wilt. Let them bind thee hands and feet in the swift ship, upright in the mast hole; and let cables be bound from it; that, delighted, thou mayest hear the voice of the Sirens: but if thou entreatest thy companions, and biddest them loose thee, let them then bind thee in still more bonds. But when thy companions shall have sailed beyond these, then I cannot tell thee accurately which will afterwards be thy way; but do thou thyself consider in thy mind; but I will tell thee of both ways. There indeed are lofty rocks; and near them the vast wave of dark Amphitrite resounds; the blessed gods call them the Wanderers; here nor birds pass by, nor timid doves, which carry ambrosia to father Jove; but the smooth rock always takes away some one of them, but the father sends another to make up the number. From this not yet has any ship of men escaped, whichever has come to it; but the wave of the sea and the storms of destructive fire take away planks of ships and bodies of men together. That sea-traversing ship alone has sailed by it, Argo, a care unto all, which sailed from Æetes: and now perhaps it[1] would have quickly dashed it there against mighty rocks, but Juno sent it on, since Jason was dear [to her]. But as to the two rocks,[2] the one reaches the wide heaven with its sharp top, and a dark-grey cloud surrounds it: this indeed never withdraws,[3] nor does a clear sky ever possess its top, either in the summer or in the autumn; nor could a mortal man ascend it, or descend, not if he had twenty hands and feet; for the rock is smooth, like unto one polished around. But in the middle of the rock there is a shadowy cave towards the west, turned to Erebus;[4] where do thou, O illustrious Ulysses, direct thy hollow ship. Nor could a young man darting an arrow from a bow from a hollow ship reach the deep cave. Here Scylla dwells, shrieking out terribly; her voice indeed is as of a new-born whelp, but she herself is a vast monster; nor would any rejoice seeing [her], not even
- ↑ Viz. the wave.
- ↑ Put for τῶν δὲ δύα σκοπέλων. See Thiersch, Gk. Gr. § 276, 6, referred to by Loewe, and my note on Æsch. Prom. p. 8, ed. Bohn.
- ↑ So in Il. Β. 179, ἀλλ' ἴθι νῦν κατὰ λαὸν Ἀχαιῶν, μηδέ τ' ἐρώει. See Buttm. Lexil. p. 310, sq.
- ↑ With this periphrasis for the West we may not inaptly compare ἕσπερος θεὸς for Hades in Soph. Œd. T. 177.
