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Book 12: The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis
Odysseus and his men return to Circe’s island. While the men sleep, Circe takes Odysseus aside to hear about the under world and to offer advice.
“Then said the Lady Circe: So: all those trials are over. Listen with care To this now, and a god will arm you mind. Square in your ship’s path are Sirens, crying 5 beauty to bewitch men coasting by; woe to the innocent who hears that sound! He will not see his lady nor his children in joy, crowding about him, home from sea; the Sirens will sing his mind away 10 on their sweet meadow lolling. There are bones of dead men rotting in a pile beside them And flayed skins shrivel around the spot.
Steer wide; keep well to seaward; plug your oarsmen’s ears with beeswax kneaded soft; none of the rest 15 should hear that song.
But if you wish to listen, Let the men tie you in the lugger, hand and foot, back to the mast, lashed to the mast, so you may hear those harpies’ thrilling voices; shout as you will, begging to be untied, 20 your crew must only twist more line around you and keep their stroke up, till the singers fade. what then? One of two courses you may take, and you yourself must weigh them. I shall not plan the whole action for you now, but only 25 tell you of both.
Ahead are beetling rocks and dark blue glancing Amphitrite, surging, roars around them. Prowling Rocks, or Driftres, the gods in bliss have named themn amed them well. Not even birds can pass them by…
30 A second course lies between headlands. One is a sharp mountain piercing the sky, with stormcloud round the peak Dissolving never, not in the brightest summer, To show heaven’s azure ther, nor in the fall. 35 No mortal man could scale it, nor so much As land there, not with twenty hands and feet, So sheer the cliffs are as of polished stone. midway that height, a cavern full of mist opens toward Erebus and evening. Skirting 40 this in the lugger, great Odysseus, your master bowman, shooting from the deck, would come short of the cavemouth with his shaft; but that is the den of Scylla, where she yaps abominably, a newborn whelp’s cry, 45 though she is huge and monstrous, God or man, no one could look on her in joy. Her legs and there are twelve are like great tentacles, unjointed, and upon her serpent necks are borne six heads like nightmares of ferocity, 50 with triple serried rows of fangs and deep gullets of black death. Half her length, she sways her heads in air, outside her horrid cleft, hunting the sea around that promontory for dolphins, dogfish, or what bigger game 55 thundering Amphitrite feeds in thousands, and no ship’s company can claim to have passed her without loss and grief; she takes, from every ship, one man for every gullet.
The opposite point seems more a tongue of land 60 You’d touch with a good bowshot, at the narrows. A great wild fig, a shaggy mass of leaves, Grows on it, and Charybdis lurks below To swallow down the dark sea tide. Three times From dawn to dusk she spews it up 65 and sucks it down again three times, a whirling maelstrom; if you come upon her then the god who make earth tremble could not save you. No, hug the cliff of Scylla, take your ship Through on a racing stroke. Better to mourn 70 Six men than lose them all, and the ship, too.’
105 For ship and crew.
Rough years then lie between You and your homecoming, alone and old, The one survivor, all companions lost.’...”
At dawn, Odysseus and his men continue their journey. Odysseus decides to tell the men only of Circe’s warning about the Sirens, whom they will soon encounter. He is fairly sure that they can survive this peril if he keeps their spirits up. Suddenly, the wind stops.
“The crew were on their feet Briskly, to furl the sail, and stow it; then, 110 Each in place, they poised the smooth oar blades And sent the white foam scudding by. I carved A massive cake of beeswax into bits And rolled them in my hand unitl they softened No long task, for a burning heat came down 115 From Helios, lord of high noon. Going forward I carried wax along the line, and laid it thick on their ears. They tied me up, then, plumb Amidships, back to the mast, lashed to the mast, And took themselves again to rowing. Soon, 120 As we came smartly within hailing distance, The two Sirens, noting our fast ship Off their point, made ready, and they sang…
The lovely voices in ardo appealing over the water made me crave to listen, and I tried to say 125 ‘Untie me!’ to the crew, jerking my brown; But they bent steady to the oars. Then Perimedes Got to his feet, he and Eurylochus, And pass more line about, to hold me still. So all rowed on, until the Sirens 130 Dropped under the sea rim, and their singing Dwindled away.
My faithful company Rested on their oars now, peeling off The wax that I had laid thick on their ears; Then set me free.
But scarcely had that island 135 Faded in blue air than I saw smoke
And white water, with sound waves in tumult A sound the men heard, and it terrified them. Oars flew from their hands; the blades went knocking Wild alongside till the ship lost way, 140 With no oarblades to drive her through the water. Well, I walked up and down from bow to stern, Trying to put heart into them, standing over Every oarsmen, saying gently,
‘Friends, Have we never been in danger before this? 145 More fearsome, is it now, than when the Cyclops Penned us in his cave? What power he had! Did I not keep my nerve, and use my wits To find a way out for us?
Now I say By hook or crook this peril too shall be 150 something that we remember.
Heads up, lads! We must obey the orders as I give them. Get the oarshafts in your hands, and lay back Hard on your benches; hit these breaking seas. Zeus help us pull away before we founder. 155 You at the tiller, listen, and take in All that I saythe rudders are your duty; Keep her out of the combers and the smoke; Steer for that headland; watch the drift, or we Fetch up in the smother, and you drown us.’
160 That was all, and it brought them round to action. But as I sent them on toward Scylla, I Told them nothing, as they could do nothing. They would have dropped their oars again, in panic, To roll for cover under the decking. Circe’s 165 Bidding against arms had slipped my mind, So I tied on my cuirass and took up Two heavy spears, then made my way along To the foredeckt hinking to see her first from there, The monster of the gray rock, harboring 170 Torment for my friends. I strained my eyes Upon that cliffside veiled in cloud, but nowhere
We rowed on. The Rocks were now behind; Charbydis, too, 205 And Scylla dropped astern…”
Odysseus tries to persuade his men to bypass Thrinacia, the island of the sun god, Helios, but they insist on landing. Driven by hunger, they ignore Odysseus’ warning not to feast on Helios’ cattle. This disobedience angers the sun god, who threatens to stop shining if payment is not made for the loss of his cattle. To appease Helios, Zeus sends me down a thunderbolt to sink Odysseus’ ship. Odysseus alone survives. He eventually drifts to Ogygia, the home of the Calypso, who keeps him on her island for seven years. With this episode, Odysseus ends the telling of his to King Alcinous.
