changed thy friends, boldly rush in upon her with thy sword, and extort
from her the dreadful oath of the gods, that she will use no enchantments
against thee; then force her to restore thy abused companions." He gave
Ulysses the little white flower, and, instructing him how to use it,
vanished.

When the god was departed, Ulysses with loud knockings beat at the gate of
the palace. The shining gates were opened, as before, and great Circe with
hospitable cheer invited in her guest. She placed him on a throne with
more distinction than she had used to his fellows; she mingled wine in a
costly bowl, and he drank of it, mixed with those poisonous drugs. When he
had drunk, she struck him with her charming-rod, and "To your sty!" she
cried; "out, swine! mingle with your companions!" But those powerful words
were not proof against the preservative which Mercury had given to
Ulysses; he remained unchanged, and, as the god had directed him, boldly
charged the witch with his sword, as if he meant to take her life; which
when she saw, and perceived that her charms were weak against the antidote
which Ulysses bore about him, she cried out and bent her knees beneath his
sword, embracing his, and said, "Who or what manner of man art thou? Never
drank any man before thee of this cup but he repented it in some brute's
form. Thy shape remains unaltered as thy mind. Thou canst be none other
than Ulysses, renowned above all the world for wisdom, whom the Fates have
long since decreed that I must love. This haughty bosom bends to thee. O
Ithacan, a goddess wooes thee to her bed."

[Illustration: '_Who or what manner of man art thou?_']

"O Circe," he replied, "how canst thou treat of love or marriage with one
whose friends thou hast turned into beasts? and now offerest him thy hand
in wedlock, only that thou mightest have him in thy power, to live the