Six youthful fons, as many blooming maids,
In one fad day heheld the Stygian fhades; 760
Thefe by Apollo's Gilver bow were flain,
Thofe Cynthia's arrows ftretch'd upon the plain :
So was her pride chattis'd by wrath divine,
Who match'd her own with bright Latona's
line;
[765

But two the Goddess, twelve the queen en oy'd:
Those boafted twelve th' avenging two delroy'd.
Steep'd in their blood, and in the duft outpread,
Nine days, neglected, lay expos'd the dead;
None by to weep them, to inhume them one
(For Jove had turn'd the nation all to stone): 770
The Gods themselves at length, relenting, gave
Th' unhappy race the honours of a grave.
Herfelf a rock (for fuch was Heav'n's high will)
Through deferts wild now pours a weeping rill;
Where round the bed, whence Achelous fprings,
The watery Fairies dance in mazy rings,
There high on Sipylus's fhaggy brow,
She ftands, her own fad monument of wo;
The rock for ever lafts, the tears for ever flow.
Such griefs, O king! have other parentsknown:
Remember theirs, and mitigate thy own
The care of Heav'n thy Hector has appar'd,
Nor fhall he lie unwept and uninterr ́d;
Soon may thy aged checks in tears be drown'd,
And all the eyes of Ilion ftream around.

776

781

785

To inter thy Hector? For, fo long we ftay'.
Our flaughtering arm, and bid the hosts obey.
If then thy will permit (the monarch faid)
To finith all due honours to the dead,
This, of thy grace accord: to thee are known 830
The fears of lion clos'd within her town;
And at what distance from our walls afpire
The hills of Ide, and forefts for the fire.
Nine days to vent our forrows I request,
The tenth fhall fee the funeral and the feaft; 835
The next, to raife his monument be given;
The twelfth we war, if war be doom'd by
Heaven!

790

795

He said, and, rifing, chofe the victimewe
With filver fleece, which his attendants few.
The limbs they fever from the reeking hide,
With skill prepare them, and in parts divide:
Each on the coals the separate morfels lays,
And, hafty, fratches from the rifing blaze.
With bread the glittering canifters they load,
Which round the board Automedon betow'd:
The chief himself to each his portion plac'd,
And each indulging fhar'd in sweet repaft.
When now the rage of hunger was repreft,
The wondering hero eyes his royal guft;
No lefs the royal gueft the hero eyes,
His godlike afpect and majestic fize;
Here youthful grace and noble fire engage:
And there, the mild benevolence of ge.
Thus gazing long, the filence neither broke,
(A folemn scene!) at length the father sj- ke :
Permit me now, belov'd of Jove! to fleep
My careful temples in the dew of fleep:
For, fince the day that number'd with the dead
- My hapless fon, the duft has been my bed;
Soft fleep a stranger to my weeping eyes;
My only food my forrows and my ighs!
Till now, encourag'd by the grace you give,
1 share thy banquet, and confent to live.

800

This thy request (reply'd the chief enjoy;
Till then, our arms fuipend the fall of Troy.

Then gave his hand at parting to prevent 840 The old man's fears, and turn'd within the tent; Where fair Brifcis, bright in blooming charms, Expects her hero with deûring arms.

810

But in the porch the king and herald reft, [845
Sad dreams of care yet wandering in their breast.
Now Gods and men the gift of fleep partake;
Induftrious Hermes only was awake,
The king's return revolving in his mind,
To pafs the ramparts, and the watch to blind,
The Pow'r defcending hover'd o'er his head: 850
And fleep't thou, father! (thus the vifion faid)
Now doft thou fleep, when Hector is reftor'd?
Nor fear the Grecian focs, or Grecian lord?
Thy prefence here should stern Atrides fee,
Thy ill-furviving fons may fue for thee,
May offer all thy treafures yet contain,
To fpare fly age, and offer all in vain.

With that, Achilles bade prepare the bed,
With purple foft, and fhaggy carpets fpread;
Forth, by the flaming lights, they bend their way,
And place the couches, and the coverings lay, 815
Then he: Now, father, fleep, but fleep not here;
Confult thy fafety, and forgive my fear;
Left any Argive at this hour awake,
To afk our counfel, or our orders take)
Approaching fudden to our oper tent,
Perchance behold thee, and our grace prevent.
Should fuch report thy honour' perfon here,
The king of men the ranfom night defer;
But fay with speed, if aught o thy defire

1

820

855

Wak'd with the word, the trembling fire arofe, And rais'd his friend: the God before him goes; He joins the mules, directs them with his hand, And moves in filence through the hostile land. 861 When now to Xanthus' yellow ftream they drove (Xanthus, immortal progeny of Jove)

The winged Deity forfook their view,

865

[day

870

And in a moment to Olympus flew.
Now fhed Aurora round her faffron ray,
Sprung through the gate of light, and gave the
Charg'd with their mournful load, to Ilion go
The fage and king, majeftically flow.
Caffandra firft beholds, from Ilion's fpire,
The fad proceffion of her hoary fire;
Then, as the peufive pomp advanc'd more near
(Her breathlefs brother stretch'd upon the bier)
A thower of tears o'erflows her beaut.ous eyes,
Alarming thus all lion with her cries;
Turn here your fteps, and here your eyes em-
ploy,

In thronging crowds they iffue to the plains;
Nor man, nor woman, in the walls remains:
In every face the felf-fame grief is shown;
And Troy fends forth one univerfal groan.
At Scean's gates they meet the mourning wain,
Hang on the wheels, and grovel round the flain.
he wife and mother, frantic with defpair,
Kifs his pale check, and rend their featter'd hair:
Thus wildly wailing at the gates they lay; 890

Remains unafk'd; what timethe rites require 825 | And there had sigh'd and forrow'd out the day :

[895

But godlike Priam from the chariot rose;
Forbear the cry'd) this violence of woes,
First to the palace let the car proceed,
Then pour your boundlefs forrows o'er the dead.
The waves of people at his word divide,
Slow rolls the chariot through the following tide;
Ev'n to the palace the fad pomp they wait;
They weep, and place him on the bed of Itate.
A melancholy choir attend around,
With plaintive fighs, and mufic's folemn found;
Alternately they fing, alternate flow

900

Th' obedient tears, melodious in their woe.
While deeper forrows groan from each full heart,
And nature speaks at every paufe of art. 995

910

The mideft manners with the bravest mind;
Now twice ten years (unhappy years!) are o'er
Since Faris brought me to the Trojan fhore; 965
(O had! perish'd ere that form divine
Seduce this foft, this eafy heart of mine!)
Yet was it ne'er my fate, from thee to find
A deed ungentle, or a word unkind:
When ethers curft the authorefs of their woe, 970
Thy piy check'd my forrows in their flow;
If fomeproud brother ey'd me with disdain,
Or fcoriful fifter with her fweeping train;
Thy gentle accents foften'd all my pain.

For the I mourn; and mourn myself in thee, 975
The wretched fource of all this misery!
The fat I caus'd, for ever I bemoan;

915 Sad Heen has no friend, now thou art gone!
Through Troy's wide 'ftreets abandon'd fhall f
roam!

First to the corpfe the weeping confort flew;
Around his neck her milk-white arms fhe threw,
And, oh, my Hector! oh, my lord! fhe cries,
Snatch'd in thy bloom from these defiring eyes!
Thou to the difmal realms for ever gone!
And I abandon'd, defolate, alone!
An only fon, once comfort of our pains,
Sad product now of haplefs love, remains!
Never to manly age that fon fhall rife,
Or with encreafing graces glad mine eyes;
For lion now (her great defender flain)
Shall fink a fmoking ruin on the plain.
Who now protects her wives with guardian care?
Who faves her infants from the rage of war?
New hoftile fleets muft waft thofe infants o'er 920
(Thefe wives must wait them) to a foreign thore !
Thou too, my fon! to barbarous climes fhalt go,
The fad companions of thy mother's woe:
Driven hence a flave before the victor's fword;
Condemn'd to toil for fome inhuman lord:
Or eife fome Greek, whofe father preft the plain,
Or fon, or brother, by great Hector flain;
In HeCor's blood his vengeance fhall enjoy,
And hurl thee headlong from the towers of Troy.
For thy fern father never fpar'd a foe :
Thence all these tears, and all this fcene of woe!
Thence many evils his fad parents bore,
His parents many, but his confort more.
Why gav't thou not to me thy dying hand?
And why receiv'd not I thy laft command? 935
Some word thou would'st have spoke, which, fadly
My foul might keep, or utter with a tear;
Which never, never, could be loft in air,
Fix'd in my heart, and oft repeated there!
Thus to her weeping maids fhe makes

moan:

925

930

[dear,

her

940

Her weeping handmaids echo groan for groan.
The mournful mother next fuftains her part;
Oh, thou, the best, the dearest to my heart!
Of all my race thou most by Heaven approv'd,
And by th' Immortals ev'n in death belov'd! 945
While all my other fons in barbarous bands
Achilles bound, and fold to foreign lands,
This felt no chains, but went a glorious ghost,
Free and a hero, to the Stygian coaft.
Sentenc'd, 'tis true, by his inhuman doom,
Thy noble corpfe was dragg'd around the tomb
(The tomb of him thy warlike arm had flain);
Ungenerous infult, impotent and vain!
Yet glow't thou fresh with every living grace;
No mark of pain, or violence of face;

950

955

In Troy deferted, as abhorr'd at home!

980

So fpoke the fair, with forrow-ftreaming eye:
Diftrefsft! beauty melts each stander-by;
On all around th' infectious forrow grows;

But Priam check'd the torrent as it rofe :

Perform, ye Trojans! what the rites require, 985
And fell the forefts for a funeral pyre;
Twelve days, nor foe, nor fecret ambush dread;
Achilles grants thefe honours to the dead.

He fpoke; and, at his word, the Trojan train
Their muls and oxen harness to the wain,
Pour through the gates, and, fell'd from Ida's

crown,

990

1000

Roll back the gather'd forefts to the town,
Thefe toils continue nine fucceeding days,
And high in air a fylvan ftructure raife;
But when the tenth fair morn began to shine,995
Forth to the pile was borne the man divine,
And plac'd aloft: while all, with ftreaming eyes,
Behield the fames and rolling fmokes arise.
Soon as Aurora, daughter of the dawn,
With rofy luftre ftreak'd the dewy lawn.
Again the mournful crowds furround the pyre,
And quench with wine the yet-remaining fire.
The fnowy bones his friends and brothers place
(With tears collected) in a golden vafe;
The golden vale in purple palls they roll'd, 100g
Of fofteft texture, and inwrought with gold.
Laft o'er the urn the facred earth they fpread,
And rais'd the tomb, memorial of the dead.
Strong guards and fpics, till all the rites were

done

BOOK I.

THE ARGUMENT.

Minerva's Defcent to Iibaca.

The poem opens within forty-eight days of the arrival of Ulyffes in bis dominions. He bad now remained feven years in the island of Calypfo, ruben the Gods assembled in council proposed the method of bis departure from thence, and his return to his native country. For this purpose it is concluded to fend Mercury to Calypfo, and Pallas immediately defcends to Itbaca. She bolds a conference with Telemachus in the bape of Mentes, king of the Taphians; in whieh, foe advises bim to take a journey in quest of bis father Ulyffes, to Pylos and Sparta, where Neftor and Menelaus yet reigned : then, after baving visibly displayed ber divinity, disappears. The fuitors of Penelope make great entertainments, and riot in ber palace till night. Phemius fongs to them the return of the Grecians, till Penelope puts a stop to the sing. Some words arife between the suitors and Telemachus, who fummons the council to meet the day following.

man, wisdom's various arts
Longeerisid in woes, on Mufet refound,
Who, when his arms had wrought the deftin'd fall
Of facred Troy, and raz'd her heaven-built wall.
Wandering from clime to clime, obfervant Aray'd,5
Their manners noted, and their states survey'd,
On ftormy feas unnumber'd toils he bore,
Safe with his friends to gain his natal fhore :
Vain toils! their impious folly dar'd to prey
On herds devoted to the God of day;
The God vindictive dooni'd them never more
(Ah, men unblefs'd!) to touch that natal shore.
Oh, fnatch fome portion of thefe acts from Fate,
Celestial Mufe! and to our world relate.

Perverse mankind! whose wills, created free,
Charge all their woes on abfolute decree
All to the dooming Gods their guilt tranflate,
And follies are mifcall'd the crimes of fate.
When to his lust #gyfthus gave the rein,
Did Fate, or we, th'adulterous act constrain?
Did Fate, or we, when great Atrides dy'd,
Urge the bold traitor to the regicide?
Hermes 1 fent, while yet his foul remain'd
Sincere from royal blood, and faith profan'd;
To warn the wretch, that young Oreftes, grown
To manly years, should re-affert the throne.
Yet, impotent of mind, and uncontrol'd,
(15He plung'd into the gulf which heaven foretold.

45

Here paus'd the God; and pensive thus replies
56
Minerva, graceful with her azure eyes:
O thou! from whom the whole creation fprings,
The fource of power on earth deriv'd to kings }
His death was equal to the direful deed;

may

20 | Sი
the man of blood be doom'd to bleed! 60
But grief and rage alternate wound my breast,
For brave Ulyffes, ftill by Fate opprest.
Amidst an ille, around whose rocky shore
The forests murmur, and the furges roar,

Now at their native realms the Greeks arriv'd;
All who the war of ten long years surviv'd,
And 'fcap'd the perils of the gulfy main.
Ulyffes, fole of all the victor train,
An exile from his dear paternal coaft,
Deplor'd his abfent queen, and empire loft.
Calypfo in her caves conftrain'd his stay,
With fweet, reluctant, amorous delay:
In vain-for now the circling years difclofe
The day predeftin'd to reward his woes.
At length his Ithaca is given by fate,
Where yet new labours his arrival wait;
At length their rage the hoftile power restrain,
All but the ruthless monarch of the main,
But now the God, remote, a heavenly gueft,
In Ethiopia grac'd the general feast
( race divided, whom with floping rays
The rifing and defcending fun furveys);
'There on the world's extremeft verge, rever'd
With hecatombs and prayer in pomp preferr'd,
Distant he lay while in the bright abodes
Of high Olympus, Jove conven'd the Gods:
Th' affembly thus the Sire fupreme addrest,
Egyfhus' fate revolving in his breast,
Whom young Oreftes to the dreary coast
Of Pluto fent, a blood-polluted ghost.
VOL. VI.

The blameless hero from his wifh'd-for home 65
A goddess guards in her inchanted dome :
(Atlas her fire, to whofe far-piercing eye
The wonders of the deep expanded lie;
Th' eternal columns which on earth he rears

30

End in the ftarry vault, and prop the spheres.) 70
By his fair daughter is the chief confin'd,

35

Who foothes to dear delight his anxious mind;
Succefslefs all her foft careffes prove,

To banish from his breast his country's love;

To fee the fmoke from his lov'd palace rife, 75
While the dear ifle in diftant profpect lies,
With what contentment would he close his

eyes?

And will Omnipotence neglect to save 40 The fiffering virtue of the wife and brave?

A a

1

Muft he, whose altars on the Phrygian fhore
With frequent rites, and pure, avow'd thy power,
Be doom'd the worst of human ills to prove,
Unblefs'd abandon'd to the wrath of Jove?
Daughter! what words have pafs'd thy lips un-
weigh'd?

85

90

(Reply'd the Thunderer to the martial maid)
Deem not unjustly by my doom opprett
Of human race the wifeft and the best.
Neptune, by prayer repentant rarely won,
Affids the chief, t' avenge his giant-fon,
Whofe vifual orb Ulyffes robb'd of light !
Great Polypheme, of more than mortal might!
Him young Thoöfa borc (the bright inercafe
Of Phorcys, dreaded in the founds and feas:
Whom Neptune ey'd with bloom of beauty bleft,
And in his cave the yielding nymph compreft. 95
For this, the God conftrains the Greek to roam,
A hopeless exile from his native home,
From death alone exempt-but cease to mourn!
Let all combine t' achieve his wifh'd return :
Neptune aton'd, his wrath fhall now refrain,
Or thwart the fynod of the Gods in vain.

100

|

145

150

80, Divining of their loves. Attending nigh
A menial train the flowing bowl fupply:
Others, apart, the fpacious hall prepare,
And from the coftly feaft with bufy care.
There young Telemachus, his bloomy face
Glowing celeftial fweet, with godlike grace
Amid the circle fhines: but hope and fear
(Painful viciflitude!) his bofom tear.
Now, imag'd in his mind, he fees reftor'd
In peace and joy, the people's rightful lord;
The proud oppreffors fly the vengeful sword.
While his foud foul, these fancied triumphs fwell'd;
The stranger guest, the royal youth beheld:,156
Griev'd that a vilitant fo long should wait
Unmark'd, unhonour'd, at a moifarch's gate;
Inftant he flew with hofpitable hafte,
And the new friend with courteous air embrac'd.
Stranger! whoe'er thou art, fecurely rest, 161
Affianc'd in my faith, a friendly guest:
Approach the dome, the focial banquet share,
And then the purpofe of thy foul declare.
Thus affable and mild, the prince precedes, 165
And to the dome th' unknown Celestial leads.
The fpear receiving from her hand he plac'd
Against a column, fair with fculpture grac'd;
Where feemlyʻrang'd, in peaceful order stood
Ulyffes' arms, now long difus'd to blood.
He led the Goddefs to the fovereign feat,
Her feet fupported with a flool of state
(A purple carpet spread the pavement wide);
Then drew his feat, familiar to her fide;
Far from the fuitor-train, a brutal crowd,
With infolence, and wine, elate and loud:
Where the free gueft, unnotic'd, might relate,
If haply confcious, of his father's fate.
The golden ewer a maid obfequious brings,
Replenifh from the cool, tranflucent fprings; 180
With copious water the bright vafe fupplies
A filver laver, of capacious fize:
They wath. The tables in fair order fpread,
They heap the glittering canifters with bread.
Viands of various kinds allure the tafte,
Of choiceft fort and favour, rich repast!
Delicious wines th' attending herald brought;
The gold gave luftre to the purple draught.
Lur'd with the vapour of the fragrant feast,
In rufh'd the fuitors with voracious hafte :
Marshall'd in order due, to each a fewer
Prefents, to bathe his hands, a radiant ewer.
Luxuriant then they feaft. Obfervant round
Gay ftripling youths the brimming goblets
crown'd.

105

Father and king ador'd! Minerva cry'd,
Since all who in th' Olympian bower refide
Now make the wandering Greek their public care,
Let Hermes to th' Atlantic* ifle repair;
Bid him, arriv'd in bright Calypfo's court,
1 he fanction of th' affembled powers report:
That wife Ulyffes to his native land
Muft fpeed, obedient to their high, command.
Mean time Telemachus, the blooming heir
Of fea-girt Ithaca, demands my care:
'Tis mine to form his green unpractis'd years,
In fage debates; furrounded with his peers,
To fave the ftate; and timely to restrain
The bold intrufion of the fuitor-train :
Who crowd his palace, and with lawless power
His herds and flocks in feastful rites devour.
Te diftant Sparta, and the fpacious waste
af fandy Pyle, the royal youth fhall haste.
There, warm with filial love, the cause inqui.e 120
That from his realm retards his god-like fire:
Delivering early to the voice of fame
The promife of a great, immortal name.

115

She faid: the fandals of celestial mould,
Fledg'd with ambrofial plumes, and rich with
gold,
125

Surround her feet; with thefe fublime fhe fails
Th' ætherial space, and mounts the winged gales:
O'er earth and ocean wide prepar'd to loar,
Her dreaded arm a beamy javelin bore, [130
Ponderous and vaft; which, when her fury burns,
Proud tyrants humbles, and whole hofts o'erturns.
From high Olympus prone her flight the bends,
And in the realm of Ithaca defcends.
Her lineaments divine, the grave disguise
Of Mentes' form conceal'd from human eyes 135
(Mentes, the monarch of the Taphian land);
A glittering fpear wav'd awful in her hand.
There in the portal plac'd, the heaven-born maid
Enormous riot and mi-rule furvey'd.
On hides of beeves, before the palace gate,
(Sad Spoils of luxury) the fuitors fate.
With rival art, and ardour in their mein,
At chefs they vie, to captivate the queen;
Ortygia.

*

170

175

18;

190

Mean while, in whispers to his heavenly gueft
His indignation thus the prince expreft:
Indulge my rifing grief, whilst these (my friend)
10 With fong and dance the pompous revel end.
Light is the dance, and doubly fweet the lays, 205
When for the dear delight another pays,
His treafur'd ftores thefe cormorants confume,
Whose bones, defrauded of a regal tonıb