Odyssey 8.321 · Book 8, lines 321–325
The gods gather at the bronze threshold
Read the full text in our reader
ὣς ἔφαθʼ, οἱ δʼ ἀγέροντο θεοὶ ποτὶ χαλκοβατὲς δῶ· ἦλθε Ποσειδάων γαιήοχος, ἦλθʼ ἐριούνης Ἑρμείας, ἦλθεν δὲ ἄναξ ἑκάεργος Ἀπόλλων. θηλύτεραι δὲ θεαὶ μένον αἰδοῖ οἴκοι ἑκάστη. ἔσταν δʼ ἐν προθύροισι θεοί, δωτῆρες ἑάων·
So he spoke, and the gods gathered to the bronze-floored house: Poseidon came, the earth-holder; the luck-bringer Hermes came, and lord Apollo came, the far-worker. But the female goddesses stayed at home for shame, each of them. And the gods stood in the doorway, givers of good things.
Word by word
The setting
Hephaestus's summons is answered. The gods come to his house to see the lovers caught in the net.
A note on this passage
The gods answer the summons. Poseidon comes, and Hermes, and Apollo; the goddesses, out of modesty, all stay home. The male gods crowd into the doorway — 'givers of good things' — to look.
The detail that the goddesses stay away for shame quietly sorts the audience by gender, and it tells you what kind of show this is: a male crowd assembled to see a woman caught. The grand formula 'givers of good things' sits with faint irony over a company that has gathered for nothing nobler than to gawk at a neighbor's disgrace.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Odyssey 8.321 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Odyssey — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Odyssey 8.321 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/8.321/