Book 12

But when the ship had left the stream of the river Oceanusand was come to the swell of the wide-pathed sea,and to the island Aeaea, where are the dwelling and the dancesof early-born Dawn and the risings of the Sun,there we came and hauled the ship up on the sands,and we ourselves stepped out onto the surf of the sea;and there we lay down and slept and waited for glorious Dawn.But when early-born rosy-fingered Dawn appeared,then I sent my comrades to the house of Circeto bring the dead man, Elpenor, who had died.Then we cut wood quickly, where the headland jutted out farthest,and buried him grieving, shedding a big warm tear.But when the dead man was burned, and the armour of the dead man,and we had heaped up a mound and drawn up a gravestone,we planted on the topmost mound his well-shaped oar.We were busy with each thing; nor did Circe escape our notice,for we had come back from Hades, but very quicklyshe came, dressed and ready; and her handmaidens brought with herbread and much meat and red sparkling wine.And she stood in the midst and spoke, the shining goddess among goddesses:Wretched men, who living went down into the house of Hades,twice-dying, when other men die but once.Come then, eat food and drink winehere all day long; and when the Dawn appearsyou shall sail; and I will show you the way and everythingI will make clear, so that you suffer no harmupon the sea or on land through wretched evil scheming.So she spoke, and our proud spirit was persuaded again.So then all day long until the setting of the sunwe sat feasting on countless meat and sweet wine.But when the sun had set and darkness came on,they lay down to sleep beside the ship's stern-cables,but she took me by the hand and led me apart from my dear companions,and sat me down and lay beside me and asked me everything;and I told her all things in due order.And then indeed the lady Circe addressed me with words:All this has now been brought to pass; but do you listen,as I will tell you, and a god himself will put you in mind of it.First you will come to the Sirens, who beguile allmen, whoever comes near to them.Whoever in his ignorance draws near and hears the voiceof the Sirens, for him neither wife nor little childrenstand beside him when he comes home, nor do they rejoice,but the Sirens beguile him with their clear-sounding song,sitting in a meadow, and about them a great heap of bonesof rotting men, and the skin shrinks away about them.But drive past them, and stop the ears of your companionswith honey-sweet wax you have kneaded, lest any of the othershear it; but if you yourself wish to hear,let them bind you in the swift ship, both hands and feet,upright in the mast-step, and let the ropes be fastened to it,so that you may hear the voice of the two Sirens and take delight in it.And if you beg your companions and command them to loose you,then let them bind you with even more bonds.But when your companions have driven past them,then I will no longer tell you plainly thereafterwhich of the two ways will be yours, but you yourselfmust resolve it in your heart; and I will tell you of both.On the one side are overhanging rocks, and against thema great wave roars of the dark-faced Amphitrite;these the blessed gods call the Wandering Rocks.By that way not even winged things pass, nor yet doves,the timid ones, that bring ambrosia to father Zeus,but even of these the smooth rock always takes one away;yet the father puts another in, to keep the number full.By that way no ship of men has ever yet escaped, whichever comes there,but the waves of the sea and the blasts of deadly firecarry off together the planks of the ships and the bodies of men.Only one sea-faring ship has ever sailed past it,the Argo, dear to all, sailing from Aeetes.And even it would quickly have been cast against the great rocks,but Hera sent it past, because Jason was dear to her.And there are two cliffs; the one reaches the broad heavenwith its sharp peak, and a cloud wraps about it,dark blue; and that never clears away, nor does the clear skyever hold that peak, neither in summer nor at harvest time.Nor could a mortal man climb it or set foot upon it,not even if he had twenty hands and twenty feet;for the rock is smooth, like something polished.And in the middle of the cliff there is a misty cave,turned toward the west, toward Erebus, where you,shining Odysseus, would steer your hollow ship past.Nor from the hollow ship could a vigorous manshoot with a bow and reach the hollow cave.And therein dwells Scylla, barking terribly.Her voice is as much as of a new-born puppy,but she herself is a wicked monster; and no onewould be glad to see her, not even if a god met her.She has twelve feet, all misshapen,and six necks, very long, and on each of thema dreadful head, and in each three rows of teethclose-set and crowded, full of black death.She is sunk down in the middle of the hollow cave,but she puts her heads out from the dread abyss,and fishes there, peering greedily about the rock,for dolphins and dogs, and if ever she catches something bigger,a sea-monster, such as groaning Amphitrite feeds in thousands.No sailors ever yet boastto have escaped her with their ship; but she carries off with each heada man, snatching him from the dark-prowed ship.And the other cliff, Odysseus, you will see is lower.Close to each other; and you could shoot an arrow across.On it there is a great wild fig tree, rich in leaves;beneath it divine Charybdis sucks down the black water.Three times a day she vomits it up, and three times she sucks it downterribly; may you never be there when she sucks it down;for not even the earth-shaker could drag you out of that evil.But clinging close to Scylla's cliff, drive your shippast quickly, since it is far betterto mourn six comrades in the ship than all together.So she spoke, but I answered her and said:Come then, goddess, tell me this truly,whether I might somehow escape deadly Charybdis,and defend myself, when she does harm to my companions.So I spoke, and she answered me straightway, the shining goddess among goddesses:Wretched man, so now you have in mind deeds of warand toil; will you not yield even to the immortal gods?She is not mortal, but an immortal evil,dreadful and hard and fierce and not to be fought with;there is no defence; the best thing is to flee from her.For if you linger there arming yourself beside the rock,I fear lest she rush out at you again and catch youwith so many heads, and take so many men.But drive on very fast, and call upon Crataiis,the mother of Scylla, who bore her as a plague to mortals;she will then keep her from rushing out again hereafter.And you will come to the island Thrinacia; there manycattle of the Sun graze, and fat sheep,seven herds of cattle, and as many good flocks of sheep,fifty in each. And no offspring is born to them,nor do they ever waste away. And goddesses are their shepherds,nymphs with lovely braids, Phaethusa and Lampetie,whom divine Neaera bore to the Sun Hyperion.The lady mother, having reared them and borne them,settled them in the island Thrinacia to dwell far away,to guard the sheep of their father and the curving cattle.If you leave them unharmed and care for your homecoming,then you might still reach Ithaca, though suffering troubles;but if you harm them, then I foretell destruction for you,for your ship and your companions; and though you yourself escape,you will come home late and wretched, having lost all your companions.So she spoke, and straightway golden-throned Dawn came.Then the shining goddess among goddesses went up across the island;but I went to the ship and roused my companionsto embark themselves and to loose the stern-cables.They quickly boarded and sat down at the benches.Sitting in order they struck the grey sea with their oars.And behind us, from the dark-prowed ship,fair Circe of the lovely braids, a dread goddess with a human voice,sent a following breeze, filling the sails, a good companion.At once we made all things ready throughout the shipand sat down; and the wind and the helmsman steered her.Then I spoke among my companions, grieving at heart:Friends, it is not right that one or two alone should knowthe oracles which Circe told me, the shining goddess among goddesses;but I will tell you, so that knowing we may either dieor avoid death and escape destruction.First she bade us avoid the voice of the wondrous Sirensand their flowering meadow.Only me she bade hear their voice; but bind mein a painful bond, so that I stay fixed there,upright in the mast-step, and let the ropes be fastened to it.And if I beg you and command you to loose me,then you must press me down with even more bonds.So I told my companions everything, making it clear;and meanwhile the well-built ship came quicklyto the island of the two Sirens; for a harmless fair wind pressed it on.At once then the wind ceased, and there wasa windless calm, and a god lulled the waves to sleep.My companions rose and furled the ship's sailsand laid them in the hollow ship, and sitting at the oarsthey whitened the water with their polished pine blades.But I cut a great wheel of wax with sharp bronzeinto small pieces, and pressed it with my strong hands;and quickly the wax softened, since the great might compelled it,and the ray of the Sun, the son of the lord Hyperion.And in order I smeared it on the ears of all my companions.And they bound me in the ship, both hands and feet together,upright in the mast-step, and fastened the ropes to it;and they themselves sat and struck the grey sea with their oars.But when we were as far off as a man's shout can carry,as we sped swiftly, the swift-sailing ship did not escape their noticeas it came near, and they prepared their clear-sounding song:Come here, come, much-praised Odysseus, great glory of the Achaeans,stop your ship, so that you may hear our voice.For no one has ever yet rowed past this place in his black ship,before hearing the honey-sweet voice from our mouths,but he goes on, delighted, and knowing more than before.For we know all that in wide Troythe Argives and the Trojans suffered by the will of the gods,and we know all that comes to pass on the bountiful earth.So they spoke, sending forth their lovely voice; and my heartwanted to listen, and I ordered my companions to loose me,nodding with my brows; but they fell to rowing the harder.At once Perimedes and Eurylochus roseand bound me in more bonds and pressed me harder still.But when they had passed them by, and no longer thereafterdid we hear the voice of the Sirens nor their song,at once my trusty companions took off the waxwhich I had smeared on their ears, and loosed me from my bonds.But when we had left the island, at once thereafterI saw smoke and a great wave and heard a thundering noise.And from their hands in fear the oars flew,and all clattered along the current; and there the ship stopped,since they no longer urged the sharp oars with their hands.But I went through the ship and roused my companionswith gentle words, standing beside each man:Friends, we are not yet unacquainted with evils;surely this is no greater evil than when the Cyclopspenned us in his hollow cave with his strong might;but even from there, by my courage and counsel and mind,we escaped, and I think we shall remember these things too.But come now, let us all be persuaded as I shall say.You, strike the deep surf of the sea with your oars,sitting at the benches, in the hope that Zeusmay grant us to escape and flee this destruction;and to you, helmsman, I give this command; but lay itin your heart, since you handle the steering-oars of the hollow ship.Keep the ship outside this smoke and wave,and cling to the cliff, lest she escape your noticeand rush out there and cast us into evil.So I spoke, and they quickly obeyed my words.But Scylla I no longer told them of, a hopeless grief,lest somehow in fear my companions might ceasefrom rowing and huddle together inside the ship.And then I forgot the grievous command of Circe,since she did not bid me arm myself at all.But I went down into my glorious armour and took two spearslong in my hands, and went up onto the ship's deckat the prow; for I expected that she would appear there first,Scylla of the rocks, who brought trouble to my companions.But I could not see her anywhere, and my eyes grew wearyas I peered everywhere toward the misty rock.We sailed up the narrow strait groaning;on one side Scylla, on the other divine Charybdisterribly sucked down the salt water of the sea.When she vomited it up, like a cauldron on a great fireshe boiled up all seething, and the spray on highfell upon both the topmost cliffs;but when she swallowed down the salt water of the sea,she showed all seething within, and around the rockshe roared terribly, and below the ground appearedblack with sand; and pale fear seized them.We looked toward her in fear of destruction;and meanwhile Scylla snatched six of my companions from the hollow ship,the strongest of all in hands and in strength.When I looked toward the swift ship and among my companions,I already noticed the feet and the hands of those menbeing lifted up on high; and they called out to me,calling me by name, for the last time, grieving at heart.As when a fisherman on a jutting rock with a very long rodcasts a lure for the little fish, a snare of food,and sends into the sea the horn of a field-grazing ox,and then catches one gasping and throws it out,so those men were lifted gasping toward the rocks;and there in the mouth of the cave she devoured them as they screamed,stretching out their hands to me in the terrible fight;that was the most pitiful thing my eyes ever sawof all the toils I suffered, searching out the passages of the sea.But when we had escaped the rocks and dread Charybdisand Scylla, at once thereafter we came to the flawless islandof the god; and there were fair broad-browed cattle,and many fat sheep of Hyperion the Sun.Then, while I was still on the sea in the black ship,I heard the lowing of the cattle as they were stalledand the bleating of sheep; and a saying fell into my heartof the blind seer, Teiresias of Thebes,and of Circe of Aeaea, who had told me very many things,to avoid the island of the Sun who delights mortals.Then I spoke among my companions, grieving at heart:Hear my words, companions, though you suffer troubles,so that I may tell you the prophecies of Teiresiasand of Circe of Aeaea, who told me very many things,to avoid the island of the Sun who delights mortals;for there, she said, would be the most terrible evil for us.But drive the black ship past the island.So I spoke, and their dear hearts were broken within them.At once Eurylochus answered me with a hateful word:You are hard, Odysseus; there is great strength in you, and your limbsnever grow weary; surely you are made all of iron,you who do not let your companions, worn out with toil and with sleep,set foot on land, where we might once moreprepare a pleasant supper on the sea-girt island,but you order us to wander thus through the swift night,driven away from the island, on the misty sea.At night come hard winds, the ruin of ships;how could anyone escape sheer destruction,if suddenly a squall of wind should come,from the South Wind or from the harsh West Wind, which most of alltear a ship apart, against the will of the lords, the gods?But come now, let us obey the black night,and prepare supper, staying beside the swift ship,and at dawn we will go aboard and put out into the broad sea.So spoke Eurylochus, and the other companions agreed.And then I knew that the god was planning evil;and I spoke to him and addressed him with winged words:Eurylochus, you surely force me hard, though I am only one man.But come now, all of you swear me a strong oath:if we find any herd of cattle or a great flock of sheep,let no one in wicked recklessnesskill a cow or any sheep; but quietlyeat the food that immortal Circe gave.So I spoke, and they straightway swore as I commanded.But when they had sworn and finished the oath,we moored the well-built ship in the hollow harbournear the sweet water, and the companions stepped outof the ship, and then they prepared supper skillfully.But when they had put away the desire for drink and for food,then they remembered and wept for their dear companions,whom Scylla had eaten, snatching them from the hollow ship;and as they wept, sweet sleep came over them.But when it was the third part of the night, and the stars had gone by,Zeus the cloud-gatherer roused a violent wind against uswith a wondrous squall, and covered with cloudsthe land and the sea together; and night rushed down from heaven.But when early-born rosy-fingered Dawn appeared,we moored the ship, dragging it into a hollow cave.And there were fair dancing places of the nymphs and seats;and then I called an assembly and spoke among them:Friends, in the swift ship there is food and drink,so let us keep away from the cattle, lest we suffer harm;for these cattle and fat sheep belong to a dread god,the Sun, who sees all things and hears all things.So I spoke, and their proud spirit was persuaded.And for a whole month the South Wind blew without ceasing, and no otherwind arose after that except the East Wind and the South Wind.As long as they had grain and red wine,so long they kept away from the cattle, longing to live.But when all the provisions of the ship were gone,then they roamed about hunting by necessity,for fish and birds, whatever came to their hands,with curved hooks, and hunger wore out their bellies;then I went off across the island, so that I might prayto the gods, if anyone would show me the way home.But when I had gone through the island and got away from my companions,I washed my hands, in a place sheltered from the wind,and prayed to all the gods who hold Olympus;and they poured sweet sleep over my eyelids.But Eurylochus began to give my companions evil counsel:Hear my words, companions, though you suffer troubles.All deaths are hateful to wretched mortals,but the most pitiful is to die of hunger and meet that fate.But come, let us drive off the best of the Sun's cattleand sacrifice to the immortals who hold the broad heaven.And if we reach Ithaca, our native land,we will quickly build for the Sun Hyperion a rich temple,and in it we will set many fine offerings.And if, angered about the straight-horned cattle,he wishes to destroy the ship, and the other gods agree with him,I would rather lose my life at once, gulping down the wave,than waste away for a long time on a deserted island.So spoke Eurylochus, and the other companions agreed.At once they drove off the best of the Sun's cattlefrom nearby, for not far from the dark-prowed shipthe fine, curving, broad-browed cattle were grazing;and they stood around them and prayed to the gods,plucking tender leaves from a high-leafed oak;for they had no white barley on the well-benched ship.But when they had prayed and slaughtered and flayed them,they cut out the thigh-bones and covered them with fat,making a double layer, and laid raw pieces on top of them.They had no wine to pour on the burning offerings,but they poured water and roasted all the innards.But when the thighs were burned and they had tasted the innards,they chopped up the rest and pierced it on spits.And then sweet sleep rushed from my eyelids,and I went to the swift ship and the shore of the sea.But when I came near the curved ship,then the sweet savour of the fat wrapped around me.I groaned and cried aloud to the immortal gods:Father Zeus, and you other blessed gods who live forever,surely you lulled me into ruin with a pitiless sleep.And my companions staying behind planned a great deed.And swift-footed Lampetie of the long robe came as a messengerto the Sun Hyperion, that we had killed his cattle.And at once, angered at heart, he spoke among the immortals:Father Zeus, and you other blessed gods who live forever,take vengeance on the companions of Odysseus, son of Laertes,who killed my cattle in their arrogance, cattle in which Idelighted as I went up into the starry heaven,and when I turned back again to the earth from heaven.And if they do not pay me a fitting price for the cattle,I will go down into Hades and shine among the dead.And Zeus the cloud-gatherer answered him and said:Sun, you shine indeed among the immortalsand among mortal men on the grain-giving earth;but I will quickly strike their swift ship with a bright thunderboltand smash it into small pieces in the middle of the wine-dark sea.And I heard this from fair-haired Calypso;and she said she herself had heard it from Hermes the guide.But when I came down to the ship and the sea,I reproached one man after another, standing beside each, but we couldfind no remedy, and the cattle were already dead.And at once the gods showed them signs:the hides crawled, and the meat on the spits bellowed,both roasted and raw, and a voice came out like that of cattle.For six days then my trusty companionsfeasted on the best of the Sun's cattle which they had driven off;but when Zeus the son of Cronos brought the seventh day,then the wind ceased, blowing in a squall,and we quickly went aboard and put out into the broad sea,setting up the mast and hoisting the white sails.But when we had left the island, and no otherland appeared, but only sky and sea,then the son of Cronos set a dark cloudabove the hollow ship, and the sea grew murky beneath it.And she ran on for no long time; for quickly camethe West Wind screaming, blowing with a great squall,and the blast of the wind snapped both the forestays of the mast;and the mast fell backward, and all the gearpoured down into the bilge. And it struck the headof the helmsman at the stern of the ship, and smashed allthe bones of his head together; and he, like a diver,fell down from the deck, and his proud spirit left his bones.And Zeus thundered at the same time and hurled a thunderbolt at the ship;and she was shaken all over, struck by the bolt of Zeus,and filled with sulphur, and my companions fell from the ship.And they, like sea-crows, around the black shipwere carried by the waves, and the god took away their homecoming.But I went up and down through the ship, until the surgeloosed the sides from the keel, and the wave carried her stripped bare,and it snapped the mast off at the keel. And upon ita back-stay had been thrown, made of ox-hide;with this I bound both together, the keel and the mast,and sitting on them I was carried by the deadly winds.Then indeed the West Wind ceased, blowing in a squall,and the South Wind came quickly, bringing grief to my heart,so that I might measure out deadly Charybdis again.All night long I was carried, and at the rising of the sunI came to the rock of Scylla and to dread Charybdis.She was sucking down the salt water of the sea;but I, lifted up high toward the great fig tree,clung to it and held on, like a bat. But I had nowhereto set my feet firmly or to stand on;for the roots were far below, and the branches hung high,long and great, and they overshadowed Charybdis.I held on unceasingly, until she should vomit up againthe mast and the keel; and, though I longed for them, they camelate; but at the hour when a man rises from the assembly for supper,judging many quarrels of young men who plead their cases,at that hour the timbers of Charybdis appeared.I let go my feet and hands to fall down from above,and dropped with a thud in the middle, beside the long timbers,and sitting on them I rowed with my hands.But Scylla the father of men and gods did not let mesee again; for I would not have escaped sheer destruction.From there I was carried for nine days, and on the tenth nightthe gods brought me to the island Ogygia, where Calypsolives, fair-haired, a dread goddess with a human voice,who loved me and cared for me. Why do I tell you these things?For I already told them to you yesterday in your house,to you and to your strong wife; and it is hateful to meto tell again a tale that has been clearly told.

But when the ship had left the stream of the river Oceanusand had reached the swell of the broad sea,and the island Aeaea, where the house and the dancing placesof early-born Dawn are, and the risings of the Sun,we came there and beached the ship on the sand,and we ourselves stepped out onto the breaking surf of the sea;and there we lay down and slept and waited for bright Dawn.When early-born rosy-fingered Dawn appeared,then I sent my men to Circe's houseto bring the body of the dead Elpenor.We quickly cut wood where the headland jutted out highest,and buried him in grief, shedding a big warm tear.When the dead man and the dead man's armour had been burned,and we had piled up a mound and set up a gravestone,we planted his well-shaped oar on top of the mound.We took care of each thing; and Circe did not fail to notice us,since we had come back from Hades, but very quicklyshe came, dressed and ready; and her maids brought with herbread and plenty of meat and red, sparkling wine.She stood among us and spoke, the shining goddess among goddesses:Wretched men, you who went down alive into the house of Hades,dying twice, when other men die only once.Come now, eat food and drink winehere all day long; and when Dawn appearsyou will sail; and I will show you the way and I will explaineverything, so that you do not suffer harmon the sea or on land from painful, evil plotting.So she spoke, and our proud spirit was persuaded again.So then all day long, until the sun went down,we sat feasting on endless meat and sweet wine.When the sun had set and darkness came,they lay down to sleep by the ship's stern-cables,but she took me by the hand and led me away from my dear men,and sat me down and lay beside me and asked me about everything;and I told her everything in the right order.And then the lady Circe spoke to me and said:All of this has now been carried through; but you listen,as I will tell you, and a god himself will remind you of it.First you will come to the Sirens, who beguile everyman who comes to them.Whoever draws near in ignorance and hears the voiceof the Sirens, for him neither his wife nor his little childrenstand beside him when he returns home, nor do they welcome him with joy,but the Sirens beguile him with their clear-sounding song,as they sit in a meadow, and around them a great heap of bonesof men who have rotted away, and the skin shrivels on them.But drive past them, and stop the ears of your menwith honey-sweet wax that you have kneaded, so that none of the othershears; but if you yourself want to hear,let them tie you in the swift ship, both hands and feet,upright against the mast-step, and let the ropes be fastened to it,so that you may hear the voice of the two Sirens and enjoy it.And if you beg your men and order them to untie you,then let them tie you with even more ropes.But once your men have driven past them,then I will no longer tell you plainlywhich of the two routes will be yours, but you yourselfmust decide it in your heart; and I will tell you about both.On one side are overhanging rocks, and against thema great wave roars, the wave of dark-faced Amphitrite;these the blessed gods call the Wandering Rocks.Past that way not even winged creatures go, nor doves,the timid ones, that carry ambrosia to father Zeus,but even of these the smooth rock always takes one away;yet the father puts another in, so the number stays complete.Past that way no ship of men has ever escaped, whichever one arrives,but the waves of the sea and the blasts of deadly firesweep away together the ship's planks and the bodies of men.Only one sea-going ship has ever sailed past it,the Argo, dear to everyone, sailing home from Aeetes.And even it would quickly have been thrown against the great rocks,but Hera guided it past, because Jason was dear to her.There are two cliffs; one of them reaches the broad skywith its sharp peak, and a cloud surrounds it,dark blue; and that never clears, nor does clear weatherever hold that peak, neither in summer nor in harvest time.Nor could a mortal man climb it or stand on it,not even if he had twenty hands and twenty feet;for the rock is smooth, like something polished.And in the middle of the cliff there is a misty cave,turned toward the west, toward Erebus, and that is where you,shining Odysseus, would steer your hollow ship.Nor from the hollow ship could a strong manshoot an arrow and reach the hollow cave.And inside it lives Scylla, barking horribly.Her voice is exactly like that of a newborn puppy,but she herself is a wicked monster; and no onewould be glad to see her, not even if a god met her.She has twelve feet, all of them deformed,and six necks, very long, and on each onea dreadful head, and in each head three rows of teethpacked close and crowded, full of black death.She is sunk down in the middle of the hollow cave,but she sticks her heads out from the dreadful pit,and fishes there, hungrily eyeing the rock all around,for dolphins and for dogs, and if she catches something bigger,a sea-monster, such as groaning Amphitrite feeds in countless numbers.No sailors ever yet boastthat they have escaped her with their ship; instead she carries off with each heada man, snatching him out of the dark-prowed ship.The other cliff, Odysseus, you will see is lower.They are close to each other; you could shoot an arrow across.On it there is a great wild fig tree, thick with leaves;beneath it divine Charybdis sucks down the black water.Three times a day she spews it up, and three times she sucks it downhorribly; may you never be there when she sucks it down;for not even the earth-shaker could pull you out of that evil.Instead, stay close against Scylla's cliff and drive the shippast quickly, since it is far betterto mourn six men in the ship than to lose them all together.So she spoke, and I answered her and said:Come then, goddess, tell me this truthfully,whether I might somehow escape deadly Charybdis,and fight her off when she harms my men.So I spoke, and she answered me at once, the shining goddess among goddesses:Wretched man, so now you have war and hardshipon your mind again; will you not give way even to the immortal gods?She is not mortal, but an immortal evil,dreadful and hard and savage and not to be fought;there is no defence against her; the best thing is to run from her.For if you linger there arming yourself beside the rock,I am afraid that she may rush out at you again and catch youwith that many heads, and take that many men.Instead drive on very hard, and call on Crataiis,the mother of Scylla, who bore her as a plague for mortals;she will then stop her from rushing out again afterward.And you will come to the island Thrinacia; there manycattle of the Sun graze, and fat sheep,seven herds of cattle, and as many fine flocks of sheep,fifty in each. No young are born to them,and they never die off. Goddesses are their shepherds,nymphs with lovely braids, Phaethusa and Lampetie,whom divine Neaera bore to the Sun Hyperion.The lady mother, having raised them and borne them,settled them on the island Thrinacia, to live far away,to guard their father's sheep and the curving-horned cattle.If you leave them unharmed and think about your homecoming,then you might still reach Ithaca, though you suffer troubles;but if you harm them, then I foretell destruction for you,for your ship and your men; and even if you yourself escape,you will come home late and miserably, having lost all your men.So she spoke, and straightway golden-throned Dawn came.Then the shining goddess among goddesses went off across the island;but I went to the ship and roused my mento get aboard themselves and untie the stern-cables.They boarded quickly and sat down at the rowing benches.Sitting in rows they struck the grey sea with their oars.And behind us, from the dark-prowed ship,fair Circe of the lovely braids, a dangerous goddess with a human voice,sent a following wind, filling the sails, a good companion.At once we got everything ready throughout the shipand sat down; and the wind and the helmsman steered her.Then I spoke among my men, grieving at heart:Friends, it is not right that only one or two should knowthe prophecies that Circe told me, the shining goddess among goddesses;but I will tell you, so that knowing them we may either dieor avoid death and escape destruction.First she told us to avoid the voice of the wondrous Sirensand their flowering meadow.Only me she told to hear their voice; but you must tie mein a painful bond, so that I stay fixed there,upright against the mast-step, and let the ropes be fastened to it.And if I beg you and order you to untie me,then you must press me down with even more ropes.So I told my men everything, making it clear;and meanwhile the well-built ship came quicklyto the island of the two Sirens; for a harmless fair wind drove it on.At once then the wind stopped, and there wasa windless calm, and a god put the waves to sleep.My men rose and furled the ship's sailsand put them in the hollow ship, and sitting at the oarsthey whitened the water with their polished pine blades.But I cut a big wheel of wax with sharp bronzeinto little pieces, and pressed it with my strong hands;and the wax quickly melted, since the great force compelled it,and the ray of the Sun, the son of the lord Hyperion.And one after another I smeared it on the ears of all my men.And they tied me in the ship, both hands and feet together,upright against the mast-step, and fastened the ropes to it;and they themselves sat and struck the grey sea with their oars.But when we were as far away as a shout can carry,as we sped quickly, the swift-sailing ship did not escape their noticeas it came near, and they prepared their clear-sounding song:Come here, come, much-praised Odysseus, great glory of the Achaeans,stop your ship, so that you may hear our voice.For no one has ever rowed past this place in his black shipbefore hearing the honey-sweet voice from our mouths,but he goes on, delighted, and knowing more than before.For we know everything that in wide Troythe Argives and the Trojans suffered by the will of the gods,and we know everything that happens on the bountiful earth.So they spoke, sending out their lovely voice; and my heartwanted to listen, and I ordered my men to untie me,nodding with my eyebrows; but they rowed on even harder.At once Perimedes and Eurylochus roseand tied me with more ropes and pressed me harder.But when they had passed them by, and after that no longerdid we hear the voice of the Sirens or their song,at once my trusty men took off the waxthat I had smeared on their ears, and untied me from my ropes.But when we had left the island, at once after thatI saw smoke and a great wave and heard a thundering noise.And in their fear the oars flew out of their hands,and they all clattered along the current; and the ship stopped right there,because they no longer drove the sharp oars with their hands.But I went through the ship and roused my menwith gentle words, standing beside each man:Friends, we are not inexperienced in troubles yet;surely this is no greater evil than when the Cyclopspenned us in his hollow cave with his brute strength;but even from there, by my courage and planning and sense,we escaped, and I think we will remember these things too.But come now, let us all do as I say.You, strike the deep surf of the sea with your oars,sitting at the benches, in case somehow Zeusgrants us to escape and get away from this destruction;and to you, helmsman, I give this order; keep itin mind, since you handle the steering-oars of the hollow ship.Keep the ship clear of this smoke and wave,and keep close to the cliff, in case she slips past your noticeand dashes off that way and throws us into trouble.So I spoke, and they quickly obeyed my words.But I did not speak of Scylla, a hopeless trouble,in case my men, frightened, might stoprowing and crowd together inside the ship.And then I forgot the painful command of Circe,since she had not told me at all to arm myself.But I put on my glorious armour and took two spearsin my hands, long ones, and went up onto the ship's deckat the prow; for I expected that she would appear there first,Scylla of the rocks, who brought trouble to my men.But I could not see her anywhere, and my eyes grew tiredas I stared in every direction toward the misty rock.We rowed up the narrow strait groaning;on one side Scylla, on the other divine Charybdisterribly sucked down the salt water of the sea.When she vomited it up, like a cauldron on a big fireshe boiled and seethed all over, and the spray up highfell on both the topmost cliffs;but when she swallowed the salt water of the sea down again,she looked all seething inside, and around the rockit roared horribly, and underneath the ground showedblack with sand; and pale fear seized them.We looked at her, afraid of destruction;and meanwhile Scylla snatched six of my men out of the hollow ship,the best of them all with their hands and their strength.When I looked toward the swift ship and among my men,I already saw the feet and the hands of those menbeing lifted up high; and they called out to me,calling me by name, for the last time, grieving at heart.As when a fisherman on a jutting rock with a very long rodcasts a bait for the little fish, a trick of food,and sends the horn of a grazing ox into the sea,and then catches one flopping and throws it out,so those men were lifted up flopping toward the rocks;and there at the mouth of the cave she ate them as they screamed,stretching out their hands to me in that terrible fight;that was the most pitiful sight my eyes ever sawof all the hardships I suffered, searching out the sea routes.But when we had escaped the rocks and dreadful Charybdisand Scylla, at once after that we came to the flawless islandof the god; and there were fine broad-browed cattle,and many fat sheep of Hyperion the Sun.Then, while I was still out on the sea in the black ship,I heard the lowing of the cattle as they were stalledand the bleating of sheep; and a saying came into my heartfrom the blind prophet, Teiresias of Thebes,and from Circe of Aeaea, who had told me many things,to avoid the island of the Sun who delights mortals.Then I spoke among my men, grieving at heart:Listen to my words, men, even though you are suffering troubles,so that I can tell you the prophecies of Teiresiasand of Circe of Aeaea, who told me many things,to avoid the island of the Sun who delights mortals;for she said that there would be the most terrible evil for us.But drive the black ship past the island.So I spoke, and their dear hearts broke inside them.At once Eurylochus answered me with a hateful word:You are hard, Odysseus; there is great force in you, and your limbsnever get tired; surely you are made all of iron,you who do not let your men, worn out with toil and with sleep,set foot on land, where we could once moremake a pleasant supper on the island ringed by sea,but you tell us to wander like this through the swift night,driven off from the island, on the misty sea.At night the winds turn hard, the ruin of ships;how could anyone escape sheer destruction,if suddenly a squall of wind comes,from the South or from the harsh West, which most of alltear a ship apart, against the will of the gods who rule?But come now, let us obey the black night,and get supper ready, staying by the swift ship,and at dawn we will board and put out into the broad sea.So spoke Eurylochus, and the other men agreed.And then I understood that the god was planning evil;and I spoke to him and addressed him with winged words:Eurylochus, you are really forcing me hard, when I am only one man.But come now, all of you swear me a strong oath:if we find any herd of cattle or a big flock of sheep,let no one in wicked recklessnesskill a cow or any sheep; but quietlyeat the food that immortal Circe gave us.So I spoke, and they swore at once as I told them.But when they had sworn and finished the oath,we moored the well-built ship in the hollow harbournear the sweet water, and the men stepped outof the ship, and then they got supper ready skillfully.But when they had put away their desire for drink and food,then they remembered and wept for their dear men,whom Scylla had eaten, snatching them from the hollow ship;and as they wept, sweet sleep came over them.But when it was the third part of the night, and the stars had passed,Zeus the cloud-gatherer roused a violent wind against uswith a wondrous squall, and covered with cloudsthe land and the sea together; and night rushed down from the sky.But when early-born rosy-fingered Dawn appeared,we moored the ship, dragging it into a hollow cave.And there were fine dancing places of the nymphs and seats;and then I held an assembly and spoke among them:Friends, in the swift ship there is food and drink,so let us keep away from the cattle, in case we suffer harm;for these cattle and fat sheep belong to a dreadful god,the Sun, who sees everything and hears everything.So I spoke, and their proud spirit was persuaded.And for a whole month the South Wind blew without stopping, and no otherwind came after that except the East Wind and the South Wind.As long as they had grain and red wine,so long they kept away from the cattle, wanting to live.But when all the ship's provisions were gone,then they went around hunting out of necessity,for fish and birds, whatever came to their hands,with curved hooks, and hunger tormented their bellies;then I went off across the island, so that I might prayto the gods, in case someone would show me the way home.But when I had gone through the island and got away from my men,I washed my hands, in a place sheltered from the wind,and prayed to all the gods who hold Olympus;and they poured sweet sleep over my eyelids.But Eurylochus began to give my men evil advice:Listen to my words, men, even though you are suffering troubles.All deaths are hateful to wretched mortals,but the most pitiful is to die of hunger and meet that fate.But come, let us drive off the best of the Sun's cattleand sacrifice to the immortals who hold the broad sky.And if we reach Ithaca, our own land,we will quickly build a rich temple for the Sun Hyperion,and in it we will put many fine offerings.And if, angry about the straight-horned cattle,he wants to destroy the ship, and the other gods go along with him,I would rather lose my life at once, gulping down the wave,than waste away for a long time on a deserted island.So spoke Eurylochus, and the other men agreed.At once they drove off the best of the Sun's cattlefrom close by, for not far from the dark-prowed shipthe fine, curving, broad-browed cattle were grazing;and they stood around them and prayed to the gods,plucking tender leaves from a tall-leafed oak;for they had no white barley on the well-benched ship.But when they had prayed and slaughtered and skinned them,they cut out the thigh-bones and covered them with fat,making a double layer, and laid raw pieces on top.They had no wine to pour on the burning offerings,but they poured water and roasted all the innards.But when the thighs were burned and they had tasted the innards,they chopped up the rest and put it on spits.And then sweet sleep rushed from my eyelids,and I went to the swift ship and the shore of the sea.But when I came near the curved ship,then the sweet smell of the fat wrapped around me.I groaned and cried out loud to the immortal gods:Father Zeus, and you other blessed gods who live forever,surely you put me to sleep into ruin with a pitiless sleep.And my men who stayed behind planned a great deed.And swift-footed Lampetie of the long robe came as a messengerto the Sun Hyperion, that we had killed his cattle.And at once, angry at heart, he spoke among the immortals:Father Zeus, and you other blessed gods who live forever,take vengeance on the men of Odysseus, son of Laertes,who killed my cattle in their arrogance, cattle that Itook joy in as I went up into the starry sky,and when I turned back again to the earth from the sky.And if they do not pay me a fair price for the cattle,I will go down into Hades and shine among the dead.And Zeus the cloud-gatherer answered him and said:Sun, you shine indeed among the immortalsand among mortal men on the grain-giving earth;but I will quickly strike their swift ship with a bright thunderboltand smash it into little pieces in the middle of the wine-dark sea.And I heard this from fair-haired Calypso;and she said she herself had heard it from Hermes the guide.But when I came down to the ship and the sea,I scolded one man after another, standing beside each, but we couldfind no way out, and the cattle were already dead.And at once the gods showed them signs:the hides crawled, and the meat on the spits bellowed,both roasted and raw, and a voice came out like that of cattle.For six days then my trusty menfeasted on the best of the Sun's cattle that they had driven off;but when Zeus the son of Cronos brought the seventh day,then the wind stopped, blowing in a squall,and we quickly went aboard and put out into the broad sea,setting up the mast and hoisting the white sails.But when we had left the island, and no otherland appeared, but only sky and sea,then the son of Cronos set a dark cloudabove the hollow ship, and the sea grew dark beneath it.And she ran on for no long time; for quickly camethe West Wind screaming, blowing with a great squall,and the blast of the wind snapped both forestays of the mast;and the mast fell backward, and all the gearpoured down into the bilge. And it struck the headof the helmsman at the stern of the ship, and smashed allthe bones of his head together; and he, like a diver,fell down from the deck, and his proud spirit left his bones.And Zeus thundered at the same time and hurled a thunderbolt at the ship;and she was shaken all over, struck by the bolt of Zeus,and filled with sulphur, and my men fell from the ship.And they, like sea-crows, around the black shipwere carried by the waves, and the god took away their homecoming.But I went up and down through the ship, until the surgeloosed the sides from the keel, and the wave carried her stripped bare,and it snapped the mast off at the keel. And on ita back-stay had been thrown, made of ox-hide;with this I bound both together, the keel and the mast,and sitting on them I was carried by the deadly winds.Then indeed the West Wind stopped, blowing in a squall,and the South Wind came quickly, bringing grief to my heart,so that I might measure out deadly Charybdis again.All night long I was carried, and at the rising of the sunI came to the rock of Scylla and to dreadful Charybdis.She was sucking down the salt water of the sea;but I, lifted up high toward the great fig tree,clung to it and held on, like a bat. But I had nowhereto plant my feet firmly or to stand on;for the roots were far below, and the branches hung high,long and great, and they overshadowed Charybdis.I held on without letting go, until she should vomit up againthe mast and the keel; and, though I longed for them, they camelate; but at the hour when a man gets up from the assembly for supper,judging many quarrels of young men who are arguing their cases,at that hour the timbers of Charybdis appeared.I let my feet and hands go to fall down from above,and dropped with a thud in the middle, beside the long timbers,and sitting on them I rowed with my hands.But Scylla the father of men and gods did not let mesee her again; for I would not have escaped sheer destruction.From there I was carried for nine days, and on the tenth nightthe gods brought me to the island Ogygia, where Calypsolives, fair-haired, a dreadful goddess with a human voice,who loved me and cared for me. Why do I tell you these things?For I already told them to you yesterday in your house,to you and to your strong wife; and I hateto tell again a story that has been clearly told.