Meantime the menial train with unctuous wood
Heap'd high the genial hearth, Vulcanian food:
When, early dress'd, advanc'd the royal heir:
With manly grasp he wav'd a martial spear,
A radiant sabre grac'd his purple zone,
And on his foot the golden sandal shone.
His steps impetuous to the portal press'd;
And Furyclea thus he there address'd :

"Say thou, to whom my youth its nurture owes,
Was care for due refeetion and repose
Bestow'd the stranger guest? Or waits he griev'd,
His age not honour'd, nor his wants reliev'd?
Promiscuous grace on all the queen confers
(In woes bewilder'd, oft the wisest errs).
The wordy vagrant to the dole aspires,
And modest worth with noble scorn retires."

She thus: "Oh! cease that ever honour'd
name

To blemish now; it ill deserves your blame:
A bowl of generous wine suffic'd the guest:
In vain the queen the night-refection press'd ;
Nor would he court repose in downy state,
Unbless'd, abandon'd to the rage of fate!
A hide beneath the portico was spread,
And fleecy skins compos'd an humble bed :
A downy carpet, cast with duteous care,
Secur'd him from the keen nocturnal air."

His cornel javelin pois'd with regal port,
To the sage Greeks conven'd in Themis' court,
Forth issuing from the dome the prince repair'd:
Two dogs of chase, a lion-hearted guard,
Behind him sourly stalk'd. Without delay
The dame divides the labour of the day;
Thus urging to the toil the menial train,
"What marks of luxury the marble stain!
Its wonted lustre let the floor regain!
The seats with purple clothe in order due;
And let th' abstersive sponge the board renew:
Let some refresh the vase's sullied mould;
Some bid the goblets boast their native gold :
Some to the spring, with each a jar, repair,
And copious waters pure for bathing bear:
Dispatch! for soon the suitors will assay
The lunar feast-rites to the god of day."

She said: with duteous haste a bevy fair Of twenty virgins to the spring repair: With varied toil the rest adorn the dome. Magnificent, and blithe, the suitors come. Some wield the sounding axe: the dodder'd oaks Divide, obedient to the forceful strokes. Soon from the fount, with each a brimming urn, (Eumæus in their train) the maids return. Three porkers for the feast, all brawny-chin'd, He brought; the choicest of the tusky kind : In lodgements first secure his care he view'd, Then to the king his friendly speech renew'd: “Now say sincere, my guest! the suitor-train Still treat they worth with lordly dull disdain ; Or speaks their deed a bounteous mind humane?" "Some pitying god" (Ulysses sad reply'd) "With vollied vengeance blast their towering pride!

No conscious blush, no sense of right, restrains
The tides of lust that swell their boiling veins :
From vice to vice their appetites are tost,
All cheaply sated at another's cost!"

While thus the chief his woes indignant told,
Melanthius, master of the bearded fold,
The goodliest goats of all the royal herd
Spontaneous to the suitor's feast preferr'd:
VOL. XIX.

Two grooms assistant bore the victims bound; With quavering cries the vaulted roofs resound; And to the chief austere, aloud began

The wretch unfriendly to the race of man:

66

Here, vagrant, still? offensive to my lords!
Blows have more energy than airy words;
These arguments I'll use: nor conscious shame,
Nor threats, thy bold intrusion will reclaim.
On this high feast the meanest vulgar boast
A plenteous board! Hence! seek another host!"
Rejoinder to the churl the king disdain'd;
But shook his head, and rising wrath restrain'd.
From Cephalenia cross the surgy main
Philætius late arriv'd, a faithful swain.
A steer ungrateful to the bull's embrace,
And goats he brought, the pride of all their races
Imported in a shallop not his own:

The dome re-echoed to their mingled moan.
Straight to the guardian of the bristly kind
He thus began, benevolent of mind:
"What guest is he, of such majestic air?
His lineage and paternal clime declare:
Dim through th' eclipse of fate, the rays divine
Of sovereign state with faded splendour shine.
If monarchs by the gods are plung'd in woe,
To what abyss are we foredoom'd to go! 199
Then affable he thus the chief address'd,
Whilst with pathetic warmth his hand he
press'd:

Stranger; may fate a milder aspect show,
And spin thy future with a whiter clue!
O Jove, for ever desf to human cries;
The tyrant, not the father of the skies;
Unpiteous of the race thy will began!
The fool of fate, thy manufacture, man,
With penury, contempt, repulse, and care,
The galling load of life is doom'd to bear.
Ulysses from his state a wanderer still,
Upbraids thy power, thy wisdom, or thy will
O monarch ever dear!-O man of woe!-
Fresh flow my tears, and shall for ever flow!
Like thee, poor stranger-guest, denied his home!
Like thee, in rags obscene, decreed to roam!
Or, haply perish'd on some distant coast,
In Stygian gloom he glides a pensive ghost!
Oh! grateful for the good his bounty gave,
I'll grieve, till sorrow sink me to the grave!
His kind protecting hand my youth preferr'd,
The regent of his Cephalenian herd:

With vast increase beneath my care it spreads,
A stately breed! and blackens far the meads,
Constrain'd, the choicest beeves I thence import
To cram these cormorants that crowd his court;
Who in partition seek his realm to share;
Nor human right, nor wrath divine revere.
Since here resolv'd oppressive these reside,
Contending doubts my anxious heart divide:
Now to some foreign clime inclin❜d to fly,
And with the royal herd protection buy:
Then happier thoughts return the nodding scale,
Light mounts despair, alternate hopes prevail:
In opening prospects of ideal joy,
My king returns; the proud usurpers die."

To whom the chief: "In thy capacions mind Since daring zeal with cool debate is join'd; Attend a deed already ripe in fate;

Attest, O Jove, the truth I now relate!
This sacred truth attest each genial power,
Who bless the board, and guard this friendly

S

bower!

?

Before thou quit the dome (nor long delay)
Thy wish produc'd in act, with pleas'd survey,
Thy wondering eyes shall view: his rightful reign
By arms avow'd Ulysses shall regain,
And to the shades devote the suitor-train."

"O Jove supreme!" the raptur'd swain replies, "With deed consummate soon the promis'd joys! These aged nerves, with new-born vigour strung, In that blest cause should emulate the young"Assents Eumæus to the prayer addrest: And equal ardours fire his loyal breast.

Meantime the suitors urge the prince's fate,
And deathful arts employ the dire debate:
When, in his airy tour, the bird of Jove
Truss'd with his sinewy pounce a trembling dove:
Sinister to their hope! This omen ey'd
Amphinomus, who thus presaging cry'd:
"The gods from force and fraud the prince
defend;

O peers! the sanguinary scheme suspend:
Your future thought let sable fate employ;
And give the present hour to genial joy."
From council straight th' assenting peerage ceas'd,
And in the dome prepar'd the genial feast.
Disrob'd their vests apart in order lay,

Then all with speed succinct the victims slay:
With sheep and shaggy goats the porkers bled,
And the proud steer was on the marble spread.
With fire prepar'd, they deal the morsels round,
Wine rosy-bright the brimming goblets crown'd,
By sage Eumæus borne: the purple tide
Melanthius from an ample jar supplied;
High canisters of bread Philætius plac'd;
And eager all devour the rich repast.
Dispos'd apart, Ulysses shares the treat!
A trivet-table, and ignobler seat,

The prince appoints; but to his sire assigns
The tasteful inwards, and nectareous wines.
"Partake, my guest," he cry'd, "without control
The social feast, and drain the cheering bowl :
Dread not the railer's laugh, nor ruffian's rage;
No vulgar roof protects thy honour'd age;
This dome a refuge to thy wrongs shall be,
From my great sire too soon devolv'd to me!
Your violence and scorn, ye suitors, cease,

Lest arms avenge the violated peace." [young,
Aw'd by the prince, so haughty, brave, and
Rage gnaw'd the lip, amazement chain'd the
tongue.

"Be patient, peers!" at length Antinous cries;
The threats of vain imperious youth despise :
Would Jove permit the meditated blow,
That stream of eloquence should cease to flow."
Without reply vouchsaf'd, Antinous ceas'd:
Meanwhile the pomp of festival increas'd:
By heralds rank'd, in marshall'd order move
The city-tribes, to pleas'd Apollo's grove:
Beneath the verdure of which awful shade,
The lunar hecatomb they grateful laid;
Partook the sacred feast, and ritual honours paid.
But the rich banquet in the dome prepar'd,
(An humble side-board set) Ulysses shar'd.
Observant of the prince's high behest,
His menial train attend the stranger-guest:
Whom Pallas with unpardoning fury fir'd,
By lordly pride and keen reproach inspir'd.
A Samian peer, more studious than the rest
Of vice, who teem'd with many a dead-born jest ;
An urg'd, for title to a consort queen,
Unnumber'd acres arable and green

(Ctesippus nam'd); this lord Ulysses éy'd,
And thus burst out th' imposthumate with pride
"The sentence I propose, ye peers, attend:
Since due regard must wait the prince's friend,
Let each a token of esteem bestow;
This gift acquits the dear respect I owe;
With which he nobly may discharge his seat,
And pay the menials for the master's treat:"

He said: and of the steer before him plac'd,
That sinewy fragment at Ulysses cast,
Where to the pastern-bone, by nerves combin'd,
The well-horn'd foot indissolubly join'd;
Which whizzing high the wall unseemly sign'd.
The chief indignant grins a ghastly smile;
Revenge and scorn within his bosom boil
When thus the prince with pious rage inflam'd:
"Had not th' inglorious wound thy malice aim'd
Fall'n guiltless of the mark, my certain spear
Had made thee buy the brutal triumph dear:
Nor should thy sire, a queen his daughter boast
The suitor, now, had vanish'd in a ghost:
No more, ye lewd compeers, with lawless power
Invade my dome, my herds and flocks devour
For genuine worth of age mature to know
My grape shall redden, and my harvest grow.
Or, if each other's wrongs ye still support,
With rapes and riot to prophane my court;
What single arm with numbers can contend?
On me let all your lifted swords descend,
And with my life such vile dishonours end."
A long cessation of discourse ensued,
By gentler Agelaus thus renew'd:

A just reproof, ye peers! your rage restrain
From the protected guest, and menial train :
And, prince! to stop the source of future ill,
Assent yourself, and gain the royal will,
Whilst hope prevail'd to see your sire restor'd,
Of right the queen refus'd a second lord.
But who so vain of faith, so blind to fate,
To think he still survives to claim the state?
Now press the sovereign dame with warm desire
To wed, as wealth or worth her choice inspire:
The lord selected to the nuptial joys,

Far hence will lead the long-contested prize;
Whilst in paternal pomp, with plenty bless'd,
You reign, of this imperial dome possess’d."

Sage and serene Telemachus replies:
"By him at whose behest the thunder flies,
And by the name on Earth I most revere,
By great Ulysses and his woes, I swear,
(Who never must review his dear domain;
Inroll'd, perhaps, in Pluto's dreary train!)
Whene'er her choice the royal dame avows,
My bridal gifts shall load the future spouse:
But from this dome my parent queen to chase!
From me, ye gods! avert such dire disgrace."
But Pallas clouds with intellectual gloom
The suitors' souls, insensate of their doom!
A mirthful phrenzy seiz'd the fated crowd;
The roofs resound with causeless laughter loud
Floating in gore, portentous to survey!
In each discolour'd vase the viands lay:
Then down each cheek the tears spontaneous flow,
And sudden sighs precede approaching woe.
In vision rapt; the Hyperesian seer
Uprose, and thus divin'd the vengeance near :
"Oh race to death devote! with Stygian shade
Each destin'd peer impending fates invade:

Theoclyincaus

On either side awaits a virgin fair;
While thus the matron, with majestic air:

Say you, whom these forbidden walls enclose,
For whom my victims bleed, my vintage flows;
If these neglected, faded charms can move?
Or is it but a vain pretence, you love?
If I the prize, if me you seek to wife,
Hear the conditions, and commence the strife:
Who first Ulysses' wondrous bow shall bend,
And through twelve ringlets the fleet arrow send,
Him will I follow, and forsake my home,
For him forsake this lov'd, this wealthy dome,
Long, long the scene of all my past delight,
And still to last, the vision of my night!"

Graceful she said, and bade Eumæus show The rival peers the ringlets and the bow. From his full eyes the tears unbidden spring, Touch'd at the dear memorials of his king. Philætius too relents, but secret shed The tender drops. Antinous saw, and said: "Hence to your fields, you rustics! hence away, Nor stain with grief the pleasures of the day; Nor to the royal heart recall in vain The sad remembrance of a perish'd man. Enough her precious tears already flowOr share the feast with due respect, or go To weep abroad, and leave us to the bow: No vulgar task! Ill suits this courtly crew That stubborn horn which brave Ulysses drew. I well remember (for I gaz'd him o'er While yet a child) what majesty he bore! And still (all infant as I was) retain The port, the strength, the grandeur of the man." He said, but in his soul fond joys arise, And his proud hopes already win the prize. To speed the flying shaft through every ring, Wretch is not thine! the arrows of the king Shall end those hopes, and fate is on the wing! Then thus Telemachus: "Some god, I find, With pleasing phrenzy has possess'd my mind; When a lov'd mother threatens to depart, Why with this ill-tim'd gladness leaps my heart? Come then, ye suitors! and dispute a prize Richer than all th' Achaian state supplies, Than all proud Argos, or Mycæna knows, Than all our isles or continents enclose: A woman matchless, and almost divine, Fit for the praise of every tongue but mine. No more excuses then, no more delay; Haste to the trial-Lo! I lead the way. I too may try, and if this arm can wing The feather'd arrow through the destin❜d ring, Then if no happier knight the conquest boast, I shall not sorrow for a mother lost; But, blest in her, possess these arms alone, Heir of my father's strength, as well as throne." He spoke! then, rising, his broad sword unbound, And cast his purple garment on the ground. A trench he open'd; in a line he plac'd The level axes, and the points made fast (His perfect skill the wondering gazers ey'd, The game as yet unseen, as yet untry'd.) Then, with a manly pace, he took his stand; And grasp'd the bow, and twang'd it in his hand. Three times, with beating heart, he made essay; Three times, unequal to the task, gave way: A modest boldness on his cheek appear'd: And thrice he hop'd, and thrice again he fear'd, The fourth had drawn it. The great sire with joy Beheld, but with a sign forbade the boy.

His ardour straight th' obedient prince suppress'd, And, artful, thus the suitor-train address'd :

Oh, lay the cause on youth yet immature ! (For Heaven forbid such weakness should endure!) How shall this arm, unequal to the bow, Retort an insult, or repel a foe?

But you! whom Heaven with better nerves has blest, Accept the trial, and the prize contest."

He cast the bow before him, and apart
Against the polish'd quiver propt the dart.
Resuming then his seat, Epitheus' son
The bold Antinous to the rest begun :
"From where the goblet first begins to flow,
From right to left, in order take the bow;
And prove your several strengths."-The princes
heard,

And first Leiodes, blameless priest, appear'd:
The eldest born of Œnops' noble race,
Who next the goblet held his holy place:
He, only he, of all the suitor throng,
Their deeds detested, and abjur'd the wrong.
With tender hands the stubborn horn he strains,
The stubborn horn resisted all his pains!
Already in despair he gives it o'er :

"Take it who will," he cries, "I strive no more.
What numerous deaths attend this fatal bow!
What souls and spirits shall it send below!
Better, indeed, to die, and fairly give
Nature her debt, than disappointed live,
With each new Sun to some new hope a prey,
Yet still tomorrow falser than today.
How long in vain Penelope we sought!
This bow shall ease us of that idle thought,
And send us with some humbler wife to live,
Whom gold shall gain, or destiny shall give."

Thus speaking, on the floor the bow he plac'd, (With rich inlay the various floor was grac'd) At distance far the feather'd shaft he throws, And to the seat returns from whence he rose. To him Antinous thus with fury said: "What words ill-omen'd from thy lips have fled! Thy coward function ever is in fear;

Those arms are dreadful which thou canst not

bear.

Why should this bow be fatal to the brave?
Because the priest is born a peaceful slave.
Mark then what others can."-He ended there,
And bade Melanthius a vast pile prepare ;
He gives it instant flame: then fast beside
Spreads o'er an ample board a bullock's hide.
With melted lard they soak the weapon o'er,
Chase every knot, and supple every pore.
Vain all their art, and all their strength as vain,
The bow inflexible resists their pain.
The force of great Eurymachus alone
And bold Antinous, yet untry'd, unknown:
Those only now remain'd; but those confess'd
Of all the train the mightiest and the best.

Then from the hall, and from the noisy crew
The masters of the herd and flock withdrew.
The king observes them: he the hall forsakes
And, past the limits of the court, o'ertakes.
Then thus with accent mild Ulysses spoke:
"Ye faithful guardians of the herd and flock!
Shall I the secret of my breast conceal,
Or (as my soul now dictates) shall I tell?
Say, should some favouring god restore again
The lost Ulysses to his native reign?

How beat your hearts? what aid would you afford,
To the proud suitors, or your ancient lord ?"

Philætius thus: "Oh were thy word not vain! Would mighty Jove restore that man again! These aged sinews with new vigour strung In his blest cause should emulate the young." With equal vows Eumæus too implor'd Each power above, with wishes for his lord.

He saw their secret souls, and thus began: "Those vows the gods accord: behold the man! Your own Ulysses! twice ten years detain'd By woes and wanderings from this hapless land: At length he comes: but comes despis'd, unknown,

And finding faithful you, and you alone.

All else have cast him from their very thought,
Ev'n in their wishes, and their prayers forgot!
Hear then, my friends: If Jove this arm succeed,
And give yon impious revellers to bleed,
My care shall be, to bless your future lives
With large possessions, and with faithful wives;
Fast by my palace shall your domes ascend,
And each on young Telemachus attend,
And each be call'd his brother, and my friend.
To give you firmer faith, now trust your eye;
Lo! the broad scar indented on my thigh,
When with Autolycus's sons, of yore,
On Parnass' top I chas'd the tusky boar."
His ragged vest then drawn aside disclos'd
The sign conspicuous, and the scar expos'd:
Eager they view'd, with joy they stood amaz'd;
With tearful eyes o'er all their master gaz'd:
Around his neck their longing arms they cast,
His head, his shoulders, and his knees embrac'd:
Tears follow'd tears; no word was in their power:
In solemn silence fell the kindly shower.
The king too weeps, the king too grasps their hands,
And moveless as a marble fountain stands.

Thus had their joy wept down the setting Sun,
But first the wise man ceas'd, and thus begun :
"Enough-on other cares your thought employ,
For danger waits on all untimely joy.
Full many foes, and fierce, observe us near:
Some may betray, and yonder walls may hear.
Re-enter then, not all at once, but stay
Some moments you, and let me lead the way.
To me, neglected as I am, I know
The haughty suitors will deny the bow:
But thou, Eumæus, as 'tis borne away,
Thy master's weapon to his hand convey.
At every portal let some matron wait,

And each lock fast the well-compacted gate:
Close let them keep, whate'er invades their ear;
Though arms, or shouts, or dying groans, they hear.
To thy strict charge, Philætius, we consign
The court's main gate: to guard that pass be
thine."

This said, he first return'd: the faithful swains
At distance follow, as their king ordains.
Before the flame Eurymachus now stands,
And turns the bow, and chafes it with his hands:
Still the tough bow unmov'd. The lofty man
Sigh'd from his mighty soul, and thus began:
"I mourn the common cause; for, oh, my
friends!

On me, on all, what grief, what shame attends !
Not the lost nuptials can affect me more,
(For Greece has beauteous dames on every shore)
But baffled thus; confess'd so far below
Ulysses' strength, as not to bend his bow!
How shall all ages our attempt deride!
Our weakness scorn!" Antinous thus reply'd:

"Not so, Eury machus; that no man draws
The wondrous bow, attend another cause.
Sacred to Phoebus is the solemn day,
Which thoughtless we in games would waste away:
Till the next dawn this ill-tim'd strife forego,
And here leave fix'd the ringlets in a row. -
Now bid the sewer approach, and let us join
In due libations, and in rites divine,

So end our night: before the day shall spring,
The choicest offerings let Melanthius bring:
Let then to Phoebus' name the fatted thighs
Feed the rich smokes, high curling to the skies.
So shall the patron of these arts bestow
(For his the gift) the skill to bend the bow."

They heard well-pleas'd: the ready heralds bring
The cleansing waters from the limpid spring:
The goblet high with rosy wine they crown'd,
In order circling to the peers around.
That rite complete, uprose the thoughtful man,
And thus his meditated scheme began:

"If what I ask your noble minds approve,
Ye peers and rivals in the royal love!
Chief if it hurt not great Antinous' ear,
(Whose sage decision I with wonder hear)
And if Eurymachus the motion please;
Give Heaven this day, and rest the bow in peace.
Tomorrow let your arms dispute the prize,
And take it he, the favour'd of the skies!
But, since till then this trial you delay,
Trust it one moment to my hands today:
Fain would I prove, before your judging eyes,
What once I was, whom wretched you despise;
If yet this arm its ancient force retain ;
Or if my woes (a long-continued train)
And wants and insults, make me less than man?"
Rage flash'd in lightning from the suitors' eyes,
Yet mix'd with terrour at the bold emprize.
Antinous then: "Oh, miserable guest!
Is common sense quite banish'd from thy breast?
Suffic'd it not within the palace plac'd
To sit distinguish'd, with our presence grac❜d,
Admitted here with princes to confer,
A man unknown, a needy wanderer?
To copious wine this insolence we owe,
And much thy betters wine can overthrow :
The great Eurytion when this phrenzy stung,
Pirithous' roofs with frantic riot rung;
Boundless the Centaur rag'd; till one and all
The heroes rose, and dragg'd him from the hall;
His nose they shorten'd, and his ears they slit,
And sent him sober'd home with better wit.
Hence with long war the double race was curs'd,
Fatal to all, but to th' aggressor first.
Such fate I prophesy our guest attends,
If here this interdicted bow he bends:
Nor shall these walls such insolence contain;
The first fair wind transports him o'er the main ;
Where Echetus to death the guilty brings,
(The worst of mortals, ev'n the worst of kings.)
Better than that, if thou approve our cheer;
Cease the mad strife, and share our bounty here."
To this the queen her just dislike express'd:
""Tis impious, prince, to harm the stranger
guest,

Base to insult who bears a suppliant's name,
And some respect Telemachus may claim.
What, if th' immortals on the man bestow
Sufficient strength to draw the mighty bow,
Shall I, a queen, by rival chiefs ador'd,
Accept a wandering stranger for my lord?