Odyssey 10.364 · Book 10, lines 364–367
Oiled, robed, seated on silver
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αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ λοῦσέν τε καὶ ἔχρισεν λίπʼ ἐλαίῳ, ἀμφὶ δέ με χλαῖναν καλὴν βάλεν ἠδὲ χιτῶνα, εἷσε δέ μʼ εἰσαγαγοῦσα ἐπὶ θρόνου ἀργυροήλου καλοῦ δαιδαλέου, ὑπὸ δὲ θρῆνυς ποσὶν ἦεν·
But when she had washed me and anointed me richly with oil, she cast about me a fair cloak and a tunic, and led me in and seated me upon a throne, silver-studded, beautiful, cunningly wrought, and beneath was a footstool for the feet.
Word by word
The setting
The bath finished, the house dresses and seats Odysseus for a meal — the standard sequence of welcome for an honored guest in Homer's world.
A note on this passage
Washed and rubbed with oil, Odysseus is wrapped in a fresh cloak and tunic and led to a silver-studded chair, beautifully made, with a footstool set beneath his feet. The hospitality is lavish and complete, point by point.
Every step is the formula of welcome an honored stranger receives anywhere in the poem. Circe performs it flawlessly — which is exactly why Odysseus cannot relax into it. The perfect ceremony is offered by the enchantress who has not yet given back his men, and the reader feels the seating almost as a holding in place.
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Odyssey 10.364 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/10.364/