Odyssey 8.236 · Book 8, lines 236–240
Alcinous: no one could fault your worth
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Alcinous — ξεῖνʼ, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἀχάριστα μεθʼ ἡμῖν ταῦτʼ ἀγορεύεις, ἀλλʼ ἐθέλεις ἀρετὴν σὴν φαινέμεν, ἥ τοι ὀπηδεῖ, χωόμενος ὅτι σʼ οὗτος ἀνὴρ ἐν ἀγῶνι παραστὰς νείκεσεν, ὡς ἂν σὴν ἀρετὴν βροτὸς οὔ τις ὄνοιτο, ὅς τις ἐπίσταιτο ᾗσι φρεσὶν ἄρτια βάζειν·
Stranger, since not ungraciously among us you speak these things, but you wish to show your excellence, which attends you, angered that this man standing by in the contest reviled you, as no mortal would find fault with your excellence, whoever knew in his own wits how to speak fitting things:
Word by word
The setting
The king answers, and answers graciously. He takes no offence at the stranger's boast: Odysseus spoke it only because Euryalus's taunt stung him, and any sensible man would grant his excellence.
A note on this passage
Alcinous defuses the tension with tact. He reads Odysseus rightly: the stranger boasted not from arrogance but because he was provoked, wanting to show the worth that is truly his. And no reasonable man, the king says, would ever belittle that worth.
The diplomacy is the substance. A lesser host might have bristled at a guest offering to beat all comers; Alcinous instead frames the outburst as justified and turns the blame gently back toward Euryalus. It is kingship as hospitality — the ruler smoothing a quarrel among his young men before it can shame his house, and clearing the way to send this formidable stranger safely home.
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