If thou the circling year ray ftay control,
To raise a bounty noble as thy foul;
The circling year I wait, with ampler ftores
And fitter pomp to hail my native shores;
Then by my realms due homage would be paid;
For wealthy kings are loyally obey'd!
O king! for fuch thou art, and fure thy blood 450
Through veins (he cry'd) of royal fathers flow'd;
Unlike thofe vagrants who on falfehood live,
Skill'd in smooth tales, and artful to deceive;
Thy better foul abhors the liar's part,
Wife is thy voice, and noble is thy heart;
Thy words like music every breast control,
Steal through the ear, and win upon the foui;
Soft, as fome fong divine, thy ftory flows,
Nor better could the Mufe record thy woes.
But fay, upon the dark and difmal coaft,
Saw't thou the worthies of the Grecian hoft?
The godlike leaders who, in battle flain,
Fell before Troy, and nobly prest the plain ?
And, lo! a length of night behind remains,
The evening ftars ftill mount th' æthereal plains.
Thy tale with raptures I could hear thee tell,
Thy woes on earth, the wondrous fcenes in hell,
Till in the vault of Heaven the stars decay.
And the sky reddens with the rising day.
Thus by the gory arm of flaughter falls
The ftately ox, and bleeds within the ftalls. 510
But not with me the direful murder ends,
Thefe, thefe expir'd! their crime, they were my
friends!
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Thick as the boars, which some luxurious lord
Kills for the feaft, to crown the nuptial board.
When war has thunder'd with its loudest forms,515
Death thou haft feen in all her ghaftly forms;
In duel met her, on the lifted ground,
When hand to hand they wound return for wound,
But never have thy eyes aftonish'd view'd
So vile a deed, fo dire a scene of blood.
Ev'n in the flow of joy, when now the bowl
Glows in our veins, and opens every foul,
We groan, we faint; with blood the dome is d
And o'er the pavement floats the dreadful tide
Her breaft all gore, with lamentable cries, 515
The bleeding innocent Caffandra dies!
Then though pale death froze cold in every vein,
My fword I ftrive to wield, but strive in vain;
Nor did my traitrefs wife thefe eye-lids clofe,
Or decently in death my limbs compose.
O woman, woman, when to i'l thy mind
Is bent, all hell contains no fouler fiend:
And fuch was mine!, who bafely plung'd her fwerd
470 Thro' the fond hofom where the reign'd ador'd!
Alas! I hop'd, the toils of war o'ercome,
To meet foft quiet and repofe at home;
Delufive Hope! O wife, thy deeds difgrace
The perjur'd fex, and blacken all the race;
475 And fhould pofterity one virtuous find,
Name Clytemneftra, they will curfe the kind. 340
O injur'd fhade, I cry'd, what mighty woes
To thy imperial race from woman rofe!
By woman here thou tread't this mournful firand
And Greece by woman lies a desert land.
O worthy of the power the Gods affign'd
(Ulyffes thus replies) a king in mind!
Since yet the early hour of night allows
Time for difcourfe, and time for soft repofe,
If fcenes of misery can entertain,
Woes I unfold, of woes a difmal train.
Prepare to hear of murder and of blood:
Of godlike heroes who uninjur'd stood
Amidst a war of fpears in foreign lands,
Yet bled at home, and bled by female hands.
Now fummon'd Proferpine to hell's black hall 480|
The heroine fhades; they vanifh'd at her call.
When, lo! advanc'd the forms of heroes flain
By ftern Ægifthus, a majestic train;
And from his eyes pour'd down the tender dew;
His arms he stretch'd; his arms the touch deceive,
Nor in the fond embrace, embraces give :
His fubftance vanish'd, and his ftrength decay'd,
Now all Atrides is an empty fhade.
Mov'd at the fight, I for a space refign'd
To foft affiction all my manly mind;
At last with tears-O what relentless doom,
Imperial phantom, bow'd thee to the tomb?
Say, while the fea, and while the tempelt raves, 495
Has fate opprefs'd thee in the roaring waves,
Or nobly feiz'd thee in the dire alarms
Of war and flaughter, and the clash of arms?
The ghoft returns: O chief of human-kind
For active courage and a patient mind;
Nor while the fea, nor while the tempeft raves,
Has Fate opprefs'd me on the roaring waves!
Nor nobly feiz'd me in the dire alarms
Of war and flaughter, and the clash of arms.
Stabb'd by a murderous hand Atrides dy'd,
A foul adulterer, and a faithless bride;
Ev'n in my mirth and at the friendly feaft,
O'er the full bowl, the traitor stabb'd his guest;
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Warn'd by my ills beware, the shade replies, 545
Nor trust the fex that is fo rarely wife;
When earnest to explore thy fecret breast;
Unfold fome trifle, but conceal the rest.
But in thy confort ceafe to fear a foe,
For thee fhe feels fincerity of woe:
When Troy firft bled beneath the Grecian sms,
She fhone unrival'd with a blaze of charms;
Thy infant fon her fragrant bofon prefs'd,
Hung at her knee, or wanton'd at her breaft;
But now the years a numerous train have ran; 555
The blooming boy is ripen'd into man;
Thy eyes fhall fee him burn with noble fire,
The fire fhall blefs his fon, the fon his fire:
But my Oreftes never met these eyes,
Without one look the murder'd father dies; sto
Then from a wretched friend this wisdom learn,
Ev'n to thy queen difguis'd, unknown, return;
For fince of womankind fo few are just,
Think all are falfe, not ev'n the faithful trust.
But fay, refides my fon in royal port,
In rich Orchomenus, or Sparta's court?
Or fay in Pyle? for yet he views the light,
Nor glides a phantom thro' the realms of night.
Then I thy fuit is vain, nor can I fay
If yet he breathes in realms of cheerful day: 50
Or pale or wan beholds these nether skies:
Truth I revere: for Wifdom never lics.
Thus in a tide of tears our furrows flow,
And add new horror to the realms of woe;
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Com'ft thou alive to view the Stygian bounds, Where the van fpectres walk eternal rounds; Nor fear'ft the dark and dismal waste to tread, 585 Throng'd with pale ghosts familiar with the dead? To whom with fighs: I pafs thefe dreadful gates To feek the Theban, and confult the Fates : For ftill, diftreft, I rove from coast to coast, Loft to my friends, and to my country loft, But fure the eye of Time beholds no name Do bleft as thine in all the rolls of fame ; Alive we hail'd thee with our guardian Gods, And dead, thou rul'it a king in these abodes. Talk not ruling in this dolorous gloom, Nor think vain words (he cried) can eafe my doom. Rather I choose laboriously to bear A weight of woes, and breathe the vital air, A flave to fome poor hind that toils for bread; Than reign the fceptred monarch of the dead. But fay, if in my fteps my fon proceeds, And emulates his godlike father's deeds? If at the clash of arms, and fhout of foes, Swells his bold heart, his bofom nobly glows? Say, if my fire, the reverend Peleus, reigns, Great in his Phthia, and his throne maintains : Or, weak and old, my youthful arm demands, To fix the fceptre ftedfaft in his hands? Oh might the lamp of life rekindled burn, And death release me from the filent urn! This arm, that thunder'd o'er the Phrygian plain, And fwell'd the ground with mountains Should vindicate my injur'd father's fame, Crush the proud rebel, and affert his claim. Illuftrious fhade, (I cried) of Peleus' fates No circumftance the voice of Fame relates: But hear with pleas'd attention the renown, The wars and wisdom of thy gallant fon : With me from Scyros to the field of fame Radiant in arms the blooming hero came. When Greece affembled all her hundred states, To ripen counfels, and decide debates; Heavens! how he charm'd us with a flow fenfe,
When Ilion in the horse receiv'd her doom,
And unfeen armies ambush'd in its womb;
Greece gave her latent warriors to my care,
'Twas mine on Troy to pour th' imprison'd war :
Then when the boldeft hofom beat with fear,
When the ftern eyes of heroes dropp'd a tear;
Fierce is his look his ardent valour glow'd,
Flush'd in his cheek, or fallied in his blood;
Indignant in the dark recefs he stands,
Pants for the battle, and the war demands;
His voice breath'd death, and with a martial air
He grafp'd his fword, and fhook his glittering
spear,
[crown'd,
And when the Gods our arms with conqueft
When Troy's proud bulwarks fmok'd upon the
ground,
Greece'to reward her foldier's gallant toils,
Heap high his navy with unnumber'd spoils.
Thus great in glory from the din of war Safe he return'd without one hoftile scar; Though fpears in iron tempeft rain'd around, Yet innocent they play'd, and guiltlefs of a wound. While yet I spoke, the shade with transport
Rofe in his majefty, and nobler trod;
With haughty stalk he fought the distant glades
Of warrior kings, and join'd th' illuftrious fhades.
Now without number ghost by ghoil arose,
All wailing with unutterable woes.
Alone, apart, in difcontented mood,
A gloomy shade, the fullen Ajax stood;
For ever fad with proud difdain he pin'd,
And the loft arms for ever flung his mind;
Though on the conteft Thetis gave the laws,
And Pallas, by the Trojans, judg'd the cause. 670
6100 why was 1 victorious in the strife;
O dear-bought honour with fo brave a life!
With him the strength of war, the foldier's pride,
Our fecond hope to great Achilles died!
Touch'd at the fight, from tears I scarce refrain,
And tender forrow thrills in every vein;
Penfive and fad I ftand, at length accoft
With accents mild th' inexorable ghost.
And won the heart with manly eloquence !
He first was feen of all the peers to rife,
The third in wisdom where they all were wife;
But when, to try the fortune of the day,
Hoft mov'd tow'rd hoft in terrible array,
Before the van, impatient for the fight,
Still burns thy rage? and can braye fouls refent
Ev'n after death? Relent, great fhade, relent! 680
Perish thofe arms which by the Gods decree
Accurs'd our army with the loss of thee!
With thee we fell; Grecce wept thy hapless fates.s
of And shook aftonish'd through her hundred states;
Not more, when great Achilles prefs'd the ground,
And breath'd his manly fpirit thro' the wound.
Oh, deem thy fall not ow'd to man's decree,
Jove hated Greece, and punish'd Greece in thee!
Turn then, oh! peaceful turn, thy wrath control,
And calm the raging tempeft of thy foul.
690
While yet I fpeak, the fhade difdains to stay,
In filence turns, and fullen ftalks away.
There huge Orion, of portentous fize, Swift through the gloom a giant hunger flies; A ponderous mace of brafs with direful sway Aloft he whirls, to crush the favage prey; Stern beafts in trains that by his truncheon fell, Now grifly forms, fhoot o'er the lawns of hell.
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There Tityus large and long, in fetters bound,
O'erfpreads nine acres of infernal ground;
Two ravenous vultures, furious for their food,
Scream o'er the fiend, and riot in his blood,
Inceffant gore the liver in his breast,
Th' immortal liver grows, and gives th' immortal
For as o'er Panope's enamel'd plains,
Latona journey'd to the Pythian fanes,
With haughty love th' audacious monster strove
To force the Goddess, and to rival Jove.
There Tantalus along the Stygian bounds
Pours out deep groans (with groans all hell re-
founds)
Ev'n in the circling flood. refreshment craves,
And pines with thirst amidst a fea of waves:
When to the water he his lip applies,
Back from his lip the treacherous water flies.
Above, beneath, around his hapless head,
Trees of all kinds delicious fruitage spread;
There figs fky-dyed, a purple hue difclofe,
Green looks the olive, the pomegranate glows,
There dangling pears exalted scents unfold,
And yellow apples ripen into gold;
The fruit he ftrives to feize: but blafts arife,
Tofs it on high, and whirl it to the skies.
I turn'd my eyes, and as I turn'd furvey'd A mournful vifion! the Sifyphian fhade; With many a weary step, and many a groan, Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone; The huge round ftone, refulting with a bound, Thunders impetuous down, and smokes along the Again the reftlefs orb his toil renews, [ground. Duft mounts in clouds, and fweat defcends in dews. Now I the strength of Hercules behold, A towering fpectre of gigantic mould. A fhadowy form! for high in heaven's abodes Himself refides, a God among the Gods; There, in the bright affemblies of the fkles, He nectar quaffs, and Hebe crowns his joys. Here hovering ghofts, like fowl, his shade round,
And clang their pinions with terrific found!
Gloomy as night he stands, in act to throw
Th' aerial arrow from the twanging bow.
Around his breast a wonderous zone is roll'd,
Where woodland moniters grin in fretted gold,
There fullen lions fternly feem to roar,
The bear to growl, to foam the dusky boar,
There war and havoc and destruction stood, 75
And vengeful murther red with human blood.
Thus terribly adorn'd the figures fhine,
Inimitably wrought with skill divine.
The mighty ghost advanc'd with awful look,
And, turning his grim vifage, fternly spoke: 76
O exercis'd in grief by arts refin'd!
O taught to bear the wrongs of base mankind!
Such, fuch was I ftill toft from care to care,
While in your world I drew the vital air!
Ev'n I, who from the Lord of Thunders rofe, 163
Bore toils and dangers, and a weight of woes;
To a base monarch still a flave confin'd,
(The hardest bondage to a generous mind?
Down to thefe worlds I trod the difmal way,
And dragg'd the three-mouth'd dog to upper day
Ev'n hell I conquer'd, through the friendly aid
Of Maia's offspring and the Martial Maid.
Thus he, nor deign'd for our reply to flay,
But, turning, stalk'd with giant strides away.
Curious to view the kings of ancient days, 7:3 The mighty dead that live in endless praise, Refolv'd I ftand; and haply had furvey'd The godlike Thefeus, and Pirithous' fhade; But fwarms of fpectres rofe from deepest hell, With bloodlefe vifage, and with hideous yell, They fcream, they shriek; fad groans and difmal founds
[bound
Stun my fear'd ears, and pierce hell's utmo
No more my heart the dismal din fuftains,
And my cold blood hangs fhivering in my veins:
Left Gorgon, rifing from th' infernal lakes,
With horrors arm'd, and curls of hifling fnakes,
Should fix me, ftiffen'd at the monstrous fight,
A ftony image, in eternal night!
Straight from the direful coaft to purer air
I speed my flight, and to my mates repair.
My mates afcend the ship; they strike their cars;
The mountains leffen, and retreat the shores;
Swik o'er the waves we fly; the freshening gales
Sing through the shrouds, and stretch the fwelling
fails.
The Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis.
He relates, bow, after his return from the shades, he was sent by Circe on his voyage, by the coaft of the Sirets, and by the Strait of Scylla and Charybdis: the manner in which he escaped those dangers: bow, being caft the island Trinacria, bis companions defireyed the oxen of the Sun: the vengeance that followed; bow perif'd by feipwreck except himself, who, fwimming on the maft of the hip, arriv'd on the island of Calypfil With which his relation concludes.
Tulfo'er the waves fan hills arife.
"HUS o'er the rolling surge the vessel flies,
Here the gay morn refides in radiant bowers,
Here keeps her revels with the dancing Hours;
Here Phoebus rifing in th' ætherial way,
Through heavens bright portals pours the beamy
day:
At once we fix our halfers on the fand,
At once defcend and prefs the defert land;
There, worn aud wasted, lose our cares in fleep,
To the hoarfe murmurs of the rolling deep
Firm to the maft with chains thyself be bound,
Nor truft thy virtue to th' enchanting found.
If, mad with transport, freedom thou demand, 65
Be every fetter ftrain'd, and added band to band.
Thefe feas o'erpaft, be wife! but I refrain
To mark distinct thy voyage o'er the main :
New horrors rife! let prudence be thy guide,
And guard thy various paffage through the tide. 70
High o'er the main two rocks exalt their brow,
The boiling billows thundering roll below;
Through the vaft waves the dreadful wonders
Hence nam'd Erratic by the Gods above. No bird of air, no dove of swifteft wing, That bears ambrofia to th' ætherial King, 15 Shuns the dire rocks in vain fhe cuts the fkies, The dire rocks meet, and crush her as fhe flies: Not the fleet bark, when profperous breezes play, Ploughs o'er that roaring furge its desperate way; O'erwhelm'd it finks: while round a fmoke ex- · pires,
Soon as the morn reftor'd the day, we pay'd Sepulchral honours to Elpenor's fhade. Now by the axe the rufhing foreft bends, And the huge pile along the shore afcends. Around we stand a melancholy train, And a loud groan re-echoes from the main. Fierce o'er the pyre, by fanning breezes spread, The hungry flame devours the filent dead. A rifing tomb, the filent dead to grace, Faft by the roarings of the main we place; The rifing tomb a lofty column bore, And high above it rofe the tapering oar. Mean time the Goddess our return furvey'd From the pale ghofts, and hell's tremendous fhade. Swift the defcends: A train of nymphs divine Bear the rich viands and the generous wine: la act to speak the ↑ Power of Magic stands, And graceful thus accofts the liftening bands: O fons of woe! decreed by adverse fates Alive to pass through hell's eternal gates! All, foon or late, are doom'd that path to tread; More wretched you! twice number'd with the dead!
This day adjourn your cares, exalt your fouls,
Indulge the taste, and drain the fparkling bowis:
And when the morn unveils her faffron ray,
Spread your broad fails, and plough the liquid
way;
Lo! I this night, your faithful guide, explain
Your woes by land, your dangers on the main.
The Goddefs fpoke: in featts we waste the day,
Till Phoebus downward plung'd his burning ray;
Then fable night afcends, and balmy rest
Seals every eye, and calms the troubled breast.
Then curious the commands me to relate
The dreadful fcenes of Pluto's dreary state:
She fat in filence while the tale I tell,
The wondrous vifions, and the laws of hell.
Then thus: The lot of man the Gods difpofe;
Thefe ills are paft: now hear thy future woes.
O prince, attend! fome favouring Power be kind,
And print th' important flory on thy mind! 50
Next, where the Sirens dwell, you plough the
feas;
Their fong is death, and makes destruction pleafe.
Unbleft the man, whom music wins to stay
Nigh the curft fhore, and liften te the lay;
No more that wretch faall view the joys of life, 55
His blooming offspring, or his beauteous wife!
In verdant meads they fport; and wide around
Lie human bones, that whiten all the ground;
The ground polluted floats with human gure,
And human carnage taints the dreadful fhore.
Fly fwift the dangerous coaft; let every ear
Be flopp'd againt the fong! 'tis death to hear!
† Circe.
And the waves flashing feem to burn with fires.
Scarce the fam'd Argo pafs'd these raging floods,
The facred Argo fill'd with demigods!
Ev'n fhe had funk, but Jove's imperial bride
Wing'd her fleet fail, and push'd her o'er the tide.
High the air the rock its fummit shrouds,
In brooding tempefts, and in rolling clouds;
Loud ftorms around, and mifts eternal rife,
Beat its bleak brow, and intercept the skies.
When all the broad expansion bright with day
Glows with th' autumnal or the summer ray,
The fummer and the autumn glow in vain,
The sky for ever lours, for ever clouds remain.
Impervious to the step of man it stands,
Though borne by twenty feet, though arm'd with
twenty hands;
Smooth as the polish of the mirror fife
The flippery fides, and fhoot into the skies.
Full in the centre of this rock difplay'd,
A yawning cavern cafts a dreadful fhade:
Nor the fleet arrow from the twanging bow,
Sent with full force, could reach the depth below.
Wide to the weft the horrid gulf extends,
And the dire paffage down to hell defcends.
O fly the dreadful fight! expand thy fails,
Ply the strong oar, and catch the nimble gales;
Here Scylla bellows from her dire abodes,
Tremendous peft: abhorr'd by men and gods!
Hideous her voice, and with lefs terrors roar
The whelps of lions in the midnight hour.
Twelve feet deform'd and foul the fiends difpreads;
Six horrid necks the rears, and fix terrific heads;
Her jaws grin dreadful with three rows of
teeth;
Clofe, by a rock of less enormous height
Breaks the wild waves, and forms a dangerous
125
freight :
Full on its crown a fig's green branches rife,
And shoot a leafy forest to the skies;
Beneath Charybdis holds her boisterous reign
Midft roaring whirlpools, and absorbs the main; 130
Thrice in her gulfs the boiling feas fubfide,
Thrice in dire thunder the refunds the tide.
Oh, if thy veffel plough the direful waves
When feas retreating roar within her caves,
Ye perish all! though he who rules the main
Lend his ftrong aid, his aid he lends in vain.
Ah, fhun the horrid gulf! by Scylla fly.
'Tis better fix to lofe, than all to die.
Thus to the melancholy train Ifpoke:
When, rifing fad and flow, with penfive look,
O friends, Oh ever partners of my woes, 190
Attend while I what Heaven foredooms difclofe,
Hear all Fate hangs o'er all; on you it lies
To live, or perish! to be fafe, be wife!
In flowery meads the fportive Sirens play,
Touch the foft lyre, and tune the vocal lay; 195
Me, me alone, with fetters firmly bound,
The Gods allow to hear the dangerous found.
Hear and obey: if freedom I demand,
135 Be every fetter ftrain'd, and added hand to band.
While yet I fpeak the winged galley flies,
And, lo! the Siren fhores like mills arife.
Sunk were at once the winds: the air above,
Some dæmon calm'd the air, and fmooth'd the
And waves below, at once forget to move!
deep,
I then : O nymph propitious to my prayer,
Goddefs divine! my guardian power, declare, 140
Is the foul fiend from human vengeance freed?
Or, if I rife in arms, can Scylla bleed?
Then fhe: O worn by toils, O broke in fight,
Still are new toils and war thy dire delight?
Will martial flames for ever fire thy niind,
And never, never be to Heaven refign'd?
How vain thy efforts to avenge the wrong?
Deathless the peft! impenetrably strong!
Furious and fell, tremendous to behold!
Ev'n with a look fhe withers all the bold!
She mocks the weak attempts of human might;
Oh fly her rage! thy conqueft is thy flight.
If but to feize thy arms thou make delay,
Again the fury vindicates her prey,
Her fix mouths yawn, and fix are fnatch'd a-
way,
Hufh'd th loud winds, and charm'd the waves to
Now every fail we furl, each oar we ply; [fleep. 2c5
Lafh'd by the ftroke, the frothy waters fly.
145 The ductile wax with bufy hands I mould,
From her foul womb Cratais gave to air
This dreadful pest! To her direct thy prayer,
To curb the monster in her dire abodes,
And guard thee through the tumult of the floods.
Thence to Trinacria's fhore you bend your
Where graze thy herds, illuftrious Source of Day!
160
Seven herds, seven flocks, enrich the facred plains;
Each herd, each flock, full fifty heads contains:
The wondrous kind a length of age furvey,
By breed increase not, nor by death decay,
Two fifter Goddeffes poffefs the plain,
The conftant guardians of the woolly train;
Lampetie fair, and Phaethufa young,
From Phoebus and the bright Neæra fprung.
Here, watchful o'er the flocks, in fhady bowers 170
And flowery meads they waste the joyous hours.
Rob not the God! and fo propitious gales
Attend thy voyage, and impel thy fails;
But if thy impious hands the flocks destroy,
The Gods, the Gods avenge it, and ye die!
'Tis thinc alone (thy friends and navy loft)
Through tedious toils to view thy native coaft.
She ceas'd: and now arofe the morning ray;
Swift to her dome the Goddess held her way.
Then to my mates I measur'd back the plain,
Climb'd the tail bark, and rush'd into the main;
Then bending to the froke, their óars they drew
To their broad breasts, and swift the galley flew.
Up-fprung a brisker breeze; with freshning gales,
The friendly Goddess ftretch'd the fwelling fails;
We drop our bars; at cafe the pilot guides;
The veel light along the level glides.
And cleft in fragments, and the fragments roll'd:
Th' aerial region now grew warm with day, 210
The wax diffolv'd beneath the burning ray!
Then every ear I barr'd against the strain,
And from accefs of phrenly lock'd the brain.
Now round the maft my mates the fetters roll'd,
And bound nie limb by limb, with fold on fold. 215
Then, bending to the stroke, the active train
Plunge all at once their oars, and cleave the main.
While to the fhore the rapid veffel flies,
Our fwift approach the Siren choir defcries:
Celeftial mufic warbles from their tongue,
And thus the fweet deluders tune the fong:
Oh ftay, O pride of Greece! Ulyffes, ftay!
Bleft is the man ordain'd our voice to hear,
O ceafe thy course, and liften to our lay!
Approach! thy foul fhall into raptures rife!
The fong inftructs the foul, and charms the ear.215
Approach! and learn new wisdom from the wife!
We know whate'er the kings of mighty naine
Atchiev'd at Ilion in the field of fame;
Whate'er beneath the fun's bright journey lies,230
Oh ftay and learn new wifdom from the wife!
Thus the fweet charmers warbled o'er the
My foul takes wing to meet. the heavenly strain;
give the fign, and fruggle to be free;
Swift row my mates, and fhoot along the fea: 235
New chains they add, and rapid urge the way,
Till, dying off, the diftant founds decay:
Then, fevdding fwiftly from the dangerous ground,
The deafen'd ear unlock'd, the chains unbound.
Now all at once tremendous f.enes unfold; 240
Thunder'd the deeps, the smoking hillows roll'd!
Tumultuous waves' embroil'd the bellowing flood,
No more the veffel plough'd the dreadful wave,
All trembling, deafen'd, and aghaft we stood!
Fear feiz'd the mighty, and unnerv ́d the brave; 245
Each dropp'd his oar: but fwift from man to man
With looks ferene I turn'd, and thus began:
O friends! Oh often tried in adverfe ftorms!
With ills familiar in more dreadful forms!
Deep in the dire Cyclopean den you lay,
Yet fafe return'd---Ulyffes led the way.
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