Scylla
.Glaucus, a fisherman, was in love with Scylla; but Circē, out of jealousy, changed her into a hideous monster, and set dogs and wolves to bark round her incessantly. On this Scylla threw herself into the sea and became a rock. It is said that the rock Scylla somewhat resembles a woman at a distance, and the noise of the waves dashing against it is not unlike the barking of dogs and wolves.
Avoiding Scylla, he fell into Charybdis. Trying to avoid one error, he fell into another; or, trying to avoid one danger, he fell into another equally fatal. Scylla and Charybdis are two rocks between Italy and Sicily. In one was a cave where “Scylla dwelt,” and on the other Charybdis dwelt under a fig-tree. Ships which tried to avoid one were often wrecked on the other rock. It was Circe who changed Scylla into a frightful seamonster, and Jupiter who changed Charybdis into a whirlpool.
“When I shun Scylla your father, I fall into Charybdis your mother.”—Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, iii. 5.
To fall from Scylla into Charybdis—out of the frying-pan into the fire.
