Odyssey 10.546 · Book 10, lines 546–549
Rouse the crew
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αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ διὰ δώματʼ ἰὼν ὤτρυνον ἑταίρους μειλιχίοις ἐπέεσσι παρασταδὸν ἄνδρα ἕκαστον·
Odysseus — μηκέτι νῦν εὕδοντες ἀωτεῖτε γλυκὺν ὕπνον, ἀλλʼ ἴομεν· δὴ γάρ μοι ἐπέφραδε πότνια Κίρκη.
But I, going through the halls, roused my comrades with soft words, standing beside each man: No longer now sleeping, breathe out sweet sleep, but let us go — for lady Circe has told me.
Word by word
The setting
With the goddess dressed and the day come, Odysseus goes through Circe's hall to wake his men for the voyage. His words to each are quoted at the end.
A note on this passage
Odysseus moves man to man with gentle words and a plain order: stop sleeping, we are leaving, Circe has given the word. It is the brisk, practical voice of a captain getting a crew to sea, softened only by the care of the gentle words.
What he does not say hangs over the lines. He tells them Circe has directed the course, but not where it leads. The men wake to a normal morning of departure; the captain alone already knows the direction is the land of the dead. The kindness of the waking is real, and it is also a withholding.
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