Odyssey 4.59 · Book 4, lines 59–60
“Take food, and be welcome”
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τὼ καὶ δεικνύμενος προσέφη ξανθὸς Μενέλαος·
Menelaus — σίτου θʼ ἅπτεσθον καὶ χαίρετον. αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα
And greeting them both, fair-haired Menelaus addressed them: “Take hold of the food, you two, and be welcome; and then afterward—”
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The setting
Everything is ready. Only now does the host speak to his guests directly — the reception formula completed, the meal set. His speech begins here and runs on past the block's end.
A note on this passage
Menelaus welcomes the pair with a gesture and then his first words to them: eat, and be glad. The whole elaborate reception — stabling, bathing, robing, seating, serving — has led to this simple, warm bidding. The host speaks last, after the guest has already been honored in every practical way.
The two verbs are dual, ἅπτεσθον and χαίρετον, addressed to the pair as a pair — Telemachus and Pisistratus taken together, two young men at a great man's table. And the sentence does not close: αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα, 'and then afterward,' leans forward into what Menelaus will say next — that only when they have eaten will he ask who they are. Even his welcome keeps the order of xenia: food first, names later.
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Odyssey 4.59 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/4.59/