Odyssey 10.356 · Book 10, lines 356–357
Honey-hearted wine
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ἡ δὲ τρίτη κρητῆρι μελίφρονα οἶνον ἐκίρνα ἡδὺν ἐν ἀργυρέῳ, νέμε δὲ χρύσεια κύπελλα·
The third mixed honey-hearted sweet wine in a bowl, a silver one, and dealt out golden cups.
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The setting
A third serving-nymph prepares the drink for the feast, mixing wine in a silver bowl and setting out golden cups.
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The third maid handles the wine, mixing it in a silver bowl and dealing out golden cups. The line completes the feast's preparation with the same measured care as the tables and cloths before it.
The epithet μελίφρων, 'honey-hearted,' is a fixed word for wine, but here it carries a faint charge: this is Circe's house, where a drink was the very thing that undid Odysseus's men. The cup she now offers is sweet and honest, its magic sworn away — yet the reader remembers what the last cup in this hall contained.
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