After the War of Troy was done, my men and I set sail back for Ithaca, but the wind carried us west and brought us to Ismaros, the town of the Cicones. As soon as our ship arrived on their sandy shore, I stormed that place and killed all the men who fought. Plunder we took, and we enslaved the women, to make division, equal shares to all- but on the spot I told them: 'Back, and quickly! Out to sea again!' My men were mutinous, fools, on stores of wine. Sheep after sheep the butchered by the surf, and the shambling cattle, feasting... (pg. 896) My men refused to listen to me, their captain, their leader. While I was trying my hardest to get my men back on our ship, some Cicones ran back to their town, warning of my men’s’ attacks on the beach. Men after men on horseback they came, skilled in the art of fighting on their noble steed's backs. My men fought back, even though we were terribly outnumbered, and we made it back to our ship. As we sailed away from the troubles we caused, a new kind of guilt fled over my ship like a river after a night of rain.
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