And thou, O Styx! whose formidable floods
Glide through the shades, and bind th' attesting
No form'd design, no meditated end, [gods!
Lurks in the counsel of thy faithful friend;
Kind the persuasion, and sincere my aim;
The same my practice, were my fate the same.
Heaven has not curst me with a heart of steel,
But given the sense, to pity, and to feel."

Thus having said, the goddess march'd before:
He trod her footsteps, in the sandy shore.
At the cool cave arriv'd, they took their state;
He fill'd the throne where Mercury had sate.
For him, the nymph a rich repast ordains,
Such as the mortal life of man sustains;
Before herself were plac'd the cates divine,
Ambrosial banquet, and celestial wine.
Their hunger satiate, and their thirst represt,
Thus spoke Calypso to her godlike guest :

"Ulysses!" (with a sigh she thus began)
O sprung from gods! in wisdom more than man;
Is then thy home the passion of thy heart?
Thus wilt thou leave me, are we thus to part?
Farewell! and ever joyful may'st thou be,
Nor break the transport with one thought of me.
But ah, Ulysses! wert thou given to know
What fate yet dooms thee, yet, to undergo;
Thy heart might settle in this scene of ease,
And ev'n these slighted charms might learn to please.
A willing goddess and immortal life
Might banish from thy mind an absent wife.
Am I inferior to a mortal dame?

Less soft my feature, less august my frame?
Or shall the daughters of mankind compare
Their earth-born beauties with the heavenly fair?"
"Alas! for this" (the prudent man replies)
"Against Ulysses shall thy anger rise?
Lov'd and ador'd, oh goddess! as thou art,
Forgive the weakness of a human heart.
Though well I see thy graces far above
The dear, though mortal, object of my love,
Of youth eternal well the difference know,
And the short date of fading charms below;
Yet every day, while absent thus I roam,
I languish to return and die at home.
Whate'er the gods shall destine me to bear
In the black ocean, or the watery war,
'Tis mine to master with a constant inind;
Inur'd to perils, to the worst resign'd.
By seas, by wars, so many dangers run;
Still I can suffer: their high will be done!"

Thus while he spoke, the beamy Sun descends,
And rising night her friendly shade extends.
To the close grot the lonely pair remove,
And slept delighted with the gifts of love.
When rosy morning call'd them from their rest,
Ulysses rob'd him in the cloak and vest.
The nymph's fair head a veil transparent grac'd,
Her swelling loins a radiant zone embrac'd
With Bowers of gold: an under robe, unbound,
In snowy waves flow'd glittering on the ground.
Forth issuing thus, she gave him first to wield
A weighty ax with truest temper steel'd,
And double edg'd; the handle smooth and plain,
Wrought of the clouded olive's casy grain;
And next, a wedge to drive with sweepy sway:
Then to the neighbouring forest led the way.
On the lone island's utmost verge they stood
Of poplars, pines, and firs, a lofty wood,
Whose leafless summits to the skies aspire,
Scorch'd by the Sun, or sear'd by heavenly fire

(Already dry'd). These pointing out to view,
The nymph just show'd him, and with tears withdrew,
Now toils the hero; trees on trees o'erthrown
Fall crackling round him, and the forest groan:
Sudden, full twenty on the plain are strow'd,
And lopp'd, and lighten'd of their branchy load.
At equal angles these dispos'd to join,

He smooth'd and squar'd them, by the rule and line.
(The wimbles for the work Calypso found)
With those he pierc'd them, and with clinchers
Long and capacious as a shipwright forms [bound.
Some bark's broad bottom to out-ride the storms,
So large he built the raft: then ribb'd it strong
From space to space, and nail'd the planks along ;
These form'd the sides: the deck he fashion'd last;
Then o'er the vessel rais'd the taper mast,
With crossing sail-yards dancing in the wind;
And to the helm the guiding rudder join'd
(With yielding osiers fenc'd, to break the force
Of surging waves, and steer the steady course).
Thy loom, Calypso! for the future sails
Supply'd the cloth, capacious of the gales.
With stays and cordage last he rigg'd the ship,
And, roll'd on levers, lanch'd her in the deep.

Four days were past, and now the work complete,
Shone the fifth morn: when from her sacred seat
The nymph dismiss'd him, (odorous garments given)
And bath'd in fragrant oils that breath'd of Heaven i
Then fill'd two goat-skins with her hands divine,
With water one, and one with sable wine:
Of every kind, provisions heav'd aboard;
And the full decks with copious viands stor❜d.
The goddess last a gentle brecze supplies,
To curl old ocean, and to warm the skies.

And now, rejoicing in the prosperous gales, With beating heart, Ulysses spreads his sails; Plac'd at the helm he sate, and mark'd the skies, Nor clos'd in sleep his ever-watchful eyes. There view'd the Pleiads, and the Northern tearn, And great Orion's more refulgent beam, To which, around the axle of the sky The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye: Who shines exalted on th' etherial plain, Nor bathes his blazing forehead in the main. Far on the left those radiant fires to keep The nymph directed, as he sail'd the deep. Full seventeen nights he cut the foamy way: The distant land appear'd the following day: Then swell'd to sight Phæacia's dusky coast, And woody mountains, half in vapours lost : That lay before him, indistinct and vast, Like a broad shield amid the watery waste.

But him, thus voyaging the deeps below, From far, on Solyme's aërial brow, The king of ocean saw, and seeing burn'd (From Æthiopia's happy climes return'd); The raging monarch shook his azure head, Aud thus in secret to his soul he said: "Heavens! how uncertain are the powers on high?' Is then revers'd the sentence of the sky, In one man's favour; while a distant guest I shar'd secure the Ethiopian feast? Behold how near Phæacia's land he draws! The land, affix'd by fate's eternal laws To end his toils. Is then our anger vain ? No; if this sceptre yet commands the main.”

He spoke, and, high the forky trident hurl'd, Rolls clouds on clouds, and stirs the watery world, At once the face of earth and sea deforms, Swells all the winds, and rouses all the storms.

Down rush'd the Night: East, West, together roar;
And South, and North, roll mountains to the shore;
Then shook the hero, to despair resign'd,
And question'd thus his yet unconquer'd mind:
"Wretch that I am! what farther fates attend
This life of toils, and what my destin'd end?
Too well, alas! the island goddess knew,
On the black sea what perils should ensue.
New horrours now this destin'd head enclose;
Untill'd is yet the measure of my woes;

With what a cloud the brows of Heaven are crown'd!
What raging winds! what roaring waters round!
'Tis Jove himself the swelling tempests rears;
Death, present death, on every side appears.
Happy thrice happy! who, in battle slain,
Prest, in Atrides' cause, the Trojan plain :
Oh! had I dy'd before that well-fought wall;
Had some distinguish'd day renown'd my fall
(Such as was that, when showers of javelins fled
From conquering Troy around Achilles dead):
All Greece had paid me solemn funerals then,
And spread my glory with the sons of men.
A shameful fate now hides my hapless head,
Unwept, unnoted, and for ever dead!"

A mighty wave rush'd o'er him as he spoke,
The raft it cover'd, and the mast it broke ;
Swept from the deck, and from the rudder torn,
Far on the swelling surge the chief was borne:
While by the howling tempest rent in twain
Flew sail and sail-yards rattling o'er the main.
Long press'd, he heav'd beneath the weighty wave,
Clogg'd by the cumbrous vest Calypso gave :
At length, emerging from his nostrils wide
And gushing mouth, effus'd the briny tide,
Ev'n then not mindless of his last retreat,
He seiz'd the raft, and leapt into his seat,
Strong with the fear of death. The rolling flood
Now here, now there, impeil'd the floating wood.
As when a heap of gather'd thorns is cast
Now to, now fro, before th' autumnal blast;
Together clung, it rolls around the field;
So roll'd the float, and so its texture held :
And now the South, and now the North, bear sway,
And now the East the foamy floods obey,

And now the West wind whirls it o'er the sea.
The wandering chief, with toils on toils opprest,
Leucothea saw, and pity touch'd her breast
(Herself a mortal once, of Cadmus' strain,
But now an azure sister of the main).
Swift as a sea-mew springing from the flood:
All radiant on the raft the goddess stood:
Then thus address'd him: "Thou whom Heaven
decrees

To Neptune's wrath, stern tyrant of the seas,
(Unequal contest!) not his rage and power,
Great as he is, such virtue shall devour.
What I suggest, thy wisdom will perform;
Forsake thy float, and leave it to the storm;
Strip off thy garments; Neptune's fury brave
With naked strength, and plunge into the wave.
To reach Phæacia all thy nerves extend,
There fate decrees thy miseries shall end.
This heavenly scarf beneath thy bosom bind,
And live; give all thy terrours to the wind.
Soon as thy arms the happy shore shall gain,
Return the gift, and cast it in the main;
Observe my orders, and with heed obey,
Cast it far off, and turn thy eyes away."
With that, her hand the sacred veil bestows,
Then down the deeps she div'd from whence she rose;

A moment snatch'd the shining form away, And all was cover'd with the curling sea.

Struck with amaze, yet still to doubt inclin'd,
He stands suspended, and explores his mind.
"What shall I do? Unhappy me! who knows
But other gods intend me other woes?
Whoe'er thou art, I shall not blindly join
Thy pleaded reason, but consult with mine:
For scarce in ken appears that distant isle.
Thy voice foretels me shall conclude my toil.
Thus then I judge; while yet the planks sustain
The wild waves' fury, here I fix'd remain :
But when their texture to the tempests yields,
I lanch adventurous on the liquid fields,
Join to the help of gods the strength of man,
And take this method, since the best I can."
While thus his thoughts an anxious council
-hold

The raging god a watery mountain roll'd;
Like a black sheet the whelming billow spread
Bursts o'er the float, and thunder'd on his head.
Planks, beams, disparted fly: the scatter'd wood
Rolls diverse, and in fragments strows the flood.
So the rude Boreas, o'er the fields new-shorn,
Tosses and drives the scatter'd heaps of corn.
And now a single beam the chief bestrides ;
There pois'd a while above the bounding tides,
His limbs discumbers of the clinging vest,
And binds the sacred cincture round his breast:
Then prone on ocean in a moment flung,
Stretch'd wide his eager arms, and shot the seas
All naked now, on heaving billows laid, [along.
Stern Neptune ey'd him, and contemptuous said:
"Go, learn'd in woes, and other woes essay!
Go, wander helpless on the watery way:
Thus, thus find out the destin'd shore, and then
(If Jove ordains it) mix with happier men.
Whate'er thy fate, the ills our wrath could raise
Shall last remember'd in thy best of days."

This said, his sea-green steeds divide the foam, And reach bigh Egæ and the towery dome.

Now, scarce withdrawn the fierce earth-shaking
power,

Jove's daughter, Pallas, watch'd the favouring hour,
Back to their caves she bade the winds to fiv,
And bush'd the blustering brethren of the sky.
The drier blasts alone of Boreas sway,
And bear him soft on broken waves away;
With gentle force impelling to that shore,
Where fate has destin'd he shall toil no more.
And now two nights, and now two days were past,
Since wide he wander'd on the watery waste:
Heav'd on the surge with intermitting breath,
And hourly panting in the arms of death.
The third fair morn now blaz'd upon the main;
Then glassy smooth lay all the liquid plain;
The winds were hush'd, the billows scarcely curl'd,
And a dead silence still'd the watery world;
When lifted on a ridgy wave he 'spies
The laud at distance, and with sharpen'd eyes.
As pious children joy with vast delight
When a lov'd sire revives before their sight,
(Who, lingering long has call'd on death in vain,
Fix'd by some demon to his bed of pain,
Till Heaven by miracle his life restore);
So joys Ulysses at th' appearing shore,
And sees (and labours onward as he sees)
The rising forests and the tufted trees.
And now, as near approaching as the sound
Of human voice the listening ear may wound,

Amidst the rocks he hears a hollow roar
Of murmuring surges breaking on the shore:
Nor peaceful port was there, nor w nding bay,
To shield the vessel from the rolling sea,
But cliffs, and shaggy shores, a dreadful sight!
All rough with rocks, with foaming billows white.
Fear seiz'd his slacken'd limbs and beating heart;
As thus commun'd he with his soul apart :

"Ah me! when, o'er a length of waters tost,
These eyes at last behold th' unhop'd-for coast,
No port receives me from the angry main,
But the loud deeps demand me back again.
Above, sharp rocks forbid access; around,
Roar the wild waves; beneath is sea profound!
No footing sure affords the faithless sand,
To stem too rapid, and too deep to stand.
If here I enter, my efforts are vain,
Dash'd on the cliffs, or heav'd into the main ;
Or round the island if my course I bend,
Where the ports open, or the shores descend,
Back to the seas the rolling surge may sweep,
And bury all my hopes beneath the deep.
Or some enormous whale the god may send,
(For many such on Amphitrite attend)
Too well the turns of mortal chance I know,
And hate relentless of my heavenly foe."

While thus he thought, a monstrous wave upbore
The chief, and dash'd him on the craggy shore :
Torn was his skin, nor had the ribs been whole,
But instant Pallas enter'd in his soul.
Close to the cliff with both his hands he clung,
And stuck adherent, and suspended hung;
Till the huge surge roll'd off: then, backward sweep
The refluent tides, and plunge him in the deep.
As when the polypus, from forth his cave
Torn with full force, reluctant beats the wave:
His ragged claws are stuck with stones and sands:
So the rough rock had shagg'd Ulysses hands.
And now had perish'd, whelm'd beneath the main,
Th' unhappy man: ev'n fate had been in vain:
But all-subduing Pallas lent her power,
And prudence sav'd him in the needful hour.
Beyond the beating surge his course he bore,
(A wider circle, but in sight of shore)
With longing eyes, observing, to survey
Some smooth ascent, or safe-sequester'd bay.
Between the parting rocks at length he 'spy'd
A falling stream with gentler waters glide;
Where to the seas the shelving shore declin'd,
And form'd a bay impervious to the wind.
To this calm port the glad Ulysses prest,
And hail'd the river, and its god addrest:
"Whoe'er thou art, before whose stream un-
known

I bend, a suppliant at thy watery throne,
Hear, azure king! not let me fly in vain
To thee from Neptune and the raging main.
Heaven hears and pities hapless men like me,
For sacred ev'n to gods is misery:
Let then thy waters give the weary rest,
And save a suppliant, and a man distrest."

He pray'd, and straight the gentle stream subsides,

Detains the rushing current of his tides,
Before the wanderer smooths the watery way,
And soft receives him from the rolling sea.
That moment, fainting as he touch'd the shore,
He dropt his sinewy arms: his knees no more
Perform'd their office, or his weight upheld :
His swoln heart heav'd; his bluated body swell'd:

From mouth and nose the briny torrent ran ;
And lost in lassitude lay all the man,
Depriv'd of voice, of motion, and of breath;
The soul scarce waking in the arms of death.
Soon as warm life its wonted office found,
The mindful chief Leucothea's scarf unbound;
Observant of her word, he turn'd aside
His head, and cast it on the rolling tide.
Behind him far, upon the purple waves
The waters waft it, and the nymph receives.

Now parting from the stream, Ulysses found
A mossy bank, with pliant rushes crown'd!
The bank he press'd, and gently kiss'd the ground;
Where on the flowery herb as soft he lay,
Thus to his soul the sage began to say:

“What will ye next ordain, ye powers on high? And yet, ah! yet, what fates are we to try? Here by the stream, if I the night out-wear, Thus spent already, how shall nature bear The dews descending, and nocturnal air; Or chilly vapours, breathing from the flood When morning rises?-If I take the wood, And in thick shelter of innumerous boughs Enjoy the comfort gentle sleep allows; [past, Though fenc'd from cold, and though my toil be What savage beasts may wander in the waste! Perhaps I yet may fall a bloody prey To prowling bears, or lions in the way."

Thus long debating in himself he stood;
At length he took the passage to the wood,
Whose shady horrours on a rising brow
Wav'd high, and frown'd upon the stream below.
There grew two olives, closest of the grove,
With roots intwin'd, and branches interwove;
Alike their leaves, but not alike they smil'd
With sister fruits; one fertile, one was wild.
Nor here the Sun's meridian rays had power,
Nor wind sharp-piercing, nor the rushing shower;
The verdant arch so close its texture kept:
Beneath this covert great Ulysses crept.
Of gather'd leaves an ample bed he made [shade);
(Thick strown by tempest through the bowery
Where three at least might winter's cold defy,
Though Boreas rag'd along th' inclement sky.
This store, with joy the patient hero found,
And, sunk amidst them, heap'd the leaves around.
As some poor peasant, fated to reside
Remote from neighbours in a forest wide,
Studious to save what human wants require,
In embers heap'd, preserves the seeds of fire:
Hid in dry foliage thus Ulysses lies,

Till Pallas pour'd soft slumbers on his eyes;
And golden dreams (the gift of sweet repose)
Lull'd all his cares, and banish'd all his woes.

THE ODYSSEY.

BOOK VI.

ARGUMENT.

PALLAS, appearing in a dream to Nausicaa (the daughter of Alcinous king of Phæacia), com mands her to descend to the river, and wash the

fobes of state, in preparation to her nuptials. Nausicaa goes with her handmaids to the river; where while the garments are spread on the bank, they divert themselves in sports. Their foices awake Ulysses, who, addressing himself to the princess, is by her relieved and clothed, and receives directions in what manner to apply to the king and queen of the island.

WHILE thus the weary wanderer sunk to rest, And peaceful slumbers calm'd his anxious breast; The martial maid from Heaven's aërial height Swift to Phracia wing'd her rapid flight. In elder times the soft Phæacian train in ease possest the wide Hyperian plain; Till the Cyclopean race in arms arose, A lawless nation of gigantic foes: Then great Nausithous from Hyperia far, Through seas retreating from the sound of war, The recreant nation to fair Schería led, Where never science rear'd her laurell'd head: There, round his tribes, a strength of wall he rais'd; To Heaven the glittering domes and temples blaz'd: Just to his realms, he parted grounds from grounds, And shar'd the lands, and gave the lands their bounds. Now in the silent grave the monarch lay, And wise Alcinous held the regal sway.

To his high palace through the fields of air
The goddess shot: Ulysses was her care.
There as the night in silence roll'd away,
A beaven of charms divine Nausicaa lay:
Through the thick gloom the shining portals blaze;
Two nymphs the portals guard, each nymph a
Grace.

Light as the viewless air the warrior-maid
Glides through the valves, and hovers round her

head;

A favourite virgin's blooming form she took,
From Dymas sprung, and thus the vision spoke:
Oh indolent! to waste thy hours away!
And sleep'st thou careless of the bridal day
Thy spousal ornament neglected lies;
Arise, prepare the bridal train, arise!
A just applause the cares of dress impart,
And give soft transport to a parent's heart.
Haste, to the limpid strean direct thy way,
When the gay morn unveils her smiling ray:
Haste to the stream! Companion of thy care,
Lo, I thy steps attend, thy labours share.
Virgin, awake! the marriage-hour is nigh,
See! from their thrones thy kindred monarchs sigh;
The royal car at early dawn obtain,
And order mules obedient to the rein;
For rough the way, and distant rolls the wave,
Where their fair vests Phæacian virgins lave.
la pomp

ride forth; for pomp-becomes the great, And majesty derives a grace from state."

Then to the palaces of Heaven she sails, Incumbent on the wings of wafting gales : The seat of gods; the regions mild of peace, Fall joy, and calm eternity of ease. There no rude winds presume to shake the skies, No rains descend, no snowy vapours rise; But on immortal thrones the blest repose: The firmament with living splendours glows. Either the goddess wing'd th' aerial way, Though Heaven's eternal gates that blaz'd with day. VOL. XIX.

Now from her rosy car Aurora shed The dawn, and all the orient flam'd with red. Uprose the virgin with the morning light, Obedient to the vision of the night. The queen she sought: the queen her hours bestow'd

In curious works; the whirling spindle glow'd With crimson threads, while busy damsels cull The snowy fleece, or twist the purpled wool. Meanwhile Phæacia's peers in council sate; From his high dome the king descends in state, Then with a filial awe the royal maid Approach'd him passing, and submissive said:

"Will my dread sire his ear regardful deign,
And may his child the royal ear obtain ?
Say, with thy garments shall I bend my way,
Where through the vales the mazy waters stray?
A dignity of dress adorns the great,

And kings draw lustre from the robe of state.
Five sons thou hast; three wait the bridal day,
And spotless robes become the young and gay:
So when with praise amid the dance they shine,
By these my cares adorn'd, that praise is mine."
Thus she: but blushes ill-restrain'd betray
Her thoughts intentive on the bridal day:
The conscious sire the dawning blush survey'd,
And smiling thus bespoke the blooming maid:

My child, my darling joy, the car receive; That, and whate'er our daughter asks, we give.' Swift at the royal nod th' attending train The car prepare, the mules incessant rein. The blooming virgin with dispatchful cares Tunics, and stoles, and robes imperial, bears. The queen, assiduous, to her train assigns The sumptuous viands, and the flavorous wines The train prepare a cruise of curious mould, A cruise of fragrance, form'd of burnish'd gold; Odour divine! whose soft refreshing streams Sleek the smooth skin, and scent the snowy limb Now mounting the gay seat, the silken reins Shine in her hand: along the sounding plains Swift fly the mules: nor rode the nymph alone; Around, a bevy of bright damsels shone. They seek the cisterns where Phæacian dames Wash their fair garments in the limpid streams; Where, gathering into depth from falling rills, The lucid wave a spacious bason fills. The mules unharness'd range beside the main, Or crop the verdant herbage of the plain.

Then emulous the royal robes they lave, And plunge the vestures in the cleansing wave; (The vestures cleans'd o'erspread the shelly sand, Their snowy lustre whitens all the strand :) Then with a short repast relieve their toil, And o'er their limbs diffuse ambrosial oil; And, while the robes imbibe the solar ray, O'er the green mead the sporting virgins play (Their shining veils unbound). Along the skies Tost, and retost, the ball incessant flies. They sport, they feast; Nausicaa lifts her voice, And, warbling sweet, makes Earth and Heave rejoice.

As when o'er Erymanth Diana roves, Or wide Täygetus' resounding groves: A sylvan train the huntress queen surrounds, Her rattling quiver from her shoulder sounds: Fierce in the sport, along the mountain's brow They bay the boar, or chase the bounding roe: High o'er the lawn with more majestic pace, Above the nymphs she treads with stately grace;