But if o'erturn'd by rude ungovern'd hands, Or ftill inviolate the olive ftands,

'Tis thine, O queen, to fay: and now impart, 210
If fears remain, or doubts diftract thy heart?
While yet he peaks, her powers of life decay,
She hckens, trembles, falls, and faints away:
At length recovering, to his arms fhe flew,
And ftrain'd him close, as to his breaft fhe grew:
The tears pour'd down amain: and, Oh! fhe cries,
Let not against thy spouse thine anger rife!
Oh! vers'd in every turn of human art,
Forgive the weakreis of a woman's heart!
The righteous Powers, that mortal lots difpofe, 220
Decree us to fuñaio a length of woes,
And from the flower of life, the blifs deny
To bloom together, fade away, and die.
Oh! let me, let me not thine anger move,
That I forbore, thus, thus to fpeak my love, 225
Thus in fond kifes, while the tranfport warms,
Pour out my foul, and die within thy arms!
I dreaded fraud! Men, faithlef men, betray
Our eafy faith, and make the fex their prey:
Against the fondnefs of my heart I ftrove,
'Twas caution, O my lord! not want of love:
Live me bad Helen fear'd, with wanton charms
Ere the fair mitchief fet two worlds in arms;
Ere Greece role dreadful in th' avenging day;
Thus had fe fear'd, fhe had not gone aftray. 235
But Heaven, averfe to Greece, in wrath decreed
That the fhould wander, and that Greece fhould
bleed :

Blind to the ills that from injuftice Pow,

She colour'd all our wretched lives with woe.
But why thele forrows when my lord arrives?
Iyield! I yield! my own Ulyffes lives!
The fecrets of the bridal bed are known

To thee, to me, to Actoris alone,

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245

(My father's prefent in the fpoufal hour,
The fole attendant on our genial bower).
Since what no eye has seen thy tongue reveal'd,
Hard and diftruftful as I am, I yield.

But end we here-the night demands repofe,
Be dec'd the couch! and peace a while, my woes!
To whom the queen: Thy word we shall obey,
And deck the couch; far hence Le woes away;
Since the juft Gods, who tread the ftarry plains,
Refore thee fafe,ince my Ulyffes reigns.
But what thofe perils Heaven decrees, impart;
Knowledge may grieve, but fear diftracts the heart,

To this the king: Ahl why muft I disclose 280
A dreadful story of approaching woes?
Why in this hour of tranfport wound thy ears,
When thou must learn what I muft fpeak with
tears?

Heaven, by the Theban ghoft, thy fpoufe decrees,
Torn from thy arms, to fail a length of eas;
From realm to realm a nation to explore 286
Who ne'er knew falt, or heard the billows roar,
Nor faw gay vellel tem the furgy plain,
A painted wonder, flying on the main;
An oar my band muft bear; a fhepherd eyes 290
The unknown inftrumet with strange surprise,
And calls a corn-van: this upon the plain
I fix, and hail the monarch of the main ;
Then bathe his altars with the mi. gled gore
Of victims vow'd, a ram, a bull, a boar:
Thence fw ft re-failing to my native fores,
Due victims flay to all the ethereal Powers.
Then Heaven decrees in peace to end my days.
And fteal myself from life by flow decays;
Unknown to pain, ia age reign my breath, 305
When late ftern Neptune points the aft of death;
To the dark grave retiring as to reft;
My people bleffing, by my people blef 'd. [play
Such future fcenes th' all righteous Powers dif
By their dread feer, and fuch my future day.

300

315

250

255

250

Hangs round her neck, and fpeaks his joy
As to the fhipwreck'd mariner, the fhores
Delightful rife, when angry Neptune roars;
Then, when the furge in thunder mounts the sky;
And gulp'd in crowds at one the failors die;
If one more happy, while the tempeft raves,
Out-lives the tumult of conflicting waves,
All pale, with ooze deform'd he views the ftrand,
And plunging forth with transport grafps the land:
The ravish'd queen with equal rapture glows,
Clafps her lov'd lord, and to his botom grows,
Nor had they ended till the morning ray:
But Pallas backward held the rifing day,
The wheels of night retarding, to detain
The gray Aurora in the wavy main!
Whofe flaming fteeds emerging through the night,
Beam o'er the eastern hills with ftreaming light.
At length Ulyffes with a figh replies :
Yet Fate, yet cruel Fate, repofe denies;
A labour long, and hard, remains behind;
By Heaven above, by Hell beneath enjoin'd:
For, to Tire has through th' eternal gates
Of hell I trode, to learn my future fates.

270

༣༢༠

And now the blooming youth and sprightly fair Ceafe the gay dance, and to their reft repair; 346 But in difcourfe the Ling and confort lay, While the fort hours fiole unperceiv'd away: Intent he hears Penelope difclofe

༡3༠

335

A mournful flory of domestic woes,
His fervants infults, his invaded bed,"
How his whole flocks and herds exhaufted bled,
His generous wines di onour'd fhed in vain,
And the wild riots of the fuitor train.
The king alternate a dire tale relates,
Of wars, of triumphs, and difafrous fates;
All he unfolds; his liftening fpoufe turns pale
With pleafing horror at the dreadful tale!
Sleepless devours each word; and hears how flain
Cicons on Cicons fwell th' enfanguin'd plain;

* Tireftas.

How to the land of Lote unblefs'd he fails:
And images the rills, and flowery vales!
How, dash'd like dogs, his riends the Cyclops tore,
(Not u reveng'd) and quaff'd the fpouting gore;
How, the loud ftorms in prifon bound, he fails
From friendly olus with profperous gales;
Yet Fate withstands! a fudden tempeft roars,
Ar d'whirls him groaning from his native fhores:
How, on the barbarous Leftrigonian coaft, 359
By avage hands his fleet and friends he loft;
How fearce himself forviv'd: he paint the bower,
The fpells of Circe, and her magic power,
His dreadful journey to the realms beneath,
To feek Tire as in the vales of death;
How, in the doleful manfions he furvey'd
His royal mother, pale Anticlea's frade;
And friends in battle flain, heroic ghosts!
Then how, unar.n'd he paft the Syren-coafts,
The juling rocks where fierce Charybdis raves,
And howling Scylla whirls her thunderous waves,
The cave of death! How his companions flay
The oxen facred to the God of Day,

355

Who gave him laft his country to behold,
With change of raiment, brafs, and heaps of gold,
He ended, faking into fleep, and fhares 376
A fweet forget nefs of all his cares.

Soon as foft flumber eas'd the toils of day,
Minerva rufhes through the aerial way,
And bids Aurora, with her golden wheels, 380
Flame from the ocean o'er the eastern hills:
Uprofe Ulyffes from the genial bed,
And thus with thought mature the monarch faid:
My Queen! my Confort! through a length of

years,

390

We drank the cup of forrow mix'd with tears, 395
Thou, for thy lord: while me th' immortal Powers
Detain'd reluctant from my native shores.
Now, bleft again by Heaven, the queen difplay,
And rule our palace with an equal fway:
Be it my care, by loans, or martial toils,
To throng my empty folds with gifts or spoils.
But now I hate to blefs Laertes' eyes
With fight of his Ulyffes ere he dies;
The good old man, to wafting woes a prey,
Weeps a fad life in folitude away.
[fold
But hear, though wife! This morning fhall un
The deathful fcene'; on heroes, heroes roll'd.
Thou with thy maids within the palace ftay,
From all the fcene of tumult far away!

He spoke, and sheath'd in arms inceffant flies. To wake his fon, and bid his friends arife, 401 To arms! aloud he cries; his friends obey, With glittering arms their manly limbs array, And pafs, the city gate: Ulyffes leads the way. Now flames the roly dawn, but Pallas fhrouds 405 The latent warriors in a veil of clouds.

XXIV.

now to Pluto's dreary reign

Conveys the dead, a lamentable train!

The golden wand, that caufes fleep to fly,
Or in foft fumber feals the wakeful eye,
That drives the ghosts to realms of night or day; 5
Points out the long uncomfortable way.
Trembling the fpectres glide, and plaintive vent
Thin, hollow fcreams, along the deep defcent.
As in the cavern of fome rifted den,

Where flock noturnal bats, and birds obfcene; 10
Clutter'd they hang, till at fome fudden fhock,
They move, and murmurs run through all the rock;
So cowering fled the fable heaps of ghofts,
And fuch a feream fll'd all the difmal coafts.
And now they reach'd the earth's remoteft ends.
And now the gates where evening Sol defcend,

And Leucas' rock, and Ocean's utmot freams,
And now pervade the dusky land of Dreams,
And rest at last, where fouls unbodied dwell
In ever-flowering meads of afphodel.
The empty forms of men inhabit there,
Impaffive femblance, images of air!
Nought elfe are all that thin'd on earth before;
Ajax and great Achilles are no more!
Yet, ftill a mafter ghost, the rest he aw❜d,
The rest ador'd him, towering as he trod;
Still at his fide in Neftor's fon furvey'd,
And lov'd Patroclus ftill attends his fhade.

20

25

New as they were to that infernal fhore, The fuitors flopp'd, and gaz'd the hero o'er, 30 When, moving flow, the regal form they view'd Of great Atrides; him in pomp pursued

160

Ceafe, till to good Laertes I bequeath
A task of grief, his ornaments of death:
Left, when the Fates his royal afhes claim,
The Grecian matrons taint my spotless fame;
Should, he, long honour'd with fupreme command,
Want the laft duties of a daughter's hand.

The fiction pleas'd: our generous train com-
plies,

}

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180

186

Nor fraud miftrufts in virtue's fair difguife. 165 The work fhe ply'd: but, ftudious of delay, Each following night revers'd the toils of day. Unheard, unften, three years her arts prevail: The fourth, her maid reveal'd th' amazing tale, And show'd, as unperceiv'd we took our ftand, The backward labours of her faithlefs hand. 171 Forc'd the completes it; and before us lay The mingled web, whofe gold and filver ray Difplay'd the radiance of the night and day. Juft as the finish'd her illuftrious toil, Ill-fortune led Ulyffes to our ifle. Far in a lonely nook, befide the fea, At an old fwineherd's rural ludge he lay: Thither his fon from fandy Pyle repairs, And speedy lands, and fecretly confers. They plan our future ruis, and refort Confederate to the city and the court. First came the fon; the father next fucceeds, Clad like a beggar, whom Eumeus leads; Propp'd on a staff, deform'd with age and care, And hung with rags that flutter'd in the air. Who could Ulyffes in that form behold? Scorn'd by the young, forgotten by the old, Ill-us'd by all! to every wrong refign'd, Patient he fuffer'd with a conftant mind. But when, arifing in his wrath t' obey The will of Jove, he gave the vengeance way: The scatter'd arms that hung around the dome Careful he treafur'd in a private room: Then to her fuitors bade the queen propofe The archer's ftrife: the fource of future woes, An omen of our death! In vain we drew The twanging ftring, and try'd the stubborn yew To none it yields but great Ulyffes' hands; In vain we threat; Telemachus commands: 2c0 The bow he fnatch'd, and in an instant bent; Through every ring the victor arrow went. Fierce on the threshold then in arms he ftood: Pour'd forth the darts that thirsted for our blood, And frown'd before us, dreadful as a God! 205. First bleeds Antinous; thick the fhafts refound; And heaps on heaps the wretches ftrow the ground;

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195

210

This way, and that, we turn, we fly, we fall; Some God affitted, and unmann'd us all : Ignoble cries precede the dying groaus; And batter'd brains and blood befmear the stones. Thus, great Atrides, thus Ulyfies drove The shades thou feeft, from yon fair realmas above, Our mangled bodies now deformed with gore, Cold and neglected, fpread the marble floor, 215 No friend to bathe our wounds! or tears to shed O'er the pale corfe! the honours of the dead. Oh blefs'd Ulyffes (thus the king exprefs'd His fudden rapture) in thy confort blefs'd! Not more thy wifdom, than her virtue fhia'd; Not more thy patience, than her conftant mind.

Thus in the regions of eternal fhade Conferr'd the mournful phantoms of the dead; While, from the town, Ulyffes and his band Pafs'd to Laertes' cultivated land.

235

The ground himself had purchas'd with his pain,
And labour made the rugged foil a plain.
There ftood his nifion of the rural fort,
With useful buildings round the lowly court;
Where the few fervants that divide his care, 240
Took their laborious reft, and homely fare;
And one Sicilian matron, cld and fage,
With conftant duty tends his drooping age.

Here now arriving to his ruftic band
And martial fon, Ulyffes gave command: 245
Enter the house, and of the briftly swine
Select the largest to the powers divine.
Alone, and unattended, let me try

250

If yet I fhare the old man's memory: If thefe dim eyes can yet Ulyffes know (Their light and deareft object long ago), Now chang'd with time with abfence, and with woe?

Then to his train he gives his fpear and shield; The house they enter, and he feeks the field, Through rows of fhade, with various fruitage crown'd,

255

261

265

And labour'd fcenes of richeft verdure round. Nor aged Dolius, nor his fons were there, Nor fervants, abfent on another care; To fearch the woods for fets of flowery thorn, Their orchard bounds to ftrengthen and adera. But all alone the hoary king he found; His habit coarfe, but warmly wrapt around; His head, that bow'd with many a penfive care, Fenc'd with a double cap of geatskin hair: His bufkins old, in former fervice torn, But well repair'd; and gloves againft the thorn. In this array the kingly gardener flood. And clear'd a plant, encumber'd with its wood. Beneath a neighbouring tree the chief divine Gaz'd o'er his fire, retracing every line, The ruins of himself! now worn away With age, yet ftill maieftic in decay! Sudden his eyes releas'd their watery store; The much-enduring man could bear no more. Doubtful he ftood, if inftant to embrace 275 His aged limbs, to kifs his reverend face, With cager transport to disclose the whole. And pour at once the torrent of his foulNot fo: his judgment takes the winding way Of queftion diftant, and of foft effay: 280 More gentle methods on weak age empleys; And moves the forrows to enhance the joys. Then, to his fire with beating heart he moves; And with a tender pleafantry reproves:

270

305

Age to advanc'd may fome indulgence claim. 295 Not for thy floth, I deem thy lord unkind: Nor fpeaks thy form a mean or fervile mind: I read a monarch in that princely air, The fame thy afpect, if the fame thy care; Soft fleep, fair garments, and the joys of wine, 300 Thefe are the rights of age, and fhould be thine. Who then thy mafter, fay? and whofe the land So drefs'd and manag'd by thy skilful hand? But chief, oh tell me! (what I question moft) Is this the far-am'd Ithacenfian coaft? For fo reported the firit man I view`d, (Some furly ifander, of manners rude) Nor further conference vouchfat'd to stay ; Heedlefs he whittled, and purfu'd his way, But thou! whom years have taught to understand, Humanely hear, and answer my demand: A friend I feek, a wife one and a brave, Say, lives he yet, or moulders in the grave? Time was (my fortunes then were at the beft) When at my house Пlodg'd this foreign gueft; 315 He faid, from Ithaca's fair ifle he came, And old Laertes was his father's name. To hun, whatever to a gueft is ow'd I paid, and hofpitable gifts bestow'd: To him feven talents of pure ore I told, Twelve cloaks, twelve vefts, twelve tunics itiff with gold;

355

Nor his fad confort, on the mournful bier, Seal'd his cold eyes or dropp'd a tender tear! But tell me, who thou art? and what thy race? Thy town, thy parents, and thy native place? Or, if a merchant in pursuit of gain, 350 What port receiv'd thy veffel from the main? Or com'ft thou fingle, or attend thy train? Then thus the fon : From Alybas I came, My palace there; Eperitus my name. Not vulgar born; from Aphidas, the king Of Polypemon's royal line, I fpring. Some adverse Dæmon from Sicania bore Our wandering courfe, and drove us on your fhore: Far from the town, an unfrequented bay; Reliev'd our weary'd veffel from the fea. Five years have circled fince these eyes pursued Ulyffes parting through the fable flood; Profperous he fail'd, with dexter auguries, And all the wing'd good omens of the fkies. 364 Well hop'd we, then, to meet on this fair fhore, Whom Heaven, alas! decreed to meet no more. Quick through the father's heart thefe accents

ran:

360

Grief feiz'd at once, and wrapt up all the man; Deep from his foul he figh'd, and forrowing fpread

370

320

325

A bowl, that rich with polif'd filver flames,
And, skill'd in female works, four lovely dames,
At this the father, with a father's fears,
(His venerable eyes bedimm'd with tears,)
This is the land; but ah! thy gifts are loft,
For godless men, and rude, poffefs the coaft:
Sunk is the glory of this once-fam'd shore!
Thy ancient friend, O ftranger, is no more!
Full recompence thy bounty elfe had borne;
For every good man yields a juft return:
So civil rights demand; and who begins
The track of friendship, not purfuing, fins,
But tell me, stranger, be the truth ccnfefs'd
What years have circled fince thou faw'ft that
gueft?

That hapless gueft, alas! for ever gone!
Wretch that he was! and that I am! my fon!
If ever man to mifery was born,

330

335

'Twas his to fufler, and 'tis mine to mourn!
Far from his friends, and from his native reign, 340
He lies a prey to moufters of the maiu,
Or favage beafts his mangled relics tear,
Or fcreaming vultures fcatter through the air:
Nor could his mother funeral unguents fhed;
Nor wail'd his father o'er th' untimely dead: 345

375

He ran, he feiz'd him with a strict embrace,
With thousand kiffes wander'd o'er his face:
I, I am he; O father rife, behold
Thy fon, with twenty winters now grown old;
Thy fon, fo long defir'd, fo long detain❜d,
Reftor'd, and breathing in his native land:
Thefe Bloods of forrow, O my fire, reftrain! 379
The vengeance is complete; the fuitor-train
Stretch'd in our palace, by thefe hands lie flain..

385

Amaz'd, Laertes, "Give fome certain fign, "(If fuch thou art) to manifeft thee mine." Lo here the wound (he cries) receiv'd of yore, The fear indented by the tusky boar, When by thyself and by Anticlea fent To old Autolychus's realms I went. Yet by another fign thy offspring know; The feveral trees you gave me long ago, While, yet a child, thefe fields I lov❜d to trace, And trod thy footsteps with unequal pace; To every plant in order as we came, Well-pleas'd you told its nature, and its name, Whate'er my childish tancy afk'd, bestow'd; Twelve pear-trees bowing with their pendent load,

391

395

And ten, that red with blufhing apples glow'd;.
Full fifty purple figs; and many a row
Cf various vines that then began to blow,
A future vintage! when the Hours produce
Their latent buds, and Sol exalts the juice.

400

Smit with the figns, which all his doubts explain,

His heart within him melts; his knees fuftain Their feeble weight no more; his arms alone Support him, round the lov'd Ulyffes thrown; PP 2