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BOOK VIII.

THE ARGUMENT.

Altinous calls a council, in which it is refolved to transport Ulves into bis country. After which, fplendid entertainments are made, where the celebrated musician and poet Demodocus plays and fings to the gues. They next proceed to the games; the rate, the wrefling, difcus, &f.; where Ulyffes cafts a prodigious length, to the admiration of all the spectators. They return again to the banquet, and Demodocus fings the loves of Mars and Venus. Ulyffes, after a compliment to the poet, defires him to fing the introduction of the wooden borse into Troy; which fubject provoking his tears, Alcinous inquires of bis gueft, his name, parentage, and fortunes.

OW

Now fair Aurora lifts her golden ray,

And all the ruddy orient flames with day;
Alcinous, and the chief, with dawning light,
Rofe instant from the flumbers of the night;
Then to the council-feat they bend their way,
And fill the shining thrones along the bay.

Mean while Minerva in her guardian care,
Shoots from the starry vault through fields of air;
In form a herald of the king, the flies
From peer to peer, and thus inceffant cries:

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Now all acceffes to the dome are fill'd;

Eight boars, the choiceft of the herd, are kill'd: Two beeves, twelve fatlings, from the flock they bring

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5 To crown the feaft; fo wills the bounteous king.
The herald now arrives, and guides along
The facred mafter of celeftial fong;
Dear to the Mufe! who gave his days to flow
With mighty blessings, mix'd with mighty woe:
With clouds of darkness quench'd his visual ray,
But gave him skill to raise the lofty lay.
High on a radiant throne fublime in ftate,
Encircled by huge multitudes, he fate :
With filver shone the throne; his lyre well strung
To rapturous founds, at hand Pontonous hung:
Before his feat a polifh'd table fhines,
And a full goblet foams with generous wines :
His food a herald bore and now they fed:
And now the rage of craving hunger fled.

Nobles and chiefs who rule Phæacia's ftates,
The king in council your attendance waits;
A Prince of Grace Divine your aid implores,
O'er unknown feas arriv'd from unknown shores.
She spoke and fudden with tumultuous founds 15
Of thronging multitudes the fhores rebounds:
At once the feats they fill: and every eye
Gaz'd, as before fome brother of the sky.
Pallas with grace divine his form improves,
More high he treads, and more enlarg'd he moves:
She sheds celeftial bloom, regard to draw ;
And gives a dignity of mien, to awe
With ftrength, the future prize of Fame to play,
And gather all the honours of the day.

Then from his glittering throne Alcinous rofe:
Attend, he cry'd, while we our will disclose.
Your prefent aid this godlike ftranger craves,
Toft by rude tempeft through a war of waves;
Perhaps from realms that view the rifing day,
Or nations fubject to the western ray.
Then grant, what here all fons of woe obtain,
(For here affliction never pleads in vain :)
Be chofen youths prepar'd, expert to try
The vaft profound, and bid the vessel fly :
Launch the tall bark, and order every oar;
Then in our court indulge the genial hour.
Inftant, you failors, to this task attend;
Swift to the palace, all ye peers aícend :
Let none to ftrangers honours due difellim:
Be there Demodocus, the Bard of Fame,
Taught by the Gods to please, when high he fings
The vocal lay. refponfive to the strings.

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Then, fir'd by all the Mufe, aloud he fings
The mighty deeds of Demi-gods and Kings:
From that fierce wrath the noble song arofe,
That made Ulyffes and Achilles foes:
How o'er the feaft they doom the fall of Troy;
The fern debate Atrides hears with joy:

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For Heaven foretold the contest, when he trod 75
The marble threshold of the Delphic God,
Curious to learn the counfels of the sky,
Ere yet he loos'd the rage of war on Troy.
Touch'd at the fong, Ulyffes ftraight refign'd
To foft affliction all his manly mind:
Before his eyes the purple veft he'drew,
Induftrious to conceal the falling dew:
But when the mufic paus'd he ceas'd to fhed
35 The flowing tear, and rais'd his drooping head:
And, lifting to the Gods a goblet crown'd,
He pour'd a pure libation to the ground.
Transported with the fong, the listening train
Again with loud applaufe demand the strain :
Again Ulyffes veil'd his penfive head,
Again, unmann'd, a fhower of forrow shed:
Conceal'd he wept the king obferv'd alone
The filent tear, and heard the fecret grean :
Then to the bard aloud: O ceafe to fing,
Dumb be thy voice, and mute th' harmonious
ftring;

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Thus fpoke the prince: th' attedning peers obey,
In ftate they move; Alcinous leads the way:
Swift to Demodocus the herald flies,
At once the failors to their charge arife:
They launch the veffel, and unfurl the fails,
And ftretch the fwelling canvas to the gales;
Then to the palace move: A gathering throng,
Youth, and white age, tumultuous pour along: 50

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Enough the feast has pleas'd, enough the power 95
Of heavenly fong has crown'd the genial hour!
Inceffant in the games your ftrength display;
Conteft, ye brave, the honours of the day:

That, pleas'd, th' admiring ftranger may

claim

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pro-Steal from corroding care ona tranfient day,
To glory give the space thou haft to stay;
Short is the time, and, lo! ev'n now the gales. 165
Call thee aboard, and stretch the fwelling fails.
To whom with fighs Ulyffes gave reply;
Ah! why th' ill-fuiting paftime must I try?
To gloomy care my thoughts alone are free;
Ill the gay sports with troubled hearts agree:
Sad from my natal hour my days have ran,
A much-afflicted, much-enduring man!
Who fuppliant to the king and peers implores
A fpeedy voyage to his native fhores.

In diftant regions the Phæacian fame :
None wield the gauntlet with fo dire a sway,
Or fwifter in the race devour the way;
None in the leap fpring with fo ftrong a bound,
Or firmer, in the wrestling, prefs the ground.
Thus fpoke the king; th' attending peers obey:
In ftate they niove, Alcinous leads the way:
His golden lyre Demodocus unfrung,
High on a column in the palace hung:
And, guided by a herald's guardian cares,
Majestic to the lifts of Fame repairs.
Now fwarms the populace;
countless throng,
Youth and hoar age: and man drives man along
The games begin; ambitious of the prize,
Acroneus, Thoon, and Eretmus rife;
The prize Ocyalus and Prymneus claim,
Anchialus and Ponteus, chiefs of Fame :
There Proreus, Neates, Eratreus appear,
And fam'd Amphialus, Polyneus' heir:
Euryalus like Mars terrific rofe,

When clad in wrath he withers hoits of foes:
Naubolides with grace unequall'd fhone,

Or equall'd by Laodamas alone.

IIC

:

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With thefe came forth Ambafineus the strong; And three brave fons, from great Alcinous fprung. Rang'd in a line the ready racers ftand, Start from the goal, and vanish'd o'er the strand : Swift as on wings of winds upborne they fly, And drifts of rifing duft involve the sky: Before the race, what space the hinds allow Between the mule and ox from plough to plough; Clytonous fprung: he wing'd the rapid way, And bore th' nnrivall'd honours of the day. With fierce embrace the brawny wrestlers join: The conqueft, great Euryalus is thine. Amphialus fprung forward with a bound, Superior in the leap, a length of ground: From Elatreus' ftrong arm the difcus flies, And fings with unmatch'd force along the skies. And Laodam whirls high, with dreadful fway, The gloves of death, victorious in the fray. While thus the peerage in the games contends, In act to speak, Laodamas afcends:

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O friends, he cries, the ftranger feems well fkill'd

To try th' illuftrious labours of the field:

[claim,

I deem him brave: then grant the brave man's
Invite the hero to his fhare of Fame.
What nervous arms he boasts! how firm his tread!
His limbs how turn'd! how broad his fhoulders
spread -

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By age unbroke!--but all-confuming care [fpare:
Deftroys, perhaps, that ftrength that time would
Dire is the ocean, dread in all its forms!
Man must decay, when man contends with forms.
Well haft thou fpoke (Euryalus replies):
Thine is the guest, invite him thou to rife.
Swift at the word advancing from the crowd
He made obeisance, and thus fpoke aloud:
Vouchfafes the reverend stranger to display
His manly worth, and fhare the glorious day?
Father, arife! for thee thy port proclaims
Expert to conquer in the folemn games.
To fame arife! for what more fame can yield
Than the fwift race, or conflict of the field?

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O forward to proclaim thy foul unwife!
With partial hands the Gods their gifts difpenfe; 185
Some greatly think, fome fpeak with manly fenfe;
Here Heaven an elegance of form denies,
But wisdom the defect of form fupplies:
This man with energy of thought controls,
And steals with modeft violence our fouls,
He speaks referv'dly, but he speaks with force,
Nor can one word be chang'd but for a worse;
In public more than mortal he appears,
And, as he moves, the gazing crowd reveres.
While others, beauteous as th' ætherial kind, 195
The nobler portion want, a knowing mind.
In outward fhow Heaven gives thee to excel,
But Heaven denies the praile of thinking well.
Ill bear the brave a rude ungovern'd tongue,
And, youth, my generous foul refents the wrong:
Skill'd in heroic exercife, I claim

A poft of honour with the fons of Fame :
Such was my hoft while vigour crown'd my days,
Now care furrounds me, and my force decays;
Inur'd a melancholy part to bear,
In fcenes of death, by tempeft and by war.
Yet, thus by woes impair'd, no more I wave
To prove the hero.---Slander ftings the brave.

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Then, ftriding forward with a furious bound, He wrench'd a rocky fragment from the ground. By far more ponderons, and more huge by far, Than what Phæacia's fons difcharg'd in air. Fierce from his arm th' enormous load he flings, Sonorous through the fhaded air it fings; Couch'd to the earth, tempestuous as it flies. The crowd gaze upward while it cleaves the

fkies.

Beyond all marks, with many a giddy round
Down rufhing, it up turns a hill of ground.

That inftant Pallas, burfting from a cloud,
Fix'd a distinguish'd mark, and cry'd aloud:
Ev'n he who fightless wants his visual ray
May by his touch alone award the day:
Thy fignal throw tranfcends the utmost bound
Of every champion by a length of ground.
Securely bid the strongest of the train
Arife to throw: the ftrongest throws in vain.
She spoke; and momentary mounts the fky;
The friendly voice Ulyffes hears with joy ;

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Swift at the word, obedient to the king,
230 The herald flies the tuneful lyre to bring.
Up rofe nine feniors, chofen to furvey
The future games, the judges of the day.
With instant care they mark a spacious round,
And level for the dance th' allotted ground;
The herald bears the lyre: intent to play,
The bard advancing meditates the lay,
Skill'd in the dance, tall youths, a blooming band,
Graceful before the heavenly minstrel stand:
Light bounding from the earth, at once they rife,
Their feet half viewlefs quiver in the fkies:
Ulyffes gaz'd, aftonish'd to furvey
The glancing fplendours as their fandals play.
Mean time the bard, alternate to the ftrings,
The loves of Mars and Cytherea fings;

Then thus aloud, (elate with decent pride)
Rife, ye Phæacians, try your force, he cried;
If with this throw the strongest cafter vie,
Still, further still, I bid the difcufs fly,
Stand forth, ye champions, who the gauntlet wield,
Or ye, the fwifteft racers of the field!
Stand forth, ye wrestlers, who these paftimes grace,
I wield the gauntlet, and I run the race!
In fuch heroic games I yield to none,
Or yield to brave Laodamas alone;
Shall I with brave Laodamas contend?
A friend is facred, and I style him friend.
Ungenerous were the man, and bafe of heart,
Who takes the kind, and pays th' ungrateful part;
Chiefly the man in foreign realms confin'd,
Bafe to his friend, to his own interest blind:
All, all your heroes I this day defy;
Give me a man that we our might may try.
Expert in every art I boast the skill

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245 How the flern God, enamour'd with her charms,
Clafp'd the gay panting Goddess in his arms, 310
By bribes feduc'd: and how the fun, whose eye
Views the broad heavens, difelos'd the lawlefs joy.
Stung to the foul, indignant through the skies
To his black forge vindictive Vulcan flies:
Arriv'd, his finewy arms inceffant place
Th' eternal anvil on the maffy base.
A wondrous net he labours, to betray
The wanton lovers as entwin'd they lay,
255 Indiffolubly strong! Then infant bears

To give the feather'd arrows wings to kill;
Should a whole hoft at once discharge the bow,
My well-aim'd fhaft with death prevents the foe:
Alone fuperior in the field of Troy,
Great Philoctetes taught the shaft to fly.
From all the fons of earth, unrival'd praise
I juftly claim; but yield to better days,
To thofe fam'd days when great Alcides rofe,
And Eurytus, who bade the Gods be foes:
(Vain Eurytus, whofe art became his crime,
Swept from the earth, he perifh'd in his prime;
Sudden th' irremeable way he trod,
Who boldly durft defy the Bowyer-God).
In fighting fields as far the fpear 1 throw,
As flies an arrow from the well-drawn bow.
Sole in the race the contest I decline,
Stiff are my weary joints, and I refign;

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By ftorms and hunger worn: age well may fail, 265
When ftorms and hunger both at once affail.

Abafh'd, the numbers hear the godlike man,
Till great Alcinous mildly thus began:

Well haft thou fpoke, and well thy generous tongue

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With decent pride refutes a public wrong:
Warm are thy words, but warm without offence;
Fear only fools, fecure in men of fense:

Thy worth is known. Then hear our country's
claim,

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And bear to herces our heroic fame;
In diftant realms our glorious deeds difplay,
Repeat them frequent in the genial day;
When bleft with eafe thy woes and wanderings
Teach them thy confort, bid thy fons attend!
How lov'd of Jove he crown'd our fires
praise,

How we their offspring dignify our race.

Let other realms the deathful gauntlet wield,
Or boaft the glories of th' athletic field;
We in the courfe unrivall'd speed display,
Or through cærulean billows plough the way;
To drefs, to dance, to fing, our fole delight,
The feaft or bath by day, and love by night:
Raife then, ye skill'd in measures; let him bear
Your fame to men that breathe a diftant air:
And faithful fay, to you the powers belong
To race, to fail, to dance, to chant the fong.

But, herald, to the palace fwift repair,
And the fuft lyre to grace our pastimes bear.

with

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To his immortal dome the finish'd fnares.
Above, below, around, with art difpread,
The fure enclofure folds the genial bed;
Whole texture ev'n the search of Gods deceives,
Thin as the filmy threads the fpider weaves.
Then, as withdrawing from the starry bowers, 325
He feigns a journey to the Lemnian shores,
His favourite ifle! obfervant Mars defcries
His wifh'd recefs, and to the Goddess flies:
He glows, he burns: the fair-hair'd Queen of

Love

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To that fair letcher, the ftrong God of arms.
If I am lame, that flain my natal hour
By Fate impos'd; fuch me my parent bore:
Why was I born? See how the wanton lies!
290 O fight tormenting to an huíband's eyes!
But yet I trust, this once ev'n Mars would fly 355
His fair-one's arms-he thinks her, once, too nigh.

But there remain, ye guilty in my power,
Till Jove refunds his fhameless daughter's dower.
Too dear I priz'd a fair enchanting face:
Beauty unchafte is beauty in difgrace.

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Mean while the Gods the dome of Vulcan throng,

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Apollo comes, and Neptune comes along;
With thefe gay Hermes trod the ftarry plain;
But modefty withheld the Goddefs-train.
All Heaven beholds imprifon'd as they lie,
And uncxtinguifh'd laughter fhakes the sky.
Then mutual, thus they fpoke: Behold on
wrong
[ftrong!
Swift vengeance waits; and art fubdues the
Dwells there a God on all th' Olympian brow
More swift than Mars, and more than Vulcan flow?
Yet Vulcan conquers, and the God of arms
Muft pay the penalty for lawlefs charms.

In fubjects happy! with furprife I gaze!
Thy praife was juft; their kill tranfcends thy

praife.

cars,

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Pleas'd with his people's fame, the monarch And thus benevolent accofts the peers: Since Wisdom's facred guidance he purfues, Give to the ftranger-gueft a stranger's dues: Twelve princes in our realm dominion fhare 425 O'er whom fupreme, imperial power I bear: Bring gold, a pledge of love; a talent bring, A veft, a robe, and imitate your king: Be fwift to give; that he this night may fhare The focial feaft of joy, with joy fincere. And thou, Euryalus, redeem thy wrong; A generous heart repairs a flanderous tongue. Th' affenting peers, obedient to the king, In hafte their heralds fend the gifts to bring. Then thus Euryalus: O prince, whofe fway Thus ferious they; but he who gilds the skies, Rules this beft realm, repentant I obey! The gay Apollo, thus to Hermes cries: Be his this fword, whofe blade of brafs difplays Would't thou enchain'd like Mars, O Hermes, lie, A ruddy gleam; whofe hilt a filver blaze; And bear the fhame, like Mars, to share the joy? Whofe ivery fheath, inwrought with curious pride, O envy'd fhame! (the fmiling youth rejoin'd),Adds graceful terror to the wearer's fide. Add thrice the chains, and thrice more firmly

bind;

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Loud laugh the reft, even Neptune laugh'd
aloud,

Yet fues importunate to loofe the God:
And free, he cries, O Vulcan! free from shame
Thy captives; I insure the penal claim.

Will Neptune (Vulcan then) the faithlefs truft?
He fuffers who gives furety for th' unjust:
But fay, if that lewd fcandal of the sky,
To liberty reflor'd, perfidious fly;

Say, wilt thou bear the mulet? He inftant cries,
The mulct I bear, if Mars perfidious flies.

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To whom appeas'd: No more I urge delay;
When Neptune fues, my part is to obey.
Then to the fnares his force the God applies;
They burft; and Mars to Thrace indignant flics:
To the foft Cyprian fhores the Goddel's moves, 395
To vifit Paphos and her blooming groves;
Where to the Power an hundred altars rife,
And breathing odours fcent the balmy fkies;
Conceal'd the bathes in confecrated bowers,
The Graces unguents fhed, ambrofial fhowers. 440
Unguents that charm the Gods! the laft affumes
Her wondrous robes; and full the Goddess
blooms.

Thus fung the bard: Ulyffes hears with joy,
And loud applaufes rend the vaulted fky.

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Then to the fports his fons the king commands,
Each blooming youth before the monarch stands,
In dance unmatch'd! A wondreus ball is brought
(The work of Polypus, divinely wrought):
This youth with ftrength enormous bids it fly,
And bending backward whirls it to the fky;
His brother, fpringing with an active bound,
At distance intercepts it from the ground:
The ball difmifs'd, in dance they kim the ftrand,
Turn and return, and fearce imprint the fand.
Th' affenbly gazes with aftonith'd eyes,
And fends in flouts applaufes to the Ikies.

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Then thus Ulyffes: Happy king, whofe name The brighteft fines in all the rolls of Fame :

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And grant him to his fpoufe and native fhores!

And bleft be thou, my friend, Ulyffes cries:
Crown him with every joy, ye favouring skies!
To thy calm hours continued peace afford,
And never, never may'st thou want this fword! 450
He faid; and o'er bis fhoulder flung the blade.
Now o'er the earth afcends the evening fhade:
The precious gifts th' illuftrious heralds bear,
And to the court th' embody'd peers repair.
Before the queen Alcinous' fons unfold
The vefts, the robes, and heaps of fhining gold;
Then to the radiant thrones they move in ftate;
Aloft, the king in pomp imperial fate.

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Inftant the queen, obfervant of the king,
Commands her train a fpacious yafe to bring, 470
The fpacious vafe with ample ftreams fuffice.
Heap high the wood, and bid the flames arife.
The flames climb round it with a fierce embrace,
The fuming waters bubble o'er the blaze.
Herfelf the cheft prepares: in order roll'd
The robes, the vefts are rang'd, and heaps of gold:
And adding a rich drefs inwrought with art,
A gift expreffive of her bounteous heart,
Thus fpoke to Ithacus : To guard with hands
Infolvable thefe gifts, thy care demands:
Left, in thy flumbers on the watery main,
The hand of rapine make our bounty vain.

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Then bending with full force, around he roll'd
A labyrinth of bands in fold en fold,
Clos'd with Circæan art. A train attends
Around the bath: the bath the king afcends
(Untafted joy, fince that difaftrous hour
He fail'd ill-fated from Calypfo's bower):
Where, happy as the Gods that range the sky,
He feafted every fenfe with every joy.
He bathes: the damfels, with officious toil,
Shed fweets, fhed nuguents, in a fhower of oil:
Then o'er his limbs a gorgeous robe he fpreads,
And to the feaft magnificently treads,

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Full of the God, he rais'd his lofty ftrain,
How the Greeks rufh'd tumultuous to the main:
How blazing tents illumin'd half the fkies,
While from the shores the winged navy flies: 550
How, ev'n in Ilion's walls, in deathful bands,
Came the ftern Greeks by Troy's affifting hands:
All Troy up-heav'd the steed; of differing mind,
Various the Trojans counfel'd; part confign'd
The monfter to the fword, part fentence gave 555
To plunge it headlong in the whelming wave;
Th'unwife prevail, they lodge it in the towers,
An offering facred to th'immortal Powers:
Th'unwife award to lodge it in the walls,
And by the Gods decree prond Ilion falls;
Destruction enters in the treacherous wood,
And vengeful flaughter, fierce for human blood.
He fung the Greeks ftern iffuing from the feed,
How Ilion burns, how all her fathers bleed :
500 How to thy dome, Deiphobus! ascends
The Spartan king: how Ithacus attends
(Horrid as Mars), and how with dire alarms ́
He fights, fubdues for Pallas ftrings his arms.
Thus while he fung, Ulyffes' griefs renew,
Tears bathe his cheeks, and tears the ground be-
dew;

Full where the dome its fhining valves expands, 495
Nausicaa blooming as a Goddess ftands,
With wondering eyes the hero she survey'd,
And graceful thus began the royal maid:

Hail, godlike ftranger! and when Heaven
itores

To thy fond wish thy long-expected fhores,
This ever-grateful in remembrance bear,
To me thou ow'ft, to me, the vital air.

re

O royal Maid! Ulyffes ftraight returns, Whofe worth the fplendors of thy race adorns, So may dread Jove (whofe arm in vengeance forms) 505

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As fome fond matron views in mortal fight
Her husband falling in his country's right:
Frantic through clashing fwords the runs, the flies,
As ghaftly pale he groans, and faints, and dies;
510 Close to his breast fhe grovels on the ground, 575
And bathes with floods of tears the gaping wound;
She cries, fhe fhrieks; the fierce infulting foe
Relentless mock her viclence of woe:
To chains condemn'd, as wildly fhe deplores :
A widow, and a flave on foreign fhores.
So from the fluices of Ulyffes' eyes
Faft fell the tear, and fighs fucceeded fighs:
Conceal'd he griev'd: the King obferv'd alone
The filent tear, and heard the fecret groan:
Then to the bard aloud: O cease to fing,
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Dumb be thy voice, and mute the tuneful string:
To every note his tears refponfive flow,
And his great heart heaves with tumultuous woe:
Thy lay too deeply moves: then ceafe the lay,
And o'er the banquet every heart be gay:
This focial rite demands: for him the fails,
loating in air, invite th'impelling gales:
His are the gifts of love: the wife and good
Receive the stranger as a brother's blood.

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The writhen bolt, and blackens heaven with ftorms,
Restore me safe, through weary wanderings toft,
Tomy dear country's ever-pleafing coaft,
As, while the fpirit in this bofom glows,
To thee, my Goddess, I addrefs my vows:
My life, thy gift I boaft! He faid, and fate
Faft by Alcinous on a throne of flate.
Now each partakes the feaft, the wine prepares,
Portions the food, and each his portion fhares.
The bard an herald guides: the gazing throng 515
Pay low obeisance as he moves along:
Beneath a sculptur'd arch he fits enthron'd,
The peers encircling forni an awful round.
Then, from the chine, Ulyffés carves with art
Delicious food, an honorary part;
This, let the mafter of the lyre receive,
A pledge of love! 'tis all a wretch can give.
Lives there a man beneath the fpacious kies,
Who facred honours to the bard denies?
The Muse the bard inspires, exalts his mind;
The Muse indulgent loves th'harmonious kind.
The herald to his hand the charge conveys,
Not fond of flattery, nor unpleas'd with praife.
When now the rage of hunger was allay'd,
Thus to the Lyrift wife Ulyffes faid:
Oh more than man! thy foul the Mufe infpires,
Or Phœbus animates with all his fires:
For who, by Phœbus uninform'd, could know
The woe of Greece, and fing fo well the woe?
Juft to the tale, as prefent as the fray,

Or taught the labours of the dreadful day?
The fong recalls past horrors to my eyes,
And bids proud Ilion from her ashes rife.

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Once more harmonious ftrike the founding ftring,
Th'Epæan fabric, fram'd by Pallas, fing:
How ftern Ulyffes, furious to destroy,
With latent heroes fack'd imperial Troy.
If faithful thou record the tale of Fame,
The God himself infpires thy breast with flame:
And mine fhall be the tafk, henceforth to raise 545
In every land, the monument of praife.

$90

But, friend, difcover faithful what I crave, 595
Artful concealment ill becomes the brave:
Say what thy birth, and what the name you bore,
Impos'd by parents in the natal hour?
(For from the natal hour distinctive names,
One common right, the great and lowly claims: 600
Say from what city, from what regions toft,
And what inhabitants thofe regions boaft?
So fhalt thou inftant reach the realms affign'd,
In wonderous fhips felf-mov'd, inftinct with mind;
No helm fecures their courfe, no pilot guides, 605
Like man, intelligent, they plough the tides,
Confcious of every coaft, and every bay,
That lies beneath the fun's all-feeing ray;

Though clouds, and darkness veil th' encumber'd
Ay: 610

íky,

Fearless through darkness and through clouds they

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