Odyssey 9.432 · Book 9, lines 432–435
The great ram
Read the full text in our reader
ἀρνειὸς γὰρ ἔην μήλων ὄχʼ ἄριστος ἁπάντων, τοῦ κατὰ νῶτα λαβών, λασίην ὑπὸ γαστέρʼ ἐλυσθεὶς κείμην· αὐτὰρ χερσὶν ἀώτου θεσπεσίοιο νωλεμέως στρεφθεὶς ἐχόμην τετληότι θυμῷ.
for there was a ram, by far the best of all the flock; grasping him by the back, curled up under his shaggy belly, I lay there; and with my hands, twisted unceasingly into the wondrous fleece, I held on with an enduring heart.
Word by word
The setting
Now Odysseus's own escape. There was one ram, the finest in the flock; he grips its back, curls beneath its shaggy belly, and clings to the thick fleece, holding on with a stubborn heart.
A note on this passage
The finish of the rig, and its riskiest part. There is no third ram to hide Odysseus, so he takes the biggest one alone, hangs face-up under its belly, and locks his fingers into the wool. The phrase τετληότι θυμῷ, 'with an enduring heart,' names the whole ordeal: he simply has to hold on.
The undercurrent is the quiet irony that this ram is the Cyclops's favourite, the very one the giant will stop to talk to at the door. Odysseus's life hangs, literally, from the animal the monster loves best — and the fleece he clutches is called θεσπέσιος, 'wondrous,' the same register of awe the poem gives to divine things. The escape rides on the beauty of the beast.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Odyssey 9.432 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 9.432 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/9.432/