Fields after fields fly back, till close of day:
Then sunk the sun, and darken'd all the way.
To Pheræ now, Diocleus' stately seat
(Of Alpheus' race), the weary youths retreat.
His house affords the hospitable rite,

And pleased they sleep (the blessing of the night).
But when Aurora, daughter of the dawn,

With rosy lustre purpled o'er the lawn;
Again they mount, their journey to renew,
And from the sounding portico they flew.
Along the waving fields their way they hold,
The fields receding as their chariot roll'd:
Then slowly sunk the ruddy globe of light,
And o'er the shaded landscape rush'd the night.

MOUNT OLYMPUS.

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BOOK IV.

ARGUMENT.

THE CONFERENCE WITH MENELAÜS.

Telemachus with Pisistratus arriving at Sparta, is hospitably received by Menelaus, to whom he relates the cause of his coming, and learns from him many particulars of what befel the Greeks since the destruction of Troy. He dwells more at large upon the prophecies of Proteus to him in his return; from which he acquaints Telemachus, that Ulysses is detained in the island of Calypso.

In the meantime the suitors consult to destroy Telemachus in his voyage home. Penelope is apprised of this: but comforted in a dream by Pallas, in the shape of her sister Iphthima.

AND now proud Sparta with their wheels resounds,

Sparta whose walls a range of hills surrounds :

At the fair dome the rapid labour ends;
Where sate Atrides 'midst his bridal friends,
With double vows invoking Hymen's power,
To bless his son's and daughter's nuptial hour.
That day, to great Achilles' son resign'd,
Hermione, the fairest of her kind,
Was sent to crown the long-protracted joy,
Espoused before the final doom of Troy:
With steeds and gilded cars, a gorgeous train
Attend the nymph to Phthia's distant reign.
Meanwhile at home, to Megapenthes' bed
The virgin-choir Alector's daughter led.
Brave Megapenthes' from a stolen amour
To great Atrides' age his handmaid bore:
To Helen's bed the gods alone assign
Hermione, t' extend the regal line;
On whom a radiant pomp of Graces wait,

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Resembling Venus in attractive state.

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While this gay friendly troop the king surround,

With festival and mirth the roofs resound:

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A bard amid the joyous circle sings

High airs, attemper'd to the vocal strings;
Whilst warbling to the varied strain, advance
Two sprightly youths to form the bounding dance.
"Twas then, that, issuing through the palace gate,
The splendid car roll'd slow in regal state:
On the bright eminence young Nestor shone,
And fast beside him great Ulysses' son:
Grave Eteoneus saw the pomp appear,

And speeding, thus address'd the royal ear:

"Two youths approach, whose semblant features prove
Their blood devolving from the source of Jove.
Is due reception deign'd, or must they bend
Their doubtful course to seek a distant friend ?"

"Insensate! (with a sigh the king replies),
Too long, misjudging, have I thought thee wise:
But sure relentless folly steels thy breast,
Obdurate to reject the stranger-guest;
To those dear hospitable rites a foe,

Which in my wanderings oft relieved my woe:
Fed by the bounty of another's board,
Till pitying Jove my native realm restored-
Straight be the coursers from the car released,
Conduct the youths to grace the genial feast."
The seneschal rebuked in haste withdrew;
With equal haste a menial train pursue:
Part led the coursers, from the car enlarged,
Each to a crib with choicest grain surcharged;
Part in a portico, profusely graced

With rich magnificence, the chariot placed:
Then to the dome the friendly pair invite,
Who eye the dazzling roofs with vast delight;
Resplendent as the blaze of summer-noon,
Or the pale radiance of the midnight moon.
From room to room their eager view they bend;
Thence to the bath, a beauteous pile, descend;
Where a bright damsel-train attends the guests
With liquid odours, and embroider'd vests.
Refresh'd, they wait them to the bower of state,
Where circled with his peers Atrides sate:
Throned next the king, a fair attendant brings
The purest product of the crystal springs;
High on a massy vase of silver mould,

The burnish'd laver flames with solid gold;

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In solid gold the purple vintage flows,
And on the board a second banquet rose.
When thus the king with hospitable port :-
Accept this welcome to the Spartan court;
The waste of nature let the feast repair,
Then your high lineage and your names declare;
Say from what scepter'd ancestry ye claim,
Recorded eminent in deathless fame?
For vulgar parents cannot stamp their race
With signatures of such majestic grace."

Ceasing, benevolent he straight assigns
The royal portion of the choicest chines
To each accepted friend: with grateful haste
They share the honours of the rich repast.
Sufficed, soft whispering thus to Nestor's son,
His head reclined, young Ithacus begun :

"View'st thou unmoved, O ever-honour'd most!
These prodigies of art, and wondrous cost!
Above, beneath, around the palace shines
The sunless treasure of exhausted mines:
The spoils of elephants the roofs inlay,
And studded amber darts a golden ray:
Such, and not nobler, in the realms above
My wonder dictates is the dome of Jove."

The monarch took the word, and grave replied,
"Presumptuous are the vaunts, and vain the pride
Of man, who dares in pomp with Jove contest,
Unchanged, immortal, and supremely blest!
With all my affluence when my woes are weigh'd,
Envy will own the purchase dearly paid.
For eight slow-circling years by tempests toss'd,
From Cyprus to the far Phoenician coast
(Sidon the capital), I stretch'd my toil
Through regions fatten'd with the flows of Nile.
Next, Æthiopia's utmost bound explore,
And the parch'd borders of th' Arabian shore :
Then warp my voyage on the southern gales,
O'er the warm Lybian wave to spread my sails:
That happy clime: where each revolving year
The teeming ewes a triple offspring bear;
And two fair crescents of translucent horn
The brows of all their young increase adorn:
The shepherd swains, with sure abundance blest,
On the fat flock and rural dainties feast;

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Nor want of herbage makes the dairy fail,
But every season fills the foaming pail.

Whilst, heaping unwish'd wealth, I distant roam;
The best of brothers at his natal home,
By the dire fury of a traitress wife,
Ends the sad evening of a stormy life:
Whence with incessant grief my soul annoy'd,
These riches are possess'd, but not enjoy'd!
My wars, the copious theme of every tongue,
To you your fathers have recorded long:

How favouring Heaven repaid my glorious toils
With a sack'd palace, and barbaric spoils.
Oh! had the gods so large a boon denied,
And life, the just equivalent, supplied
To those brave warriors, who, with glory fired,
Far from their country, in my cause expired!
Still in short intervals of pleasing woe,
Regardful of the friendly dues I owe,
I to the glorious dead, for ever dear!
Indulge the tribute of a grateful tear.
But oh! Ulysses-deeper than the rest
That sad idea wounds my anxious breast
My heart bleeds fresh with agonising pain;
The bowl and tasteful viands tempt in vain ;

Nor sleep's soft power can close my streaming eyes,'
When imaged to my soul his sorrows rise.

No peril in my cause he ceased to prove,
His labours equall'd only by my love:
And both alike to bitter fortune born,
For him to suffer, and for me to mourn!
Whether he wanders on some friendly coast,
Or glides in Stygian gloom a pensive ghost,
No fame reveals; but doubtful of his doom,
His good old sire with sorrow to the tomb
Declines his trembling steps; untimely care
Withers the blooming vigour of his heir;
And the chaste partner of his bed and throne
Wastes all her widow'd hours in tender moan."

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While thus pathetic to the prince he spoke, From the brave youth the streaming passion broke :

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1 Of the gloomy ideas entertained by Homer, relative to a future state, some account will be given when we come to the descent into Hades.