THE SIRENS, SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS, THE CATTLE OF THE SUN.
“After we were clear of the river Oceanus, and had got out into the open sea, we on till we the Aeaean where there is and sun-rise as in other places. We then our ship on to the and got out of her on to the shore, where we to sleep and waited till day should break.
“Then, when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, I sent some men to Circe’s house to the of Elpenor. We cut from a where the out into the sea, and after we had over him and him we performed his rites. When his and had been to ashes, we a cairn, set a over it, and at the top of the we the that he had been used to with.
“While we were doing all this, Circe, who that we had got from the house of Hades, herself and came to us as fast as she could; and her came with her us bread, meat, and wine. Then she in the of us and said, ‘You have done a thing in going alive to the house of Hades, and you will have died twice, to other people’s once; now, then, here for the of the day, your fill, and go on with your at tomorrow morning. In the meantime I will tell Ulysses about your course, and will to him so as to prevent your from either by land or sea.’
“We to do as she had said, and through the day to the going of the sun, but when the sun had set and it came on dark, the men themselves to sleep by the of the ship. Then Circe took me by the hand and me be seated away from the others, while she by my and asked me all about our adventures.
“‘So so good,’ said she, when I had ended my story, ‘and now pay attention to what I am about to tell you—heaven itself, indeed, will it to your recollection. First you will come to the Sirens who all who come near them. If any one in too close and the of the Sirens, his wife and children will welcome him home again, for they in a green and him to death with the of their song. There is a great of men’s all around, with the still off them. Therefore pass these Sirens by, and stop your men’s ears with that none of them may hear; but if you like you can yourself, for you may the men to you as you on a piece way up the mast,99 and they must the rope’s ends to the itself, that you may have the of listening. If you and pray the men to you, then they must you faster.
“‘When your have taken you past these Sirens, I cannot give you directions100 as to which of two you are to take; I will the two you, and you must them for yourself. On the one hand there are some against which the of Amphitrite with fury; the gods call these the Wanderers. Here not a bird may pass, no, not the that to Father Jove, but the always off one of them, and Father Jove has to send another to make up their number; no ship that yet came to these has got away again, but the and of fire are with and with the of men. The only that and got through, was the famous Argo on her way from the house of Aetes, and she too would have gone against these great rocks, only that Juno her past them for the love she to Jason.
“‘Of these two the one and its is in a dark cloud. This it, so that the top is clear not in and early autumn. No man though he had twenty hands and twenty a on it and climb it, for it up, as as though it had been polished. In the middle of it there is a large cavern, looking West and Erebus; you must take your ship this way, but the is so high up that not the send an into it. Inside it Scylla and with a voice that you might take to be that of a hound, but in truth she is a and no one—not a god—could her without being terror-struck. She has twelve mis-shapen feet, and six necks of the most length; and at the end of each she has a with three of teeth in each, all set very close together, so that they would any one to death in a moment, and she her out her and all the rock, for or or any larger that she can catch, of the thousands with which Amphitrite teems. No ship yet got past her without some men, for she out all her at once, and off a man in each mouth.
“‘You will the other lower, but they are so close together that there is not more than a bow-shot them. [A large tree in full leaf101 upon it], and under it the of Charybdis. Three times in the day she her waters, and three times she them again; see that you be not there when she is sucking, for if you are, Neptune himself not save you; you must the Scylla and drive ship by as fast as you can, for you had six men than your whole crew.’
“‘Is there no way,’ said I, ‘of Charybdis, and at the same time Scylla off when she is trying to my men?’
“‘You devil,’ the goddess, ‘you are always wanting to somebody or something; you will not let be by the immortals. For Scylla is not mortal; she is savage, extreme, rude, and invincible. There is no help for it; your best will be to by her as fast as you can, for if you about her while you are on your armour, she may catch you with a second of her six heads, and up another dozen of your men; so drive your ship past her at full speed, and out to Crataiis who is Scylla’s dam, luck to her; she will then stop her from making a second upon you.’
“‘You will now come to the Thrinacian island, and here you will see many of and of sheep to the sun-god—seven of and seven of sheep, with fifty in each flock. They do not breed, do they in number, and they are by the Phaethusa and Lampetie, who are children of the sun-god Hyperion by Neaera. Their mother when she had them and had done them sent them to the Thrinacian island, which was a long way off, to live there and look after their father’s and herds. If you these unharmed, and think of nothing but home, you may yet after much Ithaca; but if you them, then I you of the of your ship and of your comrades; and though you may escape, you will return late, in plight, after all your men.’
“Here she ended, and in gold to in heaven, she returned inland. I then on and told my men to the ship from her moorings; so they at once got into her, took their places, and to the sea with their oars. Presently the great and Circe us with a wind that aft, and with us, our well filled, so we did wanted doing to the ship’s gear, and let her go as wind and her.
“Then, being much in mind, I said to my men, ‘My friends, it is not right that one or two of us alone should know the that Circe has me, I will therefore tell you about them, so that we live or die we may do so with our open. First she said we were to keep clear of the Sirens, who and sing most in a of flowers; but she said I might them myself so long as no one else did. Therefore, take me and me to the way up the mast; me as I upright, with a so fast that I cannot possibly away, and the rope’s ends to the itself. If I and pray you to set me free, then me more still.’
“I had telling to the men we the of the two Sirens,102 for the wind had been very favourable. Then all of a it calm; there was not a of wind a upon the water, so the men the and them; then taking to their they the water with the they in rowing. Meanwhile I look a large wheel of and cut it up small with my sword. Then I the in my hands till it soft, which it soon did the and the of the sun-god son of Hyperion. Then I stopped the ears of all my men, and they me hands and to the as I on the piece; but they on themselves. When we had got of the land, and the ship was going at a good rate, the Sirens saw that we were in and with their singing.
“‘Come here,’ they sang, ‘renowned Ulysses, to the Achaean name, and to our two voices. No one past us without to the of our song—and he who will go on his way not only charmed, but wiser, for we know all the that the gods upon the Argives and Trojans Troy, and can tell you that is going to over the whole world.’
“They sang these most musically, and as I to them I by to my men that they should set me free; but they their stroke, and Eurylochus and Perimedes me with still till we had got out of of the Sirens’ voices. Then my men took the from their ears and me.
“Immediately after we had got past the I saw a great from which was rising, and I a loud sound. The men were so that they of their oars, for the whole sea with the of the waters,103 but the ship where it was, for the men had left off rowing. I round, therefore, and them man by man not to heart.
“‘My friends,’ said I, ‘this is not the time that we have been in danger, and we are in nothing like so a case as when the Cyclops us up in his cave; nevertheless, my and wise saved us then, and we shall live to look on all this as well. Now, therefore, let us all do as I say, trust in Jove and on with might and main. As for you, coxswain, these are your orders; to them, for the ship is in your hands; turn her away from these and the rock, or she will give you the and be over you know where you are, and you will be the death of us.’
“So they did as I told them; but I said nothing about the Scylla, for I the men would not go on if I did, but would together in the hold. In one thing only did I Circe’s instructions—I put on my armour. Then two I took my on the ship’s bows, for it was there that I to see the of the rock, who was to do my men so much harm; but I not make her out anywhere, though I my with looking the all over and over.
“Then we entered the Straits in great of mind, for on the one hand was Scylla, and on the other Charybdis up the salt water. As she it up, it was like the water in a when it is over upon a great fire, and the the top of the on either side. When she to again, we see the water all and round, and it a as it against the rocks. We see the of the all black with and mud, and the men were at their ends for fear. While we were taken up with this, and were each moment to be our last, Scylla upon us and up my six best men. I was looking at once after ship and men, and in a moment I saw their hands and so high above me, in the air as Scylla was them off, and I them call out my name in one last cry. As a fisherman, seated, in hand, upon some rock104 into the water to the little fishes, and them with the ox’s with which his is shod, them on to the land as he them one by one—even so did Scylla land these on her and them up at the mouth of her den, while they and out their hands to me in their agony. This was the most that I saw all my voyages.
“When we had passed the [Wandering] rocks, with Scylla and terrible Charybdis, we the of the sun-god, where were the and sheep to the sun Hyperion. While still at sea in my ship I the as they came home to the yards, and the sheep bleating. Then I what the Theban Teiresias had told me, and how Aeaean Circe had me to the of the sun-god. So being much I said to the men, ‘My men, I know you are hard pressed, but while I tell you the that Teiresias me, and how Aeaean Circe me to the of the sun-god, for it was here, she said, that our would lie. Head the ship, therefore, away from the island.’
“The men were in at this, and Eurylochus at once gave me an answer. ‘Ulysses,’ said he, ‘you are cruel; you are very and out; you to be of iron, and now, though your men are with and want of sleep, you will not let them land and cook themselves a good supper upon this island, but them put out to sea and go on through the of the night. It is by night that the and do so much damage; how can we should one of those up from South West or West, which so often a when our the gods are unpropitious? Now, therefore, let us the of night and prepare our supper here hard by the ship; to-morrow we will go on again and put out to sea.’
“Thus spoke Eurylochus, and the men his words. I saw that meant us a and said, ‘You me to yield, for you are many against one, but at any each one of you must take his that if he meet with a of or a large of sheep, he will not be so as to kill a single of either, but will be satisfied with the food that Circe has us.’
“They all as I them, and when they had their we the ship fast in a that was near a of fresh water, and the men and their suppers. As soon as they had had to eat and drink, they talking about their Scylla had up and eaten; this set them and they on till they off into a sleep.
“In the third watch of the night when the had their places, Jove a great of wind that a so that land and sea were with thick clouds, and night out of the heavens. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, we the ship to land and her into a the sea-nymphs their and dances, and I called the men together in council.
“‘My friends,’ said I, ‘we have meat and drink in the ship, let us mind, therefore, and not touch the cattle, or we shall for it; for these and sheep to the sun, who sees and ear to everything.’ And again they promised that they would obey.
“For a whole month the wind from the South, and there was no other wind, but only South and East.105 As long as and out the men did not touch the when they were hungry; when, however, they had all there was in the ship, they were to go afield, with and line, birds, and taking they their hands on; for they were starving. One day, therefore, I up that I might pray to me some means of away. When I had gone to be clear of all my men, and had a place that was well from the wind, I my hands and prayed to all the gods in Olympus till by and by they sent me off into a sweet sleep.
“Meanwhile Eurylochus had been to the men, ‘Listen to me,’ said he, ‘my comrades. All deaths are but there is none so as famine. Why should not we drive in the best of these and offer them in to the gods? If we to Ithaca, we can a temple to the sun-god and it with every of ornament; if, however, he is to our ship out of for these cattle, and the other gods are of the same mind, I for one would drink salt water once for all and have done with it, than be to death by in such a as this is.’
“Thus spoke Eurylochus, and the men his words. Now the cattle, so and goodly, were not from the ship; the men, therefore, in the best of them, and they all them saying their prayers, and using oak-shoots of barley-meal, for there was no left. When they had done praying they killed the and their carcasses; they cut out the bones, them in two of fat, and set some pieces of meat on top of them. They had no with which to make drink-offerings over the while it was cooking, so they on a little water from time to time while the meats were being grilled; then, when the were and they had the meats, they cut the up small and put the pieces upon the spits.
“By this time my sleep had left me, and I to the ship and to the sea shore. As I near I to meat, so I out a prayer to the gods. ‘Father Jove,’ I exclaimed, ‘and all you other gods who live in bliss, you have done me a by the sleep into which you have sent me; see what work these men of mine have been making in my absence.’
“Meanwhile Lampetie off to the sun and told him we had been killing his cows, he into a great rage, and said to the immortals, ‘Father Jove, and all you other gods who live in bliss, I must have on the of Ulysses’ ship: they have had the to kill my cows, which were the one thing I loved to look upon, I was going up or again. If they do not square with me about my cows, I will go to Hades and there among the dead.’
“‘Sun,’ said Jove, ‘go on upon us gods and upon over the earth. I will their ship into little pieces with a of white as soon as they out to sea.’
“I was told all this by Calypso, who said she had it from the mouth of Mercury.
“As soon as I got to my ship and to the sea I each one of the men separately, but we see no way out of it, for the were already. And the gods at once to and among us, for the of the about, and the joints upon the to low like cows, and the meat, or raw, on making a noise just as do.
“For six days my men in the best and upon them, but when Jove the son of Saturn had added a seventh day, the of the abated; we therefore on board, our masts, spread sail, and put out to sea. As soon as we were well away from the island, and see nothing but sky and sea, the son of Saturn a black cloud over our ship, and the sea dark it. We did not on much further, for in another moment we were by a from the West that the of the so that it aft, while all the ship’s about at the of the vessel. The upon the of the in the ship’s stern, so that the of his were to pieces, and he as though he were diving, with no more life left in him.
“Then Jove let with his thunderbolts, and the ship and round, and was with fire and as the it. The men all into the sea; they were about in the water the ship, looking like so many sea-gulls, but the god presently them of all of home again.
“I to the ship till the sea her from her (which about by itself) and the out of her in the direction of the keel; but there was a of ox-thong still about it, and with this I the and together, and of them was the to take me.
“[The from the West had now its force, and the wind got into the South again, which me I should be taken to the terrible of Charybdis. This was what actually happened, for I was along by the all night, and by had the of Scylla, and the whirlpool. She was then the salt sea water,106 but I was toward the tree, which I of and on to like a bat. I not plant my so as to securely, for the were a long way off and the that the whole were too high, too vast, and too for me to them; so I on, waiting till the should my and again—and a very long while it seemed. A jury-man is not more to home to supper, after having been long in by cases, than I was to see my to work its way out of the again. At last I let go with my hands and feet, and into the sea, hard by my on to which I then got, and to with my hands. As for Scylla, the father of gods and men would not let her of me—otherwise I should have been lost.107
“Hence I was along for nine days till on the tenth night the gods me on the Ogygian island, where the great and powerful Calypso. She took me in and was to me, but I need say no more about this, for I told you and your wife all about it yesterday, and I saying the same thing over and over again.”
