comrades lost.’
“She spake; the Morning on her golden throne Looked forth; the glorious goddess went her way Into the isle, I to my ship, and bade The men embark and cast the hawsers loose. And straight they went on board, and duly manned The benches, smiting as they sat with oars The hoary waters. Circè, amber-haired, The mighty goddess of the musical voice, Sent a fair wind behind our dark-prowed ship That gayly bore us company, and filled The sails. When we had fairly ordered all On board our galley, we sat down, and left The favoring wind and helm to bear us on, And thus in sadness I bespake the crew:—
“ ‘My friends! it were not well that one or two Alone should know the oracles I heard From Circè, great among the goddesses; And now will I disclose them, that ye all, Whether we are to die or to escape The doom of death, may be forewarned. And first Against the wicked Sirens and their song And flowery bank she warns us. I alone May hear their voice, but ye must bind me first With bands too strong to break, that I may stand Upright against the mast; and let the cords Be fastened round it. If I then entreat And bid you loose me, make the bands more strong.’
“Thus to my crew I spake, and told them all That they should know, while our good ship drew near The island of the Sirens, prosperous gales Wafting it gently onward. Then the breeze Sank to a breathless calm; some deity Had hushed the winds to slumber. Straightway rose The men and furled the sails and laid them down Within the ship, and sat and made the sea White with the beating of their polished blades, Made of the fir-tree. Then I took a mass Of wax and cut it into many parts, And kneaded each with a strong hand. It grew Warm with the pressure, and the beams of him Who journeys round the earth, the monarch Sun. With this I filled the ears of all my men From first to last. They bound me, in their turn, Upright against the mast-tree, hand and foot, And tied the cords around it. Then again They sat and threshed with oars the