"They called her and she came
down, unfastened the door, and bade them enter. They, thinking no
evil, followed her, all except Eurylokhos, who suspected mischief and
stayed outside. When she had got them into her house, she set them
upon benches and seats and mixed them a drink with cheese, honey,
meal, and Pramnian wine but she drugged it with wicked poisons to
make them forget their homes, and when they had drunk she turned them
into pigs by a stroke of her wand, and shut them up in her pigsties.
They were like pigs- head, hair, and all, and they grunted just as
pigs do; but their senses [noos] were the same as
before, and they remembered everything.
"Thus then were they shut up
squealing, and Circe threw them some acorns and beech masts such as
pigs eat, but Eurylokhos hurried back to tell me about the sad fate
of our comrades. He was so overcome with dismay that though he tried
to speak he could find no words to do so; his eyes filled with tears
and he could only sob and sigh, till at last we forced his story out
of him, and he told us what had happened to the others.
"‘We went,’ said he,
‘as you told us, through the forest, and in the middle of it
there was a fine house built with cut stones in a place that could be
seen from far. There we found a woman, or else she was a goddess,
working at her loom and singing sweetly; so the men shouted to her
and called her, whereon she at once came down, opened the door, and
invited us in. The others did not suspect any mischief so they
followed her into the house, but I stayed where I was, for I thought
there might be some treachery. From that moment I saw them no more,
for not one of them ever came out, though I sat a long time watching
for them.’
"Then I took my sword of bronze
and slung it over my shoulders; I also took my bow, and told
Eurylokhos to come back with me and show me the way. But he laid hold
of me with both his hands and spoke piteously, saying, ‘Sir, do
not force me to go with you, but let me stay here, for I know you
will not bring one of them back with you, nor even return alive
yourself; let us rather see if we cannot escape at any rate with the
few that are left us, for we may still save our
lives.’
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