THE ODYSSEY.

BOOK VII.

ARGUMENT.

THE COURT OF ALCINOUS.

He is met

THE princess Nausicaa returns to the city, and
Ulysses soon after follows thither.
by Pallas in the form of a young virgin, who
guides him to the palace, and directs him in
She
Arete.
what manner to address the queen
then involves him in a mist, which causes
him to pass invisible. The palace and gardens
of Alcinous described. Ulysses falling at the
feet of the queen, the mist disperses, the Phæa-
dians admire, and receive him with respect.
The queen inquiring by what means he had the
carments he then wore, he relates to her and
Alcinous his departure from Calypso, and his

arrival on their dominions.

The same day continues, and the book ends with
the night.

THE patient, heavenly man thus suppliant pray'd;
While the slow mules draw on th' imperial maid :
Through the proud streets she moves, the public
The turning wheel before the palace stays. [gaze:
With ready love her brothers gathering round
Receiv'd the vestures, and the mules unbound.
She seeks the bridal bower: a matron there
The rising fire supplies with busy care,
Whose charms in youth the father's heart inflam'd,
Now worn with age, Eurymedusa nam'd:
The captive dame Phæacian rovers bore,
Snatch'd from Epirus, her sweet native shore,
(A grateful prize) and in her bloom bestow'd
On good Alcinous, honour'd as a god :
Nurse of Nausicaa from her infant years,
And tender second to a mother's cares.

Now from the sacred thicket where he lay,
To town Ulysses took the winding way.
Propitious Pallas, to secure her care,
Around him spread a veil of thicken'd air;
To shun th' encounter of the vulgar crowd,
Insulting still, inquisitive and loud.

When near the fam'd Phæacian walls he drew,
The beauteous city opening to his view,
His step a virgin met, and stood before:
A polish'd urn the seeming virgin bore,
And youthful smil'd; but in the low disguise
Lay hid the goddess with the azure eyes. [mands)
"Show me, fair daughter," (thus the chief de-
"The house of him who rules these happy lands.
Through many woes and wanderings, lo! I come
To good Alcinous' hospitable dome.
Far from my native coast, I rove alone,
A wretched stranger, and of all unknown!"

The goddess answer'd, "Father, I obey,
And point the wandering traveller his way:
Well known to me the palace you inquire,
For fast beside it dwells my honour'd sire;
But silent march, nor greet the common train
With questions needless, or inquiry vain,

A race of rugged mariners are these;
Unpolish'd men, and boisterous as their seas s
The native islanders alone their care,

And hateful he who breathes a foreign air.
These did the ruler of the deep ordain

To build proud navies, and command the main;
On canvass wings to cut the watery way;
No bird so light, no thought so swift, as they."
Thus having spoke, th' unknown celestial leadst
The footstep of the deity he treads,

And secret moves along the crowded space,
Unseen of all the rude Phracian race.
(So Pallas order'd, Pallas to their eyes
The mist objected, and condens'd the skies).
The chief with wonder sees th' extended streets,
The spreading harbours, and the rising fleets;
He next their princes' lofty domes admires,
In separate islands crown'd with rising spires;
And deep entrenchments, and high walls of stone,
That gird the city like a marble zone,

At length the kingly palace-gates he view'd;
There stopp'd the goddess, and her speech renew'd:
"My task is done; the mansion you inquire
Appears before you: enter, and adinire.
High thron'd, and feasting, there thou shalt behold
The sceptred rulers. Fear not, but be bold:
A decent boldness ever meets with friends,
Succeeds, and ev'n a stranger recommends.
First to the queen prefer a suppliant's claim,
Alcinous' queen, Arete is her name,
The same her parents, and her power the same..
For know, from ocean's god Nausithons sprung,
And Peribaa, beautiful and young,
(Eurymedon's last hope, who rul'd of old
The race of giants, impious, proud, and bold;
Perish'd the nation in unrighteous war,
Perish'd the prince, and left this only heir).
Who now, by Neptune's amorous power comprest,
Produc'd a monarch that his people blest,
Father and prince of the Phæacian name;
From him Rhexenor and Alcinous came.
The first by Phoebus' burning arrows fir'd,
New from his nuptials, hapless youth! expir'd.
No son surviv'd: Arete heir'd his state,
And her, Alcinous chose his royal mate.
With honours yet to womankind unknown,
This queen he graces, and divides the throne:
In equal tenderness her sons conspire,
And all the children emulate their sire.
When thro' the streets she gracious deigus to move,
(The public wonder and the public love)

The tongues of all with transport sound her praise,
The eyes of all, as on a goddess, gaze.
She feels the triumph of a generous breast:
To heal divisions, to relieve th' opprest;
In virtue rich; in blessing others, blest.
Go then secure, thy humble suit prefer,
And owe thy country and thy friends to her."

With that the goddess deign'd no longer stay,
But o'er the world of waters wing'd her way:
Forsaking Scheria's ever-pleasing shore,
The winds to Marathon the virgin bore;
Thence, where proud Athens rears her towery head,
With opening streets and shining structures spread,
She past, delighted with the well-known seats;
And to Erectheus' sacred dome retreats.

Meanwhile Ulysses at the palace waits,
There stops, and anxious with his soul debates,
Fix'd in amaze before the royal gates.
The front appear'd with radiant splendours gay,

Now pleas'd and satiate from the social rite
Repair we to the blessings of the night:
But with the rising day, assembled here,
Let all the elders of the land appear,
Pious observe our hospitable laws,

And Heaven propitiate in the stranger's cause:
Then, join'd in council, proper means explore
Safe to transport him to the wish'd-for shore
(How distant that, imports not us to know,
Nor weigh the labour, but relieve the woe).
Meantime, nor harm nor anguish let him bear:
This interval, Heaven trusts him to our care;
But to his native land our charge resign'd,
Heaven 's his life to come, and all the woes be-
hind.

Then must he suffer what the Fates ordain;
For Fate has wove the thread of life with pain,
And twins, ev'n from the birth, are misery and man!
"But if, descended from th' Olympian bower,
Gracious approach us some immortal power;
If in that form thou com'st a guest divine:
Some high event the conscious gods design.
As yet, unbid they never grac'd our feast,
The solemn sacrifice call'd down the guest;
Then manifest of Heaven the vision stood,
And to our eyes familiar was the god.
Oft with some favour'd traveller they stray,
And shine before him all the desert way:
With social intercourse, and face to face,
The friends and guardians of our pious race.
So near approach we their celestial kind,
By justice, truth, and probity of mind:
As our dire neighbours of Cyclopean birth
Match in fierce wrong the giant-sons of Earth."
"Let no such thought" (with modest grace re-
join'd

The prudent Greek) " possess the royal mind.
Alas! a mortal, like thyself, am I;
No glorious native of yon azure sky:

In form, ah! how unlike their heavenly kind!
How more inferior in the gifts of mind!
Alas, a mortal' most opprest of those
Whom fate has loaded with a weight of woes;
By a sad train of miseries alone

Distinguish'd long, and second now to none!
By Heaven's high will compell'd from shore to
shore;

With Heaven's high will prepar'd to suffer more.
What histories of toil could I declare!
But still long-wearied nature wants repair;
Spent with fatigue, and shrunk with pining fast,
My craving bowels still require repast.
Howe'er the noble, suffering mind, may grieve
Its load of anguish, and disdain to live;
Necessity demands our daily bread;
Hunger is insolent, and will be fed.
But finish, O ye peers! what you propose,
And let the morrow's dawn conclude my woes.
Pleas'd will I suffer all the gods ordain,
To see my soil, my son, my friends, again.
That view vouchsaf'd, let instant death surprise
With ever-during shade these happy eyes!"
Th' assembled peers with general praise approv'd
His pleaded reason, and the suit he mov'd.
Each drinks a full oblivion of his cares,
And to the gift of balmy sleep repairs.
Ulysses in the regal walls alone

Remain'd beside him, on a splendid throne,
Divine Arete and Alcinous shone.

The queen, on nearer view, the guest survey'd,

[say,

Rob'd in the garments her own hands had made;
Not without wonder seen. Then thus began,
Her words addressing to the godlike man:
"Cam'st thou not hither, wondrous stranger!
From lands remote, and o'er a length of sea!
Tell then whence art thou? whence that princely
air?

And robes like these, so recent and so fair!"

"Hard is the task, oh princess! you impose:"
(Thus, sighing, spoke the man of many woes)
"The long, the mournful series to relate
Of all my sorrows sent by Heaven and fate!
Yet what you ask, attend. An island lies
Beyond these tracts, and under other skies,
Ogygia nam'd, in Ocean's watery arms;
Where dwells Calypso, dreadful in her charms!
Remote from gods or men she holds her reign,
Amid the terrours of the rolling main.
Me, only me, the hand of Fortune bore
Unblest to tread that interdicted shore:
When Jove tremendous in the sable deeps
Lanch'd his red lightning at our scatter'd ships?
Then, all my fleet, and all my followers lost,
Sole on a plank, on boiling surges tost,
Heaven drove my wreck th' Ogygian isle to find,
Full nine days floating to the wave and wind.
Met by the goddess there with open arms,
She brib'd my stay with more than human charms :
Nay promis'd, vainly promis'd, to bestow
Immortal life, exempt from age or woe:
But all her blandishments successless prove,
To banish from my breast my country's love.
I stay reluctant seven continued years,
And water her ambrosial couch with tears.
The eighth she voluntary moves to part,
Or urg'd by Jove, or her own changeful heart.
A raft was form'd, to cross the surging sea;
Herself supply'd the stores and rich array;
And gave the gales to waft me on the way.
In seventeen days appear'd your pleasing coast,
And woody mountains, half in vapours lost.
Joy touch'd my soul: my soul was joy'd in vain,
For angry Neptune rous'd the raging main;
The wild winds whistle, and the billows roar;
The splitting raft the furious tempest tore;
And storms vindictive intercept the shore.
Soon as their rage subsides, the seas I brave
With naked force, and shoot along the wave,
To reach this isle: but there my hopes were
The surge impell'd me on a craggy coast.
I chose the safer sea, and chanc'd to find
A river's mouth impervious to the wind,
And clear of rocks. I fainted by the flood;
Then took the shelter of the neighbouring wood.
'Twas night; and, cover'd in the foliage deep,
Jove plung'd my senses in the death of sleep.
All night I slept, oblivious of my pain:
Aurora dawn'd and Phoebus shin'd in vain,
Nor, till oblique he slop'd his evening ray,
Had Somnus dry'd the balmy dews away.
Then female voices from the shore I heard :
A maid amidst them, goddess-like, appear'd:
To her I sued, she pity'd my distress;
Like thee in beauty, nor in virtue less.
Who from such youth could hope considerate care?
In youth and beauty wisdom is but rare!
She gave me life, reliev'd with just supplies [eves.
My wants, and lent these robes that strike your
This is the truth: and oh, ye powers on high!
Forbid that want should sink me to a lie."

[lost,

To this the king: "Our daughter but exprest
Her cares imperfect to our godlike guest.
Suppliant to her, since first he chose to pray,
Why not herself did she conduct the way,
And with her handmaids to our court convey?"

Hero and king!" (Ulysses thus reply'd)
"Nor blame her faultless, nor suspect her pride:
She bade me follow in th' attendant train;
But fear and reverence did my steps detain,
Lest rash suspicion might alarm thy mind:
Man's of a jealous and mistaking kind."

"Far from my soul," he cry'd, "the gods efface
All wrath ill-grounded, and suspicion base!
Whate'er is honest, stranger, I approve;
And would to Phoebus, Pallas, and to Jove,

splendid entertainments are made, where the celebrated musician and poet Demodocus plays and sings to the guests. They next proceed to the games; the race, the wrestling, discus, &c. where Ulysses casts a prodigious length, to the admiration of all the spectators. They return again to the banquet, and Demodocus sings the loves of Mars and Venus. Ulysses, after a compliment to the poet, desires him to sing the introduction of the wooden horse into Troy; which subject provoking his tears, Alcinous enquires of his guest, his name, parentage, and fortunes.

Such as thou art, thy thought and mine were one, Now fair Aurora lifts her golden ray,
Nor thou unwilling to be call'd my son.
In such alliance could'st thou wish to join,
A palace stor'd with treasures should be thine.
But, if reluctant, who shall force thy stay?
Jove bids to set the stranger on his way,

And ships shall wait thee with the morning ray.
Till then, let slumber close thy careful eyes;
The wakeful mariners shall watch the skies,
And seize the moment when the breezes rise:
Then gently waft thee to the pleasing shore,
Where thy soul rests, and labour is no more.
Far as Euboea though thy country lay,
Our ships with ease transport thee in a day.
Thither of old, Earth's giant-son2 to view,
On wings of winds with Rhadamanth they flew:
This land, from whence their morning course
Saw them returning with the setting Sun. [begun,
Your eyes shall witness and confirm my tale,
Our youth how dextrous, and how fleet our sail,
When justly tim'd with equal sweep they row,
And ocean whitens in long tracts below."

Thus he. No word th' experienc'd man replies,
But thus to Heaven (and heavenward lifts his eyes)
"O, Jove! O, father! what the king accords
Do thou make perfect' sacred be his words!
Wide o'er the world Alcinous' glory shine!
Let faine be his, and ah! my country mine!"
Meantime Arete, for the hour of rest,
Ordains the fleecy couch, and covering vest :
Bids her fair train the purple quilts prepare,
And the thick carpets spread with busy care.
With torches blazing in their hands they past,
And finish'd all the queen's command with haste:
Then gave the signal to the willing guest:
He rose with pleasure, and retir'd to rest.
There, soft-extended, to the murmuring sound
Of the high porch, Ulysses sleeps profound!
Within, releas'd from cares, Alcinous lies;
And fast beside were clos'd Arete's eyes.

THE ODYSSEY.

BOOK VIII.

ARGUMENT.

ALCINOUS calls a council, in which it is resolved to transport Ulysses into his country. After which,

2 Tityus.

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

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

"Nobles and chiefs who rule Phæacia's states,
The king in council your attendance waits:
A prince of grace divine your aid implores,
O'er unknown seas arriv'd from unknown shores."

She spoke, and sudden with tumultuous sounds
Of thronging multitudes the shore rebounds:
At once the seats they fill: and every eye
Gaz'd, as before some brother of the sky.
Pallas with grace divine his form improves,
More high he treads, and more enlarg'd he moves:
She sheds celestial bloom, regard to draw;
And gives a dignity of mien, to awe;
With strength, the future prize of Fame to play,
And gather all the honours of the day.

Then from his glittering throne Alcinous rose:
"Attend," he cry'd, "while we our will disclose.
Your present aid this godlike stranger craves,
Tost by rude tempest through a war of waves;
Perhaps from realms that view the rising day,
Or nations subject to the western ray.
Then grant, what here all sons of woe obtain
(For here affliction never pleads in vain :)
Be chosen youths prepar'd, expert to try
The vast profound, and bid the vessel fly:
Lanch the tall bark, and order every oar;
Then in our court indulge the genial hour.
Instant, you sailors, to this task attend;
Swift to the palace, all ye peers, ascend;
Let none to strangers honours due disclaim;
Be there Demodocus, the bard of Fame,
Taught by the gods to please, when high he sings
The vocal lay, responsive to the strings."

Thus spoke the prince: th' attending peers obey,
In state they move; Aleinous leads the way:
Swift to Demodocus the herald flies,

At once the sailors to their charge arise:
They lanch the vessel, and unfurl the sails,
And stretch the swelling canvass to the gales;
Then to the palace move: a gathering throng,
Youth, and white age, tumultuous pour along:
Now all accesses to the dome are fill'd;
Eight boars, the choicest of the herd, are kill’a?
Two beeves, twelve fatlings, from the flock they
bring

To crown the feast; so wills the bounteous king.