Happy! thrice happy! who, in battle flain,
Preft, in Atrides' caufe, the Trojan plain :
Oh! had I dy'd before that well-fought wall; 395
Had fome diftinguish'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 folemn funerals then,
And fpread my glory with the fons of men.
A hameful fate now hides my hapless head,
Un-wept, un-noted, and for ever dead!

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A mighty wave rush'd o'er him as he spoke,
The raft is cover'd, and the maft it broke;
Swept from the deck, and from the rudder torn, 405
Far on the fwelling furge the chief was borne :
While by the howling tempeft rent in twain
Flew fail and fail-yards rattling o'er the main.
Long prefs'd, he heav'd beneath the weighty wave,
Clogg'd by the cumbrous veft Calypfo gave:
At length, emerging from his noftrils wide
And gufhing mouth, effus'd the briny tide,
Ev'n then not mindlefs of his last retreat,
He feiz'd the raft, and leapt into his feat.
Strong with the fear of death. The rolling flood 415
Now here, now there, impell'd the floating wood.
As when a heap of gather'd thorns is caft
Now to, now fro, before th' autumnal blast;
Together clung, it rolls around the field;
So roll'd the float, and fo its texture held:
And now the fouth, and now the north, bear
And now the eaft the foamy floods obey, [fway,
And now the weft-wind whirls it o'er the fea.
The wandering chief, with toils on toils oppreft,
Leucothea faw, and pity touch'd her breast
(Herfelf a mortal once, of Cadmus' ftrain,
Pat now an azure fifter of the main).
Swift as a fea-mew fpringing from the flood,
All radiant on the raft the Goddess stood :
Then thus addrefs'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, fuch virtue fhall devour.
What I fuggeft, thy wifdom will perform;
Forfake thy float, and leave it to the storm;
Strip off thy garments; Neptune's fury brave
With naked ftrength, and plunge into the wave.
To reach Phæacia all thy nerves extend,
There Fate decrees thy miferies fhall end.
This heavenly fcarf beneath thy bofom bind,
And live; give all thy terrors to the wind,
Soon as thy arms the happy fhore shall gain,
Return the gift, and caft it on the main;
Obferve my orders, and with heed obey,
Cat it far off, and turn thy eyes away.
With that her hand the facred veil bestows,
Then down the deeps the div'd from whence

rofe;

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435

Thus then I judge; while yet the planks fuftain
The wild waves fury, here I fix'd remain :
But when their texture to the tempefts yields, 460
I launch adventurous on the liquid fields,
Join to the help of Gods the ftrength of man,
And take this method, fince the best I can.
While thus his thoughts an anxious council hold,
The raging God a watery mountain roll'd; 465
Like a black fheet the whelming billow spread
Burfts o'er the float, and thunder'd on his head.
Planks, beams, difparted fly: the scatter'd wood
Rolls diverfe, and in fragments ftraws the flood.
So the rude Boreas, o'er the fields new-fhorn, 470
Toffes and drives the fcatter'd heaps of corn.
And now a fingle beam the chief beftrides;
There pois'd a while above the bounding tides,
His limbs difcumbers of the clinging veft,
And binds the facred cincture round his breaft; 475
Then prone on ocean in a moment flung,
Stretch'd wide his eager arms, and fhot the feas
All naked now, on heaving billows laid, [along.
Stern Neptune ey'd him, and contemptuous faid;

Go, learn'd in woes, and other woes effay! 480
Go, wander helpless on the watery way:
Thus, thus find out the deftin'd fhore, and then
(If Jove ordains it) mix with happier men.
Whate'er thy fate, the ills our wrath could raise
Shall laft remember'd in thy best of days.

485

This faid, his fea-green fteeds divide the foam, And reach high Æge and the towery dome. Now, fcarce withdrawn the fierce earth shaking

power.

445

Till Heaven by miracle his life restore);

the

A moment fnatch'd the fhining form away,
And all was cover'd with the curling fea.
Struck with amaze, yet still to doubt inclin'd, 450
He ftands fufpended, and explores his mind.
What hall I do? Unhappy me who knows
But other Gods intend me other woes?
Whoe'er thou art, I fhall not blindly join
Thy pleaded reafon, but confult with mine:
For fearce in ken appears that diftant ifle,
Thy voice foretels mc fhall conclude my toil.

512

So joys Ulyffes at th' appearing fhore,
And fees, (and labours onward as he fees)
The rifing forefts and the tufted trees.
And now, as near approaching as the found
Of human voice the liftening ear may wound, 515
Amidst the rocks he hears a hollow rear
Of murmuring furges breaking on the shore;
Nor peaceful port was there, ner winding bay,
To fhield the veffel from the rolling fea,

1

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540 [bore

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Ah me! when, o'er a length of waters toft, Thefe eyes at laft behold th' unhop'd for coaft, 525 No port receives me from the angry main, But the loud deeps demand me back again. Above, sharp rocks forbid accefs; around, Roar the wild wave; beneath is fea profound! No footing fure affords the faithlefs fand, To ftem to rapid, and too deep to stand. If here I euter, my efforts are in vain, Dafh'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 fhores defcend, Back to the feas the rolling furge may sweep, And bury all my hopes beneath the deep. Or fome enormous whale the God may fend, (For many fuch on Amphitrite attend) Too well the turns of mortal chance I know, And hate relentless of my heavenly fee. While thus he thought, a monftrous wave up. The chief, and dafh'd him on the craggy shore : Torn was his fkin, nor had the ribs been whole, But inftant Pallas enter'd in his foul. Close to the cliff with both his hands he clung, And ftuck adherent, and fufpended hung; [Tweep Till the huge furge roll'd off then, backward 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 ftuck with ftones and fands: So the rough rock had fhagg'd Ulyffes' hands. And now had perifh'd, whelm'd beneath the main, Th' unhappy man; ev'n Fate had been in vain : But all fubduing Pallas lent her power, And prudence fav'd him in the needful hour. Beyond the beating furge his course he bore, (A wider circle, but in fight of shore) With longing eyes, observing, to furvey Some smooth afcent, or fafe fequefter'd bay. Between the parting rocks at length he 'spy'd A falling ftream with gentler waters glide; Where to the feas the fhelving fhore declin'd, And form'd a bay impervious to the wind. To this calm port the glad Ulyffes preft, And hail'd the river, and its God addreft: Whoe'er thou art, before whofe ftream unknown I bend, a fuppliant at thy watery throne, Hear, azure king nor let me fly in vain To thee from Neptune and the raging main. Heaven hears and pities hapless men like me, For facred ev'n to Gods is mifery: Let then thy waters give the weary rest, And fave a fuppliant, and a man distrest. He pray'd, and ftraight the gentle ftream fubfides, Detains the rushing current of his tides, Before the wanderer smooths the watery way, And foft receives him from the rolling fea. That moment, fainting as he touch'd the fhore, 580 He dropt his finewy arms: his knees no more

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Perform'd their office, or his weight upheld:
His fwoln heart heav'd; his bloated body fwell'd,
From mouth and nofe the briny torrent ran;
And loft in laffitude lay all the man,
Depriv'd of voice, of motion, and of breath;
The foul scarce waking in the arms of death.
Soon as warm life its wonted office found,
The mindful chief Leucothea's scarf unbound;
Obfervant of her word, he turn'd afide
His head, and caft it on the rolling tide.
Behind him far, upon the purple waves
The waters waft it, and the nymph receives.
Now parting from the ftream, Ulyffes found
A moffy bank, with pliant rushes crown'd! 595
The bank he prefs'd, and gently kifs'd the ground;
Where on the flowery herb as foft he lay,
Thus to his foul the fage began to say:

$90

What will ye next ordain, ye Powers on high?
And yet, ah! yet, what Fates are we to try? 6co
Here by the ftream, if I the night out-wear,
Thus spent already, how shall nature bear
The dews defcending, and nocturnal air;
Or chilly vapours breathing from the flood
When morning rife -If I take the wood,
And in thick shelter of innumerous boughs,
Enjoy the comfort gently fleep allows;
Though fenc'd from cold, and though my toil be
past,

What favage beafts may wander in the waste;
Perhaps I yet may fall a bloody prey
To prowling bears, or lions in the way.

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Thus long debating in himself he stood: At length he took the paffage to the wood, Whofe shady horrors on a rifing brow Wav'd high, and frown'd upon the stream below. There grew two olives, closest of the grove, With roots entwin'd, and branches interwove; Alike their leaves, but not alike they fmil'd With fifter fruits; one fertile, one was wild. Nor here the fun's meridian rays had power, 620 Nor wind fharp-piercing, nor the rushing fhower; The verdant arch fo clofe its texture kept : Beneath this covert great Ulyffes crept. Of gather'd leaves an ample bed he made (Thick frown by tempeft through the bowery shade); 625 Where three at leaft might winter's cold defy, Though Boreas rag'd along th' inclement fky. This ftore, with joy the the patient hero found, And, funk amidst them, heap'd the leaves around. As fome poor peafant, fated to refide Remote from neighbours in a forest wide, Studious to fave what human wants require, In embers heap'd, preferves the feeds of fire: Hid in dry foliage thus Ulyffes lies, Till Pallas pour'd foft flumbers on his eyes; 655 And golden dreams (the gift of fweet repofe) Lull'd all his cares, and banifh'd all his woes.

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5

WHI
THILE thus the weary wanderer funk to reft,
And peaceful flumbers calm'd his anxious breaft
The Martial Maid from heaven's aerial height
Swift to Phæacia wing'd her rapid flight.
In elder times the foft Phæacian train
a eafe poffeft the wide Hyperian plain;
Fill the Cyclopean race in arms arofe,
A lawless nation of Gigantic foes:
Then great Naufithous from Hyperia far,
Through feas retreating from the found of war,
The recreant nation to fair Scheria led,
Where never science rear'd her laurel'd head:
There, round his tribes a strength of wall he rais'd:
To heaven the glittering domes and temples blaz'd:
fuft to his realms, he parted grounds from grounds,
And thar'd the lands, and gave the lands their
bounds.

The feat of Gods; the regions mild of peace, Full joy, and calm eternity of eafe.

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Now in the filent grave the monarch lay,
And wife Alcinous held the regal fway.
To his high palace through the fields of air
The Goddess fhot; Ulyffes was her care.
There as the night in filence roil'd away,
A heaven of charms divine Nauficaa lay:
Through the thick gloom the fhining portals blaze;
Two nymphs the portals guard, each nymph a

Grace.

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Light as the viewlefs air the Warrior-Maid
Glides thro' the valves, and hovers round her head;
A favourite virgin's blooming form fhe took,
From Dymas fprung, and thus the vifion spoke :
Oh indolent to waste thy hours away!
And fleep'st thou careless of the bridal day?
Thy fpoufil ornament neglected lies;
Arife, prepare the bridal train, arife!
A juft applaufe the eares of drefs impart,
And give foft tranfport to a parent's heart.
Halle, to the limpid ftream direct thy way,
When the gay morn unveils her fmiling ray:
Hafte to the ftream! 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
The royal car at early dawn obtain,
[figh!
And order mules obedient to the rein;
Fot rough the way, and distant rolls the wave,
Where their fair vefts Phæacian virgins lave.
In pomp ride forth; for pomp becomes the great, 45
And majefty derives a grace from ftate.
Then to the palaces of heaven the fails,
Incumbent on the wings of wafting gales:

Will my dread fire his ear regardful deign, And may his child the royal ear obtsin? Say, with thy garment fhall I bend my way, Where through the vales the mazy waters fray? A dignity of drefs adorns the great,

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And kings draw luftre from the robe of state.
Five fons thou haft; three wait the bridal day, 75
And fpotlefs robes b come the young and gay.
So when with praife amid the dance they shine,
By thefe my cares adorn'd, that praife is mine."
Thus the: but blushes ill-reftrain'd betray
Her thoughts intentive on the bridal day:
The conscious fire the dawning blush furvey'd,
And fmiling thus bef oke the blooming maid:
My child, my darling joy, the car receive;
That, and whate'er our daughter afks, we give.
Swift at the royal nod th' attending train
The car prepare, the mules inceffant rein.
The blooming virgin with dispatchful cares
Tunicks, and ftoles, and robes imperial, bears.
The queen, affiduous, to her train afligus
The fumptuous viands, and the flavorous wines. go
The train prepare a cruife of curious mould,
A cruise of fragrance, form'd of burnish'd gold;
Odour divine whofe foft refreshing ftreams
Sleek the smooth skin, and scent the foowy limbs.

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Now mounting the gay feat, the filken reins 95 Shine in her hand: along the founding plains Swift fly the mules: nor rode the nymph alone; Around, a bevy of bright damfels fhone.

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They seek the cifterns where Phæacian dames
Wafh their fair garments in the limpid ftreams; 100
Where, gathering into depth from falling tills;
The lucid wave a fpacious bafon fills.
The mules unharnefs'd range befide the main,
Or crop the verdant herbage of the plain.
Then emulous the royal robes they lave,
And plunge the veftures in the cleanfing wave;
(The vetures cleans'd o'erfpread the shelly fand,
Their fnowy luftre whitens all the strand :)
Then with a fhort repaft relieve their toil,
And o'er their limbs difiufe ambrofial oil;
And, while the robes imbibe the folar ray,
O'er the green mead the fporting virgins play
(Their fhining veils unbound). Along the fkies
Toft, and retoft, the ball inceffant flies.
They fport, they feaft; Nauficaa lifts her voice, 115
And, warbling fweet, makes earth and heaven re-
As when o'er Erymanth Diana roves, [joice.
Or wide Taygetus' refounding groves;
A fylvan train the huntress queen furrounds,
Her rattling quiver from her shoulder founds:
Fierce in the sport, along the mountain's brow
They bay the boar, or chafe the bounding roer
High o'er the lawn with more majestic pace,
Above the nymphs fhe treads with stately grace;
Diftinguish'd excellence the Goddess proves;
Eaults Latona, as the virgin moves.
With equal grace Nausicaa trod the plain,
And fhone tranfcendant o'er the beauteous train.
Mean time (the care and favourite of the skies)
Wrapt in embowering fhade, Ulyffes lies,
His woes forgot! but Pallas now addrest

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To break the bands of all composing rest.
Forth from her fnowy hand Nausicaa threw
The various ball; the ball erroneous flew,
And fwam the ftream: loud fhricks the virgin
train,

135

And the loud fhriek redoubles from the main.
Wak'd by the fhrilling found, Ulyffes rofe,
And, to the deaf woods wailing, breath'd his woes :
Ah me! on what inhofpitable coast,

fhores :

140

Or what new region, is Ulyffes tost?
Poffeft by wild barbarians fierce in arms;
Or men, whose bofom tender pity warms?
What founds are thefe that gather from the
[bowers,
The voice of nymphs that haunt the fylvan
The fair-hair'd Dryads of the fhady wood; 145
Or azure daughters of the filver flood;
Or human voice? but, iffuing from the fhades,
Why ceafe I ftraight to learn what found invades ?
Then, where the grove with leaves umbrageous
bends,

With forceful ftrength a branch the hero rends; 150
Around his loins the verdant cincture spreads
A wreathy foliage and concealing fhades.
As when a lion in the midnight hours,
Beat by rude blasts, and wet with wintry showers,
Defcends terrific from the mountain's brow:
With living flames his rolling eye-balls glow;
With confcious ftrength elate, he bends his way,
Majeftically fierce, to feize his prey

155

(The fleer or flag): or with keen hunger bold, Springs o'er the fence, and diffipates the fold. 160 No lefs a terror, from the neighbouring groves Rough from the toffing furge, Ulyfies moves;

Urg'd on by want, and recent from the forms;
The brackish ooze his manly face deforms.
Wide o'er the fhore with many a piercing cry
To rocks, to caves, the frighted virgins fly:
All but the nymph: the nymph food fix'd alone
By Pallas arm'd with boldnefs not her own.
Mean time in dubious thought the king awaits,
And, felf-confidering, as he ftands, debates;
Distant his mournful story to declare,
Or proftrate at her knee addrefs the prayer.
But fearful to offend, by Wifdom fway'd,
At awful diftance he accotts the maid:

1

If from the skies a Goddefs, or if earth (Imperial virgin) boast thy glorious birth, To thee I bend! if in that bright disguise Thou visit earth, a daughter of the skies, Hail, Dian, hail! the huntress of the groves So fhines majestic, and fo stately moves, So breathes an air divine! But if thy race Be mortal, and this earth thy native place, Bleft is the father from whose loins you fprung Bleft is the mother at whose breast you hung, Bleft are the brethren who thy blood divide, 18 To fuch a miracle of charms ally'd:

Joyful they fee applauding princes gaze,

When ftately in the dance you fwim th' harme

nious maze.

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[flow;

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But bleft o'er all, the youth with heavenly charms! Who clafps the bright perfection in his arms! ya Never, I never view'd till this bleft hour Such finish'd grace! I gaze, and I adore! Thus feems the palm with stately honours crown'd By Phœbus' altars; thus o'erlooks the ground; The pride of Delos. (By the Deliau coast, I voyag'd, leader of a warrior-hoft, But ah, how chang'd! from thence my forrow O fatal voyage, fource of all my woes)! Raptur'd I ftood, and, as this hour amaz'd, With reverence at the lofty wonder gaz'd; Kaptur'd I ftand! for earth ne'er knew to bear A plant fo ftately, or a nymph fo fair. Aw'd from accefs, I lift my fuppliant hands; For mifery, O queen, before thee ftands! Twice ten tempeftuous nights I roll'd, refign'd 205 To roaring billows, and the warring wind; Heaven bade the deep to fpare! but Heaven, my Spares only to inflict fome mightier woe! Inur'd to care, to death in all its forms; Outcaft Irove, familiar with the ftorms! Once more I view the face of human-kind: Oh, let foft pity touch thy generous mind! Unconscious of what air I breathe, I stand Naked, defencclefs, on a foreign land, Propitious to my wants a veft fupply To guard the wretched from th' inclement sky: პი may the Gods, who heaven and earth control, Crown the chafte wishes of thy virtuous foul, On thy foft hours their choiceft bleffings fhed; Bleft with a husband be thy bridal bed: Bleft be the husband with a blooming race, And lafting union crown your blissful days. The Gods, when they fupremely blefs, bestow Firm union on their favourites below: Then envy grieves, with inly pining hate; The good exult, and Heaven is in our ftate.