears, says she never doubted his return, and explains that she would not fight her father’s brother Poseidon, whose anger followed the blinding of Polyphemus.
13.311–328 Odysseus answers divine praise with recognition skepticism and a complaint about Athena’s absence after Troy. He says even a knowing mortal cannot recognize a goddess who resembles everyone, acknowledges her former kindness in war, and contrasts it with unseen aid after the Achaean scattering. He recalls her later Phaeacian encouragement but still interprets the present claim as possible mockery and asks again whether the land is truly home. Strategic caution survives revelation.
13.311–328 A recurrent answer line and an exact Troy-dispersal pair frame Odysseus’ complaint before his final knee appeal remains verbal rather than enacted contact. Line 13.311 is byte-exact with 5.214 and 7.240 and punctuation-normalized with 8.463; it recurs internally at 13.382 and 13.416. Lines 13.316-317 are byte-exact with 3.130-131. Nestor had used the pair to move from Troy’s sack into the god-driven scattering of the Achaeans; Odysseus now recalls that same break while asking why Athena’s visible aid ceased. At 13.324 he invokes her father and uses knee-supplication language, but no clasping gesture is narrated.
13.329–343 Athena explains continued concealment through Odysseus’ disposition, Penelope’s grief, and her own refusal to fight Poseidon directly. She says his gentle, quick, self-possessed thought makes abandonment impossible, contrasts his testing impulse with another wanderer’s immediate family reunion, and reports Penelope’s wasting tears. She then claims certainty that he would return after losing every companion but says she would not battle her father’s brother, whose anger followed the blinding of his son.
13.329–343 Athena adapts Anticleia’s Penelope report and repeats Tiresias’ Poseidon-cause line, changing both speaker and evidentiary setting. Lines 13.336-338 adapt 11.181-183, with 13.338 byte-exact. In the underworld Anticleia answers Odysseus by reporting Penelope’s endurance, nights, days, and tears; Athena now places the grief inside a critique of Odysseus’ decision to test before reunion. Line 13.343 is byte-exact with Tiresias’ 11.103: the prophet had explained why return would be hard, whereas Athena uses the same cause of Poseidon’s anger to explain her own restraint. Adaptation and exact recurrence preserve the earlier reports without collapsing maternal, prophetic, and divine knowledge.
13.333–340 Athena defines Odysseus’ delayed family reunion as an active preference for testing rather than simple emotional indifference. She contrasts him with another long-wandering man who would rush to see wife and children. Odysseus instead has not yet chosen to learn or ask because he intends first to test Penelope. Her nights and days of tears give the delay emotional cost, while Athena’s wording keeps the testing impulse attached to Odysseus.
13.339–343 Athena claims foreknowledge of return while presenting kinship and unwillingness as limits on direct conflict with Poseidon. She says she never disbelieved that Odysseus would return after losing his companions, but she did not wish to fight her father’s brother. Poseidon’s anger remains explicitly motivated by the blinding of his son. Divine knowledge, familial relation, chosen restraint, and another god’s grievance remain separate pressures.
Ithaca revealed, the nymphs addressed, and a plan begun 13.344–365
344ἀλλʼ ἄγε τοι δείξω Ἰθάκης ἕδος, ὄφρα πεποίθῃς.
345Φόρκυνος μὲν ὅδʼ ἐστὶ λιμήν, ἁλίοιο γέροντος,
ἥδε δʼ ἐπὶ κρατὸς λιμένος τανύφυλλος ἐλαίη·
ἀγχόθι δʼ αὐτῆς ἄντρον ἐπήρατον ἠεροειδές,
ἱρὸν νυμφάων, αἳ νηϊάδες καλέονται·
τοῦτο δέ τοι σπέος ἐστὶ κατηρεφές, ἔνθα σὺ πολλὰς
350ἔρδεσκες νύμφῃσι τεληέσσας ἑκατόμβας·
τοῦτο δὲ Νήριτόν ἐστιν ὄρος καταειμένον ὕλῃ.
ὣς εἰποῦσα θεὰ σκέδασʼ ἠέρα, εἴσατο δὲ χθών·
γήθησέν τʼ ἄρʼ ἔπειτα πολύτλας δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
χαίρων ᾗ γαίῃ, κύσε δὲ ζείδωρον ἄρουραν.
355αὐτίκα δὲ νύμφῃς ἠρήσατο, χεῖρας ἀνασχών·
νύμφαι νηϊάδες, κοῦραι Διός, οὔ ποτʼ ἐγώ γε
ὄψεσθʼ ὔμμʼ ἐφάμην· νῦν δʼ εὐχωλῇς ἀγανῇσι
χαίρετʼ· ἀτὰρ καὶ δῶρα διδώσομεν, ὡς τὸ πάρος περ,
αἴ κεν ἐᾷ πρόφρων με Διὸς θυγάτηρ ἀγελείη
360αὐτόν τε ζώειν καί μοι φίλον υἱὸν ἀέξῃ.
τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη·
θάρσει, μή τοι ταῦτα μετὰ φρεσὶ σῇσι μελόντων.
ἀλλὰ χρήματα μὲν μυχῷ ἄντρου θεσπεσίοιο
θείμεν αὐτίκα νῦν, ἵνα περ τάδε τοι σόα μίμνῃ·
365αὐτοὶ δὲ φραζώμεθʼ ὅπως ὄχʼ ἄριστα γένηται.
344Come, I will point out Ithaca’s setting, so that you may be certain.
345This is the harbor of Phorcys, the old man of the sea;
here at the harbor’s head is the long-leaved olive.
Nearby is the lovely, shadowy cave,
sacred to the nymphs called Naiads.
This is the vaulted cavern where you once
350made many full hecatomb offerings to the nymphs.
And this is Neriton, the mountain clothed in woods.’
So the goddess spoke and scattered the mist, and the land appeared.
Then much-enduring godlike Odysseus rejoiced,
glad in his own land, and kissed the grain-giving earth.
355At once he prayed to the nymphs, raising his hands:
‘Naiad nymphs, daughters of Zeus, I never thought
I would see you again. Greetings now with gentle prayers!
We will give you gifts as we did before,
if the daughter of Zeus, driver of spoil, graciously allows
360me to live and makes my dear son flourish.’
The goddess, bright-eyed Athena, answered him:
‘Take courage; do not let these things trouble your mind.
Let us put the wealth at once in the depths of the wondrous cave,
where it may remain safe for you,
365and then consider how everything may turn out best.’
Commentary
Athena repeats the harbor, long-leaved olive, shadowed Naiad cave, and wooded Neriton, now identifying them as proof rather than unknown landscape. She adds that Odysseus formerly made full offerings in the cave. When she scatters the mist, the land appears and recognition becomes bodily: Odysseus rejoices, kisses the grain-giving earth, raises his hands, and addresses the nymphs whom he never expected to see again. His promise of renewed gifts remains conditional on Athena allowing him to live and his son to flourish. Athena redirects concern toward securing the Phaeacian wealth and considering the best plan.
13.344–352 Athena’s repeated harbor landmarks convert narrator description into proof and restore the land when the mist is dispersed. Lines 13.345-348 substantially repeat 13.96 and 13.102-104, with 13.347 internally punctuation-normalized exact with 13.103. The earlier narrator passage guided the audience and the Phaeacians; Athena now points the same features out to Odysseus and adds Neriton and his former offerings. Repetition becomes recognition evidence.
13.353–365 Recognition of Ithaca produces earth-kissing, raised-hand prayer, greeting, promised gifts, and immediate practical concealment. Odysseus rejoices, kisses the grain-giving ground, raises his hands, and addresses the Naiads as daughters of Zeus. He promises future gifts as before but conditions life and his son’s flourishing on Athena’s favor. Athena answers with courage and directs him to secure the wealth before planning. Devotion and tactics are sequential rather than opposed.
13.359–365 Athena’s agelēiē epithet remains a marked local title whose contextual force should not become a mechanical gloss. Odysseus names the daughter of Zeus with agelēiē while asking for life and his son’s growth. The English retains “driver of spoil,” a martial or leading force that sits beside Athena’s immediate work of safeguarding treasure and planning vengeance. Derivation and recurrence do not make every occurrence semantically identical.
The gifts hidden and Penelope’s divided strategy 13.366–381
366ὣς εἰποῦσα θεὰ δῦνε σπέος ἠεροειδές,
μαιομένη κευθμῶνας ἀνὰ σπέος· αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς
ἆσσον πάντʼ ἐφόρει, χρυσὸν καὶ ἀτειρέα χαλκὸν
εἵματά τʼ εὐποίητα, τά οἱ Φαίηκες ἔδωκαν.
370καὶ τὰ μὲν εὖ κατέθηκε, λίθον δʼ ἐπέθηκε θύρῃσι
Παλλὰς Ἀθηναίη, κούρη Διὸς αἰγιόχοιο.
τὼ δὲ καθεζομένω ἱερῆς παρὰ πυθμένʼ ἐλαίης
φραζέσθην μνηστῆρσιν ὑπερφιάλοισιν ὄλεθρον.
τοῖσι δὲ μύθων ἦρχε θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη·
375διογενὲς Λαερτιάδη, πολυμήχανʼ Ὀδυσσεῦ,
φράζευ ὅπως μνηστῆρσιν ἀναιδέσι χεῖρας ἐφήσεις,
οἳ δή τοι τρίετες μέγαρον κάτα κοιρανέουσι,
μνώμενοι ἀντιθέην ἄλοχον καὶ ἕδνα διδόντες·
ἡ δὲ σὸν αἰεὶ νόστον ὀδυρομένη κατὰ θυμὸν
380πάντας μέν ῥʼ ἔλπει καὶ ὑπίσχεται ἀνδρὶ ἑκάστῳ,
ἀγγελίας προϊεῖσα, νόος δέ οἱ ἄλλα μενοινᾷ.
366So the goddess spoke and entered the shadowed cave,
searching out its recesses. Odysseus
carried everything nearer—the gold, the unyielding bronze,
and the finely made clothing the Phaeacians had given him.
370He placed them securely, and Pallas Athena,
the daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus, set a stone against the entrance.
The two sat down at the foot of the sacred olive
and planned destruction for the overbearing suitors.
The goddess, bright-eyed Athena, began to speak:
375‘Zeus-born son of Laertes, Odysseus of many devices,
consider how you will lay hands upon the shameless suitors.
For three years now they have ruled throughout your hall,
courting your godlike wife and offering bride-gifts.
She always mourns your return in her heart;
380she gives every man hope and makes promises to each,
sending messages, while her mind desires something else.’
Commentary
Athena enters the cave and searches its recesses while Odysseus carries gold, bronze, and clothing closer. He places the goods securely, and Athena seals the entrance with a stone. The two then sit at the foot of the sacred olive and plan destruction for the suitors. Athena begins by defining the household crisis: for three years the suitors have ruled the hall, courted Penelope, and offered bride-gifts. Her report preserves a division in Penelope’s conduct. She mourns Odysseus’ return inwardly, gives each suitor hope, promises each man, and sends messages, while her mind desires something else.
13.366–373 Concealing the gifts is genuinely collaborative, but Athena retains control over the cave’s final closure and the plan’s initiation. Athena searches the cave recesses; Odysseus carries gold, bronze, and clothing closer and places them securely; Athena sets the stone against the entrance. The two sit together beneath the sacred olive and plan the suitors’ destruction. Shared labor leads into shared counsel without equalizing their powers.
13.374–381 Athena’s Penelope report combines Tiresias’ suitor forecast with Book 2 accusation language while changing prophecy and hostile charge into divine briefing. Line 13.378 is punctuation-normalized with 11.117. Tiresias had forecast men courting the godlike wife and giving bride-gifts as part of Odysseus’ difficult return; Athena now reports that condition as present. Line 13.380 is punctuation-normalized with 2.91, and 13.381 is byte-exact with 2.92. In Book 2 Antinous charges Penelope with giving each suitor hope and sending messages while her mind intends otherwise. Repetition preserves the described pressures while prophetic, accusatory, and divine speakers retain different knowledge and evaluative force.
13.374–381 Athena reports a divided strategy without granting either Odysseus or the audience unlimited access to Penelope’s knowledge. The suitors rule the hall, offer bride-gifts, and receive hope and promises, while Penelope mourns nostos inwardly and her noos desires something else. The report distinguishes outer conduct from inner intention but does not say she recognizes Odysseus, knows his location, or has fixed one later course of action.
The Agamemnon parallel and the vengeance plan 13.382–396
382τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
ὢ πόποι, ἦ μάλα δὴ Ἀγαμέμνονος Ἀτρεΐδαο
φθίσεσθαι κακὸν οἶτον ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ἔμελλον,
385εἰ μή μοι σὺ ἕκαστα, θεά, κατὰ μοῖραν ἔειπες.
ἀλλʼ ἄγε μῆτιν ὕφηνον, ὅπως ἀποτίσομαι αὐτούς·
πὰρ δέ μοι αὐτὴ στῆθι, μένος πολυθαρσὲς ἐνεῖσα,
οἷον ὅτε Τροίης λύομεν λιπαρὰ κρήδεμνα.
αἴ κέ μοι ὣς μεμαυῖα παρασταίης, γλαυκῶπι,
390καί κε τριηκοσίοισιν ἐγὼν ἄνδρεσσι μαχοίμην
σὺν σοί, πότνα θεά, ὅτε μοι πρόφρασσʼ ἐπαρήγοις.
τὸν δʼ ἠμείβετʼ ἔπειτα θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη·
καὶ λίην τοι ἐγώ γε παρέσσομαι, οὐδέ με λήσεις,
ὁππότε κεν δὴ ταῦτα πενώμεθα· καί τινʼ ὀΐω
395αἵματί τʼ ἐγκεφάλῳ τε παλαξέμεν ἄσπετον οὖδας
ἀνδρῶν μνηστήρων, οἵ τοι βίοτον κατέδουσιν.
382Odysseus, master of many plans, answered her:
‘Ah, I was surely destined to meet Agamemnon’s fate,
perishing by an evil doom inside my halls,
385if you, goddess, had not told me every detail in due order.
Come, weave a plan for me so that I may make them pay.
Stand beside me yourself and put bold strength within me,
as when we tore away Troy’s shining crown.
If you stood beside me with that same eagerness, bright-eyed goddess,
390I would fight even three hundred men
with you, mighty goddess, whenever you helped me readily.’
The goddess, bright-eyed Athena, answered him:
‘I will certainly be beside you, and you will not escape my notice
when we set ourselves to this work. I expect a man
395will stain the broad floor with his blood and brains—
one of the suitors who consume your livelihood.
Commentary
Odysseus interprets Athena’s report through Agamemnon’s death, imagining that he too would have perished by an evil fate inside his own halls without divine disclosure. He asks Athena to weave a plan for repayment and to stand beside him with the bold strength associated with the sack of Troy. His boast that he would fight three hundred men depends explicitly on her eager aid. Athena promises presence and foresees the floor stained with a suitor’s blood and brains. The violent forecast remains divine speech inside a jointly planned vengeance rather than an event already completed.
13.382–396 Odysseus uses Agamemnon’s household murder as an internal epic model for the danger Athena’s disclosure has prevented. He imagines perishing by an evil fate inside his halls if Athena had not told each detail. The Agamemnon comparison converts the Book 11 encounter and wider return tradition into immediate tactical pressure. Odysseus then asks for a plan of repayment rather than assuming that arrival itself protects him.
13.386–396 Woven-plan language expands through Troy, three hundred opponents, promised aid, and a sudden image of blood and brains on the floor. Odysseus’ imperatives ask Athena to weave, stand beside him, and insert bold strength; the Troy comparison and large number amplify confidence conditionally on her presence. Athena’s answer contracts future work into one concrete bodily stain. The pacing turns strategic abstraction toward material violence without claiming exhaustive scansion.
The beggar disguise planned and Eumaeus identified 13.397–415
397ἀλλʼ ἄγε σʼ ἄγνωστον τεύξω πάντεσσι βροτοῖσι·
κάρψω μὲν χρόα καλὸν ἐνὶ γναμπτοῖσι μέλεσσι,
ξανθὰς δʼ ἐκ κεφαλῆς ὀλέσω τρίχας, ἀμφὶ δὲ λαῖφος
400ἕσσω ὅ κε στυγέῃσιν ἰδὼν ἄνθρωπον ἔχοντα,
κνυζώσω δέ τοι ὄσσε πάρος περικαλλέʼ ἐόντε,
ὡς ἂν ἀεικέλιος πᾶσι μνηστῆρσι φανήῃς
σῇ τʼ ἀλόχῳ καὶ παιδί, τὸν ἐν μεγάροισιν ἔλειπες.
αὐτὸς δὲ πρώτιστα συβώτην εἰσαφικέσθαι,
405ὅς τοι ὑῶν ἐπίουρος, ὁμῶς δέ τοι ἤπια οἶδε,
παῖδά τε σὸν φιλέει καὶ ἐχέφρονα Πηνελόπειαν.
δήεις τόν γε σύεσσι παρήμενον· αἱ δὲ νέμονται
πὰρ Κόρακος πέτρῃ ἐπί τε κρήνῃ Ἀρεθούσῃ,
ἔσθουσαι βάλανον μενοεικέα καὶ μέλαν ὕδωρ
410πίνουσαι, τά θʼ ὕεσσι τρέφει τεθαλυῖαν ἀλοιφήν.
ἔνθα μένειν καὶ πάντα παρήμενος ἐξερέεσθαι,
ὄφρʼ ἂν ἐγὼν ἔλθω Σπάρτην ἐς καλλιγύναικα
Τηλέμαχον καλέουσα, τεὸν φίλον υἱόν, Ὀδυσσεῦ·
ὅς τοι ἐς εὐρύχορον Λακεδαίμονα πὰρ Μενέλαον
415ᾤχετο πευσόμενος μετὰ σὸν κλέος, εἴ που ἔτʼ εἴης.
397Come, I will make you unrecognizable to every mortal.
I will shrivel the fine skin upon your supple limbs,
strip the fair hair from your head, and clothe you in a rag
400that any man will loathe to see someone wearing.
I will make your eyes, once so beautiful, bleary,
so that you appear repulsive to all the suitors,
and to your wife and son whom you left in the halls.
First, go yourself to the swineherd,
405the keeper of your pigs, who holds kindly feelings toward you.
He loves your son and discerning Penelope.
You will find him sitting beside the swine. They graze
by Raven’s Rock and the spring of Arethusa,
eating nourishing acorns and drinking dark water,
410which make the pigs grow a rich layer of fat.
Stay there, sit beside him, and ask him everything,
while I go to Sparta, land of beautiful women,
to summon Telemachus, your dear son, Odysseus.
He went to broad Lacedaemon, to Menelaus,
415to seek a report of you—whether you were still alive.’
Commentary
Athena announces a complete disguise intended to defeat recognition by every mortal: fine skin will shrivel, fair hair disappear, loathsome rags replace clothing, and beautiful eyes become bleary so that wife, son, and suitors find the stranger repulsive. She then directs Odysseus first to the swineherd who guards his pigs and retains kindly feeling toward him while loving Telemachus and Penelope. Eumaeus is located beside the swine near Raven’s Rock and Arethusa, where acorns and dark water fatten the animals. Odysseus is to stay, sit, and ask everything while Athena goes to recall Telemachus.
13.397–403 Athena’s first-person transformation verbs make her the explicit agent of bodily age, ugliness, and failed recognition. She will make Odysseus unknown, shrivel skin, destroy hair, dress him in a hated rag, and make his eyes bleary. The result is social as well as visual: suitors, wife, and son will see an unseemly stranger. The future verbs do not present disguise as clothing alone or as Odysseus’ independent bodily performance.
13.397–410 The disguise specification is immediately joined to a first destination where concealed identity can be tested against reported loyalty. After defining the body that wife, son, and suitors will reject, Athena directs Odysseus to Eumaeus. She identifies his work, kindly disposition, love for Telemachus and Penelope, physical location, and the pigs’ feed and water. Information about a loyal subordinate becomes the first bridge from divine planning to human testing.
13.404–415 Eumaeus is introduced through service, affection, location, and future questioning without having his subordinate status romanticized away. He guards Odysseus’ pigs, thinks kindly of the absent master, and loves Telemachus and discerning Penelope. He is found beside estate animals whose acorns and water produce fat, and Odysseus is to sit with him and ask everything. Loyalty and competence operate inside continuing household service and property relations.
Telemachus’ voyage, fame, and the suitors’ ambush 13.416–428
416τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·
τίπτε τʼ ἄρʼ οὔ οἱ ἔειπες, ἐνὶ φρεσὶ πάντα ἰδυῖα;
ἦ ἵνα που καὶ κεῖνος ἀλώμενος ἄλγεα πάσχῃ
πόντον ἐπʼ ἀτρύγετον· βίοτον δέ οἱ ἄλλοι ἔδουσι;
420τὸν δʼ ἠμείβετʼ ἔπειτα θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη·
μὴ δή τοι κεῖνός γε λίην ἐνθύμιος ἔστω.
αὐτή μιν πόμπευον, ἵνα κλέος ἐσθλὸν ἄροιτο
κεῖσʼ ἐλθών· ἀτὰρ οὔ τινʼ ἔχει πόνον, ἀλλὰ ἕκηλος
ἧσται ἐν Ἀτρεΐδαο δόμοις, παρὰ δʼ ἄσπετα κεῖται.
425ἦ μέν μιν λοχόωσι νέοι σὺν νηῒ μελαίνῃ,
ἱέμενοι κτεῖναι, πρὶν πατρίδα γαῖαν ἱκέσθαι·
ἀλλὰ τά γʼ οὐκ ὀΐω, πρὶν καί τινα γαῖα καθέξει
ἀνδρῶν μνηστήρων, οἵ τοι βίοτον κατέδουσιν.
416Odysseus, master of many plans, answered her:
‘Why did you not tell him, when you knew everything in your mind?
Was it so that he too might wander and suffer pains
over the barren sea while others consume his livelihood?’
420The goddess, bright-eyed Athena, answered him:
‘Do not let him weigh too heavily on your heart.
I myself escorted him so that he might win honorable fame
by going there. He has no hardship, but sits at ease
in the house of Atreus’ son, with boundless wealth around him.
425Young men do lie in ambush for him with a black ship,
eager to kill him before he reaches his native land.
But I do not think that will happen. Before it does, the earth will cover
some of the suitors who consume your livelihood.’
Commentary
Odysseus asks why Athena, who knows everything in her mind, did not simply tell Telemachus what she knew. His question imagines an unnecessary repetition of his own wandering and suffering while others consume the son’s livelihood. Athena distinguishes report, fame, safety, and danger. She escorted Telemachus so he might win honorable fame, and he now sits without hardship amid Menelaus’ wealth. Yet young men are genuinely waiting in ambush to kill him before his return. Athena does not deny the plot; she offers her expectation that it will fail and that the earth will first cover some suitors.
13.416–428 Odysseus and Athena evaluate Telemachus’ journey from different positions while agreeing that the ambush is real. The father asks why an all-knowing goddess allowed his son to wander and suffer while others consume the estate. Athena says she escorted him to win fame, describes present ease in Menelaus’ house, then acknowledges young men lying in wait to kill him. Her expectation that some suitors die first reassures without denying danger.
13.416–428 Report about the absent father and honorable fame for the son are adjacent but distinct kleos pressures. Telemachus went to Menelaus to learn Odysseus’ kleos in the sense of report—whether he still lived. Athena says she escorted the son so he might acquire good kleos through the journey. The same semantic field links hearing and public reputation, but syntax and agent distinguish information sought from fame earned.
13.416–428 The Book 4 ambush line returns punctuation-normalized as Athena converts Penelope’s fear into direct divine confirmation. Line 13.426 is punctuation-normalized with 4.823, differing only in punctuation around the infinitive phrase. In Book 4 Penelope voices fear within the dream dialogue that enemies intend to kill Telemachus before he reaches home. Athena now tells Odysseus that young men really are lying in wait and uses the same killing-and-homecoming line. The recurrence shifts from mortal fear to divine report while remaining speech about an intended ambush rather than narration of a completed death.
Odysseus transformed and Athena departs for Sparta 13.429–440
429ὣς ἄρα μιν φαμένη ῥάβδῳ ἐπεμάσσατʼ Ἀθήνη.
430κάρψεν μὲν χρόα καλὸν ἐνὶ γναμπτοῖσι μέλεσσι,
ξανθὰς δʼ ἐκ κεφαλῆς ὄλεσε τρίχας, ἀμφὶ δὲ δέρμα
πάντεσσιν μελέεσσι παλαιοῦ θῆκε γέροντος,
κνύζωσεν δέ οἱ ὄσσε πάρος περικαλλέʼ ἐόντε·
ἀμφὶ δέ μιν ῥάκος ἄλλο κακὸν βάλεν ἠδὲ χιτῶνα,
435ῥωγαλέα ῥυπόωντα, κακῷ μεμορυγμένα καπνῷ·
ἀμφὶ δέ μιν μέγα δέρμα ταχείης ἕσσʼ ἐλάφοιο,
ψιλόν· δῶκε δέ οἱ σκῆπτρον καὶ ἀεικέα πήρην,
πυκνὰ ῥωγαλέην· ἐν δὲ στρόφος ἦεν ἀορτήρ.
τώ γʼ ὣς βουλεύσαντε διέτμαγεν. ἡ μὲν ἔπειτα
440ἐς Λακεδαίμονα δῖαν ἔβη μετὰ παῖδʼ Ὀδυσῆος.
429So Athena spoke and touched him with her wand.
430She shriveled the fine skin upon his supple limbs,
stripped the fair hair from his head, and laid over
all his limbs the skin of an aged man.
She made his eyes, once so beautiful, bleary,
and cast around him a different wretched rag and tunic,
435tattered and filthy, fouled with evil smoke.
Over these she wrapped the great hide of a swift deer,
worn bare. She gave him a staff and an ugly pouch,
patched and torn, with a twisted cord for a strap.
Having made their plans, the two parted. Athena then
440went to noble Lacedaemon to fetch the son of Odysseus.
Commentary
Athena touches Odysseus with her wand and enacts the bodily changes previously announced. She shrivels his skin, removes his hair, lays an old man’s hide over his limbs, damages the appearance of his eyes, and adds smoke-fouled rags and tunic. A bare deer hide, staff, patched pouch, and twisted strap complete the social and material disguise. The narrator preserves her as agent of each alteration. Once planning and transformation are complete, the two separate: Odysseus’ inland movement is implied by his instructions, while Athena explicitly goes to noble Lacedaemon for his son.
13.429–440 The closing transformation adaptively enacts Athena’s prior instructions before the two planners separate. Lines 13.430-433 recast the promised changes at 13.398-401 from first-person future into narrated divine action: skin shrivels, hair vanishes, age covers the limbs, and eyes become bleary. The enactment adds filthy clothing, deer hide, staff, pouch, and strap. Planning therefore closes in performed disguise, followed by Athena’s departure for Telemachus.