The goddess mild invites the guests to stay :
They blindly follow where she leads the way.
I only wait behind of all the train :
I waited long, and ey'd the doors in vain :
The rest are vanished, none repass'd the gate;
And not a man appears to tell their fate.

I heard, and instant o'er my shoulders flung
The belt in which my weighty falchion hung
(A beamy blade): then seiz'd the bended bow,
And bade him guide the way, resolv'd to go.
He, prostrate falling, with both hands embrac'd
My knees, and weeping thus his suit address'd.

O king, belov'd of Jove, thy servant spare,
And ah, thyself the rash attempt forbear!
Never, alas! thou never shalt return,
Or see the wretched for whose loss we mourn.
With what remains from certain ruin fly,
And save the few not fated yet to die.

I answer'd stern. Inglorious then remain, Here feast and loiter, and desert thy train. Alone, unfriended, will I tempt my way; The laws of fate compel, and I obey.

This said, and scornful turning from the shore My haughty step, I stalk'd the valley o'er. Till now approaching nigh the magic bower, Where dwelt th' enchantress skill'd in herbs

power,

A form divine forth issued from the wood
(Immortal Hermes with the golden rod)
In human semblance. On his bloomy face
Youth smil'd celestial, with each opening grace.
He seiz'd my hand, and gracious thus began :
Ah whither roam'st thou, much-enduring man?
O blind to fate! what led thy steps to rove
The horrid mazes of this magic grove ?

ch friend you seek in yon enclosure lies, I lost their form, and habitants of sties. ink'st thou by wit to model their escape ? oner shalt thou, a stranger to thy shape, Il prone their equal: first thy danger know, men take the antidote the gods bestow. me plant I give through all the direful bower all guard thee, and avert the evil hour. ow hear her wicked arts. Before thy eyes The bowl shall sparkle, and the banquet rise; ake this, nor from the faithless feast abstain, or temper'd drugs and poison shall be vain. Don as she strikes her wand, and gives the word, raw forth and brandish thy refulgent sword, nd menace death: those menaces shall move Her alter'd mind to blandishment and love. For shun the blessing proffer'd to thy arms, scend her bed, and taste celestial charms : o shall thy tedious toils a respite find, And thy lost friends return to human kind. But swear her first by those dread oaths that tie The powers below, the blessed in the sky; Lest to thee naked secret fraud be meant, Or magic bind thee cold and impotent.

Thus while he spoke, the sovereign plant he drew
Where on th' all-bearing earth unmark'd it grew,
And show'd its nature and its wondrous power :
Black was the root, but milky white the flower;
Moly the name, to mortals hard to find,
But all is easy to th' etherial kind.

This Hermes gave, then, gliding off the glade,
Shot to Olympus from the woodland shade.
While, full of thought, revolving fates to come,
I speed my passage to th' enchanted dome.
Arriv'd, before the lofty gates I stay'd;

The lofty gates the goddess wide display'd :

She leads before, and to the feast invites;
I follow sadly to the magic rites.
Radiant with starry studs, a silver seat
Receiv'd my limbs: a footstool eas'd my feet.
She mix'd the potion, fraudulent of soul;
The poison mantled in the golden bowl.
I took and quaff'd it, confident in heaven:
Then wav'd the wand, and then the word was given
Hence to thy fellows! (dreadful she began)
Go, be a beast! I heard, and yet was man.

Then sudden whirling, like a waving flame,
My beamy falchion, I assault the dame.
Struck with unusual fear, she trembling cries.
She faints, she falls; she lifts her weeping eyes.
What art thou ? say! from whence, from wh

you came ?

O more than human! tell thy race, thy name.
Amazing strength, these poisons to sustain !
Not mortal thou, nor mortal is thy brain.
Or art thou he? the man to come (foretold
By Hermes powerful with the wand of gold),
The man from Troy, who wander'd ocean round;
The man for wisdom's various arts renown'd,
Ulysses? Oh! thy threatening fury cease,
Sheath thy bright sword, and join our hands

peace!

Let mutual joys our mutual trust combine,
And love, and love-born confidence, be thine.
And how, dread Circe! (furious I rejoin)
Can love, and love-born confidence be mine!
Beneath thy charms when my companions groan,
Transform'd to beasts with accents not their own.
O thou of fraudful heart, shall I be led
To share thy feast-rites, or ascend thy bed;
That, all unarm'd, thy vengeance may have vent,
And magic bind me, cold and impotent ?

stial as thou art, yet stand denied ;
swear that oath by which the gods are tied;
ar, in thy soul no latent frauds remain,
ar by the vow which never can be vain.

he goddess swore: then seiz'd my hand, and led

he sweet transports of the genial bed. istrant to the queen, with busy care r faithful handmaids the soft rites prepare; nphs sprung from fountains, or from shady woods, the fair offspring of the sacred floods.

o'er the couches painted carpets threw, ose purple lustre glow'd against the view: ite linen lay beneath. Another plac'd e silver stands, with golden flaskets grac'd: th dulcet beverage this the beaker crown'd, r in the midst, with gilded cups around; at in the tripod o'er the kindled pile e water pours; the bubbling waters boil; ample vase receives the smoking wave; d, in the bath prepar'd, my limbs I lave: viving sweets repair the mind's decay, d take the painful sense of toil away. vest and tunic o'er me next she threw, sh from the bath, and dropping balmy dew; ten led and plac'd me on the sovereign seat, ith carpets spread; a footstool at my feet. e golden ewer a nymph obsequious brings, plenish'd from the cool translucent springs; ith copious water the bright vase supplies silver laver of capacious size. wash'd. The table in fair order spread, ley heap the glittering canisters with bread; ands of various kinds allure the taste, choicest sort and savour, rich repast! rce in vain invites the feast to share; bsent I ponder, and absorpt in care :

While scenes of woe rose anxious in my breast,
The queen beheld me, and these words addrest:
Why sits Ulysses silent and apart,
Some hoard of grief close harbour'd at his heart?
Untouch'd before thee stand the cates divine,
And unregarded laughs the rosy wine.
Can yet a doubt or any dread remain,
When sworn that oath which never can be vain?

I answer'd Goddess! human is my breast,
By justice sway'd, by tender pity prest;
Ill fits it me, whose friends are sunk to beasts,
To quaff thy bowls, or riot in thy feasts.
Me would'st thou please? for them thy cares employ,
And them to me restore, and me to joy.

With that she parted: in her potent hand
She bore the virtue of the magic wand.
Then, hastening to the sties, set wide the door,
Urg'd forth, and drove the bristly herd before;
Unwieldy, out they rush'd with general cry,
Enormous beasts dishonest to the eye.

Now touch'd by counter charms, they change again,
And stand majestic, and recall'd to men.
Those hairs of late that bristled every part,
Fall off, miraculous effect of art!
Till all the form in full propertion rise,

More young, more large, more graceful to my eyes.
They saw, they knew me, and with eager pace
Clung to their master in a long embrace:
Sad, pleasing sight! with tears each eye ran o'er,
And sobs of joy re-echoed through the bower;
Ev'n Circe wept, her adamantine heart
Felt pity enter, and sustain'd her part.

Son of Laërtes! (then the queen began)
Oh much-enduring, much-experienc'd man!
Haste to thy vessel on the sea-beat shore,
Unload thy treasures, and the galley moor;