An ell in length the pliant whisp I wear'd,
And the huge body on my shoulders heav'd:
Then, leaning on my spear with both my hands,
Up-bore my load, and press'd the sinking sands
With weighty steps, till at the ship I threw
The welcome burthen, and bespoke my crew:
"Cheer up, my friends! it is not yet our fate
To glide with ghosts through Pluto's gloomy gate.
Food in the desert land, behold! is given;
Live, and enjoy the providence of Heaven.'

The joyful crew survey his mighty size, And on the future banquet feast their eyes, As huge in length extended lay the beast; Then wash their hands, and hasten to the feast. There, till the setting Sun roll'd down the light, They sate indulging in the genial rite. When evening rose, and darkness covered o'er The face of things, we slept along the shore. But when the rosy morning warm'd the east, My men I summon'd, and these words addrest: "Followers and friends! attend what I propose: Ye sad companions of Ulysses' woes!

We know not here what land before us lies, Or to what quarter now we turn our eyes, Or where the Sun shall set, or where shall rise. Here let us think (if thinking be not vain) If any counsel, any hope remain. Alas! from yonder promontory's brow, I view'd the coast, a region flat and low; An isle encircled with the boundless flood, A length of thickets, and entangled wood. Some smoke I saw amid the forests rise, And all around it only seas and skies!' "With broken hearts my sad companions stood, Mindful of Cyclop and his human food, And horrid Læstrigons, the men of blood. Presaging tears apace began to rain; But tears in mortal miseries are vain. In equal parts I straight divide my band, And name a chief each party to command; I led the one, and of the other side Appointed brave Eurylochus the guide. Then in the brazen helm the lots we throw, And Fortune casts Eurylochus to go. He march'd, with twice eleven in his train: Pensive they march, and pensive we remain. "The palace in a woody vale they found, High rais'd of stone, a shaded space around: Where mountain wolves and brindled lions roam, (By magic tam'd) familiar to the dome. With gentle blandishment our men they meet, And wag their tails, and fawning lick their feet. As from some feast a man returning late, His faithful dogs all meet him at the gate, Rejoicing round, some morsel to receive (Such as the good man ever us'd to give). Domestic thus the grisly beasts drew near; They gaze with wonder, not unmix'd with fear. Now on the threshold of the dome they stood, And heard a voice resounding through the wood: Plac'd at her loom within, the goddess sung; The vaulted roofs and solid pavement rung. O'er the fair web the rising figures shine, Immortal labour! worthy hands divine. Polites to the rest the question mov'd (A gallant leader, and a man I lov'd):

"What voice celestial, chanting to the loom (Or nymph, or goddess) echoes from the room? Say, shall we seek access? With that they call; And wide unfold the portals of the hall.

"The goddess, rising, asks her guests to stay, Who blindly follow where she leads the way. Eurylochus alone, of all the band, Suspecting fraud, more prudently remain❜d. On thrones around with downy coverings grac'd, With semblance fair, th' unhappy men she plac'd. Milk newly press'd, the sacred flour of wheat, And honey fresh, and Pramnian wines the treat: But venom'd was the bread, and mix'd the bowl, With drugs of force to darken all the soul: Soon in the luscious feast themselves they lost, And drank oblivion of their native coast. Instant her circling wand the goddess waves, To hogs transforms them, and the sty receives. No more was seen the human form divine; Head, face, and members, bristle into swine: Still curs'd with sense, their minds remain alone, And their own voice affrights them when they

groan.

Meanwhile the goddess in disdain bestows
The mast and acorn, brutal food! and strows
The fruits of cornel, as their feast, around;
Now prone and groveling on unsavory ground.

"Eurylochus, with pensive steps and slow,
Aghast returns; the messenger of woe,
And bitter fate. To speak he made essay,
In vain essay'd, nor would his tongue obey,
His swelling heart deny'd the words their way:
But speaking tears the want of words supply,
And the full soul bursts copious from his eye.
Affrighted, anxious for our fellows' fates,
We press to hear what sadly he relates:

"We went, Ulysses! (such was thy command) Through the lone thicket and the desert land. A palace in a woody vale we found

Brown with dark forests, and with shades around.
A voice celestial echoed from the dome,
Or nymph, or goddess, chanting to the loom.
Access we sought, nor was access denied:
Radiant she came; the portals open'd wide:
The goddess mild invites the guests to stay:
They blindly follow where she leads the way.
I only wait behind, of all the train;

I waited long, and ey'd the doors in vain :
The rest are vanish'd, none repass'd the gate;
And not a man appears to tell their fate.'

"I heard, and instant o'er my shoulders flung
The belt, in which my weighty falchion hung
(A beamy blade); then seiz'd the bended bow,
And bade him guide the way, resolv'd to go.
He, prostrate falling, with both hands embrac'd
My knees, and, weeping, thus his suit address'd:
"O king! belov'd of Jove! thy servant spare,
And ah, thyself, the rash attempt forbear!
Never, alas! thou never shalt return,
Or see the wretched, for whose loss we mourn.
With what remains from certain ruin fly,
And save the few not fated yet to die.'

"I answer'd stern: Inglorious then remain,
Here feast and loiter, and desert thy train.
Alone, unfriended, will I tempt my way;
The laws of fate compel, and I obey.'

"This said, and scornful turning from the shore My haughty step, I stalk'd the valley o'er : Till now approaching nigh the magic bower, Where dwelt th' enchantress skill'd in herbs of A form divine forth issued from the wood, [power. (Immortal Hermes with the golden rod)

In human semblance. On his bloomy face Youth smil'd celestial, with each opening grace,

He seiz'd my hand, and gracious thus began:

Ah! whither roam'st thou, much-enduring man? Oh, blind to fate! what led thy steps to rove The horrid mazes of this magic grove! Fach friend you seek in yon enclosure lies, All lost their form, and babitants of sties. Think'st thou by wit to model their escape? Sooner shalt thou, a stranger to thy shape, Fall prone their equal: first thy danger know, Then take the antidote the gods bestow. The plant I give, through all the direful bower Shall guard thee, and avert the evil hour. Now hear her wicked arts. Before thy eyes The bowl shall sparkle, and the banquet rise; Take this, nor from the faithless feast abstain, For temper'd drugs and poisons shall be vain. Soon as she strikes .er wand, and gives the word, Draw forth and brandish thy refulgent sword, And menace death: those menaces shall move Her alter'd mind to blandishment and love, Nor shun the blessing proffer'd to thy arms, Ascend her bed, and taste celestial charms : So shall thy tedious toils a respite find, And thy lost friends return to human-kind. But swear her first by those dread oaths that tie The powers below, the blessed in the sky; Lest to thee naked secret fraud be meant, Or magic bind thee cold and impotent.'

66

[drew,

." Thus, while he spoke, the sovereign plant he
Where on th' all-bearing Earth unmark'd it grew,
And show'd its nature and its wondrous power:
Black was the root, but milky-white the flower;
Moly the name, to mortals hard to find,
But all is easy to th' etherial kind.

This Hermes gave; then, gliding off the glade,
Shot to Olympus from the woodland shade.

"While, full of thought, revolving fates to come,
I speed my passage to th' enchanted dome:
Arriv'd, before the lofty gates I stay'd;
The lofty gates the goddess wide display'd:
She leads before, and to the feast invites:
I follow sadly to the magic rites.
Radiant with starry studs, a silver seat
Receiv'd my limbs; a footstool eas'd my feet.
She mix'd the potion, fraudulent of soul;
The poison mantled in the golden bowl.
I took, and quaff'd it, confident in Heaven:
Then wav'd the wand, and then the word was given.
Hence to thy fellows!' (dreadful she began)
Go, be a beast!-I heard, and yet was man.
"Then sudden whirling, like a waving flame,
My beamy falchion, I assault the dame.
Struck with unusual fear, she trembling cries,
She faints, she falls; she lifts her weeping eyes.
"What art thou? say! from whence, from whom
you came?

Oh, more than human! tell thy race, thy name.
Amazing strength these poisons to sustain !
Nor mortal thou, nor mortal is thy brain.
Or art thou he? the man to come (foretold
By Hermes powerful with the wand of gold)
The man from Troy, who wander'd ocean round;
The man for wisdom's various arts renown'd,
Ulysses? Oh, thy threatening fury cease,
Sheath thy bright sword, and join our hands in

peace;

Let mutual joys our mutual trust combine,
And love, and love-born confidence, be thine.'
"And how, dread Circe!' (furious I rejoin)
Can love, and love-born confidence, be mine!

:

[led

Beneath thy charms when my companions groan,
Transform'd to beasts, with accents not their own.
O thou of fraudful heart! shall I be led
To share thy feast-rites, or ascend thy bed:
That, all unarm'd, thy vengeance may have vent,
And magic bind me, cold and impotent!
Celestial as thou art, yet stand denied ;
Or swear that oath by which the gods are tied,
Swear, in thy soul no latent frauds remain,
Swear by the vow which never can be vain.'
"The goddess swore then seiz`d my hand, and
To the sweet transports of the genial bed.
Ministrant to their queen, with busy care
Four faithful handmaids the soft rites prepare;
Nymphs sprung from fountains, or from shady
Or the fair offspring of the sacred floods. [woods,
One o'er the couches painted carpets threw,
Whose purple lustre glow'd against the view:
White linen lay beneath. Another plac'd
The silver stands with golden flaskets grac'd:
With dulcet beverage this the beaker crown'd,
Fair in the midst, with gilded cups around:
That in the tripod o'er the kindled pile
The water pours; the bubbling waters boil:
An ample vase receives the smoking wave;
And, in the bath prepar'd, my limbs I lave:
Reviving sweets repair the mind's decay,
And take the painful sense of toil away.
A vest and tunic o'er me next she threw,
Fresh from the bath, and dropping balmy dew;
Then led and plac'd me on the sovereign seat,
With carpets spread; a footstool at my feet.
The golden ewer a nymph obsequious brings,
Replenish'd from the cool translucent springs:
With copious water the bright vase supplies
A silver laver of capacious size.

664

I wash'd. The table in fair order spread,
They heap the glittering canisters with bread:
Viands of various kinds allure the taste,
Of choicest sort and savour, rich repast!
Circe in vain invites the feast to share;
Absent I ponder, and absorb in care :
While scenes of woe rose anxious in my breast,
The queen beheld me, and those words addrest :
Why sits Ulysses silent and apart,
Some board of grief close-harbour'd at his heart?
Untouch'd before thee stand the cates divine,
And unregarded laughs the rosy wine.
Can yet a doubt or any dread remain,
When sworn that oath which never can be vain?'
"I answer'd: Goddess! human is thy breast,
By justice sway'd, by tender pity prest:
Ill fits it me, whose friends are sunk to beasts,
To quaff thy bowls, or riot in thy feasts.
Me would'st thou please? for the
And them to me restore, and me to joy.'
"With that she parted: in her potent hand
She bore the virtue of the magic wand.
Then hastening to the sties, set wide the door,
Urg'd forth, and drove the bristly herd before;
Unwieldy, out they rush'd with general cry,
Enormous beasts dishonest to the eye.
Now touch'd by counter charms, they change again,
And stand majestic, and recall'd to men.
Those hairs, of late that bristled every part,
Fall off, miraculous effect of art!
Till all the form in full proportion rise,
More young, more large, more graceful to my eyes.
They saw, they knew me, and with eager pace
Clung to their master in a long embrace:

thy cares em[ploy,

Sad, pleasing sight' with tears each eye ran o'er,
And sobs of joy re-echoed through the bower:
Er'n Circe wept, her adamantine heart
Felt pity enter, and sustain'd her part.

"Son of Laertes!' (then the queen began) 'Oh much-enduring, much-experienc'd man! Haste to thy vessel on the sea-beat shore, Enload thy treasures, and the galley moor: Then bring thy friends, secure from future harins, And in our grottoes stow thy spoils and arms.' "She said: obedient to her high command, I quit the place, and hasten to the strand. My sad companions on the beach I found, Their wistful eyes in floods of sorrow drown'd. As from fresh pastures and the dewy field (When loaded cribs their evening banquet yield) The lowing herds return; around them throng, With leaps and bounds, their late-imprison'd

young,

Rush to their mothers with unruly joy,
And echoing hills return the tender cry:
So round me press'd, exulting at my sight,
With cries and agonies of wild delight,
The weeping sailors; nor less fierce their joy
Than if return'd to Ithaca from Troy.

Ah, master! ever honour'd, ever dear!' (These tender words on every side I hear) 'What other joy can equal thy return? Not that lov'd country for whose sight we mourn! The soil that nurs'd us, and that gave us breath: But, ah! relate our lost companions' death.'

"I answer'd cheerful: Haste, your galley moor, And bring our treasures and our arms ashore: Those in yon hollow caverns let us lay; Then rise, and follow where I lead the way. Your fellows live: believe your eyes, and come To taste the joys of Circe's sacred dome.'

With ready speed the joyful crew obey: Alone Eurylochus persuades their stay. 'Whither,' he cry'd, ah! whither will ye run Sek ye to meet those evils ye should shun? Will you the terrours of the dome explore, In swine to grovel, or in lions roar,

?

Or wolf-like howl away the midnight hour
In dreadful watch around the magic bower?
Remember Cyclop, and his bloody deed;
The leader's rashness made the soldiers bleed.'
"I heard incens'd, and first resolv'd to speed
My flying falchion at the rebel's head.
Dear as he was, by ties of kindred bound,
This hand had stretch'd him breathless on the
ground.

But all at once my interposing train
For mercy pleaded, nor could plead in vain.
'Leave here the man who dares his prince desert,
Leave to repentance and his own sad heart,
To guard the ship. Seek we the sacred shades
Of Circe's palace, where Ulysses leads.'

"This with one voice declar'd, the rising train
Left the black vessel by the murmuring main.
Shame touch'd Eurylochus's alter'd breast,
He fear'd my threats, and follow'd with the rest.
"Meanwhile the goddess, with indulgent cares
And social joys, the late-transform'd repairs;
The bath, the feast, their fainting soul renews;
Rich in refulgent robes, and dropping balmy dews:
Brightening with joy their eager eyes behold
Fach other's face, and each his story told;
Then gushing tears the narrative confound,
And with their sobs the vaulted roofs resound,

When hush'd their passion, thus the goddess cries:
'Ulysses, taught by labours to be wise,
Let this short memory of grief suffice.
To me are known the various woes ye bore,
In storms by sea, in perils on the shore;
Forget whatever was in Fortune's power,
And share the pleasures of this genial hour.
Such be your minds as ere ye left your coast,
Or learn'd to sorrow for a country lost.
Exiles and wanderers now, where-e'er ye go
Too faithful memory renews your woe;
The cause remov'd, habitual griefs remain,
And the soul saddens by the use of pain.'

"Her kind entreaty mov'd the general breast; Tir'd with long toi!, we willing sunk to rest. We ply'd the banquet, and the bowl we crown'd, Till the full circle of the year came round. But when the seasons, following in their train, Brought back the months, the days, and hours again:

As from a lethargy at once they rise,
And urge their chief with animating cries:

"Is this, Ulysses, our inglorious lot?
And is the name of Ithaca forgot?
Shall never the dear land in prospect rise,
Or the lov'd palace glitter in our eyes?'

"Melting I heard; yet till the Sun's decline
Prolong'd the feast, and quaff'd the rosy wine;
But when the shades came on at evening hour,
And all lay slumbering in the dusky bower;

I came a suppliant to fair Circe's bed,
The tender moment seiz'd, and thus I said:

"Be mindful, goddess, of thy promise made; Must sad Ulysses ever be delay'd?

Around their lord my sad companions mourn,
Each breast beats homeward, anxious to return:
If but a moment parted from thy eyes,
Their tears flow round me, and my heart complies."

"Go then,' (she cry'd) ah, go! yet think, not I,
Not Circe, but the Fates, your wish deny.
Ah, hope not yet to breathe thy native air!
Far other journey first demands thy care;
To tread th' uncomfortable paths beneath,
And view the realins of darkness and of death.
There seek the Theban bard, depriv'd of sight;
Within, irradiate with prophetic light;
To whom Persephone, entire and whole,
Gave to retain th' unseparated soul:
The rest are forms, of empty ether made;
Impassive semblance, and a flitting shade.''
"Struck at the word, my very heart was dead:
Pensive I sate; my tears bedew'd the bed;
To hate the light and life my soul begun,
And saw that all was grief beneath the Sun.
Compos'd at length, the gushing tears supprest,
And my tost limbs now weary'd into rest:

How shall I tread,' (I cry'd) ah, Circe! say The dark descent, and who shall guide the way? Can living eyes behold the realms below? What bark to waft me, and what wind to blow?' "Thy fated road,' (the magic power reply'd) 'Divine Ulysses! asks no mortal guide. Rear but the mast, the spacious sail display, The northern winds shall wing thee on thy way. Soon shalt thou reach old Ocean's utmost ends, Where to the main the shelving shore descends; The barren trees of Proserpine's black woods, Poplars and willows trembling o'er the floods: There fix thy vessel in the lonely bay, And enter there the kingdoms void of day:

Where Phlegeton's loud torrents, rushing down,
Hiss in the flaming gulph of Acheron;
And where, slow-rolling from the Stygian bed,
Cocytus' lamentable waters spread :

Where the dark rocks o'erhang th' infernal lake,
And mingling streams eternal murmurs make.
First draw thy falchion, aud on every side
Trench the black earth a cubit long and wide:
To all the shades around libations pour,
And o'er th' ingredients strow the hallow'd flour:
New wine and milk, with honey temper'd, bring;
And living waters from the crystal spring.
Then the wan shades and feeble ghosts implore,
With promis'd offerings on thy native shore;
A barren cow, the stateliest of the isle,
And, heap'd with various wealth, a blazing pile:
These to the rest; but to the seer must bleed
A sable ram, the pride of all thy breed.
These solemn vows and holy offering paid
To all the phantom-nations of the dead;
Be next thy care the sable sheep to place
Full o'er the pit, and Hell-ward turn their face:
But from th' infernal rite thine eye withdraw,
And back to Ocean glance with reverend awe.
Sudden shall skim along the dusky glades
Thin airy shoals, and visionary shades.
Then give command the sacrifice to haste,
Let the flay'd victims in the flame be cast,
And sacred vows and mystic song apply'd
To grisly Pluto and his gloomy bride.

[day.'

Wide o'er the pool, thy falchion wav'd around
Shall drive the spectres from forbidden ground:
The sacred draught shall all the dead forbear,
Till awful from the shades arise the seer.
Let him, oraculous, the end, the way,
The turns of all thy future fate, display,
Thy pilgrimage to come, and remnant of thy
So speaking, from the ruddy orient shone
The morn, conspicuous on her golden throne.
The goddess with a radiant tunic dress'd
My limbs, and o'er me cast a silken vest.
Long flowing robes of purest white array
The nymph that added lustre to the day:
A tiar wreath'd her head with many a fold;
Her waist was circled with a zone of gold.
Forth issuing then, from place to place I flew;
Rouse man by man, and animate my crew.

Rise, rise, my mates! 'tis Circe gives command:

Our journey calls us; haste, and quit the land.'
All rise and follow, yet depart not all,
For fate decreed one wretched man to fall.

"A youth there was, Elpenor was he nam'd,
Not much for sense, nor much for courage, fam'd:
The youngest of our band, a vulgar soul,
Born but to banquet, and to drain the bowl.
He, hot and careless, on a turret's height
With sleep repair'd the long debauch of night:
The sudden tumult stirr'd him where he lay,
And down he hasten'd, but forgot the way;
Full endlong from the roof the sleeper fell,
And snapp'd the spinal joint, and wak'd in Hell.
"The rest crowd round me with an eager look;
I met them with a sigh, and thus bespoke:

Already, friends! ye think your toils are o'er, Your hopes already touch your native shore : Alas! far otherwise the nymph declares. Far other journey first demands our cares; To tread th' uncomfortable paths beneath, The dreary realms of darkness and of death:

ULYSSES Continues his narration, How he arrived at the land of the Cimmerians, and what ceremonies he performed to invoke the dead. The manner of his descent, and the apparition of the shades: his conversation with Elpenor, and with Tiresias, who informs him in a prophetic manner of his fortunes to come. He meets bis mother Anticlea, from whom he learns the state of his family. He sees the shades of the ancient heroines, afterwards of the heroes, and converses in particular with Agamemnon and Achilles. Ajax keeps at a sullen distance, and disdains to answer him. He then beholds Tityus, Tantalus, Sisyphus, Hercules; till he is deterred from further curiosity by the apparition of horrid spectres, and the cries of the wicked in tor

ments.

"Now to the shores we bend, a mournful train,
Climb the tall bark, and lanch into the main :
At once the mast we rear, at once unbind
The spacious sheet, and stretch it to the wind:
Then pale and pensive stand, with cares opprest,
And solemn horrour saddens every breast.
A freshening breeze the magic power,' supplied,
While the wing'd vessel flew along the tide;
Our oars we shipp'd: all day the swelling sails
Full from the guiding pilot catch'd the gales.

"Now sunk the Sun from his aërial height, And o'er the shaded billows rush'd the night: When, lo! we reach'd old Ocean's utmost bounds, Where rocks control bis waves with ever-during mounds.

"There in a lonely land, and gloomy cells, The dusky nation of Cimmeria dwells; The Sun ne'er views th' uncomfortable seats, When radiant he advances, or retreats : Unhappy race! whom endless night invades, Clouds the dull air, and wraps them round in shades.

"The ship we moor on these obscure abodes; Disbark the sheep, an offering to the gods;

! Circe,