He then tells a feigned story of his adventures, upon which she manifests herself, and they consult together of the measures to be taken to destroy the suitors. To conceal his return, and disguise his person the more effectually, she changes him into the figure of an old beggar.
HE ceased; but left so pleasing on their ear
His voice, that listening still they seem'd to hear.
A pause of silence hush'd the shady rooms:
The grateful conference then the king resumes.
Whatever toils the great Ulysses pass'd,
Beneath this happy roof they end at last;
No longer now from shore to shore to roarı,
Smooth seas and sentle winds invite him home.
But hear me, princes! whom these walls inclose,
For whom my chanter sings, and goblet flows
With wine unmix'd (an honour due to age,
To cheer the grave, and warm the poet's rage);
Though labour'd gold and many a dazzling vest
Lie heap'd already for our godlike guest;
Without new treasures let him not remove,
Large, and expressive of the public love:
Each peer a tripod, each a vase bestow,
A general tribute, which the state shall owe.
Sent by Aicinous; of Aretè's train
Three chosen maids attended him to the main;
This does a tunic and white vest convey,
A various casket that, of rich inlay,
And bread and wine the third. The cheerful mates
Safe in the hollow poop dispose the cates:
Upon the deck soft painted robes they spread,
With linen cover'd, for the hero's bed.
He climb'd the lofty stern; then gently press'd
The swelling couch, and lay composed to rest.
Now placed in order, the Phæacian train
Their cables loose, and launch into the main:
At once they bend, and strike their equal oars,
And leave the sinking hills and lessening shores.
While on the deck the chief in silence lies,
5 And pleasing slumbers steal upon his eyes.
As fiery coursers in the rapid race
Urged by fierce drivers through the dusty space,
Toss their high heads, and scour along the plain; 100
So mounts the bounding vessel o'er the main.
10 Back to the stern the parted billows flow,
And the black ocean foams and roars below.
Thus with spread sails the winged galley flies;
Less swift an eagle cuts the liquid skies;
Divine Ulysses was her sacred load,
15 A man, in wisdom equal to a god!
Much danger, long and mighty toils he bore,
In storms by sea, and combats on the shore:
All which soft sleep now banish'd from his breast, 110
This sentence pleased: then all their steps address'd Wrapt in a pleasing, deep, and death-like rest.
To separate mansions, and retired to rest.
Now did the rosy-finger'd morn arise,
And shed her sacred light along the skies.
Down to the haven and the ships in haste
They bore the treasures, and in safety placed.
The king himself the vases ranged with care ;
Then bade his followers to the feast repair.
A victim ox beneath the sacred hand
But when the morning star with early ray
Flamed in the front of heaven, and promised day;
Like distant clouds the mariner descries
Fair Ithaca's emerging hills arise.
Far from the town a spacious port appears,
25 Sacred to Phorcy's power, whose name it bears.
Two craggy rocks projecting to the main.
The roaring wind's tempestuous rage restrain;
Within the waves in softer murmurs glide,
And ships secure without their halsers ride.
High at the head, a branching olive glows,
And crowns the pointed cliffs with shady bouglas.
Beneath, a gloomy grotto's cool recess
Delights the Nereids of the neighbouring seas,
Where bowls and urns were form'd of living stone,
35 And massy beams in native marble shone;
Of great Alcinoüs falls, and stains the sand.
To Jove the Eternal (power above all powers!
Who wings the winds, and darkens heaven with showers)
The flames ascend: till evening they prolong
The rites more sacred made by heavenly song:
For in the midst, with public honours graced
Thy lyre divine, Demodocus! was placed.
All, but Ulysses, heard with fix'd delight:
He sate, and eyed the sun, and wish'd the night:
Slow seem'd the sun to move, the hours to roll
His native home deep-imaged in his soul.
As the tired ploughman spent with stubborn toil,
Whose oxen long have torn the furrow'd soil,
Sees with delight the sun's declining ray,
When home with feeble knees he bends his way
To late repast (the day's hard labour done):
So to Ulysses welcome set the sun;
Then instant to Alcinoüs and the rest
(The Scheran states) he turn'd, and thus address'd.
O thou the first in merit and conımand!
And you the peers and princes of the land!
May every joy be yours! nor this the least,
When due libation shall have crown'd the feast,
Sate to my home to send your happy guest.
Complete are now the bounties you have given,
Be all those bounties but confirm'd by heaven!
So may I find, when all my wanderings cease,
My consort blameless, and my friends in peace.
On you be every bliss; and every day,
In home-felt joys, delighted roll away:
Yourselves, your wives, your long-descending race,
May every god enrich with every grace!
Sure fix'd on virtue may your nation stand,
And public evil never touch the land!
His words well weigh'd, the general voice approved
Benign, and instant his dismission moved.
The monarch to Pontonous gave the sign,
To fill the goblet high with rosy wine:
Great Jove the Father first (he cried) implore;
Then send the stranger to his native shore.
The luscious wine the obedient herald brought:
Around the mansions flow'd the purple draught:
Each from his seat to each immortal pours,
Whom glory circles in the Olympian bowers.
Ulysses sole with air majestic stands,
The bowl presenting to Aretè's hands;
Then thus: O queen, farewell! be still possess'd
Of dear remembrance, blessing still and bless'd
'Till age and death shall gently call thee hence,
On which the labours of the nymphs were roll'd,
Their webs divine of purple mix'd with gold.
Within the cave the clustering bees attend
Their waxen works, or from the roof depend.
40 Perpetual waters o'er the pavement glide:
Two marble doors unfold on either side;
Sacred the south, by which the gods descend;
But mortals enter at the northern end.
Thither they bent, and haul'd their ship to land
45 ('The crooked keel divides the yellow sand);
Ulysses sleeping on his couch they bore,
And gently placed him on the rocky shore.
His treasures next, Alcinoüs' gifts, they laid
In the wild olive's unfrequented shade,
50 Secure from theft; then launch'd the bark again,
Resumed their oars, and measured back the main
Nor yet forgot old Ocean's dread supreme
The vengeance vow'd for eyeless Polypheme.
Before the throne of mighty Jove he stood;
55 And sought the secret counsels of the god.
Shall then no more, O sire of gods! be mine
The rights and honours of a power divine?
Scorn'd even by man, and (oh severe disgrace!
By soft Phæacians, my degenerate race!
Against yon destined head in vain I swore,
And menaced vengeance, ere he reach'd his shore;
To reach his natal shore was thy decree;
Mild I obey'd, for who shall war with thee?
Behold him landed. careless and asleep,
65 From all the eluded dangers of the deep;
Lo where he lies, amidst a shining store
Of brass, rich garments, and refulgent ore:
And bears triumphant to his native isle
A prize more worth than Ilion's noble spoil.
To warn the thoughtless self-confiding train,
No more unlicensed thus to brave the main.
Full in their port a shady hill shall rise,
If such thy will. We will it, Jove replies.
Even when with transport blackening all the strand,
The swarming people hail their ship to land,
Fix her for ever, a memorial stone:
Still let her seem to sail, and seem alone:
The trembling crowds shall see the sudden shade
Sighs for his country, and laments again
175 To the deaf rocks, and hoarse-resounding main.
When lo! the guardian goddess of the wise,
Celestial Pallas, stood before his eyes;
In show a youthful swain, of forın divine,
Who seem'd descended from some princely line.
A graceful robe her slender body dress'd:
Around her shoulders flew the waving vest,
Her decent hand a shining javelin bore,
And painted sandals on her feet she wore.
To whom the king: Whoe'er of human race
Thou art, that wander'st in this desert place!
With joy to thee, as to some god, I bend,
To thee iny treasures and myself commend.
O tell a wretch in exile dooni'd to stray,
What air I breathe, what country I survey?
Of whelming mountains overhang their head!
With that the god whose earthquakes rock the ground,
Fierce to Phæacia cross'd the vast profound.
Swift as a swallow sweeps the liquid way,
The winged pinnace shot along the sea.
The god arrests her with a sudden stroke,
And roots her down an everlasting rock.
Aghast the Scherians stand in deep surprise;
All press to speak, all question with their eyes.
What hands unseen the rapid bark restrain!
And yet it swims, or seems to swim, the main!
Thus they, unconscious of the deed divine:
Till great Alcinoüs rising own'd the sign.
Behold the long-predestined day! (he cries);
O certain faith of ancient prophecies!
These ears have heard my royal sire disclose
A dreadful story, big with future woes;
How moved with wrath, that careless we convey
Promiscuous every guest to every bay,
Stern Neptune raged; and how by his command
Firm rooted in the surge a ship should stand
(A monument of wrath); and mound on mound
190 The fruitful continent's extremest bound,
Or some fair isle which Neptune's arms surround?
From what far clime (said she) remote from fame
Arrivest thou here a stranger to our name?
Thou seest an island, not to those unknown
195 Whose hills are brighten'd by the rising sun,
Nor those that placed beneath his utmost reign
Behold him sinking in the western main.
The rugged soil allows no level space
For flying chariots, or the rapid race;
200 Yet, not ungrateful to the peasant's pain,
Suffices fulness to the swelling grain:
The loaded trees their various fruits produce,
And clustering grapes afford a generous juice:
Woods crown our mountains, and in every grove
Should hide our walls, or whelm beneath the ground. 20! The bounding goats and frisking heifers rove:
The Fates have follow'd as declared the seer.
215 His ready tale the inventive hero told:
Be humbled, nations! and your monarch hear.
No more unlicensed brave the deeps, no more
With every stranger pass from shore to shore:
On angry Neptune now for mercy call;
To his high name let twelve black oxen fall.
So may the god reverse his purposed will,
Nor o'er our city hang the dreadful hill.
The monarch spoke: they trembled and obey'd.
Forth on the sands the victim oxen led:
The gather'd tribes before the altars stand,
And chiefs and rulers, a majestic band.
The king of ocean all the tribes implore;
The blazing altars redden all the shore.
Meanwhile Ulysses in his country lay,
Released from sleep, and round him might survey
The solitary shore and rolling sea.
Yet had his mind through tedious absence lost
The dear resemblance of his native coast;
Besides, Minerva, to secure her care,
Diffused around a veil of thicken'd air:
For so the gods ordain'd, to keep unseen
His royal person from his friends and queen;
Till the proud suitors for their crimes afford
An ample vengeance to their injured lord.
Now all the land another prospect bore,
Oft have I heard in Crete, this island's name:
For 'twas from Crete my native soil I came,
Self-banish'd thence. I sail'd before tle wind,
And left my children and any friends behind
220 From fierce Idomeneus' revenge I flew,
Whose son, the swift Orsilochus, I slew
(With brutal force he seized my Trojan prey,
Due to the toils of many a bloody day).
Unseen I 'scaped, and, favour'd by the night,
225 In a Phœnician vessel took my flight,
For Pyle or Elis bound: but tempests toss'd
And raging billows drove us on your coast.
In dead of night an unknown port we gain'd,
Spent with fatigue, and slept secure on land.
230 But ere the rosy morn renew'd the day,
Another port appear'd, another shore,
And long-continued ways, and winding floods.
And unknown mountains, crown'd with unknown woods.
Pensive and slow, with sudden grief oppress'd
The king arose, and beat his careful breast,
Cast a long look o'er all the coast and main,
And sought, around, his native realm in vain :
Then with erected eyes stood fix'd in woe,
And as he spoke, the tears began to flow.
Ye gods, he cried, upon what barren coast,
In what new region, is Ulysses toss'd?
Possess'd by wild barbarians, fierce in arms?
Or men whose bosom tender pity warms?
Where shall this treasure now in safety lie?
And whither, whither its sad owner fly?
Ah why did I Alcinoüs' grace implore?
Ah why forsake Phæacia's happy shore?
Some juster prince perhaps had entertain'd,
And safe restored me to my native land.
Is this the promised, long-expected coast,
And this the faith Phæacia's rulers boast?
Oh righteous gods! of all the great, how few
Are just to heaven, and to their promise true!
But he, the power to whose all-seeing eyes
The deeds of men appear without disguise,
Tis his alone to avenge the wrongs I bear:
For still the oppress'd are his peculiar care.
To count these presents, and from thence to prove
Their faith, is mine: the rest belongs to Jove.
Then on the sands he ranged his wealthy store,
The gold, the vests, the tripods number'd o'er:
All these he found, but still in error lost
Disconsolate he wanders on the coast,
While in the embrace of pleasing sleep I lay,
Sudden, invited by auspicious gales,
They land my goods, and hoist their flying sails.
Abandon'd here, my fortune I deplore,
A hapless exile on a foreign shore.
Thus while he spoke, the blue-eyed maid began
With pleasing smiles to view the godlike man:
Then changed her form and now, divinely bright,
Jove's heavenly daughter stood confess'd to sight; 330
240 Like a fair virgin in her beauty's bloom,
Skill'd in the illustrious labours of the loom.
O still the same Ulysses! she rejoin'd,
In useful craft successfully refined!
Artful in speech, in action,, and in nund!
245 Sufficed it not, that, thy long labours past,
Secure thou seest thy native shore at last?
But this to me? who, like thyself, excel
In arts of counsel, and dissembling well:
To me? whose wit exceeds the powers divine,
250 No less than mortals are surpass'd by thine.
Know'st thou not me? who made thy life my care,
Through ten years' wandering, and through ten years'
Who taught thee arts, Alcinoüs to persuade,
255 To raise his wonder and engage his aid;
And now appear, thy treasures to protect,
Conceal thy person, thy designs direct,
And tell what more thou must from Fate expect,
Domestic woes far heavier to be borne!
260 The pride of fools and slaves' insulting scorn.
But thou be silent, nor reveal thy state;
Yield to the force of unresisted fate,
And bear unmoved the wrongs of base mankind,
The last, and hardest, conquest of the mind.
Goddess of wisdom! Ithacus replies, He who discerns thee must be truly wise, So seldom view'd, and ever in disguise! When the bold Argives led their warring powers, Against proud Ilion's well-defended towers; Ulysses was thy care, celestial maid! Graced with thy sight, and favour'd with thy aid. But when the Trojan piles in ashes lay, And bound for Greece we plough'd the watry way; Our fleet dispersed and driven from coast to coast, Thy sacred presence from that hour I lost; Till I beheld thy radiant form once mere, And heard thy counsels on Phæacia's shore. But, by the alınighty author of thy race, Tell me, oh tell, is this my native place? For much I fear, long tracts of land and sea Divide this coast from distant Ithaca; The sweet delusion kindly you impose, To soothe my hopes, and mitigate my woes.
Thus he. The blue-eyed goddess thus replies.
How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise!
Who, versed in fortune, fear the flattering show,
And taste not half the bliss the gods bestow.
The more shall Pallas aid thy just desires,
And guard the wisdom which herself inspires.
Others, long absent from their native place,
Straight seek their home, and fly with eager pace
To their wives' arms, and children's dear embrace.
Not thus Ulysses: he decrees to prove
His subjects' faith, and queen's suspected love;
Who mourn'd her lord twice ten revolving years,
And wastes the days in grief, the nights in tears.
But Pallace knew (thy friends and navy lost)
Once more 'twas given thee to behold thy coast:
Yet how could I with adverse Fate engage,
And mighty Neptune's unrelenting rage?
Now lift thy longing eyes, while I restore
The pleasing prospect of thy native shore.
Behold the port of Phorcys! fenced around
With rocky mountains, and with olives crown'd.
Behold the gloomy grot! whose cool recess
Delights the Nereids of the neighbouring seas:
Whose now-neglected altars in thy reign
Blush'd with the blood of sheep and oxen slain.
Behold! where Neritus the clouds divides,
And shakes the waving forests on his sides.
So spake the goddess; and the prospect clear'd,
The mists dispersed, and all the coast appear'd.
The king with joy confess'd his place of birth,
Am on his knees salutes his mother earth:
Then, with his suppliant hands upheld in air,
Thus to the sea-green sisters sends his prayer.
All hail! ye virgin daughters of the main!
Ye streams, beyond my hopes beheld again!
To you once more your own Ulysses bows;
Attend his transports, and receive his vows!
If Jove prolong my days, and Pallas crown
The growing virtues of my youthful son,
To you shall rites divine be ever paid,
And grateful offerings on your altars laid.
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She answer'd: In the dreadful day of fight
Know, I am with thee, strong in all my might.
If thou but equal to thyself be found,
What gasping numbers then shall press the ground! 450
What human victims stain the feastful floor!
360 How wide the pavements float with guilty gore!
It fits thee now to wear a dark disguise,
And secret walk unknown to mortal eyes.
For this, my haud shall wither every grace
And every elegance of form and face,
365 O'er thy smooth skin a bark of wrinkles spread,
Turn hoar the auburn honours of thy head;
Disfigure every limb with coarse attire,
And in thy eyes extinguish all the fire;
Add all the wants and the decays of life;
376 Estrange thee from thy own; thy son, thy wife
Froin the loathed object every sight shall turn,
And the blind suitors their destruction scorn.
Go first the master of thy herds to find,
True to his charge, a loyal swain and kind:
375 For thee he sighs; and to the royal heir
And chaste Penelope extends his care.
At the Coracian rock he now resides,
Where Arethusa's sable water glides;
The sable water and the copious mast
380 Swell the fat herd; luxuriant, large repast!
With him rest peaceful in the rural cell,
And all you ask his faithful tongue shall tell.
Me into other realms my cares convey,
To Sparta, still with female beauty gay:
385 For know, to Sparta thy loved offspring came,
To learn thy fortunes from the voice of Fame.
At this the father, with a father's care.
Must he too suffer? he, oh goddess! bear
Of wanderings and of woes a wretched share?
390 Through the wild ocean plough the dangerous way,
And leave his fortunes and his house a prey ?
Why wouldst not thou, oh all-enlighten a mind!
Inform him certain, and protect him, kind?
To whom Minerva. Be thy soul at rest;
395 And know, whatever heaven ordains, is best.
To fame I sent him, to acquire renown;
To other regions is his virtue known:
Secure he sits, near great Atrides placed:
With friendships strengthen'd, and with honours graced.
400 But lo! an ambush waits his passage o'er;
Fierce foes insidious intercept the shore:
In vain; far sooner all the murderons brood
This injured land shall fatten with their blood.
She spake, ther. touch'd hin. with her powerful wand:
405 The skin shrunk up, and wither'd at her hand:
A swift old age o'er all his members spread:
A sudden frost was sprinkled on his head;
Nor longer in the heavy eye-ball shined
The glance divine, forth-beaming from the mind.
410 His robe, which spots indelible besmear,
In rags dishonest flutters with the air:
A stag's torn hide is lapt around his reins;
A rugged staff his trembling hand sustains;
And at his side a wretched scrip was hung,
Thus then Minerva. From that anxious breast 415 Wide-patch'd, and knotted to a twisted thong.
Dismiss those cares, and leave to heaven the rest.
Our task be now thy treasured stores to save,
Deep in the close recesses of the cave :
Then future means consult-She spoke, and trod
The shady grot, that brighten'd with the god.
The closest caverns of the grot she sought;
The gold, the brass, the robes, Ulysses brought;
These in the secret gloom the chief disposed;
The entrance with a rock the goddess closed.
So look'd the chief, so moved: to mortal eyes
Object uncouth! a man of miseries!
While Pallas, cleaving the wide fields of air.
To Sparta flies, Telemachus her care.
The Conversation with Eumæus
Ulysses arrives in disguise at the house of Eunaus where he is received, entertained, and lodged with the utmost hospitality. The several discourses of that faithful old servant, with the feigned story told by Ulysses to conceal himself, and other con. versations on various subjects, take up this entire book.
BUT he, deep-musing, o'er the mountains stray'd
Through mazy thickets of the woodland shade
As when we wrapt Troy's heaven-built walls in fire.
Though leagued against me hundred heroes stand, 445 And cavern'd ways, the shaggy coast along,
Hundreds shall fall, if Pallas aid my hand.
With cliffs and nodding forests overhung.
Eumæus at his sylvan lodge he sought, A faithful servant, and without a fault. Ulysses found him busied, as he sate Before the threshold of his rustic gate; Around, the mansion in a circle shone; A rural portico of rugged stone
5 Take with free welcome what our hands prepare, Such food as falls to simple servants' share; The best our lords consume; those thoughtless peers,
(In absence of his lord, with honest toil
His own industrious hands had raised the pile).
The wall was stone from neighbouring quarries borne
Encircled with a fence of native thorn,
Rich without bounty, guilty without fears Yet sure the gods their impious acts detest, 10 And honour justice and the righteous breast. Pirates and conquerors of harden'd mind, The foes of peace, and scourges of mankind, To whom offending men are made a prey When Jove in vengeance gives a land away; Even these, when of their ill-got spoils possess'd, Find sure torinentors in the guilty breast : Some voice of god close whispering from within, "Wretch! this is villany, and this is sin." But these, no doubt, some oracle explore, 20 That tells, the great Ulysses is no more.
Hence springs their confidence, and from our sighs
Their rapine strengthens, and their riots rise: Constant as Jove the night and day bestows, Bleeds a whole hecatomb, a vintage flows.
And strong with pales, by many a weary stroke
Of stubborn labour hewn from heart of oak:
Frequent and thick. Within the space were rear'd
Twelve ample cells, the lodgements of his herd.
Full fifty pregnant females each contain'd;
The males without (a smaller race) remain'd;
Doom'd to supply the suitors' wasteful feast,
A stock by daily luxury decreased;
Now scarce four hundred left. These to defend,
Four savage dogs, a watchful guard, attend.
Here sate Eumæus, and his cares applied
To forin strong buskins of well-season'd hide.
Of four assistants who his labour share,
Three now were absent on the rural care;
The fourth drove victims to the suitor-train:
But he, of ancient faith, a simple swain,
Sigh'd, while he furnish'd the luxurious board,
And wearied heaven with wishes for his lord.
Soon as Ulysses near the inclosure drew,
With open mouths the furious mastiffs flew:
Down sate the sage, and cautious to withstand,
Let fall the offensive truncheon from his hand.
Sudden, the master runs; aloud he calls;
And from his hasty hand the leather falls;
With showers of stones he drives them far away;
The scattering dogs around at distance bay.
Unhappy stranger! (thus the faithful swain
Began with accent gracious and humane)
What sorrow had been mine, if at my gate
Thy reverend age had met a shameful fate !
Enough of woes already have I known;
Enough my master's sorrows and my own.
While here (ungrateful task!) his herds I feed,
Ordain'd for lawless rioters to bleed;
Perhaps, supported at another's board,
Far from his country roams iny hapless lord !
Or sigh'd in exile forth his latest breath,
Now cover'd with the eternal shade of death!
But enter this my homely roof, and see
25 None match'd this hero's wealth, of all who reign O'er the fair islands of the neighbouring main. Nor all the monarchs whose far-dreaded sway The wide-extended continents obey :
First, on the main-land, of Ulysses' breed
30 Twelve herds, twelve flocks, on ocean's margin feed;
As many stalls for shaggy goats are rear'd.
As many lodgements for the tusky herd,
Those foreign keepers guard: and here are seen
Twelve herds of goats that graze our utmost green;
35 To native pastors is their charge assign'd,
And mine the care to feed the bristly kind:
Each day the fattest bleeds of either herd,
All to the suitors' wasteful board preferr'd.
Thus he, benevolent: his unknown guest
40 With hunger keen devours the savoury feast;
While schemes of vengeance ripen in his breast
Silent and thoughtful while the board he eyed,
Eumæus pours on high the purple tide;
The king with smiling looks his joy express'd,
45 And thus the kind inviting host address'd.
Say now, what man is he, the man deplored, So rich, so potent, whom you style your lord? Late with such affluence and possessions bless'd, And now in honour's glorious bed at rest.
50 Whoever was the warrior, he must be
To Fame no stranger, nor perhaps to me; Who (so the gods, and so the fates ordain'd) Have wander'd many a sea, and many a land.
Our woods not void of hospitality.
Small is the faith the prince and queen ascribe
Then tell me whence thou art, and what the share 55 (Replied Eumæus) to the wandering tribe. Of woes and wanderings thou wert born to bear?
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He said, and, seconding the kind request,
With friendly step precedes his unknown guest.
A shaggy goat's soft hide beneath him spread,
And with fresh rushes heap'd an ample bed :
Joy touch'd the hero's tender soul, to find
So just reception from a heart so kind;
And, oh, ye gods! with all your blessings grace
(He thus broke forth) this friend of human race!
The swain replied. It never was our guise
To slight the poor, or aught humane despise;
For Jove unfolds our hospitable door,
"Tis Jove that sends the stranger and the poor.
Little, alas! is all the good I can;
A man oppress'd, dependent, yet a man:
Accept such treatment as a swain affords,
Slave to the insolence of youthful lords!
Far hence is by unequal gods removed
That man of bounties, loving and beloved !
To whom whate'er his slave enjoys is owed,
And more, had Fate allow'd had been bestow'd:
But Fate condemn'd him to a foreign shore;
Much have I sorrow'd, but my master more.
Now cold he lies, to death's embrace resign'd:
Ah, perish Helen! perish all her kind !
For whose cursed cause, in Agamemnon's naine,
He trod so fatally the paths of Faine.
His vest succinct then girding round his waist,
Forth rush'd the swain with hospitable haste.
Straight to the lodgements of his herd he run,
Where the fat porkers slept beneath the sun;
Of two, his cutlass launch'd the spouting blood;
These quarter'd, singed, and fix'd on forks of wood,
All hasty on the hissing coals he threw;
And, smoking, back the tasteful viands drew,
Broachers and all; then on the board display'd
The ready ineal, before Ulysses laid
With flour imbrown'd; next mingled wine yet new,
And luscious as the bees' nectareous dew,
Then sate companion of the friendly feast,
With open look; and thus bespoke his guest.
65 Or torn by birds and scatter'd through the sky
So perish'd he and left (for ever lost)
Much woe to all, but sure to me the most.
So mild a master never shall I find;
Less dear the parents whom I left behind,
70 Less soft my mother, less my father kind.
Not with such transport would my eyes run o'er, Again to hail them in their native shore, As loved Ulysses once more to embrace, Restored and breathing in his natal place. 75 That name for ever dread, yet ever dear, Even in his absence I pronounce with fear: In my respect, he bears a prince's part: But lives a very brother in my heart.
Thus spoke the faithful swain, and thus rejoin d 80 The master of his grief, the man of patient mind. Ulysses, friend! shall view his old abodes (Distrustful as thou art), nor doubt the gods. Nor speak I rashly, but with faith averr'd, And what I speak attesting heaven has heard.
25 If so, a cloak and vesture be my meed:
Till his return no title shall I plead,
Though certain be my news, and great my need.
Who want itself can force untruths to tell,
My soul detests him as the gates of hell.
Thou first be witness, hospitable Jove.
And every god inspiring social love!
And witness every household power that waits
Guard of these fires, and angel of these gates!
Ere the next moon increase, or this decay,
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Nine ships I maun d, equipp'd with ready stores, 280 Intent to voyage to the Ægyptian shores;
It. blood and dust each proud oppressor mourn, And the lost glories of his house return.
Nor shall that meed be thine, nor ever more
190 In feast and sacrifice my chosen train
Shall loved Ulysses hail this happy shore (Replied Eumæus): to the present hour Now turn thy thought, and joys within our power.
From sad reflection let my soul repose;
The name of him awakes a thousand woes.
But guard him, gods! and to these arms restore!
Not his true consort can desire him more;
Not old Laèrtes, broken with despair:
Not young Telemachus, his blooming heir.
Alas, Telemachus! my sorrows flow
Afresh for thee, my second cause of woe!
Like some fair plant set by a heavenly hand,
He grew, he flourish'd, and he bless'd the land;
In all the youth his father's image shined,
Bright in his person, brighter in his mind.
What man, or god, deceived his better sense,
Far on the swelling seas to wander hence?
To distant Pylos hapless is he gone,
To seek his father's fate, and find his own!
For traitors wait his way, with dire design
To end at once the great Arcesian line.
But let us leave him to their wills above;
The fates of men are in the hand of Jove.
And now, my venerable guest! declare
Your name, your parents, and your native air;
Sincere from whence begun your course relate,
And to what ship I owe the friendly freight ?
Thus he and thus (with prompt invention bold)
The cautious chief his ready story told.
Six days consuined; the seventh we plough'd the main.
Crete's ample fields diminish to our eye;
Before the Boreal blast the vessels fly;
Safe through the level seas we sweep our way;
195 The steerman governs, and the ships obey,
The fifth fair morn we stem the Ægyptian tide,
And tilting o'er the bay the vessels ride:
To anchor there my fellows I command,
And spies commission to explore the land.
200 But, sway'd by lust of gain, and headlong will,
The coasts they ravage, and the natives kill.
The spreading clamour to their city flies,
And horse and foot in mingled tumult rise.
The reddening dawn reveals the circling fields,
205 Horrid with bristly spears, and glancing shields.
Jove thunder'd on their side. Our guilty head
We turn'd to flight; the gathering vengeance spread
On all parts round, and heaps on heaps lie dead.
I then explored my thought, what course to prove
210 (And sure the thought was dictated by Jove):
Oh, had he left me to that happier doom,
And saved a life of miseries to come!
The radiant helmet from my brows unlaced,
And low on earth my shield and javelin cast,
On dark reserve what better can prevail, Or from the fluent tongue produce the tale, Than when two friends, alone, in peaceful place Confer, and wines and cates the table grace; But most, the kind inviter's cheerful face? Thus might we sit, with social goblets crown'd, Till the whole circle of the year goes round;
Not the whole circle of the year would close
My long narration of a life of woes.
But such was heaven's high will! know then, I came
From sacred Crete, and from a sire of fame :
Castor Hylacides (that name he bore),
Beloved and honour'd in his native shore; Bless'd in his riches, in his children more. Sprung of a handmaid, from a bought embrace,
I shared his kindness with his lawful race:
215 I met the monarch with a suppliant's face,
Approach his chariot, and his knees embrace.
He heard, he saved, he placed me at his side;
My state he pitied, and my tears he dried,
Restrain'd the rage the vengeful foe express'd
220 And turn'd the deadly weapons from my breast.
Pious! to guard the hospitable rite,
And fearing Jove, whom mercy's works delight.
In Ægypt thus with peace and plenty bless'd,
I lived (and happy still had lived) a guest.
225 On seven bright years successive blessings wait;
The next changed all the colour of my fate.
A false Phoenician, of insidious mind,
Versed in vile arts, and foe to human kind,
With semblance fair invites me to his home;
I seized the proffer (ever fond to roam):
Domestic in his faithless roof I staid,
Till the swift sun his annual circle made.
To Lybia then he meditates the way;
With guileful art a stranger to betray,
235 And sell to bondage in a foreign land:
But when that fate, which all must undergo,
From earth removed him to the shades below;
The large domain his greedy sons divide,
And each was portion'd as the lots decide.
Little, alas! was left my wretched share
Except a house, a covert from the air:
But what by niggard fortune was denied,
A willing widow's copious wealth supplied.
My valour was my plea, a gallant mind
That, true to honour, never lagg'd behind
(The sex is ever to a soldier kind).
Now wasting years my former strength confound,
And added woes have bow'd me to the ground;
Yet by the stubble you may guess the grain,
And mark the ruins of no vulgar man.
Me, Pallas gave to lead the martial storm,
And the fair rauks of battle to deform;
Me, Mars inspired to turn the foe to flight,
And tempt the secret ambush of the night.
Let ghastly Death in all his forms appear,
I saw him not, it was not mine to fear.
Before the rest I raised my ready steel;
The first I met, he yielded, or he fell.
But works of peace my soul disdain'd to bear,
The rural labour, or domestic care.
To raise the mast, the missile dart to wing,
And send swift arrows from the bounding string,
Were arts the gods made grateful to my mind;
Those gods, who turn (to various ends design'd)
The various thoughts and talents of mankind.
Before the Grecians touch'd the Trojan plain,
Nine times commander or by land or main,
In foreign fields I spread my glory far,
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Great in the praise, rich in the spoils of war:
And brass high heap'd amidst the regal dome
Thence charged with riches, as increased in fame, 270 Immense supplies for ages yet to come!
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