tore to his companions their
former shape.

"We, too, having fastened our ships to the shores of Circe, remembering
Antiphates and the cruel Cyclop, refused to go and enter her unknown
abode. By lot were we chosen; that lot sent both me and the faithful
Polytes, and Eurylochus, and Elpenor, too much addicted[23] to wine, and
twice nine[24] companions, to the walls of Circe. Soon as we reached
them, and stood at the threshold of her abode; a thousand wolves, and
bears and lionesses mixed with the wolves, created fear through meeting
them; but not one {of them} needed to be feared, and not one was there
to make a wound on our bodies. They wagged their caressing tails in the
air, and fawning, they attended our footsteps, until the female servants
received us, and led us, through halls roofed with marble, to their
mistress.

"She is sitting in a beautiful alcove, on her wonted throne, and clad in
a splendid robe; over it she is arrayed in a garment of gold tissue. The
Nereids and the Nymphs, together, who tease no fleeces with the motion
of their fingers nor draw out the ductile threads, are placing the
plants in due order, and arranging in baskets the flowers confusedly
scattered, and the shrubs variegated in their hues. She herself
prescribes the tasks that they perform; she herself is aware what is the
use of every leaf; what combined virtue there is in them when mixed; and
giving attention, she examines {each} herb as weighed.[25] When she
beheld us, having given and received a salutation, she gladdened her
countenance, and granted every thing to our wishes. And without delay,
she ordered the grains of parched barley to be mingled, and honey, and
the strength of wine, and curds with pressed milk. Secretly, she added
drugs to be concealed beneath this sweetness. We received the cups
presented by her sacred right hand. Soon as, in our thirst, we quaffed
them with parching mouth, and the ruthless Goddess, with her wand,
touched the extremity of our hair (I am both ashamed, and {yet} I will
tell of it), I began to grow rough with bristles, and no longer to be
able to speak; and, instead of words, to utter a harsh noise, and to
grovel on the ground with all my face. I felt, too, my mouth receive a
hard skin, with its crooked snout, and my neck swell with muscles; and
with the member with which, the moment before, I had received the cup,
with the same did I impress my footsteps.

"With the rest who had suffered the same