O never, never more! let king be just, Be mild in power, or faithful to his truft! Let tyrants govern with an iron rod, Opprefs, destroy, and be the fcourge of God; Since he who like a father held his reign, So foon forgot, was juft and mild in vain! True, while my friend is griev'd, his griefs I fhare; Yet now the rivals are my smallest care: They, for the mighty mifchiefs they devife, Ere long fhall pay her orieit lives the price. But against you, ye Greeks! ye coward train, Gods! how my toul is mov'd with just disdain! Dumb ye all ftand, and not one tongue affords His injur'd prince the little aid of words.
While yet he spoke, Leocritus rejoin'd:
O pride of words, and arrogance of mind!
Would't thou to rife in arms, the Greeks, advife?
Join all your powers! in arms, ye Greeks, arife!
Yet would your powers in vain our strength op-
pofe!
The valiant few o'ermatch an hoft of foes.
Should great Ulyffes dern appear in arms,
While the bowl circles, and the banquet warms;
Though to his breaft his fpoufe with transport
flies,
Torn from her breaft, that hour, Ulyffes dies.
But hence retreating to your domes repair;
To arm the vefiel, Mentor! be thy care,
And, Halitherfes! thine: be each his friend;
Ye lov'd the father: go, the fon attend.
But yet, I trust, the boaster means to stay
Safe in the court, nor tempt the watery way.
Then, with a rushing found, th' affembly bend,
Diverse their steps: the rival rout afcend
The royal dome; while fad the prince explores
The neighbouring main, and forrowing treads the
fhores.
There, as the waters o'er his hands he shed,
The royal fuppliant to Minerva pray'd:
O Goddess! who defcending from the skies
Vouchsaf'd thy prefence to my wondering eyes,
By whofe commands the raging deeps I trace,
And feek my fire thro' itorms and rolling feas!
Hear from thy heavens above, oh, warrior-maid!
Defcend once more propitious to my aid.
Without thy prefence, 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 wife,
Born, the Ulyffes of thy age to rife!
If to the fon the father's worth defcends,
O'er the wide waves fuccefs thy ways attends :
To tread the walks of death he ftood prepar'd;
And what he greatly thought, he nobly dar'd.
Were not wife fons defcendents of the wife,
And did not heroes from brave heroes rife :
Vain were my hopes: few fons attain the praise
Of their great fires, and moft their fires difgrace.
But fince thy veins paternal virtue fires,
And all Penelope thy foul infpires:
Go, and fucceed! the rivals aims defpife;
For never, never, wicked man was wife.
Blind they rejoice, though now, ev'n now they fall;
Death hates amain: one houro'erwhelms them all!
And lo, with speed we plough the watery way,
My power hall guard thee, and my hand convey:
The winged veffel ftudious I prepare,
Through feas and realms companions of thy care.
Thou to the court afcend: and to the shores
(When night advances) bear the naval stores;
Bread, that decaying man with ftrength supplies,
And generous wine, which thoughtful forrow flies
Mean while the mariners, by my command,
Shall speed aboard, a valiant chofen 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 flain.
Arriv'd, his hand the gay Antinous prest,
And, thus deriding, with a smile addrest:
Grieve not, oh, daring prince! that noble heart: Ill fuits gay youth the itern heroic part; Indulge the genial hour, unbend thy foul, 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 fwelling tides.
In this, returns the prince, for mirth a time? When lawless gluttons riot, mirth's a crime; The luscious wines, difhonour'd lose their taste; The fong is noife, and impious is the feaft. Suffice it to have spent with swift decay The wealth of kings, and made my youth a prey. But now the wife inftructions of the fage, And manly thoughts infpir'd by manly age, Teach me to feek redrefs for all my woe, Here, or in Pyle-in Pyle, or here, your foe. Deny your veffels, ye deny in vain; A private voyager 1 pafs 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 Sternly his hand withdrew, and strode away. [ftay, Mean time, o'er ail the dome, they quaff, they'
Derifive taunts were spread from guest to gueft,
And each in jovial mood his mate addrest:
Tremble ye not, oh friends! and coward fly,
Doom'd by the ftern Telemachus to die?
To Pyle or Sparta to demand supplies,
Big with revenge, the mighty warrior flies:
Or comes from Ephyré with poifons fraught.
And kills us all in one treinendous draught?
Or, who can say (his gamefome mate replies) · But, while the dangers of the deeps he tries, He, like his fire, may fink depriv'd of breath, And punish us unkindly by his death? What mighty labours would he then create, To feize his treafures, and divide his ftate, The royal palace to the queen convey, Or him the blefles in the bridal day! Mean time the lofty rooms the prince surveys, Where lay the treasures of th' Ithacian race: Here ruddy brafs and gold refulgent blaz'd; There polish'd chefts embroider'd vestures grac'd; Here jars of oil breath'd forth a rich perfume; There cafks of wine in rows adorn'd the dome (Pure flavorous wine, by Gods in bounty given, And worthy to exalt the feafts of heaven). Untouch'd they food, till, his long labours o'er, The great Ulyffes reach'd his native shore.
A double strength of bars fecur'd the gates:
Faft by the door the wife Euryclea waits;
Euryclea, who, great Ops! thy lineage fhar'd,
And watch'd all night, all day; a faithful guard.
To whom the prince: O thou, whofe guardian
[air:
Nurs'd the moft wretched king that breathes the
Untouch'd and facred may these veffels ftand,
Till great Ulyffes views his native land.
But by thy care twelve urns of wine be fill'd;
Next these in worth, and firm thofe urns be
feal'd;
And twice ten meafures of the choiceft flour
Prepar'd, ere yet defcends the evening hour.
For when the favouring fhades of night arise,
And peaceful flumbers close my mother's eyes,
Me from our coafts shall spreading fails convey,
To feek Ulyffes through the watery way.
While yet he spoke, the fill'd, the walls with
cries,
And tears ran trickling from her aged eyes.
Oh whither, whither flies my fon? the cry'd,
To realms, that rocks and roaring feas 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 muft perish, and by fraud you die ! [main;
Then ftay, my child! ftorms beat, and rolls the
Oh, beat thofe ftorms, and roll the feas in vain!
Far hence (reply'd the prince) thy fears be
driven:
[ven.
Heaven calls me forth!thefe counfels are of Hea-
But, by the powers that hate the perjur'd, fwear,
To keep my voyage from the royal ear,
Not uncompell'd the dangerous truth betray,
Till twice fix times defcends the lamp of day:
Left the fad tale a mother's life impair,
And grief deftroy what time a while would fpare.
Thus he. The matron with uplifted eyes
Attefts th' all-feeing Sovereign of the skies.
Then ftudious the prepares the choiceft flour,
The ftrength of wheat, and wines an ample store.
While to the rival train the prince returns,
The martial Goddefs with impatience burns;
Like thee, Telemachus, in voice and fize,
With speed divine from ftreet to street the flies,
She bids the mariners prepar'd, to stand,
When night defcends, embody'd on the strand.
Then to Noëmon fwift the runs, the flies,
And afks a bark: the chief a bark fupplies.
And now, declining with his floping wheels,
Down funk the fun behind the western hills.
The Goddess fhov'd the veffels from the shores,
And ftow'd within its womb the naval ftores.
Full in the openings of the fpacious main
It rides; and now descends the failor-train.
Next, to the court, impatient of delay,
With rapid ftep the Goddess urg'd her way!
There every eye with flumberous chains fhe
bound,
And dafh'd the flowing goblet to the ground,
Drowly they rofe, with heavy fumes oppreft,
Reel'd from the palace, and retir'd to reft.
Then thus, in Mentor's reverend form array'd,
Spoke to Telemachus the martial maid.
Lo on the feas, prepar'd the veffel ftands,
Th' impatient mariner thy speed demands.
Swift as he spoke, with rapid pace she leads;
The footsteps of the Deity he treads.
Swift to the shore they move along the ftrand
The ready veffel rides, the failors ready stand.
He bids them bring their ftores; th' attending
Load the tall bark, and launch into the main.
The Prince and Goddess to the ftern afcend;
To the strong stroke at once the rowers bend.
Full from the weft fhe bids fresh breezes blow;
The fable billows foam and roar below.
The chief his orders gives; th' obedient band
With due obfervance wait the chief's command
With speed the maft they rear, with speed unbind
The fpacious fheet, and ftretch it to the wind.
High o'er the roaring waves the spreading fails
Bow the tall maft, and fwell before the gales;
The crooked keel the parting furge divides,
And to the ftern retreating roll the tides.
And now they fhip their oars, and crown with
The holy goblet to the powers divine:
Imploring all the Gods that reign above,
But chief the blue-ey'd progeny of Jove.
Thus all the night they ftem the liquid way,
And end their voyage with the morning ray.
Telemachus, guided by Pallas in the fhape of Mentor, arrives in the morning at Pylos, where Neftor and his foos are facrificing on the fea-thore to Neptune. Telemachus declares the occafion of his coming; and Neftor relates what past in their return from Troy, how their fleets were separated, and he never fince heard of Ulyffes. They difcourfe concerning the death of Agamemnon, the revenge of Oreftes, and the injuries of the fuitors. Neftor advises him to go to Sparta, and inquire further of Menelaus. The facrifice ended with the night, Minerva vanishes from them in the form of an eagle: Telemachus is lodged in the palace. The next morning they facrifice a bullock to Minerva; and Telemachus proceeds on his journey to Sparta, attended by Piliftratus. The fcene lies on the fea-fhore of Pylos.
THE facred fun, above the waters rais'd,
Through heaven's eternal brazen portals blaz'd;
And wide o'er earth diffus'd 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, fuppliant to the monarch of the flood,
At nine green theatres the Pylians ftood,
Each held five hundred (a deputed train),
At each, nine oxen on the fand lay flain.
They take the entrails, and the altars load
With Smoking thighs, an offering to the God.
Full for the port the Ithacenfians stand,
And furl their fails, and issue on the land.
Telemachus already preft the fhore;
Not first, the Power of Wisdom march'd before,
And, ere the facrificing throng he join'd,
Admonish'd thus his well-attending mind:
Proceed, my fon! this youthful fhame expel;
An honeft bufinefs never blufh to tell.
To learn what fates thy wretched fire detain,
We pafs'd the wide, immeasurable main.
Meet then the fenior far renown'd for fenfe,
With reverend awe, but decent confidence:
Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies;
And fure he will: for Wifdom never lies.
Oh, tell me, Mentor ! tell me, faithful guide, (The youth with prudent modefty reply'd) How fhall I meet, or how accoft the fage, Unfkill'd in fpeech, nor yet mature of age Awful th' approach, and hard the task appears, To queftion wifely men of riper years.
To whom the martial Goddess thus rejoin'd: Search, for fome thoughts, thy own fuggefting mind;
And others, dictated by heavenly power,
Shall rife fpontaneous in the needful hour.
For nought unprofperous fhall thy ways attend,
Born with good omens, and with heaven thy friend.
She spoke, and led the way with fwifteft speed:
As fwift, the youth pursued the way the led;
And join'd the band before the facred fire,
Where fate, encompast with his fons, the fire.
The youth of Pylos, fome on pointed wood
Transfix the fragments, fome prepar'd the food.
In friendly throngs they gather to embrace
Their unknown guefts, and at the banquet place.
Pififtratus was first, to grasp their hands,
And fpread foft hides upon the yellow fands;
Along the fhore th' illuftrious pair he led,
Where Neftor fate with youthful Thrafymed.
To each a portion of the feaft he bore,
And held the golden goblet foaming o'er;
Then first approaching to the elder guest,
The latent Goddefs in thefe words addreft:
Whoe'er thou art, whom Fortune brings to keep
The rites of Neptune, monarch of the deep,
The first it fits, oh ftranger! to prepare
Thee due libation and the folemn prayer:
Then give thy friend to fhed the facred 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 miferable race!
He fpake, and to her hand preferr'd the bowl: A fecret pleasure touch'd Athena's foul,
To fee the preference due to facred age
Regarded ever by the just and sage.
Of Ocean's king the then implores the grace:
Oh, thou! whofe arms this ample globe embrace/
Fulfil our wish, and let thy glory fhine
On Neftor firft, and Neftor's royal line;
Next grant the Pylian states their just desires,
Pleas'd with their hecatomb's afcending fires;
Laft deign Telemachus and me to blefs,
And crown our voyage with defir'd fuccefs.
Thus fhe; and, having paid the rite divine,
Gave to Ulyffes' fon the rofy wine.
Suppliant he pray'd. And, now the victims dreft,
They draw, divide, and celebrate the feast.
The banquet done, the narrative old man,
Thus mild, the pleafing conference began:
Now, gentle guests! the genial banquet o'er, It fits to afk you, what your native shore, And whence your race? on what adventure, fay, Thus far ye wander through the watery way? Relate (if business, or the thirft of gain, Engage your journey o'er the pathless main: Where favage pirates feek through seas unknown The lives of others, venturous of their own.
Urg'd by the precepts by the Goddess given,
And fill'd with confidence infus'd from heaven,
The youth, whom Pallas deftin'd to be wife
And fam'd among the fons of men, replies:
Inquir't thou, father! from what coaft we came?
(Oh, grace and glory of the Grecian name!)
From where high Ithaca o'erlooks the floods,
Brown with o'erarching fhades and pendent
Us to these shores our filial duty draws, [woods,
A private forrow, not a public caufe.
My fire I feek, where-e'er the voice of Fame
Has told the glories of his noble name,
The great Ulyffes; fam'd from shore to shore
For valour much, for hardy fuffering more.
Long time with thee before proud Ilion's wall,
In arms he fought; with thee beheld her fall."
Of all the chiefs, this hero's fate alone
Has Jove referv'd, unheard of, and unknown;
Whether in fields by hoftile fury flain,
Or funk by tempefts in the gulfy main?
Of this to learn, oppreft with tender fears,
Lo! at thy knee his suppliant son appears."
If or thy certain eye, or curious ear,
Have learnt his fate, the whole dark story clear:
And, oh whate'er heaven deftin'd to betide,
Let neither flattery smooth, nor pity hide.
Prepar'd I ftand: he was but born to try
The lot of man; to fuffer and to die.
Oh then, if ever through the ten years war
The wife, the good Ulyffes claim'd thy care;
If e'er he join'd thy council, or thy fword,
True in his deed, and constant to his word:
Far as thy mind through backward time can see,
Search all thy ftores of faithful memory:
'Tis facred Truth I ask, and ask of thee.
To him experienc'd Neftor thus rejoin'd: O friend! what forrows doft thou bring to mind? Shall 1 the long laborious fcene review, And open all the wounds of Greece anew? What toils by fea! where dark in quest of prey Dauntless we rov'd, Achilles led the way: What toils by land where mix'd in fatal fight Such numbers fell, such heroes sunk to night:
There Ajax great, Achilles there the brave,
There wife Patroclus, fill an early grave:
There too my fon--ah, once my best delight,
Once fwift of foot, and terrible in fight;
In whom stern courage with foft virtue join'd,
A faultless body, and a blameless mind:
Antilochus---what more can I relate?
How trace the tedious feries of our fate?
Not added years on years my task could close,
The long hiftorian of my country's woes:
Back to thy native islands might'ft thou fail,
And leave half-heard the melancholy tale.
Nine painful years on that detefted shore,
What fratagems we form'd, what toils we bore!
Still labouring on, till scarce at last we found
Great Jove propitious, and our conqueft crown'd.
Far o'er the reft thy mighty father fhin'd,
In wit, in prudence, and in force of mind.
Art thou the son of that illustrious fire?
With joy I grasp thee, and with love admire.
So like your voices, and your words fo wife,
Who finds thee younger must confult his eyes.
Thy fire and I were one; nor vary'd ought
In public fentence, or in private thought;
Alike to council or th' affembly came,
With equal fouls, and fentiments the fame.
But when (by Wisdom won) proud Ilion burn'd,
And in their fhips the conquering Greeks re-
turn'd;
'Twas God's high will the victors to divide,
And turn th' event, confounding human pride:
Some he deftroy'd, fome fcatter'd as the duft,
(Not all were prudent, and not all were just).
Then Difcord, fent by Pallas from above,
Stern daughter of the great avenger Jove,
The brother-kings infpir'd with fell debate;
Who call'd to council all th' Achaian state,
But call'd untimely (not the facred rite
Obferv'd, nor heedful of the setting light,
Nor herald fworn the feffion to proclaim).
Sour with debauch a reeling tribe they came.
To these the cause of meeting they explain,
And Menelaus moves to cross the main;
Not fo the king of men: he will'd to stay :
Thefe facred rites and hecatombs to pay,
And calm Minerva's wrath. Oh, blind to
Fate!
The Gods not lightly change their love, or hate.
With ireful taunts each other they oppose,
Till in loud tumult all the Greeks arofe.
Now different counfels every breaft divide,
Each burns with rancour to the adverse side:
Th' unquiet night strange projects entertain'd
(So Jove, that urg'd us to our fate, ordain'd).
We with the rifing morn our ships unmoor'd,
And brought our captives and our stores aboard;
But half the people with respect obey'd
The king of men, and at his bidding stay'd.
Now on the wings of winds our course we keep
(For God had smooth'd the waters of the deep);
For Tenedos we spread our eager oars,
There land, and pay due victims to the Powers:
To blefs our fafe return we join in prayer;
But angry Jove difpers'd our vows in air,
Wife as he was, by various counfels sway'd,
He there, though late, to please the monarch,
But I, determin'd, ftem the foamy floods, [ftay'd.
Warn'd of the coming fury of the Gods.
With us, Tydides fear'd, and urg'd his hafte;
And Menelaus came, but came the laft.
He join'd our veffels in the Lesbian bay,
While yet we doubted of our watery way
If to the right to urge the pilot's toil,
(The fafer road) befide the Pfyrian isle;
Or the straight courfe to rocky Chios plough,
And anchor under Mima's fhaggy brow?
We fought direction of the Power divine:
The God propitious gave the guiding fign;
Through the mild feas he bid our navy steer,
And in Euboea fhun the woes we fear.
The whiftling winds already wak'd the sky;
Before the whiftling winds the veffels fly,
With rapid fwiftnefs cut the liquid way,
And reach Gereftus at the point of day.
There hecatombs of bulls, to Neptune flain,
High-flaming please the monarch of the main.
The fourth day fhone, when all their labours
o'er,
Tydides' veffels touch'd the wifh'd-for fhore.
But I to Pylos fcud before the gales,
The Gods ftill breathing on my fwelling fails;
Separate from all, I fafely landed here;
Their fates or fortunes never reach'd my ear.
Yet what I learn'd, attend; as here I fate,
And afk'd each voyager each hero's fate;
Curious to know, and willing to relate.
Safe reach'd the Myrmidons their native land,
Beneath Achilles' warlike fon's command.
Thofe, whom the heir of great Apollo's art,
Brave Philoctetes, taught to wing the dart;
And those whom Idomen from Ilion's plain
Had led, fecurely croft the dreadful main.
How Agamemnon touch'd his Argive coaft,
And how his life by fraud and force he loft,
And how the murderer paid his forfeit breath;
What lands fo diftant from that scene of death
But trembling heard the fame; and, heard, ad-
mire
How well the fon appeas'd the slaughter'd fire!
Ev'n to th' unhappy, that unjustly bleed,
Heaven gives pofterity, t' avenge the deed.
So fell gyfthus; and may'ft thou, my friend,
(On whom the virtues of thy fire descend)
Make future times thy equal act adore,
And be what brave Oreftes was before!
The prudent youth reply'd: O thou the grace
And lasting glory of the Grecian race!
Juft was the vengeance, and to latest days
Shall long pofterity refound the praise.
Some God this arm with equal prowess blefs!
And the proud fuitors fhall its force confefs:
Injurious men who while my foul is fore
Of fresh affronts, are meditating more.
But Heaven denies this honour to my hand,
Nor fhall my father repoffefs the land:
The father's fortune never to return,
And the fad fon's to fuffer and to mourn?
Thus he; and Neftor took the word: My fon,
And rais'd new difcord. Then (fo Heaven de- Is it then true, as diftant rumours run,
Ulyffes first and Neftor disagreed:
That crowds of rivals for thy mother's charms
Thy palace fill with infults and alarms?
Say, is the fault through tame fubmiffion thine?"
Or, leagued against thee, do thy people join,
Mov'd by fome oracle, or voice divine?
And yet who knows, but ripening lies in fate
An hour of vengeance for th' afflicted state;
When great Ulyffes fhall fupprefs thefe harms,
Ulyffes fingly, or all Greece in arms.
But if Athena, war's triumphant maid,
The happy fon will, as the father, aid,
(Whofe fame and fafety was her conftant care
In every danger and in every war:
Never on man did heavenly favour shing
With rays fo ftrong, diftinguifh'd, and divine,
As thofe with which Minerva mark'd thy fire)
So might the love thee, fo thy foul infpire!
Soon fhould their hopes in humble duft be laid,
And long oblivion of the bridal bed.
Ah! no fuch hope (the prince with fighs replies) [nies. Can touch my breaft; that bleffing Heaven deEv'n by celestial favour were it given, Fortune or Fate will crofs the will of Heaven. What words are thete, and what imprudence thine?
(Thus interpos'd the martial Maid divine)
Forgetful youth! but know, the Power above
With eafe can fave each object of his love;
Wide as his will extends his boundless grace:
Nor loft in time, nor circumfcrib'd by place.
Happier his lot, who, many forrows past,
Long labouring gains his natal fhore at laft;
Than who, too fpeedy, haftes to end his life
By fome ftern ruffian, or adulterous wife.
Death only is the lot which none can mifs,
And all is poffible to Heaven, but this.
The beft, the dearest favourite of the fky
Muft taste that cup, for man is born to die.
Thus check'd, reply'd Ulyffes' prudent heir:
Menter, no more---the mournful thought forbear;
For he no more muft draw his country's breath,
Already fnatch'd by fate, and the black doom of
death!
Pafs we to other fubjects; and engage
On themes remote the venerable fage
(Who thrice has feen the perishable kind
Of men decay, and through three ages fhin'd
Like Gods majeftic, and like Gods in mind).
For much he knows, and just conclufions draws,
From various precedents, and various laws.
O fon of Neleus! awful Neftor, tell
How he, the mighty Agamemnon, fell?
Py what ftrange fraud Egythus wrought, relate.
(By force he could not) fuch a hero's fate?
Liv'd Menelaus not in Greece! or where
Was then the martial brother's pious care?
Condemn'd perhaps fome foreign fhore to tread ;
Or fure Egyfthus had not dar'd the deed.
To whom the full of days; Illustrious youth! Attend (though partly thou haft gueft) the truth. For had the martial Menelaus found
The ruffian breathing yet on Argive ground;
Nor earth had hid his carcafe from the skies,
Nor Grecian virgins fhriek'd his obfequies.
But fowls obfcene difmember'd his remains,
And dogs had torn him on the naked plains.
While us the works of bloody Mars employ'd,
The wanton youth inglorious peace enjoy'd;
He, stretch'd at ease in Argos' calm recefs,
(Whole ftately steeds luxuriant paftures blefs)
With flattery's infinuating art
Sooth'd the frail queen, and poifon'd all her heart
At first, with worthy fhame and decent pride,
The royal dame his lawless fuit deny`d.
For virtue's image yet poffet her mind,
Taught by a matter of the tuneful kind :
Atrides, parting from the Trojan war,
Conügn'd the youthful confort to his care.
True to his charge, the bard preferv'd her long
In honour's limits; fuch the power of fong.
But when the Gods thefe objects of their hate
Dragg'd to deftruction, by the links of fate;
The bard they banish'd from his native foil,
And left all helplefs in a defert ille :
There he, the tweeteft of the facred train,
Sung dying to the rocks, but fung in vain.
Then Virtue was no more; her guard away,
She fell, to luft a voluntary prey.
Ev'n to the temple italk'd th' adulterous spouse,
With impious thanks, and mockery of vows,
With images, with garments, and with gold;
And odorous fumes from loaded altars roll'd.
Mean time from flaming Troy we cut the way,
With Menelaüs, through the curling fea.
But when to Sunium's facred point we came,
Crown'd with the temple of the Athenian dame;
Atrides' pilot, Phrontes, there expir'd
(Phroutes, of all the fons of men admir'd
To fteer the bounding bark with steady toil,
When the storm thickens, and the billows boil):
While yet he exercis'd the fteerman's art,
Apollo touch'd him with his gentle dart;
Even with the rudder in his hand he fell.
To pay whofe honours to the fhades of hell,
We check'd our hafte, by pious office bound,
And laid our old companion in the ground.
And now, the rites discharg'd, our course we keep
Far on the gloomy bofom of the deep:
Soon as Malea's misty tops arife,
Sudden the Thunderer blackens all the fkies,
And the winds whistle, and the furges roll
Mountains on mountains, and obfcure the pole.
The tempeft fcatters and divides our fleet:
Part the ftorm urges on the coast of Crete,
Where, winding round the rich Cydonian plain,
The ftreams of Jardan iffue to the main.
There stands a rock, high eminent and fleep,
Whofe thaggy brow o'erhangs the thady deep,
And views Gortyna on the western fide;
On this rough Außer drove th' impetuons tide:
With broken force the billows roll'd away,
And heav'd the fleet into the neighbouring bay:
Thus fav'd from death, they gain'd the Phaftan
fhores,
With fhatter'd veffels, and difabled oars:
But five tall barks the winds and waters toft,
Far from their fellows on th' Ægyptian coaft.
There wander'd Menelaus through foreign thores,
Amafling gold, and gathering naval fores;
While curit Egythus the detested deed
By fraud fulfill'd, and his great brother bled.
Seven years the traitor rich Mycene fway'd,
And his ftern rule the groaning land obey'd;
The eighth, from Athens, to his realm retter'd,
Oreftes brandish'd the revenging fword,
|