Whatever I have suffered and where’er Have roamed the waters, that mine eyes have seen.
“Escaping thus the rocks, the dreaded haunt Of Scylla and Charybdis, we approached The pleasant island of the Sun, where grazed The oxen with broad foreheads, beautiful, And flocks of sheep, the fatlings of the god Who makes the round of heaven. While yet at sea I heard from my black ship the low of herds In stables, and the bleatings of the flocks, And straightway came into my thought the words Of the blind seer Tiresias, him of Thebes, And of Aeaean Circè, who had oft Warned me to shun the island of the god Whose light is sweet to all. And then I said To my companions with a sorrowing heart:—
“ ‘My comrades, sufferers as ye are, give ear. I shall disclose the oracles which late Tiresias and Aeaean Circè gave. The goddess earnestly admonished me Not to approach the island of the Sun, Whose light is sweet to all, for there she said Some great misfortune lay in wait for us. Now let us speed the ship and pass the isle.’
“I spake; their hearts were broken as they heard, And bitterly Eurylochus replied:—
“ ‘Austere art thou, Ulysses; thou art strong Exceedingly; no labor tires thy limbs; They must be made of iron, since thy will Denies thy comrades, overcome with toil And sleeplessness, to tread the land again, And in that isle amid the waters make A generous banquet. Thou wouldst have us sail Into the swiftly coming night, and stray Far from the island, through the misty sea. By night spring up the mighty winds that make A wreck of ships, and how can one escape Destruction, should a sudden hurricane Rise from the south or the hard-blowing west, Such as, in spite of all the sovereign gods, Will cause a ship to founder in the deep? Let us obey the dark-browed Night, and take Our evening meal, remaining close beside Our gallant barque, and go on board again When morning breaks, and enter the wide sea.’