hear of it before so long and killed Iasion with his thunder-bolts.And now you are angry with me too because I have a man here. I foundthe poor creature sitting all alone astride of a keel, for Jove hadstruck his ship with lightning and sunk it in mid ocean, so that allhis crew were drowned, while he himself was driven by wind and waveson to my island. I got fond of him and cherished him, and had set myheart on making him immortal, so that he should never grow old all hisdays; still I cannot cross Jove, nor bring his counsels to nothing;therefore, if he insists upon it, let the man go beyond the seasagain; but I cannot send him anywhere myself for I have neitherships nor men who can take him. Nevertheless I will readily give himsuch advice, in all good faith, as will be likely to bring himsafely to his own country.""Then send him away," said Mercury, "or Jove will be angry withyou and punish you"'On this he took his leave, and Calypso went out to look for Ulysses,for she had heard Jove's message. She found him sitting upon the beachwith his eyes ever filled with tears, and dying of sheerhome-sickness; for he had got tired of Calypso, and though he wasforced to sleep with her in the cave by night, it was she, not he,that would have it so. As for the day time, he spent it on the rocksand on the sea-shore, weeping, crying aloud for his despair, andalways looking out upon the sea. Calypso then went close up to himsaid:"My poor fellow, you shall not stay here grieving and frettingyour life out any longer. I am going to send you away of my own freewill; so go, cut some beams of wood, and make yourself a large raftwith an upper deck that it may carry you safely over the sea. I willput bread, wine, and water on board to save you from starving. Iwill also give you clothes, and will send you a fair wind to takeyou home, if the gods in heaven so will it- for they know more aboutthese things, and can settle them better than I can."Ulysses shuddered as he heard her. "Now goddess," he answered,"there is something behind all this; you cannot be really meaning tohelp me home when you bid me do such a dreadful thing as put to sea ona raft. Not even a well-found ship with a fair wind could venture onsuch a distant voyage: nothing that you can say or do shall mage me goon board a raft unless you first solemnly swear that you mean me nomischief."Calypso smiled at this and caressed him with her hand: "You know agreat deal," said she, "but you are quite wrong here. May heaven aboveand earth below be my witnesses, with the waters of the river Styx-and this is the most solemn oath which a blessed god can take- thatI mean you no sort of harm, and am only advising you to do exactlywhat I should do myself in your place. I am dealing with you quitestraightforwardly; my heart is not made of iron, and I am very sorryfor you."When she had thus spoken she led the way rapidly before him, andUlysses followed in her steps; so the pair, goddess and man, went onand on till they came to Calypso's cave, where Ulysses took the seatthat Mercury had just left. Calypso set meat and drink before him ofthe food that mortals eat; but her maids brought ambrosia and nectarfor herself, and they laid their hands on the good things that werebefore them. When they had satisfied themselves with meat and drink,Calypso spoke, saying:"Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, so you would start home to yourown land at once? Good luck go with you, but if you could only knowhow much suffering is in store for you before you get back to your owncountry, you would stay where you are, keep house along with me, andlet me make you immortal, no matter how anxious you may be to see thiswife of yours, of whom you are thinking all the time day after day;yet I flatter myself that at am no whit less tall or well-looking thanshe is, for it is not to be expected that a mortal woman shouldcompare in beauty with an immortal.""Goddess," replied Ulysses, "do not be angry with me about this. Iam quite aware that my wife Penelope is nothing like so tall or sobeautiful as yourself. She is only a woman, whereas you are animmortal. Nevertheless, I want to get home, and can think of nothingelse. If some god wrecks me when I am on the sea, I will bear it andmake the best of it. I have had infinite trouble both by land andsea already, so let this go with the rest."Presently the sun set and it became dark, whereon the pair retiredinto the inner part of the cave and went to bed.When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Ulysses puton his shirt and cloak, while the goddess wore a dress of a lightgossamer fabric, very fine and graceful, with a beautiful goldengirdle about her waist and a veil to cover her head. She at once setherself to think how she could speed Ulysses on his way. So she gavehim a great bronze axe that suited his hands; it was sharpened on bothsides, and had a beautiful olive-wood handle fitted firmly on to it.She also gave him a sharp adze, and then led the way to the far end ofthe island where the largest trees grew- alder, poplar and pine,that reached the sky- very dry and well seasoned, so as to saillight for him in the water. Then, when she had shown him where thebest trees grew, Calypso went home, leaving him to cut them, whichhe soon finished doing. He cut down twenty trees in all and adzed themsmooth, squaring them by rule in good workmanlike fashion. MeanwhileCalypso came back with some augers, so he bored holes with them andfitted the timbers together with bolts and rivets. He made the raft asbroad as a skilled shipwright makes the beam of a large vessel, and hefiled a deck on top of the ribs, and ran a gunwale all round it. Healso made a mast with a yard arm, and a rudder to steer with. Hefenced the raft all round with wicker hurdles as a protectionagainst the waves, and then he threw on a quantity of wood. By andby Calypso brought him some linen to make the sails, and he made thesetoo, excellently, making them fast with braces and sheets. Last ofall, with the help of levers, he drew the raft down into the water.In four days he had completed the whole work, and on the fifthCalypso sent him from the island after washing him and giving him someclean clothes. She gave him a goat skin full of black wine, andanother larger one of water; she also gave him a wallet full ofprovisions, and found him in much good meat. Moreover, she made thewind fair and warm for him, and gladly did Ulysses spread his sailbefore it, while he sat and guided the raft skilfully by means ofthe rudder. He never closed his eyes, but kept them fixed on thePleiads, on late-setting Bootes, and on the Bear- which men alsocall the wain, and which turns round and round where it is, facingOrion, and alone never dipping into the stream of Oceanus- for Calypsohad told him to keep this to his left. Days seven and ten did hesail over the sea, and on the eighteenth the dim outlines of themountains on the nearest part of the Phaeacian coast appeared,rising like a shield on the horizon.But King Neptune, who was returning from the Ethiopians, caughtsight of Ulysses a long way off, from the mountains of the Solymi.He could see him sailing upon the sea, and it made him very angry,so he wagged his head and muttered to himself, saying, heavens, so thegods have been changing their minds about Ulysses while I was awayin Ethiopia, and now he is close to the land of the Phaeacians,where it is decreed that he shall escape from the calamities that havebefallen him. Still, he shall have plenty of hardship yet before hehas done with it."Thereon he gathered his clouds together, grasped his trident,stirred it round in the sea, and roused the rage of every wind thatblows till earth, sea, and sky were hidden in cloud, and nightsprang forth out of the heavens. Winds from East, South, North, andWest fell upon him all at the same time, and a tremendous sea gotup, so that Ulysses' heart began to fail him. "Alas," he said tohimself in his dismay, "what ever will become of me? I am afraidCalypso was right when she said I should have trouble by sea beforeI got back home. It is all coming true. How black is Jove makingheaven with his clouds, and what a sea the winds are raising fromevery quarter at once. I am now safe to perish. Blest and thrice blestwere those Danaans who fell before Troy in the cause of the sons ofAtreus. Would that had been killed on the day when the Trojans werepressing me so sorely about the dead body of Achilles, for then Ishould have had due burial and the Achaeans would have honoured myname; but now it seems that I shall come to a most pitiable end."As he spoke a sea broke over him with such terrific fury that theraft reeled again, and he was carried overboard a long way off. He letgo the helm, and the force of the hurricane was so great that it brokethe mast half way up, and both sail and yard went over into the sea.For a long time Ulysses was under water, and it was all he could do torise to the surface again, for the clothes Calypso had given himweighed him down; but at last he got his head above water and spat outthe bitter brine that was running down his face in streams. In spiteof all this, however, he did not lose sight of his raft, but swam asfast as he could towards it, got hold of it, and climbed on boardagain so as to escape drowning. The sea took the raft and tossed itabout as Autumn winds whirl thistledown round and round upon a road.It was as though the South, North, East, and West winds were allplaying battledore and shuttlecock with it at once.When he was in this plight, Ino daughter of Cadmus, also calledLeucothea, saw him. She had formerly been a mere mortal, but hadbeen since raised to the rank of a marine goddess. Seeing in whatgreat distress Ulysses now was, she had compassion upon him, and,rising like a sea-gull from the waves, took her seat upon the raft."My poor good man," said she, "why is Neptune so furiously angrywith you? He is giving you a great deal of trouble, but for all hisbluster he will not kill you. You seem to be a sensible person, dothen as I bid you; strip, leave your raft to drive before the wind,and swim to the Phaecian coast where better luck awaits you. And here,take my veil and put it round your chest; it is enchanted, and you cancome to no harm so long as you wear it. As soon as you touch land takeit off, throw it back as far as you can into the sea, and then go awayagain." With these words she took off her veil and gave it him. Thenshe dived down again like a sea-gull and vanished beneath the darkblue waters.But Ulysses did not know what to think. "Alas," he said to himselfin his dismay, "this is only some one or other of the gods who isluring me to ruin by advising me to will quit my raft. At any rate Iwill not do so at present, for the land where she said I should bequit of all troubles seemed to be still a good way off. I know whatI will do- I am sure it will be best- no matter what happens I willstick to the raft as long as her timbers hold together, but when thesea breaks her up I will swim for it; I do not see how I can do anybetter than this."While he was thus in two minds, Neptune sent a terrible great wavethat seemed to rear itself above his head till it broke right over theraft, which then went to pieces as though it were a heap of drychaff tossed about by a whirlwind. Ulysses got astride of one plankand rode upon it as if he were on horseback; he then took off theclothes Calypso had given him, bound Ino's veil under his arms, andplunged into the sea- meaning to swim on shore. King Neptune watchedhim as he did so, and wagged his head, muttering to himself andsaying, "'There now, swim up and down as you best can till you fall inwith well-to-do people. I do not think you will be able to say thatI have let you off too lightly." On this he lashed his horses anddrove to Aegae where his palace is.But Minerva resolved to help Ulysses, so she bound the ways of allthe winds except one, and made them lie quite still; but she rouseda good stiff breeze from the North that should lay the waters till