Odyssey 3.173 · Book 3, lines 173–175
A sign, and the open-sea crossing
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ᾐτέομεν δὲ θεὸν φῆναι τέρας· αὐτὰρ ὅ γʼ ἡμῖν δεῖξε, καὶ ἠνώγει πέλαγος μέσον εἰς Εὔβοιαν τέμνειν, ὄφρα τάχιστα ὑπὲκ κακότητα φύγοιμεν.
And we asked the god to show a sign; but he showed it to us, and bade us cut the midmost open sea across to Euboea, so that most swiftly we might flee out from under our misery.
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The setting
Uncertain which way to go, the captains ask the god for a sign. He answers plainly: strike straight across the open Aegean to Euboea — the bold, direct route.
A note on this passage
Uncertain, they do the right thing: they ask the god for a sign, and this time the god answers plainly — cut across the middle of the open sea, straight for Euboea, and you will escape your troubles the quickest. The route is bold, a run over open water rather than a cautious coasting.
The undercurrent is the contrast with everything around it. A few lines back Zeus withheld the return and stirred up strife; here a prayer is heard and a clean road opens at once. The gods in Nestor's tale are not uniformly cruel — they answer the men who ask rightly and then act. It is, again, instruction for Telemachus: this is how a homecoming is earned, by piety joined to nerve.
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