There also might Ulysses have seen and spoken with the shades of Theseus,
and Pirithous, and the old heroes; but he had conversed enough with
horrors; therefore, covering his face with his hands, that he might see no
more spectres, he resumed his seat in his ship, and pushed off. The bark
moved of itself without the help of any oar, and soon brought him out of
the regions of death into the cheerful quarters of the living, and to the
island of Aeaea, whence he had set forth.




CHAPTER THREE

The Song of the Sirens.--Scylla and Charybdis.--The Oxen of the Sun.--The
Judgment.--The Crew Killed by Lightning.


"Unhappy man, who at thy birth wast appointed twice to die! others shall
die once; but thou, besides that death that remains for thee, common to
all men, hast in thy lifetime visited the shades of death. Thee Scylla,
thee Charybdis, expect. Thee the deathful Sirens lie in wait for, that
taint the minds of whoever listen to them with their sweet singing.
Whosoever shall but hear the call of any Siren, he will so despise both
wife and children through their sorceries that the stream of his affection
never again shall set homewards, nor shall he take joy in wife or children
thereafter, or they in him."

With these prophetic greetings great Circe met Ulysses on his return. He
besought her to instruct him in the nature of the Sirens, and by what
method their baneful allurements were to be resisted.