Odyssey 10.503 · Book 10, lines 503–505
Let no thought of a pilot trouble you
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ὣς ἐφάμην, ἡ δʼ αὐτίκʼ ἀμείβετο δῖα θεάων·
Circe — διογενὲς Λαερτιάδη, πολυμήχανʼ Ὀδυσσεῦ, μή τί τοι ἡγεμόνος γε ποθὴ παρὰ νηὶ μελέσθω,
So I spoke, and at once the bright goddess answered: Zeus-born son of Laertes, resourceful Odysseus, let no need of a guide by the ship trouble you.
Word by word
The setting
Circe answers the objection. She repeats her grand address, then brushes the whole worry aside: he needs no steersman for this voyage. What he must do instead she is about to describe.
A note on this passage
Circe meets his worry by dismissing it. The problem he raised, that there is no pilot for the road to Hades, is simply not his to solve. She tells him to let it go, and the very next lines will show why: the ship will be carried there by wind and current, not steered by knowledge.
The repeated full address is worth noticing. Even while overriding him, Circe keeps naming Odysseus by his lineage and his cunning. The formula insists on his stature at the exact moment he is being told his cunning is not needed, that on this crossing he is a passenger the elements will carry, not the resourceful captain who finds the way.
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