The Siren Vase — Odysseus bound to the mast; Attic red-figure, c. 480 BC, British Museum
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Odyssey 1.88 · Book 1, lines 88–92

And I will go to Ithaca

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αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν Ἰθάκηνδʼ ἐσελεύσομαι, ὄφρα οἱ υἱὸν μᾶλλον ἐποτρύνω καί οἱ μένος ἐν φρεσὶ θείω, εἰς ἀγορὴν καλέσαντα κάρη κομόωντας Ἀχαιοὺς πᾶσι μνηστήρεσσιν ἀπειπέμεν, οἵ τέ οἱ αἰεὶ μῆλʼ ἁδινὰ σφάζουσι καὶ εἰλίποδας ἕλικας βοῦς.

But I will go to Ithaca, to rouse his son all the more, and put courage in his heart, to call to assembly the long-haired Achaeans, and speak out to all the suitors, who ever slaughter his thronging flocks and shambling spiral-horned cattle.

Word by word

αὐτὰρautàrbutἐγὼνegṑnIἸθάκηνδʼIthákēnd’to Ithacaἐσελεύσομαιeseleúsomaiwill go,ὄφραóphraso thatοἱhoihisυἱὸνhyiònsonμᾶλλονmâllonthe moreἐποτρύνωepotrýnōI may rouseκαίkaíandοἱhoiin hisμένοςménoscourageἐνeninφρεσὶphresì[his] heartθείωtheíōmay put,εἰςeistoἀγορὴνagorḕnassemblyκαλέσανταkalésantahaving calledκάρηkárēlong-κομόωνταςkomóōntashairedἈχαιοὺςAchaioùs[the] Achaeansπᾶσιpâsito allμνηστήρεσσινmnēstḗressinthe suitorsἀπειπέμενapeipémento speak out,οἵhoíwhoτέ(and)οἱhoihisαἰεὶaieìeverμῆλʼmêl’flocksἁδινὰhadinàthrongingσφάζουσιspházousislaughterκαὶkaìandεἰλίποδαςeilípodasshamblingἕλικαςhélikasspiral-hornedβοῦςboûscattle.

The setting

The plan's second half, which Athena keeps for herself: Ithaca. She will rouse the grown son, Telemachus, put spirit in him, and set him against the suitors devouring his house.

A note on this passage

Athena assigns herself the human half of the plan. She will go to Ithaca, rouse Telemachus, and put spirit in him — to summon the assembly and confront the suitors who are eating his inheritance alive.

The undercurrent is a coming-of-age engineered from above. The son's courage is not quite his own; a goddess breathes it into him. The Odyssey's first four books are Telemachus's education, and it begins as a divine intervention disguised as a young man finding his nerve.

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