His sense lay cover'd with the dozy fume,
While thus my fraudful speech I re-assume:
Thy promised boon, O Cyclop! now I claim,
And plead my title; Noman is my name.
By that distinguish'd from my tender years,
'Tis what my parents call me, and my peers.

The giant then: Our promised grace receive,
The hospital boon we mean to give :
When all thy wretched crew have felt my power,
Noman shall be the last I will devour.

440

He said: then nodding with the fumes of wine Dropp'd his huge head, and snoring lay supine. His neck obliquely o'er his shoulders hung, Press'd with the weight of sleep that tames the strong;

At last, the stone removing from the gate,
With hands extended in the midst he sate:
And search'd each passing sheep, and felt it o'er
Secure to seize us ere we reach'd the door.
(Such as his shallow wit he deem'd was mine ;)
But secret I revolved the deep design;
'Twas for our lives my labouring bosom wrought;
Each scheme I turn'd, and sharpen'd every thought,
This way and that I cast to save my friends,
Till one resolve my varying counsel ends.

500

Strong were the rams, with native purple fair,
Well fed, and largest of the fleecy care.
These three and three, with ozier bands we tied,
(The twining bands the Cyclop's bed supplied;)
The midmost bore a man, the outward two
Secured each side: so bound we all the crew, 510
One ram remain'd, the leader of the flock;
In his deep fleece my grasping hands I lock,
And fast beneath, in woolly curls inwove,
There cling implicit, and confide in Jove.
When rosy morning glimmer'd o'er the dales,
He drove to pasture all the lusty males:
450 The ewes still folded, with distended thighs
Unmilked, lay bleating in distressful cries.
But heedless of those cares, with anguish stong,
He felt their fleeces as they pass'd along.
(Fool that he was) and let them safely go,
All unsuspecting of their freight below.

520

530

The master ram at last approach'd the gate,
Charged with his wool, and with Ulysses' fate.
Him while he pass'd, the monster blind bespoke;
What makes my ram the lag of all the flock?
460 First thou wert wont to crop the flowery mead,
First to the field and river's bank to lead,
And first with stately step at evening hour
Thy fleecy fellows usher to their bower.
Now far the last, with pensive pace and slow
Thou movest, as conscious of thy master's woe!
Seest thou these lids that now unfold in vain ?
(The deed of Noman and his wicked train!)
Oh! didst thou feel for thy afflicted lord,
And would but Fate the power of speech afford,
Soon might'st thou tell me, where in secret here
The dastard lurks, all trembling with his fear:
Swung round and round, and dash'd from rock to rock,
His batter'd brains should on the pavement smoke.
No ease, no pleasure my sad heart receives,
While such a monster as wild Noman lives.

There belched the mingled streams of wine and blood,
And human flesh, his indigested food.
Sudden I stir the embers, and inspire
With animating breath the seeds of fire;
Each drooping spirit with bold words repair,
And urge my train the dreadful deed to dare.
The stake now glow'd beneath the burning bed
(Green as it was) and sparkled fiery red;
Then forth the vengeful instrument I bring;
With beating hearts my fellows form a ring.
Urged by some present god, they swift let fall
The pointed torment on his visual ball.
Myself above them from a rising ground
Guide the sharp stake, and twirl it round and round.
As when a shipwright stands his workmen o'er
Who ply the wimble, some huge beam to bore;
Urged on all hands, it nimbly spins about,
The grain deep piercing till it scoops it out:
In his broad eye so whirls the fiery wood;
From the pierced pupil spouts the boiling blood;
Singed are his brows: the scorching lids grow black;
The jelly bubbles, and the fibres crack.
And as when armourers temper in the ford
The keen-edged pole-axe, or the shining sword,
The red-hot metal hisses in the lake,
Thus in his eye-ball hiss'd the plunging stake.
He sends a dreadful groan, the rocks around
Through all their inmost winding caves resound.
Scared we receded. Forth with frantic hand,
He tore, and dash'd on earth the gory brand;
Then calls the Cyclops, all that round him dwell,
With voice like thunder, and a direful yell.
From all their dens, the one-eyed race repair,
From rifted rocks, and mountains bleak in air.
All haste assembled, at his well-known roar,
Inquire the cause, and crowd the cavern door.
What hurts thee, Polypheme? what strange affright
Thus breaks our slumbers, and disturbs the night?
Does any mortal in the unguarded hour
Of sleep, oppress thee, or by fraud or power?
Or thieves insidious thy fair flocks surprise?
Thus they the Cyclop from his den replies:
Friends, Noman kills me; Noman in the hour
Of sleep, oppresses me with fraudful power.
"If no man hurt thee, but the hand divine
Inflict disease, it fits thee to resign:
To Jove or to thy father Neptune pray,"
The brethren cried, and instant strode away.
Joy touch'd my secret soul and conscious heart,
Pleased with the effect of conduct and of art.
Meantime the Cyclop, raging with the wound,
Spreads his wide arms, and searches round and
round;

471

541

The giant spoke, and through the hollow rock
Dismiss'd the ram, the father of the flock.
No sooner freed, and through the enclosure pass'd,
First I release myself, my fellows last :

Fat sheep and goats in throngs we drive before, 481 And reach our vessel on the winding shore.

With joy the sailors view their friends return'd,
And hail us living, whom as dead they mourn'd: 550
Big tears of transport stand in every eye:
I check their fondness, and command to fly.
Aboard in haste they heave the wealthy sheep,
And snatch their oars and rush into the deep.
Now off at sea, and from the shallows clear,
As far as human voice could reach the ear,
490 With taunts the distant giant I accost.
Hear me, O Cyclop! hear, ungracious host!
'Twas on no coward, no ignoble slave,
Thou meditatest thy meal in yonder cave;
But one the vengeance fated from above
Doom'd to inflict; the instrument of Jove.

560

571

Thy barbarous breach of hospitable bands,
The god, the god revenges by my hands.
These words the Cyclop's burning rage provoke:
From the tall hill he rends a pointed rock;
High o'er the billows flew the massy load,
And near the ship came thundering on the flood.
It almost brush'd the helm, and fell before:
The whole sea shook, and refluent beat the shore.
The strong concussion on the heaving tide
Roll'd back the vessel to the island's side;
Again I shoved her off; our fate to fly,
Each nerve we stretch, and every oar we ply.
Just 'scaped impending death, when now again
We twice as far had furrow'd back the main,
Once more I raise my voice; my friends afraid
With mild entreaties my design dissuade.
What boots the godless giant to provoke,
Whose arm may sink us at a single stroke?
Already when the dreadful rock he threw,
Old Ocean shook, and back his surges flew.
The sounding voice directs his aim again;
The rock o'erwhelms us, and we 'scaped in vain
But I, of mind elate, and scorning fear,
Thus with new taunts insult the monster's ear.
Cyclop! if any, pitying thy disgrace,
Ask who disfigured thus that eyeless face?
Say, 'Twas Ulysses; 'twas his deed declare,
Laertes son, of Ithaca the fair;

Ulysses, far in fighting fields renown'd,
Before whose arm Troy tumbled to the ground.

A larger rock then heaving from the plain,
He whirl'd it round; it sung across the main;
It fell, and brush'd the stern: the billows roar,
Shake at the weight, and refluent beat the shore.
With all our force we kept aloof to sea,
And gain'd the island where our vessels lay.
Our sight the whole collected navy cheer'd,
Who, waiting long, by turns had hoped and fear'd
There disembarking on the green sea-side,
We land our cattle, and the spoil divide:
Of these due shares to every sailor fall;
The master ram was voted mine by all:
And him (the guardian of Ulysses' fate)
With pious mind to Heaven I consecrate.
But the great god, whose thunder rends the skies,
Averse, beholds the smoking sacrifice;
And sees me wandering still from coast to coast;
580 And all my vessels, all iny people, lost!
While thoughtless we indulge the genial rite,
As plenteous cates and flowing bowls invite,
Till evening Phoebus roll'd away the light:
Stretch'd on the shore in careless case we rest
Till ruddy morning purpled o'er the east ;
Then from their anchors all our ships unbind,
And mount the decks, and call the willing wind.
Now, ranged in order on our banks we sweep
With hasty strokes the hoarse-resounding deep;
590 Blind to the future, pensive with our fears,
Glad for the living, for the dead in tears.

600

The astonish'd savage with a roar replies:
Oh heavens! oh faith of ancient prophecies!
This, Telemus Eurymedes foretold,
(The mighty seer who on these hills grew old;
Skill'd the dark fates of mortals to declare,
And learn'd in all wing'd omens of the air :)
Long since he menaced, such was Fate's command;
And named Ulysses as the destined hand.
I deem'd some godlike giant to behold,
Or lofty hero, haughty brave, and bold;
Not this weak pigmy-wretch, of mean design,
Who not by strength subdued me, but by wine.
But come, accept our gifts, and join to pray
Great Neptune's blessing on the watery way;
For his I am, and I the lineage own:
The immortal father no less boasts the son.
His power can heal me, and relight my eye;
And only his, of all the gods on high.

Oh! could this arm, (I thus aloud rejoin'd)
From that vast bulk dislodge thy bloody mind,
And send thee howling to the realms of night
As sure as Neptune cannot give thee sight!
Thus I; while raging he repeats his cries,
With hands uplifted to the starry skies.
Hear me, O Neptune; thou whose arms are hurl'd
From shore to shore, and gird the solid world,
If thine I am, nor thou my birth disown,
And if the unhappy Cyclop be thy son;
Let not Ulysses breathe his native air,
Laertes son, of Ithaca the fair.

If to review his country be his fate,

Be it through toils and sufferings long and late;
His lost companions let him first deplore;
Some vessel, not his own, transport him o'er;
And when at home from foreign sufferings freed,
More near and deep, domestic woes succeed.
With imprecations thus he fill'd the air,
And angry Neptune heard the unrighteous prayer.

610

BOOK X.

ARGUMENT.

Adventures with Jolus, the Lestrigons, and Circe.

631

610

650

Ulysses arrives at the island of Eolus, who gives him prosperous winds, and incloses the adverse ones in a bag, which his companious untying, they are driven back again, and rejected. Then they sail to the Les trigons, where they lose eleven ships, and with one only remaining, proceed to the island of Circe. Eurylochus is sent first with some companions, all which, except Eurylochus, are transformed into swine. Ulysses then undertakes the adventure, and by the help of Mercury, who gives him the herb Moly, overcomes the enchantress, and procures the restoration of his men. After a year's stay with her, he prepares, at her instigation, for his voyage to the infernal shades.

BOOK X.

AT length we reach'd Eolia's sea-girt shore,
Where great Hippotades the sceptre bore,
A floating isle! High raised by toil divine
Strong walls of brass the rocky coast confine.
Six blooming youths, in private grandeur bred,
And six fair daughters, graced the royal bed;
These sons their sisters wed, and all remain
620 Their parents' pride, and pleasure of their reign.
All day they feast, all day the bowls flow round,
And joy and music through the isle resound:
At night each pair on splendid carpets lay,
And crown'd with love the pleasures of the day.
This happy port affords our wandering flect
A month's reception, and a safe retreat.
Full oft the monarch urged me to relate
The fall of Ilion, and the Grecian fate;
Full oft I told; at length for parting moved;
The king with mighty gifts my suit approved.

10

The adverse winds in leathern bags he braced,
Compress'd their force, and lock'd each struggling
blast.

For him the mighty sire of gods assign'd
The tempest's lord, the tyrant of the wind:
His word alone the listening storms obey,
To smooth the deep, or swell the foamy sea.
These in my hollow ship the monarch hung,
Securely fetter'd by a silver thong;

But Zephyrus exempt, with friendly gales
He charged to fill, and guide the swelling sails:
Rare gift! but ob, what gift to fools avails!

His baneful suit pollutes these best abodes,
Whose fate proclaims him hateful to the gods.

Thus fierce he said: we sighing went our way,
21 And with desponding hearts put off to sea.
The sailors, spent with toil, their folly mourn,
But mourn in vain; no prospect of return:
Six days and nights a doubtful course we steer,
The next proud Lamos' stately towers appear,
And Læstrigonia's gates arise distinct in air.
The shepherd, quitting here at night the plain,
Calls, to succeed his cares, the watchful swain;
But he that scorns the chains of sleep to wear,
And adds the herdsman's to the shepherd's care,
So near the pastures, and so short the way,
His double toils may claim a double pay,
And join the labours of the night and day.
Within a long recess a bay there lies,
Edged round with cliffs high pointing to the skies:
The jutting shores that swell on either side
Contract its mouth, and break the rushing tide.
Our eager sailors seize the fair retreat,

Nine prosperous days we plied the labouring oar;
The tenth presents our welcome native shore: 31
The hills display the beacon's friendly light,
And rising mountains gain upon our sight.
Then first my eyes, by watchful toils oppress'd,
Complied to take the balmy gifts of rest;
Then first my hands did from the rudder part
(So much the love of home possess'd my heart;)
When lo! on board a fond debate arose,
What rare device those vessels might inclose?
What sum, what prize, from Eolus I brought?
Whilst to his neighbour each express'd his thought.

40

51

90

100

110

120

And bound within the port their crowded fleet
For here retired the sinking billows sleep,
And smiling calmness silver'd o'er the deep
I only in the bay refused to moor,
And fix'd, without, my halsers to the shore.
From thence we climb'd a point, whose airy brow
Commands the prospect of the plains below:
No tracks of beasts, or signs of men, we found,
But smoky volumes rolling from the ground.
Two with our herald thither we command,
With speed to learn what men possess'd the land.
They went, and kept the wheel's smooth beaten road,
Which to the city drew the mountain wood;
When lo! they met beside a crystal spring,
The daughter of Antiphates the king:
She to Artacia's silver streams came down;
(Artacia's streams alone supply the town :)
The damsel they approach, and ask'd what race
The people were? who monarch of the place?
With joy the maid the unwary strangers heard,
And show'd them where the royal dome appear'd
60 They went; but, as they entering saw the queen
Of size enormous, and terrific mien,
(Not yielding to some bulky mountain's height,)
A sudden horror struck their aching sight.
Swift at her call her husband scour'd away
To wreak his hunger on the destined prey;
One for his food the raging glutton slew,
But two rush'd out, and to the navy flew.
Balk'd of his prey, the yelling monster flies,
And fills the city with his hideous cries;
A ghastly band of giants hear the roar,

Say, whence, ye gods, contending nations strive
Who most shall please, who most our hero give?
Long have his coffers groan'd with Trojan spoils;
Whilst we, the wretched partners of his toils,
Reproach'd by want, our fruitless labours mourn,
And only rich in barren fame return.
Now olus, ye see, augments his store:
But come, my friends, these mystic gifts explore.
They said; and (oh curst fate) the thongs unbound!
The gushing tempest sweeps the ocean round;
Snatch'd in the whirl, the hurried navy flew,
The ocean widen'd, and the shores withdrew.
Rous'd from my fatal sleep, I long debate
If still to live, or desperate plunge to fate;
Thus doubting, prostrate on the deck I lay,
Till all the coward thoughts of death gave way.
Meanwhile our vessels plough the liquid plain,
And soon the known Eolian coast regain,
Our groans the rocks remurmur'd to the main.
We leap'd on shore, and with a scanty feast
Our thirst and hunger hastily repress'd;
That done, two chosen heralds straight attend
Our second progress to my royal friend:
And him amidst his jovial sons we found;
The banquet steaming and the goblets crown'd:
There humbly stopp'd with conscious shame and

awe,

Nor nearer than the gate presumed to draw.
But soon his sons their well-known guest descried,
And starting from their couches loudly cried,
Ulysses here! what dæmon couldst thou meet
To thwart thy passage, and repel thy fleet?
Wast thou not furnish'd by our choicest care
For Greece, for home, and all thy soul held dear?
Thus they; in silence long my fate I mourn'd,
At length these words with accent low return'd
Me, lock'd in sleep, my faithless crew bereft
Of all the blessings of your godlike gift!
But grant, oh grant, our loss we may retrieve:
A favour you, and you alone can give.

130

140

70 And, pouring down the mountains, crowd the shore.
Fragments they rend from off the craggy brow,
And dash the ruins on the ships below:
The crackling vessels burst; hoarse groans arise,
And mingled horrors echo to the skies;
The men,

like fish, they stuck upon the flood,
And cramm'd their filthy throats with human food.
Whilst thus their fury rages at the bay,
My sword our cables cut, I call'd to weigh;
And charged my men, as they from fate would fly,
80 Each nerve to strain, each bending oar to ply.
The sailors catch the word, their oars they seize,
And sweep with equal strokes the smoky seas: 150
Clear of the rocks the impatient vessel flies;
Whilst in the port each wretch encumber'd dies.

Thus I with art to move their pity tried,
And touch'd the youths; but their stern sire replied:
Vile wretch, begone! this instant I command
Thy fleet accursed to leave our hallow'd land.

With earnest haste my frighted sailors press,
While kindling transports glow'd at our success;
But the sad fate that did our friends destroy
Cool'd every breast, and damp'd the rising joy.
Now dropp'd our anchors in the Ewan bay,
Where Circe dwelt, the daughter of the Day!
Her mother Persè, of old Ocean's strain,
Thus from the Sun descended, and the Main,
(From the same lineage stern Etes came,
The far-famed brother of the enchantress dame,)
Goddess and queen, to whom the powers belong
Of dreadful magic and commanding song.
Some god directing, to this peaceful bay
Silent we came, and melancholy lay,

Alas! from yonder promontory's brow
I view'd the coast, a region flat and low:
An isle encircled with the boundless flood;
A length of thickets, and entangled wood.
Some smoke I saw amid the forest rise,
And all around it only seas and skies!
With broken hearts my sad companions stood,
160 Mindful of Cyclops and his human food,
And horrid Læstrigons, the men of blood.
Presaging tears apace began to rain;
But tears in mortal miseries are vain.
In equal parts I straight divide my band,
And name a chief each party to command;
I led the one, and of the other side

Spent and o'erwatch'd. Two days and nights roll'd on, Appointed brave Eurylochus the guide.

And now the third succeeding morning shone.

I climb'd a cliff, with spear and sword in hand,
Whose ridge o'erlooked a shady length of land:
To learn if aught of mortal works appear,
Or cheerful voice of mortal strike the ear?
From the high point I mark'd, in distant view,
A stream of curling smoke ascending blue,
And spiry tops, the tufted trees above,
Of Circe's palace bosom'd in the grove.

170

Then in the brazen helm the lots we throw,
And fortune casts Eurylochus to go:
He march'd with twice eleven in his train;
Pensive they march, and pensive we remain.

The palace in a woody vale they found,
High raised of stone; a shaded space around;
Where mountain wolves and brindled lions roam,
(By magic tamed,) familiar to the dome.
With gentle blandishment our men they meet,
And wag their tails, and fawning lick their feet.
As from some feast a man returning late,
His faithful dogs all meet him at the gate,
180 Rejoicing round, some morsel to receive
(Such as the good man ever used to give,)
Domestic thus the grisly beasts drew near:
They gaze with wonder not unmix'd with fear.
Now on the threshold of the dome they stood,
And heard a voice resounding through the wood:
Placed at her loom within, the goddess sung:
The vaulted roofs and solid pavements rung.
O'er the fair web the rising figures shine,
Immortal labour! worthy hands divine.
Polites to the rest the question moved :
(A gallant leader, and a man I loved.)

190

Thither to haste, the region to explore,
Was my first thought: but speeding back to shore
I deem'd it best to visit first my crew,
And send out spies, the dubious coast to view.
As down the hill I solitary go,
Some power divine, who pities human woe,
Seat a tall stag, descending from the wood,
To cool his fervour in the crystal flood;
Luxuriant on the wave-worn bank he lay,
Stretch'd forth, and panting in the sunny ray.
I launch'd my spear, and with a sudden wound
Transpierced his back, and fix'd him to the ground.
He falls, and mourns his fate with human cries:
Through the wide wound the vital spirit flies.
I drew, and casting on the river's side
The bloody spear, his gather'd feet I tied
With twining osiers which the bank supplied.
An ell in length the pliant wisp I weaved,
And the huge body on my shoulders heaved :
Then leaning on my spear with both my hands,
Upbore my load, and press'd the sinking sands
With weighty steps, till at the ship I threw
The welcome burden, and bespoke my crew.
Cheer up, my friends! it is not yet our fate
To glide with ghosts through Pluto's gloomy gate.
Food in the desert land, behold! is given;
Live, and enjoy the providence of heaven.

The joyful crew survey his mighty size,
And on the future banquet feast their eyes,
As huge in length extended lay the beast;
Then wash their hands, and hasten to the feast.
There, till the setting sun roll'd down the light,
They sate indulging in the genial rite.
When evening rose, and darkness cover'd o'er
The face of things, we slept along the shore.
But when the rosy morning warmed the east,
My men I summon'd, and these words address'd:
Followers and friends! attend what I propose:
Ye sad companions of Ulysses' woes!
We know not here what land before us lies,
Or to what quarter now we turn our eyes,
Or where the sun shall set, or where shall rise.
Here let us think (if thinking be not vain)
If any counsel, any hope remain.

What voice celestial chanting to the loom
(Or nymph, or goddess) echoes from the room?
Say, shall we seek access? With that they call;
And wide unfold the portals of the hall.

The goddess rising, asks her guests to stay,
Who blindly follow where she leads the way.
Eurylochus alone of all the band,

230

240

250

260

270

Suspecting fraud, more prudently remain'd.
200 On thrones around with downy coverings graced,
With semblance fair, the unhappy men she placed.
Milk newly press'd, the sacred flour of wheat,
And honey fresh, and Pramnian wines the treat:
But venom'd was the bread, and mix'd the bowl,
With drugs of force to darken all the soul:
Soon in the luscious feast themselves they lost,
And drank oblivion of their native coast.
Instant her circling wand the goddess waves,
To hogs transforms them, and the sty receives.
210 No more was seen the human form divine;

Head, face, and members, bristle into swine:
Still curs'd with sense, their minds remain alone, 280
And their own voice affrights them when they
groan.

Meanwhile the goddess in disdain bestows
The mast and acorn, brutal food! and strows
The fruits of cornel, as their feast, around;
Now prone and groveling on unsavory ground.
Eurylochus, with pensive steps and slow,
220 Aghast returns; the messenger of woe,

And bitter fate. To speak he made essay,
In vain essay'd, nor would his tongue obey

So shall thy tedious toils a respite find,
And thy lost friends return to human-kind.

The powers below, the blessed in the sky;
Lest to thee naked secret fraud be meant,
Or magic bind thee cold and impotent.

His swelling heart denied the words their way: 290 But swear her first by those dread oaths that tie
But speaking tears the want of words supply,
And the full soul bursts copious from his eye.
Affrighted, anxious for our fellows' fates,
We press to hear what sadly he relates.

We went, Ulysses! (Such was thy command!)
Through the lone thicket and the desert land.
A palace in a woody vale we found

Brown with dark forests, and with shades around.
A voice celestial echoed from the dome,

Or nymph or goddess, chanting to the loom.
Access we sought, nor was access denied:
Radiant she came; the portals open'd wide:
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 eyed the doors in vain:
The rest are vanish'd, 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 seized the bended bow,
And bade him guide the way, resolved to go.
He, prostrate falling, with both hands embraced
My knees, and weeping thus his suit address'd:

O king, beloved 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.

360

Thus while he spoke, the sovereign plant he drew,
Where on the 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 the ethereal kind.
300 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 the enchanted dome.
Arrived, 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.

370

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 the enchantress skill'd in herbs of
power;

A form divine forth issuing from the wood
(Immortal Hermes with the golden rod)
In human semblance. On his bloomy face
Youth smiled celestial, with each opening grace.
He seized 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?
Each friend
you seek in yon enclosure lies,
All lost their form, and habitants of sties.
Think'st thou by wit to model their escape?
Sooner shalt thou, a stranger to thy shape,
Fall prone their equal: first thy danger know,
Then take the antidote the gods bestow.
The plant I give, through all the direful bower
Shall guard thee, and avert the evil hour.
Now hear her wicked arts. Before thy eyes
The bowl shall sparkle, and the banquet rise;
Take this, nor from the faithless feast abstain,
For temper'd drugs and poison shall be vain.
Soon as she strikes her wand, and gives the word,
Draw forth and brandish thy refulgent sword,
And menace death; those menaces shall move
Her alter'd mind to blandishment and love.
Nor shun the blessing proffer'd to thy arms,
Ascend her bed, and taste celestial charms:

400

330 Sheath thy bright sword, and join our hands in 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,
310 And magic bind me, cold and impotent?
Celestial as thou art, yet stand denied ;

350