Odyssey 10.216 · Book 10, lines 216–219
As dogs greet the master home
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ὡς δʼ ὅτʼ ἂν ἀμφὶ ἄνακτα κύνες δαίτηθεν ἰόντα σαίνωσʼ, αἰεὶ γάρ τε φέρει μειλίγματα θυμοῦ, ὣς τοὺς ἀμφὶ λύκοι κρατερώνυχες ἠδὲ λέοντες σαῖνον· τοὶ δʼ ἔδεισαν, ἐπεὶ ἴδον αἰνὰ πέλωρα.
And as when dogs fawn about their master coming from the feast — for he always brings tidbits for the heart — so about these the strong-clawed wolves and lions fawned; but they were afraid, when they saw the dread monsters.
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The setting
The tame wolves and lions crowd fawning around the scouts. Homer stops to explain the strange sight with a simile drawn from the ordinary Greek household.
A note on this passage
Homer explains the beasts with the homeliest picture he has: guard-dogs mobbing their master as he comes back from a feast, because he always brings them scraps. The wild wolves and lions greet the men exactly so.
The comfort of the image is the trap in it. The simile is warm — feast, dogs, treats — and set against it the men feel only dread. They are right to: these fawning creatures are the fate the house holds out, and the coziest scene in Homer's toolkit is doing the work of the most uncanny threat.
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