Odyssey 4.141 · Book 4, lines 141–143
So close a likeness
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οὐ γάρ πώ τινά φημι ἐοικότα ὧδε ἰδέσθαι οὔτʼ ἄνδρʼ οὔτε γυναῖκα, σέβας μʼ ἔχει εἰσορόωσαν, ὡς ὅδʼ Ὀδυσσῆος μεγαλήτορος υἷι ἔοικε,
For never yet, I say, have I seen anyone so alike — neither man nor woman; awe holds me as I look — as this one resembles the son of great-hearted Odysseus,
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Helen presses on: she has never seen anyone resemble another so closely, and the young guest, she says, is the very image of Odysseus's son.
A note on this passage
Helen states the marvel plainly: she has never seen so close a likeness in anyone, man or woman, and awe grips her as she looks — the young guest is the very image of Odysseus's son.
Recognition by resemblance is a recurring Homeric proof. Before any name is spoken, the body testifies: the guest's face argues his lineage. Helen, who knew Odysseus at Troy, reads Telemachus in his features, and the scene turns on sight rather than speech.
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