Odyssey 2.371 · Book 2, lines 371–376
A god is in this plan
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τὴν δʼ αὖ Τηλέμαχος πεπνυμένος ἀντίον ηὔδα·
Telemachus — θάρσει, μαῖʼ, ἐπεὶ οὔ τοι ἄνευ θεοῦ ἥδε γε βουλή. ἀλλʼ ὄμοσον μὴ μητρὶ φίλῃ τάδε μυθήσασθαι, πρίν γʼ ὅτʼ ἂν ἑνδεκάτη τε δυωδεκάτη τε γένηται, ἢ αὐτὴν ποθέσαι καὶ ἀφορμηθέντος ἀκοῦσαι, ὡς ἂν μὴ κλαίουσα κατὰ χρόα καλὸν ἰάπτῃ.
Then in turn wise Telemachus answered her: Take heart, nurse, since this very plan is not without a god. But swear to tell nothing of this to my dear mother, until, when the eleventh or twelfth day comes, or until she herself misses me and hears I have set out — so that she may not mar her fair skin with weeping.
Word by word
The setting
Telemachus answers the nurse. He steadies her with a claim he cannot yet fully know is true — that a god stands behind his voyage — and binds her with an oath to keep his mother in the dark.
A note on this passage
Telemachus does two grown-up things at once. He reassures the frightened woman with a theological claim — this is not a whim, a god is in it — and then takes command of the household's information: swear to say nothing to my mother for eleven or twelve days. He is managing Penelope's grief the way an adult manages a fragile parent.
The telling detail is his reason: so she will not spoil her fair skin with weeping. It is tender and calculating together. He has learned that in this house a woman's face is watched — by suitors appraising a prize — and he shields his mother from the wear of tears even as he slips out from under her care.
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