Circè’s Instructions

55“Thus spoke the goddess; and my heart was wrung
With sorrow, and I sat upon the couch
And wept, nor could I longer wish to live
And see the light of day. But when my grief,
With shedding tears and tossing where I sat,
Was somewhat spent, I spoke to Circe thus: —

56“ ‘O Circe, who will guide me when I make
This voyage? for no galley built by man
Has ever yet arrived at Hades’ realm.’

57“I spoke; the mighty goddess answered me: —
‘Son of Laertes, nobly born and wise,
Take you no thought of who shall guide your barque,
But raise the mast and spread the glimmering sail,
And seat yourself, and let the north-wind waft
Your galley on. As soon as you shall cross
Oceanus, and come to the low shore
And groves of Persephone, the lofty groups
Of poplars, and the willows that let fall
Their withered fruit, moor you your galley there
In the deep eddies of Oceanus,
And pass to Hades’ comfortless abode.
There into Acheron are poured the streams
Of Pyriphlegethon, and of that arm
Of Styx, Cocytus. At the place where meet
The ever-roaring waters stands a rock;
Draw near to that, and there I bid you scoop
In earth a trench, a cubit long and wide.
And round about it pour to all the dead
Libations —milk and honey first, and next
Rich wine, and lastly water, scattering
White meal upon them. Offer there your prayer
Fervently to that troop of airy forms,
And make the vow that you will sacrifice,
When you at last shall come to Ithaca,
A heifer without blemish, barren yet,
In your own courts, and heap the altar-pyre
With things of price; and to the seer alone,
Tiresias, by himself, a ram whose fleece
Is wholly black, the best of all your flocks.
And after you have duly offered prayer
To all the illustrious nations of the dead,
Then sacrifice a ram and a black ewe,
Their faces turned toward Erebus, but yours
The other way and toward the river streams.
Thither the souls of those who died will flock
In multitudes. Then call your friends, and give
Command to flay in haste the sheep that lie
Slain by the cruel brass, and, burning there
The carcasses, pay worship to the gods —
The powerful Hades and dread Persephone.
Draw then the sword upon your thigh, and sit,
And suffer none of all those airy forms
To touch the blood until you first bespeak
Tiresias. He will come, and speedily —
The leader of the people —and will tell
What voyage you must make, what length of way
You yet must measure, and will show you how
You may return across the fishy deep.’