Complete Works of Homer

by Homer

  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):

  "'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,

  Suspecting fraud, more prudently remain'd.

  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.

  No more was seen the human form divine;

  Head, face, and members, bristle into swine:

  Still cursed with sense, their minds remain alone,

  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 and cornel, as their feast, around;

  Now prone and grovelling on unsavoury ground.

  "Eurylochus, with pensive steps and slow.

  Aghast returns; the messenger of woe,

  And bitter fate. To speak he made essay,

  In vain essay'd, nor would his tongue obey.

  His swelling heart denied the words their way:

  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 through 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 shoulder 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.'

  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 issued 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;

  So 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 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.

  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.

  Radiant with starry studs, a silver seat

  Received my limbs: a footstool eased 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 waved 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 whom 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;

  Sheathe thy bright sword, and join our hands in peace!

  Let mutual joys our mutual trust combine,

  And love, and love-bor
n 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?

  Celestial as thou art, yet stand denied;

  Or swear that oath by which the gods are tied,

  Swear, in thy soul no latent frauds remain,

  Swear by the vow which never can be vain.'

  "The goddess swore: then seized my hand, and led

  To the sweet transports of the genial bed.

  Ministrant to the queen, with busy care

  Four faithful handmaids the soft rites prepare;

  Nymphs sprung from fountains, or from shady woods,

  Or the fair offspring of the sacred floods.

  One o'er the couches painted carpets threw,

  Whose purple lustre glow'd against the view:

  White linen lay beneath. Another placed

  The silver stands, with golden flaskets graced:

  With dulcet beverage this the beaker crown'd,

  Fair in the midst, with gilded cups around:

  That in the tripod o'er the kindled pile

  The water pours; the bubbling waters boil;

  An ample vase receives the smoking wave;

  And, in the bath prepared, my limbs I lave:

  Reviving sweets repair the mind's decay,

  And take the painful sense of toil away.

  A vest and tunic o'er me next she threw,

  Fresh from the bath, and dropping balmy dew;

  Then led and placed me on the sovereign seat,

  With carpets spread; a footstool at my feet.

  The golden ewer a nymph obsequious brings,

  Replenish'd from the cool translucent springs;

  With copious water the bright vase supplies

  A silver laver of capacious size.

  I wash'd. The table in fair order spread,

  They heap the glittering canisters with bread:

  Viands of various kinds allure the taste,

  Of choicest sort and savour, rich repast!

  Circe in vain invites the feast to share;

  Absent I ponder, and absorb'd in care;

  While scenes of woe rose anxious in my breast,

  The queen beheld me, and these words address'd:

  "'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 answered: 'Goddess! human is my breast,

  By justice sway'd, by tender pity press'd:

  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,

  Urged 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 proportion 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;

  E'en Circe wept, her adamantine heart

  Felt pity enter, and sustain'd her part.

  "'Son of Laertes! (then the queen began)

  Oh much-enduring, much experienced man!

  Haste to thy vessel on the sea-beat shore,

  Unload thy treasures, and the galley moor;

  Then bring thy friends, secure from future harms,

  And in our grottoes stow thy spoils and arms,'

  "She said. Obedient to her high command

  I quit the place, and hasten to the strand,

  My sad companions on the beach I found,

  Their wistful eyes in floods of sorrow drown'd.

  "As from fresh pastures and the dewy field

  (When loaded cribs their evening banquet yield)

  The lowing herds return; around them throng

  With leaps and bounds their late imprison'd young,

  Rush to their mothers with unruly joy,

  And echoing hills return the tender cry:

  So round me press'd, exulting at my sight,

  With cries and agonies of wild delight,

  The weeping sailors; nor less fierce their joy

  Than if return'd to Ithaca from Troy.

  'Ah master! ever honour'd, ever dear!

  (These tender words on every side I hear)

  What other joy can equal thy return?

  Not that loved country for whose sight we mourn,

  The soil that nursed us, and that gave us breath:

  But ah! relate our lost companions' death.'

  "I answer'd cheerful: 'Haste, your galley moor,

  And bring our treasures and our arms ashore:

  Those in yon hollow caverns let us lay,

  Then rise, and follow where I lead the way.

  Your fellows live; believe your eyes, and come

  To taste the joys of Circe's sacred dome.'

  "With ready speed the joyful crew obey:

  Alone Eurylochus persuades their stay.

  "'Whither (he cried), ah whither will ye run?

  Seek ye to meet those evils ye should shun?

  Will you the terrors of the dome explore,

  In swine to grovel, or in lions roar,

  Or wolf-like howl away the midnight hour

  In dreadful watch around the magic bower?

  Remember Cyclops, and his bloody deed;

  The leader's rashness made the soldiers bleed.'

  "I heard incensed, and first resolved to speed

  My flying falchion at the rebel's head.

  Dear as he was, by ties of kindred bound,

  This hand had stretch'd him breathless on the ground.

  But all at once my interposing train

  For mercy pleaded, nor could plead in vain.

  'Leave here the man who dares his prince desert,

  Leave to repentance and his own sad heart,

  To guard the ship. Seek we the sacred shades

  Of Circe's palace, where Ulysses leads.'

  "This with one voice declared, the rising train

  Left the black vessel by the murmuring main.

  Shame touch'd Eurylochus' alter'd breast:

  He fear'd my threats, and follow'd with the rest.

  "Meanwhile the goddess, with indulgent cares

  And social joys, the late transform'd repairs;

  The bath, the feast, their fainting soul renews:

  Rich in refulgent robes, and dropping balmy dews:

  Brightening with joy, their eager eyes behold,

  Each other's face, and each his story told;

  Then gushing tears the narrative confound,

  And with their sobs the vaulted roof resound.

  When hush'd their passion, thus the goddess cries:

  'Ulysses, taught by labours to be wise,

  Let this short memory of
grief suffice.

  To me are known the various woes ye bore.

  In storms by sea, in perils on the shore;

  Forget whatever was in Fortune's power,

  And share the pleasures of this genial hour.

  Such be your mind as ere ye left your coast,

  Or learn'd to sorrow for a country lost.

  Exiles and wanderers now, where'er ye go,

  Too faithful memory renews your woe:

  The cause removed, habitual griefs remain,

  And the soul saddens by the use of pain.'

  "Her kind entreaty moved the general breast;

  Tired with long toil, we willing sunk to rest.

  We plied the banquet, and the bowl we crown'd,

  Till the full circle of the year came round.

  But when the seasons following in their train,

  Brought back the months, the days, and hours again;

  As from a lethargy at once they rise,

  And urge their chief with animating cries:

  "'Is this, Ulysses, our inglorious lot?

  And is the name of Ithaca forgot?

  Shall never the dear land in prospect rise,

  Or the loved palace glitter in our eyes?

  "Melting I heard; yet till the sun's decline

  Prolong'd the feast, and quaff'd the rosy wine

  But when the shades came on at evening hour,

  And all lay slumbering in the dusky bower,

  I came a suppliant to fair Circe's bed,

  The tender moment seized, and thus I said:

  'Be mindful, goddess! of thy promise made;

  Must sad Ulysses ever be delay'd?

  Around their lord my sad companions mourn,

  Each breast beats homeward, anxious to return:

  If but a moment parted from thy eyes,

  Their tears flow round me, and my heart complies.'

  "'Go then (she cried), ah go! yet think, not I,

  Not Circe, but the Fates, your wish deny.

  Ah, hope not yet to breathe thy native air!

  Far other journey first demands thy care;

  To tread the uncomfortable paths beneath,

  And view the realms of darkness and of death.

  There seek the Theban bard, deprived of sight;

  Within, irradiate with prophetic light;

  To whom Persephone, entire and whole,

  Gave to retain the unseparated soul:

  The rest are forms, of empty ether made;

  Impassive semblance, and a flitting shade.'

  "Struck at the word, my very heart was dead:

  Pensive I sate: my tears bedew'd the bed:

  To hate the light and life my soul begun,

  And saw that all was grief beneath the sun:

  Composed at length the gushing tears suppress'd,

  And my toss'd limbs now wearied into rest.

  'How shall I tread (I cried), ah, Circe! say,

  The dark descent, and who shall guide the way?