"'After this, thou wilt come to the island of the Three Capes, where are the herds and the flocks of the Sun. Seven herds of kine there are and seven flocks of sheep, and fifty in each. These neither are born, nor die, and they have two goddesses to herd them. If ye do these no hurt, then shall ye return, all of you, to Ithaca, but if ye harm them, then shall thy ship be broken, and all thy company shall perish, and thou shalt return alone and after long delay.' "Having so spoken, the goddess departed. Then I roused my men and they launched the ship, and smote the water with their oars, and the goddess sending a favourable wind, we hoisted the sails, and rested. "But, as we went, I spake to my companions, saying: 'Friends, it is not well that one or two only should know the things that Circe prophesied to me. Therefore I will declare them to you, that we may know beforehand the things that shall come to pass, and so either die or live.' "And first I told them of the Sirens; and while I spake we came to the Sirens' Island. Then did the breeze cease, and there was a windless calm. So my comrades took down the sails and put out the oars, and I cleft a great round of wax with my sword, and, melting it in the sun, I filled the ears of my men; afterwards they bound me by hands and feet, as I stood upright by the mast. And when we were so near the shore that the shout of a man could be heard therefrom, the Sirens perceived the ship, and began their song. And their song was this:-- "'Hither, come hither, renowned Odysseus, great glory of the Greeks. Here stay thy bark that thou mayest listen to the voice of us twain. For none hath ever driven by this way in his black ship, till he hath heard from our lips the voice sweet as the honeycomb, and hath had joy thereof and gone on his way the wiser. For lo, we know all things, all that the Greeks and the Trojans have suffered in wide Troy-land, yea, and we know all that shall hereafter be upon the fruitful earth.' "Then I motioned my men to loose me, for their ears were stopped; but they plied their oars, and Eurylochus put new bonds upon me. And when we had passed by the island, then they took the wax from their ears, and loosed my bonds. "After this they saw a smoke and surf, and heard a mighty roar, and their oars dropped out of their hands for fear; but I bade them be of good heart, because by my counsel they had escaped other dangers in past time. And the rowers I bade row as hard as they might. But to the helmsman I said: 'Steer the ship outside the smoke and the surf, and steer close to the cliffs.' But of Scylla I said nothing, fearing lest they should lose heart, and cease rowing altogether. Then I armed myself, and stood in the prow waiting till Scylla should appear.