Scylla

Between Scylla and Charybdis.

Tom is caught between Scylla and Charybdis.

"Ye know mad Scylla, and her monsters' yell, / and the dark caverns where the Cyclops dwell."

"Here Scylla, leftward sits Charybdis fell, / who, yawning thrice, her lowest depths laid bare, / sucks the vast billows in her throat's dark hell, / then starward spouts the refluent surge in air."

"Here Scylla, gaping from her gloomy lair, / the passing vessels on the rocks doth hale."

"Far better round Pachynus' point to steer, / though long the course, and tedious the delay, / than once dread Scylla to behold, or hear / the rocks rebellow with her hell-hounds' bay."

I have never yet been able to steer my lovers through the Scylla of presence, or the Charybdis of absence.

Ah cease rash Youth! desist e'er 'tis too late, / Fear the just Gods, and think of Scylla′s Fate!