Odyssey 10.264 · Book 10, lines 264–265
He clings to my knees
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αὐτὰρ ὅ γʼ ἀμφοτέρῃσι λαβὼν ἐλλίσσετο γούνων καί μʼ ὀλοφυρόμενος ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα·
But he, taking hold of my knees with both hands, besought me, and lamenting he addressed me with winged words:
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The setting
As Odysseus prepares to set out, Eurylochus throws himself down in the posture of a suppliant, begging not to be taken back to that house.
A note on this passage
Eurylochus grasps Odysseus's knees with both hands — the fixed gesture of the Homeric suppliant — and, weeping, begins to plead. The ‘winged words’ formula introduces a speech, but here it introduces a refusal.
Supplication by the knees is the strongest appeal one Homeric person can make to another, and it is normally granted. That Eurylochus reaches for it shows how deep his terror runs — he would rather beg than return. The scene sets his self-preservation squarely against Odysseus's resolve, a tension that will surface again between these two men.
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