(Smooth'd by the workman to a polish'd plain);
The thoughtful son beheld, and call'd his swain:
These viands, and this bread, Eumæus! bear,
And let yon mendicant our plenty share :
Then let him circle round the suitors' board,
And try the bounty of each gracious lord.
Bold let him ask, encouraged thus by me;
How ill, alas! do want and shame agree!
His lord's command the faithful servant bears:
The seeming beggar answers with his prayers.
Blest be Telemachus! in every deed
Inspire him, Jove! in every wish succeed!
This said, the portion from his son convey'd
With smiles receiving on his scrip he laid.
Long as the minstrel swept the sounding wire,
He fed, and ceased when silence held the lyre.
Soon as the suitors from the banquet rose,
Minerva prompts the man of mighty woes
To tempt their bounties with a suppliant's art,
And learn the generous from the ignoble heart,
(Not but his soul, resentful as humane,
Dooms to full vengeance all the offending train);
With speaking eyes, and voice of plaintive sound,
Humble he moves, imploring all around.
The proud feel pity, and relief bestow,
With such in image touch'd of human woe;
Inquiring all, their wonder they confess,
And eye the man, majestic in distress.
While thus they gaze, and question with their eyes,
The bold Melanthius to their thought replies.
My lords! this stranger of gigantic port
The good Eumæus usher'd to your court.
Full well I mark'd the features of his face,
Though all unknown his clime, or noble race.
And is this present, swineherd! of thy hand?
Bring'st thou these vagrants to infest the land?
(Returns Antinous with retorted eye)
Objects uncouth, to check the genial joy.
Enough of these our court already grace,
Of giant stomach, and of famish'd face.
Such guests Eumæus to his country brings,
To share our feast, and lead the life of kings.
To whom the hospitable swain rejoin'd:
Thy passion, prince, belics thy knowing mind.
Who calls, from distant nations to his own.
The poor, distinguish'd by their wants alone?
Round the wide world are sought those men divine
Who public structures raise, or who design;
Those to whose eyes the gods their ways reveal,
Or bless with salutary arts to heal;
But chief to poets such respect belongs,
By rival nations courted for their songs;
These states invite, and mighty kings admire,
Wide as the sun displays his vital fire.
It is not so with want! how few that feed
A wretch unhappy, merely for his need!
Unjust to me, and all that serve the state,
To love Ulysses is to raise thy hate.
For me, suffice the approbation won
Of my great mistress, and her godlike son.
To him Telemachus. No more incense
The man by nature prone to insolence:
Injurious minds just answers but provoke-
Then turning to Antinous, thus he spoke.
Thanks to thy care! whose absolute command
Thus drives the stranger from our court and land.
Heaven bless its owner with a better mind!
From envy free, to charity inclined.
This both Penelope and I afford :
Then, prince! be bounteous of Ulysses' board.
To give another's is thy hand so slow?
So much more sweet to spoil than to bestow?
Whence, great Telemachus! this lofty strain?
(Antinous cries with insolent disdain);
Portions like mine if every suitor gave,
Our walls this twelvemonth should not see the slave.
He spoke, and lifting high above the board
His ponderous footstool, shook it at his lord.
The rest with equal hand conferr'd the bread;
He fill'd his scrip, and to the threshold sped;
But first before Antinoüs stopt, and said—
Bestow, my friend! thou dost not seem the worst
Of all the Greeks, but prince-like and the first;
Then, as in dignity, be first in worth,
And I shall praise thee through the boundless earth.
Once I enjoy'd in luxury of state
Whate'er gives man the envied name of great;
Wealth, servants, friends, were mine in better days;
And hospitality was then my praise;
In every sorrowing soul I pour'd delight,
And poverty stool smiling in my sight.
And inly form'd revenge: then back withdrew; Before his feet the well-fill'd scrip he threw,
And thus with semblance mild addrest the crew.
May what I speak your princely minds approve, 555 Ye peers and rivals in this noble love!
Not for the hurt I grieve, but for the cause.
If, when the sword our country's quarrel draws,
Or if, defending what is justly dear,
From Mars impartial some broad wound we bear; 560
470 The generous motive dignifies the scar.
But for mere want, how hard to suffer wrong!
Want brings enough of other ills along!
Yet, if injustice never be secure,
If fiends revenge, and gods assert the poor,
475 Death shall lay low the proud aggressor's head, And make the dust Antinoüs' bridal bed. Peace, wretch! and eat thy bread without offence, (The suitor cried,) or force shall drag thee hence, Scourge thro' the public street, and cast thee there, 570 A mangled carcass for the hounds to tear.
His furious deed the general anger moved, All, even the worst, condemn'd: and some reproved. Was ever chief for wars like these renown'd? Ill fits the stranger and the poor to wound.
485 Unblest thy hand! if in this low disguise
Wander, perhaps, some inmate of the skies:
They (curious oft to mortal actions) deign
In forms like these, to round the earth and main,
Just and unjust recording in their mind,
And with sure eyes inspecting all mankind.
Telemachus, absorpt in thought severe,
Nourish'd deep anguish, though he shed no tear;
But the dark brow of silent sorrow shook,
While thus his mother to her virgins spoke.
"On him and his may the bright god of day
"That base, inhospitable blow repay!"
The nurse replies: "If Jove receives my prayer,
"Not one survives to breathe to-morrow's air."
All, all are foes, and mischief is their end:
500 Antinoüs most to gloomy death a friend: (Replies the queen) the stranger begg'd their grace And melting pity soften'd every face; From every other hand redress he found, But fell Antinous answer'd with a wound, Amidst her maids thus spoke the prudent queen, Then kade Eumæus call the pilgrim in.
Much of the experienced man I long to hear,
If or his certain eye, or listening ear,
Have learn'd the fortunes of my wandering lord?
Thus she, and good Eumæus took the word.
A private audience if thy grace impart,
The stranger's words may ease the royal heart.
His sacred eloquence in balm distils,
The Fight of Ulysses and Irus.
The beggar Irus insults Ulysses: the suitors promote the quarrel, in which Irus is worsted, and miserably handled. Penelope descends, and receives the presents of the suitors. The dialogue of Ulysses with Eurymachus.
And the sooth'd heart with secret pleasure fills,
Three days have spent their beams, three nights have run
Their silent journey since his tale begun,
Unfinish'd yet; and yet I thirst to hear
As when some heaven taught poet charms the ear
(Suspending sorrow with celestial strain
Breathed from the gods to soften human pain)
Time steals away with unregarded wing,
And the soul hears him, though he cease to sing,
Ulysses late he saw, on Cretan ground,
(His father's guest), for Minos' birth renown'd.
He now but waits the wind, to waft him o'er,
With boundless treasure, from Thesprotia's shore.
To this the queen. The wanderer let me hear,
While yon luxurious race indulge their cheer,
Devour the grazing ox, and browzing goat,
And turn my generous vintage down their throat.
For where's an arm like thine, Ulysses! strong,
To curb wild riot, and to punish wrong?
She spoke. Telemachus then sneezed aloud;
Constrain'd, his nostrils echo'd through the crowd.
The smiling queen the happy omen blest:
"So may these impious fall, by Fate opprest!"
Then to Eumæus: Bring the stranger, fly!
And if my questions meet a true reply,
Graced with a decent robe he shall retire,
A gift in season which his wants require.
Thus spoke Penelope. Eumæus flies
In duteous haste, and to Ulysses cries,
The queen invites thee, venerable guest!
A secret instinct moves her troubled breast,
Of her long absent lord from thee to gain
Some light, and soothe her soul's eternal pain.
If true, if faithful thou, her grateful mind
Of decent robes a present has design'd:
So finding favour in the royal eye,
Thy other wants her subjects shall supply.
Fair truth alone (the patient man replied)
My words shall dictate, and my lips shall guide.
To him, to me, one common lot was given,
In equal woes, alas! involved by heaven.
Much of his fates I know; but check'd by fear
I stand; the hand of violence is here:
Here boundless wrongs the starry skies invade,
And injured suppliants seek in vain for aid.
Let for a space the pensive queen attend,
Nor claim my story till the sun descend;
Then in such robes as suppliants may require,
Composed and cheerful by the genial fire,
When loud uproar and lawless riot cease,
Shall her pleased ear receive my words in peace.
Swift to the queen returns the gentle swain:
And say (she cries), does fear, or shame, detain
The cautious stranger? With the begging kind
Shame suits but ill. Eumæus thus rejoin'd:
He only asks a more propitious hour,
And shuns (who would not?) wicked men in power;
At evening mild (meet season to confer)
By turns to question, and by turns to hear.
Whoe'er this guest (the prudent queen replies)
His every step and every thought is wise.
For men like these on earth he shall not find
In all the miscreant race of human kind.
Thus she. Eumæus all her words attends,
And, parting, to the suitor powers descends;
There seeks Telemachus, and thus apart
In whispers breathes the fondness of his heart.
The time, my lord, invites me to repair
Hence to the lodge; my charge demands my care,
These sons of murder thirst thy life to take;
O guard it, guard it, for thy servant's sake!
Thanks to my friend, he cries; but now the hour
Of night draws on, go seek the rural bower:
But first refresh: and at the dawn of day
Hither a victim to the gods convey.
Our life to heaven's immortal powers we trust,
Safe in their care, for heaven protects the just.
Observant of his voice, Eumæus sate
7HILE fix d in thought the pensive hero sate, A mendicant approach'd the royal gate;
620 A surly vagrant of the giant kind,
The stain of manhood, of a coward mind:
From feast to feast, insatiate to devour
He flew, attendant on the genial hour.
Him on his mother's knees, when babe he lay,
625 She named Arnæus on his natal day:
But Irus his associates call'd the boy,
Practised the common messenger to fly;
Irus, a name expressive of the employ.
From his own roof, with meditated blows,
630 He strove to drive the man of mighty woes.
Hence, dotard! hence, and timely speed thy way,
Lest dragg'd in vengeance thou repent thy stay;
See how with nods assent yon princely train!
But honouring age, in mercy I refrain;
635 In peace away! lest, if persuasions fail,
This arm with blows more eloquent prevail.
To whom, with stern regard: O insolence,
Indecently to rail without offence!
What bounty gives without a rival share;
640 I ask, what harms not thee, to breathe this air:
Alike on alms we both precarious live:
And canst thou envy when the great relieve?
Know, from the bounteous heavens all riches flow,
And what man gives, the gods by man bestow;
645 Proud as thou art, henceforth no more be proud,
Lest I imprint my vengeance in thy blood;
Old as I am, should once my fury burn,
How wouldst thou fly, nor even in thought return!
Mere woman-glutton! (thus the churl replied);
650 A tongue so flippant, with a throat so wide!
Why cease I, gods! to dash those teeth away,
Like some vile boar's, that greedy of his prey
Uproots the bearded corn? Rise, try the fight,
Gird well thy loins, approach, and feel my might:
655 Sure of defeat, before the peers engage;
Unequal fight, when youth contends with age!
Thus in a wordy war their tongues display
More fierce intents, preluding to the fray;
Antinous hears, and in a jovial vein,
Thus with loud laughter to the suitor-train.
And these my friends shall guard the sacred ties
Of hospitality, for they are wise.
Then, girding his strong loins, the king prepares
To close in combat, and his body bares;
Broad spread his shoulders, and his nervous thighs
By just degrees, like well-turn'd columns, rise:
Ample his chest, his arms are round and long,
And each strong joint Minerva knits more strong
(Attendant on her chief): the suitor-crowd
With wonder gaze, and gazing speak aloud;
Irus! alas! shall Irus be no more?
Black fate impends, and this the avenging hour!
Gods! how his nerves a matchless strength proclaim,
Swell o'er his well-strunglimbs, and brace his frame!
Then pale with fears, and sickening at the sight,
They dragg'd the unwilling Irus to the fight:
From his blank vizage fled the coward blood,
And his flesh trembled as aghast he stood:
O'that such baseness should disgrace the light!
O hide it death, in everlasting night!
(Exclaims Antinous); can a vigorous foe
Meanly decline to combat age and woe?
But hear me, wretch! if recreant in the fray
That huge bulk yield this ill-contested day,
Instant thou sail'st, to Echetus resign'd;
A tyrant, fiercest of the tyrant kind,
Who casts thy mangled ears and nose a prey
To hungry dogs, and lops the man away.
While with indignant scorn he sternly spoke,
In every joint the trembling Irus shook.
Now front to front each frowning champion stands,
And poises high in air his adverse hands.
The chief yet doubts, or to the shades below
To fell the giant at one vengeful blow,
Or save his life; and soon his life to save
The king resolves, for mercy sways the brave.
That instant Irus his huge arm extends,
Full on his shoulder the rude weight descends:
The sage Ulysses, fearful to disclose
The hero latent in the man of woes,
Check'd half his might; yet rising to the stroke,
His jaw-bone dash'd, the crashing jaw-bone broke:
Down dropt he stupid from the stunning wound;
His feet extended, quivering, beat the ground;
His mouth and nostrils spout a purple flood;
His teeth all shatter'd, rush inmix'd with blood.
The peers transported, as outstretch'd he lies,
With bursts of laughter rend the vaulted skies;
Then dragg'd along, all bleeding from the wound,
His length of carcase trailing prints the ground;
Raised on his feet, again he reels, he falls,
Till propp'd, reclining on the palace walls:
Then to his hand a staff the victor gave,
And thus with just reproach address'd the slave.
There terrible, affright the dogs, and reign
A dreaded tyrant o'er the bestial train!
But mercy to the poor and stranger shew,
Lest heaven in vengeance send some mightier woe.
Scornful he spoke, and o'er his shoulder flung
The broad patch'd scrip; the scrip in tatters hung,
Ill join'd, and knotted to a twisted thong.
Then, turning short, disdain'd a further stay;
But to the palace measured back the way.
There as he rested, gathering in a ring,
The peers with smiles addrest their unknown king:
Stranger, may Jove and all the aërial powers,
With every blessing crown thy happy hours!
Our freedom to thy prowess'd arm we owe
From bold intrusion of thy coward foe;
Instant the flying sail the slave shall wing
To Echetus, the monster of a king.
While pleased he hears, Antinous bears the food,
A kid's well-fatted entrails, rich with blood:
The bread from canisters of shining mould
Amphinomus; and wines that laugh in gold:
And oh! (he mildly cries) may heaven display
A beam of glory o'er thy future day!
Alas, the brave too oft is doom'd to bear
The gripes of poverty and stings of care.
To whom with thought mature the king replies;
The tongue speaks wisely, when the soul is wise;
Such was thy father! in imperial state,
Great without vice, that oft attends the great:
Nor from the sire art thou, the son, declined
Then hear my words, and grave them in thy mind!
Of all that breathes, or grov'ling creeps on earth,
Most man is vain! calamitous by birth:
To-day, with power elate, in strength he blooms;
The haughty creature on that power presumes:
Antinous and Eurymachus.
Anon from heaven a sad reverse he feels;
Untaught to bear, 'gainst heaven the wretch rebels.
For man is changeful, as his bliss or woe;
Too high when prosperous, when distrest too low.
There was a day, when with the scornful great
I swell'd in pomp and arrogance of state;
Proud of that power that to high birth belongs;
And used that power to justify my wrongs.
80 Then let not man be proud; but firm of mind,
Bear the best humbly, and the worst resign'd:
Be dumb when heaven afflicts! unlike yon train
Of haughty spoilers, insolently vain;
Who make their queen and all her wealth a prey:
But vengeance and Ulysses wing their way.
O may'st thou, favour'd by some guardian power,
Far, far be distant in that deathful hour!
For sure I am, if stern Ulysses breathe,
These lawless riots end in blood and death.
Then to the gods the rosy juice he pours,
And the drain'd goblet to the chief restores.
Stung to the soul, o'ercast with holy dread,
He shook the graceful honours of his head;
His boding mind the future woe forestalls,
95 In vain! by great Telemachus he falls,
For Pallas seals his doom: all sad he turns
To join the peers; resumes his throne, and mourns.
Meanwhile Minerva with instinctive fires
Thy soul, Penelope, from heaven inspires:
With flattering hopes the suitors to betray,
And seem to meet, yet fly, the bridal day:
Thy husband's wonder, and thy son's, to raise;
And crown the mother and the wife with praise.
Then, while the streaming sorrow dims her eyes,
105 Thus with a transient smile the matron cries:
Euronyme! to go where riot reigns
I feel an impulse, though my soul disdains;
To my loved son the snares of death to shew,
And in the traitor-friend unmask the foe;
110 Who, smooth of tongue, in purpose insincere,
Hides fraud in smiles, while death is ambush'd there. 200
Go, warn thy son, nor be the warning vain
(Replied the sagest of the royal train);
But bathed, anointed, and adorn'd, descend;
Powerful of charms, bid every grace attend;
The tide of flowing tears awhile suppress;
Tears but indulge the sorrow, not repress.
Some joy remains: to thee a son is given,
Such, as in fondness, parents ask of heaven.
Ah me! forbear, returns the queen, forbear,
Oh! talk not, talk not of vain beauty's care;
No more I bathe, since he no longer sees
Those charms, for whom alone, I wish to please.
The day that bore Ulysses from this coast,
125 Blasted the little bloom these cheeks could boast.
But instant bid Autonoë descend,
Instant Hippodamè our steps attend;
Ill suits it female virtue, to be seen
140 Such Venus shines, when with a measured bound
She smoothly gliding swims the harmonious round,
When with the Graces in the dance she moves,
And fires the gazing gods wish ardent loves.
Then to the skies her flight Minerva bends,
And to the queen the damsel-train descends:
Waked at their steps, her flowing eyes unclose;
The tear she wipes, and thus renews her woes.
Howe'er 'tis well that sleep awhile can free
With soft forgetfulness, a wretch like me!
Oh! were it given to yield this transient breath,
Send, oh! Diana, send the sleep of death!
Why must I waste a tedious life in tears,
Nor bury in the silent grave my cares?
O my Ulysses! ever-honour'd name!
For thee I mourn till death dissolve my frame.
Thus wailing, slow and sadly she descends,
On either hand a damsel train attends:
Full where the dome its shining valves expands,
Radiant before the gazing peers she stands;
160 A veil translucent o'er her brow display'd,
Her beauty seems, and only seems to shader
Sudden she lightens in their dazzled eyes, And sudden flames in every bosom rise; They send their eager souls with every look, Till silence thus the imperial matron broke:
O why! my son, why now no more appears That warmth of soul that urged thy younger years? Thy riper days no growing worth impart, A man in stature, still a boy in heart! Thy well-knit frame unprofitably strong, Speaks thee an hero, from an hero sprung: But the just gods in vain those gifts bestow, O wise alone in form, and brave in show! Heavens! could a stranger feel oppression's hand Beneath thy roof, and couldst thou tamely stand? If thou the stranger's righteous cause decline, His is the sufferance, but the shame is thinę.
To whom with filial awe, the prince returns:
That generous soul with just resentment burns:
Yet taught by time, my heart has learn'd to glow
For others' good, and melt at others' woe;
But impotent these riots to repel,
I bear their qutrage, though my soul rebel;
Helpless amid the snares of death I tread,
And numbers leagued in impious union dread;
But now no crime is theirs: this wrong proceeds
From Irus, and the guilty Irus bleeds.
O would to Jove! or her whose arms display
The shield of Jove, or him who rules the day!
That yon proud suitors, who licentious tread
These courts, within these courts like Irus bled:
Whose loose head tottering, as with wine opprest,
Obliquely drops, and nodding knocks his breast;
Powerless to move, his staggering feet deny
The coward wretch the privilege to fly.
Then to the queen Eurymachus replies:
O justly loved, and not more fair than wise!
A bracelet rich with gold, with amber gay, That shot effulgence like the solar ray, Eurymachus presents; and ear-rings bright, With triple stars, that cast a trembling light. 255. Pisander bears a necklace wrought with art: And every peer, expressive of his heart, A gift bestows: this done, the queen ascends, And slow behind her damsel train attends. Then to the dance they form the vocal strain, 260 Till Hesperus leads forth the starry train; And now he raises, as the day-light fades, His golden circlet in the deepening shades: Three vases heap'd with copious fires display O'er all the palace a fictitious day;
265 From space to space the torch wide-beaming burns,
And sprightly damsels trim the rays by turns.
To whom the king: Ill suits your sex to stay
Alone with men! ye modest maids, away!
Go, with the queen the spindle guide; or cull
270 (The partners of her cares) the silver wool;
Be it my task the torches to supply
Even till the morning lamp adorns the sky;
Even till the morning, with unwearied care,
Sleepless I watch; for I have learn'd to bear.
Scornful they heard: Melantho, fair and young,
(Melantho, from the loins of Dolius sprung,
Who with the queen her years an infant led,
With the soft fondness of a daughter bred)
Chiefly derides: regardless of the cares
280 Her queen endures, polluted joys she shares
Nocturnal with Eurymachus: with eyes
That speak disdain, the wanton thus replies.
Oh! whither wanders thy distemper'd brain,
Thou bold intruder on a princely train?
Hence to the vagrants' rendezvous repair:
Or shun in some black forge the midnight air.
Proceeds this boldness from a turn of soul,
Or flows licentious from the copious bowl?
Is it that vanquish'd Irus swells thy mind?
A foe may meet thee of a braver kind,
Who, shortening with a storm of blows thy stay,
Shall send thee howling all in blood away!
Should Greece through all her hundred states survey, Thy finish'd charms, all Greece would own thy sway, In rival crowds contest the glorious prize, Dispeopling realms to gaze upon thy eyes:
O woman! loveliest of the lovely kind,
In body perfect, and complete in mind.
Ah me, returns the queen, when from this shore Ulysses sail'd, then beauty was no more!
The gods decreed these eyes no more should keep
Their wonted grace, but only serve to weep.
Should he return whate'er my beauties prove,
My virtues last; my brightest eharm is love.
Now, grief, thou all art mine! the gods o'ercast
My soul with woes, that long, ah long must last!
Too faithfully my heart retains the day
That sadly tore my royal lord away:
He grasp'd my hand, and, Oh my spouse! I leave
Thy arms (he cried), perhaps to find a grave:
Fame speaks the Trojans bold; they boast the skill
To give the feather'd arrow wings to kill,
To dart the spear, and guide the rushing car
With dreadful inroad through the walks of war.
My sentence is gone forth, and 'tis decreed
Perhaps by righteous heaven that I must bleed!
My father, mother, all I trust to thee;
To them, to them transfer the love of me:
But, when my son grows man, the royal sway
Resign, and happy be thy bridal day!
Such were his words; and Hymen now prepares
To light his torch, and give me up to cares
The afflictive band of wrathful Jove to bear:
A wretch the most complete that breathes the air!
Fall'n even below the rights to woman due!
Careless to please, with insolence ye woo!
The generous lovers, studious to succeed,
Bid their whole herds and flocks in banquets bleed;
By precious gifts the vow sincere display;
You, only you, make her ye love your prey.
Well-pleased Ulysses hears his queen deceive
The suitor-train, and raise a thirst to give:
False hopes she kindles, but those hopes betray,
And promise, yet elude, the bridal day.
While yet she speaks, the gay Antinous cries,
Offspring of kings, and more than woman wise!
"Tis right; 'tis man's prerogative to give,
And custom bids thee without shame receive;
Yet never, never, from thy dome we move,
Till Hymen lights the torch of spousal love.
The peers dispatch'd their heralds to convey
The gifts of love; with speed they take the way
A robe Antinous gives of shining dyes,
The varying lines in gay confusion rise
Rich from the artist's hand! Twelve clasps of gold
Close to the lessening waist the vest infold;
Down from the swelling loins the vest unbound
Floats in bright waves redundant o'er the ground.
To whom with frowns: O impudent in wrong! Thy lord shall curb that insolence of tongue; 295 Know, to Telemachus I tell the offence;
The scourge, the scourge shall lash thee into sense.
With conscious shame they hear the stern rebuke,
Nor longer durst sustain the sovereign look.
Then to the servile task the monarch turns
300 His royal hands: each torch refulgent burns
With added day; meanwhile in museful mood,
Absorpt in thought, on vengeance fix'd he stood.
And now the martial maid, by deeper wrongs
To rouse Ulysses, points the suitor's tongues:
305 Scornful of age, to taunt the virtuous man,
Thoughtless and gay, Eurymachus began.
Hear me (he cries), confederates and friends!
Some god, no doubt, this stranger kindly sends;
The shining baldness of his head survey,
310 It aids our torch-light, and reflects the ray-
Then to the king that levell'd haughty Troy:
Say, if large hire can tempt thee to employ
Those hands in work; to tend the rural trade,
To dress the walk, and form the embowering shade
315 So food and raiment constant will I give :
But idly thus thy soul prefers to live,
And starve by strolling, not by work to thrive.
To whom incensed: Should we, O prince, engage 410
In rival tasks beneath the burning rage
320 Of summer suns; were both constrain'd to wield
Foodless the scythe along the burden'd field;
Or should we labour while the ploughshare wounds,
With steers of equal strength, the allotted grounds; 415
Beneath my labours, how thy wondering eyes
325 Might see the sable field at once arise!
Should Jove dire war unloose, with spear and shield,
And nodding helm, I tread the ensanguined field,
Fierce in the van: then wouldst thou,-say,-
Misname me glutton, in that glorious day?
330 No, thy ill-judging thoughts the brave disgrace;
"Tis thou injurious art, not I am base,
Proud to seem brave among a coward train!
But know, thou art not valourous, but vain.
Gods should the stern Ulysses rise in might,
Perhaps, these ontrages from Irus flow,
A worthless triumph o'er a worthless foe!
He said and with full force a footstool threw :
Whirl'd from his arm, with erring rage it flew;
Ulysses, cautious of the vengeful foe,
Stoops to the ground and disappoints the blow.
Not so a youth who deals the goblet round,
Full on his shoulder it inflicts a wound,
Dash'd from his hand the sounding goblet flies,
He shrieks, he reels, he falls, and breathless lies,
Then wild uproar and clamour mounts the sky,
Till mutual thus the peers indignant cry;
O had this stranger sunk to realms beneath,
To the black realms of darkness and of death,
Ere yet he trod these shores! to strife he draws
Peer against peer; and what the weighty cause?
A vagabond! for him the great destroy?
In vile ignoble jars, the feast of joy?
To whom the stern Telemachus uprose;
Gods! what wild folly from the goblet flows!
Whence this unguarded openness of soul,
But from the licence of the copious bowl?
Or heaven delusion sends: but hence, away!
Force I forbear, and without force obey.
Silent, abash'd, they hear the stern rebuke,
Till thus Amphinomus the silence broke.
True are his words, and he whom truth offends,
Not with Telemachus, but truth contends;
Let not the hand of violence invade
The reverend stranger, or the spotless maid;
Retire we hence! but crown with rosy wine
The flowing goblet to the powers divine!
Guard he his guest beneath whose roof he stands :
This justice, this the social rite demands.
The peers assent; the goblet Mulius crown'd
With purple juice, and bore in order round;
Each peer successive his libation pours
To the blest gods who fill the aërial bowers;
Then swill'd with wine, with noise the crowds obey,
And rushing forth tumultuous reel away.
In happy hour, (pleased Euryclea cries), 435 Tutor'd by early woes, grow early wise! Inspect with sharpen'd sight and frugal care, Your patrimonial wealth a prudent heir, But who the lighted taper will provide (The female train retired) your toils to guide? Without infringing hospitable right,
This guest (he cried) shall bear the guiding light:
I cheer no lazy vagrants with repast;
They share the meal that earn it ere they taste.
He said; from female ken she strait secures
445 The purposed deed, and guards the bolted doors:
Auxiliar to his son, Ulysses bears
The plumy-crested helms and pointed spears,
With shields indented deep in glorious wars.
Minerva viewless on her charge attends,
450 And with her golden lamp his toil befriends.
Not such the sickly beams, which unsincere
Gild the gross vapour of this nether sphere!
A present deity the prince confess'd,
And rapt with extacy the sire address'd.
What miracle thus dazzles with surprise!
Distinct in rows the radiant columns rise:
The walls, where'er my wondering sight I turn,
And roofs, amidst a blaze of glory burn!
Some visitant of pure etherial race,
460 With his bright presence deigns the dome to grace. Be calm, replies the sire; to none impart,
The Discovery of Ulysses to Euryclea. Ulysses and his son remove the weapons out of the armoury. Ulysses in conversation with Penelope, gives a fictitious account of his adventures; then assures her he had formerly entertained her husband in Crete; and describes exactly his person and dress, affirms to have heard of him in Phæacia and Thesprotia, and that his return is certain, and within a month. He then goes to bathe, and is attended by Euryclea, who discovers him to be Ulysses by the scar upon his leg, which he formerly received in hunting the wild boar on Parnassus. The poet inserts a digression, relating that accident, with all its particulars,
CONSULTING secret with the blue-eyed maid,
Still in the dome divine Ulysses stay'd:
Revenge mature for act inflamed his breast;
And thus the son the fervent sire addrest.
Instant convey those steely stores of war
To distant rooms, disposed with secret care:
The cause demanded by the suitor train,
To soothe their fears a specious reason feign:
Say, since Ulysses left his natal coast,
Obscene with smoke, their beamy lustre lost,
His arms deform the roof they wont adorn;
From the glad walls inglorious lumber torn.
Suggest that Jove the peaceful thought inspired,
Lest, they by sight of swords to fury fired,
Dishonest wounds, or violence of soul,
Defame the bridal feast and friendly bowl.
The prince obedient to the sage command,
To Euryclea thus: The female band
In their apartments keep; secure the doors:
These swarthy arms among the covert stores
Are seemlier hid; my thoughtless youth they blame,
Imbrown'd with vapour of the smouldering flame.
But oft revolve the vision in thy heart:
Celestials, mantled in excess of light,
Can visit unapproach'd by mortal sight.
Seek thou repose; whilst here I sole remain,
To explore the conduct of the female train:
The pensive queen, perchance, desires to know
The series of my toils, to soothe her woe.
With tapers flaming day his train attends,
His bright alcove the obsequious youth ascends:
Soft slumberous shades his drooping eyelids close,
Till on her eastern throne Aurora glows.
While forming plans of death, Ulysses stay'd,
In council secret with the martial maid;
Attendant nymphs in beauteons order wait
The queen, descending from her bower of state.
Her cheeks the warmer blush of Venus wear,
Chasten'd with coy Diana's pensive air.
An ivory seat with silver ringlets graced,
By famed Icmalius wrought, the menials placed:
With ivory silver'd thick the footstool shone,
O'er which the panther's various hide was thrown.
The sovereign seat with graceful air she press'd;
To different tasks their toil the nymphs address d:
The golden goblets, some, and some restored
From stains of luxury the polish'd board:
These to remove the expiring embers came,
While those with unctuous fir foment the flame.
"Twas then Melantho with imperious mien
Renew'd the attack, incontinent of spleen:
Avaunt, she cried, offensive to my sight!
Deem not in ambush here to lurk by night,
Into the woman state asquint to pry;
A day-devourer, and an evening spy!
Vagrant, begone! before this blazing brand
Shall urge-and waved it hissing in ber hand
The insulted hero rolls his wrathful eyes,
And, why so turbulent of soul? he cries;
Can these lean shrivel'd limbs unnerved with age,
These poor but honest rags enkindle rage?
In crowds, we wear the badge of hungry fate;
And beg, degraded from superior state!
Constrain'd a rent-charge on the rich I live!
Reduced to crave the good I once could give:
A palace, wealth and slaves, I late possess'd,
And all that makes the great be call'd the bless'd;
My gate, an emblem of my open soul,
5 Embraced the poor, and dealt a bounteons dole.
Scorn not the sad reverse, injurious maid!
"Tis Jove's high will, and be his will obey'd!
Nor think thyself exempt; that rosy prime
Must share the general doom of withering time:
10 To some new channel soon, the changeful tide
Of royal grace the offended queen may guide;
And her loved lord unplume thy towering pride.
Or were he dead, 'tis wisdom to beware:
Sweet blooms the prince beneath Apollo's care;
15 Your deeds with quick impartial eye surveys,
Potent to punish what he cannot praise.
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Her keen reproach had reach'd the sovereign's ear Loquacious insolent! she cries, forbear; To thee the purpose of my soul I told : Venial discourse, unblamed with him to hold; The storied labours of my wandering lord,
To sooth my grief he haply may record:
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