Odyssey 4.657 · Book 4, lines 657–660
The suitors called to order
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ὣς ἄρα φωνήσας ἀπέβη πρὸς δώματα πατρός, τοῖσιν δʼ ἀμφοτέροισιν ἀγάσσατο θυμὸς ἀγήνωρ. μνηστῆρας δʼ ἄμυδις κάθισαν καὶ παῦσαν ἀέθλων. τοῖσιν δʼ Ἀντίνοος μετέφη Εὐπείθεος υἱός,
So then, having spoken, he went off to his father's house, and in both of them the proud heart was astonished. They seated the suitors all together and stopped them from the games. And among them Antinous spoke, the son of Eupeithes,
Word by word
The setting
Noemon leaves for his father's house, his errand done. The news lands hard on the two ringleaders; the suitors are called in from their games, and Antinous rises to speak — his fury about to break.
A note on this passage
The scene resets for a council of war. Noemon exits unaware, the games are broken off, and the loose crowd of suitors is gathered into a formal assembly. Homer marks the shift from idle sport to serious business with a single gesture: they sit the men down.
The astonished heart belongs to 'both' — Antinous and Eurymachus, the two leaders singled out. Their shock is not fear for Telemachus but at him: the boy they dismissed has out-maneuvered them. The line leaves Antinous rising to speak, and the speech he is about to give will turn the suitors' contempt into a plot to kill.
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