Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

Yet him, my guest, thy venom'd rage hath stung;
Thy head shall pay the forfeit of thy tongue!
But thou on whom my palace cares depend
Euronymé, regard the stranger-friend:
A seat, soft spread with furry spoils, prepare;
Due-distant for us both to speak, and hear,

The menial fair obeys with duteous haste:
A seat adorn'd with furry spoils she placed:
Due-distant for discourse the hero sate;
When thus the sovereign from her chair of state:
Reveal, obsequious to my first demand,
Thy name, thy lineage, and thy natal land.

He thus: O queen! whose far-resounding fame
Is bounded only by the starry frame,
Consummate pattern of imperial sway,
Whose pious rule a warlike race obey!
In wavy gold thy summer vales are dress'd;
Thy autumns bend with copious fruit oppress'd:
With flocks and herds each grassy plain is stored;
And fish of every fin thy seas afford:

Their affluent joys the grateful realms confess;
And bless the Power that still delights to bless.
Gracious permit this prayer, imperial dame!
Forbear to know my lineage, or my name :
Urge not this breast to heave, these eyes to weep;
In sweet oblivion let my sorrows sleep!
My woes awaked will violate your ear;

And to this gay censorious train appear

A winy vapour melting in a tear.

115, Divided right; each ninth revolving year,
By Jove received in council to confer.
His son Deucalion bore successive sway;
His son who gave me first to view the day!
The royal bed an elder issue blest,

120 Idomoneus, whom Ilion fields attest
Of matchless deeds: untrain'd to martial toil,
I lived inglorious in my native isle,
Studious of peace, and Ethon is my name.
"Twas then to Crete the great Ulysses came;
125 For elementary war and wintery Jove,
From Malea's gusty cape his navy drove
To bright Lucina's fane; the shelfy coast
Where loud Amnisus in the deep is lost.
His vessels moor'd, (an incommodious port!)
130 The hero speeded to the Cnossian court:
Ardent the partner of his arms to find,
In leagues of long commutal friendship join'd.
Vain hope: ten suns had warm'd the western strand,
Since my brave brother with his Cretan band

135 Had sail'd for Troy: but to the génial feast
My honour'd roof received the royal guest:
Beeves for his train the Cnossian peers assign,
A public treat, with jars of generous wine.
Twelve days while Boreas vex'd the aërial space,
My hospitable dome he deign'd to grace :
And when the north had ceased her stormy roar,
He wing'd his voyage to the Phrygian shore.
Thus the famed hero perfected in wiles,

140

210

21

220

225

230

Their gifts the gods resumed (the queen rejoin'd),
Exterior grace, and energy of mind;
When the dear partner of my nuptial joy,
Auxiliar troops combined, to conquer Troy.
My lord's protecting hand alone would raise
My drooping verdure, and extend my praise!
Peers from the distant Samian shore resort:
Here with Dulichians join'd, besiege the court:
Zacynthus, green with ever-shady groves,
And Ithaca, presumptuous boast their loves:
Obtruding on my choice a second lord,
They press the Hymenæan rite abhorr'd.
Misrule thus mingling with domestic cares,
I live regardless of my state affairs;
Receive no stranger-guest, no poor relieve;
But ever, for my lord in secret grieve!-
This art, instinct by some celestial power,
I tried, elusive of the bridal-hour:

"Ye peers, I cry, who press to gain a heart,
Where dead Ulysses claims no future part;
Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend,
Till this funereal web my labours end:
Cease, till to good Laërtes I bequeath
A pall of state, the ornament of death.
For when to fate he bows, each Grecian dame
With just reproach were licensed to defame;
Should he, long honour'd in supreme command,
Want the last duties of a daughter's hand."
The fiction pleased; their loves I long elude;
The night still ravell'd what the day renew'd:
Three years successful in my art conceal'd,
My ineffectual fraud the fourth reveal'd:
Befriended by my own domestic spies,
The woof unwrought the suitor-train surprise.
From nuptial rites they now no more recede,
And fear forbids to falsify the brede.
My anxious parents urge a speedy choice
And to their suffrage gain the filial voice.
For rule mature, Telemachus deplores,
His dome dishonour'd, and exhausted stores-
But, stranger! as thy days seem full of fate,
Divide discourse, in turn thy birth relate:
Thy port asserts thee of distinguish'd race;
No poor unfather'd product of disgrace,
Princess! he cries, renew'd by your command,
The dear remembrance of my native land,
Of secret grief unseals the fruitful source:
And tears repeat their long-forgotten course!

So

pays the wretch whom fate constrains to roam,
The dues of nature to his natal home!---
But inward on my soul let sorrow prey,
Your sovereign will my duty bids obey.

Crete awes the circling waves, a fruitful soil!
And ninety cities crown the sea-born isle:
Mix'd with her genuine sons, adopted names
In various tongues avow their various claims:
Cydonians, dreadful with the bended yew,
And bold Pelasgi boast a native's due:
The Dorians plumed amid the files of war,
Her foodful glebe with fierce Achaians share;
Cossus, her capital of high command;
Where scepter'd Minos with impartial hand

145

With fair similitude of truth beguiles
The queen's attentive ear: dissolved in woe,
From her bright eyes the tears unbounded flow,
As snows collected on the mountain freeze;

235

When milder regions breathe a vernal breeze.
The fleecy pile obeys the whispering gales,

240

150 Ends in a stream, and murmurs through the vales:
So, melted with the pleasing tale he told,
Down her fair cheek the copious torrent roll'd:
She to her present lord laments him lost.
And views that object which she wants the most!

245

155 Withering at heart, to see the weeping fair,
His eyes look stern and cast a gloomy stare;
Of horn the stiff, relentless balls appear,
Or globes of iron fix'd in either sphere;
Firm wisdom interdicts the softening tear.
160 A speechless interval of grief ensues,
Till thus the queen the tender theme renews.
Stranger! that e'er thy hospitable roof
Ulysses graced, confirm by faithful proof;
Delineate to my view my warlike lord,
165 His form, his habit, and his train record.

"Tis hard, he cries, to bring to sudden sight
Ideas that have wing'd their distant flight;
Rare on the mind those images are traced,
Whose footsteps twenty winters have defaced:
170 But what I can, receive.-In ample mode,
A robe of military purple flow'd

O'er all his frame: illustrious on his breast,
The double-clasping gold the king confest.
In the rich woof a hound, Mosaic drawn,

175 Bore on full stretch, and seized a dappled fawn:
Deep in the neck his fangs indent their hold;
They pant and struggle in the moving gold,
Fine as a filmy web beneath it shone

A vest, that dazzled like a cloudless sun:

180 The female train who round him throng'd to gaze,
In silent wonder sigh'd unwilling praise.
A sabre, when the warrior press'd to part,
I gave, enamell'd with Vulcanian art;
A mantle purple-tinged, and radiant vest,
185 Dimension'd equal to his size, exprest

250

255

260

265

270

275

[blocks in formation]

The fall of Troy erroneous and forlorn Doom'd to survive, and never to return!

Then he, with pity touch'd: O royal danie!
Your ever-anxious mind, and beauteons frame,
From the devouring rage of grief reclaim.
I not the fondness of your soul reprove
For such a lord! who crown'd your virgin love
With the dear blessing of a fair increase;
Himself adorn'd with more than mortal grace :
While yet I speak, the mighty woe suspend;
Truth forms my tale; to pleasing truth attend;
The royal object of your dearest care,
Breathes in no distant clime the vital air:
In rich Thesprotia, and the nearer bound
Of Thessaly, his name I heard renown'd:
Without retinue, to that friendly shore
Welcomed with gifts of price, a sumless store!
His sacrilegious train, who dared to prey
On herds devoted to the god of day,
Were doom'd by Jove, and Phoebus' just decree,
To perish in the rough Trinacrian sea.
To better fate the blameless chief ordain'd,
A floating fragment of the wreck regain'd,
And rode the storm; till, by the billows tost,
He landed on the fair Phæacian coast.
That race who emulate the life of gods,
Receive him joyous to their blest abodes:
Large gifts confer, a ready sail command.
To speed his voyage to the Grecian strand.
But your wise lord (in whose capacious soul
High schemes of power in high succession roll)
His Ithaca refused from favouring Fate,
Till copious wealth might guard his regal state.
Phedon the fact affirm'd, whose sovereign sway
Thesprotian tribes, a duteous race, obey;
And bade the gods this added truth attest
(While pure libations crown'd the genial feast),
That anchor'd in his port the vessels stand,
To waft the hero to his natal land.
I for Dulichium urge the watry way,
But first the Ulyssean wealth survey:
So rich the value of a store so vast
Demands the pomp of centuries to waste!
The darling object of your royal love,
Was journied thence to Dodonean Jove
By the sure precept of the sylvan shrine,
To form the conduct of his great design:
Irresolute of soul, his state to shroud
In dark disguise, or come, a king avow'd?
Thus lives your lord; nor longer doom'd to roam :
Soon will he grace his dear paternal dome.
By Jove, the source of good, supreme in power!
By the blest genius of this friendly bower!
I ratify my speech, before the sun'

His annual longitude of heaven hath run;
When the pale empress of yon starry train
In the next month renews her faded wane,
Ulysses shall assert his rightful reign.

Princess, he cried, în vain your bounties flow
On me, confirm'd and obstinate in woe.
When my loved Crete received my final view,
And from my werping eyes her cliffs withdrew;
300 These tatter'd weeds (my decent robe resign'd)
I chose, the livery of my woeful mind!
Nor will my heart-corroding cares abate
With splendid palls, and canopies of state:
Low-couch'd on earth, the gift of sleep I scorn,
305 And catch the glances of the waking morn.
The delicacy of your courtly train

To wash a wretched wanderer would disdain;
But if, in tract of long experience tried,
And sad similitude of woes allied,

310 Some wretch reluctant views aerial light,
To her mean hand assign the friendly rite.
Pleased with this wise reply, the queen rejoin'd:
Such gentle manners, and so sage a mind,
In all who graced this hospitable bower

315 I ne'er discern'd, before this social hour.
Such servant as your humble choice requires,
To light received the lord of my desires,
New from the birth: and with a mother's hand
His tender bloom to manly growth sustain'd:
320 Of matchless prudence, and a duteous mind:
Though now to life's extremest verge declined,
Of strength superior to the task assign'd.--
Rise, Euryclea! with officious care,
For the poor friend the cleansing bath prepare:
325 This debt his correspondent fortunes claim,

Too like Ulysses, and perhaps the same!
Thus old with woes my fancy paints him now!
For age untimely marks the careful brow.
Instant obsequious to the mild command,
330 Sad Furyclea rose: with trembling hand
She veils the torrent of her tearful eyes;
And thus impassion'd to herself replies:
Son of my love, and monarch of my cares!
What pangs for thee this wretched bosom bears!
335 Are thus by Jove who constant beg his aid
With pious deed, and pure devotion, paid?
He never dared prophane the sacred fane,
Of perfect hecatombs in order slain :
There oft implored his tutelary power,
340 Long to protract the sad sepulchral hour;
That, form'd for empire with paternal care,
His realm might recognise an equal heir.
O destined head! The pious vows are lost;
His God forgets him on a foreign coast!—
345 Perhaps, like thee, poor guest! in wanton pride
The rich insult him, and the young
deride!
Conscious of worth reviled, thy generous mind
The friendly rite of purity declined;
My will concurring with my queen's command,
350 Accept the bath from this obsequious hand.

A strong emotion shakes my anguish'd breast:
In thy whole form Ulysses seems express'd:
Of all the wretched harbour'd on our coast,

What thanks! what boon! replied the queen, are due, None imaged e'er like thee my master lost.

When time shall prove the storied blessing true?
My lord's return should fate no more retard,
Envy shall sicken at thy vast reward.
But my prophetic tears, alas! presage,
The wounds of Destiny's relentless rage.
I long must weep, nor will Ulysses come,
With royal gifts to send thee honour'd home!-
Your other task, ye menial train forbear:
Now wash the stranger, and the bed prepare:
With splendid palls the downy fleece adorn:
Uprising early with the purple morn,

His sinews shrunk with age, and stiff with toil,
In the warm bath foment with fragrant oil.
Then with Telemachus the social feast
Partaking free, my sole invited guest;
Whoe'er neglects to pay distinction due,
The breach of hospitable right may rue.
The vulgar of my sex I most exceed

In real frame, when most humane my deed;
And vainly to the praise of queen aspire,
If, stranger! I permit that mean attire
Beneath the feastful bower. A narrow space
Confines the circle of our destined race;
"Tis ours with good the scanty round to grace.
Those who to cruel wrong their state abuse,
Dreaded in life, the mutter'd curse pursues;
By death disrobed of all their savage powers,
Then, licensed rage her hateful prey devours.
But he whose in born worth his acts commend,
Of gentle soul, to human race a friend;
The wretched he relieves diffuse his fame,
And distant tongues extol the patron-name.

355

Thus half discover'd through the dark disguise,
With cool composure feign'd, the chief replies:
You join your suffrage to the public vote;
The same you think, have all beholders thought.
He said replenish'd from the purest springs,
360 The laver straight with busy care she brings:
In the deep vase that shone like burnish'd gold,
The boiling fluid temperates the cold.
Meantime revolving in his thoughtful mind
The scar, with which his manly knee was sign'd;
365 His face averting from the crackling blaze,
His shoulders intercept the unfriendly rays:
Thus cautious in the obscure he hoped to fly
The curious search of Euryclea's eye.
Cautious in vain! nor eeased the dame to find

370 The scar with which his manly knee was sign'd,
This on Parnassus (combating the boar)
With glancing rage the tusky savage tore.
Attended by his brave maternal race,
His grandsire sent him to the sylvan chace,

390

395

490

405

410

415

420

425

430

435

440

445

450

455

460

455

375 Autolycus the bold (a mighty name

For spotless faith and deeds of martial fame:
Hermes, his patron-god, those gifts bestow'd,
Whose shrine with weanling lambs he wont to load).
His course to Ithaca this hero sped,

470

380 When the first product of Laërtes' bed

Was new disclosed to birth: the banquet ends,
When Euryclea from the queen descends,
And to his fond embrace the babe commends.
Receive, she cries, your royal daughter's son;

475

385 And name the blessing that your prayers have won.

Then thus the hoary chief: 'My victor arms
Have awed the realms around with dire alarms:
A sure memortal of my dreaded fame
The boy shall bear; Ulysses be his name!
And when with filial love the youth shall come
To view his mother's soil, my Delphic dome
With gifts of price shall send him joyous home.'
Lured with the promised boon, when youthful prime
Ended in man, his mother's natal clime
Ulysses sought; with fond affection dear
Amphithea's arms received the royal heir:
Her ancient lord and equal joy possess'd;
Instant he bade prepare the genial feast:
A steer to form the sumptuous banquet bled,
Whose stately growth five flowery summers fed:
His sons divide, and roast with artful care
The limbs; then all the tasteful viands share.
Nor ceased discourse, (the banquet of the soul)
Till Phoebus, wheeling to the western goal,
Resign'd the skies, and night revolved the pole.
Their drooping eyes the slumberous shade oppress'd,
Sated they rose, and all retired to rest.

Soon as the morn, new-robed in purple light,
Pierced with her golden shafts the rear of night,
Ulysses, and his brave maternal race,
The young Autolyci, assay the chace.
Parnassus, thick perplex'd with horrid shades,

With deep-mouth'd hounds the hunter-troop invades:
What time the sun, from ocean's peaceful stream,
Darts o'er the lawn his horizontal beam.
The pack impatient snuff the tainted gale,
The thorny wilds the woodmen fierce assail;
And, foremost of the train, his cornel spear
Ulysses waved, to rouse the savage war.
Deep in the rough recesses of the wood,
A lofty copse, the growth of ages, stood;

Nor winter's boreal blast, nor thunderous shower,
Nor solar ray, could pierce the shady bower.
With wither'd foliage strew'd, a heapy store!
The warm pavilion of a dreadful boar.

Roused by the hounds' and hunters' mingling cries,
The savage from his leafy shelter flies:

With fiery glare his sanguine eye-balls shine,
And bristles high impale his horrid chine.
Young Ithacus advanced, defies the foe,
Poising his lifted lance in act to throw;
The savage renders vain the wound decreed,
And springs impetuous with opponent speed!
His tusks oblique he aim'd, the knee to gore:
Aslope they glanced, the sinewy fibres tore,
And bared the bone: Ulysses, undismay'd,
Soon with redoubled force the wound repaid;
To the right shoulder joint the spear applied;
His further flank with seeming purple dyed;
On earth he rush'd, with agonizing pain;
With joy and vast surprise, the applauding train
View'd his enormous bulk extended on the plain.
With bandage firm Ulysses' knee they bound;
Then, chanting mystic lays, the closing wound
Of sacred melody confess'd the force;
The tides of life regain'd their azure course.
Then back they led the youth with loud acclaim;
Autolycus, enamour'd with his fame,

Confirm'd the cure: and from the Delphic dome
With added gifts return'd him glorious home.
He safe at Ithaca with joy received.
Relates the chace, and early praise achieved.

Deep o'er his knee inseam'd, remain'd the scar;
Which noted token of the woodland war
When Euryclea found, the ablution ceased:
Down dropp'd the leg, from her slack hand released;
The mingled fluids from the base redound;
The vase reclining floats the floor around!
Smiles dew'd with tears the pleasing strife express'd
Of grief and joy alternate in her breast.
Her fluttering words in melting murmurs died;
At length abrupt-My son !-my king!-she cried.
His neck with fond embrace infolding fast,
Full on the queen her raptured eye she cast,
Ardent to speak the monarch safe restored:
But studious to conceal her royal lord,
Minerva fix'd her mind on views remote,
And from the present bliss abstracts her thought.
His hand to Euryclea's mouth applied,
Art thou foredoom'd my pest? the hero cried:
Thy milky founts my infant lips have drain'd:
And have the Fates thy babbling age ordain'd
To violate the life thy youth sustain'd?
An exile have I told, with weeping eyes,
Full twenty annual suns in distant skies:

* Autolycus.

At length return'd, some god inspires thy breast
To know thy king, and here I stand confess'd.
This heaven-discover'd truth to thee consign'd,
480 Reserve the treasure of thy inmost mind:
Else, if the gods my vengeful arm sustain,
And prostrate to my sword the suitor-train;
With their lewd mates, thy undistinguish'd age
Shall bleed a victim to vindictive rage.

485

Then thus rejoin'd the dame, devoid of fear :
What words, my son, have pass'd thy lips severe ?
Deep in my soul the trust shall lodge secured;
With ribs of steel, and marble heart, immured.
When heaven, auspicious to thy right avow'd,
490 Shall prostrate to thy sword the suitor-crowd;
The deeds I'll blazon of the menial fair;
The lewd to death devote, the virtuous spare.
Thy aid avails me not, the chief replied;
My own experience shall their doom decide;
A witness-judge precludes a long appeal:
Suffice it then thy monarch to conceal.

495

He said: obsequious, with redoubled pace,
She to the fount conveys the exhausted vase:
The bath renew'd, she ends the pleasing toil
500 With plenteous unction of ambrosial oil.
Adjusting to his limbs the tatter'd vest,
His former seat received the stranger-guest;
Whom thus with pensive air the queen addrest.
Though night, dissolving grief in grateful ease,
Your drooping eyes with soft oppression seize :
Awhile, reluctant to her pleasing force,
Suspend the restful hour with sweet discourse.
The day (ne'er brighten'd with a beam of joy!)
By menials, and domestic cares employ:

505

570

575

580

585

590

595

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

611

510 And, unattended by sincere repose,

600

515

The night assists my ever-wakeful woes:
When nature's hush'd beneath her brooding shade,
My echoing griefs the starry vault invade.
As when the months are clad in flowery green,
Sad Philomel, in bowery shades unseen,
To vernal airs attunes her varied strains:

605

And Itylus sounds warbling o'er the plains:
Young Itylus, his parent's darling joy!
Whom chance misled the mother to destroy;

So in nocturnal solitude forlorn,

A sad variety of woes I mourn!

My mind, reflective, in a thorny maze
Devious from care to care incessant strays.

525 Now, wavering doubt succeeds to long despair;
Shall I my virgin nuptial-vow revere;
And, joining to my sons my menial train,
Partake his councils, and assist his reign?
Or, since, mature in manhood, he deplores

615

530 His dome dishonour'd, and exhausted stores;
Shall I, reluctant! to his will accord;
And from the peers select the noblest lord;
So by my choice avow'd, at length decide
These wasteful love-debates, a mourning bride?
535 A visionary thought I'll now relate;

620

625

545

A team of twenty geese (a snow-white train!)
Fed near the limpid lake with golden grain,
Amuse my pensive hours. The bird of Jove
540 Fierce from his mountain-eyrie downward drove;
Each favourite fowl he pounced with deathful sway,
And back triumphant winged his airy way.
My pitying eyes effused a plenteous stream,
To view their death thus imaged in a dream:
With tender sympathy to soothe my soul,
A troop of matrons, fancy-form'd, condole.
But whilst with grief and rage my bosom burn'd,
Sudden the tyrant of the skies return'd:
Perch'd on the battlements he thus began
(In form an eagle, but in voice a man):
O queen! no vulgar vision of the sky
I come, prophetie of approaching joy:
View in this plumy form thy victor-lord;
These geese (a glutton race) by thee deplored,
555 Portend the suitors fated to my sword.

630

635

640

551

560

Illustrate, if you know, the shadow'd fate.

This said, the pleasing feather'd omen ceased.
When from the downy bands of sleep released,
Fast by the limpid lake my swan-like train
I found, insatiate of the golden grain.
The vision self-explain'd (the chief replies)
Sincere reveals the sanction of the skies;
Ulysses speaks his own return decreed;
And by his sword the suitors sure to bleed.
Hard is the task, and rare, the queen rejoin'd,
565 Impending destinies in dreams to find;
Immured within the silent bower of sleep,
Two portals firm the various phantoms keep:

615

-650

655

70

Of ivory one; whence fit, to mock the brain,
Of winged lies a light fantastic train:
The gate opposed pellucid valves adorn,
And columns fair incased with polish'd horn:
Where images of truth for passage wait,
With visions manifest of future fate.
Not to this troop, I fear, that phantom soar'd,
Which spoke Ulysses to this realm restored:
Delusive semblance!-but my remnant life
Heaven shall determine in a gameful strife:
With that famed bow Ulysses taught to bend,
For me the rival archers shall contend.
As on the listed field he used to place
Six beams, opposed to six in equal space;
Elanced afar by his unerring art,

Sure through six circlets flew the whizzing dart.
So, when the sun restores the purple day,
Their strength and skill the suitors shall assay:
To him the spousal honour is decreed,

Or to their lust indulge a last embrace,

And let the peers consummate the disgrace/
660 Round his swoln heart the murmurous fury rolls;
As o'er her young the mother mastiff growls,
And bays the stranger groom: so wrath comprest
Recoiling, mutter'd thunder in his breast.
Poor suffering heart! he cried, support the pain
665 Of wounded honour, and thy rage restrain,
Nor fiercer woes thy fortitude could foil,
When the brave partners of thy ten years' toil
Dire Polypheme devour'd: I then was freed
By patient prudence from the death decreed.
Thus anchor'd safe on reason's peaceful coast,
Tempests of wrath his soul no longer tost;
Restless his body rolls, to rage resign'd:
As one who long with pale-eyed famine pined.
The savoury cates on glowing einbers cast,
675 Incessant turns, impatient for repast:
Ulysses so, from side to side devolved,

670

680

Who through the rings directs the feather'd reed.
Torn from these walls (where long the kinder powers
With joy and pomp have wing'd my youthful hours!)
On this poor breast no dawn of bliss shall beam;
The pleasure past supplies a copious theme
For many a dreary thought, and many a doleful dream!
Propose the sportive lot, the chief replies,
Nor dread to name yourself the bowyer's prize:
Ulysses will surprise the unfinish'd game
Avow'd, and falsify the suitors' claim.

To whom with grace serene the queen rejoin'd:
In all thy speech what pleasing force I find!
O'er my suspended woe thy words prevail;
I part reluctant from the pleasing tale.

But heaven, that knows what all terrestrials need,
Repose to-night, and toil to-day decreed;
Grateful vicissitude! yet me withdrawn,
Wakefulto weep and watch the tardy dawn
Establish'd use enjoins; to rest and joy
Estranged, since dear Ulysses sail'd to Troy!
Meantime instructed is the menial tribe
Your couch to fashion as yourself prescribe.
Thus affable, her bower the queen ascends;
The sovereign step a beauteous train attends:
There imaged to her soul Ulysses rose;

In self-debate the suitors' doom resolved.
When, in the form of mortal nymph array'd,
From heaven descends the Jove-born martial maid
And hovering o'er his head in view confess'd,
The goddess thus her favourite care address'd:
Oh thou, of mortals most inured to woes!
Why roll those eyes unfriended of repose?
Beneath thy palace roof forget thy care:

685 Blest in thy queen! blest in thy blooming heir!
Whom, to the gods when suppliant fathers bow,
They name the standard of their dearest vow.
Just is thy kind reproach (the chief rejoin'd),
Deeds full of fate distract my various mind,
In contemplation rapt. This hostile crew
What single arm hath power to subdue?
Or if, by Jove's and thy auxiliar aid,
They're doom'd to bleed; O say, celestial maid!
Where shall Ulysses shun, or how sustain

690

695 Nations embattled to revenge the slain?
Oh, impotence of faith! Minerva cries,

700

Down her pale cheek new-streaming sorrow flows:
Till soft oblivious shade Minerva spread,
And o'er her eyes ambrosial slumber shed.

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,

[blocks in formation]

Though myriads leagued thy rightful claim contest: 60
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;

65

BOOK XX.

ARGUMENT

While Ulysses lies in the vestibule of the palace, he is witness to the disorders of the women. Minerva comforts him, and casts him asleep. At his waking he desires a favourable sign from Jupiter, which is granted. The feast of Apollo is celebrated by the people, and the suitors banquet in the palace. Telemachus exerts his authority amongst them; not. withstanding which, Ulysses is insulted by Ctesippus, and the rest continue in their excesses. Strange prodigies are seen by Theoclymenus, the augur, who explains them to the destruction of the wooers.

BOOK XX.

AN ample hide divine Ulysses spread,

And form'd of fleecy skins his humble bed;
(The remnants of the spoil the suitor crowd
In festival devour'd, and victims vow'd).
Then o'er the chief, Euronyme the chaste
With duteous care a downy carpet cast:
With dire revenge his thoughtful bosom glows,
And, ruminating wrath, he scorns repose.

As thus pavilion'd in the porch he lay,
Scenes of lewd loves his wakeful eyes survey,
Whilst to nocturnal joys impure, repair,
With wanton glee, the prostituted fair,
His heart with rage this new dishonour stung,
Wavering his thoughts in dubious balance hung;
Or instant should he quench the guilty flame
With their own blood, and intercept the shame;

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:

5 To seek my lord among the warrior-train,
Ere second voys 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:

10 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,
15 In manly bloom, and each majestic grace,
As when for Troy he left my fond embrace;

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

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.

Some wield the sounding axe; the dodder'd oaks
Divide, obedient to the forceful strokes.

110 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,
115 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;
Or speaks their deed a bounteous mind humane?
Some pitying god (Ulysses sad replied)

Jove, and etherial thrones! with heaven to friend 120 With vollied vengeance blast their towering pride!

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.
Loud from a sapphire sky his thunder sounds:
With springing hope the hero's heart rebounds.
Soon, with consummate joy to crown his prayer,
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

125

200

205

210

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!

215

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;

220

130 With quavering eries 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,

From the pure flour (the growth and strength of man):
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,
Piteous, regard a wretch consumed with care!
Instant, O Jove! confound the suitor-train,
For whom o'ertoil'd 1 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:
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?
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,
And fleecy skins composed an 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,
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 cloth in order due:
And let the abstersive sponge 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.

225

136

230

140 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,
Aud goats he brought, the pride of all their race;

235

145 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.

210

150

165

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!
155 Then affable he thus the chief address'd,
Whilst with pathetic warmth his hand he press'd.
Stranger, may fate a milder aspect shew,
And spin thy future with a whiter clue!
O Jove! for ever deaf to human cries;
160 The tyrant, not the father of the skies!
Unpiteous of thy 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!-0 man of woe;-
Fresh flow my tears, and shall for ever flow!
Like thee, poorstranger-guest, denied his home!
170 Like thee, in rags obscure decreed to roam!
Or, haply perish'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!
175 His kind protecting hand my youth preferr'd,
The regent of his Cephalenian herd:
With vast increase beneath my care it spreads:
A stately breed! and blackens far the meads.
Constrain'd, the choicest beeves I thence import,
180 To cram these cormorants that crowd his court:
Who in partition seèk his realm to share;
Nór human right, nor wrath divine revere.
Since here resolved oppressive these reside,
Contending doubts my anxious heart divide:
185 Now to some foreign clime inclined to fly,

And with the royal herd protection buy:
Then, happier thoughts return the nodding scale,
Light mounts despair, alternate hopes prevail;
In opening prospects of ideal joy,
190 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!

245

250

255

260

265

270

275

280

285

[blocks in formation]
« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »