The article studies the passage in the beginning of Plato’s Republic (330e-331a) where Cephalus quotes a fragment of Pindar’s lost poem (fr. 214 Maehler). An examination of Cephalus’ paraphrase of Pindar’s thought suggests that the peculiar syntax of the phrase ἡδεῖα ἐλπὶς ἀεὶ πάρεστι καὶ ἀγαθὴ γηροτρόφος conceals an allusion to Homer (Od. 9,27) that has not been noticed before.