in fabulous history, a daughter of Sol and Perseis, celebrated for her knowledge of magic and venomous herbs. She was sister to Æetes king of Colchis, and to Pasiphaë the wife of Minos. She married a Sarmatian prince of Colchis, whom she murdered to obtain the kingdom. She was expelled by her subjects, and carried by her father upon the coasts of Italy in an island called Aea. Ulysses, at his return from the Trojan war, visited her coasts, and all his companions, who ran headlong into pleasure and voluptuousness, were changed by Circe's potions into filthy swine. Ulysses, who was fortified against all enchantments by an herb called moly, which he had received from Mercury, CIR

[162]

CIR

cury, went to Circe, and demanded sword in hand the restoration of his companions to their former state. She complied, and loaded, the hero with pleasures and honours. In this voluptuous retreat Ulysses had by Circe one son called Telemachus, or two, according to Hesiod, called Agrius and Latinus. For one whole year Ulysses forgot his glory in Circe's arms. At his departure the nymph advised him to descend to hell and to consult the manes of Tiresias concerning the fates that attended him. Circe showed herself cruel to Scylla her rival, and to Picus.