to get home; the gods stayed me, for I had not offered to them due
sacrifice. Now there is an island in the wash of the waves over
against the land of Egypt--men call it Pharos [Footnote: Pha'-
ros.], and it is distant one day's voyage for a ship, if the wind
bloweth fair in her wake. Here did the gods keep me twenty days,
nor did the sea winds ever blow. Then all my corn would have been
spent, and the lives also of my men lost, if the daughter of
Proteus [Footnote: Pro'-teus.]had not taken pity on me. Her heart
was moved to see me when I wandered alone, apart from my company,
for they all roamed about the island, fishing with hooks because
hunger gnawed them. So she stood by me and spake, saying: 'Art
thou foolish, stranger, and feeble of mind, or dost thou sit still
for thine own pleasure, because it is sweet to thee to suffer?
Verily, thou stayest long in this place, and canst find no escape,
while the heart of thy people faileth within them.' Then I
answered: 'I will tell thee the truth, whosoever thou art. It is
not my own will that holdeth me here; I must have sinned against
the gods. Tell me now which of the gods have I offended, and how
shall I contrive to return to my own home?' So I spake, and
straightway the goddess made answer: 'I will tell thee all. To
this place comes Proteus, my father, who knoweth the depths of all
the sea. If thou canst lay an ambush for him and catch him, he
will declare to thee thy way, and tell thee how thou mayest return
across the deep.' So she spake, and I made reply, 'Plan for me
this ambush, lest by any chance he see me first and avoid me, for
it is hard for a man to overcome a god.' Then said the goddess:
'When the sun in his course hath reached the midheaven, then
cometh the old man from the sea; before the breath of the west
wind he cometh, and the ripple covereth him. And when he is come
out of the sea, he lieth down in the caves to sleep, and all about