Book 12

1 When the ship had left the stream of the river Ocean and come to the swell of the wide-wayed sea and to the island of Aeaea, where early-born Dawn has her house and her dancing floors, and the sun his risings, we came in and beached our ship on the sand, and we ourselves stepped out on the shore where the waves break; and there we fell asleep and waited for bright Dawn.

8 When early-born Dawn appeared, the rose-fingered, then I sent my companions ahead to the house of Circe to bring the body of dead Elpenor. Quickly we cut logs and buried him where the headland juts out farthest, grieving and shedding big tears. And when the body was burned, and the armor of the dead man, we heaped up a mound and dragged a pillar onto it, and on the top of the mound we fixed his well-shaped oar.

16 So we were busy with each of these tasks; and Circe did not fail to notice that we had come back from Hades, but very quickly she came, dressed and ready, and her maids came with her, bringing bread and meat in plenty and sparkling red wine. And the bright among goddesses stood in our midst and spoke:

21 “Reckless men, who have gone down alive to the house of Hades, twice dying, when other men die only once! But come, eat food and drink wine here all day long, and at the first light of dawn you shall sail. I will show you the way and tell you each thing, so that you will not suffer and come to grief through some painful, ill-woven scheme, either on sea or on land.”

28 So she spoke, and our proud hearts were persuaded. So all day long until the sun went down we sat feasting on meat beyond measure and sweet wine. When the sun went down and darkness came on, the others lay down to sleep beside the stern cables of the ship; but she took me by the hand, away from my dear companions, and made me sit, and lay down beside me and questioned me about everything; and I told her all of it in due order. Then the lady Circe spoke to me:

37 “All this, then, has been brought to its end. But now listen to what I will tell you, and a god himself will remind you of it. First you will come to the Sirens, who bewitch all men, whoever comes to them. Whoever draws near them in ignorance and hears the voice of the Sirens, his wife and his little children never stand beside him or rejoice at his homecoming; the Sirens bewitch him with their clear song, sitting in a meadow, and around them is a great heap of bones of rotting men, and the skin shrivels on the bones. But row on past, and knead honey-sweet wax and smear it on your companions’ ears, so that none of the rest may hear. But if you yourself wish to listen, let them bind you in the swift ship hand and foot, upright against the mast step, with the ropes made fast to the mast itself, so that you may listen with delight to the voice of the two Sirens. And if you beg your companions and order them to set you free, then let them tie you with still more bonds. But when your companions have rowed past them, from then on I will not tell you plainly which of two ways you are to take; you must decide it in your own heart. But I will tell you of both. On one side there are overhanging rocks, and against them the great wave of dark-eyed Amphitrite roars. The blessed gods call them the Planctae, the Wanderers. Not even winged things pass that way, not even the timid doves that carry ambrosia to father Zeus; even of these the sheer rock always snatches one away, and the father sends in another to make up the number. And no ship of men that comes there has ever yet escaped; the waves of the sea and storms of deadly fire carry off together the planks of ships and the bodies of men. Only one seafaring ship has ever sailed past there, the Argo, known to all, on her voyage home from Aeetes; and even her the wave would soon have dashed against the great rocks there, but Hera sent her through, because Jason was dear to her.

73 “On the other side are two cliffs. One reaches up to the wide sky with its sharp peak, and a dark cloud surrounds it; this never leaves it, and clear weather never holds its peak, in summer or in autumn. No mortal man could climb it or set foot on it, not if he had twenty hands and twenty feet; for the rock is smooth, as if it were polished. In the middle of the cliff is a misty cave, facing the west, toward Erebus; and it is past this, shining Odysseus, that you must steer your hollow ship. Not even a strong man shooting an arrow from a hollow ship could reach that hollow cave. In it lives Scylla, yelping terribly. Her voice is only as loud as a newborn puppy’s, but she herself is an evil monster, and no one would be glad to see her, not even a god who met her. She has twelve feet, all dangling, and six very long necks, and on each a hideous head, and in it three rows of teeth, thick and close-set, full of black death. Up to her middle she is sunk down in the hollow cave, but she holds her heads out of the dreadful chasm, and there she fishes, groping eagerly around the cliff for dolphins and dogfish, or any larger sea beast she may catch, of the countless creatures that loud-moaning Amphitrite breeds. No sailors have ever yet boasted that they fled past her with their ship unscathed; with each of her heads she snatches a man and carries him off out of the dark-prowed ship.

101 “The other cliff, you will see, Odysseus, is lower. They are close to each other; you could shoot an arrow across. On it is a great fig tree, rich in leaves, and under it bright Charybdis sucks down the black water. Three times a day she sends it up, and three times she sucks it down, terribly. May you not be there when she sucks it down! Not even the Earth-shaker could save you from destruction then. No: keep very close to Scylla’s cliff and drive your ship past quickly; for it is far better to mourn six companions from your ship than all of them together.”

111 So she spoke, and I answered her: “But come, goddess, tell me this truly: could I somehow escape deadly Charybdis, and yet fight off the other when she tries to harm my companions?”

115 So I spoke, and she answered at once, bright among goddesses: “Reckless man, so your mind is set once again on deeds of war and on struggle! Will you not yield even to the immortal gods? She is not mortal; she is an immortal evil, dreadful and grievous and savage, not to be fought. There is no defense against her; the best thing is to flee from her. For if you linger by the rock to arm yourself, I fear she will lunge out again and catch you with as many heads, and take as many men. No: row past with all your might, and call on Crataeis, the mother of Scylla, who bore her to be a bane to mortals; she will stop her from lunging out again.

127 “Then you will come to the island of Thrinacia. There graze the many cattle and fat sheep of Helios, seven herds of cattle and as many fine flocks of sheep, fifty in each. They bear no young, and they never die. Goddesses are their herdsmen, lovely-haired nymphs, Phaethusa and Lampetia, whom bright Neaera bore to Helios Hyperion. When their lady mother had borne them and reared them, she sent them to live far away on the island of Thrinacia, to guard their father’s sheep and his cattle with curving horns. If you leave them unharmed and keep your mind on your homecoming, you may still reach Ithaca, though you suffer much. But if you harm them, then I foretell destruction for your ship and your companions. And even if you yourself escape, you will come home late and in misery, having lost all your companions.”

142 So she spoke, and at once Dawn of the golden throne came. Then the bright among goddesses went away up the island, and I went to the ship and urged my companions to come aboard themselves and loose the stern cables. Quickly they went aboard and sat down at the oarlocks, and sitting in order they struck the gray sea with their oars. And behind our dark-prowed ship lovely-haired Circe, dread goddess with a human voice, sent a favoring wind that filled the sail, a good companion. At once we set all the tackle in order throughout the ship and sat, and the wind and the helmsman kept her on course.

153 Then I spoke among my companions, grieving at heart: “Friends, it is not right for only one or two to know the prophecies that Circe, bright among goddesses, has told me. So I will tell them to you, so that knowing them we may die, or else avoid death and escape our doom. First she tells us to keep clear of the voice of the wondrous Sirens and their flowery meadow. She tells me alone to listen to their voice; but you must bind me with a painful bond, so that I stay fast there, upright against the mast step, with the ropes made fast to the mast itself. And if I beg you and order you to set me free, then you must press me with still more bonds.”

165 So I told my companions each thing and made it plain to them. In the meantime the well-made ship quickly reached the island of the two Sirens, for a fair wind drove her on, a wind that did no harm. Then at once the wind dropped, and there was a windless calm, and some god lulled the waves to sleep. My companions stood up and furled the ship’s sails and stowed them in the hollow ship, and sat down at the oars and made the water white with their polished blades of fir. But I took a great round of wax and cut it into small pieces with the sharp bronze and kneaded them with my strong hands; and soon the wax grew warm, for the great strength of the sun forced it, the light of lord Helios, son of Hyperion. I smeared it on the ears of all my companions in turn; and they bound me in the ship hand and foot, upright against the mast step, and made the ropes fast to the mast itself; and sitting down they struck the gray sea with their oars. But when we were as far off as a man can make himself heard when he shouts, driving swiftly on, the Sirens did not fail to notice the sea-swift ship as it came close, and they raised their clear song:

184 “Come here, come, much-praised Odysseus, great glory of the Achaeans, stop your ship, so that you may listen to the voice of us two. For no one has ever yet rowed past this place in his black ship until he has heard the honey-sweet voice from our lips; he goes home delighted and knowing more. For we know all the toils that the Argives and the Trojans endured in wide Troy by the will of the gods, and we know all that comes to pass upon the bountiful earth.”

192 So they spoke, sending out their lovely voice, and my heart longed to listen. I ordered my companions to set me free, nodding to them with my brows; but they bent forward and rowed. At once Perimedes and Eurylochus stood up and bound me with more bonds and pulled them tighter. But when they had rowed past the Sirens, and we could no longer hear their voice or their song, at once my faithful companions took out the wax I had smeared in their ears and set me free from my bonds.

201 But when we had left the island behind, then at once I saw smoke and a great wave, and heard a roar. My men were terrified, and the oars flew out of their hands and all splashed down in the current; and the ship stopped there, since they were no longer pulling the tapering oars with their hands. But I went through the ship and urged my companions on with gentle words, standing beside each man in turn:

208 “Friends, we are no strangers to trouble. Surely this evil that is on us is no greater than when the Cyclops penned us in his hollow cave by brute strength; yet even from there we escaped through my courage and my counsel and my wits, and I think that some day we will remember this too. But now come, let us all do as I say. You men, sit at the oarlocks and strike the deep surf of the sea with your oars, in the hope that Zeus may somehow grant us to escape and avoid this destruction. And you, helmsman, this is my order to you, and lay it to heart, since you handle the steering oar of our hollow ship: keep the ship away from this smoke and this surf, and make for the cliff, or before you know it she will swerve over there and you will throw us into disaster.”

222 So I spoke, and they quickly obeyed my words. But of Scylla I said nothing more, a trouble there was no remedy for, for fear that my companions would take fright and stop rowing and huddle down together in the hold. And then I forgot Circe’s painful command, that she had told me not to arm myself. I put on my famous armor and took two long spears in my hands and went up onto the foredeck at the prow, for from there I expected Scylla of the rock to appear first, who was to bring grief to my companions. But I could not catch sight of her anywhere, and my eyes grew weary as I searched everywhere over the misty rock.

234 So we sailed up the narrow strait, lamenting. On one side was Scylla, and on the other bright Charybdis sucked down the salt water of the sea, terribly. Whenever she vomited it up, like a cauldron on a great fire she would seethe and churn all through, and high overhead the spray fell on the tops of both the cliffs. But whenever she sucked down the salt water of the sea, she could be seen churning all through within, and the rock around roared terribly, and below the earth showed through, dark with sand; and pale fear took hold of my men. We looked toward her, fearing destruction; and meanwhile Scylla seized six of my companions out of the hollow ship, the best of them in strength of hand. I looked back to the swift ship and toward my companions, and already I could see their feet and hands as they were lifted high above me. They cried out to me, calling me by name, for the last time then, in anguish of heart. As when a fisherman on a jutting rock, with a long rod, casting bait as a lure for the little fish, throws the horn of a field ox down into the sea, and then catches a fish and flings it gasping onto the shore, so they were lifted up gasping toward the rocks. And there at her doors she devoured them as they shrieked and stretched out their hands to me in that dreadful struggle. That was the most pitiful sight my eyes have seen, of all I suffered searching out the paths of the sea.

260 But when we had escaped from the rocks and dreadful Charybdis and Scylla, then at once we came to the excellent island of the god. There were the fine broad-browed cattle and the many fat sheep of Helios Hyperion. While I was still out at sea in my black ship, I heard the lowing of the cattle being penned in the yards and the bleating of the sheep. And the word of the blind prophet, Theban Tiresias, fell upon my heart, and of Circe of Aeaea, who had charged me most strictly to shun the island of Helios, who gives joy to mortals. Then I spoke among my companions, grieving at heart:

271 “Listen to my words, companions, for all you have suffered, so that I may tell you the prophecies of Tiresias and of Circe of Aeaea, who charged me most strictly to shun the island of Helios, who gives joy to mortals; for there, she said, the most terrible evil awaited us. So row the black ship on, past the island.”

277 So I spoke, and their hearts were broken within them. At once Eurylochus answered me with hateful words:

279 “You are a hard man, Odysseus. Your strength is beyond the common and your limbs never tire. You must be made all of iron, since you will not let your companions, worn out with toil and sleep, set foot on land, where on this sea-washed island we might make ourselves a good supper again. Instead you order us to wander on just as we are through the swift night, driven away from the island over the misty sea. It is out of the nights that the hard winds come, the ruin of ships. How could anyone escape sheer destruction, if a storm of wind should suddenly come, from the South Wind or the stormy West Wind, which most of all wreck ships, in spite of the gods our masters? No, for now let us yield to black night and make our supper, staying beside the swift ship, and in the morning we will go aboard and put out into the wide sea.”

294 So Eurylochus spoke, and the other companions agreed. And then I knew that some power was plotting evil, and I spoke to him, and my words had wings:

297 “Eurylochus, you force me, since I am one alone. But come now, all of you, swear me a mighty oath: if we find a herd of cattle or a great flock of sheep, no one is to kill a cow or a sheep in some wicked folly. Eat in peace the food that immortal Circe gave us.”

303 So I spoke, and at once they swore the oath as I told them. And when they had sworn and finished the oath, we moored the well-made ship in a hollow harbor near sweet water, and my companions went out of the ship and then skillfully prepared their supper. But when they had put from them the desire for drink and food, they remembered their dear companions whom Scylla had snatched out of the hollow ship and eaten, and they wept for them; and as they wept, deep, sweet sleep came over them. But when it was the third watch of the night, and the stars had passed the zenith, Zeus the cloud-gatherer roused a blustering wind against us in an unearthly storm, and covered land and sea alike with clouds, and night rushed down from the sky. When early-born Dawn appeared, the rose-fingered, we hauled the ship into a hollow cave and moored her there, where there were fair dancing floors and seats of the nymphs. And then I called an assembly and spoke among them:

320 “Friends, there is food and drink in the swift ship; let us keep our hands off those cattle, or we may come to harm. For these cattle and fat sheep belong to a dread god, Helios, who sees everything and hears everything.”

324 So I spoke, and their proud hearts were persuaded. For a whole month the South Wind blew without ceasing, and there was never any other wind but the East Wind and the South.

327 As long as they had bread and red wine, they kept their hands off the cattle, eager as they were to stay alive. But when all the provisions in the ship were used up, they had to roam about and hunt for game, fish and birds, whatever came to their hands, with bent hooks; and hunger gnawed at their bellies. Then I went off up the island, to pray to the gods, in case one of them might show me a way to go home. And when I had gone through the island and got away from my companions, I washed my hands where there was shelter from the wind and prayed to all the gods who hold Olympus; and they poured sweet sleep over my eyelids. And Eurylochus began to give his evil counsel to my companions:

340 “Listen to my words, companions, for all you have suffered. All deaths are hateful to wretched mortals, but to die of hunger and meet one’s fate that way is the most pitiful. Come, let us drive off the best of the cattle of Helios and sacrifice them to the immortals who hold the wide sky. And if we ever reach Ithaca, our native land, we will at once build a rich temple to Helios Hyperion and set in it many fine offerings. But if he is angry about his straight-horned cattle and wants to destroy our ship, and the other gods agree, I would rather lose my life once and for all, gulping at a wave, than waste away slowly on a desert island.”

352 So Eurylochus spoke, and the other companions agreed. At once they drove off the best of the cattle of Helios from close by, for the fine broad-browed cattle with curving horns were grazing not far from the dark-prowed ship. They stood around them and prayed to the gods, plucking tender leaves from a high-crowned oak, for they had no white barley on board the well-benched ship. And when they had prayed and slaughtered and flayed the cattle, they cut out the thigh bones and wrapped them in a double layer of fat and laid raw strips of meat on them. They had no wine to pour on the burning sacrifice, but they poured libations of water and roasted all the inner parts. When the thigh bones were burned and they had tasted the inner parts, they cut up the rest and spitted it. And then deep, sweet sleep fled from my eyelids, and I went back to the swift ship and the seashore. But when I was coming near the curved ship on my way, then the sweet savor of the fat came all around me. I groaned and cried aloud to the immortal gods:

371 “Father Zeus and you other blessed gods who live forever, it was to my ruin that you lulled me to sleep in that pitiless sleep, and my companions, staying behind, have contrived a monstrous deed.”

374 Swiftly Lampetia of the long robes came as a messenger to Helios Hyperion, to tell him that we had killed his cattle. At once he spoke among the immortals, angry at heart:

377 “Father Zeus and you other blessed gods who live forever, punish the companions of Odysseus, son of Laertes, who in their insolence have killed my cattle, which I delighted in when I went up into the starry sky and when I turned back again from the sky toward the earth. If they do not pay me fit atonement for the cattle, I will go down to Hades and shine among the dead.”

384 Zeus the cloud-gatherer answered him: “Helios, keep on shining among the immortals and among mortal men on the grain-giving land. As for those men, I will soon strike their swift ship with a bright thunderbolt and shatter it to pieces in the middle of the wine-dark sea.”

389 This I heard from fair-haired Calypso; and she said she had heard it herself from Hermes the guide.

391 But when I came down to the ship and the sea, I went up to one man after another and rebuked them; but we could find no remedy, for the cattle were already dead. And then at once the gods began to show portents to them: the hides crawled, and the meat, both roasted and raw, bellowed on the spits, and there was a sound like the lowing of cattle.

397 For six days after that my faithful companions feasted on the best of the cattle of Helios that they had driven off. But when Zeus, son of Cronus, brought the seventh day, then the wind ceased to rage in its storm, and we went aboard at once and put out into the wide sea, setting up the mast and hoisting the white sails.

403 But when we had left the island and no other land was in sight, only sky and sea, then the son of Cronus set a dark cloud over the hollow ship, and the sea grew dark beneath it. She did not run on for very long; for suddenly the West Wind came shrieking, raging in a great storm, and the blast of the wind snapped both the forestays of the mast. The mast fell backward, and all the tackle tumbled into the bilge. At the stern of the ship the mast struck the helmsman on the head and crushed all the bones of his skull together; and he dropped from the deck like a diver, and his proud spirit left his bones. At the same moment Zeus thundered and hurled his lightning bolt at the ship. Struck by the lightning of Zeus, she spun all around and was filled with sulfur, and my companions fell out of the ship. Like sea crows they were carried on the waves around the black ship, and the god took away their homecoming. But I kept going up and down the ship, until the surge tore the sides from the keel, and the wave carried the keel along bare, and snapped the mast off at the keel. But the backstay, made of oxhide, had been flung over the mast; with it I lashed the two together, keel and mast, and sitting on them I was carried along by the deadly winds.

426 Then the West Wind ceased to rage in its storm, and the South Wind came quickly, bringing grief to my heart, so that I should measure out again the way back to deadly Charybdis. All night long I was carried along, and at sunrise I came to the cliff of Scylla and to dreadful Charybdis. She sucked down the salt water of the sea; but I sprang up high toward the tall fig tree and clung to it like a bat. I had nowhere to plant my feet firmly or to climb up, for its roots were far below and its branches hung far out of reach, long and great, overshadowing Charybdis. I held on relentlessly, until she should vomit up the mast and keel again; and to my longing they came, but late. At the hour when a man rises from the place of assembly for his supper, after judging the many quarrels of young men who go to law, at that hour the timbers appeared out of Charybdis. I let go and dropped from above, hands and feet, and came down with a crash in the water beside the long timbers, and sitting on them I rowed with my hands. And the father of men and gods did not let Scylla see me again; or I would never have escaped sheer destruction.

447 From there I was carried along for nine days, and on the tenth night the gods brought me to the island of Ogygia, where lovely-haired Calypso lives, dread goddess with a human voice, who loved me and cared for me. But why should I tell you all this? Only yesterday I told it to you and your stately wife here in the house; and it is hateful to me to tell again a tale already plainly told.