Odyssey 7.73 · Book 7, lines 73–77
If Arete favors you, there is hope
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οὐ μὲν γάρ τι νόου γε καὶ αὐτὴ δεύεται ἐσθλοῦ· ᾗσι τʼ ἐὺ φρονέῃσι καὶ ἀνδράσι νείκεα λύει. εἴ κέν τοι κείνη γε φίλα φρονέῃσʼ ἐνὶ θυμῷ, ἐλπωρή τοι ἔπειτα φίλους τʼ ἰδέειν καὶ ἱκέσθαι οἶκον ἐς ὑψόροφον καὶ σὴν ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν.
For even she herself lacks nothing at all of good sense; and for those to whom she is kindly minded, she resolves quarrels even among men. If she is kindly disposed toward you in her heart, then there is hope for you thereafter to see your dear ones and to reach your high-roofed house, and to your native land.
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The setting
Athena finishes her account of the queen and turns it to Odysseus's own case: Arete is wise and settles disputes even among men, and if she takes to him, he may yet see home.
A note on this passage
Athena closes the portrait with the practical point. Arete lacks nothing in good judgment; she even reconciles the quarrels of men. Then the turn to Odysseus: if she is kindly disposed to him in her heart, there is hope he will see his own people and reach his high-roofed home and his fatherland.
The undercurrent is instruction disguised as praise. Athena is not merely describing a queen; she is telling Odysseus where to kneel. The whole homecoming — the thing the poem has promised from its first lines — is made to hang on winning one woman's goodwill. It is the mark of this poem that the road to Ithaca runs through a supplication, not a battle.
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