Odyssey 4.111 · Book 4, lines 111–112
The household that mourns him
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Λαέρτης θʼ ὁ γέρων καὶ ἐχέφρων Πηνελόπεια Τηλέμαχός θʼ, ὃν ἔλειπε νέον γεγαῶτʼ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ.
old Laertes and prudent Penelope, and Telemachus, whom he left newly born in his house.
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The setting
Menelaus finishes his lament by picturing the family that grieves for Odysseus in his absence — the very household his young guest belongs to.
A note on this passage
He names the mourners: aged Laertes, steady-minded Penelope, and the son left behind as an infant, Telemachus. The list runs from father to wife to child — the full shape of an abandoned house.
The last name is the trap the scene has been setting. Menelaus says ‘Telemachus, whom he left newborn,’ not knowing that Telemachus sits before him, now grown. The epithet for Penelope, echephron, ‘steady-minded,’ already points to the faithfulness that is her half of the poem's story.
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Odyssey 4.111 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/4.111/