Odyssey 10.19 · Book 10, lines 19–22
The bag of the winds
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δῶκε δέ μʼ ἐκδείρας ἀσκὸν βοὸς ἐννεώροιο, ἔνθα δὲ βυκτάων ἀνέμων κατέδησε κέλευθα· κεῖνον γὰρ ταμίην ἀνέμων ποίησε Κρονίων, ἠμὲν παυέμεναι ἠδʼ ὀρνύμεν, ὅν κʼ ἐθέλῃσι.
And he gave me a bag he had flayed from a nine-year-old ox, and in it he bound fast the paths of the howling winds; for the son of Cronus had made him steward of the winds, both to still them and to rouse whichever he wishes.
Word by word
The setting
Aeolus's gift: an ox-hide bag into which he binds the winds, for Zeus had made him their keeper, free to still or rouse any of them at will.
A note on this passage
The gift itself: a bag flayed whole from a nine-year-old ox, into which Aeolus binds the ‘paths’ of the blustering winds. Homer explains the authority behind it — Zeus made Aeolus keeper of the winds, free to still or raise any of them at will.
One verb carries the doom: κατέδησε, ‘he bound fast.’ The winds are shut in like prisoners, and a thing bound is a thing that can be loosed. Aeolus holds a god's office at Zeus's pleasure; now he lends that power, sealed in a sack, to a crew of ordinary men. The bag is a marvel and a test, and the poem has already told us, in that quiet ‘bound,’ what a test of trust tends to become.
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