Odyssey 4.78 · Book 4, lines 78–81
No mortal rivals Zeus
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Menelaus — τέκνα φίλʼ, ἦ τοι Ζηνὶ βροτῶν οὐκ ἄν τις ἐρίζοι· ἀθάνατοι γὰρ τοῦ γε δόμοι καὶ κτήματʼ ἔασιν· ἀνδρῶν δʼ ἤ κέν τίς μοι ἐρίσσεται, ἠὲ καὶ οὐκί, κτήμασιν. ἦ γὰρ πολλὰ παθὼν καὶ πόλλʼ ἐπαληθεὶς
Dear children, truly no mortal could vie with Zeus, for his halls and possessions are undying. But among men, one might rival me in possessions, or perhaps not. For indeed, having suffered much and wandered far,
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The setting
Menelaus answers the boy's wonder. Yes, the palace is rich — but he draws the line a pious Greek always draws: no mortal can compare himself to Zeus, whose wealth is deathless. Among men, though, he allows he may be among the richest, and begins to tell how he came by it.
A note on this passage
Menelaus takes the compliment and corrects it. Against a god there is no contest: Zeus's house and goods are immortal, and to measure a mortal's wealth beside them is impiety. Among men he is franker — perhaps someone rivals him, perhaps not — and then he turns to the story of how it was won: by suffering and long wandering.
The pride is real but fenced by caution. To boast without first bowing to the gods is exactly the hybris the poem punishes, and Menelaus knows it: he lifts Zeus above himself before he says a word about his own riches. And the very next breath — ‘after suffering much’ — undercuts the splendour. This is a man who paid for every cup of gold with years he can never get back, as the rest of the speech will make plain.
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