Odyssey 10.378 · Book 10, lines 378–381
Why do you sit like a mute?
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Circe — τίφθʼ οὕτως, Ὀδυσεῦ, κατʼ ἄρʼ ἕζεαι ἶσος ἀναύδῳ, θυμὸν ἔδων, βρώμης δʼ οὐχ ἅπτεαι οὐδὲ ποτῆτος; ἦ τινά που δόλον ἄλλον ὀίεαι· οὐδέ τί σε χρὴ δειδίμεν· ἤδη γάρ τοι ἀπώμοσα καρτερὸν ὅρκον.
Why do you sit thus, Odysseus, like one voiceless, eating your heart, and touch not the food, nor drink? Do you suspect some other treachery? You need not fear; for already I have sworn you a mighty oath.
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The setting
Circe speaks first, breaking the silence at the untouched meal. She has already sworn Odysseus an oath of good faith after he overpowered her magic.
A note on this passage
Circe asks why Odysseus sits like a mute, eating his own heart, touching neither food nor drink. She guesses the reason — he suspects some further trick — and tells him he need not fear, for she has already sworn him a mighty oath.
Her question is shrewd and almost tender, but the oath is the point. In this world a binding oath is the only currency of trust between enemies, and Circe knows Odysseus will not move until she has spent it. The phrase θυμὸν ἔδων, 'eating your heart,' names his grief in the same breath that named the meal he refuses.
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