Odyssey 8.229 · Book 8, lines 229–233
Only my running I doubt
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δουρὶ δʼ ἀκοντίζω ὅσον οὐκ ἄλλος τις ὀιστῷ. οἴοισιν δείδοικα ποσὶν μή τίς με παρέλθῃ Φαιήκων· λίην γὰρ ἀεικελίως ἐδαμάσθην κύμασιν ἐν πολλοῖς, ἐπεὶ οὐ κομιδὴ κατὰ νῆα ἦεν ἐπηετανός· τῷ μοι φίλα γυῖα λέλυνται.
And with the spear I hurl as far as no other man with an arrow. Only in the feet I fear lest some one of the Phaeacians outstrip me; for too shamefully was I broken in the many waves, since there was no steady provision on the ship. And so my dear limbs are loosened.
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The setting
Odysseus finishes his self-inventory: unbeatable with spear and bow, he admits one doubt — the footrace — and explains it. The sea has left him weak.
A note on this passage
The boast ends honestly. With the throwing-spear he outdistances any archer; only in running does he fear the Phaeacians, and he says plainly why. The long ordeal on the raft has broken his body: no steady food on the ship, the waves grinding him down, his limbs loosened under him.
The turn from pride to weakness is the human note. This is the same Odysseus who staggered ashore half-dead a day or two before, and the strong man's honesty about his failing legs is more winning than the boast itself. ‘My dear limbs are loosened’ is the poem's standard phrase for a warrior dying or fainting — used here of a survivor who has not yet gotten his strength back.
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