the spine; my soul went down To Hades. I conjure thee now, by those Whom thou hast left behind and far away, Thy consort and thy father—him by whom Thou when a boy wert reared—and by thy son Telemachus, who in thy palace-halls Is left alone—for well I know that thou, In going hence from Pluto’s realm, wilt moor Thy gallant vessel in the Aeaean isle— That there, O king, thou wilt remember me, And leave me not when thou departest thence Unwept, unburied, lest I bring on thee The anger of the gods. But burn me there With all the armor that I wore, and pile, Close to the hoary deep, a mound for me— A hapless man of whom posterity Shall hear. Do this for me, and plant upright Upon my tomb the oar with which I rowed, While yet a living man, among thy friends.’
“He spake and I replied: ‘Unhappy youth, All this I duly will perform for thee.’
“And then the soul of Anticleia came— My own dead mother, daughter of the king Autolycus, large-minded. Her I left Alive, what time I sailed for Troy, and now I wept to see her there, and pitied her, And yet forbade her, though with grief, to come Near to the blood till I should first accost Tiresias. He too came, the Theban seer, Tiresias, bearing in his hand a wand Of gold; he knew me and bespake me thus:—
“ ‘Why, O unhappy mortal, hast thou left The light of day to come among the dead And to this joyless land? Go from the trench And turn thy sword away, that I may drink The blood, and speak the word of prophecy.’
“He spake; withdrawing from the trench, I thrust Into its sheath my silver-studded sword, And after drinking of the dark red blood The blameless prophet turned to me and said:—
“ ‘Illustrious chief Ulysses, thy desire Is for a happy passage to thy home, Yet will a god withstand thee. Not unmarked By Neptune shalt thou, as I