Odyssey 7.22 · Book 7, lines 22–26
Odysseus asks the way
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Odysseus — ὦ τέκος, οὐκ ἄν μοι δόμον ἀνέρος ἡγήσαιο Ἀλκινόου, ὃς τοῖσδε μετʼ ἀνθρώποισι ἀνάσσει; καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ ξεῖνος ταλαπείριος ἐνθάδʼ ἱκάνω τηλόθεν ἐξ ἀπίης γαίης· τῷ οὔ τινα οἶδα ἀνθρώπων, οἳ τήνδε πόλιν καὶ γαῖαν ἔχουσιν.
O child, would you not lead me to the house of the man, Alcinous, who rules among these men here? For indeed I come here a sore-tried stranger, from far off, out of a distant land; therefore I know no one of the men who hold this city and land.
Word by word
The setting
Not knowing he speaks to Athena, Odysseus politely asks the ‘girl’ to show him the house of Alcinous, explaining that he is a stranger who knows no one here.
A note on this passage
The request is a model of courtesy. He calls her ‘child,’ asks only that she point him to Alcinous's house, and explains himself: he is a sore-tried stranger come from far off, out of a distant land, who knows not a soul among the people who hold this place.
The undercurrent is the etiquette of the stranger. Every word is calibrated — the gentle address, the modest claim, the frank admission of ignorance that puts him in the girl's hands. This is xenia from the guest's side: the newcomer must make himself small and legible before he can be taken in, and Odysseus, master of self-presentation, does it perfectly.
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