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"'You will now come to the Thrinacian island, and here you will
see many herds of cattle and flocks of sheep belonging to the
sun-god--seven herds of cattle and seven flocks of sheep, with
fifty head in each flock. They do not breed, nor do they become
fewer in number, and they are tended by the goddesses Phaethusa
and Lampetie, who are children of the sun-god Hyperion by
Neaera. Their mother when she had borne them and had done
suckling them sent them to the Thrinacian island, which was a
long way off, to live there and look after their father's flocks
and herds. If you leave these flocks unharmed, and think of
nothing but getting home, you may yet after much hardship reach
Ithaca; but if you harm them, then I forewarn you of the
destruction both of your ship and of your comrades; and even
though you may yourself escape, you will return late, in bad
plight, after losing all your men.'
"Here she ended, and dawn enthroned in gold began to show in
heaven, whereon she returned inland. I then went on board and
told my men to loose the ship from her moorings; so they at once
got into her, took their places, and began to smite the grey sea
with their oars. Presently the great and cunning goddess Circe
befriended us with a fair wind that blew dead aft, and staid
steadily with us, keeping our sails well filled, so we did
whatever wanted doing to the ship's gear, and let her go as wind
and helmsman headed her.
"Then, being much troubled in mind, I said to my men, 'My
friends, it is not right that one or two of us alone should know
the prophecies that Circe has made me, I will therefore tell you
about them, so that whether we live or die we may do so with our
eyes open. First she said we were to keep clear of the Sirens,
who sit and sing most beautifully in a field of flowers; but she
said I might hear them myself so long as no one else did.
Therefore, take me and bind me to the crosspiece half way up the
mast; bind me as I stand upright, with a bond so fast that I
cannot possibly break away, and lash the rope's ends to the mast
itself. If I beg and pray you to set me free, then bind me more
tightly still.'
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