The Odyssey Scylla Quotes

"No mariners yet can boast they’ve raced their ship
past Scylla’s lair without some mortal blow –
with each of her six heads she snatches up
a man from the dark-prowed craft and whisks him off."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 108-111. Circe warns Odysseus of the deadly danger posed by the female monster Scylla to mariners. None have yet managed to get their ship past her cave without her snatching up a man with each of her six heads. This is foreshadowing of what will happen to Odysseus’ men.

"So stubborn!" the lovely goddess countered.
"Hell-bent yet again on battle and feats of arms?
Can’t you bow to the deathless gods themselves?
Scylla’s no mortal, she’s an immortal devastation,
terrible, savage, wild, no fighting her, no defense –
just flee the creature, that’s the only way.
Waste any time, arming for battle beside her rock,
I fear she’ll lunge out again with all of her six heads
and seize as many men."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 125-133. Odysseus believes that he will be able to fight Scylla off without suffering casualties among his men. But sorceress and goddess Circe angrily reminds him of the immortal Scylla’s devastating power. Circe understands Odysseus’ proud heart and urges him to rein in his instincts for battle. She tells him not to fight Scylla or arm for battle. But he should just flee this creature, otherwise she will seize as many men as she can, Circe warns.

But now I cleared my mind of Circe’s orders –
cramping my style, urging me not to arm at all.
I donned my heroic armor, seized long spears
in both my hands and marched out on the half-deck,
forward, hoping from there to catch the first glimpse
of Scylla, ghoul of the cliffs, swooping to kill my men.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 245-250. Circe’s warning about Scylla is forgotten by Odysseus. She had told him not to fight the six-headed monster or arm for battle, but instead to flee her. But proud and stubborn Odysseus prepares to battle Scylla instead, because that is his nature. As he readies to fight, Scylla is already swooping down to kill his men.

Scylla snatched six men from our hollow ship,
the toughest, strongest hands I had, and glancing
backward over the decks, searching for my crew
I could see their hands and feet already hoisted,
flailing, high, higher, over my head, look –
wailing down at me, comrades riven in agony,
shrieking out my name for one last time!

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 264-270. As Odysseus turns to do battle with Scylla, he describes how the six-headed female monster snatches six of his best men out of his boat and up to her cave. She devours the terrified sailors alive as they cry out Odysseus’ name.

Just as an angler poised on a jutting rock
flings his treacherous bait in the offshore swell,
whips his long rod – hook sheathed in an oxhorn lure –
and whisks up little fish he flips on the beach-break,
writhing, gasping out their lives…so now they writhed,
gasping as Scylla swung them up her cliff and there
at her cavern’s mouth she bolted them down raw –
screaming out, flinging their arms toward me,
lost in that mortal struggle.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 271-279. This passage describes how the six-headed monster Scylla snatches six men out of Odysseus’ boat and devours them. In one of Homer’s great epic similes, this appalling event is chillingly compared to an angler setting bait on his line and whisking up little fish, as they gasp for life.
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