Odyssey 10.321 · Book 10, lines 321–324
He draws the sword
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ὣς φάτʼ, ἐγὼ δʼ ἄορ ὀξὺ ἐρυσσάμενος παρὰ μηροῦ Κίρκῃ ἐπήιξα ὥς τε κτάμεναι μενεαίνων. ἡ δὲ μέγα ἰάχουσα ὑπέδραμε καὶ λάβε γούνων, καί μʼ ὀλοφυρομένη ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα·
So she spoke, but I drew my sharp sword from beside my thigh and sprang at Circe, as if eager to kill her. But she, with a great shriek, ran in beneath, caught me by the knees, and wailing spoke to me winged words:
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus does what Hermes told him: rush Circe with drawn sword as though to kill. She breaks at once — shrieks, runs under the blade, and clasps his knees in supplication.
A note on this passage
Odysseus follows Hermes' script exactly: sword out, a rush at the goddess as if to kill. The move is not really about killing — a mortal blade against a goddess is theatre — but it forces the confrontation the drug was meant to prevent, and it works instantly. Circe collapses from enchantress to suppliant in a single line.
The undercurrent is the reversal of posture. She meant him for the sty, on all fours; now it is she who runs low, ‘in under’ the sword, and takes his knees — the fixed gesture of the powerless begging the powerful. The one who drugs is suddenly the one who pleads, and the ‘winged words’ that follow will be an offer, not a command.
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