Odyssey 7.344 · Book 7, lines 344–347
Two beds: the guest and the king
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ὣς ὁ μὲν ἔνθα καθεῦδε πολύτλας δῖος Ὀδυσσεὺς τρητοῖς ἐν λεχέεσσιν ὑπʼ αἰθούσῃ ἐριδούπῳ· Ἀλκίνοος δʼ ἄρα λέκτο μυχῷ δόμου ὑψηλοῖο, πὰρ δὲ γυνὴ δέσποινα λέχος πόρσυνε καὶ εὐνήν.
So there slept much-enduring godlike Odysseus, on the corded bedstead under the echoing portico; and Alcinous then lay down in the innermost recess of the high house, and beside him his lady wife made ready the couch and bed.
Word by word
The setting
The closing lines of Book 7. The guest is bedded in the portico; the king retires to the innermost chamber of the palace, where the queen has prepared their bed.
A note on this passage
The book closes on a house asleep. Much-enduring Odysseus lies down at last on the corded bedstead under the ringing portico, while the king withdraws to the deep inner room of his high house, where his wife has made the royal bed ready beside him. Two beds, guest and king, and the day of the stranger's arrival is over.
The two sleeping-places quietly measure the distance still to close. Odysseus, honored but unknown, beds in the open portico; Alcinous rests in the μυχός, the innermost recess, beside his queen — husband and wife together at the heart of the house. It is the settled marriage Odysseus is still a world away from, and the tableau of Alcinous and Arete lying side by side is the very thing his whole journey is aimed at.
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