Loud laugh the rest, e'en Neptune laughs aloud, Yet sues importunate to loose the god: 'And free (he cries), O Vulcan! free from shame Thy captives; I ensure the penal claim.' Will Neptune (Vulcan then) the faithless trust? He suffers who gives surety for the' unjust: But say, if that lewd scandal of the sky, To liberty restored, perfidious fly; Say, wilt thou bear the mulct?' He instant cries, • The mulct I bear, if Mars perfidious flies.' To whom appeased- No more I urge delay! When Neptune sues, my part is to obey.' Then to the snares his force the god applies; They burst; and Mars to Thrace indignant flies. To the soft Cyprian shores the goddess moves, To visit Paphos and her blooming groves, Where to the power an hundred altars rise, And breathing odours scent the balmy skies: Conceal'd she bathes in consecrated bowers, The Graces unguents shed, ambrosial showers, Unguents that charm the gods! she last assumes Herwondrous robes; and full the goddess blooms. Thus sung the bard: Ulysses hears with joy, And loud applauses rend the vaulted sky. Then to the sports his sons the king commands: Each blooming youth before the monarch stands, In dance unmatch'd! A wondrous ball is brought (The work of Polybus, divinely wrought), This youth with strength enormous bids it fly, And bending backward whirls it to the sky; His brother springing with an active bound, At distance intercepts it from the ground: The ball dismiss'd, în dance they skim the strand, Turn and return, and scarce imprint the sand. The' assembly gazes with astonish'd eyes, He said, and to his hand the sword consign'd; 'And if (he cried) my words affect thy mind, Far from thy mind those words, ye whirlwinds, bear, And scatter them, ye storms, in empty air! Crown, O ye Heavens, with joy his peaceful hours, And grant him to his spouse and native shores!' 'And bless'd be thou, my friend (Ulysses cries), Crown him with every joy, ye favouring skies! To thy calm hours continued peace afford, And never, never mayst thou want this sword!' He said, and o'er his shoulder flung the blade. Now o'er the earth ascends the evening shade: The precious gifts the' illustrious heralds bear, And to the court the' embodied peers repair. Before the queen Alcinoüs' sons unfold The vests, the robes, and heaps of shining gold; Then to the radiant thrones they move in state: Aloft, the king in pomp imperial sat. Thence to the queen' O partner of our reign, O sole beloved! command thy menial train A polish'd chest and stately robes to bear, And healing waters for the bath prepare: That, bathed, our guest may bid his sorrows cease, Hear the sweet song, and taste the feast in peace. A bowl that flames with gold, of wondrous frame, Ourself we give, memorial of our name; To raise in offerings to almighty Jove, And every god that treads the courts above.' Instant the queen, observant of the king, Commands her train a spacious vase to bring; The spacious vase with ample streams suffice, Heap high the wood, and bid the flames arise. The flames climb round it with a fierce embrace, The fuming waters bubble o'er the blaze. Herself the chest prepares: in order roll'd The robes, the vests are ranged, and heaps of gold: And adding a rich dress inwrought with art, A gift expressive of her bounteous heart, Thus spoke to Ithacus To guard with bands Insolvable these gifts, thy care demands; Lest, in thy slumbers on the watery main, Then bending with full force, around he roll'd He bathes; the damsels with officious toil Full where the dome its shining valves expands, Hail, godlike stranger! and when Heaven re stores To thy fond wish thy long-expected shores, O royal maid (Ulysses straight returns), Now each partakes the feast, the wine prepares, This let the master of the lyre receive, |