Thereon he gathered his clouds together, grasped his trident, stirred it round in the sea, and roused the rage of every wind that blows till earth, sea, and sky were hidden in cloud, and night sprang forth out of the heavens.  Winds from East, South, North, and West fell upon him all at the same time, and a tremendous sea got up, so that Ulysses’ heart began to fail him.  “Alas,” he said to himself in his dismay, “what ever will become of me?  I am afraid Calypso was right when she said I should have trouble by sea before I got back home.  It is all coming true.  How black is Jove making heaven with his clouds, and what a sea the winds are raising from every quarter at once.  I am now safe to perish.  Blest and thrice blest were those Danaans who fell before Troy in the cause of the sons of Atreus.  Would that I had been killed on the day when the Trojans were pressing me so sorely about the dead body of Achilles, for then I should have had due burial and the Achaeans would have honoured my name; but now it seems that I shall come to a most pitiable end.”

As he spoke a sea broke over him with such terrific fury that the raft reeled again, and he was carried overboard a long way off.  He let go the helm, and the force of the hurricane was so great that it broke the mast half way up, and both sail and yard went over into the sea.  For a long time Ulysses was under water, and it was all he could do to rise to the surface again, for the clothes Calypso had given him weighed him down; but at last he got his head above water and spat out the bitter brine that was running down his face in streams.  In spite of all this, however, he did not lose sight of his raft, but swam as fast as he could towards it, got hold of it, and climbed on board again so as to escape drowning.  The sea took the raft and tossed it about as Autumn winds whirl thistledown round and round upon a road.  It was as though the South, North, East, and West winds were all playing battledore and shuttlecock with it at once.

When he was in this plight, Ino daughter of Cadmus, also called Leucothea, saw him.  She had formerly been a mere mortal, but had been since raised to the rank of a marine goddess.  Seeing in what great distress Ulysses now was, she had compassion upon him, and, rising like a sea-gull from the waves, took her seat upon the raft.

“My poor good man,” said she, “why is Neptune so furiously angry with you?  He is giving you a great deal of trouble, but for all his bluster he will not kill you.  You seem to be a sensible person, do then as I bid you; strip, leave your raft to drive before the wind, and swim to the Phaeacian coast where better luck awaits you.  And here, take my veil and put it round your chest; it is enchanted, and you can come to no harm so long as you wear it.  As soon as you touch land take it off, throw it back as far as you can into the sea, and then go away again.”  With these words she took off her veil and gave it him.  Then she dived down again like a sea-gull and vanished beneath the dark blue waters.