Thus spoke Penelope. Eumæus flies
In duteous haste, and to Ulysses cries:
"The queen invites thee, venerable guest!
A secret instinct moves her troubled breast,
Of her long absent lord from thee to gain
Some light, and soothe her soul's eternal pain.
If true, if faithful thou, her grateful mind
Of decent robes a present has design'd:
So finding favour in the royal eye,
Thy other wants her subjects shall supply."

"Fair truth alone (the patient man replied) My words shall dictate, and my lips shall guide. To him, to me, one common lot was given,

In equal woes, alas! involved by heaven.

THE FIGHT OF ULYSSES AND IKUS."

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The beggar Irus insults Ulysses; the suitors promote the quarrel, in which Irus is worsted, and miserably handled. Penelope descends, and receives the presents of the suitors. The dialogue of Ulysses with Eurymachus.

WHILE fix'd in thought the pensive hero sate,

A mendicant approach'd the royal gate;

A surly vagrant of the giant kind,

The stain of manhood, of a coward mind:

From feast to feast, insatiate to devour

He flew, attendant on the genial hour.

Him on his mother's knees, when babe he lay,
She named Arnæus on his natal day:
But Irus his associates call'd the boy,
Practised the common messenger to fly;
Irus, a name expressive of th' employ.

From his own roof, with meditated blows,

He strove to drive the man of mighty woes:

"Hence, dotard! hence, and timely speed thy way,

Lest dragg'd in vengeance thou repent thy stay;
See how with nods assent yon princely train!
But honouring age, in mercy I refrain;
In peace away! lest, if persuasions fail,
This arm with blows more eloquent prevail."
To whom, with stern regard: "O insolence,
Indecently to rail without offence!

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What bounty gives without a rival share;

I ask, what harms not thee, to breathe this air:
Alike on alms we both precarious live:

And canst thou envy when the great relieve?

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"Thanks to my friend, (he cries ;) but now the hour

Of night draws on, go seek the rural bower:

But first refresh: and at the dawn of day

Hither a victim to the gods convey.

Our life to Heaven's immortal powers we trust,

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Safe in their care, for Heaven protects the just."
Observant of his voice, Eumæus sate

And fed recumbent on a chair of state.
Then instant rose, and as he moved along,

'Twas riot all amid the suitor throng,

They feast, they dance, and raise the mirthful song.
Till now, declining toward the close of day,

The sun obliquely shot his dewy ray.

"A private audience if thy grace impart, The stranger's words may ease the royal heart.

His sacred eloquence in balm distils,

And the soothed heart with secret pleasure fills.

Three days have spent their beams, three nights have run
Their silent journey, since his tale begun,

Unfinish'd yet; and yet I thirst to hear!

As when some heaven-taught poet charms the ear

(Suspending sorrow with celestial strain

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Breathed from the gods to soften human pain)
Time steals away with unregarded wing,

And the soul hears him, though he cease to sing.
"Ulysses late he saw, on Cretan ground
(His father's guest), for Minos' birth renown'd.
He now but waits the wind, to waft him o'er,
With boundless treasure, from Thesprotia's shore."
To this the queen: "The wanderer let me hear,
While yon luxurious race indulge their cheer,
Devour the grazing ox, and browsing goat,
And turn my generous vintage down their throat.
For where's an arm, like thine, Ulysses! strong,
To curb wild riot, and to punish wrong?"

She spoke. Telemachus then sneezed aloud;
Constrain'd, his nostril echoed through the crowd.
The smiling queen the happy omen bless'd:

"So may these impious fall, by Fate oppress'd!"
Then to Eumæus: "Bring the stranger, fly!
And if my questions meet a true reply,
Graced with a decent robe he shall retire,
A gift in season which his wants require.”

BOOK XVIII.

ARGUMENT.

THE FIGHT OF ULYSSES AND IRUS.

The beggar Irus insults Ulysses; the suitors promote the quarrel, in which Irus is worsted, and miserably handled. Penelope descends, and receives the presents of the suitors. The dialogue of Ulysses with Eurymachus.

WHILE fix'd in thought the pensive hero sate,

A mendicant approach'd the royal gate;

A surly vagrant of the giant kind,

The stain of manhood, of a coward mind:
From feast to feast, insatiate to devour
He flew, attendant on the genial hour.

Him on his mother's knees, when babe he lay,
She named Arnæus on his natal day:
But Irus his associates call'd the boy,
Practised the common messenger to fly;
Irus, a name expressive of th' employ.

From his own roof, with meditated blows,
He strove to drive the man of mighty woes:

"Hence, dotard! hence, and timely speed thy way,

Lest dragg'd in vengeance thou repent thy stay;
See how with nods assent yon princely train!
But honouring age, in mercy I refrain;
In peace away! lest, if persuasions fail,
This arm with blows more eloquent prevail."
To whom, with stern regard: "O insolence,
Indecently to rail without offence!

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What bounty gives without a rival share;

I ask, what harms not thee, to breathe this air:

Alike on alms we both precarious live:

And canst thou envy when the great relieve?

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20

20

Know, from the bounteous heavens all riches flow,
And what man gives, the gods by man bestow;
Proud as thou art, henceforth no more be proud,
Lest I imprint my vengeance in thy blood;
Old as I am, should once my fury burn,
How would'st thou fly, nor even in thought return!"
"Mere woman-glutton! (thus the churl replied);
A tongue so flippant, with a throat so wide!
Why cease I, gods! to dash those teeth away,
Like some wild boar's, that greedy of his prey
Uproots the bearded corn? Rise, try the fight,
Gird well thy loins, approach, and feel my might:
Sure of defeat, before the peers engage:
Unequal fight, when youth contends with age!"
Thus in a wordy war their tongues display
More fierce intents, preluding to the fray;
Antinous hears, and in a jovial vein,

Thus with loud laughter to the suitor-train:

"This happy day in mirth, my friends, employ, And lo! the gods conspire to crown our joy. See ready for the fight, and hand to hand,

Yon surly mendicants contentious stand:

Why urge we not to blows?" Well pleased they spring
Swift from their seats, and thickening form a ring.

To whom Antinoüs: "Lo! enrich'd with blood,

A kid's well-fatted entrails (tasteful food)

On glowing embers lie; on him bestow
The choicest portion who subdues his foe;
Grant him unrivall'd in these walls to stay,
The sole attendant on the genial day."

The lords applaud: Ulysses then with art,
And fears well-feign'd, disguised his dauntless heart:
"Worn as I am with age, decay'd with woe;
Say, is it baseness to decline the foe?
Hard conflict! when calamity and age

With vigorous youth, unknown to cares, engage!
Yet, fearful of disgrace, to try the day
Imperious hunger bids, and I obey:

But swear, impartial arbiters of right,
Swear to stand neutral, while we cope in fight."
The peers assent: when straight his sacred head
Telemachus upraised, and sternly said:

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Stranger, if prompted to chastise the wrong

Of this bold insolent, confide, be strong!

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40

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Th' injurious Greek that dares attempt a blow,
That instant makes Telemachus his foe;
And these my friends shall guard the sacred ties
Of hospitality, for they are wise."

Then, girding his strong loins, the king prepares
To close in combat, and his body bares;
Broad spread his shoulders, and his nervous thighs
By just degrees, like well-turn'd columns, rise:
Ample his chest, his arms are round and long,
And each strong joint Minerva knits more strong
(Attendant on her chief): the suitor-crowd
With wonder gaze, and gazing speak aloud:
"Irus! alas! shall Irus be no more?

Black fate impends, and this th' avenging hour!

Gods! how his nerves a matchless strength proclaim,
Swell o'er his well-strung limbs, and brace his frame!"

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Then pale with fears, and sickening at the sight, They dragg'd th' unwilling Irus to the fight;

1 Antinous and Eurymachus.

2 "Judged by a more fastidious standard, the boxing match with the beggar Irus has objectionable features; yet, if the poet was justified in disguising his hero as a mendicant, he was bound to carry him through his part with spirit. Ulysses certainly appears as the prince of beggars; nor probably was his royal dignity tarnished, in the spirit of heroic manners, by the righteous chastisement inflicted on the base profaner of his palace hall."-Mure's Homer, p. 396.