Page:The Odyssey of Homer, with the Hymns, Epigrams, and Battle of the Frogs and Mice (Buckley 1853).djvu/167

4—27. wall, not to be broken; and a smooth rock runs up it; and twelve children of him are born in his palace; six daughters, and six sons in full vigour. There he gave his daughters to be wives to his sons. They always banquet near their dear father and their good mother; and near them lie many dainties. And the sweet-odoured dwelling sounds around the hall during the days, and at nights they sleep again near their chaste wives, on tapestry, and on compact beds: and we came indeed to their city and beautiful houses. And he entertained me during a whole month, and inquired every thing, of Ilium, and the ships of the Argives, and the return of the Grecians; and I told him all things rightly. But when at length I asked for a journey, and desired him to send me, he did not at all refuse, but prepared an escort, and having skinned a bladder of an ox of nine years old, he gave it me, in which he bound the ways of the blustering winds; for the son of Saturn made him the keeper of the winds, both to still and to raise whichever he wishes. And he bound it in the hollow ship with a shining silver rope, that not even a little breath might escape. But for me he sent forward the blast of the west wind to blow, that it might waft both my ships and ourselves. Nor was he destined to accomplish it; for we perished by our own infatuation.