ABSTRACT
In the Odyssey, Homer (2016) recounts Odysseus’ control efforts to avoid hearing the dangerous song of the Sirens. As Odysseus approached the island of the Sirens, he reports,
I … sliced a large cake of beeswax with my sword-edge, and kneaded the slivers in my strong hands until the pressure and the rays of Lord Helios Hyperion heated it. Then I plugged the ears of each of my friends, and they tied me hand and foot and stood me upright in the mast housing, and fastened the rope ends round the mast itself. Then sitting down again, they struck the grey water with their oars … when we were within hail of the shore, the Sirens could not fail to see our speeding vessel, and began their clear singing:
‘Famous Odysseus, great glory of Achaea, draw near, and bring your ship to rest, and listen to our voices. No man rows past this isle in his dark ship without hearing the honeysweet sound from our lips.’
This was the haunting song the Sirens sang, and I longed to listen, commanding my crew by my expression to set me free. But they bent to their oars and rowed harder, tightened my bonds and added more rope. Not till they had rowed beyond the Sirens, so we no longer heard their voices and song, did my loyal friends clear the wax that plugged their ears, and untie me.
(Homer, The Odyssey, Book XII, 2016: 165–200)