Odyssey 3.365 · Book 3, lines 365–370
The excuse completed: a debt, a night, a request for horses
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ἔνθα κε λεξαίμην κοίλῃ παρὰ νηὶ μελαίνῃ νῦν· ἀτὰρ ἠῶθεν μετὰ Καύκωνας μεγαθύμους εἶμʼ ἔνθα χρεῖός μοι ὀφέλλεται, οὔ τι νέον γε οὐδʼ ὀλίγον. σὺ δὲ τοῦτον, ἐπεὶ τεὸν ἵκετο δῶμα, πέμψον σὺν δίφρῳ τε καὶ υἱέι· δὸς δέ οἱ ἵππους, οἵ τοι ἐλαφρότατοι θείειν καὶ κάρτος ἄριστοι.
There I would lie down beside the hollow black ship now; but at dawn I go to the great-hearted Cauconians, where a debt is owed me, not a new one at all nor a small one. But you, since he has come to your house, send this man off with a chariot and your son; and give him horses, which are swiftest to run and best in strength.
Word by word
The setting
Mentor finishes the courteous refusal begun above: he will sleep by his ship and leave at dawn on business among the Cauconians. Then he turns the request to Nestor — send Telemachus onward with a chariot and one of your sons, and give him your fastest horses.
A note on this passage
The speech does two ordinary jobs at once. First it disengages the speaker — a night by the black ship, an early start, an errand and an outstanding debt to collect among a neighboring people. Then it hands Telemachus off: Nestor is asked to speed the young man on with a chariot, an escort-son, and swift horses. It is the practical machinery of a journey being arranged in plain view.
Under the errand-talk is the working of xenia. The guest does not simply leave; the guest's onward passage becomes the host's responsibility, discharged with vehicle, companion, and animals. Athena is quietly steering the plot: Telemachus must reach Sparta, and she frames the next leg as a favor a good host cannot refuse.
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