Odyssey 5.75 · Book 5, lines 75–78
Hermes enters; Calypso knows him
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ἔνθα στὰς θηεῖτο διάκτορος ἀργεϊφόντης. αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δὴ πάντα ἑῷ θηήσατο θυμῷ, αὐτίκʼ ἄρʼ εἰς εὐρὺ σπέος ἤλυθεν. οὐδέ μιν ἄντην ἠγνοίησεν ἰδοῦσα Καλυψώ, δῖα θεάων·
There the guide Argeiphontes stood and gazed. But when he had marveled at everything in his own heart, at once he went into the wide cave. And Calypso, bright among goddesses, seeing him face to face, did not fail to know him.
Word by word
The setting
The messenger-god has been standing outside, taking in the island. Now he crosses into the cave — and the nymph recognizes him at once.
A note on this passage
The action resumes. Hermes stands a moment longer, drinking in the sight, then — his wonder satisfied — steps into the wide cave. Calypso, at her loom, looks up and knows him instantly: the goddess needs no introduction to the messenger-god.
Homer states the recognition by litotes: ‘nor did she fail to know him.’ The double negative is not mere style; the next line will explain it — gods are never strangers to one another. The half-line also quietly marks status. Hermes is met not with alarm but with immediate, easy recognition between equals, which sets the courteous, wary tone of the divine conversation about to begin over the fate of a mortal neither of them will consult.
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