Milk newly press’d, the sacred flour of wheat,
  And honey fresh, and Pramnian wines the treat: 
  But venom’d was the bread, and mix’d the bowl,
  With drugs of force to darken all the soul: 
  Soon in the luscious feast themselves they lost,
  And drank oblivion of their native coast. 
  Instant her circling wand the goddess waves,
  To hogs transforms them, and the sty receives. 
  No more was seen the human form divine;
  Head, face, and members, bristle into swine: 
  Still cursed with sense, their minds remain alone,
  And their own voice affrights them when they groan.

This dire transformation was viewed with horror by the man lurking outside, who fled back to the ships, imploring Ulysses to depart.  Unwilling to desert his men, Ulysses on the contrary set out for Circe’s dwelling, meeting on the way thither Mercury in disguise, who gave him an herb to annul the effect of Circe’s drugs and directed him how to free his companions.

Following these instructions, Ulysses entered Circe’s abode, partook of the refreshments offered him, and, when she waved her wand over him, threatened to kill her unless she restored his men to their wonted forms!  The terrified Circe not only complied, but detained Ulysses and his companions with her a full year.  As at the end of that time the men pleaded to return home, Ulysses told his hostess he must leave.  Then she informed him he must first visit the Cimmerian shore and consult the shade of the blind seer Tiresias.  The prospect of such a journey greatly alarmed Ulysses, but when Circe had told him just how to proceed, he bravely set out.

Wafted by favorable winds, Ulysses’ ship soon reached the country of eternal night.  On landing there he dug a trench, and slew the black victims Circe had given him, and with drawn sword awaited the approach of a host of shades, among whom he recognized a man killed by accident on Circe’s island, who begged for proper funeral rites.  By Circe’s order, Ulysses, after allowing the ghost of Tiresias to partake of the victim’s blood, learned from him that, although pursued by Neptune’s vengeance, he and his men would reach home safely, provided they respected the cattle of the Sun on the island of Trinacria.  The seer added that all who attacked them would perish, and that, even if he should escape death and return home, he would have to slay his wife’s insolent suitors before he could rest in peace.

After this had been accomplished, Ulysses was to resume his wanderings until he came to a land where the oar he carried would be mistaken for a winnowing fan.  There he was to offer a propitiatory sacrifice to Neptune, after which he would live to serene old age and die peacefully among his own people.  His conversation with Tiresias finished, Ulysses interviewed his mother—­of whose demise he had not been aware—­and conversed with the shades of sundry women noted for having borne sons to gods or to famous heroes.