Odyssey 6.178 · Book 6, lines 178–180
Only the town, and a rag to wear
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ἄστυ δέ μοι δεῖξον, δὸς δὲ ῥάκος ἀμφιβαλέσθαι, εἴ τί που εἴλυμα σπείρων ἔχες ἐνθάδʼ ἰοῦσα. σοὶ δὲ θεοὶ τόσα δοῖεν ὅσα φρεσὶ σῇσι μενοινᾷς,
Show me the town, and give me a rag to throw about me, if you had any wrapping for the linens when you came here. And may the gods grant you all that you long for in your heart,
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus closes by asking for the two smallest things: directions to the town and something — anything — to cover himself. He ends the speech, as good suppliants do, by wishing her in return everything her own heart desires.
A note on this passage
After all the grandeur — Artemis, the sacred palm, twenty days of storm — the actual request is tiny. He wants to know where the town is and to be handed a scrap of cloth, guessing she must have brought some wrapping for the wash. The scale of the ask measures how far he has fallen: a king begging a rag.
He ends with a blessing, the suppliant's courteous return, praying the gods give her exactly what she most wants. The line opens the wish and stops mid-thought, for the poem is about to name what he prays she gets — a husband and a home. He asks for a rag and offers, in exchange, the one thing he has left to give: a good word to heaven on her behalf.
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