Odyssey 8.421 · Book 8, lines 421–423
Alcinous turns to his queen
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τοῖσιν δʼ ἡγεμόνευʼ ἱερὸν μένος Ἀλκινόοιο, ἐλθόντες δὲ καθῖζον ἐν ὑψηλοῖσι θρόνοισι. δή ῥα τότʼ Ἀρήτην προσέφη μένος Ἀλκινόοιο·
The hallowed might of Alcinous led the way for them, and they came and sat down on high thrones. Then the might of Alcinous addressed Arete:
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The setting
Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians, has hosted an unnamed shipwrecked stranger — Odysseus — through a day of games and song. Now he leads the company back to his hall to arrange the guest's gifts and send-off.
A note on this passage
The procession settles. Alcinous leads the stranger and the nobles back to their high seats, and then turns to his wife to begin the practical business of the send-off. The lines move the scene from the public assembly into the household.
The formula ‘the hallowed might of Alcinous’ (μένος Ἀλκινόοιο) names the king by his force rather than his person — a periphrasis that stands a title where a man should be. And the very first thing that grand ‘might’ does is give a domestic instruction to the queen. The epic idiom of power bends at once to the ordinary work of the house.
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