ὣς φάτο, γήθησεν δὲ πολύτλας δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς,
χαὶρων, οὕνεχ᾽ ἑταῖρον ἐνηέα λεῦσσ᾽ ἐν ἀγῶνι.200
καὶ τότε κουφότερον μετεφώνεε Φαιήκεσσιν·
"τοῦτον νῦν ἀφίκεσθε, νέοι. τάχα δ᾽ ὕστερον ἄλλον
ἥσειν ἢ τοσσοῦτον ὀίομαι ἢ ἔτι μᾶσσον.
τῶν δ᾽ ἄλλων ὅτινα κραδίη θυμός τε κελεύει,
δεῦρ᾽ ἄγε πειρηθήτω, ἐπεί μ᾽ ἐχολώσατε λίην,205
ἢ πὺξ ἠὲ πάλῃ ἢ καὶ ποσίν, οὔ τι μεγαίρω,
πάντων Φαιήκων, πλήν γ᾽ αὐτοῦ Λαοδάμαντος.
ξεῖνος γάρ μοι ὅδ᾽ ἐστί· τίς ἂν φιλέοντι μάχοιτο;
ἄφρων δὴ κεῖνός γε καὶ οὐτιδανὸς πέλει ἀνήρ,
ὅς τις ξεινοδόκῳ ἔριδα προφέρηται ἀέθλων210
δήμῳ ἐν ἀλλοδαπῷ· ἕο δ᾽ αὐτοῦ πάντα κολούει.
τῶν δ᾽ ἄλλων οὔ πέρ τιν᾽ ἀναίνομαι οὐδ᾽ ἀθερίζω,
ἀλλ᾽ ἐθέλω ἴδμεν καὶ πειρηθήμεναι ἄντην.
πάντα γὰρ οὐ κακός εἰμι, μετ᾽ ἀνδράσιν ὅσσοι ἄεθλοι·
εὖ μὲν τόξον οἶδα ἐύξοον ἀμφαφάασθαι·215
πρῶτός κ᾽ ἄνδρα βάλοιμι ὀιστεύσας ἐν ὁμίλῳ
ἀνδρῶν δυσμενέων, εἰ καὶ μάλα πολλοὶ ἑταῖροι
ἄγχι παρασταῖεν καὶ τοξαζοίατο φωτῶν.
οἶος δή με Φιλοκτήτης ἀπεκαίνυτο τόξῳ
δήμῳ ἔνι Τρώων, ὅτε τοξαζοίμεθ᾽ Ἀχαιοί.220
τῶν δ᾽ ἄλλων ἐμέ φημι πολὺ προφερέστερον εἶναι,
ὅσσοι νῦν βροτοί εἰσιν ἐπὶ χθονὶ σῖτον ἔδοντες.
ἀνδράσι δὲ προτέροισιν ἐριζέμεν οὐκ ἐθελήσω,
οὔθ᾽ Ἡρακλῆι οὔτ᾽ Εὐρύτῳ Οἰχαλιῆι,
οἵ ῥα καὶ ἀθανάτοισιν ἐρίζεσκον περὶ τόξων.225
τῷ ῥα καὶ αἶψ᾽ ἔθανεν μέγας Εὔρυτος, οὐδ᾽ ἐπὶ γῆρας
ἵκετ᾽ ἐνὶ μεγάροισι· χολωσάμενος γὰρ Ἀπόλλων
ἔκτανεν, οὕνεκά μιν προκαλίζετο τοξάζεσθαι.
δουρὶ δ᾽ ἀκοντίζω ὅσον οὐκ ἄλλος τις ὀιστῷ.
οἴοισιν δείδοικα ποσὶν μή τίς με παρέλθῃ230
Φαιήκων· λίην γὰρ ἀεικελίως ἐδαμάσθην
κύμασιν ἐν πολλοῖς, ἐπεὶ οὐ κομιδὴ κατὰ νῆα
ἦεν ἐπηετανός· τῷ μοι φίλα γυῖα λέλυνται."
ὣς ἔφαθ᾽, οἱ δ᾽ ἄρα πάντες ἀκὴν ἐγένοντο σιωπῇ.
Ἀλκίνοος δέ μιν οἶος ἀμειβόμενος προσέειπεν·235
"ξεῖν᾽, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἀχάριστα μεθ᾽ ἡμῖν ταῦτ᾽ ἀγορεύεις,
ἀλλ᾽ ἐθέλεις ἀρετὴν σὴν φαινέμεν, ἥ τοι ὀπηδεῖ,
χωόμενος ὅτι σ᾽ οὗτος ἀνὴρ ἐν ἀγῶνι παραστὰς
νείκεσεν, ὡς ἂν σὴν ἀρετὴν βροτὸς οὔ τις ὄνοιτο,
ὅς τις ἐπίσταιτο ᾗσι φρεσὶν ἄρτια βάζειν·240
ἀλλ᾽ ἄγε νῦν ἐμέθεν ξυνίει ἔπος, ὄφρα καὶ ἄλλῳ
εἴπῃς ἡρώων, ὅτε κεν σοῖς ἐν μεγάροισι
δαινύῃ παρὰ σῇ τ᾽ ἀλόχῳ καὶ σοῖσι τέκεσσιν,
ἡμετέρης ἀρετῆς μεμνημένος, οἷα καὶ ἡμῖν
Ζεὺς ἐπὶ ἔργα τίθησι διαμπερὲς ἐξ ἔτι πατρῶν.245
οὐ γὰρ πυγμάχοι εἰμὲν ἀμύμονες οὐδὲ παλαισταί,
ἀλλὰ ποσὶ κραιπνῶς θέομεν καὶ νηυσὶν ἄριστοι,
αἰεὶ δ᾽ ἡμῖν δαίς τε φίλη κίθαρις τε χοροί τε
εἵματά τ᾽ ἐξημοιβὰ λοετρά τε θερμὰ καὶ εὐναί.
notes
Odysseus challenges the Phaeacians to compete with him, boasting that he's the best at everything—except running, since being at sea for so long has weakened his legs. Alcinous tells him that the Phaeacians are best at running, sailing, and dancing.
Buoyed by his victory over the local bullies, Odysseus grows expansive. He’ll throw the discus again, at least as far and maybe farther! If anyone wants to try him in another kind of contest, boxing, wrestling, or a footrace, he’ll not refuse. Anyone, that is, except Laodamas:
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ξεῖνος γάρ μοι ὅδ᾽ ἐστί· τίς ἂν φιλέοντι μάχοιτο;
ἄφρων δὴ κεῖνός γε καὶ οὐτιδανὸς πέλει ἀνήρ,
ὅς τις ξεινοδόκῳ ἔριδα προφέρηται ἀέθλων
δήμῳ ἐν ἀλλοδαπῷ· ἕο δ᾽ αὐτοῦ πάντα κολούει.
For this man is my host, and who would fight with his friend?
That man is witless and good for nothing,
who would challenge his host in some contest
in a strange country. He gets in his own way.
Odyssey 8.208–11
A small lesson for the bystanders in etiquette, it would seem, in the same tone as his recent homily on the varieties of human excellence (8.167–77). While uttering what seem to be harmless observations on the way the world works, Odysseus is now testing the leverage he has won for himself, hedging his self-assertion with good manners. He ventures a little further in his self-revelation: He’s pretty good at most games, and in fact, he’s very good at archery, and would be the first to hit one of the enemy. Only Philoctetes among living heroes is better with a bow. He wouldn’t try his hand with any of the famous heroes of the past, of course, Herakles or Eurytus, who fought against the gods, and maybe he’s too old now to do much in a footrace.
At this point, Alkinous intervenes to defuse the tension, as he did when he saw Odysseus weeping. The stranger is right to be angry after being insulted, and Euryalus must apologize to their guest for his rudeness. The Phaeacians are not really that good at the more violent sports, preferring singing, dancing, and warm baths. So why not have some dancing and invite Demodocus back for another song?
Odysseus has gained some prestige among the locals with his victory. He is careful not to push too hard yet but builds on the standing his physical abilities have won by showing some awareness of his social obligations as a guest—he’s not just some rough-edged seaman who doesn’t know how to behave. Now the conventional wisdom he displayed in his earlier speech appears in a different light. With these careful distinctions he makes about what contests he can and cannot win, he is situating himself among the general run of men without revealing too many particulars just yet. He does perhaps take a chance by mentioning archery, something the hero Odysseus is well known for, and then ranking himself right after Philoctetes, another warrior presumably known to those who have heard the stories from the Trojan War. But then again, he and we know that the Phaeacians are an isolated people, who might not know that much about that conflict and its aftermath.
With this finely tuned scene, the poet shows us the intelligence and tact that Odysseus is known for. By providing a relatively safe venue for conflict, Homer gives his hero a chance to take the temperature of his surroundings, creating, for the Phaeacians and for us, a persona that seems to be relatively open, while revealing little about who exactly he is. As we have noted above, nothing that Odysseus has said or done since Alkinous promised a ride home (8.26–40) has advanced the basic plot in any major way. Instead, the poet has been using the portrait of the Phaeacians and their mysterious guest to build the paradigm he will use in the poem’s final episodes. As he does so, he modulates the flow of information to keep our interest, drawing us in with portraits of the royal family on Scheria and the emerging persona of their guest, then expanding the context within which we view these characters. The games have shown the stranger’s skill at self-presentation, his prodigious physical abilities but also his intelligence and worldly experience. Meanwhile, Demodocus’ songs broaden the horizons of the narrative in another way, introducing the Trojan War and its aftermath. His next song will draw on a different, but equally evocative subject.
200 λεῦσσ(ε): unaugmented impf.
201 κουφότερον: “with a lighter heart,” adverbial (LSJ κοῦφος II.2).
202 τοῦτον … ἀφίκεσθε: “come up to this,” “match this,” 2nd pl. imperat.
203 ὀίομαι: introducing indirect discourse with accusative (ὕστερον ἄλλον [δίσκον]) and infinitive (ἥσειν: fut. infin. > ἵημι).
203 ἢ τοσσοῦτον ὀίομαι ἢ ἔτι μᾶσσον: adverbial accusatives.
204 τῶν δ᾽ ἄλλων: partitive gen., with ὅτινα.
205 πειρηθήτω: 3rd sing. aor. pass. imperat. > πειράω.
206 οὔ τι μεγαίρω: “I don’t care which” (LSJ μεγαίρω I.4).
207 πάντων Φαιήκων: in apposition to τῶν δ᾽ ἄλλων in line 204.
208 ξεῖνος … μοι: “my host.” ξεῖνος is used more frequently of the guest, but is occasionally also used of the host (Cunliffe ξεῖνος 3).
208 τίς ἂν … μάχοιτο: “who would fight …?” potential optative in a question (Smyth 1831).
208 φιλέοντι: “a man who welcomes him,” substantive pres. act. ptc. (LSJ φιλέω I.2).
210 ὅς τις … προφέρηται: present general conditional relative clause, without κε (Smyth 2567b).
210 ἔριδα … ἀέθλων: “a contest for prizes,” ἀέθλων, objective gen. > ἄεθλον.
211 ἕο δ᾽ αὐτοῦ πάντα κολούει: “he cuts off all his hopes” (LSJ κολούω II), or “he cuts off everything from himself,” taking ἕο δ᾽ αὐτοῦ as a gentive of separation (Smyth 1392).
212 οὔ πέρ τιν(α): “no one at all,” the object of ἀναίνομαι and ἀθερίζω.
212 οὐδ᾽: on the repetition of the negative, see line 32. The repetition makes the entire statement more emphatic (Smyth 2761a and 2762), but does not constitute a double negative creating positive.
213 ἴδμεν καὶ πειρηθήμεναι: pf. infin. > οἶδα and aor. pass. infin. > πειράω.
213 ἄντην: “head to head.”
214 πάντα: “at all,” adverbial.
214 οὐ κακός: litotes (Smyth 3032).
214 ὅσσοι ἄεθλοι: “however many contests (there are).”
215 οἶδα …: “I know how to …,” with infin. (LSJ οἶδα 2).
216 κ᾽ .. βάλοιμι: the apodosis of a future less vivid conditional (κε + opt.).
217 εἰ … / … παρασταῖεν καὶ τοξαζοίατο: protasis of a future less vivid conditional.
218 φωτῶν: “at the men,” the verb τοξάζομαι takes a genitive (Smyth calls this the “genitive of the end desired,” Smyth 1349).
219 τόξῳ: dative of respect (Smyth 1516) with the verb ἀποκαίνυμαι (Cunliffe ἀποκαίνυμαι).
220 δήμῳ ἔνι: anastrophe (Smyth 175).
220 ὅτε τοξαζοίμεθ᾽: general temporal clause with optative in secondary sequence.
221 τῶν δ᾽ ἄλλων: genitive of comparison with προφερέστερον.
221 φημι: “I assert that …,” introducing indirect discourse with accusative and infinitive.
222 σῖτον ἔδοντες: “bread-eating,” distinguishing mortals from ambrosia-eating gods.
223 ἀνδράσι δὲ προτέροισιν: “but with the men of the old days …”
223 ἐριζέμεν: infin. The verb takes a “dative of association” (Smyth 1523).
225 ἐρίζεσκον: “used to vie with …,” iterative impf.
225 περὶ τόξων: see LSJ περί A.II.1.
226 τῷ: “therefore,” “because of this.”
229 ὅσον οὐκ: “farther than.”
230 οἴοισιν … ποσὶν: “only in the footrace.”
230 μή ... παρέλθῃ: clause of fearing.
231 Φαιήκων: partitive gen., with τις in line 230.
232 κατὰ νῆα: “aboard the ship” (i.e., Odysseus’s raft).
233 τῷ: “therefore,” “because of this.”
233 φίλα: “my.”
234 ἀκὴν ἐγένοντο σιωπῇ: “grew quiet,” a common line-ending formula.
236 οὐκ ἀχάριστα: litotes (Smyth 3032).
237 φαινέμεν: infin.
239 ὡς: “as,” “in a way that …”
239 ὄνοιτο: potential opt.
240 ὅς τις ἐπίσταιτο: “whoever knows how …,” future less vivid conditional relative clause.
240 ᾗσι: “in his,” possessive adj.
241 ἐμέθεν: “our,” 1st pl. masc. gen. possessive pron.
241 ξυνίει ἔπος: 2nd sing. pres. act. imperat. > συνίημι, with the accusative of the thing heard (LSJ συνίημι II.1).
241 ὄφρα … / εἴπῃς: purpose clause.
242 ἡρώων: partitive gen., with ἄλλῳ.
242 ὅτε κεν … / δαινύῃ: general temporal clause.
244 μεμνημένος: with both genitive ἡμετέρης ἀρετῆς and accusative οἷα … ἔργα (see Smyth 1358 on the distinction between μιμνήσκω with acc. and gen.).
244 οἷα … ἔργα: “what sort of deeds.”
245 ἐπὶ … τίθησι: "grants," 3rd sing. pres. act. indic., tmesis > ἐπιτίθημι, with dative ἡμῖν.
245 διαμπερὲς ἐξ ἔτι πατρῶν: “without interruption since the time of our fathers.”
247 νηυσὶν ἄριστοι: understand εἰμὲν as the verb.
248 ἡμῖν: dative of possession, with the verb "to be" understood.
248 φίλη: pred. adj., with δαίς; understand the verb ἐστί.