Odyssey 7.267 · Book 7, lines 267–270
Land in sight
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ἑπτὰ δὲ καὶ δέκα μὲν πλέον ἤματα ποντοπορεύων, ὀκτωκαιδεκάτῃ δʼ ἐφάνη ὄρεα σκιόεντα γαίης ὑμετέρης, γήθησε δέ μοι φίλον ἦτορ δυσμόρῳ· ἦ γὰρ ἔμελλον ἔτι ξυνέσεσθαι ὀιζυῖ
For seventeen days I sailed, traversing the deep; and on the eighteenth appeared the shadowy mountains of your land, and my dear heart rejoiced, ill-fated as I was; for truly I was still destined to meet with woe
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The setting
After seventeen days at sea, on the eighteenth Odysseus sights the mountains of Phaeacia. His heart lifts — but he knows, ill-fated, that more suffering still lies ahead.
A note on this passage
The crossing, and the first sight of safety. Seventeen days Odysseus sails the open sea; on the eighteenth the shadowy mountains of Phaeacia rise ahead, and his heart lifts at the sight of land.
The joy is immediately shadowed. He calls himself 'ill-fated' in the same breath, because he was still to meet great suffering — the storm Poseidon is about to raise. The reader, and Arete, know the raft will not survive. Homer lets the moment of hope stand and undercuts it at once: land is in view, but the sea is not done with him.
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