ODYSSEY BOOK XII
NOW when at last she had traversed the stream of the river of Ocean,
1
Reaching the wide-way'd sea and its surging expanses, the vessel
Soon was arrived at the island Aeaea (the fair-tressed Morning's
Dwelling is here and her dancing-ground, and the home of the sunrise).
Here when we came, uphauling the ship on the sands of the sea-shore,
5
Out of her all of us stepped on the surf-beat strand of the ocean,
Laid us to rest and awaited the light of the sacred morning.
Now when the morning was newly arisen, the roseate-fingered,
Straight did I send forth some of my mates to the palace of Circe
Bidding them bring me the body of him who had died, Elpenor.
10
Forthwith cutting us logs, where highmost jutted a foreland,
Him lamenting we buried, outpouring tears in abundance.
Then, when the dead man's body was burned and the arms of the dead man,
Piling a barrow we dragged to the summit a pillar and reared it;
Also his well-shaped oar on the top of the mound we erected.
15
Thus then all of the rites we fulfilled, nor remained it to Circe
Hidden that back we had come from the mansion of Hades, and quickly
Donning her robes she arrived, and her handmaids followed behind her
Bringing us bread and abundance of flesh and glittering red wine.
Then, as she stood in their midst, addressed us the beautiful goddess:
20
'Desperate ones, thus living to enter the mansion of Hades!
Twice consenting to die, though once is the lot of a mortal!
Come now, feast ye on food meantime and quaff of the wine-cup,
Here remaining the whole of the day, but when morning appeareth,
Then shall ye sail; and the way will I show you, and every danger
25
Clearly explain, lest ever by evil devices of malice
Either on sea or on land misfortune and sorrow befall you.'
So did she speak, and within us the valiant soul was persuaded.
Here then all of the day till the sun went down in the ocean
Sat we and feasted on flesh in abundance and quaffed of the wine-cup,
30
Till, when the sun sank down and come was the gloom of the twilight,
While by the side of the moorings my shipmates laid them to slumber,
Taking my hand she withdrew me apart from my trusty companions,
Pray'd me to sit and reclined her beside me and questioned me closely.
So I began with my story, and all things duly related.
35
Then, as I ended, in answer the beautiful goddess addressed me :
'Thus now all of this matter is happily ended; but listen!
More I shall tell thee—and heaven thereof right oft will remind thee.
Unto the Sirens first shalt thou come, whose song of enchantment
Every mortal bewitches who heedlessly draweth anigh them.
40
Whosoever in folly approaching anigh to the Sirens
Heareth their singing, his wife and his infant children will never
Stand at his side and exult as they welcome him back to the homeland;
No—for the Sirens soon with their soft sweet singing bewitch him.
Sitting amidst of a meadow they sing all round in a great pile
45
Bodies decaying, and bones with the skin still shrivelling on them.
Steer thou steadily past, nor forget in the ears of thy comrades
Wax honey-sweet soft-kneaded to smear, lest any shall hearken,
Any of all of the others; but beest thou wishful to listen,
Bid them to bind thee by hand and by foot in the swift-winged vessel,
50
Set thee erect on the thwart and stash thee with ropes to the mast-tree.
Thus shalt thou listen, enrapt with delight, to the song of the Sirens;
Ay and the more thou beseechest and biddest thy mates to release thee
Ever the more it is need that with fetters they fasten thee firmly.
Now when thy mates have driven the vessel in safety beyond them,
55
Verily then for the rest nought certain and clear can I tell thee
Which of the ways of return shall be thine. In the depths of thy bosom
Question thy heart for advice. But of both of the ways will I tell thee.
First, on the one side beetle precipitous crags, and around them
Thunder the rollers enormous of blue-eyed Amphitrite.
60
"Wandering Rocks" is the name they are given by blesséd immortals.
This way passeth not even a bird—nay, even the pigeons,
Timorous doves that to Zeus our Father ambrosia carry,
Even of these one oft will be caught by the slippery rock-wall;
Then will another be sent by the Sire to replenish the number :
65
This way never escapeth a vessel of men that arrives here;
Mingled together is wreckage of vessels with bodies of mortals
Tossed on the billows of brine by the fury of fiery whirlwinds.
Sole this voyage hath made, of the ships which fare on the ocean,
Argo ever-renowned, as she sailed from the land of Aeëtes.
70
Ay and the Argo too on the huge crags surely had driven
Save for the guidance of Hera, who showed such favour to Jason.
Then, on the second path, twain rocks: one reacheth to heaven
Lifting a sharp-peaked crest, and a cloud aye hangeth around it
Blue-black, never receding—nor ever the cloudless aether
75
Lieth about this peak in the season of summer and autumn,
Nor might ever a mortal ascend it or ever descend it,
Nay not e'en if his hands and his feet were twenty in number,
Such is the slippery smoothness thereof, as of stone that is polished.
Right in the midst of the rock there gapeth a shadowy cavern,
80
Turned to the gloom of the west—t'ward Erebus—even the quarter
Whither the hollow ship ye shall steer, O noble Odysseus.
Never a man in the prime of his strength from his hollow vessel
Launching a shaft from a bow could reach to the mouth of the cavern.
Here inhabiteth Scylla, a howling and horrible monster.
85
Like to the voice of a whelp new-born doth the sound of her yelping
Rise to the ear; but her form is a sight portentous, that no one
E'er would gladly behold, not even a god, if he met her.
Round her a dozen of feet she is always waving suspended,
Six long sinuous necks outstretching before her, and each one
90
Beareth a head terrific with teeth in a threefold order
Many and thickly arrayed, where gapes death's cavernous blackness.
Up to the midmost parts she is hid in the depth of the cavern,
Whilst from her lair in the fearful abyss six heads she extendeth
Hunting for fish at the foot of the rock and peering around it,
95
Dolphins to catch or dogfish, or haply another and greater
Beast of the droves unnumbered of deep-voiced Amphitrite.
This way never hath crew been able to boast that uninjured
Past they had flown in a ship, since every head of the monster
Seizeth and beareth away one man from the blue-prowed vessel.
100
Now for the second rock—it is lower to look at, Odysseus ;
Nigh to the other it lies; 'twere easy to reach with an arrow.
Growing thereon is a fig-tree tall with luxuriant leafage.
'Neath it the deep black water is swallowed by mighty Charybdis.
Thrice in the day doth she swallow it down and thrice she rejects it—
105
Terrible! May'st thou be never anigh when she swallows the water!
None might succour thee then from thy fate, not even Poseidon.
Steer thou to Scylla's rock, and swiftly approaching anigh it
Hastily pass in thy ship; since surely by far it is better
Six of thy mates to bewail than that all of them perish together.'
110
Thus did she speak; forthwith then answering thus I addressed her :
'Come now, tell me the truth, O goddess, and plainly declare it!
Could I perchance somewise, escaping the deadly Charybdis,
Hold me the other at bay when she fain would ravish my comrades?'
Thus did I speak; and at once thus answered the beautiful goddess:
115
'Desperate one! lo, ever again thou'lt dreaming of battles,
Dreaming of toil! Willst ne'er to the gods immortal submit thee?
Nowise mortal, believe me, is she, but a horror immortal—
Terrible, irresistible, savage, invincible monster!
Courage availeth thee nothing; to flee her is best and is bravest.
120
Shouldst thou delay at the side of her rock and with armour equip thee,
Much do I fear that anew may issue forth to assail thee
All of the heads, and again upsnap six more of thy comrades.
Row at thy utmost speed, and call on the name of Crataïs,
Mother of Scylla—the dam which littered this terror for mortals.
125
She will prevent that anew she shall issue forth of the cavern.
Isle Thrinacia next thou shalt reach, where pasture in numbers
Cattle of Eëlios and the fat-fed flocks of the sun-god—
Seven the droves of the kine and seven of fair-fleeced fatlings,
Fifty in every flock. 'Tis a race that has never an offspring,
130
Nor do they dwindle and die; and goddesses lead them to pasture,
Fair-haired Lampetië and her sister, the nymph Phaëthusa,
Daughters of lovely Neaera and Eëlios Hyperion.
Now so soon as the goddess had borne and had nurtured her daughters,
Then did she send them to dwell in the far Thrinacian island,
135
Over the crook-horned cattle to watch and the flocks of their father.
These if ye leave unharmed and earnestly press on your journey
Verily Ithaca still shall ye reach, though suffering sorely;
Them if ye injure at all, I predict then utter destruction
Both for thy ship and thy mates, whilst thou, though haply escaping,
140
Late and in pitiful plight shalt arrive, no comrade surviving.'
While she was speaking the Morning appeared, enthroned in her glory.
Then to the island again she departed, the beautiful goddess,
While to the vessel returning I urgently bade my companions
Haste to embark on the ship and to loose from the mooring the cable.
145
All then quickly embarked and taking their seats on the benches
Smote with the well-ranged oars on the grey-green brine of the ocean.
Following after us then in the wake of the blue-prowed vessel
Fair stern-breezes arose, sail-swelling and kindly companions,
Sent by the fair-tressed nymph, dread goddess voiced as a mortal.
150
So, when the gear of the ship we had busily stowed and adjusted,
Seated we watched, while straight she was kept by the wind and the steersman.
Then at the last with a heart right heavy I spake to my comrades:
PATTEN WILSON
THE SIRENS
'Friends, as it never is seemly that one or that two of us only
Learn the prophetical sayings of Circe, the beautiful goddess,
155
Now will I speak, that ye know it beforehand, whether we perish,
Or peradventure evade our doom and escape from destruction.
Firstly she bade us beware of the wiles of the wonderful Sirens,
Bade us escape from the song that they sing in their flowery meadow.
Only myself she alloweth to listen and me shall ye, shipmates,
160
Binding with difficult bonds that shall keep me immovably fixed there,
Set me erect on the thwart, and lash me with ropes to the mast-tree;
Ay and the more I beseech you, my comrades, and bid you release me,
Ever the more is it need that with fetters ye fasten thee firmly.'
Thus then speaking the whole of the thing to my mates I imparted.
165
Meantime speedily ever the well-built ship was approaching
Near to the Sirens' isle, borne on by a favouring stern-wind.
Then of a sudden abated the wind, and it ceased, and a calm spread
Breathless around—some deity lulling the surges to slumber.
Swiftly the men sprang up on their feet and furling the canvas
170
Stowed it away in the hold of the vessel, and then on the benches
Sat them adown and whitened the water with polished pine-blades.
Then with an axe I dissevered a wheel right heavy of beeswax,
Cutting it small; and the pieces with sinewy fingers I kneaded.
Quickly the wax grew soft, constrained by the pressure, and also
175
Warmed by the rays of the sun, King Eëlios Hyperion.
Then in the ears of my mates, one after the other, I smeared it.
These too, binding together my hands and my feet in the vessel,
Set me erect on the thwart and lashed me with ropes to the mast-tree;
Seated them then and smote on the grey-green brine of the ocean.
180
Thus then, distant as far as the voice of a shouter will carry,
Swiftly we passed; but they failed not the fleet-paced vessel to notice
Speeding anigh them, and so they began their soft sweet singing:
'Come to us, famous Odysseus, thou glory of all the Achaeans,
Stay but a moment the vessel and list to the song that we sing thee!
185
Never hath earth-born man passed here in his black-hulled vessel
Ere he hath listened to music of voices as sweet as the honey.
Here doth he taste of delight and fuller of knowledge he fareth,
Since that we all things know what befell on the plain of the Troad—
All that was sent by the will of the gods to the Trojans and Argives,
190
Yea and whatever shall hap on the earth, which nourisheth all things.'
Thus did they call as they sang with a beautiful voice, and within me
Fain was the heart to obey, and to loose me I ordered my comrades,
Frowning and nodding—but forward they bent them incessantly rowing,
Whilst rose Eurylochus, rose also his mate Perimedes,
195
Bound me with bonds still more and with cordage fettered me firmly.
Then, so soon we had gotten us further, nor heard in the distance
Longer was sound of the words or the voice of the song of the Sirens,
Quickly my well-loved mates from their ears unloosened the beeswax
Which I had smeared them withal, and out of my bonds they released me.
200
Now no sooner the island was dropping behind us when straightway
Smoke and a monstrous wave I beheld and was ware of a thunder.
Then went flying in panic the oars from the hands of the rowers;
Down in the swirl of the water they fell with a splash, and the ship stood
Still, for the hands of the men ceased plying the tapering oar-blades.
205
So to the midst of the vessel I passed and exhorted my comrades,
Standing in turn near each, and with words consoling addressed them :
'Courage, my friends! ere now we have learnt us the lesson of danger;
Nor is a greater disaster before us than once was the Cyclops,
While with his masterful might in his hollow cavern he penned us;
210
Natheless even from there by my valour and counsel and forethought
Found we escape, and I ween this too shall we live to remember.
Come now, list to the counsel I give, that we all may obey it.
Ye, O mates, with the oars on the salt sea's mountainous surges
Smite as ye sit on the benches—if Zeus peradventure will help us,
215
Granting us now to evade this doom and safely escape it.
Thee, O pilot, I charge—and these commands in thy spirit
Ponder—for thou art in charge of the helm of the hollow vessel—
Clear of the smoke take care and clear of the rollers to keep her;
Steer right close to the rocks, and be watchful in fear she elude thee
220
Thitherward darting aside, and thou hurl us all to destruction.'
Thus did I speak, and hearing my words all quickly obeyed me.
Scylla, resistless monster—of her still nothing I told them,
Lest peradventure the men, when they heard it, by fear overmastered,
Ceasing to row might crowd to the hold of the vessel to hide them.
225
Now was the moment at hand when Circe's grievous injunction
Clean I forgat; for to arm me at all she had straitly forbidden.
Thus then, clad in my armour renowned, with a couple of lances,
Long ones, grasped in my hands, by the foremost deck I ascended
On to the prow, since thence I expected her first to be sighted,
230
Scylla, who haunted the rock and was bringing their doom on my comrades.
Natheless nought was I able to spy, and weary mine eyes grew
Peering intently around at the crags half hidden in vapour.
Thus then into the narrows we entered with pitiful groaning.
Scylla on one side lay, on the other the mighty Charybdis
235
Swallowing down with a force terrific the salt sea water.
Now whensoever she vomited forth, as a pot on a furnace
Out of the depths all swirling and seething she rose, and above her
Mounted the spray, and on both of the peaks of the rock it descended.
Then, whensoever she swallowed the flood of the salt sea water,
240
Down to the depths all seething she opened, and round her the rock-wall
Terribly bellowed, and right at the bottom the gaping abyss showed
Blue-black sands; and the men were seized by a pale cold terror.
Whilst now thither we fixed our gaze, foreboding destruction,
Out of the midst of my men in the hollow vessel did Scylla
245
Six snap—bravest of all in the fight, and in body the strongest.
Then, as again to the vessel I turned and looked for my comrades,
All I beheld was the hands and the feet of the men as they struggled
High in the air; and I heard their voices appealing for succour,
Vainly invoking my name in the last dread moment of anguish.
250
E'en as a fisher who stands with his tapering rod on a foreland
Casts on the water his baits as a lure for the tinier fishes,
Then in the deep down-droppeth his line with a sheathing of ox-horn;
Even as writheth the fish when he catcheth and flingeth it landward,
Thus did they writhe as she caught them and bore them aloft to her cavern.
255
Here, at the mouth of the cave, she devoured them horribly shrieking,
Still extending to me their hands in their dread death-struggle :
Sight most woeful of all that mine eyes have ever beholden,
All of the woes that I suffered exploring the paths of the ocean !
Thus then, after evading the Rocks and fearful Charybdis,
260
Scylla we also escaped, and the god's inviolate island
Soon with the vessel we reached. Here pasture the beautiful broad-browed
Cattle and many a flock of the sun-god, King Hyperion.
Now whilst still in my black-hulled vessel afloat on the ocean
Lowing I heard, as of kine to the stalls of the cattle returning,
265
Mingled with bleating of sheep. Then fell on my mind the monition
Given by Teiresias, old sightless prophet of Thebae,
Ay and by Circe of Aea; for both most urgently bade me
Keep well wide of the isle of the Sun who gladdeneth mortals.
So with a heart right heavy I turned to my mates and addressed them :
270
'Listen, I pray, to my words, though suffering sorely, my comrades!
List to the warnings prophetic of Teiresias the diviner,
Ay and of Circe of Aea—for both most urgently bade me
Keep well wide of the isle of the Sun who gladdeneth mortals,
Saying that here was awaiting us surely a dreadful disaster.
275
Row, then, row! and the good black ship keep clear of the island.'
Thus did I speak; but the hearts of the men were broken within them.
Straightway Eurylochus with a word disconsolate answered :
'Cruel I call thee, Odysseus! Immense is thy strength and thy body
Never is weary. By heav'n, thou'rt fashioned wholly of iron,
280
Thus forbidding thy mates, o'ermastered by toil and by slumber,
Out of the vessel to land—though here 'twere possible straightway,
Here on this sea-girt island, a meal right pleasant to make us—
Urging us on like this in the rapidly gathering darkness
Blindly to wander afar from the land on the mist-bound ocean !
285
Out of the darkness too are tempests, wreckers of vessels,
Wont to arise. How could we escape then sudden destruction,
Should peradventure arise unexpected the blast of a storm-wind,
Either the South or the West, whose rage all other exceeding
Shattereth vessels in spite of the will of the Rulers of heaven?
290
Nay come, hear me, I pray—no longer defying the darkness,
Let us a supper prepare, by the swift-winged vessel remaining,
Then embarking at dawn launch forth on the plain of the ocean!'
Thus spake Eurylochus, and all of the others assented.
Forthwith then I perceived some deity plotted us evil;
295
Therefore upraising my voice these swift-winged words I addressed him :
'Eurylochus, I am truly unable alone to resist you—
Yet come all, I beseech you, and swear me by all that is sacred,
Should we perchance on a number of sheep or of cattle at pasture
Hap to alight, ye will never in wanton infatuate folly
300
Slaughter a cow nor even a sheep, but in quiet contentment
Eat the provisions ye got as a present from Circe the goddess.'
Thus did I speak; forthwith all sware to refrain, as I bade them.
So when at length they had given the oath and finished the plighting,
Finding a hollow haven, the well-built vessel we stranded
305
Nigh to a freshet of water, and straightway stept my companions
Out of the vessel, and soon right deftly prepared was the supper.
Then when at last they had lost all longing for meat and the wine-cup,
Forthwith calling to mind their well-loved mates they bewailed them,
Those whom Scylla had snapt from the hollow vessel and eaten.
310
Thus as they wept and wailed fell soothing slumber upon them,
Till, at the tierce of the night, when the stars were passed to their setting,
Sudden a squall swept down from the Father who gathers the tempests
Bursting with terrible blast; all covered over with storm-rack
Earth was at once and the sea; and down from the sky fell midnight.
315
Then when the morning was newly arisen, the roseate-fingered,
Into a hollow cavern we dragged our vessel and moored her.
Here were beautiful dancing-grounds and seats of the sea-nymphs.
Forthwith calling a council of all, these words I addressed them :
'Friends, in the swift-winged ship is provision for eating and drinking;
320
Therefore keep we afar from the kine lest evil befall us.
Dread is the god whose cattle and fat-fed flocks we shall find here,
E\ddot{e}lios, who all overseeth and all overheareth.'
Thus did I speak, and within them the valiant soul was persuaded.
Then for a month unceasing the South Wind blew, nor another
325
Ever arose meantime save only the East and the South Wind.
Whilst now still we possessed a provision of corn and of red wine
Ever for love of their lives all kept them away from the cattle,
Till, when at last consumed in the vessel was all of the grain-store,
Often in questings for game would want constrain them to wander,
330
Catching with well-bent hooks both birds and fishes—whatever
Came to the hands of the men—since famine gnawed at their belly.
Now on a day I departed and mounted the island, to offer
Prayer to the gods, should any reveal me a way of returning.
So, when at last I had mounted the isle and avoided my comrades,
335
Cleansing with water my hands, where 'gainst all winds was a covert,
All the immortals with vows I invoked who inhabit Olympus.
Straight, as an answer they poured a delicious sleep on my eyelids.
Meanwhile Eurylochus ill counsels gave to his shipmates :
'Listen, I pray, to my words, though suffering sorely, my comrades!
340
Every manner of death for unfortunate mortals is hateful;
Death most hateful is this to be doomed through hunger to perish.
Come, let us forth, and catching the best of the kine of the sun-god
Offerings make to the gods who inhabit the infinite heaven.
Yea and if haply at last we arrive at the Ithacan homeland,
345
Then to the god of the sun, Hyperion, a rich-wrought temple
Straight will we rear, and adorn it with gifts full many and precious.
Nay, if he even, in wrath maybe for his straight-horned cattle,
Strive to destroy our vessel, and other immortals abet him,
Sooner with one last gulp at a wave will I sink to the bottom
350
Rather than thus stay starving to death on a desolate island.'
Thus spake Eurylochus, and all of the others assented.
Straight they uprose and they lifted the best of the kine of the sun-god,
Going not far; for anigh to the blue-prow'd vessel they found them
Feeding the shambling kine—those beautiful broad-brow'd cattle.
355
Then in a circle surrounding the beasts they invoked the immortals,
Plucking the soft green leaves of the oak which spreadeth to heaven,
Since white groats no longer remained in the well-decked vessel.
Now so soon they had prayed and had slaughtered the cattle and flayed them,
Cutting the thigh-piece out of the thigh they enwrapped it in caul-fat,
360
Making it double, and laid at the top raw chunks of the carcass.
Wine moreover was wanting to pour on the burning oblation,
Wherefore making libation with water they roasted the entrails.
Then, when the thighs were wholly consumed and the livers devoured,
Slicing the rest of it smaller they spitted the pieces on skewers.
365
This was the season that sleep, long-brooding, fled from my eyelids.
Straight to the swift-winged ship and the beach of the ocean I hastened,
Till when at last I was come not far from the twy-beaked galley
Then did a savour delicious of fat come floating around me,
Which when I noticed I groaned, and I cried to the gods everlasting:
370
'Father Zeus and ye other immortals eternally blesséd,
Verily now to my ruin ye lulled me in merciless slumber !
Lo what a monstrous deed have plotted my mates in my absence!'
Swift to the god of the sun, Hyperion, as messenger hasted
Long-robed Lampetië, to report we had slaughtered the cattle.
375
Straight mid the gods everlasting he spake, fierce wrath in his bosom :
'Father Zeus, and ye other immortals eternally blesséd,
See that ye punish the men of Odysseus the son of Laertes!
Lo, with an insolence rare they have slaughtered the cattle wherein I
Ever rejoiced as I mounted the starry expanse of the heaven,
380
Ever as back to the earth I returned, from the heaven descending.
Should they refuse for my cattle to pay me a seemly atonement,
Into the darkness of Hades I'll set and shine for the dead there.'
Him then in turn gave answer the Father who gathers the tempests:
'God of the sun, shine here in the heaven amidst the immortals,
385
Ay and for men that be mortal on earth, rich giver of harvests!
Touching this crew—their ship with the blinding bolt of my thunder
Smiting I'll shatter asunder amidst of the wine-dark ocean.'
All these things did I hear from the fair-tressed goddess Calypso;
She from the Messenger God, Hermeias, said she had heard them.
390
Now when at last I was come to the ship and the shore of the ocean,
Each man after the other in turn I upbraided; but nowise
Found we a means to amend it. The cows were slaughtered already.
Ay and the gods forthwith sent monstrous marvels to scare us—
Skins beginning to crawl and the meat that was spitted to bellow,
395
Roasted as well as the raw; and a lowing arose as of cattle.
So six livelong days hereafter my faithful companions
Fed on the spoil they had taken the best of the cows of the sun-god,
Till, when a seventh was sent by the Father of heaven, Cronion,
Then at the last ceased raging the wind with its violent storm-blasts.
400
Speedily therefore embarking we launched on the plain of the ocean,
Hoisted the mast and the white sails lifted aloft to the breezes.
Now no sooner the island was dropping behind us, nor any
Other land was in sight, but the heaven alone and the ocean,
Then was a blue-black cloud commanded to halt by Cronion
405
Over the hollow ship, and beneath it the deep sea darkened ;
Nor much longer she ran on her course; of a sudden upon her
Shouting the West swept down with the might of a furious tempest.
Smit by the blast of the whirlwind the foremost stays of the mast snapt,
Both of them; backward the mast fell down and the whole of the rigging
410
Dropped to the hold in a heap; at the stern of the vessel the topmast
Crashed from aloft on the head of the pilot and shattered in pieces
Every bone of the skull; and he headlong, like to a diver,
Plunged from the poop, and the valiant soul from the body departed.
Zeus at that instant thundered and lightning hurled at the vessel.
415
Struck by the bolt of the Father she shook all over and staggered,
Filled with a sulphurous flame. From the ship fell all of my comrades,
Then on the waves like gulls by the side of the black-hulled vessel
Floated and tossed; and the god thus ended their hope of the homeland.
Still was I pacing the deck of the ship when a billow enormous
420
Parted her sides from the keel, which swept on bare of the tackle.
Close to the keel clean snapt was the mast-tree lying, and round it
Lashed to it loosely was hanging a backstay, fashioned of ox-hide.
Herewith firmly I fastened together the keel and the mast-tree,
Seated whereon I was carried along by the terrible tempest.
425
Now, when the West had abated the rage of its furious storm-blasts,
Swiftly arising the South swooped down, and it tortured my spirit
Lest it again might carry me back to the deadly Charybdis.
All night long was I borne by the wind; at the season of sunrise
Close to the cavern of Scylla I came and to dreadful Charybdis.
430
E'en at this moment she yawned and swallowed the salt sea water.
Then with an upward leap did I clutch at the long-branched fig-tree,
Clinging to which as a bat suspended I hung, nor was any
Hold for the feet to support me below or for clambering upward.
Much too far were growing the roots; and the branches in mid-air,
435
Mighty and long, outstretching them far, o'ershadowed Charybdis.
Steadfastly ever I clung, expecting the vortex to vomit
Back to the surface the mast and the keel—and they came; but I waited
Long. At the time when a man for his supper doth rise at the council,
One who decideth the quarrels of youths appealing for judgment,
440
Such was the hour when the wreckage appeared from the depths of Charybdis.
Then, unloosing my hands and my feet, as a plummet I dropt down
Into the midst of the sea at the side of the great long mast-tree,
Mounted whereon with my hands then steadily forward I paddled.
Scylla I saw no more, for the Father of men and immortals
445
Suffered it not—else sure I had fallen on utter destruction.
Thence nine days was I borne. On the tenth in the darkness of midnight
Nigh th' Ogygian isle was I brought, where goddess Calypso
Dwelleth—a fair-tressed nymph, dread deity voiced as a mortal.
Me she received and cherished—but wherefore tell I the story ?
450
All of it yester-e'en in the hall of thy home I related
Unto thy gracious queen and thyself; nor pleasing I hold it
Over again narrating a tale once fully related."
