Odyssey 8.416 · Book 8, lines 416–420
Sunset; the gifts come home
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ἦ ῥα καὶ ἀμφʼ ὤμοισι θέτο ξίφος ἀργυρόηλον. δύσετό τʼ ἠέλιος, καὶ τῷ κλυτὰ δῶρα παρῆεν. καὶ τά γʼ ἐς Ἀλκινόοιο φέρον κήρυκες ἀγαυοί· δεξάμενοι δʼ ἄρα παῖδες ἀμύμονος Ἀλκινόοιο μητρὶ παρʼ αἰδοίῃ ἔθεσαν περικαλλέα δῶρα.
So he spoke, and slung the silver-studded sword about his shoulders. And the sun set, and for him the glorious gifts lay at hand. And the noble heralds carried them to the house of Alcinous; and the sons of noble Alcinous, then receiving them, set the lovely gifts beside their revered mother.
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus slings the sword across his shoulders. As the sun goes down, the splendid gifts are all assembled; noble heralds carry them to Alcinous's house, and his sons set them beside their honored mother, the queen Arete.
A note on this passage
The day of games and singing ends at sunset, and the loose action gathers itself: Odysseus wears his new sword, the gifts stand ready, the heralds bring them into the palace. The verse slows to the quiet housekeeping that closes a Homeric day.
Notice where the treasure goes. Alcinous's sons set it beside their mother, the revered one — not before the king. Book 7 already marked Arete's strange authority in this house, the queen whose knees a suppliant must clasp first. The gifts come to rest with her, and the poem turns toward evening: the bath, the feast, and the song of Troy that will finally break the stranger open and force his name.
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