"ὣς ἄρα φωνήσας πόρε φάρμακον ἀργεϊφόντης
ἐκ γαίης ἐρύσας, καί μοι φύσιν αὐτοῦ ἔδειξε.
ῥίζῃ μὲν μέλαν ἔσκε, γάλακτι δὲ εἴκελον ἄνθος·
μῶλυ δέ μιν καλέουσι θεοί· χαλεπὸν δέ τ᾽ ὀρύσσειν305
ἀνδράσι γε θνητοῖσι, θεοὶ δέ τε πάντα δύνανται.
Ἑρμείας μὲν ἔπειτ᾽ ἀπέβη πρὸς μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον
νῆσον ἀν᾽ ὑλήεσσαν, ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἐς δώματα Κίρκης
ἤια, πολλὰ δέ μοι κραδίη πόρφυρε κιόντι.
ἔστην δ᾽ εἰνὶ θύρῃσι θεᾶς καλλιπλοκάμοιο·310
ἔνθα στὰς ἐβόησα, θεὰ δέ μευ ἔκλυεν αὐδῆς.
ἡ δ᾽ αἶψ᾽ ἐξελθοῦσα θύρας ὤιξε φαεινὰς
καὶ κάλει· αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν ἑπόμην ἀκαχήμενος ἦτορ.
εἷσε δέ μ᾽ εἰσαγαγοῦσα ἐπὶ θρόνου ἀργυροήλου
καλοῦ δαιδαλέου· ὑπὸ δὲ θρῆνυς ποσὶν ἦεν·315
τεῦχε δέ μοι κυκεῶ χρυσέῳ δέπᾳ, ὄφρα πίοιμι,
ἐν δέ τε φάρμακον ἧκε, κακὰ φρονέουσ᾽ ἐνὶ θυμῷ.
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δῶκέν τε καὶ ἔκπιον, οὐδέ μ᾽ ἔθελξε,
ῥάβδῳ πεπληγυῖα ἔπος τ᾽ ἔφατ᾽ ἔκ τ᾽ ὀνόμαζεν·
‘ἔρχεο νῦν συφεόνδε, μετ᾽ ἄλλων λέξο ἑταίρων.’320
ὣς φάτ᾽, ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἄορ ὀξὺ ἐρυσσάμενος παρὰ μηροῦ
Κίρκῃ ἐπήιξα ὥς τε κτάμεναι μενεαίνων.
ἡ δὲ μέγα ἰάχουσα ὑπέδραμε καὶ λάβε γούνων,
καί μ᾽ ὀλοφυρομένη ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα·
‘τίς πόθεν εἶς ἀνδρῶν; πόθι τοι πόλις ἠδὲ τοκῆες;325
θαῦμά μ᾽ ἔχει ὡς οὔ τι πιὼν τάδε φάρμακ᾽ ἐθέλχθης·
οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδέ τις ἄλλος ἀνὴρ τάδε φάρμακ᾽ ἀνέτλη,
ὅς κε πίῃ καὶ πρῶτον ἀμείψεται ἕρκος ὀδόντων.
σοὶ δέ τις ἐν στήθεσσιν ἀκήλητος νόος ἐστίν.
ἦ σύ γ᾽ Ὀδυσσεύς ἐσσι πολύτροπος, ὅν τέ μοι αἰεὶ330
φάσκεν ἐλεύσεσθαι χρυσόρραπις ἀργεϊφόντης,
ἐκ Τροίης ἀνιόντα θοῇ σὺν νηὶ μελαίνῃ.
ἀλλ᾽ ἄγε δὴ κολεῷ μὲν ἄορ θέο, νῶι δ᾽ ἔπειτα
εὐνῆς ἡμετέρης ἐπιβείομεν, ὄφρα μιγέντε
εὐνῇ καὶ φιλότητι πεποίθομεν ἀλλήλοισιν.’335
ὣς ἔφατ᾽, αὐτὰρ ἐγώ μιν ἀμειβόμενος προσέειπον·
‘ὦ Κίρκη, πῶς γάρ με κέλεαι σοὶ ἤπιον εἶναι,
ἥ μοι σῦς μὲν ἔθηκας ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ἑταίρους,
αὐτὸν δ᾽ ἐνθάδ᾽ ἔχουσα δολοφρονέουσα κελεύεις
ἐς θάλαμόν τ᾽ ἰέναι καὶ σῆς ἐπιβήμεναι εὐνῆς,340
ὄφρα με γυμνωθέντα κακὸν καὶ ἀνήνορα θήῃς.
οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἐγώ γ᾽ ἐθέλοιμι τεῆς ἐπιβήμεναι εὐνῆς,
εἰ μή μοι τλαίης γε, θεά, μέγαν ὅρκον ὀμόσσαι
μή τί μοι αὐτῷ πῆμα κακὸν βουλευσέμεν ἄλλο.’
notes
Odysseus meets Circe, protected from the same potion that turned his men into swine. Circe learns of Odysseus’s identity and invites him to her bed. Odysseus makes her swear an oath that will protect him from any harm.
We might here pause to think about how the poet orchestrates this part of his story. Why two expeditions to Circe’s house? Looking ahead, we note that Odysseus is to meet Circe, an important boundary figure in his trip to the Underworld, but cannot be turned into a pig, since none of his crewmen appear to be powerful or resourceful enough to get him back to human form.
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The poet might have simply skipped the first expedition under Eurylochus and passed directly to the encounter with Hermes, which would still provide the hero with the requisite defense against the witch’s magic. But while this version would get Odysseus where he has to go, it would forfeit the shock of witnessing the crewmen’s transformation from human to animal. (Homer’s version of “show, don’t tell.”) Lost too would be the underlying message about the cost to men of giving over control of their bodies to a seductive woman, a concrete realization of the threat that we see Odysseus guarding himself against all through the story. His own meeting with the witch will focus on this peril.
Hermes harvests some moly for Odysseus but offers no instruction on how to use the magic herb. As the god wafts away toward Olympus, Odysseus makes his way through the dark woods to Circe’s house. In case we had any doubt about the nature of the coming encounter, the poet once again sounds the fateful phrase, θύρας ὤιξε φαεινὰς (312), as the witch welcomes the hero into her lair. Following the correct protocol for entertaining guests, the Circe offers refreshment before asking any questions. The next six verses take us to the heart of the encounter: moly blocks the witch’s potion, Odysseus whips out his sword, and Circe kneels, grasping the hero’s knees. The symbolism of these acts signals a straightforward power negotiation. Having offered herself by opening up her “shining doors,” a powerful female tries to negate the hero’s masculine force with magic; the hero responds with his own power move, wielding his phallic sword and reducing the dangerous witch to the position of supplicant; that she eventually invites him to bed makes the connection between power and sex explicit.
Hovering behind the overt symbolism of these verses lies another potent thematic paradigm. The offer of a seat and a drink is the first part of a traditional sequence of gestures in early Greek hexameter poetry associated with the representation of grief. The person grieving is shown to be refusing to accept the finality of her/his loss by abstaining from the tokens of participation in the ongoing processes of the life cycle, forgoing food, sleep, and sex. Those who would console the suffering person offer a seat and a drink. Acceptance of both tokens signals a readiness to let go of the dead and reenter the flow of life. The pattern plays a crucial role in the thematic resolution of the Iliad in Book 24, when Achilles and Priam console each other for the death their loved ones, Patroclus and Hector (Il. 24.477–643). The full sequence also appears in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, a hexameter poem probably composed soon after the Odyssey, focusing on the rape of Persephone by Hades and its cosmic repercussions (Homeric Hymn to Demeter 188–211).
The sequence can also appear in a slightly altered form, while still carrying its core significance. When Zeus decides to prod Priam and Achilles toward reconciliation in Book 24, he summons Thetis to Olympus. The goddess is given a seat and offered a drink, both of which she accepts. Here the symbolism of the gestures is proleptic—a preview of something that has not yet happened—since the loss she is prompted to accept is the coming death of her son Achilles, whom she has hoped would somehow escape the limits of mortality (Il. 24.93–140). When Hector returns to Troy in Book 6, the elements of the sequence are separated. First, he meets his mother, who offers him wine. He refuses, saying that wine would rob him of his fighting spirit and in any event, he could not offer a libation to Zeus with the blood of battle on his hands. Later, as he stands on the threshold of Paris’s bedroom, Helen urges him to sit and rest, a gesture carrying the fragrance of seduction (Il. 6.251–68, 342–62). He refuses, citing his need to return to the battlefield. Again, the symbolism of the sequence points forward. When Hector leaves his mother, his brother and sister-in-law, and his wife, each parting has an air of finality. As the consolation motif suggests, these will be his last goodbyes to those he loves. The death he refuses to accept for now is his own and by extension, Troy’s.
If we assume the consolation pattern is active in Odysseus’s negotiations with Circe, then what is the loss he is invited to accept? Given the fate of his crew members, what is at stake here is not only the hero’s masculine power, but his every existence as a human being. The orchestration of the exchange reflects the narrative goals of the Odyssey as opposed to the Iliad. In the latter poem, the acceptance of mortality generates the thematic synthesis that brings the story to a satisfying—if melancholy—conclusion. Here, the survival of the hero is prerequisite to the restoration of order, the ultimate goal of the poem’s narrative. Though Odysseus seems to accept Circe’s offer, with all it portends for his identity as hero and human being, Hermes’ preemptive intervention shields him from the outcome the narrative pattern usually forecasts.
The particular form of Odysseus’s brush with oblivion here once again prompts comparison with the Calypso episode. In both cases, a seductive goddess would control the hero, erasing his very identity as hero, Hermes plays the role of divine liberator, and a negotiation over power occurs that is represented as fundamentally sexual. The crucial difference between the two episodes is the order in which these elements appear. Calypso has already kept Odysseus for seven years when Hermes arrives to set him free. She reluctantly obeys Zeus’s command to release Odysseus, helping him build a boat and giving him supplies for the journey, including some “fragrant clothing” (5.264). Poseidon sends a storm that breaks up his boat, ripping off the sails and upper decks and throwing Odysseus into the sea. He struggles to surface again, because the cloak that Calypso gave him is pulling him down under the water. After he finally surfaces and grabs onto what is left of the boat, a friendly nymph, Ino, comes to him in the shape of a bird and gives him lifesaving advice: he should throw away Calypso’s clothing and instead tie the nymph’s κρήδεμνον, “veil” (5.346), around his chest. He does so and manages to survive another storm, struggling to the shore of Scheria (Od. 5.282–493).
Calypso’s clothing drags him down toward nameless oblivion, a concrete representation of the “covering up” her name implies, then Ino’s veil saves him. A woman’s veil is the symbol in Homeric poetry for her modesty or chastity. When Andromache sees Hector’s corpse being dragged around the walls of Troy, she tears off her veil and throws it over the walls, a symbol of her coming violation and the penetration of Troy’s battlements, κρήδεμνα, “head binders” (Il. 22.467–72). When Nausicaa and her maids decide to play catch by the shore, they throw off their veils, making themselves vulnerable to strange men (6.99–100). What we see, then, in Odysseus’s exchanges with Calypso and Ino is the same kind of symbolic power negotiation as we find in Odysseus’s conquering of Circe: The sacrifice of Ino’s modesty counterbalances the sexual hold of Calypso.
In the Circe encounter, Odysseus is protected in advance from the erasure that we have witnessed him undergoing at the hands of Calypso. This preemptive strike sets the stage for the entire episode. Once the threat of being unmanned is removed, Odysseus and his men will spend an entirely serene interlude with Circe, a benign helper in the mold of Siduri the barkeep.
Further Reading
Nagler, M. 1974. Spontaneity and Tradition: The Oral Art of Homer,174–198. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Van Nortwick, T. 1992. Somewhere I Have Never Travelled: The Second Self and the Hero’s Journey in Ancient Epic, 76–77. New York: Oxford University Press.
302 πόρε: “gave (me),” unaugmented impf.
302 ἀργεϊφόντης: an epithet of Hermes.
303 ἐρύσας: “having pulled it.”
304 ῥίζῃ: “at the root,” dative of place (Monro 145; Smyth 1531).
304 ἔσκε: “was,” iterative impf. > εἰμί (Smyth 495).
304 γάλακτι: dative with εἴκελον (“similar to”).
305 μῶλυ … μιν: object (μιν) and predicate accusative (μῶλυ) with καλέουσι.
305 χαλεπὸν: understand ἐστί.
305 δέ τ(ε): both here and in the next line the τε is the untranslatable Homeric τε (Monro 332; Smyth 2970).
306 πάντα: “completely,” adverbial neut. acc. pl.
309 ἤϊα: 1st sing. impf. > εἶμι.
309 πολλὰ: “much,” “with respect to many things.”
309 πόρφυρε: “was troubled” (lit., “grew dark,” like the sea when a storm is approaching).
310 εἰνὶ: ἐν.
311 μευ: “my” (μου).
311 αὐδῆς: genitve object of ἔκλυεν (genitive of source).
312 repetition of line 10.230.
313 κάλει: ἔκαλει, unaugmented impf.
313 ἦτορ: accusative of respect.
314 εἷσε: “she made me sit down,” causal > ἵζω. Compare line 10.233.
315 ὑπὸ: "underneath," adverbial.
315 ποσὶν: “for my feet”; dat. pl. >πούς.
315 ἦεν: ἦν > εἰμί.
316 τεῦχε: “she prepared,” unaugmented 3rd sing. impf.
316 ὄφρα πίοιμι: purpose clause with optative in secondary sequence, > πίνω.
317 ἐν: i.e., in the cup.
317 ἧκε: “placed,” 3rd sing. aor. > ἵημι.
319 πεπληγυῖα: fem. nom. sing. pf. act. ptc. > πλήσσω / πλήττω.
319 ἔπος τ᾽ ἔφατ᾽ ἔκ τ᾽ ὀνόμαζε: according to Cunliffe, a formula “apparently meaning no more than ‘to address’” (lit., “he said a word and called out loud by name”). See line 10.280.
320 ἔρχεο: imperat. > ἔρχομαι.
320 συφεόνδε: “to the pigsty.” -δε is a directional suffix.
320 λέξο: aor. mid. imperat. > λέγω, “to lie down.”
321–22 fulfilling the instructions given by Hermes in lines 10.294–95.
321 ἐρυσσάμενος: “drawing,” aor. mid. ptc. > ἐρύω.
321 παρὰ μηροῦ: “from beside your thigh.”
322 ἐπήϊξα: 1st sing. aor. > ἐπαΐσσω, with dative object.
322 ὥς τε: “as if.”
322 κτάμεναι: aor. infin. > κτείνω, complementary with μενεαίνων.
323 μέγα: “loudly.”
323 ὑπέδραμε: “ducked in under (my sword),” aor. > ὑποτρέχω.
323 γούνων: object (partitive genitive) of λάβε (ἕλαβε) (Monro 151; Smyth 1346).
325 τίς πόθεν: “who on earth …?” On the form of the double question (or "question within a question"), see Smyth 2646.
325 εἶς: 2nd sing. > εἰμί.
325 ἀνδρῶν: partitive genitive.
325 τοκῆες: “parents.”
326 ὡς: “that.”
326 ἐθέλχθης: 2nd sing. aor. pass. > θέλγω.
327 οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδέ: “for no….” Treat as a single negative (Monro 357; Smyth 2761).
327 ἀνέτλη: “withstood.” This verb (given as an aorist infinitive, ἀνατλῆναι, in the vocabulary) appears only in the aorist and the future middle.
328 ὅς κε πίῃ … ἀμείψεται: present general conditional relative clause (κε / ἄν + subj.).
328 ἀμείψεται ἕρκος ὀδόντων: “(the drug) passes the barrier of his teeth,.” The implied subject is φάρμακα, which means there has been an unstated change of subject from ὅς, the relative pronon which is the subject of πίῃ (an instance of anacoluthon, Smyth 3004).
328 ἀμείψεται: 3rd sing. short vowel subj. > ἀμείβω.
329 σοὶ: dative of possession.
329 στήθεσσιν: Epic dat. pl., which can be translated as singular (Monro 171; Smyth 1001).
330 ἐσσι: 2nd sing. pres. > εἰμί.
330 ὅν: “whom,” accusative subject of the future infinitive ἐλεύσεσθαι ( > ἔρχομαι) in indirect discourse introduced by φάσκεν.
331 φάσκεν: “kept saying,” iterative impf. > φημί (Smyth 495).
332 ἀνιόντα: acc. sing. pres. act. ptc. > ἄνειμι, agreeing with ὅν.
333 θέο: aor. mid. imperative > τίθημι.
333–34 νῶϊ … / ... ἐπιβείομεν: “let us two get into,” dual subject and hortatory short-vowel subjunctive (Monro 80).
334 εὐνῆς: the verb ἐπιβαίνω takes a genitive object, as if the object were governed by the preposition ἐπί.
334–35 ὄφρα ... / ... πεποίθομεν: purpose clause.
334 μιγέντε: “mingling” (implies having sex), dual nom. aor. ptc. > μίγνυμι (Smyth 307).
335 εὐνῇ καὶ φιλότητι: “in bed and love,” an example of zeugma (Smyth 3048).
335 πεποίθομεν: pf. short vowel subj. > πείθω (pf. πέποιθα, “to trust,” with dative).
337 πῶς γάρ … κέλεαι: “How can you…?” πῶς γάρ indicates impossibility or surprise (Monro 348.4; Smyth 2805b).
337 κέλεαι: 2nd sing. pres. indic. dep. > κέλομαι, followed by accusative and infinitive.
338 σῦς: "swine," acc. pl., see LSJ ὗς.
338 ἔθηκας: “made,” with object (ἑταίρους) and predicate accusative (σῦς); 2nd sing. aor. act. > τίθημι.
339 αὐτὸν: “me myself.”
340 ἐπιβήμεναι: aor. act. infin.
341 ὄφρα … θήῃς: purpose clause. This line echoes line 10.301.
341 θήῃς: 2nd sing. aor. subj. > τίθημι; takes an object (με) and predicate accusatives (κακὸν, ἀνήνορα).
342 οὐδ᾽ ἂν … ἐθέλοιμι …, εἰ μὴ … τλαίης ... ὀμόσσαι: "I would not want to..., unless you dare to swear," future less vivid conditional.
343 εἰ μή: “unless.”
344 μή … βουλευσέμεν: “not to….” μη + infin. is used in oaths and prohibitions (Smyth 2716). βουλευσέμεν is a future infinitive. This line echoes line 10.300.
344 τί: “any.”
vocabulary
ἄρα: now, then, next, thus
φωνέω φωνήσω ἐφώνησα πεφώνηκα πεφώνημαι ἐφωνήθην: to make a sound, speak
πόρω ––– ἔπορον ––– ––– –––: to offer, furnish, supply, give; (pf. pass. 3 sing.) it is fated
φάρμακον –ου τό: drug
Ἀργειφόντης –ου ὁ: slayer of Argus, epithet of Hermes
γαίη –ης ἡ: land, region, district
εἰρύω/ἐρύω ἐρύσω/ἐρύω εἴρυσα/ἔρυσα/ἔρυσσα εἴρυσα/ἔρυσα/ἔρυσσα –– –– εἰρύσθην: to pull, draw, drag; to guard
ῥίζα –ης ἡ: a root
μέλας μέλαινα μέλαν: black, dark, obscure
γάλα –ακτος τό: milk
εἴκελος –η –ον: like
ἄνθος –ους τό: flower
μῶλυ –υος τό: moly, mandrake 305
μιν: (accusative singular third person pronoun) him, her, it; himself, herself, itself
ὀρύσσω ὀρύξω ὤρυξα ὀρώρυκα ὀρώρυγμαι ὠρύχθην: to dig, dig through, quarry
θνητός –ή –όν: mortal
Ἑρμῆς (or Ἑρμείας) –οῦ ὁ: Hermes, herm
ἀποβαίνω ἀποβήσομαι ἀποέβην ἀποβέβηκα ––– –––: to leave, go away
Ὄλυμπος –ου ὁ: Mount Olympus
ὑλήεις –εσσα –εν: woody, wooded
δῶμα –ατος τό: house (often in plural)
Κίρκη –ης ἡ: Circe, the enchantress, daughter of Helius, sister of Aeētes, dwelling in the isle of Aeaea
καρδία –ας ἡ: heart
πορφύρω – – – – –: to be agitated, unquiet
κίω – – – – –: go, go away
θύρα –ας ἡ: door 310
θεά –ᾶς ἡ: goddess
καλλιπλόκαμος –ον: with beautiful locks
βοάω βοήσομαι ἐβόησα βεβόηκα βεβόημαι ἐβοήθην: to shout, roar
θεά –ᾶς ἡ: goddess
κλύω ––– κέκλυκα ––– ––– –––: to hear, listen to; to have a reputation, be judged or considered
αὐδή –ῆς ἡ: the human voice, speech
αἶψα: rapidly, speedily, suddenly
ἐξέρχομαι ἐξελεύσομαι ἐξῆλθον ἐξελήλυθα ––– –––: to go/come out, go forth
θύρα –ας ἡ: door
οἴγω οἴξω ᾦξα ᾦχα ᾦγμαι ᾤχθην: to open
φαεινός –ή –όν : bright, brilliant, radiant
ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet
ἀχεύω (or ἀχέω), aor. 2 ἤκαχε, pf. pass. ἀκάχημαι: to be afflicted, be grieved
ἦτορ τό: the heart
ἵζω εἵσομαι εἷσα/ἵζησα ἵζηκα: to take a seat, sit down; cause to take a seat
εἰσάγω εἰσάξω εἰσήγαγον εἰσαγήοχα εἰσῆγμαι εἰσήχθην: to lead in, bring before
θρόνος –ου ὁ: arm-chair
ἀργυρόηλος –ον: silver-studded
δαιδάλεος –α –ον: artistically crafted 315
θρῆνυς –υος ἡ: a footstool
τεύχω τεύξω ἔτευξα τέτευχα τέτυγμαι ἐτύχθην: to make, build, prepare, fasten; to bring about
κυκεών –ῶνος ὁ: beverage, potion
χρύσεος –η –ον: golden, gold-inlaid
δέπας –αος τό: drinking cup, beaker
ὄφρα: while; until; so that; ὄφρα … τόφρα, while … for so long
φάρμακον –ου τό: drug
ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet
ἐκπίνω ἐκπίομαι ἐκέπιον ἐκπέπωκα ἐκπέπομαι ἐκεπόθην: to drink
θέλγω θέλξω ἔθελξα ἐθέλχθην: to bewitch
ῥάβδος –ου ὁ: a rod, wand, stick, switch
πλήττω πλήξω ἔπληξα πέπληγα πέπληγμαι ἐπλήγην (–επλάγην): strike, smite
συφεός –οῦ ὁ: a hog-sty 320
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
ἄορ ἄορος τό: sword
εἰρύω/ἐρύω ἐρύσω/ἐρύω εἴρυσα/ἔρυσα/ἔρυσσα εἴρυσα/ἔρυσα/ἔρυσσα –– –– εἰρύσθην: to pull, draw, drag; to guard
μηρός –οῦ ὁ: the thigh
ἐπαΐσσω/ἐπᾴσσω/ἐπᾴττω ἐπᾴξω ἐπῇξα ––– ––– ἐπηίχθην: to rush at
κτείνω κτενῶ ἔκτεινα ἀπέκτονα ––– –––: kill
μενεαίνω – – – – –: to desire earnestly
ἰάχω – – – – –: to cry, shout, shriek, hiss
ὑποτρέχω ὑποδραμοῦμαι ὑπέδραμον ὑποδεδράμηκα: to run in under
γόνυ γόνατος (or γουνός) τό: knee
ὀλοφύρομαι ὀλοφυροῦμαι ὠλοφυράμην – – ὠλοφύρθην: to lament, wail; pity
πτερόεις πτερόεσσα πτερόεν: winged
προσαυδάω προσαυδήσω προσηύδησα προσηύδηκα προσηύδημαι προσηυδήθην: to speak to, address, accost
πόθεν: from where? whence? 325
πόθι: where?
ἠδέ: and
τοκεύς –έως ὁ: parent
θαῦμα –ατος τό: wonder
φάρμακον –ου τό: drug
θέλγω θέλξω ἔθελξα ἐθέλχθην: to bewitch
φάρμακον –ου τό: drug
ἀνατλῆναι (aor. inf.): to bear up against, endure
ἀμείβω ἀμείψω ἤμειψα ἤμειφα ἤμειμμαι ἠμείφθην: to respond, answer; to exchange; (mid.) to take turns, alternate; to change, place, pass
ἕρκος –ους τό: a fence, hedge, wall, barrier
ὀδούς –οντος ὁ: tooth
στῆθος –ους τό: breast, chest; (pl.) heart, spirit
ἀκήλητος –ον: to be won by no charms, proof against enchantment, inexorable, uncharmable
Ὀδυσσεύς –έως ὁ: Odysseus, king of Ithaca, hero of the Odyssey 330
πολύτροπος –ον: much-turned
φάσκω impf. ἔφασκον ––– ––– ––– –––: to say, affirm, think, deem
χρυσόρραπις –ιδος: with wand of gold
Ἀργειφόντης –ου ὁ: slayer of Argus, epithet of Hermes
Τροίη –ης ἡ: Troy
ἄνειμι: go up, reach; return
θοός –ή –όν: swift
μέλας μέλαινα μέλαν: black, dark, obscure
ἄγε: come! come on! well!
κολεόν –οῦ τό: a sheath, scabbard
ἄορ ἄορος τό: sword
εὐνή εὐνῆς ἡ: pallet, bed, den; (pl.) stones (to anchor a ship), anchors
ἐπιβαίνω ἐπιβήσομαι ἐπέβην ἐπιβέβηκα ––– –––: to go on, enter, step up, mount, board (a ship) + gen.
ὄφρα: while; until; so that; ὄφρα … τόφρα, while … for so long
εὐνή εὐνῆς ἡ: pallet, bed, den; (pl.) stones (to anchor a ship), anchors 335
φιλότης –ητος ἡ: love, friendship
ἀτάρ (or αὐτάρ): but, yet
μιν: (accusative singular third person pronoun) him, her, it; himself, herself, itself
ἀμείβω ἀμείψω ἤμειψα ἤμειφα ἤμειμμαι ἠμείφθην: to respond, answer; to exchange; (mid.) to take turns, alternate; to change, place, pass
προσεῖπον (aor. 2 of προσαγορεύω and προσφωνέω); Εp. προσέειπον: to speak to one, address, accost
κέλομαι κελήσομαι ἐκελησάμην ἐκεκλόμην: command, urge on, exhort, call to
ἤπιος [–α] –ον: gentle, mild, kind
ὗς (or σῦς) ὑός (or συός) ὁ/ἡ: swine, hog; (f.) sow
μέγαρον –ου τό: a large room, hall, feast-hall
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
ἐνθάδε: to here, to there
δολοφρονέων –ουσα –ον: planning craft, wily-minded
θάλαμος or θάλᾶμος –ου ὁ: chamber, inner part of the house (usually reserved for women); bedchamber (of the mistress of the house); nuptial chamber 340
ἐπιβαίνω ἐπιβήσομαι ἐπέβην ἐπιβέβηκα ––– –––: to go on, enter, step up, mount, board (a ship) + gen.
εὐνή εὐνῆς ἡ: pallet, bed, den; (pl.) stones (to anchor a ship), anchors
ὄφρα: while; until; so that; ὄφρα … τόφρα, while … for so long
γυμνόω γυμνώσω ἐγύμνωσα ––– γεγύμνωμαι ἐγυμνώθην: to strip naked
ἀνήνωρ –ορος: unmanly
τεός –ή –όν: = σός, 'your'
ἐπιβαίνω ἐπιβήσομαι ἐπέβην ἐπιβέβηκα ––– –––: to go on, enter, step up, mount, board (a ship) + gen.
εὐνή εὐνῆς ἡ: pallet, bed, den; (pl.) stones (to anchor a ship), anchors
τλάω τλήσομαι ἔτλην τέτληκα –––– ––––: to tolerate, endure, resist; to dare; to have the courage (+ infin.); (part.) τετληώς
θεά –ᾶς ἡ: goddess
ὅρκος –ου ὁ: oath
ὄμνυμι (or ὀμνύω) ὀμοῦμαι ὤμοσα ὀμώμοκα ὀμώμο(σ)μαι ὠμόθην: to swear
πῆμα –ατος τό: suffering, misery, calamity, woe, bane; cause of suffering