Other wonders and terrors might still have been revealed, but as that hardy watcher stood at his post a great tumult and commotion arose in that populous city of the dead, and the whole multitude of its ghostly denizens came rushing towards the trench, as if resolved to expel the daring intruder.  Odysseus’ heart failed him when he saw the air thick with hovering spectres, who glared with dreadful eyes, and filled the air with the sound of their unearthly voices.  Turning his back on that place of horror he made his way slowly towards the shore, where he found his men anxiously awaiting him.

The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis; Thrinacia

I

Following the same course as on his outward voyage, Odysseus put in again at the island of Circe, where his first duty was to bury the body of the young Elpenor, whose ghost he had seen in an attitude of mute reproach at the threshold of Hades.  They were again received with all hospitality by Circe.

After the evening meal Circe drew Odysseus apart, and questioned him on all that he had seen and heard on that strange journey, from which he had returned, as she said, like one ransomed from death.  And when he had told his story she instructed him as to the course which he had to steer on leaving the island, and warned him against the manifold perils of the voyage.

“First,” said she, “thou wilt come to the rocks of the Sirens, maidens of no mortal race, who beguile the ears of all that hear them.  Woe to him who draws near to listen to their song!  He shall never see the faces of his wife and children again, or feel their arms about his neck, but there he shall perish, and there his bones shall rot.  Therefore take heed, and when thou drawest near the place stop the ears of thy men with wax, and bid them bind thee fast with cords, that thou mayest hear the song of the Sirens.  And when that seducing melody fills thine ears, thou wilt beg and implore thy comrades to set thee free, that thou mayest draw near and have speech of the Sirens.  Then let them bind thee more firmly to the mast, and take to their oars, and fly the enchanted rocks.

“This peril past, thou hast the choice of two different routes.  One of these will bring thee to the Wandering Isles, which stand, front to front, with steep slippery sides of rock, running sheer down to the sea.  Between them lies a narrow way, which is the very gate of death.  For if aught living attempts to pass between, those rocky jaws close upon it and grind it to powder.  Only the doves which bear ambrosia to Father Zeus can pass that awful strait, and one of these pays toll with her life as she passes, but Zeus sends another to fill her place.  And one ship sailed safely through, even the famous Argo when she bore Jason and his crew on their voyage from the land of AEetes.  All others when they essayed the task perished, and were brought to naught in a whirlwind of foam and fire.