Bright as the lamp of night, or orb of day, The walls were massy brass; the cornice high Blue metals crown'd, in colours of the sky: Rich plates of gold the folding doors incase; The pillars silver, on a brazen base; Silver the lintels deep projecting o'er, And gold the ringles that command the door. Two rows of stately dogs on either hand, In sculptur'd gold and labour'd silver stand. These Vulcan form'd with art divine, to wait Immortal guardians at Alcinous' gate; Alive each animated frame appears, And still to live beyond the power of years. Fair thronos within from space to space were rais'd, Where various carpets with embroidery blaz'd, The work of matrons: these the princess prest, Day following day, a long continued feast. Refulgent pedestals the walls surround, Which boys of gold with flaming torches crown'd; The polish'd ore, reflecting every ray, Blaz'd on the banquets with a donble day. Full fifty handmaids form the household train; Some turn the mill, or sift the golden grain; Some ply the loom their busy fingers move Like poplar-leaves when Zephyr fans the grove. Not more renown'd the men of Scheria's isle, For sailing arts and all the naval toil, Than works of female skill their women's pride, To dying shuttle through the threads to guide : Pallas to these her double gifts imparts, Inventive genius, and industrious arts.

Close to the gates a spacious garden lies, From storms defended and inclement skies. Four acres was the allotted space of ground, Fenc'd with a green enclosure all around, Tall thriving trees confess'd the fruitful mould; The reddening apple ripens here to gold. Here the blue fig with luscious juice o'erflows, With deeper red the full pomegranate glows, The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear, And verdant olives flourish round the year. The balmy spirit of the western gale Fternal breathes on fruits untaught to fail : Fach dropping pear a following pear supplies, On apples apples, figs on figs arise: The same mild season gives the blooms to blow, The buds to harden, and the fruits to grow.

Here order'd vines in equal ranks appear,
With all th' united labours of the year;
Some to unload the fertile branches run,
Some dry the blackening clusters in the Sun,
Others to tread the liquid harvest join,
The groaning presses foam with floods of wine.
Here are the vines in early flower descry'd,
Here grapes discolour'd on the sunny side,
And there in autumn's richest purple dy'd.
Beds of all various herbs, for ever green,
In beauteous order terminate the scene.
Two plenteous fountains the whole prospect
crown'd;

This through the garden leads its streams around,
Visits each plant, and waters all the ground;
While that in pipes beneath the palace flows,
And thence its current on the town bestows;
To various use their various streams they bring,
The people one, and one supplies the king.

Such were the glories which the gods ordain'd,
To grace Alcinous, and his happy land.
Ev'n from the chief, who men and nations knew,
Th' unwonted scene surprise and rapture drew;

In pleasing thought he ran the prospect o'er,
Then hasty enter'd at the lofty door.
Night now approaching, in the palace stand,
With goblets crown'd, the rulers of the land;
Prepar'd for rest, and offering to the god1
Who bears the virtue of the sleepy rod.
Unseen he glided through the joyous crowd,
With darkness circled, and an ambient cloud.
Direct to great Alcinous' throne he came,
And prostrate fell before th' imperial dame.
Then from around him dropt the veil of night;
Sudden he shines, and manifest to sight,
The nobles gaze, with awful fear opprest;
Silent they gaze, and eye the godlike gust.

"Daughter of great Rhexenor!" (thus began Low at her knees the much-enduring man) "To thee, thy consort, and this royal train, To all that share the blessings of your reiga, A suppliant bends: Oh, pity human woe! 'Tis what the happy to e unhappy owe. A wretched exile to his country send, Long worn with griefs, and long without a friend. So may the gods your better days increase, And all your joys descend on all your race, So reign for ever on your country's breast, Your people blessing, by your people blest!”

Then to the genial hearth he bow'd his face, And humbled in the ashes took his place. Silence ensued. The eldest first began, Echenus sage, a venerable man! Whose well-taught mind the present age surpast, And join'd to that th' experience of the last. Fit words attended on his weighty sense, And mild persuasion flow'd in eloquence.

"O sight!" he cry'd, "dishonest and unjust!
A guest, a stranger, seated in the dust!
To raise the lowly suppliant from the ground
Befits a monarch. Lo! the peers around
But wait thy word, the gentle guest to grace,
And seat him fair in some distinguish'd place.
Let first the herald due libation pay

To Jove, who guides the wanderer on his way;
Then set the genial banquet in his view,
And give the stranger guest a stranger's due."
His sage advice the listening king obeys,
He stretch'd his hand the prudent chief to raise,
And from his seat Laodamas remov'd
(The monarch's offspring, and his best-belov'd); ́
There next his side the godlike hero sate;
With stars of silver shone the bed of state.

The golden ewer a beauteous handmaid brings,
Replenish'd from the cool translucent springs,
Whose polish'd vase with copious streams supplies
A silver laver of capacions size.

The table next in regal order spread,
The glittering canisters are heap'd with broad:
Viands of various kinds invite the taste,
Of choicest sort and savour, rich repast!
Thus feasting high, Alcinous gave the sign,
And bade the herald pour the rosy wine.
"Let all around the due libation pay

To Jove, who guides the wanderer on his way."

He said. Pontonous heard the king's command; The circling goblet moves from hand to hand: Each drinks the juice that glads the heart of man, Alcinous then, with aspect mild, began:

"Princes and peers, attend; while we impart To you, the thoughts of no inhunian heart.

! Mercury.

The herald now arrives, and guides along
The sacred master of celestial song:

Dear to the Muse! who gave his days to flow
With mighty blessings, mix'd with mighty woe:
With clouds of darkness quench'd his visual ray,
But gave him skill to raise the lofty lay,
High on a radiant throne sublime in state,
Encircled by huge multitudes, he sate:

With silver shone the throne; his lyre well strung
To rapturous sounds, at hand Pontonous hung:
Before his seat a polish'd table shines,

And a full goblet foams with generous wines:
His food a herald bore and now they fed:
And now the rage of craving hunger fled.

Then, fir'd by all the Muse aloud he sings
The mighty deeds of demi-gods and kings :
From that fierce wrath the noble song arose,
That made Ulysses and Achilles foes:
How o'er the feast they doom the fall of Troy;
The stern debate Atrides hears with joy:
For Heaven forctold the contest, when he trod
The marble threshold of the Delphic god,
Curious to learn the counsels of the sky,
Ere yet he loos'd the rage of war on Troy,

Touch'd at the song, Ulysses straight resign'd
To soft affliction all his manly mind:
Before his eyes the purple vest he drew,
Industrious to conceal the falling dew:
But when the music paus'd, he ceased to shed
The flowing tear, and rais'd his drooping head:
And, lifting to the gods a goblet crown'd,
He pour'd a pure libation to the ground.

Transported with the song, the listening train
Again with loud applause demand the strain:
Again Ulysses veil'd his pensive head,
Again, unmann'd, a shower of sorrow shed:
Conceal'd he wept: the king observ'd alone
The silent tear, and heard the secret groan :
Then to the bard aloud: “O cease to sing,
Dumb be thy voice, and mute th' harmonious
string;

Enough the feast has pleas'd, enough the power
Of heavenly song has crown'd the genial hour!
Incessant in the games your strength display;
Contest, ye brave, the honours of the day:
That, pleas'd, th' admiring stranger may pro.
claim

In distant regions the Phæacian fame:
None wield the gauntlet with so dire a sway,
Or swifter in the race devour the way;
None in the leap spring with so strong a bound,
Or firmer, in the wrestling, press the ground.'

Thus spoke the king; th' attending peers obey:
In state they move, Alcinous leads the way:
His golden lyre Demodochus unstrung,
High on a column in the palace hung:
And, guided by a herald's guardian cares,
Majestic to the lists of fame repairs.

Now swarms the populace; a countless throng,
Youth and hoar age; and man drives man along :
The games begin; ambitious of the prize,
Acroneus, Thoon, and Eretmeus rise;
The prize Ocyalus and Prymneus olaim,
Anchialus and Ponteus, chiefs of fame :
There Proreus, Neates, Fratreus appear,
And fam'd Amphialus, Polyneus' heir;
Euryalus like Mars terrific rose,

When clad in wrath he withers hosts of foes:
Naubolides with grace unequall'd shone,
Or equal'd by Laodamas alone.

With these came forth Ambasineus the strong;
And three brave sons, from great Alcinous sprung
Rang'd in a line the ready racers stand,
Start from the goal, and vanish o'er the strand:
Swift as on wings of winds upborne they fly,
And drifts of rising dust involve the sky:
Before the rest, what space the hinds allow
Between the mule and ox, from plough to plough,
Clytonous sprung: he wing'd the rapid way,
And bore th' unrivall'd honours of the day.
With fierce embrace the brawny wrestlers join;
The conquest, great Euryalus, is thine.
Amphialus sprung forward with a bound,
Superior in the leap, a length of ground:
From Elatreus' strong arm the discus flies,
And sings with unmatch'd force along the skicą,
And Laodam whirls high, with dreadful sway,
The gloves of death, victorious in the fray.

While thus the peerage in the games contends, In act to speak, Laodamas ascends: [skill'd

"Ofriends," he cries, "the stranger seems well To try th' illustrious labours of the field:

I deem him brave: then grant the brave man's
Invite the hero to his share of fame.
[claim,
What nervous arms he boasts! how firm his tread !
His limbs how turn'd! how broad his shoulders

spread:

By age unbroke—but all-consuming care Destroys, perhaps, that strength that time would spare:

Dire is the ocean, dread in all its forms! Man must decay, whep man contends with storms." "Well hast thou spoke," (Euryalus replies): "Thine is the guest, invite him thou to rise." Swift at the word, advancing from the crowd, He made obeisance, and thus spoke aloud :

"Vouchsafes the reverend stranger to display His manly worth, and share the glorious day? Father, arise! for thee thy port proclaims Expert to conquer in the solemn games. To fame arise! for what more fame can yield Than the swift race, or conflict of the field? Steal from corroding care one transient day, To glory give the space thou hast to stay; Short is the time, and, lo! ev'n now the gales Call thee aboard, and stretch the swelling sails." To whom with sighs Ulysses gave reply: "Ah! why th' ill-suiting pastime must I try To gloomy care my thoughts alone are free; Ill the gay sports with troubled hearts agree: Sad from my natal hour my days have ran, A much afflicted, much-enduring man! Who suppliant to the king and peers implores A speedy voyage to his native shores."

"Wide wanders, Laodam, thy erring tongue, The sports of glory to the brave belong," (Retorts Euryalus): "he boasts no claim Among the great, unlike the sons of fame. A wandering merchant he frequents the main; Some mean sea-farer in pursuit of gain; Studious of freight, in naval trade well skill'd, But dreads th' athletic labours of the field."

Incens'd Ulysses with a frown replies. "O forward to proclaim thy soul unwise! With partial hands the gods their gifts dispense; Some greatly think, some speak with manly sepse Here Heaven an elegance of form denies, But wisdom the defect of form supplies: This man with energy of thought controls, And steals with modest violence our souls.

He speaks reserv'dly, but he speaks with force,
Nor can one word be chang'd but for a worse;
In public more than mortal he appears,
And, as he moves, the gazing crowd reveres.
While others, beauteous as th' etherial kind,
The nobler portion want, a knowing mind.
In outward show Heaven gives thee to excel,
But Heaven denies the praise of thinking well.
Ill bear the brave a rude ungovern'd tongue,
And, youth, my generous soul resents the wrong :
Skill'd in heroic exercise, I clann

A post of honour with the sons of fame:

Such was my boast while vigour crown'd my days,
Now care surrounds me, and my force decays;
Inur'd a melancholy part to bear,

In scenes of death, by tempest and by war.
Yet, thus by woes impair'd, no more I wave
To prove the hero.-Slander stings the brave."
Then, striding forward with a furious bound,
He wrench'd a rocky fragment from the ground.
By far more ponderous, and more huge by far,
Than what Phracia's sons discharg'd in air.
Fierce from his arm th' enormous load he flings,
Sonorous through the shaded air it sings;
Couch'd to the earth, tempestuous as it flies,
The crowd gaze upward while it cleaves the skies.
Beyond all marks, with many a giddy round
Down rushing, it up-turns a hill of ground.

That instant Pallas, bursting from a cloud,
Fix'd a distinguish'd mark, and cry`d aloud!
"Ev'n he who sightless wants his visual ray
May by bis touch alone award the day:
Thy signal throw transcends the utmost bound
Of every champion by a length of ground.
Securely bid the strongest of the train
Arise to throw the strongest throws in vain.”
She spoke; and momentary mounts the sky:
The friendly voice Ulysses hears with joy,
Then thus aloud, (elate with decent pride)
"Rise, ye Phæacians, try your force," he cried;
"If with this throw the strongest caster vie,
Still, further still, I bid the discus fly,
Stand forth, ye champions, who the gauntlet wield,
Or ye, the swiftest racers of the field!
Stand forth, ye wrestlers, who these pastimes grace,
I wield the gauntlet, and I run the race
In such heroic games I yield to none,
Or yield to brave Laodamas alone :
Shall I with brave Laodamas contend?
A friend is sacred, and I style him friend,
Ungenerous were the man, and base of heart,
Who takes the kind, and pays th' ungrateful part;
Chiefly the man, in foreign realms confin'd,
Base to his friend, to his own interest blind:
All, all your heroes I this day defy;

Give me a man that we our might may try.
Expert in every art, I boast the skill
To give the feather'd arrows wings to kill;
Should a whole host at once discharge the bow,
My well-aim'd shaft with death prevents the foe:,
Alone superior in the field of Troy,
Great Philoctetes taught the shaft to fly.
From all the sons of Earth, unrivall'd praise
I justly claim; but yield to better days,
To those fam'd days when great Alcides rose,
And Eurytus, who bade the gods be foes:
(Vain Eurytus, whose art became his crime,
Swept from the Earth, he perish'd in his prime;
Sudden th' irremeable way he trod,
Who boldly durst defy the bowyer-god),

In fighting fields as far the spear I throw,
As flies an arrow from the well-drawn bow.
Sole in the race the contest I decline,
Stiff are my weary joints, and I resign ;'
By storms and hunger worn: age well may fail,
When storms and hunger both at once assail.""
Abash'd, the numbers hear the godlike man,
Till great Alcinous mildly thus began: [tongue
"Well hast thou spoke, and well thy generous
With decent pride refutes a public wrong:
Warm are thy words, but warm without offence;
Fear only fools, secure in men of sense:
Thy worth is known. Then hear our country's
And bear to heroes our heroic fame; [claim,
In distant realms our glorious deeds display,
Repeat thein frequent in the genial day;
When blest with ease thy woes and wanderings end,
Teach them thy consort, bid thy sons attend!
How lov'd of Jove he crown'd our sires with praise,
How we their offspring dignify our race,

"Let other realms the deathful gauntlet wield,
Or boast the glories of th' athletic field;
We in the course unrivall'd speed display,
Or through cerulean billows plough the way;
To dress, to dance, to sing, our sole delight,
The feast or bath by day, and love by night:
Rise then, ye skill'd in measures; let him bear
Your fame to men that breathe a distant air:
And faithful say, to you the powers belong
To race, to sail, to dance, to chant the song.
"But, herald, to the palace swift repair,
And the soft lyre to grace our pastimes bear."
Swift at the word, obedient to the king,
The herald flies the tuneful lyre to bring.
Up rose nine seniors, chosen to survey
The future games, the judges of the day.
With instant care they mark a spacious round,
And level for the dance th' allotted ground;
The herald bears the lyre: intent to play,
The bard advancing meditates the lay,
Skill'd in the dance, tail youths, a blooming band,
Graceful before the heavenly minstrelstand:
Light-bounding from the earth, at once they rise,
Their feet half viewless quiver in the skies:
Ulysess gaz'd, astonish'd to survey

The glancing splendours as their sandals play.
Meantime the bard, alternate to the strings,
The loves of Mars and Cytherea sings;
How the stern god, enamour'd with her charms,
Clasp'd the gay panting goddess in his arms,
By bribes seduc'd and how the Sun, whose eye
Views the broad Heavens, disclos'd the lawless joy,
Stung to the soul indignant through the skies
To his black forge vindictive Vulcan flies:
Arriv'd, his sinewy arms incessant place
Th' eternal anvil on the massy base.
A wondrous net he labours, to betray
The wanton lovers, as entwin'd they lay,
Indissolubly strong! Then instant bears
To his immortal dome the finish'd snares.
Above, below, around, with art dispread,
The sure enclosure folds the genial bed;
Whose texture ev'n the search of gods deceives,
Thin as the filmy threads the spider weaves.
Then, as withdrawing from the starry bowers,
He feigns a journey to the Lemnian shores,
His favourite isle! observant Mars descries
His wish'd recess, and to the goddess flies:
He glows, he burns: the fair-hair'd queen of love
Descends smooth gliding from the courts of Jove,