Odyssey 6.25 · Book 6, lines 25–30
‘Your marriage is near’
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Athena — Ναυσικάα τί νύ σʼ ὧδε μεθήμονα γείνατο μήτηρ; εἵματα μέν τοι κεῖται ἀκηδέα σιγαλόεντα, σοὶ δὲ γάμος σχεδόν ἐστιν, ἵνα χρὴ καλὰ μὲν αὐτὴν ἕννυσθαι τὰ δὲ τοῖσι παρασχεῖν, οἵ κέ σʼ ἄγωνται. ἐκ γάρ τοι τούτων φάτις ἀνθρώπους ἀναβαίνει ἐσθλή, χαίρουσιν δὲ πατὴρ καὶ πότνια μήτηρ.
Nausicaa, why now did your mother bear you so heedless? Your shining garments lie uncared-for, and your marriage is near, when you must wear fine things yourself and give others to those who escort you. For from these things a good report rises among men, and father and lady mother rejoice.
Word by word
The setting
Athena, in the guise of Nausicaa's friend, speaks to the sleeping princess. She gently chides her for letting the household's fine clothes go unwashed, reminding her that her wedding is close and that a good reputation depends on such care.
A note on this passage
The disguised goddess scolds like a friend: your good clothes lie dirty and neglected, and your wedding is close — you will need fine linen for yourself and for the party that escorts you. It is a laundry-reminder wrapped in the teasing of one girl to another about a bride's proper care.
But the hook is the word γάμος, ‘marriage.’ Nausicaa is unwed and of age, and Athena drops the thought of a wedding into her sleep just before the day she will meet a stranger from the sea. The goddess works through the girl's own waking wish. And note that the laundry is not trivial: a household's good name, its φάτις, is said to rise from exactly such propriety — the domestic and the honorable are one thing.
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