Odyssey 9.325 · Book 9, lines 325–330
Sharpening the stake
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τοῦ μὲν ὅσον τʼ ὄργυιαν ἐγὼν ἀπέκοψα παραστὰς καὶ παρέθηχʼ ἑτάροισιν, ἀποξῦναι δʼ ἐκέλευσα· οἱ δʼ ὁμαλὸν ποίησαν· ἐγὼ δʼ ἐθόωσα παραστὰς ἄκρον, ἄφαρ δὲ λαβὼν ἐπυράκτεον ἐν πυρὶ κηλέῳ. καὶ τὸ μὲν εὖ κατέθηκα κατακρύψας ὑπὸ κόπρῳ, ἥ ῥα κατὰ σπείους κέχυτο μεγάλʼ ἤλιθα πολλή·
Of it I cut off about a fathom's length and, standing by, handed it to my comrades, and bade them sharpen it to a point; and they made it smooth, and I, standing by, sharpened the tip, and at once, taking it, I hardened it in the blazing fire. And I stowed it well, hiding it under the dung, which lay strewn throughout the cave in great abundance.
Word by word
The setting
With the giant gone, Odysseus and his men turn the Cyclops's own staff into the instrument of his blinding.
A note on this passage
The stake gets made. Odysseus cuts a fathom's length off the club, hands it to his men to smooth, sharpens the point himself, hardens it in the fire, then stows it out of sight under the dung heaped across the cave floor.
Every verb is a craftsman's: cut, hand over, smooth, sharpen, harden, stow. It is a workshop scene — shared labor, done in careful sequence — the opposite of a warrior's single stroke. The weapon that will put out the Cyclops's eye is manufactured, then buried in filth until its hour. This is what μῆτις looks like on the ground: tools, patience, and a hiding place.
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