Page:The Odyssey of Homer, with the Hymns, Epigrams, and Battle of the Frogs and Mice (Buckley 1853).djvu/181

520—561. over it. And entreat much the powerless heads of the dead [promising, that] when thou comest to Ithaca, thou wilt offer up in thy palace a barren heifer, whichever is the best, and wilt fill the pyre with excellent things; and that thou wilt sacrifice separately to Tiresias alone a sheep all-black, which excels amongst thy sheep. But when thou shalt have entreated the illustrious nations of the dead with prayers, then sacrifice a male sheep and a black female, turning towards Erebus, and do thou thyself be turned away at a distance, going towards the streams of the river; but there many souls of those gone dead will come. Then immediately exhort thy companions, and command them, having skinned the sheep which lie there slain with the unpitying brass, to burn them, and to invoke the gods, both mighty Pluto and dread Proserpine. And do thou, having drawn thy sharp sword from thy thigh, sit down, nor suffer the powerless heads of the dead to go near the blood, before thou inquirest of Tiresias. There the prophet will immediately come to thee, O leader of the people, who will tell to thee the voyage and the measures of the way, and thy return, how thou mayest go over the fishy sea.'

"Thus she spoke; and the golden-throned morn immediately came. And she put a cloak around me, and a tunic, as garments. But the Nymph herself put on a large white veil, slender and graceful, and around her loins she threw a girdle, beautiful, of gold; and she put a head-dress on her head. But I, going through the house, incited my companions with mild words, standing near each man: 'No longer now slumbering crop the flower of sweet sleep: but let us go; for now venerable Circe has counselled me.'

"Thus I spoke; and their noble mind was persuaded: nor even from thence did I lead away my companions unharmed, for there was a certain Elpenor, the youngest, not very courageous in war, nor proper in his understanding, who, heavy with wine, lay down, desiring coolness at a distance from his companions in the house of Circe: but having heard the noise and bustle of his companions moving, he rushed up on a sudden, and forgot in his mind to descend backwards, when he came to a long ladder; but he fell straight down from the roof; and his neck was broken from the vertebræ, and his soul went down to Hades. And I spoke words to them when they came: