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 pleased 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 foc;
Grant him unrival'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, disguised 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
With vigorous youth, unknown to cares, engage:
Yet fearful of disgrace, to try the day
Imperious hunger bids, and I obey.
But swear, impartial arbiters of right,
Swear to stand neutral, while we cope in fight."
The peers assent: when straight his sacred head
Telemachus upraised, and sternly said:

"Stranger, if prompted to chastise the wrong Of this bold insolent, confide, be strong! The 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; 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 the 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 the unwilling Irus to the fight; From his blank visage fled the coward blood, And his flesh trembled as aghast he stood.

"Oh that such baseness should disgrace the light! O hide it, death, in everlasting night! (Exclaims Antinous)-cau 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.

Antinous and Eurymachus.

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 merey 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:
Raised 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 bestial train !
But mercy to the poor and stranger show;
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 thong.
Then, turning short, disdain'd a further stay;
But to the palace measured 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 the aerial 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 pleased he hears, Antinous bears the food,
A kid's well-fatted entrails, rich with blood:
The bread from canisters of shining mold,
Amphinomus; 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, declined:
Then hear my words, and grave them in thy
mind!

Of all that breathes, or groveling 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 used 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.
O 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.
Meanwhile Minerva 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 loved 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,
(Replied the sagest of the royal train)
But bathed, anointed, and adorn'd, descend;
Powerful of charms, bid every grace attend;
The tide of flowing tears awhile 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:
O 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;
O'er all her senses, as the couch she press'd,
She pours a pleasing, deep, and death-like 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 measured bound
She smoothly gliding swims the 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: ·
Waked 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 given 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 frame."
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 the imperial matron broke :

"O why, my son, why now no more appears
That warmth of soul that urged 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 a hero from a hero sprung:
But the just gods in vain those gifts bestow-
O wise alone in form, and brave in show!
Heavens! could a stranger feel oppression's hand
Beneath thy roof, and couldst 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.
O would to Jove! 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:
Powerless to move, his staggering feet deny
The coward wretch the privilege to fly."

Then to the queen Eurymachus replies:
"O justly loved, and not more fair than wise!
Should Greece through all her hundred states survey
Thy finish'd charms, all Greece would own thy sway,
In rival crowds contest the glorious prize,
Dispeopling realms to gaze upon thy eyes:
O woman! loveliest of the lovely kind,
In body perfect, and complete in mind."

"Ahme!(returns the queen) when from this shore 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 oh, 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;
The afflictive hand of wrathful Jove to bear:
A wretch the most complete that breathes the air!
Fallen 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 pleased 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 waist the vest infold:
Down from the swelling loins 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 daylight 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, Even till the morning lamp adorns the sky: Even 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 the 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, Absorb'd 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 torchlight, and reflects the ray."
Then to the king that level'd haughty Troy:
Say if large hire can tempt thee to employ
Those hands in works; to tend the rural trade,
To dress the walk, and form the 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 incensed:-" Should we, O prince,
In rival tasks beneath the burning rage [engage
Of summer suns; were both constrain'd to wield,
Foodless, the scythe along the burden'd field;
Or should we labour, while the ploughshare wounds,
With steers of equal strength, the 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 the ensanguin'd field,
Fierce in the van: then would'st thou, would'st
thou,-say,

Misname me glutton, in that glorious day?
No; thy ill-judging thoughts the brave disgrace:
'Tis thou injurious art: not I am base.
Proud to seem brave among a coward train!
But know, thou art not valorous, but vain.
Gods! should the stern Ulysses rise in might,
These gates would seem too narrow for thy flight.”
While yet he speaks, Eurymachus replies,
With indignation flashing from his eyes:

Slave, I with justice might deserve the wrong,
Should I not punish that opprobrious tongue,
Irreverent to the great, and uncontroll'd.
Art thou from wine, or innate folly, bold?
Perhaps, these outrages from Irus flow,
A worthless triumph o'er a worthless foe!"

He said, and with full force a footstool threw : Whirl'd from his arm with erring rage it flew. Ulysses, cautious of the vengeful foe, Stoops to the ground, and disappoints the blow. Not so a youth who deals the goblet round: Full on his shoulder it inflicts a wound: Dash'd from his hand the sounding goblet flies; He shrieks, he reels, he falls, and breathless lies. Then wild uproar and clamour mounts the sky; Till mutual thus the peers indignant cry: "O had this stranger sunk to realms beneath To the black realms of darkness and of death, Ere yet he trod these shores!-To strife he draws Peer against peer; and what the weighty cause!

A vagabond!--for him the great destroy, In vile ignoble jars, the feast of joy."

To whom the stern Telemachus uprose: "Gods! what wild folly from the goblet flows! Whence this unguarded openness of soul, But from the license of the copious bowl? Or heaven delusion sends. But hence; away! Force I forbear, and without force obey."

Silent, abash'd, they hear the stern rebuke: Till thus Amphinomus the silence broke:

"True are his words: and he whom truth offends, Not with Telemachus, but truth, contends; Let not the hand of violence invade

The reverend stranger, or the spotless maid;
Retire we hence! but crown with rosy wine
The flowing goblet to the powers divine:
Guard he his guest beneath whose roof he stands:
This justice, this the social right demands."

The peers assent: the goblet Mulius crown'd
With purple juice, and bore in order round;
Each peer successive his libation pours
To the bless'd gods that fill the aerial bowers:
Then swill'd with wine, with noise the crowds obey,
And, rushing forth tumultuous, reel away.

BOOK XIX.

ARGUMENT.

THE DISCOVERY OF ULYSSES TO EURYCLEA.

Ulysses and his son remove the weapons out of the armoury. Ulysses in conversation with Penelope gives a fictitious account of his adventures; then assures her he had formerly entertained her husband in Crete, and describes exactly his person and address; affirms to have heard of him in Phæacia and Thesprotia, and that his return is certain, and within a month. He then goes to bathe, and is attended by Euryclea; who discovers him to be Ulysses by the scar upon his leg, which he formerly received in hunting the wild boar on Parnassus. The poet inserts a digression, relating that accident, with all its particulars.

CONSULTING Secret with the blue-eyed maid,
Still in the dome divine Ulysses stay'd:
Revenge mature for act inflamed his breast;
And thus the son the fervent sire address'd:

"Instant convey those stately stores of war,
To distant rooms, disposed with secret care:
The cause demanded by the suitor-train,
To soothe their fears a specious reason feign:
Say, since Ulysses left his natal coast,
Obscene with smoke, their beamy lustre lost,
His arms deform'd the roof they wont adorn:
From the glad walls inglorious lumber torn.
Suggest, that Jove the peaceful thought inspired,
Lest they by sight of swords to fury fired,
Dishonest wounds, or violence of soul,
Defame the bridal feast, and friendly bowl."
The prince obedient to the sage command,
To Euryclea thus: "The female band
In their apartments keep: secure the doors:
These swarthy arms among the covert stores
Are seemlier hid; my thoughtless youth they blame,
Imbrown'd with vapour of the smouldering flame."
"In happy hour (pleased Euryclea cries)
Tutor❜d by early woes, grow early wise!
Inspect with sharpen'd sight, and frugal care,
Your patrimonial wealth, a prudent heir.

But who the lighted taper will provide, (The female train retired) your toils to guide?" "Without infringing hospitable right, This guest (he cried) shall bear the guiding light. I cheer no lazy vagrants with repast;

They share the meal that earn it ere they taste."

He said: from female ken she straight secures The purposed deed, and guards the bolted doors: Auxiliar to his son Ulysses bears

The plumy-crested helms, and pointed spears,
With shields indented deep in glorious wars.
Minerva viewless on her charge attends,
And with her golden lamp his toil befriends.
Not such the sickly beams, which unsincere
Gild the gross vapour of this nether sphere!
A present deity the prince confess'd,
And rapt with ecstasy the sire address'd:

"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 moital sight.
Seek thou repose; whilst here I sole remain,
To explore the conduct of the female train:
The pensive queen perchance desires to know
The series of my toils, to soothe her woe."

With tapers flaming day his train attends ;
His bright alcove the obsequious youth ascends:
Soft slumbrous shades his drooping eye-lids close,
Till on her eastern throne Aurora glows.

Whilst, forming plans of death, Ulysses stay'd In council secret with the martial maid, Attendant nymphs in beauteous order wait The queen, descending from her bower of state. Her cheeks the warmer blush of Venus wear, Chasten'd with coy Diana's pensive air. An ivory seat with silver ringlets graced, By famed Iemalius wrought, the menials placed : With ivory silver'd thick the footstool shone, O'er which the panther's various hide was thrown. The sovereign seat with graceful air she press'd; To different tasks their toil the nymphs address'd: The golden goblets some, and some restored From stains of luxury the polish'd board: These to remove the expiring embers came, While those with unctuous fir foment the flame.

"Twas then Melantho with imperious mien Renew'd the attack, incontinent of spleen: "Avaunt (she cried) offensive to my sight! Deem not in ambush here to lurk by night, Into the woman-state asquint to pry; A day-devourer, and an evening spy! Vagrant, be gone! before this blazing brand Shall urge"-and wav'd it hissing in her hand. The insulted hero rolls his wrathful eyes, And, "Why so turbulent of soul? he cries; Can these lean shrivel'd limbs unnerved with age, These poor but honest rags, enkindle rage? In crowds, we wear the badge of hungry fate; And beg, degraded from superior state! Constrain'd! a rent-charge on the rich I live; Reduced to crave the good I once could give. A palace, wealth, and slaves I late possess'd, And all that makes the great be call'd the bless'd:

My gate, an emblem of my open soul,
Embraced the poor, and dealt a bounteous dole.
Scorn not the sad reverse, injurious maid!
'Tis Jove's high will; and be his will obey'd!
Nor think thyself exempt: that rosy prime
Mast share the general doom of withering time.
To some new channel soon, the changeful tide
Of royal grace the offended queen may guide;
And her loved lord unplume thy towering pride.
Or were he dead, 'tis wisdom to beware:
Sweet blooms the prince beneath Apollo's care;
Your deeds with quick impartial eye surveys;
Potent to punish what he cannot praise."

[ear:

Her keen reproach had reach'd the sovereign's "Loquacious insolent! (she cries) forbear: To thee the purpose of my soul I told; Venial discourse, unblamed, 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 placed : Due-distant for discourse the hero sat; When thus the sovereign from her chair of state : "Reveal, obsequious to my first demand, Thy name, thy lineage, and thy native land."

He thus: "O queen! whose far-resounding fame
Is bounded only by the starry frame,
Consummate pattern of imperial sway,
Whose pious rule a warlike race obey!
In wavy gold thy summer vales are dress'd;
Thy autumns bend with copious fruit oppress'd:
With flocks and herds each grassy plain is stored;
And fish of every fin thy seas afford:

Their affluent joys the grateful realms confess,
And bless the power that still delights to bless.
Gracious permit this prayer, imperial dame !
Forbear to know my lineage, or my name:
Urge not this breast to heave, these eyes to weep;
In sweet oblivion let my sorrows sleep!
My woes awaked will violate your ear;
And to this gay censorious train, appear
A winy vapour melting in a tear."

"Their gifts the gods resumed (the queen rejoin'd)
Exterior grace, and energy of mind,
When the dear partner of my nuptial joy
Auxiliar troops combined, to conquer Troy.
My lord's protecting hand alone would raise
My drooping verdure, and extend my praise!
Peers from the distant Samian shore resort;
Here, with Dulichians join'd, besiege the court :
Zacynthus, green with ever-shady groves,
And Ithaca, presumptuous, boast their loves :
Obtruding on my choice a second lord,
They press the hymenæan rite abhorr'd.
Misrule thus mingling with domestic cares,
I live regardless of my state affairs:
Receive no stranger-guest, no poor relieve;
But ever for my lord in secret grieve !—
This art, instinct by some celestial power,
I tried, elusive of the bridal hour:
'Ye peers, I cry, who press to gain a heart
Where dead Ulysses claims no future part,
Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend,
Till this funereal web my labours end :

Cease, till to good Laertes I bequeath

A pall of state, the ornament of death.
For when to fate he bows, each Grecian dame
With just reproach were licensed to defame,
Should he, long honoured in supreme command,
Want the last duties of a daughter's hand.'
The fiction pleased! their loves I long elude;
The night still ravel'd what the day renew'd.
Three years successful in my art conceal'd,
My ineffectual fraud the fourth reveal'd :
Befriended by my own domestic spies,
The woof unwrought the suitor-train surprise.
From nuptial rites they now no more recede,
And fear forbids to falsify the brede.
My anxious parents urge a speedy choice,
And to their suffrage gain the filial voice:
For rule mature, Telemachus deplores
His dome dishonoured, and exhausted stores-
But, stranger! as thy days seem full of fate,
Divide discourse; in turn thy birth relate:
Thy port asserts thee of distinguish'd race;
No poor unfather'd product of disgrace.'
"Princess! (he cries) renew'd by your com-
mand,

The dear remembrance of my native land,
Of secret grief unseals the fruitful source;
And tears repeat their long-forgotten course!
So pays the wretch, whom fate constrains to roam,
The dues of nature to his natal home !-
But inward on my soul let sorrow prey;
Your sovereign will my duty bids obey.

"Crete awes the circling waves, a fruitful soil!
And ninety cities crown the sea-born isle :
Mix'd with her genuine sons, adopted names
In various tongues avow their various claims :
Cydonians, dreadful with the bended yew,
And bold Pelasgi boast a native's due:
The Dorians, plumed amid the files of war,
Her foodful glebe with fierce Achaians share :
Cnossus, her capital of high command,
Where sceptred Minos with impartial hand
Divided right; each ninth revolving year,
By Jove received in council to confer.
His son Deucalion bore successive sway;
His son, who gave me first to view the day!
The royal bed an elder issue bless'd,
Idomeneus; whom Ilian fields attest

Of matchless deed: untrain❜d to martial toil
I lived inglorious in my native isle,
Studious of peace; and Æthon is my name.
'Twas then to Crete the great Ulysses came ;
For elemental war, and wintry Jove,
From Malea's gusty cape his navy drove
To bright Lucina's fane; the shelfy coast
Where loud Amnisus in the deep is lost.
His vessels moor'd, (an incommodious port!)
The hero speeded to the Cnossian court:
Ardent the partner of his arms to find;
In leagues of long commutual friendship join'd.
Vain hope! ten suns had warm'd the western
strand

Since my brave brother with his Cretan band
Had sail'd for Troy: but to the genial feast
My honour'd roof received the royal guest.
Beeves for his train the Cnossian peers assign,
A public treat, with jars of generous wine.
Twelve days, while Boreas vex'd the aerial space,
My hospitable dome he deign'd to grace:
And when the north had ceased the stormy roar,
He wing'd his voyage to the Phrygian shore."