Odyssey 7.299 · Book 7, lines 299–300
A father's small reproach
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Alcinous — ξεῖνʼ, ἦ τοι μὲν τοῦτο γʼ ἐναίσιμον οὐκ ἐνόησε παῖς ἐμή, οὕνεκά σʼ οὔ τι μετʼ ἀμφιπόλοισι γυναιξὶν
Stranger, truly, in this at least, my child did not consider what was fitting, in that she did not [bring] you at all, among her handmaid women —
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The setting
Alcinous begins his reply to Odysseus. His first words gently fault his own daughter for one lapse of courtesy — she did not bring the guest home herself. (The thought runs on into the next lines.)
A note on this passage
Alcinous opens his reply with a small reproach of his own daughter: in one thing she did not judge rightly — she did not bring the stranger home herself, along with her handmaids.
The undercurrent is what the fault is not. Alcinous picks at a breach of courtesy, not of propriety — his objection is that Nausicaa left a guest to arrive alone, when hospitality asked her to escort him in. It reads as mild fatherly fussing, yet it quietly clears her: the king's only complaint is that she was too reserved, and he is already treating Odysseus as a guest owed the fullest welcome.
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