While here I sojourn'd, oft I heard the fame A few revolving months should waft him o'er, How late Ulysses to the country came,

Fraught with bold warriors, and a boundless store. How loved, how honour'd, in this court he stay'd, O thou ! whom age has taught to understand, And here his whole collected treasure laid;

And heaven has guided with a favouring hand, I saw myself the vast unnumber'd store

On god or mortal to obtrude a lie Of steel elaborate, and refulgent ore,

360 Forbear, and dread to flatter, as to die And brass high heap'd amidst the regal dome; Not for such ends my house and heart are free, Immense supplies for ages yet to come!

But dear respeci to Jove, and charity. Meantime he voyaged to explore the will

And why, oh swain of unbelieving mind! Or Jove, on high Dodona's holy hill,

(Thus quick replied the wisest of mankind) What means might best his safe return avail, Doubt you my oath ? yet more my faith to try, To come in pomp, or bear a secret sail ?

A solemn compact let us ratify,
Full oft has Phidon, whilst he pour'd in wine, And witness every power that rules the sky:
Attesting solemn all the powers divine,

If here Ulysses from his labours rest,
That soon Ulysses would return, declared, Be then my prize a tunic and a vest;
The sailors waiting, and the ships prepared. 370) And, where my hopes invite me, straight transport,
But first the king dismiss'd me from his shores, In safety to Dulichiuni's friendly court.
For fair Dulichium crown'd with fruitful stores; But if he greets not thy desiring eye,

440 To good Acastus' friendly care consign'd:

Hurl me from yon dread precipice on high; But other counsels pleased the sailors' mind: The due reward of fraud and perjury. New frauds were plotted by the faithless train, Doubtless, oh guest! great laud and praise were And misery demands me once again.

mine, Soon as remote from shore they plough the wave, (Replied the swain, for spotless faith divine,) With ready hands they rush to seize their slave; If, atter social rites and gifts bestow'd, Then with these tatter'd rags they wrap me round I stain'd my hospitable hearth with blood. (Stript of my own,) and to the vessel bound. 380 How would the gods my righteous toils succeed, At eve, at Ithaca's delightful land

And bless the hand that made a stranger bleed? The ship arrived : forth-issuing on the sand

No more-the approaching hours of silent night They sought repast; while, to the unhappy kind, First claim refection, then to rest invite;

450 The pitying gods themselves my chains unbind. Beneath our humble cottage let us haste, Soft I descended, to the sea applied

And here, unenvied, rural dainties taste. My naked breast, and shot along the tide.

Thus communed these ; while to their lowly dome
Soon pass'd beyond their sight, I left the flood The full-fed swine return'd with evening home;
And took the spreading shelter of the wood. Compell’d, reluctant, to their several sties,

Their prize escaped, the faithless pirates mourn'd; With din obstreperous, and ungrateful cries.
But deem'd inquiry vain, and to their ship return'd. Then to the slaves--Now from the herd the best
Screen'd by protecting gods from hostile eyes, 391 Select in honour of our foreign guest :
They led me to a good man and a wise,

With him let us the genial banquet share,
To live beneath thy hospitable care,

For great and many are the griefs we bear; 460 And wait the woes heaven dooms me yet to bear. While those who from our labours heap their board,

Unhappy guest! whose sorrows touch my mind! Blaspheme their feeder and forget their lord. (Thus good Eumæus with a sigh rejoin'd,)

Thus speaking, with despatchful hand he took For real sufferings since I grieve sincere,

A weighty ax, and cleft the solid oak:
Check not with fallacies the springing tear; This on the earth he piled; a boar full fed,
Nor turn the passion into groundless joy

Of five years age, before the pile was led :
For him, whom heaven has destined to destroy. 400 The swain, whom acts of piety delight,
Oh! had he perish'd on some well-fought day, Observant of the gods, begins the rite :
Or in his friend's embraces died away!

First shears the forehead of the bristly boar,
That grateful Greece with streaming eyes might raise And suppliant stands, invoking every power 470
Historic marbles to record his praise;

To speed Ulysses to his native shore. His praise, eternal on the faithful stone,

A knotty stake then aiming at his head, And with transmissive honours graced his son. Down dropi he groaning, and the spirit fled. Now, snatch'd by harpies to the dreary coast, The scorching flames climb round on every side : Sunk is the hero, and his glory lost!

Then the singed members they with skill divide; While pensive in this solitary den,

On these, in rolls of fat involved with art, Far from gay cities and the ways of men, 410 The choicest morsels lay from every part. I linger life: nor to the court repair,

Some in the flames bestrew'd with flour they threw;
But when the constant queen commands my care; Some cut in fragments from the forks they drew:
Or when to taste her hospitable board,

These while on several tables they dispose,
Some guest arrives, with rumours of her lord; A priest himself the blameless rustic rose;
And these indulge their want, and those their woe, Expert the destined victim to dispart
And here the tears, and there the goblets flow. In seven just portions, pure of hand and heart.
By many such have I been warnd; but chief One sacred to the nymphs apart they lay;
By one Ætolian robb’d of all belief,

Another to the winged son of May;
Whose hap it was to this our roof to roam, The rural tribe in common share the rest
For murder banish'd from bis native home, 420 The king the chine, the honour of the feast,
He swore, Ulysses on the coast of Crete

Who sate delighted at his servant's board;
Staid but a season to refit his fleet;

|The faithful servant joy'd his unknown lord

580

Oh be thou dear (Ulysses cried) to Jove, 420 And then (supporting on his arm his head)
As well thou claim'st a grateful stranger's love! Hlear me, companions! (thus aloud he said ;)

Be then thy thanks (the bounteous swain replied) Methinks too distant from the fleet we lie:
Enjoyment of the good the gods provide.

Even now a vision stood before my eye, 560 From God's own hand descend our joys and woes; And sure the warning vision was from high: These he decrees, and he but suffers those :

Let from among us some swift courier rise, All power is his, and whatsoe'er he wills,

Haste to the general, and demand supplies.
The will itself, omnipotent, fulfils.

Up started Thoas straight, Andræmon's son,
This said, the first-fruits to the gods he gave; Nimbly he rose, and cast his garment down;
Then pour'd of offer'd wine the sable wave: Instant, the racer vanish'd off the ground;
In great Ulysses' hand he placed the bowl, 500 That instant in his cloak I wrapt me round:
He sate, and sweet refection cheer'd his soul. And safe I slept, till brightly-dawning shone
The bread from canisters Mesaulius gave

The morn conspicuous on her golden throne. (Eumaus' proper treasure bought this slave,

Oh were my strength as then, as then my age! 570 And led from Taphos, to attend his board,

Some friend would fence me from the winter's rage A servant added to his absent lord ;)

Yet, tatter'd as I look, I challenged then
His task it was the wheaten loaves to lay,

The honours and the offices of men:
And from the banquet take the bowls away. Some master, or some servant, would allow
And now the rage of hunger was repress'd,

A cloak and vest—but I am nothing now!
And each betakes him to his couch to rest.

Well hast thou spoke (rejoin'd the attentive swain ;) Now came the night, and darkness cover'd o'er 510 Thy lips let fall no idle word or vain ! The face of things : the winds began to roar; Nor garment shalt thou want, nor ought beside, The driving storm the watery west wind pours, Meet for the wandering suppliant to provide. And Jove descends in deluges of showers.

But in the morning take thy clothes again, Studious of rest and warmth, Ulysses lies,

For here one vest suffices every swain; Forseeing from the first the storm would rise; No change of garments to our hinds is known: In mere necessity of coat and cloak,

But when return'd, the good Ulysses' son With artful preface to his host he spoke.

With better hand shall grace with fit attires Hear me, my friends! who this good banquet grace; Ilis guest, and send thee where thy soul desires. 'Tis sweet to play the fool in time and place,

The honest herdsman rose, as this he said, And wine can of their wits the wise beguile, 520 And drew before the hearth the stranger's bed: Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile, The fleecy spoils of sheep, a goat's rough hide The grave in merry measures frisk about,

He spreads; and adds a mandle thick and wide; And many a long-repented word bring out. With store to heap above him, and below, 590 Since to be talkative I now commence,

And guard each quarter as the tempests blow. Let wit cast off the sullen yoke of sense.

There lay the king and all the rest supine ; Once I was strong (would heaven restore those days !) All but the careful master of the swine : And with my betters claim'd a share of praise. Forth hasted he to tend his bristly care; Ulysses, Menelaus, led forth a band,

Well arm'd, and fenced against nocturnal air ; And join'd me with them ('twas their own com His weighty falchion o'er his shoulder tied ; mand :)

His shaggy cloak a mountain goat supplied: A deathful ambush for the foe to lay,

530 With his broad spear, the dread of dogs and men, Beneath Troy walls by night we took our way: He seeks his lodging in the rocky den. There, clad in arms, along the marshes spread, There to the tusky herd he bends his way, 600 We made the ozier-fringed bank our bed.

Where, screen'd from Boreas, high o'erarch'd they lay. Full soon the inclemency of heaven I feel, Nor had these shoulders covering, but of steel. Sharp blew the north ; snow whitening all the felds Froze with the blast, and gathering glazed our shields :

BOOK XV.
There all but I, well fenced with cloak and vest,

ARGUMENT.
Lay cover'd by their ample shields at rest.
Fool that I was! I left behind my own;

540

The Return of Telemachus. The skill of weather and of winds unknown, The goddess Minerva commands Telemachus in a vision And trusted to my coat and shield alone !

to return to Ithaca. Pisistratus and he take leave of When now was wasted more than half the night, Menelaus, and arrive at Pylos, where they part; and And the stars faded at approaching light;

Telemachus sets sail, after having received on board Sudden I jogg'd Ulysses, who was laid

Theoclymenus the soothsayer. The scene then changes Fast by my side, and shivering thus I said:

to the cottage of Eumeus, who entertains Ulysses

with a recital of his adventures. In the meantime Here longer in this field I cannot lie;

Telemachus arrives on the coast, and sending the The winter pinches, and with cold I die,

vessel to the town, proceeds by himself to the lodge of And die ashamed (oh wisest of mankind,)

Eumæus.
The only fool who left his cloak behind.
He thought and answer'd: hardly waking yet,

BOOK XV.
Sprung in his mind a momentary wit
(That wit, which or in council, or in fight,

Now had Minerva reach'd those ample plains, Still met the emergence, and determined right.) Famed for the dance, where Menelaus reigns; Hush thee, he cried (soft whispering in my ear,) Anxious she flics to great Ulysses' heir, Speak not a word, lest any Grock may hear His instant voyage challenged all her care.

Beneath the royal portico display'd,

Swift let us measure back the watery way, With Nestor's son Telemachus was laid ;

Nor check our speed, impatient of delay.
In sleep profound the son of Nestor lies :

If with desire so strong thy bosom glows,
Not thine, Ulysses ! Care unseal'd his eyes : III, said the king, should I thy wish oppose ;
Restless he grieved, with various fears oppress'd, For oft in others freely I reprove
And all thy fortune rolld within his breast. 10 The ill-timed efforts of officious love;
When, 0 Telemachus ! (the goddess said)

Who love too much, hate in the like extreme,
Too long in vain, too widely hast thou stray'd, And both the golden mean alike condemn.
Thus leaving careless thy paternal right

Alike he thwarts the hospitable end, The robber's prize, the prey to lawless might. Who drives the free, or stays the hasty friend; On fond pursuits neglectful while you roam, True friendship's laws are by this rule express'd, Even now the hand of rapine sacks the dome. Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest. Hence to Atrides; and his leave implore

Yet stay, my friends, and in your chariot take
To launch thy vessel for thy natal shore : The noblest presents that our love can make ;
Fly while thy mother virtuous yet withstands Meantime commit we to our women's care
Her kindred's wishes, and her sire's commands; 20 Some choice domestic viands to prepare ;
Through both, Eurymachus pursues the dame, The traveller, rising from the banquet gay,
And with the noblest gifts asserts his claim. Eludes the labours of the tedious way.
Hence therefore, while thy stores thy own remain ; Then if a wider course shall rather please
Thou know'st the practice of the female train, Through spacious Argos and the realms of Greece,
Lost in the children of the present spouse,

Atrides in his chariot shall attend;
They slight the pledges of their former vows ; Himself thy convoy to each royal friend :
Their love is always with the lover past;

No prince will let Ulysses' heir remove
Still the succeeding flame expels the last.

Without some pledge some monument of love : Let o'er thy house some chosen maid preside, These will the caldron, these the tripod give, Till heaven decrees to bless thee with a bride. 30 From those the well-pair'd mules we shall receive, But now thy more attentive ears incline,

Or bowl emboss'd whose golden figures live. Observe the warnings of a power divine ;

To whom the youth, for prudence famed, reFor thee their saares the suitor lords shall lay

plied: In Samos' sands, or straits of Ithaca ;

O monarch, care of heaven! thy people's pride ! 103 To seize thy life shall lurk the murderous band, No friend in Ithaca, my place supplies, Ere yet thy footsteps press thy native land, No powerful hands are there, no watchful eyes No-sooner far their riot and their lust

My stores exposed, and fenceless house demand All-covering earth shall bury deep in dust ! The speediest succour from my guardian hand; Then distant from the scatter'd islands steer, Lest, in a search too anxious and too vain Nor let the night retard thy full career ;

40 of one lost joy, I loose what yet remain. Thy heavenly guardian shall instruct the gales His purpose when the generous warrior heard, To smooth thy passage and supply thy sails ; He charged the household cates to be prepared. And when at Ithaca thy labour ends,

Now with the dawn, from his adjoining home, 110 Send to the town the vessel with thy friends ;

Was Boothædes Eteoneus come;
But seek thou first the master of the swine, Swift as the word he forms the rising blaze,
(For still to thee his loyal thoughts incline ;) And o'er the coals the smoking fragments lays.
There pass the night: while he his course pursues Meantime the king, his son, and Helen, went
To bring Penelope the wish'd-for news,

Where the rich wardrobe breath'd a costly scent
That thou, safe sailing from the Pylian strand, The king selected from the glittering rows
Art come to bless her in thy native land. 50 A bowl; the prince a silver beaker chose.

Thus spoke the goddess and resumed her flight The beauteous queen revolved with careful eyes To the pure regions of eternal light.

Her various textures of unnumber'd dyes, Meanwhile Pisistratus he gently shakes,

And chose the largest ; with no vulgar art And with these words the slumbering youth awakes. Her own fair hands embroider'd every part Rise, son of Nestor; for the road prepare,

Beneath the rest it lay divinely bright, And join the harness'd coursers to the car

Like radiant Hesper o'er the gems of night. What cause, he cried, can justify our flight, Then with each gift they hasten'd to their guest, To tempt the dangers of forbidding night? And thus the king Ulysses' heir address'd. Here wait we rather, till approaching day

Since fix'd are thy resolves, may thundering Jore Shall prompt our speed, and point the ready way. 60 With happiest omens thy desires approve ! Nor think of fight before the Spartan king This silver bowl, whose costly margins shine Shall bid farewell, and bounteous presents bring ; Enchased with gold, this valued gift be thine ; Gifts, which to distant ages cafely stored,

To me this present, of Vulcanian frame,
The sacred act of friendship shall record.

From Sidon's hospitable monarch came;
Thus he. But when the dawn bestreak'd the east, To thee we now consign the precious load,
The king from Helen rose, and sought his guest. The pride of kings, and labour of a god.
As soon as his approach the hero knew,

Then gave the cup, while Megapenthe brought
The splendid mantle round him first he threw, The silver vase with living sculpture wrought.
Then o'er his ample shoulders whirl'd the cloak, The beauteous queen, advancing next, display'd
Respectful met the monarch, and bespoke. 70 The shining veil, and thus endearing said.
Hail, great Atrides, favour'd of high Jove!

Accept, dear youth, this monument of love,
Lot not thy friends in vain for licence move. Long since, in better days, by Helen wove:

120

Safe in thy mother's care the vesture lay, 1401 He said ; and, bending o'er his chariot, flung To deck thy bride, and grace the nuptial day. Athwart the fiery steeds the smarting thong; Meantime may'st thou with happiest speed regain The bounding shafts upon the harness play, Thy stately palace, and thy wide domain.

Till night descending intercepts the way. She said, and give the veil; with grateful look To Diocles at Pheræ they repair,

210 The prince the variegated present took.

Whose boasted sire was sacred Alpheus' heir ; And now, when through the royal dome they pass'd, With him all night the youthful strangers stay'd, High on a throne the king each stranger placed. Nor found the hospitable rites unpaid. A golden ewer the attendant damsel brings, But soon as morning from her orient bed Replete with water from the crystal springs; Had tinged the mountains with her earliest red, With copious streams the shining vase supplies 150 They join'd the steeds, and on the chariot sprung, A silver laver of capacious size.

The brazen portals in their passage rung. They wash. The tables in fair order spread,

To Pylos soon they came: when thus begun The glittering canisters are crown'd with bread; To Nestor's heir Ulysses' godlike son: Viands of various kinds allure the taste,

Let not Pisistratus in vain be press'd,

220 Of choicest sort and savour; rich repast !

Nor unconsenting hear his friend's request; Whilst Eteoneus portions out the shares,

His friend by long hereditary claim, Atrides' son the purple draught prepares.

In toils his equal, and in years the same. And now (each sated with the genial feast,

No farther from our vessel, I implore, And the short rage of thirst and hunger ceased) The coursers drive ; but lash them to the shore. Ulysses' son, with his illustrious friend,

160 Too long thy father would his friend detain; The horses join, the polish'd car ascend

I dread his proffer’d kindness urged in vain. Along the court the fiery steeds rebound,

The hero paused and ponder'd this request, And the wide portal echoes to the sound.

While love and duty warr'd within his breast. The king precedes; a bowl with fragrant wine At length resolved, he turn'd his ready hand, 230 (Libation destined to the powers divine)

And lash'd his panting coursers to the strand.
His right hand held : before the steeds he stands, There, while within the poop with care he stored
Then mix'd with prayers, he utters these com The regal presents of the Spartan Jord,
mands.

With speed begone (said he ;) call every mate,
Farewell, and prosper, youths ! let Nestor know Ere yet to Nestor I the tale relate :
What grateful thoughts still in this bosom glow, 'Tis true, the fervour of his generous heart
For all the proofs of his paternal care,

170 Brooks no repulse, nor couldst thou soon depart:
Through the long dangers of the ten years war. Himsel will seek thee here, nor wilt thou find
Ah! doubt not our report (the prince rejoin'd) In words alone, the Pylian monarch kind.
Of all the virtues of thy generous mind.

But when, arrived, he thy return shall know, 240 And oh! return'd might we Ulysses meet!

How will his breast with honest fury glow!
To him thy presents show, thy words repeat: This said, the sounding strokes his horses fire,
How will each speech his grateful wonder raise ! And soon he reach'd the palace of his sire.
How will each gift indulge us in thy praise !

Now (cried Telemachus) with speedy care
Scarce ended thus the prince, when on the right Hoist every sail, and every oar prepare.
Advanced the bird of Jove: auspicious sight! Swift as the word his willing mates obey,
A milk-white fowl his clinching talons bore, 180 And seize their seats, impatient for the sea.
With care domestic pamper'd at the floor.

Meantime the prince with sacrifice adores
Peasants in vain with threatening cries pursue, Minerva, and her guardian aid implores;
In solemn speed the bird majestic flew

When lo! a wretch ran breathless to the shore, 250 Full dexter to the car: the prosperous sight New from his crime, and reeking yet with gore. Fillid every breast with wonder and delight. A seer he was, from great Melampus sprung,

But Nestor's son the cheerful silence broke, Melampus, who in Pylos flourish'd long, And in these words the Spartan chief bespoke. Till, urged by wrongs, a foreign realm he chose, Say if to us the gods these omens send,

Far from the hateful cause of all his woes. Or fates peculiar to thyself portend?

Neleus his treasures one long year detains ; Whilst yet the monarch paused, with doubts op As long he groan'd in Philacus's chains : press'd,

190 Meantime what anguish and what rage combined, The beauteous queen relieved his labouring breast. For lovely Pero rack'd his labouring mind!

she cried, to whom the gods have given Yet 'scaped he death; and vengeful of his wrong To read this sign, the mystic sense of heaven To Pylos drove the lowing herds along; 261 As thus the plumy sovereign of the air

Then (Neleus vanquish'd, and consign'd the fair Left on the mountain's brow his callow care, To Bias' arms) he sought a foreign air; And wander'd through the wide ethereal way Argos the rich for his retreat he chose, To pour his wrath on yon luxurious prey;

There form'd his empire; there his palace rose. So shall thy godlike father, toss'd in vain

From him Antiphates and Mantius came : Through all the dangers of the boundless main The first begot Oicleus great in fame, Arrive (or is perchance already come) 200 And he Amphiaraus, immortal name! From slaughter'd gluttons to release the dome. The people's saviour and divinely wise,

Oh! if this promised bliss by thundering Jove Beloved by Jove, and him who gilds the skies; 270 (The prince replied) stand fix'd in fate above, Yet short his date of life! by female pride he dies. To thee, as to some god, I'll temples raise, From Mantius Clitus, whom Aurora's love And crown thy altars with the costly blaze. Snatch'd for his beauty to the thrones above;

Hear me,

And Polyphidos, on whorn Phæbus shone

Such are the tasks of men of mean estate With fullest rays, Amphiaraus now gone :

Whom fortune dooms to serve the rich and great. In Hyperesia's groves he made abode,

Alas! (Eumæus with a sigh rejoin'd) And taught mankind the counsels of the god. How sprung a thought so monstrous in thy mind ? From him sprung Theoclymenus, who found If on that godless race thou would'st attend, (The sacred wine yet foaming on the ground) Fate owes thee sure a miserable end! Telemachus: whom, as to heaven he press'd 280 Their wrongs and blasphemies ascend the sky, His ardent vows, the stranger thus address'd: And pull descending vengeance from on bigh.

O thou! That dost thy happy course prepare Not such, my friend, the servants of their feast, 350 With pure libations and with solemn prayer ; A blooming train in rich embroidery dress'd, By that dread power to whom thy vows are paid; With earth's whole tribute the bright table bends, By all the lives of these; thy own dear head, And smiling round celestial youth attends. Declare sincerely to no foe's demand

Stay then: no eye askance beholds thee here
Thy name, thy lineage, and paternal land.

Sweet is thy converse to each social ear.
Prepare then, said Telemachus, to know Well pleased, and pleasing, in our cottage rest,
A tale from falsehood free, not free from woe. Till good Telemachus accepts his guest.
From Ithaca, of royal birth I came,

290 With genial gifts, and change of fair attires, And great Ulysses (ever honour'd name!)

And safe conveys thee where thy soul desires.
Was once my sire, though now for ever lost, To him the man of woes. O gracious Jove !
In Stygian gloom he glides a pensive ghost ! Reward this stranger's hospitable love,
Whose fate inquiring through the world we rove; Who knows the son of sorrow to relieve,
The last, the wretched proof of filial love. Cheers the sad heart, nor lets affliction grieve.

The stranger then. Nor shall I aught conceal, Of all the ills unhappy mortals know,
But the dire secret of my fate reveal.

A life of wanderings is the greatest woe : Of my own tribe an Argive wretch I slew ; On all their weary ways wait care and pain, Whose powerful friends the luckless deed pursue And pine and penury, a meagre train. With unrelenting rage, and force from home 300 To such a man since harbour you afford, The blood-stain d exile, ever doom'd to roam. Relate the farther fortunes of your lord; But bear, oh bear me o'er yon azure flood : What cares his mother's tender breast engage, 370 Receive the suppliant! spare my destined blood! And sire, forsaken on the verge of age;

Stranger (replied the prince) securely rest Beneath the sun prolong they yet their breath? Affianced in our faith, henceforth our guest. Or range the house of darkness and of death? Thus affable Ulysses godlike heir

To whom the swain. Attend what you inquire ;
Takes from the stranger's hand the glittering spear: Laërtes lives, the miserable sire,
He climbs the ship, ascends the stern with haste, Lives, but implores of every power to lay
And by his side the guest accepted placed. The burden down, and wishes for the day.
The chief his orders gives; the obedient band 310 Torn from his offspring in the eve of life,
With due observance wait the chief's command ; Torn from the embraces of his tender wife,
With speed the mast they rear, with speed unbind Sole, and all comfortless, he wastes away 380
The spacious sheet, and stretch it to the wind. Old age, untimely posting ere his day.
Minerva calls : the ready gales obey

She too, sad mother! for Ulysses lost
With rapid speed to whirl them o'er the sea. Pined out her bloom, and vanish'd to a ghost.
Crunus they pass'd, next Chalcis roll’d away, (So dire a fate, ye righteous gods ! avert,
When thickening darkness closed the doubtful day : From every friendly, every feeling heart!)
The silver Phæa's glittering rills they lost

While yet she was, though clouded o'er with gries, And skimm'd along by Elis sacred coast.

Her pleasing converse minister'd relief : Then cautious through the rocky reaches wind, 320 With Climene, her youngest daughter, bred, And, turning sudden, shun the death design'd. One roof contain'd us, and one table fed.

Meantime the king, Eumæus, and the rest, But when the softly stealing pace of time, 390 Sate in the cottage, at their rural feast :

Crept on from childhood into youthful prime,
The banquet pass'd, and satiate every man, To Samos' isle she sent the wedded fair ;
To try his host, Ulysses thus began.

Me to the fields to tend the rural care ;
Yet one night more, my friends, indulge your guest Array'd in garments her own hands had wove,
The last I purpose in your walls to rest :

Nor less the darling object of her love.
To-morrow for myself I must provide,

Her hapless death my brighter days o'ercast, And only ask your counsel and a guide ;

Yet providence deserts me not at last; Patient to roam the street, by hunger led, 330 My present labours food and drink procure, And bless the friendly hand that gives me bread. And more, the pleasure to relieve the poor. There in Ulysses' roof I may relate

Small is the comfort from the queen to hear 400 Ulysses' wanderings to his royal mate

Unwelcome news, or vex the royal ear;
Or, mingling with the suitors' haughty train, Blank and discountenanced the servants stand,
Not undeserving, some support obtain.

Nor dare to question where the proud command;
Hermes to me his various gifts imparts

No profit springs beneath usurping powers;
Patron of industry and manual arts :

Want feeds not there, where luxury devours ;
Few can with me in dextrous works contend, Nor harbours charity where riot reigns :
The pyre to build, the stubborn oak to rend; Proud are the lords, and wretched are the swains.
To turn the tasteful viand o'er the flame, 340 The suffering chief at this began to melt;
Or foam the goblet with a purple stream.

And, oh Eumæus! thou (he cries) hast felt