Odyssey 3.477 · Book 3, lines 477–480
So he spoke — the horses yoked
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ὣς ἔφαθʼ, οἱ δʼ ἄρα τοῦ μάλα μὲν κλύον ἠδʼ ἐπίθοντο, καρπαλίμως δʼ ἔζευξαν ὑφʼ ἅρμασιν ὠκέας ἵππους. ἐν δὲ γυνὴ ταμίη σῖτον καὶ οἶνον ἔθηκεν ὄψα τε, οἷα ἔδουσι διοτρεφέες βασιλῆες.
So he spoke, and they listened well to him and obeyed; and swiftly they yoked the swift horses under the chariot. And a woman, the housekeeper, put in bread and wine and dainties, such as they eat, the Zeus-nourished kings.
Word by word
The setting
The obedience-formula: Nestor's sons do at once as they are told. The housekeeper stocks the chariot with provisions for the road, food fit for kings.
A note on this passage
The command is carried out in the poem's usual shorthand: ‘so he spoke, and they heard him well and obeyed,’ and the swift horses are yoked at once. Then the housekeeper provisions the chariot with bread, wine, and choice food for the road ahead.
The closing phrase reaches upward. The travelers are stocked with fare ‘such as Zeus-nourished kings eat’ — διοτρεφέες, ‘Zeus-reared,’ the old epithet that traces a king's authority straight back to the god. It quietly gilds the departure: this is no ordinary errand but a prince's journey, outfitted at a royal table, and the word remembers that the men Telemachus is riding to see hold their kingship as a gift from Zeus himself.
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