Odyssey 8.430 · Book 8, lines 430–432
A golden cup, to be remembered by
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καί οἱ ἐγὼ τόδʼ ἄλεισον ἐμὸν περικαλλὲς ὀπάσσω, χρύσεον, ὄφρʼ ἐμέθεν μεμνημένος ἤματα πάντα σπένδῃ ἐνὶ μεγάρῳ Διί τʼ ἄλλοισίν τε θεοῖσιν.
And to him I will bestow this my own beautiful cup, golden, so that, mindful of me all his days, he may pour libations in his hall to Zeus and the other gods.
Word by word
The setting
Alcinous is directing the gifts for his departing guest. Here he adds a present of his own.
A note on this passage
The king adds a gift of his own, a beautiful golden cup, and states its purpose without disguise: that the stranger, pouring libations at home to Zeus and the gods, will remember Alcinous every day of his life.
The present is engineered to carry memory. A cup used in worship keeps its giver present at every offering, so Alcinous quietly secures himself a place in another man's household rites. It is generosity and self-interest in one gesture — the honor-economy working precisely as it is meant to, and a first sounding of the ‘remember me’ that Nausicaa will speak more painfully soon.
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