HOMER NODS - HOMERO DORMITA

Sometimes Homer nods.
A veces dormita Homero.

 The expression is as old as Western literature itself, and as forgiving as it is wise. It reminds us that even the greatest minds, the most consummate craftsmen, are not immune to error. The best scribe may blot his page; the finest swordsman may fall to a single thrust. “Yes, I made a mistake,” one might say, “but remember that sometimes Homer nods.”

    The phrase dates back to Horace (quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus) and has long been used to underscore a simple, humane truth: genius does not confer infallibility. Talent, however towering, remains human.
    A modern illustration of this idea can be found in an article published more than a quarter of a century ago by B. C. Goodpasture, the long-standing editor of the Gospel Advocate. Significantly titled Homer Sometimes Nods, the piece stresses that all human authors—regardless of their brilliance or experience—will occasionally “nod” or “slip”, despite their utmost care. Perfection, in other words, is not part of the human contract.
    Spanish letters have made generous and elegant use of the same idea. Baltasar Gracián, in his Oráculo manual y arte de la prudencia (1647), observes with characteristic sharpness:
“El mismo Homero dormita tal vez, y cae Alejandro de su estado y de su engaño. Dependen las cosas de muchas circunstancias…”
    Centuries later, Ramiro de Maeztu would echo the thought in his reflections on La Celestina:
“Pero también Homero duerme a ratos, y es cuanto puede decirse para explicarse esta funesta debilidad de Celestina.”
    And as recently as 2004, a literary column in El Cultural (El Mundo) reminded readers of the old Latin saying, glossing it neatly: "a veces dormita Homero", that is, even great poets show an occasional weakness.
    The endurance of the phrase—across languages, centuries, and genres—suggests that we still need its gentle admonition. It tempers severity with understanding, criticism with perspective. Above all, it invites us to judge errors not as moral failures, but as inevitable pauses in the long, imperfect labour of creation.
    So yes, an error was made.
    But remember: sometimes Homer nods.