How prone to doubt, how cautious, are the wife! Who, vers'd in fortune, fear the flattering fhow, 315 And tafte not half the blifs the Gods heftow. The more shall Pallas aid thy just desires,

From fierce Idomeneus' revenge I flew,
Whofe fon, the fwift Orfilochus, I flew,
(With brutal force he feiz'd my Trojan prey,
Due to the toils of many a bloody day).
Unfeen l'cap'd; and, favour'd by the night,
In a Phoenician veffel took my flight,
For Pyle or Elis hound: but tempests toft
And raging billows drove us on your coaft.
In dead of night an unknown port we gain'd,
Spent with fatigue, and flept fecure on land.
But here the rofy morn renew'd the day,
While in th' embrace of pleafing fleep I lay,
Sudden, invited by aufpicious gales,
They land my goods, and hoift their flying fails.
Abandon'd here, my fortune I deplore, 325
A hapless exile on a foreign fhore.

320

Thus while he spoke, the blue-ey'd Maid began
With pleafing fmiles to view the godlike man:
Then chang'd her form and now, divinely
bright,

Jove's heavenly daughter ftood confefs'd to fight;
Like a fair virgin in her beauty's bloom,
Skill'd in th' illuftrious labours of the loom.

335

}

Oh, ftill the fame Ulyffes! the rejoin'd,
In useful craft fuccefsfully refin'd!
Artful in fpeech, in action, and in mind!
Suffic'd it not, that, thy long labours paft,
Secure thou feeft thy native shore at last?
But this to me? who, like thyself, excel
In arts of counfel, and diffembling well;
To me, whofe wit exceeds the power divine,
No less than mortals are furpafs'd by thine.
Know'st thou not me? who made thy life my
[years war:
Through ten years wandering, and through ten
Who taught thee arts, Alcinous to perfuade,
To raise his wonder, and engage his aid:
And now appear thy treasures to protect,

care,

340

345

And guard the wisdom which herself inspires.
Others, long abfent from their native place, 3801
Straight feck their home, and fly with eager
pace
[brace.
To their wives' arms, and children's dear em-.
Not thus Ulyffes: he decrees to prove
His fubjects' faith, and queen's fufpected love:
Who mourn'd her lord twice ten revolving years,
And waste the days in grief, the nights in tears.
But Pallas knew (thy friends and navy loft)
Once more 'twas given thee to behold thy coaft:
Yet how could I with adverfe Fate engage,
And mighty Neptune's unrelenting rage?
Now lift thy longing eyes, while I reitere
The pleafing profped of thy native shore :
Behold the port of Phorcys! fenc'd around
With rocky mountains, and with olives crown'd.
Behold the gloomy grot! whofe cool recess
Delights the Nereids of the neighbouring feas!
Whofe now neglected altars in thy reign
Blush'd with the blood of theep and oxen flain,
Behold! where Neritus the clouds divides,
And shakes the waving forests on his fides.

390

395

400

So fpake the Goddefs; and the profpe& clear'd,
The mifts difpers'd, and all the coaft appear'd.
The king with joy confefs'd his place of birth,
And on his knees falutes his mother earth:
Then, with his fuppliant hands upheld in air, 405
Thus to the fea-green Sifters fends his prayer:

All hail! ye virgin-daughters of the main!
Ye ftreams, beyond my hopes beheld again!
To you once more your own Ulyffes bows;
Attend his transports, and receive his vows! 410
If Jove prolong my days, and Pallas crown
The growing virtues of my youthful son,
350 To you fall rites divine be ever paid,

Conceal thy perfon, thy defigns direct, te expect.}

Domeftic woes far heavier to be borne !
The pride of fools, and flaves? infulting fcorn,
But thou be filent, nor reveal thy ftate;
Yield to the force of unrefifted fate,
And bear unmov'd the wrongs of bafe
kind,

man.

3557

The laft, and hardeft, conquest of the mind.
Goddefs of Wifdom! Ithacus replies,
He who difcerns thee mutt be truly wife,
So feldom view'd, and ever in difguife!
When the bold Argives led their warring powers,
Against proud Ilion's well-defended towers;
Ulyffes was thy care, celeftial Maid!
Grac'd with thy fight, and favour'd with thy aid.
But when the Trojan piles in afhes lay,
And bound for Greece we plough'd the watery

way;

360

365

And grateful offerings on your altars laid.

Then thus Minerva: From that anxious breaft
Difmifs thofe cares, and leave to Heaven the reft.
Our task be now thy treafur'd stores to fave,
Deep in the clofe receffes of the cave: . -
Then future means confult-fhe fpoke, and trod
The fhady grot that brighten'd with the God. 410
The clofeft caverns of the grot she fought;
The gold, the brafs, the robes, Ulyffes brought;
Thefe in the fecret gloom the chief difpof'd,
The entrance with a rock the Goddess clos'd.

Now, feated in the olive's facred fhade,
Confer the hero and the Martial Maid.
The Goddefs of the azure eyes began:
Son of Laertes! much-experienc'd man!
The fuitor-train thy earliest care demand,
Of that luxurious race to rid the land:
Three years thy houfe their lawless rule has feen,
And proud addreffes to the matchlefs queen.
But the thy abfence mourns from day to day,
And inly bleeds, and filent wastes away:
370 Elufive of the bridal hour, fhe gives
Fond hopes to all, and all with hopes deceives.
To this Ulyffes: O, celeftial maid!
Prais'd be thy counfel, and thy timely aid :

Our fleet difpers'd and driven from coast to coaft,
Thy facred prefence from that hour I loft:
Till I beheld thy radiant form once more,
And heard thy counfels on Phæacia's fhore.
But, by th' almighty author of thy race,
Tell me, oh tell! is this my native place?
For much I fear, long tracts of land and fea
Divide this coaft from diftant Ithaca ;
The fweet delufion kindly you impofe,
To foothe my hopes, and mitigate my woes.

425

430

435

Though leagued against me hundred heroes ftand,
Hundreds fhall fall, if Pallas aids my hand.

She answer'd in the dreadful day of fight
Know, I am with thee, ftrong in all my might.
If thou but equal to thyfelf be found,
What gafping numbers then fhall prefs
ground?

the

450

455

460

465

A ftag's torn hide is lapp'd around his reins;
A rugged staff his trembling hand sustains;
And at his fide a wretched fcrip was hung,
470 Wide-patch'd, and knotted to a twisted thong.
So look'd the chief, fo mov'd, to mortal eyes
Object uncouth! a man of miferies!
While Pallas, cleaving the wide field of air, 510
To Sparta flies, Telemachus her care.

Ulyffes arrives in difquife at the bouf of Eumeus, where Le is received, entertained, and lodged, with the utmost befpitality. The feveral difcourfes of that faithful old fervant, with the feigned flory told by Ul. Jes to conceal bimfelf, and other converfations on various fubjetts, take up this entire Bock.

BUT
UT he, deep-mufing, o'er the mountains fray'd
Through mazy thickets of the woodland hade,
And cavern'd ways, the craggy coaft along,
With cliffs and nodding forefts over-hung.
Eumaus at his fylvan lodge he fought,
A faithful fervant, and without a fault.
Ulyffes found him bufied, as he fate
Before the threshold of his ruftic gate;
Around the mansion in a circle fhone
A rural portico of rugged tone.

In abfence of his Lord, with honeft toil
His own indulrious hands had rais'd the pile).

Now fcarce four hundred left. Thefe to defend,
Four favage dogs, a watchful guard, attend.
Here fate Eumæus, and his cares apply'd
To form ftrong bufkins of well-feafon'd hide.
Of four affiftants who his labour share,
Three now were abfent on the rural care;
The fourth drove victims to the fuitor train;
But he, of ancient faith, a fimple fwain,
Sigh'd, while he furnish'd the luxurious board,
And weary'd Heaven with wishes for his lord.
Soon as Ulyffes near th' enclosure drew,
With open mouths the furious mafliffs flew :
Down fase the fage, and cautious to withstand,
Let fall th' offenfive truncheon from his hand.
Sudden, the mafter runs; aloud he calls;
And from his hafty hand the leather falls;
With fhowers of stones he drives them far away;
The scattering dogs around at distance bay.

95

Take with free welcome what our hands prepare,
Such food as fall to fimple fervants share;
The beft our Lords confume; thofe thoughtless peers,
Rich without bounty, guilty without fears!
35 Yet fure the Gods their impious acts deteft,

40

45

100

105

115

And honour justice and the righteous breaft.
Pirates and conquerors, of harden'd mind,
The foes of peace, and fcourges of mankind,
To whom offending men are made a prey
When Jove in vengeance gives a land away:
Even thefe, when of their ill-got spoils poffefs'd,
Find fure tormentors in the guilty breast:
Some voice of God clofe whispering from within,
"Wretch! this is vilany, and this is fin."
But thefe, no doubt, fome oracle explore,
That tells, the great Ulyffes is no more.
Hence fprings their confidence, and from our fighs
Their rapine ftrengthens, and their riots rife :
Conftant as Jove the night and day beftows,
50 Bleeds a whole hecatomb, a vintage flows.
None match'd this hero's wealth, of all who reign
O'er the fair iflands of the neighbouring main.
Nor all the monarchs whofe far-dreaded fway
The wide extended continents obey:
Fitft, on the main land, of Ulyffes' breed
Twelve herds, twelve flocks, on ocean's marginfeed;
As many italls for fhaggy goats are rear'd;
As niany lodgements for the tufky herd;
Thofe foreign keepers guard : and here are feen 125
Twelve herds of goats that graze our utmoft green:
To native paftors is their charge affign'd;
And mine the care to feed the brifly kind:
Each day the fatteft bleeds of either herd,
All to the fuitors wafteful board preferr'd.
Thus he, benevolent: his unknown gueft
With hunger keen devours the favoury feat;
While fchemes of vengeance ripen in his breaft.
Silent and thoughtful while the board he ey'd,
Eumæus pours on high the purple tide; 135
The king with fmiliig looks his joy exprel'd,
And thus the kind inviting hot addreis'd:

Unhappy ftranger! (thus the faithful fwain
Began with accent gracious and humane,)
What forrow had been mine, if at my gate
Thy reverend age had met a fhameful face!
Enough of woes already have 1 known;
Enough my mafter's forrows and my own.
While here (ungrateful task!) his herds I feed,
Ordain'd for lawless rioters to bleed;
Perhaps, fupported at another's board,
Far from his country roams my hapless lord!
Or figh'd in exile forth his lateft breath,
Now cover'd with th' eternal fhade of 'death!.
But enter this my homely roof, and fee
Our woods not void of hofpitality.
Then tell me whence thou art? and what the fhare
Of woes and wanderings thou wert born to bear?
He faid, and, feconding the kind request,
With friendly ftep precedes his unknown guest.
A fhaggy goat's foft hide hencath him fpread,
And with fresh rushes heap'd an ample bed :
Joy touch'd the hero's tender foul, to find
So juft reception from a heart fo kind:
And oh, ye Gods! with all your bleffings grace
(He thus broke forth) this friend of human race!
The fwain reply'd: It never was our guife
To flight the poor, or aught humane defpife;
For Jove unfolds our hofpitable door,
"Tis Jove that fends the stranger and the poor.
Little, alas! is all the good Ian;

60

65

120

130

Say new, what man is he, the man depler'd

75

So rich, fo potent, whom you fiyle your lord;
Late with fuch affluence and poffeffions bleit, 140
And now in honour's glory's bed at reft?

Whoever was the warrior, he must be

To fame no franger, nor perhaps to me;
Who (fo the Gods, ard fo the Fates ordain'd)

A man opprefs'd, dependent, yet a man:
Accept fuch treatment as a fwain affords,
Slave to the infolence of youthful lords!
Far hence is by unequal Gods remov'd
That man of bounties, loving and belov'd!
To whom whate'er his flave enjoys is ow'd,
And more, had Fate allow'd, had been bestow'd;
But Fate condemns him to a foreign there;
Much have I forrow'd, but my niafter more.
Now cold he lies, to death's embrace refign'd:
Ah, perish Helen! perifh all her kind!
For whofe curs'd caufe, in Agamemnon's name,
He trod fo fatally the paths of Fame.

His veft fnccine then girding round his waift,
Forth rush'd the fwain with hofpitable hafte,
Straight to the logements of his herd he run,
Where the fat porkers fept beneath the fun;

80

85

wo, his cutias launch'd the fpouting blood; Thele quarter'd, îng'd, and fix'd on forks of wood,

Have wander'd many a fea, and many a land. 145
Small is the faith, the prince and queen afcribe.
(Reply'd tumæus) to the wandering tribe.
For needy ttrangers ftill to flattery fly,
And want too oft betrays the tongue to lie.
Each vagrant traveller that touches here,
Deludes, with fallacies the royal ear,
To dear remembrance makes his image rife
And calls the fpringing forrows from her eyes.

159

165

Such thou may't be. But he whofe name you
Moulders in earth, or welters on the wave, crave
Or food for fish or dogs his relicks liv, ́
Or torn by birds are fcatter'd through the sky.
So perish'd he and left-(for ever loft)
Much woe to all, but fure to me the most.
So mild a mafter never shall find;
Lefs dear the parents whom I left behind,
Lefsfoft my mother, lefs my father kind.
Not with fuch transport would my eyes run o'er,
Again to hail them in their native fhore;
As lov'd Ulyffes once more to embrace,
Reftor'd and breathing in his natal place.
That name for ever read, yet ever dear, d
Even in his abfence I pronounce with fear:
In my refpect, he bears a prince's part;
But lives a very brother in my heart.

165

170

Thus fpoke the faithful fwain; and thus rejoin'd

175

180

The mafter of his grief, the man of patient mind:
Ulyffes, friend full view his old abodes
(Difcruftful as thou art); nor doubt the Gods.
Nor speak I rafhly, but with faith aveir'd,
And what I speak, attefting Heaven has heard.
If so, a cloke and vesture be my meed :
Till his return, no title shall I plead,
Tho' certain be my news, and great my need.
Whom want itself can force untruths to tell,
My foul detefts him as the gates of hell.
Thou first be witnefs, hofpitable Jove!
And every God infpiring focial love;
And witnefs every household power that waits
Guards of thefe fires, and angel of thefe gates! 185
Ere the next moun increase, or this decay,
His ancient realms Ulyffes fhall furvey,
In blood and dust each proud oppreffor mourn,
And the loft glories of his houfe return.

230

235

240

245 }

250

255

From facred Crete, and from a fire of fame:
Caftor Hylacides that name he bore)
Belov'd and honour'd in his native race:
Bleft in his riches, in his children more.
Sprung from a handmaid, from a bought embrace.
har'd his kindnefs with his lawful race:
But when that fate, which all must undergo,
From earth remov'd him to the fhades below;
The large domain his greedy fons divide,
And each was portion'd as the lots decide.
Little, alas! was left my wretched fhare,
Except a house, a covert from the air:
But what by niggard fortune was denied,
A willing widow's copious wealth fupplied,
My valour was my plea, a gallant mind
That, true to honour, never lagg'd behind 245
(The fex is ever to a foldier kind).
Now wafting years my former ftrength confound,
And added woes have bow'd me to the ground;
Yet by the flubble you may guess the grain,
And mark the ruins of no vulgar man.
Me, Pallas gave to lead the martial storm,
And the fair ranks of battle to deform:
Me, Mars infpir'd to turn the foe to flight,
And tempt the fecret ambush of the night.
Let ghaftly death in all his forms appear,
I faw him not, it was not mine to fear.
Before the reft I rais'd my ready fteel;
The first I met, he yielded, or he fell.
But works of peace my foul difdain'd to bear,
The rural labour, or domeftic care.
To raife the maft, the miffile dart to wing,
And send swift arrows from the bounding string,
Were arts the Gods made grateful to my mind:
Thofe Gods, who turn (to various ends defign'd,
The various thoughts and talents of mankind.
Before the Grecians touch'd the Trojan plain,
Nine times commander or by land or main,
In foreign fields 1 fpread my glory far,
Great in the praife, rich in the fpoils of war:
Thence charg'd with riches as increas'd in fame, 270
To Crete return'd, an honourable name.
But when great Jove that direful war decreed,
Which rous'd all Greece, and made the mighty
Our ftates myself and Idomen employ
To lead their fleets, and carry death to Troy. 275
21c Nine years we warr'd; the tenth faw Ilion fall;
Homeward we fail'd, but Heaven difpers'd us all.
One only month my wife enjoy'd my ftay;
So will'd the God who gives and takes away.
Nine fhips I mann'd, equipp'd with ready ftores, 280
Intent to voyage to th' Ægyptian fhores;
In feaft and facrifice my chofen train
Six days confum'd; the feventh we plough'd the
Crete's ample fields diminish to our eye;
Before the Boreal blasts the vessels fly;

200

Nor shall that meed be thine, nor ever more 190
Shall lov'd'Ulyffes hail this happy fhore
(Replied Eumæus): to the prefent hour
Now turn thy thoughts, and joys within our
From fad reflection let my foul repofe : [power.
The name of him awakes a thoufand woes. 195.
But guard him, Gods! and to these arms reftore!
Not his true confort can defire him more;
Not old Laertes, broken with defpair:
Not young Telemachus, his blooming heir.
Alas, Telemachus! my forrows flow
Afresh for thee, my second cause of woe!
Like fome fair plant fet by a heavenly hand,
He grew, he flourish'd, and he bleft the land;
In all the youth the father's image fhin'd,
Bright in his perfon, brighter in his mind.
What man, or God, deceiv'd his better sense,
Far on the fwelling feas to wander hence?
To diftant Pylos hapless is he gone,
To feck his father's fate and find his own!
For traitors wait his way, with dire defign
To end at once the great Arcefian line.
But let us leave him to their wills above;
The fates of men are in the hand of Jove.
And now, my venerable guest! declare
Your name, your parents, and your native air. 215
Sincere from whence begun your course relate,
And to what ship I owe the friendly freight?
Thus he and thus (with prompt invention
The cautious chief his ready flory told:

205

bold)

260

[bleed;

[main.

285

The monarch's fon a fhipwreck'd wretch reliev'd, The fire with hofpitable rites receiv'd, And in his palace like a brother plac'd, With gifts of price and gorgeous garments grac'd. 290 While here I fojourn'd, oft I heard the fame How late Ulyffes to the country came,

The ship arriv'd: forth ifling on the fand They fought repaft; while to th' unhappy kind, The pitying Gods themselves my chains unbind. Soft I defcended, to the fea applied My naked breast, and fhot along the tide. Soon pafs'd beyond their fight, I left the flood, And took the fpreading shelter of the wood. Their prize efcap'd the faithlefs pirates mourn'd; 325 But deem'd inquiry vain, and to their fhip re390 Screen'd by protecting Gods from hoftile eyes, They led me to a good man and a wife,

To live beneath thy hofpitable care,

And wait the woes Heaven dooms me yet to bear. Unhappy guest! whofe forrows touch my mind! (Thus good Eumæus with a figh rejoin'd) For real fufferings fince I grieve fincere," pre-Check not with fallacies the springing tear; Nor turn the pallion into groundless joy