Odyssey 5.137 · Book 5, lines 137–140
No one evades the will of Zeus
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ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ οὔ πως ἔστι Διὸς νόον αἰγιόχοιο οὔτε παρεξελθεῖν ἄλλον θεὸν οὔθʼ ἁλιῶσαι, ἐρρέτω, εἴ μιν κεῖνος ἐποτρύνει καὶ ἀνώγει, πόντον ἐπʼ ἀτρύγετον· πέμψω δέ μιν οὔ πῃ ἐγώ γε·
But since in no way is it possible for another god to slip past or thwart the will of aegis-bearing Zeus, let him be gone, if that one urges and commands it, over the barren sea; but I will not send him anywhere myself.
Word by word
The setting
Calypso bows to necessity. Since no god can override the will of Zeus, she agrees to let Odysseus go — but pointedly refuses to be the one who sends him off, if this is Zeus's doing.
A note on this passage
The protest breaks against fact. Calypso has made her case; now she concedes it. No god can go around Zeus's will or make it come to nothing, and she knows it. So she gives the man up — ‘let him be gone’ — but with a bitter edge: if Zeus is so set on it, let Zeus's order do the work.
The refusal inside the surrender is the human note. She yields the outcome and withholds the help: she will not put him on his way herself. It is the pride of the defeated — obeying the letter of the command while making plain she does it under compulsion, not good will. The next lines will soften even this, but the flash of resentment is real and stays.
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