Homer, Odyssey 6.41-46

The last few days have been a bit stormy in the UK, so here’s a reminder of calmer weather conditions on Olympus.

ἡ μὲν ἄρ’ ὣς εἰποῦσ’ ἀπέβη γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη
Οὔλυμπόνδ’, ὅθι φασὶ θεῶν ἕδος ἀσφαλὲς αἰεὶ
ἔμμεναι. οὔτ’ ἀνέμοισι τινάσσεται οὔτε ποτ’ ὄμβρῳ
δεύεται οὔτε χιὼν ἐπιπίλναται, ἀλλὰ μάλ’ αἴθρη
πέπταται ἀνέφελος, λευκὴ δ’ ἐπιδέδρομεν αἴγλη·
τῷ ἔνι τέρπονται μάκαρες θεοὶ ἤματα πάντα.

Speaking thus, the shining-eyed Athene left for Olympus, where they say is the gods’ seat that stands immovable for ever. It is not shaken by winds, nor is it ever drenched by rain, nor does snow ever come near it; but cloudless clear air surrounds it, and a gleaming white spreads over it. In this place are the blessed gods glad all their days.

Homer, Iliad 18.94-96

Thetis foretells her son Achilles’ death.

τὸν δ’ αὖτε προσέειπε Θέτις κατὰ δάκρυ χέουσα·
‘ὠκύμορος δή μοι τέκος ἔσσεαι, οἷ’ ἀγορεύεις·
αὐτίκα γάρ τοι ἔπειτα μεθ’ Ἕκτορα πότμος ἑτοῖμος.’

And, letting down a tear, Thetis addressed him in reply: ‘Swift-fated will you be, my son, given what you are saying; for straightway then after Hector is your fate ready.’

Homer, Odyssey 12.184-191

The song of the Sirens.

δεῦρ’ ἄγ’ ἰών, πολύαιν’ Ὀδυσεῦ, μέγα κῦδος Ἀχαιῶν,
νῆα κατάστησον, ἵνα νωιτέρην ὄπ’ ἀκούσῃς.
οὐ γάρ πώ τις τῇδε παρήλασε νηὶ μελαίνῃ,
πρίν γ’ ἡμέων μελίγηρυν ἀπὸ στομάτων ὄπ’ ἀκοῦσαι,
ἀλλ’ ὅ γε τερψάμενος νεῖται καὶ πλείονα εἰδώς.
ἴδμεν γάρ τοι πάνθ’ ὅσ’ ἐνὶ Τροίῃ εὐρείῃ
Ἀργεῖοι Τρῶές τε θεῶν ἰότητι μόγησαν,
ἴδμεν δ’, ὅσσα γένηται ἐπὶ χθονὶ πουλυβοτείρῃ.

Come here as you travel, much-praised Odysseus, the Achaeans’ great glory. Halt your ship, so you may hear our voices. For never yet has any man sailed past in his black ship before he has heard the sweet voice from our mouths, but he delights in it and goes on his way with more knowledge. For we know everything which the Argives and Trojans suffered in wide Troy through the will of the gods, and we know whatever happens on the much-nourishing earth.

Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.20.4-5

nam Apollodorus in libris quibus titulus est περὶ θεῶν scribit quod Aesculapius divinationibus et auguriis praesit. nec mirum: siquidem medicinae atque divinationum consociatae sunt disciplinae. nam medicus vel commoda vel incommoda in corpore futura praenoscit, sicut ait Hippocrates oportere medicum dicere de aegroto τά τε παρεόντα καὶ τὰ προγεγονότα καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα ἔσεσθαι, id est ‘quae sint, quae fuerint, quae mox ventura sequentur’, quod congruit divinationibus quae sciunt τά τ᾽ ἔοντα τά τ᾽ ἐσσόμενα πρό τ᾽ ἐόντα.

Apollodorus writes (in his books whose title is On the Gods) that Aesculapius is in charge of divinations and auguries. And this is not surprising, since the disciplines of medicine and divination are connected; for a doctor knows in advance both the good and bad things which will occur in the body, just as Hippocrates says that a doctor ought to speak, concerning a sick person, of ‘the present things and the things which existed before and the things which shall be’ – that is, ‘What is, what has been, and what soon will come and follow’ – which is in agreement with prophecies, which know ‘What is, what will be, and what was before’.

The two verse quotations are from Virgil (Georgics 4.393 with a slightly different reading) and Homer (Iliad 1.70).

Homer, Odyssey 1.351-2

τὴν γὰρ ἀοιδὴν μᾶλλον ἐπικλείουσ’ ἄνθρωποι,
ἥ τις ἀϊόντεσσι νεωτάτη ἀμφιπέληται.

People praise more the song which has most recently come to their ears.

Homer, Iliad 9.312-313

ἐχθρὸς γάρ μοι κεῖνος ὁμῶς Ἀΐδαο πύλῃσιν
ὅς χ᾽ ἕτερον μὲν κεύθῃ ἐνὶ φρεσίν, ἄλλο δὲ εἴπῃ.

Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who says one thing but conceals another thing in his heart.

Homer, Odyssey 22.412

As mentioned yesterday.

οὐχ ὁσίη κταμένοισιν ἐπ᾽ ἀνδράσιν εὐχετάασθαι.

It is not holy to boast over men who have been killed.

[Homer], Margites fr.2

The comic epic Margites was often attributed to Homer, probably wrongly (although, to be fair, attributing anything to a single person called ‘Homer’ probably doesn’t make much sense anyway…). As we learn here, the poem’s hero was the very opposite of the cunning Odysseus ‘of many wiles’:

τὸν δ’ οὔτ’ ἂρ σκαπτῆρα θεοὶ θέσαν οὔτ’ ἀροτῆρα,
οὔτ’ ἄλλως τι σοφόν· πάσης δ’ ἠμάρτανε τέχνης.

The gods did not make him a digger or a ploughman, or wise at all in anything else: he failed at every skill.

Homer, Odyssey 8.186-193

Odysseus sets a new Phaeacian record for the discus.

ἦ ῥα, καὶ αὐτῷ φάρει ἀναΐξας λάβε δίσκον
μείζονα καὶ πάχετον, στιβαρώτερον οὐκ ὀλίγον περ
ἢ οἵῳ Φαίηκες ἐδίσκεον ἀλλήλοισι.
τόν ῥα περιστρέψας ἧκε στιβαρῆς ἀπὸ χειρός·
βόμβησεν δὲ λίθος· κατὰ δ’ ἔπτηξαν ποτὶ γαίῃ
Φαίηκες δολιχήρετμοι, ναυσικλυτοὶ ἄνδρες,
λᾶος ὑπὸ ῥιπῆς· ὁ δ’ ὑπέρπτατο σήματα πάντων,
ῥίμφα θέων ἀπὸ χειρός.

He spoke, and, jumping up with his cloak around him, he took a bigger discus, thicker and no small amount bulkier than those the Phaeacians used among themselves. Spinning around he sent it from his sturdy hand. And the stone hummed; the Phaeacians of the long oars crouched down to the ground, men renowned for their ships, beneath the stone’s rush. It flew past the marks of all the others, flying lightly from his hand.

Homer, Iliad 11.32-37

Agamemnon picks up his shield.

ἂν δ’ ἕλετ’ ἀμφιβρότην πολυδαίδαλον ἀσπίδα θοῦριν
καλήν, ἣν πέρι μὲν κύκλοι δέκα χάλκεοι ἦσαν,
ἐν δέ οἱ ὀμφαλοὶ ἦσαν ἐείκοσι κασσιτέροιο
λευκοί, ἐν δὲ μέσοισιν ἔην μέλανος κυάνοιο.
τῇ δ’ ἐπὶ μὲν Γοργὼ βλοσυρῶπις ἐστεφάνωτο
δεινὸν δερκομένη, περὶ δὲ Δεῖμός τε Φόβος τε.

And he took up the man-surrounding elaborately-wrought impetuous shield, a thing of beauty: round it were ten circles of bronze, and upon it were twenty pale bosses of tin, and, in the centre, was one of dark blue. And upon it, wreath-like, was the grim-faced Gorgon with her horrific gaze, and around it were Fear and Terror.