Odyssey 4.238 · Book 4, lines 238–240
I will tell what fits the hour
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ἦ τοι νῦν δαίνυσθε καθήμενοι ἐν μεγάροισι καὶ μύθοις τέρπεσθε· ἐοικότα γὰρ καταλέξω. πάντα μὲν οὐκ ἂν ἐγὼ μυθήσομαι οὐδʼ ὀνομήνω,
So now feast on, sitting in the halls, and take delight in tales; for I will tell things that fit the hour. I could not tell everything, nor name them,
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The setting
Helen, having drugged the wine, invites the company to enjoy stories and begins to introduce her tale of Odysseus.
A note on this passage
Helen tells them to settle in — feast, sit, take pleasure in stories — and promises to tell something suited to the moment. Then the storyteller's disclaimer: she could never recount or name it all. She is about to become a bard inside the poem.
The careful word is 'fitting' (ἐοικότα): she will tell what suits the hour, not the whole truth. The modesty about 'not telling everything' is less humility than control — a speaker choosing her material, her audience already softened by the wine. What follows will be Helen's own version of Odysseus, and of herself.
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