sword, he
exclaimed, 'Slave, deliver my followers or die.' The Yakkhini terrified,
implored for her life; 'Spare me, prince, and on thee will I bestow
sovereignty, my love, and my service.' In order that he might not again
be involved in difficulty he forced her to swear[1], and when he again
demanded the liberation of his attendants she brought them forth, and
declaring 'these men must be famishing,' she distributed to them rice
and other articles procured from the wrecked ships of mariners, who had
fallen a prey to her. A feast follows, and Wijayo and the princess
retire to pass the night in an apartment which she causes to spring up
at the foot of a tree, curtained as with a wall and fragrant with
incense." It is impossible not to be struck with a curious resemblance
between this description and that in the 10th book of the Odyssey, where
Eurylochus, after landing, returns to Ulysses to recount the fate of his
companions, who, having wandered towards the palace of Circe, had been
imprisoned after undergoing transformation into swine. Ulysses hastens
to their relief, and having been provided by Mercury with antidotes,
which enabled him to resist the poisons of the sorceress, whom he
discovers in her retreat, the story proceeds:--

[Greek:

Os phat ego d aor oxu eryssamenos para merou
Kirkeepeixa hoste ktameuai meneainon. k. t. l.]

[Footnote 1: [Greek:

Ei me moi tlaies ge, thea, megan horkon homossai
Meti moi autps pema kakon bouleusemen allo.]--_Odys_. x. l. 343.]

"She spake, I, drawing from beside my thigh
The faulchion keen, with death denouncing looks,
Rush'd on her,--she, with a shrill scream of fear,
Ran under my raised arm, seized fast my knees,
And in winged accents plaintive thus began:--
'Who, whence thy city, and thy birth declare,--
Amazed I see thee with that potion drenched,
Yet unenchanted: never man before
Once passed it through his lips and lived the same.
* * * * Sheath again
Thy sword, and let us on my bed recline,
Mutual embrace, that we may trust henceforth
Each other without jealousy or fear.'
The goddess spake, to whom I thus replied:
'Oh Circe, canst thou bid me meek become,
And gentle, who beneath thy roof detain'st
My fellow-voyagers. * * *
No, trust me, never will I share thy bed,
Till first, oh goddess, thou consent to swear
That dread, all-binding oath, that other harm
Against myself,