At length Ulysses awoke from the trance of the faculties into which her
charms had thrown him, and the thought of home returned with tenfold
vigour to goad and sting him; that home where he had left his virtuous
wife Penelope, and his young son Telemachus. One day when Circe had been
lavish of her caresses, and was in her kindest humour, he moved her
subtly, and as it were afar off, the question of his home-return; to which
she answered firmly, "O Ulysses, it is not in my power to detain one whom
the gods have destined to further trials. But leaving me, before you
pursue your journey home, you must visit the house of Ades, or Death, to
consult the shade of Tiresias the Theban prophet; to whom alone, of all
the dead, Proserpine, queen of hell, has committed the secret of future
events: it is he that must inform you whether you shall ever see again
your wife and country." "O Circe," he cried, "that is impossible: who
shall steer my course to Pluto's kingdom? Never ship had strength to make
that voyage." "Seek no guide," she replied; "but raise you your mast, and
hoist your white sails, and sit in your ship in peace: the north wind
shall waft you through the seas, till you shall cross the expanse of the
ocean and come to where grow the poplar groves and willows pale of
Proserpine: where Pyriphlegethon and Cocytus and Acheron mingle their
waves. Cocytus is an arm of Styx, the forgetful river. Here dig a pit, and
make it a cubit broad and a cubit long, and pour in milk, and honey, and
wine, and the blood of a ram, and the blood of a black ewe, and turn away
thy face while thou pourest in, and the dead shall come flocking to taste
the milk and the blood; but suffer none to approach thy offering till thou
hast inquired of Tiresias all which thou wishest to know."

He did as great Circe had appointed. He raised his mast, and hoisted his
white sails, and sat in his ship in peace. The north wind wafted him
through the seas, till he crossed the ocean, and came to the sacred woods
of Proserpine. He stood at the confluence of the three floods, and digged