Odyssey 1.80 · Book 1, lines 80–83
Athena answers: if the gods truly will it
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τὸν δʼ ἠμείβετʼ ἔπειτα θεά, γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη·
Athena — ὦ πάτερ ἡμέτερε Κρονίδη, ὕπατε κρειόντων, εἰ μὲν δὴ νῦν τοῦτο φίλον μακάρεσσι θεοῖσιν, νοστῆσαι Ὀδυσῆα πολύφρονα ὅνδε δόμονδε,
Then the goddess answered him, gleaming-eyed Athena: O father of us, son of Cronos, highest of lords, if indeed now this is pleasing to the blessed gods, that wise Odysseus return to his own home,
Word by word
The setting
Athena seizes the opening. She addresses her father with his full titles, then restates his own proposal as a condition — the hinge on which the whole plan turns: that the gods really mean to bring Odysseus home.
A note on this passage
Athena takes the floor with the elaborate courtesy owed to Zeus — father, son of Cronos, highest of lords — then restates his own proposal as a condition. If the gods truly wish Odysseus home, then a plan follows.
The undercurrent is the daughter managing the father. Athena already has the plan; the deference is technique. By framing the homecoming as Zeus's settled will rather than her own campaign, she binds him to it before she has said one word about how it will be done.
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