Odyssey 4.631 · Book 4, lines 631–633
Noemon's plain question
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Ἀντίνοον μύθοισιν ἀνειρόμενος προσέειπεν·
Noemon — Ἀντίνοʼ, ἦ ῥά τι ἴδμεν ἐνὶ φρεσίν, ἦε καὶ οὐκί, ὁππότε Τηλέμαχος νεῖτʼ ἐκ Πύλου ἠμαθόεντος;
Questioning Antinous with words he addressed him: "Antinous, do we know anything in our minds, or not, when Telemachus returns from sandy Pylos?
Word by word
The setting
In Ithaca the suitors are at their games before the palace. Noemon — who had earlier lent Telemachus a ship — comes up to Antinous, the ringleader of the suitors, with a simple practical question, not yet knowing the alarm it will raise.
A note on this passage
Noemon asks a housekeeping question. He lent out a ship, he wants it back, and he assumes the suitors keep track of Telemachus's movements the way he does. The line is deliberately flat — no menace in it, only a man wanting his property returned.
The danger is in the assumption. Noemon takes it for granted that Telemachus's voyage is common knowledge; the suitors, who have watched the boy's every move, do not know he has slipped away at all. One neighbor's idle question is about to hand them the fact they most feared.
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