Odyssey 5.406 · Book 5, lines 406–407
His knees give way
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καὶ τότʼ Ὀδυσσῆος λύτο γούνατα καὶ φίλον ἦτορ, ὀχθήσας δʼ ἄρα εἶπε πρὸς ὃν μεγαλήτορα θυμόν·
And then the knees of Odysseus were loosened, and his dear heart; and in dismay he spoke to his own great-hearted spirit:
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The setting
Seeing the murderous coast, Odysseus feels his strength fail — and, as Homeric heroes do at such moments, begins to speak to his own heart.
A note on this passage
The body gives way before the speech does. At the sight and sound of the coast, Odysseus's knees and heart go slack — the standard Homeric formula for the failure of nerve that seizes even the bravest at the edge of death. Then, troubled, he turns to talk himself through it.
The two halves of the line pull against each other. His knees loosen in fear, yet he addresses his own 'great-hearted spirit' — the same undefeated θυμός that has carried him this far. Homer stages the hero's endurance as an argument held inside one man: the body ready to quit, the spirit called up to answer it.
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