Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/241

Book X. Hence—seek the sty. There wallow with thy friends. She spake; I drawing from beside my thigh My faulchion keen, with death-denouncing looks Rush'd on her; she with a shrill scream of fear Ran under my rais'd arm, seized fast my knees, And in wing'd accents plaintive thus began. Who? whence? thy city and thy birth declare. Amazed I see thee with that potion drench'd, Yet uninchanted; never man before Once pass'd it through his lips, and liv'd the same; But in thy breast a mind inhabits, proof Against all charms. Come then—I know thee well. Thou art Ulysses artifice-renown'd, Of whose arrival here in his return From Ilium, Hermes of the golden wand Was ever wont to tell me. Sheath again Thy sword, and let us, on my bed reclined, Mutual embrace, that we may trust thenceforth Each other, without jealousy or fear. The Goddess spake, to whom I thus replied. O Circe! canst thou bid me meek become And gentle, who beneath thy roof detain'st My fellow-voyagers transform'd to swine? And, fearing my escape, invit'st thou me Into thy bed, with fraudulent pretext Of love, that there, enfeebling by thy arts My noble spirit, thou may'st make me vile? No—trust me—never will I share thy bed