Odyssey 8.234 · Book 8, lines 234–235
A hush, and Alcinous alone answers
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ὣς ἔφαθʼ, οἱ δʼ ἄρα πάντες ἀκὴν ἐγένοντο σιωπῇ. Ἀλκίνοος δέ μιν οἶος ἀμειβόμενος προσέειπεν·
So he spoke, and they all became hushed in silence. And Alcinous alone answering addressed him:
Word by word
The setting
The formula that closes a speech and opens a reply. Odysseus has finished; the Phaeacians fall silent, and their king breaks it.
A note on this passage
A pair of formulaic lines does the stage-work: the crowd goes silent, and one man speaks. The silence measures the force of what Odysseus said — no one rushes to answer a stranger who has just offered to outshoot them all.
That ‘alone’ matters. Among the whole assembly only Alcinous, the king and host, has the standing to reply, and he will reply not with a counter-boast but with courtesy — smoothing over Euryalus's insult. The type-scene quietly marks who holds authority in Phaeacia.
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Odyssey 8.234 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/8.234/