WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:14.990 [Sounds of the sea] 00:00:14.990 --> 00:00:20.470 Episode 7: Torment and Trial 00:00:20.470 --> 00:00:28.740 [Sounds of the sea] 00:00:28.740 --> 00:00:33.980 The smell of the dead clings to the nostrils. 00:00:33.980 --> 00:00:37.220 It was only when we had passed out of that fog, 00:00:37.220 --> 00:00:40.030 when there was day and night, 00:00:40.030 --> 00:00:42.190 when there was change, 00:00:42.190 --> 00:00:48.220 only then did we shake off the bitter chill. 00:00:48.220 --> 00:00:51.690 We returned to Circe’s island. 00:00:51.690 --> 00:00:59.030 Once my men had feasted I went with her to her bedroom and I told her what I had learned. 00:00:59.030 --> 00:01:01.650 She shook her head in wonder, 00:01:01.650 --> 00:01:06.340 “Odysseus, mortals are meant for one journey to that place. 00:01:06.340 --> 00:01:09.170 You alone will have two. 00:01:09.170 --> 00:01:11.520 Listen well to what I have to tell you. 00:01:11.520 --> 00:01:18.450 There are several trials you must undergo before you encounter the island of the sun god Hyperion.” 00:01:18.450 --> 00:01:23.880 Then, Circe told me of the island of the Sirens and their enchantments, 00:01:23.880 --> 00:01:25.620 and how I might evade them. 00:01:25.620 --> 00:01:30.170 She told me also of two rocks our ship would approach. 00:01:30.170 --> 00:01:31.860 She said, 00:01:31.860 --> 00:01:34.320 “The current will carry you between them – 00:01:34.320 --> 00:01:36.010 you cannot prevent it. 00:01:36.010 --> 00:01:39.160 To your left you will see, rising sheer from the sea, 00:01:39.160 --> 00:01:40.690 a tower of rock, 00:01:40.690 --> 00:01:42.770 the top shrouded in smoke. 00:01:42.770 --> 00:01:44.750 Hidden from view, 00:01:44.750 --> 00:01:46.730 out of range of any bow, 00:01:46.730 --> 00:01:48.780 hidden by that smoke, 00:01:48.780 --> 00:01:50.760 there is a cave. 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:56.430 The cave is the lair of Scylla, the devourer. 00:01:56.430 --> 00:02:03.280 She is an ancient flame-skinned, snake-necked, six-headed dragon. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:06.320 As you pass through those straits between those rocks, 00:02:06.320 --> 00:02:09.120 stay as close as you can to the bottom of her tower. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:12.010 As you do so she will attack. 00:02:12.010 --> 00:02:15.580 She will kill and eat six of your men. 00:02:15.580 --> 00:02:20.890 Better this, than you sail too far to starboard. 00:02:20.890 --> 00:02:25.210 To your right you will see a rock, broad and barren, 00:02:25.210 --> 00:02:27.380 like the back of some enormous crab. 00:02:27.380 --> 00:02:29.910 On it only one fig tree grows. 00:02:29.910 --> 00:02:34.540 It dips its branches into the ocean and under that tree, in the sea, 00:02:34.540 --> 00:02:38.290 there is a whirlpool: 00:02:38.290 --> 00:02:41.720 the swallower, Charybdis. 00:02:41.720 --> 00:02:44.930 If your ship were to be caught in the grip of her current, 00:02:44.930 --> 00:02:48.330 not even mighty Zeus could save you. 00:02:48.330 --> 00:02:49.500 This is why I tell you: 00:02:49.500 --> 00:02:52.620 stay as close as you can to Scylla’s tower.” 00:02:52.620 --> 00:02:54.810 As soon as she had finished, I began. 00:02:54.810 --> 00:02:56.450 “What can I do to kill this dragon? 00:02:56.450 --> 00:02:58.160 How can I defeat her?” 00:02:58.160 --> 00:03:00.110 Circe shook her head. 00:03:00.110 --> 00:03:02.470 She pressed her finger against my lips. 00:03:02.470 --> 00:03:04.210 She said, “Odysseus, 00:03:04.210 --> 00:03:08.020 that is no place for acts of daring folly. 00:03:08.020 --> 00:03:09.630 There is a toll, 00:03:09.630 --> 00:03:13.830 there is a price that must be paid for passage through those straits. 00:03:13.830 --> 00:03:20.730 Either you lose six lives or you lose all!” 00:03:20.730 --> 00:03:25.520 The next morning, when dawn took her golden throne, 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:28.260 we said our last farewells to Circe. 00:03:28.260 --> 00:03:30.540 She gave us a wind to fill our sail. 00:03:30.540 --> 00:03:33.390 When the sail sagged, when the wind failed us, 00:03:33.390 --> 00:03:39.460 we knew we must be approaching the enchanted region of the Sirens. 00:03:39.460 --> 00:03:47.580 The Sirens sing a song so beautiful any mortal who hears it forgets everything except the desire to hear more. 00:03:47.580 --> 00:03:55.250 Many a ship has wrecked itself against the rocks that lurk just beneath the skin of the sea around their island. 00:03:55.250 --> 00:03:59.860 But they are the daughters of a Muse. 00:03:59.860 --> 00:04:06.080 To pass so close to such beauty without experiencing it was unthinkable to me. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:09.060 I needed to hear that song. 00:04:09.060 --> 00:04:12.430 I had my men tie me to the mast of the ship, 00:04:12.430 --> 00:04:18.310 and then I told them to ignore any instructions I might give them while I was under the Sirens’ spell. 00:04:18.310 --> 00:04:22.960 Then they blocked their ears with wax. 00:04:22.960 --> 00:04:27.290 Soon, the shimmering song began. 00:04:27.290 --> 00:04:28.600 I pulled at the ropes, 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:30.430 I begged them, I ordered them, 00:04:30.430 --> 00:04:32.500 I threatened them, I cursed them, 00:04:32.500 --> 00:04:34.800 but they were deaf to my pleas. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:36.790 They ignored me. 00:04:36.790 --> 00:04:42.240 As they rowed, they looked, and saw an island. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:47.540 On the island they saw two white hills. 00:04:47.540 --> 00:04:58.440 When we were closer they saw they were staring at two heaps of human bones bleached by the sun, 00:04:58.440 --> 00:05:11.950 and on top of each heap there was a creature with the body of a vulture and the head of a woman, singing. 00:05:11.950 --> 00:05:16.480 As for me, I could not see – 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:23.970 I could only hear a song so beautiful I nearly lost my mind. 00:05:23.970 --> 00:05:27.950 And in the song I heard so many sounds – 00:05:27.950 --> 00:05:31.050 the beating of a swan’s wings, 00:05:31.050 --> 00:05:36.750 the moan of the wind as it blows across the broad face of the world, 00:05:36.750 --> 00:05:40.960 the hiss and drag of the sea on shingle, 00:05:40.960 --> 00:05:44.430 the rhythm of the passage of the seasons. 00:05:44.430 --> 00:05:48.890 I could hear my wife, singing. 00:05:48.890 --> 00:05:53.170 All these sounds were in harmony – 00:05:53.170 --> 00:05:57.820 these sounds made the song. 00:05:57.820 --> 00:06:00.020 And ever since then, 00:06:00.020 --> 00:06:03.750 all other music is clatter, 00:06:03.750 --> 00:06:11.560 is an awful noise to me. 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:16.030 When the sail lifted, my men knew that we were safe. 00:06:16.030 --> 00:06:19.700 They unblocked their ears, they untied me. 00:06:19.700 --> 00:06:25.910 I didn’t have long to regain my spirits before there rose above the horizon in front of us, 00:06:25.910 --> 00:06:27.790 a column of rock, 00:06:27.790 --> 00:06:30.420 the top of it shrouded in smoke. 00:06:30.420 --> 00:06:35.930 I walked between the benches with a brave word for each of them and then I stood before them, 00:06:35.930 --> 00:06:38.270 just behind the prow and said: 00:06:38.270 --> 00:06:42.820 “My friends, these rocks we approach pose us a great danger, 00:06:42.820 --> 00:06:47.530 but surely no greater danger than that of the Cyclops and didn’t we defeat him? 00:06:47.530 --> 00:06:51.960 Helmsmen, steer a course towards the column of rock to port. 00:06:51.960 --> 00:06:54.860 There is a whirlpool to starboard. 00:06:54.860 --> 00:07:00.570 Oarsmen, your lives depend on the strength of your arms!” 00:07:00.570 --> 00:07:04.740 I didn’t tell them about the dragon who waited for us. 00:07:04.740 --> 00:07:07.010 If I had, my men would have hidden wherever they could, 00:07:07.010 --> 00:07:11.850 and I needed the strength of every man to break the whirlpool’s grip. 00:07:11.850 --> 00:07:15.420 As for me, heedless of Circe’s instructions, 00:07:15.420 --> 00:07:18.060 I put on a breastplate, I put on a helmet, 00:07:18.060 --> 00:07:21.890 I took a spear in each hand and I stood at the front of the ship, 00:07:21.890 --> 00:07:24.750 scanning the smoke atop that tower, 00:07:24.750 --> 00:07:29.090 hoping that I could lunge at her before she struck. 00:07:29.090 --> 00:07:32.480 Then, our ship shook, 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:37.170 the water around us became white, hissing, boiling, 00:07:37.170 --> 00:07:39.620 the air became damp. 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:46.280 The sound grew louder and louder and then we caught our first glimpse of her, 00:07:46.280 --> 00:07:50.150 the whirlpool, Charybdis, the swallower. 00:07:50.150 --> 00:07:56.030 She was beautiful, terrible, magnificent, awful. 00:07:56.030 --> 00:08:01.310 She sucked down the ocean with such ferocity it was possible to see the very seabed, 00:08:01.310 --> 00:08:08.000 and then she spat the ocean into the sky so it fell on our cheeks like a god’s tears, 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.810 until it fell on our cheeks like salty rain. 00:08:11.810 --> 00:08:15.620 As we stared at her, the dragon struck. 00:08:15.620 --> 00:08:18.610 Quick as thought she lunged from her cave, 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:22.350 each of her six savage heads plucked from a bench one of my crew. 00:08:22.350 --> 00:08:24.920 Only when they screamed did I turn and look, 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:29.530 and for a moment I glimpsed her before her head slipped back into the smoke. 00:08:29.530 --> 00:08:32.610 Her ancient mocking eyes, 00:08:32.610 --> 00:08:34.420 her fiery skin, 00:08:34.420 --> 00:08:38.800 the flailing limbs of one of my friends between her awful jaws, 00:08:38.800 --> 00:08:42.030 and then she was gone. 00:08:42.030 --> 00:08:46.300 I fought in a war for ten years. 00:08:46.300 --> 00:08:49.300 I saw awful things. 00:08:49.300 --> 00:08:54.090 But I never saw a sight as awful as that. 00:08:54.090 --> 00:09:03.600 The sound of their screams prowls me in my dreams. 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:11.540 Once we had passed through those straits my men and I could do nothing. 00:09:11.540 --> 00:09:13.380 We sat at our benches, 00:09:13.380 --> 00:09:16.240 our faces in our hands, our shoulders shaking, 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:19.490 tears trickling down between our fingers. 00:09:19.490 --> 00:09:22.010 The ship drifted where it would. 00:09:22.010 --> 00:09:24.880 Then one of my men sighted land. 00:09:24.880 --> 00:09:26.230 I looked up, 00:09:26.230 --> 00:09:29.630 I saw an island where cattle were grazing. 00:09:29.630 --> 00:09:31.390 I saw no sign of human life – 00:09:31.390 --> 00:09:39.630 I saw the sun staring down and I remembered the warning of Tiresias. 00:09:39.630 --> 00:10:28.240 [Closing music]