Odyssey 3.159 · Book 3, lines 159–161
Tenedos, and Zeus withholds the homecoming
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ἐς Τένεδον δʼ ἐλθόντες ἐρέξαμεν ἱρὰ θεοῖσιν, οἴκαδε ἱέμενοι· Ζεὺς δʼ οὔ πω μήδετο νόστον, σχέτλιος, ὅς ῥʼ ἔριν ὦρσε κακὴν ἔπι δεύτερον αὖτις.
And to Tenedos coming, we made offerings to the gods, longing for home; but Zeus did not yet purpose our return — cruel god, who roused an evil strife yet again, a second time.
Word by word
The setting
Nestor's contingent makes its first stop at Tenedos, an island just off the Troad, and sacrifices in hope of a safe voyage. But Nestor cuts the hope short.
A note on this passage
At Tenedos, just off the Troad, the eager crews stop to sacrifice — the reflex of pious men who think the hard part is behind them. Nestor pricks the hope at once: Zeus was not yet planning their return, and the god, whom he flatly calls 'cruel,' stirred up a fresh, evil quarrel among them a second time.
The undercurrent is how little the sacrifice buys. In this world piety is owed, but it does not purchase a homecoming; the same god who is fed the offerings withholds the road home. And the word nostos — 'return' — is the pole the whole Odyssey turns on. Here it is spoken and denied in a single breath, and the reader hears, under Nestor's tale, the harder question of whose return will ever come at all.
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