of beam, With twenty oarsmen, built to carry freight Across the mighty deep—such was its length And thickness. Standing by it, I cut off A fathom’s length, and gave it to my men, And bade them smooth its sides, and they obeyed While I made sharp the smaller end, and brought The point to hardness in the glowing fire; And then I hid the weapon in a heap Of litter, which lay thick about the cave. I bade my comrades now decide by lot Which of them all should dare, along with me, To lift the stake, and with its point bore out Our enemy’s eye, when softly wrapped in sleep. The lot was cast, and fell on those whom most I wished with me—four men, and I the fifth.
“At eve the keeper of these fair-woolled flocks Returned, and brought his well-fed sheep and goats Into the spacious cavern, leaving none Without it, whether through some doubt of us Or through the ordering of some god. He raised The massive rock again, and laid it close Against the opening. Then he sat and milked The ewes and bleating goats, each one