Book XXIV · Final Battle and Truce · Scene 4 of 4

Peace Restored

Athena restrains Odysseus, seals peace

Warns Zeus’ anger may fall on him
Odysseus breaks off the pursuit at once
Still wearing Mentor’s shape and voice
Covenant ends the strife for good

Who is here

Odysseus Storm-tossed king of Ithaca
Zeus Sky-father who allows the return
Mentor Old friend left in charge
Athena Odysseus' unwearied divine patron
Laertes Odysseus' father on the farm

The text

53“Son of Laertes, nobly born and wise,
Odysseus, hold your hand; restrain the rage
Of deadly combat, lest the god who wields
The thunder, Cronus’ son, be wroth with you.”

54She spoke, and gladly he obeyed; and then
Athena, the child of aegis-bearing Zeus,
Plighted, in Mentor’s form with Mentor’s voice,
A covenant of peace between the foes.

Homer, The Odyssey, translated by William Cullen Bryant, 1871. Public domain.