Odyssey 5.188 · Book 5, lines 188–191
‘My heart is not of iron’
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ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν νοέω καὶ φράσσομαι, ἅσσʼ ἂν ἐμοί περ αὐτῇ μηδοίμην, ὅτε με χρειὼ τόσον ἵκοι· καὶ γὰρ ἐμοὶ νόος ἐστὶν ἐναίσιμος, οὐδέ μοι αὐτῇ θυμὸς ἐνὶ στήθεσσι σιδήρεος, ἀλλʼ ἐλεήμων.
But I intend these things and will plan, such as I would devise for my own self, should such great need come upon me; for my mind too is righteous, and the heart in my breast is not of iron, but full of pity.
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Having sworn the oath, Calypso goes further, insisting on her own good will: she will counsel him as she would herself, for her mind is just and her heart not hard.
A note on this passage
She promises to plan for him exactly as she would for her own self, were she in such need. Her mind, she says, is righteous, and the heart in her breast is not iron but full of pity. It is a goddess vouching for her own kindness.
The undercurrent is that she protests her pity at the moment she is losing him. ‘Not of iron’ sets her against the reputation of gods who are precisely that — cold, using mortals and discarding them. She wants him to leave believing she was gentle. The claim is true and also a plea: the tenderness is real, and it is powerless to keep him.
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