Odyssey 8.214 · Book 8, lines 214–218
Well I know the polished bow
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πάντα γὰρ οὐ κακός εἰμι, μετʼ ἀνδράσιν ὅσσοι ἄεθλοι· εὖ μὲν τόξον οἶδα ἐύξοον ἀμφαφάασθαι· πρῶτός κʼ ἄνδρα βάλοιμι ὀιστεύσας ἐν ὁμίλῳ ἀνδρῶν δυσμενέων, εἰ καὶ μάλα πολλοὶ ἑταῖροι ἄγχι παρασταῖεν καὶ τοξαζοίατο φωτῶν.
For in no way am I bad among men, in whatever contests there are. Well do I know how to handle the polished bow: first would I strike a man, shooting my arrow into the throng of hostile men, even if very many comrades stood close beside, and were shooting at the warriors.
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus lists his skills to the Phaeacians, beginning with archery. He pictures himself in a battle-throng, the first to pick off an enemy even while many foes shoot back.
A note on this passage
The boast turns concrete. Odysseus is good at every contest men hold, and best with the bow: he can be the first to drop an enemy in a crowd, even under return fire. The lines move from a general claim to a vivid battlefield snapshot, the archer picking his man out of the press.
The undercurrent is the weapon named. The bow is Odysseus's true instrument, the one the whole poem is bending toward — the great contest in his own hall, where he alone will string it and shoot through the axes. Here, among strangers at play, he shows the Phaeacians the very skill that will one day clear his house of suitors.
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