Was new disclos'd to birth; the banquet ends, When Euryclea from the queen descends,

And to his fond embrace the babe commends. [son;
Receive," she cries, your royal daughter's
And name the blessings that your prayers have
won."

Then thus the hoary chief: "My victor arms
Have aw'd the realms around with dire alarms;
A sure memorial of my dreaded fame
The boy shall bear; Ulysses be his name!
And when with filial love the youth shall come
To view his mother's soil, my Delphic dome
With gifts of price shall send him joyous home."
Lur'd with the promis'd boon, when youthful prime
Ended in man, his mother's natal clime
Ulysses sought; with fond affection dear
Amphithea's arms receiv'd the royal heir.
Her ancient lord an equal joy possest;
Instant he bade prepare the genial feast:
A steer to form the sumptuous banquet bled,
Whose stately growth five flowery summers fed :
His sons divide, and roast with artful care
The limbs; then all the tasteful viands share.
Nor ceas'd discourse (the banquet of the soul)
Till Phoebus, wheeling to the western goal,
Resign'd the skies, and night involv'd the pole.
Their drooping eyes the slumberous shade op-
Sated they rose, and all retir'd to rest. [press'd,

Soon as the Morn, new rob'd in purple light,
Pierc'd with her golden shafts the rear of night;
Ulysses and his brave maternal race,
The young Autolyci, assay the chase.
Parnassus, thick perplex'd with horrid shades,
With deepmouth'd hounds the hunter troop in-
vades:

What time the Sun, from ocean's peaceful stream,
Darts o'er the lawn his horizontal beam.
The pack impatient snuff the tainted gale;
The thorny wiles the woodmen fierce assail:
And, foremost of the train, his cornel spear
Ulysses wav'd, to rouse the savage war.
Deep in the rough recesses of the wood,
A lofty copse, the growth of ages, stood:
Nor winter's boreal blast, nor thunderous shower,
Nor solar ray, could pierce the shady bower,
With wither'd foliage strew'd, a heapy store!
The warm pavilion of a dreadful boar.
Rous'd by the hounds' and hunters' mingling cries,
The savage from his leafy shelter flies:
With fiery glare his sanguine eyeballs shine,
And bristles high impale his horrid chine.
Young Ithacus advanc'd, defies the foe,
Poising his lifted lance in act to throw;
The savage renders vain the wound decreed,
And springs impetuous with opponent speed:
His tusks oblique he aim'd, the knee to gore;
Aslope they glanc'd, the sinewy fibres tore,
And bar'd the bone: Ulysses undismay'd,
Soon with redoubled force the wound repay'd;
To the right shoulder joint the spear apply'd;
His further flank the streaming purple dy'd :
On earth he rush'd with agonizing pain;
With joy, and vast surprise, th' applauding train
View'd his enormous bulk extended on the plain.
With bandage firm Ulysses' knee they bound g
Then, chanting mystic lays, the closing wound
Of sacred melody confess'd the force;
The tides of life regain their azure course.

! Autolycus.

Then back they led the youth with loud acclaim;
Autolycus, enamour'd with his fame,
Confirm'd the cure; and from the Delphic dome
With added gifts return'd him glorious home.
He safe at Ithaca with joy receiv'd,
Relates the chase, and early praise achiev'd.

Deep o'er his knee, inseam'd, remain'd the scar:
Which noted token of the woodland war
When Euryclea found, th' ablution ceas'd;
Down dropp'd the leg, from her slack hand re-
The mingled fluids from the vase redound; [leas'd;
The vase reclining floats the floor around!
Smiles dew'd with tears the pleasing strife express'd
| Of grief and joy, alternate in her breast.
Her fluttering words in melting murmurs died;
At length, abrupt-" My son! my king!"-she
cried.

His neck with fond embrace infolding fast,
Full on the queen her raptur'd eye she cast,
Ardent to speak the monarch safe restored:
But studious to conceal her royal lord,
Minerva fix'd her mind on views remote,
And from the present bliss abstracts her thought.
His hand to Euryclea's mouth applied,

"Art thou foredoom'd my pest?" the hero cried:
Thy milky founts my infant lips have drain'd:
And have the fates thy babbling age ordain'd
To violate the life thy youth sustain'd?
An exile have I told, with weeping eyes,
Full twenty annual suns in distant skies:
At length return'd, some god inspires thy breast
To know thy king, and here I stand confess'd.
This heaven-discover'd truth to thee consign'd,
Reserve the treasure of thy inmost mind:
Else, if the gods my vengeful arın sustain,
And prostrate to my sword the suitor train:
With their lewd mates, thy undistinguish'd age
Shall bleed a victim to vindictive rage."

Then thus rejoin'd the dame, devoid of fear: "What words, my son, have pass'd thy lips

46

He said: obsequious, with redoubled pace, She to the fount conveys th' exhausted vase: The bath renew'd, she ends the pleasing toil With plenteous unction of ambrosial oil. Adjusting to his limbs the tatter'd vest, His former seat receiv'd the stranger guest; Whom thus, with pensive air, the queen address'd: Though night, dissolving grief in grateful case, Your drooping eyes with soft oppression seize: Awhile, reluctant to her pleasing force, Suspend the restful hour with sweet discourse. The day (ne'er brighten'd with a beam of joy!) My menials and domestic cares, employ: And unattended by sincere repose, The night assists my ever wakeful woes: When Nature's hush'd beneath her brooding shade, My echoing griefs the starry vault invade. As, when the months are clad in flowery green, Sad Philomel in bowery shades unseen,

A sad variety of woes I mourn!

[boy.

My mind, reflective, in a thorny maze
Devious from care to care incessant strays.
Now, wavering doubt succeeds to long despair!
Shall I my virgin nuptial vow revere;
And, joining to my son's my menial train,
Partake his councils, and assist his reign!
Or, since, mature in manhood, he deplores
His dome dishonour'd, and exhausted stores;
Shall I, reluctant, to his will accord;
And from the peers select the noblest lord?
So by ny choice avow'd, at length decide
These wasteful love-debates, a mourning bride!
A visionary thought I'll now relate ;
Illustrate, if you know, the shadow'd fate:

"A team of twenty gease (a snow-white train!)
Fed near the limpid lake with golden grain,
Amuse my pensive hours. The bird of Jove
Fierce from his mountain cynie downward drove :
Each favourite fowl he poune'd with deathful sway,
And back triumphant wing'd his airy way.
My pitying eyes effus'd a plenteous stream,
To view their death thus imag'd in a dream:
With tender sympathy to soothe my soul,
A troop of matrons, fancy-form'd, condole.
But whilst with grief and rage my bosom burn'd,
Sudden the tyrant of the skies return'd:
Perch'd on the battlements, he thus began:
(In form an eagle, but in voice a man.)
O queen! no vulgar vision of the sky
I come, prophetic of approaching joy!
View in this plumy form thy victor lord;
The geese (a glutton race) by thee deplor'd,
Portend the suitors fated to my sword.'
This said, the pleasing feather'd omen ceas'd.
When, from the downy bands of sleep releas'd,
Fast by the limpid lake my swanlike train
I found, insatiate of the golden grain."

"The vision self-explain'd" (the chief replies) "Sincere reveals the sanction of the skies: Ulysses speaks his own return decreed;

And by his sword the suitors sure to bleed."

"Hard is the task, and rare," the queen re'Impending destinies in dreams to find: [join'd, Immur'd within the silent bower of sleep,

Two portals firm the various phantoms keep:
Of ivory one; whence flit, to mock the brain,
Of winged lies a light fantastic train :
The gates oppos'd pellucid valves adorn,
And columns fair incas'd with polish'd horn:
Where images of truth for passage wait,
With visions manifest of future fate.
Not to this troop, I fear, that phantom soar'd,
Which spoke Ulysses to his realm restor’'d:
Delusive semblance !-but my remnant life
Heaven shall determine in a gameful strife:
With that fam'd bow Ulysses taught to bend,
For the the rival archers shall contend.
As on the listed field he us'd to place
Six beams, oppos'd to fix in equal space:
Elane'd afar by his unerring art,

Sure through six circlets fiew the whizzing dart.
So, when the Sun restores the purple day,
Their strength and skill the suitors shall assay:

powers

To him the spousal honour is decreed,
Who through the rings directs the feather'd reed.
Torn from these walls (where long the kinder
[hours!)
With pomp and joy have wing'd my youthful
On this poor breast no dawn of bliss shall beam;
The pleasure past supplies a copious theme
For many a dreary thought, and many a doleful
dream."

Propose the sportive lot" (the chief replies)
"Nor dread to name yourself the bowyer's prize:
Ulysses will surprise th' unfinish'd game
Avow'd, and falsify the suitors' claim."

To whom, with grace serene, the queen rejoin'd: "In all thy speech, what pleasing force I find! O'er my suspended woe thy words prevail,

I part reluctant from the pleasing tale.

But Heaven, that knows what all terrestrials need,
Repose to night, and toil to day decreed:
Grateful vicissitude! yet me withdrawn,
Wakeful to weep and watch the tardy dawn
Establish'd use enjoins; to rest and joy
Estrang'd, since dear Ulysses sail'd to Troy !
Meantime instructed is the menial tribe
Your couch to fashion as yourself prescribe."

Thus affable, her bower the queen ascends;
The sovereign step a beauteous train attends;
There imag'd to her soul Ulysses rose;
Down her pale cheek new streaming sorrow flows♣
Till soft oblivious shade Minerva spread,
And o'er her eyes ambrosial slumber shed.

THE ODYSSEY.

BOOK XX.

ARGUMENT.

WHILE Ulysses lies in the vestibule of the palace, he is witness to the disorders of the women. Minerva comforts him, and casts him asleep. At his waking he desires a favourable sign from Jupiter, which is granted. The feast of Apollo is celebrated by the people, and the suitors banquet in the palace. Telemachus exerts his authority amongst them, notwithstanding which, Ulysses is insulted by Ctesippus, and the rest continue in their excesses. Strange prodigies are seen by Theoclymenus the augur, who explains them to the destruction of the wooers.

An ample hide divine Ulysses spread,
And form'd of fleecy skius his humble bed
(The remnants of the spoil the suitor crowd
In festival devour'd, and victims vow'd).
Then o'er the chief, Eurynomè the chaste,
With duteous care, a downy carpet cast:
With dire revenge his thoughtful bosom glows,
And, ruminating wrath, he scorns repose.

As thus pavilion'd in the porch he lay
Scenes of lewd loves his wakeful eyes survey;
Whilst to nocturnal joys impure repair,
With wanton glee, the prostituted fair.
His heart with rage this new dishonour stung,
Wavering his thought in dubious balance hung!

Or, instant should he quench the guilty flame
With their own blood, and intercept the shame;
Or to their lust indulge a last embrace,
And let the peers consummate the disgrace;
Round his swoln heart the murmurous fury rolls;
As o'er her young the mother mastiff growls,
And bays the stranger groom: so wrath compress'd,
Recoiling, mutter'd thunder in his breast.

46

Poor suffering heart!" he cried, "support the pain Of wounded honour, and thy rage restrain. Not fiercer woes tl:y fortitude could foil, When the brave partners of thy ten years' toil Dire Polypheme devour'd: I then was freed, By patient prudence from the death decreed."

Thus anchor'd safe on reason's peaceful coast Tempests of wrath his soul no longer toss'd; Restless his body roll'd, to rage resign'd:

As one who long with pale-ey'd famine pin'd,
The savory cates on glowing embers cast
Incessant turns, impatient for repast;
Ulysses so, from side to side devolv'd,
In self-debate the suitors' doom resolv'd.
When, in the form of mortal nymph array'd,
From Heaven descends the Jove-born martial maid;
And hovering o'er his head in view confess'd,
The goddess thus her favourite care address'd:
"O thou, of mortals most inur'd to woes!
Why roll those eyes unfriended of repose?
Beneath thy palace-roof forget thy care;
Bless'd in thy queen! bless'd in thy blooming heir!
Whom, to the gods when suppliant fathers bow,
They name the standard of their dearest vow."
"Just is thy kind reproach," (the chief rejoin'd);
"Deeds full of fate distract my various mind
In contemplation wrapp'd. This hostile crew
What single arm hath prowess to subdue?
Or if, by Jove's and thy auxiliar aid,
They're doom'd to bleed; Oh! say celestial maid:
Where shall Ulysses shun, or how sustain,
Nations embattled to revenge the slain ?"

"Oh, impotence of faith!" Minerva cries, "If man on frail unknowing man relies, Doubt you the gods? Lo Pallas' self descends, Inspires thy counsels, and thy toils attends. In me affianc'd, fortify thy breast,

Though myriads leagued thy rightful claim con

test:

My sure divinity shall bear the shield,

And edge thy sword to reap the glorious field.
Now pay the debt to craving nature due,
Her faded powers with balmy rest renew,"
She ceas'd. Ambrosial slumbers seal his eyes;
His care dissolves in visionary joys:
The goddess, pleas'd, regains her natal skies.
Not so the queen: the downy bands of sleep
By grief relax'd, she wak'd again to weep:
A gloomy pause ensued of dumb despair:
Then thus her fate invok'd, with fervent prayer:
"Diana! speed thy deathful ebon dart,
And cure the pangs of this convulsive heart.
Snatch me, ye whirlwinds! far from human race,
Toss'd through the void illimitable space:
Or, if dismounted from the rapid cloud,
Me with his whelming wave let Ocean shroud!
So, Pandarus, thy hopes, three orphan fair,
Were doom'd to wander through the devious air;
Thyself untimely and thy consort dy'd,
But four celestials both your cares supply'd.
Venus in tender delicacy rears

With honey, milk, and wine, their infant years:

Imperial Juno to their youth assign'd
A form majestic, and sagacious mind:
With shapely growth Diana grac'd the bloom;
And Pallas taught the texture of the loom.
But whilst, to learn their lots in nuptial love,
Bright Cytherea sought the bower of Jove
(The god supreme, to whose eternal eye
The registers of fate expanded lie ;)
Wing'd harpies snatch'd th' unguarded charge
And to the Furies bore a greatful prey. [away,
Be such my lot! Or thou, Diana, speed
Thy shaft, and send me joyful to the dead;
To seek my lord among the warrior train,
Ere second vows my bridal faith profane.
When woes the waking sense alone assail;
Whilst night extends her soft oblivious veil,
Of other wretches' care the torture ends;
No truce the warfare of my heart suspends!
The night renews the day distracting theme,
And airy terrours sable every dream.
The last alone a kind illusion wrought,
And to my bed my lov'd Ulysses brought
In manly bloom, and each majestic grace,
As when for Troy he left my fond embrace;
Such raptures in my beating bosom rise,

I deem it sure a vision of the skies."
Thus, whilst Aurora mounts her purple throne,
In audible laments she breathes her moan;
The sounds assault Ulysses' wakeful ear:
Misjudging of the cause, a sudden fear
Of his arrival known, the chief alarms;
He thinks the queen is rushing to his arms.
Upspringing from his couch, with active haste
The fleece and carpet in the dome he plac'd
(The hide, without, imbib'd the morning air;)
And thus the gods invok'd with ardent prayer:

"Jove, and ethereal thrones! with Heaven to

friend,

If the long series of my woes shall end,
Of human race now rising from repose
Let one a blissful omen here disclose:
And, to confirm my faith, propitious Jove,
Vouchsafe the sanction of a sign above!"

Whilst lowly thus the chief adoring bows,
The pitying god his guardian aid avows.
Loud from a sapphire sky his thunder sounds:
With springing hope the hero's heart resounds.
Soon, with consummate joy to crown his prayer,
An omen'd voice invades his ravish'd ear.
Beneath a pile, that close the dome adjoin'd,
Twelve female slaves the gift of Ceres grind ;
Task'd for the royal board to bolt the bran
From the pure flour (the growth and strength of
Discharging to the day the labour due,
Now early to repose the rest withdrew;
One maid, unequal to the task assign'd,
Still turn'd the toilsome mill with anxious mind;
And thus in bitterness of soul divin'd:

[man),

"Father of gods and men, whose thunders roll O'er the cerulean vault, and shake the pole; Whoe'er from Heaven has gain'd this rare ostent (Of granted vows a certain signal sent) In this blest moment of accepted prayer, Piteous, regard a wretch consum'd with care! Instant, O Jove! confound the suitor train, For whom o'ertoil'd I grind the golden grain: Far from this dome the lewd devourers cast, And be this festival decreed their last!"

Big with their doom denounc'd in Earth and sky, 'Ulysses' heart dilates with secret joy.

To blemish now; it ill deserves your blame:
A bowl of generous wine suffic'd the guest:
In vain the queen the night-refection press'd;
Nor would he court repose in downy state,
Unbless'd, abandon'd to the rage of fate!
A hide beneath the portico was spread,
And fleecy skins compos'd an humble bed:
A downy carpet, cast with duteous care,
Secur'd him from the keen nocturnal air."

His cornel javelin pois'd with regal port,
To the sage Greeks conven'd in Themis' court,
Forth issuing from the dome the prince repair'd:
Two dogs of chase, a lion hearted guard,
Behind him sourly stalk'd. Without delay
The dame divides the labour of the day;
Thus urging to the toil the menial train,
"What marks of luxury the marble stain!
Its wonted lustre let the floor regain!
The seats with purple clothe in order due;
And let th' abstersive sponge the board renew:
Let some refresh the vase's sullied mould;
Some bid the goblets boast their native gold :
Some to the spring, with each a jar, repair,
And copious waters pure for bathing bear:
Dispatch for soon the suitors will assay
The lunar feast-rites to the god of day."

She said with duteous haste a bevy fair Of twenty virgins to the spring repair: With varied toil the rest adorn the dome. Magnificent, and blithe, the suitors come. Some wield the sounding axe: the dodder'd oaks Divide, obedient to the forceful strokes. Soon from the fount, with each a brimming urn, (Eumæus in their train) the maids return. Three porkers for the feast, all brawny-chin'd, He brought; the choicest of the tusky kind : In lodgements first secure his care he view'd, Then to the king his friendly speech renew'd: "Now say sincere, my guest! the suitor-train Still treat they worth with lordly dull disdain; Or speaks their deed a bounteous mind humane?" "Some pitying god" (Ulysses sad reply'd) "With vollied vengeance blast their towering pride!

No conscious blush, no sense of right, restrains
The tides of lust that swell their boiling veins :
From vice to vice their appetites are tost,
All cheaply sated at another's cost!"

While thus the chief his woes indignant told,
Melanthins, master of the bearded fold,
The goodliest goats of all the royal herd
Spontaneous to the suitor's feast preferr'd:
VOL. XIX.

Two grooms assistant bore the victims bound;
With quavering cries the vaulted roofs resound;
And to the chief austere, aloud began
The wretch unfriendly to the race of man:

“Here, vagrant, still? offensive to my lords!
Blows have more energy than airy words;
These arguments I'll use: nor conscious shame,
Nor threats, thy bold intrusion will reclaim.
On this high feast the meanest vulgar boast
A plenteous board! Hence! seek another host!"
Rejoinder to the churl the king disdain'd;
But shook his head, and rising wrath restrain'd.
From Cephalenia cross the surgy main
Philætius late arriv'd, a faithful swain.

A steer ungrateful to the bull's embrace,
And goats he brought, the pride of all their races
Imported in a shallop not his own:

The dome re-echoed to their mingled moan.
Straight to the guardian of the bristly kind
He thus began, benevolent of mind:
"What guest is he, of such majestic air?
His lineage and paternal clime declare:
Dim through th' eclipse of fate, the rays divine
Of sovereign state with faded splendour shine.
If monarchs by the gods are plung'd in woe,
To what abyss are we foredoom'd to go!"
Then affable he thus the chief address'd,
Whilst with pathetic warmth his hand he
press'd:

Stranger; may fate a milder aspect show,
And spin thy future with a whiter clue!
O Jove, for ever deaf to human cries;
The tyrant, not the father of the skies;
Unpiteous of the race thy will began!
The fool of fate, thy manufacture, man,
With penury, contempt, repulse, and care,
The galling load of life is doom'd to bear.
Ulysses from his state a wanderer still,
Upbraids thy power, thy wisdom, or thy will;
O monarch ever dear!-O man of woe!-
Fresh flow my tears, and shall for ever flow!
Like thee, poor stranger-guest, denied his home
Like thee, in rags obscene, decreed to roam!
Or, haply perish'd on some distant coast,
In Stygian gloom he glides a pensive ghost!
Oh! grateful for the good his bounty gave,
I'll grieve, till sorrow sink me to the grave!
His kind protecting hand my youth preferr'd,
The regent of his Cephalenian herd:"

With vast increase beneath my care it spreads,
A stately breed! and blackens far the meads,
Constrain'd, the choicest beeves I thence import
To cram these cormorants that crowd his court;
Who in partition seek his realm to share;
Nor human right, nor wrath divine revere.
Since here resolv'd oppressive these reside,
Contending doubts my anxious heart divide:
Now to some foreign clime inclin'd to fly,
And with the royal herd protection buy:
Then happier thoughts return the nodding scale,
Light mounts despair, alternate hopes prevail:
In opening prospects of ideal joy,

My king returns; the proud usurpers die."

To whom the chief." In thy capacious mind Since daring zeal with cool debate is join'd; Attend a deed already ripe in fate;

Attest, O Jove, the truth I now relate!
This sacred truth attest each genial power,
Who bless the board, and guard this friendly
bower!