THE ODYSSEY.

BOOK I.

ARGUMENT.

MINERVA'S DESCENT TO ITHACA.

THE poem opens within forty-eight days of the arrival of Ulysses in his dominions. He had now remained seven years in the island of Calypso, when the gods, assembled in council, proposed the method of his departure from thence, and his return to his native country. For this purpose it is concluded to send Mercury to Calypso, and Pallas immediately descends to Ithaca. She holds a conference with Telemachus, in the shape of Mentes, king of the Tapbians; in which she advises him to take a journey in quest of his father Ulysses, to Pylos and Sparta, where Nestor and Menelaus yet reigned: then, after having | visibly displayed her divinity, disappears. The suitors of Penelope make great entertainments, and riot in her palace till night. Phemius sings to them the return of the Grecians, till Penelope puts a stop to the song. Some words arise between the suitors and Telemachus, who summons the council to meet the day following.

THE man, for wisdom's various arts renown'd,
Long exercis'd in woes, oh Muse! resound.
Who, when his arms had wrought the destin'd fall
Of sacred Troy, and raz'd her heaven-built wall,
Wandering from clime to clime, observant stray'd,
Their manners noted, and their states survey'd.
On stormy seas unnumber'd toils he bore,
Safe with his friends to gain his natal shore:
Vain toils! their impious folly dar'd to prey
On herds devoted to the god of day;

The gods vindictive doom'd them never more
(Ah, men unbless'd!) to touch that natal shore.
Oh, snatch some portion of these acts from fate,
Celestial Muse! and to our world relate.

Now at their natiye realms the Greeks arriv'd;
All who the war of ten long years surviv'd,
And 'scap'd the perils of the gulphy main.
Ulysses, sole of all the victor train,
An exile from his dear paternal coast,
Deplor'd his absent queen, and empire lost.
Calypso in her caves constrain'd his stay,
With sweet, reluctant, amorous delay :
In vain for now the circling years disclose
The day predestin'd to reward his woes.
At length his Ithaca is given by fate,
Where yet new labours his arrival wait;
At length their rage the hostile powers restrain,
All but the ruthless monarch of the main.
But now the god, remote, a heavenly guest,
In Ethiopia grac'd the genial feast

(A race divided, whom with sloping rays
The rising and descending Sun surveys);
There on the world's extremest verge, rever'd
With hecatombs and prayer in pomp preferr'd,
Distant he lay: while in the bright abodes
Of high Olympus, Jove conven'd the gods:
Th' assembly thus the sire supreme addrest,
Egysthus' fate revolving in his breast,

Whom young Orestes to the dreary coast Of Pluto sent, a blood-polluted ghost.

"Perverse mankind! whose wills, created free, Charge all their woes on absolute decree; All to the dooming gods their guilt translate, And follies are miscall'd the crimes of fate. When to his lust Egysthus gave the rein, Did fate, or we, th' adulterous act constrain? Did fate, or we, when great Atrides dy'd, Urge the bold traitor to the regicide? Hermes I sent, while yet his soul remain'd Sincere from royal blood, and faith profan'd; To warn the wretch, that young Orestes, grown To manly years, should re-assert the throne. Yet, impotent of mind, and uncontroll'd, He plung'd into the gulf which Heaven foretold." Here paus'd the god; and pensive thus replies Minerva, graceful with her azure eyes: "O thou! from whom the whole creation springs, The source of power on Earth deriv'd to kings! His death was equal to the direful deed; So may the man of blood be doom'd to bleed! But grief and rage alternate wound my breast, For brave Ulysses, still by fate opprest. Amidst an isle, around whose rocky shore The forests murmur, and the surges roar, The blameless hero from his wish'd-for home A goddess guards in her enchanted dome : (Atlas her sire, to whose far-piercing eye The wonders of the deep expanded lie; Th' eternal columns which on Earth he rears End in the starry vault, and prop the spheres.) By his fair daughter is the chief confin'd, Who soothes to dear delight his anxious mind: Successless all her soft caresses prove, To banish from his breast his country's love; To see the smoke from his lov'd palace rise, While the dear isle in distant prospect lies, With what contentment would he close bis eyes? And will Omnipotence neglect to save

The suffering yirtue of the wise and brave?
Must he, whose altars on the Phrygian shore
With frequent rites, and pure, avow'd thy power,
Be doom'd the worst of human ills to prove,
Unbless'd, abandon'd to the wrath of Jove?"
"Daughter! what words have pass'd thy lips
unweigh'd?"

(Reply'd the thunderer to the martial maid)
"Deem not unjustly by my doom opprest
Of human race the wisest and the best.
Neptune, by prayer repentant rarely won,
Afflicts the ohief, t' avenge his giant-son,
Whose visual orb Ulysses robb'd of light!
Great Polypheme, of more than mortal might!
Him young Thoösa bore (the bright increase
Of Phorcys, dreaded in the sound, and seas):
Whom Neptune ey'd with bloom of beauty blest,
And in his cave the yielding nymph comprest.
For this, the god constrains the Greek to roam,
A hopeless exile, from his native home,
From death alone exempt-but cease to mourn!
Let all combine t' achieve his wish'd return:
Neptune aton'd, his wrath shall now refrain,
Or thwart the synod of the gods in vain."

"Father and king ador'd!" Minerva cry'd, "Since all who in th' Olympian bower reside Now make the wandering Greek their public care Let Hermes to th' Atlantic isle' repair';

! Ogygia.

Who, prest with heart-corroding grief and years,
To the gay court a rural shade prefers,
Where, sole of all his train, a matron sage
Supports with homely food his drooping age,
With feeble steps from marshalling his vines
Returning sad, when toilsome day declines.
"With friendly speed, induc'd by erring fame,
To hail Ulysses' safe return, I came;
But still the frown of some celestial power
With envious joy retards the blissful hour.
Let not your soul be sunk in sad despair;
He lives, he breathes this heavenly vital air,
Among a savage race, whose shelfy bounds
With ceaseless roar the foaming deep surrounds.
The thoughts which roll within my ravish'd breast,
To me, no seer, th' inspiring gods suggest;
Nor skill'd, nor studious, with prophetic eye
To judge the winged omens of the sky.
Yet hear this certain speech, nor deem it vain ;
Though adamantine bonds the chief restrain,
The dire restraint his wisdom will defeat,
And soon restore him to his regal seat.'
But, generous youth! sincere and free declare,
Are you, of manly growth, his royal heir?
For sure Ulysses in your look appears,
The same his features, if the same his years.
Such was that face, on which I dwelt with joy
Ere Greece assembled stemm'd the tides to Troy;
But, parting then for that detested shore,
Our eyes, unhappy! never greeted more."

"To prove a genuine birth" (the prince replies) "On female truth assenting faith relies; Thus manifest of right, I build my clain Sure-founded on a fair maternal fame, Ulysses' son: but happier he, whom fate

Hath plac'd beneath the storms which toss the great!
Happier the son, whose hoary sire is blest
With humble affluence, and domestic rest!
Happier than I, to future empire born,

But doom'd a father's wretched fate to mourn !”
To whom, with aspect mild, the guest divine:
"Oh true descendant of a scepter'd line!
The gods a glorious fate from anguish free
To chaste Penelope's increase decree.
But say, yon joyful troop so gaily drest,
Is this a bridal or a friendly feast!.
Or from their deed I rightlier may divine,
Unseemly flown with insolence and wine;
Unwelcome revellers, whose lawless joy
Pains the sage ear, and hurts the sober eye?"
"Magnificence of old" (the prince replied)
"Beneath our roof with virtue could reside;
Unblam'd abundance crown'd the royal board,
What time this dome rever'd her prudent lord;
Who now (so Heaven decrees) is doom'd to mourn
Bitter constraint; erroneous and forloru.
Better the chief, on Ilion's hostile plain,
Had fall'n surrounded with his warlike train ;
Or safe return'd, the race of glory past,

[raise

New to his friends' embrace, had breath'd his last!
Then grateful Greece with streamning eyes would
Historic marbles, to record his praise;
His praise, eternal on the faithful stone,
Had with transmissive honour grae'd his son.
Now snatch'd by harpies to the dreary coast,
Sunk is the hero, and his glory lost:
Vanish'd at once! unheard-of, and unknown!
And I his heir in misery alone.
Nor for a dear, lost father only flow
The filial tears, but woe succeeds to wae:

To tempt the spouselesss queen with amorous wiles,

Resort the nobles from the neighbouring isles;
From Samos, circled with th' lönian main,
Dulichium, and Zacynthus' sylvan reign:
Ev'n with presumptuous hope her bed t' ascend,
The lords of Ithaca their right pretend.
She seems attentive to their pleaded vows,
Her heart detesting what her ear allows.
They, vain expectants of the bridal hour,
My stores in riotous expense devour,
In feast and dance the mirthful months employ,
And meditate my doom, to crown their joy."

[vain.

With tender pity touch'd, the goddess cried: "Soon may kind Heaven a sure relief provide! Soon may your sire discharge the vengeance due, And all your wrongs the proud oppressors rue! Oh! in that portal should the chief appear, Each hand tremendous with a brazen spear, In radiant panoply his limbs incas'd (For so of old my father's court he grac'd, When social mirth unbent his serious soul, O'er the full banquet, and the sprightly bowl): He then from Epyrè, the fair domain Of Ilus, sprung from Jason's royal strain, Measur'd a length of seas, a toilsome length, in For voyaging to learn the direful art To taint with deadly drugs the barbed dart; Observant of the gods, and sternly just, Ilus refus'd t' impart the baneful trust: With friendlier zeal my father's soul was fir'd, The drugs he knew, and gave the boon desir'd. Appear'd he now with such heroic port, As then conspicuous at the Taphian court; Soon should yon boasters cease their haughty strife, Or each atone his guilty love with life. But of his wish'd return the care resign; Be future vengeance to the powers divine. My sentence hear: with stern distaste avow'd, To their own districts drive the suitor-crowd: When next the morning warms the purple east, Convoke the peerage, and the gods attest; The sorrows of your inmost soul relate; And form sure plans to save the sinking state. Should second love a pleasing flame inspire, And the chaste queen connubial rites require; Dismiss'd with honour, let her hence repair To great Icarius, whose paternal care Will guide her passion, and reward the choice With wealthy dower, and bridal gifts of price. Then let this dictate of my love prevail : Instant, to foreign realms prepare to sail, To learn your father's fortunes: Fame may prove, Or omen'd voice, (the messenger of Jove) Propitious to the search. Direct your toil Through the wide ocean first to sandy Pyle; Of Nestor, hoary sage, his doom demand: Thence speed your voyage to the Spartan strand; For young Atrides to th' Achaian coast Arriv'd the last of all the victor host. If yet Ulysses views the light; forbear, Till the fleet hours restore the circling year. But if his soul hath wing'd the destin'd flight, Inhabitant of deep disastrous night: Homeward with pious speed repass the main, To the pale shade funereal rites ordain, Plant the fair column o'er the vacant grave, A hero's honours let the hero have. With decent grief the royal dead deplor'd, For the chaste queen select an equal lord.

Then let revenge your daring mind employ,
By fraud or force the suitor-train destroy,
And, starting into manhood, scorn the boy.
Hast thou not heard how young Orestes, fir'd
With great revenge, immortal praise acquir'd?
His virgin-sword Egysthus' veins imbrued;
The murderer fell, and blood aton'd for blood.
O greatly bless'd with every blooming grace!
With equal steps the paths of glory trace;
Join to that royal youth's your rival name,
And shine eternal in the sphere of fame.→
But
my
associates now my stay deplore,
Impatient on the hoarse-resounding shore.
Thou, heedful of advice, secure proceed;
My praise the precept is, be thine the deed."

"The counsel of my friend" (the youth rejoin'd)
"Imprints conviction on my grateful mind.
So fathers speak (persuasive speech and mild)
Their sage experience to the favourite child.
But, since to part, for sweet refection due
The genial viands let my train renew:
And the rich pledge of plighted faith receive,
Worthy the heir of Ithaca to give."

"Defer the promis'd boon," (the goddess, cries,
Celestial azure brightening in her eyes)
"And let me now regain the Reithrian port:
From Temesè return'd, your royal court
I shall revisit; and that pledge receive;
And gifts, memorial of our friendship, leave."
Abrupt, with eagle-speed she cut the sky;
Instant invisible to mortal eye.

Then first he recognis'd th' etherial guest;
Wonder and joy alternate fire his breast:
Heroic thoughts, infus'd, his heart dilate;
Revolving much his father's doubtful fate,
At length, compos'd, he join'd the suitor-throng;
Hush'd in attention to the warbled song.
His tender theme the charming lyrist chose,
Minerva's anger, and the direful woes
Which voyaging from Troy the victors bore,
While storms vindictive intercept the shore.
The shrilling airs the vaulted roof rebounds,
Reflecting to the queen the silver sounds.
With grief renew'd the weeping fair descends;
Their sovereign's step a virgin train attends;
A veil, of richest texture wrought, she wears,
And silent to the joyous hall repairs.
There from the portal, with her mild command,
Thus gently checks the minstrel's tuneful hand:
"Phemius! let acts of gods, and heroes

old,

What ancient bards in hall and bower have told,
Attemper'd to the lyre, your voice employ;
Such the pleas'd ear will drink with silent joy.
But, oh! forbear that dear disastrous name,
To sorrow sacred, and secure of fame:
My bleeding bosom sickens at the sound,
And every piercing note inflicts a wound."

"Why, dearest object of my duteous love,"
(Reply'd the prince)" will you the bard reproye?
Oft, Jove's ethereal rays (resistless fire)
The chanter's soul and raptur'd song inspire;
Instinct divine! nor blame severe his choice,
Warbling the Grecian woes with harp and voice:
For novel lays attract our ravish'd ears;
But old, the mind with inattention hears;
Patient permit the sadly pleasing strain;
Familiar now with grief, your tears refrain,
And in the public woe forget your own;
You weep not for a perish'd lord, alone.

What Greeks, now wandering in the Stygian gloom,
With your Ulysses shar'd an equal doom!
Your widow'd hours, apart, with female toil
And various labours of the loom, beguile;
There rule, from palace-cares remote and free;
That care to man belongs, and most to me."

Mature beyond his years the queen admires
His sage reply, and with her train retires.
Then swelling sorrows burst their former bounds,
With echoing grief afresh the dome resounds;
Till Pallas, piteous of her plaintive cries,
In slumber clos'd her silver-streaming eyes.

Meantime, rekindled at the royal charms,
Tumultuous love each beating bosom warms;
Intemperate rage a wordy war began;

| But bold Telemachus assum'd the man.
"Instant" (he cry'd) "your female discord end,
Ye deedless boasters! and the song attend;
Obey that sweet compulsion, nor profane
With dissonance the smooth melodious strain.
Pacific now prolong the jovial feast;
But when the dawn reveals the rosy east,
I, to the peers assembled, shall propose
The firm resolve, I here in few disclose;
No longer live the cankers of my court;
All to your several states with speed resort;
Waste in wild riot what your land allows,
There ply the early feast, and late carouse
But if, to honour lost, 'tis still decreed
For you my bowl shall flow, my flocks shall bleed;
Judge and revenge my right, impartial Jove!-
By him, and all th' immortal thrones above,
(A sacred oath) each proud oppressor, slain,
Shall with inglorious gore this marble stain."

Aw'd by the prince, thus haughty, bold, and young,
Rage gnaw'd the lip, and wonder chain'd the tongue,
Silence at length the gay Antinoüis broke,
Constrain'd a smile, and thus ambiguous spoke:
"What god to your untutor'd youth affords
This headlong torrent of amazing words?
May Jove delay thy reign, and cumber late
So bright a genius with the toils of state!"

"Those toils" (Telemachus serene replies) "Have charms, with all their weight, t' allure the Fast by the throne obsequious fame resides, [wise. And wealth incessant rolls her golden tides. Nor let Antinous rage, if strong desire Of wealth and fame a youthful bosom fire: Elect by Jove his delegate of sway, With joyous pride the summons I'd obey. Whene'er Ulysses roams the realm of night, Should factious power dispute my lineal right, Some other Greeks a fairer claim may plead; To your pretence their title would precede. At least, the sceptre lost, I still should reign Sole o'er my vassals, and domestic train."

To this Eurymachus: "To Heaven alone, Refer the choice to fill the vacant throne. Your patrimonial stores in peace possess; Undoubted, all your filial claim confess: Your private right should impious power invade, The peers of Ithaca would arm in aid. But say, that stranger guest who late withdrew, What and from whence? his name and lineage shew, His grave denieanour and majestic grace Speak him descended of no vulgar race: Did he some loan of ancient right require, Or came fore-runner of your scepter'd sire?" "Oh, son of Polybus!" the prince replies, "No more my sire will glad these longing eyes;

The queen's fond hope inventive rumour cheers,
Or vain diviners' dreams divert her fears.
That stranger-guest the Taphian realm obeys,
A realm defended with ipcircling seas;
Mentes, an ever-honour'd name, of old
High in Ulysses' social list enroll'd."

Thus he, though conscious of th' etherial guest,
Answer'd evasive of the sly request.
Meantime the lyre rejoins the sprightly lay;
Love-dittied airs, and dance, conclude the day.
But when the star of eve with golden light
Adorn'd the matron brow of sable night;
The mirthful train dispersing quit the court,
And to their several domes to rest resort.
A towering structure to the palace join'd ;
To this his steps the thoughtful prince inclin'd;
In his pavilion there, to sleep repairs;
The lighted torch, the sage Euryclea bears;
(Daughter of Ops, the just Pisenor's son,
For twenty beeves by great Laertes won;
In rosy prime with charms attractive grac'd,
Honour'd by him, a gentle lord and chaste,
With dear esteem; too wise, with jealous strife
To taint the joys of sweet, connubial life.
Sole with Telemachus her service ends,
A child she nurs'd him, and a man attends.)
Whilst to his couch the prince himself addrest,
The duteous dame receiv'd the purple vest :
The purple vest with decept care dispos'd,
The silver ring she pull'd, the door reclos'd;
The bolt, obedient to the silken cord,
To the strong staple's inmost depth restor❜d,
Secur'd the valves. There wrapt in silent shade,
Pensive, the rules the goddess gave, he weigh'd;
Stretch'd on the downy fleece, no rest he knows,
And in his raptur'd soul the vision glows,

THE ODYSSEY.

BOOK II.

ARGUMENT.

THE COUNCIL OF ITHACA.

TELEMACHUS, in the assembly of the lords of Ithaca, complains of the injustice done him by the suitors, and insists upon their departure from his palace; appealing to the princes, and exciting the people to declare against them. The suitors endeavour to justify their stay, at least till he shall send the queen to the court of Icarius her father; which he refuses. There appears a prodigy of two eagles in the sky, which an augur expounds to the ruin of the suitors. Telemachus then demands a vessel to carry him to Pylos and Sparta, there to inquire of his father's fortunes. Pallas, in the shape of Mentor (an ancient friend of Ulysses), helps him to a ship, assists him in preparing necessaries for the voyage, and embarks with him that night; which concludes the second day from the opening of the poem.

The scene continues in the palace of Ulysses in Ithaca.

Now reddening from the dawn, the morning-ray Glow'd in the front of heaven, and gave the day,

The youthful hero, with returning light,
Rose anxious from th' inquietudes of night.
A royal robe he wore with graceful pride,
A two-edg'd falchion threaten'd by his side,
Embroider'd sandals glitter'd as he trod,
And forth he mov'd majestic as a god.
Then by his heralds, restless of delay,
To council calls his peers: the peers obey.
Soon as in solemn form th' assembly sate,
From his high dome himself descends in state,
Bright in his hand a ponderous javelin shin'd;
Two dogs, a faithful guard, attend behind;
Pallas with grace divine his form improves,
And gazing crowds admire him as he moves.
His father's throne he fill'd: while distant stood
The hoary peers, and aged wisdom bow'd.

'Twas silence all. At last Ægyptius spoke ;
Ægyptius, by his age and sorrows broke:
A length of days his soul with prudence crown'd,
A length of days had bent him to the ground.
His eldest hope'in arms to Ilion came,
By great Ulysses taught the path to fame;
But (hapless youth) the hideous Cyclops tore
His quivering limbs, and quaff'd his spouting

gore.

Three sons remain'd: to climb with haughty fires
The royal bed, Eurynomus aspires;
The rest with duteous love his griefs asswage,
And ease the sire of half the cares of age.
Yet still his Antiphus he loves, he mourns,
And, as he stood, he spoke and wept by turns:

"Since great Ulysses sought the Phrygian plains,
Within these wails inglorious silence reigns.
Say then, ye peers, by whose commands we meet
Why here once more in solemn council sit?
Ye young, ye old, the weighty cause disclose:
Arrives some message of invading foes?
Or say, does high necessity of state
Inspire some patriot, and demand debate!
The present synod speaks its author wise;
Assist him, Jove, thou regent of the skies !"

He spoke. Telemachus with transport glows,, Embrac'd the omen, and majestic rose (His royal hand th' imperial sceptre sway'd); Then thus, addressing to Ægyptius, said:

"Reverend old man! lo here confest he stands By whom ye meet; my grief your care demands. No story I unfold of public woes, Nor bear advices of impending foes: Peace the blest land, and joys incessant crown; Of all this happy realm, I grieve alone. For my lost sire continual sorrows spring, The great, the good; your father, and your king. Yet more; our house from its foundation bows, Our foes are powerful, and your sons the foes: Hither, unwelcome to the queen, they come; Why seek they not the rich Icarian dome! If she must wed, from other hands require The dowry: is Telemachus her sire? Yet through my court the noise of revel rings, And wastes the wise frugality of kings. Scarce all my herds their luxury suffice; Scarce all my wine their midnight hours supplies. Safe in my youth, in riot still they grow, Nor in the helpless orphan dread a foe. But come it will, the time when manhood grants More powerful advocates than vain complaints. Approach that hour! insufferable wrong Cries to the gods, and vengeance sleeps too long. Antiphus.