Odyssey 3.481 · Book 3, lines 481–485
The chariot leaves Pylos
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ἂν δʼ ἄρα Τηλέμαχος περικαλλέα βήσετο δίφρον· πὰρ δʼ ἄρα Νεστορίδης Πεισίστρατος, ὄρχαμος ἀνδρῶν, ἐς δίφρον τʼ ἀνέβαινε καὶ ἡνία λάζετο χερσί, μάστιξεν δʼ ἐλάαν, τὼ δʼ οὐκ ἀέκοντε πετέσθην ἐς πεδίον, λιπέτην δὲ Πύλου αἰπὺ πτολίεθρον.
Telemachus stepped up into the beautiful chariot; and at his side Peisistratus, son of Nestor, leader of men, climbed into the chariot and grasped the reins in his hands; he cracked the whip to drive them on, and the pair, not unwilling, flew onto the plain, and left behind the steep citadel of Pylos.
Word by word
The setting
Nestor has entertained Telemachus at Pylos and now sends him on to Sparta to question Menelaus. As Book 3 nears its close, the young man boards the chariot with Nestor's son Peisistratus for the overland journey.
A note on this passage
The scene is a departure done as pure motion. Telemachus climbs aboard; Nestor's son Peisistratus mounts beside him, takes the reins, and lays on the whip; the horses spring away, and sandy Pylos drops behind them. Nestor has given his guest a chariot, a team, and his own son as escort — hospitality discharged in full.
The small marvel is the phrase οὐκ ἀέκοντε, 'not unwilling.' Homer denies the horses' reluctance rather than asserting their eagerness — a formula that lets the animals share the travellers' will to be gone. The pair fly because nothing in them holds back, and the line carries Telemachus out of the old man's long welcome and onto the open road at last.
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