Odyssey 4.113 · Book 4, lines 113–116
Telemachus hides his tears
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ὣς φάτο, τῷ δʼ ἄρα πατρὸς ὑφʼ ἵμερον ὦρσε γόοιο. δάκρυ δʼ ἀπὸ βλεφάρων χαμάδις βάλε πατρὸς ἀκούσας, χλαῖναν πορφυρέην ἄντʼ ὀφθαλμοῖιν ἀνασχὼν ἀμφοτέρῃσιν χερσί. νόησε δέ μιν Μενέλαος,
So he spoke, and in him he stirred the longing to weep for his father. A tear he let fall from his eyelids to the ground, hearing of his father, holding up his purple cloak before both his eyes with both his hands. And Menelaus noticed him,
Word by word
The setting
His father's name, spoken by Menelaus, breaks Telemachus. The narrative leaves the speech and watches the boy try to hide his weeping.
A note on this passage
The poem turns from speech to gesture. Hearing his father named, Telemachus weeps; he lifts his purple cloak to his eyes with both hands to hide the tears. Menelaus sees it.
This is the hinge of a recognition. The boy's grief betrays him — the cloak that hides his face is exactly what marks him out — and Menelaus's single verb, ‘he noticed,’ opens the possibility that host and guest are about to know each other. The cloak raised to the eyes is a small, wholly human motion set down in the middle of an epic feast.
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Odyssey 4.113 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/4.113/