Odyssey 6.71 · Book 6, lines 71–73
The cart made ready
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ὣς εἰπὼν δμώεσσιν ἐκέκλετο, τοὶ δʼ ἐπίθοντο. οἱ μὲν ἄρʼ ἐκτὸς ἄμαξαν ἐύτροχον ἡμιονείην ὥπλεον, ἡμιόνους θʼ ὕπαγον ζεῦξάν θʼ ὑπʼ ἀπήνῃ·
So saying, he called out to the servants, and they obeyed. Outside they made ready the well-wheeled mule-cart, and led up the mules and yoked them under the wagon.
Word by word
The setting
At Alcinous's word the servants prepare the vehicle for the trip to the river.
A note on this passage
A compact type-scene of obedience and preparation: the command given, the servants' instant compliance, the cart wheeled out, the mules led up and yoked. Homer runs the familiar machinery of readying a vehicle in three quick lines.
The detail worth noticing is the doubling of the wagon-words — ἄμαξα here, ἀπήνη in the lines on either side. Epic keeps several names for the same mule-cart and reaches for whichever fits the meter. The repetition is not clumsiness but oral craft showing its seams: the humble cart is named again and again as the scene turns on it.
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