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Here shall the wandering stranger find his home,
And hospitable rites adorn the dome.

The seats to range, the fragrant wood to bring.
And limpid waters from the living spring.

He said, and busy each his care bestow'd;
Already at the gates the bullock low'd,
Already came the Ithacensian crew,

The dextrous smith the tools already drew:
His ponderous hammer and his anvil sound,
460 And the strong tongs to turn the metal round.
Nor was Minerva absent from the rite,

Well hast thou spoke (the blue-eyea maid replies,) 455
Beloved old man! benevolent as wise.
Be the kind dictates of thy heart obey'd,
And let thy words Telemachus persuade :
He to thy palace shall thy steps pursue;
I to the ship, to give the orders due,
Prescribe directions and confirm the crew.
For I alone sustain their naval cares,
Who boast experience from these silver hairs;
All youths the rest, whom to this journey move
Like years, like tempers, and their prince's love.
There in the vessel shall I pass the night;
And soon as morning paiuts the fields of light,
I go to challenge from the Caucons bold,
A debt, contracted in the days of old.
But this thy guest, received with friendly care,
Let thy strong coursers swift to Sparta bear;
Prepare thy chariot at the dawn of day,
And be thy son companion of his way.

Then turning with the word, Minerva flies,
And soars an eagle through the liquid skies.
Vision divine! the throng'd spectators gaze
In holy wonder fix'd, and still amaze.
But chief the reverend sage admired; he took
The hand of young Telemachus, and spoke.
Ob, happy youth! and favour'd of the skies
Distinguish'd care of guardian deities!
Whose early years for future worth engage,
No vulgar manhood, no ignoble age.
For lo none other of the court above
Than she, the daughter of almighty Jove,
Pallas herself, the war-triumphant maid,
Confess'd is thine, as once thy father's aid.
So guide me, goddess! so propitious shine
On me, my consort, and my royal line!

A yearling bullock to thy name shall smoke,
Untamed, unconscious of the galling yoke,
With ample forehead, and yet tender horns,
Whose budding honours ductile gold adorns

Submissive thus the hoary sire preferr'd
His holy vow: the favouring goddess heard.
Then, slowly rising, o'er the sandy space
Precedes the father, follow'd by his race,
(A long procession) timely marching home
In comely order to the regal dome.

There when arrived, on thrones around him placed,
His sons and grandsons the wide circle graced.
To these the hospitable sage, in sign

Of social welcome, mix'd the racy wine
(Late from the mellowing cask restored to light,
By ten long years refined, and rosy bright.)
To Pallas high the foaming bowl he crown'd,
And sprinkled large libations on the ground.
Each drinks a full oblivion of his cares,
And to the gifts of balmy sleep repairs.
Deep in a rich alcove the prince was laid,
And slept beneath the pompous colonnade:
Fast by his side Pisistratus lay spread,
(In age his equal) on a splendid bed:
But in an inner court, securely closea,
The reverend Nestor and his queen reposed.
When now Aurora, daughter of the dawn,
With rosy lustre purpled o'er the lawn;
The old man early rose, walk'd forth, and sate
On polish'd stone before his palace gate:
With unguents smooth the lucid marble shone,
Where ancient Neleus sate, a rustic throne,
But he descending to the infernal shade,
Sage Nestor fill'd it, and the sceptre sway'd.
His sons around him mild obeisance pay,
And duteous take the orders of the day.
First Echephron and Stratius quit their bed:
Then Perseus, Aretus, and Thrasymed;
The last Pisistratus arose from rest:

They came, and near him placed the stranger-guest,
To these the senior thus declared his will:
My sons! the dictates of your sire fulfil.
To Pallas, first of gods, prepare the feast,
Who graced our rites, a more than mortal guest.
Let one, dispatchful, bid some swain to lead
A well-fed bullock from the grassy mead ;
One seek the harbour where the vessels moor,
And bring thy friends, Telemachus ! ashore
(Leave only two the galley to attend ;)
Another to Laerceus must we send,
Artist divine, whose skilful hands infold
The victim's horn with circumfusile gold.
The rest may here the pious duty share,
And bid the handmaids for the feast prepare,

She view'd her honours, and enjoy'd the sight.
With reverend hand the king presents the gold,
Which round the intorted horns the gilder roll'd,
465 So wrought, as Pallas might with pride behold.
Young Aretus from forth his bridal bower
Brought the full laver, o'er their hands to pour,
And canisters of consecrated flour
Stratius and Echephron the victim led:

470 The ax was held by warlike Thrasymed,
In act to strike: before him Perseus stood,
The vase extending to receive the blood.
The king himself initiates to the power;
Scatters with quivering hand the sacred flour,

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475 And the stream sprinkles: from the curling brows
The hair collected in the fire he throws.
Soon as due vows on every part were paid,
And sacred wheat upon the victim laid,
Strong Thrasymed discharged the speeding blow

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480 Full on his neck, and cut the nerves in two.

Down sunk the heavy beast; the females round,
Maids, wives, and matrons, mix a shrilling sound.
Nor scorn'd the queen the holy choir to join
(The first-born she, of old Clymenus' line;

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485 In youth by Nestor loved, of spotless fame,
And loved in age, Eurydice her name.)

From earth they rear him, struggling now with death
And Nestor's youngest stops the vents of breath
The soul for ever flies: on all sides round

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490 Streams the black blood, and smokes upon the ground
The beast they then divide, and disunite
The ribs and limbs, observant of the rite:
On these, in double cawls involved with art,
The choicest morsels lay from every part.
495 The sacred sage before his altar stands,
Turns the burnt-offering with his holy hands,
And pours the wine, and bids the flames aspire;
The youth with instruments surround the fire.
The thighs now sacrificed, and entrails dress'd,
500 The assistants part, transfix, and broil the rest.
While these officious tend the rites divine,
The last fair branch of the Nestorean line,
Sweet Polycaste, took the pleasing toil
To bathe the prince, and pour the fragrant oil.

505 O'er his fair limbs a flowery vest he threw,
And issued, like a god, to mortal view.
His former seat beside the king he found
(His people's father with his peers around;
All placed at ease the holy banquet join,
510 And in the dazzling goblet laughs the wine,

The rage of thirst and hunger now suppress'd,
The monarch turns him to his royal guest;
And for the promised journey bids prepare
The smooth-hair'd horses, and the rapid car.
515 Observant of his word; the word scarce spoke,
The sons obey, and join them to the yoke.
Then bread and wine a ready handmaid brings,
And presents, such as suit the state of kings.
The glittering seat Telemachus ascends
520 His faithful guide Pisistratus attends;
With hasty hand the ruling reins he drew:
He lash'd the coursers, and the coursers flew.
Beneath the bounding yoke alike they held
Their equal pace, and smoked along the field.
525 The towers of Pylos sink, its views decay,
Fields after fields fly back, till close of day:
Then sunk the sun, and darken'd all the way.
To Phere now Diocleus' stately seat
(Of Alpheus' race,) the weary youths retreat.
His house affords the hospitable rite,

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BOOK IV.

ARGUMENT

The Conference with Menelaus

Telemachus with Pisistratus arriving at Sparta, is hospitably received by Menelaus, to whom he relates the cause of his coming, and learns from him many particulars of what befel the Greeks since the destruction of Troy. He dwells more at large upon the prophecies of Proteus to him in his return; from which he acquaints Telemachus, that Ulysses is detained in the island of Calypso.

In the meantime the suitors consult to destroy Telemachus in his voyage home. Penelope is apprised of this; but comforted in a dream by Pallas, in the shape sf her sister Iphthima.

BOOK IV.

AND now proud Sparta with their wheels resounds,
Sparta whose walls a range of hills surrounds:
At the fair dome the rapid labour ends;
Where sate Atrides 'midst his bridal friends,
With double vows invoking Hymen's power,
To bless his son's and daughter's nuptial hour
That day, to great Achilles' son resign'd.
Hermione, the fairest of her kind,
Was sent to crown the long-protracted joy,
Espoused before the final doom of Troy:
With steeds and gilded cars, a gorgeous train
Attend the nymph to Phthia's distant reign.
Meanwhile at home, to Megapenthes' bed
The virgin-choir Alector's daughter led.
Brave Megapenthes, from a stolen amour
To great Atrides' age his hand-maid bore:
To Helen's bed the gods alone assign
Hermione, to extend the regal line:
On whom a radiant pomp of Graces wait,
Resembling Venus in attractive state.

While this gay friendly troop the king surround,
With festival and mirth the roofs resound;
A bard amid the joyous circle sings
High airs, attemper'd to the vocal strings:
Whilst warbling to the varied strain, advance
Two sprightly youths to form the bounding dance.
Twas then, that, issuing through the palace gate,
The splendid car roll'd slow in regal state:
On the bright eminence young Nestor shone,
And fast beside him great Ulysses' son:
Grave Eteoneus saw the pomp appear,
And speeding, thus address'd the royal ear.

High on a massy vase of silver mould,
The burnish'd laver flames with solid gold;
In solid gold the purple vintage flows,
And on the board a second banquet rose.
When thus the king with hospitable port:-
Accept this welcome to the Spartan court;
The waste of nature let the feast repair,
Then your high lineage and your names declare:
Say from what scepter'd ancestry ye claim,
Recorded eminent in deathless fame?
For vulgar parents cannot stamp their race
With signatures of such majestic grace.
Ceasing, benevolent he straight assigns
The royal portion of the choicest chines
To each accepted friend: with grateful haste
They share the honours of the rich repast.
Sufficed, soft whispering thus to Nestor's son,
His head reclined, young Ithacus begun.
View'st thou unnioved, O ever-honour'd most!
These prodigies of art, and wondrous cost!
Above, beneath, around the palace shines
The sumless treasure of exhausted mines:
The spoils of elephants the roofs inlay,
And studded amber darts a golden ray:
Such, and not nobler, in the realms above
My wonder dictates is the dome of Jove.

The monarch took the word, and grave replied,
Presumptuous are the vaunts, and vain the pride
Of man, who dares in pomp with Jove contest,
Unchanged, immortal, and supremely blest!
With all ny affluence when my woes are weigh'd
Envy will own the purchase dearly paid.

5 For eight slow-circling years by tempests toss'd
From Cyprus to the fair Phoenician coast
(Sidon the capital) I stretch'd my toil
Through regions fatten'd with the flows of Nile.
Next, Ethiopia's utmost bounds explore,

10 And the parch'd borders of the Arabian shore:
Then warp my voyage on the southern gales,
O'er the warm Lybian wave to spread my sails:
That happy clime! where each revolving year
The teeming ewes a triple offspring bear;

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15 And two fair crescents of translucent horn
The brows of all their young increase adorn:
The shepherd swains, with sure abundance blest,
On the fat flock and rural dainties feast;
Nor want of herbage makes the dairy fail,

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20 But every season fills the foaming pail.

Whilst, heaping unwish'd wealth, I distant roam:
The best of brothers at his natal home,
By the dire fury of a traitress wife,
Ends the sad evening of a stormy life:

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25 Whence with incessant grief my soul annoy'd,
These riches are possess'd, but not enjoy'd
My wars, the copious theme of every tongue,
To you, your fathers have recorded long:
How favouring heaven repaid my glorious toils
30 With a sack'd palace, and barbaric spoils.
Oh! had the gods so large a boon denied,
And life, the just equivalent, supplied

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To those brave warriors, who, with glory fired,
Far from their country, in my cause expired!
Still in short intervals of pleasing woe,
Regardful of the friendly dues I owe,
I to the glorious dead, for ever dear!
Indulge the tribute of a grateful tear.
But oh! Ulysses-deeper than the rest

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40 That sad idea wounds my anxious breast!
My heart bleeds fresh with agonising pain;
The bowl and tasteful viands tempt in vain;
Nor sleep's soft power can close my streaming eyes, 135
When imaged to my soul his sorrows rise.

Two youths approach, whose semblant features prove
Their blood devolving from the source of Jove.
Is due reception deign'd, or must they bend
Their doubtful course to seek a distant friend?
Insensate! (with a sigh the king replies,)
Too long, misjudging, have I thought thee wise;
But sure relentless folly steels thy breast,
Obdurate to reject the stranger-guest;
To those dear hospitable rites a foe,
Which in my wanderings oft relieved my woe:
Fed by the bounty of another's board,
Till pitying Jove my native realin restored-
Straight be the coursers from the car released,
Conduct the youths to grace the genial feast,
The seneschal rebuked in haste withdrew;
With equal haste a menial train pursue :
Part led the coursers, from the car enlarge,
Each to a crib with choicest grain surcharged:
Part in a portico, profusely graced
With rich magnificence, the chariot placed:
Then to the dome the friendly pair invite,
Who eye the dazzling roofs with vast delight;
Resplendent as the blaze of summer-noon,
Or the pale radiance of the midnight moon.
From room to room their eager view they bend;
Thence to the bath, a beauteous pile, descend;
Where a bright damsel-train attends the guests
With liquid odours, and embroider'd vests.
Refresh'd, they wait them to the bower of state,
Where circled with his peers Atrides sate:
Throned next the king, a fair attendant brings
The purest product of the crystal-springs;

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45 No peril in my cause he ceased to prove,
His labours equall'd only by my love:
And beth alike to bitter fortune born,
For him to suffer, and for me to mourn!
Whether he wanders on some friendly coast,
Or glides in Stygian gloom a pensive ghost,
No fame reveals; but doubtful of his doom,
His good old sire with sorrow to the tomb
Declines his trembling steps; untimely care
Withers the blooming vigour of his heir;
55 And the chaste partner of his bed and throne
Wastes all her widow'd hours in tender moan.
While thus pathetic to the prince he spoke,
From the brave youth the streaming passion broke: 150
Studious to veil the grief, in vain represt,

60 His face he shrouded with his purple vest:
The conscious monarch pierced the coy disguise,
And view'd his filial love with vast surprise:
Dubious to press the tender theme, or wait
To hear the youth inquire his father's fate.

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In this suspense bright Helen graced the room;
Before her breathed a gale of rich perfume.
So moves, adorn'd with each attractive grace,
The silver-shafted goddess of the chase
The seat of majesty Adraste brings,
With arts illustrious for the pomp of kings;
To spread the pall (beneath the regal chair
Of softest woof, is bright Alcippe's care.
A silver cannister, divinely wrought,
In her soft hands the beauteous Phylo brought;
To Sparta's queen of old the radiant vase
Alcandra gave, a pledge of royal grace:
For Polybus her lord (whose sovereign sway
The wealthy tribes of Pharian Thebes obey,)
When to that court Atrides came, carest
With vast munificence the imperial guest:
Two lavers from the richest ore refined,
With silver tripods, the kind host assign'd;
And bounteous from the royal treasure told
Ten equal talents of refulgent gold.
Alcandra, consort of his high command,
A golden distaff gave to Helen's hand;

He ceased; a gust of grief began to rise:
Fast streams a tide from beauteous Helen's eyes:
Fast for the sire the filial sorrows flow;
160 The weeping monarch swells the mighty woe
Thy cheeks, Pisistratus, the tears bedew
While pictured to thy mind appear'd in view
Thy martial brother: on the Phrygian plain
Extended pale, by swarthy Memnon slain !
165 But silence soon the son of Nestor broke,
And melting with fraternal pity spoke:

Frequent, O king, was Nestor wont to raise
And charm attention with thy copious praise:
To crown thy various gifts, the sage assign'd
170 The glory of a firm capacious mind:

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With that superior attribute control
This unavailing impotence of soul.
Let not your roof with echoing grief resound,
Now for the feast the friendly bowl is crown'd:
175 But when from dewy shade emerging bright
Aurora streaks the sky with orient light,
Let each deplore his dead: the rites of woe
Are all, alas! the living can bestow:
O'er the congenial dust enjoin'd to shear
The graceful curl, and drop the tender tear.
Then, mingling in the mournful pomp with you,
I'll pay my brother's ghost a warrior's due,
And mourn the brave Antilochus, a name
Not unrecorded in the rolls of fame:

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185 With strength and speed superior form'd, in fight
To face the foe, or intercept his fight:
Too early suatch'd by fate ere known to me!
I boast a witness of his worth in thee.
Young and mature! the monarch thus rejoins,

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And that rich vase, with living sculpture wrought,
Which heap'd with wool the beauteous Phylo brought:
The silken fleece impurpled for the loom,
Rival'd the hyacinth in vernal bloom.

The sovereign seat then Jove-born Helen press'd
And pleasing thus her scepter'd lord address'd.

Who grace our palace now, that friendly pair,
Speak they their lineage, or their names declare?
Uncertain of the truth, yet uncontroll'd
Hear me the bodings of my breast unfold.
With wonder wrapt, on yonder cheek I trace
The feature of the Ulyssean race:
Diffused o'er each resembling line appear,
In just similitude, the grace and air

Of young Telemachus! the lovely boy,
Who bless'd Ulysses with a father's joy,

What time the Greeks combined their social arms,
To avenge the stain of my ill-fated charms!

Just is thy thought, the king assenting cries,
Methinks Ulysses strikes my wondering eyes :
Full shines the father in the filial frame,
His port, his features, and his shape the same:
Such quick regards his sparkling eyes bestow;
Such wavy ringlets o'er his shoulders flow.
And when he heard the long disastrous store
Of cares, which in my cause Ulysses bore;
Dismay'd, heart-wounded with paternal woes,
Above restraint the tide of sorrow rose :
Cautious to let the gushing grief appear,
His purple garment veil'd the falling tear.
See there confess'd, Pisistratus replies,

The genuine worth of Ithacus the wise.
Of that heroic sire the youth is sprung,

But modest awe hath chain'd his timorous tongue.
Thy voice, O king! with pleased attention heard,

Is like the dictates of a god revered.
With him, at Nestor's high command I came,
Whose age I honour with a parent's name.
By adverse destiny constrain'd to sue
For counsel and redress, he sues to you.
Whatever ill the friendless orphan bears,
Bereaved of parents in his infant years,
Still must the wrong'd Telemachus sustain,
If, hopeful of your aid, he hopes in vain :
Affianced in your friendly power alone,
The youth would vindicate the vacant throne.
Is Sparta blest, and these desiring eyes
View my friend's son? (the king exulting cries ;)
Son of my friend, by glorious toils approved,
Whose sword was sacred to the man he loved:
Mirror of constant faith, revered and mourn'd!--
When Troy was ruin'd, had the chief return'd,
No Greek an equal space had e'er possess'd,
Of dear affection, in my grateful breast.
I, to confirm the mutual joys we shared,
For his abode a capital prepared;
Argos the seat of sovereign rule I chose ;
Fair in the plan the future palace rose,
Where my Ulysses and his race might reign,
And portion to his tribes the wide domain.
To them my vassals had resign'd a soil,
With teeming plenty to reward their toil.
There with commutual zeal we both had strove
In acts of dear benevolence and love:
Brothers in peace, not rivals in command,
And death alone dissolved the friendly band!
Some envious power the blissful scene destroys;
Vanish'd are all the visionary joys:
The soul of friendship to my hope is lost,
Fated to wander from his natal coast!

190 In thee renew'd the soul of Nestor shines:
Form'd by the care of that consummate sage,
In early bloom an oracle of age,

Whene'er his influence Jove vouchsafes to shower, 285
To bless the natal, and the nuptial hour;

195 From the great sire transmissive to the race,
The boon devolving gives distinguish'd grace.
Such, happy Nestor! was thy glorious doom;
Around thee full of years, thy offspring bloom,
Expert of arms, and prudent in debate;
200 The gifts of heaven to guard thy hoary state.
But now let each becalm his troubled breast,
Wash, and partake serene the friendly feast.
To move thy suit, Telemachus, delay,
Till heaven's revolving lamp restores the day.
He said, Asphalion swift the laver brings;
Alternate all partake the grateful springs:
Then from the rites of purity repair,

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And with keen gust the savoury viands share.
Meantime, with genial joy to warm the soul,
Bright Helen mix'd a mirth inspiring bowi:
Temper'd with drugs of sovereign use, to assuage
The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage;

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To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled Care,
And dry the tearful sluices of Despair:

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915 Charm'd with that virtuous draught, the exalted mind
All sense of woe delivers to the wind.
Though on the blazing pile his parent lay,
Or a loved brother groan'd his life away,
Or darling son, oppress'd by ruffian force,

220 Fell breathless at his feet, a mangled corse;
From morn to eve, impassive and serene,
The man entranced would view the deathful scene.
These drugs, so friendly to the joys of life,
Bright Helen learn'd from Thone's imperial wife;
225 Who sway'd the sceptre, where prolific Nile

With various simples clothes the fatten'd soil.
With wholesome herbage mix'd, the direful bane
Of vegetable venom taints the plain;
From Pæon sprung, their patron-god imparts
230 To all the Pharian race his healing arts.

The beverage now prepared to inspire the feast,
The circle thus the beauteous queen address'd:
Throned in omnipotence, supremest Jove
Tempers the fates of human race above;
235 By the firm sanction of his sovereign will,
Alternate are decreed our good and ill.
To feastful mirth be this white hour assign'd,
And sweet discourse, the banquet of the mind.
Myself, assisting in the social joy,

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Each brightening grace the genuine Greek confess'd.

A previous pledge of sacred faith obtain'd,

Till he the lines and Argive fleet regain'd,

To keep his stay conceal'd; the chief declared

The plans of war against the town prepared. Exploring then the secrets of the state,

He learn'd what best might urge the Dardan fate :
And, safe returning to the Grecian host,
Sent many a shade to Pluto's dreary coast.
Loud grief resounded through the towers of Troy,
But my pleased bosom glow'd with secret joy:
For then, with dire remorse and conscious shame,
I view'd the effects of that disastrous flame,
Which, kindled by the imperious queen of love,
Constrain'd me from my native realm to rove:
And oft in bitterness of soul deplored
My absent daughter, and my dearer lord;
Admired among the first of human race,

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Our sovereign seat a lewd asurping race 340 With lawless riot and misrule disgrace; To pamper'd insolence devoted fall Prime of the flock, and choicest of the stall For wild ambition wings their bold desire, And all to mount the imperial bed aspire. But prostrate I implore, oh king! relate The mournful series of my father's fate: Each known disaster of the man disclose Born by his mother to a world of woes! Recite them; nor in erring pity fear To wound with storied grief the filial ear: If e'er Ulysses, to reclaim your right, Avow'd his zeal in council or in fight, If Phrygian camps the friendly toils attest, To the sire's merit give the son's request. Deep from his inmost soul Atrides sigh'd, And thus indignant to the prince replied: Heavens would a soft, inglorious, dastard train An absent hero's nuptial joys profane! So with her young, amid the woodland shades, 360 A timorous hind the lion's court invades, Leaves in the fatal lair the tender fawns, Climbs the green cliff, or feeds the flowery lawns: Meantime return'd, with dire remorseless sway The monarch-savage rends the trembling prey.

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Right well, replied the king, your speech displays 365 With equal fury, and with equal fame,

For martial deeds and depth of thought renown'd;

For every gift of mind and manly grace.

The matchless merit of the chief you praise:

Heroes in various climes myself have found,

But Ithacus, unrivall'd in his claim,

May boast a title to the loudest fame:

In battle calm, he guides the rapid storm, Wise to resolve, and patient to perform.

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What wondrous conduct in the chief appear'd,
When the vast fabric of the steed we rear'd!
Some dæmon, anxious for the Trojan doom,
Urged you with great Deïphobus to come,
To explore the fraud; with guile opposed to guile,
Slow-pacing thrice around the insidious pile;
Each noted leader's name you thrice invoke,
Your accent varying as their spouses spoke:
The pleasing sounds each latent warrior warm'd,
But most Tydides' and my heart alarm'd:
To quit the steed we both impatient press,
Threatening to answer from the dark recess.
Unmoved the mind of Ithacus remain'd:
And the vain ardours of our love restrain'd:
But Anticlus, unable to control,

Spoke loud the language of his yearning soul:
Ulysses straight, with indignation fired
(For so the common care of Greece required,)
Firm to his lips his forceful hands applied,
Till on his tongue the fluttering murmurs died.
Meantime Minerva, from the fraudful horse,
Back to the court of Priam bent your course.
Inclement fate! Telemachus replies;
Frail is the boasted attribute of wise:
The leader, mingling with the vulgar host,
Is in the common mass of matter lost:

But now let sleep the painful waste repair
Of sad reflection, and corroding care.

He ceased; the menial fair that round her wait, At Helen's beck prepare the room of state; Beneath an ample portico they spread

The downy fleece to form the slumberous bed;
And o'er soft palls of purple grain, unfold
Rich tapestry, stiff with inwoven gold:
Then through the illumined dome, to balmy rest
The obsequious herald guides each princely guest;
While to his regal bower the king ascends,
And beauteous Helen on her lord attends.
Soon as the morn, in orient purple dress'd,
Unbarr'd the portal of the roseat east,
The monarch rose; magnificent to view,
The imperial mantle o'er his vest he threw :
The glittering zone athwart his shoulder cast,
A starry falchion low-depending graced
Clasp'd on his feet the embroider'd sandals shine;
And forth he moves, majestic and divine:
Instant to young Telemachus he press'd,
And thus benevolent his speech address'd:

Say, royal youth, sincere of soul, report
What cause hath led you to the Spartan court?
Do public or domestic cares constrain
This toilsome voyage o'er the surgy main ?
O highly-favour'd delegate of Jove!
(Replies the prince ;) inflamed with filial love,
And anxious hope, to hear my parent's doom,
A suppliant to your royal court I come.

And loud-acclaiming Greeks the victor bless'd: Then soon the invaders of his bed and throne Their love presumptuous shall with life atone. With patient ear, Ó royal youth, attend The storied labours of thy father's friend: Fruitful of deeds, the copious tale is long, 380 But truth severe shall dictate to my tongue Learn what I heard the sea-born seer relate, Whose eye can pierce the dark recess of fate, Long on the Egyptian coast by calms confined Heaven to my fleet refused a prosperous wind, 485 No vows had we preferr'd, nor victim slain! For this the gods each favouring gale restrain: Jealous, to see their high behests obey'd: Severe, if men the eternal rights evade. High o'er a gulfy sea, the Pharian isle

390 Fronts the deep roar of disemboguing Nile: Her distance from the shore, the course begun At dawn, and ending with the setting sun, A galley measures; when the stiffer gales Rise on the poop, and fully stretch the sails. 395 There, anchor'd vessels safe in harbour lie,

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Whilst limpid springs the failing cask supply.
And now the twentieth sun, descending, laves
His glowing axle in the western waves;
Still with expanded sails we court in vain
Propitious winds to waft us o'er the main:
And the pale mariner at once deplores
His drooping vigour and exhausted stores,
When lo a bright coerulean form appears,
The fair Eidothea! to dispel my fears;

405 Proteus her sire divine. With pity press'd,
Me sole the daughter of the deep address'd;
What time, with hunger pined, my absent mates
Roam the wild isle in search of rural cates,
Bait the barb'd steel, and from the fishy flood
Appease the afflictive fierce desire of food.
Whoe'er thou art (the azure goddess cries)
Thy conduct ill deserves the praise of wise:
Is death thy choice, or misery thy boast,
That here inglorious on a barren coast
415 Thy brave associates droop, a meagre train
With famine pale, and ask thy care in vain?
Struck with the kind reproach, I straight reply;
Whate er thy title in thy native sky,
A goddess sure! for more than mortal grace
420 Speaks thee descendant of etherial race:

Deem not, that here of choice my fleet remains;
Some heavenly power averse my stay constrains :
O, piteous of my fate, vouchsafe to shew
(For what's sequester'd from celestial view?)
What power becalms the innavigable seas?

425 What guilt provokes him, and what vows appease!

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I ceased, when affable the goddess cried;
Observe, and in the truths I speak confide:
The oraculous seer frequents the Pharian coast,
From whose high bed my birth divine I boast;
Proteus, a naine tremendous o'er the main,
The delegate of Neptune's watry reign.
Watch with insidious care his known abode;
There fast in chains constrain the various god;
Who bound, obedient to superior force,
Unerring will prescribe your destined course.
If, studious of your realms, you then demand
Their state, since last you left your natal land;
Instant the god obsequious will disclose
Bright tracts of glory, or a cloud of woes.

She ceased and suppliant thus I made eply:
O goddess! on thy aid my hopes rely;
Dictate propitious to my duteous ear,
What arts can captivate the changeful seer;
For perilous the essay, unheard the toil,
To elude the prescience of a god by guile.
Thus to the goddess mild my suit I end
Then she. Obedient to my rule, attend:
When through the zone of heaven the mounted sun
Hath journey'd half, and half remains to run;
The seer, while zephyrs curl the swelling deep,
Basks on the breezy shore, in grateful sleep,
His oozy limbs. Emerging from the wave,
The Phoca swift surround his rocky cave,
Frequent and full; the consecrated train
Of her, whose azure trident awes the main:
There wallowing warm, the enormous herd exhales
An oily steam, and taints the noon-tide gales.
To that recess, commodious for surprise,
When purple light shall next suffuse the skies,
With me repair; and from thy warrior-band
Three chosen chiefs of dauntless soul command:
Let their auxiliar force befriend the toil;
For strong the god, and perfected in guile.
Stretch'd on the shelly shore, he first surveys
The flouncing herd ascending from the seas;
Their number summ'd, reposed in sleep profound
The scaly charge their guardian god surround:
So with his battening flocks the careful swain
Abides pavilion'd on the grassy plain.
With powers united, obstinately bold
Invade him, couch'd amid the scaly fold:
Instant he wears, elusive of the rape,
The mimic force of every savage shape;
Or glides with liquid lapse a murmuring stream,
Or, wrapt in flame, he glows at every limb.
Yet still retentive, with redoubled might,
Through each vain passive form constrain his flight.
But when, his native shape resumed, he stands
Patient of conquest, and your cause demands;
The cause that urged the bold attempt declare,
And soothe the vanquish'd with a victor's prayer.
The bands relax'd implore the seer to say
What godhead interdicts the watry way?
Who, straight propitious, in prophetic strain
Will teach you to repass the unmeasured main.
She ceased, and bounding from the shelfy shore,
Round the descending nymph the waves redounding
High wrapt in wonder of the future deed,
With joy impetuous, to the port I speed:
The wants of nature with repast suffice,
Till night with grateful shade involved the skies,
And shed ambrosial dews. Fast by the deep,
Along the tented shore, in balmy sleep,

Our cares were lost. When o'er the eastern lawn,
In saffron robes, the daughter of the dawn
Advanced her rosy steps; before the bay,
Due ritual honours to the gods I pay;
Then seek the place the sea-born nymph assign'd,
With three associates of undaunted mind.
Arrived, to form along the appointed strand
For each a bed, she scoops the hilly sand:
Then, from her azure car the finny spoils
of four vast Phocæ takes to veil her wiles:
Beneath the finny spoils, extended prone,
Hard toil the prophet's piercing eye to shun;
New from the corse, the scaly frauds diffuse
Unsavoury stench of oil, and brackish ooze :
But the bright sea-maid's gentle power implored,
With nectar'd drops the sickening sense restored.
Thus till the sun had travell'd half the skies,
Ambush'd we lie, and wait the bold emprise:
When, thronging quick to bask in open air,
The flocks of Ocean to the strand repair:
Couch'd on the sunny sand, the monsters sleep:
Then Proteus, mounting from the hoary deep,

* Amphitrite.

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Sudden our bands a spotted pard restrain;
Then, arm'd with tusks, and lightning in his eyes,
A boar's obscener shape the god belies:
On spiry volumes, there, a dragon rides ;

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530 Here, from our strict embrace a stream he glides:
And last, sublime, his stately growth he rears,
A tree, and well dissembled foliage wears.
Vain efforts! with superior power compress'd,
Me with reluctance thus the seer address'd:
535 Say, son of Atreus, say what god inspired
This daring fraud, and what the boon desired?
I thus: O thou, whose certain eye foresees
The fix'd event of fate's remote decrees;
After long woes, and various toil endured,
Still on this desert isle my fleet is moor'd;
Unfriended of the gales. All-knowing! say,
What godhead interdicts the watry way?.
What vows repentant will the power appease,
To speed a prosperous voyage o'er the seas?
To Jove (with stern regard the god replies)
And all the offended synod of the skies,
Just hecatombs with due devotion slain,
Thy guilt absolved, a prosperous voyage gain.
To the firm sanction of thy fate attend!
550 An exile thou, nor cheering face of friend,
Nor sight of natal shore, nor regal dome,
Shalt yet enjoy, but still art doom'd to roam.
Once more the Nile, who from the secret source
Of Jove's high seat descends with sweepy force.
555 Must view his billows white beneath thy oar,
And altars blaze along his sanguine shore.
Then will the gods, with holy pomp adored,
To thy long vows a safe returu accord.
He ceased: heart-wounded with afflictive pain
560 (Doom'd to repeat the perils of the main,
A shelfy track and long!) O seer, I cry,
To the stern sanction of the offended sky
My prompt obedience bows. But deign to say,
What fate propitious, or what dire dismay,
565 Sustain those peers, the reliques of our host,
Whom I with Nestor on the Phrygian coast
Embracing left? Must I the warriors weep,
Whelm'd in the bottom of the monstrous deep?
Or did the kind domestic friend deplore
The breathless heroes on their native shore
Press not too far, replied the god; but cease
To know, what known will violate thy peace;
Too curious of their doom! with friendly woe
Thy breast will heave, and tears eternal flow.
575 Part live! the rest, a lamentable train !
Range the dark bounds of Pluto's dreary reign.
Two, foremost in the roll of Mars renown'd,
Whose arms with conquest in thy cause were crown'd,
Fell by disastrous fate; by tempests toss'd,
A third lives wretched on a distant coast.

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