Odyssey 8.15 · Book 8, lines 15–20
The crowd gathers, and Athena glorifies him
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ὣς εἰποῦσʼ ὤτρυνε μένος καὶ θυμὸν ἑκάστου. καρπαλίμως δʼ ἔμπληντο βροτῶν ἀγοραί τε καὶ ἕδραι ἀγρομένων· πολλοὶ δʼ ἄρʼ ἐθηήσαντο ἰδόντες υἱὸν Λαέρταο δαΐφρονα· τῷ δʼ ἄρʼ Ἀθήνη θεσπεσίην κατέχευε χάριν κεφαλῇ τε καὶ ὤμοις καί μιν μακρότερον καὶ πάσσονα θῆκεν ἰδέσθαι,
So saying, she roused the spirit and heart of each. Swiftly the meeting-places and seats filled with mortals gathering; and many gazed in wonder as they saw the wise son of Laertes; for on him Athena poured wondrous grace over his head and shoulders, and made him taller and stouter to behold,
Word by word
The setting
Athena's summons scatters through the town, and the Phaeacians hurry to the assembly. As they gather, the goddess magnifies Odysseus so that the crowd will admire him.
A note on this passage
Athena's herald-call works: the assembly-ground fills in a rush, and the crowd fastens its eyes on the stranger. The reason follows at once — the goddess has poured a supernatural grace over his head and shoulders and made him visibly taller and broader, a figure built to be admired.
This is a repeated move. Athena did the same before Nausicaa met him on the beach in Book 6, gilding him in χάρις — the god-given radiance that marks a man out as more than a man. The Phaeacians think they are reacting to the stranger; they are reacting to a goddess's stagecraft. And Homer still calls him only ‘the son of Laertes,’ withholding the name the whole scene is built to release.
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