Odyssey, Book 6: Nausicaa
Homer · Greek original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 6 carries Odysseus from solitary survival to the threshold of human reception without making that transition automatic. While he sleeps, Athena enters Scheria and works through Nausicaa's dream, household responsibilities, and marriageable situation. The washing expedition brings royal daughter, attendants, labor, play, and divine planning to the riverbank where Odysseus lies hidden. His naked emergence makes need look threatening; the attendants flee, Athena steadies Nausicaa, and Odysseus chooses verbal supplication at a distance over physical contact. His tactful speech joins praise, autobiography, practical request, and a blessing on household concord. Nausicaa answers with care but also with her own account of fortune, remoteness, authority, reputation, and public marriage. Clothing, bathing, Athena's beautification, food, and staggered travel restore Odysseus by degrees. The route finally points past Alcinous toward Arete's knees, while the closing prayer shows Athena hearing yet withholding visible aid before Poseidon's anger. Social return has begun, but recognition, escort, and homecoming remain conditional.
Narrative arc
- Athena leaves the exhausted Odysseus asleep and enters the Phaeacian royal house
- a disguised dream connects laundry, reputation, and Nausicaa's approaching marriage
- Nausicaa secures household resources without naming marriage to her father
- enslaved attendants, provisions, washing, bathing, and play create the riverbank encounter
- Athena engineers Odysseus' awakening and gives Nausicaa courage to stand
- Odysseus chooses distant verbal supplication and Nausicaa promises care
- privacy, washing, clothing, divine beautification, and food restore his social appearance
- Nausicaa manages the approach to the city around anticipated public speech
- directions make Arete the immediate center of physical supplication and return hope
- Athena hears Odysseus' prayer but remains unseen while Poseidon's anger persists
Central themes
- indirect divine agency and mortal execution
- vulnerability, appearance, and social judgment
- supplication through contact, distance, and speech
- hospitality before identity
- marriage, household concord, and public reputation
- gendered labor and differentiated household status
- shame, restraint, and controlled exposure
- restoration by successive material and relational thresholds
- divine assistance bounded by divine conflict
Odysseus sleeps while Athena enters Scheria 6.1–14
1ὣς ὁ μὲν ἔνθα καθεῦδε πολύτλας δῖος Ὀδυσσεὺς
ὕπνῳ καὶ καμάτῳ ἀρημένος· αὐτὰρ Ἀθήνη
βῆ ῥʼ ἐς Φαιήκων ἀνδρῶν δῆμόν τε πόλιν τε,
οἳ πρὶν μέν ποτʼ ἔναιον ἐν εὐρυχόρῳ Ὑπερείῃ,
5ἀγχοῦ Κυκλώπων ἀνδρῶν ὑπερηνορεόντων,
οἵ σφεας σινέσκοντο, βίηφι δὲ φέρτεροι ἦσαν.
ἔνθεν ἀναστήσας ἄγε Ναυσίθοος θεοειδής,
εἷσεν δὲ Σχερίῃ, ἑκὰς ἀνδρῶν ἀλφηστάων,
ἀμφὶ δὲ τεῖχος ἔλασσε πόλει, καὶ ἐδείματο οἴκους,
10καὶ νηοὺς ποίησε θεῶν, καὶ ἐδάσσατʼ ἀρούρας.
ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν ἤδη κηρὶ δαμεὶς Ἄϊδόσδε βεβήκει,
Ἀλκίνοος δὲ τότʼ ἦρχε, θεῶν ἄπο μήδεα εἰδώς.
τοῦ μὲν ἔβη πρὸς δῶμα θεά, γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη,
νόστον Ὀδυσσῆι μεγαλήτορι μητιόωσα.
1So there much-enduring godlike Odysseus slept,
overcome by sleep and exhaustion. Meanwhile Athena
went to the land and city of the Phaeacian people.
They once had lived in spacious Hypereia,
5near the overbearing Cyclopes,
who continually harmed them and overmatched them in strength.
Godlike Nausithous made them leave that place and led them away,
settling them in Scheria, far from bread-earning men.
He drove a wall around the city, built houses,
10made temples for the gods, and divided the fields.
But he had already been overcome by death and gone to Hades,
and Alcinous now ruled, versed in counsels from the gods.
To his house went the goddess, bright-eyed Athena,
planning the return of great-hearted Odysseus.
Commentary
The book leaves Odysseus overcome by exhaustion and shifts agency to Athena. A compressed account of Phaeacian displacement, Scherian settlement, city building, and succession locates the sleeping stranger within a society already shaped by danger, separation, and organized communal space.
6.1–14 Odysseus begins Book 6 inactive, while Athena transfers the return plot into a populated civic and household setting. The adversative transition leaves him subdued by sleep and labor as the goddess moves to Scheria. The intervening settlement history means her plan does not simply find a helper; it enters a city with remembered displacement, constructed institutions, and a current ruler.
6.4–12 Scherian distance is presented as the result of a narrated relocation from stronger and harmful neighbors. Nausithous removes the Phaeacians from proximity to the Cyclopes and settles them far from other working people, then builds walls, houses, sanctuaries, and apportioned fields. Remoteness is therefore social and defensive within the story before it is a map coordinate.
Athena sends Nausicaa a marriage-framed dream 6.15–47
15βῆ δʼ ἴμεν ἐς θάλαμον πολυδαίδαλον, ᾧ ἔνι κούρη
κοιμᾶτʼ ἀθανάτῃσι φυὴν καὶ εἶδος ὁμοίη,
Ναυσικάα, θυγάτηρ μεγαλήτορος Ἀλκινόοιο,
πὰρ δὲ δύʼ ἀμφίπολοι, Χαρίτων ἄπο κάλλος ἔχουσαι,
σταθμοῖιν ἑκάτερθε· θύραι δʼ ἐπέκειντο φαειναί.
20ἡ δʼ ἀνέμου ὡς πνοιὴ ἐπέσσυτο δέμνια κούρης,
στῆ δʼ ἄρʼ ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς, καί μιν πρὸς μῦθον ἔειπεν,
εἰδομένη κούρῃ ναυσικλειτοῖο Δύμαντος,
ἥ οἱ ὁμηλικίη μὲν ἔην, κεχάριστο δὲ θυμῷ.
τῇ μιν ἐεισαμένη προσέφη γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη·
25Ναυσικάα, τί νύ σʼ ὧδε μεθήμονα γείνατο μήτηρ;
εἵματα μέν τοι κεῖται ἀκηδέα σιγαλόεντα,
σοὶ δὲ γάμος σχεδόν ἐστιν, ἵνα χρὴ καλὰ μὲν αὐτὴν
ἕννυσθαι, τὰ δὲ τοῖσι παρασχεῖν, οἵ κέ σʼ ἄγωνται.
ἐκ γάρ τοι τούτων φάτις ἀνθρώπους ἀναβαίνει
30ἐσθλή, χαίρουσιν δὲ πατὴρ καὶ πότνια μήτηρ.
ἀλλʼ ἴομεν πλυνέουσαι ἅμʼ ἠοῖ φαινομένηφι·
καί τοι ἐγὼ συνέριθος ἅμʼ ἕψομαι, ὄφρα τάχιστα
ἐντύνεαι, ἐπεὶ οὔ τοι ἔτι δὴν παρθένος ἔσσεαι·
ἤδη γάρ σε μνῶνται ἀριστῆες κατὰ δῆμον
35πάντων Φαιήκων, ὅθι τοι γένος ἐστὶ καὶ αὐτῇ.
ἀλλʼ ἄγʼ ἐπότρυνον πατέρα κλυτὸν ἠῶθι πρὸ
ἡμιόνους καὶ ἄμαξαν ἐφοπλίσαι, ἥ κεν ἄγῃσι
ζῶστρά τε καὶ πέπλους καὶ ῥήγεα σιγαλόεντα.
καὶ δὲ σοὶ ὧδʼ αὐτῇ πολὺ κάλλιον ἠὲ πόδεσσιν
40ἔρχεσθαι· πολλὸν γὰρ ἀπὸ πλυνοί εἰσι πόληος.
ἡ μὲν ἄρʼ ὣς εἰποῦσʼ ἀπέβη γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη
Οὔλυμπόνδʼ, ὅθι φασὶ θεῶν ἕδος ἀσφαλὲς αἰεὶ
ἔμμεναι. οὔτʼ ἀνέμοισι τινάσσεται οὔτε ποτʼ ὄμβρῳ
δεύεται οὔτε χιὼν ἐπιπίλναται, ἀλλὰ μάλʼ αἴθρη
45πέπταται ἀνέφελος, λευκὴ δʼ ἐπιδέδρομεν αἴγλη·
τῷ ἔνι τέρπονται μάκαρες θεοὶ ἤματα πάντα.
ἔνθʼ ἀπέβη γλαυκῶπις, ἐπεὶ διεπέφραδε κούρῃ.
15She entered an intricately fashioned chamber where a maiden
slept, like the immortals in stature and beauty:
Nausicaa, daughter of great-hearted Alcinous.
Beside her were two attendants, whose beauty came from the Graces,
one at each doorpost, and the shining doors were closed.
20Like a breath of wind the goddess swept toward the maiden's bed,
took her stand above Nausicaa's head and addressed her,
in the likeness of a daughter of Dymas, renowned for ships,
one of her age-mates, held dear in her heart.
In her likeness bright-eyed Athena said:
25“Nausicaa, how did your mother bear so careless a daughter?
Your splendid clothes lie here neglected,
though your marriage is near, when you must dress beautifully yourself
and provide clothes for those who will escort you.
From such things a good name rises among the people for you,
30and your father and sovereign mother rejoice.
Come, let us go wash them when dawn appears.
I will go with you and help at the work, so that quickly
you may make ready, for you will not remain a maiden long.
Already the finest men are courting you throughout the district,
35among all the Phaeacians, for you too are of their lineage.
Come, urge your renowned father before dawn
to ready the mules and wagon that will carry
sashes, robes, and splendid coverlets.
For you yourself it is much more becoming to ride
40than to go on foot—the washing pools are far from the city.”
So bright-eyed Athena spoke and departed
for Olympus, where, they say, the gods have their seat forever secure.
It is not shaken by winds or ever drenched by rain,
nor does snow draw near, but cloudless brightness
45spreads over it, and a white radiance lies upon it.
There the blessed gods delight all their days.
There the bright-eyed goddess went after making all this clear to the maiden.
Commentary
Athena enters Nausicaa's closed chamber in the likeness of a trusted age-mate. The disguised speech turns neglected clothing into a convergence of marriage preparation, family reputation, shared work, transport, and distance from the city, then the goddess returns to an untroubled Olympus.
6.15–24 Athena gains persuasive intimacy by appearing as a trusted peer rather than as a commanding goddess. The narrator identifies both the divine agent and the borrowed identity: a daughter of Dymas, the same age as Nausicaa and dear to her. The audience therefore hears divine planning through a socially plausible voice whose urgency can enter the maiden's private chamber.
6.18 The attendants' beauty is expressed through derivation from the Graces, with the precise force of the preposition left open. The compact phrase links their beauty to the Graces and intensifies the chamber's elevated visual register. It can suggest source, gift, or resemblance, but the line alone does not require a developed account of how divine beauty is transferred.
6.25–35 The disguised Athena makes clothing care a public measure of readiness, not merely a private domestic chore. Her rebuke ties neglected garments to Nausicaa's own dress, clothing for the escorting party, reputation among the people, and parental joy. Because the argument belongs to a divine disguise, it reveals Athena's chosen pressure point rather than an uncontested narrator rule.
6.41–47 Athena's departure reuses a Book 1 movement line before expanding into Olympus's untroubled atmosphere. The verbal text of 6.41 matches 1.319 apart from terminal punctuation as the goddess leaves a mortal beneficiary after decisive prompting. Book 6 then delays her arrival with windless, rainless, snowless brightness, setting divine ease against the bodily and social work her plan has just initiated.
Nausicaa asks Alcinous for the laundry wagon 6.48–70
48αὐτίκα δʼ Ἠὼς ἦλθεν ἐύθρονος, ἥ μιν ἔγειρε
Ναυσικάαν ἐύπεπλον· ἄφαρ δʼ ἀπεθαύμασʼ ὄνειρον,
50βῆ δʼ ἰέναι διὰ δώμαθʼ, ἵνʼ ἀγγείλειε τοκεῦσιν,
πατρὶ φίλῳ καὶ μητρί· κιχήσατο δʼ ἔνδον ἐόντας·
ἡ μὲν ἐπʼ ἐσχάρῃ ἧστο σὺν ἀμφιπόλοισι γυναιξὶν
ἠλάκατα στρωφῶσʼ ἁλιπόρφυρα· τῷ δὲ θύραζε
ἐρχομένῳ ξύμβλητο μετὰ κλειτοὺς βασιλῆας
55ἐς βουλήν, ἵνα μιν κάλεον Φαίηκες ἀγαυοί.
ἡ δὲ μάλʼ ἄγχι στᾶσα φίλον πατέρα προσέειπε·
πάππα φίλʼ, οὐκ ἂν δή μοι ἐφοπλίσσειας ἀπήνην
ὑψηλὴν ἐύκυκλον, ἵνα κλυτὰ εἵματʼ ἄγωμαι
ἐς ποταμὸν πλυνέουσα, τά μοι ῥερυπωμένα κεῖται;
60καὶ δὲ σοὶ αὐτῷ ἔοικε μετὰ πρώτοισιν ἐόντα
βουλὰς βουλεύειν καθαρὰ χροΐ εἵματʼ ἔχοντα.
πέντε δέ τοι φίλοι υἷες ἐνὶ μεγάροις γεγάασιν,
οἱ δύʼ ὀπυίοντες, τρεῖς δʼ ἠίθεοι θαλέθοντες·
οἱ δʼ αἰεὶ ἐθέλουσι νεόπλυτα εἵματʼ ἔχοντες
65ἐς χορὸν ἔρχεσθαι· τὰ δʼ ἐμῇ φρενὶ πάντα μέμηλεν.
ὣς ἔφατʼ· αἴδετο γὰρ θαλερὸν γάμον ἐξονομῆναι
πατρὶ φίλῳ. ὁ δὲ πάντα νόει καὶ ἀμείβετο μύθῳ·
οὔτε τοι ἡμιόνων φθονέω, τέκος, οὔτε τευ ἄλλου.
ἔρχευ· ἀτάρ τοι δμῶες ἐφοπλίσσουσιν ἀπήνην
70ὑψηλὴν ἐύκυκλον, ὑπερτερίῃ ἀραρυῖαν.
48At once Dawn came, fair-throned, and woke
Nausicaa of the lovely robe. She marveled at the dream,
50then went through the house to tell her parents,
her dear father and mother, and found them both inside.
Her mother sat by the hearth with her attendant women,
twisting sea-purple wool. At the outer door Nausicaa met her father
as he went to join the renowned kings
55in council, where the noble Phaeacians had summoned him.
She stood close beside her dear father and said:
“Dear father, would you have a wagon made ready for me,
high and well-wheeled, so I can take our splendid clothes
to the river to wash? They lie here soiled.
60And it befits you yourself, when you sit among the foremost
taking counsel, to wear clean clothes on your body.
Five dear sons of yours have been born in these halls:
two are married, while three are flourishing young bachelors.
They always want to wear freshly washed clothes
65when they go to the dance. All these things are my concern.”
So she spoke, for she was ashamed to mention her coming marriage
to her dear father. But he understood everything and answered:
“I do not begrudge you the mules, child, or anything else.
Go. The enslaved men will make a wagon ready for you,
70high and well-wheeled, fitted with a frame above.”
Commentary
Awakened by Dawn, Nausicaa finds Arete at textile work and Alcinous departing for council. She asks her father for a wagon by citing clean clothing for him and her brothers; the narrator states that shame keeps her from naming marriage, while Alcinous understands and assigns enslaved men to prepare the vehicle.
6.48–55 Nausicaa awakens into a household whose leading adults are already engaged in different kinds of work. Arete turns purple wool beside the hearth with attendant women, while Alcinous is leaving for a council of Phaeacian rulers. Nausicaa's request enters between textile production and public deliberation, joining the book's domestic and civic spaces before she leaves either.
6.57–67 The aidos clause marks Nausicaa's reluctance to name marriage to her father, not ignorance of the topic or general incapacity to speak. She gives several concrete clothing reasons for the wagon, and only afterward does the narrator explain what she avoids naming. Alcinous' immediate understanding confirms successful indirect communication while preserving the modest restraint assigned to her.
6.62–70 Nausicaa presents clean clothing as her concern across brothers of different marital status, while Alcinous turns authorization into assigned labor. Her five brothers include two married men and three unmarried youths, all linked to freshly washed dress and public dancing. Alcinous grants the request and commands enslaved men to prepare the wagon; care, authority, and execution are distributed rather than interchangeable.
The wagon is provisioned and the women depart 6.71–84
71ὣς εἰπὼν δμώεσσιν ἐκέκλετο, τοὶ δʼ ἐπίθοντο.
οἱ μὲν ἄρʼ ἐκτὸς ἄμαξαν ἐύτροχον ἡμιονείην
ὥπλεον, ἡμιόνους θʼ ὕπαγον ζεῦξάν θʼ ὑπʼ ἀπήνῃ·
κούρη δʼ ἐκ θαλάμοιο φέρεν ἐσθῆτα φαεινήν.
75καὶ τὴν μὲν κατέθηκεν ἐυξέστῳ ἐπʼ ἀπήνῃ,
μήτηρ δʼ ἐν κίστῃ ἐτίθει μενοεικέʼ ἐδωδὴν
παντοίην, ἐν δʼ ὄψα τίθει, ἐν δʼ οἶνον ἔχευεν
ἀσκῷ ἐν αἰγείῳ· κούρη δʼ ἐπεβήσετʼ ἀπήνης.
δῶκεν δὲ χρυσέῃ ἐν ληκύθῳ ὑγρὸν ἔλαιον,
80ἧος χυτλώσαιτο σὺν ἀμφιπόλοισι γυναιξίν.
ἡ δʼ ἔλαβεν μάστιγα καὶ ἡνία σιγαλόεντα,
μάστιξεν δʼ ἐλάαν· καναχὴ δʼ ἦν ἡμιόνοιιν.
αἱ δʼ ἄμοτον τανύοντο, φέρον δʼ ἐσθῆτα καὶ αὐτήν,
οὐκ οἴην, ἅμα τῇ γε καὶ ἀμφίπολοι κίον ἄλλαι.
71So he spoke and called to the enslaved men, and they obeyed.
Outside they made ready the smooth-running mule wagon,
led the mules up and yoked them beneath the wagon's pole.
The maiden carried the shining clothing from her chamber
75and laid it on the polished wagon.
Her mother packed a chest with tempting provisions,
food of every kind and delicacies, and poured wine
into a goatskin. The maiden climbed onto the wagon.
Her mother gave her flowing oil in a golden flask,
80so she and her attendant women could anoint themselves after bathing.
Nausicaa took the whip and shining reins
and cracked the whip to drive. A clatter rose from the mules.
They pulled steadily onward, carrying the clothes and Nausicaa herself—
not alone, for other attendants walked beside her.
Commentary
The departure depends on coordinated but unequal household work. Enslaved men ready and yoke the wagon, Nausicaa loads the clothing, Arete supplies food, wine, and oil, and the princess drives while other attendants go on foot beside her.
6.71–84 The departure acquires momentum through an audible chain of preparation, loading, mounting, whipping, clatter, and sustained pulling. Successive finite actions pass from enslaved men to Nausicaa and Arete before the mule noise marks release into motion. Nausicaa is not alone: the walking attendants remain within the scene after the wagon has accelerated.
Washing, bathing, and the ball game 6.85–109
85αἱ δʼ ὅτε δὴ ποταμοῖο ῥόον περικαλλέʼ ἵκοντο,
ἔνθʼ ἦ τοι πλυνοὶ ἦσαν ἐπηετανοί, πολὺ δʼ ὕδωρ
καλὸν ὑπεκπρόρεεν μάλα περ ῥυπόωντα καθῆραι,
ἔνθʼ αἵ γʼ ἡμιόνους μὲν ὑπεκπροέλυσαν ἀπήνης.
καὶ τὰς μὲν σεῦαν ποταμὸν πάρα δινήεντα
90τρώγειν ἄγρωστιν μελιηδέα· ταὶ δʼ ἀπʼ ἀπήνης
εἵματα χερσὶν ἕλοντο καὶ ἐσφόρεον μέλαν ὕδωρ,
στεῖβον δʼ ἐν βόθροισι θοῶς ἔριδα προφέρουσαι.
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ πλῦνάν τε κάθηράν τε ῥύπα πάντα,
ἑξείης πέτασαν παρὰ θῖνʼ ἁλός, ἧχι μάλιστα
95λάιγγας ποτὶ χέρσον ἀποπλύνεσκε θάλασσα.
αἱ δὲ λοεσσάμεναι καὶ χρισάμεναι λίπʼ ἐλαίῳ
δεῖπνον ἔπειθʼ εἵλοντο παρʼ ὄχθῃσιν ποταμοῖο,
εἵματα δʼ ἠελίοιο μένον τερσήμεναι αὐγῇ.
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ σίτου τάρφθεν δμῳαί τε καὶ αὐτή,
100σφαίρῃ ταὶ δʼ ἄρʼ ἔπαιζον, ἀπὸ κρήδεμνα βαλοῦσαι·
τῇσι δὲ Ναυσικάα λευκώλενος ἤρχετο μολπῆς.
οἵη δʼ Ἄρτεμις εἶσι κατʼ οὔρεα ἰοχέαιρα,
ἢ κατὰ Τηΰγετον περιμήκετον ἢ Ἐρύμανθον,
τερπομένη κάπροισι καὶ ὠκείῃς ἐλάφοισι·
105τῇ δέ θʼ ἅμα νύμφαι, κοῦραι Διὸς αἰγιόχοιο,
ἀγρονόμοι παίζουσι, γέγηθε δέ τε φρένα Λητώ·
πασάων δʼ ὑπὲρ ἥ γε κάρη ἔχει ἠδὲ μέτωπα,
ῥεῖά τʼ ἀριγνώτη πέλεται, καλαὶ δέ τε πᾶσαι·
ὣς ἥ γʼ ἀμφιπόλοισι μετέπρεπε παρθένος ἀδμής.
85When they reached the lovely current of the river,
where the washing pools never failed and abundant fair water
welled up, enough to cleanse even deeply soiled clothes,
they unhitched the mules from beneath the wagon.
They drove them beside the eddying river
90to crop the honey-sweet couch grass, while the women from the wagon
took the clothes in hand and carried them into the dark water,
then trod them quickly in the pits, competing at the work.
When they had washed them and cleansed away all the dirt,
they spread them in rows along the seashore, where the sea
95most often washed the pebbles clean against the land.
After bathing and rubbing themselves richly with oil,
they ate their meal beside the riverbanks
while they waited for the clothes to dry in the sun's rays.
When the enslaved women and Nausicaa herself had enjoyed the food,
100they cast off their headcloths and began to play ball.
White-armed Nausicaa led them in their song.
As Artemis of the bow goes over the mountains,
across towering Taygetus or Erymanthus,
taking delight in boars and swift deer,
105while the nymphs, daughters of Zeus who bears the aegis,
range the wilds and play around her, and Leto's heart rejoices—
Artemis holds her head and brow above them all
and is easily known, though all are beautiful—
so the unwed maiden stood out among her attendants.
Commentary
At the river the women unhitch the mules, wash and tread the clothing, spread it by the shore, bathe, eat, and play ball while the fabric dries. The Artemis simile elevates Nausicaa above a group whose labor and recreation she shares, and the scene reaches a poised stillness before Athena intervenes.
6.85–99 The washing expedition is narrated as a complete material process before it becomes leisure. The women release the mules to graze, carry garments into water, tread them competitively, rinse away dirt, spread them in order, bathe, anoint themselves, eat, and wait for drying. The sequence gives practical duration to the divine plan without making Athena perform the work.
6.85–109 Procedural accumulation gives way to a sustained Artemis simile that holds Nausicaa in view before the plot's interruption. Shorter work and meal actions move toward ball play, after which the comparison ranges over mountains, animals, nymphs, and Leto's pleasure. Its delayed return to the maiden makes her prominence the composed endpoint of the scene.
6.99–109 Nausicaa leads the song and stands out among the attendants while remaining inside their shared game. The narrator first names the enslaved women and Nausicaa together as satisfied by food, then gives the princess leadership and Artemis-like visibility. Distinction emerges within collective activity rather than by removing her from it.
6.100–109 The Artemis simile connects maidenly distinction with movement, play, and an observing mother's joy. Artemis ranges across named mountains with nymphs around her, surpassing companions who are all beautiful, while Leto rejoices. Nausicaa's likeness therefore concerns recognizable preeminence in a female company rather than only static appearance.
Athena wakes Odysseus, who emerges and deliberates 6.110–147
110ἀλλʼ ὅτε δὴ ἄρʼ ἔμελλε πάλιν οἶκόνδε νέεσθαι
ζεύξασʼ ἡμιόνους πτύξασά τε εἵματα καλά,
ἔνθʼ αὖτʼ ἄλλʼ ἐνόησε θεά, γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη,
ὡς Ὀδυσεὺς ἔγροιτο, ἴδοι τʼ ἐυώπιδα κούρην,
ἥ οἱ Φαιήκων ἀνδρῶν πόλιν ἡγήσαιτο.
115σφαῖραν ἔπειτʼ ἔρριψε μετʼ ἀμφίπολον βασίλεια·
ἀμφιπόλου μὲν ἅμαρτε, βαθείῃ δʼ ἔμβαλε δίνῃ·
αἱ δʼ ἐπὶ μακρὸν ἄυσαν· ὁ δʼ ἔγρετο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
ἑζόμενος δʼ ὥρμαινε κατὰ φρένα καὶ κατὰ θυμόν·
ὤ μοι ἐγώ, τέων αὖτε βροτῶν ἐς γαῖαν ἱκάνω;
120ἦ ῥʼ οἵ γʼ ὑβρισταί τε καὶ ἄγριοι οὐδὲ δίκαιοι,
ἦε φιλόξεινοι καί σφιν νόος ἐστὶ θεουδής;
ὥς τέ με κουράων ἀμφήλυθε θῆλυς ἀυτή·
νυμφάων, αἳ ἔχουσʼ ὀρέων αἰπεινὰ κάρηνα
καὶ πηγὰς ποταμῶν καὶ πίσεα ποιήεντα.
125ἦ νύ που ἀνθρώπων εἰμὶ σχεδὸν αὐδηέντων;
ἀλλʼ ἄγʼ ἐγὼν αὐτὸς πειρήσομαι ἠδὲ ἴδωμαι.
ὣς εἰπὼν θάμνων ὑπεδύσετο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
ἐκ πυκινῆς δʼ ὕλης πτόρθον κλάσε χειρὶ παχείῃ
φύλλων, ὡς ῥύσαιτο περὶ χροῒ μήδεα φωτός.
130βῆ δʼ ἴμεν ὥς τε λέων ὀρεσίτροφος ἀλκὶ πεποιθώς,
ὅς τʼ εἶσʼ ὑόμενος καὶ ἀήμενος, ἐν δέ οἱ ὄσσε
δαίεται· αὐτὰρ ὁ βουσὶ μετέρχεται ἢ ὀίεσσιν
ἠὲ μετʼ ἀγροτέρας ἐλάφους· κέλεται δέ ἑ γαστὴρ
μήλων πειρήσοντα καὶ ἐς πυκινὸν δόμον ἐλθεῖν·
135ὣς Ὀδυσεὺς κούρῃσιν ἐυπλοκάμοισιν ἔμελλε
μίξεσθαι, γυμνός περ ἐών· χρειὼ γὰρ ἵκανε.
σμερδαλέος δʼ αὐτῇσι φάνη κεκακωμένος ἅλμῃ,
τρέσσαν δʼ ἄλλυδις ἄλλη ἐπʼ ἠιόνας προὐχούσας·
οἴη δʼ Ἀλκινόου θυγάτηρ μένε· τῇ γὰρ Ἀθήνη
140θάρσος ἐνὶ φρεσὶ θῆκε καὶ ἐκ δέος εἵλετο γυίων.
στῆ δʼ ἄντα σχομένη· ὁ δὲ μερμήριξεν Ὀδυσσεύς,
ἢ γούνων λίσσοιτο λαβὼν ἐυώπιδα κούρην,
ἦ αὔτως ἐπέεσσιν ἀποσταδὰ μειλιχίοισι
λίσσοιτʼ, εἰ δείξειε πόλιν καὶ εἵματα δοίη.
145ὣς ἄρα οἱ φρονέοντι δοάσσατο κέρδιον εἶναι,
λίσσεσθαι ἐπέεσσιν ἀποσταδὰ μειλιχίοισι,
μή οἱ γοῦνα λαβόντι χολώσαιτο φρένα κούρη.
110But when she was about to return home,
after yoking the mules and folding the fine clothes,
bright-eyed Athena devised another course:
Odysseus was to wake and see the lovely-faced maiden,
who would lead him to the city of the Phaeacian men.
115The princess threw the ball toward one attendant,
but missed the girl and cast it into a deep eddy.
They gave a long shriek, and godlike Odysseus woke.
Sitting up, he pondered in his mind and spirit:
“Poor wretch, whose land have I reached this time?
120Are they violent and savage, with no sense of justice,
or hospitable people with god-fearing minds?
A woman's cry, as of young girls, rings all around me—
perhaps nymphs who haunt the steep mountain peaks,
the springs of rivers, and the grassy meadows.
125Or can I be near human beings who have speech?
Come, I will test the matter myself and see.”
So godlike Odysseus crept out from beneath the bushes
and broke a leafy branch from the dense wood with his strong hand,
to cover his manhood with the leaves.
130He went forward like a mountain-bred lion confident in its strength,
which advances through rain and wind, its eyes
ablaze, and goes among cattle or sheep
or after wild deer. Its belly drives it
to attack the flocks and enter even a close-built fold.
135So Odysseus was about to go among the lovely-haired maidens,
naked though he was, for need had come upon him.
He appeared terrifying to them, disfigured by brine,
and they fled in different directions along the jutting beaches.
Only the daughter of Alcinous stood firm, for Athena
140put courage in her heart and took the fear from her limbs.
She held her ground facing him, while Odysseus pondered
whether to clasp the lovely-faced maiden's knees in supplication,
or to stay where he was and plead with soothing words
for her to show him the city and give him clothes.
145As he considered, it seemed better to him
to plead with soothing words from where he stood,
lest grasping her knees anger the maiden's heart.
Commentary
Athena turns a missed throw and the women's cry into Odysseus' awakening. He first tests whether the land holds violent or hospitable people, then emerges naked behind a leafy branch; the lion simile makes necessity look dangerous, the attendants scatter, and Athena enables Nausicaa to remain while Odysseus chooses words at a distance over clasping her knees.
6.110–117 Athena's renewed planning line recalls earlier moments when a goddess devises a new course at a narrative hinge. The verbal text of 6.112 recurs at 2.382, 2.393, and 4.795, with only terminal punctuation varying. Here it frames a tiny physical accident—the missed ball—as the mechanism that joins sleeping Odysseus to the maiden who can guide him toward the city.
6.110–117 Athena engineers the encounter through effects whose immediate human participants can experience as ordinary play. The narrator states her purpose before Nausicaa throws, misses an attendant, and strikes the current; the resulting cry wakes Odysseus. Divine intention governs the sequence, but Nausicaa still performs the throw and the attendants supply the sound.
6.118–126 A recurrent inward-deliberation frame now turns from immediate survival mechanics to the ethical classification of unknown people. The opening self-question resembles the deliberative pattern at 4.120 and at 5.365 and 5.424. Odysseus' alternatives—violent and unjust or hospitable and god-fearing—show how quickly the sound of women becomes a test of possible human society.
6.127–140 The lion simile makes Odysseus' need legible as a frightening approach before the narrator distinguishes Nausicaa's response from the attendants' flight. He covers himself with a branch, yet the comparison supplies blazing eyes, hunger, and entry into a close fold; the women see a brine-disfigured body and scatter. Nausicaa stands only after Athena places courage in her and removes bodily fear.
6.130–137 The lion comparison prolongs forward pressure before the compact statement of Odysseus' terrible appearance. Weather, blazing eyes, prey, hunger, and the enclosed fold accumulate across the comparison; only then does the narrative return to the naked man driven by need. The extended motion increases the force of the social recoil that follows.
6.139–147 Athena enables Nausicaa to remain, but Odysseus' success still depends on his own revision of the possible encounter. The goddess supplies courage and removes fear from Nausicaa's limbs. Odysseus then weighs physical knee-clasping against soothing words from a distance and judges contact more likely to anger her, making restraint a practical inference from vulnerability on both sides.
6.141–149 Odysseus performs supplication verbally after explicitly rejecting immediate physical knee contact. The deliberation contrasts grasping the knees with pleading at a distance, and the chosen address opens with a knee-based supplication verb. The formula preserves the relational force of supplication while the scene deliberately removes touch.
Odysseus praises Nausicaa from a distance 6.148–169
148αὐτίκα μειλίχιον καὶ κερδαλέον φάτο μῦθον.
γουνοῦμαί σε, ἄνασσα· θεός νύ τις, ἦ βροτός ἐσσι;
150εἰ μέν τις θεός ἐσσι, τοὶ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἔχουσιν,
Ἀρτέμιδί σε ἐγώ γε, Διὸς κούρῃ μεγάλοιο,
εἶδός τε μέγεθός τε φυήν τʼ ἄγχιστα ἐίσκω·
εἰ δέ τίς ἐσσι βροτῶν, τοὶ ἐπὶ χθονὶ ναιετάουσιν,
τρὶς μάκαρες μὲν σοί γε πατὴρ καὶ πότνια μήτηρ,
155τρὶς μάκαρες δὲ κασίγνητοι· μάλα πού σφισι θυμὸς
αἰὲν ἐυφροσύνῃσιν ἰαίνεται εἵνεκα σεῖο,
λευσσόντων τοιόνδε θάλος χορὸν εἰσοιχνεῦσαν.
κεῖνος δʼ αὖ περὶ κῆρι μακάρτατος ἔξοχον ἄλλων,
ὅς κέ σʼ ἐέδνοισι βρίσας οἶκόνδʼ ἀγάγηται.
160οὐ γάρ πω τοιοῦτον ἴδον βροτὸν ὀφθαλμοῖσιν,
οὔτʼ ἄνδρʼ οὔτε γυναῖκα· σέβας μʼ ἔχει εἰσορόωντα.
Δήλῳ δή ποτε τοῖον Ἀπόλλωνος παρὰ βωμῷ
φοίνικος νέον ἔρνος ἀνερχόμενον ἐνόησα·
ἦλθον γὰρ καὶ κεῖσε, πολὺς δέ μοι ἕσπετο λαός,
165τὴν ὁδὸν ᾗ δὴ μέλλεν ἐμοὶ κακὰ κήδεʼ ἔσεσθαι.
ὣς δʼ αὔτως καὶ κεῖνο ἰδὼν ἐτεθήπεα θυμῷ
δήν, ἐπεὶ οὔ πω τοῖον ἀνήλυθεν ἐκ δόρυ γαίης,
ὡς σέ, γύναι, ἄγαμαί τε τέθηπά τε, δείδια δʼ αἰνῶς
γούνων ἅψασθαι· χαλεπὸν δέ με πένθος ἱκάνει.
148At once he spoke a gentle and tactful appeal:
“Lady, I come to you as a suppliant. Are you a goddess or a mortal?
150If you are one of the gods who hold broad heaven,
I would liken you most closely to Artemis,
daughter of great Zeus, in beauty, stature, and bearing.
But if you are one of the mortals who live upon the earth,
three times blessed are your father and sovereign mother,
155and three times blessed your brothers. Surely their hearts
are always warmed with joy because of you
when they see such a young shoot enter the dance.
But far happier in his heart than all the rest is the man
whose bride-gifts outweigh all others and who leads you to his home.
160Never with my eyes have I seen such a mortal,
neither man nor woman. Awe takes me as I look at you.
Once on Delos beside Apollo's altar I saw
a young palm shoot rising in just this way.
I had gone there too, and a great company followed me
165on the journey that was to bring me bitter grief.
I gazed at that shoot in wonder for a long time,
for never had such a tree-shoot sprung from the earth.
So, lady, I admire and marvel at you, and greatly dread
touching your knees, for harsh suffering has come upon me.
Commentary
Odysseus' verbal supplication opens by holding Nausicaa between goddess and mortal possibilities. Praise expands from Artemis to family joy, dance, bride-gifts, and a Delian palm before he names his fear of touching her knees; tact converts dangerous appearance into controlled address without concealing desperation.
6.148–161 Odysseus rebuilds social legibility by making Nausicaa's status, family, and possible marriage the center of his first address. He begins with uncertainty about whether she is divine, then praises mortal kin, dance, and the future bridegroom who succeeds with gifts. The speech is responsive to her appearance and life stage, but its tactful design is also part of an urgent bid for safe reception.
6.157–159 The prospective husband is distinguished by the weight of his bride-gifts and by leading Nausicaa to his own household. The dative plural marks the goods through which one suitor surpasses others, while the following verb directs movement toward the husband's home. The construction supports competitive marital provision in this imagined case without defining a universal marriage transaction.
6.162–169 The Delian palm comparison makes wonder depend on remembered growth and singular emergence rather than on a generic inventory of beauty. Odysseus recalls a young shoot beside Apollo's altar and the prolonged astonishment it caused because nothing like it had risen from the ground. He then returns to Nausicaa with admiration, awe, and fear of touching her knees, joining cultivated praise to physical restraint.
Odysseus recounts his distress and asks for aid 6.170–185
170χθιζὸς ἐεικοστῷ φύγον ἤματι οἴνοπα πόντον·
τόφρα δέ μʼ αἰεὶ κῦμʼ ἐφόρει κραιπναί τε θύελλαι
νήσου ἀπʼ Ὠγυγίης. νῦν δʼ ἐνθάδε κάββαλε δαίμων,
ὄφρʼ ἔτι που καὶ τῇδε πάθω κακόν· οὐ γὰρ ὀίω
παύσεσθʼ, ἀλλʼ ἔτι πολλὰ θεοὶ τελέουσι πάροιθεν.
175ἀλλά, ἄνασσʼ, ἐλέαιρε· σὲ γὰρ κακὰ πολλὰ μογήσας
ἐς πρώτην ἱκόμην, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων οὔ τινα οἶδα
ἀνθρώπων, οἳ τήνδε πόλιν καὶ γαῖαν ἔχουσιν.
ἄστυ δέ μοι δεῖξον, δὸς δὲ ῥάκος ἀμφιβαλέσθαι,
εἴ τί που εἴλυμα σπείρων ἔχες ἐνθάδʼ ἰοῦσα.
180σοὶ δὲ θεοὶ τόσα δοῖεν ὅσα φρεσὶ σῇσι μενοινᾷς,
ἄνδρα τε καὶ οἶκον, καὶ ὁμοφροσύνην ὀπάσειαν
ἐσθλήν· οὐ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ γε κρεῖσσον καὶ ἄρειον,
ἢ ὅθʼ ὁμοφρονέοντε νοήμασιν οἶκον ἔχητον
ἀνὴρ ἠδὲ γυνή· πόλλʼ ἄλγεα δυσμενέεσσι,
185χάρματα δʼ εὐμενέτῃσι, μάλιστα δέ τʼ ἔκλυον αὐτοί.
170Yesterday, on the twentieth day, I escaped the wine-dark sea,
while all that time waves and driving squalls bore me
from the island of Ogygia. Now a divine power has cast me down here,
perhaps so I may suffer more in this place. I do not think
it will end; the gods will bring many more trials before it does.
175But pity me, lady. After all my suffering, you are the first
person I have approached, and I know none of the others
who inhabit this city and land.
Show me the town, and give me a rag to wrap around myself,
if you brought some covering for the clothes when you came.
180May the gods grant all your heart desires—
a husband and a home—and bestow noble concord.
For nothing is stronger or better than this:
when a husband and wife keep their household in unity of mind,
bringing many griefs to their enemies and joys to their friends,
185and they themselves are held in highest renown.”
Commentary
Odysseus compresses twenty days at sea into a guarded account of continued divine trial, then asks only for directions and a covering. His closing wish for husband, household, and shared-minded concord answers Nausicaa's marriageable setting while presenting domestic cooperation as public strength and joy.
6.170–179 Odysseus presents enough recent suffering to justify aid while withholding both his name and the fuller divine history known to the audience. He names Ogygia, twenty days, waves, storms, and an unnamed power that cast him ashore, then asks for the city and any available wrapping. The limited account fits Nausicaa's knowledge and keeps the request materially modest.
6.180–185 Shared-mindedness is defined here through a husband and wife jointly maintaining a household and producing public effects. The dual construction joins the pair in mind and in keeping the oikos, followed by pain for enemies, joy for friends, and the couple's own highest hearing or renown. The passage praises concord without claiming total sameness or absence of household hierarchy.
Nausicaa promises the stranger hospitality 6.186–210
186τὸν δʼ αὖ Ναυσικάα λευκώλενος ἀντίον ηὔδα·
ξεῖνʼ, ἐπεὶ οὔτε κακῷ οὔτʼ ἄφρονι φωτὶ ἔοικας·
Ζεὺς δʼ αὐτὸς νέμει ὄλβον Ὀλύμπιος ἀνθρώποισιν,
ἐσθλοῖς ἠδὲ κακοῖσιν, ὅπως ἐθέλῃσιν, ἑκάστῳ·
190καί που σοὶ τάδʼ ἔδωκε, σὲ δὲ χρὴ τετλάμεν ἔμπης.
νῦν δʼ, ἐπεὶ ἡμετέρην τε πόλιν καὶ γαῖαν ἱκάνεις,
οὔτʼ οὖν ἐσθῆτος δευήσεαι οὔτε τευ ἄλλου,
ὧν ἐπέοιχʼ ἱκέτην ταλαπείριον ἀντιάσαντα.
ἄστυ δέ τοι δείξω, ἐρέω δέ τοι οὔνομα λαῶν.
195Φαίηκες μὲν τήνδε πόλιν καὶ γαῖαν ἔχουσιν,
εἰμὶ δʼ ἐγὼ θυγάτηρ μεγαλήτορος Ἀλκινόοιο,
τοῦ δʼ ἐκ Φαιήκων ἔχεται κάρτος τε βίη τε.
ἦ ῥα καὶ ἀμφιπόλοισιν ἐυπλοκάμοισι κέλευσε·
στῆτέ μοι, ἀμφίπολοι· πόσε φεύγετε φῶτα ἰδοῦσαι;
200ἦ μή πού τινα δυσμενέων φάσθʼ ἔμμεναι ἀνδρῶν;
οὐκ ἔσθʼ οὗτος ἀνὴρ διερὸς βροτὸς οὐδὲ γένηται,
ὅς κεν Φαιήκων ἀνδρῶν ἐς γαῖαν ἵκηται
δηιοτῆτα φέρων· μάλα γὰρ φίλοι ἀθανάτοισιν.
οἰκέομεν δʼ ἀπάνευθε πολυκλύστῳ ἐνὶ πόντῳ,
205ἔσχατοι, οὐδέ τις ἄμμι βροτῶν ἐπιμίσγεται ἄλλος.
ἀλλʼ ὅδε τις δύστηνος ἀλώμενος ἐνθάδʼ ἱκάνει,
τὸν νῦν χρὴ κομέειν· πρὸς γὰρ Διός εἰσιν ἅπαντες
ξεῖνοί τε πτωχοί τε, δόσις δʼ ὀλίγη τε φίλη τε.
ἀλλὰ δότʼ, ἀμφίπολοι, ξείνῳ βρῶσίν τε πόσιν τε,
210λούσατέ τʼ ἐν ποταμῷ, ὅθʼ ἐπὶ σκέπας ἔστʼ ἀνέμοιο.
186White-armed Nausicaa answered him:
“Stranger, you seem neither a base nor a senseless man.
Olympian Zeus himself apportions fortune to human beings,
both noble and base, to each as he chooses.
190He must have given you these troubles, and you must endure them even so.
But now that you have reached our city and land,
you will not lack clothing or anything else
that is fitting for a long-suffering suppliant who meets us.
I will show you the town and tell you the people's name.
195Phaeacians are the people who hold this city and land,
and I am great-hearted Alcinous' daughter,
on whom the Phaeacians' power and strength depend.”
Then she called to her lovely-haired attendants:
“Stop, attendants! Where are you running because you saw a man?
200Surely you do not think he is one of our enemies.
There is no living mortal, nor will one be born,
who could reach the land of the Phaeacian men
bringing hostility, for we are very dear to the immortals.
We live far off in the wave-washed sea,
205the outermost people, and no other mortals have dealings with us.
This poor man has come here in his wanderings,
and now we must care for him. All strangers and beggars
come from Zeus, and even a small gift is welcome.
Come, attendants, give the stranger food and drink,
210and bathe him in the river where there is shelter from the wind.”
Commentary
Nausicaa judges the stranger neither base nor senseless, frames his suffering through Zeus's apportionment, promises what a distressed suppliant should receive, and identifies herself and her people. She then recalls the fleeing attendants, claims Phaeacian remoteness and divine favor, and orders food, drink, and bathing under the principle that strangers and beggars come from Zeus.
6.186–197 Nausicaa answers Odysseus first by judging his discernment and only then by identifying herself and promising access to her community. She rejects the appearance of baseness or folly, places suffering within her account of Zeus's distribution, and assures him of clothing and other fitting care. Her own name remains unstated, but lineage and Alcinous' authority supply a socially operative identity.
6.188–190 Nausicaa attributes both prosperity and suffering to Zeus's chosen apportionment and turns that claim into an injunction to endure. The theology belongs to her consolation: Zeus distributes fortune to noble and base alike as he wills, so the stranger must bear what he has received. It frames response to suffering without explaining the distinct actions of Poseidon, Athena, or Odysseus already known to the audience.
6.198–210 Nausicaa converts a frightened retreat into commanded care by reframing the stranger as vulnerable rather than hostile. She calls the attendants back, denies that an enemy can reach their remote land, identifies Odysseus as an unfortunate wanderer, and orders food, drink, and bathing. Her maxim about strangers and beggars from Zeus gives even a small gift positive value.
6.201–205 Nausicaa defines Phaeacian safety through extreme maritime remoteness and exceptional divine favor. Her speech denies the possibility of a hostile mortal arrival, calls the Phaeacians dear to the immortals, and places them outermost in the wave-beaten sea with no ordinary human intercourse. The stranger before her makes the confidence dramatically testable.
6.207–210 The scene follows a hospitality pattern familiar from Pylos while changing both the host's age and the guest's visible condition. At 3.31-50, and especially 3.34-50, strangers are seated, fed, and drawn into ritual fellowship before full inquiry. Nausicaa likewise orders material care before identity is known, but here bathing and clothing answer naked shipwreck, and the host is a young woman commanding attendants outside the city.
Odysseus requests privacy for bathing 6.211–223
211ὣς ἔφαθʼ, αἱ δʼ ἔσταν τε καὶ ἀλλήλῃσι κέλευσαν,
κὰδ δʼ ἄρʼ Ὀδυσσῆʼ εἷσαν ἐπὶ σκέπας, ὡς ἐκέλευσεν
Ναυσικάα θυγάτηρ μεγαλήτορος Ἀλκινόοιο·
πὰρ δʼ ἄρα οἱ φᾶρός τε χιτῶνά τε εἵματʼ ἔθηκαν,
215δῶκαν δὲ χρυσέῃ ἐν ληκύθῳ ὑγρὸν ἔλαιον,
ἤνωγον δʼ ἄρα μιν λοῦσθαι ποταμοῖο ῥοῇσιν.
δή ῥα τότʼ ἀμφιπόλοισι μετηύδα δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς·
ἀμφίπολοι, στῆθʼ οὕτω ἀπόπροθεν, ὄφρʼ ἐγὼ αὐτὸς
ἅλμην ὤμοιιν ἀπολούσομαι, ἀμφὶ δʼ ἐλαίῳ
220χρίσομαι· ἦ γὰρ δηρὸν ἀπὸ χροός ἐστιν ἀλοιφή.
ἄντην δʼ οὐκ ἂν ἐγώ γε λοέσσομαι· αἰδέομαι γὰρ
γυμνοῦσθαι κούρῃσιν ἐυπλοκάμοισι μετελθών.
ὣς ἔφαθʼ, αἱ δʼ ἀπάνευθεν ἴσαν, εἶπον δʼ ἄρα κούρῃ.
211So she spoke. They stopped and called to one another,
then settled Odysseus in the sheltered place, as Nausicaa,
daughter of great-hearted Alcinous, had ordered.
Beside him they laid a cloak and tunic for clothing,
215gave him flowing oil in a golden flask,
and told him to bathe in the river's current.
Then godlike Odysseus spoke to the attendants:
“Attendants, stand over there at a distance, so I can
wash the brine from my shoulders myself and rub my body
220with oil. It has been a long time since oil touched my skin.
I will not bathe in front of you. I would be ashamed
to strip naked in the company of lovely-haired maidens.”
So he spoke. They went away and told the maiden.
Commentary
The attendants obey Nausicaa by setting out clothing and oil, but Odysseus modifies the offered care. He asks them to stand away so he may wash and anoint himself, grounding the request in shame at naked exposure before young women.
6.211–223 Hospitality proceeds through negotiation rather than passive receipt when Odysseus revises the attendants' bathing instruction. They obey Nausicaa by preparing shelter, clothing, oil, and river washing. Odysseus accepts the resources but asks to perform the intimate work himself at a distance, and the attendants carry his preference back to Nausicaa.
6.218–223 Odysseus' aidos concerns appearing naked directly before the young women and therefore motivates spatial separation. The verb follows his instruction that the attendants stand farther away and precedes the infinitive of stripping in their company. Here the term governs controlled bodily exposure, unlike Nausicaa's reluctance to name marriage to her father at 6.66.
Athena restores Odysseus' beauty and Nausicaa marvels 6.224–250
224αὐτὰρ ὁ ἐκ ποταμοῦ χρόα νίζετο δῖος Ὀδυσσεὺς
225ἅλμην, ἥ οἱ νῶτα καὶ εὐρέας ἄμπεχεν ὤμους,
ἐκ κεφαλῆς δʼ ἔσμηχεν ἁλὸς χνόον ἀτρυγέτοιο.
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δὴ πάντα λοέσσατο καὶ λίπʼ ἄλειψεν,
ἀμφὶ δὲ εἵματα ἕσσαθʼ ἅ οἱ πόρε παρθένος ἀδμής,
τὸν μὲν Ἀθηναίη θῆκεν Διὸς ἐκγεγαυῖα
230μείζονά τʼ εἰσιδέειν καὶ πάσσονα, κὰδ δὲ κάρητος
οὔλας ἧκε κόμας, ὑακινθίνῳ ἄνθει ὁμοίας.
ὡς δʼ ὅτε τις χρυσὸν περιχεύεται ἀργύρῳ ἀνὴρ
ἴδρις, ὃν Ἥφαιστος δέδαεν καὶ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη
τέχνην παντοίην, χαρίεντα δὲ ἔργα τελείει,
235ὣς ἄρα τῷ κατέχευε χάριν κεφαλῇ τε καὶ ὤμοις.
ἕζετʼ ἔπειτʼ ἀπάνευθε κιὼν ἐπὶ θῖνα θαλάσσης,
κάλλεϊ καὶ χάρισι στίλβων· θηεῖτο δὲ κούρη.
δή ῥα τότʼ ἀμφιπόλοισιν ἐυπλοκάμοισι μετηύδα·
κλῦτέ μευ, ἀμφίπολοι λευκώλενοι, ὄφρα τι εἴπω.
240οὐ πάντων ἀέκητι θεῶν, οἳ Ὄλυμπον ἔχουσιν,
Φαιήκεσσʼ ὅδʼ ἀνὴρ ἐπιμίσγεται ἀντιθέοισι·
πρόσθεν μὲν γὰρ δή μοι ἀεικέλιος δέατʼ εἶναι,
νῦν δὲ θεοῖσιν ἔοικε, τοὶ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἔχουσιν.
αἲ γὰρ ἐμοὶ τοιόσδε πόσις κεκλημένος εἴη
245ἐνθάδε ναιετάων, καί οἱ ἅδοι αὐτόθι μίμνειν.
ἀλλὰ δότʼ, ἀμφίπολοι, ξείνῳ βρῶσίν τε πόσιν τε.
ὣς ἔφαθʼ, αἱ δʼ ἄρα τῆς μάλα μὲν κλύον ἠδʼ ἐπίθοντο,
πὰρ δʼ ἄρʼ Ὀδυσσῆι ἔθεσαν βρῶσίν τε πόσιν τε.
ἦ τοι ὁ πῖνε καὶ ἦσθε πολύτλας δῖος Ὀδυσσεὺς
250ἁρπαλέως· δηρὸν γὰρ ἐδητύος ἦεν ἄπαστος.
224Using the river water, godlike Odysseus washed from his body
225the brine that crusted his back and broad shoulders,
and scrubbed the scurf of the barren sea from his head.
When he had bathed completely and rubbed himself richly with oil,
he put on the clothes the unwed maiden had given him.
Athena, daughter of Zeus, made him
230appear taller and broader, and from his head
she let fall curling hair like the bloom of a hyacinth.
As a craftsman overlays silver with gold—
one whom Hephaestus and Pallas Athena have taught
every art, so that he brings graceful works to completion—
235so she poured grace over his head and shoulders.
Then he went and sat apart on the seashore,
gleaming with beauty and grace, while the maiden gazed in wonder.
She said to her lovely-haired attendants:
“Listen to me, white-armed attendants, while I say something.
240It is not against the will of all the gods who hold Olympus
that this man has come among the godlike Phaeacians.
Before, he seemed to me quite disfigured,
but now he resembles the gods who hold broad heaven.
If only a man like this might be called my husband,
245living here, and be content to remain here.
But come, attendants, give the stranger food and drink.”
So she spoke, and they listened closely and obeyed,
setting food and drink beside Odysseus.
Much-enduring godlike Odysseus drank and ate
250ravenously, for he had long gone without food.
Commentary
Odysseus removes the sea's physical traces, anoints himself, and puts on Nausicaa's clothing; Athena then makes him appear larger and broader and pours grace over him through a craftsman simile. Nausicaa revises her first impression, imagines such a man as a husband in Scheria, and sees that he is fed.
6.224–235 Human self-care and divine transformation are sequentially distinguished in Odysseus' restored appearance. Odysseus washes off brine and sea scurf, anoints himself, and puts on the provided clothes. Only then does the narrator name Athena as the agent who makes him appear larger and broader and gives hair and grace, so neither mortal nor divine action absorbs the other.
6.229–235 The craftsman simile delays the completion of Athena's action and makes beauty appear as skilled finishing. After naming Athena and the visible changes, the sentence turns to a worker taught by Hephaestus and Athena who overlays one precious material with another. The return to Odysseus presents grace as a completed effect laid over head and shoulders.
6.236–250 Nausicaa openly revises her visual judgment and converts admiration into renewed practical care. She contrasts the earlier brine-disfigured stranger with his present godlike appearance and voices a wish for a similar husband who would remain in Scheria. Her speech then returns immediately to feeding him, while the narrator emphasizes the appetite created by deprivation.
Nausicaa plans a reputation-safe approach to the city 6.251–288
251αὐτὰρ Ναυσικάα λευκώλενος ἄλλʼ ἐνόησεν·
εἵματʼ ἄρα πτύξασα τίθει καλῆς ἐπʼ ἀπήνης,
ζεῦξεν δʼ ἡμιόνους κρατερώνυχας, ἂν δʼ ἔβη αὐτή,
ὤτρυνεν δʼ Ὀδυσῆα, ἔπος τʼ ἔφατʼ ἔκ τʼ ὀνόμαζεν·
255ὄρσεο δὴ νῦν, ξεῖνε, πόλινδʼ ἴμεν ὄφρα σε πέμψω
πατρὸς ἐμοῦ πρὸς δῶμα δαΐφρονος, ἔνθα σέ φημι
πάντων Φαιήκων εἰδησέμεν ὅσσοι ἄριστοι.
ἀλλὰ μάλʼ ὧδʼ ἔρδειν, δοκέεις δέ μοι οὐκ ἀπινύσσειν·
ὄφρʼ ἂν μέν κʼ ἀγροὺς ἴομεν καὶ ἔργʼ ἀνθρώπων,
260τόφρα σὺν ἀμφιπόλοισι μεθʼ ἡμιόνους καὶ ἄμαξαν
καρπαλίμως ἔρχεσθαι· ἐγὼ δʼ ὁδὸν ἡγεμονεύσω.
αὐτὰρ ἐπὴν πόλιος ἐπιβήομεν, ἣν πέρι πύργος
ὑψηλός, καλὸς δὲ λιμὴν ἑκάτερθε πόληος,
λεπτὴ δʼ εἰσίθμη· νῆες δʼ ὁδὸν ἀμφιέλισσαι
265εἰρύαται· πᾶσιν γὰρ ἐπίστιόν ἐστιν ἑκάστῳ.
ἔνθα δέ τέ σφʼ ἀγορὴ καλὸν Ποσιδήιον ἀμφίς,
ῥυτοῖσιν λάεσσι κατωρυχέεσσʼ ἀραρυῖα.
ἔνθα δὲ νηῶν ὅπλα μελαινάων ἀλέγουσι,
πείσματα καὶ σπεῖρα, καὶ ἀποξύνουσιν ἐρετμά.
270οὐ γὰρ Φαιήκεσσι μέλει βιὸς οὐδὲ φαρέτρη,
ἀλλʼ ἱστοὶ καὶ ἐρετμὰ νεῶν καὶ νῆες ἐῖσαι,
ᾗσιν ἀγαλλόμενοι πολιὴν περόωσι θάλασσαν.
τῶν ἀλεείνω φῆμιν ἀδευκέα, μή τις ὀπίσσω
μωμεύῃ· μάλα δʼ εἰσὶν ὑπερφίαλοι κατὰ δῆμον·
275καί νύ τις ὧδʼ εἴπῃσι κακώτερος ἀντιβολήσας·
τίς δʼ ὅδε Ναυσικάᾳ ἕπεται καλός τε μέγας τε
ξεῖνος; ποῦ δέ μιν εὗρε; πόσις νύ οἱ ἔσσεται αὐτῇ.
ἦ τινά που πλαγχθέντα κομίσσατο ἧς ἀπὸ νηὸς
ἀνδρῶν τηλεδαπῶν, ἐπεὶ οὔ τινες ἐγγύθεν εἰσίν·
280ἤ τίς οἱ εὐξαμένῃ πολυάρητος θεὸς ἦλθεν
οὐρανόθεν καταβάς, ἕξει δέ μιν ἤματα πάντα.
βέλτερον, εἰ καὐτή περ ἐποιχομένη πόσιν εὗρεν
ἄλλοθεν· ἦ γὰρ τούσδε γʼ ἀτιμάζει κατὰ δῆμον
Φαίηκας, τοί μιν μνῶνται πολέες τε καὶ ἐσθλοί.
285ὣς ἐρέουσιν, ἐμοὶ δέ κʼ ὀνείδεα ταῦτα γένοιτο.
καὶ δʼ ἄλλῃ νεμεσῶ, ἥ τις τοιαῦτά γε ῥέζοι,
ἥ τʼ ἀέκητι φίλων πατρὸς καὶ μητρὸς ἐόντων,
ἀνδράσι μίσγηται, πρίν γʼ ἀμφάδιον γάμον ἐλθεῖν.
251Then white-armed Nausicaa devised another course.
She folded the clothes and placed them on the fine wagon,
yoked the strong-hoofed mules, and climbed aboard herself.
She urged Odysseus on and addressed him:
255“Rise now, stranger, and go toward the city, so I may send you
to my discerning father's house, where, I assure you,
you will meet all the Phaeacians who are foremost.
But do exactly as I say—you do not seem witless to me.
As long as we are passing through the fields and the works of men,
260walk briskly with my attendants behind the mules
and wagon. I will lead the way.
But once we enter the city, a high wall surrounds it,
with a fine harbor on either side of the town
and a narrow entrance. Curved ships are drawn up
265along the road, for every man has his own berth.
There they have an assembly place around Poseidon's fine temple,
built of hewn stones set deep in the earth.
There they tend the gear of their black ships—
cables and sails—and shape the blades of their oars.
270For the Phaeacians care nothing for bow or quiver,
but for masts and oars of ships and balanced vessels,
in which they delight as they cross the gray sea.
It is their harsh talk I avoid, lest someone later
find fault, for many throughout the district are overbearing.
275Some baser man, meeting us, might say this:
‘Who is this handsome, tall stranger following Nausicaa?
Where can she have found him? Is he going to be her husband?
Perhaps she took in some wanderer from the ship
of distant men, since none live nearby.
280Or at her prayer some much-prayed-for god descended
from heaven, and she will keep him all her days.
Better if she went out herself and found a husband
from elsewhere. She must despise the Phaeacians of this district,
many and noble, who court her.’
285That is what they will say, and it would bring reproach upon me.
I myself would blame another girl for acting so,
if, against her dear father and mother's wishes while they lived,
she mingled with men before entering into a public marriage.
Commentary
Nausicaa directs Odysseus to follow the wagon only through the fields, then describes the walled, harbor-centered city and its maritime priorities. Her proposed delay at the grove answers an imagined critic who could turn hospitality into a sexual and marital accusation; she adopts that possible speech as a reason to avoid visible association before public marriage.
6.251–272 Nausicaa's city description is also a practical route through a maritime community's visible priorities. The approach moves from fields and human works to wall, paired harbors, narrow entrance, ship berths, assembly around Poseidon's precinct, and the maintenance of ropes, sails, and oars. Her contrast with bow and quiver defines Phaeacian pride through ships within her speech.
6.254–261 Nausicaa recognizes Odysseus' intelligence and answers it with a staged plan rather than immediate public escort. She says he does not seem witless, then assigns positions: she leads in the wagon while Odysseus walks briskly with the attendants through the fields. His successful speech produces guidance, but it also makes him responsible for following detailed instructions.
6.273–288 The threat governing the staggered entrance is an imagined speech authored and evaluated by Nausicaa herself. She quotes a hypothetical baser critic who turns an unknown handsome companion into a husband, foreign lover, or answered divine prayer. She then predicts reproach and says she would blame another young woman for secret association before an openly acknowledged marriage.
6.280–288 The imagined god is much prayed for, while the marriage Nausicaa contrasts with secrecy is openly acknowledged. The hypothetical critic pictures a desired divine husband arriving in answer to prayer. Nausicaa's own standard then turns on whether association with men precedes an amphadios marriage, whose public or manifest quality matters more here than a technical legal definition.
Nausicaa directs Odysseus to Arete 6.289–315
289ξεῖνε, σὺ δʼ ὦκʼ ἐμέθεν ξυνίει ἔπος, ὄφρα τάχιστα
290πομπῆς καὶ νόστοιο τύχῃς παρὰ πατρὸς ἐμοῖο.
δήεις ἀγλαὸν ἄλσος Ἀθήνης ἄγχι κελεύθου
αἰγείρων· ἐν δὲ κρήνη νάει, ἀμφὶ δὲ λειμών·
ἔνθα δὲ πατρὸς ἐμοῦ τέμενος τεθαλυῖά τʼ ἀλωή,
τόσσον ἀπὸ πτόλιος, ὅσσον τε γέγωνε βοήσας.
295ἔνθα καθεζόμενος μεῖναι χρόνον, εἰς ὅ κεν ἡμεῖς
ἄστυδε ἔλθωμεν καὶ ἱκώμεθα δώματα πατρός.
αὐτὰρ ἐπὴν ἡμέας ἔλπῃ ποτὶ δώματʼ ἀφῖχθαι,
καὶ τότε Φαιήκων ἴμεν ἐς πόλιν ἠδʼ ἐρέεσθαι
δώματα πατρὸς ἐμοῦ μεγαλήτορος Ἀλκινόοιο.
300ῥεῖα δʼ ἀρίγνωτʼ ἐστί, καὶ ἂν πάϊς ἡγήσαιτο
νήπιος· οὐ μὲν γάρ τι ἐοικότα τοῖσι τέτυκται
δώματα Φαιήκων, οἷος δόμος Ἀλκινόοιο
ἥρωος. ἀλλʼ ὁπότʼ ἄν σε δόμοι κεκύθωσι καὶ αὐλή,
ὦκα μάλα μεγάροιο διελθέμεν, ὄφρʼ ἂν ἵκηαι
305μητέρʼ ἐμήν· ἡ δʼ ἧσται ἐπʼ ἐσχάρῃ ἐν πυρὸς αὐγῇ,
ἠλάκατα στρωφῶσʼ ἁλιπόρφυρα, θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι,
κίονι κεκλιμένη· δμωαὶ δέ οἱ εἵατʼ ὄπισθεν.
ἔνθα δὲ πατρὸς ἐμοῖο θρόνος ποτικέκλιται αὐτῇ,
τῷ ὅ γε οἰνοποτάζει ἐφήμενος ἀθάνατος ὥς.
310τὸν παραμειψάμενος μητρὸς περὶ γούνασι χεῖρας
βάλλειν ἡμετέρης, ἵνα νόστιμον ἦμαρ ἴδηαι
χαίρων καρπαλίμως, εἰ καὶ μάλα τηλόθεν ἐσσί.
εἴ κέν τοι κείνη γε φίλα φρονέῃσʼ ἐνὶ θυμῷ,
ἐλπωρή τοι ἔπειτα φίλους τʼ ἰδέειν καὶ ἱκέσθαι
315οἶκον ἐυκτίμενον καὶ σὴν ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν.
289Stranger, quickly understand what I tell you, so that soon
290you may obtain an escort and homecoming from my father.
You will find Athena's splendid grove beside the road—
poplars, with a spring flowing through it and a meadow around it.
There my father has his precinct and flourishing vineyard,
as far from the city as a man's shout carries.
295Sit there and wait a while, until we
enter the city and reach my father's house.
When you judge that we have arrived at the house,
then go into the Phaeacians' city and ask for
the halls of my father, great-hearted Alcinous.
300They are easy to recognize; even a little child could lead you.
No house belonging to the Phaeacians is built
like the house of the hero Alcinous.
Once you are within the house and courtyard,
pass quickly through the great hall until you reach
305my mother. She sits by the hearth in the firelight,
twisting sea-purple wool—a wonder to behold—
leaning against a pillar, with her enslaved women seated behind her.
Beside her is my father's throne, where he sits
drinking his wine like an immortal.
310Pass him by and throw your hands around the knees
of our mother, so that soon you may see your day of return,
rejoicing, even if you come from very far away.
If she holds kindly thoughts toward you in her heart,
then you may hope to see those you love and reach
315your well-built house and native land.”
Commentary
Nausicaa places Odysseus in Athena's roadside grove until her party reaches home, then maps the route through city, courtyard, and hall. Inside, Arete's textile work and the enslaved women behind her contrast with Alcinous drinking nearby; Odysseus is told to pass the father and clasp the mother's knees as the immediate condition of return hope.
6.289–294 Athena's grove forms a cultivated waiting threshold between country route and city entry. Nausicaa identifies poplars, flowing spring, meadow, her father's precinct, and a flourishing vineyard at shouting distance from the city. The place is sacred to Athena and connected to Alcinous' property, allowing concealment without complete isolation.
6.297–315 Nausicaa's directions convert household interior into a precise sequence of approach whose decisive destination is Arete. Odysseus is to identify Alcinous' exceptional house, cross courtyard and hall, pass the father's throne, and reach the mother by the hearth. The detailed order turns spatial knowledge into a survival resource and postpones explanation of why Arete's favor will matter until the act itself.
6.303–315 The coming household supplication is explicitly physical, unlike Odysseus' distance-preserving appeal to Nausicaa. Nausicaa instructs him to move past Alcinous and cast his hands around Arete's knees. The contrast with 6.141-149 shows that knee language can be realized differently according to risk and setting: verbal relation at the river, direct contact in the hall.
6.313–315 Nausicaa closes her directions with return language that converges with Menelaus' hope for Telemachus. Line 6.314 adapts the opening of 4.475 while preserving its movement toward loved ones and home, and the verbal text of 6.315 matches 4.476 apart from terminal punctuation. The formula shifts from a host's wish for a known guest to a conditional promise attached to Arete's favorable disposition toward an unknown suppliant.
Odysseus prays in Athena's grove 6.316–331
316ὣς ἄρα φωνήσασʼ ἵμασεν μάστιγι φαεινῇ
ἡμιόνους· αἱ δʼ ὦκα λίπον ποταμοῖο ῥέεθρα.
αἱ δʼ ἐὺ μὲν τρώχων, ἐὺ δὲ πλίσσοντο πόδεσσιν·
ἡ δὲ μάλʼ ἡνιόχευεν, ὅπως ἅμʼ ἑποίατο πεζοὶ
320ἀμφίπολοί τʼ Ὀδυσεύς τε, νόῳ δʼ ἐπέβαλλεν ἱμάσθλην.
δύσετό τʼ ἠέλιος καὶ τοὶ κλυτὸν ἄλσος ἵκοντο
ἱρὸν Ἀθηναίης, ἵνʼ ἄρʼ ἕζετο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς.
αὐτίκʼ ἔπειτʼ ἠρᾶτο Διὸς κούρῃ μεγάλοιο·
κλῦθί μευ, αἰγιόχοιο Διὸς τέκος, Ἀτρυτώνη·
325νῦν δή πέρ μευ ἄκουσον, ἐπεὶ πάρος οὔ ποτʼ ἄκουσας
ῥαιομένου, ὅτε μʼ ἔρραιε κλυτὸς ἐννοσίγαιος.
δός μʼ ἐς Φαίηκας φίλον ἐλθεῖν ἠδʼ ἐλεεινόν.
ὣς ἔφατʼ εὐχόμενος, τοῦ δʼ ἔκλυε Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη.
αὐτῷ δʼ οὔ πω φαίνετʼ ἐναντίη· αἴδετο γάρ ῥα
330πατροκασίγνητον· ὁ δʼ ἐπιζαφελῶς μενέαινεν
ἀντιθέῳ Ὀδυσῆι πάρος ἣν γαῖαν ἱκέσθαι.
316So she spoke and struck the mules with the shining whip.
They quickly left the river's currents behind.
They trotted smoothly, their feet keeping an easy pace,
while she drove so that those on foot could follow—
320the attendants and Odysseus—and used the lash with judgment.
The sun set, and they reached the renowned grove
sacred to Athena, where godlike Odysseus sat down.
At once he prayed to the daughter of great Zeus:
“Hear me, Unwearied one, child of Zeus who bears the aegis.
325Now at last listen to me, since before you did not listen
as I was crushed—when the renowned shaker of the earth crushed me.
Grant that I may come among the Phaeacians as one welcome and pitied.”
So he prayed, and Pallas Athena heard him.
Still she did not reveal herself to him face-to-face; she held back in deference
330of her father's brother, who raged furiously
against godlike Odysseus before he reached his native land.
Commentary
Nausicaa controls the wagon's pace so attendants and Odysseus can follow, and sunset brings the group to Athena's grove. Odysseus asks the goddess who seemed absent during Poseidon's assault to make him welcome and pitied; Athena hears, but the narrator says she does not appear because she holds back before Poseidon's continuing anger.
6.316–331 The closing sequence layers familiar prayer and response formulas around Athena's locally specific refusal to appear. The verbal text of the invocation at 6.324 matches 4.762 apart from terminal punctuation, the divine-hearing line at 6.328 repeats 3.385, and the final native-land line at 6.331 repeats 1.21. Recurrence stabilizes prayer, hearing, and the return horizon even as the intervening explanation keeps Poseidon's anger active.
6.328–331 Athena hears the prayer but withholds face-to-face appearance in deference before Poseidon's continuing rage. The narrator distinguishes hearing from manifestation: Pallas receives Odysseus' words yet does not show herself because of her father's brother. The restraint limits visible presence at this moment without undoing her dream, courage, awakening, and beautification interventions.