(A sacred oath) each proud oppressor, slain, Shall with inglorious gore this marble stain!", Awed by the prince, thus haughty, bold, and

young,

Rage gnaw'd the lip, and wonder chain'd the tongue.
Silence at length the gay Antinous broke,
Constrain'd a smile, and thus ambiguous spoke:
"What god to your untutor'd youth affords
This headlong torrent of amazing words?
May Jove delay thy reign, and cumber late
So bright a genius with the toils of state!"
"Those toils (Telemachus, serene, replies)
Have charms, with all their weight, to allure the
wise.

Fast by the throne obsequious fame resides,
And wealth incessant rolls her golden tides.
Nor let Antinous rage, if strong desire
Of wealth and fame a youthful bosom fire:
Elect by Jove his delegate of sway,
With joyous pride the summons I'd obey.
Whene'er Ulysses roams the realm of night,
Should factious power dispute my lineal right,
Some other Greeks a fairer claim may plead ;
To your pretence their title would precede.
At least, the sceptre lost, I still should reign
Sole o'er my vassals, and domestic train."

To this Eurymachus: "To heaven alone
Refer the choice to fill the vacant throne.
Your patrimonial stores in peace possess ;
Undoubted all your filial claim confess:
Your private right should impious power invade,
The peers of Ithaca would arm in aid.
But say, that stranger-guest who late withdrew,
What and from whence? his name and lineage shew.
His grave demeanour, and majestic grace,
Speak him descended of no vulgar race:
Did he some loan of ancient right require,
Or came forerunner of your sceptred sire?"
"O son of Polybus! (the prince replies,)
No more my sire will glad these longing eyes:
The queen's fond hope inventive rumour cheers,
Or vain diviners' dreams divert her fears.
That stranger-guest the Taphian realm obeys,
A realm defended with encircling seas.
Mentes, an ever-honour'd name, of old
High in Ulysses' social list enroll'd."

Thus he, though conscious of the ethereal guest, Answer'd evasive of the sly request. Meantime the lyre rejoins the sprightly lay; Love-dittied airs and dance conclude the day. But when the star of eve, with golden light Adorn'd the matron-brow of sable night; The mirthful train dispersing quit the court, And to their several domes to rest resort. A towering structure to the palace join'd; To this his steps the thoughtful prince inclined; In his pavilion there, to sleep repairs; The lighted torch, the sage Euryclea bears: (Daughter of Ops, the just Pisenor's son, For twenty beeves by great Laertes won; In rosy prime with charms attractive graced, Honour'd by him, a gentle lord and chaste, With dear esteem: too wise, with jealous strife To taint the joys of sweet connubial life. Sole with Telemachus her service ends, A child she nursed him, and a man attends.) Whilst to his couch himself the prince address'd, The duteous dame received the purple vest: The purple vest with decent care disposed, The silver ring she pull'd, the door reclosed;

The bolt, obedient to the silken cord,

To the strong staple's inmost depth restored, Secured the valves. There, wrapt in silent shade, Pensive, the rules the goddess gave, he weigh'd; Stretch'd on the downy fleece, no rest he knows, And in his raptured soul the vision glows.

BOOK II.

ARGUMENT.

THE COUNCIL OF ITHACA,

Telemachus, in the assembly of the lords of Ithaca, comTM plains of the injustice done him by the suitors, and insists upon their departure from his palace; appealing to the princes, and exciting the people to declare against them. The suitors endeavour to justify their stay, at least till he shall send the queen to the court of Icarius her father; which he refuses. There appears a prodigy of two eagles in the sky, which an augur expounds to the ruin of the suitors. Telemachus then demands a vessel to carry him to Pylos and Sparta, there to inquire of his father's fortunes. Pallas, in the shape of Mentor (an ancient friend of Ulysses) helps him to a ship, assists him in preparing necessaries for the voyage, and embarks with him that night; which concludes the second day from the opening of the poem.

The scene continues in the Palace of Ulysses, in Ithaca.

Now reddening from the dawn the morning ray
Glow'd in the front of heaven, and gave the day.
The youthful hero, with returning light,
Rose anxious from the inquietudes of night.
A royal robe he wore with graceful pride,
A two-edged falchion threaten'd by his side,
Embroider'd sandals glitter'd as he trod,
And forth he moved, majestic as a god.
Then by his heralds, restless of delay,
To council calls the peers: the peers obey.
Soon as in solemn form the assembly sat,
From his high dome himself descends in state.
Bright in his hand a ponderous javelin shined;
Two dogs, a faithful guard, attend behind;
Pallas with grace divine his form improves,
And gazing crowds admire him as he moves.

His father's throne he fill'd: while distant stood The hoary peers, and aged wisdom bow'd.

"Twas silence all. At last Egyptius spoke ;
Ægyptius, by his age and sorrows broke:
A length of days his soul with prudence crown'd,
A length of days had bent him to the ground.
His eldest hope* in arms to Ilion came,
By great Ulysses taught the path to fame;
But (hapless youth !) the hideous Cyclops tore
His quivering limbs, and quaff'd his spouting gore.
Three sons remain'd: to climb with haughty fires
The royal bed, Eurynomus aspires;

The rest with duteous love his griefs assuage,
And ease the sire of half the cares of age.
Yet still his Antiphus he loves, he mourns,
And as he stood, he spoke and wept by turns:
"Since great Ulysses sought the Phrygian plains,
Within these walls inglorious silence reigns.
Say then, ye peers! by whose commands we meet?
Why here once more in solemn council sit?
Ye young, ye old, the weighty cause disclose:
Arrives some message of invading foes?
Or say, does high necessity of state
Inspire some patriot, and demand debate?
* Antiphus.

B B

The present synod speaks its author wise;
Assist him, Jove, thou regent of the skies!"

He spoke. Telemachus with transport glows,
Embraced the omen, and majestic rose;
(His royal hand the imperial sceptre sway'd)
Then thus, addressing to Ægyptius, said:
"Reverend old man! lo, here confess'd he stands
By whom ye meet; my grief your care demands.
No story I unfold of public woes,
Nor bear advices of impending foes:
Peace the bless'd land, and joys incessant crown;
Of all this happy realm, I grieve alone.
For my lost sire continual sorrows spring,
The great, the good: your father and your king!
Yet more; our house from its foundation bows,
Our foes are powerful, and your sons the foes:
Hither, unwelcome to the queen, they come ;
Why seek they not the rich Icarian dome?
If she must wed, from other hands require
The dowry: is Telemachus her sire?

Yet through my court the noise of revel rings,
And wastes the wise frugality of kings.
Scarce all my herds their luxury suffice;
Scarce all my wine their midnight hours supplies.
Safe in my youth, in riot still they grow,
Nor in the helpless orphan dread a foe.
But come it will, the time when manhood grants
More powerful advocates than vain complaints.
Approach that hour! unsufferable wrong
Cries to the gods, and vengeance sleeps too long.
Rise then, ye peers! with virtuous anger rise;
Your fame revere, but most the avenging skies.
By all the deathless powers that reign above,
By righteous Themis and by thundering Jove,
(Themis, who gives to councils, or denies
Success; and humbles, or confirms the wise)
Rise in my aid! suffice the tears that flow
For my lost sire, nor add new woe to woe.
If e'er he bore the sword to strengthen ill,
Or having power to wrong, betray'd the will,
On me, on me your kindled wrath assuage,
And bid the voice of lawless riot rage.
If ruin to our royal race ye doom,
Be you the spoilers, and our wealth consume.
Then might we hope redress from juster laws,
And raise all Ithaca to aid our cause:
But while your sons commit the unpunish'd wrong,
You make the arm of violence too strong."

While thus he spoke, with rage and grief he
frown'd,

And dash'd the imperial sceptre to the ground.
The big round tear hung trembling in his eye;
The synod grieved, and gave a pitying sigh,
Then silent sat-at length Antinous burns
With haughty rage, and sternly thus returns:
"O insolence of youth! whose tongue affords
Such railing eloquence, and war of words.
Studious thy country's worthies to defame,
Thy erring voice displays thy mother's shame.
Elusive of the bridal day, she gives

Fond hopes to all, and all with hopes deceives. Did not the sun, through heaven's wide azure roll'd,

For three long years the royal fraud behold!
While she, laborious in delusion, spread
The spacious loom, and mix'd the various thread;
Where as to life the wondrous figures rise,
Thus spoke the inventive queen, with artful sighs:

Tho' cold in death Ulysses breathes no more, Cease yet a while to urge the bridal hour;

Cease, till to great Laërtes I bequeath
A task of grief, his ornaments of death:
Lest when the fates his royal ashes claim,
The Grecian matrons taint my spotless fame;
When he, whom living mighty realms obey'd,
Shall want in death a shroud to grace his shade.'
"Thus she: at once the generous train complies,
Nor fraud mistrusts in virtue's fair disguise.
The work she plied; but, studious of delay,
By night reversed the labours of the day.
While thrice the sun his annual journey made,
The conscious lamp the midnight fraud survey'd;
Unheard, unseen, three years her arts prevail;
The fourth, her maid unfolds the amazing tale.
We saw, as unperceived we took our stand,
The backward labours of her faithless hand.
Then urged, she perfects her illustrious toils;
A wondrous monument of female wiles!

"But you, O peers! and thou, O prince! give ear:
(I speak aloud, that every Greek may hear)
Dismiss the queen; and if her sire approves,
Let him espouse her to the peer she loves:
Bid instant to prepare the bridal train,
Nor let a race of princes wait in vain.
Though with a grace divine her soul is bless'd,
And all Minerva breathes within her breast,
In wondrous arts than woman more renown'd,
And more than woman with deep wisdom crown'd;
Though Tyro nor Mycene match her name,
Nor great Alemena (the proud boasts of fame)
Yet thus by heaven adorn'd, by heaven's decree
She shines with fatal excellence to thee:
With thee, the bowl we drain, indulge the feast,
Till righteous heaven reclaim her stubborn breast.
What though from pole to pole resounds her name!
The son's destruction waits the mother's fame:
For till she leaves thy court, it is decreed,
Thy bowl to empty, and thy flock to bleed."

While yet he speaks, Telemachus replies:
"Even nature starts, and what ye ask denies.
Thus, shall I thus repay a mother's cares,
Who gave me life, and nursed my infant years!
While sad on foreign shores Ulysses treads,
Or glides a ghost with unapparent shades;
How to Icarius in the bridal hour

Shall I, by waste undone, refund the dower?
How from my father should I vengeance dread;
How would my mother curse my hated head!
And while in wrath to vengeful fiends she cries,
How from their hell would vengeful fiends arise!
Abhorr'd by all, accursed my name would grow,
The earth's disgrace, and human-kind my foe.
If this displease, why urge ye here your stay!
Haste from the court, ye spoilers, haste away:
Waste in wild riot what your land allows,
There ply the early feast, and late carouse.
But if, to honour lost, 'tis still decreed
For you my bowl shall flow, my flocks shall bleed:
Judge and assert my right, impartial Jove!
By him, and all the immortal host above,
(A sacred oath) if heaven the power supply,
Vengeance I vow, and for your wrongs ye die."

With that, two eagles from a mountain's height
By Jove's command direct their rapid flight;
Swift they descend, with wing to wing conjoin'd,
Stretch their broad plumes, and float upon the wind.
Above the assembled peers they wheel on high,
And clang their wings, and hovering beat the sky;
With ardent eyes the rival train they threat,
And shrieking loud, denounce approaching fate.

They cuff, they tear, their cheeks and neck they rend,

And from their plumes huge drops of blood descend: Then sailing o'er the domes and towers, they fly Full toward the east, and mount into the sky.

The wondering rivals gaze with cares oppress'd, And chilling horrors freeze in every breast. Till, big with knowledge of approaching woes, The prince of augurs, Halitherses, rose: Prescient he view'd the aërial tracks, and drew A sure presage from every wing that flew.

"Ye sons (he cried) of Ithaca, give ear,
Hear all! but chiefly you, O rivals! hear.
Destruction sure o'er all your heads impends;
Ulysses comes, and death his steps attends.
Nor to the great alone is death decreed;
We, and our guilty Ithaca, must bleed.
Why cease we then the wrath of heaven to stay?
Be humbled all, and lead, ye great! the way.
For lo! my words no fancied woes relate :
I speak from science, and the voice is fate.
"When great Ulysses sought the Phrygian shores
To shake with war proud Ilion's lofty towers,
Deeds then undone my faithful tongue foretold:
Heaven seal'd my words, and you those deeds behold.
I see (I cried) his woes, a countless train ;

I see his friends o'erwhelm'd beneath the main ;
How twice ten years from shore to shore he roams:
Now twice ten years are past, and now he comes!"
To whom Eurymachus: "Fly, dotard, fly!
With thy wise dreams, and fables of the sky.
Go, prophesy at home; thy sons advise:
Here thou art sage in vain-I better read the skies.
Unnumber'd birds glide through the aërial way,
Vagrants of air, and unforeboding stray.
Cold in the tomb, or in the deeps below,
Ulysses lies: O wert thou laid as low!
Then would that busy head no broils suggest,
Nor fire to rage Telemachus's breast.
From him some bribe thy venal tongue requires,
And interest, not the god, thy voice inspires.
His guideless youth, if thy experienced age
Mislead fallacious into idle rage,
Vengeance deserved thy malice shall repress,
And but augment the wrongs thou would'st redress.
Telemachus may bid the queen repair
To great Icarius, whose paternal care
Will guide her passion, and reward her choice
With wealthy dower, and bridal gifts of price.
Till she retires, determined we remain,
And both the prince and augur threat in vain:
His pride of words, and thy wild dream of fate,
Move not the brave, or only move their hate.
Threat on, O prince! elude the bridal day,
Threat on, till all thy stores in waste decay.
True, Greece affords a train of lovely dames,
In wealth and beauty worthy of our flames:
But never from this nobler suit we cease;
For wealth and beauty less than virtue please."
To whom the youth: "Since then in vain I tell
My numerous woes, in silence let them dwell.
But heaven, and all the Greeks, have heard my
wrongs:

To heaven, and all the Greeks, redress belongs.
Yet this I ask-nor be it ask'd in vain-
A bark to waft me o'er the rolling main;
The realms of Pyle and Sparta to explore,
And seek my royal sire from shore to shore:
If, or to fame his doubtful fate be known,
Or to be learn'd from oracles alone?

If yet he lives, with patience I forbear
Till the fleet hours restore the circling year:
But if already wandering in the train

Of empty shades, I measure back the main,
Plant the fair column o'er the mighty dead,
And yield his consort to the nuptial bed."

He ceased; and while abash'd the peers attend, Mentor arose, Ulysses' faithful friend: [When fierce in arms he sought the scenes of war, "My friend (he cried) my palace be thy care; Years roll'd on years my godlike sire decay, Guard thou his age, and his behests obey."] Stern as he rose, he cast his eyes around, That flash'd with rage: and, as he spoke, he frown'd: “() never, never more let king be just, Be mild in power, or faithful to his trust! Let tyrants govern with an iron rod, Oppress, destroy, and be the scourge of God; Since he who like a father held his reign, So soon forgot, was just and mild in vain! True, while my friend is grieved, his griefs I share ; Yet now the rivals are my smallest care: They, for the mighty mischiefs they devise, Ere long shall pay their forfeit lives the price. But against you, ye Greeks! ye coward train, Gods! how my soul is moved with just disdain? Dumb ye all stand, and not one tongue affords His injured prince the little aid of words."

While yet he spoke, Leocritus rejoin'd: "O pride of words, and arrogance of mind! Would'st thou to rise in arms the Greeks advise? Join all your powers! in arms, ye Greeks, arise ! Yet would your powers in vain our strength oppose; The valiant few o'ermatch a host of foes. Should great Ulysses stern appear in arms, While the bowl circles, and the banquet warms; Though to his breast his spouse with transport

flies,

Torn from her breast, that hour, Ulysses dies.
But hence retreating to your domes repair;
To arm the vessel, Mentor! be thy care,
And, Halitherses! thine: be each his friend;
Ye loved the father: go, the son attend,
But yet, I trust the boaster means to stay
Safe in the court, nor tempt the watery way."

Then with a rushing sound, the assembly bend,
Diverse their steps: the rival rout ascend
The royal dome; while sad the prince explores
The neighbouring main, and sorrowing treads the
shores.

There, as the waters o'er his hands he shed,
The royal suppliant to Minerva pray'd:

"O goddess! who descending from the skies
Vouchsafed thy presence to my wondering eyes;
By whose commands the raging deeps I trace,
And seek my sire through storms and rolling seas!
Hear from thy heavens above, O warrior-maid!
Descend once more, propitious to my aid.
Without thy presence, vain is thy command;
Greece, and the rival train, thy voice withstand."
Indulgent to his prayer, the goddess took
Sage Mentor's form, and thus like Mentor spoke :
"O prince! in early youth divinely wise,
Born, the Ulysses of thy age to rise!
If to the son the father's worth descends,
O'er the wide waves success thy ways attends;
To tread the walks of death he stood prepared,
And what he greatly thought, he nobly dared.
Were not wise sons descendant of the wise,
And did not heroes from brave heroes rise;

Vain were my hopes: few sons attain the praise
Of their great sires, and most their sires disgrace.
But since thy veins paternal virtue fires,
And all Penelope thy soul inspires,
Go, and succeed! the rivals' aims despise;
For never, never, wicked man was wise.

Blind they rejoice, though now, even now they fall;
Death hastes amain: one hour o'erwhelms them all.
And lo, with speed we plough the watery way;
My power shall guard thee, and my hand convey:
The winged vessel studious I prepare,
Through seas and realms companion of thy care.
Thou to the court ascend; and to the shores,
When night advances, bear the naval stores:
Bread, that decaying man with strength supplies,
And generous wine, which thoughtful sorrow flies.
Meanwhile the mariners by my command
Shall speed aboard, a valiant chosen band.
Wide o'er the bay, by vessel vessel rides ;
The best I choose to waft thee o'er the tides."
She spoke to his high dome the prince returns,
And as he moves with royal anguish mourns.
'Twas riot all, among the lawless train;
Boar bled by boar, and goat by goat lay slain.
Arrived, his hand the gay Antinous press'd,
And thus deriding, with a smile address'd:
"Grieve not, O daring prince! that noble heart;
Ill suits gay youth, the stern heroic part.
Indulge the genial hour, unbend thy soul,
Leave thought to age, and drain the flowing bowl.
Studious to ease thy grief, our care provides
The bark, to waft thee o'er the swelling tides."

"Is this (returns the prince) for mirth a time?
When lawless gluttons riot, mirth's a crime;
The luscious wines, dishonour'd, lose their taste;
The song is noise, and impious is the feast.
Suffice it to have spent with swift decay
The wealth of kings, and made my youth a prey.
But now the wise instructions of the sage,
And manly thoughts inspired by manly age,
Teach me to seek redress for all my woe,
Here, or in Pyle-in Pyle, or here, your foe.
Deny your vessels, ye deny in vain;
A private voyager I pass the main.
Free breathe the winds, and free the billows flow,
And where on earth I live, I live your foe."

He spoke and frown'd, nor longer deign'd to stay, Sternly his hand withdrew, and strode away. Meantime, o'er all the dome, they quaff, they feast,

Derisive taunts were spread from guest to guest,
And each in jovial mood his mate address'd.
"Tremble ye not, O friends! and coward fly,
Doom'd by the stern Telemachus to die?
To Pyle or Sparta to demand supplies,
Big with revenge, the mighty warrior flies:
Or comes from Ephyré with poisons fraught,
And kills us all in one tremendous draught.'

"Or who can say (his gamesome mate replies)
But while the dangers of the deeps he tries,
He, like his sire, may sink deprived of breath,
And punish us unkindly by his death?
What mighty labours would he then create,
To seize his treasures, and divide his state,
The royal palace to the queen convey,
Or him she blesses in the bridal day!"

Meantime the lofty rooms the prince surveys, Where lay the treasures of the Ithacian race: Here ruddy brass and gold refulgent blazed ; There polish'd chests embroider'd vestures graced;

Here jars of oil breathed forth a rich perfune;
There casks of wine in rows adorn'd the dome,
(Pure flavorous wine, by gods in bounty given,
And worthy to exalt the feasts of heaven.)
Untouch'd they stood, till, his long labours o'er,
The great Ulysses reach'd his native shore.
A double strength of bars secured the gates:
Fast by the door the wise Euryclea waits;
Euryclea, who, great Ops! thy lineage shared,
And watch'd all night, all day, a faithful guard:
To whom the prince: "O thou, whose guardian

care

Nursed the most wretched king that breathes the air;
Untouch'd and sacred may these vessels stand
Till great Ulysses views his native land.
But by thy care twelve urns of wine be fill'd,
Next these in worth, and firm those urns be seal'd;
And twice ten measures of the choicest flour
Prepared, ere yet descends the evening hour.
For when the favouring shades of night arise,
And peaceful slumbers close my mother's eyes,
Me from our coast shall spreading sails convey,
To seek Ulysses through the watery way."

While yet he spoke, she fill'd the walls with cries,
And tears ran trickling from her aged eyes.
"O whither, whither flies my son ?" she cried,
"To realms that rocks and roaring seas divide?
In foreign lands thy father's days decay'd,
And foreign lands contain the mighty dead.
The watery way ill-fated if thou try,
All, all must perish, and by fraud you die![main:
Then stay, my child; storms beat, and rolls the
O beat those storms, and roll the seas in vain!"
"Far hence (replied the prince) thy fears be
driven;
[heaven.
Heaven calls me forth; these counsels are of
But by the powers that hate the perjured, swear
To keep my voyage from the royal ear,
Nor uncompell'd the dangerous truth betray,
Till twice six times descends the lamp of day:
Lest the sad tale a mother's life impair,
And grief destroy what time awhile would spare."
Thus he. The matron with uplifted eyes
Attests the all-seeing sovereign of the skies.
Then studious she prepares the choicest flour,
The strength of wheat, and wines an ample store.
While to the rival train the prince returns,
The martial goddess with impatience burns;
Like thee, Telemachus, in voice and size,
With speed divine from street to street she flies,
She bids the mariners prepared to stand,
When night descends, embodied on the strand.
Then to Noëmon swift she runs, she flies,
And asks a bark: the chief a bark supplies.

And now, declining with his sloping wheels, Down sunk the sun behind the western hills. The goddess shoved the vessel from the shores, And stow'd within its womb the naval stores. Full in the openings of the spacious main It rides and now descends the sailor-train. Next, to the court, impatient of delay, With rapid step the goddess urged her way: There every eye with slumbrous chains she bound, And dash'd the flowing goblet to the ground. Drowsy they rose, with heavy fumes oppress'd, Reel'd from the palace, and retired to rest.

Then thus, in Mentor's reverend form array'd, Spoke to Telemachus the martial maid: "Lo! on the seas prepared the vessel stands, The impatient mariner thy speed demands.”

Load the tall bark, and launch into the main.
The prince and goddess to the stern ascend;
To the strong stroke at once the rowers bend.
Full from the west she bids fresh breezes blow;
The sable billows foam and roar below.
The chief his orders gives; the obedient band
With due observance wait the chief's command;
With speed the mast they rear, with speed unbind
The spacious sheet, and stretch it to the wind.
High o'er the roaring waves the spreading sails
Bow the tall mast, and swell before the gales;
The crooked keel the parting surge divides,
And to the stern retreating roll the tides.
And now they ship their oars, and crown with wine
The holy goblet to the powers divine:
Imploring all the gods that reign above,
But chief the blue-eyed progeny of Jove.

Thus all the night they stem the liquid way,
And end their voyage with the morning ray.

THE INTERVIEW OF TELEMACHUS AND NESTOR.

Telemachus, guided by Pallas in the shape of Mentor, arrives in the morning at Pylos, where Nestor and his sons are sacrificing on the sea-shore to Neptune. Telemachus declares the occasion of his coming; and Nestor relates what passed in their return from Troy, how their fleets were separated, and he never since heard of Ulysses. The discourse concerning the death of Agamemnon, the revenge of Orestes, and the injuries of the suitors. Nestor advises him to go to Sparta, and inquire further of Menelaus. The sacrifice ending with the night, Minerva vanishes from them in the form of an eagle: Telemachus is lodged in the palace. The next morning they sacrifice a bullock to Minerva, and Telemachus proceeds on his journey to Sparta, attended by Pisistratus.

The scene lies on the sea-shore of Pylos.

THE sacred sun, above the waters raised,
Through heaven's eternal brazen portals blazed;
And wide o'er earth diffused his cheering ray,
To gods and men to give the golden day.
Now on the coast of Pyle the vessel falls,
Before old Neleus' venerable walls.
There, suppliant to the monarch of the flood,
At nine green theatres the Pylians stood;
Each held five hundred (a deputed train)
At each, nine oxen on the sand lay slain.
They taste the entrails, and the altars load
With smoking thighs, an offering to the god.
Full for the port the Ithacensians stand,
And furl their sails, and issue on the land.
Telemachus already press'd the shore;
Not first; the Power of wisdom march'd before,
And ere the sacrificing throng he join'd,
Admonish'd thus his well-attending mind:
"Proceed, my son! this youthful shame expel;
An honest business never blush to tell.
To learn what fates thy wretched sire detain,
We pass'd the wide immeasurable main.

Meet then the senior, far renown'd for sense, With reverend awe, but decent confidence: Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies; And sure he will; for wisdom never lies."

"O tell me, Mentor! tell me, faithful guide, (The youth with prudent modesty replied) How shall I meet, or how accost the sage, Unskill'd in speech, nor yet mature of age? Awful the approach, and hard the task appears, To question wisely men of riper years." To whom the martial goddess thus rejoin'd: "Search for some thoughts thy own suggesting mind;

And others, dictated by heavenly power,
Shall rise spontaneous in the needful hour:
For nought unprosperous shall thy ways attend,
Born with good omens, and with heaven thy friend."
She spoke, and led the way with swiftest speed:
As swift the youth pursued the way she led ;
And join'd the band before the sacred fire,
Where sat, encompass'd with his sons, the sire.
The youth of Pylos, some on pointed wood
Transfix'd the fragments, some prepared the food.
In friendly throngs they gather, to embrace
Their unknown guests, and at the banquet place.
Pisistratus was first to grasp their hands,
And spread soft hides upon the yellow sands;
Along the shore the illustrious pair he led,
Where Nestor sat with youthful Thrasymed.
To each a portion of the feast he bore,
And held a golden goblet foaming o'er;
Then first approaching to the elder guest,
The latent goddess in these words address'd:
"Whoe'er thou art, whom fortune brings to keep
These rites of Neptune, monarch of the deep,
Thee first it fits, O stranger! to prepare
The due libation and the solemn prayer;
Then give thy friend to shed the sacred wine:
Though much thy younger, and his years like mine,
He too, I deem, implores the powers divine:
For all mankind alike require their grace,
All born to want; a miserable race!"

He spake, and to her hand preferr'd the bowl:
A secret pleasure touch'd Athena's soul,
To see the preference due to sacred age
Regarded ever by the just and sage.
Of ocean's king she then implores the grace.
"O thou! whose arms this ample globe embrace,
Fulfil our wish, and let thy glory shine

On Nestor first, and Nestor's royal line;
Next grant the Pylian states their just desires,
Pleased with their hecatomb's ascending fires;
Last, deign Telemachus and me to bless,
And crown our voyage with desired success."
Thus she; and having paid the rite divine,
Gave to Ulysses' son the rosy wine.
Suppliant he pray'd. And now the victims dress'd
They draw, divide, and celebrate the feast.
The banquet done, the narrative old man,
Thus mild, the pleasing conference began:

"Now, gentle guests! the genial banquet o'er,
It fits to ask ye, what your native shore,
And whence your race? on what adventure, say,
Thus far ye wander through the watery way?
Relate, if business, or the thirst of gain,
Engage your journey o'er the pathless main:
Where savage pirates seek through seas unknown
The lives of others, venturous of their own."

Urged by the precepts by the goddess given, And fill'd with confidence infused from heaven,