Odyssey 10.128 · Book 10, lines 128–130
Fall to the oars!
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αἶψα δʼ ἐμοῖς ἑτάροισιν ἐποτρύνας ἐκέλευσα ἐμβαλέειν κώπῃς, ἵνʼ ὑπὲκ κακότητα φύγοιμεν· οἱ δʼ ἅλα πάντες ἀνέρριψαν, δείσαντες ὄλεθρον.
At once, urging on my companions, I ordered them to fall to the oars, so that we might flee out from under ruin; and they all churned up the sea, fearing destruction.
Word by word
The setting
The mooring cut, Odysseus turns to his crew for the escape from the harbor of death.
A note on this passage
The escape command and its instant effect. Odysseus shouts the order; the men throw themselves on the oars and beat the water white. The phrase ἀνέρριψαν ἅλα — "they tossed up the sea" — is Homer's picture of oars driven in blind panic, spray flung everywhere.
Under it is the plain engine of the moment: fear. δείσαντες ὄλεθρον, "fearing destruction," is what makes the crew row, not courage. And ὑπὲκ κακότητα, "out from under evil," keeps the boulders overhead — they are pulling literally out from beneath the falling stones. The one steady thing is the captain's voice, a single command holding shape against terror, which is most of what Odysseus's leadership ever is.
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