Odyssey 8.581 · Book 8, lines 581–583
Some kinsman fallen at Troy?
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ἦ τίς τοι καὶ πηὸς ἀπέφθιτο Ἰλιόθι πρὸ ἐσθλὸς ἐών, γαμβρὸς ἢ πενθερός, οἵ τε μάλιστα κήδιστοι τελέθουσι μεθʼ αἷμά τε καὶ γένος αὐτῶν;
Was it some kinsman of yours too that perished before Ilium, being a noble man — a son-in-law or a father-in-law, who most of all are dearest, next to one's own both blood and kin?
Word by word
The setting
Alcinous begins to guess at the cause of the tears. The first guess: a relative by marriage — a son-in-law or father-in-law — killed on the plain before Troy. In the Greek honor-world these in-law ties rank just below one's own blood.
A note on this passage
Alcinous starts to reason out the grief. He guesses first at a kinsman by marriage fallen at Troy — a son-in-law or father-in-law — and notes that such men come dearest to a person after his own blood-kin. It is a courteous, careful probing, ranking the kinds of loss.
The undercurrent is dramatic irony sharpened to a point. The one dead man Odysseus is weeping for is no in-law and no blood relation — it is himself, his own lost companions, his own war. Alcinous keeps narrowing the categories of kinship, and every guess misses, because the guest's sorrow does not fit any of them: he grieves a legend that happens to be his life.
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