Page:The Odyssey of Homer, with the Hymns, Epigrams, and Battle of the Frogs and Mice (Buckley 1853).djvu/113

397—436. plight; so welcome did the earth and wood appear to Ulysses; and he swam, hastening to step on the main-land with his feet; but when he was so far distant as one is heard shouting out, then he heard the noise of the sea against the rocks; for the mighty surge bursting terribly roared against the dry [coast] of the continent; and all things were rolled over with the foam of the sea; for there were not havens to contain ships, nor places of shelter, but the shores were prominent, and there were crags and rocks. Then the knees and dear heart of Ulysses fainted, and mourning he spake unto his strong-hearted mind:

"Alas for me! since Jupiter has granted me to behold the unexpected land, and I indeed have passed over this wave, having cut through it, there has appeared no where any egress out of the hoary sea; for without there are sharp rocks, and a dashing surge rages around, and a smooth cliff runs up, and near it the sea is deep; and it is not possible to stand on both my feet, and to escape an evil plight, lest by chance a mighty billow snatching me, as I am going out, dash me against a stony cliff, and my attempt be vain. But if I shall swim still farther, in case I may some where find sloping shores, and ports of the sea, I am afraid, lest the storm snatching me again should bear me to the fishy sea, mourning sadly, or even the deity should send a mighty whale against me from the sea, such as illustrious Amphitrite nourishes in great numbers: for I know how illustrious Neptune is enraged against me."

Whilst he meditated these things in his breast and in his mind, in the mean time a mighty billow bore him to the rough shore. There his skin would have been lacerated, and his bones fractured, had not the blue-eyed goddess Minerva prompted his mind; and rushing on, he seized hold of a rock with both his hands, which he held groaning, until the great billow had passed by. And this he thus avoided; but the returning wave rushing upon him, struck him again, and cast him far out into the sea. As when many stones hold to the claws of a polypus drawn out of its bed, so was the skin torn from his strong hand against the rocks: and a mighty billow covered him.

There at length unhappy Ulysses would have perished con-