Odyssey 4.121 · Book 4, lines 121–122

Helen enters, and the poem stages her like an epiphany. She does not simply walk in; she comes forth from a fragrant, high-roofed chamber, and the simile to Artemis of the golden distaff lifts her above an ordinary hostess.

The distaff in the simile is quietly chosen. Artemis is a huntress, but here she is named 'of the golden distaff' — a woman's tool — and the next lines will fill Helen's own hands with exactly such gear. The comparison points forward to the domestic scene about to unfold, not to the wildness of the goddess.

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