Odyssey 8.133 · Book 8, lines 133–137
Laodamas sizes up the stranger
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Laodamas — δεῦτε, φίλοι, τὸν ξεῖνον ἐρώμεθα εἴ τινʼ ἄεθλον οἶδέ τε καὶ δεδάηκε. φυήν γε μὲν οὐ κακός ἐστι, μηρούς τε κνήμας τε καὶ ἄμφω χεῖρας ὕπερθεν αὐχένα τε στιβαρὸν μέγα τε σθένος· οὐδέ τι ἥβης δεύεται, ἀλλὰ κακοῖσι συνέρρηκται πολέεσσιν·
Come, friends, let us ask the stranger whether he knows and has learned any contest. In build he is not bad — thighs and calves, and both hands above, a sturdy neck and great strength; nor does he lack anything of youth, but he is battered by many hardships.
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The setting
Laodamas, son of King Alcinous, addresses the other young men, proposing they invite the guest to compete — and appraises the stranger's physique aloud.
A note on this passage
Laodamas turns the group toward the guest. He proposes they ask whether the stranger knows any sport, then sizes him up aloud: thighs, calves, arms, a thick neck, real strength. The man is no weakling, whatever his troubles.
The appraisal is admiring, but also exposing. The stranger is being read like an animal at market, his body inventoried before the whole assembly. And the last stroke turns the compliment: he is ‘battered by many hardships.’ The young prince sees plainly the toll the sea has taken on Odysseus, without any idea whose body he is reading.
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