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With sails outspread we fly th' unequal strife,
Sad for their loss, but joyful of our life,
Yet as we fled our fellows rites we paid,
And thrice we call'd on each unhappy shade.
"Meanwhile the god whose hand the thunder
forms,
[storms!
Drives clouds on clouds, and blackens Heaven with
Wide o'er the waste the rage of Boreas sweeps,
And night rush'd headlong on the shaded deeps,
Now here, now there, the giddy ships are bome,
And all the rattling shrouds in fragments torn.
We furl'd the sail, we ply'd the labouring oar,
Took down our masts, and row'd our ships to
shore.

Two tedious days and two long nights we lay,
O'erwatch'd and batter'd in the naked bay.
But the third morning when Aurora brings,
We rear the masts, we spread the canvas wings;
Refresh'd, and careless on the deck reclin'd,
We sit, and trust the pilot and the wind.
Then to my native country had I sail'd':
But the cape doubled, adverse winds prevail'd.
Strong was the tide, which, by the northern blast
Impell'd, our vessels on Cythera cast.

Nine days our fleet th' uncertain tempest bore
Far in wide ocean, and from sight of shore;
The tenth we touch'd, by various errours tost,
The land of Lotos and the flowery coast.
We climb the beach, and springs of water found,
Then spread our hasty banquet on the ground.
Three men were sent deputed from the crew,
(An herald one) the dubious coast to view,
And learn what habitants possess the place.
They went, and found a hospitable race;
Not prone to ill, nor strange to foreign guest,
They eat, they drink, and nature gives the feast;
The trees around them all their fruit produce;
Lotos, the name; divine, nectareous juice!
(Thence call'd Lotophagi) which whoso tastes,
Insatiate riots in the sweet repasts,
Nor other home, nor other care intends,
But quits his house, his country, and his friends:
The three we sent, from off th' enchanting ground
We dragg'd reluctant, and by force we bound:
The rest in haste forsook the pleasing shore,
Or, the charm tasted, had return'd no more.
Now plac'd in order on their banks, they sweep
The sea's smooth face, and cleave the hoary
deep;

With heavy hearts we labour through the tide
To coasts unknown, and oceans yet untry'd.

"The land of Cyclops first; a savage kind,
Nor tam'd by manners, nor by laws confin'd:
Untaught to plant, to turn the glebe and sow;
They all their products to free nature owe.
The soil untill'd a ready harvest yields,
With wheat and barley wave the golden fields,
Spontaneous wines from weighty clusters pour,
And Jove descends in each prolific shower.
By these no statutes and no rights are known,
No council held, no monarch fills the throne,
But high on hills, or airy cliffs they dwell,
Or deep in caves whose entrance leads to Hell.
Each rules his race, his neighbour not his care,
Heedless of others, to his own severe.

"Oppos'd to the Cyclopean coasts, there lay An isle, whose hills their subject fields survey; Its name Lachæa, crown'd with many a grove, Where savage goats through pathless thickets

rove;

No needy mortals here, with hunger bold,
Or wretched himters, through the wintery cold
Pursue their flight: but leave them safe to bound
From hill to hill, o'er all the desert ground.
Nor knows the soil to feed the fleecy care,
Or feels the labours of the crooked share;
But uninhabited, untill'd, unsown
It lies, and breeds the bleating goat alone.
For there no vessel with vermillion prore,
Or bark of traffic glides from shore to shore ;
The rugged race of savages, unskill'd
The seas to traverse, or the ships to build,
Gaze on the coast, nor cultivate the soil;
Unlearn'd in all th' industrious arts of toil.
Yet here all products and all plants abound,
Sprung from the fruitful genius of the ground
Fields waving high with heavy crops are seen,
And vines that flourish in eternal green,
Refreshing meads along the murmuring main,
And fountains streaming down the fruitful plain.
"A port there is, enclos'd on either side,
Where ships may rest, unanchor'd and unty'd s
Till the glad mariners incline to sail,

And the sea whitens with the rising gale.
High at its head, from out the cavern'd rock
In living rills a gushing fountain broke:
Around it, and above, for ever green,
The blushing alders form a shady scene.
Hither some favouring god, beyond our thought,
Through all-surrounding shade our navy brought;
For gloomy night descended on the main,
Nor glimmer'd Phoebe in th' ethereal plain :
But all unseen the clouded island lay,
And all unseen the surge and rolling sea,
Till safe we anchor'd in the shelter'd bay:
Our sails we gather'd, cast our cables o'er,
And slept secure along the sandy shore.
Soon as again the rosy morning shone,
Reveal'd the landscape and the scene unknown,
With wonder seiz'd, we view the pleasing ground,
And walk delighted, and expatiate round.
Rous'd by the woodland nymphs, at early dawn,
The mountain goats came bounding o'er the lawn
In hast our fellows to the ships repair,
For arms and weapons of the sylvan war;
Straight in three squadrons all our crew we part,
And bend the bow, or wing the missile dart;
The bounteous gods afford a copious prey,
And nine fat goats each vessel bears away:
The royal bark had ten. Our ships complete
We thus supply'd (for twelve were all the fleet).

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Here, till the setting Sun roll'd down the light, We sat indulging in the genial rite: Nor wines were wanting; those from ample jars We drain'd, the prize of our Ciconian wars. The land of Cyclops lay in prospect near; The voice of goats and bleating flocks we hear, And from their mountains rising smokes appear, Now sunk the Sun, and darkness cover'd o'er The face of things: along the sea-beat shore Satiate we sleep; but when the sacred dawn Arising glitter'd o'er the dewy lawn,

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I call'd my fellows, and these words addrest: My dear associates, here indulge your rest: While, with my single ship, adventurous 1 Go forth, the manners of yon men to try; Whether a race unjust, of barbarous might, Rude, and unconscious of a stranger's right; Or such who harbour pity in their breast, Revere the gods, and succour the distrest?'

"This said, I climb'd my vessel's lofty side; My train obey'd me, and the ship unty'd. In order seated on their banks, they sweep Neptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding When to the nearest verge of land we drew, [deep. Fast by the sea a lonely cave we view,

High, and with darkening laurels cover'd o'er ; Where sheep and goats lay slumbering round the shore.

Near this, a fence of marble from the rock,
Brown with o'er-arching pine and spreading oak,
A giant shepherd here his flock maintains
Far from the rest, and solitary reigns,
In shelter thick of horrid shade reclin'd;
And gloomy mischiefs labour in his mind.
A form enormous! far unlike the race
Of human birth, in stature, or in face;

As some lone mountain's monstrous growth he stood,

Crown'd with rough thickets, and a nodding wood.
I left my vessel at the point of land,
And close to guard it, gave our crew command:
With only twelve, the boldest and the best,
I seek th' adventure, and forsake the rest.
Then took a goatskin fill'd with precious wine,
The gift of Maron of Evantheus' line
(The priest of Phoebus at th' Ismarian shrine).
In sacred shade his honour'd mansion stood
Amidst Apollo's consecrated wood;
Him, and his house, Heaven mov'd my mind to
And costly presents in return he gave;
Seven golden talents to perfection wrought,
A silver bowl that held a copious draught,
And twelve large vessels of unmingled wine,
Mellifluous, undecaying, and divine!
Which now, some ages from his race conceal'd,
The hoary sire in gratitude reveal'd;

[save,

Such was the wine: to quench whose fervent steam
Scarce twenty measures from the living stream
To cool one cup suffic'd: the goblet crown'd
Breath'd aromatic fragrancies around.
Of this an ample vase we heav'd aboard,
And brought another with provisions stor❜d.
My soul foreboded I should find the bower

Of some fell monster, fierce with barbarous power,
Some rustic wretch, who liv'd in Heaven's

despight,

Contemning laws, and trampling on the right.
The cave we found, but vacant all within
(His flock the giant tended on the green):
But round the grot we gaze; and all the view,
In order rang'd, our admiration drew :
The bending shelves with loads of cheeses prest,
The folded flocks each separate from the rest
(The larger here, and there the lesser lambs,
The new-fall'n young here bleating for their dams;
The kid distinguish'd from the lambkin lies):
The cavern echoes with responsive cries.
Capacious chargers all around were laid,
Full pails, and vessels of the milking trade.
With fresh provisions hence our fleet to store
My friends advise me, and to quit the shore;
Or drive a flock of sheep and goats away,
Consult our safety, and put off to sea.
Their wholesome counsel rashly I declin'd,
Curious to view the man of monstrous kind,
And try what social rites a savage lends :
Dire rites, alas! and fatal to my friends!
"Then first a fire we kindle, and prepare
For his return with sacrifice and prayer.

The loaded shelves afford us full repast;
We sit expecting. Lo! he comes at last.
Near half a forest on his back he bore,
And cast the ponderous burden at the door.
It thunder'd as it fell. We trembled then,
And sought the deep recesses of the den.
Now driven before him, through the arching rock,
Came tumbling, heaps on heaps, th' unnumber'd
flock:

Big-udder'd ewes, and goats of female kind
(The males were penn'd in outward courts behind):
Then, heav'd on high, a rock's enormous weight
To the cave's mouth he roll'd and clos'd the gate
(Scarce twenty-four wheel'd cars, compact and

strong,

The massy load could bear, or roll along).
He next betakes him to his evening cares,
And, sitting down, to milk his flocks prepares;
Of half their udders eases first the dams,
Then to the mother's teats submits the lambs.
Half the white stream to hardening cheese he
prest,

And high in wicker-baskets heap'd: the rest,
Reserv'd in bowls, supply'd the nightly feast.
His labour done, he fir'd the pile, that gave
A sudden blaze, and lighted all the cave.
We stand discover'd by the rising fires;
Askance the giant glares, and thus inquires:

"What are ye, guests; on what adventure, say, Thus far ye wander through the watery way? Pirates perhaps, who seek through seas unknown The lives of others, and expose your own?'

"His voice like thunder through the cavern

sounds;

My bold companions thrilling fear confounds,
Appall'd at sight of more than mortal man!
At length, with heart recover'd, I began:
"From Troy's fam'd fields, sad wanderers o'er
the main,

Behold the relics of the Grecian train!
Through various seas by various perils tost,
And forc'd by storms, unwilling, on your coast;
Far from our destin'd course and native land,
Such was our fate, and such high Jove's com-
mand;

Nor what we are befits us to disclaim,
Atrides' friends, (in arms a mighty name)
Who taught proud Troy and all her sons to bow;
Victors of late, but humble suppliants now!
Low at thy knee thy succour we implore;
Respect us, human, and relieve us, poor.
At least some hospitable gift bestow;
'Tis what the happy to th' unhappy owe:
'Tis what the gods require: those gods revere,
The poor and stranger are their constant care;
To Jove their cause, and their revenge belongs,
He wanders with them, and he feels their

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wrongs.'

"Fools that ye are!' (the savage thus replies, His inward fury blazing at his eyes)

Or strangers, distant far from our abodes,

To bid me reverence or regard the gods.

Know then, we Cyclops are a race above

Those air-bred people, and their goat-nurs'd Jove And learn, our power proceeds with thee and thine, Not as he wills, but as ourselves incline. But answer, the good ship that brought ye o'er, Where lies she anchor'd? near or off the shore?" "Thus he. His meditated fraud I find (Vers'd in the turns of various human kind);

And, cautious, thus: Against a dreadful rock,
Fast by your shore the gallant vessel broke,
Scarce with these few I scap'd; of all my train,
Whom angry Neptune whelm'd beneath the main;
The scatter'd wreck the winds blew back again."
"He answer'd with his deed. His bloody hand
Snatch'd two, unhappy! of my martial band;
And dash'd like dogs against the stoney floor:
The pavement swims with brains and mingled gore.
Torn limb from limb, he spreads his horrid feast,
And fierce devours it like a mountain-beast:
He sucks the marrow, and the blood he drains,
Nor entrails, flesh, nor solid bone remains.
We see the death from which we cannot move,
And humbled groan beneath the hand of Jove.
His ample maw with human carnage fill'd,
A milky deluge next the giant swill'd;
Then stretch'd in length o'er half the cavern'd rock,
Lay senseless, and supine, amidst the flock.
To seize the time, and with a sudden wound
To fix the slumbering monster to the ground,
My soul impels me; and in act I stand
To draw the sword; but wisdom held my hand.
A deed so rash had finish'd all our fate,
No mortal forces from the lofty gate
Could roll the rock.

In hopeless grief we lay,
And sigh, expecting the return of day.
Now did the rosy-finger'd morn arise,
And shed her sacred light along the skies.

He wakes, he lights the fire, he milks the dams,
And to the mother's teats submits the lambs.
The task thus finish'd of his morning hours,
Two more he snatches, murders, and devours.
Then pleas'd, and whistling, drives his flock before:
Removes the rocky mountain from the door,
And shuts again: with equal ease dispos'd,
As a light quiver's lid is op'd and clos'd.
His giant voice the echoing region fills:
His flocks, obedient, spread o'er all the hills.
"Thus left behind, ev'n in the last despair
I thought, devis'd, and Pallas heard my prayer.
Revenge, and doubt, and caution work'd my breast;
But this of many counsels seem'd the best :
The monster's club within the cave I 'spy'd.
A tree of stateliest growth, and yet undry'd,
Green from the wood; of height and bulk so vast,
The largest ship might claim it for a mast.
This shorten'd of its top, I gave my train
A fathom's length, to shape it and to plane;
The narrower end I sharpen'd to a spire;
Whose point we harden'd with the force of fire,
And hid it in the dust that strew'd the cave.
Then to my few companions, bold and brave,
Propos'd, who first the venturous deed should try,
In the broad orbit of his monstrous eye
To plunge the brand, and twirl the pointed wood,
When slumber next should tame the man of blood.
Just as I wish'd, the lots were cast on four:
Myself the fifth. We stand, and wait the hour.
He comes with evening: all his fleecy flock
Before him march, and pour into the rock:
Not one, or male or female stay'd behind
(So fortune chane'd, or so some god design'd);
Then heaving high the stone's unwieldy weight,
He roll'd it on the cave, and clos'd the gate.
First down he sits, to milk the woolly dams,
And theu permits their udder to the lambs.
Next sciz'd two wretches more, and headlong cast,
Brain' on the rock: his second dire repast.
I then approach'd him reeking with their gore,

And held the brimming goblet foaming o'er;
'Cyclop! since human flesh has been thy feast,
Now drain this goblet, potent to digest;
Know hence what treasures in our ship we lost,
And what rich liquors other climates boast.
We to thy shore the precious freight shall bear,
If home thou send us, and vouchsafe to spare,
But oh! thus furious, thirsting thus for gore,
The sons of men shall ne'er approach thy shore,
And never shalt thou taste this nectar more.'
"He heard, he took, and, pouring down his throat
Delighted, swill'd the large luxurious draught.
More! give me more,' he cry'd: the boon be
thine,

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Whoe'er thou art that bear'st celestial wine!
Declare thy name: not mortal is this juice,
Such as th' unblest Cyclopean climes produce
(Though sure our vine the largest cluster yields,
And Jove's scorn'd thunder serves to drench our
But this descended from the blest abodes, [fields);
A rill of nectar, streaming from the gods.'

"He said, and greedy grasp'd the heady bowl,
Thrice drain'd, and pour'd the deluge on his soul.
His sense lay cover'd with the dozy fume;

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While thus my fraudful speech I re-assume:
Thy promis'd boon, O Cyclop! now I claim,
And plead my title: Noman is my name.
By that distinguish'd from my tender years,
'Tis what my parents call me, and my peers.'

"The giant then: Our protnis'd grace receive,
The hospitable boon we mean to give :
When all thy wretched crew have felt my power,
Noman shall be the last I will devour.'

"He said: then nodding with the fumes of wine,
Dropp'd his huge head, and snoring lay supine.
His neck obliquely o'er his shoulders hung,
Press'd with the weight of sleep that tames the
strong!

There belch'd the mingled sreams of wine and blood,
And human flesh, his indigested food.
Sudden I stir the embers, and inspire
With animating breath the seeds of fire;
Each drooping spirit with bold words repair,
And urge my train the dreadful deed to dare.
The stake now glow'd beneath the burning bed
(Green as it was) and sparkled fiery red.
Then forth the vengeful instrument I bring:
With beating hearts my fellows form a ring.
Urg'd by some present god, they swift let fall
The pointed torment on his visual ball.
Myself above them from a rising ground
Guide the sharp stake, and twirl it round and round.
As when a shipwright stands his workmen o'er,
Who ply the wimble, some huge beam to bore;
Urg'd on all hands, it nimbly spins about,
The grain deep-piercing till it scoops it out:
In his broad eye so whirls the fiery wood;
From the pierc'd pupil spouts the boiling blood;
Sing'd are his brows; the scorching lids grow black;
The jelly bubbles, and the fibres crack.
And as when armourers temper in the ford
The keen-edg'd pole-ax, or the shining sword,
The red-hot metal hisses in the lake,
Thus in his eye-ball hiss'd the plunging stake.
He sends a dreadful groan: the rocks around
Through all their inmost winding caves resound.
Scar'd we receded. Forth, with frantic hand,
He tore, and dasi'd on carth the gory brand:
Then calls the Cyclops, all that round him dwell,
With voice like thunder, and a direful yell

From all their dens the one-ey'd race repair,
From rifted rocks and mountains bleak in air.
All haste assembled, at his well-known roar,
Inquire the cause, and crowd the cavern-door.

What hurts thee, Polypheme? what strange
affright

Thus breaks our slumbers, and disturbs the night?
Does any mortal in th' unguarded hour

Of sleep oppress thee, or by fraud or power?
Or thieves insidious the fair flock surprise?'
Thus they: the Cyclop from his den replies:
"Friends, Noman kills me; Noman in the hour
Of sleep, oppresses me with fraudful power.'
If no man hurt thee, but the haud divine
Inflict disease, it fits thee to resign:
To Jove or to thy father Neptune pray,
The brethren cry'd, and instant strode away.

"Joy touch'd my secret soul and conscious

heart,

Pleas'd with th' effect of conduct and of art.
Meantime the Cyclop, raging with his wound,
Spreads his wide arms, and searches round and
round:

At last, the stone removing from the gate,
With hands extended in the midst he sate:
And search'd each passing sheep, and felt it o'er,
Secure to seize us ere we reach'd the door
(Such as his shallow wit he decm'd was mine):
But secret I revolv'd the deep design;
'Twas for our lives my labouring bosom wrought;
Each scheme I turn'd, and sharpen'd every thought;
This way and that I cast to save my friends,
Till one resolve my varying counsel ends.

"Strong were the rams, with native purple fair,
Well fed, and largest of the fleecy care.
These three and three, with osier bands we ty'd
(The twining bands the Cyclop's bed supply'd)
The midmost bore a man: the outward two
Secur'd each side: so bound we all the crew.
One ram remain'd, the leader of the flock;
In his deep fleece my grasping hands I lock,
And fast beneath, in woolly curls invove,
I cling implicit, and confide in Jove.
When rosy morning glimmer'd o'er the dales,
He drove to pasture all the lusty males:
The ewes still folded, with distended thighs
Unmilk'd, lay bleating in distressful cries.
But heedless of those cares, with anguish stung,
He felt their fleeces as they pass'd along,
(Fool that he was) and let them safely go,
All unsuspecting of their freight below.

"The master ram at last approach'd the gate, Charg'd with his wool, and with Ulysses' fate. Him while he past the monster blind bespoke: 'What makes my ram the lag of all the flock? First thou wert wont to crop the flowery mead, First to the field and river's bank to lead, And first with stately step at evening hour Thy fleecy fellows usher to their bower. Now far the last, with pensive pace and slow Thou mov'st, as conscious of thy master's woe! Seest thou these lids that now unfold in vain? (The deed of Noman and his wicked train !) Oh didst thou feel for thy afflicted lord, And would but fate the power of speech afford, Soon might'st thou tell me, where in secret here The dastard lurks, all trembling with his fear: Swung round and round, and dash'd from rock to rock,

His batter'd brains should on the pavement smoke,

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No ease, no pleasure, my sad heart received,
While such a monster as vile Noman lives."

"The giant spoke, and through the hollow rock

Dismiss'd the ram, the father of the flock.
No sooner freed, and through th' enclosure past,
First I release myself, my fellows last :
Fat sheep and goats in throngs we drive before,
And reach our vessel on the winding shore.
With joy the sailors view their friends return'd,
And hail us living whom as dead they mourn'd.
Big tears of transport stand in every eye:
I check their fondness, and command to fly.
Aboard in haste they heave the wealthy sheep,
And snatch their oars, and rush into the deep.
"Now off at sca, and from the shallows clear,
As far as human voice could reach the car:
With taunts the distant giant I accost:

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Hear me, O Cyclop hear, ungracious host!
'Twas on no coward, no ignoble slave,
Thou meditat'st thy meal in yonder cave;
But one, the vengeance fated from above
Doom'd to inflict: the instrument of Jove.
Thy barbarous breach of hospitable bands,
The god, the god revenges by my hands.'

"The words the Cyclop's burning rage provokes
From the tall hill he rends a pointed rock,
High o'er the billows flew the massy load,
And near the ship came thundering on the flood.
It almost brush'd the helm, and fell before:
The whole sea shook, and refluent beat the

shore.

The long concussion on the heaving tide" Roll'd back the vessel to the island's side: Again I shov'd her off, our fate to fly, Each nerve we stretch, and every oar we ply. Just 'scap'd impending death, when now again We twice as far had furrow'd back the main, Once more I rais'd my voice; my friends afraid With mild entreaties my design dissuade, 'What boots the godless giant to provoke, Whose arms may sink us at a single stroke? Already, when the dreadful rock he threw, Old Ocean shook, and back his surges flew, Thy sounding voice directs his aim again; The rock o'erwhelms us, and we 'scap'd in vain." "But I, of mind clate, and scorning fear, Thus with new taunts insult the monster's ear. 'Cyclop! if any, pitying thy disgrace, Ask who disfigur'd thus that eyeless face? Say 'twas Ulysses, 'twas his deed, declare, Lacrtes' son, of Ithaca the fair; Ulysses, far in fighting fields renown'd, Before whose arm Troy tumbled to the ground,” "Th' astonish'd savage with a roar replies: 'O Heavens! O faith of ancient prophecies! This, Telemus Eurymedes foretold, (The mighty seer who on these hills grew old; Skill'd the dark fates of mortals to declare, And learn'd in all wing'd omens of the air) Long since he menac'd, such was fate's command And nam'd Ulysses as the destin'd hand. I deem'd some godlike giant to behold, Or lofty hero, haughty, brave, and bold; Not this weak pigmy-wretch, of mean design, Who not by strength subdued me, but by wine. But come, accept our gifts, and join to pray Great Neptune's blessing on the watery way: For his I am, and I the lineage own: Th' immortal father no less boasts the son.

His power can heal me, and re-light my eye:
And only his, of all the gods on high."

"Oh! could this arm' (I thus aloud rejoin'd) 'From that vast bulk dislodge thy bloody mind, And send thee howling to the realms of night! As sure, as Neptune cannot give thee sight.'

"Thus I while raging he repeats his cries, With hands uplifted to the starry skies: 'Hear me, O Neptune! thou whose arms are hurl'd From shore to shore, and gird the solid-world. If thine I am, nor thou my birth disown, And if th' unhappy Cyclop be thy son; Let not Ulysses breathe his native air, Laertes' son, of Ithaca the fair.

If to review his country be his fate,

Be it through toils and sufferings long and late;
His lost companions let him first deplore;
Some vessel, not his own, transport him o'er;
And when at home from foreign sufferings freed,
More near and deep, domestic woes succeed!'

"With imprecations thus he fill'd the air,
And angry Neptune heard th' unrighteous prayer.
A larger rock then heaving from the plain,
He whirl'd it round: it sung across the main:
It fell, and brush'd the stern: the billows roar,
Shake at the weight, and refluent beat the shore.
With all our force we kept aloof to sea,
And gain'd the island where our vessels lay.
Our sight the whole collected navy cheer'd,
Who, waiting long, by turns had hop'd and fear'd.
There disembarking on the green sea-side,
We land our cattle, and the spoil divide:
Of these due shares to every sailor fall;
The master ram was voted mine by all:
And him (the guardian of Ulysses' fate)
With pious mind to Heaven I consecrate.
But the great god, whose thunder rends the skies,
Averse, beholds the smoking sacrifice;
And sees me wandering still from coast to coast,
And all my vessels, all my people, lost!
While thoughtless we indulge the genial rite,
As plenteous cates and flowing bowls invite;
Till evening Phoebus roll'd away the light:
Stretch'd on the shore in careless ease we rest,
Till ruddy morning purpled o'er the east;
Then from their anchors all our ships unbind,
And mount the decks, and call the willing wind.
Now, rang'd in order on our banks, we sweep
With hasty strokes the hoarse resounding deep;
Blind to the future, pensive with our fears,
Glad for the living, for the dead in tears.”

THE ODYSSEY.

BOOK I.

ARGUMENT.

ADVENTURES WITH AOLUS, THE LESTRIGONS, AND CIRCE.

FLYSSES arrives at the island of Æolus, who gives him prosperous winds, and encloses the adverse ones in a bag, which his companions untying they are driven back again, and rejected. Then they sail to the Lestrigons, where they lose eleven ships, and, with one only remaining, VOL XIX.

proceed to the island of Circe. Eurylochus is sent first...with some companions, all which except Eurylochus, are transformed into swine. Ulysses then undertakes the adventure, and, by the help of Mercury, who gives him the herb moly, overcomes the enchantress, and procures the restoration of his men. After a year's stay with her, he prepares at her instigation for his voyage to the infernal shades.

"AT
Ar length we reach'd Æolia's sea-girt shore
Where great Hippotades the sceptre bore,
A floating isle! High rais'd by toil divine,
Strong walls of brass the rocky coast confine.
Six blooming youths, in private grandeur bred,
And six fair daughters grac'd the royal bed:
These sons their sisters wed, and all remain
Their parents' pride, and pleasure of their reign.
All day they feast, all day the bowls flow round,
And joy and music through the isle resound:
At night each pair on splendid carpets lay,
And crown'd with love the pleasures of the day.
This happy port affords our wandering fleet
A month's reception, and a safe retreat.
Full oft the monarch urg'd me to relate
The fall of Ilion, and the Grecian fate;
Full oft I told: at length for parting mov'd;
The king with mighty gifts my suit approv❜d.
The adverse winds in leathern bags he brac'd,
Compress'd their force, and lock'd each struggling
blast:

For him the mighty sire of gods assign'd
The tempest's lord, the tyrant of the wind;
His word alone the listening storms obey,
To smooth the deep, or swell the foamy sea.
These in my hollow ship the monarch hung,
Securely fetter'd by a silver thong;
But Zephyrus exempt, with friendly gales
He charg'd to fill, and guide the swelling sails:
Rare gift! but oh, what gift to fools avails!
"Nine prosperous days we ply'd the labouring

oar;

The tenth presents our welcome native shore:
The hills display the beacon's friendly light,
And rising mountains gain upon our sight.
Then first my eyes, by watchful toils opprest,
Comply'd to take the balmy gifts of rest;
Then first my hands did from the rudder part
(So much the love of home possess'd my heart);
When, lo! on board a fond debate arose ;
What rare device those vessels might enclose?
What sum, what prize from Æolus I brought?
Whilst to his neighbour each express'd his thought::

664

Say, whence, ye gods, contending nations strive Who most shall please, who most our hero give? Long have his coffers groan'd with Trojan spoils; Whilst we, the wretched partners of his toils, Reproach'd by want, our fruitless labours mourn And only rich in barren fame return. Now Eolus, ye see, augments his store : But come, my friends, these mystic gifts explore.' They said: and (oh curst fate) the thongs unbound: The gushing tempest sweeps the ocean round; Snatch'd in the whirl, the hurry'd navy flew, The ocean widen'd, and the shores withdrew. Rous'd from my fatal sleep, I long debate If still to live, or desperate plunge to fate: Thus, doubting, prostrate on the deck 1 lay, Till all the coward thoughts of death gave way. P

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