Odyssey 1.425 · Book 1, lines 425–427
Telemachus climbs to his high chamber
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Τηλέμαχος δʼ, ὅθι οἱ θάλαμος περικαλλέος αὐλῆς ὑψηλὸς δέδμητο περισκέπτῳ ἐνὶ χώρῳ, ἔνθʼ ἔβη εἰς εὐνὴν πολλὰ φρεσὶ μερμηρίζων.
And Telemachus, where his bedchamber had been built high in the beautiful court, in a place of wide outlook — there he went to his bed, pondering many things in his mind.
Word by word
The setting
Telemachus is Odysseus's son, on the night after the disguised Athena has urged him to grow up and go seek word of his father. He withdraws from the emptied hall to his own upstairs bedchamber.
A note on this passage
The scene narrows from the crowded hall to a single figure. Telemachus climbs to his own bedchamber — built high, in the fine court, set where it catches the view all round — and lies down with his head full.
One word carries the change: μερμηρίζων, the back-and-forth turning-over of a mind that will not settle. This morning Telemachus was a boy who let the suitors run his house; tonight a stranger has told him to sail after news of his father, and he cannot stop working at it. The high, separate room is his too — the house's heir has his own threshold, and he has just begun to cross it.
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