Odyssey 10.307 · Book 10, lines 307–309
Hermes back to Olympus
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Ἑρμείας μὲν ἔπειτʼ ἀπέβη πρὸς μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον νῆσον ἀνʼ ὑλήεσσαν, ἐγὼ δʼ ἐς δώματα Κίρκης ἤια, πολλὰ δέ μοι κραδίη πόρφυρε κιόντι.
Hermes then departed to high Olympus, up over the wooded island, and I went to the house of Circe, and my heart darkened much within me as I went.
Word by word
The setting
The god's business done, he leaves for Olympus over the wooded island, and Odysseus goes on alone toward the enchantress's house, his mind churning.
A note on this passage
A clean scene-change. The helper god rises and is gone, back up over the trees to Olympus; the man walks the other way, down toward the danger, and the camera stays with him. Two directions on one island, one divine and one mortal.
The undercurrent is the verb πόρφυρε. Literally it is what the sea does when a swell rolls dark before it breaks; used of the heart, it makes Odysseus's dread a heaving, purpling surge inside him. He has the god's drug and the god's instructions, and still, walking to Circe's door, his mind churns like water about to turn over.
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