Odyssey 10.261 · Book 10, lines 261–263
Odysseus takes up his arms
Read the full text in our reader
ὣς ἔφατʼ, αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ περὶ μὲν ξίφος ἀργυρόηλον ὤμοιιν βαλόμην, μέγα χάλκεον, ἀμφὶ δὲ τόξα· τὸν δʼ ἂψ ἠνώγεα αὐτὴν ὁδὸν ἡγήσασθαι.
So he spoke; but I slung my silver-studded sword about my shoulders — a great blade of bronze — and my bow as well; and I bade him lead me back by the same road.
Word by word
The setting
Eurylochus has finished. Odysseus, back in his own voice as narrator, arms himself and tells the reluctant scout to guide him back to Circe's house.
A note on this passage
The reply is not words but arms: Odysseus slings on his silver-studded bronze sword and his bow, and orders Eurylochus to lead him back the same way. Where the scout fled, the captain arms and returns.
The gesture defines Odysseus against his crew. Eurylochus's part is caution and flight; Odysseus's is to walk straight toward the danger that unmade his men. The formulaic care over sword and bow says he means to face Circe as a fighter — not yet knowing that no blade will be what saves the men.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Odyssey 10.261 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Odyssey — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Odyssey 10.261 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/10.261/