Odyssey 1.439 · Book 1, lines 439–442
She folds the tunic and bolts the door
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ἡ μὲν τὸν πτύξασα καὶ ἀσκήσασα χιτῶνα, πασσάλῳ ἀγκρεμάσασα παρὰ τρητοῖσι λέχεσσι βῆ ῥʼ ἴμεν ἐκ θαλάμοιο, θύρην δʼ ἐπέρυσσε κορώνῃ ἀργυρέῃ, ἐπὶ δὲ κληῖδʼ ἐτάνυσσεν ἱμάντι.
She, folding and smoothing the tunic, and hanging it on a peg beside the corded bedstead, then set out from the chamber, and pulled the door to by its silver ring, and drew the bolt home with the thong.
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The setting
The nurse tidies the chamber and secures the door for the night, leaving Telemachus alone.
A note on this passage
Eurycleia finishes the room: folds the tunic and smooths it, hangs it on its peg by the bed, then leaves, pulling the door shut by its silver ring and drawing the bolt tight with its leather strap.
The Odyssey loves the mechanics of a well-kept house — the peg, the ring, the thong — and lists them with the same relish it gives a ship or a shield. There is real wealth still here: door-rings of silver, in the house the suitors have not yet stripped bare. And the last gesture seals the boy in alone: the door drawn to, the bolt shot home, and Telemachus left with the one thing the room cannot lock out.
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