Odyssey 8.464 · Book 8, lines 464–468
‘May Zeus bring me home’
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Odysseus — Ναυσικάα θύγατερ μεγαλήτορος Ἀλκινόοιο, οὕτω νῦν Ζεὺς θείη, ἐρίγδουπος πόσις Ἥρης, οἴκαδέ τʼ ἐλθέμεναι καὶ νόστιμον ἦμαρ ἰδέσθαι· τῷ κέν τοι καὶ κεῖθι θεῷ ὣς εὐχετοῴμην αἰεὶ ἤματα πάντα· σὺ γάρ μʼ ἐβιώσαο, κούρη.
Nausicaa, daughter of great-hearted Alcinous, so may Zeus now grant it, the loud-thundering husband of Hera, that I come home and see the day of return; then even there I would pray to you as to a god, always, all my days; for you brought me back to life, girl.
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus answers Nausicaa’s farewell. He still has not told the Phaeacians his name; he speaks as a grateful guest who longs only to reach home.
A note on this passage
He meets her generously. He names her by her father, prays that Zeus grant his homecoming, and vows that if he reaches Ithaca he will pray to her there as to a god, every day of his life, because she saved him.
The undercurrent is the swerve. She asked to be remembered; he answers with worship — and folds the whole exchange into his one true object, νόστος, the day of return. He calls her κούρη, ‘girl,’ warm but distancing, and lodges his gratitude safely in a future far from her. It is the kindest possible way to say no.
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