red to smell the blood. Pale spectres came, spirits
of brides who died long ago, and youths unwed, and old unhappy men; and
many phantoms were there of men who fell in battle, with shadowy spears
in their hands, and battered armour. Then Ulysses sacrificed the black
ram to the ghost of the prophet Tiresias, and sat down with his sword in
his hand, that no spirit before Tiresias might taste the blood in the
trench.

First the spirit of Elpenor came, and begged Ulysses to burn his body,
for till his body was burned he was not allowed to mingle with the other
souls of dead men. So Ulysses promised to burn and bury him when he went
back to Circe's island. Then came the shadow of the mother of Ulysses,
who had died when he was at Troy, but, for all his grief, he would not
allow the shadow to come near the blood till Tiresias had tasted it. At
length came the spirit of the blind prophet, and he prayed Ulysses to
sheathe his sword and let him drink the blood of the black sheep.

When he had tasted it he said that the Sea God was angry because of the
blinding of his son, the Cyclops, and would make his voyaging vain. But
if the men of Ulysses were wise, and did not slay and eat the sacred
cattle of the Sun God, in the isle called Thrinacia, they might all win
home. If they were unwise, and if Ulysses did come home, lonely and late
he would arrive, on the ship of strangers, and he would find proud men
wasting his goods and seeking to wed his wife, Penelope. Even if Ulysses
alone could kill these men his troubles would not be ended. He must
wander over the land, as he had wandered over the waters, carrying an
oar on his shoulder, till he came to men who had never heard of the sea
or of boats. When one of these men, not knowing what an oar was, came
and told him that he carried a fan for winnowing corn, then Ulysses must
fix the oar in the ground, and offer a sacrifice to the Sea God, and go
home, where he would at last live in peace. Ulysses said, 'So be it!'
and asked how he could have speech with the ghosts. Tiresias told him
how this might be done, and then his mother told him how she died of
sorrow for him, and Ulysses tried to embrace and kiss her, but his arms
only clasped the empty air.

Then came up the beautiful spirits of many dead, unhappy ladies of old
times, and then came the souls of Agamemnon, and of Achilles, and of
Aias. Achilles was glad when he heard how bravely his young son had
fought at Troy, but he said i