Odyssey 9.103 · Book 9, lines 103–105
Back to the grey sea
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οἱ δʼ αἶψʼ εἴσβαινον καὶ ἐπὶ κληῖσι καθῖζον, ἑξῆς δʼ ἑζόμενοι πολιὴν ἅλα τύπτον ἐρετμοῖς. ἔνθεν δὲ προτέρω πλέομεν ἀκαχήμενοι ἦτορ·
And they, at once, went aboard and, at the oarlocks, sat down; and, sitting in rows, they smote the grey sea with their oars. And from there we sailed onward, grieving at heart.
Word by word
The setting
The crews take their benches and row away from the land of the Lotus-eaters toward the next shore.
A note on this passage
A formulaic departure: the men board, take their places at the oars, and beat the grey sea. These are the poem's standard fittings for getting a ship back out onto open water.
Yet the fixed phrase 'grieving at heart' (ἀκαχήμενοι ἦτορ) sits strangely after an escape. They have just been rescued, and still they row off in sorrow — the grief of men who lost comrades at Ismarus and are no nearer home. The formula quietly carries the weight the plot keeps adding.
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