The Odyssey

Cited transcript

They sang these words most musically, and as I longed to hear them further, I made signs by frowning to my men that they should set me free. But they quickened their stroke, and Eurylochus and Perimedes bound me with still stronger bonds till we had got out of hearing of the Sirens' voices. Then my men took the wax from their ears and unbound me. Immediately after we had got past the island, I saw a great wave from which spray was rising, and I heard a loud roaring sound.

Cited transcript

And now pay attention to what I am about to tell you. Heaven itself indeed will recall it to your recollection. First, you will come to the sirens who enchant all who come near them. If anyone unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the sirens, his wife and children will never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field and warble him to death with the sweetness of their song. There is a great heap of dead men's bones lying all around, with the flesh still rotting off them.

Cited transcript

small with my sword. Then I kneaded the wax in my strong hands till it became soft, which it soon did between the kneading and the rays of the sun-god's son of Hyperion. Then I stopped the ears of all my men, and they bound me hands and feet to the mast as I stood upright on the cross-piece. But they went on rowing themselves. When we had got within earshot of the land, and the ship was going at a good rate, the sirens saw that we were getting in shore and began with their singing