{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_78211/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_78211","id":"gutenberg_78211","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78211","summary":null,"tags":["Circe (Mythological character) -- Drama","Mythology, Greek -- Drama","Odysseus, King of Ithaca (Mythological character) -- Drama"],"text":"CIRCE\n\n                                    _A\n                             Dramatic Fantasy_\n\n                                   _by_\n                                ISAAC FLAGG\n\n                            With a Frontispiece\n                                    by\n                              Bernard Maybeck\n\n                                 Copyright\n                                   1915\n                              By Isaac Flagg\n\n                          Acting Rights Reserved\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n_To_\n\nMABEL LAMM\u00c9 HAYS\n\n\n    _Rarest of enchantment deem_\n      _The beginning and the end:_\n    _At life\u2019s morning in the dream,_\n      _At life\u2019s evening in the friend._\n\n\n\n\n  PRINTED AND BOUND BY\n  THE ROYCROFTERS        [Illustration]\n  EAST AURORA, NEW YORK\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE ARGUMENT\n\n\nHomer relates that Ulysses, king of Ithaca in Greece, sailing homeward\nafter the capture of Troy, drifted into unknown seas in consequence of\nthe wrath of Neptune; and after losing all but one of his twelve ships,\nlanded with the sole remaining vessel upon the island of the enchantress\nCirce, who transformed one-half of his ship\u2019s company, twenty-two in\nnumber, into swine. He relates further that Ulysses, apprised by Mercury\nof the fate of his companions, and furnished by the god with an antidote\nfor the spells of the sorceress, compelled her to restore his men to\ntheir human shape. Thereupon, at the invitation of Circe the rest of the\ncrew join their mates at her palace, where all spend a year in festivity\nand merry-making before proceeding on their way with precise instructions\nfrom the Enchantress regarding the homeward voyage.\n\nThe experiences of Ulysses and his followers, as described in the\nOdyssey, immediately previous to their arrival at the Isle of Circe,\nhad been of an extraordinary and alarming character. A number of men\nhad been devoured by Polyphemus the Cyclops in his cave, where he had\nentrapped a party, the survivors escaping by riding out, clasped under\nthe bellies of his sheep, after they had made the monster drunk and\nblinded his one eye with a fiery stake. Later, they came to the domain of\n\u00c6olus, king of the winds, who presented Ulysses with a number of bags\nholding the adverse winds in confinement. But during the sleep of their\ncommander, when already near their native shore, some of the men through\ncuriosity untying the bags, the winds broke loose and swept them back to\n\u00c6olus, who drove them all forth with contempt. They next encountered the\nL\u00e6strygones, a race of man-eating giants. Being shown the way to the town\nby a daughter of the giant king, some men were seized and devoured on the\nspot; while from an attack made upon the ships collected in the harbor\nonly one vessel succeeded in escaping.\n\nNo mention is made of Penelope, the wife of Ulysses, at any point in\nthe story of Circe; but we read that Ulysses lingered in the enchanted\nisland, until his men were finally compelled, seizing an opportunity when\nCirce was away, to remonstrate with their chief and rouse him to thoughts\nof a return to his home.\n\nHomer says that the attendants of the Enchantress in her palace were\nnymphs, such as derive their being from the fountains, the groves, and\nthe rivers flowing to the sea.\n\nThe First Act of the play brings Ulysses and his companions into Circe\u2019s\npalace; the Second Act takes them out of it.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCIRCE\n\n_A Dramatic Fantasy_\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nPERSONS REPRESENTED\n\n\n    CIRCE, the Enchantress\n    PHILINNA   }\n    THERMIA    } Nymphs, companions and attendants to Circe\n    MYRTO      }\n    THRATTIS, the lute-girl\n    GRAEA, the dumb swine-maiden\n    Other nymphs attending Circe\n    MIKKOS, an ape\n    ULYSSES, a Commander\n    EURYLOCHUS, his mate\n    THERON, the ship\u2019s cook\n    ELPENOR, a feeble-minded youth, the cook\u2019s assistant\n    GLAUCUS    }\n    PHORBAS    }\n    PHILEMON   } Sailors\n    XENIAS     }\n    Other members of Ulysses\u2019 ship\u2019s-company\n    MERCURY, Messenger of the Immortals and Luck-bringer to men\n\nTHE PLACE: _A small woody island, inhabited only by the Enchantress and\nher Nymphs, who dwell in a palace at the centre and summit of the isle._\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: CIRCE]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: ACT ONE]\n\n[Illustration: THE FIRST ACT]\n\n\nI\n\nA preliminary scene of mute action. The front of CIRCE\u2019S palace at the\nhour just after sunset. The edifice is of variously tinted stone, a\ncombination of several architectural masses. The windows of the building\nare tall and very narrow, overshadowed with creeping plants. Its main\nentrance, at the Left of the Centre, is from a massive porch with\ngargoyles of serpents at the corners of its roof. The porch is reached\nby a flight of wide, low steps; the doorway itself, low and wide, deeply\nreceding and darkened by the ample foliage of overhanging vines. The\npalace faces eastward upon a smooth open court-yard enclosed by a wall\nof stone with spacious gateway at the Right. The entrance to the court\nat the Left corner of the building is inconspicuous. At the main gateway\nthere is artificial representation of wolves and leopards as if tame\nand serving as watchdogs. Behind the court-yard wall rise large trees\nthrowing deep shadows in the twilight. A fountain, dragon-shaped, with\ncircular basin, is centrally placed in the court, that is just at the\nRight of the porch steps.\n\nAs the curtain rises, a humming sound as of a swiftly turned\nspinning-wheel is heard behind the scenes; and presently the music of\nCIRCE\u2019S song (the words of which are sung in a later Scene) is played\nupon flute and violin. The fountain is playing, and its spray, rising\nand falling intermittently, gleams with a golden light, occasionally\nchanging to a faint blue, and then becoming golden again. Some of the\nserpentine gargoyles are seen to sway and writhe like living snakes. A\nlarge _ape_ emerges from a small window above the porch, stands upon its\nroof at first erect like a man, then poses upon all fours at the edge,\ntrying to look underneath into the doorway, and remains in this position.\nA glimpse also is caught of the _Swine-maiden_, a tall, gaunt, witch-like\nfigure robed in gray, trailing behind her a very long cowhide whip.\nAppearing suddenly from some place of concealment she passes furtively\nand silently, with long strides, across the Left corner and disappears\nbehind the palace.\n\n\nII\n\nInterior. The banquet-hall of CIRCE\u2019S palace. A long, low apartment,\nclearly but not brilliantly illuminated by torch-wood burning upon\ncressets in the rear, Right and Left. The walls and ceiling of the room\nare of neutral tint, light shades, but nowhere white; the decorations, of\nsimple Grecian type. Two wide entrances at the rear afford glimpses of a\nback corridor dimly lighted; between these doors a large spinning-wheel\nof fantastic pattern stands near the wall. On the Right a curtained\nopening leads to the boudoir of CIRCE; and another door is situated\nfurther back on this side. On the Left, directly opposite the boudoir, is\nan entrance from an alcove or passage-way communicating with the porch;\nin front of it a dais or platform, raised one step higher than the floor\nof the apartment. Near another door far back on the Left stands a large\nsideboard or buffet showing the usual garniture. Between the boudoir and\nthe dais, thus centrally placed but a little forward, are two large,\nlow tables nearly square, standing end to end, but far enough apart to\nallow free passage between them, and showing clearly the spinning-wheel\nbehind. Three tall armchairs or thrones stand, one at the end of the\ntable on the Left, in front of the dais; another at the opposite end of\nthe other table, by the entrance of the boudoir; the third at the left\nhand of the second throne, behind the table. There are numerous other\nsmall Greek chairs without backs. Each table is spread with a light brown\ncloth. Upon the table at the Right are several pieces of plate and a low\nspreading vase of flowers near its centre; a flagon and goblets upon the\nother table. As the curtain rises the music ceases, but the humming of\nthe wheel is continued. CIRCE is seen seated upon the throne at the head\nof the table by her boudoir. Her slender golden wand is carelessly thrown\nupon the table before her. Her black robe she has pushed away from her\nshoulders over the back of her chair; but she wears her coronal of pearls\nconfining massy black hair, with long, light, pearly veil depending from\nthe diadem behind. Her tunic is of canary-colored silk; she wears crimson\nsandals, and a golden serpent bracelet encircles her left wrist.\n\nPHILINNA, a blonde, of beauty comparable to that of CIRCE herself, but of\nthe opposite type, in dress and in all other respects forming a contrast\nto the Enchantress, stands behind the throne at her mistress\u2019 left hand.\n\nThe place of THERMIA, a nymph of elegant figure and winsome expression,\nis behind the table on the Left, near the throne at its head by the dais.\n\nMYRTO, who has dark hair like CIRCE, but is of small stature and\nnot marked by especial beauty, sits facing the Enchantress by the\nspinning-wheel, which, as she swiftly turns it, gives forth the melodious\nhum that fills the air when the curtain rises.\n\nThe predominant color of PHILINNA\u2019S dress is mauve; of THERMIA\u2019S, azure;\nof MYRTO\u2019S, dark green. Other nymphs are drest in light gauzy material,\nnever pure white. All wear Grecian costume.\n\n_As CIRCE turns toward her with a slight gesture, MYRTO stops the wheel._\n\nCIRCE\n\n                Hush, Myrto; prithee stay\n    Thy busy wheel awhile; I fain would listen\n    To the mere silence\u2014if that be silence, when\n    Naught save the light-wing\u2019d evening zephyr breathes\n    His soft sea-voices through the piny boughs\n    And the broad vine-leaf tinkles at the porch.\n    No footfalls patter now; our thirsty questioners,\n    After the sunset shadow falls, come not.\n    Truly \u2019twere vain, save by the day\u2019s bright beam,\n    To seek my mansion on this bowery summit\n    Through tangled briery paths and copse-wood dim\u2014\n    For the first time.\n\nPHILINNA\n\n                        Thou knowest well, dear lady,\n    No second coming, save in four-footed guise,\n    Thy hand vouchsafes them.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                              Ay, not twice the cup\n    For the same drinker need we pour.\u2014And, Myrto,\n    Remembered\u2019st thou to cull the herbs I named,\n    Wolf\u2019s-bane and hemlock and the rest?\n\nMYRTO\n\n                                           Yes, lady.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    And stored and sorted all?\n\nMYRTO\n\n                                By the full moon\n    Each kind I pluck\u2019d; then, crosswise laid, I dried them\n    On the black adder-stone what hour no cloud\n    The noonday welkin streak\u2019d.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                \u2019Tis well. Right soon\n    I shall bruise more and brew their potions.\n                    [_After a brief pause_] Ah!\n    Myrto; hast thou aught seen this season yet\n    Of _moly_ plant?\n\nMYRTO\n\n                          No sprig, since we dug forth\n    Those three and to their root put fire.\n\nPHILINNA\n\n                                            O Circe,\n    What mortal can know moly? or, if found,\n    Might guess that straightening salutary force\n    Which its pale blossom suckles?\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                    Little indeed\n    Know they or seem to reck, who find my door,\n    By the four winds or vague desire impell\u2019d.\n    Not of the herbs alone, wherewith I work\n    Transforming magic, and of their antidotes\n    Is saving knowledge to human sense denied;\n    But the mere man in equal measure lacks\n    Perception of all that inner occult domain\n    Which on my mystic vision rises clear\n    And blends harmonious with material scenes.\n    Therefore, what mortals know I know more surely,\n    Crowning their wisdom with profounder lore.\n    How oft do they who come, while at this board\n    They swill and gloat, ere yet the damning cup\n    I proffer, boast large deeds and prate of what\n    They call _experience_\u2014in the same breath imploring\n    Guidance, which I with gracious hand might lend,\n    Seem\u2019d they but worthy. [_PHILINNA nods assent._]\n\nTHERMIA\n\n                Stands some one, Circe,\n    At the porch door.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                      Throw open; no mortal visitor\n    Descends so deftly on us.\n\n[_The door at the Left is opened by THERMIA, showing a golden-gleaming\nlight in the passage-way behind it. Immediately MERCURY enters, standing\nas he first speaks upon the dais. His winged serpent-twined wand is\nbrilliant with inlaid mother-of-pearl. Dewdrops glisten upon the wings\nof his cap and sandals. The mutual demeanor of MERCURY and CIRCE is\nfriendly, but not familiar. Neither makes show of deference toward the\nother. MERCURY does not remove his cap. He takes no notice whatever of\nthe nymphs._]\n\nMERCURY\n\n                    All-potent Circe,\n    Hail!\n\nCIRCE\n\n          Hail to thee, sir messenger! Be welcome;\n    Tarry and taste our cheer.\n\n[_MERCURY seats himself upon the throne at the head of the table near\nwhich he stands. THERMIA takes his wand and lays it upon the table._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                The nectar, Thermia.\n\n[_THERMIA serves him from the sideboard and remains standing in\nattendance._]\n\n    Bring\u2019st from the Olympian conclave, Mercury,\n    Tidings to us?\n\nMERCURY\n\n                    Nay, nay; I do but pause\n    On my mid-errand\u2019s flight a restful moment\n    At thy fair island-dome. Weary sometime\n    Falls even the airy stride of winged feet,\n    When at a stern omnipotent behest\n    They spurn the mountain\u2019s serried brow, plunge down,\n    Skimming innumerable waves, and ride\n    From land to land the brindled ocean\u2019s back.\n    But, Mistress Circe, this enchanted isle,\n    Topp\u2019d by thy mansion, doth like a stepping-stone\n    Betwixt the shores of dawn and vesper lie,\n    At the convergent centre of all streams.\n    What roving bark shall miss it?\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                    Sooner or later\n    \u2019Tis true each wanderer this way passes; nor,\n    Our gate once spied and hospitable song\n    Heard trilling, turns he back.\n\nMERCURY\n\n                                  I am reminded,\n    Whereof I once made mention, again to speak.\n    Fail not to pour thy strongest draught, fair Circe,\n    When sage _Ulysses_ heeds the languorous strain.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    So said\u2019st thou; I recall it. And some potions\n    Do stronger flow an hundred-fold than others.\n\nMERCURY\n\n    Even so one human counsel another o\u2019er-tops\n    By infinite measure.\u2014But \u2019tis time to speed\n    And set a finish on this world-spanning errand.\n\n[_THERMIA hands MERCURY his wand as he rises from the throne and steps\nupon the dais._]\n\n    Now for the star-strewn roadways of the sky,\n    By the dun cloud-edge, where fork\u2019d lightnings fly.\n    Farewell!\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Farewell, sir messenger!      [_Exit MERCURY._]\n\nPHILINNA\n\n      [_After a pause_] Dear lady Circe,\n    Wherefore for us at eve dost thou ne\u2019er lift\n    Thy voice in sweetest song, like that whose spell\n    Binds the doom\u2019d callers at the moaning porch?\n    So might we taste the charm and spare the bane.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    O sit, Philinna, and mark you!\n\n[_PHILINNA seats herself in the throne near CIRCE. At the same time\nTHERMIA takes her seat upon one of the chairs at the other table, resting\nher left arm on the table._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    \u2019Tis not at will those tuneful notes upwelling\n    Burst from this bosom\u2019s prison, when once the joy\n    Of fierce enslaving mastery sets them free.\n    I see not his approach who draweth nigh,\n    Like the limed bird in cruel toils to stick,\n    And whom the poison\u2019d chalice straight transforms\n    To brutal shape:\u2014I do not see them come;\n    But by a sudden thrill inspired to sing,\n    With a strange consciousness of quicken\u2019d power,\n    Then _know_ I, and need not look.\u2014Hath e\u2019er one song\n    Fail\u2019d of response, Philinna?\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    Not one; O, never!\n\nMYRTO\n\n    How could it otherwise befall?\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                  There be\n    Others in whom by native hap are planted\n    Some powers of vulgar sorcery: whom it profits\n    On magic wheel to lash the skewer\u2019d wryneck;\n    Who their unlovely droning measures vaunt\n    To burst the clammy serpent in the mead,\n    Or from her seat pull down the horned moon.\n    But to their sordid craft my arts compare\n    As sunbeams to a sputtering pitchy torch.\n    When _we_ the human prowler quell and tame,\n    We work illumination!\n\nPHILINNA\n\n                          Yet sometimes\n    They shine with princely mien. Even as Mercury\n    In face and stature were those two comely youths\n    Thou once didst change to wolves.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                      \u2019Twas their true shape!\n    The godlike figure hath to mankind been lent,\n    Which they abuse to cloak an inner core\n    Of bestial motive. Therefore it is to scatter\n    Light over darkness, when my cunning drugs\n    Make the shell match the kernel. No longer then,\n    Once the true emblem on his visage stamp\u2019d,\n    Doth the pretender with mock daring flourish:\n    Unmask\u2019d, he slinks and cowers.\u2014The most, indeed,\n    Are of mere swinish habit; and for them\n    The pointed snout suffices and rough hide.\n    But some\u2014[_With mock seriousness_] Thou dream\u2019st not, sweet Philinna,\n    How cruelly those same youths, but for my spell,\n    Had rent us both!\n\nMYRTO\n\n          [_Gravely_] Ay, true; didst thou not mark,\n    Philinna, what hungry looks they bent upon\n    The lady Circe, even while they drank? \u2019Twas not\n    The fragrant wine-cup drew them, but o\u2019er its rim\n    Her neck they scann\u2019d and watch\u2019d the hand and arm\n    That reach\u2019d the potion. So had they gazed on thee,\n    If Circe sat not by.\n\nPHILINNA\n\n                          Ah, Myrto; how\n    Could I the right herb choose and guide the beaker?\n    Or wield the magic wand!\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    [_Holding up her hands_] O simple, simple!\n\nCIRCE\n\n    [_Warmly_] Thy beauty and my love for thee, Philinna,\n    Are of a piece; both do transcend the limit\n    Of usual quality. For, without thee, I\n    Should seem to hover in a stale vacant world;\n    Whilst thou, arm\u2019d with no wand or secret drug,\n    Unconscious and unskill\u2019d, canst oft divert\n    The most admiring, ardent, rapt regards\n    Away from the famed Circe\u2014deem\u2019d forsooth\n    To win by her sheer woman\u2019s charm not less\n    Than by shrewd arts. It is perchance the reason\n    Why thou art dear, because no studied guile\n    Can in thy breast find lodgement. Oft we crave\n    That in a friend which our own temper lacks;\n    And the two mingle to a more perfect being\n    Than either by itself.\n\n[_Laying her left hand upon PHILINNA\u2019S right arm_]\n\n                          \u2019Tis pure simplicity\n    Framed as a smiling goddess at my elbow.\n\nMYRTO\n\n    [_Gravely_] Dear lady Circe, may the gods preserve her,\n    Shouldst thou in turn e\u2019er fail at her right hand\n    To sit with guardian thoughts.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n                                  Nay, Myrto!\n    Stand we not all in like need of that shelter\n    And sweet assurement which no other hand\n    Than Circe\u2019s can dispense? \u2019Tis the good spell\n    Her bright superior spirit weaves round us, lends\n    Fragrance and bloom to our sequester\u2019d lives.\n    What, but for that enrichment, would import\n    Fair skies and shady bowers?\u2014But these mock dangers\n    Are but the flounce and garnish of our pastime.\n    Your mighty men I find more vain than valiant.\n    Didst thou fear Mikkos, Myrto, in his former,\n    Native habiliment?\n\nMYRTO\n\n    [_Laughing_] O Thermia, he was terrible!\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    And that sleek scrivener, who serves now as one\n    Of our gate leopards\u2014was it a peril when he,\n    Before his lips touch\u2019d the transforming potion,\n    Offer\u2019d me marriage?\n\nPHILINNA\n\n                        But what _is_ marriage, Thermia?\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    It is as if a clever craftsman built\n    A cage round Circe and yourself, then lock\u2019d\n    Its door upon you both and flung the key\n    Under the fountain.\n\nPHILINNA\n\n[_Springing from her chair and drawing back behind it_]\n\n                        Holy Diana!\n    I should break out and fly like Circe\u2019s peacock\n    Into the beech-tree by the spring.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                          [_Laughing_] O children, children!\n    How will ye all most learnedly discourse,\n    Where ye know least? There lurks indeed small peril\n    To your fair persons, but the danger hits\n    Your unsophisticated silly souls.\n    Some men there be, whose fervid, flattering words\n    Would fluster and bedazzle you, till all\n    This tranquil sweet companionship should vanish,\n    As the light puffy thistle-down dispell\u2019d,\n    Leaving a weary lone unrest behind it.\n    It is my swift preventing magic catches\n    And tangles their approach. We are too quick\n    For them; nor shall they soon outspeed us.\u2014Yet\n    My brother, the great magician, told me once,\n    That if a drug e\u2019er fail\u2019d me and work\u2019d not\n    For any cause its proper due effects,\n    Then we stood liable to some counter-spell\n    Of similar assignment. And he cited\n    My cousin Medea\u2019s strange unhappy story.\n                [_To PHILINNA, playfully_] So;\n    When the poor Circe faints, Philinna, thou\n    Wouldst fly off and desert her?\n\nPHILINNA\n\n                                    O no! not\n    Without the cage.\n\nCIRCE\n\n          [_Laughing_] No; I am sure\n    Whate\u2019er befalls, Philinna will be faithful.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    [_Seriously_] She will indeed, my lady!\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Of faith and love there is no dearth among us,\n    Though scant occasion offer which might put\n    A true friend\u2019s temper to the test. For here\n    The spirit of petty jangling sits aloof\n    And common pastime smooths the tripping hours.\n    Its spice is in the hazard. It were indeed\n    A dull domain on Circe\u2019s isle, flow\u2019d not\n    The petulant human throng up to our door.\n    For fail\u2019d we to suppress them, we ourselves\n    Might share that wearisome slow life which men\n    Owe to their fleeting, vain, unsteady loves.\n    O verily they should thank us!\n\n[_CIRCE leans back in her chair, playing with the wand that lies on the\ntable. Then straightening up and looking across the room she claps her\nhands twice. Directly the lute-girl THRATTIS enters at the Left corner.\nShe stands leaning against the sideboard and strikes chords upon her\ninstrument as prelude._]\n\nMYRTO\n\n    O Circe, may Mikkos dance to-night?\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Yes, child.\u2014Poor Mikkos! His dancing days were over\n    When first he sought us and became our patient.\n    Now they begin anew.\n\n[_She signs to THRATTIS, who begins a dancing tune. Other music is heard\nin accord with the lute. PHILINNA and THERMIA dance, not as partners,\nbut singly, with Grecian or Turkish movement, passing round alternately\nbetween the tables and in front and behind them. CIRCE leans back and\nlooks on with evident pleasure, beating time informally with her wand.\nImmediately when the dancing begins, MYRTO runs out at the Right centre\nfor_ Mikkos; _but at the same time_ Mikkos _darts in at the Left centre,\ndrops into MYRTO\u2019S seat, and begins to turn her wheel. The ape wears a\nhandsome collar with about four feet of light brass chain hanging from\nit. MYRTO follows laughing, seizes the chain, and pulling_ Mikkos _to his\nfeet the girl and the ape dance, confining themselves to the back part\nof the room. MYRTO\u2019S dancing is similar to that of the other two nymphs,\nexcept that she does not display the same arm movements_. Mikkos _dances\nonly as an ordinary trained simian might succeed in doing. Next, GRAEA\nthe swine-maiden enters at the Right centre and joins in the performance.\nHer dancing, which she confines to the corner of the room opposite\nTHRATTIS, consists in snaky, gyratory movements, stooping and with long\nsteps trailing her great whip slowly in circles upon the floor.\u2014Presently\nCIRCE, drawing her black robe over her shoulders, still holding the wand,\nrises from her throne. The music ceases. THRATTIS_, Mikkos, _and GRAEA\ndisappear, and the three nymphs come to a standstill at about their usual\nplaces in the room._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n[_To her nymphs_]\n\n    Thus merry our lives, through the whole endless round\n    Of blithe days and the placid restful nights\n    That top their radiance. How ye are blest, forsooth\n    Ye cannot know, because that bliss transcends\n    All ken and inquisition. It is some part\n    Of the vast natural world instill\u2019d and moulded\n    In your fair forms divine, whereto small fleck\n    Of human taint hath fallen; but an ethereal\n    Kinship of cloud and fountain and wild wood\n    Thrills the translucent ichor in your veins.\n    O sweet immortal sisterhood!\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    A mighty willow guards the meadow\u2019s brink,\n    Where daisies shine and finches pause to drink:\n    Each year its lissome branches droop anew,\n    And on the straightest, smoothest shoot I grew.\n\nMYRTO\n\n    Deep in the forest shade black water ran:\n    Beneath its tide my babyhood began;\n    And while for strength these tiny knees did lack,\n    A bullfrog bore me on his bright green back.\n\nPHILINNA\n\n    Down a sheer sunny cliff wild waters whirl\n    In tinted gleams of amethyst and pearl:\n    And where that dangling riband dots the sky,\n    From one soft gauzy filament sprang I.\n\n[_The curtains of CIRCE\u2019S bower are drawn away, revealing some part of\nits interior and a nymph standing on either side. CIRCE moves slowly\nbackward to the bower entrance; and her three nymphs move backward toward\nthe several exits._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    [_To the audience_] There is a sleep that hath no need of dreams:\n    When of each waking hour the passage seems\n    A bird-flight under lovelier skies than those\n    Which dreamland fancy to the slumberer shows.\n\n[_The music of CIRCE\u2019S song is again heard, and the drop-curtain falls\nwhile all are just disappearing. PHILINNA goes out at Right 2; THERMIA at\nLeft 2; MYRTO at Left centre._]\n\n\nIII\n\nA camp by the seashore just before sunrise. The ground rises at the back\nand Right, rough with shrubbery and rocks. A galley of antique build has\nbeen drawn upon the sand crosswise at the Left and there are glimpses of\nthe sea on this side. The mast has been unstepped and a few long oars\nlean against the side of the vessel. There are other signs of a recent\ndisembarcation. Articles of nautical and warlike use lie on the ground\nor hang upon bushes and rocks; wine-jars, cups, plates, etc. have been\ndeposited. The forms of a numerous company of men are seen sleeping on\nthe ground, wrapped in their blankets, here and there near the ship.\u2014In\nthe foreground at the Right centre a fire of small sticks is beginning\nto burn under tripod and kettle. THERON, the cook, is seen seated on the\nground near the fire, washing strips of meat for roasting. From the low\nbranch of a tree near him hangs the well stripped carcass of a deer, the\nhide and the head bearing large antlers in full view near by. ELPENOR,\nthe cook\u2019s helper, is at work trying to make the fire burn.\n\nTHERON\n\n    Scratch together another stick or two of wood, youngster.\n\n[_Enter GLAUCUS at Right with a jar of water which he sets down near\nTHERON._]\n\n    That will do for water, Glauc. Take a hand now and help the lad\n    blow the fire a bit.\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    So I will, though I be a trifle blown myself, tramping up and\n    down to that spring.\n\nTHERON\n\n    That\u2019s where the commander pinked the deer yesterday, eh?\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    Ay, ay; the old man hasn\u2019t forgotten how to let slip an arrow\n    since we became water-dogs, for certain.\n\nTHERON\n\n    \u2019Twas a crack piece of venison he fetched in and no mistake!\n    There\u2019s a strip or two left for breakfast; but I reckon we\u2019ll\n    have to make a soup of the hide for dinner\u2014that is if other\n    game doesn\u2019t turn up. [_He lays pieces of meat spitted over the\n    coals._]\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    The soup\u2019ll do them. They took solid meat enough aboard\n    yesterday to last for a week\u2019s voyage.\n\nELPENOR\n\n    When I saw them eating, it made me think of father feeding the\n    hogs up in Cephallenia.\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    They\u2019re grunting yet. Just hear the beggars snore! And we\n    turned in before sunset too.\n\nTHERON\n\n    The Pramnian\u2019s responsible for that: we tapped four jars. It\u2019s\n    the same as keeled over that beastly hulk of a Cyclops.\n\nELPENOR\n\n    The commander took a mighty round swig himself; I saw him.\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    Trust him for keeping his head level. Besides, he can carry\n    more of the rosy than any three of us.\n\nTHERON\n\n    Pass over those barley spats, boy\u2014ah! you\u2019ve got them too wet,\n    you monkey.\u2014Say, Glauc, how would you like to see such a thing\n    as a woman again, eh? [_THERON grins and nudges GLAUCUS\u2019 knee\n    with his elbow._]\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    Well, you\u2019re right; it is a long time since.\n\nELPENOR\n\n    Wasn\u2019t that a woman you saw at the last landing-place?\u2014there\n    where they smashed all the ships we had but this one.\n\nTHERON\n\n    What!\u2014the giant\u2019s daughter? Bless you, boy, that was a waddling\n    mountain, not a woman!\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    You might throw your arms round her waist twice, Elpy, and\n    never touch the tips of your fingers.\n\nTHERON\n\n    By the powers, she _was_ a hogshead to tackle; ha, ha!\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    If there be female inhabitants of this prickly country, it\u2019s to\n    be hoped they\u2019re not built after that pattern. But everything\n    here wears horns, so far. [_He taps the antlers of the stag._]\n\nTHERON\n\n    Well, we\u2019re nigh about ready. Set those plates round in just\n    a little order. Call \u2019em up, Elp! Take my knife here and\n    hammer on that shield hanging by the tree. The sun\u2019ll be on us\n    shortly. One more jar of water, Glaucus. [_Exit GLAUCUS._]\n\nELPENOR\n\n    [_Pounding on the metallic shield_] Ding, dong! Cling, clang!\n    Breakfast! Get up! Get up! Breakfast! Ding, dong! Cling, clang!\n\n[_The men rise one after another from their beds on the ground and adjust\ntheir garments, which look stained and weather-worn. GLAUCUS re-enters\nand pours water into several basins for the men to wash their hands. They\ngradually find seats on the ground near the fire and begin to eat, the\ncook and his assistant serving them informally. The conversation begins\nwhile they are dressing and getting ready, before they sit._]\n\nPHORBAS\n\n    [_Looking around him suspiciously_] I wonder on which side the\n    sun rises in this blessed country.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    On the east side, maybe; leastwise it ought to come up opposite\n    to where it went down yesterday.\n\nPHORBAS\n\n    Well, who remembers where that was? Split me if I do!\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    Avast there! the sun\u2019ll peep over in a jiffy\u2014by the spring\n    yonder. [_He turns his thumb backward to the Right._]\n\nPHORBAS\n\n    All the same we don\u2019t any of us know where we are.\n\nTHERON\n\n    We\u2019re supposed to be at the breakfast table now, lads. Fall to\n    if you\u2019ve got any appetite left over from yesterday!\n\nXENIAS\n\n    We\u2019ve got more appetite left over than you have chops, cook.\n\nTHERON\n\n    Ay, every chop\u2019s a sparerib this morning\u2014except a few choice\n    cuts here for the commander and the mate. They\u2019re done now.\n\n[_He takes the meat from the fire into a platter._]\n\n    Here, young man; take \u2019em over to him round the other side of\n    the ship.\n\nELPENOR\n\n    [_As he goes out_] We\u2019re going to have soup for dinner. [_He\n    disappears behind the vessel._]\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    Look here, Theron; did you put the charcoal in these barley\n    cakes before baking or after?\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    Pooh, pooh! Never mind the grit, man; it\u2019s an aid to digestion.\n    We\u2019re lucky enough to have groats aboard, anyway.\n\nPHORBAS\n\n    We\u2019re lucky to be alive! By Apollo, how I shiver when I think\n    of that \u00c6olian duffer and the cursed wind-bags he palmed off on\n    us!\n\nXENIAS\n\n    \u2019Twas worse than a hurricane on the wrong quarter when _they_\n    blew up\u2014took us straight back to the old boy himself.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    He _was_ a windy humbug! You\u2019d have thought, to hear him talk,\n    we\u2019d be back home in Ithaca inside of twenty-four hours.\n\nPHORBAS\n\n    And now we\u2019re only _here_! Another cannibal island, I\u2019ll bet my\n    pile! Ye gods! I wouldn\u2019t go up ten rods from the shore for a\n    gold mine.\n\nTHERON\n\n    Well, the commander took a little walk yesterday and nobody ate\n    _him_ up. He didn\u2019t make much of a report as to what he saw;\n    but I\u2019ve a notion he\u2019ll say something about it to-day.\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    Sh\u2014here he comes now! Mind your taps, men!\n\n[_Enter ULYSSES and EURYLOCHUS at the Left from behind the ship. The\nmen finishing their meal salute without rising and arrange themselves\ncomfortably and informally on the ground in a sort of circle looking\ntoward ULYSSES in the centre. ELPENOR re-enters behind the two and sits\ndown with the others. EURYLOCHUS also seats himself upon the ground at\nthe right hand of ULYSSES. In appearance the mate is distinguished from\nthe crew mainly by wearing fresher and less weather-beaten garments.\nULYSSES wears a helmet and carries his sword and baldric in his hand. He\nthrows the weapon upon the ground, and as he begins to speak takes off\nhis helmet, holding it swinging by its strap in his left hand while he\nstands and speaks. The rays of the rising sun now strike over the bank\nbehind him._]\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Good morrow, men! How sped the night?\n\nSEVERAL VOICES\n\n    O, hearty, hearty!\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    They had a bout to sleep on, you remember, sir.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    That was high festival\u2014too rare a hap!\n    \u2019Twas sipping of the rest ye needed sore;\n    But now there\u2019s toil in prospect.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    We thought you might tell us, sir, what the prospect showed\n    when you stepped out yesterday and got the deer.\n\nPHORBAS\n\n    We\u2019re hoping to sail away from here directly.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Of sail and oar appears an end not yet,\n    Brave comrades,\u2014ye sad fortune-favor\u2019d few,\n    Poor relic of that once gallant troop which sat\n    High on three-hundred thwarts; when each proud keel,\n    Cleaving a homeward furrow, swept gaily past\n    Familiar beacons; and from known crag and scaur\n    Triumphal friendly greetings echoed loud,\n    That drop like honey in victorious ears.\n    Not long their cadence linger\u2019d; but ye know\n    What flouts of whirlwind and black sulphurous cloud,\n    Wreck-witness\u2019d warrants of Neptunian ire,\n    Whelm\u2019d some with death and the scant remnant usher\u2019d\n    Into these strange, uncanny, nameless seas.\n    And now from wave to wave your weary arms\n    Drive the lone pinnace, this frail shell of hope,\n    With mingled dread and homesick yearning freighted.\n\n[_As ULYSSES pauses, some of the men, all of whom are looking to him\nintently, shake their heads or rock themselves to and fro, and faint\ngroans are heard._]\n\n    But cheer, brave shipmates; cheer!\n    Not boundless stretch these watery wastes, but still\n    Shines somewhere a vine-clad slope and pebbly cove,\n    The fair home-harbor pictured in your dreams.\n\n[_The men give utterance to loud sighs and groans._]\n\n    Somewhere it sparkles yet; but whether a ray\n    Of yonder climbing sun illumed its borders\n    Ere he warm\u2019d us, or by the western rim\n    Of darkling eve our cherish\u2019d haven lies,\n    We know not. In ourselves, thus mazed and wilder\u2019d\n    By circular driftings and strange gruesome sights,\n    There springs no source of judgment, whence to draw\n    Some pilotage and index of true course.\n    Yet on these wild inhospitable shores\n    Beings we have encounter\u2019d\u2014and not all\n    Of baleful or ungracious mood\u2014who hold\n    Rare store of guiding knowledge.\u2014Should we not\n    Press with glad feet even now our native soil,\n    If ye, unhappy men, had spared to loose\n    The contrary winds great \u00c6olus did tie down\n    To assure our safety?\n\n[_The men manifest great perturbation; some gesticulating and shaking\ntheir heads; others rising to their knees and striking themselves.\nMutterings and faint outcries escape them._]\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    [_Timidly; rising to his feet_]\n    You failed to tell them, sir, what was in the bags.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    [_Sternly_] I fail\u2019d first to remember\n    What slender stock of prudence or just restraint\n    Your wits preserve. So, while I slept, ye wrought\n    Mischief beyond repair. It was thy watch,\n    Eurylochus; dost recall it?\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    Yes, sir, it was my company on duty then.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Draw off thy men; let them assemble apart.\n\n[_At a sign from EURYLOCHUS men to the number of one-half the crew arise\nand group themselves around him on the Right. The rest remain seated\nnearer ULYSSES. EURYLOCHUS\u2019 company includes GLAUCUS, THERON, ELPENOR,\nand PHORBAS._]\n\nULYSSES\n\n    [_To all as before_] I repeat, then,\n    There dwell in these weird regions spirits\u2014some few,\n    Mighty yet not malevolent, and endued\n    With sapient skill and far discernment. Nor\n    Save by experience of them may we hope\n    To win the instructions craved. Here yesterday\n    From the bare peak whereto I clomb, the view\n    Of a round isle lay open; and at the point\n    Where these upwinding brambly folds converge\n    I saw faint-coiling smoke-wreaths, the sure sign\n    Of dwellers.\n\n[_All of the men are visibly disturbed and give increased and anxious\nattention._]\n\n                  It behooves us now to prove\n    Their case and disposition. But whether it suits\n    Rather that I conduct my party thither\n    For the grave query, or Eurylochus his,\n    Allotment shall decide.\n\n[_Sensation among his hearers_]\n\n                            Ofttimes the hand\n    Of Fortune guides a venturous essay fitter\n    Than human arbitration. Mark, then, Eurylochus,\n    My lot and thine.\n\n[_EURYLOCHUS with assistance from others finds upon the beach two small\nflat stones. These he scratches with his dagger, marking one with a V,\nthe other with an E._]\n\n    Shake now the sherds, good Glaucus.\n\n[_As he speaks ULYSSES passes the helmet which he has hitherto held in\nhis left hand to GLAUCUS. The two lots are thrown into the helmet; and\nGLAUCUS, standing in an open space and watched with intense expectation\nby all present, shakes it violently with a circular movement until one\nof the lots flies out and falls to the ground. The men strain their eyes\ntoward the stone as it is picked up by GLAUCUS._]\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Well, what decision?\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    [_Holding up the stone_] It\u2019s Eurylochus, sir, his mark.\n\n[_The announcement produces various effects upon the men. The party of\nULYSSES, seated upon the ground, strive not to show too plainly their\nsense of relief; while the standing company of EURYLOCHUS are more openly\naffected. PHORBAS in particular is in a highly nervous state, glancing\nnow toward the hill, now toward the water. A few other timid ones in the\nsame party demean themselves similarly._]\n\nULYSSES\n\n    [_To EURYLOCHUS_] Enough; make ready directly, and proceed with\n    reasonable haste.\n\n[_The mate\u2019s company move apart and make preparations, helped to some\nextent by the others. There is lively motion in both groups. They gather\nup things needful for an expedition, spears, staves, water-flasks, etc.\nTHERON, a portly figure, does not change his cook\u2019s garb, but buckles on\na very broad belt with hanging straps, and whets his butcher\u2019s cleaver\nwith a stone. Shortly they are ready to start._]\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    My mission is, sir\u2014\u2014?\n\nULYSSES\n\n    To announce, if those thou haply find\u2019st wear not\n    Sinister aspect, our good-will and greeting;\n    And the right winds for homeward voyage inquire.\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    Very well, sir.\u2014Fall in, lads!\n\n[_EURYLOCHUS\u2019 followers draw closer to their leader, apart from the\nothers. All are serious. Individuals take leave of one another here and\nthere with hand-shaking, etc._]\n\nULYSSES\n\n    The sign show\u2019d near the summit. Your ascent,\n    Thorny perchance and steep, will prove not long;\n    The questioning, easy.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    [_Seriously_] Have an eye to Theron, Glaucus; let him not be\n    too forward with that meat-knife of his!\n\nELPENOR\n\n    [_Taking hold of a strap at THERON\u2019S belt_] I shall hold him\n    back.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Full oft a forward mood and hardy daring\n    Is of prime merit; circumstance will teach\n    How far to temper zeal with slow discretion.\n    Farewell!\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    Farewell, sir!\u2014Forward, men!\n\nSEVERAL VOICES ON BOTH SIDES\n\n    Farewell! adieu! luck, luck!\n\n[_The mate\u2019s company go out at the Right and upward. EURYLOCHUS himself\nis abreast of the foremost on their left. The vanguard consists of\nGLAUCUS, THERON (cleaver in hand), and ELPENOR (a fragile, attenuated\nfigure) behind the cook, holding at his belt. PHORBAS and other timid\nones bring up the rear. The drop-curtain falls as they move off while the\nrest watch them and wave their hands to them._]\n\n\nIV\n\nThe same as Scene I. The front of CIRCE\u2019S palace. No music or other sound\nis heard when the curtain rises. The fountain plays as before.\u2014Enter at\nthe Right by the main gateway EURYLOCHUS and his party, the men grouped\nsimilarly as at the close of the last scene, but in the reverse order.\nIn advance are PHORBAS and the other timid ones; they enter hurriedly,\ncasting glances of alarm behind them. The rest of the party immediately\nfollow; EURYLOCHUS, GLAUCUS, and THERON last. ELPENOR is in front of\nTHERON, who pushes him forward. The whole company quickly come to a\nstandstill in a single close group with considerable space between them\nand the steps of the porch. They scan the building and its environs with\nlooks of wonder, especially fascinated by the fountain with its changing\nhues.\u2014EURYLOCHUS stands apart from the rest, his demeanor indicating\nhesitation and perplexity. While the others are talking he walks slowly\nto and fro, occasionally pausing and scanning suspiciously the various\nfeatures of the scene.\n\nTHERON\n\n    It\u2019s a rum go so far! eh, Glaucus?\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    [_Shrugging his shoulders_] Rum\u2019s the word! An outpost of tame\n    tigers! It beats anything we\u2019ve walked into yet. Cyclops\u2019 cave\n    wasn\u2019t a circumstance.\n\nTHERON\n\n    I had a notion to crack the skull of that overgrown wolf-cub\n    when he landed his dirty paws on my shoulders. But he looked\n    sort o\u2019 gentle like, and besides I thought the old chap who\n    owns the menagerie might take a miff\u2014whoever _he_ is.\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    It\u2019s some retired show-man or prize-fighter, I reckon.\n\nTHERON\n\n    He\u2019s got a blue devil penned up in his fountain, sure! Just\n    look at that, old man; hock first, and blue vitriol at the tail\n    end of it! There\u2019s bitters for you with a vengeance!\u2014Blast\n    me, but I\u2019m thirsty as an oyster, whacking a way up through\n    that pesky brush-wood! If there\u2019s a chance to wet our whistles\n    inside the house it\u2019ll be worth the dog-show twice over.\n\nPHORBAS\n\n    I tell you it\u2019ll pay to be cautious about the inside. Ugh! it\n    did make my flesh creep, crossing that cordon of wild-cats!\n    There\u2019s no knowing what we\u2019ll put our foot on if we go farther.\n\nELPENOR\n\n    I put my foot on a snake.\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    They put an architect to work here that _saw_ snakes, anyhow.\n    Take a look at those water-spouts, boys! [_Pointing to the\n    gargoyles_]\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    [_Approaching the group_] Well, men; what\u2019s the next step? The\n    commander said go ahead if the people weren\u2019t unfriendly. The\n    wild beasts out there were friendly enough, you might say; but\n    there\u2019s an uncanny look to it all.\n\nTHERON\n\n    I vote to go ahead and knock up the owner. If he\u2019s no worse\n    than his own whelps we can stand it;\u2014especially if he stands\n    for the drinks.\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    There\u2019s no two-legged craft within hail outside\u2014nothing but\n    four-footed gentry out here.\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    We might mount the stairs, then, cautiously, and see how\n    things look under the doorway yonder. [_Shaking his head_] But\n    I fear enchantment.\n\n[_As they approach the steps the hum of the spinning-wheel begins to be\nheard. The men pause again, and look at each other a moment in silence.\nEURYLOCHUS starts at the sound of the wheel, his features betraying\nheightened anxiety._]\n\nTHERON\n\n    [_Slapping GLAUCUS on the shoulder_] God-a-mercy, it\u2019s\n    womankind after all, Glauc! Come on! Ha, ha!\n\nELPENOR\n\n    Maybe it\u2019s a mountain.\n\n[_They all move toward the steps again. THERON, with ELPENOR holding to\nhis belt, and GLAUCUS are now in advance; EURYLOCHUS is at one side;\nPHORBAS and others are behind. As the first man sets foot on the steps\nthe wheel stops humming and faint music strikes up as prelude to CIRCE\u2019S\nsong. Immediately a clear soprano voice is heard behind the scenes\nsinging the air, the chorus of the song being performed by a quartette\nof women\u2019s voices. The hearers are sensibly affected, showing their\nfeelings by appropriate pantomime as they alternately pause and mount\nslowly higher and higher upon the stairs. EURYLOCHUS alone exhibits\nsymptoms of horror and repulsion; the others seem to be charmed and lured\non by the song. All of them except the leader are gathered together upon\nthe porch close to the doorway when the last stanza is sung._]\n\nTHE SONG OF CIRCE\n\n      Ah, who!\u2014ah, who!\n    Who would dwell longer there       _bis_\n    In a rude world of care,\n      Of toil and care!\n    They only live, who hear\n    My song and taste my cheer\u2014\n      Who my life share.               _bis_\n      Ah, who!\u2014ah, who\n    Would toil and tarry there!\n\n    (_Chorus_)\n\n      They only live, who hear\n    Our song and taste our cheer\u2014\n      Who our life share.              _bis_\n      Ah, who!\u2014ah, who\n    Would toil and tarry there!\n\n    II\n\n      I know\u2014I know\n    Where bubbling waters flow;\n    Where shadowy willows sway\n    And wood nymphs hide and play\n      In my round isle.\n    I know which clustering vine\n    Spirts out the sweetest wine.\n      Who would not while\n      Swift hours away!\n      Ah, who!\u2014ah, who!\n    In my round bowery isle!\n\n    (_Chorus_)\n\n    We know\u2014we know which vine\n    Spirts out the sweetest wine.\n      Who would not while\n      Swift hours away!\n      Ah, who!\u2014ah, who!\n    In our round bowery isle!\n\n    III\n\n      I know\u2014I know\n    What makes the wood-dove moan      _bis_\n    In the dark coppice lone;\n      I know the cure.\n    When floats the owlet\u2019s cry,\n    Her quavering lullaby,\n      Who!\u2014ah, who!\n    While night winds sigh,\n    Who would not quaff the cure!\n      Ah, who!\u2014ah, who!\n\n    (_Chorus_)\n\n    We know, we know the cure.\n    When floats the owlet\u2019s cry,\n    Her quavering lullaby,\n      Who!\u2014ah, who!\n    While night winds sigh,\n    Who would not quaff the cure!\n      Ah, who!\u2014ah, who!\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    [_Loudly, in a musical tone_] Hola!\u2014hola!\n\n[_Directly upon the utterance of this call the low, shaded recess of\nthe doorway, which was dark before, grows bright with the same golden\nradiance that had shone intermittently upon the fountain; and the throng\nof visitors, excepting their leader, press swiftly forward and disappear\nthrough the opening. Again immediately the light in the doorway changes\nto blue, with electrical sparks. EURYLOCHUS, who is directing his gaze\ntoward the opening, shrinks back in alarm; and at the same moment the\nspray of the fountain becomes blue and remains of that color. Descending\nto a lower stair EURYLOCHUS peers under the doorway, listening intently.\nNo sound is heard. Then, his attention being drawn to the sombre hue\nof the fountain, while he is looking away from the entrance, a large\nserpent lets down its coils from the roof of the porch; and as the man\nturns again toward the entrance he is confronted with its wide-open jaws,\nforked tongue, and glittering eyes. As he retreats precipitately from\nthe stairs the serpent draws itself up out of sight. EURYLOCHUS stops\nonce more in the foreground to watch and listen for some sign of his\nmen within the palace; but as he turns toward the building, the head of\na wolf with glowing eyes is protruded from a clump of shrubbery. Upon\nencountering this final apparition he flees in consternation from the\nscene._]\n\n\nV\n\nThe Seashore again. The curtain rising discovers the men left behind at\nthe camp sitting irregularly grouped near the fire-place. ULYSSES stands\napart from them by the ship, busied in inspecting his arms, the spear,\nbow, and sword, which hang near or lean against the vessel. When he\nunsheathes and sheathes the sword to examine it while his men are talking\nit is seen to have a brightly polished, rather broad, but not heavy\nblade. Most of the time he stands with face turned toward the water, his\nback to the Right.\n\nFIRST SAILOR\n\n    Look here, lads; we can\u2019t wait till noon for a bite! The\n    commander ordered breakfast so rattling early this morning I\u2019ve\n    got a brand-new appetite already.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Well, take a nibble on that pile of Theron\u2019s charcoal cakes\n    left over. They need a good appetite to make \u2019em slip down.\n\nFIRST SAILOR\n\n    Maybe the mate or Glaucus\u2019ll fetch in another stag or a wild\n    goat on their way back.\n\nSECOND SAILOR\n\n    A wild goose more like; I wonder how far they\u2019ve got anyway.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    They ought to turn up before noon. The commander said they\n    might get up there and return in a couple of hours, as he\n    judged\u2014that is, if they scratched gravel lively.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    They\u2019ve got Theron with \u2019em, remember; he can\u2019t pass between\n    two trees when they grow _too_ near together.\n\nFIRST SAILOR\n\n    No, but he can clear a path with his cleaver for two men\u2014him\n    and Elpy spindle-shanks.\n\nSECOND SAILOR\n\n    [_In undertone_] By the way, the commander\u2019s pretty busy over\n    there with his own cutlery. I wonder what he expects next.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    He expects to be _ready_, whatever comes. You don\u2019t catch him\n    napping. Besides, who wants a speck of rust on a hanger like\n    that? The war\u2019s an old story now; and this salt air\u2019s the\n    devil\u2019s own invention to make a blade stick to the scabbard.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    \u2019Twas a pity he couldn\u2019t draw it on that Cyclops hog. But if\n    we\u2019d let the blood out of him it wouldn\u2019t have let us out of\n    his pesky cave with a giant\u2019s tomb-stone clapped up to the\n    door!\u2014[_Whistling low as he looks up. XENIAS sits facing the\n    Right._] Whew!\u2014What\u2019s in the wind now?\n\n[_All turn quickly toward the point indicated by the speaker, not\nexcepting ULYSSES, whose attention has been attracted by the whistle. At\nthe Right from above EURYLOCHUS enters slowly and hesitatingly, looking\npale and haggard, his clothing torn and disordered by the brambles.\nObserving that all eyes are directed upon him he stops as if afraid to\napproach the company. Most of the men rise to their feet and move toward\nhim._]\n\nSEVERAL VOICES\n\n    Hi! hi!\u2014what\u2019s the good word?\u2014News, news? Where\u2019s Glauc?\n    [_EURYLOCHUS responds only with deprecatory gestures._]\n\nULYSSES\n\n    What? ho, Eurylochus! Hast tidings? Why alone?\n\n    What ails thee, mate? Speak out; tell us thy story!\n\n[_With gestures of dismay EURYLOCHUS moves nearer to ULYSSES, but does\nnot speak. ULYSSES regards him with an expression of deep concern. The\nother men gather more closely round the pair._]\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Wake up, man! What\u2019s in your eye? We\u2019re here to help; cheer up!\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    [_Patting EURYLOCHUS on the shoulder_] Out with it; out with\n    it!\u2014Go ahead; palaver!\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Open up, old fellow. _You\u2019re_ not dead, anyway. We\u2019re used to\n    funerals by this time. [_EURYLOCHUS remains in his despairing\n    attitude and is still unable to speak._]\n\nULYSSES\n\n[_Severely; taking a step nearer to EURYLOCHUS, while the men fall back\nslightly._]\n\n    Eurylochus, I enjoin you and command\n    To conquer this o\u2019er-mastering mute despair.\n    Deliver straightway the account we crave\n    Of your commission and make known why thus\n    Alone and fraught with visible woe thou comest.\u2014\n    Where are they? Speak!\u2014\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n[_With effort; after further hesitation._]\n\n    Noble Ulysses, we did most duly follow\n    Thy charge and indication. And when with sharp\n    Stretches of toilsome clambering we drew nigh\n    This shaggy island\u2019s summit, where the ground\n    Sloped smoother, as these rude prickly folds gave way\n    To a tall grove of sombre trees which thrust\n    Their welcome shadows against the mounting sun,\u2014\n    There \u2019twixt the spectral boles our upward glance\n    Fell on a portly mansion\u2019s shimmering sides.\n    But first, as we clomb higher, a court-yard wall\n    Barr\u2019d, though with open portals, our approach.\n    For at its mouth a glowering throng, Ulysses,\n    Of pards and grisly wolves sat by; not wild,\n    But of a tameness stranger and more awful\n    Than fierce beasts\u2019 native temper\u2014\u2019twas sure sign,\n    And not the last, of foul enchantment. These\n    Strove not to tear and rend us, but were fain\n    Like petted dogs to fawn, wagging long tails\n    And monstrous paws on lap or shoulders throwing;\n    While in their eyes sad looks, half human, seem\u2019d\n    To deprecate and warn. But we press\u2019d on,\n    Heeding thy charge, Ulysses, to mark well\n    The human dwellers\u2019 aspect and of them\n    Inquire, proved they not unbenign or harsh.\n    Dwellers indeed we saw not; but the whole pile,\n    As near its door we stood, did reek and rumble\n    With devilish witchery. Scaly serpents writhed\n    At every coigne; faces with fiery eyeballs\n    Peer\u2019d out amid the foliage; and o\u2019er all\n    Weird flashes leapt of lurid sulphurous flame.\n    Yet that which most profoundly stirr\u2019d my doubts\n    And dark suspicions, was the unearthly _song_,\n    With languorous music mixt, that issued forth\n    To charm and tempt us with seductive spell.\n    Myself shrank back when on my ear that strain\n    Of woman\u2019s guile or witch\u2019s magic struck.\n    Not so the rest, Ulysses,\u2014our lost comrades;\n    But the song bound and pull\u2019d them; nor could I\n    Stem their mad folly. One spoke forth and call\u2019d;\n    And as the doors swang wider all were swept\n    Under the hellish gap; which, closing, swallow\u2019d\n    Like an engulfing whirlpool the doom\u2019d crew.\n    For though, as the song ceased, I watch\u2019d and waited\n    Long time for tidings or some sign, none came:\n    Naught but a dismal silence and increase\n    Of snaky menace and blue infernal gleams!\n\n[_Immediately upon the conclusion of EURYLOCHUS\u2019 narrative ULYSSES, who\nhas listened intently, reaches for his sword near by; takes a quick look\nat the blade as he draws it partly out and then pushes it back into the\nscabbard; slings the weapon over his shoulder, puts on his helmet, and\nthen turns to EURYLOCHUS again. The latter exhibits fresh dismay at\nseeing ULYSSES thus arm himself. The other men also are visibly affected\nby their commander\u2019s movements._]\n\nULYSSES\n\n    So then thou knowest the way, Eurylochus:\n    Lead on forthwith by the same path; show me\n    The spot where thou didst leave them.\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n[_Falling at the feet of ULYSSES and clasping his knees_]\n\n    Not thither, great Ulysses! Take me not thither!\n    Thyself will ne\u2019er return, I know right well.\n    It is the road to death or to some state\n    Of hideous, vile bewitchment worse than death.\n    Thou canst not rescue them! What power hath man\n    To battle with foul uncanny spirits?\u2014Nay,\n    This isle is haunted. Let us fly; we are\n    Thus many left alive. To ship and fly!\n\nULYSSES\n\n    [_Scornfully_] Eurylochus, \u2019tis thy privilege; thou art free\n    To nurse thy safety, tarrying by the ship.\n    On _me_ a duty rests; my course lies clear:\n    My comrades\u2019 fate I go to prove.\n\n[_EURYLOCHUS retreats and cowers while ULYSSES speaks, at the same time\ngradually rising to a standing posture with his face toward the speaker.\nHe does not join the group of the other men. These have their eyes fixed\non the commander, some of them moving anxiously toward him. With his last\nwords ULYSSES starts to go out at the Right. EURYLOCHUS turns away and\nsits upon a stone near the ship and the water at the Left, covering his\nface._]\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    May we not, sir, accompany you as guard\n    Or help at hazard?\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Nay, good men; remain\n    And guard the vessel. My errand\u2019s of espial\n    And wary circumspection: meet for one;\n    For more, unsuited. I shall not slip. Farewell!\n\nSEVERAL VOICES\n\n    Farewell! farewell, sir!\n\n[_The curtain falls as ULYSSES disappears, while the men stand following\nhis footsteps with their eyes._]\n\n\nVI\n\nThe same as Scene II. CIRCE\u2019S banquet-hall.\u2014As the curtain rises the\nparty who entered the palace at the close of Scene IV are shown seated\nat the table on the Left, while THERMIA and other nymphs serve them with\nfood and wine. The cups are filled by pouring from tall slender pitchers\nof silver, and these in turn by dipping the wine with ladles from the\npunch-bowl on the sideboard. The Enchantress and her companions are in\ntheir usual places. MYRTO turns her wheel slowly and intermittently\nwithout noticeable sound. CIRCE, seated as before at the head of the\ntable on the Right, wears the same dress as in Scene II, but her black\nrobe is not thrown off. The wand lies upon the table near her right hand,\nneither carelessly nor conspicuously placed. The throne at her left\nhand, behind which PHILINNA stands, is occupied by _Mikkos_, who wears a\nbrightly polished collar.\n\nThe guests are all at the table farthest from CIRCE. The throne at its\nhead, opposite her throne, is occupied by ELPENOR. At his left, near the\ncorner of the table, sits PHORBAS, partaking freely of the banquet, but\nglancing nervously, now toward _Mikkos_ and now toward the door behind\nthe dais where they had entered. At the left of PHORBAS sit some feasters\nwith their backs to the audience. On the other side of the table, facing\nthe audience, are THERON the cook (at ELPENOR\u2019S right) wearing his cap;\nGLAUCUS (the farthest in the direction toward _Mikkos_); and other men\nbetween THERON and GLAUCUS.\n\nIt is near the close of the entertainment. Appearances indicate that\nthe banqueters have begun to feel the effects of the wine that is still\npoured freely. They are also partly dazed and partly exhilarated by the\npresence of the Enchantress and her elegant nymphs. The symptoms of\nintoxication and bewilderment on the part of the men become by degrees\nmore manifest as the conversation proceeds. GLAUCUS preserves his dignity\nrather better than his companions; but he seems fascinated by CIRCE,\nto whom he is the nearest in his position at table; and he does not\nrefrain from drinking copiously, nor show due caution or a disposition\nto remember the details of the mission with which EURYLOCHUS had been\nentrusted.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    [_After a pause_] Ye do full justice, strangers and kind guests,\n    To this our welcome and the cheer we spread.\n    \u2019Tis right. Go on; and so with act sincere,\n    Not by the hollow word, those virtues prove\n    Which to my bounty I would fain impute.\n    And truly, until a guest hath quell\u2019d the pangs\n    Of sharp importunate hunger, it were ungracious\n    To crave of him accounts or ply his ear\n    With curious question.\u2014I am well pleased to wait\n    Upon your silence keeping even pace\n    With appetite.\u2014Ye have not sat of late,\n    I judge, at flowing boards.\n\nELPENOR\n\n    [_Loudly_] We had roast _deer_ yesterday.\n\nTHERON\n\n    [_Flourishing his fork_] Done to a turn!\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Ah!\u2014did ye then venture\n    To hunt and slay the creatures that frequent\n    My island park? It were no jest to play\n    The involuntary cannibal!\n\n[_Some of the men are seen to be startled by this remark._]\n\n                              Follow\u2019d perchance\n    Unusual visions in the wake of the feast?\n\nPHORBAS\n\n    Yes, yes! my sleep ran ghostly; but I thought\n    \u2019Twas a mere nightmare.\n\nELPENOR\n\n    I thought I saw a _horse_!\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Of our four-footed denizens we note\n    Two sorts: one of original beastly shape;\n    Another, to which the brutal guise hath fallen\n    As fit encasement of their human habits.\n    And these two kinds, one from the other with sure\n    Discrimination to distinguish, proves\n    Sometimes not easy. Thus our good _Mikkos_ here\n\n[_Patting the ape lightly_]\n\n    Was once a philosopher of the ancient sect\n    Call\u2019d pre-Ionic\u2014in his day the most\n    Redoubtable of doubters.\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    [_Gravely; nodding his head unsteadily_]\n                            Madam, we doubt it not.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Fate ordain\u2019d\n    That to this island he should drift and taste\n    Our cordials. Whereon he was profoundly struck\n    With my maid Myrto.\n\n[_Here MYRTO without looking up sets her wheel a-spinning loudly\nfor a brief moment, causing the banqueters to turn their eyes in her\ndirection._]\n\n                        From that hour a change\n    Came o\u2019er him.\n\nMYRTO\n\n                    It was a harmless fancy;\n    And he is harmless now.\n\n[_Upon hearing MYRTO\u2019S voice_ Mikkos _without turning toward her begins\nto raise himself by his hands upon the arms of the chair, but at a sign\nfrom CIRCE lowers himself to sitting posture._]\n\nTHERON\n\n[_To CIRCE; pointing with his fork to PHILINNA_]\n\n    But why, madam?\u2014why did he not choose\n    That young miss there behind him?\n\nCIRCE\n\n    He was a philosopher, I said.\n\nTHERON\n\n    He was a _pig_!\u2014\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Ah, by the by, Thermia, didst thou tell Graea\n    To renovate those sties?\n\nTHERMIA\n\n                              I did, my lady.\n    More swine, she says, have bolted\n    And to the woods run wild. One sty stands empty.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    It shall be fill\u2019d erelong.\n\nPHORBAS\n\n[_Looking anxiously at a platter before him_]\n\n    Might there be a possible doubt about these spareribs?\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                    Not the least;\n    I have a discriminating cook.\n\nTHERON\n\n    [_Helping himself to more meat_] You can wager\n    _She_ knows pork when she sees it!\n\nELPENOR\n\n    My father feeds hogs too.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Thy father, gentle youth, will be to-morrow\n    One pig the poorer.\u2014But where dwells he pray?\n\nELPENOR\n\n    He dwells at home; I left him there.\n\nTHERON\n\n    Lady, the lad forgets; I do much doubt\n    If his own name he can remember right now.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    It is an infirmity that ofttimes with wassail\n    Waxes apace. But haply you, good sir,\n    Can tell me whence ye came?\n\nTHERON\n\n    O sure, ma\u2019am! we came lately from a cove\n    Call\u2019d \u00c6olus.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                  Ah, what!\u2014from my great kinsman,\n    The steward of the winds?\n\nTHERON\n\n                              A windy stew\n    He brew\u2019d for _us_!\u2014Great Juno! _was_ it breezy, Glauc?\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    Madam, I am a sailor; but I never\n    Saw such incessant, damnable contrary winds\n    In all my voyaging!\n\nPHORBAS\n\n[_Rousing himself excitedly_]\n\n                        Yes, yes; but who?\n    Who let \u2019em out? Who let \u2019em out?\n\n[_GLAUCUS looks fiercely at the speaker and THERON extends his fist\nthreateningly toward him. PHORBAS shrinks away._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    But, gentlemen, pray inform me; whither now\n    Would ye be wafted? From which quarter should\n    Those breezes blow enabling you to reach\n    The desired haven?\n\nTHERON\n\n                      We don\u2019t know that, because\n    We don\u2019t know where we are.\n\nELPENOR\n\n    We\u2019re _here_ now.\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    We\u2019re downright weary o\u2019 pulling\n    Across head winds!\n\nCIRCE\n\n                      But which of you is leader?\n    Which one doth stand for steering and shrewd guidance?\n\nELPENOR\n\n    He stopp\u2019d outside.\n\nPHORBAS\n\n    We thought he enter\u2019d with us; but once inside,\n    We miss\u2019d him.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    What _he_ hath miss\u2019d he knows not. I shall send\n    Mikkos to fetch him.\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n                        Our leader, lady,\n    Is a good careful man, yet over wary\n    Of women or witchcraft. So soon he caught the strain\n    Of the song you sang it paralyzed him.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                            Ah!\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    Were he here now, he could not look you\n    Square in the face, as I do.\n\n[_GLAUCUS is gazing at CIRCE admiringly._]\n\nELPENOR\n\n                                He might see\n    That brass snake on her arm.\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n                                He would abhor\n    The arm worse than the serpent.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                    Is then my arm\n    So frightful?\n\nTHERON\n\n    The arm\u2019s all right, ma\u2019am; but there\u2019s something wrong\n    About Eurylochus.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    So; Eurylochus is your leader?\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n                                  Only a bit\n    Backward about leading, when he scents\n    A woman in the wind.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                        And he would fear\n    Us hospitable maidens?\u2014and, we trust,\n    Of aspect not forbidding.\n\nTHERON\n\n                              O, it\u2019s all one\n    About the aspect. You could tree him, ma\u2019am,\n    As quick as the giant\u2019s daughter.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    The giant\u2019s daughter?\n\nTHERON\n\n    Yes, ma\u2019am; we landed lately on a lot\n    Of bloody cannibals\u2014this big gal first;\n    And Eurylochus took to a tree.\n\nELPENOR\n\n    [_Pointing to PHORBAS_] He climb\u2019d up too.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    What! does your friend fear women also?\n\nTHERON\n\n    O no, ma\u2019am. Phorb\u2019s a trifle timid like,\n    Whether it\u2019s a he or she. You see, it\u2019s this way:\n    Phorb was a-fear\u2019d, because she was so large;\n    And Eurylochus, because she was a lady.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    She _was_ a lady then?\n\nPHORBAS\n\n                          She laid out Theron\n    When he made up to her.\n\nTHERON\n\n                            I had half a mind\n    To make pork chop o\u2019 the bloomin\u2019 hussy!\u2014Ye gods!\n    This meat-knife here does hang plumb heavy\n    For an after-dinner appendage.\n\n[_He detaches the cleaver from his belt and lays it on the table, at the\nsame time loosening the belt._]\n\n                                  I don\u2019t want\n    The dang\u2019d thing dangling at my haunches when\n    The dancing begins.\n\nELPENOR\n\n    When does it begin, Theron?\n\nTHERON\n\n    Split me if I know! There\u2019s a raft more drinks\n    On the tapis yet.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                      My friends, I shall soon show you\n    A new dance call\u2019d the four-step.\n\nSEVERAL VOICES\n\n    Hi, hi! Hip, hip! [_They pound on the table with their cups._]\n\nTHERON\n\n    Ha, ha! The four-step; two-and-two two-step:\n    That means partners!\n\n[_He leers again at PHILINNA, drains his cup and waves it toward\nher.\u2014Other men seem to pay increased attention to the nymphs serving\nthem._]\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    [_Admiringly, but unsteadily_] Do you dance it, madam, yourself?\n\nCIRCE\n\n    O no; but Mikkos knows it.\n\n[_Here the ape slowly raises himself by the hands until all four\nextremities rest upon the arms of the chair, remaining a moment or two in\nthis position before lowering himself._]\n\nTHERON\n\n                              Would you mind, ma\u2019am,\n    Letting that there young miss step over here to take\n    The place of this one?\n\n[_He points to PHILINNA and indicates THERMIA behind him with his left\nthumb over the shoulder._]\n\nELPENOR\n\n    [_Parenthetically_] Don\u2019t take _her_ away!\n\nCIRCE\n\n    A moment, sir; I have some present need of her.\n    One choicest cordial I have not yet brought\n    To your attention. In my island only\n    The vintage can be stored.\u2014A jar, Philinna;\n    Here on my table.\n\nPHILINNA\n\n                      Do you mean, my lady,\n    The wine which for ourselves alone we press?\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Yes, child; these are no every-day arrivals; go!\n\n[_PHILINNA goes out at Right 2. The other nymphs present, except MYRTO\nand THERMIA, leave the room quietly and unobservedly, closing the Left\ncentral door. THERON\u2019S song begins as PHILINNA disappears. The refrain\nand chorus are joined in by all the men except ELPENOR and PHORBAS, who\nlook at each other and laugh._]\n\nTHERON\n\n[_Sings; still looking toward the door where PHILINNA went out._]\n\n    It was a stout sailor who cook\u2019d for the crew;\n\nALL\n\n    Sing yo, heave yo!\n\nTHERON\n\n    A-shedding salt tears while he season\u2019d the stew.\n\nALL\n\n    A-shedding salt tears while he season\u2019d the stew.\n            Sing yo, heave yo, on the briny!\n\nTHERON\n\n    Salt tears for the sweetheart that jilted him last;\n\nALL\n\n    Sing yo, heave yo!\n\nTHERON\n\n    And the onions he peel\u2019d made \u2019em fall thick and fast.\n\nALL\n\n    And the onions he peel\u2019d made \u2019em fall thick and fast.\n            Sing yo, heave yo, on the briny!\n\nCIRCE\n\n    [_To GLAUCUS_] Would _that_ song paralyze your leader, sir?\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    The allusion would prick him, madam; depend upon it.\u2014\n\n    [_Turning to THERON_] One more, Thee,\u2014till she\u2019s back with the\n    bitters.\n\nTHERON\n\n    [_Sings_] One fine morning the pudding-bag busted a flap;\n\nALL\n\n    Sing yo, heave yo!\n\nTHERON\n\n    So he boil\u2019d the noon mess in his greasy cook\u2019s cap.\n\n[_Here THERON takes his cap from his head and lays it over a plate._]\n\nALL\n\n    So he boil\u2019d the noon mess in his greasy cook\u2019s cap.\n            Sing yo, heave yo, on the briny!\n\nTHERON\n\n    \u201cFor God\u2019s sake,\u201d cried the captain, \u201cwhat\u2019s struck the plum-duff?\u201d\n\nALL\n\n    Sing yo, heave yo!\n\nTHERON\n\n    \u201cWe don\u2019t need hogs\u2019 bristles to flavor the stuff!\u201d\n\nALL\n\n    \u201cWe don\u2019t need hogs\u2019 bristles to flavor the stuff!\u201d\n            Sing yo, heave yo, on the briny!\n\n[_With the last chorus PHILINNA re-enters bearing a punch-bowl of elegant\npattern, smaller than the one on the sideboard at the opposite end of\nthe room. She places the bowl upon the table before CIRCE, while the men\nbecome silent as they look on._]\n\nMYRTO\n\n    My lady, may Mikkos have a drop?\n\n[_At these words the ape begins to draw himself up by the hands again.\nCIRCE nods assent to MYRTO._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Philinna!\n\n[_PHILINNA fills a cup from the bowl and hands it to the ape. She also\nsets a small cup of wine before CIRCE._ Mikkos _drains the beaker,\nholding it with both hands and throwing his head very far back; and while\nthe eyes of all the men are directed toward him with amused attention\nCIRCE, opening a very small silver casket that hangs at her girdle, takes\na fine powder therefrom and quickly throws it into the bowl. She draws\nthe wand nearer to her hand._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Thermia!\n\n[_At the word, THERMIA passes up to CIRCE\u2019S table and she and PHILINNA,\nfilling pitchers from CIRCE\u2019S bowl, proceed to refill the cups of the\nbanqueters in regular order, THERMIA from left to right, PHILINNA from\nright to left. Then as they meet at the centre both the nymphs retire\ntogether to the extreme Right near CIRCE. Meanwhile the sombre figure of\nGRAEA the Swine-maiden is discovered lurking in the corridor behind the\nRight central doorway._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    [_Raising her cup_] To the health of your backward leader, my\n    brave guests!\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    [_Half-rising; unsteadily_] Out, out! To hostess, hostess!\n    Here\u2019s to hostess!\n\n[_All drink; and the effects of the drug straightway become apparent. An\nexpression of stupefaction and horror passes over the faces of the men.\nThey look at each other vacantly with forced smiles; their heads and\narms sway and droop; they swing round in their seats and are evidently\nunconscious of their situation. At the first symptoms of this delirium\nthe Enchantress rises deliberately from her throne, wand in hand; and\ngliding along the line toward the Left taps lightly and quickly each man\nwith the wand without pausing in her course. Then she steps upon the\ndais._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n[_Sternly; with wand pointed upward and back toward the Right centre_]\n\n    Hence to the sty! your proper shapes assume!\n\n[_Directly GRAEA, who during CIRCE\u2019S movements has stridden noiselessly\ninto the room and has passed along its edge behind THERMIA and PHILINNA\nand the Enchantress\u2019 throne until in front of the other table near\nthe point where PHORBAS sits, raises her long whip and cracks it\nfiercely with sharp detonation at the men\u2019s feet. In a huddle they rush\ntumultuously away with drooping heads and arms to the open rear doorway\nand out through it, passing in front of MYRTO and her wheel and followed\nby GRAEA lashing furiously. Some of the fugitives, as they drop on all\nfours near the exit, are seen to have already developed curly pigs\u2019 tails\nat their posteriors. As the victims rush forth_ Mikkos _springs upon the\nempty throne of CIRCE and balancing himself upon its arms gazes intently\ninto the bowl on the table before him, while MYRTO sets her wheel\nrevolving and humming loudly. The drop-curtain falls just as the door\ncloses behind the herd and GRAEA disappearing over the corridor._]\n\nThe several positions at the fall of the curtain are as follows: CIRCE\nstands upon the dais with wand raised in the attitude described. MYRTO\nsits at her wheel, which turns more and more slowly as the curtain\ndescends. PHILINNA and THERMIA stand near the boudoir, still holding\ntheir pitchers, the hand of one girl resting on the other\u2019s shoulder.\n_Mikkos_, poised upon CIRCE\u2019S chair, his head lower than his tail, pores\nintently over the punch-bowl. No person exhibits signs of amusement or\nexcitement of any sort. Their faces are serene, their figures motionless.\nThe wheel comes to a standstill just as the descending curtain hides it.\n\n\nVII\n\nThe same as Scenes III and V. The Seashore. EURYLOCHUS is still seated\non the stone by the ship, gloomy and dejected. The other men stand in a\ngroup not far from him, apparently discussing some serious proposal.\n\nFIRST SAILOR\n\n    Anyway he ordered us to stay here and guard the ship.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    Just so; I believe in obeying orders myself; but, lads, this is\n    an extraordinary case.\n\nSECOND SAILOR\n\n    A case it is! But the commander\u2019s equal to it I reckon.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    The commander\u2019s equal to anything on a square deal. But it\u2019s\n    odds here against one man; he\u2019ll need help if the land lies the\n    way the mate makes it out.\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n[_Turning and facing the others without rising_]\n\n    Are ye all mad, and will not lay to heart\n    The sights and sounds of foul bedevilment\n    Haunting this cursed island? Will ye follow\n    Into the pit the steps of that rash man,\n    Foolhardy Ulysses?\u2014the same who prick\u2019d us on\n    To explore the ogre\u2019s cavern, where six brave men\n    Were sever\u2019d limbmeal and devour\u2019d!\n\nSEVERAL VOICES\n\n    Out! out!\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Bother the ogre! The commander\u2019s started now to pull half\n    the ship\u2019s company out of a hole and if a human subject\n    could compass the business he\u2019s it. But if there\u2019s a dash of\n    witchcraft here, we ought to be with him and shoulder our share.\n\nFIRST SAILOR\n\n    Ay, ay! that\u2019s the talk!\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    What signifies mere number, when mortal wills\n    Clash with uncanny spirits? It is all over\n    With him and them!\u2014We are enough to row\n    Our galley launch\u2019d and from these shores deliver\u2019d.\n\nSEVERAL VOICES\n\n    Ho, shame! shame!\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    Mark my words, lads; if the other fellows have got to trot\n    round in wolf and tiger skins we\u2019re bound to go on all\n    fours along with \u2019em and not leave \u2019em in the lurch. If the\n    commander\u2019s beating his way back we shall meet him on the trip;\n    if he isn\u2019t, he\u2019ll need help for certain. We\u2019ll walk into that\n    domicile, witch or no witch!\n\nSECOND SAILOR\n\n    Take her by storm!\n\nSEVERAL VOICES\n\n    Right, right! Come on! come on!\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Eurylochus here\u2019ll stand shipguard. He won\u2019t shove her off all\n    alone I reckon.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    Take up your traps now! Lively!\n\n[_The men stir about, making ready for their departure._]\n\n    Here we go!\n\n[_They march away briskly, going out as the other party and ULYSSES had\ngone. PHILEMON leads; XENIAS brings up the rear, watchfully._]\n\nXENIAS\n\n[_Turning back, at the last moment_]\n\n    Don\u2019t let her fly away, old man;\n    If you hear hell howling, it\u2019s _us_!\n\n[_As the party disappears EURYLOCHUS with a gesture of despair flings\nhimself down by the keel of the vessel._]\n\n\nVIII\n\nA grove upon sloping ground near CIRCE\u2019S palace. Large trees cast deep\nshadows with sunny spaces between. The mansion itself is not visible; but\non the Left at some elevation a glimpse is afforded of the court-yard\nwall. A faint pathway amid shrubbery winds from the Right front upward\nand out on the Left at the rear.\n\nEnter ULYSSES at the Right, tracing the path slowly and cautiously.\nPerceiving the wall above and before him he pauses, moves his right\nhand involuntary toward his sword-hilt and lifts the left to his lips\nmeditatively. While he thus stands reconnoitering and pondering, MERCURY\nsuddenly appears before him, stepping noiselessly from the shadow of a\ntree upon the Left. At this apparition ULYSSES draws back an instant with\nhead slightly bowed, while his hand leaves the sword and is lifted to a\nreverential gesture. The demeanor of MERCURY is easy and gracious. His\ninsignia, though plainly recognizable, are less conspicuous and brilliant\nthan they appeared in Scene II.\n\nMERCURY\n\n[_Taking the up-lifted hand of Ulysses_]\n\n    Whither now, fate-worn wanderer, whither tending\n    Thread\u2019st thou the dim paths of this briery steep?\n    What region holds thee or perchance what guile\n    Lurks in its mazy folds, wouldst thou not prove?\u2014\n    Ere to that dome ascending, where in foul sties\n    Thy luckless comrades grovel now and groan,\n    To swinish shape by the enchantress changed!\n\n[_As the god speaks he withdraws his hand and indicates the direction of\nthe palace. ULYSSES recoils slightly at the last words of MERCURY._]\n\n    One only, so minded that in Circe\u2019s song\n    He read the bane it glozed, did value well\n    His safety and proclaim\u2019d their loss.\u2014Whom thou\n    Aimest forsooth to rescue and redeem!\n    Rather methinks the porcine couch to share\n    With them and vanish from men, came not\n    Some guardian hand between.\u2014But lo! there grows\n    An antidote\u2014a good drug, that shall check\n    The baleful magic of her potions.\n\n[_MERCURY pulls from the ground, moving aside the undergrowth which\nconcealed it, a small plant and shows it to ULYSSES._]\n\n                                      See!\n    Black at the root, milk-white the flower; \u2019tis _moly_:\n    So to the immortals known; of men, scarce found.\n\n[_ULYSSES receives the herb from the hand of the god with an air of\nprofound attention and a shade of wonder._]\n\n    Now may thy steps to yon weird mansion mount\n    And tread its halls unscathed, Ulysses, if\n    My mandate thou shalt heed and ponder well.\n\n[_ULYSSES shifts his attentive regard from the plant in his hand to the\nspeaker._]\n\n    Her song will thrill thee, but the transforming spell\n    Shall break before the potent herb thou holdest.\n    Undaunted wilt thou enter; nor be shamed\n    If thy quick pulses bound when Circe\u2019s glance\n    Encounters thine, and the soft audible charm\n    Of low-voiced invitation laps thee round.\n    Thou may\u2019st admire and still be master. Straight\n    With her own hand a fragrant wine-cup filling,\n    When by her side she thrones thee, she will proffer\n    And bid thee drink\u2014it is the poison\u2019d chalice.\n    Yet quaff thou undismay\u2019d, Ulysses. Then,\n    So soon\u2019t is swallow\u2019d and thyself unchanged,\n    Her magic wand wielded in vain, draw thou\n    Swiftly thy sword and rush as if to slay\n    At the enchantress with high-threatening blade.\n\n[_ULYSSES\u2019 look of wonderment increases as MERCURY pauses._]\n\n    The issue thou wilt mark. But let not pity\n    Nor the new spell of female blandishment\n    O\u2019ercome thy senses or disarm thy hand,\n    Ere to its mastery yet once more she yields\n    And their true forms to thy changed mates restores.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    O gracious Helper, it is thy spirit that guides\n    Where eye of mortal swerves: to whom full oft\n    We pour\u2019d thank-offering at the banquet\u2019s close.\n\nMERCURY\n\n    Who himself well bethinks, the gods assist.\n    Of drugs and arts uncanny mere human prudence\n    Compasseth not, Ulysses, sure defeat.\u2014\n    But in her craft once baffled, \u2019tis with the _woman_,\n    No more the enchantress, thou wilt deal thereafter.\n    Nor are those powers to be despised, which oft\n    Compel a conqueror\u2019s fealty and confuse\n    The sober aims of confident wisdom.\n\n[_While ULYSSES again looks down reflectively at the plant he holds\nMERCURY suddenly disappears. ULYSSES, looking up and seeing the god no\nlonger, throws a keen glance in the direction of the wall. He then tastes\nand swallows a morsel of the herb; and as he moves on and goes out at the\nLeft with firm step the music of CIRCE\u2019S song is faintly heard behind the\nscenes._]\n\n\nIX\n\nThe same as Scenes II and IV. The banquet-hall. The common chairs have\nbeen removed. There are cups and a bowl on the table at the Right. The\nEnchantress and her three nymphs are in their usual places when the\ncurtain rises: CIRCE sitting; PHILINNA and THERMIA standing; MYRTO seated\nat her wheel which she turns slowly. The attitude of the persons is one\nof expectancy. In a moment CIRCE, without turning her face, signs to\nMYRTO with her left hand while with the right she draws the wand on the\ntable nearer. The wheel ceases to revolve.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Now Thermia!\n\n[_THERMIA throws open the door behind the dais. An instant later ULYSSES\nenters, slowly but unhesitatingly, pausing as he stands on the platform\nexactly where MERCURY stood in Scene II. His look is directed straight at\nthe Enchantress. His right arm is crossed downward upon his breast, the\nhand under the mantle. A trace of wonder or fascination passes over his\nface on meeting CIRCE\u2019S gaze, while a similar feeling of surprise is for\na moment betrayed by her also. As she speaks she rises from her chair._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Welcome, sir leader!\n\n[_ULYSSES bows slightly. He does not remove his helmet._]\n\n                          Thou art\n    Too far by thine own men outstripp\u2019d, even though\n    Their famish\u2019d weary members sought repose\n    Prompt and appropriate.\n\n[_ULYSSES bends his look more sternly upon the speaker._]\n\n                            Pray advance; and take\n    From our own hand, though proffer\u2019d late,\n    Cordial refreshment.\n\n[_He moves slowly forward. PHILINNA draws well back the throne of CIRCE\nand presents the other one. With a gracious gesture CIRCE waves ULYSSES\ntoward the second throne. He passes in front of her and seats himself.\nShe sits again, served by PHILINNA._]\n\n                          Thy silence augurs much\n    Of rude unfriendly greetings and rebuff\n    Elsewhere.\n\n[_While speaking she fills a beaker from the bowl._]\n\n                But here are restful words and welcome\n    Right hospitable.\n\n[_Her right hand closes firmly over the wand, while with the left she\npresents the cup._]\n\n    So drink and be at peace!\n\n[_Still keeping his eye fixed upon CIRCE, ULYSSES raises the cup to his\nlips and drains it. Immediately the gracious look of the Enchantress\nchanges. Rising partly in her seat and bending forward, she strikes him\nsmartly with her wand and holds it threateningly as she speaks._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Hence to the sty! Go, join thy wallowing mates!\n\n[_Instantly, feeling that the potion has not harmed him, ULYSSES springs\nerect, swiftly draws his sword and raising it aloft rushes upon the\nEnchantress as if to kill her. With a loud cry she starts back, causing\nthe throne to slide away behind her; then dropping her wand she springs\nforward under the threatening sword-arm in suppliant attitude. PHILINNA,\nat first shrinking back in terror, directly as CIRCE falls at ULYSSES\u2019\nfeet follows her; and kneeling, shelters her mistress\u2019 head with her\nright arm, while the left is raised in deprecating gesture. At the same\ntime THERMIA starts a step forward with her right hand lifted, the left\npressed to her bosom. MYRTO, after a first look of alarm, reaches behind\nher and throws open the Left rear door, where_ Mikkos _appears. He seems\nexcited. MYRTO seizes his chain. At the Right rear entrance, GRAEA is\nseen glaring furtively into the room.\u2014CIRCE speaks as ULYSSES seems to\nhesitate to strike the fatal blow._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    What man art thou? What mortal hath this wonder\n    Unheard of wrought, these potions to abide?\n    For never, never did other lips unblighted\n    Press the drugg\u2019d bowl, save thine!\u2014Ah, yes; \u2019twas true:\n    _Ulysses_ thou art, whom Mercury foretold,\n    From Trojan field thy lone bark homeward steering.\n    He, he hath found thee moly! And I thought\n    It were Eurylochus, whom his followers named;\n    The craven, the woman-hater!\n\n[_ULYSSES lowers his weapon, still grasping it firmly. His stern look\nrelaxes slightly as CIRCE and PHILINNA, kneeling, lift their faces to him\nwith aspect softened to the expression of pleading. THERMIA steps nearer,\nintently observing the scene; while GRAEA, entering the room, and MYRTO,\nholding_ Mikkos\u2019 _chain, also move slightly forward. At this juncture all\nof the persons have come to form nearly a single group._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                  O Ulysses!\n    Thrice valiant, thrice in wisdom proved, not thee\n    Would Circe in foul brutal shape behold;\n    But as thou art!\u2014Return, return thy sword\n    To its safe cover!\n\n[_ULYSSES steps back a pace, and CIRCE rises to her feet, holding the\nhand of PHILINNA who has risen first._]\n\n                        What use have we for war,\n    Whom fate and fortune fashion\u2019d to be friends?\n\n[_With deliberation ULYSSES sheathes his sword, falling back still\nfarther. CIRCE and PHILINNA move forward toward him._]\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    Happy are they who find a friend in Circe,\n    Sir stranger!\n\n[_His countenance remains unmoved as he divides his attention between\nCIRCE and THERMIA after a suspicious glance at Mikkos and GRAEA._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Nay, doubt not, but be refresh\u2019d!\n\n[_She signs to THERMIA, who shows ULYSSES to the throne which MERCURY\nhad occupied in Scene II. As he sits he doffs his helmet, which THERMIA\nreceives and hangs upon the wall. CIRCE resumes her seat. She speaks\nwhile THERMIA serves ULYSSES at the other table._]\n\n    And be thy mind at rest. No more of drifting\n    On the dark seas; sure knowledge shall illume\n    The pathways of thy homeward voyage, Ulysses.\n\n[_A pause. With troubled look he barely tastes what is set before him._]\n\n    Ah, weary heart! why thus\n    Sit\u2019st thou all-speechless, tasting not the food\n    Set guileless by thy hand? Believ\u2019st thou not\n    My plain assurance and changed mood? Dost hold\n    The word of Circe in no honor because\n    With cunning art she baffles and disarms\n    The unworthy false petitioner?\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Fair Circe, dread enchantress, what true man\n    Could eat and be at comfort, whilst he knows\n    His trusty comrades lie imprison\u2019d, bent low\n    To bestial habit?\u2014Nay, if thy alter\u2019d mien\n    Harbors indeed the good-will it portends,\n    Then first let me behold my men restored\n    To their own shapes. No falsehood stamp\u2019d their errand,\n    Nor undeserving were they in themselves.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Deserve those well of their commander, who lose\n    His very name and tidings from their thoughts?\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Another led them; and, the leader failing,\n    The follower who forgets may be forgiven.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Eurylochus wins slight mercy by that word.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Eurylochus won the birthright of the wary.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    A father art thou to thy men, Ulysses:\n    Even as I guard with jealous motherly eye\n    The welfare of these nymphs. Nor hast thou long\n    To wait, ere the whole frolic throng shall make\n    My portals ring with greetings of their captain.\n    Not those alone whom we repress\u2019d and punish\u2019d\n    And for thy sake will pardon, but likewise they\n    Who tarry by the shore\u2014for well I know\n    Wily Ulysses staked not all his forces\n    On a forlorn wild venture.\u2014Nay, doubt not;\n    Even Eurylochus shall be reconciled!\n    Go, Graea; Myrto; seek the ship, and teach them\n    The way to find us. Leave not one unbidden!\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Great Circe, I will trust thee; \u2019tis sore need!\n    By thy sage guidance, or in no wise, we reach\n    The desired haven.\n\nCIRCE\n\n[_To MYRTO and GRAEA who have hesitated as if awaiting further command.\nThey go out at Right C, accompanied by_ Mikkos.]\n\n                        Speed now! the shadow creeps\n    Well past the noontide mark. Away, away!\u2014\n    Noble Ulysses, thou shalt soon behold them.\u2014\n    But first, my Thermia, show our gracious guest\n    The bathing chambers, where by warm showers assuaged\n    His long sea-weariness may release him.\n\n[_ULYSSES bows to CIRCE. He unslings his sword, which THERMIA receives\nand hangs up near the helmet. She then conducts him out at Left 2. At the\nsame moment when ULYSSES puts off his sword, PHILINNA lifts CIRCE\u2019S wand\nfrom the floor where it had fallen._]\n\nPHILINNA\n\n[_Handing the wand to CIRCE, who receives it as it were unconsciously_]\n\n    O dearest lady!\n    What chance, what change befalls us? O! how dared\n    That strange, still man to lift his dreadful sword\n    As if to kill you? Are his devices stronger\n    Than your own arts? O, how could you pretend\n    To cherish and befriend him!\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                  Nay, Philinna:\n    I am not feigning. Oft had I mused and ponder\u2019d\n    On Mercury\u2019s warning and Ulysses\u2019 name.\n    Nor did I dread his coming. But strange haps\n    Disturb\u2019d my vision and I knew him not.\n    My potions could indeed avail no longer,\n    Their cure and antidote once found. Yet never\n    Into unworthy hands do gods resign\n    Their priceless secrets. No; I would not harm\n    A man so strong and wise! It is the _first_!\u2014\n    Now go, Philinna, and lay my simples ready,\n    Which for the counter-charm I shall employ,\n    To change his comrades back.\n\n[_PHILINNA, who looks wonderingly at CIRCE and seems hardly to comprehend\nher demeanor, withdraws slowly, going out at Right 2. CIRCE casts a\nglance where ULYSSES had gone out; then, looking down at the wand held\nloosely in her hand, soliloquizes._]\n\n    Yes, yes; there is\n    No falsehood on the lip, when the heart guides\n    To new unwonted utterance, though it seem\n    All former strains and strivings to belie.\n    His coming I fear\u2019d not; I rather craved\n    To behold the promised visitor whose shrewd wit\n    Should test my powers of magic and perchance\n    Turn them (as hath befallen) from woe to weal\n    For him and his. Yet till I saw I doubted;\n    Nor knew, first seeing.\n\n[_She clasps her hands at her back, holding the wand behind her._]\n\n                            O, there is a way\n    Surer than any drug, to bind wise hearts!\n    Wielding no wand of transformation, but\n    With fine invisible weapons to o\u2019ercome\n    His might who seems to conquer; and reveal\n    What weakness lurks beneath. And Circe\u2019s arts\n    (Which sooner aim to hinder than to harm)\n    Shall still fail not!\n\n[_Re-enter THERMIA, who begins to put the table in order where Ulysses\nhad been served._]\n\n                          Fair Thermia, we shall need\n    Straightway new-garnish\u2019d tables and the plenty\n    Of a redoubled evening banquet. Soon\n    That eager company, Myrto\u2019s charge, will troop\n    Past porch and threshold to the expected board\u2014\n    Not indisposed, I fancy, toward such welcome.\u2014\n    Ay, forthwith, Thermia!\n\n[_THERMIA sounds a whistle which hangs at her girdle, and other nymphs\nenter and proceed to deck the tables._]\n\n                            Even our guest, their captain,\n    Will find his zest, when in good sooth he sees\n    His two ship-companies made one.\u2014Ah, there;\n    Even now they come!\n\n[_A clambering and murmur are heard. The door leading from the porch\nflies open, and ULYSSES\u2019 company, headed by PHILEMON and XENIAS, enter\nprecipitately, though not in rude disorder, their faces beaming with the\nexcitement of wonder and expectancy. CIRCE stands at her usual place,\nholding the wand with her hands clasped in front of her, and PHILINNA\nappears at the door behind. THERMIA and her helpers desist from their\ntask at the tables as the men enter, and draw back near the exits. The\nnymphs stand motionless and placid during the remainder of the scene,\ntaking no part in the action and unnoticed by the other persons._]\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    Madam, we\u2019re a bit unceremonious, no doubt. But our errand\u2019s an\n    urgent one; and we encountered an invitation after a manner, if\n    there be no mistake about it.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    All ceremony shall be waived, good sir. What hap\n    Fosters this urgency?\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    We\u2019re _Ulysses\u2019_ men, lady! come to seek him and deliver him\u2014by\n    your leave. He cast off alone when the leader of the other\n    watch came back from here in such a blue funk; and he ordered\n    us to wait for him by the ship. But we felt a trifle uneasy,\n    after that yarn of snakes and fireworks Eurylochus spun for us,\n    and followed to help. We\u2019d nigh about made the top, when we met\n    your two maids, ma\u2019am, and the monkey. We knew they must hail\n    from some witch-pen or other for certain, when we spied such a\n    bunch of triplets, and we veered off a point or two at first;\n    but the little black-eyed one\u2014she as had the ape in tow\u2014spoke\n    us so fair and told such a straight story, how the commander\n    was safe and sound and everybody happy up here, and you had\n    sent specially to invite us, that we felt mighty encouraged to\n    believe her and headed straight for the top again, while they\n    went down to fetch Eurylochus;\u2014especially seeing we had made up\n    our minds\u2014begging your pardon again, lady\u2014to effect an entrance\n    anyway.\u2014But where is he?\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Your entrance had been barr\u2019d nowise, when once\n    You had named Ulysses\u2014which your mates forgot,\n    And came to grief thereby.\u2014But you shall see him.\n    There hangs his sword, his helm.\n    He comes; he has heard you!\n\n[_ULYSSES enters at Left 2 behind the group of men, who turn quickly. His\nappearance is imposing, his dress brilliant._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                For me, I have another\n    Business to set on foot.\u2014Philinna; ready?\n\n[_PHILINNA signs affirmatively, and as ULYSSES greets his men CIRCE goes\nout at Right 2, PHILINNA remaining at the doorway._]\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Xenias! good Philemon!\n\n[_All throng about their commander with hand-shaking and joyous\nexclamations._]\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    \u2019Tis you? You are here, sir?\u2014and all right!\n    \u2019Twas a true tale, then, by the great gods!\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Ah, you see I slipt not.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    But it wasn\u2019t long before we slipt after you! Mind you, sir, we\n    didn\u2019t wait for the summons.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    \u2019Twas a pardonable impatience, I acknowledge.\n\n[_A voice raised in sharp tone of command, followed by a sudden uproar,\nis heard behind the scenes. CIRCE enters quickly at Right C, with her\nwand raised high, which as she comes in she lowers and points backward.\nBoth the rear doors fly open. In their proper persons the men who were\nchanged to swine burst in abruptly upon the scene, one or two or three\nat a time, stopping and gazing about them with puzzled and amazed\nexpression. They rub their eyes or tap their foreheads, till gradually\nrecollecting themselves they recognize their situation. The restored men\nseem to have gained in comeliness; their faces are fresh, their clothing\nis new, presenting a contrast to the well-worn garments of the other\nparty. THERON appears even stouter than before; his cook\u2019s cap and dress\nare dazzling white. ELPENOR, near him, has become sleeker, though no\nless slender than ever. All the men are serious; and the re-transformed\nexhibit profound emotion, weeping as they recognize their companions and\nthe commander. The meeting is an occasion rather for action than for\nspeech: its words are chiefly outcries and the ejaculation of familiar\nnames. The throng becomes more calm and quiet when the Enchantress, who\nhas herself been visibly moved, at length speaks, standing at the head of\nher table._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Cease; cease, good men! Enough of tears! Yield now\n    To the bright hour; and from your much-tried hearts\n    Let present peace and comfort rub away\n    The black unhandsome stains of foul mischance.\n    Here stand ye face to face and hand to hand,\n    Unscathed, unconquer\u2019d. Winds and wild seas and all\n    The weary thankless strain of laboring oar,\n    Duress and guile and hostile rude encounter,\n    Have but conspired to point you to the fairest\n    Of restful shores.\u2014Ulysses, in good time,\n    After due respite, if thou cravest still\n    Some farther convoy, \u2019tis secure. But now\n    Mirth, pleasure, shall prevail.\u2014Only there lacks\n    Yet one I would fain welcome, though himself\n    Of faint reciprocation.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Gracious lady, I am confident that Eurylochus will conclude to\n    join us when once informed of our situation and finding himself\n    left permanently alone.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Belike he may take to the woods, your honor, when the triplets\n    heave in sight.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    O, Mikkos will manage that!\n\nELPENOR\n\n    Eurylochus climbs trees.\n\nTHERON\n\n    Avast there! Mikkos is the monkey. Hast left thy memory in the\n    hog-pen, boy?\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    [_Who has been on the lookout_] Sail ho! They are boarding the\n    gangway already, ma\u2019am.\n\n[_Enter from the porch MYRTO, leading_ Mikkos; _then EURYLOCHUS; GRAEA\nbehind him. The mate advances hesitatingly, but is closely followed up by\nthe swine-maiden. As he perceives ULYSSES and the men his expression is\npartly of relief, partly of shamefacedness. His alarm has not entirely\nleft him, but he casts shy and suspicious glances toward CIRCE while\nMYRTO speaks._]\n\nMYRTO\n\n    We have fetched him, my lady, though I believe he never would\n    have been caught if there had not been three of us together.\n    We found him down by the little bay where their ship is\n    drawn ashore; and when he saw us he started to run into the\n    water. But Graea waded out farther than he dared to go. Then\n    he climbed up into the fig-tree; but Mikkos climbed up still\n    higher, so he had to come down directly where I was standing\n    close to the roots of it; although he seemed to fear me the\n    most of all.\n\nELPENOR\n\n    [_Interrupting_] You turn the whirligig.\n\nMYRTO\n\n    We had him between us now, where he couldn\u2019t get away; and I\n    assured him the captain was safe, and told him how we had just\n    met a party of his companions and invited them for you. For all\n    that he didn\u2019t want to come; but Graea stood close behind him\n    and kept walking until we got him here.\n\n[_The men do not laugh at EURYLOCHUS, though some smile faintly, and\nCIRCE is visibly amused._]\n\nULYSSES\n\n    [_Seriously_] Eurylochus, all is well. Be thyself again.\n    Bygones shall be bygones. There is naught to fear.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Indeed, sir, it is as your commander says. There is naught to\n    fear; and all is well, now that you have deigned to make up the\n    perfect number of my company, so the entertainment may proceed.\n    The tables are ready garnished, waiting for the viands only.\n    You shall all find seats.\n\n[_All the men except EURYLOCHUS seat themselves in a quiet and orderly\nmanner at both tables without discrimination of the two watches. ULYSSES\nsits at the head of the table by the dais. MYRTO and GRAEA have withdrawn\nto the back of the room. CIRCE, still standing, claps her hands and the\nnymphs at the exits disappear, to bring the courses._]\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    You make occasional exceptions no doubt, madam; nevertheless I\n    would take my oath upon it that _that_ was once a man!\n\n[_He points at_ Mikkos, _who, released by MYRTO, has just jumped into his\nchair by CIRCE as she seats herself. The ape shows his teeth and begins\nto raise himself by the hands._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    [_Laughing_] That was a manful _thinker_ once. Sit; sit, kind\n    sir!\n\n[_The curtain falls as EURYLOCHUS takes his seat near ULYSSES amid a buzz\nof merriment._]\n\n\nEND OF FIRST ACT\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: ACT TWO]\n\n[Illustration: THE SECOND ACT]\n\n\nI\n\nThe back of CIRCE\u2019S palace, late in the afternoon, one year later than\nthe occurrences of the First Act. The back of the building lies toward\nthe setting sun, whose declining rays are now intercepted and softened\ninto shade by foliage and flitting clouds. The pale yellow walls and tall\nnarrow windows and the one central entrance on this side are not obscured\nby vines and trailing plants, but cleanly sheltered by a lofty colonnade\nwhich runs the entire length of the edifice, with wide low pavement only\na step higher than the lawn that borders it. The veranda-floor and the\nplinth are dewy with freshly sprinkled water. The green sward of the\nforeground is varied by flower-beds and dotted with luxuriant trees, a\nbower and seats near by. Here there is no fountain; but a streamlet,\nissuing from an archway at the Right corner of the palace, winds its\nway downward across the flowery slope. A peacock struts and spreads his\nfan in one of the open places. Some utterances of persons represented\nindicate that the situation affords glimpses of the sea.\n\nThere are no suggestions of witchcraft or magic in the present scene.\nWhere the anterior fa\u00e7ade of the palace seemed weird or uncanny, the rear\nelevation and its belongings wear rather an idyllic aspect.\n\nThe curtain rising discovers three couples severally grouped. Upon the\nveranda, at the Left, CIRCE and ULYSSES are seated opposite each other\nat a small table, upon which are cups and a vase of flowers, while a\nnymph occasionally passes to and fro, serving them with wine from within.\nCIRCE is not attired as enchantress. She wears neither her black robe\nnor the coronal of pearls. The prevailing color of her Grecian dress is\namethyst, and her hair is loosely confined by a narrow band of gold.\u2014On\nthe Right, at the farther end of the veranda, PHILEMON and PHILINNA sit\nside by side in confidential attitude.\u2014Upon the lawn, in the foreground\nnear the centre, far enough from the others to converse gently without\nbeing overheard by them, are seen XENIAS and THERMIA: the former seated\ncarelessly facing sidewise toward the colonnade; the latter standing by a\ntall shrub, cutting flowers which she gathers in the fold of her garment.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n[_Who stands with her back to the veranda_]\n\n    If you will take a good long look, Xenias, just where you are\n    looking now, you will see exactly why you and I are a whole lot\n    luckier than some others I might name.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    How is that? What\u2019s the mystification now, Miss Inscrutable? I\n    see only what we see every day; and no great signs of bad luck\n    about them yet.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    Of course we see it every day! And every day is making it worse\n    for them, friend Xenias. Do you suppose they can keep this sort\n    of thing up forever?\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Well, what if they can\u2019t? I\u2019ve no doubt the illusion is mighty\n    pleasant while it lasts.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    And so much the more painful when it comes to an end\u2014but you\n    and I have kept our wits about us, Xenias.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    And have been uncommon good friends all the time, you mean,\n    Thermia\u2014Well, I admit it\u2019s the best way. But they don\u2019t think\n    so.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    They think of nothing! But it will set them thinking, when the\n    time comes for you to sail away.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    If that time ever does come! The commander has got to order\n    it; and he doesn\u2019t seem very likely to speak the word until\n    your lady orders _him_. It\u2019s true some of the lads are getting\n    restive and tired of dilly-dallying, as they call it, here in\n    this blessed island!\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    Yes, and Graea gives me to understand that Eurylochus is going\n    about secretly stirring them up and wants them to put on a bold\n    front and demand that something shall be done.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Ah, so? He hasn\u2019t said a word to me or Philemon. I reckon he\n    thinks Philemon and Xenias are in the same box.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    Eurylochus doesn\u2019t know the difference, of course! I shall be\n    sorry when you have to go, Xenias; I shall miss you sadly after\n    you are gone. But it will simply _kill_ Philinna.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Well now, what if Philemon should take her home to Ithaca with\n    him for his wife? _He_ hasn\u2019t got any Penelope waiting for him\n    there.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    O heavens! And do you believe Philinna would ever leave Circe,\n    or that Circe would ever let her go?\n\nXENIAS\n\n    And do you believe Philemon would ever leave Philinna behind,\n    or that Philinna would ever let him go without her?\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    Xenias, it\u2019s a pity about them both\u2014the greatest pity in the\n    world! As for Circe, she really admires your captain; great\n    men are scarce enough, she says; but Circe will never lose her\n    head, even if Ulysses has lost his; nor will either of them be\n    quite heart-broken, be sure. But Philinna! Philinna!\n\n[_CIRCE, who has been laughing merrily with ULYSSES, claps her hands\ntwice._]\n\n    Yes, now; here comes the music they feed on.\n\n[_THERMIA begins to move away as THRATTIS the lute-girl enters from the\npalace in response to CIRCE\u2019S summons._]\n\nXENIAS\n\n    But stay, Thermia, and let us hear it.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    O, it will only be the same old songs! Besides, I have my vases\n    to fill.\n\n[_She goes out round the Right corner of the building. XENIAS settles\nhimself in a listening attitude._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Thrattis, we need thee still.\u2014\u2019Tis strange, Ulysses,\n    How, like some thirst or hunger, each day return\n    These tuneful memories!\n\nULYSSES\n\n                            Yet, fair Circe, charged\n    With a more strange forgetfulness of all else\n    Than that they celebrate.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Hist, listen now!\n\nTHRATTIS\n\n[_Standing midway between the two couples on the veranda, after a brief\nprelude upon her instrument, sings._]\n\n    Forget, forget! Ah, linger not\n      By dreams of yesterday!\n    Each vanish\u2019d hour shall be forgot,\n      Fresh phantasies hold sway.\n    No lowlier crown the linden weaves\n      Of tassel\u2019d verdure now\n    Because the old year\u2019s scatter\u2019d leaves\n      Return not to the bough.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    [_While an interlude is played_] Our Thrattis echoes thy\n    thought, Ulysses; and indeed I find a certain sort of wisdom in\n    the ditty.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Yet methinks it carries somewhat of a different effect from the\n    open intention of it.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                           Wait, listen!\n\nTHRATTIS\n\n    [_Sings_] Forget, forget! In love\u2019s demesnes\n      No faded chaplet wear;\n    Nor conjure phantoms from lost scenes,\n      To sit unbidden there.\n    Round heaven her sign swift Iris sets,\n      Flings forth her jewel\u2019d zone:\n    O, who beholds it but forgets\n      The frowning storm-cloud flown?\n\n[_The singer bends her head to hide her face as she sweeps the strings\nagain._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Good Thrattis, thou art tired standing. Sit and sip of the\n    wine. Thou need\u2019st sing no farther now.\n\nPHILINNA\n\n    She weeps, my lady.\n\n[_As THRATTIS, declining the offered refreshment, turns and goes within._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Poor soul! truly I pity her.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    But why does the girl weep, sweet Philinna? Has she some\n    express sorrow attending her?\n\nPHILINNA\n\n    O yes, Philemon; nor will she put it entirely away. \u2019Tis three\n    years agone since she floated to our island, lashed to some\n    fragment of a vessel from the north which the hurricane had\n    wrecked; but her father and two brothers who so saved her life\n    themselves perished in the sea.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    O, sad story; unhappy Thrattis! Yet so I do much wonder at the\n    song she chose to sing.\n\nPHILINNA\n\n    We could do little to assuage her grief. But Circe has been\n    kind to her and taught her the songs she sings so sweetly to\n    her lute.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Perchance some such strains would comfort the child as the\n    captive Trojan maidens might listen to betimes among us at the\n    ships when the harp was struck.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Pray what, Ulysses?\n\nULYSSES\n\n                        Such as sounded praise\n    Not for the living and the days we lived\n    (Which with their moil and megrim did afford\n    Scant food, I grant, for eulogy); but ever\n    With vision backward turn\u2019d the bard would seek\n    Among long-treasured memories one most apt\n    And draw it forth. Then did we lose all sense\n    Of aching limbs, sore wounds, and comrades slain,\n    Whilst in high-swelling measures like great waves\n    Of Iphitus or Heracles he sang\u2014\n    Glories of ancient men.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                            It was fair medicine\n    To still the pains ye dwelt in. In my isle\n    Such cordials find not place.\u2014But come, Ulysses,\n    And see me prove the powers of that rare herb\n    Whereof I promised.\u2014Philinna, attend us. Of simples\n    My sampler art thou.\n\n[_CIRCE laughs heartily as she utters the last words and she and ULYSSES\nrise from their seats. ULYSSES joins in the laugh. PHILINNA smiles\nfaintly and seems loth to part from PHILEMON as these two also rise._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    [_Laughing again_] Thy Philemon\n    Will not forget so soon.\n\n[_CIRCE and ULYSSES go into the palace followed by PHILINNA._]\n\nXENIAS\n\n[_As PHILEMON turns toward him, stepping down from the veranda_]\n\n    The commander and our Lady of the Herbs seem to be in a right\n    merry mood, Philemon.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    That they are indeed, to judge by the colors they fly.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    _You_ take it not quite so. And yet methinks you have as good\n    cause as they to be blithe.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    I take your meaning, Xenias. Nevertheless I\u2019m sheer doubtful\n    now and then\u2014as though too great happiness should somehow have\n    a sobering effect, as you might say, upon a fellow.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Then belike when the commander sobers down a bit he will pass\n    the word for a home start.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    Ay, truly I have thought of it.\n\nXENIAS\n\n[_Laughing and clapping his friend on the shoulder_]\n\n    But you\u2019re not in a raking hurry about it; eh, Philemon?\n\n[_Re-enter THERMIA round the Right corner. She comes quickly toward the\nmen._]\n\n    But here\u2019s Thermia again, in a hurry about something or other\n    surely.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    O Xenias! I\u2019ve seen Graea again and have learnt that Eurylochus\n    has called all the men to a meeting at the shore to-morrow\n    morning early about that business.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    Ah, what business, Thermia?\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    You tell him, Xenias.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Philemon and I were just upon the same matter\u2014about the\n    commander passing the word to cast off.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    Well, it seems the mate hasn\u2019t invited _me_ yet.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    No, nor me; he thinks you and I would pull on the wrong\n    quarter, laddie. But I shall be on hand just the same to see\n    how the wind does blow. Don\u2019t you go, Philemon; you haven\u2019t the\n    heart for it.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    Ah, thou art sad, Philemon; I feel for thee.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    O, let it come; let it come!\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    Yes, the day is bound to come, sooner or later. I would I could\n    belate it. But farewell now. [_She goes out._]\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    Xenias, I would not ask thee to hold back\n    And thine own sentiments belie because\n    Mine do enchain me so to Circe\u2019s isle\n    As in its soil the roots of yonder oak\n    Are wove and knotted. No; it is for you all\n    Timely and reasonable\u2014nor for Ulysses least\u2014\n    To set your faces homeward. But to me\n    That home so dimly beckons now, I know not\n    If it be there or here!\n\nXENIAS\n\n    [_Stepping closer to his friend_] \u2019Twas not thy wont\n    To doubt, Philemon, with faint wavering heart,\n    When we together oft by chilly Troy\n    Crouch\u2019d with our captain in an ambuscade\n    Or sprang from the galley\u2019s prow full-arm\u2019d ashore\n    At Tenedos or Chryse. Be thyself; be bold!\n    The girl is not to the island rooted fast,\n    Even though, as they pretend, their mothers be\n    Fig-trees and fountains. We go: take _her_! Herself,\n    I\u2019ll wager, nothing loth.\n\n[_While the last words are exchanged between the two men the figure of\nGRAEA the swine-maiden, unobserved by them, is seen passing furtively\nbehind and occasionally halting as if to listen._]\n\nPHILEMON\n\n                              Ah, Xenias,\n    Thou knowest not Philinna. She is true\n    Not to me only.\n\nXENIAS\n\n                    I know. Untie them!\n    If need be, cut the knot! Love glories\n    In shifts and stratagems.\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    Ah, \u2019twere not easy!\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Think; ponder! Swear it: _If with Ulysses\u2019 crew_\n    _Philemon sail, Philinna shall sail too._\n\n[_XENIAS seizes the hand of PHILEMON and they go out together at the\nLeft._]\n\n\nII\n\nThe Seashore, early in the forenoon of the next day. The scene is the\nsame as in the First Act, but the signs of a temporary encampment have\ndisappeared and the hull of the vessel is encumbered with grass and\nweeds. The curtain rising discovers both watches of the crew (excepting\nGLAUCUS and PHILEMON) disposed in scattered groups; some of the men\nsitting or reclining; others standing. All seem pre-occupied and the\nfaces of most wear an anxious look. The demeanor of EURYLOCHUS, who\nstands in a conspicuous position, is more confident and dignified than in\nformer scenes.\n\nFIRST SAILOR\n\n    Well, I suppose the devil knows how long we have got to wait\n    before they show up.\n\nSECOND SAILOR\n\n    We\u2019re lucky if they ever show up at all. Ten to one Glauc\u2019ll\n    come back without him.\n\nFIRST SAILOR\n\n    Ay, ay! It\u2019s a question whether even Glaucus can get the\n    commander\u2019s ear\u2014leastwise he\u2019ll have to get Madam Circe out of\n    the way first.\n\nPHORBAS\n\n    Mark me; we aren\u2019t safe yet! There\u2019s no knowing what sort of\n    beasts she might turn us all into even now, just to keep him\n    with her a year longer!\n\nSECOND SAILOR\n\n    I\u2019ve a notion we\u2019d have done better to send a man of the\n    commander\u2019s own watch\u2014some one that never was a hog.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Bravo! where will you find such a one? Glauc\u2019s all right; it\u2019s\n    enough to have a man who wasn\u2019t _always_ a hog.\n\nFIRST SAILOR\n\n    Ha, ha! Theron, that\u2019s one on you.\n\nTHERON\n\n    To hell with it! hang the hogs!\n\nELPENOR\n\n    My father _sticks_ his.\n\nFIRST SAILOR\n\n    That\u2019s the talk, Elpy; keep the culinary department straight!\n\nSECOND SAILOR\n\n    But what if he\u2019s so bewitched he won\u2019t come and talk anyway?\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n                        Peace, peace!\n    \u2019Tis scarce an hour since we despatch\u2019d our comrade\n    On no brief errand.\n    Be patient; have good hope! It hangs, I know,\n    On the razor\u2019s edge; yet leans the weightier cause\n    Toward consummation. Witchery there is still;\n    Else were there little need to prompt Ulysses\n    To his plain duty. Drugs have their antidotes,\n    Which to employ are easy when once found:\n    More subtle\u2014ay, more deadly! than her potions\n    Are these soft blandishments, cared she to play them\n    To their full scope. But it has stood forth clear,\n    Though once I did mistrust the promised convoy:\n    Not in malevolence the enchantress binds\n    Ulysses\u2019 will. And when good Glaucus comes,\n    Fearless and plain of speech and charged with all\n    The prayerful hot commands we laid upon him;\n    When he, unheard of Circe, bids his captain\n    Arise, for old Laertes\u2019 sake; and, backward\n    With stern reproachful finger pointing, names\n    The faithful wife who waits, Penelope,\n    Icarius\u2019 daughter:\u2014then, perhaps, this cord\n    Of crimson devilment will snap\u2014remembrance,\n    Conscience awake.\n\nXENIAS\n\n                      Eurylochus, was it not\n    Here on this very shore a twelvemonth since,\n    Launching the half-mann\u2019d pinnace, you would fly,\n    Your mates left in the lurch?\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n                                  But for Ulysses\n    (This you would add) the doors of their foul prison\n    Had closed on them forever.\n\nXENIAS\n\n                                But to-day\n    They jest and laugh, though \u2019tis in Circe\u2019s isle.\n\nTHERON\n\n    Damn me, too, if we\u2019re the only ones that have learnt to\n    mumble spoon-victuals and dance with tree-toads in the\n    moonlight!\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    Xenias, there is a fear to which all others\n    Are as soft zephyrs to the tempest: it is\n    When spirits uncanny mock the paltry arts\n    Of mortal courage. But for my fear, no tidings,\n    No warning, no alarm had reach\u2019d you.\n\nFIRST SAILOR\n\n    Hi, yi! [_He points upward to the Right_] They\u2019re coming!\n    There\u2019s old Glauc digging down this way.\n\nSECOND SAILOR\n\n    [_Spying through his hand_] Alone! by the living gods!\n\n[_Groans are uttered by some of the men, with gestures of disgust and\ndisappointment._]\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n            Hold; wait!\n    He waves his staff; he smiles; he brings, be sure,\n    No grievous answer!\n\n[_Enter GLAUCUS bare-headed, carrying a staff with oak-leaves attached,\nwhich he waves to and fro._]\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    All\u2019s well! all\u2019s well, lads! It\u2019s a go; the commander has\n    struck his colors. We\u2019re off, sure!\n\n[_The men throng about GLAUCUS, some hurrahing and throwing up their\ncaps._]\n\nSEVERAL VOICES\n\n    But where is he? What\u2019d he say? When\u2019s he coming?\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    O, belay there! Everything takes time. He had to go and talk\n    with madam first, of course\u2014and not take French leave like an\n    orang-outang. He\u2019ll be here in a jiffy.\n\nPHORBAS\n\n    Yes; but what\u2019ll she make him say when he does come? I tell you\n    we\u2019re not well out of this kettle of fish till we\u2019ve cut loose\n    into high water!\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    Avast! He\u2019ll say what comes into his head. The lady\u2019s got a\n    head on her too: she\u2019s not the kind of a craft to capsize at\n    the first catspaw of wind, don\u2019t you believe it!\n\nFIRST SAILOR\n\n    Put on a life-preserver, Phorb! Shin up the mast!\n\nELPENOR\n\n    The mast isn\u2019t shinned up itself yet.\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    Glaucus, we owe thee thanks.\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    Not a bit of it! I doubt if we\u2019d have dared to tackle him for\n    another year if you hadn\u2019t put us up to it, old man. But you\n    may set me to walk the plank if he doesn\u2019t talk fair now.\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Hold on, lads! Seats again! there he comes! Stilly, stilly!\n\n[_Enter ULYSSES at the Right, wearing sword and helmet. His aspect is\ngracious as he comes to a stand near the men, who sit in silence. Before\nspeaking he casts a contemplative glance seaward, then turns toward the\nvessel._]\n\nULYSSES\n\n            Our good ship! Ah yes; the seams\n    Gape in her sun-parch\u2019d sides, and rank weeds twine\n    Their prickly meshes round her shriveling keel.\n    Yes, yes, my men; full long we have sat still,\n    Basking in languorous fancy, rapt, unheeding\n    This summons to the wave. Nor tarried others\n    Behind, to follow and seize us: as when those\n    Who clomb the banks of Lotus-land and straying\n    Ate of the flowery food, their souls\n    Steep\u2019d in forgetfulness, we seized and bound,\n    Stifled their cries and dragg\u2019d them to the shore.\u2014\n    To-day they are no more: so many\n    Death\u2019s winged minions snatch\u2019d and in wild sport\n    Flung them to feed the sea-god\u2019s ravenous brood;\n    Or, on strange shores their white bones strewing, sign\u2019d\n    The landmarks of our course.\u2014What wonder, then!\n    What wonder, O brave comrades, if, so spent,\n    So spared, beaching beside enchanted bowers\n    Our single bark, lull\u2019d under lustrous skies,\n    Encircled by fond arms, we linger\u2019d fondly\n    And long. But now, welcome the tug and strain\n    Once more, as ye have will\u2019d it: the bent oar,\n    The creaking rowlock, Zephyrus\u2019 shrill pipe,\n    The thundrous pounding surge! Nor now, as then,\n    Shall we unpiloted and blindly plow\n    Our swift sea-furrow; but wise Circe\u2019s words\n    Will be to us as beacons. We shall know\n    What winds press homeward; on which hand to hold\n    (When oft to night course our sick yearning prompts)\n    Orion and the Bear.\u2014If only\n    Her solemn friendly warnings ye can heed,\n    Which in good time I shall expressly cite,\n    All may be well.\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    Trust your men, sir, for that\u2014leastwise if past experience\n    avail them anything in the way of instruction for the future.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    So prove it! On the third morn we start. Meanwhile\n    Let none stand idle! To-day remains in part;\n    One other day to-morrow, whilst we urge\n    The labors needful to our voyage. Draw water;\n    The wine-jars and the barley-crates replenish;\n    Refit the tackle.\u2014Now let the old ship drink\n    And plume herself again!\n\nSEVERAL VOICES\n\n[_As the men, who have already sprung from their seats, gather round the\nvessel_]\n\n                              Hurrah! hurrah!\n    Off with her! Rush her out!\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    Look lively, lads! Knock away those props! Clear out the ways\n    there for\u2019ard!\n\nSEVERAL VOICES\n\n    Clear it is! Lively, lively!\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Eurylochus, I depute\n    To you the furtherance of these tasks. My presence\n    Another foresight claims.\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    Very well; very well, sir!\u2014\n\n[_To the men, some of whom have climbed on deck_]\n\n    Drop the bow-chains over there, boys! Catch on, half a hundred\n    of you! There she goes; steady, steady!\n\n[_The curtain falls as ULYSSES goes out at the Right and the ship, pulled\nand pushed by many hands, begins to move toward the water._]\n\n\nIII\n\nThe back of the palace, in the evening of the same day as Scene II.\u2014As\nthe curtain rises ULYSSES and CIRCE are discovered in the foreground: the\nformer occupying a low seat by a tree; the latter reclining near him.\nUpon the veranda, forming a group by themselves though not far removed\nfrom the others, PHILEMON, XENIAS, THERMIA, and PHILINNA are seated at a\ntable, apparently playing at some game by the light of a hanging lamp.\nULYSSES and CIRCE are revealed to view by the rays of the moon, which\nnear its full is rising above the palace roof.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Those children are making a brave effort to play at their game,\n    Ulysses. They pretend to-morrow will be soon enough for parting\n    salutations.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    [_Who has overheard the remark_] O Circe! Philinna cannot play\n    at all; she throws amiss every time.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Well, I doubt if her Philemon does much better.\u2014There are at\n    least two aching hearts over there, Ulysses.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Yet I have remarked Philemon seems not exactly depressed by it.\n    Indeed both he and Xenias surprise me, how cheerily they await\n    the event.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    They are men: new scenes, new labors summon them; thoughts of\n    their home. But my poor nymphs must rest contented hereafter\n    with only me and the even sameness of our days.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Even so ye lived blithe-hearted ere we came.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Hearts _more_ than blithe we knew not ere ye came.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Counts not the added bliss as gain meanwhile?\n\nCIRCE\n\n    True gain or loss the final balance shows.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Then, till it\u2019s struck, hope for the winning scale.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Such hopes help mortals cheat themselves, Ulysses,\n    Even of the present profit.\n\nULYSSES\n\n                                But I note,\n    Thy tacit precept, thine own example, leads us\n    To drain the brimming cup and count as naught\n    What pangs might follow.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                              Ulysses, my example\n    (For in these closing hours I will confess it)\n    Hath my soul\u2019s truest insight much belied.\n    Thou didst with moly baffle my magic art:\n    The _woman\u2019s_ craft to baffle quite, no helper\n    Could guide thee to a clue. Hate there was none\u2014\n    As well thou knowest: my bosom\u2019s pride conceal\u2019d\n    No sinister, vindictive purpose. But\n    Poor Circe, worsted, won her mastery back\n    And turn\u2019d to sportive vengeance her defeat,\n    When with wise incantations wise Ulysses\n    She sang to sleep.\n\nULYSSES\n\n                        There needed those more weary,\n    If not more wise, to wake him.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                  But meanwhile\n    My gentle partners, my sweet nymphs, I so\n    Imperilling left\u2014that same mischance whereof\n    With a vague prescience more than once I warn\u2019d them\u2014\n    In these new toils ensnared, when the spell broke,\n    To droop as their own clipt flowers.\n\n[_While the last few words are pronounced there has been brisk talking,\nnot distinctly overheard, on the part of the other group._]\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    [_Loudly_] O, for shame, Philemon! What a thing to say!\n\nPHILINNA\n\n    [_Passionately_] \u2019Tis _he_; \u2019tis he himself cares not!\n\nCIRCE\n\n[_Turning toward the veranda, where PHILEMON and XENIAS have just risen\nto their feet_]\n\n    Ah, now! what coil is this? Philinna, speak!\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    O Circe! \u2019tis Philemon\u2014and Xenias too; they say\n    We are but women\u2019s women: at the last moment\n    (They tell us) we choose _you_!\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                    O foolish children!\n    Must your vain quarreling blight such hours as these!\u2014\n    But whither? Philemon! Xenias! will you leave us?\n\nPHILEMON\n\n    \u2019Tis only, my lady, a certain business calls us forth expressly\n    at this time.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    So, my men? A strange time for business, is it not?\n\nXENIAS\n\n    It were so, sir, but for a slight affair of our own, to which\n    we should properly give our attention by high moonlight only.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    [_Laughing_] Holy Diana! Have they, too, turned to magic?\n\nXENIAS\n\n    Pray excuse us, all!\n\n[_The two young men go out by the Right corner. PHILINNA, bending over\nthe table, covers her face with her hands, while THERMIA rising attempts\nto soothe her._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    O, mind not, dear Philinna, his hasty words!\n    Though heartless sounding, they did rather prove\n    The same concern that draws thine own tears now.\n    Lead her within; thou canst console her, Thermia:\n    Thy stronger courage will avail.\n\n[_The two nymphs go into the palace._]\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Circe, I like not this foolery of the high moonlight. Though it\n    be a trifle ludicrous, the lads seemed right serious about it\n    nevertheless. \u2019Tis unlike Philemon. I like it not.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    O put the thought aside, Ulysses!\n    It is some youthful prank, or a mere jest\n    Fresh-coin\u2019d with sober mouth. Nor falls amiss\n    Thus on the girl\u2019s untried, too tender spirit\n    Some jar and crossing ere the final shock,\n    So to forestall and break it.\n                                  And this moon!\n    Well she deserves, Ulysses, in thy sight.\n    Have we not sought ourselves her soothing spell?\n    Masking a farewell colloquy in smiles,\n    As yonder silver\u2019d wave-tips feign deliverance\n    From the encircling gloom of envious night.\n        Ah! if thou didst but know,\n    Son of Laertes, half the struggles that wait thee\n    By Neptune\u2019s billowy realm and, rescued thence,\n    In deadly strife at thy rude island-home,\n    Then wouldst thou feel, perchance, less haste to leave\n    Circe, the frail enchantress.\u2014Ay, not all\n    The signs to guide and perils that impend\n    Canst thou learn now. Some, long in mystery wrapt\n    (Nor wouldst thou choose to speed them), time will teach;\n    Others, from ghostly lips compell\u2019d, when soon,\n    By Ocean\u2019s stream thy lone bark moor\u2019d, thou standest\n    At the dark doors of Hades to evoke\n    Theban Tiresias\u2019 shade, the seer shall utter.\n\nULYSSES\n\n                                   Dread Circe!\n    O strange, unpitying prophetess, no mortal\n    Reaches by sail or oar that awful strand.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Thou shalt be one, Ulysses, who, twice dying,\n    Twice lives to rue his birth.\u2014But hearken;\n    And on the mindful tablets of thy soul\n    Grave these my warnings. Back from the sunless shore\n    Of pale Persephone the refluent tide\n    Will bear thy bark unurged: till, facing\n    The ruddy sources of recover\u2019d day,\n    Fresh-waken\u2019d breath of quickening winds she feels\n    Smite on her listless sail. So hold her prow,\n    Toward Eos striving surely, from my isle\n    Farther and farther speeding.\n\nULYSSES\n\n                                  But how soon?\n    How soon, O Circe, may our glad eyes behold\n    Some signal of known lands?\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                So much not yet\n    May be unveil\u2019d; nor yet, what remnant lingers\n    Of crew or vessel until that hour.\u2014But hear,\n    How (lest their doom be hasten\u2019d) on thy helmsman,\n    When \u2019twixt unlovely neighbors he must steer,\n    The crisis hangs. On this side Scylla lurks,\n    Snarling in her cliff-cavern; on that, Charybdis\n    Retches, with swirling gorge. Thrice happy he\n    Who, nor to the right inclining nor the left,\n    Cleaves straight the midway mark with even keel.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    But why not of the engulfing pest steer wide\n    And with arm\u2019d hand fend off the other\u2019s onset?\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Ah!\n    Thus do presumptuous mortals vaunt their cunning,\n    Or vain force, where alone swift vision wins.\u2014\n    If, then, alternate ruin ye elude,\n    In some part scatheless, sweep with thankful hearts\n    The gleaming waters\u2019 wide unbroken waste.\n    Then soon, Ulysses, as to my lay thou only\n    Mightst listen and be saved, even so alone\n    May\u2019st thou, safe sailing, hear the Sirens\u2019 song.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Breathe any so sweet a strain as that, O Circe,\n    Which binds the caller at the moaning porch?\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Not binds, but draws! No sense-benumbing spell\n    Boast the sea-maidens, nor themselves are fair.\n    Their theme, what men call _glory_; and the strain,\n    Bell-like, o\u2019er the hush\u2019d seas far pealing, calls\n    With a resistless summons to their shore.\n    It, with white skulls and rotting wreckage lined.\n    Thou shalt speed by, yet hear. Lash\u2019d to the mast\n    By thy men\u2019s hands\u2014themselves with wax-stopt ears\u2014\n    Bid them, when thou with frantic dumb entreaty\n    Wouldst sign their stroke toward that melodious lure,\n    Pull stronger and swerve not, with firmer bonds\n    Lashing thee still, while yet one echo\n    Of siren-voices lingers.\n\nULYSSES\n\n                              Circe, full long\n    Thy tale of helps and hazards, though not few\n    Still on their fixt oracular moment wait.\n    Be these enough, while courage step by step,\n    Conning each several danger, learn to face it.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    \u2019Tis well.\n\n[_Thus far CIRCE has been reclining, with occasional changes of attitude\ndue to the earnestness of her discourse. She now rises to a sitting\nposture._]\n\n    [_Laughing_] But forget not, most prudent captain,\n    The risks thy moonstruck followers would invite\n    In these my precincts!\n\n[_She gives her hand to ULYSSES, who assists her to rise._]\n\n                          It were worth while to note\n    Their traces. Come; they went this way.\n\n[_She leads out at the Right, ULYSSES following with downward thoughtful\nlook._]\n\n\nIV\n\nThe grove upon sloping ground, at noon of the day following the previous\nscene.\u2014Enter from the Left downward MYRTO leading _Mikkos_. With a glance\ntoward the path on the Right she seats herself under the tree by which\nMERCURY appeared to ULYSSES, while the ape, whose chain MYRTO continues\nto hold, swings himself to a low branch above her.\n\nMYRTO\n\n    Well, Mikkos, they are not here yet.\u2014But Graea never loiters\n    and they will soon come. Now I charge thee once again; and be\n    thou, as a reflecting animal, less slow to curb thy native\n    animosities, Mikkos! Look not upon Eurylochus as thine enemy,\n    receiving him with angry and unseemly gestures. Eurylochus\n    is our friend to-day; and his co-operation in the present\n    emergency is invaluable.\u2014Hear\u2019st thou, Mikkos? [_The ape grins\n    and wags his head._] Very well; now conduct thyself like a\n    rational being! I hear them coming.\n\n[_Enter from the Right upward EURYLOCHUS, followed closely by GRAEA. The\nformer, after a suspicious glance at_ Mikkos, _who shows his teeth and\ntries to shake his chain, turns inquiringly toward MYRTO who remains\nseated while the others stand._]\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    Graea has by her signs made known to me, Myrto, that you would\n    have me attend you here at this time; and I have inferred from\n    the earnestness of her manner that the message is of importance.\n\nMYRTO\n\n    Important indeed it is, Eurylochus: I need your assistance;\n    and not for myself alone\u2014perchance even somewhat for thine own\n    weal; but especially on behalf of the lady Circe and all of us\n    her poor companions\u2014whom to be sure thou lovest not.\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    One may love not, Myrto, and yet be nowise lacking in\n    good-will. You would not have called in an unfriendly hand to\n    aid you.\n\nMYRTO\n\n    In the present matter at any rate thou wilt be sure to side\n    with us.\u2014Wouldst thou choose to take one of us home with thee\n    in the ship, Eurylochus?\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    How? What? Forbid it, mighty Apollo! Is your mind wandering,\n    Myrto?\n\nMYRTO\n\n    It is not I, but a pair of your pretty comrades whose wits are\n    wandering; for they would carry away Philinna, unbeknown to\n    Ulysses and the rest of you, hiding her in the vessel.\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    Ah! we know of Philemon\u2019s madness\u2014and the girl consents to this?\n\nMYRTO\n\n    No indeed! they will put her to sleep with Circe\u2019s drug\u2014\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    [_Interrupting_] O Heracles!\n\nMYRTO\n\n    And so bring her aboard the ship to-night, while you are all at\n    the palace partaking of the farewell feast.\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    Then if you have discovered this plot, why not warn her\n    straightway and cut it short?\n\nMYRTO\n\n    Not so, Eurylochus!\n\n[_MYRTO rises and addresses herself earnestly to him._]\n\n    Not till the latest moment must Philinna\n    Perceive the strange and treacherous design\n    Of him she loves, who, if he loved her less,\n    Would spurn the trick his clever mate has taught him.\n    Now hear me; and observe\n    How thou shalt aid us, with least harm to foil\n    This harmful scheme. Nothing the herb itself\n    Of baneful sort to mind or body works:\n    But whoso of its fragrance breathes in slumber,\n    For six-and-thirty hours wakes not again,\n    Nor feels, nor can be roused. They hold its leaves\n    Gather\u2019d beneath pale moonbeams, when the plant\n    Best cools its juices and conserves its force.\n    These they will bruise and spread\n    About the pillow of Philinna\u2019s couch,\n    Where she each day\u2014now at this very hour\u2014Seeks\n    her brief noontide sleep: by the moss\u2019d bank\n    So near the waterfall its gauzy spray\n    Like an ethereal veil enshrouds the bower\n    Where our companion rests; and muffled tones,\n    Voiced by perpetual whirling waters, soothe\n    The slumberer\u2019s ear. Of vines her bed is join\u2019d:\n    Gnarl\u2019d stems which from the vineyard pruning once\n    We fashion\u2019d to a woodland couch, to sit\n    And watch the headlong stream. This lifting\n    (So Graea heard them whisper) they will bear\n    With its fond burden shoreward ere the dawn,\n    While yet ye feast and revel. And they hope\n    To hold her hidden (nor will she wake) until\n    Too far at sea the flying ship hath sped\n    For ruth or reparation.\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n                            O great gods!\n    Herself by good rights, waking then, should rue\n    Her wanton witcheries.\n\nMYRTO\n\n                          Peace, Eurylochus; peace!\n    Perverse and all one-sided is thy sense:\n    On the other side thy mother bore thee blind.\n    Not yet hast thou been taught the part thou playest\n    In the prevention.\u2014At the feast this night,\n    Ere the two plotters to their work slip out,\n    I at my wheel (whom thou wilt watch) shall give thee\n    This sign\u2014with finger prest to lip: whereat\n    Thyself withdrawing noiselessly to join\n    Graea who waits without, with her wilt hie\n    To poor Philinna\u2019s bower: and both shall bear\n    Hillward by the back path the couch and sleeper\n    Into the banquet-hall to Circe.\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n                                    And what revenge\n    Will Circe wreak upon the thieves?\n\nMYRTO\n\n                                      Circe is wise;\n    Needs not our counsel.\u2014And, Eurylochus, mark:\n    Thy secrecy here will stand thee in good stead.\n    A narrow pathway tread ye all, so long\n    In this round isle ye linger! Go; and be mindful!\u2014\n\n[_EURYLOCHUS goes out at the Right downward._]\n\n    Now, Graea\u2014for thy sharp ear no caution needs,\u2014\n    His part and thine are fixt. And further, Graea;\n    When chilly night descends, visit her bower\n    And lay soft fleeces o\u2019er Philinna\u2019s form,\n    Sheltering her deep dishonest sleep.\n\n[_GRAEA by signs gives her assent_, Mikkos _jumps down from the tree, and\nall go out by the Left upward._]\n\n\nV\n\nThe same as the first scene of the play. The Front of the Palace in the\nafternoon. The porch and its steps are already in the shade. The curtain\nrising discovers THERMIA seated upon one of the lower steps thoughtfully\nregarding the fountain, which plays faintly. Enter MYRTO upon the porch\nfrom within.\n\nMYRTO\n\n    [_Taking her seat upon a step_] Yes, there is shade here now;\n    Circe will come soon.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    I know not why I feel so anxious, Myrto,\u2014wondering what\n    communication you can have to make while Ulysses and his men\n    are away at the lading of their vessel.\n\nMYRTO\n\n    Now pray, Thermia, if what I shall say to Circe startle you\n    in some degree, restrain yourself and show not perturbation.\n    Circe, as you well know, likes not hasty suggestion in what\n    concerns her deeply.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    \u2019Tis true; I will be prudent. O, what can it be?\n\nMYRTO\n\n    Wait; here she comes now.\n\n[_CIRCE entering descends the stairs to a seat just within the\nlengthening shadow by the fountain. She wears her canary-colored tunic,\nbut not the black robe._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    [_Turning toward the stairs_] Myrto! Thermia! Where is Philinna?\n\nMYRTO\n\n    She sleeps, my lady.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Sleeps still? \u2019Tis past midday more than two hours!\n    Philinna is wont to sleep soundly, but not long.\n\nMYRTO\n\n    She will sleep long this time, Circe: Philinna will not wake\n    to-day.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    [_Starting to her feet_] What! Not wake to-day? Dost thou\n    trifle with me, girl?\n\nMYRTO\n\n    Indeed I do not trifle with you. But fear not, dear lady; there\n    has been mischief, but harm will not come to Philinna.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Mischief\u2014mischief? Methinks I divine somewhat. But speak;\n    explain thyself forthwith!\n\nMYRTO\n\n    They have given her the sleeping-plant which last night they\n    gathered under the moon.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    [_To herself_] Ah, I see my precious Xenias\u2019 finger here; the\n    traitor!\n\nCIRCE\n\n    O! O! Audacious, shameless souls!\n    With my own drugs would they outwit me? O!\n    I see! I see! Thus they will _steal_ Philinna.\n    But holy Diana! [_Laughing scornfully_] So sly, and yet so simple!\n    They were twice foil\u2019d, ere such a plot could prosper.\n\nMYRTO\n\n    Truly there needs small skill to circumvent them:\n    Such I have summon\u2019d.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                          But the herb?\n\nMYRTO\n\n                                      I show\u2019d them.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    What? Myrto, Myrto!\n\nMYRTO\n\n                        Stay; hear me, Circe.\n    Their plan I knew beforehand; and \u2019twas better\n    _She_ knew it not; should rather sleep; nor wake\n    Till the whole farce were play\u2019d\u2014seest thou, my lady?\n\nCIRCE\n\n    O clever Myrto! Not in vain thou sittest\n    Demurely by thy wheel, as if its hum\n    And spinster\u2019s sordid finger-work were all\n    Thy wits could compass!\u2014thou, the nixie-born;\n    With newts and water-beetles nurtured!\u2014But how\n    Came it to light?\n\nMYRTO\n\n                      They came to me,\n    To find for them the herb. The tale they told,\n    How, when the ship had sail\u2019d, among themselves\n    Some sport they would devise. But Graea already\n    Had overheard their whisperings and advised me.\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    Graea is everywhere and hears all things!\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Hush, Thermia!\n\nMYRTO\n\n    Because she hath no tongue they do forget\n    Her sharpen\u2019d ears.\u2014Safely Philinna sleeps;\n    And to your side shall she be brought to-night\n    During the banquet.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Ah! ah!\n\nTHERMIA\n\n    And will they dare, finding her not,\n    To wait for such an issue?\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                Whither pray\n    Might they seek refuge?\u2014Two alone are guilty;\n    And two alone shall answer for the guilt;\n    Nor shall the feast be marr\u2019d. Go now;\n    And urge its preparation.\n\n[_The two nymphs go into the palace._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Poor purblind men!\n    O, how short of the mark their vision falls!\n    Phantoms, bred of precipitate desire,\n    Aiming to grasp, but comprehending not\n    The check and natural limit.\u2014So the same\n    At whose achievement we should rave, in failure\n    We pity and forgive. Ay; to know more\n    And to see farther than for themselves they see\n    Doth make forbearance easy. How would they change\n    For sweet Philinna\u2019s rainbow-guarded sleep\n    Their own long slumber in the fishy deep!\n\n[_She ascends the steps and goes into the palace._]\n\n\nVI\n\nThe banquet-hall late at night. The feasting is near its end and the\nwine has begun to be poured at the farewell entertainment given by CIRCE\nto her guests in the last hours before they set sail. The Enchantress\nsits at the head of her table, wearing her black robe and coronal of\npearls. THERMIA and MYRTO are in their usual places; but PHILINNA is\nabsent and the throne at CIRCE\u2019S left has been removed. ULYSSES sits at\nthe head of the table by the dais. His demeanor is serious; but the men\nthough orderly are in high spirits as they join in the chorus, with the\nexception of PHILEMON and XENIAS, who seem pre-occupied, seated together\nnear the exit behind ULYSSES. EURYLOCHUS is so placed as to face MYRTO\nat her wheel. The first chorus following is sung before the rise of the\ncurtain.\n\n(_Chorus of men\u2019s voices behind the scenes_)\n\n    Never fear for your ship if you handle her right;\n    She will scamper all day and eats nothing at night.\n    Stick her nose in the sand, she is safe in the stall;\n    She\u2019s a carriage and horses and stable and all.\n\n[_Curtain rises_]\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    [_Sings_] We sampled his cheeses and bunk\u2019d in his den,\n    But when he came home he ate six of our men.\u2014\n    \u201cPeople don\u2019t come a-foot when they come to see me:\n    Now where did you leave the old frigate?\u201d cried he.\n\n    (_Chorus_)\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    It was a big pickle, we forged a big lie:\n    \u201cA thunderbolt struck her, Sir Cyclops,\u201d said I;\n    \u201cTore a hole in her timbers as wide as a door;\n    She sank to the bottom and we swam ashore.\u201d\n\n    (_Chorus_)\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    So we punch\u2019d out his eye with a stake while he snored,\n    Then broke for the landing and scrambled aboard.\u2014\n    His rock was a load for a twenty-mule team:\n    \u201cHeave hard there\u201d! I shouted; \u201cheave hard, Polypheme!\u201d\n\n    (_Chorus_)\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    First time he shot high; and the swashing great wave\n    Sent her back on a dance to the mouth of his cave.\n    His second fell short: \u2019twas a booster behind\n    And scooted her for\u2019ard, quite well to our mind.\n\n    (_Chorus_)\n\n    Never fear for your ship if you handle her right;\n    She will scamper all day and eats nothing at night.\n    Stick her nose in the sand, she is safe in the stall;\n    She\u2019s a carriage and horses and stable and all.\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Our friend Glaucus would usurp the role of his captain,\n    apparently, when he celebrates that famous scene, Ulysses.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    And right welcome is he to any glory he may borrow therefrom.\n    Verily there was little enough for me to boast of in the\n    adventure.\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    It\u2019s true the commander got us into the scrape, madam, if he\n    will allow me; but there would need a longer song than any we\n    have sung yet to tell the whole story, how cleverly he got us\n    out of it.\n\nTHERON\n\n    Damme! a great song! Not a word about the tipple that did it\n    all!\n\nELPENOR\n\n    And the sheep-ride too.\n\nA VOICE\n\n    Ay, ay!\u2014\u2019twas the tipple that did for him. Let the old sinner\n    play blind-man\u2019s buff with his bell-wether now!\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Enough!\n    Now the cry homeward and the forward glance\n    Shall banish retrospect. These claim our care.\n    Fair winds suffice not;\n    Nor the good hopes by gracious friends inspired,\n    Where prudent counsel fails.\n\nCIRCE\n\n                                Most timely said!\n    Experience ends not with each wondrous hap.\n    Ye know not yet, good men, your several fates\n    Cradled beyond my island\u2019s guardian pale.\n    Obedience and true caution shall avail you\n    Not less because your course be pointed clear.\n    These save while they endure.\u2014\n    But now our ancient welcome is exchanged\n    For farewell greetings. Nor indeed comes song\n    Amiss at such an hour.\n\n[_She claps her hands twice and THRATTIS enters with her lute, standing\nby the sideboard. While the attention of all is thus drawn away MYRTO\ngives the sign to EURYLOCHUS, who slips out unobserved._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Our guests have just sung a gay song in honor of their ship,\n    Thrattis. Perchance thou canst match it with one from thine own\n    store.\n\n[_THRATTIS smiles faintly and begins a slow prelude upon her instrument\nin a minor key._]\n\nELPENOR\n\n    She knows how to make it cry.\n\nTHERON\n\n    Hush, boy; mar not the music!\n\n[_The girl sings slowly with irregular pauses and interludes at\nsignificant points in the recital. The music itself is marked by\nchromatic changes, with the last two stanzas taking on distinctly the\ncharacter of a funeral march. Before that part of the performance is\nreached PHILEMON and XENIAS, taking advantage of the rapt attention of\nthe company, steal out unnoticed._]\n\nTHRATTIS\n\n    Sea-wind o\u2019er the ripples crept;\n    His cool breath my temples swept;\n    Sea-wind whisper\u2019d, as I slept\n        Near to the wave.\n    From his caverns, hollow-toned,\n    Sea-wind mock\u2019d my dream and moan\u2019d.\n    In my sleep I turn\u2019d and groan\u2019d\n        As in the grave.\n    Through lank grasses, swaying slow,\n    Peering with green eyes a-glow\n    Sea-wind stole and mutter\u2019d low:\n        \u201cWake not! sleep on,\n    If my vision thou wouldst share:\u2014\n    The split mast; the lightning\u2019s glare;\n    Shrouds whirl\u2019d wildly in mid-air!\n        See! her helm gone,\n    The vessel plunges. Lo! again\n    Caught by the deadly hurricane,\n    Crackling bolt and hissing rain,\n        The hull spins round;\n    Breaks, sinks! One man breasts the tide;\n    Clutches spar and climbs astride;\n    A sea-courser seems to ride.\u2014\n        Vague depths profound\n    With white feet the others tread;\n    Seek on ocean\u2019s floor their bed;\n    Or, to rude shores blindly led,\n        Full nigh they draw;\n    Ram-like, butt the flinty stones.\n    The gray sea a dirge intones,\n    Whilst the fat casing of their bones\n        Dumb fishes gnaw.\u201d\n\nULYSSES\n\n[_After a pause, when the chords struck in conclusion of the song have\nceased to sound_]\n\n    The maid hath not sailed the south seas in vain, upon my soul,\n    Circe!\n\nGLAUCUS\n\n    By the twin gods, ye would think she came straight from Davy\n    Jones\u2019 locker, let out alive!\n\nCIRCE\n\n    \u2019Tis a brief step from life to death: why then\n    Shall not the venturous errant fancy feign it\n    Thrice taken and retraced? From death to life\n    Were as from sleep to waking; nor, if dreams\n    Might linger on the skirts of such a change,\n    Should they unheeded pass.\u2014\n\nThe words of CIRCE are interrupted by the entrance at the Right rear\ndoorway of EURYLOCHUS and GRAEA bearing the rustic couch upon which the\nform of PHILINNA is extended as upon a bier. As they enter, GRAEA, who\nsustains the rear end at the head of the sleeper, swings to her right\nbackward and the two bearers set the couch and its burden down by\nCIRCE\u2019S side in full view of the company. EURYLOCHUS quickly resumes his\nseat among the men, while the swine-maiden, wearing her long whip coiled\nas a girdle round her waist, retires to a position near the lute-girl,\nwhere the two remain standing side by side. _Mikkos_, who had sprung into\nthe room close behind the bearers, is seized by MYRTO and tied fast with\nshortened chain to the spokes of her wheel. The form and features of\nPHILINNA are motionless as in death. She is clothed in her gauzy dress\nof noonday. The banqueters in profound silence gaze with horror at the\napparition. CIRCE, laying hand upon her wand, faces her guests steadily\nwith a trace of irony in her look, while a few notes of solemn music fall\nfrom the lute of THRATTIS.\n\nULYSSES\n\n[_Half rising from his chair with gesture of inquiry and deprecation_]\n\n    What!\u2014Circe? Thy Philinna?\u2014is this death?\n    Forbid it, ye kind gods!\n\nCIRCE\n\n    Philinna?\u2014or Philinna\u2019s shade?\n    Ask thine own followers, great commander; ask\n    Pale Hecate\u2019s twin votaries!\n\nULYSSES\n\n[_Who has risen to his feet and scanning the company perceives for the\nfirst time that not all his men are present_]\n\n    Ha! what? Philemon? Xenias?\u2014where?\n\nEURYLOCHUS\n\n    [_Saluting_] They encountered us, sir, as we ascended hither\n    bearing the sleeping maid. They were on their way to seize her,\n    but when they saw themselves cheated of their prey they cried\n    out and fled incontinently to the woods.\n\nULYSSES\n\n    Great Zeus! no flight shall save them! Up, Eurylochus!\n\n[_With a stern gesture of command_]\n\n    Take Glaucus and three others of your watch; go forth; seek\n    out, arrest the caitiffs! Put them in irons and wait for us on\n    board!\n\n[_EURYLOCHUS and GLAUCUS stand up, several other men spring to their feet\nas volunteers_. Mikkos _exhibits excitement, and GRAEA slowly uncoils\nthe whip from her waist. THERMIA turns pale and cannot conceal her\nagitation._]\n\nCIRCE\n\n    [_Lifting her wand gently_] Hold, Ulysses! Hold!\n    Refrain; bend not thy thoughts to chains\n    Or cruel punishment. Are they not even now\n    By failure and humiliation scourged?\n\nULYSSES\n\n[_To whom EURYLOCHUS and GLAUCUS are looking expectantly_]\n\n    Never! Never!\n\nThe door behind the dais opens, a golden light fills the passage-way thus\nrevealed, and MERCURY, brilliantly arrayed as in the second scene of the\nplay, stands forth upon the platform. His step gives no sound; and, as he\nextends his hands (one holding the winged wand) gently forward over the\ncompany, all the men feel the soothing influence without turning their\nheads to observe its source; while ULYSSES, and the others who stand,\nsink quietly to their seats in motionless attitude. ULYSSES slightly bows\nhis head. The inmates of the palace are not affected like the guests;\nthey maintain their former demeanor; but CIRCE lowers her hand with the\nwand to the table before her.\n\nMERCURY\n\n                  By the Father sent\n    I come this time, to loose the tangled web\n    Of crossing motive, Circe, in thy bowers.\n    He in the scales of fate the fortunes weigh\u2019d\n    Of these thy mortal visitors all, thine own,\n    Of thy beloved nymphs; and bade me speed,\n    Taking my wand, wherewith for woe or weal\n    I seal men\u2019s eyes and, when I will, unseal.\n\n    The offending youths\u2014already are they\n    Themselves in closer toils of slumber caught\n    Than the charm\u2019d herb upon the maiden brought.\n    At my behest their living phantoms glide;\n    Upward or downward their blind steps I guide.\n\n[_Without turning, the god raises his wand gently with backward movement\nof the hands, and in the wide opening behind him the forms of PHILEMON\nand XENIAS appear, standing side by side. Their eyes are closed;\ntheir features pallid in the weird light; their look is of complete\nunconsciousness. THRATTIS strikes major chords._]\n\n    Their fault the Father pardons; and decrees\n    They shall be toss\u2019d no more on billowy seas,\n    But to their lives\u2019 end tread the enchanted soil\n    Which of its bloom they plotted to despoil.\n\n[_MERCURY sways the wand slowly from behind forward, and the two sleepers\n(PHILEMON first, XENIAS close behind him) guided by the spell pass across\nthe dais, gliding down behind the banqueters until they reach a position\nbetween THERMIA and PHILINNA\u2019S couch. Their footsteps give no sound;\ntheir movement is mechanical; in the place indicated they stand stiff and\nmotionless with closed eyes._]\n\nMERCURY\n\n    Arise, Ulysses!\n\n[_ULYSSES stands up; and simultaneously his men all rise silently to\ntheir feet._]\n\n                    Now thy waiting bark\n    Swims in the darkling haven; but full soon\n    Eos her saffron portals will unbar\n    And wake the convoy breezes. Tarry not!\u2014\n    Thy crew the Father\u2019s stern assignments claim;\n    I sign them to _march_, FORWARD! in his name.\n\n[_The funeral march which closed the song of THRATTIS is played softly,\nand the men pass out behind MERCURY in single file, moving noiselessly\nand with the utmost precision, as if under the hypnotizing influence\nof the wand waved above them. The company of EURYLOCHUS marches first,\nheaded by their leader and GLAUCUS, THERON and ELPENOR bringing up the\nrear. The other company, excepting PHILEMON and XENIAS, immediately\nfollows. ULYSSES, who has donned his helmet, begins to speak as the last\nman passes and the music ceases._]\n\nULYSSES\n\n    To gloom of future fates beholden fast,\n    The parting hour yet beckons toward the past.\n    What blessings lay beneath rapt moments hidden\n    Now to the pictured memory rise unbidden;\n    Each, as with pointed stylus\u2019 steely smart,\n    Prick\u2019d and deep graven on the shrinking heart.\u2014\n    Farewell! O sorceress benign, farewell!\n    He knows not _life_, who knows not CIRCE\u2019S spell.\n\n[_ULYSSES turns and goes out. The music begins again in the major key.\nMERCURY, poised upon one foot in an attitude similar to that presented\nby a familiar statue of the god, leans far forward with wand pointed\nstraight at the sleepers. PHILINNA opens her eyes and slowly rises to\na sitting posture on her couch. PHILEMON and XENIAS open their eyes\nand draw long breaths. PHILINNA, turning first toward CIRCE, with one\nhand clasps the left hand of the Enchantress; then, with the other,\nrecognizing PHILEMON, takes his right. THERMIA, when XENIAS wakes, seizes\nhis left hand with her own, and with a joyous look lays her right upon\nhis shoulder. The two youths have themselves joined hands. MYRTO seated,\nwhom_ Mikkos _strives to reach, holds him firmly at arm\u2019s length by the\ncollar. GRAEA, standing beside THRATTIS, whip in hand, glares fiercely at\nthe exit._\n\n_The countenance of CIRCE is deeply sad. Her wand lies relinquished upon\nthe table. She continues to gaze, as if into vague distance, in the\ndirection of her departed guest._]\n\n\nCURTAIN","title":"Circe : $b A dramatic fantasy","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":24304}