The Siren Vase — Odysseus bound to the mast; Attic red-figure, c. 480 BC, British Museum
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Odyssey 6.173 · Book 6, lines 173–174

And I fear the gods are not done

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ὄφρʼ ἔτι που καὶ τῇδε πάθω κακόν· οὐ γὰρ ὀίω παύσεσθʼ, ἀλλʼ ἔτι πολλὰ θεοὶ τελέουσι πάροιθεν.

So that here too I might yet suffer some evil; for I do not think it will cease, but the gods will still bring many woes to pass before that.

Word by word

ὄφρʼóphr’so thatἔτιétistillπουpou(perhaps)καὶkaìevenτῇδεtêidehere tooπάθωpáthōI may sufferκακόνkakónevil·οὐounotγὰρgàrforὀίωoíōdo I think [it]παύσεσθʼpaúsesth’will cease,ἀλλʼall’butἔτιétistillπολλὰpollàmany woesθεοὶtheoìthe godsτελέουσιteléousiwill bring to passπάροιθενpároithenbefore [that].

The setting

Still describing his plight, Odysseus adds a foreboding: landing here may only mean fresh trouble, since he does not believe his suffering has run out. He expects the gods to load more on him before the end.

A note on this passage

He refuses the easy note. A lesser suppliant would say the worst is over now that he has reached land; Odysseus says the opposite. He suspects arriving here is just the next station of trouble, because he does not expect his ordeal to end.

The expectation is earned, not gloomy for effect. A man storm-tossed for twenty days has learned to read the gods as relentless, and the poem, which has already promised him trials even in Ithaca, agrees with him. The line is quietly accurate about how his story works: relief is always provisional, and he knows it before anyone tells him.

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