Part 21 (2/2)
Ulysses, ever cautious, had lingered without the harbor; and when, from afar, he saw his companions' horrible fate, he bade his men strike the waves with their ”sounding oars” and escape.
[Sidenote: Circe, the enchantress.]
The Greeks went on again until they came to AEaea, an island inhabited by the golden-haired enchantress Circe, sister of AEetes, and aunt of Medea. Here Ulysses' crew was divided into two parties, one of which, led by Eurylochus, set out to explore the island, while the other, headed by Ulysses, remained to guard the s.h.i.+ps. Through a dense forest, peopled with strangely gentle wild beasts, Eurylochus led his force, until they came in sight of the beautiful palace home of Circe. From afar they could hear her sweet voice raised in song, as she wove a beautiful web for her own adornment: so they pressed eagerly on, and entered the palace hall, Eurylochus alone lingering on the porch, fearing lest some fraud might suddenly be revealed.
Circe received her self-invited guests most graciously, seated them on tapestry-covered couches, and bade her numerous handmaidens speedily set before them all manner of good cheer,--an order which was immediately carried out. The men feasted greedily, for they had fasted for many days, and Circe watched them with ill-concealed disgust. Suddenly she started from her seat, waved her wand over their heads, and bade them a.s.sume the form of swine (which obscene animals their gluttony suggested), and hie them to their sties.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CIRCE AND THE FRIENDS OF ULYSSES.--Riviere.]
”Then instantly She touched them with a wand, and shut them up In sties, transformed to swine in head and voice, Bristles and shape, though still the human mind Remained to them. Thus sorrowing they were driven Into their cells, where Circe flung to them Acorns of oak and ilex, and the fruit Of cornel, such as nourish wallowing swine.”
Homer (Bryant's tr.).
Eurylochus, meanwhile, vainly awaited their return, and finally resolved to go back alone to the s.h.i.+ps and report what had happened. Sword in hand, Ulysses then set out alone to rescue his comrades; but he had not gone far before he met a youth,--Mercury in disguise,--who warned him not to approach any nearer Circe, and told him of his companions' transformation.
[Sidenote: Ulysses and Circe.]
As Ulysses would not be dissuaded from his purpose, Mercury gave him some moly, an herb warranted to preserve him from Circe's magic spells, and sundry important directions, which were all duly listened to and observed.
Pressing onward, Ulysses reached the palace, entered the banquet room, drank Circe's mixture, which was rendered ineffective by the moly's power, and, when she waved her wand over his head and bade him join his fellows, drew his sword and rushed upon her, threatening to take her life if she did not immediately restore his friends to their human forms, and promise to do them no further harm.
Circe, terrified at the threat, agreed to comply with all his demands; and in a few moments Ulysses was again surrounded by his companions, who were touchingly grateful for their rescue. Circe now prepared a second feast, and entertained them all so well, that Ulysses lingered there for one whole year.
”And there from day to day We lingered a full year, and banqueted n.o.bly on plenteous meats and delicate wines.”
Homer (Bryant's tr.).
[Sidenote: Ulysses visits Cimmeria.]
At the end of that time, Ulysses' companions began to long for their own homes, and prevailed upon their chief to leave the fair enchantress Circe. At first she was loath to let him go; but, seeing that her efforts to detain him longer would be of no avail, she bade him seek the Cimmerian sh.o.r.es, and there consult the seer Tiresias. This land, which lay on the confines of Pluto's dark realm, was inhabited by shadows, the spirits of the dead, condemned to sojourn there a while ere they were admitted into Hades.
Ulysses embarked, and, according to Circe's directions, let his vessel drift along until its prow grated on a pebbly beach, where he landed. Then, walking straight before him, he came to a spot whence he could hear the roar of the Phlegethon as it joined the Acheron, and here he dug a trench with his sword.
The trench finished, he killed two black victims, furnished by Circe, and made their blood flow into the trench. Immediately all the spirits crowded about him, eager to drink the fresh blood; but Ulysses, with drawn sword, forced them back, until at last Tiresias, the blind seer, approached.
He was allowed to stoop down and drink; and, as soon as he had done so, he recovered the power of human speech, and warned Ulysses of the many trials still awaiting him. Then, his prophecy concluded, he vanished; but Ulysses lingered a little longer to allow his mother to drink some blood, and explain how she came to be here in the spirit land.
Many others came and conversed with him; but at last he was forced to depart, and return to AEaea, where he lingered to perform the funeral rites for Elpenor,--one of his followers, a youth who had fallen asleep on one of the palace turrets, and by an inadvertent movement had fallen to the ground, where he had been found dead.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SIREN. (Acropolis Museum, Athens.)]
[Sidenote: The Sirens.]
These obsequies over, the Greeks, favored by a fresh wind, left Circe's isle, and sailed along until they drew near the rocky ledge where the Sirens had their abode. These maidens were wont to sit on the rocks and sing entrancing songs, which allured the mariners until they turned aside from their course, and their vessels were dashed to pieces on the rocks.
According to Circe's advice, Ulysses bade his men bind him fast to the mast, disregard his cries and gestures of command, and keep on their course until the dangerous rocks were lost to view; but, before he allowed them to execute these orders, he stopped their ears with melted wax, so they could not hear a sound, for he alone could hear the Sirens' song and live.
The men then bound him hand and foot to the mast, returned to their oars, and rowed steadily on. Soon the Sirens' melody fell upon Ulysses' charmed ears; but, although he commanded and implored his men to set him free and alter their course, they kept steadily on until no sound of the magic song could reach them, when they once more set their leader free.
[Sidenote: Charybdis and Scylla.]
Now, although this danger had been safely pa.s.sed, Ulysses was troubled in spirit, for he knew he would soon be obliged to steer his course between two dread monsters, Charybdis and Scylla, who lay so close together, that, while striving to avoid one, it was almost impossible not to fall an easy prey to the other.
Charybdis' den lay under a rock crowned with a single wild fig tree; and three times daily she ingulfed the surrounding waters, drawing even large galleys into her capacious jaws.
As for Scylla, she too dwelt in a cave, whence her six ugly heads protruded to devour any prey that came within reach.
”No mariner can boast That he has pa.s.sed by Scylla with a crew Unharmed; she s.n.a.t.c.hes from the deck, and bears Away in each grim mouth, a living man.”
Homer (Bryant's tr.).
This selfsame Scylla, once a lovely maiden, had won the heart of the sea G.o.d Glaucus (p. 303), but coquettishly tormented him until he implored Circe to give him some love potion strong enough to compel her love.
Circe, who had long nursed a secret pa.s.sion for Glaucus, was angry at him, and jealous of her rival, and, instead of a love potion, prepared a loathsome drug, which she bade him pour into the water where Scylla was wont to bathe. Glaucus faithfully did as she commanded; but when Scylla plunged into the water, her body, and not her feelings, changed, and she became a loathsome monster, a terror to G.o.ds and men.
When in sight of the fig tree, Ulysses, cased in armor, stood on the prow to attack Scylla should she attempt to seize one of his crew. The sound of the rus.h.i.+ng waters whirling around Charybdis made all on board tremble with fear, and the pilot steered nearer still to dread Scylla's den.
Suddenly a piercing cry was heard, as the monster seized six of the men and devoured them. The rest pa.s.sed on unharmed; but since then, in speaking of conflicting dangers, it has been customary to use the expression, ”falling from Charybdis into Scylla.”
[Sidenote: Cattle of the sun.]
Only too glad to effect an escape at any price, the Greeks again rowed on until they sighted Trinacria, the island of the sun, where Phaetusa and Lampetia watched over the sun G.o.d's sacred herds. The men wished to land here to rest; but Ulysses reminded them that Tiresias, the blind seer, had warned them to avoid it, lest by slaying any of the sacred animals they should incur divine wrath.
The men, however, worn out with the toil of many days' rowing, entreated so piteously to be allowed to rest, voluntarily pledging themselves to be content with their own provisions and not to slay a single animal, that Ulysses reluctantly yielded to their entreaties, and all went ash.o.r.e.
After they had duly rested, they were still detained by unfavorable winds, until all their provisions were exhausted, and the few birds and fishes they managed to secure no longer sufficed to still the pangs of hunger.
Led by Eurylochus, some of the men, during one of Ulysses' temporary absences, caught and slew some of the sun G.o.d's cattle. To the general amazement and terror, the meat lowed while roasting on the spit, and the empty skins moved and crawled as if alive. All these sounds and sights could not, however, deter the sailors, who were bound to have a good feast, which they kept up for seven days, ere Ulysses could make them leave the Trinacrian sh.o.r.es.
In the mean while, Lampetia had hastened to Apollo to apprise him of the crime committed by Ulysses' men. In anger he appeared before the a.s.sembled G.o.ds and demanded amends, threatening to withdraw the light of his countenance if he were not properly indemnified. Jupiter, to appease his hot anger, immediately promised that all the offenders should perish.
”'Still s.h.i.+ne, O Sun! among the deathless G.o.ds And mortal men, upon the nouris.h.i.+ng earth. Soon will I cleave, with a white thunderbolt, Their galley in the midst of the black sea!'”
Homer (Bryant's tr.).
This promise he immediately fulfilled by drowning all except Ulysses, who alone had not partaken of the sacred flesh, and who, after clinging to the rudder for nine long days, a plaything for the wind and waves, was washed ash.o.r.e on the Island of Ogygia, where the fair sea nymph Calypso had taken up her abode.
[Sidenote: Ulysses and Calypso.]
There he was kindly and most hospitably entertained during eight long years; but he could not depart, as he had no vessel or crew to bear him away. At last Minerva, who had always befriended him, prevailed upon Jupiter to allow him to return to Ithaca. Mercury was sent to Ogygia to bid Calypso furnish all things necessary for his comfort, and aid in the construction of a huge raft, whereon our hero found himself afloat after many years of reluctant lingering on the land.
All seemed well now; but Neptune suddenly became aware that his old enemy, the torturer of Polyphemus, was about to escape from his clutches. With one blow of his trident he stirred up one of those sudden tempests whose fury nothing can withstand, shattered Ulysses' raft, and buffeted him about on the waves, until the G.o.ddess Leucothea (p. 174), seeing his distress, helped him to reach the Phaeacian sh.o.r.e.
[Sidenote: Nausicaa and Ulysses.]
Too weary to think of aught but rest, Ulysses dragged himself into a neighboring wood, where he fell asleep on a bed of dry leaves. While he was thus resting, Minerva visited Nausicaa, daughter of Alcinous, King of the Phaeacians, in a dream, and bade her go down to the sh.o.r.e and wash her linen robes in readiness for her wedding day, which the G.o.ddess a.s.sured her was near at hand. Nausicaa obeyed, and drove with her maidens down to the sh.o.r.e, where, after their labors were duly finished, they all indulged in a game of ball, with the usual accompaniment of shrill cries and much laughter. Their cries awoke Ulysses, who came on the scene just in time to save their ball from the waves, and claimed Nausicaa's protection for a s.h.i.+pwrecked mariner.
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