ULIXES. Ulysses of Ithaca, son of Laertes, was Penelope's husband and one of the great heroes of the Trojan War. He was noted for his intelligence and guile, for his capacity to think quickly, and for his ability to find solutions. He could always extricate himself from tight spots, even if it meant lying to Athena. Virgil says that it was Ulysses's stratagem to capture the city of Troy by building a wooden horse in which a battalion of troops could hide themselves, to have Synon lie to the Trojan guards at the gates, and to encourage them to pull the horse into the city. At night, while the city slept, the troops descended from the horse, the last battle began, and Troy was captured (Aeneid II.108-623). After the war Ulysses wandered for ten years before he finally reached Ithaca. Homer's Odyssey tells of his adventures.

Lady Philosophy recounts Ulixes's visit to Cerce's island, Bo IV, Metr 3.1-47. She says that Cerces changed the men into different animals: a boar, a lion, a tiger, a wolf. Homer says that the men were changed into pigs (Odyssey X.203-574), and Ovid agrees (Met XIV.271-298). Only the moly herb, given him by Hermes, protected Ulysses from Circe's enchantments. Then he forced Circe to restore his men to their human form. Lady Philosophy adds that the venom of vice is stronger than Circe's venom, for it changes hearts but not bodies. Jean de Meun says that Circe could not hold Ulixes easily, RR 14406-14408. Gower tells the story to illustrate witchcraft, Confessio Amantis VI.1415-1473. Lady Philosophy tells how Ulysses smote and blinded the one-eyed man-eating cyclops, Polyphemus, Bo IV, Metr 7.18-27. She calls Ulysses Ytakus, and Chaucer glosses this Ulixes, following Jean de Meun's translation. [Cerces: Penalopee: Poliphemus: Ytakus]

Ulixes is the OF, ME, and Latin form of Greek Odysseus.