He who wallows in foul and unclean lusts is sunk in the pleasures of a filthy hog.

So it comes to pass that he who by forsaking righteousness ceases to be a man cannot pass into a Godlike condition, but actually turns into a brute beast.' SONG III.
CIRCE'S CUP.
Th' Ithacan discreet, And all his storm-tossed fleet, Far o'er the ocean wave The winds of heaven drave-- Drave to the mystic isle, Where dwelleth in her guile That fair and faithless one, The daughter of the Sun.
There for the stranger crew With cunning spells she knew To mix th' enchanted cup.
For whoso drinks it up, Must suffer hideous change To monstrous shapes and strange.
One like a boar appears; This his huge form uprears, Mighty in bulk and limb-- An Afric lion--grim With claw and fang.

Confessed A wolf, this, sore distressed When he would weep, doth howl; And, strangely tame, these prowl The Indian tiger's mates.
And though in such sore straits, The pity of the god Who bears the mystic rod Had power the chieftain brave From her fell arts to save; His comrades, unrestrained, The fatal goblet drained.
All now with low-bent head, Like swine, on acorns fed; Man's speech and form were reft, No human feature left; But steadfast still, the mind, Unaltered, unresigned, The monstrous change bewailed.
How little, then, availed The potencies of ill! These herbs, this baneful skill, May change each outward part, But cannot touch the heart.
In its true home, deep-set, Man's spirit liveth yet.
_Those_ poisons are more fell, More potent to expel Man from his high estate, Which subtly penetrate, And leave the body whole, But deep infect the soul.
IV.
Then said I: 'This is very true.

I see that the vicious, though they keep the outward form of man, are rightly said to be changed into beasts in respect of their spiritual nature; but, inasmuch as their cruel and polluted minds vent their rage in the destruction of the good, I would this license were not permitted to them.' 'Nor is it,' said she, 'as shall be shown in the fitting place.

Yet if that license which thou believest to be permitted to them were taken away, the punishment of the wicked would be in great part remitted.