Odyssey 4.824 · Book 4, lines 824–829
Such an escort goes with him — Pallas Athena
Read the full text in our reader
τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενον προσέφη εἴδωλον ἀμαυρόν·
The Phantom — θάρσει, μηδέ τι πάγχυ μετὰ φρεσὶ δείδιθι λίην· τοίη γάρ οἱ πομπὸς ἅμʼ ἔρχεται, ἥν τε καὶ ἄλλοι ἀνέρες ἠρήσαντο παρεστάμεναι, δύναται γάρ, Παλλὰς Ἀθηναίη· σὲ δʼ ὀδυρομένην ἐλεαίρει· ἣ νῦν με προέηκε τεῒν τάδε μυθήσασθαι.
Answering her, the dim phantom said: Take courage, and do not fear too much at all in your heart; for such an escort goes along with him, one whom even other men have prayed to stand beside them, for she is able — Pallas Athena; and you in your grief she pities; she it is who now has sent me to tell you these things.
Word by word
The setting
The dim dream-phantom replies to Penelope. Against her fear it sets a single fact: the goddess Athena herself walks beside Telemachus as his guide, and it is Athena who has sent this very dream out of pity.
A note on this passage
The phantom answers fear with a name. Do not be afraid — the escort at your son's side is one any hero would pray to have, and she can do what she wills: Pallas Athena. The sentence withholds the name to the end, so the guarantee lands as a revelation. And the dream discloses its own source: Athena sent it, out of pity for Penelope's weeping.
The undercurrent is the reach of a divine patron. What comforts here is not that Telemachus is brave but that he is chosen — the same goddess who has steered Odysseus's whole story now guards the son. Yet the comfort is rationed. The phantom can name Athena and vouch for Telemachus, because Athena gave it that to say. It has been sent with a message, and a message has edges.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Odyssey 4.824 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Odyssey — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Odyssey 4.824 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/4.824/