Read the following passage and answer the question.

he was a prophet, sprung of melampus' line of seers,
melampus who lived in pylos, mother of flocks, some years ago,
rich among his pyllians, at home in his great high house.
but then he was made to go abroad to foreign parts,
fleeing his native land and hot-blooded neleus –
most imperious man alive – who’d commandeered
his vast estate and held it down by force
for one entire

this is an example of which epic convention?

a)lengthy speech
b)digression
c)epic simile
d)divine intervention

B) Digression

Digression is a stylistic device used in narratives. They are defined as sudden interruptions in the main action or subject of the story to temporary focus on providing background details and/or some character's motivation, to then come back to the main subject of the story.

This is what happens in the excerpt, the narrator starts out describing a "prophet, sprung of Melampus' line of seers", but then they interrupt this description to provide background information about who is Melampus.

“thy baited hooks shall tangle me no more.”

“hath taught me to set in trifles no store,”

“me lusteth no longer rotten boughs to climb.”

- "the die is cast; i have consented to return if we are not destroyed. thus are my hopes blasted by cowardice and indecision; i come back ignorant and disappointed. it requires more philosophy than i possess to bear this injustice with patience. i have lost my hopes of utility and glory; i have lost my friend."