Odyssey 9.41 · Book 9, lines 41–44
The spoil divided, the retreat refused
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ἐκ πόλιος δʼ ἀλόχους καὶ κτήματα πολλὰ λαβόντες δασσάμεθʼ, ὡς μή τίς μοι ἀτεμβόμενος κίοι ἴσης. ἔνθʼ ἦ τοι μὲν ἐγὼ διερῷ ποδὶ φευγέμεν ἡμέας ἠνώγεα, τοὶ δὲ μέγα νήπιοι οὐκ ἐπίθοντο.
Out of the city the wives and many possessions we took and shared them out, so that no one, cheated by me, should go without an equal share. There I commanded that we flee on nimble foot, but the great fools would not obey.
Word by word
The setting
With Ismarus taken, Odysseus follows the raider's code: share the plunder evenly, then get out fast before the countryside rallies. His men, drunk on victory, will not leave — the first of the crew's fatal disobediences.
A note on this passage
The raid is finished cleanly. They carry off the women and the goods and divide the spoil so that no man is short-changed of his fair portion; then Odysseus orders a swift withdrawal. The men, flush with success, refuse to go.
The first ruin of the homecoming is not a monster but the crew. Odysseus is careful and correct — the even share is a point of honour — and it does not matter, because his men will not obey. The pattern sounds here in miniature: again and again the companions, not the sea, undo the return. The poem's word for them is νήπιοι, the fools who bring their own doom.
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