passed us in his galley yet, Ere he has heard our warbled melodies. He goes delighted hence a wiser man; For all that in the spacious realm of Troy The Greeks and Trojans by the will of Heaven Endured we know, and all that comes to pass In all the nations of the fruitful earth.’ ”
’Twas thus they sang, and sweet the strain. I longed To listen, and with nods I gave the sign To set me free; they only plied their oars The faster. Then upsprang Eurylochus And Perimedes, and with added cords Bound me, and drew the others still more tight. And when we now had passed the spot, and heard No more the melody the Sirens sang, My comrades hastened from their ears to take The wax, and loosed the cords and set me free.
“As soon as we had left the isle, I saw Mist and a mountain billow, and I heard The thunder of the waters. From the hands Of my affrighted comrades flew the oars, The deep was all in uproar; but the ship Stopped there, for all the rowers ceased their task. I went through all the ship exhorting them With cheerful words, man after man, and said:—
“ ‘Reflect, my friends, that we are not untried In evil fortunes, nor in sadder plight Are we than when within his spacious cave The brutal Cyclops held us prisoners; Yet through my valor we escaped, and through My counsels and devices, and I think That ye will live to bear this day’s events In memory like those. Now let us act. Do all as I advise; go to your seats Upon the benches, smiting with your oars These mighty waves, and haply Jove will grant That we escape the death which threatens us. Thee, helmsman, I adjure—and heed my words, Since to thy hands alone is given in charge Our gallant vessel’s rudder—steer thou hence From mist and tumbling waves, and well observe The rock, lest where it juts into the sea Thou heed it not, and bring us all to wreck.’
“I spake, and quickly all obeyed my words. Yet said I naught of Scylla—whom we now Could not avoid—lest all the crew in fear Should cease to