Odyssey 10.336 · Book 10, lines 336–338
How can I trust you?
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ὣς ἔφατʼ, αὐτὰρ ἐγώ μιν ἀμειβόμενος προσέειπον·
Odysseus — ὦ Κίρκη, πῶς γάρ με κέλεαι σοὶ ἤπιον εἶναι, ἥ μοι σῦς μὲν ἔθηκας ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ἑταίρους,
So she spoke, but I in answer addressed her: O Circe, how can you bid me be gentle to you, you who made my comrades swine in your halls,
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The setting
Odysseus answers Circe's invitation. He begins his reply by naming exactly why he cannot simply be gentle with her: she has already turned his scouting party into pigs and shut them in her halls.
A note on this passage
Odysseus meets the offer with a question that is really an accusation. How is he to be soft toward the very goddess who has just butchered his men into animals? The reply refuses the premise of her invitation.
The force sits on the relative clause: 'you who made my comrades swine.' He does not rage; he simply states what she has done and lets it stand against her request for trust. It is the reflex of the cautious survivor — before he accepts anything, he names the danger aloud.
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