Odyssey 10.224 · Book 10, lines 224–228
Polites, dearest of the comrades, speaks
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τοῖσι δὲ μύθων ἦρχε Πολίτης ὄρχαμος ἀνδρῶν, ὅς μοι κήδιστος ἑτάρων ἦν κεδνότατός τε·
Polites — ὦ φίλοι, ἔνδον γάρ τις ἐποιχομένη μέγαν ἱστὸν καλὸν ἀοιδιάει, δάπεδον δʼ ἅπαν ἀμφιμέμυκεν, ἢ θεὸς ἠὲ γυνή· ἀλλὰ φθεγγώμεθα θᾶσσον.
To them Polites, leader of men, began to speak — he who was dearest to me of my comrades, and most trusty: O friends, for within someone plying a great loom sings beautifully, and all the floor rings around — either a goddess or a woman; but let us call out quickly.
Word by word
The setting
At the porch, one of the scouting party takes the lead. Polites — whom Odysseus, telling the tale, calls the dearest and most trusty of his men — urges them to hail the singer inside.
A note on this passage
Polites speaks for the group: someone inside is singing beautifully at a great loom, and the whole floor rings with it — goddess or woman, let us call out. The reasoning is decent, hospitable, human.
Odysseus the narrator pauses to love this man by name — dearest, most trusty — just before leading him toward ruin, and the tenderness marks him for loss. Note too that the men's good instinct is the fatal one: they cannot tell a goddess from a woman, and it is the beautiful singing, not caution, that decides them to knock.
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