poplars, and the willows that let fall Their withered fruit, moor thou thy galley there In the deep eddies of Océanus, And pass to Pluto’s comfortless abode. There into Acheron are poured the streams Of Pyriphlegethon, and of that arm Of Styx, Cocytus. At the place where meet The ever-roaring waters stands a rock; Draw near to that, and there I bid thee scoop In earth a trench, a cubit long and wide. And round about it pour to all the dead Libations—milk and honey first, and next Rich wine, and lastly water, scattering White meal upon them. Offer there thy prayer Fervently to that troop of airy forms, And make the vow that thou wilt sacrifice, When thou at last shalt come to Ithaca, A heifer without blemish, barren yet, In thine own courts, and heap the altar-pyre With things of price; and to the seer alone, Tiresias, by himself, a ram whose fleece Is wholly black, the best of all thy flocks. And after thou hast duly offered prayer To all the illustrious nations of the dead, Then sacrifice a ram and a black ewe, Their faces turned toward Erebus, but thine The other way and toward the river streams. Thither the souls of those who died will flock In multitudes. Then call thy friends, and give Command to flay in haste the sheep that lie Slain by the cruel brass, and, burning there The carcasses, pay worship to the gods— The powerful Pluto and dread Proserpine. Draw then the sword upon thy thigh, and sit, And suffer none of all those airy forms To touch the blood until thou first bespeak Tiresias. He will come, and speedily— The leader of the people—and will tell What voyage thou must make, what length of way Thou yet must measure, and will show thee how Thou mayst return across the fishy deep.’
“She spake; and while she spake the Morn looked forth Upon her golden throne. The Nymph bestowed On me a cloak and tunic, and arrayed Herself in a white robe with ample folds— A delicate web and graceful. Round her loins She clasped a shining zone of gold, and hung A veil upon her forehead. Forth I went Throughout the palace and aroused my friends, And thus I said in cheerful tones to each:—