Odyssey 9.556 · Book 9, lines 556–559
Feasting until the dark
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ὣς τότε μὲν πρόπαν ἦμαρ ἐς ἠέλιον καταδύντα ἥμεθα δαινύμενοι κρέα τʼ ἄσπετα καὶ μέθυ ἡδύ· ἦμος δʼ ἠέλιος κατέδυ καὶ ἐπὶ κνέφας ἦλθε, δὴ τότε κοιμήθημεν ἐπὶ ῥηγμῖνι θαλάσσης.
So then for that whole day, until the sun went down, we sat feasting on meat past counting and sweet wine; and when the sun had set and the darkness came over, then we lay down to sleep on the surf of the sea.
Word by word
The setting
The sacrifice is made. What follows is the fixed epic rhythm of a day at the shore: the long feast, the sun going down, sleep beside the sea.
A note on this passage
A type-scene, the feast at day's end: the whole day long, until sundown, the men sit eating meat past counting and drinking sweet wine, and when the dark comes on they sleep on the beach.
The undercurrent is how the poem folds grief into routine. Six comrades are dead, eaten alive; the god has just resolved to sink the rest. Yet the fixed formula rolls on — feast, sunset, sleep — as it would after any day. The survivors eat well because they are survivors, and the plain rhythm is exactly what makes the shadow over it land.
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Odyssey 9.556 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/9.556/