Amidst the rocks he hears a hollow roar
Of murmuring surges breaking on the shore:
Nor peaceful port was there, nor w nding bay,
To shield the vessel from the rolling sea,
But cliffs, and shaggy shores, a dreadful sight!
All rough with rocks, with foaming billows white.
Fear seiz'd his slacken'd limbs and beating heart;
As thus commun'd he with his soul apart:

"Ah me! when, o'er a length of waters tost,
These eyes at last behold th' unhop'd-for coast,
No port receives me from the angry main,
But the loud deeps demand me back again.
Above, sharp rocks forbid access; around,
Roar the wild waves; bencath is sea profound!
No footing sure affords the faithless sand,
To stem too rapid, and too deep to stand.
If bere I enter, my efforts are vain,
Dash'd on the cliffs, or heav'd into the main;
Or round the island if my course 1 bend,
Where the ports open, or the shores descend,
Back to the seas the rolling surge may sweep,
And bury all my hopes beneath the deep.
Or some enormous whale the god may send,
(For many such on Amphitrite attend)
Too well the turns of mortal chance I know,
And hate relentless of my heavenly foe."

While thus he thought, a monstrous wave upbore
The chief, and dash'd him on the craggy shore:
Torn was his skin, nor had the ribs been whole,
But instant Pallas enter'd in his soul.
Close to the cliff with both his hands he clung,
And stuck adherent, and suspended hung ;
Till the huge surge roll'd off: then, backward sweep
The refluent tides, and plunge him in the deep.
As when the polypus, from forth his cave
Torn with full force, reluctant beats the wave:
His ragged claws are stuck with stones and sands:
So the rough rock had shagg'd Ulysses hands.
And now had perish'd, whelm'd beneath the main,
Th' unhappy man: ev'n fate had been in vain:
But all-subduing Pallas lent her power,
And prudence sav'd him in the needful hour.
Beyond the beating surge his course he bore,
(A wider circle, but in sight of shore)
With longing eyes, observing, to survey
Some smooth ascent, or safe-sequester'd bay.
Between the parting rocks at length he 'spy'd
A falling stream with gentler waters glide;
Where to the seas the shelving shore declin'd,
And form'd a bay impervious to the wind.
To this calm port the glad Ulysses prest,
And hail'd the river, and its god addrest :
"Whoe'er thou art, before whose stream un-
known

I bend, a suppliant at thy watery throne,
Hear, azure king! not let me fly in vain
To thee from Neptune and the raging main.
Heaven hears and pities hapless men like me,
For sacred ev'n to gods is misery :

Let then thy waters give the weary rest,
And save a suppliant, and a man distrest."

He pray'd, and straight the gentle stream
subsides,

Detains the rushing current of his tides,
Before the wanderer smooths the watery way,
And soft receives him from the rolling sea.
That moment, fainting as he touch'd the shore,
He dropt his sinewy arms: his knees no more
Perform'd their office, or his weight upheld :
His swoin heart heav'd; his bloated body swell'd

From mouth and nose the briny torrent ran;
And lost in lassitude lay all the man,
Depriv'd of voice, of motion, and of breath;
The soul scarce waking in the arms of death.
Soon as warm life its wonted office found,
The mindful chief Leucothea's scarf unbound;
Observant of her word, he turn'd aside
His head, and cast it on the rolling tide.
Behind him far, upon the purple waves
The waters waft it, and the nymph receives.

Now parting from the stream, Ulysses found
A mossy bank, with pliant rushes crown'd!
The bank he press'd, "and gently kiss'd the ground;
Where on the flowery herb as soft he lay,
Thus to his soul the sage began to say:

"What will ye next ordain, ye powers on high? And yet, ah! yet, what fates are we to try? Here by the stream, if I the night out-wear, Thus spent already, how shall nature bear The dews descending, and nocturnal air; Or chilly vapours, breathing from the flood When morning rises?-If I take the wood, And in thick shelter of innumerous boughs Enjoy the comfort gentle sleep allows; [past, Though fenc'd from coll, and though my toil be What savage beasts may wander in the waste! Perhaps I yet may fall a bloody prey To prowling bears, or lions in the way."

Thus long debating in himself he stood;
At length he took the passage to the wood,
Whose shady horrours on a rising brow
Wav'd high, and frown'd upon the stream below.
There grew two olives, closest of the grove,
With roots intwin'd, and branches interwove;
Alike their leaves, but not alike they smild
With sister fruits; one fertile, one was wild.
Nor here the Sun's meridian rays had power,
Nor wind sharp-piercing, nor the rushing shower;'
The verdant arch so close its texture kept:
Beneath this covert great Ulysses crept.

Of gather'd leaves an ample bed he made [shade);
(Thick strown by tempest through the bowery
Where three at least might winter's cold defy,
Though Boreas rag'd along th' inclement sky.
This store, with joy the patient hero found,
And, sunk amidst them, heap'd the leaves around.
As some poor peasant, fated to reside
Remote from neighbours in a forest wide,
Studious to save what human wants require,
In embers heap'd, preserves the seeds of fire:
Hid in dry foliage thus Ulysses lies,
Till Pallas pour'd soft slumbers on his eyes;
And golden dreams (the gift of sweet repose)
Lull'd all his cares, and banish'd all his woes.

THE ODYSSEY.

BOOK VI.

ARGUMENT.

PALLAS, appearing in a dream to Nausicaa (the daughter of Alcinous king of Phæacia), commands her to descond to the river, and wash the

tobes of state, in preparation to her nuptials. Nausicaa goes with her handmaids to the river; where while the garments are spread on the bank, they divert themselves in sports. Their voices awake Ulysses, who, addressing himself to the princess, is by her relieved and clothed, and receives directions in what mariner to apply to the king and queen of the island.

White thus the weary wanderer sunk to rest, And peaceful slumbers calm'd his anxious breast; The martial maid from Heaven's aërial height Swift to Phracia wing'd her rapid flight. In eller times the soft Phæacian train In ease possest the wide Hyperian plain; Till the Cyclopean race in arms arose, A lawless nation of gigantic foes: Then great Nausithous from Hyperia far, Through seas retreating from the sound of war, The recreant nation to fair Scheria led, Where never science rear'd' her laurell'd head: There, round his tribes, a strength of wall he rais'd; To Heaven the glittering domes and temples blaz'd: Just to his realms, he parted grounds from grounds, And shar'd the lands, and gave the lands their bounds. Now in the silent grave the monarch lay, And wise Alcinous held the regal sway.

To his high palace through the fields of air The goddess shot: Ulysses was her care. There as the night in silence roll'd away, A heaven of charms divine Nausicaa lay: Through the thick gloom the shining portals blaze; Two nymphs the portals guard, each nymph a Grace.

Light as the viewless air the warrior-maid Glides through the valves, and hovers round her

head;

A favourite virgin's blooming form she took, From Dymas sprung, and thus the vision spoke: "Oh indolent! to waste thy hours away! And steep'st thou careless of the bridal day? Thy spousal ornament neglected lies; Arise, prepare the bridal train, arise! A just applause the cares of dress impart, And give soft transport to a parent's heart. Haste, to the limpid stream direct thy way, When the gay morn unveils her smiling ray: Haste to the stream! Companion of thy care, Lo, I thy steps attend, thy labours share. Virgin, awake! the marriage-hour is nigh, See! from their thrones thy kindred monarchs sigh; The royal car at early dawn obtain, And order mules obedient to the rein; For rough the way, and distant rolls the wave, Where their fair vests Phæacian virgins lave. In pomp ride forth; for pomp becomes the great, And majesty derives a grace from state."

Then to the palaces of Heaven she sails,
Incumbent on the wings of wafting gales :
The seat of gods; the regions mild of peace,
Full joy, and calm eternity of ease,

There no rude winds presume to shake the skies,
No rains descend, nó snowy vapours
rise;
But on immortal thrones the blest repose:
The firmament with living splendours glows.
Hither the goddess wing'd th' aëria! way,
Though Heaven's eternal gates that blaz'd with day.
VOL. XIX,

Now from her rosy car Aurora shed The dawn, and all the orient flam'd with red. Uprose the virgin with the morning light, Obedient to the vision of the night. The queen she sought: the queen her hours bestow'd

In curious works; the whirling spindle glow'd With crimson threads, while busy damsels cull The snowy fleece, or twist the purpled wool. Meanwhile Phæacia's peers in council sate; From his high dome the king descends in state, Then with a filial awe the royal maid Approach'd him passing, and submissive said:

"Will my dread sire his ear regardful deign, And may his child the royal ear obtain ? Say, with thy garments shall I bend my way, Where through the vales the mazy waters stray? A dignity of dress adorns the great,

And kings draw lustre from the robe of state.
Five sons thou hast; three wait the bridal day,
And spotless robes become the young and gay:
So when with praise amid the dance they shine,
By these my cares adorn'd, that praise is mine."
Thus she: but blushes ill-restrain'd betray
Her thoughts intentive on the bridal day:
The conscious sire the dawning blush survey'd,
And smiling thus bespoke the blooming maid:
'My child, my darling joy, the car receive;
That, and whate'er our daughter asks, we give.*
Swift at the royal nod th' attending train
The car prepare, the mules incessant rein.
The blooming virgin with dispatchful cares
Tunics, and stoles, and robes imperial, bears.
The queen, assiduous, to her train assigns
The sumptuous viands, and the flavorous wines
The train prepare a cruise of curious mould,
A cruise of fragrance, form'd of burnish'd gold;
Odour divine! whose soft refreshing streams
Sleek the smooth skin, and scent the snowy limbs
Now mounting the gay seat, the silken reins
Shine in her hand: along the sounding plains
Swift fly the mules: nor rode the nymph alone;
Around, a bevy of bright damsels shone.
They seek the cisterns where Phæacian dames
Wash their fair garments in the limpid streams;
Where, gathering into depth from falling rills,
The lucid wave a spacious bason fills.
The mules unharness'd range beside the main,
Or crop the verdant herbage of the plain.

Then emulous the royal robes they lave,
And plunge the vestures in the cleansing wave:
(The vestures cleans'd o'erspread the shelly sand,
Their snowy lustre whitens all the strand :)
Then with a short repast relieve their toil,
And o'er their limbs diffuse ambrosial oil;
And, while the robes imbibe the solar ray,
O'er the green mead the sporting virgins play
(Their shining veils unbound). Along the skies
Tost, and retost, the ball incessant flies.
They sport, they feast; Nausicaa lifts her voice,
And, warbling sweet, makes Earth and Heaven
rejoice.

As when o'er Erymanth Diana roves, Or wide Täygetus' resounding groves : A sylvan train the huntress queen surrounds, Her rattling quiver from her shoulder sounds: Fierce in the sport, along the mountain's brow They bay the boar, or chase the bounding roe: High o'er the lawn with more majestic pace, | Above the nymphs she treads with stately grace;

Distinguish'd excellence the goddess proves;
Exults Latona, as the virgin moves.

With equal grace Nausicaa trod the plain,
And shone transcendent o'er the beauteous train.
Meantime (the care and favourite of the skies).
Wrapt in embowering shade, Ulysses lies,
His woes forgot! but Pallas now addrest
To break the bands of all-composing rest.
Forth from her snowy hand Nausicaa threw
The various ball; the ball erroneous flew,
And swam the stream: loud shrieks the virgin train,
And the loud shriek redoubles from the main.
Wak'd by the shrilling sound, Ulysses rose,
And, to the deaf woods wailing, breath'd his woes:
Ah me! on what inhospitable coast,

Or what new region, is Ulysses tost:
Possest by wild barbarians fierce in arms;
Or men, whose bosom tender pity warms?

What sounds are these that gather from the shores:
The voice of nymphs that haunt the sylvan bowers,
The fair-hair'd Dryads of the shady wood;
Or azure daughters of the silver flood;
Or human voice? but, issuing from the shades,
Why cease I straight to learn what sound invades?"
Then, where the grove with leaves unbrageous
bends

With forceful strength a branch the hero rends;
Around his loins the verdant cincture spreads
A wreathy foliage and concealing shades.
As when a lion in the midnight hours,
Beat by rude blasts, and wet with wintery showers,
Descends terrific from the mountain's brow:
With living flames his rolling eye-balls glow;
With conscious strength elate, he bends his way,
Majestically fierce, to seize his prey

(The steer or stag): or with keen hunger bold,
Springs o'er the fence, and dissipates the fold.
No less a terrour, from the neighbouring groves
(Rough from the tossing surge) Ulysses moves;
Urg'd on by want, and recent from the storms;
The brackish ooze his manly face deforms.
Wide o'er the shore with many a piercing cry
To rocks, to caves, the frighted virgins fly:
All but the nymph: the nymph stood fix'd alone,
By Pallas arm'd with boldness not her own.
Meantime in dubious thought the king awaits,
And, self-considering, as he stands, debates;
Distant his mournful story to declare,

Or prostrate at her knee address the prayer.
But fearful to offend, by Wisdom sway'd,
At awful distance he accosts the maid:

"If from the skies a goddess, or if Earth
(Imperial virgin) boast thy glorious birth,
To thee I bend! if in that bright disguise
Thou visit Earth, a daughter of the skies,
Hail, Dian, hail! the huntress of the groves
So shines majestic, and so stately moves,
So breathes an air divine! But if thy race
Be mortal, and this Earth thy native place,
Blest is the father from whose loins you sprung
Blest is the mother at whose breast you hung,
Biest are the brethren who thy blood divide,
To such a miracle of charms ally'd:
Joyful they see applauding princes gaze,
When stately in the dance you swim th' harmoni-

ous maze

But blest o'er all, the youth with heavenly charms,
Who olasps the bright perfection in his arms!
Never, I never view'd till this blest hour
Such finish'd grace! I gaze, and I adore!

[foc,

Thus seem the palm with stately honours crown'd
By Phobus' altars; thus o'erlooks the ground,
The pride of Delos. (By the Delian coast,
I voyag'd, leader of a warrior-host,
But ah, how chang'd! from thence my sorrow
O fatal voyage, source of all my woes!) [flows;
Raptur'd I stood, and, as this hour amaz'd,
With reverence at the lofty wonder gaz'd;
Raptur'd I stand; for Earth ne'er knew to bear
A plant so stately, or a nymph so fair.
Aw'd from access, I lift my suppliant hands;
For misery, O queen, before thee stands!
Twice ten tempestuous nights I roll'd resign'd
To roaring billows, and the warring wind;
Heaven bade the deep to spare! but Heaven, my
Spares only to inflict some mightier woe;
Inur'd to care, to death in all its forms;
Outcast I rove, familiar with the storms!
Once more I view the face of hunan-kind:
Oh, let soft pity touch thy generous mind!
Unconscious of what air I breathe, I stand
Naked, defenceless, on a foreign land.
Propitious to my wants a vest supply
To guard the wretched from th' inclement sky:
So may the gods, who Heaven and Earth control,
Crown the chaste wishes of thy virtuous soul,
On thy soft hours their choicest blessings shed;
Blest with a husband be thy bridal bed;
Blest be thy husband with a blooming race,
And lasting union crown your blissful days.
The gods, when they supremely bless, bestow
Firm union on their favourites below:
Then envy grieves, with inly-pining hate;
The good exult, and Heaven is in our state."

To whom the nymph: "O stranger, cease thy care;
Wise is thy soul, but man is born to bear:
Jove weighs affairs of Earth, in dubious scales,
And the good suffers, while the bad prevails:
Bear, with a soul resign'd, the will of Jove;
Who breathes, must mourn: thy woes are from
above.

But since thou tread'st our hospitable shore,
'Tis mine to bid the wretched grieve no more,
To clothe the naked, and thy way to guide-
Know, the Phæacian tribes this land divide;
From great Alcinous' royal loins I spring,
A happy nation, and an happy king."
Then to her maids: "Why, why, ye coward

train,

These fears, this flight? Ye fear, and fly in vain.
Dread ye a foe? dismiss that idle dread,

'Tis death with hostile steps these shores to tread;
Safe in the love of Heaven, an ocean flows
Around our realm, a barrier from the foes;
'Tis ours this son of sorrow to relieve,
Cheer the sad heart, nor let affliction grieve.
By Jove the stranger and the poor are sent;
And what to those we give, to Jove is lent.
Then food supply, and bathe his fainting limbs
Where waving shades obscure the mazy streams."
Obedient to the call, the chief they guide
To the calm current of the secret tide:
Close by the stream a royal dress they lay,
A vest and robe, with rich embroidery gay:
Then unguents in a vase of gold supply,
That breath'd a fragrance through the balmy sky.

To them the king: "No longer I detain
Your friendly care: retire, ye virgin train!
Retire, while from my weary'd limbs I lave
The foul pollution of the briny wave:

THE ODYSSEY.

BOOK VII.

ARGUMENT.

THE COURT OF ALCINOUS.

THE princess Nausicaa returns to the city, and Ulysses soon after follows thither. He is met by Pallas in the form of a young virgin, who guides him to the palace, and directs him in what manner to address the queen Arete. She then involves him in a mist, which causes him to pass invisible. The palace and gardens of Alcinous described. Ulysses falling at the feet of the queen, the mist disperses, the Phæadians admire, and receive him with respect. The queen inquiring by what means he had the carments he then wore, he relates to her and Alcinous his departure from Calypso, and his

arrival on their dominions.

The same day continues, and the book ends with the night.

THE patient, heavenly man thus suppliant pray'd;
While the slow mules draw on th' imperial maid:
Through the proud streets she moves, the public
The turning wheel before the palace stays [gaze:
With ready love her brothers gathering round
Receiv'd the vestures, and the mules unbound.
She seeks the bridal bower: a matron there
The rising fire supplies with busy care,
Whose charms in youth the father's heart inflam'd,
Now worn with age, Eurymedusa nam'd:
The captive dame Phæacian rovers bore,
Snatch'd from Epirus, her sweet native shore,
(A grateful prize) and in her bloom bestow'd
On good Alcinous, honour'd as a god :
Nurse of Nausicaa from her infant years,
And tender second to a mother's cares.

Now from the sacred thicket where he lay,
To town Ulysses took the winding way.
Propitious Pallas, to secure her care,
Around him spread a veil of thicken'd air;
To shun th' encounter of the vulgar crowd,
Insulting still, inquisitive and loud.

When near the fam'd Phæacian walls he drew,
The beauteous city opening to his view,
His step a virgin met, and stood before:
A polish'd urn the seeming virgin bore,
And youthful smil'd; but in the low disguise
Lay hid the goddess with the azure eyes. [mands)
"Show me, fair daughter," (thus the chief de-
The house of him who rules these happy lands.
Through many woes and wanderings, lo! I come
To good Alcinous' hospitable dome.
Far from my native coast, I rove alone,
A wretched stranger, and of all unknown!"

The goddess answer'd, "Father, I obey,
And point the wandering traveller his way:
Well known to me the palace you inquire,
For fast beside it dwells my honour'd sire;
But silent march, nor greet the common train
With questions needless, or inquiry vain,

A race of rugged mariners are these;
Unpolish'd men, and boisterous as their seas
The native islanders alone their care,
And hateful he who breathes a foreign air.
These did the ruler of the deep ordain

To build proud navies, and command the main;
On canvass wings to cut the watery way;
No bird so light, no thought so swift, as they."

Thus having spoke, th' unknown celestial leads: The footstep of the deity he treads,

And secret moves along the crowded space,
Unseen of all the rude Phæacian race.

(So Pallas order'd, Pallas to their eyes
The chief with wonder sees th' extended streets,
The mist objected, and condens'd the skies).
The spreading harbours, and the rising fleets;
He next their princes' lofty domes admires,
And deep entrenchments, and high walls of stone,
In separate islands crown'd with rising spires;
That gird the city like a marble zone,

There stopp'd the goddess, and her speech renew'd:
At length the kingly palace-gates he view'd ;
Appears before you enter, and admire.
"My task is done; the mansion you inquire
High thron'd, and feasting, there thou shalt behold
The sceptred rulers. Fear not, but be bold:
A decent boldness ever meets with friends,
Succeeds, and ev'n a stranger recommends.
First to the queen prefer a suppliant's claim,
The same her parents, and her power the same.
Alcinous' queen, Arete is her name,
And Peribæa, beautiful and young,
For know, from ocean's god Nausithous sprung,
(Eurymedon's last hope, who rul'd of old
The race of giants, impious, proud, and bold;
Perish'd the nation in unrighteous war,
Perish'd the prince, and left this only heir).
Produc'd a monarch that his people blest,
Who now, by Neptune's amorous power comprest,
Father and prince of the Phæacian name;
From him Rhexenor and Alcinous came.
The first by Phoebus' burning arrows fir'd,
New from his nuptials, hapless youth! expir'd.
No son surviv'd: Arete heir'd his state,
And her, Alcinous chose his royal mate.
With honours yet to womankind unknown,
This queen he graces, and divides the throne:
In equal tenderness her sons conspire,
And all the children emulate their sire.
When thro' the streets she gracious deigns to move,
(The public wonder and the public love)
The tongues of all with transport sound her praise,
The eyes of all, as on a goddess, gaze.
She feels the triumph of a generous breast:
To heal divisions, to relieve th' opprest;
In virtue rich; in blessing others, blest.
Go then secure, thy humble suit prefer,
And owe thy country and thy friends to her."

With that the goddess deign'd no longer stay, But o'er the world of waters wing'd her way: Forsaking Scheria's ever-pleasing shore, The winds to Marathon the virgin bore; Thence, where proud Athens rears her towery head, With opening streets and shining structures spread, She past, delighted with the well-known seats; And to Erectheus' sacred dome retreats.

Meanwhile Ulysses at the palace waits, There stops, and anxious with his soul debates, Fix'd in amaze before the royal gates.

The front appear'd with radiant splendours gay,