Odyssey 3.337 · Book 3, lines 337–341
The libation that ends the feast
Read the full text in our reader
ἦ ῥα Διὸς θυγάτηρ, οἱ δʼ ἔκλυον αὐδησάσης. τοῖσι δὲ κήρυκες μὲν ὕδωρ ἐπὶ χεῖρας ἔχευαν, κοῦροι δὲ κρητῆρας ἐπεστέψαντο ποτοῖο, νώμησαν δʼ ἄρα πᾶσιν ἐπαρξάμενοι δεπάεσσι· γλώσσας δʼ ἐν πυρὶ βάλλον, ἀνιστάμενοι δʼ ἐπέλειβον.
So spoke the daughter of Zeus, and they heard her as she spoke. For them the heralds poured water over their hands, and the youths crowned the bowls with drink, and served to all, making first-offering in the cups; and cast the tongues into the fire, and, rising up, poured the libations.
Word by word
The setting
Athena's words are answered by action. Homer gives the standard closing-of-a-feast type-scene: heralds pour water for the hands, youths fill the mixing-bowls, each man makes his offering, the sacrificial tongues are burned, and the company pours the final libations before sleep.
A note on this passage
The narration takes over: 'So spoke the daughter of Zeus' — and at once the men move. The rest is a libation type-scene, the fixed sequence of a feast's close: water on the hands, wine crowning the bowls, a portion to every cup, the tongues burned, the standing libation poured.
The undercurrent is who is obeyed. The listeners hear ‘the daughter of Zeus’ — the poet's phrase, not theirs; to them she is only Mentor. The reader alone knows a goddess just gave the order, and the whole household falls into practiced motion, piety and obedience indistinguishable.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Odyssey 3.337 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Odyssey — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Odyssey 3.337 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/3.337/