Odyssey 2.252 · Book 2, lines 252–256
The assembly dismissed
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ἀλλʼ ἄγε, λαοὶ μὲν σκίδνασθʼ ἐπὶ ἔργα ἕκαστος, τούτῳ δʼ ὀτρυνέει Μέντωρ ὁδὸν ἠδʼ Ἁλιθέρσης, οἵ τέ οἱ ἐξ ἀρχῆς πατρώιοί εἰσιν ἑταῖροι. ἀλλʼ ὀίω, καὶ δηθὰ καθήμενος ἀγγελιάων πεύσεται εἰν Ἰθάκῃ, τελέει δʼ ὁδὸν οὔ ποτε ταύτην.
But come, let the people scatter, each to his own tasks; and Mentor will speed this one on his journey, and Halitherses too, who are his father's companions from of old. But I think that, sitting a long while, he will get his news here in Ithaca, and never accomplish this journey of his.
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Leocritus dissolves the debate: the crowd should break up, Telemachus's father-friends can outfit his voyage if they like, but it will come to nothing.
A note on this passage
Leocritus ends by simply sending everyone home. Let the crowd scatter to its work; let Mentor and Halitherses, the old family friends, busy themselves with the boy's trip if they wish. He grants the journey the way one grants a child a game — certain it will never happen.
The undercurrent is contempt disguised as procedure. By adjourning the assembly he denies Telemachus the one thing a plea to the people can win: public witness, a community put on the record. He predicts the boy will sit idle and 'get his news in Ithaca,' never guessing the ship is already as good as launched.
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