d mould thereof, is felt by
every careful reader. But what is this thought? Here the difference
begins, and the conflict of opinion ranges over and into fields diverse
and far apart.

II. It may be said that the interpretations suggested by these three
adventures--with the Sirens, with Scylla and Charybdis, and with the
Oxen of the Sun--belong to two extremes; those of Nature and of Mind.
Readers and commentators of different character and training will
differ; one set will lean to the physical view, the other to the
spiritual. It is our opinion that both views can find justification in
the poem. We may first look at the physical interpretation.

All these monsters have been supposed to represent perils of
navigation, especially in the Italian seas, which were frequented by
the early Greek navigator. They have also been located geographically,
to be sure in a variety of places. The Sirens dwelt on three dangerous
rocks near the island of Capraea, according to ancient authorities; or
they were found on the promontory between Paestum and Elea, or even down
at Cape Pelorum in Sicily. Why should they not be indeed everywhere!
Then they have been supposed to personify the secret dangers of a calm
sea, and their song is the music of splashing waters. Undoubtedly a
physical substrate must be granted in the case of the Sirens, and in
the Mythus generally; still they are truly everywhere, not only in the
Italian Sea, but also in the sea of life, and they appear not only to
the professional sailor but to every human navigator. Are literal rocks
passed by putting wax into the ears of the crew and by tying the
captain to the mast? Surely some other peril is suggested.

In the second adventure, the Plangctae (the Claspers, not the Wanderers,
as some translations give it), have been located at the Lipari Islands
in the Sicilian Sea, where there is strong volcanic action. The
well-known Symplegades of the Argonautic expedition which were placed
at the entrance of the Euxine, were probably patterned after this
Homeric conception, and transferred to the North-east. The two terrors,
Scylla and Charybdis, lie in the straits of Messina, according to the
accepted view, the former on the Italian side, the latter on the
Sicilian. A town named Scilla still exists in those regions, and an
eddy in the straits of Messina is still called Charilla (from Charybdis
doubtless.) Etymologically Scylla means a bitch, Charybdis is allied
with Chaos (fr