Odyssey 2.340 · Book 2, lines 340–343
The wine kept for his return
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ἐν δὲ πίθοι οἴνοιο παλαιοῦ ἡδυπότοιο ἕστασαν, ἄκρητον θεῖον ποτὸν ἐντὸς ἔχοντες, ἑξείης ποτὶ τοῖχον ἀρηρότες, εἴ ποτʼ Ὀδυσσεὺς οἴκαδε νοστήσειε καὶ ἄλγεα πολλὰ μογήσας.
And there stood jars of old sweet wine, holding within the unmixed divine drink, set fast in a row against the wall, if ever Odysseus should return home, even after toiling through many sorrows.
Word by word
The setting
The storeroom description settles on the wine: jars of old, sweet, unmixed vintage ranged along the wall — held in reserve against the day Odysseus might come home.
A note on this passage
The description settles on the wine: old vintages, sweet, unmixed and ‘divine,’ in great jars ranged in a row along the wall. They are being saved — kept sealed against one particular day, ‘if ever Odysseus should come home, after suffering many pains.’
That conditional is the quiet heart of the passage. The best wine in the house is a held breath: the storeroom itself is arranged around a homecoming no one has been promised. Even the objects wait. And ‘after toiling through many sorrows’ — ἄλγεα πολλὰ μογήσας — folds the whole plot of the poem into a single subordinate clause. The reserve is for a man the house still believes is coming, and coming worn.
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Odyssey 2.340 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/2.340/