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The gate oppos'd pellucid valves adorn,
And columns fair incas'd with polifh'd horn:

My mind, reflective, in a thorny maze
Devious from care to care inceffant strays.
Now, wavering doubt fucceeds to long despair; 615 Where images of truth for paflage wait,

Shall I my virgin nuptial-vow revere;
And, joining to my fon's my menial train,
Partake his councils, and aflift his reign!
Or, fince, mature in manhood, he deplores
His dome difhonour'd, and exhausted stores;
Shall 1, reluctant, to his will accord;

And from the peers felect the noblect lord?
So by my choice-avow'd, at length decide
Thefe wasteful love-debates, a mourning bride!
A vifionary thought I'll now relate;
Illuftrate, if you know, the fhadow'd fate:

With vifions manifest of future fate.
Not to this troop, I fear, that phantom foar'd,
Which fpoke Ulyffes to his realm reftor'd:
Delufive femblance!--but my remnant life
620 Heaven fhall determine in a gameful ftrife:
With that fam'd bow Ulyffes taught to bend,
For me the rival archers fhall contend.
As on the listed field he us'd to place
Six beams, oppos'd to fix in equal space :
Elanc'd afar by his unering art,

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A team of twenty geefe (a fnow-white train!)
Fed near the limpid lake with golden grain,
Amufe my penfive hours. The bird of Jove
Fierce from his mountain-eyrie downward drove :
Each favourite fowl he pounc'd with deathful fway,
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 fympathy to foothe my foul,
A troop of matrons, fancy form'd, condole.
But whilft with grief and rage my bofom burn'd,
Sudden the tyrant of the fkies return'd:
Perch'd on the battlements, he thus began :
(In form an eagle, but in voice a man.)
O Queen! no vulgar vifion of the sky
I come, prophetic of approaching joy!
View in this plumy form thy victor lord;
The geefe (a glutton race) by thee deplor'd,
Portend the fuitors fated to my sword.
This faid, the pleafing feather'd omen ceas'd
When, from the downy bands of fleep releas'd,
Faft by the limpid lake my fwan-like train
I found, infatiate of the golden grain.

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The vifion felf-explain'd (the chief replies)
Sincere reveals the fanction of the fkies:
Ulyffes fpeaks his own return decreed;
And by his fword the fuitors fure to bleed.

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Sure through fix circlets flew the whizzing dart.
So, when the fun reftores the purple day,
Their ftrength and skill the fuitors fhall affay: 675
To him the fpoufal honour is decreed,
Who through the rings directs the feather'd reed.
Torn from thefe walis (where long and kinder
[hours!)
With pomp and joy have wing'd my youthful
On this poor breast no dawn of blifs fhall beam;680"
The pleafureaft fupplies a copious theme
For many a dreary thought, and many a doleful
dream!

Powers

Propose the sportive lot (the chief replies) Nor dread to name yourself the bowyer's prize : 640 Ulyffes will furprife th' unfinish'd game Avow'd, and falfify the fuitor's claim.

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To whom, with grace forene, the queen rejoin'd:
In all thy fpeech, what pleafing force I find!
O'er my fufpended woe thy words prevail,
I part reluctant from the pleafing tale.
But Heaven, that knows what all terrestrial need,
Repofe to night, and toil to day decreed:
Grateful viciffitude! yet me withdrawn,
Wakeful to weep and watch the tardy dawn
650 Eftablifh'd'ufe enjoins; to reft and joy
Eftrang'd, fince dear Ulyffes fail'd to Troy!
Mean time inftructed is the menial tribe
Your couch to fashion as yourfeif prescribe.

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Thus affable, her bower the queen afcends;
The fovereign-step a beauteous train attends; 700
There imag'd to her foul Ulyffes rofe;

Down her pale cheek new ftreaming forrow flows :
Till foft oblivious fhade Minerva spread,

And o'er her eyes ambrofial flumber shed.

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While Ulyffes lies in the veftibule of the palace, he is witness to the diforders of the women. Minerva comforts bim, and cafts bim ofleep. At bis waking he defires a favourable fign from Jupiter, which is granted. The feaft of Apollo is celebrated by the people, and the fuitors banquet in the palace. Telemachus exerts his authority among them, notwithstanding which, Ulyffes is infulted by Ctefippus, and the reft continue in their exceffes. Strange prodigies are feen by Theoclymenus the argur, who explains them to the deftruction of the wesers.

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As thus pavillion'd in the porch he lay Scenes of lew'd loves his wakeful eyes furvey; 10 Whilft to nocturnal joys impure repair, With wanton glee, the proftituted fair. His heart with rage this new difhonour stung, Wavering his thought in dubious balance hung! Or, infaut fhould he quench the guilty flame 15 With their own blood, and intercept the shame; Or to their luft indulge a laft embrace, And let the peers confummate the difgrace; Round his swoln heart the murmurous fury rolls; As o'er her young the mother-maftiff growls, 20 And bays the ftranger-groom: fo wrath comprefs'd, Recoiling, mutter'd thunder in his breaft. Poor fuffering heart! he cried, fupport the pain Of wounded honour, and thy rage reftrain, Not fiercer woes thy 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.

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And hovering o'er his head in view confeîs'd, 40 The Goddefs thus her favourite care addrefs'd:

O thou, of mortals most inur'd to woes! Why roli thofe eyes unfriended of repofe? Beneath thy palace-roof forget thy care; Blefs'd in thy queen! blefs'd in thy blooming heir! Whom, to the Gods when fuppliant fathers bow, They name the ftandard of their dearest vow, Juft is thy kind reproach (the chief rejoin'd ) ; Deeds full of fate di tra my various mind In contemplation wrapp'd. This hoftile crew 50 What fingle arm hath prowefs to fubdue ? Or it, by Jove's and thy auxiliar aid,

They're doom'd to bleed; Oh! fay, celestial Maid: Where fhall Ulyffes fun, or how fuftain, Nations embattled to revenge the flain?

Oh, impotence of faith! Minerva cries,

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She ceas'd. Ambrofial fumbers feal his eyes;
His care diffolves in vit onary joys:

The Goddef, pleas'd, regains her natal kies.
Not fo the queen: the downy bands of fleep 70
By grief relax'd, fee wak'd again to weep:
A gloomy paufe enfued e' dumb despair :
Then thus her fate invok'd, with fervent prayer:
Diana! fpeed thy deathful ebon dart,

And cure the pangs of this convultive heart. 75
Snatch me, ye whirlwinds! far from human race,
Tois'd through the void illimitable space :
Cr, if difmounted from the rapid cloud,
Me with his whelming wave let Ocean froud,
So, Pandarus, thy hopes, three orphan-fair, 80
Were doom'd to wander through the devious air;
Thyfelf untimely, and thy confort dy'd,
But four celefuals both your cares supply'd.
Venus in tender delicacy rears

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With honey, mil, and wine, their infant years:
Imperial Juno to their youth affign'd
A form majeftic, and fagacious mind:
With fhapely growth Diana grac'd the bloom;
And Pallas taught the texture of the loom.
But whilft, to learn their lots in nuptial love, go
Brightytherea fought the bower of jove
(The God fupreme, to whofe eternal eye

The registers of Fate expanded lie ;)

Wing'dharpies fi atch'd th'unguarded charge away,
And to the Furies bere a grateful prey.

Be fuch my lot! Cr thou, Diana, fpeed
Thy fhaft, and fend me joyful to the dead;
To feek my lord a nong the warrior-train,
Ere fecond vows my bridal faith profane.
When woes the waking fenfe alone atail
Whilft night exte..ds her foft oblivious veil,
Of other wretches care the torture ends;
No truce the warfare of my heart fufpends!
The night renews the day-distracting theme,
And airy terrors fable every dream.
The laft alone a kind illufion wrought,
Ard to my bed my lov'd Ulyffes brought.
In manly bloom, and each maicftic grace,
As when for Troy he left my fond embrace;
Such raptures in my beati: g bofom rife,
I deem it fure a vit on of the flies.

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Thus, whilft Aurora mounts her purple throne, In audible laments the breaths her moan; The founds affault Ulyffes wakeful ear: Misjudging of the caufe, a fudden fear Of his arrival known, the chief alarms; He thinks the queen is rufi, g to his arms. Up-fpringing from his couch, with active hafte The fleece and carpet in the dome he plac❜d; (The hide, without, imbib'd the morning air ;) And thus the Gods invol'd with ardent prayer : Jove, and ethereal thrones!with heaven to friend, If the long feries of my woes frall end, Of human race now rifrg from repofe Let one a blissful omen here difclofe; And, to confirm my faith, propitious Jove, Vouchsafe the fanction of a fign above!

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Whilft lowly thus the chief adoring bows, The pitying God his guardian aid avows. Loud fron a fapphire fky his thunder founds: With fpringing hope the hero's heart rebounds,

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Father of Gods and men; whofe thunders roll
O'er the cerulean vault, and shake the pole;
Whoe'er from Heaven has gain'd this rare oftent
(Of granted vows a certain fgnal feut)
In this bleft moment of accepted prayer,
Piteous, regard a wretch confum'd with care!
Inftant, O jove! confound the fuitor-train,
For whom o'ertoil'd I grind the golden grain :
Far from this dome the lewd devourers caft, 150
And be this feftival decreed their laft!

Big with their doom donounc'd in earth and sky,
Ulyffes' heart dilates with fecret joy.

Mean time the menial train with unctuous wood
Heap'd high the genial hearth, Vulcanian food:
When, early drefs'd, advanc'd the royal heir:
With manly grafp he wav'd a martial fpear,
A radiant fabre grac'd his purple zone,
And on his foot the golden fandal fhone.
His fteps impetuous to the portal prefs'd;
And Euryclea thus he there addrefs'd:

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Say thou, to whom my youth its nurture owes,
Was care for due refection and repose
Beflow'd the ftranger gueft? Or waits he griev'd,
His age not honour'd, nor his wants reliev❜d? 165
Promifcuous grace on all the queer conters
(In woes bewilder'd, oft' the wifeft errs).
The wordy vagrant to the dele afpires,
And modeft worth with noble fcorn retires.

She thus: Oh! ceafe that ever honour'd name
To blemish now; it ill deferves your blame :
A bowl of generous wine fuffic'd the gueft;
In vain the queen the night-refection prefs'd:
Nor would he court repofe in downy ftate,
Unbled, abandon'd to the rage of Fate!
A hide beneath the portico was spread,
And fleecy fkins compos'd an bum! le bed:
A downy carpet, caft with duteous care,
Secur'd him from the keen nocturnal air.

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His cornel javelin pois'd with regal port,
To the fage Greeks conven'd in Themis' court,
Forth-iffing from the dome the prince
pair'd:

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| Difpatch! for foon the fuitors will effay
The lunar feaft-rites to the God of day,
She faid with duteous hafte a bevy fair
Of twenty virgins to the spring repair:
With varied toil the reft adorn the dome.
Magnificent, and blithe, the fuitors come.
Some wield the founding ave; the dodder'd oaks
Divide, obedient to the forceful Arokes.
Soon from the fount, with each a brimming urn:
(Eumæus in their train) the maids return.
Three porkers for the feaft, all brawny-chin'd, 205
He brought; the choiceft of the tuky kind:
In lodgements frit fecure his care he view'd,
Then to the king his friendly fpeech renew'd:
Now fay fincere, my greit! the fuitor-train
Still treat thy worth with lordly dull difdain;
Or fpeaks their deed a bounteous mind hu-
mane?

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While thus the chief his woes indignant told,
Melanthius, mafter of the bearded fold,
The goodlieft goats of all the royal herd
Spontaneous to the fuitor's feaft preferr❜d:
Two grooms affiftant bore the victims bound;
With quavering cries the vaulted roofs refound;
And to the chief auftere, aloud began
The wretch unfriendly to the race of man :

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Here, vagrant, itill? offent ve to my lords!
Blows have more energy than airy words;
Thefe arguments Pll ufe: nor confcious flame,
Nor threats, thy bold intrufion will reclaim.
On this high fear the meaneft vulgar boat
A plenteous board! Hence! feek another hoft!
Rejoinder to the churl the king difdain'd;
But hook his head, and ring wrath refrain'd.
From Cephaleria crois the furgy main
Philetius late arriv'd, a faithful fwain.
A fleer ungrateful to the bull's embrace,
And goats he brought, the pride of all their

race:

Imported in a fhallop not his own:

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175 The dome re-echoed to their mingled moan.
Straight to the guardian of the brittly kind
He thus began, benevolent of mind;
What guest is he, of fuch majeftic air?
His lineage and paternal elime declare :
Dim through th' eclipfe of Fate, the rays divine
Of fovereign ftate with faded splendour frive. 245
If monarchs by the Gods are plui g'd in wes,
To what abyfs are we foredoom'd to go!
Then affable he thus the chief addrefs'd,
Whilt with pathetic warmth his hand he prefs'd:
Stranger! may Fate a milder afpect show,、 250
And fpin 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,
Ulyffes from his ftate a wanderer ftill,
Upbraids thy power, thy wildom, or thy will:

Two dogs of chafe, a lion-hearted guard,
Belind him fourly ftalled. Without delay
The dame divides the labour of the day;
Thus urging to the toil the menial train,
What marks of luxury the marble ftain!
Its wonted luftre let the floor regain;
The feats with purple clothe in crder due;
And let th' abilerfive fponge the board renew:
Let fome refresh the vafe's fullied mold;
Same bid the goblets boatt their native gold;
Some to the fpring, with each a jar, repair,
And copious waters pure for bathing bear:

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O monarch ever dear!-O man of woe!-Fresh flow'iny tears, and it all for ever flow! 260 Like thee, poor ftranger-guoft, denied his home! Like thee, in rags obicene, decreed to roam! Or, haply perif'd on fome diftant coaft, In Stygian gloom he glides a penfive ghost! Oh! grateful for the good his bounty gave, I'll grieve, til forrow fink me to the grave! His kind protecting hand my youth preferr'd, The regent of his Cephalenian herd: With vaft increase beneath my care it fpreads, A ftately breed! and blackens far the meads. 270 Conftrain'd, the choiceft beeves I thence import To cram thefe cormorants that crowd his court; Who in partition feek his realm to share; Nor human right, nor wrath divine revere. Since here relolv'd oppreffive thefe rerde, Contending doubts my anxious heart divide : Now to fome forcig clime inclin❜d to fly, And with the royal herd protection buy: Then happier thoughts return the nodding scale, Light mounts defpair, alternate hopes prevail : In opening profpects of ideal joy, My king returns; the proud ufurpers die.

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To whom the chief: In thy capacious mind
Since daring zeal with cool debate is join'd;
Attend a deed already ripe in Fate;
Atteft, O Jove, the truth I now relate!
This facred truth atteft each genial Power,
Who blefs the board, and guard this friendly bower
Before thou quit the dome (nor long delay)
Thy with produc'd in act, with pleas'd furvey,
Thy wondering eyes fhall view: his rightful
reign

By arms avow'd Ulyffes fall regain,
And to the fades devote the fuitor-train.

O Jove fupreme! the raptur'd fwain replies,
With deed confummate foon the promis'd joys!
Thefe aged nerves, with new-born vigour ftrung
In that bleft caufe fhould emulate the young-
Affents Eume us to the prayer addrefs'd :
And equal ardours fire his loyal breast.

!

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Mean time the fuitors urge the prince's fate, And deathful arts employ the dire debate: When, in his airy tour the bird of Jove Trufs'd with his finewy pounce a trembling dove: Sinifter to their hope! This omen ey'd Amphinomus, who thus prefaging cry'd: The Gods from force and fraud the prince deO peers! the fanguinary scheme fufpend: [fend; Your future thought let fable Fate employ;. And give the prefent hour to genial joy. [ceas'd, From council fraight th' affenting peerage And in the dome prepar'd the genial feaft. 310 Difrob'd their vefts apart in order lay, Then all with fpeed fuccinct the victims flay: With sheep and fhaggy goats the porkers bled, And the proud fteer was on the marble spread. With fire prepar'd they deal the morfels round, Wine rofy-bright the brimming goblets crown'd, By fage Eumæus borne: the purple tide. Melanthius from an ample iar fupplied: High carifters of bread Philetius plac'd; And eager all devour the rich repast. Difpos'd apart, Ulyffes fhares the treat! A trivet-table, and ignobler seat,

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The prince appoints; but to his fire affigus
The tafteful inwards, and nectareous wines. 325
Partake, my gueft, he cry'd, without control
The fecial feat, and drain the cheering bowl:
Dread not the railer's laugh, nor ruffian's rage;
No vulgar roof protects thy honour'd age:
This dome a refuge to thy wrongs shall be, 330
From my great fire too foon devolv'd to me!
Your violence and icorn, ye fuitors, ceafe,
Left arms avenge the violated peace.

Aw'd by the prince, fohaughty, brave and young, Rage gnaw'd the lip, amazement chain'd the tongue. 335

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Be patient, peers! at length Antinous cries;
The threats of vain imperious youth defpife:
Would Jove permit the meditated blow,
That itream of eloquence should ceafe to flow.
Without reply vouchfad Antinous ceas'd:
Mean while the pomp of feftival increas'd
By herald's rank'd, in marfhal'd order move
The city-tribes to pleas'd Apollo's grove:
Beneath the verdure of which awful fhade,
The lunar hecatomb they grateful laid;
Partook the facred:caft, and ritual honours paid,,
But the rich banquet in the dome prepar'd,
(And humble idle-board fct) Ulyffes shar'd.
Obfervant of the prince's hugh beheft,

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His menial train attend the stranger-gueft: 350
Whom Pallas with unpardoning fury fir'd,
By lordly pride and keen reproach infpir'd.
A Samian peer, more ftudious than the reft
Civice, who teem'd with many a dead-born jeft;
And urg'd, for title to a confort queen.
Uncumber'd acres arable and green
(Ctefppus nam'd); this lord Ulyffes ey'd,
And thus burft out th' impotthumate with pride:
The fentence I propofe, ye peers, attend:
Since due regard muft wait the prince's friend,
Let each a token of efteem bestow;
This gift acquits the d. ar refpe&t I owe;
With which he nobly may difcharge his feat,
And pay the menials for the matter's treat,
He laid and of the fteer before him plac'd,
That finewy fragment at Ulyffes caft,
Where to the pattern-bone by nerves combin'd,
The well-horn'd foot indifñiolubly join'd;

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Which whizzing high the wall unfeemly fign'd. S

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The chief indignant grins & ghafly fmile;
Revenge and fcorn within his bofom boil:
When thus the prince with pious rage inflam'd:
Had not th' inglorious wound thy malice aim'd
Fail'n guiltless of the mark, my certain spear
Had made thee buy the brutal triumph dear: 375
Nor ould thy fre, a queen his daughter boatt;
The fuitor, row, had vanif'd in a ghost:
No more, ye lewd compeers, with lawless power
Invade my dome, my herds and flocks devour:
For genuine worth of age mature to know
My grape fl all redden, and my harvest grow.
Cr, it each other's wrongs ye ftill fuppert,
With rapes and riot to profane my court;
What fugle arm with numbers can contend?
On me let all your lifted fwords defcend, 395
And with my life fuch vile di onours end.

A long ceffation of difcourfe enfued,
By gentler Agelaus thus renew'd;

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A just reproof, ye peers! your rage restrain From the protected guest, a d menial train: 390 And, prince! to stop the fource of future ill, Affent yourself, and gain the royal will, Whilst hope prevail'd to fee your fire reitor'd, Of right the queen refus'd a fecond lord. But who fo vai of faith, fo blind to .ate, To think he till furvives to claim the state? Now prefs the fovereign dame with warm defire To wed, as wealth or worth her choice infpire: The lord felected to the nuptial joys,

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Far hence will lead the long-contested prize: 400 Whilt in paternal pomp, with plenty blefs'd, You reign, of this imperial dome po less'd.

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Sage and ferene Telemachus replies; By him at whofe beheft the thunder flies, And by the name on earth I most revere, By great Ulyffes and his woes, I swear, (Who never mult review his dear domain; Inroll'd, perhaps in Pluto's dreary train !) Whene'er her choice the royal damne avows, My bridal gists hall load the future spouse: But from this dome my parent queen to chafe! From me, ye Gods! avert fuch dire difgrace. But Pallas clouds with intelle&ual gloom The fuiters' fouls, infenfate of their doom! A mirthful phrenzy feiz'd the fated crowd; The roofs refound with caufelefs laughter loud: Floating in gore, porteatous to furvey! In each difcolour'd vafe the via ds lay; Then down each cheek the tears fpontaneous flow, And fudden (gns precede approaching woe, 420 In vifion rapt the Hyperefan feer Uprofe, and thus divin'd the vengeance near:

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Oh race to death devote! with tygia fhade Each destin'd, peer impending Fates invade: With tear your wan diftorted cheels are drown'd; With fanguine drops the walls are ruhied round: Thick fwarms the fpacious hall with howling To people reus ac the burning coafts! [ghofts *Theoclymerus.

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Yet warm'd in vain, with laughter loud elate The peers reproach the fure divine of Fate; And thus Eury machus: The dotard's mind To every fenfe is loft, to reafon blind: Swift from the dome conduct the flave away; 435 Let him in open air b.hold the day.

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Tax not (the Heaven-illumin'd feer rejoin'd) Of rage, or folly, my prophetic mind. No clouds of error dim th' ether al rays, Her equal power each faithful sense obeys. Unguided heace my trembling steps I bend, Far hence, before yon hovering deaths defcend; Left, the ripe harvest of revenge begun, I fhare the doom ye fuitors cannot shun. This faid, to fage Piræus fped the feer, His honour'd hoit, a welcome inmate there. O'er the protracted feast the fuiters fit, And aim to wound the prince with pointlefs wit: Cries one, with fcornful leer and mimic voice, Thy charity we praife, but not thy choice; Why fuch profufion of indulgence shown To this poor, timorous, toil-detefting drone? That other feeds on planatary fchemes, And pays his hoft with hideous noon-day dreams. But, prince! for once, at leaft, believe a friend, To fome Sicilian mart thefe courtiers fend, Where, if they yield their freight across the main Dear fell the flaves! demand no greater gain.

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Thus jovial, they: but nought the prince reFull on his fire he roll'd his ardent eyes; [plies; Impatient ftraight to left his virgin-sword, From the wife chief he waits the deathful word. Nigh in her bright alcove, the penfive queen To fee the circlet fate, of all unseen. Sated at length they rife, and bid prepare An eve-repaft, with equal coft and care: But vengeful Pallas, with preventing speed, A feat proportion'd to their crimes decreed; A teaft of death! the feafters doom'd to bleed!

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BOOK XXI.

THE ARGUMENT.

The Bending of Ulyffes's Bow.

Penelope, to put an end to the folicitation of the fuitors, proposes to marry the person who fall firft bend the bow of Ulyffe, and shoot through the ringlet. After their attempts have proved ineffectual, Uyffes, taking Eumeus and Philetius apart, difecvers himself to them; then returning, defres leave to try his frength at the how, which, though refused with indignation by the juitor, Penelope and Telem chus cause it to be de ivered to his haris. He bends it immediately, and shoots through all the rings. Fuiter in the fame in tant thun lers from heaven; Ulyffes accepts the omen, and givos a fign to Telemachus, who jlands ready armed at his fide.

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ND Pallas now, to raise the rival fires, With her own art Penelope infpires: Who now can bend Ulyffes' bow, and wing The well-aim'd arrow through the diftant ring, Shall end the ftrife, and win th' imperial dame; 5 But difcord and black death await the game!

The prudent queen the lofty ftair afcends, At diftance due a virgin-train attends; A brazen key fhe held, the handle turn'd, With feel and polish'd elepha at adore'd : 10 Swift to the inmoft room fie bent her way, Where fale repos'd the royal treasures lay;

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