Gay blooming in full charms: her hand he prest With eager joy, and with a sigh addrest :

"Come, my belov'd, and taste the soft delights: Come, to repose the genial bed invites : Thy absent spouse, neglectful of thy charms, Prefers his barbarous Sintians to thy arms!" Then nothing loth, th' enamour'd fair he led, And sunk transported on the conscious bed. Down rush'd the toils, inwrapping as they lay The careless lovers in their wanton play: In vain they strive, th' entangling snares deny (Inextricably firm) the power to fly :

Warn'd by the god who sheds the golden day, Stern Vulcan homeward treads the starry way: Arriv'd, he sees, he grieves, with rage he burns: Full horrible he roars, his voice all Heaven

returns:

"O Jove" he cry'd, "oh all ye powers above, See the lewd dalliance of the queen of love! Me, awkward me, she scorns; and yields her charms

To that fair lecher, the strong god of arms.
If I am lame, that stain my natal hour
By fate impos'd; such me my parent bore:
Why was I born? See how the wanton lies!
O sight tormenting to an husband's eyes!
But yet I trust, this once ev'n Mars would fly
His fair one's arms-he thinks her once, too, nigh.
But there remain, ye guilty, in my power,
Till Jove refunds his shameless daughter's dower.
Too dear I priz'd a fair enchanting face:
Beauty unchaste is beauty in disgrace."

Meanwhile the gods the dome of Vulcan
throng,

Apollo comes, and Neptune comes along ;
With these gay Hermes trod the starry plain;
But modesty withheld the goddess-train.
All Heaven beholds imprison'd as they lie,
And unextinguish'd laughter shakes the sky.
Then mutual, thus they spoke: "Behold on
wrong

Swift vengeance waits; and art subdues the strong!
Dwells there a god on all th' Olympian brow
More swift than Mars, and more than Vulcan slow?
Yet Vulcan conquers, and the god of arms
Must pay the penalty for lawless charms."

Thus serious they; but he who gilds the skies,
The gay Apollo, thus to Hermes cries:
"Would'st thou enchain'd like Mars, O Hermes, lie,
And bear the shame, like Mars, to share the joy?"

"O envy'd shame!" (the smiling youth rejoin'd,) "Add thrice the chains, and thrice more firmly Gaze all ye gods, and every goddess gaze, [bind; Yet eager would I bless the sweet disgrace."

Loud laugh the rest, even Neptune laugh'd Yet sues importunate to loose the god: [aloud, "And free," he cries, "O Vulcan! free from shame Thy captives; I ensure the penal claim."

"Will Neptune" (Vulcan then) "the faithless He suffers who gives surety for th' unjust: [trust? But say, if that lewd scandal of the sky, To liberty restor'd, perfidious fly; Say, wilt thou bear the mulct?" He instant cries, "The mulct I bear, if Mars perfidious flies."

To whom appeas'd: "No more I urge delay; When Neptune sues, my part is to obey," Then to the snares his force the god applies; They burst; and Mars to Thrace indignant flies: To the soft Cyprian shores the goddess moves, To visit Paphos and her blooming groves;

Where to the power an hundred altars rise,
And breathing odours scent the balmy skies;
Conceal'd she bathes in consecrated bowers,
The Graces unguents shed, ambrosial showers,
Unguents that charm the gods! she last assumes
Her wonderous robes; and full the goddess blooms.
Thus sung the bard: Ulysses hears with joy,
And loud applauses rend the vaulted sky.

Then to the sports his sons the king commands,
Each blooming youth before the monarch stands,
In dance unmatch'd! A wonderous ball is brought
(The work of Polypus, divinely wrought;)
This youth with strength enormous bids it fly,
And bending backward whirls it to the sky;
His brother, springing with an active bound,
At distance intercepts it from the ground :
The ball dismiss'd, in dance they skim the strand,
Turn and return, and scarce imprint the sand.
Th' assembly gazes with astonish'd eyes,
And sends in shouts applauses to the skies. [name
Then thus Ulysses! "Happy king, whose
The brightest shines in all the rolls of fame :
In subjects happy! with surprise 1 gaze!
Thy praise was just; their skill transcends thy
praise."

Pleas'd with his people's fame, the monarch hears, And thus benevolent accosts the peers: "Since Wisdom's sacred guidance he pursues, Give to the stranger guest a stranger's dues: Twelve princes in our realm dominion share O'er whom supreme, imperial power I bear: Bring gold, a pledge of love; a talent bring, A vest, a robe, and imitate your king: Be swift to give; that he this night may share The social feast of joy, with joy sincere. And thou, Euryalus, redeem thy wrong; A generous heart repairs a slanderous tongue." Th' assenting peers, obedient to the king, In haste their heralds send the gifts to bring. Then thus Euryalus: "O prince, whose sway Rules this best realm, repentant I obey! Be his this sword, whose blade of brass displays A ruddy gleam; whose hilt a silver blaze; Whose ivory sheath, inwrought with curious pride, Adds graceful terrour to the wearer's side."

He said; and to his hand the sword consign'd; "And if," he cry'd, "my words affect thy mind, Far from thy mind those words, ye whirlwinds, bear, And scatter them, ye storms, in empty air: Crown, O ye Heavens! with joy his peaceful hours,

And grant him to his spouse and native s'pres!"

"And blest be thou, my friend," Ulysses cries: "Crown him with every joy, ye favouring skies: To thy calm hours continued peace afford, And never, never mayst thou want this sword!"

He said; and o'er his shoulder slung the blade. Now o'er the earth ascends the evening shade: The precious gifts th' illustrious heralds bear, And to the court th' embody'd peers repair. Before the queen Alcinous' sons unfold The vests, the robes, and heaps of shining gold; Then to the radiant thrones they move in state: Aloft, the king in pomp imperial sat.

Then to the queen: "O partner of our reign, O sole belov'd! command thy menial train A polish'd chest and stately robes to bear, And healing waters for the bath prepare: That, bath'd, our guest may bid his sorrows cease, Hear the sweet song, and taste the feast in peace.

A bowl that flames with gold, of wondrous frame,
Ourself we give, memorial of our name:
To raise in offerings to almighty Jove,
And every god that treads the courts above."
Instant the queen, observant of the king,
Commands her train a spacious vase to bring,
The spacious vase with ample stream, suffice,
Heap high the wood, and bid the flames arise.
The flames climb round it with a fierce embrace,
The fuming waters bubble o'er the blaze.
Herself the chest prepares: in order roll'd
The robes, the vests are rang'd, and heaps of gold:
And adding a rich dress inwrought with art,
A gift expressive of her bounteous heart,
Thus spoke to Ithacus: "To guard with bands
Insolvable these gifts, thy care demands :
Lest, in thy slumbers on the watery main,
The hand of rapine make our bounty vain."
Then bending with full force, around he roll'd
A labyrinth of bands in fold on fold,
Clos'd with Circæan art. A train attends
Around the bath: the bath the king ascends
(Untasted joy, since that disastrous hour
He sail'd ill-fated from Calypso's bower :)
Where, happy as the gods that range the sky,
He feasted every sense with every joy.
He bathes; the damsels, with officious toil,
Shed sweets, shed unguents, in a shower of oil :
Then o'er his limbs a gorgeous robe he spreads,
And to the feast magnificently treads:

Full where the dome its shining valves expands,
Nausicaa blooming as a goddess stands,
With wondering eyes the hero she survey'd,
And graceful thus began the royal maid:

"Hail, godlike stranger! and when Heaven

restores

The writhen bolt, and blackens Heaven with
Restore me safe, through weary wanderings tost,
To my dear country's ever-pleasing coast,
As, while the spirit in this bosom glows,
To thee, my goddess, I address my vows :
My life, thy gift I boast!" He said, and sat
Fast by Alcinous on a throne of state.

For who, by Phœbus uninform'd could know
The woe of Greece, and sing so well the woe?
Just to the tale, as present at the fray,
Or taught the labours of the dreadful day!
The song recalls past horrours to my eyes,
And bids proud Ilion from her ashes rise.
Once more harmonious strike the sounding string,
Th' Epæan fabric, fram'd by Pallas, sing:
How stern Ulysses, furious to destroy,
With latent heroes sack'd imperial Troy.
If faithful thou record the tale of fame,
The god himself inspires thy breast with flame :
And mine shall be the task, henceforth to raise
In every land, thy monument of praise.
Full of the god, he rais'd his lofty strain,
How the Greeks rush'd tumultuous to the main :
How blazing tents illumin'd half the skies,
While from the shores the winged navy flies:
How ev'n in Ilion's walls, in deathful bands,
Came the stern Greeks by Troy's assisting hands:
All Troy up-heav'd the steed; of differing mind,
Various the Trojans counsell'd; part consign'd
The monster to the sword, part sentence gave
To plunge it headlong in the whelming wave;
Th' unwise prevail, they lodge it in the towers,
An offering sacred to th' immortal powers:
Th' unwise award to lodge it in the walls,
And by the gods' decree proud Ilion falls;
Destruction enters in the treacherous wood,
And vengeful slaughter, fierce for human blood.
He sung the Greeks stern issuing from the steed,
How Ilion burns, how all her fathers bleed:
How to thy dome, Deiphobus! ascends
The Spartan king: how Ithacus attends
(Horrid as Mars,) and how with dire alarms
He fights, subdues for Pallas strings his arms.
Thus while he sung, Ulysses' griefs renew,
Tears bathe his cheeks, and tears the ground
As some fond matron views in mortal fight [bedew :
Her husband falling in his country's right:
Frantic through clashing swords she runs, she flies,
As ghastly pale he groans, and faints, and dies;
Close to his breast she grovels on the ground,
And bathes with floods of tears the gaping wound;
She cries, she shrieks; the fierce insulting foe
Relentless mock her violence of woe:
To chains condemn'd, as wildly she deplores:
A widow, and a slave on foreign shores.

So from the sluices of Ulysses' eyes Fast fell the tears, and sighs succeeded sighs: Conceal'd he griev'd: 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 the tuneful string:" To every note his tears responsive flow, And his great heart heaves with tumultuous woe: Thy lay too deeply moves: then cease the lay, And o'er the banquet every heart be gay : This social right demands: for him the sails, Floating in air, invite th' impelling gales: His are the gifts of love: the wise and good Receive the stranger as a brother's blood.

"But, friend, discover faithful what I crave, Artful concealment ill becomes the brave: Say what thy birth, and what the name you bore, Impos'd by parents in the natal hour? (For from the natal hour distinctive names, One common right, the great and lowly claims :) Say from what city, from what regions tost, And what inhabitants those regions boast?

So shalt thou instant reach the realms assign'd,
In wondrous ships self-mov'd, instinct with mind;
No helm secures their course, no pilot guides,
Like man intelligent, they plough the tides,
Conscious of every coast and every bay,
That lies beneath the Sun's all-seeing ray;
Though clouds and darknes veil th' encumber'd sky,
Fearless through darkness and through clouds
they fly:

Though tempests rage, though rolls the swelling
main,

The seas may roll, the tempest rage in vain;
Ev'n the stern god, that o'er the waves presides,
Safe as they pass, and safe repass the tides,
With fury burns; while careless they convey
Promiscuous every guest to every bay.
These cars have heard my royal sire disclose
A dreadful story big with future woes,
How Neptune rag'd, and how, by his command,
Firm rooted in a surge a ship should stand

A monument of wrath: how mound on mound
Should bury these proud towers beneath the ground.
But this the gods may frustrate or fulfil,
As suits the purpose of th' eternal will.
But say through what waste regions hast thou
stray'd,

What customs noted, and what coasts survey'd ;
Possess'd by wild barbarians fierce in arms,
Or men, whose bosom tender pity warms?
Say why the fate of Troy awak'd thy cares,
Why heav'd thy bosom, and why flow'd thy tears?
Just are the ways of Heaven: from Heaven proceed
The woes of man; Heaven doom'd the Greeks to
bleed;

A theme of future song! Say then if slain
Some dear lov'd brother press'd the Phrygian plain?
Or bled some friend, who bore a brother's part,
And claim'd by merit, not by blood, the heart?"

THE ODYSSEY,

BOOK IX.

ARGUMENT,

THE ADVENTURES OF THE CICONS, LOTOPHAGI, AND CYCLOPS.

ULYSSES begins the relation of his adventures; how, after the destruction of Troy, he with his companions made an incursion on the Cicons, by by whom they were repulsed; and meeting with a storm, were driven to the coast of the Totophagi. From thence they sailed to the land of the Cyclops, whose manners and situation are particularly characterised. The giant Polyphemus and his cave described; the usage Ulysses and his companions met with there; and lastly, the method and artifice by which he escaped.

THEN thus Ulysses: "Thou, whom first in sway,
As first in virtue, these thy realms obey;
How sweet the products of a peaceful reign!
The heaven-taught poet, and enchanting strain ;
The well-fill'd palace, the perpetual feast,
A land rejoicing, and a people blest!

How goodly seems it ever to employ
Man's social days in union and in joy;
The plenteous board high heap'd with cates divine,
And o'er the foaming bowl the laughing wine!
"Admit these joys, why seeks thy mind to
know

Th' unhappy series of a wanderer's woe;
Remembrance sad, whose image to review,
Alas! must open all my wounds anew!
And, oh what first what last shall I relate,
Of woes unnumber'd sent by Heaven and fate?
"Know first the man (though now a wretch

distrest)

Who hopes thee, monarch, for his future guest.
Behold Ulysses! no ignoble name,
[fame.
Earth sounds my wisdom, and high Heaven my
My native soil is Ithaca the fair,
Where high Neritus waves his woods in air:
Dulichium, Samè, and Zacynthus crown'd
With shady mountains, spread their isles around
(These to the north and night's dark regions run,
Those to Aurora and the rising Sun).

Low lies our isle, yet blest in fruitful stores;
Strong are her sons, though rocky are her shores;
And none, ah! none so lovely to my sight,
Of all the lands that Heaven o'erspreads with
light!

In vain Calypso long constrain'd my stay,
With sweet, reluctant, amorous delay;
With all her charms as vainly Circe strove,
And added magic, to secure my love.
In pomps or joys, the palace or the grot,
My country's image never was forgot,
My absent parents rose before my sight,
And distant lay contentment and delight,

"Hear then the woes which mighty Jove ordain'd

To wait my passage from the Trojan land.
The winds from Ilion to the Cicons' shore,
Beneath cold Ismarus our vessels bore.
We boldly landed on the hostile place,
And sack'd the city, and destroy'd the race,
Their wives made captive, their possessions shar'd,
And every soldier found a like reward.

I then advis'd to fly; not so the rest,

Who stay'd to revel and prolong the feast:
The fatted sheep and sable bulls they slay,
And bowls flow round, and riot wastes the day.
Meantime the Cicons to their holds retir'd,
Call on the Cicons with new fury fir'd;
With early moru the gather'd country swarms
And all the continent is bright with arms;
Thick as the budding leaves or rising flowers
O'erspread the land, when spring descends in

showers:

All expert soldiers, skill'd on foot tu dare,
Or from the bounding courser urge the war.
Now fortune changes (so the Fates ordain);
Our hour was come to taste our share of pain.
Close at the ships the bloody fight began,
Wounded they wound, and man expires on man.
Long as the morning Sun increasing bright
O'er Heaven's pure azure spread the growing
light,

Promiscuous death the form of war confounds,
Each adverse battle gor'd with equal wounds:
But when his evening wheels o'erhung the main,
Then conquest crown'd the fierce Ciconian train.
Six brave companions from each ship we lost,
The rest escape in haste, and quit the coast.

With sails outspread we fly th' unequal' strife,
Sad for their loss, but joyful of our life,
Yet as we fled our fellows rites we paid,
And thrice we call'd on each unhappy shade.
"Meanwhile the god whose hand the thunder
forms,
[storms!
Drives clouds on clouds, and blackens Heaven with
Wide o'er the waste the rage of Boreas sweeps,
And night rush'd headlong on the shaded deeps,
Now here, now there, the giddy ships are borne,
And all the rattling shrouds in fragments torn:
We furl'd the sail, we ply'd the labouring oar,
Took down our inasts, and row'd our ships to
shore..

Two tedious days and two long nights we lay,
O'erwatch'd and batter'd'in the naked bay.
Bat the third morning when Aurora brings,
We rear the masts, we spread the canvas wings;
Refresh'd, and careless on the deck reclin'd,
We sit, and trust the pilot and the wind.
Then to my native country had I sail'd:
But the cape doubled, adverse winds prevail'd.
Strong was the tide, which, by the northern blast
Impell'd, our vessels on Cythera cast.

Nine days our fleet th' uncertain tempest bore
Far in wide ocean, and from sight of shore;
The tenth we touch'd, by various errours tost,
The land of Lotos and the flowery coast.
We climb the beach, and springs of water found,
Then spread our hasty banquet on the ground.
Three men were sent deputed from the crew,
(An herald one) the dubious coast to view,
And learn what habitants possess the place.
They went, and found a hospitable race;
Not prone to ill, nor strange to foreign guest,
They eat, they drink, and nature gives the feast;
The trees around them all their fruit produce;
Lotos, the name; divine, nectareous juice!
(Thence call'd Lotophagi) which whoso tastes,
Insatiate riots in the sweet repasts,
Nor other home, nor other care intends,
But quits bis house, his country, and his friends:
The three we sent, from off th' enchanting ground
We dragg'd reluctant, and by force we bound:
The rest in haste forsook the pleasing shore,
Or, the charm tasted, had return'd no more.
Now plac'd in order on their banks, they sweep
The sea's smooth face, and cleave the hoary
deep;

With heavy hearts we labour through the tide
To coasts unknown, and oceans yet untry'd.

"The land of Cyclops first; a savage kind,
Nor tam'd by manners, nor by laws confin'd:
Cataught to plant, to turn the glebe and sow;
They all their products to free nature owe.
The soil untill'd a ready harvest yields,
With wheat and barley wave the golden fields,
Spontaneous wines from weighty clusters pour,
And Jove descends in each prolific shower.
By these no statutes and no rights are known,
No council held, no monarch fills the throne,
But high on hills, or airy cliffs they dwell,
Or deep in caves whose entrance leads to Hell.
Each rules his race, his neighbour not his care,
Heedless of others, to his own severe.

Oppos'd to the Cyclopean coasts, there lay An isle, whose hills their subject fields survey; Its name Lachæa, crown'd with many a grove, Where savage goats through pathless thickets

rove;

No needy mortals here, with hunger bold,
Or wretched hunters, through the wintery cold
Pursue their flight: but leave them safe to bound
From hill to hill, o'er all the desert ground.
Nor knows the soil to feed the fleecy care,
Or feels the labours of the crooked share;
But uninhabited, untill'd, unsown
It lies, and breeds the bleating goat alone.
For there no vessel with vermillion prore,
Or bark of traffic glides from shore to shore
The rugged race of savages, unskill'd
The seas to traverse, or the ships to build,
Gaze on the coast, nor cultivate the soil;
Unlearn'd in all th' industrious arts of toil.
Yet here all products and all plants abound,
Sprung from the fruitful genius of the ground
Fields waving high with heavy crops are seen,
And vines that flourish in eternal green,
Refreshing meads along the murmuring main,
And fountains streaming down the fruitful plain.
"A port there is, enclos'd on either side,
Where ships may rest, unanchor'd and unty'd;
Till the glad mariners incline to sail,

And the sea whitens with the rising gale.
High at its head, from out, the cavern'd rock
In living rills a gushing fountain broke:
Around it, and above, for ever green,
The blushing alders form a shady scene.
Hither some favouring god, beyond our thought,
Through all-surrounding shade our navy brought;
For gloomy night descended on the main,
Nor glimmer'd Phoebe in th' ethereal plain :
But all unseen the clouded island lay,
And all unseen the surge and rolling sea,
Till safe we anchor'd in the shelter'd bay:
Our sails we gather'd, cast our cables o'er,
And slept secure along the sandy shore.
Soon as again the rosy morning shone,
Reveal'd the landscape and the scene unknown,
With wonder seiz'd, we view the pleasing ground,
And walk delighted, and expatiate round.
Rous'd by the woodland nymphs, at early dawn,
The mountain goats came bounding o'er the lawn:
In hast our fellows to the ships repair,
For arms and weapons of the sylvan war;
Straight in three squadrons all our crew we part,
And bend the bow, or wing the missile dart;
The bounteous gods afford á copious prey,
And nine fat goats each vessel bears away:
The royal bark had ten. Our ships complete.
We thus supply'd (for twelve were all the fleet).

"Here, till the setting Sun roll'd down the light,
We sat indulging in the genial rite:
Nor wines were wanting; those from ample jars
We drain'd, the prize of our Ciconian wars.
The land of Cyclops lay in prospect near;
The voice of goats and bleating flocks we hear,
And from their mountains rising smokes appear,
Now sunk the Sun, and darkness cover'd o'er
The face of things: along the sea-beat shore
Satiate we sleep; but when the sacred dawn
Arising glitter'd o'er the dewy lawn,
I call'd my fellows, and these words addrest:
'My dear associates, here indulge your rest:
While, with my single ship, adventurous 1
Go forth, the manners of yon men to try;
Whether a race unjust, of barbarous might,
Rude, and unconscious of a stranger's right;
Or such who harbour pity in their breast,
Revere the gods, and succour the distrest ?>

"This said, I climb'd my vessel's lofty side;
My train obey'd me, and the ship unty'd.
In order seated on their banks, they sweep
Neptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding
When to the nearest verge of land we drew, [deep.
Fast by the sea a lonely cave we view,
High, and with darkening laurels cover'd o'er;
Where sheep and goats lay slumbering round the
shore.

Near this, a fence of marble from the rock,
Brown with o'er-arching pine and spreading oak,
A giant shepherd here his flock maintains
Far from the rest, and solitary reigns,
In shelter thick of horrid shade reclin'd;
And gloomy mischiefs labour in his mind.
A form enormous! far unlike the race
Of human birth, in stature, or in face;

As some lone mountain's monstrous growth he stood,

Crown'd with rough thickets, and a nodding wood.
I left my vessel at the point of land,

And close to guard it, gave our crew command:
With only twelve, the boldest and the best,
I seek th' adventure, and forsake the rest.
Then took a goatskin fill'd with precious wine,
The gift of Maron of Evantheus' line
(The priest of Phoebus at th' Ismarian shrine).
In sacred shade his honour'd mansion stood
Amidst Apollo's consecrated wood;
Him, and his house, Heaven mov'd my mind to
And costly presents in return he gave;
Seven golden talents to perfection wrought,
A silver bowl that held a copious draught,
And twelve large vessels of unmingled wine,
Mellifluous, undecaying, and divine!
Which now, some ages from his race conceal'd,
The hoary sire in gratitude reveal'd;

[save,

Such was the wine: to quench whose fervent steam
Scarce twenty measures from the living stream
To cool one cup suffic'd: the goblet crown'd
Breath'd aromatic fragrancies around.
Of this an ample vase we heav'd aboard,
And brought another with provisions stor❜d.
My soul foreboded I should find the bower

Of some fell monster, fierce with barbarous power,
Some rustic wretch, who liv'd in Heaven's

despight,

Contemning laws, and trampling on the right.
The cave we found, but vacant all within
(His flock the giant tended on the green):
But round the grot we gaze; and all the view,
In order rang'd, our admiration drew:
The bending shelves with loads of cheeses prest,
The folded flocks each separate from the rest
(The larger here, and there the lesser lambs,
The new-fall'n young here bleating for their dams;
The kid distinguish'd from the lambkin lies):
The cavern echoes with responsive cries.
Capacious chargers all around were laid,
Full pails, and vessels of the milking trade.
With fresh provisions hence our fleet to store
My friends advise me, and to quit the shore ;
Or drive a flock of sheep and goats away,
Consult our safety, and put off to sea.
Their wholesome counsel rashly I declin'd,
Curious to view the man of monstrous kind,
And try what social rites a savage lends :
Dire rites, alas! and fatal to my friends!
"Then first a fire we kindle, and prepare
For his return with sacrifice and prayer.

The loaded shelves afford us full repast;
We sit expecting. Lo! he comes at last.
Near half a forest on his back he bore,
And cast the ponderous burden at the door.
It thunder'd as it fell. We trembled then,
And sought the deep recesses of the den.
Now driven before him, through the arching rock,
Came tumbling, heaps on heaps, th' unnumber'd
flock:

Big-udder'd ewes, and goats of female kind
(The males were penn'd in outward courts behind):
Then, heav'd on high, a rock's enormous weight
To the cave's mouth he roll'd and clos'd the gate
(Scarce twenty-four wheel'd cars, compact and

strong,

The massy load could bear, or roll along).
He next betakes him to his evening cares,
And, sitting down, to milk his flocks prepares;
Of half their udders eases first the dams,
Then to the mother's teats submits the lambs.
Half the white stream to hardening cheese he
prest,

And high in wicker-baskets heap'd the rest,
Reserv'd in bowls, supply'd the nightly feast.
His labour done, he fir'd the pile, that gave
A sudden blaze, and lighted all the cave.
We stand discover'd by the rising fires;
Askance the giant glares, and thus inquires:

"What are ye, guests; on what adventure, say, Thus far ye wander through the watery way? Pirates perhaps, who seek through seas unknown The lives of others, and expose your own?'

"His voice like thunder through the cavern

sounds;

My bold companions thrilling fear confounds,
Appall'd at sight of more than mortal man!
At length, with heart recover'd, I began:
"From Troy's fam'd fields, sad wanderers o'er
the main,

Behold the relics of the Grecian train!
Through various seas by various perils tost,
And forc'd by storms, unwilling, on your coast;
Far from our destin'd course and native land,
Such was our fate, and such high Jove's com-
mand;

Nor what we are befits us to disclaim,
Atrides' friends, (in arms a mighty name)
Who taught proud Troy and all her sons to bow;
Victors of late, but humble suppliants now!
Low at thy knee thy succour we implore;
Respect us, human, and relieve us, poor.
At least some hospitable gift bestow;
'Tis what the happy to th' unhappy owe:
'Tis what the gods require: those gods revere,
The poor and stranger are their constant care;
To Jove their cause, and their revenge belongs,
He wanders with them, and he feels their

wrongs.'

"Fools that ye are!' (the savage thus replies, His inward fury blazing at his eyes)

Or strangers, distant far from our abodes,

To bid me reverence or regard the gods.
Know then, we Cyclops are a race above
Those air-bred people, and their goat-nurs'd Jove:
And learn, our power proceeds with thee and thine,
Not as he wills, but as ourselves incline.
But answer, the good ship that brought ye o'er,
Where lies she anchor'd? near or off the shore?
"Thus be. His meditated fraud I find
(Vers'd in the turns of various human kind);