{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XXIX/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XXIX","id":"wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XXIX","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Fable/Chapter_XXIX","summary":null,"tags":["Headers_applying_DefaultSort_key","Subpages"],"text":"XXIX. ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES \u2014 THE LOTUS-EATERS \u2014 CYCLOPES \u2014 CIRCE \u2014 SIRENS; SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS \u2014 CALYPSO\n\nRETURN OF ULYSSES\n\nThe romantic poem of the Odyssey is now to engage our attention.\nIt narrates the wanderings of Ulysses (Odysseus in the Greek\nlanguage) in his return from Troy to his own kingdom Ithaca.\n\nFrom Troy the vessels first made land at Ismarus, city of the\nCiconians, where, in a skirmish with the inhabitants, Ulysses lost\nsix men from each ship. Sailing thence, they were overtaken by a\nstorm which drove them for nine days along the sea till they\nreached the country of the Lotus-eaters. Here, after watering,\nUlysses sent three of his men to discover who the inhabitants\nwere. These men on coming among the Lotus-eaters were kindly\nentertained by them, and were given some of their own food, the\nlotus-plant, to eat. The effect of this food was such that those\nwho partook of it lost all thoughts of home and wished to remain\nin that country. It was by main force that Ulysses dragged these\nmen away, and he was even obliged to tie them under the benches of\nthe ships.\n\nThey next arrived at the country of the Cyclopes. The Cyclopes\nwere giants, who inhabited an island of which they were the only\npossessors. The name means \"round eye,\" and these giants were so\ncalled because they had but one eye, and that placed in the middle\nof the forehead. They dwelt in caves and fed on the wild\nproductions of the island and on what their flocks yielded, for\nthey were shepherds. Ulysses left the main body of his ships at\nanchor, and with one vessel went to the Cyclopes' island to\nexplore for supplies. He landed with his companions, carrying with\nthem a jar of wine for a present, and coming to a large cave they\nentered it, and finding no one within examined its contents. They\nfound it stored with the richest of the flock, quantities of\ncheese, pails and bowls of milk, lambs and kids in their pens, all\nin nice order. Presently arrived the master of the cave,\nPolyphemus, bearing an immense bundle of firewood, which he threw\ndown before the cavern's mouth. He then drove into the cave the\nsheep and goats to be milked, and, entering, rolled to the cave's\nmouth an enormous rock, that twenty oxen could not draw. Next he\nsat down and milked his ewes, preparing a part for cheese, and\nsetting the rest aside for his customary drink. Then, turning\nround his great eye, he discerned the strangers, and growled out\nto them, demanding who they were, and where from. Ulysses replied\nmost humbly, stating that they were Greeks, from the great\nexpedition that had lately won so much glory in the conquest of\nTroy; that they were now on their way home, and finished by\nimploring his hospitality in the name of the gods. Polyphemus\ndeigned no answer, but reaching out his hand seized two of the\nGreeks, whom he hurled against the side of the cave, and dashed\nout their brains. He proceeded to devour them with great relish,\nand having made a hearty meal, stretched himself out on the floor\nto sleep. Ulysses was tempted to seize the opportunity and plunge\nhis sword into him as he slept, but recollected that it would only\nexpose them all to certain destruction, as the rock with which the\ngiant had closed up the door was far beyond their power to remove,\nand they would therefore be in hopeless imprisonment. Next morning\nthe giant seized two more of the Greeks, and despatched them in\nthe same manner as their companions, feasting on their flesh till\nno fragment was left. He then moved away the rock from the door,\ndrove out his flocks, and went out, carefully replacing the\nbarrier after him. When he was gone Ulysses planned how he might\ntake vengeance for his murdered friends, and effect his escape\nwith his surviving companions. He made his men prepare a massive\nbar of wood cut by the Cyclops for a staff, which they found in\nthe cave. They sharpened the end of it, and seasoned it in the\nfire, and hid it under the straw on the cavern floor. Then four of\nthe boldest were selected, with whom Ulysses joined himself as a\nfifth. The Cyclops came home at evening, rolled away the stone and\ndrove in his flock as usual. After milking them and making his\narrangements as before, he seized two more of Ulysses' companions\nand dashed their brains out, and made his evening meal upon them\nas he had on the others. After he had supped, Ulysses approaching\nhim handed him a bowl of wine, saying, \"Cyclops, this is wine;\ntaste and drink after thy meal of men's flesh.\" He took and drank\nit, and was hugely delighted with it, and called for more. Ulysses\nsupplied him once again, which pleased the giant so much that he\npromised him as a favor that he should be the last of the party\ndevoured. He asked his name, to which Ulysses replied, \"My name is\nNoman.\"\n\nAfter his supper the giant lay down to repose, and was soon sound\nasleep. Then Ulysses with his four select friends thrust the end\nof the stake into the fire till it was all one burning coal, then\npoising it exactly above the giant's only eye, they buried it\ndeeply into the socket, twirling it round as a carpenter does his\nauger. The howling monster with his outcry filled the cavern, and\nUlysses with his aids nimbly got out of his way and concealed\nthemselves in the cave. He, bellowing, called aloud on all the\nCyclopes dwelling in the caves around him, far and near. They on\nhis cry flocked round the den, and inquired what grievous hurt had\ncaused him to sound such an alarm and break their slumbers. He\nreplied, \"O friends, I die, and Noman gives the blow.\" They\nanswered, \"If no man hurts thee it is the stroke of Jove, and thou\nmust bear it.\" So saying, they left him groaning.\n\nNext morning the Cyclops rolled away the stone to let his flock\nout to pasture, but planted himself in the door of the cave to\nfeel of all as they went out, that Ulysses and his men should not\nescape with them. But Ulysses had made his men harness the rams of\nthe flock three abreast, with osiers which they found on the floor\nof the cave. To the middle ram of the three one of the Greeks\nsuspended himself, so protected by the exterior rams on either\nside. As they passed, the giant felt of the animals' backs and\nsides, but never thought of their bellies; so the men all passed\nsafe, Ulysses himself being on the last one that passed. When they\nhad got a few paces from the cavern, Ulysses and his friends\nreleased themselves from their rams, and drove a good part of the\nflock down to the shore to their boat. They put them aboard with\nall haste, then pushed off from the shore, and when at a safe\ndistance Ulysses shouted out, \"Cyclops, the gods have well\nrequited thee for thy atrocious deeds. Know it is Ulysses to whom\nthou owest thy shameful loss of sight.\" The Cyclops, hearing this,\nseized a rock that projected from the side of the mountain, and\nrending it from its bed, he lifted it high in the air, then\nexerting all his force, hurled it in the direction of the voice.\nDown came the mass, just clearing the vessel's stern. The ocean,\nat the plunge of the huge rock, heaved the ship towards the land,\nso that it barely escaped being swamped by the waves. When they\nhad with the utmost difficulty pulled off shore, Ulysses was about\nto hail the giant again, but his friends besought him not to do\nso. He could not forbear, however, letting the giant know that\nthey had escaped his missile, but waited till they had reached a\nsafer distance than before. The giant answered them with curses,\nbut Ulysses and his friends plied their oars vigorously, and soon\nregained their companions.\n\n\u00a0\n\nUlysses next arrived at the island of \u00c6olus. To this monarch\nJupiter had intrusted the government of the winds, to send them\nforth or retain them at his will. He treated Ulysses hospitably,\nand at his departure gave him, tied up in a leathern bag, with a\nsilver string, such winds as might be hurtful and dangerous,\ncommanding fair winds to blow the barks towards their country.\nNine days they sped before the wind, and all that time Ulysses had\nstood at the helm, without sleep. At last quite exhausted he lay\ndown to sleep. While he slept, the crew conferred together about\nthe mysterious bag, and concluded it must contain treasures given\nby the hospitable king Aeolus to their commander. Tempted to\nsecure some portion for themselves, they loosed the string, when\nimmediately the winds rushed forth. The ships were driven far from\ntheir course, and back again to the island they had just left.\nAeolus was so indignant at their folly that he refused to assist\nthem further, and they were obliged to labor over their course\nonce more by means of their oars.\n\nTHE LAESTRYGONIANS\n\nTheir next adventure was with the barbarous tribe of\nL\u00e6strygonians. The vessels all pushed into the harbor, tempted by\nthe secure appearance of the cove, completely land-locked; only\nUlysses moored his vessel without. As soon as the L\u00e6strygonians\nfound the ships completely in their power they attacked them,\nheaving huge stones which broke and overturned them, and with\ntheir spears despatched the seamen as they struggled in the water.\nAll the vessels with their crews were destroyed, except Ulysses'\nown ship, which had remained outside, and finding no safety but in\nflight, he exhorted his men to ply their oars vigorously, and they\nescaped.\n\nWith grief for their slain companions mixed with joy at their own\nescape, they pursued their way till they arrived at the \u00c6aean\nisle, where Circe dwelt, the daughter of the sun. Landing here,\nUlysses climbed a hill, and gazing round saw no signs of\nhabitation except in one spot at the centre of the island, where\nhe perceived a palace embowered with trees. He sent forward one-\nhalf of his crew, under the command of Eurylochus, to see what\nprospect of hospitality they might find. As they approached the\npalace, they found themselves surrounded by lions, tigers, and\nwolves, not fierce, but tamed by Circe's art, for she was a\npowerful magician. All these animals had once been men, but had\nbeen changed by Circe's enchantments into the forms of beasts. The\nsounds of soft music were heard from within, and a sweet female\nvoice singing. Eurylochus called aloud and the goddess came forth\nand invited them in; they all gladly entered except Eurylochus,\nwho suspected danger. The goddess conducted her guests to a seat,\nand had them served with wine and other delicacies. When they had\nfeasted heartily, she touched them one by one with her wand, and\nthey became immediately changed into swine, in \"head, body, voice,\nand bristles,\" yet with their intellects as before. She shut them\nin her sties and supplied them with acorns and such other things\nas swine love.\n\nEurylochus hurried back to the ship and told the tale. Ulysses\nthereupon determined to go himself, and try if by any means he\nmight deliver his companions. As he strode onward alone, he met a\nyouth who addressed him familiarly, appearing to be acquainted\nwith his adventures. He announced himself as Mercury, and informed\nUlysses of the arts of Circe, and of the danger of approaching\nher. As Ulysses was not to be dissuaded from his attempt, Mercury\nprovided him with a sprig of the plant Moly, of wonderful power to\nresist sorceries, and instructed him how to act. Ulysses\nproceeded, and reaching the palace was courteously received by\nCirce, who entertained him as she had done his companions, and\nafter he had eaten and drank, touched him with her wand, saying,\n\"Hence, seek the sty and wallow with thy friends.\" But he, instead\nof obeying, drew his sword and rushed upon her with fury in his\ncountenance. She fell on her knees and begged for mercy. He\ndictated a solemn oath that she would release his companions and\npractise no further harm against him or them; and she repeated it,\nat the same time promising to dismiss them all in safety after\nhospitably entertaining them. She was as good as her word. The men\nwere restored to their shapes, the rest of the crew summoned from\nthe shore, and the whole magnificently entertained day after day,\ntill Ulysses seemed to have forgotten his native land, and to have\nreconciled himself to an inglorious life of ease and pleasure.\n\nAt length his companions recalled him to nobler sentiments, and he\nreceived their admonition gratefully. Circe aided their departure,\nand instructed them how to pass safely by the coast of the Sirens.\nThe Sirens were sea-nymphs who had the power of charming by their\nsong all who heard them, so that the unhappy mariners were\nirresistibly impelled to cast themselves into the sea to their\ndestruction. Circe directed Ulysses to fill the ears of his seamen\nwith wax, so that they should not hear the strain; and to cause\nhimself to be bound to the mast, and his people to be strictly\nenjoined, whatever he might say or do, by no means to release him\ntill they should have passed the Sirens' island. Ulysses obeyed\nthese directions. He filled the ears of his people with wax, and\nsuffered them to bind him with cords firmly to the mast. As they\napproached the Sirens' island, the sea was calm, and over the\nwaters came the notes of music so ravishing and attractive that\nUlysses struggled to get loose, and by cries and signs to his\npeople begged to be released; but they, obedient to his previous\norders, sprang forward and bound him still faster. They held on\ntheir course, and the music grew fainter till it ceased to be\nheard, when with joy Ulysses gave his companions the signal to\nunseal their ears, and they relieved him from his bonds.\n\n\u00a0\n\nThe imagination of a modern poet, Keats, has discovered for us the\nthoughts that passed through the brains of the victims of Circe,\nafter their transformation. In his \"Endymion\" he represents one of\nthem, a monarch in the guise of an elephant, addressing the\nsorceress in human language, thus:\n\n\"I sue not for my happy crown again;\n\nI sue not for my phalanx on the plain;\n\nI sue not for my lone, my widowed wife;\n\nI sue not for my ruddy drops of life,\n\nMy children fair, my lovely girls and boys;\n\nI will forget them; I will pass these joys,\n\nAsk nought so heavenward; so too\u2014too high;\n\nOnly I pray, as fairest boon, to die;\n\nTo be delivered from this cumbrous flesh,\n\nFrom this gross, detestable, filthy mesh,\n\nAnd merely given to the cold, bleak air.\n\nHave mercy, goddess! Circe, feel my prayer!\"\n\nSCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS\n\nUlysses had been warned by Circe of the two monsters Scylla and\nCharybdis. We have already met with Scylla in the story of\nGlaucus, and remember that she was once a beautiful maiden and was\nchanged into a snaky monster by Circe. She dwelt in a cave high up\non the cliff, from whence she was accustomed to thrust forth her\nlong necks (for she had six heads), and in each of her mouths to\nseize one of the crew of every vessel passing within reach. The\nother terror, Charybdis, was a gulf, nearly on a level with the\nwater. Thrice each day the water rushed into a frightful chasm,\nand thrice was disgorged. Any vessel coming near the whirlpool\nwhen the tide was rushing in must inevitably be ingulfed; not\nNeptune himself could save it.\n\nOn approaching the haunt of the dread monsters, Ulysses kept\nstrict watch to discover them. The roar of the waters as Charybdis\ningulfed them, gave warning at a distance, but Scylla could\nnowhere be discerned. While Ulysses and his men watched with\nanxious eyes the dreadful whirlpool, they were not equally on\ntheir guard from the attack of Scylla, and the monster, darting\nforth her snaky heads, caught six of his men, and bore them away,\nshrieking, to her den. It was the saddest sight Ulysses had yet\nseen; to behold his friends thus sacrificed and hear their cries,\nunable to afford them any assistance.\n\nCirce had warned him of another danger. After passing Scylla and\nCharybdis the next land he would make was Thrinakia, an island\nwhereon were pastured the cattle of Hyperion, the Sun, tended by\nhis daughters Lampetia and Ph\u00e6thusa. These flocks must not be\nviolated, whatever the wants of the voyagers might be. If this\ninjunction were transgressed destruction was sure to fall on the\noffenders.\n\nUlysses would willingly have passed the island of the Sun without\nstopping, but his companions so urgently pleaded for the rest and\nrefreshment that would be derived from anchoring and passing the\nnight on shore, that Ulysses yielded. He bound them, however, with\nan oath that they would not touch one of the animals of the sacred\nflocks and herds, but content themselves with what provision they\nyet had left of the supply which Circe had put on board. So long\nas this supply lasted the people kept their oath, but contrary\nwinds detained them at the island for a month, and after consuming\nall their stock of provisions, they were forced to rely upon the\nbirds and fishes they could catch. Famine pressed them, and at\nlength one day, in the absence of Ulysses, they slew some of the\ncattle, vainly attempting to make amends for the deed by offering\nfrom them a portion to the offended powers. Ulysses, on his return\nto the shore, was horror-struck at perceiving what they had done,\nand the more so on account of the portentous signs which followed.\nThe skins crept on the ground, and the joints of meat lowed on the\nspits while roasting.\n\nThe wind becoming fair they sailed from the island. They had not\ngone far when the weather changed, and a storm of thunder and\nlightning ensued. A stroke of lightning shattered their mast,\nwhich in its fall killed the pilot. At last the vessel itself came\nto pieces. The keel and mast floating side by side, Ulysses formed\nof them a raft, to which he clung, and, the wind changing, the\nwaves bore him to Calypso's island. All the rest of the crew\nperished.\n\nThe following allusion to the topics we have just been considering\nis from Milton's \"Comus,\" line 252:\n\n\"... I have often heard\n\nMy mother Circe and the Sirens three,\n\nAmidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades,\n\nCulling their potent herbs and baneful drugs,\n\nWho as they sung would take the prisoned soul\n\nAnd lap it in Elysium. Scylla wept,\n\nAnd chid her barking waves into attention,\n\nAnd fell Charybdis murmured soft applause.\"\n\nScylla and Charybdis have become proverbial, to denote opposite\ndangers which beset one's course. See Proverbial Expressions.\n\nCALYPSO\n\nCalypso was a sea-nymph, which name denotes a numerous class of\nfemale divinities of lower rank, yet sharing many of the\nattributes of the gods. Calypso received Ulysses hospitably,\nentertained him magnificently, became enamoured of him, and wished\nto retain him forever, conferring on him immortality. But he\npersisted in his resolution to return to his country and his wife\nand son. Calypso at last received the command of Jove to dismiss\nhim. Mercury brought the message to her, and found her in her\ngrotto, which is thus described by Homer:\n\n\"A garden vine, luxuriant on all sides,\n\nMantled the spacious cavern, cluster-hung\n\nProfuse; four fountains of serenest lymph,\n\nTheir sinuous course pursuing side by side,\n\nStrayed all around, and everywhere appeared\n\nMeadows of softest verdure, purpled o'er\n\nWith violets; it was a scene to fill\n\nA god from heaven with wonder and delight.\"\n\nCalypso with much reluctance proceeded to obey the commands of\nJupiter. She supplied Ulysses with the means of constructing a\nraft, provisioned it well for him, and gave him a favoring gale.\nHe sped on his course prosperously for many days, till at length,\nwhen in sight of land, a storm arose that broke his mast, and\nthreatened to rend the raft asunder. In this crisis he was seen by\na compassionate sea-nymph, who in the form of a cormorant alighted\non the raft, and presented him a girdle, directing him to bind it\nbeneath his breast, and if he should be compelled to trust himself\nto the waves, it would buoy him up and enable him by swimming to\nreach the land.\n\n\u00a0\n\nFenelon, in his romance of \"Telemachus,\" has given us the\nadventures of the son of Ulysses in search of his father. Among\nother places at which he arrived, following on his father's\nfootsteps, was Calypso's isle, and, as in the former case, the\ngoddess tried every art to keep him with her, and offered to share\nher immortality with him. But Minerva, who in the shape of Mentor\naccompanied him and governed all his movements, made him repel her\nallurements, and when no other means of escape could be found, the\ntwo friends leaped from a cliff into the sea, and swam to a vessel\nwhich lay becalmed off shore. Byron alludes to this leap of\nTelemachus and Mentor in the following stanza:\n\n\"But not in silence pass Calypso's isles,\n\nThe sister tenants of the middle deep;\n\nThere for the weary still a haven smiles,\n\nThough the fair goddess long has ceased to weep,\n\nAnd o'er her cliffs a fruitless watch to keep\n\nFor him who dared prefer a mortal bride.\n\nHere too his boy essayed the dreadful leap,\n\nStern Mentor urged from high to yonder tide;\n\nWhile thus of both bereft the nymph-queen doubly sighed.\"","title":"The Age of Fable/Chapter XXIX","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":3694}