Scylla and
Charybdis
Ulysses
had been warned by Circe of the two monsters
Scylla and Charybdis. We have already met with
Scylla in the myth of Glaucus. She dwelt in a cave
high up on the cliff, from whence she was
accustomed to thrust forth her long necks (for she
had six heads), and in each of her mouths to seize
one of the crew of every vessel passing within
reach. The other terror, Charybdis, was a gulf
nearly on a level with the water. Thrice each day
the water rushed into a frightful chasm, and
thrice was disgorged. Any vessel coming near the
whirlpool when the tide was rushing in must
inevitably be engulfed; not Neptune himself could
save it. On approaching the haunt of the dread
monsters, Ulysses kept strict watch to discover
them. The roar of the waters as Charybdis engulfed
them gave warning at a distance, but Scylla could
nowhere be discerned. While Ulysses and his men
watched with anxious eyes the dreadful whirlpool,
they were not equally on their guard from the
attack of Scylla, (Incidit in Scyllam, cupicns
vitare Charybdim.) and the monster, darting forth
her snaky heads, caught six of his men and bore
them away shrieking to her den. Ulysses was unable
to afford any assistance.
Both
Tiresias and Circe had warned him of another
danger. After passing Scylla and Charybdis the
next land he would make was Thrinacia, an island
whereon were pastured the cattle of Helios, the
Sun, tended by his daughters Lampetia and
Phaethusa. These flocks must not be violated,
whatever the wants of the voyagers might be. If
this injunction were transgressed, destruction was
sure to fall on the offenders. Ulysses would
willingly have passed the island of the Sun
without stopping, but his companions so urgently
pleaded for the rest and refreshment that would be
derived from anchoring and passing the night on
shore, that Ulysses yielded. He made them swear,
however, not to touch the sacred flocks and herds,
but to content themselves with what provision they
yet had left of the supply which Circe had put on
board. So long as this supply lasted the people
kept their oath; but contrary winds detained them
at the island for a month, and after consuming all
their stock of provisions, they were forced to
rely upon the birds and fishes they could catch.
Famine pressed them, and at last, in the absence
of Ulysses, they slew some of the cattle, vainly
attempting to make amends for the deed by offering
from them a portion to the offended powers.
Ulysses, on his return to the shore, was
horror-struck at perceiving what they had done,
and the more so on account of the portentous signs
which followed. The skins crept on the ground, and
the joints of meat lowed on the spits while
roasting.
The
wind becoming fair, they sailed from the island.
They had not gone far when the weather changed,
and a storm of thunder and lightning ensued. A
stroke of lightning shattered their mast, which in
its fall killed the pilot. At last the vessel
itself went to pieces. The keel and mast floating
side by side, Ulysses formed of them a raft to
which he clung; and, the wind changing, the waves
bore him to Calypso's island. All the rest of the
crew perished.
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