Odyssey 10.342 · Book 10, lines 342–344
Swear me a great oath
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Odysseus — οὐδʼ ἂν ἐγώ γʼ ἐθέλοιμι τεῆς ἐπιβήμεναι εὐνῆς, εἰ μή μοι τλαίης γε, θεά, μέγαν ὅρκον ὀμόσσαι μή τί μοι αὐτῷ πῆμα κακὸν βουλευσέμεν ἄλλο.
Nor would I be willing to mount your bed, unless you would dare, goddess, to swear a great oath that you will not plot any other evil hurt against me myself.
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus sets his condition. He will not go to Circe's bed on trust alone; she must first swear a binding oath that she will do him no further harm once he is defenceless.
A note on this passage
Odysseus names his price. He will accept the bed, but only after a great oath binds the goddess not to harm him. He turns her offer of trust into a demand for a guarantee the gods themselves must witness.
This is the world of the poem working as designed: an oath sworn by a divinity is the one bond stronger than cunning or force. Where he cannot outmatch Circe's power, Odysseus reaches for the mechanism that constrains even gods. The much-enduring man survives here not by strength but by making her promise before he yields.
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