Odyssey 3.40 · Book 3, lines 40–42
The golden cup, and a word to Athena
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δῶκε δʼ ἄρα σπλάγχνων μοίρας ἐν δʼ οἶνον ἔχευεν χρυσείῳ δέπαϊ· δειδισκόμενος δὲ προσηύδα Παλλάδʼ Ἀθηναίην κούρην Διὸς αἰγιόχοιο·
And he gave them portions of the innards, and poured wine into a golden cup; and pledging her, he addressed Pallas Athena, daughter of Zeus who bears the aegis:
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The setting
At a Greek sacrifice the innards (σπλάγχνα) are roasted and shared first, before the main meal. Peisistratus serves his guests and lifts a cup to the elder of the two — not knowing this 'Mentor' is Athena herself.
A note on this passage
The host completes the ritual: the sacred first portions shared, wine poured into gold, the cup lifted to the honored guest with a word of greeting. The scene runs through the fixed steps of a sacrifice-feast, each gesture doing its exact social work.
The undercurrent is dramatic irony, and Homer plants it in the naming. Peisistratus is pledging a courteous stranger; the poet tells us it is Pallas Athena, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus. The young man's instinct — offer the cup to the elder first — turns out to be reverence paid, unknowingly, to a goddess. The formula 'daughter of Zeus' hangs over a human courtesy the human cannot see the size of.
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