Book 11 - A Gathering of Shades

We then traveled to the River of Ocean in the land of the Cimmerians. There I poured libations and performed sacrifices as Circe earlier instructed me to do to attract the souls of the dead. I knew we must get to Hades to get home. Where is the hole of Persephone when you need it the most? The first to appear is that of Elpenor, the crewman who broke his neck falling from Circe’s roof. He begged me to return to Circe’s island and give his body a proper burial. I told him that he shouldn't have succumbed to his desires. I told him that I barely left, and that if I went back, then I might never be able to leave again. I then spoke with the Theban prophet Tiresias, who reveals that Poseidon was punishing us Achaeans for blinding his son Polyphemus. He foretold my fate—that I would return home, reclaim my wife and palace from the wretched suitors, and then make another trip to a distant land to appease Poseidon. I'm glad that he said what he did, or I might as well just gone back and have sex with Circe the rest of my life. He warned me not to touch the flocks of the Sun when I reached the land of Thrinacia; otherwise, I wouldn't return home without suffering much more hardship and losing all of his crew. When Tiresias departs, I called other spirits towards me. I spoke with my mother, Anticleia, who updated me on the affairs of Ithaca and related how she died of grief waiting for his return. I then met the spirits of various famous men and heroes and heard the stories of their lives and deaths. I then cut short the tale and asked my Phaeacian hosts to allow my crew and I to sleep, but the king and queen urge him to continue, asking if I met any of the Greeks who fell at Troy in Hades' world. I related my encounters there: I met Agamemnon, who told me of his murder at the hands of his wife, Clytemnestra. Next I met Achilles, who asked about his son, Neoptolemus. I then tried to speak with Ajax, an Achaean who killed himself after he lost a contest with me over the arms of Achilles, but Ajax refused to speak and slipped away. I saw Heracles, King Minos, the hunter Orion, and others. I witnessed the punishment of Sisyphus, struggling eternally to push a boulder over a hill only to have it roll back down whenever it reached the top. I then saw Tantalus, agonized by hunger and thirst. Tantalus sits in a pool of water overhung by bunches of grapes, but whenever he reaches for the grapes, they rise out of grasp, and whenever he bends down to drink, the water sinks out of reach. I soon found myself mobbed by souls wishing to ask about their relatives in the world above. I became frightened, ran back to my ship, and immediately sailed away. I felt like a coward, without a heart. I fle tlike the lion in the Wizard of Oz. And that's where I think I shall stop for now.