BOOK ELEVENTH.

"UNTO the sea-shore and the ship when downwards we had passed,
We drew her to the sea, and prompt replaced the sails and mast.
Within her next we put the sheep, and then ourselves once more
Went weeping bitterly aboard, bowed down with sorrow sore.
The goddess dread of human speech, the fair-tressed Circe, gave
A wind, that following fast and fresh, a good companion, drave
With bellying sails our dark-prowed ship across the briny wave.
Our tackling we in order set, and then we lay at ease,
And left our course to pilot's hand, and to the fav'ring breeze.
With well-stretched canvas thus we sailed throughout the livelong day,
Till sunset came, and o'er all paths once more night's shadow lay;
And we great Ocean's current deep, Earth's boundary, drew nigh,

Upon whose banks the land and race of the Cimmerians lie.
In densest vapour of the clouds enfolded aye live they,—
Ne'er does the shining sun the land illumine with a ray,

6. A wind, that following, &c.

Prosequitur surgens a puppi ventus euntes.”—VIRG. Æn., iii. 130.

9. And left our course, &c.

Qua cursum ventusque gubernatorque vocabant."—Ibid., iii. 269.

15. Ne'er does the shining sun, &c.

"Tum Sol pallentes haud unquam discutit umbras,

Nec quum invectus equis altum petit æthera, nec quum

Præcipitem Oceani rubro lavit æquore currum.”

-VIRG. Georg., iii. 357.

Nor when he climbs the starry vault of heav'n in radiance bright,
Nor when he back from heav'n to earth returning fades from sight,
But mournful o'er the hapless race lies spread perpetual night.
We beached our bark, took out the sheep, and fared along the shore
Of Ocean, till we gained the spot foretold by Circe's lore.

"Eurylochus and Perimede the victims twain held there;
Then with my sword a trench I dug, in size one cubit square,
And round its edge to all the dead I poured mine offering;-
Mixed honey first, then luscious wine, and third the crystal spring.
Scatt'ring thereon white meal, I next implored each nerveless shade,
With many a prayer, and solemnly to all my promise made
That I, to Ithaca returned, would to the altar's fire
My choicest barren heifer give, and richly load the pyre;
And to Teiresias himself, in honour o'er the rest,

A jet-black sheep would sacrifice, of all my flock the best.
When unto all the tribes of dead my vows I thus had paid,

The victims' throats, held o'er the trench, I severed with my blade.

"Est prope Cimmerios longo spelunca recessu,
Mons cavus, ignavi domus et penetralia Somni;
Quo nunquam radiis oriens mediusve cadensve
Phoebus adire potest. Nebulæ caligine mixtæ

Exhalantur humo, dubiæque crepuscula lucis."—Ov. Met., xi. 502.

"Cimmeriorum etiam obscuras accessit ad arces,

Quis nunquam candente dies apparuit ortu,

Sive supra terras Phoebus, seu curreret infra."-TIBULLUS, iv. 1. 64.

18. But mournful o'er the hapless race, &c.

loca nocte silentia latè.”—VIRG. Æn., vi. 265.

Illic, ut perhibent, aut intempesta silet nox

Semper, et obtentâ densantur nocte tenebræ."--VIRG. Georg., i. 247.

22. Then with my sword, &c.

"Haud procul egestâ scrobibus tellure duabus
Sacra facit, cultrosque in guttura velleris atri
Conjicit, et patulas perfundit sanguine fossas.
Tum super invergens liquidi carchesia Bacchi,
Eneaque invergens tepidi carchesia lactis,

Verba simul fundit, terrenaque numina poscit.”—Ov. Met., vii. 243.

28. My choicest barren heifer, &c.

sterilemque tibi, Proserpina, vaccam."-VIRG. Æn., vi. 251.

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25

30

The black blood flowed, and, thronging round, from Erebus up came
The ghosts who in the world above are lost to life and name,—
Maidens and swains betrothed, men old and bowed with many a care,
And tender virgins with their grief yet fresh at heart, were there;
And phantom hosts of warriors slain, in armour smeared with gore,
Erst with the brazen-headed spear in battle wounded sore.

In countless numbers flitting round, they by the trench appear,
With an unearthly gibbering noise, that blanched my cheek with fear.

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40

Gibber and sign, advance and fly,

While naught confirmed could ear or eye

Discern of sound or mien."-SCOTT, Marmion, c. v. 25.

"Then must he not regard the wailful ghosts,
Who all will flit, like eddying leaves, around;
But he must straight accost their solemn queen,
And pay her homage, and entreat with prayers."

-MATTHEW ARNOLD, Balder Dead.

Then called I to my company the slaughtered sheep to flay,
Burn them, and o'er the burning limbs unto the gods to pray,
Even to mighty Hades' self, and Proserpine the dread,

Whilst I with naked brand stood guard above the blood fresh shed.
Nor of the pale and nerveless shades would I let one draw nigh,
Till of the prophet I had learnt my future destiny.

"First of our comrade newly dead, Elpenor, came the shade,— For not as yet beneath the earth his body had we laid. Unburied and unmourned, the corse we left behind to lie In Circe's halls, for other toil urged us in haste to fly,At sight of whom I wept aloud, and pity filled my breast, And lifting up my voice I spake, and thus his shade addressed: "Elpenor, say, how hast thou reached this nether world of gloom? Swifter than our dark ship thy feet have borne thee here to doom.' "I spake, and, moaning bitterly, replied Elpenor's shade: 'Excess of wine and evil fate have me to doom betrayed. For, drowsed with wine, on Circe's roof I lay, and heeded naught, Nor to descend the ladder-stairs on my return gave thought;

on every side them stood

The trembling ghosts with sad amazèd mood,
Chatt'ring their iron teeth, and staring wide

With stonie eies."-SPENSER, Faerie Queene, Bk. i. 5. 32.

43. Even to mighty Hades' self, &c.

"Tum Stygio regi nocturnas inchoat aras."—VIRG. Æn., vi. 252.

44. Whilst I with naked brand, &c.

Corripit hic subitâ trepidus formidine ferrum

Eneas, strictamque aciem venientibus offert."-Ibid., vi. 290.

47. First of our comrade, &c.

"Ecce gubernator sese Palinurus agebat;
Qui Libyco nuper cursu, dum sidera servat
Exciderat puppi."—Ibid., vi. 337.

"At miser Elpenor tecto delapsus ab alto,

Occurrit regi debilis umbra suo."—Ov. Trist., iii. 4. 19.

51. At sight of whom, &c.

"Hunc ubi vix multâ mostum cognovit in umbra
Sic prior alloquitur: Quis te, Palinure, Deorum,
Eripuit nobis?"-VIRG. En., vi. 340.

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So falling headlong from the roof to earth, my neck I brake;-
My ghost at once its mournful flight to Hades' gloom did take.
But now by those whom thou hast left afar from hence, I pray,—
Thy wife, thy sire who reared thee up in childhood's early day;
And by thy son Telemachus, whom thou behind hast left
Forlorn within thy palace-hall, of father's care bereft―

Since well I know that when thou quitt'st this dark Plutonian shore,
Returning, thou thy well-wrought ship by Circe's isle wilt moor-
I charge thee even then, O prince, to think of me; nor here,
When hence thou partest, let me lie without or tomb or tear,
Lest I the dread Immortals' wrath should bring on thee and thine;
But burn me, I implore thee, with the arms that once were mine.
These rites perform; and on the tomb mine oar do thou raise high,
That, when alive, amid my mates I aye was wont to ply.'

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"He spake; and to our comrade's ghost I thus mine answer made: 'Be sure, unhappy friend, thy wish shall be in all obeyed.'

66

So, sitting by the trench, we twain conversed in doleful mood,—
I on one side, with naked brand stretched forth to guard the blood;
He on the other, telling o'er the story of his woes,-
When there before mine eyes the shade of Anticleia rose;
Daughter of bold Autolycus, mine own loved mother, dead,
Whom I had left alive the day that I to Ilium sped.

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I wept, and pity filled my heart at sight of one so dear;—
Yet even so, for all my woe, I let her not draw near

The victim's blood, till I had held speech with the Theban seer. "At length, a golden staff in hand, Teiresias came nigh.

At once my form he recognised, and thus to me did cry:

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"Sed sine funeribus caput hoc, sine honore sepulcri

Indeploratum barbara terra teget.”—Ov. Trist., iii. 3. 45.