BOOK I
ARGUMENT.
MINERVA'S DESCENT TO ITHACA.
The poem opens within forty eight days of the arrival of Ulysses in his dominions. He had now remained seven years in the Island of Calypso, when the gods assembled in council, proposed the method of his departure from thence and his return to his native country. For this purpose it is concluded to send Mercury to Calypso, and Pallas immediately descends to Ithaca. She holds a conference with Telemachus, in the shape of Mantes, king of Taphians; in which she advises him to take a journey in quest of his father Ulysses, to Pylos and Sparta, where Nestor and Menelaus yet reigned; then, after having visibly displayed her divinity, disappears. The suitors of Penelope make great entertainments, and riot in her palace till night. Phemius sings to them the return of the Grecians, till Penelope puts a stop to the song. Some words arise between the suitors and Telemachus, who summons the council to meet the day following.
The man for wisdom's various arts renown'd, Long exercised in woes, O Muse! resound; Who, when his arms had wrought the destined fall Of sacred Troy, and razed her heaven-built wall, Wandering from clime to clime, observant stray'd, Their manners noted, and their states survey'd, On stormy seas unnumber'd toils he bore, Safe with his friends to gain his natal shore: Vain toils! their impious folly dared to prey On herds devoted to the god of day; The god vindictive doom'd them never more (Ah, men unbless'd!) to touch that natal shore. Oh, snatch some portion of these acts from fate, Celestial Muse! and to our world relate.
Now at their native realms the Greeks arrived; All who the wars of ten long years survived; And 'scaped the perils of the gulfy main. Ulysses, sole of all the victor train, An exile from his dear paternal coast, Deplored his absent queen and empire lost. Calypso in her caves constrain'd his stay, With sweet, reluctant, amorous delay; In vain-for now the circling years disclose The day predestined to reward his woes. At length his Ithaca is given by fate, Where yet new labours his arrival wait; At length their rage the hostile powers restrain, All but the ruthless monarch of the main. But now the god, remote, a heavenly guest, In AEthiopia graced the genial feast (A race divided, whom with sloping rays The rising and descending sun surveys); There on the world's extremest verge revered With hecatombs and prayer in pomp preferr'd, Distant he lay: while in the bright abodes Of high Olympus, Jove convened the gods: The assembly thus the sire supreme address'd, AEgysthus' fate revolving in his breast, Whom young Orestes to the dreary coast Of Pluto sent, a blood-polluted ghost.
"Perverse mankind! whose wills, created free, Charge all their woes on absolute degree; All to the dooming gods their guilt translate, And follies are miscall'd the crimes of fate. When to his lust AEgysthus gave the rein, Did fate, or we, the adulterous act constrain? Did fate, or we, when great Atrides died, Urge the bold traitor to the regicide? Hermes I sent, while yet his soul remain'd Sincere from royal blood, and faith profaned; To warn the wretch, that young Orestes, grown To manly years, should re-assert the throne. Yet, impotent of mind, and uncontroll'd, He plunged into the gulf which Heaven foretold."
Here paused the god; and pensive thus replies Minerva, graceful with her azure eyes:
"O thou! from whom the whole creation springs, The source of power on earth derived to kings! His death was equal to the direful deed; So may the man of blood be doomed to bleed! But grief and rage alternate wound my breast For brave Ulysses, still by fate oppress'd. Amidst an isle, around whose rocky shore The forests murmur, and the surges roar, The blameless hero from his wish'd-for home A goddess guards in her enchanted dome; (Atlas her sire, to whose far-piercing eye The wonders of the deep expanded lie; The eternal columns which on earth he rears End in the starry vault, and prop the spheres). By his fair daughter is the chief confined, Who soothes to dear delight his anxious mind; Successless all her soft caresses prove, To banish from his breast his country's love; To see the smoke from his loved palace rise, While the dear isle in distant prospect lies, With what contentment could he close his eyes! And will Omnipotence neglect to save The suffering virtue of the wise and brave? Must he, whose altars on the Phrygian shore With frequent rites, and pure, avow'd thy power, Be doom'd the worst of human ills to prove, Unbless'd, ahandon'd to the wrath of Jove?"
"Daughter! what words have pass'd thy lips unweigh'd! (Replied the Thunderer to the martial maid;) Deem not unjustly by my doom oppress'd, Of human race the wisest and the best. Neptune, by prayer repentant rarely won, Afflicts the chief, to avenge his giant son, Whose visual orb Ulysses robb'd of light; Great Polypheme, of more than mortal might? Him young Thousa bore (the bright increase Of Phorcys, dreaded in the sounds and seas); Whom Neptune eyed with bloom of beauty bless'd, And in his cave the yielding nymph compress'd For this the god constrains the Greek to roam, A hopeless exile from his native home, From death alone exempt--but cease to mourn; Let all combine to achieve his wish'd return; Neptune atoned, his wrath shall now refrain, Or thwart the synod of the gods in vain."
"Father and king adored!" Minerva cried, "Since all who in the Olympian bower reside Now make the wandering Greek their public care, Let Hermes to the Atlantic isle repair; Bid him, arrived in bright Calypso's court, The sanction of the assembled powers report: That wise Ulysses to his native land Must speed, obedient to their high command. Meantime Telemachus, the blooming heir Of sea-girt Ithaca, demands my care; 'Tis mine to form his green, unpractised years In sage debates; surrounded with his peers, To save the state, and timely to restrain The bold intrusion of the suitor-train; Who crowd his palace, and with lawless power His herds and flocks in feastful rites devour. To distant Sparta, and the spacious waste Of Sandy Pyle, the royal youth shall haste. There, warm with filial love, the cause inquire That from his realm retards his god-like sire; Delivering early to the voice of fame The promise of a green immortal name."
She said: the sandals of celestial mould, Fledged with ambrosial plumes, and rich with gold, Surround her feet: with these sublime she sails The aerial space, and mounts the winged gales; O'er earth and ocean wide prepared to soar, Her dreaded arm a beamy javelin bore, Ponderous and vast: which, when her fury burns, Proud tyrants humbles, and whole hosts o'erturns. From high Olympus prone her flight she bends, And in the realms of Ithaca descends, Her lineaments divine, the grave disguise Of Mentes' form conceal'd from human eyes (Mentes, the monarch of the Taphian land); A glittering spear waved awful in her hand. There in the portal placed, the heaven-born maid Enormous riot and misrule survey'd. On hides of beeves, before the palace gate (Sad spoils of luxury), the suitors sate. With rival art, and ardour in their mien, At chess they vie, to captivate the queen; Divining of their loves. Attending nigh, A menial train the flowing bowl supply. Others, apart, the spacious hall prepare, And form the costly feast with busy care. There young Telemachus, his bloomy face Glowing celestial sweet, with godlike grace Amid the circle shines: but hope and fear (Painful vicissitude!) his bosom tear. Now, imaged in his mind, he sees restored In peace and joy the people's rightful lord; The proud oppressors fly the vengeful sword. While his fond soul these fancied triumphs swell'd, The stranger guest the royal youth beheld; Grieved that a visitant so long should wait Unmark'd, unhonour'd, at a monarch's gate; Instant he flew with hospitable haste, And the new friend with courteous air embraced. "Stranger, whoe'er thou art, securely rest, Affianced in my faith, a ready guest; Approach the dome, the social banquet share, And then the purpose of thy soul declare."
Thus affable and mild, the prince precedes, And to the dome the unknown celestial leads. The spear receiving from the hand, he placed Against a column, fair with sculpture graced; Where seemly ranged in peaceful order stood Ulysses' arms now long disused to blood. He led the goddess to the sovereign seat, Her feet supported with a stool of state (A purple carpet spread the pavement wide); Then drew his seat, familiar, to her side; Far from the suitor-train, a brutal crowd, With insolence, and wine, elate and loud: Where the free guest, unnoted, might relate, If haply conscious, of his father's fate. The golden ewer a maid obsequious brings, Replenish'd from the cool, translucent springs; With copious water the bright vase supplies A silver laver of capacious size; They wash. The tables in fair order spread, They heap the glittering canisters with bread: Viands of various kinds allure the taste, Of choicest sort and savour, rich repast! Delicious wines the attending herald brought; The gold gave lustre to the purple draught. Lured with the vapour of the fragrant feast, In rush'd the suitors with voracious haste; Marshall'd in order due, to each a sewer Presents, to bathe his hands, a radiant ewer. Luxurious then they feast. Observant round Gay stripling youths the brimming goblets crown'd. The rage of hunger quell'd, they all advance And form to measured airs the mazy dance; To Phemius was consign'd the chorded lyre, Whose hand reluctant touch'd the warbling wire; Phemius, whose voice divine could sweetest sing High strains responsive to the vocal string.
Meanwhile, in whispers to his heavenly guest His indignation thus the prince express'd:
"Indulge my rising grief, whilst these (my friend) With song and dance the pompous revel end. Light is the dance, and doubly sweet the lays, When for the dear delight another pays. His treasured stores those cormarants consume, Whose bones, defrauded of a regal tomb And common turf, lie naked on the plain, Or doom'd to welter in the whelming main. Should he return, that troop so blithe and bold, With purple robes inwrought, and stiff with gold, Precipitant in fear would wing their flight, And curse their cumbrous pride's unwieldy weight. But ah, I dream!-the appointed hour is fled. And hope, too long with vain delusion 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 visit dost thou deign, Or number'd in my father's social train? All who deserved his choice he made his own, And, curious much to know, he far was known."
"My birth I boast (the blue-eyed virgin cries) From great Anchialus, renown'd and wise; Mentes my name; I rule the Taphian race, Whose bounds the deep circumfluent waves embrace; A duteous people, and industrious isle, To naval arts inured, and stormy toil. Freighted with iron from my native land, I steer my voyage to the Brutian strand To gain by commerce, for the labour'd mass, A just proportion of refulgent brass. Far from your capital my ship resides At Reitorus, and secure at anchor rides; Where waving groves on airy Neign grow, Supremely tall and shade the deeps below. Thence to revisit your imperial dome, An old hereditary guest I come; Your father's friend. Laertes can relate Our faith unspotted, and its early date; Who, press'd with heart-corroding grief and years, To the gay court a rural shed pretors, Where, sole of all his train, a matron sage Supports with homely fond his drooping age, With feeble steps from marshalling his vines Returning sad, when toilsome day declines.
"With friendly speed, induced by erring fame, To hail Ulysses' safe return I came; But still the frown of some celestial power With envious joy retards the blissful hour. Let not your soul be sunk in sad despair; He lives, he breathes this heavenly vital air, Among a savage race, whose shelfy bounds With ceaseless roar the foaming deep surrounds. The thoughts which roll within my ravish'd breast, To me, no seer, the inspiring gods suggest; Nor skill'd nor studious, with prophetic eye To judge the winged omens of the sky. Yet hear this certain speech, nor deem it vain; Though adamantine bonds the chief restrain, The dire restraint his wisdom will defeat, And soon restore him to his regal seat. But generous youth! sincere and free declare, Are you, of manly growth, his royal heir? For sure Ulysses in your look appears, The same his features, if the same his years. Such was that face, on which I dwelt with joy Ere Greece assembled stemm'd the tides to Troy; But, parting then for that detested shore, Our eyes, unhappy? never greeted more."
"To prove a genuine birth (the prince replies) On female truth assenting faith relies. Thus manifest of right, I build my claim Sure-founded on a fair maternal fame, Ulysses' son: but happier he, whom fate Hath placed beneath the storms which toss the great! Happier the son, whose hoary sire is bless'd With humble affluence, and domestic rest! Happier than I, to future empire born, But doom'd a father's wretch'd fate to mourn!"
To whom, with aspect mild, the guest divine: "Oh true descendant of a sceptred line! The gods a glorious fate from anguish free To chaste Penelope's increase decree. But say, yon jovial troops so gaily dress'd, Is this a bridal or a friendly feast? Or from their deed I rightlier may divine, Unseemly flown with insolence and wine? Unwelcome revellers, whose lawless joy Pains the sage ear, and hurts the sober eye."
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