Circe.
See. Enchantress. Magic Power.

--Now close by Circe's Shores they sail;
Where she, the wealthy Daughter of the Sun,
With ceaseless Singing makes the Groves resound;
Groves inaccessible: and in the Rooms
Of her proud Palace, for nocturnal Light,
Sweet Cedar burns: While thro' the slender Web
Her whistling Shuttle flies along the Loom.
Hence Groans are heard: the Noise of Lions, fierce,
Rebellious to their Chains, and roaring loud
In Dead of Night: the Grunt of bristly Boars:
The Rage of Bears reluctant in their Stalls:
And huge portentous Forms of howling Wolves.
All which, with pow'rful Charms, from human Shapes
The cruel Goddess Circe had transform'd
To savage Beasts.--

Arriv'd, when near the Palace Gates we came,
A thousand Wolves, and Bears, and Lions rise,
And chill our Hearts with Horror and Surprize:
Yet soon we found there was no Cause to fear,
For none seem savage, or to wound prepare:
But courteous wag their Tails, and fawning greet;
And tame, and gentle, follow at our Feet:
Till a bright Train of She--attendants come,
And lead us up the lofty marble Dome;
To where retired, and in solemn State,
High, on her sumptuous Throne, their Mistress sat:
Her costly Robes with royal Splendor shone,
And over all a Veil of Gold was thrown.
Her Maids, the Nymphs, and Nereids, ne'er were bred
To card the Wool, or draw the flowing Thread:
But they in Baskets sort the mingled Flow'rs,
And Herbs of various Hues, and various Powers.
While She, their Mistress, who the Virtues knew
Of ev'ry Simple, and what each can do,
Alone, or mixt: the Herbs with Care inspects,
And the due Quantity or Weight directs.

Now to her Presence brought, she from her Throne
Our Compliments does courteously return:
And grants whate'er we ask, with such a Look,
As kindly Welcome, and fair Friendship spoke.
Then she commands, with Speed, her ready Train,
To bring the Honey, Curds, and Barley--Grain:
In gen'rous Wine th' Ingredients they infuse:
She to the Potion adds some secret Juice:
With her own execrable Hand she crown'd,
And dealt the unsuspected Goblet round.
Whilst gladly we, with Heat and Travel dry,
To our parch'd Lips the magic Draught apply,
Her potent Charms th' Enchantress strait prepares,
And o'er us waves her Wand, and strokes our Hairs.
(I blush to tell, and yet it must be told)
Soon rough'ning Bristles all my Form infold.
I strove to speak, and fain would have complain'd,
But Grunts were all the Language now remain'd:
Prone to the Earth my alter'd Aspect bends,
And a strange Snout my widen'd Jaws extends:
New Sinews swell my strong and harden'd Chest,
The bestial Nature was o'er all impress'd:
Those Hands which lately did the Bowl surround,
The Work of Feet perform, and tread the Ground.
Then with the rest whom Fate had thus unman'd,
(So great a Potency has magic Draughts)
I in a Stye was shut.--

Eurylochus, alone, his Form retain'd:
He, only from the offer'd Cup refrain'd:
Which had he not rejected, with the rest
Himself had been transform'd, their Fellow--Beast.
Nor should Ulysses our Mishaps have known,
Or forc'd th' Enchantress to return his own.

Peace bearing Hermes gave him a white Flower,
Call'd Moly by the Gods, of wondrous Pow'r.
Safe in this Gift, and the conducting Gods,
The Hero enters Circe's dire Abodes:
Again she does th' enchanted Bowl demand,
Again prepares to wave her magic Wand:
But he her Charms prevents his Sabre draws,
And, brandishing aloft, th' Enchantress awes.
Struck with Amaze, her Hand and Faith she plights,
And to her Bed the Victor--Chief invites:
E'er he'll submit, the Terms of Peace he names,
And his chang'd Friends restor'd, in Dowry, claims.

Soon healing Herbs are brought; and o'er our Heads
Their safe and inoffensive Juice she sheds:
The Incantation backward she repeats,
Inverts her Rod, and what she did, defeats.
And now our Skin grows smooth, our Shape upright,
Our Arms stretch up, our cloven Feet unite:
Our Neck and Shoulders take their former Grace,
And, weeping, We our weeping Prince embrace:
Each hangs about his Neck: nor scarce a Word
Breaks thro' our Lips, but such as Thanks afford.--

'Twice turn'd she to the East, twice to the West,
Thrice touch'd him with her Wand, three Charms express'd.
He flies, and wondring why so fast he fled,
Beholds his Limbs with shining Plumes o'erspread.
Forthwith he seeks the Woods, and angry still,
Hard Oaks assails, and wounds them with his Bill.
His Wings the Purple of his Robe assume,
The Gold that clasp'd his Garment turns to Plume.
Around his Neck, a glitt'ring Circle glows:
And so compleat his Change,--
The Name alone he e'er was Picus shews.

And now th' Enchantress noxious Juices sheds,
And sprinkles baleful Venom o'er their Heads.
From Erebus, and Chaos' dire Abodes,
Conjures old Night, and all th' Infernal Gods:
While she with Howlings Hecate's Aid intreats,
Woods (wondrous to relate!) forsake their Seats:
Their Leaves look pale, Herbs blush with Drops of Gore;
Earth groans, Dogs howl, Rocks hoarsely seem to roar.
O'er all the tainted Soil black Serpents slide,
And thro' the Air unbody'd Spirits glide.
Frighted with Terrors, as they trembling stand
She strokes their Faces with her venom'd Wand.
Forthwith the Shapes of various Beasts invest
Their former Forms, nor one his own possess'd.--
Circle.

This Form's eternal, and may justly claim
A God--like Nature, all it's Parts the same:
Alike, and equal to itself 'tis found,
No End and no Beginning in a Round.--
City Founded.

--Amaz'd Æneas stands
To see an ample City, where before
Low Cottages appear'd: and wondring views
The Gates, the Streets, and Hurry of the Place.
The Tyrians urge their Work: some raise the Walls,
Roll pondrous Stones, and form the Citadel:
Some mark out Ground for Houses with the Plough:
Laws, Judges, and an aweful Senate chuse.
Others dig Ports: some deep Foundations lay
For Theaters, and Pillars hew from Rocks,
The stately Ornaments of future Scenes.--
--Here the Tyrian Queen
To Juno built a stately Temple, rich
With Gifts, and by the present Goddess blest.
To which on Steps the brazen Thresholds rose:
The Beams were bound with Brass: the Brazen Doors
Jarr'd on their Hinges.--

--Himself describes the Walls
With a low Trench: the first Foundation lays:
And, like a Fort, his City on the Shore
With Banks and Battlements incloses round.--

--With eager Haste
I lay Foundations of the long'd for Town,
Call it Pergamea, and exhort our Friends,
Pleas'd with their Colony's new Name, to love
Their Homes, and rear a Fortress for Defence.
Scarce did our Vessels, drawn within the Port,
Rest on dry Land: the Youth to nuptial Rites
Themselves apply'd, and till'd the new--found Soil:
Laws I assign'd them, and their fix'd Abodes.--
City Taken. See Siege.
Troy taken by the Greeks.

The Trojans scatter'd o'er the Walls, lye hush'd
In Silence; Sleep relieves their weary Limbs.--
They seize the Town, immers'd in Sleep, and Wine:
Kill all the Sentries; at the open'd Gates
Receive their conscious Troops, and join their Friends.
Mean while, with Cries confus'd the Walls resound.
--Now vanquish'd by the Fire
Deiphobus' wide stately Palace falls
With noisy Ruin: Next Ucalegon
Blazes aloft: The broad Sigeïan Sea
Glares with the Conflagration: loudly sound
The Trumpet's Clangor, and the Cries of Men.

The Greeks now domineer in flaming Troy.
The lofty Steed amidst the City pours
Arm'd Troops, whilst Others thro' the open'd Gates
Arrive by thousands.--
Others with Arms the Passes of the Streets
Have seiz'd: their Swords with glitt'ring Blades stand drawn,
Thirsting for Blood.--
--Who the Horror of that Night,
The Ruins and Confusion can express?
Down falls the ancient City, which so long
Had proudly reign'd: Thro' Houses, thro' the Streets
And Temples, lifeless Carcasses, around,
Lie, roll'd in Heaps: Nor do the Trojans bleed
Alone: The vanquish'd in their Turn resume
Their Courage, and the conq'ring Grecians fall.
A Scene of Slaughter ev'ry where appears,
And Terror, and a thousand Shapes of Death.--

At Priam's Palace fierce the Battle burns:
So fierce, as if in other Parts no War
Were heard, no other Slaughter thro' the Town.
Here we behold the Rage of Fight: in Crowds
The Greeks, beneath a Canopy of Shields,
Thick rushing onward, and the Royal Gates
By Siege assaulted. Scaling Ladders hang
Against the Walls: and by the Steps they strive
To gain the Doors: with their Left Hands oppose
Their Shields to Storms of Arrows, with their Right
Grasp at the Battlements. To them adverse
The Trojans tumble Roofs and Turrets down:
Seeing the Worst, and in the last Extremes
Of Death, such Arms they use for their Defence:
Rolling down gilded Beams, the stately Pomp
Of Royal Ancestors: With Swords unsheath'd,
Others stand thick below, and guard the Doors.

--There stood a Tower,
Tall and conspicuous, with it's lofty Roof
Rais'd to the Stars: From whence all Troy we view'd:
This we encompass round: and with our Steel,
Just where th' extremest Planks disjointed gave
Easiest Access, we rend it from on high
Push'd forward.--Swift with Ruin, loud with Noise,
It thunders down, and on the Grecian Troops
With wide Destruction falls:--But Others still
Succeed them: Nor do Stones, or any Kind
Of Weapons cease to fly.--

In the first Portal, storming at the Door,
Pyrrhus exults: with Arms and brazen Light
Refulgent.--
With him his Squire Automedon, and all
The Syrian Youth advance: and to the Top
Hurl flaming Brands.--Himself before the rest,
Grasping a Battle--Ax, the stubborn Doors
Bursts thro', and from their massy Hinges rends
The brazen Posts: Now, having hewn the Beams,
He splits their solid Timber, and a Gap
Discloses wide.--Th' interior Court appears:
Long Galleries, Priam's Rooms of State, and all
Th' imperial Pomp of ancient Kings they see,
And Sentries standing at the Doors in Arms.

But with confus'd Laments, the inner Rooms,
With Tumult, Noise, and wild Distraction, sound:
The ecchoing Palace rings with female Shrieks,
And the shrill Clamour beats the golden Stars.
From Place to Place the trembling Matrons run,
Thro' the vast Court: and cling, and hug, and kiss
The Pillars. Pyrrhus with his Father's Fire
Still pushes on: nor can the Bars, or Guards
Sustain his Fury: To the batt'ring Rams
The Gate gives Way: and from their Hinges torn
The solid Posts lie flat. A spacious Breach
Is made: the thronging Greeks break in: then kill
The first they meet: and with arm'd Soldiers croud
The rich Apartments.--
These Eyes saw Pyrrhus raging, smear'd with Gore,
And both th' Atridae in the Entrance storm:
Amidst an hundred Daughters saw the Queen
And Priam, on the Altars, with his Blood
Pollute the hallow'd Fires, which he himself
Had consecrated.--

--Outragious Pyrrhus,
Then drag'd old Priam to the sacred Hearth,
Trembling, and sliding, on the slipp'ry Ground,
In his Son's Blood: and, twisting in his Hair
His Left Hand, with the Right his glitt'ring Sword
Deep to the Hilt he plunges in his Side.

All Ilium now I saw among the Fires
Sinking lie flat: and from it's Bottom turn'd
Down falls Neptunian Troy. As when an Ash,
Aged, and tall, is on the Mountains hewn
By Rusticks: who in Emulation strive
With Strokes of Axes, and repeated Steel
To overturn it: oft it nods, and shakes
It's leafy Top, still tott'ring, till at length
Subdu'd by Wounds, it groans it's last, and torn
From the high Ridge, with cumbrous Ruin falls.--
Clemency.
See Compassion.

Hear, O! You Gods! who in Rome's Contest Share,
And leave your Heav'n, to make our Earth your Care:
Hear, and let him the happy Victor live,
Who shall with Mercy use the Pow'r You give.--

From me thy forfeit Life, he said, receive,
And though unwilling, by my Bounty live:
That All, by thy Example taught, may know,
How Caesar's Mercy treats a vanquish'd Foe.
Still arm against me, keep thy Hatred still,
And if thou conquer'st, use thy Conquest,--kill.
Returns of Love, or Favour, seek I none:
Nor give thy Life to bargain for my own.--
So saying, on the instant he commands,
To loose the galling Fetters from his Hands.—