Complete Works of William Morris, page 639
And black was the root thereof, but the blossom milky white; [might;
And Moly the Godfolk call it: hard is it for men that die
To dig it out, but all things can the Gods do easily.
And therewith from that woody island went Hermes on his road
Unto the long Olympus, but I went to Circe’s abode;
And many things o’ershadowed my heart as I wended there.
“So I stayed me in the doorway of the Maid of the well-tressed hair,
And I stood and cried out loudly, and the Goddess heard, and straight
She gat her out and toward me, and came through the gleaming gate,
And called me, and I followed with the grief my heart did bear.
“So she brought me in and set me in a silver-studded chair,
In fashion fair adorned, and a footstool under my feet;
Then a drink in a golden beaker for me did she mingle and mete,
And into the cup cast venom, devising evil sore.
Yet when I had taken and drunken, it bewitched me none the more;
So then with her staff she smote me, and spake unto me and said,
‘ Thou, too, to the sty betake thee! with thy fellows make thy bed!’
“So she spake; but my sword keen-whetted I drew forth from my thigh,
And fell therewith on Circe, as though I would have her to die;
And she shrieked and ran under my hands and caught me about my knees,
And therewith upon me fawning, spake such winged words as these:
“‘ What man art thou? of what kindred, of what city comest thou?
For I marvel that drinking this venom thou art nought enchanted now;
Since never hath any other borne my venom ere to-day, [way.
When once he hath drunk, and the drink by the tooth-hedge hath taken its
Then proof against all witchcraft is the heart that thy bosom doth hold.
Yea, art thou that shifty Odysseus, whom the Lord of the Staff of Gold,
The Argus-bane, would tell of? the man who should come, said he,
From Troy-town wending homeward in his swift black ship o’er the sea?
But set thou thy sword in the scabbard! and then how well if we went,
We twain, in one bed together! and thereafter we being blent
In love and friendly pleasure shall trust each other well.’
“She spake, and thereto I answered and said such words to tell:
‘ O Circe, how wilt thou bid me to be kind and courteous
When thou hast turned my fellows into swine within thine house?
And for me, thou hast holden me here, and in thy craftihead
Thou biddest me to thy chamber and to go up into thy bed,
That thou may’st strip me of manhood and make me vile and base.
Nay, never with my goodwill shall I go to thy bed and thy place,
Unless thou hast heart, O Goddess, by the Oath of all avail
To swear that from henceforward thou devisest me no bale.’
“So I spake, and straight she swore it e’en as I bade her do;
And so when that was accomplished, and the oath made steadfast and true,
Then up to the bed of Circe, the lovely bed, I went
“But meanwhile in the halls the handmaids on service were intent,
E’en the four who are ever serving about that house and home;
And their race is of the well-springs, of the grassy groves they come,
And of the holy rivers that toward the sea flow down.
And now one of these was casting fair cloths on chair and throne,
And above she laid the purple, and beneath the linen fair;
And one the silver table drew forth before the chair,
And thereon fell to setting the baskets golden-wrought;
And the third in a bowl of silver blent wine that lulleth thought,
Sweet wine, and around was dealing the golden cups and fair:
But the fourth bore in the water and kindled much fire there,
Beneath a mighty caldron, till warm the water was.
And when it came to the boiling within the gleaming brass,
In the bath she put me and bathed me, and from the caldron led
Warm water softly tempered o’er my shoulders and my head,
And the weariness took from my body that the soul within me wore.
And so when she had washed me, and with oil had sleeked me o’er,
She set a kirtle upon me, and a cloak full fine and fair,
And led me in and set me in the silver-studded chair,
Well wrought with all adornment, and a stool beneath my feet;
And hand-water brought the damsel ih a golden ewer meet,
And into a silver basin over my hands she poured,
And there beside moreover arrayed the polished board.
And therewith a reverend woman bore in the bread for me,
And stayed me with such dainties as happened there to be.
“So there to the meat she bade me, which nought my mind deemed good,
For of other things had I deeming, and on evil did I brood.
But Circe when she beheld it, that I sat and none the more
Reached out my hand to the victuals, but abode in sorrow sore,
Came nigh and stood beside me and winged words did flit:
“‘ How cometh it, Odysseus, that as one dumb ye sit
Eating thine heart, nor dealing with the meat and drink that is here?
Forebodest thou some evil? Nay, thereof thou need’st not fear;
For I have sworn to refrain me by the mighty Oath of dread!
“In this wise she bespake me, but I answered her and said:
‘O Circe, where is the man that in righteous wise would think,
Who would have the heart to be tasting of any meat and drink
Ere he had loosed his fellows and beheld them with his eyes?
But if unto meat and to drink thou biddest in kindly wise,
Loose them, that I with mine eyen may look on my fellows dear.’
So I spake, but forth from the guest-hall therewith did Circe fare,
Bearing her staff in her hand; and she opened the swine-sty door
And drave them out, each one in the shape of a nine-years’ boar;
And there they stood before her, and she went amidst them there, *
And with another venom each man thereof did she smear,
And down from their limbs fell the bristles that erewhile the venom had
The baleful herb they had taken at the hand of Circe the dread; [bred,
And men again were they gotten, yet younger than afore,
And fairer folk to look on, and mightier and more.
So therewithal they knew me, and they took my hand each man,
And on them fell the wistful weeping, and the sound of their wailing ran
Through the house and the hall, and the Goddess she pitied us, e’en she.
And therewith that Godhead’s Glory drew nigh and spake to me:
“‘ O Zeus-bred son of Laertes, Odysseus of many a shift,
Get thee down to the side of the sea-flood, and thy ship the fair and swift,
And the first thing beach thy ship on the firm land high and dry,
And stow your wealth in the rock-dens, and there let the tackling lie,
Then wend thou homeward hither, and all thy folk with thee.’
“So she spake, and thereto I hearkened and the noble soul in me.
And I went my ways to the ship and the side of the salt-sea flood.
And there on the ship I found them, my fellows trusty and good,
Sore grieving, pouring the tear-drops most plenteous on the ground.
And as when the calves of the meadows together play and bound
About the herded kine as full-fed of grass withal
They come aback to the midden, and stayed no more by the stall,
The calves run round their mothers still lowing ceaselessly,
So when their eyes beheld me, weeping they thronged on me,
And even so to my deeming did the minds within them fare,
As though they were come to their country and in the city were
Of Ithaca the craggy, where they were born and bred,
And fain midst lamentation these winged words they said:
“‘ We are fain of thy coming, Zeus-nourished, as though we were verily come
Unto Ithaca our country, and the ancient fathers’ home.
But come now, tell us the story of our fellows’ bale and bane.’
“So they spake; but sweet and softly I answered them again:
‘ Our ship now first of all things let us haul up high and dry,
And lay up our gear in the rock-dens and our tackling lay thereby;
Then I bid you all together to wend along with me,
That in Circe’s holy homestead your fellows ye may see
All fain, and eating and drinking, for endless store have they.’
“So I spake, and the words of my bidding in nought did they gainsay,
Save that Eurylochus only the rest was hindering.
And thus he spake unto them and set these words on the wing:
‘ Out, hapless! whither wend we? for what a bale ye yearn
That we go to the house of Circe, who all us shall change and turn
Into swine, or into wolf shapes, or lions of the wold,
Over her house the mighty enforced watch to hold
E’en such were the deeds of the Cyclops, when our folk awhile ago
Came amidst his garth, and with them did o’erbold Odysseus go,
And by that one man’s folly the others perished there.’
“So he spake, and awhile I pondered in what wise I should fare,
Whether, drawing my edgy long-sword from beside my sturdy thigh,
I should smite the head from off him adown in the dust to He,
Though anigh we were of kindred. But my fellows all about
With honied words withheld me, to let my wrath die out.
‘ O Zeus-bred, leave we this man, if so thou willest it,
Beside the ship abiding and in guard thereof to sit,
But us do thou lead to Circe and her holy house and hall.’
“So they spake, and up from the sea and the ship they wended withal.
Nor yet was Eurylochus left by the hollow ship to abide,
For he dreaded my awful anger, and after us he hied.
“But meanwhile our other fellows did Circe bathe with care,
And with soft oil sleeked them over within her house the fair,
And thick cloaks and goodly kirtles did on them therewithal,
And we found them at the banquet within her feasting-hall.
But when these beheld each other, and thought o’er all the tale,
They mourned and wept together that the house rang with their wail,
And therewith that Godhead’s Glory drew near to me and said:
“‘ Odysseus, thou the wily, Laertes’ son Zeus-bred,
No more awake new wailing; for I myself, I know,
How on the sea fish-haunted ye bore a weight of woe;
And how on the land the foemen have wrought you bale and pine;
But eat your meat I bid you, fall to upon the wine,
Until within your bosoms such hardy heart shall grow
As wherewith the land of your fathers ye left a while ago,
E’en Ithaca the craggy. For your wanderings wide ye brood.
Downcast ye are and withered, nor ever of your mood
Gladsome ye are and merry, since ye bear this weight of woe.’”
She spake, and our noble spirits consented thereunto.
And there day on day we abided till the year fulfilled her round
‘ On unfailing flesh we feasted; sweet wine did there abound:
But when it now was a year, and the seasons came about,
And the long days were accomplished by the months a dying out,
Then my trusty fellows called me, and spake to me and said:
“‘ Lord, wilt thou not bethink thee of the land where thou wast bred,
If of thee hath the doom been spoken that thou be saved to come
To thine house the steadfast-builded and the ancient fathers’ home?’
“So my noble soul was consenting to what they would have done.
There all day long were we sitting till the going down of the sun,
Upon the flesh unfailing and the sweet wine feasting well;
But when the sun sank under, and the night upon us fell,
Then about the shadowy halls were they bedded here and there,
But I went up unto Circe and the bed exceeding fair,
And by her knees I besought her, and my prayer the Goddess heard,
As speaking there before her I uttered a winged word:
“‘ O Circe, now fulfil it thy word of the day bygone,
To speed me home; for my soul to departing now eggeth me on,
And the hearts of these my fellows who about me wail and cry,
Wearing the soul within me when thou art not anigh.’
“So I spake; but that Godhead’s Glory thus answered to my need:
‘ O many-wiled Odysseus, Zeus-bred Laertes’ seed!
In this my house unwilling shall ye bide for no long day,
But first another road must ye wear, and wend your way
Unto the house of Hades and dread Persephone,
To seek aid of the ghost of the Theban Tiresias, even he,
The blind-eyed, the foreseer, whose steadfast mind bides still;
Unto whom, though dead he abideth, Persephone giveth will,
And alone to have understanding, while the rest as shadows flit.’
“I hearkened her speech and my heart brake down at the weight of it
There I sat on the bed a-weeping, and all my desire was done
To live my life-days longer and look on the light of the sun;
Till, satiate now of weeping and wallowing on the bed,
I spake a word unto Circe, and answered her and said:
“‘O Circe, and what helmsman for my wayfare shall I get?
For to Hades never shipman hath sped the black ship yet.’
“I spake; but the Godhead’s Glory thus answered thereupon:
‘ Odysseus very shifty, Zeus-bred Laertes’ son,
Have thou no care nor longing for one thy ship to guide,
Step the mast, and the white sails spread ye, and sit ye there beside,
And the breath of the wind of the Northward shall waft thee on thy way.
But when through the stream of Ocean thy ship hath passed on a day,
There then is Persephone’s Grove in the long deserted land
Where the tall black poplars flourish and the fruitless willows stand.
There by deep-eddying Ocean haul up upon the bank,
And go thy ways unto Hades and his dwelling dark and dank,
Where the stream of Flaming Fire into Grief-River goes,
And the Water of the Wailing, a rill that from Hate-flood flows.
And thereby is a rock and the meeting of two roaring rivers wide;
Draw up thereto, O hero, and e’en as I bid thee abide.
There then a pit shalt thou dig of a cubit endlong and o’er,
And thereby the due drink-offerings to all the dead shalt thou pour.
The first of mingled honey, of sweet wine the second one,
The third of very water, and the white meal sprinkled thereoa
Then utter thou thy praying to the mightless heads of the dead,
And vow that to Ithaca coming thou wilt slay in the halls of thy stead
A barren heifer most goodly, and heaped wealth on the fire wilt lay;
But unto that Tiresias apart and alone wilt slay
A sheep of black unspeckled, of all thy flock most fair.
But when the great race of the Dead thou hast worshipped with thy prayer,
Then a black ram shalt thou offer, and a black ewe shalt thou slay,
To the Nether Dusk turning their heads; and thyself turn thou away,
And about to the streams of the river. Then many a ghost shall come
Of the dead that have departed and left the earthly home.
There then shalt thou egg on thy fellows, and bid them to bring it to pass,
That the sheep that there are lying dead-slain by the pitiless brass
They flay and burn, and be calling with prayer on the Gods of the Dead,
On Hades the almighty and Persephone the dread;
And thou shalt sit with thy sword sharp-whetted drawn from thy thigh,
To refrain the unmighty heads of the dead from drawing anigh
To the blood-pit, ere thou beholdest Tiresias the seer.
Soon then, O Prince of the People, shall the wizard draw anear,
And he of thy way shall tell thee, and the measure of thy road,
Whereby o’er the fishy sea-flood thou shalt reach thine own abode.’
“So she spake, and the gold-throned Day-dawn therewith was come at last, And she did a kirtle on me and a cloak about me cast;
And the Goddess did upon her a wide gown shining white,
And delicate and lovely, and about her loins she dight
A fair and golden girdle, and a veil upon her head.
“But I egged on all my fellows throughout the house and stead,
And by each man stood and bespoke him with soothing words and meet:
‘ No longer now be sleeping nor sigh out slumber sweet,
But come your ways as Circe the worshipped giveth rede.’
So I spake, and their noble souls gainsayed not but gave heed.
“But not e’en so all scatheless my folk away did I bring;
There was one Elpenor, the youngest; not best in everything,
In war not over-mighty, nor of understanding strong:
Now apart from all his fellows must he needs be lying along,
Aloft on the house of Circe, wine-heavy, seeking fresh air;
But whenas the tramp and the clatter of men stirring he did hear
He leapt up hasty and hurried, and had no thought at all
To get him adown and aback by the way of the ladders tall,
But right down from the roof he tumbled, and his neck from the backbone brake,
And his soul to the house of Hades the downward way must take.
“But unto my folk now gathered a word I spake and said:
‘ Ye think to be wending homeward to the land that your fathers bred;
