Odyssey 1.156 · Book 1, lines 156–157
Telemachus leans close
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αὐτὰρ Τηλέμαχος προσέφη γλαυκῶπιν Ἀθήνην, ἄγχι σχὼν κεφαλήν, ἵνα μὴ πευθοίαθʼ οἱ ἄλλοι·
But Telemachus addressed bright-eyed Athena, holding his head close, so that the others might not overhear.
Word by word
The setting
Athena, disguised as the Taphian lord Mentes, has been welcomed and seated at the feast in Odysseus's hall, where the suitors eat and call for the bard. Telemachus draws his head near hers so the others cannot hear, and begins to speak.
A note on this passage
The line is pure stage-direction, and it is doing real work. Telemachus physically leans in — ἄγχι σχὼν κεφαλήν, ‘holding his head close’ — so the suitors filling the hall will not catch what he says. The whole speech that follows is spoken under his breath, in his own house, to a guest.
That lowered voice is the political fact of Book 1. A young man cannot speak freely in his own home; the suitors are the audience he must hide from. And the confidant is a disguised goddess — the one figure in the room stronger than the men eating him out of house, though he cannot know it. The secrecy that looks like weakness is the first thread of his rescue.
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Odyssey 1.156 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/1.156/