"Immediately after we had got
past the island I saw a great wave from which spray was rising, and I
heard a loud roaring sound. The men were so frightened that they
loosed hold of their oars, for the whole sea resounded with the
rushing of the waters, but the ship stayed where it was, for the men
had left off rowing. I went round, therefore, and exhorted them man
by man not to lose heart.
"‘My friends,’ said I,
‘this is not the first time that we have been in danger, and we
are in nothing like so bad a case as when the Cyclops shut us up in
his cave by forceful violence [biê];
nevertheless, my courage [aretê] and wise
counsel [noos] saved us then, and we shall live to
look back on all this as well. Now, therefore, let us all do as I
say, trust in Zeus and row on with might and main. As for you,
coxswain, these are your orders; attend to them, for the ship is in
your hands; turn her head away from these steaming rapids and hug the
rock, or she will give you the slip and be over yonder before you
know where you are, and you will be the death of us.’
"So they did as I told them; but
I said nothing about the awful monster Scylla, for I knew the men
would not go on rowing if I did, but would huddle together in the
hold. In one thing only did I disobey Circe's strict
instructions - I put on my armor. Then seizing two strong spears I
took my stand on the ship's bows, for it was there that I
expected first to see the monster of the rock, who was to do my men
so much harm; but I could not make her out anywhere, though I
strained my eyes with looking the gloomy rock all over and
over.
"Then we entered the Straits in
great fear of mind, for on the one hand was Scylla, and on the other
dread Charybdis kept sucking up the salt water. As she vomited it up,
it was like the water in a cauldron when it is boiling over upon a
great fire, and the spray reached the top of the rocks on either
side. When she began to suck again, we could see the water all inside
whirling round and round, and it made a deafening sound as it broke
against the rocks. We could see the bottom of the whirlpool all black
with sand and mud, and the men were at their wit's ends for
fear. While we were taken up with this, and were expecting each
moment to be our last, Scylla pounced down suddenly upon us and
violently [biê] snatched up my six best
men. I was looking at once after both ship and men, and in a moment I
saw their hands and feet ever so high above me, struggling in the air
as Scylla was carrying them off, and I heard them call out my name in
one last despairing cry. As a fisherman, seated, spear in hand, upon
some jutting rock throws bait into the water to deceive the poor
little fishes, and spears them with the ox's horn with which his
spear is shod, throwing them gasping on to the land as he catches
them one by one - even so did Scylla land these panting creatures on
her rock and munch them up at the mouth of her den, while they
screamed and stretched out their hands to me in their mortal agony.
This was the most sickening sight that I saw throughout all my
voyages.
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