Odyssey 7.342 · Book 7, lines 342–343
“Your bed is made, stranger”
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The maids — ὄρσο κέων, ὦ ξεῖνε· πεποίηται δέ τοι εὐνή. ὣς φάν τῷ δʼ ἀσπαστὸν ἐείσατο κοιμηθῆναι.
“Rouse yourself to bed, O stranger; your couch is made.” So they spoke, and to him it seemed welcome to lie down to sleep.
Word by word
The setting
The handmaids stand beside Odysseus and call him to the bed they have prepared; the guest, at last safe under a roof, is glad to sleep.
A note on this passage
The errand ends in one plain sentence: rise, stranger, your bed is ready. The maids do not know his name — he is still only ξεῖνε, 'stranger' — and he answers nothing. To him, the poem says, lying down simply seemed welcome.
That last word carries the weight. ἀσπαστόν — 'welcome, gladly received' — is a small word, but for this man it is enormous. He has not slept a safe night since Calypso's island, and the whole long day of wonders at the palace closes not on triumph but on the oldest relief there is: a made bed, and leave to sleep in it.
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