They took their rest within the darkened halls,
While I to Circè's sumptuous couch went up,
A suppliant at her knees. The goddess heard
My prayer, as thus in winged words I said:-

"O Circè! make, I pray, the promise good Which thou hast given, to send me to my home. My heart is pining for it, and the hearts.

Of all my friends, who weary out my life
Lamenting round me when thou art not nigh.'

575

580

585

"I spake; the mighty goddess thus replied:'Son of Laertes, nobly born and wise, Ulysses! ye must not remain with me Unwillingly; but ye have yet to make Another voyage, and must visit first The abode of Pluto, and of Proserpine His dreaded queen, and there consult the soul Of the blind seer Tiresias, - him of Thebes, Whose intellect was spared; for Proserpine Gave back to him in death the power of mind, That only he might know of things to come. The rest are shades that flit from place to place.' "Thus spake the goddess; and my heart was

wrung

With sorrow, and I sat upon the couch

590

595

And wept, nor could I longer wish to live

And see the light of day. But when my grief,
With shedding tears and tossing where I sat,
Was somewhat spent, I spake to Circè thus:

"O Circè, who will guide me when I make. 600

This voyage? for no galley built by man.
Has ever yet arrived at Pluto's realm.'

"I spake; the mighty goddess answered me :'Son of Laertes, nobly born and wise,

Take thou no thought of who shall guide thy bark, 609
But raise the mast and spread the glimmering sail,
And seat thyself, and let the north-wind waft
Thy galley on. As soon as thou shalt cross
Océanus, and come to the low shore

And groves of Proserpine, the lofty groups.
Of poplars, and the willows that let fall
Their withered fruit, moor thou thy galley there
In the deep eddies of Océanus,

And pass to Pluto's comfortless abode.

There into Acheron are poured the streams
Of Pyriphlegethon, and of that arm

Of Styx, Cocytus. At the place where meet
The ever-roaring waters stands a rock;
Draw near to that, and there I bid thee scoop

In earth a trench, a cubit long and wide.
And round about it pour to all the dead
Libations, milk and honey first, and next
Rich wine, and lastly water, scattering
White meal upon them. Offer there thy prayer
Fervently to that troop of airy forms,
And make the vow that thou wilt sacrifice,
When thou at last shalt come to Ithaca,
A heifer without blemish, barren yet,

In thine own courts, and heap the altar-pyre

610

615

620

625

630

635

640

With things of price; and to the seer alone,
Tiresias, by himself, a ram whose fleece
Is wholly black, the best of all thy flocks.
And after thou hast duly offered prayer
To all the illustrious nations of the dead,
Then sacrifice a ram and a black ewe,
Their faces turned toward Erebus, but thine
The other way and toward the river streams.
Thither the souls of those who died will flock
In multitudes. Then call thy friends, and give
Command to flay in haste the sheep that lie
Slain by the cruel brass, and, burning there
The carcasses, pay worship to the gods,
The powerful Pluto and dread Proserpine.
Draw then the sword upon thy thigh, and sit,
And suffer none of all those airy forms
To touch the blood until thou first bespeak
Tiresias. He will come, and speedily,-
The leader of the people, — and will tell
What voyage thou must make, what length of way
Thou yet must measure, and will show thee how 650
Thou mayst return across the fishy deep.'

645

"She spake; and while she spake the Morn looked forth

Upon her golden throne. The Nymph bestowed
On me a cloak and tunic, and arrayed
Herself in a white robe with ample folds, -

A delicate web and graceful. Round her loins
She clasped a shining zone of gold, and hung

655

A veil upon her forehead. Forth I went
Throughout the palace and aroused my friends,
And thus I said in cheerful tones to each:

"No longer give yourselves to idle rest And pleasant slumber; we are to depart. The gracious Circè counsels us to go.'

660

668

670

"I spake, and easily their generous minds Inclined to me. Yet brought I not away All my companions safely from the isle. Elpenor was the youngest of our band, Not brave in war was he, nor wise in thought. He, overcome with wine, and for the sake Of coolness, had lain down to sleep, apart From all the rest, in Circè's sacred house; And as my friends bestirred themselves, the noise And tumult roused him; he forgot to come By the long staircase; headlong from the roof He plunged; his neck was broken at the spine, 675 And his soul went to the abode of death.

"My friends came round me, and I said to

them :

• Haply your thought may be that you are bound For the dear country of your birth; but know That Circè sends us elsewhere, to consult

The Theban seer, Tiresias, in the abode

Of Pluto and the dreaded Proserpine.'

680

"I spake, and their hearts failed them as they

heard ;

They sat them down, and wept, and tore their hair,

But fruitless were their sorrow and their tears.

"Thus as we sadly moved to our good ship Upon the sea-shore, weeping all the while, Circè, meantime, had visited its deck,

685

And there had bound a ram and a black ewe

By means we saw not; for what eye discerns

690

The presence of a deity, who moves

From place to place, and wills not to be seen?"

"N

BOOK XI.

OW, when we reached our galley by the shore,
We drew it first into the mighty deep,

And set the mast and sails, and led on board

The sheep, and sorrowfully and in tears

Embarked ourselves. The fair-haired and august s Circè, expert in music, sent with us

A kindly fellow-voyager, a wind

That breathed behind the dark-prowed bark, and

swelled

The sails; and now, with all things in their place
Throughout the ship, we sat us down, - the breeze 10
And helmsman guiding us upon our way.
All day our sails were stretched, as o'er the deep
Our vessel ran; the sun went down; the paths
Of the great sea were darkened, and our bark
Reached the far confines of Océanus.

*5