Odyssey 7.298 · Book 7, line 298
Alcinous answers
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τὸν δʼ αὖτʼ Ἀλκίνοος ἀπαμείβετο φώνησέν τε·
And Alcinous in turn answered him, and spoke:
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The setting
Odysseus has finished his story. This is the single verse of narration that hands the floor to the king before his reply.
A note on this passage
The formula that hands the speech back: Alcinous answers him in turn and speaks. A single verse of stage-direction between Odysseus's tale and the king's reply.
Even the plain formula does a little work. αὖτε, 'in turn,' marks the ordered courtesy of the hall — each speaks and is answered, no one breaks in. The machinery of the type-scene is itself a picture of xenia: a house where a stranger's long story is heard out in full, then met with a considered reply.
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