Odyssey 7.275 · Book 7, lines 275–277
He swims the gulf
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τὴν μὲν ἔπειτα θύελλα διεσκέδασʼ· αὐτὰρ ἐγώ γε νηχόμενος τόδε λαῖτμα διέτμαγον, ὄφρα με γαίῃ ὑμετέρῃ ἐπέλασσε φέρων ἄνεμός τε καὶ ὕδωρ.
That raft, then, the storm scattered; but I, for my part, swimming, cleaved this gulf, until the wind and water, bearing me, brought me near to your land.
Word by word
The setting
The raft is already lost to the storm. Odysseus tells how he crossed the open sea by his own swimming until wind and water carried him to the Phaeacians' coast.
A note on this passage
The raft is gone: the squall breaks it apart, and Odysseus is left to swim. He cuts across the open gulf by his own strength until wind and water together push him toward the Phaeacian shore.
The undercurrent is agency shared with the elements. He 'cleaved the gulf' — a strong, active verb — yet the same wind and water that nearly killed him now bear him in. Homer keeps the sea double: the force that wrecks is the force that delivers, and survival is the hero's own effort and the world's grudging turn at once.
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