"So I spake; but Eurylochus made answer in wrath: 'Surely, Ulysses, thou knowest not weariness, and art made of iron, forbidding us, weary though we be with toil and watching, to land upon this island, where we might well refresh ourselves. Rash, also, art thou in that thou commandest us to sail all night; at night deadly winds spring up, and how shall we escape, if some sudden storm from the west or the south smite our ship, and break it in pieces? Rather let us stay, and take our meal and sleep by the ship's side, and to-morrow will we sail again across the sea.'
"Thus he spake, and all consented to his speech. Then I knew that the gods were minded to work us mischief, and I made answer: 'Ye force me, being many against one. But swear ye all an oath, that if ye find here either herd or flock, ye will not slay either bullock or sheep, but will rest content with the food that Circe gave us.'
"Then they all made oath that they would so do; and when they had sworn, they moored the ship within a creek, where there was a spring of fresh water; and so we took our meal. But when we had enough of meat and drink, we remembered our comrades whom Scylla had snatched from the ship and devoured and we mourned for them till slumber fell upon us.
"The next morning I spake to my company, saying: 'Friends, we have yet food, both bread and wine. Keep, therefore, your hands from the flocks and herds, lest some mischief overtake us, for they are the flocks and herds of the Sun, a mighty god whose eye none may escape.'
"With these words I persuaded them. But for a month the south wind blew without ceasing; there was no other wind, unless it were haply the east. So long, indeed, as the bread and wine failed not the men, they harmed not the herds, fearing to die. And afterwards, when our stores were consumed, they wandered about the island, and searched for food, snaring fishes and birds with hooks, for hunger pressed them sorely. But I roamed by myself, praying to the gods that they would send us deliverance. So it chanced one day that slumber overcame me, and I slept far away from my companions.
"Meanwhile Eurylochus spake to the others, using fatal craft: 'Friends, listen to one who suffers affliction with you. Always is death a thing to be avoided; but of all deaths the most to be feared is death by hunger. Come, therefore, let us sacrifice to the gods in heaven the best of the oxen of the Sun. And we will vow to build to the Sun, when we shall reach the land of Ithaca, a great temple which we will adorn with gifts many and precious. But if he be minded to sink our ship, being wroth for his oxen's sake, verily I would rather drown than waste slowly to death upon this island.'
"To this they all gave consent. Then Eurylochus drave the fattest of the kine,—for they grazed near the ship,—and the men sacrificed it to the gods.
"And one of the nymphs that herded the kine flew to the Sun with tidings of that which had been done. Then spake the Sun among the other gods: 'Avenge me now on the guilty comrades of Ulysses; for they have slain the herds which I delight to see both when I mount the heavens and when I descend therefrom. Verily, if they pay not the due penalty for their wrong-doing, I will go down and give my light to the regions of the dead.'
"Then Zeus made answer: 'Shine, thou Sun, as aforetime, on the earth. Verily, my thunderbolt can easily reach the bark of these sinners, and break it in the middle of the sea.'
"All these things I heard afterwards from the nymph Calypso, and she had heard them from Hermes, the messenger.