Odyssey 10.469 · Book 10, lines 469–471
The year ends, and my companions call me out
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ἀλλʼ ὅτε δή ῥʼ ἐνιαυτὸς ἔην, περὶ δʼ ἔτραπον ὧραι μηνῶν φθινόντων, περὶ δʼ ἤματα μακρὰ τελέσθη, καὶ τότε μʼ ἐκκαλέσαντες ἔφαν ἐρίηρες ἑταῖροι·
But when at last a year was gone, and the seasons turned round as the months waned, and the long days were completed, then my trusty companions, calling me out, said:
Word by word
The setting
The year of ease reaches its close. As the months wane and the long days come full, Odysseus's loyal crew take him aside to speak.
A note on this passage
Time is measured out in Homer's fullest way: a year gone, the seasons wheeling, the months waning, the long days coming full. Only then do the loyal crew draw Odysseus aside for a private word.
The piling of time-phrases marks how long the stall has lasted, and it is the crew, not their captain, who break it. In the poem of homecoming, the 'trusty companions' are the ones who remember home first — a quiet reversal Homer lets stand without comment, the pull of Circe's hall having caught even Odysseus.
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