Odyssey 5.415 · Book 5, lines 415–416
The wave will dash me on the rock
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μή πώς μʼ ἐκβαίνοντα βάλῃ λίθακι ποτὶ πέτρῃ κῦμα μέγʼ ἁρπάξαν· μελέη δέ μοι ἔσσεται ὁρμή.
lest, as I climb out, a great wave seize me and dash me onto the stony rock; and vain will my struggle be.
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus names the precise danger of trying to land on such a coast: the surf itself will use his attempt against him.
A note on this passage
The specific fear, spoken plainly. The moment he tries to haul himself out of the water, a big wave will catch him and smash him against the rock face — and then all his swimming, all his fight to reach land, will have been for nothing. He sees his own death in the act of the attempt.
The last word is the sting: ὁρμή, the very drive that got him here. He fears not that he will fail to try but that the trying itself is what the sea is waiting for. To climb out is to expose himself; effort here is not the path to safety but the trigger of the wave.
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Odyssey 5.415 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/5.415/