And in the public woe forget your own; You weep not for a perish'd lord alone.
What Greeks now wandering in the Stygian gloom, With your Ulysses shar'd an equal doom! Your widow'd hours, apart, with female toil And various labours of the loom beguile; There rule, from palace-cares remote and free; That care to man belongs, and most to me.
Mature beyond his years, the queen admires His sage reply, and with her train retires. Then swelling sorrows burst their former bounds, With echoing grief afresh the dome resounds; Till Pallas, piteous of her plaintive cries, In slumber clos'd her silver-streaming eyes. Meantime, rekindled at the royal charms, Tumultuous love each beating bosom warms; Intemperate rage a wordy war began; But bold Telemachus assum'd the man. Instant (he cried) your female discord end, Ye deedless boasters! and the song attend: Obey that sweet compulsion, nor profane With dissonance the smooth melodious strain. Pacific now prolong the jovial feast; But when the dawn reveals the rosy east, I, to the peers assembled, shall propose The firm resolve, I here in few disclose: No longer live the cankers of my court; All to your several states with speed resort; Waste in wild riot what your land allows, There ply the early feast, and late carouse. But if, to honour lost, 'tis still decreed
For you my bowl shall flow, my flock shall bleed; Judge and revenge my right, impartial Jove! By him and all th' immortal thrones above (A sacred oath), each proud oppressor slain, Shall with inglorious gore this marble stain.
Aw'd by the prince, thus haughty, bold, and young, Rage gnaw'd the lip, and wonder chain'd the tongue. Silence at length the gay Antinoüs broke, Constrain'd a smile, and thus ambiguous spoke: What god to your untutor❜d youth affords This headlong torrent of amazing words? May Jove delay thy reign, and cumber late So bright a genius with the toils of state! Those toils (Telemachus serene replies) Have charms, with all their weight, t'allure the wise. Fast by the throne obsequious fame resides, And wealth incessant rolls her golden tides. Nor let Antinous rage, if strong desire Of wealth and fame a youthful bosom fire: Elect by Jove his delegate of sway,
With joyous pride the summons I'd obey. Whene'er Ulysses roams the realm of night, Should factious power dispute my lineal right, Some other Greeks a fairer claim may plead; To your pretence their title would precede. At least, the sceptre lost, I still should reign Sole o'er my vassals, and domestic train.
To this Eurymachus: To Heaven alone Refer the choice to fill the vacant throne. Your patrimonial stores in peace possess ; Undoubted, all your filial claim confess : Your private right should impious power invade, The peers of Ithaca would arm in aid. But say, that stranger guest who late withdrew, What and from whence? his name and lineage shew. His grave demeanour and majestic grace
Speak him descended of no vulgar race: Did he some loan of ancient right require, Or came fore-runner of your scepter'd sire ? Oh son of Polybus! the prince replies, No more my sire will glad these longing eyes :
The queen's fond hope inventive rumour cheers, Or vain diviners' dreams divert her fears. That stranger guest the Taphian realm obeys, A realm defended with encircling seas. Mentes, an ever-honoured name, of old High in Ulysses' social list inroll'd.
Thus he, though conscious of th' ethereal guest, Answer'd evasive of the sly request. Meantime the lyre rejoins the sprightly lay; Love-dittied airs, and dance, conclude the day. But when the star of eve with golden light Adorn'd the matron brow of sable night; The mirthful train dispersing quit the court, And to their several domes to rest resort. A towering structure to the palace join'd; To this his steps the thoughtful prince inclin'd: In his pavilion there, to sleep repairs; The lighted torch, the sage Euryclea bears (Daughter of Ops, the just Pisenor's son, For twenty beeves by great Laërtes won ; In rosy prime with charms attractive grac'd, Honour'd by him, a gentle lord and chaste, With dear esteem: too wise, with jealous strife To taint the joys of sweet connubial life. Sole with Telemachus her service ends, A child she nurs'd him, and a man attends). Whilst to his couch himself the prince addrest, The duteous dame receiv'd the purple vest: The purple vest with decent care dispos'd, The silver ring she pull'd, the door reclos'd, The bolt, obedient to the silken cord, To the strong staple's inmost depth restor❜d, Secur'd the valves. There wrapt in silent shade, Pensive, the rules the goddess gave, he weigh'd; Stretch'd on the downy fleece, no rest he knows, And in his raptur'd soul the vision glows.
Telemachus, in the assembly of the lords of Ithac complains of the injustice done him by the suitor and insists upon their departure from his palace appealing to the princes, and exciting the peop to declare against them. The suitors endeavour t justify their stay, at least till he shall send th queen to the court of Icarius her father; which h refuses. There appears a prodigy of two eagles i the sky, which an augur expounds to the ruin o the suitors. Telemachus then demands a vessel t carry him to Pylos and Sparta, there to inquire o his father's fortunes. Pallas in the shape of Men tor (an ancient friend of Ulysses) helps him to a ship, assists him in preparing necessaries for the voyage, and embarks with him that night; which concludes the second day from the opening of the poem.
The scene continues in the palace of Ulysses, in Ithaca.
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