Where shall Ulysses shun, or how sustain,
Nations embattled to revenge the slain?
Oh, impotence of faith! Minerva cries,
If man on frail unknowing man relies :
Doubt ye the gods? Lo, Pallas' self descends,
Inspires thy counsels, and thy toils attends.
In me affianced, fortify thy breast,
Though myriads leagued thy rightful claim contest:
My sure divinity shall bear the shield,
And edge thy sword to reap the glorious field.
Now, pay the debt to craving nature due,
Her faded powers with balmy rest renew.
She ceased: ambrosial slumber closed his eyes;
His care dissolves in visionary joys:
The goddess, pleased, regains her natal skies.
Not so the queen; the downy bands of sleep
By grief relax'd, she waked again to weep:
A gloomy pause ensued of dumb despair;
Then thus her fate invoked, with fervent prayer:
Diana! speed thy deathful ebon dart,
And cure the pangs of this convulsive heart.
Snatch me, ye whirlwinds! far from human race,
Tost through the void illimitable space:
Or if dismounted from the rapid cloud,
Me with his whelming wave let Ocean shroud!
So, Pandarus, thy hopes, three orphan-fair,
Were doom'd to wander through the devious air:
Thyself untimely, and thy consort died,
But four celestials both your cares supplied.
Venus in tender delicacy rears
With honey, milk, and wine, their infant years:
Imperial Juno to their youth assign'd
A form majestic, and sagacious mind:
With shapely growth Diana graced their bloom,
And Pallas taught the texture of the loom.
But whilst, to learn their lots in nuptial love,
Bright Cytherea sought the bower of Jove,
(The god supreme, to whose eternal eye
The registers of fate expanded lie ;)
Wing'd Harpies snatch the unguarded charge away,
And to the Furies bore a grateful prey.
Be such my lot! Or thou, Diana, speed
Thy shaft, and send me joyful to the dead:
To seek my lord among the warrior-train,
Ere second vows my bridal faith profane.
When woes the waking sense alone assail,
Whilst Night extends her soft oblivious veil,
Of other wretches' care the torture ends:
No truce the warfare of my heart suspends!
The night renews the day-distracting theme,
And airy terrors sable every dream.
The last alone a kind illusion wrought,
And to my bed my loved Ulysses brought,
In manly bloom, and each majestic grace,
As when for Troy he left my fond embrace:
Such raptures in my beating bosom rise,
I deem it sure a vision of the skies.
Thus, whilst Aurora mounts her purple throne,
In audible laments she breathes her moan
The sounds assault Ulysses' wakeful ear:
Misjudging of the cause a sudden fear
Of his arrival known, the chief alarms;
He thinks the queen is rushing to his arms.
Upspringing from his couch, with active haste
The fleece and carpet in the dome he placed:
(The hide, without, imbibed the morning air;)
And thus the gods invoked with ardent prayer:
Jove, and ethereal thrones! with heaven to friend
If the long series of my woes shall end;
Of human race now rising from repose,
Let one a blissful omen here disclose:
And, to confirm my faith, propitious Jove.
Vouchsafe the sanction of a sign above.
Whilst lowly thus the chief adoring bows,
The pitying god his guardian aid avows.
61 Loud from a sapphire sky his thunder sounds;
With springing hope the hero's heart rebounds.
Soon, with consummate joy to crown his prayer, 130
An omen'd voice invades his ravish'd ear.
Beneath a pile that close the dome adjoin'd,
Twelve female slaves the gift of Ceres grind;
Task'd for the royal board to bolt the bran
From the pure flour (the growth and strength of
70 Discharging to the day the labour due,
Now early to repose the rest withdrew ;
One maid, unequal to the task assign'd,
Still turn'd the toilsome mill with anxious mind;
And thus in bitterness of soul divined:
Father of gods and men, whose thunders roll
O'er the cerulean vault, and shake the pole:
Whoe'er from heaven has gain'd this rare ostent
(Of granted vows a certain signal sent)
In this blest moment of accepted prayer,
80 Piteous, regard a wretch consumed with care!
Instant, O Jove! confound the suitor-train,
For whom o'ertoil'd I grind the golden grain;
Far from this dome the lewd devourers cast,
And be this festival decreed their last!
Big with their doom denounced in earth and sky,
Ulysses' heart dilates with secret joy.
Meantime the menial train with unctuous wood
Heap'd high the genial hearth, Vulcanian food:
90 When, early dress'd, advanced the royal heir:
With manly grasp he waved a martial spear,
A radiant sabre graced his purple zone,
And on his foot the golden sandal shone.
His steps impetuous to the portal press'd,
And Euryclea thus he there address'd.
Say thou, to whom my youth its nurture owes,
Was care for due reflection and repose
Bestow'd the stranger-guest? Or waits he grieved,
His age not honour'd, nor his wants relieved?
100 Promiscuous grace on all the queen confers;
(In woes bewilder'd, oft the wisest errs.)
The wordy vagrant to the dole aspires,
And modest worth with noble scorn retires.
She thus: O cease that ever-honour'd name
To blemish now: it ill deserves your blame.
A bowl of generous wine sufficed the guest:
In vain the queen the night-refection prest;
Nor would he court repose in downy state,
Unbless'd, abandon'd to the rage of Fate!
A hide beneath the portico was spread,
111 And fleecy skins composed a humble bed :
A downy carpet cast with duteous care,
Secured him from the keen nocturnal air.
His cornel javelin poised, with regal port,
To the sage Greeks convened in Themis' court, 180
Forth-issuing from the dome the prince repair'd;
Two dogs of chase, a lion-hearted guard,
Behind him sourly stalk'd. Without delay
The dame divides the labour of the day;
Thus urging to the toil the menial train:
What marks of luxury the marble stain!
Its wonted lustre let the floor regain ;
The seats with purple clothe in order due;
And let the abstersive spunge the board renew:
Let some refresh the vase's sullied mould;
Some bid the goblets boast their native gold:
Some to the spring, with each a jar repair,
And copious waters pure for bathing bear:
Dispatch! for soon the suitors will assay,
The lunar feast-rites to the god of day.
She said: with duteous haste a bevy fair
Of twenty virgins to the spring repair:
With varied toils the rest adorn the dome.
Magnificent, and blithe, the suitors come.
Some wield the sounding axe; the dodder'd oaks
Divide, obedient to the forceful strokes.
Soon from the fount, with each a brimming urn
(Eumæus in the train,) the maids return.
Three porkers for the feast, all brawny-chined,
He brought; the choicest of the tusky kind :
In lodgements first secure his care he view'd,
Then to the king his friendly speech renew'd;
Now say sincere, my guest! the suitor-train
Still treat they worth with lordly dull disdain ?
Unpiteous of the race thy will began!
The fool of fate, thy manufacture, man,
With penury, contempt, repulse, and care,
The galling load of life is doom'd to bear.
Ulysses from his state a wanderer still,
Upbraids thy power, thy wisdom, or thy will!
O monarch ever dear!-O man of woe;-
Fresh flow my tears, and shall for ever flow!
Like thee, poor stranger-guest, denied his home!
Like thee, in rags obscure decreed to roam!
Or, haply pérish'd on some distant coast,
In Stygian gloom he glides, a pensive ghost!
O, grateful for the good his bounty gave,
I'll grieve till sorrow sink me to the grave!
His kind protecting hand my youth preferr'd,
The regent of his Cephalenian herd:
201 With vast increase beneath my care it spreads;
A stately breed! and blackens far the meads.
Constrain'd, the choicest beeves I thence import
To cram these cormorants that crowd his court;
Who in partition seek his realm to share;
Nor human right, nor wrath divine revere.
Since here resolved oppressive these reside,
Contending doubts my anxious heart divide;
Now to some foreign clime inclined to fly,
Or speaks their deed a bounteous mind humane? 210 And with the royal herd protection buy:
Some pitying god (Ulysses sad replied)
With vollied vengeance blast their towering pride!
No conscious blush, no sense of right, restrains
The tides of lust that swell their boiling veins :
From vice to vice their appetites are tost,
All cheaply sated at another's cost!
Then, happier thoughts return the nodding scale,
Light mounts despair, alternate hopes prevail; 280
In opening prospects of ideal joy,
While thus the chief his woes indignant told,
Melanthius, master of the bearded fold,
The goodliest goats of all the royal herd
Spontaneous to the suitors' feast preferr'd:
Two grooms assistant bore the victims bound;
With quavering cries the vaulted roofs resound:
And to the chief austere aloud began
The wretch unfriendly to the race of man.
Here, vagrant, still! offensive to my lords!
Blows have more energy than airy words;
These arguments I'll use: nor conscious shame,
Nor threats, thy bold intrusion will reclaim:
On this high feast the meanest vulgar boast
A plenteous board! hence! seek another host!
Rejoinder to the churl the king disdain'd,
But shook his head, and rising wrath restrain'd.
From Cephalenia, cross the surgy main
Philætius late arrived, a faithful swain.
A steer ungrateful to the bull's embrace,
And goats he brought, the pride of all their race,
Imported in a shallop not his own:
The dome re-echo'd to their mingled moan.
Straight to the guardian of the bristly kind
He thus began, benevolent of mind:
What guest is he, of such majestic air?
His lineage and paternal clime declare:
Dim through the eclipse of fate, the rays divine
Of sovereign state with faded splendour shine.
If monarchs by the gods are plunged in woe,
To what abyss are we foredoom'd to go!
Then affable he thus the chief address'd,
Whilst with pathetic warmth his hand he press'd:
Stranger, may fate a milder aspect show,
And spin thy future with a whiter clue!
O Jove! for ever deaf to human cries;
The tyrant, not the father of the skies!
My king returns; the proud usurpers die.
To whom the chief: In thy capacious mind
Since daring zeal with cool debate is join'd;
Attend a deed already ripe in fate :
Attest, oh Jove! the truth I now relate!
This sacred truth attest, each genial power,
220 Who bless the board, and guard this friendly
bower!
Before thou quit the dome (nor long delay)
Thy wish produced in act, with pleased survey, 290
Thy wondering eyes shall view; his rightful reign
By arms avowed Ulysses shall regain,
And to the shades devote the suitor-train.
O Jove supreme! the raptured swain replies,
With deeds consummate soon the promised joys!
These aged nerves, with new-born vigour strung,
230 In that blest cause should emulate the young--
Assents Eumæus to the prayer addrest;
And equal ardours fire his loyal breast.
Meantime the suitors urge the prince's fate,
And deathful arts employ the dire debate :
When in his airy tour, the bird of Jove
Truss'd with his sinewy pounce a trembling dove:
Sinister to their hope! This omen eyed
Amphinomus, who thus presaging cried :
The gods from force and fraud the prince defend:
240 O peers! the sanguinary scheme suspend:
Your future thought let sable fate employ;
And give the present hour to genial joy.
From council straight the assenting peerage ceased,
And in the dome prepared the genial feast.
Disrobed, their vests apart in order lay,
Then all with speed succinct the victims slay;
With sheep and shaggy goats the porkers bled,
And the proud steer was on the marble spread.
With fire prepared, they deal the morsels round,
250 Wine, rosy-bright, the brimming goblets crown'd,
By sage Eumæus borne; the purple tide
Melanthius from an ample jar supplied:
High canisters of bread Philætius placed;
And eager all devour the rich repast.
Disposed apart, Ulysses shares the treat;
A trivet table, and ignobler seat,
The prince appoints; but to his sire assigns
The tasteful inwards, and nectareous wines.
Partake, my guest, he cried, without controul
The social feast, and drain the cheering bowl:
Dread not the railer's laugh, nor ruffian's rage;
No vulgar roof protects thy honour'd age;
This dome a refuge to thy wrongs shall be,
From my great sire too soon devolved to me!
Your violence and scorn, ye suitors cease,
Lest arms avenge the violated peace.
Awed by the prince, so haughty, brave, and
A long cessation of discourse ensued,
By gentle Agelaüs thus renew'd:
A just reproof, ye peers! your rage restrain
From the protected guest, and menial train:
And, prince! to stop the source of future ill,
Assent yourself, and gain the royal will,
Whilst hope prevail'd to see your sire restored,
Of right the queen refused a second lord:
But who so void of faith, so blind to fate,
To think he still survives to claim the state?
330 Now press the sovereign dame with warm desire
To wed, as wealth or worth her choice inspire:
The lord selected to the nuptial joys,
Far hence will lead the long-contested prize:
Whilst in paternal pomp with plenty bless'd,
You reign, of this imperial dome possess'd.
Sage and serene Telemachus replies:
By him, at whose behest the thunder flies,
And by the name on earth I most revere,
By great Ulysses and his woes, I swear!
(Who never must review his dear domain;
Enroll'd, perhaps, in Pluto's dreary train,)
Whene'er her choice the royal dame avows,
My bridal gifts shall load the future spouse:
But from this dome my parent queen to chase!
From me, ye gods! avert such dire disgrace.
But Pallas clouds with intellectual gloom
The suitors' souls, insensate of their doom!
A mirthful frenzy seized the fated crowd;
The roofs resound with causeless laughter loud:
Floating in gore, portentous to survey!
350 In each discolour'd vase the viands lay:
Then down each cheek the tears spontaneous flow,
And sudden sighs precede approaching woe.
In vision rapt, the Hyperesian seer*
Uprose, and thus divined vengeance near.
Rage gnaw'd the lip, amazement chain'd the tongue.
Be patient, peers! at length Antinous cries;
The threats of vain imperious youth despise:
Would Jove permit the meditated blow,
That stream of eloquence should cease to flow.
Without reply vouchsafed, Antinoiis ceased;
Meanwhile the pomp of festival increased:
By heralds rank'd, in marshall'd order move
The city tribes, to pleased Apollo's grove:
Beneath the verdure of which awful shade,
The lunar hecatomb, they grateful laid;
Partook the sacred feast, and ritual honours paid.
But the rich banquet, in the dome prepared
(A humble sideboard set) Ulysses shared
Observant of the prince's high behest,
His menial train attend the stranger-guest;
Whom Pallas with unpardoning fury fired
By lordly pride and keen reproach inspired.
A Samian peer, more studious than the rest
Of vice, who teem'd with many a dead-born jest,
And urged, for title to a consort queen,
Unnumber'd acres arable and green,
(Ctesippus named ;) this lord Ulysses eyed,
And thus burst out the imposthumate with pride:
The sentence I propose, ye peers attend;
Since due regard must wait the prince's friend,
Let each a token of esteem bestow:
This gift acquits the dear respect I owe;
With which he nobly may discharge his seat,
And pay the menials for the master's treat.
He said; and of the steer before him placed,
That sinewy fragment at Ulysses cast,
Where to the pastern-bone, by nerves combined,
The well-horned foot indissolubly join'd;
Which whizzing high, the wall unseemly sign'd.
The chief indignant grins a ghastly smile;
Revenge and scorn within his bosom boil:
When thus the prince with pious rage inflamed:
Had not the inglorious wound thy malice aim'd
Fall'n guiltless of the mark, my certain spear
Had made thee buy the brutal triumph dear:
Nor should thy sire a queen his daughter boast;
The suitor, now, had vanish'd in a ghost:
No more, ye lewd compeers, with lawless power
Invade my dome, my herds and flocks devour;
For genuine worth, of age mature to know,
My grape shall redden, and my harvest grow.
Or, if each other's wrongs ye still support,
With rapes and riot to profane my court,
What single arm with numbers can contend?
On me let all your lifted swords descend,
And with my life such vile dishonours end.
O race to death devote! with Stygian shade
Each destined peer impending fates invade :
With tears your wan distorted cheeks are drown'd;
With sanguine drops the walls are rubied round:
Thick swarms the spacious hall with howling ghosts,
To people Orcus, and the burning coasts!
Nor gives the sun his golden orb to roll,
But universal night usurps the pole !
Yet warn'd in vain, with laughter loud elate
The peers reproach the sure divine of Fate:
And thus Eurymachus: the dotard's mind
To every sense is lost, to reason blind:
Swift from the dome conduct the slave away;
Let him in open air behold the day.
Tax not (the heaven-illumined seer rejoin'd)
Of rage, or folly, my prophetic mind.
No clouds of error dim the ethereal rays,
Her equal power each faithful sense obeys.
Unguided hence my trembling steps I bend,
Far hence, before yon hovering deaths descend;
Lest the ripe harvest of revenge begun,
I share the doom ye suitors cannot shun.
This said, to sage Piræus sped the seer,
His honour'd host, a welcome inmate there.
O'er the protracted feast the suitors sit,
380 And aim to wound the prince with pointless wit:
Cries one, with scornful leer and mimic voice,
Thy charity we praise, but not thy choice:
Why such profusion of indulgence shown
To this poor timorous, toil-detesting drone?
Thus jovial they; but nought the prince replies:
Full on his sire he rolls his ardent eyes;
Impatient straight to flesh his virgin-sword:
From the wise chief he waits the deathful word.
Nigh, in her bright alcove, the pensive queen
To see the circle sate, of all unseen.
Sated at length they rise, and bid prepare
An eve-repast, with equal cost and care;
But vengeful Pallas, with preventing speed
A feast proportion'd to their crimes decreed:
A feast of death! the feasters doom'd to bleed!
The Bending of Ulysses' Bow.
Deaf to heaven's voice, the social right trans-
gress'd:
And for the beauteous mares destroy'd his guest
He gave the bow; and on Ulysses' part
Received a pointed sword, and missile dart
Of luckless friendship on a foreign shore
Their first, last pledges! for they met no more.
The bow, bequeath'd by this unhappy hand,
Ulysses bore not from his native land;
Nor in the front of battle taught to bend,
But kept in dear memorial of his friend.
Now gently winding up the fair ascent, By many an easy step the matron went; Then o'er the pavement glides with grace divine (With polish'd oak the level pavements shine ;) The folding gates a dazzling light display'd, With pomp of various architrave o'erlaid. The bolt, obedient to the silken string, Forsakes the staple as she pulls the ring; The wards respondent to the key turn round; The bars fall back; the flying valves resound; Loud as a bull makes hill and valley ring, So roar'd the lock when it released the spring. She moves majestic through the wealthy room, Penelope, to put an end to the solicitation of the suitors, Where treasured garments cast a rich perfume; proposes to marry the person who shall first bend the bow of Ulysses, and shoot through the ringlets. After There from the column where aloft it hung, their attempts have proved ineffectual, Ulysses, taking Reach'd, in its splendid case, the bow unstrung; Eumæus and Philætius apart, discovers himself to Across her knees she laid the well-known bow them; then returning, desires leave to try his strength And pensive sate, and tears began to flow. at the bow, which, though refused with indignation To full satiety of grief she mourns, by the suitors, Penelope and Telemachus cause it to be Then silent to the joyous hall returns, delivered to his hands. He bends it immediately, and To the proud suitors bears in pensive state shoots through all the rings. Jupiter at the same instant thunders from heaven; Ulysses accepts the omen, and gives a sign to Telemachus, who stands ready armed at his side.
The unbended bow, and arrows wing'd with fate.
Behind, her train the polish'd coffer brings,
Which held the alternate brass and silver rings.
Full in the portal the chaste queen appears,
And with her veil conceals the coming tears:
On either side awaits a virgin fair;
While thus the matron, with majestic air:
Say you, whom these forbidden walls inclose,
For whom my victims bleed, my vintage flows; 70
If these neglected, faded charms can move?
Or is it but a vain pretence, you love?
If I the prize, if me you seek to wife,
Hear the conditions, and commence the strife.
Who first Ulysses' wondrous bow shall bend,
And though twelve ringlets the fleet arrow send,
10 Him will I follow, and forsake my home,
AND Pallas now to raise the rivals' fires,
With her own art Penelope inspires:
Who now can bend Ulysses' bow, and wing
The well-aim'd arrow through the distant ring
Shall end the strife, and win the imperial dame-
But discord and black death await the game.
The prudent queen the lofty stair ascends,
At distance due a virgin-train attends;
A brazen key she held, the handle turn'd,
With steel and polish'd elephant adorn'd:
Swift to the inmost room she bent her way,
Where, safe reposed, the royal treasures lay;
There shone high heap'd the labour'd brass and ore,
And there the bow which great Ulysses bore;
And there the quiver, where now guiltless slept
Those winged deaths that many a matron wept.
This gift, long since when Sparta's shores he trod,
On young Ulysses Iphitus bestow'd:
Beneath Orchilochus's roof they met;
One loss was private, one a public debt;
Messena's state from Ithaca detains
Three hundred sheep, and all the shepherd swains;
And to the useful prince to urge the laws,
The king and elders trust their common cause.
But Iphitus employ'd on other cares,
Search'd the wide country for his wandering mares,
And mules, the strongest of the labouring kind;
Hapless to search! more hapless still to find!
For journeying on to Hercules, at length
For him forsake this loved, this wealthy dome,
Long, long the scene of all my past delight,
And still to last, the vision of my night!
Graceful she said, and bade Eumæus show
The rival peers the ringlets and the bow.
From his full eyes the tears unbidden spring,
Touch'd at the dear memorials of his king.
Philætius too relents, but secret shed
The tender drops. Antinous saw and said:
Hence to your fields, ye rustics! hence away,
Nor stain with grief the pleasures of the day:
Nor to the royal heart recall in vain
The sad remembrance of a perish'd man.
Enough her precious tears already flow-
Or share the feast with due respect, or go
To weep abroad, and leave us to the bow:
No vulgar task! Ill suits this courtly crew
That stubborn horn which brave Ulysses drew.
I well remember (for I gazed him o'er
That lawless wretch, that man of brutal strength, 30 While yet a child,) what majesty he bore!
And still (all infant as I was) retain
With each new sun to some new hope a prey,
Yet still to-morrow falser than to-day.
100 How long in vain Penelope we sought!
This bow shall ease us of that idle thought,
And send us with some humbler wife to live,
Whom gold shall gain, or destiny shall give.
Thus speaking, on the floor the bow he placed
(With rich inlay the various floor was graced ;)
At distance far the feather'd shaft he throws,
And to the seat returns from whence he rose.
To him Antinous thus with fury said:
What words ill-omen'd from thy lips have fled?
110 Thy coward function ever is in fear;
The port, the strength, the grandeur of the man.
He said, but in his soul fond joys arise,
And his proud hopes already win the prize.
To speed the flying shaft through every ring,
Wretch is not thine: the arrows of the king
Shall end those hopes, and fate is on the wing!
Then thus Telemachus: Some god, I find,
With pleasing phrenzy has possess'd my mind;
When a loved mother threatens to depart,
Why with this ill-timed gladness leaps my heart?
Come then, ye suitors! and dispute a prize
Richer than all the Achaian state supplies,
Than all proud Argos, or Mycæna knows,
Than all our isles or continents inclose:
A woman matchless, and almost divine,
Fit for the praise of every tongue but mine.
No more excuses then, no more delay;
Haste to the trial-Lo! I lead the way.
I too may try, and if this arm can wing
The feather'd arrow through the destined ring,
Then if no happier knight the conquest boast,
I shall not sorrow for a mother lost :
But, blest in her, possess these arms alone,
Heir of my father's strength, as well as throne.
He spoke then, rising, his broad sword unbound,
And cast his purple garment on the ground.
A trench he open'd; in a line he placed
The level axes, and the points made fast;
(His perfect skill the wondering gazers eyed,
The game as yet unseen, as yet untried.)
Then, with a manly pace, he took his stand;
And grasp'd the bow, and twang'd it in his hand. 130
Three times, with beating heart, he made essay;
Three times, unequal to the task, gave way;
A modest boldness on his cheek appear'd:
And thrice he hoped, and thrice again he fear'd.
The fourth had drawn it. The great sire with joy
Beheld, but with a sign forbade the boy.
His ardour straight the obedient prince suppress'd,
And, artful, thus the suitor-train address'd:
Those arms are dreadful which thou canst not bear.
Why should this bow be fatal to the brave?
Because the priest is born a peaceful slave.
Mark then what others can-He ended there,
And bade Melanthius a vast pile prepare;
He gives it instant flame, then fast beside
Spreads o'er an ample board a bullock's hide.
With melted lard they soak the weapon o'er,
120 Chafe every knot, and supple every pore.
Vain all their art, and all their strength as vain;
The bow inflexible resists their pain.
The force of great Eurymachus alone
And bold Antinous, yet untried, unknown:
Those only now remain'd; but those confess'd 190
Of all the train the mightiest and the best.
Oh lay the cause on youth yet immature!
(For Heaven forbid such weakness should endure!)
How shall this arm, unequal to the bow,
Retort an insult, or a repel foe?
But you! whom Heaven with better nerves has
bless'd,
Accept the trial, and the prize contest.
He cast the bow before him, and apart
Against the polish'd quiver propp'd the dart.
Resuming then his seat, Epitheus' son
The bold Antinous to the rest begun:
From where the goblet first begins to flow,
From right to left in order take the bow,
Then from the hall, and from the noisy crew,
The masters of the herd and flock withdrew.
The king observes them, he the hall forsakes,
And, past the limits of the court, o'ertakes.
Then thus with accent mild Ulysses spoke:
Ye faithful guardians of the herd and flock!
Shall I the secret of my breast conceal,
Or, (as my soul now dictates) shall I tell?
Say, should some favouring god restore again
The lost Ulysses to his native reign,
How beat your hearts? what aid would you afford
To the proud suitors, or your ancient lord?
![[ocr errors]](https://books.google.de/books/content?id=gzIhAAAAMAAJ&hl=de&output=html_text&pg=PA459&img=1&zoom=3&q=sire&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U3-eNvGpdoOSKuuOl8IHPyPt-witw&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=900,626,7,9)
Philætius thus: O were thy words not vain!
Would mighty Jove restore that man again!
These aged sinews, with new vigour strung,
In his blest cause should emulate the young.
With equal vows Eumæus too implored
Each power above, with wishes for his lord.
He saw their secret souls, and thus began:
Those vows the gods accord, behold the man!
Your own Ulysses! twice ten years detain'd
By woes and wanderings from this hapless land:
At length he comes; but comes despised, unknown,
And finding faithful, you, and you alone.
All else have cast him from their very thought,
Even in their wishes and their prayers forgot!
Hear then, my friends: If Jove this arm succeed
And give yon impious revellers to bleed,
My care shall be to bless your future lives
With large possessions and with faithful wives;
Fast by my palace shall your domes ascend,
And each on young Telemachus attend,
And each be call'd his brother and my friend.
To give you firmer faith, now trust your eye;
160 Lo! the broad scar indented on my thigh,
When with Autolycus's sons, of yore,
On Parnass' top I chased the tusky boar.
His ragged vest then drawn aside disclosed
The sign conspicuous, and the scar exposed:
And prove your several strengths.-The princes heard,
And first Leiodes, blameless priest, appear'd:
The eldest born of Enops' noble race,
Who next the goblet held his holy place;
He, only he, of all the suitor-throng,
Their deeds detested, and abjured the wrong.
With tender hands the stubborn horn he strains,
The stubborn horn resisted all his pains!
Already in despair he gives it o'er:
Take it who will, he cries, I strive no more.
What numerous deaths attend this fatal bow!
What souls and spirits shall it send below!
Better, indeed to die, and fairly give
Nature her debt than disappointed live,
|