“I gazed upon the approaching shades with silent awe. I saw armed men with deep wounds, old dames and blooming maidens, careworn old men and vigorous youths. They crowded about the pit on all sides with horrible cries, and I had hard work to keep them from the blood with my sword. [Illustration: _INVOCATION OF THE SHADES IN HADES_] “The spirits seemed speechless except Tiresias. He bade me turn away the sharp sword, that he might drink of the blood and prophesy of my fate. When he had drunk he leaned upon his golden staff and began: ‘Noble Ulysses, thou art anxious to return to thy home, but one of the gods will put difficulties in thy way. Dost thou not know how deeply thou didst offend Poseidon in blinding the eye of his son? Still all may be well with thee if only thou layest not thine hands upon the steers of Helios upon the island of Thrinakia. If thou shouldst kill one of them thou mayest scarcely expect to be saved, and if thou shouldst ever see thy native land again, it would only be after many years of hardship and without any of thy companions. Others shall feast upon thy substance, woo thy spouse, and seek to lay deadly traps for thy son. But at last a divinity shall take pity on thee that thou mayest slay the presumptuous guests in thy palace. The deed will compel thee to leave thine ancestral home and to settle far inland. Then let it be a token for thee that, when on thy pilgrimage with thine oar upon thy shoulder, thou shalt meet a man who shall call the oar a shovel, that it is the place which the gods have set apart for the haven of thine old age. Far from the sea, death shall come gently upon thee.’ “‘So that is to be my fate, O Tiresias,’ I said. ‘But tell me, do I not see my old mother amongst the spirits? She deigns not to speak to her son, nor looks into my face. What shall I do to make her know me?’ “‘If thou wouldst question any of these spirits, let them drink of the blood,’ answered Tiresias; ‘then mind and speech shall return to them.’ “I waited until my mother should approach, and as soon as she had drunk she recognized me with joy and astonishment. I recounted to her all my sufferings and questioned her in what manner she had died and how my father, wife, and dear son at home were faring. She told me that all were alive and longed for me every day, that my father, grown weak with age, lived in the palace no longer, but cultivated his vineyards in the country.