I stayed that day, too, and put to sea on the
next, escorted by the heroes. At that juncture
Odysseus came to me without ‘the knowledge of
Penelope and gave me a letter to carry to Ogygia
Island, to Calypso. Rhadamanthus sent the pilot
Nauplius with me, so that if we touched at the



 

islands no one might arrest us, thinking we were
putting in on another errand. Forging ahead, we had passed out of the fragrant
atmosphere when of a sudden a terrible odour
greeted us as of asphalt, sulphur, and pitch burning
together, and a vile, insufferable stench as of roasting
human flesh: the atmosphere was murky and foggy,
and a pitchy dew distilled from it. Likewise we
heard the noise of scourge$ and the wailing of many
men.
 

The other islands’ we did not touch at,
but the one on which we landed was precipitous and
sheer on all sides; it was roughened with rocks and
stony places, and there was neither tree nor water in
it. We crawled up the cliffs, however, and went
ahead in a path full of thorns and calthrops, finding
the country very ugly. On coming to the enclosure
and the place of punishment, first of all we wondered
at the nature of the region. The ground itself was
all sown with sword blades and calthrops, and around
it flowed three rivers, one of mud, the second of blood
and the inmost one of fire. The latter was very
large, and impossible to cross: it ran like water and
undulated like the sea, and it contained many fish,
some similar to torches, and some, a smaller variety,
to live coals. They called them candlefish.

 

There was a single narrow way leading in, past all
the rivers, and the warder set there was Timon ot
Athens. We got through, however, and with
Nauplius for our conductor we saw many kings
undergoing punishment, and many commoners too.
Some of them we even recognized, and we saw Cinyras


 

triced up as aforesaid in the smoke of a slow fire.,
The guides told the life of each, and the crimes for
which they were being punished; and the severest
punishment of all fell to those who told lies while
in life and those who had written what was not true,
among whom were Ctesias of Cnidos, Herodotus and
many more. On seeing them, I had good hopes for
the future, for I have never told a lie that I know
of.

 

Well, I turned back to the ship quickly, for
I could not endure the sight, said good-bye to
Nauplius, and sailed away. 
After a short time the Isle of Dreams came
in sight close by, faint and uncertain to the eye. It
had itself some likeness to a dream, for as we
approached it receded and retired and retreated
to a greater distance. Overtaking it at length and
sailing into the harbour called Sleep, we landed near
the ivory gates, where the sanctuary of the Cock is,
about dusk, and on entering the city, we saw many
dreams of all sorts. But first I desire to speak of the
city itself, since no one else has written about it, and
Homer, the only one to mention it at all, was not
quite accurate in what he said.
 Odyss. 19, 560 ff. 

 

On all sides of
it is a wood, in which the trees are tall poppies and
mandragoras, and they have a great number of bats
in them; for there is no other winged thing in the
island. A river flows near which they call Sleepwalker, and there are two springs by the gates,



 

named Soundly and Eight-hours. The wall of the
city is high and parti-coloured, very like a rainbow
in tint. The gates in it are not two, as Homer says,
but four. Two face Slowcoach Plain, one of which
is of iron and the other of earthenware; through
these, it is said, the fearful, murderous, revolting
dreams go out. The other two face the harbour
and the sea, one of which is of horn and the other,
through which we came in, of ivory. As one enters
the city, on the right is the temple of Night, for
the gods they worship most are Night and the Cock,
whose sanctuary is built near the harbour. On the left
is the palace of Sleep, who rules among them and has
appointed two satraps or lieutenants, Nightmare, son
of Causeless, and Rich, son of Fancy. In the centre
of the square is a spring which they call Drowsimere,
and close to it are two temples, that of Falsehood
and that of Truth. There too is their holy of holies
and their oracle, which Antiphon, the interpreter ot
dreams, presided over as prophet, having had this
office from Sleep.