s: Then to the council-seat they bend their way,


s: And fill the shining thrones along the bay.


s: Meanwhile Minerva, in her guardian care,


s: Shoots from the starry vault through fields of air;


s: In form, a herald of the king, she flies


s: From peer to peer, and thus incessant cries;


s: "Nobles and chiefs who rule Phaeacia's states,


s: The king in council your attendance waits;


s: A prince of grace divine your aid implores,


s: O'er unknown seas arrived from unknown shores."


s: She spoke, and sudden with tumultuous sounds


s: Of thronging multitudes the shore rebounds:


s: At once the seats they fill; and every eye


s: Glazed, as before some brother of the sky.


s: Pallas with grace divine his form improves,


s: More high he treads, and more enlarged he moves:


s: She sheds celestial bloom, regard to draw;


s: With strength, the future prize of fame to play,


s: Then from his glittering throne Alcinous rose;


s: "Attend (he cried) while we our will disclose.


s: Your present aid this godlike stranger craves,


s: Toss'd by rude tempest through a war of waves;


s: Perhaps from realms that view the rising day,


s: Then grant, what here all sons of wine obtain


s: (For here affliction never pleads in vain);


s: The vast profound and hid the vessel fly;


s: Launch the tall back, and order every oar;


s: Then in our court indulge the genial hour.


s: Instant, you sailors to this task attend;


s: Swift to the palace, all ye peers ascend;


s: Let none to strangers honours due disclaim:


s: Taught by the gods to please, when high he sings


s: The vocal lay, responsive to the strings."


s: Thus spoke the prince; the attending peers obey;


s: In state they move; Alcinous heads the way


s: At once the sailors to their charge arise;


s: They launch the vessel, and unfurl the sails,


s: And stretch the swelling canvas to the gales;


s: Then to the palace move: a gathering throng,


s: Youth, and white age, tumultuous pour along.


s: Now all accesses to the dome are fill'd;


s: Eight boars, the choicest of the herd, are kill'd;


s: Two beeves, twelve fatlings, from the flock they bring


s: To crown the feast; so wills the bounteous king,


s: The herald now arrives, and guides along


s: Dear to the Muse!  who gave his days to flow


s: With mighty blessings, mix'd with mighty woe;


s: With clouds of darkness quench'd his visual ray,


s: But gave him skill to raise the lofty lay.


s: High on a radiant throne sublime in state,


s: With silver shone the throne; his lyre, well strung


s: To rapturous sounds, at hand Poutonous hung.


s: Before his seat a polish'd table shines,


s: And a full goblet foams with generous wines;


s: His food a herald bore; and now they fed;


s: And now the rage of craving hunger fled.


s: Then, fired by all the Muse, aloud he sings


s: From that fierce wrath the noble song arose,


s: How o'er the feast they doom the fall of Troy;


s: The stern debate Atrides hears with joy;


s: For Heaven foretold the contest, when he trod


s: The marble threshold of the Delphic god,


s: Curious to learn the counsels of the sky,


s: Ere yet he loosed the rage of war on Troy.


s: Touch'd at the song, Ulysses straight resign'd


s: Before his eyes the purple vest he drew,


s: But when the music paused, he ceased to shed


s: The flowing tear, and raised his drooping head;


s: And, lifting to the gods a goblet crown'd,


s: He pour'd a pure libation to the ground.


s: Transported with the song, the listening train


s: Again with loud applause demand the strain;


s: Again unmann'd, a shower of sorrows shed;


s: Conceal'd he wept; the king observed alone


s: The silent tear, and heard the secret groan;


s: Then to the bard aloud--"O cease to sing,


s: Enough the feast has pleased, enough the power


s: Of heavenly song has crown'd the genial hour!


s: Incessant in the games your strength display,


s: Contest, ye brave the honours of the day!


s: That pleased the admiring stranger may proclaim


s: None wield the gauntlet with so dire a sway,


s: None in the leap spring with so strong a bound,


s: Or firmer, in the wrestling, press the ground."


s: Thus spoke the king; the attending peers obey;


s: In state they move, Alcinous lends the way;


s: And guided by a herald's guardian cares,


s: Now swarms the populace: a countless throng,


s: Youth and boar age; and man drives man along.


s: The games begin; ambitious of the prize,


s: When clad in wrath he withers hosts of foes;


s: With these came forth Ambasineus the strong:


s: And three brave sons, from great Alcinous sprung.


s: Ranged in a line the ready racers stand,


s: Start from the goal, and vanish o'er the strand:


s: Swift as on wings of winds, upborne they fly,


s: And drifts of rising dust involve the sky.


s: Before the rest, what space the hinds allow


s: Between the mule and ox, from plough to plough,


s: Clytonius sprung: he wing'd the rapid way,


s: And bore the unrivall'd honours of the day.


s: With fierce embrace the brawny wrestlers join;


s: Superior in the leap, a length of ground.


s: From Elatreus' strong arm the discus flies,


s: And sings with unmatch'd force along the skies.


s: And Laodam whirls high, with dreadful sway,


s: The gloves of death, victorious in the fray.


s: While thus the peerage in the games contends,


s: "O friends (he cries), the stranger seems well skill'd


s: To try the illustrious labours of the field:


s: I deem him brave: then grant the brave man's claim,


s: What nervous arms he boasts! how firm his tread!


s: His limbs how turn'd! how broad his shoulders spread!


s: Destroys perhaps the strength that time would spare:


s: Dire is the ocean, dread in all its forms!


s: Man must decay when man contends with storms."


s: "Well hast thou spoke (Euryalus replies):


s: Thine is the guest, invite him thou to rise."


s: Swift as the word, advancing from the crowd,


s: He made obeisance, and thus spoke aloud:


s: "Vouchsafes the reverend stranger to display


s: His manly worth, and share the glorious day?


s: Father, arise! for thee thy port proclaims


s: To fame arise! for what more fame can yield


s: Than the swift race, or conflict of the field?


s: Steal from corroding care one transient day,


s: To glory give the space thou hast to stay;


s: Short is the time, and lo! e'en now the gales


s: Call thee aboard, and stretch the swelling sails."


s: "Ah why the ill-suiting pastime must I try?


s: To gloomy care my thoughts alone are free;


s: Ill the gay sorts with troubled hearts agree;


s: Sad from my natal hour my days have ran,


s: Who, suppliant to the king and peers, implores


s: "Wise wanders, Laodam, thy erring tongue


s: Among the great, unlike the sons of Fame.


s: A wandering merchant he frequents the main


s: Studious of freight, in naval trade well skill'd,


s: But dreads the athletic labours of the field."


s: With partial hands the gods their gifts dispense;


s: Some greatly think, some speak with manly sense;


s: This man with energy of thought controls,


s: And steals with modest violence our souls;


s: He speaks reservedly, but he speaks with force,


s: Nor can one word be changed but for a worse;


s: And as he moves, the praising crowd reveres;


s: While others, beauteous as the etherial kind,


s: The nobler portion went, a knowing mind,


s: In outward show Heaven gives thee to excel.


s: But Heaven denies the praise of thinking well


s: I'll bear the brave a rude ungovern'd tongue,


s: And, youth, my generous soul resents the wrong.


s: Such was my boast while vigour crown'd my days,


s: Now care surrounds me, and my force decays;


s: In scenes of death, by tempest and by war


s: Yet thus by woes impair'd, no more I waive


s: To prove the hero--slander stings the brave."


s: Then gliding forward with a furious bound


s: He wrench'd a rocky fragment from the ground


s: By far more ponderous, and more huge by far


s: Than what Phaeacia's sons discharged in air.


s: Fierce from his arm the enormous load he flings;


s: Sonorous through the shaded air it sings;


s: Couch'd to the earth, tempestuous as it flies,


s: The crowd gaze upward while it cleaves the skies.


s: Beyond all marks, with many a giddy round


s: Down-rushing, it up-turns a hill of ground.


s: That Instant Pallas, bursting from a cloud,


s: Fix'd a distinguish'd mark, and cried aloud:


s: "E'en he who, sightless, wants his visual ray


s: Thy signal throw transcends the utmost bound


s: Of every champion by a length of ground:


s: Arise to throw; the strongest throws in vain."


s: She spoke: and momentary mounts the sky:


s: The friendly voice Ulysses hears with joy.


s: Then thus aloud (elate with decent pride)


s: "Rise, ye Phaecians, try your force (he cried):


s: If with this throw the strongest caster vie,


s: Still, further still, I bid the discus fly.


s: Stand forth, ye champions, who the gauntlet wield,


s: Or ye, the swiftest racers of the field!


s: Stand forth, ye wrestlers, who these pastimes grace!


s: I wield the gauntlet, and I run the race.


s: A friend is sacred, and I style him friend.


s: Ungenerous were the man, and base of heart,


s: Who takes the kind, and pays the ungrateful part:


s: Chiefly the man, in foreign realms confined,


s: Base to his friend, to his own interest blind:


s: Give me a man that we our might may try.


s: To give the feather'd arrow wings to kill;


s: Should a whole host at once discharge the bow,


s: My well-aim'd shaft with death prevents the foe:


s: Great Philoctetes taught the shaft to fly.


s: From all the sons of earth unrivall'd praise


s: I justly claim; but yield to better days,


s: To those famed days when great Alcides rose,


s: (Vain Eurytus, whose art became his crime,


s: Swept from the earth, he perish'd in his prime:


s: In fighting fields as far the spear I throw


s: As flies an arrow from the well-drawn bow.


s: Stiff are my weary joints, and I resign;


s: By storms and hunger worn; age well may fail,


s: When storms and hunger doth at once assail."


s: Abash'd, the numbers hear the godlike man,


s: "Well hast thou spoke, and well thy generous tongue


s: With decent pride refutes a public wrong:


s: Warm are thy words, but warm without offence;


s: Fear only fools, secure in men of sense;


s: Thy worth is known. Then hear our country's claim,


s: In distant realms our glorious deeds display,


s: When, blest with ease, thy woes and wanderings end,


s: Teach them thy consort, bid thy sons attend;


s: How, loved of Jove, he crown'd our sires with praise,


s: How we their offspring dignify our race.


s: "Let other realms the deathful gauntlet wield,


s: Or boast the glories of the athletic field:


s: We in the course unrivall'd speed display,


s: Or through cerulean billows plough the way;


s: To dress, to dance, to sing, our sole delight,


s: The feast or bath by day, and love by night:


s: Rise, then, ye skill'd in measures; let him bear


s: Your fame to men that breathe a distant air;


s: And faithful say, to you the powers belong


s: To race, to sail, to dance, to chant the song.


s: "But, herald, to the palace swift repair,


s: And the soft lyre to grace our pastimes bear."


s: Swift at the word, obedient to the king,


s: The herald flies the tuneful lyre to bring.


s: With instant care they mark a spacious round


s: And level for the dance the allotted ground:


s: The herald bears the lyre: intent to play,


s: Skill'd in the dance, tall youths, a blooming band,


s: Graceful before the heavenly minstrel stand:


s: Light bounding from the earth, at once they rise,


s: Their feet half-viewless quiver in the skies:


s: The glancing splendours as their sandals play.


s: Meantime the bard, alternate to the strings,


s: How the stern god, enamour'd with her charms


s: Clasp'd the gay panting goddess in his arms,


s: By bribes seduced; and how the sun, whose eye


s: Views the broad heavens, disclosed the lawless joy.


s: Stung to the soul, indignant through the skies


s: To his black forge vindictive Vulcan flies:


s: Arrived, his sinewy arms incessant place


s: The wanton lovers, as entwined they lay,


s: To his immortal dome the finish'd snares:


s: Above, below, around, with art dispread,


s: The sure inclosure folds the genial bed:


s: Whose texture even the search of gods deceives,


s: Thin as the filmy threads the spider weaves,


s: Then, as withdrawing from the starry bowers,


s: He feigns a journey to the Lemnian shores,


s: His favourite isle: observant Mars descries


s: His wish'd recees, and to the goddess flies;


s: He glows, he burns, the fair-hair'd queen of love


s: Descends, smooth gliding from the courts of Jove,


s: Gay blooming in full charms: her hand he press'd


s: With eager joy, and with a sigh address'd:


s: "Come, my beloved! and taste the soft delights:


s: Thy absent spouse, neglectful of thy charms,


s: Prefers his barbarous Sintians to thy arms!"


s: Then, nothing loth, the enamour'd fair he led,


s: And sunk transported on the conscious bed.


s: Down rush'd the toils, inwrapping as they lay


s: The careless lovers in their wanton play:


s: In vain they strive; the entangling snares deny


s: Warn'd by the god who sheds the golden day,


s: Stern Vulcan homeward treads the starry way:


s: Arrived, he sees, he grieves, with rage he burns:


s: Full horribly he roars, his voice all heaven returns.


s: "O Jove (he cried) O all ye powers above,


s: See the lewd dalliance of the queen of love!


s: Me, awkward me, she scorns; and yields her charms


s: To that fair lecher, the strong god of arms.


s: By fate imposed; such me my parent bore.


s: Why was I born? See how the wanton lies!


s: Oh sight tormenting to a husband's eyes!


s: But yet, I trust, this once e'en Mars would fly


s: His fair-one's arms--he thinks her, once, too nigh.


s: But there remain, ye guilty, in my power,


s: Till Jove refunds his shameless daughter's dower.


s: Too dear I prized a fair enchanting face:


s: Meanwhile the gods the dome of Vulcan throng;


s: With these gay Hermes trod the starry plain;


s: All heaven beholds, imprison'd as they lie,


s: And unextinguish'd laughter shakes the sky.


s: Then mutual, thus they spoke: "Behold on wrong


s: Swift vengeance waits; and art subdues the strong!


s: Dwells there a god on all the Olympian brow


s: More swift than Mars, and more than Vulcan slow?


s: Yet Vulcan conquers, and the god of arms


s: Must pay the penalty for lawless charms."


s: Thus serious they; but he who gilds the skies,


s: "Wouldst thou enchain'd like Mars, O Hermes, lie


s: And bear the shame like Mars to share the joy?"


s: "O envied shame! (the smiling youth rejoin'd;)


s: And thrice the chains, and thrice more firmly bind;


s: Gaze all ye gods, and every goddess gaze,


s: Yet eager would I bless the sweet disgrace."


s: Loud laugh the rest, e'en Neptune laughs aloud,


s: "And free, (he cries) O Vulcan! free from shame


s: Thy captives; I ensure the penal claim."


s: "Will Neptune (Vulcan then) the faithless trust?


s: He suffers who gives surety for the unjust:


s: But say, if that lewd scandal of the sky,


s: Say, wilt thou bear the mulct?" He instant cries,


s: "The mulct I bear, if Mars perfidious flies."


s: To whom appeased: "No more I urge delay;


s: Then to the snares his force the god applies;


s: They burst; and Mars to Thrace indignant flies:


s: To the soft Cyprian shores the goddess moves,


s: To visit Paphos and her blooming groves,


s: Where to the Power an hundred altars rise,


s: And breathing odours scent the balmy skies;


s: Concealed she bathes in consecrated bowers,


s: The Graces unguents shed, ambrosial showers,


s: Unguents that charm the gods! she last assumes


s: Her wondrous robes; and full the goddess blooms.


s: Thus sung the bard: Ulysses hears with joy,


s: And loud applauses read the vaulted sky.


s: Then to the sports his sons the king commands,


s: Each blooming youth before the monarch stands,


s: In dance unmatch'd! A wondrous ball is brought


s: (The work of Polypus, divinely wrought);


s: This youth with strength enormous bids it fly,


s: And bending backward whirls it to the sky;


s: His brother, springing with an active bound,


s: At distance intercepts it from the ground.


s: The ball dismissed, in dance they skim the strand,


s: Turn and return, and scarce imprint the sand.


s: The assembly gazes with astonished eyes,


s: And sends in shouts applauses to the skies.


s: Then thus Ulysses: "Happy king, whose name


s: The brightest shines in all the rolls of fame!


s: Thy praise was just; their skill transcends thy praise."


s: Pleas'd with his people's fame, the monarch hears,


s: "Since wisdom's sacred guidance he pursues,


s: Give to the stranger-guest a stranger's dues:


s: Twelve princes in our realm dominion share,


s: O'er whom supreme, imperial power I bear;


s: Bring gold, a pledge of love: a talent bring,


s: Be swift to give: that he this night may share


s: The social feast of joy, with joy sincere.


s: A generous heart repairs a slanderous tongue."


s: The assenting peers, obedient to the king,


s: In haste their heralds send the gifts to bring.


s: Then thus Euryalus: "O prince, whose sway


s: Rules this bless'd realm, repentant I obey;


s: Be his this sword, whose blade of brass displays


s: A ruddy gleam; whose hilt a silver blaze;


s: Whose ivory sheath, inwrought with curious pride,


s: Adds graceful terror to the wearer's side."


s: He said, and to his hand the sword consign'd:


s: "And if (he cried) my words affect thy mind,


s: Far from thy mind those words, ye whirlwinds, bear,


s: And scatter them, ye storms, in empty air!


s: Crown, O ye heavens, with joy his peaceful hours,


s: And grant him to his spouse, and native shores."


s: "And blest be thou, my friend, (Ulysses cries,)


s: Crown him with every joy, ye favouring skies


s: To thy calm hours continued peace afford,


s: And never, never mayst thou want this sword,"


s: He said, and o'er his shoulder flung the blade.


s: Now o'er the earth ascends the evening shade:


s: The precious gifts the illustrious heralds bear,


s: And to the court the embodied peers repair.


s: The vests, the robes, and heaps of shining gold;


s: Then to the radiant thrones they move in state:


s: Thence to the queen: "O partner of our reign,


s: O sole beloved! command thy menial train


s: A polish'd chest and stately robes to bear,


s: And healing waters for the bath prepare;


s: That, bathed, our guest may bid his sorrows cease,


s: Hear the sweet song, and taste the feast in peace.


s: A bowl that flames with gold, of wondrous frame,


s: And every god that treads the courts above."


s: Instant the queen, observant of the king,


s: Commands her train a spacious vase to bring,


s: The spacious vase with ample streams suffice,


s: Heap the high wood, and bid the flames arise.


s: The flames climb round it with a fierce embrace,


s: The fuming waters bubble o'er the blaze.


s: Herself the chest prepares; in order roll'd


s: The robes, the vests are ranged, and heaps of gold


s: And adding a rich dress inwrought with art,


s: A gift expressive of her bounteous heart.


s: Thus spoke to Ithacus: "To guard with bands


s: Insolvable these gifts, thy care demands;


s: Lest, in thy slumbers on the watery main,


s: The hand of rapine make our bounty vain."


s: Then bending with full force around he roll'd


s: Closed with Circaean art. A train attends


s: Around the bath: the bath the king ascends


s: (Untasted joy, since that disastrous hour,


s: He sail'd ill-fated from Calypso's bower);


s: Where, happy as the gods that range the sky,


s: He bathes; the damsels with officious toil,


s: Shed sweets, shed unguents, in a shower of oil;


s: Then o'er his limbs a gorgeous robe he spreads,


s: Full where the dome its shining valves expands,


s: With wondering eyes the hero she survey'd,


s: "Hail, godlike stranger! and when heaven restores


s: To thy fond wish thy long-expected shores,


s: To me thou owest, to me, the vital air."


s: "O royal maid! (Ulysses straight returns)


s: Whose worth the splendours of thy race adorns,


s: So may dread Jove (whose arm in vengeance forms


s: The writhen bolt, and blackens heaven with storms),


s: Restore me safe, through weary wanderings toss'd,


s: To my dear country's ever-pleasing coast,


s: As while the spirit in this bosom glows,


s: My life, thy gift I boast!" He said, and sate


s: Now each partakes the feast, the wine prepares,


s: Portions the food, and each his portion shares.


s: The bard a herald guides; the gazing throng


s: Beneath a sculptur'd arch he sits enthroned,


s: The peers encircling form an awful round.


s: Then, from the chine, Ulysses carves with art


s: "This, let the master of the lyre receive,


s: A pledge of love! 'tis all a wretch can give.


s: Lives there a man beneath the spacious skies


s: The Muse the bard inspires, exalts his mind;


s: The muse indulgent loves the harmonious kind."


s: The herald to his hand the charge conveys,


s: Not fond of flattery, nor unpleased with praise.


s: When now the rage of hunger was allay'd,


s: "O more than man! thy soul the muse inspires,


s: For who, by Phoebus uninform'd, could know


s: The woe of Greece, and sing so well the woe?


s: Just to the tale, as present at the fray,


s: Or taught the labours of the dreadful day:


s: The song recalls past horrors to my eyes,


s: And bids proud Ilion from her ashes rise.


s: Once more harmonious strike the sounding string,


s: The Epaean fabric, framed by Pallas, sing:


s: With latent heroes sack'd imperial Troy.


s: If faithful thou record the tale of Fame,


s: The god himself inspires thy breast with flame


s: And mine shall be the task henceforth to raise


s: Full of the god he raised his lofty strain:


s: How the Greeks rush'd tumultuous to the main;


s: How blazing tents illumined half the skies,


s: While from the shores the winged navy flies;


s: How e'en in Ilion's walls, in deathful bands,


s: Came the stern Greeks by Troy's assisting hands:


s: All Troy up-heaved the steed; of differing mind,


s: Various the Trojans counsell'd: part consign'd


s: The monster to the sword, part sentence gave


s: To plunge it headlong in the whelming wave;


s: The unwise award to lodge it in the towers,


s: An offering sacred to the immortal powers:


s: The unwise prevail, they lodge it in the walls,


s: And by the gods' decree proud Ilion falls:


s: Destruction enters in the treacherous wood,


s: And vengeful slaughter, fierce for human blood.


s: He sung the Greeks stern-issuing from the steed,


s: How Ilion burns, how all her fathers bleed;


s: (Horrid as Mars); and how with dire alarms


s: He fights--subdues, for Pallas strings his arms


s: Thus while he sung, Ulysses' griefs renew,


s: Tears bathe his cheeks, and tears the ground bedew


s: As some fond matron views in mortal fight


s: Her husband falling in his country's right;


s: Frantic through clashing swords she runs, she flies,


s: As ghastly pale he groans, and faints and dies;


s: Close to his breast she grovels on the ground,


s: And bathes with floods of tears the gaping wound;


s: She cries, she shrieks: the fierce insulting foe


s: To chains condemn'd, as wildly she deplores;


s: Fast fell the tears, and sighs succeeded sighs:


s: Conceal'd he grieved: the king observed alone


s: The silent tear, and heard the secret groan;


s: Then to the bard aloud: "O cease to sing,


s: To every note his tears responsive flow,


s: And his great heart heaves with tumultuous woe;


s: Thy lay too deeply moves: then cease the lay,


s: And o'er the banquet every heart be gay:


s: This social right demands: for him the sails,


s: Floating in air, invite the impelling gales:


s: His are the gifts of love: the wise and good


s: Receive the stranger as a brother's blood.


s: "But, friend, discover faithful what I crave;


s: Artful concealment ill becomes the brave:


s: Say what thy birth, and what the name you bore,


s: (For from the natal hour distinctive names,


s: One common right, the great and lowly claims:)


s: Say from what city, from what regions toss'd,


s: And what inhabitants those regions boast?


s: So shalt thou instant reach the realm assign'd,


s: In wondrous ships, self-moved, instinct with mind;


s: No helm secures their course, no pilot guides;


s: Like man intelligent, they plough the tides,


s: Conscious of every coast, and every bay,


s: That lies beneath the sun's all-seeing ray;


s: Though clouds and darkness veil the encumber'd sky,


s: Fearless through darkness and through clouds they fly;


s: Though tempests rage, though rolls the swelling main,


s: The seas may roll, the tempests rage in vain;


s: E'en the stern god that o'er the waves presides,


s: Safe as they pass, and safe repass the tides,


s: With fury burns; while careless they convey


s: These ears have heard my royal sire disclose


s: How Neptune raged, and how, by his command,


s: Firm rooted in a surge a ship should stand


s: Should bury these proud towers beneath the ground.


s: But this the gods may frustrate or fulfil,


s: As suits the purpose of the Eternal Will.


s: But say through what waste regions hast thou stray'd


s: What customs noted, and what coasts survey'd;


s: Possess'd by wild barbarians fierce in arms,


s: Say why the fate of Troy awaked thy cares,


s: Why heaved thy bosom, and why flowed thy tears?


s: Just are the ways of Heaven: from Heaven proceed


s: The woes of man; Heaven doom'd the Greeks to bleed,


s: A theme of future song! Say, then, if slain


s: Some dear-loved brother press'd the Phrygian plain?


s: Or bled some friend, who bore a brother's part,


s: And claim'd by merit, not by blood, the heart?"


s: Ulysses begins the relation of his adventures: how, after the


s: destruction of Troy, he with his companions made an incursion on


s: particularly characterised. The giant Polyphemus and his cave


s: described; the usage Ulysses and his companions met with there;


s: and, lastly, the method and artifice by which he escaped.


s: Then thus Ulysses: "Thou whom first in sway,


s: As first in virtue, these thy realms obey;


s: How sweet the products of a peaceful reign!


s: The heaven-taught poet and enchanting strain;


s: The well-filled palace, the perpetual feast,


s: The plenteous hoard high-heap'd with cates divine,


s: And o'er the foaming bowl the laughing wine!


s: "Amid these joys, why seels thy mind to know


s: Rememberance sad, whose image to review,


s: And oh, what first, what last shall I relate,


s: Of woes unnumbered sent by Heaven and Fate?


s: "Know first the man (though now a wretch distress'd)


s: Who hopes thee, monarch, for his future guest.


s: Earth sounds my wisdom and high heaven my fame.


s: Where high Neritus waves his woods in air;


s: With shady mountains spread their isles around.


s: (These to the north and night's dark regions run,


s: Low lies our isle, yet bless'd in fruitful stores;


s: Strong are her sons, though rocky are her shores;


s: And none, ah none no lovely to my sight,


s: Of all the lands that heaven o'erspreads with light.


s: In vain Calypso long constrained my stay,


s: With all her charms as vainly Circe strove,


s: In pomps or joys, the palace or the grot,


s: And distant lay contentment and delight.


s: "Hear, then, the woes which mighty Jove ordain'd


s: To wait my passage from the Trojan land.


s: The winds from Ilion to the Cicons' shore,


s: And sack'd the city, and destroy'd the race,


s: Their wives made captive, their possessions shared,


s: Who stay'd to revel, and prolong the feast:


s: The fatted sheep and sable bulls they slay,


s: And bowls flow round, and riot wastes the day.


s: Meantime the Cicons, to their holds retired,


s: Call on the Cicons, with new fury fired;


s: With early morn the gather'd country swarms,


s: And all the continent is bright with arms;


s: Thick as the budding leaves or rising flowers


s: O'erspread the land, when spring descends in showers:


s: All expert soldiers, skill'd on foot to dare,


s: Or from the bounding courser urge the war.


s: Now fortune changes (so the Fates ordain);


s: Our hour was come to taste our share of pain.


s: Close at the ships the bloody fight began,


s: Wounded they wound, and man expires on man.


s: Long as the morning sun increasing bright


s: O'er heaven's pure azure spreads the glowing light,


s: Promiscuous death the form of war confounds,


s: Each adverse battle gored with equal wounds;


s: But when his evening wheels o'erhung the main,


s: Then conquest crown'd the fierce Ciconian train.


s: Six brave companions from each ship we lost,


s: The rest escape in haste, and quit the coast,


s: With sails outspread we fly the unequal strife,


s: Sad for their loss, but joyful of our life.


s: Yet as we fled, our fellows' rites we paid,


s: And thrice we call'd on each unhappy shade,


s: "Meanwhile the god, whose hand the thunder forms,


s: Drives clouds on clouds, and blackens heaven with storms:


s: Wide o'er the waste the rage of Boreas sweeps,


s: And night rush'd headlong on the shaded deeps.


s: Now here, now there, the giddy ships are borne,


s: And all the rattling shrouds in fragments torn.


s: We furl'd the sail, we plied the labouring oar,


s: Took down our masts, and row'd our ships to shore.


s: Two tedious days and two long nights we lay,


s: O'erwatch'd and batter'd in the naked bay.


s: But the third morning when Aurora brings,


s: We rear the masts, we spread the canvas wings;


s: Refresh'd and careless on the deck reclined,


s: We sit, and trust the pilot and the wind.


s: But, the cape doubled, adverse winds prevail'd.


s: Strong was the tide, which by the northern blast


s: Nine days our fleet the uncertain tempest bore


s: Far in wide ocean, and from sight of shore:


s: The tenth we touch'd, by various errors toss'd,


s: The land of Lotus and the flowery coast.


s: We climb'd the beach, and springs of water found,


s: Then spread our hasty banquet on the ground.


s: Three men were sent, deputed from the crew


s: (A herald one) the dubious coast to view,


s: And learn what habitants possess'd the place.


s: Not prone to ill, nor strange to foreign guest,


s: They eat, they drink, and nature gives the feast


s: The trees around them all their food produce:


s: Lotus the name: divine, nectareous juice!


s: (Thence call'd Lo'ophagi); which whose tastes,


s: But quits his house, his country, and his friends.


s: The three we sent, from off the enchanting ground


s: We dragg'd reluctant, and by force we bound.


s: The rest in haste forsook the pleasing shore,


s: Or, the charm tasted, had return'd no more.


s: Now placed in order on their banks, they sweep


s: The sea's smooth face, and cleave the hoary deep:


s: With heavy hearts we labour through the tide,


s: To coasts unknown, and oceans yet untried.


s: "The land of Cyclops first, a savage kind,


s: Nor tamed by manners, nor by laws confined:


s: Untaught to plant, to turn the glebe, and sow,


s: They all their products to free nature owe:


s: The soil, untill'd, a ready harvest yields,


s: With wheat and barley wave the golden fields;


s: Spontaneous wines from weighty clusters pour,


s: And Jove descends in each prolific shower,


s: By these no statues and no rights are known,


s: No council held, no monarch fills the throne;


s: But high on hills, or airy cliffs, they dwell,


s: Or deep in caves whose entrance leads to hell.


s: Each rules his race, his neighbour not his care,


s: "Opposed to the Cyclopean coast, there lay


s: An isle, whose hill their subject fields survey;


s: Its name Lachaea, crown'd with many a grove,


s: Where savage goats through pathless thickets rove:


s: No needy mortals here, with hunger bold,


s: Or wretched hunters through the wintry cold


s: Pursue their flight; but leave them safe to bound


s: From hill to hill, o'er all the desert ground.


s: Nor knows the soil to feed the fleecy care,


s: Or feels the labours of the crooked share;


s: It lies, and breeds the bleating goat alone.


s: For there no vessel with vermilion prore,


s: Or bark of traffic, glides from shore to shore;


s: The seas to traverse, or the ships to build,


s: Gaze on the coast, nor cultivate the soil,


s: Unlearn'd in all the industrious art of toil,


s: Yet here all produces and all plants abound,


s: Sprung from the fruitful genius of the ground;


s: Fields waving high with heavy crops are seen,


s: And vines that flourish in eternal green,


s: Refreshing meads along the murmuring main,


s: And fountains streaming down the fruitful plain.


s: "A port there is, inclosed on either side,


s: Where ships may rest, unanchor'd and untied;


s: And the sea whitens with the rising gale,


s: High at the head, from out the cavern'd rock,


s: In living rills a gushing fountain broke:


s: Hither some favouring god, beyond our thought,


s: Through all surrounding shade our navy brought;


s: Nor glimmer'd Phoebe in the ethereal plain:


s: And all unseen the surge and rolling sea,


s: Till safe we anchor'd in the shelter'd bay:


s: Our sails we gather'd, cast our cables o'er,


s: Reveal'd the landscape and the scene unknown,


s: With wonder seized, we view the pleasing ground,


s: And walk delighted, and expatiate round.


s: Roused by the woodland nymphs at early dawn,


s: The mountain goats came bounding o'er the lawn:


s: In haste our fellows to the ships repair,


s: Straight in three squadrons all our crew we part,


s: And bend the bow, or wing the missile dart;


s: The bounteous gods afford a copious prey,


s: And nine fat goats each vessel bears away:


s: The royal bark had ten. Our ships complete


s: We thus supplied (for twelve were all the fleet).


s: "Here, till the setting sun roll'd down the light,


s: Nor wines were wanting; those from ample jars


s: We drain'd, the prize of our Ciconian wars.


s: The land of Cyclops lay in prospect near:


s: The voice of goats and bleating flocks we hear,


s: And from their mountains rising smokes appear.


s: Now sunk the sun, and darkness cover'd o'er


s: The face of things: along the sea-beat shore


s: Satiate we slept: but, when the sacred dawn


s: I call'd my fellows, and these words address'd


s: 'My dear associates, here indulge your rest;


s: While, with my single ship, adventurous, I


s: Go forth, the manners of you men to try;


s: Whether a race unjust, of barbarous might,


s: Rude and unconscious of a stranger's right;


s: Or such who harbour pity in their breast,


s: Revere the gods, and succour the distress'd,'


s: "This said, I climb'd my vessel's lofty side;


s: My train obey'd me, and the ship untied.


s: In order seated on their banks, they sweep


s: Neptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep.


s: When to the nearest verge of land we drew,


s: High, and with darkening laurels covered o'er;


s: Were sheep and goats lay slumbering round the shore


s: Near this, a fence of marble from the rock,


s: Brown with o'eraching pine and spreading oak.


s: A giant shepherd here his flock maintains


s: In shelter thick of horrid shade reclined;


s: And gloomy mischiefs labour in his mind.


s: As some lone mountain's monstrous growth he stood,


s: Crown'd with rough thickets, and a nodding wood.


s: And close to guard it, gave our crew command:


s: With only twelve, the boldest and the best,


s: I seek the adventure, and forsake the rest.


s: Then took a goatskin fill'd with precious wine,


s: (The priest of Phoebus at the Ismarian shrine).


s: In sacred shade his honour'd mansion stood


s: Him, and his house, Heaven moved my mind to save,


s: Seven golden talents to perfection wrought,


s: A silver bowl that held a copious draught,


s: And twelve large vessels of unmingled wine,


s: Which now, some ages from his race conceal'd,


s: Such was the wine: to quench whose fervent steam


s: Scarce twenty measures from the living stream


s: To cool one cup sufficed: the goblet crown'd


s: And brought another with provisions stored.


s: My soul foreboded I should find the bower


s: Of some fell monster, fierce with barbarous power;


s: Some rustic wretch, who lived in Heaven's despite,


s: Contemning laws, and trampling on the right.


s: The cave we found, but vacant all within


s: (His flock the giant tended on the green):


s: But round the grot we gaze; and all we view,


s: The bending shelves with loads of cheeses press'd,


s: The folded flocks each separate from the rest


s: (The larger here, and there the lesser lambs,


s: The new-fallen young here bleating for their dams:


s: The kid distinguish'd from the lambkin lies);


s: The cavern echoes with responsive cries.


s: Capacious chargers all around were laid.


s: Full pails, and vessels of the milking trade.


s: With fresh provisions hence our fleet to store


s: My friends advise me, and to quit the shore.


s: Or drive a flock of sheep and goats away,


s: Their wholesome counsel rashly I declined,


s: Curious to view the man of monstrous kind,


s: And try what social rites a savage lends:


s: Dire rites, alas! and fatal to my friends


s: "Then first a fire we kindle, and prepare


s: For his return with sacrifice and prayer;


s: The loaden shelves afford us full repast;


s: And cast the ponderous burden at the door.


s: It thunder'd as it fell. We trembled then,


s: And sought the deep recesses of the den.


s: New driven before him through the arching rock,


s: Came tumbling, heaps on heaps, the unnumber'd flock.


s: Big-udder'd ewes, and goats of female kind


s: (The males were penn'd in outward courts behind);


s: Then, heaved on high, a rock's enormous weight


s: To the cave's mouth he roll'd, and closed the gate


s: (Scarce twenty four-wheel'd cars, compact and strong,


s: The massy load could bear, or roll along).


s: He next betakes him to his evening cares,


s: And, sitting down, to milk his flocks prepares;


s: Of half their udders eases first the dams,


s: Then to the mother's teat submits the lambs;


s: Half the white stream to hardening cheese be press'd,


s: And high in wicker-baskets heap'd: the rest,


s: Reserved in bowls, supplied his nightly feast.


s: His labour done, he fired the pile, that gave


s: A sudden blaze, and lighted all the cave.


s: We stand discover'd by the rising fires;


s: Askance the giant glares, and thus inquires:


s: "'What are ye, guests? on what adventure, say,


s: Thus far ye wander through the watery way?


s: Pirates perhaps, who seek through seas unknown


s: The lives of others, and expose your own?'


s: "His voice like thunder through the cavern sounds;


s: My bold companions thrilling fear confounds,


s: Appall'd at sight of more than mortal man!


s: At length, with heart recover'd, I began:


s: "'From Troy's famed fields, sad wanderers o'er the main,


s: Through various seas, by various perils toss'd,


s: And forced by storms, unwilling on your coast;


s: Far from our destined course and native land,


s: Such was our fate, and such high Jove's command!


s: Atrides' friends (in arms a mighty name),


s: Who taught proud Troy and all her sons to bow;


s: Victors of late, but humble suppliants now!


s: Respect us, human, and relieve us, poor.


s: 'Tis what the gods require: those gods revere;


s: The poor and stranger are their constant care;


s: To Jove their cause, and their revenge belongs,


s: He wanders with them, and he feels their wrongs."


s: "'Fools that ye are (the savage thus replies,


s: Or strangers, distant far from our abodes,


s: Those air-bred people, and their goat-nursed Jove;


s: And learn, our power proceeds with thee and thine,


s: Not as he wills, but as ourselves incline.


s: But answer, the good ship that brought ye o'er,


s: Where lies she anchor'd? near or off the shore?'


s: (Versed in the turns of various human-kind):


s: And, cautious thus: 'Against a dreadful rock,


s: Fast by your shore the gallant vessel broke.


s: Scarce with these few I 'scaped; of all my train,


s: Whom angry Neptune, whelm'd beneath the main,


s: The scattered wreck the winds blew back again.'


s: "He answer'd with his deed: his bloody hand


s: Snatch'd two, unhappy! of my martial band;


s: And dash'd like dogs against the stony floor:


s: The pavement swims with brains and mingled gore.


s: Torn limb from limb, he spreads his horrid feast,


s: And fierce devours it like a mountain beast:


s: He sucks the marrow, and the blood he drains,


s: Nor entrails, flesh, nor solid bone remains.


s: We see the death from which we cannot move,


s: And humbled groan beneath the hand of Jove.


s: His ample maw with human carnage fill'd,


s: Then stretch'd in length o'er half the cavern'd rock,


s: Lay senseless, and supine, amidst the flock.


s: To seize the time, and with a sudden wound


s: To fix the slumbering monster to the ground,


s: To draw the sword; but wisdom held my hand.


s: A deed so rash had finished all our fate,


s: Could roll the rock. In hopeless grief we lay,


s: And shed her sacred light along the skies;


s: He wakes, he lights the fire, he milks the dams,


s: And to the mother's teats submits the lambs.


s: The task thus finish'd of his morning hours,


s: Two more he snatches, murders, and devours.


s: Then pleased, and whistling, drives his flock before,


s: Removes the rocky mountain from the door,


s: And shuts again: with equal ease disposed,


s: As a light quiver's lid is oped and closed.


s: His giant voice the echoing region fills:


s: His flocks, obedient, spread o'er all the hills.


s: "Thus left behind, even in the last despair


s: I thought, devised, and Pallas heard my prayer.


s: Revenge, and doubt, and caution, work'd my breast;


s: But this of many counsels seem'd the best:


s: The monster's club within the cave I spied,


s: A tree of stateliest growth, and yet undried,


s: Green from the wood: of height and bulk so vast,


s: The largest ship might claim it for a mast.


s: This shorten'd of its top, I gave my train


s: A fathom's length, to shape it and to plane;


s: The narrower end I sharpen'd to a spire,


s: Whose point we harden'd with the force of fire,


s: And hid it in the dust that strew'd the cave,


s: Then to my few companions, bold and brave,


s: Proposed, who first the venturous deed should try,


s: To plunge the brand and twirl the pointed wood,


s: When slumber next should tame the man of blood.


s: Just as I wished, the lots were cast on four:


s: Myself the fifth. We stand and wait the hour.


s: He comes with evening: all his fleecy flock


s: Before him march, and pour into the rock:


s: Not one, or male or female, stayed behind


s: (So fortune chanced, or so some god designed);


s: Then heaving high the stone's unwieldy weight,


s: He roll'd it on the cave and closed the gate.


s: First down he sits, to milk the woolly dams,


s: And then permits their udder to the lambs.


s: Next seized two wretches more, and headlong cast,


s: Brain'd on the rock; his second dire repast.


s: I then approach'd him reeking with their gore,


s: And held the brimming goblet foaming o'er;


s: 'Cyclop! since human flesh has been thy feast,


s: Now drain this goblet, potent to digest;


s: Know hence what treasures in our ship we lost,


s: And what rich liquors other climates boast.


s: We to thy shore the precious freight shall bear,


s: If home thou send us and vouchsafe to spare.


s: But oh! thus furious, thirsting thus for gore,


s: The sons of men shall ne'er approach thy shore,


s: And never shalt thou taste this nectar more,'


s: "He heard, he took, and pouring down his throat,


s: Delighted, swill'd the large luxurious draught,


s: 'More! give me more (he cried): the boon be thine,


s: Whoe'er thou art that bear'st celestial wine!


s: Declare thy name: not mortal is this juice,


s: Such as the unbless'd Cyclopaean climes produce


s: (Though sure our vine the largest cluster yields,


s: And Jove's scorn'd thunder serves to drench our fields);


s: But this descended from the bless'd abodes,


s: A rill of nectar, streaming from the gods.'


s: "He said, and greedy grasped the heady bowl,


s: Thrice drained, and poured the deluge on his soul.


s: His sense lay covered with the dozy fume;


s: While thus my fraudful speech I reassume.


s: 'Thy promised boon, O Cyclop! now I claim,


s: By that distinguish'd from my tender years,


s: 'Tis what my parents call me, and my peers.


s: "The giant then: 'Our promis'd grace receive,


s: When all thy wretched crew have felt my power,


s: "He said: then nodding with the fumes of wine


s: Droop'd his huge head, and snoring lay supine.


s: His neck obliquely o'er his shoulders hung,


s: Press'd with the weight of sleep that tames the strong:


s: There belch'd the mingled streams of wine and blood,


s: With animating breath the seeds of fire:


s: Each drooping spirit with bold words repair,


s: And urged my train the dreadful deed to dare.


s: The stake now glow'd beneath the burning bed


s: (Green as it was) and sparkled fiery red,


s: Then forth the vengeful instrument I bring;


s: With beating hearts my fellows form a ring.


s: Urged my some present god, they swift let fall


s: Guide the sharp stake, and twirl it round and round.


s: As when a shipwright stands his workmen o'er,


s: Who ply the wimble, some huge beam to bore;


s: Urged on all hands, it nimbly spins about,


s: The grain deep-piercing till it scoops it out:


s: In his broad eye he whirls the fiery wood;


s: From the pierced pupil spouts the boiling blood;


s: Singed are his brows; the scorching lids grow black;


s: The jelly bubbles, and the fibres crack.


s: And as when armourers temper in the ford


s: The keen-edged pole-axe, or the shining sword,


s: Thus in his eye-ball hiss'd the plunging stake.


s: He sends a dreadful groan, the rocks around


s: Through all their inmost winding caves resound.


s: Scared we recoiled.  Forth with frantic hand,


s: He tore and dash'd on earth and gory brand;


s: Then calls the Cyclops, all that round him dwell,


s: With voice like thunder, and a direful yell.


s: From all their dens the one-eyed race repair,


s: From rifted rocks, and mountains bleak in air.


s: All haste assembled, at his well-known roar,


s: Inquire the cause, and crowd the cavern door.


s: "'What hurts thee, Polypheme? what strange affright


s: Thus breaks our slumbers, and disturbs the night?


s: Of sleep, oppress thee, or by fraud or power?


s: Or thieves insidious thy fair flock surprise?'


s: Thus they; the Cyclop from his den replies:


s: "'Friends, Noman kills me; Noman in the hour


s: Of sleep, oppresses me with fraudful power.'


s: 'If no man hurt thee, but the hand divine


s: Inflict disease, it fits thee to resign:


s: The brethren cried, and instant strode away.


s: "Joy touch'd my secret soul and conscious heart,


s: Pleased with the effect of conduct and of art.


s: Meantime the Cyclop, raging with his wound,


s: Spreads his wide arms, and searches round and round:


s: At last, the stone removing from the gate,


s: With hands extended in the midst he sate;


s: And search'd each passing sheep, and fell it o'er,


s: Secure to seize us ere we reach'd the door


s: (Such as his shallow wit he deem'd was mine);


s: 'Twas for our lives my labouring bosom wrought;


s: Each scheme I turn'd, and sharpen'd every thought;


s: This way and that I cast to save my friends,


s: Till one resolve my varying counsel ends.


s: "Strong were the rams, with native purple fair,


s: Well fed, and largest of the fleecy care,


s: These, three and three, with osier bands we tied


s: (The twining bands the Cyclop's bed supplied);


s: Secured each side: so bound we all the crew,


s: One ram remain'd, the leader of the flock:


s: In his deep fleece my grasping hands I lock,


s: And fast beneath, in wooly curls inwove,


s: There cling implicit, and confide in Jove.


s: When rosy morning glimmer'd o'er the dales,


s: He drove to pasture all the lusty males:


s: The ewes still folded, with distended thighs


s: Unmilk'd lay bleating in distressful cries.


s: But heedless of those cares, with anguish stung,


s: He felt their fleeces as they pass'd along


s: (Fool that he was.) and let them safely go,


s: All unsuspecting of their freight below.


s: "The master ram at last approach'd the gate,


s: Charged with his wool, and with Ulysses' fate.


s: Him while he pass'd, the monster blind bespoke:


s: 'What makes my ram the lag of all the flock?


s: First thou wert wont to crop the flowery mead,


s: First to the field and river's bank to lead,


s: And first with stately step at evening hour


s: Thy fleecy fellows usher to their bower.


s: Now far the last, with pensive pace and slow


s: Thou movest, as conscious of thy master's woe!


s: Seest thou these lids that now unfold in vain?


s: (The deed of Noman and his wicked train!)


s: Oh! did'st thou feel for thy afflicted lord,


s: And would but Fate the power of speech afford.


s: Soon might'st thou tell me, where in secret here


s: Swung round and round, and dash'd from rock to rock,


s: His battered brains should on the pavement smoke


s: No ease, no pleasure my sad heart receives,


s: While such a monster as vile Noman lives.'


s: "The giant spoke, and through the hollow rock


s: Dismiss'd the ram, the father of the flock.


s: No sooner freed, and through the inclosure pass'd,


s: First I release myself, my fellows last:


s: Fat sheep and goats in throngs we drive before,


s: And reach our vessel on the winding shore.


s: With joy the sailors view their friends return'd,


s: And hail us living whom as dead they mourn'd


s: Big tears of transport stand in every eye:


s: I check their fondness, and command to fly.


s: Aboard in haste they heave the wealthy sheep,


s: And snatch their oars, and rush into the deep.


s: "Now off at sea, and from the shallows clear,


s: As far as human voice could reach the ear,


s: 'Hear me, O Cyclop! hear, ungracious host!


s: Thou meditatest thy meal in yonder cave;


s: Doom'd to inflict; the instrument of Jove.


s: Thy barbarous breach of hospitable bands,


s: "These words the Cyclop's burning rage provoke;


s: From the tall hill he rends a pointed rock;


s: High o'er the billows flew the massy load,


s: And near the ship came thundering on the flood.


s: It almost brush'd the helm, and fell before:


s: The whole sea shook, and refluent beat the shore,


s: The strong concussion on the heaving tide


s: Roll'd back the vessel to the island's side:


s: Again I shoved her off: our fate to fly,


s: Each nerve we stretch, and every oar we ply.


s: Just 'scaped impending death, when now again


s: We twice as far had furrow'd back the main,


s: Once more I raise my voice; my friends, afraid,


s: With mild entreaties my design dissuade:


s: 'What boots the godless giant to provoke,


s: Whose arm may sink us at a single stroke?


s: Already when the dreadful rock he threw,


s: Old Ocean shook, and back his surges flew.


s: The sounding voice directs his aim again;


s: The rock o'erwhelms us, and we 'scaped in vain.'


s: "But I, of mind elate, and scorning fear,


s: Thus with new taunts insult the monster's ear:


s: Ask, who disfigured thus that eyeless face?


s: Say 'twas Ulysses: 'twas his deed declare,


s: Ulysses, far in fighting fields renown'd,


s: Before whose arm Troy tumbled to the ground.'


s: "The astonished savage with a roar replies:


s: 'Oh heavens! oh faith of ancient prophecies!


s: (The mighty seer who on these hills grew old;


s: Skill'd the dark fates of mortals to declare,


s: And learn'd in all wing'd omens of the air);


s: Long since he menaced, such was Fate's command;


s: Or lofty hero, haughty, brave, and bold;


s: Not this weak pigmy wretch, of mean design,


s: Who, not by strength subdued me, but by wine.


s: But come, accept our gifts, and join to pray


s: Great Neptune's blessing on the watery way;


s: The immortal father no less boasts the son.


s: His power can heal me, and relight my eye;


s: "'Oh! could this arm (I thus aloud rejoin'd)


s: From that vast bulk dislodge thy bloody mind,


s: And send thee howling to the realms of night!


s: As sure as Neptune cannot give thee sight.'


s: "Thus I; while raging he repeats his cries,


s: With hands uplifted to the starry skies?


s: 'Hear me, O Neptune; thou whose arms are hurl'd


s: From shore to shore, and gird the solid world;


s: If thine I am, nor thou my birth disown,


s: Be it through toils and sufferings long and late;


s: His lost companions let him first deplore;


s: Some vessel, not his own, transport him o'er;


s: And when at home from foreign sufferings freed,


s: More near and deep, domestic woes succeed!'


s: With imprecations thus he fill'd the air,


s: And angry Neptune heard the unrighteous prayer,


s: A larger rock then heaving from the plain,


s: He whirl'd it round: it sung across the main;


s: It fell, and brush'd the stern: the billows roar,


s: Shake at the weight, and refluent beat the shore.


s: With all our force we kept aloof to sea,


s: And gain'd the island where our vessels lay.


s: Our sight the whole collected navy cheer'd.


s: Who, waiting long, by turns had hoped and fear'd.


s: There disembarking on the green sea side,


s: We land our cattle, and the spoil divide;


s: Of these due shares to every sailor fall;


s: But the great god, whose thunder rends the skies,


s: And sees me wandering still from coast to coast,


s: And all my vessels, all my people, lost!


s: While thoughtless we indulge the genial rite,


s: As plenteous cates and flowing bowls invite;


s: Till evening Phoebus roll'd away the light;


s: Stretch'd on the shore in careless ease we rest,


s: Till ruddy morning purpled o'er the east;


s: Then from their anchors all our ships unbind,


s: And mount the decks, and call the willing wind.


s: Now, ranged in order on our banks we sweep.


s: With hasty strokes the hoarse-resounding deep;


s: Blind to the future, pensive with our fears,


s: Glad for the living, for the dead in tears."


s: Ulysses arrives at the island of AEolus, who gives him prosperous


s: companions untying, they are driven back again and rejected.


s: Then they sail to the Laestrygons, where they lose eleven ships,


s: and, with only one remaining, proceed to the island of Circe.


s: Eurylochus is sent first with some companions, all which, except


s: Eurylochus, are transformed into swine. Ulysses then undertakes


s: his men. After a year's stay with her, he prepares, at her


s: instigation, for his voyage to the infernal shades.


s: "AT length we reach'd AEolias's sea-girt shore,


s: Where great Hippotades the sceptre bore,


s: A floating isle! high-raised by toil divine,


s: Strong walls of brass the rocky coast confine.


s: Six blooming youths, in private grandeur bred,


s: And six fair daughters, graced the royal bed;


s: These sons their sisters wed, and all remain


s: Their parents' pride, and pleasure of their reign.


s: All day they feast, all day the bowls flow round,


s: And joy and music through the isle resound;


s: At night each pair on splendid carpets lay,


s: And crown'd with love the pleasures of the day.


s: This happy port affords our wandering fleet


s: A month's reception, and a safe retreat.


s: The fall of Ilion, and the Grecian fate;


s: Full oft I told: at length for parting moved;


s: The king with mighty gifts my suit approved.


s: The adverse winds in leathern bags he braced,


s: Compress'd their force, and lock'd each struggling blast.


s: For him the mighty sire of gods assign'd


s: The tempest's lood, the tyrant of the wind;


s: His word alone the listening storms obey,


s: To smooth the deep, or swell the foamy sea.


s: These in my hollow ship the monarch hung,


s: But Zephyrus exempt, with friendly gales


s: He charged to fill, and guide the swelling sails:


s: Rare gift! but O, what gift to fools avails!


s: "Nine prosperous days we plied the labouring oar;


s: The tenth presents our welcome native shore:


s: The hills display the beacon's friendly light,


s: And rising mountains gain upon our sight.


s: Then first my eyes, by watchful toils oppress'd,


s: Complied to take the balmy gifts of rest:


s: Then first my hands did from the rudder part


s: (So much the love of home possess'd my heart):


s: What rare device those vessels might inclose?


s: What sum, what prize from AEolus I brought?


s: Whilst to his neighbour each express'd his thought:


s: "'Say, whence ye gods, contending nations strive


s: Who most shall please, who most our hero give?


s: Long have his coffers groan'd with Trojan spoils:


s: Whilst we, the wretched partners of his toils,


s: Reproach'd by want, our fruitless labours mourn,


s: But come, my friends, these mystic gifts explore,'


s: They said: and (oh cursed fate!) the thongs unbound!


s: The gushing tempest sweeps the ocean round;


s: Snatch'd in the whirl, the hurried navy flew,


s: The ocean widen'd and the shores withdrew.


s: Roused from my fatal sleep I long debate


s: If still to live, or desperate plunge to fate;


s: Thus doubting, prostrate on the deck I lay,


s: Till all the coward thoughts of death gave way.


s: "Meanwhile our vessels plough the liquid plain,


s: And soon the known AEolian coast regain;


s: Our groan the rocks remurmur'd to the main.


s: We leap'd on shore, and with a scanty feast


s: Our thirst and hunger hastily repress'd;


s: That done, two chosen heralds straight attend


s: And him amidst his jovial sons we found;


s: The banquet steaming, and the goblets crown'd;


s: There humbly stoop'd with conscious shame and awe,


s: Nor nearer than the gate presumed to draw.


s: But soon his sons their well-known guest descried,


s: And starting from their couches loudly cried:


s: 'Ulysses here! what demon could'st thou meet


s: To thwart thy passage, and repel thy fleet?


s: Wast thou not furnish'd by our choicest care


s: For Greece, for home and all thy soul held dear?'


s: Thus they, In silence long my fate I mourn'd;


s: At length these words with accents low return'd:


s: `Me, lock'd in sleep, my faithless crew bereft


s: Of all the blessing of your godlike gift!


s: But grant, oh grant, our loss we may retrieve;


s: "Thus I with art to move their pity tried,


s: And touch'd the youths; but their stern sire replied:


s: 'Vile wretch, begone! this instant I command


s: Thy fleet accursed to leave our hallow'd land.


s: His baneful suit pollutes these bless'd abodes,


s: Whose fate proclaims him hateful to the gods.'


s: "Thus fierce he said: we sighing went our way,


s: And with desponding hearts put off to sea.


s: The sailors spent with toils their folly mourn,


s: But mourn in vain; no prospect of return


s: Six days and nights a doubtful course we steer,


s: The next proud Lamos' stately towers appear,


s: And Laestrygonia's gates arise distinct in air.


s: The shepherd, quitting here at night the plain,


s: Calls, to succeed his cares, the watchful swain;


s: But he that scorns the chains of sleep to wear,


s: And adds the herdsman's to the shepherd's care,


s: So near the pastures, and so short the way,


s: His double toils may claim a double pay,


s: And join the labours of the night and day.


s: Edged round with cliffs high pointing to the skies;


s: The jutting shores that swell on either side


s: Contract its mouth, and break the rushing tide.


s: Our eager sailors seize the fair retreat,


s: And bound within the port their crowded fleet:


s: For here retired the sinking billows sleep,


s: And smiling calmness silver'd o'er the deep.


s: And fix'd without, my halsers to the shore.


s: "From thence we climb'd a point, whose airy brow


s: Commands the prospect of the plains below;


s: No tracks of beasts, or signs of men, we found,


s: But smoky volumes rolling from the ground.


s: With speed to learn what men possess'd the land.


s: They went, and kept the wheel's smooth-beaten road


s: Which to the city drew the mountain wood;


s: When lo! they met, beside a crystal spring,


s: She to Artacia's silver streams came down;


s: (Artacia's streams alone supply the town);


s: The damsel they approach, and ask'd what race


s: The people were? who monarch of the place?


s: With joy the maid the unwary strangers heard


s: And show'd them where the royal dome appear'd.


s: They went; but as they entering saw the queen


s: (Not yielding to some bulky mountain's height),


s: A sudden horror struck their aching sight.


s: Swift at her call her husband scour'd away


s: To wreak his hunger on the destined prey;


s: One for his food the raging glutton slew,


s: But two rush'd out, and to the navy flew.


s: "Balk'd of his prey, the yelling monster flies,


s: And fills the city with his hideous cries;


s: And, pouring down the mountains, crowd the shore.


s: Fragments they rend from off the craggy brow


s: The crackling vessels burst; hoarse groans arise,


s: The men like fish, they struck upon the flood,


s: And cramm'd their filthy throats with human food.


s: Whilst thus their fury rages at the bay,


s: My sword our cables cut, I call'd to weigh;


s: And charged my men, as they from fate would fly,


s: Each nerve to strain, each bending oar to ply.


s: The sailors catch the word, their oars they seize,


s: And sweep with equal strokes the smoky seas;


s: Clear of the rocks the impatient vessel flies;


s: Whilst in the port each wretch encumber'd dies.


s: With earnest haste my frighted sailors press,


s: While kindling transports glow'd at our success;


s: But the sad fate that did our friends destroy,


s: Cool'd every breast, and damp'd the rising joy.


s: "Now dropp'd our anchors in the Aeaean bay,


s: Where Circe dwelt, the daughter of the Day!


s: Her mother Perse, of old Ocean's strain,


s: Thus from the Lun descended, and the Main


s: (From the same lineage stern Aeaetes came,


s: The far-famed brother of the enchantress dame);


s: Goddess, the queen, to whom the powers belong


s: Spent and o'erwatch'd. Two days and nights roll'd on,


s: And now the third succeeding morning shone.


s: I climb'd a cliff, with spear and sword in hand,


s: Whose ridge o'erlook'd a shady length of land;


s: To learn if aught of mortal works appear,


s: Or cheerful voice of mortal strike the ear?


s: From the high point I mark'd, in distant view,


s: A stream of curling smoke ascending blue,


s: "Thither to haste, the region to explore,


s: Was first my thought: but speeding back to shore


s: I deem'd it best to visit first my crew,


s: And send our spies the dubious coast to view.


s: Some power divine, who pities human woe,


s: Sent a tall stag, descending from the wood,


s: To cool his fervour in the crystal flood;


s: Stretch'd forth and panting in the sunny ray.


s: I launch'd my spear, and with a sudden wound


s: Transpierced his back, and fix'd him to the ground.


s: He falls, and mourns his fate with human cries:


s: Through the wide wound the vital spirit flies.


s: The bloody spear, his gather'd feet I tied


s: With twining osiers which the bank supplied.


s: An ell in length the pliant wisp I weaved,


s: And the huge body on my shoulders heaved:


s: Then leaning on my spear with both my hands,


s: Upbore my load, and press'd the sinking sands


s: With weighty steps, till at the ship I threw


s: The welcome burden, and bespoke my crew:


s: "'Cheer up, my friends! it is not yet our fate


s: To glide with ghosts through Pluto's gloomy gate.


s: Food in the desert land, behold! is given!


s: Live, and enjoy the providence of heaven.'


s: "The joyful crew survey his mighty size,


s: And on the future banquet feast their eyes,


s: As huge in length extended lay the beast;


s: Then wash their hands, and hasten to the feast.


s: There, till the setting sun roll'd down the light,


s: When evening rose, and darkness cover'd o'er


s: The face of things, we slept along the shore.


s: But when the rosy morning warm'd the east,


s: My men I summon'd, and these words address'd:


s: "'Followers and friends, attend what I propose:


s: We know not here what land before us lies,


s: Or to what quarter now we turn our eyes,


s: Or where the sun shall set, or where shall rise.


s: Here let us think (if thinking be not vain)


s: I view'd the coast, a region flat and low;


s: An isle encircled with the boundless flood;


s: A length of thickets, and entangled wood.


s: "With broken hearts my sad companions stood,


s: And horrid Laestrygons, the men of blood.


s: In equal parts I straight divide my band,


s: Then in the brazen helm the lots we throw,


s: He march'd with twice eleven in his train;


s: Pensive they march, and pensive we remain.


s: High raised of stone; a shaded space around;


s: Where mountain wolves and brindled lions roam,


s: With gentle blandishment our men they meet,


s: And wag their tails, and fawning lick their feet.


s: As from some feast a man returning late,


s: His faithful dogs all meet him at the gate,


s: Rejoicing round, some morsel to receive,


s: (Such as the good man ever used to give,)


s: Domestic thus the grisly beasts drew near;


s: They gaze with wonder not unmix'd with fear.


s: Now on the threshold of the dome they stood,


s: And heard a voice resounding through the wood:


s: Placed at her loom within, the goddess sung;


s: The vaulted roofs and solid pavement rung.


s: O'er the fair web the rising figures shine,


s: "'What voice celestial, chanting to the loom


s: (Or nymph, or goddess), echoes from the room?


s: Say, shall we seek access?' With that they call;


s: And wide unfold the portals of the hall.


s: "The goddess, rising, asks her guests to stay,


s: Who blindly follow where she leads the way.


s: Suspecting fraud, more prudently remain'd.


s: On thrones around with downy coverings graced,


s: With semblance fair, the unhappy men she placed.


s: Milk newly press'd, the sacred flour of wheat,


s: And honey fresh, and Pramnian wines the treat:


s: But venom'd was the bread, and mix'd the bowl,


s: With drugs of force to darken all the soul:


s: Soon in the luscious feast themselves they lost,


s: And drank oblivion of their native coast.


s: Instant her circling wand the goddess waves,


s: To hogs transforms them, and the sty receives.


s: Head, face, and members, bristle into swine:


s: Still cursed with sense, their minds remain alone,


s: And their own voice affrights them when they groan.


s: Meanwhile the goddess in disdain bestows


s: The mast and acorn, brutal food! and strows


s: The fruits and cornel, as their feast, around;


s: Now prone and grovelling on unsavoury ground.


s: "Eurylochus, with pensive steps and slow.


s: And bitter fate. To speak he made essay,


s: In vain essay'd, nor would his tongue obey.


s: His swelling heart denied the words their way:


s: But speaking tears the want of words supply,


s: And the full soul bursts copious from his eye.


s: Affrighted, anxious for our fellows' fates,


s: "We went, Ulysses! (such was thy command)


s: Through the lone thicket and the desert land.


s: Brown with dark forests, and with shades around.


s: A voice celestial echoed through the dome,


s: Or nymph or goddess, chanting to the loom.


s: Access we sought, nor was access denied:


s: Radiant she came: the portals open'd wide:


s: The goddess mild invites the guests to stay:


s: They blindly follow where she leads the way.


s: I waited long, and eyed the doors in vain:


s: The rest are vanish'd, none repass'd the gate,


s: And not a man appears to tell their fate.'


s: "I heard, and instant o'er my shoulder flung


s: The belt in which my weighty falchion hung


s: (A beamy blade): then seized the bended bow,


s: And bade him guide the way, resolved to go.


s: He, prostrate falling, with both hands embraced


s: My knees, and weeping thus his suit address'd:


s: "'O king, beloved of Jove, thy servant spare,


s: And ah, thyself the rash attempt forbear!


s: Or see the wretched for whose loss we mourn.


s: With what remains from certain ruin fly,


s: "I answer'd stern: 'Inglorious then remain,


s: Here feast and loiter, and desert thy train.


s: This said, and scornful turning from the shore


s: My haughty step, I stalk'd the valley o'er.


s: Till now approaching nigh the magic bower,


s: Where dwelt the enchantress skill'd in herbs of power,


s: A form divine forth issued from the wood


s: Youth smiled celestial, with each opening grace.


s: He seized my hand, and gracious thus began:


s: 'Ah whither roam'st thou, much-enduring man?


s: O blind to fate! what led thy steps to rove


s: Each friend you seek in yon enclosure lies,


s: All lost their form, and habitants of sties.


s: Think'st thou by wit to model their escape?


s: Sooner shalt thou, a stranger to thy shape,


s: Fall prone their equal: first thy danger know,


s: The plant I give through all the direful bower


s: Shall guard thee, and avert the evil hour.


s: Now hear her wicked arts: Before thy eyes


s: The bowl shall sparkle, and the banquet rise;


s: Take this, nor from the faithless feast abstain,


s: For temper'd drugs and poison shall be vain.


s: Soon as she strikes her wand, and gives the word,


s: Draw forth and brandish thy refulgent sword,


s: And menace death: those menaces shall move


s: Her alter'd mind to blandishment and love.


s: Nor shun the blessing proffer'd to thy arms,


s: Ascend her bed, and taste celestial charms;


s: So shall thy tedious toils a respite find,


s: And thy lost friends return to human kind.


s: But swear her first by those dread oaths that tie


s: The powers below, the blessed in the sky;


s: Lest to thee naked secret fraud be meant,


s: "Thus while he spoke, the sovereign plant he drew


s: Where on the all-bearing earth unmark'd it grew,


s: And show'd its nature and its wondrous power:


s: Black was the root, but milky white the flower;


s: This Hermes gave, then, gliding off the glade,


s: Shot to Olympus from the woodland shade.


s: While, full of thought, revolving fates to come,


s: I speed my passage to the enchanted dome.


s: Arrived, before the lofty gates I stay'd;


s: The lofty gates the goddess wide display'd;


s: She leads before, and to the feast invites;


s: Radiant with starry studs, a silver seat


s: Received my limbs: a footstool eased my feet,


s: She mix'd the potion, fraudulent of soul;


s: I took, and quaff'd it, confident in heaven.


s: Then waved the wand, and then the word was given.


s: 'Hence to thy fellows! (dreadful she began:)


s: Go, be a beast!'--I heard, and yet was man.


s: "Then, sudden whirling, like a waving flame,


s: Struck with unusual fear, she trembling cries,


s: She faints, she falls; she lifts her weeping eyes.


s: "'What art thou? say! from whence, from whom you came?


s: O more than human! tell thy race, thy name.


s: Amazing strength, these poisons to sustain!


s: Not mortal thou, nor mortal is thy brain.


s: Or art thou he, the man to come (foretold


s: By Hermes, powerful with the wand of gold),


s: The man from Troy, who wander'd ocean round;


s: The man for wisdom's various arts renown'd,


s: Ulysses? Oh! thy threatening fury cease;


s: Sheathe thy bright sword, and join our hands in peace!


s: Let mutual joys our mutual trust combine,


s: And love, and love-born confidence, be thine.'


s: "'And how, dread Circe! (furious I rejoin)


s: Can love, and love-born confidence, be mine,


s: Beneath thy charms when my companions groan,


s: Transform'd to beasts, with accents not their own?


s: O thou of fraudful heart, shall I be led


s: To share thy feast-rites, or ascend thy bed;


s: That, all unarm'd, thy vengeance may have vent,


s: Celestial as thou art, yet stand denied;


s: Or swear that oath by which the gods are tied,


s: Swear, in thy soul no latent frauds remain,


s: Swear by the vow which never can be vain.'


s: "The goddess swore: then seized my hand, and led


s: To the sweet transports of the genial bed.


s: Four faithful handmaids the soft rites prepare;


s: Nymphs sprung from fountains, or from shady woods,


s: Or the fair offspring of the sacred floods.


s: One o'er the couches painted carpets threw,


s: Whose purple lustre glow'd against the view:


s: The silver stands, with golden flaskets graced:


s: With dulcet beverage this the beaker crown'd,


s: Fair in the midst, with gilded cups around:


s: That in the tripod o'er the kindled pile


s: The water pours; the bubbling waters boil;


s: An ample vase receives the smoking wave;


s: And, in the bath prepared, my limbs I lave:


s: Reviving sweets repair the mind's decay,


s: And take the painful sense of toil away.


s: A vest and tunic o'er me next she threw,


s: Fresh from the bath, and dropping balmy dew;


s: Then led and placed me on the sovereign seat,


s: With carpets spread; a footstool at my feet.


s: The golden ewer a nymph obsequious brings,


s: Replenish'd from the cool translucent springs;


s: With copious water the bright vase supplies


s: I wash'd. The table in fair order spread,


s: They heap the glittering canisters with bread:


s: Viands of various kinds allure the taste,


s: Of choicest sort and savour, rich repast!


s: Circe in vain invites the feast to share;


s: While scenes of woe rose anxious in my breast,


s: The queen beheld me, and these words address'd:


s: Some hoard of grief close harbour'd at his heart


s: Untouch'd before thee stand the cates divine,


s: When sworn that oath which never can be vain?'


s: "I answered: 'Goddess! human is my breast,


s: By justice sway'd, by tender pity press'd:


s: Ill fits it me, whose friends are sunk to beasts,


s: To quaff thy bowls, or riot in thy feasts.


s: Me would'st thou please? for them thy cares employ,


s: "With that she parted: in her potent hand


s: Then, hastening to the sties, set wide the door,


s: Urged forth, and drove the bristly herd before;


s: Unwieldy, out they rush'd with general cry,


s: Now touch'd by counter-charms they change again,


s: And stand majestic, and recall'd to men.


s: Those hairs of late that bristled every part,


s: Till all the form in full proportion rise,


s: More young, more large, more graceful to my eyes.


s: They saw, they knew me, and with eager pace


s: Clung to their master in a long embrace:


s: Sad, pleasing sight! with tears each eye ran o'er,


s: And sobs of joy re-echoed through the bower;


s: Felt pity enter, and sustain'd her part.


s: "'Son of Laertes! (then the queen began)


s: Haste to thy vessel on the sea-beat shore,


s: Unload thy treasures, and the galley moor;


s: Then bring thy friends, secure from future harms,


s: And in our grottoes stow thy spoils and arms,'


s: I quit the place, and hasten to the strand,


s: Their wistful eyes in floods of sorrow drown'd.


s: "As from fresh pastures and the dewy field


s: (When loaded cribs their evening banquet yield)


s: The lowing herds return; around them throng


s: With leaps and bounds their late imprison'd young,


s: And echoing hills return the tender cry:


s: So round me press'd, exulting at my sight,


s: The weeping sailors; nor less fierce their joy


s: (These tender words on every side I hear)


s: Not that loved country for whose sight we mourn,


s: The soil that nursed us, and that gave us breath:


s: But ah! relate our lost companions' death.'


s: "I answer'd cheerful: 'Haste, your galley moor,


s: And bring our treasures and our arms ashore:


s: Then rise, and follow where I lead the way.


s: Your fellows live; believe your eyes, and come


s: To taste the joys of Circe's sacred dome.'


s: "'Whither (he cried), ah whither will ye run?


s: Seek ye to meet those evils ye should shun?


s: Will you the terrors of the dome explore,


s: Or wolf-like howl away the midnight hour


s: In dreadful watch around the magic bower?


s: The leader's rashness made the soldiers bleed.'


s: "I heard incensed, and first resolved to speed


s: Dear as he was, by ties of kindred bound,


s: This hand had stretch'd him breathless on the ground.


s: For mercy pleaded, nor could plead in vain.


s: 'Leave here the man who dares his prince desert,


s: Leave to repentance and his own sad heart,


s: To guard the ship. Seek we the sacred shades


s: Of Circe's palace, where Ulysses leads.'


s: "This with one voice declared, the rising train


s: Left the black vessel by the murmuring main.


s: Shame touch'd Eurylochus' alter'd breast:


s: He fear'd my threats, and follow'd with the rest.


s: "Meanwhile the goddess, with indulgent cares


s: And social joys, the late transform'd repairs;


s: The bath, the feast, their fainting soul renews:


s: Rich in refulgent robes, and dropping balmy dews:


s: Brightening with joy, their eager eyes behold,


s: Each other's face, and each his story told;


s: Then gushing tears the narrative confound,


s: And with their sobs the vaulted roof resound.


s: When hush'd their passion, thus the goddess cries:


s: To me are known the various woes ye bore.


s: In storms by sea, in perils on the shore;


s: And share the pleasures of this genial hour.


s: Such be your mind as ere ye left your coast,


s: Or learn'd to sorrow for a country lost.


s: Exiles and wanderers now, where'er ye go,


s: The cause removed, habitual griefs remain,


s: And the soul saddens by the use of pain.'


s: "Her kind entreaty moved the general breast;


s: Tired with long toil, we willing sunk to rest.


s: We plied the banquet, and the bowl we crown'd,


s: Till the full circle of the year came round.


s: But when the seasons following in their train,


s: Brought back the months, the days, and hours again;


s: And urge their chief with animating cries:


s: Shall never the dear land in prospect rise,


s: Or the loved palace glitter in our eyes?


s: "Melting I heard; yet till the sun's decline


s: Prolong'd the feast, and quaff'd the rosy wine


s: But when the shades came on at evening hour,


s: And all lay slumbering in the dusky bower,


s: The tender moment seized, and thus I said:


s: 'Be mindful, goddess! of thy promise made;


s: Around their lord my sad companions mourn,


s: Each breast beats homeward, anxious to return:


s: Their tears flow round me, and my heart complies.'


s: "'Go then (she cried), ah go! yet think, not I,


s: Not Circe, but the Fates, your wish deny.


s: Ah, hope not yet to breathe thy native air!


s: Far other journey first demands thy care;


s: To tread the uncomfortable paths beneath,


s: And view the realms of darkness and of death.


s: There seek the Theban bard, deprived of sight;


s: The rest are forms, of empty ether made;


s: Impassive semblance, and a flitting shade.'


s: "Struck at the word, my very heart was dead:


s: Pensive I sate: my tears bedew'd the bed:


s: To hate the light and life my soul begun,


s: And saw that all was grief beneath the sun:


s: Composed at length the gushing tears suppress'd,


s: And my toss'd limbs now wearied into rest.


s: 'How shall I tread (I cried), ah, Circe! say,


s: The dark descent, and who shall guide the way?


s: Can living eyes behold the realms below?


s: What bark to waft me, and what wind to blow?'


s: "'Thy fated road (the magic power replied),


s: Rear but the mast, the spacious sail display,


s: The northern winds shall wing thee on thy way.


s: Soon shalt thou reach old Ocean's utmost ends,


s: Where to the main the shelving shore descends;


s: The barren trees of Proserpine's black woods,


s: Poplars and willows trembling o'er the floods:


s: And enter there the kingdoms void of day,


s: Where Phlegethon's loud torrents, rushing down,


s: And where, slow rolling from the Stygian bed,


s: Where the dark rock o'erhangs the infernal lake,


s: And mingling streams eternal murmurs make.


s: First draw thy falchion, and on every side


s: Trench the black earth a cubit long and wide:


s: To all the shades around libations pour,


s: And o'er the ingredients strew the hallow'd flour:


s: New wine and milk, with honey temper'd bring,


s: And living water from the crystal spring.


s: Then the wan shades and feeble ghosts implore,


s: With promised offerings on thy native shore;


s: A barren cow, the stateliest of the isle,


s: And heap'd with various wealth, a blazing pile:


s: These to the rest; but to the seer must bleed


s: A sable ram, the pride of all thy breed.


s: These solemn vows and holy offerings paid


s: Be next thy care the sable sheep to place


s: Full o'er the pit, and hellward turn their face:


s: But from the infernal rite thine eye withdraw,


s: And back to Ocean glance with reverend awe.


s: Sudden shall skim along the dusky glades


s: Then give command the sacrifice to haste,


s: Let the flay'd victims in the flame be cast,


s: Wide o'er the pool thy falchion waved around


s: Shall drive the spectres from unbidden ground:


s: The sacred draught shall all the dead forbear,


s: Till awful from the shades arise the seer.


s: The turns of all thy future fate display,


s: Thy pilgrimage to come, and remnant of thy day.'


s: "So speaking, from the ruddy orient shone


s: The morn, conspicuous on her golden throne.


s: The goddess with a radiant tunic dress'd


s: My limbs, and o'er me cast a silken vest.


s: Long flowing robes, of purest white, array


s: The nymph, that added lustre to the day:


s: A tiar wreath'd her head with many a fold;


s: Her waist was circled with a zone of gold.


s: Forth issuing then, from place to place I flew;


s: 'Rise, rise, my mates! 'tis Circe gives command:


s: Our journey calls us; haste, and quit the land.'


s: All rise and follow, yet depart not all,


s: For Fate decreed one wretched man to fall.


s: "A youth there was, Elpenor was he named,


s: Not much for sense, nor much for courage famed:


s: The youngest of our band, a vulgar soul,


s: Born but to banquet, and to drain the bowl.


s: He, hot and careless, on a turret's height


s: With sleep repair'd the long debauch of night:


s: The sudden tumult stirred him where he lay,


s: And down he hasten'd, but forgot the way;


s: Full headlong from the roof the sleeper fell,


s: And snapp'd the spinal joint, and waked in hell.


s: "The rest crowd round me with an eager look;


s: I met them with a sigh, and thus bespoke:


s: 'Already, friends! ye think your toils are o'er,


s: Your hopes already touch your native shore:


s: Far other journey first demands our cares;


s: To tread the uncomfortable paths beneath,


s: The dreary realms of darkness and of death;


s: And thence our fortunes and our fates to know.'


s: "My sad companions heard in deep despair;


s: Frantic they tore their manly growth of hair;


s: To earth they fell: the tears began to rain;


s: Sadly they fared along the sea-beat shore;


s: Still heaved their hearts, and still their eyes ran o'er.


s: For swift as thought the goddess had been there,


s: And thence had glided, viewless as the air:


s: The paths of gods what mortal can survey?


s: Who eyes their motion? who shall trace their way?"


s: The manner of his descent, and the apparition of the shades: his


s: Tityus, Tantalus, Sisyphus, Hercules; till he is deterred from


s: further curiosity by the apparition of horrid spectres, and the


s: "Now to the shores we bend, a mournful train,


s: Climb the tall bark, and launch into the main;


s: At once the mast we rear, at once unbind


s: The spacious sheet, and stretch it to the wind;


s: Then pale and pensive stand, with cares oppress'd,


s: A freshening breeze the magic power supplied,


s: While the wing'd vessel flew along the tide;


s: Our oars we shipp'd; all day the swelling sails


s: Full from the guiding pilot catch'd the gales.


s: "Now sunk the sun from his aerial height,


s: And o'er the shaded billows rush'd the night;


s: When lo! we reach'd old Ocean's utmost bounds,


s: Where rocks control his waves with ever-during mounds.


s: "There in a lonely land, and gloomy cells,


s: The sun ne'er views the uncomfortable seats,


s: Unhappy race! whom endless night invades,


s: Clouds the dull air, and wraps them round in shades.


s: "The ship we moor on these obscure abodes;


s: Disbark the sheep, an offering to the gods;


s: And, hellward bending, o'er the beach descry


s: The doleful passage to the infernal sky.


s: The victims, vow'd to each Tartarian power,


s: "Here open'd hell, all hell I here implored,


s: And from the scabbard drew the shining sword:


s: And trenching the black earth on every side,


s: New wine, with honey-temper'd milk, we bring,


s: Then living waters from the crystal spring:


s: O'er these was strew'd the consecrated flour,


s: And on the surface shone the holy store.


s: "Now the wan shades we hail, the infernal gods,


s: To speed our course, and waft us o'er the floods:


s: Beneath the knife upon your altars fall;


s: Rich with unnumber'd gifts the pile shall burn;


s: So shall a ram, the largest of the breed,


s: Black as these regions, to Tiresias bleed.


s: "Thus solemn rites and holy vows we paid


s: Then died the sheep: a purple torrent flow'd,


s: And all the caverns smoked with streaming blood.


s: When lo! appear'd along the dusky coasts,


s: Fair, pensive youths, and soft enamour'd maids;


s: And wither'd elders, pale and wrinkled shades;


s: Ghastly with wounds the forms of warriors slain


s: Stalk'd with majestic port, a martial train:


s: These and a thousand more swarm'd o'er the ground,


s: And all the dire assembly shriek'd around.


s: Astonish'd at the sight, aghast I stood,


s: And a cold fear ran shivering through my blood;


s: Straight I command the sacrifice to haste,


s: Straight the flay'd victims to the flames are cast,


s: And mutter'd vows, and mystic song applied


s: "Now swift I waved my falchion o'er the blood;


s: Back started the pale throngs, and trembling stood,


s: Round the black trench the gore untasted flows,


s: Till awful from the shades Tiresias rose.


s: "There wandering through the gloom I first survey'd,


s: New to the realms of death, Elpenor's shade:


s: Sad at the sight I stand, deep fix'd in woe,


s: And ere I spoke the tears began to flow.


s: To glide in shades, and wander with the dead?


s: How could thy soul, by realms and seas disjoin'd,


s: Outfly the nimble sail, and leave the lagging wind?


s: "The ghost replied: 'To hell my doom I owe,


s: My feet, through wine unfaithful to their weight,


s: Betray'd me tumbling from a towery height:


s: Staggering I reel'd, and as I reel'd I fell,


s: Lux'd the neck-joint--my soul descends to hell.


s: But lend me aid, I now conjure thee lend,


s: By the soft tie and sacred name of friend!


s: By thy fond consort! by thy father's cares!


s: For well I know that soon the heavenly powers


s: Will give thee back to-day, and Circe's shores:


s: There call to mind thy poor departed friend.


s: But if, unheard, in vain compassion plead,


s: Revere the gods. The gods avenge the dead!


s: The tomb with manly arms and trophies grace,


s: Fix the smooth oar, and bid me live to fame.'


s: "To whom with tears: 'These rites, O mournful shade,


s: Due to thy ghost, shall to thy ghost be paid.'


s: "Still as I spoke the phantom seem'd to moan,


s: Tear follow'd tear, and groan succeeded groan.


s: But, as my waving sword the blood surrounds,


s: The shade withdrew, and mutter'd empty sounds.


s: "There as the wondrous visions I survey'd,


s: All pale ascends my royal mother's shade:


s: A queen, to Troy she saw our legions pass;


s: Struck at the sight I melt with filial woe,


s: And down my cheek the pious sorrows flow,


s: Yet as I shook my falchion o'er the blood,


s: To guide his steps he bore a staff of gold;


s: And from his holy lips these accents broke:


s: "'Why, mortal, wanderest thou from cheerful day,


s: What angry gods to these dark regions led


s: But sheathe thy poniard, while my tongue relates


s: Heaven's steadfast purpose, and thy future fates.'


s: "While yet he spoke, the prophet I obey'd,


s: And in the scabbard plunged the glittering blade:


s: Eager he quaff'd the gore, and then express'd


s: Dark things to come, the counsels of his breast.


s: A prosperous voyage to his native shores;


s: New trains of dangers, and new scenes of woes.


s: I see, I see, thy bark by Neptune toss'd,


s: For injured Cyclops, and his eyeball lost!


s: If Heaven thou please: and how to please attend


s: Where on Trinacrian rocks the ocean roars,


s: Graze numerous herds along the verdant shores;


s: Though hunger press, yet fly the dangerous prey,


s: Rob not the god; and so propitious gales


s: But, if his herds ye seize, beneath the waves


s: I see thy friends o'erwhelm'd in liquid graves!


s: The direful wreck Ulysses scarce survives!


s: Strangers thy guides! nor there thy labours end;


s: There foul adulterers to thy bride resort,


s: But vengeance hastes amain! These eyes behold


s: The deathful scene, princes on princes roll'd!


s: That done, a people far from sea explore,


s: Who ne'er knew salt, or heard the billows roar,


s: Or saw gay vessel stem the watery plain,


s: Bear on thy back an oar: with strange amaze


s: A shepherd meeting thee, the oar surveys,


s: And names a van: there fix it on the plain,


s: To calm the god that holds the watery reign;


s: A threefold offering to his altar bring,


s: A bull, a ram, a boar; and hail the ocean king.


s: But home return'd, to each ethereal power


s: So peaceful shalt thou end thy blissful days,


s: And steal thyself from life by slow decays:


s: Unknown to pain, in age resign thy breath,


s: When late stern Neptune points the shaft with death:


s: Thy people blessing, by thy people bless'd!


s: "Unerring truths, O man, my lips relate;


s: This is thy life to come, and this is fate.'


s: "To whom unmoved: 'If this the gods prepare,


s: What Heaven ordains the wise with courage bear.


s: But say, why yonder on the lonely strands,


s: Why to the ground she bends her downcast eye?


s: Why is she silent, while her son is nigh?


s: The latent cause, O sacred seer, reveal!'


s: "'Nor this (replies the seer) will I conceal.


s: Know, to the spectres that thy beverage taste,


s: The scenes of life recur, and actions past:


s: They, seal'd with truth, return the sure reply;


s: The rest, repell'd, a train oblivious fly.'


s: "The phantom-prophet ceased, and sunk from sight,


s: "Still in the dark abodes of death I stood,


s: When near Anticlea moved, and drank the blood.


s: Straight all the mother in her soul awakes,


s: And, owning her Ulysses, thus she speaks;


s: 'Comest thou, my son, alive, to realms beneath,


s: The dolesome realms of darkness and of death!


s: Comest thou alive from pure, ethereal day?


s: Here lakes profound, there floods oppose their waves,


s: There the wide sea with all his billows raves!


s: Or (since to dust proud Troy submits her towers)


s: Comest thou a wanderer from the Phrygian shores?


s: Or say, since honour call'd thee to the field,


s: Hast thou thy Ithaca, thy bride, beheld?'


s: "'Source of my life,' I cried, 'from earth I fly


s: To learn my doom; for, toss'd from woe to woe,


s: Nor have these eyes beheld my native shores,


s: Since in the dust proud Troy submits her towers.


s: "'But, when thy soul from her sweet mansion fled,


s: Say, what distemper gave thee to the dead?


s: Has life's fair lamp declined by slow decays,


s: Say, if my sire, good old Laertes, lives?


s: Or crush'd by traitors with an iron rod?


s: Say, if my spouse maintains her royal trust;


s: Though tempted, chaste, and obstinately just?


s: Or if no more her absent lord she wails,


s: But the false woman o'er the wife prevails?'


s: "Thus I, and thus the parent-shade returns:


s: 'Thee, ever thee, thy faithful consort mourns:


s: Whether the night descends or day prevails,


s: Thee she by night, and thee by day bewails.


s: In sacred groves celestial rites he pays,


s: And shares the banquet in superior state,


s: Graced with such honours as become the great


s: The court is joyless, for thou art not there!


s: No rich embroidery shines to grace his bed;


s: Even when keen winter freezes in the skies,


s: Rank'd with his slaves, on earth the monarch lies:


s: Deep are his sighs, his visage pale, his dress


s: And when the autumn takes his annual round,


s: The leafy honours scattering on the ground,


s: Regardless of his years, abroad he lies,


s: His bed the leaves, his canopy the skies.


s: Thus cares on cares his painful days consume,


s: And bow his age with sorrow to the tomb!


s: "'For thee, my son, I wept my life away;


s: For thee through hell's eternal dungeons stray:


s: Nor came my fate by lingering pains and slow,


s: Nor bent the silver-shafted queen her bow;


s: No dire disease bereaved me of my breath;


s: Thou, thou, my son, wert my disease and death;


s: For thee I lived, for absent thee expired.'


s: "Thrice in my arms I strove her shade to bind,


s: Thrice through my arms she slipp'd like empty wind,


s: Or dreams, the vain illusions of the mind.


s: Wild with despair, I shed a copious tide


s: Of flowing tears, and thus with sighs replied:


s: "'Fliest thou, loved shade, while I thus fondly mourn!


s: Is it, ye powers that smile at human harms!


s: Too great a bliss to weep within her arms?


s: Or has hell's queen an empty image sent,


s: That wretched I might e'en my joys lament?'


s: "'O son of woe,' the pensive shade rejoin'd;


s: "'Tis not the queen of hell who thee deceives;


s: All, all are such, when life the body leaves:


s: No more the substance of the man remains,


s: Nor bounds the blood along the purple veins:


s: These the funereal flames in atoms bear,


s: While the impassive soul reluctant flies,


s: Like a vain dream, to these infernal skies.


s: But from the dark dominions speed the way,


s: And climb the steep ascent to upper day:


s: To thy chaste bride the wondrous story tell,


s: The woes, the horrors, and the laws of hell.'


s: "Thus while she spoke, in swarms hell's empress brings


s: Daughters and wives of heroes and of kings;


s: Thick and more thick they gather round the blood,


s: Ghost thronged on ghost (a dire assembly) stood!


s: Dauntless my sword I seize: the airy crew,


s: Swift as it flash'd along the gloom, withdrew;


s: Then shade to shade in mutual forms succeeds,


s: Her race recounts, and their illustrious deeds.


s: The royal partner of famed Cretheus' bed.


s: He pours his watery store, the virgin burns;


s: Smooth flows the gentle stream with wanton pride,


s: As on his banks the maid enamour'd roves,


s: The monarch of the deep beholds and loves;


s: In her Enipeus' form and borrow'd charms


s: Around, a spacious arch of waves he throws,


s: And high in air the liquid mountain rose;


s: Thus in surrounding floods conceal'd, he proves


s: The pleasing transport, and completes his loves.


s: Then, softly sighing, he the fair address'd,


s: And as he spoke her tender hand he press'd.


s: 'Hail, happy nymph! no vulgar births are owed


s: Lo! when nine times the moon renews her horn,


s: Two brother heroes shall from thee be born;


s: Thy early care the future worthies claim,


s: To point them to the arduous paths of fame;


s: But in thy breast the important truth conceal,


s: For know, thou Neptune view'st! and at my nod


s: Earth trembles, and the waves confess their god.'


s: "He added not, but mounting spurn'd the plain,


s: Then plunged into the chambers of the main,


s: "Now in the time's full process forth she brings


s: Jove's dread vicegerents in two future kings;


s: O'er proud Iolcos Pelias stretch'd his reign,


s: And godlike Neleus ruled the Pylian plain:


s: Then, fruitful, to her Cretheus' royal bed


s: She gallant Pheres and famed Aeson bred;


s: Pleased with the din of scar; and noble shout of foes.


s: "There moved Antiope, with haughty charms,


s: Who bless'd the almighty Thunderer in her arms:


s: Hence sprung Amphion, hence brave Zethus came,


s: Founders of Thebes, and men of mighty name;


s: Though bold in open field, they yet surround


s: The town with walls, and mound inject on mound;


s: Here ramparts stood, there towers rose high in air,


s: And here through seven wide portals rush'd the war.


s: "There with soft step the fair Alcmena trod,


s: And Megara, who charm'd the son of Jove,


s: And soften'd his stern soul to tender love.


s: "Sullen and sour, with discontented mien,


s: Jocasta frown'd, the incestuous Theban queen;


s: With her own son she join'd in nuptial bands,


s: Though father's blood imbrued his murderous hands


s: The gods and men the dire offence detest,


s: The gods with all their furies rend his breast;


s: In lofty Thebes he wore the imperial crown,


s: A pompous wretch! accursed upon a throne.


s: The wife self-murder'd from a beam depends,


s: And her foul soul to blackest hell descends;


s: Thence to her son the choicest plagues she brings,


s: And the fiends haunt him with a thousand stings.


s: "And now the beauteous Chloris I descry,


s: With gifts unnumber'd Neleus sought her arms,


s: Nor paid too dearly for unequall'd charms;


s: He sway'd the sceptre with imperial state.


s: Three gallant sons the joyful monarch told,


s: And Chromius last; but of the softer race,


s: Kings on their thrones for lovely Pero burn;


s: The sire denies, and kings rejected mourn.


s: To him alone the beauteous prize he yields,


s: Whose arm should ravish from Phylacian fields


s: The herds of Iphyclus, detain'd in wrong;


s: Wild, furious herds, unconquerably strong!


s: This dares a seer, but nought the seer prevails,


s: In beauty's cause illustriously he fails;


s: Twelve moons the foe the captive youth detains


s: In painful dungeons, and coercive chains;


s: The foe at last from durance where he lay,


s: His heart revering, give him back to day;


s: The steadfast purpose of the Almighty will.


s: "With graceful port advancing now I spied,


s: Leda the fair, the godlike Tyndar's bride:


s: Hence Pollux sprung, who wields the furious sway


s: The deathful gauntlet, matchless in the fray;


s: And Castor, glorious on the embattled plain,


s: Curbs the proud steeds, reluctant to the rein:


s: In hell beneath, on earth, in heaven above,


s: Reign the twin-gods, the favourite sons of Jove.


s: Who charm'd the monarch of the boundless main:


s: Hence Ephialtes, hence stern Otus sprung,


s: More fierce than giants, more than giants strong;


s: The earth o'erburden'd groan'd beneath their weight,


s: None but Orion e'er surpassed their height:


s: The wondrous youths had scarce nine winters told,