Odyssey 2.394 · Book 2, lines 394–398

Sleep poured on the suitors

βῆ ῤʼ ἰέναι πρὸς δώματʼ Ὀδυσσῆος θείοιο· ἔνθα μνηστήρεσσιν ἐπὶ γλυκὺν ὕπνον ἔχευε, πλάζε δὲ πίνοντας, χειρῶν δʼ ἔκβαλλε κύπελλα. οἱ δʼ εὕδειν ὤρνυντο κατὰ πτόλιν, οὐδʼ ἄρʼ ἔτι δὴν ἥατʼ, ἐπεί σφισιν ὕπνος ἐπὶ βλεφάροισιν ἔπιπτεν.

She set out to go to the house of divine Odysseus; there upon the suitors she poured sweet sleep, and befuddled them as they drank, and knocked the cups from their hands. They rose to sleep throughout the city, and no longer sat there long, since sleep was falling on their eyelids.

Word by word

βῆbêset outῤʼrh’(then)ἰέναιiénaito goπρὸςpròstoδώματʼdṓmat’the houseὈδυσσῆοςOdyssêosof Odysseusθείοιοtheíoiothe divine·ἔνθαénthathereμνηστήρεσσινmnēstḗressinon the suitorsἐπὶepì(upon)γλυκὺνglykỳnsweetὕπνονhýpnonsleepἔχευεécheuepoured,πλάζεplázebefuddled [them]δὲdè(and)πίνονταςpínontasas they drank,χειρῶνcheirônfrom their handsδʼd’(and)ἔκβαλλεékballeknocked outκύπελλαkýpellathe cups.οἱhoitheyδʼd’(and)εὕδεινheúdeinto sleepὤρνυντοṓrnyntorose upκατὰkatàthroughoutπτόλινptólinthe city,οὐδʼoud’norἄρʼár’(then)ἔτιétiany longerδὴνdḕnlongἥατʼhḗat’did they sit,ἐπείepeísinceσφισινsphisinupon themὕπνοςhýpnossleepἐπὶepìuponβλεφάροισινblephároisintheir eyelidsἔπιπτενépiptenwas falling.

The setting

With the ship ready, Athena turns to clear the palace. She goes to Odysseus's house, where the suitors are still drinking, and pours sleep over them so the departure can go unnoticed.

A note on this passage

The goddess empties the hall the practical way: she drops sweet sleep on the drinkers, spills the wine from their grip, and sends them stumbling home to bed. What could have been a tense escape past a hall full of enemies becomes, in five lines, a soft dissolution — the danger simply nods off.

The undercurrent is the ease of divine power over the suitors, set against how immovable they feel to Telemachus. All book they have crowded his house and mocked his authority; a single god's whim scatters them in a moment. Their menace is real to men and trivial to Athena — a gap the poem keeps open between the human scale of the crisis and the divine scale of its management.

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