"And in the fair-haired goddess’ gate they stood, And heard the winning voice of Circe, singing Inside, as to and fro she went in front Of her great deathless web, a work like that Of goddesses, so fine, so fair and bright."

"Now meantime in her halls her maids were busy; Four maids, who do the service of her house; And they are children of the wells and woods And sacred streams that flow forth to the sea. One of her maids was spreading o’er the chairs Fine purple rugs above and under them A linen cover; while another drew Tables of silver up beside the seats And set on them gold baskets; and the third Mixed in a silver bowl the honeyed wine Most sweet, and served out golden cups; the fourth Brought water, and then kindled a big fire Beneath a mighty cauldron, and the water Drew hot, and when it boiled in the bright bronze, She set me in a bath and tempering it To comfortable warmth, she bathed me with it From the great cauldron, pouring water down My head and shoulders, till she took away Heart-breaking weariness from all my limbs. But when she had bathed and had anointed me With olive oil, a goodly cloak and tunic She wrapt around me, and then brought me in, And placed me on a silver-studded chair, A fine, rich chair, with a foot-stool beneath. Then a maid brought me water for my hands, And poured it from a fair gold jug for washing Above a silver basin, and drew up Near me a polished board; and a grave dame Brought and set bread and added many dainties, Providing generously of what she had, And bade me eat. But my heart liked it not: With other thoughts I sate, and boded evil. [...] “O Circe, what right-minded man could ever Endure to taste of meat and drink, before He had redeemed his men, and had beheld them With his own eyes? But if in kindliness Thou bidst me eat and drink, then let them go, That mine eyes may behold my trusty friends.” At that, out through the hall with wand in hand Went Circe, and she opened the stye-doors And drove them out like swine of nine years old: And there they stood before her, and she went Among them, and anointed each of them With a new charm: and from their limbs fell off The bristles, which the deadly drug had made Grow on them, that the lady Circe gave them: And they were men once more, and younger than They were before and goodlier far and taller To see: and they all knew me, and each man Clung to my hands, and o’er them all there came Passionate sobbing, till the house around Resounded strangely. Even the goddess herself Was moved to pity, [...] Within her bouse meantime in kindly wise Had Circe bathed and rubbed with olive oil And clad my other men in woolly cloaks And tunics; and we found them all within Feasting in state. But when they saw and knew Each other face to face, they wept and wailed Till the house rang around: but near she came, That radiant goddess, and to me she said: “Set up no more this strong lament: I know Myself of all the pains ye have endured Upon the fishy deep, and all the wrongs That cruel men have done to you on land: But come, eat meat and drink ye wine, until Ye get again such spirit in your breasts As when at first ye left your native land, Rough Ithaca: but now are ye dried up, And listless, thinking always of the toil Of roving, and your heart is never merry, Because in truth ye have been sorely tried.” So said she, and our lordly souls assented. So there for one full year day after day Feasting on meat abundant and sweet wine We tarried. [...]"

"And Perseïs, the daughter of Ocean, bare to unwearying Helios Circe and Aeëtes the king."

"And quickly she came out and opened wide The shining doors and bade them in, and all Followed her in, the fools. Eurylochus Remained behind, because he smelt a trap. She brought them in and seated them on chairs And settles, and prepared for them a mess Of cheese and barley meal and yellow honey With Pramnian wine, and in the food she mixed Dark drugs, to make them utterly forget Their native land. Now when she gave it them And they had drunk, she rapped them with her rod At once, and fell to penning them in styes: And so they had the heads and voice and bristles And shape of pigs, but even as before Their minds abode unchanged. Thus were they penned There crying, and before them Circe tossed Acorns and mast and cornel fruit for food, Such things as wallowing pigs are wont to eat."

"Circe of the Sudanese dancing world. A glitter of tinsel, a jingle of myriad dangling coins, vivid touches of scarlet among embroidered vestments, shapely arms that curve and float in graceful butterfly gyrations a lithe mahogany form of exquisite contour, and a pair of large black animated eyes; this is the Nubian dancing-girl—a siren of the lands of the desert."

"Something of glass about her, of dead water, Chills and holds us, Far more fatal than painted flesh or the lodestone of live hair This despair of crystal brilliance."

"And now she knows, at agate portals bright, How Circe and her poisons have a home, Carved in one ruby that a Titan lost, Where icy philters brim with scarlet foam, ’Mid hiss of oils in burnished caldrons tost, While thickly from her prey his life-tide drips, In turbid dyes that tinge her torture-dome; As craftily she gleans her deadly dews, With gyving spells not Pluto’s queen can use, Or listens to her victim’s moan, and sips Her darkest wine, and smiles with wicked lips."

"Fourteen small broider’d berries on the hem Of Circe’s mantle, each of magic gold;"

"Circe’s this craft, the trim-coifed goddess."

"Till we resemble those strange-headed things, Herded away behind her island throne, Chimaeras, tiger-apes, and wolfish swine."

"Ah, kinder far than thy fell philtres, Circe, The ravening Cyclops and the Læstrigon!"

"To the much-tossed Ulysses, never done With woman whether gowned as wife or whore, Penelope and Circe seemed as one: She like a whore made his lewd fancies run, And wifely she a hero to him bore."

"... Then we reached the isle Ææan, where the fair-haired Circe dwelt, An awful goddess, using human speech, Own sister to Æetes, that dark mind; And Helios who gives light to mortal men Begat them both, and Perse was their mother, Daughter of Ocean."

"There are some who say that not far from Gaeta, a city in Campania, this woman was powerful because of her force and eloquence and that she did not much care about keeping her chastity untarnished as long as she got what she desired. Thus with her wiles and elegant words she not only brought many of those who reached her shore to her pleasures but induced some to piracy."

"If we consider human behavior, we can well understand from this example that there are many Circes everywhere and many other men are changed into beasts by their lustfulness and their vices. And Ulysses, instructed by Mercury’s advice, obviously signifies the wise man who cannot be bound by the trickery of deceitful people and who by his example often loosens the bonds of those who are held."

"... There was at hand A little plash that bowwed like a bowe that standeth bent, Where Scylla woonted was to rest herself, and thither went From rage of sea and ayre, what tyme the sonne amid the skye Is hotest making shadowes short by mounting up on hye. This plash did Circe then infect ageinst that Scylla came, And with her poysons which had powre most monstrous shapes to frame Defyled it. Shee sprincled there the jewce of venymd weedes, And thryce nyne tymes with witching mouth shee softly mumbling, reedes A charme ryght darke of uncouth woordes. No sooner Scylla came Within this plash, and to the waast had waded in the same, But that shee sawe her hinderloynes with barking buggs atteint."

"His bodie was as straight as Circes wand,"

"Here, shelter'd by a friendly tree, In Teian measures you shall sing Bright Circe and Penelope, Love-smitten both by one sharp sting."

"That sting it was which his mother Circe, skilled in many drugs, gave of old to Telegonus for his long hilted spear, that he might array for his foes death from the sea. And he beached his ship on the island that pastured goats; and he knew not that he was harrying the flocks of his own father, and on his aged sire who came to the rescue, even on him whom he was seeking, he brought an evil fate. There the cunning Odysseus, who had passed through countless woes of the sea in his laborious adventures, the grievous Sting-ray slew with one blow."

"When the Argonauts were already sailing past the Eridanus river, Zeus sent a furious storm upon them, and drove them out of their course, because he was angry at the murder of Apsyrtus. And as they were sailing past the Apsyrtides Islands, the ship spoke, saying that the wrath of Zeus would not cease unless they journeyed to Ausonia and were purified by Circe for the murder of Apsyrtus. So when they had sailed past the Ligurian and Celtic nations and had voyaged through the Sardinian Sea, they skirted Tyrrhenia and came to Aeaea, where they supplicated Circe and were purified."

"With one ship he put in to the Aeaean isle. It was inhabited by Circe, a daughter of the Sun and of Perse, and a sister of Aeetes; skilled in all enchantments was she. Having divided his comrades, Ulysses himself abode by the ship, in accordance with the lot, but Eurylochus with two and twenty comrades repaired to Circe. At her call they all entered except Eurylochus; and to each she gave a tankard she had filled with cheese and honey and barley meal and wine, and mixed with an enchantment. And when they had drunk, she touched them . with a wand and changed their shapes, and some she made wolves, and some swine, and some asses, and some lions. But Eurylochus saw these things and reported them to Ulysses. And Ulysses went to Circe with moly,! which he had received from Hermes, and throwing the moly among her enchantments, he drank and alone was not enchanted. Then drawing his sword, he would have killed her, but she appeased his wrath and restored his comrades. And when he had taken an oath of her that he should suffer no harm, Ulysses shared her bed, and a son, Telegonus, was born to him. Having tarried a year there, he sailed the ocean, and offered sacrifices to the souls, and by Circe’s advice consulted the soothsayer Tiresias, and beheld the souls both of heroes and of heroines. He also looked on his mother Anticlia and Elpenor, who had died of a fall in the house of Circe.And having come to Circe he was sent on his way by her, and put to sea, and sailed past the isle of the Sirens. [...] Sailing by them, Ulysses wished to hear their song, so by Circe’s advice he stopped the ears of his comrades with wax, and ordered that he should himself be bound to the mast."

"By the advice of Circe he shunned the passage by the Wandering Rocks, and in sailing past the cliff of Scylla he stood fully armed on the poop."

"Next, skirting still the shore, they run Fair Circe's magic coast along, Where she, bright daughter of the sun, ⁠ Her forest fastness thrills with song, And for a nightly blaze consumes Rich cedar in her stately rooms, While, sounding shrill, the comb is sped From end to end adown the thread Thence hear they many a midnight roar: The lion strives to burst his cell: The raging bear, the foaming boar Alternate with the gaunt wolf's yell: Whom from the human form divine For malice' sake the ruthless queen Had changed by pharmacy malign To bristly hide and bestial mien."

"With charms did Circe turne and change Ulisses fellowes shapes"

"But Phrixus came to the Colchians, whose king was Aeetes, son of the Sun and of Perseis, and brother of Circe and Pasiphae, whom Minos married."

"Ravish’d, she lifted her Circean head,"

"And deadly fear seized them as they heard the voice that told of the grievous wrath of Zeus. For it proclaimed that they should not escape the paths of an endless sea nor grievous tempests, unless Circe should purge away the guilt of the ruthless murder of Apsyrtus; ..."

"He came to the island of Aenaria, to Circe, daughter of Sol, who, by giving a potion, used to change men into wild beasts. When he sent Eurylochus to her with twenty-two of his men, she changed them from human form; but Eurylochus in fear did not enter, but fled and reported to Ulysses. Ulysses himself alone went to her, but on the way Mercury gave him a charm, and showed him how to deceive Circe. After he came to Circe and took the cup from her, at Mercury's suggestion he put in the charm, and drew his sword, threatening to kill her unless she restored his comrades. Then Circe knew that this had not happened without the will of the gods, and so, promising that she would not do the like to him, she restored his comrades to their earlier forms. She herself lay with him, conceived, and bore two sons, Nausithous and Telegonus."

"And Circe the daughter of Helius, Hyperion's son, loved steadfast Odysseus and bare Agrius and Latinus who was faultless and strong: also she brought forth Telegonus by the will of golden Aphrodite. And they ruled over the famous Tyrsenians, very far off in a recess of the holy islands."

"And quickly from there they passed through the sea, beholding the Tyrrhenian shores of Ausonia; and they came to the famous harbour of Aeaea, and from the ship they cast hawsers to the shore near at hand. And here they found Circe bathing her head in the salt sea-spray, for sorely had she been seared by visions of the night. With blood her chambers and all the walls of her palace seemed to be running, and flame was devouring all the magic herbs with which she used to bewitch strangers whoever came; and she herself with murderous blood quenched the glowing flame, drawing it up in her hands; and she ceased from deadly fear. Wherefore when morning came she rose, and with sea-spray was bathing her hair and her garments. And beasts, not resembling the beasts of the wild, nor yet like men in body, but with a medley of limbs, went in a throng, as sheep from the fold in multitudes follow the shepherd. Such creatures, compacted of various limbs, did earth herself produce from the primeval slime when she had not yet grown solid beneath a rainless sky nor yet had received a drop of moisture from the rays of the scorching sun; but time combined these forms and marshalled them in their ranks; in such wise these monsters shapeless of form followed her."

"And straightway Circe became aware of the doom of a suppliant and the guilt of murder. Wherefore in reverence for the ordinance of Zeus, the god of suppliants, who is a god of wrath yet mightily aids slayers of men, she began to offer the sacrifice with which ruthless suppliants are cleansed from guilt when they approach the altar. First, to atone for the murder still unexpiated, she held above their heads the young of a sow whose dugs yet swelled from the fruit of the womb, and, severing its neck, sprinkled their hands with the blood; and again she made propitiation with other drink offerings, calling on Zeus the Cleanser, the protector of murder-stained suppliants, And all the defilements in a mass her attendants bore forth from the palace—the Naiad nymphs who ministered all things to her. And within, Circe, standing by the hearth, kept burning atonement-cakes without wine, praying the while that she might stay from their wrath the terrible Furies, and that Zeus himself might be propitious and gentle to them both, whether with hands stained by the blood of a stranger or, as kinsfolk, by the blood of a kinsman, they should implore his grace."

"This the house of Circe, queen of charms,—"

"... Now in the forest glades they found The house of Circe built of polished stone, With a wide outlook; and all round about Were mountain wolves and lions, which she herself Had charmed with the bad drugs she gave them: yet They sprang not at my men, but pranced about And fawned, their long tails wagging. As when dogs Fawn on their master coming from a feast, Because he always brings them bits of food To soothe their temper, so around them fawned The strong-clawed wolves and lions."

"As one that for a weary space has lain Lull’d by the song of Circe and her wine In gardens near the pale of Proserpine, ..."

"When Telegonus learned from Circe that he was a son of Ulysses, he sailed in search of him. And having come to the island of Ithaca, he drove away some of the cattle, and when Ulysses defended them, Telegonus wounded him with the spear he had in his hands, which was barbed with the spine of a stingray, and Ulysses died of the wound. But when Telegonus recognized him, he bitterly lamented, and conveyed the corpse and Penelope to Circe, and there he married Penelope. And Circe sent them both away to the Islands of the Blest."

"Or Circe’s cup, embossed with snakes that wound Through buds and myrtles, fold on scaly fold;"

"With lovers, ’twas of old the fashion By presents to convey their passion; No matter what the gift they sent, The Lady saw that love was meant. Fair Atalanta, as a favour, Took the boar’s head her Hero gave her; Nor could the bristly thing affront her, ’Twas a fit present from a hunter."

"Even here, in this region of wonders, I find That light-footed Fancy leaves Truth far behind, Or at least, like Hippomenes, turns her astray By the golden illusions he flings in her way."

"The innocent cause of so much sorrow was a maiden whose face you might truly say was boyish for a girl, yet too girlish for a boy. Her fortune had been told, and it was to this effect: "Atalanta, do not marry; marriage will be your ruin." Terrified by this oracle, she fled the society of men, and devoted herself to the sports of the chase. To all suitors (for she had many) she imposed a condition which was generally effectual in relieving her of their persecutions,—"I will be the prize of him who shall conquer me in the race; but death must be the penalty of all who try and fail.""

"Come with bows bent and with emptying of quivers, Maiden most perfect, lady of light, With a noise of winds and many rivers, With a clamour of waters, and with might; Bind on thy sandals, O thou most fleet, Over the splendour and speed of thy feet; For the faint east quickens, the wan west shivers, Round the feet of the day and the feet of the night."

"No race for girls, no apple bribes To tempt an Atalanta."

"With them came Atalanta, the daughter of Iasius, king of Arcadia. A buckle of polished gold confined her vest, an ivory quiver hung on her left shoulder, and her left hand bore the bow. Her face blent feminine beauty with the best graces of martial youth. Meleager saw and loved."

"Me only cruel immortality Consumes; I wither slowly in thine arms, Here at the quiet limit of the world, A white-hair’d shadow roaming like a dream The ever-silent spaces of the East, Far-folded mists, and gleaming halls of morn."

"I ask’d thee, ‘Give me immortality.’ Then didst thou grant mine asking with a smile, Like wealthy men, who care not how they give. But thy strong Hours indignant work’d their wills, And beat me down and marr’d and wasted me, And tho’ they could not end me, left me maim’d To dwell in presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth, And all I was in ashes."

"Release me, and restore me to the ground; Thou seëst all things, thou wilt see my grave: Thou wilt renew thy beauty morn by morn; I earth in earth forget these empty courts, And thee returning on thy silver wheels."

"Rouse Memnons Mother from her Tythons Bed, That Shee thy Cariere may with Roses spred."

"But when the Golden-thron’d Aurora made Tithonus Partner of her rosie Bed, (Tithonus too was of the Trojan Line, Resembling Gods in Face and Form Divine) For him she strait the Thunderer address’d, That with perpetual Life he might be bless’d: Jove heard her Pray’r, and granted her Request. But ah! how rash was she, how indiscreet! The most material Blessing to omit; Neglecting, or not thinking to provide, That Length of Days might be with Strength supply’d; And to her Lover’s endless Life, engage An endless Youth, incapable of Age. But hear what Fate befell this heav’nly Fair, In Gold enthron’d, the brightest Child of Air. Tithonus, while of pleasing Youth possess’d, Is by Aurora with Delight caress’d; Dear to her Arms, he in her Court resides, Beyond the Verge of Earth, and Ocean’s utmoft Tides, But, when she saw grey Hairs begin to spread, Deform his Beard, and disadorn his Head, The Goddess cold in her Embraces grew, His Arms declin’d, and from his Bed withdrew; Yet still a kind of nursing Care the show’d, And Food ambrosial, and rich Cloaths bestow’d: But when of Age he felt the sad Extream, And ev’ry Nerve was shrunk, and Limb was lame, Lock’d in a Room her useless Spouse she left, Of Youth, of Vigour, and of Voice bereft."

"Wake now my loue, awake; for it is time, The Rosy Morne long since left Tithones bed, All ready to her siluer coche to clyme, And Phœbus gins to shew his glorious hed."

"O happy Tithon! if thou know’st thy hap, And valuest thy wealth, as I my want, Then need’st thou not—which ah! I grieve to grant— Repine at Jove, lull’d in his leman’s lap: That golden shower in which he did repose— One dewy drop it stains Which thy Aurora rains Upon the rural plains, When from thy bed she passionately goes."

"The goddess of the Dawn, like her sister the Moon, was at times inspired with the love of mortals. Her greatest favorite was Tithonus, son of Laomedon, king of Troy. She stole him away, and prevailed on Jupiter to grant him immortality; but, forgetting to have youth joined in the gift, after some time she began to discern, to her great mortification, that he was growing old. When his hair was quite white she left his society; but he still had the range of her palace, lived on ambrosial food, and was clad in celestial raiment. At length he lost the power of using his limbs, and then she shut him up in his chamber, whence his feeble voice might at times be heard. Finally she turned him into a grasshopper."