But Irus his associates call'd the boy,
Practis'd the common messenger to fly:
Irus, a name expressive of th' employ.

From his own roof, with meditated blows,
He strove to drive the man of mighty woes.
"Hence, dotard, hence! and timely speed thy way,
Lest dragg'd in vengeance thou repent thy stay;
See how with nods assent yon princely train!
But, honouring age, in mercy 1 refrain!
In peace away! lest, if persuasions fail,
This arm with blows more eloquent prevail."

To whom, with stern regard: "Oh insolence,
Indecently to rail without offence;

What bounty gives, without a rival share;

I ask what harms not thee, to breathe this air:
Alike on alms we both precarious live:
And canst thou envy when the great relieve?
Know, from the bounteous Heavens all riches flow,
And what man gives, the gods by man bestow;
Proud as thou art, henceforth no more be proud,
Lest I imprint my vengeance in thy blood;
Old as I am, should once my fury burn,
How would'st thou fly, nor ev'n in thought return?"
"Mere woman-glutton!" (thus the churl re-
ply'd)

"A tongue so flippant, with a throat so wide!
Why cease I, gods! to dash those teeth away,
Like some wild boar's, that, greedy of his prey,
Uproots the bearded corn? Rise, try the fight,
Gird well thy loins, approach and feel my might:
Sure of defeat, before the peers engage;
Unequal fight, when youth contends with age!"
Thus in a wordy war their tongues display
More fierce intents, preluding to the fray;
Antinous hears. and, in a jovial vein,
Thus with loud laughter to the suitor-train :
"This happy day in mirth, my friends, employ,
And, lo! the gods conspire to crown our joy.
See ready for the fight, and hand to hand,
Yon surly mendicants contentious stand;
Why urge we not to blows?" Well pleas'd they spring
Swift from their seats, and thickening form a ring.
To whom Antinous: "Lo! enrich'd with blood,
A kid's well-fatted entrails (tasteful food)
On glowing embers lie; on him bestow
The choicest portion who subdues his foe;
Grant him unrivall'd in these walls to stay,
The sole attendant on the genial day"

The lords applaud: Ulysses then with art,
And fears well-feign'd, disguis'd his dauntless heart:
"Worn as I am with age, decay'd with woe,
Say, is it baseness to decline the foe?
Hard conflict! when calamity and age

Broad spread his shoulders, and his nervous thighs
By just degrees, like well-turn'd columns, rise:
Ample his chest, his arms are round and long,
And each strong joint Minerva knits more strong
(Attendant on her chief): the suitor-crowd
With wonder gaze, and gazing speak aloud;
"Irus! alas! shall Irus be no more?

Black fate impends, and this th' avenging hour!
Gods! how his nerves a matchless strength proclaim,
Swell o'er his well-strung limbs, and brace his frame?"
Then, pale with fears, and sickening at the
sight,

They dragg'd th' unwilling Irus to the fight;
From his black visage fled the coward blood,
And his flesh trembled as aghast he stood. [light!
"Oh, that such baseness should disgrace the
O hide it, death, in everlasting night!"
(Exclaims Antinous) "Can a vigorous foe
Meanly decline to combat age and woe?
But hear me, wretch! if recreant in the fray,
That huge bulk yield this ill-contested day:
Instant thou sail'st, to Echetus resign'd;
A tyrant, fiercest of the tyrant kind,
Who casts thy mangled ears and nose a prey
To hungry dogs, and lops the man away."

While with indignant scorn he sternly spoke
In every joint the trembling Irus shook;
Now front to front each frowning champion stands,
And poises high in air his adverse hands.
The chief yet doubts, or to the shades below
To fell the giant at one vengeful blow,
Or save his life; and soon his life to save
The king resolves, for mercy sways the brave.
That instant Irus his huge arm extends,
Full on the shoulder the rude weight descends;
The sage Ulysses, fearful to disclose
The hero latent in the man of woes,
Check'd half his might; yet rising to the stroke,
His jaw-bone dash'd, the crashing jaw-bone broke;
Down dropp'd he stupid from the stunning wound;
His feet, extended, quivering beat the ground;
His mouth and nostrils spout a purple flood :
His teeth, all shatter'd, rush immix'd with blood.
The peers transported, as outstretch'd he lies,
With bursts of laughter rend the vaulted skies!
Then dragg'd along, all bleeding from the wound,
His length of carcase trailing prints the ground;
Rais'd on his feet, again he reels, he falls,
Till propp'd, reclining on the palace walls :
Then to his hand a staff the victor gave,
And thus with just reproach address'd the slave:
"There, terrible, affright the dogs, and reign
A dreaded tyrant o'er the beastial train!

With vigorous youth, unknown to cares, engage! But mercy to the poor and stranger show,

Yet, fearful of disgrace, to try the day
Imperious hunger bids, and I obey;
But swear, impartial arbiters of right,

Swear to stand neuter, while we cope in fight."
The peers assent: when straight his sacred head
Telemachus uprais'd, and sternly said:
"Stranger, if prompted to chastise the wrong
Of this bold insolent; confide, be strong!
Th' injurious Greek, that dares attempt a blow,
That instant makes Telemachus his foe;

And these my friends' shall guard the sacred ties
Of hospitality, for they are wise."

Then, girding his strong loins, the king prepares
To close in combat, and his body bares;

1 Antinous and Eurýmachus,

Lest Heaven in vengeance send some mightier woe."
Scornful he spoke, and o'er his shoulder flung
The broad-patch'd scrip; the scrip in tatters hung
Ill-join'd, and knotted to a twisted throng.
Then, turning short, disdain'd a further stay;
But to the palace measur'd back the way.
There as he rested, gathering in a ring
The peers with smiles address'd their unknown king:
"Stranger, may Jove and all th' aërial powers,
With every blessing crown thy happy hours!
Our freedom to thy prowess'd arm we owe
From bold intrusion of thy coward foe:
Instant the flying sail the slave shall wing
To Echetus, the monster of a king."

While pleas'd he hears, Antinous bears the food,
A kid's well-fatted entrails, rich with blood:

The bread from canisters of shining mould
Amphinous; and wines that laugh in gold:
"And, oh!" (he mildly cries) "may Heaven display
A beam of glory o'er thy future day!
Alas! the brave too oft is doom'd to bear
The gripes of poverty, and stings of care."

To whom with thought mature the king replies:
"The tongue speaks wisely, when the soul is wise;
Such was thy father; in imperial state,
Great without vice, that oft attends the great:
Nor from the sire art thou, the son, declin'd;
Then hear my words, and grave them in thy mind!
Of all that breathes, or grovelling creeps on earth,
Most vain is man! calamitous by birth:
To-day, with power elate, in strength he blooms;
The haughty creature on that power presumes:
Anon from Heaven a sad reverse he feels;
Untaught to bear, 'gainst Heaven the wretch rebels.
For man is changeful, as his bliss or woe;
Too high when prosperous, when distress'd too low.
There was a day, when with the scornful great
I swell'd in pomp and arrogance of state;
Proud of the power that to high birth belongs;
And us'd that power to justify my wrongs.
Then let not man be proud; but, firm of mind,
Bear the best humbly, and the worst resign'd:
Be dumb when Heaven afflicts; unlike yon train
Of haughty spoilers, insolently vain ;

Who make their queen and all her wealth a
prey;

But vengeance and Ulysses wing their way.

Oh may'st thou, favour'd by some guardian power,
Far, far be distant in that deathful hour!
For sure I am, if stern Ulysses breathe,
These lawless riots end in blood and death."

Then to the gods the rosy juice he pours,
And the drain'd goblet to the chief restores.
Stung to the soul, o'ercast with holy dread,
He shook the graceful honours of his head;
His boding mind the future woe forestalls;
In vain! by great Telemachus he falls,
For Pallas seals his doom; all sad he turns
To join the peers; resumes his throne, and mourns.
Meantime Minerya with instinctive fires
Thy soul, Penelope, from Heaven inspires:
With flattering hopes the suitors to betray,
And seem to meet, yet fly, the bridal day:
Thy husband's wonder, and thy son's, to raise;
And crown the mother and the wife with praise."
Then, while the streaming sorrow dims her eyes,
Thus with a transient smile the matron cries;

"Eurynomè! to go where riot reigns
I feel an impulse, though my soul disdains;
To my lov'd son the snares of death to show,
And in the traitor-friend unmask the foe;
Who, smooth of tongue, in purpose insincere,
Hides fraud in smiles, while death is ambush'd
there."

"Go, warn thy son, nor be the warning vain," (Reply'd the sagest of the royal train)

But bath'd, anointed, and adorn'd, descend;
Powerful of charms, bid every grace attend;
The tide of flowing tears a-while suppress;
Tears but indulge the sorrow, not repress.
Some joy remains: to thee a son is given,
Such as, in fondness, parents ask of Heaven.??

Ah me! forbear," returns the queen," forbear;
Oh! talk not, talk not of vain beauty's care;
No more I bathe, since he no longer sees
Those charms, for whom alone I wish to please,

The day that bore Ulysses from this coast,
Blasted the little bloom these cheeks could boast,
But instant bid Autonoè descend.
Instant Hippodamè our steps attend;
Ill suits it female virtue to be seen
Alone, indecent, in the walks of men."

Then, while Eurynomè the mandate bears,
From Heaven Minerva shoots with guardian cares į
O'er all her senses, as the couch she press'd,
She pours a pleasing, deep, and deathlike rest,
With every beauty every feature arms,
Bids her cheeks glow, and lights up all her charms,
In her love-darting eyes awakes the fires,
(Immortal gifts! to kindle soft desires)
From limb to limb an air majestic sheds,
And the pure ivory o'er her bosom spreads.
Such Venus shines, when with a measur'd bound
She smoothly gliding swims th' harmonious round
When with the Graces in the dance she moves,
And fires the gazing gods with ardent loves.

Then to the skies her flight Minerva bends,
And to the queen the damsel-train descends;
Wak'd at their steps, her flowing eyes unclose;
The tear she wipes, and thus renews her woes:

"Howe'er 'tis well, that sleep awhile can free,
With soft forgetfulness, a wretch like me;
Oh! were it giv'n to yield this transient breath,
Send, O Diana, send the sleep of death:
Why must I waste a tedious life in tears,
Nor bury in the silent grave my cares?
O my Ulysses! ever-honour'd name;
For thee I mourn, till death dissolves my fame."
Thus wailing, slow and sadly she descends,
On either hand a damsel-train attends;
Full where the dome its shining valves expands,
Radiant before the gazing peers she stands;
A veil translucent o'er her brow display'd,
Her beauty seems, and only seems. to shade;
Sudden she lightens in their dazzled eyes,
And sudden flames in every bosom rise;
They send their eager souls with every look,
Till silence thus th' imperial matron broke:

"Oh why! my son, why now no more appears
That warmth of soul that urg'd thy younger years?
Thy riper days no growing worth impart,
A man in stature, still a boy in heart!
Thy well-knit frame unprofitably strong,
Speaks thee an hero from an hero sprung;
But the just gods in vain those gifts bestow,
Oh wise alone in form, and brave in show!
Heavens! could a stranger feel oppression's hand
Beneath thy roof, and could'st thou tamely stand
If thou the stranger's righteous cause decline,
His is the sufferance, but the shame is thine."

To whom, with filial awe, the prince returns:
"That generous soul with just resentment burns;
Yet, taught by time, my heart has learn'd to glow
For others' good, and melt at others' woe;
But, impotent these riots to repel,

I bear their outrage, though my soul rebel;
Helpless amid the snares of death I tread,
And numbers leagued in impious union dread;
But now no crime is theirs : this wrong proceeds
From Irus, and the guilty Irus bleeds.
Oh would to love; or her whose arms display
The shield of Jove, or him who rules the day!
That yon proud suitors, who licentious tread
These courts, within these courts like Irus bled:
Whose loose head tottering, as with wine oppress'd,
Obliquely drops, and nodding knocks his breast;

[shore

Thy finish'd charms, all Greece would own thy
In rival crowds contest the glorious prize,
Dispeopling realms to gaze upon thy eyes:
woman! loveliest of the lovely kind,
In body perfect, and complete in mind!"
“Ab me!" returns the queen, "when from this
Ulysses sail'd, then beauty was no more!
The gods decreed these eyes no more should keep
Their wonted grace, but only serve to weep.
Should he return, whate'er my beauties prove,
My virtues last; my brightest charm is love.
Now, grief, thou all art mine! the gods o'ercast
My soul with woes, that long! ah long must last!
Too faithfully my heart retains the day
That sadly tore my royal lord away:

He grasp'd my hand, and, ‘O my spouse! I leave
'Thy arms,' (he cried) perhaps to find a grave:
Fame speaks the Trojans bold; they boast the skill
To give the feather'd arrow wings to kill,
To dart the spear, and guide the rushing car
With dreadful inroad through the walks of war.
My sentence is gone forth, and 'tis decreed
Perhaps by righteous Heaven that I must bleed!
My father, mother, all I trust to thee;
To them, to them transfer the love of me:
But, when my son grows man, the royal sway
Resign, and happy be thy bridal day!'
Such were his words; and Hymen now prepares
To light his torch and give me up to cares;
Th' afflictive hand of wrathful Jove to bear:
A wretch the most complete that breathes the
air!

Fall'n even below the rights to woman due!
Careless to please, with insolence ye woo!
The generous lovers, studious to succeed,
Bid their whole herds and flocks in banquets bleed;
By precious gifts the vow sincere display:
You, only you, make her ye love your prey."

Well-pleas'd Ulysses hears his queen deceive
The suitor train, and raise a thirst to give:
False hopes she kindles, but those hopes betray,
And promise, yet elude, the bridal day.

While yet she speaks, the gay Antinous cries:
Offspring of kings, and more than woman wise!
'Tis right; 'tis man's prerogative to give,
And custom bids thee without shame receive;
Yet never, never, from thy dome we move,
Till Hymen lights the torch of spousal love."
The peers dispatch their heralds, to convey
The gifts of love; with speed they take the way.
A robe Antinous gives of shining dyes,
The varying hues in gay confusion rise
Rich from the artist's hand! Twelve clasps of gold
Close to the lessening loins the vest infold;
Down from the swelling waist the vest unbound
Floats in bright waves redundant o'er the ground.
A bracelet rich with gold, with amber gay,
That shot effulgence like the solar ray,
Eurymachus presents: and ear-rings bright,
With triple stars, that cast a trembling light.
Pisander bears a necklace wrought with art:
And every peer, expressive of his heart,

A gift bestows: this done, the queen ascends,
And slow behind her damsel-train attends,

Then to the dance they form the vocal strain,
Till Hesperus leads forth the starry train;
And now he raises, as the day-light fades,
His golden circlet in the deepening shades:
Three vases heap'd with copious fires display
O'er all the palace a fictitious day;
From space to space the torch wide-beaming burns,
And sprightly damsels trim the rays by turns.

To whom the king: "Ill suits your sex to stay
Alone with men! ye modest maids, away?
Go, with the queen the spindle guide; or cull
(The partners of her cares) the silver wool;
Be it my task the torches to supply,
Ev'n till the morning lamp adorns the sky;
Ev'n till the morning, with unwearied care,
Sleepless I watch; for I have learn'd to bear."

Scornful they heard: Melantho, fair and young,
(Melantho from the loins of Dolius sprung,
Who with the queen her years an infant led,
With the soft fondness of a daughter bred)
Chiefly derides: regardless of the cares
Her queen endures, polluted joys she shares
Nocturnal with Eurymachus! With eyes
That speak disdain, the wanton thus replies:
"Oh! whither wanders thy distemper'd brain
Thou bold intruder on a princely train?
Hence to the vagrant's rendezvous repair;
Or shun in some black forge the midnight air.
Proceeds this boldness from a turn of soul,
Or flows licentious from the copious bowl?
Is it that vanquish'd Irus swells thy mind?
A foe may meet thee of a braver kind,
Who, shortening with a storm of blows thy stay,
Shall send thee howling all in blood away!"

To whom with frowns: "O impudent in wrong!
Thy lord shall curb that insolence of tongue;
Know, to Telemachus I tell th' offence;
The scourge, the scourge shall lash thee into sense."
With conscious shame they hear the stern rebuke,
Nor longer durst sustain the sovereign look.

Then to the servile task the monarch turns
His royal hands; each torch refulgent burns
With added day: meanwhile, in museful mood
Absorpt in thought, on vengeance fix'd he stood.
And now the martial maid, by deeper wrongs
To rouse Ulysses, points the suitors tongues,
Scornful of age to taunt the virtuous man;
Thoughtless and gay, Eurymachus began:

"Hear me" (he cries)" confederates and friends! Some god, no doubt, this stranger kindly sends; The shining baldness of his head survey,

It aids our torch-light and reflects the ray.-"
Then to the king that levell'd haughty Troy,
"Say, if large hire can tempt thee to employ
Those hands in work; to tend the rural trade,
To dress the walk, and form th' embowering shade?
So food and raiment constant will I give :
But idly thus thy soul prefers to live,
And starve by strolling, not by work to thrive."
To whom incens'd; "Should we, O prince,
engage

In rival tasks beneath the burning rage

Of summer suns; were both constrain'd to wield,
Foodless, the scythe along the burthen'd field;
Or should we labour, while the ploughshare wounds,
With steers of equal strength, th' allotted grounds:
Beneath my labours how thy wondering eyes
Might see the sable field at once arise!

Should Jove dire war unloose; with spear and shield,
And nodding helm, I tread th' ensanguin'd field,

"What miracle thus dazzles with surprise!
Distinct in rows the radiant columns rise:
The walls where'er my wondering sight I turn,
And roofs, amidst a blaze of glory burn!
Some visitant of pure ethereal race,

With his bright presence deigns the dome to grace."

"Be calm," replies the sire, "to none impart,
But oft revolve the vision in thy heart:
Celestials, mantled in excess of light,
Can visit unapproach'd by mortal sight.
Seek thou repose; whilst here I sole remain,

ULYSSES and his son remove the weapons out of the
armoury. Ulysses, in conversation with Pe-T' explore the conduct of the female train:

"Loquacious insolent!" she cries, "forbear:
To thee the purpose of my soul I told;
Venial discourse, unblam'd, with him to hold:
The storied labours of my wandering lord,
To soothe my grief, he haply may record:
Yet him, my guest, thy venom'd rage hath stung:
Thy head shall pay the forfeit of thy tongue!
But thou on whom my palace cares depend,
Eurynomè, regard the stranger-friend :
A seat, soft-spread with furry spoils, prepare;
Due-distant, for us both to speak, and hear."
The menial fair obeys with duteous haste:
A seat adorn'd with furry spoils she plac'd:
Due-distant for discourse the hero sate;
When thus the sovereign from her chair of state: