Scylla and Charybdis was close at hand. A strong current caught the
galley and whirled her with appalling swiftness towards the point of
danger. The water boiled and eddied around them, and the blinding
spray was dashed into their faces. Then a sudden panic came upon the
crew, so that they dropped their oars, and sat helpless and unnerved,
expecting instant death. In this emergency, Odysseus summoned up all
his courage, and strode up and down between the benches, exhorting,
entreating, and calling each man by name. "Why sit ye thus," he cried,
"huddled together like sheep? Row, men, row for your lives! And thou,
helmsman, steer straight for the passage, lest we fall into a direr
strait, and be crushed between the Wandering Rocks. We have faced a
worse peril than this, when we were penned together in the Cyclops'
cave; and we shall escape this time also, if only ye will keep a stout
heart."

Circe had cautioned Odysseus on no account to attempt resistance when
he approached the cave of Scylla; nevertheless, he put on his armour,
and took his stand on the prow of the vessel, holding in each hand a
lance.

So on they sped, steering close to the tall cliff under which Scylla
lay hid, and gazing fearfully at the boiling whirlpool on the other
side. Just as they passed, a huge column of water shot into the air,
belched up from the vast maw of Charybdis, and the galley was half
swamped under a fountain of falling water. When that ended, a black
yawning chasm appeared, the very throat, as it seemed, of Charybdis,
into which the water rushed in a roaring torrent.

Odysseus was gazing intently at this wondrous sight when he heard a
sharp cry, and, looking back he saw six of his men, the stoutest of