To whom Ulysses, with a pleasing eye: The offending females to that task we doom, Be bold, on friendship and my son rely:

To wash, to scent, and purify the room.
Live, an example for the world to read,

These (every table cleansed, and every throne
How much more safe the good than evil deed : And all the melancholy labour done)
Thou, with the heaven-taught bard, in peace resort Drive to yon court, without the palace wall,
From blood and carnage to yon open court: There the revenging sword shall smite them all;
Me other work requires-With timorous awe So with the suitors let them mix in dust, 480
From the dire scene the exempted two withdraw, Stretch'd in a long oblivion of their lust.
Scarce sure of life, look round, and trembling move He said: the lamentable train appear,
To the bright altars of Protector Jove. 420 Each vents a groan, and drops a tender tear:

Meanwhile Ulysses search'd the dome, to find Each beaved her mournful burden, and beneath
If yet there live of all the offending kind. The porch deposed the ghastly heap of death.
Not one! complete the bloody tale he found, The chief severe, compelling each to move,
All steep'd in blood, all gasping on the ground, Urged the dire task imperious from above :
So, when by hollow shores the fisher-train With thirsty sponge they rub the tables o'er
Sweep with their arching nets the hoary main, (The swains unite their toil;) the walls, the floor
And scarce the meshy toils the copious draught Wash'd with the effusive wave, are purged of gore;
contain,
Once more the palace set in fair array,

491 All paked of their element, and bare,

To the base court the females take their way; The fishes pant, and gasp in thinner air ;

There compass'd close between the dome and wall Wide o'er the sands are spread the stiffening prey, (Their life's last scene) they trembling wait their fall. Till the warm sun exhales their soul away. 431 Then thus the prince: To these shall we afford

And now the king commands his son to call A fate so pure, as by the martial sword ? Old Euryclea to the deathful hall:

To these, the nightly prostitutes to shame, The son observant not a moment stays ;

And base revilers of our house and name? The aged governess with speed obeys;

Thus speaking, on the circling wall he strung
The sounding portals instant they display;

A ship's tough cable, from a column hung; 500
The matron moves, the prince directs the way. Near the high top he strain’d it strongly round,
On heaps of death the stern Ulysses stood,

Whence no contending foot could reach the ground.
All black with dust, and cover'd thick with blood. Their heads above connected in a row,
So the grim lion from the slaughter comes, 440 They beat the air with quivering feet below;
Dreadful he glares, and terribly he foams, Thus on some tree hung struggling in the snare,
His breast with marks of carnage painted o'er, The doves or thrushes flap their wings in air.
His jaws all dropping with the bull's black gore. Soon fled the soul impure, and left behind

Soon as her eyes the welcome object met, The empty corse to waver with the wind.
The guilty fall’n, the mighty deed complete;

Then forth they led Melanthius, and began A scream of joy her feeble voice essay'd :

Their bloody work; they lopp'd away the man, 510 The hero check'd her, and composedly said Morsel for dogs! then trimm'd with brazen shears

Woman, experienced as thou art, controul The wretch, and shorten'd of his nose and ears;
Indecent joy, and feast thy secret soul.

His hands and feet last felt the cruel steel :
To insult the dead, is cruel and unjust; 450 He roar’d, and torments gave his soul to hell.
Fate and their crime have sunk them to the dust. They wash, and to Ulysses take their way,
Nor heeded these the censure of mankind, So ends the bloody business of the day.
The good and bad were equal in their mind.

To Euryclea then address'd the king:
Justly the price of worthlessness they paid, Bring hither fire, and hither sulphur bring,
And each now wails, an unlamented shade. To purge the palace : then the queen attend,
But thou sincere! O Euryclea, say,

And let her with her matron-train descend; 520 What maids dishonour us, and what obey ? The matron-train, with all the virgin-band,

Then she: In these thy kingly walls remain Assemble here to learn their lord's command. (My son) full fifty of the handmaid train,

Then Euryclea : Joyful I obey,
Taught by my care, to call the fleece or weave, 460 But cast those mean dishonest rags away;
And servitude with pleasing tasks deceive; Permit me first the royal robes to bring:
Of these, twice six pursue their wicked way, Il suits this garb the shoulders of a king.
Nor me, nor chaste Penelope obey;

Bring sulphur straight and fire, (the monarch cries,)
Nor fits it that Telemachus command

She hears, and at the word obedient flies.
(Young as he is) his mother's female band. With fire and sulphur, cure of noxious fumes,
Hence to the upper chambers let me fly,

He purged the walls, and blood-polluted rooms. 530
Where slumbers soft now close the royal eye; Again the matron springs with eager pace,
There wake her with the news—the matron cried. And spreads her lord's return from place to place.
Not so (Ulysses more sedate replied.)

They hear, rush forth, and instant round him stand,
Bring first the crew who wrought these guilty A gazing throng, a torch in every hand.
deeds.

They saw, they knew him, and with fond embrace
In haste the matron parts: the king proceeds: 471 Each humbly kiss'd his knee, or hand, or face;

Now to dispose the dead, the care remains He knows them all, in all such truth appears,
To you, my son, and you, my faithful swains. Even he indulges the sweet joy of tears.

3 N

1

Glorious in gore !-now with sulphureous fires
BOOK XXIII.

The dome he purges, now the flame aspires;

Heap'd lie the dead without the palace walls,
ARGUMENT.

Haste, daughter, haste, thy own l'lysses calls !
Euryclea awakens Penelope with the news of Ulysses's Thy every wish the bounteous gods bestow;

return and the death of the suitors. Penelope scarce Enjoy the present good, and former woe.
credits her; but supposes some god has punished them,
and descends from her apartment in doubt. At the Ulysses lives, his vanquish'd foes to see ;
first interview of Ulysses and Penelope, she is quite He lives to thy Telemachus and thee!
unsatisfied Minerva restores him to the beauty of

Ah, no! with sighs Penelope rejoin'd,
his youth; but the queen continues incredulous, till by Excess of joy disturbs thy wandering mind: 60
soine circumstances she is convinced, and falls into all How blest this happy hour, should he appear,
the transports of passion and tenderness. They re. Dear to us all, to me supremely dear!
count to each other all that has passed during their Ah, no! some god the suitors' deaths decreed,
Jong separation. The next morning ('lysses, arming some god descends, and by his hand they bleed;
himself and his friends, goes from the city to visit his Blind! to contemn the stranger's righteous cause,
father.

And violate all hospitable laws!

The good they hated, and the powers defied;
BOOK XXIII.

But Heaven is just, and by a god they died.
Then to the queen, as in repose she lay, For never must Ulysses view this shore;
The nurse with eager rapture speeds her way; Never! the loved Ulysses is no more!

70 The transports of her faithful heart supply

What words (the matron cries) have reach'd my A sudden youth, and give her wings to fly.

ears? And sleeps my child ? the reverend matron cries: Doubt we his presence, when he now appears ? Ulysses lives! arise, my child, arise!

Then hear conviction: Ere the fatal day
At length appears the long-expected hour! That forced Ulysses o'er the watery way,
Ulysses comes! the suitors are no more!

A boar, fierce rushing in the sylvan war,
No more they view the golden light of day! Plough'd half his thigh; I saw, I saw the scar,
Arise, and bless thee with the glad survey ! 10 And wild with transport had reveald the wound;

Touch'd at her words, the mournful queen rejoin’d, But ere I spoke, he rose, and check'd the sound.
Ah! whither wanders thy distemper'd mind? Then, daughter, haste away! and if a lie
The righteous powers, who tread the starry skies, Flow from this tongue, then let thy servant die! 80
The weak enlighten, and confound the wise,

To whom with dubious joy the queen replies, And human thought, with unresisted sway,

Wise is thy soul, but errors seize the wise; Depress or raise, enlarge or take away:

The works of gods what mortal can survey ? Truth, by their high decree, thy voice forsakes, Who knows their motives, who shall trace their way? And folly with the tongue of wisdom speaks. But learn we instant how the suitors trod Unkind, the fond illusion to impose !

The paths of death, by man, or by a god. Was it in flatter or deride my woes?

20

Thus speaks the queen, and no reply attends, Never did I a sleep so sweet enjoy,

But with alternate joy and fear descends; Since my dear lord left Ithaca for Troy.

At every step debates her lord to prove ;
Why must I wake to grieve, and curse thy shore, Or, rushing to his arms, confess her love! 90
O Troy ?—may never tongue pronounce ihee more! Then gliding through the marble valves, in state
Begone! another might have felt our rage, Opposed, before the shining sire she sate.
But age is sacred, and we spare thy age.

The monarch by a column high en:hroned
To whom with warmth: My soul a lie disdains : His eye withdrew, and fix'd it on the ground;
Ulysses lives, thy own Ulysses reigns :

Curious to hear his queen the silence break:
That stranger, patient of the suitors' wrongs, Amazed she sate, and impotent to speak;
And the rude licence of ungovern'd tongues, 30 O'er all the man her eyes she rolls in vain,
He, he is thine. Thy son his latent guest

Now hopes, now fears, now knows, then doubts Long knew, but lock'd the secret in his breast;

again, With well concerted art to end his woes,

At length Telemachus-Oh, who can find And burst at once in vengeance on the foes.

A woman like Penelope unkind ?

100
While yet she spoke, the queen in transport sprung Why thus in silence ? why with winning charms
Swift from the couch, and round the matron hung: Thus slow to fly with rapture to his arms ?
Fast from her eye descends the rolling tear. Stubborn the breast that with no transport glows,
Say, once more say, is my Ulysses here?

When twice ten years are pass'd of mighly woes;
How could that numerous and outrageous band To softness lost, to spousal love unknown,
By one be slain, though by a hero's hand ? 40 The gods have formd that rigid heart of stone.
I saw it not, she cried, but heard alone,

O my Telemachus ! the queen rejoin'd,
When death was busy, a loud dying groan; Distracting fears confound my labouring mind;
The damsel-train turn'd pale at every wound; Powerless to speak, I scarce uplift my eyes,
Immured we sate, and catch'd each passing sound; Nor dare to question ; doubts on doubts arise. 110
When death had seized her prey, thy son allends, Oh deign he, if Ulysses, to remove
And at his nod the damsel-train descends :

These boding thoughts, and what he is, to prove!
There, terrible in arms, Ulysses stood,

Pleased with her virtuous fears, the king replies,
And the dead suitors almost swam in blood : Indulge, my son, the cautions of the wise;
Thy heart had leap'd the hero to survey,

Time shall the truth to sure remembrance bring,
Stern as the surly lion o'er his prey,

50 This garb of poverty belies the king,

No more.—This day our deepest care requires, Alas for this! what mortal strength can move
Cautious to act what thought mature inspires. The enormous burden ; who but heaven above?
If one man's blood, though mean, distain our hands, It mocks the weak attempts of human hands;
The homicide retreats to foreign lands; 120 But the whole earth must move, if heaven com-
By us, in heaps the illustrious peerage falls,

mands,
The important deed our whole attention calls. Then hear sure evidence, while we display
Be that thy care, Telemachus replies ;

Words seal'd with sacred truth, and truth obey; 190
The world conspires to speak Ulysses wise ; This hand the wonder framed; ay olive spread
For wisdom all is thine! lo, I obey,

Full in the court it's ever-verdant head.
And dauntless follow where you lead the way ; Vast as some mighty column's bulk, on high
Nor shalt thou in the day of danger find

The huge trunk rose, and heaved into the sky; Thy coward son degenerate lag behind

Around the tree I raised a nuptial bower, Then instant to the bath (the monarch cries) And roofd defensive of the storin and shower; Bid the gay youth and sprightly virgins rise, 130 The spacious valve, with art inwrought, conjoins Thence all descend in pomp and proud array, And the fair dome with polish'd marble shines. And bid the dome resound the mirthful lay; I lopp'd the branchy head; aloft in twain While the sweet lyrist airs of rapture sings, Sever'd the bole, and smooth'd the shining grain; And forns the dance responsive to the strings. Then posts, capacious of the frame, I raise, 201 That hence the eluded passengers may say,

And bore it, regular, from space to space :
Lo! the queen weds! we hear the spousal lay! Athwart the frame, at eqnal distance lie
The suitors' death, unknown, 'till we remove Thongs of tough hides, that boast a purple dye;
Far from the court, and act inspired by Jove. Then polishing the whole, the finish'd mould

Thus spoke the king; the observant train obey, With silver shone, with elephant, and gold.
At mce they bathe, and dress in proud array: 140 But if o'erlurn'd by rude, ungovern'd hands,
The lyrist strikes the string; gay youths advance, Or still inviolate the olive stands,
And fair zoned damsels form the sprightly dance. 'Tis thine, oh queen, to say; and now impart,
Tle voice, attuned to instrumental sounds,

If fears remain, or doubts distract thy heart? 210 Ascends the roof, the vaulted roof rebounds :

While yet he speaks, her powers of life decay, Not unobserved: the Greeks eluded

say,

She sickens, trembles, falls, and faints away. Lo! the queen weds, we hear the spousal lay! At length, recovering, to his arms she fiew, Inconstant ! to admit the bridal hour.

And strain'd him close, as to his breast she grew : Thus they—but nobly chaste she weds no more. The tears pour'd down amain ; and, oh, she cries,

Meanwhile the wearied king the bath ascends ! Let not against thy spouse thine anger rise !
With faithful cares Eurynomè attends,

150 O versed in every turn of human art,
O’er every limb a shower of fragrance sheds ; Forgive the weakness of a woman's heart !
Then, drest in pomp, magnificent he treads. The righteous powers, that mortal lots dispose,
The warrior-goddess gives his frame to shine Decree us to sustain a length of woes,

220 With majesty enlarged, and grace divine.

And from the flower of life the bliss deny Back from his brows in wavy ringlets fly

To bloom together, fade away,

and die. His thick large locks of hyacinthine dye.

O let me, let me not thine anger move, As by some artist to whom Vulcan gives

That I forbore, thus, thus to speak my love: His heavenly skill, a breathing image lives;

Thus in fond kisses, while the transport warms, By Pallas taught, he frames the wonderous mould Pour out my soul, and die within thy arms ! And the pale silver glows with fusile gold : 160 I dreaded fraud ! bien, faithless men betray So Pallas his heroic form improves

Our easy faith, and make the sex their prey: With bloom divine, and like a god he moves ! Against the fondness of my heart I strove; More high he treads, and issuing forth in state, 'Twas caution, oh my lord! not want of love. 230 Radiant before his gazing consort sate.

Like me had Helen fear'd, with wanton charms And, oh my queen! he cries; what power above Ere the fair mischief set two worlds in arms; Has steel'd that heart, averse to spousal love ? Ere Greece rose dreadful in the avenging day; Canst thou, Penelope, when Heaven restores Thus had she fear'd, she had not gone astray Thy lost Ulysses to his native shores,

But Heaven, averse to Greece, in wrath decreed Canst thou, oh cruel! unconcern'd survey

That she should wander, and that Greece should Thy lost Ulysses, on this signal day?

170 bleed : Haste, Euryclea, and dispatchful spread

Blind to the ills that from injustice flow, and me alone, the imperial bed;

She colour'd all our wretched lives with woe. My weary nature craves the balm of rest;

But why these sorrows when Jord arrives? But Heaven with adamant has arm'd her breast. I yield, 1 yield! my own Ulysses lives! 240 Ah no! she cries, a tender heart I bear,

The secrets of the bridal bed are known
A foe to pride, no adamant is there;

To thee, to me, to Actoris alone,
And now, even now it melts ! for sure I see (My father's present in the spousal hour,
Once more Ulysses my beloved in thee!

The sole attendant on our genial bower.)
Fix'd in my soul, as when he sail'd to Troy, Since what no eye hath seen thy tongue reveal'd,
His image dwells: then baste the bed of joy! 180 Hard and distrustful as I am, 1 yield.
Haste, from the bridal bower the bed translate, Touch'd to the soul, the king with rapture hears,
Framed by his hand, and be it drest in state! Hangs round her neck, and speaks his joy in tears.

Thus speaks the queen, still dubious, with disguise; As, to the shipwreck'd mariner, the shores Touch'd at her words, the king with warmth replies: Delightful rise, when angry Neptune roars ;

250

For me,

my

Then, when the surge in thunder mounts the sky, Then instant his fair spouse Ulysses led
And gult'd in crowds at once the sailors die; To the chaste love-rites of the nuptial bed.
If one more happy, while the tempest raves,

And now the blooming youths and sprightly fair Outlives the tumult of conflicting waves,

Cease the gay dance, and to their rest repair; 320
All pale, with ooze deform'd, he views the strand, But in discourse the king and consort lay,
And plunging forth with transport grasps the land:

While the soft hours stole unperceived away:
The ravish'd queen with equal rapture glows, Intent he hears Penelope disclose
Clasps her loved lord, and to his bosom grows. A mournful story of domestic woes,
Nor had they ended till the morning ray,

His servants' insults, his invaded bed,
But Pallas backward held the rising day, 260 How his whole flocks and herds exhausted bled,
The wheels of night retarding, to detain

His generous wines dishonour'd shed in vain, The gay Aurora in the wavy main;

And the wild riots of the suitor-train. Whose flaming steeds, emerging through the night, The king alternate a dire tale relates, Beam o'er the eastern hills with streaming light. Of wars, of triumphs, and disastrous faces; 330 At length Ulysses with a sigh replies :

All he unfolds : his listening spouse turns pale Yet Fate, yet cruel Fate repose denies ;

With pleasing horror at the dreadful tale: A labour long, and hard, remains behind ;

Sleepless devours each word; and hears how slain By heaven above, by hell beneath enjoin'd; Cicons on Cicons swell the ensanguined plan; For, to Tiresias through the eternal gates

How to the land of Lote unblest he sails; Of hell I trode, to learn my future fates. 270 And images the rills and flowery vales: But end we here-the night demands repose,

How dash'd like dogs, his friends the Cyclops tore Bedeck'd the couch! and peace awhile, my woes.

(Not unrevenged,) and quaff"d the spouting gore; To whom the queen. Thy word we shall obey, How the loud storms in prison bound, he sails And deck the couch; far hence be woes away;

From friendly Æolus with prosperous gales; Since the just gods, who tread the starry plains

Yet fate withstands! a sudden tempest roars, Restore thee safe, since my Ulysses reigns.

And whirls him groaning from his native shores : But what those perils Heaven decrees, impart: How on the barbarous Læstrigonian coast, Knowledge may grieve, but fear distracts the heart. By savage hands his feet and friends he lost;

To this the king. Ah, why must I disclose How scarce himself surviv'd: he paints the bower, A dreadful story of approaching woes? 280 The spells of Circè, and her magic power; Why in this hour of transport wound thy ears,

His dreadful journey to the realms beneath, When thou must learn what I must speak with tears ? To seek Tiresias in the vales of death ; Heaven, by the Theban ghost, thy spouse decrees,

How in the doleful mansions he survey'd Torn from thy arms, to sail a length of seas; His royal mother, pale Anticlea's shade; From realm to realm, a nation to explore,

And friends in batile slain, heroic ghosts ! Who ne'er knew salt, or heard the billows roar,

Then how, unharm’d, he past the Siren coasts, Nor saw gay vessel stem the surgy plain,

The justling rocks where fierce Charybdis raves, A painted wonder, flying on the main :

And howling Scylla whirls her thunderous waves, An oar my hand must bear; a shepherd eyes

The cave of death! How his companions slay The unknown instrument with strange surprise, 290 The oxen sacred to the god of day, And calls a corn-van : this upon the plain

Till Jove in wrath the ratiling tempest guides, I fix, and hail the monarch of the main ;

And whelms the offenders in the roaring tides: Then bathe his altars with the mingled gore How struggling through the surge he reachd the Of victims vow'd, a ram, a bull, a boar;

shores Thence swift re-sailing to my native shores, Of fair Ogygia, and Calypso's bowers;

360 Due victims slay to all the ethereal powers. Where the gay blooming nymph constrain'd his Then Heaven decrees, in peace, to end my days,

stay,
And steal myself from life by slow decays; With sweet, reluctant, amorous delay;
Unknown to pain, in age resign my breath, And promised, vainly promised, to bestow
When late stern Neptune points the shatt of death; Immortal life, exempt from age and woe;
To the dark grave retiring as to rest,

301 How saved from storms Phæacia's coast he trod My people blessing, by iny people blest.

By great Alcinoüs honour'd as a god, Such future scenes the all-righteous powers display Who gave him last his country to behold, By their dread seer,* and such my future day. With change of raiment, brass and heaps of gold.

To whom thus firm of soul: If ripe for death, He ended, sinking into sleep, and shares And full of days, thou gently yield thy breath;

A sweet forgetfulness of all his cares.

370 While Heaven a kind release from ills foreshows,

Soon as soft slumber eased the toils of day, Triumph, thou happy victor of thy woes!

Minerva rushes through the aërial way, But Euryclea, with dispatehsul care,

And bids Aurora with her golden wheels And sage Eurynomè, the couch prepare :

310 Flame from the ocean o'er the eastern hills: Instant they bid the blazing torch display

Up rose Ulysses from the genial bed, Around the dome an artificial day:

And thus with thought mature the monarch said: Then to repose her steps the matron bends,

My queen, my consort! through a length of years And to the queen Eurynomê descends :

We drank the cup of sorrow mix'd with tears; A corch she bears, to light with guiding fires

Thou, for thy lord: while me the immortal powers The royal pair ; she guides them, and retires;

Detain'd reluctant from my native shores. 380

Now, bless'd again by heaven, the queen display, * Tiresias.

And rule our palace with an equal sway.

Be it my care, by loans, or martial toils,

O mighty chief! (Pelides thus began) To throng my empty folds with gifts or spoils. Honour'd by Jove above the lot of man! But now I haste to bless Laërtes eyes

King of a hundred kings ! to whom resign'd With sight of his Ulysses ere he dies;

The strongest, bravest, greatest of mankind, The good old man, to wasting woes a prey,

Comest thou the first, to view this dreary state? Weeps a sad life in solitude away.

And was the noblest, the first mark of Fate ? 40 But hear, though wise! This morning shall unfold Condemn’d to pay the great arrear so soon, The deathful scene, on heroes heroes rolld. 390 The lot which all lament, and none can shun! Thou with thy maids within the palace stay,

Oh! better hadst thou sunk in Trojan ground, From all the scene of tumult far away!

With all thy full-blown honours cover'd round! He spoke, and sheath'd in arms incessant flies Then grateful Greece with streaming eyes might raise. To wake his son, and bid his friends arise. Historic marbles to record thy praise : To arms! aloud he cries : his friends obey, Thy praise eternal on the faithful stone, With glittering arms their manly limbs array, Had with transmissive glories graced thy son. And pass the city gate ; Ulysses leads the way. But heavier fates were destined to attend : Now fames the rosy dawn, but Pallas shrouds What man is happy, till he knows his end ? 50 The latent warriors in a veil of clouds.

O son of Peleus ! greater than mankind !
(Thus Agamemnon's kingly shade rejoin'd)

Thrice happy thou, to press the martial plain
BOOK XXIV.

Midst heaps of heroes in thy quarrel slain :
ARGUMENT.

In clouds of smoke raised by the noble fray,
The souls of the suitors are conducted by Mercury to Great and terrific even in death you lay,

the infernal shades. Ulysses in the country goes to And deluges of blood flow'd round you every way. the retirement of his father Laërtes; he finds him Nor ceased the strise till Jove himself opposed, busied in his garden all alone: the manner of his dis. And all in tempests the dire evening closed. covery to him is beautifully described. They return Then to the fleet we bore thy honour'd load,

60 together to his lodge, and the king is acknowledged by Dolius and the servants. The Ithacensians, led by And decent on the funeral bed bestow'd : Eupithes, the father of Antinous, rise against Ulysses. Then unguents sweet and tepid streams we shed; who gives them battle, in which Eupithes is killed by Tears flow'd from every eye, and o'er the dead Laërtes: and the goddess Pallas makes a lasting Each clipp'd the curling honours of his head. peace between Ulysses and his subjects, which con- Struck at the news, thy azure mother came ; cludes the Odyssey.

The sea-green sisters waited on the dame:

A voice of loud lament through all the main
BOOK XXIV.

Was heard ; and terror seized the Grecian train :
CYLLENIUS now to Pluto's dreary reign

Back to their ships the frighted host had fled ; Conveys the dead, a lamentable train!

But Nestor spoke, they listen'd and obey'd : 70
The golden wand, that causes sleep to fly, (From old experience Nestor's counsel springs,
Or in soft slumber seals the wakeful eye,

And long vicissitudes of human things.)
That drives the ghosts to realms of night or day, * Forbear your flight: fair Thetis from the main
Points out the long uncomfortable way.

To mourn Achilles leads her azure train.'
Trembling the spectres glide, and plaintive vent Around thee stands the daughters of the deep,
Thin, hollow screams, along the deep descent : Robe thee in heavenly vests, and round thee weep.
As in the cavern of some rifted den,

Round thee, the Muses, with alternate strain, Where flock nocturnal bats, and birds obscene ; 10 In ever-consecrating verse, complain. Cluster’d they hang, till at some sudden shock Each warlike Greek the moving music hears, They move, and murmurs run through all the rock: And iron-hearted heroes melt in tears.

80 So cowering fled the sable heaps of ghosts, Till seventeen nights and seventeen days return'd, And such a scream fill'd all the dismal coasts. All that was mortal or immortal mourn'd. And now they reach the earth's remotest ends, To flames we gave thee, the succeeding day, . And now the gates where evening Sol descends, And fitted sheep, and sable oxen slay; And Leucas' rock, and Ocean's utmost streams, With oil and honey blaze the augmented fires, And now pervade the dusky land of dreams, And, like a god adorn'd, thy earthly part expires. And rest at last, where souls unbodied dwell Unnumber'd warriors round the burning pile In ever-flowering meads of Asphodel.

20 Urge the fleet courser's or the racer's toil; The empty forms of men inhabit there,

Thick clouds of dust o'er all the circle rise, Impassive semblance, images of air !

And the mix'd clamour thunders in the skies. 90 Nought else are all that shined on earth before ; Soon as absorpt in all embracing flame Ajax and great Achilles are no more !

Sunk what was mortal of thy mighty name, Yet still a master-ghost, the rest he awed,

We then collect thy snowy bones, and place The rest ador'd him, towering as he trod;

With wines and unguents in a golden vase; Still at his side is Nestor's son survey'd,

(The vase to Thetis Bacchus gave of old, And loved Patroclus still attends his shade. And Vulcan's art enrich'd the sculptured gold :)

New as they were to that infernal shore, | There we thy relics, great Achilles ! blend The suitors stopp'd, and gazed the hero o'er. 30 With dear Patroclus, thy departed friend : When, moving slow, the regal form they view'd In the same urn a separate space contains Of great Atrides; him in pomp pursued

Thy next beloved, Antilochus' remains. 100 And solemn sadness through the gloom of hell, Now all the sons of warlike Greece surround The train of those who by Ægysthus fell.

Thy destined tomb, and cast a mighty mound: