Odyssey 10.244 · Book 10, lines 244–248
Eurylochus, too choked to speak
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Εὐρύλοχος δʼ αἶψʼ ἦλθε θοὴν ἐπὶ νῆα μέλαιναν ἀγγελίην ἑτάρων ἐρέων καὶ ἀδευκέα πότμον. οὐδέ τι ἐκφάσθαι δύνατο ἔπος ἱέμενός περ, κῆρ ἄχεϊ μεγάλῳ βεβολημένος· ἐν δέ οἱ ὄσσε δακρυόφιν πίμπλαντο, γόον δʼ ὠίετο θυμός.
But Eurylochus came at once to the swift black ship, to tell the news of his comrades and their bitter doom. Yet he could not utter a word, though he longed to, stricken in his heart with great grief; and his eyes filled with tears, and his spirit foreboded weeping.
Word by word
The setting
One scout hung back from Circe's house and saw the rest disappear inside. Now Eurylochus races to the black ship to tell Odysseus — but grief closes his throat.
A note on this passage
Eurylochus reaches the black ship meaning to report the loss of his comrades and their bitter fate — and cannot. The messenger who came expressly to speak is struck dumb; his eyes fill, and his heart forebodes weeping before a single word comes.
Homer stages the news as a body that fails before it can do its errand. The bitter epithet ἀδευκής (‘un-sweet, cruel’) sits on πότμος, the fated death, while the man carrying that word can only shed tears. The delay is itself the message: whatever happened is past ordinary telling.
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