Odyssey 9.256 · Book 9, lines 256–258
Our hearts broke; still I answered
Read the full text in our reader
ὣς ἔφαθʼ, ἡμῖν δʼ αὖτε κατεκλάσθη φίλον ἦτορ, δεισάντων φθόγγον τε βαρὺν αὐτόν τε πέλωρον. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὥς μιν ἔπεσσιν ἀμειβόμενος προσέειπον·
So he spoke, and in us in turn the dear heart was broken, as we feared both his deep voice and the monster himself. But even so, answering him with words, I addressed him:
Word by word
The setting
The men, hearing the giant's deep voice and seeing his bulk, are unmanned by fear. Odysseus, narrating, keeps his head and speaks for them all.
A note on this passage
The reaction is bodily and shared: at the sound and the sight, the dear heart is broken in every man. Then one voice holds. Odysseus answers — the leader speaking while the crew goes silent with dread.
The moment marks the hero by contrast. What breaks the others is exactly what he masters; the epithet-world's enduring man is shown, not told, in the gap between the crew's terror and his steady reply. It is the first small victory of nerve over fear in the cave, before any plan exists.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Odyssey 9.256 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Odyssey — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Odyssey 9.256 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/9.256/