Odyssey 10.296 · Book 10, lines 296–298
Do not refuse her bed
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Hermes — ἡ δέ σʼ ὑποδείσασα κελήσεται εὐνηθῆναι· ἔνθα σὺ μηκέτʼ ἔπειτʼ ἀπανήνασθαι θεοῦ εὐνήν, ὄφρα κέ τοι λύσῃ θʼ ἑτάρους αὐτόν τε κομίσσῃ·
And she, afraid, will bid you to lie with her; then you must not after that refuse the goddess's bed, so that she may free your comrades and take care of you yourself.
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The setting
Hermes continues: once Odysseus has cowed her, Circe will invite him to her bed. He must accept — not for its own sake, but so she will release his men and treat him well.
A note on this passage
The counsel turns practical and cold. The goddess, once frightened, will offer the bed; Odysseus is to accept, and the reason given is transactional — so that she frees the crew and cares for him. The union is a term of surrender, not desire.
Under the instruction runs the logic of the whole scene: power, not intimacy. Circe yields only when threatened, and the bed seals her submission on terms Odysseus dictates. The poem is unsentimental about it. The named prize is not the goddess but the men in the sty — the captain's aim throughout is the crew, and even this is a means to their release.
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