His labour done, he fired the pile, that gave
A sudden blaze, and lighted all the cave.,
We stand discover'd by the rising fires;
Askance the giant glares, and thus inquires:
What are ye, guests? on what adventure, say, Thus far ye wander through the watery way? Pirates perhaps, who seek through seas unknown The lives of others, and expose your own?
His voice like thunder through the caverns sounds:
My bold companions thrilling fear confounds,
Appall'd at sight of more than mortal man;
At length, with heart recover'd, I began :
Could roll the rock. In hopeless grief we lay
And sigh, expecting the return of day.
Now did the rosy-finger'd morn arise,
And shed her sacred light along the skies:
He wakes, he lights the fire, he milks the dams,
And to the mothers' teats submits the lambs.
The task thus finish'd of his morning hours,
Two more he snatches, murders, and devours.
Then pleased, and whistling, drives his flock before;
Removes the rocky mountain from the door 371
And shuts again: with equal ease disposed,
As a light quiver's lid is oped and closed.
From Troy's famed fields, sad wanderers o'er the His giant voice the echoing region fills;
main,
Behold the relics of the Grecian train !
Through various seas, by various perils tost,
His flocks, obedient, spread o'er all the hills.
Thus left behind, even in the last despair
I thought, devised, and Pallas heard my prayer.
And forced by storms, unwilling, on your coast; 310 Revenge, and doubt, and caution, work'd my
Far from our destined course and native land,
Such was our fate, and such high Jove's command:
Nor what we are befits us to disclaim,
Atrides' friends (in arms a mighty name,)
Who taught proud Troy and all her sons to bow,
Victors of late, but humble suppliants now!
Low at thy knee thy succour we implore;
Respect us, human, and relieve us, poor.
At least some hospitable gift bestow;
"Tis what the happy to the unhappy owe:
'Tis what the gods require: those gods revere,
The poor and stranger are their constant care;
To Jove their cause, and their revenge belongs,
He wanders with them, and he feels their wrongs.
Fools that ye are! (the savage thus replies,
His inward fury blazing at his eyes)
But this of many counsels seem'd the best:
The monster's club within the cave I spied,
A tree of stateliest growth, and yet undried,
Green from the wood; of height and bulk so vast,
The largest ship might claim it for a mast.
This shorten'd of its top, I gave my train
A fathom's length, to shape it and to plane;
The narrower end I sharpen'd to a spire;
320 Whose point we harden'd with the force of fire,
And hid it in the dust that strew'd the cave.
Then to my few companions, bold and brave,
Proposed who first the venturous deed should try,
In the broad orbit of his monstrous eye
Or strangers, distant far from our abodes,
To bid me reverence or regard the gods.
Know then, we Cyclops are a race above
Those air-bred people, and their goat-nursed Jove;
And learn, our power proceeds with thee and thine,
Not as he wills, but as ourselves incline.
But answer, the good ship that brought ye o'er,
Where lies she anchor'd? near or off the shore?
Thus he. His meditated fraud I find
(Versed in the turns of various human-kind ;)
And, cautious, thus. Against a dreadful rock,
Fast by your shore, the gallant vessel broke.
Scarce with these few I 'scaped of all my train,
Whom angry Neptune whelm'd beneath the main :
The scatter'd wreck the winds blow back again.
He answer'd with his deed: his bloody hand
Snatch'd two, unhappy! of my martial band:
And dash'd like dogs against the stony floor;
The pavement swims with brains and mingled gore;
Torn limb from limb, he spreads his horrid feast,
And fierce devours it like a mountain beast:
He sucks the marrow, and the blood he drains,
Nor entrails, flesh, nor solid bone remains.
We see the death from which we cannot move,
And humbled groan beneath the hand of Jove.
His ample maw with human carnage fill'd,
A milky deluge next the giant swill'd;
To plunge the brand, and twirl the pointed wood,
When slumber next should tame the man of blood
Just as I wish'd, the lots were cast on four:
Myself the fifth. We stand and wait the hour.
He comes with evening: All his fleecy flock
Before him march, and pour into the rock:
Not one, or male or female, staid behind;
(So fortune chanced, or so some god design'd:)
Then heaving high the stone's unwieldy weight, 400
He roll'd it on the cave, and closed the gate.
First down he sits, to milk the woolly dams,
And then permits their udder to the lambs.
Next seized two wretches more, and headlong cast,
Brain'd on the rock; his second dire repast.
I then approach'd him reeking with their gore,
And held the brimming goblet foaming o'er;
Cyclop! since human flesh has been thy feast,
Now drain this goblet, potent to digest;
Know hence what treasures in our ship we lost, 410
And what rich liquors other climates boast.
We to thy shore the precious freight shall bear,
If home thou send us, and vouchsafe to spare.
But oh! thus furious, thirsting thus for gore,
The sons of men shall ne'er approach thy shore,
And never shalt thou taste this nectar more.
He heard, he took, and pouring down his throat,
Delighted, swill'd the large luxurious draught.
More! give me more, he cried; the boon be thine,
Whoe'er thou art that bearest celestial wine;
Then stretch'd in length o'er half the cavern'd rock, Declare thy names, not mortal is this juice,
Lay senseless, and supine, amidst the flock.
Such as the unblest Cyclopean climes produce
(Though sure our vine the largest cluster yields,
And Jove's scorn'd thunder serves to drench our fields;)
But this descended from the blest abodes,
A rill of nectar, streaming from the gods.
He said, and greedy grasped the heady bowl,
Thrice drain'd, and pour'd the deluge on his soul.
His sense lay cover'd with the dozy fume,
While thus my fraudful speech I re-assume:
Thy promised boon, O Cyclop! now I claim,
And plead my title; Noman is my name.
By that distinguish'd from my tender years,
"Tis what my parents call me, and my peers.
The giant then: Our promised grace receive,
The hospital boon we mean to give :
When all thy wretched crew have felt my power,
Noman shall be the last I will devour.
He said then nodding with the fumes of wine
Dropp'd his huge head, and snoring lay supine. 440
His neck obliquely o'er his shoulders hung,
Press'd with the weight of sleep that tames the
strong;
At last, the stone removing from the gate,
With hands extended in the midst he sate:
And search'd each passing sheep, and felt it o'er
Secure to seize us ere we reach'd the door.
(Such as his shallow wit he deem'd was mine ;)
But secret I revolved the deep design;
'Twas for our lives my labouring bosom wrought;
Each scheme I turn'd, and sharpen'd every thought;
This way and that I cast to save my friends,
Till one resolve my varying counsel ends.
Strong were the rams, with native purple fair,
Well fed, and largest of the fleecy care.
These three and three, with ozier bands we tied,
(The twining bands the Cyclop's bed supplied ;)
The midmost bore a man, the outward two
Secured each side: so bound we all the crew,
One ram remain'd, the leader of the flock;
In his deep fleece my grasping hands I lock,
And fast beneath, in woolly curls inwove,
There cling implicit, and confide in Jove.
When rosy morning glimmer'd o'er the dales,
He drove to pasture all the lusty males:
450 The ewes still folded, with distended thighs
Unmilked, lay bleating in distressful cries.
But heedless of those cares, with anguish stung,
He felt their fleeces as they pass'd along.
(Fool that he was) and let them safely go,
All unsuspecting of their freight below.
There belched the mingled streams of wine and blood,
And human flesh, his indigested food.
Sudden I stir the embers, and inspire
With animating breath the seeds of fire;
Each drooping spirit with bold words repair,
And urge my train the dreadful deed to dare.
The stake now glow'd beneath the burning bed
(Green as it was) and sparkled fiery red;
Then forth the vengeful instrument I bring;
With beating hearts my fellows form a ring.
Urged by some present god, they swift let fall
The pointed torment on his visual ball.
Myself above them from a rising ground
Guide the sharp stake, and twirl it round and round.
As when a shipwright stands his workmen o'er
Who ply the wimble, some huge beam to bore;
Urged on all hands, it nimbly spins about,
The grain deep piercing till it scoops it out:
In his broad eye so whirls the fiery wood;
From the pierced pupil spouts the boiling blood;
Singed are his brows: the scorching lids grow black;
The jelly bubbles, and the fibres crack.
And as when armourers temper in the ford
The keen-edged pole-axe, or the shining sword,
The red-hot metal hisses in the lake,
Thus in his eye-ball hiss'd the plunging stake.
He sends a dreadful groan, the rocks around
Through all their inmost winding caves resound.
Scared we receded. Forth with frantic hand,
He tore, and dash'd, on earth the gory brand;
Then calls the Cyclops, all that round him dwell,
With voice like thunder, and a direful yell.
From all their dens, the one-eyed race repair,
From rifted rocks, and mountains bleak in air.
All haste assembled, at his well-known roar,
Inquire the cause, and crowd the cavern door.
What hurts thee, Polypheme? what strange affright
Thus breaks our slumbers, and disturbs the night?
Does any mortal in the unguarded hour
The master ram at last approach'd the gate,
Charged with his wool, and with Ulysses' fate.
Hin while he pass'd, the monster blind bespoke;
What makes my ram the lag of all the flock?
460 First thou wert wont to crop the flowery mead,
First to the field and river's bank to lead,
And first with stately step at evening hour
Thy fleecy fellows usher to their bower.
Now far the last, with pensive pace and slow
Thou movest, as conscious of thy master's woe!
Seest thou these lids that now unfold in vain?
(The deed of Noman and his wicked train!)
Oh! didst thou feel for thy afflicted lord,
And would but Fate the power of speech afford,
Soon might'st thou tell me, where in secret here
471 The dastard lurks, all trembling with his fear :
Swung round and round, and dash'd from rock to rock,
His batter'd brains should on the pavement smoke.
No ease, no pleasure my sad heart receives,
While such a monster as wild Noman lives.
The giant spoke, and through the hollow rock
Dismiss'd the ram, the father of the flock.
No sooner freed, and through the enclosure pass'd,
First I release myself, my fellows last:
Fat sheep and goats in throngs we drive before, 481 And reach our vessel on the winding shore.
Of sleep, oppress thee, or by fraud or power?
Or thieves insidious thy fair flocks surprise?
Thus they the Cyclop from his den replies:
Friends, Noman kills me; Noman in the hour
Of sleep, oppresses me with fraudful power.
"If no man hurt thee, but the hand divine
Inflict disease, it fits thee to resign:
To Jove or to thy father Neptune pray,"
The brethren cried, and instant strode away.
Joy touch'd my secret soul and conscious heart,
Pleased with the effect of conduct and of art.
Meantime the Cyclop, raging with the wound,
Spreads his wide arms, and searches round and
round;
With joy the sailors view their friends return'd,
And hail us living, whom as dead they mourn'd: 550
Big tears of transport stand in every eye :
I check their fondness, and command to fly.
Aboard in haste they heave the wealthy sheep,
And snatch their oars and rush into the deep.
Now off at sea, and from the shallows clear,
As far as human voice could reach the ear,
490 With taunts the distant giant I accost.
Hear me, O Cyclop! hear, ungracious host!
'Twas on no coward, no ignoble slave,
Thou meditatest thy meal in yonder cave;
But one the vengeance fated from above
Doom'd to inflict; the instrument of Jove.
Thy barbarous breach of hospitable bands,
The god, the god revenges by my, hands.
These words the Cyclop's burning rage provoke:
From the tall hill he rends a pointed rock;
High o'er the billows flew the massy load,
And near the ship came thundering on the flood.
It almost brush'd the helm, and fell before :
The whole sea shook, and refluent beat the shore.
The strong concussion on the heaving tide
Roll'd back the vessel to the island's side;
Again I shoved her off; our fate to fly,
Each nerve we stretch, and every oar we ply.
Just 'scaped impending death, when now again
We twice as far had furrow'd back the main,
Once more I raise my voice; my friends afraid
With mild entreaties my design dissuade.
What boots the godless giant to provoke,
Whose arm may sink us at a single stroke?
Already when the dreadful rock he threw,
Old Ocean shook, and back his surges flew.
The sounding voice directs his aim again;
The rock o'erwhelms us, and we 'scaped in vain
But I, of mind elate, and scorning fear,
Thus with new taunts insult the monster's ear.
Cyclop! if any, pitying thy disgrace,
Ask who disfigured thus that eyeless face?
Say, 'Twas Ulysses; 'twas his deed declare,
Laërtes son, of Ithaca the fair;
Ulysses, far in fighting fields renown'd,
Before whose arm Troy tumbled to the ground.
The astonish'd savage with a roar replies:
Oh heavens! oh faith of ancient prophecies!
This, Telemus Eurymedes foretold,
A larger rock then heaving from the plain,
He whirl'd it round; it sung across the main;
It fell, and brush'd the stern: the billows roar,
Shake at the weight, and refluent beat the shore.
With all our force we kept aloof to sea,
And gain'd the island where our vessels lay.
Our sight the whole collected navy cheer'd,
Who, waiting long, by turns had hoped and fear'd.
There disembarking on the green sea-side,
We land our cattle, and the spoil divide:
Of these due shares to every sailor fall;
The master ram was voted mine by all:
And him (the guardian of Ulysses' fate)
With pious mind to Heaven I consecrate.
But the great god, whose thunder rends the skies,
Averse, beholds the smoking sacrifice;
And sees me wandering still from coast to coast;
580 And all my vessels, all my people, lost!
While thoughtless we indulge the genial rite,
As plenteous cates and flowing bowls invite,
Till evening Phoebus roll'd away the light:
Stretch'd on the shore in careless ease we rest
Till ruddy morning purpled o'er the east ;
Then from their anchors all our ships unbind,
And mount the decks, and call the willing wind.
Now, ranged in order on our banks we sweep
With hasty strokes the hoarse-resounding deep;
590 Blind to the future, pensive with our fears,
Glad for the living, for the dead in tears.
(The mighty seer who on these hills grew old;
Skill'd the dark fates of mortals to declare,
And learn'd in all wing'd omens of the air :)
Long since he menaced, such was Fate's command;
And named Ulysses as the destined hand.
I deem'd some godlike giant to behold,
Or lofty hero, haughty brave, and bold;
Not this weak pigmy-wretch, of mean design,
Who not by strength subdued me, but by wine.
But come, accept our gifts, and join to pray
Great Neptune's blessing on the watery way;
For his I am, and I the lineage own:
The immortal father no less boasts the son.
His power can heal me, and relight my eye;
And only his, of all the gods on high.
Oh! could this arm, (I thus aloud rejoin'd)
From that vast bulk dislodge thy bloody mind,
And send thee howling to the realms of night
As sure as Neptune cannot give thee sight!
Thus I; while raging he repeats his cries,
With hands uplifted to the starry skies.
Hear me, O Neptune; thou whose arms are hurl'd
From shore to shore, and gird the solid world,
If thine I am, nor thou my birth disown,
And if the unhappy Cyclop be thy son;
Let not Ulysses breathe his native air,
Laërtes son, of Ithaca the fair.
If to review his country be his fate,
Be it through toils and sufferings long and late;
His lost companions let him first deplore;
Some vessel, not his own, transport him o'er;
And when at home from foreign sufferings freed,
More near and deep, domestic woes succeed.
With imprecations thus he fill'd the air,
And angry Neptune heard the unrighteous prayer.
Adventures with Œolus, the Lestrigons, and Circe. Ulysses arrives at the island of Æolus, who gives him prosperous winds, and incloses the adverse ones in a bag, which his companious untying, they are driven back again, and rejected. Then they sail to the Lestrigons, where they lose eleven ships, and with one only remaining, proceed to the island of Circe. Eury. lochus is sent first with some companions, all which, except Eurylochus, are transformed into swine. Ulys. ses then undertakes the adventure, and by the help of Mercury, who gives him the herb Moly, overcomes the enchantress, and procures the restoration of his men. After a year's stay with her, he prepares, at her instigation, for his voyage to the infernal shades.
AT length we reach'd Æolia's sea-girt shore,
Where great Hippotades the sceptre bore,
A floating isle! High raised by toil divine
Strong walls of brass the rocky coast confine.
Six blooming youths, in private grandeur bred,
And six fair daughters, graced the royal bed;
These sons their sisters wed, and all remain
620 Their parents' pride, and pleasure of their reign.
All day they feast, all day the bowls flow round,
And joy and music through the isle resound:
At night each pair on splendid carpets lay,
And crown'd with love the pleasures of the day.
This happy port affords our wandering fleet
A month's reception, and a safe retreat.
Full oft the monarch urged me to relate
The fall of Ilion, and the Grecian fate;
Full oft I told; at length for parting moved;
The king with mighty gifts my suit approved.
The adverse winds in leathern bags he braced,
Compress'd their force, and lock'd each struggling
blast.
For him the mighty sire of gods assign'd
The tempest's lord, the tyrant of the wind:
His word alone the listening storms obey,
To smooth the deep, or swell the foamy sea.
These in my hollow ship the monarch hung,
Securely fetter'd by a silver thong;
But Zephyrus exempt, with friendly gales
He charged to fill, and guide the swelling sails:
Rare gift! but oh, what gift to fools avails!
His baneful suit pollutes these blest abodes,
Whose fate proclaims him hateful to the gods.
Thus fierce he said: we sighing went our way,
21 And with desponding hearts put off to sea.
The sailors, spent with toil, their folly mourn,
But mourn in vain; no prospect of return:
Six days and nights a doubtful course we steer,
The next proud Lamos' stately towers appear,
And Læstrigonia's gates arise distinct in air.
The shepherd, quitting here at night the plain,
Calls, to succeed his cares, the watchful swain ;
But he that scorns the chains of sleep to wear,
| And adds the herdsman's to the shepherd's care,
31 So near the pastures, and so short the way,
His double toils may claim a double pay,
And join the labours of the night and day.
Within a long recess a bay there lies,
Edged round with cliffs high pointing to the skies:
The jutting shores that swell on either side
Contract its mouth, and break the rushing tide.
Our eager sailors seize the fair retreat,
Nine prosperous days we plied the labouring oar;
The tenth presents our welcome native shore:
The hills display the beacon's friendly light,
And rising mountains gain upon our sight.
Then first my eyes, by watchful toils oppress'd,
Complied to take the balmy gifts of rest;
Then first my hands did from the rudder part
(So much the love of home possess'd my heart;)
When lo! on board a fond debate arose,
What rare device those vessels might inclose?
What sum, what prize, from Eolus I brought ?
Whilst to his neighbour each express'd his thought.
Say, whence, ye gods, contending nations strive
Who most shall please, who most our hero give?
Long have his coffers groan'd with Trojan spoils;
Whilst we, the wretched partners of his toils,
Reproach'd by want, our fruitless labours mourn,
And only rich in barren fame return.
Now Eolus, ye see, augments his store:
But come, my friends, these mystic gifts explore.
They said; and (oh curst fate) the thongs unbound!
The gushing tempest sweeps the ocean round;
Snatch'd in the whirl, the hurried navy flew,
The ocean widen'd, and the shores withdrew.
Rous'd from my fatal sleep, I long debate
If still to live, or desperate plunge to fate;
Thus doubting, prostrate on the deck I lay,
Till all the coward thoughts of death gave way.
Meanwhile our vessels plough the liquid plain,
And soon the known Eolian coast regain,
Our groans the rocks remurmur'd to the main.
We leap'd on shore, and with a scanty feast
Our thirst and hunger hastily repress'd;
That done, two chosen heralds straight attend
Our second progress to my royal friend:
And him amidst his jovial sons we found;
The banquet steaming and the goblets crown'd:
There humbly stopp'd with conscious shame and
awe,
Nor nearer than the gate presumed to draw.
But soon his sons their well-known guest descried,
And starting from their couches loudly cried,
Ulysses here! what dæmon couldst thou meet
To thwart thy passage, and repel thy fleet?
Wast thou not furnish'd by our choicest care
For Greece, for home, and all thy soul held dear?
Thus they; in silence long my fate I mourn'd,
At length these words with accent low return'd
Me, lock'd in sleep, my faithless crew bereft
Of all the blessings of your godlike gift!
But grant, oh grant, our loss we may retrieve:
A favour you, and you alone can give.
And bound within the port their crowded fleet
40 For here retired the sinking billows sleep,
And smiling calmness silver'd o'er the deep
I only in the bay refused to moor,
And fix'd, without, my halsers to the shore.
From thence we climb'd a point, whose airy brow
Commands the prospect of the plains below :
No tracks of beasts, or signs of men, we found,
But smoky volumes rolling from the ground.
Two with our herald thither we command,
With speed to learn what men possess'd the land.
They went, and kept the wheel's smooth beaten road,
Which to the city drew the mountain wood;
When lo! they met beside a crystal spring,
The daughter of Antiphates the king:
She to Artacia's silver streams came down ;
(Artacia's streams alone supply the town :)
The damsel they approach, and ask'd what race
The people were? who monarch of the place?
With joy the maid the unwary strangers heard,
And show'd them where the royal dome appear'd
60 They went; but, as they entering saw the queen
Of size enormous, and terrific mien,
(Not yielding to some bulky mountain's height,)
A sudden horror struck their aching sight.
Swift at her call her husband scour'd away
To wreak his hunger on the destined prey;
One for his food the raging glutton slew,
But two rush'd out, and to the navy flew.
Balk'd of his prey, the yelling monster flies,
And fills the city with his hideous cries;
A ghastly band of giants hear the roar,
70 And, pouring down the mountains, crowd the shore.
Fragments they rend from off the craggy brow,
And dash the ruins on the ships below:
The crackling vessels burst; hoarse groans arise,
And mingled horrors echo to the skies;
The men, like fish, they stuck upon the flood,
And cramm'd their filthy throats with human food.
Whilst thus their fury rages at the bay,
My sword our cables cut, I call'd to weigh;
And charged my men, as they from fate would fly,
80 Each nerve to strain, each bending oar to ply.
The sailors catch the word, their oars they seize,
And sweep with equal strokes the smoky seas: 150
Clear of the rocks the impatient vessel flies;
Whilst in the port each wretch encumber'd dies.
Thus I with art to move their pity tried,
And touch'd the youths; but their stern sire replied:
Vile wretch, begone! this instant I command
Thy fleet accursed to leave our hallow'd land.
With earnest haste my frighted sailors press,
While kindling transports glow'd at our success;
But the sad fate that did our friends destroy
Cool'd every breast, and damp'd the rising joy.
Now dropp'd our anchors in the Eæan bay,
Where Circe dwelt, the daughter of the Day!
Her mother Persè, of old Ocean's strain,
Thus from the Sun descended, and the Main,
(From the same lineage stern Etes came,
The far-famed brother of the enchantress dame,)
Goddess and queen, to whom the powers belong
Of dreadful magic and commanding song.
Some god directing, to this peaceful bay
Silent we came, and melancholy lay,
Alas! from yonder promontory's brow
I view'd the coast, a region flat and low:
An isle encircled with the boundless flood;
A length of thickets, and entangled wood.
Some smoke I saw amid the forest rise,
And all around it only seas and skies!
With broken hearts my sad companions stood,
160 Mindful of Cyclops and his human food,
And horrid Læstrigons, the men of blood.
Presaging tears apace began to rain;
But tears in mortal miseries are vain.
In equal parts I straight divide my band,
And name a chief each party to command;
I led the one, and of the other side
Spent and o'erwatch'd. Two days and nights roll'd on, Appointed brave Eurylochus the guide.
And now the third succeeding morning shone.
I climb'd a cliff, with spear and sword in hand,
Whose ridge o'erlooked a shady length of land:
To learn if aught of mortal works appear,
Or cheerful voice of mortal strike the ear?
From the high point I mark'd, in distant view,
A stream of curling smoke ascending blue,
And spiry tops, the tufted trees above,
Of Circe's palace bosom'd in the grove.
Then in the brazen helm the lots we throw,
And fortune casts Eurylochus to go:
170 He march'd with twice eleven in his train;
Pensive they march, and pensive we remain.
The palace in a woody vale they found,
High raised of stone; a shaded space around;
Where mountain wolves and brindled lions roam,
(By magic tamed,) familiar to the dome.
With gentle blandishment our men they meet,
And wag their tails, and fawning lick their feet.
As from some feast a man returning late,
His faithful dogs all meet him at the gate,
180 Rejoicing round, some morsel to receive
(Such as the good man ever used to give,)
Domestic thus the grisly beasts drew near:
They gaze with wonder not unmix'd with fear.
Now on the threshold of the dome they stood,
And heard a voice resounding through the wood:
Placed at her loom within, the goddess sung:
The vaulted roofs and solid pavements rung.
O'er the fair web the rising figures shine,
Immortal labour! worthy hands divine.
Polites to the rest the question moved :
(A gallant leader, and a man I loved.)
Thither to haste, the region to explore,
Was my first thought: but speeding back to shore
I deem'd it best to visit first my crew,
And send out spies, the dubious coast to view.
As down the hill I solitary go,
Some power divine, who pities human woe,
Sent a tall stag, descending from the wood,
To cool his fervour in the crystal flood;
Luxuriant on the wave-worn bank he lay,
Stretch'd forth, and panting in the sunny ray.
I launch'd my spear, and with a sudden wound
Transpierced his back, and fix'd him to the ground.
He falls, and mourns his fate with human cries:
Through the wide wound the vital spirit flies.
I drew, and casting on the river's side
The bloody spear, his gather'd feet I tied
With twining osiers which the bank supplied.
An ell in length the pliant wisp I weaved,
And the huge body on my shoulders heaved :
Then leaning on my spear with both my hands,
Upbore my load, and press'd the sinking sands
With weighty steps, till at the ship I threw
The welcome burden, and bespoke my crew.
Cheer up, my friends! it is not yet our fate
To glide with ghosts through Pluto's gloomy gate.
Food in the desert land, behold! is given;
Live, and enjoy the providence of heaven.
The joyful crew survey his mighty size,
And on the future banquet feast their eyes,
As huge in length extended lay the beast;
Then wash their hands, and hasten to the feast.
There, till the setting sun roll'd down the light,
They sate indulging in the genial rite.
When evening rose, and darkness cover'd o'er
The face of things, we slept along the shore.
But when the rosy morning warmed the east,
My men I summon'd, and these words address'd:
Followers and friends! attend what I propose :
Ye sad companions of Ulysses' woes!
We know not here what land before us lies,
Or to what quarter now we turn our eyes,
Or where the sun shall set, or where shall rise.
Here let us think (if thinking be not vain)
If any counsel, any hope remain.
What voice celestial chanting to the loom
(Or nymph, or goddess) echoes from the room?
Say, shall we seek access? With that they call;
And wide unfold the portals of the hall.
The goddess rising, asks her guests to stay,
Who blindly follow where she leads the way.
Eurylochus alone of all the band,
Suspecting fraud, more prudently remain'd.
200 On thrones around with downy coverings graced,
With semblance fair, the unhappy men she placed.
Milk newly press'd, the sacred flour of wheat,
And honey fresh, and Pramnian wines the treat:
But venom'd was the bread, and mix'd the bowl,
With drugs of force to darken all the soul:
Soon in the luscious feast themselves they lost,
And drank oblivion of their native coast.
Instant her circling wand the goddess waves,
To hogs transforms them, and the sty receives.
210 No more was seen the human form divine; .
Head, face, and members, bristle into swine:
Still curs'd with sense, their minds remain alone, 280
And their own voice affrights them when they
Meanwhile the goddess in disdain bestows
The mast and acorn, brutal food! and strows
The fruits of cornel, as their feast, around;
Now prone and groveling on unsavory ground.
Eurylochus, with pensive steps and slow,
220 Aghast returns; the messenger of woe,
|