Macreus

Man into Pig (and back again)

 

In The Odyssey, Homer tells how the witch Circe turned Ulysses’s men into animals. Here one of those men gives a first-hand accound of what it felt like.

 

“The cup from her accursed hand, I take,

And, soon as thirsty I, with parch'd mouth drink,

And the dire goddess with her wand had strok'd

My head (I blush while I the rest relate)

Roughen'd with bristles, I begin to grow;

Nor now can speak; hoarse grunting comes for words;

And all my face bends downwards to the ground;

Callous I feel my mouth become, in form

A crooked snout; and feel my brawny neck

Swell o'er my chest; and what but now the cup

Had grasp'd, that part does marks of feet imprint;

With all my fellows treated thus, so great

The medicine's potency, close was I shut

Within a sty.”

 

Ulyssess alone remains unchanged. With threats of violence and offers of sex, he persuades Circe to undo her spell.

 

 “Now are we sprinkled with innocuous juice

Of better herbs; with the inverted wand

Our heads are touch'd; the charms, already spoke,

Strong charms of import opposite destroy.

The more she sings her incantations, we

Rise more from earth erect; the bristles fall;

And the wide fissure leaves our cloven feet;

Our shoulders form again; and arms beneath

Are shap'd. Him, weeping too, weeping we clasp,

And round our leader's neck embracing hang.

No words at first to utter have we power,

But such as testify our grateful joy.”