Odysseus Demands an Oath

15“Some other purpose than to send me home
Is in your heart, O goddess, bidding me
To cross this frightful sea upon a raft —
This perilous sea, where never even ships
Pass with their rapid keels, though Zeus bestow
The wind that glads the seaman. Nay, I climb
No raft, against your wish, unless you swear
The great oath of the gods that you in this
Do meditate no other harm to me.”

16He spoke; Calypso, glorious goddess, smiled,
And smoothed his forehead with her hand, and said: —

17“Perverse, and slow to see where guile is not!
How could your heart permit you thus to speak?
Now bear me witness, Earth, and you broad Heavens
Above us, and you waters of the Styx
That flow beneath us, mightiest oath of all,
And most revered by all the blessed gods,
That I design no other harm to you,
But that I plan for you, and counsel you
What I would do were I in need like yours.
I bear a juster mind; my bosom holds
A pitying heart, and not a heart of steel.”