Odyssey 7.1 · Book 7, lines 1–6
Nausicaa comes home
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ὧς ὁ μὲν ἔνθʼ ἠρᾶτο πολύτλας δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς, κούρην δὲ προτὶ ἄστυ φέρεν μένος ἡμιόνοιιν. ἡ δʼ ὅτε δὴ οὗ πατρὸς ἀγακλυτὰ δώμαθʼ ἵκανε, στῆσεν ἄρʼ ἐν προθύροισι, κασίγνητοι δέ μιν ἀμφὶς ἵσταντʼ ἀθανάτοις ἐναλίγκιοι, οἵ ῥʼ ὑπʼ ἀπήνης ἡμιόνους ἔλυον ἐσθῆτά τε ἔσφερον εἴσω.
So there he prayed, much-enduring godlike Odysseus, but the strength of the mules carried the maiden toward the city. And when at last she reached her father's glorious halls, she halted at the forecourt, and her brothers stood around her, like the immortals, who loosed the mules from under the wagon and carried the clothing inside.
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus, wrecked on the Phaeacians' island of Scheria, has met the princess Nausicaa at the river, been given clothes, and told to follow on foot so he will not be seen arriving with her. Here she reaches the palace while he waits behind on the road, praying.
A note on this passage
The scene splits cleanly. Odysseus is left praying by the road while the cart rolls on; Nausicaa reaches her father's house, stops at the porch, and her brothers spill out to unyoke the mules and carry in the washing. It is a homecoming in miniature — the ordinary bustle of a great household doing small, sure things.
Her brothers move ‘like the immortals,’ and the ease is the point. Everything Odysseus has lost — a house that runs itself, kin who come out to meet you — is shown working smoothly for someone else, a few steps ahead of him on the road. The stranger watches the return he cannot yet have.
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