Odyssey 1.309 · Book 1, lines 309–313
The parting gift — a treasure to keep
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ἀλλʼ ἄγε νῦν ἐπίμεινον, ἐπειγόμενός περ ὁδοῖο, ὄφρα λοεσσάμενός τε τεταρπόμενός τε φίλον κῆρ, δῶρον ἔχων ἐπὶ νῆα κίῃς, χαίρων ἐνὶ θυμῷ, τιμῆεν, μάλα καλόν, ὅ τοι κειμήλιον ἔσται ἐξ ἐμεῦ, οἷα φίλοι ξεῖνοι ξείνοισι διδοῦσι.
But come now, wait, eager though you are to be off, so that, bathed and gladdened in your own heart, you may go to your ship, bearing a gift, rejoicing in spirit — a prized thing, very fair, which will be your heirloom from me, such as dear guest-friends give to guest-friends.
Word by word
The setting
Telemachus presses the stranger to stay for the full guest-welcome before sailing — a bath, rest, and a parting gift.
A note on this passage
Telemachus offers the full guest-departure: a bath, rest to gladden the heart, and a parting gift to carry to the ship. He names it a κειμήλιον, a treasure to be kept, ‘such as guest-friends give to guest-friends’ — the closing formula of the hospitality exchange, spoken exactly right.
The undercurrent is who is speaking it. A boy whose house is being eaten alive by guests who give nothing spontaneously enacts the whole code of xenia correctly: the bath, the honor, the reciprocal gift. The suitors take; Telemachus, host of a plundered hall, still knows how to give. The scene measures the ruin in the house by the courtesy of the one who has kept it.
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