As gales propitious bade the vessel glide;
They soon a fair and florid isle descried.-
There, tuneful sirens, with mellifluous strain,
Allure th' unwary sailors to their bane.-
Them the bright muse Terpsichore of yore,
Seducers sweet, to Achelous bore.
Their charming songs thy daughter, Ceres, lov'd,
Ere Pluto from Ennaan fields remov'd.
When, wreathing chaplets with the virgin throng,
She join'd the dance, and shar'd the choral song.
Mix'd was their form; part, shone with female grace;
And part bespoke them of the plumy race.—
Their station on the lofty rock they keep,
Where cliffs projecting shade the glassy deep.
Far distant heard their songs insidious flow,
And bid the mariner his home forego.
Deceiv'd-enchanted-day succeeding day,
He pines, and wastes his idle life away.—
And now, with soft and never-ceasing sound,
The sweet deluders pour'd their notes around.
Delighted and entranc'd, the Grecian band,
Had cast their anchors, on the fatal strand;
But soon the poet, of celestial race,*
Son of Eagrus, tuneful pride of Thrace,
Preventive melody, with heav'nly fire,
And flying fingers, touch'd the native lyre.
He swept, with mastery, the hurried sound;
And notes of manly music floated round.
Loud, o'er the soft voluptuous strain, it thrill'd;
And every ear the martial descant fill'd.
Before the zephyrs, as they shoot along,
Thro' gurgling waves, they lose the siren throng;
Less heard, and less their voices melt away;
And, lost in undulating air, decay.
Yet, Butes, son of Teleon, heard the strain,
With sweet seduction wafted o'er the main.
He only, leaning from the polish'd stern,
The words of smooth enchantment could discern.-
Instant, he plung'd amid the watʼry roar,
Possest with hopes to gain the fatal shore.
There had he perish'd; but the queen of love
Beheld the youth, with pity, from above;
And safe to land restor❜d him from the deep;
Where Lilybaum rears th' aerial steep.-
Sorrowing the Grecian band their course pursue,
While in their path yet greater perils grew.
Here, Scylla rose with dark and fearful head.
Loud bellowing there, Charybdis terror spread.
And while the Plancte wander thro' the waves,
Against their sides the gushing billow raves.
There, from the burning rocks the flames arise,
With smoke in columns tow'ring to the skies;
And, raging from the subterranean cells,
The boiling deep the flame of Vulcan swells.-
His anvils rested; but the furnace glow'd;
And, mix'd with sparks, redounding vapour flow'd.
The struggling sun diffus'd a feeble ray,
And pitchy clouds prevail'd upon the day.
Around the vessel, now, the Nereids throng; And Thetis, following urg'd the bark along. The dangerous course thro' floating rocks to guide, She grasp'd the rudder, and her force applied, While winds propitious lent their airy wing. 1480 Thus, from the deep, exulting dolphins spring; Now, in the van their beauteous forms appear; And now they bend resplendent in the rear; Now, parallel on either hand, they dart; A prospect grateful to the sailor's heart; Thus crouded round the ship the graceful band; While Thetis steer'd her, with unerring hand.
When to those wandering isles the vessel came,
Above her snowy knees each sea-born dame
With eager haste her floating garments drew,
Then, wide disperst, to share the labour flew.
On the sharp rocks, at intervals, they stood;
Where billows broke incessant from the flood;
And as they rush'd infuriate on the shore,
The foamy swell aloft the vessel bore.—
Now, airy light the nymphs to Heav'n ascend.
Now, with the wave to blackest depths descend.
As when, upon the hard and yellow sands,
With garb succinct, the sportive virgin bands
From hand to hand the gay contention ply,
And urge the ball quick circling thro' the sky.
Alternate caught amid the sportive crowd,
Alternate lost amid the fleeting cloud,
Earth still it shuns; the Nereids thus sustain
The flying ship alternate thro' the main,
High on the billow's back; while dashing round,
Thro' pointed breakers roar'd the salt profound.
Their labours Vulcan, sov'ran of the fires,
From the smooth promontory's top admires.
His hammer propt his shoulder as he stood,
And wondering gaz'd that animated flood.
From starry seats, th' imperial bride of Jove,
Mark'd how the vessel with the billows strove.
Possest and palpitating with alarms,
She clasp'd Minerva in her trembling arms.
Around that vessel such was the delay,
As fill'd the compass of a summer's day;
Ere freed from rocks the nymphs a passage gave,
To feel the favouring breeze, and skim the wave.
With gladden'd Hearts, the sailors forward run, 1526
And pass Trinacria favour'd by the sun.
Her flowery meads that happy land displays;
Untroubled there the flocks of Phebus graze.
The task of Juno done, the flitting train,
Like birds aquatic div'd beneath the main.
The Greeks the bleat of sheep unnumber'd hear,
And low of oxen vibrates on their ear.
The sheep, on grass with spangled dew bespread,
Sol's youngest daughter Phaethusa fed.
With mildest rule her subject flock she sway'd; 1530
A silver crook her lovely hand display'd.
A staff of shining brass Lampetia held,
And o'er the meads the lowing herd impell'd.
The flocks and herds were white as drifted snow;
And fed, where springs the pastures moist o'erflow.
No dusky stain was thro' the number found;
And horns of gold their heads resplendent crown'd.—
These meads they coasted, with diurnal light;
Then past a deep and spacious bay by night.
Thro' shades rejoicing they pursued their way, 1540
Till morning hail'd them, with returning bay.
Beyond th' Ionian bay an island lies,
In wealth abounding, and of ample size.
With ample harbours blest, Ceraunia nam'd,
From elder time in storied legend fam'd.
And here 'tis fabled (heav'nly muse forgive;
I bid the tale, with voice reluctant live).—
Beneath the sickle lies, with horrid deed,
Distain'd, when Saturn doom'd his sire to bleed.-
As others sing, this implement, of yore,
The bounteous Ceres to the harvest bore.
For well the Goddess lov'd th'. exuberant soil,
And taught the Titans there the reaper's toil.
Such love she bore to Macris, after stil'd
Fair Drepané, nurse of Phaacians mild.
Hither, thro' perils of the wave and land,
The Minya past, from fair Trinacria's strand.
With fair reception, and a bounteous heart,
The king and people social rites impart.
With joy Alcinous and the city came,
That seem'd a tribute to the kindred claim.-
The jocund train while festive rites employ,
The brave adventurers share the common joy.
An inborn transport fill'd th' exulting train,
As tho' ev'n now they trod Thessalia's plain.
Delusive joy!-ordain'd by hostile fate,
Them fierce alarms from Colchian myriads wait.
With thirst of vengeance from the Pontus fraught.
Along the shores the Grecian band they sought.-
Thro' the Cyanean rocks their squadrons came, 1570
And every bosom rag'd with hostile flame.
They claim, to bear away the Colchian maid,
And no pretence may this demand evade.
These terms rejected, to maintain their right
They menace fierce interminable fight.
Both there, on land, and after on the main,
With proud Eetes, and his naval train.
But king Alcinous stay'd the rising war,
Pleas'd to remove the flames of strife afar.
With apprehensions dire the virgin fraught,
By turns the valiant friends of Jason sought.
Then, near Phaacia's queen Arete stands;
And humbly clasps her knees, with suppliant hands."With pity, queen, behold a wretched maid; "With generous hand extend thy timely aid. "Shall yon barbarians, sate their fell desire, "To bear a victim, to her vengeful sire. "By woman-hood I urge thee, royal fair. "Nor let her failings mar the suppliant's pray'r. "Let not my faults that gentle bosom steel. "Mortal thyself, for human errors feel.
"Most prone to faults is woman's wand'ring sense.
"True, I have erred; but venial my offence.
"This orb of day, with courage, I attest,
"No fires unchaste pollute my youthful breast.
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