la, Ausonian
Scylla the deadly, whom night-wandering Hecate, who is called
Crataeis,[2] bare to Phorcys, lest swooping upon them with her horrible
jaws she destroy the chiefest of the heroes. But guide their ship in the
course where there shall be still a hair's breadth escape from
destruction."

[Footnote 1: The _Symplegades_ are referred to, where help was given by
Athena, not by Hera. It is strange that no mention is made of the
_Planctae_, properly so called, past which they are soon to be helped.
Perhaps some lines have fallen out.]

[Footnote 2: i.e. the Mighty One.]

Thus she spake, and Thetis answered with these words: "If the fury of
the ravening flame and the stormy winds cease in very deed, surely will
I promise boldly to save the ship, even though the waves bar the way, if
only the west wind blows fresh and clear. But it is time to fare on a
long and measureless path, in quest of my sisters who will aid me, and
to the spot where the ship's hawsers are fastened, that at early dawn
the heroes may take thought to win their home-return."

She spake, and darting down from the sky fell amid the eddies of the
dark blue sea; and she called aid her the rest of the Nereids, her own
sisters; and they heard her and gathered together; and Thetis declared
to them Hera's behests, and quickly sped them all on their way to the
Ausonian sea. And herself, swifter than the flash of an eye or the hafts
of the sun, when it rises upwards from a far-distant land, hastened
swiftly through the sea, until she reached the Aeaean beach of the
Tyrrhenian mainland. And the heroes she found by the ship taking their
pastime, with quoits and shooting of arrows; and she drew near and just
touched the hand of Aeacus' son Peleus, for he was her husband; nor
could anyone see her clearly, but she appeared to his eyes alone, and
thus addressed him:

"No longer now must ye stay sitting on the Tyrrhenian beach, but at dawn
loosen the hawsers of your swift ship, in obedience to Hera, your
helper. For at her behest the maiden daughters of Nereus have met
together to draw your ship through the midst of the rocks which are
called Planctae,[1] for that is your destined path. But do thou show my
person to no one, when thou seest us come to meet thee, but keep it
secret in thy mind, lest thou anger me still more than thou didst anger
me before so recklessly."

[Footnote 1: i.e. the Wanderers.]

She spake, and vanished into the depths of the sea; b