If such be your pleasure , you shall first take some refreshment , and then join them in the elegant apartment which they now occupy . See , I and my maidens have been weaving their figures into this piece of tapestry . '' She pointed to the web of beautifully-woven cloth in the loom . Circe and the four nymphs must have been very diligently at work since the arrival of the mariners ; for a great many yards of tapestry had now been wrought , in addition to what I before described . In this new part , Ulysses saw his two and twenty friends represented as sitting on cushions and canopied thrones , greedily devouring dainties , and quaffing deep draughts of wine . The work had not yet gone any further . O , no , indeed . The enchantress was far too cunning to let Ulysses see the mischief which her magic arts had since brought upon the gormandizers . `` As for yourself , valiant sir , '' said Circe , `` judging by the dignity of your aspect , I take you to be nothing less than a king . Deign to follow me , and you shall be treated as befits your rank . '' So Ulysses followed her into the oval saloon , where his two and twenty comrades had devoured the banquet , which ended so disastrously for themselves . But , all this while , he had held the snow-white flower in his hand , and had constantly smelt of it while Circe was speaking ; and as he crossed the threshold of the saloon , he took good care to inhale several long and deep snuffs of its fragrance . Instead of two and twenty thrones , which had before been ranged around the wall , there was now only a single throne , in the center of the apartment . But this was surely the most magnificent seat that ever a king or an emperor reposed himself upon , all made of chased gold , studded with precious stones , with a cushion that looked like a soft heap of living roses , and overhung by a canopy of sunlight which Circe knew how to weave into drapery . The enchantress took Ulysses by the hand , and made him sit down upon this dazzling throne . Then , clapping her hands , she summoned the chief butler . `` Bring hither , '' said she , `` the goblet that is set apart for kings to drink out of . And fill it with the same delicious wine which my royal brother , King Aetes , praised so highly , when he last visited me with my fair daughter Medea . That good and amiable child ! Were she now here , it would delight her to see me offering this wine to my honored guest . ''
But XXXXX , while the butler was gone for the wine , held the snow-white flower to his nose .
Aetes Circe Deign Medea Ulysses enchantress first gormandizers mariners snuffs