Odyssey 1.303 · Book 1, lines 303–305
The guest takes his leave
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αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν ἐπὶ νῆα θοὴν κατελεύσομαι ἤδη ἠδʼ ἑτάρους, οἵ πού με μάλʼ ἀσχαλόωσι μένοντες· σοὶ δʼ αὐτῷ μελέτω, καὶ ἐμῶν ἐμπάζεο μύθων.
But now I will go down to my swift ship and my companions, who must surely be chafing much, as they wait for me; let this be your own concern, and take my words to heart.
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The setting
The speech ends with the visitor's farewell formula. Mentes must go back to his ship and his waiting crew; the counsel is delivered, and the responsibility now passes to Telemachus. (Moments later the disguised goddess will slip away like a bird.)
A note on this passage
The speech closes with the guest's ordinary courtesy: he must get back to his ship and the crew who are growing restless. It is the formulaic exit of a visitor, breaking off the long counsel and handing the matter over — ‘let this be your own concern.’
But the leave-taking is also the god's escape hatch. Mentes is Athena, and the return to the waiting ship is her way out of the scene; a few lines on she will vanish upward like a bird, and Telemachus will feel the visitor was more than a man. The divine method is here in miniature: plant the impulse, name the duty as the mortal's own, and withdraw.
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