THE VISIT TO THE DEAD.88





“Then, when we had got down to the sea shore we drew our ship into the

water and got her mast and sails into her; we also put the sheep on

board and took our places, weeping and in great distress of mind.

Circe, that great and cunning goddess, sent us a fair wind that blew

dead aft and staid steadily with us keeping our sails all the time well

filled; so we did whatever wanted doing to the ship’s gear and let her

go as the wind and helmsman headed her. All day long her sails were

full as she held her course over the sea, but when the sun went down

and darkness was over all the earth, we got into the deep waters of the

river Oceanus, where lie the land and city of the Cimmerians who live

enshrouded in mist and darkness which the rays of the sun never pierce

neither at his rising nor as he goes down again out of the heavens, but

the poor wretches live in one long melancholy night. When we got there

we beached the ship, took the sheep out of her, and went along by the

waters of Oceanus till we came to the place of which Circe had told us.



“Here Perimedes and Eurylochus held the victims, while I drew my sword

and dug the trench a cubit each way. I made a drink-offering to all the

dead, first with honey and milk, then with wine, and thirdly with

water, and I sprinkled white barley meal over the whole, praying

earnestly to the poor feckless ghosts, and promising them that when I

got back to Ithaca I would sacrifice a barren heifer for them, the best

I had, and would load the pyre with good things. I also particularly

promised that Teiresias should have a black sheep to himself, the best

in all my flocks. When I had prayed sufficiently to the dead, I cut the

throats of the two sheep and let the blood run into the trench, whereon

the ghosts came trooping up from Erebus—brides,89 young bachelors, old

men worn out with toil, maids who had been crossed in love, and brave

men who had been killed in battle, with their armour still smirched

with blood; they came from every quarter and flitted round the trench

with a strange kind of screaming sound that made me turn pale with

fear. When I saw them coming I told the men to be quick and flay the

carcasses of the two dead sheep and make burnt offerings of them, and

at the same time to repeat prayers to Hades and to Proserpine; but I

sat where I was with my sword drawn and would not let the poor feckless

ghosts come near the blood till Teiresias should have answered my

questions.



“The first ghost that came was that of my comrade Elpenor, for he had

not yet been laid beneath the earth. We had left his body unwaked and

unburied in Circe’s house, for we had had too much else to do. I was

very sorry for him, and cried when I saw him: ‘Elpenor,’ said I, ‘how

did you come down here into this gloom and darkness? You have got here

on foot quicker than I have with my ship.’



“‘Sir,’ he answered with a groan, ‘it was all bad luck, and my own

unspeakable drunkenness. I was lying asleep on the top of Circe’s

house, and never thought of coming down again by the great staircase

but fell right off the roof and broke my neck, so my soul came down to

the house of Hades. And now I beseech you by all those whom you have

left behind you, though they are not here, by your wife, by the father

who brought you up when you were a child, and by Telemachus who is the

one hope of your house, do what I shall now ask you. I know that when

you leave this limbo you will again hold your ship for the Aeaean

island. Do not go thence leaving me unwaked and unburied behind you, or

I may bring heaven’s anger upon you; but burn me with whatever armour I

have, build a barrow for me on the sea shore, that may tell people in

days to come what a poor unlucky fellow I was, and plant over my grave

the oar I used to row with when I was yet alive and with my messmates.’

And I said, ‘My poor fellow, I will do all that you have asked of me.’



“Thus, then, did we sit and hold sad talk with one another, I on the

one side of the trench with my sword held over the blood, and the ghost

of my comrade saying all this to me from the other side. Then came the

ghost of my dead mother Anticlea, daughter to Autolycus. I had left her

alive when I set out for Troy and was moved to tears when I saw her,

but even so, for all my sorrow I would not let her come near the blood

till I had asked my questions of Teiresias.



“Then came also the ghost of Theban Teiresias, with his golden sceptre

in his hand. He knew me and said, ‘Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, why,

poor man, have you left the light of day and come down to visit the

dead in this sad place? Stand back from the trench and withdraw your

sword that I may drink of the blood and answer your questions truly.’



“So I drew back, and sheathed my sword, whereon when he had drank of

the blood he began with his prophecy.



“‘You want to know,’ said he, ‘about your return home, but heaven will

make this hard for you. I do not think that you will escape the eye of

Neptune, who still nurses his bitter grudge against you for having

blinded his son. Still, after much suffering you may get home if you

can restrain yourself and your companions when your ship reaches the

Thrinacian island, where you will find the sheep and cattle belonging

to the sun, who sees and gives ear to everything. If you leave these

flocks unharmed and think of nothing but of getting home, you may yet

after much hardship reach Ithaca; but if you harm them, then I forewarn

you of the destruction both of your ship and of your men. Even though

you may yourself escape, you will return in bad plight after losing all

your men, [in another man’s ship, and you will find trouble in your

house, which will be overrun by high-handed people, who are devouring

your substance under the pretext of paying court and making presents to

your wife.



“‘When you get home you will take your revenge on these suitors; and

after you have killed them by force or fraud in your own house, you

must take a well made oar and carry it on and on, till you come to a

country where the people have never heard of the sea and do not even

mix salt with their food, nor do they know anything about ships, and

oars that are as the wings of a ship. I will give you this certain

token which cannot escape your notice. A wayfarer will meet you and

will say it must be a winnowing shovel that you have got upon your

shoulder; on this you must fix the oar in the ground and sacrifice a

ram, a bull, and a boar to Neptune.90 Then go home and offer hecatombs

to all the gods in heaven one after the other. As for yourself, death

shall come to you from the sea, and your life shall ebb away very

gently when you are full of years and peace of mind, and your people

shall bless you. All that I have said will come true].’91



“‘This,’ I answered, ‘must be as it may please heaven, but tell me and

tell me and tell me true, I see my poor mother’s ghost close by us; she

is sitting by the blood without saying a word, and though I am her own

son she does not remember me and speak to me; tell me, Sir, how I can

make her know me.’



“‘That,’ said he, ‘I can soon do. Any ghost that you let taste of the

blood will talk with you like a reasonable being, but if you do not let

them have any blood they will go away again.’



“On this the ghost of Teiresias went back to the house of Hades, for

his prophecyings had now been spoken, but I sat still where I was until

my mother came up and tasted the blood. Then she knew me at once and

spoke fondly to me, saying, ‘My son, how did you come down to this

abode of darkness while you are still alive? It is a hard thing for the

living to see these places, for between us and them there are great and

terrible waters, and there is Oceanus, which no man can cross on foot,

but he must have a good ship to take him. Are you all this time trying

to find your way home from Troy, and have you never yet got back to

Ithaca nor seen your wife in your own house?’



“‘Mother,’ said I, ‘I was forced to come here to consult the ghost of

the Theban prophet Teiresias. I have never yet been near the Achaean

land nor set foot on my native country, and I have had nothing but one

long series of misfortunes from the very first day that I set out with

Agamemnon for Ilius, the land of noble steeds, to fight the Trojans.

But tell me, and tell me true, in what way did you die? Did you have a

long illness, or did heaven vouchsafe you a gentle easy passage to

eternity? Tell me also about my father, and the son whom I left behind

me, is my property still in their hands, or has some one else got hold

of it, who thinks that I shall not return to claim it? Tell me again

what my wife intends doing, and in what mind she is; does she live with

my son and guard my estate securely, or has she made the best match she

could and married again?’



“My mother answered, ‘Your wife still remains in your house, but she is

in great distress of mind and spends her whole time in tears both night

and day. No one as yet has got possession of your fine property, and

Telemachus still holds your lands undisturbed. He has to entertain

largely, as of course he must, considering his position as a

magistrate,92 and how every one invites him; your father remains at his

old place in the country and never goes near the town. He has no

comfortable bed nor bedding; in the winter he sleeps on the floor in

front of the fire with the men and goes about all in rags, but in

summer, when the warm weather comes on again, he lies out in the

vineyard on a bed of vine leaves thrown any how upon the ground. He

grieves continually about your never having come home, and suffers more

and more as he grows older. As for my own end it was in this wise:

heaven did not take me swiftly and painlessly in my own house, nor was

I attacked by any illness such as those that generally wear people out

and kill them, but my longing to know what you were doing and the force

of my affection for you—this it was that was the death of me.’93



“Then I tried to find some way of embracing my poor mother’s ghost.

Thrice I sprang towards her and tried to clasp her in my arms, but each

time she flitted from my embrace as it were a dream or phantom, and

being touched to the quick I said to her, ‘Mother, why do you not stay

still when I would embrace you? If we could throw our arms around one

another we might find sad comfort in the sharing of our sorrows even in

the house of Hades; does Proserpine want to lay a still further load of

grief upon me by mocking me with a phantom only?’



“‘My son,’ she answered, ‘most ill-fated of all mankind, it is not

Proserpine that is beguiling you, but all people are like this when

they are dead. The sinews no longer hold the flesh and bones together;

these perish in the fierceness of consuming fire as soon as life has

left the body, and the soul flits away as though it were a dream. Now,

however, go back to the light of day as soon as you can, and note all

these things that you may tell them to your wife hereafter.’



“Thus did we converse, and anon Proserpine sent up the ghosts of the

wives and daughters of all the most famous men. They gathered in crowds

about the blood, and I considered how I might question them severally.

In the end I deemed that it would be best to draw the keen blade that

hung by my sturdy thigh, and keep them from all drinking the blood at

once. So they came up one after the other, and each one as I questioned

her told me her race and lineage.



“The first I saw was Tyro. She was daughter of Salmoneus and wife of

Cretheus the son of Aeolus.94 She fell in love with the river Enipeus

who is much the most beautiful river in the whole world. Once when she

was taking a walk by his side as usual, Neptune, disguised as her

lover, lay with her at the mouth of the river, and a huge blue wave

arched itself like a mountain over them to hide both woman and god,

whereon he loosed her virgin girdle and laid her in a deep slumber.

When the god had accomplished the deed of love, he took her hand in his

own and said, ‘Tyro, rejoice in all good will; the embraces of the gods

are not fruitless, and you will have fine twins about this time twelve

months. Take great care of them. I am Neptune, so now go home, but hold

your tongue and do not tell any one.’



“Then he dived under the sea, and she in due course bore Pelias and

Neleus, who both of them served Jove with all their might. Pelias was a

great breeder of sheep and lived in Iolcus, but the other lived in

Pylos. The rest of her children were by Cretheus, namely, Aeson,

Pheres, and Amythaon, who was a mighty warrior and charioteer.



“Next to her I saw Antiope, daughter to Asopus, who could boast of

having slept in the arms of even Jove himself, and who bore him two

sons Amphion and Zethus. These founded Thebes with its seven gates, and

built a wall all round it; for strong though they were they could not

hold Thebes till they had walled it.



“Then I saw Alcmena, the wife of Amphitryon, who also bore to Jove

indomitable Hercules; and Megara who was daughter to great King Creon,

and married the redoubtable son of Amphitryon.



“I also saw fair Epicaste mother of king Oedipodes whose awful lot it

was to marry her own son without suspecting it. He married her after

having killed his father, but the gods proclaimed the whole story to

the world; whereon he remained king of Thebes, in great grief for the

spite the gods had borne him; but Epicaste went to the house of the

mighty jailor Hades, having hanged herself for grief, and the avenging

spirits haunted him as for an outraged mother—to his ruing bitterly

thereafter.



“Then I saw Chloris, whom Neleus married for her beauty, having given

priceless presents for her. She was youngest daughter to Amphion son of

Iasus and king of Minyan Orchomenus, and was Queen in Pylos. She bore

Nestor, Chromius, and Periclymenus, and she also bore that marvellously

lovely woman Pero, who was wooed by all the country round; but Neleus

would only give her to him who should raid the cattle of Iphicles from

the grazing grounds of Phylace, and this was a hard task. The only man

who would undertake to raid them was a certain excellent seer,95 but

the will of heaven was against him, for the rangers of the cattle

caught him and put him in prison; nevertheless when a full year had

passed and the same season came round again, Iphicles set him at

liberty, after he had expounded all the oracles of heaven. Thus, then,

was the will of Jove accomplished.



“And I saw Leda the wife of Tyndarus, who bore him two famous sons,

Castor breaker of horses, and Pollux the mighty boxer. Both these

heroes are lying under the earth, though they are still alive, for by a

special dispensation of Jove, they die and come to life again, each one

of them every other day throughout all time, and they have the rank of

gods.



“After her I saw Iphimedeia wife of Aloeus who boasted the embrace of

Neptune. She bore two sons Otus and Ephialtes, but both were short

lived. They were the finest children that were ever born in this world,

and the best looking, Orion only excepted; for at nine years old they

were nine fathoms high, and measured nine cubits round the chest. They

threatened to make war with the gods in Olympus, and tried to set Mount

Ossa on the top of Mount Olympus, and Mount Pelion on the top of Ossa,

that they might scale heaven itself, and they would have done it too if

they had been grown up, but Apollo, son of Leto, killed both of them,

before they had got so much as a sign of hair upon their cheeks or

chin.



“Then I saw Phaedra, and Procris, and fair Ariadne daughter of the

magician Minos, whom Theseus was carrying off from Crete to Athens, but

he did not enjoy her, for before he could do so Diana killed her in the

island of Dia on account of what Bacchus had said against her.



“I also saw Maera and Clymene and hateful Eriphyle, who sold her own

husband for gold. But it would take me all night if I were to name

every single one of the wives and daughters of heroes whom I saw, and

it is time for me to go to bed, either on board ship with my crew, or

here. As for my escort, heaven and yourselves will see to it.”



Here he ended, and the guests sat all of them enthralled and speechless

throughout the covered cloister. Then Arete said to them:—



“What do you think of this man, O Phaeacians? Is he not tall and good

looking, and is he not clever? True, he is my own guest, but all of you

share in the distinction. Do not be in a hurry to send him away, nor

niggardly in the presents you make to one who is in such great need,

for heaven has blessed all of you with great abundance.”



Then spoke the aged hero Echeneus who was one of the oldest men among

them, “My friends,” said he, “what our august queen has just said to us

is both reasonable and to the purpose, therefore be persuaded by it;

but the decision whether in word or deed rests ultimately with King

Alcinous.”



“The thing shall be done,” exclaimed Alcinous, “as surely as I still

live and reign over the Phaeacians. Our guest is indeed very anxious to

get home, still we must persuade him to remain with us until to-morrow,

by which time I shall be able to get together the whole sum that I mean

to give him. As regards his escort it will be a matter for you all, and

mine above all others as the chief person among you.”



And Ulysses answered, “King Alcinous, if you were to bid me to stay

here for a whole twelve months, and then speed me on my way, loaded

with your noble gifts, I should obey you gladly and it would redound

greatly to my advantage, for I should return fuller-handed to my own

people, and should thus be more respected and beloved by all who see me

when I get back to Ithaca.”



“Ulysses,” replied Alcinous, “not one of us who sees you has any idea

that you are a charlatan or a swindler. I know there are many people

going about who tell such plausible stories that it is very hard to see

through them, but there is a style about your language which assures me

of your good disposition. Moreover you have told the story of your own

misfortunes, and those of the Argives, as though you were a practiced

bard; but tell me, and tell me true, whether you saw any of the mighty

heroes who went to Troy at the same time with yourself, and perished

there. The evenings are still at their longest, and it is not yet bed

time—go on, therefore, with your divine story, for I could stay here

listening till tomorrow morning, so long as you will continue to tell

us of your adventures.”



“Alcinous,” answered Ulysses, “there is a time for making speeches, and

a time for going to bed; nevertheless, since you so desire, I will not

refrain from telling you the still sadder tale of those of my comrades

who did not fall fighting with the Trojans, but perished on their

return, through the treachery of a wicked woman.



“When Proserpine had dismissed the female ghosts in all directions, the

ghost of Agamemnon son of Atreus came sadly up to me, surrounded by

those who had perished with him in the house of Aegisthus. As soon as

he had tasted the blood, he knew me, and weeping bitterly stretched out

his arms towards me to embrace me; but he had no strength nor substance

any more, and I too wept and pitied him as I beheld him. ‘How did you

come by your death,’ said I, ‘King Agamemnon? Did Neptune raise his

winds and waves against you when you were at sea, or did your enemies

make an end of you on the main land when you were cattle-lifting or

sheep-stealing, or while they were fighting in defence of their wives

and city?’



“‘Ulysses,’ he answered, ‘noble son of Laertes, I was not lost at sea

in any storm of Neptune’s raising, nor did my foes despatch me upon the

mainland, but Aegisthus and my wicked wife were the death of me between

them. He asked me to his house, feasted me, and then butchered me most

miserably as though I were a fat beast in a slaughter house, while all

around me my comrades were slain like sheep or pigs for the wedding

breakfast, or picnic, or gorgeous banquet of some great nobleman. You

must have seen numbers of men killed either in a general engagement, or

in single combat, but you never saw anything so truly pitiable as the

way in which we fell in that cloister, with the mixing bowl and the

loaded tables lying all about, and the ground reeking with our blood. I

heard Priam’s daughter Cassandra scream as Clytemnestra killed her

close beside me. I lay dying upon the earth with the sword in my body,

and raised my hands to kill the slut of a murderess, but she slipped

away from me; she would not even close my lips nor my eyes when I was

dying, for there is nothing in this world so cruel and so shameless as

a woman when she has fallen into such guilt as hers was. Fancy

murdering her own husband! I thought I was going to be welcomed home by

my children and my servants, but her abominable crime has brought

disgrace on herself and all women who shall come after—even on the good

ones.’



“And I said, ‘In truth Jove has hated the house of Atreus from first to

last in the matter of their women’s counsels. See how many of us fell

for Helen’s sake, and now it seems that Clytemnestra hatched mischief

against you too during your absence.’



“‘Be sure, therefore,’ continued Agamemnon, ‘and not be too friendly

even with your own wife. Do not tell her all that you know perfectly

well yourself. Tell her a part only, and keep your own counsel about

the rest. Not that your wife, Ulysses, is likely to murder you, for

Penelope is a very admirable woman, and has an excellent nature. We

left her a young bride with an infant at her breast when we set out for

Troy. This child no doubt is now grown up happily to man’s estate,96

and he and his father will have a joyful meeting and embrace one

another as it is right they should do, whereas my wicked wife did not

even allow me the happiness of looking upon my son, but killed me ere I

could do so. Furthermore I say—and lay my saying to your heart—do not

tell people when you are bringing your ship to Ithaca, but steal a

march upon them, for after all this there is no trusting women. But now

tell me, and tell me true, can you give me any news of my son Orestes?

Is he in Orchomenus, or at Pylos, or is he at Sparta with Menelaus—for

I presume that he is still living.’



“And I said, ‘Agamemnon, why do you ask me? I do not know whether your

son is alive or dead, and it is not right to talk when one does not

know.’



“As we two sat weeping and talking thus sadly with one another the

ghost of Achilles came up to us with Patroclus, Antilochus, and Ajax

who was the finest and goodliest man of all the Danaans after the son

of Peleus. The fleet descendant of Aeacus knew me and spoke piteously,

saying, ‘Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, what deed of daring will you

undertake next, that you venture down to the house of Hades among us

silly dead, who are but the ghosts of them that can labour no more?’



“And I said, ‘Achilles, son of Peleus, foremost champion of the

Achaeans, I came to consult Teiresias, and see if he could advise me

about my return home to Ithaca, for I have never yet been able to get

near the Achaean land, nor to set foot in my own country, but have been

in trouble all the time. As for you, Achilles, no one was ever yet so

fortunate as you have been, nor ever will be, for you were adored by

all us Argives as long as you were alive, and now that you are here you

are a great prince among the dead. Do not, therefore, take it so much

to heart even if you are dead.’



“‘Say not a word,’ he answered, ‘in death’s favour; I would rather be a

paid servant in a poor man’s house and be above ground than king of

kings among the dead. But give me news about my son; is he gone to the

wars and will he be a great soldier, or is this not so? Tell me also if

you have heard anything about my father Peleus—does he still rule among

the Myrmidons, or do they show him no respect throughout Hellas and

Phthia now that he is old and his limbs fail him? Could I but stand by

his side, in the light of day, with the same strength that I had when I

killed the bravest of our foes upon the plain of Troy—could I but be as

I then was and go even for a short time to my father’s house, any one

who tried to do him violence or supersede him would soon rue it.’



“‘I have heard nothing,’ I answered, ‘of Peleus, but I can tell you all

about your son Neoptolemus, for I took him in my own ship from Scyros

with the Achaeans. In our councils of war before Troy he was always

first to speak, and his judgement was unerring. Nestor and I were the

only two who could surpass him; and when it came to fighting on the

plain of Troy, he would never remain with the body of his men, but

would dash on far in front, foremost of them all in valour. Many a man

did he kill in battle—I cannot name every single one of those whom he

slew while fighting on the side of the Argives, but will only say how

he killed that valiant hero Eurypylus son of Telephus, who was the

handsomest man I ever saw except Memnon; many others also of the

Ceteians fell around him by reason of a woman’s bribes. Moreover, when

all the bravest of the Argives went inside the horse that Epeus had

made, and it was left to me to settle when we should either open the

door of our ambuscade, or close it, though all the other leaders and

chief men among the Danaans were drying their eyes and quaking in every

limb, I never once saw him turn pale nor wipe a tear from his cheek; he

was all the time urging me to break out from the horse—grasping the

handle of his sword and his bronze-shod spear, and breathing fury

against the foe. Yet when we had sacked the city of Priam he got his

handsome share of the prize money and went on board (such is the

fortune of war) without a wound upon him, neither from a thrown spear

nor in close combat, for the rage of Mars is a matter of great chance.’



“When I had told him this, the ghost of Achilles strode off across a

meadow full of asphodel, exulting over what I had said concerning the

prowess of his son.



“The ghosts of other dead men stood near me and told me each his own

melancholy tale; but that of Ajax son of Telamon alone held aloof—still

angry with me for having won the cause in our dispute about the armour

of Achilles. Thetis had offered it as a prize, but the Trojan prisoners

and Minerva were the judges. Would that I had never gained the day in

such a contest, for it cost the life of Ajax, who was foremost of all

the Danaans after the son of Peleus, alike in stature and prowess.



“When I saw him I tried to pacify him and said, ‘Ajax, will you not

forget and forgive even in death, but must the judgement about that

hateful armour still rankle with you? It cost us Argives dear enough to

lose such a tower of strength as you were to us. We mourned you as much

as we mourned Achilles son of Peleus himself, nor can the blame be laid

on anything but on the spite which Jove bore against the Danaans, for

it was this that made him counsel your destruction—come hither,

therefore, bring your proud spirit into subjection, and hear what I can

tell you.’



“He would not answer, but turned away to Erebus and to the other

ghosts; nevertheless, I should have made him talk to me in spite of his

being so angry, or I should have gone on talking to him,97 only that

there were still others among the dead whom I desired to see.



“Then I saw Minos son of Jove with his golden sceptre in his hand

sitting in judgement on the dead, and the ghosts were gathered sitting

and standing round him in the spacious house of Hades, to learn his

sentences upon them.



“After him I saw huge Orion in a meadow full of asphodel driving the

ghosts of the wild beasts that he had killed upon the mountains, and he

had a great bronze club in his hand, unbreakable for ever and ever.



“And I saw Tityus son of Gaia stretched upon the plain and covering

some nine acres of ground. Two vultures on either side of him were

digging their beaks into his liver, and he kept on trying to beat them

off with his hands, but could not; for he had violated Jove’s mistress

Leto as she was going through Panopeus on her way to Pytho.



“I saw also the dreadful fate of Tantalus, who stood in a lake that

reached his chin; he was dying to quench his thirst, but could never

reach the water, for whenever the poor creature stooped to drink, it

dried up and vanished, so that there was nothing but dry ground—parched

by the spite of heaven. There were tall trees, moreover, that shed

their fruit over his head—pears, pomegranates, apples, sweet figs and

juicy olives, but whenever the poor creature stretched out his hand to

take some, the wind tossed the branches back again to the clouds.



“And I saw Sisyphus at his endless task raising his prodigious stone

with both his hands. With hands and feet he tried to roll it up to the

top of the hill, but always, just before he could roll it over on to

the other side, its weight would be too much for him, and the pitiless

stone98 would come thundering down again on to the plain. Then he would

begin trying to push it up hill again, and the sweat ran off him and

the steam rose after him.



“After him I saw mighty Hercules, but it was his phantom only, for he

is feasting ever with the immortal gods, and has lovely Hebe to wife,

who is daughter of Jove and Juno. The ghosts were screaming round him

like scared birds flying all whithers. He looked black as night with

his bare bow in his hands and his arrow on the string, glaring around

as though ever on the point of taking aim. About his breast there was a

wondrous golden belt adorned in the most marvellous fashion with bears,

wild boars, and lions with gleaming eyes; there was also war, battle,

and death. The man who made that belt, do what he might, would never be

able to make another like it. Hercules knew me at once when he saw me,

and spoke piteously, saying, ‘My poor Ulysses, noble son of Laertes,

are you too leading the same sorry kind of life that I did when I was

above ground? I was son of Jove, but I went through an infinity of

suffering, for I became bondsman to one who was far beneath me—a low

fellow who set me all manner of labours. He once sent me here to fetch

the hell-hound—for he did not think he could find anything harder for

me than this, but I got the hound out of Hades and brought him to him,

for Mercury and Minerva helped me.’



“On this Hercules went down again into the house of Hades, but I stayed

where I was in case some other of the mighty dead should come to me.

And I should have seen still other of them that are gone before, whom I

would fain have seen—Theseus and Pirithous—glorious children of the

gods, but so many thousands of ghosts came round me and uttered such

appalling cries, that I was panic stricken lest Proserpine should send

up from the house of Hades the head of that awful monster Gorgon. On

this I hastened back to my ship and ordered my men to go on board at

once and loose the hawsers; so they embarked and took their places,

whereon the ship went down the stream of the river Oceanus. We had to

row at first, but presently a fair wind sprang up.