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And, cautious, thus: Against a dreadful rock,
Fast by your shore the gallant vessel broke,
Scarce with these few 1 scap'd; of all my train,
Whom angry Neptune whelm'd beneath the main;
The scatter'd wreck the winds blew back again.'
"He answer'd with his deed. His bloody hand
Snatch'd two, unhappy! of my martial band;
And dash'd like dogs against the stoney floor:
The pavement swims with brains and mingled gore.
Torn limb from limb, he spreads his horrid feast,
And fierce devours it like a mountain-beast:
He sucks the marrow, and the blood he drains,
Nor entrails, flesh, nor solid bone remains.
We see the death from which we cannot move,
And humbled groan beneath the hand of Jove.
His ample maw with human carnage fill'd,
A milky deluge next the giant swill'd;
Then stretch'd in length o'er half the cavern'd rock,
Lay senseless, and supine, amidst the flock.
To seize the time, and with a sudden wound
To fix the slumbering monster to the ground,
My soul impels me; and in act I stand
To draw the sword; but wisdom held my hand.
A deed so rash had finish'd all our fate,
No mortal forces from the lofty gate
Could roll the rock.

In hopeless grief we lay,
And sigh, expecting the return of day.
Now did the rosy-finger'd morn arise,
And shed her sacred light along the skies.

He wakes, he lights the fire, he milks the dams,
And to the mother's teats submits the lambs.
The task thus finish'd of his morning hours,
Two more he snatches, murders, and devours.
Then pleas'd, and whistling, drives his flock before:
Removes the rocky mountain from the door,
And shuts again: with equal ease dispos'd,
As a light quiver's lid is op'd and clos'd.
His giant voice the echoing region fills:
His flocks, obedient, spread o'er all the hills.
"Thus left behind, ev'n in the last despair
I thought, devis'd, and Pallas heard my prayer.
Revenge, and doubt, and caution work'd my breast;
But this of many counsels seem'd the best:
The monster's club within the cave I 'spy'd.
A tree of stateliest growth, and yet undry'd,
Green from the wood; of height and bulk so vast,
The largest ship might claim it for a mast.
This shorten'd of its top, I gave my train
A fathom's length, to shape it and to plane;
The narrower end I sharpen'd to a spire;
Whose point we harden'd with the force of fire,
And hid it in the dust that strew'd the cave.
Then to my few companions, bold and brave,
Propos'd, who first the venturous deed should try,
In the broad orbit of his monstrous eye
To plunge the brand, and twirl the pointed wood,
When slumber next should tame the man of blood.
Just as I wish'd, the lots were cast on four:
Myself the fifth. We stand, and wait the hour.
He comes with evening: all his fleecy flock
Before him march, and pour into the rock:
Not one, or male or female stay'd behind
(So fortune chanc'd, or so some god design'd);
Then heaving high the stone's unwieldy weight,
He roll'd it on the cave, and clos'd the gate.
First down he sits, to milk the woolly dams,
And then peruits their udder to the lambs.
Next seiz'd two wretches more, and headlong cast,
Brain'd on the rock: his second dire repast.
1 thea approach'd him reeking with their gore,

And held the brimming goblet foaming o'er;
Cyclop! since human flesh has been thy feast,
Now drain this goblet, potent to digest;
Know hence what treasures in our ship we lost,
And what rich liquors other climates boast.
We to thy shore the precious freight shall bear,
If home thou send us, and vouchsafe to spare,
But oh! thus furious, thirsting thus for gore,
The sons of men shall ne'er approach thy shore,
And never shalt thou taste this nectar more.'
"He heard, he took, and, pouring down his throat
Delighted, swill'd the large luxurious draught.
More! give me more,' he cry'd: the boon be
thine,

Whoe'er thou art that bear'st celestial wine!
Declare thy name: not mortal is this juice,
Such as th' unblest Cyclopean climes produce
(Though sure our vine the largest cluster yields,
And Jove's scorn'd thunder serves to drench our
But this descended from the blest abodes, [fields);
A rill of nectar, streaming from the gods.'

"He said, and greedy grasp'd the heady bowl, Thrice drain'd, and pour'd the deluge on his soul. His sense lay cover'd with the dozy fume;

While thus my fraudful speech I re-assume:
Thy promis'd boon, O Cyclop! now I claim,
And plead my title: Noman is my name.
By that distinguish'd from my tender years,
'Tis what my parents call me, and my peers.'

"The giant then: Our promis'd grace receive,
The hospitable boon we mean to give :
When all thy wretched crew have felt my power,
Noman shall be the last I will devour.'

"He said: then nodding with the fumes of wine, Dropp'd his huge head, and snoring lay supine. His neck obliquely o'er his shoulders hung, Press'd with the weight of sleep that tames the strong!

There belch'd the mingled sreams of wine and blood,
And human flesh, his indigested food.
Sudden I stir the embers, and inspire
With animating breath the seeds of fire;
Each drooping spirit with bold words repair,
And urge my train the dreadful deed to dare.
The stake now glow'd beneath the burning bed
(Green as it was) and sparkled fiery red.
Then forth the vengeful instrument I bring:
With beating hearts my fellows form a ring.
Urg'd by some present god, they swift let fall
The pointed torment on his visual ball.
Myself above them from a rising ground
Guide the sharp stake, and twirl it round and round.
As when a shipwright stands his workmen o'er,
Who ply the wimble, some huge beam to bare;
Urg'd on all hands, it nimbly spins about,
The grain deep-piercing till it scoops it out:
In his broad eye so whirls the fiery wood;
From the pierc'd pupil spouts the boiling blood;
Sing'd are his brows; the scorching lids grow black;
The jelly bubbles, and the fibres crack.
And as when armourers temper in the ford
The keen-edg'd pole-ax, or the shining sword,
The red-hot metal hisses in the lake,
Thus in his eye-ball hiss'd the plunging stake.
He sends a dreadful groan: the rocks around
Through all their inmost winding caves resound.
Scar'd we receded Forth, with frantic hand,
He tore, and dash'd on earth the gory brand:
Then calls the Cyclops, all that round him dwell,
With voice like thunder, and a direful yell.

From all their dens the one-ey'd race repair,
From rifted rocks and mountains bleak in air.
All haste assembled, at his well-known roar,
Inquire the cause, and crowd the cavern-door.

What hurts thee, Polypheme? what strange
affright

Thus breaks our slumbers, and disturbs the night?
Does any mortal in th' unguarded hour

Of sleep oppress thee, or by fraud or power?
Or thieves insidious the fair flock surprise?'
Thus they: the Cyclop from his den replies:
"Friends, Noman kills me; Noman in the hour
Of sleep, oppresses me with fraudful power.'
If no man hurt thee, but the hand divine
Indict disease, it fits thee to resign:
To Jove or to thy father Neptune pray,
The brethren cry'd, and instant strode away.

"Joy touch'd my secret soul and conscious

heart,

Pleas'd with th' effect of conduct and of art.
Meantime the Cyclop, raging with his wound,
Spreads his wide arms, and searches round and
round:

At last, the stone removing from the gate,
With hands extended in the midst he sate:
And search'd each passing sheep, and felt it o'er,
Secure to seize us ere we reach'd the door
(Such as his shallow wit he deem'd was mine):
But secret I revolv'd the deep design;
'Twas for our lives my labouring bosom wrought;
Each scheme I turn'd, and sharpen'd every thought;
This way and that I cast to save my friends,
Till one resolve my varying counsel ends.

"Strong were the rams, with native purple fair,
Well fed, and largest of the fleecy care.
These three and three, with osier bands we ty'd
(The twining bands the Cyclop's bed supply'd)
The midmost bore a man: the outward two
Secur'd each side: so bound we all the crew.
One ram remain'd, the leader of the flock;
In his deep fleece my grasping hands I lock,
And fast beneath, in woolly curls invove,
I cling implicit, and confide in Jove.
When rosy morning glimmer'd o'er the dales,
He drove to pasture all the lusty males:
The ewes still folded, with distended thighs
Unmilk'd, lay bleating in distressful cries.
But heedless of those cares, with anguish stung,
He felt their fleeces as they pass'd along,
(Fool that he was) and let them safely go,
All unsuspecting of their freight below.

"The master ram at last approach'd the gate,
Charg'd with his wool, and with Ulysses' fate.
Him while he past the monster blind bespoke :
'What makes my ram the lag of all the flock?
First thou wert wont to crop the flowery mead,
First to the field and river's bank to lead,
And first with stately step at evening hour
Thy fleecy fellows usher to their bower.
Now far the last, with pensive pace and slow
Thou mov'st, as conscious of thy master's woe!
Seest thou these lids that now unfold in vain ?
(The deed of Noman and his wicked train!)
Oh didst thou feel for thy afflicted lord,
And would but fate the power of speech afford,
Soon might'st thou tell me, where in secret here
The dastard lurks, all trembling with his fear:
Swung round and round, and dash'd from rock to
rock,

Dismiss'd the ram, the father of the flock.
No sooner freed, and through th' enclosure past,
First I release myself, my fellows last :
Fat sheep and goats in throngs we drive before,
And reach our vessel on the winding shore.
With joy the sailors view their friends return'd,
And hail us living whom as dead they mourn'd.
Big tears of transport stand in every eye:
I check their foudness, and command to fly.
Aboard in haste they heave the wealthy sheep,
And snatch their oars, and rush into the deep.
"Now off at sea, and from the shallows clear,
As far as human voice could reach the ear:
With taunts the distant giant I accost:

Hear me, O Cyclop! hear, ungracious host!
'Twas on no coward, no ignoble slave,
Thou meditat'st thy meal in yonder cave;
But one, the vengeance fated from above
Doom'd to inflict: the instrument of Jove.
Thy barbarous breach of hospitable bands,
The god, the god revenges by my hands.'

"The words the Cyclop's burning rage provoke
From the tall hill he rends a pointed rock,
High o'er the billows flew the massy load,
And near the ship came thundering on the flood.
It almost brush'd the helm, and fell before :
The whole sea shook, and refluent beat the

shore.

The long concussion on the heaving tide
Roll'd back the vessel to the island's side:
Again I shov'd her off, our fate to fly,
Each nerve we stretch, and every oar we ply.
Just 'scap'd impending death, when now again
We twice as far bad furrow'd back the main,
Once more I rais'd my voice; my friends afraid
With mild entreaties my design dissuade,
"What boots the godless giant to provoke,
Whose arms may sink us at a single stroke?
Already, when the dreadful rock he threw,
Old Ocean shook, and back his surges flew,
Thy sounding voice directs his aim again;
The rock o'erwhelms us, and we 'scap'd in vain.'
"But I, of mind elate, and scorning fear,
Thus with new taunts insult the monster's ear.
'Cyclop if any, pitying thy disgrace,
Ask who disfigur'd thus that eyeless face?
Say 'twas Ulysses, 'twas his deed, declare,
Laertes' son, of Ithaca the fair;
Ulysses, far in fighting fields renown'd,
Before whose arm Troy tumbled to the ground.'
"Th' astonish'd savage with a roar replies:
'O Heavens! O faith of ancient prophecies!
This, Telemus Eurymedes foretold,
(The mighty seer who on these hills grew old;
Skill'd the dark fates of mortals to declare,
And learn'd in all wing'd omens of the air)
Long since he menac'd, such was fate's command;
And nam'd Ulysses as the destin'd hand.
I deem'd some godlike giant to behold,
Or lofty hero, haughty, brave, and bold;
Not this weak pigmy-wretch, of mean design,
Who not by strength subdued me, but by wine,
But come, accept our gifts, and join to pray
Great Neptune's blessing on the watery way
For his I am, and I the lineage own:

His batter'd brains should on the pavement smoke, I Th' immortal father no less boasts the son.

His power can heal me, and re-light my eye:
And only his, of all the gods on high."

"Oh! could this arm' (I thus aloud rejoin'd) 'From that vast bulk dislodge thy bloody mind, And send thee howling to the realms of night! As sure, as Neptune cannot give thee sight.'

"Thus I: while raging he repeats his cries, With hands uplifted to the starry skies: 'Hear me, O Neptune! thou,whose arms are hurl'd From shore to shore, and gird the solid world.

If thine I am, nor thou my birth disown,
And if th' unhappy Cyclop be thy son;
Let not Ulysses breathe his native air,
Laertes' son, of Ithaca the fair.

If to review his country be his fate,

Be it through toils and sufferings long and late;
His lost companions let him first deplore;
Some vessel, not his own, transport him o'er;
And when at home from foreign sufferings freed,
More near and deep, domestic woes succeed!'

"With imprecations thus he fill'd the air,
And angry Neptune heard th' unrighteous prayer.
A larger rock then heaving from the plain,
He whirl'd it round: it sung across the main:
It fell, and brush'd the stern: the billows roar,
Shake at the weight, and refluent beat the shore.
With all our force we kept aloof to sea,
And gain'd the island where our vessels lay.
Our sight the whole collected navy cheer'd,
Who, waiting long, by turns had hop'd and fear'd.
There disembarking on the green sea-side,
We land our cattle, and the spoil divide:
Of these due shares to every sailor fall;
The master ram was voted mine by all:
And him (the guardian of Ulysses' fate)
With pious mind to Heaven I consecrate.
But the great god, whose thunder rends the skies,
Averse, beholds the smoking sacrifice;

And sees me wandering still from coast to coast,
And all my vessels, all my people, lost!
While thoughtless we indulge the genial rite,
As plenteous cates and flowing bowls invite;
Till evening Phoebus roll'd away the light:
Stretch'd on the shore in careless ease we rest,
Till ruddy morning purpled o'er the east;
Then from their anchors all our ships unbind,
And mount the decks, and call the willing wind.
Now, rang'd in order on our banks, we sweep
With hasty strokes the hoarse resounding deep;
Blind to the future, pensive with our fears,
Glad for the living, for the dead in tears."

THE ODYSSEY.

BOOK X.

ARGUMENT.

ADVENTURES WITH EOLUS, THE LESTRIGONS, AND CIRCE.

ULYSSES arrives at the island of Æolus, who gives him prosperous winds, and encloses the adverse ones in a bag, which his companions untying, they are driven back again, and rejected. Then they sail to the Lestrigons, where they lose eleven ships, and, with one only remaining, VOL XIX.

proceed to the island of Circe. Eurylochus is sent first with some companions, all which except Eurylochus, are transformed into swine. Ulysses then undertakes the adventure, and, by the help of Mercury; who gives him the herb moly, overcomes the enchantress, and procures the restoration of his men. After a year's stay with her, he prepares at her instiga. tion for his voyage to the infernal shades.

"Ar length we reach'd Æolia's sea-girt shore
Where great Hippotades the sceptre bore,
A floating isle! High rais'd by toil divine,
Strong walls of brass the rocky coast confine.
Six blooming youths, in private grandeur bred,
And six fair daughters grac'd the royal bed:
These sons their sisters wed, and all remain
Their parents' pride, and pleasure of their reign
All day they feast, all day the bowls flow round,
And joy and music through the isle resound:
At night each pair on splendid carpets lay,
And crown'd with love the pleasures of the day.
This happy port affords our wandering fleet
A month's reception, and a safe retreat.
Full oft the monarch urg'd me to relate
The fall of Ilion, and the Grecian fate;
Full oft I told: at length for parting mov'd;
The king with mighty gifts my suit approv'd.
The adverse winds in leathern bags he brac'd,
Compress'd their force, and lock'd each struggling
blast:

For him the mighty sire of gods assign'd
The tempest's lord, the tyrant of the wind;
His word alone the listening storms obey,
To smooth the deep, or swell the foamy sea.
These in my hollow ship the monarch hung,
Securely fetter'd by a silver thong;
But Zephyrus exempt, with friendly gales
He charg'd to fill, and guide the swelling sails:
Rare gift! but oh, what gift to fools avails!
"Nine prosperous days we ply'd the labouring
oar;

The tenth presents our welcome native shore:
The hills display the beacon's friendly light,
And rising mountains gain upon our sight.
Then first my eyes, by watchful toils opprest,
Comply'd to take the balmy gifts of rest;
Then first my hands did from the rudder part
(So much the love of home possess'd my heart);
When, lo! on board a fond debate arose ;
What rare device those vessels might enclose?
What sum, what prize from Æolus I brought?
Whilst to his neighbour each express'd his thought:
"Say, whence, ye gods, contending nations strive
Who most shall please, who most our hero give?
Long have his coffers groan'd with Trojan spoils;
Whilst we, the wretched partners of his toils,
Reproach'd by want, our fruitless labours mourn
And only rich in barren fame return.
Now Folus, ye see, augments his store:
But come, my friends, these mystic gifts explore.'
They said: and (oh curst fate) the thongs unbound:
The gushing tempest sweeps the ocean round;
Snatch'd in the whirl, the hurry'd navy flew,
The ocean widen'd, and the shores withdrew.
Rous'd from my fatal sleep, I long debate
If still to live, or desperate plunge to fate:
Thus, doubting, prostrate on the deck 1 lay,
Till all the coward thoughts of death gave way.

"Meanwhile our vessels plough the liquid plain, | With joy the maid th' unwary strangers heard,

And soon the known Æolian coast regain,

Our groans the rocks remurmur'd to the main.
We leap'd on shore, and with a scanty feast
Our thirst and hunger hastily repress'd;
That done, two chosen heralds straight attend
Our second progress to my royal friend:
And him amidst his jovial sons we found;
The banquet steaming, and the goblets crown'd:
There humbly stopp'd with conscious shame and

awe,

Nor nearer than the gate presum'd to draw.
But soon his sons their well-known guest descry'd,
And, starting from their couches, loudly cry'd:
Ulysses here! what demon could'st thou meet
To thwart thy passage, and repel thy fleet?
Wast thou not furnish'd by our choicest care
For Greece, for home, and all thy soul held dear!'
Thus they in silence long my fate I mourn'd,
At length these words with accent low return'd?
Me, locked in sleep, my faithless crew bereft
Of all the blessings of your godlike gift!
But grant, oh grant, our loss we may retrieve!
A favour you, and you alone, can give.'

"Thus I with art to move their pity try'd, And touch'd the youths; but their stern sire reply'd:

Vile wretch, begone! this instant I command
Thy fleet accurs'd to leave our hallow'd land.
His baneful suit pollutes these bless'd abodes,
"Whose fate proclaims him hateful to the gods.'

"Thus fierce he said: we sighing went our way,
And with desponding hearts put off to sea.
The sailors, spent with toils, their folly moura,
But mourn in vain; no prospect of return.
Six days and nights a doubtful course we steer,
The next proud Lamos' stately towers appear,
And Læstrigonia's gates arise distinct in air.
The shepherd, quitting here at night the plain,
Calls, to succeed his cares, the watchful swain;
But he that scorns the chains of sleep to wear,
And adds the herdsman's to the shepherd's care,
So near the pastures, and so short the way,
His double toils may claim a double pay,
And join the labours of the night and day.

"Within a long recess a bay there lies,

Edg'd round with cliffs, high pointing to the skies:
The jutting shores that swell on either side
Contract its mouth, and break the rushing tide.
Our eager sailors seize the fair retreat,
And bound within the port their crowded fleet;
For here retir'd the sinking billows sleep,
And smiling calmness silver'd o'er the deep.
I only in the bay refus'd to moor,

And fix'd, without, my halsers to the shore. [brow
"From thence we climb'd a point, whose airy
Cominands the prospect of the plains below:
No tracts of beasts, or signs of men, we found,
But smoky volumes rolling from the ground.
Two with our herald thither we command,
With speed to learn what men possess'd the land.
They went, and kept the wheel's smooth beaten

road,

Which to the city drew the mountain wood;
When lo! they met, beside a crystal spring,
The daughter of Antiphates the king;
She to Artacia's silver streams came down
(Artacia's streams alone supply the town):
The damsel they approach'd, and ask'd what race
The people were? who monarch of the place?

And show'd them where the royal dome appear'd,
They went; but, as they entering saw the queen
Of size enormous, and terrific mien,
(Not yielding to some bulky mountain's height)
A sudden horrour struck their aking sight.
Swift, at her call, her husband scour'd away,
To wreak his hunger on the destin'd prey;
One for his food the raging glutton siew,
But two rush'd out, and to the navy flew.
Balk'd of his prey, the yelling monster flies,
And fills the city with his hideous cries;
A ghastly band of giants hear the roar,
And, pouring down the mountains, crowd the shore.
Fragments they rend from off the craggy brow,
And dash the ruins on the ships below :
The crackling vessels burst; hoarse groans arise,
And mingled horrours echo to the skies;
The mon, like fish, they stuck upon the flood,
And cramm'd their filthy throats with human food.
Whilst thus their fury rages at the bay,

My sword our cables cut, I call'd to weigh;
And charg'd my men, as they from fate would fly,
Each nerve to strain, each bending oar to ply.
The sailors catch the word, their oars they seize,
And sweep with equal strokes the smoky seas:
Clear of the rocks th' impatient vessel flies;
Whilst in the port each wretch encumber'd dies.
With earnest haste my frighted sailors press,
While kindling transports glow'd at our success;
But the sad fate that did our friends destroy
Cool'd every breast, and damp'd the rising joy.

"Now dropp'd our anchors in th' aan bay,
Where Circe dwelt, the daughter of the day;
Her mother Persè, of old Ocean's strain,
Thus from the Sun descended and the Main
(From the same lineage stern Fates came,
The far-fam'd brother of th' enchantress dame);
Goddess, and queen, to whom the powers belong
Of dreadful magic, and commanding song.
Some god directing, to this peaceful bay
Silent we came, and melancholy lay,
Spent and o'erwatch'd. Two days and nights
roll'd on,

And now the third succeeding morning shone.
I climb'd a cliff, with spear and sword in hand,
Whose ridge o'erlook'd a shady length of land:
To learn if aught of mortal works appear,
Or cheerful voice of mortal strike the ear.
From the high point I mark'd, in distant view,
A stream of curling smoke ascending blue,
And spicy tops, the tufted trees above,
Of Circe's palace bosom'd in the grove.

"Thither to haste, the region to explore,
Was first my thought: but, speeding back to shore,
I deem'd it best to visit first my crew,
And send out spies the dubious coast to view.
As down the hill I solitary go,

Some power divine, who pities human woe,
Sent a tall stag, descending from the wood,
To cool his fervour in the crystal flood;
Luxuriant on the wave-worn bank he lay,
Stretch'd forth, and panting in the sunny ray.
I lanch'd my spear, and with a sudden wound
Transpiere'd his back, and fix'd him to the ground.
He falls, and mourns his fate with human cries:
Through the wide wound the vital spirit flies.
I drew, and casting on the river's side
The bloody spear, his gather'd feet I ty'd
With twining osiers, which the bank supplied.

An ell in length the pliant whisp I weav'd,
And the huge body on my shoulders heav'd:
Then, leaning on my spear with both my hands,
Up-bore my load, and press'd the sinking sands
With weighty steps, till at the ship I threw
The welcome burthen, and bespoke my crew:
"Cheer up, my friends! it is not yet our fate.
To glide with ghosts through Pluto's gloomy gate.
Food in the desert land, behold! given;
Live, and enjoy the providence of Heaven.'

་་

The joyful crew survey his mighty size, And on the future banquet feast their eyes, As huge in length extended lay the beast; Then wash their hands, and hasten to the feast. There, till the setting Sun roll'd down the light, They sate indulging in the genial rite. When evening rose, and darkness covered o'er The face of things, we slept along the shore. But when the rosy morning warm'd the east, My men I summon'd, and these words addrest: Followers and friends! attend what I propose: Ye sad companions of Ulysses' woes!

666

We know not here what land before us lies,
Or to what quarter now we turn our eyes,
Or where the Sun shall set, or where shall rise.
Here let us think (if thinking be not vain)
If any counsel, any hope remain.
Alas! from yonder promontory's brow,
I view'd the coast, a region flat and low;
An isle encircled with the boundless flood,
A length of thickets, and entangled wood.
Some smoke I saw amid the forests rise,
And all around it only seas and skies!'

"The goddess, rising, asks her guests to stay, Who blindly follow where she leads the way. Eurylochus alone, of all the band, Suspecting fraud, more prudently remain'd. On thrones around with downy coverings grac'd, With semblance fair, th' unhappy men she plac'd. Milk newly press'd, the sacred flour of wheat, And honey fresh, and Pramnian wines the treat: But venom'd was the bread, and mix'd the bowl, With drugs of force to darken all the soul: Soon in the luscious feast themselves they lost, And drank oblivion of their native coast. Instant her circling wand the goddess waves, To hogs transforms them, and the sty receives. No more was seen the human form divine; Head, face, and members, bristle into swine: Still curs'd with sense, their minds remain alone, And their own voice affrights them when they

groan.

Meanwhile the goddess in disdain bestows
The mast and acorn, brutal food! and strows
The fruits of cornel, as their feast, around;
Now prone and groveling on unsavory ground.
"Eurylochus, with pensive steps and slow,
Aghast returns; the messenger of woe,
And bitter fate. To speak he made essay,
In vain essay'd, nor would his tongue obey,
His swelling heart deny'd the words their way:
But speaking tears the want of words supply,
And the full soul bursts copious from his eye.
Affrighted, anxious for our fellows' fates,
We press to hear what sadly he relates:

We went, Ulysses! (such was thy command)

“With broken hearts my sad companions stood, Through the lone thicket and the desert land.

Mindful of Cyclop and his human food,
And horrid Læstrigons, the men of blood.
Presaging tears apace began to rain;
But tears in mortal miseries are vain.
In equal parts I straight divide my band,
And name a chief each party to command;
I led the one, and of the other side
Appointed brave Eurylochus the guide.
Then in the brazen helm the lots we throw,
And Fortune casts Eurylochus to go.
He march'd, with twice eleven in his train:
Pensive they march, and pensive we remain.

"The palace in a woody vale they found,
High rais'd of stone; a shaded space around:
Where mountain wolves and brindled lions roam,
(By magic tam'd) familiar to the dome.
With gentle blandishment our men they meet,
And wag their tails, and fawning lick their feet.
As from some feast a man returning late,
His faithful dogs all meet him at the gate,
Rejoicing round, some morsel to receive
(Such as the good man ever us'd to give).
Domestic thus the grisly beasts drew near;
They gaze with wonder, not unmix'd with fear.
Now on the threshold of the dome they stood,
And heard a voice resounding through the wood:
Plac'd at her loom within, the goddess sung;
The vaulted roofs and solid pavement rung.
O'er the fair web the rising figures shine,
Immortal labour! worthy hands divine.
Polites to the rest the question mov'd
(A gallant leader, and a man I lov'd):

"What voice celestial, chanting to the loom (Or nymph, or goddess) echoes from the room? Say, shall we seek access? With that they call; And wide unfold the portals of the hall.

A palace in a woody vale we found

Brown with dark forests, and with shades around.
A voice celestial echoed from the dome,
Or nymph, or goddess, chanting to the loom.
Access we sought, nor was access denied:
Radiant she came; the portals open'd wide:
The goddess mild invites the guests to stay:
They blindly follow where she leads the way.
I only wait behind, of all the train;

I waited long, and ey'd the doors in vain :
The rest are vanish'd, none repass'd the gate;
And not a man appears to tell their fate.'

"I heard, and instant o'er my shoulders flung
The belt, in which my weighty falchion hung
(A beamy blade); then seiz'd the bended bow,
And bade him guide the way, resolv❜d to go.
He, prostrate falling, with both hands embrac'd
My knees, and, weeping, thus his suit address'd;
"O king! belov'd of Jove! thy servant spare,
And ah, thyself, the rash attempt forbear!
Never, alas! thou never shalt return,
Or see the wretched, for whose loss we mourn.
With what remains from certain ruin fly,
And save the few not fated yet to die.'

"I answer'd stern: Inglorious then remain,
Here feast and loiter, and desert thy train.
Alone, unfriended, will I tempt my way;
The laws of fate compel, and I obey.'

"This said, and scornful turning from the shore
My haughty step. I stalk'd the valley o'er :
Till now approaching nigh the magic bower,
Where dwelt th' enchantress skill'd in herbs of
A form divine forth issued from the wood, [power.
(Immortal Hermes with the golden rod)
In buman semblance. On his bloomy face
Youth smil'd celestial, with each opening grace.

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