Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/245

Book X. With like affections warm'd as he had reach'd Just then his country, and his city seen, Fair Ithaca, where he was born and rear'd. Then in wing'd accents tender thus they spake. Noble Ulysses! thy appearance fills Our soul with transports, such as we should feel Arrived in safety on our native shore. Speak—say how perish'd our unhappy friends? So they; to whom this answer mild I gave. Hale we our vessel first ashore, and hide In caverns all our treasures and our arms, Then, hasting hence, follow me, and ere long Ye shall behold your friends, beneath the roof Of Circe banqueting and drinking wine Abundant, for no dearth attends them there. So I; whom all with readiness obey'd, All save Eurylochus; he sought alone To stay the rest, and, eager, interposed. Ah whither tend we, miserable men? Why covet ye this evil, to go down To Circe's palace? she will change us all To lions, wolves or swine, that we may guard Her palace, by necessity constrain'd. So some were pris'ners of the Cyclops erst, When, led by rash Ulysses, our lost friends Intruded needlessly into his cave, And perish'd by the folly of their Chief.