Read the excerpt from The Odyssey.
The wind that carried west from Ilium
brought me to Ismarus, on the far shore,
a strongpoint on the coast of Cicones.
I stormed that place and killed the men who fought.
Plunder we took, and we enslaved the women,
to make division, equal shares to all—
but on the spot I told them: 'Back, and quickly!
‘Out to sea again!' My men were mutinous,
fools, on stores of wine. Sheep after sheep they
butchered by the surf, and shambling cattle,
feasting,—while fugitives went inland, running
to call to arms the main force of Cicones.
This was an army, trained to fight on horseback
or, where the ground required, on foot. They came
with dawn over that terrain like the leaves
and blades of spring. So doom appeared to us,
dark word of Zeus for us, our evil days.
My men stood up and made a fight of it—60
backed on the ships, with lances kept in play,
from bright morning through the blaze of noon
so holding our beach, although so far outnumbered;
Which central idea should be included in a paraphrase of this excerpt?
The forces sent by Cicones to fight Odysseus and his men arrived during the early morning hours.
Odysseus and his men fought the forces of Cicones better on the ships than on land.
The forces sent by Cicones to stop the plundering of Odysseus and his men were skilled and powerful.
Odysseus views the army sent by Cicones as punishment from the Greek god Zeus.
Answer:
The forces sent by Cicones to stop the plundering of Odysseus and his men were skilled and powerful.
Explanation:
According to the given excerpt from The Odyssey, the narrator describes how Odysseus and his men were on a plundering spree and how the Cicones sent a skilled and powerful force to stop their plundering.
Therefore, the central idea that should be included in a paraphrase of this excerpt is the forces sent by Cicones to stop the plundering of Odysseus and his men were skilled and powerful.
