755

760

765

Him in Calypfo's cave of late I view'd,
When ftreaming grief his faded cheek bedew'd.
But vain his prayer, his arts are vain, to move
Th' enamour'd Goddess, or elude her love:
His veffel funk, and dear companions loft,
He lives reluctant on a foreign coast.
But oh, belov'd by Heaven! reserv'd to thee
A happier lot the fmiling Fates decree:
Free from that law, beneath whofe mortal fway
Matter is chang'd, and varying forms decay;
Elyfium fhall be thine; the blissful plains
Of utmost earth, where Rhadamanthus reigns.
Joys ever young, unmix'd with pain or fear,
Fill the wide circle of th' eternal year:
Stern winter smiles on that aufpicious clime;
The fields are florid with unfading prime;
From the bleak pole no winds inclement blow,
Mould the round hail, or flake the fleecy fnow:
But from the breezy deep the bleft inhale
The fragrant murmurs of the western gale.
This grace peculiar will the Gods afford
To thee the fon of Jove, and beauteous Helen's
lord.

77

775

780

He ceas'd, and, plunging in the vast profound,
Beneath the God the whirling billows bound.
Then speeding back, involv'd in various thought,
My friends attending at the shore I sought.
Arriv'd, the rage of hunger we control,
Till night with filent fhade invests the pole;
Then lofe the cares of life in pleasing rest.
Soon as the morn reveals the roseate east,
With fails we wing the mafts, our anchors weigh,
Unmoor the fleet, and rufh into the fea. 786
Rang'd on the banks, beneath our equal oars
White curl the waves, and the vex'd ocean roars.
Then, fteering backward from the Pharian Ifle,
We gain the stream of Jove-defcending Nile: 790
There quit the ships, and on the deftin'd fhore
With ritual hecatombs the Gods adore:
Their wrath aton'd, to Agamemnon's name
A cenotaph I raise of deathlefs fame.
Thefe rites to piety and grief discharg'd,
The friendly Gods a fpringing gale enlarg'd:
The fleet fwift tilting o'er the furges flew,
Till Grecian cliffs appear'd, a blissful view!
Thy patient ear hath heard me long relate
A ftory, fruitful of difaftrous fate :
800
And now, young prince, indulge my fond requeft;
Be Sparta honour'd with his royal guest,
Till, from his eaftern goal, the joyous fun
His twelfth diurnal race begins to run.
Mean time my train the friendly gifts prepare,
Three sprightly courfers and a polish'd car:
With thefe, a goblet of capacious mould,
Figur'd with art to dignify the gold,
(Form'd for libation to the Gods) fhall prove
A pledge and monument of facred love.

795

The courfers, for the champain sports, retain ;
That gift our barren rocks will render vain;
Horrid with cliffs our meagre land allows
Thin herbage for the mountain goat to browze,
But neither mead nor plain fupplies, to feed 825
The sprightly courfer, or indulge his speed:
To fea-furrounding realms the Gods affign
Small tract of fertile lawn, the least to mine.

His hand the king with tender paffion prefs'd,
And, smiling, thus the royal youth addrefs'd: 830
O early worth! a foul fo wife, and young,
Proclaims you from the fage Ulyffes fprung,
Selected from my ftores, of matchless price
An urn fhall recompence your prudent choice
Not mean, the maffy mould of filver, 'grac'd 835
By Vulcan's art, the verge with gold enchas'd;
A pledge the feepter'd power of Sidon gave,
When to his realm I plough'd the orient wave.

Thus they alternate; while with artful care
The menial train the regal feast prepare:
840
The firfilings of the flock are doom'd to die;
Rich fragrant wines the cheering bowls fupply;
A female band the gift of Ceres bring;
And the gilt roofs with genial triumph ring.

Mean while, in Ithaca, the fuitor-powers 845
in active game divide their jovial hours:
In areas vary'd with mofaic art,
Some whirl the difk, and fome the javelin dart.
Afide, fequefter'd from the vast resort,
Antinous fate fpectator of the fport;
With great Eurymachus of worth confest,
And high defcent, fuperior to the reft:
Whom young Noëmon lowly thus addreft:

850

866

My fhip equipp'd within the neighbouring port,
The prince, departing from the Pylian court, 855
Requested for his fpeed; but, courteous, fay
When fleers he home, or why this long delay?
For Elis I fhould fail with utmost speed, [feed.
T'import twelve mares which there luxurious
And twelve young mules, a ftrong laborious race,
New to the plough, unpractis'd in the trace. 861
Unknowing of the courfe to Pyle defign'd,
A fudden horror fejz'd on either mind:
The prince in rural bower they fondly thought,
Numbering his flocks and herds, not far remote.
Relate, Antinous cries, devoid of guile,
When spread the prince his fail for distant Pyle?
Did chofen chiefs across the gulfy main
Attend his voyage, or domeftic train?
Spontaneous did you speed his facred courfe, 870
Or was the veffel feiz'd by fraud or force?
With willing duty, not reluctant mind,
(Noëmon cry'd) the veffel was refign'd.
Who, in the balance, with the great affairs [875
Of courts, prefume to weigh their private cares?
With him, the peerage next in power to you:
And Mentor, captain of the lordly crew,
Or fome celeftial in his reverend form,
Safe from the fecret rock and adverfe ftorm,
Pilots the courfe; for when the glimmering ray
Of yefter dawn difclos'd the tender day,
Mentor himself I faw, and much admir'd—
Then ceas'd the youth, and from the court retir'd.
Confounded and appall'd, th' unfinish'd game
The fuitors quit, and all to council came.
Antinous first th' affembled peers addreft, [breaft.
820 Rage fparkling in his eyes, and burning in his

8c6

810

My quick return, young Ithacus rejoin'd,
Damps the warm withes of my raptur'd mind :
Did not my fate my needful hafte constrain,
Charm'd by your fpecch, to raceful and humane,
Loft in delight the circling year would roll, 815
While deep attention fix'd n y liftening foul.
But now to Pyle permit my deftin'd way,
My lov'd affociates chide my long delay:
In dear remembrance of your royal grace,
I take the prefent of the promis'd vafe;

885

890

O fhame to manhood! fhall one daring boy
The scheme of all our happiness destroy?
Fly unperceiv'd, feducing half the flower
Of nobles, and invite a foreign power?
The ponderous engine rais'd to crush us all,
Recoiling, on his head is fure to fall.
Inftant prepare me, on the neighbouring ftrand,
With twenty chofen mates a veffel mann'd;
For ambush close beneath the Samian fhore
His fhip returning fhall my fpies explore:
He foon his rafhnefs fhall with life atone,

Seek for his father's fate, but find his own.

895

955

Words to her dumb complaint a pause supplies
And breath, to wafte in unavailing cries.
Around their fovereign wept the menial fair,
To whom the thus addrefs'd her deep despair:
Behold a wretch whom all the Gods confign
To woe! Did ever forrows equal mine?
Long to my joys my deareft lord is loft,
His country's buckler, and the Grecian boast:
Now from my fond embrace, by tempefts torn,
Our other column of the ftate is borne:
Nor took a kind adieu, nor fought consent !-
Unkind confederates in his dire intent!

With vaft applause the sentence all approve; 900 | Ill fuits it with your fhews of duteous zeal,

905

Then rife, and to the feastful hall remove;
Swift to the queen the herald Medon ran,
Who heard the confult of the dire divan:
Before her dome the royal matron stands,
And thus the meffage of his hafte demands:
What will the fuitors? muft my fervant-train
Th' allotted labours of the day refrain,
For them to form fome exquifite repaft?

Heaven grant this festival may prove their last!

Or, if they still muft live, from me remove
The double plague of luxury and love?
Forbear, ye fons of Infolence! forbear,
In riot to confume a wretched heir.

910

In the young foul illustrious thought to raise,
Were ye not tutor'd with Ulyffes' praife?
Have not your fathers oft my lord defin'd,
Gentle of speech, beneficent of mind?
Some kings with arbitrary rage devour,
Or in their tyrant minions veft the power:
Ulyffes let no partial favours fall,
The people's parent, he protected all :
But abfent now, perfidious and ingrate!
His flores ye ravage, and ufurp his state.

He thus: O were the woes you fpeak
worft

They form a deed more odious and accurft;
More dreadful than your boding foul divines:
But pitying Jove avert the dire designs!
The darling object of your royal care

915

From me the purpos'd voyage to conceal :
Though at the folemn midnight hour he rofe,
Why did you fear to trouble my repose?
He either had obey'd my fond defire,
Or feen his mother, pierc'd with grief, expire.
Bid Dolius quick attend, the faithful flave,
Whom to my nuptial train Icarius gave,
To tend the fruit-groves: with inceffant speed
He fhall this violence of death decreed
To good Laertes tell. Experienc'd age
May timely intercept the ruffian-rage,
Convene the tribes, the murderous plot reveal,
And to their power to fave his race appeal.

960

965

970

975

Then Euryclea thus: My deareft dread! 980
Though to the sword I bow this hoary head,
Or if a dungeon be the pain decreed,

985

I own me confcious of th' unpleafing deed:
Auxiliar to his flight, my aid implor'd,
With wine and viands I the vessel stor'd:
920 A folemn oath, impos'd, the secret seal'd,
Till the twelfth dawn the light of heaven reveal'd.
Dreading th' effect of a fond mother's fear,
He dar'd not violate your royal ear.
But bathe, and, in imperial robes array'd,
Pay due devotions to the martial Maid,
And reft affianc'd in her guardian aid.
Send not to good Laertes, nor engage
In toils of ftate the miseries of age:

the

925

995

The queen her speech with calm attention hears, Her eyes restrain the filver-Atreaming tears: 1000 She bathes, and, rob'd, the facred dome afcends: Her pious speed a female train attends:

The falted cakes in canisters are laid,

And thus the queen invokes Minerva's aid: [1005
Daughter divine of Jove, whofe arm can wield
Th' avenging bolt, and shake the dreaded fhield !
If e'er Ulyffes to thy fane preferr'd

ΙΟΙΟ

The best and choiceft of his flock and herd;
Hear, Goddess, hear, by thofe oblations won;
And for the pious fire preferve the fon :
His wifh'd return with happy power befriend,
And on the fuitors let thy wrath descend.
She ceas'd; fhrill extacies of joy declare
The favouring Goddess prefent to the prayer:
The fuitors heard, and deem'd the mirthful voice
A fignal of her hymenaal choice:
Whilft one most jovial thus accofts the board;
"Too late the queen felects a second lord:

| Minervar

1016

1025

"In evil hour the nuptial rite intends,
"When o'er her fon disastrous death impends."
Thus he, unskill'd of what the Fates provide ! 1021
But with fevere rebuke Antinous cry'd :
These empty vaunts will make the voyage vain:
Alarm not with difcourfe the menial train:
The great event with filent hope attend;
Our deeds alone our counfel must commend.
His fpeech thus ended fhort, he frowning rofe,
And twenty chiefs renown'd for valour chofe :
Down to the strand he speeds with haughty strides,
Where anchor'd in the bay the vessel rides, 1030
Replete with male and military store,
In all her tackle trim to quit the fhore.
The defperate crew afcend, unfurl the fails
(The fea-ward prow invites the tardy gales);
Then take repait, till Hefperus difplay'd
His golden circlet in the western fhade.

1035

Mean time the queen, without reflection due,
Heart-wounded, to the bed of state withdrew;
In her fad breast the prince's fortunes roll,
And hope and doubt alternate seize her foul. 1040
So when the woodman's toil her cave furrounds,
And with the hunter's cry the grove resounds;
With grief and rage the mother-lion ftung,
Fearless herself, yet trembles for her young. [1045
While penfive in the filent flumberous shade,
Sleep's gentle powers her drooping eyes invade;
Minerva, life-like, on embodied air
mprefs'd, the form of Iphthima the fair
(Icarius' daughter the, whofe blooming charms
Allur'd Eumelus to her virgin-arms;
A fcepter'd lord, who o'er the fruitful plain
Of Theffaly, wide-ftretch'd his ample reign):
As Pallas will'd, along the sable skies,
To calm the queen, the phantom-fift· fies.
Swift on the regal dome defcending right,
The bolted valves are pervious to her flight.
Close to her head the pleasing vision stands,
And thus performs Minerva's high commands.
O, why, Penelope, this caulelefs fear,
To render fleep's foft bleffing unfincere?
Alike devote to forrow's dire extreme

1055

1060

Was in the filent gates of fleep confin'd)
O fifter, to my foul for ever dear,
Why this firft vifit to reprove my fear?
How in a realm fo diftant should you know [1070
From what deep fource my deathlefs forrows flow?
To all my hope my royal lord is loft,
His country's buckler, and the Grecian boaft:
And, with confummate woe to weigh me down,
The heir of all his honours and his crown,
My darling fon is fled! an eafy prey
To the fierce ftorms, or men more fierce tham
they :

Who, in a league of blood affociates fworn,
Will intercept th' unwary youth's return.

1075

1080

Courage refume, the fhadowy form reply'd,
In the protecting care of heaven confide:
On him attends the blue-ey'd martial Maid;
What earthly can implore a furer aid?
Me now the guardian Goddess deigns to fend,
To bid thee patient his return attend.

The queen replies: If in the bleft abodes 1085
A Goddess, thou hast commerce with the Gods;
Say, breathes my lord the blifsful realm of light,
Or lies he wrapt in ever-during night?

Enquire not of his doom, the phantom cries,
I fpeak not all the counsel of the fkies: 1090
Nor must indulge with vain difcourfe, or long,
The windy fatisfaction of the tongue.

Swift through the valves the vifionary fair
Repafs'd, and viewlefs mix'd with common air.
The queen awakes, deliver'd of her woes: 1095
With florid joy her heart dilating glows:

The vifion, manifeft of future fate,

Makes her with hope her fon's arrival wait.

BOOK V.

THE ARGUMENT.

The Departure of Ulyffes from Ca'ypfo.

Pallas in a council of the Gods omplains of the detention of UlyJes in the island of Calypfo; whereupon Mercury
is fent to command bis removal. The feat of Calypfo defcribed. She confents with much difficulty; and
Ulyffes builds a vessel with bis own bands, in which he embarks. Neptune overtakes him with a terrible ten-
peft, in which be is fipwrecked, and in the last danger of death: till Leucothea, a Sea Goddess, affifts him, and
after innumerable perils, be gets afbore on Phæacia.

HE faffron morn, with early blushes spread,
With new-born day to gladden niortal fight,
And gild the courts of Heaven with facred
light,

Then met th' eternal fynod of the sky,
Before the God who thunders from on high,
Supreme in might, fublime in majesty,

Pallas, to thefe, deplores th' unequal fates
Of wife Uiyfies, and his toils relates:

57

Her Hero's danger touch'd the pitying Power, 10
The nymph's feducements, and the magic bower.
Thus fhe began her plaint: Immortal Jove !
And you who fill the bifsful feats above!
"Let kings no more with gentle mercy fway,
Or blefs a people willing to obey,
But crush the nations with an iron rod,
And every monarch be the fcourge of God:
If from your thoughts Ulyffes you remove,
Who rul'd his fubjects with a father's love.
Sole in an ifle, encircled by the main,
Abandon'd, banifh'd from his native reign,
Unbleft he fighs, detain'd by lawless charms,
And prefs'd unwilling in Calypfo's arms.
Nor friends are there, nor veffels to convey,
Nor oars to cut th' immeafurable way.
And now fierce traitors, ftudious to destroy
His only fon, their ambush'd fraud employ;
Who, pious, following his great father's fame,
To facred Pylos and to Sparta came.

75

She fate, and fung: the rocks refound her lays;
The cave was brighten'd with a rifing blaze:
Cedar and frankincenfe, an odorous pile,
Flam'd on the hearth, and wide perfum'd the isle;
While the with work and fong the time divides,
15 And through the loom the golden fhuttle guides.
Without the grot a various fylvan scene 80
Appear'd around, and groves of living green;
Poplars and alders ever quivering play'd,
And nodding cypress form'd a fragrant shade;
On whofe high branches, waving with the storm,
The birds of broadest wing their mansion form, 85
The chough, the fea-mew, the loquacious crow,
And scream aloft, and skim the deeps below.
Depending vines the fhelving caverns fcreen,
25 With purple clusters blushing through the green.
Four limpid fountains from the clefts distil; 90-
And every fountain pours a feveral rill,
In mazy windings wandering down the hill:
Where bloomy meads with vivid greens were
crown'd,

20

What words are thefe, (reply'd the Power who forms

8

30

35

40

The clouds of night, and darkens Heaven with
Is not already in thy foul decreed, [ftorms)
The chief's return shall make the guilty bleed?
What cannot wisdom do? Thou may'st restore
The fon in fafety to his native shore:
While the fell foes, who late in ambush lay,
With fraud defeated, measure back their way.
Then thus to Hermes the command was given:
Hermes, thou chofen meffenger of heaven!
Go, to the nymph be these our orders borne:
'Tis Jove's decree, Ulyffes fhall return:
The patient man fhali view his old abodes,
Nor help'd by mortal hand, nor guiding Gods:
In twice ten days shall fertile Sheria, find,
Alone, and floating to the wave and wind.
The bold Phæacians there, whofe haughty line
Is mix'd with Gods, half human, half divine,
The chief fhail honour as fome heavenly guest,
And swift tranfport him to his place of reit.
His veffels loaded with a plenteous ftore
Of brafs, of vestures, and refplendent ore
(A richer prize than if his joyful ifle
Receiv'd him charg'd with Ilion's noble spoil).
His friends, his country, he shall fee, though late;
Such is our fovereign will, and such is fate.
He fpoke. The God who mounts the winged
winds

45

55

60

Faft to his feet the golden pinions binds,
That high through fields of air his flight sustain
O'er the wide earth, and o'er the boundless main.
He grafps the wand that caufes fleep to fly,
Or in foft lumbers feals the wakeful eye:
Then fhoots from heaven to high Pieria's steep,
And ftoops incumbent on the rolling deep.
So watery fowl, that feek their fishy food,
With wings expanded o'er the foaming flood,
Now failing fmooth the level furface sweep,
Now dip their pinions in the briny deep.
Thus o'er the world of waters Hermes flew,
Till now the diftant ifland rofe in view:
Then, fwift afcending from the azure wave,
He took the path that winded to the cave.
Large was the grot, in which the nymph
found
{crown'd);
(The fair-hair'd nymph with every beauty

100

And glowing violets threw odours round,
A fcene, where if a God should caft his fight, 95
A God might gaze, and wander with delight!
Joy touch'd the messenger of heaven: he stay'd
Entranc'd, and all the blissful haunt furvey'd.
Him, entering in the cave, Calypfo knew;
For Powers celeftial to each other's view,
Stand ftill confeft, though diftant far they lie
To 'habitants of earth, or fea, or sky.
But fad Ulyffes, by himself apart,
Pour'd the big forrows of his fwelling heart;
All on the lonely fhore he fate to weep,'
And roll'd his eyes around the restlefs deep;
Tow'rd his lov'd coaft he roll'd his eyes in vain,
Till, dimm'd with rifing grief, they stream'd
again.

Now graceful feated on her shining throne,
To Hermes thus the nymph divine begun :
God of the golden wand! on what beheft
Arriv'st thou here, an unexpected gucit?
Lov'd as thou art, thy free injunctions lay;
'Tis mine with joy and duty to obey.
Till now a ftranger, in a happy hour
Approach, and taste the dainties of my bower.
Thus having fpoke, the nymph the table spread
(Ambrofial cates, with nectar rofy-red):
Hermes the hofpitable rite partook,
Divine refection! then, recruited, spoke :

115

120

Such length of ocean and unmeasur'd deep :
A world of waters! far from all the ways
65 Where men frequent, or facred altars blaze?
But to Jove's will fubmiffion we must pay;
What power fo great to dare to difobey?
A man, he fays, a man refides with thee,
Of all his kind moft worn with mifery:
The Greeks (whofe arms for nine long years em-

130

70

ploy'd

he

Their force in Ilion, in the tenth destroy'd)
At length embarking in a luckless hour

135

With conqueft proud, incens'd Minerva's power:

170

175

To toils like thefe, her husband and her friend. 180
What ships have 1, what failors to convey,
What oars to cut the long laborious way?
Yet, I'll direct the fafeft means to go:
That 1. ft advice is all I can bestow.

To her, the Power who bears the charming
rod:

Difmifs the man, nor irritate the God:
Prevent the rage of him who reigns above,
For what fo dreadful as the wrath of Jove?
Thus having faid, he cut the cleaving sky,
And in a moment vanish'd from her eye.
The nymph, obedient to divine command,
To feck Ulyffes, pac'd along the fand,
Him penfive on the lonely beach fhe found,
With fireaming eyes in briny torrents drown'd,
And inly pining for his native fhore:

190 Ambrofial banquet, and celestial wine.
Their hunger fatiate, and their thirst repreft, 255
Thus fpoke Calypfo to her godlike gueft;
Ulyffes (with a figh flie thus began)

195

O fprung from Gods! in wifdom more than man;
Is then thy home the paffion of thy heart?

Thus wilt thou leave me, are we thus to part? 260
Farewell! and ever joyful may'st thou be,
Nor break the tranfport with one thought of me.
But ah, Ulyffes! wert thou given to know

On rocks and fhores confum'd the tedious day; 200 What Fate yet dooms thee, yet, to undergo;