Odyssey 3.96 · Book 3, lines 96–101
Do not spare me — the oath of the father's service
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Telemachus — μηδέ τί μʼ αἰδόμενος μειλίσσεο μηδʼ ἐλεαίρων, ἀλλʼ εὖ μοι κατάλεξον ὅπως ἤντησας ὀπωπῆς. λίσσομαι, εἴ ποτέ τοί τι πατὴρ ἐμός, ἐσθλὸς Ὀδυσσεύς, ἢ ἔπος ἠέ τι ἔργον ὑποστὰς ἐξετέλεσσε δήμῳ ἔνι Τρώων, ὅθι πάσχετε πήματʼ Ἀχαιοί, τῶν νῦν μοι μνῆσαι, καί μοι νημερτὲς ἐνίσπες.
And do not, out of respect, soften your words to me at all, nor out of pity; but tell me plainly how you came upon the sight of him. I beseech you — if ever my father, noble Odysseus, pledged you anything, word or deed, and made it good in the land of the Trojans, where you Achaeans suffered woes — remember these things now for me, and tell me the truth.
Word by word
The setting
Still at Nestor's knees, Telemachus asks not to be shielded from the truth by pity, and then swears the classic suppliant's oath: by any service Odysseus ever did for Nestor at Troy, let the old king now repay it with an honest account.
A note on this passage
This is the formal shape of a supplication. Telemachus first refuses the mercy that would blunt the truth — do not soften it out of respect or pity — then stakes his whole claim not on himself but on his father: by any promise Odysseus kept for you at Troy, pay it back to me now in plain speech.
The undercurrent is the honor-economy the request runs on. A favor once done is a debt still owed, and the son calls that debt in on his father's behalf. “Do not pity me” is also the boy asking to be handled as a man who can hear how his father died. He wants the account, not the kindness.
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Odyssey 3.96 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/3.96/