The Odyssey, Book 12

Return to Aiaia.  Burial of Elpenor.  Circe takes Odysseus aside and prepares him for his next adventures.  First, he must stop the ears of his companions with wax to avoid the lure of the Sirens, while they lash him to the mast to keep him from following the song.

Next, they must sail through the Roving Rocks, between the monsters Skylla-- a six-headed man-eating she-beast-- and Charybdis-- a great sucking whirlpool offering no escape.  Circe advises to err on the side of Skylla, for it is better to lose six men than all.

Finally, they will come to the island of Thrinakia where Helios keeps his immortal cattle.  If they resist feasting on the cattle, all might return to Ithaka.  If not, only Odysseus may make it home.

They sail.  The waters are calm by the Sirens, and the men row as Odysseus is tempted by their song.  Only the lashings hold him.

The storm rises as they approach the Rocks.  Odysseus warns them to avoid falling into Charybdis's maw, neglecting to tell them of Skylla's appetite.  Six are killed.

Next they near Thrinakia, while Odysseus begs them not to land there.  Eurylochos convinces them to stay overnight.  They land; Zeus sends up a storm and strands them on the island for a month.  They eat their reserves of food while Odysseus instructs them not to kill the cattle.  But while he is out and falls asleep, Eurylochos leads them to kill the best of the cattle.  Odysseus learns of this, and knows they are doomed.

Helios complains (threatening to shine on Hades instead of the world) to Zeus, who promises to avenge the loss on the open sea.  The dead meat groans as the men eat it.  A week later, the storm calms, and the ship sets sail again.  Away from all land, the mast is struck by lightning and the men drown.  Odysseus climbs on the wreckage and drifts toward Charybdis.  He holds onto a branch while the wreckage is sucked down, waits all day for the waters to return, then drifts again, saved from Skylla.  He lands finally on the island of Ogygia, home of Kalypso.

"But you've heard that one already."

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Song of the Sirens, xii.184-191:

"Come this way, honored Odysseus, great glory of the Achaians,
and stay your ship, so that you can listen here to our singing;
for no one else has ever sailed past this place in his black ship
until he has listened to the honey-sweet voice that issues
from our lips; then goes on, well pleased, knowing more than ever
he did; for we know everything that the Argives and Trojans
did and suffered in wide Troy through the gods' despite.
Over all the generous earth we know everything that happens."

Was Odysseus tempted by their beauty, or by their promise of knowledge?  Surely after a ten-plus-year siege of Troy, he would ask himself what purpose it served, what meaning the gods took from the sacrifice of so many good men, whether it was all a cruel joke or a mistake, or whether his and the others' deeds would be remembered for good.  "Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God."  Clever, clever Sirens.

And even if it's mostly unrelated, I can't pass up linking this: