Pallas with grace divine his form improves,
More high he treads, and more enlarged he moves;
She sheds celestial bloom, regard to draw,
And gives a dignity of mien, to awe;
With strength, the future prize of fame to play,
And gather all the honours of the day.
Then from his glittering throne Alcinous rose: 25 "Attend," he cried, " while we our will disclose. Your present aid this godlike stra stranger craves, Toss'd by rude tempests through a war of waves: Perhaps from realms that view the rising day, Or nations subject to the western ray. Then grant, what here all sons of wo obtain: (For here affliction never pleads in vain :) Be chosen youths prepared, expert to try The vast profound, and bid the vessel fly: Launch the tall bark, and order every oar; Then in our court indulge the genial hour. Instant, you sailors, to this task attend; Swift to the palace, all ye peers, ascend; Let none to strangers honours due disclaim : Be there Demodocus the bard of fame, Taught by the gods to please, when high he sings The vocal lay, responsive to the strings."
Thus spoke the prince : ce: the attending peers obey; In state they move; Alcinous leads the way: Swift to Demodocus the herald flies, At once the sailors to their charge arise : They launch the vessel, and unfurl the sails, And stretch the swelling canvass to the gales; Then to the palace move: a gathering throng, Youth, and white age, tumultuous pour along. Now all accesses to the dome are fill'd; Eight boars, the choicest of the herd, are kill'd; Two beeves, twelve fatlings, from the flock they
To crown the feast; so wills the bounteous king. The herald now arrives, and guides along
The sacred master of celestial song;
Dear to the muse! who gave his days to flow
With mighty blessings, mix'd with mighty wo;
With clouds of darkness quench'd his visual ray,
But gave him skill to raise the lofty lay.
High on a radiant throne sublime in state,
Encircled by huge multitudes, he sat :
With silver shone the throne: his lyre well strung
To rapturous sounds, at hand Pontonous hung:
Before his seat a polish'd table shines,
And a full goblet foams with generous wines :
His food a herald bore: and now they fed;
And now the rage of craving hunger fled.
Then, fired by all the muse, aloud he sings
The mighty deeds of demigods and kings:
From that fierce wrath the noble song arose
That made Ulysses and Achilles foes:
How o'er the feast they doom the fall of Troy;
The stern debate Atrides hears with joy:
For Heaven foretold the contest, when he trod
The marble threshold of the Delphic god,
Curious to learn the counsels of the sky,
Ere yet he loosed the rage of war on Troy.
Touch'd at the song, Ulysses straight resign'd
To soft affliction all his manly mind:
Before his eyes the purple vest he drew,
Industrious to conceal the falling dew:
But when the music paused, he ceased to shed
The flowing tear, and raised his drooping head;
And, lifting to the gods a goblet crown'd,
He pour'd a pure libation to the ground.
Transported with the song, the listening train
Again with loud applause demand the strain :
Again Ulysses veil'd his pensive head,
Again unmann'd, a shower of sorrow shed;
Conceal'd he wept: the king observed alone
The silent tear, and heard the secret groan;
Then to the bard aloud: "Oh cease to sing,
Dumb be thy voice, and mute the harmonious string:
Enough the feast has pleased, enough the power 95 Of heavenly song has crown'd the genial hour! Incessant in the games your strength display, Contest, ye brave, the honours of the day!
That pleased the admiring stranger may proclaim
In distant regions the Phæacian fame :
None wield the gauntlet with so dire a sway,
Or swifter in the race devour the way;
None in the leap spring with so strong a bound,
Or firmer, in the wrestling, press the ground."
Thus spoke the king; the attending peers obey; In state they move, Alcinous leads the way: His golden lyre Demodocus unstrung, High on a column in the palace hung, And, guided by a herald's guardian cares, Majestic to the lists of fame repairs.
Now swarms the populace: a countless throng, Youth and hoar age; and man drives man along. The games begin: ambitious of the prize, Acroneus, Thoon, and Eretmeus rise; The prize Ocyalus and Prymneus claim, Anchialus and Ponteus, chiefs of fame. There Proreus, Nautes, Eratreus, appear, And famed Amphialus, Polyneus' heir; Euryalus, like Mars, terrific rose, When clad in wrath he withers hosts of foes; Naubolides with grace unequall'd shone, Or equall'd by Laodamas alone.
With these came forth Ambasineus the strong;
And three brave sons, from great Alcinous sprung.
Ranged in a line the ready racers stand,
Start from the goal, and vanish o'er the strand :
Swift as on wings of winds, upborne they fly,
And drifts of rising dust involve the sky.
Before the rest, what space the hinds allow
Between the mule and ox, from plough to plough;
Clytonius sprung: he wing'd the rapid way,
And bore the unrivall'd honours of the day.
With fierce embrace the brawny wrestlers join;
The conquest, great Euryalus, is thine.
Amphialus sprung forward with a bound,
Superior in the leap, a length of ground.
From Elatreus' strong arm the discus flies,
And sings with unmatch'd force along the skies:
And Laodam whirls high, with dreadful sway,
The gloves of death, victorious in the fray.
While thus the peerage in the games contends, In act to speak, Laodamas ascends : "Oh friends," he cries, "the stranger seems well
To try the illustrious labours of the field:
I deem him brave: then grant the brave man's claim,
Invite the hero to his share of fame.
What nervous arms he boasts! how firm his tread! His limbs how turn'd! how broad his shoulders
By age unbroke!-but all-consuming care
Destroys perhaps the strength that time would spare:
Dire is the ocean, dread in all its forms!
Man must decay, when man contends with storms."
"Well hast thou spoke," Euryalus replies;
"Thine is the guest, invite thou him to rise."
Swift at the word advancing from the crowd
He made obeisance, and thus spoke aloud :
"Vouchsafes the reverend stranger to display
His manly worth, and share the glorious day?
Father, arise! for thee thy port proclaims
Expert to conquer in the solemn games.
To fame arise! for what more fame can yield
Than the swift race, or conflict of the field ?
Steal from corroding care one transient day,
To glory give the space thou hast to stay:
Short is the time, and lo! even now the gales
Call thee aboard, and stretch the swelling sails."
To whom with sighs Ulysses gave reply:
"Ah, why the ill-suiting pastime must I try?
To gloomy care my thoughts alone are free;
Ill the gay sports with troubled hearts agree :
Sad from my natal hour my days have ran,
A much-afflicted, much-enduring man!
Who suppliant to the king and peers, implores
A speedy voyage to his native shores."
" Wide wanders, Laodam, thy erring tongue, 175
The sports of glory to the brave belong,"
Retorts Euryalus: "he boasts no claim
Among the great, unlike the sons of fame.
A wandering merchant, he frequents the main;
Some mean sea-farer in pursuit of gain;
Studious of freight, in naval trade well skill'd,
But dreads the athletic labours of the field."
Incensed Ulysses with a frown replies :
"Oh forward to proclaim thy soul unwise !
With partial hands the gods their gifts dispense; 185
Some greatly think, some speak with manly sense :
Here Heaven an elegance of form denies,
But wisdom the defect of form supplies:
This man with energy of thought controls,
And steals with modest violence our souls;
He speaks reservedly, but he speaks with force,
Nor can one word be changed but for a worse;
In public more than mortal he appears,
And, as he moves, the gazing crowd reveres.
While others, beauteous as the ethereal kind,
The nobler portion want, a knowing mind.
In outward show Heaven gives thee to excel,
But Heaven denies the praise of thinking well.
Ill bear the brave a rude ungovern'd tongue,
And, youth, my generous soul resents the wrong:
Skill'd in heroic exercise, I claim
A post of honour with the sons of fame.
Such was my boast while vigour crown'd my days,
Now care surrounds me, and my force decays;
Inured a melancholy part to bear,
In scenes of death by tempest and by war.
To prove the hero-slander stings the brave."
Yet thus by woes impair'd, no more I wave
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