Odyssey 5.265 · Book 5, lines 265–270
Provisioned, and under sail at last
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ἐν δέ οἱ ἀσκὸν ἔθηκε θεὰ μέλανος οἴνοιο τὸν ἕτερον, ἕτερον δʼ ὕδατος μέγαν, ἐν δὲ καὶ ᾖα κωρύκῳ· ἐν δέ οἱ ὄψα τίθει μενοεικέα πολλά· οὖρον δὲ προέηκεν ἀπήμονά τε λιαρόν τε. γηθόσυνος δʼ οὔρῳ πέτασʼ ἱστία δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς. αὐτὰρ ὁ πηδαλίῳ ἰθύνετο τεχνηέντως
In it the goddess stowed for him a skin of dark wine, that one skin, and another, a great one, of water; and in it too provisions in a sack, and dainties she set there for him, to his heart's content, in plenty; and she sent forth a fair wind, gentle and warm. Glad, noble Odysseus spread his sails to the wind; and he steered skilfully with the steering-oar —
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The setting
Calypso stocks the raft with food, water, and wine and raises a fair wind. These lines end with Odysseus at last under sail, steering out alone — the calm before Poseidon spots him and the storm breaks.
A note on this passage
Calypso finishes provisioning: a skin of dark wine, a bigger one of water, food in a leather bag, relishes in plenty, and — a goddess's gift — a fair wind, gentle and warm, to carry him. Odysseus, glad, spreads his sail and takes the steering-oar, and the raft moves out.
This is the one calm in Book 5. The wind is called ἀπήμων, ‘harmless,’ and for the space of these lines the hero is exactly what the poem loves — content, competent, steering his own craft across an open sea. It will not last: the ‘harmless’ wind is Calypso's, and the sea belongs to Poseidon, who has not yet looked up from Ethiopia. Homer gives Odysseus this hour of gladness first, so the storm will cost him something.
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