Odyssey 7.177 · Book 7, lines 177–178
Odysseus eats among kind strangers
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αὐτὰρ ὁ πῖνε καὶ ἦσθε πολύτλας δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς. καὶ τότε κήρυκα προσέφη μένος Ἀλκινόοιο·
But he drank and ate, much-enduring godlike Odysseus. And then the might of Alcinous addressed the herald:
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The setting
The guest is seated and served. Odysseus eats, and the king prepares the evening's libation.
A note on this passage
Two quiet beats close the welcome and open the next move. Much-enduring godlike Odysseus, restored to his seat, simply eats and drinks — the plainest human relief after the sea. Then the king turns to his herald to begin the evening's rite.
The formula 'much-enduring godlike Odysseus' sits oddly against so small an act as a meal, and that gap is the point. The epithet holds all the suffering behind him; here it frames a man doing nothing more heroic than taking food among kind strangers. Homer lets the great name rest for a moment on an ordinary comfort.
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