Odyssey 10.554 · Book 10, lines 554–557
Heavy with wine on the roof
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ὅς μοι ἄνευθʼ ἑτάρων ἱεροῖς ἐν δώμασι Κίρκης, ψύχεος ἱμείρων, κατελέξατο οἰνοβαρείων. κινυμένων δʼ ἑτάρων ὅμαδον καὶ δοῦπον ἀκούσας ἐξαπίνης ἀνόρουσε καὶ ἐκλάθετο φρεσὶν ᾗσιν
who, apart from my comrades in the sacred halls of Circe, longing for the cool, had lain down heavy with wine. Hearing the noise and thud of his stirring comrades, he sprang up suddenly and forgot in his heart
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus fills in how Elpenor came to be where he was: apart from the others, up on the flat roof of Circe's house seeking cool air, he had lain down drunk. Now the noise of the crew stirring below wakes him.
A note on this passage
The detail is domestic and exact: Elpenor had gone off by himself, climbed to the roof for cool air, and passed out with too much wine in him. Roused by the clatter of the crew getting ready below, he jolts upright, still fuddled with drink.
Everything here is small and human, no god, no monster, no battle. The single word for heavy with wine is almost the whole cause of his death. The poem gives this least of the heroes a fully ordinary reason to die, and takes the time to lay it out, so that when he falls it is not fate or a foe but a hangover and a bad step in the dark.
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