Page:King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius.djvu/292



This same Apollo    was of princely race,

Son of Jove. This Jove was a king

Who to great and little    lying feigned,

To every goodman,    that he was a god

Most high and holy. Thus this hero

The silly people    pleased with error,

Till countless folk    his feigning trusted

For he was rightly    the realm's protector,

Of royal birth. 'Tis known abroad

That in those days    each folk deemed

Its sovereign head    the Highest God,

And gave him honour    as King of Glory,

If to be ruler    he was rightly born.

Jove's father also    was further a god,

And the sea-dwellers    Saturn named him,

The sons of men. Soon folk named

Each in turn    God eternal.

Men say there was also    Apollo's daughter,

Well descended,    to witless mortals

A goddess seeming,    skilled in magic,

In witchcraft dealing    and in the delusions,

More than all men,    of many a nation.

She was a king's daughter,    Circe was called

Among the multitude,    and she ruled men

Upon the island    to which Aulixes

Chief of Thracia    had chanced to come,

In his ship sailing. Soon was it known

To all the troop    that tarried there with her,

The prince's coming. Then Circe herself

Loved beyond measure    that lord of seamen,