Odyssey 5.13 · Book 5, lines 13–17
The hero, marooned
Read the full text in our reader
ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν ἐν νήσῳ κεῖται κρατέρʼ ἄλγεα πάσχων νύμφης ἐν μεγάροισι Καλυψοῦς, ἥ μιν ἀνάγκῃ ἴσχει· ὁ δʼ οὐ δύναται ἣν πατρίδα γαῖαν ἱκέσθαι· οὐ γάρ οἱ πάρα νῆες ἐπήρετμοι καὶ ἑταῖροι, οἵ κέν μιν πέμποιεν ἐπʼ εὐρέα νῶτα θαλάσσης.
But he lies on an island, suffering strong pains, in the halls of the nymph Calypso, who holds him by force; and he cannot reach his native land; for he has at hand no oared ships and no companions, who might send him over the broad back of the sea.
Word by word
The setting
Athena turns from principle to the particular grievance. Odysseus is stranded on Ogygia, held by the nymph Calypso, with no ship and no crew — cut off from any means of return.
A note on this passage
Now the plea narrows to one marooned man. Odysseus lies on Calypso's island in real pain, kept there against his will, with no ship and no companions to carry him home. The general complaint about forgotten kings becomes a single stranded body.
This is effectively the reader's first sight of the poem's hero, and it is of him lying still and suffering — κρατέρʼ ἄλγεα πάσχων, 'suffering strong pains' — not of him conquering anything. And the phrase ἀνάγκῃ ἴσχει, 'holds by force,' quietly turns the paradise island into a prison: Calypso's love is captivity, and the man at the center of the epic is introduced at his lowest point, weeping on a beach he cannot leave.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Odyssey 5.13 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 5.13 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/5.13/