THE ENCHANTMENTS OF THE SIRENS

THE SIRENS ARE ENCHANTERS

Circe warns Odysseus about the Sirens:

“You will come first of all to the Sirens, who are enchantersmore

of all mankind and whoever comes their way; and that man

who unsuspecting approaches them, and listens to the Sirens

singing, has no prospect of coming home and delighting

his wife and little children as they stand about him in greeting,

but the Sirens by the melody of their singing enchant him.

They sit in their meadow, but the beach before it is piled with boneheaps of men now rotted away, and the skins shrivel upon them.

You must drive straight on past, but melt down sweet wax of honey

and with it stop your companions’ ears, so none can listen;

the rest, that is, but if you yourself are wanting to hear them,

then have them tie you hand and foot on the fast ship, standing

upright against the mast with the ropes’ ends lashed around it,

so that you can have joy in hearing the song of the Sirens;

but if you supplicate your men and implore them to set you

free, then they must tie you fast with even more lashings.”

Homerus, Odysseus

‘Sirenes’

Charles Edward Boutibonne 1883