Rise then, ye peers! with virtuous anger rise!
Your fame revere, but most th' avenging skies.
By all the deathless powers that reign above,
By righteous Themis and by thundering Jove,
(Themis, who gives to councils, or denies,
Success; and humbles, or confirms the wise)
Rise in my aid! suffice the tears that flow
For my lost sire, nor add new woe to woe.
If e'er he bore the sword to strengthen ill,
Or, having power to wrong, betray'd the will,
On me, on me your kindled wrath asswage,
And bid the voice of lawless riot rage.
If ruin to our royal race ye doom,

Be you the spoilers, and our wealth consume,
Then might we hope redress from juster laws,
And raise all Ithaca to aid our cause:
But while your sons commit th' unpunish'd wrong,
You make the arm of violence too strong."

While thus he spoke, with rage and grief he
frown'd,

And dash'd th' imperial sceptre to the ground.
The big round tear hung trembling in his eye:
The synod griev'd, and gave a pitying sigh,
Then silent sate-at length Antinous burns:
With haughty rage, and sternly thus returns:

"O insolence of youth! whose tongue affords
Such railing eloquence, and war of words.
Studious thy country's worthies to defame,
Thy erring voice displays thy mother's shame.
Elusive of the bridal day, she gives

Fond hope to all, and all with hopes deceives.
Did not the Sun, through Heaven's wide azure roll'd,
For three long years the royal fraud behold?
While she, laborious in delusion, spread,
The spacious loom, and mix'd the various thread :
Where as to life the wondrous figures rise,
Thus spoke th' inventive queen, with artful sighs:
'Though cold in death Ulysses breathes no more,
Cease yet a while to urge the bridal hour;
Cease, till to great Laërtes I bequeath
A task of grief, his ornaments of death;
Lest when the Fates his royal ashes claim,
The Grecian matrons taint my spotless fame;
When he, whom living mighty realms obey'd,
Shall want in death a shroud to grace his
shade.'

"Thus she: at once the generous train complies,
Nor fraud mistrust in virtue's fair disguise.
The work she ply'd; but, studious of delay,
By night revers'd the labours of the day:
While thrice the Sun his annual journey made,
The conscious lamp the midnight fraud survey'd ;
Unheard, unseen, three years her arts prevail;
The fourth, her maid unfolds th' amazing tale.
We saw, as unperceiv'd we took our stand,
The backward labours of her faithless hand.
Then urg'd, she perfects her illustrious toils;
A wondrous monument of female wiles!

But you, oh peers! and thou, oh prince, give ear
(I speak aloud, that every Greek may hear :)
Dismiss the queen: and if her sire approves,
Let him espouse her to the peer she loves:
Bid instant to prepare the bridal train,
Nor let a race of princes wait in vain.
Though with a grace divine her soul is blest,
And all Minerva breathes within her breast,
In wondrous arts than woman more renown'd,
And more than woman with deep wisdom crown'd;
Though Tyro nor Mycene match her name,
Nor great Alcmena (the proud boasts of fame)

Yet, thus by Heaven adorn'd, 'by Heaven's decree,

She shines with fatal excellence to thee:
With thee, the bowl we drain, indulge the feast,
Till righteous Heaven reclaim her stubborn breast.
What though from pole to pole resounds her

name,

The son's destruction waits the mother's fame:
For, till she leaves thy court, it is decreed,
Thy bowl to empty, and thy flock to bleed."

While yet he speaks, Telemachus replies:
"Ev'n nature starts, and what ye ask denies.
Thus, shall I thus repay a mother's cares,
Who gave me life, and nurs'd my infant years?
While sad on foreign shores Ulysses treads,
Or glides, a ghost with unapparent shades;
How to Icarius in the bridal hour

Shall I, by waste undone, refund the dower?
How from my father should I vengeance dread ?
How would my mother curse my hated head?
And while in wrath to vengeful fiends she cries,
How from their Hell would vengeful fiends arise ?
Abhorr'd by all, accurs'd my name would grow,
The Earth's disgrace, and human-kind my foe.
If this displease, why urge ye here your stay?
Haste from the court, ye spoilers, haste away:
Waste in wild riot what your land allows,
There ply the early feast, and late carouse.
But if, to honour lost, 'tis still decreed
For you my bowls shall flow, my flocks shall
bleed;

| Judge and assert my right, impartial Jove!
By him, and all th' immortal host above,
(A sacred oath) if Heaven the power supply,
Vengeance I vow, and for your wrongs ye die."

With that, two eagles from a mountain's height By Jove's command direct their rapid flight; Swift they descend with wing to wing conjoin'd, Stretch their broad plumes, and float upon the wind,

Above th' assembled peers they wheel on high,
And clang their wings, and hovering beat the sky;
With ardent eyes the rival train they threat,
And, shrieking loud, denounce approaching fate,
They cuff, they tear; their cheeks and necks
they rend,

And from their plumes huge drops of blood descend:
Then, sailing o'er the domes and towers, they fly
Full tow'rd the east, and mount into the sky.

The wondering rivals gaze with cares opprest, And chilling horrours freeze in every breast. Till, big with knowledge of approaching woes, The prince of augurs, Halitherses, rose: Prescient he view'd th' aërial tracks, and drew A sure presage from every wing that flew.

"Ye sons" (he cry'd) " of Ithaca, give ear, Hear all! but chiefly you, oh rivals! hear. Destruction sure o'er all your heads impends; Ulysses comes, and death his steps attends. Nor to the great alone is death decreed; We and our guilty Ithaca must bleed. Why cease we then the wrath of Heaven to stay? Be humbled all, and lead, ye great! the way. For, lo! my words no fancy'd woes relate ; I speak from science, and the voice is fate. "When great Ulysses sought the Phrygian shores To shake with war proud Ilion's lofty towers, Deeds then undone my faithful tongue foretold: Heaven seal'd my words, and you those deeds behold.

'I see (I cry'd) his woes, a countless train,
I see his friends o'erwhelm'd beneath the main;
How twice ten years from shore to`shore he roams:
Now twice ten years are past, and now he comes!"
To whom Eurymachus Fly, dotard, fly!
With thy wise dreams, and fables of the sky.
Go, prophesy at home ;thy sons advise :
Here thou art sage in vain-1 better read the skies.
Unnumber'd birds glide through th' aërial way,
Vagrants of air, and unforeboding stray.
Cold in the tomb, or in the deeps below,
Ulysses lies: oh, wert thou laid as low!
Then would that busy head no broils suggest,
Nor fire to rage Telemachus's breast.

From him some bribe thy venal tongue requires,
And interest, not the god, thy voice inspires.
His guideless youth, if thy experienc'd age
Mislead fallacious into idle rage,

Vengeance reserv'd thy malice shall repress,
And but augment the wrongs thon would'st redress.
Telemachus may bid the queen repair
To great Icarius, whose paternal care
Will guide her passion, and reward her choice,
With wealthy dower, and bridal gifts of price.
Till she retires, determin'd we remain,
And both the prince and augur threat in vain :
His pride of words, and thy wild dream of fate,
Move not the brave, or only move their hate.
Threat on, O prince, elude the bridal day,
Threat on, till all thy stores in waste decay.
True, Greece affords a train of lovely dames,
In wealth and beauty worthy of our flames :
But never from this nobler suit we cease;
For wealth and beauty less than virtue please."
To whom the youth: "Since then in vain I tell
My numerous woes, in silence let them dwell.
But Heaven, and all the Greeks, have heard my

wrongs:

To Heaven, and all the Greeks, redress belongs.
Yet this I ask, (nor be it ask'd in vain)

A bark to waft me o'er the rolling main;
The realms of Pyle and Sparta to explore,
And seek my royal sire from shore to shore :
If, or to fame his doubtful fate be known,
Or to be learn'd from oracles alone?
If yet he lives; with patience I forbear,
Till the fleet hours restore the circling year :
But if already wandering in the train
Of empty shades, I measure back the main,
Plant the fair column o'er the mighty dead,
And yield his consort to the nuptial bed.”

66

He ceas'd; and while the peers abash'd attend,
Mentor arose, Ulysses' faithful friend :
[When fierce in arms he sought the scenes of war,
My friend," (he cry'd) my palace be thy
Years roll'd on years my godlike sire decay,[care;
Guard thou his age, and his behests obey."]
Stern as he rose, he cast his eyes around,
That flash'd with rage; and as he spoke, he
frown'd:

"O never, never more! let king, be just,
Be mild in power, or faithful to his trust!
Let tyrants govern with an iron rod,
Oppress, destroy, and be the scourge of God;
Since he who like a father held his reign,
So soon forgot, was just and mild in vain!
True, while my friend is griev'd, his griefs I
Yet now the rivals are my smallest care: [share;
They for the mighty mischiefs they devise,
Ere long shall pay their forfeit lives the price.

But against you, ye Greeks! ye coward train,
Gods! how my soul is mov'd with just disdain!
Dumb ye all stand, and not one tongue affords
His injur'd prince the little aid of words."

While yet he spoke, Leocritus rejoin'd: "O pride of words, and arrogance of mind! Would'st thou to rise in arms the Greeks advise? Join all your powers! in arms, the Greeks, arise!

Yet would your powers in vain our strength oppose:
The valiant few o'ermatch an host of foes.
Should great Ulysses stern appear in arms,
While the bowl circles, and the banquet warms;
Though to his breast his spouse with transport
Torn from her breast, that hour, Ulysses dies. [flies,
But hence retreating to your domes repair;
To arm the vessel, Mentor! be thy care,
And Halitherses! thine: be each his friend;
Ye lov'd the father: go, the son attend.
But yet, I trust, the boaster means to stay
Safe in the court, nor tempt the watery way."
Then, with a rushing sound, th' assembly bend,
Diverse their steps: the rival rout ascend
The royal dome; while sad the prince explores
The neighbouring main, and sorrowing treads

the shores.

There, as the waters o'er his hands he shed,
The royal suppliant to Minerva pray'd:

"O goddess! who descending from the skies
Vouchsaf'd thy presence to my wondering eyes,
By whose commands the raging deeps I trace,
And seek my sire through storms and rolling seas
Hear from thy Heavens above, oh, warrior-maid!
Descend once more propitious to my aid.
Without thy presence, vain is thy command:
Greece and the rival train, thy voice withstand."
Indulgent to his prayer the goddess took
Sage Mentor's form, and thus like Mentor spoke:
O prince, in early youth divinely wise,
Born, the Ulysses of thy age to rise !

66

If to the son the father's worth descends,
O'er the wide waves success thy ways attends:
To tread the walks of death he stood prepar'd;
And what he greatly thought, he nobly dar'd.
Were not wise sons descendents of the wise,
And did not heroes from brave heroes rise:
Vain were my hopes: few sons attain the praise
Of their great sires, and most their sires disgrace.
But since thy veins paternal virtue fires,
And all Penelope thy soul inspires :
Go, and succeed! the rivals' aims despise ;
For never, never, wicked man was wise.
Blind they rejoice, though now,ev'n now they fall;
Death hastes amain: one hour o'erwhelms them all!
And lo, with speed we plough the watery way,
My power shall guard thee, and my hand convey:
The winged vessel studious I prepare,
Through seas and realms companions of thy care,
Thou to the court ascend: and to the shores
(When night advances) bear the naval stores;
Bread, that decaying man with strength supplies,
And generous wine, which thoughtful sorrow flies.
Mean while the mariners, by my command,
Shall speed aboard, a valiant chosen band.
Wide o'er the bay, by vessel vessel rides;
The best I choose to waft thee o'er the tides."

She spoke to his high dome the prince returns,
And as he moves with royal anguish mourns.
'Twas riot all, among the lawless train;
Boar bled by boar, and goat by goat lay slain.

Imploring all the gods that reign above,
But chief the blue-ey'd progeny of Jove.
Thus all the night they stem the liquid way,
And end their voyage with the morning ray.

THE ODYSSEY.

BOOK 111.

ARGUMENT.

THE INTERVIEW OF TELEMACHUS AND NESTOR

TELEMACHUS, guided by Pallas in the shape of Mentor, arrives in the morning at Pylos, where

Nestor and his sons are sacrificing on the seashore to Neptune. Telemacaus declares the occasion of his coming; and Nestor relates what past in their return from Troy, how their fleets were separated, and he never since heard of Ulysses. They discourse concerning the death of Agamemnon, the revenge of Orestes, and the injuries of the suitors. Nestor advises him to go Sparta, and inquire further of Menelaus. The sacrifice ended with the night, Minerva vanishes from them in the form of an eagle: Telemachus is lodged in the palace. The next morning they sacrifice a bullock to Minerva; and Telemachus proceeds on his journey to Sparta, attended by Pisistratus.

The scene lies on the sea shore of Pylos.

THE sacred Sun, above the waters rais'd,
Through Heaven's eternal, brazen portals blaz'd;
And wide o'er Earth diffus'd his cheering ray,
To gods and men to give the golden day.
Now on the coast of Pyle the vessel falls,
Before old Neleus' venerable walls.
There, suppliant to the monarch of the flood,
At nine green theatres the Pylians stood,
Each held five hundred (a deputed train),
At each nine oxen on the sand lay slain,
They take the entrails, and the altars load
With smoking thighs, an offering to the god.
Full for the port the Ithacensians stand,
And furl their sails, and issue on the land.
Telemachus already prest the shore;
Not first, the power of wisdom march'd before,
And, ere the sacrificing throng he join'd,
Admonish'd thus his well-attending mind:
"Proceed, my son! this youthful shame expel;
An honest business never blush to tell.
To learn what fates thy wretched sire detain,
We pass'd the wide, immeasurable main.
Meet then the senior far renown'd for sense,
With reverend awe, but decent confidence:
Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies;
And sure he will: for wisdom never lies."

"O tell me, Mentor! tell me, faithful guide," (The youth with prudent modesty reply'd) "How shall I meet, or how accost the sage, Unskill'd in speech, nor yet mature of age? Awful th' approach, and hard the task appears, To question wisely men of riper years,”

To whom the martial goddess thus rejoin'd: "Search, for some thoughts, thy own suggesting And others; dictated by heavenly power, [mind; Shall rise spontaneous in the needful hour. For nought unprosperous shall thy ways attend, Born with good omens, and with Heaven thy friend."

She spoke, and led the way with swiftest speed :
As swift, the youth pursued the way she led;
And join'd the band before the sacred fire,
Where sate, encompast with his sons, the sire.
The youth of Pylos, some on pointed wood
Transfix'd the fragments, some prepar'd the food.
In friendly throngs they gather to embrace
Their unknown guests, and at the banquet place.
Pisistratus was first, to grasp their hands,
And spread soft hides upon the yellow sands;

Along the shore th' illustrious pair he led,
Where Nestor sate with youthful Thrasymed.
To each a portion of the feast he bore,
Then first approaching to the elder guest,
And held the golden goblet foaming o'er;
The latent goddess in these words addrest:
The rites of Neptune, monarch of the deep,
"Whoe'er thou art, whom fortune brings to keep
The first it fits, oh stranger! to prepare
The due libation and the solemn prayer:
Then give thy friend to shed the sacred wine:
Though much thy younger, and his years like mine,
He too, I deem, implores the powers divine :
For all mankind alike require their grace,
All born to want; a miserable race!"

He spake, and to her hand preferr'd the bowl :
A secret pleasure touch'd Athena's soul,
To see the preference due to sacred age
Regarded ever by the just and sage.
Of ocean's king she then implores the grace:
"Oh, thou! whose arms this ample globe embrace,
Fulfil our wish, and let thy glory shine
On Nestor first, and Nestor's royal line;
Next grant the Pylian states their just desires,
Pleas'd with their hecatomb's ascending fires;
Last deign Telemachus and me to bless,
And crown our voyage with desir'd success."
Thus she; and, having paid the rite divine,
Gave to Ulysses' son the rosy wine.
Suppliant he pray'd. And, now the victims drest,
They draw, divide, and celebrate the feast.
The banquet done, the narrative old man,
Thus mild, the pleasing conference began:

Now, gentle guests! the genial banquet o'er, It fits to ask you, what your native shore, And whence your race? on what adventure, say, Thus far ye wander through the watery way? Relates if business, or the thirst of gain, Engage your journey o'er the pathless main : Where savage pirates seek through seas unknown The lives of others, venturous of their own."

Urg'd by the precepts by the goddess given, And fill'd with confidence infus'd from Heaven, The youth, whom Pallas destin'd to be wise And fam'd among the sons of men, replies: 'Inquir'st thou, father! from what coast we came?' (Oh, grace and glory of the Grecian name!)

| From where high Ithaca o'erlooks the floods, Brown with o'er-arching shades and pendent woods, Us to these shores our filial duty draws,

A private sorrow, not a public cause.
My sire I seek, where-e'er the voice of Fame
Has told the glories of his noble name,

The great Ulysses; fam'd from shore to shore
For valour much, for hardy suffering more.
Long time with thee before proud Ilion's wall
In arms he fought; with thee beheld her fall.
Of all the chiefs, this hero's fate alone
Has Jove reserv'd, unheard of, and unknown;
Whether in fields by hostile fury slain,
Or sunk by tempests in the gulphy main ?
Of this to learn, opprest with tender fears,
Lo! at thy knee his suppliant son appears.
If or thy certain eye, or curious ear,

1

Have learnt his fate, the whole dark story clear:
And, oh! whate'er Heaven destin'd to betide,
Let neither flattery smooth, nor pity hide.
Prepar'd I stand : he was but born to try
The lot of man; to suffer and to die.
Oh then, if ever through the ten years' war
The wise, the good Ulysses claim'd thy care;
If e'er he join'd thy council, or thy sword,
True in his deed, and constant to his word:
Far as thy mind through backward time can see,
Search all thy stores of faithful memory:
'Tis sacred truth I ask, and ask of thee."

To him experienc'd Nestor thus rejoin'd: "O friend! what sorrows dost thou bring to mind?

Shall I the long laborious scene review,
And open all the wounds of Greece anew?
What toils by sea! where dark in quest of prey
Dauntless we rov'd, Achilles led the way :
What toils by land! where mix'd in fatal fight
Such numbers fell, such heroes sunk to night:
There Ajax great, Achilles there the brave,
There wise Patroclus, fill an early grave:
There too my son-ah, once my best delight,
Once swift of foot, and terrible in fight;
In whom stern courage with soft virtue join'd,
A faultless body, and a blameless mind :
Antilochus what more can I relate?
How trace the tedious series of our fate?
Not added years on years my task could close,
The long historian of my country's woes:
Back to thy native islands might'st thou sail,
And leave half-heard the melancholy tale.
Nine painful years on that detested shore;
What stratagems we form'd, what toils we bore
Still labouring on, till scarce at last we found
Great Jove propitious, and our conquest crown'd.
Far o'er the rest thy mighty father shin'd,
In wit, in prudence, and in force of mind.
Art thou the son of that illustrious sire?
With joy I grasp thee, and with love admire.
So like your voices, and your words so wise,
Who finds the younger must consult his eyes.
Thy sire and I were one; nor vary'd ought
In public sentence, or in private thought;
Alike to council or th' assembly came,
With equal souls, and sentiments the same.
But when (by wisdom won) proud Ilion burn'd,
And in their ships the conquering Greeks return'd;
'Twas God's high will the victors to divide,
And turn the event, confounding human pride:
Some he destroy'd, some scatter'd as the dust,
(Not all were prudent, and not all were just.)
Then Discord, sent by Pallas from above,
Stern daughter of the great avenger Jove,
The brother kings inspir'd with fell debate;
Who call'd to council all th' Achaian state,
But call'd untimely (not the sacred rite
Observ'd, nor heedful of the setting light,

Nor herald sworn the session to proclaim)
Sour with debauch a reeling tribe they came.
To these the cause of meeting they explain,
And Menelaus moves to cross the main;
Not so the king of men: he will'd to stay:
These sacred rites and hecatombs to pay,
And calm Minerva's wrath. Oh, blind to fate!
The gods not lightly change their love, or hate.
With ireful taunts each other they oppose,
Till in loud tumult all the Greeks arose.
Now different counsels every breast divide,
Each burns with rancour to the adverse side:
Th' uuquiet night strange projects entertain'd
(So Jove, that urg'd us to our fate, ordain'd).
We with the rising morn our ships unmoor'd,
And brought our captives and our stores aboard;
But half the people with respect obey'd

The king of men, and at his bidding stay'd.
Now on the wings of winds our course we keep
(For God had smooth'd the waters of the deep);
For Tenedos we spread our eager oars,
There land, and pay due victims to the powers:
To bless our safe return we join in prayer;
But angry Jove dispers'd our vows in air,

And rais'd new discord. Then (so Heaven decreed)
Ulysses first and Nestor disagreed:

Wise as he was, by various counsels sway'd,
He there, though late, to please the monarch,
stay'd.

But I, determin'd, stem the foamy floods,
Warn'd of the coming fury of the gods.
With us, Tydides fear'd, and urg'd his haste:
And Menelaus came, but came the last.
He join'd our vessels in the Lesbian bay,
While yet we doubted of our watery way;
If to the right to urge the pilot's toil,
(The safer road) beside the Psyrian isle;
Or the straight course to rocky Chios plough,
And anchor under Mima's shaggy brow?
We sought direction of the power divine:
The god propitious gave the guiding sign;
Through the mild seas he bid our navy steer,
And in Euboea shun the woes we fear.
The whistling winds already wak'd the sky;
Before the whistling winds the vessels fly,
With rapid swiftness cut the liquid way,
And reach Gerestus at the point of day.
There hecatombs of bulls, to Neptune slain,
High-flaming please the monarch of the main.
The fourth day shone, when all their labours o'er
Tydides' vessels touch'd the wish'd-for shore.
But I to Pylos scud before the gales,
The gods still breathing on my swelling sails;
Separate from all, I safely landed here;
Their fates or fortunes never reach'd my ear.
Yet what I learn'd, attend; as here I sate,
And ask'd each voyager each hero's fate;
Curious to know, and willing to relate.

Safe reach'd the Myrmidons their native land,
Beneath Achilles' warlike son's command.
Those, whom the heir of great Apollo's art,
Brave Philoctetes, taught to wing the dart;
And those whom Idomen from Ilion's plain
Had led, securely crost the dreadful main.
How Agamemnon touch'd his Argive coast,
And how his life by fraud and force he lost,
And how the murderer paid his forfeit breath;
What lands so distant from that scene of death
But trembling heard the fame ? and, heard, admire
llow well the son appeas'd the slaughter'd sire!