Odyssey 8.406 · Book 8, lines 406–407

Two lines of pure action: the sword laid in the guest's hands, and the fixed formula that always ushers in direct speech — he addressed him with winged words. The gift changes hands before a single word of the apology is spoken.

The order is the meaning. Euryalus completes the deed first, then talks; the object in the palm is the apology itself, and what follows is only its courtesy. Winged words, epea pteroenta, is Homer's most worn phrase for speech about to fly from the mouth to the listener's ear — here carrying an amends that has, in effect, already been made.

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