"When we had passed the Wandering
rocks, with Scylla and terrible Charybdis, we reached the noble
island of the sun-god, where were the goodly cattle and sheep
belonging to the sun Hyperion. While still at sea in my ship I could
bear the cattle lowing as they came home to the yards, and the sheep
bleating. Then I remembered what the blind Theban seer
[mantis] Teiresias had told me, and how carefully
Aeaean Circe had warned me to shun the island of the blessed 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 the prophecy that
Teiresias made me, and how carefully Aeaean Circe warned me to shun
the island of the blessed sun-god, for it was here, she said, that
our worst danger would lie. Head the ship, therefore, away from the
island.’
"The men were in despair at this,
and Eurylokhos at once gave me an insolent answer.
‘Odysseus,’ said he, ‘you are cruel; you are very
strong 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
this island, but bid them put out to sea and go faring fruitlessly on
through the watches of the fleeing night. It is by night that the
winds blow hardest and do so much damage; how can we escape should
one of those sudden squalls spring up from South West or West, which
so often wreck a vessel when our lords the gods are unpropitious?
Now, therefore, let us obey the call of night and prepare our supper
here hard by the ship; tomorrow morning we will go on board again and
put out to sea.’
"Thus spoke Eurylokhos, and the
men approved his words. I saw that a daimôn meant us
mischief and said, ‘You force me to yield, for you are many
against one, but at any rate each one of you must take his solemn
oath that if he meet with a herd of cattle or a large flock of 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 their oath we made the ship fast in a
harbor that was near a stream of fresh water, and the men went ashore
and cooked their suppers. As soon as they had had enough to eat and
drink, they began talking about their poor comrades whom Scylla had
snatched up and eaten; this set them weeping and they went on crying
till they fell off into a sound sleep.
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