Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/298

290 Most to be fear'd. Come—let us hither drive And sacrifice to the Immortal Pow'rs The best of all the oxen of the Sun, Resolving thus—that soon as we shall reach Our native Ithaca, we will erect To bright Hyperion an illustrious fane, Which with magnificent and num'rous gifts We will enrich. But should he chuse to sink Our vessel, for his stately beeves incensed, And should, with him, all heav'n conspire our death, I rather had with open mouth, at once, Meeting the billows, perish, than by slow And pining waste here in this desert isle. So spake Eurylochus, whom all approved. Then, driving all the fattest of the herd Few paces only, (for the sacred beeves Grazed rarely distant from the bark) they stood Compassing them around, and, grasping each Green foliage newly pluck'd from saplings tall, (For barley none in all our bark remain'd) Worshipp'd the Gods in pray'r. Pray'r made, they slew And flay'd them, and the thighs with double fat Investing, spread them o'er with slices crude. No wine had they with which to consecrate The blazing rites, but with libation poor Of water hallow'd the interior parts. Now, when the thighs were burnt, and each had shared His portion of the maw, and when the rest