AEOLUS, THE LAESTRYGONES, CIRCE.





“Thence we went on to the Aeolian island where lives Aeolus son of

Hippotas, dear to the immortal gods. It is an island that floats (as it

were) upon the sea,83 iron bound with a wall that girds it. Now, Aeolus

has six daughters and six lusty sons, so he made the sons marry the

daughters, and they all live with their dear father and mother,

feasting and enjoying every conceivable kind of luxury. All day long

the atmosphere of the house is loaded with the savour of roasting meats

till it groans again, yard and all; but by night they sleep on their

well made bedsteads, each with his own wife between the blankets. These

were the people among whom we had now come.



“Aeolus entertained me for a whole month asking me questions all the

time about Troy, the Argive fleet, and the return of the Achaeans. I

told him exactly how everything had happened, and when I said I must

go, and asked him to further me on my way, he made no sort of

difficulty, but set about doing so at once. Moreover, he flayed me a

prime ox-hide to hold the ways of the roaring winds, which he shut up

in the hide as in a sack—for Jove had made him captain over the winds,

and he could stir or still each one of them according to his own

pleasure. He put the sack in the ship and bound the mouth so tightly

with a silver thread that not even a breath of a side-wind could blow

from any quarter. The West wind which was fair for us did he alone let

blow as it chose; but it all came to nothing, for we were lost through

our own folly.



“Nine days and nine nights did we sail, and on the tenth day our native

land showed on the horizon. We got so close in that we could see the

stubble fires burning, and I, being then dead beat, fell into a light

sleep, for I had never let the rudder out of my own hands, that we

might get home the faster. On this the men fell to talking among

themselves, and said I was bringing back gold and silver in the sack

that Aeolus had given me. ‘Bless my heart,’ would one turn to his

neighbour, saying, ‘how this man gets honoured and makes friends to

whatever city or country he may go. See what fine prizes he is taking

home from Troy, while we, who have travelled just as far as he has,

come back with hands as empty as we set out with—and now Aeolus has

given him ever so much more. Quick—let us see what it all is, and how

much gold and silver there is in the sack he gave him.’



“Thus they talked and evil counsels prevailed. They loosed the sack,

whereupon the wind flew howling forth and raised a storm that carried

us weeping out to sea and away from our own country. Then I awoke, and

knew not whether to throw myself into the sea or to live on and make

the best of it; but I bore it, covered myself up, and lay down in the

ship, while the men lamented bitterly as the fierce winds bore our

fleet back to the Aeolian island.



“When we reached it we went ashore to take in water, and dined hard by

the ships. Immediately after dinner I took a herald and one of my men

and went straight to the house of Aeolus, where I found him feasting

with his wife and family; so we sat down as suppliants on the

threshold. They were astounded when they saw us and said, ‘Ulysses,

what brings you here? What god has been ill-treating you? We took great

pains to further you on your way home to Ithaca, or wherever it was

that you wanted to go to.’



“Thus did they speak, but I answered sorrowfully, ‘My men have undone

me; they, and cruel sleep, have ruined me. My friends, mend me this

mischief, for you can if you will.’



“I spoke as movingly as I could, but they said nothing, till their

father answered, ‘Vilest of mankind, get you gone at once out of the

island; him whom heaven hates will I in no wise help. Be off, for you

come here as one abhorred of heaven.’ And with these words he sent me

sorrowing from his door.



“Thence we sailed sadly on till the men were worn out with long and

fruitless rowing, for there was no longer any wind to help them. Six

days, night and day did we toil, and on the seventh day we reached the

rocky stronghold of Lamus—Telepylus, the city of the Laestrygonians,

where the shepherd who is driving in his sheep and goats [to be milked]

salutes him who is driving out his flock [to feed] and this last

answers the salute. In that country a man who could do without sleep

might earn double wages, one as a herdsman of cattle, and another as a

shepherd, for they work much the same by night as they do by day.84



“When we reached the harbour we found it land-locked under steep

cliffs, with a narrow entrance between two headlands. My captains took

all their ships inside, and made them fast close to one another, for

there was never so much as a breath of wind inside, but it was always

dead calm. I kept my own ship outside, and moored it to a rock at the

very end of the point; then I climbed a high rock to reconnoitre, but

could see no sign neither of man nor cattle, only some smoke rising

from the ground. So I sent two of my company with an attendant to find

out what sort of people the inhabitants were.



“The men when they got on shore followed a level road by which the

people draw their firewood from the mountains into the town, till

presently they met a young woman who had come outside to fetch water,

and who was daughter to a Laestrygonian named Antiphates. She was going

to the fountain Artacia from which the people bring in their water, and

when my men had come close up to her, they asked her who the king of

that country might be, and over what kind of people he ruled; so she

directed them to her father’s house, but when they got there they found

his wife to be a giantess as huge as a mountain, and they were

horrified at the sight of her.



“She at once called her husband Antiphates from the place of assembly,

and forthwith he set about killing my men. He snatched up one of them,

and began to make his dinner off him then and there, whereon the other

two ran back to the ships as fast as ever they could. But Antiphates

raised a hue-and-cry after them, and thousands of sturdy Laestrygonians

sprang up from every quarter—ogres, not men. They threw vast rocks at

us from the cliffs as though they had been mere stones, and I heard the

horrid sound of the ships crunching up against one another, and the

death cries of my men, as the Laestrygonians speared them like fishes

and took them home to eat them. While they were thus killing my men

within the harbour I drew my sword, cut the cable of my own ship, and

told my men to row with all their might if they too would not fare like

the rest; so they laid out for their lives, and we were thankful enough

when we got into open water out of reach of the rocks they hurled at

us. As for the others there was not one of them left.



“Thence we sailed sadly on, glad to have escaped death, though we had

lost our comrades, and came to the Aeaean island, where Circe lives—a

great and cunning goddess who is own sister to the magician Aeetes—for

they are both children of the sun by Perse, who is daughter to Oceanus.

We brought our ship into a safe harbour without a word, for some god

guided us thither, and having landed we lay there for two days and two

nights, worn out in body and mind. When the morning of the third day

came I took my spear and my sword, and went away from the ship to

reconnoitre, and see if I could discover signs of human handiwork, or

hear the sound of voices. Climbing to the top of a high look-out I

espied the smoke of Circe’s house rising upwards amid a dense forest of

trees, and when I saw this I doubted whether, having seen the smoke, I

would not go on at once and find out more, but in the end I deemed it

best to go back to the ship, give the men their dinners, and send some

of them instead of going myself.



“When I had nearly got back to the ship some god took pity upon my

solitude, and sent a fine antlered stag right into the middle of my

path. He was coming down his pasture in the forest to drink of the

river, for the heat of the sun drove him, and as he passed I struck him

in the middle of the back; the bronze point of the spear went clean

through him, and he lay groaning in the dust until the life went out of

him. Then I set my foot upon him, drew my spear from the wound, and

laid it down; I also gathered rough grass and rushes and twisted them

into a fathom or so of good stout rope, with which I bound the four

feet of the noble creature together; having so done I hung him round my

neck and walked back to the ship leaning upon my spear, for the stag

was much too big for me to be able to carry him on my shoulder,

steadying him with one hand. As I threw him down in front of the ship,

I called the men and spoke cheeringly man by man to each of them. ‘Look

here my friends,’ said I, ‘we are not going to die so much before our

time after all, and at any rate we will not starve so long as we have

got something to eat and drink on board.’ On this they uncovered their

heads upon the sea shore and admired the stag, for he was indeed a

splendid fellow. Then, when they had feasted their eyes upon him

sufficiently, they washed their hands and began to cook him for dinner.



“Thus through the livelong day to the going down of the sun we stayed

there eating and drinking our fill, but when the sun went down and it

came on dark, we camped upon the sea shore. When the child of morning,

rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, I called a council and said, ‘My friends,

we are in very great difficulties; listen therefore to me. We have no

idea where the sun either sets or rises,85 so that we do not even know

East from West. I see no way out of it; nevertheless, we must try and

find one. We are certainly on an island, for I went as high as I could

this morning, and saw the sea reaching all round it to the horizon; it

lies low, but towards the middle I saw smoke rising from out of a thick

forest of trees.’



“Their hearts sank as they heard me, for they remembered how they had

been treated by the Laestrygonian Antiphates, and by the savage ogre

Polyphemus. They wept bitterly in their dismay, but there was nothing

to be got by crying, so I divided them into two companies and set a

captain over each; I gave one company to Eurylochus, while I took

command of the other myself. Then we cast lots in a helmet, and the lot

fell upon Eurylochus; so he set out with his twenty-two men, and they

wept, as also did we who were left behind.



“When they reached Circe’s house they found it built of cut stones, on

a site that could be seen from far, in the middle of the forest. There

were wild mountain wolves and lions prowling all round it—poor

bewitched creatures whom she had tamed by her enchantments and drugged

into subjection. They did not attack my men, but wagged their great

tails, fawned upon them, and rubbed their noses lovingly against

them.86 As hounds crowd round their master when they see him coming

from dinner—for they know he will bring them something—even so did

these wolves and lions with their great claws fawn upon my men, but the

men were terribly frightened at seeing such strange creatures.

Presently they reached the gates of the goddess’s house, and as they

stood there they could hear Circe within, singing most beautifully as

she worked at her loom, making a web so fine, so soft, and of such

dazzling colours as no one but a goddess could weave. On this Polites,

whom I valued and trusted more than any other of my men, said, ‘There

is some one inside working at a loom and singing most beautifully; the

whole place resounds with it, let us call her and see whether she is

woman or goddess.’



“They called her and she came down, unfastened the door, and bade them

enter. They, thinking no evil, followed her, all except Eurylochus, who

suspected mischief and staid outside. When she had got them into her

house, she set them upon benches and seats and mixed them a mess with

cheese, honey, meal, and Pramnian wine, but she drugged it with wicked

poisons to make them forget their homes, and when they had drunk she

turned them into pigs by a stroke of her wand, and shut them up in her

pig-styes. They were like pigs—head, hair, and all, and they grunted

just as pigs do; but their senses were the same as before, and they

remembered everything.



“Thus then were they shut up squealing, and Circe threw them some

acorns and beech masts such as pigs eat, but Eurylochus hurried back to

tell me about the sad fate of our comrades. He was so overcome with

dismay that though he tried to speak he could find no words to do so;

his eyes filled with tears and he could only sob and sigh, till at last

we forced his story out of him, and he told us what had happened to the

others.



“‘We went,’ said he, ‘as you told us, through the forest, and in the

middle of it there was a fine house built with cut stones in a place

that could be seen from far. There we found a woman, or else she was a

goddess, working at her loom and singing sweetly; so the men shouted to

her and called her, whereon she at once came down, opened the door, and

invited us in. The others did not suspect any mischief so they followed

her into the house, but I staid where I was, for I thought there might

be some treachery. From that moment I saw them no more, for not one of

them ever came out, though I sat a long time watching for them.’



“Then I took my sword of bronze and slung it over my shoulders; I also

took my bow, and told Eurylochus to come back with me and shew me the

way. But he laid hold of me with both his hands and spoke piteously,

saying, ‘Sir, do not force me to go with you, but let me stay here, for

I know you will not bring one of them back with you, nor even return

alive yourself; let us rather see if we cannot escape at any rate with

the few that are left us, for we may still save our lives.’



“‘Stay where you are, then,’ answered I, ‘eating and drinking at the

ship, but I must go, for I am most urgently bound to do so.’



“With this I left the ship and went up inland. When I got through the

charmed grove, and was near the great house of the enchantress Circe, I

met Mercury with his golden wand, disguised as a young man in the

hey-day of his youth and beauty with the down just coming upon his

face. He came up to me and took my hand within his own, saying, ‘My

poor unhappy man, whither are you going over this mountain top, alone

and without knowing the way? Your men are shut up in Circe’s pigstyes,

like so many wild boars in their lairs. You surely do not fancy that

you can set them free? I can tell you that you will never get back and

will have to stay there with the rest of them. But never mind, I will

protect you and get you out of your difficulty. Take this herb, which

is one of great virtue, and keep it about you when you go to Circe’s

house, it will be a talisman to you against every kind of mischief.



“‘And I will tell you of all the wicked witchcraft that Circe will try

to practice upon you. She will mix a mess for you to drink, and she

will drug the meal with which she makes it, but she will not be able to

charm you, for the virtue of the herb that I shall give you will

prevent her spells from working. I will tell you all about it. When

Circe strikes you with her wand, draw your sword and spring upon her as

though you were going to kill her. She will then be frightened, and

will desire you to go to bed with her; on this you must not point blank

refuse her, for you want her to set your companions free, and to take

good care also of yourself, but you must make her swear solemnly by all

the blessed gods that she will plot no further mischief against you, or

else when she has got you naked she will unman you and make you fit for

nothing.’



“As he spoke he pulled the herb out of the ground and shewed me what it

was like. The root was black, while the flower was as white as milk;

the gods call it Moly, and mortal men cannot uproot it, but the gods

can do whatever they like.



“Then Mercury went back to high Olympus passing over the wooded island;

but I fared onward to the house of Circe, and my heart was clouded with

care as I walked along. When I got to the gates I stood there and

called the goddess, and as soon as she heard me she came down, opened

the door, and asked me to come in; so I followed her—much troubled in

my mind. She set me on a richly decorated seat inlaid with silver,

there was a footstool also under my feet, and she mixed a mess in a

golden goblet for me to drink; but she drugged it, for she meant me

mischief. When she had given it me, and I had drunk it without its

charming me, she struck me with her wand. ‘There now,’ she cried, ‘be

off to the pigstye, and make your lair with the rest of them.’



“But I rushed at her with my sword drawn as though I would kill her,

whereon she fell with a loud scream, clasped my knees, and spoke

piteously, saying, ‘Who and whence are you? from what place and people

have you come? How can it be that my drugs have no power to charm you?

Never yet was any man able to stand so much as a taste of the herb I

gave you; you must be spell-proof; surely you can be none other than

the bold hero Ulysses, who Mercury always said would come here some day

with his ship while on his way home from Troy; so be it then; sheathe

your sword and let us go to bed, that we may make friends and learn to

trust each other.’



“And I answered, ‘Circe, how can you expect me to be friendly with you

when you have just been turning all my men into pigs? And now that you

have got me here myself, you mean me mischief when you ask me to go to

bed with you, and will unman me and make me fit for nothing. I shall

certainly not consent to go to bed with you unless you will first take

your solemn oath to plot no further harm against me.’



“So she swore at once as I had told her, and when she had completed her

oath then I went to bed with her.



“Meanwhile her four servants, who are her housemaids, set about their

work. They are the children of the groves and fountains, and of the

holy waters that run down into the sea. One of them spread a fair

purple cloth over a seat, and laid a carpet underneath it. Another

brought tables of silver up to the seats, and set them with baskets of

gold. A third mixed some sweet wine with water in a silver bowl and put

golden cups upon the tables, while the fourth brought in water and set

it to boil in a large cauldron over a good fire which she had lighted.

When the water in the cauldron was boiling,87 she poured cold into it

till it was just as I liked it, and then she set me in a bath and began

washing me from the cauldron about the head and shoulders, to take the

tire and stiffness out of my limbs. As soon as she had done washing me

and anointing me with oil, she arrayed me in a good cloak and shirt and

led me to a richly decorated seat inlaid with silver; there was a

footstool also under my feet. A maid servant then brought me water in a

beautiful golden ewer and poured it into a silver basin for me to wash

my hands, and she drew a clean table beside me; an upper servant

brought me bread and offered me many things of what there was in the

house, and then Circe bade me eat, but I would not, and sat without

heeding what was before me, still moody and suspicious.



“When Circe saw me sitting there without eating, and in great grief,

she came to me and said, ‘Ulysses, why do you sit like that as though

you were dumb, gnawing at your own heart, and refusing both meat and

drink? Is it that you are still suspicious? You ought not to be, for I

have already sworn solemnly that I will not hurt you.’



“And I said, ‘Circe, no man with any sense of what is right can think

of either eating or drinking in your house until you have set his

friends free and let him see them. If you want me to eat and drink, you

must free my men and bring them to me that I may see them with my own

eyes.’



“When I had said this she went straight through the court with her wand

in her hand and opened the pigstye doors. My men came out like so many

prime hogs and stood looking at her, but she went about among them and

anointed each with a second drug, whereon the bristles that the bad

drug had given them fell off, and they became men again, younger than

they were before, and much taller and better looking. They knew me at

once, seized me each of them by the hand, and wept for joy till the

whole house was filled with the sound of their halloa-ballooing, and

Circe herself was so sorry for them that she came up to me and said,

‘Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, go back at once to the sea where you

have left your ship, and first draw it on to the land. Then, hide all

your ship’s gear and property in some cave, and come back here with

your men.’



“I agreed to this, so I went back to the sea shore, and found the men

at the ship weeping and wailing most piteously. When they saw me the

silly blubbering fellows began frisking round me as calves break out

and gambol round their mothers, when they see them coming home to be

milked after they have been feeding all day, and the homestead resounds

with their lowing. They seemed as glad to see me as though they had got

back to their own rugged Ithaca, where they had been born and bred.

‘Sir,’ said the affectionate creatures, ‘we are as glad to see you back

as though we had got safe home to Ithaca; but tell us all about the

fate of our comrades.’



“I spoke comfortingly to them and said, ‘We must draw our ship on to

the land, and hide the ship’s gear with all our property in some cave;

then come with me all of you as fast as you can to Circe’s house, where

you will find your comrades eating and drinking in the midst of great

abundance.’



“On this the men would have come with me at once, but Eurylochus tried

to hold them back and said, ‘Alas, poor wretches that we are, what will

become of us? Rush not on your ruin by going to the house of Circe, who

will turn us all into pigs or wolves or lions, and we shall have to

keep guard over her house. Remember how the Cyclops treated us when our

comrades went inside his cave, and Ulysses with them. It was all

through his sheer folly that those men lost their lives.’



“When I heard him I was in two minds whether or no to draw the keen

blade that hung by my sturdy thigh and cut his head off in spite of his

being a near relation of my own; but the men interceded for him and

said, ‘Sir, if it may so be, let this fellow stay here and mind the

ship, but take the rest of us with you to Circe’s house.’



“On this we all went inland, and Eurylochus was not left behind after

all, but came on too, for he was frightened by the severe reprimand

that I had given him.



“Meanwhile Circe had been seeing that the men who had been left behind

were washed and anointed with olive oil; she had also given them

woollen cloaks and shirts, and when we came we found them all

comfortably at dinner in her house. As soon as the men saw each other

face to face and knew one another, they wept for joy and cried aloud

till the whole palace rang again. Thereon Circe came up to me and said,

‘Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, tell your men to leave off crying; I

know how much you have all of you suffered at sea, and how ill you have

fared among cruel savages on the mainland, but that is over now, so

stay here, and eat and drink till you are once more as strong and

hearty as you were when you left Ithaca; for at present you are

weakened both in body and mind; you keep all the time thinking of the

hardships you have suffered during your travels, so that you have no

more cheerfulness left in you.’



“Thus did she speak and we assented. We stayed with Circe for a whole

twelvemonth feasting upon an untold quantity both of meat and wine. But

when the year had passed in the waning of moons and the long days had

come round, my men called me apart and said, ‘Sir, it is time you began

to think about going home, if so be you are to be spared to see your

house and native country at all.’



“Thus did they speak and I assented. Thereon through the livelong day

to the going down of the sun we feasted our fill on meat and wine, but

when the sun went down and it came on dark the men laid themselves down

to sleep in the covered cloisters. I, however, after I had got into bed

with Circe, besought her by her knees, and the goddess listened to what

I had got to say. ‘Circe,’ said I, ‘please to keep the promise you made

me about furthering me on my homeward voyage. I want to get back and so

do my men, they are always pestering me with their complaints as soon

as ever your back is turned.’



“And the goddess answered, ‘Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, you shall

none of you stay here any longer if you do not want to, but there is

another journey which you have got to take before you can sail

homewards. You must go to the house of Hades and of dread Proserpine to

consult the ghost of the blind Theban prophet Teiresias, whose reason

is still unshaken. To him alone has Proserpine left his understanding

even in death, but the other ghosts flit about aimlessly.’



“I was dismayed when I heard this. I sat up in bed and wept, and would

gladly have lived no longer to see the light of the sun, but presently

when I was tired of weeping and tossing myself about, I said, ‘And who

shall guide me upon this voyage—for the house of Hades is a port that

no ship can reach.’



“‘You will want no guide,’ she answered; ‘raise your mast, set your

white sails, sit quite still, and the North Wind will blow you there of

itself. When your ship has traversed the waters of Oceanus, you will

reach the fertile shore of Proserpine’s country with its groves of tall

poplars and willows that shed their fruit untimely; here beach your

ship upon the shore of Oceanus, and go straight on to the dark abode of

Hades. You will find it near the place where the rivers Pyriphlegethon

and Cocytus (which is a branch of the river Styx) flow into Acheron,

and you will see a rock near it, just where the two roaring rivers run

into one another.



“‘When you have reached this spot, as I now tell you, dig a trench a

cubit or so in length, breadth, and depth, and pour into it as a

drink-offering to all the dead, first, honey mixed with milk, then

wine, and in the third place water—sprinkling white barley meal over

the whole. Moreover you must offer many prayers to the poor feeble

ghosts, and promise them that when you get back to Ithaca you will

sacrifice a barren heifer to them, the best you have, and will load the

pyre with good things. More particularly you must promise that

Teiresias shall have a black sheep all to himself, the finest in all

your flocks.



“‘When you shall have thus besought the ghosts with your prayers, offer

them a ram and a black ewe, bending their heads towards Erebus; but

yourself turn away from them as though you would make towards the

river. On this, many dead men’s ghosts will come to you, and you must

tell your men to skin the two sheep that you have just killed, and

offer them as a burnt sacrifice with prayers to Hades and to

Proserpine. Then draw your sword and sit there, so as to prevent any

other poor ghost from coming near the spilt blood before Teiresias

shall have answered your questions. The seer will presently come to

you, and will tell you about your voyage—what stages you are to make,

and how you are to sail the sea so as to reach your home.’



“It was day-break by the time she had done speaking, so she dressed me

in my shirt and cloak. As for herself she threw a beautiful light

gossamer fabric over her shoulders, fastening it with a golden girdle

round her waist, and she covered her head with a mantle. Then I went

about among the men everywhere all over the house, and spoke kindly to

each of them man by man: ‘You must not lie sleeping here any longer,’

said I to them, ‘we must be going, for Circe has told me all about it.’

And on this they did as I bade them.



“Even so, however, I did not get them away without misadventure. We had

with us a certain youth named Elpenor, not very remarkable for sense or

courage, who had got drunk and was lying on the house-top away from the

rest of the men, to sleep off his liquor in the cool. When he heard the

noise of the men bustling about, he jumped up on a sudden and forgot

all about coming down by the main staircase, so he tumbled right off

the roof and broke his neck, and his soul went down to the house of

Hades.



“When I had got the men together I said to them, ‘You think you are

about to start home again, but Circe has explained to me that instead

of this, we have got to go to the house of Hades and Proserpine to

consult the ghost of the Theban prophet Teiresias.’



“The men were broken-hearted as they heard me, and threw themselves on

the ground groaning and tearing their hair, but they did not mend

matters by crying. When we reached the sea shore, weeping and lamenting

our fate, Circe brought the ram and the ewe, and we made them fast hard

by the ship. She passed through the midst of us without our knowing it,

for who can see the comings and goings of a god, if the god does not

wish to be seen?