648 THE HADES OF HOMER. 



of tlie sea (yipwv aXio<;), says to Menelaus : " But for thee it is not 

 decreed to die ... in horse-pasturing Argos, but the immortals 

 will send thee to the Elysian plain ( 'HXuffiov tcsScov) and the boun- 

 daries of the earth, where is the aubui-n-haired Rhadamanthus." 



1. With regard to the reason which induced Ulysses to descend 

 to Hades, it may be observed that, after detailing at great length 

 to Alcinous, the King of the Phteacians, the many hardships and 

 strange experiences which he and his companions had on their return 

 from Troy, and in their eagerness to reach their much-loved Ithaca, 

 Ulysses proceeds to inform his Phseacian hearers how he and his 

 companions came to ^sea, the home of Circe, "a goddess, possessing 

 human speech;" how those of his companions who went to her 

 dwelling were metam,orphosed by her into swine ; how he, enraged 

 in consequence of the dismal fate of his companions, hastened to the 

 house of Circe, and met Mercury, by whom he was instructed how 

 to resist the goddess, and from whom he received Qj.aJXu) a potent 

 remedy ; how he successfully opposed the command of the goddess, 

 ""Epyeo vuv Gucpiovds p-ir ciXXajv Xi^o hdiptDv ; how he and his com- 

 panions, after their restoration, remained with Circe " all the days 

 for a full year, feasting tipon abundance of flesh and sweet wine," 

 until, impelled by his companions, he asked her to send him home 

 to Ithaca, and received this reply : " You must first perform another 

 voyage, and come to' the house of Hades and awful Persephone, to 

 consult the soul of Tiresias the Theban, a blind prophet, whose mind 

 is firm, to whom, even when dead, Persephone has given under- 

 standing alone to be prudent, but the rest flit about as shades." 

 Tiresias was one of the most renowned soothsayers of ancient times. 

 The belief was current that he, as Circe herself avers, was the only 

 one who retained in Hades the power of perception. It was accord- 

 ingly with the object of consulting Tiresias as to how he and his 

 companions could return to Ithaca that Ulysses went to Hades at 

 the suggestion of Circe. Yirgil narrates that ^neas, while sailing 

 from Carthage to Italy, was compelled by a severe storm to land in 

 Sicily; and that he there, by various games and feats of arms, cele- 

 brated the anniversary of his father's death. As he is bewildered, 

 owing to the burning of his fleet by the Trojan matrons, the form of 

 Anchises (fades Anchism) appears to him, and urges hihi to follow 

 the advice of Nantes, and " to carry with him to Italy the choice of 



