And they with awe beheld great wolves and lions prowling nigh,
That Circe had bewitched by aid of magic pharmacy.
These rushed not, like to beasts of prey, upon my friends to fall,
But stood upright, with playful tails, and gently fawned on all.
As dogs upon their master fawn, who from a feast doth come,
Knowing that dainty bits for them he ever bringeth home,
The strong-clawed wolves and lions thus around my comrades played:
Who when a sight so passing strange they saw, were sore dismayed.
At the nymph's outer gate they paused, then, ringing sweet and clear,
The voice of Circe from within was wafted to their ear,
Assiduo resonat cantu, tectisque superbis
Urit odoratam nocturna in limina cedrum,
Arguto tenues percurrens pectine telas.
Hinc exaudiri gemitus, iræque leonum
Vincla recusantum, et serâ sub nocte rudentum ;
Setigerique sues, atque in præsepibus ursi
Sævire, ac formæ magnorum ululare luporum :
Quos hominum ex facie Dea sæva potentibus herbis
Induerat Circe in vultus ac terga ferarum."-VIRG. Æn., vii. 10.
"Sorte sumus lecti, sors me, fidumque Politen
Eurylochumque simul, nimiique Elpenora vini,
Bisque novem socios Circæa ad monia misit.
Quæ simul attigimus, stetimusque in limine tecti,
Mille lupi, mixtæque lupis ursæque leæque
Occursu fecere metum, sed nulla timenda,
Nullaque erat nostro factura in corpore vulnus.
Quinetiam blandas movere per aera caudas,
Nostraque adulantes comitant vestigia, donec
Excipiunt famulæ, perque atria marmore tecta
Ad dominam ducunt."-Ov. Met., xiv. 251.
214. But stood upright, &c.
"Methinks I must be fair, for yesterday
When I past by, a wild and wanton pard,
Eyed like the evening star, with playful tail
Crouched fawning in the weed.”—TENNYSON, Enone.
215. As dogs upon their master fawn, &c.
"Come intorno al padrone il can saltella,
Che sia due giorni o tre stato lontano;
Baiardo ancora avea memoria d'ella,
Ch'in Albracca il servia gia di sua mano."-ARIOSTO, Orl. Fur., i. 75.
As o'er th' imperishable loom her graceful fingers ran,
Weaving the bright transparent web, as only goddess can.
Polites first, one prompt to lead, the list'ning silence broke,—
Nearest and dearest unto me of all the band, he spoke :
“Hark, friends, how o'er her loom within some songstress works and sings
With lovely voice, and all the floor with tuneful echo rings.
Quick! be she goddess that we hear, or mortal, let us call.'
"He spake, and lifting up their voice, they shouted one and all.
Straight opened she the shining doors, and bade them enter there,
And each the other followed in, unconscious of the snare.
Eurylochus, misdoubting guile, thought best behind to stay;
But she his friends to benches led, and seats in fair array;
And Pramnian wine, and cheese therein, and meal, and honey pale,
She mixed for them; but in the food were drugs of magic bale,
By which of home, and friends, and all, forgetfulness is brought.
She gave, they drank the proffered cup, and then her spell she wrought.
221. As o'er th' imperishable loom, &c.
"All day the wizard lady sat aloof,
Spelling out scrolls of dread antiquity
Under the cavern's fountain-lighted roof;
Or broidering the pictured poesy
Of some high tale upon her growing woof,
Which the sweet splendour of her smiles could dye
In hues outshining heaven; and ever she
Added some grace to the wrought poesy."
-SHELLEY, Witch of Atlas, xxvi.
233. And Pramnian wine, &c.
"Nec mora; misceri tosti jubet hordea grani
Mellaque, vimque meri, cum lacte coagula passo :
Quique sub hac lateant furtim dulcedine, succos
Adjicit. Accipimus sacrâ data pocula dextrâ.
Quæ simul arenti sitientes hausimus ore,
Et tetigit summos virgâ, dea dira, capillos;
(Et pudet, et referam) setis horrescere cepi,
Nec jam posse loqui; pro verbis edere raucum
Murmur, et in terram toto procumbere vultu:
Osque meum sensi pando occallescere rostro
Colla tumere toris; et quâ modo pocula parte
Sumta mihi fuerant, illâ vestigia feci,
Cumque eadem passis (tantum medicamina possunt)
Claudor harâ."—Ov. Met., xiv. 273.
She struck them with her magic wand, and drove them into sties,
In head and form and bristles, swine, and uttering swinish cries;
But sound in each still dwelt the mind, e'en as it was before.
So penned perforce within the sties, they fell to weeping sore;
And acorns from wild ilex dropped, and cornel-nut, and mast,
Fit food for wallowing swine to eat,-to them the goddess cast.
But back to us Eurylochus sped quickly, to relate
The story of his comrades dear, and of their bitter fate.
Yet sorely though he strove to frame his words, his voice was still,
For the deep grief that pierced his heart o'ermastered quite his will.
His eyes with tears o'erflowed, his soul was fain to weep its fill.
But when what dire mishap had chanced our comrades to befall
We asked in wonderment, at length he spake and told us all :
"We went, Ulysses, as thou bad'st, over the thicket ground,
And, rising 'midst the forest dells, a stately palace found.
Of polished stone the structure was, conspicuous to our eye:
There heard we sound of weaving loom, and tuneful melody,-
Some nymph's or mortal maiden's voice,-to her we loud did call;
Her shining doors she oped forthwith, and freely welcomed all,
And each the other followed in, unwitting aught of guile;
But I alone remained outside, suspecting treach'rous wile,
When suddenly they vanished all, not one again was seen,
Though long on the same spot I sat, and watching there have been.'
'He spake, and I my brazen sword, bedight with silver, flung
Round my shoulders, and in haste my bow about me slung;
Then to the palace bade I him lead me the self-same way;
But with loud wail he clasped my knees, and thus began to pray :
245. Yet sorely though he strove, &c.
"Et pariter vocem lacrymasque introrsus obortas
Devorat ipse dolor."—Ov. Met., xiii. 538.
"Thrice he essayed, and thrice, in spite of scorn,
Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth; at last
Words, interwove with sighs, found out their way."
-MILTON, Par. Lost, i. 619.
"Who full of fresh dismay,
And gushing forth in tears, was so opprest,
That he no word would speak, but smit his breast,
And up to heaven his eyes fast-streaming threw."
-SPENSER, Faerie Queene, Bk. vi. 11. 28.
"Lead me not there, O prince, perforce, but leave me, I implore, For well I know that thou thyself wilt here return no more,
Nor one of our companions lost wilt unto us restore.
But rather with these left to us let us with speed away,
For even yet the chance is ours to 'scape the fatal day.'
"Eurylochus,' I answer made, 'do thou, if such thy will, By our dark galley here remain, and eat and drink thy fill. But I go hence,-for me severe necessity impels.'
"I spake, and from the seaside turned, and sought the upland dells.
But as I passed from glade to glade, and Circe's palace neared,
The god who bears the golden wand upon my path appeared,-
Great Hermes, with the tender down upon his lips, in mould
And form a youth, when youthful bloom is sweetest to behold,
Who grasped my hand, and thus began his mission to unfold:
"Sive, mutatâ juvenem figurâ
Ales, in terris imitâris, almæ
Filius Maiæ."-HOR. Od., i. 2. 41.
"Omnia Mercurio similis, vocemque, coloremque,
Et crines flavos, et membra decora juventæ."-VIRG. Æn., iv. 558.
"His May of youth, and bloom of lustyhood.”
-SHAKESPEARE, Much Ado about Nothing, Act v. sc. 1.
“The tender spring upon thy tempting lip
Shows thee unripe."-SHAKESPEARE, Venus and Adonis, 22.
"His starry helm unbuckled showed him prime
In manhood where youth ended.”—MILTON, Par. Lost, xi. 245.
"Beside his head there sat a fair young man,
Of wondrous beauty and of freshest years,
Whose tender blood to blossom new began,
And flourish fair above his equal peers."
-SPENSER, Faerie Queene, Bk. ii. 8. 5.
The phrase πρŵтоν vπηνýтη is perhaps more exactly rendered by the following lines from
"And on his tender lips the downy hair
Did now but freshly spring and silken blossoms bear."
"Ora puer primâ signans intonsa juventâ.”—VIRG. Æn., ix. 181.
'Unhappy, whither through these wolds art wand'ring thus alone,
Naught knowing of the land, or wrong to thy companions done,
Who yonder in dread Circe's halls, in shape of swine, are penned
In fast-closed sties? and dost thou now to free them thither wend?
Nay, rather thou shalt ne'er return, but stay their fate to share.
But come deliv'rance I to thee and means of safety bear.
Take thou this drug, and armed therewith, go on to Circe's bower,-
Its virtue shall from thy charmed head avert the fatal hour.
Hearken, whilst all the baleful arts of Circe I declare :
A potion, mixed with magic drugs, she will for thee prepare;
But powerless even so her charm upon thy head will fall,
This herb, my gift, such virtue hath: and I will tell thee all.
E'en at the moment Circe smites thy body with her wand,
On her, with murder in thine eye, rush with thy naked brand.
In terror will she try thee then to dalliance soft to move,
Nor of the goddess hastily do thou reject the love,
That she may thee to home restore, thy comrades to their kind.
But first the nymph by solemn oath of gods immortal bind,
That she no other crafty wile will e'er against thee plan,
Nor, when she see thy naked form, thy vigour will unman.'
"The Argus-slayer spake, and drew the antidote he sought From out the earth, and of the plant the wondrous nature taught.
287. A potion, mixed, &c.
"Circæ pocula nosti,
Quæ si cum sociis stultus cupidusque bibisset,
Sub dominâ meretrice fuisset turpis et excors
Vixisset canis immundus, vel amica luto sus.”— Hor. Epist., i. 2. 23.
289. This herb, my gift, &c.
"If you have this about you
(As I will give you when we go), you may
Boldly assault the necromancer's hall;
Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood
And brandished blade rush on him."-MILTON, Comus, 647.
298. And drew the antidote, &c.
"Pacifer huic dederat florem Cyllenius album:
Moly vocant Superi; nigrâ radice tenetur."-Ov. Met., xiv. 291.
"And yet more med'cinal is it than that moly
That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave."-MILTON, Comus, 636.
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