From fierce Idomeneus' revenge I flew,
Whofe fon, the swift Orfilochus, I flew,
(With brutal force he feiz'd my Trojan prey,
Due to the toils of many a bloody day).
Unfeen I'fcap'd; and, favour'd by the night,
In a Phoenician vefiel took my flight,
For Pyle or Elis bound: but tempefts toft
And raging billows drove us on your coaft.
In dead of night an unknown port we gain'd,
Spent with fatigue, and flept fecure on land.
But here the rofy morn renew'd the day,
While in th' embrace of pleasing sleep 1 lay,
Sudden, invited by aufpicious gales,
They land my goods, and hoilt their flying fails.
Abandon'd here, my fortune I deplore,
A hapless exile on a foreign fhore.

320

325

How prone to doubt, how cautious, are the wi
Who, vers'd in fortune, fear the flattering fhom
315 Aud tafte not half the blifs the Gods beftow.
The more fhall Palias aid thy just defires,
And guard the wisdom which herself infpires.
Others, long absent from their native place, 39
Straight feck their home, and fly with cage
pace
(brand
To their wives' arms, and children's dear em
Not thus Ulyffes: he decrees to prove
His fubjects' faith, and queen's fufpected love:
Who mourn'd her lord twice ten revolving years
And wafte the days in grief, the nights in tears
But Pallas knew (thy friends and navy lost
Once more 'twas given thee to behold thy can:
Yet how could I with adverse Fate engage,
And mighty Neptune's unrelenting rage?
Now lift thy longing eyes, while I restore
The pleafing profpect of thy native shore :
Behold the port of Phorcys! fenc'd around
With rocky mountains, and with olives crown'd
Behold the gloomy grot! whofe cool recels
Delights the Nereids of the neighbouring feas!
Whofe now neglected altars in thy reign
Blush'd with the blood of fheep and oxen flin,
Behold! where Neritus the clouds divides,
And shakes the waving forefts on his fides.

Thus while he spoke, the blue-ey'd Maid began
With pleafing fmiles to view the godlike man:
Then chang'd her form and now, divinely
bright,

Jove's heavenly daughter ftood confefs'd to fight;
Like a fair virgin in her beauty's bloom,
Skill'd in th' illuftrious labours of the loom.

335

}

340

Oh, ftill the fame Ulyffes! the rejoin'd,
In useful craft fuccefsfully refin'd!
Artful in fpeech, in action, and in mind!
Suffic'd it not, that, thy long labours past,
Secure thou feeft thy native fhore at last?
But this to me? who, like thyfelf, excel
In arts of counfel, and diffembling well;
To me, whole wit exceeds the power divine,
No lefs than mortals are furpass'd by thine.
Know'st thou not me? who made thy life my
[ycars war:
Through ten years wandering, and through ten
Who taught thee arts, Alcinous to perfuade,
To raife his wonder, and engage his aid:
And now appear thy treasures to protect,
Conceal thy perfon, thy designs direct,

care,

And tell what more thou must from Fate expect.
Domeftic woes far heavier to be borne !
The pride of fools, and flaves' infulting fcorn.
But thou be filent, nor reveal thy state;
Yield to the force of unrefifted fate,
And bear unmov'd the wrongs of bafe
kind,

345

350

man.

355

The laft, and hardeft, conqueft of the mind.
Goddefs of Wisdom! Ithacus replies,
He who difcerns thec muit be truly wife,
So feldom view'd, and ever in difguife!
When the bold Argives led their warring powers,
Againft proud Ilion's well-defended towers;
lyfies was thy care, celeftial Maid!
Grac'd with thy fight, and favour'd with thy aid.
But when the Trojan piles in afhes lay,

360

And bound for Greece, we plough'd the watery

way;

365

So fpake the Goddefs; and the profpe&t clear
The mifts difpers'd, and all the coaft appear'
The king with joy confefs'd his place of birth,
And on his knees falutes his mother earth:
Then, with his fuppliant hands upheld in air,
Thus to the fea-green Sifters fends his prayer:

All hail ye virgin-daughters of the main!
Ye streams, beyond my hopes beheld again!
To you once more your own Ulyffes bows;
Attend his tranfports, and receive his vows!
If Jove prolong my days, and Pallas crown
The growing virtues of my youthful son,
To you fhall rites divine be ever paid,
And grateful offerings on your altars laid.

Then thus Minerva: From that anxious brea
Difmifs thofe cares, and leave to Heaven the re
Our task be now thy treafur'd stores to fave,
Deep in the clofe receffes of the cave:
Then future means confult-she spoke, and trod
The fhady grot that brighten'd with the Ged
The clofeft caverne of the grot he fought;
The gold, the brafs, the robes, Ulyffes brought
Thefe in the fecret gloom the chief difpof'd,
The entrance with a rock the Goddess clos'd.

Now, fcated in the olive's facred shade,
Confer the hero and the Martial Maid.
The Goddess of the azure eyes began i
Son of Laertes! much-experienc'd man!
The fuitor-train thy earlicft care demand,.
Of that luxurious race to rid the land :
Three years thy houfe their lawlefs rule has fec
And proud addreffes to the matchlefs queen.
But the thy abfence mourns from day to day,
And inly bleeds, and filent waftes away:
370 Elufive of the bridal hour, the gives
Fond hopes to all, and all with hopes deceives
To this Ulyffes: O, celeftial maid!
Prais'd be thy counfel, and thy tinicly aid:

Our fleet difpers'd and driven from coast to coast, hy facred prefence from that hour I loft: Till I beheld thy radiant form once more, -And heard thy counfels on Phæacia's shore. Tat, by th' almighty auther of thy race, ich me, ch tell! is this my native place? !r much fear, long tracts of land and fea 1xvide this craft from diftant Ithaca ; The Twet delufion kindly you impose, Toothe my hopes, and mitigate my woes.

440

had I feen my native walls in vain,
= great Atrides juft restor'd and flain.
cafe the means of vengeance to debate,
plan with all thy arts the scene of fate.
n, then be prefent, and my foul inspire,
when we wrapp'd Troy's heaven-built walls in
fire.

ugh leagued against me hundred heroes fland,
dreds fhall fall, if Pallas aids my hand.
he anfwer'd: in the dreadful day of fight
w, I am with thee, ftrong in all my might.
eu but equal to thyself be found,
at gaping numbers then fhall prefs
ground?

the

450

thunan victims ftain the feaftful floor!
wwide the pavements float with guilty gore!
Es thee now to wear a dark disguise,
fecret walk unknown to mortal eyes.
this, my hand shall wither every grace,
every elegance of form and face,

thy fmooth skin a bark of wrinkles spread,
hour the auburn honours of thy head,
gure every limb with coarfe attire,
in thy eyes extinguifh all the fire;

the wants and the decays of life;

455

460

ge thee from thy own; thy fun, thy wife: n the loath'd object every fight fhall turn, the blind fuitors their deftruction fcorn.. Go firft the mafter of thy herds to find, me to his charge, a loyal fwain and kind: he he fighs and to the royal heir chake Penelope extends his care. the Coracian rock he now refides, here Arethufa's fable water glides; eble water and the copious maft ell the fat herd; luxuriant, large repast! him, reft peaceful in the rural cell, d all you ask his faithful tongue fhall tell ;

465

475

Me into other realms my cares convey,
To Sparta, ftill with female beauty gay :
For know, to Sparta thy lov'd offspring came,
To learn thy fortunes from the voice of Fame.
At this the father, with a father's care.
Muft he too fuffer? he, O Goddefs! bear 480)
Of wanderings and of woes a wretched share?
Through the wild ocean plough the dangerous way,
And leave his fortunes and his house a prey?
Why would't not thou, O all enlighten'd Mind!
Inform him certain, and protect him, kind? 485
To whom Minerva: Be thy foul at reft;
And know, whatever Heaven ordains, is best.
To fame I fent him, to acquire renown :
To other regions is his virtue known:
Secure he fits, near great Atrides plac'd!
With friendships ftrengthen'd, and with honours
But lo! an ambush waits his paffage o'er ; [grac'd.
Fierce foes infidious intercept the shore:

490

in vain for fooner all the murderous brood
This injur'd land fhall fatten with their blood. 495
She fpake, then touch'd him with her powerful
wand:

The skin shrunk up, and wither'd at her hand:
A fwift old age o'er all his members spread;
A fudden frost was sprinkled on his head;
Nor longer in the heavy eye-ball shin'd
The glance divine, forth-beaming from the mind.
His robe, which spots indelible befmear,

I rags difhoneft flutters with the air:
A ftag's torn hide is lapp'd around his reins;
A rugged ftaff his trembling hand sustains;
And at his fide a wretched fcrip was hung,
470 Wide patch'd, and knotted to a twisted thong.
¡So look'd the chief, fo mov'd, 'to mortal eyes
Obje& uncouth! a man of miferies!
While Pallas, cleaving the wide field of air,
To Sparta flies, Telemachus her care.

500

505

510

BOOK XIV.

THE ARGUMENT.

The Converfation with Eumeus.

get arrives in difguife at the baufe of Eumous, where he is received, entertained, and lodged, with the utmost pitality. The feveral difcourfes of that faithful old fervant, with the feigned flory told by Ulyffes to conceal himf, and other conversations on various fubjeƐls, take up this entire Book.

UT he, deep-mufing, o'er the mountains ftray'd Through mazy thickets of the woodland fhade, id cavern'd ways, the craggy coaft along, ith cliffs and nodding forefts over-hung. mæus at his fylvan lodge he fought, faithful fervant, and without a fault. yes found him bufied, as he fate fore the threshold of his ruftic gate; round the manfion in a circle fhone

rural portico of rugged itone.

nabfence of his Lord, with honest toil

is own induftrious hands had rais'd the pile).

10

Now scarce four hundred left. Thefe to defend,
Four favage dogs, a watchful guard, attend.
Here fate Eumæus, and his cares apply'd
To form ftrong buskins of well-fcafon'd hide.
Of four affiftants who his labour share,
Three now were abfent on the rural care;
The fourth drove victims to the fuitor train;
But he, of ancient faith, a fimple fwain,
Sigh'd, while he furnish'd the luxuricus board,
And weary'd Heaven with wishes for his lord.
Soon as Ulyffes near th' enclosure drew,
With open mouths the furious mastiffs flew :
Down fate the fage, and cautious to withstand,
Let fall th' offenfive truncheon from his hand.
Sudden, the mafter runs; aloud he calls;
And from his hafty hand the leather falls;
With fhowers of ftones he drives them far away;
The scattering dogs around at distance bay.

25

30

90

95

100

All hafty on the hiffing coals he threw :
And smoking back the tafteful viands drew,
Broachers and all; then on the board difplay'd
The ready meal, before Ulyffes laid
With flour imbrown'd; next mingled wine yet new
And luscious as the bees nectareous dew:
Then fate companion of the friendly feast,
With open look; and thus bespoke his gueft:
Take with free welcome what our hands prepare,
Such food as fall to fimple fervants fhare;
The beft our Lords confume; thofe thoughtless peers,
Rich without bounty, guilty without fears!
35 Yet fure the Gods their impious acts deteft,
And honour juftice and the righteous breaft.
Pirates and conquerors, of harden'd mind,
The foes of peace, and fcourges of mankind,
To whom offending men are made a prey
When Jove in vengeance gives a land away;
Even thefe, when of their ill-got spoils poffef'd,
Find fure tormentors in the guilty breaß:
Some voice of God clofe whispering from within,
"Wretch! this is vilany, and this is fin."
But thefe, no doubt, fome oracle explore,
That tells, the great Ulyffes is no more.
Hence fprings their confidence, and from our fighs)
Their rapine ftrengthers, and their riots rife:
Conftant as Jove the night and day beflows, f
50 Bleeds a whole hecatomb, a vintage flows.

40

45

Unhappy stranger! (thus the faithful swain
Began with accent gracious and humane,)
What forrow had been mine, if at my gate
Thy reverend age had met a fhameful face!
Enough of woes already have I known;
Enough my maiter's forrows and my own.
While here (ungrateful task!) his herds I feed,
Ordain'd for lawlefs rioters to bleed;
Ferhaps, fupported at another's board,
Far from his country roams my hapless lord!
Or figh'd in exile forth his lateft breath,
Now cover'd with th' eternal fhade of death!
But enter this my homely roof, and fee
Our woods not void of hofpitality.
Then tell me whence thou art? and what the fhare.
Of woes and wanderings thou wert horn to bear?
He faid, and, feconding the kind request,
With friendly ftep precedes his unknown gueft.
A fhaggy goat's foft hide beneath him fpread,
And with fresh rushes heap'd an ample bed:
Joy touch'd the hero's tender foul, to find
So juft reception from a heart fo kind :'
And oh, ye Gods! with all your bleflings grace
(He thus broke forth) this friend of humin race!
The fwain reply'd: It never was our guife65
To flight the poor, or aught humane defpife;
For Jove unfolds cur hofpitable door,
"Tis Jove that fends the stranger and the poor.
Little, alas! is all the good I san;

60

70

75

A man opprefs'd, dependent, yet a man ;
Accept fuch treatment as a fwain affords,
Slave to the infolence of youthful lords!
Far hence is by unequal Gods remov'd
That man of bounties, loving and belov'd!
To whom whate'er his flave enjoys is ow'd,
And more, had Fate allow'd, had been beftow'd:
But Fate condemns him to a foreign fhore;
Much have I forrow'd, but my mafter more.
Now cold he lies, to death's embrace refign'd:
Ah, perish Helen! perifh all her kind!
For whofe curs'd caufe, in Agamemnon's name,
He trod fo fatally the paths of Fame.

His veft fuccinct then girding round his waift,
Forth rush'd the fwain with hofpitable hafte,
Straight to the lodgements of his herd he run,
Were the fat porkers slept beneath the fun;

80

85

Of two, his cutlas launch'd the fpouting blood;
Thefe quarter'd, îng'd, and fix'd on forks of wood,

105

110

120

None match'd this hero's wealth, of all who reg
O'er the fair iflands of the neighbouring main.
Ner all the monarchs whofe far-dreaded fway
The wide extended continents obey:
First, on the main land, of Ulyffes' breen
Twelve herds, twelve flocks, on dcean's margin feed
As many italls for fhaggy goats are rear'd;'
As niany lodgements for the tulky herd;
Thofe foreign keepers guard: and here are ken 125
Twelve herds of goats that graze our utmoft gres
To native paftors is their charge affign'd;
And mine the care to feed the brifly kind:
Each day the fatteft bleeds of either herd,
All to the fuitors wafteful board preferr❜d.

135

Thus he, benevolent: his unknown guest
With hunger keen devours the favoury feast;
While schemes of vengeance ripen is his breat
Silent and thoughtful while the board he cy'd,
Eumæus pours on high the purple tide;
The king with fmiling looks his joy exprefs'd,
And thus the kind inviting host addrefs'd :
what man is he, the man deplor'd
So rich, fo potent, whom you flyle your lord;
Late with fuch affluence and poffeffions bleft, 14
And now in honour's glory's bed at rest?
Whoever was the warrior, he must be

Say new,

To fame no stranger, nor perhaps to me;
Who (fo the Gods, and fo the Fates ordain'd)
Have wander'd many a sea, and many a land. 145
Small is the faith, the prince and queen afcribe.
(Reply'd Eumæus) to the wandering tribe.
For needy ftrangers ftill to flattery fly,
And want too oft betrays the tongue to lie.
Each vagrant traveller that touches here,
Delndes with fallacies the royal car,
To dear remembrance makes his image rife
And calls the fpringing forrows from her eyes.

150

160

Such thou may't be. But he whofe name you
Moulders in earth, or welters on the wave, [crave
Or food for fish or dogs his relicks lie,
Or torn by birds are fcatter'd through the sky.
So peri'd he and left (for ever lost)
Much woe to all, but fure to me the moft.
So mild a mafter never fhall 1 find;
Lefs dear the parents whom I left behind,
Lefsioft my mother, leís my father kind.
Not with fuch trasfport would my eyes run o'er,
Again to hail them in their native fhore;
As lov'd Ulyffes once more to embrace,
Reftor'd and breathing in his natal place.
That name for ever cread, yet ever dear,
Even in his abfence I pronounce with fear:
In my refpe&t, ne bears a prince's part;
But lives a very brother in my heart.
Thus fpoke the faithful fwain; and thus re-
join'd

165

170

175

}

180

The mafter of his grief, the man of patient mind:
Ulyffes, friend' fhall view his old abodes
(Datruft ful as thou art); nor doubt the Gods.
Nor peaks i rafhly, but with faith aveir'd,
And what speak, attefting Heaven has heard.
If fo, a cloke and vefture be my meed:
Till his return, no title fhail I plead,
Tho' certain be my news, and great my need.
Whom want itself can force untruths to tell,
My foul derefts him as he gates of hell.
Thou firft be witnefs, hofitable Jove!
And every God inspiring focial love;
And witness every houfeheid power that waits
Guards of these fires, and angel of thefe gates! 185
Ere the next moon increase, or this decay,
His ancient realms Ulyffes fhall furvey,
In blood and duft each proud oppreffor mourn,
And the loft glories of his houfe return.

200

230

235

From facred Crete, and from a fire of fame :
Caftor Fycides that name he bore)
Belov'd and honour'd in his native race:
Bleft in his riches, in his children more.
Sprung from a handmaid, from a bought embrace.
fhar'd his kindnefs with his lawful race:
But when that fate, which all must undergo,
From earth remov'd him to the shades below;
The large domain his greedy fons divide,
And each was portion'd as the lots decide.
Little, alas! was left my wretched fhare,
Except a houfe, a covert from the air:
But what by niggard fortune was denied,
A willing widow's copious wealth fupplied.
My valour was my plea, a gallant mind
That, true to honour, never logg'd behind
(The fex is ever to a foldier kind).

240

245

250

255

260

Now wafting years my former strength confound,
And added woes have bow'd me to the ground;
Yet by the flubble you may guefs the grain,
And mark the ruins of no vulgar man.
Me, Pallas gave to lead the martial ftorm,
And the fair ranks of battle to deform:
Me, Mars infpir'd to turn the foe to flight,
And tempt the fecret anbufh of the night.
Let ghaftly death in all his forms appear,
faw him not, it was not mine to fear.
Before the refl I rais'd my ready fteel;
The first I met, he yielded, or he fell.
But works of peace my foul difdain'd to bear,
The rural labour, or domeftic care.
To raife the maft, the miffile dart to wing,
And fend swift arrows from the bounding string,
Were arts the Gods made grateful to my mind:
Thofe Gods, who turn (to various ends defign'd,
The various thoughts and talents of mankind.
Before the Grecians touch'd the Trojan plain,
Nine times commander or by land or main,
In foreign fields 1 fpread my glory far,
Great in the praife, rich in the fpoils of war:
Thence charg'd with riches as increas'd in fame, 270
To Crete return'd, an honourable name.
But when great Jove that direful war decreed,
Which rous'd all Greece, and made the mighty
Our ftates myself and Idomen employ
To lead their fleets, and carry death to Troy. 275
21C Nine years we warr'd; the tenth faw Ilion fail;
Homeward we fail'd, but Heaven difpers'd us all.
One only month my wife enjoy'd my stay;
So will'd the God who gives and takes away.
Nine fhips I mann'd, equipp'd with ready ftores, 280
Intent to voyage to th' Ægyptian fhores;
In feast and facrifice my chofen train
Six days confum'd; the feventh we plough'd the
Crete's ample fields diminifh to our eye;
Before the Boreal blafts the veffels fly;

Nor fall that mees be thine, nor ever more 190
Shall tov'd Ulyffes hail this happy fhore
(Replied Eumæus): to the present hour
Now turn thy thoughts, and joys within our
From fad reflection let my foul repofe : [power.
The name of him awakes a thousand woes. 195
But guard him, Gods and to thefe armis reftore!
Not his true confort can defire him more;
Not old Laertes, broken with defpair:
Not young Telemachus, his blooming heir.
Alas, Telemachus! my forrows flow
Afresh for thee, my fecond caufe of woe!
Like fome fair plant fet by a heavenly hand,
He grew, he flourish'd, and he bleft the land;
In all the youth the father's image shin'd,
Bright in his perfon, brighter in his mind.
What man, or God, deceiv'd his better fenfe,
Far on the fwelling feas to wander hence?
To diftant Pylos haplefs is he gone,
To feck his father's fate and find his own!
For traitors wait his way, with dire defign
To end at once the great Arcelian line.
But let us leave him to their wills above;
The fates of men are in the hand of Jove.
And now, my venerable guest! declare
Your name, your parents, and your native air. 215
Sincere from whence, begun your courfe relate,
And to what fhip I owe the friendly freight?
Thus he and thus (with prompt invention
The cautious chief his ready ftory told:

205

[bold)

[bleed;

[main. 285

290

315(Stripp'd of my own) and to the veffel bound. 380 At eve, at ithaca's delightful land

Soon pafs'd beyond their fight, I left the flood, And took the fpreading fhelter of the wood. Their prize efcap'd the faithlefs pirates mourn'd; 325 But deem'd inquiry vain, and to their hip return'd. 390

Screen'd by protecting Gods from hoftile eyes, They led me to a good man and a wife, To live beneath thy hofpitable care, And wait the woes Heaven dooms me yet to bear. Unhappy guest! whofe forrows touch my (Thus good Eumaus with a figh rejoin'd) For real fufferings fince I grieve fincere, pre-Check not with fallacies the fpringing tear; Nor turn the paflion into groundless joy

335 For him, whom Heaven has deftin'd to deftroy. 400
Oh! had he perifh'd on fome well-fought day,
Or in his friend's embraces died away!
That grateful Greece with ftreaming eyes might