261, The winged veffel ftudious I prepare, 325 Through feas and realms companions of thy care. Thou to the court afcend: and to the shores (When night advances) bear the naval stores; Bread, that decaying man with ftrength fupplies, And generous wine, which thoughtful forrow flies. Mean while the mariners, by my command, 331 Shall speed abroad, a valiant chosen band. Wide o'er the bay, by veffel vessel rides ; The best I choofe to waft thee o'er the tides.
O never, never more! let king be just, Be mild in power, or faithful to his truft! Let tyrants govern with an iron rod, Opprefs, deftroy, and be the fcourge of God: Since he who like a father held his reign, So foon forgot, was juft and mild in vain! True, while my friend is griev'd, his griefs I fhare; Yet now the rivals are my smallest care: They, for the mighty mifchiefs they devife, [270 Ere long fhall pay their forfeit lives the price. But against you, ye Greeks! ye coward train, Gods! how my foul is mov'd with juft difdain! 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: 275 O pride of words, and arrogance of mind! Would't thou to rife in arms, the Greeks, advise? Join all your powers! in arms, ye Greeks, arife! Yet would your powers in vain our ftrength oppofe !
The valiant few o'ermatch an hoft of foes.
Should great Ulyffes ftern appear in arms,
While the bowl circles, and the banquet warms;
Though to his breast his spouse with transport
flies,
Torn from her breast, that hour, Ulyffes dies.
But hence retreating to your domes repair;
To arm the veffel, Mentor! he thy care,
And, Halitherfes! thine: be each his friend;
Ye lov'd the father: go, the fou attend.
But yet, I trust, the hoaster means to stay
Safe in the court, nor tempt the watery way. 290
Then, with a rushing found, th'affembly bend,
Diverse their steps: the rival rout afcend
The royal dome; while fad the prince explores
The neighbouring main, and forrowing treads the
fhores.
There, as the waters o'er his hands he shed, 295
The royal fuppliant to Minerva pray'd:
O Goddefs! who defcending from the skies Vouchfaf'd thy prefence to my wondering eyes, By whose commands the raging deeps I trace, And feek my fire thro' storms and rolling feas! 300 Hear from thy heavens above, oh, warrior-maid! Defcend once more propitious to my aid. Without thy prefence, vain is thy command: Greece, and the rival train, thy voice withstand. Indulgent to his prayer the Goddefs took 305 Sage Mentor's form, and thus like Mentor ípoke. O prince, in early youth divinely wife, Forn, the Ulyffes of thy age to rife! If to the fon the father's worth descends, O'er the wide waves fuccefs thy ways attends: To tread the walks of death he stood prepar'd; And what he greatly thought, he nobly dar'd. Were not wife fons defcendents of the wife, And did not heroes from brave heroes rife : 315 Vain were my hopes: few fons attain the praife Of their great fires, and moft their fires difgrace. But fince thy veins paternal virtue fires, And all Penelope thy foul infpires: Go, and fucceed! the rivals aims despise; For never, never, wicked man was wife. Blind they rejoice, though now, ev'n now they fall, Death haftes amain: one hour o erwhelms them all! And lo, with speed we plough the watery way, My power fhall guard thee, and my hand convey:
She spoke to his high dome the prince returns, And, as he moves, with royal anguish.mourns. 336 'Twas riot all, among the lawless train;
Boar bled by boar, and goat by goat lay flain.
Arriv'd, his hand the gay Antinous prest,
And, thus deriding, with a fmile addreft:
Grieve not, oh, daring prince! that noble heart : Ill fuits gay youth the stern heroic part; Indulge the genial hour, unbend thy foul, Leave thought to age, and drain the flowing bowl. Studious to eafe thy grief, our care provides 345 The bark, to waft thee o'er the fwelling tides.
Is this, returns the prince, for mirth a time? When lawlefs gluttons riot, mirth's a crime; The lufcious wines, difhonour'd lofe their tafte; The fong is ife, and impious is the feast. 350 Suffice it to have spent with swift decay The wealth of kings, and made my youth a prey. But now the wife inftructions of the fage, And manly thoughts infpir'd by manly age, Teach me to feek redrefs for all my woe, Here, or in Pyle.-in Pyle, or here, your foe. Deny your veffels, ye deny in vain; A private voyager I pafs the main. Free breathe the winds, and free the billows flow:
And where on earth I live, I live your foe.
He fpoke and frown'd, nor longer deign'd to ftay, Sternly his hand withdrew, and strode away. Mean time, o'er all the dome, they quaff, they'
Derifive taunts were fpread from guest to guest,
And each in jovial ntood his mate addrest :
Tremble ye not, oh friends! and coward fly, 306
Doom'd by the stern Telemachus to die?
To Pyle or Sparta to demand fupplies,
Big with revenge, the mighty warrior flies :
Or comes from Ephyre with poifons fraught, 370
And kills us all in one tremendous draught?
Or, who can fay (his gamesome mate replies) But, while the dangers of the deeps he tries, He, like his fire, may fink depriv'd of breath, And punish us unkindly by his death? What mighty labours would he then create, To feize his treasures, and divide his state, The royal palace to the queen convey, Or him the bleffes in the bridal day! Meantime the lofty rooms the prince surveys, 380 Where lay the treasures of th' Ithacian race; Here ruddy brafs and gold refulgent blaz'd; There polifh'd chests embroider'd vestures grac'd ;Here jars of oil breath'd forth a rich perfume; There cafks of wine in rows adorn'd the dome 385 (Pure flavorous wine, by Gods in bounty given, And worthy to exalt the feafts of heaven). Untouch'd they flood, till, his long labours o'er, The great Ulyffes reach'd his native shore.
Nurs'd the most wretched king that breathes the Untouch'd and facred may these vessels stand, 396 Till great Ulyffes views his native land.
But by thy care twelve urns of wine be fill'd; Nex't thefe in worth, and firm thofe urns be feal'd;
And twice ten meafures of the choiceft flour 400
Prepar'd, ere yet defcends the evening hour.
For when the favouring fhades of night arife,
And peaceful flumbers close my mother's eyes,
Me from our coafts fhall fpreading fails convey,
To feck Ulyffes through the watery way.
While yet he spoke, she fill'd the walls with
cries,
And tears ran trickling from her aged eyes.
Oh whither, whither flies my fon? fhe cry'd,
To realms that rocks and roaring feas divide?
In foreign lands thy father's days decay'd,
And foreign lands contain the mighty dead.
The watery way ill-fated if thou try,
All, all must perifh, and by fraud you die ! [main;
Then ftay, my child! ftorms beat, and rolls the
Oh, beat thofe ftorms, and roll the feas in vain!
Far hence (reply'd the prince) thy fears be
driven :
[ven.
Heaven calls me forth! these counfels are of Hca-
But, by the powers that hate the perjur'd, swear,
To keep my voyage from the royal ear,
Nor uncompell'd the dangerous truth betray, 420
Till twice fix times defcends the lamp of day;
Left the fad tale a mother's life impair,
And grief destroy what time a while would fpare.
Thus he. The matron with uplifted eyes
Attefts th' all-feeing Sovereign of the skies.
Then ftudious she prepares the choiceft flour,
The strength of wheat, and wines an ample flore.
While to the rival train the prince returns,
'The martial Goddess with impatience burns';
Like thee, Telemachus, in voice and fize,
With speed divine from street to street she flies,
She bids the mariners, prepar'd, to stand,
When night defcends, embody'd on the strand.
Then to Noëmon swift fhe runs, the flies,
And afks a bark: the chief a bark supplies. 435
And now declining with his floping wheels,
Down funk the fun behind the western hills.
The Goddefs fhov'd the veffels from the shores,
And ftow'd within its womb the naval ftores.
Full in the openings of the spacious main
It rides; and now defcends the failor-train.
Next, to the court, impatient of delay,
With rapid ftep the Goddess urg'd her way!
There every eye with flumberous chains the
bound,
Load the tall bark, and launch into the main.
The Prince and Goddess to the ftern afcend;
To the strong stroke at once the rowers bend.
Full from the west she bids fresh breezes blow; 460
The fable billows foam and roar below.
The chief his orders gives; th' obedient band
With due obfervance wait the chief's command!
With speed the maft they rear, with speed unbind
The fpacious fheet, and stretch it to the wind. 465
High o'er the roaring waves the spreading fails
Bow the tall maft, and fwell before the gales;
The crooked keel the parting furge divices,
And to the ftern retreating roll the tides.
And now they fhip their oars, and crown with wine
The holy goblet to the powers divine : 471
Imploring all the Gods that reign above,
But chief the blue-ey'd progeny of Jove.
Thus all the night they ftem the liquid way,
And end their voyage with the morning ray. 475
The Interview of Telemachus and Neftor,
Telemachus, guided by Pallas in the bape of Mentor, arrives in the morning at Pylos, where Neftor and bis fons are facrificing on the fea-fbore to Neptune. Telemachus declares the occafion of his coming; and Neftor relates what paft in their return from Troy, bow their fleets were Jeparated, and be never fince heard of Ulyffes. They difcourfe concerning the death of Agamemnon, the revenge of Oreftes, and the injuries of the fuitors. Neftor advises bim to go to Sparta, and inquire further of Menelaus. The facrifice ended with the night, Minerva vanifbes from them in the form of an eagle: Telemachs is lodged in the palace. The nat morning they facrifice a bullock to Minerva; and Telemachus proceeds on bis journey to Sparta, attended by Piffiratus.
The feene lies on the fea foore of Pylose
facred fun, above rais'd,
To fee the preference due to facred age
Through heav'ns eternal trazen portals Regarded ever by the juft and fage.
Of Ocean's king the then implores the grace:
Oh, thou! whofe arms this ample globe embrace,
Fulfil our wish, and let thy glory fhine
70
5 On Neftor firft, and Neftor's royal line:
Next grant the Pylian ftates their juft defires,
Pleas'd with their hecatomb's afcending fires;
Laft deign Telemachus and me to bless,
And crown our voyage with defir'd fuccefs.
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And wide o'er earth diffus'd his cheering ray,
To Gods and men to give the golden day.
Now on the coaft of Pyle the veffel falls,
Before old Neleus' venerable walls.
There, fuppliant to the monarch of the flood,
At nine green theatres the Pylians flood.
Each held five hundred a deputed train),
At each, nine oxen on the fand lay flain.
They take the entrails, and the altars load
With fmoking thighs, an offering to the God.
Full for the port the Ithacenfians ftand,
And furl their fails, and iffue on the land.
Telemachus already preft the fhore;
Not first, the Power of Wisdom march'd before,
And, ere the facrificing throng he join'd,
Admonish'd thus his well-attending mind:
Proceed, my fon! this youthful thame expel;
An honest business never blush to tell..
To learn what fates thy wretched fire detain,
We pafs'd the wide inimeasurable main
Meet then the fenior far renown'd for fenfe,
With reverend awe, but decent confidence:
Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies;
And fure he will: for Wifdom never lies.
Oh, tell me, Mentor! tell me, faithful guide,
(The youth with prudent modesty reply'd)
How fhall I meet, or how accoft the fage,
Unfkill'd in fpeech, nor yet mature of age?
Awful th' approach, and hard the task appears,
To queftion wifely men of riper years.
To whom the martial Goddefs thus rejoin'd: Search, for fome thoughts, thy own fuggefting mind,
7 hus fhe; and, having paid the rite divine,
Gave to Ulyffes' fon the rofy wine.
Suppliant he pray'd. And, now the victims dreft,
They draw, divide, and celebrate the feast.
The banquet done, the narrative old man,
Thus mild, the pleafing conference began:
Now, gentle guefts! the genial banquet o'er,
It fits to afk you, what your native fhore,
And whence your race? on what adventure, fay,
Thus far ye wander through the watery way? 85
Relate (if bufinefs, or the thirst of gain,
Engage your journey o'er the pathless main :
Where favage pirates feek through feas unknown
The lives of others, venturous of their own.
My fire I feek, where-e'er the voice of Fame 100
Has told the glories of his noble name,
The great Ulyffes: fam'd from shore to fhore
For valour much, for hardy fuffering more.
Long time with thee before proud Ilion's wall,
In arms he fought; with thee beheld her fall. 105
40Of all the chiefs, this hero's fate alone
And others, diЯated by heavenly power,
Shall rife fpontaneous in the needful hour.
For nought unprof, erous fhall thy ways attend.
Born with good omens, and with heaven thy friend.
She fpoke, and led the way with fwifteft fpeed:
As fwift, the youth pursued the way the led;
And join'd the band before the facred fire,
Where fate, encompast with his fons, the fire.
The youth of Pylos, fome on pointed wood
Transfix'd the fragments, fome prepar'd the food.
In friendly throngs they gather to embrace
Their unknown guefts, and at the banquet place.
Pififtratus was firft, to grafp their hands,
And fpread foft hides upon the yellow fands;
Along the fhore th' illuftrious pair he led,
Where Neftor fate with youthful Thrafymed.
To each a portion of the feaft he bore,
And held the golden goblet foaming o'er;
Then firft aproaching to the clder gueft,
The latent Goddess in these words addrest:
Whoe'er thou art, whom Fortune brings to keep
The rites of Neptune, monarch of the deep,
The first it fits, oh ftranger! to prepare
Thee due libation and the folemn prayer:
Then give thy friend to fhed the facred wine:
Though much thy younger, and his years like?
He too, I deem, implores the Powers divine :
For all mankind alike require their grace,
All born to want; a miferable race!
Has Jove referv'd, unheard of, and unknown;
Whether in fields by hoftile fury flain,
Or funk by tempefts in the gulfy main?
Of this to learn, oppreft with tender fears, II.
Lo! at thy knee his fuppliant fon appears.
If or thy certain eye, or curious car,
Have learnt his fate, the whole dark story clear:
And, oh! whate'er heaven deftin'd to betide,
Let neither flattery fmooth, nor pity hide.
50 Prepar'd I ftand; he was but born to try
The lot of man; to fuffer and to die.
Oh then, if ever through the ten years war
The wife, the good Ulyffes çlaim'd thy care;
If c'er be join'd thy council, or thy fword,
True in his deed, and conftant to his word:
Far as thy mind through backward time can fee,
Search all thy ftores of faithful memory:
'Tis facred Truth I ask, and ask of thee.
To him experienc'd Neftòr thus rejoin'd: 125 O friend! what forrows doft thou bring to mind? 605
Shall I the long laborious fcene review,
And open all the wounds of Greece anew?
What toils by fea! 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, fuch heroes funk to night:
There Ajax great, Achilles there the brave,
There wife Patroclus, fill an early grave:
There too my fon-ah, once my best delight,
Once fwift of foot, and terrible in fight;
In whom ftern courage with foft 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 talk could close,
The long hiftorian of my country's woes:
Back to thy native ifland might'ft thou fail,
And leave half-heard the melancholy tale.
Nine painful years on that detefted thore,
What ftratagems we form'd, what toils we bore!
Still labouring on, till fcarce at last we found
Great Jove propitious, and our conqueft crown'd.
Far o'er the reft thy mighty father fhin'd,
In wit, in prudence, and in force of mind.
Art thou the fon of that illuftrious fire?
With joy I grafp thee, and with love admire.
So like your voices, and your words fo wife,
Who finds thee younger must confult his eyes.
Thy fire and I were one; nor vary'd ought
In public fentence, or in private thought;
Alike to council or th' affembly came,
With equal fouls, and fentiments the fame.
But when (by Wisdom won) proud Ilion burn'd,
And in their fhips the conquering Greeks re-
160
'Twas God's high will the victors to divide,
And turn th' event, confounding human pride:
Some he deftroy'd, fome scatter'd as the duft,
(Not all were prudent, and not all were just).
Then Difcord, fent by Pallas from above,
Stern daughter of the great avenger Jove,
The brother-kings infpir'd with fell debate
Who call'd to council all th' Achaian state,
But call'd untimely (not the facred rite
Obferv'd, nor heedful of the fetting light,
Nor herald fworn the feffiou to proclaim).
Sour with debauch a reeling tribe they came.
To thefe the caufe of meeting they explain,
And Menelaus moves to crofs the main ;
Not fo the king of men: he will'd to ftay:
Thefe facred rites and hecatombs to pay,
And calm Minerva's wrath. Oh, blind
Fate!
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Wife as he was, by various counfels fway'd,
He there, though late, to please the monarch,
But I, determin'd, ftem the foamy floods, [stay'd.
Warn'd of the coming fury of the Gods.
With us, Tydides fear'd, and urg'd' his hafte;
And Menelaus came, but came the last.
He join'd our veffels in the Lefbian bay,
While yet we doubted of our watery way;
if to the right to urge the pilot's toil,
The faler road) beside the Pfyrian ifle;
Or the ftraight courfe to rocky Chios plough,
And anchor under Mima's fhaggy brow?
We fought direction of the Power divine:
The God propitious gave the guiding fign;
Through the mild fcas he bid our navy feer,
And in Eubaa thun the woes we fear.
The whiftling winds already wak'd the sky;
Before the whiftling winds the veels fly,
With rapid fwiftnefs cut the liquid way,
And reach Gereftus at the point of day.
There hecatombs of bulls, to Neptune flain,
High-flaming please the monarch of the main.
The fourth day fhone, when all their labours
Tydides' veffels touch'd the wifh'd-for fhore. 220
But I to Pylos fcud before the gales,
l'he Gods ftill breathing on my fwelling fails;
Separate from all, I fafely landed here;
Their fates or fortunes never reach'd my ear.
Yet what I learn'd, attend: as here 1 fate, 225
And afk'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 fon's command.
Thofe, whom the heir of great Apollo's art, 230
Brave Philoctetes, taught to wing the dart;
And those whom Idomen from Ilion's plain
Had led, fecurely croft the dreadful main.
How Agamemnon touch'd his Argive coaft,
And how his life by fraud and force he loft,
And how the murderer paid his forfeit breath;
What lands fo diftant from that scene of death
But trembling heard the fame; and, heard, ad-
How well the fon appeas'd the flaughter'd fire! Ev'n to th' unhappy, that unjuftiy bleed, Heaven gives pofterity, t' avenge the deed. So fell Egyhus; and may ft thou, my friend, (On whom the virtues of thy fire defcend) 180 Make future time thy equal act adore,
The Gods not lightly change their love, or hate. With ireful taunts each other they oppofe, Till in loud tumult all the Grecks arofe. Now different counfels every breaft divide, Each burns with rancour to the adverse side: Th' unquiet night ftrange projects entertain'd (So Jove, that urg'd us to our fate, ordain'd). We with the rifing morn our fhips unmoor'd, 185 And brought our captives and our stores aboard; But half the people with refpe& 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 faooth'd the waters of the deep); For Tenedos we fpread our eager oars, There land, and pay due victims to the Powers: To bless our fafe return we join in prayer; But angry Jove difpers'd our vows in air,
And rais'd new difcord. Then (fo Heaven decreed) Ulyffes first and Neftor disagreed:
And be what brave Oreftes was before!
The prudent youth reply'd: O thou the grace
And lafting glory of the Grecian race!
Juft was the vengeance, and to latest days
Shall long pofterity refound the praife.
Some God this arm with equal prowess bless! 250
And the proud fuitors fhall its force confefs:
Injurious men! who while my foul is fore
Of fresh affronts, are meditating more.
But Heaven denies this honour to my hand,
Nor fhall my father repoffefs the land:
The father's fortune never to return,
And the fad fon's to fuffer and to mourn?
Thus he; and Nestor took the word: My fen Is it then true, as diftant rumours run, That crowds of rivals for thy mother's charm 269 Thy palace fill with infults and areas: pabe
Say, is the fault through tame submission thine?
Or, leagued against thee, do thy people join,
Mov'd by fome oracle, or voice divine?
And yet who knows, but ripening lies in fate 265
An hour of vengeance for th' afflicted state;
When great Ulyffes fhall fupprefs these harms,
Ulyffes fingly, or all Greece in arms.
But if Athena, war's triumphant maid,
The happy fon will, as the father, aid,
(Whose fame and fafety was her constant care
In every danger, and in every war;
Never on man did heavenly favour shine
With rays fo ftrong, diftinguish'd, and divine,
As thofe with which Minerva mark'd thy fire) 275
So might she love thee, so thy foul infpire!
Soon fhould their hopes in humble dust be laid,
And long oblivion of the bridal bed.
Ah! no fuch hope (the prince with fighs replies) [nies. Can touch my breast; that blessing Heaven deEv'n by celestial favour were it given, 281 Fortune or Fate will cross the will of Heaven. What words are these, and what imprudence thine?
(Thus interpos'd the martial Maid divine)
Forgetful youth! but know, the Power above 285
With ease can save each object of his love;
Wide as his will extends his boundless grace:
Nor loft in time, nor circumfcrib'd by place.
Happier his lot, who, many forrows paft,
Long labouring gains his natal fhore at last:
Than who, too speedy, haftes to end his life
By fome stern ruffian, or adulterous wife.
Death only is the lot which none can mifs,
And all is poffible to Heaven, but this.
The beft, the dearest favourite of the sky
Must taste that cup, for man is born to die.
Thus check'd, reply'd Ulyffes' prudent heir:
Mentor, no more—the mournful thought forbear ;
For he no more must draw his country's breath,
Already fnatch'd by fate, and the black doom of
death!
Pass we to other fubjects; and engage
On themes remote the venerable fage
(Who thrice has seen the perishable kind
Of men decay, and through three ages shin'd
He, ftretch'd at eafe in Argos' calm recefs, Whose stately feeds luxuriant paftures bless) With flattery's infinuating art
Sooth'd the frail queen, and poifon'd all her heart.
At first, with worthy fhame and decent pride, 330
The royal dame his lawless fuit deny’d.
For virtue's image yet poffeft her mind,
Taught by a mafter of the tuncful kind :
Atrides, parting from the Trojan war,
Confign'd the youthful confort to his care.
True to his charge, the bard preferv'd her long
In honour's limits; fuch the power of song.
But when the Gods these objects of their hate
Dragg'd to deftruction, by the links of fate;
The bard they banifh'd from his native foil, 340
And left all helpless in a defert ifle ;
There he, the sweetest of the facred train,
Sung dying to the rocks, but fung in vain.
Then Virtue was no more; her guard away,
She fell, to luft a voluntary prey.
Ev'n to the temple ftalk'd th' adulterous spouse,
With impious thanks, and mockery of vows,
With images, with garments, and with gold;
And odorous fumes from loaded altars roll'd.
Mean time from flaming Troy we cut the way, With Menelaus, through the curling fea. But when to Sunium's facred point we came, Crown'd with the temple of the Athenian dame; Atrides' pilot, Phrontes, there expir'd (Phrontes, of all the fons of men admir'd 358 To fteer the bounding bark with steady toil, When the ftorm thickens, and the billows boil); While yet he exercis'd the fteerman's art, Apollo touch'd him with his gentle dart; Even with the rudder in his hand he fell. To pay whofe honours to the fhades of hell, We check'd our hafte, by pious office bound, And laid our old companion in the ground. And now, the rites discharg'd, our course we keep Far on the gloomy bofom of the deep : Soon as Malea's mifty tops arife, Sudden the Thunderer blackens all the skies, And the winds whistle, and the furges roll Mountains on mountains, and obfcure the pole, The tempeft fcatters and divides our fleet: Part the ftorm urges on the coaft of Crete, Where, winding round the rich Cydonian plain, The ftreams of Jardan iffue to the main. There ftands a rock, high eminent and steep, Whofe fhaggy brow o'erhangs the fhady deep. 375 And views Gortyna on the western fide, On this rough Ausfter drove th' impetuous tide : With broken force the billows roll'd away, And heav'd the fleet into the neighbouring bay; Thus fav'd from death, they gain'd the Phæftan
With fnatter'd veffels, and difabled oars:
But five tall barks the winds and waters toft,
| Far from their fellows on the Ægyptian coaft.
There wander'd Menelaus through foreign fhores,
Amaffing gold, and gathering naval ftores; 385
While curft Egyfthus the detefled deed
By fraud fulfill'd, and his great brother bled.
Seven years the traitor rich Mycena fway'd,
And his ftern rule the groaning land obey'd;
The eighth, from Athens, to his realm refter'd, 390
Oreftes brandish'd the revenging sword,
|