223He tells how Aeolus reigns over the Tuscan deep, Aeolus son of Hippotes, who confines the winds in a prison; 225how the Dulichian leader had received these winds, shut up in an ox-hide, a memorable gift, and with a favouring breeze had sailed for nine days and had sighted the land he sought; 228how, when the dawn following the ninth was stirring, his comrades, overcome by envy and greed for plunder, thinking it was gold, had removed the bindings from the winds; 231how with them he had gone back through the waves by which he had just come, and his ship had returned to the harbour of the Aeolian king.
233'From there,' he said, 'we came to the ancient city of Lamus the Laestrygonian. 234Antiphates was reigning in that land. 235I was sent to him, with two companions, and safety was barely won by flight for my companion and for me: the third of us stained the impious mouth of the Laestrygonian with his blood. 238Antiphates presses on us as we flee, and rouses his host. 239They gather and hurl rocks and beams, and they sink men and sink ships. 241Yet one ship, which carried us and Ulysses himself, escaped. 242Grieving at the loss of part of our comrades and with many laments, we put in at those lands which you see far off from here (an island to be seen only far off from here, believe me, as I have seen it!); and you, most just of the Trojans, son of a goddess (for now that the war is over you must not be called an enemy, Aeneas), I warn you, flee the shores of Circe!
248We too, our ship moored on Circe's shore, remembering Antiphates and the savage Cyclops, refused to go on or to enter the unknown dwelling; 251we were chosen by lot; the lot sent me and faithful Polites, and Eurylochus too, and Elpenor, too fond of wine, and twice nine comrades to Circe's walls. 254As soon as we reached them and stood on the threshold of the house, a thousand wolves, and bears and lionesses mingled with the wolves, made us afraid as they ran to meet us; but none was to be feared, and none was going to make a wound on our bodies. 258Indeed they even waved their tails fawningly through the air and, fawning, accompanied our steps, until handmaids receive us and lead us through halls roofed with marble to their mistress: she sits in a lovely recess, on a ceremonial throne, and, dressed in a shining robe, she is wrapped over it in a golden mantle.
264Nereids and nymphs are with her, who draw out no fleeces with moving fingers nor spin the following threads: they arrange grasses and sort into baskets flowers scattered without order, and herbs varied in colour; 268she herself supervises the work they do; she herself knows what use each leaf has, and in which leaf it lies, what harmony there is in mixtures, and, attentive, examines the weighed herbs. 271When she saw us, greetings given and returned, her face brightened and she returned words of good omen. 273Without delay, she orders barley of roasted grain to be mixed, and honey and strong wine and milk curdled with raisin wine, and adds juices to lie stealthily hidden beneath this sweetness.
276We take the cups given by her sacred right hand. 277As soon as, thirsting, we drained them with parched mouths, and the dread goddess touched the tops of our hair with her wand, (I am ashamed, yet I will tell it!) I began to bristle with stiff hairs, and no longer to be able to speak, to utter a hoarse grunt instead of words, and to bend down towards the ground with my whole face; 282and I felt my mouth harden into a crooked snout, my neck swell with muscles, and with the part with which I had just taken the cup, with that I made footprints; and with the others who had suffered the same (such power have drugs!) I am shut in a sty, and we saw that Eurylochus alone was without the shape of a pig: he alone shunned the cup offered.
288Had he not avoided it, I would still now remain one of the bristly herd, nor would Ulysses, informed by him of so great a disaster, have come to Circe as avenger. 291The peace-bringing Cyllenian had given him a white flower; the gods call it moly; it is held fast by a black root; 293safe with this and with the heavenly warnings, he enters Circe's house, and, invited to the treacherous cups, he thrust her back as she tried to stroke his hair with her wand, and with drawn sword frightened her into terror. 297Then pledges were given and right hands, and, received into her bed, he demands as his marriage gift the bodies of his comrades.
299We are sprinkled with the better juices of an unknown herb, and struck on the head with a blow of her reversed wand, and words are spoken contrary to the words spoken before. 302The more she chants, the more we are raised from the ground and stand upright; the bristles fall, and the cleft leaves our cloven feet, our shoulders return, and forearms are fitted to our upper arms: weeping, we embrace him as he weeps, and cling to our leader's neck, and spoke no words before those that bore witness to our gratitude. 308A delay of a year held us there, and, being present for so long a time, I saw many things and took in many with my ears, and this too among many, which one of the four handmaids appointed for such rites secretly told me.
312For while Circe was lingering alone with my leader, she showed me a statue of a young man made of snow-white marble, bearing a woodpecker on its head, set up in a sacred shrine and adorned with many garlands. 316When I asked and wanted to know who he was, and why he was worshipped in a sacred shrine, why he bore that bird, she said, "Listen, Macareus, and learn from this too what the power of my mistress is: and give your mind to my words!