and stow our cargo and running gear in caves. Then hurry, all of you, come along with me to see our friends in the magic halls of Circe, eating and drinking -the feast flows on forever.' So I said and they jumped to do my bidding. Only Eurylochus tried to hold my shipmates back, his mutinous outburst aimed at one and all: 'Poor fools, where are we running now? Why are we tempting fate? - why stumble blindly down to Circe's halls? She'll turn us all into pigs or wolves or lions made to guard that palace of hers - by force, I tell you - just as the Cyclops trapped our comrades in his lair with hotheaded Odysseus right beside them all - poor decision-making thanks to this man's rashness they died too!' So he declared and I had half a mind to draw the sharp sword from beside my hip and slice his head off, tumbling down in the dust, close kin that he was. But comrades checked me, each man trying to calm me, left and right: 'Captain, we'll leave him here if you command, just where he is, to sit and guard the ship. Lead us on to the magic halls of Circe.' With that, up from the ship and shore they headed inland. pretended to be sick Nor did Eurylochus malinger by the hull; he straggled behind the rest, dreading the sharp blast of my rebuke . All the while Circe had bathed my other comrades in her palace, caring and kindly, rubbed them sleek with oil and decked them out in fleecy cloaks and shirts. We found them all together, feasting in her halls. Once we had recognized each other, gazing face-to-face, we all broke down and wept - and the house resounded now and Circe the lustrous one came toward me, pleading, 'Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, man of action, no more tears now, calm these tides of sorrow. Well I know what pains you bore on the swarming sea, what punishment you endured from hostile men on land.

But come now, eat your food and drink your wine till the same courage fills your chests, now as then, when you first set sail from native land, from rocky Ithaca! Now you are burnt-out husks, your spirits haggard, sere, shells; worn-out; dry always brooding over your wanderings long and hard, your hearts never lifting with any joy - you've suffered far too much.' So she enticed and won our battle-hardened spirits over. And there we sat at ease, day in, day out, till a year had run its course, feasting on sides of meat and drafts of heady wine … But then, when the year was through and the seasons wheeled by and the months waned and the long days came round again, my loyal comrades took me aside and prodded, 'Captain, this is madness! High time you thought of your own home at last, if it really is your fate to make it back alive and reach your well- built house and native land.' Their urging brought my stubborn spirit round. So all that day till the sun went down we sat and feasted on sides of meat and heady wine. Then when the sun had set and night came on the men lay down to sleep in the shadowed halls but I went up to that luxurious bed of Circe's, hugged her by the knees and the goddess heard my winging supplication: begging 'Circe, now make good a promise you gave me once- it's time to help me home. My heart longs to be home, my comrades' hearts as well. They wear me down, pleading with me whenever you're away.' So I pressed and the lustrous goddess answered me in turn: 'Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, old campaigner, stay on no more in my house against your will. But first another journey calls. You must travel down to the House of Death and the awesome one, Persephone, there to consult the ghost of Tiresias, seer of Thebes, the great blind prophet whose mind remains unshaken. Even in death - Persephone has given him wisdom,