Question

read the excerpt from the odyssey.
six benches were left empty in every ship
that evening when we pulled away from death.
and this new grief we bore with us to sea:
our precious lives we had, but not our friends.
no ship made sail next day until some shipmate
had raised a cry, three times, for each poor ghost
unfleshed by the cicones on that field.
which key details should be included in a paraphrase
of this passage? select two options.
□ a shipmate cried out three times for each life lost.
□ six men from each ship lost their lives at cicones.
□ the ships pulled away from shore during the
evening.
□ the men were greatly saddened by the loss of their
friends.
□ many of odysseus’s men did not escape with their
lives

Explanation:

1. The line "Six benches were left empty in every ship" directly means six men per ship died, matching the detail about six men from each ship lost at Cicones.
2. The lines "this new grief we bore with us to sea: our precious lives we had, but not our friends" clearly convey that the men were deeply saddened by losing their friends.
3. The excerpt states the shipmate cried three times for each ghost (each life lost), not that a shipmate cried out three times for each life lost in the way option A phrases it (the action is tied to the departure, not a direct per-life cry count as stated).
4. The text says they "pulled away from death" in the evening, but the core key detail of loss and grief, plus the specific number of dead per ship, are more critical than the timing of departure alone. The broad statement "Many of Odysseus's men did not escape" is less precise than the specific detail of six per ship.

Answer:

B. Six men from each ship lost their lives at Cicones.
D. The men were greatly saddened by the loss of their friends.