Odyssey 10.70 · Book 10, lines 70–75
Aeolus casts them out
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ὣς ἐφάμην μαλακοῖσι καθαπτόμενος ἐπέεσσιν, οἱ δʼ ἄνεῳ ἐγένοντο· πατὴρ δʼ ἠμείβετο μύθῳ·
Aeolus — ἔρρʼ ἐκ νήσου θᾶσσον, ἐλέγχιστε ζωόντων· οὐ γάρ μοι θέμις ἐστὶ κομιζέμεν οὐδʼ ἀποπέμπειν ἄνδρα τόν, ὅς κε θεοῖσιν ἀπέχθηται μακάρεσσιν· ἔρρε, ἐπεὶ ἄρα θεοῖσιν ἀπεχθόμενος τόδʼ ἱκάνεις.
So I spoke, addressing them with soft words; but they fell silent; and the father answered with a speech: Begone from the island at once, most contemptible of living men! For it is not right for me to shelter nor send on a man who is hateful to the blessed gods. Begone, since indeed you come here hated by the gods.
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus makes his plea gently. But the household goes silent, and Aeolus — called simply 'the father' — refuses without mercy. To help a man the gods hate would be to share his curse.
A note on this passage
The refusal is total and fast. Aeolus reads the second arrival as a verdict: a man blown home and blown back is a man heaven has marked, and a wind-keeper of the gods will not cross them. He drives Odysseus out with an insult and repeats the command — begone, begone — bracketing the whole speech.
The hinge is the logic of divine hatred. In this world misfortune is legible as guilt: if the gods oppose you, no host dares stand between. Aeolus is not cruel by his own lights, only prudent. And he is half right — a god does hate Odysseus — which makes the injustice sharper, since the real fault this time was human, and the true reckoning is Poseidon's, not this night's.
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