Distant his mournful story to declare,
Or prostrate at her knee address the prayer.
But fearful to offend, by wisdom sway'd,
At awful distance he accosts the maid:
"If from the skies a goddess, or if earth (Imperial virgin) boast thy glorious birth, To thee I bend! If in that bright disguise Thou visit earth, a daughter of the skies, Hail, Dian, hail! the huntress of the groves So shines majestic, and so stately moves, So breathes an air divine! But if thy race Be mortal, and this earth thy native pla Bless'd is the father from whose loins you sprung, Bless'd is the mother at whose breast you hung,
Bless'd are the brethren who thy blood divide, 185 To such a miracle of charms allied:
Joyful they see applauding princes gaze,
When stately in the dance you swim the harmonious
But bless'd o'er all, the youth with heavenly charms, Who clasps the bright perfection in his arms!
Never, I never view'd till this bless'd hour
Such finish'd grace! I gaze, and I adore !
Thus seems the palm, with stately honours crown'd
By Phœbus' altars; thus o'erlooks the ground;
The pride of Delos. (By the Delian coast,
I voyaged, leader of a warrior host,
But ah, how changed! from thence my sorrow
Oh fatal voyage, source of all my woes!)
Raptured I stood, and as this hour amazed,
With reverence at the lofty wonder gazed :
Raptured I stand! for earth ne'er knew to bear
A plant so stately, or a nymph so fair.
Awed from access, I lift my suppliant hands:
For Misery, oh queen, before thee stands!
Twice ten tempestuous nights I roll'd, resign'd 205
To roaring billows, and the warring wind;
Heaven bade the deep to spare! but Heaven, my foe,
Spares only to inflict some mightier wo!
Inured to cares, to death in all its forms;
Outcast I rove, familiar with the storms!
Once more I view the face of human kind:
Oh, let soft pity touch thy generous mind!
Unconscious of what air I breathe, I stand
Naked, defenceless on a foreign land.
Propitious to my wants, a vest supply
To guard the wretched from the inclement sky:
So may the gods, who heaven and earth control,
Crown the chaste wishes of thy virtuous soul,
On thy soft hours their choicest blessings shed;
Bless'd with a husband be thy bridal bed;
Bless'd be thy husband with a blooming race,
And lasting union crown your blissful days.
The gods, when they supremely bless, bestow
Firm union on their favourites below:
Then envy grieves, with inly pining hate:
The good exult, and heaven is in our state."
To whom the nymph: "Oh stranger, cease thy
Wise is thy soul, but man is born to bear:
Jove weighs the affairs of earth in dubious scales,
And the good suffers, while the bad prevails.
Bear, with a soul resign'd, the will of Jove;
Who breathes, must mourn: thy woes are from
But since thou tread'st our hospitable shore,
'Tis mine to bid the wretched grieve no more,
To clothe the naked, and thy way to guide-
Know, the Phæacian tribes this land divide;
From great Alcinous' royal loins I spring,
A happy nation, and a happy king."
Then to her maids: "Why, why, ye coward train, These fears, this flight? ye fear, and fly in vain. 240 Dread ye a foe? dismiss that idle dread,
"Tis death with hostile step these shores to tread:
Safe in the love of Heaven, an ocean flows
Around our realm, a barrier from the foes;
'Tis ours this son of sorrow to relieve,
Cheer the sad heart, nor let affliction grieve.
By Jove the stranger and the poor are sent;
And what to those we give, to Jove is lent.
Then food supply, and bathe his fainting limbs
Where waving shades obscure the mazy streams."
Obedient to the call, the chief they guide
To the calm current of the secret tide;
Close by the stream a royal dress they lay,
A vest and robe, with rich embroidery gay :
Then unguents in a golden vase supply,
That breathed a fragrance through the balmy sky.
To them the king: "No longer I detain
Your friendly care: retire, ye virgin train!
Retire, while from my wearied limbs I lave
The foul pollution of the briny wave.
Ye gods! since this worn frame refection knew,
What scenes have I survey'd of dreadful view!
But, nymphs, recede! sage chastity denies
To raise the blush, or pain the modest eyes."
The nymphs withdrawn, at once into the tide 265
Active he bounds; the flashing waves divide :
O'er all his limbs his hands the wave diffuse,
And from his locks compress the weedy ooze;
The balmy oil, a fragrant shower, he sheds;
Then, dress'd, in pomp magnificently treads.
The warrior goddess gives his frame to shine
With majesty enlarged, and air divine:
Back from his brows a length of hair unfurls,
His hyacinthine locks descend in wavy curls.
As by some artist to whom Vulcan gives
His skill divine, a breathing statue lives;
By Pallas taught, he frames the wondrous mould,
And o'er the silver pours the fusile gold.
So Pallas his heroic frame improves
With heavenly bloom, and like a god he moves. 280
A fragrance breathes around; majestic grace
Attends his steps: the astonish'd virgins gaze.
Soft he reclines along the murmuring seas,
Inhaling freshness from the fanning breeze.
The wondering nymph his glorious port survey'd,
And to her damsels, with amazement said:
"Not without care divine the stranger treads
This land of joy; his steps some godhead leads:
Would Jove destroy him, sure he had been driven
Far from this realm, the favourite isle of heaven.
Late a sad spectacle of wo, he trod
The desert sands, and now he looks a god.
Oh Heaven! in my connubial hour decree
This man my spouse, or such a spouse as he!
But haste, the viands and the bowl provide."
The maids the viands and the bowl supplied :
Eager he fed, for keen his hunger raged,
And with the generous vintage thirst assuaged.
Now on return her care Nausicaa bends, The robes resumes, the glittering car ascends, 300 Far blooming o'er the field; and as she press'd The splendid seat, the listening chief address'd : "Stranger, arise! the sun rolls down the day,
Lo, to the palace I direct thy way;
Where in high state the nobles of the land
Attend my royal sire, a radiant band.
But hear, though wisdom in thy soul presides,
Speaks from thy tongue, and every action guides,
Advance at distance, while I pass the plain
Where o'er the furrows waves the golden grain :
Alone I reascend. With airy mounds
A strength of wall the guarded city bounds:
The jutting land two ample bays divides;
Full through the narrow mouths descend the tides;
The spacious basins arching rocks enclose,
A sure defence from every storm that blows.
Close to the bay great Neptune's fane adjoins;
And near, a forum flank'd with marble shines,
Where the bold youth, the numerous fleets to store,
Shape the broad sail, or smooth the taper oar:
For not the bow they bend, nor boast the skill
To give the feather'd arrow wings to kill;
But the tall mast above the vessel rear,
Or teach the fluttering sail to float in air.
They rush into the deep with eager joy,
Climb the steep surge, and through the tempest fly :
A proud, unpolish'd race. To me belongs
The care to shun the blast of slanderous tongues;
Lest malice, prone the virtuous to defame,
Thus with vile censure taint my spotless name: 330
""What stranger this whom thus Nausicaa leads ?
Heavens, with what graceful majesty he treads !
Perhaps a native of some distant shore,
The future consort of her bridal hour;
Or rather some descendant of the skies;
Won by her prayer, the aerial bridegroom flies.
Heaven on that hour its choicest influence shed,
That gave a foreign spouse to crown her bed!
All, all the godlike worthies that adorn
This realm, she flies: Phæacia is her scorn."
"And just the blame; for female innocence Not only flies the guilt, but shuns the offence : The unguarded virgin, as unchaste, I blame; And the least freedom with the sex is shame, Till our consenting sires a spouse provide, And public nuptials justify the bride.
"But wouldst thou soon review thy native plain?
Attend, and speedy thou shalt pass the main:
Nigh where a grove with verdant poplars crown'd,
To Pallas sacred, shades the holy ground,
We bend our way; a bubbling fount distils
A lucid lake, and thence descends in rills;
Around the grove, a mead with lively green
Falls by degrees, and forms a beauteous scene;
Here a rich juice the royal vineyard pours;
And there the garden yields a waste of flowers.
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