"Φαίδρην τε Πρόκριν τε ἴδον καλήν τ᾽ Ἀριάδνην,

κούρην Μίνωος ὀλοόφρονος, ἥν ποτε Θησεὺς

ἐκ Κρήτης ἐς γουνὸν Ἀθηνάων ἱεράων

ἦγε μέν, οὐδ᾽ ἀπόνητο· πάρος δέ μιν Ἄρτεμις ἔκτα

Δίῃ ἐν ἀμφιρύτῃ Διονύσου μαρτυρίῃσιν.325

Μαῖράν τε Κλυμένην τε ἴδον στυγερήν τ᾽ Ἐριφύλην,

ἣ χρυσὸν φίλου ἀνδρὸς ἐδέξατο τιμήεντα.

πάσας δ᾽ οὐκ ἂν ἐγὼ μυθήσομαι οὐδ᾽ ὀνομήνω,

ὅσσας ἡρώων ἀλόχους ἴδον ἠδὲ θύγατρας·

πρὶν γάρ κεν καὶ νὺξ φθῖτ᾽ ἄμβροτος. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὥρη330

εὕδειν, ἢ ἐπὶ νῆα θοὴν ἐλθόντ᾽ ἐς ἑταίρους

ἢ αὐτοῦ· πομπὴ δὲ θεοῖς ὑμῖν τε μελήσει."

ὣς ἔφαθ᾽, οἱ δ᾽ ἄρα πάντες ἀκὴν ἐγένοντο σιωπῇ,

κηληθμῷ δ᾽ ἔσχοντο κατὰ μέγαρα σκιόεντα.

τοῖσιν δ᾽ Ἀρήτη λευκώλενος ἤρχετο μύθων.335

"Φαίηκες, πῶς ὔμμιν ἀνὴρ ὅδε φαίνεται εἶναι

εἶδός τε μέγεθός τε ἰδὲ φρένας ἔνδον ἐίσας;

ξεῖνος δ᾽ αὖτ᾽ ἐμός ἐστιν, ἕκαστος δ᾽ ἔμμορε τιμῆς·

τῷ μὴ ἐπειγόμενοι ἀποπέμπετε, μηδὲ τὰ δῶρα

οὕτω χρηίζοντι κολούετε: πολλὰ γὰρ ὑμῖν340

κτήματ᾽ ἐνὶ μεγάροισι θεῶν ἰότητι κέονται."

τοῖσι δὲ καὶ μετέειπε γέρων ἥρως Ἐχένηος,

ὃς δὴ Φαιήκων ἀνδρῶν προγενέστερος ἦεν·

"ὦ φίλοι, οὐ μὰν ἧμιν ἀπὸ σκοποῦ οὐδ᾽ ἀπὸ δόξης

μυθεῖται βασίλεια περίφρων: ἀλλὰ πίθεσθε.345

Ἀλκινόου δ᾽ ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ ἔχεται ἔργον τε ἔπος τε."

τὸν δ᾽ αὖτ᾽ Ἀλκίνοος ἀπαμείβετο φώνησέν τε·

"τοῦτο μὲν οὕτω δὴ ἔσται ἔπος, αἴ κεν ἐγώ γε

ζωὸς Φαιήκεσσι φιληρέτμοισιν ἀνάσσω·

ξεῖνος δὲ τλήτω μάλα περ νόστοιο χατίζων350

ἔμπης οὖν ἐπιμεῖναι ἐς αὔριον, εἰς ὅ κε πᾶσαν

δωτίνην τελέσω· πομπὴ δ᾽ ἄνδρεσσι μελήσει

πᾶσι, μάλιστα δ᾽ ἐμοί· τοῦ γὰρ κράτος ἔστ᾽ ἐνὶ δήμῳ."

τὸν δ᾽ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς·

" Ἀλκίνοε κρεῖον, πάντων ἀριδείκετε λαῶν,355

εἴ με καὶ εἰς ἐνιαυτὸν ἀνώγοιτ᾽ αὐτόθι μίμνειν,

πομπὴν δ᾽ ὀτρύνοιτε καὶ ἀγλαὰ δῶρα διδοῖτε,

καὶ κε τὸ βουλοίμην, καί κεν πολὺ κέρδιον εἴη,

πλειοτέρῃ σὺν χειρὶ φίλην ἐς πατρίδ᾽ ἱκέσθαι·

καί κ᾽ αἰδοιότερος καὶ φίλτερος ἀνδράσιν εἴην360

πᾶσιν, ὅσοι μ᾽ Ἰθάκηνδε ἰδοίατο νοστήσαντα."

Interlude in the Phaeacian palace. Night falls and Odysseus breaks off his narrative, saying he needs to sleep. Arete and Alcinous urge him to continue.

At verse 333, we are suddenly back in the royal palace on Scheria. Jumps in the narrative are not unknown in the poem (cf. 4.620–21), but the phrase ὣς ἔφαθ᾽ (333) startles nonetheless, reminding us that the adventures in Books 9–12 come to us mediated by the perspective of Odysseus. Questions about his reliability as a narrator may surface again.

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We have said above that we will consider the narrative voice in Books 9–12 to be the same as the poet’s for our purposes, and there is no hint in the poem that the events in the cave of Polyphemus or Circe’s house are entirely fiction. And yet Odysseus is famous for his clever tongue. Are his stories part of a skillful campaign to win over the Phaeacians so they will give him a ride home, making him look good at the expense of his crew? Are the adventures the most prominent example of Odysseus’s skillful self-presentation, akin to the “false tales” that he later tells Athena, Eumaeus, Telemachus, and Penelope? In a poem so self-conscious about the making of its own art, we should be cautious about dismissing such questions too quickly. Perhaps we should consider all of Odysseus’s stories about himself as part of continuum, with the more verifiable events on one end, the “false tales” that the poet identifies on the other, and the adventures in Books 9–12 somewhere in the middle? Definitive answers are not possible, given what the poem itself tells us, but one thing seems clear enough: The Odyssey is a poem focused on the role of storytelling in self-presentation, and that the line between “fact” and “fiction” is not always the best guide to the truth (see Introduction, para. 45).

The transition at verse 333 is eased slightly by the appearance of Arete, another heroine, who speaks for the royal family first, urging the Phaeacians to keep her impressive guest around and shower him with gifts. The order recalls Book 7, when Odysseus bypasses Alkinous to supplicate Arete (7.139–66). Here, as there, a third party prompts the king to carry out his duties as host. In the earlier passage, Odysseus is following Nausicaa’s suggestion in approaching the queen first. But the earlier scene also seems to cast some doubt on Alkinous’s grasp of the duties of a host and also, perhaps, his command of the royal household. That the king of the Phaeacians might be lacking in masculine force is consistent with the tenor of the kingdom on Scheria, where warm baths and dancing are preferred to more manly and competitive activities (6.236–49). Odysseus’s time with the Phaeacians, whose miraculous kingdom might seem almost overly civilized by the audience for the poem, serves as a halfway point between Calypso’s island, a blissful existence outside of time and change, and the grittier realities awaiting Odysseus in Ithaka.

Focusing on questions of masculinity and kingliness provides a preview of the next section of the katabasis, Odysseus’s encounters with the ghosts of his former comrades at Troy. The transition back into Odysseus’s account of his journey is again abrupt, but not without some connective material. His last words, as he yields to the king’s request to continue, look back toward the Catalogue of Heroines while pointing toward his next theme:

οἳ Τρώων μὲν ὑπεξέφυγον στονόεσσαν ἀυτήν,
ἐν νόστῳ δ᾽ ἀπόλοντο κακῆς ἰότητι γυναικός.

[His companions] who fled the painful battle cry at Troy,
but perished on the return home for the sake of an evil woman.

Odyssey 11. 383–84

 

Further Reading

Dimock, G. 1989. The Unity of the Odyssey, 154–156. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.

Heubeck, A. and Hoekstra, A. ed. 1989. A Commentary on Homer’s Odyssey, vol. II, Books IX–XVI, 92–97. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Morrison, J. 2003. A Companion to Homer’s Odyssey, 106–107. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Pedrick, V. 1988. “The Hospitality of Noble Women in the Odyssey. Helios 15.2: 85–104.

Thalman, W. 1992. The Odyssey: an epic of return, 69–70. New York: Twayne Publishers.

 

324  οὐδ᾽ ἀπόνητο: “but he didn't enjoy (her).” 3rd sing. aor. mid. > ἀπονίναμαι.

324  ἔκτα: 3rd sing. aor. > κτείνω.

325  Διονύσιου μαρτυρίῃσι: “Because of the witness of Dionysus.” Dative of cause. The mythological background, and hence the meaning, is unclear.

327  φίλου ἀνδρὸς: “for her own husband.” Genitive of value or cause (Smyth 1373a). In mythology, Eriphyle was given a golden necklace by Polyneices in exchange for persuading her husband Amphiareus to join the Seven Against Thebes.

327  τιμήεντα: “precious,” “costly.”

328  πάσας .. ὅσσας … ἴδον: “all the… (whom) I saw.” ὅσσας (“as many as”) can be treated here as a simple relative pronoun.

328  οὐκ ἂν ἐγὼ μυθήσομαι οὐδ᾽ ὀνομήνω: in Homer, ἄν (or κεν) + subj. is occasionally used in place of the future indicative in independent sentences (Monro 326; Smyth 1813)

330  πρὶν: “first,” “before,” adverbial.

330  κεν … φθῖτ᾽:  aor. opt. > φθίω. Potential optative.

330  ὥρη: “it is time.” Understand ἐστί.

332  αὐτοῦ: “here.”

332  μελήσει: “will be a concern for,” with dative.

333  Ὣς ἔφατ᾽: Odysseus has been speaking since the beginning of Book 9.

333  οἱ δ᾽: the Phaeacians who have been listening to Odysseus.

333  ἀκὴν ἐγένοντο σιωπῇ: "fell silent," a common Homeric formula.

334  κατὰ: “throughout.”

335  ἄρχετο: unaugmented impf.

336  ὔμμιν: = ὑμῖν.

337 εἶδος … μέγεθός .. φρένας: accusatives of respect.

337  φρένας ἔνδον ἐΐσας: something like "sound wits deep down." ἐΐσας is an Epic form of ἴσος, and here means "balanced" or "fair." ἔνδον has the root meaning "within," but here can mean "deep down" or "from top to bottom."

338  ἔμμορε: “has a share of…” pf. > μείρομαι.

339  τῷ: “therefore” (Smyth 2987).

339  μὴ ἐπειγόμενοι ἀποπέμπετε: “don’t be in a hurry to send him away.” In the passive, ἐπείγομαι means “to be in a hurry.”

340  χρηΐζοντι: understand as agreeing with αὐτῷ (“for him”) as a dative of interest.

341  ἰότητι: dative of cause.

341  κέονται: 3rd pl. pres. indic. dep. > κεῖμαι.

344  μὰν: μην.

344  ἀπὸ σκοποῦ … ἀπὸ δόξης: “off the mark … far from (my own) opinion.” Here, ὁ σκοπός means “mark,” i.e., something aimed at.

346  Αλκίνοου δ᾽εκ τοῦδ(ε): "on this Alcinous here," with ἔχεται (see note below).

346  ἔχεται: “depend upon,” with ἐκ + gen. (LSJ ἔχω C.4 and ἐκ A.I.10). The subjects of the sing. verb are ἔργον and ἔπος.

346  ἔπος: lit., "word," but here, and in line 348 (τοῦτο ... ἔπος), referring specifically to the content of Areete's speech suggesting how Odysseus should be treated. ἔργον τε ἔπος τε can almost be translated "the carrying out of this proposal." See Autenrieth (ἔπος) or Cunliffe, who says that ἔπος denotes "the sense of the word colored by its context," giving it a range of meanings from "suggestion" or "proposal" to "entreaty" or "command."

348  ἔσται …, αἴ κεν … ἀνάσσω: future more vivid conditional, with the protasis following the apodosis. The verb ἀνάσσω (“to rule”) takes a dative object.

349  ζωὸς: "while I'm alive."

350  τλήτω … ἐπιμεῖναι: “let … put up with waiting.” 3rd sing. imperat., with a complementary infinitive.

351  εἰς ὅ κε … τελέσω: “until ....” General temporal clause with aorist subjunctive.

352  πομπὴ … μελήσει: compare with line 332.

353  τοῦ: "of this man" (i.e., Alcinous).

356  εἰ … ἀνώγοιτ᾽ … ὀτρύνοιτε .. διδοῖτε, κε … βουλοίμην, .. κεν …εἴη: future less vivid conditional (protasis: lines 356–57, apodosis: lines 358–59).

356  εἰς ἐνιαυτὸν: “for a year.”

358  καί … τὸ: “even this,” object of βουλοίμην.

358  κέρδιον εἴη … ἱκέσθαι: “it would be more profitable to ….” impersonal, with complementary infinitive.

360  κ᾽ … εἴην …, ὅσοι … ἰδοίατο: “I would be …, as many as might see ….” Future less vivid conditional relative sentence (Smyth 2566).

361  ἰδοίατο: 3rd pl. aor. opt. > ὁράω.

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Suggested Citation

Thomas Van Nortwick and Rob Hardy, Homer: Odyssey 5–12. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College Commentaries, 2024. ISBN: 978-1-947822-17-7 https://dcc.dickinson.edu/es/homer-odyssey/xi-321-360