Odyssey 10.13 · Book 10, lines 13–16
A month of hospitality
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καὶ μὲν τῶν ἱκόμεσθα πόλιν καὶ δώματα καλά. μῆνα δὲ πάντα φίλει με καὶ ἐξερέεινεν ἕκαστα, Ἴλιον Ἀργείων τε νέας καὶ νόστον Ἀχαιῶν· καὶ μὲν ἐγὼ τῷ πάντα κατὰ μοῖραν κατέλεξα.
And we came to their city and their fine halls. For a whole month he hosted me kindly and questioned me on each thing, on Ilion and the Argives' ships and the Achaeans' return; and I recounted to him everything in due order.
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The setting
Odysseus reaches the city and is made welcome. Aeolus keeps him a whole month, asking the news of Troy, and Odysseus tells the whole story in due order.
A note on this passage
A month of perfect guest-friendship: Aeolus feeds Odysseus, asks him for the whole story of Troy — the Argive fleet, the Achaeans' journeys home — and Odysseus lays it all out for him, point by point.
The phrase κατὰ μοῖραν, ‘in due order,’ is quietly self-referential. It is the poet's own praise for a tale told rightly, in proper measure — and here Odysseus, the guest telling his war, mirrors the poem we are reading, where he is the guest telling his war to the Phaeacians. Good hospitality and good storytelling are the same skill: the host asks, the guest gives an account that is complete and well-ranged.
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