He march'd with twice eleven in his train; ¹

Pensive they march, and pensive we remain.

The palace in a woody vale they found,

240

High raised of stone; a shaded space around;

Where mountain wolves and brindled lions roam,

(By magic tamed,) familiar to the dome.

With gentle blandishment our men they meet,

And wag their tails, and fawning lick their feet.

245

As from some feast a man returning late,

His faithful dogs all meet him at the gate,

Rejoicing round, some morsel to receive,

(Such as the good man ever used to give,)

Domestic thus the grisly beasts drew near;

250

They gaze with wonder not unmix'd with fear.

Now on the threshold of the dome they stood,

And heard a voice resounding through the wood:

Placed at her loom within, the goddess sung;

The vaulted roofs and solid pavement rung.

255

O'er the fair web the rising figures shine,

Immortal labour! worthy hands divine.

Polites to the rest the question mov'd,

(A gallant leader, and a man I lov'd:)

"What voice celestial, chanting to the loom,

260

(Or nymph, or goddess,) echoes from the room?

Say, shall we seek access?' With that they call;

And wide unfold the portals of the hall.

The goddess, rising, asks her guests to stay,

Who blindly follow where she leads the way.

265

Eurylochus alone of all the band,

Suspecting fraud, more prudently remain'd.

On thrones around with downy coverings graced,

With semblance fair, th' unhappy men she placed.

Milk newly press'd, the sacred flour of wheat,

270

And honey fresh, and Pramnian wines ² the treat:

But venom'd was the bread, and mix'd the bowl,

With drugs of force to darken all the soul:

Soon in the luscious feast themselves they lost,

And drank oblivion of their native coast.

275

Instant her circling wand the goddess waves,

To hogs transforms them, and the sty receives.

No more was seen the human form divine;

Head, face, and members, bristle into swine:

Still curs'd with sense, their minds remain alone,

280

And their own voice affrights them when they groan.

Meanwhile the goddess in disdain bestows

The mast and acorn, brutal food! and strows

The fruits and cornel, as their feast, around;

Now prone and grovelling on unsavoury ground.

285

Eurylochus, with pensive steps and slow,

Aghast returns; the messenger of woe,

And bitter fate. To speak he made essay;

In vain essay'd, nor would his tongue obey.

His swelling heart denied the words their way:

290

But speaking tears the want of words supply,

And the full soul burst copious from his eye.

Affrighted, anxious for our fellows' fates,

We press to hear what sadly he relates:

"We went, Ulysses! (such was thy command,)

295

Through the lone thicket and the desert land.

A palace in a woody vale we found,

Brown with dark forests, and with shades around.

A voice celestial echoed through the dome,

Or nymph or goddess, chanting to the loom.

300

Access we sought, nor was access denied:

Radiant she came; the portals open'd wide:

The goddess mild invites the guests to stay:

They blindly follow where she leads the way.

I only wait behind of all the train:

305

I waited long, and ey'd the doors in vain:

The rest are vanish'd, none repass'd the gate;

And not a man appears to tell their fate."