With rapid fwiftnefs cut the liquid way,
And reach Gereftus at the point of day.
- There hecatombs of bulls to Neptune flain
High-flaming pleafe the monarch of the main.
The fourth day fhone, when all their labours o'er
Tydides' vellels touch'd the wifh'd-for fhore :
But I to Pylos feud before the gales,
The god fill breathing on my fwelling fails;
Sep'rate from all, I fafely landed here;
Their fates or fortunes never reach'd my ear.
Yet what I learn'd, attend; as here I fat,
And ask each voyager each hero's fate;
Curious to know, and willing to relate.
Safe reach'd the Myrmidons their native land,
Beneath Achilles' warlike fon's command.
Thofe, whom the heir of great Apollo's art,
Brave Philoctetes, taught to wing the dart;
And those whom Idomen from Ilion's plain
Had led, fecurely croft the dreadful main.
How Agamemnon touch'd his Argive coaft,
And how his life by fraud and force he loft,
And how the murd'rer pay'd his forfeit breath;
What land fo diftant from that fcene of death
But trembling heard the fame? and heard, admire
How well the fon appeas'd his flaughter'd fire!
Ev'n to th' unhappy, that unjustly bleed,
Heav'n gives pofterity t' avenge the deed.
So fell Egyfthus; and may'ft thou, my friend,
(On whom the virtues of thy fire descend)
Make future times thy equal act adore,
And be what brave Oreftes was before!
The prudent youth reply'd: Oh thou the grace And lafting glory of the Grecian race Juft was the vengeance, and to latest days Shall long pofterity refound the praife. Some god this arm with equal prowess blefs! And the proud fuitors fhall its force confefs:
Injurious men! who while my foul is fore
Of fresh affronts, are meditating more.
But heav'n denies this honour to my hand,
Nor shall my father repoffefs the land ;
The father's fortune never to return,
And the fad fon's to fuffer and to mourn!
Thus he, and Nestor took the word: My fon,
Is it then true, as diftant rumours run,
That crouds of rivals for thy mother's charms
Thy palace fill with infults and alarms ?
Say, is the fault, through tame fubmiffion, thine?
Or leagu'd against thee, do thy people join,
Mov'd by fome oracle, or voice divine?
And yet who knows, but ripening lies in fate
An hour of vengeance for th' afflicted state;
When great Ulyffes fhall fupprefs these harms,
Ulyffes fingly, or all Greece in arms.
But if Athena, war's triumphant maid,
The happy fon, will, as the father, aid,
(Whose fame and fafety was her constant care
In ev'ry danger and in ev'ry war:
Never on man did heav'nly favour shine
With rays fo ftrong, diftinguish'd and divine,
As those with which Minerva mark'd the fire)
So might fhe love thee, fo thy foul infpire!
Soon fhould their hopes in humble dust be laid,
And long oblivion of the bridal bed.
Ah! no fuch hope (the prince with fighs replies) Can touch my breast; that blessing heav'n denies. 280 Ev'n by celestial favour were it giv'n,
Fortune or fate would crofs the will of heav'n.
What words are these, and what imprudence thine?
(Thus interpos'd the martial maid divine)
Forgetful youth! but know, the pow'r above
With ease can fave each object of his love;
Wide, as his will, extends his boundless grace;
Nor loft in time, nor circumfcrib'd by place.
Happier his lot, who many forrows paft,
Long-lab'ring gains his natal fhore at laft;
Than who too speedy, hastes to end his life
By fome stern ruffian, or adult'rous wife.
Death only is the lot which none can miss;
And all is possible to heav'n, but this.
The best, the dearest favʼrite of the sky
Must taste that cup, for man is born to die.
Thus check'd, reply'd Ulyffes' prudent heir:
Mentor, no more-the mournful thought forbear:
For he no more must draw his country's breath,
Already fnatch'd by fate, and the black doom of death!
Pass we to other fubjects, and engage
On themes remote the venerable sage ;
(Who thrice has seen the perishable kind
Of men decay, and through three ages shin'd,
Like gods majestic, and like gods in mind :)
For much he knows, and just conclufions draws 306
From various precedents, and various laws.
O fon of Neleus! awful Neftor, tell
How he, the mighty Agamemnon fell?
By what ftrange fraud Egyfthus wrought, relate, 310
(By force he could not) fuch a hero's fate?
Liv'd Menelaus not in Greece? or where
Was then the martial brother's pious care?
Condemn'd perhaps fome foreign fhore to tread ;
Or fure Ægyfthus had not dar'd the deed.
To whom the full of days: Illuftrious youth,
Attend (though partly thou haft gueft) the truth.
For had the martial Menelaus found
The ruffian breathing yet on Argive ground;
Nor earth had hid his carcafe from the skies,
Nor Grecian virgins fhriek'd his obfequies:
But fowls obfcene difmember'd his remains,
And dogs had torn him on the naked plains.
While us the works of bloody Mars employ'd,
The wanton youth inglorious peace enjoy'd;
He, ftretch'd at eafe in Argos' calm recefs,
(Whose stately steeds luxuriant paftures bless)
With flattery's infinuating art
Sooth'd the frail queen, and poison'd all her heart.
At first with wortby fhame and decent pride,
The royal dame his lawless fuit deny'd :
For virtue's image yet poffefs'd her mind,
Taught by a master of the tuneful kind.
Atrides, parting for the Trojan war,
Confign'd the youthful confort to his care:
True to his charge, the bard preferv'd her long.
In honour's limits (fuch the pow'r of fong).
But when the gods these objects of their hate
Dragg'd to deftruction by the links of fate;
The bard they banish'd from his native foil,
And left all helplefs in a defert ifle:
There he, the fweeteft of the facred train,
Sung dying to the rocks, but fung in vain.
Then virtue was no more; her guard away,
She fell, to luft a voluntary prey.
Ev'n to the temple ftalk'd th' adult'rous spouse,
With impious hands, and mockery of vows,
With images, with garments, and with gold,
And od'rous fumes, from loaded altars roll'd.
Mean time from flaming Troy we cut the way, 350 With Menelaus, through the curling fea. But when to Sunium's facred point we came, Crown'd with the temple of th' Athenian dame; Atrides' pilot, Phrontes, there expir'd ; (Phrontes, of all the fons of men admir'd To fteer the bounding bark with teddy toi', When the form thickens, and the billows boil) While yet he exercis'd the ftecrman's art, Apollo touch'd him with his gentle dart ; Ev'n with the rudder in his hand, he fell. To pay whofe honours to the fhades of hell, We check'd our hafte, by pious office bound, And laid our old companion in the ground.
And now, the rites discharg'd, our course we keep,
Far on the gloomy bofom of the deep :
Scon as Mallaea's misty tops arife,
Sudden the thund'rer blackens all the skies,
And the winds whiftle, and the furges roll
Mountains on mountains, and obfcure the pole.
The tempeft scatters, and divides our fleet;
Part, the storm urges on the coast of Crete,
Where winding round the rich Cydonian plain,
The streams of Jardan iffue to the main.
There stands a rock, high, eminent and fleep,
Whofe fhaggy brow o'er-hangs the shady deep,
And views Gortyna on the western fide;
On this rough Auster drove th' impetuous tide:
With broken force the billows rowl'd away,
-And heav'd the fleet into the neighb'ring bay.
Thus fav'd from death they gain'd the Phaestan shores, With fhatter'd vessels, and disabled oars:
But five tall barks the winds and waters toft
Far from their fellows, on th' Ægyptian coast.
There wander'd Menelaus through foreign fhores,
Amaffing gold, and gathering naval stores;
While curft Egyfthus the detefted deed
By fraud fulfill'd, and his great brother bled.
Sev'n years, the traitor rich Mycenae fway'd,
And his ftern rule the groaning land obey'd;
The eighth, from Athens to his realm reftor'd, 390
Oreftes brandifh'd the revenging fword,
Slew the dire pair, and gave to fun'ral flame
The vile affaffin, and adult'rous dame.
That day, 'ere yet the bloody triumphs cease,
Return'd Atrides to the coast of Greece,
And fafe to Argos' port his navy brought,
With gifts of price and pond'rous treasure fraught.
Hence warn'd, my fon, beware! nor idly stand
Too long a franger to thy native land;
Left heedlefs abfence wear thy wealth away,
While lawless feafters in thy palace fway;
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