But if o'erturn'd by rude ungovern'd hands,
Or fill inviolate the olive ftands,

'Tis thine, O queen, to fay: and now impart, 210 If fears remain, or doubts diftract thy heart?

While yet he speaks, her powers of life decay, She fickens, trembles, falls, and faints away: At length recovering, to his arms fhe flew, And strain'd him clofe, as to his breaft fe grew: The tears pour'd down amain: and, Oh! fhe cries, Let not againft thy spouse thine anger rife! Oh! vers❜d in every turn of human art, Forgive the weakness of a woman's heart! The righteous Powers, that mortal lots difpofe, 220 Decree us to fuftain a length of woes, And from the flower of life, the blifs deny To bloom together, fade away, and die. Oh! let me, let me not thine anger move, That I forbore, thus, thus to fpeak my love, 225 Thus in fond kiffes, while the tranfport warms, Pour out my foul, and die within thy arms! I dreaded fraud! Men, faithlefs men, betray Our eafy faith, and make the fex their prey: Against the fondness of my heart I strove, 'Twas caution, O my lord! not want of love: Lite me had Helen fear'd, with wanton charms Ere the fair mifchief fet two worlds in arms; Fre Greece rofe dreadful in th' avenging day; Thus had she fear'd, she had not gone aftray. 235 But Heaven, averfe to Grecce, in wrath decreed That the fhould wander, and that Greece fhould bleed:

Blied to the ills that from injuftice flow,

230

241

She colour'd all our wretched lives with woe.
But why thefe forrows when my lord arrives?
Iyield! I yield! my own Ulyffes lives!
The fecrets of the bridal bed are known
To thee, to me, to Actoris alone,

255

Touch'd to the foul, the king with rapture hears. [tears. Hangs round her neck, and fpeaks his joy in As to the fhipwreck'd mariner, the fhores 250 Delightful rife, when angry Neptune roars; Then, when the furge in thunder mounts the sky; And gulf'd in crowds at once the failors'die; If one more happy, while the tempeft raves, Out-lives the tumult of conflicting waves, All pale, with ooze deform'd he views the ftrand, Andplunging forth with transport grasps the land: The ravish'd queen with equal rapture glows, Clafps her lov'd lord, and to his bofo: grows, Nor had they ended till the morning ray : But Pallas backward held the rifing day, The wheels of night retarding, to detain The gray Aurora in the wavy main! Whofe flaming fleeds emerging through the night, Beam o'er the eastern hills with dreaming light. At length Uly Tes with a gh replies : Yet Fate, yet cruel Fate, repofe denies; A labour long, and hard, remains behind; By Heaven above, by Hell beneath enjoin'd: For, to Tire Las through th' eternal gates Of hell I trode, to learn my future fates,

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270

But end we here-the night demands repofe,
Be deck'd the couch! and peace awhile, my woes!

To whom the queen: Thy word we shall obey,
And deck the couch; far hence be woes away;
Since the juft Gods, who tread the ftarry plains,
Reftore thee fafe, nce my Clyffes reigns.
But what thofe perils Heaven decrees, impart;
Knowledge may grieve, but fear distracts the heart,
To this the king: Ah! why muft 1 difclofe 280
A dreadful ftory of approaching wees?
Why in this hour of tranfport wound thy ears,
When thou must learn what I muft fpeak with
tears?

Heaven, by the Theban ghoft, thy fpoufe decrees,
Torn from thy arms, to fail a length of feas;
From realm to realm a nation to explore
286
Who ne'er knew falt, or heard the billows roar,
Nor faw gay veffel ftem the furgy plain,
A painted wonder, flying on the main;
An oar my hand must bear; a fhepherd eyes 290
The unknown inftrument with ftrange furprife,
And calls a corn-van: this upon the plain
I fix, and hail the monarch of the main;
Then bathe his altars with the miagled gore
Of victims vow'd, a ram, a bull, a boar:
Thence fwift re-failing to my native flores,
Due victims flay to all the ethereal Powers.
Then Heaven decrees in peace to end my days.
And fleal myself from life by flow decays;
Unknown to pain, in age refign my breath, 305
When late ftern Neptune points the haft of death;
To the dark grave retiring as to rest;
My people bleffing, by my people blefs'd. [play
Such future fcenes th' all righteous Powers dif-
By their dread feer, and fuch my future day.

300

To whom thus firm of foul: If ripe for death, And full of days, thou gently yield thy breath: While Heaven a kind release from ills forethows; Triumph, thou happy vistor of thy woes!

But Euryclea with difpatchful care,
And fage Eurynome, the couch prepare:
Infant they bid the blazing torch display
Around the dome an artificial day;
Then to repofe her fteps the matron bends,
And to the queen Eurynomè defcends;
A torch the bears, to light with guiding fires
The royal pair; the guides them, and retires.
Then inftant his fair poufe Ulyffes led
To the chafte love-rites of the nuptial bel

315

320

And now the blooming youths and fprightly fair Ceafe the gay dance, and to their reft repair; 346 But in difcourfe the king and confort lay, While the foft hours flole onperceiv'd away: Intent he hears Penelope difclofe

339

337

A mournful fory of domestic woes,
His fervants infults, his invaded bed,
How his whole Rocks and herds exinufled bled,
His generous wines di onour'd shed in valk,
And the wild riots of the fuitor train.
The king alternate a dire tale relates,
Of wars, of triumphs, and difa'trous fates;
All he unfolds; his liftening fpoufe tures pale
With pleaing horror at the dreadful tale!
Sleepless devours each word; and hears how flais
Cicons on Cicons fwell th' enfanguin'd plain;
#Tirefas.

And folemn fadness through the gloom of hell, The train of thofe who by Agyftus fell.

raife.

Hiftoric marbles to record thy praise :
Thy praife eternal on the faithful ftone
Had with tranfmiflive glories grac'd thy fon.
But heavier fates were deftin'd to attend:
What man is happy, till he knows his end?
O fon of Peleus! greater than mankind!
(Thus Agamemnon's kingly frade rejoin'd)
Thrice happy thou! to prefs the martial plain
'Midit heaps of heroes in thy quarrel flain :
In clouds of fmoke, rais'd by thy noble fray,
Great and terrific ev'a in death you lay, 56
And deluges of blood flow'd round you every

way.

Nor ceas'd the ftrife, till Jove himself oppos'd,
And all in tempefts the dire evening clos'd.
Then to the fleet we bore the honour'd load,
And decent on the funeral bed beftow'd.
Then unguents fweet and tepid ftreams, we
fhed;

45

50

60

65

70

Tears flow'd from every eye, and o'er the dead Each clipt the curling honours of his head. Struck at the news thy azure Mother came : The fea-green fifters waited on the dame: A voice of loud lament through all the main Was heard and terror feiz'd the Grecian train: Back to their fhips the frighted host had fled; But Neftor fpoke, they listen'd and obey'd. (From old experience Neftor's counfel fprings, And long viciffitudes of human things.) "Forbear your flight : fair Thetis from the main, "To mourn Achilles, leads her azure train." Around thee ftands the daughters of the deep, 75 Robe thee in heavenly vefts, and round thee weep, Round thee, the Mufcs, with alternate ftrain, la ever-confecrating verfe, complain. Fach warlike Greek the moving mufic hears, And iron-hearted heroes melt in tears Tillfeventeen nights and feventeen days return'd, All that was mortal or immortal mourn'd. To flames we gave thee the fucceeding day, And fatted sheep and fable oxea flay; With oils and honey blaze th' augmented fires. 85 And, like a God, adora'd, thy earthly part expires. Unnumber'd warriors round the burning pile Urge the fleet courfer's o'er the racer's toil; Thick clouds of duft o'er all the circle rife, And the mix'd clamour thunders in the kies, go Soon as abforpt in all-embracing flame Sunk what was mortal of thy mighty name, We then collect thy fnowy bones, and place With wines and unguents in a golden vase Vol. VI.

80

95

100

(The vafe to Thetis Bacchus gave of old,
And Vulcan's art enrich'd the fculptur'd gold.)
There we thy relics, great Achilles! blend
With dear Patroclus, thy departed friend:
In the fame urn a feparate space contains
Thy next belov'd Antilochus' remains.
Now all the fons of warlike Grecce furround
Thy deftin'd tomb, and caft a mighty mound:
High on the fhore the growing hill we raife,
That wide th' extended Helleipont furveys:
Where all, from age to age who pass the coaft, 105
May point Achilles' tomb, and hail the mighty
ghoft.

Thetis herfelf to all our peers proclaims
Heroic prizes and exequial games;

The Gods affented; and around thee lay Rich fpoils and gifts that blaz`d against the day. Oft have I feen with folemn funeral games Heroes and kings committed to the flames; But ftrength of youth, or valour of the brave With nobler contest ne'er renown'd a grave. Such were the games by azure Thetis given, 115 And fuch thy honours, O belov'd of Heaven! Dear to mankind thy fame furvives, nor fades, Its bloom eternal in the Stygian fhades. But what to me avail my honours gone, Successful toils, and battles bravely won, Doom'd by ftern Jove at home to end my life, By curft Egyftus and a faithlefs wife!

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125

}

Thus they; while Hermes o'er the dreary plain Led the fad numbers by Ulyffes flain, On each majestic form they caft a view, And timorous pafs'd and awfully withdrew. But Agamemnon, through the gloomy fhade. His ancient hoft Amphimedon furvey'd; Son of Melanthius! (he began) oh fay! What caufe compell'd fo many and fo gay, 130 To tread the downward, melancholy way? Say, could one city yield a troop fo fair? Were all these partners of one native air? Or did the rage of ftormy Neptune sweep Your lives at once, and whelm beneath the deep? Did nightly thieves, or pirates cruel bands, 136 Drench with your blood your pillag'd country's

fands?

140

Or well-defending fome beleagur'd wall,
Say, for the public did ye greatly fall?
Inform thy guest; for fuch I was of yore
When our triumpha navies touch'd your fhore;
Fore'd a long month the wintery feas to bear,
To move the great Ulyffes to the war.

145

O king of men! I faithful fhall relate (Reply'd Amphimedon) our hapless fate. Ulyffes abfent, our ambitious aim With rival loves purfued his royal dame : Her coy referve, and prudence mix'd with pride, Our common fuit nor granted, nor deny'd; But close with inward hate our deaths defign'd; Vers'd in all arts of wily womankind. Her hand, laborious, in delufion spread A fpacious loom, and mixed the various thread; Ye peers (the cry'd) who prefs to gain my heart Where dead Ulyffes claims no more a part, 155 Yet a fhort space your rival fuit suspend, Till this funereal web my labeurs end:

Pp

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160

Ceafe, till to good I acrtes I bequeath
A task of grief, his ornaments of death:
Left, when the Fates his royal afhes claim,
The Grecian matrons taint my spotlefs fame;
Should, he, long honour'd with fupreme command,
Want the last duties of a dau hter's hand.
The fiction pleas'd: our generous train com-
plies,

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186

Nor fraud miftrufts in virtue's fair difguife.
The wore the ply'd: but, ftudious of delay,
Each following night revers'd the toils of day.
Unheard, unfren, three years her arts prevail :
The fourth, her maid reveal'd th' amazing tale,
And show'd, as unperceiv'd we took our ftand,
The backward labours of her faithlefs hand. 171
Forc'd the completes it; and before us lay
The mingled web, whofe gold and filver ray
Difplay'd the radiance of the night and day.
Juft as the finifh'd her illuftrious tòil,
Ill-fortune led Ulyffes to our ifle.
Far in a lonely nook, befide the fea,
At an old fwineherd's rural lodge he lay :
Thither his fon from fandy Pyle repairs,
And fpeedy lands, and fecretly confers.
They plan our future ruin, and refort
Confederate to the city and the court.
First came the fon; the father next fucceeds,
Clad like a beggar, whom Eumeus leads;
Propp'd on a staff, deform'd with age and care,
And hung with rags that flutter'd in the air.
Who could Ulyffes in that form behold?
Scorn'd by the young, forgotten by the old,,
Ill-us'd by all! to every wrong refgu'd,
Patient he fuffer'd with a conftant mind.
But when, arifing in his wrath t' obey
The will of jove, he gave the vengeance way:
The fcatter'd arms that hung around the dome
Careful he treafur'd in a private room:
Then to her fuitors bade the queen propofe 195
The archer's ftrife: the fource of 'future woes,
An omen of our death! In vain we drew
The twanging ftring, and try'd the stubborn yew
To none it yields but great Ulyffes' hands;
In vain we threat; Telemachus commands: 200
The bow he fnatch'd, and in an instant bent;
Through every ring the victor arrow went.
Fierce on the threshold then in arms he flood:
Pour'd forth the darts that thirftedfor our blood,
And frown'd before us, dful as a God! 205
First bleeds Antinous; thick the fhafts refound;
And heaps on heaps the wretches ftrow the
ground;

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210

This way, and that, we turn, we fly, we fall: Some God affihed, and unmann'd us all : Ignoble cries precede the dying groans; And batter'd brains and blood befmear the flones. Thus, great Atrides, thus Ulyffes drove The fhades thou feeft, from yon fair realms above, Our mangled bodies now deformed with gore, Cold and neglected, spread the marble floor, 215 No friend to bathe our wounds! or tears to thed O'er the pale corfe! the honours of the dead. Oh blefs'd Ulyffes (thus the king exprefs'd His fudden rapture) in thy confort blefs'd! Not more thy wisdom, than her virtue fhin'd; Not more thy patience, than her conftant mind.

222

230

Thus in the regions of eternal fhade Conferr'd the mournful phantoms of the dead; While, from the town, Ulyffes and his band Pafs'd to Laertes' cultivated land.

235

The ground bimfelf had purchas'd with his pain,
And labour made the rugged foil a plain.
There ftood his maaton of the rural fort,
With useful buildings round the lowly court;
Where the few fervants that divide his care, 240
Took their laborious reft, and homely fare;
And one Sicilian matron, oid and fage,
With conftant duty tends his drooping age.

Here now arriving to his ruftic band
And martial fon, Ulyffes gave command:
Enter the house, and of the briftly fwine
Select the largest to the powers divine.
Alone, and unattended, let me try
If yet I fhare the old man's memory:
If thefe dim eyes can yet Ulyffes know
(Their light and deareft object long ago),
Now chang'd with time with abfence, and
with woe?

245

250)

Then to his train he gives his fpear and shield; The house they enter, and he feeks the field, Through rows of fhade, with various fruitage crown'd,

255

261

255

And labour'd fcénes of richeft verdure round.
Nor aged Dolius, nor his fons were there,
Nor fervants, abfent on another care;
To fearch the woods for fets of flowery thorn,
Their orchard bounds to ftrengthen and adorn.
But all alone the hoary king he found;
His habit coarse, but warmly wrapt around;
His head, that bow'd with many a penfive care,
Fenc'd with a double cap of geatskin hair;
His bufkins old, in former fervice torn,
But well repair'd; and gloves against the thorn.
In this array the kingly gardener ftood.
And clear'd a plant, encumber'd with its wood,
Beneath a neighbouring tree the chief divine
Gaz'd o'er his fire, retracing every line,
The ruins of himfelt! now worn away
With age, yet ftill majestic in decay!
Sudden his eyes releas'd their watery flore;
The much-enduring man could bear no more.
275
Doubtful he ftood, if inftant to embrace
His aged limbs, to kifs his reverend face,
With eager transport to disclose the whole.
And pour at once the torrent of his foul-
Not fo: his judgment takes the winding way
Of quefion diftant, and of foft effay:
More gentle methods on weak age,employs;
And moves the forrows to enhance the joys.
Then, to his fire with beating heart he moves;
And with a tender pleafantry reproves:

270

280

305

Age fo advanc'd may fome indulgence claim. 295
Not for thy floth, I deem thy lord unkind:
Nor fpeaks thy form a mean or fervile mind:
I read a monarch in that princely air,
The fame thy afpect, if the fame thy care;
Soft fleep, fair garments, and the joys of wine, 300
Thefe are the rights of age, and fhould be thine.
Who then thy mafter, fay? and whofe the land
So drefs'd and manag'd by thy skilful hand?
But chief, oh tell me! (what I question moft)
Is this the far-fam'd Ithacenfian coast?
For fo reported the first man I view'd,
(Some furly iflander, of manners rude)
Nor further conference vouchfaf'd to ftay;
Heedlefs he whiftled, and purfu'd his way,
But thou! whom years have taught to understand,
Humanely hear, and anfwer my demand: [310
A friend I feek, a wife one and a brave,
Say, lives he yet, or moulders in the grave?
Time was (my fortunes then were at the best)
When at my house I lodg'd this foreign gueft; 315
He faid, from Ithaca's fair ife he came,
And old Laertes was his father's name.
To him, whatever to a guest is ow'd
I paid, and hofpitable gifts beftow'd:
To him feven talents of pure ore I told,
Twelve cloaks, twelve vefts, twelve tunics ftiff
with gold;

320

325

A bowl, that rich with polish'd filver flames,
And, fkill'd in female works, four lovely dames,
At this the father, with a father's fears,
(His venerable eyes bedimm'd with tears,)
This is the land; but ah! thy gifts are loft,
For godless men, and rude, poffefs the coaft:
Sunk is the glory of this once-fam'd shore!
Thy ancient friend, O ftranger, is no more!
Full recompence thy bounty elfe had borne; 330
For every good man yields a juft return:
So civil rights demand; and who begins
The track of friendship, not pursuing, fins,
But tell me, ftranger, be the truth confefs'd
What years have circled fince thou faw'ft that
gueft?

That hapless gueft, alas! for ever gone!
Wretch that he was! and that I am! my fon!
If ever man to mifery was born,

335

'Twas his to fuffer, and 'tis mine to mourn!
Far from his friends, and from his native reign, 340
He lies a prey to monsters of the main,
Or favage beafts his mangled relics tear,
Or fcreaming vultures scatter through the air :
Nor could his other funeral unguents fhed;.
Nor wail'd histher o'er th' untimely dead: 345

Nor his far confort, on the mournful bier, Seal'd his cold eyes or dropp'd a tender tear! But tell me, who thou art? and what thy race? Thy town, thy parents, and thy native place? Or, if a merchant in purfuit of gain, 359 What port receiv'd thy veffel from the main? Or com'ft thou fingle, or attend thy train?

Then thus the fon : From Alybas I came, My palace there; Eperitus my name. Not vulgar born; from Aphidas, the king 355 Of Poly pemon's royal line, I fpring. Some adverse Dæmon from Sicania bore Our wandering courfe, and drove us on your fhore: Far from the town, an unfrequented bay; Reliev'd our weary'd veffel from the fea. Five years have circled fince thefe eyes purfued Ulyffes parting through the fable flood; Profperous he fail'd, with dexter auguries, And all the wing'd good omens of the kies. 364 Well hop'd we, then, to meet on this fair fhore, Whom Heaven, alas! decreed to meet no more.

360

He ran, he feiz'd him with a strict embrace,
With thousand kisses wander'd o'er his face:
I, I am he; O father rife, behold
Thy fon, with twenty winters now grown old;
Thy fon, fo long defir'd, fo long detain'd,
Reftor'd, and breathing in his native land:
Thefe floods of forrow, O my fire, reftrain! 379`
The vengeance is complete; the fuitor-train
Stretch'd in our palace, by thefe hands lie flain.

385

Amaz'd, Laertes, "Give fome certain fign, "(If fuch thou art) to manifeft thee mine." Lo here the wound (he cries) receiv'd of yore, The fear indented by the toy boar, When by thyfelf and by Anticlea fent To old Autolychus's realms I went. Yet by another fign thy offspring know; The feveral trees you gave me long ago, While, yet a child, thefe fields I lov'd to trace, And trod thy footsteps with unequal pace; To every plant in order as we came, Well-pleas'd you told its nature, and its name, Whate'er my childish fancy afk'd, bestow'd; Twelve pear-trees bowing with their pendent load,

395

And ten, that red with blufhing apples glow'd;.
Full fifty purple figs and many a row
Of various vines that then began to blow,
A future vintage! when the Hours produce
Their latent buds, and Sol exalts the juice,
Smit with the figns, which all his doubts ex-
plain,

400

His heart within him melts; his knees fuftain Their feeble weight no more; his arms alone Support him, round the lov'd Ulyffes throwa;