"Immediately after we had got past the island I saw a great wavefrom which spray was rising, and I heard a loud roaring sound. The menwere so frightened that they loosed hold of their oars, for thewhole sea resounded with the rushing of the waters, but the shipstayed where it was, for the men had left off rowing. I went round,therefore, and exhorted them man by man not to lose heart."'My friends,' said I, 'this is not the first time that we have beenin danger, and we are in nothing like so bad a case as when theCyclops shut us up in his cave; nevertheless, my courage and wisecounsel saved us then, and we shall live to look back on all this aswell. Now, therefore, let us all do as I say, trust in Jove and row onwith might and main. As for you, coxswain, these are your orders;attend to them, for the ship is in your hands; turn her head away fromthese steaming rapids and hug the rock, or she will give you theslip and be over yonder before you know where you are, and you will bethe death of us.'"So they did as I told them; but I said nothing about the awfulmonster Scylla, for I knew the men would not on rowing if I did, butwould huddle together in the hold. In one thing only did I disobeyCirce's strict instructions- I put on my armour. Then seizing twostrong spears I took my stand on the ship Is bows, for it was therethat I expected first to see the monster of the rock, who was to do mymen so much harm; but I could not make her out anywhere, though Istrained my eyes with looking the gloomy rock all over and over"Then we entered the Straits in great fear of mind, for on the onehand was Scylla, and on the other dread Charybdis kept sucking upthe salt water. As she vomited it up, it was like the water in acauldron when it is boiling over upon a great fire, and the sprayreached the top of the rocks on either side. When she began to suckagain, we could see the water all inside whirling round and round, andit made a deafening sound as it broke against the rocks. We couldsee the bottom of the whirlpool all black with sand and mud, and themen were at their wit's ends for fear. While we were taken up withthis, and were expecting each moment to be our last, Scylla pounceddown suddenly upon us and snatched up my six best men. I was lookingat once after both ship and men, and in a moment I saw their hands andfeet ever so high above me, struggling in the air as Scylla wascarrying them off, and I heard them call out my name in one lastdespairing cry. As a fisherman, seated, spear in hand, upon somejutting rock throws bait into the water to deceive the poor littlefishes, and spears them with the ox's horn with which his spear isshod, throwing them gasping on to the land as he catches them one byone- even so did Scylla land these panting creatures on her rock andmunch them up at the mouth of her den, while they screamed andstretched out their hands to me in their mortal agony. This was themost sickening sight that I saw throughout all my voyages."When we had passed the [Wandering] rocks, with Scylla andterrible Charybdis, we reached the noble island of the sun-god,where were the goodly cattle and sheep belonging to the sunHyperion. While still at sea in my ship I could bear the cattle lowingas they came home to the yards, and the sheep bleating. Then Iremembered what the blind Theban prophet Teiresias had told me, andhow carefully Aeaean Circe had warned me to shun the island of theblessed sun-god. So being much troubled I said to the men, 'My men,I know you are hard pressed, but listen while I tell you theprophecy that Teiresias made me, and how carefully Aeaean Circe warnedme to shun the island of the blessed sun-god, for it was here, shesaid, that our worst danger would lie. Head the ship, therefore,away from the island.'"The men were in despair at this, and Eurylochus at once gave mean insolent answer. 'Ulysses,' said he, 'you are cruel; you are verystrong yourself and never get worn out; you seem to be made of iron,and now, though your men are exhausted with toil and want of sleep,you will not let them land and cook themselves a good supper upon thisisland, but bid them put out to sea and go faring fruitlessly onthrough the watches of the flying night. It is by night that the windsblow hardest and do so much damage; how can we escape should one ofthose sudden squalls spring up from South West or West, which so oftenwreck a vessel when our lords the gods are unpropitious? Now,therefore, let us obey the of night and prepare our supper here hardby the ship; to-morrow morning we will go on board again and put outto sea.'"Thus spoke Eurylochus, and the men approved his words. I saw thatheaven meant us a mischief and said, 'You force me to yield, for youare many against one, but at any rate each one of you must take hissolemn oath that if he meet with a herd of cattle or a large flockof sheep, he will not be so mad as to kill a single head of either,but will be satisfied with the food that Circe has given us.'"They all swore as I bade them, and when they had completed theiroath we made the ship fast in a harbour that was near a stream offresh water, and the men went ashore and cooked their suppers. As soonas they had had enough to eat and drink, they began talking abouttheir poor comrades whom Scylla had snatched up and eaten; this setthem weeping and they went on crying till they fell off into a soundsleep."In the third watch of the night when the stars had shifted theirplaces, Jove raised a great gale of wind that flew a hurricane so thatland and sea were covered with thick clouds, and night sprang forthout of the heavens. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn,appeared, we brought the ship to land and drew her into a cave whereinthe sea-nymphs hold their courts and dances, and I called the mentogether in council."'My friends,' said I, 'we have meat and drink in the ship, let usmind, therefore, and not touch the cattle, or we shall suffer forit; for these cattle and sheep belong to the mighty sun, who seesand gives ear to everything. And again they promised that they wouldobey."For a whole month the wind blew steadily from the South, andthere was no other wind, but only South and East. As long as cornand wine held out the men did not touch the cattle when they werehungry; when, however, they had eaten all there was in the ship,they were forced to go further afield, with hook and line, catchingbirds, and taking whatever they could lay their hands on; for theywere starving. One day, therefore, I went up inland that I mightpray heaven to show me some means of getting away. When I had gone farenough to be clear of all my men, and had found a place that waswell sheltered from the wind, I washed my hands and prayed to allthe gods in Olympus till by and by they sent me off into a sweetsleep."Meanwhile Eurylochus had been giving evil counsel to the men,'Listen to me,' said he, 'my poor comrades. All deaths are badenough but there is none so bad as famine. Why should not we drivein the best of these cows and offer them in sacrifice to theimmortal Rods? If we ever get back to Ithaca, we can build a finetemple to the sun-god and enrich it with every kind of ornament; if,however, he is determined to sink our ship out of revenge for thesehomed cattle, and the other gods are of the same mind, I for one wouldrather drink salt water once for all and have done with it, than bestarved to death by inches in such a desert island as this is.'"Thus spoke Eurylochus, and the men approved his words. Now thecattle, so fair and goodly, were feeding not far from the ship; themen, therefore drove in the best of them, and they all stood roundthem saying their prayers, and using young oak-shoots instead ofbarley-meal, for there was no barley left. When they had donepraying they killed the cows and dressed their carcasses; they cut outthe thigh bones, wrapped them round in two layers of fat, and set somepieces of raw meat on top of them. They had no wine with which to makedrink-offerings over the sacrifice while it was cooking, so theykept pouring on a little water from time to time while the inwardmeats were being grilled; then, when the thigh bones were burned andthey had tasted the inward meats, they cut the rest up small and putthe pieces upon the spits."By this time my deep sleep had left me, and I turned back to theship and to the sea shore. As I drew near I began to smell hot roastmeat, so I groaned out a prayer to the immortal gods. 'Father Jove,' Iexclaimed, 'and all you other gods who live in everlasting bliss,you have done me a cruel mischief by the sleep into which you havesent me; see what fine work these men of mine have been making in myabsence.'"Meanwhile Lampetie went straight off to the sun and told him we hadbeen killing his cows, whereon he flew into a great rage, and saidto the immortals, 'Father Jove, and all you other gods who live ineverlasting bliss, I must have vengeance on the crew of Ulysses' ship:they have had the insolence to kill my cows, which were the onething I loved to look upon, whether I was going up heaven or downagain. If they do not square accounts with me about my cows, I will godown to Hades and shine there among the dead.'"'Sun,' said Jove, 'go on shining upon us gods and upon mankind overthe fruitful earth. I will shiver their ship into little pieces with abolt of white lightning as soon as they get out to sea.'"I was told all this by Calypso, who said she had heard it fromthe mouth of Mercury."As soon as I got down to my ship and to the sea shore I rebukedeach one of the men separately, but we could see no way out of it, forthe cows were dead already. And indeed the gods began at once toshow signs and wonders among us, for the hides of the cattle crawledabout, and the joints upon the spits began to low like cows, and themeat, whether cooked or raw, kept on making a noise just as cows do."For six days my men kept driving in the best cows and feasting uponthem, but when Jove the son of Saturn had added a seventh day, thefury of the gale abated; we therefore went on board, raised our masts,spread sail, and put out to sea. As soon as we were well away from theisland, and could see nothing but sky and sea, the son of Saturnraised a black cloud over our ship, and the sea grew dark beneathit. We not get on much further, for in another moment we were caughtby a terrific squall from the West that snapped the forestays of themast so that it fell aft, while all the ship's gear tumbled about atthe bottom of the vessel. The mast fell upon the head of thehelmsman in the ship's stern, so that the bones of his head werecrushed to pieces, and he fell overboard as though he were diving,with no more life left in him."Then Jove let fly with his thunderbolts, and the ship went roundand round, and was filled with fire and brimstone as the lightningstruck it. The men all fell into the sea; they were carried about inthe water round the ship, looking like so many sea-gulls, but thegod presently deprived them of all chance of getting home again."I stuck to the ship till the sea knocked her sides from her keel(which drifted about by itself) and struck the mast out of her inthe direction of the keel; but there was a backstay of stoutox-thong still hanging about it, and with this I lashed the mast andkeel together, and getting astride of them was carried wherever thewinds chose to take me."[The gale from the West had now spent its force, and the wind gotinto the South again, which frightened me lest I should be takenback to the terrible whirlpool of Charybdis. This indeed was whatactually happened, for I was borne along by the waves all night, andby sunrise had reacfied the rock of Scylla, and the whirlpool. She wasthen sucking down the salt sea water, but I was carried aloft towardthe fig tree, which I caught hold of and clung on to like a bat. Icould not plant my feet anywhere so as to stand securely, for theroots were a long way off and the boughs that overshadowed the whole