Odyssey 1.314 · Book 1, lines 314–318
Athena declines — keep the gift for my return
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τὸν δʼ ἠμείβετʼ ἔπειτα θεά, γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη·
Athena (as Mentes) — μή μʼ ἔτι νῦν κατέρυκε, λιλαιόμενόν περ ὁδοῖο. δῶρον δʼ ὅττι κέ μοι δοῦναι φίλον ἦτορ ἀνώγῃ, αὖτις ἀνερχομένῳ δόμεναι οἶκόνδε φέρεσθαι, καὶ μάλα καλὸν ἑλών· σοὶ δʼ ἄξιον ἔσται ἀμοιβῆς.
Then the goddess, bright-eyed Athena, answered him: “Do not hold me back any longer now, longing though I am for the road. And whatever gift my own heart bids you give me, give it back as I return, to carry homeward, choosing a truly fine one; and it will be worth its exchange to you.”
Word by word
The setting
Athena, still in the guise of Mentes, replies to Telemachus's offer, declining to stay and deferring the gift to a later return.
A note on this passage
Athena declines, gently: do not detain me, I am eager to go. Keep the gift for my return, and choose a fine one — it will earn its exchange. She honors the guest-bond Telemachus has offered while sliding out of the hall he wants to keep her in.
The undercurrent is that the return she names will never happen — not as Mentes. The gift is deferred to a homecoming that belongs to the disguise, not the god; the reciprocity she promises she will instead pay in the currency of the whole poem, by setting his journey in motion. A mortal's parting courtesy is answered by a divinity already halfway out the door.
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