255

Learn courage hence! and in my care confide:
Lo! ftill the fame Ulyffes is your guide!
Attend my words! your oars inceffant ply;
Strain every nerve, and bid the veffel fly.
If from yon juftling rocks and wavy war
Jove fafety grants; he grants it to your care.
And thou whofe guiding nand directs our way,
Pilot, attentive liften and obey! waves 260
Bear wide thy course, nor plough thofe angry
Where rolls yon fmoke, yon tumbling ocean raves;
Steer'd by the higher rock; left whirl'd around
We fink, beneath the circling eddy drown'd.
While yet I fpeak, at once their oars they feize,
Stretch to the ftroke; and brush the working feas.
Cautious the name of Scylla fuppreft;
That dreadful found had chill'd the boldeft breaft.
Mean time forgetful of the voice divine,
All dreadful bright my limbs in armour shine;
High on the deck I take my dangerous ftand,
Two glittering javelins lighten in my hand.
Prepar'd to whirl the whizzing fpear I stay,
Till the fell fiend arife to feize her prey.
Around the dungeon, ftudious to behold
The hideous peft! my labouring eyes I roll'd; 275
In vain the difmai dungeon dark as night
Veils the dire monster, and confounds the fight.
Now through the rocks, appall'd with deep dif-
may,

There facred to the radiant God of day,
Graze the fair herds, the flocks promiscuous ftray;
Then fuddenly was heard along the main
To low the ox, to bleat the wholly train, [vey'd 320
Straight to my anxions thoughts the found con-
The words of Circe and the Theban fhade;
Warn'd by their awful voice thefe fhores to fhun,
With cautious fears oppreft, I thus begun :

O friends! Oh ever exercis'd in care!
Hear Heaven's commands, and reverence what ye
hear!
325

330

To fly thefe fhores the prefcient Theban fhade
And Circe warns! O be their voice obey'd:
Some mighty woe relentless Heaven forbodes:
Fly the dire regions, and revere the Gods!
While yet I fpoke, a sudden forrow ran
Through every breaft, and fpread from man to
Till wrathful thus Eurylochus began : [man,
270 O cruel thou! fome fury fure has steel'd
That stubborn foul, by toil untaught to yield!
From flecp debarr'd, we fink from woes to woes:
And cruel envieft thou a fhort repofe?
Still must we reftlefs rove, new feas explore,
The fun defcending, and fo near the fhore?
And, lo! the night begins her gloomy reign,
And doubles all the terrors of the main.
Oft in the dead of night lond winds arise,
Lafh the wild furge, and blufter in the skies;
Oh! fhould the fierce fouth-weft his rage difplay,
And tofs with rifing ftorms the watery way,
Though Gods defcend from Heaven's aerial plain
To lend ns aid, the Gods defcend in vain :
Then while the night difplays her awful shade,
Sweet time of flumber : be the night obey'd?
Hafte ye to land! and when the morning ray
Sheds her bright beam, purfue the deftin'd way.350
A fudden joy in every bofom rofe :
So will'd fome demon, minifter of woes;

280

285

We bend our, courfe, and ftem the defperate way;
Dire Scylla there a fcene of horror forms,
And here Charybdis fills the deep with storms.
When the tide rufhes from her rumbling caves
The rough rock roars; tumultuous boil the waves;
They tofs, they foam, a wild confufion raife,
Like waters bubbling o'er the fiery blaze;
Eternal mifts obfcure th' aerial plain,
And high above the rock the fpouts the main!
When in her gulfs the rushing fea fubfides,
She drains the ocean with the refluent tides:
The rock rebellows with a thundering found; 290
Deep, wondrous deep below, appears the ground.
Struck with defpair, with trembling hearts we
view'd

The yawning dungeon, and the tumbling flood:
When, lo! fierce Scylla ftoop'd to feize her prey,
Stretch'd her dire jaws, and fwept fix men away;
Chiefs of renown! loud echoing fhrieks arife:
I turn and view them quivering in the skies;
They call, and aid with out-ftretch'd arms im-
plore:

In vain they call; thofe arms are ftretch'd no more.
As from fome rock that over-hangs the flood, 300
The filent fisher calls th' infidious food,
With fraudful care he waits the finny prize,
And fudden lifts it quivering to the skies:
So the foul monster lifts her prey on high,
So pant the wretches, ftruggling in the sky;
In the wide dungeon fhe devours her food,
And the flesh trembles while the churns the blood.
Worn as I am with griefs, with care decay'd;
Never, I never, fcene fo dire furvey'd;
My fhivering blood, congeal'd, forgot to flow; 310
Aghaft I ftood, a monument of woe!

Now from the rocks the rapid vessel flies,
And the hoarfe din like diftant thunder dies;
To Sol's bright ifle our voyage we purfue,

305

340

355

To whom with grief-Oh! fwift to be undone,
Constrain'd I act what wifdom bids me fhun,
But yonder herds and yonder flocks forbear;
Atteft the heavens, and call the Gods to hear:
Content an innocent repatt difplay,
By Circe given, and fly the dangerous prey.

360

Thus I and while to fhore the veffel flies,
With hands uplifted they attest the skies;
Then, where a fountains gurgling waters play,
They rush to land, and end in feasts the day:
They feed; they quaff; and now (their hunger
fed)

Sigh for their friends devour'd, and mourn the dead.
Nor ceafe the tears, till each in flumber shares 265
A fweet forgetfulnefs of human cares.

Now far the night advanc'd her gloomy reign,
And fetting fars roll'd down the azure plain,
When, at the voice of Jove, wild whirlwinds rife,
And clouds and double darkness veil the fkies; 370
The moon, the stars, the bright æthereal hoft
Seem as extinct, and all their fplendors loft;
The furious tempeft roars with dreadful found:
Air thunders, rolls the ocean, groans the ground.
All night it rag'd: when morning rofe, to land 375
We haul' our bark, and moor'd it on the strand,
Where in a beauteous grotto's cool reces
Dance the green Nereids of the neighbouring feas.
There while the wild winds whistled o'er the

And now the glittering mountains rife to view. 315 Thus careful I addreft the listening train :[main, 380

O friends, be wife, nor dare the flocks destroy
Of these fair paftures: if ye touch, ye die.
Warn'd by the high command of Heaven, be aw'd;
Holy the flocks, and dreadful is the God!
That God who fpreads the radiant beams of light,
And views wide earth and heaven's unmeasur'd
height.
386
And now the moon had run her monthly round,
The fouth-east blustering with a dreadful found;
Unhurt the beeves, untouch'd the woolly train
Low through the.grove, or range the flowery plain:
Then fail'd our food; then fish we make our prey,
Or fowl that screaming hunt the watery way.
Till now, from fea or flood no fuccour found,
Famine and meagre, want befieg'd us round.
Penfive and pale from grove to grove I ftray'd, 395
From the loud ftorms to find a fylvan fhade;
Therc o'er my hands the living wave 1 pour ;
And Heaven and Heaven's immortal thrones a-
dore,

To calm the roarings of the ftormy main,
And grant me peaceful to my realnis again.
Then o'er my eyes the Gods foft flumber shed,
While thus Eurylochus arifing faid;

400

405

O friends, a thousand ways frail mortals lead
To the cold tomb, and dreadful all to tread;
But dreadful most, when by a flow decay
Pale hunger wastes the manly ftrength away.
Why ceafe ye then t' implore the Powers above,
And offer hecatombs to thundering Jove!
Why feize ye not yon beeves, and fleecy prey?
Arife unanimoys; arife and flay!
And, if the Gods ordain a safe return.
To Phabus fhrines fhall rife, and altars burn.
But, fhould the Powers that o'er mankind
fide

Decree to plunge us in the whelming tide,
Better to rush at once to fhades below,
Than linger life away, and nourish woe!

410

pre

415

420

Thus he the beeves around fecurely ftray,
When fwift to ruin they invade the prey;
They feize, they kill!-but for the rite divine,
The barley fail'd, and for libations wine.
Swift from the oak they trip the shady pride;
And verdant leaves the flowery cake fupply'd.
With prayer they now addrefs th' ætherial train,
Slay the felected beeves, and flay the flain :
The thighs, with fat involv'd, divide with art, 425
Strew'd o'er with mortals cut from every part.
Water, inftead of wine, is brought in urns,
And pour'd profanely as the victim burns.
The thighs thus offer'd, and the entrails dreft,
They roaft the fragments, and prepare the feat. 430
'Twas then foft lumber filed my troubled brain;
Back to the bark I speed along the main.
When, lo! an odour from the feast exhales,
Spreads o'er the coaft, and fcents the tainted gales:
A chilly fear congeal'd my vital blood,
And thus obtefting Heaven I mourn'd aloud:

435

440

O Sire of men and gods, immortal Jove!
Oh, all ye blissful Powers that reign above!
Why were my cares beguil'd in short repose?
O fatal flumber paid with lafting woes:
A deed fa dreadful all the Gods alarms,
Vengeance is on the wing, and Heaven in arms!
Mean time Lampetie mounts th' aerial way,
And kindles into rage the God of Day;

Six guilty days my wretched mates employ
In impious feafting, and unhallow'd joy;
The feventh arofe, and now the Sire of Gods
Rein'd the rough ftorms, and calm'd the toffing
floods :
With speed the bark we climb; the fpacious fails
Loos'd from the yards invite th' impelling gales.
Paft fight of fhore, along the furge we bound,
And all above is sky, and ocean all around!
When, lo! a murky cloud the Thunderer forms
Full o'er our heads, and blackens heaven with
forms.

485

Night dwells o'er all the deep and now outflies
The gloomy Weft, and whiftles in the skies.
The mountain-billows roar! the furious blaft
Howls o'er the shroud, and rends it from the maft:
The maft gives way and, crackling as it bends,
Tears up the deck; then all at once descends;
The pilot by the tumbling ruin flain,
Dash'd from the helm, falls headlong in the main.
Then Jove in ang r bids his thunders roll,
And forky lightnings flash from pole to pole.
Fierce at our heads his deadly bolt he aims,
Red with uncommon wrath, and wrapt in flames:
Full on the bark it fell; now high now low :
Tofs'd and retofs'd, it reel'd beneath the blow; 490
At once into the main the crew it fhook:
Sulphureous odours rose, and smouldering smoke.
Like fowl that haunt the floods, they fink, they
rife,
[cries;
Now loft, now feen, with fhrieks and dreadful
And strive to gain the bark; but Jove denies.
Firm at the helm I ftand, when fierce the main
Rush'd with dire noife, and dafh'd the fides in
Again impetuous drove the furious biaft, [twain;
Snap the ftrong helm, and bore to fea the mat.
Firm to the maft with cords the helm I bind, 500
And ride aloft, to Providence refign'd,
Through tumbling billows, and a war of wind.

J.

Now funk the Weft, and now a Southern breeze | Charybdis rumbling from her inmoft caves,

More dreadful than the tempest, lash'd the feas;
For on the rocks it bore where Scylla raves,
And dire Charybdis rolls her thundering waves.
All night I drove; and at the dawn of day,
Faft by the rocks beheld the defperate way:
Juft when the fea within her gulfs fubfides,
And in the roaring whirlpools rufh the tides,
Swift from the float I vaulted with a bound,
The lofty fig-tree feiz'd, and clung around.
So to the beam the hat tenacious clings,
And pendant round it clafps his leathern wings.
High in the air the tree its boughs difplay'd,
And o'er the dungeon caft a dreadful shade,
All unfuftain'd between the wave and sky,
Beneath my feet the whirling billows fly,
What-time the judge forfakes the noify bar
To take repaft, and ftills the wordy war;

The maft refunded on her refluent waves.
Swift from the tree, the floating maft to gain,
Sudden I dropt amicft the flashing main;
Once more undaunted on the ruin rode,
And oar'd with labouring arms along the flood.
Unfeen I pafs'd by Scylla's dire abodes:
So Jove decreed (dread Sire of men and gods).
Then nine long days I plough'd the calmer feas,
Heav'd by the furge, and wafted by the breeze.
Weary and wet th' Ogygian fhores I gain,
When the tenth fun defcended to the main.
There, in Calypfo's ever-fragrant bowers,
Refresh'd lay, and joy beguil'd the hours.

My following fates to thee, O King, are known,
And the bright partner of thy royal throne.
Enough in mifery can words avail?
And what fo tedious as a twice told tale è

BOOK XIII.

THE ARGUMENT.

The Arrival of Ulysses in Ithacâ.

Ulyffes takes bis leave of Alcinous and Arete, and embarks in the evening. Next morning the fbip arrives at Itbaca; where the failors, as Ulyffes is yet fleeping, lay him on the foore with all bis treasures. On their return, Neptune changes their fhip into a rock. In the mean time Ulyffes, awaking, knows not his native Ithaca, by reafon of a mift which Pallas bad caft round him. He breaks into loud lamentations; till the Goddefs, appearing to bim in the form of a fhepherd, discovers the country to bim, and points out the particular places. He then tells a feigned ftory of his adventures, upon which he manifefts berfelf, and they confult together of the measures to be taken to defroy the fustors. To conceal bis return, and disguise his perfon the more effectually, fhe changes bim into the figure of an old beggar.

[E ceas'd; but fo pleafing on their car

victim ox beneath the facred hand

HHis voice, that liftning till they feem'd to hear. Of great Alcinous falls, and fains the fand.

5

A paufe of filence hush'd the shady rooms:
The grateful conference then the king refumes:
Whatever toils the great Ulyffes paft,
Beneath this happy roof they end at last ;
No longer now from fhore to fhore to roam,
Smooth feas and gentle winds invite him home.
But hear me, princes! whom there walls enclose,
For whom my chanter fings, and goblet flows
With wines unmix'd (an honour due to age,
To cheer the grave, and warm the poet's rage);
Though labour'd gold and many a dazzling weft
Lie heap'd already for our godlike gueft;
Without new treafures let him not remove,
Large, and expreffive of the public love:
Each peer a tripod, each peer & vafe beftow,
A general tribute, which the state shall owe.
This fentence pleas'd: then all their steps addreft
To feparate manlions, and retir'd to rest.

Now did the rofy-finger'd morn arise,
And shed her facred light along th fkies.
Down to the haven and the fhips in hafte
They bore the treafures, and in fafety plac'd.
The king himself the vafes rang'd with care:
Then bade his followers to the feast repair.

15

25

To Jove th' Eternal (Power above all Powers! Who wings the winds, and darkens Heaven with fhowers)

30

35

The fla nes afcend: till evening they prolong
Thy rites, more facred made by heavenly song
For in the midft, with public honours grac'd,
The lyre divine, Demodocus! was plac'd;
All, but Ulyffes, heard with fix'd delight:
He fate, and ey'd the fun, and wifh'd the night;
Slow feem'd the fun to move, the hours to roll,
His native home deep-imag'd in his foul.
As the tir'd ploughman spent with stubborn toil,
Whofe oxen long have torn the furrow'd foil, 40
Sees with delight the fun's declining ray,
When home with feeble knees he bends his way
To late repaft (the day's labour done):
So to Ulyffes welcome fet the fun.
Then inftant to Alcinous and the reft
(The Scherian ftates; he turn'd, and thus addreft
O thou, the first in merit and command!
And you the peers and princes of the land!
May every joy be yours! nor this the leaft,
When due libation shall have crown'd the feaft,
Safe to my home to send your happy guest.

Complete are now the bounties you have given,
Be all thofe bounties but confirm'd by Heaven!
So may I find, when all my wanderings ceafe,
My confort blamelefs, and my friends in peace. 55,
On you be every blifs; and every day,
In home felt juys delighted, roll away :
Yourselves, your wives, your long-defcending

race,

May every God enrich with every grace!
Sure fix'd on virtue may your nation ftand,
And public evil never touch the land!

His words, well-weigh'd, the general voice
prov'd

Benign, and inftant his difmillion mov'd.
The monarch to Pontonous gave the fign,
To fill the goblet high with rofy wine:
Great Jove the Father firit (he cry'd) implore;
Then fend the stranger to his native fhore.

60

120

Far from the town a fpacious port appears,
Sacred to Phorcys' power, whofe naine it bears:
Two craggy rocks projecting to the main,
The roaring wind's tempeftuous rage restrain;
Within, the waves in fofter murmurs glide,
And fhips fecure without their halfers ride;
High at the head a branching olive grows,
And crowns the pointed cliffs with shady boughs.
Beneath, a gloomy grotto's cool recefs

Delights the Nereids of the neighbouring feas, 125 Where bowls and urns were form'd of living stone, ap-And-mafly beams in native marble fhone;

The luscious wine th' obedient herald brought;
Around the manfion flow'd the purple draught;
Each from his feat to each immortal pours,
Whom glory circles in th' Olympian bowers.
Ulyffes fole with air majeflic ftands,
The bowl prefenting to Arete's hauds;
Then thus: O Queen, farewell! be still poffeft
Of dear remembrance, bleffing still and bleft!
Till age and death fhall gently call thee hence,
(Sure fate of every mortal excellence!)
Farewell! and joys fucceffive ever spring
To thee, to thine, the people, and the king!
Thus he; then parting prints the fandy fhore
To the fair port: a herald march'd before,
Sent by Alcinous; of Arete's train

Three chofen maids attend him to the main;
This does a tunic and white veft convey,
A various cafket that, of rich inlay,

65

70

75

130

On which the labours of the nymph were roll'd,
Their webs divine of purple mix'd with gold.
Within the cave the clustering bees attend
Their waxen works, or from the roof depend,
Perpetual waters o'er the pavement glide;
Two marble doors unfold on either fide;
Sacred the fouth, by which the Gods defcend;
But mortals enter at the northern end.
Thither they bent, and haul'd their ship to

land;

135

140

(The crooked keel divides the yellow fand);
Ulyffes fleeping on his couch they bore,
And gently plac'd him on the rocky shore.
His treasures next, Alcinous' gifts, they laid
In the wild olive's unfrequented fhade,
Secure from theft: then launch'd the bark again,
Refun'd their oars, and measur'd back the main.
Nor yet forgot old Ocean's dread fupreme
80 The vengeance vow'd for eyelefs Polypheme. 145
Before the throne of mighty Jove he stood;
And fought the fecret counfels of the God:

85

And bread and wine the third. The cheerful

mates

Safe in the hollow poop difpofe the cates :
Upon the deck foft painted robes they spread,
With linen cover'd for the hero's bed.
He climb'd the lofty ftern! then gently preft
The fwelling couch, and lay compos'd to reft.

Shall then no more, O Sire of Gods, he aine
The rights and honours of a Power divine?
Scorn'd ev'n by man, and (oh! fevere difgrace!)
By foft Phæacians, my degenerate race!
Against yon destin'd head in vain I fwore,
And menac'd vengeance, ere he reach'd his hore:
To reach his natal fhore was thy decree;
Mild I obey'd, for who fhall war with thee? 155
90 Behold him landed, careless and asleep,

Now plac'd in order, the Phaacian train
Their cables loofe, and launch into the main :
At once they bend, and strike their equal oars,
And leave the finking hills, and leffening fhores. 95
While on the deck the chief in filence lies,
And pleafing flumbers steal upon his eyes.
As fiery courfers in the rapid race
Urg'd by fierce drivers through the dusty space,
Tofs their high heads, and scour along the plain; 100
So mounts the bounding veffel o'er the main.
Back to the ftern the parted billows flow,
And the black ocean foams and roars below.
Thus with spread fails the winged galley flies;
Lefs fwift an eagle cuts the liquid ikies;
Divine Ulyffes was her facred load,
A man, in wisdom equal to a God!
Much danger, long and mighty toils, he bore,
In ftorms by fea, and combats on the fhore:
All which foft fleep now banish'd from his breast,
Wrapt in a pleafing, deep, and death-like reft.

105

But when the morning star with early ray
Flam'd in the front of heaven, and promis'd day;
Like diftant clouds the mariner defcries
Fair Ithaca's emerging hills arife.

160

From all th' eluded dangers of the deep!
Lo! where he lies, amidft a fhining ftore
Of brafs, rich garments, and refulgent ore:
And bears triumphant to his native ifle
A prize more worth than Ilion's noble spoil.
To whom the Father of ta' immortal Powers,
Who fwells the clouds, and gladdens earth with

showers :

Can mighty Neptune thus of man complain !"
Neptune, tremendous o'er the boundless main! 16g
Rever'd and awful ev'n in heaven's abodes,
Ancient and great! a God above the Gods!
If that low race offend thy power divine,
(Weak, daring creatures!) is not vengeance thine?
Go then, the guilty at thy will chastile.
He faid: the Shaker of the earth replies :
This then I doom; to fix the gallant ship
A mark vengeance on the fable deep:
To warn the thoughtlefs felf-confiding train,
No more unlicens'd thus to brave the main.
Full in their port a fhady hill shall rise.

115

The fwarming people hail their ship to land,

180

rock

185

195

How mov'd with wrath, that carelefs we convey
Promiscuous every guest to every bay,
Stern Neptune rag'd; and how by his command

2. Firm rooted in the furge a fhip should stand
(A monument of wrath); and mound on mound
Should hide our walls, or whelm beneath
ground.

the

205

210

The Fates have follow'd as declar'd the feer.
Be humbled, nations! and your monarch hear.
No more unlicens'd brave the deeps, no more
With every stranger pass from shore to fhore;
On angry Neptune now for mercy call:
To his high name let twelve black oxen fall.
So may the God reverse his purpos'd will,
Nor o'er our city hang the dreadful hill.
The monarch fpoke: they trembled and obey'd:
Forth on the fands the victim oxen led:
The gather'd tribes before the altar ftand,
And chiefs and rulers, a majestic band.

The King of Ocean all the tribes implore;
The blazing altars redden all the shore.
Meanwhile Ulyffes in his country lay,

215

22C

Releas'd from fleep, and round him might survey
The folitary fhore, and rolling fea.

Yet had his mind through tedious abfence loft
The dear remembrance of his native coast;

225

Now all the land another prospect bore,
Another port appear'd, another thore,
And long-continued ways, and winding floods,
And unknown mountains, crown'd with unknown
Penfive and flow with fudden grief opprett [woods.
The king arose, and beat his careful breast,
Caft a long look o'er all the coaft and main,
And fought around, his native realm in vain :
Then with erected eyes ftcod fix'd in woe,
And, as he spoke, the tears beg in to flow:

Ye Gods! he cry'd, upon what barren coast,
In what new region, is Ulyffes tot?"
Poffefs'd by wild barbarians, fierce in arms?
Or men whose bofom tender pity warms?