The blameless hero from his wifh'd-for home
A goddefs guards in her inchanted dome,
(Atlas her fice, to whofe far-piercing eye
The wonders of the deep expanded ly;
Th' eternal columns which on earth he rears
End in the ftarry vault, and prop the spheres )
By his fair daughter is the chief confin'd,
Who fooths to dear delight his anxious mind.
Succefslefs all her foft careffes
prove,
To banish from his breaft: his country's love;
To fee the fmoke from his lov'd palace rife,
While the dear ifle in diftant profpect lies,

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With what contententment could he close his eyes?)
And will omnipotence neglect to fave

The fuff ring virtue of the wife and brave?
Muft he, whofe altars on the Phrygian shore
With frequent rites, and pure, avow'd thy pow'r,
Be doom'd the worst of human ills to prove,
Unblefs'd, abandon'd to the wrath of Jove?

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Daughter! what words have pafs'd thy lips unweigh'd? (Reply'd the thund'rer to the martial maid) Deem not unjustly by my doom opprest Of human race the wifeft and the best. Neptune, by pray'r repentant rarely won, Afflicts the chief, t' avenge his giant fon, Whofe vifual orb Ulyffes rob'd of light; Great Polypheme, of more than mortal might! Him young Thoofa bore, (the bright increase Of Phorcys, dreaded in the founds and feas ;) Whom Neptune ey'd with bloom of beauity blefs'd, And in his cave the yielding nymph comprefs'd. For this the god conftrains the Greek to roam, A hopeless exile from his native home, From death alone exempt-but cease to mourn; Let all combine t'atchieve his with'd return: Neptune aton'd, his wrath fhall now refrain, Or thwart the fynod of the gods in vain.

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Father and king ador'd! Minerva cry'd,

Since all who in th' Olympian bow'r refide

Now make the wand'ring Greek their public care,
Let Hermes to th' * Atlantic ifle repair ;
Bid him, arriv'd in bright Calypfo's court,
The fanction of th' affembled Pow'rs report;
That wife Ulyffes to his native land

Muft fpeed, obedient to their high command.
Mean time Telemachus, the blooming heir-
Of fea-girt Ithaca, demands my care:
'Tis mine to form his green, unpractis'd years,
In fage debates, furrounded with his peers,
To fave the state; and timely to restrain
The bold intrufion of the fuitor-train,
Who croud his palace, and with lawless pow'r
His herds and flocks in feastful rites devour.
To distant Sparta, and the spacious waste
Of fandy Pyle, the royal youth fhall hafte.
There, warm with filial love, the cause enquire
That from his realm retards his god-like fire ;
Deliv'ring early to the voice of fame

The promise of a great, immortal name.

She faid the fandals of celestial mold

Fledg'd with ambrofial plumes, and rich with gold, 125
Surround her feet; with thefe fublime fhe fails
Th' aereal space, and mounts the winged gales :
O'er earth and ocean wide prepar'd to foar,

Her dreaded arm a beamy jav'lin bore,

Prond'rous and vaft; which, when her fury burns, 130
Proud tyrants humbles, and whole hofts o'erturns.
From high Olympus prone her flight fhe bends,
And in the realm of Ithaca defcends:
Her lineaments divine the grave disguise
Of Mentes' form conceal'd from human eyes;
(Mentes, the monarch of the Taphian land,)
A glitt'ring spear wav'd awful in her hand.

* Ogygia.

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There in the portal plac'd, the heav'n-born maid
Enormous riot and mif-rule furvey'd.
On hides of beeves before the palace-gate,
(Sad fpoils of luxury,) the fuitors fate.
With rival art, and ardour in their mien,
At chefs they vie, to captivate the queen,
Divining of their loves. Autending nigh,
A menial train the flowing bowl fupply:
Others apart the fpacious hall prépare,
And form the coftly feaft with bufy care.
There young Telemachus, his bloomy face
Glowing celeftial-fweet with god-like grace,
Amid the circle fhines: but hope and fear
(Painful viciffitude!) his bofom tear.
Now imag'd in his mind, he fees reftor'd,
In peace and joy, the people's rightful lord;
The proud oppreffors fly the vengeful fword.
While his fond foul thefe fancied triumphsfwell'd, 155
The ftranger-gueft the royal youth beheld.
Griev'd that a vifitant fo long fhould wait
Unmark'd, unhonour'd, at a monarch's gate;

Instant he flew with hofpitable haste,

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And the new friend with courteous air embrac'd: 160
Stranger! whoe'er thou art, fecurely relt.
Affianc'd in my faith, a friendly guest ;
Approach the dome, the focial banquet fhare,
And then the purpofe of thy foul declare.

Thus affable and mild, the prince proceeds,
And to the dome th' unknown celeftial leads.
The fpear receiving from her hand, he plac'd
Against a column, fair with fculpture grac'd;
Where feemly rang'd in peaceful order, flood
Ulyffes' arms, now long difus'd to blood.
He led the goddefs to the fov reign feat,
Her feet fupported with a stool of state;
(A purple carpet fpread the pavement wide)
Then drew his feat, familiar, to her fide;

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Far from the fuitor train, a brutal croud,
With infolence, and wine, elate and loud;
Where the free gueft, unnoted, might relate,
If haply confcious, of his father's fate.
The golden ew'r a maid obfequious brings,
Replenish'd from the cool, translucent springs ;
With copious water the bright vafe fupplies
A filver laver of capacious fize:
They wash.
The tables in fair order spread,
They heap the glitt'ring canisters with bread:
Viands of various kinds allure the taste,
Of choiceft fort and favour, rich repast!
Delicious wines th' attending herald brought;
The gold gave luftre to the purple draught.
Lur'd with the vapour of the fragrant feaft,
In rush'd the fuitors with varacious hafte :
Marshal'd in order due, to each a few'r
Prefents, to bathe his hands, a radiant ew'r..
Luxurious then they feast. Obfervant round
Gay, ftripling youths the brimming goblets crown'd.
The rage of hunger quell'd, they all advance,
And form to meafur'd airs the mazy dance
To Phemius was confign'd the chorded lyre,
Whofe hand reluctant touch'd the warbling wire ;
Phemius, whofe voice divine could sweetest fing
High ftrains refponfive to the vocal string.

Mean while, in whispers to his heav'nly guest,
His indignation thus the prince expreft:

Indulge my rifing grief, whilft thefe (my friend)
With fong and dance the pompous revel end.
Light is the dance, and doubly fweet the lays,
When, for the dear delight, another pays.
His treafur'd ftores thefe cormorants confume,
Whole bones, defrauded of a regal tomb,
And common turf, ly naked on the plain;
Or doom'd to welter in the whelming main.
Should he return, that troop fo blithe and bold,
With purple robes inwrought, and ftiff with gold,

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Precipitant in fear, would wing their flight,
And curfe their cumbrous pride's unweildy weight.
But ah I dream 1-th' appointed hour is fled,
And hope, too long with vain delufion fed,
Deaf to the rumour of fallacious fame,
Gives to the roll of death his glorious name!
With venial freedom let me now demand
Thy name, thy lineage, and paternal land:
Sincere, from whence began thy course, recite,
And to what ship I owe the friendly freight?
Now first to me this vifit do'st thou deign,
Or number'd in my father's focial train ?
All who deferv'd his choice, he made his own,
And curious much to know, he far was known.

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My birth I boast, (the blue-ey'd virgin cries,) From great Anchia'us, renown'd and wife: Mentes my name; I rule the Taphian race, Whose bounds the deep circumfluent waves embrace : A duteous people, and industrious ifle, To naval arts inur'd, and stormy toil.

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Freighted with iron from my native land,

I fteer my voyage to the Brutian strand ;'

To gain by commerce, for the labour'd mass,

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A just proportion of refulgent brass.
Far from your capital my fhip refides.
At Reithrus, and fecure at anchor rides;
Where waving groves on airy Neion grow,
Supremely tall, and fhade the deeps below.
Thence to re-vifit your imperial dome,
An old, hereditary guest I come :
Your father's friend. Laertes can relate
Our faith unspotted, and its early date;

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Who, preft with heart-corroding grief and years, 245
To the gay court a rural fhade prefers;
Where, fole of all his train, a matron fage,
Supports with homely food his drooping age,
With feeble steps from marfhalling his vines
Returning fad, when toilfome day declines.

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