Odyssey 3.75 · Book 3, lines 75–78
Athena puts courage in him
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τὸν δʼ αὖ Τηλέμαχος πεπνυμένος ἀντίον ηὔδα θαρσήσας· αὐτὴ γὰρ ἐνὶ φρεσὶ θάρσος Ἀθήνη θῆχʼ, ἵνα μιν περὶ πατρὸς ἀποιχομένοιο ἔροιτο ἠδʼ ἵνα μιν κλέος ἐσθλὸν ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ἔχῃσιν·
And him in turn wise Telemachus answered in reply, taking courage; for Athena herself had set courage in his heart, so that he might ask him about his absent father, and so that noble fame might attend him among men.
Word by word
The setting
Before Telemachus speaks, the narrator explains why the shy young man can face the great old king at all: Athena has put boldness in his breast — and she has a double purpose in doing it.
A note on this passage
A reply-formula opens out into motive. Wise Telemachus answered, taking courage — and then Homer steps in to say where the courage came from: Athena set it in his breast, and for two reasons. So that he could bring himself to ask after his lost father, and so that good report might attach to him among men.
That second reason is the larger one. The goddess is not only steadying a nervous boy; she is engineering his growing-up. κλέος — fame, the being-spoken-of that outlasts a man — is the prize the Iliad's heroes died for, and here it is quietly promised to a son who has done nothing yet. The journey to Pylos is, underneath, a machine for making Telemachus a name.
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