§20.65ἐν προχοῇς δὲ βάλοι ἀψορρόου Ὠκεανοῖο. §20.66ὡς δʼ ὅτε Πανδαρέου κούρας ἀνέλοντο θύελλαι· §20.67τῇσι τοκῆας μὲν φθῖσαν θεοί, αἱ δʼ ἐλίποντο §20.68ὀρφαναὶ ἐν μεγάροισι, κόμισσε δὲ δῖʼ Ἀφροδίτη §20.69τυρῷ καὶ μέλιτι γλυκερῷ καὶ ἡδέϊ οἴνῳ· §20.70Ἥρη δʼ αὐτῇσιν περὶ πασέων δῶκε γυναικῶν §20.71εἶδος καὶ πινυτήν, μῆκος δʼ ἔπορʼ Ἄρτεμις ἁγνή, §20.72ἔργα δʼ Ἀθηναίη δέδαε κλυτὰ ἐργάζεσθαι. §20.73εὖτʼ Ἀφροδίτη δῖα προσέστιχε μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον, §20.74κούρῃς αἰτήσουσα τέλος θαλεροῖο γάμοιο— §20.75ἐς Δία τερπικέραυνον, ὁ γάρ τʼ εὖ οἶδεν ἅπαντα, §20.76μοῖράν τʼ ἀμμορίην τε καταθνητῶν ἀνθρώπων— §20.77τόφρα δὲ τὰς κούρας ἅρπυιαι ἀνηρείψαντο §20.78καί ῥʼ ἔδοσαν στυγερῇσιν ἐρινύσιν ἀμφιπολεύειν· §20.79ὣς ἔμʼ ἀϊστώσειαν Ὀλύμπια δώματʼ ἔχοντες, §20.80ἠέ μʼ ἐϋπλόκαμος βάλοι Ἄρτεμις, ὄφρʼ Ὀδυσῆα §20.81ὀσσομένη καὶ γαῖαν ὕπο στυγερὴν ἀφικοίμην, §20.82μηδέ τι χείρονος ἀνδρὸς ἐϋφραίνοιμι νόημα. §20.83ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν καὶ ἀνεκτὸν ἔχει κακόν, ὁππότε κέν τις §20.84ἤματα μὲν κλαίῃ, πυκινῶς ἀκαχήμενος ἦτορ, §20.85νύκτας δʼ ὕπνος ἔχῃσιν—ὁ γάρ τʼ ἐπέλησεν ἁπάντων, §20.86ἐσθλῶν ἠδὲ κακῶν, ἐπεὶ ἄρ βλέφαρʼ ἀμφικαλύψῃ— §20.87αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ καὶ ὀνείρατʼ ἐπέσσευεν κακὰ δαίμων. §20.88τῇδε γὰρ αὖ μοι νυκτὶ παρέδραθεν εἴκελος αὐτῷ, §20.89τοῖος ἐὼν οἷος ᾖεν ἅμα στρατῷ· αὐτὰρ ἐμὸν κῆρ §20.90χαῖρʼ, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἐφάμην ὄναρ ἔμμεναι, ἀλλʼ ὕπαρ ἤδη. §20.91ὣς ἔφατʼ, αὐτίκα δὲ χρυσόθρονος ἤλυθεν Ἠώς. §20.92τῆς δʼ ἄρα κλαιούσης ὄπα σύνθετο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς· §20.93μερμήριζε δʼ ἔπειτα, δόκησε δέ οἱ κατὰ θυμὸν §20.94ἤδη γιγνώσκουσα παρεστάμεναι κεφαλῆφι. §20.95χλαῖναν μὲν συνελὼν καὶ κώεα, τοῖσιν ἐνεῦδεν, §20.96ἐς μέγαρον κατέθηκεν ἐπὶ θρόνου, ἐκ δὲ βοείην §20.97θῆκε θύραζε φέρων, Διὶ δʼ εὔξατο χεῖρας ἀνασχών· §20.98Ζεῦ πάτερ, εἴ μʼ ἐθέλοντες ἐπὶ τραφερήν τε καὶ ὑγρὴν §20.99ἤγετʼ ἐμὴν ἐς γαῖαν, ἐπεί μʼ ἐκακώσατε λίην, §20.100φήμην τίς μοι φάσθω ἐγειρομένων ἀνθρώπων §20.101ἔνδοθεν, ἔκτοσθεν δὲ Διὸς τέρας ἄλλο φανήτω. §20.102ὣς ἔφατʼ εὐχόμενος· τοῦ δʼ ἔκλυε μητίετα Ζεύς, §20.103αὐτίκα δʼ ἐβρόντησεν ἀπʼ αἰγλήεντος Ὀλύμπου, §20.104ὑψόθεν ἐκ νεφέων· γήθησε δὲ δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς. §20.105φήμην δʼ ἐξ οἴκοιο γυνὴ προέηκεν ἀλετρὶς §20.106πλησίον, ἔνθʼ ἄρα οἱ μύλαι ἥατο ποιμένι λαῶν, §20.107τῇσιν δώδεκα πᾶσαι ἐπερρώοντο γυναῖκες §20.108ἄλφιτα τεύχουσαι καὶ ἀλείατα, μυελὸν ἀνδρῶν. §20.109αἱ μὲν ἄρʼ ἄλλαι εὗδον, ἐπεὶ κατὰ πυρὸν ἄλεσσαν, §20.110ἡ δὲ μίʼ οὔπω παύετʼ, ἀφαυροτάτη δʼ ἐτέτυκτο· §20.111ἥ ῥα μύλην στήσασα ἔπος φάτο, σῆμα ἄνακτι· §20.112Ζεῦ πάτερ, ὅς τε θεοῖσι καὶ ἀνθρώποισιν ἀνάσσεις, §20.113ἦ μεγάλʼ ἐβρόντησας ἀπʼ οὐρανοῦ ἀστερόεντος, §20.114οὐδέ ποθι νέφος ἐστί· τέρας νύ τεῳ τόδε φαίνεις. §20.115κρῆνον νῦν καὶ ἐμοὶ δειλῇ ἔπος, ὅττι κεν εἴπω· §20.116μνηστῆρες πύματόν τε καὶ ὕστατον ἤματι τῷδε §20.117ἐν μεγάροις Ὀδυσῆος ἑλοίατο δαῖτʼ ἐρατεινήν, §20.118οἳ δή μοι καμάτῳ θυμαλγέι· γούνατʼ ἔλυσαν §20.119ἄλφιτα τευχούσῃ· νῦν ὕστατα δειπνήσειαν. §20.120ὣς ἄρʼ ἔφη, χαῖρεν δὲ κλεηδόνι δῖος Ὀδυσσεὺς §20.121Ζηνός τε βροντῇ· φάτο γὰρ τίσασθαι ἀλείτας. §20.122αἱ δʼ ἄλλαι δμῳαὶ κατὰ δώματα κάλʼ Ὀδυσῆος §20.123ἀγρόμεναι ἀνέκαιον ἐπʼ ἐσχάρῃ ἀκάματον πῦρ. §20.124Τηλέμαχος δʼ εὐνῆθεν ἀνίστατο, ἰσόθεος φώς, §20.125εἵματα ἑσσάμενος· περὶ δὲ ξίφος ὀξὺ θέτʼ ὤμῳ· §20.126ποσσὶ δʼ ὑπὸ λιπαροῖσιν ἐδήσατο καλὰ πέδιλα, §20.127εἵλετο δʼ ἄλκιμον ἔγχος, ἀκαχμένον ὀξέι· χαλκῷ· §20.128στῆ δʼ ἄρʼ ἐπʼ οὐδὸν ἰών, πρὸς δʼ Εὐρύκλειαν ἔειπε· §20.129μαῖα φίλη, τὸν ξεῖνον ἐτιμήσασθʼ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ
\nand cast me into the outpourings of backward-flowing Oceanus.\n\nEven as when the tempests snatched away the daughters of Pandareus;\n\nwhose parents the gods had slain, and they were left\n\norphans in the halls, and noble Aphrodite nurtured them\n\nwith cheese, and sweet honey, and pleasant wine;\n\nand Hera gave them beauty and wisdom beyond all women,\n\nand chaste Artemis gave them stature,\n\nand Athena taught them to work glorious handiwork.\n\nBut when noble Aphrodite went to high Olympus\n\nto ask for the girls the accomplishment of fruitful marriage—\n\nunto Zeus who hurls the thunderbolt, for he well knows all things,\n\nboth the fate and the fatelessness of mortal men—\n\nmeanwhile the Harpies snatched away the maidens\n\nand gave them to serve the hateful Furies;\n\neven so may those who hold Olympic dwellings blot me out,\n\nor may fair-haired Artemis strike me, so that I may go beneath the hateful earth\n\nbeholding Odysseus,\n\nand never gladden the mind of any lesser man.\n\nYet this evil is even bearable, when a man\n\nweeps by day, sore troubled in his heart,\n\nbut by night sleep holds him—for sleep makes one forget all things,\n\nboth good and evil, when once it covers the eyelids—\n\nbut to me a god sends even evil dreams.\n\nFor this very night there slept by my side one like to him,\n\njust such as he was when he went with the host; and my heart\n\nrejoiced, since I thought it was no dream, but already reality.\n\nSo she spoke, and straightway came golden-throned Dawn.\n\nAnd noble Odysseus heard the voice of her weeping;\n\nthen he pondered, and it seemed to him in his heart\n\nthat she already knew him and was standing by his head.\n\nHe gathered up the cloak and fleeces in which he slept,\n\nand laid them on a chair in the hall, and took the ox-hide\n\nand carried it outside, and lifted up his hands and prayed to Zeus:\n\n"Father Zeus, if of your goodwill you have led me over dry land and sea\n\nto my own country, after you have afflicted me sorely,\n\nlet someone of those who are waking within utter a word of omen for me,\n\nand let another sign from Zeus be shown outside."\n\nSo he spoke in prayer, and wise Zeus heard him,\n\nand straightway he thundered from radiant Olympus,\n\nfrom high among the clouds; and noble Odysseus rejoiced.\n\nAnd a woman grinding corn uttered a word of omen from the house\n\nnearby, where the mills of the shepherd of the people were set,\n\nat which twelve women in all plied their tasks\n\nmaking barley-meal and wheat-flour, the marrow of men.\n\nNow the others were sleeping, since they had ground their wheat,\n\nbut one was not yet resting, for she was the weakest of all;\n\nshe stayed her mill and spoke a word, a sign to her master:\n\n"Father Zeus, who rule over gods and men,\n\nsurely you have thundered loudly from the starry heaven,\n\nthough there is no cloud anywhere; indeed you show this sign to someone.\n\nFulfill now even for wretched me the word that I speak:\n\nmay the suitors on this day for the last and final time\n\nhold their pleasant feast in the halls of Odysseus,\n\nthey who have loosened my knees with heart-breaking labor\n\nas I grind the barley-meal; may they now dine for the very last time."\n\nSo she spoke, and noble Odysseus rejoiced in the word of omen\n\nand in the thunder of Zeus; for he thought to take vengeance on the sinners.\n\nAnd the other handmaids gathered through the fair halls of Odysseus\n\nand kindled upon the hearth the unwearied fire.\n\nAnd Telemachus rose from his bed, a godlike man,\n\nand put on his garments, and slung a sharp sword about his shoulder,\n\nand bound his fair sandals beneath his smooth feet,\n\nand took a mighty spear, tipped with sharp bronze;\n\nand he went and stood upon the threshold, and spoke to Eurycleia:\n\n"Dear nurse, did you honor the stranger in the house