Odyssey 8.174 · Book 8, lines 174–177
‘Splendid to look at, empty within’
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ἄλλος δʼ αὖ εἶδος μὲν ἀλίγκιος ἀθανάτοισιν, ἀλλʼ οὔ οἱ χάρις ἀμφιπεριστέφεται ἐπέεσσιν, ὡς καὶ σοὶ εἶδος μὲν ἀριπρεπές, οὐδέ κεν ἄλλως οὐδὲ θεὸς τεύξειε, νόον δʼ ἀποφώλιός ἐσσι.
Another, again, is in form like the immortals, but no grace is wreathed about his words for him; just so with you: your form is splendid, and not otherwise could even a god fashion you better; but in mind you are worthless.
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus completes his lesson, turning it directly against Euryalus: fine looks, empty mind.
A note on this passage
Now the other case, and its point. A man can look like the gods and yet have no grace crowning his speech — and that, Odysseus tells Euryalus, is you: your looks are splendid, a god could not improve them, but your mind is empty.
The maxim has been aimed all along. Euryalus is the exact inverse of the man in the lines before — and of the speaker himself: all surface, no sense. The last word does the damage: ἀποφώλιος, ‘hollow, good-for-nothing,’ set against νόος, ‘mind.’ The Odyssey's whole scale of value is in that contrast — the beautiful fool weighed against the plain man who thinks, and found wanting.
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