For as far back into the past as we can go,
From the time that Circe and her maids,
In their lonely isle of forests and glades,
Their magic spells, in song, upon the sailor wrought,
With all his crew, to their abode they brought,
To change them to swine from the forms of men;
Until wise Ulysses, by some godlike ken,
Undid the deed done his men confined in a pen;
Or when Orpheus with his lyre in his hand,
Held his sway through th’ enchanted land.