s: Then thus rejoin'd the dame, devoid of fear:


s: "What words, my son, have passed thy lips severe?


s: Deep in my soul the trust shall lodge secured;


s: With ribs of steel, and marble heart, immured.


s: When Heaven, auspicious to thy right avow'd,


s: Shall prostrate to thy sword the suitor-crowd,


s: The deeds I'll blazon of the menial fair;


s: The lewd to death devote, the virtuous spare."


s: "Thy aid avails me not (the chief replied);


s: My own experience shall their doom decide:


s: A witness-judge precludes a long appeal:


s: Suffice it then thy monarch to conceal."


s: He said: obsequious, with redoubled pace,


s: She to the fount conveys the exhausted vase:


s: The bath renew'd, she ends the pleasing toil


s: With plenteous unction of ambrosial oil.


s: Adjusting to his limbs the tatter'd vest,


s: His former seat received the stranger guest;


s: Whom thus with pensive air the queen addressed:


s: "Though night, dissolving grief in grateful ease,


s: Your drooping eyes with soft impression seize;


s: Awhile, reluctant to her pleasing force,


s: Suspend the restful hour with sweet discourse.


s: The day (ne'er brighten'd with a beam of joy!)


s: When nature's hush'd beneath her brooding shade,


s: My echoing griefs the starry vault invade.


s: As when the months are clad in flowery green,


s: To vernal airs attunes her varied strains;


s: And Itylus sounds warbling o'er the plains;


s: Whom chance misled the mother to destroy;


s: Now doom'd a wakeful bird to wail the beauteous boy.


s: Devious from care to care incessant strays.


s: Now, wavering doubt succeeds to long despair;


s: And, joining to my son's my menial train,


s: Partake his counsels, and assist his reign?


s: Or, since, mature in manhood, he deplores


s: His dome dishonour'd, and exhausted stores;


s: And from the peers select the noblest lord;


s: So by my choice avow'd, at length decide


s: These wasteful love-debates, a mourning bride!


s: Illustrate, if you know, the shadow'd fate:


s: "A team of twenty geese (a snow-white train!)


s: Fed near the limpid lake with golden grain,


s: Amuse my pensive hours. The bird of Jove


s: Fierce from his mountain-eyrie downward drove;


s: Each favourite fowl he pounced with deathful sway,


s: And back triumphant wing'd his airy way.


s: My pitying eyes effused a plenteous stream,


s: To view their death thus imaged in a dream;


s: A troop of matrons, fancy-form'd, condole.


s: But whilst with grief and rage my bosom burn'd,


s: Sudden the tyrant of the skies returned;


s: Perch'd on the battlements he thus began


s: View in this plumy form thy victor-lord;


s: The geese (a glutton race) by thee deplored,


s: This said, the pleasing feather'd omen ceased.


s: When from the downy bands of sleep released,


s: Fast by the limpid lake my swan-like train


s: I found, insatiate of the golden grain."


s: "The vision self-explain'd (the chief replies)


s: Sincere reveals the sanction of the skies;


s: And by his sword the suitors sure to bleed."


s: "Hard is the task, and rare," (the queen rejoin'd,)


s: Immured within the silent bower of sleep,


s: Two portals firm the various phantoms keep;


s: Of ivory one; whence flit, to mock the brain,


s: And columns fair incased with polish'd horn;


s: Not to this troop, I fear, that phantom soar'd,


s: Which spoke Ulysses to this realm restored;


s: Heaven shall determine in a gameful strife;


s: With that famed bow Ulysses taught to bend,


s: Six beams, opposed to six in equal space;


s: Sure through six circlets flew the whizzing dart.


s: So, when the sun restores the purple day,


s: Their strength and skill the suitors shall assay;


s: Who through the rings directs the feather'd reed.


s: Torn from these walls (where long the kinder powers


s: With joy and pomp have wing'd my youthful hours!)


s: On this poor breast no dawn of bliss shall beam;


s: The pleasure past supplies a copious theme


s: For many a dreary thought, and many a doleful dream!"


s: "Propose the sportive lot (the chief replies),


s: Nor dread to name yourself the bowyer's prize;


s: Ulysses will surprise the unfinish'd game,


s: Avow'd, and falsify the suitors' claim."


s: To whom with grace serene the queen rejoin'd:


s: "In all thy speech what pleasing force I find!


s: O'er my suspended woe thy words prevail;


s: I part reluctant from the pleasing tale,


s: But Heaven, that knows what all terrestrials need,


s: Repose to night, and toil to day decreed;


s: Grateful vicissitudes! yet me withdrawn,


s: Establish'd use enjoins; to rest and joy


s: Estranged, since dear Ulysses sail'd to Troy!


s: Your couch to fashion as yourself prescribe."


s: Thus affable, her bower the queen ascends;


s: The sovereign step a beauteous train attends;


s: Down her pale cheek new-streaming sorrow flows;


s: Till soft oblivious shade Minerva spread,


s: And o'er her eyes ambrosial slumber shed.


s: While Ulysses lies in the vestibule of the palace, he is witness


s: prodigies are seen by Theoclymenus, the augur, who explains them


s: And form'd of fleecy skins his humble bed


s: (The remnants of the spoil the suitor-crowd


s: In festival devour'd, and victims vow'd).


s: Then o'er the chief, Eurynome the chaste


s: With dire revenge his thoughtful bosom glows,


s: And, ruminating wrath, he scorns repose.


s: Scenes of lewd loves his wakeful eyes survey,


s: His heart with rage this new dishonour stung,


s: Wavering his thoughts in dubious balance hung:


s: Or instant should he quench the guilty flame


s: With their own blood, and intercept the shame:


s: Or to their lust indulge a last embrace,


s: And let the peers consummate the disgrace


s: Round his swoln heart the murmurous fury rolls,


s: As o'er her young the mother-mastiff growls,


s: And bays the stranger groom: so wrath compress'd,


s: Recoiling, mutter'd thunder in his breast.


s: "Poor suffering heart! (he cried,) support the pain


s: Of wounded honour, and thy rage restrain.


s: Not fiercer woes thy fortitude could foil,


s: When the brave partners of thy ten years' toil


s: Dire Polypheme devour'd; I then was freed


s: By patient prudence from the death decreed."


s: Thus anchor'd safe on reason's peaceful coast,


s: Tempests of wrath his soul no longer toss'd;


s: Restless his body rolls, to rage resign'd


s: As one who long with pale-eyed famine pined,


s: The savoury cates on glowing embers cast


s: In self-debate the suitor's doom resolved


s: When in the form of mortal nymph array'd,


s: From heaven descends the Jove-born martial maid;


s: And'hovering o'er his head in view confess'd,


s: The goddess thus her favourite care address'd:


s: "O thou, of mortals most inured to woes!


s: Why roll those eyes unfriended of repose?


s: Beneath thy palace-roof forget thy care;


s: Bless'd in thy queen! bless'd in thy blooming heir!


s: Whom, to the gods when suppliant fathers bow


s: They name the standard of their dearest vow."


s: "Just is thy kind reproach (the chief rejoin'd),


s: Deeds full of fate distract my various mind,


s: In contemplation wrapp'd. This hostile crew


s: They're doom'd to bleed; O say, celestial maid!


s: Where shall Ulysses shun, or how sustain


s: Nations embattled to revenge the slain?"


s: "Oh impotence of faith! (Minerva cries,)


s: Doubt you the gods? Lo, Pallas' self descends,


s: Inspires thy counsels, and thy toils attends.


s: Though myriads leagued thy rightful claim contest


s: And edge thy sword to reap the glorious field.


s: Now, pay the debt to craving nature due,


s: Her faded powers with balmy rest renew."


s: She ceased, ambrosial slumbers seal his eyes;


s: The goddess, pleased, regains her natal skies.


s: Not so the queen; the downy bands of sleep


s: By grief relax'd she waked again to weep:


s: Then thus her fate invoked, with fervent prayer


s: And cure the pangs of this convulsive heart.


s: Snatch me, ye whirlwinds! far from human race,


s: Toss'd through the void illimitable space


s: Me with his whelming wave let Ocean shroud!


s: So, Pandarus, thy hopes, three orphan fair;


s: Were doom'd to wander through the devious air;


s: But four celestials both your cares supplied.


s: With honey, milk, and wine their infant years;


s: With shapely growth Diana graced their bloom;


s: And Pallas taught the texture of the loom.


s: But whilst, to learn their lots in nuptial love,


s: Bright Cytherea sought the bower of Jove


s: Wing'd Harpies snatch the unguarded charge away,


s: Thy shaft, and send me joyful to the dead;


s: To seek my lord among the warrior train,


s: Ere second vows my bridal faith profane.


s: When woes the waking sense alone assail,


s: Whilst Night extends her soft oblivious veil,


s: Of other wretches' care the torture ends;


s: No truce the warfare of my heart suspends!


s: The night renews the day distracting theme,


s: In manly bloom, and each majestic grace,


s: As when for Troy he left my fond embrace;


s: Thus, whilst Aurora mounts her purple throne,


s: In audible laments she breathes her moan;


s: The sounds assault Ulysses' wakeful ear;


s: He thinks the queen is rushing to his arms.


s: Upspringing from his couch, with active haste


s: The fleece and carpet in the dome he placed


s: (The hide, without, imbibed the morning air);


s: And thus the gods invoked with ardent prayer:


s: "Jove, and eternal thrones! with heaven to friend,


s: If the long series of my woes shall end;


s: And, to confirm my faith, propitious Jove!


s: Vouchsafe the sanction of a sign above."


s: Whilst lowly thus the chief adoring bows,


s: Loud from a sapphire sky his thunder sounds;


s: With springing hope the hero's heart rebounds.


s: Soon, with consummate joy to crown his prayer,


s: An omen'd voice invades his ravish'd ear.


s: Beneath a pile that close the dome adjoin'd,


s: Twelve female slaves the gift of Ceres grind;


s: Task'd for the royal board to bolt the bran


s: From the pure flour (the growth and strength of man)


s: Still turn'd the toilsome mill with anxious mind;


s: "Father of gods and men, whose thunders roll


s: O'er the cerulean vault, and shake the pole:


s: Whoe'er from Heaven has gain'd this rare ostent


s: (Of granted vows a certain signal sent),


s: In this blest moment of accepted prayer,


s: Piteous, regard a wretch consumed with care!


s: Instant, O Jove! confound the suitor-train,


s: For whom o'ertoil'd I grind the golden grain:


s: Far from this dome the lewd devourers cast,


s: And be this festival decreed their last!"


s: Big with their doom denounced in earth and sky,


s: Meantime the menial train with unctious wood


s: Heap'd high the genial hearth, Vulcanian food:


s: When, early dress'd, advanced the royal heir;


s: With manly grasp he waved a martial spear;


s: And on his foot the golden sandal shone.


s: His steps impetuous to the portal press'd;


s: "Say thou to whom my youth its nurture owes,


s: Bestow'd the stranger-guest? Or waits he grieved,


s: His age not honour'd, nor his wants relieved?


s: Promiscuous grace on all the queen confers


s: (In woes bewilder'd, oft the wisest errs).


s: And modest worth with noble scorn retires."


s: She thus: "O cease that ever-honour'd name


s: To blemish now: it ill deserves your blame,


s: A bowl of generous wine sufficed the guest;


s: In vain the queen the night refection press'd;


s: Nor would he court repose in downy state,


s: Unbless'd, abandon'd to the rage of Fate!


s: And fleecy skins composed an humble bed;


s: Secured him from the keen nocturnal air."


s: His cornel javelin poised with regal port,


s: To the sage Greeks convened in Themis' court,


s: Forth-issuing from the dome the prince repair'd;


s: Two dogs of chase, a lion-hearted guard,


s: Behind him sourly stalked. Without delay


s: Thus urging to the toil the menial train;


s: The seats with purple clothe in order due;


s: And let the abstersive sponge the board renew;


s: Let some refresh the vase's sullied mould;


s: Some bid the goblets boast their native gold;


s: Some to the spring, with each a jar, repair,


s: And copious waters pure for bathing bear;


s: Dispatch! for soon the suitors will essay


s: The lunar feast-rites to the god of day."


s: She said: with duteous haste a bevy fair


s: With varied toils the rest adorn the dome.


s: Magnificent, and blithe, the suitors come.


s: Some wield the sounding axe; the dodder'd oaks


s: Divide, obedient to the forceful strokes.


s: Soon from the fount, with each a brimming urn


s: (Eumaeus in their train), the maids return.


s: Three porkers for the feast, all brawny-chined,


s: He brought; the choicest of the tusky-kind;


s: In lodgments first secure his care he viewed,


s: Then to the king this friendly speech renew'd:


s: "Now say sincere, my guest! the suitor-train


s: Still treat thy worth with lordly dull disdain;


s: Or speaks their deed a bounteous mind humane?"


s: With vollied vengeance blast their towering pride!


s: No conscious blush, no sense of right, restrains


s: The tides of lust that swell the boiling veins;


s: From vice to vice their appetites are toss'd,


s: While thus the chief his woes indignant told,


s: The goodliest goats of all the royal herd


s: Spontaneous to the suitors' feast preferr'd;


s: Two grooms assistant bore the victims bound;


s: With quavering cries the vaulted roofs resound;


s: The wretch unfriendly to the race of man:


s: "Here vagrant, still? offensive to my lords!


s: These arguments I'll use: nor conscious shame,


s: Nor threats, thy bold intrusion will reclaim.


s: On this high feast the meanest vulgar boast


s: A plenteous board! Hence! seek another host!"


s: Rejoinder to the churl the king disdain'd,


s: But shook his head, and rising wrath restrain'd.


s: Philaetius late arrived, a faithful swain.


s: A steer ungrateful to the bull's embrace.


s: And goats he brought, the pride of all their race;


s: Straight to the guardian of the bristly kind


s: "What guest is he, of such majestic air?


s: Dim through the eclipse of fate, the rays divine


s: Of sovereign state with faded splendour shine.


s: If monarchs by the gods are plunged in woe,


s: Then affable he thus the chief address'd,


s: Whilst with pathetic warmth his hand he press'd:


s: "Stranger, may fate a milder aspect show,


s: The tyrant, not the father of the skies!


s: With penury, contempt, repulse, and care,


s: The galling load of life is doom'd to bear.


s: Ulysses from his state a wanderer still,


s: Upbraids thy power, thy wisdom, or thy will!


s: Fresh flow my tears, and shall for ever flow!


s: Like thee, poor stranger guest, denied his home,


s: Like thee: in rags obscene decreed to roam!


s: Or, haply perish'd on some distant coast,


s: In stygian gloom he glides, a pensive ghost!


s: Oh, grateful for the good his bounty gave,


s: I'll grieve, till sorrow sink me to the grave!


s: His kind protecting hand my youth preferr'd,


s: With vast increase beneath my care it spreads:


s: A stately breed! and blackens far the meads.


s: Constrain'd, the choicest beeves I thence import,


s: To cram these cormorants that crowd his court:


s: Who in partition seek his realm to share;


s: Nor human right nor wrath divine revere,


s: Since here resolved oppressive these reside,


s: Contending doubts my anxious heart divide:


s: Now to some foreign clime inclined to fly,


s: Then, happier thoughts return the nodding scale,


s: Light mounts despair, alternate hopes prevail:


s: My king returns; the proud usurpers die."


s: To whom the chief: "In thy capacious mind


s: Since daring zeal with cool debate is join'd,


s: This sacred truth attest, each genial power,


s: Who bless the board, and guard this friendly bower!


s: Before thou quit the dome (nor long delay)


s: Thy wish produced in act, with pleased survey,


s: Thy wondering eyes shall view: his rightful reign


s: And to the shades devote the suitor-train."


s: "O Jove supreme! (the raptured swain replies,)


s: With deeds consummate soon the promised joys!


s: These aged nerves, with new-born vigour strung,


s: In that blest cause should emulate the young."


s: Assents Eumaeus to the prayer address'd;


s: And equal ardours fire his loyal breast.


s: Meantime the suitors urge the prince's fate,


s: And deathful arts employ the dire debate:


s: Truss'd with his sinewy pounce a trembling dove;


s: "The gods from force and fraud the prince defend;


s: Your future thought let sable fate employ;


s: And give the present hour to genial joy."


s: From council straight the assenting peerage ceased,


s: And in the dome prepared the genial feast.


s: Disrobed, their vests apart in order lay,


s: Then all with speed succinct the victims slay:


s: With sheep and shaggy goats the porkers bled,


s: And the proud steer was on the marble spread.


s: With fire prepared, they deal the morsels round,


s: Wine, rosy-bright, the brimming goblets crown'd,


s: High canisters of bread Philaetius placed;


s: Disposed apart, Ulysses shares the treat;


s: The prince appoints; but to his sire assigns


s: The tasteful inwards, and nectareous wines.


s: "Partake, my guest (he cried), without control


s: The social feast, and drain the cheering bowl:


s: Dread not the railer's laugh, nor ruffian's rage;


s: No vulgar roof protects thy honour'd age;


s: This dome a refuge to thy wrongs shall be,


s: From my great sire too soon devolved to me!


s: Your violence and scorn, ye suitors, cease,


s: Awed by the prince, so haughty, brave, and young,


s: Rage gnaw'd the lip, amazement chain'd the tongue.


s: "Be patient, peers! (at length Antinous cries,)


s: The threats of vain imperious youth despise:


s: That stream of eloquence should cease to flow."


s: Without reply vouchsafed, Antinous ceased:


s: Meanwhile the pomp of festival increased:


s: By heralds rank'd; in marshall'd order move


s: The city tribes, to pleased Apollo's grove:


s: Beneath the verdure of which awful shade,


s: Partook the sacred feast, and ritual honours paid.


s: But the rich banquet, in the dome prepared


s: (An humble sideboard set) Ulysses shared.


s: His menial train attend the stranger-guest;


s: Whom Pallas with unpardoning fury fired,


s: By lordly pride and keen reproach inspired.


s: A Samian peer, more studious than the rest


s: Of vice, who teem'd with many a dead-born jest;


s: And urged, for title to a consort queen,


s: (Otesippus named); this lord Ulysses eyed,


s: And thus burst out the imposthumate with pride:


s: "The sentence I propose, ye peers, attend:


s: Since due regard must wait the prince's friend,


s: This gift acquits the dear respect I owe;


s: With which he nobly may discharge his seat,


s: And pay the menials for a master's treat."


s: He said: and of the steer before him placed,


s: Where to the pastern-bone, by nerves combined,


s: The well-horn'd foot indissolubly join'd;


s: Which whizzing high, the wall unseemly sign'd.


s: The chief indignant grins a ghastly smile;


s: Revenge and scorn within his bosom boil:


s: When thus the prince with pious rage inflamed:


s: "Had not the inglorious wound thy malice aim'd


s: Fall'n guiltless of the mark, my certain spear


s: Had made thee buy the brutal triumph dear:


s: Nor should thy sire a queen his daughter boast;


s: The suitor, now, had vanish'd in a ghost:


s: No more, ye lewd compeers, with lawless power


s: Invade my dome, my herds and flocks devour:


s: For genuine worth, of age mature to know,


s: My grape shall redden, and my harvest grow


s: Or, if each other's wrongs ye still support,


s: With rapes and riot to profane my court;


s: What single arm with numbers can contend?


s: On me let all your lifted swords descend,


s: And with my life such vile dishonours end."


s: "A just reproof, ye peers! your rage restrain


s: From the protected guest, and menial train:


s: And, prince! to stop the source of future ill,


s: Assent yourself, and gain the royal will.


s: Whilst hope prevail'd to see your sire restored,


s: Of right the queen refused a second lord:


s: But who so vain of faith, so blind to fate,


s: To think he still survives to claim the state?


s: Now press the sovereign dame with warm desire


s: To wed, as wealth or worth her choice inspire:


s: Far hence will lead the long-contested prize:


s: Whilst in paternal pomp with plenty bless'd,


s: You reign, of this imperial dome possess'd."


s: "By him at whose behest the thunder flies,


s: Enroll'd, perhaps, in Pluto's dreary train),


s: Whene'er her choice the royal dame avows,


s: My bridal gifts shall load the future spouse:


s: But from this dome my parent queen to chase!


s: From me, ye gods! avert such dire disgrace."


s: But Pallas clouds with intellectual gloom


s: The suitors' souls, insensate of their doom!


s: A mirthful frenzy seized the fated crowd;


s: The roofs resound with causeless laughter loud;


s: In each discolour'd vase the viands lay;


s: Then down each cheek the tears spontaneous flow


s: And sudden sighs precede approaching woe.


s: Uprose, and thus divined the vengeance near:


s: "O race to death devote! with Stygian shade


s: Each destin'd peer impending fates invade;


s: With tears your wan distorted cheeks are drown'd;


s: With sanguine drops the walls are rubied round:


s: Thick swarms the spacious hall with howling ghosts,


s: To people Orcus, and the burning coasts!


s: Nor gives the sun his golden orb to roll,


s: Yet warn'd in vain, with laughter loud elate


s: The peers reproach the sure divine of Fate;


s: To every sense is lost, to reason blind;


s: Swift from the dome conduct the slave away;


s: "Tax not (the heaven-illumined seer rejoin'd)


s: No clouds of error dim the ethereal rays,


s: Her equal power each faithful sense obeys.


s: Unguided hence my trembling steps I bend,


s: Far hence, before yon hovering deaths descend;


s: I share the doom ye suitors cannot shun."


s: This said, to sage Piraeus sped the seer,


s: His honour'd host, a welcome inmate there.


s: O'er the protracted feast the suitors sit,


s: And aim to wound the prince with pointless wit:


s: Cries one, with scornful leer and mimic voice,


s: "Thy charity we praise, but not thy choice;


s: To this poor, timorous, toil-detesting drone?


s: And pays his host with hideous noon-day dreams.


s: But, prince! for once at least believe a friend;


s: To some Sicilian mart these courtiers send,


s: Where, if they yield their freight across the main,


s: Dear sell the slaves! demand no greater gain."


s: Thus jovial they; but nought the prince replies;


s: Full on his sire he roll'd his ardent eyes:


s: Impatient straight to flesh his virgin-sword;


s: From the wise chief he waits the deathful word.


s: Nigh in her bright alcove, the pensive queen


s: Sated at length they rise, and bid prepare


s: An eve-repast, with equal cost and care:


s: But vengeful Pallas, with preventing speed,


s: A feast proportion'd to their crimes decreed;


s: A feast of death, the feasters doom'd to bleed!


s: Penelope, to put an end to the solicitation of the suitors,


s: proposes to marry the person who shall first bend the bow of


s: his hands. He bends it immediately, and shoots through all the


s: rings. Jupiter at the same instant thunders from heaven; Ulysses


s: And Pallas now, to raise the rivals' fires,


s: The well-aim'd arrow through the distant ring,


s: Shall end the strife, and win the imperial dame:


s: But discord and black death await the game!


s: The prudent queen the lofty stair ascends:


s: A brazen key she held, the handle turn'd,


s: With steel and polish'd elephant adorn'd:


s: Swift to the inmost room she bent her way,


s: Where, safe reposed, the royal treasures lay:


s: There shone high heap'd the labour'd brass and ore,


s: And there the bow which great Ulysses bore;


s: And there the quiver, where now guiltless slept


s: Those winged deaths that many a matron wept.


s: This gift, long since when Sparta's shore he trod,


s: One loss was private, one a public debt;


s: Three hundred sheep, and all the shepherd swains;


s: And to the youthful prince to urge the laws,


s: The king and elders trust their common cause.


s: Search'd the wide country for his wandering mares,


s: And mules, the strongest of the labouring kind;


s: Hapless to search; more hapless still to find!


s: For journeying on to Hercules, at length


s: That lawless wretch, that man of brutal strength,


s: Deaf to Heaven's voice, the social rites transgress'd;


s: And for the beauteous mares destroy'd his guest.


s: Received a pointed sword, and missile dart:


s: Of luckless friendship on a foreign shore


s: Their first, last pledges! for they met no more.


s: The bow, bequeath'd by this unhappy hand,


s: Nor in the front of battle taught to bend,


s: But kept in dear memorial of his friend.


s: Then o'er the pavement glides with grace divine


s: (With polish'd oak the level pavements shine);


s: The folding gates a dazzling light display'd,


s: With pomp of various architrave o'erlaid.


s: The bolt, obedient to the silken string,


s: Forsakes the staple as she pulls the ring;


s: The wards respondent to the key turn round;


s: The bars fall back; the flying valves resound;


s: Loud as a bull makes hill and valley ring,


s: So roar'd the lock when it released the spring.


s: She moves majestic through the wealthy room,


s: Where treasured garments cast a rich perfume;


s: There from the column where aloft it hung,


s: Reach'd in its splendid case, the bow unstrung;


s: Across her knees she laid the well-known bow,


s: And pensive sate, and tears began to flow.


s: To the proud suitors bears in pensive state


s: The unbended bow, and arrows winged with fate.


s: Behind, her train the polish'd coffer brings,


s: Which held the alternate brass and silver rings.


s: Full in the portal the chaste queen appears,


s: And with her veil conceals the coming tears:


s: While thus the matron, with majestic air:


s: "Say you, when these forbidden walls inclose,


s: For whom my victims bleed, my vintage flows:


s: If these neglected, faded charms can move?


s: Hear the conditions, and commence the strife.


s: Who first Ulysses' wondrous bow shall bend,


s: And through twelve ringlets the fleet arrow send;


s: For him forsake this loved, this wealthy dome,


s: Long, long the scene of all my past delight,


s: And still to last, the vision of my night!"


s: Graceful she said, and bade Eumaeus show


s: The rival peers the ringlets and the bow.


s: From his full eyes the tears unbidden spring,


s: Touch'd at the dear memorials of his king.


s: The tender drops. Antinous saw, and said:


s: "Hence to your fields, ye rustics! hence away,


s: Nor stain with grief the pleasures of the day;


s: Enough her precious tears already flow--


s: Or share the feast with due respect; or go


s: To weep abroad, and leave to us the bow,


s: No vulgar task! Ill suits this courtly crew


s: That stubborn horn which brave Ulysses drew.


s: While yet a child), what majesty he bore!


s: The port, the strength, the grandeur of the man."


s: He said, but in his soul fond joys arise,


s: And his proud hopes already win the prize.


s: To speed the flying shaft through every ring,


s: Wretch! is not thine: the arrows of the king


s: Shall end those hopes, and fate is on the wing!


s: With pleasing frenzy has possess'd my mind;


s: When a loved mother threatens to depart,


s: Why with this ill-timed gladness leaps my heart?


s: Come then, ye suitors! and dispute a prize


s: Richer than all the Achaian state supplies,


s: Than all our isles or continents inclose;


s: Fit for the praise of every tongue but mine.


s: "I too may try, and if this arm can wing


s: The feather'd arrow through the destined ring,


s: Then if no happier night the conquest boast,


s: But, bless'd in her, possess those arms alone,


s: Heir of my father's strength, as well as throne."


s: He spoke; then rising, his broad sword unbound,


s: And cast his purple garment on the ground.


s: A trench he open'd: in a line he placed.


s: The level axes, and the points made fast


s: (His perfect skill the wondering gazers eyed,


s: The game as yet unseen, as yet untried).


s: Then, with a manly pace, he took his stand:


s: And grasp'd the bow, and twang'd it in his hand.


s: Three times, with beating heart, he made essay:


s: Three times, unequal to the task, gave way;


s: A modest boldness on his cheek appear'd:


s: And thrice he hoped, and thrice again he fear'd.


s: The fourth had drawn it. The great sire with joy


s: Beheld, but with a sign forbade the boy.


s: His ardour straight the obedient prince suppress'd,


s: And, artful, thus the suitor-train address'd:


s: (For heaven forbid such weakness should endure!)


s: But you! whom Heaven with better nerves has bless'd,


s: Accept the trial, and the prize contest."


s: Against the polish'd quiver propp'd the dart.


s: "From where the goblet first begins to flow,


s: From right to left in order take the bow;


s: And prove your several strengths." The princes heard


s: And first Leiodes, blameless priest'd, appear'd:


s: Who next the goblet held his holy place:


s: Their deeds detested, and abjured the wrong.


s: With tender hands the stubborn horn he strains,


s: The stubborn horn resisted all his pains!


s: "Take it who will (he cries), I strive no more,


s: What numerous deaths attend this fatal bow!


s: What souls and spirits shall it send below!


s: Nature her debt, than disappointed live,


s: With each new sun to some new hope a prey,


s: This bow shall ease us of that idle thought,


s: And send us with some humbler wife to live,


s: Whom gold shall gain, or destiny shall give."


s: Thus speaking, on the floor the bow he placed


s: (With rich inlay the various floor was graced):


s: At distance far the feather'd shaft he throws,


s: And to the seat returns from whence he rose.


s: "What words ill-omen'd from thy lips have fled?


s: Those arms are dreadful which thou canst not bear,


s: Why should this bow be fatal to the brave?


s: Because the priest is born a peaceful slave.


s: Mark then what others can." He ended there,


s: And bade Melanthius a vast pile prepare;


s: He gives it instant flame, then fast beside


s: Spreads o'er an ample board a bullock's hide.


s: With melted lard they soak the weapon o'er,


s: Chafe every knot, and supple every pore.


s: Vain all their art, and all their strength as vain;


s: And bold Antinous, yet untired, unknown:


s: Those only now remain'd; but those confess'd


s: Of all the train the mightiest and the best.


s: Then from the hall, and from the noisy crew,


s: The masters of the herd and flock withdrew.


s: The king observes them, he the hall forsakes,


s: And, past the limits of the court, o'ertakes.


s: Then thus with accent mild Ulysses spoke:


s: "Ye faithful guardians of the herd and flock!


s: Shall I the secret of my breast conceal,


s: Or (as my soul now dictates) shall I tell?


s: Say, should some favouring god restore again


s: How beat your hearts? what aid would you afford


s: To the proud suitors, or your ancient lord?"


s: Philaetius thus: "O were thy word not vain!


s: Would mighty Jove restore that man again!


s: These aged sinews, with new vigour strung,


s: In his blest cause should emulate the young."


s: Each power above, with wishes for his lord.


s: He saw their secret souls, and thus began:


s: "Those vows the gods accord; behold the man!


s: Your own Ulysses! twice ten years detain'd


s: By woes and wanderings from this hapless land:


s: At length he comes; but comes despised, unknown,


s: And finding faithful you, and you alone.


s: All else have cast him from their very thought,


s: E'en in their wishes and their prayers forgot!


s: Hear then, my friends: If Jove this arm succeed,


s: And give yon impious revellers to bleed,


s: My care shall be to bless your future lives


s: With large possessions and with faithful wives;


s: Fast by my palace shall your domes ascend,


s: And each be call'd his brother and my friend.


s: To give you firmer faith, now trust your eye;


s: Lo! the broad scar indented on my thigh,


s: On Parnass' top I chased the tusky boar."


s: His ragged vest then drawn aside disclosed


s: The sign conspicuous, and the scar exposed:


s: Eager they view'd, with joy they stood amazed


s: With tearful eyes o'er all their master gazed:


s: Around his neck their longing arms they cast,


s: His head, his shoulders, and his knees embraced;


s: Tears followed tears; no word was in their power;


s: In solemn silence fell the kindly shower.


s: The king too weeps, the king too grasps their hands;


s: And moveless, as a marble fountain, stands.


s: Thus had their joy wept down the setting sun,


s: But first the wise man ceased, and thus begun:


s: "Enough--on other cares your thought employ,


s: Full many foes and fierce, observe us near;


s: Some may betray, and yonder walls may hear.


s: Re-enter then, not all at once, but stay


s: Some moments you, and let me lead the way.


s: And each lock fast the well-compacted gate:


s: Close let them keep, whate'er invades their ear;


s: Though arms, or shouts, or dying groans they hear.


s: To thy strict charge, Philaetius, we consign


s: The court's main gate: to guard that pass be thine."


s: This said, he first return'd; the faithful swains


s: At distance follow, as their king ordains.


s: And turns the bow, and chafes it with his hands


s: Still the tough bow unmoved. The lofty man


s: Sigh'd from his mighty soul, and thus began:


s: "I mourn the common cause: for, oh, my friends,


s: On me, on all, what grief, what shame attends!


s: Not the lost nuptials can affect me more


s: (For Greece has beauteous dames on every shore),


s: But baffled thus! confess'd so far below


s: Ulysses' strength, as not to bend his bow!


s: Our weakness scorn!" Antinous thus replied:


s: Which thoughtless we in games would waste away:


s: Till the next dawn this ill-timed strife forego,


s: And here leave fixed the ringlets in a row.


s: Now bid the sewer approach, and let us join


s: So end our night: before the day shall spring,


s: The choicest offerings let Melanthius bring:


s: Let then to Phoebus' name the fatted thighs


s: Feed the rich smokes high curling to the skies.


s: So shall the patron of these arts bestow


s: (For his the gift) the skill to bend the bow."


s: They heard well pleased: the ready heralds bring


s: The cleansing waters from the limpid spring:


s: The goblet high with rosy wine they crown'd,


s: That rite complete, uprose the thoughtful man,


s: "If what I ask your noble minds approve,


s: Chief, if it hurt not great Antinous' ear


s: (Whose sage decision I with wonder hear),


s: Give Heaven this day and rest the bow in peace.


s: To-morrow let your arms dispute the prize,


s: And take it he, the favour'd of the skies!


s: But, since till then this trial you delay,


s: Fain would I prove, before your judging eyes,


s: What once I was, whom wretched you despise:


s: If yet this arm its ancient force retain;


s: And wants and insults, make me less than man."


s: Rage flash'd in lightning from the suitors' eyes,


s: Yet mixed with terror at the bold emprise.


s: Is common sense quite banish'd from thy breast?


s: Sufficed it not, within the palace placed,


s: To sit distinguish'd, with our presence graced,


s: And much thy betters wine can overthrow:


s: The great Eurytian when this frenzy stung,


s: Pirithous' roofs with frantic riot rung;


s: Boundless the Centaur raged; till one and all


s: The heroes rose, and dragg'd him from the hall;


s: His nose they shorten'd, and his ears they slit,


s: And sent him sober'd home, with better wit.


s: Hence with long war the double race was cursed,


s: Fatal to all, but to the aggressor first.


s: Nor shall these walls such insolence contain:


s: The first fair wind transports him o'er the main,


s: Where Echetus to death the guilty brings


s: (The worst of mortals, e'en the worst of kings).


s: Better than that, if thou approve our cheer;


s: Cease the mad strife and share our bounty here."


s: To this the queen her just dislike express'd:


s: "'Tis impious, prince, to harm the stranger-guest,


s: Base to insult who bears a suppliant's name,


s: Sufficient strength to draw the mighty bow?


s: Shall I, a queen, by rival chiefs adored,


s: Accept a wandering stranger for my lord?


s: Then ease your bosoms of a fear so vain.


s: Far be he banish'd from this stately scene


s: Who wrongs his princess with a thought so mean."


s: Moved by no weak surmise, but sense of shame,


s: We dread the all-arraigning voice of Fame:


s: We dread the censure of the meanest slave,


s: The weakest woman: all can wrong the brave.


s: 'Behold what wretches to the bed pretend


s: Of that brave chief whose bow they could not bend!


s: And did what all those princes could not do.'


s: Thus will the common voice our deed defame,


s: To whom the queen: "If fame engage your views,


s: Forbear those acts which infamy pursues;


s: Wrong and oppression no renown can raise;


s: Know, friend! that virtue is the path to praise.


s: The stature of our guest, his port, his face,


s: Speak him descended from no vulgar race.


s: And to his hand if Phoebus give the day,


s: Hence, to reward his merit, be shall bear


s: A two-edged falchion and a shining spear,


s: Embroider'd sandals, a rich cloak and vest,


s: A son's just right. No Grecian prince but I


s: Of all that Ithaca's rough hills contain,


s: And all wide Elis' courser-breeding plain,


s: And mine alone they are, to give or lend.


s: Retire, O queen! thy household task resume,


s: Tend, with thy maids, the labours of thy loom;


s: The bow, the darts, and arms of chivalry,


s: These cares to man belong, and most to me."


s: Mature beyond his years, the queen admired


s: His sage reply, and with her train retired;


s: Revolved his words, and placed them in her heart.


s: Down her fair cheek the tears abundant roll,


s: Till gentle Pallas, piteous of her cries,


s: In slumber closed her silver-streaming eyes.


s: Now through the press the bow Eumaeus bore,


s: And all was riot, noise, and wild uproar.


s: "Hold! lawless rustic! whither wilt thou go?


s: To whom, insensate, dost thou bear the bow?


s: Exiled for this to some sequester'd den,


s: To thy own dogs a prey thou shalt be made;


s: If Heaven and Phoebus lend the suitors aid."


s: Thus they. Aghast he laid the weapon down,


s: "Proceed, false slave, and slight their empty words:


s: What! hopes the fool to please so many lords?


s: Young as I am, thy prince's vengeful hand


s: Stretch'd forth in wrath shall drive thee from the land.


s: Oh! could the vigour of this arm as well


s: The oppressive suitors from my walls expel!


s: Then what a shoal of lawless men should go


s: To fill with tumult the dark courts below!"


s: The suitors with a scornful smile survey


s: Eumaeus, thus encouraged, hastes to bring


s: The strifeful bow and gives it to the king.


s: "Hear what Telemachus enjoins (he cried):


s: And each lock fast the well-compacted gate;


s: If arms, or shouts, or dying groans they hear,


s: Let none to call or issue forth presume,


s: But close attend the labours of the loom."


s: Her prompt obedience on his order waits;


s: Closed in an instant were the palace gates.


s: In the same moment forth Philaetius flies,


s: Secures the court, and with a cable ties


s: The utmost gate (the cable strongly wrought


s: Then unperceived and silent at the board


s: His seat he takes, his eyes upon his lord.


s: And now his well-known bow the master bore,


s: Turn'd on all sides, and view'd it o'er and o'er;


s: Lest time or worms had done the weapon wrong,


s: While some deriding--"How he turns the bow!


s: Some other like it sure the man must know,


s: Or else would copy; or in bows he deals;


s: Perhaps he makes them, or perhaps he steals."


s: "Heaven to this wretch (another cried) be kind!


s: And bless, in all to which he stands inclined.


s: With such good fortune as he now shall find."


s: Heedless he heard them: but disdain'd reply;


s: Then, as some heavenly minstrel, taught to sing


s: High notes responsive to the trembling string,


s: To some new strain when he adapts the lyre,


s: Relaxes, strains, and draws them to and fro;


s: So the great master drew the mighty bow,


s: And drew with ease. One hand aloft display'd


s: The bending horns, and one the string essay'd.


s: From his essaying hand the string, let fly,


s: Twang'd short and sharp like the shrill swallow's cry.


s: A general horror ran through all the race,


s: Sunk was each heart, and pale was every face,


s: Signs from above ensued: the unfolding sky


s: In lightning burst; Jove thunder'd from on high.


s: Fired at the call of heaven's almighty Lord,


s: He snatch'd the shaft that glitter'd on the board


s: (Fast by, the rest lay sleeping in the sheath,


s: But soon to fly the messengers of death).


s: Now sitting as he was, the cord he drew,


s: Through every ringlet levelling his view:


s: Then notch'd the shaft, released, and gave it wing;


s: The whizzing arrow vanished from the string,


s: Sung on direct, and threaded every ring.


s: The solid gate its fury scarcely bounds;


s: Pierced through and through the solid gate resounds,


s: Then to the prince: "Nor have I wrought thee shame;


s: Nor err'd this hand unfaithful to its aim;


s: Nor prov'd the toil too hard; nor have I lost


s: That ancient vigour, once my pride and boast.


s: Ill I deserved these haughty peers' disdain;


s: Now let them comfort their dejected train,


s: In sweet repast their present hour employ,


s: Nor wait till evening for the genial joy:


s: Then to the lute's soft voice prolong the night;


s: Music, the banquet's most refined delight."


s: He said, then gave a nod; and at the word


s: Fast by his father's side he takes his stand:


s: Ulysses begins the slaughter of the suitors by the death of


s: Antinous. He declares himself, and lets fly his arrows at the


s: rest. Telemachus assists and brings arms for his father, himself,


s: unfaithful servants are executed. The rest acknowledge their


s: Then fierce the hero o'er the threshold strode;


s: Stripp'd of his rags, he blazed out like a god.


s: Full in their face the lifted bow he bore,


s: And quiver'd deaths, a formidable store;


s: Before his feet the rattling shower he threw,


s: "One venturous game this hand hath won to-day,


s: Phoebus, assist! nor be the labour vain."


s: Swift as the word the parting arrow sings,


s: And bears thy fate, Antinous, on its wings:


s: Wretch that he was, of unprophetic soul!


s: High in his hands he rear'd the golden bowl!


s: E'en then to drain it lengthen'd out his breath;


s: Changed to the deep, the bitter draught of death:


s: For fate who fear'd amidst a feastful band?


s: Full through his throat Ulysses' weapon pass'd,


s: And pierced his neck. He falls, and breathes his last.


s: The tumbling goblet the wide floor o'erflows,


s: A stream of gore burst spouting from his nose;


s: Before him spurn'd the loaded table falls,


s: And spreads the pavement with a mingled flood


s: Of floating meats, and wine, and human blood.


s: Amazed, confounded, as they saw him fall,


s: Up rose he throngs tumultuous round the hall:


s: O'er all the dome they cast a haggard eye,


s: Each look'd for arms--in vain; no arms were nigh:


s: "Aim'st thou at princes? (all amazed they said;)


s: Thy last of games unhappy hast thou play'd;


s: Thy erring shaft has made our bravest bleed,


s: And death, unlucky guest, attends thy deed.


s: Vultures shall tear thee." Thus incensed they spoke,


s: While each to chance ascribed the wondrous stroke:


s: Blind as they were: for death e'en now invades


s: His destined prey, and wraps them all in shades.


s: Then, grimly frowning, with a dreadful look,


s: That wither'd all their hearts, Ulysses spoke:


s: "Dogs, ye have had your day! ye fear'd no more


s: While, to your lust and spoil a guardless prey,


s: Our house, our wealth, our helpless handmaids lay:


s: Not so content, with bolder frenzy fired,


s: E'en to our bed presumptuous you aspired:


s: Or shame of men, or dread of gods above;


s: The hour of vengeance, wretches, now is come;


s: Impending fate is yours, and instant doom."


s: Thus dreadful he. Confused the suitors stood,


s: From their pale cheeks recedes the flying blood:


s: Trembling they sought their guilty heads to hide.


s: "If, as thy words import (he thus began),


s: Great are thy wrongs, and much hast thou sustain'd


s: In thy spoil'd palace, and exhausted land;


s: The cause and author of those guilty deeds,


s: Not love, but wild ambition was his guide;


s: These were his aims; but juster Jove denied.


s: Since cold in death the offender lies, oh spare


s: Thy suppliant people, and receive their prayer!


s: Brass, gold, and treasures, shall the spoil defray,


s: Two hundred oxen every prince shall pay:


s: Till then thy wrath is just." Ulysses burn'd


s: With high disdain, and sternly thus return'd:


s: "All, all the treasure that enrich'd our throne


s: Before your rapines, join'd with all your own,


s: If offer'd, vainly should for mercy call;


s: 'Tis you that offer, and I scorn them all;


s: Your blood is my demand, your lives the prize,


s: Till pale as yonder wretch each suitor lies.


s: Hence with those coward terms; or fight or fly;


s: This choice is left you, to resist or die:


s: And die I trust ye shall." He sternly spoke:


s: With guilty fears the pale assembly shook.


s: "Yon archer, comrades, will not shoot in vain;


s: But from the threshold shall his darts be sped,


s: (Whoe'er he be), till every prince lie dead?


s: Be mindful of yourselves, draw forth your swords,


s: And to his shafts obtend these ample boards


s: (So need compels). Then, all united, strive


s: The bold invader from his post to drive:


s: The city roused shall to our rescue haste,


s: And this mad archer soon have shot his last."


s: Swift as he spoke, he drew his traitor sword,


s: And like a lion rush'd against his lord:


s: The wary chief the rushing foe repress'd,


s: Who met the point and forced it in his breast:


s: His falling hand deserts the lifted sword,


s: And prone he falls extended o'er the board!


s: The untasted viands, and the jovial bowl.


s: Full through his liver pass'd the mortal wound,


s: With dying rage his forehead beats the ground;


s: He spurn'd the seat with fury as he fell,


s: And the fierce soul to darkness dived, and hell.


s: To force the pass; the godlike man defends.


s: Thy spear, Telemachus, prevents the attack,


s: The brazen weapon driving through his back.


s: Thence through his breast its bloody passage tore;


s: Flat falls he thundering on the marble floor,


s: And his crush'd forehead marks the stone with gore.


s: He left his javelin in the dead, for fear


s: The long encumbrance of the weighty spear


s: To the fierce foe advantage might afford,


s: To rash between and use the shorten'd sword.


s: With speedy ardour to his sire he flies,


s: And, "Arm, great father! arm (in haste he cries).


s: Lo, hence I run for other arms to wield,


s: For missive javelins, and for helm and shield;


s: Fast by our side let either faithful swain


s: In arms attend us, and their part sustain."


s: While yet the auxiliar shafts this hand supply;


s: Lest thus alone, encounter'd by an host,


s: Driven from the gate, the important past be lost."


s: Where piled in heaps the royal armour lies;


s: Four brazen helmets, eight refulgent spears,


s: And four broad bucklers to his sire he bears:


s: At once each servant braced his armour on;


s: Around their king a faithful guard they stand.


s: While yet each shaft flew deathful from his hand:


s: Chief after chief expired at every wound,


s: And swell'd the bleeding mountain on the ground.


s: Soon as his store of flying fates was spent.


s: And now his shoulders bear the massy shield,


s: And now his hands two beamy javelins wield:


s: He frowns beneath his nodding plume, that play'd


s: O'er the high crest, and cast a dreadful shade.


s: There stood a window near, whence looking down


s: From o'er the porch appear'd the subject town.


s: A double strength of valves secured the place,


s: The cautious king, with all-preventing care,


s: To guard that outlet, placed Eumaeus there;


s: To mount yon window, and alarm from thence


s: The neighbour-town? the town shall force the door,


s: And this bold archer soon shall shoot no more."


s: Melanthius then: "That outlet to the gate


s: So near adjoins, that one may guard the strait.


s: Myself with arms can furnish all the train;


s: And their own darts shall pierce the prince and king."


s: He said; and mounting up the lofty stairs,


s: Twelve shields, twelve lances, and twelve helmets bears:


s: All arm, and sudden round the hall appears


s: A blaze of bucklers, and a wood of spears.


s: The hero stands oppress'd with mighty woe,


s: "Oh cursed event! and oh unlook'd for aid!


s: Oh my dear son!"--The father with a sigh


s: Then ceased; the filial virtue made reply;


s: "Falsehood is folly, and 'tis just to own


s: The fault committed: this was mine alone;


s: And hence the villain has supplied their war.


s: Run, good Eumaeus, then, and (what before


s: I thoughtless err'd in) well secure that door:


s: Learn, if by female fraud this deed were done,


s: Or (as my thought misgives) by Dolius' son."


s: While yet they spoke, in quest of arms again


s: To the high chamber stole the faithless swain,


s: And thus address'd Ulysses near his side:


s: "The miscreant we suspected takes that way;


s: Him, if this arm be powerful, shall I slay?


s: Or drive him hither, to receive the meed


s: From thy own hand, of this detested deed?"


s: "Not so (replied Ulysses); leave him there,


s: Within the structure of this palace wall


s: To keep enclosed his masters till they fall.


s: Go you, and seize the felon; backward bind


s: His arms and legs, and fix a plank behind:


s: On this his body by strong cords extend,


s: So studied tortures his vile days shall end."


s: The ready swains obey'd with joyful haste,


s: Behind the felon unperceived they pass'd,


s: As round the room in quest of arms he goes


s: (The half-shut door conceal'd his lurking foes):


s: One hand sustain'd a helm, and one the shield


s: Which old Laertes wont in youth to wield,


s: Cover'd with dust, with dryness chapp'd and worn,


s: The brass corroded, and the leather torn.


s: Thus laden, o'er the threshold as he stepp'd,


s: Fierce on the villain from each side they leap'd,


s: And down reluctant on the pavement threw.


s: Active and pleased the zealous swains fulfil


s: At every point their master's rigid will;


s: First, fast behind, his hands and feet they bound,


s: Then straighten'd cords involved his body round;


s: So drawn aloft, athwart the column tied,


s: The howling felon swung from side to side.


s: Eumaeus scoffing then with keen disdain:


s: "There pass thy pleasing night, O gentle swain!


s: On that soft pillow, from that envied height,


s: First may'st thou see the springing dawn of light;


s: So timely rise, when morning streaks the east,


s: To drive thy victims to the suitors' feast."


s: This said, they, left him, tortured as he lay,


s: Secured the door, and hasty strode away:


s: Each, breathing death, resumed his dangerous post


s: Near great Ulysses; four against an host,


s: Jove's daughter, Pallas, War's triumphant maid:


s: In Mentor's friendly form she join'd his side:


s: Ulysses saw, and thus with transport cried:


s: "Come, ever welcome, and thy succour lend;


s: Early we loved, and long our loves have grown;


s: Whate'er through life's whole series I have done,


s: Or good, or grateful, now to mind recall,


s: And, aiding this one hour, repay it all."


s: Thus he; but pleasing hopes his bosom warm


s: The adverse host the phantom-warrior eyed,


s: And first, loud-threatening, Agelaus cried:


s: "Mentor, beware, nor let that tongue persuade


s: Our force successful shall our threat make good,


s: And with the sire and son commix thy blood.


s: What hopest thou here? Thee first the sword shall slay,


s: Far hence thy banish'd consort shall we send;


s: With his thy forfeit lands and treasures blend;


s: Thus, and thus only, shalt thou join thy friend."


s: His barbarous insult even the goddess fires,


s: Who thus the warrior to revenge inspires:


s: "Art thou Ulysses? where then shall we find


s: That courage, once the Trojans' daily dread,


s: Known nine long years, and felt by heroes dead?


s: And where that conduct, which revenged the lust


s: Of Priam's race, and laid proud Troy in dust?


s: If this, when Helen was the cause, were done;


s: What for thy country now, thy queen, thy son?


s: And foes how weak, opposed against a friend!"


s: The sire and son's great acts withheld the day!


s: By farther toils decreed the brave to try,


s: Then with a change of form eludes their sight,


s: Perch'd like a swallow on a rafter's height,


s: And unperceived enjoys the rising fight.


s: With these, Pisander, great Polyctor's son,


s: The best of all the shafts had left alive.


s: Amidst the carnage, desperate as they stand,


s: "The hour has come, when yon fierce man no more


s: With bleeding princes shall bestrew the floor;


s: Lo! Mentor leaves him with an empty boast;


s: The four remain, but four against an host.


s: Let each at once discharge the deadly dart,


s: One sure of six shall reach Ulysses' heart:


s: The rest must perish, their great leader slain:


s: Thus shall one stroke the glory lost regain."


s: Then all at once their mingled lances threw,


s: And thirsty all of one man's blood they flew;


s: In vain! Minerva turned them with her breath,


s: And scattered short, or wide, the points of death!


s: With deaden'd sound one on the threshold falls,


s: One strikes the gate, one rings against the walls:


s: The storm passed innocent. The godlike man


s: Now loftier trod, and dreadful thus began:


s: "'Tis now (brave friends) our turn, at once to throw,


s: (So speed them Heaven) our javelins at the foe.


s: That impious race to all their past misdeeds


s: Would add our blood, injustice still proceeds."


s: He spoke: at once their fiery lances flew:


s: The goatherd's quiver'd in Pisander's heart;


s: Their fall in thunder echoes round the walls.


s: The rest retreat: the victors now advance,


s: Each from the dead resumes his bloody lance.


s: Again the foe discharge the steely shower;


s: Again made frustrate by the virgin-power.


s: Some, turn'd by Pallas, on the threshold fall,


s: Some wound the gate, some ring against the wall;


s: Some weak, or ponderous with the brazen head,


s: Drop harmless on the pavement, sounding dead.


s: And from Ctesippus' arm the spear elanced:


s: On good Eumaeus' shield and shoulder glanced;


s: Not lessened of their force (so light the wound)


s: Each sung along and dropped upon the ground.


s: Fate doom'd thee next, Eurydamus, to bear,


s: And Polybus renown'd, the faithful swain.


s: Pierced through the breast the rude Ctesippus bled,


s: And thus Philaetius gloried o'er the dead:


s: "There end thy pompous vaunts and high disdain;


s: How weak is mortal pride! To Heaven alone


s: The event of actions and our fates are known:


s: The victim's heel is answered with this spear."


s: Ulysses brandish'd high his vengeful steel,


s: The prince's javelin tore its bloody way


s: Through all his bowels: down he tumbled prone,


s: His batter'd front and brains besmear the stone.


s: Now Pallas shines confess'd; aloft she spreads


s: The arm of vengeance o'er their guilty heads:


s: Amazed they see, they tremble, and they fly:


s: Confused, distracted, through he rooms they fling:


s: Like oxen madden'd by the breeze's sting,


s: When sultry days, and long, succeed the gentle spring,


s: Not half so keen fierce vultures of the chase


s: Stoop from the mountains on the feather'd race,


s: When, the wide field extended snares beset,


s: With conscious dread they shun the quivering net:


s: No help, no flight; but wounded every way,


s: Headlong they drop; the fowlers seize their prey.


s: On all sides thus they double wound on wound,


s: In prostrate heaps the wretches beat the ground,


s: Unmanly shrieks precede each dying groan,


s: And a red deluge floats the reaking stone.


s: The wretched augur thus for mercy calls:


s: "Oh gracious hear, nor let thy suppliant bleed;


s: Still undishonoured, or by word or deed,


s: Thy house, for me remains; by me repress'd


s: Full oft was check'd the injustice of the rest:


s: Averse they heard me when I counselled well,


s: Their hearts were harden'd, and they justly fell.


s: Nor add the blameless to the guilty dead."


s: "Priest as thou art! for that detested band


s: Against Ulysses have thy vows been made,


s: Yet more, e'en to our bed thy pride aspires:


s: One common crime one common fate requires."


s: Thus speaking, from the ground the sword he took


s: Full through his neck the weighty falchion sped;


s: Along the pavement roll'd the muttering head.


s: Phemius alone the hand of vengeance spared,


s: Phemius the sweet, the heaven-instructed bard.


s: Beside the gate the reverend minstrel stands;


s: The lyre now silent trembling in his hands;


s: His honour'd harp with care he first set down,


s: Between the laver and the silver throne;


s: Then prostrate stretch'd before the dreadful man,


s: Persuasive thus, with accent soft began:


s: A deed like this thy future fame would wrong,


s: For dear to gods and men is sacred song.


s: Self-taught I sing; by Heaven, and Heaven alone,


s: And (what the gods bestow) the lofty lay


s: That here I sung, was force, and not desire;


s: This hand reluctant touch'd the warbling wire;


s: Nor servile flattery, stain'd the moral lay."


s: His sire approaches, and the bard defends.


s: "O mix not, father, with those impious dead


s: The man divine! forbear that sacred head;


s: Medon, the herald, too, our arms may spare,


s: If yet he breathes, permit thy son to give


s: Thus much to gratitude, and bid him live."


s: Couch'd close to earth, unhappy Medon lay,


s: Swift at the word he cast his screen aside,


s: Sprung to the prince, embraced his knee with tears,


s: And thus with grateful voice address'd his ears


s: "O prince! O friend! lo, here thy Medon stands


s: Incensed too justly by that impious brood,


s: Whose guilty glories now are set in blood."


s: "Be bold, on friendship and my son rely;


s: How much more safe the good than evil deed:


s: Thou, with the heaven-taught bard, in peace resort


s: From blood and carnage to yon open court:


s: Me other work requires." With timorous awe


s: From the dire scene the exempted two withdraw,


s: Scarce sure of life, look round, and trembling move


s: Meanwhile Ulysses search'd the dome, to find


s: If yet there live of all the offending kind.


s: Not one! complete the bloody tale he found,


s: All steep'd in blood, all gasping on the ground.


s: So, when by hollow shores the fisher-train


s: Sweep with their arching nets the roaring main,


s: And scarce the meshy toils the copious draught contain,


s: The fishes pant, and gasp in thinner air;


s: Wide o'er the sands are spread the stiffening prey,


s: Till the warm sun exhales their soul away.


s: And now the king commands his son to call


s: The sounding portals instant they display;


s: The matron moves, the prince directs the way.


s: On heaps of death the stern Ulysses stood,


s: All black with dust, and cover'd thick with blood.


s: So the grim lion from the slaughter comes,


s: Dreadful lie glares, and terribly he foams,


s: His breast with marks of carnage painted o'er,


s: His jaws all dropping with the bull's black gore.


s: Soon as her eyes the welcome object met,


s: The guilty fall'n, the mighty deed complete;


s: A scream of joy her feeble voice essay'd;


s: The hero check'd her, and composedly said.


s: "Woman, experienced as thou art, control


s: Indecent joy, and feast thy secret soul.


s: Fate and their crime have sunk them to the dust.


s: Nor heeded these the censure of mankind,


s: The good and bad were equal in their mind


s: Justly the price of worthlessness they paid,


s: What maids dishonour us, and what obey?"


s: Then she: "In these thy kingly walls remain


s: (My son) full fifty of the handmaid train,


s: Taught by my care to cull the fleece or weave,


s: And servitude with pleasing tasks deceive;


s: Of these, twice six pursue their wicked way,


s: (Young as he is) his mother's female band.


s: Where slumbers soft now close the royal eye;


s: There wake her with the news"--the matron cried


s: "Not so (Ulysses, more sedate, replied),


s: Bring first the crew who wrought these guilty deeds."


s: In haste the matron parts: the king proceeds;


s: "Now to dispose the dead, the care remains


s: To you, my son, and you, my faithfull swains;


s: The offending females to that task we doom,


s: These (every table cleansed, and every throne,


s: Drive to yon court, without the palace wall,


s: There the revenging sword shall smite them all;


s: So with the suitors let them mix in dust,


s: Stretch'd in a long oblivion of their lust."


s: Each vents a groan, and drops a tender tear;


s: Each heaved her mournful burden, and beneath


s: The porch deposed the ghastly heap of death.


s: The chief severe, compelling each to move,


s: Urged the dire task imperious from above;


s: With thirsty sponge they rub the tables o'er


s: (The swains unite their toil); the walls, the floor,


s: Wash'd with the effusive wave, are purged of gore.


s: To the base court the females take their way;


s: There compass'd close between the dome and wall


s: (Their life's last scene) they trembling wait their fall.


s: Then thus the prince: "To these shall we afford


s: To these, the nightly prostitutes to shame,


s: And base revilers of our house and name?"


s: Thus speaking, on the circling wall he strung


s: A ship's tough cable from a column hung;


s: Near the high top he strain'd it strongly round,


s: Whence no contending foot could reach the ground.


s: They beat the air with quivering feet below:


s: Thus on some tree hung struggling in the snare,


s: The doves or thrushes flap their wings in air.


s: Soon fled the soul impure, and left behind


s: Then forth they led Melanthius, and began


s: Their bloody work; they lopp'd away the man,


s: Morsel for dogs! then trimm'd with brazen shears


s: The wretch, and shorten'd of his nose and ears;


s: His hands and feet last felt the cruel steel:


s: He roar'd, and torments gave his soul to hell.


s: They wash, and to Ulysses take their way:


s: ("Bring hither fire, and hither sulphur bring,


s: To purge the palace: then the queen attend,


s: And let her with her matron-train descend;


s: The matron-train, with all the virgin-band,


s: Assemble here, to learn their lord's command."


s: But cast those mean dishonest rags away;


s: Permit me first the royal robes to bring:


s: Ill suits this garb the shoulders of a king."


s: "Bring sulphur straight, and fire" (the monarch cries).


s: She hears, and at the word obedient flies.


s: With fire and sulphur, cure of noxious fumes,


s: He purged the walls, and blood-polluted rooms.


s: Again the matron springs with eager pace,


s: And spreads her lord's return from place to place.


s: They hear, rush forth, and instant round him stand,


s: They saw, they knew him, and with fond embrace


s: Each humbly kiss'd his knee, or hand, or face;


s: He knows them all, in all such truth appears,


s: E'en he indulges the sweet joy of tears.


s: Euryclea awakens Penelope with the news of Ulysses' return, and


s: the death of the suitors. Penelope scarcely credits her; but


s: supposes some god has punished them, and descends from her


s: department in doubt. At the first interview of Ulysses and


s: Penelope, she is quite unsatisfied. Minerva restores him to the


s: beauty of his youth; but the queen continues incredulous, till by


s: transports of passion and tenderness. They recount to each other


s: Then to the queen, as in repose she lay,


s: The nurse with eager rapture speeds her way:


s: The transports of her faithful heart supply


s: A sudden youth, and give her wings to fly.


s: "And sleeps my child? (the reverend matron cries)


s: At length appears the long-expected hour!


s: No more they view the golden light of day!


s: Arise, and bless thee with the glad survey?"


s: Touch'd at her words, the mournful queen rejoin'd:


s: "Ah! whither wanders thy distemper'd mind?


s: The righteous powers, who tread the starry skies,


s: The weak enlighten, and confound the wise,


s: And human thought, with unresisted sway,


s: Truth, by their high decree, thy voice forsakes,


s: And folly with the tongue of wisdom speaks.


s: Since my dear lord left Ithaca for Troy.


s: Why must I wake to grieve, and curse thy shore,


s: O Troy?--may never tongue pronounce thee more!


s: Begone! another might have felt our rage,


s: But age is sacred, and we spare thy age."


s: To whom with warmth: "My soul a lie disdains;


s: That stranger, patient of the suitors' wrongs,


s: And the rude license of ungovern'd tongues!


s: He, he is thine! Thy son his latent guest


s: Long knew, but lock'd the secret in his breast:


s: With well concerted art to end his woes,


s: And burst at once in vengeance on the foes."


s: While yet she spoke, the queen in transport sprung


s: Swift from the couch, and round the matron hung;


s: Fast from her eye descends the rolling tear:


s: "Say, once more say, is my Ulysses here?


s: How could that numerous and outrageous band


s: By one be slain, though by a hero's hand?"


s: "I saw it not (she cries), but heard alone,


s: When death was busy, a loud dying groan;


s: The damsel-train turn'd pale at every wound,


s: Immured we sate, and catch'd each passing sound;


s: When death had seized her prey, thy son attends,


s: And at his nod the damsel-train descends;


s: And the dead suitors almost swam in blood:


s: Thy heart had leap'd the hero to survey,


s: Glorious in gore, now with sulphereous fire


s: The dome he purges, now the flame aspires;


s: Heap'd lie the dead without the palace walls--


s: Haste, daughter, haste, thy own Ulysses calls!


s: Thy every wish the bounteous gods bestow;


s: Ulysses lives, his vanquish'd foes to see;


s: "Ah, no! (with sighs Penelope rejoin'd,)


s: Excess of joy disturbs thy wandering mind;


s: How blest this happy hour, should he appear,


s: Ah, no! some god the suitors death decreed,


s: Some god descends, and by his hand they bleed;


s: Blind! to contemn the stranger's righteous cause,


s: The good they hated, and the powers defied!


s: But heaven is just, and by a god they died.


s: "What words (the matron cries) have reach'd my ears?


s: Doubt we his presence, when he now appears!


s: That forced Ulysses o'er the watery way,


s: A boar, fierce rushing in the sylvan war,


s: Plough'd half his thigh; I saw, I saw the scar,


s: And wild with transport had reveal'd the wound;


s: But ere I spoke, he rose, and check'd the sound.


s: Then, daughter, haste away! and if a lie


s: Flow from this tongue, then let thy servant die!"


s: To whom with dubious joy the queen replies:


s: "Wise is thy soul, but errors seize the wise;


s: The works of gods what mortal can survey?


s: Who knows their motives, who shall trace their way?


s: But learn we instant how the suitors trod


s: The paths of death, by man, or by a god."


s: Thus speaks the queen, and no reply attends,


s: But with alternate joy and fear descends;


s: At every step debates her lord to prove;


s: Or, rushing to his arms, confess her love!


s: Then gliding through the marble valves, in state


s: Opposed, before the shining sire she sate.


s: The monarch, by a column high enthroned,


s: His eye withdrew, and fix'd it on the ground;


s: Curious to hear his queen the silence break:


s: O'er all the man her eyes she rolls in vain,


s: Now hopes, now fears, now knows, then doubts again.


s: Why thus in silence? why with winning charms


s: Thus slow to fly with rapture to his arms?


s: Stubborn the breast that with no transport glows,


s: When twice ten years are pass'd of mighty woes;


s: To softness lost, to spousal love unknown,


s: The gods have formed that rigid heart of stone!"


s: Distracting fears confound my labouring mind;


s: Powerless to speak. I scarce uplift my eyes,


s: Nor dare to question; doubts on doubts arise.


s: These boding thoughts, and what he is, to prove!"


s: Pleased with her virtuous fears, the king replies:


s: "Indulge, my son, the cautions of the wise;


s: Time shall the truth to sure remembrance bring:


s: No more. This day our deepest care requires,


s: Cautious to act what thought mature inspires.


s: If one man's blood, though mean, distain our hands,


s: By us, in heaps the illustrious peerage falls,


s: The important deed our whole attention calls."


s: The world conspires to speak Ulysses wise;


s: And dauntless follow where you led the way;


s: Nor shalt thou in the day of danger find


s: "Then instant to the bath (the monarch cries),


s: Bid the gay youth and sprightly virgins rise,


s: Thence all descend in pomp and proud array,


s: And bid the dome resound the mirthful lay;


s: While the sweet lyrist airs of rapture sings,


s: And forms the dance responsive to the strings,


s: That hence the eluded passengers may say,


s: 'Lo! the queen weds! we hear the spousal lay!'


s: The suitor's death, unknown, till we remove


s: Far from the court, and act inspired by Jove."


s: Thus spoke the king: the observant train obey,


s: At once they bathe, and dress in proud array:


s: The lyrist strikes the string; gay youths advance,


s: And fair-zoned damsels form the sprightly dance.


s: The voice, attuned to instrumental sounds,


s: Ascends the roof, the vaulted roof rebounds;


s: "Lo! the queen weds, we hear the spousal lay!


s: Thus they--but nobly chaste she weds no more.


s: Meanwhile the wearied king the bath ascends;


s: O'er every limb a shower of fragrance sheds;


s: Then, dress'd in pomp, magnificent he treads.


s: The warrior-goddess gives his frame to shine


s: With majesty enlarged, and grace divine.


s: Back from his brows in wavy ringlets fly


s: His thick large locks of hyacinthine dye.


s: His heavenly skill, a breathing image lives;


s: By Pallas taught, he frames the wondrous mould,


s: And the pale silver glows with fusile gold:


s: With bloom divine, and like a god he moves!


s: More high he treads, and issuing forth in state,


s: "And, O my queen! (he cries) what power above


s: Has steel'd that heart, averse to spousal love?


s: Canst thou, Penelope, when heaven restores


s: My weary nature craves the balm of rest.


s: But Heaven with adamant has arm'd her breast."


s: "Ah no! (she cries) a tender heart I bear,


s: And now, e'en now it melts! for sure I see


s: Fix'd in my soul, as when he sailed to Troy,


s: His image dwells: then haste the bed of joy,


s: Haste, from the bridal bower the bed translate,


s: Fram'd by his hand, and be it dress'd in state!"


s: Thus speaks the queen, still dubious, with disguise


s: Touch'd at her words, the king with warmth replies


s: "Alas for this! what mortal strength can move


s: The enormous burden, who but Heaven above?


s: It mocks the weak attempts of human hands!


s: But the whole earth must move if Heaven commands


s: Then hear sure evidence, while we display


s: Words seal'd with sacred truth and truth obey:


s: This hand the wonder framed; an olive spread


s: Full in the court its ever verdant head.


s: Vast as some mighty column's bulk, on high


s: The huge trunk rose, and heaved into the sky;


s: Around the tree I raised a nuptial bower,


s: And roof'd defensive of the storm and shower;


s: The spacious valve, with art inwrought conjoins;


s: And the fair dome with polished marble shines.


s: I lopp'd the branchy head: aloft in twain


s: Sever'd the bole, and smoothed the shining grain;


s: Then posts, capacious of the frame, I raise,


s: And bore it, regular, from space to space:


s: Athwart the frame, at equal distance lie


s: Thongs of tough hides, that boast a purple dye;


s: Then polishing the whole, the finished mould


s: With silver shone, with elephant, and gold.


s: But if o'erturn'd by rude, ungovern'd hands,


s: 'Tis thine, O queen, to say, and now impart,


s: If fears remain, or doubts distract thy heart."


s: While yet he speaks, her powers of life decay;


s: She sickens, trembles, falls, and faints away.


s: At length recovering, to his arms she flew,


s: And strain'd him close, as to his breast she grew.


s: The tears pour'd down amain, and "O (she cries)


s: Let not against thy spouse thine anger rise!


s: Forgive the weakness of a woman's heart!


s: The righteous powers, that mortal lot dispose,


s: And from the flower of life the bliss deny


s: That I forbore, thus, thus to speak my love:


s: Thus in fond kisses, while the transport warms


s: Pour out my soul and die within thine arms!


s: I dreaded fraud! Men, faithless men, betray


s: Our easy faith, and make our sex their prey:


s: Against the fondness of my heart I strove:


s: 'Twas caution, O my lord! not want of love.


s: Like me had Helen fear'd, with wanton charms


s: Ere the fair mischief set two worlds in arms;


s: Ere Greece rose dreadful in the avenging day;


s: Thus had she fear'd, she had not gone astray.


s: But Heaven, averse to Greece, in wrath decreed


s: That she should wander, and that Greece should bleed:


s: Blind to the ills that from injustice flow,


s: She colour'd all our wretched lives with woe.


s: But why these sorrows when my lord arrives?


s: (My father's present in the spousal hour,


s: The sole attendant on our genial bower).


s: Since what no eye hath seen thy tongue reveal'd,


s: Touch'd to the soul, the king with rapture hears,


s: Hangs round her neck, and speaks his joy in tears.


s: As to the shipwreck'd mariner, the shores


s: Delightful rise, when angry Neptune roars:


s: Then, when the surge in thunder mounts the sky,


s: And gulf'd in crowds at once the sailors die;


s: If one, more happy, while the tempest raves,


s: Outlives the tumult of conflicting waves,


s: All pale, with ooze deform'd, he views the strand,


s: And plunging forth with transport grasps the land:


s: The ravish'd queen with equal rapture glows,


s: Clasps her loved lord, and to his bosom grows.


s: Nor had they ended till the morning ray,


s: But Pallas backward held the rising day,


s: Whose flaming steeds, emerging through the night.


s: Beam o'er the eastern hills with streaming light.


s: "Yet Fate, yet cruel Fate repose denies;


s: A labour long, and hard, remains behind;


s: By heaven above, by hell beneath enjoin'd:


s: For to Tiresias through the eternal gates


s: Of hell I trode, to learn my future fates.


s: But end we here--the night demands repose,


s: Be deck'd the couch! and peace awhile, my woes!"


s: To whom the queen: "Thy word we shall obey,


s: And deck the couch; far hence be woes away:


s: Since the just gods, who tread the starry plains,


s: Restore thee safe, since my Ulysses reigns.


s: But what those perils heaven decrees, impart;


s: Knowledge may grieve, but fear distracts the heart."


s: To this the king: "Ah, why must I disclose


s: Why in this hour of transport wound thy ears,


s: When thou must learn what I must speak with tears?


s: Heaven, by the Theban ghost, thy spouse decrees,


s: Torn from thy arms, to sail a length of seas;


s: From realm to realm, a nation to explore


s: Who ne'er knew salt, or heard the billows roar,


s: Nor saw gay vessel storm the surgy plain,


s: An oar my hand must bear; a shepherd eyes


s: The unknown instrument with strange surprise,


s: And calls a corn-van; this upon the plain


s: I fix, and hail the monarch of the main;


s: Then bathe his altars with the mingled gore


s: Of victims vow'd, a ram, a bull, a boar;


s: Thence swift re-sailing to my native shores,


s: Due victims slay to all the ethereal powers.


s: Then Heaven decrees, in peace to end my days


s: And steal myself from life by slow decays!


s: Unknown to pain, in age resign my breath,


s: When late stern Neptune points the shaft of death;


s: My people blessing, by my people bless'd.


s: Such future scenes the all-righteous powers display


s: By their dread seer, and such my future day."


s: To whom thus firm of soul: "If ripe for death,


s: And full of days, thou gently yield thy breath;


s: While Heaven a kind release from ills foreshows,


s: Triumph, thou happy victor of thy woes?"


s: Instant they bid the blazing torch display


s: Then to repose her steps the matron bends,


s: A torch she bears, to light with guiding fires


s: The royal pair; she guides them, and retires


s: To the chaste love-rites of the nuptial bed.


s: And now the blooming youths and sprightly fair


s: Cease the gay dance, and to their rest repair;


s: But in discourse the king and consort lay,


s: While the soft hours stole unperceived away;


s: How his whole flocks and herds exhausted bled,


s: His generous wines dishonour'd shed in vain,


s: Of wars, of triumphs, and disastrous fates;


s: All he unfolds; his listening spouse turns pale


s: With pleasing horror at the dreadful tale;


s: Sleepless devours each word; and hears how slain


s: Cicons on Cicons swell the ensanguined plain;


s: How to the land of Lote unbless'd he sails;


s: How dash'd like dogs, his friends the Cyclops tore


s: (Not unrevenged), and quaff'd the spouting gore;


s: How the loud storms in prison bound, he sails


s: From friendly Aeolus with prosperous gales:


s: Yet fate withstands! a sudden tempest roars,


s: And whirls him groaning from his native shores:


s: How on the barbarous Laestrigonian coast,


s: By savage hands his fleet and friends lie lost;


s: How scarce himself survived: he paints the bower,


s: The spells of Circe, and her magic power;


s: His dreadful journey to the realms beneath,


s: How in the doleful mansions lie survey'd


s: His royal mother, pale Anticlea's shade;


s: And friends in battle slain, heroic ghosts!


s: Then how, unharm'd, he pass'd the Syren-coasts,


s: The justling rocks where fierce Charybdis raves,


s: And howling Scylla whirls her thunderous waves,


s: The cave of death! How his companions slay


s: Till Jove in wrath the rattling tempest guides,


s: And whelms the offenders in the roaring tides:


s: How struggling through the surge lie reach'd the shores


s: Where the bay blooming nymph constrain'd his stay,


s: And promised, vainly promised, to bestow


s: How saved from storms Phaeacia's coast he trod,


s: Who gave him last his country to behold,


s: With change of raiment, brass, and heaps of gold


s: He ended, sinking into sleep, and shares


s: Soon as soft slumber eased the toils of day,


s: Flame from the ocean o'er the eastern hills;


s: And thus with thought mature the monarch said:


s: "My queen, my consort! through a length of years


s: We drank the cup of sorrow mix'd with tears;


s: Thou, for thy lord; while me the immortal powers


s: Detain'd reluctant from my native shores.


s: Now, bless'd again by Heaven, the queen display,


s: Be it my care, by loans, or martial toils,


s: To throng my empty folds with gifts or spoils.


s: The good old man, to wasting woes a prey,


s: But hear, though wise! This morning shall unfold


s: The deathful scene, on heroes heroes roll'd.


s: Thou with thy maids within the palace stay,


s: He spoke, and sheathed in arms incessant flies


s: To wake his son, and bid his friends arise.


s: "To arms!" aloud he cries; his friends obey,


s: With glittering arms their manly limbs array,


s: And pass the city gate; Ulysses leads the way.


s: Now flames the rosy dawn, but Pallas shrouds


s: The latent warriors in a veil of clouds.


s: The souls of the suitors are conducted by Mercury to the infernal


s: father, Laertes; he finds him busied in his garden all alone; the


s: return together to his lodge, and the king is acknowledged by


s: Dolius and the servants. The Ithacensians, led by Eupithes, the


s: The golden wand, that causes sleep to fly,


s: Or in soft slumber seals the wakeful eye,


s: That drives the ghosts to realms of night or day,


s: Trembling the spectres glide, and plaintive vent


s: Thin, hollow screams, along the deep descent.


s: Where flock nocturnal bats, and birds obscene;


s: Cluster'd they hang, till at some sudden shock


s: They move, and murmurs run through all the rock!


s: So cowering fled the sable heaps of ghosts,


s: And such a scream fill'd all the dismal coasts.


s: And now they reach'd the earth's remotest ends,


s: And now the gates where evening Sol descends,


s: And Leucas' rock, and Ocean's utmost streams,


s: And now pervade the dusky land of dreams,


s: And rest at last, where souls unbodied dwell


s: Naught else are all that shined on earth before:


s: Yet still a master ghost, the rest he awed,


s: The rest adored him, towering as he trod;


s: Still at his side is Nestor's son survey'd,


s: And loved Patroclus still attends his shade.


s: New as they were to that infernal shore,


s: The suitors stopp'd, and gazed the hero o'er.


s: When, moving slow, the regal form they view'd


s: And solemn sadness through the gloom of hell,


s: The train of those who by AEgysthus fell:


s: King of a hundred kings! to whom resign'd


s: The strongest, bravest, greatest of mankind


s: Comest thou the first, to view this dreary state?


s: And was the noblest, the first mark of Fate,


s: Condemn'd to pay the great arrear so soon,


s: The lot, which all lament, and none can shun!


s: Oh! better hadst thou sunk in Trojan ground,


s: With all thy full-blown honours cover'd round;


s: Then grateful Greece with streaming eyes might raise


s: Thy praise eternal on the faithful stone


s: Had with transmissive glories graced thy son.


s: But heavier fates were destined to attend:


s: What man is happy, till he knows his end?"


s: (Thus Agamemnon's kingly shade rejoin'd)


s: Thrice happy thou, to press the martial plain


s: 'Midst heaps of heroes in thy quarrel slain:


s: In clouds of smoke raised by the noble fray,


s: Great and terrific e'en in death you lay,


s: And deluges of blood flow'd round you every way.


s: Nor ceased the strife till Jove himself opposed,


s: And all in Tempests the dire evening closed.


s: Then to the fleet we bore thy honour'd load,


s: Then unguents sweet and tepid streams we shed;


s: Tears flow'd from every eye, and o'er the dead


s: Each clipp'd the curling honours of his head.


s: Struck at the news, thy azure mother came,


s: The sea-green sisters waited on the dame:


s: A voice of loud lament through all the main


s: Was heard; and terror seized the Grecian train:


s: Back to their ships the frighted host had fled;


s: But Nestor spoke, they listen'd and obey'd


s: (From old experience Nestor's counsel springs,


s: 'Forbear your flight: fair Thetis from the main


s: To mourn Achilles leads her azure train.'


s: Around thee stand the daughters of the deep,


s: Robe thee in heavenly vests, and round thee weep:


s: Round thee, the Muses, with alternate strain,


s: Each warlike Greek the moving music hears,


s: Till seventeen nights and seventeen days return'd


s: All that was mortal or immortal mourn'd,


s: To flames we gave thee, the succeeding day,


s: With oils and honey blazed the augmented fires,


s: And, like a god adorn'd, thy earthly part expires.


s: Unnumber'd warriors round the burning pile


s: Urge the fleet coursers or the racer's toil;


s: Thick clouds of dust o'er all the circle rise,


s: And the mix'd clamour thunders in the skies.


s: Sunk what was mortal of thy mighty name,


s: We then collect thy snowy bones, and place


s: With wines and unguents in a golden vase


s: (The vase to Thetis Bacchus gave of old,


s: And Vulcan's art enrich'd the sculptured gold).


s: There, we thy relics, great Achilles! blend


s: With dear Patroclus, thy departed friend:


s: In the same urn a separate space contains


s: Now all the sons of warlike Greece surround


s: Thy destined tomb and cast a mighty mound;


s: High on the shore the growing hill we raise,


s: That wide the extended Hellespont surveys;


s: Where all, from age to age, who pass the coast,


s: May point Achilles' tomb, and hail the mighty ghost.


s: Thetis herself to all our peers proclaims


s: Rich spoils and gifts that blazed against the day.


s: Oft have I seen with solemn funeral games


s: Heroes and kings committed to the flames;


s: But strength of youth, or valour of the brave,


s: With nobler contest ne'er renown'd a grave.


s: Such were the games by azure Thetis given,


s: And such thy honours, O beloved of Heaven!


s: Dear to mankind thy fame survives, nor fades


s: Its bloom eternal in the Stygian shades.


s: Successful toils, and battles bravely won?


s: Doom'd by stern Jove at home to end my life,


s: By cursed Aegysthus, and a faithless wife!"


s: Thus they: while Hermes o'er the dreary plain


s: And timorous pass'd, and awfully withdrew.


s: But Agamemnon, through the gloomy shade,


s: What cause compell'd so many, and so gay,


s: Say, could one city yield a troop so fair?


s: Were all these partners of one native air?


s: Your lives at once, and whelm beneath the deep?


s: Did nightly thieves, or pirates' cruel bands,


s: Drench with your blood your pillaged country's sands?


s: Or well-defending some beleaguer'd wall,


s: Say,--for the public did ye greatly fall?


s: Inform thy guest: for such I was of yore


s: When our triumphant navies touch'd your shore;


s: Forced a long month the wintry seas to bear,


s: With rival loves pursued his royal dame;


s: Her coy reserve, and prudence mix'd with pride,


s: Our common suit nor granted, nor denied;


s: But close with inward hate our deaths design'd;


s: A spacious loom, and mix'd the various thread.


s: 'Ye peers (she cried) who press to gain my heart,


s: Where dead Ulysses claims no more a part,


s: Yet a short space your rival suit suspend,


s: A task of grief, his ornaments of death:


s: Lest when the Fates his royal ashes claim,


s: The Grecian matrons taint my spotless fame;


s: Should he, long honour'd with supreme command,


s: Want the last duties of a daughter's hand.'


s: "The fiction pleased, our generous train complies,


s: Nor fraud mistrusts in virtue's fair disguise.


s: The work she plied, but studious of delay,


s: Each following night reversed the toils of day.


s: Unheard, unseen, three years her arts prevail;


s: The fourth, her maid reveal'd the amazing tale,


s: And show'd as unperceived we took our stand,


s: The backward labours of her faithless hand.


s: Forced she completes it; and before us lay


s: The mingled web, whose gold and silver ray


s: Display'd the radiance of the night and day.


s: "Just as she finished her illustrious toil,


s: At an old swineherd's rural lodge he lay:


s: Thither his son from sandy Pyle repairs,


s: First came the son; the father nest succeeds,


s: Propp'd on a staff, deform'd with age and care,


s: And hung with rags that flutter'd in the air.


s: Scorn'd by the young, forgotten by the old,


s: Ill-used by all! to every wrong resigned,


s: Patient he suffered with a constant mind.


s: The will of Jove, he gave the vengeance way:


s: The scattered arms that hung around the dome


s: Then to her suitors bade his queen propose


s: The archer's strife, the source of future woes,


s: The twanging string, and tried the stubborn yew:


s: To none it yields but great Ulysses' hands;


s: The bow he snatch'd, and in an instant bent;


s: Through every ring the victor arrow went.


s: Fierce on the threshold then in arms he stood;


s: Poured forth the darts that thirsted for our blood,


s: And frown'd before us, dreadful as a god!


s: First bleeds Antinous: thick the shafts resound,


s: And heaps on heaps the wretches strew the ground;


s: This way, and that, we turn, we fly, we fall;


s: And battered brains and blood besmear the stones.


s: "Thus, great Atrides, thus Ulysses drove


s: The shades thou seest from yon fair realms above;


s: Our mangled bodies now deformed with gore,


s: Cold and neglected, spread the marble floor.


s: No friend to bathe our wounds, or tears to shed


s: O'er the pale corse! the honours of the dead."


s: "Oh bless'd Ulysses! (thus the king express'd


s: His sudden rapture) in thy consort bless'd!


s: Not more thy wisdom than her virtue shined;


s: Not more thy patience than her constant mind.


s: And model to the future age, shall last:


s: The gods, to honour her fair fame, shall rise


s: (Their great reward) a poet in her praise.


s: Not such, O Tyndarus! thy daughter's deed,


s: By whose dire hand her king and husband bled;


s: Example dread, and theme of tragic song!


s: The general sex shall suffer in her shame,


s: And e'en the best that bears a woman's name."


s: Conferr'd the mournful phantoms of the dead;


s: While from the town, Ulysses and his band


s: The ground himself had purchased with his pain,


s: And labour made the rugged soil a plain,


s: There stood his mansion of the rural sort,


s: With useful buildings round the lowly court;


s: Where the few servants that divide his care


s: Took their laborious rest, and homely fare;


s: With constant duty tends his drooping age.


s: "Enter the house, and of the bristly swine


s: Select the largest to the powers divine.


s: (Their light and dearest object long ago),


s: Now changed with time, with absence and with woe."


s: Then to his train he gives his spear and shield;


s: The house they enter; and he seeks the field,


s: Through rows of shade, with various fruitage crown'd,


s: And labour'd scenes of richest verdure round.


s: Nor aged Dolius; nor his sons, were there,


s: To search the woods for sets of flowery thorn,


s: Their orchard bounds to strengthen and adorn.


s: His habit course, but warmly wrapp'd around;


s: His head, that bow'd with many a pensive care,


s: Fenced with a double cap of goatskin hair:


s: His buskins old, in former service torn,


s: But swell repair'd; and gloves against the thorn.


s: In this array the kingly gardener stood,


s: And clear'd a plant, encumber'd with its wood.


s: Beneath a neighbouring tree, the chief divine


s: Gazed o'er his sire, retracing every line,


s: Sudden his eyes released their watery store;


s: The much-enduring man could bear no more.


s: Doubtful he stood, if instant to embrace


s: His aged limbs, to kiss his reverend face,


s: With eager transport to disclose the whole,


s: And pour at once the torrent of his soul.--


s: Not so: his judgment takes the winding way


s: More gentle methods on weak age employs:


s: And moves the sorrows to enhance the joys.


s: Then, to his sire with beating heart he moves,


s: Who digging round the plant still hangs his bead,


s: Nor aught remits the work, while thus he said:


s: "Great is thy skill, O father! great thy toil,


s: Thy careful hand is stamp'd on all the soil,


s: Thy squadron'd vineyards well thy art declare,


s: The olive green, blue fig, and pendent pear;


s: And not one empty spot escapes thy care.


s: On every plant and tree thy cares are shown,


s: Forgive me, father, if this fault I blame;


s: Age so advanced, may some indulgence claim.


s: Not for thy sloth, I deem thy lord unkind:


s: Nor speaks thy form a mean or servile mind;


s: The same thy aspect, if the same thy care;


s: Soft sleep, fair garments, and the joys of wine,


s: These are the rights of age, and should be thine.


s: Who then thy master, say? and whose the land


s: So dress'd and managed by thy skilful hand?


s: But chief, oh tell me! (what I question most)


s: Is this the far-famed Ithacensian coast?


s: Nor farther conference vouchsafed to stay;


s: Heedless he whistled, and pursued his way.


s: But thou whom years have taught to understand,


s: A friend I seek, a wise one and a brave:


s: Say, lives he yet, or moulders in the grave?


s: Time was (my fortunes then were at the best)


s: When at my house I lodged this foreign guest;


s: He said, from Ithaca's fair isle he came,


s: To him seven talents of pure ore I told,


s: Twelve cloaks, twelve vests, twelve tunics stiff with gold:


s: A bowl, that rich with polish'd silver flames,


s: And skill'd in female works, four lovely dames."


s: At this the father, with a father's fears


s: (His venerable eyes bedimm'd with tears):


s: "This is the land; but ah! thy gifts are lost,


s: For godless men, and rude possess the coast:


s: Sunk is the glory of this once-famed shore!


s: Thy ancient friend, O stranger, is no more!


s: Full recompense thy bounty else had borne:


s: For every good man yields a just return:


s: The track of friendship, not pursuing, sins.


s: But tell me, stranger, be the truth confess'd,


s: What years have circled since thou saw'st that guest?


s: That hapless guest, alas! for ever gone!


s: Wretch that he was! and that I am! my son!


s: 'Twas his to suffer, and 'tis mine to mourn!


s: Far from his friends, and from his native reign,


s: Or savage beasts his mangled relics tear,


s: Or screaming vultures scatter through the air:


s: Nor could his mother funeral unguents shed;


s: Nor wail'd his father o'er the untimely dead:


s: Nor his sad consort, on the mournful bier,


s: Seal'd his cold eyes, or dropp'd a tender tear!


s: "But, tell me who thou art? and what thy race?


s: Thy town, thy parents, and thy native place?


s: What port received thy vessel from the main?


s: Or comest thou single, or attend thy train?"


s: Our wandering course, and drove us on your shore;


s: Relieved our wearied vessel from the sea.


s: Five years have circled since these eyes pursued


s: Ulysses parting through the sable flood:


s: Prosperous he sail'd, with dexter auguries,


s: And all the wing'd good omens of the skies.


s: Well hoped we then to meet on this fair shore,


s: Whom Heaven, alas! decreed to meet no more."


s: Quick through the father's heart these accents ran;


s: Grief seized at once, and wrapp'd up all the man:


s: Deep from his soul lie sigh'd, and sorrowing spread


s: Trembling with agonies of strong delight


s: Stood the great son, heart-wounded with the sight:


s: He ran, he seized him with a strict embrace,


s: With thousand kisses wander'd o'er his face:


s: Thy son, with twenty winters now grown old;


s: Thy son, so long desired, so long detain'd,


s: Restored, and breathing in his native land:


s: These floods of sorrow, O my sire, restrain!


s: The vengeance is complete; the suitor train,


s: Stretch'd in our palace, by these hands lie slain."


s: Amazed, Laertes: "Give some certain sign


s: (If such thou art) to manifest thee mine."


s: "Lo here the wound (he cries) received of yore,


s: While yet a child, these fields I loved to trace,


s: And trod thy footsteps with unequal pace;


s: Well-pleased, you told its nature and its name,


s: Whate'er my childish fancy ask'd, bestow'd:


s: Twelve pear-trees, bowing with their pendent load,


s: And ten, that red with blushing apples glow'd;


s: Of various vines that then began to blow,


s: A future vintage! when the Hours produce


s: Their latent buds, and Sol exalts the juice."


s: Smit with the signs which all his doubts explain,


s: His heart within him melt; his knees sustain


s: Their feeble weight no more: his arms alone


s: Support him, round the loved Ulysses thrown;


s: He faints, he sinks, with mighty joys oppress'd:


s: Soon as returning life regains its seat,


s: And his breath lengthens, and his pulses beat:


s: "Yes, I believe (he cries) almighty Jove!


s: Heaven rules us yet, and gods there are above.


s: 'Tis so--the suitors for their wrongs have paid--


s: But what shall guard us, if the town invade?


s: If, while the news through every city flies,


s: To this Ulysses: "As the gods shall please


s: Be all the rest: and set thy soul at ease.


s: Haste to the cottage by this orchard's side,


s: And take the banquet which our cares provide;


s: There wait thy faithful band of rural friends,


s: And there the young Telemachus attends."


s: Thus, having said, they traced the garden o'er


s: The swains and young Telemachus they found.


s: The victim portion'd and the goblet crown'd.


s: Perfum'd and wash'd, and gorgeously arrayed.


s: Pallas attending gives his frame to shine


s: His gazing son admires the godlike grace,


s: And air celestial dawning o'er his face.


s: "What god (he cried) my father's form improves!


s: How high he treads and how enlarged he moves!"


s: "Oh! would to all the deathless powers on high,


s: Pallas and Jove, and him who gilds the sky!


s: (Replied the king elated with his praise)


s: My strength were still, as once in better days:


s: When the bold Cephalens the leaguer form'd.


s: And proud Nericus trembled as I storm'd.


s: Such were I now, not absent from your deed


s: When the last sun beheld the suitors bleed,


s: This arm had aided yours, this hand bestrown


s: Our shores with death, and push'd the slaughter on;


s: Nor had the sire been separate from the son."


s: They communed thus; while homeward bent their way


s: The swains, fatigued with labours of the day:


s: And next his sons, a long succeeding train.


s: For due refection to the bower they came,


s: Call'd by the careful old Sicilian dame,


s: Who nursed the children, and now tends the sire,


s: They see their lord, they gaze, and they admire.


s: On chairs and beds in order seated round,


s: They share the gladsome board; the roofs resound,


s: While thus Ulysses to his ancient friend:


s: "Forbear your wonder, and the feast attend:


s: The rites have waited long." The chief commands


s: Their love in vain; old Dolius spreads his hands,


s: Springs to his master with a warm embrace,


s: And fastens kisses on his hands and face;


s: Then thus broke out: "O long, O daily mourn'd!


s: Beyond our hopes, and to our wish return'd!


s: Conducted sure by Heaven! for Heaven alone


s: Could work this wonder: welcome to thy own!


s: And joys and happiness attend thy throne!


s: Who knows thy bless'd, thy wish'd return? oh say,