Because if he goes toward Charybdis, all his men will die and he will lose his ship. But if he goes towards Scylla then only 6 of his men will die.
Odysseus chose Scylla, and lost 6 men to her arms.
Odysseus chooses to pass by Scylla because, Scylla will only kill 6 men, one for each head. Charybdis will sink the ship, killing everyone. Circe has also advised Odysseus to do choose Scylla. Further, Charybdis is a visible danger, and Odysseus uses Charybdis to encourage his men to pass by quickly. Finally, passing by Scylla and Charybdis is given as the only way for Odysseus to get home from where he is.
He chooses Scylla over charybdis because if they go to charybdis they would all die, but if they go to Scylla only six would die because Scylla has six heads and six mouths to eat with.
Odysseus chooses to go on Scylla's side of the strait because he believes facing the danger of Scylla is a less risky option than facing Charybdis, the whirlpool monster. He hopes to minimize casualties by sacrificing only a few men to Scylla, rather than risking losing the entire ship to Charybdis.
So they did not become scared and decide to turn back. By the time they reached Scylla, all of the men were focused on Charybdis (the whirlpool), and did not have time to worry about being eaten by Scylla until it was too late.
Odysseus was forced to choose which monster to confront while passing through the strait of Messina. Scylla was a six-headed sea monster on the Italian side of the strait and Charybdis was a whirlpool off the coast of Sicily. They were close enough that avoiding Charybdis meant passing too close to Scylla and vice versa. Odysseus opted to pass by Scylla and lose only a few sailors, rather than risk the loss of his entire ship.
Odysseus was forced to choose which monster to confront while passing through the strait of Messina. Scylla was a six-headed sea monster on the Italian side of the strait and Charybdis was a whirlpool off the coast of Sicily. They were close enough that avoiding Charybdis meant passing too close to Scylla and vice versa. Odysseus opted to pass by Scylla and lose only a few sailors, rather than risk the loss of his entire ship.
Odysseus was forced to choose which monster to confront while passing through the strait of Messina. Scylla was a six-headed sea monster on the Italian side of the strait and Charybdis was a whirlpool off the coast of Sicily. They were close enough that avoiding Charybdis meant passing too close to Scylla and vice versa. Odysseus opted to pass by Scylla and lose only a few sailors, rather than risk the loss of his entire ship in the whirlpool.
Odysseus was forced to choose which monster to confront while passing through the strait of Messina. Scylla was a six-headed sea monster on the Italian side of the strait and Charybdis was a whirlpool off the coast of Sicily. They were close enough that avoiding Charybdis meant passing too close to Scylla and vice versa. Odysseus opted to pass by Scylla and lose only a few sailors, rather than risk the loss of his entire ship.
Charybdis was a sea monster in Greek mythology that was in the form of a whirlpool. She was paired with Scylla, another sea-monster that sailors didn't want to encounter. "Between Scylla and Charybdis" means having to choose between two dangers, either of which brings harm.
"Caught between a rock and a hard place" is a modern expression that alludes to the situation faced by Odysseus when navigating between Scylla and Charybdis in Greek mythology. It refers to being in a difficult dilemma with two equally challenging options.
Scylla may refer to the princess of Megara, or the monster that lived on one side of a narrow passage of water. Both are figures in Greek Mythology. The princess Scylla betrayed her father Nisos, king of Megara, in order to win the heart of king Minos. Minos had invaded Megara, and Scylla helped him win the battle by removing the lock of her father that provided invisibility. Her love for Minos however wasn't reciprocal. The monster Scylla lived on one side of a water passage. The monster Charybdis on the other. If sailors wanted to avoid Scylla they sailed to close to Charybdis, and vice versa. It can be seen as an allegory for having to choose between two dangers.