Odyssey 10.299 · Book 10, lines 299–300
Make her swear the great oath
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Hermes — ἀλλὰ κέλεσθαί μιν μακάρων μέγαν ὅρκον ὀμόσσαι, μή τί τοι αὐτῷ πῆμα κακὸν βουλευσέμεν ἄλλο,
but bid her swear the great oath of the blessed gods, that she plots no other evil hurt for you yourself.
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The setting
The last of Hermes' counsel in this stretch: before Odysseus trusts Circe at all, he must make her swear the binding oath of the gods to do him no further harm.
A note on this passage
Hermes ends with a safeguard. Even a cowed and yielding goddess is not to be trusted on her word alone; she must swear the great oath of the blessed ones, the most binding vow a divine being can take, that she will plan no fresh injury.
The demand fits the wary code Odysseus lives by. Circe has just tried to make him an animal; her sudden welcome could be one more trap. The oath by the gods is the one thing that binds even the immortals, and asking it is how a mortal makes himself safe inside a house of magic. The clause runs on past this line into the terms of the oath itself.
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